| Show d O a I rte et etLi Li LiI I A i t p 1 K t ti r. r W I. I c- c t A Perl Peni of th Prepared by the National Geo Geog Society Washington D D. C What In n the New liew Pacific that Washington conference Is s bell believe c ch h have ve created will be the future Frances France's Island possessions the United States the States the C a few years ears these fertile ferUle lovel lovely lands now left practically alone be treated as a geographical cl d slate fa fo the natives are rapidly dy ly off The Spanish navigator Menda enda first the Islands with th U towering black cliffs and sail through a break Into a wonderful bt once the crater of ot a n huge volcano What must have been his amazement it is shared b by the traveler tra today Within With With- in the ba bay what a contrast I 1 Where once telluric fires fire burned the luxuriant luxuriant luxuriant ant verdure of the tropics now overruns overruns over over- runs the Immense in rIotous riotous riotous riot rIot- ous profusion It is as if It nature In n repentant mood mod were pouring out her gifts with unstinted hand to cover cower the sealS scats sea 3 1 and desolation wrought b by volcanic volcanic vol vol- 01 canic fu fury Tree and vine flower er and shrub cover er the abrupt almost vertical sides of ot the huge basin and clamber high o over or r ridge e after atter ridge of the knifelike knifelike knifelike knife- knife I like hills choke chole the deep ravines mind and I valleys valles with their prolific pr mass moss of bloom and foliage and creeping in I rich abundance almost to the time waters water's edge climb cUmb the time black basalt cliffs cUffs towering towering tow tow- ering over the time bay bad thus seeking t to soften their harsh broken outlines h be-h be be- neath a rank growth of vines and mosses mouses Great cascades springing from the Living rock lock high on the time mountain side leap leal over ir i r mighty precipices gleaming like strand of silver sll in the sunlight to be bo lost in the mysterious depths of dark gor gorges e far below These waters wind through gh dark tortuous rn ravines vine and form tonn the racing stream that tumbles tumbles tum tum- bles ules swiftly s between the twisting hills Into time the steep nil valley C of ot Hanavave where It Jt rushes over ovel its rock rocky bed to pass Into the tIle blue ulue waters of at the quiet ba bay Beyond the crescent of ot white sand that lies between bet the cliffs ban banyan bunyan an mango and breadfruit trees mingle their brilliant foliage nail and blossoms with the slender brown trunks and waving frond of ot the an coco coca palm L Less ss than a n century ago ogo this forest was thickly dotted with the brown thatched huts of the each ench upon Its Us paepae or platform of ot stone constructed without mortar or cement Thousands of the these e paepae no nn longer in use cling to the tho vertical sides of valleys valleys volleys val vol- leys and anti ravines In a n state stute of p perfect rf t preservation the time platform usually 20 0 o oby by 30 or 40 feet level and unbroken often walled up 1 1 or 15 feet teet on the lower side Beautiful Women Fierce Men To describe the tha dainty graceful as she unquestionably was as before Cooks Cook's advent may many lu lay the describer open to time the charge of But Hut from to Steverson Ste Ste- Stevenson venson verson with Melville for tor good measure mea meas ure her ber remarkable beauty was a u. source of ot surprise and admiration When women possess beautiful luxurIant luxuriant lux lux- hair tine fine e eyes es perfect ct teeth a slender graceful forum form a skin of velvet velvet vel- vel elvet el- el vet texture and unblemished surface and these physical attractions ar are combined with a vivacity of spirit and action exaggeration becomes difficult and unless all nil cl of the Is Islands Islands islands Is- Is lands have tor for several centuries agreed to deceive the time world such was the so she is today when sickness has hns not diminished her charm The men were fierce fieroe cruel ts whose chief occupation aside from the time Indulgence of ot their amative e 1 proclivities proclivities ties was the killing of ot both men and women of ot other tr tribes es for gastronomic purposes Th The TUv powerful all tapu was tho the law iDil he the prophets of the I 1 Lured by enemies lurking outside the bay Lay And a ft tapu savoring of Solomon of-Solomon In Its wisdom women could not weep I It would be a grave gra-e error to con con- elude from the taboos mentioned that the life Ute of the woman was wasa a n hard one They Had No Agriculture Agriculture in any form was un un- known Tho rho natives took the bountiful bountiful ful variety of ot flora tlora the Islands provided provid provid- ed but to assist nature in any way wayby wayby b by tilling or replanting never ne occurred to them Content with their gratification tion of ot the desires of the time do day the Mf took literally no thought for tor the time morrow The most favored Intoxicant in the l Is elms ohl or as ns It Is Ismore ismore more commonly known koko Ehl Eh is for coconut and it is from frum the time coco palm that this most Insidious and aud delectable of drinks Is s made A Atall tall lull coco coca palm that has been wind wInd- wIndblown windblown blown so that Its plumy top leans far out of the perpendicular Is chosen Th The buds from which eventually fifty or sixty nuts would be produced grow In a compact oblong cluster near the top of the time palm the rhe native nathe climbs the tree and using long strips of hark bark or fiber tiber binds the cluster of ot blossoms tightly round and round until the result resembles a huge fat fut cigar protruding from fromn the fronds Underneath Under neath the time point of this a bowl is suspended suspended sus sus- and the tip end cud of ot the wrapping wrapping wrap wrap- ping sliced off oft After the second day it ltd 11 be begins to I drip freely freety but the end must be sliced fresh er e every twenty four hours to stimulate I the flow Clow In this manner a tree I will furnish one or more gallons u a day for tor several se weeks When fresh from froum the tree the beverage bev- bev resembles a delicious lemonade with a n flavor ol which width would make the fortune of ot a soft drink manufacturer who could coul reproduce it Fermentation takes place JI speedily however and Ina 1 in ina 1 a few hours your our soft drink has hardened hardened hard bard ened enro into a vicious inan man-killer that only a n savage Uge can go against with impunity Captain Cooks Cook's report placed the time literally and figuratively on the map That was years ago ao and since then the time history of or the Islands Is the tragic story of ot a losing fight by n a race of 01 savages against a civilization represented in this Instance b by the whaler the missionary the tho and finally trader the time their conquest and subjugation b by a 0 foreign power In 1812 1842 Admiral Du Thouars took look possession of the entire group In Inthe inthe c the name of France ostensibly to protect protect pro pro- the missionaries In n their labors for Christianity Forts wore were le built on several sev seve severa era eral of the Islands and troops installed to enforce French authority Time The ensuing fifty years Is a record of or desultory waif fare are between the French soldiers und and time the warriors In which the latter always s 's sat at war with each ench other and poorly armed were wore constantly t defeated of I from North fort ort and South I America who raided the weakened villages and sold the men and women Into slavery in off fur lands and oJ of tho the frightful rC ravages ravages' of smallpox I tuberculosis ls lI leprosy and other ather coc oe 01 I I I |
