WEALTH OF THE CHIEFS. 181 



flotilla of canoes ; and when the natives were al- 

 lowed to come on board, 1 suppose there could not 

 have been less than two hundred. It was the 

 opinion of every one that it would have been diffi- 

 cult to have picked out an equal number from any- 

 other nation who would have given so little trouble. 

 Everybody brought something for sale : shells were 

 the main article of trade. The Tahitians now fully 

 understand the value of money, and prefer it to old 

 clothes or other articles. The various coins, how- 

 ever, of English and Spanish denomination puzzle 

 them, and they never seemed to think the small 

 silver quite secure until changed into dollars. Some 

 of the chiefs have accumulated considerable sums 

 of money. One chief, not long since, offered 800 

 dollars (about ^€160 sterling) for a small vessel ; 

 and frequentlytheypurchase whale-boats andhorses 

 at the rate of from 50 to 100 dollars. 



After breakfast I went on shore, and ascended 

 the nearest slope to a height of between two and 

 three thousand feet. The outer mountains are 

 smooth and conical, but steep ; and the old vol- 

 canic rocks, of which they are fonned, 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 in- 

 habited and fertile land, I followed a smooth steep 

 ridge between two of the deep ravines. The vege- 

 tation 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 com- 

 parative luxuriance, the lower one owes its moist- 

 ure, and therefore fei'tility, to its flatness ; for, be- 

 ll.— Q 



