POLYNESIAN RESEARCHES. 
145 
its way through the fertile and cultivated valleys, and 
the whole was surrounded by the white-crested waters 
of the Pacific, rolling their waves of foam in splendid 
majesty upon the coral reefs, or dashing in spray 
against its broken shore. 
The cataracts and waterfalls, though occasionally 
seen, are by no means so numerous On any part of the 
Tahitian coast, as in the north-eastern shores of Hawaii. 
The mountains of Tahiti are less grand and stupendous 
than those of the northern group>—but there is a greater 
richness of verdure and variety of landscape; the moun¬ 
tains are much broken in the interior, and deep and 
frequent ravines intersect their declivity from the 
centre to the shore. As we advanced towards the 
anchorage, I had time to observe, not only the diversified 
scenery, but the general structure and form, of the 
island. Tahiti, excepting a border of low alluvial 
land, by which it is nearly surrounded, is altogether 
mountainous, and highest in the centre. The mountains 
frequently diverge in short ranges from the interior 
towards the shore, though some rise like pyramids 
with pointed summits, and others present a conical, 
or sugar-loaf form, while the outline of several is 
regular, and almost circular. Orohena, the central and 
loftiest mountain in Tahiti, is six or seven thousand 
feet above the sea. Its summit is generally enveloped 
in clouds ; but when the sky is clear, its appearance is 
broken and picturesque. 
The level land at the mouth of Matavai valley is broad, 
but along the eastern and southern sides the mountains 
approach much nearer to the sea, A dark-coloured 
sandy beach extends all round the bay, except at its 
southern extremity, near One-tree Hill, where the shore is 
u 
