The Coolidge examiner., 1935-04-12

ashore. caught In hand nets. or
speared.
Some kind of fish. such as the
shark and the bonitO, may be caught
only by specialists. For the shark
wooden hooks are used. The bonito
falls victim To a turtle-shell hook
attached 10 shell lure which Is
tralled from sticks behind the nov
ing canoe. With both of these fish
magic ceremonies have TO be per
formed before they can be hooked
or brought ashore.
Turtles are still caught and re-
moved alive from the shell. Thus
stripped, they are kept In a special
ly constructed pool to grow new
shells. This process may be re-
peated as many as three times.
Women take complete charge OF
the gardens. and Il is their business
TO clear them OF weeds and manure
them. On the days when they go to
the gardens-it is only on certain
days that they are allowed TO 90,
for fear that thefts might result
from too great asualness-they dig
the taro, cut Off the shoots and.
reset them to grow; gather some OF
the large. heart-shaped leaves for
use In cooking; pile the lot into a
basket. and carry II on their backs
to the house. II Is no mean load.
either.
Taro Is either cooked plain or
made into puddings. a mixture of
grated taro and coconut oil. The
mess Is well pounded In the food
bowl and spread on leaves before Ii
is set to cook.
Upon a roaring fire, made In the
hole I'm the floor. coral stones are
piled. and more fuel is heaped on
top of them. When the fire has
burnt out. the hot stones are re-
moved. and the ash is scraped
away. Half the stones are put
back and covered with a layer OF
taro leaves, on which the food Is
placed. More leaves. the remaining
hot stones. and either a quantity OF
earth or another fire complete the
cooker.
The time OF cooking varies with
the food. taro requiring a compara-
lively short time. turtle and shark
about twelve hours.
Use Trading Cutters.
For trips around the lagoon Wis
itors use one OF the cutters belong
ing to the trading stations. These
cutters, Of which there are ten, ply
among the islands and carry coco
nuts from outlying places to the
central depots. Each boat Is capa-
BILE OF holding 5000 uncooked nuts.
On Keila. one OF the largest Is
lands, there are now only seven
houses. although one can count the
ruins OF IS. The owners having
died. there was nobody to rebuild
the houses and nobody to live In
them II they were rebuilt. Former
ly at least eight other islands be-
sides Leuaniua had comparatively
large populations. Today most OF
their people have drlfted either to
Leuaniua or to Pelau, the headquar-
ters Of an Independent tribe at the
other end of the lagoon
Every man of these outlying is-
lands. except members of the Pelau
tribe, had a share in the land on
the central island of Leuaniua, and
either a house Of his own there or
a home with relatives to which he
might return. Residence on the
main island went by regular yearly
rotation. Some OF the villages were
ruled by sacred kings or priests,
but one of the leaders always re-
sides at Leuaniua as head of the
tribe.
Powerless families owned some OF
the Islands, and a few years ago
one of them took all the secular
power from the priest then residing
at Leuaniua. This family estab-
lished it's head man as king. His
descendant, Mekaike, became king
of the Leuaniua tribe. After the
coup d'etat the priests continued to
exert a degree of authority on their
own islands, but outside of the cere-
monies they had little power at
Leuaniua. The last of them died
not many years ago.
Keila is a pleasant spot. Walk
ing among it's palms, one is remind
ed of a gigantic Karnak with gray
brown pillars and green roof.
Like the other islands, 1t has the
shallow water of the lagoon on one
side, with a shelving sandy beach
Here one sees men picking up
coconuts by means of long knives
which they thrust into the husks.
without STOPPING. they pitch the
nuts into piles Of convenient size
for carrying to the shore.
The worst coconut pest Is rats,
with which the outlying islands and
Leuaniua, too, are overrun. They
are able to climb any palm that has
even the slightest slope In the
trunk. Nibbling around nut till 1t
falls, they soon have q feast