Pittsburg dispatch. [volume] (Pittsburg [Pa.]) 1880-1923, 1891-02-15

comical; but not even he expected anything
so perfect as the last.
To complete the picture of convict life In
TaI-o-hae, it remains to be added that these
criminals draw a salary as regularly as the
President of the Republic. Ten sous a day
is their hire. Thus they nave money, food,
shelter, clothing. and. / was about to write,
their liberty. TIL French are certainly a
good-natured people, and make easy masters.
They are besides inclined to view the Mar
quesans with an eye of humorous in
diligence.
"They are dying, poor devils" said NJ.
Delarnelle; 'the main thing is to let them
die in peace"
Theft the Popular Crime.
Theft is practically the sole crime. Origi-
nally petty pilferers, the men of Tai-o-hae
now begin to force locks and attack strong
boxes. Hundreds of dollars have been
taken at a time; though with that redeem
ing moderation so common in Polynesian
theft, the Marquesan burglar will always
take a part and leave a part, sharing ESQ to
speak, with the proprietor. II it be Chilean
coin-the island currency-he will escape;
ifthe sum is in gold, French silver, or bank
notes, the police wait until the money be-
gins to come in circulation, and then easily
pick out their man. And now comes the
bSAAs III pain 12uS1ioHs NV plio-
oner is tortured until he confesses and (f
that be possible) restores the money. To
keen him alone, day and night, in the black
hole, is to infict on the Marquesan torture
inexpressible. Even his robberies are car
ried on in the plain daylight, under the
open sky, with the stimulus of enterprise,
and the countenance of an accomplish; his
terror of the dark is still insurmountable;
conceive, then, what he endure in his soli-
tary dungeon; conceive how he longs to con-
fess, become a full-1edged convict, and be
allowed to sleep beside his comrades.
While we were in Tai-o-hae a thief was
under prevention. He had entered a house
about 8 in the morning, forced a trunk, and
stolen LOO francs; and now, under the
horrors of darkness, solitude, and a be-
devilled canni5al imagination, he was re-
luctantly coniessing and giving up his spoil.
|, From one cache, which he had already
pointed out 300 francs had been recovered,
and 1t was expected that he would presently
disgorge the rest. This would be ugly
enough ii it were all, but / am bound to say,
because 1t is a matter the French should set
at rest, that worse is continually limited. L
heard that one man was kept six DAYS with
his arms bound backward round a barrel;
and it is the universal report that every
genda-me in the South Seas is equipped
with something in the nature of a thumb
| screw.
Torture the Culprits Relatives.
Perhaps worse still. not only the accused,
but sometimes his wife, his mistress, or his
friend is subjected to the same hardships. 1
was admiring. in the tapu system, the inge-
unity OF native methods of detection; there
is not much to admire n those OF the French,
and to lock up a timid child in a dark room,
and if he prove obstinate lock up his sister
in the next, is neither novel nor humane.
The main occasion of these thefts is the
new vice of opium eating. The successful
thief will give a handful Of money to each
of his friends, q dress TO a woman, pass an
evening in one of the taverns Of Tai-o-hae,
during which he treats all corners, produce