MOOREA

volcanic island, second largest of the les du Vent (Windward Group) of the Society Islands, in French Polynesia, central South Pacific. The island lies 12 miles (20 km) northwest of Tahiti. It has an area of 51 square miles (132 square km). It is triangular, rugged, and mountainous (highest peak Mount Tohivea, 3,960 feet ), with many streams and fertile soils. The chief village, Afareaitu, lies on the east coast overlooked by Mount Muaputa (2,723 feet ). Cook (Paopao) Bay and Papetoai (Oponu) Bay, divided by Mount Rotui, are on the north coast; Haapiti town is on the west. It was on Moorea, in the early 19th century, that the Reverend Henry Nott of the London Missionary Society, companion of King Pomare II, translated the Bible into Tahitian. The island's chief crops are vanilla, copra, and coffee. Some villages on the eastern coast were the models for the Tahitian villages in Herman Melville's novel Omoo (1847). The island is now a favoured tourist location. Pop. (1988) 8,801.