The Abbeville messenger. (Abbeville, S.C.) 1884-1887, 1885-10-27
The INHABITANTS OF YAP
"A Place where the Money is
Six Feet in Diameter.
The Pacific Islanders who Have Come
Into Recent Prominence.

The London Times gives the sub
Joined account Of zap the island
group in the Pacific wei which Ger
many and Spain have been qu~arreling:
What our sailors call zap is not a
single island, but a group of islands
lying closely together, fringed with
coral reefs, and rising occasionally to
j height of several hundred feet above
the sea. Unlike most Of the islands
In the western Pacific, it is well popu-
lated. the members Of several tribes
that inhabit it amounting to between
5000 and 10000. The people are of a
comparatively light complexion. The
men are tall and often handsome.
They tie their long. black hair into a
knot. and frequently let it down, to
nmuse themselves with combing it
with a long wooden comb. Their
bodies are deliberately tattooed. Their
legs look as If they were encased in
tight trousers. and they seem to have
on woven vests of a deep blue tint.
The women are lighter in hue than
The men and their long black
hair in bands, exactly resembling
those worn by English ladies from
1880 to 1850. They cover the backs
Of their hands and forearms with tat
too marks. so that they appear to have
on long woven mts. Their dress is a
short petticoat of shreds of bark reach
ing below the knee, and their princi-
pal decoration white flowers, thrust
into the bands of hair that hang in
front of their ears. AS a rule. both
sexes 60 bareheaded; but the men
occasionally wear a sharp-crowned
hat of Chinese fashion.
AS is usual in the Pacific islands,
adjacent. tribes are at constant feud
with each other. and wage war almost
continuously with one another in the
approved Pacific fashion of numbering
stragglers of the opposite party. The.
zap canoes are of very graceful de-
sign, and have curved ornaments at
head and stern, which remind the Wis
ttor of Venetian gondolas.
The natives build enormous houses,
rooted in and walled at the sides with
mats, and construct stone piers or
~ietties of great length. Some of the
villages are remarkably picturesque.
The dwellings stand on mounds of
earth. often nearly 100 feet square,
the sides of which are cased in with
stones. Against these the rich place
the extraordinary money, which is
found, perhaps only in their islands.
1t Is composed of large discs of arrag-
snite, often of great size. Six feet in
diameter. IL inches in thickness, and
IN estimated weight of 8 tons are not
uncommon dimensions. The largest
known piece is said to be 9 feet 4
inches in diameter, Is inches thick at
the hole in the centre, and z at the
edge. Tho weight Of this was esti-
mated by an American trader who
helped to move IL at four ions and a
half. This money is not used as q
medium Of exchange. but for purposes
Of ostentation, the richest men being
those who can pile most of it against
the earthen platforms on which their
houses stand, and as a ceremonial
present on solemn occasions, like the
bits of seventeenth century European
glass called money in the Pelew Is
lands. and the tomboG or whales teeth
Of Fiji. The arragonite quarry is in
The harbor Of Malakat, at Korror Is
land. in the Pelews. At that place
about a hundred zap men are allowed
by King Abba Thoul to reside for the
purpose OF q~uarrying the stone.
The few white men who live on
zap are at Tomil Bay, a good and
fairly spacious reef harbor. In 1888
The number of foreigners was seven,
Of whom four were English, one was
American. M German, and one
Dutch. The trading stations are on
small islands in the bay. O'Keefe &
Co., the British firm under the man
sgement Of Mr.. O'Keefe in person,
has an extensive establishment on the
ISLAND of Tarang. Capt. Holcombe.
m American. who does business usual
y but not exclusively with Germans.
had settled on Tapelan. Capelle s.
Co., or rather the Sndsee Handles and