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THE XATIOXAT. GEOGRAPHIC MAGAZINE 



/ / 



Photograph from Hugh M. Smith 



A SAIIvING CANOE AND ITS CREW IN PRIMITIVE COSTUME ON JAEUIT EAGOON : 



MARSHAEE ISLANDS 



Jaluit, the chief island of the Marshalls, is an atoll with fifty islets on a reef. The lagoon 

 around which these islets are grouped has a depth of 25 to 30 fathoms. Under Germany, 

 Jaluit was the seat of government of the Marshall Islands and Nauru was assigned to that 

 group, although the latter was 300 miles away and had its own language and distinctive 

 customs (see text, page 561). 



to the tropics. The houses of the white 

 settlement are built of one thickness of 

 boards and roofed with galvanized iron. 

 The partitions stop about six inches be- 

 low the ceiling, leaving spaces for ventila- 

 tion. Wide verandas surround the houses, 

 and these are the true living-rooms. The 

 cook-houses are detached. 



There are no wire screens. The almost 

 constant trade winds keep away flies, but 

 cockroaches as large as humming-birds 

 fly in and out, and moths, lured by elec- 

 tric lights, dart against the ceilings. There 



are beautiful sphinx moths, which are 

 caught by the natives, tethered by threads 

 tied to their proboscides, and worn as 

 ornaments upon their heads or shoulders. 

 Lizards, which scramble over the ceil- 

 ings stalking flies, occasionally lose their 

 footing and drop upon the head of any 

 one beneath them. Rats make runways 

 of the ventilating spaces ; shore-crabs 

 ravage gardens unless they are sur- 

 rounded by crab-tight fences, and armies 

 of ants attack cupboards and refrigerators 

 unless they are defended by having their 



