1902] Tropical Luxuriance 



it is a most wholesome article of diet. Horses are 

 inordinately fond of the milky-juiced leaves, and 

 your pony teases for a moment's browsing whenever 

 he sees a papaya low enough for him to nibble. 



Lanuto, deep with rain water, is carpeted by minute A 

 green plants. All about it grow ferns, royal palms, ountain 

 and various other trees, their outstretched limbs rich 

 with clustering orchids that look like birds' nests. 

 The ferns are of many species, some forming small 

 trees, some winding like vines around taller shrubs, 

 some, less ambitious, springing from the ground in 

 clustering fronds in the usual familiar fashion but 

 high or low, large or small, leathery or feathery, 

 always beautiful. As Thoreau says: "Nature made 

 ferns for pure leaves to show what she could do in 

 that line." Lustrous green doves flutter through the 

 bush; high and white against the blue sails the stately 

 tropic bird with pennon-like tail, while far, far below, 

 and on both sides, one sees the white surf breaking. 



Roadsides in Samoa (as elsewhere along the Equa- 

 tor all the way to Hongkong) are lined with a low, 

 creeping, sensitive brier or Mimosa which folds its 

 much divided leaves when touched, and shrinks away, 

 hiding the green. It bears pretty pink flowers, and 

 in spite of a prickly stem is a most useful forage plant, 

 as it is, after all, a sort of clover. 



Hogs brought from America have run wild in the 

 thickets, becoming the principal item of game to be 

 hunted. I was one day invited to a community bar- 1 attend 

 becue or luau held in the bush. The long roll of aluau 

 matting spread on the ground, had it been a table, 

 would have groaned under the load of roast pig, 

 baked parrot fish, bananas, breadfruit, and papaya. 

 Such gatherings give an excellent exhibit of un- 



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