HAROLD B. LEE LIBRARY

BRIGHAM YOUNG UNIVERSITY

PROVO. UTAH

Digitized by the Internet Archive in 2011 with funding from Brigham Young University

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TAHITI

THE

ISLAND PARADISE

BY

NICHOLAS SENN, M. D., Ph. D., LL. D., C. M.

Professor of Surgery in the University of Chicago

Professor and Head oft he Surgical Department in Rush Medical College

Surgeon-in-Chief of St. Joseph's Hospital

Attending Surgeon of the Presbyterian Hospital

Lieutenant-Colonel and Chief of the Operating StafI with the Army in

the Field during the Spanish-American War

Surgeon-General of Illinois

WITH FIFTY HALF-TONE ILLUSTRATIONS

CHICAGO

W. B. CONKEY COMPANY

CoPYRiaHT, 1906, BY

W. B. CONKEY COMPANY

HAROLD B. LEE LIBRARY

BRIGHAM YOUf^G UNIVERSITY

PROVO, UTAH

PREFACE

The far-away little island of Tahiti is the gem of the South Pacific Ocean. If any place in this world deserves to be called a paradise, Tahiti can make this claim. This charming spot in the wide expanse of the peaceful ocean has attrac- tions which we look for in vain anywhere else. From a distance, the grandeur of its frowning cliffs rivets the eye, and, in coming nearer, its tropic beauty charms the visitor and imprints ■Upon his memory pictures single and panoramic that neither distance nor time can efface. The scenic beauty of this island is unsurpassed. The calming air, redolent with the perfume of fragrant flowers of exquisite beauty, on the seashore, in the valleys and on the precipitous mountain sides; the luxuriant vegetation; the forest fruit- gardens and the sweet music of the surf remind one of the original habitation of man. The natives, a childlike people, friendly, courteous and hospitable, are the happiest people on earth, free from care and worries which in other less favored parts of the world make life a drudgery.

Tahiti is the only place in the world where the people are not obliged to work. The forests furnish bread and fruit and the sea teems with fish. The climate is so mild that the wearing of clothing is rather a matter of choice than of

6 PREFACE

necessity, and the bamboo huts that can be made with Httle or no expense in half a day with the wilHng help of the neighbors, meet all the requirements of a home. The stranger will find here throughout the year a climate and sur- roundings admirably adapted to calm his nervous system and procure repose and sleep.

In writing this little book I have made free use of the ''i\Iemoirs of Arrii Taimai E., Marama of Eimeo, Terii rere of Tooarai, Terii nui of Tahiti, Tauraatua I Amo" (Paris, 1901). The authoress v/as the mother of Tati, one of the most influential present chiefs of Tahiti, and, as her several titles show, she was of noble birth. She was an eye-witness of many of the most stirring political events in the history of the island. Only fifty copies of this book were printed and only three remained in possession of her son. He was kind enough to give me one of them, which, after making liberal use of it, I presented to the library of the University of Chicago, through its late lamented president, Dr. W. R. Harper. I also acknowledge my in- debtedness to the works of Captain Cook, '*A Voyage to the Pacific" (London, 1781), and to the book of Baron Ferd. von Mueller, ''Select Extra-tropical Plants" (Melbourne, 1885).

N. Senn. Chicago, 190G.

LIST OF ILLUSTRATIONS

The Royal Family Frontispiece

Harbor and Principal Port of Papeete. . .Facing Page 9 Lighthouse, and Cook Monument at

Haapape " " 14

King Pomare V " " 18

Pomare IV " " 22

View of Moorea " " 26

Tahiti from the Harbor of Papeete " "30

In the Shadow of the Palm Forest " " 34

The S. S. "Mariposa" Leaving the Plarbor

of Papeete " *' 38

Royal Palace (Headquarters of the Gov- ernor) " "42

Avenue of Purranuia, Papeete " " 48

Native Village by the Sea " " 52

Native Hut close by the Sea " " 56

Prince Hinoi " " 60

A Tahitian Home " " 64

Tahitian Bamboo House " " 68

Tomb of the Last King of Tahiti,

Pomare V " "74

Tahitian Women in Ancient Native Dress " " 78

Tahiti Girls in Native Dress " " 84

A Group of Native Girls " " 88

Native Girl in Modern Dress " " 94

Tahitian Ladies in Zulu Dress " " 98

7

8

LIST OF ILLUSTRATIONS

Native Musicians and Native Dance . . .1 Tahitian Girl in Native Festive Dress. .

At Home

A Home by the Sea — Raiatca

Fisherman's Home

Native Settlement

Group of Tahitian Children

A Case of Far-Advanced Leprosy

Affecting All Limbs

A Leper of Tahiti

IMilitary Hospital in Papeete

Tahitian Fruit Vender

Preparing Breadfruit

Sapodilla

Copra Establishment

Government Wharf — Papeete

Corner in Papeete

A View of Fautahua Valley

Avenue of Fautahua

Cascade of Fautahua

Bridge across Fautahua near Waterfall Lagoon and Reef on the Ninety-Mile

Road

On the Ninety-Mile Road

Fishermen of Papeete

Tahitian Canoe with Outrigger

Two Papaya Trees

Picking Cocoanuts

Alligator Pear Tree

Ancient Masked Warriors

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TAHITI

THE ISLAND PARADISE

When the Almighty Architect of the universe created the earth we inhabit, He manifested His wisdom, goodness and foresight in adapting, in a most admirable manner, the soil, climate, and animal and vegetable life for the habitation of man, the supreme work of creation. By the gradual and progressive geographical distri- bution of man over the surface of the earth, he has become habituated to diverse climates and environments, and has found conditions most congenial to his comfort and the immediate necessities of life.

In cold, laborious climes, the wintry North Brings her undaunted, hardy warriors forth, In body and in mind untaught to yield, Stubborn of soul, and steady in the field; While Asia's softer climate, form'd to please, Dissolves her sons in indolence and ease.

LUCANUS.

It required centuries for the Esquimau to be- come acclimated to the inhospitable polar regions, and make them his favorite abode ; the people who drifted toward the equator gradually be- came inured to the climate of the tropics and

9

10 TAHITI THE ISLAND PARADISE

accustomed to the manner of living in countries where the perennial heat paralyzes the physical and mental energ^ies, and undermines the health of strangers coming from a more temperate climate. Nature has made ample provision for man in all habitable parts of the earth. The regions of ice and snow are inhabited by fur- bearing animals, and, at certain seasons of the year, are frequented by a large variety of aquatic birds in great abundance, which supply the natives with food and clothing, while in the tropics, man has little or no need of fuel and clothing, and, with very little exertion, he can subsist on the fruits of the forests, and on the food so liberally supplied by the sea.

The intensity of the struggle for life increases with the distance north and south from the tem- perate zones, where climatic conditions necessi- tate active exercise and where the necessities of life can only be obtained by the hardest kind of labor. The climate of the tropics, on the other hand, is very generous to man. The forests are rich in fruityielding trees which Nature plants, which receive little or no care, yet which bear fruit throughout the year. Wherever the cocoa- palm grows in abundance, there can be no famine, because this tree yields a rich harvest of nutritious fruit from one end of the year to the other with- out fail, as it is never affected to any considerable extent bv drouth and other conditions which so

TAHITI — THE ISLAND TARADISE H

often bring failure to the orchards in more tem- perate climates. The continuous summer and the v/onderful fertility of the soil in tropic and sub- tropic countries reward richly the labor of the husbandman by two and sometimes three har- vests a year, as nature's forces require no rest, no slumber there.

Life in a changeable, severe climate is full of hardships ; in the tropics, of ease and leisure. The nearer we come to the tropics, the closer we ap- proach the conditions of primitive man. The necessities of life increase as we recede on either side of the equatorial line. The dreamy, easy, care-free life in the tropics is in strong contrast with the severe and arduous struggles for exist- ence in countries less favored by the resources of nature.

Among the trees in the Garden of Eden, the palm tree was undoubtedly the most beautiful, and it remains to-day the queen of the forests of the seacoast in the tropics. The palm-clad isles of the South Sea bear a closer resemblance to the description of the Garden of Eden than any other of the many parts of the vv^orld that I have ever seen ; and of these, Tahiti is a real paradise on earth. There is no country nor other isle where Nature has been so liberal in the distribution of her gifts. No other island can compare in natural beauty with Tahiti, the gem of the South Pacific Ocean. It is the island where life is free of care.

12 TAHITI — THE ISLAND PARADISE

It is the island where the natives are fed, clothed and housed by nature It is the island where man is born, eats his daily bread without being forced to labor, sleeps and dreams away his life free from worry, and enjoys the foretaste of the eternal paradise before he dies. It is the island which must have been born

In the morning of the world,

When earth was nigher heaven than now.

Browning.

It is the island of which the poet must have been musing when he wrote :

Amid an isle around whose rocky shore The forests murmur and the surges roar, A goddess guards in her enchanted dome.

Pope.

THE ISLAND OF TAHITI

About three thousand six hundred miles south by southwest from San Francisco are the Society Islands, a small archipelago in the South Pacilic Ocean, in latitude 16 to 18 degrees south, longi- tude 148 to 155 degrees west. Captain Cook named this group in honor of the Royal Society of London. The largest two of these islands, Tahiti and Moorea, are of volcanic origin, moun- tainous and heavily timbered; the remaining islands are small, low, of coral origin, and are called atolls. In approaching the archipelago from San Francisco, a few of these palm-fringed atoll islands come first into view, forming a pleasing foreground to the rugged mountains of Tahiti and its smaller neighbor, Moorea, which are sighted almost at the same time. After a voyage over the desert ocean of thirteen days (all this time out of sight of land), to gaze on the most beautiful islands of this group is a source of exquisite pleasure.

Sea-girt isles, That like to rich and various gems, inlay The unadorned bosom of the deep.

Milton.

The South Pacific Ocean is the natural home of the coral polyps, which are great island- builders, using the volcanic material as a foun-

13

14 TAHITI THE ISLAND PARADISE

dation for the coral superstructure. As these minute builders can live only in shallow water, they use submerged mountain peaks for their foundations, converting them into low atolls, and building reefs around the base of the high vol- canic islands. Most of the Society Islands are of coral formation perched upon submerged mountain summits. The island of Tahiti is small, of little commercial interest, and hence it is com- paratively unknown to the masses of the people. Very few who left the schoolroom twenty-five years ago would be able to locate it without con- sulting a geography, and many have even for- gotten the name. The children fresh from school recall it in connection with the difficulty they encountered in finding the little dot in the great, trackless South Pacific Ocean, surrounded by a group of still smaller specks, representing the remainder of the little archipelago to which it belongs.

Tahiti is nearly four thousand miles distant from San Francisco, in a southwesterly direction, below the equator, in latitude 17, hence in a similar latitude to that of the Hawaiian Islands, which are situated about the same distance north of the equator.

I had heard much of the natural beauty of this far-off island and its interesting inhabitants, and decided to spend my midwinter vacation in 1904 in paying it a visit. Formerly the passage

LIGHTHOUSE AND COOK MONUMENT AT HAAPAPE

THE ISLAND OF TAHITI 15

from San Francisco had to be made by a schooner, and required several months. For the last four years the island has been made readily accessible by a regular steamer service. The staunch steamer, Mariposa, of the Oceanic Steamship Company of San Francisco, sails from that port every thirty-six days, makes the trip in twelve or thirteen days, and remains at Papeete, the capital of the island, four days, which give the visitor ample time to visit the most interesting points and make the desired observations. The track of the steamer is over that part of the Pacific Ocean which is comparatively free from violent storms, between the storm centers east and west from it. The prevailing trade-winds cool off the tropical heat in the vicinity of the equator, rendering the voyage at all seasons of the year a pleasant one. The steamer has a tonnage of three thousand tons, the service is ex- cellent, and the table all that could be desired. I know of no better way to spend a short mid- winter vacation than a trip to Tahiti, the island paradise, the most interesting and beautiful of all islands.

January and February are the months when the fruit is most abundant, and the climate most agreeable. The twenty-five days of voyage on the ocean, the few days on shore occupied by a study of its natives, their customs, manner of living, by visits to the various points of historic

16 TAHITI — THE ISLAND PARADISE

interest, and by the greatest of all genuine pleas- ures, the contemplation of nature's choicest exhi- bitions in the tropics, are all admirably adapted to procure physical rest and pleasure, and pleasing as well as profitable mental occupation. A trip to Tahiti will prove of particular benefit to those who are in need of mental rest. The absence of anything like severe storms on this trip should be a special inducement, for those who are subject to seasickness, to travel there.

The steamer is well adapted for service in the tropics, the cabins are roomy and comfortable. Capt. J. Rennie is one of the most experienced commanders of the fleet, a good disciplinarian and devoted to the safety and comfort of his pas- sengers. While the steamer can accommodate seventy cabin passengers, the number seldom exceeds twenty-five. The tourist therefore escapes crowding and noise, so trying to the nerves, and so common on the transatlantic steamers and other more frequented ocean routes.

OCEAN VOYAGE

The steamer Mariposa leaves the San Francisco wharf at eleven o'clock a. m., — an excellent time for the passengers to enjoy the beauties of the bay and the Golden Gate, to see the rugged coast of California gradually disappear in the distance during the course of the afternoon, and to prepare himself for the first night's sleep in the cradle of the deep. The second day out, and until the mountains of Tahiti come in sight, the traveler will see nothing but the floating tavern in which he lives, its inmates, the inky blue ocean, the sky, clouds, and, occasionally, sea-gulls, and isolated schools of flying fish. The steamer's track is over an unfrequented part of the ocean. The passenger looks in vain for a mast or white- winged sails, or puffs of smoke in the distance, sights so often seen on more frequented ocean highways. The steamer crosses an ocean desert little known, but out of reach of the violent storms, so frequent near the coasts, on both sides free from reefs and rocks, as this part of the ocean is of unusual depth, amounting in many places to three miles. Stranding of the vessel, or collision with others, the greatest dangers in- cident to sea travel, are therefore reduced to a minimum on this route. Although this course is an unusually lonely one, the interested observer

2 17

18 TAHITI THE ISLAND PARADISE

will find much to see and enjoy. The vast expanse of the ocean impresses the traveler from day to day and grows upon him as the distance from the coast increases.

Illimitable ocean ! without bound,

Without dimensions, where length, breadth, and height,

And time, and place, are lost.

Milton.

The boundless ocean desert, mirror-like when at rest, clothed by gentle ripples and ceaseless wavelets when fanned by the trade-winds, is a picture of peace and contentment.

The winds with wonder whist, Smoothly the waters kiss'd, Whispering new joys to the mild ocean.

Milton.

But even here in the most peaceful part of the Pacific, when angered by the fury of a heavy squall, a diminutive storm agitates the waters into foam-crested waves, which, for a short time at least, impart to the ship an intoxicated gait. The effect of sun, moon and starlight on the smooth, undulating, heaving, billowing, tossing, storm- beaten surface of the ocean, is marvelous. When all is quiet, and the passenger is only conscious of the vibratory movements imparted to the ship by the ceaseless action of the faithful screw, and the lights of heaven are veiled by a curtain of dark clouds, the beautiful blue gives way to a sombre black. When the tropic sun shines with all his

w

KING POMARE V.

OCEAN VOYAGE 19

force, the color of the water fairly vies with the deep blue of the sky, and the nearer we approach our destination, the tints of blue grow deeper and deeper, until at last they are of perfect indigo.

The moon and starlight have a magic effect on the surface of the water. The long evenings give the passengers the exquisite pleasure of watching the journey of the moon across the starlit heaven- ly dome, growing, night after night, from a mere sickle to her full majestic size, and of observing the effects of the gradually increasing intensity of the light issuing from the welcome visitor of the night, on the glassy mirror of water beneath. The star-bedecked pale dome of the tropic sky is, in itself, a picture that rivets the attention of the traveler who loves and studies the book of nature. The short twilight over, "these blessed candles of the night" (Shakespeare) are lighted, and send their feeble light down upon the bosom of the ocean.

If the sky is clear, the illuminating power of the moon at its best, and the ocean calm, its surface is transformed into a boundless sheet of silver. This magic effect of moonlight on the surface of the sleeping ocean is magnified by passing fleecy, or dark, storm-threatening clouds. The fleeting, fleecy clouds often veil, only in part, the lovely, full face of the moon, and through fissures, the rays of light issue, and, falling upon the water, are reflected in the form of silvery

30 TAHITI — THE ISLAND PARADISE

patches or pathways, corresponding in size and outline with the temporary window in the passing cloud. It is when the moon is about to be hidden behind a dark, impenetrable veil that the spec- tator may expect to see the most v/onderful dis- play of pictures above and around him. As the cloud approaches the moon, the blue background deepens in color and brilliancy and when its dark margin touches the rim of the moon it is changed into a fringe of gold or silver ; with the disappear- ance of the moon behind the cloud the fringe of the latter is rudely torn away, the water beneath is robbed of its carpet of silver, and the capti- vated observer is made aware that the darkness of night is upon him. But the gloom is of short duration. A break in the cloud serves as a window through which the moon peeps down, with a most bewitching grace, upon the dark surface beneath. The prelude to this exhibition appears on the side of the temporary frame, in the form of a silver lining which broadens with the moving cloud ; now the rim of the moon comes into view ; slowly, the veil is completely thrown aside, and Luna's calm, pale, smiling, full face makes its appearance, enclosed in a dark frame with silver margins, while, more than likely, she will be attended by a few brilliant stars, thus completing the charms and beauty of the picture suspended from the heavenly dome. All genuine pleasures of this world are

OCEAN VOYAGE 21

of short duration ; so with this nocturnal picture painted on the clouds and water. The silver rim on one side of the frame of clouds disappears, the dark margin increases in width, the moon is ob- scured, and only a few flickering stars remain fixed in the picture.

Surely there is something in the unruffled calm of nature that overcomes our little anxieties and doubts : the sight of the deep blue sky, and the clustering stars above, seem to impart a quiet to the mind.

Jonathan Edwards.

In midocean is the place to view at greatest advantage the gorgeous sunrise and sunset of the tropics. To see the sun disappear in the distance, where the dome of the sky seems to rest on the bosom of the ocean, is a scene which no pen can describe, and which no artist's brush has ever reproduced in any degree comparable with the grand reality. The canvas of the sky behind the setting glowing orb, and the passing clouds in front, above, and beneath it, are painted succes- sively by the invisible brush in the unseen hands of the departing artist in colors and shades of colors that may well laugh to scorn any and all attempts at description or reproduction. The gilded horizon serves as a fitting background for the retreating monarch of the day, and the slowly moving canvas of clouds transmits his last mes- sages in all the hues of red, crimson, pink, and yellow. To observe this immense panorama

22 TAHITI THE ISLAND PARADISE

stretched from north to south, and projected toward the east, resting on the silvery surface of the rippHng ocean, with the ever-varying colors of the slowly moving clouds, as seen evening after evening on the Tahitian trip, leaves impres- sions which time can not erase from memory.

Night on board the Mariposa has additional attractions for the passengers v/ho appreciate the wonders and beauties of nature. When the night is dark, they find a place in the stern of the ship, lean against the taffrail, and watch the water agitated into a diminutive storm by the powerful screw. There one beholds a sight sufficiently at- tractive and interesting to keep him spellbound for an hour or more. The indolent, phosphores- cent sea-amoeba has been roused into action by the merciless revolutions of the motor of the ship, and emits its diamond sparks of phosphorescent light. Thousands of these little beings discharge their magic light in the white veil of foam which adorns the crests of the storm-beaten surface, in the form of a narrow track as far as the eye can reach in the darkness of the night. The flashes of light thrown off by these minute, to the naked eye invisible, inhabitants of the sea, when angered by the rude action of the screw, appear and dis- appear in the twinkling of an eye. When these tiny, light-producing animals are numerous, as is the case in the equatorial region, the snow- white veil of foam is richly decorated with dia-

POMARE IV. The Queen of the Story of Ariitaimai of Tahiti

OCEAN VOYAGE 23

mond sparks which, when they coalesce, form flames of fire in the track of the vessel.

The ocean voyage has occasionally still another surprise in store for the traveler when he reaches the South Pacific. A squall is a tempest on a small scale. We sec in the distance a dark cloud of immense size which seems to ride slowly over the surface of the smooth sea. The gentle breeze gives way to a strong wind, the surface of the water becomes ruffled with whitecaps, the dark- ness increases, and at irregular intervals the threatening, angry cloud is lighted up by chains of lightning thrown in all possible directions ; these flashes are followed by peals of thunder, and by prolonged rumbling, which becomes feebler and feebler, and finally dies away far out on the surface of the ocean. The steamer penetrates the storm area. Darkness prevails. Gigantic drops of rain strike the deck and patter upon the canvas awning, the harbingers of a drenching rain.

And now the thick'ned sky Like a dark ceiling stood; down rush'd the rain im- petuous. Milton.

The cloud and darkness are left behind, and a clear sky and smooth sea ahead greet the passen- gers. Did you ever see a rainbow at midnight? Such an unusual nocturnal spectral phenomenon greeted us in midocean : the full moon in the east, the delicate rainbow in its infinite colors painted

24 TAHITI — THE ISLAND PARADISE

on the clouds in the west. Our captain, who had Hved on the tropic sea for a quarter of a century, had never seen the Hke before. It was reserved for us to see a rainbow painted by the moon. With such pleasant diversions, by day and by night, we soon forget the ocean desert, and yet on the last day of the voyage we welcome the sisfht of land.

Be of good cheer, I see land.

Diogenes.

The vastness of the ocean and the smallness of Tahiti are in strange contrast. How the mariner, in setting the compass on leaving the harbor of San Francisco, can so unerringly find this little speck in the ocean nearly four thousand miles away, is an accomplishment which no one, not versed in the science of navigation can fully com- prehend. We sighted Tahiti during the early part of the forenoon. The peaks of the two highest mountains in Tahiti, Oroheua and ^\orii, seven to eight thousand feet in height, projected spectre-like from the surface of the ocean. These peaks appeared as bare, sharp, conical points in the clear sky above a mantle of clouds which envel- oped the balance of the island. This misty drap- ing of the two highest mountains takes place almost every day, as the clouds are attracted by the constant moisture of the soil, due to the dense forests and luxuriant tropical vegetation.

OCEAN VOYAGE 25

The next sight of land brought into view the rugged mountains of Moorea and a group of small atoll islands. Moorea is in plain view from Papeete, and is the second largest of the Society Islands. Before we look at Tahiti at close range, let us examine the group of atoll islands which the steamer passes close enough to give us a good idea of their formation.

THE ATOLL ISLANDS

The atoll islands, so numerous in the South Seas, have a uniform conformation, and are of coral, deposited upon submerged summits of mountains of volcanic origin. The floor of the Pacific, like many other parts of the earth's surface, is undergoing constant changes, increas- ing or diminishing its level. Here and there, at certain intervals, volcanic eruptions have created mountains, v^^hich, in Hawaii, rise to nearly four- teen thousand and, in Tahiti, to over seven thou- sand feet. Around each of these innumerable islands and islets in the great Pacific Ocean the coral polyps have a fringing reef of rock. As these minute creatures can live only at a depth of twenty to thirty fathoms, and die as soon as exposed to the air, their life-work is confined to the coast of volcanic islands. Whenever, as it often happened, the island upon which they had congregated was slowly sinking, they would elevate their wall to save themselves from death in deep water. It is evident that if this process continued long enough, the land would entirely disappear and leave a submerged circular wall of coral just below the level of the low tide. The effects of the Avaves in breaking off the coral formation, large and small, in elevating them, would, in course of time, produce a ring of

26

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THE ATOLL ISLANDS 27

sandy beach, rising above the sea surrounding the central basin, filled with salt water entering through one or many open channels. Upon the beach, cocoanuts, washed ashore, would find a favorable soil for germination, and, ere long, stately palms would fringe the rim of the enclosed lagoon. Every atoll island has a peripheral fringe of cocoa-palms and a central lagoon which communicates with the ocean by one or more channels. Such an island is an atoll, the final stage in the disappearance of a volcanic islet from the surface of the sea. Such islands are numerous in the Society Islands, and the Paumotuan Archipelago consists exclusively of such atoll islands. ,

It is interesting to know how these minute coral polyps manage their work of island-build- ing, or, rather, island-preservation. Coral form- ation is a calcareous secretion or deposit of many kinds of zoophytes of the class Anthozoa, which assumes infinite and often beautiful forms, according to the different laws which govern the manner of germination of the polyps of various species. The coral-producing zoophytes are com- pound animals, which multiply in the very swiftest manner, by germination or budding, young polyp buds springing from the original polyp, sometimes indifferently from any part of its surface, sometimes only from its upper cir- cumference or from its base, and not separating

28 TAHITI THE ISLAND PARADISE

from it, but remaining in the same spot when the original parent or polyp is dead, and pro- ducing buds in their turn. The reproductive capac- ity of these polyps is marvelous and explains the greatness of their v\^ork in building up v^hole islands and the countless submerged reefs so much dreaded by the mariners of the South Seas. The calcareous deposition begins when the zoo- phytes are still simple polyps, owing their exist- ence to oviparous reproduction, adhering to a rock or other substance, to wdiich the calcareous material becomes attached, and on which the coral is built up, the hard deposits of past gen- erations forming the base to v/hich those of the progeny are attracted. The coral formation takes place with astonishing rapidity ; under favorable circumstances, masses of coral have been found to increase in height several feet in a few months, and a channel cut in a reef surrounding a coral island, to permit the passage of a schooner, has been blocked with coral in ten years. Coral formations have been found immediately attached to the land, whilst in many other cases the reef surrounds the island, the intervening space, of irregular, but nowhere of great width, forming a lagoon or channel of deep water, protected by the reef from wind and waves. According to Darwin, this kind of reef is formed from a reef of the former merely fringing kind, by the gradual subsidence of the rocky basis, carrying

THE ATOLL ISLANDS 29

clown the fringe of coral to a greater depth; whilst the greatest activity of life is displayed by polyps of the kind most productive of large masses of coral in the outer parts which are most exposed to the waves. In this manner he also accounts for the formation of true coral islands, or atolls, which consist merely of a narrow reef of coral surrounding a central lagoon, and very often of a reef, perhaps half a mile in breadth, clothed v/ith luxuriant vege- tation and the never-absent cocoa-palms, bor- dered by a narrow beach of snowy whiteness, and forming an arc, the convexity of which is toward the prevailing wind, whilst a straight line of reef not generally rising above the reach of the tide, forms the chord of the arc. The reef is gen- erally intersected by a narrow channel into the enclosed lagoon, the waters of which are still and beautifully transparent, teeming with the greatest variety of fish. Its surface is enlivened by water- fowl, and the depth of water close to the pre- cipitous sides of the reef is almost always very great. The channels are kept open by the flux and reflux of the tide, the current and waves of Vv^hich are often so swift and high as to become a menace to schooners attempting entrance into the lagoon. On the beach, soil most conducive to the growth of cocoanut-palms is formed by accumulation of sand, shells, fragments of coral, seaweeds, decayed leaves, etc. The giant cocoa-

30 TAHITI THE ISLAND PARADISE

nuts planted in this soil either by the hand of man or by the waves washing them ashore, germinate quickly, and in a few years the narrow circular strip of land enclosing the lagoon is fringed with colonnades of tall fruit-bearing palms. These islands rise nowhere more than a few feet above the level of the sea. Sometimes the upheaval of coral formation by volcanic action results in the making of a real island, in which event the lagoon disappears. Islands with such an origin some- times rise to a height of five hundred feet and often exhibit precipitous cliffs and contain ex- tensive caves. I had read a description of the Paumotu atoll islands by Stevenson, and conse- quently I was much interested in the little group of atolls we passed before coming into full view of Tahiti. As these islands, like all true atolls, are only a few feet above the level of the sea, they can not be seen from the sea at anything like a great distance. When they were pointed out to us by an officer of the steamer, we could see no land ; they appeared like oases in the desert, green patches in the ocean, due to the cocoa- palms which guarded their shores. As we came nearer, we could make out the rim of land and the snow-white coral beach. The smallest of these atoll islands are not inhabited, but regular visits are made to them in a small schooner or native double canoe to harvest and bring to market the never-failing crops of cocoanuts.

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As we left the atolls behind us and neared Tahiti, we could see more clearly the outlines of the rugged island, disrobed, by this time, of its vestments of clouds. From a distance, the carpet of <rreen which extends from its base to near the summit of the highest peaks is varied here and there by patches of red volcanic earth, thus add- ing to the picturesqueness of the scene. What at first appears as a greensward on the shore, on nearer view discloses itself as a broad fringe of cocoa-palms, extending from the edge of the ocean to the foot of the mountains, and from there well up on their slopes, where they are lost in the primeval forest. Above the tree-line, low shrubs and hardy grasses compose the verdure up to the bare, brown mountain-peaks. The largest trees are seen in the mountains' deep ravines, which are cut out of the side of the heights by gushing of cold, clear waters, which drain the very heart of the mountains, bounding and leaping over boulders and rapids in their race to a resting-place in the near-by calm waters of the lagoon. As we came nearer to the island we were able to make out the white lighthouse on Point Venus, seven miles from Papeete. Here, Captain Cooky during one of his visits to the island, was stationed for a considerable length of

31

32 TAHITI — THE ISLAND PARADISE

time for the purpose of observing the transit of Venus ; hence the name of the point.

Near the harbor, a native pilot came on board, and, by careful maneuvering, safely guided the ship through the very narrow channel in the reef into the harbor, with the tricolor flying from the top mast. From the harbor, the little city of Papeete and the island present an inspiring view. A charming islet on the left as we enter the harbor, looks like an emerald set in the blue vv^ater. It serves as a quarantine station, and the little snow-v/hite buildings upon it appear like toy houses. The small city is spread out among cocoa-palms, ornamental and shade trees. The green of the foliage of these trees is continuous with the forest-clad mountains which form the background of the beautiful plateau on which the city is built. The harbor of Papeete is land and reef-locked, small, but deep enough to float the largest steamers plying in the Pacific Ocean. As the steamer came up slowly to the wharf, hun- dreds of people, a strange mixture of natives, half-castes, Europeans and Chinese, old and young, dressed in clothes of all imaginable colors, red being by far the most predominant, crowded the dock. Many of the children were naked, and not a few of the men and boys were unen- cumbered by clothing, with the exception of the typical, much checkered Tahitian cotton loin- cloth. A number of handsome carriages brought

THE LANDING AT PAPEETE 33

the elite of the city to take part in this most important of all monthly events.

They come to see; they come to be seen.

OviDius.

Custom-house officers, uniformed native police- men, government officials, French soldiers and merchants, mingled with the dusky natives and contributed much to the uniqueness of the land- ing-scene. The dense, motley crowd was anxious to see and be seen, but was orderly and well behaved. The custom-house officers were accom- modating and courteous, and passed our hand- baggage without inspection. On the wharf was a sm^all mountain of cocoanuts, in readiness to be loaded as a part of the return cargo of the Mariposa.

THE CITY OF PAPEETE

Papeete is the jcapital of Tahiti, the seat of g-overnment of the entire archipelago, and the principal commercial city of the French posses- sions in Oceanica. It is a typical city of the South Sea world, as it is viewed from the deck of the steamer and while walking or riding along its narrow, crooked streets. P'rom the harbor, little can be seen of its buildings, except the spire of the cathedral and the low steeples of two Protestant churches, the low tower of the gov- ernor's palace, formerly the home of royalty, the military hospital, the wharf, and a few business houses loosely scattered along the principal street, the Quai du Commerce that skirts the harbor. The residence part of the city is hidden behind towering cocoa-palms and magnificent shade-trees among which the flamboyant (burau) trees are the most beautiful. It is situated on a low plateau with a background of forest- clad mountains, the beautiful little harbor, the spray-covered coral reef, the vast ocean and the picturesque outlines of Moorea in front of it.

Papeete has no sidewalks. The streets are narrow, Irregularly laid out, and none of them paved. Most of the houses are one-story frame buildings, covered with corrugated iron roofs. There are only two or three large stores; the

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THE CITY OF PAPEETE 35

remaining business-places are small shops, many of them owned and managed by Chinamen. The present population, made up of natives of all tints, from a light chocolate to nearly white, six to eight hundred whites and about three hundred Chinese, numbers in the neighborhood of five thousand, nearly half of the population of the entire island. There are about five hundred Chinese in the island, who, by their industry and knowledge of business methods, have become formidable competitors of the merchants from other foreign countries. Their small shops and coffee-houses in Papeete and the country districts are well patronized by the natives.

Papeete is the commercial center of Oceanica. There are no department stores there. Business is specialized more there than perhaps in any other city. All of the shops, even the largest, look small in the eyes of Americans. There are dry goods stores, grocery stores, millinery shops, two small frame hotels, the Hotel Francais and another smaller one, both on the Quai, a few boarding-houses, two saloons, and no bank. The scarcity of saloons can be explained by the fact that the natives are temperate in their habits. According to a law enforced by the government, the native women are prohibited from frequent- ing such places.

The public wash-basin, supplied with running fresh water from a mountain stream, is a sight worth seeing. From a dozen to twenty native

36 TAHITI — THE ISLAND PARADISE

women, and a few soldiers, may be found here almost any time of the day, paddling knee-deep in the water, using stones in place of washboards in performing their arduous work. This prim- itive way of washing gives excellent results, judging from the snow-white, spotless linen gar- ments worn by the Europeans and well-to-do natives.

The little plaza or square in the center of the city is used as a market-place where natives con- gregate at five o'clock in the morning, to make their modest purchases of fish, plantain, pine- apple, melon or preserved shrimp done up in joints of bamboo. This is the place to learn what the islanders produce, sell and buy.

The public buildings are well adapted for a tropic climate. The most important of these is the palace of the last of the Tahitian kings, now used as the office of the government. It is a handsome white building, surrounded by ample grounds well laid out, and beautified by trees, shrubs and flowers. The government school- house is an enormous frame building, resting upon posts, several feet from the ground, with more than one-half of its walls taken up by arched windows, the best lighted and most thoroughly ventilated building in the city, an ideal schoolhouse for the tropics. Among the churches of dififerent denominations, the Catho- lic cathedral is the largest and best, although in

THE CITY OF PAPEETE 37

the States it would not be considered an ornament for a small country village.

The city is well supplied with pure water from a mountain stream, but lacks a system of sewer- age. The gardens and grounds of the best resi- dences of the foreigners present an exquisite display of flowers that flourish best in the tropic soil, under the invigorating rays of the tropic sun, and the soothing effects of the frequent showers of rain, which are not limited to any particular season of the year.

Papeete, like all cities in the equatorial region, is a city of supreme idleness and freedom from care. The citizens can not comprehend that 'The great principle of human satisfaction is engagement" (Paley). This idleness is in- herent in the natives, and under the climatic conditions, and I suppose to a certain extent by suggestion, is soon acquired by the foreigners. Contentment and absence of anxiety characterize the life of the Tahitian. He has no desire to accumulate wealth ; he is satisfied with little. He is "shut up in measureless content" (Shake- speare) ; he is inspired with the good idea that '*he that maketh haste to be rich, shall not be innocent" (Proverb xxviii: 20). The merchants open their shops at sunrise, lock the doors at ten, retire to their homes for breakfast, take their two-hour siesta, return to their business, suspend work at five, and the remainder of the day and

38 TAHITI — THE ISLAND PARADISE

the entire evening are devoted to rest, social visits and divers amusements. The social center of the foreigners is the Cercle Bougainville, a small frame building which serves the purpose of a club house. Bicycling is a favorite means of travel and sport for the Europeans as well as the natives of all classes. This vehicle has found its way not only into the capital city but also into the country districts throughout the island. The splendid macadamized road which encircles the island furnishes a great inducement for this sport. Two of the wealthiest citizens travel the prin- cipal streets in the city and the ninety-mile drive in the most modern fashion by riding an auto- mobile.

There are lew if any door locks in private residences, hotels and boarding-houses, the best possible proof that the inhabitants are law- abiding citizens. In the boarding-house in which I lived, the main entrance was left wide open during the night, and none of the door locks was supplied with a key. The native Avomen wear Mother Hubbard gowns of bright calico ; the better class of men dress in European fashion, while the laborers and men from the country districts wear a pareu (loin-cloth) of bright calico, with or without an undershirt. The average Tahitian does not believe in:

We are captivated by dress.

OviDius.

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TOPOGRAPHY OF THE ISLAND

Into the silent land !

Ah, who shall lead us thither?

Von Salis.

There is no spot on earth more free from care, worry and unrest than the island of Tahiti. The abundance with which nature here has provided for the wants of man, the uniform soothing climate, the calmness of the Pacific Ocean, the pleasing scenery quiet the nerves, induce sleep and reduce to a minimum the efforts of man in the struggle for life. It is the island of peace, contentment and rest, a paradise on earth.

No writer has ever done justice to the natural beauties of this gem of the South Seas. The towering mountains, the tropical forests, the numerous rippling streams of crystal water, shaded dark ravines, the palm-fringed shore, the lagoons with their quiet, peaceful, clear waters painted in most exquisite colors of all shades of green, blue and salmon by the magic influence of the tropical sun, their outside wall of coral reef ceaselessly kissed by the caressing, foaming, moaning surf, the near-by picturesque island of Moorea, with its precipitous mountains rising from the deep bed of the sea, the flat basin-like, palm-fringed atolls in the distance, and the vast ocean beyond, make up a combination of pictures

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40 TAHITI THE ISLAND PARADISE

of which the mind never tires, and which engrave themselves indehbly on the tablet of memory.

Tahiti is a typical mountain island, protected against the aggressive ocean by a coral reef which forms almost a complete wall around it, enclosing lagoons of much beauty, w'hich teem with a great variety of fish. It is thirty-five miles in length, and on an average twelve miles in breadth. It is shaped somewhat in the form of an hourglass, the narrow part at Isthmus Terrawow. The circuit of the island by follow- ing the coast is less than one hundred and twenty miles. The ninety-mile drive which engirdles the island cuts off some of the irregular projections into the sea. The interior is very mountainous and cut into ravines so deep that it has never been inhabited to any extent. The highest peaks are Orohena and Aorii, from seven to eight thousand feet in height, the former cleft into two points of rock which are often draped with dark masses of tropic clouds. Numerous other peaks of lesser magnitude are crowded together in the center of the island, their broad foundations en- croaching upon the plain. The people live on the narrow strip of low land at the base of the mountains and running down to the shore, where the soil is exceedingly fertile and always well watered by numerous rivers, brooks and rivulets. Numberless cascades can be seen from the ninety- mile drive, leaping over cliffs and appearing like

TOPOGRAPHY OF THE ISLAND 41

silver threads in the dark green of the mountain- sides. The strip of arable land at the base of the mountains varies in width from the bare pre- cipitous cliffs, without even a beach, to one, or perhaps in the widest places, tv/o miles. The larger streams have cut out a few broader valleys. It is this narrow strip of land which is inhabited, the little villages being usually located near the mouth of a river on the coast-line, insuring for the inhabitants a pure water-supply and facilities for fresh-water bathing, a frequent and pleasant pastime for the natives of both sexes and all ages.

Wherever there is sufficient depth of soil, vege- tation is rampant. The fertility of the soil and the stimulating effect of constant moisture on vegetable life are best seen by the vitality exhib- ited by the fence-posts. I have seen fence-posts a foot and more in circumference, after being implanted in the soil, strike root, sprout and develop into trees of no small size. The moun- tains, and more especially the ravines, are heavily timbered. There is no place on earth where the scenery is more beautiful and sublime than at many points along the ninety-mile drive. The lofty mountains, the fertile plain, the many rivers, brooks, rivulets and glimpses of foaming cas- cades, lagoons, of the surf beating the coral reef in the distance, the limitless ocean beyond, the luxuriant rampant vegetation, the beautiful

43 TAHITI — THE ISLAND PARADISE

flowers, the majestic palm-trees, the quaint villages and their interesting inhabitants, form a picture which is beautiful, and, at the same time, sublime. As a whole it is sublime ; in detail, beautiful.

Beauty charms, sublimity awes us, and is often accompanied with a feeling resembling fear ; while beauty rather attracts and draws us towards it.

Fleming.

Let us see how Captain Cook was impressed with Tahiti when he first cast his eyes upon this gem of the Pacific :

Perhaps there is scarcely a spot in the universe that affords a more luxuriant prospect than the southeast part of Otaheite [Tahiti.] The hills are high and steep, and, in many places, craggy. But they are covered to the very summits with trees and shrubs, in such a manner that the spectator can scarcely help thinking that the very rocks possess the property of producing and supporting their verdant clothing. The flat land which bounds those hills toward the sea, and the inter- jacent valleys also, teem with various productions that grow with the most exuberant vigour ; and, at once, fill the mind of the beholder with the idea that no place upon earth can outdo this, in the strength and beauty of vegetation. Nature has been no less liberal in dis- tributing rivulets, which are found in every valley, and as they approach the sea, often divide into two or three branches, fertilizing the flat lands through v/hich they run.

Tahiti is the same to-day as when Captain Cook visited it for the first time. The only decided changes which have taken place since,

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arc the building up of the capital city Papeete, and the construction of the ninety-mile drive. The beauty of the island has been maintained because the natives have preserved the mag- nificent primeval forests. Strip Tahiti of its forests and it will be made a desert in a few years. Nature relies on the forests to attract the clouds which bring the moisture, and assist in the for- mation and preservation of the soil. Remove the trees, and drouth and floods will destroy vege- tation, and the latter will wash the existing soil into the hungry abyss of the ocean. Fertile and beautiful as Captain Cook found Tahiti, he deprecated the idea of settling it with whites.

Our occasional visits may, in some respects, have benefited its inhabitants ; but a permanent establish- ment amongst them, conducted as most European establishments amongst Indian nations have unfortu- nately been, would, I fear, give them just cause to lament that our ships had ever found them out. Indeed, it is very unlikely that any measure of this kind should ever be seriously thought of, as it can neither serve the purposes of public ambition, nor of private avarice ; and, without such inducements, I may pronounce, that it will never be undertaken.

The island has been Invaded and taken bv the whites and the results to the natives have been in many respects disastrous, which goes to prove the correctness of Captain Cook's prophecy.

THE CLIMATE

The climate of Tahiti, although tropical, is favorably influenced by the trade-winds and frequent showers. The breezes from ocean and land keep the heated atmosphere in motion, and the frequent rains throughout the year have a direct effect in lowering the temperature. The entire island from the shore to the highest moun- tain-peaks, is covered by forests and a vigorous vegetation. These retain the moisture and attract the pregnant clouds, securing, throughout the year, a sufficient rainfall to feed the many mountain streams and water the rich soil of the mountain-sides, valleys, ravines and lowlands along the coast. The temperature seldom exceeds 90 degrees Fahrenheit, and during the coldest months, March and April, it occasionally falls as low as 65 degrees Fahrenheit. The atmos- phere is charged with humidity, and when this condition reaches the maximum degree, the heat is oppressive, more especially when there is no land or ocean breeze. If a hotel could be built at an elevation of three to four thousand feet above the level of the sea, the guests would find a climate which could not be surpassed in any other part of the world. A prolonged residence in Papeete or any other part of the island near the sea-level is debilitating for the Vv'hites. Those of the white inhabitants who can afford it, leave the island every three or five years and seek re-

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THE CLIMATE 45

ciiperation and a renewal of energy in a cooler climate, usually in California or Europe. Papeete, partially enclosed by mountains, and only a few feet above the level of the sea, and on the lee- ward side of the island, is said to be one of the warmest places in the island. The village of Papara gets the full benefit of the trade-winds and the land-breeze, and is one of the coolest spots in Tahiti. Tahiti's summer-time is our winter. I was fortunate in visiting the island during the latter part of January. It is the time when Nature makes a special effort here to pro- duce the luxuriant vegetation after the drench- ing rains of December. It is the time when the evergreen trees cast off, here and there, a faded leaf, to be replaced by a new one from the vigor- ous unfolding buds. It is the season of flowers and the greatest variety of fruits. It may interest the reader to know that one day seven dif- ferent kinds of fruits were served at the breakfast- table, a luxury out of reach of our millionaires at their homes in the North at that time of the year. For a winter vacation, the months of Jan- uary and February oft'er the greatest induce- ments. Those who are in need of an ideal mental rest, and are fond of a long ocean voyage, and enjoy tropic scenery and the marvelous products of the fertile soil of the tropics, should not fail to visit Tahiti, the little paradise in the midst of the vast expanse of the Pacific Ocean.

HISTORY OF THE ISLAND

History is the witness of the times, the torch of truth, the life of memory, the teacher of life, the mes- senger of antiquity. Cicero.

It \vas my privilege dtiring my brief stay in Tahiti to meet Tati Salmon, chief of the Papara district. He is a direct descendant of one of the two noble families of the island, the Tevas, and one of the most prominent and influential citizens of the island. I asked him to what race the Tahitians belonged. To this question he had a ready reply. He said : "V/e belong to no race ; man was created here ; this is the lost Garden of Eden." There is much force, if not truth, in this assertion when we take into consideration the charming beauty of the island and the boun- teous provisions which Nature has made here for the existence of man. Then, too, the Tahitian is a good specimen of manhood, intellectually and physically, far superior to the Negro race and the Mongolian. Ariitaimai (Arii Taimai E), the mother of the chief just referred to and the authoress of the book mentioned in the preface, believes that the Tahitians belong to the great Aryan race, the race of Arii, and that their chiefs were Arii, not kings, and the head chiefs, Ariirahi — Great Chiefs. It was only the latter who were entitled to wear the girdle of red

46

HISTORY OF THE ISLAND 47

feathers, as much the symbol of their preeminence as the crown and sceptre of European royalty. The Tahitians are Polynesians, like the inhab- itants of most of the South Seas and of Hawaii, and there can be but little doubt that the Poly- nesians belong to the Malay race, having migrated from island to island, from west to cast, by way of Java, Samoa and the Hawaiian Islands. As these voyages had to be made by means of frail canoes, we can readily conceive the hardships endured by the bold navigators of centuries ago. A story current in Tahiti relates that it was thus that the great chief Olopaua of Hawaii, driven from home by disastrous floods, bore his wife Lu'ukia in the twelfth century, to find a new dwelling place in Tahiti, twenty-three hundred miles away. It is said that the chiefess was a poetess, a dancer famed for grace, and the inventor of a style of dress which is still made by the Hawaiians. Many of the primitive peoples trace their origin to a legend which is handed down from generation to generation.

In all ages of the world there is nothing with which mankind hath been so much delighted as with those little fictitious stories which go under the name of fables or apologues among the ancient heathens, and of par- ables in the sacred writings. Bishop Porteus.

The Tevas of Tahiti have their legend and it is related by Ariitaimai, as it has been told for many generations. They take pride in the story

48 TAHITI THE ISLAND PARADISE

that they are the direct descendants from the Shark God. The legend tells how many cen- turies ago a chief of Punaauia, by the name of Te maiautu-ruu, married a chiefess of Vaiari, named Hototu, and had a son, Terii te moanarau. At the birth of the child, the father set out in his canoe for the Paumotu Islands to obtain red feathers (Ura) to make the royal belt for the young prince. The legend begins by assuming that Vaiari was the oldest family, with its Maraes, and that Punaauia was later in seniority and rank. While Te manutu-ruu was absent on his long voyage to the Paumotus, a visitor appeared at Vaiari, and was entertained by the chiefess. This visitor was the first ancestor of the Tevas. He was only half human, the other half fish, or Shark God ; and he swam from the ocean, through the reef, into the Vaihiria River, where he came ashore, and introduced himself as Vari mataau- hoe, and, after having partaken of the hospital- ities of the chiefess, took up his residence with her. But after their intimacy had lasted some time, one day, when they were together, Hototu's dog came into the house and showed his affec- tion for his mistress by licking her face, or, as we should say now, kissed her, although in those days this mark of affection was unknown, as the Polynesians instead only touched noses as an affectionate greeting. At this the man- shark was so displeased that he abandoned the

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HISTORY OF THE ISLAND 49

chiefess. He walked into the river, turned fish again and swam out to sea. On his way he met the canoe of the Chief Te manutu-ruu returning from the Paumotus, and stopped to speak to him. The chief invited Vari mataauhoe to return with him, but the man-shark decHned, giving as his reason that the chiefess was too fond of dogs.

The legend proves that the natives regarded Vaiari as the source of their aristocracy. Papara makes the same claim, for v/hen Vari mataauhoe left Hototu he said to her: "You will bear me a child ; if a girl, she will belong to you and take your name; but if a boy, you are to call him Teva; rain and wind will accompany his birth, and to whatever spot he goes, rain and wind will always foretell his coming. He is of the race of Ariirahi, and you are to build him a Marae which you are to call Matava (the two eyes of Tahiti), and there he is to wear the Marotea, and he must be known as the child of Ahurei (the wind that blows from Taiarapu)." A boy was born, and, as foretold, in rain and wind. The name of Teva was given to him ; and Matoa was built ; and there Teva ruled. From this boy came the name Teva; but when and how it was applied to the clan no one knows. The members of the tribe or clan believe it must have been given by the Arii of Papara or Vaiari. To this day, the Tevas seldom travel without rain and wind, so that they use the word Teva rarivari —

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50 TAHITI — THE ISLAND PARADISE

Teva wet always and everywhere. The Vaiari people still point out the place where the first ancestor of the clan lived as a child, his first bathing place, and the different waters in which he fished as he came on his way toward Papara. This legend is to-day as fresh in the district of Papara as it was centuries ago. It is but natural that the Tevas, one of the two most influential and powerful of the tribes of Tahiti, should be anxious to trace their ancestry to a royal origin even if the first ancestor should be a man-shark, little remembering that

It is not wealth nor ancestry, but honorable conduct and a noble disposition that make men great.

OviDius.

As the Tahitians had no written language before the missionaries visited the island, little is known of its earlier history. The history of the island since its discovery has been accu- rately written up by Ariitaimai, an eye-witness of many of the most stirring events and on that account most to be relied upon, for

The only good histories are those that have been written by the persons themselves who commanded in the affairs whereof they write. Montaigne.

Let us follow her account of the history of the island since its discovery by Captain Samuel Wallis, June 18, 176?. The captain made a voy- age around the world in Her Majesty's ship

HISTORY OF TPIE ISLAND 51

Dolphin, and on his way found the island, and called it Otaheite. At that time, Amo was head chief of Papara and of the Tevas, or rather his son Teriirere, born about 1762, was head chief, and Amo exercised power as his guardian, according to native custom, which made the eldest child immediately on birth, the head of the family. At that time the powder of calling the Tevas to conference or war was peculiar to the Papara head chief ; the military strength of the Tevas was unconquerable, if it could be united ; but perhaps the most decisive part of every head chief's influence was his family connection. Nowhere in the world was marriage a matter of more political and social consequence than in Tahiti. Women occupied an important position in society and political affairs. The chiefesses held the reins of government with as much firm- ness as the chiefs, and commanded the same influence and respect. She was as independent of her husband as of any other chief ; she had her seat or throne, in the Marae even to the exclu- sion of her husband; and if she were ambitious she might win or lose crowns for her children as happened with Captain Wallis' friend Oberea, the great-aunt of Ariitaimai Purea, and with her niece, Tetuauni reiaiteatea, the mother of the first King Pomare. At the time of Wallis' and Cook's visits, Papara was the principal city in Tahiti, and Papeete, the present capital city of the

52 TAHITI THE ISLAND PARADISE

French possessions in Oceanica, a mere village. The Papara head chief was never the head chief of the whole island, but his power and influence were predominant throughout the whole island. The kingship which Europeans insisted on con- ferring on him, or on any other head chief who happened for the time to rival him, was never accepted by the natives until forced upon them by foreign influence and arms. From this it will be seen that before European influence made itself felt, the Tahitians were divided into tribes ruled by so many chiefs, with a head chief whose influence extended over the entire island. The form of native government was very simple and had many very commendable features. Wars between the tribes and between Tahiti and the neighboring island, Moorea, wxre. however, of frequent occurrence.

All exact knowledge concerning dates in the history of the island begins with June 2-i, 1767, when Wallis warped his ship into the bay of Matavai, the most northerly point of the island. The appearance of the foreigners, the first time the natives had ever seen a white man and such a great ship, created consternation. Excitement ran high on the landing of the crew. The natives attacked them, but their rude implements of warfare could not cope with firearms, and they were defeated. Two days later, June 26th, the battle was renewed and again terminated in the

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HISTORY OF THE ISLAND 53

defeat of the natives, promptly followed by sudden friendship for their first European visitors. The natives, extremely superstitious, were at first suspicious, and it required some time to establish free relations between them and the commander and crew of the Dolphin. Strangely enough, the first native to board the ship was a woman. The incident is related by Wallis him- self:

On Saturday, the 11th, in the afternoon, the gunner came on board with a tall woman, who seemed to be about five and forty years of age, of a pleasing counte- nance and majestic deportment. He told me that she was but just come into that part of the country, and that seeing great respect paid her by the rest of the natives, he had made her some presents; in return for which she had invited him to her home, which was about two miles up the valley, and given him some large hogs ; after which she returned with him to the watering-place and expressed a desire to go on board the ship, in which wish he had thought it proper, on all accounts, that she should be gratified. She seemed to be under no restraint, either from diffidence or fear, when she came into the ship, and she behaved all the while she was on board with an easy freedom that always distin- guishes conscious superiority and habitual command. I gave her a large blue mantle that reached from her shoulders to her feet, which I drew over her, and tied on with ribbons ; I gave her also a looking-glass, beads of several sorts, and many other things, which she accepted with good grace and much pleasure. She took notice that I had been ill, and pointed to the shore. I under- stood that she meant I should go thither to perfect my recovery, and I made signs that I would go thither the

54 TAHITI — THE ISLAND PARADISE

next morning. When she intimated an inclination to return, I ordered the gunner to go with her, who, having set her on shore, attended her to her habitation, which he described as being very large and well built. He said that in this house she had many guards and domestics, and that she had another at a little distance which was enclosed in lattice work.

This visit opened the island to the English- men. Wallis repeatedly refers to his first visitor as *'my princess, or rather queen." When he came on shore the next day he was met by the princess, who ordered that he and the first lieu- tenant and purser, who were also ill, should be carried by the people to her home, where they were treated in a most hospitable manner. Here is a beautiful instance of natural hospitality, charity and gratitude combined ; a kindly deed dictated by unselfish motives, an exhibition of virtues so rarely met with in the common walks of hfe.

Hospitality to the better sort and charity to the poor; two virtues that are never exercised so well as when they accompany each other. Atterbury.

The princess had full control over the curious, motley crowd, which gave way to the strangers by a sign of her hand. The house proved to be the Fare-hau, or Council-house, of Haapape, and the princess, as Wallis called her, who did not belong to Haapape, but to quite another part of the island, was herself a guest whose presence there was dUQ to her relationship with the chief.

HISTORY OF THE ISLAND 55

Wallis left the island July 2rth. His ''queen" and her attendants came on board and bade him and his crew a most affectionate farewell. Neither Wallis, nor Bougainville, who visited Tahiti in April, 1TG8, eight months later, ever learned what her true rank was, or from what part of the island she came. According to Ariitaimai, she was her great-great-grandaunt Purea, or rather, the wife of her great-great- granduncle.

Bougainville named the island New Cytherea, and Commerson, the naturalist, charmed by its beauty and astonished at its resources, called it Utopia. The latter gave the following romantic description of the island and its people in a letter published in the Mcrciirc dc France :

Je puis vous dire que c'est le seul coin de la terre ou habitant des hommes sans vices, sans prejuges, sans besoins, sans dissensions. Nes sous le plus beau ciel, nourris des fruits d'une terre feconde sans culture, regis par des peres de famille plutot que par des rois, ils ne connaissent d'autre dieu que TAmour. Tons les jours lui sont consacres, toute I'isle son temple, toutes les femmes — me demandez-vous? Les rivales des Georgiennes en beaute et les soeurs des graces toutes unes.

Such was the simple, innocent, happy island life when Tahiti was discovered by the white man, whose pretended object was to bring to the natives the benefits of modern civilization. As to the immediate effects of European civili-

56 TAHITI THE ISLAND PARADISE

zation on the morals of the natives, Ariitaimai has the following to say in reply to the alleged laxity of Tahitian morals :

No one knows how much of the laxity of morals was due to the French and English themselves, whose appearance certainly caused a sudden and shocking overthrow of such moral rules as had existed before in the island society : and the "supposed" means that when the island society as a whole is taken into account. Marriage was real as far as it went, and the standard rather higher than that of Paris ; in some ways extremely lax, and in others strict and stern to a degree that would have astonished even the most con- ventional English nobleman, had he understood it.

The third European to visit Tahiti was that intrepid explorer, Captain Cook, who entered Matavai Bay on the 13th of April, 1769, in Her Majesty's bark, the Endeavor, on his first voyage around the world. He met chief Tootahah, under whose protection he settled on Point Venus. He was accompanied by a staff of sci- entists, among them Joseph Banks and Dr. Solander, a Swedish naturalist. Captain Wallis* "queen" was again on the shore to meet the strangers. Captain Cook gives a detailed account of her visit :

She first went to Mr, Banks' tent at the fort, where she was not known, till the master, who knew her, happening to go ashore, brought her on board with two men and several women, who seemed to be all of her family. I made them all some presents or other, but to Obariea (for that was the woman's name) I gave

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several things, in return for which, as soon as I went on shore with her, she gave me a hog and several bunches of plantains. These she caused to be carried from her canoes up to the fort in a kind of procession, she and I bringing up the rear. This woman is about forty years of age, and, like most of the other women, very masculine. She is head or chief of her own family or tribe, but to all appearance hath no authority over the rest of the inhabitants, whatever she might have when the Dolphin was here.

Cook ascertained at this time, that Obariea was the wife of the most influential chief of the island, Oamo, but did not live with him. She had two children, a daughter eighteen years old, and a boy of seven, the heir to the throne. He says in his Journal :

The young boy above mentioned is son to Oamo and Obariea, but Oamo and Obariea do not at this time live together as man and wife, he not being able to endure with her troublesome disposition. I mention this because it shows that separation in the marriage state is not unknown to these people.

When Cook made his second visit to the island, in 1774, he learned that Oamo and Obariea, or, as they are called in the genealogy of the Tevas, Amo and Purea, had been driven from Papara into the mountains. Vehiatu, the victor, made Amo resign, and the regency of that part of the island was entrusted to Tootuhah, the youngest brother of the deposed chief.

POMARE, THE ROYAL FAMILY OF

TAHITI

The Pomare family are descendants of chiefs called Tu of Faaraoa, one of the atoll islands of the Paumotu Archipelago, some two hundred and fifty miles northeast of Tahiti. The exact date of the first Tu's arrival in Tahiti is unknown. Even the generation can not be fixed. The Pomares were always ashamed of their Paumotu descent, which they regarded as a flaw in their heraldry, and which was a reproach to them in the eyes of the Tahitians, for all Tahitians regarded the Paumotus as savage, and socially inferior. The first Tu who came to visit the distant land of Tahiti, came in by the Taunoa opening, which is the eastern channel, into what is now the harbor of Papeete. Landing at Taunoa a stranger, he was invited to be the guest of Manaihiti, who seems to have been a chief of I'are. He was adopted by the chief as his brother, and at the death of the chief, he became heir and successor in the chief's line. He married into the Arue family, which gave his son a claim to the joint chiefdom of Pare Arue; and at last his grandson, or some later genera- tion, obtained in marriage no less a personage than Tetuaehuri, daughter of Taiarapu. One of the members of this family, Teu (born 1?20,

58

PO.MARE, THE ROYAL FAMILY OF TAHITI 59

died 1802) made new and important advances in the social and political circles of Tahiti by marriage, and became the father of Pomare I. (17^3-1803), the first king of Tahiti. Ten seems to have been a very clever and cautious man. He never assumed to be a great chief or to wear the belt of feathers. He was more jealous of his son than of Amo or his son Teriirere. His son, Tu, was born about 17-1:3. Related by birth v/ith two of the most influential families, he strength- ened, his native tics by marrying Tetuanui-rea-i- te-rai, of the adjoining independent chief dom of Tefauai Ahurai, who was not only a niece of Purea, but quite as ambitious and energetic as Purea herself. The English, who could not conceive that the Tahitians should be able to exist without some pretense of royalty, gave Tu the rank and title of king, notwithstanding that he was only one, and at that not the most influ- ential of several Arii rahi. To the great dissatis- faction of the other chiefs, Tu received the lion's share of presents from Captain Cook. At this action, the Ahurai and Attahura people were enraged, and Cook was quite unable to under- stand that they had reason to complain. To them, Cook's partiality for Tu must have seemed a delibciate insult. When Cook returned on his third voyage, in 1777, several Tahitian tribes wxre in a state of war with Moorea, in which Tu took no active part. Cook then deliberately

60 TAHITI THE ISLAND PARADISE

intervened in the support of the plan he had adopted of elevating Tu at the expense of the other chiefs. In his estimation, Tu was king by divine right, and any attack on his authority was treason in the first place, and an attack on British influence in the next. British influence and British threats made a radical change in the government of Tahiti, in opposition to the ex- pressed wish of the great majority of the people. England wanted to control the political affairs of the island for commercial gain, and to extend her sovereignty in the South Seas, which only confirms that

All government — indeed, every human benefit and enjoyment, every virtue and every prudent act — is founded on compromise and barter. Burke.

After Cook's departure, nearly eleven years elapsed before another European ship called at Tahiti, and, during this time, Pomare paid dearly for the distinctions forced upon him by the for- eigners. When Lieutenant Bligh arrived in the Bounty, in 1788, Tu told him that after five years from the time of Cook's last departure, the people of the island Moorea (Eimeo) joined with those of Attahura and made an attack on his district, and many of his subjects were killed, while he had himself fled, with the sur- vivors, to the mountains. All the houses and prop- erty had been destroyed or carried away by the enemy. Bligh landed at Matavai in the Bounty

PRINCE HINOI

Son of the last King of Tahiti, Pomare V.

POM ARE, THE ROYAL FAMILY OF TAHITI 61

October 26, 1788. He came for a supply of bread- fruit, which was to be introduced and domesti- cated in the various tropical colonies of Great Britain, and indirectly to advance the interests and power of Tu, who had nearly lost his influ- ence over the natives. His position was so des- perate that he begged the lieutenant to take him and his wife, Tetua, to England. He had a son, at this time six years old, who became the first Christian king of Tahiti. Before leaving the island, April 3, 1789, Bligh did what he could to strengthen Tu's position, and supplied him with firearms. For this act he gave the following explanation :

He (Tu) had frequently expressed a wish that I would leave some firearms and ammunition with him, as he expected to be attacked after the ship sailed, and perhaps chiefly on account of our partiality to him. I therefore thought it but reasonable to accede to his request. I was the more readily prevailed on, as he said his intentions were to act only on the defensive. This, indeed, seems most suited to his disposition, which is neither active nor enterprising. When I proposed to leave with him a pair of pistols, which they prefer to muskets, they told me that his wife, Tetua, would fight with one and Oedidee with the other. Tetua has learned to load and fire a musket with great dexterity, and Oedidee is an excellent marksman. It is not common for women in this country to go to war, but Tetua is a very resolute woman, of a large make, and has great bodily strength.

History shows that Tetua was not the only fighting woman in Tahiti, as at diflferent times,

62 TAHITI THE ISLAND PARADISE

in tribal wars, it was not uncommon for women to take an active part, and in more than one instance the leading part.

On great occasions it is almost always women who have given the strongest proofs of virtue and devotion ; the reason is, that with men, good and bad qualities are in general the result of calculation, whilst in women they are impulses, springing from the heart

Count Montholon.

Lieutenant Bligh left the island April 4th. As he was passing the Friendly, or Tonga group, April 28th, the larger part of his offtcers and men mutinied and set him and some eighteen others adrift in the ship's launch. The mutineers then put the ship about and returned to Tahiti, where they arrived at Matavai Bay, June 6, 1789. There they took in. all the live-stock they could obtain, and twenty-four Tahitians, and sailed again June IGth for Tubuai, but appeared once more, Sep- tember 22nd, and landed sixteen of the mutineers, who were tired of their adventures. The rest sailed suddenly the next night, and vanished from the sight of men for twenty years. The sixteen mutineers who remained scattered more or less over the island, but made Pare their headquarters and Tu their patron. Here they set to work, November 12, 1T89, to build a thirty- foot schooner, with which to make their escape. The effect of the example of these ruffians and criminals on the morals of the simple, receptive

POMARE, THE ROYAL FAMILY OF TAHITI 63

Tahitians can be readily imagined. These men, who had enjoyed the confidence of their com- mander and the advantages and pleasures of a trip to foreign strange countries, proved un- grateful, and ''the earth produces nothing worse than an ungrateful man" (Ansonius). The schooner was launched August 5, 1790. The war which immediately followed, and which reestab- lished Tu in his power for the time, deserves to be called the War of the Mutineers of the Bounty. When Tu died, thirteen years later, the mis- sionaries in their Journal recorded many details about his life and character, and among other things, they said :

He was born in the district of Oparre, where his corpse now is, and was by birth chief of that district, and none other. The notice of the English navigators laid the foundation for his future aggrandizement; and the runaway seamen that from time to time quitted their vessels to sojourn in the island (especially that of His Majesty's ship Bounty's crew, which resided here) were the instruments for gaining to Pomarre a greater extent of dominion and power than any other man had before in Otaheite.

It is very evident that the first Pomare was a man without firmness and that what influence he exercised was due to the energies and ambition of his wife and to foreign support. When Lieu- tenant Bligh reached home and reported the mutiny, the British government sent the frigate Pandora in search of the Bounty and the deserted

64 TAHITI — THE ISLAND PARADISE

crew. The Pandora never found the Boiiniy, which long since had been burned by the muti- neers at Pitcairn Island ; but she did find such of the mutineers as had returned to Tahiti, and who were actively engaged in establishing Tu as a Tahitian despot, when the Pandora, in March, 1791, appeared in Matavai Bay. The mutineers, it seems, unable to keep at sea in the rickety schooner, landed at Papara, March 2Gth, and took refuge in the mountains. Captain Edwards, of the Pandora, immediately sent tv/o boats, with a num.ber of men, to Papara. Through the friendly office of the chiefs and natives, the mutineers were finally captured, one by one, until only six remained out, and these were at last found near the seashore, where they were captured after many fruitless attempts. The Pandora sailed from Tahiti with her prisoners in May, 1791, and in December following, Vancouver arrived in the sloop of war Discovery, on a search for a northwest passage to the Orient, stopping for supplies at Tahiti, December 28th.

Vancouver, who had been with Cook in 1777, Inquired for his old friends. He learned that the young king had taken the name of Otoo, and his old friend that of Pomare, having given up his name with his sovereign jurisdiction, though he still seemed to retain his authority as regent. This is the first record of the name Pomare, by which the family has since been known. After

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the birth of the young Tu, about 17S2, the first of his children who was allowed to live, the father seems to have taken the name of Tuiah, or Tarino, which he bore in 1788. He took the name of Pomare (night cough) from his younger son, Terii nava horoo, a young child in 1791, who coughed at night. With the assistance of Eng- lish guns, Pomare waged active war on neighbor- ing chiefs, and the chief of Papara was the last one to succumb. By successive vigorous strokes, he finally gained control of the entire group of islands, including Borabora.

MISSIONARY RULE

It is better that men should be governed by priest- craft than violence. Lord Macauley.

The early missionaries of Tahiti played an important role in the island politics. They did not limit their work to the conversion of the heathen islanders, but took an active part in polit- ical affairs, and many of their doings in that direction w^ere not in accord with the teachings of the gospel. The first missionaries sent to Tahiti from England reached the island in the Duff, March, 1797. They received information of the island politics from two Swedish sailors, Andrew Lind, of the ship Matilda, which had been wrecked in the South Sea in 1792, and Peter Haggerstein, who deserted from the Daedalus in February, 1793. Both of these men were adventurers of the type that has infested the South Seas for more than a century. They became well-known characters in the history of the island, sometimes assisting the mission- aries, and sometimes annoying them. In July, 1797, Peter accompanied one of the missionaries as a guide and interpreter, on a circuit round the island, to make a sort of census, as a starting- point for the missionary work. They began with Papenoo, July 11th, and as they walked, Peter boasted of his exploits. His stories were so much in conflict with facts that they rather misled

66

MISSIONARY RULE 67

than aided the missionaries in search of island affairs. Temarii, the chief of Papara, had vis- ited the missionaries at Matavai. The mission- aries gave the following account of him :

May 7, 1797, visited by the chief priest from Papara, Temarre. He was dressed in a wrapper of Otaheitian cloth, and over it an officer's coat doubled around him. At his first approach he appeared timid, and was invited in. He was just about seated when the cuckoo clock struck and filled him with astonishment and terror. Old Pyetea had brought the bird some breadfruit, observing it must be starved if we never fed it. At breakfast we invited Temarii to our repast, but he first held out his hand with a bit of plantain and looked very solemn, which, one of the natives said, was an offering to Eatooa (Tahitian divinity) and v/e must receive it. When we had taken it out of his hand and laid it under the table, he sat down and made a hearty breakfast. Brother Cover read the translated address to all these respected guests, the natives listen- ing with attention, and particularly the priest, who seemed to drink in every word, but appeared dis- pleased when urged to cast away their false gods, and on hearing the names of Jehovah and Jesus he would turn and whisper. Two days afterwards, Temarii came again to the mission house and this time with the young Otoo, Pomare H., and his first v/ife Tetuanui.

Here again is the account of the visit by the

missionaries :

May 9th, Temarre accompanied the king and queen and staid to dine with us. He is, we find, of the royal race and son of the famed Oberea. He is the first chief of the island after Pomarre, by whom he has been subdued, and now lives in friendship with him and has adopted his son. He is also high in esteem as a priest.

68 TAHITI THE ISLAND PARADISE

In July of the same year the missionaries visited Temarii at Papara on their way around the island. They found the chief under the influ- ence of Kava, but were feasted the next day on Temarii's feast pig. Not only was Temarii the most powerful chief of the island, but Pomare had become, by his son's accession, a chief of the second order. He depended greatly on the favor of his son, the young Tu, who was, in 1797, supposed to be at least fifteen and perhaps seven- teen years of age, and who had been adopted by Temarii, his cousin, who was about ten years older than he. Adoption was rather stronger in the South Seas than the tie of natural parentage. Between his natural father, Pomare, and his adopted father, Temarii, the young Tu preferred the latter, and sooner or later every one knew that Temarii would help Tu to emancipate him- self and drive Pomare from the island.

The Duff sailed for England August 14, 1797, leaving the missionaries to the mercies of rival factions, and they soon ascertained that Pomare and Tu were on anything but friendly terms. The missionaries had faith in Pomare, who chose one of them by the name of Cover as a brother. Temarii chose another by the name of Main. These two missionaries went to Papara August 15th, at the suggestion of the influential native priest, Manne Manne, to remonstrate against a human sacrifice which was to be made at the

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Marae Tooarai. On account of a murder recently committed, the missionaries found the chief and people greatly excited, and fled as quickly as possible.

In the month of March the missionaries found themselves in a critical condition when the ship Nautilus appeared and two of her crew deserted. The deserters went to Pare and were sheltered there. The captain of the Nautilus at once set to work to recover them. Four of the mission- aries proceeded to Pare to see Tu, Pomare and Temarii and informed them that a refusal to return the men would be regarded as exhibiting an evil intention against the missionaries. They found Tu and Temarii at Pare, but went to get Pomare to join them, when they were suddenly attacked and stripped by some thirty natives, who took their clothes and treated them rather roughly, but at last released them. They went to Pomare's house and were kindly received. Pomare returned with them to Tu, and insisted on the punishment of the offenders and the deliv- ery of the deserters. Two were executed, and the district of Pare took up arms to avenge them. Tu joined his father and suppressed the riot, so that the missionaries' clothes icost the natives fifteen lives before order was restored. This in- cident made the missionaries very unpopular and they had to depend more than ever on Pomare for protection.

70 TAHITI — THE ISLAND PARADISE

On August 24th, two whaling vessels, the Cornwall and Sally, of London, anchored in Matavai Bay, and most of the principal chiefs went on board. On the 30th, while the mission- aries were at dinner, Pomare came in great haste, and told them that a man had been blown up with gunpowder at the Council house in Pare, and requested them to hasten to the place and render assistance. When they arrived they found that the injured man was Temarii. Plere is the account of the affair by the missionaries :

At our arrival we were led to the bed of Temaree called also Orepiah, and beheld such a spectacle as we had never before seen. Brother Broomhall began immediately to apply what he had prepared with a camel's-hair brush over most parts of the body. He was apparently more passive under the operation than we could conceive a man in his situation would be capable of. The night drawing on, we took leave of him by saying we would return next morning with a fresh preparation. On the following morning we were struck with much surprise at the appearance of the patient. He was literally daubed with something like a thick white paste. Upon inquiry we found it to be the scrapings of yams. Both the chief and his wife seemed highly offended at Brother Broomhall's application the preceding evening, and they would not permit him to do anything more for him, as he had felt so much pain from what he had applied. It was said that there was a curse put into the medicine by our God.

It must be remembered that the Tahitian chiefs were also priests and not infrequently acted as physicians. The dissatisfaction of

MISSIONARY RULE Yl

Temarii with the treatment of his case by the missionaries had therefore to be considered as a most unfortunate affair. Under these conditions the missionaries were apprehensive of increas- ing hostihties. The suspicion on part of the superstitious natives that the missionaries had been sent by Pomare to curse Temarii and cause his death was not only a natural but a reasonable one to the chief as well as his subjects. Pomare was quite capable of such conduct and as far as the natives knew, the missionaries were Pomare's friends and supporters. The accident which gave rise to this unfortunate occurrence was due to the English gunpowder and it was fortunate that the missionaries had nothing to do with furnishing it. The explosion occurred while Temarii was testing the quality of powder which he obtained from the whalers Cornzvall and Sally.

A pistol was loaded and unthinkingly fired in the midst of a number of people, over the whole quantity (five pounds) of powder received. A spark of fire dropped from the pistol upon the powder that lay on the ground, and in a moment it blew up. The natives did not feel themselves hurt at first, but when the smoke was somewhat dispersed, observing their skin fouled with powder, they began to rub their arms, and found the skin peeling off under their fingers. Terrified at this, they instantly ran to a river near at hand and plunged themselves in.

Temarii lingered in great suffering till Sep- tember 8th, but the missionaries did not dare to

72 TAHITI — THE ISLAND PARADISE

visit him again for fear of violence on the part of the indignant natives. The whole body of chiefs was present and looked on in consternation while Temarii died. The chief's remains were carried, in the usual state, round the island to all his districts and duly mourned ; and in the regular course prescribed by the island ceremonial, his head was secretly hidden in the cave at Papara. These demonstrations served to spread the news of the calamity, for which the missionaries received the exclusive blame. The political com- plications which followed induced Pomare to seek safety in flight to the Paumotu Islands, leaving his wife to face the storm. The chiefess w^as not idle after her husband's cowardly flight. On the 29th of November she compromised with Tu by ceding to him the authority he wanted, and obtained from him a pledge assuring her safety. This guaranty was the life of the high priest, old Manne Manne, Tu's best friend. He was murdered by Tetuanui's people on his way from Matavai to Pare. The chiefess was in the mis- sionaries' house when this news arrived. She had a 'cartridge-box around her waist and a musket near at hand. She shook hands in a friendly manner with the Swede, saying unto him, *Tt is all over," meaning the war, and im- mediately returned to her home. Pomare gained nothing by these dissensions, for he had nothing to gain, but had to sacrifice a part of his posses-

MISSIONARY RULE 73

sions. The only winner in this tragic game was the worst and most bloodthirsty of all, Tu, the first Christian king. It must be remarked that this king was the creation of the English, and that he was used as a tool in the hands of the mis- sionaries. The Europeans came, and not only upset all the moral ideas of the natives, but also their whole political system. Before European influence made itself felt in Tahiti, whenever a chief became intolerably arrogant or dangerous, the other chiefs united to overthrow him. All the wars that are remembered in island traditions were caused by the overweening pride, violence or abnormal ambition of the great chiefs of dis- tricts, and always ended in correcting existing evils and in restoring the balance of power.

The English came just at the time when one of these revolutions was in progress. The whole island had united to punish the chiefess of Papara for outrageous disregard of the island courtesies which took the place of international law between great chiefs. Purea had taken away the symbol of sovereignty she had assumed for her son, and had given it for safe-keeping to the chief of Paea. The natives and chiefs had recognized the chief of Pare, Arue, as entitled to wear the Maro-ura, which Purea had denied him by insult- ing his wife. Then the chief of Paea had tried to imitate Purea and assert supreme authority, only to be in his turn defeated and killed.

74 TAHITI THE ISLAND PARADISE

Probably Tu would never have attempted a similar course if the English had not insisted on recognizing and treating him as king of the whole island. He was one of the weakest of the chiefs and enjoyed little if any reputation as a military power. The other chiefs would have easily kept him in his proper place if the English had not constantly supported him and restored him to power when he was vanquished. English interference and the assistance of the mission- aries prolonged his ambition and caused the con- stant revolutions which gave no chance for the people to recover from the losses. Pomare was a shrewd politician and with the assistance of English guns finally gained control over the whole island, crushing tribal rule, the safeguard of the people under his despotic rule. All visitors to the island became aware how desper- ately the unfortunate people struggled against the English policy of creating and supporting a tyranny. The brutality and violence of Tu made him equally hated by his own people of Pare and by the Teva districts. Of these facts the missionaries had full knowledge, as is evident from their numerous correspondents, neverthe- less, they assisted him in carrying out his plans to gain control over the entire island. They supplied him freely with firearms and ammuni- tion. To preserve peace the missionaries did some very curious things which suggest, as they

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hinted, that they were glad to see the natives

fighting together, as is evident from one of their

daily records :

August 20, 1800. — We hear great preparations are making, whether for war or peace is to be determined in a short time, by some heathenish divination. If it should prove for war, those who are eager for blood seem determined to glut themselves, we rejoice that the Lord of Hosts is the God of the heathen as well as the Captain of the Armies of Israel ; and while the pot- sherds of the earth are dashing themselves to pieces one against the other, they are fulfilling his determinate counsels and foreknowledge.

In the month of June Pomare instituted a wholesale massacre to subject the entire island to his rule, and by brutal force gained the object of his ambition. In 1808 the political situation was such that the missionaries found, it necessary for their safety to leave the island, and fled with Pomare, November 12th, to the island of Moorea. Pomare's cruelties and atrocities practiced upon the natives during his tyrannical rule are well described in a pen-picture drawn by Moerenhout :

After having massacred all whom they had surprised (in Attahura), after having burned the houses, they went on to Papara, where Tati, who is still living (1837), was chief ; but fortunately a man who had escaped from the carnage of Punaauia came to warn the inhabitants of Papara, so that they had time, not to unite in defense, but to fly. Nevertheless, in that infernal night and the day following a great number of persons per- ished, especially old men, women and children ; and among the victims were the widow and children of

76 TAHITI — THE ISLAND PARADISE

Aripaia (Ariifaataia) Amo's son, who, surprised the next evening near Taiarahu, were pitilessly massacred with all their attendants. Tati and some of his warriors suc- ceeded in reaching a fort called Papeharoro, at Mair- epehe ; but they were too few to maintain themselves there, and were forced to take refuge in the most inaccessible parts of the high mountains, from whence this chief succeeded in getting to a canoe which some of his faithful followers provided for him, and kept in readiness on the shore, at the peril of their lives. With him were his brother and his young son, whom he had himself carried in his arms during all this time of fatigue and dangers.

Opuhara became chief of Papara, and soon afterward chief of the island, and remained the chief personage of Tahiti during the next seven years. Ellis, the historian of the missionaries, described him as an intelligent and interesting man.

At Moorea, Pomare's friends were Paumo- tuans, Boraborans, Raiateans, missionaries, and outcasts. Even these at last abandoned him. The missionary journal shows that they had long regarded their work as a failure, and after identifying themselves with Pomare, in spite of emphatic warnings, no other result was possible. So the missionaries, leaving only Mr. Nott at Moorea, sailed for Australia, not daring to accept the proffered protection of the Tahiti chiefs, because they could not separate them- selves, in the minds of the common people, from Pomare and his interests. At Moorea, Pomare

MISSIONARY RULE 77

urged the visiting chiefs to become Christians. On the 18th of July, 1812, he announced his own decision to the missionaries, and shortly after- wards, on invitation from his old district of Pare Arue, he returned to Tahiti, where he was per- mitted to remain for two years, as an avowed Christian, unmolested by his old enemies. He took up his residence at Pare Arue as a Christian chief, August 13, 1812, and kept up a corre- spondence with the missionaries at Moorea.

The missionaries returned and were more suc- cessful in Christianizing the people. On the 17th of February, 1813, Pomare wrote : ^'Matavai has been delivered up to me. When I am per- fectly assured of the sincerity of this surrender I will write to you another letter." The mis- sionaries made a tour of the island ; many con- versions took place ; in Moorea several idols were publicly burned; there could be no doubt that the Christians were pursuing an active course, and that their success would bring back the authority of Pomare over the whole island ; but neither Opuhara nor Tati interfered, and the peace remained. Yet, after waiting two years at Pare, vainly expecting the restoration of his government, and endeavoring to recover his authority in his hereditary districts, Pomare returned to Moorea in the autumn of 1814, accompanied by a large train of adherents and dependents, all professing Christianity. At the

78 TAHITI — THE ISLAND PARADISE

same time the Christian converts in Tahiti became an organization known as the Bure Atua, and every one could see that Pomare was making use of them, and of his wife's resources, to begin a new effort to recover by force his authority in the island. War was inevitable, and Pomare, with his Christian followers and missionaries, could choose the time and place.

Pomare himself was not a soldier, nor had he anything of a soldierly spirit. He left active campaigning to his wives, who were less likely to rouse the old enmity. His two wives, Terite and Pomare vehine, came over to Pare Arue May, 1815, with a large party of Christians, and urged their plans for the overthrow of the native chiefs. The chiefs had no other alternative than to get rid of them, and fixed the night of July 7th for the combined attack. Opuhara led the forces, and it is said that he had given the two queens timely warning to effect their escape. For his delay some of the other chiefs charged him with treachery. He replied that he wished no harm to the two women or their people ; that his enemies were the Parionuu ; and he marched directly into Pare Arue, and subdued it once more. »

While Pomare and the missionaries grew stronger, and, as Ellis expressed it, "became con- vinced that the time was not very remote when their faith and principles must rise preeminent

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above the power and influence" of the native chiefs, the chiefs themselves exhibited vacillation. Pomare returned, with all his following, appar- ently armed and prepared for war. The native converts were trained to the use of firearms and the whole missionary interest became, for the moment, actively militant. The native chiefs remained passive. Under the appearance of religious services, Pomare and the missionaries kept their adherents under arms and prepared them for any hostilities that might arise.

With his army numbering eight hundred, two war canoes, one manned with musketeers, the other with a swivel gun in the stern, commanded by a white man, Pomare, on November 11th, took possession at or near the village of Punaauia, near Papara, with pickets far in advance. Opuhara hastily summoned his men in the famous battle of Fei-pi (the ripe plantains). The field of battle was among the foothills near the coast. Opuhara's warriors made a valiant attack and pierced the front ranks of the enemy till it reached the spot where one of the queens, Pomare vehine, and the chief warriors stood. There one of the native converts leveled his gun at Opuhara, fired, the chief fell, and in a very short time expired. The leader of the native forces was killed by one of his own people who had cast his lot with Pomare and the missionaries.

This war was brought on to force the natives

80 TAHITI — THE ISLAND PARADISE

to Pomare's rule, and not for the purpose of removing obstacles to the Christianization of the islanders, as the chiefs were not opposed to the peaceable dissemination of the teachings of the gospel. It was a political and not a religious war, and in this political endeavor the missionaries and their converts took the leading part. The missionaries evidently forgot the legitimate object of their mission and unmercifully slaugh- tered the natives who took up arms to defend their rights. The Christians on Pomare's side were fighting for supremacy, unmindful of the teachings of the sacred Scriptures.

For he shall have judgment without mercy, that hath showed no mercy; and mercy rejoiceth against judg- ment St. James ii : 13.

When Opuhara fell, his men lost courage, retreated, and were not pursued. The death of Opuhara was deeply regretted by Tati, his near relative and successor in the government of the district. In the ranks of his followers it was firmly believed Opuhara, few as his forces were, would have vanquished the enemy, had not the native missionaries been taught to shoot as they were taught to pray, and been supplied with guns along with Bibles. With the death of Opuhara the last hope of the natives was dissipated and submission to Pomare's rule became a stern reality. Neither the missionaries nor the natives had any idea of allowing Pomare to recede into

MISSIONARY RULE 81

his old ways. They made him refrain from mas- sacre or revenge after the battle of Fei-pi. Tati, the chief of Papara, maintained peace from that time by his wise rule in that part of the island. He began by the usual island custom of binding Pomare to him by the strongest possible ties. The rapid extinction of chiefly families in Tahiti had left the head chief of Moorea heir to most of the distinguished names and properties in both islands. Marama, the head chief of Moorea, had only one heir, a daughter, a relative of Pomare. This great heiress, almost the last remnant of the three or four sacred families of the two islands, was given by Pomare in marriage to Tati's son, immediately after Tati himself was restored to his rights as head chief of the Tevas. In doing so he claimed for his own the first child that Marama (the bride) should have and made at the same time a compact that the children from the marriage should marry into the Pomare family. These conditions were made to render himself more influential with the most refractory of the conquered tribes. Pomare II. died Decem- ber 7, 1821, leaving a daughter, Aimata, and a son, Pomare III, a child in arms. Aimata was never regarded with favor by Pomare, her father, who was frank in saying that she was not his child; so the infant son was made heir to the throne. Moerenhout made the statement that Pomare, on his deathbed, expressed the wish that

62 TAHITI — THE ISLAND PARADISE

Tati should take the reins of the government in his hands, but that the missionaries and other chiefs were afraid to trust Tati, and preferred to take the charge of the infant king on themselves. The missionaries in due time went through the formal ceremony of crowning the infant, April 22, 182J:, at Papara, and then took him to their school, the South Sea Academy, which was estab- lished in March, 1824, in the island of Moorea at Papetoai. There he was taught to read and write, and educated in English, wdiich became his language, until he was seven years old, when he fell ill, and was taken over to his mother at Pare, where he died January 11, 1827. During the reign of the infant king, Mata, a friend of the family, managed the affairs of state and became the guardian of Aimata, as the Queen, Pomare IV., was always called by the natives. Aimata was married at the age of nine years. She led an unhappy life, domestic, political, private and pub- lic, until at last the missionaries, English and French, fought so violently for control of her and the island that she was actually driven away.

Among other laws which were supposed to have been passed through the influence of the English missionaries, to prevent strangers from obtaining influence in the island, was one dated March 1, 1833, forbidding strangers, under any pretext, from marrying in Tahiti or Moorea. Ariitaimai, of noble birth, the historian of Tahiti,

MISSIONARY RULE 83

was not inclined to marry a native chief, a de- cision which met the approval of Marama, her mother. She finally consented to become the wife of Mr. Salmon, an Englishman, who was held in high esteem and consideration in the island ; and Aimata suspended the law in order to enable her friend to be married to the man of her choice. The missionaries virtually ruled the island for forty years.

WARS BETWEEN PROTESTANT AND CATHOLIC MISSIONARIES

In 1836 two French missionary priests landed at Tahiti to convert, not pagans, but Protestants to the Roman Catholic faith. The Protestant missionaries, who held the reins of the govern- ment, indignant at this interference, invoked the aid of the British consul, Pritchard, who caused the Queen to order their arrest and expulsion. The order was executed December 12, 1836. The two priests made a protest to their govern- ment, and King Louis Philippe sent a frigate to Papeete with the usual ultimatum, to which the Queen naturally acceded. Then began a struggle on the part of Consul Pritchard and the English missionaries to recover their ground, which led to a letter from Queen Pomare to Queen Victoria, suggesting a British protectorate, whereupon the French government sent another warship to Tahiti, in 1839, and made Aimata repeat her submission. As the British government at that time did not take much interest in missionaries, and Sir Robert Peel had a very precise knowledge of the value of unclaimed islands all over the w^orld. Queen Victoria did not accept the prop- osition made by the Tahitian Queen, and the mis- sionaries were again th.rown on their own re- sources.

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PROTESTANT-CATHOLIC MISSION WARS 85

The chiefs ignored the missionaries, and in September, 1841, decided that, between such powers as England and France, they could not hope to maintain independence or even a good understanding, and since England refused the proffered protectorate, they would turn to France. So they drew up the necessary papers for the Queen to approve, but a British war vessel arrived in that critical moment, and this re- enforcement of British interests induced the vacillating Queen to refuse to sign them. The next August another French naval force arrived^ and the chiefs again met in council, with the admiral's aid and advice. The chiefs sent the following letter to the French admiral, Du Petit — Tuhouars :

Inasmuch as we can not continue to govern ourselves so as to live on good terms with foreign governments, and we are in danger of losing our island, our kingdom, and our liberty, we, the Queen and the high chiefs of Tahiti, write to ask the King of the French to take us under his protection.

In response to this formal request the French admiral, on September 30, 1842, hoisted the flag of the protectorate. This did .not end the polit- ical and religious troubles of the little island. Consul Pritchard, who had been absent from his post for some time, returned from England Feb- ruary 23, 1843, and declared violent war against the French. As usual. Queen Pomare yielded to his wishes, and refused to obey those of the

86 TAHITI — THE ISLAND PARADISE

French admiral. The admiral lost his patience and temper, landed troops and took possession of the island, declared the Queen deposed, and, when disturbances arose, which he believed to be fomented and fostered by Pritchard, he arrested him and had him expelled from the island. This act excited much attention, both in the English and French press, which resulted in an order from the King of France to the admiral to restore the protectorate.

It will be seen that the last wars of Tahiti were caused by a religious intolerance on the part of the English missionaries, who objected to the presence of two Roman Catholic priests in the island. European governments were appealed to and had to interfere in establishing in the island free religious thought. It was a fight between two religious denominations which kept the natives in a state of warfare, a most serious reflection on Christian charity,

Alas for the rarity Of Christian charity Under the sun.

Hood.

The constant unrest of the islanders caused by outside interference provoked frequent rebel- lions, for ''general rebellions and revolts of an whole people never were encouraged, now or at any time ; they are always provoked."

The two priests, bent upon a humane mission,

PROTESTANT-CATHOLIC MISSION WARS 87

who, by their presence in Tahiti, without any fault of their own, incurred the enmity of the Protestant missionaries, were the direct cause of French intervention which resulted in the pro- tectorate and later annexation of the island. The priests remained, new ones came, and to- day nearly one-half of the population of the island arc mem.bers of the Roman Catholic church.

The teachings and example of the English mis- sionaries and their conduct toward the Catholic priests prove only too plainly :

Christian graces and virtues they can not be, unless fed, invigorated and animated by universal charity.

Atterbury.

THE LAST WAR

Our country sinks beneath the yoke ;

It weeps, it bleeds, and each new day a gash

Is added to her wounds.

Shakespeare.

The disturbances which preceded and followed the establishment of the French protectorate in- duced the Queen to seek safety on a British ship, and the whole Pomare following took up arms and established themselves in the stronghold of native power and influence near Papeete. Another civil war broke out which waged between the natives and Europeans from 1844 to 1845. Tired of foreign dictation and oppression, the natives fought with desperation. Forts, v/hich remain to- day in a good state of preservation, were erected by natives and the French. Most of the ruins of these forts are scattered along the ninety-mile drive between Papeete and Papara. From time to time, determined attacks were made with vary- ing fortunes of war. The natives were superior in number but could not stand up against the well-directed firearms of the professional soldiers. A last and crushing attack was ordered by the French admiral, which meant certain defeat for the natives.

It was at this critical time that a woman came to the rescue of her people and prevented a

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wholesale slaughter of the heroic defenders of the island. This woman was Ariitaimai, the authoress of the book we have been following so closely in sketching the history of the island. She was the daughter of the famous Marama, of Moorea, the wife of Mr. Salmon, and the mother of Tati Salmon, the present chief of Papara. She recognized the hopelessness of the cause of her people and determined to prevent further useless bloodshed and establish peace. It required good judgment and a great deal of courage to under- take the task which she finally accomplished with such a brilliant success. She was one of those who believed that

Almost all difficulties may be got the better of by prudent thought, revolving and pondering much in the mind. Marcellinus.

She was intensely patriotic and had no fear of the results of her daring mission. She was very popular with the natives and well known to the French authorities, which aided her very much in formulating and carrying out her plans. She had no time to lose, as the decisive attack on her countrymen had been ordered and was to take place the next day. She called on Bruaat, the governor of the island, with the determined intention to end the war. He granted her twenty- four hours to accomplish her task. She then called a meeting of the head chiefs and urged them to surrender on the conditions stipulated by

90 TAHITI THE ISLAND PARADISE

the French, in view of the hopelessness of the island's cause. At that time this woman was the most conspicuous figure in the politics of the island, loved and respected by the chiefs and the people throughout Tahiti and Moorea. The head chiefs received her proposition with favor. Notable speeches complimentary to her v/ere made on this occasion. One chief said :

Ariitaimai, you have flown amongst us, as it were, like the two birds, Ruataa and Toena. Your object was to join together Urarii and Mauu, and you have brought them into this valley. You have brought the cooling medicines of vainu and mahainuieumu into the hearts of the chiefs that are collected here. Our hearts yearn for you, and we can not in words thank you; but the land, one and all, will prove to you in the future that your visit will always remain in their memory. You have come personally. I have heard you speak the words out of your own mouth. You have brought us the best of all goods, which is peace. You have done this when you thought we were in great trouble, and ran the risk of losing our lives and property; you have come forward as a peacemaker for us all.

What beautiful thoughts in simple, homely

language ! What a splendid specimen of natural

oratory !

In oratory, affectation must be avoided ; it being better for a man by a native and clear eloquence to express himself than by those words which may smell either of the lamp or ink-horn.

Lord Herbert of Cherbury.

The chiefs unanimously accepted the terms of peace, and after the adjournment of the

THE LAST WAR 91

council, Ariitaimai hastened to Papeete with the message of the chiefs, which was accepted, and once more the protectorate flag was raised and was recognized and respected by the chiefs and the people. During all these great final trials of the island, the Queen remained in the island of Moorea and even after peace was restored and she was formally requested to return, she refused to do so. The French author- ities offered the crown repeatedly to Ariitaimai, but as often, she refused the great honor. The exiled Queen was her intimate and dear friend and

Ennuis has well remarked that "a real friend is known in adversity." Cicero.

She was content with having accomplished a patriotic deed and with the respect, love and gratitude of her people.

So true it is, that honor, prudently declined, often comes back with increased lustre. Livius.

She could say :

Give me a staff of honour for mine age; But not a sceptre to control the world.

Shakespeare.

and

'Tis less to conquer than to make wars cease, And, without fighting, awe the world to peace.

Halifax.

9^ TAHITI — THE ISLAND PARADISE

Ariitaimai made several visits to the unhappy Queen, urging her to return and resume her reign of the island, and had the satisfaction, finally, to bring her back from Raiatea on her third visit.

True friends visit us in prosperity only when invited, but in adversity they come without invitation.

Theophrastus.

The Queen, on her return, was received with regal honors by the French authorities and by the people.

Pomare V. was the last of the kings of Tahiti. He was the oldest son of Queen Pomare IV. and known as Ariiane Pomare. He was married to Marau Taawa Salmon, Tati Salmon's sister, and had two daughters : Teriimii-o-Tahiti, and Arii mainhinihi. Under European influences and customs he became a degenerate Tahitian, prof- ligate and dissipated, and it is said that he was largely responsible for the annexation of the island to France as a colony in 1880, as he received a substantial remuneration for his in- fluence in that direction and a pension of sixty thousand francs a year. He died in :1891. Since Tahiti has become a French possession the island has enjoyed uninterrupted peace. The French government has been exceedingly liberal with the natives, having interfered as little as possible with their habits and customs.

THE LAST WAR 93

That is the best government which desires to make the people happy, and knows how to make them happy.

Macauley.

The island is governed under the French laws, but local laws and tribal rule remain and admin- ister the local affairs. In completing the eventful history of this little island it becomes apparent :

What is public history but a register of the successes and disappointments, the vices, the follies and quarrels of those engaged in the contention for power.

Paley.

The government has established and enforced religious liberty, observing the precept: "The protection of religion is indispensable to all gov- ernment" (Bishop Warburton). Taxation is limited to road tax only. The annexation was looked upon with great disfavor by the natives, but was finally accepted with good grace, and peace and happiness have reigned since.

THE NATIVES

The Polynesians inhabiting the islands of the great Pacific Ocean constitute a distinct race of people, supposed at one time by certain writers to be of American origin, now almost univer- sally admitted to have a close affinity with the Malays of the peninsula and Indian Archipelago, and hence classified by Dr. Latham under his subdivision Oceanic a Mongolidce. In physical structure and appearance the Polynesians in gen- eral more nearly resemble the Malays than they do any other race, although differing from them in some respects, as, indeed, the natives of several of the groups also do from each other. Centuries and environment have left their impress on the inhabitants of the different islands, as

Everything that is created is changed by the laws of man ; the earth does not know itself in the revolution of years ; even the races of man assume various forms in the course of years, Manilics.

In stature the Tahitian compares well with any other race. The face is expressive of more than ordinary intelligence. The color of the skin varies from almost black to a light yellow. The aquiline nose is commonly seen among them, and there are many varieties of hair and complexion. In complexion they resemble more nearly the

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9G TAHITI — THE ISLAND PARADISE

is something fascinating about the women, im- parted by the luxurious jet-black hair, the large black eyes as they gaze at the strangers

With a smile that is childlike and bland.

Francis Bret Harte.

Beauty and youth among the Tahitian women are of short duration, and in most of them advanced age brings an undesirable degree of corpulence.

Cook visited these people when they were in their original physical and moral state. He praises their openness and generosity. ''Neither does care ever seem to wrinkle their brow. On the contrary, even the approach of death does not appear to alter their usual vivacity. I have seen them, when brought to the brink of the grave by disease, and when preparing to go to battle ; but in neither case, never observed their countenance overclouded with melancholy, or serious reflec- tion. Such a disposition leads them to direct all their aims only to what can give them pleasure and ease."

The whole countenance is a certain silent language of the mind. Cicero.

These mental traits have been preserved up to the present time. Melancholy and suicide are almost unknown in Tahiti. The people are happy, contented and free from care and anxiety and

THE NATIVES 97

Enjoy the pleasures of the passing hour, and bid adieu for a time to grave pursuits. Horatius.

They seem to know that

Care and the desire for more Attend the still increasing store.

Horatius.

Desire for great wealth does not exist among the natives. Nature has supplied them with nearly all they need, hence little remains for them to do to meet their modest desires.

Religion has not done away entirely with super- stition, and has improved their morals little, if any. Old European residents of Papeete agree that the morality of the natives has not improved since they have been under the influence of civilization, forced on them by the European invaders. The greatest fault of the people is their incurable laziness, a vice for which they are not entirely responsible, as Nature has pro- vided so bountifully for their needs. Robbery, stealing and murder are almost unknown; petty thefts, on the contrary, are quite common. The people, young and old, are affable, extremely courteous and hospitable to a fault; the family ties strong, and extending to the remotest rela- tives.

Man is a social animal, and born to live together so as to regard the world as one house. Seneca.

Nowhere in the world are the people more sociable than in Tahiti. This sociability was

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98 TAHITI — THE ISLAND PARADISE

perhaps more pronounced before the island was discovered than it is now, but it remains to this day as one of the prominent characteristics of the Polynesian race. Respect and love for par- ents, strong attachments to relatives and friends, are striking virtues of the Tahitians. They love social intercourse and have the highest regard for friendship. Poverty and misfortunes do not intercept friendships, on the contrary they cement them more firmly.

The firmest friendships have been formed in mutual adversity; as iron is most strongly united by the fiercest flames. Colton.

Before European influence had made itself felt in the island, each tribe constituted a large fam- ily, and property lines were not sharply defined. As long as there was anything to eat, no one v/as left hungry. The Tahitians are extremely fond of mingling with their relatives, friends, members of the same and other tribes. They appreciate to the fullest extent that "we have been born to unite with fellow-men, and to join in community with the human race" (Cicero). They treat old age with reverence and respect, and take the very best care of the sick and poor.

Unity of feelings and affections is the strongest relationship. Publius Syrus.

Under the teachings of the missionaries, Protestant and Catholic, paganism has disap-

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peared from the island. All are church-members and attend service regularly. The denomina- tions represented are the Episcopalians, Cath- olics and Latter-day Saints in above numerical order. Most of the priests and preachers are natives. Christianity, has, however, failed to suppress immorality and do away entirely with the inborn superstition of the natives. The former evil is firmly rooted, the latter difficult of

complete eradication.

• Nothing has more power over the multitude than superstition : in other respects powerless, ferocious, fickle, when it is once captivated by superstitious notions, it obeys its priests better than its leaders.

QUINTUS CURTIUS RUFUS.

Wicked habits are productive of vice, and vice follows long-standing habits. The Tahitians are by nature kind, affectionate, and their opinions are easily moulded for good or bad, but many of their customs and habits cling to them in spite of civilization and Christianization, for ''how many unjust and wicked things are done from mere habit!" (Terentius) ; and ''so much power has custom over tender minds" (Virgilius).

The children of Tahiti are given excellent opportunities for obtaining a good elementary education. In all of the larger villages there is a government school, usually two churches. Catholic and Protestant, and their respective parochial schools. The natives love their Ian-

100 TAHITI — THE ISLAND PARADISE

guage and are averse to the French, hence, as a rule, the parochial are better patronized than the government schools. The literature in the Tahitian language is limited to translations of the Bible, catechisms, religious song books and a few school books. Children of the better classes who seek a higher education, go abroad, in pref- erence to the United States. Few show any ambition to enter any of the professions with the exception of the clerical. The mass of the people are content in leading an easy, dreamy life, showing no disposition either to acquire wealth or fame. Agriculture, manufacture and com- merce have no attraction for them. They are children from the cradle to the grave, have the desires of children, and are pleased with what pleases children. Their tastes are simple, their desires few, and instead of in care and worry, they live through their span of life in peace of mind and contentment.

But if men would live according to reason's rules, they would find the greatest riches to live content with little, for there is never want where the mind is satisfied. Lucretius.

In contrast to the Westerner, the favored Tahitian can say :

I have everything, yet have nothing ; and although I possess nothing, still of nothing am I in want.

Terrence.

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THE NATIVES 101

cipal articles of diet. Their habits in this direc- tion have not undergone much change since

^Captain Cook wrote :.

Their common diet is made up of at least nine- tenths vegetable food ; and, I believe, more particularly, the mahee, or fermented breadfruit, which enters almost every meal, has a remarkable effect upon them, preventing a costive habit, and producing a very sensible coolness about them, which could not be perceived in us who fed on animal food. And it is, perhaps, owing to this temperate course of life that they have so few diseases among them.

Smoking is indulged in only to a moderate extent, cigarettes and pipe being the favorite methods of consuming the weed.

Art has never had a place in the minds of the Tahitians. All attempts in this direction in design, carving and sculpture, are rude. Like all primitive peoples, they are fond of music. Their voices are sweet, but the airs of their music are monotonous. The primitive drum, and a little crude instrument made of bamboo, some- thing like a flute, placed in one of the nostrils when played, are the instruments in most com- mon use. The national dance, formerly the principal amusement of the people, is discouraged by the government, but is allowed once a year as a special favor to the natives.

100 TAHITI — THE ISLAND PARADISE

guage and are averse to the French, hence, as a rule, the parochial are better patronized than the government schools. The literature in the Tahitian language is limited to translations of the Bible, catechisms, religious song books and a few school books. Children of the better classes who seek a higher education, go abroad, in pref- erence to the United States. Few show any ambition to enter any of the professions with the exception of the clerical. The mass of the people are content in leading an easy, dreamy life, showing no disposition either to acquire wealth or fame. Agriculture, manufacture and com- merce have no attraction for them. They are children from the cradle to the grave, have the desires of children, and are pleased with what pleases children. Their tastes are simple, their desires few, and instead of in care and worry, they live through their span of life in peace of mind and contentment.

But if men would live according to reason's rules, they would find the greatest riches to live content with little, for there is never want where the mind is satisfied. Lucretius.

In contrast to the Westerner, the favored Tahitian can say :

I have everything, yet have nothing ; and although I possess nothing, still of nothing am I in want.

Terrence.

The natives are temperate in drinking, and frugal in eating. Fish and fruit are their prin-

THE NATIVES 101

cipal articles of diet. Their habits in this direc- tion have not undergone much change since .Captain Cook wrote :.

Their common diet is made up of at least nine- tenths vegetable food ; and, I believe, more particularly, the mahee, or fermented breadfruit, which enters almost every meal, has a remarkable effect upon them, preventing a costive habit, and producing a very sensible coolness about them, which could not be perceived in us who fed on animal food. And it is, perhaps, owing to this temperate course of life that they have so few diseases among them.

Smoking is indulged in only to a moderate extent, cigarettes and pipe being the favorite methods of consuming the weed.

Art has never had a place in the minds of the Tahitians. All attempts in this direction in design, carving and sculpture, are rude. Like all primitive peoples, they are fond of music. Their voices are sweet, but the airs of their music are monotonous. The primitive drum, and a little crude instrument made of bamboo, some- thing like a flute, placed in one of the nostrils when played, are the instruments in most com- mon use. The national dance, formerly the principal amusement of the people, is discouraged by the government, but is allowed once a year as a special favor to the natives.

FOREIGNERS IN TAHITI

Most of the foreigners who remain perma- nently in Tahiti become attached to the island by marriage, the strongest possible incentive to make it their permanent home. Many of these men are adventurers. Some of them have honest intentions to make this beautiful island their per- manent home. Far away from their place of birth and relatives, charmed by the beauties of the island, they conclude :

I will take some savage woman ; she shall rear mj' dusky race. Tennyson.

In many instances such unions have resulted very happily. On the voyage from San Fran- cisco to Tahiti, I met Mr. George R. Richardson, a native of Springfield, Mass., who had lived for the last thirty years, with his native wife on the little atoll island, Kaukuaia of the Tuamotu group, one hundred and sixty-eight miles from Tahiti. He was suffering from carcinoma of the esophagus, and was returning from San Fran- cisco, whither he had gone for medical advice. His parents were still living, but he had no desire to visit the place of his birth, so fully had he become acclimated to the climatic and native conditions of the Society Islands. He was then fifty-five years of age. He left the United States

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March 4, 1874, on a sailing vessel, and six months later landed at Tahiti. In six months he had ob- tained a fair knowledge of the native language, and married in Kaukuaia a woman who could not speak a word of English. This union resulted in sixteen children, three of whom died, six girls and seven boys living at the present time, and of these, three girls and two boys are married. Through his wife he inherited from her mother five acres of land with three thousand cocoanut- palms. To this land he obtained a legal owner- ship eight years ago by virtue of a law of legal registration passed by the government. The island on which he lives contains only one hun- dred and fifty inhabitants and the only income is obtained from copra and mother-of-pearl.

The inhabitants of this island are Catholics and Mormons. A Catholic priest comes once a month to minister to the spiritual needs of the adher- ents to the faith of his church. The services of both denominations are conducted in the native language. He and a Frenchman are the only white inhabitants of the island.

On February 16, 1878, a great storm over- flooded the island and our American, who spent a whole night in the crown of a cocoanut tree, lost everything. Only five thousand cocoanut trees were left on the whole island. A man-of- war came from Tahiti three days later and min- istered to the urgent needs of the survivors.

104 TAHITI THE ISLAND PARADISE

The inhabitants of this little island suflfer frequently from malaria and grippe. The latter disease returns regularly almost every year. Of the remaining diseases, diarrhea and dysentery are the most common. Tuber- culosis is prevalent and claims many victims. This island has now a population of one hun- dred and fifty, and during his residence he has never seen a physician, although the in- habitants were frequently in need of medical services. He was obliged to render his wife assistance at the birth of all of his children, and strangely, each time without any mishap, either to mother or child. What happened on that island must have happened on the many other dis- tant islands under similar circumstances. Here, like elsewhere, in the South Sea Islands, are medicine-men who attend to tooth-pulling, and, when any cutting is to be done, a scalpel is made of a piece of glass. In case of sickness they make use of roots and herbs of their own gathering.

BUSINESS IN TAHITI

The Tahitian is not a business man. What Httle business is transacted in the island is done by foreigners. The larger stores in Papeete are owned and managed by French, Germans and Americans. The smaller stores in the city, and nearly all small shops in the villages, are in the hands of Chinamen.

The fertile soil of Tahiti is not made use of to any considerable extent. The sugar industry has been tried but has been entirely abandoned, owing to high wages for labor and exorbitant freight rates. The principal articles of export are copra, cocoanuts, vanilla-beans and mother-of-pearl shells. Copra (dried meat of cocoanut), brings three cents a kilo and cocoanuts are sold at a cent apiece. The raising of vanilla-beans was a paying industry five years ago, when they com- manded a price of seventeen dollars a pound, and were then eagerly sought for in the market, as they were considered superior in flavor to those of any other country. The Chinamen have ruined this source of income as well as the reputation of the product. These shrewd business men control the local market completely and go from place to place long before harvest-time, buy the whole crop for the year for cash, and have the beans picked before they are ripe and mature them arti-

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106 TAHITI THE ISLAND TARADISE

ficially. The result of such dishonest trans- actions has been that, owing to the poor quaUty of the beans thus treated, the price of the article has been reduced to three or four dollars per pound.

The vanilla-bean grows best in the shady forests, and requires but little attention except artificial fertilization of the flowers and picking of the beans. In the West Indies the numerous insects fertilize the monogamous flowers ; in this island, this has to be done largely by artificial fecundation. Women and children do this work. With a sharp little stick, the pollen is taken from the anthers and rubbed over the stir^ma of the pistil. A child who is active can fertilize fifteen hundred flowers a day. It is a great pity that this industry has been cheapened by the avari- cious Chinamen, as it is an industry that requires very little labor and should be remunerative, as the soil and climate are peculiarly well adapted for the cultivation of this valuable aromatic.

Most of the fruit w^hich grows in Tahiti is too perishable for transportation and is consequently very cheap. The largest and most luscious pine- apples can be bought for three cents apiece, oranges one-fourth of a cent. Alligator pears, the finest fruit grown anywhere, are sold at the market for two and three cents apiece. At the time of my visit, eggs were sold at forty cents a dozen. INIeat, with the exception of pork, is im-

BUSINESS IN TAHITI 107

ported from New Zealand and the United States. Most of the native families raise hogs, and this animal is found also in a wild state in the jungles of the forests.

The wages, for this island, are rather high. An ordinary laborer is paid seventy-five cents a day, and the women who are willing to work can earn fifty cents a day. The average Tahitian works only long enough to procure the neces- sities of life, and, as these are few, it is difficult to find men and women for ordinary labor and housework.

The fact that there is no bank in the w^hole island shows that the amount of money which circulates among the people is very small. Some enterprising American attempted to establish a telephone line encircling the island, but lack of patronage soon paralyzed the undertaking. The island is a place for a dreamy, easy existence, and not for business.

The communication with the outside world is carried on by two regular steamer lines, one from San Francisco, the other from Auckland, but both of these lines are supported by liberal government subsidies to make them remunerative, as the passenger traffic and the exports and im- ports of the island would not suffice to make them independent of government aid.

OLD TAHITI

What will not length of time be able to change?

Claudianus.

Tahiti is exceedingly interesting to-day, but how much more so must it have been to Captain Wallis and his crew, who first set their eyes on this gem of the Pacific ! When the Dolphin came in sight of this beautiful island that never before had been seen by a white man, we can readily imagine officers and crew straining their eyes to see first its rugged outlines, and later the details of the wonderful landscapes. Under the blue sky and lighted up by the vigorous rays of the tropic sun, they could see the mountain-peaks clothed in the verdure of a tropic forest, the little island set like a gem in the ocean, and, as they beheld these mountains and turned their eyes upward they could also see

They were canopied by the blue sky, so cloudless, clear, and purely beautiful that God alone was to be seen in heaven. Byron.

As they approached nearer and saw the natural wealth of the island and its happy inhabitants basking in the sunshine, eating what Nature had provided for them without care or toil on their part, they must have come to the unavoidable conclusion that they at last had found a land where

108

TAHITIAN GIRL IN NATIVE FESTIVE DRESS

OLD TAHITI 109

There was a never-ending spring, and flowers unsown were kissed by the warm western breeze. Then the unploughed land gave forth corn, and the ground, year after year, was white with full ears of grain. Rivers of milk, rivers of nectar ran, and the yellow honey continued to pour from the ever-green oak.

OviDius.

On landing, having overcome the animosity of the natives and ascertained the boundless resources of the island, they could not escape the conviction that they in their wanderings over the limitless sea, had at last found "a heaven on earth" (Milton).

What wonderful stories those men must have brought to Europe on their return after the long and hazardous voyage, when they related what they had seen in Tahiti, then in its primitive native state! Captain Cook made a longer stay in the Island on his first visit and had therefore a better opportunity to study the island, its resources and its interesting inhabitants. It Is on his descriptions we will rely in giving an account of some of the traits, customs and habits of the people as they existed at that time.

RELIGION OF THE NATIVES

Every one is, in a small degree, the image of God.

Manlius.

The most primitive of all races have some con- ception of a divinity and a life hereafter, for

A god has his abode within onr breast ; when he rouses us, the glow of inspiration warms us ; this holy rapture springs from the seeds of the divine mind sown in man. Ovidius.

Let us listen to Captain Cook concerning the religion of the Tahitians before they knew the name of God and the story of the Saviour while on earth :

The common people have only a very vague Idea of the religious sentiments of the race, but the priests, who are quite numerous, have established quite an extensive and somewhat complicated system. They do not worship one God, as possessing preeminence ; but believe in a plurality of divinities, who are all supposed to be very powerful, and, as different parts of the island, and the other islands in the neighbor- hood, have different ones, the inhabitants of such, no doubt, think that they have chosen the most potent and considerate one. Their devotion in serving their gods is remarkably conspicuous. Not only the whattas or offering-places of the morals are commonly loaded with fruits and animals, but there are few houses lacking a small place of the same sort. Many of them are so impressed with their obligations to their divinity

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that they will not begin a meal without first laying aside a morsel for their Eatooa (their god).

Their prayers are also very frequent, which they chant, much after the manner of songs, in their festive entertainments. They also believe in an evil spirit, they call Etee, who sometimes does them mischief, and to whom, as well as to their god, they make offerings.

But the mischiefs they fear from any superior invisi- ble beings are confined only to temporal things. They believe the soul to be both immaterial and immortal. They say that it keeps fluttering about the lips dur- ing the pangs of death, and that then it ascends and mixes with, or, as they express it, is eaten by the deity. In this state it remains for some time; after which it departs to a certain place destined for the reception of the souls of men, where it exists in eternal night, or, as they sometimes say, in twilight or dawn. They have no idea of any permanent punishment after death for crimes that they have committed on earth. They believe in the recognition of relatives and friends after death and in resuming the same relations as on earth. If the husband dies first, the soul of his wife is known to him on its arrival in the land of spirits. They resume their former acquaintance, in a spacious house, where the souls of the deceased assemble to recreate themselves with the gods. From here man and wife retire to their own habitation, where they remain forever.

The most singular part of their faith consists in claiming that not only man, but all other animals, trees, fruit and even stones are endowed with a soul, which at death, or upon being consumed or broken, ascends to the divinity, with whom they first mix, and after- ward pass into the mansion allotted to each.

112 TAHITI — THE ISLAND PARADISE

The temples of the Tahitians were the maraes, enclosures of stones, where the offerings were rendered, and on certain occasions human beings were sacrificed. The largest marae ever built in Tahiti is located at Papara and the ruins of it remain to-day. At the time of Captain Cook's visit there were numerous maraes all over the island, which served as places of worship, sacrifice and burial. The supreme chief of the whole island was always housed in a marae and after his death the marae was appropriated to his family and some of the principal people. Such a marae difi^ered little from the common ones, except in extent. Its principal part is a large, oblong pile of stones, lying loosely upon each other, about twelve or fourteen feet high, con- tracted towards the top, with a square area on each side, loosely packed with pebble stones, under which the bones of the chiefs are buried. At a little distance from the end nearest the sea is the place where the sacrifices are offered, which, for a considerable extent, is also loosely paved. There is here a very large scaffold, or whatta, on which the offerings, and other vegetables, are laid. But the animals are deposited on a smaller one, already mentioned, and the human sacri- fices are buried under different parts of the pave- ment. The marae is the altar of other nations. The skulls of the human sacrifices, after a few months, are exhumed and preserved in the marae.

RELIGION OF THE NATIVES 113

Captain Cook counted forty-nine such skulls in the marae in which he witnessed the human sac- rifice.

Cannibalism did not exist in Tahiti when the island was discovered, but human sacrifices were quite frequently offered as a kind of religious ceremony to appease the anger or displeasure of some offended god. The victims w^ere tramps and persons of no vocation. They were either clubbed or stoned to death by persons designated for this purpose by the priests. On Saturday, August 30, 1777, while Captain Cook was stationed at Matavai for the purpose of observing the transit of Venus, he received a message that on the following day a human sacrifice would be made at Attahura, to Eatooa, to implore the assistance of the deity against the inhabitants of the island of Moorea, who were then in a state of war with Tahiti. Towha, a chief and relative of the then reigning king, had killed a man for the sacrifice. Captain Cook, with several friends, accompanied King Otoo to witness the ceremony, and describes the event in detail :

On our way we landed upon a little island, which lies off Tettaha, where we found Towha and his retinue. After some little conversation between the two chiefs, on the subject of the war, Towha addressed himself to me, asking my assistance. When I excused myself, he seemed angry ; thinking it strange I, who had always declared myself to be the friend of their island, should not go and fight against its enemies. Before we parted 6

114 TAHITI THE ISLAND PARADISE

he gave to Otoo two or three red feathers, tied up in a tuft; and a lean, half-starved dog was put in a canoe that was to accompany us. We then emharked again, t.'d<;ing on board a priest who was to assist at the solemnity. As soon as we landed at Attahura, which was about two o'clock in the afternoon, Otoo expressed his desire that the seamen might be ordered to remain in the boat, and that Mr. Anderson, Mr. Webber and myself might take oflF our hats as soon as we should come to the marai, to which we immediately proceeded, attended by a great many men, and some boys, but not one woman. We found four priests and their attend- ants, or assistants, v»^aiting for us.

The dead body, or sacrifice, was in a small canoe that lay on the beach^ and partly in the water of the sea, fronting the marai. Two of the priests, with some of the attendants, were sitting by the canoe, the others at the marai. Our company stopped about twenty or thirty paces from the priests. Here Otoo placed himself ; we, and a few others standing by him, while the bulk of the people remained at a greater distance. The ceremony now began. One of the priest's attendants brought a young plantain tree, and laid it down before Otoo. Another approached with a small tuft of red feathers, twisted on some fibres of the cocoanut husk, with which he touched one of the King's, feet and then retired with it to his companions. One of the priests, seated at the marai, facing those who were upon the beach, now began a long prayer ; and, at certain times, sent down 3'oung plantain trees, which were laid upon the sacrifice. During this prayer, a man, who stood by the officiating priest, held in his hands two bundles, seemingly of cloth. One of them, as we afterward found, was the royal Maro; and the other, if I may be allowed the expression, was the ark of the Eatooa. As soon as the prayer was ended,

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the priests at the marai, with their attendants, went and sat down by those npon the beach, carrying with them the two bnndles. Here they renewed their prayers, dnring which the plantain trees were taken, one by one, at different times, from off the sacrifice, which was partly wrapped np in cocoa-leaves and small branches.

It was now taken out of the canoe^ and laid upon the beach, with the feet to the sea. The priests placed themselves around it, some sitting and others standing; and one, or more of them, repeated sentences for about ten minutes. The dead body was now uncovered, by removing the leaves and branches, and laid in a parallel direction with the seashore. One of the priests then, standing at the feet of it, pronounced a long praj^er, in which he was, at times, joined by the others, each holding in his hand a tuft of red feathers. In the course of this prayer, some hair was pulled off the head of the sacrifice, and the left eye taken out ; both of which were presented to Otoo, and wrapped up in a green leaf. He did not, however, touch it ; but gave^ to the man who presented it, the tuft of feathers, which he had received from Towha. This, with the hair and the eye, V\^ap carried back to the priests. Soon after, Otoo sent to them another piece of feathers, which he had given me in the morning to keep in my pocket. During some part of this last ceremony, a kingfisher making a noise in the trees, Otoo turned to me saying, "That is the Eatooa ;" and seemed to look upon it to be a good omen.

The body was then carried a little way, with its head toward the marai, and laid under a tree, near which were fixed three broad, thin pieces of wood, differently but rudely carved. The bundles of cloth were laid on a part of the marai, and the tufts of red feathers were placed at the feet of the sacrifice, round which the

116 TAHITI — THE ISLAND PARADISE

priests took their stations, and we were now allowed to go as near as we pleased. He seemed to be the chief priest who sat at a small distance, and spoke for a quarter of an hour, but with different tones and gestures ; so that he seemed often to expostulate with the dead person, to whom he constantly addressed him- self, and sometimes asked several questions, seemingl}^ with respect to the propriety of his having been killed. At other times, he made several demands, as if the deceased either now had power himself, or interest with the divinity, to engage him to comply with such requests. Among the petitions we understood, he asked him to deliver Eimeo (Moorea), Maheine its chief, the hogs, women and other things of the island into their hands ; which was, indeed, the express inten- tion of the sacrifice. He then chanted a prayer, which lasted nearly half an hour, in whining, melancholy tone, accompanied by two other priests, and in which Potatou and some others joined. In the course of this prayer, some more hair was plucked by a priest from the head of the corpse, and put upon one of the bundles. After this, the chief priest prayed alone, holding in his hand the feathers which came from Towha. When he had finished, he gave them to another, who prayed in like manner. Then all the tufts of the feathers were laid upon the bundles of cloth, which closed the ceremony at this place.

The corpse was then carried up to the most conspic- uous part of the marai, with the feathers, the two bundles of cloth, and the drums^ the last of which beat slowly. The feathers and bundles were laid against the pile of stones, and the corpse at the foot of them. The priests having again seated themselves round it, renewed their prayers, while some of their attendants dug a hole about two feet deep, into which they threw the unhappy victim, and covered it over with earth and

RELIGION OF THE NATIVES 117

stones. While they were putting him into the grave, a boy squeaked aloud and Omai (Captain Cook's inter- preter) said that it was the Eatooa.

The human sacrifice was followed by the offering of dogs and pigs. The many prayers and complicated ceremonies attending human sacrifice stamp it as a religious rite which has undoubtedly been practiced for centuries. In this particular instance it meant a message through the instrumentality of the unfortunate victim to implore Eatooa for assistance in the impending war with Moorea.

It is very interesting indeed to have an account of this ceremony preserved by an eye- witness like Captain Cook, and no apology is necessary here to have it reappear in all its minute details. Another religious ceremony of lesser import is circumcision. How this custom was introduced into Tahiti no one knows. It is more than probable that, in some way it came from the distant Orient in a modified form. It differs from the Jewish rite in that it is not per- formed on infants, but on boys approaching the age of puberty. Captain Cook gives the follow- ing description of the operation as he observed it :

When there are five or six lads pretty well grown up in a neighborhood the father of one of them goes to a Tahoua, or man of knowledge, and lets him know. He goes with the lads to the top of the hills, attended by a servant; and, seating one of them properly, intro- duces a piece of wood underneath the foreskin, and desires him to look aside at something he pretends is coming. Having thus engaged the young man's atten-

118 TAHITI — THE ISLAND PARADISE

tion to another object, he cuts through the skin upon the wood, with a shark's tooth, generally at one stroke. He then separates, or rather turns back, the divided parts; and, having put on a bandage, proceeds to per- form the same operation on the other lads. At the end of five days they bathe, and the bandages being taken off, the matter Is cleaned away. At the end of five days more they bathe again, and are well ; but a thickness of the prepuce, Vvhere it was cut, remaining, they go again to the mountains with the Tahoua and servant; and a fire being prepared, and some stones heated, the Tahoua puts the prepuce betv/een two of them, and squeezes it gently, which removes the thick- ness. They then return home, having their heads and other parts of their bodies, adorned with odoriferous flowers, and the Tahoua is rewarded for his services by their fathers, in proportion to their several abilities, with presents of hogs and cloth ; and if they be poor, their relations are liberal on the occasion.

How the wise man managed to keep the boys together during two stich painful ordeals is not easy to understand, but as they remained at their posts until all had passed through it speaks vol- umes for their good behavior and manly courage. That the Tahitians possessed many admirable virtues during their paganism proves only too clearly that

Virtue is shut out from no one; she is open to all, accepts all, invites all, gentlemen, freedmen, slaves, kings and exiles; she selects neither house nor fortune; she is satisfied with a hurnan witho-«t, ad Juliets.

Seneca.

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These virtues, the prayers, the sacrifices, the beHef in a supreme being and eternity, show that the Tahitians were imbued with a natural rehgion, for

The existence of God is so many ways manifest and the obedience we owe Him so congruous to the hglit of reason, that a great part of mankind give testimony to the law of nature. Locke,

The natives had no literature nor any com- munication with the outside world farther than the neighboring island groups. Their only book was nature, and this was read and studied with eagerness and intelligence. Their ancient history consisted of legendary lore handed down from generation to generation. But

There are books extant which they must needs allow of as proper evidence ; even the mighty volumes of visible nature, and the everlasting tables of right reason.

Eentley.

From century to century, from generation to generation, these people, without leaving a permanent record of what had happened and without being conscious of art or science, lived and died in a state of happiness and contentment.

For he had no catechism but the creation, needed no study but reilection, and read no book but the volume of the world. South.

That ignorance and vice should have existed among this primitive people, so completely iso- lated from the progressive part of the world, is

120 TAHITI — THE ISLAND PARADISE

not strange, as they lived in a land of plenty, fed and clothed, as it were, by the almost unaided resources of nature, conditions largely respon- sible for their inborn laziness. Ignorance and superstition go hand in hand. The Tahitians have always been extremely superstitious and both civilization and Christianization have been power- less in eradicating this national evil. We must, however, judge them not too severely in this matter, as superstition is by no means uncommon amongst us at the present day. Our best poets are not exempt from it.

I think it is the weakness of mine eyes That shapes this wondrous apparition : It comes upon me! Shakespeare.

Millions of spiritual creatures walk the earth unseen, both when we wake and when we sleep.

Milton.

A person terrified with the imagination of spectres is more reasonable than one who thinks the appearance of spirits fabulous and groundless. Addison.

With the progress and spread of education of the masses, superstition will gradually be starved out here as elsewhere. The greatest vice of the Tahitians is licentiousness, which remains as when Captain Cook visited the island. In speaking of the looseness of the marital relations, he says :

And so agreeable is this licentious plan of life to their disposition, that the most beautiful of both sexes thus commonly spend their youthful days, habituated

RELIGION OF THE NATIVES 121

to the practice of enormities which would disgrace the most savage tribes, but are peculiarly shocking amongst a people whose general character in other respects has evident traces of the prevalence of humane and tender feelings.

The Tahitians have reason to claim that

The vices collected through so many ages for a long time past flow in upon us. Seneca.

Intemperance among the natives has never had a firm foothold in the island and tobacco is used with moderation. Gambling, such a common vice among the peoples of the Orient, has never been cultivated and practiced to any extent in Tahiti. These ocean-bound people, living in happy and contented isolation, had no desire for national or personal wealth or fame, neither had they any inclination or desire for art or the sciences. They believed in the mottoes :

If you are but content, you have enough to live upon with comfort. Plautus.

and

Ambition breaks the ties of blood, and forgets the obligations of gratitude. Sir Walter Scott.

They lived a restful, unselfish life, happy in the companionship of their families, relatives and friends, with no morbid desires to distract them from the full enjoyment of what Nature showered upon them with bountiful never-failing liberality.

Their customs are by Nature wrought; But we, by art, unteach what Nature taught.

Dryden.

THE INSIGNIA OF TAIilTIAN ROYALTY

Tahltian royalty was hereditary, and women were not excluded. There were chiefs and chief- esses governing tribes, and head chiefs and head chiefesses ruling over several tribes or the whole island. There were no crowns and no sceptres. The insignia of royalty was a belt ornamented with feathers. The red feathers were what the diamonds and other precious stones are in ancient and modern crowns. This belt was called Maro. Captain Cook gives the following description of a maro :

It is a girdle, about five yards long, and fifteen inches broad ; and, from its name, seems to be put on in the same manner as is the common maro, or piece of cloth used by these people to wrap round the waist. It was ornamented with red and yellow feathers ; but mostly with the latter, taken from a dove found upon the island. The one end was bordered with eight pieces, each about the size and shape of a horseshoe, having their edges fringed with black feathers. The other end was forked, and the points were of different lengths. The feathers were in square compartments, ranged in two rows, and otherwise so disposed to produce a pleasing effect. They had been first pasted or fixed upon some of their own cloth, and then sewed to the upper end of the pendant which Captain Wallis had displayed, and left flying ashore, the first time that he landed at Matavai.

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THE INSIGNIA OF TAIIITIAN ROYALTY 123

This insignia of office was highly respected by the natives and was handed down from one gen- eration of rulers to the other, carrying with it the sovereignty of the office. One of the civil wars in the island was caused by a failure on the part of one of the chief esses (Purea) to deliver the maro to her legitimate successor.

DISEASES OF TAHITI

Before the Europeans came to Tahiti, the beau- tiful Httle island was a sanatorium. The natives were temperate, frugal in their habits, subsist- ing almost exclusively on fish, fruit and vege- tables, and lived practically an outdoor life even in their bamboo huts. They were unencum- bered by useless clothing and spent, as they do now, much of their time in sea and fresh-water bathing. They were almost exempt from acute destructive diseases. They were free from the most fatal of acute contagious and infectious diseases, such as smallpox, measles, scarlatina, cholera, etc. Tuberculosis and venereal diseases were unknown before the white man invaded the island. The immediate effect of the European civilization on the health and lives of the natives was frightful. On this subject I will let Arii- taimai speak:

When England and France began to show ns the advantages of their civilization, we were, as races then went, a great people. Hawaii, Tahiti, the Marquesas, Tonga, Samoa and New Zealand made a respectable figure on the earth's surface, and contained a population of no small size, better fitted than any other possible community for the condition in which they lived. Tahiti, being the first to come in close contact with the for- eigners, was first to suffer. The people, who numbered, according to Cook, two hundred thousand in 1767,

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DISEASES OF TAHITI 135

numbered less than twenty thousand in 1797, according to the missionaries, and only about five thousand in 1803. This frightful mortality has been often doubted, because Europeans have naturally shrunk from admit- ting the horrors of their own work, but no one doubts it who belongs to the native race. Tahiti did not stand alone in misery; what happened there happened everywhere, not only in the great groups of high islands, like Hawaii with three or four hundred thousand peo- ple, but in little coral atolls which could only support a few score.

Moerenhout, who was the most familiar of all trav- elers with the islands in our part of the ocean, told the same story about all. He was in the Austral group in 1834. At Raivave he found ninety or one hundred native rapidly dying, where fully twelve hundred had been living only twelve or fourteen years before. At Tubuai he found less than two hundred people among the ruins of houses, temples and tombs. At Rurutu and Rimitava, where a thousand or twelve hundred people had occupied each, hardly two hundred were left, while nearly all the women had been swept away at Rurutu. Tlie story of the Easter Islanders is famous. That of the Marquesas is about as pathetic as that of Tahiti or Hawaii. Everywhere the Polyne- sian perished, and to him it mattered little whether he died of some new disease or from some new weapon, like the musket, or from misgovernment, caused by the foreign intervention.

No doubt the new diseases were most fatal. Almost all of them took some form of fever, and comparatively harmless epidemics, like measles, became frightfully fatal when the native, to allay the fever, insisted on bathing in cold water. Dysentery and ordinary colds, which the people were too ignorant and too indolent to nurse, took the proportions of plagues. For forty

12G TAHITI — THE ISLAND PARADISE

generations these people had been isolated in this ocean, as though they were in a modern sanatorium, protected from contact with new forms of disease, and living on vegetables and fish. The virulent diseases which had been developed among tlic struggling masses of Asia and Europe found a rich field for destruction when they were brought to the South Seas. Just as such pests as lantana, the mimosa or sensitive plant, and the guava have overrun many of the islands, where the field for them was open, so diseases ran through the people. For this, perhaps, the foreigners were not wholly responsible, although their civilization certainly was ; but for the political misery the foreigner was wholly to blame, and for the social and moral degrada- tion he was the active cause. No doubt the ancient society of Tahiti had plenty of vices and was a sort of Paris in its refinements of wickedness, but these had not prevented the islanders from leading as happy lives as had ever been known among men.

These are strong words, but they are neverthe- less only too true. Civilization brings to savage races curses as well as blessings. The primitive people are more receptive of new vices than new virtues.

In 1880 the number of inhabitants had a-ofain increased to thirteen thousand five hundred, but since that time it has been reduced to eleven thousand, as shown bv the last census. When Captain Cook visited the island he emphasized particularly the absence of acute diseases. In speaking of chronic diseases he remarks :

They only reckon five or six which might be called chronic, or national disorders, amongst which are the

DISEASES OF TAHITI 127

dropsy and the fcfai^ or indolent swellings before men- tioned as frequent at Tongataboo.

The fearful, swift depopulation of the island was caused by the introduction of new acute infectious and contagious diseases, such as small- pox, measles, whooping-cough, la grippe, etc., which among these people was attended by a frightful mortality. It was only three years ago that an epidemic of measles, a trifling disease with us, claimed several hundred lives, includ- ing many adults, and extended to nearly all of the islands of the entire group. The disease that is now threatening the extinction of the race in a short time is pulmonary tuberculosis. The natives are extremely susceptible to this disease, and the small native houses, crowded with large families, are the breeding stations for infection.

The French government has at last recognized the need of taking active measures to improve the sanitary conditions of their colony and pro- tect the natives against the spread of infectious diseases. A corps of three physicians, sent by the French government on this mission, made the voyage from San Francisco to the island on the steamer Mariposa with me. The names of these physicians are : Dr. Grosfillez, surgeon-m.ajor of the first class of the colonial troops; Dr. H. Rowan, a graduate of the Pasteur Institute, and Dr. F. Cassiau, of the clinic of I^.Iarseilles. The mihtary surgeon receives an annual salary of

128 TAHITI THE ISLAND PARADISE

fifteen hundred dollars, the two civil doctors twelve hundred dollars each. They are under contract for five years. They have been given judicial power to enforce all sanitary regulations they see fit to institute. They will be stationed at different points and will establish a requisite number of lazarettos, something which will fill a long-felt and pressing need.

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PRESENT PREVAILING DISEASES

The average temperature of the inhabited part of the island, which can not be less than 78 to 80 degrees Fahrenheit, has a relaxing influence on the natives and much more so on the small contingent of whites. The Europeans and Amer- icans find it necessary every three to five years to seek for a few months a cooler climate to restore their energies and vigor. The govern- ment officials and officers of the small garrison are not obliged to serve for more than the same time consecutively, when they are relieved from their posts and commands. It is this relaxation which, to a certain extent, at least, is responsible for the great mortality of comparatively mild, acute, infectious diseases, and the severity of pulmonary tuberculosis among the natives. Tu- berculosis of the lymphatic glands, skin, bones and joints appears to be extremely rare. The moisture-laden atmosphere and the suddenness with which the cool land and ocean breezes set in after the heat of the day, are conducive to the development of rheumatic affections, which are prevalent in all parts of the island, more espe- cially during the rainy season in midwinter. The same can be said of bronchial affections and pneu- monia. The free and unrestrained intercourse among natives accounts for the rapid spread of

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130 TAHITI THE ISLAND PARADISE

tuberculosis and acute infectious diseases among the entire population and from island to island.

The sanitary commission now engaged in efforts to reduce the mortality of the natives will establish rules and regulations which will have for their object the prevention of dissemination of acute as well as chronic infectious diseases, and will undoubtedly accomplish much toward the preservation of the race ; but these officers will meet with stubborn opposition on the part of the natives when attempts are made, in their interest, to curtail their personal liberties. The ties of relationship and friendship among the natives are very strongs, and become most appar- ent in case of misfortunes and sickness. Small- pox breaks out almost every year, and claims its share of victims. V^accination is supposed to be compulsory, but the natives are inclined to escape it. Vaccination is done gratuitously at the Mili- tary Hospital for all natives who can be induced to submit to it. Under present conditions it is almost impossible to reach the inhabitants of the small atoll islands.

Like in all tropic countries, tetanus is of quite frequent occurrence. The small native pony is found everywhere, and as the rural natives are all barefooted and spend much of their time in the jungles in impregnating the flower of the vanilla-bean and gathering fruits, wounds prone to infection with the tetanus bacillus are of fre- quent occurrence.

PRESENT PREVAILING DISEASES 131

Malarial diseases are comparatively rare, al- though the plasmodium-carrying mosquitoes are numerous and aggressive, and children in the country districts are nude, and the men limit their clothing to the wearing of a loin-cloth. No case of typhoid fever has been knov^'n to have orig- inated in the island. For this there exists a sat- isfactory explanation. The exemption in this island from this disease, so widely distributed over the entire part of the inhabited globe, is due entirely to an abundant supply of the purest drinking water supplied by the numerous moun- tain streams. Nearly all the inhabitants live on the coast, near the outlet of a brook or stream, where, consequently, there is no danger whatever of water-contamination. I found three cases of typhoid fever in the Military Hospital, members of one family, who had been brought there from one of the neighboring atoll islands.

Varicose veins, varicocele and hydrocele are very common. The absence of anything like a large ulcer in many cases of large and numerous varicose veins of the leg, I attributed to the toughness of the skin of the bare legs. Venereal diseases are widespread throughout the entire island, and more especially in Papeete and the near-by larger villages. For over a hundred years the natives have suffered from this scourge brought there by the European sailors and ad- venturers. Syphilis has been transmitted from

132 TAHITI — THE ISLAND PARADISE

generation to generation until it has contamin- ated the major part of the population, for

The gods visit the sins of the fathers upon the children. Euripides.

and The wickedness of a few brings calamity on all.

PUBLIUS SyRUS.

The length of time the disease has existed among the natives has established a certain degree of tolerance or immunity, as it pursues a comparatively mild [course, as I found very few instances of the ravages of the remote results of syphilis. I saw only one case of saddle nose, caused by tertiary syphilis.

Leprosy is not as prevalent as in the Hawaiian Islands, but isolated cases are found in nearly all the islands belonging to this group, being more prevalent in some than in others. Segregation has never been attempted. The lepers mix freely with the members of their families and neighbors, and are not shunned by any one. I was informed that many of the lepers, much disfigured by the disease, seek an island where many of these un- fortunates have founded a colony for the purpose of escaping from public gaze. There, away from relatives and friends, they spend their short span of life and await patiently the final relief which only death can bring.

PRESENT PREVAILING DISEASES 133

O Death, the Healer, scorn thou not, I pray, To come to me; of cureless ills thou art The one physician. Pain lays not its touch upon a corpse. ^SCHYLUS.

Elephantiasis in its worst forms has taken a firm hold on the natives, especially the inhabitants of the near-by island of Moorea. There this dis- ease can be studied in all its stages, from a slight enlargement of one of the extremities to colos- sal swellings, which, when the upper and lower extremities are affected at the same time, make it necessary for the patient to crawl on his hands and feet in dragging himself from place to place. Regarding elephantiasis as it exists in Tahiti and the other islands of the French colony, I will make use of a few extracts taken from a valuable paper on this subject by Dr. Lemoine, recently in charge of the Military Hospital, and published in one of the government reports. According to this author, who has seen much of this disease in Tahiti and surrounding islands, it may affect most regions of the body, and not infrequently makes its appearance as an acute affection with all the symptoms characteristic of lymphangitis, including quite a violent continued remittent form of fever, which lasts two or three months. The acute form is, almost without exception, complicated by synovitis of the joints of the affected limb, which he regards as almost pathog- nomonic of the disease, differentiating it from

134 TAHITI — THE ISLAND PARADISE

ordinary forms of lymphangitis. After the sub- sidence of the acute symptoms and in the chronic form the disease is essentially a chronic lymph- angitits, accompanied by marked enlargement of the veins. According to his observations the regions most frequently involved are the lower extremities, external genitals, and lastly, the hands and forearms. Three years ago I was given an opportunity to see at tlie hospital and poorhouse at Antigua, West Indies, ninety cases of elephantiasis, and not in a single one of them did the disease affect the upper extremity, while in the French colony of the South Seas this is not infrequently the case. I do not know that a satisfactory explanation has ever been given why the disease should behave so differently in fixing its location in the two groups of islands. Lemoine, as well as other writers on elephan- tiasis, has seen the disease become stationary by the removal of the patient to a colder climate. Europeans become susceptible to elephantiatic infection after a prolonged residence in tropical countries where the disease prevails.

Lemoine does not agree with Manson, who believes that elephantiasis is caused by the Filaria sanguinis, and is suspicious that the essen- tial parasitic cause is a yet undiscovered microbe. He made blood examinations night and day of patients under his care, and was unable to con- stantly detect the filari:^ in their embryonic state

GROUP OF TAHITIAN CHILDREN

PRESENT PREVAILING DISEASES 135

in the peripheral blood, and consequently claims that the presence of filaria in the organism is not an infallible diagnostic indication, and that their abundance is not proportionate to the intensity of the disease. The fact that the elephantiatics improve in colder climates he regards as another proof that filariasis is not the essential cause of the disease.

In a number of cases extirpation of the infil- trated enlarged lymphatic glands was followed by decided improvement, and in the case of a Tahi- tian the improvement remained at the end of three years. He has also operated on a number of cases by partial excision of the mass, first on one side of the limb, then on the other, with decided benefit to the patient in most of them. In some cases deep incisions through the entire thickness of the indurated mass afforded relief and resulted in diminution of the size of the swelling. He relates the details of the case of a native, fifty years old, the subject of elephan- tiasis of the lower limbs, that he operated on in two stages several weeks apart, removing first a large section from the anterior and later from the posterior part of the swelling, and as shown by the accompanying illustrations in the report depicting the condition of the limbs before and after operation, with an excellent result. How- ever, in some of the cases the benefit thus derived did not last for any considerable length of time.

136 TAHITI — THE ISLAND PARADISE

In making the excision, the superfluous skin is excised with the underlying indurated tissues, and the skin margins reflected for some distance in order to create sufiicient room for a more Hberal removal of the deep tissues. In one case, that of a woman thirty-eight years of age, the patient died two weeks after the second operation. Death was attributed to loss of blood and the debilitated condition of the patient when she entered the hospital. In another case, a Tahitian, thirty-five years old, affected with elephantiasis of all limbs and the external genitals, he operated successfully on one of the arms, the seat of an enormous swelling below the elbow. The excised mass weighed fifteen kilograms. Owing to the large size of the swelling, the operation proved one of great difficulty, and on account of the ten- sion incident to the approximation of the margins of the flaps the sutures cut through and the wound ultimately healed by granulation. At the second operation nearly the entire mass was removed, with the result that the wound finally healed after a prolonged suppuration and the patient was relieved of the incumbrance caused by the great weight of the swelling. The relief afforded induced the patient to request additional operations for the removal of the swellings in- volving other regions of the body, but as the surgeon soon after left the island his desire could not be gratified.

PRESENT PREVAILING DISEASES 137

The climate of Tahiti is not congenial for pul- monary and rheumatic affections, as the atmos- phere is too moist. It is admirably adapted for patients the subjects of nervous affections in all their protean forms. The quietude, balmy air and pleasing surroundings are the best thera- peutic agents to secure mental rest and refreshing sleep. It is in the treatment of such affections that a trip to Tahiti can not be too strongly recommended.

THE KAHUNA OR NATIVE DOCTOR

For centuries the practice of the heaUng art was largely in the hands of priests. They min- istered to the body as well as the soul. Their practice was purely empirical and the surgery, even of the most skilled, rude and often brutal. The human mind is very much inclined to look upon disease and the methods used to effect a cure as something mysterious. Even at this late day many people who are well educated and who in everything else seem to possess a liberal amount of good common sense, have very strange ideas in regard to disease and the means employed in treatment. Promises to cure and a liberal expenditure of printers' ink render them an easy prey to mysterious methods. All races and all tribes have always had among them men and women in whom they confided in case of accident or disease. Very often priesthood and medicine were combined in the same person. Among the ancient Tahitians the chief was at the same time priest and medical adviser. The American Indians had their medicine-men, the Tahitians and other South Sea Islanders their Kahuna. It is very interesting to know some- thing of the early practice of medicine and surgery among the Tahitians. Captain Cook gives them great credit from what he saw of their surgery :

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THE KAHUNA OR NATIVE DOCTOR 139

They perform cures in surgery, which our extensive knowledge in that branch has not, as yet, enabled us to imitate. In simple fractures, they bind them up with splints, but if part of the substance of the bone be lost, they insert a piece of wood, between the fractured ends, made hollow like the deficient part. In five or six days, the rapooa or surgeon, inspects the wound, and finds the wood partly covered with the growing flesh. In as many more days, it is generally entirely covered; after which, when the patient has acquired some strength, he bathes in the water, and recovers.

In speaking of medicine he sa3^s :

Their physical knowledge seems more confined ; and that, probably, because their diseases are fewer than their accidents. The priests, however, administer the juices of herbs in some cases; and women who are troubled with after-pains, or other disorders after child-bearing, use a remedy which one would think needless in a hot country. They first heat stones, as when they bake their food ; then they lay a thick cloth over them, upon which is put a quantity of a small plant of the mustard kind ; and these are covered with another cloth. Upon this they seat themselves, and sweat plentifully, to obtain a cure. They have no emetic medicine.

In referring to the few indigenous diseases

he adds :

But this was before the arrival of the Europeans; for we have added to this short category a disease which abundantly supplies the place of all the others ; and is now almost universal [syphilis]. For this they seem to have no effectual remedy. The priests, indeed, sometimes give them a medley of simples ; but they own that it never cures them, and yet, they allow that, in

140 TAHITI — THE ISLAND PARADISE

a few cases, nature, without the assistance of a physi- cian, exterminates the poison of this fatal disease, and perfect recovery is produced. They say that a man affected with it will often communicate it to others in the same house, by feeding out of the same utensils, or handling them, and that, in this case, they frequently die, while he recovers; though we see no reason why this should happen.

On his fourth voyage to the Society Islands Captain Cook learned to what fearful extent syphilis had spread throughout all of the islands of the group and became aware what ravages it had caused among the natives. On visiting new islands he did all in his power to protect the natives against this scourge by excluding all women visitors from the ship and by strictly en- joining persons known to be infected from land- ing. On the probable effects of these new regu- lations he comments :

Whether these regulations, dictated by humanity, had the desired effect, or no, time only can discover. I had been equally attentive to the same object when I first visited the Friendly Islands ; yet I afterward found, with real concern, that I had not succeeded, and I am afraid that this will always be the case, in such voyages as ours, whenever it is necessary to have a number of people on shore.

Massage as a remedial agent in the treatment of disease originated in the Orient, and the Ta- hitians were familiar with it and frequently made use of it. On this subject Captain Cook can speak from personal experience. During his stay

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A CASE OF FAR-ADVANCED LEPROSY AFFECTING ALL LIMBS

THE KAHUNA OR NATIVE DOCTOR 141

in Tahiti in 1777 he suffered evidently from a severe attack of sciatica, the pain extending from the hip to the toes. King Otoo's mother, his three sisters and eight more women came on his ship one evening for the purpose of giving him treatment and remained all night to fulfill their well-meant mission. Here is the account of the treatment to which he was subjected by the womicn: '

I accepted the kindly offer, had a bed spread for them upon the cabin floor, and submitted myself to their directions. I was desired to lay myself down amongst them. Then, as many of them as could get around me, began to squeeze me with both hands, from head to foot, but more particularly on the parts where the pain was lodged, till they made my bones crack, and my flesh became a perfect mummy. In short, after undergoing this discipline about a quarter of an hour, I was glad to get away from them. However, the operation gave me immediate relief, which encouraged me to submit to another rubbing down before I went to bed; and it was so efficient that I found myself pretty easy all the night after. My female physicians repeated their pre- scription the next morning, before they went ashore, and again in the evening, when they returned on board; after which, I found the pains entirely removed, and the cure being perfected, they took leave of me the following morning. This they call romee, an operation which, in my opinion, far exceeds the flesh-brush, or anything of the kind that we make use of externally. It is universally practised amongst the islanders, being sometimes performed by men, but more generally by women.

PHYSICIANS IN TAHITI

Tahiti is not an Eldorado for doctors. The entire island has only eleven thousand inhabitants and the great majority of them are too poor to pay for medical services. Tlie only place in Tahiti where a doctor can be found is in Papeete. At the time I visited the island there was only one physician in private practice in the capital city, Dr. Chassaniol, a retired naval surgeon, the only private practitioner in the whole group of islands. The bulk of medical practice is in the hands of the government physician, always a military man who has at the same time charge of the Military liospital and takes care of the sick poor, and supervises all matters pertaining to sanitation. The only other physicians in the island are the naval surgeons on board a small man-of-war almost constantly anchored in the harbor of Papeete. The government physician is privileged to practice outside of the hospital, and from this source he receives the bulk of his income. As the resident physician and the government phy- sician are the only qualified physicians in the whole archipelago, it requires no stretch of the imagination to realize that until the present time the French government has not made adequate provisions for their subjects who require the services of a physician.

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A LEPER OF TAHITI

PHYSICIANS IN TAHITI 143

The Tahitians have not lost their faith in their Kahunas or native doctors, v^ho without any medical knowledge, practice their art. These men, with a local reputation as healers of disease, are to be found in nearly every village. They are well thought of and are influential members of society in their respective communities. Like the medicine-men of our Indians, they make use of roots, bark and herbs as remedial agents, and the natives, like many of our own people, have more faith in this mysterious kind of medication than in modern, concentrated, palatable drugs pre- scribed by the most eminent physician. To the credit of these native medicine-men, it must be said that they give to all afflicted who apply for treatment not only their services, but also the medicines without any expectation of a financial reward or even the gratitude of their clients.

HOPITAL MILITAIRE

The military hospital at Papeete is the only one in the French colonial possession of the Society Islands, numbering one hundred and sixty-eight islands and containing thirty thousand inhabi- tants, of whom eleven thousand live in Tahiti. As some of these islands are more than one hundred miles apart, it is somewhat strange that the French government has not taken earlier action in establishing small cottage hospitals in a number of the larger islands, as in case of severe injuries or sudden illness the natives of the distant islands are not within reach of timely medical aid and the transportation of a sick or injured person to Papeete from the far-off islands or villages by small schooners or canoes is neces- sarily slow and in many instances dangerous. The Sanitary Commission now stationed in the islands will, it is to be hoped, act promptly in remedying this serious defect in the care of the sick natives.

The Military Hospital at Papeete is an old structure of brick and cement, situated near the western limits of the city in a large square yard inclosed by a high stone wall, surmounted by a crest of fragments of glass, which imparts to the inclosure a prison-like appearance, the austerity of which, however, is much relieved by beau-

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tiful tropical trees, shrubbery and flowers in front of the entrance and in the courtyard. The hos- pital proper comprises seven buildings, only one of which is two stories high. The hospital has accommodations for forty beds. The officers' rooms contain two beds each ; the remaining space is divided into small wards for privates and civilians. In one ward, the windows of which are strongly barred, are kept the military prison- ers, and another small ward is devoted to ob- stetrical cases. The rooms and wards are well ventilated and clean, the beds comfortable ; the hospital furniture otherwise is scanty and antique. The drug-room is large, richly supplied with capacious jars, mortars of all sizes, herbs, roots and a complete outfit for making infusions, de- coctions and tinctures, which reminds one very vividly of an apothecary shop of half a century ago. This department is in charge of a phar- macist who, besides mixing drugs, does some chemical and bacteriological work in a small and imperfectly equipped laboratory. The operating- room is an open passageway between two adjoin- ing wards, and all it contained suggestive of its use were an operating table of prodigious size and decidedly primitive construction, and, sus- pended from the wall, a tin irrigator, to which was attached a long piece of rubber tubing of doubt- ful age. The hospital is well supplied with water, and contains a bathroom, a shower-bath and

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146 TAHITI THE ISLAND PARADISE

modern closets. The hospital is in charge of the government physician, who is always a medical officer of the colonial troops, detailed for this special service, usually for a period of three years. From the official reports I gleaned that on an average this institution takes care of about three hundred and fifty patients a year. At the time of my visit the number of patients did not exceed fifteen, among them one in the prison ward. All of the patients were the subjects of trifling affections, with the exception of three cases of typhoid fever sent to the hospital from one of the atoll islands. The patients are being cared for by three Catholic sisters and orderlies as they are needed. The poor are admitted gra- tuitously; private patients pay from six to fifteen francs a day. The hospital is beautifully located on the principal street of the city and faces the charming little harbor. A small private hospital for the foreign residents and tourists is needed here and under proper management would prove a remunerative investment.

THE ISLAND OF TLENTY

O Christ ! it is a goodly sight to see What heaven hath done for this delicious land.

Byron.

The wealth of Tahiti is on its surface. Its mountains are not pregnant with precious metals nor has nature stored up in their interior material for fuel and illumination, as none of these are needful to make the people content and happy. The Tahitian has no desire to accumulate wealth ; the warm rays of the sun reduce the use of fuel to a minimum, and the millions of glittering stars and the soft silvery light of the moon in the clear blue sky create a bewitching light at night, which, more than half of the time, would make artificial illumination a mockery. Then, too, Tahiti is the land of gentle sleep and pleas- ant dreams, where people do not turn night into day, but rise with the sun and retire soon after he disappears in the west behind the vast expanse of the ocean. God created Tahiti for an ideal island home and not as a place for get-rich-quick methods, speculation and bitter competition for business, for

Where wealth and freedom reign, contentment fails. And honor lacks where commerce long prevails.

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148 TAHITI — THE ISLAND PARADISE

Tahiti's fabulous wealth consists in its inex- haustible soil and the perennial warm, stimulating breath of the tropic sun. It is the island of never-fading verdure and vigorous and never- ceasing vegetation. The fertile soil, the abundant rainfall throughout the year, the warm sunshine and the equable climate are most conducive to plant-life and here these conditions are so har- monious that there can be no failure of crops in the Lord's plantation. There never has been a famine in Tahiti, and there never will be, pro- vided the government protects the magnificent mountain forests — nature's system of irrigation. Tahiti's food-supply is select and never-failingj, and is furnished man with the least possible exertion on his part. The bounteous provisions nature has made here for the abode of man are a marvel to the visitor and after he has once seen them and has become familiar with them he can not escape the conclusion that he is in

A land flowing with milk and honey.

Jeremiah xxxii:22.

The food products and fruits grown in the forests without the toil of man are admirably adapted for the climatic conditions, being laxa- tive and cooling, and undoubtedly account for the excellent health of the natives before the invasion of the island by the Europeans. The island was destined for the natives, and the natives were suited to the island.

THE ISLAND OF PLENTY 149

Man's rich with Httle, were his judgment true; Nature is frugal, and her wants are few; These few wants answcr'd, bring sincere delights; - But fools create themselves new appetites.

Young.

Content with what the sea and forest provided for them, these children of Nature Hved a happy Hfe, free from care, free from morbid desires for wealth or fame.

O blissful poverty! Nature, too partial, to thy lot assigns Health, freedom, innocence, and downy peace, — Her real goods, — and only mocks the great With empty pageantries.

Fenton.