AMONGST THE ISLANDS.

New Zealand Herald, Volume XXIII, Issue 7800, 20 November 1886, Page 1 (Supplement)

AMONGST THE ISLANDS.

SOME OF THE GROUPS OF THE SOUtH PACIFIC s SUNDAY ISLAND, IN THE KERMADEC GROUP— TONGATABU AND VAVAU, IN THE TONGAN, OR FRIENDLY, GROUP—OPOLU, IN THE SAMOAN, OR NAVIGATOR'S, GROUP—TAHITI, IN THE SOCIETY GROUP—IHROTONGA, IN THE HARVEY, OR COOK GROUP. f No. XI. [FROM OUR TRAVELLING CORRESPONDENT.] ANALOGOUS PROTECTORATES. [. Those who have traced the stealthy and pettifogging manoeuvres of France in her attempts to acquire colonies by protectorates and annexations in the far East since 1842, cannot have failed to notice the homogenous, if not identical oharaoter of the modus .operaudi in each case, whether in relation to Tahiti, to Tonquin, to Madagascar, or to the New Hebrides. Each and all initiate and ultimate in the same way; the analogy amounts to identity. The protectorate is the first link forgod in the chain; * imposed for the very purpose of annexation. Tahiti, technically under a protectorate, was, de facto, absorbed. Everything then came under absolute French control. The present King —Pomare V., son of the late lamented Queen Pomare IV".—is simply a puppet to save appearances, without either power or prerogative, his only insignia of royalty, a monthly stipend of ono thousand dollars and a palace, which the usurping Power considerately built for him, but which he has persistently refused to occupy. He wisely dwells among his own people in another island, after the manner of his forefathers, and with him will die out the royal shadow of the once happy and .flourishing little kingdom of Tahiti. Adieu, Tahiti 1 Thy sun hath set. Thenceforth, Gallicised, thy people will dwindle away, and another and more robust race will be found tilling thy soil for the wage of the foreigner, *

MADAGASCAR, having, after the Tahitian fashion, bad a quarrel fastened upon her, unsustained, and left to herself, maintained for a time An heroic straggle in defence of her right and liberty, but at length, consoioui of her in» ability to cope with one of the leviathan Powers of Europe, succumbed, and oame under treaty obligations, which involved a French protectorate, and the virtual submission'of Malagasy independence.

THE NEW HEBRIDES, with Gallic men-of-war anchored inshore, having on board a detachment of troops and material foP*the construction of permanent barracks, ostensibly for the purpose of protecting French subjects, are now passing through the throes of a crisis which will decide their fats, whether they shall oome under the cegis of France or of Great Britain. The alternative is whether these islands are to be vitiated and debauched after the fashion of the Tahitians, whether the missionary effort of long years of privation and toil in "the work of faith and labour of love" is to be paralysed and undone, or whether there is spirit enough left in the British lion to utter, in tones of nnmistakeable decision, " Hands off; withdraw 1' If there be, then the guerdon to Great Britain for standing; for the right will be the deliverance of these hapless islanders from their impending fate; but, if the event should unfortunately show that the British lion has become so emasculated, bo inert from plethora of wealth and luxurious desuetude, that he has become either unwilling or unable to make his voice heard and the weight of his right hand felt, happily, it is not so with his colonial progeny. THE YOUNG LIONS OF THE ANTIPODES

have a word to say in the matter, and the potency of the remonstrances of their Agentc-General has been already acknowledged, and has produced some effect. They must, however, unite, be of one mind," drop minor differences, forego individual advantage, for the behoof of the whole. It iB possible, it is necessary for their mutual protection and security, and, therefore, if possible and neoessary, it is feasible. If men of comprehensive mind and sufficient nobility of soul can be found to work this out, the time is not far off in the near future when the whole insular groups, south of the equator will gravitate to the Australasian Colonies. But it is to be hoped that the British people, who have so recently wakened up from the lethargy of years, and have, by the decision of their electoral voice, emancipated themselves from the stifling incubus of the peace-at-any-price party, will with their Australasian compatriots unite to stay the hand of the destroyer, and roll back the sewagestream of Gallio crime which threatens to inundate the islands of the South Paoific outlying their coasts. It is said that "coming events cast their shadows before them." May not the determined stand taken by the Australasian Colonies against the action of Franca in her attempt to established penal settlements in New Caledonia, the New Hebrides and other islands, for the living inhumation of her recidivistes, or incorrigible criminals, be the unconscious expression of a latent prophetic instinctive premonition in their body politic that all these islands are destined some day with them to form a grand federated empire? If the English-speaking peoples, in the apprehension of their responsibilities and destiny among the members of the human family, could but rise to the level of their position, as viewed from any or every standpoint, and federate, Great Britain, and the United States, with these Colonies, would hold the reins in hand, and need fear neither Russia, France, nor Germany. Hitherto the influence and example of Great Britain have been felt and followed by most of the modern nations of Europe, whom she delivered from the iron heel of the arohdestroyor, Napoleon I. Since that epoch she has been the protectress and nursing mother of all the struggling nationalities in their attempts to throw off the incubus of tyranny. .Never has she failed when she did so; but when she, from mistaken Stite policy, or from interested motives, negleetsd to do so, she subsequently paid for it. Had she been faithful to the trust reposed in her, her position to-day would be vastly superior, and much of the. worry and danger of past years would not have befallen her. But we forbear, lest we wander too for afield, and forget the "pearl of the ocean." The subject is not only interesting, but fascinating. Everything is now so cosmopolitan; the nations, peoples, and tribes of the earth, whether north, south, east, or west, have, by the appliances of science, been brought so near to each other, that they almost form an agglomerate, though not homogenoup, ma»s dependent largely one upon another. Within the circumference of this vast living, moving, thinking mass of the genua homo there will be found lesser interior centres, whioh attract cognate elements to themselves through racial and lingual affinities. Hence the Anglo-Saxon, or modern English-speaking peoples, scattered all over the globe, will duster around Great Britain and the United States ; the Sclavio races will crouch around the throne of Russia; the Teutonic and Scandinavic elements will centre in Germany; and the Latin nations of modern Europe will rally either to France or Italy, or to both. Outside and beyond these, in the far spreading East, the Mongolians, Hindoos, and Moslems will find their centres in China, India, and a newly - formed Turkish or Mohammedan Caliphate set up south of the Bosphorus. . From this rapid, widely-extended, but not uninteresting, political and historic exourbus, let us return to dates and events as connected with THE DISCOVERERS AND EXPLORERS OF TAHITI, after which we will land with the intelligence of stored-up information to profit by our own observation. There is authentic data sufficient for believing that Tahiti was first discovered by Pedro Fernandez de Quiros so far back as February, 606. It was called by him La Sagittaria, after which it lay unknown and unvisited till the 19th June, 1767,' when Captain Wallis, carrying the British flag in H.M.s. Dolphin, supposing himself to be its first discoverer, named it King George Island ; and this iB the commonly accepted date of its discovery, for then Captain Wallis sent his lieutenant ashore to hoist the British flag, and to go through the prescribed form of taking possession of it in the name of his sovereign, King George 111. M. de Bougainville visited the island in 1768 in the Boudeuse frigate, and named it Nouvelle Cythere. In 1769 the British Governmen

sent Lieutenant James Cook, in the En- ; deavour, with a complete stiff of scientists, to observe the transit of Vehus oil the 3rd , of June in that year. He arrived at Ma-' tavia Bay early in April, and erected an observatory upon a headland which, from that circumstance, was thenceforward known as Point Venus, one of the best determined positions in the Western Hemisphere, fie then discovered some of the islands lying to the N.W. of Tahiti, and called them "the Society Islands. In 1772 Don Domingo Bonecheo was sent by the Spanish authorities in the frigate Aquila, and he named it Amat, or Tagiti. The next year, 1773, Captain Cook again called at Tahiti, and the year following, 1774, Captain Bonecheo was sent the second time, and took with him two Franciscan missionaries and the appliances necessary for founding a settlement. Ho died, however, on the 26th January, 1775, and was buried at the foot of the cross which had been erected upon his first landing. The mission seems to have fallen through in consequence, for, when Captain Cook again visited Tahiti, during his last voyage in 1777, he found the Spanish house, cross, and grave in a state of good preservation. The next visitor was Captain Bligh in the Bounty, commissioned by George 111. to collect, ship, and transport bread-frnit trees to the British West India Islands. He reached Matavia, not far from Point Venus, on 22ad September, 1788. He loitered about the island for five months ere he set sail on. his long voyage to the West Indie?. His crew had become so enamoured of the Tahitian damsels and the balmy Polynesian climate that, rather than endure the harshness and severity of Commander Bligh, they mutinied on the voyage, returned with the Bounty to Tahiti, where some fourteen of them remained. The rest, having taken to themselves wives, sailed away, and settled down happily, a wellconducted, sober, and God-fearing community in Pitcairn Island, where they remained unknown and' lost, fruitful and multiplying, from April, 1789, until February, 1808, when Captain May hew Folger, calling there for the purpose of killing seals, found them living in simplicity, contented?* ness, and happiness. In 1791 Captain Edwards, in the Pandora frigate, was sent in searoh of the mutineers. Having arrived at Tahiti, he demanded and arrested the fourteen unfortunates who had settled there, took them prisoners to England, where they were tried, and three of them were hanged.

The saireyear Vancouver visited the island. The report* of these successive voyagers excited among Christians in Great Britain a deep interest for the spiritual welfare of tne natives, and this prompted the London Missionary Society to fit out a vessel— the Dufffor Gospel and Bible service among the newly - discovered South Sea Islands. She arrived on Sunday, the Sth March, 1797. The mission was initiated, and prov«d eminently successful. The inhabitants of Tahiti and the neighbouring islands were evangelised, churches were formed, and meeting-houses were ereoted for their accommodation. From Queen Pomare down to the humblest subject, all acknowledged the Protestant Christian faith, and bowed their knees in the name of the Lord Jesus in devout and earnest worship. For awhile all prospered, the churches were consolidated, unity and brotherly love prevailed, until interrupted by the unexpected advent of the Romish propagandists, the priests, L. J. Laval and F. Caret. Then, as we have seen, the mau's-hand cloud appeared and spread, until it had filled the insular horizon, when it burst in whirlwind storm, and swept away the short-lived Tahitian kingdom.

For years Tahiti was the rendezvous, or port of call, for the South Sea sperm whalers. They came to victual, refresh, and refit after long and perilous cruises; but since the French regime their visits have been "few and far between." Captain Charles Wilkes visited Matavia Bay in 1839, in command of the United States Exploring Expedition, composed of two sloops of war, one gunbrig, and one gunboat. He landed instruments, and made scientific observations at Point Venus, and surveyed some of the harbours. For more than thirty years a lighthouse has stood at the extremity of Point Venus-

Captain Cook was the first to adopt the native name of Otaheite. Quiros had called it La Sagittaria, Wallis named it King George Island, Bongainvillo again changed it for Nouvelle Cythere. Captain Cook alone had the common sense anil good taste to conserve the aboriginal nomenclature. But gradually the orthography changed, and it was spelled and pronounced " Otahiti then, at length, dropping the initial "0," it assumed its present and permanent form, Tahiti. PITCAIRN ISLAND,

upon which the Bounty mutineers, with their Polynesian wives, bad settled, was only two and a-half miles long, by one broad, having an area of less than 2000 —probably not more than 1600. As the community increased, the second generation found the island too strait for them ; its area was inadequate to supply their physical need. When Norfolk Island wan abandoned as a penal settlement in 1855, it was offered by the British Government as a free gift to these Pitcairners, with all the buildings and stock — some 2000 sheep, besides horses, pigs, and poultry. Norfolk Island is nearly five miles long, by two and a-half broad, having an area of more than 8000 acres; that is, it is more than five times larger than Pitcalrn Island. After having lived for 57 years upon Pitcairn Island, the population numbered 192 souls, in the proportion of 90 males to 102 females. Having accepted tHe munificent; offer of the British Government, the entire community embarked, with all their simple belongings, on board the Morayshire on the 3rd of May, 1856, for a voyage of nearly 4000 miles to reach their new and strange home. The emigrants were landed on the Sth of Jane following, having been five weeks on the voyage. Two little strangers hrving made their appearance en route, they landed 194 souls. But the primitive simplicity in which these children of nature had been brought up made it difficult for some of them to fall in with and adapt themselves to the novel conditions of their new habitat, with its change of climate, solid buildings, aud more elaborate mode of agriculture. A considerable number of them so longed for the beloved home of their childhood, that a Government vessel was commissioned to take them back to Pitcairn Island, where they and their chi'dren abide to this day. lonotos. [To bo continued.]