152 THE PIvANT WORI.D 



no taxes. They keep out deserving young men who wish to utilize a 

 spot here and there for growing maize, cacao, coconuts, or tobacco. If 

 a tax were levied on the land it would not be held unless it could be made 

 to pay. It seems wrong that it should lie idle, and that young men eager 

 to work it should be prevented from doing so. 



This is not the first serious question that has arisen among the people 

 here. Dofia Rosa Pangelinan has been to see me before. About a month 

 ago she complained that a farmer named Telisforo Basa had killed three 

 cows belonging to her, one in the month of June and two on the 15th of 

 August, the said cows being at the time in a pasture in the locality called 

 Tehaka. Of the two killed in August one was with calf. Witnesses : 

 the Gobernadorcillo, Don Benancio Roberto ; Juan de los Santos, Jesus 

 de los Santos. The said Telisforo Basa, after having killed the animals, 

 went in person to the Gobernadorcillo, informing him that he had killed 

 them, and stating that he found them eating his corn. Now, the site of 

 the cornfield planted by Basa is in the midst of the pasture belonging to 

 Andres Roberto and rented by him to Juan Martinez, husband of Doiia 

 Rosa, and it is not enclosed by fence nor hedge. The corn was, more- 

 over, planted in the midst of the pasture without permission of the owner 

 of the land. She declared that Basa had been charged with similar offenses 

 before; that he was a bad man, and had often defied the law. He had 

 gone to Francisco Portusach the day before, telling him of the damages 

 he had suffered from the cattle, and asked him what he should do. 

 Portusach told him to kill the cattle, as he had the right to do so accord- 

 ing to the law of America. Moreover, the said Basa had no license to 

 carry the gun with which he killed the cattle, and the penalty for having 

 arms in one's possession without a license is a certain fine and the con- 

 fiscation of the said arms. 



When Basa appeared before me he had a proud, dignified air. He 

 seemed to me to be more nearly pure-blooded than any native I had 

 before seen. He told me that he had long been in possession of the 

 land in question, and that if some one else claimed it he did not know 

 by what right they did so ; that there were several people who claimed 

 vast tracts as "pastures" who had a few cattle. They allowed the 

 cattle to roam over the country uncared for, and that, as every one knew, 

 there are no fences in Guam about the corn-fields, and in one day two 

 or three cattle could destroy the result of months of hard work. He said 

 that if he had done wrong he was willing to be punished ; but that he 

 thought something ought to be done to protect the rights of planters and 

 to inquire into the titles which the owners of these large tracts claimed 

 to possess. I refused to take action on the matter and ordered that the 

 justice of the peace decide upon the merits of the case. There is one 

 thing I shall do, however — I shall trj^ to find some way in which to 



