20(3 EXPEDITION TO JAPAN. 



should be allowed to stow away his turtle flesh before starting. This, of course, was readily 

 conceded. 



The valley in which the explorers found themselves was estimated to be about a mile in 

 length, and its widest part was a quarter of a mile in breadth. The main branch of the valley 

 was not that which had been entered, but took an easterly direction, through which a stream 

 flowed ; the southern part seemed to be impassable, from being walled up with rocks heaped one 

 above the other. From the "Judge's" hut the sea was said to be about half a mile distant. 

 The soil of the valley is of a rich loam, and, judging by the flourishing appearance of the vege- 

 tables and crops grown by the settlers, exceedingly fertile. The tobacco was particularly 

 vio-orous in growth, being five feet in height. The water of the stream is sweet and pure, and 

 the supply constant. Some lemons, which the "Judge" had stored away in his hat, he said 

 came from the north of the valley. 



The party, now under the guidance of the "Judge" and his companion, took an E.S.E. 

 course, following through the ravine the stream. The bed of the stream was in various places 

 crowded with large boulders of trap rock, heaped confusedly one upon another. The vegetation 

 presented the usual tropical profusion of trees, parasite plants, and under growth. From the 

 denseness of the woods and the greasy, slippery nature of the soil, the progress of every step was 

 toilsome and painful. Two of the party in the rear, while those in advance awaited upon a cliff 

 their coming up, started a wild boar, and fired at him a passing shot, but without efiect. The 

 dogs which belonged to the settlers were not of much use, for they kept clinging to the heels of 

 their masters, instead of ranging the forest and beating up the game from its cover. 



On leaving the water-course the explorers climbed the southern side of the ravine, which they 

 could only do by clinging to the roots or to the tough vines which hung from the trees. In the 

 deep shadow and turnings of the wood, through which there was no path, the members of the 

 party became scattered, and the leaders were again obliged to await at the summit of the ridge 

 the coming of those who lagged behind. Among the various palms, which grow abundantly, 

 some specimens of the palma latina were observed at this spot, with immensely broad leaves and 

 stems nearly eight feet in length, the jagged edges of which wounded the travellers' hands as 

 they struggled through the forest. The pandanus was also seen, with its shoots, sometimes 

 twenty or thirty in number, sticking down and outwards from the lower part of its straight 

 trunk, and rooting themselves in the ground, until they formed a pyramidal base, from which 

 the tree rose in a slender column, covered with a graceful capital of foliage. 



While some of the party were resting upon the ridge, waiting for their companions who had 

 fallen behind, a great barking of dogs rose from a neighboring ravine, at which two of the party 

 started off at once. Several shots from the company were soon heard, and Mr. Taylor, the 

 leader, followed, making for the direction of the sound, and, after plunging through an almost 

 impenetrable thicket, in the course of which he came upon the lair of a wild boar, arrived at the 

 bed of a brook, where the hunters were grouped about a young boar. He was not over a year 

 old, and, with his long snout and the dirty, dark grey color of his bristling hide, looked some- 

 what like the Chinese hog. Mr. Hampton, one of the party who had been left behind upon the 

 ridge, was now sent for; but the "Judge," who had gone in search of him, soon returned, 

 stating that he was sick, and unable to come up. Mr. Hampton, however, in a short time 

 gathered strength enough to follow, and succeeded in reaching the party, although evidently, 

 much overcome with fatigue. As the Otaheitan guide, however, said that it was only two miles 



