of the Old World! But we have no
time to waste upon morals. Presently a low four-wheeled vehicle rattles
along--there are many of them--drawn by Kanaka cab-horses; very kind and
humanizing it is too, for the beasts are tame, never kick, not given to
prove restive, or run away, at least with the coach! I often speculated
mentally if the fair women when taking an airing ever blushed for their
cattle; and when I saw a pious missionary lady trotting gaily by, I
wondered if she had ever seen or read a "High-heeled Shoe for a Limping
Sinner"--most probably not. And then within those charming cottages I
spoke of, there are lovely women from far, far over the seas--oh,
beautiful was one!--who make music and dancing, and most agreeable
society, and hand around delicious tea fresh from the Celestials, and
piquant lemonade--eschewing vinous compounds--while the sweet perfume of
the lime-trees is present to eye and sense, and all pleasantly
commingled with innocent sips of scandal.

Again the quays are crowded with more miserable natives, with sprigs of
coral, shells, calibashes, or island ornaments in their hands, looking
wistfully, and silently towards you; for they never use importunities,
they are too indolent by half. And there is a market shed near by, where
a fat woman will swallow a full gallon of _poee-poee_, to show how the
thing is done, provided it be paid for! And then, as a relief from these
diseased beings, there is the white reef seaward, vainly chafing and
lashing the coral barrier; and the calm harbor, clustering with fine
ships, chiefly of the oleaginous order, while whale-boats, and graceful
Koawood canoes--with light frameworks of sticks, and outriggers to bear
them upright--are dancing over the blue wavelets.

There are agreeable rides in every direction diverging from the city.
The most fashionable is up the Nuana Valley. The road is broad and
straight, lined on either side by well-tilled plantations of fruits, and
patches of vegetables, with elegant country-houses, placed back from the
causeway, half visible through the rich and sombre foliage.

Five minutes' gallop takes you, by an easy ascent, away from the heat
and dust of town. The atmosphere is purer and cooler, the blue sea,
shipping, reef, town, groves and fields, are lying in miniature at your
feet! Go on--pass the King's villa--up, up, for six or seven miles, and
suddenly the trade wind sweeps with heavy gusts, around a sharp turn of
the craggy v