OF THE SOUTH SEAS 427 



and the people heard in terror throughout the night the 

 thunders of his blows. He had almost achieved his task 

 when the goodly sun-god appeared over the mountains 

 far in advance of his usual time, and blinded the Titan 

 so that he sought safety beneath the ocean. Tatini 

 showed me the fearful signs of the demon's fury. Mon- 

 strous masses of rock were in the sea, and the isthmus 

 was reduced to a mere mile of width, an extensive bay 

 filling the demolished area. The deep inlet of Port 

 Phaeton swept in there like the Gulf of Corinth in 

 Greece. All this peninsula of Taiarapu was ceded to 

 Captain Cook. He called it Tiaraboo in his journal, 

 but he never took possession of his principality, realizing 

 that the cession was in the fashion of the Spaniard who 

 says, "All I have is yours," but would think you un- 

 mannerly to carry away anything of value. 



Port Phaeton is famed in the annals of the early 

 French conquerors, for in it they anchored their war- 

 ships, and the Paris chauvinists dreamed of a navy-yard 

 and a large settlement there. On the plateau of Tar- 

 avao, a hilltop raised fifty feet, is an old fort of the 

 French, a solid construction against the stubborn Tahi- 

 tians whom they insisted, with cannon and musket, must 

 receive Christianity through the French clergy of the 

 Order of the Sacred Heart of Jesus instead of through 

 English dissenters. From the plateau we could see the 

 immense extent of the forests, which rose almost from 

 the water to the tops of the mountains. 



A dozen magnificent kinds of trees were all about us. 

 The earth wore a verdant coat of grass, ferns, and vines, 

 so profuse and bright that by contrast a remembrance 

 of the barren parts of America crossed my mind, with 



