iceroy of Peru, by whose order
the voyage had been undertaken.[1]

[1] Captain J. Cook, _Voyages_, iii. 274 _sqq._; G. Forster,
_Voyage round the World_, ii. 5 _sqq._; C. P. Claret Fleurieu,
_Voyage round the World performed by E. Marchand_ (London,
1801), i. 27 _sqq._, 55 _sqq._; J. Wilson, _Missionary Voyage to
the Southern Pacific Ocean_, pp. lxxiii. _sqq._, 127 _sqq._; A.
J. von Krusenstern, _Voyage round the World_ (London, 1813), i.
136; Vincendon-Dumoulin et C. Desgraz, _Iles Marquises ou
Nouka-hiva_ (Paris, 1843), pp. 1 _sqq._, 12 _sq._; Le P. Mathias
G----, _Lettres sur les Iles Marquises_ (Paris, 1843), pp. 7
_sqq._; P. E. Eyriaud des Vergnes, _L'Archipel des Iles
Marquises_ (Paris, 1877), pp. 1 _sqq._; C. E. Meinicke, _Die
Inseln des Stillen Oceans_, ii. 235 _sq._; F. H. H. Guillemard,
_Australasia_, ii. 522.

The islands are of volcanic formation, lofty and mountainous. The
interior consists generally of a range of mountains some three thousand
feet high, from which a series of spurs descend steeply to the coast,
terminating for the most part in tremendous cliffs, at the foot of which
the great rollers break in foam; for with a single exception there are
no coral reefs, and a ship can sail in deep water within a cable's
length of the rocks. Viewed at a distance from the sea, the aspect of
the islands is somewhat stern and forbidding. Bare mountains, jagged
peaks, sometimes lost in the clouds, and an iron-bound coast of black
and beetling crags, buffeted eternally by the surf, make up a gloomy
picture; but a nearer view discloses verdant valleys nestling between
the ridges which radiate from the central mountains. These valleys are
watered by mountain streams and clothed with dense tropical vegetation,
their luxuriant green offering an agreeable contrast to the bareness and
aridity of the frowning precipices and sharp peaks which soar above
them. Cascades tumbling from high cliffs into the depths of the glens
add to the beauty and charm of the scenery. So steep and precipitous are
the ridges which divide these smiling vales from each other that the
ascent and descent are in many places both difficult and dangerous even
for the natives; European mountaineers need to have stout limbs and
steady heads to accomplish them in safety. Hence in former days each
valley contained a separate tribe, which was commonly in a state of
permanent hostility towards its neig