186 TAHITI. 



on each hand profound ravines. In the Cordillera 

 I have seen mountains on a far grander scale, but 

 for abruptness nothing at all comparable witli this. 

 In the evening we reached a flat little spot on the 

 banks of the same stream, which we had continued 

 to follow, and which descends in a chain of water- 

 falls : here we bivouacked for the night. On each 

 side of the ravine there were gieat beds of the 

 mountain-banana, covered with ripe fruit. Many 

 of these plants were from twenty to twenty-five 

 feet high, and from three to four in circumference. 

 By the aid of strips of bark for rope, the stems of 

 bamboos for rafters, and the large leaf of the ba- 

 nana for a thatch, the Tahitians in a few minutes 

 built us an excellent house, and with withered 

 leaves made a soft bed. 



They then proceeded to make a fire and cook 

 our evening meal. A light was procured by rub- 

 bing a blunt-pointed stick in a groove made in an- 

 other, as if with intention of deepening it, until by 

 the friction the dust became ignited. A peculiarly 

 white and very light wood (the Hibiscus tiliaceus) 

 is alone used for this purpose : it is the same which 

 sen'es for poles to carry any burden, and for the float- 

 ing outriggers to their canoes. The fire was pro- 

 duced in a few seconds : but to a person who does 

 not understand the art, it requires, as I found, the 

 greatest exertion ; but at last, to my great pride, I 

 succeeded in igniting the dust. The Gaucho in 

 the Pampas uses a diffei'ent method : taking an 

 elastic stick about eighteen inches long, he press- 

 es one end on his breast, and the other pointed end 

 into a hole in a piece of wood, and then rapidly 

 turns the curved part, like a carpenter's centre-bit. 

 The Tahitians, having made a small fire of sticks, 

 placed a score of stones, of about the size of crick- 

 et-balls, on the burning wood. In about ten min- 



