St. Paul daily globe. [volume] (Saint Paul, Minn.) 1884-1896, 1889-08-24
A DUsKY BOUQUET.
The Tahitians Pass Through st.
Paul, En- Route Home From the
paris EYnOcifiOn

The Ia1ltIanS fdSS Through Dr.
Paul, En- Route Home From the
Paris Exposition.
Lieut.. Victor Emanuel Levy, a French
infantry officer, arrived in st. Paul yes
terday morning having under his charge
ten native Tahitians, who have been
for the past three months the exposure
of all Partisan eyes at a prominent
place in the exposition hall. None of
the party spoke English, though all
conversed fiuently in French, the Ian
guage spoken on the island, which is
under a French protectorate. All the
islanders come from the town of Pa
peete, the leader being Alphonse Tenn
athi, who announced in the purest
Partisan that he was proprietaire in
Papeete, and owned besides a large
hotel and grounds, and several large
plantations in which he is engaged in
experimenting with coffee planting.
Temathi is a single man as yet, though
a Young society island belle of coffee
complexion and immense physique
seems to be regarded with special favor
by the Swarthy young planter, and
will, it is announced on the quiet,
exchange her present name OF ri Tua
for that of Nine. Teneatahi. The others
are Guillame Tetan and his wife Haa-
moul, FRANCHISE Temano, Pierre Taripo
and his wife, LiZette Piu, and=a young
girl who answers to the somewhat
peculiar name of Tehe. That the sim
ple-minded islanders have improved by
their residence in the gay capital can
hardly be allowed, from the fact that
their natural love Of finery has led them
to load their kits with French articles
of apparel and cheap Persian litera-
ture, which, when they are worn out,
will be hard to replace, except at great
cost. Miss Tehe, who is six feet tall,
and decidedly inclined to embOnpOint,
carried. slung across her arm, a pair
of very high-heeled French slippers,
and padded about the floor of the emf
grant quarters at the union depot bare
footed. Temano, the huge and copper
hued, lay at full length Oh one of the
benches, reading with great apparent
interest Zola's LA Terre," in the
French. M.Tematahi greatly regretted
that he could not speak English, but
announced his intention of purchasing
in San Francisco variety of works on
the English language, saying thatwith
the assistance of English and American
residents with whom he was familiar he
would very soon master the tongue.
The entire party are in raptureS at the
beauties of La Belle France, and Paris in
particular. NJ. Tetuani remarked to
the reporter that the Tahitians owed
much to the French. Their education
in almost every branch was due to
French schooling; and there are really
excellent schools, he says, sustained by
the French government OH the islands.
All the men smoked vigorously while
talking, though in answer to question
as to whether the women smoked, the
whole four dusky danes held up their
brown hands in holy horror aud dis
claimed any such habit. One Of the
men has highly colored meerSchaum
cigar holder. presented to him by NJ.
Ferry for his skill in playing on reed
pipe. Lieut.. Levy stated that his
charges were most docile and
very easy to handle. Sin their
native country" ne says, ''they never
quarrel, and besides this they are eX-
tremely industrious, working hard and
saving their earnings. This man Tenn
otahi, who is the leader of this party,
is q very wealthy man in his own island,
and his possessions would probably be
worth. under the hammer, something
like 100000. He is the descendant of
an old line of chiefs, and an extremely
intelligent fellow"
The party left Tahiti for Paris on
March Is, via the SueZ canal. 1t
left st. Paul yesterday afternoon
for Winnipeg. and will proceed
from there to San Francisco by
the Canadian Pacific. When the island
ers reach home they will have accom-
plisbed the journey round the world.
They will leave San Francisco on Sept.
on board the schooner Tahite, Capt.
] Chapman, which craft has been char