288 



SCIENCE 



[Vol. VL, No. 139. 



in 1581, and are under Spanish rule, being 

 used for a penal settlement. The native popu- 

 lation on this group, is entirely extinct. The 

 Gilbert and Marshall Islands on the eastern 



side of Micronesia are all of coral formation, 

 and with few exceptions are ver}- small in 

 area. 



The largest group of the four is the Carolines 



'^JtMap loaned by the Amer. board of comm. of for. miss. 



l^'ing north of the equator between 134° and 

 165° east longitude. They were discovered in 

 1528 by Alvaro de Saavedra, and are usually 

 divided into the eastern, western, and central 

 Carolines ; but there are no defi- 

 nite boundaries to these sec- 

 tions. On the western end, 

 the largest islands are Pelew 

 and Yap. These, with Ponape 

 and Euk in the central, and 

 Kusaie on the eastern sec- 

 tions, are the only high islands, 

 the rest being of coral forma- 

 tion, and rising but a few feet 

 above the level of the ocean. 

 The highest point on Yap is 

 about 1,200 feet, while the top 

 of Ponape is said to be not 

 less than 3,000 feet. Ruk, or 

 Plogoleu, is an archipelago en- 

 circled by an immense barrier- 

 reef some 150 miles in extent. 

 The lagoon which is thus en- 

 closed, though irregular in 

 shape, is not far from thirty 

 miles in breadth, within which 

 are several high islands var}'- 

 ing from 200 to 1,000 feet in 

 altitude. 



The climate of this region 

 is, of course, tropical, the ther- 

 mometer at Ponape ranging 

 from 70° to 87° F. The three 

 principal products which thrive 

 upon coral islands, and are the 

 main support of human life, 

 are the cocoanut-palm, which 

 grows wild, the bread-fruit, 

 and the pandanus or screw- 

 pine. Taro is also produced 

 on some of the islands. On 

 Kusaie, Ponape, Ruk, and 

 Yap, there is a much larger 

 range of products. It is said 

 that on Ponape there are not 

 less than a dozen different 

 varieties of bananas. Since 

 American missionaries have 

 resided there, various tropical 

 fruits have been introduced, 

 and also animals. These high 

 islands are covered with forest- 

 trees, and abound in pigeons 

 and wild birds. 



It is difficult to estimate the number of in- 

 habitants within the group. Ponape has about 

 5,000, Ruk about 12,000, Yap 8,000 or 

 10,000. The people belong to the brown Poly- 



