C H A P . X V IL
A particular Defcription o f the I f a n d ; its Produce and
Inha b itan ts; their D refs, H abitationsi Food,
domefic F ife and Amufements.
W E found the longitude o f Port-Royal bay, in this
ifland, as fettled by Captain Waltis, who difccivered
i t on the gth of June 1767, to be within half a degree of the
truth. We found Point Venus, the northern extremity of
the ifland, and the eaftern point of the bay, to lie in the
longitude of 149° 13' this being the mean refult of a great
number of obfervations made upon the fpot. The ifland is
furrounded by a reef of coral rock, which forms feveral excellent
bays and harbours, fome of which have been particularly
defcribed, where there is room and depth of water
for any number of thelargeft fhips. Port-Royal bay, called
by the natives Matavai, which is not inferior to any in Ota-
heite, may eafily be known by a very high mountain in the
middle of the ifland, which bears due fouth from Point
Venus. To fail into it, either keep the weft point of the reef
that lies before Point Venus, clofe on board, or give it a
birth of near half a mile, in order to avoid a fmall fhoal of
coral rocks, on which there is but two fathom and an half of
water. The bell anchoring is on the eaftern fide of the bay,
where there is fixteen and fourteen fathom upon an oufey
bottom. The fhore of the bay is a fine fandy beach, behind
which runs a river of frelh water, fo that any number of
Ihips may water here without incommoding each other; but
the only wood for firing, upon the whole ifland, is that of
9 fruit
R O U N D T H E WORLD.
fruit trees, which mull be purchafed of the natives, or all
hope of living upon good terms with them given up. There
are fome harbours to the weftward of this bay which have
not been mentioned, but, as they are contiguous to it, and
laid down in the plan, a defcription o f them is unneeeflary.
The face of the country, except that part of it which borders
upon the fea, is very uneven; it rifes in ridges that
run up into the middle of the ifland, and there form mountains*
which may be feen at the diftance of fixty miles : between
the foot of thefe ridges and the fea, is a border of low
land, furrounding the whole ifland, except in a few places
where the ridges rife directly from the fea: the border of low
land is in different parts of different breadths, but no where
more than a mile and a half. The foil, except upon the very
tops of the ridges, is extremely rich and fertile, watered by
a great number of rivulets of excellent water, and covered
with fruit, trees of various kinds,- fome of which1 are of a
ftately growth and thick foliage, fo as to-form one continued
wood; and even the tops of the ridges, though in general
they are bare, and burnt up by the fun, are, in fome parts,
not without their produce.
The lowland that lies between the foot of the ridges and
the fea, and fome of the vallies, are the only parts of the
ifland that are inhabited, and here it is populous; the houles
do not form villages or towns, but are ranged along the
whole border at the diftance of about fifty yards from each
other, with little plantations of plantains, the tree which
furniflies them with cloth. The whole ifland, according to
Tupia’s account, who certainly knew, could furnifh. fix
thoufand feven hundred and eighty fighting men, from
which the number of inhabitants may eafily be computed.
The