THE USEFUL PLANTS OF THE ISLAND OF GUAM. 
By WitiiaAmM Epwin SAFForpD. 
INTRODUCTION. 
ORIGIN AND PURPOSE OF THE PRESENT WORE, AND 
ACKNOWLEDGMENTS. 
During a series of cruises in the Pacific Ocean the routine of my 
official duties was pleasantly broken by frequent excursions on shore 
for the purpose of collecting material for the United States National 
Museum, as well as for recreation. While sitting in native huts and 
while wading upon coral reefs, traversing forests and climbing moun- 
tains, | interested myself in taking notes on the languages and customs 
of the natives, their arts, medicines, food materials and the manner of 
preparing them, and the origin of their dyes, paints, fibers for fishing 
nets and lines, materials for mat making and thatching, woods used 
in constructing their houses and canoes, and gums and resins used in 
calking. 
In attempting to identify many of the plants entering into their 
economy, I felt the need of some popular work containing the com- 
mon names of the more important species in various island groups, 
together with their descriptions and the uses to which they are applied 
in various parts of the world, the methods of their cultivation, and 
the processes of preparing the commercial staples which they yield. 
Some information of this nature may be derived from accounts of mis- 
sionaries, travelers, and explorers, but our ship’s library was woefully 
lacking in such works, and much of the information contained in 
the books which were available was incomplete and untrustworthy. 
Works of a scientific nature, such as the Botany of the Challenger 
Expedition, though discussing the geographical distribution of strand 
plants and the means of their dissemination, I found to contain only 
lists of names which were useful in comparing island floras, but did 
not serve in any way to identify the plants in which I was interested. 
Others, like Seemann’s Flora of Fiji, were too rare and expensive to 
be placed in the library of an ordinary man-of-war, and could be con- 
sulted only during visits to San Francisco or Honolulu. Moreover, 
9 
