Perth Amboy evening news., 1923-06-01
Geographic News
Bulletins by the
National Geographic Society
THE CAROLINES

LIE SEAIOOLlNLS
Death or an American Marine
officer in the Caroline Islands brings
to attention a region of the Pacific
which was conspicuous when zap
was discussed and when the Confer
ence on the Limitation of Anna
ments was sitting.
"Sown in the form of an inverted
T, the Pacific islands under Japan
| csc mandate stretch 2,462 miles east
| and west, just north of the Equa-
| tor" says a bulletin from the Wash
| ington, d. c., headquarters of the
| National Geographic Society.
They extend from Lord North Is
land, the westernmost of the Caro-
lines to Mile Atoll, the easternmost
| of the Marshalls; and 1,170 miles
north and south from Pajaros, the
| most northern of the Marianas, TO
Greenwich, in the Carolines. Small
as they are, they stake out about
1900, 600 square miles in the north
Pacific"
Life Among the Natives
Life among h natives is deserlb-
ed in a communication to The soc
| iety by Junius B.. Wood which fol-
lows. in part:
"Ponape is about the center of
the Japanese mandatory islands. Its
life and customs may be taken as a
standard for all others.
Those who have passed their lives
along this border of the Equator
say it is the cleanest, healthiest, and
happiest. Conditions II habits vary
in the others: some are better and
some are worse, according TO the
individual tastes.
Each group of islands has a lang
uage of its own. The years are not
long past when each was a petty
kingdom, and the stranger cast up
on its shores was hailed as a GIT
from the gods, whose head quickly
adorned the doc post of the hrst
islander to greet him.
Missionaries Fashion Arbiters
"The extent of American mission
ary activity can be gagged by the
length of the women's skirts. In
Yap, which missionary influence
has hardly touched, the fluffy. hber
upholstering clings precariously on
the fat hips. In the Marianas ana
middle Carolines, skirts start above
the waist-line. In kusaie, the east
erumost of the Carolines. they reach
to the shoulders in one-piece wrap
pers. In the Marshalls. where the
missionary work has lourished
without interruption, the long-traln
ed wrappers sweeping up the dust,
are further ornamented with high
ruffle collars and wrist-length
sleeves.
Formerly the natives were walk
ing pictorial histories. After the
M issionaries came, tattooing was
discouraged, not caring to be tat-
tooed themselves, and in recent
years it has been prohibited. 1t was
considered a sign of courage, with
out which a young man or young
woman was not worthy to marry.
When Beauty Entails Courage
'The young people still practice
an effete modification OF the ola
tests of courage by pricking cica-
trices. or little raised welts, on their
flesh. Most of the girls prefer the
right shoulder for the adornment'
though some have them on their
breasts. The boys adorn shoulders
and chests. -,
making a fairly deep cut in the
flesh and keeping it open until the
new skin grows into a ridge, are
lis,laIlv about an inch long and a
quarter of an inch wide. sometimes
tbev are arranged in straight lines
one for each admirer, like the bang
les ON a high-school girls TREND
ship bracelet; again they may MAKE
an aSteriSk or are ScalleIeu nuns
criminately over shoulders breast
and back. ho
1.-THE older people still show the
old adornment, the lobes oil the ears
stretched INTO loops until they touch
the shoulders, and bodies and llmbs
tattooed, the most distinctive effect
being broad parallel stripes OF eold
black from ankles toe thighs. How
ever. they follow modern ave
fences and wear the long loops
wrapped around the ears close 10
the head whR they work, Whlle
skirts drape the gaily tattooed legs
of the social leaders of former days
Movies and Sword Dancing
zone night I attended open-alr
movies and Japanese sword dane
ing by sailors and a couple of PRONE
lent native boys on the lawn of the
of1cial resident. Visitors and dis
~nitaries had chairs, while the others
stood or s~quatted on the cool grass.
Movies were a novelty 10 the
natives but comparatively few had
the energy to walk the quarter mile
from the settlement to the CROWDS
An American comic of an ~indeStruc-
tihle man wrscking furniture, ana
mixtures of japanese warshlps,. n
Guiding a BOAT crew feverishly low
ering a cutter, were the hits OF the
evening"