406 TAHITI. [CHAP. xvm. 



volcanic rocks, of which they are formed, have been cut through 

 by many profound ravines, diverging from the central broken 

 parts of the island to the coast. Having crossed the narrow low 

 girt of inhabited and fertile land, I followed a smooth steep ridge 

 between two of the deep ravines. The vegetation was singular, 

 consisting almost exclusively of small dwarf ferns, mingled, 

 higher up, with coarse grass ; it was not very dissimilar from 

 that on some of the Welsh hills, and this so close above the 

 orchard of tropical plants on the coast was very surprising. At 

 the highest point, which I reached, trees again appeared. Of 

 the three zones of comparative luxuriance, the lower one owes 

 its moisture, and therefore fertility, to its flatness ; for, being 

 scarcely raised above the level of the sea, the water from the 

 higher land drains away slowly. The intermediate zone does 

 not, like the upper one, reach into a damp and cloudy atmos- 

 phere, and therefore remains sterile. The woods in the upper 

 zone are very pretty, tree-ferns replacing the cocoa-nuts on the 

 coast. It must not, however, be supposed that these woods at 

 all equal in splendour the forests of Brazil. The vast number ot 

 productions, which characterize a continent, cannot be expected 

 to occur in an island. 



From the highest point which I attained, there was a good 

 view of the distant island of Eimeo, dependent on the same sove- 

 reign with Tahiti. On the lofty and broken pinnacles, white 

 massive clouds were piled up, which formed an island in the 

 blue sky, as Eimeo itself did in the blue ocean. The island, 

 with the exception of one small gateway, is completely encircled 

 by a reef. At this distance, a narrow but well-defined brilliantly 

 white line was alone visible, where the waves first encountered 

 the wall of coral. The mountains rose abruptly out of the glassy 

 expanse of the lagoon, included within this narrow white line, 

 outside which the heaving waters of the ocean were dark- 

 coloured. The view was striking: it may aptly be compared to 

 a framed engraving, where the frame represents the breakers, 

 the marginal paper the smooth lagoon, and the drawing the 

 island itself. When in the evening I descended from the moun- 

 tain, a man, whom I had pleased with a trifling gift, met me, 

 bringing with him hot roasted bananas, a pine-apple, and cocoa- 

 nuts. After walking under a burning sun, I do not know any- 



