THE MAEIANAS. 277 



« 

 although baptised and capable of reading Spanish they have forgotten the industries 

 practised by their forefathers. Agriculture has greatly deteriorated, the art of 

 pottery has disaj)peared, the woven fabrics are coarser than formerly, the perfectly 

 symmetrical houses seen by Anson in Tinian are no longer constructed, and rude 

 canoes have replaced the beautiful outriggers admired by the early navigators. 

 Anson's crew calculated that this craft could make twenty knots an hour running 

 before a brisk trade wind ; when driven from their proper route they often reached 

 islands lying at great distances from the Marianas. 



Agana, capital of the archipelago, on the north-west coast of Guam, contains 

 more than half of the whole population, as well as all the political prisoners 

 banished to this region. The port is accessible only to small boats, and the postal 

 service with Manilla is made onl}^ once in the twelvemonth. 



The government of the Marianas is military, the garrison consisting of three 

 hundred natives recruited by conscription. The clusters of islets, such as Parry 

 and Volcano, scattered over the northern waters in the direction of the Ogasavara 

 or Benin group belonging to Japan, are nearly all uninhabited. On many marine 

 charts the}^ are still designated by the collective name of the Magellan Archipelago, 

 but their total area scarcely exceeds forty square miles. 



II. — The Pelew or Palaos Islands. 



This archipelago is often regarded as belonging to the chain of the Carolines, 

 just as Yap and the neighbouring islets have frequently been included in the 

 Pelew group The Spaniards, political masters in these seas, comprise all alike 

 under the common designation of the Caroline Islands. Nevertheless they clearly 

 constitute different systems, as shown by the disposition of the chains, the Caro- 

 lines running west and east and then bending round to the south-east, while the 

 Pelews are disposed north-east and south-west. However, the geological constitu- 

 tion of both groups is the same, all being formed of mountains of eruptive origin, 

 trachytes or basalts, or else of coralline rocks, either as low atolls or upheaved to 

 considerable heights by the oscillations of the ground. 



Collectively the Pelew Islands have an area of little over two hundred square 

 miles, of which more than half are comprised in the single island of Baobeltaob 

 (Babelthuap). From north to south they have a total length of about 550 and a 

 breadth of over 240 miles at the widest point, being thus spread over an expanse 

 of 40,000 square miles, and bounded east and west by abysses over 1,000 fathoms 

 deep. The population is variously estimated at from ten thousand to fourteen 

 thousand. 



The northern islands, which were first visited by the Spanish navigators and 

 which Yillalobos designated by the name of Arrecifes, form a perfectly distinct 

 group, comprising Babelthuap with its south-western extensions terminating in the 

 insular mass of Niaur (Ngaur), most fertile and healthiest member of the archi- 

 pelago. The loftiest eruptive eminences lie near the west coast of Babelthuap, 

 where one of the peaks rises to a height of 2,130 feet. This island is partly covered 



