76 THE PIvANT WORIvD 



Palomo's education before he went to Manila to study for the priesthood. 

 " He was a real and perfect monk," says Father Palomo, " fulfilling the 

 Divine commandments and his vows, and living here as in a cell of his 

 own monastery. Throughout his life he worked as a true missionary, 

 and on his death-bed, before consigning his soul to his Saviour, he asked 

 his confessor to make a priest of me. When that priest. Fray Aniceto 

 Ibafiez del Carmen, gave me his help he said that I had no cause to thank 

 him; he was only complying with the djdng entreaty of mj^ late teacher, 

 his beloved director." It is undoubtedly true that many of the friars 

 who have lived on this island have been noble men , devoted to the welfare 

 of their people. There have been exceptions, it is true ; but where is the 

 sect in which there are none ? 



It was from Fray Aniceto's little book, on our long passage from 

 San Francisco, that I first studied the island vernacular, the ' ' Chamorro ' ' 

 language, as it is called, — beginning with : Tatan-mame, our Father ; 

 agon-mame, our bread ; 7iaan-mo, thy name ; naan-na, his name ; langet^ 

 heaven ; ta^io, earth ; mauleg, good ; nimaiilcg, goodness ; gasgas, pure ; 

 giiinasgas, purity; gicma, house ; i guima, the house ; ogs6, hill ; / egs6, 

 the hill. 



Little by little I was able to deduce rules, and found that in this lan- 

 guage possessive adjectives are added enclitically to their nouns ; that 

 tonic vowels are modified after the definite article i; that abstract nouns 

 are formed by inserting the particle in before the tonic vowel ; and that 

 there are a few words of the same origin as Malayan, Philippine, and 

 Polynesian, but that the bulk of the vocabulary is different from all of 

 these, and many grammatical features are unlike those of any other lan- 

 guage with which I am familiar. 



I gave the supercargo of the Jan-ho-maru an order to buy for me a 

 number of plants in Japan, including loquats, lily-bulbs, and persimmons. 

 I do not know whether or not they will grow here, but it is worth the 

 trial. I hear that tea was introduced a few years ago ; but it grew so 

 rankly that it was useless. Trees of sapodilla {Ac/iras sapota) called 

 " chico " here and in the Philippines, are growing on the island, but will 

 not bear fruit. There is a very fine one in San Ramon, near Don Jose 

 Herrero's house. 



Thursday, Septe^nber 7 . — The Gobernadorcillo of Merizo was this day 

 removed from office in consequence of the complaints of the women before 

 referred to. When he appeared before me in obedience to the summons, 

 he declared that the fault was all his ; that the man in whose favor the 

 title had been altered had had nothing to do with the matter. ' ' Seiior, ' ' 

 he said, " this is the first time ; I acknowledge that I have done wrong ; 

 punish me as you see fit ! " The case was referred to the Governor, who 



