lagoon inside the reef, the waves beating all the time furiously on
the outer surface of the coral breakwater, as if anxious to seize and
engulf them.

[Footnote 8: 'Papiete' or 'Papeete,' _a bag of water_.]

At nine o'clock we were safely anchored in the chief port of the
island of Tahiti.

Perhaps I cannot better bring this account of our long voyage from
Valparaiso to a conclusion than by a quotation from a charming book,
given to me at Rio, which I have lately been reading Baron de Hubner's
'Promenade autour du Monde:'--'Les jours se suivent et se ressemblent.
Sauf le court épisode du mauvais temps, ces trois semaines me font
l'effet d'un charmant rêve, d'un conte de fée, d'une promenade
imaginaire à travers une salle immense, tout or et lapis-lazuli. Pas
un moment d'ennui ou d'impatience. Si vous voulez abréger les
longueurs d'une grande traversée, distribuez bien votre temps, et
observez le règlement que vous vous êtes imposé. C'est un moyen sûr de
se faire promptement à la vie claustrale et même d'en jouir.'

We have been five weeks at sea, and have enjoyed them quite as much as
the Baron did his three. We saw but two ships between Valparaiso and
Tatakotoroa: he saw only one between San Francisco and Yokohama. It is
indeed a vast and lonely ocean that we have traversed.

[Illustration: Quarantine Island, Papeete]