Page:Voyage in search of La Perouse, volume 1 (Stockdale).djvu/394

366 The phalanger of Buffon (didelphis orientalis, Linn.) inhabited the foot of those mountains. I had a near view of several of them as they rapidly flew past me.

When I had gained about 150 toises of perpendicular elevation, I remarked a total change in the nature of the soil. Beds of calcareous stones, perfectly pure and white, crowned those high grounds, which now presented a great extent of very level surface.

There I saw a garden surrounded with a paling of bamboo, and very well cultivated, although at a great distance from any habitation. There appeared to be no possible means of watering it; yet the vegetation was very vigorous, owing to the humidity of the atmosphere in this elevated situation. Large fields were allotted to the culture of the species of pimento, called capsicum grossum, of which the inhabitants of the island consume a great quantity.

A little shed on the west side of the garden afforded us its shelter, and in it my thirsty guides found a supply of good water in long bamboos, which appeared to be designed for some other purpose. This water had been brought from the foot of the mountain, and we made as free with it as if it had been our own.

Although it was very hot, they thought proper to