ROADS ON THE ISLAND. 135 
» ths. From Merizo to Inalahan, around the southern end of the 
island, several marshy places intervene, so that cart trathe between 
these villages is impossible. Going northward along the east coast, 
from Inalahan to Pago, the road encounters the mouths of several 
rivers, two of which must be crossed on rafts or ‘* balsas,” composed 
of several layers of large bamboos. There is a trail crossing the 
island from Inalahan to Apra, which in many places is precipitous and 
is slippery and dangerous where the soil is of heavy red clay devoid 
of vegetation. Where this trail descends to cross a river the path has 
become so deeply worn that its vertical sides are as high as a horse’s 
head. 
The road leading from Agafia to the fine agricultural districts of Yigo, 
Sancta Rosa, Mataguag, Mogfog, and Finaguayog may be traversed by 
‘arts, but it is far from good. As Governor Schroeder has said in his 
official report“ on the economic conditions in Guam, ‘Lack of good 
means of transportation is one of the chief drawbacks to the develop- 
ment of the island.” In speaking of the most important agricultural 
and grazing region, which lies to the eastward and northward of Agana, 
Governor Schroeder expresses the opinion that good cart roads, capable 
of withstanding the heavy and frequent rains, would probably lead to 
the acquisition of more public land hy private persons. 
Individual efforts [he says] should be encouraged fully as much as collective 
cooperation, affecting, as it does, the entire community, and to this end it is proposed 
to lay out one arterial route, tapping in general plan, the middle of the region, and 
build a good road there as soon as may be. The country being flat, no difficulties 
should exist beyond having, in some parts, to carry the material for roadbed and 
surface some distance. With this thoroughfare created in place of the present miis- 
erable boggy trail, it is believed that the present and future owners of neighboring 
ranches will build small roads leading to it, and that agriculture will receive an 
impulse. This proposed road will be some 15 miles in length. The cost of an entirely 
new road there is estimated at about 45,000 pesos, but a few short stretches of rock 
here and there will diminish the cost. The expenditure of 30,000 pesos, spread 
over two years, should produce very useful results. Later on, in after years, per- 
haps, cart-road communication should be established between towns on the south- 
east and southwest coasts and the harbor of San Luis de Apra and Piti. This will 
best be done by a shore-line road around the south end and up the west coast. In 
many parts this will require causeways to be built in the water around high project- 
ing points, which now have to be climbed; but as the water is very shallow this 
work should not be as expensive as would first appear, and as the shore is protected 
from the sea by a barrier reef it would not be liable to injury by the sea except 
during hurricanes of unusual violence. A limited amount of attention could be 
profitably given to the present bull paths or trails across the mountainous interior of 
the island, but Iam convinced that for the purpose of traffic on any useful scale 
direct routes over the mountains would best be eschewed in favor of the shore-line 
route. 
Each able-bodied native is required to contribute ten days each year 
to work on the roads of the island, or in lieu of this to pay a personal 
tax of $8. A tax of | per cent was levied on all real estate, but during 
«In Report of the Secretary of the Navy for the year 1901, part 1, pp. 82, 83. 
