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longitude, forming the Caroline and Marshall archipelagoes. The traditions of the Gilbert Islanders tell us that their islands and South Polynesian islands on the south and south-See also:

east, suggests, what in fact is found, a See also:

COMBINATION (Lat. combinare, to combine)

combination of races. In some places the oblique Mongolian See also:

eye is noticed, and (together with certain Indo-See also:

CHINESE, JAPANESE AND

Chinese customs) there is often a scantiness of See also:

beard and See also:

general " See also:

MALAY

Malay " look, which increases westwards, and seems to imply relations with the See also:

ARCHIPELAGO

archipelago subsequent to the departure thence of the pure Polynesians.

In the Gilberts the traces of Polynesian (Samoan) influences are evident, and are confirmed by tradition. Among the Carolines and the Marshalls darker and more See also:

savage communities are found, suggesting a Melanesian See also:

ELEMENT (Lat. elementum)

element, which is further traceable in the Ebon (Marshall) and other See also:

LANGUAGES

languages. Each of the four main groups, viz. the Caroline, Marshall, Gilbert and Ladrone (Mariana), from See also:

long See also:

ISOLATION

isolation, has See also:

DEVELOPED

developed ethnological peculiarities of its own. The most advanced folk were the " Chamorros " of the Ladrones, owing to the greater natural resources of the islands, and perhaps more frequent contact with influences from the west; but as a See also:

SEPARATE

separate people they no longer exist, having been nearly exterminated by the Spaniards in the 17th See also:

CENTURY (from Lat. centuria, a division of a hundred men)

century. Next in See also:

ADVANCEMENT

advancement come the Caroline islanders. The general Micronesian type is a well-propprtioned rather slightly built figure, with small and See also:

REGULAR

regular features; See also:

head high and well proportioned, but forehead rather retreating and narrow at the temples; cheek bones and See also:

CHIN

chin slightly prominent; straight See also:

black See also:

HAIR (a word common to Teutonic languages)

hair, lanker than that of the Polynesians, See also:

COLOUR (Lat. color, connected with celare, to hide, the root meaning, therefore, being that of a covering)

colour somewhat darker than the Polynesians, the Marshalls being darker and more vigorous than the Carolines, while the Gilbert type, though smaller than the latter, is still darker and coarser. The upper class greatly surpasses the See also:

COMMON

common people in physique and intelligence. There is a See also:

DIVISION (from Lat. dividere, to break up into parts, separate)

division of society into septs or clans, the membership of which constitutes the closest tie. Persons of the same See also:

SEPT

sept must not intermarry, and when two islands or communities meet in See also:

war the members of one sept, however widely separated by distance of space or See also:

time, will not injure or fight with each other. Each community is usually composed (but there are See also:

LOCAL

local differences) of—(1) an upper class of chiefs, from among whom the head (tamol or iros) is chosen; (2) a See also:

LOWER

lower but still See also:

NOBLE, SIR ANDREW (1832- )

noble class; and (3) common people, mostly without rights of See also:

PROPERTY

property. These last are only allowed one wife. Here and there are traces, as in See also:

TONGA, or FRIENDLY ISLANDS (so called by Captain Cook)

Tonga, of a spiritual See also:

SOVEREIGN

sovereign, the descendants probably of a conquered See also:

DYNASTY (Gr. &vvaareta, sovereignty, the position of a hevnori7r, lord, ruler, from SuvaaBay to be able, Suvaµas, power)

dynasty.

See also:

SUCCESSION (Lat. successio, from succedere, to follow after)

Succession is through the See also:

FEMALE

female See also:

side, which assures to See also:

WOMEN

women a certain position, and leads besides to some curious results (see See also:

paper by J. S. Kubary in Das Ausland, 188o, No. 27). The upper class are the keepers of traditions, See also:

BOAT (0. Eng. bdt; the true etymological connexion with Dutch and Ger. boot, Fr. bateau, Ital. battello presents great difficulties; Celtic forms are from O. Eng.)

boat-builders, leaders of expeditions; See also:

TATTOOING (Tahitian, tatu, from ta, mark)

tattooing is generally done by them, the amount increasing with a See also:

man's See also:

RANK (O.Fr. rant or rent, mod. rang, generally connected with the O.E. and O.H.G. bring, a ring)

rank; the See also:

CUSTOM (from O. Fr. costume, costume or coustume; Low Lat. costuma, a shortened form of consuetudo)

custom here still has definite religious associations. Both sexes are tattooed. The Marshall Islanders are the boldest and most skilful navigators in the Pacific. Their voyages of many months' duration, in great canoes sailing with outrigger to windward, well-provisioned, and depending on the skies for fresh See also:

WATER

water, help to show how the Pacific was colonized. They have a sort of See also:

CHART (from Lat. carta, charta, a map)

chart, medo, of small sticks tied together, representing the positions of islands and the directions of the winds and currents. A two-edged weapon, of which the blade is of sharks' See also:

TEETH (O.E. Eel); plural of tooth, O.E. top)

teeth, and a defensive See also:

ARMOUR, PHILIP DANFORTH (1832-1901)

armour of braided sennit, are also See also:

PECULIAR

peculiar to the islands; a large See also:

ADZE (from the Old Eng. adesa, of which the origin is unknown)

adze, made of the See also:

shell of the Tridacna gigas (the largest bivalve known), was formerly used in the Carolines, probably by the old builder race. The dialects of Micronesia, though grammatically alike, differ widely in their vocabularies. They have the See also:

CHIEF (from Fr. chef, head, Lat. caput)

chief characteristics of the Polynesian, with Malay See also:

AFFINITIES

affinities, and peculiarities such as the use of suffixes and inseparable pronouns and, as in Tagal, of the infix to denote changes in the verb; in the west groups there is a tendency to closed syllables and See also:

double consonants, and a use of the palatals ch, j, sh, the dental th, and s' (the last perhaps only in See also:

FOREIGN

foreign words), which is See also:

ALIEN (Lat. alienus)

alien to the Polynesian.

These letters are wanting in the Gilbert language, which differs considerably from all the others, and has much greater affinities with the Polynesian. Most words take the See also:

ACCENT

accent on the penult. In some of the dialects there appears to be no true See also:

ARTICLE (from Lat. articulus, a joint)

article, but in the Gilbert Islands the Polynesian to is used for both definite and indefinite article. Gender is sexual only. Number in the noun is either gathered from the were peopled from the west and also from the east. Those who came from the east are expressly said to be from See also:

SAMOA

Samoa. Those from the west were more numerous than those from the east. There are also traditions of the arrival of other strangers at some of these islands. On the island of See also:

Peru, in the Gilbert See also:

GROUP

group, in i869 there was still the remnants of a large proah which, from the description given, appears to have been like those used in the See also:

INDIAN

Indian Archipelago. requirement of the sense or is marked by pronominal words or numerals. See also:

Case is known by the position of the noun in the See also:

SENTENCE (Lat. sententia, a way of thinking, opinion, judgment; vote, sentire, to feel, think)

sentence or by prepositions. In the language of Ebon, one of the islands in the Marshall archipelago, nouns have the peculiarity which is characteristic of the Papuan languages: those which indicate See also:

close relationship—as of a son to a See also:

FATHER

father, or of the members of a See also:

PERSON, OFFENCES AGAINST THE

person's See also:

BODY

body—take a pronominal suffix which gives them the appearance of inflexions.

Many words are used indiscriminately as nouns, adjectives or verbs, without any See also:

CHANGE (derived through the Fr. from the Late Lat. cambium, cambiare, to barter; the ultimate derivation is probably from the root which appears in the Gr. «a urmu', to bend)

change of form. In some languages the See also:

PERSONAL

personal pronouns are singular, dual and plural. In others there are no See also:

SPECIAL

special dual forms, but the See also:

NUMERAL (from Lat. numerus, a number)

numeral for two is used to indicate the dual. In the Ebon language there are inclusive and exclusive forms of the personal pronouns which, so far as has been ascertained, do not occur in any of the other languages. The verbs usually have no inflexions to See also:

EXPRESS (through the French from the past participle of the Lat. exprimere, to press out, by transference used of representing objects in painting or sculpture, or of thoughts, &c. in words)

express relations of See also:

VOICE (Fr. voix, from Lat. vox)

voice, See also:

MOOD

mood, tense, number of person—such distinctions being indicated by particles. In the Ebon language, however, the tenses are sometimes marked; but in that the See also:

SIMPLE

simple form of the verb is frequently given. All have verbal directive particles. In Ponape, one of the Caroline Islands, many words of ceremony are used in addressing chiefs, as they are used in Samoa. The custom of tabooing words is also found there as it is in the Polynesian languages. The religious myths are generally identifiable with the Polynesian, but a belief in the gods proper is overshadowed by a general deification of ancestors, who are supposed from time to time to occupy certain blocks of See also:

stone, set up near the See also:

FAMILY

family dwelling, and surrounded by circles of smaller ones. These stones are anointed with oil, and worshipped with See also:

prayer and offerings, and are also used for purposes of See also:

divination, in which, and in various omens, there is a general belief. In the Marshalls, in See also:

PLACE (through Fr. from Lat. platea, street; Gr. IrAar6s, wide)

place of these stones, certain See also:

palm trees are similarly enclosed.

The See also:

SPIRITS

spirits also some-times inhabit certain birds or fishes, which are then See also:

TABOO (also written tapu and tabu)

taboo, as See also:

food, to the family; but they will help to catch them for others. Temples are very rare, though these blocks of See also:

CORAL

coral are sometimes surrounded by a roofless enclosure opening to the west. The bodies of the dead, and sometimes even of the sick, are despatched to See also:

sea west-wards, with certain See also:

RITES

rites; those of the chiefs, however, are buried, for the See also:

order has something essentially divine about it; their bodies therefore are sacred, and their spirits naturally assume the position above described. Such a belief greatly strengthened the See also:

king's authority, for the spirits of his ancestors were necessarily more powerful than any other spirits. Thus too it comes that the chiefs, and all belonging to them, are taboo as regards the common people. There are various other subjects and occasions of taboo, but the institution has not the oppressive and all-pervading See also:

CHARACTER (Gr. xapareri7p, from xap&crew, to scratch)

character which it has in See also:

Polynesia. Its See also:

ACTION

action is often economical or charitable, e.g. the ripening coco-nuts are taboo as long as the See also:

BREAD

bread-See also:

FRUIT (through the French from the Lat. fructus; frui, to enjoy)

fruit lasts, thus securing the former for future use; or it is put on after a See also:

DEATH

death, and the nuts thus saved are given to the family—a kindness to them, and a See also:

mark of respect for the dead. The houses in the Gilberts and Marshalls (much less elaborate than in the Carolines) consist merely of a thatched roof resting on posts or on blocks of coral about 3 ft. high, with a See also:

FLOOR (from O. Eng. flor, a word common to many Teutonic languages, cf. Dutch vloer, and Ger. Flur, a field, in the feminine, and a floor, masculine)

floor at that level, which is reached from an opening in the centre. On this the See also:

PRINCIPAL

principal people See also:

SLEEP (0. Eng. slcepan; Ger. schlafen; cf. Lat. labi, to glide, and " slip ")

sleep, and it serves as a storehouse inaccessible to rats, which infest all the islands.

End of Article: MICRONESIA (from Gr. µitcpbs, small, and viiaos, island)

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