1834, JANUARY. DESCENT OF MOUNA KUAH 303 



and is beautiful, and said to be durable : also some parcels of geological 

 specimens, my instruments, &c. At seven A.M. I started, having sent 

 the bearers of my luggage before me, but I had hardly entered the wood 

 by the same path as I took on my ascent, when the rain began to fall, 

 which continued the whole day without the least intermission ; but as 

 there was no place suitable for encamping, and the people, as usual, 

 had straggled away from one another, I resolved to proceed. The path 

 was in a dreadful state, numerous rivulets overflowed it in many places, 

 and, rising above their banks, rushed in foam through the deep glens,' 

 the necessity for crossing which impeded my progress in no slight degree! 

 In the low places the water spread into small lakes, and where the road 

 had a considerable declivity, the rushing torrent which flowed down it, 

 gave rather the appearance of a cascade than a path. The road was so 

 soft that we repeatedly sunk to the knees, and supported ourselves on 

 a lava block, or the roots of the trees. Still, violent as was the rain 

 and slippery and dangerous the path, I gathered a truly splendid collection 

 of Ferns, of nearly fifty species, with a few other plants, and some seeds, 

 which were tied up in small bundles, to prevent fermentation, and then 

 protected by fresh Coa bark. Several beautiful species of Mosses and 

 Lichens were also collected ; and spite of all the disadvantages and 

 fatigue that I underwent, still the magnificence of the scenery commanded 

 my frequent attention, and I repeatedly sate down, in the course of the 

 day, under some huge spreading Tree-Fern, which more resembled an 

 individual of the Pine than the Fern tribe, and contemplated with delight 

 the endless variety of form and structure that adorned the objects around 

 me. On the higher part of the mountain, I gathered a Fern identical 

 with the Asplenium viride of my own native country, a circumstance 

 which gave me inexpressible pleasure, and recalled to my mind many of 

 the happiest scenes of my early life. 



" In the evening I reached the saw-mill, when the kind welcome of 

 my mountain-friend, Mr. Mills, together with a rousing fire, soon made 

 me forget the rain and fatigues of the day. Some of the men had arrived 

 before me, others afterwards, and two did not appear till the following 

 day, for having met with some friends, loaded with meat, they preferred 

 a good supper to a dry bed. My guide, friend, and interpreter, Honori, 

 an intelligent and well-disposed fellow, arrived at seven, in great dismay, 

 having, in the dark, entered the river a short distance above a chain of 

 cataracts, and to avoid these, he had clung to a rock till extricated by 

 the aid of two active young men. Though he escaped unhurt, he had 

 been exposed to the wet for nearly ten hours. A night of constant rain 

 succeeded, but I rested well, and after breakfast, having examined all 

 the packages, we quitted the saw-mill for the bay, and arrived there in 

 the afternoon, the arrangement and preservation of my plants affording 

 me occupation for two or three days. It was no easy matter to dry 

 specimens and papers during such incessantly rainy weather. I paid 

 the whole of the sixteen men who had accompanied me, not including 

 Honori and the king's man, at the rate of two dollars, some in money 

 and some in goods : the latter consisted of cotton cloth, combs, scissors 



