river,
and the valley was every where about four hundred yards wide from the
foot of the hill on one side, to the foot of that on the other; but they
were now shewn a house which they were told was the last that they would
see. When they came up to it, the master of it offered them refreshments
of cocoa-nuts and other fruits, of which they accepted; after a short
stay, they walked forward for a considerable time; in bad way it is not
easy to compute distances, but they imagined that they had walked about
six miles farther, following the course of the river, when they
frequently passed under vaults, formed by fragments of the rock, in
which they were told people who were benighted frequently passed the
night. Soon after they found the river banked by steep rocks, from which
a cascade, falling with great violence, formed a pool, so steep, that
the Indians said they could not pass it. They seemed, indeed, not much
to be acquainted with the valley beyond this place, their business lying
chiefly upon the declivity of the rocks on each side, and the plains
which extended on their summits, where they found plenty of wild
plantain, which they called _Vae_. The way up these rocks from the banks
of the river, was in every respect dreadful; the sides were nearly
perpendicular, and in some places one hundred feet high; they were also
rendered exceeding slippery by the water of innumerable springs which
issued from the fissures on the surface: Yet up these precipices a way
was to be traced by a succession of long pieces of the bark of the
_hibiscus tiliaceus_, which served as a rope for the climber to take
hold of, and assisted him in scrambling from one ledge to another,
though upon these ledges there was footing only for an Indian or a goat.
One of these ropes was nearly thirty feet in length, and their guides
offered to assist them in mounting this pass, but recommended another at
a little distance lower down, as less difficult and dangerous. They took
a view of this "better way," but found it so bad that they did not chuse
to attempt it, as there was nothing at the top to reward their toil and
hazard, but a grove of the wild plantain or vae tree, which they had
often seen before.

During this excursion, Mr Banks had an excellent opportunity to examine
the rocks, which were almost every where naked, for minerals; but he
found not the least appearance of any. The stones every where, like
those of Madeira, shewed manifest tokens o