IKEONESIA 



CHAPTEE XV 



THE GILBERT, MARSHALL, CAROLINE, PELEW, AND LADRONE 

 GROUPS 



1. G-eneral. 



North of the Equator, between New Guinea and the 

 south coast of Japan, the great ocean is studded with 

 countless little islands, which, in consequence of their 

 remarkably small size, are collectively called Mikronesia. 

 The most easterly are the Gilbert and Marshall groups. 

 Farther west are the Caroline Islands, and the Pelews, 

 which by some writers are called the Western Carolines, 

 North of them are the Ladrones or Mariannes, now 

 peopled by the descendants of the Tagals and Bisayans 

 of the Philippines. The inhabitants of the rest of Mik- 

 ronesia are of very mixed race, the main elements being 

 probably Indonesian (pre-Malay) and Polynesian. But 

 in many parts there is strong evidence of Negrito and 

 Papuan blood, while the junks of China and Jajsan, which 

 are not infrequently wrecked upon Mikronesian reefs, 

 have no doubt brought other elements into the ancestry 



