OF THE SOUTH SEAS 337 



blood son of Prince Hinoe, and was now a youth, and 

 worked about the plantation of the chief. His chris- 

 tened name was Ariipaea Temanutuanuu Teariitinorua 

 Tetuanui a Oropaa Pomare. He was a prince and very- 

 handsome and gentle, but he gathered the leaves from 

 the volunteer lawn for the horses. There was an atmos- 

 phere of affection and happiness about the home I have 

 not sensed more keenly anywhere else. 



The Duke of Abruzzi's photograph and one of the 

 Italian war-ship Liguria, were on a wall in the draw- 

 ing-room, with others of notable people whom the chief 

 had entertained. He himself wore the cross of the 

 Legion of Honor, which had been presented to him in 

 Paris when he visited there many years before. 



The house was raised ten feet from the earth, and 

 the ground below was neatly covered with black pebbles 

 from the shore. Shaded by the veranda-floors, which 

 formed the ceilings of their open rooms, the family sat 

 on mats, and made hats, sewed, sang, and chatted. 

 They laughed all day. A dozen children played on the 

 sward where horses, ducks, geese, chickens, and turkeys 

 fed and led their life. When rice or corn was thrown 

 to them, the mina-birds flocked to share it. These im- 

 pudent thieves pounced on the best grains, and though 

 the chickens fought them, they appeared to be afraid 

 only of the ducks. These hated the minas, and pursued 

 them angrily. But the minas can fly, and, when threat- 

 ened, lazily lifted themselves a few feet out of reach of 

 the bills, and returned when danger was over. 



The chief's plantation extended from the sea to the 

 mountain, altogether about ten acres, which in Tahiti is 

 a good-sized single holding. Cocoanuts, breadfruit, 



