, or
S.S.E., it then blows more gently, with a smooth sea, and is called
_Maooui_. In those months, when the sun is nearly vertical, that is,
in December and January, the winds and weather are both very variable;
but it frequently blows from W.N.W., or N.W. This wind is what they
call _Toerou_; and is generally attended by dark, cloudy weather,
and frequently by rain, it sometimes blows strong, though generally
moderate; but seldom lasts longer than five or six days without
interruption; and is the only wind in which the people of the islands
to leeward come to this in their canoes. If it happens to be still
more northerly, it blows with less strength, and has the different
appellation of _Era-potaia_; which they feign to be the wife of the
_Toerou_; who, according to their mythology, is a male.

The wind from S.W., and W.S.W., is still more frequent than the
former; and, though it is, in general, gentle, and interrupted by
calms, or breezes from the eastward, yet it sometimes blows in brisk
squalls. The weather attending it is commonly dark; cloudy, and
rainy, with a close, hot air; and often accompanied by a great deal
of lightning and thunder. It is called _Etoa_, and often succeeds the
_Toerou_; as does also the _Farooa_, which is still more southerly;
and, from its violence, blows down houses and trees, especially the
cocoa-palms, from their loftiness; but it is only of a short duration.

The natives seem not to have a very accurate knowledge of these
changes, and yet pretend to have drawn some general conclusions from
their effects; for they say, when the sea has a hollow sound, and
dashes slowly on the shore, or rather on the reef without, that it
portends good weather, but, if it has a sharp sound, and the waves
succeed each other fast, that the reverse will happen.

Perhaps there is scarcely a spot in the universe that affords a more
luxuriant prospect than the S.E. part of Otaheite. The hills are high
and steep; and, in many places, craggy. But they are covered to
the very summits with trees and shrubs, in such a manner, that the
spectator can scarcely help thinking, that the very rocks possess the
property of producing and supporting their verdant clothing. The flat
land which bounds those hills toward the sea, and the interjacent
valleys also, teem with various productions that grow with the most
exuberant vigour, and at once fill the mind of the beholder with the
idea, that no place upon earth can out-do