188 
POLYNESIAN RESEARCHES. 
peaceful dwellings^ and their present occupation, I have 
often been struck with the appearance of the villages, 
the dilapidated family maraes, or idol-temples, moulder¬ 
ing in ruins on almost every projecting point. 
The western side of this extensive lake is bordered by a 
low flat tract of land, in many places a mile wide, extend¬ 
ing from south to north. At the northern extremity of 
this beautiful piece of water, there is a narrow channel, 
by which it communicates with the sea. The western 
side, though very different from the opposite shore, adds 
to the variety of the scenery; it is thickly wooded, and 
among the trees that reach the highest perfection, the 
cocoa-nut, waving its crown of elegant leaves, and 
the no less elegant casuarina, whose boughs hang in 
arches over the water, are most conspicuous. The 
eastern side was doubtless originally the shore of the 
sea, and the lake filled by its waters, while the low 
border of the land on the opposite side constituted the 
reef. After the reef reached the level of the sea at high- 
water, it ceased to ascend, but spread horizontally; 
fragments of coral, and pieces of wood, were thrown upon 
its widened surface, till at length it resisted the shock 
of the ocean, and the waves rolled back without over¬ 
flowing it. Every year increased the substances accumu¬ 
lated on its surface; vegetation at length commenced, 
and the process of organization and decomposition, 
accelerated by the humidity of the atmosphere and the 
warmth of the climate, formed the mould, in which the 
trees, at present covering it, spread their roots and find 
their nourishment. 
But the most conspicuous and picturesque object, in 
connexion with the lake scenery, is moua tahu, sacred 
or devoted mountain, which rises on the eastern shore 
