486 



AUSTEALASIA. 



and American dealers, and next to their mother tongue, the natives are most 

 familiar with English, originally introduced by the Protestant missionaries. 

 The orange, first planted here by Cook, has become the chief agricultural resource 

 of the Archipelago, while the guava, introduced in 1818, now runs wild, covering 

 the slopes of the mountains with impenetrable thickets. The cotton, coffee, and 

 sugar plantations of Atimaono and other districts have proved an utter failure 

 since the dispersion of the 4,500 Chinese contract labourers employed by the 



Fig. 217.— Papeete. 

 Scale 1 : 35,000. 



lasb cr breenwich 154° 1 4' 



154° 15' 



EU 



Reefs exposed 

 at low water. 



0to32 

 Feet. 



Depths. 



32 to 80 



Feet. 



80 to 320 

 Feet. 



320 Feet and 

 upwards. 



1,100 Yards. 



speculators. About a thousand of these have settled down as petty dealers and 

 gardeners. 



About 50,000 acres, or one-fifth of the large island, are estimated to be avail- 

 able for plantations. All these lands lying on the seaboard or on the first slopes 

 of the hills, are easily accessible by the highway, 115 miles long, which winds in 

 a double circuit round the twin islands of Great and Little Tahiti. But at the 

 south-east extremity of the latter this romantic route is interrupted by precipices, 

 and here the surf, driven by the trade winds through a large opening in the 

 fringing reefs, has to be crossed in frail outriggers. The western part of Great 

 Tahiti, between Papeete and the plantations, will soon be reached by a railway 

 from the capital. A little fort has been erected on the isthmus of Tararao, which 

 connects both islands, and which is the most convenient site for the centre of 

 administration. Fort Phaeton, in this southern district, is far more spacious and 



