550 



THE NATIONAL GEOGRAPHIC MAGAZINE 



Photograph from Dr. J. P. Thomson 



DANCK FASHIONS IN NEW BRITAIN 



The network that holds the leaves of a young coconut tree is as fine as India paper, very 

 glossy, and of a beautiful silver color. Narrow strips of it are used as decorations by the 

 natives in the "Kokomo" dance. 



the vast coral sea that eternally surges 

 along the equatorial belt of the great 

 Pacific. Long regarded as the dream of 

 early Spanish and Portuguese enterprise, 

 these Polynesian islands have vast com- 

 mercial possibilities. 



MANY HARBORS OFFERING UNSURPASSED 

 NAVAL BASES 



Many of these Pacific groups possess 

 beautiful harbors, commodious enough 

 to shelter the largest ships of a major 

 power. Most of them being guarded by 

 impregnable barriers of coral reef, they 

 would afford natural protection to all 

 classes of shipping and could be utilized 

 as naval bases of first-rate importance. 



Commercially, the Pacific Island trade 

 is a matter that will command world-wide 

 attention in the affairs of national enter- 

 prise arising out of the World War. 

 Profiting by her geographical position 

 and the circumstances arising out of the 

 war, Japan has made good use of her 

 opportunities to occupy the Marshall 

 Islands, over which she now holds a 

 mandate, and in the struggle for a com- 

 mercial footing in the Western Pacific 



she has shown herself a vigorous rival to 

 British-Australian enterprise. 



In physical structure these Polynesian 

 islands are mostly composed of igneous 

 or coralline rocks. 



The moist southeast trade winds pre- 

 vail over most of this region, the rainfall 

 being generally high, especially in the 

 eastern Solomons, about Bougainville 

 Straits, 150 inches; Hawaii, 60 to 80 

 inches ; New Caledonia, over 40 inches, 

 and Suva, Fiji, 162 inches. On some of 

 the low-lying atolls, however, the moisture- 

 laden clouds pass over without any pre- 

 cipitation, and consequently there are oc- 

 casionally narrow rainless zones, where 

 accumulated deposits of guano occur, 

 such as on Ocean and Nauru Islands (see 

 pages 559 to 589). The rainy season 

 usually lasts from November to April. 



Although slightly relaxing, the climate 

 on the whole is generally healthy, being 

 free from endemic diseases, but malaria 

 occurs on the low-lying areas in the Solo- 

 mon and some other large islands. 



There is an oceanic flora in the coral- 

 line groups, the prevailing forms being 



