334 
POLYNESIAN RESEARCHES. 
serviceable to ships going to sea. A few miles 
beyond the harbour of Hamaniino, Vaoaara is 
situated, which was the former Missionary station, 
the residence of the chiefs, and principal part of 
the population. There are two open bays on the 
east side of the island, Opoa and Utumaoro. 
They were occasionally visited by shipping ; and 
the latter has, since the removal of the Missionary 
station, become the general place of anchorage. 
But although they are secured from heavy waves 
by the reefs of coral that stretch along the eastern 
shore, they are exposed to the prevailing winds, 
excepting so far as they are sheltered by the 
islands at the entrance from the sea. 
There are no lakes in Raiatea or Tahaa, but 
both islands are encircled in one reef, which is in 
some parts attached to their shores, and in others 
rises to the water’s edge, at the distance of two or 
three miles from it. The water within the reefs 
is as smooth as the surface of a lake in a pleasure- 
ground, though often from eighteen to thirty 
fathoms deep. The coral reefs form natural and 
beautiful breakwaters, preserving the lowland and 
the yielding soil of the adjacent shore from the 
force and encroachment of the heavy billows of the 
ocean. Numbers of verdant little islands, situated 
like those of Tipaemau, at the openings in the reef, 
are remarkably useful as sea-marks, and furnish 
convenient temporary residences for the fishermen, 
who resort to them during the season for taking 
the operu, scomber scomber of Linneus, and other 
fish, periodically visiting their shores. Here they 
dry and repair their nets while watching the 
approach of the shoals, and find them remarkably 
advantageous in prosecuting the most important of 
their fisheries. 
