TAH WM 289 
The Papaua Valley, which commences from the shores between 
Taunoa and Papaua, extends, with some irregular flexures, in a south- 
southeast direction, to the northern foot of Aorai, and presents similar 
features to the Matavai Valley. 
The Papiete Valley is a little more easterly in its course, but termi- 
nates alongside of the Papaua, separated from it only by a narrow 
ridge or wall. Mount Aorai rises from each, with a bold front, sloping 
at an inclination of from sixty to eighty degrees, yet covered with 
forests nearly to the summit. A part of the western ridge of the 
Papiete Valley, just under Aorai, bears the name of the Crown. It is 
a wall of rock, six or eight hundred feet high, worn above into jagged 
points or needles. Beyond it lies the Punaavia Valley. It is a 
striking object, in a view from the sea, a little to the eastward of Pa- 
piete harbour. 
West of Papiete, the slopes of the mountains are much broken into 
minor valleys and ridges, but there is no large valley opening on the 
shore corresponding to those described till we reach Punaavia. 
The Punaavia Valley has some general resemblance to the Papenoo 
Valley in the breadth of the enclosed strip of land, yet assumes a very 
different character toward the interior. It has a course to the south- 
eastward, and continues to the very foot of all the loftiest peaks of the 
island. About a league and a half from the sea, there is a steep accli- 
vity, in many parts quite perpendicular. Making this ascent, we reach 
a broad, irregular plain, three or four miles wide, around which 
stretch precipitous ridges a thousand feet or more in height; far 
above these ridges rise, with erect, majestic front, the lofty Orohena 
and Aorai, with the Crown and other crested summits at their foot. 
These peaks, at top, are not over two miles apart; and thus they stand 
side by side, Orohena full four thousand feet above the plain at its 
foot, and Aorai but a few hundred feet lower. Aorai is seen in pro- 
file, and narrows upward to a mere edge, though appearing massive 
from the north. A low ridge of rock connects the two mountains at 
base ; it is the same that heads the Matavai Valley. The Crown is 
just to the north of Aorai. The extent of the plain I had no time to 
ascertain : a circuit of twelve miles is not an over estimate.* 
* We cite again, from Tyerman and Bennett, a passage describing the scene above 
alluded to. The views on these islands are so extraordinary, so unlike any thing in our 
own country, that we believe a second account may be needed to give an idea of the 
Tahitian mountains. It is condensed from page 101, vol. i. ‘Far in the distance to 
the southeast, Orohena appeared, but only half revealed below the cloud that compassed 
its mysterious top. While we gazed, the vapours shifted, and gave us, glimpse by 
73 
