500 GUAM AND ITS PEOPLE. 



posed to have power over the health of the natives, eould cause rain, 

 and bring hick to the fishermen. As among' many Indian, Mahwan, 

 and Polvnesian peoples, the}' were vcr}' careful not to spit near the 

 house of another, undoubtedly through fear of sorcery, should an 

 enemy possess himself of the spittle. 



Violent grief was shown on the death of a friend or relative, the 

 people wailing and singing dirges expressive of their sorrow and 

 despair, and recounting the n()])le (jualities of the dead. In the case 

 of a chamorri's death the wailing was prolonged for several days. 

 Small mounds were raised over the grave and were decorated with 

 flowers, palm leaves, canoe paddles if the deceased was a fisherman, 

 and spears if he was a warrior. The body was sometimes anointed 

 with fragrant oil and taken in procession from house to house, as 

 though to allow the spirit an opi)ortunity of choosing an abiding place 

 among the homes of its kindred. 



On occasions of festivity the men and women would collect in 

 groups, each l)y thems(dves, and, forming semicircles, sing and chant 

 their legends and fa))les. Sometimes these songs would be in three- 

 part harmony, '' treble, contralto, and falsetto." The songs were 

 accompanied by appropriate gestures and movements of the body, the 

 women using certain rattles and castanets made of shells. On these 

 occasions the women adorned their foreheads with wreaths of flowers 

 like jasmines, and wore belts of shells and bands from which hung 

 disks of turtle shell, which was much prized among them. They 

 wore skirts of fringe-like roots, which the earh" missionaries de(dared 

 were '''rather like cages than garments.'' 



Though called Ladi'ones (thieves), the}' were so honest that their 

 houses were left open and without protection, and very seldom was 

 anything found missing. They were very hospitable and kind, as all 

 the early accounts testify. It was not until they were given just cause 

 that th(Mr attitude toward the Spanish changed, whereupon the latter 

 declared that they had been mistaken in attrit)uting virtues to them. 



They dcclariHl that the foreigners l)rought to the islands rats, flies, 

 mos(iuitoes, and strange diseases. The}^ liv(Hl with little restraint, 

 matters of impoi'tance to the villages or to the general pu})lic being 

 decided by assemblies of their chiefs and old men: l)ut these had little 

 authority, and a native did pretty much what he pleased unless pre- 

 vented from doing so by some one stronger than himself. 



Their arms were wooden spears pointed with' bones, and slings with 

 which they threw oval-shaped stones with remarkable force and accu- 

 racy, "as far," says one observer, "as an anjuebus can shoot." From 

 their earliest 3'Outh they were accustomed to practice with these weap- 

 ons, and often had contests of spear throwing, fencing, and throwing 

 at marks. Often the stone was hurled with such swiftness that it 

 would become embedded in the trunk of a tree. The women went to 

 sea with their husbands for s))()rt. 'Hh"}' were line swinmiers, and as 



