"Porter thereupon concluded to teach them a lesson, and so he sent a small detachment under Lieutenant Downs to aid the Nookaheevans to punish their enemies.
"This was accomplished, and the hostile tribe was completely subdued. As soon as he had completed the repairs to his ships Porter sailed away, but he was long revered in Nookaheeva. When the French came here, thirty years afterwards, the natives thought the performance of Porter would be repeated, and the Frenchmen would aid the Nookaheevans to defeat their enemies. They were received with open arms, and the natives were not undeceived until the French had completed their forts and were fully able to defend themselves."
Continuing his reference to the natives, Frank's informant said that great numbers of them were at one time kidnapped and carried away by labor-vessels, of which more will be said in a later chapter. In 1863 small-pox was introduced by foreign ships, and killed nearly one-half of the population. Altogether the people of the Marquesas have no special occasion to be grateful to the white man.
During the Pera's voyage to Tahiti our young friends devoted their time to a study of that part of the Pacific Ocean and the islands it contained. Fred called their attention to Pitcairn Island, which has been long famous as the home of the mutineers of the Bounty; both the youths regretted that they were not to pass in its vicinity, but consoled themselves by reading an account of a visit to it, and a description of the inhabitants.[2]
EASTER ISLAND HOUSE AND CHILDREN.
One day while they were busy with their studies of the Pacific, Doctor Bronson called their attention to Easter Island, which he pronounced one of the most remarkable islands in the great ocean.
Frank eagerly asked why it was so, and the Doctor kindly explained as follows: