100 THE PIvANT WORLD 



statute miles. The southern limits of this deep are not yet known. From 

 Guam to Yokohama the route surveyed passes to the westward of the 

 northern islands of this group, and to the eastward of the Bonin Islands.* 



With a cable station on this island Guam will be of much greater 

 importance to the United States ; and this will be vastly increased by the 

 construction of a canal across the isthmus. Since the establishment of 

 Mexican independence the island has been of no use to Spain whatever, 

 and indeed has only been a source of expense. As long as Spain owned 

 Mexico, and all traflfic between the mother country and the Philippines 

 was carried on via Mexico, the island was useful as a station for getting 

 water and provisions ; when Spain lost Mexico it would have been wise 

 for her to dispose of the whole group of the Mariannes. 



Monday, September 11. — Work was this day begun on the water- 

 distilling plant. Hitherto we have been drinking distilled water from 

 the Yosemite brought ashore in casks and hauled from Punta Piti in carts. 

 The river is so choked up by vegetable growth that it will have to be 

 cleaned from its mouth to its source. 



Company B of the marines were landed from the Yosemite to-day and 

 marched to Agaiia. They have taken possession of the quarters recently 

 vacated by me. The Major came with them and will be my guest until the 

 Governor takes up his residence in the palace. Then the Major will live 

 with him. The palace roof has been patched up with tiles from the old 

 chapel given us by Father Palomo. The Governor intends to replace the 

 tiles by a roof of corrugated iron, but the natives shake their heads and 

 say : " Look out for baguiosf Bagtiios, as hurricanes are called here, 

 seem to be of frequent occurrence. They often blow down all the huts 

 of a village, destroying the bread-fruit and coconut crops, uprooting 

 the trees or stripping them of their leaves, so that it takes them a long 

 time to recover. The inflorescence of the coconut is formed in the axils 

 of the old leaves ; and when these are destroyed the nascent flower spathes 

 shrivel up and die, so that considerable time elapses after a hard blow 

 before the coconut is again in good condition for bearing. 



Tuesday, Septe-tnber 12. — Dona Susana Perez has consented to be my 

 cook. She is the sister of Josefa, Father Palomo's housekeeper, and of 

 Don Gregorio Perez, one of the most enterprising, thrifty and industrious 

 citizens of the island. During the Spanish occupation Susana lived with 

 the family of the military doctor. Besides Susana I have an orderly and 

 a boy who makes himself generally useful, running errands, making up 

 the beds, and keeping the house in order. Vicente is the son of Don 

 Lorenzo Franquez, the lieutenant of the Insular Artillery Company. Don 



* See the Report of the Secretary of the Navy for the year 1900, p. 299, giving a detailed account of 

 the work of the Nero, the success of which was largely due to the energy and good judgment of her 

 executive officer, Lieutenant John Hood, U. S. N. 



