116 



USEFUL PLANTS OF GUAM. 

 Gxiam words unlike the Polynesian — Continued. 



Of the common origin of the aborigines of Guam with those of Poly- 

 nesia, the Philippines, and many of the islands of the Malay Archi- 

 pelago there can be no doubt. This is shown especially by their 

 language, their arts, social organization, and superstitions, as well as 

 by the physical appearance of the natives themselves. It is not prob- 

 able that the population was purely Malayan; there is evidence of 

 certain affinities with the Melanesians or Papuans. These may have 

 been the result of conquest or of the amalgamation of Melanesians 

 settling upon the island. Certain customs of the ancient Chamorros 

 were very similar to those still existing on some of the islands of 

 jNIelanesia, such as the living together of the bachelors in great houses 

 and the prevalence of the custom of concubinage before marriage. 

 An affinity with the natives of man3' of the islands known as ]Micro- 

 nesia is also undoubted, but this is much more remote. Unlike the 

 Melanesians and Papuans, the ancient Chamorros were ignorant of the 

 manufacture of pottery and of the use of the bow and arrow in war- 

 fare, nor did they possess the art of carving in wood. Their canoes 

 were without other ornamentation than painted designs of red aad 

 black. Unlike the !Micronesians, they were ignorant of the art of 

 weaving with looms. Their mats were plaited or braided diagonally 

 like those of the true Pohnesians. In their art of fire making and 

 cooking they resembled the latter, and their canoes, provided with out- 

 riggers and pointed at both ends, were of the general shape of those 

 found in the Eastern Pacific. In their use of slings for fighting they 

 resembled the aborigines of many Pacific islands, and their adzes or 

 gouges of stone were scarcely to be distinguished from those of many 

 ilelanesian and Polynesian tribes. 



The elaborate system of forming derivative words from vei'1)al roots 

 by the use of prefixes, suffixes, and infixes joined enclitically to the 



