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

ancc Of the women would probably in
cite n %suffragette to spectacular wrath.
Without exception on any island, wOm-
en- might not eat "lohg pig nor brown
pig, a delicacy much enjoyed by the
men folks in the absence of the longer
variety.
Nor daily with bonita or squid, the
two fishes most in favor with the
Marquesan palate.
Nor, except on special occasions, eat
fresh breadfruit, bananas, or cOcoaut
Nor could they go in canoes, a pro-
vision TO keep them from being cap
tured by enemies lurking outside the
bay.
And, q tapu savOrfug Of Solomon in
its wisdom, women could not weep!
1t would be q grave error to con
! clude from the taboos mentioned tnat
the life Of the Marquesan woman was
q hard one.
They Had Mo Agriculture
Agriculture in any form was IN
known. The natives took the bounti-
| full variety Of flora the islands provid-
ed, but to assist nature in any way
by tilling or ~replanting never occurred
TO them. Content with their gratitica-
Marquesans took literally no thought
for the morrow.
The most favored intoxicant in the
Marquesas is namu-ehi, or, as it is
more commonly known, kokO. Eli is
MarQuesan for coconut, and 1t is from
the coco palm that this most insidious
and delectable of drinks is made. A
tall coco palm that has been wind
blown so that it's plumy top leans far
out of the perpendicular, is chosen.
The buds, from which eventually fifty
or sixty nuts would be produced, grow
In a compact, oblOng cluster near the
top of the palm. The native climbs
the tree and, using long strips of
bark or fiber, binds the cluster of
blossoms tightly round and round, until
the result resembles a huge, fat cigar
p%rotruding from the fronds. Under
meath the point Of this a bowl is sus
pended and the tip end of the wrap
ping sliced off.
After the second day it begins t
drip freely, but the end must be SLICED
fresh every t~wenty-four hours to slim
ulate the flow. In this Il tree
will furnish one or more gallons a da,
for several weeks.
t When fresh from the tree the bev
J erage resembles a delicious lemonade
4 with q flavor which would make tn
. fortune of a soft-drihk manufacture
who could reproduce 1t. Fermentatio
takes place speedily, however, n
: a few hours your soft drink has "hart
{ ened" into a vicious man-killer tina
. only q savage can go against wit
; impunity.
Captain Cooks report placed tn
Marquesas literally and fgurativel
ron the map" That was las year
il ago. and since then the history of tn
y islands is the tragic story of a losin
e ight by q race of savages against
civilization represented In this instant
> by the whaler, the missionary, II
trader. the 'blackbirder," and FINAL
q their conquest and %subjugation by
foreign power.
In 1912 Admiral Du P~etit-Thoual
took possession of the entire group
J. the name of France, ostensibly to pr
tect the missionaries in their labors Il
Christianity. Forts were built on Sc
ID eral of the islands and troops install'
/: 10 enforce French authority.
s. The ensuing fifty years Is a recol
d of desultory warfare between Il
,e French soldiers and the Marques
IN warriors, in which the latter, alwa
u. at war with each other and poor
IS. armed, were constantly defeated;
he sb~lackbirders'' from North and Sou
II America, who raided the weaken
nd villages and. sold the men and won
lie into slavery in far-off lands. and
the frightful ravasea Of smalip'
NV tuberculosis, leprosy, and other &C
in. tagious.