Awakened From a Slumber

Tahiti: The Island That Awakened From a Slumber

The beautiful island of Tahiti bids fair now to awaken from that slumber which a tropical climate, and the voluptuous temperament of a scant population, seemed condemned her.

Upwards of a thousand Chinese have been imported by the enterprise of Mr.

Augusto Soares, an Englishman, who has formed a company for the growth of cotton and coffee, having acquired 12,000 acres of land at Atimaono-Papara, now named Terre Eugenie, the most fertile portion of the island.

“A more charming sight can scarcely be conceived than the 1,500 acres now planted, and bearing the most beautiful sea-island cotton; and one of the loveliest valleys in the world has been cleared * or ( transplantation of coffee-shrubs.

The whole is under the management a gentleman of great experience and ability, who has succeeded in inducing the natives to work in emulation of the Coolies; and the estates under his care form a model plantation, which might weM be the envy of any colony.

“Animated by the prolific and almost fabulous returns the English company is receiving from its outlay, the natives are cultivating their patches with cotton, all over the island; and a large and regular export of this product may be expected, which must greatly contribute to the pros perity of the island and its inhabitants " —Extracted from "Hena, or Life in Tahiti", a book written nearly 100 years ago by Mrs. Alfred Hort, and published in 1866.

Cotton-growing in the South Pacific Islands boomed briefly after the American Civil War; but within 10 years the in dustry was dead and buried. In Tahiti nothing remained except the Chinese!

Their descendants in Tahiti now number 10,000, at least.