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How Over-Popnlation is Prevented in the Isles of the South Pacific.A San Francisco ('hronicle reporter recently interviewed Capt. Han/au, who for 14 years has been cruising about in the South Seas. He said that famineand starvation were frequent lt;n^ the (‘oral islands of the Pacific. Capt. Kan/.au has seen great sullering on the Kingsmill group, owing to the failure of the eoeoanut tree to produce the usual crop. The vessel of which he was master reached the island at 5 a. 111., and ati2 o'clock, in. he had ISO natives oil board—all he could carry. No force was used, the chiefs allowing their subjects to come on board freely. The natives thus secured were destined for Samoa. On other occasions the Captain carried away natives with their free * and full consent but they would not go any‘* terc else than to Samoa, for fear of b tug sold into slavery. Captain Kanzau asserts that when famine exits on the Kingsmill group the newly born children are exposed on the reefs to be ■carried out to sea by the currents. The destruction of female infants in China, to prevent over-populaiion, is well known, but in the coral groups of ihe South Pacific, when a famine prevails,both male and female infants are exposed to destruction. The natives are by no means cruel, but this practice is resorted to in order to prevent overpopulation and starvation. What is described as having happened on Hie ; Kingsmill group frequently happens on ! many other coral groups, i One of the most interesting islands 1 south of the equator is Quiros Island, known to the Spaniards as “Isla de la | (Jente Hermosa” (Island of Handsome ! Peoplej.and to the natives as “Olosiga.11 It is there that the American patriarch, Kli Jennings, resides, who is the venerable father-in-law of Capt. Kanzau. Olo-siga Island was discovered by the Spanish navigator Quiros, in 1GUG, and is named after him on many of the maps now in use. When Kli Jennings first visited the island, more than 30 years ago, he found two skeletons, a male and female,bleached in the sun. They were reclining under a palm tree, and are supposed to have been the remains of an old couple who starved to death. It is a tradition that all the natives were stolen from the land by Peruvian slavers, and that the couple whose skeletons were found were too old to be carried off. Quiros, according to thechronicles, found a remarkably tall and verv handsome race of people on Olo-siga, and for this reason called it the I sland of Handsome People. There are large slabs resembling tombstones on the island, with peculiar inscriptions, but the nature of the inscriptions is not known. Olosiga is a very small island about 200 miles north-northeast of Samoa, and contains at present only patriarch Jennings, his family, and a few natives imported from other islands. All the original inhabitants either perished or were carried into slavery.
Newspaper Details
Bowling Green Review
Bowling Green, Indiana, US
Fri, Mar 01, 1878
Page 3
Full Page
Clipped by
Dallas G.
TX, USA 24 Feb 2022
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