CHAP, xviii ARRIVE AT TAHITI 429 



thermometer in the poop cabin, by night and day, ranged 

 between 80° and 83°, which feels very pleasant; but with one 

 degree or two higher, the heat becomes oppressive. We passed 

 through the Low or Dangerous Archipelago, and saw several 

 of those most curious rings of coral land, just rising above the 

 water's edge, which have been called Lagoon Islands. A long 

 and brilliantly -white beach is capped by a margin of green 

 vegetation ; and the strip, looking either way, rapidly narrows 

 away in the distance, and sinks beneath the horizon. From 

 the mast-head a wide expanse of smooth vv^ater can be seen 

 within the ring. These low hollow coral islands bear no 

 proportion to the vast ocean out of which they abruptly rise ; 

 and it seems wonderful that such weak invaders are not over- 

 whelmed by the all-powerful and never-tiring waves of that 

 great sea, miscalled the Pacific. 



November i^th. — At daylight, Tahiti, an island which must 

 for ever remain classical to the voyager in the South Sea, was 

 in view. At a distance the appearance was not attractive. 

 The luxuriant vegetation of the lower part could not yet be 

 seen, and as the clouds rolled past, the wildest and most 

 precipitous peaks showed themselves towards the centre of the 

 island. As soon as we anchored in Matavai Bay, we were 

 surrounded by canoes. This was our Sunday, but the Monday 

 of Tahiti : if the case had been reversed, we should not have 

 received a single visit ; for the injunction not to launch a canoe 

 on the Sabbath is rigidly obeyed. After dinner we landed to 

 enjoy all the delights produced by the first impressions of a 

 new country, and that country the charming Tahiti. A crowd 

 of men, women, and children, was collected on the memorable 

 Point Venus, ready to receive us with laughing, merry faces. 

 They marshalled us towards the house of Mr. Wilson, the 

 missionary of the district, who met us on the road, and gave 

 us a very friendly reception. After sitting a short time in his 

 iiouse, we separated to walk about, but returned there in the 

 evening. 



The land capable of cultivation is scarcely in any part more 

 than a fringe of low alluvial soil, accumulated round the base 

 of the mountains, and protected from the waves of the sea by a 

 coral reef, which encircles the entire line of coast. Within the 

 reef there is an expanse of smooth water, like that of a lake, where 



