NOTES ON TAHITI 
953 
Ys 
o's ie 
Photo by Harrison W. Smith 
LOOKING DOWN THE FATAUUA VALLEY FROM THE STEEP TRAIL WHICH LEADS 
THROUGH THE TROPICAL FOREST TO THE FATAUUA FALLS, 
OVER 600 FEET IN HEIGHT 
As the difficulties of photographic 
work in the tropics are well known, it 
may be of interest to describe a conveni- 
ent feature of the writer’s outfit—the 
dark-room for plates. All plates were 
given the 20-minute pyro development 
in the Eastman tank, according to the 
Eastman formula. Page 962 shows a 
suit-case that formed the body of the 
dark-room. The right half is occupied 
by a water-tight rubber bag, supported 
on three sides by the sides of the suit- 
case and on the fourth by a brass rod, 
which may be seen extending over the 
edge of the case and hooked into the 
lock. The developing tank, filled with 
developer at a temperature sufficiently 
below the normal to allow for rise of 
temperature before development begins, 
rests in this rubber bag, as shown. The 
object of the rubber bag is to prevent 
damage to plate-holders that are placed 
in the other half of the suit-case in the 
event of the tank spilling over. 
The cover of the suit-case is held up 
by means of a light wooden rod at each 
corner, and a dark bag is then placed 
over the whole. 
The other illustration shows how two 
long sleeves permit the operator to trans- 
fer the plates from the holders to the 
tank without the necessity of himself 
being in the confinement of a dark-room, 
a distinct convenience in the tropics, even 
cn the rare occasions when a dark-room 
is available. 
