Norwich bulletin., 1919-09-11
IN THE DAYS NEWS
The Island of Yap.

In connection with the announce ment by President Wilson that the island of Tap may be acquired by the United States as a reparation for the sinking of the Lusitania and as a wireless and cable station. the fol- lowing bulletin is issued by the Ma tional Geogra phic Society:
 "Yap, the westernmost of the West ern Caroline Island. is situated about 300 miles southwest of Guam and 800 miles east of the Island of Mindanao of the Philippine group. It has pop ulation of about seven thousand and was the administrative center for the Western Carolines. the Pelew and the Ladrone Islands The Germans had made plans to locate a wireless atisS1 there bCt were prevented when Australian troops captured the islands in October. 1914
 9ap is strangely old and strangely up to date. Its inhabitants are still in the stone age and progress and copra is almost the only export, but there are features in their life that seem a-modern as the latest so- cialist doctrines.
 "On the island of Tap. the natives are strict prohibitionists, made so by the race that made Pilsen and Munich famous. Children belong to the community. are frequently adopt ed or exchanged. ad throw off pa rental control at an early age. Bachelor clubs. closed to the women, dot the islands What correspods to the Yap dress suit cannot be bought but is rented to the young beau who desires to shine in society. And since food and drink and clothes all grow on trees, where any one can secure them, the money of the island repre- SentS ia bor rather than any material thig But one can better understand the meaning of the burden of wealth when one hears that a single coin of their stone money sometimes weighs hundreds Of pounds.
 ''Yap, or Uap, when translated means the land, and is the only land that many of the islanders know. although many a native from this island has been driven hundreds of miles away from his home and returned without chart or compass among islands where he could not speak word of the language used. Yap is surrounded by an atoll but is itself of volcanic ori- gin. The only good harbor is Tomil Bay.
 Married and unmarried men alike belong to the club which maintains a fine failu. or bachelor house. the hos tess of which must be secured by force or cunning from some distant tribe There she lives under a poly andrcuS system where no man bee jealous and the wives Of ~the village never object TO their husbands even ings at the club ;" If one of them eventually marrleS the hostess he sets up a new home for her. but the tattoo ed hands and legs which distinguished her as 9 miSpl or queen of the club" remain to prove in her weazened old age that once she was the darling of the district. If the mispiI shows preference for any member of the club, that member is told to seek other fields for his social graces and the party goes on without any bad feelings.
 The chief decoration of the male is string of pink shells made into necklace, and since no man isrich enough to own such a treasure the best ones are leaned out for such a period as the wearers may choose to be dressed in the height of fashion. As there are no buttonholes the man may wear two bouquets in each "a sort of corsage bunch in a large hole in the lower lobe and a small Ooutonniere in a smaller hole higher up in the ear. Shell cuffs made of conchs add the finishing touch to tho correct attire.
 ''Yap women do not wear the veil
 Their only dress is voluminous skirt made of leaves or fibre and com posed of four or five thiclknesses. Although one month is average life