Page:Oregon Historical Quarterly vol. 6.djvu/440

434 434 JOURNAL AND LETTERS OF DAVID DOUGLAS. Tuesday, January the 28th. I hired two guides, the elder of whom a short, stout man, was particularly recommended to me by the chief for his knowledge of the mountain. By profession he is a bird- catcher, going- in quest of that particular kind of bird which furnishes the feathers of which the ancient cloaks, used by the natives of these islands are made. The other guide was a young man. Three volun- teers offered to accompany me; one a very stout, fat dame, apparently about thirty, another not much more than half that age, a really well- looking girl, tall and athletic: but to the first, the bird-catcher gave such an awful account of the perils to be undergone, that both the females finally declined the attempt, and only the third person, a young man, went with me. My original party of ten, besides Honori and two guides, set out at eight, with, as usual, a terrible array of Tara, calabashes full of Poe, Sweet Potatoes, dry Poe tied up in Ti- leaves, and goat's flesh, each bearing a pole on his shoulder with a bundle at either end. Of their vegetable food, a Sandwich Islander can not carry more than a week's consumption, besides what he may pick up on the way. One, whose office it was to convey five quires of paper for me, was so strangely attired in a double-milled grey great coat, with a spencer of still thicker materials above it, that he lamented to his companions that his load was too great, and begged their help to lift it on his back. I had to show the fellow, who was blind of one eye, the unreasonableness of his grumbling by hanging the parcel by the cord on my little finger. He said, "Ah ! the stranger is strong," and walked off. Among my attendants was one singular-looking personage, a stripling, who carried a small packet of instruments, and trotted away, arrayed in "a Cutty-sark." of most "scanty longitude," the upper portion of which had been once of white and the lower of red flannel. Honori brought up the rear with a small telescope slung over his shoulder, and an umbrella, which, owing perhaps to his asthmatic complaint, he never fails to carry with him, both in fair and foul weather. We returned for about a mile and a half along the road that led to the Great Volcano, and then struck off to the left in a small path that wound in a northerly direction up the green, grassy flank of Mouna Roa. I soon found that Honori's cough would not allow him to keep up with the rest of the party, so leaving one guide with him, and making the bird-catcher take the lead, I proceeded at a quicker rate. This part of the island is very beautiful; the ground, though hilly, is covered with a tolerably thick coating of soil, which supports a fine sward of Grass. Perns, climbing plants, and in some places timber of considerable size, Coa, Tutui, and Mamme trees. Though fallen trees and brushwood occasionally intercepted the path, still, it was by no means so difficult as that by which I had ascended Mouna Kuah. To avoid a woody point of steep ascent, we turned a little eastward, after having traveled about five miles and a half,