CHAP. XVIII 
ARRIVE AT TAHITI 
429 
thermometer in the poop cabin, by night and day, ranged 
between 8o° and 83°, which feels very pleasant; but with one 
degree or two higher, the heat becomes oppressive. We passed 
through the Low or Dangerous Archipelago, and saw several 
of those most curious rings of coral land, just rising above the 
water’s edge, which have been called Lagoon Islands. A long 
and brilliantly-white beach is capped by a margin of green 
vegetation ; and the strip, looking either way, rapidly narrows 
away in the distance, and sinks beneath the horizon. From 
the mast-head a wide expanse of smooth water can be seen 
within the ring. These low hollow coral islands bear no 
proportion to the vast ocean out of which they abruptly rise ; 
and it seems wonderful that such weak invaders are not over¬ 
whelmed by the all-powerful and never-tiring waves of that 
great sea, miscalled the Pacific. 
November 1 5 th .—At daylight, Tahiti, an island which must 
for ever remain classical to the voyager in the South Sea, was 
in view. At a distance the appearance was not attractive. 
The luxuriant vegetation of the lower part could not yet be 
seen, and as the clouds rolled past, the wildest and most 
precipitous peaks showed themselves towards the centre of the 
island. As soon as we anchored in Matavai Bay, we were 
surrounded by canoes. This was our Sunday, but the Monday 
of Tahiti: if the case had been reversed, we should not have 
received a single visit; for the injunction not to launch a canoe 
on the Sabbath is rigidly obeyed. After dinner we landed to 
enjoy all the delights produced by the first impressions of a 
new country, and that country the charming Tahiti. A crowd 
of men, women, and children, was collected on the memorable 
Point Venus, ready to receive us with laughing, merry faces. 
They marshalled us towards the house of Mr. Wilson, the 
missionary of the district, who met us on the road, and gave 
us a very friendly reception. After sitting a short time in his 
house, we separated to walk about, but returned there in the 
evening. 
The land capable of cultivation is scarcely in any part more 
than a fringe of low alluvial soil, accumulated round the base 
of the mountains, and protected from the waves of the sea by a 
coral reef, which encircles the entire line of coast. Within the 
reef there is an expanse of smooth water, like that of a lake, where 
