154 REPORT OF COMMISSIONER OF FISH AND FISHERIES. 



The vessel returned to Jaluit on January 29, and a week was spent 

 in coaling and overhauling the machinery. During this and the pre- 

 vious visit the naval officers of the expedition were engaged in making 

 magnetic and astronomical observations and in a survey of that 

 part of the atoll in the vicinity of the anchorage and Southeast Pass. 

 Opportunities for doing such work were few during the cruise, but 

 whenever a chance presented itself it was embraced with enthusiasm. 

 A collection of corals and other biological materials was made at 

 Jaluit and Arhno, but as usual the reef collecting was not prolific, 

 and neither trawl hauls nor tow-net collections were made in this part 

 of the cruise nor afterwards. From the time the ship entered the 

 Paumotus until she left the Carolines specimens were taken by means 

 of the submerged electric light and scoop net whenever she came to 

 anchor in the lagoons or lay to off the islands at night. In the aggre- 

 gate a good many specimens were taken in this way, and they repre- 

 sent practically^ the entire pelagic catch after leaving Suva, but being 

 almost invariably taken in the lagoons or close to shore, the proportion 

 of larvfe and immature individuals of reef-dwelling animals is very 

 large. Judging from the appearance of the water and the specimens 

 taken in the scoop net, the pelagic life of the waters west of the Mar- 

 shalls is richer than among the eastern islands of the Pacific, where 

 more pelagic work was done. 



The flora of the Marshall Islands, like that of all atolls, is limited, 

 about equal in richness to that of the Gilberts, but excelling the 

 Paumotus. At .Jaluit the white residents have imported several 

 species from the Carolines, but most of them can be made to grow 

 only with difficulty. There are a few bananas, pineapples, limes, and 

 other plants, some of them set out in soil imported for the purpose from 

 the volcanic islands to the westward, and one or two small gardens of 

 European vegetables have been painfully established in the same way. 

 It is almost pathetic to see the struggles of some of the Europeans to 

 surround themselves with the familiar things of their far-awaj^ homes 

 and to supply a few vegetables to break the monotony of the diet to 

 which thej^ are necessarily restricted by residence on an atoll. 



The breadfruit flourishes better in the Marshalls than in the low 

 islands of the southern groups, and the jack fruit is also common. 

 The natives subsist principally on the cocoanut, the fruit of the 

 pandanus, and fish, although the breadfruit and jack fruit are used 

 to some extent where they have been introduced and taro is grown on 

 some of the islands. Arro^Yroot starch in cocoanut shells was seen at 

 one or two of the islands, but the pia plant, from which it is obtained, 

 was not observed, and the product may have been imported. During 

 the season when the pandanus is ripe it appears to be almost the 

 sole vegetable food, and piles of the woody portion of the fruit are 

 seen in the refuse heaps of every domicile. It is eaten raw, when it 

 has a sweet taste something like sugar cane, and is also scraped and 

 made into large sheets or cakes, which are smoked and dried for 



