its farther extremity formed by Cocoanut Island, a black lava islet
on which this palm attains great perfection, and beyond it again a
fringe of cocoanuts marks the deep indentations of the shore. From
this island to the north point of the bay, there is a band of golden
sand on which the roar of the surf sounded thunderous and drowsy as
it mingled with the music of living waters, the Waiakea and the
Wailuku, which after lashing the sides of the mountains which give
them birth, glide deep and fern-fringed into the ocean. Native
houses, half hidden by greenery, line the bay, and stud the heights
above the Wailuku, and near the landing some white frame houses and
three church spires above the wood denote the foreign element. Hilo
is unique. Its climate is humid, and the long repose which it has
enjoyed from rude volcanic upheavals has mingled a great depth of
vegetable mould with the decomposed lava. Rich soil, rain, heat,
sunshine, stimulate nature to supreme efforts, and there is a
luxuriant prodigality of vegetation which leaves nothing uncovered
but the golden margin of the sea, and even that above high-water-
mark is green with the Convolvulus maritimus. So dense is the wood
that Hilo is rather suggested than seen. It is only on shore that
one becomes aware of its bewildering variety of native and exotic
trees and shrubs. From the sea it looks one dense mass of greenery,
in which the bright foliage of the candle-nut relieves the glossy
dark green of the breadfruit--a maze of preposterous bananas, out of
which rise slender annulated trunks of palms giving their infinite
grace to the grove. And palms along the bay, almost among the surf,
toss their waving plumes in the sweet soft breeze, not "palms in
exile," but children of a blessed isle where "never wind blows
loudly." Above Hilo, broad lands sweeping up cloudwards, with their
sugar cane, kalo, melons, pine-apples, and banana groves suggest the
boundless liberality of Nature. Woods and waters, hill and valley