SOCIETY ISLANDS, an archipelago in the South Pacific, lying between lat. 16°-18° S., and lon. W. There are 13 principal islands, besides numer ous islets, and the total area of the group is estimated at 734 square miles. The chief islands are TAHITI and Moorea. The first has an area of 600 square miles; pop. about 11,600; the latter an area of 50 square miles; pop. 1,500.
The Society Islands are of basaltic formation and abound in lofty and pre cipitous mountains usually fringed by a belt of flat land. Two peaks in Tahiti are respectively 7,000 and 8,700 feet high. Coral reefs are very abundant round all the islands. The soil being extremely fertile and water plentiful, the vegetation of the islands is most luxuriant. The climate is healthy, but enervating, and terrible hurricanes occur from time to time. The inhabitants belong to the Poly nesian race and are handsome, brave, and intelligent, but indolent, fickle, immoral, and passionately fond of ardent spirits. On account of their indolence Chinese and Hervey Islanders are imported to work the cotton plantations. The people of Huahine, however, are enterprising traders, and their flag is seen as far away as San Francisco. The chief ex
ports from the islands are cotton, cocoa nut oil, copra, pearl shell, and oranges. The Society Islands were discovered by De Quiros in 1606, but were first made known to the world by Cook, who visited them in 1769, and named them after the Royal Society, at whose recommendation the expedition which he commanded was fitted out. They have been the scene of missionary labors since 1797, and have for many years been entirely Christian. Taking advantage of a quarrel between the Protestant and Roman Catholic mis sionaries, the French espoused the cause of the latter, who were the last in the field, and seized the islands in 1844. In 1847 they were expelled by the natives from Huahine, Raiatea, and Bora-Bora, which, with small dependencies, were again ruled by their own sovereigns. The entire group was officially annexed by France in 1880. A hurricane of great severity nearly wiped off the population of Tahiti early in March, 1906. It lasted some seventeen hours, and the wind reached an hourly velocity of 120 miles.