Thomas County cat. [volume] (Colby, Kan.) 1885-1891, 1886-02-04
cERMANY.s NEW ISLANDS.
Interesting Information Concerning the
Marshall and Gilbert Group.

Interesting lnfOrmatIOn concerning the
Marshall and Gilbert Group.
The Rev. DIR. Judson Smith, D. D.,
Junior Foreign Secretary of the Amer
lean Board of Commissioners for For
eign Missions, was interviewed recent
" in regard to the seizure of the Mar
shall and Gilbert group of islands in
the South Pacific. Mr.. Smith stated
that he had received an intimation
some time since that seizure of the
islands by some European Power, most
probably Germany, would likely take
place shortly Although the mission
aries and other agents of the Board
had been chiefly instrum entail in elevat-
inc the natives of the group to their
present state of civilization, and often
rendered their counsel in the govern
nent of the islands, still it could not
exactly be said that the Mission had
ever laid any claims to the real propri-
etorship of the islands, either in their
own or the name of the United States.
True, they had done their utmost to
foster trade with the group with salts
factory success, and naturally sought
as much as possible to direct that trade
in American interests, but outside of
this they allowed the natives to govern
themselves. Foreigners upon the
islands were few. The missionaries
have for years past been almost the
exclusive representatives Of the white
race. He did not know what action
the Board would take, if it took any at
all. He did not think the German
Government would in any way inter-
fere witt. their work outside of divert
ing the trade of the Islands into Ger
man channels instead of those of
the United States, as formerly. In
conclusion, DIR. Smith gave some very
interesting information about the Gil
bert Group. Although lying immedi-
ately in the center of what is known
as the cannibal region, the natives
have never been known to be cannibals.
and in intelligence have been consider
ably above the natives in the neighbor-
ing islands. The Gilbert Group is COM
posed of number of islands, the eight
larger ones being named Butarrtari,
Maraker, Apaiang, Tarawa, Maiana,
Apemama, Nanonti and TOpitenea.
These islands are the seat of govern
ment, each being ruled Independently
by native chief. These chiefs have
no connection politically with each
other except in case of war, when they
unite for the common safety. The en-
tire group does not number in all over
twenty-five thousand persons, of whom
two thousand six hundred and fifty are
Christianized members of the church.
The report for the last year shows that
on the islands there are eleven mission
aries from the Hawaiian Group and six
from Kusai, the headquarters of the
Mission Board in Micronesia. There
are thirty-eight church buildings and
twelve teachers. The deaths were
forty-three and the Christian marriages
four hundred. The Board of Missions
has school established at Kusai, one
of the Caroline Islands, some five
hundred miles to the westward of the
Gilbert Group, and here every year are
brought number of young natives who
wish to be educated as teachers or
preachers. When they have completed
their course the missionary vessel-the
Morning Star-takcs them TO the vari-
Gus islands to which they belong, and
brings back such others as desire to be
educated. 1t is due to this that the in
tiuence of the missionaries has been
almost supreme.-Bost0n Journal.