The earth and its inhabitants The earth and its inhabitants .. earthitsinhabita00recl Year: 1890 EQUATORIAL POLYNESIA. 487 better sheltered than that of Papeete, and it has also the advantage of a better climate and a more fertile soil. Moorea is a mere agricultural dependency cr£ Great Tahiti ; but Raiatea, one of the Leeward group, possesses one of the best harbours in the Pacific, thanks to which it has become the centre of a brisk trade, chiefly in the hands of the Germans. Some 480 miles north of Tahiti lies Caroline Island, where the French astrono- mers made some remarkable studies of
The earth and its inhabitants The earth and its inhabitants .. earthitsinhabita00recl Year: 1890 EQUATORIAL POLYNESIA. 487 better sheltered than that of Papeete, and it has also the advantage of a better climate and a more fertile soil. Moorea is a mere agricultural dependency cr£ Great Tahiti ; but Raiatea, one of the Leeward group, possesses one of the best harbours in the Pacific, thanks to which it has become the centre of a brisk trade, chiefly in the hands of the Germans. Some 480 miles north of Tahiti lies Caroline Island, where the French astrono- mers made some remarkable studies of solar physics in 1883. The eastern groups of Tuamotu, Man garera, and the Marquesas have also some excellent havens, which might afford shelter to large fleets. But they are all thinly peopled, and the two capitals—Taio-haé in Nuka-hiva and Rikitea in Man- Fig. 218.—Nttka-Hiva. Scale 1 : 350,000. 6 Miles. gareva are mere villages. In Tuamotu the administrative centre has been removed from Anaa to the more northern atoll of Fakarava. But the sparse population, dispersed over a space some 400,000 square miles in extent, renders all industrial and commercial development almost impossible. These remote archipelagoes, lying 3,500 miles from the nearest point of America, can never possess any natural resources beyond their palm-groves and pearl fisheries. In 1813 Porter, an American, seized the Marquesas Islands in the name of the United States Government, which, however, did not ratify the procedure. But in 1835 the French adventurer, Thierry, proclaimed himself 'King of JN^uka- hiva,' and he was followed by French Catholic missionaries, whose action led to
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