The Pacific commercial advertiser., 1900-12-27

his store daily between II m. and p.
m Not only does the Chinese keep
open then but he keeps open at night.
Mr. Hall met at Tahiti an Italian, who
gains his living by the romantic pro- \
fession of smuggling. His name is
Michaelo, and ii is he who is credited |
with bringing the Chinese to the ISL !,
land He had a small sailing vessel run [
ming between China and Peru some |
years ago and secured 500 prisoners OF 4
war, whom he intended to take to Peru I
to work guano. Storms drove him to-
ward Tahiti and he put in there. His |
Chinese below deck fell i'll and num- |
Der died. He put their bodies overheard |
| in the harbor, but the authorities OBJ |
jected. He did not know what to do
with his prisoners, so planter, 1ust
starting, took them off his hands to
work the plantation. These were the
| first Chinese in the group. 1t was sup
jposed that they wrote to their friends
! in the homeland and more came.
\ Tahiti is very fertile, but little culti-
waited. The land is mostly he'd by ma
tive owners who do not till 1T. There is
much vanilla produced there and in the
Dangerous group the natives dive for
pearls with great success. After their
stay at Tahiti Lord Albert Osborne and
Mr.. Hall chartered a schooner. the Gau-
lois, and sailed for the Marquesas
group, which is sparsely inhabited and
lseldom visited. These islands are con-
ltrolled by the French through a few
lgendarmes, each Of whom is in charge
of big valleys in which are many hum
dred natives. They literally practically
carry their lives in their hands. The ISL
anders, however. have not practiced
cannibalism for some time.
The tourists LANDED from their schoon-
ler at Tai-o-hao the capital of Neka-
havi. the principal island of the group.
This was in charge of a French briga-
der. The coast was high and rocky and
tl..x-x zf-
tives, 1t was found, had died off as
result of smallpox and measles. They
: were nearlv all tattooed, the men hav
ing their faces striped.
| Among the limited number of whites
lat this place was a tattooed white man.
, an American who had deserted from
one of the whaling vessels. An inter-
esting reason was given by this man
7 for his being tattooed
= He wanted to marry one of the land
ed and wealthy Marquesas Princesses,
, but ~She Spurned him because he was
, not tattooed. How could she marry a
man who was not tattooed? she said.
The deserted whaler went to tattooer
and went through the painful process
of having stripes pricked across his
body and face. That done, he returned
: to his bride who was to be, but she fled
from him with shrieks of laughter. She
said that a tattooed white man looked
too absurd to maryland, rather than
face civilization with his tattooed face.
] the American whaler has remained
there. 1t was said on the island that
on one occasion when an American crui-
ser appeared the tattooed American
4, went on board and proudly declared his
nationality.
What, you an Americanv' said the
S Commander. "Boatswain, give him five
: dozen and chuck him overheard.
n Whether he got the five dozen is not
g said. but IT is told on all sides that he
got the chucking overheard.
The travellers visited Vita-hu, the
lQueen of the Marquesans, who is beau
e tifully tattooed She has the record of
I having freed herself in a unique man.
s ner from a husband of whom she had
II tired She ate him. The fights of the
y tribes one with another are now, the
: returned travellers say opera bouffe
= affairs. In the last great fight the only
. man hurt broke his leg in running
;. away. The natives shoot a great deal
8 but mostly at each others pigs. They
are great pig eaters. On this island the
n travellers were troubled by big sand
=. flies. They say that this is the only
. island of the group on which the flies
- are seen, and the natives have a tradi-
o ton that they were thrown on to the
d island, in big cocoanut shell, by a re-
I. vengeful goddess. Some fine photos OF
d dancing girls and many curios were
l., brought away by the two travellers
n While the Gaulois was anchored il
- Tawata Bay at another island of the
- group Portuguese was spoken witt
is who had been present at one of tn,
n, last internecine fights. He said tha
rs he was In a canoe of one of the. bellig.
ID erent tribes and the boatmen saw
G native of the other tribe who had beer
70 wounded. They called him to come t,
the canoe and on the native comm,
. chopped off his head and ate him.
u After their tour of the Marquesa
a. Islands the travellers went to the FIJI
ut group, and after short visits at Samo:
It. and Cooks Islapd, proceeded to New
no zealand, where some time was spen
. among the Maoris. Sentiment at Fiji
: tney say, was against annexation t
r New Zealand.