THE PLANT WORLD 149 



so coarse that only water-buffaloes will eat it ; a poplar-like shrub called 

 "papago sesonyan," or " chaguan sesonyan " (swamp-weed), with pal- 

 mate veined leaves of a yellow-green color ; near by a tree called ' ' alom ' ' 

 (probably a species of Mallotus), with heart-shaped leaves, monoecious 

 flowers in racemes, the male having five sepals and many stamens and 

 the female having fruit like two or three small globes attached to each 

 other ; leaves used here medicinally. 



Suddenly I came upon a small bamboo hut, or rancho, thatched with 

 coconut leaves, where I found a young man and a boy. Accepting a 

 cordial invitation to enter, I took a seat upon the elastic platform of split 

 bamboo, about 2/4 feet from the ground, which occupied half of the 

 hut. As I sit here writing my notes a number of little chickens fly up 

 on the platform by my side and look at me curiously and fearlessly, 

 The young man climbs a coconut tree near the door and brings me a 

 refreshing drink of coconut sap just beginning to ferment, very much 

 like cider. He pours off the scum and puts into the mouth of the bam- 

 boo vessel a wad of coconut fibre to strain the "tuba" as I drink it. 

 The boy breaks a coconut and calls "rrrrrrrrru, rrrrrrrrru." Chickens 

 come to him, flying and running from all directions — fifty or sixty 

 about our feet. He chews the meat of the coconut and throws it to them. 

 They seem very fond of it, but he says that they will lay much better if 

 fed on maize. Among the chickens there is a small pig ; the rest of the 

 pigs in a pen. He says he lets one or two out each day ; they will not 

 desert the others which are kept in confinement. In this way each has 

 its turn of freedom and the pigs are kept healthy, get exercise and a 

 variety of food, and will not wander away. He feeds them bread-fruit 

 when it is in season. No well or spring on the mesa, owing to the porous 

 nature of the coral. It is evidently an ancient reef. In the rainy season 

 the boy collects rain-water by leaning a bamboo against a coconut palm, 

 so that the water running down the trunk drains into it. He also gets 

 water from a well down the hill on the edge of the swamp. Near the 

 house he has cleared a patch of land for maize and sweet -potatoes. The 

 sweet-potatoes he will plant in October or the first part of November. 

 He has also small patches of arrow-root {.Mara?ita arundinacea) ; Tacca 

 pirmatifida, which is often called ' ' Polynesian arrow-root ' ' ; and the 

 cassava plant, Manihot titilissivia, here called "yuka," or "mandiuka." 

 All of these plants appear to grow in Guam with little care. 



Soursop tree now in bloom iAnona viuricata) ; flowers have three 

 heart-shaped sepals. Flowers of the beach-plum iXimenia elliptica) 

 small greenish. In a stubble-field much Sida, Asclepias, and several 

 species of Cassia. Thicket of Guavas near by ; not now the season for 

 the fruit, but plenty of it ripe enough to eat ; flowers pretty, white, with 

 large tuft of stamens. Flowers of Tacca very peculiar, spider-like ; fruit 



