Perhaps there is scarcely a spot in the universe that affords a more luxuriant prospect than the south-east part of Otaheite. The hills are high and steep; and, in many places, craggy. But they are covered to the very summits with trees and shrubs, in such a manner, that the spectator can scarcely help thinking that the very rocks possess the property of producing and supporting their verdant clothing. The flat land which bounds those hills toward the sea, and the interjacent valleys, also teem with various productions that grow with the most exuberant vigour; and at once fill the mind of the beholder with the idea that no place upon earth can outdo this in the strength and beauty of vegetation. Nature has been no less liberal in distributing rivulets, which are found in every valley; and as they approach the sea, often divide into two or three branches, fertilizing the flat lands through which they run. The habitations of the natives are scattered, without order, upon the flats; and many of them appearing toward the shore, presented a delightful scene, viewed from our ships; especially as the sea, within the reef, which bounds the coast, is perfectly still, and affords a safe navigation at all times for the inhabitants, who are often seen paddling in their canoes indolently along, in passing from place to place, or in going to fish. On viewing these charming scenes, I have often regretted my inability to transmit to those who have had no opportunity of seeing them, such a description as might, in some measure, convey an impression similar to what must be felt by every one who has been fortunate enough to be upon the spot. It is, doubtless, the natural fertility of the country, combined with the mildness and serenity of the climate, that renders the natives so careless in their cultivation, that, in many places, though overflowing with the richest productions, the smallest traces of it cannot be observed. The cloth plant, which is raised by seeds brought from the mountains, and the _ava_, or intoxicating pepper, which they defend from the sun when very young, by covering them with leaves of the bread-fruit-tree, are almost the only things to which they seem to pay any attention; and these they keep very clean.