ASCENT OF THE CUKEAL 89 



the rare C. oleifera which produces the oil used in China.' Mr. 

 Veitch was hoping to grow tea regularly and cut into the 

 monopoly of the East India Company. To Hooker he con- 

 fided his plans and methods, * telling me that it was his duty to 

 impart his knowledge to me as Botanist of the Expedition, 

 and only hoped I would not use it to his disadvantage on the 

 Island.' His visitor was allowed to take specimens of the 

 plants, but * our time was too short to allow of our waiting 

 and tasting Mr. Veitch's tea. The owner very naturally 

 praises his tea, as equal to the true Chinese herb. Mr. Muir 

 informed us that it was execrable, and pronounced so by eveiy 

 one that had tasted it.' On the other hand Lieutenant Bird 

 testij&ed to its excellence, while Captain Crozier, commander 



of the Terror, reconciled these opposite views, ' tells me he 



has often drunk Mr. Veitch's tea, and that formerly it used to 

 be so bad that bare civility could hardly tempt him to swallow 

 it and not do the other thing, but that which he tasted this time 

 was very fair tea indeed.'. 



The lonely waste, where hardly any animal life was to be 

 seen, was tenanted by strange human beings. 



After leaving the Jardine we continued ascending through 

 the forest, the trees gradually dwindled away and nothing 

 remained but a short herbage with numerous bushes of a 

 Cytisus with which the hillsides seemed spotted. On 

 emerging at the top of the valley, about 3500 feet, we were 

 suddenly attacked by a party of pseudo Highlanders male 

 and female, chiefly children, ragged, dirty Portuguese, 

 each armed with a long pole, iron shodded {sic) for climbing, 

 with which they assailed our ponies, causing them to spring 

 over the rough ground at a rate which nearly rendered my 

 seat untenable. This was done apparently for effect, for 

 we came suddenly upon one of the most slpendid views I 

 ever beheld. We stood upon the brink of a tremendous 

 precipice which formed one side of a gully about 2000 feet 

 deep and f of a mile across. On looking over nothing was 

 seen but the tops of a few projecting trees, and at the bottom 

 a small stream that dashed along and was all but invisible. 

 The opposite precipice was steeper and more bare than 

 that on which we stood. 



