TAHITI: THE PLAYGROUND OF NATURE 



321 



banana, but its leaves are darker. The 

 fruit is from an inch and a half to two 

 inches in diameter and is borne uprightly 

 on the stalk in bunches that frequently 

 have from ioo to 150 plantains. When 

 ripe, these are a light red or yellow. 

 There are many varieties. 



The fruit is boiled or baked for eating, 

 and after it is cooked it is customary to 

 beat it with a stick to loosen its skin and 

 improve its quality. 



The fei grows far up mountain slopes, 

 where it can be seen miles away. To get 

 this staple, the woodsman must worm his 

 way up almost impassable steeps, and 

 then down narrow, slippery paths he must 

 descend, weighted with swaying burdens 

 of from 100 to 150 pounds. The sticks 

 on which they are slung bear so heavily 

 on the flesh that they cause toughened 

 lumps to form on the shoulder. 



care; of clothes causes devout posture 

 in church 



The following day being Sunday, I at- 

 tended services at the Protestant church 

 with my host. We reached the church a 

 half hour too early, yet we were among 

 the last arrivals. At that hour more than 

 a score of women, many wearing black 

 dresses and straw hats of the same color, 

 were seated under a big clump of bam- 

 boo, and in and around a Chinese store 

 were thirty more natives of both sexes. 

 The majority were barefooted and all 

 were neatly attired in European clothes. 



When they filed into the church, the 

 men and the women sat on separate 

 benches, though not on different sides of 

 the house. About half of them leaned 

 on the backs of the forms in front of 

 them. This caused me to conclude with 

 undue haste that they were very devout. 

 When I learned the reason for this atti- 

 tude, the aspect of piety I had conjured 

 faded away. These saintly angles did 

 not indicate reverence ; they merely be- 

 tokened laudable efforts to keep the backs 

 of coats and dresses from adhering to 

 planks which had been coated with paint 

 improperly mixed. 



The services were opened with sing- 

 ing, which, of its kind, was extraordinary. 

 High aloft in the rear of the building a 

 wonderful flow of melody was poured 



out by a choir of forty or fifty boys and 

 girls. In the first twenty-five minutes 

 there were five songs. At times the con- 

 gregation joined, but its good intentions 

 were spoiled by a deal of coughing. 



The pastor was one of the most in- 

 dustrious preachers I have ever heard. 

 He spoke for thirty minutes, and scarcely 

 paused an instant all the while. 



After the congregation's dismissal, the 

 majority of its members foregathered at 

 the bamboo clump and in the store and 

 its lunch-room. Nearly all of the men 

 and many of the women lighted cigarettes. 

 The Tahitian churchman has his own 

 brand of cigarette, but he is just as ready 

 to accept any other kind. His sort is a 

 small piece of local tobacco wrapped in a 

 bit of the pliable pandanus leaf. Some- 

 times I saw it passed from hand to hand, 

 like community property, thus affording 

 pleasure to several persons before it be- 

 came a stub. 



Monday morning I bade Matariro fare- 

 well, after I had settled my account with 

 him on the easy terms of "pay as much 

 as you like." 



Beyond the plantation Atimaono, 25 

 miles from Papeete, where we paused to 

 see cane fields, a sugar-mill, and 40.000 

 coconut trees, an enchanting perspective 

 unfolded before us. In the distance rose 

 the ranges of the peninsula, and we 

 passed green hills, pretty bays, and manv 

 rivers and creeks flowing between masses 

 of vegetation riotously spreading over 

 swampy lowlands. High over native 

 chestnut trees climbed and rambled the 

 flowering pohue (convolvulus) ; along 

 the highway an occasional gigantic fern 

 threw out fronds rivaling in length those 

 of the tree-fern ; at their roots feathery 

 swords of lesser reach grew luxuriantlw 

 and all around them leaf, flower, and 

 trailing vine covered the earth so com- 

 pletely that only the road showed a bar- 

 ren spot. 



Vegetation attained its rankest growth 

 on the shores of Port Phaeton. Here 

 wild hibiscus hung so thickly over the 

 water's edge that, at a distance, onlv a 

 solid bank of foliage was visible. In 

 this tangle the chestnut and the giant 

 hotu ( Barringtonia), the former the prev 

 of ferns and other parasites, cast their 



