98 USEFUL PLANTS OF GUAM. 



proximity to a good harbor, on the banks of a river for the sake of a 

 ^constant supply of fresh water, or on a high and inaccessible hill, as 



-^ in the case of Chuchugo, for the sake of security from attack. Those 

 on the beach were composed of 50 to 150 houses, those in the interior of 

 from 20 down to a half dozen. The principal town was Agadna, on 

 the west coast of the island, where a line river, having its source in a 

 great spring called " Matan-hanom," emptied into the sea. In all the 

 larger villages there w T as a " great house " frequented by the " urritao," 

 or bachelors, in which unmarried men and women lived together. 

 The houses contained little that could be called furniture. There 

 were common floor mats, diagonally braided, and sleeping mats, some 



*^of very fine texture, made from the leaves of the textile Pandanus. 

 The water vessels were not coconut shells, as in many Polynesian 



^ islands, but sections of large hollow bamboos, about 5 or 6 feet long, 

 which were inclined against the wall. There were coarse bags of Pan- 

 danus matting holding dried breadfruit, and every native carried a 

 j finely woven bag of the same material containing betel nut. Coarse 

 j baskets were made of fresh coconut leaves, as required, to be thrown 

 away when dry and useless. Baskets of better construction were 



V woven from strips of bamboo (piao). In the kitchen there was a hole 

 in the ground and a pile of stones for an oven. 



Food. — They subsisted principally on fruits, yams, taro, and lish. 

 The} 7 ate coconuts prepared in various ways, sugar cane, bananas, 

 plantains, and breadfruit. The last was in season only about four 

 months of the year, but after it yams became mature. In the times 

 of famine following hurricanes they resorted to the woods for " fadang," 

 or nuts of Oycas drcinalis, the poisonous properties of which they 

 removed by soaking and repeatedly changing the water, after which the 

 macerated starchy substance was ground in cavities of convenient 

 stones and baked. For relishes they ate certain seaweeds, Terminalia 

 nuts, and the kernels of Pandanus seeds. Pandanus drupes, which are 

 an important food staple on man}' islands, did not enter into their 

 domestic economy, and the widely spread "Polynesian chestnut" 

 (Bocoa edulis) was absent from the island. They had neither sweet 

 potatoes nor maize until after the discovery, nor did the yam bean 

 (Cacara) occur on the island. Rice was cultivated by them and 

 sold to visiting ships. They regarded it as a luxury and kept it for 

 their feasts. They did not practice cannibalism. Indeed the early 

 navigators said that they could not be induced to eat meat of any kind. 

 Although they had pigs at a very early date it is probable that these 

 were introduced after the discovery. They also had fowls and kept 

 doves in captivity, but we have no evidence that they ate them. The}' 

 could not be induced to eat eels, and spoke disparagingly of some of 

 the early missionaries for eating them. The creamy juice expressed 



nj from the grated meat of ripe cocoanuts entered into the composition 



