138 



CAROLINE ISLANDS. 



He was formerly friendly to the Germans, but 

 was angry with them for supplying his rebel- 

 lious vassals with arms. The Imperial Govern- 

 ment in London disavowed the act of the colo- 

 nial authorities, and left the whole region, ex- 

 cept the port and district of Walfish Bay, open 

 to German colonial operations. Forty years 

 back the Herero Oaffres were subjugated by 

 the Kama chief, Jonker Afrikander. Twenty 

 years later they rose against their masters. In 

 1870 peace was concluded through the efforts 

 of the missionary, Dr. Jahn, on terms that 

 made all the Hottentot tribes vassals of the 

 Herero chief. The English, in treating for 

 Walfish Bay, negotiated with Maharero as well 

 as with the local Topnaar tribe. In 1876 the 

 British Government, by agreement with the 

 Herero, declared a protectorate over Damara- 

 land, but, when the Hottentots began a new 

 conflict with the Herero, in the autumn of 

 1880, withdrew the protectorate. The mount- 

 ain tribes have not yet been reduced to sub- 

 mission, but continue the war by means of 

 depredations on the Herero cattle-herds. In 

 April, 1884, Maharero reconquered southwest- 

 ern Hereroland, where the mines are situ- 

 ated, to work which a large German company 

 has been formed, and the sandy coast district 

 of the Topnaars, driving the inhabitants to 

 take refuge with the Europeans' in Sandwich 

 Harbor and Walfish Bay. The same territory, 

 including the mining-lands in Maharero's he- 

 reditary domain, were purchased of the Top- 

 naar chiefs by Herr Luderitz for 20. 



CAROLINE ISLANDS, an archipelago in the 

 Pacific Ocean. Including the Marshall and Gil- 

 bert groups, there are from 500 to 800 islands 

 and islets. Geographers sometimes apply the 

 name thus to all the islands lying along the 

 equator between the Philippines'and the Kings- 

 mill group, dividing them into the Western 

 Carolines, or Pelew Islands, the Central Caro- 

 lines, and the Eastern Carolines or Mulgrave 

 Archipelago, comprising the Marshall and Gil- 

 bert groups. Sometimes the latter islands are 

 treated as geographically distinct from the 

 Carolines, and the Pelews are considered as a 

 component part of the archipelago or as an iso- 

 lated group. 



The Pelew or Pelau Islands, sometimes called 

 the Western Carolines, have an area of about 

 846 square miles. They are almost entirely 

 encircled by a coral reef. Their population is 

 from 8,000 to 10,000. The Central Carolines 

 consist of about 48 groups, containing several 

 hundred islands. The Eastern Carolines, or 

 Mulgrave Archipelago, comprise the Marshall 

 or Radick and the Gilbert groups. Their popu- 

 lation is supposed to exceed 100,000. 



A few of the islands are of volcanic origin. 

 Their basaltic masses, rising boldly out of the 

 water, are clothed wijh woods and covered 

 with rich soil, yielding bread-fruit, cocoanuts, 

 sugar-cane, oranges, and bananas. Of this 

 character are Kusaie, Ponape, Ruk, Pelew, and 

 Yap. The great majority of the islands, how- 



ever, are formed of coral reefs, inclosing la- 

 goons, which usually have channels connecting 

 with the sea. These have a thin soil and a 

 limited rainfall. Their vegetation is scanty, 

 and the only useful plants are the cocoanut- 

 palm, which thrives in all the islands of the 

 archipelago, and the pandanus or screw-pine, 

 which yields a juicy fruit. There is no indige- 

 nous fauna, but pigs and chickens are raised 

 by the natives. 



The Caroline Islands proper are usually con- 

 sidered to comprise the Central Carolines and 

 the Pelew group. They extend from 131 4' 

 to 163 6' east longitude, and from 20 6' to 1 

 3' north latitude. They have a total area of 

 about 1,200 square miles. They have the La- 

 drones on the north and New Britain on the 

 south, and extend nearly to the Philippines on 

 the west and the Marshall Islands on the east. 

 Their population is estimated variously, as low 

 as 20,000 and as high as 70,000. The inhab- 

 itants are of the brown Polynesian race, with 

 straight hair, which is supposed by some eth- 

 nologists to be related to the Caucasian fam- 

 ily. They are intellectually superior to the 

 woolly-haired race south of the equator, but 

 they are savages in habits and nature, excep* 

 where they have been elevated by the effort* 

 of American missionaries. There are evidences 

 on some of the islands of an extinct civiliza- 

 tion. Their own religion is a worship of spir- 

 its. In several of the islands rites are per- 

 formed by priests. The islanders go nearly 

 naked, and tattoo their bodies. They are given 

 to licentiousness and intemperance, and have 

 been greatly demoralized through intercourse 

 with European traders. Feuds are frequent 

 and bloody. Like the Maoris and Hawaiians, 

 with whom they are identical in race, they 

 have not only deteriorated morally and phys- 

 ically, but have declined in numbers through 

 contact with whites. They are still ruled by 

 hereditary chiefs. 



The islands were discovered by Saavedra, 

 who sailed through the Central Carolines in 

 1528, and by Drake, who sighted the Pelews 

 in 1579. In 1686 the Spanish Admiral Fran- 

 cesco Lazeano rediscovered the islands and 

 gave them their name after Charles II of Spain. 

 Missionary teaching was begun by the Span- 

 iards in the eighteenth century, but was soon 

 abandoned. The islands were visited by whal- 

 ers and occasional traders, but the trade until 

 recently was insignificant. Strong's Island, the 

 midmost island of the Central Carolines, was 

 discovered by the American Captain Crozier. 

 American missionaries established themselves 

 on the larger islands in 1851. Through their 

 efforts civilization and education have spread 

 from group to group until the whole archipel- 

 ago has been brought under their influence. 

 They have reduced to writing five of the dia- 

 lects, and printed in them various school-books 

 and parts of the Bible. There are over fifty 

 Christian churches, with 4,000 communicants. 

 A remarkable change in the character and man- 



