1839.] fruits. 181 



Besides the fruits which have been mentioned — the cocoa, 

 bread-fruit, orange, lime, banana, yam, and sweet potato— 

 pine-apples, shaddocks, citrons, plantains, papayas, lemons, 

 vi-apples, taro, figs, guavas, and cape mulberries, are found 

 in great abundance. Pumpkins, melons, turnips, onions, 

 beans and cabbages, would flourish with proper care and til- 

 lage, but the ground is scarcely ever turned up, except with 

 an iron-shod stick, and little can be expected from such 

 husbandry. From the ti-root (dracona terminalis) an infe- 

 rior spirit, called ava, is made ; this was once drank by all 

 classes, to excess, but the introduction of foreign spirits has 

 banished it from use, unless it be among the poorer people. 

 A native chestnut, the rata, {tuscarpus edulis,) has a sweet 

 nut, and is an agreeable substitute for the bread-fruit. On 

 the south side of Tahiti, the grape thrives luxuriantly ; the 

 coffee shrub has been tried and succeeds well ; tobacco is 

 grown in small quantities ; and sugar cane, cotton, and in- 

 digo, may be raised with little effort. The Otaheitan cane 

 produces four crops, while the common variety, requiring a 

 better soil, yields only three ; its cultivation is yet in its in- 

 fancy, but there are a number of fine plantations at Tahiti 

 and Eimeo, which promise in the future to be highly pro- 

 ductive.* The tuitui tree, the nut of which is used in tattoo- 

 ing, is a native of the group ; so is, also, the tacca, from 

 which arrow-root is prepared. 



The pine-apples raised here are excellent, and the oranges 

 delicious. The latter are sold at fifty cents per hundred ; 

 they are often prepared so as to keep for a long time, by 

 selecting them with care, and drying them in the sun, dur- 

 ing which process the moisture of the rind evaporates, but 

 the juice of the pulp is not impaired. Lemons are unusually 

 large, and limes are so abundant that it is quite a traffic to 

 supply ships with the juice, prepared by fermenting the fruit 

 with chalk, which is highly valued for its anti-scorbutio 

 properties. Citrons are plenty, but are hardly equal to those 

 obtained in the East Indies. The vi-apple resembles the 



♦ The cane is often seen growing wild, in tufts, in the interior of Tahiti. 



