THE PIvANT WORI.D 55 



himself. He has been my guest since his arrival at Agana and has 

 chosen this way to express his appreciation of my hospitality before 

 leaving my house for the palace. 



Sunday, December 17 . — Trip to Mataguak, Yigo, and Santa Rosa, 

 near the northern end of the island, to visit the fincas of Padre Palomo, 

 Doiia Rufina Quitugua, Don Gregorio Perez, and Dona Joaquina Kam- 

 inga. Up before daylight, and after a substantial breakfast left my 

 house, accompanied by Don Gregorio's son Manuel, Dofia Rufina's 

 nephew, and a godson of Dona Joaquina, who brought me a cow to ride, 

 all saddled and bridled. Morning delightfully cool ; moon still shining; 

 took the road leading to the Caroline Islanders' village, parallel to the 

 beach, then after passing between several coconut fincas, reached a place 

 called lyupog, or Lupug, which signifies a hole or depression in the 

 ground, and takes its name from an enormous sink-hole. This is of an 

 oval shape, about sixty by fifty feet at the top and is lined on the inner 

 slope with dense vegetation. The sides are of coral rock little modified 

 by erosion. The northern part of Guam consists of ancient coral reefs, 

 forming terraces which undoubtedly mark successive upheavals of the 

 island. Through the coral .several volcanic hills rise, one called Tuyan, 

 or La Barrigada, in the middle of the island, at no great distance from 

 Agaiia, others farther north called Mataguak and Santa Rosa, for which 

 I was bound. In the southern part of the island, which is mountainous, 

 there are many rivers and springs, but in the part we were about to visit 

 there is not a single stream , except on the immediate slopes of Mataguak 

 and Santa Rosa. The natives who have fincas there have to haul water 

 in carts for themselves and their stock, or carry it in bamboos slung over 

 the backs of oxen or buffaloes. In the rainy season enough water may 

 perhaps be caught by placing receptacles against coconut trees or screw- 

 pines, into the trunks of which notches have been cut, but in the dry 

 season not enough rain falls for the use of the farmers. Cisterns have 

 been dug by some of them, but the porous ground lets the water sink 

 through and no attempt has yet been made to line a cistern with water- 

 tight cement. 



Among the plants growing in the sides of the ' ' lupog ' ' were a green 

 herbaceous Piper with aromatic leaves resembling the Kava pepper of 

 Polynesia (^Piper niethysticiim), a large aroid called " Papao " by the 

 natives, and a number of ferns. One of these {.Polypodium ptaictatum) 

 has simple leathery fronds dotted over with sori ; another resembles a 

 tree-fern (Alsophila). Noticed also Pteris marginata, Asplenium falca- 

 tum, A. laserpitiifoliion, and the common Aspidium tinituni. Ferns 

 were also abundant on the trees, some of them climbing the trunks, 

 others perched on the branches like huge birds' nests, and others form- 

 ing graceful pendant tufts from the crotches of the limbs. Among the 



