554 COMPENDIUM OF GEOGRAPHY AND TRAVEL 



the islands was characterised by harshness and oppression, 

 and a desultory war of extermination was carried on for 

 many years. Wlien first known the islands had a popula- 

 tion of at least 50,000. At the present day not one 

 of the original race survives, and the islands are peopled 

 chiefly by Tagals and Bisayans from the Philippines, witli 

 a few Caroline islanders, and numerous half-breeds, but 

 also by the mixed descendants of natives of South 

 American tribes. 



The original Chamorros were in many ways a fine 

 race. An ancient feudalism existed, the people being 

 divided into nobles, priests, and plebeians. The religion 

 was a sort of ancestor-worship. They have left behind 

 them some memorials of a civilisation which was certainly 

 higher than that existing among the natives at the present 

 day. These structures, which are more numerous in 

 Tinian than elsewhere, are very remarkable, and their 

 service has never been satisfactorily explained. They 

 consist of two ranges of massive stone columns, square in 

 shape, 14 or more feet high, and about 6 feet in diameter. 

 Enormous blocks of stone, in the shape of semi-glol:)es, 

 form the capitals. It has been suggested by Freycinet 

 and others that they were the supports for the roofs of 

 large buildings, and the theory is not unreasonable, but 

 according to old Spanish accounts cinerary urns were 

 discovered in the capitals of some of the columns. What- 

 ever they may have been, they are undoubtedly of great 

 antiquity, for the Spaniards regarded them as such on 

 their first arrival three centuries and a half ago. 



The Ladrones are favoured by a good and equable 

 climate, but are occasionally visited by severe earthquakes 

 and typhoons. The rainy season occurs in midsummer 

 with the S.W. winds, but rain falls at intervals throughout 

 the year, and droughts are rare. The thermometer varies 



