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j Island of Yap Once UsedAragonite for CurrencySome years ago, gays Stone and Webster Bulletin, the people on the-Island of Yap bad a credit system, based upon aragonite, a kind of limestone not found locally but transported witb great labor from a distant island.Units of aragonite, known as fei,. were left on deposit and seldom moved even though the ownership of the units might change.The importance of a claim on these deposits was illustrated when the Germans, upon taking over the island In1889, ordered the people to put theroads in good repair. Nothing was done. The Germans then had a black cross painted on each of the aragonite units as a sign that the deposits were I claimed by the government as a fine for disobedience. The people quicklyput the roads in splendid shape, theGermans removed the crosses and the deposits were unencumbered.On the return voyage from one mining expedition a storm came up andthe raft carrying th? aragonite had to be cut adrift The precious masssank, bnt the miners did not lose a fortune. They traded on the aragonite deposited at the bottom of thesea just as if it had been “in thebank.”The diameter of the*fei varied from6 inches to 12 feet and the value was in proportion to the size. A 8-foot fei in normal times represented the commodity equivalent of either 1,000 coconuts or a 100-pound pig.Under foreign influence the people of Yap replaced aragonite with gold as a credit base, and the fei became merely ornamental.
Newspaper Details
Lowville Black River Democrat
Lowville, New York, US
Thu, Oct 18, 1934
Page 1
Full Page
Clipped by
Anonymous
USA 09 Apr 2023
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