The Bozeman courier. (Bozeman, Mont.) 1919-1954, 1925-11-27
TAI-O-HAI CALLED
PORT OF TRAGEDY
Once Gave Promise of Be-
ing Metropolis.


Washington-Tai-O-Hai, island port
Of call Of the AFOREMENTIONED United
States fleet which has been visiting
in the Pacific, is described as a port
Of tragedy" in a bulletin from the
Washington I'd. o. headquarters Of
the National Geographic society.
Situated at the innermOst point Of
a horseshoe bay which furnishes a rea-
sOnably well protected harbOr," says
the bulletin, "Tai-O-Hai, Once gave
promise Of being a Pacific metropolis,
a rival, perhaps, to Papeete, Tahiti
$50 miles to the southwest. The town
, on Eukahiva, largest Of the Marquesas
islands, is listed as the administrative
seat Of the French government Of the
Marquesas; but the honor is a hollow
one, for the Marquesans are rapidly
dying off. The hundred thousand or
more who peopled the eleven islands
a century g have dwindled to three
= thousand or four thousand.
Rosy Future Seemed Assured.
when France took the islands over
in 1912 the future seemed rosy to the
white settlers who went there. The
islands teemed with supeHatively
healthy, brawny natives. The rainfall
was abundant and vegetation grew
rankly. Dreams Of exceedingly pro-
ductive cOcOnut, cotton and vanilla
plantations filled the heads Of French
adventures. Tai-O-Hai was built with
these dreams in mind, and stores, inns,
churches, schools, and another accom-
paniment Of CIVILIZATION jail
sprang up.
"But things did not work out as
had been expected. The MRrquesRns
did not care to become plantation la
bOrers. They had led lives Of ease,
, spending their time In idleness in
gathering natures fruits, and In war
among themselves. Some unscrupu-
Ions planters tried rum and opium IS
inducements to labor. They brought
a certain temporary success, bat they
helped to bring a speedy end to al
! hope for the survival OF the Mar
quesan people. To drunkenness and
~sOddenRess were soon added the white
mans diseases-diseases which meant
little to the civilizations Of America
and Europe that had become largely
immune to them, but which carried
of the islanders like flies.
"Tai-O-Hai, which had WaXed, a!
quickly waned. Today less than 15C
people live in the village, and there
is only a handful Of whites. Aban
doRed buildings are on every hand
traders shops, dwellings, an inn,
leper house. The Onc %pOpulOus val
legs back in NukahiFa have besl
abandoned to the rank growth Onl,
the half-smOthered platforms on whicI
dwellings stood tell Of their past us
by man. In the valleys not who'll,
abandoned, the few survivors hav
moved near the sea for neighbOrlinesl
1.-THE MarQuesas are in two groups
Nukahiya lies In the northern grOuI
Seventy miles OF ocean separate
from the group to the south. It wa
, the southern group, discovered in 159
by Mendana that was named MAJ
Quesas.
Claimed for America.
1.-THE northern islands remained III
known to the outside world for %
years and were then discovered by a
American, Captain I~ngraham, a ski
per from Boston. He named them Il
Washington Islands, and they almo.
became American possessions. Cap
David Porter Of the United STATE
navy took possession Of Tai-O-Hai bs
IN 1913 while marrying British shiI
in the Pacific; subdued the Nukahivis
natives; and proclaimed the Washin
ton islands territory of the Unite
States. But a mutiny Of the ships ]
left in the harbOr put an end to b
plan, and the United States never 7
asserted its claim.
"The M~arquesas are Of vOlcan
origin. They are extremely rugge
and, except the valley feOrs, there
no level land in them, the Obser
er from shipbOard who sails amOl
them their sharp peaks, line behil
. line, cut the sky like the bizarre mOu
,tains Of stage scenery.
"a number Of the smaller islam
are now entirely uninhabited. Unle
some hardy race be brought to the
it will not be long before the Ms
quesas viii be left virtually as tn
we're millenniums ago, before {
Vikings Of the Pacific, In their hu
canoes, came to claim them for ms
kind"
FL H.-.-n. ILL.,