150 Journey across the Island of Tahiti. 



at that particular point no very obvious traces of stratification, but towards 

 the interior the dip begins to be apparent. The cave passes across a large 

 spar vein, wliich lies nearly parallel to similar veins, and to a large dyke of 

 magnesian conglomerate in another part of the rock. 



The different faces of this rock, especially near the entrance and southern 

 chamber of the cave, are full of small irregular holes j but the cave itself 

 does not appear directly to communicate with any further range of cavities, 

 although there are many reasons for supposing that such exist at no great 

 distance. 



These caverns are usually, throughout the carboniferous limestone, 

 composed of a series of chambers connected by smaller passages. They 

 are sometimes traversed by water, at others dry, or nearly so. The strata 

 in which they occur are sometimes broken, at others not, but are usually 

 so encrusted with stalagmite, as to be invisible or obscure j every now and 

 then a section is afforded by the face of a cliff.* 



Besides the ivy and the liclien above mentioned, a considerable number 



of other plants grow in the interior of the cave. The principal of these 



are : — 



Scolopendrium Ceterach Cryptogamia Filices. 



Sedium Acre . . ") r* j • i» ^ • 



T, , > JJecandna rentatjvnia. 



KupestreJ "■' 



Fragaria steriiis (strawberry). .... Icosandria Polygynia, growing 



near the cave. 



Draba Hirta . . ") rr> .. j • cr i 

 J,. /• 9 f letradynamia Sinculosa. 



Scilla Verna Hexandria Monagynia. Hexan. 

 The interior of the cave is marked by names, &c. upon its walls, scrawled 

 there probably before the path was rendered, as was supposed, impracticable, 

 in consequence of a boy having met with an accident. f 



* Conybeare and Buckland. 



t For the lithographed drawing which accompanied this paper, the Journal is in- 

 debted to the liberality of Mr. Aliiller. 



A BRIEF ACCOUNT 



OF A 



JOURNEY ACROSS THE ISLAND OF TAHITI j 



Extracted from the rough Notes of a Visitor to that Island in 1826. 



Having determined upon visiting a celebrated lake, much spoken of by 

 the natives, and noticed by navigators as one of the most remarkable curi- 

 osities of the island of Tahiti, I engaged two intelligent natives as guides, 

 and being properly equipped with apparatus for collecting objects of 

 natural history, thermometer, &.c. set off at five o'clock in the morning 

 of December 21, 1826. 1 proceeded from Miripeha to the valley of 



