32 USEFUL PLANTS ol' (iHAM. 



On Junujirv 1, 1S39, Duniont d'Urvillc, coinnmndinj;- the A.strolahe 

 and ZrAv, paid his socoiid visit to Guam. Attached to the expedition 

 were Ilomhi-on iuid flaccpiinot, as doctors and hotanists, and Ai'ao-o as 

 artist. Two collections of phmts were made on this expedition, the 

 tirst by the ahovc-nanied l)otanists, the second, inciudino- .sc\eral new 

 species ol" alote, hy Duniont d'Urville himself. Besides the ofhcial 

 reports of this expedition " a narrative was written by Arago.^ 



H()ml)ron gave his collection of plants to M. Benjamin Delessert, 

 whose herbarium was afterwards presented by one of his nieces to the 

 city of Geneva, Switzerland. It has been placed in a building in the 

 Botanical Garden of that city. 



EXTRACTS FROM THE ARCHIVES OF (lUAM, RELATING TO ITS ECONOMIC 



HISTORY. 



At Agafia, the capital of Guam, there are a number of letter books 

 containing copies of the official communications of the governors of 

 the Mariannes to their immediate superior, the captain-general of the 

 Philippines. In these letters various questions are discussed at length 

 regarding the policy which should l)e pursued to make the Marianne 

 Islands self-supporting and profitable to Spain, and to make the 

 natives prospei'ous and happy. Arguments are advanced in favor 

 both of protection and of free trade with visiting vessels. Attempts 

 were made to compel the natives to till the ground, and inducements 

 were offered by tempting their self-interest. Causes for the failure of 

 the population to increase were sought in the destruction of the crops 

 by hurricanes and pests, in the use of unwholesome or injurious food, 

 and in the disinclination of the natives to work more than was neces- 

 sary for their daily needs. Some of the governors greedil}' monopo- 

 lized all trade, forcing the natives and the soldiers of the barracks 

 to buy goods from them at prices arbitrarily fixed by themselves, 

 and forbidding the natives to sell their products to the wdialers who 

 flocked to the islands. Others gave the natives free license to trade 

 and entered into their daily life by cultivating farms of their own 

 after the native fashion. Efforts were made to benefit the islands by 

 decrees of the captains-general of the Philippines, to whose ears came 

 stories of dishonesty and oppression on the part of the governors, and 

 confidential subordinates were sent to the islands to see what could be 

 done for their good. The following extracts, showing the efforts made 

 in behalf of the islands and the natives, are taken from the archives 

 at Agaiia. 



« Voyage au pole sod, etc., 1841-1854. See List of works. 



'^Arago, Jacques Etienne Victor. Voyage autour du monde, etc., 1843. See List of 

 works. 



