DISCOVERY AND EARLY HISTORY 5 



Sfiven to the islands because Ross Primus took his household gods 

 to the new home in a ship he named the Borneo : but Ross 

 Primus himself always referred to the group as " Reeling's Isles." 



In the study of the early history of the atoll the most 

 important information might be expected from a comparison 

 of the older charts with those made at the present day, for by 

 this means we might hope to see what the modern tendencies 

 of the atoll growth may be. 



But unfortunately the charts that are available are few, 

 and the islands are as a rule depicted so roughly that there is 

 little safety in arguments based on any changes that may seem 

 to have occurred. 



In maps earlier than 1609 Dr. Guppy was unable to find 

 any reference to the atoll, but in Dudley's '"' Arcano del Mare," 

 published in 1647, the islands are charted in their correct, 

 position. The islands are also shown, but not named, in 

 Blaeu's appendix to the " Theatrum Orbis Terrarum " of Ortelius 

 of 1631, though in the edition of 1606 they are not indicated. 

 The most important early record — because of the more accurate 

 charting — is that in Van Keulen's " Zeefakkel " of 1753, where 

 the islands are depicted by Jan de Marre, the Dutch navigator, 

 who made his chart in 1729-30. Dr. Guppy reproduces this 

 map, which is by no means a bad representation of the group, 

 but I would hesitate to attach a high value to any theories 

 based upon its truthfulness. 



Beyond a few visits from passing navigators, there is nothing 

 of historic interest to be noted until the year 1825, when 

 according to Keating (in " Holman's Voyage ") Captain Le 

 Cour of the brig Mauritius temporarily occupied the atoll ; and 

 it is said that his name, and those of his crew, were carved on the 

 coconut palms. This occupation could not have been of long 

 duration, for on December 6 of the same year Ross Primus 

 landed and found the islands uninhabited, and in his account 

 of his settling he says no word of their recent occupation. 



With the year 1825 begins the modern history of the 

 atoll, the arrival of the present line of settlers, and the unfold- 

 ing of the strange story of the early days of this modern Utopia. 



