in the Pacific, $fc, 87 



published in the Hawaiian Spectator,) as '' very remarkable 

 for its great depth and narrowness ; resembling exactly the 

 section of an immense chimney, rising from the heart of the 

 mountain : an effect which is heightened by the black color 

 of the rocks." 



If we picture in our minds a ravine of this description, 

 having a barrier across the narrow gorge or outlet, we shall 

 then have an accurate conception of the structure of the third 

 class. Although this doubtless exists in the other islands, I 

 only met with it at Tahiti. There is one example of it in 

 the mountain lake of Waihiria, at the head of the Waihara 

 valley, North of Mairapehi. This lake is about fifteen hun- 

 dred feet above sea level, three-fourths of a mile in cirjait, 

 and ninety feet deep, bounded on all sides except the south- 

 ern b}?" a wall of rock from one thousand to fifteen hundred 

 feet high. To the South it is dammed up by a barrier of 

 inconsiderable height on the lake side, but on the other de- 

 scending several hundred feet to the valley, and apparently 

 formed by the crumbling down of a large body of rock from 

 the Western ridge. This is the same lake referred to by 

 Beechy, Tyerman and Bennet, and others, and prior to our 

 visit was believed by the natives to be unfathomable. There 

 is a similar pit, except that it has only a small stream at 

 the bottom, discharging itself by some crevice, between two 

 of the lateral ridges of Waritiva. With great difficulty and 

 some risk, I descended perhaps twelve hundred feet into this 

 ravine, near its commencement, thinking to find an easier 

 path to the shore ; but after scrambling and wading, for near- 

 ly a couple of miles, was to my vexation arrested by a naked 

 wall of lava, several hundred feet high, which nothing but a 

 bird or a lizard could scale. I was thus compelled to retrace 

 my steps, and toil up once more to the crest of the ridge. My 

 guide informed me that in the upper portion of the valley of 

 Atehuru, leading from Matavai to the foot of Orohena, there 

 were several of these barred ravines of less extent. 



