Chapter Four ¢g7z1005 Ronpeok and Kwapeler t Aye Coppa impressed the Bikinians. The island's developmen ased it plantation had begun in the 1870s when a trader purch and Ger , from a paramount chief. Kili passed to German hands ved the plan: man, and later, Japanese plantation managers impro rows af tation. By the end of the Japanese period, well-ordered of excellent quality coconut palms covered ninety-five percent althe island. Few pandanustrees and na arrowroot had been Bikinians lad lowed on the plantation. Crops with which the potato, and little familiarity - breadfruic, papaya, banana, sweet thirty toland tara remained fron the small population of about an the isdand, boast ers who luacl worked als laborers tesa were bel nity. As Kah sufficient in quantity Co support the Bikint Commo crops were tn all er, had been uninhabited for four years, howev maximum abundance when the Bikinians surveyed it. shelKili has great disadvantages. It has neither lagoon nor Cheops, tl lease uu thes Weapdos ative stapes, Peapibdae Fobeode OCC bee aod cate than do the plants common to Bikion Che cuttvacena of tara is especially arduous and involves long hour of continuous back steamy labor, The administration assumed chacatche Gektnians were reset thed on Kili, the palm proves would yield a coconut crop fara excess of the people's subsiscence needs and that this surphe. could be Converted into copra and a substantial cash income bot the purchase of imported foods. At the peak of the copra tore in the date PO 3OQs, an annual AVCT ABE of one himdred tons ofc op racwere prodiwcdon Koby an moun) five times peeater chan ehe nas tnunn wnnual yield at Birkin Olfiiads chouphe chat weel hoient planning and management of resources, the Bikintans oould store up oa quantity of imported food apamse the winter season when they would be cuc off from fishing and the outside work feeding grounds tered fishing area, and the reef shelf offers poor The Bikinis, however, had ticle experience in trading. and com the open ocean water fish as cuna and bonito which arc found in required, such deep for marine life. ‘The mose abundant marine fauna are northeast to aground the island. Kili’s long axis tends in an case a lagoon, ts west-southwest direction, which in the absence of co the northeast quite unfavorable because it runs alinost parallel as leeward, and trades. No side of the island can be described might otherwise which s there is no protected anchorage for vessel conditions occur be used for trolling the ocean waters. The worst create heavy from November to late spring when the tradewinds spells cur cal uent infreq for t surf which isolates Kili and excep thirty tails fishing. In Japanese times, vessels based at Jaluit Atoll shore con miles away took advantage of such calms to make the exis: to Kili to load copra and unload supplies. Carving out an winter months tence on Kili is made even more difficult during the with the when the season of minimal breadfruit yield coincides roughseas. Skills and work habits quite different from those of the Br kinians were required on Kili. To achieve an adequate subsistence level, they would have to rely less on marine resources and take full advantage of che island’s agricultural potential. Their casual attitude toward agricultural work would have to be abandoned and they would have to learn and practice the techniques required to cultivate the subsistence crops unfamiliar to them. All of these mercial operations and lacked the managerial and planning shill. Kili also offered the potential for incteased contacts with the Marshallese who had had the longest contace with foreipner.. Within a sixty five mile radius of Kili are the three southernmost atolls of the Ralik chain. As noted, Jaluit, the former capital of the German and Japanese colonial governments, is only thirty miles co the northease. Ebon, where both missionaries and tea ers bepan their activities in the 1850s, is sixty five miles to che southwest, and Namorik is siecty miles due west. All were served by the southwestern field trip which originated: at Majuro Atoll some 170 niles to the northeast in the Ratak cham. During the first years of the American administration, che southern atoll: were wdannistesed from Majuro and the notdhern atolls trom: ot fices at Kwajalein. Inthe fall of 1948 Majuro became the diacniet center from which all of the Marshalls were admintstered. Thus, ithe Bikinians were to make a suceesstul adaptation to Kili, chey would have to alter the entire basis of their econs mic system and acquire new skills and work habits. Further, che Bikinians would no longer be isolated at che farchermose ends of ship routes and distant from the center of government activity. Increased contacts with more acculcurated ishinders would be in evitable, and the Bikinians would be required to make an adjuct 99