Anatole von Hügel

“ Hot springs are unknown, and earthquakes are slight and rare. Nevertheless, under some of these flows remains of plants and insects of species now living in the islands have been found, — a proof that the formation as well as the denudation of the country is, geologically speaking, recent. In profile the islands are rugged. A high mountain, usually with very steep peaks, forms the centre, if not the whole island; on all sides steep ridges descend to the sea, or, as is oftener the case, to a considerable belt of flat land. ”

“ It is rich in trees, shrubs, and hardwood plants, poor in the smaller undergrowth, Orchids, including some beautiful species, and ferns are abundant; but, here as in Polynesia generally, Rubiaceæ is the order best represented. Remarkable are the banana thickets, which, chiefly on Tahiti, grow at an altitude of from 3000 to 5000 feet. Along the shore—in some places almost to the extinction of all native growth—many exotics have established themselves; and a great variety of fruit-hearing and other useful trees have been successfully introduced into most of the islands. ”

“ The competition of the Chinese immigrants, of whom in 1886 there were already 400 on Tahiti and Eimeo, is beginning to be keenly felt. The importation of "labour," chiefly for the plantations, from other Polynesian islands was placed under Government control in 1862. The Tahitians themselves prefer handicrafts to agricultural work, and many are employed as artisans by European masters, who find them as handy and industrious as their own countrymen, but for domestic service they show no aptitude. ”

“ To the west as far as Fiji — the main islands of which group lie between the same degrees of latitude as those of Tahiti — there are 1500 miles of open water. About 300 miles south-west lies Cook’s Archipelago, and at the same distance south are the Austral Islands. To the north, excepting a few coral banks, there is open sea to Hawaii, a distance of 2600 miles.
Tahiti occupies a central position in the Pacific. Sydney lies about 3400 miles to the west and San Francisco about as far to the north-north-east. Honolulu, Noumea, and Auckland are each somewhere about 2400 miles away ”

“ Damp is excessive; there is little variation in the weather, which, though hot, is nevertheless not depressing, and the climate for the tropics must be considered remarkably healthy. The rainfall is largest between December and April, but there is so much at other times of the year also that these months hardly deserve the name of the rainy season. During this period north-west winds are frequent, continuing at times for weeks, and there are thunderstorms and hurricanes, though they are not nearly so destructive as in some of the neighbouring islands. ”

“ The arirai had a councillor, but was alone responsible for any act. The bi-insular form of Tahiti promoted the independence of the chiefs, and war was rarely declared or an army or fleet despatched without the raatiras being first summoned to council. Without their favour nothing could be accomplished, for their power over their own people was absolute. The form of government was thus strictly feudal in character, but it gradually centralized into a monarchy, which, in the person of Pomare II., the English missionaries greatly helped to regulate and strengthen. ”

“ The women rank with the most beautiful of the Pacific, though the accounts given of them by early voyagers are much exaggerated; and for general symmetry of form the people are unsurpassed by any race in the world. Even now in its decadence, after generations of drunkenness and European disease and vice, grafted on inborn indolence and licentiousness, many tall and robust people (6 feet and even upwards in height) are to be found. The women, as a rule, are small in proportion to the men. ”

“ Two years were spent in reducing the party in the islands opposed to French rule; an attempt to conquer the western islands failed; and at length, by agreement with England, France promised to return to the plan of a protectorate and leave the western islands to their rightful owners. The London missionaries were replaced by French Protestants, but neither they nor the priests have been very successful, possibly because French is a compulsory subject in the Government schools. In 1880 Tahiti, including Eimeo, was proclaimed a French colony. ”

“ A jungle-fowl (var. of Gallus bankiva) is found in the mountains, but as domesticated fowls were abundant, even when Tahiti was first discovered by Europeans, these wild birds are doubtless the offspring of tame birds, probably imported with the pigs and dogs by Malay vessels. There are no peculiar reptiles, and batrachians are entirely wanting. The lagoons swarm with fish of many species. Insects are poor in species, though some of them are indigenous. ”

“ Oranges and vanilla are profitably grown. The timber of the country is hardly used, great quantities of Californian pine being imported. Oxen and hogs are reared. The artificial culture of the pearl oyster is beginning to be discussed, but the pearls of the Society Islands are not to be compared in number or quality to those of the Tuamotus. ”

“ A railroad is in contemplation. By the last census the population of the entire island was 9194, one-eighth being French and foreigners. The majority of the natives profess the Protestant religion. [2]
The extreme north of the island is formed by Point Venus, to the east of which lies the Bay of Matavai, and some miles still farther east Papeete, the European town and the seat of government. The beautiful harbour, of fair size and depth, is entered by two passages in the reef, Papeete to the north, 7 fathoms in depth, and Taunoa to the east, the wider and more convenient, though shallower. ”

“ Crustaceans and molluscs, on the other hand, are well represented ; worms, echinoderms, and corals comparatively poorly. A noteworthy feature of Tahitian conchology is the number of peculiar species belonging to the genus Partula, almost every valley being the habitat of a distinct form. [5]
Flora.—This, though luxuriant, is not very rich. Like the zoology, it is much poorer than that of the more western groups of the Pacific. Metrosideros, Melastoma, and Acacia are the only links which this typically Polynesian region has retained to join it to Australia. ”

“ Of this sandpiper, Tringa leucoptera, which, with many of the birds here mentioned, was discovered as far back as Cook’s stay in the islands, only one specimen (now in the Leyden museum) is known to exist; and of the rest, their range being often limited to one portion of a small island, several species are (through the increase in the number of cats, &c.) ”

“ Men and women of good birth can generally be distinguished by their height and fairness, and often, even in early age, by their enormous corpulence. The skin varies from a very light olive to a full dark brown. ”

“ This tuft was returned intact as a sign of assent or torn in token of refusal. After the chief the wife ranked first, and then his brother. The arirai was carried on the shoulders of his subjects, and chiefs were not allowed to feed themselves. Women always ate apart. ”