544 COMPENDIUM OF GEOGRAPHY AND TRAVEL 



the area of dry land is not more than 170 square miles, 

 giving more than 230 persons per square mile, while in 

 some of the islands it is said to reach 400 per square 

 mile — a density of population certainly unequalled in 

 the world in any area where the people depend for food 

 solely on their own exertions. 



The natives here are said to be darker and coarser 

 than in the more western islands, so that there has prob- 

 ably been some intermixture of races, which, combined 

 with the need for constant exertion in fishing, has created 

 the energetic temperament which has rendered so large a 

 population possible. They are tall and stout, 5 feet 8 

 inches or 5 feet 9 inches being the average height. 

 They almost all go naked, except a conical hat of pan- 

 danus leaf. They make a kind of armour of plaited 

 coco-nut fibres to protect themselves in war from their 

 formidable swords armed with sharks' teeth. Their 

 canoes are constructed entirely of coco-nut wood boards, 

 sewn neatly together and fastened to well -modelled 

 frames. The American Mission has stations in some of 

 the northernmost islands of the group, and many of the 

 children have been taught to read. The southern islands 

 are under the London Missionary Society. The natives 

 of the large island of Taputeuea are said to differ from 

 all the rest in their slender, well-proportioned bodies, 

 fine black glossy hair, and projecting cheek-bones, and 

 they are thought to have less of Polynesian blood than 

 the inhabitants of the other islands. On the whole, this 

 group offers one of the most remarkable social phenomena 

 on the globe — a people in a state of almost complete bar- 

 barism, living under the most adverse physical conditions, 

 and yet presenting a density of population not surpassed, 

 if equalled, among the most civilised peoples in the most 

 fertile countries of the world. 



