EQUATORIAL POLYNESIA. 



487 



better sheltered than that of Papeete, and it has also the advantage of a better 

 climate and a more fertile soil. 



Moorea is a mere agricultural dependency cr£ Great Tahiti ; but Raiatea, one 

 of the Leeward group, possesses one of the best harbours in the Pacific, thanks to 

 which it has become the centre of a brisk trade, chiefly in the hands of the Germans. 



Some 480 miles north of Tahiti lies Caroline Island, where the French astrono- 

 mers made some remarkable studies of solar physics in 1883. 



The eastern groups of Tuamotu, Man garera, and the Marquesas have also some 

 excellent havens, which might afford shelter to large fleets. But they are all 

 thinly peopled, and the two capitals — Taio-haé in Nuka-hiva and Rikitea in Man- 



Fig. 218.— Nttka-Hiva. 



Scale 1 : 350,000. 



6 Miles. 



gareva are mere villages. In Tuamotu the administrative centre has been 

 removed from Anaa to the more northern atoll of Fakarava. But the sparse 

 population, dispersed over a space some 400,000 square miles in extent, renders 

 all industrial and commercial development almost impossible. These remote 

 archipelagoes, lying 3,500 miles from the nearest point of America, can never 

 possess any natural resources beyond their palm-groves and pearl fisheries. 



In 1813 Porter, an American, seized the Marquesas Islands in the name of the 

 United States Government, which, however, did not ratify the procedure. But 

 in 1835 the French adventurer, Thierry, proclaimed himself "King of JN^uka- 

 hiva," and he was followed by French Catholic missionaries, whose action led to 



