there is a very striking difference in their women that I can by no
means account for. Those of Eimeo are of low stature, have a dark
hue, and, in general, forbidding features. If we met with a fine woman
among them, we were sure, upon enquiry, to find that she had come from
some other island.

The general appearance of Eimeo is very different from that Otaheite.
The latter rising in one steep hilly body, has little low land, except
some deep valleys; and the flat border that surrounds the greatest
part of it toward the sea. Eimeo, on the contrary, has hills running
in different directions, which are very steep and rugged, leaving, in
the interspaces, very large valleys, and gently-rising grounds about
their sides. These hills, though of a rocky disposition, are, in
general, covered, almost to their tops, with trees; but the lower
parts, on the sides, frequently only with fern. At the bottom of the
harbour, where we lay, the ground rises gently to the foot of the
hills, which run across nearly in the middle of the island; but its
flat border, on each side, at a very small distance from the sea,
becomes quite steep. This gives it a romantic cast, which renders it a
prospect superior to any thing we saw at Otaheite. The soil, about
the low grounds, is a yellowish and pretty stiff mould; but, upon the
lower hills, it is blacker and more loose; and the stone that composes
the hills, is, when broken, of a blueish colour, but not very
compact texture, with some particles of _glimmer_ interspersed. These
particles seem worthy of observation. Perhaps the reader will think
differently of my judgment, when I add, that, near the station of our
ships, were two large stones, or rather rocks, concerning which
the natives have some superstitious notions. They consider them as
_eatooas_, or divinities; saying, that they are brother and sister,
and that they came by some supernatural means from Ulieta.