Chapter 1

At daylight Tahiti, an island which must for ever remain classical to the voyager in the South Sea, was in view. At a distance the appearance was not attractive. The luxuriant vegetation of the lower part could not yet be seen; and as the clouds rolled past, only the wildest and most precipitous peaks showed themselves towards the centre of the island. As soon as we anchored in Matavai Bay we were surrounded by canoes. After dinner we landed and enjoyed the delights always produced by the first impressions of a fine country. A crowd of men, women, and children was collected on the shore, ready to (S. 19, N. 7) receive us with laughing, merry faces. They marshalled us towards the house of (S. 10, N. 2) Mr. Wilson, the missionary of the district, who met us on the road, and gave us a very fine reception. After sitting a short time in his house, we separated from our host to walk about, and returned in the evening.

The land capable of cultivation is scarcely in any part more than a fringe of low alluvial soil, accumulated round the base of the mountains, and protected from the waves of the sea by a coral reef, which encircles the entire line of coast. Within the reef there is an expanse of smooth water, like that of a lake, where the canoes of the natives can ply with safety, and where ships anchor. The low land, which comes down to the beach of coral sand, is covered by the most beautiful productions of the intertropical regions. In the midst of bananas, orange, cocoa-nut, and bread-fruit trees, spots are cleared where yams, potatoes, the sugar-cane, and pine-apples are cultivated.

+~Tahiti~ ist die größte der Gesellschaftsinseln+ (Society Islands) +im stillen Meere oder der Südsee+ (Pacific Ocean) +und besitzt ungefähr 9200 Einwohner, welche seit 1813 durch englische Missionäre zum Christentum bekehrt sind. Die Bibel ist in die Sprache der Eingebornen übersetzt, und auch in den Kirchen und Schulen wird in der Landessprache gepredigt und gelehrt.+

= At the break of day (+Beim Tagesanbruch+) we saw Tahiti.

= appear, +erscheinen+. The words ‘to — Sea’ must be placed after the rel. pron., and are followed by ‘for ever’ (+stets+).

= view.

Use the active Voice of the verb with ‘+man+’, which should commence the clause.

‘lower’, here +niedriger belegen+.

rolled past, +an uns vorüberzogen+.

+wüst.+

Supply ‘to us’ after ‘themselves’.

= in the middle.

+in der Bucht von Matavai.+

= we found ourselves surrounded by (+von+) canoes (+Baumkahn+, m.).

+Freuden.+

Say ‘which the first sight of a fine country always produces (+hervor´rufen+) within us’.

= These conducted us.

+des Bezirksmissionärs.+

He will meet me on the road, +er wird mir halbwegs entge´genkommen+.

to give a person a very fine reception, +einen höchst freundlich bewillkommnen+.

+verweilen+; construe this clause accord. to S. 55, N. 1.

Inf. +einen Spaziergang machen+.

= from which we returned in the evening (+abends+).

+Der kulturfähige Teil der Insel.+

is — soil = consists nearly everywhere only of (+aus+) a narrow strip of low (+niedrig belegen+) alluvial land (use the Gen. without the art.).

round the base, +rings herum am Fuße+.

Say ‘and is protected’; from, +vor+.

there is = finds itself (+sich befinden+); an expanse of water, +eine ausgedehnte Wasserfläche+; ‘smooth’, here +fast spiegelglatt+.

The literal rendering of this passage would not read well, say ‘which (to agree with +Wasserfläche+) affords (App. § 5) perfect (+völlig+) safety to the canoes of the natives’.

= in which.

= which reaches down (+hinun´terreichen+) to (+bis zu+) the beach consisting of coral-sand.—Use the attributive const., S. 48, N. 6.

‘covered’, here +bewachsen+; by, +mit+.

+der zwischen den Tropen belegenen Gegenden.+

See S. 71, N. 2.

to clear a spot (of trees, etc.), +eine Stelle urbar machen+.

+Yamswurzeln.+

+bauen.+

Section 170.

TAHITI.