movement with outer edges of
the hands; now slow, now fast, faster--like flashes of light--until the
cadence dies languidly away, in soft, melodious tappings, leaving the
patient in a quiet frame of mind, and the body very much refreshed.

The high chiefs, who are all immensely corpulent, and said to be rather
given to overfeeding themselves, use the _loammi-loammi_ to make them
comfortable after repletion, so that they may go on again, without
personal inconvenience--always keeping a number of expert practitioners
in their trains.

All classes at Hilo evince an enthusiastic admiration for flowers, and
the maidens particularly are never without natural wreaths, or necklaces
of woodbine and jessamine, prettily woven for the occasion. There is a
yellow bud of the candle-nut, which is not so pleasant to eye or nose,
though more generally worn. But in all the tastes and diversions of the
natives, there was not one that charmed us so much, and in which the
natives indulged with such wild delight, as bathing in the river
Wailuku.

Along the whole eastern face of the island of Hawaii there are
numberless rills and streams that come bounding from the lofty sides of
the giant mountains, in cataracts and cascades, until at last they jump
from the green-clad shores into the salt foam of the ocean. One of the
largest of them is the Wailuku. No farther than a league from the harbor
inland is a miniature Niagara, of more than a hundred feet, which dashes
a mass of broken water into a bowl-like basin, flashing upon, either
side brilliant rainbows, from which the fall takes its name. Retracing
our steps towards the village, the banks of the little river become less
abrupt, and within a few hundred yards of the bay the water is diverted
into a multitude of channels--here, a torrent boiling over scattered
rocks, with a clear, sleeping pool beyond--there, the white cataract
plunging swiftly through narrow straits, and leaping gaily down below,
like a liquid portcullis to some massive gateway--again, whirling eddies
playing around rocky islets, until at last by one sparkling effort the
waters re-unite, and go roaring and struggling down a steep chasm into
the noisy surf of the bay.

It is here the young of both sexes pass most of their time. Troops of
boys and girls, and even little ones scarcely able to walk, are seen in
all directions, perched on broad shelving crags and grassy mounds, or,
still higher up, clinging from the steep sid