PARTITION OF THE ISLANDS. 29 



Among the powers there was slight fricflion at times. The Hawaiian Islands 

 were seized by England (Lord George Paulet) bnt relinquished, threatened by France 

 (La Place) and Japan until the United States put an end to all claims by annexation. 

 In Micronesia Germany's claim to a part of the Carolines was adjudicated by the Pope, 

 and now Spain has sold all of that extensiye archipelago as well as the part claimed, and 

 thrown in the remnant of the Marianas to boot to German}-. The tripartite attempt 

 to goyern Samoa threatened to make trouble, but this was happily ayerted by the 

 withdrawal of Great Britain and the amicable diyision of the group by Germany and 

 tlie United States. When by the fortune of war the United States acquired Guam and 

 the Philippines, Spain ceased to be an important owner of Pacific territory-, and Eng- 

 land, the United States, Germany, France and Japan control the entire region. 



When the question of a trans-Paciiic telegraphic cable arose there was ac^tiye 

 annexation by Great Britain of all islands, islets or rocks that happened to be in anj' 

 of the tracks proposed, and Japan seized Marcus Island in imitation of more important 

 powers. In the hurry some islands were taken that had already been appropriated by 

 another goyernment, but the real yalue of tliese bits of sand and rock is not sufficient 

 to make trouble in these days of wiser arbitration.. 



The colonization of these islands, some of them without inhabitants, others with 

 a dying population, but many of them most attraAiye in scenery and climate, has not 

 yet progressed far except on the Hawaiian Islands, New Zealand and Australia. 

 Germany has an elaborate official organization in her colonial islands, but officials 

 alone will not bring prosperit}- to a colony. France has some choice islands, but for 

 some reason immigrants do not increase there. Will the United States be as success- 

 ful as England in her new colonial experience? 



In Conclusion. — A few words of more formal introduAion may lead the reader 

 to the geographical material to which this long chapter is the preface. The maps 

 haye been constru6fed from the best goyernment charts, although they are copies of 

 no one chart; neither are they, like the composite photograph, a combination of many. 

 Seledlion has been made, but no serious attempt has been made to produce a iinished 

 chart; it would be useless in the present state of our knowledge of the Pacific islands, 

 and it would not greatly surprise the author should the exact suryeys that must be 

 made in the near future, expose great inaccuracies, nay, eyen render the present maps 

 quite unrecognizable as delineations of the same island or group. But they will haye 

 seryed their modest purpose : the Primer must come before the Reader, and if they will 

 in any way clear the path of the future geographer of the Pacific by giying ground for 

 just criticism, they will not haye been offered in yain. 



The needs of the administration of a museum like this that l)ears the honored 

 name of Mrs. Bishop, haye compelled much reading of yoyages and descriptiye accounts 



of the Pacific region, and notes haye been made for years and arranged alphabetically 



[1133 



