LAKE OF MAEVA. 
3 
were in connexion with my occasional services at 
this place. The scenery of the adjacent country 
is remarkably fine, and, though different in cha¬ 
racter, in no respect inferior to that which adorns 
the borders of Windermere or Derwent Water. 
The lake of Maeva is five miles in length, and of 
unequal breadth, though often two miles wide. 
Unagitated by the long rolling billows of the 
Pacific, and seldom ruffled by the northern and 
eastern breezes, from which it is sheltered by 
mountains, its surface was often smooth as a 
polished mirror, reflecting the groves around, and 
the heavens above. It abounds with fish. These 
not only supply the inhabitants of the shores of 
the lake with the means of subsistence, but, when 
viewed from the light canoe, as they sported in 
the depths beneath, or leaped above its surface, 
enlivened its solitude. On the eastern side, a 
number of streams rose among the mountains, and, 
winding their way through the valleys, at length 
united with its waters. On this side, though the 
ascent from its margin to the distant mountains 
was generally gradual, it was sometimes abrupt 
and bold : the rocky precipices, adorned with 
pendulous and creeping plants, rich in verdant 
foliage or clustering flowers, rose almost perpen¬ 
dicularly from the water; the hills were orna¬ 
mented with clumps of the graceful cypress-shaped 
casuarina; and in the narrow border of lowland, 
that in many parts extended from the shores to 
the foot of the mountains, the hibiscus tiliaceus, 
the betonica splendida, the inocarpus, and other 
trees of larger growth, reared their majestic forms, 
and spread their stately branches, clothed with 
dark and glossy foliage, wline round their gigantic 
stems, and spread from bough to bough, the beau- 
B 2 
