The Mellette County pioneer. [volume] (Wood, Mellette County, S.D.) 19??-1971, 1922-06-02

SOCIely, hdSIllnSlO1, ~. ~
What, in the New Pacific" that the
Washington conference is believed to
have created, will be the future OF
Frances island possessions nearest to
the United States-the Marquesas? In
a few years these fertile, lovely is
lands, now left practically alone, may
be treated as a geographical clean
slate, for the natives are rapidly dying
off.
The Spanish navigator, Mendana,
first discovered the islands with their
towering black cliffs, and sailed
once the crater Of u huge volcano.
What must have been his amaZement
is shared by ne traveller today. With
in the bay, what a contrast! Where
once %telluric fires burned, the luXuri-
ant verdure of the tropics now over
runs the immense ampitheater in riot
Gus %profusion. 1t is as il nature in
~repentant mood were pouring out her
gifts with unstinted hand to cover the
scars and desolation 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
rich abundance almost to the waters
| edge, climb the black basalt cliffs tow
ering over the bay, thus seeking to
soften their harsh, broken outlines be-
| Meath q rank growth of vines and
MOSES. -
Great cascades, s~pringlng 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
wind through dark, tortuous ravines
and form the racing stream that tum-
bles swiftly between the twisting hills
into the steep valley of Hanavave,
where it 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
their brilliant foliage and blossoms
with the slender brown trunks and
waving frond of the pandanus and
coco palm.
Less than q century ago this fores'
was thickly dotted with the brown
matched huts of the H%anavavans, eacl
upon its paepae Or platform OF stone
constructed without mortar or cement
Thousands of these paepae, no longe
In use, cling to the vertical sides OF val
legs and ravines In a state Of perfec
preservation, the platform usually 2
by 80 or 40 feet, level and unbroken
often walled up 10 or 10 feet on tn
lower side.
Beautiful Women. Fierce Men.
To describe the dainty, graceful
Maruuesanne as she unquestionabl,
was before Cooks advent may lay tn
describer open to the charge Of exal
~gerarion. But from Mendana to Ste
venson, with Melville for good meas
ure, her remarkable beauty was
source of surprise and admiration.
When women possess beautiful, lu-
uriant hair. fine eyes. perfect teetl
a slender, graceful form, a skin of We
vet texture and unblemished surfac
and these physical attractions al
combined with a ~vivacity of spirit an
action, ~exaggeration becomes difficult
; and unless all chroniclers of the !
lands have for several centuries agree
: to deceive the world, such was Il
Marquesanne; SO she Is today win
, sickness has not diminished her char
The men were fierce, cruel canniba'
whose chief occupation, aside from Il
: indulgence OF their amative procii'
: ties, was the killing of both men al
. women of other tribes for gastronom
purposes.
The all-powerful tapu was the "ls
. and the prophets Of the Marques