The daily morning journal and courier., 1904-01-30
POLYNESlANS DECREASING.
MARKED DEGENERNCY 0l
 SOUTH SEA ISLAND FRS

Following the Giving Up of Dsep Sea
 Navigation.
 France has become so alarmed at the high death rate among the native colo nists in the South Seas that she has taken steps to prevent their total ex- tinction. Reports from these faraWay people tell of the ever increasing pre- valence among them of leprosy, eie- phantiasis and other diseases born of ig- norance and evil customs. Fields that once produced cotton and coffee are re- turning to the jungle from the lack ot hands to till them. The revenues of these island possessions, which have long been only a fraction of the sums expended upon them, have now de- creased still further.
 Three medical experts have been sent by the French government to French Polynesia to study the chief causes of disease among the natives and to check it's ravages. The men selected for this mission are Dr. H. Louvan, Dr. F. Cas- siau and Dr. Grasfellez. They are now on their way from Sai Francisco to Ta- hiti, the chief island of the Society group, and the governmental haedquar- ters of all the French establishments in the South Pacific. From Tahiti, the , three doctors have planned to go to oth- CT groups, including the Marquesas, the Tuamatu and the Tibuai islands Ger tain judicial powers will be given the physicians to enable them to enforce whatever sanitary laws they may adopt.
 When one considers the characteris- tics of the South Sea Islander one soon realizes how tremendous are the diff culties of such task. Tn spite of the Christian missionary who. has labored with him for nearly century. he stlli seems unable to tell right from wrong He has abandoned cannibalism only to revive the secret and still more destruc- tive crime of infanticide. His nature revelts at labor, and his toll is prompt ed only by hunger and other physical wants. It is impossible for him to re- gard the marriage bond seriously. Inn petuous and of weak will, he is prone to excesses which render him a ready prey to pestilence.
 The degeneracy of the modern South Sea Islander appears to have begun when his knowledge of deep sea navi- gation ended. There was a time when the natives of these widely scattered bits of land sailed boldly from one to another, and carried on war or com merce with distant peoples. They had learned that they could trust the stars 51 o7,d hJ1ilt cf1On O ships almost as large as Mississippi steamers.
 In the l1eyday of his civilization the Polynesian erected great temples, many of which contained stones almost as large as the stones of the temples of Baalbec. Tn the Marquesas Islands to- day the traveller will find great stone platforms and terraces, which show a knowledge of mechanical laws of which the present natives are wholly ignorant. Some of these stones are from ten to fifteen feet long and five and six feet thick Their sides are smooth, although they show no print of the chisel. On these Cyclopean platforms, or ''pae- pae,'' as they are called, the natives now erect their bamboo huts, and those who still refuse Christianity say the gods put those great stones in place.
 That the Polynesian of to-day has de- generated from lack of communication with the outside world is shown by the similar fate of donesticated animals The horses and cattle that have been introduced sicken and die after a few generations. Dogs are plentiful, but they are of a low, mongrel type. The legions of pigs are said to be indigen- ous. but according to some writers they were takei thither by early navigators The Polynesian pig, however. is pitt full specimen when compared with the mighty porkers of the American prairie Although he is treated by his native master as pet. accompanies his mis- tress on her walks through the village and sleeps with the rest of the family on a bed of cocoa leaves, yet he shows no outward signs of his proud position
 In an extended sojourn on the island of Nukahiva, the largest and most inn portant of the Marauesas. Miss Emily Wilson, of Gilroy, Cal, recently tool occasion to study the habits and GUS toms of the Polynesians of to-day con cernfng whom France has become SC greatly alarmed. Miss Wilson was 2 member of party which was making 2 quadrangular trip over the Pacific, iron San Francisco to the South Sea Islands thence to Java, thence to Japan, ant from Japan back to San Francisco.
 Like all Polynesians.' she says, ''tht Marquesans are animated and impul. sive. Their talk is loud, though not un- pleasant, for there are hardly any con sonants in their language. The French yoke does not rest easily upon thei necks, and they contribute little reve nue from fines imposed upon them fol