XVIII 
BAY OF ISLANDS 
445 
afforded a remarkable, and not very pleasing contrast, with our 
joyful and boisterous welcome at Tahiti. 
In the afternoon we went on shore to one of the larger 
groups of houses, which yet hardly deserves the title of a 
village. Its name is Pahia ; it is the residence of the mission¬ 
aries ; and there are no native residents except servants and 
labourers. In the vicinity of the Bay of Islands the number 
of Englishmen, including their families, amounts to between 
two and three hundred. All the cottages, many of which are 
whitewashed and look very neat, are the property of the 
English. The hovels of the natives are so diminutive and 
paltry that they can scarcely be perceived from a distance. 
At Pahia it was quite pleasing to behold the English flowers 
in the gardens before the houses ; there were roses of several 
kinds, honeysuckle, jasmine, stocks, and whole hedges of 
sweetbriar. 
December 22 nd .—-In the morning I went out walking; but 
I soon found that the country was very impracticable. All the 
hills are thickly covered with tall fern, together with a low 
bush which grows like a cypress ; and very little ground has 
been cleared or cultivated. I then tried the sea-beach ; but 
proceeding towards either hand, my walk was soon stopped by 
salt-water creeks and deep brooks. The communication 
between the inhabitants of the different parts of the bay is (as 
in Chiloe) almost entirely kept up by boats. I was surprised 
to find that almost every hill which I ascended had been at 
some former time more or less fortified. The summits were 
cut into steps or successive terraces, and frequently they had 
been protected by deep trenches. I afterwards observed that 
the principal hills inland in like manner showed an artificial 
outline. These are the Pas, so frequently mentioned by 
Captain Cook under the name of “hippah;” the difference of 
sound being owing to the prefixed article. 
That the Pas had formerly been much used was evident 
from the piles of shells and the pits in which, as I was 
informed, sweet potatoes used to be kept as a reserve. As 
there was no water on these hills, the defenders could never 
have anticipated a long siege, but only a hurried attack for 
plunder, against which the successive terraces would have 
