118 USEFUL PLANTS OF GUAM. 
Philippines.”@ In the classification of the Indo-Pacific races of man, 
by S. J. Whitmee, the natives of the Marianne Islands are not even 
mentioned.? In Tregear’s Maori-Polynesian Comparative Dictionary ¢ 
(1891) two distinct sets of references are given to words of the Chamorro 
language, evidently compiled from separate vocabularies, neither of 
which have the words properly spelled. Thus, under the word for 
stone the Chamorro word ‘‘achu” is cited as ‘‘Guaham, ashou; Cha- 
mori, atju,” as though these were two languages; and no mention is 
made of the resemblance of the Chamorro “ guati” to the Polynesian 
“Safi” (fire), ‘‘guihan” to ‘“‘ika” (fish), ‘‘uchan”™ to ‘‘ua” (rain), 
**chalan” to tala” (path), though the corresponding Malayan words 
*“Sapi,” ‘tikan,” ‘‘hujan,” and ‘‘jalan” are cited. 
Asa matter of fact the Chamorro language is not a Micronesian 
dialect, nor is it closely similar to that used by the Tagals of the 
Philippines. One need only compare the words given in the preced- 
ing lists with Micronesian vocabularies to be convinced of this fact, 
and to note the difference between the Chamorro ‘*‘ guma” (house) and 
the Tagalo ‘* bahai,” the Chamorro **hanom” (water) and the Tagalo 
**tubig,” the Chamorrro ‘ palaoan” (woman) and the Tagalo ‘* babai,” 
and the dissimilarity between the corresponding verbs, prepositions, 
adverbs, and adjectives of the two languages. 
Pure-blooded Chamorros are no longer found on the island, it is 
true, but in every native family of Guam the Chamorro language is 
the medium of communication,” and though the men of the original 
stock were nearly all killed off by the Spaniards in their efforts to 
*‘reduce” them, yet many of the women were married to Spanish, 
Mexican, and Philippine soldiers brought by the Spaniards to the 
island to assist in the conquest, as well as to mariners of Great Britain 
and France who settled in the island. Few foreign women have found 
their way to Guam, and it was from their Chamorro mothers that the 
children learned to talk. Thus the Chamorro language has survived, 
though it has become modified by the introduction of many Spanish 
words and idioms, just as the Hawaiian and Maori languages have been 
influenced by the English, and the Tahitian and Malagassy by the 
French. The entire system of numeration has been replaced by the 
Spanish. The Spanish indefinite article ‘‘un” has been adopted, as 
well as the prepositions ‘* para” (for), ‘‘eon” (with), and a number of 
other words. It should be noted, however, that where Spanish nouns, 
adjectives, and verbs have entered the language they are made to con- 
form with the grammatical features of the Chamorro; thus the plural 
« Kneyclopeedia Britannica, vol. 14, p. 200, 1882. 
bIdem., vol. 19, pp. 422-428, 1885. 
¢ Under Whatu, p. 617. 
4See Safford, Natives of the Island of Guam, American Anthropologist, n. s., vol. 
4, p. 194, 1902. 
