paucity of Pisonia, and richness of herbs, both in species 

 numbers and abundance, with Pig (Fig. 45) and Brothers 

 (Fig. 46). Although there are no introduced plants, thick 

 patches of Lepturus also reflect past forest clearing. 



Birds : Fourspeciesof seabirds were nesting in 1988: red- 

 footed booby (111 pairs), brown noddy ( 1 1 pairs), black noddy 

 (249 pairs), and white tern (227 pairs). Tridacna is periodically 

 a major breeding area for sooty terns. Clapp& Sibley (1971a) 

 found 4 main colonies totaling 250,000 birds, and large numbers 

 nested along the windward beach in August 1 989 (A. Falconer, 

 personal communication). Nests were located under shrubs, or 

 in open areas bordering them, and were evidently preyed upon 

 by coconut crabs. 



16. SOUTH ISLAND (104.41 ha) (Figs. 30,36,50; 

 Pis. 1-7,12,16,24,34,39,44,45,50,62) 



History : The history of South Island (called Rimapoto in 

 Young, ca. 1 922) is essentially the history of Caroline, for most 

 information about the atoll prior to 1965 is from here. It is the 

 second largest islet, and the staging area for trips up-lagoon as 

 it lies adjacent to both the "boat landing" and "blind passage." 



South Island was inhabited in prehistory by Tuamotuans, 

 who planted the first small coconut grove on its northwest 

 point. The first Europeans to land, in 1606, found coconuts, 

 fish, lobsters, and seabirds in abundance. They dug for fresh 

 water in vain. Two hundred years later, in the decade after a 

 cyclone in 1825, pigs, sweet potatoes, arrowroot, and South 

 Sea chestnut were introduced. However, "the unfriendly 

 character of the soil, and the number of land crabs that infest it, 

 gave us but little hope of the experiment succeeding" ( Bennett, 

 1840). The pigs expired within a few years. The arrowroot, 

 tenacious and adapted to island environments, still exists today 

 (unless later immigrants brought it). Of the others — plus many 

 other later food plants and ornamentals — no trace exists 

 (Table 1). (In 1990, we found a few Hibiscus tiliaceus, 

 Thespesia populnea, and Ximenia americana. All could be 

 indigenous. The first 2 species were often planted by Polynesians 

 in copra-cutting settlements [e.g., Flint Island]). Tropical heat, 

 droughts, storms, excessive shade from Cocos, poor 

 germination, poor soils, terrestrial crabs, and lack of care all 

 undoubtedly contributed to their demise. 



The first recorded settlement on Caroline, and first for the 

 Line Islands, was in 1846, on the northwest point. These 

 settlers, as well as subsequent ones, eked out a spartan living by 

 raising stock, drying fish and copra, and digging for guano. 

 Their managers built "proper" dwellings, so when US. British, 

 and French astronomers arrived to observe the solar eclipse in 

 May 1 883. South Island was quite "civilized," far more than it 

 is today. Three houses and two sheds "were in good repair," 

 and a variety of "anchors, chains, spars, and pieces of the 

 woodwork of vessels" littered its reefs ( Holden & Qualtrough, 

 1884). Large grassy clearings adjacent to the lagoon 

 accommodated several European-style houses (Pis. 2—4). The 

 astronomers' account of South Island, illustrated with pen- 

 and-ink drawings (Pis. 2-5,50), is the only record of buildings 

 on Caroline, apart from mention of perhaps the same dwelling, 

 the manager's house, reported in 1936 by the "H.M.S." 



Wellington to be "in excellent condition and spotlessly clean" 

 (Maude, ca. 1938), and a copra shed seen by Clapp & Sibley 

 (1971a). Arundel also took photographs, including some of the 

 marae on Nake, which we have not examined (Arundel's 

 memorabilia [photos, letters, diaries, a microfilm, et cetera] are 

 deposited in the Rare Book Collection, National Library and 

 Pacific Manuscripts Bureau, Research School of Pacific Studies, 

 Australian National University, both in Canberra. A.C.T., 

 Australia). 



Today, the houses, sheds, brick piers (constructed in 1883 

 for telescopes and observatory frames), signboard, flagpole, 

 marble slab with inscription "U.S. Eclipse Party, 1883, 

 May 6," and all but one of the introduced plants have 

 disappeared. In three trips we found no traces of the copra shed, 

 nor have the Falconers, after repeated visits over 2 years. All 

 that remains of the formerly large clearings are two small palm- 

 shaded "flats." in 1988 used by the US and Soviet scientists for 

 a base camp and work area. In 1987, the Falconers cleared one 

 of these for living quarters, and in 1 990 fishermen expanded the 

 other by burning an area 35 x 22 m, then erecting a tin shack, 

 cookhouse, and fishtrap, which were destroyed in a summer 

 1990 storm. 



Our "civilization list" probably covered all that could be 

 seen on South Island without digging: a 26-foot wrecked sloop 

 ( AK 669 1 J. ), complete with trail to a "Robinson Crusoe-type" 

 campsite strewn with remnants of radio and navigational 

 equipment, sail, cans, clothing, et cetera (southeast coast); 

 assorted flotsam and jetsam ( whisky bottles, Japanese fishballs, 

 plastic debris, et cetera); a large rubber ship fender; a bench 

 mark from the 1 985 RNZAF survey team; a recently renovated 

 concrete cistern (by the landing); and an old wooden canoe 

 lying on its side just like de Quiros found in 1606! 



We assume that all the Polynesians, ancient and recent 

 (Tuamotuans, Tahitians, Niueans as far as is known), lived in 

 native thatched huts similar to the ones on Ana-Ana today. 

 Fashioned from coconut palms and pandanus trees, they 

 disappear quickly when abandoned. The largest number of 

 inhabitants recorded for Caroline ( probably all on South Island ) 

 was "two managers and 52 laborers" in 1873 (The Commercial 

 Advertiser, 1873). 



The history of South Island's coconut plantations from 

 1885 to 1901 and from 1916 to 1929 is discussed under 

 Coconut Woodlands (Plant Communities section). 



Physiography : South Island forms the base of the thinly 

 crescentic isosceles triangle whose limits define the atoll. Its 

 own shape is that of an irregular parallelogram 

 858 m wide x 1 ,254 m long at its longest points (Fig. 50). The 

 north coast, a curved bay, forms the lower boundary of the 

 lagoon. This shore, along with the adjacent northwest 

 peninsula, has been the most trodden by man, but the scars 

 have healed, leaving few traces beyond the presence of 

 coconut palms. 



The reef flats surrounding the outer three sides of South are 

 the widest on the atoll, averaging 23 1 m, 578 m, and 363 m on 

 the east, south, and west, respectively. The windward and 

 leeward reefs immediately to its north are 530 m wide. To 

 leeward is the small boat "landing," and to windward, the 

 "blind passage." 



41 



