THE LADRONE OR MARIANNE ISLANDS 553 



associations, which, like the others, have their leaders, 

 and enjoy the privileges of recognised corporations. 



6. The Ladrone or Marianne Islands. 



We have hitherto had to do almost entirely with 

 groups of islands which have been arranged with their 

 main axis in a direction roughly N.W. and S.E. The 

 Ladrones form a marked exception to this rule. They 

 lie in a single regular chain extending N. and S. for a 

 distance of 500 miles ; not in an absolutely straight line, 

 but in a slight but even curve, with its concavity west- 

 ward, thus forming as it were a segment of a vast circle. 

 They are, for the most part, small and steep volcanic 

 islets, some of which have active craters. The more 

 southern islands are larger, extremely fertile, and well 

 watered. The chain consists of seventeen islands, which 

 lie between 13° and 21° N. latitude, and have a total 

 area of 450 square miles. They are a possession of 

 Spain, the Governor, who is dependent on the Captain- 

 General of the Philippines, residing in Guam. The total 

 population is a little over 10,000. 



The Ladrones were discovered by Magellan in 1521, 

 and were thus named by him from the thievish propensi- 

 ties of the inhabitants. In 1528 Saavedra took nominal 

 possession of them, as did Legaspi later, in 1565, but no 

 settlements were made. In 1668 the Jesuit, Luis de San 

 Vitores, established his mission in Guam. The island 

 became the port of call for the great Spanish galleons 

 which went yearly between Manila and Acapulco, and it 

 was in its neighbourhood that Anson waited in 1743 in 

 the Centurion for his famous prize the N. S. de Cavadonga, 

 which he eventually captured off Samar, her value being 

 estimated at half a million sterling. The Spanish rule of 



