Water, Breadfruit, Coconuts

The 161 gentle and soft-voiced natives of Bikini Atoll did not see the two terrible explosions that took place there in 1946. They had been taken by the U.S. Navy to another island called Rongerik. They did not like Rongerik. The fishing was not good; there was not enough fresh water; drought had decimated the coconuts.

They were homesick for Bikini, and the Navy could not make them fully understand why Bikini was not a suitable home any more. But the Navy could take them somewhere else. The native leaders looked over several other islands and finally chose a mile-long speck called Kili, 500 miles from their original home. There was no lagoon but there was plenty of water, much breadfruit and many coconuts, more than on Rongerik, more even than on loved and unforgotten Bikini. Last week the little band of atomic exiles, now numbering 181, were settled on Kili, making the best of things and hoping never to have to move again.

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