EXCURSION IN THE MOUNTAINS. 185 



projected, which were thickly covered by wild 

 bananas, liliaceous plants, and other luxuriant pro- 

 ductions of the tropics. The Tahitians, by climb- 

 ing amongst these ledges, searching for fruit, had 

 discovered a track by which the whole precipice 

 could be scaled. The first ascent from the valley 

 was very dangerous, for it was necessary to pass 

 a steeply-inclined face of naked rock by the aid 

 of ropes which we brought with us. How any 

 person discovered that this formidable spot was 

 the only point where the side of the mountain was 

 practicable, I cannot imagine. We then cautiously 

 walked along one of the ledges till we came to 

 one of the three streams. This ledge formed a 

 flat spot, above which a beautiful cascade, some 

 hundred feet in lieight, poux'ed down its waters, 

 and beneath, another high cascade fell into the 

 main stream in the valley below. From this cool 

 and shady recess we made a circuit to avoid the 

 overhanging waterfall. As before, we followed 

 little projecting ledges, the danger being partly 

 concealed by the thickness of the vegetation. In 

 passing from one of the ledges to another, there 

 was a vertical wall of rock. One of the Tahitians, 

 a fine, active man, placed the trunk of a tree against 

 this, climbed up it, and then, by the aid of crevices, 

 reached the summit. He fixed the ropes to a pro- 

 jecting point, and lowered them for our dog and 

 luggage, and then we clambered up ourselves. 

 Beneath the ledge on which the dead tree was 

 placed, the precipice must have been five or six 

 hundred feet deep ; and if the abyss had not been 

 partly concealed by the overhanging ferns and lilies, 

 my head would have turned giddy, and nothing 

 should have induced me to have attempted it. 

 We continued to ascend, sometimes along ledges, 

 and sometimes along knife-edged ridges, having 



