New Ulm review. (New Ulm, Brown County, Minn.) 1892-1961, 1920-03-10
QUEER LITTLE. zap
Odd Customs on Small island,
Now American.
Peculiar Currency System Would
Seem to Have Some Disadvantages
--Religicus Rites Observed by
Parties CT Fishermen.

The island OF Yan isn't suclI 81 zap
place, after al!
Returned travellers from Tie Souti,
seas give Illuminating details az life
On The queer little island which even
President Wilson hadn't heard Of I'M
I'll the Paris conference decided that
America ought to get something OFF
of The war--atid generously gave rs
Yan.
If Americas would-be ears should
adopt the we!l-snown Russian plan Of
using zap as q. "Slberi;l"--Gs suggest
ed the other day by senator. who got
a big laugh for his ,iclea--here are
some strongly american customs With
= Ialayan twist that deported persons
would find in operation there.
Money as big as cartwEesls' mot
only. Fut Considerably bigger--hugo
stone d0!Iars from two ca twelve feet
across. e
Bachelors club houses occupied by
the entire male population on certain
occasions, women heng entirely en-
c!uded.
4 social order, consisting of four
castcs~-magicians, Impoverished arts.
tocratS, rich men ana the popuEacc.
A religion that includes 4 god, LUX.
who protects thieves md awindlers.
A language thai would delight Il
diplomat OF 4 biushing maiden havn
ing nearly 40 dif'arenr ways of say
ing NO.
The two great products OF zap are
coconuts and typhoons. The typhoons
save the natives the trouble Of pick
ing the coconuts. 1t is precisely in
that quarter Of The Pacific that the
worst storms on earth are born, and
from July 80 December the weather
would delight Professor rorta.
Gold or silver money has no more
value in zap than holshevik rubles
have here. The Yaps have such faith
IL human nature that they have de
:s@lf Z coin nobody can lift. A small
r..i:l l.: a disk of granite two fees
h,;@. II The middle.
: tni:s. coin is two fathonls acrose
and tl"u feet thicIs. Rich people In
ia;' simply nile their, money in the
from yard Or ie5n it. against The side
Of The house. (which saves them: the
trouble Of showing Off BIZ elaborate
dress or other Indirect methods. 1t
also gives fun publicity 10 all cash
transa cluns. -.
For 'chicken feed" they use large
pairs OF oyster shells and hundred
pound sacks of coprn. 10 pass The
platc' IN Il Iap church YOU have to
Esc q moving Van. = a.: -. -.
l. americans who oppose foreign en-
tang,enlents may rake comfort from
the fact that the wore, "Iap,' originally
meant foreigner" The early Yaps
were great traders ana voyagers
around the South seas In other
words. foreigners arc YapS~-tEe, same
o!l story. -
.EFoday the Yaps fish. roligious!y. Be-
fore every ssshing party the men are
obliged TO, leave their wives anG spend
four days in the club houses. which
arc large stone mansions. ia
After ife first successful catch. the
men cGn1e, ashore ana every body takes
a pull az, the fcrsucnted juice Of The
green cnconUt. This. is dubbed re-
iigious rite, and the women have to
keep quiet about ii or get cussCd by
the gods-Hn ide:. Which should inter
est Americans who arc sill fond Of
|; little fishing parties. s.. -
. When q zap gentleman wishes to
steal he prays 10 I,Nk. Lux keeps
other people from looking. IF the
thief gets caught anyhow, he simply
decides chat LUX uiust have been too
busy to hear his prayer, and hopes for
better LUX next time. tss.
For the rest of ii. zap is. 81 miles
long ana FIVE broad, surrounded By =
coral reef, has hills 1000 feet, high.
runs out Of water whenever it fails 30
rain for a week, has tive smaller Is
lands neas it, grows vans and trop-
ical fruits, bat not rice. and contains
some 10000 natives or the Malay race,
whose language, curiously enough,
shows Il basic relation to SansIrit.
Md it's. ours every bit of It.