144 
POLYNESfAN RESEARCHES. 
CHAP. VI. 
Anchorage in Matavai—Visit from Pomare—Landing his horse—Inter¬ 
view with the queen and princess—Astonishment of the natives on 
viewing the horse and his rider—Description of Eimeo—Opunohu, or 
Taloo harbour—Landing at Eimeo—Welcome from the natives—First 
night on shore—Present from the chiefs—Visit to the schools—First 
Sabbath in the islands—Appearance and behaviour of native congre¬ 
gations—Voyage to Afareaitu—Native meal—Description of Afareaitu 
—Removal thither—Means of conveyance—Description of the various 
kinds of canoes used in the Society Islands—Origin of the name— 
Account of Tetuaroa, the watering-place of Tahiti—Methods of navi¬ 
gating their canoes—Danger from sharks—Affecting wreck—Accident 
in a single canoe—Length of the voyages occasionally made. 
The sea had been calm^ the morning fair^ the sky without 
a cloudy and the lightness of the breeze had afforded us 
leisure for gazing upon the varied^ picturesque^ and 
beautiful scenery of this most enchanting island. We 
had beheld successively^ as we had slowly sailed along 
its shore^ all the diversity of hill and valley^ broken 
or stupendous mountains, and rocky precipices, clothed 
with every variety of verdure, from the moss of the 
jutting promontories on the shore, to the deep and 
rich foliage of the bread-fruit tree, the Oriental luxu¬ 
riance of the tropical pandanus, or the waving plumes 
of the lofty and graceful cocoa-nut grove. The scene 
was enlivened by the waterfall on the mountain’s side, 
the cataract that chafed along its rocky bed in the 
recesses of the ravine, or the stream that slowly wound 
