124 USEFUL PLANTS OF GUAM. 



cochleatum), and others prettily variegated with white (Aralia guil- 

 foylei). Besides fruit trees, such as lemons, limes, pomegranates, 

 soursops, and sugar apples, there are shrubs, vines, and trees prized 

 for the fragrance of their flowers such as Lawsonia, Telosma (Pergu- 

 laria), and ilangilang. 



Ranches vary in size from simple huts, intended for the temporary 

 shelter of one or two persons attending to adjoining patches of culti- 

 vation, to well-built permanent dwellings large enough for a whole 

 family. A plat of ground after having been cultivated for four or live 

 years is often abandoned and allowed to lie fallow a few years. Under 

 these conditions it would not pay to erect permanent habitations on 

 the mesa. The usual form of a small rancho is that of a shed with 

 walls of woven reeds, coconut leaves, or split bamboos and a coconut- 

 thatched roof with eaves projecting sufficiently to keep the rain from 

 coming in through the cracks. Half the hut is taken up by a plat- 

 form of split bamboo, raised about 2 feet from the ground. This is the 

 family bed. Beneath it are penned up each night the youngest broods 

 of chickens with their mothers, to protect them from rats, cats, and 

 lizards. The larger fowls fly to the spreading limbs of a neighboring 

 tree (the site for a rancho is always selected near a suitable roosting 

 tree), or upon the ridge of the roof, or perhaps on some convenient 

 perch in the hut itself, where there are always four or five setting hens 

 in baskets hung on the posts. Sometimes the whole family remains 

 at the rancho during the week, returning to town on Saturday so that 

 their owners may be ready for early mass the next morning. On Sat- 

 urday evening a procession of ox carts a mile long may be seen en 

 route to the capital. 



They have little furniture. In homes of the better sort are usually 

 found tables and benches of ifil wood, cane-bottomed beds, a few chairs, 

 and almost invariably an altar with the image of a saint enshrined 

 above it, before which a light of cocoanut oil is kept burning. A few 

 homes have handsome beds, tables, and chairs from the Philippines 

 left behind by Spanish officials. Homes of the poorer kinds are desti- 

 tute of bedsteads or tables, the natives sleeping and sometimes eating 

 from mats on the floor. 



USEFUL ARTS. 



Though it may be said that all the natives of Guam are essentially 

 farmers, yet many of them show decided aptitude for various kinds 

 of handiwork. In Agana there are excellent blacksmiths, silversmiths, 

 carpenters, cabinetmakers, tanners, and shoemakers, and fairly, good 

 masons. In other parts of the island there are men skilled in lime 

 and charcoal burning. A number of the women are adepts at weaving 

 mats and hats of excellent quality from pandanus leaves; men twist 

 string and make nets of pineapple fiber and ropes from hibiscus bark, 



