CAPE VENUS. 145 
mountain, distinguished from the others by its 
conical form. 
We next recognized the large rugged masses 
of rock of the interior, which have a most ro- 
mantic appearance. The country gradually un- 
folded all its charms; the luxuriant growth of 
the trees, even to the mountains’ tops, reminded 
us of the scenery of Brazil, and the picturesque 
valleys, with their thickets of bread-fruit, orange, 
and cocoa-trees, their cultivated fields, and plan- 
tations of bananas, became at length distinctly 
visible. 
It was not till the 14th that we reached the 
Cape, called by Cook Cape Venus, because he 
there observed the transit of this planet over the 
sun ; and from its beauty, it deserves to be named 
after the charming goddess herself. It is a low 
narrow tongue of land, running out northward 
from the island, thickly shadowed by cocoa- 
trees, and forming, by its curve, the harbour of 
Matarai, not a very secure one, but generally 
preferred by sailors on account of the celebrity 
bestowed on it by Cook. 
When we were still a few miles distant from 
Cape Venus, we fired a gun to draw attention 
VOL, I. H 
