ISLAND DEPENDENCIES 



ISLAND DEPENDENCIES 1697 



heavy rains during the period of excessive rainfall have 

 leached the hill lands, rendering them of little value for 

 horticultural purposes. The island's highest elevation 

 is found in the peak "Humuyong Manglo," signifying 

 "the mountain whence the winds issue." This peak is 

 located in the southwestern part of the island and 

 reaches an altitude of 1,274 feet. A strip of strand, 

 varying in width but usually under a mile in extent, 

 fringes a greater part of the coast-line. The soil of this 

 low land has been formed partially from the washings 

 and erosions from the surrounding hills and partially from 

 shell, calcareous sands, and the like, of marine forma- 

 tion. Due to the fertility of this soil and to its proximity 

 to the sea which furnishes fish and transportation 

 facilities for the exchange of supplies between the 

 different parts of the island, all the principal villages 

 have been established here, and here also horticulture 

 is more extensively practised than in any other part 

 of the island. 



The advantages of a well-defined economic system, 

 involving the principles of labor-division as practised 

 in modern enlightened communities, are unrecognized 

 in Guam. In general, every man is his own fisherman, 

 his own tradesman, and husbandman of the trees and 

 plants required to feed his own family. The local 

 market demands under such a system are decidedly 

 limited; and the tendency is naturally in the direction 

 of small plantings and indifference toward the improve- 

 ment of varieties and methods of cultivation. There 

 are neither nurseries nor seed farms on the island. 

 Plants of the banana, pineapple, and the like, grow 

 from suckers, but aside from those species which prop- 

 agate naturally, the fruits trees are the simple result 

 from chance seedlings voluntarily produced from dis- 

 carded seed, with but little effort being made to foster 

 or preserve them. The practice of perpetuating supe- 

 rior forms by the various methods of asexual propaga- 

 tion is unknown to the Guam planter. 



Agricultural implements are of the crudest and most 

 antiquated type. The native plow is an awkward 

 home-made wooden contrivance with a single handle 

 and a rough cast moldboard and point. It is drawn by 

 a water buffalo and tears and thrusts aside the soil, 

 leaving a ragged furrow about 4 inches wide. A man 

 with a buffalo and one of these implements, working 

 on an eight-hour-day basis, will require at least five 

 days to plow in a most ineffectual manner 1 acre of 

 land. In addition to the plow, a simple little hand tool, 

 the fosino, on the principle and of the construction of 

 a scuffle-hoe, is the only implement in common use for 

 tilling the soil. 



Regardless, however, of the primitive methods of 

 the people, Guam is essentially a land of agriculture. 

 It has no other possible natural resource. With a 

 moderately fertile soil and a climate permitting the 

 planting and harvesting of crops during 365 days of 

 the year, the island is a garden specially created for 

 the farmer. How rapidly the development of the 

 agricultural industries may come, or how remote the 

 time when the full possibilities of the island may be 

 achieved, is a matter of mere conjecture, but the 

 absolute necessity of improvement is daily becoming 

 more manifest. Education is rapidly creating a higher 

 and more expensive standard of living and this increased 

 expense must be balanced by correspondingly aug- 

 mented production from the soil. Lack of shipping 

 facilities has seriously impeded progress in horticul- 

 tural lines and until improvement is brought about 

 there is little to encourage the establishment of the 

 fresh fruit industry upon a commercial basis. Products 

 for export must necessarily be limited to such of the 

 less perishable crops as coconuts, coffee, and cacao, 

 and to articles preserved by some of the various 

 methods, of which pickling, bottling, canning, and 

 evaporation are examples. 



The coconut (Cocos nucifera) was found growing in 



108 



Guam at the time of the discovery by the Spaniards. 

 Safford observes that "the first accurate description of 

 the coconut was published by Dampier from observa- 

 tions made by him in Guam in 1686." This is the most 

 important product of the island, copra, the dried kernel 

 of the nut from which the coconut-oil of commerce is 

 expressed, constituting the only article of export. The 

 nut is also variously used in cookery, and furnishes one 

 of the principal feeds for both poultry and hogs. Aside 

 from the nut itself, the leaf is split through the midrib 

 from the terminal end and the pinna; of each plaited 

 together, forming from each frond two crude but 

 effective shingles for thatching the roofs of buildings. 

 The fact that probably 95 per cent of the dwellings 

 in Guam are thatched with this material indicates 

 the extent to which the leaves are used for this purpose. 

 Toddy, a popular beverage, non-intoxicating when 

 first drawn, is collected from an incision in the flower- 

 stalk; and this, by the process of boiling, is converted 

 into syrup, and, by a further continuation of the pro- 

 cess, sugar is obtained. Fermented toddy is an intoxi- 

 cant and is extensively employed in lieu of yeast in 

 making bread. It is also used in the preparation of 

 vinegar or, by distillation, a highly alcoholic liquor, 

 known as "aguardiente," is produced. 



The native devotes but little attention to his trees; 

 yet natural conditions are favorable, and the trees 

 flourish and yield good crops regardless of neglect. 

 Bud-rot has not made its appearance on the island. 

 Cattle running at large cropping off the young trees, 

 and rats which gnaw off the young immature nuts, are, 

 as a matter of fact, the only serious enemies of the 

 plantation. In Guam, crops are gathered to a limited 

 extent during all seasons of the year, but the general 

 tendency is to confine pickings as much as possible to 

 the dry season, when weather conditions facilitating 

 the process of air-drying the copra usually prevail. 

 Drying with artificial heat is never practised. That 

 part of the output going to the export trade is disposed 

 of to Japanese traders who ship by sailing schooners to 

 Yokohama where the oil is expressed and the residual 

 meal employed to increase fertility of Japanese gardens. 

 To give some idea of the importance of the industry, 

 the following custom-house records covering the 

 exports for the annual periods ending June 30, for the 

 past three years are given: 



Period Tona Value 



1909-10 534.5 $33,610.11 



1910-11 870.5 51,058.80 



1911-12 1047.0 59,924.10 



Fruit of bananas and plantains, Musa species, grow 

 in rich profusion everywhere and form an important 

 food staple of the people. Plantations are not estab- 

 lished systematically and are confined to small areas 

 of land contiguous to the home. Total neglect of the 

 plantation is common and when cultivation is at all 

 practised it consists of the occasional removal of weeds 

 and grasses and the application of this organic matter 

 and a small amount of surface soil about the base of 

 the plants. This mulch of soil and litter serves two 

 purposes, according to the season of its application. 

 In hot dry weather it cools the soil and assists in the 

 conservation of moisture, and in the season of heavy 

 rainfall its rapid decomposition adds fertility to the 

 root-feeding areas of the soil. 



Among the forms common in Guam, the Chinese 

 dwarf or Cavendish banana (Musa Cavendishii), 

 known in the vernacular of Guam as chotda Guahu 

 (the Oahu banana), is the only well-known commercial 

 variety. It is of comparatively recent introduction 

 and is not well distributed. Chotda Dedos (the finger 

 banana) is so named from the long slender form of the 

 fruit, lending a fancied resemblance to the fingers on 

 a human hand. Chotda Haya (pronounced hadya 

 signifying native or unintroduced banana) is supposed 



