Linton — The Marquesas Islands 267 



lation of Nuku Hiva as 80,000 which is obviously an impossible number. Dur- 

 ing the early part of the nineteenth century the population declined rapidly as 

 a result of diseases introduced by the European whalers. Du Petit-Thouars, in 

 1838, estimated the population at 20,000; Houan, in 1856, gave 12,500 as the 

 grand total, and an actual census at the time of Clavel's visit in 1883 showed 

 4,865. Since that time the decline has been steady but less rapid, the present in- 

 habitants numbering about 3,000, many of whom are Chinese or European half- 

 castes. These half-castes are more resistant to disease than the pure-blood 

 natives and through them the language and fragments of the culture will probably 

 be preserved for several generations. The survival of the pure native stock is 

 doubtful, although in 1920 the natives of the island of Ua Pou, who were only 

 slightly mixed, were holding their own, and those of Ua Huka showed a slight 

 increase in number. The most rapid decline is in the southern islands where in- 

 tensive European contact is more recent. On one of these islands, Tahu Ata, 

 there are said to be nearly a hundred deaths to every birth. The influenza 

 epidemics, so destructive in Polynesia, did not reach the Marquesas. 



SOCIAL ORGANIZATION AND REUGION 



An account of the religion and social organization of the Marquesas is 

 given by Handy (32), but a resume is necessary as a background for the present 

 study of material culture. 



The natives were divided into a great number of tribes which were for the 

 most part mutually hostile. As a rule each of these tribes occupied a single 

 valley, but several of the larger valleys were occupied by two or more tribes 

 who often fought among themselves, although they usually united against out- 

 siders. Thus in the valley of Tai-pi Vai, rendered famous by Melville's narrative, 

 "Typee," there were three groups of people. One group occupied the head of the 

 valley; a second, the middle; and a third, the lower end. The hostility between 

 these groups was so strong that even after their ostensible conversion to Chris- 

 tianity it was necessary to build a church in each section to prevent fights dur- 

 ing religious services. No governmental unit larger than the tribe existed, but 

 there appear to have been shadowy confederacies of several tribes, who combined 

 for action in case of hostilities from other tribes. In Nuku Hiva and Hiva Oa 

 at least, there were still larger dual divisions, comprising the eastern and western 

 halves of these islands. The only approach to centralized power appears to have 

 been in the island of Ua Pou, where the inhabitants of one vallc)' had extended 

 their sway over all the other tribes, but even here the autonomy of the conquered 

 groups does not seem to have been seriously interefered with. 



[7] 



