242. Voyage of the Novara. 



ing. The average maximum temperature during the rainy 

 season is 84".4 Fahr., the average minimum 74^.6 Fahr. Only 

 immediately prior to the outbreak of a storm does the fluctua- 

 tion of the thermometer become strongly marked. In the dry 

 season the temperature averages 80". 6 Fahr. during the day, 

 and 68° Fahr. during the night. When, however, as occa- 

 sionally happens, the temperature at Papeete sinks to 57°.2 

 Fahr. and at Fautaua to 4 6°. 4 Fahr., or even lower, even 

 the Europeans are compelled to adopt certain precautions 

 against taking cold, which the natives for the most part dis- 

 regard, and are accordingly liable to acute inflammatory 

 disorders. 



With such a temperature, combined with the fertility in- 

 sured by the volcanic tufa soil, it is perfectly evident that the 

 majority of the tropical and sub-tropical nut-bearing and other 

 alimentary plants might be extensively grown upon the island 

 without much difficulty. The sugar-cane, the coffee-tree, the 

 cotton-shrub, the vanilla, the cocoa-tree, the indigo plant, the 

 sorgho,* rice, maize, &c., flourish here in a marked degree, 

 and their persistent cultivation would realize a splendid profit 

 for the landowner. 



Of fruits there are bananas, bread-fruits, mangoes, ananas 



* Here also we encountered this useful plant, which was first introduced into 

 Tahiti in 1851, by means of seeds from Paris. Of these twenty-five were sown, which 

 within three months gave a sufficient return of seed to admit of the cultivation of 

 the sorgho being extended through a number of districts. One year later, the crop 

 amounted already to about 2100 kilogrammes (4900 lbs., or two tons and a quarter), 

 which were disposed of at l|d. per kilogramme (somewhat under a penny per lb.). 



