LADRONES. 



499 





Ladroots. the inhabitants. Nearly a century and a half elapsed be. 

 ~ * fore the Spaniard! proceeded to take formal possession of 

 *"*' these islands, or to make any kind of settlement upon 

 them ; but, about the year 1668, Mary- Anne of Austria, 

 widow of Philip IV. sent out a body of missionaries for 

 the instruction of the natives ; and it was owing to this 

 circumstance that they received the name of the Ma- 

 rian, or more properly Mary- Anne islands. About ten 

 years afterwards, a small military force was dispatched 

 to support the missionary establishment ; but disputes 

 between the soldiery and the inhabitants were the con- 

 sequence of this measure ; and it was not till the year 

 . the whole of the islands were completely 

 subjected to the Spanish dominion. These indolent 

 conqueror*, however, have done nothing either to im- 

 prove the condition of the natives, or to render the 

 islands beneficial to their empire ; but have merely 

 held than a* post of communication between their 

 possessions in the East and West Indie* : Their mea- 

 sures have rather tended to desolate the most fertile of 

 these distant possession*. About the end of the 1 7th 

 ry, an epidemical disorder having thinned the po- 

 pulation, tin- remaining inhabitants of Tinian were 

 cruelly torn from their native shores, to recruit the set- 

 tlements at ( ii'.iin, where the unhappy exiles drooped, 

 and died in despair. 



and The Ladrones are fourteen in number ; but only three 

 or four of them are inhabited. The principal are, Guam, 

 or St. John, the largest and roost southerly, which is 

 about 85 leagues in circumference, and is situated in 

 132.V North Lat. (tee GUAM); /arpane. or Kola, about 

 even leagues farther north, and 15 in circumference ; 

 Aguignan, or St. Ann, a high island, of difficult access, 

 three league* round, and 13 north of /arpane ; Tinian, 

 boat I 'I mile* long and six broad, separated from the 

 laat mentioned by a narrow strait ; Saypan, or St. Jo- 

 seph, three league* north of Tinian, and 25 in circuit ; 

 AnaUchan, or St. Joachim, 10 league* round, and 3ti 

 north of Saypan ; Sarigan, or St. C'harle*, four l>agua> 

 in circumference, and teparatrd from the la?t mention- 

 ed by a channel flight or nine miles in breadth ; Gu- 

 guam, or St. Philip, still smaller, and six miles farther 

 north ; Amalagan, or Conception isle, 1 2 leagues north- 

 ward, and five in circumference ; Pagon, or St. Igna- 

 tius. 10 league* from the last mentioned, and 14 in 

 circuit ; Agrigan, or St. Xavier, at 10 league* distance 

 from the last mentioned, ami nearly of the same fixe ; 

 Aa*on*one, or Assumption island, nearly 12 leagues 

 northward*, a black, rugged, uninhabited cone, about 

 4O toiae* above the level at' the sea, with the crater of 

 a volcano on it* summit ; I'nu-, a desert i*le, three 

 leagii* umference, and the most northerly of the 



chain, i* situated in 20* Lat. 



Among these ialand* art numerous rocks, shoal*, and 

 current*, which render navigation extremely dange- 

 rous ; and there are few safe harlxiurs or road* in the 

 whole group, except on that particularly at 



the town of Ag..nn, the residence ol the >paiiih go- 

 vernor. The climate of the Ladrpne*, in general, 

 though they lie under the torrid zone, is serene and 

 temperate, except in the moi-tli- of July and August, 

 when the weather is intolerably hot; and durirf 

 eaton of the western monsoon*, between June and 

 October, when tremendous hurricane* are experienced 

 at the full and change of the moon. Their general 

 aspect is beautiful and picturesque ; their mountains 

 red with perpetual verdure, and their 

 *oil naturally fertile and productive. The decreasing 

 number*' and depressed state of the inhabitants, how. 



. . -.-. 



f.-f 



ever, have occasioned a deplorable change in those re- Ladrones. 

 spects ; and the most delightful among them have been ^ "V*"'' 

 suffered to relapse, from a state of cultivated beauty, 

 into the rudest forms of an impenetrable wilderness. 

 In the year 174-2, the island of Tinian, according to 

 the description given in Lord Anson's voyage, was one 

 of the most interesting and healthy spots in the world. 

 The land rose in gentle slopes from the beach to the 

 middle of the island, occasionally interrupted by vallies 

 of easy descent; and woods of lofty spreading trees, 

 many of them loaded * ith salutary fruits, covered the 

 rising grounds. The lawns, which skirted the forests 

 in various directions, and of considerable extent, were 

 clothed with a clean and uniform turf, composed of the 

 finest trefoil, intermixed with flowers. This beautiful 

 herbage frequently extended a considerable space under 

 the shade of the adjoining forests, which in many 

 places were entirely free from all bushes and under, 

 wood. In these woods were found inconceivable quan- 

 tities of cocoa-nuts and cabbages on the same tree, 

 guanas, limes, sweet and sour oranges, and the cele- 

 brated bread-fruit, besides a variety of wholesome 

 vegetables, such as water melons, creeping purslain, 

 mint, scurvy-grass, and sorrel. Cattle of a milk-white 

 colour, with black or brown ears, and whose flesh was 

 extremely well tasted, were seen in herds of some thou- 

 sands, grazing in the meadows ; and wild fowl of va- 

 rious kinds, particularly duck, teal, curlew, and the 

 whistling plover, abounded on the fresh water lakes in 

 the centre of the island. Even domestic poultry rang- 

 ed the woods in great numbers, and could be run down 

 with little trouble Every circumstance, in short, in 

 the aspect of the country, and the habits of the animals, 

 conveyed the idea of a place recently inhabited, and 

 carefully cultivated. The climate also was peculiarly 

 salubrious and agreeable, cooled by constant breezes, 

 and short refreshing showers ; and produced the most 

 astonishing effects upon the diseased and debilitated 

 frame* of the seamen. But, in little more than 20 

 years afterwards, the same spot, when visited by By. 

 ron and Wallis, presented a picture almost in every 

 feature, completely opposite to that which Anson be. 

 held. The woods were overgrown with underwood, 

 and parasitical plants, which obstructed every path. 

 The lawns were covered with rank grass and reeds, 

 furnishing a secure asylum to swarms of centipedes, 

 scorpions, and other venomous insects. The cattle 

 were few in number, and so extremely shy, as to ren- 

 der the pursuit of them a most laborious service. The 

 air waa so hot and oppressive, that the seamen could 

 scarcely make the necessary exertion to procure the re. 

 quiiite supplies of provisions ; and had so powerful an 

 effect upon the animals which they were able to kill, 

 a* to render their tlc-h almost instantaneously putrid. 

 The water was brackish, and full of 'worms. The 

 rain* were incessant, while a suffocating heat continued 

 to prevail ; and the climate -proved so unpropitious, 

 ..my of the crew were seized with fevers. The 

 fruit* were much the same a* at the period of Anson's 

 visit; but none of the vegetables, so salutary in the 

 cure of scurvy, were to be found. If the picture 

 drawn by the first voyagers may be supposed to have 

 been overcharged in the delightful sensations which a 

 sickly crew would experience on reaching a verdant 

 shore, the same reasons should equally have influenced 

 the subsequent navigators, whose description presents 

 so striking a contrast ; and, after making every allow, 

 ance for different seasons and different feelings in the 

 writer*, the change must obviously have been great in 



