MHOW

[s. 492] : 3 Sunday schools, 4 day schools, 1 industrial school, 1 dispensary, 1 orphanage, and 43 pro Station also of the WMS, with fe ed Christians. (1903) 1 mi ionary, 5 outstations, 1 place of worship, and 35 profe ed Christians. Name also written Mahow. MIC RONES I A Certain groups of small islands in the Pacific Ocean mostly north of the equator, and between the meridians of 130° and 160°. This part of the Ocean i a includes the Gilbert (Kings mill), Marshall (Mulgrave, theRadackand Ralick chains) and Caroline Islands, the Mar i an as (or Ladrones), and Bonin Island, and many:, With few excepother small atolls and groups. tions the islands are low atolls of coral formation. The groups vary in extent from the single islet half a mile long to the extensive archipelago enclosed by a coral reef 200 miles or more in circumference. The depth of the island-studded lagoon thus enclosed varies from 5 to 100 fathoms. Some islands are acce ible to the largest ships, having good channels through breaks in the reef, and furnishing commodious harbors, while some have channels which cannot be entered with the Ere vailing winds, and others are entirely enclosed y reefs and have no anchorage. Ocean currents, with frequent calms, render navigation very uncertain and often dangerous. The area of land in any of these atolls is insignificant compared with the size of the lagoon or the extent of the supporting reef. The land, ranging in elevation from 5 to 20 feet above high-water mark, is composed of coral rocks and sand washed up by the waves, and forms a series of islets resting at varying distances from one another upon the reef. At high tide the waves roll over the reef at a depth of 4 to 10 feet and between the islets into the lagoon, while at ebb tide the reef is bare, and furnishes a connecting pathway from islet to islet, except where it is broken by a channel. The average area of land in the atolls is probably from 5 to 10 square miles. The high islands are of volcanic origin, have the physical peculiarities of the atolls, only that the lagoon is replaced by elevated land. The people resemble the brown Polynesian race, but they are evidently of mixed blood; and their language is not the true Polynesian, but distinct and split up into separate languages in the different groups. They are simple in construction, easily acquired, yet quite difficult to reduce to writing because of the shading of sounds, and also on account of the presence of Five of close consonants at the end of words. these languages have been reduced to writing. Portions of the Bible, hymn-books, and various school-books have been printed. Some of the dialects are very expre ive, and tho not having extended vocabularies, are rendered flexible by the use of pronominal suffixes, verbal directives, and terminations to indicate place and — 476 to expre comparison. Degraded in past usage, the introduction of Christian ideas means resurrection to the language no le than life to the people. The religion of the islanders used to be not greatly unlike modern spiritism, and their social usages imposed no family ties. Polygamy was tolerated among the chiefs, but not very extensively practised. Children belonged to brothers and sisters of the parents as much as to the mothers. The people wore little, if any, clothing, tho the habits of different groups show great variety. In the Gilbert Islands men had no covering of any kind; the women wore a fringed skirt 10 or 12 inches long, the children being nude. In the Marshall Islands men wore a fringe skirt 25 to 30 inches long, and the women two mats, about a yard square each, belted about the waist. Upon the Caroline Islands some covering was used. The dwelling-houses were mere shelters of simple construction, tho the council-houses were large. The forms of government varied, but were all founded on the idea of the aggrandizement of the chief rather than the good of the subject. Human life was slightly regarded, and even petty chiefs sent many a victim to the executioner. Mi ionary work was begun on Ponape and Kusaie (Caroline group) in 1852 by three American mi ionaries (L. H. Gulick, A. A. Sturges, and B. G. Snow) with their wives. They were accompanied by two Hawaiian mi ionary helpers with their wives. The first five years were discouraging. Many times the enterprise seemed ready to fail. Opposition of foreigners (self-exiled and more degraded than the natives), small-pox on Ponape, insurrection on Kusaie, disastrous results of contact with the whaling fleets, and the dense paganism of the natives themselves had all to be overcome by the faith of earnest men. The year 1857 saw Apaiang (Gilbert Islands) and Ebon (Marshall Islands) Mexteo Mlldmay have done very efficient work. The mother tongue has become the vehicle of ble ing. From the first a mi ionary spirit has been cultivated, and the young convert has been taught to keep in view the prospect of becoming a teacher of the new doctrine on his own island, or, if need be, on other islands. When the work was to be pushed westward from Ponape it was done by native mi ionaries, furnishing one of the most interesting chapters in the annals of mi ionary work. Going forth to a people of diverse tongue, these men and women prepared themselves for the work, and soon gathered in large numbers of converts. The American Board has training schools at Kusaie and at Ruk. There are 51 churches, with over 6,000 communicants. The LMS has a flourishing work in the southern islands of the Gilbert group. 493