The water of the
harbour lay placid as a lake, with the ships of war far out from the
shore, and here and there native canoes moving slowly along or resting
idly on the surface; and the hills and valleys were green and shaded
from the sun, and wore that refreshing appearance which is notable when
the trees and the grass have been bathed in dew, and when the sun's rays
are strong enough only to make the dewdrops sparkle, and to deepen the
shadows in the recesses where the sunlight has not yet penetrated.
The boats conveying the officers and men to the shore, each flying the
white ensign, imparted life and colour to the scene upon the water, and
nothing could be more picturesque and beautiful than the view on shore,
where the houses of the native villages bordering the beach, with their
brown occupants gazing in amazement on what was taking place before
them, were shaded by a grove of cocoanut palms, the refreshing dark
green fronds being rivalled only by the lighter green of the plantations
of the banana trees on the sides of the hills, which, rising high above
the village, were, notwithstanding the evidence of cultivation by the
natives, and the existence of the little mission settlement, dressed in
almost all their native loveliness, and robed in delicately-tinted
morning mists.
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