NOTES ON TAHITI 
bation, from “newly laid” to shells con- 
taining perfect lizards. I afterwards 
found several hundreds of eggs of this 
species in a hole in the ground, close to 
the sea, at Papeete. Butterflies were 
very scarce on Tahiti; at Papeete we met 
with only one species, and on a small 
coral island some miles from ‘Tautira 
with but one more. 
Mosquitoes were extremely trouble- 
some on shore, but very few appeared on 
the ship until after we left the island, 
when we discovered that they had been 
breeding freely in a can of water con- 
taining a growing “ti” plant. 
Everywhere along the seashore and 
about the villages the ground was honey- 
combed with the burrows of land-crabs, 
and in some places the whole surface 
appeared to be moving with these crea- 
tures. At the least alarm they popped 
into their holes, from which they never 
strayed far during the day. When chased 
a crab would often hurry into the wrong 
burrow, and be ejected immediately by 
the rightful owner; but the inhospitality 
did not help one to catch them, owing to 
the speed with which they vanished ulti- 
mately underground. If one stood quite 
still they would reappear at the mouth 
of the burrow, waving their stalk-eyes in 
all directions on the lookout for danger. 
I caught one by cutting it off from its 
burrow and driving it against a fallen 
963 
tree, where it turned at bay, rolling its 
eyes and waving its claws in a formida- 
ble manner. 
Some of the smaller species of land- 
crabs on these islands have yellow, others 
bright blue, claws, and one gains a strik- 
ing impression of color when some hun- 
dreds of these crabs wave their bright 
claws as they run over the dried mud 
close to the sea. 
The day before we left Tautira the 
ship was visited by a continual stream 
of canoes, which came from far and 
near, bringing gifts of fruit, etc., to Lord 
Crawford. By nightfall the Valhalla had 
the appearance of a huge vegetable and 
fruit market. There must have been at 
least a ton of bananas, oranges, plantain, 
cocoanuts, and other fruit on board, as 
well as several Muscovy ducks and a 
little piebald pig. When all was aboard, 
the chief of Tautira, one of the finest- 
looking men I have ever seen, made a 
speech, and formally presented the gifts. 
At 10 o’clock the next morning we left 
Tautira for Papeete again, to complete 
our coaling, which took a long time, ow- 
ing to the scarcity of lighters. 
During our last day at Tahiti we were 
confined to the ship by one of the heaviest 
storms I have ever witnessed, the rain 
falling in such torrents that in a few 
minutes the streets were literally full of 
water. 
