92 [September, 



Kepos " Bay, an open roadstead with heavy swell and bad landing ; the scenery here 

 was exceedingly fine, reminding one not a little of Jnan Fernandez : we lay about 

 a quarter of a mile from a grand promontory (Venus Point), terminating in a vertical 

 precipice 1900 feet high, the finest cliff I have ever seen, except that of Achill Island 

 in the west of Ireland. We remained here until the evening of the 11th, and I 

 went on shore twice ; it is needless to say how delighted I was with my first sight 

 of South Sea Island vegetation, such as the bread fruit, the Pandanus, the Casuarina 

 or iron-wood, &c., &c. From the head of Omoa Bay there runs up a deep narrow 

 valley for several miles, a perfect forest of cocoa-nut or fruit trees ; a little cotton is 

 grown here, besides taro root, &c. ; the hills are mostly covered with fern, where not 

 wooded. Of course I woi'ked hard for insects, but did not get or even see a single 

 beetle ! the most abundant insects were dragon-flies and mosquitoes. Two species of 

 butterflies only occurred, viz., Danais Archippus and Diadema BoUna, both plentiful. 

 The latter is a splendid insect, the $ being black, with a large violet-blue blotch with 

 a white centre in the middle of each wing ; the ? black, more or less suffused with 

 ferruginous, and with a large white costal spot on the fore-wings — this sex varies a 

 good deal. I found the larvse in abundance on a common weed, and reared a splendid 

 series. Several species of moths were abundant, one or two being familiar Callao 

 insects, to my surprise ; the bulk of them were small PyraJidce, but two or three 

 species of day-flying NoctucB occurred, among them a very pretty Plusia. I got a 

 few nice fresh-water shells, which seem to be very scarce in the Marquesas. My 

 proceedings " astonished the natives " a good deal ; they were, however, most friendly 

 and civil. They are a very fine race of people (ten times better than Peruvians), 

 scarcely darker than Spaniards or Italians, and many of the men over six feet high ; 

 they were nearly all tattooed all over their bodies, some in really elegant patterns. 

 We had numbers of them off to the ship in small outrigger canoes, bringing fruit, 

 cocoa-nuts, a few cowry shells, &c. Old clothes were a great deal in demand, and I 

 got over 100 excellent oranges and a large bunch of plantains for a vertf old coat. 



March 12th. — Arrived in Resolution Bay (so named by Capt. Cook) in the 

 Island of Tau-ata or Santa Christina. We did not remain here a whole day, but I 

 managed to get a run ashore for a few hours. Unfortunately it rained nearly all 

 the time, and I could do scarcely anything in the way of collecting. I got a good 

 way inland, and found the natural vegetation very fine, but it was of course soaking 

 wet : I found one or two Ehizophagoid beetles under the bark of a log of bread- 

 fruit tree. 



13th. — Left Resolution Bay at 10 a.m. for for the next island, Hiva-Oa, or 

 Dominica : at 1 p.m. we anchored in Taa-hu-ku Bay, just under the highest summit 

 in Hiva-Oa, or, indeed, in the Marquesas, a very gi-and mountain, 4130 feet in 

 height. Behind Taa-hu-ku, is a remarkably fine and extensive valley, terminating in 

 a magnificent amphitheatre of wooded cliffs about two miles inland. This island is 

 one of the principal stations of the French, who possess the Marquesas Islands. I 

 went on shore early the next morning (14th), and had a very enjoyable ramble about 

 the valley, but failed to get any distance up the hills. I met with the usual Danain, 

 Diadema, and other insects, and on this occasion I got a few beetles by working at 

 dead wood, &c. Among them were two or three specimens of a pretty Elater, some- 

 what like Corymhites tessellatus in aspect ; one or two spp. of Tomicus ?, Rhizophagus 

 sp. ? (several), Phlosopora, kc. One of my messmates brought me three specimens 



