Systems of Measurement on Woleai Atoll, 
Caroline Islands 
William H. Alkire 
Contents : 
I. Introduction 
II. Counting 
III. Measurement of Length 
IV. Measurement of Time 
V. Measurement of Distance 
VI. Districts 
VII. Summary and Conclusions 
I. Introduction 
1. Purpose 
The purpose of this analysis is primarily to present a detailed description 
of the various methods of measurement employed by the people of W oleai 
in an attempt to single out their guiding principles. This will be done through 
examination of selected areas of material culture and specialists knowledge. 
In this way I hope not only to arrive at a systematic picture of the basic 
concepts of the measurement process, but also to add a dimension to material 
culture studies of Oceania which has been largely ignored in the past h Second- 
1 My investigations were supported by research grant GS-506 from the National 
Science Foundation and administered through the Bernice Bishop Museum, Honolulu, 
Hawaii. I gratefully acknowledge this support. Field work on Wottagai and Falalus 
Islands of the Western Lagoon of Woleai was carried out from January, 1965 to January, 
1966. In 1962-63 I spent fifteen months in field work on Lamotrek atoll and some of 
the comparative information included in this article was gathered at that time. The 
Lamotrek work was supported by research grant M-5125 from the National Institute 
of Mental Health, Public Health Service. 
The orthography I use for transcribing Woleai words incorporates the following 
symbols: 
Consonants: p, bw, ch, g, (k), /, l, m, mw, n, ng, r, s, t; 
K. J. Narr 
1 ¿r 
Anthropos 65. 1970 
1