Tahiti, ta-he'te, the chief of the Society Islands. It is situated in the eastern Pacific and, with the group, belongs to France. Area, 600 square miles. Population, about 12,000. The inhabitants are Polynesians of the Malay race. Tahiti was visited by Captain Cook in 1769, and was early the seat of an English mission. The island is mountainous. Cocoanuts and bananas, oranges, sugar-cane, and vanilla, as well as a little cotton, coffee, and tobacco are cultivated along the coast. The total exports are valued at about $1,000,000 a year. Trade is carried on chiefly with New Zealand or with San Francisco by means of steamships visiting the islands at intervals of about five weeks. Pearls are exported.