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THK NATIONAL GEOGRAPHIC MAGAZINE 



I was told that one wealthy and ex- 

 clusive club had an 11-foot coin, 

 but I o >uld not find it. About two 

 feet is the usual size. A three-foot 



coin could purchase a young pig; 

 so the fortune-hunter could take his 



choice of 



to I 



loose 



lao to 



lange 



paddlin; 

 quarry a piece o: 

 and risk drowning while 

 home, or of carefully raising a 



shoat. 



The money, leaning against the 

 elevated stone platforms of the 



clubs or homes of leading citizens, 

 is practical as well as ornamental. 

 The number and size of the piece 

 mark the building's financial stand- 

 ing, and when visitors come they sit 

 on the stone pavement, resting their 

 backs against the stone cart-wheels, 

 as they leisurely discuss club poli- 

 tics or the latest escapades of the 

 village slave girls. The smaller 

 shell money is now used for neck- 

 laces (see page 611). 



Some of the club-houses in Yap 

 are more than too feet long and 30 

 feet wide, built on platforms of 

 rough stone paving. The roofs are 

 striking — high and narrow, with the 

 gable longer than the eaves, so that 

 it projects several feet on each end. 

 A similar type of architecture is 

 followed in the more pretentious 

 homes. 



Posts and beams of the club- 

 houses are carved and painted, 

 usually in red, black, and white, 

 with scenes historical of events on 

 the island. In Palao, the club- 

 houses are even more elaborate, the 

 favorite ornamentation being a 

 rude figure of a profusely tattooed 

 woman straddling the door, as a 

 warning to the village maidens to 

 be circumspect. The natives' houses 

 also are partitioned in a way, at 

 variance with the usual one-room 

 publicity. 



THE WOMEN WEAR SMAU, 



"haystacks" 



The natives have built good roads 

 in Yap, in most places well paved 

 with stones. The women do all the 

 work around the homes, but the 

 men are sturdy workers and more 



