. Three voyages of a naturalist, being an account of many little- known islands in three oceans visited by the "Valhalla," ; . n the anchored off the mouth of the small river,near the banks of which the village of Tautira isbuilt. The barrier-reef in this part of the island isalmost a-wash at high tide ; it is nearly semi-circular in shape, and so perfectly fiat on the topthat, as we entered the passage, we seemed to besteaming through a gateway in a low wall. The shore is a strip of red-coloured sand, witha narrow belt of cocoanut palms. Behind thepalm trees lies the vUlage, and
. Three voyages of a naturalist, being an account of many little- known islands in three oceans visited by the "Valhalla," ; . n the anchored off the mouth of the small river,near the banks of which the village of Tautira isbuilt. The barrier-reef in this part of the island isalmost a-wash at high tide ; it is nearly semi-circular in shape, and so perfectly fiat on the topthat, as we entered the passage, we seemed to besteaming through a gateway in a low wall. The shore is a strip of red-coloured sand, witha narrow belt of cocoanut palms. Behind thepalm trees lies the vUlage, and beyond rises amagnificent range of hiUs clothed to the summitwith almost impenetrable forests. The houses arewell built, of native pattern; the walls are madeof upright bamboos, with a half-inch space betweeneach to allow a free passage of air into the of mats are so arranged that they can belet down to cover the walls in case of rain, whileat other times they are rolled up under the the houses are thatched with leaves of eitherthe cocoanut palm or pandanus. The surroundings of Tautira are very e E-i CLIMBING FOE COCOANUTS 221 The ground is covered with a thick growth ofgreen grass, studded with hibiscus and otherflowering plants, while orange trees grow in greatprofusion. In Tahiti, as well as in most of the South SeaIslands, great numbers of cocoanuts are grown,and after being dried for copra are shipped in largequantities to Europe. We were much interestedin the different methods of gathering the nuts invarious islands. In Tahiti the natives climb thetrees with the help of a strip of green fibrous barktorn off the stem of a hibiscus tree. After knottingthe two ends together, the climber shps his feethalf through the circle, and, standing with his legsapart, so as to stretch the thong tight, ascends thetree in a series of leaps, with a foot on each side ofthe trunk. A practised climber wiU thus mounttrees of a very considerable height with a
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Keywords: ., bookcentury1900, bookdecade1900, booksubjectvoyagesaroundtheworl
