Part 9

Tahiti's fabulous wealth consists in its inexhaustible soil and the perennial warm, stimulating breath of the tropic sun. It is the island of never-fading verdure and vigorous and never-ceasing vegetation. The fertile soil, the abundant rainfall throughout the year, the warm sunshine and the equable climate are most conducive to plant-life and here these conditions are so harmonious that there can be no failure of crops in the Lord's plantation. There never has been a famine in Tahiti, and there never will be, provided the government protects the magnificent mountain forests—nature's system of irrigation. Tahiti's food-supply is select and never-failing, and is furnished man with the least possible exertion on his part. The bounteous provisions nature has made here for the abode of man are a marvel to the visitor and after he has once seen them and has become familiar with them he can not escape the conclusion that he is in

A land flowing with milk and honey.

JEREMIAH xxxii:22.

The food products and fruits grown in the forests without the toil of man are admirably adapted for the climatic conditions, being laxative and cooling, and undoubtedly account for the excellent health of the natives before the invasion of the island by the Europeans. The island was destined for the natives, and the natives were suited to the island.

Man's rich with little, were his judgment true;

Nature is frugal, and her wants are few;

These few wants answer'd, bring sincere delights;

But fools create themselves new appetites.

YOUNG.

Content with what the sea and forest provided for them, these children of Nature lived a happy life, free from care, free from morbid desires for wealth or fame.

O blissful poverty!

Nature, too partial, to thy lot assigns

Health, freedom, innocence, and downy peace, —

Her real goods, — and only mocks the great

With empty pageantries.

FENTON.

No sullen discontent nor anxious care.

E'en though brought thither, could inhabit there.

DRYDEN.

The Tahitian people, before they tasted the questionable advantages of European civilization, had much in common and lived happily in the full enjoyment of Nature's varied and bountiful gifts. Tribal life was family life, and public affairs were managed to suit the wants of the people, and if any one in power failed in his duties, the people took the law in their own hands and corrected the evil, usually without bloodshed. If the people were not prosperous according to our ideas of life, they were at least happy, and

We must distinguish between felicity and prosperity; for prosperity leads often to ambition, and ambition to disappointment.

LANDOR.

TAHITI'S NATURAL BREAD SUPPLY

The Tahitians have no corn or grain of any kind out of which to make bread. They found in the forests excellent substitutes for bread, and more healthful for that climate, in the form of breadfruit, wild plantain and tubers rich in starch. This is the kind of bread they have been eating for centuries, and which they prefer to our bread to-day. When the island was densely populated and the demand on nature's resources exceeded the supply, the natives had to plant trees, roots and tubers in vacant spaces in the forest, high up on the mountainsides, where they grew luxuriantly without any or little care, and by these trifling efforts on the part of man the food-supply kept pace with the increase of the population. Trees and plants distributed in this manner found a permanent home in the new places provided for them, and have since multiplied, and thus increased greatly the annual yield. Evidences of dissemination of bread and fruit-yielding trees and plants by the intervention of man are apparent to-day throughout the island by the presence of cocoa-palms, breadfruit and other fruit trees, and plantains, in localities where nature could not plant them, in places formerly inhabited but abandoned long ago when the population became so rapidly decimated by the virulent diseases introduced into the island by the Europeans. To-day the fruit and fruit-supply is so abundant that it is within easy reach of every family and can be had without money and without labor. We will consider here a few of the most important substitutes for bread on which the Tahitians largely subsist:

_Breadfruit_.—Breadfruit is the most important article of food of the Tahitians. It is the fruit of the breadfruit tree _Arfocarpus incisiva_ (Linné), a tree of the natural order, _Artocarpaceæ_, a native of the islands of the Pacific Ocean and of the Indian Archipelago. This fruit is one of the most important gifts of nature to the inhabitants of the tropics, serving as the principal part of their food, the inner tough bark of the tree furnishing a good material for native cloth, while the trunk of the tree is used as a material for canoes. The exudation issuing from cuts made into the stem, a resinous substance, is in use for closing the seams of canoes. Several varieties of breadfruit trees are to be found in Tahiti, differing in the structure of their leaves and in the size and time of ripening of the fruit, so that ripe breadfruit is obtainable more or less abundantly throughout the year. The foliage of this tree is the greenest of all green, and it is this deep green which distinguished this tree at once from its neighbors. The male flowers are in catkins, with a two-leaved perianth and one stamen; the female flowers are nude. The leaves are large, pinnatifid, frequently twelve to eighteen inches long, smooth and glossy on their upper surface. The much branched tree attains a height of twenty to fifty feet. The fruit is a _sorosis_, a compound or aggregate the size of a child's head, round or slightly oblong, light green, fleshy and tuberculated on the surface. The rind is thick, and marked with small square or lozenge-shaped divisions, each having a small elevation in the middle. The fruit hangs by a short, thick stalk from the small branches, singly or in clusters of two or three together. It contains a white, somewhat fibrous pulp, which when ripe becomes juicy and yellow, but has then a rotten taste. The fruit is gathered for use before it is ripe, and the pulp is then white and mealy, of the consistence of fresh bread. The fruit is prepared in many ways for food, roasted on hot coals, boiled or baked, or converted by the experienced native cook into complicated dainty dishes. The common practice in Tahiti is to cut each fruit into three or four pieces and take out the core; then to place heated stones in the bottom of a hole dug in the ground; to cover them with green leaves, and upon this place a layer of the fruit, then stones, leaves and fruit alternately, till the hole is nearly filled, when leaves and earth to the depth of several inches are spread over all. In half an hour the breadfruit is ready; the outsides are, in general, nicely browned, and the inner part presents a white or yellowish cellular substance. Breadfruit prepared in this manner and by other methods of cooking is very palatable, as I can speak from my own experience, slightly astringent and highly nutritious, a most excellent dietetic article for the tropics. The tree is very prolific, producing two and sometimes three crops a year. When once this tree has gained a firm foothold in a soil it cherishes, and in a climate it enjoys, it exhibits a tenacity to reproduce itself to an extent often beyond desirable limits. Of this Captain Cook writes:

I have inquired very carefully into their manner of cultivating the breadfruit tree; but was always answered that they never plant it. The breadfruit tree plants itself, as it springs from the roots of the old ones, so that the natives are often under the necessity of preventing its progress to make room for trees of other sorts to afford some variety in their food.

The timber is soft and light, of a rich yellow color, and assumes when exposed to the air the appearance of mahogany.

_Manioc_.—Manioc is another important article of food in Tahiti and likewise serves as an excellent substitute for baker's bread. It is the large, fleshy root of _Manihot utilissima_, a large, half-shrubby plant of the natural order _Euphorhiaceæ_, a native of tropical America, and much cultivated in Tahiti as an article of food. In this island the plant has run wild in some of the ravines formerly inhabited. The plant grows in a bushy form, with stems usually six to eight feet high, but sometimes much higher. The stems are brittle, white, and have a very large pith; the branches are crooked. The leaves are near the ends of the branches, large, deeply seven-parted, smooth and deep green. The roots are very large, turnip-like, sometimes weighing thirty pounds, from three to eight growing in a cluster, usually from twelve to twenty-four inches in length. They contain an acrid, milky juice in common with other parts of the plant, so poisonous as to cause death in a few minutes; but as the toxic effect is owing to the presence of hydrocyanic acid, which is quickly removed by heat, the juice, inspissated by boiling, forms the excellent sauce called _casareep_; and fermented with molasses it yields an intoxicating beverage called _onycou_; whilst the root, grated, dried on hot metal plates and roughly powdered, becomes an article of food. It is made into thin plates which are formed into cakes, not by mixing with water, but by the action of heat, softening and agglutinating the particles of starch. The powdered root prepared in this manner is an easily digestible and nutritious article of farinaceous food. The root is largely made use of in the manufacture of starch and is exported from Tahiti for this purpose to a considerable extent. The starch made from this root is also known as Brazilian arrowroot, and from it tapioca is made. Manioc is propagated by cuttings of the stem, and is of rapid growth, attaining maturity in six months.

_Sweet Cassava_.—Sweet cassava is the root of _Manihot Aipi_, a woody plant indigenous to tropical South America, growing in great abundance in the dense forest of the mountain valleys of Tahiti. The plant grows to a height of several feet and has large long leaves growing from the foot of the stem. The root is reddish and nontoxic; it can therefore be used as a culinary esculent, without any further preparation than boiling, while its starch can also be converted into tapioca. The _Aipi_ has tough, woody fibres, extending along the axis of the tubers, while generally the roots of the manioc (bitter cassava) are free from this central woody substance.

_Arrowroot_ or _Arru Root_.—The commercial arrowroot is prepared from different starch-yielding roots, but the bulb of the _Maranta marantaceæ_ produces more starch and of a better quality than any of the others. It is a native of the West Indies and South America, and is cultivated quite extensively in Tahiti. Many little patches of this plant may be seen along the road from Papeete to Papara, where the lowland soil is well adapted for its cultivation. The starch-producing plant which is cultivated most extensively in Tahiti and other South Sea Islands is the _Tacca pinnatifolia_. This perennial plant will even thrive well in the sandy soil near the shore. The stalk, with terminal spreading pinnatifid leaves, is from two to three feet high and the root is a tuber about the size of a small potato. The tacca starch is much valued in medicine, and is particularly used in the treatment of inflammatory affections of the gastro-intestinal canal.

_Taro or Tara_.—Taro is another very important food-product of Tahiti, as well as other islands of the Pacific, notably the Hawaiian Islands. It is the root of _Colocasia macrorhiza_, a plant of the natural order _Araceæ_, of the same genus with _cocoa_. The plant thrives best in low, marshy places. In all of the South Sea Islands it is very extensively cultivated for its roots, which constitute in these islands a staple article of food, excellent substitutes for potatoes and bread. The roots are very large, from twelve to sixteen inches in length, and as much in circumference. They are washed in cold water to take away their acridity, which is such as to cause excoriation of the mouth and palate. The roots are cooked in the same way as the breadfruit, the rind being first scraped off. Another very common way of eating taro is in the form of _poi_. This method of preparing the root was known to the Tahitians when Captain Cook visited the island. He compared _poi_ with "sour pudding." It requires some skill to make _poi_. The root, finely grated, is allowed to ferment over night. It tastes sour and is a refreshing, delicate and nutritious dish, when served ice-cold. The plant has no stalk; the petioled heart-shaped leaves spring from the root. The flower is in the form of a spathe. The boiled leaves can be used as a substitute for spinach.

_Wild Plantain_.—The wild plantain furnishes its liberal share of food-supply for the Tahitians. It is a tree-like, perennial herb (_Musa paradisiaca_) with immense leaves and large clusters of the fruits. In its appearance it resembles very closely the banana, but differs from it as the hands and fingers of the bunches of fruit are turned in the opposite direction. The fruit is long and somewhat cylindrical, slightly curved, and, when ripe, soft, fleshy and covered with a thick but tender yellowish skin. This plant is indigenous to Tahiti and is found in abundance in the forests. The fruit is cooked or baked and is keenly relished by the natives.

All of the articles of food I have referred to above are easily digested, palatable and nutritious, and for the Tahiti climate more healthful than bread and potatoes, on which the masses of people living in colder climates subsist to a large extent. I attribute the comparative immunity of the South Sea Islanders from attacks of appendicitis principally to their diet, which is laxative, easily digested and not liable to cause fermentation in the gastro-intestinal canal. Appendicitis does occur in these islands, but this disease is extremely rare as compared with the frequency with which it is met in Europe, and more especially in the United States. The Americans are the most injudicious and reckless eaters in the world, which goes far in explaining the prevalence of gastric and intestinal disorders among our people.

THE COCOANUT, THE MEAT OF THE TAHITIANS

It is fortunate that the inhabitants of the tropics have no special liking for a meat diet, as the free indulgence in meat could not fail in resulting detrimentally to the health of the inhabitants. The continuously high temperature begets indolence, and indolence tends to diminish secretion and excretion, conditions incompatible with a habitual consumption of meat. Nature has established fixed rules concerning the manner of living in the tropics. She deprives man of the appetite for meat and other equally heavy articles of food, and supplies him with nourishment adapted for the climate. It is under such climatic conditions that we are made to realize that

The more we deny ourselves, the more the gods supply our wants.

HORATIUS.

and

We can not use the mind aright when the body is filled with excess of food.

CICERO.

For the preservation of health in the tropics, it is necessary that the food should be laxative, cooling, easy of digestion and nutritious. Fish and fruit of various kinds meet these requirements. From observations and experience, the ignorant natives have made a wise selection of what is best for them to eat, and know what to avoid. High living brings its dire results in temperate and cold climates, but any one indulging in it in the tropics will curtail his life, as it can not fail to be productive, in a short time, of organic changes of a degenerative type in important internal organs, which soon begin to menace life and never fail in diminishing the vital resistance against acute diseases. Luxury in the tropics in the way of eating and drinking is a dangerous experiment, and it is well to remember, especially when living in a hot climate, that

By degrees man passes to the enjoyments of a vicious life, porticoes, baths and elegant banquets; this by the ignorant was called a civilized mode of living, though in reality it was only a form of luxury.

TACTICUS.

No such mistakes are made by the natives of Tahiti as long as they remain true to their ancient manner of living. With few exceptions, indeed, they lack the means of imitating the foreigners in living a life of luxury. Any native who departs too far from the simple, natural life of his ancestors will pay dearly for the doubtful pleasures of a life of luxury. The average native, fortunately, has no such inclinations; he is satisfied to live the simple, natural life his forefathers led, and he follows the scriptural advice.

And having food and raiment, let us be therewith content. I. Timothy vi:8.

Nature has provided for the South Sea Islanders something better than beef and mutton in the form of meat—fish and cocoanut. Fish are very abundant all around the coast of Tahiti, and the lagoons, where the fishing is mostly done, are as quiet as inland lakes. More than two hundred varieties of fish have been found in these waters. But the real and best meat for the Tahitians is the cocoanut. The meat of this wonderful nut contains a large per cent, of oil, which supplies the system with all the fatty material it requires, and for the tropic climate this bland, nutritious vegetable oil is far superior to any animal fats. We will give here the Cocoa-palm the liberal space it so well deserves:

THE COCOA-PALM

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 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 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.