The Pacific commercial advertiser. [volume] (Honolulu, Hawaiian Islands) 1885-1921, 1907-04-24
TAHITI PRONOUNCED
PARADISE ISLAND.

A land where no tips are expected,
where gratuitous attentions are rem
dered out of pure good heartedness'
and where the natives go out of their
way to make life pleasant for stran-
gers, from whom they desire nothing
in return save a smile-that is one de-
scription of Tahiti. Is 1t any wonder
that travellers have named this soft
southern isle THE Paradise OF the Pa
cific?" To hear Tahiti described by
H. C. Bush, traffic manager OF the
Colorado Midland, who arrived in Dem
yer yesterday after a months trip in
southern seas, is enough to make one
devote all his efforts in the next six
months toward accommodating enough
coin of the realm to purchase ticket
and set sail for this land Of eternal
summer.
Mr.. Bush, accompanied by his daugh-
ter, Miss Florence Bush, left Denver on
Jan. q and sailed from San Francisco
on Feb 4, aboard the Mariposa, one Of
the Oceanic Steamship company's
south sea liners. Accompanying them
on the trip were w. w. Nichols, vice
president of the AIlis-Chalmers Ma
chinery company, of New York, and
his sister, Miss Ida Nichols, of the
Cliff House at Manitou. After an ideal
ocean trip of II days, the party spent
five days in Tahiti, and returned on
the same steamer that brought them,
arriving in san Francisco March 4.
I'VE could have spent 10 days more
on the island, and would have still had
much to see," said Mr.. Bush yesterday.
1.-THE mountains, cataracts, tropical
foliage, and quaint native villages are
a constant delight. The people are of
somewhat smaller stature than the Sa-
means, but seem to be far more in
dustrious and energetic. The planters
in Samoa who tried to raise export
products on a large scale found that
they had to import Chinese labor, be-
work. They do not have to work to
live and therefore they won't.
Tahiti is a French colony. with a
few German and British residents, but
hardly any Americans. Aside from the
United States consul, / do not recall
half a dozen persons whom / recog-
nized as Americans. The steamer we
came on has the mail contract or we
would never have had such fine SER
vice. because the tourist traffic would
not warrant the running OF a ship OF
the class represented by the Mari
posi-.
1--WE found the natives entirely
charming. They outdid themselves at
every turn to make our visit pleasant
and the little attentions. such as gifts
of fruit and flowers, were all rendered
with a smile and apparently without
the slightest idea of our doing any
thing in return.
1--WE would be driving out through
the country, Wnen d hdAlFS IA oHS Va
the fields would come to the edge OF
the road with a gift Of fruit or flowers
for US. our drivers were constantly
hopping down fo1n their seats to pluck
some rare blossoms in the forest. They
are very deft with their fingers and
would weave these flowers into wreaths
and garlands with which they would
decorate our hats. or our heads. in case
we had left our hats at home. The
men seem to love the flowers and they
almost always have a couple OF dos
SONS stuck behind their ears, Ike one
would place a pencil. 1t makes them
extremely picturesque.
1.-THE tropical fruits they have there
are the finest 1 have had anywhere
and it seems a pity that they cannot
ship them. All attempts to bring their
rare fruits to this country have been
unsuccessful so FAR, however. and the
only thing OF the sort that they export
are cocoanuts. denver Times.