PACIFIC AND BEERING’S STRAIT. 
219 
be much obliged by a little rum,” to qualify a repast she had been making CHAP, 
on raw fish, by way, I suppose, of provoking an appetite for dinner. ^ , 
We had missed her majesty a few minutes before from the cabin, and on April, 
looking over the stern of the ship, saw her seated in a native boat finish- 
ing her crude repast. 
A few days previous to this visit Lieutenant Belcher was despatched 
in the barge to Mirapaye, in the district of Papara, to bring round a 
quantity of beef which had been prepared there for the ship’s use by 
Mr. Henry, the son of one of the early missionaries. In this district 
there is a lake and a moral, of which it will be proper to give a short 
notice, as the former is considered curious, and foreigners are often led, 
by the exaggerated account of the natives, to visit the place, which really 
does not repay the trouble it involves. To convey some idea of the dif- 
ficulty of reaching this lake, Lieutenant Belcher and Mr. Collie, who ac- 
companied him, crossed a stream which ran through the valley leading 
to it twenty-nine times in their ascent, sometimes at a depth considerably 
above their knees ; and after it was passed it was necessary to climb 
the mountain upon hands and knees, and to maintain their position 
by grasping the shrubs in their way, which indeed were, for the most 
part, weak and treacherous, consisting principally of the mum sapien- 
tiim, sponclias dulcis, and some ferns. 
“ In this manner,” says Mr. Collie, “ tracing a zigzag and irregular 
course, and after losing our way once or twice, we reached the highest 
part of the acclivity; and then descending a short distance, the puny lake 
burst upon our disappointed view.” Its dimensions were estimated at 
three quarters of a mile in circumference ; and it was stated by the 
natives to be fourteen fathoms deep. The water of the lake was 
niuddy, and appeared to receive its supplies from several small streams 
from the mountains, and the condensation of the vapour around, which 
fell in a succession of drops, and, bounding off the projecting parts of the 
cliff, formed here and there thin and airy cascades. Though there is a 
constant accession of water, there has not yet been found any outlet to 
the lake ; and what renders it still more curious is, that when heavy rains 
descend, the water, instead of rising and overflowing its margin, is carried 
off by some subterraneous channel. The natives say, when these rains 
F F 2 
