Rensselaer Republican, Volume 25, Number 14, Rensselaer, Jasper County, 1 December 1892 — WALLED IN BY CORAL. [ARTICLE]

WALLED IN BY CORAL.

Natives Found on the Hidden Plateau of a Little Island. A curious discovery has been made on the island of Kitaba, one of the Trobriand group, off the northeastern coast of New Guinea. A great many sailors passing this little island have imagined it had no inhabitants because they saw no evidence of human occupation. Sir William McGregbr, the adtuinistrutor of British New Guidea, says the island has an area of only five or six squre miles. On all sides it presents a low and slightly sloping margin, usually a quarter of a mile broad, covered by heavy timber. Within is a precipitous coral wall which can be ascended only in a few places. The bank rises to a height of 300 to 400 feet. Onee at the top the visitor finds this wall a plateau which occupies the whole of the center of the island and is from 50 to 100 feet below the wall surrounding it. There about 1,000 natives live and till their gardens. The rich, chocolate colored soil yields them an ample supply of food. "Tbeylire completely protected from the wind by the rocky rim that incloses their plateau. The island seems to have been an atoli which was lifted above the sea several hundred feet, so that the atoll ring now forms the coral wall surrounding the plateau. On this elevated and almost iDaocessible plain are thirteen villages each ofi which contains over twenty houses. Sir William McGregor says the natives gave him a most pleasant reception. He found it difficult to travel through some villages on account of the yams, cocoanuts, mats and other articles that were laid down hefore_hiinfor. his acceptance. There are uo inter-tribal~hostilities, and it is not possible for the natives of other islands to oppress" the people, because on their plateau, naturally fortified as it is. they are inaccessible to the hostile tribes. The drainage of the plateau is excellent. There are great cavities in the coral wall through which the rainfall filters and makes it way to the sea.