106 USEFUL PLANTS OF GUAM. 
enraged father, told him to calm himself, that he would not be a loser 
in consequence of the marriage as the padre would giye him as much 
as he could have gotten for his daughter if he had sold her to an urri- 
tao. This only made matters worse and finally led to the burning of 
the entire mission and the assassination of the padre and all of his com- 
panions. 
Property.—The nobles owned entailed estates of coconut eroves, 
banana plantations, and other choice lands. These were not inherited 
by a man’s son at his death, but by his brother or nephew (probably 
hy the son of his sister, as in many other islands of the Pacific), who 
on coming into possession of the property changed his name and took 
that of the founder or most illustrious ancestor of the family. The 
children belonged essentially to the mother. They inherited the 
property of their mother’s brothers. A man did not dare to dispose 
of any property of his family, except, perhaps, a canoe, knife, spear, 
or fishing tackle made by himself or land reclaimed by him from the 
bush. ‘Tortoise shell was used for money. 
GOVERNMENT. —They had no king nor defined code of laws, nor was’ 
there a ruler for the island in general nor for any village. The nobles 
of each village formed a kind of council or assembly, which, however, 
had no real authority over the rest: but everybody did pretty much 
what he pleased, unless prevented from doing so by some one stronger 
than himself. The head of each family was the father or eldest rela- 
tive, but his authority was so limited as to call for little respect on the 
part of the sons, who obeyed it only when forced to do so, Children 
were seldom chastised by their parents. Offenses were punished by 
war if they were against a community, or by private revenge if they 
were against an individual. Owing to this lack of organization no 
community felt itself responsible for the misconduct of one of. its 
members. When hostages were taken by the Spaniards to insure 
good treatment of their people ashore, or to exact certain promises 
from the natives, the immediate family of the hostage alone seemed 
to feel responsibility or concern for him. The rest continued as 
before; nor could they understand the justice of the Spaniards’ burn- 
ing whole villages and many boats for the act of a single individual, 
who might or might not belong to the village or be allied to the 
owners of the boats. 
Warrarr.—Their weapons were slings and spears. Bows and 
arrows were unknown to them, nor had they swords, war clubs, or 
shields. They relied upon their quickness and agility to protect them 
from the blows of their adversaries. Their spears were of wood with 
points either of wood hardened by tire, or made of the shin bones of 
men or of the bones of fishes. They had no throwing sticks. The 
bone spearheads were barbed and had three or four blades or points 
