OCR Text |
Show 186 TAlJ l'fl. Nov. 1835. of the lofty central peaks, seen as through an ave~ue, with here and there a waving cocoa-nut tree on one s1de, were extremely picturesque. The valley soon be.g~n to narrow, and the sides to grow lofty and more pree1p1tous. Mter having walked between three and four hours, we found the width of the ravine scarcely exceeded that of the bed of the stream. On each hand the walls were nearly vertical ; yet from the soft nature of the volcanic .str~ta, trees and a rank vegetation sprung from every proJectmg ledge. These precipices must have been some thousand feet high: and the whole formed a mountain gorge, far more magnificent than any thing which I had ever before beheld. Until the mid-day sun stood vertically over the ravine, the air had felt cool and damp, but now it became very sultry. Shaded by a ledge of rock, beneath a fagade of columnar lava we ate our dinner. My guides had already procured a di~h of small fish and fresh-water prawns. They carried with them a small net stretched on a hoop; and where the water was deep and in eddies, they dived, and like otters, by their eyesight followed the fish into holes and corners, and thus secured them. The Tahitians have the dexterity of amphibious animals in the water. An anecdote mentioned by Ellis shows how much they feel at home in that element. When a horse was landing for Pomarre in 1817, the slings broke, and it fell into the water: immediately the natives jumped overboard, and by their cries and vain efforts at assistance, almost drowned the animal. As soon, however, as it reached the sh~re, the whole population took to flight, and tried to hide themselves from the man-carrying-pig, as they christened the horse. A little higher up, the river divided itself into three little streams. The two northern ones were impracticable, owing to a succession of waterfalls, which descended from the jagged summit of the highest mountain; the other to all appearance was equally inaccessible, but we managed to ascend it hy a most extraordinary road. The sides of Nov. 1835. EXCUH.S!ON IN1'0 THE MOUN'l'AINS. 487 the valley .were here nearly precipitous ; hut, as frequently happens. with stratified rocks, small ledges projected, which were thiCkly co~ered by wild bananas, liliaceous plants, a?~ other luxunant productions of the tropics. The Tahitians, by climbing amongst these ledges searching fo f 't h d d . ' r rUI, a 1scovered a track by which the whole precipice could be scaled.. ,.fhe first ascent from the valley was very dangerous : for. It was necessa? to pass the face of a naked rock, by the ai~ of ropes, whiCh we brought with us. How any per. son dhi scovered .t hat this formidable spot was the on 1y pomt ": ere. the stde of the mountain was practicable, 1 cannot Imagme. We then cautiously walked alonO' one of the. ledges, till we came to the stream already al~ded to. Tlus ledge formed a flat spot, above which a beautiful cascade, of some hundred feet, poured down its waters and beneath it another high one emptied itself into the 'main s~rea~. From this cool and shady recess, we made a CircUit to avoid the overhanging cascade. As before we followe~ little projecting ledges, the apparent danger being ~artly hidden by the thickness of the vegetation. In passmg from one of the ledges to another, there was a vertical wall of rock. One of the Tahitians, a fine active man, placed the trunk of a tree against this, climbed up it, and then by the aid of crevices reached the summit. He fixed the ropes to a projecting point, and lowered them for us then hauled up a dog which accompanied us, and lastl; our luggage. Beneath the ledge on which the dead tree was placed the precipice must have been five or six hundred feet deep; and if the abyss had not been partly concealed by the overhanging ferns and lilies, my head would have turned giddy, and nothing should have induced me to have attempted it. We continued to ascend sometimes alorJO" ledges, and sometimes along knife-edged ridges, having o~ each ha.n d profound ravines. In the Cordillera' I have seen mountams on a far grander scale, but for abruptness, no part of them at all comparable to this. In the evening we reached a flat little spot on the banks of the same stream, |