The Republican. [volume] (Oakland, Md.) 1877-current, 1894-08-02
A DEPREVED RACE.
Traits and Habits OF the HaIfBreed Beach
| Combers of POLYNESIA.

| islands might be described as "a mari
ants are to-day growing factors in
these fair lands. and if union were
possible between them, and their intel
ligence was at all commensurate with
4 the physical strength and courage Of
themselves and their numerous and IN
creasing descendants, they could die
tate the policy of Polynesia.
These men have become so numerous
that they may be classed as distinct
race. They are Europeans and Ameri-
cans. and are queer link between the
highest civilization and the savage
types of Polynesia. They are princi-
pally deserters, but some are ex-pirates,
ard not a few the remnants of the
crews of wrecked or abandoned ships.
who have lapsed without an effort into
| bsrbarity. They are confind to no loca-
| ton, but are to be found on every in
hsbited atol from Christmas Island in
| tie North Pacific to the Kermadec
| group in the south.
| The originals of these beach comb ers
were undoubtedly the crew of the ship
! Bounty, which mutinied in these seas
= l7SS, sent their captain. Bligh. and
eia hteen of his friends adrift in "A small
boat, and then, under a leader named
Christian, settled on one of the small
islands, killed off most of the men. mar
ried the women, and for two genera
tions were lost to the world. Curiously
enough when the half-breed descend
ants of these mutineers We're discov-
cred, it was found that they were
happy people, could read and write, and
We're more thoroughly imbued with the
teachings of Christ than some of the
missionaries who had been sent out to
save them.
1t is impossible to make comparison
between the beach-combing pioneers
and the early settlers in our own land.
or in Australia. The success of English
colonization is entirely due to the fact
that the colonists, instead of intermar-
rying with the aborigines-as did the
Latin colonists from Europe-brought
with them into the new home their
wives and families and all the customs
and forms of the motherland some of
which We're gradually modified by their
environment. But the beach comber
has reversed all this. His purpose in
leaving home was no doubt to return
on the same ship; but driven into revolt
by the actual or imagined cruelty of
his superiors, and captivated by the
ease of living and wedding in these
purple isles. he deserted, found a wife
among the simple islanders, and at once
lapsed back to the condition of his an
cestors of a thousand years or more ago
and became thorough savage.
For more than hundred years de-
sertions from ships of every class have
, been going on in the Pacific. so that the
half-breed descendants of these men
number tens of thousands. Old ship
captains say that these deserters were
usually the brightest of their crews.
/ young, strong, vigorous men, who re-
belled under the harsh restraint on
shipboard. and who had no ties binding
sHem to their homes. and no morals
that would make them averse to the
free and easy habits of the natives
Among these beach combers are men
over seventy years old. perfect giants
| in strength and endurance. They dress
like the natives, and the exposed parts
of their bodies are quite as dark. They
are, as rule, more powerful than the
natives, and they surpass them in those
qualities that are thought to be pecu-
liar to the savage. They can climb the
highest and smoothest palms with the
deXterity of apes. They wear no foot
covering, but can walk over the sharp
est coral or volcanic rocks, as if on vel
vet carpet. They make and manage
canoes. and they can swim and dive as
well as if their ancestors since the flood
had been born on these islands.
The beach comber is the antipode Of
the missionary. whom he heartily and
| openly hates. When he or his father
or it may be his grandfather. cast off
civilization. he rid himself at the same
time of all his religious teachings: and
while he rarely adopted the wors hip of
his savage associates, he readily as
sumed such of their customs as best
pleased himself. Foremost among these
customs, and the one continued with
the most persistency, is that of polyga-
my. Some of these men have four or
five wives. and as many as twenty-five
children. As a rule, these children,
although. as might be expected. of
low moral standard. are magnificent
specimens of physical manhood. A
number of these half-breed women seen
at Upola in the navigator's group. who,
with their superb, 1.-the forms. gold
bronze compilations and great, dark
eyes. looked like the finest types of
gypsy maidens in which the old Span
ish painters delighted. The half-breed
hCA are even superior to the women.
They will average six feet in height,
and in repose look like bronze statues
of the old Grecian gladiators.-N. Y.
Advertiser
Preserves and Jellies.
The most perfect fruit should be Sc
lected for preserving. 1t should never
be over-ripe. Raspberries, blacllber-
ries. whortleberries, gooseberries and
currants require very little boiling.
They must be cooked with great care
In nrdnr IN nrpsprva their shane and