YSABEL. 201 



a spur of the same range as the hill we were bound for was 

 opposite to us. We had understood that this point was only 

 a fourth of the way, and consequently, thinking it impossible 

 that we could go to the top and be back in time for the boat, 

 we did not feel disposed to proceed under the circumstances, 

 and therefore went gently down again. We saw natives 

 chewing betel nut, but not to the extent they do in other 

 places ; and some ten or eleven women coming up in a line, 

 carrying large bundles or packages on their backs. They 

 all wore a tapa of bluish tint round their loins, which came 

 down within six inches of their knees, and had short yellow 

 woolly hair like the men. They seemed very shy, and 

 went on without stopping, apparently as if they did not see 

 us ; at all events they did not seem to look at us at all, 

 though perhaps there might be a peep or two out of the 

 corners of their eyes. 



I did not obseiwe any birds but killed a snake. We 

 could discern the top of the hill at places, but could see no 

 houses in the trees. We met a native who had been to 

 Auckland with the Bishop and could speak English. 



On reaching the spot where we had landed, thunder was 

 rolling, and a heavy rain falling upon us : while we were 

 waiting for our companions, we were drenched from head to 

 foot. The Bishop regretted he had been misunderstood ; 

 what he had said was, that the point at which I turned 

 back was a quarter of the ascent, not, as I had understood, 

 a quarter of the whole distance from our landing-place to 

 the spot I was in search of. We were, it seems, not far from 



