556 
COMPENDIUM OF GEOGRAPHY AND TRAVEL 
Sandwich Islands, as a place of segregation for lepers. 
Aguijan Island is of no importance, and Eota, though 
considerably larger, has only 500 inhabitants. 
Guam, the last island in the chain, is the most 
populous and important, and is the seat of the Spanish 
settlement. It is 32 miles in length, and is bordered by 
reefs in its southern portion. It has a population of 
9000, two-thirds of whom are resident in the capital, 
Agana, and almost all the rest upon the seaboard, the 
country inland being almost uninhabited. The Spanish 
residents are hardly more than 20 in number. A small 
force of 200 Manila soldiery are quartered here, and the 
militia comprises nearly all the native male population, 
and is commanded by native officers. Agana is also a 
convict settlement, the prisoners usually numbering about 
a hundred. The town is beautifully clean, and possesses a 
hospital, good Government offices, a church, and schools. 
In 1888 there were 18 schools on the island. Many of 
the natives speak a little English, and it is said that 90 
per cent can read and write. There is postal communica¬ 
tion with the Ladrones only four times in the year, and 
they may be regarded as one of the most inaccessible and 
least-visited parts of the globe, but the occasional calling 
of the Spanish men-of-war brings them now somewhat 
more frequently in touch with the outside world than 
was formerly the case. 
According to the soundings of the Challenger expedition, 
one of the deepest parts of the Pacific Ocean (4475 
fathoms) occurs to the south-south-west of the Ladrones. 
East of this chain and that of the Bonin Islands the great 
depths are quickly reached, and a trough of this deep 
water, averaging over 3000 fathoms, continues hence 
nearly to Japan. 
