208 THE POPULAR SCIENCE MONTHLY. 



are arranged to form canal streets, and the walls of edifices erected on 

 them are huilt of basaltic columns in like manner. The ruins are much 

 overgrown with the rich vegetation of the tropics, but enough is visi- 

 ble to disclose the remains of a city, of a second Venice, of whose 

 builders we are ignorant. 



Yap, in the Western Carolines, is singularly interesting. The na- 

 tives are good-looking and profusely tattooed. The hands and fore- 

 arms of the women are tattooed with mitts as in the Marshall Islands. 

 The houses are large and built of mats. They stand on an extensive 

 platform of earth revetted with stones, against which is placed the 

 curious stone money of the islanders. This is in the form of huge 

 disks of arragonite, quarried in the Pelew Islands, more than two 

 hundred miles away. The disks are like great grindstones, and fre- 

 quently weigh three tons. People have said on hearing of this money 

 that there was not much risk of its being stolen. Nevertheless, an 

 American trader at Yap complained to me that some which had been 

 placed in his charge had been carried off in the night. 



I visited two other islands which may be included in the Caroline 

 group. These were Nuguor and Greenwich Island, both low atolls. 

 At Nuguor human sacrifices are still offered ; one had occurred about 

 two years before I was there. The inhabitants are of almost gigantic 

 size. They are ruled by two queens, and have retained the tradition 

 of their migration from Samoa and the name of the chief, Vave, who 

 led it. Greenwich Island is very little known. The Pelew-Islanders 

 are a particularly interesting people. In each village there are large 

 " club-houses," to which the younger men resort. A few women from 

 neighboring villages also frequent them. It is not considered comnie 

 il faut for a woman to enter one in her own village. If she did she 

 would become an outcast ; going into one a mile or two off, however, 

 in no way affects her position. The buildings are of wood, and the 

 gable-ends are adorned with carvings and frescoes. There is also in 

 the Pelew Islands a curious kind of money. It is really bits of antique 

 glass vessels and jasper beads, which the people believe came down 

 from the gods, but which in fact came out of the ships of early navi- 

 gators. 



In the Polynesian archipelagoes of Samoa and Tonga Ave find a 

 superior race and, especially in the latter, a comparatively advanced 

 civilization. The people of the two are akin. The Samoans are of a 

 softer type than the Tongans, who live in a cooler climate. The beauty 

 of the Samoan women has often been remarked, and it would be diffi- 

 cult to exaggerate it. The Tongans are of greater stature, and the 

 women are rather handsome than pretty. The scenery of the Samoan 

 Islands is only surpassed by that of New Britain and Eastern New 

 Guinea. Except in the Vavau group, the Tongau scenery is at best 

 rather poor, as the islands are, in general, low. Samoa is always hot, 

 while the winter climate of Tonga-tabu is delicious. Both archipela- 



