$80 POLYNESIAN RESEARCHES, 
other islands separated from the main land, which 
is about sixteen miles in circumference. These 
islands, like Papeorea in Huahine, are not of coral 
formation, but resemble in structure the promon¬ 
tories on the adjacent shore. Tobua, the prin¬ 
cipal, forming the south or west side of Vaitape 
bay, is not less than three or four hundred feet 
above the sea. 
In the geology of Borabora, the only peculiarity 
is the existence of -a species of feldspar and 
quartz, but the appearance and shape of the island 
is singular and imposing. The high land in the 
interior is not broken into a number of small 
mountain ridges, but, uniting in one stupendous 
mass, rears its magnificent form, which resembles 
a double-peaked mountain, to an elevation perhaps 
little below 3000 feet above the water. The lower 
hills and small islands are not seen at a distance, 
so that when viewed from the sea or the other 
islands, especially Huahine, (from the north and 
western parts of which it is generally visible,) it 
appears like a solitary gigantic obelisk or pyramid 
rising from the ocean and reaching to the clouds. 
The settlement at the head of Vaitape bay com¬ 
mands a view of every diversity in scenery. The 
lofty interior mountain clothed with verdure, and 
the deep glens that indent its sides, stand in 
pleasing contrast with the hilly or coralline islands 
that appear in the west, while the uniformity and 
nakedness of the distant horizon is broken by the 
appearance of the conical or circular summits of the 
mountains of Maupiti or Maurua, upwards of thirty 
miles distant. This island was frequently visible 
from Borabora, during our visit at this time. 
Maupiti is but circumscribed in extent, and its 
mountains are less broken and romantic than those 
