150 USEFUL PLANTS OF GUAM. 



and wild rats. The third species furnishes leaves which, when young 

 and tender, are cooked with vegetables as a flavoring. The fourth spe- 

 cies is called "aggag." Its leaves are remarkably strong and pliable. 

 \ They are used for lashing together the parts of a house or hut and for 

 \ string; and when divided into narrow ribbons tbey are braided into 

 i hats, sleeping mats, mats upon which corn and other seed are dried, 

 and bags for holding corn and rice. Only one sex of this plant occurs 

 in Guam. It is propagated by cuttings, limbs when cut off taking- 

 root readily in almost any kind of soil. The leaves of the other spe- 

 cies are inferior and are scarcely at all used. 



A coarse kind of mat is made b}^ weaving or wattling the stems of a 



i reed which grows in marshy places (Trie/won roxburghii), called "kar- 



\riso" by the natives. These mats are often used to cover the walls 



of lightly constructed houses and are sometimes coated with a kind of 



clay. 



Thatch plants. — The majority of houses in Guam are thatched with 

 coconut leaves, but those of the better class with the leaves of Nypa 

 \frnticans, an interesting trunkless palm introduced from the Philip- 

 pines, which has established itself at the mouth of every stream of 

 importance in the island. When there is a dearth of coconuts and 

 \nipa, sword-grass, or "neti" {Xijyhagrostis floridula), is used. 



Coconut leaves to be used for thatching are gathered, dried and split 

 down the midrib, the two halves being placed together in reverse 

 direction and the leaflets interwoven diagonally. Women are usually 

 \ employed in this work. Leaves thus prepared are lashed to the frame- 

 work of the roof with strips of pandanus leaves, beginning at the 

 eaves and ending at the ridgepole, the leaves being placed so close 

 together that they form a thick imbricating thatch. Coconut thatch 

 is not very durable. As a rule it lasts only three or four years. 



In preparing the leaves of the nipa palm the leaflets are detached 

 from the midrib or rachis, cured b} r diwing, and attached to reeds in 

 the form of a fringe. These are laid on the timbers of the roof frame 

 in the same wa} T as the coconut leaves, but closer together. Neti is 

 prepared in the same way. The thatch thus formed is more homo- 

 geneous, compact, waterproof, and durable than the former. 



POEAGE PLANTS. 



As garden patches are not inclosed, cattle, horses, buffalo, and pigs 

 can not be allowed to run at large. They are kept tethered and conse- 

 quently require to be cared for, fed, and watered. Often the avail- 

 able pasturage in the vicinity of a town or village is exhausted and it 

 is necessary to take the animals a considerable distance before a good 

 grazing place can be found. Usually forage is gathered and brought 

 to the animals. Besides several species of grasses the best forage plant 

 is the breadfruit {Artocarpus communis), great quantities of the leaves 



