356 POLYNESIAN RESEARCHES. 
drink; some of his attendants also handed us a 
large wooden tobacco-pipe, which is usually passed 
round when strangers arrive ; this last compliment, 
however, we begged leave to decline. Makoa 
seated himself by the side of the chief, and gave 
him a brief outline of our tour—our object—and 
the instructions given to the people. In the 
mean time, fish was prepared for supper by a fire 
of sandal wood, which, instead of filling the house 
with disagreeable smoke, perfumed it with a fra¬ 
grant odour. After family worship in the native 
language, we retired to rest. 
The next morning unveiled to view the extent 
and beauty of the romantic valley. Its entrance 
from the sea, which was blocked up with sand¬ 
hills fifty or sixty feet high, appeared to be a 
mile, or a mile and a half wide. The summits of 
the hills, which bordered the valley, seemed six 
hundred feet above the level of the sea. They 
were in some parts nearly perpendicular, yet they 
were clothed with grass, while low straggling 
shrubs were here and there seen amidst the jutting 
rocks. A number of winding paths led up their 
steep sides, and, in several places, streams, flowing 
in beautiful cascades from the top to the bottom, 
formed a considerable stream, which, meandering 
along the valley, found a passage through the 
sand-hills, and emptied itself into the sea. The 
bottom of the valley was one continued garden, 
cultivated with taro, bananas, sugar-cane, and 
other productions of the islands, all growing luxu¬ 
riantly. Several large ponds were also seen in 
different directions, well stocked with excellent 
fish. A number of small villages, containing from 
twenty to fifty houses each, stood along the foot 
of the mountains, at unequal distances on each 
