The "Ulithi" Encyclopedia/Chapter 2
Chapter Two: The People
At the latest census, the Carolines islands could count 30,915 noses; Ulithi, 311.
Back, far back—some say the 13th century, but probably even further back, the Carolinians came in migrations from Indonesia, on the Asiatic continent. They came in small outrigger canoes which we might not trust on the Mississippi river, much less the Pacific…across hundreds of un-chartered and watery miles with only their innate sense of seamanship to guide them. In their feats of navigation, they would put to envy the ancient Greeks or the Phoenicians. Boats almost identical to those which they used in that remote day are to be seen in use at Ulithi today.
As a people, those belonging to Ulithi and the surrounding islands are classified under the broad racial term Micronesian, meaning "small island" people. They combine two racial developments, the Polynesian—such as the Hawaiian islanders, and the Melanesian—such as the people to be found in the Solomons, plus their own Malayan racial strain. Their Mongoloid or Asiatic stock is noticeable in some, through the eyelid fold which produces "oriental" or so-called "slant eyes." Their negroid admixtures were probably gained in associations with the Melanesians during migrations east. Some posess Chamorros strains—Spanish and Filipino blood. Two children are the descendents of a German father, and some—younger children born during the Japanese occupation—have very strong Asiatic characteristics.
Generally, their diverse racial background has brought forth a wide range of varying characteristics, the most commonly observed features being alternately fuzzy and coarse-textured wavy hair; broad, flat faces; small statures, with husky torsos on thin, agile legs, They have intelligent faces, relatively good teeth, and enlarged ear lobes (punctured, through which they carry pencils, cigarettes, bamboo pieces). Their skin pigmentation is brown; their hair dark brown or black. The beauty of the women is according to the individual taste, but it is generally agreed that by the time they are in their mid-twenties they are too plump to meet the American standards of pulchritude. The more handsome and able-bodied Ulithians were not seen by the Americans, however; they had been withdrawn by the Japanese as labor battalions.
The Ulithians are among the most democratic people to be found anywhere. They have a king; he is a monarch in name only, for he is selected by vote. He is elected for life from the community's most respected candidates—he is considered to be the wisest, and need not be the oldest, of the community's males. When Dr, Wees arrived at Fassarai to care for their medical needs, he was approached by the king, who said,"You know more than me—you king now." And from that day on, as long as his stay at Fassarai, Dr. Wees was the white king accepted by all the people.
This society is, incidentally, one of the only places in the world where a king, nominal as such, is elected by the people and is not an hereditary monarch. The dying king nominates his successor, and the opinion of the passing king is usually respected and his candidate is selected. Democracy prevails for men only, however; Ulithi's women are still awaiting the arrival of their Susan B. Anthony.
The present king, Ueg, (pronounced Wehrh), is a charming fellow. He is a man in his late forties, unfortunately a paralytic; he has a keen, intelligent face, with widely spaced eyes and a carefully-kept lip mustache. Sitting at the rear of his thatched hut (as humble as any other hut on the island and no more ornate), or riding in the former Japanese ammunition cart which is his carriage, Ueg commands respect with a kingly grace and a sincere kindliness. He rules his people wisely and justly; he has proved a warm friend to many servicemen who have come to him as visitors.
Various islands had their respective chiefs—each chief serving his constituency at the supreme meeting house with King Ueg. On Falalop there was Chief Ken; Halen was Chief of Asor; and kindly old Chief Maho, cosmopolitan and connisseur of good beer, is chief of Fassarai island.
Chief Maho, incidentally, has a long list of interesting experiences. He shipped aboard several merchant vessels during his younger years, and received his impressive tatoos at Hong Kong. Marine aviators flew him over several of the nearby islands, and for several weeks he ate at the enlisted men's mess on Sorlen—occasions marked by his logical eating habits: when his food was served, the soup was too hot and the ice cream was melting. So he merely reversed the normal procedure, ate the ice cream first, then the main course, and finished the meal by drinking the soup which was then quite cool. Maho's epicurian delight in good beer would shame a Milwaukeean.
***
The natives of the Western Carolines are members of totemic clans, with each clan having a myth of origin. The myth is that in the beginning of the world some plant, animal, or fish created the first man, from whom all the members of this particular clan have descended. Each clan held its totem—a specified plant, animal, or fish, as sacred, and it was not eaten or destroyed in any way. A strong feeling of kinship developed within the clan out of this worship.
One of our most intelligent friends from Ulithi, Ricardo, explained that before the coming of the Catholic missionaries, totem worship of plants and animals was widespread. He cited as his example the taro plant, which had been Ulithi's major totem. The taro plant supposedly gave birth to the first Ulithian during the beginning of the world, and from generation to generation the children were taught to believe that the taro was the original source of life, and to mutilate or destroy it meant that the person concerned would be subject to illness, blindness, and even death. with dramatic ability which must be seen to be believed. Ricardo pantomimed in elaborate detail the anguish and pain which, in the old days, his people believed was caused by a violation of the holiness of the taro.
At Ulithi, where Christianity has replaced the belief in totem origins, and where the social unit is considerably more important and the chief is invested with more power, the clan has virtually disappeared, and only among the very old is there still the belief in the totemic origin of the world.
The clothing problem for Ulithians is rather simple: the men wear breechcloths wrapped around the loins, the women, single skirts of material woven from banana fiber.
The native breechcloths produced at Ulithi were and still are noted throughout the Carolines for their excellence. Among many patterns, the favorite is a black and white design achieved by interplaiting bleached pandanus and black hibiscus fibers. Many now have "G" strings, or hoe, which are made from garments given them by Americans, but a native hoe is frequently worn outside the more modern garment.
The hoe is a fascinating garment—brightly colored, the wearing of which would seem to be a major accompolishment—no suspenders, no belts, no hands. The method used in securing the garment so that it may be worn comfortably and confidently is something which you must get from the Ulithian himself. Incidentally, a brilliant Zebra or Charlie navy signal flag makes an excellent hoe, and these flags are in use today, posessing the manifestation in Ulithi which "zoot" might on Central Avenue.
Grass skirts here, as elsewhere in the Pacific, are a strongly prevailing fashion in female dress prior to puberty. At puberty—that age at which sexual maturity is reached—the girls begin to wear the wrap-around which reaches from the waist to the knees. It is of a woven banana fiber, and often bunches of hibiscus bast are tied in front for decorative purposes. Whether the missionaries of the past put "Mother Hubbards" on Ulithi women, as they did on so many of the Carolinians, is a moot question; they certainly didn't adhere to the style for long at Ulithi.
Even so, the Ulithians quietly refute the Victorian idea that clothing makes morals. Indecent dress is a question of geographic location. In a climate of 80°, where fewer garments are more comfortable, the Carolinians let other people bicker about their decency and live a normally temperate life. The morals of the Ulithians are among the best: they will not uncover before one another; a man will not uncover before another man nor a woman before another women. There are no prostitutes and no known promiscuity. There isn't an illegitimate child on Ulithi, and a strict moral code provides for the ostracizement of any girl guilty of promiscuiousness. This is in sharp contrast to the custom at Yap, the nearest island to the west, where prostitution is the most beneficial practice in which any woman may participate.
And, incidentally, the girl alone would suffer for immorality at Ulithi; the male involved would receive no reproach—it is left for the woman to uphold the morals of the community.
Returning to clothing: shoes are another item of apparel missing, save a few ill-fitting Brogans given them by their service friends. Barefoot, the Ulithian is able to walk over the roughest coral and to climb the tallest tree. Fallen arches, bunions, and other "civilised" foot ailments are so rare that a native chiropedist would starve to death.
In place of a fedora, the men wear a "lei-wreath" affair called a maram. A long, thin bamboo comb is another item of apparel frequently seen; at one time, in many places throughout the Western Carolines, it was used to designate the freeman from the serf, the longest comb belonging to the wealthiest man. In Ulithi, however, it has lost much of its significance, and although the comb is worn by only the older men, it is used principally for the utilitarian purpose of holding up many inches of heavy hair, and for the decorative purpose of attaching flowers and feathers to it.
A delight in decorations is carried to elaborate tatooing of the body, now more ornamental than significant. The Japanese tatooed many of the natives as a means of identification, but the most impressive designs are those which were done to enhance the charm of the body, such as_ the band stripes that run conversely to tiger stripes, i.e., from shoulder to ankle. These body-long stripes are in dark blue, usually produced by lamp-black.
The art of tatooing was most highly developed on Mogmog island, and members of the nobility from Yap journeyed to Ulithi to receive their tatooes. The Mogmog artist was considered the foremost in all the Carolines.
Tatooing was formerly surrounded with taboos and ceremonies, with restrictions made on the person being tatooed as to having sexual relations or appearing in public during the month-long process, In 1922, the Japanese forbade further tatooing except for identification, and the observance of this edict can be noticed in the fact that all young Ulithians are almost entirely unmarked.
Nor do the Ulithians mutilate the body, as was once the practice, except for puncturing and enlarging the ear-lobe. Even this seems to be on the wane, since only the eldest have ear-lobes which are capable of carrying objects an inch or more in diameter. One has but to travel east 100 miles, however, to see Carolinians with ear lobes sagging almost to the shoulder.
Another standard item of apparel is a pocket book. It is a large woven bag, made of plaited coconut fronds, which resembles a stateside purse of the huge species carried by women, and serves the natives—as our wives' purses do—as a carry-all. All valuables and immediate necessities are carried in these bags, and each owner takes meticulous care of this item. The bag is either carried in the hand or attached to a strap slung over the shoulder.
The hatchet—putch-a-gul—is also a standard accessory for Ulithians. It resembles our hoe; the blade is set transversely to the handle. The putch-a-gul comes in all sizes, but each is almost identical in construction. Most of the distinguished older men of the community wear them, and they wear rather than carry them. The blade is hooked over the shoulder and "carried" thus to prevent dulling or cutting. And the same hatchet, which is used to fell the largest tree on the island, is also used to make the dantiest model canoe.
Home to a Ulithian is a coconut-thatched hut. It is not as uncomfortable or rude as one might think. A high gable is the keynote of the architecture, with sharply-sloping and gracefully-curved roofs, Unlike so many of the questionable features of our own architecture, this type of construction serves a purpose: the dwellings are cool during the hottest part of the day. Their flimsy appearence is misleading—they will shed water, and will withstand the roughest of tropical storms, including the annual typhoons.
The floors are coral, cleanly swept, and the interior is arranged to meet a functional purpose. The natives do not use chairs or tables, but prefer to sit on the floor, cross legged, or in their inimitable squatting position—sitting on their haunches with the toes outspread, duck fashion.
Lack of house furnishings gives the impression of vast roominess in the Ulithi dwellings; actually, where a sofa or an easy chair might be, the father may push in his canoe at night. Bureaus and dressing tables are replaced by the carry-all purses. A few of the dwellings have regular army cots, and some have our discarded straw matresses. Unlike the native settlement at Angaur, in the Palaus, we didn't find a community washing machine, although at Fassarai they did have a radio, a portable battery cell model.
Dr. Wees taught the natives to wash their clothing and themselves, and occasionally one sees wash stands. Prior to this, the sea had been the cleanser of body and clothing.
The outer walls of huts, these days, may have the trademark of a nationally advertised laundry soap, or a formidable naval hieroglyphic address on them; flotsam washed ashore and Dr. Wees' canvass of the holds of vessels has provided the Ulithians with the new convenience of wooden walls. Large oil drums provide water containers. Normally each hut has a sasban, or cooking container, just outside the door. Dr. Wees added a sanitation note in building rock caches, which are placed conveniently throughout the island. Trash is now burned rather than left to breed disease.
On the island of Fassarai one finds two separate villages. One village is the home of 30 natives from Falalop island; the other, the King's village, is occupied by the natives from the various other islands of the atoll. The latter village has several suburbs which string out in single dwellings and small garden farms along the road leading to the "Falalop" village. This path is a winding lane, bordered by stones, passing through semi-tropical plant growths; it was built by the Germans during their occupation.
Walking down this main pathway, or through the villages, one observes that each hut looks like every other hut, although several of the dwellings are designated by custom with special signifigance. One of these special dwellings is the all-men's house—the eim. Here all the men gather to discuss the affairs of the community and generally "bat the breeze" through days which are not normally filled with activity. It has the earmarks of a lodge or fraternity, and serves just that purpose for Ulithi's men,
Another designated house is the yeeper, the women's house. It is in this hut that women are confined during the periods of menstruation or child birth. These two occasions are considered unclean by the natives, and there is a taboo on associating with the women concerned during the periods, or of coming within 30 feet of the yeeper. This is one of the most strictly enforced taboos of the Ulithian society.
Almost all the dwellings have been built upon a rock foundation a foot and a half to two feet high. This practice has been fostered so completely, in fact, that practically everything has been raised—the graves as well as the huts.
Island Home
There is more to the island of Fassarai than to any other island on the atoll; from the lagoon side, its mile-and-a-half appears tremendous beside the pin-point land masses nearby. And, to the natives, it is tremendous—it is their homeland—it is all they need in their limited world. It is all that many of them have seen.
Perhaps Fassarai comes closer to the Hollywood idea of what a Pacific paradise should be than any other island occupied by American forces during the Pacific war. There is widespread agreement that it may be a rock, but it's a pretty rock. With its sand beaches and swaying palms, a leisurely surf, and the delightful romping of native children, it provides a glimpse of the primitive garden untouched by the troubled complexities of civilization. It has a magic all its own. Trade winds keep the island moderately cool; there are no riveters, automobile horns, or next-door saxophonists.
Like the writer Stevenson, the artist Gaugin, and other fugitives from civilization, it leaves the visitor today with half-a-desire to detach himself and live in quietness among simple, gentle people on a languid plot of earth. The essentials of life are here—food, shelter, and clothing await harvesting, and the products of the coconut tree alone are sufficient to human life…all else is quiet and leisure.
The normal day of the Ulithian consists of a rest-punctuated routine of which the only drawback might be boredom. He is up at sunrise and going about his chores—fishing, harvesting the coconuts, gathering the breadfruit and taro which will provide the day's three meals. All of his work is done before nine o'clock in the mornings; he works, perhaps more sensibly than we, in the early and late hours—the cool hours—and he holds his siesta at mid-day. Work completed by mid-morning, he is free until late in the afternoon for smoking, chatting with his neighbors, swimming, or returning to rest in the comparatively cool retreat of his hut. Only religious services or visits to other islands serve to interrupt the routine of the week.
The Ulithian's diet is largely composed of those herbs, nuts, and fruits which he finds on the self-cultured vineyards of his island. As with almost all islands of the mid Pacific, the coconut is the principal food. The tree bears throughout the year, and a good tree will yield from 100 to 300 coconuts annually. The natives will often use five to ten nuts a day per person.
The coconut may be used in all stages of growth; it provides easily digestable meat, cream, dough, and milk. Flour is sometimes made from imported rice, but shredded coconut will suffice. And to bake bread, the dough is wrapped in a taro leaf and baked over hot stones.
Pork is a delicacy with the natives. To cure pork, it is placed between woven coconut mats and suspended about two feet above smoking coconut husks. Some pork is cooked in kettles, and some is roasted under hot stones.
Breadfruit supplements the diet; banana, papaya, and cooked taro are favorites. A porridge, often used as sauce and festively spread over other dishes, is made from a potpurri of foodstuffs mixed with water, and it always manages to look considerably darker when they are through stirring it with their hands than it did before they started. They 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, demons, multi-dieties. Their faith takes on the cast of the amazing when we realize that for over two decades they did not have a priest or missionary to guide them, and maintained their Christian beliefs through many years when it might have been more natural to neglect them.
On weekly visits from the Catholic chaplain, Fassarai youngsters of five and six and doddering ancients dash to the Padre to receive his blessing. Almost in toto they attend the weekly masses, and each has his Christian name under which he will be buried—Spanish names, like Pedro, Recardo, Jesus, and Peachm.
It is to be noted that this is an island of orthodoxy in a cluster of the unconfirmed, for east but a distance of 50 miles from Ulithi, at the island of Fais, or southwest 165 miles to Ngulu, there are natives—possibly distantly related to the Ulithians—who posess no organized religion—to whom the cross has lost its significance, and among whom with only the aged is there a faint memory of a visit long ago by a Spanish padre who taught the ecclessia.
The natives have accepted the belief that it is God's Will when a person dies. Even so, there are a few vestiges more "primitive" than Christian in the burial procedure.
When a Ulithien dies, his passing is lamented publicly for a specified time—the length and manner of mourning amounting to his position in the community. The mother and father of the deceased shave their heads, and all relatives detour around the place of death for three months thereafter. The burial takes place within 12 hours after death.
The body of the deceased is washed and annointed with coconut oil; wrapped, mummy fashion, in coconut cloth, a circle of paint is placed on each cheek―a slightly larger circle on the forehead. The body is then wrapped in a pandanus sleeping mat and placed in a wood coffin. This takes place in a building near the church, and when it is completed, a processional is begun to the cemetary. The long-practiced custom of burying the dead person next to his home has been discouraged by western sanitarians.
At the grave, the chief mourner opens the coffin, and all present kneel to kiss the deceased on the lips. Then the mouth and eyelids are closed. Before the coffin is sealed, as many personal belongings as will fit are placed in the coffin—these belongings may be nothing more ornate than an old jar, a few bolts and nails, a bamboo cigarette lighter—it matters little what the posessions are—what is important is that the departed valued these trinkets during his lifetime, and so they are consigned to his pleasure in the after-life.
The graves are not deep because of the high water table, and each is lined with coconut matting. When the grave is ready to be closed, all the natives step up and toss green leaves or flowers onto the coffin. Then all present lend a hand in pouring the dirt into the grave.
After the grave is closed, the mourners trek to the beach and, at low tide, chip a heavy stone slab from the seafloor about five-by-four feet in length and width, about two inches in depth. Four smaller slabs are cut, and from these a rectangular memorial is made, crudely resembling a mastaba of ancient Egypt. Some of the graves which do not have the stone edifice are surrounded with saki bottles, (marked Nippon Brewery, Ltd.,) and these are topped with a cross on which the native's Christian name is written. On the island of Mogmog, these inscriptions may be observed in Japanese characters. The Padre gives them their Christian names, and in marking their graves they prefer this memorial designation—the Ulithi name being used only during their lifetime.
One of the most lamented deaths of the past two decades was that of the Princess Kalara, daughter of King Ueg. During the initial American landings on the atoll in September 1944, it was believed that Japanese pockets of resistance remained in the then-thick undergrowth and foliage on the islands of Mogmog and Asor. The natives were forewarned to retire to the beaches while American planes strafed the interior. For some reason, two of the natives neglected to heed the warnings…they were both struck by gunfire from the strafing planes. One was Kalara, the young and beloved princess of Ulithi. She was taken aboard a hospital ship in the lagoon, but medical care was ineffective; she died two days later. Marking one of the more regrettable phases of war's touching the innocent, Kalara was buried on Mogmog with services conducted by a navy chaplain. At the native cemetary on that island, one may observe the coral memorial, topped by a simple white cross bearing the inscription:
"Princess Kalara, Christiano, September, 1944."
All the various dialects of the Western Carolines are founded upon a Malayo-Polynesian stock and have enough common factors, both in grammar and vocabulary, to permit a person who knows one of the dialects to converse in any other rather easily. There are three major dialects—: that spoken on the islands from Truk to Ulithi, another spoken on the islands of Yap and Ngulu, and still another spoken in the Palaus. The language spoken by Ulithians is the most widely accepted, and a native mastering it can get along practically everywhere in the Western Carolines. The writing is done in Japanese Katakana script, a sort of phonetic alphabet which transliterates consonant-vowel sounds into characters. It would not be difficult for an American student of languages to master both the spoken and written by language in a short time.
But even so, this may not be necessary, since the natives are well on the way to mastering English. Dr. Wees' nightly classes during his five-month stay with them on Fassarai made remarkable linguists of some. In their repitoire they include an impeccable rendition of "Down by the Old Mill Stream." Slang is no exception. Like Ricardo's impressions on American women. "Hot stuff," Ricardo says.
Native handicrafts are largely limited to 1) things of utility, and 2) things mercenary.
In the first classification are their splendid sea-faring canoes. These may be seen afloat in Ulithi lagoon, or lined up along the shore at Fassarai with their sharp bows projecting seaward. They are all standardized and gracefully designed…so standardized, in fact, that a present-day canoe resembles in almost every detail one built centuries ago to ferry the people of the Carolines from Asia.
The canoes are made from Mahogany wood imported from Yap. Coconut is never used, since it deteriorates rapidly under salt water conditions, The putch-a-gul is the only tool used in constructing these amazingly symmetrical vessels. The sides are joined together with fiber and calked.
The craft are of the outrigger type, with the float posessing all the dynamics and finesse of a seaplane wing float. Both sternpost and stem are forked in the manner of a lizard's tongue. The decorations are standard—black hull, black gunwales, and a double stripe, orange in color, running the entire length of the boat just below the gunwale, terminating in an artistic fork at the bow and stern.
Although the natives have not practiced textile manufacturing to any extent, they do produce sails which will outlast many a high grade canvas. The sails, used occasionally on their canoes, are made of intricately woven pandanus leaves, each leaf cut and folded to a quarter-inch width, and then laced and relaced. The product is light and amazingly strong and pliable. The sails may be rolled and unrolled with little effort.
Of things mercenary, they have found a market for their hand bags, matting, grass skirts, and model canoes.
Their outstanding artistic achievement is a hand-carved statuette, done in wood, of an old pagan god. The style is bold, and not unlike many of the surrealistic schools of American sculpture.
Incidentally, they produce no musical instruments. The drum, the most universal of all instruments, was not used in the Western Carolines, and even the conch shell trumpet which is found on-some of the nearby islands, is absent at Ulithi.
Ulithians are simple, gentle, charming people. They are happy, but they have experienced many sadnesses because of their contacts with the white and yellow man. The outsider has brought them disease and has taken advantage of their naive and trusting natures. Fortunately, American service forces today have gone to splendid, humane ends to repair these wrongs of the past. A warm, mutual friendship has developed. Individual servicemen working among them have cured their diseases, cared for their spiritual needs, provided them new luxuries.
It is not a pleasant final thought, but unless there is a noticeable addition of young people in the next few years, the Ulithians will be extinct within three generations. When the Japanese took all the young men and women with them, they seriously endangered the continuation of Ulithi as a society. In peace once more, those young people may be returned; the problem may be solved by integration with peoples from nearby islands, whereby some of the family and cultural characteristics may be preserved. But it is likely that we have seen Ulithi in its last days as a separate social unit.
