204 THE POPULAR SCIENCE MONTHLY. 



plant. It is counted by measure of length, and lias some of the prop- 

 erties of the money of civilization, as it owes its value to the rarity of 

 its material, and it can be easily divided into small sums. 



The Ellice, the Gilbert (or, as they are usually called by the seamen, 

 the Kiugsmill), and the Marshall groups, are all composed of low, flat 

 islands formed of coral. Some of them are nearly perfect atolls, Maraki 

 in the northern Gilberts being perhaps the most perfect in the world. 



It seems absurd to speak of the fertility of soil apparently com- 

 posed almost entirely of sand, nevertheless even among these coral 

 archipelagoes there are differences. The Marshall Islands have the 

 most profuse natural growth of ferns and grasses ; on the Gilbert 

 Islands there is not even a fern ; while the Ellice Islands hold an in- 

 termediate place between the sterility of the latter and the compara- 

 tive fertility of the former. It is customary to reproach the natives 

 of Oceania with invincible indolence ; and, if it be a fault, I fear they 

 must be convicted of desultoriness and unsteadiness in their work. 

 The amount done in a year would if spread over the whole period 

 give, I believe, a very respectable daily average. The labor expended 

 by the Ellice-Islanders in cultivating their lands and growing the huge 

 taro, which is the staple of their diet, must have been enormous. The 

 vegetable is planted in vast trenches which look as though they had 

 belonged to some great fortress long ago fallen into ruin. Even with 

 the best implements the excavations would be extremely laborious, but 

 one is lost in astonishment when one finds that many of the taro-beds 

 now in existence were excavated by generations in possession only of 

 tools of shell or wood. 



All the islanders are expert fishermen. Shark's fin being an article 

 of export, the shark is eagerly sought for. He is often caught without 

 a hook ; a piece of bait is put on the end of a line passed through a 

 noose in a larger line and towed from a canoe. As the shark is seen 

 to follow the bait, it is gradually hauled up till his head and shoulders 

 are past the noose. The latter is then quickly tightened. Another 

 plan, of which I was told on good authority, is even more remarkable. 

 The sharks are supposed to sleep in rather shoal water under project- 

 ing pieces of coral with their heads just protruding. When a Gilbert- 

 Islander sees one in this position he dives down with a small stick in 

 his hand and gives the fish a tap on the nose, repeating it until the 

 shark, for comfort's sake, changes his position and leaves his tail 

 where his head had been. This is the fisherman's chance, and a 

 second dive with a noose at the end of a line soon makes him master 

 of his game. I am bound to say that I never saw this mode of 

 fishing. 



The Ellice-Islanders are all Christians, having been converted by 

 the missionaries of the London Mission Society. They are inoffensive 

 folk and have no arms. The Kukulailai people declare that they never 

 did have any ; but the natives of other islands undoubtedly had some 



