PACIFIC ISLANDS UNDER JAPANESE MANDATE 



599 



other world to settle their religious dif- 

 ferences. 



That ended the local holy war until 

 1898, when the five tribes on the island 

 were having a lively fight among them- 

 selves, which Spain, on account of its 

 trouble with the United States, was too 

 busy to meddle with. 



After that Germany exercised the lien 

 which it had held on the Carolines and 

 Marianas since 1886 and bought them 

 from Spain. 



About noon, on October 18, 1910, the 

 young German overseer of a gang of na- 

 tives building roads, or rather footpaths, 

 on Chokach struck one of the men with 

 a whip. That was not the first occasion, 

 but it was the last. 



Governor Gustav Boeder, of Strass- 

 burg, a retired army officer, who heard 

 of the riot and death of the overseer, 

 hurried from his headquarters on the hill 

 overlooking the settlement. He believed 

 that his presence would awe and quiet 

 the natives. He was paddled across the 

 same narrow bay which I was crossing. 

 As he stepped ashore, a bullet fired from 

 the hillside struck him dead. The rifles 

 captured in the Spanish days had been 

 brought from the hiding places. 



HEADSTONES TEEL TRAGIC STORY 



Four granite headstones, on which are 

 neatly chiseled their names, ages, and the 

 date — October 18, 19 10 — in the little for- 

 eign cemetery, tell the story of that day. 



A month or so later a German warship 

 happened to anchor in the harbor. The 

 natives were as peaceful as ever, but 

 there were no officials. "Joe of the 

 Hills" — Joseph Creighton, a London 

 gipsy, who lived with the natives, away 

 from the settlement, and died in Ponape 

 only last year — was the only foreigner 

 alive to tell the story. 



The force from the ship rounded up 

 the inhabitants of Chokach. Half a dozen 

 ringleaders were shot, others were im- 

 prisoned, and the remainder — about 200 

 men, women, and children — were de- 

 ported to the barren phosphate island of 

 Angaur, in the West Carolines. To re- 

 populate Chokach, other natives were 

 brought from Ngatik, Pingelap, Mokil, 

 and Mortlock islands. 



"Mrs. Anna lives Chokach," said the 



boatman as he lifted his canoe into a 

 canoe-house, a thatch roof under which 

 were a dozen outriggers, either on the 

 ground or on cross-beams tied to the 

 roof-poles. 



Who "Mrs. Anna" was I did not know, 

 but the affable young native said she 

 spoke English and German, and we 

 started along the well-built path which 

 encircles the island. Evidently she was 

 a local personage of importance. 



THE WOMEN CARRY THEIR TOWN FROCKS 

 AROUND THEIR NECKS 



Stretches of the path hugged the shore 

 and hillside. In other places the water 

 would be hidden by the dense foliage. 



The little houses were scattered on 

 each side, none of them more than a hun- 

 dred yards away. A few were of rough 

 boards, one had a corrugated tin roof, 

 but most of them were thatch roofs, 

 woven palm-leaf walls, and roughly 

 smoothed floors, worn shiny by many 

 bare feet and slumbering backs. All were 

 elevated on posts. When the weather is 

 wet, it is very wet. 



The rockiest spots also were selected 

 for building sites. Let nature fight the 

 battle with the jungle. 



A little boy with no more clothes than 

 when he was born and a girl with a few 

 feet of calico for a skirt were driving a 

 family of goats. Occasionally we met a 

 barefoot man or woman. Some of the 

 men wore trousers and undershirts ; most 

 of them had only the knee-length, artistic 

 fiber skirt hiding their loin-cloth. 



The women, like their sisters in lands 

 where dress is more of a problem, had a 

 town gown and a home costume which 

 meant no dress at all, merely a cotton 

 skirt reaching below the knees. Most 

 of them walking toward the village car- 

 ried the town wrapper comfortably 

 looped around their necks, ready to be 

 slipped over their shoulders when the 

 settlement was reached. 



MEETING THE WIDOW OE A FAMOUS 

 SCIENTIST 



"Mrs. Anna now," said the man. A 

 tall, straight old lady was slowly ap- 

 proaching. She stopped at the sight of a 

 stranger. Her thin gray hair was smoothly 

 parted in the middle. Many years of 



