250 
EXPLORING THE HEIGHTS. 
Large bamboos such as are generally used in 
lmt*building are not procurable here— at least 
the men brought only thin ones. The spars are 
very irregular — in bed I can see the sea and the 
ships in the bay ; and we have no door, because 
the posts are so much off the straight that it 
will not hang, so we have contented ourselves 
with a curtain. 
The first Sunday after our arrival we set off 
to explore the heights above our dwelling. 
Starting, this time on foot, as soon as it was 
light enough to pick our way, we mounted the 
very steep path to the same spur we climbed in 
coming — the only open way to the heights. 
The road is pretty much the same as I have de- 
scribed, only without such deep gorges. Every 
hundred yards revealed a wider stretch of coast- 
line and a greater expanse of sea. What en- 
couragement to proceed ! What reward for the 
pains ! The dewy hill-slopes awake to deck them- 
selves in the glistening mantle thrown by the 
urgent sun, — the joyous chorus of the feathered 
tribe fills the heavens, — tiny beauties, bright 
scarlet, glossy black, and quiet grej 7 , delight the 
eye as they flit hither and thither, — a king- 
fisher, so royally blue, shoots athwart the slant- 
ing sunbeams, a gaudy parrot balances on a 
