380 lover's leap. 



from west-south-west to north-west, it was ex- 

 tremely agreeable ; but, at the same time often 

 caused me to feel regret that I could not revel 

 amidst the botanical and othernatural productions 

 the coast and adjacent hills seemed to produce in 

 profusion. Besides the elevated " Golden Moun- 

 tain," there were many of great height, some of 

 a saddle form, and the crateric summits of others 

 imparted additional importance to the beautiful 

 romantic scenery around them. 



The hills became less wooded as we advanced 

 to the eastward, and lost much of their tro- 

 pical character. This peculiar feature of the 

 country was, however, occasionally resumed — a 

 sandy beach, upon which large trees were scat- 

 tered, with a few thatched habitations of the 

 natives, peeping from the dense foliage of the 

 trees which grew about, with the cocoa-nut 

 palms waving their feathered branches above 

 them — this again gave the tropical character to 

 our view ; but the receding hills terminating in 

 mountainous country, now but thinly covered 

 with vegetation, varied the landscape, and it 

 possessed little to remind the stranger of inter- 

 tropical scenery. 



It was soon after noonday, when we passed 

 the bluff point, named in the charts, the ' ' Lover's 

 Leap," and the coast beyond maintained, for 



