Chapter Seven

CHAPTER SEVEN

THE OTHER SIDE OF THE MOUNTAIN--DISAPPOINTMENT--INVENTORY OF
ARTICLES BROUGHT FROM THE SHIP--DIVISION OF THE STOCK OF
BREAD--APPEARANCE OF THE INTERIOR OF THE ISLAND--A DISCOVERY--A
RAVINE AND WATERFALLS--A SLEEPLESS NIGHT--FURTHER DISCOVERIES--MY
ILLNESS--A MARQUESAN LANDSCAPE

MY curiosity had been not a little raised with regard to the
description of country we should meet on the other side of the
mountains; and I had supposed, with Toby, that immediately on
gaining the heights we should be enabled to view the large bays
of Happar and Typee reposing at our feet on one side, in the same
way that Nukuheva lay spread out below on the other. 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 so far as the eye could reach stretched away from us, with
their precipitous sides covered with the brightest verdure, 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 descending
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 the reward in calico and trinkets,
which we had no doubt our skipper would hold out to them as an
inducement to our capture.

What was to be done? The Dolly would not sail perhaps for ten
days, and how were we to sustain life during this period? I
bitterly repented our improvidence in not providing ourselves, as
we easily might have done, with a supply of biscuits. With a
rueful visage I now bethought me of the scanty handful of bread I
had stuffed into the bosom of my frock, and felt somewhat
desirous to ascertain what part of it had weathered the rather
rough usage it had experienced in ascending the mountain. I
accordingly proposed to Toby that we should enter into a joint
examination of the various articles we had brought from the ship.

With this intent we seated ourselves upon the grass; and a little
curious to see with what kind of judgement my companion had
filled his frock--which I remarked seemed about as well lined as
my own--I requested him to commence operations by spreading out
its contents.

Thrusting his hand, then, into the bosom of this