A Hilo man told me of a curious experiment which was once made there.

They knocked the heads out of an oil-cask--so he said--and it rained in at the bung-hole faster than it could run out at the ends.

You may disbelieve this story if you please; I tell it as it was told me; but in any case you will do well to provide yourself for Hilo and the volcano journey with stout water-proof clothing.
Hilo, on those days when the sun shines, is one of the prettiest places on the Islands.

If you are so fortunate as to enter the bay on a fine day you will see a very tropical landscape--a long, pleasant, curved sweep of beach, on which the surf is breaking, and beyond, white houses nestling among cocoa-nut groves, and bread-fruit, pandanus, and other Southern trees, many of them bearing brilliant flowers; with shops and stores along the beach.

Men and boys sporting in the surf, and men and women dashing on horseback over the beach, make up the life of the scene.
Hilo has no hotel; it has not even a carriage; but it has a very agreeable and intelligent population of Americans, and you will find good accommodations at the large house of Mr.Severance, the sheriff of Hawaii.
If his house should be full you need not be alarmed, for some one will take you in.
This is the usual and most convenient point of departure for the volcano.
Here you hire horses and a guide for the journey.