hill, whence there was an excellent view of the country on all sides. The
northern headland of Barrow’s Bay lay behind us. The general direction
of the coast in advance was N.B., stretching away to a distant promontory.
A spinal ridge of mountains, covered with a wilderness of forests,
ran parallel with the coast, leaving a narrow strip of cultivated land next
the sea. A column of smoke aBcended from one of the northern peaks,
which we judged (and rightly, as it afterwards proved) to he a fire in the
woods.
Mr. Jones decided to make for a gorge between two peaks, about six
miles distant, and rather to the east of north. We crossed a deep valley,
with a salt creek at its bottom, and, after following the coast for some time,
took a road which, after ascending a long barren ridge, plunged into the
woods. The further we advanced, the more dense became the wilderness.
The only persons we met were woodmen, whom we saw occasionally felling
trees with their rude axes. The path was narrow, wet, and slippery, and
for two or three miles a continual ascent. At length we reached a conical
peak covered with trees. The ascent was very difficult, and I halted with
the coolies at the base, while Mr. Jones, Dr. Lynah, and Mr. Heine, went
up to obtain a view. By climbing the trees and cutting away some of the
limhs, they opened space for a grand central panorama of the island, which
Mr. Heine set about sketching from the tree-top. The path, which by this
time had dwindled almost out of sight, passed directly over the summit.
We found the ascent like a staircase, and were obliged to use hands and feet
to reach the top. The Lew Chew coolies who carried our baggage made
their way up with great difficulty. As we were all suffering from thirst, I
started in advance, with the seaman Mitchell, the Chinamen, and the coolies.
The path, which was now a faint woodman’s trail, did not appear to
have been travelled for months. I t was shut in by a species of small bamboo,
so dense as almost to exclude light, and a large, red, hairy spider had woven
innumerable webs across it. Now ascending, now descending, we pushed
ourselves or crept through the almost impervious copse wood, for nearly
two miles, till th e , path became more open, and a partial look-out to the
westward showed us the China Sea. On the side of the nearest peak to the
northward, we distinctly saw the woods on fire, and a bare space of about ten
acres studded with charred trunks. The descent was very slippery, but
becoming more and more open, I at length recognized our position. We
were approaching the head of the deep bight south of Port Melville, and
separated from it by an arm of the island, which stretches out to the
northwest, at right angles to the main body. The curious peaked island
called the “ Sugar Loaf,” off the point of this promontory, was in view
before us. The western slope of the island at this point is covered almost
entirely with forests, the cultivation being confined to the bottoms of valleys
and ravines opening upon the sea.
The path led across the top of a narrow ledge about a yard wide, with
chasms more than a hundred feet deep on each side, and then dropped to
the bottom of the glen, where we found a stream of deliciously cool and
sweet water. We all drank to excess, and then climbed a little ridge
beyond, where the air blew fresh, and sat down to await the rest of the
party. Mr. Jones found granite of fine quality in the ravine, and we afterwards
met with another broad stratum in a rocky gateway further below.
Our only path made for a village on the shore, whither we repaired for our
mid-day halt. The houses were lined with luxuriant bananas, in blossom,
and the lanes between them hedged with the glossy inocarpus, forming
walls of foliage twenty feet in height, outside of which were neat wicker
fences of split bamboo. Near the village were three structures raised upon
timber frames, and covered with thatched roofs. They appeared to be storehouses,
elevated in this manner to preserve the grain from the moisture of
the earth. Beneath them were wooden platforms, offering us shade and
convenience for our halt. The people brought us sweet potatoes, a small
pan of salt fish, and a pumpkin, which was all they could supply. Even
these were refused us until the arrival of the Pe-ching, to whose authority
all the others deferred. The rapidity of our march had left him in the rear,
but he came up after an hour, and set himself to work with great good
humor to supply our wants. In order to shield themselves from the heat
of the sun, some of his attendants had tied banana leaves around their
heads, and they all complained of fatigue.
We left Ny-komma, as the village was called, about half past two. At
this, the most northern point we reached, we could not have been more than
eight or nine miles distant from Port Melville. The intervening land was
low, and another day would have enabled us to reach the head of that
harbor. The native officials explained to us by signs, and by tracing lines
on the sand, that the road to Sheudi lay along the heach, and that there was
a Oung-qu:l ahout 20 U distant. We tramped along sandy beaches and
over stony headlands, following the general course of the shore, and never
diverging far from it. The bay, or bight, marked with numerous abrupt
indentations, presented some fine bold outlines of shore. Off the many
inferior promontories lay rocky islets, covered with rich vegetation. The
wooded mountains-on'our left were the same which we had skirted the day
previous on the northern side of Barrow^s Bay. The lower slopes on this
side were partially cultivated, but the principal thoroughfare of the island,
which we were following, kept near the sea, and often ran for a half mile
through deep sand and shells. The scenery was extremely picturesque,
reminding me of the coast of Sicily. Inside of the Sugar Loaf we espied
two small boats, with lug-sails of white canvass, which the men declared
were our ship’s boats; but this has since proved to be a mistake.
Notwithstanding the sultry heat of the afternoon, the Lew Chew coolies