Part 1
# Tahiti, the island paradise ### By Senn, Nicholas
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TAHITI THE ISLAND PARADISE
Transcriber's Note
This book was transcribed from scans of the original found at the Internet Archive. Variant spellings are not corrected. Some illustrations are rotated.
TAHITI
THE
ISLAND PARADISE
BY
NICHOLAS SENN, M. D., Ph. D., LL. D., C. M.
Professor of Surgery in the University of Chicago
Professor and Head of the Surgical Department in Rush Medical College
Surgeon-in-Chief of St. Joseph's Hospital
Attending Surgeon of the Presbyterian Hospital
Lieutenant-Colonel and Chief of the Operating Staff with the Army in
the Field during the Spanish-American War
Surgeon-General of Illinois
WITH FIFTY HALF-TONE ILLUSTRATIONS
CHICAGO
W. B. CONKEY COMPANY
COPYRIGHT, 1906,
BY
W. B. CONKEY COMPANY
PREFACE
The far-away little island of Tahiti is the gem of the South Pacific Ocean. If any place in this world deserves to be called a paradise, Tahiti can make this claim. This charming spot in the wide expanse of the peaceful ocean has attractions which we look for in vain anywhere else. From a distance, the grandeur of its frowning cliffs rivets the eye, and, in coming nearer, its tropic beauty charms the visitor and imprints upon his memory pictures single and panoramic that neither distance nor time can efface. The scenic beauty of this island is unsurpassed. The calming air, redolent with the perfume of fragrant flowers of exquisite beauty, on the seashore, in the valleys and on the precipitous mountain sides; the luxuriant vegetation; the forest fruit-gardens and the sweet music of the surf remind one of the original habitation of man. The natives, a childlike people, friendly, courteous and hospitable, are the happiest people on earth, free from care and worries which in other less favored parts of the world make life a drudgery.
Tahiti is the only place in the world where the people are not obliged to work. The forests furnish bread and fruit and the sea teems with fish. The climate is so mild that the wearing of clothing is rather a matter of choice than of necessity, and the bamboo huts that can be made with little or no expense in half a day with the willing help of the neighbors, meet all the requirements of a home. The stranger will find here throughout the year a climate and surroundings admirably adapted to calm his nervous system and procure repose and sleep.
In writing this little book I have made free use of the "Memoirs of Arrii Taimai E., Marama of Eimeo, Terii rere of Tooarai, Terii nui of Tahiti, Tauraatua I Amo" (Paris, 1901). The authoress was the mother of Tati, one of the most influential present chiefs of Tahiti, and, as her several titles show, she was of noble birth. She was an eye-witness of many of the most stirring political events in the history of the island. Only fifty copies of this book were printed and only three remained in possession of her son. He was kind enough to give me one of them, which, after making liberal use of it, I presented to the library of the University of Chicago, through its late lamented president, Dr. W. R. Harper. I also acknowledge my indebtedness to the works of Captain Cook, "A Voyage to the Pacific" (London, 1784), and to the book of Baron Ferd. von Mueller, "Select Extra-tropical Plants" (Melbourne, 1885).
N. Senn.
Chicago, 1906.
TABLE OF CONTENTS
- PREFACE - TAHITI THE ISLAND PARADISE - THE ISLAND OF TAHITI - OCEAN VOYAGE - THE ATOLL ISLANDS - THE LANDING AT PAPEETE - THE CITY OF PAPEETE - TOPOGRAPHY OF THE ISLAND - THE CLIMATE - HISTORY OF THE ISLAND - POMARE, THE ROYAL FAMILY OF TAHITI - MISSIONARY RULE - WARS BETWEEN PROTESTANT AND CATHOLIC MISSIONARIES - THE LAST WAR - THE NATIVES - FOREIGNERS IN TAHITI - BUSINESS IN TAHITI - OLD TAHITI - RELIGION OF THE NATIVES - THE INSIGNIA OF TAHITIAN ROYALTY - DISEASES OF TAHITI - PRESENT PREVAILING DISEASES - THE KAHUNA OR NATIVE DOCTOR - PHYSICIANS IN TAHITI - HÔPITAL MILITAIRE - THE ISLAND OF PLENTY - TAHITI'S NATURAL BREAD SUPPLY - THE COCOANUT, THE MEAT OF THE TAHITIANS - THE COCOA-PALM - THE FORESTS OF TAHITI - NOTED FOREST TREES OF TAHITI - VANILLA CULTIVATION IN TAHITI - THE RURAL DISTRICTS - POINT VENUS - FAUTAHUA VALLEY - VILLAGE OF PAPARA - IORANA! - ADDENDA - THE STORY OF ARIITAIMAI OF TAHITI
LIST OF ILLUSTRATIONS
- The Royal Family - Harbor and Principal Port of Papeete - Lighthouse, and Cook Monument at Haapape - King Pomare V - Pomare IV - View of Moorea - Tahiti from the Harbor of Papeete - In the Shadow of the Palm Forest - The S. S. "Mariposa" Leaving the Harbor of Papeete - Royal Palace (Headquarters of the Governor) - Avenue of Purranuia, Papeete - Native Village by the Sea - Native Hut close by the Sea - Prince Hinoi - A Tahitian Home - Tahitian Bamboo House - Tomb of the Last King of Tahiti, Pomare V - Tahitian Women in Ancient Native Dress - Tahiti Girls in Native Dress - A Group of Native Girls - Native Girl in Modern Dress - Tahitian Ladies in Zulu Dress - Native Musicians and Native Dance - Tahitian Girl in Native Festive Dress - At Home - A Home by the Sea — Raiatea - Fisherman's Home - Native Settlement - Group of Tahitian Children - A Case of Far-Advanced Leprosy Affecting All Limbs - A Leper of Tahiti - Military Hospital in Papeete - Tahitian Fruit Vender - Preparing Breadfruit - Sapodilla - Copra Establishment - Government Wharf — Papeete - Corner in Papeete - A View of Fautahua Valley - Avenue of Fautahua - Cascade of Fautahua - Bridge across Fautahua near Waterfall - Lagoon and Reef on the Ninety-Mile Road - On the Ninety-Mile Road - Fishermen of Papeete - Tahitian Canoe with Outrigger - Two Papaya Trees - Picking Cocoanuts - Alligator Pear Tree - Ancient Masked Warriors
TAHITI THE ISLAND PARADISE
When the Almighty Architect of the universe created the earth we inhabit, He manifested His wisdom, goodness and foresight in adapting, in a most admirable manner, the soil, climate, and animal and vegetable life for the habitation of man, the supreme work of creation. By the gradual and progressive geographical distribution of man over the surface of the earth, he has become habituated to diverse climates and environments, and has found conditions most congenial to his comfort and the immediate necessities of life.
In cold, laborious climes, the wintry North
Brings her undaunted, hardy warriors forth,
In body and in mind untaught to yield,
Stubborn of soul, and steady in the field;
While Asia's softer climate, form'd to please.
Dissolves her sons in indolence and ease.
LUCANUS.
It required centuries for the Esquimau to become acclimated to the inhospitable polar regions, and make them his favorite abode; the people who drifted toward the equator gradually became inured to the climate of the tropics and accustomed to the manner of living in countries where the perennial heat paralyzes the physical and mental energies, and undermines the health of strangers coming from a more temperate climate. Nature has made ample provision for man in all habitable parts of the earth. The regions of ice and snow are inhabited by fur-bearing animals, and, at certain seasons of the year, are frequented by a large variety of aquatic birds in great abundance, which supply the natives with food and clothing, while in the tropics, man has little or no need of fuel and clothing, and, with very little exertion, he can subsist on the fruits of the forests, and on the food so liberally supplied by the sea.
The intensity of the struggle for life increases with the distance north and south from the temperate zones, where climatic conditions necessitate active exercise and where the necessities of life can only be obtained by the hardest kind of labor. The climate of the tropics, on the other hand, is very generous to man. The forests are rich in fruit yielding trees which Nature plants, which receive little or no care, yet which bear fruit throughout the year. Wherever the cocoa-palm grows in abundance, there can be no famine, because this tree yields a rich harvest of nutritious fruit from one end of the year to the other without fail, as it is never affected to any considerable extent by drouth and other conditions which so often bring failure to the orchards in more temperate climates. The continuous summer and the wonderful fertility of the soil in tropic and subtropic countries reward richly the labor of the husbandman by two and sometimes three harvests a year, as nature's forces require no rest, no slumber there.
Life in a changeable, severe climate is full of hardships; in the tropics, of ease and leisure. The nearer we come to the tropics, the closer we approach the conditions of primitive man. The necessities of life increase as we recede on either side of the equatorial line. The dreamy, easy, care-free life in the tropics is in strong contrast with the severe and arduous struggles for existence in countries less favored by the resources of nature.
Among the trees in the Garden of Eden, the palm tree was undoubtedly the most beautiful, and it remains to-day the queen of the forests of the seacoast in the tropics. The palm-clad isles of the South Sea bear a closer resemblance to the description of the Garden of Eden than any other of the many parts of the world that I have ever seen; and of these, Tahiti is a real paradise on earth. There is no country nor other isle where Nature has been so liberal in the distribution of her gifts. No other island can compare in natural beauty with Tahiti, the gem of the South Pacific Ocean. It is the island where life is free of care. It is the island where the natives are fed, clothed and housed by nature. It is the island where man is born, eats his daily bread without being forced to labor, sleeps and dreams away his life free from worry, and enjoys the foretaste of the eternal paradise before he dies. It is the island which must have been born
In the morning of the world,
When earth was nigher heaven than now.
BROWNING.
It is the island of which the poet must have been musing when he wrote:
Amid an isle around whose rocky shore
The forests murmur and the surges roar,
A goddess guards in her enchanted dome.
POPE.
THE ISLAND OF TAHITI
About three thousand six hundred miles south by southwest from San Francisco are the Society Islands, a small archipelago in the South Pacific Ocean, in latitude 16 to 18 degrees south, longitude 148 to 155 degrees west. Captain Cook named this group in honor of the Royal Society of London. The largest two of these islands, Tahiti and Moorea, are of volcanic origin, mountainous and heavily timbered; the remaining islands are small, low, of coral origin, and are called atolls. In approaching the archipelago from San Francisco, a few of these palm-fringed atoll islands come first into view, forming a pleasing foreground to the rugged mountains of Tahiti and its smaller neighbor, Moorea, which are sighted almost at the same time. After a voyage over the desert ocean of thirteen days (all this time out of sight of land), to gaze on the most beautiful islands of this group is a source of exquisite pleasure.
Sea-girt isles,
That like to rich and various gems, inlay
The unadorned bosom of the deep.
MILTON.
The South Pacific Ocean is the natural home of the coral polyps, which are great island-builders, using the volcanic material as a foundation for the coral superstructure. As these minute builders can live only in shallow water, they use submerged mountain peaks for their foundations, converting them into low atolls, and building reefs around the base of the high volcanic islands. Most of the Society Islands are of coral formation perched upon submerged mountain summits. The island of Tahiti is small, of little commercial interest, and hence it is comparatively unknown to the masses of the people. Very few who left the schoolroom twenty-five years ago would be able to locate it without consulting a geography, and many have even forgotten the name. The children fresh from school recall it in connection with the difficulty they encountered in finding the little dot in the great, trackless South Pacific Ocean, surrounded by a group of still smaller specks, representing the remainder of the little archipelago to which it belongs.
Tahiti is nearly four thousand miles distant from San Francisco, in a southwesterly direction, below the equator, in latitude 17, hence in a similar latitude to that of the Hawaiian Islands, which are situated about the same distance north of the equator.
I had heard much of the natural beauty of this far-off island and its interesting inhabitants, and decided to spend my midwinter vacation in 1904 in paying it a visit. Formerly the passage from San Francisco had to be made by a schooner, and required several months. For the last four years the island has been made readily accessible by a regular steamer service. The staunch steamer, _Mariposa_, of the Oceanic Steamship Company of San Francisco, sails from that port every thirty-six days, makes the trip in twelve or thirteen days, and remains at Papeete, the capital of the island, four days, which give the visitor ample time to visit the most interesting points and make the desired observations. The track of the steamer is over that part of the Pacific Ocean which is comparatively free from violent storms, between the storm centers east and west from it. The prevailing trade-winds cool off the tropical heat in the vicinity of the equator, rendering the voyage at all seasons of the year a pleasant one. The steamer has a tonnage of three thousand tons, the service is excellent, and the table all that could be desired. I know of no better way to spend a short mid-winter vacation than a trip to Tahiti, the island paradise, the most interesting and beautiful of all islands.
January and February are the months when the fruit is most abundant, and the climate most agreeable. The twenty-five days of voyage on the ocean, the few days on shore occupied by a study of its natives, their customs, manner of living, by visits to the various points of historic interest, and by the greatest of all genuine pleasures, the contemplation of nature's choicest exhibitions in the tropics, are all admirably adapted to procure physical rest and pleasure, and pleasing as well as profitable mental occupation. A trip to Tahiti will prove of particular benefit to those who are in need of mental rest. The absence of anything like severe storms on this trip should be a special inducement, for those who are subject to seasickness, to travel there.
The steamer is well adapted for service in the tropics, the cabins are roomy and comfortable. Capt. J. Rennie is one of the most experienced commanders of the fleet, a good disciplinarian and devoted to the safety and comfort of his passengers. While the steamer can accommodate seventy cabin passengers, the number seldom exceeds twenty-five. The tourist therefore escapes crowding and noise, so trying to the nerves, and so common on the transatlantic steamers and other more frequented ocean routes.
OCEAN VOYAGE
The steamer _Mariposa_ leaves the San Francisco wharf at eleven o'clock a.m.,—an excellent time for the passengers to enjoy the beauties of the bay and the Golden Gate, to see the rugged coast of California gradually disappear in the distance during the course of the afternoon, and to prepare himself for the first night's sleep in the cradle of the deep. The second day out, and until the mountains of Tahiti come in sight, the traveler will see nothing but the floating tavern in which he lives, its inmates, the inky blue ocean, the sky, clouds, and, occasionally, sea-gulls, and isolated schools of flying fish. The steamer's track is over an unfrequented part of the ocean. The passenger looks in vain for a mast or white-winged sails, or puffs of smoke in the distance, sights so often seen on more frequented ocean highways. The steamer crosses an ocean desert little known, but out of reach of the violent storms, so frequent near the coasts, on both sides free from reefs and rocks, as this part of the ocean is of unusual depth, amounting in many places to three miles. Stranding of the vessel, or collision with others, the greatest dangers incident to sea travel, are therefore reduced to a minimum on this route. Although this course is an unusually lonely one, the interested observer will find much to see and enjoy. The vast expanse of the ocean impresses the traveler from day to day and grows upon him as the distance from the coast increases.
Illimitable ocean! without bound,
Without dimensions, where length, breadth, and height,
And time, and place, are lost
MILTON.
The boundless ocean desert, mirror-like when at rest, clothed by gentle ripples and ceaseless wavelets when fanned by the trade-winds, is a picture of peace and contentment.
The winds with wonder whist,
Smoothly the waters kiss'd,
Whispering new joys to the mild ocean.
MILTON.
But even here in the most peaceful part of the Pacific, when angered by the fury of a heavy squall, a diminutive storm agitates the waters into foam-crested waves, which, for a short time at least, impart to the ship an intoxicated gait. The effect of sun, moon and starlight on the smooth, undulating, heaving, billowing, tossing, storm-beaten surface of the ocean, is marvelous. When all is quiet, and the passenger is only conscious of the vibratory movements imparted to the ship by the ceaseless action of the faithful screw, and the lights of heaven are veiled by a curtain of dark clouds, the beautiful blue gives way to a sombre black. When the tropic sun shines with all his force, the color of the water fairly vies with the deep blue of the sky, and the nearer we approach our destination, the tints of blue grow deeper and deeper, until at last they are of perfect indigo.
The moon and starlight have a magic effect on the surface of the water. The long evenings give the passengers the exquisite pleasure of watching the journey of the moon across the starlit heavenly dome, growing, night after night, from a mere sickle to her full majestic size, and of observing the effects of the gradually increasing intensity of the light issuing from the welcome visitor of the night, on the glassy mirror of water beneath. The star-bedecked pale dome of the tropic sky is, in itself, a picture that rivets the attention of the traveler who loves and studies the book of nature. The short twilight over, "these blessed candles of the night" (Shakespeare) are lighted, and send their feeble light down upon the bosom of the ocean.
If the sky is clear, the illuminating power of the moon at its best, and the ocean calm, its surface is transformed into a boundless sheet of silver. This magic effect of moonlight on the surface of the sleeping ocean is magnified by passing fleecy, or dark, storm-threatening clouds. The fleeting, fleecy clouds often veil, only in part, the lovely, full face of the moon, and through fissures, the rays of light issue, and, falling upon the water, are reflected in the form of silvery patches or pathways, corresponding in size and outline with the temporary window in the passing cloud. It is when the moon is about to be hidden behind a dark, impenetrable veil that the spectator may expect to see the most wonderful display of pictures above and around him. As the cloud approaches the moon, the blue background deepens in color and brilliancy and when its dark margin touches the rim of the moon it is changed into a fringe of gold or silver; with the disappearance of the moon behind the cloud the fringe of the latter is rudely torn away, the water beneath is robbed of its carpet of silver, and the captivated observer is made aware that the darkness of night is upon him. But the gloom is of short duration. A break in the cloud serves as a window through which the moon peeps down, with a most bewitching grace, upon the dark surface beneath. The prelude to this exhibition appears on the side of the temporary frame, in the form of a silver lining which broadens with the moving cloud; now the rim of the moon comes into view; slowly, the veil is completely thrown aside, and Luna's calm, pale, smiling, full face makes its appearance, enclosed in a dark frame with silver margins, while, more than likely, she will be attended by a few brilliant stars, thus completing the charms and beauty of the picture suspended from the heavenly dome. All genuine pleasures of this world are of short duration; so with this nocturnal picture painted on the clouds and water. The silver rim on one side of the frame of clouds disappears, the dark margin increases in width, the moon is obscured, and only a few flickering stars remain fixed in the picture.
Surely there is something in the unruffled calm of nature that overcomes our little anxieties and doubts: the sight of the deep blue sky, and the clustering stars above, seem to impart a quiet to the mind.
JONATHAN EDWARDS.
In midocean is the place to view at greatest advantage the gorgeous sunrise and sunset of the tropics. To see the sun disappear in the distance, where the dome of the sky seems to rest on the bosom of the ocean, is a scene which no pen can describe, and which no artist's brush has ever reproduced in any degree comparable with the grand reality. The canvas of the sky behind the setting glowing orb, and the passing clouds in front, above, and beneath it, are painted successively by the invisible brush in the unseen hands of the departing artist in colors and shades of colors that may well laugh to scorn any and all attempts at description or reproduction. The gilded horizon serves as a fitting background for the retreating monarch of the day, and the slowly moving canvas of clouds transmits his last messages in all the hues of red, crimson, pink, and yellow. To observe this immense panorama stretched from north to south, and projected toward the east, resting on the silvery surface of the rippling ocean, with the ever-varying colors of the slowly moving clouds, as seen evening after evening on the Tahitian trip, leaves impressions which time can not erase from memory.