JFFS2 mount time is really bad on 1st boot only

[Stuart Yoder]

We are using JFFS2 in a  Linux 2.4.28 kernel based system (PowerPC based
hw).  We have a large (256MB) flash.

Here is the scenario for some behaviour we are seeing that we are trying
to undertand:

-create Linux root filesystem with mkfs.jffs2-- about 90MB of data.
-flash partition onto board-- ~90MB data, ~140MB free (erased)
-boot Linux
-mount of JFFS2 root partition takes on the order of 8 min
-reboot system from Linux
-mount of JFFS2 root partition takes ~30 sec

All subsequent boots take ~30 sec.

Does anybody have any idea of why the very first mount of the filesystem
takes so long?

Thanks,
Stuart Yoder