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THE NATIONAL GEOGRAPHIC MAGAZINE 



The chief went ashore with his bottle 

 of harmless grenadine syrup, and I with 

 him. 



Within an hour he had consumed the 

 entire contents, and sat somewhat im- 

 patiently awaiting the promised drunk. 

 Meanwhile the schooner sailed quietly 

 away. 



By sunset I was watching an ebullition 

 of disappointment and unbridled rage by, 

 a stone-sober cannibal chief that left 

 nothing to the imagination of his audi- 

 ence. Skippers of trading schooners 

 rarely go ashore in these bays, and I am 

 inclined to believe their judgment good. 



The last official recognition of canni- 

 balism here was many years ago, but of 

 unofficial reports and rumors there are 

 many, the latest less than two years ago. 



THEIR CANNIBALISTIC APPETITES STILL 

 SURVIVE 



There is no doubt that the Marquesans 

 today are as fond of "long pig" as in the 

 years past, but the opportunities are 

 greatly decreased and the penalty of 

 transportation and long imprisonment 

 certain should they be caught. Neverthe- 

 less there are several villages where 

 tribesmen from other valleys will not go 

 even now unless in force ; and their wis- 

 dom is bred of experience. 



Only six of the eleven islands are now 

 inhabited, and but a few villages on these. 

 The valley of Taipi, on Nukuhiva, made 

 famous by "Typee," Herman Melville's 

 beautiful classic of the South Seas, is 

 now given over to the silence of the jun- 

 gle. It was difficult to realize that this 

 utterly desolate valley, where nothing 

 now remains save the terraces hidden be- 

 neath a rank tropical overgrowth, was, 

 less than a century ago, the home of 

 many thousand savages leading the care- 

 free, luxurious life Melville has described 

 so picturesquely. 



The French official Annuairc des Btub- 

 lissements Francais de I'Oceanie for 

 1915 — the figures were compiled in 

 1914 — gives the population of the Mar- 

 quesas as 3,004. I have recently com- 



pleted a journey throughout the islands, 

 during which I visited every inhabited 

 bay and village. My count gives a popu- 

 lation now of 1,950, a decrease of more 

 than 33 per cent in less than five years ! 



THE VANISHING RACE 



The official report gives sixty known 

 cases of leprosy, and I saw considerably 

 more than that number scattered about 

 the six islands. The actual proportion of 

 lepers to the population will never be 

 known, but it is very large. As leprosy 

 takes years to develop to a degree where 

 it can be detected readily, many who are 

 now afflicted with the dread disease with- 

 out knowing it will die of other causes in 

 the next few years. Admittedly, the rav- 

 ages of tuberculosis and other insidious 

 diseases are beyond any hope of enumer- 

 ation. 



The average death rate throughout the 

 islands is at least eight deaths to one 

 birth, and in many villages runs higher. 

 The ratio of men to women is about 

 seven to one, and they live in practically 

 the same communal polyandry as in the 

 old days. 



i With these vital statistics available, it 

 can be seen that not only are the days of 

 the Marquesan numbered, but the num- 

 ber is exceedingly small. I do not believe 

 that there will be a full-blooded Mar- 

 quesan alive in ten years. M. La Garde, 

 administrator of the group for 1906-7, 

 agrees with me in this conclusion. 



There can be no doubt whatever that 

 today this drunken, disease-ridden rem- 

 nant of the Marquesan race is beyond re- 

 demption ; and all the French colonial ad- 

 ministration can do is to pursue its pres- 

 ent policy of nominal supervision and let 

 the natives die off as speedily as possible. 



As I stood for the last time in the beau- 

 tiful valley of Puamau, looking through 

 a tropical forest of fruits and flowers to 

 the quiet bay far below, I could but ask 

 myself the question: If prophetic vision 

 had been granted Captain Cook would he 

 not have sailed silently past the Illas 

 Marquesas de Mendoza? I wonder ! 



