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 Tiaauru,
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 7000 feet. The whole island
is so mountainous that the only way to penetrate into the
interior is to follow up the valleys. Our road, at first, lay
through woods which bordered each side of the river; and
the glimpses of the lofty central peaks, seen as through an
avenue, with here and there a waving cocoa-nut tree on one
side, were extremely picturesque. The valley soon began to
narrow, and the sides to grow lofty and more precipitous.
After 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 strata, trees
and a rank vegetation sprung from every projecting ledge.
These precipices must have been some thousand feet high;
and the whole formed a mountain gorge far more magnificent
than anything which I had ever before beheld. Until
the midday sun stood vertically over the ravine, the air felt
cool and damp, but now it became very sultry. Shaded by a
ledge of rock, beneath a facade of columnar lava, we ate our
dinner. My guides had already procured a dish 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, with their
eyes open followed the fish into holes and corners, and thus
caught 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 this 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 it. As soon, however, as it reached the shore, 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 by a most extraordinary road.
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