A Voyage round the World: A book for boysKingston, William Henry Giles
General
A Voyage round the World: A book for boys
Kingston, William Henry Giles
Voyages around the world -- Juvenile fiction
No surprise seemed to be created by the achievement, and the bold
swimmers took their places among the rest on the rollers as if nothing
had happened. When swimming out in this way, every man has a knife
secured to his board. As soon as he sees a shark, he swims away a short
distance. The shark approaches--he pretends to be very awkward.
Keeping his eye on the monster, who begins to fancy he has got a feast
prepared, he watches his time, and suddenly diving, sticks his sharp
weapon with all his might in the under part of the monster. Sometimes
the shark attempted to fly, but generally the blow is fatal, and he is
towed in triumph on shore.
After spending a day at Kailua, the capital of the island, where there
is a fort and a governor, and where several merchants reside to supply
whalers with provisions, we embarked once more on board the schooner,
and ran round the south of the island to a small harbour in the
neighbourhood of Whyhohino, a chief missionary-station. We were
received very kindly by the missionaries, and they procured us horses to
enable us to accomplish one of the chief objects which had brought us to
the place--a visit to the summit of the great volcano of Kilauea. They
also found us two guides who were to accompany us to the crater, while
two other men were to remain with the horses below. Mr Callard himself
had his duties to attend to, so that he could not accompany us. Ben
Yool had been left with the schooner, so our party consisted of Mr
McRitchie, Cousin Silas, Jerry, and I, not forgetting old Surley. He
always kept close to us, suspecting, perhaps, if the natives caught him,
they might cook and eat him. We were well supplied with provisions, and
with bottles of water, which we could replenish on the way. We
travelled at first along the coast, and then struck inland, directing
our course towards the lofty summit of the mountain, whence, even at
that distance, we could see pillars of smoke ascending to the sky. It
was getting dark when our guides told us that close at hand was a cavern
in which we might pass the night sheltered from the weather. Torches of
resinous wood were soon procured, and they led the way down a steep
path, till we found ourselves at the entrance of an immense cavern
formed in the lava. It was some hundred feet square, and from fifteen
to twenty high. When lighted up by the torches, it had a very wild and
picturesque appearance. The horses were tethered in one part, while we
all went out and collected grass and fern leaves for our beds, and a
good supply of fuel for our fire. Having cooked our supper, we sat
round the fire, while one of the natives, who spoke English very well,
told us some of the wonderful tales about Pele, the goddess of the
burning mountain, and her numerous diabolical followers. Though our
guides were now Christians, and professed to disbelieve all these
fables, it was evident that their minds were considerably affected by
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
Reviews
Reviews
No reviews yet
Be the first to share your thoughts on this work.
Elsewhere in the archive
Join the Discussion
Join the discussion
Sign in to leave a comment or review.
Sign InorCreate an account