554 
COMPENDIUM OF GEOGRAPHY AND TRAVEL 
the islands was characterised by harshness and oppression, 
and a desultory war of extermination was carried on for 
many years. When first known the islands had a popula¬ 
tion of at least 50,000. At the present day not one 
of the original race survives, and the islands are peopled 
chiefly by Tagals and Bisayans from the Philippines, with 
a few Caroline islanders, and numerous half-breeds, but 
also by the mixed descendants of natives of South 
American tribes. 
The original Chamorros were in many ways a fine 
race. An ancient feudalism existed, the people being 
divided into nobles, priests, and plebeians. The religion 
was a sort of ancestor-worship. They have left behind 
them some memorials of a civilisation which was certainly 
higher than that existing among the natives at the present 
day. These structures, which are more numerous in 
Tinian than elsewhere, are very remarkable, and their 
service has never been satisfactorily explained. They 
consist of two ranges of massive stone columns, square in 
shape, 14 or more feet high, and about 6 feet in diameter. 
Enormous blocks of stone, in the shape of semi-globes, 
form the capitals. It has been suggested by Freycinet 
and others that they were the supports for the roofs of 
large buildings, and the theory is not unreasonable, but 
according to old Spanish accounts cinerary urns were 
discovered in the capitals of some of the columns. What¬ 
ever they may have been, they are undoubtedly of great 
antiquity, for the Spaniards regarded them as such on 
their first arrival three centuries and a half ago. 
The Ladrones are favoured by a good and equable 
climate, but are occasionally visited by severe earthquakes 
and typhoons. The rainy season occurs in midsummer 
with the S.W. winds, but rain falls at intervals throughout 
the year, and droughts are rare. The thermometer varies 
