160 
POLYNESIAN RESEARCHES. 
on the contents of their books, or some other religious 
subject. At Hitoti's dwelling which, I visited on the 
second Sabbath after my arrival, the household were 
about to kneel down for prayer when we entered 5 we 
joined them, and several of the petitions which th^ chief 
offered up to God, appeared, when interpreted by my 
companion, remarkably appropriate and expressive. 
In the course of my first week on shore, I made several 
excursions in different parts of the district. The soil, 
in all the level part of the valley, was a rich vegetable 
mould, with a small portion of alluvial, washed down 
from the surrounding hills, which are generally covered 
with a stiff kind of loam or brownish-red ochre. Several 
large plantations were well stocked with the different 
productions of the island ; but a large portion of the 
valleys adjacent to the settlement, were altogether uncul¬ 
tivated, and covered with grass or brush-wood, growing 
with all the rank luxuriance that a humid atmosphere, a 
tropical sun, and a fertile soil, would combine to pro¬ 
duce. 
I also accompanied one of the Missionaries on a voyage 
to>the opposite side of the island, about twenty miles 
distant from the settlement at Papetoai. Two natives 
paddled our light single canoe along the smooth water 
within the reefs till we reached Moru, where we landed, 
to take some refreshment at the house of a friendly 
chief. This was the first native meal I had sat down to, 
and it was served up in true Tahitian style. When the 
food was ready, we were requested to seat ourselves on 
the dry grass that covered the floor of the house. A 
number of the broad leaves of the purau, hibiscus tile- 
aceus, having the stalks plucked off close to the leaf, 
were then spread on the ground, in two or three succes- 
