heat of the sun. The great advantage of vanillacultivation to the island consists in the fact that this valuable article of commerce can be grown without deforestation, so essential in the cultivation of much less valuable products of the soil of the tropics. THE RURAL DISTRICTS Papeete is not the place to study the natives, their habits and customs, as European influence and example have here largely effaced the simplicity and charms of native life. The rural districts are the places for the tourist to get glimpses of real native life. He will find there the best specimens of natives, and an opportunity to study their primitive methods of living. There is no other island of similar size where the traveler will find it so easy to visit all of the rural districts and villages. By following the ninety-mile drive, he can encircle the entire island in a comfortable carriage, and finish the trip in four days, if his time is limited, and in doing so he sees the inhabited part of the island and nearly all of the villages. He will see on this trip Paea Grotto and cave, also picnicgrounds, eighteen miles from Papeete. Papara, six miles further, is noted for native singing, chanting and dancing. The real Tahitian life is met at Pari and Tautira. On the other side of the island, the road skirts along the coast and ascends five hundred feet above the level of the sea. The drive is a charming one, as the traveler never loses the sight of mountains and hills, and only very seldom, and at long intervals, of the blue Pacific Ocean. In some places the road-bed is cut through solid rock, and for a few moments the panoramic view of the magnificent scenery is shut out from sight, but on the other side of the cut a picture more beautiful than ever is unrolled. The ocean claims the first attention as it smiles in the dazzling sunshine beneath where The murmuring surge, That on th' unnumber'd idle pebbles chafes, SHAKESPEARE. In the distance we can see the foam-crested waves dash over the coral reef in their attempts to reach the placid waters of the peaceful lagoon, where the wavelets play with the pebbles on the shore. Looking toward the left, we again are face to face with the mountains, that are our constant companions, on the entire route. There is a feeling of solemnity which takes possession of the soul when communing with Nature in her grandest mood, and we begin to feel that I live not myself, but I become High mountains are a feeling; but the hum BYRON. We see the naked mountain-peaks and the bare backs of the foot-hills, Rock-ribbed, and ancient as the sun. BRYANT. We pass through magnificent groves of cocoapalms, and now the road leads through a primeval forest with an impenetrable jungle on its floor, where The winds within the quiv'ring branches play'd, DRYDEN. We pass through or near the quaint native villages peopled with naked children, scantily dressed women, and men whose only garment consists of a much-checkered, many-colored calico loin-cloth. We cross rivers, brooks and rivulets without number, and looking for their source we see glimpses, here and there, of cascades and cataracts, high up on the mountainside, in the form of streaks of silver in the clefts of the deep green ocean of trees. We see butterflies by the hundreds, of all colors, playing in the sunshine or eagerly devouring the nectar of the sweetest flowers. We admire the richness and variety of the floral kingdom, and inhale the perfume of the fragrant flowers, suspended in the pure air and wafted to us by the cool land breeze sent down from the top of the mountains. As the sun approaches the horizon, and the short, bewitching twilight sets in, with the gorgeous display of colors in the sky and the wonderful effects of light and shadow on sea and shore, we can realize that |