488 



TAHITI. 



Nov. 1835. 



which I have mentioned as descending by a chain of water- 

 falls. Here we bivouacked for the night. On each side of 

 the ravine there were great beds of the Feye, or mountain- 

 banana^ covered with ripe fruit. Many of these plants were 

 from twenty to twenty-five feet high^ and from three to 

 four in circumference. By the aid of strips of bark for 

 twine, the stems of bamboos for rafters, and the large leaf 

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

 built an excellent house; and with the withered leaves 

 made a soft bed. 



They then proceeded to make a fire, and cook our even- 

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

 stick in a groove made in another (as if with the intention 

 of deepening it), until by 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 outrigger to steady the canoe. The fire was pro- 

 duced in a few seconds : but, to a person who does not 

 understand the art, it requires the greatest exertion; as I 

 found, before 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 

 (which is pointed) in 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^ time 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- 



