XX

By the evening we had almost reached the central highland of Tahiti;—far below us through the transparent air we could see the outline of all the volcanic ruin, and the mountains in relief; enormous ribs of basalt, starting from the crater in the middle, and sinking gradually till they were lost in the waves. All round, the blue ocean, and the horizon so high that, by a common optical illusion, the expanse of water had a strange appearance of being concave. The ocean-line lay far above the highest peaks; Oroena alone, the giant of the Tahitian system, cut it with its dark majestic head. All round the island a belt of white spray lay on the blue expanse of the Pacific; the line of the barrier reef where eternal surf beats on the coral shoal.