Daily Kennebec journal. [microfilm reel] (Augusta, Me.) 1870-1975, 1914-01-17
PRIMITIVE LIFE IN MooREA.
Tahitians Preserve Old Custors-Ha-
waiian Melody on Photograph.

WaiIan melody on Phonograpn.
To the average traveller Tahiti re-
mains the lie inconnus The tourist is
not expected there; he is regarded
with suspicion. He demands a bath
tub-article undreamed Of in the is
land philosophy-he demands a rea-
sonable degree of promptness in the
everyday affairs of life, he makes
other and extraordinary demands.
When he realizes that nothing what
ever has been done for his amuse-
ment or edification, that to the ISL
anders the outerworld from which he
comes exists only in the Imagination;
when he realizes these things-as soon
as he does-it is then that he learns
to content himself with things as they
are, and to admire the beauties of the
place as nature made-and has left
them.
Nothing can be more superb than
the approach to Tahiti from the open
sea. SO huge are the central peaks
of the island-Aorai and Orohena-
| towering upward a sheer 5000 feet,
and viewed in their whole height from
sea level, that the eye refuses at first
to take in their colossal proportions.
AS the ship draws in toward the reef.
however, and the tiny white build
| ings at Papeete appear, like string
| of pearls along the waters edge. the
true perspective is obtained. and the
lofty green-clad slopes and sharply
plunging precipices stand out in all
their true magnifcenee.
At any time of year it is an awe
inspiring spectacle, but if the approach
is made during the rainy season-from
November to March-the sight of
these astounding SUBMITS with their
countless shades of green, their lights
and shadows, their thousand tumbling
waterfalls, is one which makes any at
tempt at description laughable indeed.
lantana Covers Island.
What is the travellers disappoint-
ment then, when, upon landing, he
| finds that these peaks-like so much
else in the tropics-are to be looked
/ at alone, and are as unapproachable
as mountains upon another planet So
thick is the impenetrable growth of
the ''lantana" which covers them from
base to summit that, without an ar
my of natives to literally hew a trail,
approach even to the lower slopes is
| impossible.
1t is the same "lantana" common to
the gardens of more temperate chimes,
but grown here into thickets impass-
able to every thing except the wild
pig. 1t has run wild until it has COW
cred the interior of the island like a
great blanket twelve feet and more
in hiai- <ft,1 e.ta rfa o,r
told of the gloomy, precipitous valleys
up among the clouds, of sylvan dells
producing a marvellous orange; OF
Vauhiria, the bottomless and mystic
rious crater-lake upon the upper slopes
of Orohena. The passing tourist
listens and looks again signs, and
turns elsewhere.
AT one point only is the interior &C.
eessibie, and then for a short distance
4 only along the trail of Fautaua, The
beautiful inland waterfall. Past Pierre
Lofts pool you drive, and up mar.
rowing and darkenlng valley, unit
there is only room for the footpatf
beside the little stream which accom-
panies you, while the beetling cliff
on either hand almost meet overhead
and the dense masses of foliage which
climb their sides begin to shut out tn,
daylight. Then, with a sudden turn
the valley opens, and from the erag.
before you, at height of 500 feet, tn.
Fautaua fall plunges into great cav,
ems which open at your feet. So lofty
is the fall that the water turns int
mere floating mist of spray wher
half of the descent is over.
The other drive which every touris
takes is to Point Venus, twelve kilo
metres north, along the coast. Her.
upon the shore stands the only light
house which the islands boast, ant
near it, their most important histor
ical landmark, the monument erected
to Cook, the navigator, who observed
the transit of Venus here in 1850, anC
who named the islands after the Roy.
al Geographic Society, which sent hin
hither.
From the Point many miles of coast
line are visible, and from the sum
nit of the tower tiie extraordinary
color of the sea may be observed, va
rying as it does from the palest anc
most impalpable of green's immediate
ly under the shore, to a deeper ant
deeper emerald as it approaches tn,
reef. Beyond, and far as the eye car
reach, it is blue, the Incompatible
purplish blue of the equatorial oceans
Masses of Bright Flowers.
From Point Venus the drive aroun
the island may be continued and may b
concluded in from three to four days wit
a native cart and pony. Stops for tn
night are made at native hostelries. an
the Journey is a succession of splend
panoramas. Along the narrow roadway
| between the cliff and the Shore unde
| aching avenues of mangoes. the roa
takes you through streams which mus
be forded, andw hich flow down the cav
ernous. inaccessible valleys leading up
ward into the interior Sometimes
turn brings you out among the cocoanut
upon the beach again. with the white lin
of breakers flashing in the sun upon tn
reefs, and the tumbled. indistinct masse
of some distant island lying, like a mer
shadow, upon the horizon.
4 Yet it is after he has exhausted tn
stock sights" that the traveller recog
nizes the more intimate beauties Of tn
place. A stroll about Papeete itself an
its environs reveals the diversity and lux