SLAND AND PEOPLE. 11 



GEOGRAPHICAL INFORMATION. 



Guam, the largest and most important of the group known as the 

 Ladrones or Marianne Islands, is situated in the Pacific Ocean about 

 1,200 miles east of the Philippines. The group forms a chain 420 

 miles long, extending from latitude 20 30' north, longitude 143 4f>' 

 east, to latitude 13 14' north, longitude 142 31' east. Beginning at 

 the north, the names of the islands are Farallon de Pajaros, Las Urra- 

 cas (Maug), Asuncion (Asomsom), Agrigan, Pagan, Alamagan, Guguan, 

 Sariguan, Anatahan, Farallon de Medinilla, Saipan, Tinian, Aguigan, 

 Rota (Luta), and Guam or Guahan. a Guam is the only island belong- 

 ing to the United States. The rest were sold by Spain to Germany at 

 the close of the late war. The seat of the German Government is on 

 the island of Saipan, where there is a colony of Caroline Islanders, 

 besides a small population of Marianne natives. 



The islands are of volcanic origin and are fringed with coral reefs. 

 In the southern members of the group there are no active volcanoes, 

 but on several of the northern islands there are still a number of smok- 

 ing craters. Guam and Samoa lie in corresponding latitudes on oppo- 

 site sides of the equator, and their climates are much alike. Their 

 flora and fauna have many features in common, and many of the plants 

 used in the economy of the natives are the same. The inhabitants of 

 the two groups, however, though both of the Oceanic race (allied to 

 the Malayan), belong to different grand divisions of it and have 

 distinct languages and few traditions in common. Guam is consider- 

 ably larger than Tutuila, the most important of the Samoan Islands 

 owned by the United States, though its chief port, San Luis de Apra, 

 can not be compared with Pango-Pango, our naval station in the South 

 Pacific, and perhaps the finest harbor in the world. The advantage 

 of Guam as a station for repairs and supplies is evident, forming, as it 

 does, a stopping place for vessels between Hawaii and the Philippines. 

 Its strategic importance has been greatly enhanced since it has been 

 made the landing place of the trans-Pacific cable, and the completion of 

 the Panama Canal will make it still more valuable to our Government. 



The extreme length of the island from north -northeast to south- 

 southwest is 29 statute miles. Its width is from 7 to 9 miles, narrow- 

 ing at the middle to a neck only 4 miles across. On the northwest 

 coast of this neck is situated Agana (Hagadna), the capital, a city of 

 over 6,000 inhabitants. (PL LXX.) The entire population of the 

 island, according to the census of 1901, was 9,676.^ 



For the pronunciation of vernacular names, see p. 170. 



&This indicates the number of actual residents on the island and does not include 

 visitors nor the Government forces of the United States stationed there. 



