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COMPENDIUM OF GEOGRAPHY AND TRAVEL 
by Krusenstern in 1804 as 18,000, and about eighty 
years later was said to be under 500. Captain Jouan of 
the French navy considered that the mortality was in 
part due to the revolting custom which until lately 
obtained of shutting up widows for days or even weeks 
with the putrefying corpse of their husbands ; but the 
unbridled immorality of the people and the introduction 
of intoxicants have no doubt also greatly contributed to 
the result. 
In their habits and religious practices the natives of 
the Marquesas resemble the Tahitians in many respects. 
They formerly worshipped a number of gods, for whom a 
moral was set up in every district, on which swine were 
sacrificed, for, although cannibals, they never offered 
up human victims. They were extremely hospitable, 
which, however, did not prevent them from indulging 
in sanguinary feuds among themselves. The efforts of 
the missionaries to evangelise them were long fruitless; 
recently, however, the majority of the natives are said to 
have adopted the Eoman Catholic form of Christianity. 
Nevertheless, according to Yon Popp, they still remain 
perfect savages, nor have they yet altogether renounced 
cannibalism. 
The principal island in the Marquesas group is Nuka- 
hiva, formerly a French penal settlement. It is about 
14 miles long by 10 broad, and is famous for the 
magnificent cascades which pour over its sea-cliffs. Here 
is the small but animated port of Taiohai, where resides 
the French Commissioner of the Marquesas, under whose 
protection several traders have here founded commercial 
houses. The islands are well adapted for the growth of 
cotton, but the people are worthless as agriculturists, and 
labour is exceedingly difficult to obtain. Moreover, long 
droughts are not uncommon, lasting as much as ten or 
