Coulee City dispatch. [volume] (Coulee City, Wash.) 19??-19??, 1929-12-20
prepared by the National Geographic
Society. Washington. D. O.

prepared by the National Geographic
Society. Washington. D. O.
"HREE stops among the South
Sea islands will give thumb
nail view of the forces that
have played and are playing
about those bits of land that have al
ways held fascination to travellers
from the lands of Western civilization.
The first port Of call may well be Tai
O-Hai, which has been described as
port of tragedy"
Situated at the innermost point of a
horseshoe bay which furnishes rea.
sonably well protected harbor, Tai-O-
Hal once gave promise Of being a Pa
cific metropolis, rival, perhaps, to
Papeete, Tahiti, $50 miles to the south
west. Tho town, on Nukahiva, largest
of the Marquesas islands, is listed as
the administrative seat of the French
government of the Marquesas; but the
honor is hollow one, for the Mar
quesans are rapidly dying Off The
hundred thousand or more who peo-
pied the eleven islands a century ago
have dwindled to 5000 or 1000.
When France took the islands over
In 1924 the future seemed rosy to the
white settlers who went there. The
islands teemed with superlatively
healthy, brawny natives. The rain
fall 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
accompaniment of Civilizations Jail
-sprang up.
But things did not work out as had
been expected. The Marquesans did
not care to become plantation labor
ers. They had led lives Of ease,
spending their time In idleness, in
gathering natures fruits, and in war
among themselves Some INSCRIPTIONS
planters tried rum and opium as in
ducements to labor. They brought
certain temporary success, but they
helped to bring a speedy end to all
hope for the survival of the Mar
quesan people. To drunkenness and
soddenness were soon added the white
mans diseases-diseases which meant
little to civilizations of America and
Europe that had become largely i'm
mune to them, but which carried off
the islanders like flies.
Tai-O-Hai, which had waxed, as
quickly waned. To-day less than $50
people live in the village and there is
only a handful Of whites. The once
populous valleys back in Nukahiva
have been abandoned to the rank
growth.
Papeete Lively Town.
Next one may sail to Papeete, the
chief port of Tahiti, metropolis of the
southwestern Pacific, 1.-THE Honolulu of
the South"
Because of It's position almost mid
way between Panama and New Zea
land, and its reasonable distance-as
South sea distances go-from Samoa,
the Marquesas and Hawaii, Papeete
Is sort Of ocean crossroads, and Its
cosmopolitan aspect never fails to
impress visitors. On its wharves and
in its streets one encounters vanilla
and coconut planters; traders-
French, British and American, en-
gagged in every cline conceivable from
copra and silk stockings to fertilizer
and pearls; sea captains and shipping
agents; French officials (for Papeete
is the capital of the French Pacific) !:
missionaries; natives; the ever-pres-
emf Chinaman; and the nondescript
beach-comber.
Papeete may be "far from cIviliza-
ton" from the viewpoint Of the stay.
at-home, but the palate of the visitor
to Papette certainly will not suffer for
delectable food. In the bustling port
town with Its 1000 French residents,
some OF them competent chefs, ane
may find viands that would not be
amiss in the restaurants of the Rue de
la Paix-frOm vim rouge, through
poulet roti to cafe moir And IL he
wishes native food he may fare well
on coconut-fed pig roasted whole. fish
with coconut sauce, shrimp, baked
banana, and baked breadfruit, the lat.
ter with a texture like very fine cheese
and an Understandable. mildly pleasant
flavor For desert he will have
oranges, Dineapples and various trop-
ical fruits.
The most ambitious sightseeing trip
In Tahiti Is circuit of the Islands
by horse-drawn vehicle. along the