Chap. XX.] PAPEETE. 447 



natives grew suspicious and less friendly at once because they 

 found that I could speak French. Possibly if the English were 

 in the position of rulers they would lose their popularity. The 

 natives have remained mostly Protestants, notwithstanding the 

 efforts of Roman Catholic missionaries during the French 

 occupation. 



Tahiti is the principal colony of France in the Pacific, and 

 even New Caledonia is under the rule of the head government 

 at Tahiti. 



Tahiti is wretchedly supplied with provisions. The Guava 

 bush has overrun all the lower country and covered it with 

 scrub ; hence there is scarcely any pasturage. Cattle are pro- 

 cured from the Sandwich Islands, and it depends on the kind 

 of weather which the sailing-vessels that bring them meet with, 

 whether they are worth eating or not when they arrive. 



We bought for the use of our mess at Papeete the most 

 miserable specimens of sheep that I have ever seen. They 

 had come from Easter Island, which is now principally occu- 

 pied as a sheep run, the inhabitants having been largely 

 deported to Tahiti, where some of them are employed as house- 

 hold servants, the men waiting very well at the dinner-table in 

 European dress. The sheep had been long on the voyage, and 

 were so miserably poor that one of them only weighed about 

 ten pounds when skinned. Pork is the only animal food which 

 is cheap and plentiful at Tahiti. 



One of the greatest treats to the natives is tea and bread- 

 and-butter. A Chinaman keeps a restaurant to which Tahitian 

 girls are taken by their lovers in order to consume these 

 luxuries. Wheaten bread is greatly appreciated by Polynesians, 

 and a baker is one of the first tradesmen who finds a profitable 

 business amongst the natives on any of the islands when in 

 process of civilisation. There was an English baker on 

 Tongatabu, who was almost the only White retail dealer estab- 

 lished there. He told me he sold a great quantity of bread 

 to the natives. 



I made an excursion up into the mountains in search of 

 plants. Some of the mountains rise to a height of over 7,000 

 feet, and I hoped to be able to reach a considerable altitude in 

 the search of mountain forms. It was settled that at all events 

 I was to reach the head of a valley called Papeno in the 

 interior. I was provided with native guides ; one, an old man, 

 supposed to be thoroughly acquainted with the mountains. 



I started with Lieut. Channer and F. Pearcey, our excellent 

 bird skinner and factotum. The men carried our little baggage 

 on the ends of poles, resting on their shoulders, like Chinese 

 coolies. The practice of this method of carrying has been 



