was about to climb over the tree, when I discovered that I could pass
underneath, for here and there it was supported on boulders standing
out two or three feet above the water. On the other side a tiny stream
trickled over a flat ledge of rock, to fall into a second but much
smaller pool ten or fifteen feet below; beyond that lay a long, narrow
but shallow stretch of crystal water, running between highly verdured
banks, and further away in the distance I could hear the murmur of a
waterfall.

Turning over a stone with my foot, a crayfish darted off and tried
to hide. There were scores, hundreds of them, everywhere--fine, fat,
luscious fellows, and in ten minutes I had a dozen of the largest in my
bag, to roast on the now glowing fire beside a juicy pigeon. Salt I had
none, but I did possess a ship biscuit and a piece of cold baked taro,
and with pigeon and crayfish, what more could a hungry man desire?

The intense solitude of the place, too, was enchanting. Now and then
the booming note of a pigeon, or the soft _coo-coo_ of a ringdove, would
break the silence; overhead there was a sky of spotless blue; an hour
before I had sweltered under a brazen sun; here, under the mountain
shade, though there was not a breath of wind to stir a leaf, it was
surprisingly cool.

To lean against the soft white moss clothing the buttresses of a giant
maruhia-tree and smoke a pipe, was delightful after a tramp of six
or eight miles through a mountain forest; and to know that the return
journey would be through easy country along the banks of a new river was
better still.

I set off with a feeling of joyful expectancy, taking a last glance at
the beautiful little lake--I meant to return with some native friends to
fish it on the morrow--ere I struck into the forest once more to pick up
the path.

Every now and then I caught glimpses of the river, now gradually
widening as it was joined by other streamlets on either side. Some of
these I had to wade through, others I crossed on stones or fallen trees.

Half-way to the beach I came to a broad stretch of shallow water covered
with purple water-lilies; three small ducks, with alarmed quacking, shot
upward from where they had been resting or feeding under the bank, and
vanished over the tree-tops; and a sudden commotion in the water showed
me that there were many fish. Its beautiful clearness tempted me to
strip off and swim about the floating garden resting on its bosom, and
I was ju