38 REMARKABLE CAVERNS. 



fara, the chief of Papara, and brother to Tati, 

 the present chief of that district. In the vicinity 

 of the battle-field, on a spot named Paea, in the 

 district Teoropaa, there stands, close to the sea, 

 an ancient morai, a colossal pile of coral blocks, 

 originally of square form, but now ruinous, and 

 almost concealed by the spontaneous vegetation 

 that clothes its surface. 



On the S. W. side of the island, I noticed, with 

 interest, the numerous caverns which perforate 

 the precipitous cliffs that form this portion of 

 the coast. One of the most remarkable of these, 

 opened at the base of a mural cliff, about two 

 hundred feet in height, and its face covered with 

 ferns and other elegant verdure. The cavern, 

 (which at its mouth formed a very large and per- 

 fect arch,) diminished in size as it receded into 

 the cliff; but to what extent it penetrated we 

 could not ascertain, as its floor was occupied by 

 a sheet of fresh water of considerable depth, 

 produced by infiltration through the rocks above. 

 The land intervening between the sea and this 

 capacious cave, rises gradually as an amphithea- 

 tre, enlivened by rills of water, and mantled with 

 a profuse vegetation, including some splendid 

 varieties of the fern tribe ; and were it cleared 

 from brushwood, would display, together with 

 the verdant cliff and cavern entrance in the back- 



