CORNER IN PAPEETE
Nothing reminds one more of Tahiti being the forbidden Garden of Eden, than the abundance of fruit that grows in the forests without the intervention of man. Some kind of fruit can be found during all seasons of the year, and
Small store will serve, where store
All seasons, ripe for use, hangs on the stalk.
MILTON.
It is here not as in most countries where
The poor inhabitant beholds in vain
The redd'ning orange and the swelling grain.
ADDISON.
as the poorest of the poor have access to Nature's orchard and can fill their palm-leaf baskets with the choicest fruits. The Tahitian
He feeds on fruits, which of their own accord
The willing ground and laden tree afford.
DRYDEN.
This mingling, in the most friendly manner, of the old forest trees with familiar fruit trees introduced from distant lands and laden with golden fruit, is a most beautiful sight. The fruit trees stand their ground even against the most aggressive shrubs, and it is often no easy matter to reach the ripe hiding fruit in the dense network of branches thrown around and between the branches of the imprisoned tree. What a blessing these acid fruits are to the natives, sweltering under the rays of the tropic sun! How easy it is for them to make a cooling, refreshing drink! Take a young cocoanut, open it at one end, and add to its milk the juice of a lime or a lemon, and the healthiest and most refreshing drink is made.
Bear me, Pomona! to thy citron groves,
To where the lemon and the piercing lime,
With the deep orange glowing through the green,
Their lighter glories lend.
THOMSON.