2 
POLYNESIAN RESEARCHES. 
which was fair and steady^ without being violent. 
Our voyage was pleasant 5 and soon after two in the 
afternoon of the same day^ we entered an opening in 
the reef^ a few miles to the northward of that leading 
to Opoa. This entrance is called by the inhabitants 
Tipae mau, True^ or permanent^ landing (place.) 
The coral reef, around the eastern shores of Raiatea 
and Tahaa, often exhibits one of the most sublime and 
beautiful marine spectacles that it is possible to behold. 
It is generally a mile, or a mile and a half, and occa¬ 
sionally two miles, from the shore. The surface of the 
water within the reef is placid and transparent; while 
that without, if there be the slightest breeze, is con¬ 
siderably agitated^ and, being unsheltered from the 
wind, is generally raised in high and foaming waves. 
The trade-wind, blowing constantly towards the shore, 
drives the waves with violence upon the reef, which is 
from five, to twenty or thirty yards wide. The long 
rolling billows of the Pacific, extending sometimes, in 
one unbroken line, a mile or a mile and a half along 
the reef, arrested by this natural barrier, often rise 
ten, twelve, or fourteen feet above its surface; and 
then, bending over it their white foaming tops, form a 
graceful liquid arch, glittering in the rays of a tropical 
sun, as if studded with brilliants. But, before the 
eyes of the spectator can follow the splendid aqueous 
gallery which they appear to have reared, with loud and 
hollow roar they fall in magnificent desolation, and 
spread the gigantic fabric in froth and spray upon the 
horizontal and gently broken surface of the coral. 
In each of the islands, and opposite the large valleys, 
through which a stream of water falls into the ocean, 
there is u^ally a break, or opening, in the line of reef 
