548 
COMPENDIUM OF GEOGRAPHY AND TRAVEL 
J. Moss, the language spoken is pure but antiquated Maori. 
The Polynesian custom of tattooing is universal, but the 
pierced septum nasi and enlarged ear-lobes, together with 
the widespread existence of club-houses, point to a con¬ 
siderable Papuan influence. The people are singularly 
good navigators—a rude kind of navigation and astro¬ 
nomy being actually taught formally in schools instituted 
by them for this purpose; and charts are constructed 
much after the manner of those of the Marshall islanders. 
American missionaries have been established on the 
group for many years, but the progress hitherto made 
has not been great. 
The Euk Islands form the largest group of the Caro¬ 
lines, with an estimated population of about 15,000, and 
are the most densely peopled portion of the archipelago. 
Many different tribes inhabit them, and wars are thus of 
frequent occurrence. They are still regarded as danger¬ 
ous by traders, whose vessels have not seldom been 
overpowered and plundered. Yap is much more in 
touch with civilisation, yet even here the natives are not 
entirely trustworthy. On this island, which is 17 miles 
long and of very irregular outline, are many German 
traders, by whom the commerce of the archipelago is 
principally carried on. The currency still appears to be 
shell money, and—more remarkable still, since they are 
not put to any use—large millstones or discs of arra- 
gonite, sometimes three tons in weight and eighteen feet 
round, which are quarried in the Pelew Islands, and 
are generally the property of the township, not the 
individual. 
Kusaie or Ualan, a very picturesque island over 2000 
feet in height, with a population not exceeding 300,. 
is chiefly worthy of mention as the headquarters of the 
American Mission. Close to it is the little island of 
