TITE COMPLETED ATOLL. 279 



probably owing to their having nothing to do, and plenty, 

 in the vegetable way, to eat; for these somewhat elevated 

 equatorial islands, as elsewhere observed, are unusually pro- 

 ductive for atolls, — just the place for a voluptuous barbarian. 



The people on Drummond's Island were great thieves, and 

 knew the pleasures of a cannibal feast. Without metals, or 

 any kind of hard stone, they make, out of the teeth of the 

 sharks caught about the reefs, a sharp, jagged edging for long 

 knives, swords and spears ; and the women, jealous of one an- 

 other, sometimes, as Mr. Hale says, carry about with them for 

 months a small weapon of shark's teeth concealed under their 

 dress, watching for an opportunity to use it ; and desperate 

 fights sometimes take place. The same author mentions, also, 

 some good points in them : observing that the women are, for 

 the most part, better treated than is common among uncivil- 

 ized people ; that the men do the hard out-door work, while 

 the women clear and weed the ground, and attend to the do- 

 mestic duties that naturally fall to them. " Custom also re- 

 quires that when a man meets a female he shall pay her the 

 same mark of respect that is rendered to a chief, by turning 

 aside to let her pass," — a rule that probably does not. al- 

 ways hold in practice. He adds : " The word manda sig- 

 nifies among the Gilbert Islanders a man thoroughly accom- 

 plished in all their knowledge and arts, and versed in every 

 noble exercise ; a good dancer, an able warrior, one who has 

 seen life at home and abroad, and enjoyed its highest excite- 

 ments and delights — in short, a complete man of the world. 

 In their estimation this is the proudest character to which any 

 person can attain ; and such a one is fully prepared to enter, 

 at his death, on the highest enjoyments of their elysium." 



Thus much for the human productions of coral islands. 



Although the vegetation of coral islands has the luxuri- 



