The silver messenger. (Challis, Idaho) 1890-1912, 1904-08-16
DYING PoLYNEslANs.
DeKeneraey of South Sea Islanders Gives
Concern to France.

Concern TO France.
France has become so alarmed at the
high death rate among the native col
onists 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 prev
alence among them of leprosy, ele-
phantiasis and other diseases born of
ignorance and evil customs. Fields
that once produced cotton and coffee
are returning to the jungle from the
lack of hands to till them. The reve-
nues of these island possession, which
have long only been fraction of the
sums expended upon them, have now
decreased 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
its ravages. The men selected for this
mission are DIR. H. Louvan. DIR. +.
Cassiau and DIR. Grasfellez. They are
now on their way from San Francisco
to Tahiti, the chief island of the Socl-
ETY. group, and the governmental head
quarters of all the French establish
ments in the South Pacific. From Ia
hiti, the three doctors have planned to
go TO other groups. including the Mar
quesas. the Tuamatu and the Tibual
islands. Certain judicial powers will
be given the physicians to enable them
to enforce whatever sanitary laws they
may adopt.
When one considers the characters
tics of the South Sea islands one soon
realizes how tremendous are the diff
culties of such a task. In spite of the
Christian missionary who has labored
with him for nearly a century. he still
seems unable to tell right from wrong.
He has abandoned cannibalism only
to revive the secret and still more de-
structive crime of infanticide. His ma
ture revolts at labor, and his toll is
prompted only by hunger and other
physical wants. 1t is impossible for
him to regard the marriage bond seri-
ously. Impetuous and of weak will,
he is prone TO excuses 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-
cation 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
to guide them. and they built strong
ships almost as large as Mississippi
| steamers.
In the heyday of his civilization the
Polynesian erected great temples, many
of which contained stones almost as
large as the stones of the temples of
Baalbec. In the Marquesas islands to.
day the traveller will find great stone
| platforms and terraces, which show a
| knowledge of mechanical laws %
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 plat
| forms, or ''paepae," as they are called,
the natives now erect their bamboo
huts and those who still refuse Chris
tianity say the gods put those great
stones in place.
That the Polynesian of to-day has
| degenerated from lack of communica-
ton with the outside world is shown
by the similar fate of domesticated ami
mails. The horses and cattle that have
been introduced sicken and die after a
few generations. Dogs are plentiful,
but they are of low, mongrel type.
The legions of pigs are said to be in
digenous, but according to some writers
they We're taken thither by early navi-
gators. The Polynesian pig, however,
is a pitiful specimen when compared
with the mighty porkers of the Amer
lean prairie. Although he is treated
by his native master as a pet, accom-
panies his mistress 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.-New York
Tribune.