THE MARQUESAS ISLANDS. 217

‘Almost every pinnacle of this island is carpeted withvines; even on the perpendicular walls of its precipices atapestry of shrubs and verdure hangs. On the south sideis the bay, Taiohae, or Anna-Maria, which is shaped likea horse-shoe and is two miles deep, a mile broad at thecentre and half a mile broad at the entrance, where it isflanked by two grand headlands over 500 feet high. Itsshore is a beautiful crescent of sand interrupted here andthere with shingle and bowlders.” Says H. Melville (““Typee ”),‘“No description can do justice to the beautyof the scenery of this bay. The mountains shut in a vastamphitheatre of deep glens, overgrown with vines andgleaming with cascades. I felt regret that a scene soenchanting was hidden from the world in these remoteseas.” Of a view he obtained from the summit of themountain he says,‘“ Had a glimpse of the gardens ofParadise been given me I could scarcely have been moreravished with the sight.”

About forty miles south of this island is Uapou, orAdam Island, on the west side of which is the harborHakahekau. From this harbor a valley, one fourth of amile wide, extends three miles inland,‘‘crowded withshrubbery, evergreen vines and lofty trees.~The moun-tains, ridges and towering cones of this island are verygrand. Within a vast amphitheatre of rugged hills,which send down their spurs to the shore, buttressed bylofty precipices, are eight remarkable columns, 200 to300 feet high and 50 to 100 feet in diameter, rising insolitary grandeur like a castellated fortress.”(Coan).

East of this island, about sixty miles distant is Ha-