1835.] PEODUCTIONS OF THE SOIL. 387 



November 15tk. 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 in- 

 junction not to launch a canoe on the sabbath is rigidly obeyed. 

 After dinner wo 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 

 house, wo 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 

 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 inter- 

 tropical regions. In the midst of bananas, orange, cocoa-nut, and 

 bread-fruit trees, spots arc 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 digi- 

 tated leaf. It is admirable to behold groves of a tree, sending 

 forth its branches 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 beautiful woods, the knowledge of their high pro- 



