1834, JANUARY. ASCENT OF MOUNA KUAH 299 



for fuel, and it continued to rain without intermission. The next day 

 we proceeded on our way at eight o'clock, the path becoming worse and 

 worse. The large Tree Ferns, and other trees that shadowed it, proved 

 no protection from the incessant rain, and I was drenched to the skin 

 the whole day, besides repeatedly slipping into deep holes, full of soft 

 mud. The number of species of Filices is very great, and towards the 

 upper end of the wood, the timber trees, sixty or seventy feet high, and 

 three to ten inches * in circumference, are matted with Mosses, which, 

 together with the Tillandsias and Ferns, betoken an exceedingly humid 

 atmosphere. The wood terminates abruptly ; but as the lodge of the 

 cattle-hunter was still about a mile and a-half farther up the clear flank 

 of the mountain, situated on the bank of a craggy lava stream, I delayed 

 ascertaining the exact altitude of the spot where the woody region ends 

 (a point of no small interest to the Botanist), until my return, and sate 

 down to rest myself awhile, in a place where the ground was thickly 

 carpeted with species of Fragaria, some of which were in blossom, and 

 a few of them in fruit. Here a Mr. Miles, part owner of the saw-mill 

 that I had passed the day before, came up to me ; he was on his way 

 to join his partner, a Mr. Castles, who was engaged in curing the flesh of 

 the wild cattle near the verge of the wood, and his conversation helped 

 to beguile the fatigues of the road, for though the distance I had accom- 

 plished this morning was little more than seven miles, still the laborious 

 nature of the path, and the weight of more than 60 Ibs. on my back, 

 where I carried my barometer, thermometer, book, and papers, proved 

 so very fatiguing, that I felt myself almost worn out. I reached the 

 lodge at four, wet to the skin, and benumbed with cold, and humble 

 as the shelter was, I hailed it with delight. Here a large fire dried my 

 clothes, and I got something to eat, though, unluckily, my guides all 

 lingered behind, and those who carried my blanket and tea-kettle were 

 the last to make their appearance. These people have no thought or 

 consideration for the morrow ; but sit down to their food, smoke and 

 tell stories, and make themselves perfectly happy. The next day my 

 two new acquaintances went out with their guns and shot a young bull, 

 a few rods from the hut, which they kindly gave me for the use of my 

 party. According to report, the grassy flanks of the mountain abound 

 with wild cattle, the offspring of the stock left here by Capt. Vancouver, 

 and which now prove a very great benefit to this island. A slight interval 

 of better weather this afternoon afforded a glimpse of the summit between 

 the clouds, it was covered with snow. At night the sky became quite 

 clear, and the stars, among which I observed Orion, Cams minor, an 

 Canopus, shone with intense brilliancy. 



" The next day the atmosphere was perfectly cloudless, and I visi 

 some of the high peaks which were thinly patched with snow, 

 of them which were extinct volcanos, not a blade of grass could be seen, 

 nor any thing save lava, mostly reddish, but in some places of a black 

 colour. Though on the summit of the most elevated peak, tl 

 1 Probably an error for ' feet.' ED. 



