450 TAHITI. 



sion almost of other trees, and with this were associated huge 

 clumps of the giant fern, Angiopteris evecta, and masses of the 

 Bird'-s-nest Fern {Asplejiimn nidus). With these grew a trailing 

 Screwpine and a Draccena, but the three ferns together formed 

 a greater proportion of the entire vegetation than I have ob- 

 served to be the case elsewhere.* 



The second camp was made nt an elevation of about i,Soo 

 feet, at a native hut in the upper part of Punaru Valley. The 

 natives had not forgotten their religion since the time of 

 Darwin's visit. f Our guides said their prayers every evening 

 before sleeping, even when huddled together out of the rain, all 

 repeating the words together, and the native family at the hut 

 did the same. The temperature at this hut sank at daybreak 

 to 59° F. We suffered much from cold in the night, and still 

 more from Mosquitoes. We had an old piece of canvas lent us 

 to spread on the ground to sleep on, but we crept together 

 under it for warmth. 



In the morning we attempted to cross over a high ridge at 

 the head of Punaru Valley, and so reach our destination, the 

 Papeno Valley, but the attempt failed, the guides, after we had 

 toiled up to an elevation of about 3,000 feet, proving not to 

 know the way at all. One of the guides had been over the 

 pass many years before, but all he seemed to know was that he 

 had been up a stream, so we spent the day in wading through 

 pools, and clambering over slippery boulders in the stream beds, 

 creeping along under the overhanging branches. We kept 

 making attempts in various impracticable places, and at last 

 made a hurried descent in the evening into the valley, and had 

 to prepare a camp almost entirely in the dark, and in heavy 

 rain, at a height of 2,500 feet. 



This was above the limit of the growth of the wild Banana 

 in any abundance, so the shelter for the night was made of the 

 fronds of the Bird's-nest Fern {Asplenium nidus). These are 

 tougher and more durable than the leaves of the Banana, and 

 hence are used for permanent thatching, but from their smaller 

 size require much more time in arrangement. 



We had to put up with a very small hut, which sheltered 

 our bodies as we lay down, but would not cover our legs, and 

 had to feel in our baggage in the pitch darkness for our food, 

 and eat it by the help of the sense of touch alone. The unfor- 

 tunate guides who had constructed our hut first, could find 

 scarcely any more fern leaves in the dark, and they squatted 



* This statement concerning the preponderance of ferns in the vegeta- 

 tion of Tahiti is referred to by Mr. Wallace from my MS. "Tropical 

 Nature," p. 269. 



t C. Darwin's " Journal of Researches," p. 41 1. 



