HISTORY OF THE ATOLL FROM 1871 41 



natural resources of tlie atoll; the strenuous times of its early 

 days were past, and George Ross and his wife became more than 

 ever the father and mother of the people rather than their 

 rulers. Georo-e Ross, and his brothers Charles and Andrew, 

 taught the men useful trades, and the carpenters of the islands 

 are not easily to be matched among Malay people. Black- 

 smith's forges were set up, and kilns for the burning of coral 

 boulders into lime were made, and soon there was but little 

 that the island colony could not produce for its own immediate 

 wants. Good dwelling-houses were erected, and rat-proof 

 stores were constructed of bricks and mortar so that large 

 stocks of rice could be kept in the islands, as a reserve, for use 

 in times of any shortage caused by the delay of the island 

 schooner. The people were encouraged in manly sports, and 

 regular tournaments were held, at which throwing the spear 

 and diving were keenly contested competitions. In these 

 contests, George Ross far excelled the best of his people. The 

 love of the Malay for his boats, his knives, and his spears was 

 fostered, with the result that boat-building has reached a very 

 high pitch of development, and the men have become the 

 handiest boatmen and the most skilful spearers of fish to be 

 met anywhere. Whilst George Ross was doing all this for the 

 men, his wife was training the women. She took the girls to 

 her own house and educated them thoroughly in domestic 

 duties, teaching them ideals of moral conduct and habits of 

 neatness and thrift. 



It is difficult to over-estimate the success that has attended 

 these efforts, or to exaggerate the degree of contented pros- 

 perity which reigned in the islands. By 1888 so great a 

 peace had spread over the settlement that George Ross looked 

 for other fields for the expansion of his colony. 



On several occasions parties had gone from the atoll and 

 sailed to Christmas Island, which lies some five hundred and 

 twenty-five miles to the north and east of Cocos-Keeling. 

 The extraordinary fertility of this uninhabited place, and its 

 vast flocks of absolutely unsuspecting birds, were sufficient to 

 tempt any man to make the passage, and it was no uncommon 



