hundred blow-holes spouted and roared. In ages of endeavor the ocean
had made chambers in the rock and cut passages to the top, through
which, at every surge of the pounding waves, the water rushed and
rose high in the air.

Iron-bound, the mariner calls this coast, and the word makes one see
the powerful, severe mold of it. Molten rock fused in subterranean
fires and cast above the sea cooled into these ominous ridges, and
stern unyielding walls.

There upon the deck I determined not to leave until I had lived for
a time amid these wild scenes. My intention had been to voyage with
the _Morning Star_, returning with her to Tahiti, but a mysterious
voice called to me from the dusky valleys. I could not leave without
penetrating into those abrupt and melancholy depths of forest,
without endeavoring, though ever so feebly, to stir the cold brew of
legend and tale fast disappearing in stupor and forgetfulness.

Lying Bill protested volubly; he liked company and would regret my
contribution to the expense account. Gedge joined him in serious
opposition to the plan, urging that I would not be able to find a
place to live, that there was no hotel, club, lodging, or food for a
stranger. But I was determined to stay, though I must sleep under a
breadfruit-tree. As I was a mere roamer, with no calendar or even a
watch, I had but to fetch my few belongings ashore and be a Marquesan.
These belongings I gathered together, and finding me obdurate, Lying
Bill reluctantly agreed to set them on the beach.

On either side of Taha-Uka inlet are landing-places, one in front of
a store, the other leading only to the forest. These are stairways