148 Cruise of the "Alert" 



depredations of land crabs and centipedes, readily germinate, and 

 on being planted at distances of about five yards apart, they take 

 root and require no further care. However, those planted in good 

 soil give, as might be expected, an earlier and more productive 

 yield than is afforded by trees grown in the poor land which 

 usually adjoins the coral sea-beach. A cocoanut planted in 

 average soil commences to bear fruit in about the fifth year of its 

 existence, and from that time until it has attained the age of a 

 hundred years, when it is probably blown down, it yields about 

 twelve dozen nuts per annum. 



A large trade is also done in oranges. They are packed up in 

 boxes and shipped to San Francisco, and although about half of 

 the cargo decays during the voyage, the profit derived from the 

 other half is found to yield a sufficient remuneration. 



The cultivation of vanilla an introduced plant requires great 

 care, artificial aid being necessary to ensure the proper fertilization 

 of the flowers. Samples of the cured bean which we saw seemed 

 to be of very fair quality, and likely to command high prices in 

 the European markets. These are now sold at Tahiti at the rate 

 of 45. per pound ; I should rather have said at the rate of a 

 dollar a pound, because, strange to say, the currency at Tahiti is 

 in Chilian silver dollars, whereas in Chili itself the currency is now 

 almost entirely in paper, a hard dollar being very rarely encoun- 

 tered there. 



The great war canoes are now things of the past, even the 

 single outrigger canoes being only used by the poorer classes 

 who cannot afford to buy boats of European build. The manu- 

 facture of pandanus mats and native cloth is also becoming 

 obsolete, and it is said that the art of making these things is 

 almost unknown to the rising generation. At present the favourite 

 occupation of the natives, if we exclude dancing and lolling in the 

 sunshine, is fishing ; and a well-to-do native, who can afford to 

 provide himself with an European fishing net, makes plenty of 

 dollars to spend in drink and gay-coloured clothes. The fishermen 



