OF THE SOUTH SEAS 281 



and the pepsin extracted from the papaya by science is 

 much used by druggists instead of animal extracts. 



The market closed, the venders who have come in 

 carts drive home, while those Tahitians who are not too 

 old adorn themselves with flowers and seek pleasure. 

 Young and old, they are laughing. Why? I need 

 never ask the reason here, but look to the blue sky, the 

 placid sea within the lagoon, the generous fruitage of 

 nature, the palms and flowers ever present and inviting ; 

 the very sign of the gentle souls and merry hearts of 

 these most lovable people. When I am alone with them 

 I do not walk. I dance or skip. 



Life is easy. The fei, the breadfruit, the cocoanut, 

 the mango, and the taro are all about. No plow, no hoe, 

 or rude labor, but for the lifting of one's hand there is 

 food. The fish leap in the brine, and the pig fattens for 

 the oven. Clothes are irksome. A straw hut may be 

 built in an hour or two, and in the grove sounds the soft 

 music of love. 



Aue! nom de poissoni within a day the market be- 

 came a wailing-place. There were no fish. The tables 

 daily covered with them were empty. The happy wives 

 and consorts who had been wont to sell the catch of the 

 men remained in their homes, and the fishers themselves 

 were there or idle on the streets. The districts around 

 the island, which for decades had despatched by the daily 

 diligence, or by special vehicle or boat, the drafts of the 

 village nets, sent not a fin. Never in Tahiti's history 

 except when war raged between clans, or between Ta- 

 hitians and French, had there been such a fish famine. 



And, name of a dog! it was due to a greve, a strike. 



