Word: tetiaroa
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Dates: during 1949-1949
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...Island [TIME, Nov. 7] is told in full by Frederick O'Brien in his book Atolls of the Sun (Century Co.; 1922) . . . I don't wonder that it could not be found on maps, because Cat Island is not its name. Its real name is Tetiaroa, and it lies about 30 miles north of Tahiti...
Shortly after the first World War, Dr. Walter Johnstone Williams, dentist and British consul in Papeete, Tahiti, acquired the atoll of Tetiaroa . . . Dr. Williams was the only dentist in Papeete for years, and he did quite a business-considering the Polynesians' love for "glitter-work" in their mouths . The royal Pomare family fell in debt to Dr. Williams for gold fillings . . . so they gave him Tetiaroa to clear up the bill...
...Williams had previously cased Tetiaroa and found it covered with thousands of coconut palms, from which he could realize a tidy profit in copra . . . and in a short time he had the island producing . . . But he quickly found that rats on Tetiaroa were determined to thwart this commercial enterprise . . . He advertised in Papeete for cats . . . and soon streams of Tahitian lads were trotting to his office and home with yowling cats in bags, crates and nets...