TAHITI AND EI MEO. 47 



his attention to his duties, and rarely spoke unless relative to his 

 business. 



After the guides had been engaged, our gentlemen passed the 

 night in a native house close by, ready to start at an early hour. At 

 daylight, Vahaore and his son were provided with ropes ; the reason 

 the old man gave for taking his son was, that he might be able to 

 learn the way. They now set out, and by nine o'clock had reached 

 a higher point than at any time on their former journey : this was 

 about three thousand five hundred feet, and was attained after 

 having walked six miles. When they had reached the altitude of 

 fifteen hundred feet they no longer found any paths. On arriving at 

 this point, they halted for some time to make collections of land- 

 shells, and some very interesting specimens were obtained of Helices, 

 Partulas, Cyclostomas, Carocollas, and Pupas ; after this they con- 

 tinued ascending, the ridge gradually becoming narrower, until they 

 reached a spot on the ridge where there was not room for one person 

 to pass by another, and where they could look down a precipice on 

 each side to depths of two thousand feet. 



Plants that were below of small size here grew into large woody 

 shrubs ; among them a species of Epacris was found growing luxu- 

 riantly along the crest of the ridges, and magnificent arborescent ferns 

 on the mountain sides, some of them forty feet in height ; another 

 species was seen whose fronds were more than twenty feet in length. 

 Their path was much impeded by the tangled ferns and wiry grass 

 (Gleichenia), which it was impossible to get through without the aid 

 of a knife or hatchet. They had now reached four thousand five 

 hundred feet, the highest point yet attained, according to the guide, by 

 white men : two o'clock had arrived, and as there was no place where 

 they could encamp, or any chance of reaching a point suitable for 

 passing the night in, by the advice of Vahaore, they allowed him to 

 look for one. The mountain top was still estimated to be six miles 

 distant ; they had little doubt that it could be ascended by follow- 

 ing the ridge, and it was thought that they could accomplish the 

 task if time permitted. The day was fine, and they enjoyed a view 

 of the whole mountain, which appeared as if it were the centre 

 from which the different ridges of the island radiate in ten or twelve 

 directions towards the coast, having deep and narrow valleys between 

 them, through which the mountain torrents rush. These valleys 

 spread out as they approach the coast, and the ridges become more 

 rounded and accessible. 



