But no sooner was the announcement made, than he came running on deck, spy-glass in hand, and clapping it to his eye, turned round with the air of a man receiving indubitable assurance of something he was quite certain of before.

The land was precisely that for which he had been steering; and, with a wind, in less than twenty-four hours we would sight Tahiti.

What he said was verified.
The island turned out to be one of the Pomotu or Low Group--sometimes called the Coral Islands--perhaps the most remarkable and interesting in the Pacific.

Lying to the east of Tahiti, the nearest are within a day's sail of that place.
They are very numerous; mostly small, low, and level; sometimes wooded, but always covered with verdure.

Many are crescent-shaped; others resemble a horse-shoe in figure.