THE MODEKN INHABITANTS. 127 



tances apart to rest the cooking utensils upon, high enough to admit 

 of fagots under the pots, gridirons, and frying pans. The cooking 

 of the present day is very much after the manner of that in Mexico. 

 The excavated ovens of the aborigines are little used except on 

 ranches, and baking is done in dome-shape ovens of masonry which 

 were probably introduced from Mexico. (PI. XXI, fig. 1.) Bread 

 and breadfruit are baked. Yams and taro are baked or boiled or first 

 boiled and then baked in ashes. Venison and beef are fried or broiled, 

 and fish is cooked in various ways. Coconut oil, when fresh, is used 

 in cooking and is a good substitute for lard and butter. Coconut 

 custard, expressed from the grated meat of ripe coconuts, is used in 

 various combinations, giving a pleasant rich flavor to the dishes into 

 which it enters. Arrowroot of Tacca pinnatifida is used for certain 

 sweetmeats, and preserves or dulces are made of soursops, citrons, and 

 fruits of various kinds. Maize is made into a paste and baked in the 

 form of tortillas, after the Mexican fashion. Tender leaves of taro 

 and other greens are used in place of spinach and asparagus. Coffee 

 and chocolate are ground upon the stone used for making tortillas. 



Bread of excellent quality is made from imported wheat flour, fer- 

 menting coconut sap being used to leaven it. This sap, when boiled 

 fresh, is converted into sweet s}<rup and brown sugar. When the fer- 

 mentation is allowed to continue it yields vinegar of excellent quality. 

 Salt is evaporated from sea water in iron kettles. (PL XXI, fig. 2.) 

 Nearly every native is addicted to the use of tobacco and to the habit 

 of betel chewing. Fermenting tuba (coconut sap) is a refreshing 

 drink like cider, and is the common beverage of laborers. Formerly 

 a kind of rum called aguardiente, or " agua^vente," was distilled from 

 it on the island. The distillation of this liquor is no longer permitted. 

 The use of opium is unknown. 



MENTAL AND MORAL CHARACTERISTICS. 



Though the natives of Guam are naturally intelligent and quick to 

 learn, little has been done for their education, and many of them are 

 illiterate. The college of San Juan de Letran was founded by Queen 

 Maria Anna of Austria, widow of Philip IV, who settled upon it 

 an annual endowment of 3,000 pesos. Through misappropriation a'nd 

 dishonesty the annual income of the college gradually dwindled to 

 about 1,000 pesos. The greater part of this was absorbed by the 

 rector, who was usually the priest stationed at Agana, and by the 

 running expenses of the school, which were the subsistence and wages 

 paid to janitor, porter, steward, doctor, and the lighting of the building. 

 A head herdsman was employed with two assistants to look out for the 

 cattle belonging to the school. All of these men were paid salaries, 

 so that there remained for actual expenses of instruction only 192 

 pesos a year, 98 pesos of which were paid to the head master, 48 pesos 



