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THE NATIONAL GEOGRAPHIC MAGAZINE 



Photograph from Hugh M. Smith 



COMMERCE CRAWLS APACE IN THE CAROUNE ISLANDS ADJACENT TO NAURU 



The shed houses a fisherman's seine and the rickety stand holds the weight of his 

 season's crop of copra, which he is trusting to the sun to get into a properly marketable 

 condition for him. 



at that rather feeble constellation, lying 

 in the south. 



The brilliance of the sunsets is beyond 

 words ; sometimes the whole sky is laced 

 with streamers of crimson, changing to 

 softest amethyst, with which the sea and 

 the beach are tinted, while level bands of 

 aquamarine stretch across the horizon 

 behind the glowing streamers of color. 



AMERICAN WHALERS INTRODUCED A 

 PIDGIN LANGUAGE 



Nauru has its own language, which is 

 not understood by other islanders. In 

 common with all the Pacific tongues, it 

 abounds in vowels, each of which is pro- 

 nounced, so that a native talks with the 

 mouth wide open. 



In the intercourse between the Amer- 

 ican whalers and other white men in the 

 Pacific and the natives, a quite workable 

 language has been evolved, which is 

 known as pidgin, bcche de mer, or beach 

 la mar. Its foundation is probably Chi- 

 nese pidgin, but it is full of words com- 

 mon to the islands. Kai kai, for instance. 



is the universal word for food ; it is also 

 the verb to cat ; it is used humorously by 

 white residents, who invite their friends 

 to kai kai. 



Belong, pronounced b'long, is in com- 

 mon use. A native does not say "My 

 brother" ; he says, "Brother belong me." 

 You do not say, "What is your name?" 

 You say, "What name belong you?" You 

 do not send a servant to the store to get 

 groceries ; you send him to "catch" sugar, 

 flour, etc. 



Bullamacozu is the word for meat — 

 either live cattle or canned meat of any 

 kind. This is said to have arisen from 

 the misunderstanding of their names by 

 the natives when a bull and a cow were 

 landed on one of the Samoan Islands. 



SOCIAL LILE AMONG THE WHITE 

 RESIDENTS 



While society is small, it is an interest- 

 ing little group of people, who are fa- 

 miliar with South Africa and India, who 

 know the "Never, Never" of Australia 

 and the mountains of New Zealand, and 



