178 TAHITI. 



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 to- 

 wards 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 house, we separated to walk about, but re- 

 turned there in the evening. 



The land capable of cultivation is scarcely in any 

 part more than a fringe of low, alluvial soil, accu- 

 mulated round the base of the mountains, and pro- 

 tected 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 the canoes of the natives can 

 ply with safety, and where ships anchor. The low 

 land which comes down to the beach of coral-sand 

 is covered by the most beautiful productions of the 

 intertropical regions. In the midst of bananas, 

 orange, cocoa-nut, and bread-fruit trees, spots are 

 cleared where yams, sweet potatoes, the sugar- 

 cane, and pine-apples are cultivated. Even the 

 brushwood is an imported fruit-tree, namely, the 

 guava, which, from its abundance, has become as 

 noxious as a weed. In Brazil I have often admired 

 the varied beauty of the bananas, palms, and 

 orange-trees contrasted together ; and here we also 

 have the bread-fruit, conspicuous from its large, 

 glossy, and deeply-digitated leaf It is admirable 

 to behold groves of a tree, sending forth its branch- 

 es with the vigour of an English oak, loaded with 

 large and most nutritious fruit. However seldom 

 the usefulness of an object can account for the 

 pleasure of beholding it, in the case of these beau- 

 tiful woods, the knowledge of their high productive- 

 ness no doubt enters largely into the feeling of 



