252 
POLYNESIAN RESEARCHES. 
The large island of Raiatea lies immediately to 
the west of Fare harbour, and, by the time we had 
finished our meal, the sun was partly hid behind 
the high and broken summits of its mountains. 
This admonished us to prepare our sleeping-place, 
as the twilight is short, and we were not sure of 
procuring lights for the evening. The natives cut 
down four stout sticks from the neighbouring 
trees; these we fixed in the earthern floor, and 
fastening sheets and native cloth from one to the 
other, enclosed our bed-room; a couple of chests 
were carried into it, upon which we spread our 
bed, making up one for the children by the side of 
our own, on some packages that lay on the floor. 
We procured cocoa-nut oil, and when it grew 
dark, breaking a cocoa-nut in half, took one end, 
and winding a little cotton-wool round the thin 
stalk of the leaflet of the tree, fixed it erect in the 
kernel of the nut. This we filled with the oil, and 
thus our lamp and oil were entirely the production 
of the cocoa-nut tree ; the small piece of cotton- 
wick gathered from the garden in Eimeo, being 
the only article it had not supplied. These were 
the only kind of lamps we had for some years, and, 
though rude in appearance, they gave a good light, 
when kept steady, and sheltered from the wind. 
Shortly, however, after sunset this evening, the 
land-breeze came down from the mountains. As 
we had no shelter for our lamp, we found it diffi¬ 
cult to keep it burning, and at an early hour re¬ 
tired to rest, tying our screen down with strips of 
bark, to prevent its being blown aside by the wind. 
Notwithstanding the novelty of our situation, the 
exposure to the air from the mountains, the roaring 
of the heavy surf on the reefs, the inroads of dogs, 
pigs, and natives, with no other shelter than a pile 
