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THE POPULAR SCIENCE MONTHLY 



wood carving of the Maoris might have been preserved and modified to 

 find a profit-producing market for the natives. The embroidered mats of 

 the Marshall Islanders were the admiration of all who beheld them, so 

 beautiful were their designs and soft their texture. Even so low a race 

 as that of Australia can produce basket-work of superior quality which 

 if honestly encouraged could provide a means of attaining affluence from 

 the native standpoint. The salvation of their very souls lies in the 

 maintenance of their respect as self-supporting men and women, yet 

 even while we preach morality, we permit their only hope of maintain- 

 ing it to 'dwindle through our own neglect to find a market for the fruits 

 of their labor and invention. Yet, happily, a ray of hope has come, and 

 on the island of Badu in Torres Straits a laudable attempt is being made 



Council House ax Taaia, Tahiti. 



by an incorporated English company under the direction of the Eever- 

 end E. W. Walker to teach the natives money-making arts and trades 

 and, above all, to procure and develop a market for their wares. No 

 surer road to the attainment of civilization and Christianity could be 

 found and there is a most significant contrast between the industrious, 

 happy natives of Badu, whose faces are alive with intelligence, and hope, 

 and their listless cousins of other islands in Torres Straits. 



Perhaps it was but natural that these early Tahitian missionaries 

 grew too greatly to fear mistakes upon the part of the natives, forgetting 

 that the teacher must not do the reading for the child. 

 _ A semblance of order and rectitude fell over the stultified life of the 

 natives, while hidden beneath the surface vile things survived concealed. 

 Such a vision of " righteousness " one sees among that most " orderly, 



