Page:Voyage in search of La Perouse, volume 2 (Stockdale).djvu/254

206 It is not a common practice amongst the savages of New Caledonia to make an incision in the prepuce; nevertheless, out of six of them, whom we persuaded to satisfy our curiosity in that respect, we found one who had it slit in a longitudinal direction on the upper side.

When we had reached the middle of the mountain, the natives who followed would have persuaded us not to go any farther, and informed us that the inhabitants on the other side of this ridge would eat us; we, however, persisted in ascending to the top, for we were sufficiently armed to be under no apprehension of danger from these cannibals. Those who accompanied us were, without doubt, at war with the others, for they would not follow us any farther.

The mountains which we ascended rise in the form of an amphitheatre, and are a continuation of the great chain which runs the whole length of the island. Their perpendicular height is about 2,500 feet above the level of the sea. We observed them rise gradually to the east-south-east, till they terminated in a very high mountain about three miles from our moorings.

The chief component parts of those mountains are quartz, mica, and steatite, of a softer or harder quality, schorl of a green colour, granite, iron ore, &c.