124 



The soil normally contains enough strength to permit only 

 about one season of cropping at a time. A new plantation area must 

 then be located and the old one allowed to revert to nature when 

 it soon becomes covered with a weedy second growth of herbaceous 

 and shrubby plants. After five or six years of such rest the soil may 

 again be cropped for a season. Thus, the soil is only able to produce 

 once out of fevery six or seven years. This represents a system of 

 rotating the soil rather than that of the crops. The difficulty of culti- 

 vating the plantations and the poor quality of the soil with the re- 

 sulting low crop yield obviously place a limitation upon the popu- 

 lation growth. Another feature which adds to the difficulty of liv- 

 ing on the island is the lack of any source of fresh water aside from 

 the rains. All water used for drinking purposes must be collected 

 from rains and impounded in reservoirs which, during times of 

 drought, may have to be severely rationed. Before the construc- 

 tion of the reservoirs the natives secured some water by catching 

 drippings from the roofs of caves. They also relied to a considerable 

 extent upon coconuts for drinking purposes. 



As seen at a distance from the sea the island appears as though 

 completely forested with medium to large trees. This impression 

 is due to a considerable degree to the large numbers of coconut, 

 breadfruit, mango, and other introduced trees of economic use 

 which have been planted everywhere about the island particularly 

 in the vicinity of villages, all of which are situated on or near the 

 lower terrace. 



A considerable proportion of the upper or older part of the 

 island has been cleared and cultivated at some time. Large areas, 

 however, still persist in what appears to be primitive forest. In 

 these areas the coral has resisted the forces of disintegration and 

 remains in exceedingly rough and rugged masses which make 

 walking off the trails exceedingly difficult. In places, deep, rugged 

 crevices and caverns with sharp projecting rock masses still exist. 

 These, now masked in some instances by lianas, ferns and other 



Figure 1. A forested "island" on the upper level with cleared plantation 

 area in the foreground in early stages of second growth. Figure 2. A typical 

 native house in a grove of coconuts, breadfruit, bananas and other food and 

 ornamental plants. Figure 3. The cliffs along the western shore near where 

 Captain Cook landed in 1774. The profile of the island in the distance shows 

 the upper level and surrounding secondary terrace. 



