294 BT7I.LE7XN OF TH7, UNITED STATES FISH COMMISSION. 



know the value. The archipelagoes were frequented by vessels of all 

 nationalities ; mother-of-pearl was abundant, and pearls were less rare 

 than they are now. The number of trading ships increased ; there was 

 competition among them, and consequently a higher price to the na- 

 tives, who fished to meet the new demand with improvident ardor. The 

 consequence is that the lagoons are less productive, and that even the 

 most fertile give manifest signs of exhaustion. The prospect of having 

 the inhabitants of Tuamotu thrown on its hands in a state of helpless 

 destitution, as well as of the disappearance of the principle article of 

 the trade of Tahiti, and an important source of revenue to the colony, 

 alarmed the colonial administration and the ministry of marine and 

 Ihe colonies in Paris. Accordingly Brandely was selected to study 

 the whole subject on the spot. The points to which he was instructed 

 to direct special attention were these: (1) The actual state of the la- 

 goons which produce oysters; are they beginning to be impoverished, 

 and, if so, what is the cause, and what the remedy ? (2) Would it be 

 possible to create at Tuamotu, Gambier, Tahiti, and Moorea, for the cul- 

 tivation of mother-of-pearl, an industry analagous to that existing in 

 France for edible oysters ? Would it be possible by this means to supply 

 the natives of Tuamotu with continuous, fixed, remunerative labor, which 

 would render them independent, and remove them from the shameless 

 cupidity of the traders 1 Could they not be spared the hardships and 

 dangers resulting from the continued practice of diving, and be turned to 

 more fixed sedentary modes of life, by which they might be raised gradu- 

 ally in the social scale ? (3) Should the pearl fishing in the archipelagoes 

 be regulated, and, if so, what should be the bases of such regulations? 

 It was on the mixed economical and philanthropic mission here indi- 

 cated that Brandely went to Tahiti in February last. The statistics 

 tics did not show any decline in the production of mother-of-pearl, but 

 a careful study on the spot showed that this was due to the great 

 amount of the clandestine traffic, and that the lagoons were growing 

 less productive day by day; that beautiful mother-of-pearl was becom- 

 ing rarer, and in order nowadays to get oysters of a marketable size 

 the divers are forced to go to even greater depths. Brandely recom- 

 mends prompt and vigorous measures be taken at once, or the lagoons 

 of Tuamotu will soon be ruined forever. The partial steps already 

 adopted have been useless. The total prohibition of fishing in some of 

 the islands for several years has failed, because it has been found that 

 the pintadine is hermaphrodite, and not, as formerly was believed, uni- 

 sexual. The cause of the impoverishment of the lagoons is excessive 

 fishing, and nothing else. He thinks that it is possible to create in 

 Tuamotu, Gambier, Tahiti, and Moorea a rational and methodical cul- 

 tivation of mottier-of pearl oysters, analogous to that existing with re- 

 gard to edible oysters on the French coasts, and to constitute for the 

 profit of the colony an industrial monopoly which no other country can 

 dispute, for nowhere else can such favorable conditions be found. 



