184 TAtllTI. , 



vertical ; yet, from the soft nature of the volcanic 

 strata, trees and a rank vegetation sprung from 

 every projecting ledge. These precipices must 

 have been some thousand feet high ; and the whole 

 formed a mountain gorge far more magnificent 

 than anything which I had ever before beheld. 

 Until the midday sun stood vertically over the 

 ravine, the air felt cool and damp, but now it be- 

 came very sultry. Shaded by a ledge of rock, 

 beneath a facade of columnar lava, we ate our 

 dinner. My guides had already procured a dish 

 of small fish and fresh-water prawns. They car- 

 ried with them a small net stretched on a hoop ; 

 and where the water was deep and in eddies, they 

 dived, and, like otters, with their eyes open, follow- 

 ed the fish into holes and corners, and thus caught 

 them. 



The Tahitians have the dexterity of amphibious 

 animals in the water. An anecdote mentioned by 

 Ellis shows how much they feel at home in this 

 element. When a horse was landing for Pomarre 

 in 1817, the slings broke, and it fell into the water: 

 immediately the natives jumped overboard, and by 

 their cries and vain efforts at assistance almost 

 drowned it. As soon, however, as it reached the 

 shore, the whole population took to flight, and 

 tried to hide themselves from the man-carrying pig, 

 as they christened tlie horse. 



A little higher up, the river divided itself into 

 three little streams. The two northern ones were 

 impracticable, owing to a succession of waterfalls 

 which descended from the jagged summit of the 

 highest mountain ; the other, to all appearance, was 

 equally inaccessible, but we managed to ascend it 

 by a most extraordinary road. The sides of the 

 valley were here nearly precipitous ; but, as fre- 

 quently happens with stratified rocks, small ledges 



