The San Francisco call., 1910-10-30
LUSCIOUS FRUITS
IS TAHITpS BOAST
Almost an Endless Variety of
TOoths0me Food Grows on
Trees Unaided


(fay-ee) or plantain; vi Tahiti; noun
fruit somewhat like an apple; and the
Otaheite chestnut (Inecarpus edulis)
are indigenous. AS breadfruit was
found here in abundance by Captain
Cook on his first visit in 1863, 1t is re-
garded as also indigenous It is inter
esting TO note that the British ship
Bounty, made famous by the mutiny
of its crew, who became the first set
tiers on the island of Pitcairn, came
to Tahiti in 1888 to take breadfruit to
other tropical possessions of Great
Britain.
bakers throughout the island of Tahiti
taught the natives, in the last three or
four decades. to eat bread made of
American -four, they lived almost
wholly on fruits and fish, which are
still their principal articles of food.
The fruit most eaten by the natives is
plaintain, which they call fei. The
plantain is of the same genus as the
banana; both are perennial herbaceous
plants of treelike size, with immense
leaves. each plant bearing one bunch
Of fruit at the extreme top and then
dying to the ground, to be succeeded
by another plant.
tive diet comes breadfruit. This fruit
grows as large as a child's head; it is
round or oblong in shape, of a green.
color. the outside being rough and
differentiated. The common method of
preparing it is to cut it in half, remove
the single oblong seed, and then bake
1t on hot stones, on which shreds of
whole being covered with large leaves
to retain the heat. In this manner
the natives cook plantain and other
fruits, potatoes, fish and meats, espe-
cially young pigs whole, one of the
favorite dishes in Tahiti. The cooked
breadfruit looks and tastes somewhat
like an inferior. white, mealy sweet
potato. while plantain looks and tastes
in spite of a little acridity. rather more
like a yellow, soft and watery, baked
sweet potato. Both are good substi-
tutes for bread
HOW FRUITS ARE EATEN
The natives often eat oranges, which
are plentiful. with breadfruit as a sub
stitute for tea or coffee at their early
morning meal. Mangoes of many varie-
ties abound. They vary in size from a
few ounces to two pounds. In color
they are yellow, red green or a
blending of two of these colors. In
shape some are nearly round, others
oval and still others kidney shaped,
most of them being somewhat fiattened.
In taste some have the flavor of tur-
pentine, others a delicious SAVIOR sug-
gestive of a rich, mellow peach. They
are usually eaten by cutting off the
part on each side of the long. fiat seed
and using a spoon for these parts;
but the middle portion, containing the
seed must be taken in the fingers
This fine fruit is frequently seen hang
ing by long. slender stems. like fruit
on a Christmas tree. There are hun
dreds of mango trees in Papeete, and
in the height of the season many bush
els of this luscious fruit are carted off
daily in the removal of rubbish from
the streets. There is too, an almost
endless variety of bananas, which vary
in size from the little fig banana, the
size of a finger, to the largest and best
Of them ALL the Samoan. which attains
an extreme length of 10 inches and a
weight of two-thirds of a pound. a
banana should not be eaten until ii is
fully ripe just before it begins to de-
cay The natives like green bananas
boiled. In the Austral islands. one of
the five groups in this consular dis
trict, bananas are dried in the sun apd
put up in packets wrapped tightly in
pandanus leaves.
sUPERABUNDANCE OF FRUITS
The pineapples Of the Society islands
best fruits for making jellies. grow
almost everywhere, and lines are so
plentiful that they rot under the trees.
Two lines and an orange make a de-
licious drink for tropical country
The avocado (alligator pearl grows to
perfection in these islands, where it
often attains a weight of four pounds.
II is of a dark green color. even when
ripe, of the shape of a Bartlett pear
though it sometimes has rather long
neck like a gourd. 1t has one large
seed. shaped like boys spinning top
This rich, buttery fruit is best when
made into a salad or eaten with sea-
soninglof olive or other sweet oil, vine
gar. salt and pepper. One of the best
Tahiti fruits is the papaw or papaya,
the fruit of the carica. papaya tree.
which has a branches stem from 20
to 80 feet high, crowned with tuft
of large long stalked, palmately lobed
leaves The fruit is borne on short
stems close to the body of the tree. 1t
resembles in shape, color and taste an
oblong muskmelon, and weighs from
one to five pounds. The numerous small
black seeds, contained in large cavity
like that of the muskmelon, have the
quality of pepsin- The watermelons
and musknelons of these islands are
not generally as good as those of the
United States, though one may now
and then get a cantaloupe or water
melon of fine quality. Both the sour
sop and custard apple grow here. the
latter being a delicious fruit. It is
about the size of an orange, slightly
ovoid in shape, pale green in color.
the surface being distinctly reticulated
It's soft white pulp is eaten with
spoon What the natives call wi
Tahiti" is the fruit of the large tree
Spondias dulcis. 1t is about the size
of an orange, and highly priced by the
&C.
cooked Among other fruits may be
mentioned the pomegranate, fig, rose
apple, sapodilla, granadilla, tamarind,
and passion fruit A few grapes are
cultivated and an inferior peach may
be grown, but the climate is too warm
for both Apples. pears, apricats and
plurns might be successfully cultivated
on high mountain slopes, but where so
many good fruits flourish without cul
tivation, it is too much to expect that