[Footnote 14:  The event was thus announced in the ’Hawaiian Gazette:’—­’THE LAST CHANCE.—­We are informed that a riding party will come off on Friday evening, when all the young ladies who desire to participate are expected to be on hand, each with the cavalier whom she may invite.  As leap-year is drawing to a close it is expected that this opportunity will be extensively embraced.  Place of rendezvous, Emma Square:  time, seven-thirty; Luminary for the occasion, a full moon.’]

There are no side-saddles in any of these islands; all the ladies ride like men, and sit their horses very well.  They wear long riding-dresses, cleverly and elegantly adapted to the exigencies of the situation, generally of some light material, and of very bright colours.  The effect of a large party galloping along, with wreaths and garlands in their hats and necks, and with their long skirts floating in the wind, is therefore picturesque and strange in the extreme.

Saturday, December 30th.—­Mabelle, Muriel, and I, were up early, and went off to the coral-reef before seven in the ‘Flash.’  It is very beautiful, but not so fine as those we have already seen at Tahiti and other South Sea Islands.  We collected four or the distinct varieties of coral, and saw many marvellous creatures swimming about or sticking to the rocks.  There were several canoes full of natives fishing, who appeared highly amused when we ran aground on a coral tree, as happened more than once.  It was a pleasant way of spending the early morning in the bright sunshine, peering into the dark blue and light green depths below.

Breakfast was ready by the time we returned on board, and soon afterwards I went on shore to pay some visits and to do some shopping.  We went first to the fish-market, which presented a most animated scene, owing not only to the abundance of the dead produce of air, earth, and sea, which it contained, but to the large number of gaily attired purchasers.

Saturday is a half-holiday in Oahu, and all the plantation and mill hands came galloping into Honolulu on horseback, chattering and laughing, dressed in the brightest colours, and covered with flowers.  The latter are not so plentiful nor so beautiful as in Tahiti, but still, to our English eyes, they appear very choice.  For fruit, too, we have been spoilt in the South Seas.  The fish-market here, however, is unrivalled.

Fish—­raw or cooked—­is the staple food of the inhabitants, and almost everybody we saw had half-a-dozen or more brilliant members of the finny tribe, wrapped up in fresh green banana leaves, ready to carry home.  Shrimps are abundant and good.  They are caught both in salt and fresh water, and the natives generally eat them alive, putting them into their mouths, ana either letting them hop down their throats, or crushing them between their teeth while they are still wriggling about.  It looks a very nasty thing to do, but, after all, it is not much worse than our eating oysters alive.