56 



TAHITI AND EIMEO. 



On the 25th September, the Vincennes sailed from the port of 

 Papieti for the island of Eimeo. The distance between its reef and 

 that of Tahiti, measured by the patent log, is ten miles. 



Eimeo is a beautiful object in the view from Tahiti, and its beauty 

 is enhanced on a nearer approach; its hills and mountains may, 

 without any great stretch of the imagination, be converted into 

 battlements, spires, and towers, rising one above the other ; their gray 

 sides are clothed here and there with verdure, which at a distance 

 resembles ivy of the richest hue. 



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Taloo harbour is an inlet about three miles in depth, situated in a 

 glen enclosed by precipitous sides rising in places to the height of two 

 thousand feet ; at its head is an extensive flat of rich alluvial soil, now 

 employed in the culture of sugar, and studded with trees, shrubs, and 

 other interesting objects. The ship lay at anchor close beneath a high 

 mountain on the left, in contrast with which her dimensions seemed 

 those of a cock-boat. 



I had been furnished with letters to the Rev. Mr. Simpson, who is 

 stationed as missionary at Eimeo ; when we landed, he met us upon 

 the beach, and gave us a most cordial reception; we were soon 

 surrounded by nearly all the natives in the place, male and female, 

 old and young, who followed us with expressions of wonder; their 

 conduct reminded me of the manner in which an Indian chief is run 

 after in the streets of our American cities. In spite of their excite- 



