Catala, after leading the charge to set up the I.F.O. services and the different research branches, carried out the study on coffee plantations in Mew Caledonia and coconut palms in the New Hebrides. Board of Directors, and member of the Research Council of the South Pacific Co.~flission,. materially assisted us in obtaining Dr.'s publication. A second objective was the improvement of the human ecology of the area, by discovering ways and means of increasing the quantity and variety of subsistence and commercial crops, and of achieving greater production through improved fertility and method; the source of domestic animals; and the improvement of fisheries and other products of the sea.
There are, however, valuable compensations for these deficiencies, and it gives us great pleasure to mention here the continuous a s s i s t a n c e , which goes beyond the administrative authority of the Gilbert Islands, under the d i r department of the Acting Resident Commissioner, Yi. Ph.D. Keegan. With its shallow roots, the coconut takes advantage of the slightest shower and if those showers just wash away the salt deposits. It should be noted that the reduction of sulfates in the modified coral components is probably due (~a s Becking) to the action of Microspira desulfuricans. this cannot be explained by the occurrence of sulphides.
Eight wells were dug from one side of the Island to the other, from which water samples were taken. Almost a l l of them a r e contracit laborers cho a r only temporarily away from home i s l a n d s. The number of women and children accompanying them reaches about 350. It is not a root, but a very developed root system, and the roots are constantly renewed. 34;The drought then broke and the coconuts, which had stopped bearing, soon put forth splashes of blossom'.
Good examples are the palms of the Makim School in Abemama and those on the site where the Bikenibeu school is to be built.
PALMS DYING FROM DROUGHTS
A study of environmental conditions corresponding to these three categories of behavior, and focused on cause to effect, provides valuable information. In addition to these general causes of disuse of the coconut palm, accidental factors may also occur that have serious relationships only because they coincide with a period of severe drought. They never seem to dry up, and even at the end of long periods of drought, when it is very low and the water may have become brackish, the coconut palms draw a lot of water. s o i l , and from rinse water supply. c ) Coconut palms i i l Abandoned l3aba.i P i t s.
A few rare individual palms t h r i v e although surrounded by s t e r i l e coconut palms. d) Coconut palms around inland dams: Each of the above categories contains only a small number of t r e s , while numerous coconut poles have the advantage of:? r e sometimes q u i t e extensive. According to the natives, palms growing on the edges of inland pools where the water flows provide a kind of reserve for a year, for the burst of nuts and toddies. When a long period of drought a r i v e s reduces these reserves, and the coconut palm g e t s r i d of the now excess leaves at an accelerated r a t e .
Many of them r e t a i n a l l t h e i r l i f e t e imprint of these periods of extreme hardship, as evidenced by a characteristic ilarrowing of the. A hard or impenetrable root that impedes root penetration or drainage is always more or less harmful to the coconut palm; and The coconut palm can grow and produce, p a r t i c u l a r l y during.
PART IV: CULTIVATION OF THE COCOI'RIT PALM
Moreover, the heat on the sand-stained, cement-like surface was all the more damaging because the planting was followed by ~ I I O years of drought. These crude resources also enable him to maintain a small emergency food supply for periods of 0, the unnecessary extension of which must always be feared. Age and lifespan of the coconut trees in the Gilbert Islands: In general, we do not have reliable information about the age and lifespan of the coconut trees in the Gilbert Islands. They remain alive for years afterwards, but have no economic value. of nuts that sprouted where they fell.
This was chosen for our inventory because it appears to represent an area of average density of p a l m f o r t h i s a t o l l . Dirsensions and weights of 50 coconut takeii a t case f r o u ad Abemama p l a n t a t i o n . per hectare, and show tremendous energy. The utility of continuing such observation for years, during normal and drought r a i n f a l , can be appreciated.
Two other weighings from Abemania were carried out on the Reiher 1 estate, where the palms are actually planted in the agro-cultural sense of the term and grown from them. We will have to use our own calculations based on tree counting and nut weighing to estimate tree density and nut production. To conclude, if we divide this number by the number of nuts, we get 23.1 nuts, which is roughly the annual average production per palm.
PJRT V: USES OF THE COCONUT PALM FOOD
CHAFTER 7 THE BABAI
The iron has thus beem% mix11 l e s s toilsoine, siilce it has ilolr been spread over many years. the water in babai p i t s i is not brackish. than 'chat of v e l ls used for drinking or cooking. When these reach a normal size, they are broken off f, just as spontaneous shoots would be, and planted at the bottom of the p i t. The cooling ring is placed at the exit of f i r e and l e f t to simmer for approx. 45 minutes; tbe bupler a r e then taken OWL of water, opened and the preparation csil consumed as is., or mixed w i t h Iiamaimai (toddy molasses).
The babai can be used for more than one treatment, but the oil that is closed to us is a formula for healing.
CHAFTER 8
CHAFTER 9
A remarkable fact is that they almost always choose plants with ornamental leaves or blossom flowers, which can be incorporated into the leis and garlands necessary for the dances and songs that are such an important part of daily life on these islands. Katherine Luomala, from the University of Hawaii, has very kindly provided us with a copy of her manuscript on the ethnobotany of the Gilbert Islands, including a history of agriculture in the Gilbert Islands. The most interesting observations on ba:.iailas were made at the Makin School on Abeiiarna, and at the Manolcu Catholic Mission on another island of the same atoll.
CHAFTER 10
Spodoptera mauritia ( ~ o i s d u v a l ) - Phalaenidae Host unknom. Sweet potatoes, which are found only in lpomoea tuba, are considered very harmful. In the Gilbert Islands, Megachiles do not affect palms, but prefer many shrubby plants, especially Morinda citrifolia L.
CHAPTER 11 MAFINE RESOURCES
PART 11: DEEP-SEA FISHING
But whether the signs are more or less favourable, the alarm is given as soon as they have been noted, and the canoes go. The canoes were numerous and so were the men who could use them and make the most of this type of often rough waters. Another important member of t h i s lagoon fauna i s t a r a b u t i , a clupeid of t h e genus harengula, which i s caught in abundance i n t h e vi- c i n i t y of canals, wharves and generally in t h e deepest p a r t s of the lowest and r e a s .
Purse seines are used (a type of purse seine, t e rienan urakaraka, was mentioned to us, but we have never seen it), with mesh sizes of variable sizes depending on the type of fish sought: sardine mesh, whiting mesh and rtmllet mesh.
The half- open net is $aced behind the Fish which
They can be seen on [email protected], Abemaua and ns;ny other a t o l s. The Gilbertese use -hro types s p e a r s .
PART V: TRADE
It would be impossible to eat it without the sweetening which, although it does not eliminate the hideous smell. The last extensive baneava f i s h i n g operations had been carried out a year before, and we could not see a s i n g l e specimen in s e v e r a l hours of diving. Those that were brought to us were always of the cow and worthless species that we ourselves saw on the uncovered r e e f - f l a t s ; t e ntabanibani, t e uniganilsal~ua, t e n e i lrarua lcere- boki, the p r e v a i l i n g species ask most of t e n t e riburibunimainiku, of the Aspirochirota group.
The Chinese market can only be closed temporarily, ~ r i s e l y advised t h e G i l b e r t islanders to keep a l l . F i n e sharks caught occasionally s o that a share can b u i l t v.p against t h e day when b u s i x . Our study of niarine sources has shown the wide variety of organisms in question, whether they originate from the ocean or wetlands or are found on exposed flats. 1. But we observed everywhere a p i g s a l n o s t , which, though terrible, was not in a bad condition, and the country had passed through a very severe drought, which lasted two years.
2 Pigs probably get an average of two coconuts a day b u t t h e p i g main foods are: t e boi t e x t e a - Portulaca samoensis of which two handfuls a day a r e given to o a - Portulaca olexacea; t e vao - Boerhavia diffusa;. But in other averages in these areas, t h i s f i g u r e does not decrease much, because one family may have i?O chickens while another has 2 or 3 with oil. in fact, it consumes other foods whose nature and quantity cannot be controlled.
Our modest contribution to the study of 'd e i r d i e t w i l l include, in addition to general information, some f i g u r e s prepared with the g r e e t possible accuracy. It would be necessary to find a factory with a lower degree of processing than bleached and polished r i c e, perhaps even last r i c e. 1.
