ROADS ON THE ISLAND. , 135 



paths. From Merizo to lnalahan, around the southern end of the 

 island, several marshy places intervene, so that cart traffic between 

 these villages is impossible. Going northward along the east coast, 

 from lnalahan to Pago, the road encounters the mouths of several 

 rivers, two of which must be crossed on rafts or "balsas," composed 

 of several layers of large bamboos. There is a trail crossing the 

 island from lnalahan to Apra, which in many places is precipitous and 

 is slippery and dangerous where the soil is of heavy red clay devoid 

 of vegetation. Where this trail descends to cross a river the path has 

 become so deeply worn that its vertical sides are as high as a horse's 

 head. 



The road leading from Agana to the fine agricultural districts of Yigo, 

 Santa Rosa, Mataguag, Mogfog, and Finaguayog may be traversed by 

 carts, but it is far from good. As Governor Schroeder has said in his 

 official report a on the economic conditions in Guam, "Lack of good 

 means of transportation is one of the chief drawbacks to the develop- 

 ment of the island." In speaking of the most important agricultural 

 and grazing region, which lies to the eastward and northward of Agana, 

 Governor Schroeder expresses the opinion that good cart roads, capable 

 of withstanding the heavy and frequent rains, would probably lead to 

 the acquisition of more public land by private persons. 



Individual efforts [he says] should be encouraged fully as much as collective 

 cooperation, affecting, as it does, the entire community, and to this end it is proposed 

 to lay out one arterial route, tapping in general plan, the middle of the region, and 

 build a good road there as soon as may be. The country being flat, no difficulties 

 should exist beyond having, in some parts, to carry the material for roadbed and . 

 surface some distance. With this thoroughfare created in place of the present mis- 

 erable boggy trail, it is believed that the present and future owners of neighboring 

 ranches will build small roads leading to it, and that agriculture will receive an 

 impulse. This proposed road will be some 15 miles in length. The cost of an entirely 

 new road there is estimated at about 45,000 pesos, but a few short stretches of rock 

 here and there will diminish the cost. The expenditure of 30,000 pesos, spread 

 over two years, should produce very useful results. Later on, in after years, per- 

 haps, cart-road communication should be established between towns on the south- 

 east and southwest coasts and the harbor of San Luis de Apra and Piti. This will 

 best be done by a shore-line road around the south end and up the west coast. In 

 many parts this will require causeways to be built in the water around high project- 

 ing points, which now have to be climbed; but as the water is very shallow this 

 work should not be as expensive as would first appear, and as the shore is protected 

 from the sea by a barrier reef it would not be liable to injury by the sea except 

 during hurricanes of unusual violence. A limited amount of attention could be 

 profitably given to the present bull paths or trails across the mountainous interior of 

 the island, but I am convinced that for the purpose of traffic on any useful scale 

 direct routes over the mountains would best be eschewed in favor of the shore-line 

 route. 



Each able-bodied native is required to contribute ten days each year 

 to work on the roads of the island, or in lieu of this to pay a personal 

 tax of $8. A tax of 1 per cent was levied on all real estate, but during 



«In Eeport of the Secretary of the Navy for the year 1901, part 1, pp. 82, 83. 



