POLYNESIAN RESEARCHES. 
553 
engagement with Mr. Orsmond^ I visited the island^ for 
the purpose of preaching at the opening of the new 
Chapel. Indisposition detained Mr. Bennet at Huahine, 
but the late Rev. D. Tyerman, his colleague, kindly 
accompanied me. 
On reaching the settlement, to which the people had 
given the appellation of Beulah, we were gratified no less 
with the warm reception we experienced, than with the 
evident improvement among the inhabitants. The school 
was regularly attended, and many were well informed 
in the great truths of revelation; the observance of the 
sabbath was strictly regarded; four or five neat plastered 
houses were finished, others were in progress. Three 
causeways, upwards of six feet wide, and elevated two or 
three feet above the water, extended about three hundred 
and sixty feet into the sea, and united at the extremity. 
The chapel, which was one of the best that had been 
erected in the islands, was part of a large building one 
hundred and sixty feet by forty-eight, comprising a place 
of worship, school, and court-house. 
Contrary winds detained us some days in the plea¬ 
sant settlement at the head of Vaitape bay, on the 
west side of the island, which is situated in 16° 32' S. 
Lat. and nearly 152° W. Long. Borabora, as well as 
the other islands of the group, is surrounded by a reef 
rising to the water’s edge, at unequal distances from the 
shore. On this reef there are three low coral islands 
covered with trees and verdure, equal to that which 
adorns those around Raiatea and Tahaa. There are 
also four other islands separated from the main land, 
which is about sixteen miles in circumference. These 
islands, likePapeorea inHuahine, are not of coral forma¬ 
tion, but resemble in structure the promontories on the 
II. 4 B 
