THE PACIFIC OCEAN. 
and nine or ten high; in which, perhaps, thefe boats are 
built; hut, at this time, it was empty. 
The greateft number of the trees around us were cocoa- 
palms ; fome forts of hibifcus ; a fpecies of euphorbia ; and, 
toward the fea, abundance of the fame kind of trees we 
had feen at Mangeea Nooe Nainaiwa; and which feemed 
to furround the fhores of this iiland in the fame manner. 
They are tall and Ilender, not much unlike a cyprefs; but 
with bunches of long, round, articulated leaves. The na¬ 
tives call them etoa. On the ground we faw fome grafs ; 
a fpecies of convolvulus ; and a good deal of treacle-mujiard. 
There are alfo, doubtlefs, other fruit-trees and ufeful plants 
which we did not fee. For, belides feveral forts of plan¬ 
tains , they brought, at different times, roots which they 
call taro (the coccos of other countries); a bread-fruit; 
and a bafket of roafted nuts, of a kidney-fhape, in tafte 
like a chefnut, but coarfer. 
What the foil of the iiland may be, farther inland, we 
could not tell. But, toward the fea, it is nothing more 
than a bank of coral, ten or twelve feet high, ifeep, and 
rugged; except where there are fmall fandy beaches, at 
fome clefts where the afcent is gradual. The coral, though 
it has, probably, been expofed to the weather for many 
centuries, has undergone no farther change than becom¬ 
ing black on the furface; which, from its irregularity, is 
not much unlike large maffes of a burnt fnbftance. But, 
on breaking fome pieces off, we found, that, at the depth 
of two or three inches, it was juft as frefh as the pieces that 
had been lately thrown upon the beach by the waves. The 
reef or rock, that lines the fhore entirely, runs to different 
breadths into the fea, where it ends, all at once, and be¬ 
comes like a high, fteep wall. It is, nearly, even with the 
furface: 
197 
1777. 
April* 
