Ethnography of Micronesia. 



151 



he^cTod her titno and a .rain to lead a purer life, but in vain. The 

 distressed father hit upon an idea, he had the image of his 

 daucrhter carved above the entrance of the club-house for young 

 men. Now the young people of the village began to tease Jilokai, 

 who felt so ashamed of her conduct that she always kept indoors 

 and in time became a good, chaste woman. Since that time, it 

 lias become customary for the islanders to carve a female figure 

 on the gables of young men's club-houses." 



The young men's club-house is for the common use of all the 

 young people of the village, while the chiefs' council house is ex- 

 clusively for themselves. Access to the latter is never allowed to 

 ordinary men, still less to women. 



There are in Palau seven or eight 

 grand chiefs, of whom the most influential 

 is the Aybathul at Koror. The present 

 Aybathul is an old, but vigorous man, over 

 seventy years of age. He is also a re- 

 sourceful man, wielding a kingly influence 

 over the whole of Palau. Under the grand 

 chiefs, there are several lesser or subordi- 

 nate chiefs who take charge of minor 

 offices. These chiefs meet in conference at 

 the council house, each taking the seat 

 allotted to him. When we visited the 

 chiefs' club-house at their invitation, we 

 found nine chiefs including the Aybathul 

 assembled in the building. They sit apart 



Fig. 68.— Ground-plan of 



from each other, usually from 1-20 to IvSO ^^^ ^^-^j^. (,o;;ticii house 

 m., the seats are along the walls with two 

 big fire places in the center of the room. 



10 



at Kovor, Palau. Numbera 

 indicate the seats of chiefs, 

 in conference. 



