1839.] VIEW OF TAHITI. 167 



rise the lofty mountains of Aorai and Orohena — the former 

 seven, and the latter nearly nine thousand feet, above the 

 level of the sea — with their rou^h sides decked with the vines 

 and parasitic plants, creeping up over the escarped rocks to 

 their summits, around which hover clouds of white mist, like 

 guardian angels from the spirit-land. 



Contrasting finely with the bright mantle of vegetation 

 spread over the lower portions of the island, are the little 

 streams and rivulets coursing down the mountain ravines, 

 and winding their way, like threads of silver, between thick 

 banks of foliage preserving ever its perennial bloom, hither 

 and thither, till they mingle their crystal waters with those 

 of the dark green sea. The landscape is dotted, too, with 

 clustering hamlets, composed of the sombre huts of the na- 

 tives, or the more modern and more tasteful cottages of the 

 foreign residents. In the harbors there is always more or 

 less shipping, either men of war, or merchant vessels, visit- 

 ing the island for purposes of traffic, or to obtain supplies. 

 Gay flags and streamers float from their mastheads, and 

 numberless canoes may be seen plying between them and the 

 shore, reminding the beholder how vast has been the change 

 since the pennant of the gallant but unfortunate Cook first 

 appeared in these waters. The flowers are not more bright, 

 perhaps, — the grove and the forest not more beautiful, — but 

 the air is no longer filled with scents of slaughter, nor the 

 sky darkened with the smoke of human sacrifices ; the songs 

 of David are borne on the evening wind instead of the wild 

 notes of the savage, and the dark and bloody rites of pagan- 

 ism have given place to the solemn and impressive worship 

 of the Christian ! 



(2.) The group now known as the Society Islands, of 

 which Tahiti, or Otaheite, as it was formerly called, is the 

 largest and most important member, was first discovered by 

 Captain Cook, in 1769. It consists of eight large islands, 

 and several smaller ones. The names of the principal islands 

 are, Tahiti and Eimeo, — sometimes distinguished from the 

 others under the name of the Georgian Group, — Raiatea, 



