- end_line
- 7671
- extracted_at
- 2026-01-30T20:48:15.153Z
- extracted_by
- structure-extraction-lambda
- start_line
- 7594
- text
- with streams of fire several impious adventurers. Near Hilo, a
jet-black cliff is shown, with the vitreous torrent apparently pouring
over into the sea: just as it cooled after one of these supernatural
eruptions.
To these inland valleys, and the adjoining hillsides, which are clothed
in the most luxuriant vegetation, Vancouver’s bullocks soon wandered;
and unmolested for a long period, multiplied in vast herds.
Some twelve or fifteen years ago, the natives lost sight of their
superstitions, and learning the value of the hides in commerce, began
hunting the creatures that wore them; but being very fearful and
awkward in a business so novel, their success was small; and it was not
until the arrival of a party of Spanish hunters, men regularly trained
to their calling upon the plains of California, that the work of
slaughter was fairly begun.
The Spaniards were showy fellows, tricked out in gay blankets, leggings
worked with porcupine quills, and jingling spurs. Mounted upon trained
Indian mares, these heroes pursued their prey up to the very base of
the burning mountains; making the profoundest solitudes ring with their
shouts, and flinging the lasso under the very nose of the vixen goddess
Pelee. Hilo, a village upon the coast, was their place of resort; and
thither flocked roving whites from all the islands of the group. As
pupils of the dashing Spaniards, many of these dissipated fellows,
quaffing too freely of the stirrup-cup, and riding headlong after the
herds, when they reeled in the saddle, were unhorsed and killed.
This was about the year 1835, when the present king, Tammahamaha III.,
was a lad. With royal impudence laying claim to the sole property of
the cattle, he was delighted with the idea of receiving one of every
two silver dollars paid down for their hides; so, with no thought for
the future, the work of extermination went madly on. In three years’
time, eighteen thousand bullocks were slain, almost entirely upon the
single island of Hawaii.
The herds being thus nearly destroyed, the sagacious young prince
imposed a rigorous “taboo” upon the few surviving cattle, which was to
remain in force for ten years. During this period—not yet expired—all
hunting is forbidden, unless directly authorized by the king.
The massacre of the cattle extended to the hapless goats. In one year,
three thousand of their skins were sold to the merchants of Honolulu,
fetching a quartila, or a shilling sterling apiece.
After this digression, it is time to run on after Tonoi and the Yankee.
CHAPTER LV.
A HUNTING RAMBLE WITH ZEKE
At the foot of the mountain, a steep path went up among rocks and
clefts mantled with verdure. Here and there were green gulfs, down
which it made one giddy to peep. At last we gained an overhanging,
wooded shelf of land which crowned the heights; and along this, the
path, well shaded, ran like a gallery.
In every direction the scenery was enchanting. There was a low,
rustling breeze; and below, in the vale, the leaves were quivering; the
sea lay, blue and serene, in the distance; and inland the surface
swelled up, ridge after ridge, and peak upon peak, all bathed in the
Indian haze of the Tropics, and dreamy to look upon. Still valleys,
leagues away, reposed in the deep shadows of the mountains; and here
and there, waterfalls lifted up their voices in the solitude. High
above all, and central, the “Marling-spike” lifted its finger. Upon the
hillsides, small groups of bullocks were seen; some quietly browsing;
others slowly winding into the valleys.
We went on, directing our course for a slope of these hills, a mile or
two further, where the nearest bullocks were seen.
We were cautious in keeping to the windward of them; their sense of
smell and hearing being, like those of all wild creatures, exceedingly
acute.
- title
- Chunk 2