XVIII 
EXCURSION IN THE MOUNTAINS 
433 
sovereign with Tahiti. On the lofty and broken pinnacles 
white massive clouds were piled up, which formed an island in 
the blue sky, as Eimeo itself did in the blue ocean. The 
island, with the exception of one small gateway, is completely 
encircled by a reef. At this distance, a narrow but well- 
defined brilliantly white line was alone visible, where the waves 
first encountered the wall of coral. The mountains rose 
abruptly out of the glassy expanse of the lagoon, included 
within this narrow white line, outside which the heaving 
waters of the ocean were dark-coloured. The view was strik¬ 
ing : it may aptly be compared to a framed engraving, where 
the frame represents the breakers, the marginal paper the 
smooth lagoon, and the drawing the island itself. When in 
the evening I descended from the mountain, a man, whom I 
had pleased with a trifling gift, met me, bringing with him hot 
roasted bananas, a pine-apple, and cocoa-nuts. After walking 
under a burning sun, I do not know anything more delicious 
than the milk of a young cocoa-nut. Pine-apples are here so 
abundant that the people eat them in the same wasteful 
manner as we might turnips. They are of an excellent 
flavour—perhaps even better than those cultivated in England; 
and this I believe is the highest compliment which can be paid 
to any fruit. Before going on board, Mr. Wilson interpreted 
for me to the Tahitian who had paid me so adroit an attention, 
that I wanted him and another man to accompany me on a 
short excursion into the mountains. 
18 th .—In the morning I came on shore early, bringing 
with me some provisions in a bag, and two blankets for myself 
and servant. These were lashed to each end of a long pole, 
which was alternately carried by my Tahitian companions on 
their shoulders. These men are accustomed thus to carry, for 
a whole day, as much as fifty pounds at each end of their 
poles. I told my guides to provide themselves with food and 
clothing ; but they said that there was plenty of food in the 
mountains, and for clothing, that their skins were sufficient. 
Our line of march was the valley of Tia-auru, down which a 
river flows into the sea by Point Venus. This is one of the 
principal streams in the island, and its source lies at the base 
of the loftiest central pinnacles, which rise to a height of about 
2 F 
