A VANISHING PEOPLE OF THE SOUTH SEAS 



299 



ograph by John W. Church 



THE THREE WOMEN SHOWN IN THIS PHOTOGRAPH ARE THE ONLY ONES IN A VILLAGE 



OP THIRTY MEN AND BOYS 



The decrease in population throughout the islands is at least eight deaths to every birth. 

 It is predicted that in another decade not one full-blooded Marquesan will be alive — a pathetic 

 commentary upon the cost that the savage has paid for a civilization which he has never been 

 able to assimilate. The South Sea Islander has learned to practice few of the white man's 

 virtues, but has been an apt pupil in adopting many of his vices. 



and South America who raided the weak- 

 ened villages and sold the men and wo- 

 men into slavery in far-off lands, and of 

 the frightful ravages of smallpox, tuber- 

 culosis, leprosy, and other contagions 

 among a people who had never known 

 disease. 



THE TERRIBLE VISITATION OP A SMALLPOX 

 EPIDEMIC 



One instance, terrible in its conse- 

 quences, may be cited as an example. 

 About 1 86 1 a Chilean blackbirder, who 

 had raided several of the bays on Nuku- 

 hiva and Uapu, was captured off the 

 Peruvian coast by a French warship and 

 the Marquesans recovered. While bring- 

 ing them back, smallpox broke out on 

 board. The savages, ill with the disease, 

 were put ashore in a bay on Nukuhiva. 

 Some of them were from Uapu, and 

 these took canoes and paddled 30 miles 

 across the ocean to their home. In less 

 than three months some ^,ooo of the na- 



tives on Uapu had died of smallpox, al- 

 most depopulating the island. Nukuhiva 

 also suffered greatly before the un- 

 checked epidemic ran its course. 



In their sincere but often misguided 

 attempts to convert them, the mission- 

 aries added greatly to the misfortunes of 

 the Marquesans. They successfully ap- 

 pealed to the French to assist by force in 

 destroying all customs of the natives not 

 in harmony with the Christian religion as 

 they interpreted it. 



Native gods were overthrown ; tattoo- 

 ing, the hula-hula, and the making of at'a- 

 ava and koko were prohibited ; and of 

 course any further indulgence in "long 

 pig" was strictly forbidden. Persistent 

 efforts were made to regulate their do- 

 mestic life, but these naturally met with 

 unqualified failure. 



Though dazed by the swift destruction 

 of his economy of existence by the white 

 men, the Marquesan doggedly refused to 

 submit to their authority. The French 



