408 TAHITI. [cuap. XVIIZ. 
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 es followed the fish 
into holes and corners, and thus caught thef. 
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, the 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, how- 
ever, 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 ascend it by a most extraordinary 
road. The sides of the valley were here nearly precipitous ; but, 
as frequently happens with: stratified rocks, small ledges pro- 
jected, which were thickly covered by wild bananas, liliaceous 
plants, and other luxuriant productions of the tropics. The 
Tahitians, by climbing amongst these ledges, searching for fruit, 
had discovered 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 cannot imagine. 
We then cautiously walked along one of the ledges till we came 
to one of the three streams. This ledge formed a flat spot, 
above which a beautiful cascade, some hundred feet in height, 
poured down its waters, and beneath, another high cascade fell 
into the main stream in the valley below. From this cool and 
shady recess we made a circuit to avoid the overhanging waterfall. 
As before, we followed little projecting ledges, the danger being 
partly concealed by the thickness of the vegetation. In passing 
from one of the ledges to another, there was a vertical wall ot 
