a

nets,

Shore time activities for men are primarily limited to fishing with throw
long nets and cane poles.

On the other hand children spend long hours playing on the beach and in
tne sand.
It was estimated that as a minimum, they occupy this area during two
hours of daily activity.

time

From the above discussion it can be seen that by far the largest amount of
in the living pattern of the islanders is spent within the village area.

During the largest proportion of it (45 to 49 hours), they are involved in child
raising, handicraft fabrication and relaxation.
Indeed it is a rare instance
when one stops at an islander's house to find no one there.
Such situations

occur only during major celebrations or during the arrival of a trading vessel.
To understand the leisurely pace of life on the outer atolls of the
Marshalls, it is perhaps best to pay attention to the subsistence activities,
and the life and culture supporting functions which are based upon the coconut
palm.
The palm has been said to be the mother of Pacific man and truly it is
tne pillar upon which island life revolves.
From the preceding section on diet,
it is apparent that by the islanders own estimate, the coconut palm provides

from 48 to 58 percent of the food for the traditional as well as the contempo-

rary local diet.
Fish, which can also be gathered quickly and in great abundance constitute the second major portion of the diet and the other main support
ror island life and culture.
Together these two items provide from 78 to 84 percent of the local food diet.
It is upon the availability of these staples,
which the environment provides abundantly, that atoll life, as we know it today

was established,

Even though many of the subsistence skills which enabled the

ancestors of the present islanders to thrive and establish their once selfreliant culture have been lost, and though the islanders can in no sense be

considered or expected to be totally self-sufficient in terms of their diet, the
local food resource foster and support this leisurely pace of life. They can be
expected to turn to it in lean times, when for one reason or another the much
preferred rice, sugar and flour imports become scarce or unattainable.

ia

-23-

Select target paragraph3