Preliminary Anthropologist's Report - Bikini Atoll Survey 1967 (Enclosures)

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Brief Historical Background The Bikini people had llved on their atoll for many generations. They and their fellow Mar~hallese came under the domination of foreigners less than one hundred years ago, The German regime was succeeded by that of the Japanese at the World War 1. The Japanese rule was terminated by the forces during World War 11. Contact with the Outside World The people of Bikini Atoll were not the Isolated twentieth century “Stone Age primitives” as described by sensationalist news reporters and other Journalists. They were and are, however, less sophisticated than other more acculturated Marshallese, but they had been In contact with the rest of the Marr)hall Island6, and had beet) exposed to at least some of the Every Ewo months a Japanese schooner visited Bikini to purchase copra and to sell food, clothing, and other goods. Every six months a Japanese official made a visit to the atoll. Some of the Blklni people visited other atol,ls, married out, and attended school elsewhere. Other Marshallese visited

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The small Bikini community had developed a close In-group ‘eeling durln& :-e yezrs. of relatlve isolation prior to the coming of the white man and f’o~indsatisfaction and 8ecurity in their closely knit personal relationships and communal life. World War 11 and the Bikini People The Bikini people were directly affected by World War II in that three of their youn~ men who had been attending the Japanese goverment school on Jaluit Atoll were drafted as laborer8 and sent to Enewetak Atoll. They were later killed there in the American bombing and bombardment of that huge and important Japaneae military base. There were only SIX Japanese soldiers at Bikini, however; wlrele3s station operators also manned the ammunltl.on stores. These men were all killed by American bombing at)d shellfn~. Little damage was done to Biklnl, however, and the Bikini people were much better off than Marshallese In areas such as Jaluit, Enewetak and Kwajalein, where heavy fl~hting occurred. The 131klni people suffered as did the other Marshallese, from the cut-off of supply lines from Japan with t’ne resultant cessation of imports of necessary consumer goods and exportation of copra. Communications were restored and wartime hardships were alleviated when the American armed forces captured the Mar3hall Islands early In 19~+~1. The ucrious hardships of the Bikini people were yet to come however.

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Early in 19L+b it IRS decided that 13ikint Atoll was the most suitable location for the testing of atcmic weapons. The Bikini people were a8ked to ltiave a?:d, as rr-i~gii~have been expected of a people of their hlstor~.cal conditioning to obedience, especially after more than a quarter of a centupJ of autocratic Japanese rule, agreed to leave their ancestral home. The poasibllitles of’ resettlement in the Narshalls were ‘<cry limited because land is scarce (only about 74 square miles) and very little of It Is available for aettlcment. The Marshallese jealously guard their land rights and will not wllllngly part with them.’ The 166 Blkinians were offered the c ~olce of moving to In the northwestern Marahalls. Ujae and Me were already regularly inhabited, but Rongerik was only exploited by the people of neighboring Rongelap, who had land rights on the atoll. These people visited Rongerik to make copra, to fish, and to gather other foods. For this reason, presumably, as well as the fact that It waa the closest to Blklni, the Bi!(ini people opted to go to Rongerik rather than A village was built on Rongerlk by Navy Seabees and a group of Bikini men, and all or the Blklni people were moved to that 1 For a detailed report of L!]P movemen~s of tne Bikini people from Bikini to Rongerik and to Kili, see Mason, Leonard The Vol. 9, No. 1, Spring 1950, pp. 5-15. —.

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~;ne attempt to sel;tle at Roni;erik was 3 failure, allegedly due to the lnGufflc.Leriu natural re30urce3. A Board of Investigation convened by the Navy on June 2, 1947, recommended that the displaced Biicinians be moved again. The Bikinians through their leader “King” Juda, as he was panied by three l.e.aders(slab) of Bikini, Inspected Rongerlk, Kili, Ujilangj Motto and U~ae to try to find a suitable place in which to i-eloc~te their people. ‘The Bikini people were as possible and had allcgcdl.y rcgarclcd the past and future ‘The pcrlod from June 2j ]947, to September 1, 1947, was spent in l.ns.petting these possible resettlement areas. On August 26, 1947 the council 01’ the ex-Blkinl people on Rongerlk sent tile followin~ letter to the American authorltlcs: (lentlemen: \/e the council have held a meeting to some other place3 to Inspect and have conproblem. The place we all agreed to stay on

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It wa6 obvious that the Bikini leaders refused to accept the fact :hat they would not be allowed to return to Bikini some day and for that reason preferred ‘to suffer the hardships of neighboring Rongerik to a new move, In hope of being able to return to their ancestral home. It was decided however, that the best Interests of the Bikini people would be 6erved by transferring them to Ujilang Atoll, the westernmost of the blarshalls. Ujilang belonged to the government, as heir to the Imperial Japanese government which had 8eized it from its former A group of’ Bikini men and Navy German owners, who had Seabees arrived at Ujllang In late November to prepare a village for another resettlement attempt. Shortly after their arrival, an announcement wa8 made that the atoll of Enewetak, west of Blklnl, and north of Ujilang, would be commandeered as another testing ground for atomic weapons. It wa~ then decided that the Enewetak lnhabltant~ would be resettled on Ujilang. This left the ex-Biklnl people right where they were 31x months earner, but undoubtedly with increased feelings of insecurity, frustration and general bewilderment. In January of 1948 Anthropologist Leonard Mason of the Univeralty of Hawaii, made a f’leld lnve8tigation of the problem at the request of the Nav. He found among other things that the relocated Blkinians were suffering serious hardshlpa on

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were not getting eno’~,gnto eat . He recommended that the Biklnl people be moved to another locatlon. Upon the ba8is of Mason’s investigation and recommendation, the ex-Blklni.ans were again moved to a temporary locatlon on Kwa.jalein Island In the middle in March, 1948. Here, In a “tent city” In the mldat of Marshallese workers from far and wide, as well aa thousands of American rnember8 of the armed forces, the wandering Blklnlans awaited the next move. Once again a tour of inspection was made of available and possible location8 for resettlement , The possiblliti.es finally narrowed down to Wotto Atoll, which waB populated, and the single island of Kill In the southern Marahalls. Kill was not populated and was U.S. The majority of the Blklni people allegedly voted for Kill as against Wotto, and in early November of 1948 the 184 Bikinlans were transferred to Kill Island. z The new home of the Bikini people is a low single coral Island about one and one half miles long, on an axis of 063° true, and Is approximately three-fourths of a mile wide at Its widest point. The extent of the area IS only 0.36 square miles, with no lagoon area and a small frlnglng reef. This compares 2 The Increase In population was caused by the addition of Bikinlans who had married out, plus their spouses and

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very unfavorably, of course, with the 2.s2 square miles of dry land area, the 22g.bC square miles of’lagoon area, and the large reef areas of Bikini Atoll. Klli waa purchased by German traders from the local chiefs ,ana 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. Fooa was brought in from Jaluit Atoll, about thirty miles to the southeast. Chickens and swine were mlsed to supplement the Imported foodstuffs, A small number of breadfrul.ttreeE were planted and used, but the island was primarily a copra plantation. Kill passed into the hands of the United States Government following World War 11, and the few remaining plantation workers were evacuated. Klli, lying as it does In the southern Marshall, enjoys a heavy rainfall and has rtch and deep soil, for the Marshalls. Most of the island, 1.98.04 acres have been planted to coconut palms (191.17 acres). A taro patch area occupies the center of the Island to the extent of 4.25 acres. There are a number of bearing breadfruit trees, 3 some edible pandanus, as well as banana, papaya and pumpkin plantings. 3 A serious breadfriut bllght has destroyed many of the trees on Kill and remains unchecked. A method of controlling th18 menace has not yet been found.

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Unfortunately, the lack of s lagoon or protected anchorage presents very serious problems to the inhabitants of Klli. The unfavorable axis of the island (063-240°) In relation to the prevailing northeast trade winds and the 8helving comparatively narrow reef, are factors which cause the Island to be isolated during many month6 of the year. From December through March . the equatorial front lies to the south, and northeasterly winds able. From November into late March it Is possible to get a boat ashore only during a few very brief. periods, because of the large breakers which crash against the rocky beaches. Copra cannot be loaded and trade goods cannot be off-loaded. These unfavorable surf conditions naturally prevent utilization of the Important marine reaource8, which at best are infinitely poorer than those of the atoll. of Bikini. The Resettlement on Kill The ex-Biklnl people apparently experienced difficulty in adjusting to Kili from almost the very beginning. This was due in part to the different ecological conditions. The change from an atoll exlstance where marine resources were abundant and the lagoon and land areas stretched away ae far as the eye could see, to a Bmall, isolated island without a lagoon, and without the rich Kili was and has marine re80urces which are found in an atoll drastic. This psychological attitude toward continued to be a vital Importance in the lack of adjustment. The refusal to accept the move to Kill as final

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and desirable has prevented a wholehearted attempt LO adjust in the Marshall Island. He li’~cd on Kill for several prolonged period3 and was able to see what ilfe on Kill is like. In his opinion the complaints cf the ex-Bikini people on Kill are valld. :ondltlons are ccrtair]ly unfavorable. There are pczrlcdnwhen the island is isolated and the people are very short of food. There i:; no doubt that Kill could 8upport a smaller population, U the island could be supplied adequately from the outside world. However, the only solution acceptable to the former Bikir?lans, as a ‘;;l~ole,Is to return them to Attempts to ~lid In uhe Adjustment Process— The Administration of the Trust TerrlCory made various efforts to assist the relocated Blkiniana to make a successful turned over to the group. This was to be used to supply the Island in addition to the regular field trip stops. The craft was soon lost in the surf due to m13handli.ng by the lrlexperlenced crew. A second craft was provided several years later. Thl.s was a great help but was lost in a typhoon which swept throuEh the southern ltirshails Iri December of 195”/. Government land was provided for the usc 01’ the Kili peop”le on the rleigltborlng atoll of Jaiuit, Several acres on Jabwor Island were u3ed as a village area. Houses, a storehouse, and other

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structures were erected by the government. These were to be used by t’he membero of’ the Kili boat crew and others while the craft was anchored off Jabwor. Three smaller islands were provided from which the Kill residents of Jabwor could obtain c~conuts, pandanus and other local foods. The typhoon wiped out the village on JabwoP and the few Kill people there left the atoll for good. A community development project was set up to assiet the Kill people to develop and exploit the resources of the island to the maximum. Handicraft production was stimulated. The production of the now famouB Klli Bags has continued but other Items are no longer made for export. Attempts were made to exploit the large taro patch area as a source of food, and possibly cash income. Two taro lifts were made to Kusale Island in the Ponape District. Large quantities of high quallty taro plants were obtained and planted on Kill. It 8oon became obvious that the former Blkinians, to whom taro waa a very minor and unimportant item, were not interested In cultivating thl~ useful plant. It should be added that taro cultivation 18 becoming increasingly of less Importance throughout the Mar8hal18, even In those areas in the. southern Marshall where taro once flourished. The taro patch itself was ruined during the typhoon of December 195’7. Wave action flooded the area with salt water, which killed the few plants which were left and affected the freshwater lens.

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some time after the typhoon. ~~ was not continued by the Attempts by the Admlnlscre’clon to obtain another location for the displaced Bik2_nian~ have been abortive. The economic difft.cultles of the former Bikini people were alleviated w’nen they were paid the sum of $325~000 ‘~Y the Government In exchan&e for the use of Bikini Atoll. The Interest from the trust fund, into which $300,000 was placed is a guaranteed income which nslps the local economy. This ‘Ail] become less significant as the population increases, as lt has since the fund wao established In 1956. Present Attitudes Toward Kili The atti.tude8 of Magistrate Jucia, the leader of the Kill commurlity, and of other leading people of the community with whom I talked on Majuro, Kwajaleln and Ebeye in connection witil the Bikini Atoll Survey, seemed to be unchanged. They still say t;hat Kili is no good, it is like a prison, there Is not enough food there, and the like. The same objections which were made over a decade ago are still made, All of the people whom I 5.ntervlewed Btated that they wanted to return to Blklni to live. They were all very anxious about the survey and what the results would be j-n terms of’ their being allowed to return to Blklni or not.

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to be able to live on Kili, even if s return to Bikini is pos- ~ible. None of those with whom I spoke said that this was their wish however. Apparently at leaat some of the former Blkinians have made an ad~u~trnent of ~orts of Kill. I was also told, in connection with this, that even though some of the people wanted to live on Kili, everyone wants to go to Bikini first and see their kcme atoll. In order to evaluate this …