OF THE SOUTH SEAS 235 



fighting to drive out the French invader, and where the 

 French officials fled with the treasure-box when they 

 feared war with England not very long ago." 



She pointed up to the brim of the precipice, where the 

 river launched itself into the air, to drop six hundred 

 feet before it fed the stream below. Sheer and menac- 

 ing the black walls of the crevasse loomed, as if forbid- 

 ding approach, but through a network of vines and 

 bushes, over a path seldom used, we climbed, and after 

 half a mile more of steeps, reached the fort. Rugged 

 was the way, and we aided each other more than once, 

 but rejoiced at our effort when we surmounted the 

 summit. 



The view was indescribably grand. One felt upon 

 the roof of the island, though the farther heights of the 

 valley culminated in a gigantic crag-wall, a saddle only 

 a yard across, and wooded to the apex, and above that 

 even towered Orohena, nearly a mile and a half high, 

 and never reached by man despite many efforts. 

 Tropic birds, the bo's'ns of the sailor, their bodies 

 whitish gray, with their two long tail-feathers, had their 

 haunt there, and piped above the trees. The river was 

 a fierce torrent, and leaped into a water-hewn lava basin, 

 where it swirled and foamed before it rushed, singing, 

 through a stone funnel to the border of the chasm, and 

 sprang with a dull roar into the ether. 



There was a chorus of sounds from the cataract, the 

 river, the wind, the trees, and the birds, a mighty music 

 of elements of the earth and of life, rising and falling 

 rhythmically, and inspiring, but nerve-racking. Fra- 

 grance of the Jasmine seized my hand and held it. 



"Let us go to a more peaceful spot, where I can tell 



