broad; and round it the land
rises like a bank, with a gradual ascent. But we could not trace its
having any communication with the sea. And yet, the land that runs
across to it, from the largest sandy beach, being flat and low, and the
soil sandy, it is most likely that it may have, formerly, communicated
that way. The soil on the rising parts of the island, and especially
toward the sea, is either of a reddish clayey disposition, or a black,
loose mould; but there is, no where, any stream of fresh water.

The island is very well cultivated, except in a few places; and there
are some others, which, though they appear to lie waste, are only left
to recover the strength exhausted by constant culture; for we frequently
saw the natives at work upon these spots, to plant them again. The
plantations consist chiefly of yams and plantains. Many of them are very
extensive, and often inclosed with neat fences of reed, disposed
obliquely across each other, about six feet high. Within these we often
saw other fences of less compass, surrounding the houses of the
principal people. The breadfruit, and cocoa-nut trees, are interspersed
with little order, but chiefly near the habitations of the natives; and
the other parts of the island, especially toward the sea, and about the
sides of the lake, are covered with trees and bushes of a most luxuriant
growth; the last place having a great many mangroves, and the first a
vast number of the _faitanoo_ trees already mentioned. There seem to be
no rocks or stones, of any kind, about the island, that are not coral,
except in one place, to the right of the sandy beach, where there is a
rock twenty or thirty feet high, of a calcareous stone, of a yellowish
colour, and a very close texture. But even about that place, which is
the highest part of the land, are large pieces of the same coral rock
that composes the shore.

Besides walking frequently up into the country, which we were permitted
to do without interruption, we sometimes amused ourselves in shooting
wild-ducks, not unlike the widgeon, which are very numerous upon the
salt lake, and the pool where we got our water. In these excursions, we
found the inhabitants had often deserted their houses to come down to
the trading place, without entertaining any suspicion, that strangers,
rambling about, would take away, or destroy, any thing that belonged to
them. But though, from this circumstance, it might be supposed that the
greater part of