very unfavorably, of course, with the 2.32 square miles of dry land area, the 229.40 square miles of lagoon area, and the large reef areas of Bikini Atoll. Kili was purchased by German traders from the local chiefs and was operated as a commercial copra plantation by the Germans. The title to the island was transferred to the Japanese Government when the Japanese seized the Marshalls in 1914, It was leased to a Japanese company and operated as a copra plantation until 1940. There were allegedly not more than about thirty Marshallese laborers working on the plantation at a time. Food was brought in from Jaluit Atoll, thirty miles to the southeast. Chickens and swine were raised to supplement the imported foodstuffs. fruittrees were planted and used, copra plantation. Kili passed about A small number of bread- but the island was primarily a into tne hands of the United States Government following World War II, and the few remaining plantation workers were evacuated, Kili, lying as it does in the southern Marshall, neavy rainfall and has rich and deep soil, Most of the island, palms island 3 A taro patch area occupies the center to the extent of bearing breadfruit banana, for the Marshalls. 198.04 acres have been planted to coconut (191.17 acres). of the enjoys a of 4.25 acres. There are a number trees, some edible pandanus, as well as papaya and pumpkin plantings. A serious breadfriut blight has destroyed many of the trees on Kili and remains unchecked. A method of controlling this menace has not yet been found,