THE VOYAGE OF THE BEAGLE 431 



tical; 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 magnifi- 

 cent 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 became very sultry. Shaded by a 

 ledge of rock, beneath a faqade of columnar lava, we ate our 

 dinner. My guides had already procured a dish of small 

 fish and fresh-water prawns. They carried 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 followed 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, * ne 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 the 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 as- 

 cend it by a most extraordinary road. The sides of the 

 valley were here nearly precipitous; but, as frequently hap- 

 pens with stratified rocks, small ledges projected, which were 

 thickly covered by wild bananas, lilaceous plants, and other 

 luxuriant productions of the tropics. The Tahitians, by 

 climbing amongst these ledges, searching for fruit, had dis- 

 covered 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 can- 



