492 SEA CHARTS USED IN THE MARSHALL ISLANDS. 



these in their contat-t with the islands, and they are used in discussions 

 arisino- concerning" the crossings of the different dunungs, which fur- 

 nish the principal guides for navig-ation. Moreover, the several sticks 

 indicate the visible distances of the islands as Avell as some other lore 

 useful in sailing. All these will be made clear in descril)ing the charts. 

 Before proceeding to the descriptions, it is necessar}- previouslv to 

 give the meaning of certain native terms, since 1 shall, in describing 

 the charts, repeat without translation only the ^Marshall Island expres- 

 sions as they were delivered to me by the chiefs. In lU}' interviews 

 with them, in order to eliminate errors, the terms under consideration 

 were always written with pencil on th<> chart when they wer(^ not 

 involved in the general explanation. I have inserted the necessary 

 verification in the proper place.' 



By more careful scientitic study some of the explanations, which 

 did not at first appear tenable to me, may seem open to dispute. I 

 must, therefore, emphasize the fact that I here give no theories that 

 I have adopted and will eventually maintain, but repeat only the 

 explanations furnished me, as the Marshall islanders themselves have 

 laid them down, and as they answer to the conceptions held b}^ them, 

 and whose correctness 1 had no opportunity to control. It is, there- 

 fore, not unlikely that through wrong explanation or interpretation, in 

 spite of the greatest caution and of the continual proving of what was 

 heard, some errors may have crept into the returns. These I hope 



' Capt. .To^Jhua Slucuni, \vho circumnavigated the globe alone in his little sloop, the 

 Sprat/, furnishes the following account of the ' ' dunungen ' ' and the chartvS. 



"The Marshall Island charts that I have seen consist of a frame of wood with 

 strings stretched across from side to side. The strings, I understood, represent, one 

 set, the mean direction of the tra<le winds, and the other set the waves or swells at 

 right angles to the wind. Shells strung at various crossings represent islands, vaguely, 

 in position of the lands known to have been reached by canoe, sailing in certain 

 angles across the wind and waves or swells. During the sea.'^on of the year when 

 the trade winds sweejj over their islands, it requires only the natural skill of a sea- 

 man to navigate in this way from one archipelago to another. And even if the 

 direction of the trades varies considerably, the savage islanders know, by natural 

 signs, when they do so, and how- much to allow for the variation, as well as do the birds 

 that come home to roost. It goes well with the canoemen usually if they are favored 

 by a clear run, but a little dead reckoning or beating about confuses them. 



' ' I rescued a party of Gilbert islanders some years ago. They had maps on a small 

 scale and quite useless, translated, I should say, from Morse's Geography. On their 

 charts their country was called Buckaroovoo, and Japan was Taiban. A thunder 

 storm had driven them out of their course and they did not seem to know ho\A' to 

 recover the lost ground by clawing to windward, so they were driftmg hopelessly 

 about the ocean, 600 miles out of their course, when my ship ran onto them and was 

 instrumental in their return to Buckaroovoo. 



' ' In the matter of the sixth sense, which folk-sailors seem to possess, I am reminded 

 of Captain ^IcKinnon, who thought nothing of a sail through fog without a compass, 

 from port to port, depending on the direction of the wind for his courses. The wind's 

 direction he judged by the density of the fog. He said that the compass l)othered 

 him, and as for charts, he carried them all in his head." — Note to the Translatok, 



