No Wonder That The French
Bestowed Upon The Island The Appellation Of The New Cytherea.
"Often," Says De Bourgainville, "I Thought I Was Walking In The
Garden Of Eden."
Nor, when first discovered, did the inhabitants of this charming
country at all diminish the wonder and admiration of the voyager.
Their physical beauty and amiable dispositions harmonized completely
with the softness of their clime.
In truth, everything about them was
calculated to awaken the liveliest interest. Glance at their civil
and religious institutions. To their king, divine rights were paid;
while for poetry, their mythology rivalled that of ancient Greece.
Of Tahiti, earlier and more full accounts were given, than of any
other island in Polynesia; and this is the reason why it still
retains so strong a hold on the sympathies of all readers of South
Sea voyages. The journals of its first visitors, containing, as they
did, such romantic descriptions of a country and people before
unheard of, produced a marked sensation throughout Europe; and when
the first Tahitiana were carried thither, Omai in London, and
Aotooroo in Paris, were caressed by nobles, scholars, and ladies.
In addition to all this, several eventful occurrences, more or less
connected with Tahiti, have tended to increase its celebrity. Over
two centuries ago, Quiros, the Spaniard, is supposed to have touched
at the island; and at intervals, Wallis, Byron, Cook, De
Bourgainville, Vancouver, Le Perouse, and other illustrious
navigators refitted their vessels in its harbours. Here the famous
Transit of Venus was observed, in 1769.
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