POLYNESIAN RESEARCHES. 
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ascent from its margin to the distant mountains was ge¬ 
nerally gradual^ it was sometimes abrupt and bold: the 
rocky precipices, adorned with pendulous and creeping 
plants, rich in verdant foliage or clustering flow^ers, rose 
almost perpendicularly from the water; the hills were 
ornamented with clumps of the graceful cypress-shaped 
casuarina; and in the narrow border of lowland, that in 
many parts extended from the shores to the foot of the 
mountains, the hibiscus tiliaceus, the hetonica spletidida^ 
the inocarpusy and other trees of larger growth, reared 
their majestic forms, and spread their stately branches, 
clothed with dark and glossy foliage, while round their 
gigantic stems, and spread from bough to bough, the 
beautiful and large bell-flowering convolvolus, was often 
hung in wild luxuriant wreaths. 
The walk from Fare to the head of the lake was 
delightful; for more than a mile, it was actually under 
what the natives call the maru uru^ bread-fruit shade, 
large groves of this useful tree growing on each side of 
the path. A number of small plantations give variety 
to the wild scenery, and many of the raatiras, or inferior 
chiefs, have erected their dwellings near the path. 
Hautia had, when we first arrived, a noble house standing 
at the southern end of the lake. Along the eastern 
shore, small villages were seen amidst a grove of cocoa- 
nut and bread-fruit trees. A succession of agreeable 
sensations has arisen in my mind on a Saturday after¬ 
noon, when passing along the lake in my canoe, which 
was paddled by two native attendants. I have seen the 
columns of smoke curling up among the bread-fruit 
trees, where the inhabitants were dressing their food for 
the following day. Sometimes I have received their 
salutations from the shore; and, in contrast with their 
