WHO BUILT THOSE FORTS? 355 



for four months; and yet these Palaos islanders are now 

 described as infamous pirates. This deterioration in their 

 character has doubtless been brought about by the schooling 

 which they have since undergone at the hands of a set of white 

 traders, who, as all Pacific travellers know, are even now occa- 

 sionally to be found about these seas, making themselves at 

 home among the simple-minded people, and instructing them 

 in every vice and villainy. 



The lagoon of Hogoleu contains an immense deposit of pearl- 

 oyster of the largest and most valuable kind, and there is 

 practically an inexhaustible supply of leche-de-mer. Sandal-wood 

 is supposed to be plentiful, as the natives make their canoes 

 and paddles of it 



On the prospects of trade in the Caroline Group, but especi- 

 ally in regard to the great atoll of Hogoleu, and perhaps other 

 islands I have named, I will quote the words of Mr. Sterndale, 

 merely prefacing them by the remark that in my opinion 

 British trade should be pushed in the Pacific not by 'com- 

 mercial adventurers,' as the words are usually understood, but 

 by a powerful company, which would include in its scope all 

 Polynesia, and whose name should be a synonym for fair dealing 

 and honest purpose, from America to China, from Honolulu to 

 Auckland. 



If such an idea were reduced to practice, Englishmen or 

 Americans possessing great local knowledge, skilled in the lan- 

 guage and habits of the various groups, and trusted by the 

 natives for their integrity, should be appointed agents in the 

 different localities ; and I know where these can be found. 



' That the first Europeans who can succeed in establishing a 

 permanent agency upon Hogoleu will make their fortunes in 

 a very short time, is an unquestionable fact. The island pre- 

 sents to the commercial adventurer such an opportunity as is 



232 



