Nauru

“ NAURU LAND 21.2 km2; insignificant arable land, no urban areas, extensive phosphate mines
WATER Limits of territorial waters (claimed) : 12 nm (fishing 200 nm; exclusive economic zone 200 nm)
Coastline: 24 km
PEOPLE Population: 9,000 (July 1982) , average annual growth rate 1.7%
Nationality: noun—Nauruan (s) ; adjective—Nauruan
Ethnic divisions: 58% Nauruans, 26% other Pacific Islanders, 8% Chinese, 8% Europeans
Religion: Christian (two-thirds Protestant, one-third Catholic)
Language: Nauruan, a distinct Pacific Island tongue ”

“ The islands of the south Pacific are to be ruled as though they were an integral [Pg 356] part of New Zealand and Australia, yet they have their own facets just as the Dominions had their own problems within the empire. They afford them certain commercial advantages: copra and cocoa from Samoa, phosphate from Nauru, which alone has an estimated deposit amounting to forty-two million tons. Nauru is of utmost importance to them because they are extensive agricultural countries. It has been agreed that Great Britain take 42%, Australia 42%, and New Zealand 16% of the export. ”

“ Nauru is one of the three great phosphate rock islands in the
Pacific Ocean - the others are Banaba (Ocean Island) in Kiribati and
Makatea in French Polynesia; only 53 km south of Equator
@Nauru:People
Population: 10,149 (July 1995 est.)
Age structure: 0-14 years: NA 15-64 years: NA 65 years and over: NA
Population growth rate: 1.33% (1995 est.)
Birth rate: 18.03 births/1,000 population (1995 est.)
Death rate: 5.1 deaths/1,000 population (1995 est.)
Net migration rate: 0.4 migrant (s) /1,000 population (1995 est.)
Infant mortality rate: 40.6 deaths/1,000 live births (1995 est.) ”

“ As there is no harbor, ships in rough weather have to lay to until the sea moderates enough to permit surf boats, carrying two tons, to come alongside. Sir Arthur Gordon, afterward Lord Stanmore, a former governor of Fiji and Higu Commissioner of the Western Pacific, having jurisdiction over the Gilbert and Ellice Islands, granted concessions to this company and subsequently became their chairman.
The island of Nauru, not far distant, on the equator, is claimed to possess larger deposits of phosphates than Ocean Island, estimated at 40,000,000 tons and valued at 100,000,000 pounds. ”

“ His Majesty desires to place the Territory of Nauru under the Trusteeship System, and the Governments of Australia, New Zealand and the United Kingdom undertake to administer it on terms set forth in the present Trusteeship Agreement. ”

“ Naurangpur is the station of the deputy tahsildar and of an ámin of the Jeypore estate. Population 3,203; height above the sea, 1,918 feet. It consists of one broad street, in which are the public offices and the residence of the ráni referred to below, with a few lanes on either side. The place is a great centre for the export of grain, and is known for the lac toys (see p. 129) which are made in it and for its splendid avenues and topes, one of which consists of a quadruple row of trees two miles long. ”

“ From time immemorial Tapuwaeharuru has been the centre of a large Maori population, and all around this portion of the lake may yet be seen the remains of old pas and other evidences of the fast-decaying native race. There is still a considerable number of natives living in the vicinity, and the township is usually full of them. [Pg 137] Many of the men are tall and finely built, and, in fact, this portion of the country has been at all times renowned for the splendid physical development of the native race, some of the tallest and most powerful men in the island hailing from these parts. ”

“ Of the great Buddhist temple Kobuku-ji, founded in 710, and burnt for the third time in 1717, there remains little save two lofty pagodas. A railway now gives access to the town, but every effort is made to preserve all the ancient features of Nara. A museum has been formed, where many antique objects of great interest are displayed, as well as works from the hands of comparatively modern artists. Nara in the days of its prosperity is said to have had a population of a quarter of a million. ”

“ It was covered by mats prettily fringed with coloured parrot feathers. There were three great doors, east, west, and south, each framing in its dark-set opening a different picture of surpassing loveliness. Nalolo town (its name is on the map of Fiji, but it reads otherwise) stands very high on the sheer crest of a pointed green hill that is just like the enchanted hill in the pictures of a fairy tale. There is a little round green lawn on the top, and all about it stand the high, pointed beehive houses of the town, each perched on its own tiny mound like a toy on a stand. ”

“ In this calmer day, the Japanese of whatever faith look upon this ancient pagoda, the old bell, and the venerable buildings of the Buddhist establishments as the pride of Nara.
The town of Nara is a well-kept little provincial settlement, but with nothing especially characteristic or interesting in its clean streets. One goes to see the black gnomes at work, kneading their dough of rapeseed-oil, soot, and glue, pressing it into moulds, baking it, and supplying the country with its best writing ink. While the Japanese india-ink is not equal to the Chinese ink, some of it is very expensive. ”

“ The Maori population, at the present time, on the West Coast number only between fifty and sixty.
As a rule they are all comfortably settled on their reserves. At the Arahura they have established a settlement, with a school, where the Native children are taught the rudiments of the English language. Many of them have provided themselves with horses, drays, and buggies, and have well built and equally well furnished houses. They are quiet, sober, and peaceable, though apathetic and improvident, apparently caring for nothing beyond the present. ”

“ This sketch of the history of the Waipa district centreing in Te Awamutu has been written especially with a view to interesting the younger generation of colonists, and the now large population on both sides of the old Maori border, in the uncommonly dramatic story of the beautiful country in which their homes are set. The original settlers to whom many of the events here described were matters of personal knowledge are fast passing away, and a generation has arisen which has but a vague idea of the local history and of the old heroic life on the Waipa plains. ”

“ The younger and more energetic of the population assembled from all districts in the island to look on. They brought “heu-heu” (feathers on the top of sticks) , tied pua on to them, and stuck the sticks in the ground all round the place. The inhabitants of the neighbouring districts brought offerings of food to Ngaara, that he should be able to supply the multitude, and the oven was “five yards along.” The gathering was near the principal ahu, midway between the sandy shore and the background of hills. ”

“ Narea, the southmost province of the Abyssinian empire, is still governed by its native princes, who are called the Beneros; its territory reached formerly to Bizamo.
The Galla have quite surrounded them, especially on the south-east and north. What is to the west is a part of Africa, the most unknown. The people of Narea have a small trade with Melinda on the Indian Ocean, and with Angola on the western, by means of intermediate nations. Narea is abundantly supplied with gold from the Negro country that is nearest them. Some have, indeed, said there is gold in Narea ”

“ The physiographic charm of the country on the north side of the Puniu and the east side of the Waipa River is produced by the gently-rolling lie of the land with its countless sheltered valleys and its well-sunned slopes, with its leisurely-winding streams, with here and there a small lake; the old Maori garden lands of Te Awamutu, Rangiaowhia, Kihikihi, and Orakau, now covered with pakeha farms and tree-groves, with fat flocks and herds, and wearing all the aspect of a comfortable countryside enriched by the tillage of two generations of white farmers. ”

“ Again, there ought to be traces of some recollection of the black or very dark brown Negritto races of Indonesia, called Papuans, which name is said to be derived from the Malay word Puapua, frizzled hair. Students of New Zealand history are aware that in the Maori traditions there are incidental notices of an ancient people called Manahune or Manahua, who are by some supposed to be a diminutive race, and somewhat like the elves of old-world stories. But they are not said to have lived in New Zealand. ”

“ During that period—probably during the life of Nanaula—other chiefs of less importance arrived with their families and followers either from Tahiti or Samoa. They came in barges and large double canoes capable of accommodating from fifty to one hundred persons each. They brought with them not only their priests and gods, but the earliest of Polynesian traditions. It is thought that none of the pioneers of the time of Nanaula ever returned to the southern islands, nor did others immediately follow the first migratory wave that peopled the Hawaiian group. ”

“ The bulk of the land in the North Island belongs to the Maori tribes, who sell tracts of it to Government or private individuals occasionally. In the South Island all the waste land is the property of the Crown—a nice little estate of about the size of England and Wales. Most of the Kaipara district belonged to the Ngatewhatua tribe when we came on the scene; and the early settlers bought their stations from them. ”

“ Scenery there is, much of it splendid in its grandeur; forests primæval, in which for centuries trees have flourished, perished, untouched by saw or axe; mountain peaks, snow fields, great stretches of glacier, extensive plains, streams, lake and rivers, but, until the last few years, absolute solitude so far as any association with man is concerned. In the North Island there are certain associations with Maori history, but not extending over more than some two hundred years, and of a very slight legendary character. ”

“ But it is on the western slopes of Haleakala that the main battle goes on. Here Naulu masses his heaviest formations and wins his greatest victories. Ukiukiu grows weak toward late afternoon, which is the way of all trade-winds, and is driven backward by Naulu. Naulu’s generalship is excellent. All day he has been gathering and packing away immense reserves. As the afternoon draws on, he welds them into a solid column, sharp-pointed, miles in length, a mile in width, and hundreds of feet thick. ”

“ I heard a slight movement in the darkness among the Maori gods, and was about to ask who was there, when Miriam clutched my arm and pointed towards the head of the marble stairs which led up into the cave. There, framed in the rugged archway, stood the tall figure of Ngaraki the Terrible, clad in his flowing robe—a magnificent Maori, whose flashing eye was hard to meet, whose proud, fierce, but noble bearing marked him out as a ruler of men. His eyes were fixed upon the white figure in the centre of the cave, standing where Hinauri had for ever stood. ”

“ It would appear, then, that when the Arawa canoe touched the newly discovered shores of Aotearoa there was among the dusky adventurers a chief who bore the title of Ngatoroirangi, a name which signifies in the Maori mythology a high priest or deified man. [Pg 182] After the natives had formed a settlement at Maketu, Ngatoroirangi was the first to set out, in company with his slave, Ngauruhoe, to explore the new land. Striking into the interior, he crossed the plains of Taupo, and then along the lake, into which he cast his staff, which the natives state became a great totara tree. ”

“ The ancient Maori story of the Waipa plains and downs, as preserved by the word-of-mouth historians, the old men of the tribes, is a record of land-seeking, exploration, and place-naming by the chiefs who came in the Tainui canoe, and by Rakataura the priest; then a succession of tribal feuds and wars, raids, pa-buildings and pa-stormings, ambush, massacre, slave-taking, and man-eating. That warrior tale need not be gone into here; we take up our story of Te Awamutu with the first introduction of the pakeha interest, and in truth the place was savage and rough enough then. ”

“ The District between Nanduri Bay and Wailevu River The sea-border between Nanduri Bay and Middle Point, nearly four miles to the east, consists of a fringe of lowland margined by the mangrove-belts and banked by a line of hills between a quarter and two-thirds of a mile inland. These hills form a continuation of the Nawavi coast range of mountains extending from Ravi-ravi Point to Nanduri. They attain their greatest height in the case of Ulu-i-sori, a cockscomb-like peak 1,141 feet above the sea. ”

“ In the north many road and other contracts for public works are now taken up and faithfully carried through by natives. Round the vicinity of Napier and Wanganui, Taranaki, and other centres, partnerships have been formed between Maoris and white settlers; and farms, sheep-runs, saw-mills, and other industries are carried on jointly. The old native dress is giving place to the perhaps less graceful habiliments of modern civilization. ”

“ The kingdom of Narea stands like a fortified place in the middle of a plain. Many rivers, rising in the fourth and fifth degrees of latitude, spread themselves, for want of level, over this flat country, and stagnate in very extensive marshes from south by east, to the point of north, or north-west. ”