1204 General Notes. [ December, 
of the vaulted ceiling. Doorways on each side lead to rooms 
fifteen to nineteen feet long, and of the same width and height 
as the passage. Doors were once placed in the entrances, as is 
proved by the holes for the fastenings. Narrow staircases lead 
to upper rooms, probably store rooms. Places for lamps remain, 
and there are traces of soot, but no carvings or inscriptions exist. 
Many other similar but smaller caves are found all along the 
valley. 
The Carolines—The Caroline islands were first discovered by a 
Portuguese navigator in 1526, and during the rest of the six- 
teenth century were frequently visited by Spanish and Portuguese 
explorers. They were first named the Carolines by a pilot named 
Lezcano, about 1686, in honor of Charles II of Spain. Towards 
the end of the seventeenth century the Spaniards in the Philip- 
pines and Mariannes learned something about the Carolines, and 
an imperfect map of the group was sent to Pope Clement XI in 
1705. In 1710 the Jesuits of Manila sent missionaries there, but 
these, with a few soldiers who accompanied them, were massacred 
at the Pelews. Though navigators of all nations visited these 
islands, their number and exact position, as well as the hydrog- 
raphy of the seas in which they were situated, remained unknown 
until 1817, when they were visited by Kotzebue. After him came 
Freycinet in 1819, Duperrez in 1824, Dumont d’ Urville in 1826, 
and others, and from these came the first accurate accounts. The 
group, situated west of the Marshalls, and north of New Guinea, 
contains about 500 islands, most of which are atolls. The number 
. Of real islands is only forty-eight, but as each has a certain num- 
ber of islets around it, there may be said to be forty-eight groups; 
forty-three of these are low coral islands, while five are basalt 
with coral at the base. There are three main groups, separated 
by two large channels ; the principal island of the eastern group 
is Ponape or Ascension, that of the western Eap, Jap or Yap. 
Ponape is sixty miles round and has in its centre a peak 2860 feet 
high. Upon it are some curious ruins, apparently the remains of a 
large building made of blocks of basalt. There are two rainy seasons, 
January and August, and the climate is comparatively temperate. 
The population is from 18,000 to 20,000. The principal elements 
are Malay and Maori, but there is also a mixture of Negrito and 
Papuan, and in later times a Japanese and Chinese element was 
added. The language is also mixed. In some islands there are 
two languages—the vulgar and the polished. Zz abu is practised. 
wach group of islands has its chief, whose power in time of peace 
is nominal, but in time of war is unbounded. 
_ The Pelews, the most western isles of Micronesia, about 600 
_ miles east of the Philippines, are a group of ten principal islands 
and a number of islets. The largest island, Babelthuap, is about 
uirty miles long. All the islands are covered with thick forests. 
population is about 3500, and is probably the result of a 
