TAHITI AND EI MEO. 55 



them. In this place they were compelled to pass the night, by a fog 

 which enveloped them, through which the guides were unwilling to 

 lead them, refusing to proceed further along the dangerous path until 

 the clouds should clear away. 



The next morning was clear, and they pursued their ascending 

 route along; the edg-e of a ridge not more than two or three feet in 

 width, having on each side an abyss two thousand feet deep. Seen 

 from this ridge, looking south, Mount Aorai seemed a conical peak, 

 but as it was approached it proved to be a mountain wall, whose edge 

 was turned towards them. The only ascent was by a similar narrow 

 path between precipices, and surpassed in steepness those they had 

 already passed. The width of the crest seldom exceeded two feet, 

 and in some cases they sat upon it as if on horseback, or were com- 

 pelled to creep along it upon their hands and knees, clinging to the 

 bushes. At last they reached the summit, where they found barely 

 room to turn around. The ridge continued for only a short distance 

 beyond them, being then cut across by the Punaania Valley. 



From the summit of Aorai they had a magnificent view ; to the 

 south, it was speedily bounded by the peaks of Orohena and Pitohiti, 

 whose steep sides rose from the valley beneath them ; to the east, 

 they had the rapid succession of ridge and gorge which characterizes 

 Tahitian scenery ; to the west, over a similar series of jagged ridges, 

 Eimeo and Tetuaroa stood out from the horizon of the sea in bold 

 relief; to the north, they looked down upon the plain, studded with 

 groves of cocoa-nut and orange, and upon the harbour with its ship- 

 ping, and the encircling reefs of coral. 



A short distance below the summit of Mount Aorai, a mass of 

 turrets and pinnacles, which from its singular outline is called the 

 crown, runs along the top of a narrow ledge. 



Except the plain of the coast, no level land is in sight but the 

 valley of Punaania ; this is divided from that of Matavai by a ridge 

 of the usual edge-like form, running upwards towards Orohena. 



Very few of the natives who are now alive have been on the 

 summit of Aorai ; their paths in this direction, as in other places, do 

 not lead beyond the limit of the groves of wild banana (fahie). 

 Beyond the height at which these cease to grow, the ground is chiefly 

 covered with a wiry grass (Gleichenium), which springs up in many 

 places to the height of ten feet, and is every where almost impene- 

 trable. When this was not too high, they broke it down by casting 

 their bodies at full length upon it ; and when of larger growth, they 



