GUAM AND ITS PEUPLE. 501 



thoy throw themselves into the water and came hounding- from wave 

 to wave they reminded Pigarfetta of dolphins. 



Their houses were well nlade, thatched with palm leaves, and raised 

 on wooden posts or on pillars of stone." They were divided into sev- 

 eral rooms by partitions of mats. Their beds were mats woven from 

 Pandanus leaves divided into strips of great fineness. Their boats 

 were kept under shelter, large sheds being constructed for them near 

 the sea, the stone or masonry pillars of which ma}^ still be seen. These 

 stone pillars are held in awe by the present natives of the island, who 

 think it unlucky to disturb them or even to linger near them. 



J^ire. — It was asserted by the early missionaries that the aboriginal 

 inhabitants were ignorant of tire before the advent of the Spaniards. 

 That this is a mistake is shown not only by the fact that their princi- 

 pal food staples could not 1)e eaten without cooking, l)ut also by their 

 words pertaining to tire and cooking, as guqfi (tire), <(p(^ (ashes), ((.so 

 (smoke), twio (roast), nmrllla {^ame), plnigan (live coal), mTUjije (burn, 

 V. t.), luuion. (burn v. in.), 8<>tne (boil), j)eha (cook in embers), vltnlidn 

 (bake in ancient oven), and other words. Many of these words are 

 to be found with slight modifications in other languages of Malayan, 

 Melanesian, and Polynesian atiinities. 



Food. — The food of the aborigines consisted of tish, fowls, rice, 

 l)read fruit, taro, yams, and bananas (Pigafetta calls them "figs a palm 

 long""), cocoanuts, and mits of CyaiK clrc/nal/x.^ the poisonous prop- 

 erties of which they removed by soaking and repeatedly changing the 

 water, after wdiich they were cooked. For relishes they ate certain 

 seaweeds, the nuts of the wild "almond," '' and a species of screw j)ine.'' 

 Pandanus drupes, which are an important food staple^ in some Pacific 

 islands, were not a })art of their domestic economy; and, although 

 they had pigs at an earl}' date, it is probable that these were intro- 

 duced after the diseovery, as some of the early navigators declare that 

 the natives could not I)e induced to eat Hesh. The creamy juice 

 expressed from the meat of ripe cocoanuts entered into the composi- 

 tion of several of their dishes. They were ignorant of the manufac- 

 ture of fermented tuba from the sap of the cocoanut, and had no 

 intoxicating beverages before the arrival of the Spaniards. As was 

 nearly the universal custom throughout the tropical Pacific, they 

 cooked by means of stones which they heated in a hole in the ground, 

 making alternate layers of food, leaves, and heated stones, souicwhat 

 aft(M- th(^ manner of a New England clambake. 



N<(rcotics. — The kava pepper {Piper iiirthijxtictnn) was unknown to 

 them; but its place may be said to have been taken by the betel pe})per, 

 the leaves of which the}^ chcwcnl wrapped around a fragment of the 



« " Fundados sobre fuertes pilares de piedra." — Narrative of Gaspar and Grijalva, 

 who visited Guam with Lcyas])! in I")65. 

 ^ Termimilifi caf.djijxi. 

 '■Pandanns sn. 



