342 THE CORAL LANDS OF THE PACIFIC. 



amongst them, treated them with the greatest cruelty, and 

 succeeded eventually in making them as bad as themselves. 



On the other hand, the American missionaries, who have 

 resided on the group for years, have always met with the 

 greatest kindness and respect. Whether their converts are 

 more than merely nominal Christians I cannot say. The 

 Marshall islanders are as a rule more intelligent than those 

 from the Kingsmill Group, and are very ingenious in the 

 manufacture of their canoes. They are skilful navigators, 

 and will leave their homes for a year or two and cruise from 

 one island to another for trade in such articles as they make. 



Both men and women wear fine clothing of dyed tappa, from 

 across the chest to below the knee. The trade of the group is 

 confined chiefly to copra and leche-de-mer, large quantities of 

 which are exported to Samoa for shipment by Messrs. Godeffroy. 



As regards the Marshall Islands, and the other groups near 

 them, it may be said that there is now springing up a race 

 which will, beyond doubt, exercise in time a most powerful 

 influence on the destinies of the Pacific. They are remarkable 

 for superior intelligence, patience, skill in navigation, and a 

 faculty for acquiring all the mechanical arts. They are the 

 progeny of European and American mariners by Japanese 

 mothers, and in them are to be found combined the grandest 

 elements of success in life that is to say, all the courage and 

 spirit of adventure which distinguished their wild and roving 

 fathers, mingled with the acuteness, ingenuity, and concentra- 

 tion of purpose which is so characteristic of the Mongolian, 

 and especially of the Japanese. Some of these men would, 

 in any organised effort to develop the trade of Polynesia by 

 British capitalists, prove invaluable as local agents, interpreters, 

 and as authorities on the intricate navigation of their respec- 

 tive groups. 



