448 TAHITI. 



remarked upon as one of the many evidences of the Polynesian 

 affinity of the New Zealanders. We traversed the beautiful 

 valley of Fataua, closed at its head to the view by the irregularly 

 peaked outline of the mountain, termed by the French, from 

 its form, the " Diadem." 



The valley is barred across by a high cliff over which the 

 stream pours, forming a very beautiful waterfall. In the cliff 

 beneath the falling water is a wide hollow, overhung by the 

 rock above, and in this Tropic Birds nest, and two or three 

 were constantly to be seen, flying about the cliff and across the 

 deep chasm of the valley, conspicuous against the dense green 

 foliage and dark rocks. A^ery good strawberries were growing 

 in a garden just above the fall. The plants were mostly in 

 blossom, only a few fruits were ripe. The Mango trees in the 

 island in the same way were mostly now in blossom, or with 

 young green fruit. The orange season was just at its end. 



The stream is full of small fish {Du/es /iialo), one of the Perch 

 family. The fish have adapted themselves entirely to a fresh- 

 water life, and rise to a fly like trout. Captain Thomson and 

 the others of us who were fishermen, got out our fly rods and 

 whipped the stream, catching a few dozen. The stream falls 

 over the rocks and stones in small runs and stickles, just like a 

 trout stream, and the fish thrive in the rapid water. I carried 

 my salmon and trout rods round the world with me, but the 

 last place at which I should have looked forward to throwing a 

 fly in, was Tahiti. 



The first camp was made in the head of Fataua Valley, at a 

 height of about i,6oo feet, amongst the "Fei," or wild Plantain, 

 Musa uratiascopus, a species which occurs also in Fiji and else 

 where in Polynesia according to Seemann, though I do not 

 know whether the fruit of the wild plant is in other places 

 equal in flavour to that of Tahiti. The plant is closely similar 

 in appearance to an ordinary large Banana tree, but the large 

 bunches of fruit, instead of hanging down, stand up erect from 

 the summit of the stem.* They are bright yellow when ripe. 



A fire is lighted, and a bunch of these wild bananas is thrown 

 into it. The outer skin of the fruits becomes blackened and 

 charred, but when it is peeled off with a pointed stick, a yellow 

 floury interior is reached, which is most excellent eating and 

 like a mealy potato. This is one of the very few plants which, 

 growing spontaneously, and in abundance, affords a really 

 good and sufficient source of food to man. Hardly any im- 

 provement could be wished for in the fruits by cultivation. It 



* For an account of the Fei, see Bananier Tehi, sa forme asperme et 

 sa forme seminifere par M. P. Sagot. Bull, de la Societe botanique de 

 France, T. xxxiii. 1 886 p, 317. 



