At Singapore and Johore, at Penang and Rangoon, at Calcutta, Benares, and Bombay, English and native authorities vied in doing honour to the royal traveller. At Suez, a special train and embassy were sent by the Khedive to bring him to Cairo, whence the Khedive in person accompanied him to Alexandria.

At Cairo, Kalakaua, who is an enthusiastic freemason, delivered a lecture to the craft, which is largely represented in Honolulu, the king being a mason of the highest grade.

In the absence of the King of Italy, he was received at Naples by the Queen. From that fair city he passed to Pompeii; thence to Rome, where the Pope granted him a special audience-and we may be sure that nothing was lacking which could tend to make that reception impressive.

Then came England, and the great volunteer review at Windsor, the Castle, old Westminster, and all else of antiquity, arts, and manufactures of peace and of war that England had to show, till the weary sight-seer, and most intelligent student, was fairly exhausted.

From Manchester workshops he made a hurried visit to Edinburgh, then sped to the Continent, to France, Germany, Austria, and so on ad infinitum, till at length he once more found himself at rest in his own little island kingdom, full of designs for

many improvements, beginning with helping and encouraging the building of the Cathedral, so long talked of,-completing and furnishing his own new Palace, and making preparations for his own coronation, and that of his queen, in true European style, and with all possible magnificence- the throne and crowns to be imported from Paris, and all the ladies of Honolulu to appear in sweeping trains and full Court dress, as worn at Buckingham Palace!

One of the chief objects the king had in view during his travels was that of encouraging desirable settlers to come to Hawaii, and there establish sugar - plantations and other industries - hoping thus, by the importation of steady and respectable men of other races, in some measure to counteract the grievous, but unmistakable, fact that the original inhabitants of the soil are fading from the earth like snow in sunshine.

Whatever may be the causes which have tended to depopulate the Hawaiian isles, it is evident that royal blood brings no exemption, for the tenure of life in the palace and in the cottage has proved alike uncertain. Within the last century no less than seven kings have ascended the throne; and of these, only two have held it for any length of time-namely, the great Kamehameha I., who died. in 1819, having reigned for thirty-seven years,

and Kamehameha III., who died in 1854, having reigned twenty-one years.

The stormy life of war and strong-handed action seems to have acted as an elixir on the great king; for his successors, living in peace and plentysecure in the love of a united and prosperous people have passed away, after short reigns of five, eight, and nine years; while that of Lunalilo, the Well-beloved, lasted but thirteen months.

The respective ages of the last five kings have been twenty-seven, forty, twenty-nine, forty-three, and thirty years. Now only one little child represents the future of the Hawaiian throne; and it is devoutly hoped that from her American parentage she may be found to have inherited the vitality which is so grievously lacking in the Hawaiian constitution. She was born in October 1875, and is the daughter of Princess Miriam Like Like, by the Honourable A. S. Cleghorn. The oppressive name wherewith this little maiden is burdened is H.R.H. the Princess Victoria - Kawekiu - KaiulaniLunalilo-Kalani-nuiahi-lapa-lapa.

Her third name describes her as heaven-sent. May the first she bears prove to her the earnest of a long life of prosperity and happiness.

CHAPTER XXIII.

CONCLUSION--THE RIVER OF FIRE OF 1881-THE STORY OF A GREAT DELIVERANCE.

"Nature is but a name for an effect

Whose cause is God. He feeds the sacred fire
By which the mighty process is maintained,
Who sleeps not, is not weary; in whose sight
Slow-circling ages are as transient days.”

DURING the past year the volcanic forces of Hawaii have shown unprecedented energy, and its people have endured a period of terrible suspense, while, during nine long months, the fire-floods have flowed ever nearer and nearer to their homes. At last they filled up every gulch and ravine, and still moved on and on with awful unrelenting progress, till the moving torrent of liquid rock advanced to within one mile of the town; and apparently no obstacle remained to offer even a momentary check to its onward course.

It was on the night of November 5, 1880, that

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the people of Hilo observed that the clouds resting on the summit of Mauna Loa reflected that fiery glow which invariably tells of renewed action within its mighty furnace. Soon the fire-flood forced an opening for itself on the side of the mountain facing Hilo, about six miles north of the summit-crater of Mokua-weo-weo; and the fire-fountains played, and very soon formed three huge cones, one of which is about 400 feet in height, perceptibly altering the simple sweeping curve of the mountain-the outline of which is so very suggestive of the back of a stranded whale.

Meanwhile the stream poured downward till it reached the comparatively level plateau which lies between Mauna Kea and Mauna Loa, where it had space to expand; and after burning many hundred acres of forest, and filling up all the irregularities of the ground, it formed a great lake of tossing, raging fire, covering an area several miles in extent, and about fifteen in circumference, varying from 10 to 300 feet in depth.

From this great reservoir three distinct streams overflowed, each selecting a different course for its journey seaward.

As I am conscious that no words of mine can possess the thrilling interest of those of the eyewitnesses who, week by week, reported on the progress of the gruesome Fire-Dragon, I think I