OCR Text |
Show SOCIETY iSLAiiDS LETTER ( By Elder Montrose Killpack) Papeete, Tahiti, Society islands, M ireh 4, 1913. Mr. David S.W.lliams, D.Mr Editor: I have just return ;d from a forty-mile journey around tne n rtheast portion of the I-sJand of Tahiti, and I have had some real missionary experience, swim-ing swim-ing rivers and winding my way through jungles. ' I am very busy at the present time in preparation to leave on the 15th of this month for the Tuamota Islands, where our April confemnce will convene; con-vene; but I am toing to take a few moments mo-ments and write you a m ssionary letter, let-ter, in wnich 1 will give to your readers some conception of the Society Islands. The eastern Polynesian island group, generally hnown as the Society Islands, lies between 16 and 18 degrees south latitude, and 148 and 155 degrees west longitude, and stretches for nearly 200 miles in a north-west and south-east direction. The total area does not exceed ex-ceed 650 square miles, of which GOO fall to Tahiti alone. Tahiti occupies a central position in the Pacific. Sydney lies about 3400 miles to the west San Francisco about as far to th' north-north-e ist. II mo-Zulu, mo-Zulu, Noumea, and Auckland are each somewhere about 2100 mile.i away, j Panama is at a distance of 4601) miles. ! The Island of Tahiti is shaped like ! the figure "8," has a total length of ! 35 miles, a coast line of 120, 'and a superficial area of 600 square miles. It is divided into two distinct portions ', by a short isthmus (isthmus de Taravao) j less than a mile in width, and nowhere j more than 50 feet above the sea level. The southern peninsula of Tairabu or Tahiti iti (little Tahiti), alone as large as Raiatea (after Tahiti the most important im-portant island of the group), measures 12 miles in length by 6 miles width; while the northern, the circular main Island of Parionuu, orTahiti-uni (Great Taniti), has a length of 2'i miles and a width of 29 miles. The whole island is mountainous and afford perhaps the most wonderful examples of volcanic rocks to be found on the globe. They are formed of trachyte, dalerite and bisalt. There are raised coral beds high up the mountains, and lava occurs in a variety of forms, even in solid flows; but all active volcanic agency has so long ceased and the craters have been almost entirely obliterated by denudation. Hot springs are unknown and earthquakes are slight and rare. Nevertheless, under same of these flows remains of plants and insects of species now lr. ing in the islands nave been found a proof that the formation forma-tion as well as the denudation of the country i-', geologically speaking, recent. re-cent. In profile the islands are rugged. A high mourtain, usually with very steep peaks, forms the center, if net the whole island, and on all sides steep ridges descend to the sea, or as is often the case, to a consideraDle belt cf Hat land. Innumerable rills, fed by the fleeting clouds which circle round the highlands, gather in lovely streams, ami, after heavy r ins, torrents precipitate themselves them-selves in grand cascades from the mountain cliffs a feature so striking as to have attracted the attention of all voyagers. Round most of ihe islmds there are luxuriant coral growths; but asthertefs lie at no gr.-at distance, and fo'low the line of the coast, the inter-island c.iannels are safer than those of the neighboring Tu.mo-.u's, which exhibit the atoll formation in perhaps its fullest development, and in consequence have been called the Low or Dangerous Archipelag . A little to the northivust of the enter of Great Tahiti, the Society Islands j attain their greatest altitude. There 'the double-peaked Orohena rifs to I 7340 feet, and Aorai, its rival, is only !a few hundred feet lower. Little j Tahiti cannot boast of such mountains ! but its tjwer-like peaks are very striking. strik-ing. The flat land of the Tahitian coast, ! extending to a width of several miles, I with it3 cnain of villages, iis fertile gardens, and its belt of palms, inlcr-j inlcr-j st-cted by stream-ted villages which i open on the seashore - forms a .-.lost I pleasing foreground to the grand amphitheatre-like mountain ranges. ' A good road surrounds the entire island, which is divided into eighteen dis:r;cts, each uader a chief and a municipal council of which he is president. '- The seasons are not defined. Damp is excessive and there is little variation in the weather, which, though hot, in not depressing. The rainfall is largest between December and April, but there is so much at other times of the year also that thee months hardly deserve the name of the rainy season. During this' period northwest winds are frequent, continuing at tims for w eks, and there are thunderstorms and hurricanes, though they are not nearlv so destructive as in some of the neighboring inlands. During the eight j drier and cooler months, southerly ' win Is (corresponding with the trade) prevail, but there are southerly winds which bring ram, and even westerly breezes are not unfrequent. The mean temperature for the vear is l'i d grees Fhr. (minimum 84 degrees, miximum 69.) Th? average rainfall from De-i De-i cember to March is 23 inches; and from j April to November is 19 inches. This appl es to the coastline only. I (Continued next week) |