TAHITI. 521 



the bushes and let down a rope by which we reached the crest. 

 In order to collect plants, I had to hold my knotted handkerchief 

 in my teeth and fill it. It was impossible to get at a vasculum. 

 The crest of the ridge was nowhere more than a yard wide, 

 often less. There was an almost sheer fall on either hand, and 

 if grass and small bushes had not been growing at the edge on 

 each side, it would have been very difficult to walk along the 

 ridge without becoming giddy. It was as if one was walking 

 along the top of an immensely high wall. 



Here and there, small MetrosicUros trees grew upon the 

 centre of the crest of the ridge, and when these were encountered, 

 we had to climb between the branches, often where they over-hung 

 a sheer drop below, and once we had to swing ourselves along 

 the steep side of the crest for a short distance past one of these 

 trees under its overhanging branches. 



We ascended the crest of the ridge, until we had reached an 

 altitude of 4,000 feet, when the guides found the way barred by 

 a precipice and entirely impracticable. The summit of the 

 ridge was covered with a thick growth of the fern Gleichenia 

 dichotoma, and a climbing fern (Lygoclmm), and amongst the 

 bushes on the ridge a Whortleberry (Vaccinium) was very 

 abundant, and also two species of MetrosicUros. The entire 

 vegetation was different from that below. One of the species of 

 Metrosicleros was however also seen growing much lower down. 



Just as the ridge met the face of the mountain, by which we 

 were brought to a halt, its crest widened out, and here there was 

 a clamp hollow with mosses and lichens growing in it, in great 

 abundance. Here also grew a tree [Fitchia nutans) belonging 

 to the Composite, with a large yellow flower. The tree was 

 20 feet in height, and had a trunk nine inches in diameter. It is 

 allied to the Composite trees of Juan Fernandez, being nearly 

 related to the Chicory. 



Here in the soft loose soil, amongst the moss, were numerous 

 burrows of a Petrel, I believe Procellaria rostrata. The natives 

 call the bird " Night-bird," just as the inhabitants of Tristan da 

 Cunha call the Burrowing Petrels there " Mght-birds." The 

 Tropic Birds also nest far up in the mountains, and in Hawai 

 they nest in the cliffs of the crater of Kilauea at an altitude of 



