South Bend news-times. (South Bend, Ind.) 1913-1938, 1921-06-06
NATIVES OF zap
ISLAND IGNORANT
OYER CONTROVERSY
Naval Commander Tells Of
Near-Barbaric Modes of
Living in Country.

san FRANCISCO. Cal. June s.
4 place whore life means nothing 20
the ught-skinned. curly-haired, but
not kinky- headed docue. lazy ma
tives. and where great wealth ia
something that Is never stolen.
This - the picture OF the island Of
zap. drawn 10y Commando John
Blackburn. L. s. who has spent sew
eral years there and in the South
Sea Islands
The natives OF the LITTLE island Of
Zap are a care-free people. and Il IS
safe 10 say they do not know OF
the International controversy being
ragged about possession OF the little
mountain top. al because OF it's ca
bic Importance" said the command
81
There are not more than 1000
people on the island Of zap. and they
are very peculiar in their ways and
customs. like all the rest Of the
south sea islanders one Of their
unusual customs is the use Of stones
for money, the value being rated
according 10 the size of the stone
and the fneuess Of its grain. As a
result men OF wealth store their
money ln the front yard and hold
no fear that IL wifi be taken away
while they sIecp-it would take a
small army % move IT," the naval
of1ccr said.
In speaking Of the island of zap
and IT'S history. Commando Black
burn said.
orb ts1.a Of v.r noe 5fg.l.,-
erred BY the Portuguese I'm 1927 and
held by them for more than $50
years until Spain obtained IL. Spain
held it until after the Spanish war
when If was sold 10 Germany for ap-
proximafely three and one-quarter
million dollars. When Japan entered
The world war on the side Of the
entente. England and France agreed
TO give Japan all the German islands
I'm the north Pacific In the event OF
crmany's defeat. The United States
was not "A part Of this alliance and
did not know e even existed.
The zap question today is merely
one Of cable rights. The trouble
which has arisen is that Japan has
grounded the cable at zap which
ANliN.fAAH Will AfAnltis Il tAt ANlliIAttl
cial cable between the United States
and the orient, after leaving Guam.
connects az Manila. but covers some
very dangerous territory. because
the line at several points is more
than four miles under water, and
the currents are not always salts
factory for the transmission of mes
sages There is a cable between zap
and Shanghai which was laid by
Germany In 1905 and now controlled
by Japan. The situation now is that
when the cable between Guam and
danila is out OF commission mes
sag es have 20 be held until traffic on
the manila cable IS restored. If
Japan would allow the zap cable to
operate messages could be relayed 90
zap from Guam and then direct to
Shanghai. The establishment of
zap as an independent cable base
IS what Secy. Hughes is fighting
for"
samoan Etiquette"
While in the south seas Commau-
der Blackburn also spent several
months at the island of Samoa
The nativs OF Samoa ar not un-
like other people OF the south sea
Islands and have very unusual GUS
toms
The naming or Samoan children
is very interesting. for. as "A rule Il
is for some great event i'm the land
and children having name ending
with a vowel are popular as long as
they live.
The Samoans had never seen an
ice plant until the United States
built one there recently. Because
he words ice house ended with a
vowel little girls born while the
plant was being erected were named
Ice house and viii always Doe favor
ties In their land.
The Samo3ns are great swimmers
end. instead of exchanging gossip
ever the back fence, the women take
their babies and go swimming. The
ably lies or the back Of its mother
while she talks 90 a friend as they
swim along As a result the babies
an oftentimes swim before they can
ralk."
The houses Of Samoa are as urus-
u.G as the people who live i'm them
commander Blackburn said AS a
'ule they are Of oval shape and