THE PACIFIC OCEAN. 275 



ornamental, give a very peculiar character to the 

 prospects from the land. " Detached from the large 

 islands, and viewed in connexion with tlie Ocean 

 rolling through the channel on the one side, or the 

 foaming billows dashing, and roaring, and breaking 

 over the reef on the other, they appear like emerald 

 gems of the Ocean, conti'asting their solitude and 

 verdant beauty with the agitated element sporting in 

 grandeur around." 



Upon the mind of a European, the sailing in a 

 small vessel through one of these sheltered lagoons 

 has a most novel and interesting effect. The shore, 

 on the one hand, presenting its shifting aspects 

 of beauty, as the boat skims past ; the convolvulus 

 and other brilliant creeping plants entwined about 

 the dark rocks, or trailing in unrestrained wildness 

 over the sands ; the solemn groves, now revealing 

 their sombre and shady retreats, now projecting 

 their massy foliage in full sun-light ; the valuable 

 bread-fruit {Artocarpus), the light and elegant aito 

 (Casuartna), the magnificent tamanu {Callojjhyllum), 

 with its glossy evergreen leaves, the hutu {Barrwg- 

 tonia) of giant height, adorned with large flowers 

 of white and pink, are relieved by the coral-tree 

 {Erythrina), with its light-green waving leaves and 

 bunches of scarlet blossoms, and the hoary foliage of 

 the candle-nut (Alurites). The cocoa-nut, always 

 beautiful, whether growing alone or in groves, but 

 particularly pleasing when seen planted around a 

 neat white-washed cottage, in company with the 

 broad leaved plantain or banana ; the light tree-ferns 

 displaying their elegant tracery against the sky, the 



