Page:Voyage in search of La Perouse, volume 2 (Stockdale).djvu/282

230 there a hut exactly like those which we had seen before. Aliki said the hut belonged to him. It was surrounded with several of a new species of fig tree, the fruit of which those people eat, after having exposed it to the fire for some time in earthen vessels, in order to extract its corrosive quality.

Clouds, brought on by a brisk gale from the south-east, covered the tops of the mountains about ten in the morning, and occasioned a heavy shower of rain, of which the savages took scarcely any notice. They did not even seek for any shelter, whilst we retired underneath the thickest trees. As soon as it ceased we continued our route, and they followed us with many marks of friendship. One of them, wishing to relieve a sailor who was loaded with a large tin-box, filled with a variety of objects of natural history, carried it for above four hours.

We soon after crossed over the small river, on the banks of which I observed the acanthus ilicifolius. We then ascended very rugged rocks for a considerable time, and were under great obligations to the savages, who exerted themselves in supporting us by the arms, to prevent our falling.

Each of them carried an axe of serpentine stone; and one of them wishing to show us how