026 



THE NATIONAL GEOGRAPHIC MAGAZINE 



WKt0^§ 



Photograph from Junius B. Wood 



GIRLS OF THE CHAMORRO TRIBE IN SAIPAN : MARIANA ISLANDS 



The Chamorros are not of the same stock as the natives of the 

 Carolines, but are probably allied with some of the Philippine tribes. 

 They dress in European style and show a preference for white 

 clothes. They also wear leather sandals, a style not common to 

 any other South Sea islanders under Japanese control. 



that Germany took possession of them as 

 a colony. 



In a part of the world where men's 

 wealth is measured by coconut trees, the 

 Marshalls are a valuable asset to any 

 country. They produce more than half 

 the copra from the Japanese mandatory. 

 Each island is a waving crown of palms. 

 Periodically the fierce typoons strike 

 this or that atoll, leveling the trees, deci- 

 mating the inhabitants, or even lifting an 

 entire island from its shallow bed on the 

 coral reef, but the total producing power 

 of the group is hardly affected. In five 



or six years new trees 

 have grown, and those 

 of the inhabitants who 

 temp< trarily migrated 

 in search of food and 

 shelter return to their 

 home island. 



While the Mar- 

 shalls arc entirely low 

 cor a 1 islands, the 

 Carolines are b o t h 

 volcanic and coral and 

 the Marianas are en- 

 tirely basaltic, five of 

 the Marianas — fifteen 

 in number w h e n 

 Guam is included — 

 having active volca- 

 noes. One diligent 

 statistician has 1 o- 

 cated 68o islands in 

 the Carolines, divided 

 into forty-eight clus- 

 ters. These latter are 

 what show on maps 

 as individual islands. 



PLETHORA OF NAMES 

 FOR EACH ISLAND 



Truk or Ruk, mean- 

 i n g ''mountain" in 

 the native language, 

 where the Japanese 

 naval headquarters 

 administering the 

 mandatory is located 

 for the present, is the 

 largest of the clusters. 

 It consists of eleven 

 volcanic islands, one 

 of which is four miles 

 across, and some 8o 

 coral islands, most of 

 them extremely small, all surrounded by 

 a roughly circular reef 35 miles in diam- 

 eter. About half the little islands are on 

 this reef, and the remainder are scattered 

 in the big lagoon, which can be navigated 

 by the largest ships (see map, page 648). 

 The Japanese have followed the practice 

 of the men of other nations, who ruled 

 for a day or a year over the islands, and 

 have given Truk a new crop of names. 

 Nearly every island in the Carolines has 

 a Portuguese, Spanish, Russian, French, 

 English, American, or German name in 

 addition to its assortment of native titles. 



