Section 170 Tahiti. — II
Even the brush-wood is1 an imported fruit-tree, namely the guava2, which grows in abundance here. In Brazil I have often admired the varied3 beauty of the bananas (S. 71, N. 2), palms, and orange-trees contrasted4 together; and here we also have the bread-fruit5, conspicuous6 from its large, glossy, and deeply digitated leaves. It is admirable7 to behold groves of a tree, sending8 forth its branches with the vigour of an English oak, loaded9 with large and most nutritious fruit10.
However11 seldom the usefulness of an object can account for the pleasure of beholding it, in the case of these beautiful woods, the knowledge of their high productiveness, no doubt, enters largely into the feeling of admiration. The12 little winding paths, cool from the surrounding shade, led to the scattered13 houses, the owners of which everywhere gave14 us a cheerful15 and most hospitable reception.
I16 was pleased with nothing so much as with the inhabitants. There17 is a mildness in the expression of their countenances which at once banishes the idea of18 a savage, and an intelligence19 which shows that they are20 advancing in civilisation. The common people, when working, keep21 the upper part of their bodies quite naked; and22 it is then that the Tahitians are seen to advantage. They are very tall, broad-shouldered, athletic, and well proportioned. It (S. 4, N. 4, man) has been remarked that23 it requires little habit to make a dark skin more pleasing and natural to the eye of a European than his own colour.
Notes
1 = consists of.
2 der Gujavabaum, dessen pomeranzenartige (orange-like) Früchte in Zucker eingemacht oder auch in Gelee verwandelt versandt werden.
3 mannigfaltig.
4 Say ‘which form such a great contrast’.
5 Brotbaum, m.
6 conspicuous, welcher... sogleich auffällt, i.e. strikes the eye; from, durch; its deeply digitated leaves, seine tief eingeschnittenen, fingerförmigen Blätter.
7 = splendid; groves of a tree = a forest of trees.
8 = spreading out their, etc.
9 = and are at the same time (dabei) loaded.
10 Use this noun in the pl.
11 Arrange this period thus: ‘Although the usefulness of an object perhaps only seldom explains to us the pleasure, which we experience at the sight of the same, yet (so... doch) our admiration at the sight of these splendid groves (Wälder) is no doubt considerably influenced by (= through) our knowledge of (von) their great fertility.
12 The — shade = The narrow, winding (sich schlängelnd), shady and cool foot-paths.
13 zerstreut liegend.
14 gewähren.
15 freundlich, but here wohlwollend, in order to avoid a repetition of the same term, since ‘hospitable’ must be turned by gastfreundlich; reception, Aufnahme, f.
16 Say ‘Nothing gave (machen) me greater joy than just (gerade) the inhabitants’.
17 Say ‘The expression of their faces (Ihr Gesichtsausdruck) bears a mildness (Sanftmut, f.), which’, etc.
18 = of savages.
19 Intelligenz, f.
20 are advancing = make progress.
21 = they have. It is a matter of course that the conj. ‘when’ must commence the period.
22 = and just then one sees the Tahitians (die Tahitianer) to advantage (= in the best light).
23 = that after a short time a dark skin appears to the eye of a European more pleasing and more natural than his own.