THE PLANT WORI.D 7 



tree iCeiba peyitayidra) . I was wakened only once or twice by the quar- 

 relling of the pigs beneath the house, and I heard a distant roar, or rather 

 a murmur, which I thought was the surf. This morning when we awoke 

 it was raining hard. The thatched roof was perfectly tight and the eaves 

 overhung so that the door and windows could be left open. When the 

 rain ceased I heard once more the noise of rushing water, and I found 

 that it was not the surf, but a river which issued from a cavern, or grotto, 

 at the base of a clifiF a short distance from the house. This river dis- 

 appears on the mesa more than a mile distant and reappears in this valley. 

 Growing about the entrance to the cavern I saw a number of ferns and 

 several trees of Barringtonia racemosa ^Langaasag) ^ and on hearing the 

 cooing of doves I discovered a pair of beautiful fruit pigeons {,Ptilinopus 

 roseicapillus) in a neighboring bread-fruit tree, beautiful birds with green 

 plumage, crimson caps, yellow bellies and purple bands across the breast. 

 They bear a close resemblance to the Manu-tangi, of Samoa, and have 

 the same habit of pressing their beak down against their breast when 

 they utter their peculiar note. The natives call them Tottot. 



Near the door of the house I noticed a large stone having a cylin- 

 drical hole in it. This is used for husking rice. I was told that such 

 stones are often found and that they were used by the Antigiws. When 

 I expressed an interest in antiquities my hostess told me of some stones 

 standing in parallel rows at a spot near which I would pass on my 

 return . 



We now prepared for our return trip. My cow was saddled and several 

 chickens were caught while feeding, by means of a noose of fibre on the 

 end of a fishing-pole. We were accompanied by the wife of the injured 

 man, who seemed much concerned about him and carried a number of 

 dainties to him.* 



I am now back home. Susana had a good supper prepared for me, 

 and I have said good-night to the son of the old blind man of Yona, who 

 lent me his sleek little cow to carry me back to Agaiia. He has refused 

 to sell her to me at any price, saying that his father often comes to town 

 on her back, and that he would trust no other cow. The injured man 

 in the hospital is doing well. Susana has taken charge of the fruit and 

 eggs and chickens given me by my friends at Tarofofo and has sent them 

 in return a supply of tobacco and canned meats, which I keep to exchange 

 for favors conferred upon me. 



As I think of my interesting experience of yesterday and to-day a 

 feeling akin to envy seizes me, and I take my Virgil from the shelf and 

 turn to the Georgics. Here it is in the second book: ' ' O fortunatos 

 nimium, sua si bona norint, agricolas / " What a picture it is of what I 



♦of my return trip I have written elsewhere. See Annual Report of the Smithsonian Institution 

 for 1903, p. 508. 



