THE PLANT WORLD 209 



land, but he did not wish to sell one foot of it. He even put one of his 

 pretty bamboo houses at my disposal. The beach is very good here for 

 swimming, though the water is shallow. Took a bath. While in the 

 water a rain-squall passed over. When I came out I renewed my pro- 

 posal, but Don Justo declined to sell any of the land in this vicinity. In 

 all my dealings with the natives I have asked them to treat me as though 

 I were one of their own people, and never to feel obliged to grant me a 

 favor because I am an official of the Government. Am glad that Don 

 Justo took me at my word. This island has a peculiar charm for me. I 

 feel that I must possess at least one grove of real coconut trees and a 

 high point from which I can see the ocean and the palm-fringed beach. 

 A little beyond Don Justo's ranch, saw several fresh water springs, called 

 ' ' bobos ' ' by the Chamorros, spurting forth from beneath the salt water 

 near the shore. The land of this region (Apurgan) is highly valued by 

 the natives on account of the magnificent coconut groves upon it, which 

 are four times as productive as those of the high land. 



On our way back, climbed up on the mesa, or table-land, which forms 

 the northern portion of the island, by means of a steep path up the face 

 of the escarpment. This locality, called Halaguak, not well adapted for 

 coconut planting, but pretty fair for growing corn, sweet potatoes and 

 tobacco. Most of it, however, is pretty well exhausted, as the natives 

 never attempt to fertilize it. The plateau bordered throughout nearly its 

 whole extent by a steep, inaccessible cliff. Soil not deep, of a red color. 

 Subsoil of disintegrated coral, below which is solid hard coral rock — an 

 ancient reef which has been raised bodily to about a hundred feet or more 

 above the sea-level. On the edge of the cliff many banyan trees and ' ' ifils ' ' 

 (^Afzelia bijuga) . The long rope-like aerial roots of the banyans hung 

 over the edge and served us as life-lines to climb up on the plateau. 



This is the first time I have ever been on the mesa. Here and there 

 patches of corn, a small rancho, clumps of old coconut trees, breadfruit 

 groves, thickets of cycas, and in places whole fields of scrubby guava 

 bushes, as great a nuisance here as in Hawaii. Am glad to find that 

 there are no Lan tanas or sensitive plant on the island. From time to 

 time our way obstructed by impassable thickets of Triphasia and wild 

 yams. Finding it impossible to make our way along the edge of the cliff, 

 we took to the road which leads Agaiia-ward, going out from time to 

 time to the edge of the mesa in search of some good point from which 

 to get a view of sea and headlands. Near most of the small ranchos we 

 visited there were a few " kasoe " trees (^Anacardium occidentale) and 

 clumps of ' ' daok ' ' ( Calophylbim inophylluni) , which furnishes the natives 

 with good tough wood for their cart-wheels and an aromatic resin which 

 exudes from the trunk and branches when wounded. Under some large 

 mango trees, which showed no signs of fruit, the natives had as usual 



