40 USEFUL PLANTS OF GUAM. 



change. They have logically figured that it is futile to work for superfluous harvests 

 which may have to be burned, consequently not relieving them in the periods of 

 scarcity which are sure to come later; that it is better to work little than to work 

 without result. On account of this they have been accused of possessing a lazy dis- 

 position, which they are far from manifesting on occasions in which they clearly see 

 the good results of their work. 



PRESERVATION OF MAIZE. To dispel so harmful a prejudice I have thought it of 

 the greatest importance to inaugurate the first accumulation of wealth in the preser- 

 vation of the article most important for the subsistence of these natives. This is 

 maize, or Indian corn, which is harvested with the greatest ease and may be planted 

 at three epochs of the year in such a way that three times as much as the amount 

 necessary for consumption may be produced at each harvest if its cultivation be fol- 

 lowed on a great scale and leaving out accidents. 



There is in contrast with this the experience which they have that with their small 

 resources the most careful can scarcely make their supply of this grain last from har- 

 vest to harvest, so that there are repeatedly seasons during which a great portion of 

 the population, being without maize or even the other articles of food used here, 

 finds itself forced to fall back onfederico [Cycas nuts] and other fruits and roots of 

 the forest, which can not fail to do them injury either from their being essentially 

 harmful or because the organic system of the native suffers from the repeated changes 

 from one kind of diet to another. 



Anxious to root out an evil which I consider the greatest in these islands, and per- 

 suaded that when this is once accomplished a new era will begin for their inhabit- 

 ants, I have availed myself of the teachings pertaining to my profession, and I have 

 thought that without prejudice to anyone and by means of light work of all there 

 could be put into practice the ancient system practiced by Spain and other countries 

 of preserving cereals in subterranean granaries, and, combining this idea with the 

 beneficent institution of the public granaries of Spain and some places in the Indies, 

 I published an order which I hope will meet with the approval of your excellency, 

 assuring you that in taking this step I have been prompted by a fervid wish to ben- 

 efit these natives. 



Don Felipe de la Corte wrote a most interesting account of these 

 islands, which was published by the Spanish Government^ He was 

 relieved at his own request by Don Francisco Moscoso y Lara on Jan- 

 uary 28, 1866, after having served eleven years. 



SOCIEDAD AGRICOLA. 



During the administration of Governor Moscoso a society was 

 formed under the title " Sociedad Agricola de la Concepcion." It was 

 composed of the governor and several of the officials and leading citi- 

 zens of the island. Laborers were introduced from Japan and efforts 

 were made to develop the resources of the island. The project failed, 

 however. Some of the Japanese died and the rest returned to Japan. 



SUMMARY. 



From the above extracts some idea may be gathered of the economic 

 conditions on the island of Guam. The causes which have prevented 

 the general prosperity- of the natives have been (1) the frequent hur- 



Memoria descriptiva. See List of works. 



