A General History and Collection of Voyages and Travels, Volume 17 | Page 6

the country, with an intention of penetrating as far as they could;
and principally of reaching, if possible, the snowy mountains.
Having procured two natives to serve them as guides, they left the

village about four o'clock in the afternoon, directing their course a little
to the southward of the east. To the distance of three or four miles from
the bay, they found the country as before described; the hills afterward
rose with a more sudden ascent, which brought them to the extensive
plantations that terminate the view of the country, as seen from the
ships.
These plantations consist of the tarrow[4], or eddy root, and the sweet
potatoe, with plants of the cloth tree, neatly set out in rows. The walls
that separate them are made of the loose burnt stones, which are got in
clearing the ground; and being entirely concealed by sugar-canes,
planted close on each side, make the most beautiful fences that can be
conceived. The party stopped for the night at the second hut they found
amongst the plantations, where they judged themselves to be about six
or seven miles from the ships. They described the prospect from this
spot as very delightful; they saw the ships in the bay before them; to the
left a continued range of villages, interspersed with groves of cocoa-nut
trees, spreading along the sea-shore; a thick wood stretching out of
sight behind them; and to the right an extent of ground, laid out in
regular and well- cultivated plantations, as far as the eye could reach.
Near this spot, at a distance from any other dwelling, the natives
pointed out to them the residence of a hermit, who, they said, had
formerly been a great chief and warrior, but had long ago quitted the
shores of the island, and now never stirred from his cottage. They
prostrated themselves as they approached him, and afterward presented
to him a part of such provisions as they had brought with them. His
behaviour was easy and cheerful; he scarce shewed any marks of
astonishment at the sight of our people, and though pressed to accept
some of our curiosities, he declined the offer, and soon withdrew to his
cottage. He was described as by far the oldest person any of the party
had ever seen, and judged to be, by those who computed his age at the
lowest, upward of 100 years old.
As our people had imagined the mountain not to be more than ten or
twelve miles from the bay, and consequently that they should reach it
with ease early the next morning, an error into which its great height

had probably led them, they were now much surprised to find the
distance scarce perceptibly diminished. This circumstance, together
with the uninhabited state of the country they were going to enter,
made it necessary to procure a supply of provisions; and for that
purpose they dispatched one of their guides back to the village. Whilst
they were waiting his return, they were joined by some of Kaoo's
servants, whom that benevolent old man had sent after them, as soon as
he heard of their journey, laden with refreshments, and authorised, as
their route lay through his grounds, to demand and take away whatever
they might have occasion for.
Our travellers were much astonished to find the cold here so intense;
but having no thermometer with them, could judge of it only by their
feelings, which, from the warm atmosphere they had left, must have
been a very fallacious measure. They found it, however, so cold, that
they could get but little sleep, and the natives none at all; both parties
being disturbed, the whole night, by continued coughing. As they could
not, at this time, be at any very considerable height, the distance from
the sea being only six or seven miles, and part of the road on a very
moderate ascent, this extraordinary degree of cold must be ascribed to
the easterly wind blowing fresh over the snowy mountains.
Early on the 27th they set out again, and filled their calibashes at an
excellent well about half a mile from their hut. Having passed the
plantations, they came to a thick wood, which they entered by a path
made for the convenience of the natives, who go thither to fetch the
wild or horse-plantain, and to catch birds. Their progress now became
very slow, and attended with much labour; the ground being either
swampy, or covered with large stones; the path narrow, and frequently
interrupted by trees lying across it, which it was necessary to climb
over, the thickness of the underwood on both sides making it
impossible to pass round them. In these woods they observed, at small
distances, pieces of white cloth fixed on poles, which they supposed