A TRIP TO A CORAL ISLAND.
The Ladrone Islands, which from time immemorial have belonged to
Spain, now, as is well known, belong to the United States. There is a
cable station on the chief island, Guam. The Ladrone Islands lie off
the coast of the Philippines, and are about three thousand miles from
the Hawaiian Islands in a west-southwest direction. The Island of
Guam has about five thousand inhabitants, mostly Philipinos, natives,
Chinese and Europeans. Guam, with its sandy beach, its cocoanut trees
and coral strand, puts one much in mind of the coral islands of story
books, where an open boat with boys of various ages have landed from
some wrecked vessel, and lived on fish, berries and cocoanuts, not
forgetting wild pigs and goats. Altogether it is typical of what all
boys read and would like to read again.
The coins used in trade are all Spanish, mostly of copper, but silver
is also used. The natives make mats, just such as our natives used to
make years ago in British Columbia, so finely woven as to hold water.
Water is carried in the Ladrone Islands in bamboos, the divisions
being cut out, and the whole bamboo filled with water and carried on
the shoulder. The usual vehicle is a two-wheeled cart, drawn by a
bull with long horns, the reins being fastened to the horns; certain
pulls on each horn turn him to left or right. They trot along like
ponies. The ruins exist of a Spanish church at Agana, over a
hundred years old, the bells belonging to it being hung in a low
tower near by.
Since the American occupation the natives have taken to baseball as a
recreation.
It is an interesting sight to see the native women wash clothes. They
stand in a stream up to their waists, and after soaping the clothes,
they pound them with a stone, or else take one end of the garment in
both hands and dash the other end up against a rock or board. The
natives have adopted a great many of the old Spanish customs among
themselves, including cock-fighting, which sport is carried on every
Sunday and holiday. Every man has his trained fighting-cock, and they
take great interest in the sport, staking large sums on their birds.
They lash sharp, razor-like knives on the birds' spurs, and the fight
seldom lasts more than a few minutes, and generally ends in one of
them being ripped up.
The native huts have always the roof and sometimes the walls covered
with palm leaves, which are impervious to rain, and will last about
five years, when they have to be renewed. The floor is generally
covered with rough boards, far enough off the ground to make a
chicken-house underneath, or else room to tie up a bull or cariboo,
or to put the bull-cart under.
One of the chief exports of the island is copra, which is the meat of
the cocoanut, picked and dried at a certain stage of its growth. In
front of nearly every native hut can be seen copra drying on mats,
and it is always taken in at night away from the dew. It is used to
make shredded cocoanut, cocoanut oil, soap and other things, and the
natives get about two and a half cents a pound for it.