98 
POLYNESIAN RESEARCHES. 
the precincts of their garden^ a beautiful but rustic 
little summer-house or cottage^ which they call a fare 
hure hunay or house for hidden prayer. I one day 
visited this garden, a few weeks after it had been en¬ 
closed and stocked with the most valuable indigenous 
plants of the islands. Towering above the plantains, 
papaws, &c. the shaddock planted by Captain Cook 
appeared, like an inhabitant of another country, in soli¬ 
tary exile; for though the climate is similar in point 
of temperature to that in which it is accustomed to 
thrive, its shoots are not long and igorous, its leaves 
are not so clear, dark, and glossy as those of the other 
plants, and the fruit, though large and abundant, falls 
prematurely to the ground. 
After wandering some time among the clustering 
sugarcane, rows of pine-apples, plantains, and bana¬ 
nas, I approached this house for private devotion. A 
narrow path covered with sand and anaana, or branches 
of coral, led to the entrance. An elegant hibiscus 
spread its branches over the cottage, and threw its em¬ 
bowering shade on its rude and lowly roof. A native 
palm-leaf mat covered the earthen floor,—a rustic seat, 
a table standing by a little open window, with a portion 
of the Scripture, and a hymn-book in the native lan¬ 
guage, constituted its only furniture. The stillness 
of every thing around, the secluded retirement of the 
spot, and the diversified objects of nature wdth which 
it was associated, seemed delightfully adapted to 
contemplation and devotion. The scene was one of 
diversified beauty, and the only sounds were those occa¬ 
sioned by the rustling among the sugarcanes, or the 
luxuriant and broad-leaved plantains, while the passing 
breezes swept gently through them. 
