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The National Geographic Magazine 



THE NATIVES AS THE SPANIARDS 

 FOUND THEM 



Both sexes were expert swimmers, 

 and were as much at ease in the water 

 as on land. As they threw themselves 

 into the sea and came bounding from 

 wave to wave they reminded Pigafetta 

 of dolphins. The men were good divers. 

 Legazpi states that they would catch fish 

 in their hands. The children accom- 

 panied their parents while fishing, and 

 were so expert in the water that Garcia 

 declared that they appeared rather fish 

 than human beings. 



According to the testimony of early 

 writers, their houses were high and 

 neatly made and better constructed than 

 those of any aboriginal race hitherto dis- 

 covered in the Indies. They were rect- 

 angular in shape, with walls and roofs 

 of palm leaves curiously woven. They 

 were made of cocoanut wood and palo 

 maria {Calophyllum inophyllum) , and 

 were raised from the ground on wooden 

 posts or pillars of stone. In one of the 

 narratives of the I^egazpi expedition it 

 is said that some of the houses sup- 

 ported on stone pillars served as sleep- 

 ing apartments ; others built on the 

 ground were used for cooking and other 

 work. Besides these, there were large 

 buildings that served as storehouses for 

 all in common, wherein the large boats 

 and covered canoes were kept. ' ' These 

 were very spacious, broad, and high, 

 and worth seeing." As described by 

 the missionaries, some of the houses had 

 four rooms or compartments, with doors 

 or curtains of mats, one serving as a 

 sleeping-room, another as a store-room 

 for fruits, a third for cooking, and a 

 fourth as a workshop and boat-house. 



They were a happy, careless people, 

 fond of festivities, dancing, singing, 

 story telling, and contests of strength 

 and skill, yet sufficiently industrious to 

 cultivate their fields and garden patches, 

 build excellent houses for their families, 

 braid mats of fine texture, and con- 

 struct canoes which were the admira- 



tion of all the early navigators. They 

 were much given to buffoonery, mock- 

 ery, playing tricks, jesting, mimicry, 

 and ridicule, offering in this respect a 

 striking contrast to the undemonstrative 

 Malayans. 



That they were naturally kind and 

 generous is shown by their treatment 

 of shipwrecked sailors cast upon their 

 shores and their reception of the early 

 missionaries who founded the first 

 colony on the island. These mission- 

 aries complained that they could not 

 make the natives take life seriously, 

 saying that what they promised one 

 minute they forgot the next. On the 

 other hand, the missionaries spoke of 

 the remarkable intelligence shown by 

 the children in learning the Christian 

 doctrine, the moderation of the natives 

 in eating, and the absence of intoxi- 

 cants. Their sense of hospitality was 

 very marked Women were treated 

 with consideration, and had greater au- 

 thority than in almost any other land 

 hitherto known. 



THE PRESENT PEOPLE OF GUAM 



The natives of Guam are, as a rule, 

 of good physique and pleasing appear- 

 ance. Owing to their mixed blood, 

 their complexion varies from the white 

 of a Caucasian to the brown of a Malay. 

 Most of them have glossy black hair, 

 which is either straight or slightly 

 curly. It is worn short by the men and 

 long by the women, either braided, 

 coiled, or dressed after the styles pre- 

 vailing in Manila. 



Though the natives of Guam are nat- 

 urally intelligent and quick to learn, 

 little has been done for their education, 

 and many of them are illiterate. The 

 college of San Juan de Letran was 

 founded by Queen Maria Anna of Aus- 

 tria, widow of Philip IV, who settled 

 upon it an annual endowment of 3,000 

 pesos. Through misappropriation and 

 dishonesty the annual income of the 

 college gradually dwindled to about 



