That evening we stood on the brink of a precipice, over which
the dark stream bounded in one final heap of ftiU 300 feet. The
sheer descent terminated in the region we so long had sought.
On either side of the fall, two lofty and perpendicular bluffs
buttressed the sides of the enormous cliff, and projected into the
sea of verdure with which the valley waved, and a range of
similar projecting eminences stood disposed in a half circle about
the head of the vale. A thick canopy of traces hung over the



70 RESIDENCE IN THE MARQUESAS. [chap. ix.
very verge of the &11, leaving an arched aperture for the passage
of the waters, which imparted a strange picturesqueness to the
scene.
The valley was now before us ; but instead of being conducted
into its smiling bosom by the gradual descent of the deep water-
course we had thus far pursued, all our labours now appeared to
have been rendered futile by its abrupt termination. But, bitterly
disappointed, we did not entirely despair.
As it was now near sunset we determined to pass the night
where we were, and on the morrow, refreshed by sleep and
by eating at one meal all our stock of food, to accomplish a
descent into the valley, or perish in the attempt.
We laid ourselves down that night on a spot, the recollection
of which still makes me shudder. A small table of rock which
projected over the precipice on one side of the stream, and was
drenched by the i^ray of the &11, sustained a huge trunk of a
tree which must have been deposited there by some heavy freshet.
