O T A II E I T E. 
Cofmol. —Ufing fome otacoiiftiqon, and placing the mouth 
of it towards the found. Smith on Old Age. 
OTAHA', one of the Society Iflands, in the South Pa¬ 
cific Ocean, fituated two miles north of Ulietea, and 
both inclofed within one reef of coral rocks, fo that there 
is no paflage for (hipping between them. Otaha affords 
two very good harbours; one on the eaft fide, called Oha- 
niene, and the other on the weft, called Ohererua, which 
is pretty large, and affords good anchorage in twenty and 
twenty-five fathom ; nor is there any want of frefh water. 
The land of Otaha, as well as that of Ulietea, is hilly, 
broken, and irregular, except on the fea-coaft; .yet the 
hills appear green and pleafant, and are in many places 
clothed with wood. This ifland has been conquered by 
the king of Bolabola. Lat. 16. 33. S. Ion. 151. 20. W. 
OTAHEI'TE, or Tahiti, called by Capt. Wallis 
“ King George the Third’s Ifland,” one of the Society 
I lies, in that divifion of the world by modern geogra¬ 
phers called Polynefia. It is about ninety miles in circum¬ 
ference; and is fuppofed to have been firft feen by Qui- 
ros in the year 1606, and by him called Sugitlaria. 
Captain Wallis was the firft Englifhman who difcovered 
it, in the year 1767. The year following it was vifited 
by Monf. de Bougainville, a French commander; and by 
Capt. Cook, in the years 1769, 1773, 1774, and 1777. 
From his account, as drawn up by Dr. Hawkefworth, we 
fhall extract what may be called the early hiftory of it ; 
adding fome particulars as to its prefent ftate, from the 
Miflionary Voyages, and other recent publications. 
The ifland confiftsof two diftinft kingdoms, which are 
united by a narrow neck of land; the larger being called 
by the natives Tiarrabon, orO-Taheitee Nue; thefmaller 
one Opoureonou, or O-Taheitee Ete. The country has a 
delightful romantic appearance. The coaft, viewed from 
the fea, prefents a moft beautiful profpeft, being elevated 
like an amphitheatre. The ifland is fkirted with a reef 
of rocks, and towards the fea is level, being covered with 
fruit-trees of various kinds, particularly the cocoa-nut. 
At the diftance of about three miles from the fhore, the 
country riles into lofty hills that are covered with wood, 
and terminate in peaks, from which large rivers are pre¬ 
cipitated into the fea. The ftones every-where appear to 
have been burnt, not one being found which did not give 
manifeft figns of fire ; fo that there is great reafon for 
fuppofing that this and the neighbouring iflands are ei¬ 
ther the fhattered remains of a continent, or were torn 
from rocks, which, from the creation of the w'orld, have 
been the bed of the fea, and thrown up in heaps to a 
height which the w'.aters never reach. What is further 
extraordinary, the water does not gradually grow (hal¬ 
low as we approach the fhore, but is of immenfe depth 
dole by the land ; and the iflands in this neighbourhood 
are almoft every-where furrounded by reefs which appear 
to be rude and broken, in the manner that fome violent 
concufiion w'ould naturally leave the folid fubftance of 
the earth ; and Mr. Forfter faw a rock with projefting 
longitudinal angles of black compaft bafaltes. The ex¬ 
terior ranges of hills are fometimes entirely barren, and 
contain a great quantity of yellowifli clay, mixed with 
iron ochre; but others are covered with mould and 
wood, like the mountains in the internal parts of the 
country. Pieces of quartz are fometimes met with here ; 
but no indications of precious minerals or metals of any 
kind have been obferved, iron only excepted. One of 
the greateft natural curiofities of the country, is a pond or 
lake of frefh- water, at the top of one of the higheft moun¬ 
tains, remarkable for its depth, and for its eels of enor¬ 
mous fize. 
The coral-rocks, by which the ifland is furrounded, 
form feveral excellent bays and harbours, where there is 
room and depth of water for any number of the largeft 
fhips. Port Royal, orMatavai, which is not inferior to 
any, may beeafily known by a very high mountain in the 
middle of the ifland, which bears due fouth from Point 
Venus The beft anchoring is on the eaft fide of the bay, 
39 
with fixteen and fourteen fathom upon an oozy bottom. 
The fhore of the bay is a fine fandy beach, behind which 
runs a river of frefh-water, fo that any number of (hips 
may be fupplied without incommoding each other. 
The foil of the ifland, except on the very tops of the 
ridges, is extremely rich and fertile, watered by a great 
number of rivulets of excellent water, and covered with 
fruit-trees of various kinds. The low land that lies be¬ 
tween the foot of the ridges and the fea, and fome of the 
valleys, are the only parts that are inhabited ; and here 
it is populous. The houfes do not form villages or towns, 
but are ranged along the whole border, at the diftance of 
about fifty yards from each other, with little plantations 
of plantains, the tree which furnifhes them with cloth. 
The whole ifland, according to the beft information, 
could furnifh 6780 fighting men, from which the number 
of inhabitants at that time may eafily be computed. 
The produce of this ifland is bread-fruit, cocoa-nuts, 
bananas of thirteen forts, plantains, a fruit not unlike an 
apple, which, when ripe, is very pleafant; fweet pota¬ 
toes, yams, cocoas, a kind of arum ; a fruit known here 
by the name of jambu , and reckoned moft delicious ; fu- 
gar-cane, which the inhabitants eat raw; a root of the 
falep kind, which the inhabitants call pea; a plant called 
ethee, of which the root only is eaten ; a fruit that grows 
in a pod, like that of a large kidney-bean, which, when 
it is roafted, eats very much like a chefnut, by the natives 
called ahee; a tree called wharra, called in the Eaft-In- 
dies pandanes, which produces fruit fomething like a 
pine-apple ; a fhrub called novo; the morinda, which alfo 
produces fruit; a fpecies of fern, of which the root is 
eaten, and fometimes the leaves ; and a plant called theve, 
of which the root alfo is eaten ; but the f ruits of the nono, 
the fern, and the theve, are eaten only by the inferior 
people, and in times of fcarcity. All thefe, which ferve 
the inhabitants for food, the earth produces fpontane- 
oufly, or with little culture. They have alfo theChinefe 
paper-mulberry, of the bark of which they make their 
cloth ; an herb which the inhabitants eat raw, its flavour 
fomewhat refemblingthat of the Weft-India fpinach called 
calletoov, but its leaf very different; a plant which the 
natives call ava or eava, from the root of which they ex- 
prefs a liquor, which, if drank to excefs, intoxicates like 
wine or diftilled fpirits. Here is a fort of fhady tree, 
covered with a dark-green foliage, bearing golden-co¬ 
loured apples, which, in juicinefs and flavour, refemble 
the ananas or pine-apple. One of the moft beautiful trees 
in the world received here the name of Burringtonia ; it 
had a great abundance of flowers larger than lilies, and 
perfedlly white, excepting the tips of their numerous 
chives, which were of a deep crimfon. Such a quantity 
of thefe flowers were feen dropped off, that the ground 
underneath the tree was entirely covered with them. The 
natives called the tree buddov; and the fruit, which is a 
large nut, when bruifed and mixed-up with fome fhell- 
fifh, and thrown into the fea, intoxicates the fifli for fome 
time, fo that they come to the furface of the water; and 
fuffer themfelves to be taken with the hand. Several other 
maritime plants in tropical climates are found to have the 
fame quality. Mr. Dalrymple deferibes the method of 
catching fifh with thefe plants as follows : The plant is 
thruft under the coral-rocks or hollows where the fifh 
haunt; the effeft is moft fenfible in ftill water, though it 
is effectual in the open fea ; for the fame gentleman fays 
he has feen fifh foon after float on the furface of the wa¬ 
ter half dead, and fome totally without life ; and, where 
the effect is lefs violent, the fifh will be feen under the 
water to have loft their poife, without coming up to the 
furface. Fifh caught in this manner are not in the leaft 
noxious or ill-tafted. 
Their domeftic poultry exafilly refemble thofe of Eu¬ 
rope : befides which there are wild ducks ; alfo beautiful 
green turtle-doves ; large pigeons, of a deep-blue plumage 
and excellent tafte ; a linall fort of parroquets, very lingu¬ 
lar on account of the various mixture of red and blue in 
' their. 
