MOUNA-ROA. 267 
and have been expected to draw down calamities 
on those who presented them. 
The ground throughout the whole plain is so 
hot, that those who come to the mountains to 
procure wood for building, or to cut down trees 
and hollow them out for canoes, always cook their 
own food, whether animal or vegetable, by simply 
wrapping it in fern leaves, and burying it in the 
earth. The east side of the plain was ornamented 
with several beautiful species of Alices; also with 
several plants much resembling some of the 
varieties of cycas, and thickly covered with ohelo 
bushes, the berries of which we ate freely as we 
walked along, till, coming to a steep precipice, 
we ascended about 300 feet, and reached the 
high land on the side towards the sea, which com¬ 
manded a fine view of Mouna-Roa, opposite to 
which we had been travelling ever since we left 
Punaruu. The mountain appeared of an oval 
shape, stretching along in a south-west direction, 
nearly parallel with the south-east shore, from 
which its base was generally distant twenty or 
thirty miles. A ridge of high land appeared to 
extend from the eastern point to the south-west 
shore. Between it and the foot of Mouna-Roa 
was a valley, as near as we could judge, from 
seven to twelve miles wide. The summit of Mouna- 
Roa was never free from snow, the higher parts of 
the mountain's side were totally destitute of every 
kind of vegetation; and, by the help of a teles¬ 
cope, we could discover numerous extinguished 
craters, with brown and black streams of indurated 
lava over the whole extent of its surface. The foot 
of the mountain was enriched on this side by trees 
and shrubs, which extended from its base six or 
seven miles towards the summit. 
