The Sides Of The
Valley Were Here Nearly Precipitous, But, As Frequently Happens
With Stratified Rocks, Small Ledges Projected, Which Were
Thickly Covered By Wild Bananas, Lilaceous Plants, And Other
Luxuriant Productions Of The Tropics.
The Tahitians, by
climbing amongst these ledges, searching for fruit, had
discovered a track by which the whole precipice
Could be scaled.
The first ascent from the valley was very dangerous; for it
was necessary to pass a steeply inclined face of naked rock,
by the aid of ropes which we brought with us. How any
person discovered that this formidable spot was the only
point where the side of the mountain was practicable, I cannot
imagine. We then cautiously walked along one of the
ledges till we came to one of the three streams. This ledge
formed a flat spot, above which a beautiful cascade, some
hundred feet in height, poured down its waters, and beneath,
another high cascade fell into the main stream in the valley
below. From this cool and shady recess we made a
circuit to avoid the overhanging waterfall. As before, we
followed little projecting ledges, the danger being partly
concealed by the thickness of the vegetation. In passing
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 our dog and
luggage, and then we clambered up ourselves. 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 along ledges, and sometimes along knife-
edged ridges, having on each hand profound ravines. In
the Cordillera I have seen mountains on a far grander
scale, but for abruptness, nothing at all comparable with this.
In the evening we reached a flat little spot on the banks
of the same stream, which we had continued to follow, and
which descends in a chain of waterfalls: here we bivouacked
for the night. On each side of the ravine there were great
beds of the mountain-banana, covered with ripe fruit. Many
of these plants were from twenty to twenty-five feet high,
and from three to four in circumference. By the aid of
strips of bark for rope, the stems of bamboos for rafters,
and the large leaf of the banana for a thatch, the Tahitians
in a few minutes built us an excellent house; and with
withered leaves made a soft bed.
They then proceeded to make a fire, and cook our evening
meal. A light was procured, by rubbing a blunt pointed
stick in a groove made in another, as if with intention of
deepening it, until by the friction the dust became ignited.
A peculiarly white and very light wood (the Hibiscus tiliareus)
is alone used for this purpose:
Enter page number
PreviousNext
Page 326 of 402
Words from 168411 to 168942
of 208183
