16 
POLYNESIAN RESEARCHES. 
outline of several is regular, and almost circular. 
Orohena, the central and loftiest mountain in 
Tahiti, is six or seven thousand feet above the 
sea. Its summit is generally enveloped in clouds ; 
but when the sky is clear, its appearance is broken 
and picturesque. 
Matavai bay was the first place where we an¬ 
chored, or had an opportunity of examining more 
closely the country. The level land at the mouth 
of the valley is broad, but along the eastern and 
southern sides, the mountains approach nearer to 
the sea. A dark-coloured sandy beach extends 
all round the bay, except at its southern extre¬ 
mity, near One-tree Hill, where the shore is rocky 
and bold. Groves of bread-fruit and cocoa-nut 
trees appear in every direction, and, amid the 
luxuriance of vegetation every where presented, 
the low and rustic habitations of the natives gave 
a pleasing variety to the delightful scene. 
In the exterior or border landscapes of Tahiti 
and the other islands, there is a variety of objects, 
a happy combination of land and water, of preci¬ 
pices and plains, of trees often hanging their 
branches, clothed with thick foliage, over the sea, 
and distant mountains shewn in sublime outline 
and richest hues ; and the whole, often blended in 
the harmony of nature, produces sensations of 
admiration and delight. The inland scenery is of 
a different character, but not less impressive. The 
landscapes are occasionally extensive, but more 
frequently circumscribed. There is, however, a 
startling boldness in the towering piles of basalt, 
often heaped in romantic confusion near the 
source or margin of some crystal stream, that 
flows in silence at their base, or dashes over the 
rocky fragments that arrest its progress: and 
