270 THK OCEAIf. 



beauty of their scenery. Every visitor to the South 

 Seas has spoken in eulogy of these lovely islands. 

 The highly-wrought descriptions given in Cook's 

 voyages are declared by recent writers to be no 

 whit beyond the reality. Instead of the long low 

 coral island, with its grove of cocoa-nut trees almost 

 springing from the water's edge, these islands rise 

 up from the sea in tall cliffs, or gentle slopes, while 

 the towering mountains of the interior, wooded to 

 their summits, pierce the clouds. "The mountains 

 frequently diverge in short ranges from the interior 

 towards the shore, though some rise like pyramids 

 with pointed summits, and others present a conical 

 or sugar-loaf form, while the outline of several is 

 regular, and almost circular." In some places the 

 mountain ranges terminate in abrupt precipices frown- 

 ing over the Pacific, that frets and foams below; in 

 others, there is a broad belt of level land, of the most 

 fertile character, and rich in the various productions 

 of a tropical region. To these are now added charms 

 of another character. When visited by Cook, there 

 was the loveliness and magnificence of Nature, but 

 that was all ; man was evil ; plunged in the grossest 

 idolatry, cruelty, and licentiousness, he strangely con- 

 trasted with the scenes around him : but, now that 

 the glad tidings of salvation through the Lord Jesus 

 Christ have been, by the grace of God, made known 

 to them, how incomparably is the scene enhanced J 

 The wretched hut is exchanged for the neat and 

 picturesque cottage ; cultivated fields and pleasant 

 gardens chequer the mountain sides ; the sound of 

 the axe and hammer has replaced the savage war- 



