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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