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Chapter 2
ENVIRONMENTon RONGELAP
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and AILINGINAE ATOLLS
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2.1 RONGELAP vaigar
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landlobtneecltioastasgeofRongelap Atoll. A sketch of
the native village andianog
(Figure 2.1).4
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a RongelayInlandare presented on the following page
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2.2.DWELLINGS-#...oe
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The majority.of tinenotiveatines|were,pole sad:palm-leaf construction (Figures
2.2 and 2.3). A few lounbg.warepartially construoted of lumber (Figure 2.4). The average home had a coral “‘pebble”’ floor, either bare or covered in part with palm-leaf
mats. A few houses had a connecting shed or lean~totype of roof with facilities for cook‘‘indoors’’ during rainy weather (Figure 2.5). Strips of burlap or canvas were hung at
windows and doorways. There was little screening. Doors and windows were left open
most of the time.
Several houses had a partially elevated floor or storage loft. A few
natives had cots; however, most of them slept on palm-leaf mats on the floor.
Out~buildings, {.@., cook houses (see Figure 2.6), chicken houses, copra drying-
sheds, and storage shedg, were usually shared by one or more families who lived as a
group (see also References 1, 3, 5, and 6).
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2.3 FOODd. |
Coconuts and starcli-foods comprised thebulkof the native
© diet. Coconut meat was
Coconut milk sérved as an important supplement tothe
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uritiy the dry months. Cocomut sprouts are edible. Babies dre
breast-fed by the myetiye’fie a short time and then fed the freshly collected sap of the
coconut tree (jekaro).
Wha allowed to ferment, jekaro is a potent alcoholic beverage.
The principal starch foods eaten were rice, taro, arrowroot (a potato-like edible
root), and starch tubes (mokmok, made from arrowroot, is similar to macaroni).
(See
Reference 7, page 172 for preparation of mokmok.) Taro root is powdered, then mois-
tened, and compressed into cakes or balls, approximately a foot in diameter. It can be
kept indefinitely in this form. Taro is used for making bread anddoughnuts.
Various sea foods comprise the next most important part of thenative diet. Fish
are plentiful and are eaten fresh or dried, raw or cooked. Clams, oysters, crabs,
‘ Maps showing location of Marshall Islands included in References 1—6.
2 The key to Holmes and Narver, Rongelap Map, Misc. 254, contains the dimensions
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3
and type construction of each building.