The Black Hills union and western stock review. [volume] (Rapid City, S.D.) 1904-19??, 1904-02-26
DYING PoLyAEsIANs.

Degeneracy of South Sea Islanders
Gives Concern to France.
New York Tribune: France has become
so alarmed at the high death rate among
the native colonists in the south seas
that she has taken steps to prevent their
total extinction. Reports from these far
away people tell of the ever increasing
prevalence among them of leprosy, ele-
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 OF
hands to till them. The avenues of these
island possessions, which have long been
only a fraction of the sums expended
upon them. have now decreased still fur
Their.
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 DR.. H. Louvan, DR.. F. Cas-
slau and DR.. Grasfellez. They are now on
their way from San Francisco to Tahiti.
the chief land of the Society group, and
the governmental headquarters of all
French establishments in he south Pa
ci1c. From Tahiti, the three doctors have
planned to go to other groups including
the Marquesas. the Taumatu and the I'll
bua1 islands. Certain judicial powers VIII
be given the physicians to enable them to
enact whatever sanitary laws they may
adopt.
When one considers the characteristics
OF the South Sea islanCer one soon real
ICES how tremendous are the difficulties
Of such a task. In spite of the Christian
missionary who has la bored with him for
nearly a century he still seems unable 20
tell right from wrong. He has abandoned
cannlbalism only to revive the secret and
stu more destructive crime Of infanticide.
Ills nature 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 seriously.
lmpetuous and of weak will, he is prone
10 excuses which render him a ready
prey to pestilence.
The degeneracy of the modern South
Sea Islander appears to haTe begun when
his knowledge of deep sea navigation end
ed. 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 m 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 today
the traveller will find great stone plat
forms and terraces, which show a knOWl-
edge 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 "paepae," as they
are called, the natives now erect their
bamboo nuts, and those who still refuse
Christianity say the gods put those great
stones in place.
That the Polynesian of today has de-
generated from lack of ation
with the outside world is shown by the.
similar fate of domesticated animals. The.
horses and cattle that nave been intro
duced sicken and die after a few genera
tons. Dogs are plentiful, but they are
of a low, mongrel type. The legions Of
pigs are said to be indigenous, but ac-,
cording to some writer's they We're taken
thither by early ~navigators. The Poly
heslan pig, however, is a p,tful specimen
when compared with the mighty porkers
pr the American prairie. Although he Is
treated by his native master as a pet, &C
his mistress on her walks;
through the village, and sleeps with the
TEST of the family on a bed of cocoa
leaves, yet ne shows no outward signs Of
his proud position.