LAKE WAHIRIA. 205 
my ship’s-company an old waistcoat, or a pair 
of torn pantaloons in which he might appear 
with suitable dignity at the approaching coro- 
nation; and among the ladies, some might be 
weighing the pleasure of possessing a sailor’s 
sheet, against the risks they must run to ob- 
tain it. 
Exactly facing me was seated a fair one most 
becomingly enveloped in this envied habiliment, 
and enjoying with modest complacency, but 
visible triumph, the admiration with which the 
eyes of her country-women were fixed upon 
her garment. 
I had heard from the Missionaries many 
wonderful accounts of the Lake Wahiria, si- 
tuated among the mountains which rise in 
the centre of the northern peninsula. They 
had themselves never seen it, and considered 
it almost impossible for an Kuropean to reach 
it; even the boldest Tahaitians rarely visit 
it; and a saying is current in the island, that 
it is inhabited by an evil demon. Its depth 
they report to be unfathomable, and cannot 
conceive from what cause this large body of 
water can be stationary at so great a height. 
