don't seem to mind, however, and find the mixture delicious. Ulithians also have a fondness for K rations, curiously enough, but have been known to become ill on small helpings of candy. They have a particular fondness for orange juice and receive a regular ration from the navy.
The health of the natives now is generally good. This is due largely to recent curative efforts of navy medics. A number of the natives are paralytics because of the spread of infantile paralysis during the Japanese occupation, but otherwise they are suffering from no major diseases. Prior to American occupation, yaws was widespread. It is a tropical disease caused by spirochete, and spread by flies from one person to another through tumorous breaks in the skin, It has many symptoms characteristic of syphillis but is not a venereal disease. During his stay with the natives at Fassarai, Dr, Wees cured every case of yaws.
Today they are in good health, with better teeth than most Americans; no appendicitis or nervous breakdowns; they are cooperating with the navy sanitation program, and are grateful for the elimination of fever-bearing mosquitoes.
The Ulithians are perhaps the most devout Christians to be found anywhere in the primitive Pacific. Visited and taught during the 17th century by Spanish missionaries, they have maintained their Catholic faith almost unanimously ever since. This long adherence to the Christian faith has obliterated, for the most part, their more primitive ritual ceremonies, their dances, their worship of totemic objects, and their belief in animism—the fear of spirits,
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