The Seattle post-intelligencer. [volume] (Seattle, Wash. Terr. [Wash.]) 1888-1914, 1900-04-01
|: The ISLANDS OF
: THE PACIFIC OCEAN.
9 BY ARTHUR L. STREET.
8 .-..tinsiee's Magazine for ApriL....

| fftA TIC HAlO4t GkFdISt u maj i
/ time empire both romance and
/ a logical history, both an inter
| minably confused and a logically
/ adjusted roster of physical facts and pos
| sfbiliiies are visible. As already indi-
| Gated, the Islands close TO the Asiatic
| shore are heavily forested and densely
| productive. Ii is in these that the first
| European settlement began and the first
chief item of trade In the European inter
ests In the Pacific islands. namely, spices
was recorded In the islands further
| eastward the productivity diminishes. and
| II is In these that, by process of exclu-
| sion, the second movement of Europeans
nearly century after the first, took
| place, exploiting the second great prod
uct, namely copra. Still further out in
| the scattered and Isolated isles. where
| the coral and the cocoanut palm may be
| imagined to sing songs of melancholy iso-
| lation to the accompaniment Of the ever
| roaring ocean, the variety Of the prod
| uets shrinks TO less than half a dozen spe-
| cies In these islands, by the still further
| process Of exclusion. the third and last
| of the original popular movements into
| the Pacific took place.
The nrst navigators sought spices, as
| men now seek gold in the most stubborn
| and inaccessible of natures wilds. The
| Dutch inhabited Java and Sumatra and
| the Celebes and the Moluecas for the pep
| pers and gingers and camphors and other
| trenchant palatables. But with the greed
characteristic of those by whom wealth
Is acquired too easily, they exhausted the
| natural resources, or quickly depleted
| them TO a point below the needs of the
| increasing number of expioiters. Then
| they were compelled 10 turn their enter
| prise and ingenuity to artificial cultiva-
| ton. Spices still constitute a very large
| export of the Dutch East Indies, but still
| larger exports are tobacco and coffee
| which the Dutch colonial system has been
farming for more than a century,
1t was the same with cocoanut and
! copra, as with spices. Those who first
| found 1T exhausted IL, making great for
| tunes while they worked 1t, but leaving
| IT, like all virgin fields when once they
| have been ruthlessly farmed. a place to
which succeeding generations must apply
| the genius OF reconstruction and cultivate
| where once II was necessary only to har-
/ vest As the adventures and fortune
| hunters transferred their interests from
! the cocoanut 10 the newer offerings In re-
/ moter islands, the followers in the hunt
| ers wake entered upon an era of planting
| and artificial care Much of the central
area of the island empire became and still
| remains subject to systematic efforts to
grow and harvest the cocoanut. sago. ba-
| mana and pineapple, Promisouous gather
ing of tropical fruits Is rapidly easing.
Guano was the substance of wealth
found in the remoter islands. but suano
| is like mineral. II does not reproduce IT.
sell. ana the gathering OF IL lasted only "a
| few years sufficient In number to build
| up a few firms and found or enlarge "A
! few fortunes. Traffic in II has almost
ceased to be an industry OF the ocean.
Little remains to give evidence of its
| size and importance save the shattered
| fagstaffs which the hunters erected to
show the protection of their nations and
| the fact that guano islands still remain
| on the maps as the possessions OF various
countries
OF raw and natura. products in the
| Pacific there are now left only the big
| timbers OF Borneo, New Guinea and the
| Dutch East Indies. and the minerals
| whose extent or richness has not yet been
ascertained. Borneo is exporting wood
| to China and Japan. New Zealand has
| long since furnished to the world the
| valuable Mauri pine. Coal Is found in
| Borneo in quantities of which no general
| estimate has been made; In Sarawak TO
| the extent of an annual product of %, $50
tons. In New Zealand to the extent OF
| $40 90 tons; In Dutch Sumatra and Bor-
| neo to the extent Of 25,15o tons. Gold is
found In New Guinea. whore II Is fairly
well worked. in New Zealand. where over
| $4,000 ounces were produced In 1898. and
| I'm Borneo. where its resources are still
| unexpected. Tin Is found in the Dutch
| island of Banca. Nickel, chrome and CO.
| bait are exported from New Caledonia.
| Silver has been mined thus far only I'm
| New Zealand. whose annual product OF
| the metal Is only $4,000 ounces.
In the development of tho productive
aspect the islands OF the Pacific have fol-
| lowed the general law of continents, pass
| ing from the period of virgin yield,
| through the era Of planting and cultivat-
| Ing of indigenous substances. to the in
PRODUCTION of foreign foods, and finally In
| to the period Of manufacture The period
| has but Just begun extending only as far
| from the larger Islands the Fills. II
A - - oh hoe hnF Of Inn kaa
| been grown.
| AS the processes of civilization multiply.
| the population by the whites Increases and
| the natives yield TO the pressure. declin-
| ,ng either Ia numbers or In spirit, and, de-
| ching I'm spirit. declining eventually also
In numbers Now the ratio Of Raltes Is
| small IN most OF the islands, as In German
| New Guinea and dependencies. whore Il ~
| only 800 to ilo0o. or In the Gilbert group.
| where 81 Is only handful TO 10000.
| Savagcs and canniDals are almost crea-
lures 81 the past Either they have re-
| seded ~ the more distant inlands, as IN
| suIuatra Borneo and New Guinea. or they
| have remained only In the Islands with
| which the whites have little TO DO. Can
! nihals are still found 81 New Britain and
| New Ireland. the Admiralty and solomon
| Islands. and on the outer members % the
| Nov Hchfidea group A crew % wrecked
| British mariners were eaten ca the Nd
/ mlral,y island as lately as January of the
/ current year.
| WEh the passing q iho natives comes.
| or viii come permanently. as well AZ In
| evttabiy. tho aAceudency ~ the white
| man and with the asccndcncy 81 tho
| white man comes pulittcS- No more com
| rick mesh 81 local and hons distance poll
| ti-.l relations h conceivable than obtains
| ia these Islands Uncle Sans problem IN
| the Philippines Is only a fraction o.: Whist
| ttr4 beyond an4 around his new d9mAlu.
| T1tc government schedule % The entire
| continent 81 EuroVe. With Swedes in the
| extr,r,e no-th. Siays on iGe cNt-s use esst.
| TURKS on The so-ih. LAt-as and Cel.s on
| thc extreme west and Anglo saXons ana
| pritsus On tnc north and west docs nlt
| compare m ccmricxity With the situation