we spent at the hospitable house
of Mrs. Chamberlain, one of the oldest buildings in Honolulu. The house
was in a very sunny spot, and was of stone. Pretty little lizards used
to come out of their hiding-places and sun themselves, and I often
watched them as they played about.

"Wouldn't they hurt you?" asked timid little Alice.

Oh, no, indeed! they are perfectly harmless. They are very small and
delicate; I seldom saw one more than three or four inches long.

"Do they have snakes on the islands?" asked Harry.

No, not one; the only poisonous reptiles are scorpions and centipedes. I
saw only one scorpion. That was at Punahou. I was sitting in the parlor
one day, and saw a small peculiar-looking creature creeping towards me
on the floor. Some movement of mine, made it throw its tail up over its
back; then I knew it was a scorpion; for I had read that the sting was
in the tail, and when frightened, it would throw its tail over its back
ready to strike. One of the gentlemen killed it.

I saw only two live centipedes. They are ugly-looking creatures. One
dreads a close contact with them. They run and twist about as if they
felt they were unwelcome guests.

We had a very pleasant farewell party at Dr. Judd's, where we met
missionary friends and some of the foreign consuls and their wives. Once
more I explored the extinct crater of Punchbowl, this time on horseback,
and admired the beautiful landscape before me when tinged with the
setting sun.

On the afternoon of June 26th, the native women brought us gifts of
tapa, necklaces, corals, etc. It was a suggestion of their own. They
wished us to take home mementoes of them, and had been planning it for
some time among themselves. Some of the necklaces were made of beautiful
yellow feathers. Only two of that color grow on the bird, one under each
wing; so the necklaces are very valuable. Others were made of hundreds
of small braids of human hair, from which is suspended a hook made of
whale's tooth. Those were worn in former times only by chiefs.

My last excursion was a ride round the old crater of Diamond Head. We
rode through the fine, cocoa-nut grove of Waikiki, drinking from its
refreshing fruit, and then cantered along the sea-beach, nearing the
desolate mountain at every bound. Just before we reached its base,--a
narrow belt of sand only separating it from the sea,--a party of
gayly-dressed natives came one by one round a projecting point on the
full gallop. All