164 POLYNESIAN RESEARCHES. 
The sea was agitated, and the swell continuing 
from the westward, after the breeze from that 
quarter bad subsided, was against us. The wind, 
though favourable, was but light, and our progress 
consequently slow. Our little bark containing the 
portion of supplies from the Hope, for the Mis¬ 
sionaries in the Leeward Islands, was heavily 
laden. These amounting to several tons, besides, 
the number of natives on board, not only kept the 
boat steady, but brought it considerably lower in 
the water than I had seen it before. About mid¬ 
day we lost sight of Eimeo. Continuing our 
course in a north-westerly direction, soon after 
sun-set, while the radiance of the departed lumi¬ 
nary invested the horizon with splendour, we had 
the high satisfaction to behold the broken summits 
of what we considered the Huahinean mountains, 
shewn in beautiful though indistinct contrast with the 
brightness of the heavens and the sea. The dura¬ 
tion of twilight within the tropics is always short; 
hence the rich sunset scene, which the peculiarity 
of our situation had rendered singular and imposing, 
was soon followed by the darkness of night, which in 
much less than an hour veiled surrounding objects. 
The glance, however, which we had obtained of 
the mountains of Huahine, was serviceable and 
cheering; it convinced us that the current had not 
swept us aside from our course, and it enabled us 
to fix satisfactorily the direction in which to steer 
until morning. Although our rest had been but 
broken and short during the preceding night, our 
present situation repressed any desire for repose. 
Nothing can exceed the solemn stillness of a 
night at sea within the tropics, when the wind is 
light, and the water comparatively smooth. Few 
periods and situations, amid the diversified cir- 
