THE PEARL ISLANDS. 303 
of its superiority to the system of delusion and 
iniquity from which they had been released ; and 
hence, perhaps, chiefly originated their exertions 
to induce its reception by others. 
The knowledge of Christianity was early con¬ 
veyed to the Paumotus, which lie to the north and 
east of Tahiti. 
To the southward of the Marquesas, innumerable 
clusters and single islands, of a totally different 
structure and appearance from the larger islands, 
cover the bosom of the ocean, and render 
navigation exceedingly dangerous. They are 
low narrow islands, of coralline formation, and 
though among them some few, as Gambier’s 
Islands, are hilly, the greater number do not rise 
more than three feet above the level of high 
water. The names of Crescent, Harp, Chain, 
Bow, &c., which some of them have received, 
from their appearance, have been supposed to 
indicate their shape. Those already known seem 
to be increasing in size, while others are con¬ 
stantly approaching the surface of the water. 
Sometimes they rise, like a perpendicular wall, from 
the depths of the ocean to the level of its surface ; 
at other times, reefs or groves of coral, of varied 
and beautiful form and colour, extend, in the 
form of successive terraces below the water, 
to a considerable distance around. Here islands 
may be seen in every stage of their progress; 
some presenting little more than a point or sum¬ 
mit of a branching coralline pyramid, at a depth 
scarcely discernible through the transparent waters; 
others spreading, like submarine gardens or shrub¬ 
beries, beneath the surface; or presenting here and 
there a little bank of broken coral and sand, over 
which the rolling wave occasionally breaks; while 
