XVIII SUCCESSION OF WATERFALLS 437 



only in these deep ravines, innocuous to every one. Close by 

 I saw the wild arum, the roots of which, when well baked, are 

 good to eat, and the young leaves better than spinach. There 

 was the wild yam, and a liliaceous plant called Ti, which grows 

 in abundance, and has a soft brown root, in shape and size like 

 a huge log of wood : this served us for dessert, for it is as 

 sweet as treacle, and with a pleasant taste. There were, 

 moreover, several other wild fruits, and useful vegetables. The 

 little stream, besides its cool water, produced eels and cray- 

 fish. I did indeed admire this scene, when I compared it 

 with an uncultivated one in the temperate zones. I felt the 

 force of the remark that man, at least savage man, with 

 his reasoning powers only partly developed, is the child of the 

 tropics. 



As the evening drew to a close, I strolled beneath the 

 gloomy shade of the bananas up the course of the stream. 

 My walk was soon brought to a close by coming to a waterfall 

 between two and three hundred feet high ; and again above 

 this there was another. I mention all these waterfalls in this 

 one brook to give a general idea of the inclination of the land. 

 In the little recess where the water fell, it did not appear that 

 a breath of wind had ever blown. The thin edges of the great 

 leaves of the banana, damp with spray, were unbroken, instead 

 of being, as is so generally the case, split into a thousand 

 shreds. From our position, almost suspended on the mountain- 

 side, there were glimpses into the depths of the neighbouring 

 valleys ; and the lofty points of the central mountains, 

 towering up within sixty degrees of the zenith, hid half the 

 evening sky. Thus seated, it was a sublime spectacle to 

 watch the shades of night gradually obscuring the last and 

 highest pinnacles. 



Before we laid ourselves down to sleep, the elder Tahitian 

 fell on his knees, and with closed eyes repeated a long prayer 

 in his native tongue. He prayed as a Christian should do, 

 with fitting reverence, and without the fear of ridicule or any 

 ostentation of piety. At our meals neither of the men would 

 taste food, without saying beforehand a short grace. Those 

 travellers who think that a Tahitian prays only when the eyes 

 of the missionary are fixed on him, should have slept with us 

 that night on the mountain-side. Before morning it rained 



