The Hawaiian Archipelago - Six Months Among The Palm Groves, Coral Reefs, And Volcanoes Of The Sandwich Islands By Isabella L. Bird
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I Told Upa To Lead My Mare, And Ride His Own Horse, But The
Last I Saw Of Him Was On The Mare's Back, Racing A Troop Of Natives
Along The Beach.
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I.L.B.
LETTER XV.
WAIMEA. HAWAII.
There is no limit to the oddities of the steam-ship "Kilauea." She
lay rolling on the Hilo swell for two hours, and two hours after we
sailed her machinery broke down, and we lay-to for five hours, in
what they here call a heavy gale and sea. It was a miserable night.
No privacy: the saloon both hot and wet, almost every one sick. I
lay in my berth in my soaked clothes watching the proceedings of a
gigantic cockroach, and listening, not without amusement, to the
awful groans of a Chinaman, and a "rough customer" from California,
who occupied the next berths.
In the middle of the night the water came in great dashes through
the skylight upon the table, and soon the saloon was afloat to the
depth of from four to six inches. When the "Kilauea" rolled, and
the water splashed in simultaneously, we were treated to vigorous
"douches" in our berths, which soon saturated the pillows,
mattresses, and our clothing. One sea put out the lamp, and a
ship's lantern, making "darkness visible," was swung in its stead.
In an English ship there would have been a great fuss and a great
flying about of stewards, or pretence of mending matters, but when
the passengers shouted for our good steward, the serene creature
came in with a melancholy smile on his face, said nothing, but
quietly sat down on the transom, with his bare feet in the water,
contemplating it with a comic air of helplessness.
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