16S Art. YII.— A. Matsumura 



Conclusion. 



We shall now recapitulate our ethnographical notes on the 

 East and West Caroline grou|)S presented in the preceding chapters. 

 It might be expected that the introduction of European customs into 

 the East Caroline and Marshall groups would have changed the 

 customs of the natives, redeeming them from their uncivilized 

 condition, while the natives of the West Caroline Islands who still 

 go naked with the exception of tlie loin-clotli and skirt linger on a 

 lower plane of civilization. This view, however, would not be cor- 

 rect. On the contrary, the natives of the West Carolines are at leastt 

 in some ways, more civilized than the islanders of the East Caroline 

 group, as is evidenced by the architecture of the former which is 

 certainly far more advanced than that of the latter. The club- 

 houses especially, peculiar to Yap and Palau, are decidedly a credi, 

 to the natives ; whilst their art in buikling roads is not to be despised, 

 for these are constructed, permanently and regulai-ly, with stone. 

 On the other hand, it must be admitted that supposing tiie ruins 

 in Kusaie and Ponapé of the East Caroline group to have been 

 the work of the ancestors of the present dwellers in these islands, 

 they must have possessed remarkable skill in building, for it 

 certainly involved no small difficulty to transport stone materials 

 and construct stone walls. 



This may be open to question, but tlie fact that the natives of the 

 West Caroline Islands stand on a different level of civilization from 

 those of tlie East Caroline Islanders is undeniable. At the same 

 time, it may be noticed that tlieir nianners and customs are also 

 different. For example, tlie women of the East Carolines wear cloth 

 skirts in contrast to tlie coarse petticoats worn in the West Caro- 



