546 COMPENDIUM OF GEOGEAPHY AND TRAVEL 



and extremely graceful. The former wear a short kilt 

 of shreds of some vegetable fibre, but the women are 

 clothed with tapa mats from the waist to the ankle. 

 Tattooing is common, and the ear-lobes are distended to 

 an enormous size by the insertion of a wooden hoop — the 

 former custom showing evidence of Polynesian, the latter 

 of Papuan influence. The natives are good sailors, making 

 large canoes, in which they proceed on long voyages. 

 " They actually make," Captain Bridge informs us, 

 " curious charts of thin strips of wood tied together with 

 fibres. Some of these indicate the position of the 

 difl'erent islands with a surprising approach to accuracy. 

 Others give the direction of the prevailing winds and 

 currents." All the Marshall islanders speak dialects of 

 one language, different from that of the Caroline Archi- 

 pelago, though of similar grammatical structure. 



4. The Caroline Islands. 



The Carolines, thus called after Charles 11. of Spain, 

 lie between New Guinea to the south and the Ladrones 

 to the north, and occupy a vast area. They form three 

 main groups — the Eastern, Central, and Western — and 

 the distance from Kusaie, on the east, to Babeltuap, the 

 farthest western limit, is over 2000 miles. The Western 

 group are better known as the Pelew Islands, and will 

 be separately described under this name. 



The majority of the islands are comprised in the 

 Central group, and are of the usual character — low and 

 coralline, and arranged round a central lagoon. Ponape 

 and Kusaie are exceptions, being high and rugged ; and 

 Euk consists of a lagoon reef 150 miles in circuit, within 

 which are a number of little hilly islets. The fauna ex- 

 hibits extreme poverty. The climate, tempered by cool 



