134 USEFTTL PLANTS OF GUAM. 



liitjipineps in (lio jtossesfion of land, wliicli roHults in tlie community being composed 

 of a larjie miinlxT of small lainlDwiicrs. Tlic effect of this is, of course, to minimize 

 the amount i>f lalxir that can he hired, with tin- diri'ct conseijuence tliat large liolders 

 are rare and tiiat ajiplication of (•ai)ital wuuld Ije handicai)ped ])y tliedeartli of labor. 

 While this seems to offer something of a barrier to material productiveness, it is a 

 very wholesome trait, which it is to l)e hoped will hold its own against outside 

 influences." 



Means of communication.— Transportation is eflfcctod b}" boats as 

 well as b}^ means of oxen, cows, and ])iiti'al()es. (PI. XXII.) Owing 

 to the difficulties met with in crossin*,^ the mountainous interior of the 

 southern portion of the island, especially in the rain}' season, when the 

 roads are slipper\' and dangerous, transportation from the vicinit}' of 

 Inalahan, on the east coast, to Agaiia, on the west coast, is often car- 

 ried on in boats, the small bay of Hahahyan, at the southern end of the 

 island, ))eing' used as a landing place for that region. This ba}^ can be 

 entered onl}' by boats of moderate size. The journe}' from Agana to 

 Merizo is also much easier by sea than by land, and boats are used 

 whenever articles of considerable bulk are to be transported between 

 the two points. 



There are only three good roads on the island. The best is that 

 leading from Punta Piti, the landing place of the port to Agana, the 

 capital, which continues northward to Apurguan, the site of the late 

 villasfc of Maria Cristina, inhabited bv Caroline Islanders. This fol- 

 lows the west coast of the island throughout its entire extent and is 

 almost level. Another road leads from the landing place at Apra, on 

 the south shore of the harbor of San Luis, to the village of Agat, and 

 from this road there is a third branching oti' to the village of Sumai, 

 on the peninsula of Orote. 



There is a road across the island at its narrowest part, from Agana 

 to Pago, which can be traversed only on foot or on the backs of ani- 

 mals. During the administration of Don Pablo Perez, who made use 

 of convict labor to carry on the public works of the island, this road 

 was for the first time made passable for carts, which fact is duly 

 recorded on a tablet in a small shed erected on the crest of a hill about 

 halfway across the island. Now it is impossible for a cart to cross 

 the island b}' means of this road, and in the rainy season parts of it 

 are so boggy that it is almost impassable with pack animals. The 

 road from Punta Piti to Agat, which passes around the margin of the 

 har])or of San Luis, is so bad in places that it is frequently impassable 

 on horseback. For crossing bogg}^ places and passing mudd}^ fords 

 oxen and Imffaloes are found to be much more efficient steeds than 

 horses on account of their natural propensity for wading. From 

 Agat to Merizo, the village at the southern extremity of the island, 

 the road is interrupted in several places by abrupt headlands, which 

 must either be rounded by entering the sea or crossed by veiy steep 



" Governor Schroeder's report, in Report of the Secretary of the Navy for the year 

 1901, pp. 82-83. 



