hot; and yet I did not like to take them off for fear of hurting the
poor girls' feelings.

We walked along the river bank, and crossed to the other side just
below the rapids, jumping over the narrow channels through which the
water hurried and rushed. Some of our attendant girls carried Muriel
and the dogs, and, springing barefooted from rock to rock, led us
across the stream and up the precipitous banks on the other side.
There is a sort of hotel here, kept by a Chinaman, where everything is
scrupulously clean, and the food good though plain. It is rather more
like a lodging-house than an hotel, however. You hire your rooms, and
are expected to make special arrangements for board. Before we got
back to the yacht it had become dark, the moon had risen, and we could
see the reflection in the sky of the fires in the crater of Kilauea. I
do hope the volcano will be active to-morrow. It is never two days in
the same condition, and visitors have frequently remained in the
neighbourhood of the crater for a week without seeing an eruption.

The starlit sky, the bright young moon, and the red cloud from
Kilauea, floating far above our heads, made up a most beautiful scene
from the deck of the 'Sunbeam.'

_Saturday, December 23rd_.--The boatman who brought us off last night
had told us that Saturday was market-day at Hilo, and that at five
o'clock the natives would come in from the surrounding country in
crowds to buy their Sunday and Christmas Day provisions, and to bring
their own produce for sale. We accordingly gave orders that the boat
should come for us at a quarter to five, shortly before which we got
up and went on deck. We waited patiently in the dark until half-past
five, when, no boat appearing from the shore, the dingy was manned and