OF THE SOUTH SEAS 227 



and this is mj'' time. My foremothers' day is past. 

 Allons! We will be soon at the vaimato, and there we 

 will have the dejeuner/' 



As we moved on I saw that the yellow flowers of the 

 puraii, dried red by the sun, — poultices for natives' 

 bruises, — and candlenuts in heaps, — torches ready to 

 hand, — littered the moss. 



The mountain loomed in the distance, and the im- 

 mense Pic du Fran9ais towered in shadow. Faintly I 

 heard the boom of the waterfall, and knew we were near- 

 ing the goal. 



The canon grew yet narrower and darker, and the 

 crash of water louder. We had again attained a con- 

 siderable height over the stream, and the trail seemed 

 lost. The princess took my hand, and cautiously feel- 

 ing the creepers and plants under our feet, we slipped 

 and crept down the hidden path. Suddenly, the light 

 became brilliant, and I found myself in a huge broken 

 bowl of lava rock, the walls almost vertical. From the 

 sunmiit of the precipice facing me fell a suj)erb cascade 

 into a deep and troubled tarn. The stream was spun 

 silver in the sun, which now was warm and splendid. So 

 far it fell that much of it never reached the pool as water, 

 but, blown by the gentle breeze, a moiety in spume and 

 spray wet the earth for an acre about. Like the veil of 

 a bride, the spindrift spread in argent clouds, and a 

 hundred yards away dropped like gentle rain upon us. 

 Verdure covered everything below except where the river 

 ran from the tarn and hurried to the lesser things of the 

 town. The giant walls, as black as the interior of an 

 old furnace, were festooned with magnificent tree ferns, 

 the exquisite maidenhair, lianas, and golden-green 



