458 THE POPULAR SCIENCE MONTHLY 



of the work the missionaries accomplished in Tahiti. Bather the truth 

 is that, realizing the fundamental good they accomplished, we, in our 

 regret for their partial failures, are disposed to dwell too deeply upon 

 the darker side. Let us therefore not forget the better things they 

 wrought for, and the difficulties which their courage surmounted. Had 

 they not come there would be no native race living in the Tahiti of to- 

 day, for with their success, the institutions of infant murder, human 

 sacrifice, native warfare and the society of the Aroei disappeared forever 

 from the land. 



Nor must we overlook the bravery of this little band, every one of 

 whom had been threatened many times with death, and at least one of 

 whom had fallen a victim to native hatred. Friendless and far from 

 home, alone, and unprotected, they had labored steadfastly throughout 

 the long sad years of apparent failure, and it seems but natural that in 

 the end they became in some measure the victims of the elation of 

 success. 



It was fortunate that from 1817 to 1824 William Ellis, a kindly, 

 tactful and courageous man lived as a missionary upon Tahiti, for not 

 only did he give us in his well-known " Polynesian Researches " the 

 fullest account extant of Tahiti in old days, but his efforts were directed 

 toward encouraging new industries to take the place of many occupa- 

 tions which had been lost. 



Among all the missionaries, Ellis appears to be the only one who 

 expressed regret at the abeyance of such harmless sports as archery, 

 surf-board riding, playing with miniature canoes, flying kites, and 

 swinging upon ropes; for the Tahitians were not gamblers as were the 

 Hawaiians; but he says 



the adults [Tahitians] do not appear to have thought of following this [archery] 

 or any other game since Christianity has been introduced among them. 



Moreover in Tahiti, as elsewhere under the domination of European 

 culture, the native crafts of wood-carving and tapa manufacturing were 

 discouraged and lost, and the great double-decked canoes one hundred 

 feet in length with their ornately carved bows curving upward, were 

 made no longer, and even the Ariirahi's state canoe, called the Anuanua 

 (the rainbow), was doomed to disappear. 



In speaking of Tahiti as it was in 1839, Admiral Charles Wilkes, 

 who always champions the introduction of European culture, says: 



The change of dress which has been introduced by the missionaries, and 

 other foreigners, has had an injurious effect on the industry of this people. 

 While they wore the native tapa the fabric, though of little value, gave employ- 

 ment to numbers of women; and this change of dress intended as an advance 

 in civilization, has had the effect of superseding employments which formerly 

 engaged their attention and occupied their time. The idleness hence arising, 

 and the artificial wants thus created, have no little influence in perpetuating 

 licentiousness among the females, to whom foreign finery is a great temptation. 



