Nov. 1835. EXCURSION INTO THE MOUNTAINS. 487 



the valley were here nearly precipitous ; but, as frequently 

 happens with stratified rocks^ small ledges projected, which 

 were thickly covered by wild bananas, liliaceous plants, 

 and other luxuriant productions of the tropics. The Ta- 

 hitians, 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 danger- 

 ous : for it was necessary to pass the face of a 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 the stream already alluded to. 

 This ledge formed a flat spot, above which a beautiful 

 cascade, of some hundred feet, poured down its waters, and 

 beneath it another high one emptied itself into the main 

 stream. From this cool and shady recess, we made a 

 circuit to avoid the overhanging cascade. As before, we 

 followed little projecting ledges, the apparent danger being 

 partly hidden by the thickness of the vegetation. In pass- 

 ing from one of the ledges to another, there was a vertical 

 wall of rock. One of the Tahitians, a fine active man, 

 placed the trunk of a tree against this, climbed up it, and 

 then by the aid of crevices reached the summit. He fixed 

 the ropes to a projecting point, and lowered them for us, 

 then hauled up a dog which accompanied us, and lastly 

 our luggage. Beneath the ledge on which the dead tree 

 was placed the precipice must have been five or six hundred 

 feet deep ; and if the abyss had not been partly concealed 

 by the overhanging ferns and lilies, my head would have 

 turned giddy, and nothing should have induced me to have 

 attempted it. We continued to ascend sometimes along 

 ledges, and sometimes along knife-edged ridges, having on 

 each hand profound ravines. In the Cordillera, I have seen 

 mountains on a far grander scale, but for abruptness, no 

 part of them at all comparable to this. In the evening we 

 reached a flat little spot on the banks of the same stream^ 



