NAURU, THE RICHEST ISLAND IN THE SOUTH SEAS 



567 



Photograph from Mrs. Rosamond Dodson Rhone 



AN ILLUSTRATED FISH STORY 



The most popular forms of fishing paraphernalia used on the island of Nauru are 

 bows and arrows and spears. This catch of brilliantly colored fish seems to be a satisfactory 

 one. The tree in the background is a banyan. 



order, for where there is no vegetation 

 there is no population. 



The vegetation owed nothing to the 

 wealth of phosphate beneath it. Phos- 

 phate is not soluble in water. It needs 

 treatment with sulphuric acid, which 

 converts it into superphosphate to let 

 loose its treasure of stimulation for 

 plants. 



East of Nauru, 160 miles, lies Ocean 

 Island, or Banaba, another island the 

 story of whose origin is Nauru's story. 

 Like twin sisters they stand unrelated to 

 their nearest neighbors, the low-lying 

 atolls, their only relative being the island 

 of Makatea in the Tuamotu group (Pau- 

 motos), more than 2,000 miles distant, 

 where the evolution of phosphate fol- 

 lowed the same lines. 



A DISCARDED DOOR-STOP PROVES CLUE TO 

 FABULOUS WEALTH 



A few years ago the Pacific Islands 

 Company had schooners cruising in the 

 Pacific for various tropical products, 

 especially guano, which was growing so 



scarce that they were "brooming" it from 

 tiny coral islands. One of the captains 

 brought from Ocean Island to the Sydney 

 office of the company a piece of curious 

 stratified rock with the suggestion that it 

 might be made into children's marbles. 

 This rock remained knocking around the 

 office for years, being used as a door-stop. 

 Finally the manager of the company 

 analyzed it and found to his amazement 

 that it was 80 per cent phosphate of lime. 

 He boarded the next schooner sailing for 

 Ocean Island, which had fallen upon the 

 eastern side of the line of demarkation 

 and so became British territory. 



The Pacific Islands Company was re- 

 organized as the Pacific Phosphate Com- 

 pany. The British Colonial Government 

 granted permission to buy land of the 

 natives for opening quarries and building 

 a plant with crushers, loading bins, and 

 tramways, and before the war interfered 

 with the shipping the annual output was 

 100,000 tons, worth when loaded on the 

 ships $12.50 per ton. 



As soon as the phosphate works were 



