THE PLANT WORLD 75 



Wednesday, September 6 . — Up early and took coffee with Father Palomo. 

 He is one of the finest characters I have ever known — upright, frugal, and 

 self-denying, but gentle and kind in dealing with the simple people under 

 his charge. I told him of the distress of the poor women whose husbands 

 had been sent away. He said that some of them had besought him to 

 intercede in their behalf, and in two cases, where he thought the men 

 worthy, he had sent them to me ; these were the ones whose names I had 

 stricken from the list. 



The Nanshan left to-day for Manila, taking as passengers besides the 

 Filipino ex-convicts the Curas of Agat and Merizo ; the Medico Titular 

 Don Francisco Napal and his rebellious half-caste son ; and the Asesor 

 Letrado Don Vicente Perez, a Spanish official who wished very much to 

 get employment from our Government, but who had incurred the dislike 

 of the citizens of Guam. Fray Francisco Resano returned to Saipan on 

 the Jan-ho-maru. He is now the Cura of San Isidro de Garapan on that 

 island. These priests are friars of the Augustinian order of Recoletos, 

 whose principal convent is in Manila. The Augustinians took the place 

 of the Jesuits on this island in 1769, when the latter were expelled by 

 order of Carlos III.* 



I have a little book before me written by a friar in which the principal 

 prayers, the creed, and other articles of the Christian faith are printed 

 in Spanish and the island vernacular in parallel columns : ' ' Devotion to 

 San Francisco de Borja, Patron of the Island of Rota : Explanation of 

 the Holy Sacraments and the manner of receiving them worthily: Devo- 

 tion to San Dimas the good thief, Patron of Merizo, and the Doctrine ex- 

 plained. By Father Fr. Aniceto Ibafiez del Carmen, Augustino Recoleto, 

 and former Cura and Vicar in the Mariana Islands." Manila, 1887. 



He dedicates the book to the natives of Guam, ' ' his beloved children, ' ' 

 for whom he has written it, begging them to commend him to God, and 

 this will suffice for their old Cura and Vicar. In a historical sketch he 

 traces the history of the island from the time of its discovery by Magellan, 

 describing the martyrdom of Padre Sanvitores, the "Apostle of the 

 Marianas," and lovingly recalls some of the friars of his order who have 

 most endeared themselves to the people. One of those he mentions is 

 Fray Pedro del Carmen, of whom I have heard my friend Father Palomo 

 speak many times. It was Padre Pedro who laid the foundation of Father 



*The oflBcial report of the Governor relating to the expulsion of the friars created a sensation at 

 the Department. It was forwarded to President McKinley, whose interest was particularly attracted 

 by the disclosure of the fact that the first American Governor of the island has already been obliged to 

 adopt heroic measures in his administration of island aflfairs, owing to the opposition of the friars, 

 who believed that any disturbance of the order of things which had governed the island for so many 

 years would cause them to lose their hold on the natives. After exhausting all other means to over- 

 come this influence Captain I^eary reports that he was obliged to inform half a dozen of the friars that 

 they might have free transportation away from Guam, and he should expect them to avail themselves 

 of the offer. They left only one friar on the island, and he was a man whose character and reputation 

 were such as to convince Captain Leary of his fitness to remain.— A^. Y. Tribune, October 31, 1899. 



