(November, December, January, and February), when the island is embraced by it, and left, in the winter, to the northern limit of the regular westerly current of air, which then extends more northerly.
I have arranged with the Meteorological Department in England to make it a station for those observations, and very shortly the instruments will be there, so that Rapa may become a point of great scientific interest and utility. In fact, the Southern Pacific being an almost unknown sea to us meteorologically, the importance of this fixed station of Rapa, in conjunction with the observations on board the Panama ships and in New Zealand, cannot be too highly estimated. We have already a tide gauge there, showing the extreme rise and fall to be 2 feet 6 inches, and the establishment of the port, or time of high water after full and change, 12 hours 15 minutes. The wave which in August swept along these coasts was felt also at Rapa, indeed it partly washed away our coal wharf. There was also a slight earthquake—the impulse of which came from the south—coinciding very nearly in point of time with the disturbances felt here and those which have desolated Peru—all which effects confirm very significantly the sagacious predictions of our friend Dr. Hector, of the locality of the principal eruption. Further particulars, and more exact information relative to the time of those occurrences, will invest these phenomena with yet greater interest.
The peculiar, irregular forms of the land, with precipitous mountains and deep gullies, cause sudden gusts and eddies of wind in the harbour varying continually in direction, so that it is difficult to say exactly what wind is blowing outside, unless it happen to be from the eastward or directly in. There is a remarkable absence of surf, I am informed, which is not easily accounted for; my correspondent saying that “landing is easy anywhere, and boats can lie alongside precipitous cliffs exposed to a swell which rolls in unchecked for thousands of miles without breaking.” I am quoting from a letter to me from our representative.
The resources and products of the island are at present but few in number or quantity, excepting perhaps goats, which abound, and are to be seen everywhere, delighting in the most inaccessible places, where, with a glass, their forms moving to and fro on some razor-edged mountain, stand out in relief against the sky. Small vessels occasionally take a cargo of them away to Tahiti. I was told that the Governor of that island had ordered the French Resident at Rapa to have them all destroyed; upon what enlightened principle it is difficult to say: but the Resident had too much good sense to comply with the order. The “Ruahine” had, the previous voyage, landed on trial some sheep, but they did not seem to thrive. A few pigs are procurable—good, but dear. There are a few fowls wild in the bush: some widgeon, and of course sea-gulls. There are no reptiles,
