546 
COMPENDIUM OF GEOGRAPHY AND TRAVEL 
and extremely graceful. The former wear a short kilt 
of shreds of some vegetable fibre, but the women are 
clothed with tajpa mats from the waist to the ankle. 
Tattooing is common, and the ear-lobes are distended to 
an enormous size by the insertion of a wooden hoop—the 
former custom showing evidence of Polynesian, the latter 
of Papuan influence. The natives are good sailors, making 
large canoes, in which they proceed on long voyages. 
“ They actually make/’ Captain Bridge informs us, 
“ curious charts of thin strips of wood tied together with 
fibres. Some of these indicate the position of the 
different islands with a surprising approach to accuracy. 
Others give the direction of the prevailing winds and 
currents.” All the Marshall islanders speak dialects of 
one language, different from that of the Caroline Archi¬ 
pelago, though of similar grammatical structure. 
4. The Caroline Islands. 
The Carolines, thus called after Charles II. of Spain, 
lie between New Guinea to the south and the Ladrones 
to the north, and occupy a vast area. They form three 
main groups^—the Eastern, Central, and Western—and 
the distance from Kusaie, on the east, to Babeltuap, the 
farthest western limit, is over 2000 miles. The Western 
group are better known as the Pelew Islands, and will 
be separately described under this name. 
The majority of the islands are comprised in the 
Central group, and are of the usual character—low and 
coralline, and arranged round a central lagoon. Ponape 
and Kusaie are exceptions, being high and rugged; and 
Kuk consists of a lagoon reef 150 miles in circuit, within 
which are a number of little hilly islets. The fauna ex¬ 
hibits extreme poverty. The climate, tempered by cool 
