aped with vines; deep valleys lying in the shadow of
overhanging mountains; primaeval forest with its many shades of green;
immense chestnut trees, laden with fragrant blossoms; miles of
bread-fruit groves, intermingled with coco-nut palms; and nearer the
beach plantains, bananas, sweet potatoes, and lastly, growing to the
water's edge, graceful iron-wood trees with hair-like leaves drooping
like tresses, all contribute to the variety and charm of the scenery.[2]

[1] F. H. H. Guillemard, _Australasia_, ii. (London, 1894) p.
509.

[2] W. W. Gill, _Life in the Southern Isles_ (London, N.D.), p.
11. Compare John Williams, _Narrative of Missionary Enterprises
in the South Sea Islands_ (London, 1838), pp. 16, 174-176.
According to Dr. Guillemard (_loc. cit._), the height of
Rarotonga is 2900 feet; according to W. W. Gill, our principal
authority on the island, it is 4500 feet.

Very different is the aspect of Mangaia. It is a complete coral island
rising from deep water as a ring of live coral; there is no lagoon. A
few hundred yards inland from the rugged beach there rises gradually a
second or inner ring of dead coral, which towards the interior falls
away perpendicularly, thus surrounding the island like a cyclopean wall.
This belt or bulwark of dead coral is from one to two miles wide. To
cross it is like walking on spear-points: to slip and fall on it may
entail ghastly wounds. The streams of water from the interior find their
way through it to the sea by subterranean channels. Imbedded in the
highest parts of this inland reef of coral are many sea-shells of
existing species, and it is honeycombed with many extensive caves, which
were formerly used as dwellings, cemeteries, places of refuge, or
storehouses. Scores of them are filled with desiccated human bodies. So
vast are they that it is dangerous to venture alone into their recesses;
the forlorn wanderer might never emerge from them again. Some of them
are said to penetrate far under the bed of the ocean. In these caverns
stalactite and stalagmite abound, forming thick and fast-growing layers
of limestone rock. The largest and most famous of the caves is known as
the Labyrinth (_Tuatini_). The interior of the island is formed of dark
volcanic rock and red clay, descending in low hills from a flat-topped
centre, called the Crown of Mangaia. The summit is not more than six
hundred and fifty feet above the level of the sea.[3]

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