But here we were disappointed. Instead of finding the mountain
we had ascended - sweeping down in the opposite direction into
broad and capacious valleys, the land appeared to retain its
general elevation, only broken into a series of ridges and inter-
vales, which as far as the eye could reach stretched away from
us, with their precipitous sides covered with the brightest ver-
dure, and waving here and there with the foliage of clumps of
woodland ; among which, however, we perceived none of those
trees upon whose fruit we had relied with such certainty.
This was a most unlooked-for discovery, and one that promised
to defeat our plans altogether, for we could not think of descend-
ing the mountain on the Nukuheva side in quest of food. Should
we for this purpose be induced to retrace our steps, we should
run no small chance of encountering the natives, who in that
case, if they did nothing worse to us, would be certain to convey
us back to the ship for the sake of tne reward in calico and
trinkets, which we had no doubt our skipper would hold out to
them as an inducement to our capture.
