THE ISLANDS OF THE PACIFIC 



557 



Photograph from Dr. J. P. Thomson 



TYPICAL SAMOANS 



The lightest of their race in color, the Samoans are true Polynesians, prepossessing in 

 appearance and manner, and of splendid physique. The men treat their women with great 

 respect and kindness and lavish affection upon their children. They are scrupulously clean, 

 bathing at least twice a day. 



Britain, France,* and Germany. Japan at 

 that time had but small interests, as oc- 

 cupant of the Bonin (Ogasawara) 

 Islands, a small group of about 38 square 

 miles in extent. 



In area and population the United 

 States possessions certainly rank first in 

 importance, the comparatively large ter- 

 ritories of the Philippines and the Ha- 

 waiian Islands, with American Samoa 

 and Guam, giving that country premier 

 place among the great powers interested 

 in the Pacific. 



The possessions formerly held by Ger- 

 many in the Pacific were : Kaiser Wil- 

 helm's Land — area, 70,135 square miles, 

 population, 110,000; Bismarck Archi- 

 pelago and a part of the Solomon 

 group — area, 22,046 square miles, popu- 

 lation, 210,000; Caroline Islands — area, 

 598 square miles, population, 30,900; 



* For an account of the Marquesas Islands, 

 owned by France, see "A Vanishing People of 

 the South Seas," by John W. Church, in the 

 October, 1919, number of the National Geo- 

 graphic Magazine. 



Mariana Islands — area, 241 square miles, 

 population, 1,118 (exclusive of Guam) ; 

 Marshall Islands — area, 156 square miles, 

 population, 10,000; German Samoa — 

 area, 993 square miles, population, 37,000. 

 It will thus be seen that, with widely 

 scattered territories aggregating 94,169 

 square miles, stretching diagonally across 

 the Pacific from Samoa on the southeast 

 to the Mariana Islands on the northwest, 

 for a distance of over 3,300 miles and 

 parallel to the seaboard of northeast 

 Australia, Germany held the key to the 

 Western Pacific. 



ISLANDS SUITABLK FOR NAVAL BASES 



On each of these groups enumerated a 

 naval base could be established and its 

 position rendered secure against attack 

 by suitable fortifications and the natural 

 advantages afforded by the coral-reef 

 structures. 



Once this was done, a hostile power 

 would be in a position practically to domi- 

 nate the whole of the Pacific Ocean. 

 With submarines and a fleet of destroyers. 



