Above: At end of five hours’ sailing to cover the thirty miles from Jaluit Atoll, the schooner “Libra” makes her landfall at the north-east end of Kili.
“Libra’’ serves as a lifeline for Kilians, bringing supplies and taking away copra.
pandanus, and coconut.
Right: Kili’s single street today is lined with thriving banana,
On the right in the distanze are island's dispensary, council house, and store.
all profits, leaving the store without
capital for further operation.
Another reason for the Council’s
other
is that some members wish to limit all
taken measures to reduce this disadvantage of the reef. Properties on thirtymile-distant Jaluit Atoll were reserved
from Japanese pre-war holdings to provide a lagoon-sheltered site for a small
present hesitancy to define a share system
benefits to those Kilians who took part
in the store’s development but others re-
fuse to exclude their absentee kinsmen,
many of whom have never set foot upon
Kili’s rugged shores.
Although Council expression on the
matter is yet lacking, it is conceivable
that procedures already adopted for land
favourable
features
associated
with the site tended to obscure the pres-
ence of this handicap.
Trust Territory officials have since
colony of Kilians, and a fifty-foot
schooner with auxiliary engine was reconditioned for inclusion in the Kili DevelopmentProject with intent that Kilians
allocation and for distribution of recent
settlement funds may suggest a way to
solve the problem of the store’s ownership, i.e., issuance of shares to kin
will eventually take over its operation.
Although weather conditions during
winter months are such that wind and
ship, delegating to each bamile the deter-
safe anchorageoff the Kili reef, commercial vessels originating at Majuro or
Kwajalein)
and
following
carefully
groups in proportion to size of member-
mination of individuals’ rights in the
sea abate enough at intervals to permit
store (it is not likely that an entire bamle
will now withdraw its support from the
scheduled runs throughout the south-
Question has recently been raised by
Trust Territory officials about the legal
right of the Council to incur debts in its
importing of trade goods: while the
culty in serving Kili has been a constant
venture which has proven so vital to the
island’s economy).
Council is popularly viewed as synonymous with community it does not
truly represent the existing island popu-
lation insofar as some bamle heads are
not councillors. Neither is the concept
of community well defined with respect to the status of off-island members.
Inter-Island Communication
Communications between Kili and the
rest of the Marshalls are hampered by
the coral reef that marches unbroken
aroundthelittle island. From November
to May only occasional breaks in the
blustery weather permit boat landings
from a ship, or canoe launchings through
the
rough
surf, without considerable
danger to life and property. This was
well realized as a serious problem when
ex-Bikinians first settled on Kili, but
western Marshalls frequently arrive off
Kili in adverse weather, and must perforce continue on to the next stop. Diffithreat to the island’s economy: local food
the vessel by the Kili Council unless
government subsidy is continued. If the
Libra or its equivalent is restricted to the
Jaluit-Kili trade, as administrative policy
now decrees, the island’s economy is not
broad enough to support the venture
unaided. It has been considered to enter
the ship into commerce within the
southern Marshalls in order to expand
the basis of potential revenue, since the
Libra has not been in uninterrupted
operation between Jaluit and Kili. Such
procedure, however, would tend to re-
strict the immediate availability of the
vessel for use during the unpredictable
breaks in the rougher winter weather.
Recent reports of the Libra’s loss off Kili
in a tropical storm may render this an
academic question, but in any case no
completely satisfactory answer to the
Kili reef has yet been proposed.
Integration Within Marshall Islands
Society
In the overall view, possibly the most
production, when not supplemented by
significant aspect of Kili in transition is
the progress Kilians are making toward
integration within the larger Marshall
Administration has constructed six living
their removal from Bikini, these people
employed three families from Kili to
isolation than other Marshallese because of their marginal geographic
trade imports, is still insufficient to meet
the community’s entire needs.
Aspart of its development project the
units on the Jaluit property and_ has
Islands society, For generations prior to
as a community experienced more social
clear and plant the area.
During the past eighteen months the
location and a traditional preference for
manned by Kilian trainees, has been a
Bikinians as different in dialect and other
project ship Libra, based at Jaluit and
welcome
innovation
in
the
islanders’
view. Radio contact between Kili and
Jaluit permits relay of weather data and
notice of projected sailings. When con-
ditions are favourable the Libra undertakes a quick roundtrip, delivering trade
supplies from a depot on Jaluit and
returning with Kili copra.
Some doubt has arisen regarding the
feasibility of independent operation of
marriage within the local group. Even
now many Marshallese perceive the ex-
mannerisms.
Kilians, for their part, are reluctant to
engage in social intercourse with other
Marshallese and timidly admit a cultural
inferiority with which they are often
charged.
Nonetheless, this socio-cultural insularity has been breached in the last few
years. Channels exist by means of which
Kilians may in time achieve a more