156 Journey across the Island of Tahiti. 



men wearing their graceful tibutas, or poncho, as the Peruvian would call 

 it, (a sort of mantle, made of the bark of the bread-fruit tree, dyed yellow 

 with turmeric, and painted by impressing fern leaves dipped in a red 

 vegetable dye, and scented with the essential oil obtained from sandal 

 wood) ; their persons clean and comely, with a bold ingenuous outward 

 bearing, totally nnlike the sycophantic, hypocritical, and degenerate 

 race of the shores. To my surprise I did not observe a single case 

 of fe fe or elephantiasis among these people. In this plain the bamboo 

 and sugar cane grow indigenous, and outvie tiie cultivated plants in a most 

 remarkable manner ; as also the ricinum palma Christi, or castor-oil plant, 

 the tree which bears the dodoe, or candle nuts, aleurites triloba is here 

 common, and is used by the people of this village to give a light ; they are 

 strung upon the fibre of a palm leaf stuck into stone pots, and lit ; while 

 the people in the lower settlements use cocoa-nut oil. 



We proceeded down the valley, and loaded the gun with ball, being in- 

 formed that wild hogs are not unfrequent. The stream, from the late 

 heavy rains, assuming the appearance of a navigable river for a considerable 

 distance, we had to swim across in many places. At seven a. m. we 

 arrived at a plain, where a large portion of a mountain, about a mile dis- 

 tant, had lately fallen down, and impeding the course of the stream, gave 

 to the upper portion the appearance of being navigable. The guides in- 

 formed me that it is not uncommon for the sides of vast mountains to open 

 and slide, altering materially the character of the country, and most par- 

 ticularly the line of water courses. 



At this place I noticed large blocks of sienite, compounded of decomposed 

 felspar and hornblende. In the bed of the stream below this, were some 

 small portions of a very compact green liornstone, which I was informed 

 was the only stone on the island which would strike fire with steel, and 

 was therefore much valued by the natives ; the other minerals consisted of 

 trachytes, traps, analcime, chabasie, &c. In the stream that we were leaving 

 are immense eels, many of which that had been speared I saw ; they were 

 really formidable creatures, and occasionally inflict with their teeth terrible 

 wounds. With the mass of mineral matter were considerable quantities 

 of semi-fossil coral, precisely similar to the reef now surrounding the 

 island ; this formation I was informed crowned the crest or top of the 

 mountain, part of which I before mentioned as having fallen. On the 

 sides of these hills the pia, or arrow-root plant, grows in abundance. 



As we approached the northern side of the island, the stream divided 

 itself into numerous small rivulets, which took their course down the vari- 

 ous ravines which terminated the plateau. We now commenced our ap- 

 proach towards the sea, which was made known to us by the presence of 

 the purau and other trees, among which we were again gratified with the 

 presence of the noble ora : many of these trees exceed forty feet in girth, 

 and their bark is beautifully ornamented with parasitical plants. Having 



