334 THE CORAL LANDS OF THE PACIFIC. 



The price was always f 1 per hundred (i.e., its equivalent in trade) ; 

 it takes fifty of them (the wild cocoa-nut of the Pacific) to make 

 1 gallon of oil ; consequently, for a gallon they usually asked 

 and obtained half a dollar, or its equivalent, two yards of cotton 

 print. One hundred cocoa-nuts when dried weigh only 50 lb., 

 for which traders usually refuse to pay, upon the spots where 

 the nuts are grown, more than 1 J cent per pound, equal to 75 

 cents per hundred nuts, instead of $1 per hundred. The 

 natives do not allow for the fact that drying the meat of the 

 cocoa-nut involves less labour than making it into oil, nor do 

 they understand the old business maxim of a reduction on 

 taking a quantity, and therefore refuse to submit to what they 

 look upon as an unfair reduction in the rate. 



To the north of the Tuamotus is the Marquesas Archipelago, 

 which is composed of two tolerably distinct groups, lying 

 between the parallels of latitude 7 50' and 10 31' S., and longi- 

 tude 138 39' and 140 46' W. They are all of volcanic origin, 

 and may be seen in clear weather for a great distance. The 

 French exercise a kind of protectorate over the group, but, as 

 is the case with all French colonies, both politically and com- 

 mercially, the Marquesas constitute no very favourable example 

 of what may be made of a new country. The population I 

 have no exact means of estimating, but from what I learnt in 

 the Pacific and in the vicinity of the islands, I should put it 

 down at about 6000 ; they are, however, like most of the Poly- 

 nesian races, steadily declining in number. 



The principal island, called Nukahiva, is about 17 miles 

 from east to west. The most populous and fertile is that of 

 Dominica, where there are Catholic clergy who shepherd, I 

 fear, only nominal Catholics. It is true my informant was a 

 somewhat vigorous Protestant, but I am not very sanguine 

 about the religious results of some hard-working missions in 



