A search through the forests on some of the islands would disclose the beautifully coloured landshells. These exquisite little creatures grow on the leaves of the trees. Many of the native birds have become extinct; there were originally seventy varieties. Game birds, however, have been introduced from America and China, and from other countries both north and south, including wild turkeys, quail, pheasants and ducks. We arrived at the crater late at night, to find only a miserable hotel with a drunken proprietor. (Liars had told us it was good.) We were forced to pass the night there, but stayed the next day only long enough to visit the crater. Kilauea was for us a great disappointment. It is not imposing in its situation, lying low on the gradual slope of Mauna Loa. We had been thrilled by pictures of the great pit of Halemaumau, the "house of everlasting fire."[10] We had read of fountains of fire thrown a thousand feet into the air, of great fissures from which burst clouds of deadly sulphurous vapours, of indescribable terrors as huge billows of glowing lava surged against the rim of the pit, of changing colours, marvelous beauty, of ropes and serpents of cooling rock in a myriad writhing and contorted shapes, of raging floods pouring down to the plain in rivers of fire from one-half to two miles in width. But alas! none of these wonders were for us. We saw only a far-stretching lake of cold, black lava, over which we could walk for miles, as safe as if we were at home. Out of a pit in the center rose a column of white vapour--which did not even smell infernal. Pele was sleeping. We had three days to wait in Hilo until our steamer should be ready to return to Honolulu. The hotel was a funny little one, near the sea, but we were fairly comfortable, and amused ourselves in various ways. For one thing, we tried several of the delicious tropical fruits that were to be had here--water-lemons, mangoes, papayas, mountain apples and guavas. We went on a picnic, and some one was kind enough to lend me a riding habit and a pony that had won some races. I rode astride, in native fashion. This was my first but by no means my last experience of this most natural and comfortable mode of riding. Then I had an old native woman to _lomi-lomi_ me--Hawaiian for massage--as I was very lame from my long rides, and I was as much amused by her as benefited by her treatment. [Illustration: FIRE HOLE, KILAUEA.]