Greene County herald. (Leakesville, Miss.) 1898-current, 1922-06-02

prepared by the National Geosrs pni !.
Society, Washington. d. CD "a
What, in the New Pacific" thai = Il
Washington conference is belize. q
have created, will be the fuza.
Frances island possessions nearesky.b
the United States-the Marquesasf In
few years these fertile, lovely Is
lands, now left practically alon&, may
be treated as a geographical clean
slate, for the natives are rapidly dying
off.
The Spanish navigator, yiMendana
first discovered the islands with their
towering black cliffs. and sailed
through break into wonderful bay,
once the crater of huge volcano.
What must have been his amazement
Is shared by the traveller today. With
In the bay, what cs0ntrastl Where
once telluric fires bUrned, the luxuri-
ant verdure of the tropics now over
runs the immense hmpitheater In riot
GUS profusion. 1t is as II nature in
repentant mood ulere pouring out her
gifts with unstinted hand to cover the
scars and desolatiIon wrought by vol
canic fury.
Tree and vine. flower and shrub,
cover the abrupt. Almost vertical sides
of the huge BASIN and Chamber high
over ridge after ridge Of the knife
like hills; choke the deep ravines and
valleys with their prolific mass Of
bloom and foliage. and, creeping in
| -fok al. a.. thn fnr ~ q
edge, climb the BLACK basalt cliffs tow
ering over the bay. thus seeking to
soften their harsia, broken outlines be-
meath rank growth of vines and
mosses
Great cascades, springing from the
living rock high on the mountain side,
leap over mighty precipices. cleaning
like strands Of silver In the sunlight,
to be, lost In the mysterious depths of
dark gorges far below. These waters
WHY'D through dark, tortuous ravines
and form the racing stream that tum-
blses swiftly between the twisting hills
irato the steep valley Of Hanavave,
where 1t rushes over its rocky bed to
pass into the blue waters of the quiet
bay.
| Beyond the crescent Of white sand
that lies between the cliffs, banyan,
mango. and breadfruit trees mingle
lftheir brilliant foliage and blossoms
e with the slender brown trunks and
waving frond Of the pandanus and
y COCO palm.
Less than century ago this forest
was thickly dotted with the brown
matched huts of the Hanavavans, each
upon Its paepae or platform of stone
constructed without mortar or cement
Thousands of these paepae, no longer
in USE cling to the vertical sides Of val
leys and ravines In state Of perfect
preservation. the platform usually e
by 80 or 40 feet, level and unbroken,
often walled up 10 or 10 feet on the
lower side.
Beautiful Women, Fierce Men.
To describe the dainty, graceful
Marquesanne as she professionally
was before Cooks advent may lay the
describer open to the charge of exag-
geration. But from Mendana to Ste
venson, with Melville for good meas
ure, her remarkable beauty was q
source of surprise and admiration.
When women possess beautiful, lux
uriant hair. fine eyes, perfect teeth
slender, graceful form, a skin Of vel
vet texture and unblemished surface
and these physical attractions are
combined with vivacity of spirit ane
action, exaggeration becomes difficult
and unless all chroniclers Of the is
lands have for several centuries agreed
to deceive the world, such was the
MArquesanne so she Is today wher
sickness has not diminished her charm
The men were fierce, cruel cannibAls
whose chief occupation, aside from thu
indulgence of their amative proclivi
ties, was the killing Of both men ant
women of other tribes for gastronomi'
purposes.
The all-powerful tapu was the "lav
and the prophets Of the MarQuesan