ASCENT OF THE CUEEIL 89 
the rare C. oleifera which produces the oil used in China/ Mr. 
Veitch was hoping to grow tea regularly and cut into the 
monopoly of the East India Company. To Hooker he con- 
fided his plans and methods, * telHng me that it was his duty to 
impart his knowledge to me as Botanist of the Expedition, 
and only hoped I would not use it to his disadvantage on the 
Island.' His visitor was allowed to take specimens of the 
plants, but ' our time was too short to allow of our waiting 
and tasting Mr. Veitch's tea. The owner very naturally 
praises his tea, as equal to the true Chinese herb. Mr. Muir 
informed us that it was execrable, and pronounced so by eveiy 
one that had tasted it.' On the other hand Lieutenant Bird 
testified to its excellence, while Captain Crozier, commander 
of the Terror, reconciled these opposite views, ' tells me he 
has often drunk Mr. Veitch's tea, and that formerly it used to 
be so bad that bare civility could hardly tempt him to swallow 
it and not do the other thing, but that which he tasted this time 
was very fair tea indeed.'. 
The lonely waste, where hardly any animal Hfe w^as to be 
seen, was tenanted by strange human beings. 
After leaving the Jardine we continued ascending through 
the forest, the trees gradually dwindled away and nothing 
remained but a short herbage with numerous bushes of a 
Cytisus with which the hillsides seemed spotted. On 
emerging at the top of the valley, about 3500 feet, we were 
suddenly attacked by a party of pseudo Highlanders male 
and female, chiefly children, ragged, dirty Portuguese, 
each armed with a long pole, iron shodded (sic) for climbing, 
with which they assailed our ponies, causing them to spring 
over the rough ground at a rate which nearly rendered my 
seat untenable. This was done apparently for effect, for 
we came suddenly upon one of the most slpendid views I 
ever beheld. We stood upon the brink of a tremendous 
precipice which formed one side of a gully about 2000 feet 
deep and J of a mile across. On looking over nothing was 
seen but the tops of a few projecting trees, and at the bottom 
a small stream that dashed along and was all but invisible. 
The opposite precipice was steeper and more bare than 
that on which we stood. 
