THE SOCIETY ISLANDS. 369 



ants of the Society Islands may be said to be ' seeking rest 

 and finding none' nearly all their old religion and amuse- 

 ments being things of the past, while as yet they but 

 imperfectly understand or appreciate the new faith and the 

 new civilisation which have followed in their stead. Time 

 works wonders, however, and it is quite possible that if they 

 were educated a little commercially, by the benevolent action 

 of the French authorities, they would in a generation or so 

 become a changed people. 



The capital of the Society Group, Papeete (or Papeite) 

 the population of which district is 2861, of which about 800 

 are Europeans is situated at the end of a semicircular bay, 

 and extending from the dwellings of the white men on the 

 beach are roads running up to the hill-sides, well-shaded by the 

 orange, bread-fruit, palm, and cocoa-nut trees. These streets 

 are all named after Parisian models such as ' Rue de Rivoli ' 

 and in them are numerous well-stored shops and two good 

 hotels, besides grog-shops and caf6s. There is a Palais de 

 Justice and a Catholic cathedral, while in the Rue de Pologne 

 there are a row of Chinese stores and tea shops, the number 

 of Chinamen in the island being 600. At Point Venus, at 

 the northernmost end of the island, is a lighthouse, and it was 

 from this place that Captain Cook in 1769 observed the 

 transit of Venus hence its name. 



The island of Moorea, to the north-west of Tahiti, has a 

 population of 1427, of which 34 are Europeans ; while that of 

 Maitea (sometimes spelt Mehetia) is inhabited by a few natives 

 of the district of Tautira in Tahiti. 



Like the Fiji and Samoa Groups, the agricultural wealth of 

 Tahiti can hardly be exaggerated. The value of the exports 

 of Tahiti for the year 1878 was 2,800,000 francs, and con- 

 sisted of cocoa-nut oil, cotton, oranges, mother-of-pearl shell, 



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