TO GUAHON. 947 



not see the use of the two fortresses. The town 

 has two hundred houses, and contains 1500 inhab- 

 itants, wlio, as I have already said, derive their 

 origin from Mexico and the Phi!ij)pines. There 

 is only a man and his wife on the whole island, of 

 the original branch. With the death of these two 

 people the race of the old Ladrones will be en- 

 tirely extinguished. The Governor had the kind- 

 ness to show them to me, and our painter took 

 their portraits. The military consists of mihtia, 

 and appears to be in good condition: the officers 

 are natives. The soldiers, who are obliged to pro- 

 vide their own clothing, looked very neat, though 

 they are bound to give a part of their scanty 

 allowance to the priests. When a native intends 

 to marry, he must previously give the priest a 

 Spanish dollar, who pays no regard to the prevail- 

 ing scarcity of money. On my walk, the Governor 

 showed me several canoe?, which he had pur- 

 chased from the Carolinians ; and told me, on this 

 occasion, of the great dexterity of these people in 

 swimming and diving. When the galleon, already 

 mentioned, perished, some Carolinians, who were 

 here at the time, fetched the barrels filled 

 with piasters out of the cabin of the ship, which 

 was lying several fathoms under water ; it was 

 affirmed that they remained there half an hour. 



The whole island-chain of the Marianes, except 

 Guahon, is uninhabited. The North Americans, 

 who carry on the fur trade, between the N.W. 



R 4 



