50 VOYAGES OF A NATURALIST 



the tree-ferns and other vegetation at the summit 

 of the island. I wished, moreover, to make as 

 complete a collection as possible of the sea-birds, 

 and especially of the petrels peculiar to the 

 islands. In this I was successful, as specimens of 

 all the birds previously known from South Trinidad, 

 as well as of one species the noddy tern new to 

 its avifauna, were collected during that afternoon. 



During the following night we steamed slowly 

 away, and at daylight went about, returning to 

 our former landing place. At 9 o'clock we were 

 ashore again, and at once climbed to the plateau. 

 Mr. Meade-Waldo and I then set off to climb 

 to the summit. We each took a sailor with us to 

 carry our lunch, cameras, and so on, but soon after 

 we had begun the ascent of the " Cascade," one 

 of the sailors gave out, and we had to leave him 

 to return to the ship. After this we had to carry 

 our own cameras, and soon found that these, 

 together with collecting gun, butterfly net, and 

 other things, considerably retarded our progress. 



After leaving the plateau we decided that our 

 best way to reach the tree-ferns was to follow the 

 " Cascade " as much as possible, and then climb 

 round a huge crown-shaped rock, which towered 

 above us. Passing up the rocky bed of the 

 " Cascade," which I had explored the previous 

 day, we found that beyond it the bed of the stream 

 was somewhat more open. Masses of ferns were 

 growing close to the water, and in these my com- 



