SIR C. SAUNDERS' ISLAND. 33 



Saunders' Island, Tabuaemanu, or Maiaoiti, (one 

 of the Georgian cluster, and discovered by 

 Captain Wallis, in 1/67;) the islands Eimeo 

 and Tahiti being at the same time visible to us, 

 distant forty or fifty miles to the S. E. 



When approached from the S. W., and while 

 yet distant, Tabuaemanu appears elevated, cir- 

 cumscribed, and not unlike a distant sail. It is 

 a small, though fertile island, of moderate ele- 

 vation, and wooded to its topmost heights. Its 

 longest diameter extends in a N. E. and S. W. 

 direction, its each extremity stretching into the 

 ocean as a long and low spit, or promontory, 

 covered with cocoa-nut trees. It was formerly 

 celebrated for the excellence and abundance of 

 its yams. It is now employed as a penal settle- 

 ment from Tahiti. No European missionary 

 resides on its shores : the pastoral charge of 

 the people being included in the duties of the 

 missionary at Huahine, who pays an occasional 

 visit to this spot to superintend the labours of 

 native teachers. 



On the 19th of March we approached closely 

 the shores of Eimeo, or Moora ;* and on the 



* An island situated to the westward of Tahiti, from 

 which last it is separated by a navigable strait, fourteen 

 miles in breadth. It is encircled by a distinct coral reef, 

 is nearly thirty miles in circumference, elevated, pecu- 



VOL. II. D 



