THE PHOENIX AND OTHER ISLANDS 
527 
reaction will doubtless set in which will leave the unhappy 
islanders in a worse state than before. Penrhyn or Ton- 
garewa was at one time the seat of several different 
tribes living in a state of perpetual war with each other, 
but some years ago a Peruvian ship made a descent on 
the island, and kidnapped a large number of the natives, 
almost depopulating it. Since then the copra trade has 
made the people almost rich, and they are renowned as 
the best divers in the Pacific, pearl-shell being abundant 
in their lagoon. 
Starbuck, about 5 miles in length and less than 2 
in breadth, is a bare coral rock, without trees, lagoon, or 
proper landing-place—a worked-out guano island of little 
or no value. Malden, about 150 miles to the N.N.E., is 
populated, and in parts fertile. It produced a considerable 
quantity of guano, and still has on it the remains of some 
large morais —ancient sepulchral buildings to which refer¬ 
ence has already been made. On the central ridge of the 
island are more than a hundred platforms of cruciform 
shape, built of coral slabs three feet high, and filled in 
with a compact mass of coral, shells, and stones. There 
are also a number of shelter-places or huts formed by 
three coral blocks, with a fourth on the top. More than 
thirty wells were also found cut in the coral rock from six 
to nine feet deep, and a number of shallow graves contain¬ 
ing human bones much decayed, and shell ornaments. 
Christmas, Panning, Palmyra, and the few islets in 
their neighbourhood have been termed the America 
Islands, from being chiefly frequented by people of that 
nation for the guano they afford. The first-named is 
noteworthy as being perhaps the largest lagoon island in 
the Pacific. The Phoenix group w T as at one time the 
seat of operations of the “ Phoenix Guano Company/ 5 but 
the islands have been exhausted, and the wharves and 
