43^ 



The National Geographic Magazine 



Empire. The plan must be adjusted to 

 the character of the locality and devel- 

 oped according to the circumstances and 

 prosperity of the people. Moreover, in 

 adopting Western methods, we must 

 remember that there are differences in 

 Western forms of government and in 

 Western industries. 



' ' If we desire to obtain the material 

 benefits of their civilization, we must 

 first learn their hearts. The hearts of 

 Western men are interested in the pub- 

 lic welfare, while those of the Chinese, 

 for the most part, are devoted to selfish 

 concerns. . . . Thus naturally the 

 two races are ver}^ unlike, and in en- 

 deavoring to adopt their civilization we 

 get no more than the outside. Though 

 ten thousand men should join together 

 in the effort and labor through a hun- 

 dred years, it would be very difficult to 

 complete the transformation. 



" From the first year of T'ung-chih 

 (1862) down to the present, there has 

 never been a time when we have not 

 talked of foreign affairs. Institutions 



and factories have grown up like a forest, 

 and ships and cannon have outnumbered 

 the clouds; yet in thirty years what 

 effective change has been completed ? 

 The reason for our failure is that while 

 among Western people in their under- 

 takings a thousand men are of one mind 

 to secure the prosperity of the state — 

 and securing the prosperity of the state 

 benefits individuals as well — among the 

 Chinese, in their affairs, a hundred men 

 have a hundred minds, each seeking his 

 own advantage, and while some profit 

 and others do not, the state does not 

 obtain the least benefit. It is for this 

 reason that shares are not sold and that 

 corporations are dissolved. In under- 

 takings which the foreigner finds profit- 

 able, the Chinese, in their endeavors to 

 imitate, find nothing but losses to make 

 good. The hearts of the Chinese must 

 first be rectified, and then they may imi- 

 tate the excellent methods of the West; 

 but to straighten the foundations and to 

 cleanse the fountain, this is not a task 

 for one man." 



GEOGRAPHIC NOTES 



TAHITI 



THROUGH the courtesy of Mr. 

 S. P. Langley the Nationai. 

 Geographic Magazine is able to pub- 

 lish this month the diary of his recent 

 trip to Tahiti. The diary is published 

 as it was written from day to day, with- 

 out any alterations, and is an entertain- 

 ing story of several weeks passed in a 

 fascinating part of the globe. 



Tahiti was discovered in 1606 by 

 Quiros, who named it I^a Sagittaria. 

 One hundred and sixty one years later 

 Captain Wallis rediscovered the island 



and called it after his sovereign King 

 George. The native name, formerly 

 spelled Otaheite, asserted itself, how- 

 ever, and is now alone used. Tahiti was 

 Captain Cook's favorite center when ex- 

 ploring the Pacific. It was on this island 

 he obser\^ed the Transit of Venus on his 

 first great voyage of exploration in the 

 Pacific. English missionaries settled in 

 Tahiti near the close of the eighteenth 

 century, and for some years met with 

 considerable success. France declared 

 a protectorate over Tahiti and the So- 

 ciety Islands in 1842, and in t88o form- 

 ally annexed the group. 



