The Air Was Light And Baffling, Now East, Now West,
Now North, Now South; While From Either Hand Came The Roar Of Unseen
Breakers.
From the looming cliffs arose the blatting of wild goats,
and overhead the first stars were peeping mistily through the ragged
train of the passing squall.
At the end of two hours, having come a
mile into the bay, we dropped anchor in eleven fathoms. And so we
came to Taiohae.
In the morning we awoke in fairyland. The Snark rested in a placid
harbour that nestled in a vast amphitheatre, the towering, vine-clad
walls of which seemed to rise directly from the water. Far up, to
the east, we glimpsed the thin line of a trail, visible in one
place, where it scoured across the face of the wall.
"The path by which Toby escaped from Typee!" we cried.
We were not long in getting ashore and astride horses, though the
consummation of our pilgrimage had to be deferred for a day. Two
months at sea, bare-footed all the time, without space in which to
exercise one's limbs, is not the best preliminary to leather shoes
and walking. Besides, the land had to cease its nauseous rolling
before we could feel fit for riding goat-like horses over giddy
trails. So we took a short ride to break in, and crawled through
thick jungle to make the acquaintance of a venerable moss-grown
idol, where had foregathered a German trader and a Norwegian captain
to estimate the weight of said idol, and to speculate upon
depreciation in value caused by sawing him in half.
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