PACIFIC AND BEERING’S STRAIT. 
81 
many places, so precipitous, that we were constantly in danger of CHAP, 
slipping and rolling into the depths below, which the assistance of the 
natives alone prevented. 
AVhile we were thus borrowing help from others, and grasping 
every tuft of grass and bough that offered its friendly support, we were 
overtaken by a group of chubby little children, trudging unconcernedly 
on, munching a water melon, and balancing on their heads calabashes 
of water, which they had brought from the opposite side of the island. 
They smiled at our helplessness as they passed, and we felt their innocent 
reproof; but we were still unpractised in such feats, while they, from 
being trained to them, had acquired a footing and a firmness which 
habit alone can produce. It was dark when we reached the houses, 
but we found by a whoop which echoed through the woods, that we 
were not the last from home. This whoop, peculiar to the place, is so 
shrill, that it may be heard half over the island, and the ear of the 
natives is so quick, that they will catch it when we could distinguish 
nothing of the kind. By the tone in which it is delivered, they also 
know the wants of the person, and who it is. These shrill sounds, which 
We had just heard, informed us, and those who were at the village, that 
party had lost their way in the woods. A blazing beacon was im- 
mediately made, which, together with a few more whoops to direct the 
party, soon brought the absentees home. Their perfection in these 
signals will be manifest from the following anecdote : I w^as one day 
crossing the mountain which intersects the island with Christian , we 
had not long parted with their whale-boat on the western side of the 
island, and were descending a ravine amidst a thicket of trees, when 
he turned round and said, “ The whale-boat is come round to Bounty 
Bay at which I was not a little surprised, as I had heard nothing, and 
We could not see through the wood ; but he said he heard the signal ; 
and when we got down it proved to be the case. 
In this little retreat there is not much variety, and the description 
of one day’s occupation serves equally for its successor. The dance is 
a recreation very rarely indulged in ; but as we particularly requested 
it, they would not refuse to gratify us. A large room in Quintal’s 
house was prepared for the occasion, and the company were ranged 
M 
