THE LADRONE OR MARIANNE ISLANDS 
553 
associations, which, like the others, have their leaders, 
and enjoy the privileges of recognised corporations. 
6. The Ladrone or Marianne Islands. 
We have hitherto had to do almost entirely with 
groups of islands which have been arranged with their 
main axis in a direction roughly N.W. and ‘S.E. The 
Ladrones form a marked exception to this rule. They 
lie in a single regular chain extending N. and S. for a 
distance of 5 0 0 miles ; not in an absolutely straight line, 
but in a slight but even curve, with its concavity west¬ 
ward, thus forming as it were a segment of a vast circle. 
They are, for the most part, small and steep volcanic 
islets, some of which have active craters. The more 
southern islands are larger, extremely fertile, and well 
watered. The chain consists of seventeen islands, which 
lie between 13° and 21° N. latitude, and have a total 
area of 450 square miles. They are a possession of 
Spain, the Governor, who is dependent on the Captain- 
General of the Philippines, residing in Guam. The total 
population is a little over 10,000. 
The Ladrones were discovered by Magellan in 1521, 
and were thus named by him from the thievish propensi¬ 
ties of the inhabitants. In 1528 Saavedra took nominal 
possession of them, as did Legaspi later, in 1565, but no 
settlements were made. In 1668 the Jesuit, Luis de San 
Yitores, established his mission in Guam. The island 
became the port of call for the great Spanish galleons 
which went yearly between Manila and Acapulco, and it 
was in its neighbourhood that Anson waited in 1743 in 
the Centurion for his famous prize the N. S. de Cavadonga , 
which he eventually captured off Samar, her value being 
estimated at half a million sterling. The Spanish rule of 
