THE COCOA-PALMThrough groves of palmSigh gales of balm,Fire-flies on the air are wheeling;While through the gloomComes soft perfume,The distant beds of flowers revealing.SIR WALTER SCOTT.The cocoa-palm is the queen of the forests of the South Sea Islands. The tall, slender, branchless, silvery stem and fronded crown of this graceful tree distinguish it at once from all its neighbors and indicate the nobility of its race. The great clusters of golden fruit of giant size, partially obscured by the drooping leaves and clinging to the end of the stem, supply the natives with the necessities of life. The cocoa-palm is the greatest benefactor of the inhabitants of the tropics.It is meat, drink and cloth to us.RABELAIS.Fruits of palm-tree, pleasantest to thirstAnd hunger both.MILTON.This noble tree grows and fructifies where hard manual labor is incompatible with the climate, in islands and countries where the natives have to rely largely on the bounteous resources of nature for food and protection. The burning shores of India and the islands of the South Pacific are the natural homes of the cocoa-palm. It has a special predilection for the sandy beach of Tahiti and the innumerable atoll islands near to and far from this gem of the South Seas. The giant nuts often drop directly into the sea and are carried away by waves and currents from their native soil to strange islands, where they are cast upon the sandy shore, to sprout and prosper for the benefit of other native or visiting tribes. By this manner of dissemination, all of these islands have become encircled by a lofty colonnade of this queen of the tropics.Beautiful isles! beneath the sunset skiesTall silver shafted palm-trees rise betweenTall orange trees that shadeThe living colonnade:Alas! how sad, how sickening is the sceneThat were ye at my side would be a paradise.MARIA BROOKS.The cocoa-palm (Cocos nucifera), is a native of the Indian coasts and the South Sea Islands. It belongs to a genus of palms having pinnate leaves or fronds, and male and female flowers on the same tree, the latter at the base of each spadix. It is seldom found at any considerable distance from the seacoast, except where it has been introduced by man, and generally thrives best near the very edge of the sea. In Tahiti isolated cocoa-palms are found on the lofty hilltops, projecting, with their proud crowns of pale green leaves, far above the level of the sea of the dense forest and impenetrable jungles. This transplantation from shore to the sides and summits of the foot-hills had its beginning before the discovery of the island, when the overpopulation made it necessary to provide for a more abundant food-supply. There it has prospered and multiplied since without the further aid of man, yielding its rich harvests of fruit with unfailing regularity. The frightful reduction in the number of inhabitants since the white man set his foot on the island has made this additional food-supply superfluous, as the palms within easier reach in the lowlands along the shore more than meet the present demands.COPRA ESTABLISHMENTCOPRA ESTABLISHMENTThe cocoa-palm is a proud but virtuous tree. Its dense cluster of delicate roots does not encroach upon the territory of other trees, but claims only a very modest circular patch of soil from which to abstract the nourishment for the unselfish, philanthropic tree. The base of the stem is wide and usually inclined, but a few feet from the ground becomes straight and cylindrical, with nearly the same diameter from base to crown. The curve of the stem is caused by the effects of the prevailing winds on the yielding, slender stem of the youthful tree, but with increasing growth and strength, it rises column-like into the air, balancing its fruit-laden massive crown in uncompromising opposition to the invisible aerial force. It is only in localities exposed to the full power of strong and persistent trade-winds that the full-grown trees lean in the same direction in obedience to the unrelenting common deforming cause. The full-grown tree is, on an average, two feet in diameter, and from sixty to one hundred feet high, with many rings marking the places of former leaves, and having, at its summit, a crown of from sixteen to twenty leaves, which generally droop, and are from twelve to twenty feet in length. These giant leaves furnish an excellent material for thatched roofs, and in case of need, a few leaves, properly placed, will make a comfortable, waterproof tent. The fruit grows in short racemes, which bear, in favorable situations, from five to fifteen nuts; and ten or twelve of these racemes, in different stages of fructification, may be seen at once on a tree, about eighty or one hundred nuts being its ordinary annual product. For the purpose of answering the requirements of primitive man, the Creator has ordained that this tree shall yield a continuous harvest from one end of the year to the other. Flowers and fruit in all stages of ripening grace the crown at all times of the year. The young cocoanut contains the delicious, cooling milk, and the soft pulp, a nourishing article of food. The mature nut is an excellent substitute for meat, as the kernel contains more than seventy per cent, of a fixed, bland, nutritious oil. The tree bears fruit in from seven to eight years from the time of planting, and its lifetime is from seventy to eighty years. Its greatest ambition during youth is to reach the clouds and equal its oldest neighbors in height. Young trees, with a stem less than four inches in diameter, rival their veteran neighbors in height, devoting their future growth to the increase in the dimension and strength of the stem, and their vital vigor to the bearing of its perennial, unfailing yield of fruit for the benefit of man and beast. The stem, when young, contains a central part which is sweet and edible, but when old, this is a mass of hard fibre. The terminal bud (palm cabbage) is esteemed a delicacy when boiled or stewed or raw in the form of a vegetable salad. The sweet sap (toddy) of the cocoa-palm, as of some other palms, is an esteemed beverage in tropic countries, either in its natural state, or after fermentation, which takes place in a few hours; and, from the fermented sap (palm wine), a strong alcoholic liquor (arrack), is obtained by distillation. The root of the cocoa-palm possesses narcotic properties. Every part of this wonderful tree is utilized by the untutored inhabitants of the tropics. The dried leaves are much used for the thatch, and for many other purposes, as the making of mats, screens, baskets, etc., by plaiting the leaflets. The strong midribs of the leaves supply the natives with oars. The wood of the lower part of the trunk is very hard, and takes a beautiful polish. The fibrous centre of old stems is made into salad. By far the most important fibrous part of the cocoa-palm is the coir, the fibre of the husk of the imperfectly ripened nut. The sun-dried husk of the ripe nut is used for fuel, and also, when cut across, for polishing furniture, scrubbing floors, etc. The shell of the nut is made into cups, goblets, ladles, etc., and these household articles are often finely polished and elaborately ornamented by carving. This, the most generous of all trees, from the time of its birth until it yields to the ravages of time, serves man in hundreds of different ways, furnishing him with food and drink, clothing, building-material, fuel, medicine, most exquisite delicacies, wine, spirits and many articles of comfort and even of luxury. What other tree but the cocoa-palm could have been in the mind of Milton when he wrote:In heav'n the treesOf life ambrosial fruitage bear, and vinesYield nectar.GOVERNMENT WHARFGOVERNMENT WHARF–PAPEETE (Waiting for the steamerMariposa)The cocoa-palm is a peaceful, modest, virtuous tree. It prefers its own kin, but is charitable to its neighbors, irrespective of race. It towers far above the sea of less favored trees, which find in its shade protection against the burning rays of the tropic sun and the fury of the trade-winds. Proudly it stands guard at the shores of the coral-girt islands of the South Pacific, waving its lofty, fruit-laden crown, responding alike to the cool, refreshing land breezes and the humid trade-winds in the balmy air of the tropics. Peaceful and lovely is a forest of palms, whereLeaves live only to enjoy love, and throughout the forest every tree is luxuriating in affectionate embrace; palm, as it nods to palm, joins in mutual love; the poplar sighs for the poplar; plane whispers to plane, and alder to alder.CLAUDIANUS.The sight of a forest of cocoa-palms from a distance is imposing, a walk through it full of enchantment. Nowhere does this noble tree appear to better advantage than in Tahiti. This, the most favored of all islands, is engirdled by an almost unbroken belt of palm-forest, stretching from the very verge of the ocean to the base of the foot-hills, with the towering, tree-clad mountains for a background; a forest planted by the invisible hand of Nature, a forest cared for by Nature, a forest which produces nearly all of the necessities of life for the natives from day to day, and year to year, with unfailing regularity. Enter this forest and the eye feasts on a scene which neither the pen of the most skilled naturalist nor the brush of the ablest landscape artist can reproduce with anything that would do justice to nature's inexhaustible resources and artistic designs. Such a scene must be gazed upon to be appreciated. Between the colonnade of symmetrical silvery stems and crowns of feathery fronds, inlaid with the ponderous golden fruit, the eye catches glimpses of the blue, placid ocean, the foam-crested breakers, of the still more beautifully blue dome of the sky, the deep green carpet of the unbroken tropic forest thrown over the mountainsides, or the naked, rugged, brown peaks basking in the sunlight, and on all sides flowers of various hues and most delicate tints. Surely,Who can paintLike Nature? Can imagination boast.Amid its gay creation, hues like hers,Or can it mix them with that matchless skill.And lose them in each other, as appearsIn every bud that blows?THOMSON.Add to the pleasures flashed upon the mind by the ravished eye, the perfumed, soothing air of the tropics, the sweet sounds of the aeolian harp as the gentle breeze strikes its well-timed chords in the fronded crowns of the palms overhead, the bubbling of the ripples of the near-by ocean as they kiss the sandy rim of the island shore, and the clashes of the breakers as they strike with unerring regularity the coral reef, the outer wall of the calm lagoon, and your soul will be in a mood to join the poet in singing the praises of nature:O Nature!Enrich me with knowledge of thy works:Snatch me to heaven!THOMSON.Queen of the tropic isles, guardian of their sun-kissed strands, friend of their dusky, simple children of Nature! Continue in the future as you have done in the past, to dispense your work of generosity and unselfish charity, to sustain and protect the life of man and beast in a climate you love and revere, a climate adverse for man to earn his daily bread by the sweat of his brow! I have seen your charms in your favorite island-abode and studied with interest your innumerable deeds of generosity, your full storehouse for the urgent needs of man and your safe refuge for the inhabitants of the air. Had Whittier visited the island Paradise, your native home, he would have written in the positive in the first stanza, when he framed that beautiful verse:I know not where His islands liftTheir fronded palms in air;I only know I can not driftBeyond His love and care!There is no other country and no other island in the world that has such a variety of indigenous fruit trees as Tahiti. Add to these trees that have furnished the natives with an abundance of fruit for centuries, the fruit trees that have been introduced since the island was discovered, and many of which flourish now in a wild state in the forests, and it will give some idea concerning the wealth of fruit to be found in the forests of Tahiti. Most of the inland habitations away from the coast have been abandoned long ago, and in all these places, in the valleys and high up on the mountainsides, many kinds of exogenous fruit trees, planted by former generations, have gained a permanent foothold. Here they multiply, blossom, ripen their fruit, and all the islanders have to do is to gather the annual crop. Here delicious little thin-skinned oranges grow, and the finest lemons and limes can be had for the gathering. The poor find hereFruits of all kinds in coatRough or smooth rind, or bearded husk or shell,She gathers tribute large, and on the boardHeaps with unsparing hand.MILTON.CORNER IN PAPEETECORNER IN PAPEETENothing reminds one more of Tahiti being the forbidden Garden of Eden, than the abundance of fruit that grows in the forests without the intervention of man. Some kind of fruit can be found during all seasons of the year, andSmall store will serve, where storeAll seasons, ripe for use, hangs on the stalk.MILTON.It is here not as in most countries whereThe poor inhabitant beholds in vainThe redd'ning orange and the swelling grain.ADDISON.as the poorest of the poor have access to Nature's orchard and can fill their palm-leaf baskets with the choicest fruits. The TahitianHe feeds on fruits, which of their own accordThe willing ground and laden tree afford.DRYDEN.This mingling, in the most friendly manner, of the old forest trees with familiar fruit trees introduced from distant lands and laden with golden fruit, is a most beautiful sight. The fruit trees stand their ground even against the most aggressive shrubs, and it is often no easy matter to reach the ripe hiding fruit in the dense network of branches thrown around and between the branches of the imprisoned tree. What a blessing these acid fruits are to the natives, sweltering under the rays of the tropic sun! How easy it is for them to make a cooling, refreshing drink! Take a young cocoanut, open it at one end, and add to its milk the juice of a lime or a lemon, and the healthiest and most refreshing drink is made.Bear me, Pomona! to thy citron groves,To where the lemon and the piercing lime,With the deep orange glowing through the green,Their lighter glories lend.THOMSON.It is claimed that the large apple family is the descendant of the Siberian crab-apple, modified by climate, soil and grafting. This statement appears to me incorrect, as I have seen a tree in the Hawaiian forests which bears a real sweet apple which in shape and taste has a strong resemblance to the apples of our orchards. The tree is from twenty to thirty feet in height, slender and few branched. The same tree is found in the forests of Tahiti, and its fruit is much sought after by the natives. It would be difficult to connect the wild apple tree of the South Sea Islands with the Siberian crab-apple, to which it bears no resemblance, either in the appearance of the tree or its fruit. Let us now consider a few of the fruit trees which adorn and enrich the forests of Tahiti:Alligator Pear, orAvocado.—This is the most delicate and luscious of all the fruit-products of the Tahitian forests, where it is found in its wild state in great abundance. It is the fruit of thePersea gratissima, a tree belonging to the natural orderLauraceæ, an evergreen tree of the tropic regions of America and the South Sea Islands. It attains a height of from thirty to seventy feet, with a slender stem and dome-like, leafy top. The branches, like the stem, are slender, and ascend on quite an acute angle from their base. The leaves resemble those of the laurel. The flowers are small, and are produced toward the extremities of the branches. The fruit is a drupe, but in size and shape resembles a large pear. The rind is green, thin, and somewhat rough on the outside. In the center of the pulp is a large, heart-shaped kernel, wrapped in a thin, paper-like membrane. The pulp is green or yellowish, not very sweet, but of a delicious taste and exiquisite flavor, and contains about eight per cent, of a greenish fixed oil. The way to eat this delicious fruit is to cut it in two lengthwise, remove the kernel, season with sweet oil, vinegar, salt and pepper, and eat with a teaspoon. In the form of a salad it is one of the daintiest of all dishes. The softness of the pulp and the richness in oil have led the French to call this fruit "Vegetable butter." The seeds of the alligator pear have come into medical use at the instance of Dr. Froehlig, and particularly through the efforts of Park, Davis & Co., a manufacturing firm. The alligator pear is a very perishable fruit, which accounts for its scarcity and fabulous price in our markets.Pawpaw or Papayais the fruit of theCarica Papaya, natural orderPapayaceæ. It is an exceedingly graceful, branchless little tree, which grows to the height of from ten to twenty feet and is of short vitality. Its natural home is in South America and the islands of the Pacific. The cylindrical stem is grayish white, roughened in circles where the previous whorls of leaves had their attachment. The leaves are from twenty to thirty inches long and are arranged in the form of a whorl at the very top of the stem, where also the fruit grows, close to the stem. The fruit when ripe is light yellow, very similar to a small melon, and with a somewhat similar flavor. The skin is very thin and the pulp exceedingly soft, hence a very perishable fruit. The seeds are numerous, round and black, and when chewed have, in a high degree, the pungency of cresses. It requires time to acquire a taste for this healthy, very digestible tropical fruit, but when once developed, it is keenly relished. It is eaten either raw or boiled. It possesses digestive properties of considerable value, which have been utilized in the preparation of a vegetable pepsin. The acrid, milky sap of the tree or the juice of the fruit much diluted with water, renders any tough meat washed with it, tender for cooking purposes, by separating the muscular fibres (Dr. Holder). It is said even the exhalations from the tree have this property; and meats, fowls, etc., are hung among its leaves to prepare them for cooking. The tree is of very rapid growth, bears fruit all the year and is very prolific.Mangois the fruit ofMangifera Indica. It is a stately, broad-branching, very shady tree, from thirty to forty feet in height, belonging to the natural orderAnacardiaceæ. The stem is short, from eight to ten feet, when it divides into long, graceful branches, with an impenetrable foliage, a fine protection against the rain and the scorching rays of the sun. The bark is almost black and somewhat rough. The leaves are in clusters, lanceolate, entire, alternate, petioled, smooth, shining, tough, and about seven inches long, with an agreeable resinous smell. The flowers are small, reddish white or yellowish, in large, erect, terminal panicles. The fruit is kidney-shaped, smooth, greenish yellow, with or without ruddy cheeks, varying greatly in size and quality, and containing a large, flattened stone, which is covered on the outside with fibrous filaments, largest and most abundant in the inferior varieties, some of which consist chiefly of fibre and juice, while the finer ones have a comparatively solid pulp. The size varies from that of a large plum to that of a man's fist. The largest and finest mangoes are found in Tahiti. The fruit is luscious and agreeably sweet, with an aromatic flavor and slightly acid taste. The kernels are nutritious, and have been cooked for food in times of scarcity. A mango tree laden with its golden fruit is a pleasing sight, and reminds one vividly of a Christmas tree.Lime.—The fruit ofCitrus Planchoni, Citrus Australis Planchon. The lime tree of Tahiti was undoubtedly introduced from Eastern Australia, where it is found as a noble tree, fully forty feet high, or, according to C. Hartmann, even sixty feet high. In Tahiti the tree is small, and in the dense jungles hardly exceeds the size of a shrub. The stem, as well as its numerous slender, wide-spreading, prickly branches, is very crooked. The fruit is similar to the lemon, but much smaller in size, being only about one and one-half inches in diameter, and almost globular in shape, with a smooth, green, thin rind and an extremely acid, pungent juice. For a thirst-quenching drink, the lime-juice is far preferable to the lemon.Pomegranate.—The fruit ofPunica Granatum, a shrub belonging to the natural orderGranataceæ. This historic and useful shrub grows luxuriantly and with little or no care, in the fertile, sun-kissed soil of Tahiti. More than one-half of the interior of the oval purple fruit consists of large black seeds. The seedless variety has evidently never been introduced. The juice is subacid and very palatable. The flowers are ornamental, and sometimes are double. The rind of the fruit and the bark of the roots possess valuable medicinal properties. Consider for a moment what nature has done for the support, comfort and pleasure of the inhabitants of Tahiti, and we are ready to admit the truth of what the prince of poets said:Here is everything advantageous to life.SHAKESPEARE.And we can answer with a positive yes the question proposed by another famous poet, in the beautiful stanza:Know'st thou the land where the lemon trees bloom,Where the gold orange glows in the deep thicket's gloom,Where a wind ever soft from the blue heaven blows,And the groves are of laurel and myrtle and rose?GOETHE.A VIEW OF FAUTAHUA VALLEYA VIEW OF FAUTAHUA VALLEY
THE COCOA-PALMThrough groves of palmSigh gales of balm,Fire-flies on the air are wheeling;While through the gloomComes soft perfume,The distant beds of flowers revealing.SIR WALTER SCOTT.The cocoa-palm is the queen of the forests of the South Sea Islands. The tall, slender, branchless, silvery stem and fronded crown of this graceful tree distinguish it at once from all its neighbors and indicate the nobility of its race. The great clusters of golden fruit of giant size, partially obscured by the drooping leaves and clinging to the end of the stem, supply the natives with the necessities of life. The cocoa-palm is the greatest benefactor of the inhabitants of the tropics.It is meat, drink and cloth to us.RABELAIS.Fruits of palm-tree, pleasantest to thirstAnd hunger both.MILTON.This noble tree grows and fructifies where hard manual labor is incompatible with the climate, in islands and countries where the natives have to rely largely on the bounteous resources of nature for food and protection. The burning shores of India and the islands of the South Pacific are the natural homes of the cocoa-palm. It has a special predilection for the sandy beach of Tahiti and the innumerable atoll islands near to and far from this gem of the South Seas. The giant nuts often drop directly into the sea and are carried away by waves and currents from their native soil to strange islands, where they are cast upon the sandy shore, to sprout and prosper for the benefit of other native or visiting tribes. By this manner of dissemination, all of these islands have become encircled by a lofty colonnade of this queen of the tropics.Beautiful isles! beneath the sunset skiesTall silver shafted palm-trees rise betweenTall orange trees that shadeThe living colonnade:Alas! how sad, how sickening is the sceneThat were ye at my side would be a paradise.MARIA BROOKS.The cocoa-palm (Cocos nucifera), is a native of the Indian coasts and the South Sea Islands. It belongs to a genus of palms having pinnate leaves or fronds, and male and female flowers on the same tree, the latter at the base of each spadix. It is seldom found at any considerable distance from the seacoast, except where it has been introduced by man, and generally thrives best near the very edge of the sea. In Tahiti isolated cocoa-palms are found on the lofty hilltops, projecting, with their proud crowns of pale green leaves, far above the level of the sea of the dense forest and impenetrable jungles. This transplantation from shore to the sides and summits of the foot-hills had its beginning before the discovery of the island, when the overpopulation made it necessary to provide for a more abundant food-supply. There it has prospered and multiplied since without the further aid of man, yielding its rich harvests of fruit with unfailing regularity. The frightful reduction in the number of inhabitants since the white man set his foot on the island has made this additional food-supply superfluous, as the palms within easier reach in the lowlands along the shore more than meet the present demands.COPRA ESTABLISHMENTCOPRA ESTABLISHMENTThe cocoa-palm is a proud but virtuous tree. Its dense cluster of delicate roots does not encroach upon the territory of other trees, but claims only a very modest circular patch of soil from which to abstract the nourishment for the unselfish, philanthropic tree. The base of the stem is wide and usually inclined, but a few feet from the ground becomes straight and cylindrical, with nearly the same diameter from base to crown. The curve of the stem is caused by the effects of the prevailing winds on the yielding, slender stem of the youthful tree, but with increasing growth and strength, it rises column-like into the air, balancing its fruit-laden massive crown in uncompromising opposition to the invisible aerial force. It is only in localities exposed to the full power of strong and persistent trade-winds that the full-grown trees lean in the same direction in obedience to the unrelenting common deforming cause. The full-grown tree is, on an average, two feet in diameter, and from sixty to one hundred feet high, with many rings marking the places of former leaves, and having, at its summit, a crown of from sixteen to twenty leaves, which generally droop, and are from twelve to twenty feet in length. These giant leaves furnish an excellent material for thatched roofs, and in case of need, a few leaves, properly placed, will make a comfortable, waterproof tent. The fruit grows in short racemes, which bear, in favorable situations, from five to fifteen nuts; and ten or twelve of these racemes, in different stages of fructification, may be seen at once on a tree, about eighty or one hundred nuts being its ordinary annual product. For the purpose of answering the requirements of primitive man, the Creator has ordained that this tree shall yield a continuous harvest from one end of the year to the other. Flowers and fruit in all stages of ripening grace the crown at all times of the year. The young cocoanut contains the delicious, cooling milk, and the soft pulp, a nourishing article of food. The mature nut is an excellent substitute for meat, as the kernel contains more than seventy per cent, of a fixed, bland, nutritious oil. The tree bears fruit in from seven to eight years from the time of planting, and its lifetime is from seventy to eighty years. Its greatest ambition during youth is to reach the clouds and equal its oldest neighbors in height. Young trees, with a stem less than four inches in diameter, rival their veteran neighbors in height, devoting their future growth to the increase in the dimension and strength of the stem, and their vital vigor to the bearing of its perennial, unfailing yield of fruit for the benefit of man and beast. The stem, when young, contains a central part which is sweet and edible, but when old, this is a mass of hard fibre. The terminal bud (palm cabbage) is esteemed a delicacy when boiled or stewed or raw in the form of a vegetable salad. The sweet sap (toddy) of the cocoa-palm, as of some other palms, is an esteemed beverage in tropic countries, either in its natural state, or after fermentation, which takes place in a few hours; and, from the fermented sap (palm wine), a strong alcoholic liquor (arrack), is obtained by distillation. The root of the cocoa-palm possesses narcotic properties. Every part of this wonderful tree is utilized by the untutored inhabitants of the tropics. The dried leaves are much used for the thatch, and for many other purposes, as the making of mats, screens, baskets, etc., by plaiting the leaflets. The strong midribs of the leaves supply the natives with oars. The wood of the lower part of the trunk is very hard, and takes a beautiful polish. The fibrous centre of old stems is made into salad. By far the most important fibrous part of the cocoa-palm is the coir, the fibre of the husk of the imperfectly ripened nut. The sun-dried husk of the ripe nut is used for fuel, and also, when cut across, for polishing furniture, scrubbing floors, etc. The shell of the nut is made into cups, goblets, ladles, etc., and these household articles are often finely polished and elaborately ornamented by carving. This, the most generous of all trees, from the time of its birth until it yields to the ravages of time, serves man in hundreds of different ways, furnishing him with food and drink, clothing, building-material, fuel, medicine, most exquisite delicacies, wine, spirits and many articles of comfort and even of luxury. What other tree but the cocoa-palm could have been in the mind of Milton when he wrote:In heav'n the treesOf life ambrosial fruitage bear, and vinesYield nectar.GOVERNMENT WHARFGOVERNMENT WHARF–PAPEETE (Waiting for the steamerMariposa)The cocoa-palm is a peaceful, modest, virtuous tree. It prefers its own kin, but is charitable to its neighbors, irrespective of race. It towers far above the sea of less favored trees, which find in its shade protection against the burning rays of the tropic sun and the fury of the trade-winds. Proudly it stands guard at the shores of the coral-girt islands of the South Pacific, waving its lofty, fruit-laden crown, responding alike to the cool, refreshing land breezes and the humid trade-winds in the balmy air of the tropics. Peaceful and lovely is a forest of palms, whereLeaves live only to enjoy love, and throughout the forest every tree is luxuriating in affectionate embrace; palm, as it nods to palm, joins in mutual love; the poplar sighs for the poplar; plane whispers to plane, and alder to alder.CLAUDIANUS.The sight of a forest of cocoa-palms from a distance is imposing, a walk through it full of enchantment. Nowhere does this noble tree appear to better advantage than in Tahiti. This, the most favored of all islands, is engirdled by an almost unbroken belt of palm-forest, stretching from the very verge of the ocean to the base of the foot-hills, with the towering, tree-clad mountains for a background; a forest planted by the invisible hand of Nature, a forest cared for by Nature, a forest which produces nearly all of the necessities of life for the natives from day to day, and year to year, with unfailing regularity. Enter this forest and the eye feasts on a scene which neither the pen of the most skilled naturalist nor the brush of the ablest landscape artist can reproduce with anything that would do justice to nature's inexhaustible resources and artistic designs. Such a scene must be gazed upon to be appreciated. Between the colonnade of symmetrical silvery stems and crowns of feathery fronds, inlaid with the ponderous golden fruit, the eye catches glimpses of the blue, placid ocean, the foam-crested breakers, of the still more beautifully blue dome of the sky, the deep green carpet of the unbroken tropic forest thrown over the mountainsides, or the naked, rugged, brown peaks basking in the sunlight, and on all sides flowers of various hues and most delicate tints. Surely,Who can paintLike Nature? Can imagination boast.Amid its gay creation, hues like hers,Or can it mix them with that matchless skill.And lose them in each other, as appearsIn every bud that blows?THOMSON.Add to the pleasures flashed upon the mind by the ravished eye, the perfumed, soothing air of the tropics, the sweet sounds of the aeolian harp as the gentle breeze strikes its well-timed chords in the fronded crowns of the palms overhead, the bubbling of the ripples of the near-by ocean as they kiss the sandy rim of the island shore, and the clashes of the breakers as they strike with unerring regularity the coral reef, the outer wall of the calm lagoon, and your soul will be in a mood to join the poet in singing the praises of nature:O Nature!Enrich me with knowledge of thy works:Snatch me to heaven!THOMSON.Queen of the tropic isles, guardian of their sun-kissed strands, friend of their dusky, simple children of Nature! Continue in the future as you have done in the past, to dispense your work of generosity and unselfish charity, to sustain and protect the life of man and beast in a climate you love and revere, a climate adverse for man to earn his daily bread by the sweat of his brow! I have seen your charms in your favorite island-abode and studied with interest your innumerable deeds of generosity, your full storehouse for the urgent needs of man and your safe refuge for the inhabitants of the air. Had Whittier visited the island Paradise, your native home, he would have written in the positive in the first stanza, when he framed that beautiful verse:I know not where His islands liftTheir fronded palms in air;I only know I can not driftBeyond His love and care!There is no other country and no other island in the world that has such a variety of indigenous fruit trees as Tahiti. Add to these trees that have furnished the natives with an abundance of fruit for centuries, the fruit trees that have been introduced since the island was discovered, and many of which flourish now in a wild state in the forests, and it will give some idea concerning the wealth of fruit to be found in the forests of Tahiti. Most of the inland habitations away from the coast have been abandoned long ago, and in all these places, in the valleys and high up on the mountainsides, many kinds of exogenous fruit trees, planted by former generations, have gained a permanent foothold. Here they multiply, blossom, ripen their fruit, and all the islanders have to do is to gather the annual crop. Here delicious little thin-skinned oranges grow, and the finest lemons and limes can be had for the gathering. The poor find hereFruits of all kinds in coatRough or smooth rind, or bearded husk or shell,She gathers tribute large, and on the boardHeaps with unsparing hand.MILTON.CORNER IN PAPEETECORNER IN PAPEETENothing reminds one more of Tahiti being the forbidden Garden of Eden, than the abundance of fruit that grows in the forests without the intervention of man. Some kind of fruit can be found during all seasons of the year, andSmall store will serve, where storeAll seasons, ripe for use, hangs on the stalk.MILTON.It is here not as in most countries whereThe poor inhabitant beholds in vainThe redd'ning orange and the swelling grain.ADDISON.as the poorest of the poor have access to Nature's orchard and can fill their palm-leaf baskets with the choicest fruits. The TahitianHe feeds on fruits, which of their own accordThe willing ground and laden tree afford.DRYDEN.This mingling, in the most friendly manner, of the old forest trees with familiar fruit trees introduced from distant lands and laden with golden fruit, is a most beautiful sight. The fruit trees stand their ground even against the most aggressive shrubs, and it is often no easy matter to reach the ripe hiding fruit in the dense network of branches thrown around and between the branches of the imprisoned tree. What a blessing these acid fruits are to the natives, sweltering under the rays of the tropic sun! How easy it is for them to make a cooling, refreshing drink! Take a young cocoanut, open it at one end, and add to its milk the juice of a lime or a lemon, and the healthiest and most refreshing drink is made.Bear me, Pomona! to thy citron groves,To where the lemon and the piercing lime,With the deep orange glowing through the green,Their lighter glories lend.THOMSON.It is claimed that the large apple family is the descendant of the Siberian crab-apple, modified by climate, soil and grafting. This statement appears to me incorrect, as I have seen a tree in the Hawaiian forests which bears a real sweet apple which in shape and taste has a strong resemblance to the apples of our orchards. The tree is from twenty to thirty feet in height, slender and few branched. The same tree is found in the forests of Tahiti, and its fruit is much sought after by the natives. It would be difficult to connect the wild apple tree of the South Sea Islands with the Siberian crab-apple, to which it bears no resemblance, either in the appearance of the tree or its fruit. Let us now consider a few of the fruit trees which adorn and enrich the forests of Tahiti:Alligator Pear, orAvocado.—This is the most delicate and luscious of all the fruit-products of the Tahitian forests, where it is found in its wild state in great abundance. It is the fruit of thePersea gratissima, a tree belonging to the natural orderLauraceæ, an evergreen tree of the tropic regions of America and the South Sea Islands. It attains a height of from thirty to seventy feet, with a slender stem and dome-like, leafy top. The branches, like the stem, are slender, and ascend on quite an acute angle from their base. The leaves resemble those of the laurel. The flowers are small, and are produced toward the extremities of the branches. The fruit is a drupe, but in size and shape resembles a large pear. The rind is green, thin, and somewhat rough on the outside. In the center of the pulp is a large, heart-shaped kernel, wrapped in a thin, paper-like membrane. The pulp is green or yellowish, not very sweet, but of a delicious taste and exiquisite flavor, and contains about eight per cent, of a greenish fixed oil. The way to eat this delicious fruit is to cut it in two lengthwise, remove the kernel, season with sweet oil, vinegar, salt and pepper, and eat with a teaspoon. In the form of a salad it is one of the daintiest of all dishes. The softness of the pulp and the richness in oil have led the French to call this fruit "Vegetable butter." The seeds of the alligator pear have come into medical use at the instance of Dr. Froehlig, and particularly through the efforts of Park, Davis & Co., a manufacturing firm. The alligator pear is a very perishable fruit, which accounts for its scarcity and fabulous price in our markets.Pawpaw or Papayais the fruit of theCarica Papaya, natural orderPapayaceæ. It is an exceedingly graceful, branchless little tree, which grows to the height of from ten to twenty feet and is of short vitality. Its natural home is in South America and the islands of the Pacific. The cylindrical stem is grayish white, roughened in circles where the previous whorls of leaves had their attachment. The leaves are from twenty to thirty inches long and are arranged in the form of a whorl at the very top of the stem, where also the fruit grows, close to the stem. The fruit when ripe is light yellow, very similar to a small melon, and with a somewhat similar flavor. The skin is very thin and the pulp exceedingly soft, hence a very perishable fruit. The seeds are numerous, round and black, and when chewed have, in a high degree, the pungency of cresses. It requires time to acquire a taste for this healthy, very digestible tropical fruit, but when once developed, it is keenly relished. It is eaten either raw or boiled. It possesses digestive properties of considerable value, which have been utilized in the preparation of a vegetable pepsin. The acrid, milky sap of the tree or the juice of the fruit much diluted with water, renders any tough meat washed with it, tender for cooking purposes, by separating the muscular fibres (Dr. Holder). It is said even the exhalations from the tree have this property; and meats, fowls, etc., are hung among its leaves to prepare them for cooking. The tree is of very rapid growth, bears fruit all the year and is very prolific.Mangois the fruit ofMangifera Indica. It is a stately, broad-branching, very shady tree, from thirty to forty feet in height, belonging to the natural orderAnacardiaceæ. The stem is short, from eight to ten feet, when it divides into long, graceful branches, with an impenetrable foliage, a fine protection against the rain and the scorching rays of the sun. The bark is almost black and somewhat rough. The leaves are in clusters, lanceolate, entire, alternate, petioled, smooth, shining, tough, and about seven inches long, with an agreeable resinous smell. The flowers are small, reddish white or yellowish, in large, erect, terminal panicles. The fruit is kidney-shaped, smooth, greenish yellow, with or without ruddy cheeks, varying greatly in size and quality, and containing a large, flattened stone, which is covered on the outside with fibrous filaments, largest and most abundant in the inferior varieties, some of which consist chiefly of fibre and juice, while the finer ones have a comparatively solid pulp. The size varies from that of a large plum to that of a man's fist. The largest and finest mangoes are found in Tahiti. The fruit is luscious and agreeably sweet, with an aromatic flavor and slightly acid taste. The kernels are nutritious, and have been cooked for food in times of scarcity. A mango tree laden with its golden fruit is a pleasing sight, and reminds one vividly of a Christmas tree.Lime.—The fruit ofCitrus Planchoni, Citrus Australis Planchon. The lime tree of Tahiti was undoubtedly introduced from Eastern Australia, where it is found as a noble tree, fully forty feet high, or, according to C. Hartmann, even sixty feet high. In Tahiti the tree is small, and in the dense jungles hardly exceeds the size of a shrub. The stem, as well as its numerous slender, wide-spreading, prickly branches, is very crooked. The fruit is similar to the lemon, but much smaller in size, being only about one and one-half inches in diameter, and almost globular in shape, with a smooth, green, thin rind and an extremely acid, pungent juice. For a thirst-quenching drink, the lime-juice is far preferable to the lemon.Pomegranate.—The fruit ofPunica Granatum, a shrub belonging to the natural orderGranataceæ. This historic and useful shrub grows luxuriantly and with little or no care, in the fertile, sun-kissed soil of Tahiti. More than one-half of the interior of the oval purple fruit consists of large black seeds. The seedless variety has evidently never been introduced. The juice is subacid and very palatable. The flowers are ornamental, and sometimes are double. The rind of the fruit and the bark of the roots possess valuable medicinal properties. Consider for a moment what nature has done for the support, comfort and pleasure of the inhabitants of Tahiti, and we are ready to admit the truth of what the prince of poets said:Here is everything advantageous to life.SHAKESPEARE.And we can answer with a positive yes the question proposed by another famous poet, in the beautiful stanza:Know'st thou the land where the lemon trees bloom,Where the gold orange glows in the deep thicket's gloom,Where a wind ever soft from the blue heaven blows,And the groves are of laurel and myrtle and rose?GOETHE.A VIEW OF FAUTAHUA VALLEYA VIEW OF FAUTAHUA VALLEY
Through groves of palmSigh gales of balm,Fire-flies on the air are wheeling;While through the gloomComes soft perfume,The distant beds of flowers revealing.SIR WALTER SCOTT.
Through groves of palm
Sigh gales of balm,
Fire-flies on the air are wheeling;
While through the gloom
Comes soft perfume,
The distant beds of flowers revealing.
SIR WALTER SCOTT.
The cocoa-palm is the queen of the forests of the South Sea Islands. The tall, slender, branchless, silvery stem and fronded crown of this graceful tree distinguish it at once from all its neighbors and indicate the nobility of its race. The great clusters of golden fruit of giant size, partially obscured by the drooping leaves and clinging to the end of the stem, supply the natives with the necessities of life. The cocoa-palm is the greatest benefactor of the inhabitants of the tropics.
It is meat, drink and cloth to us.RABELAIS.Fruits of palm-tree, pleasantest to thirstAnd hunger both.MILTON.
It is meat, drink and cloth to us.
RABELAIS.
Fruits of palm-tree, pleasantest to thirst
And hunger both.
MILTON.
This noble tree grows and fructifies where hard manual labor is incompatible with the climate, in islands and countries where the natives have to rely largely on the bounteous resources of nature for food and protection. The burning shores of India and the islands of the South Pacific are the natural homes of the cocoa-palm. It has a special predilection for the sandy beach of Tahiti and the innumerable atoll islands near to and far from this gem of the South Seas. The giant nuts often drop directly into the sea and are carried away by waves and currents from their native soil to strange islands, where they are cast upon the sandy shore, to sprout and prosper for the benefit of other native or visiting tribes. By this manner of dissemination, all of these islands have become encircled by a lofty colonnade of this queen of the tropics.
Beautiful isles! beneath the sunset skiesTall silver shafted palm-trees rise betweenTall orange trees that shadeThe living colonnade:Alas! how sad, how sickening is the sceneThat were ye at my side would be a paradise.MARIA BROOKS.
Beautiful isles! beneath the sunset skies
Tall silver shafted palm-trees rise between
Tall orange trees that shade
The living colonnade:
Alas! how sad, how sickening is the scene
That were ye at my side would be a paradise.
MARIA BROOKS.
The cocoa-palm (Cocos nucifera), is a native of the Indian coasts and the South Sea Islands. It belongs to a genus of palms having pinnate leaves or fronds, and male and female flowers on the same tree, the latter at the base of each spadix. It is seldom found at any considerable distance from the seacoast, except where it has been introduced by man, and generally thrives best near the very edge of the sea. In Tahiti isolated cocoa-palms are found on the lofty hilltops, projecting, with their proud crowns of pale green leaves, far above the level of the sea of the dense forest and impenetrable jungles. This transplantation from shore to the sides and summits of the foot-hills had its beginning before the discovery of the island, when the overpopulation made it necessary to provide for a more abundant food-supply. There it has prospered and multiplied since without the further aid of man, yielding its rich harvests of fruit with unfailing regularity. The frightful reduction in the number of inhabitants since the white man set his foot on the island has made this additional food-supply superfluous, as the palms within easier reach in the lowlands along the shore more than meet the present demands.
COPRA ESTABLISHMENTCOPRA ESTABLISHMENT
COPRA ESTABLISHMENT
The cocoa-palm is a proud but virtuous tree. Its dense cluster of delicate roots does not encroach upon the territory of other trees, but claims only a very modest circular patch of soil from which to abstract the nourishment for the unselfish, philanthropic tree. The base of the stem is wide and usually inclined, but a few feet from the ground becomes straight and cylindrical, with nearly the same diameter from base to crown. The curve of the stem is caused by the effects of the prevailing winds on the yielding, slender stem of the youthful tree, but with increasing growth and strength, it rises column-like into the air, balancing its fruit-laden massive crown in uncompromising opposition to the invisible aerial force. It is only in localities exposed to the full power of strong and persistent trade-winds that the full-grown trees lean in the same direction in obedience to the unrelenting common deforming cause. The full-grown tree is, on an average, two feet in diameter, and from sixty to one hundred feet high, with many rings marking the places of former leaves, and having, at its summit, a crown of from sixteen to twenty leaves, which generally droop, and are from twelve to twenty feet in length. These giant leaves furnish an excellent material for thatched roofs, and in case of need, a few leaves, properly placed, will make a comfortable, waterproof tent. The fruit grows in short racemes, which bear, in favorable situations, from five to fifteen nuts; and ten or twelve of these racemes, in different stages of fructification, may be seen at once on a tree, about eighty or one hundred nuts being its ordinary annual product. For the purpose of answering the requirements of primitive man, the Creator has ordained that this tree shall yield a continuous harvest from one end of the year to the other. Flowers and fruit in all stages of ripening grace the crown at all times of the year. The young cocoanut contains the delicious, cooling milk, and the soft pulp, a nourishing article of food. The mature nut is an excellent substitute for meat, as the kernel contains more than seventy per cent, of a fixed, bland, nutritious oil. The tree bears fruit in from seven to eight years from the time of planting, and its lifetime is from seventy to eighty years. Its greatest ambition during youth is to reach the clouds and equal its oldest neighbors in height. Young trees, with a stem less than four inches in diameter, rival their veteran neighbors in height, devoting their future growth to the increase in the dimension and strength of the stem, and their vital vigor to the bearing of its perennial, unfailing yield of fruit for the benefit of man and beast. The stem, when young, contains a central part which is sweet and edible, but when old, this is a mass of hard fibre. The terminal bud (palm cabbage) is esteemed a delicacy when boiled or stewed or raw in the form of a vegetable salad. The sweet sap (toddy) of the cocoa-palm, as of some other palms, is an esteemed beverage in tropic countries, either in its natural state, or after fermentation, which takes place in a few hours; and, from the fermented sap (palm wine), a strong alcoholic liquor (arrack), is obtained by distillation. The root of the cocoa-palm possesses narcotic properties. Every part of this wonderful tree is utilized by the untutored inhabitants of the tropics. The dried leaves are much used for the thatch, and for many other purposes, as the making of mats, screens, baskets, etc., by plaiting the leaflets. The strong midribs of the leaves supply the natives with oars. The wood of the lower part of the trunk is very hard, and takes a beautiful polish. The fibrous centre of old stems is made into salad. By far the most important fibrous part of the cocoa-palm is the coir, the fibre of the husk of the imperfectly ripened nut. The sun-dried husk of the ripe nut is used for fuel, and also, when cut across, for polishing furniture, scrubbing floors, etc. The shell of the nut is made into cups, goblets, ladles, etc., and these household articles are often finely polished and elaborately ornamented by carving. This, the most generous of all trees, from the time of its birth until it yields to the ravages of time, serves man in hundreds of different ways, furnishing him with food and drink, clothing, building-material, fuel, medicine, most exquisite delicacies, wine, spirits and many articles of comfort and even of luxury. What other tree but the cocoa-palm could have been in the mind of Milton when he wrote:
In heav'n the treesOf life ambrosial fruitage bear, and vinesYield nectar.
In heav'n the trees
Of life ambrosial fruitage bear, and vines
Yield nectar.
GOVERNMENT WHARFGOVERNMENT WHARF–PAPEETE (Waiting for the steamerMariposa)
GOVERNMENT WHARF–PAPEETE (Waiting for the steamerMariposa)
The cocoa-palm is a peaceful, modest, virtuous tree. It prefers its own kin, but is charitable to its neighbors, irrespective of race. It towers far above the sea of less favored trees, which find in its shade protection against the burning rays of the tropic sun and the fury of the trade-winds. Proudly it stands guard at the shores of the coral-girt islands of the South Pacific, waving its lofty, fruit-laden crown, responding alike to the cool, refreshing land breezes and the humid trade-winds in the balmy air of the tropics. Peaceful and lovely is a forest of palms, where
Leaves live only to enjoy love, and throughout the forest every tree is luxuriating in affectionate embrace; palm, as it nods to palm, joins in mutual love; the poplar sighs for the poplar; plane whispers to plane, and alder to alder.CLAUDIANUS.
Leaves live only to enjoy love, and throughout the forest every tree is luxuriating in affectionate embrace; palm, as it nods to palm, joins in mutual love; the poplar sighs for the poplar; plane whispers to plane, and alder to alder.
CLAUDIANUS.
The sight of a forest of cocoa-palms from a distance is imposing, a walk through it full of enchantment. Nowhere does this noble tree appear to better advantage than in Tahiti. This, the most favored of all islands, is engirdled by an almost unbroken belt of palm-forest, stretching from the very verge of the ocean to the base of the foot-hills, with the towering, tree-clad mountains for a background; a forest planted by the invisible hand of Nature, a forest cared for by Nature, a forest which produces nearly all of the necessities of life for the natives from day to day, and year to year, with unfailing regularity. Enter this forest and the eye feasts on a scene which neither the pen of the most skilled naturalist nor the brush of the ablest landscape artist can reproduce with anything that would do justice to nature's inexhaustible resources and artistic designs. Such a scene must be gazed upon to be appreciated. Between the colonnade of symmetrical silvery stems and crowns of feathery fronds, inlaid with the ponderous golden fruit, the eye catches glimpses of the blue, placid ocean, the foam-crested breakers, of the still more beautifully blue dome of the sky, the deep green carpet of the unbroken tropic forest thrown over the mountainsides, or the naked, rugged, brown peaks basking in the sunlight, and on all sides flowers of various hues and most delicate tints. Surely,
Who can paintLike Nature? Can imagination boast.Amid its gay creation, hues like hers,Or can it mix them with that matchless skill.And lose them in each other, as appearsIn every bud that blows?THOMSON.
Who can paint
Like Nature? Can imagination boast.
Amid its gay creation, hues like hers,
Or can it mix them with that matchless skill.
And lose them in each other, as appears
In every bud that blows?
THOMSON.
Add to the pleasures flashed upon the mind by the ravished eye, the perfumed, soothing air of the tropics, the sweet sounds of the aeolian harp as the gentle breeze strikes its well-timed chords in the fronded crowns of the palms overhead, the bubbling of the ripples of the near-by ocean as they kiss the sandy rim of the island shore, and the clashes of the breakers as they strike with unerring regularity the coral reef, the outer wall of the calm lagoon, and your soul will be in a mood to join the poet in singing the praises of nature:
O Nature!Enrich me with knowledge of thy works:Snatch me to heaven!THOMSON.
O Nature!
Enrich me with knowledge of thy works:
Snatch me to heaven!
THOMSON.
Queen of the tropic isles, guardian of their sun-kissed strands, friend of their dusky, simple children of Nature! Continue in the future as you have done in the past, to dispense your work of generosity and unselfish charity, to sustain and protect the life of man and beast in a climate you love and revere, a climate adverse for man to earn his daily bread by the sweat of his brow! I have seen your charms in your favorite island-abode and studied with interest your innumerable deeds of generosity, your full storehouse for the urgent needs of man and your safe refuge for the inhabitants of the air. Had Whittier visited the island Paradise, your native home, he would have written in the positive in the first stanza, when he framed that beautiful verse:
I know not where His islands liftTheir fronded palms in air;I only know I can not driftBeyond His love and care!
I know not where His islands lift
Their fronded palms in air;
I only know I can not drift
Beyond His love and care!
There is no other country and no other island in the world that has such a variety of indigenous fruit trees as Tahiti. Add to these trees that have furnished the natives with an abundance of fruit for centuries, the fruit trees that have been introduced since the island was discovered, and many of which flourish now in a wild state in the forests, and it will give some idea concerning the wealth of fruit to be found in the forests of Tahiti. Most of the inland habitations away from the coast have been abandoned long ago, and in all these places, in the valleys and high up on the mountainsides, many kinds of exogenous fruit trees, planted by former generations, have gained a permanent foothold. Here they multiply, blossom, ripen their fruit, and all the islanders have to do is to gather the annual crop. Here delicious little thin-skinned oranges grow, and the finest lemons and limes can be had for the gathering. The poor find here
Fruits of all kinds in coatRough or smooth rind, or bearded husk or shell,She gathers tribute large, and on the boardHeaps with unsparing hand.MILTON.
Fruits of all kinds in coat
Rough or smooth rind, or bearded husk or shell,
She gathers tribute large, and on the board
Heaps with unsparing hand.
MILTON.
CORNER IN PAPEETECORNER IN PAPEETE
CORNER IN PAPEETE
Nothing reminds one more of Tahiti being the forbidden Garden of Eden, than the abundance of fruit that grows in the forests without the intervention of man. Some kind of fruit can be found during all seasons of the year, and
Small store will serve, where storeAll seasons, ripe for use, hangs on the stalk.MILTON.
Small store will serve, where store
All seasons, ripe for use, hangs on the stalk.
MILTON.
It is here not as in most countries where
The poor inhabitant beholds in vainThe redd'ning orange and the swelling grain.ADDISON.
The poor inhabitant beholds in vain
The redd'ning orange and the swelling grain.
ADDISON.
as the poorest of the poor have access to Nature's orchard and can fill their palm-leaf baskets with the choicest fruits. The Tahitian
He feeds on fruits, which of their own accordThe willing ground and laden tree afford.DRYDEN.
He feeds on fruits, which of their own accord
The willing ground and laden tree afford.
DRYDEN.
This mingling, in the most friendly manner, of the old forest trees with familiar fruit trees introduced from distant lands and laden with golden fruit, is a most beautiful sight. The fruit trees stand their ground even against the most aggressive shrubs, and it is often no easy matter to reach the ripe hiding fruit in the dense network of branches thrown around and between the branches of the imprisoned tree. What a blessing these acid fruits are to the natives, sweltering under the rays of the tropic sun! How easy it is for them to make a cooling, refreshing drink! Take a young cocoanut, open it at one end, and add to its milk the juice of a lime or a lemon, and the healthiest and most refreshing drink is made.
Bear me, Pomona! to thy citron groves,To where the lemon and the piercing lime,With the deep orange glowing through the green,Their lighter glories lend.THOMSON.
Bear me, Pomona! to thy citron groves,
To where the lemon and the piercing lime,
With the deep orange glowing through the green,
Their lighter glories lend.
THOMSON.
It is claimed that the large apple family is the descendant of the Siberian crab-apple, modified by climate, soil and grafting. This statement appears to me incorrect, as I have seen a tree in the Hawaiian forests which bears a real sweet apple which in shape and taste has a strong resemblance to the apples of our orchards. The tree is from twenty to thirty feet in height, slender and few branched. The same tree is found in the forests of Tahiti, and its fruit is much sought after by the natives. It would be difficult to connect the wild apple tree of the South Sea Islands with the Siberian crab-apple, to which it bears no resemblance, either in the appearance of the tree or its fruit. Let us now consider a few of the fruit trees which adorn and enrich the forests of Tahiti:
Alligator Pear, orAvocado.—This is the most delicate and luscious of all the fruit-products of the Tahitian forests, where it is found in its wild state in great abundance. It is the fruit of thePersea gratissima, a tree belonging to the natural orderLauraceæ, an evergreen tree of the tropic regions of America and the South Sea Islands. It attains a height of from thirty to seventy feet, with a slender stem and dome-like, leafy top. The branches, like the stem, are slender, and ascend on quite an acute angle from their base. The leaves resemble those of the laurel. The flowers are small, and are produced toward the extremities of the branches. The fruit is a drupe, but in size and shape resembles a large pear. The rind is green, thin, and somewhat rough on the outside. In the center of the pulp is a large, heart-shaped kernel, wrapped in a thin, paper-like membrane. The pulp is green or yellowish, not very sweet, but of a delicious taste and exiquisite flavor, and contains about eight per cent, of a greenish fixed oil. The way to eat this delicious fruit is to cut it in two lengthwise, remove the kernel, season with sweet oil, vinegar, salt and pepper, and eat with a teaspoon. In the form of a salad it is one of the daintiest of all dishes. The softness of the pulp and the richness in oil have led the French to call this fruit "Vegetable butter." The seeds of the alligator pear have come into medical use at the instance of Dr. Froehlig, and particularly through the efforts of Park, Davis & Co., a manufacturing firm. The alligator pear is a very perishable fruit, which accounts for its scarcity and fabulous price in our markets.
Pawpaw or Papayais the fruit of theCarica Papaya, natural orderPapayaceæ. It is an exceedingly graceful, branchless little tree, which grows to the height of from ten to twenty feet and is of short vitality. Its natural home is in South America and the islands of the Pacific. The cylindrical stem is grayish white, roughened in circles where the previous whorls of leaves had their attachment. The leaves are from twenty to thirty inches long and are arranged in the form of a whorl at the very top of the stem, where also the fruit grows, close to the stem. The fruit when ripe is light yellow, very similar to a small melon, and with a somewhat similar flavor. The skin is very thin and the pulp exceedingly soft, hence a very perishable fruit. The seeds are numerous, round and black, and when chewed have, in a high degree, the pungency of cresses. It requires time to acquire a taste for this healthy, very digestible tropical fruit, but when once developed, it is keenly relished. It is eaten either raw or boiled. It possesses digestive properties of considerable value, which have been utilized in the preparation of a vegetable pepsin. The acrid, milky sap of the tree or the juice of the fruit much diluted with water, renders any tough meat washed with it, tender for cooking purposes, by separating the muscular fibres (Dr. Holder). It is said even the exhalations from the tree have this property; and meats, fowls, etc., are hung among its leaves to prepare them for cooking. The tree is of very rapid growth, bears fruit all the year and is very prolific.
Mangois the fruit ofMangifera Indica. It is a stately, broad-branching, very shady tree, from thirty to forty feet in height, belonging to the natural orderAnacardiaceæ. The stem is short, from eight to ten feet, when it divides into long, graceful branches, with an impenetrable foliage, a fine protection against the rain and the scorching rays of the sun. The bark is almost black and somewhat rough. The leaves are in clusters, lanceolate, entire, alternate, petioled, smooth, shining, tough, and about seven inches long, with an agreeable resinous smell. The flowers are small, reddish white or yellowish, in large, erect, terminal panicles. The fruit is kidney-shaped, smooth, greenish yellow, with or without ruddy cheeks, varying greatly in size and quality, and containing a large, flattened stone, which is covered on the outside with fibrous filaments, largest and most abundant in the inferior varieties, some of which consist chiefly of fibre and juice, while the finer ones have a comparatively solid pulp. The size varies from that of a large plum to that of a man's fist. The largest and finest mangoes are found in Tahiti. The fruit is luscious and agreeably sweet, with an aromatic flavor and slightly acid taste. The kernels are nutritious, and have been cooked for food in times of scarcity. A mango tree laden with its golden fruit is a pleasing sight, and reminds one vividly of a Christmas tree.
Lime.—The fruit ofCitrus Planchoni, Citrus Australis Planchon. The lime tree of Tahiti was undoubtedly introduced from Eastern Australia, where it is found as a noble tree, fully forty feet high, or, according to C. Hartmann, even sixty feet high. In Tahiti the tree is small, and in the dense jungles hardly exceeds the size of a shrub. The stem, as well as its numerous slender, wide-spreading, prickly branches, is very crooked. The fruit is similar to the lemon, but much smaller in size, being only about one and one-half inches in diameter, and almost globular in shape, with a smooth, green, thin rind and an extremely acid, pungent juice. For a thirst-quenching drink, the lime-juice is far preferable to the lemon.
Pomegranate.—The fruit ofPunica Granatum, a shrub belonging to the natural orderGranataceæ. This historic and useful shrub grows luxuriantly and with little or no care, in the fertile, sun-kissed soil of Tahiti. More than one-half of the interior of the oval purple fruit consists of large black seeds. The seedless variety has evidently never been introduced. The juice is subacid and very palatable. The flowers are ornamental, and sometimes are double. The rind of the fruit and the bark of the roots possess valuable medicinal properties. Consider for a moment what nature has done for the support, comfort and pleasure of the inhabitants of Tahiti, and we are ready to admit the truth of what the prince of poets said:
Here is everything advantageous to life.SHAKESPEARE.
Here is everything advantageous to life.
SHAKESPEARE.
And we can answer with a positive yes the question proposed by another famous poet, in the beautiful stanza:
Know'st thou the land where the lemon trees bloom,Where the gold orange glows in the deep thicket's gloom,Where a wind ever soft from the blue heaven blows,And the groves are of laurel and myrtle and rose?GOETHE.
Know'st thou the land where the lemon trees bloom,
Where the gold orange glows in the deep thicket's gloom,
Where a wind ever soft from the blue heaven blows,
And the groves are of laurel and myrtle and rose?
GOETHE.
A VIEW OF FAUTAHUA VALLEYA VIEW OF FAUTAHUA VALLEY
A VIEW OF FAUTAHUA VALLEY