OF THE SOUTH SEAS 223 



come a nuisance without apparent remedy. How often 

 man works but in circles! Everywhere in the world 

 plants and insects, birds and animals, had been pointed 

 out to me that had been acquired for a beneficent pur- 

 pose, and had become a curse. 



The mina-bird was brought to Tahiti from the Moluc- 

 cas to eat wasps which came from South America, and 

 were called Jack Spaniards. The mina, perhaps, ate 

 the insects, but he also ate everything else, including 

 fruit. He stole bread and butter off tables, and his 

 hoarse croak or defiant rattle was an oft-repeated warn- 

 ing to defend one's food. The minas were many in 

 Tahiti, and, like the Enghsh sparrow in American cities 

 and towns, had driven almost all other birds to flight or 

 local extinction. The sparrow's urban doom might be 

 read in the increasing number of automobiles, but the 

 mina in Tahiti, as in Hawaii, had a sinecure. 



Noanoa Tiare said that the guava had its merits. 

 Horses and cattle ate its leaves and fruit, and the wood 

 was a common fuel throughout Tahiti. The fruit was 

 delicious, and in America or England would be all used 

 for jelly, but only Lovaina preserved it. The passion- 

 flowers of the granadilla vines, white and star-like, with 

 purpling centers, were intermingled with the guavas, a 

 brilliant and aromatic show, the fruit like miniature 

 golden pumpkins. Their acid, sweetish pulp contained 

 many seeds, each incased in white jelly. One ate the 

 seeds only, though the pulp, when cooked, was palatable. 



The road dwindled into a narrower path, and then a 

 mere trail. The road had crossed the brook many times 

 on frail bridges, some tottering and others only rem- 

 nants. Habitations ceased, and we were in a dark, 



