POLYNESIAN RESEARCHES. 
161 
sive layers, with the downy or underside upwards, and 
two or three were handed by a servant to each individual, 
instead of a plate. By the side of these vegetable plates, 
a small cocoa-nut shell of salt water was placed for each 
person. Quantities of fine large bread-fruit, roasted 
on hot stones, were now peeled and brought in, and a 
number of fish that had been wrapped in plantain leaves, 
and broiled on the embers, were placed beside them. 
A bread-fruit and a fish was handed to each individual, 
and, having implored a blessing, we began to eat, dip¬ 
ping every mouthful of bread-fruit or fish into the small 
vessel of salt water,—without which, to the natives, it 
would have been unsavoury and tasteless. I opened the 
leaves, and found the fish nicely broiled; and, imitating 
the practice of those around me, dipped several of the 
first pieces I took into the dish placed by my side : but 
there was a bitterness in the sea water which rendered 
it rather unpalatable, I therefore dispensed with the 
further use of it, and finished my meal with the bread¬ 
fruit and fish. 
About two o’clock in the afternoon, we resumed our 
journey; travelling sometimes along the sea-beach, and 
at other times availing ourselves of the canoe until near 
sunset, when we reached Afareaitu—and created by our 
arrival no small stir among the people. 
The next morning we examined the district, and were 
delighted with its fertility, extent, and resources. 
Afareaitu is on the eastern side of Eimeo, opposite the 
district of Atehuru in Tahiti, and is certainly one of the 
finest districts in the island. It comprises two valleys, 
or rather one large valley partially divided by a narrow 
hilly ridge extending from the mountains in the in¬ 
terior, towards the shore. The soil of the bottom of 
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