Vilas County news. [volume] (Eagle River, Vilas County, Wis.) 1896-1927, 1924-05-14

| - GdAOS
| Prepared by the National Geographic So.
ciety Washington, D. CO.
When Germany started into the col
onizing business centuries later than
other powers and got control of the
worlds cleft overs" she looked on
the island of Nauru, far out in the
Pacific, as one Of the least of her
possessions. But even before the
| World war 1t came to be recognized
that Nauru, its size considered, is one
OF the worlds richest islands. Now it
Is under British mandate and the
wealth 1t produces is falling into
other Golfers. Phosphate rock is the
reason for Nauru's Importance; it
holds millions of tons of this valuable
fertilizer.
Nauru, or Pleasant island, is almost
at the jumping-off place of the world.
1t is only thirteen degrees west of the
international date line, and half a
degree south of the Equator. Thus it
is one of what sailors call the Line
islands"
Before it fell to Germany it knew
no white rulers, but was governed by
its own laws and chiefs; but white in
fiuence had impinged upon it for many
years Whaling ships from New Eng
land ports called there and traded fire.
arms for drinking coconuts and island
pigs. 1t was rather a poor island in
those far-of days, before its great
wealth was discovered. It had no SAN
dalwood or tortoise shell; no pearls
or beche-de-mer; not even copra, for
copra was not made in the Pacific be-
fore 1872 and coconut oil was not an
article of commerce.
The Nauruans have never been can
nihals, but they had the reputation of
being savage warriors. A traveller
from New Zealand who visited the is
land Just before the Germans took
possession found the natives all armed
and involved in deadly feuds. He
and American make, besides several
caanons. There were then ten white
traders living near each other along
tina beach and some of their half-caste
Descending are there today.
When Germany took over the islands
she gave the natives a certain number
Of days to give up their arms. They
geaerally obeyed, but a few threw
thairs into the caves which underlie
tia island, where they are found from
tine to time by exploring parties.
Germans Taught Copra Making.
There are two things to the Ger
maas' credit in the Pacific: They built
roys1s and they taught the natives to
ma re copra.
c'Dpra is easily Eade and stored
Tire meat of the ripe coconut is broken
infe pieces and dried in the sun Just
lorS enough to extract the moisture :;
thSa it is bagged and ready for sale.
In the South seas copra is a magic
wgSd. For this the Pacific trader
dsres the malaria and savages of the
Stsemons and the New Hebrides, and
eh* teeth of the coral reefs. The trade
store and copra shed stand on the
BEECH of every coral isle, and when a
steamer. or schooner calls, the surf
boats go in and out, over the reef at
nigh tide or through intricate chan
ness when there is an open lagoon,
carrying trade goods and returning
wish bags o. copra.
che Ge:man colonial government
did not krow what a treasure it had
un.ser its feet, but was content to run
a little trade store, a branch Of the
Ja21it store, which sold to the natives
tobacco and beer, Alaska canned sal
meA. sugar rice and ship biscuits
in exchange for copra. It also sold
pr1ats and thin Japanese silks for the
Neither Hubbard dresses which the
American missionaries taught the ma
tive women to wear and for the lava
lryLs which the native men wore to
the mission churches.
Then came great change, owing to
the discovery of phosphate
According to biologists, Nauru, like
Aphrodite, rose dripping from the sea
ages ago. This emergence may have
been sudden, or the process of eleva-
ton may have been gradual At any
rate, when the coral island was ex-
posed 1t must have looked like the
fantastic structures built in aquari-
ums, with pinnacles, towers, bridges,
flying buttresses, and other architec-
tural fantasies upreared into the air.
Then came the sea birds. millions
and millions Of them, feeding on the
abundant sea food. nesting in the coral.
Matching their young In ever-increas-
ing multitudeS. and depositing the