436 TAHITI chap. 



the banana for a thatch, the Tahitians in a few minutes built 

 us an excellent house ; and with withered leaves made a soft 

 bed. 



They then proceeded to make a fire, and cook our evening 

 meal. A light was procured by rubbing a blunt-pointed stick 

 in a groove made in another, as if with intention of deepening 

 it, until by the friction the dust became ignited. A peculiarly 

 white and very light wood (the Hibiscus tiliaceus) is alone used 

 for this purpose : it is the same which serves for poles to carry 

 any burden, and for the floating outriggers to their canoes. 

 The fire was produced in a few seconds : but to a person who 

 does not understand the art, it requires, as I found, the greatest 

 exertion ; but at last, to my great pride, I succeeded in igniting 

 the dust. The Gaucho in the Pampas uses a different method : 

 taking an elastic stick about eighteen inches long, he presses 

 one end on his breast, and the other pointed end into a hole 

 in a piece of wood, and then rapidly turns the curved part like 

 a carpenter's centre-bit. The Tahitians having made a small 

 fire of sticks, placed a score of stones, of about the size of 

 cricket-balls, on the burning wood. In about ten minutes the 

 sticks were consumed, and the stones hot. They had previously 

 folded up in small parcels of leaves, pieces of beef, fish, ripe 

 and unripe bananas, and the tops of the wild arum. These 

 green parcels were laid in a layer between two layers of the 

 hot stones, and the whole then covered up with earth, so that 

 no smoke or steam could escape. In about a quarter of an 

 hour the whole was most deliciously cooked. The choice 

 green parcels were now laid on a cloth of banana leaves, and 

 with a cocoa-nut shell we drank the cool water of the running 

 stream ; and thus we enjoyed our rustic meal. 



I could not look on the surrounding plants Without 

 admiration. On every side were forests of bananas ; the fruit 

 of which, though serving for food in various ways, lay in heaps 

 decaying on the ground. In front of us there was an extensive 

 brake of wild sugar-cane ; and the stream was shaded by the 

 dark green knotted stem of the Ava, — so famous in former 

 days for its powerful intoxicating effects. I chewed a piece, 

 and found that it had an acrid and unpleasant taste, which 

 would have induced any one at once to have pronounced it 

 poisonous. Thanks to the missionaries, this plant now thrives 



