At length here we are at the Marianne islands. Many of our seamen have perished in this long passage: but those who are still on the sick list flatter themselves with the expectation of recovering their strength on shore, and detaining the life that is ready to escape from them. Is not hope a certain harbinger of health?

The longer a passage has been, the more pleasure we feel at reaching a new harbour: but it is when we have a glimpse of but a short interval between past and future toils, our minds, greedy of pleasure, are desirous of finding no objects, but such as it can repose on in tranquillity.

Here the recent remembrance of the rich countries we had just quitted was an additional stimulus to make us eager for our speedy arrival at the Mariannes. The imagination, spoilt, as it were, by the picture of the splendid fields o the Molucca islands, could not conceive a sky less pure, a vegetation less luxuriant, in a climate almost the same. A higher degree of civilization in this archipelago promised us more lively enjoyments; and the original habits, and confiding timidity of the greater part of the inhabitants of the Pacific ocean, would here mingle with the austere and superstitious manners of the Spaniards.

Our first view of Guam however did not answer the idea we had formed of it from the exaggerated accounts of some enthusiastic mariners. Trees are rare on the mountains. Vast masses of bare rock form a painful contrast to patches of a yellowish green; from the midst of which, however, rise at intervals slender trees, crowned with a few pale leaves. The skirts of the shore alone exhibit rich clumps of smiling verdure: and our eyes, already saddened, turn with regret toward the remote grounds of a landscape, that reminds us but faintly of the delightful spots from which we have just fled.

After sailing along the coast for half a day, we doubled the isle of Cocoas, that shuts in on one side of the road of Humata, where we did not come to anchor till six o'clock, about two cable's length from a Spaniard, that arrived from Manilla the day before, and a short league from the land. The bottom is good, and the anchorage, I believe, pretty safe. It is defended by three forts, called the Sorrowful Virgin, The Holy Angel, and St. Vincent.

The arrival of the Spanish ship La Paz had brought the governor to Humata; and the next day he came on board us, to pay his compliments to our captain, and offer him his services. The ceremony of saluting occasioned a very serious accident to two soldiers of the garrison, who, little accustomed, no doubt, to the management of cannon, were burnt in such a way, as to excite apprehensions for their lives: but their good constitutions, and the care of our surgeons, preserved them from what was considered almost the certainty of death.

Our visit to the head of the settlement was paid without form, and received with cordiality.

An airy and sufficiently commodious place is now ready to receive our sick, the number of whom is pretty large. The intendant of the settlement is appointed to furnish them with provisions; superior orders are given to supply us amply with all the necessary succors; and at least a pleasing benevolence already obviates the wants that threatened us.

The village of Humata consists of about thirty hovels, built on piles, and constructed of the ribs of palm leaves, which are pretty strong, and well bound together. The people by whom they are inhabited and filled exhibit, outwardly, the frightful appearance of the most disgusting wretchedness. A piece of dirty, stinking cloth covers the women from the loins to the knees. The men are dressed in a sort of wide trowsers, that reach only to the middle of the thigh. Both (and this is nearly general) are covered with a disgusting and active leprosy, that leaves on the body black and livid marks even when it disappears, and is a continual subject of dread to the Europeans who have to deal with them.

Hitherto I am speaking only of the people of Humata; and when we arrive at Agagna, the residence of the governor, I shall note the difference that must necessarily exist between the inhabitants of a village and those of a capital. Here every thing is hideous; both the houses, and the specters that inhabit them.

When we traverse the country, the mind revolts with indignation at the aspect of a soil so fertile from which nothing is obtained. Hills shadowed by vigorous and useless trees surround smiling vales, where weeds grow by the thousands among a few blades of rice and Indian corn, attesting equally the goodness of the soil, the idleness of the inhabitants, and the inattention of the governors. How then do these robust and almost savage men employ themselves? They live---they die........with a few grains of Indian corn, a couple of breadfruits, half a score of segars, and a cake of the pith of the tacca pinnatifida or of the sago tree, they pass the day; and I do not think they can imagine any thing better in their situation, if to these productions, which the earth furnishes in abundance, they be enabled to add a bit of dried fish, or a shred of half putrid venison.

The appearance of so much wretchedness, no doubt the result of the degradation into which the inhabitants of this useless archipelago have been plunged by fanatical conquerors, rends my heart, and rouses my indignation against those vain and guilty men, who fancied that the introduction of Christianity exempted them from conferring any new benefits. Conquests effected by the sword are durable only when the vanquished are induced to pardon the blood that has been shed by the remembrance of the benefits bestowed.

Here there are no taxes, or contributions; only some transient impositions by the governor at the arrival of a ship; yet the people would perish from want, if the earth did not spontaneously furnish the idle inhabitants with the slight means of subsistence they require.

In certain small towns, however, there are customs still respected which afford proofs that the natives of these islands have formerly experienced periods of famine, as they indicate on their part a degree of a foresight, from which they are freed at present by the nature of their country.

In the history of the world wisdom and folly are almost always companions.

We are setting off to-day to get nearer the capital. I am not sorry to quit Humata.

LETTER LXXVII - Guam

VERY long reefs shut in the road of St. Louis, which is also protected from the northern winds by Goat Island. The bluff of Orota, on which a fort of little use has been erected, shelters it from the west-south-west winds likewise; but on the side of Guam tolerably high mountains do not prevent ships from running some danger, on account of innumerable shoals, which are for the most part dry at low water. On one of these shoals, formed of madrepores, the Spaniards, always industrious, have constructed a new fort, called St. Louis; no doubt at great expense, but of as little use as that on the hill. It was not without infinite difficulty that we reached the anchorage, which we shall not quit for some time.

A few days after our arrival at Guam, the governor spoke to us so warmly of Tinian, and the little known remains of ancient monuments to be found there, that M. Freycinet requested to be furnished with the means of visiting that island. Don Josef Medinilla readily complied, and offered any of us a passage in the proas of the Caroline islands, that make annual voyages to Rota, Tinian, and Seypan. Messrs. Gaudichaud, Bírard, and myself, were appointed to make this excursion; and the second day of our stay at the anchorage of St. Louis we embarked for the town whence we were to take our departure.

The channel between goat Island and the coast of Guam s not more than six miles across in its greatest breadth, or less than three in its smallest. The island is covered with trees and shrubs, for the most part useless, among which, however, is found the sago tree, called in the country federico, that furnishes the inhabitants of this archipelago with the chief article of their food. There is no water on Goat Island, except what is sometimes found in a large reservoir four of five hundred feet in diameter, supplied only by the rains; but on the other hand the coast of Guam exhibits in all parts charming prospects, and spots of rich verdure, on which the eye rests with delight.

The reefs of which I have spoken extend from the middle of the road of St. Louis to Agagna, leaving but three narrow passages for boats. The first is opposite Toupoungan, a village of about fifteen houses; in which at least as much wretchedness appears as at Humata, and the leprosy is not less frequent. The second leads to Anigua, a place as wretched as Toupoungan; where we quitted our boat, to proceed by land to Agagna, nearly six miles distant. How fruitful is the soil on all this part of the island! How culpable are the people to neglect it! Spacious fields deserted attest the apathy of the wretched inhabitants, and lead us to regret that the Spaniards do not relinquish the possession of this rich archipelago to some other power.

A few hundred yards from Anigua are several solitary houses, in which are kept lepers of both sexes, whose disease is so virulent that it commonly deprives them of the tongue or some of their limbs, and is said to become a contagious distemper. I have delineated two of these unfortunate creatures, exhibiting to the eye the most hideous aspect of human misery. One shudders with horror on approaching these houses of desolation and despair. I am persuaded, that by enlarging these paltry buildings, collecting in them all the persons in the island severely attacked by the leprosy, and prohibiting all communication with them from without, they might expel from the country this frightful disease; which, if it does not quickly cause the death of the patient, at least shortens his days, and perhaps leads him to curse them. What a scene, to behold an infant, a few days old, calmly reposing in the arms of a woman devoured by the leprosy, who imprudently lavishes on it her caresses! Yet this occurs in almost every house; government opposes no obstacle to it; and the infant, while sucking its mother's milk, inhales with it disease and death.

Before we arrived at the village of Assan, which is only a quarter of a league from town, we passed through a narrow mountainous path, bordered by elegant, odoriferous trees. The roads are in a manner enclosed by alleys of cocoa-trees, the long and regular fronds of which form a pleasing contrast with the broad and indented foliage of the breadfruit tree. The cocoa-tree is not so tall here as at Rawack and Ombay, but it appeared to me more vigorous. Its stem, almost always perpendicular, occasionally stretches out horizontally, forms an elbow at a certain height, rises thence majestically, and seems to tower into the air as its proper domain. Here we were particularly enabled to appreciate the advantages of this valuable tree, with many of the properties of which we were previously only partially acquainted.

The village of Assan is larger than the other two, but it exhibits the same wretchedness, and the same scenes of desolation. I never saw so many cocoa-trees as in the road that leads from this village to the town; never, perhaps, had I a more agreeable walk, and never did I find a more delightful landscape; the most skillful painter could delineate its beauties but faintly.

Several torrents that descent from the mountains, and precipitate themselves into the sea, are crossed by bridges tolerably well built, the work no doubt of the conquerors of this archipelago. Among the new structures there is nothing to be compared with them.

LETTER LXXVIII - Agana (Island of Guam)

THIS capital has a tolerable resemblance to a city; not, as we were told, to an European city, but to a city in which nine-tenths of the houses are built with the mid-ribs of the cocoa-tree, and covered with leaves of trees. It was so long since we had seen such a number collected together, that our first view of Agana prejudiced us in its favor. It has streets, real houses, a church of rather handsome appearance, and a palace somewhat deserving the name. I am becoming reconciled to the country; but I have not yet decided where my feeble admiration ought to stop.

The governor received us in his palace, which is built of stone and wood. It is newly whitewashed, and cleaned in such a manner as to lead us to suspect that these embellishments have been executed solely on our account. Eight pieces of artillery defend the gate. At its side is a very neat and spacious guardhouse; But what spoiled its appearance was that of the soldiers whom I recollected to have left at Humata, armed with spits and brooms. I never saw a more laughable caricature than the officers of the garrison in full dress. Nothing can be more whimsical than their accouterments; nothing more ridiculous than the importance they attach to a phantom of an epaulette dangling down the back of the shoulder. A sword of the days of Charlemagne, as long and as flat as the harangues of most of our orators; spatterdashes in which legs accustomed to greater liberty wallow at ease; peaked shoes; coats, the flaps of which trail on the ground; a few long hairs, white or plastered, carelessly tied with a strip of leather, or a blue or yellow ribbon; opera hats, the two corners of which rest on the shoulders, and are occasionally grazed by the point of the rapier; the lofty air they wish to assume; the manner of giving the word of command, which reminded us so well of their servile habits; the unsteady and consequential step; everything in these individuals, disguised as soldiers, brings to mind those scenes of gay intoxication, with which Vernet enriches the shop windows of Martinet, and the stalls of the Boulevards. Would I had his talents!

The house of the governor is sufficiently large and airy; but you must not look for ornaments in it. The only one to be found is a portrait of the king of Spain, which does little credit to the artist at Manilla, by whom it was painted. There were also in the same saloon eight or ten engravings, representing the entrance of the French into Madrid: but they were removed this morning; and it was easy to perceive, by the scenes of disorder and pillage there exhibited, that the painter was a Spaniard, loved his country, and hated ours.

In the bedchamber of the petty prince is still to be seen a Mater Dolorosa, who appears to grieve only at the manner in which the painter has disfigured her.

At the back of the palace is a pretty large piece of ground, which is called the garden, but in which probably nothing was ever sown. How then can the inhabitants be expected to cultivate their possessions, while their chiefs set the example of neglect? The square in front of this edifice is the only one in the city: it is tolerably large, but irregular.

They reckon five hundred and seventy houses in Agagna, only fifty of which are build of stone. The rest, properly speaking, are miserable huts, standing in a little enclosure of two or three hundred tobacco plants; bordered by a wall of sago trees, from which the inhabitants make cakes, indifferent enough, and biscuits somewhat better, but very doughy. These houses have seldom more than two rooms, separated by a partition of deals of bamboo or cocoa-tree. In one the cooking and household work is performed; and here the brothers, sisters, cousins, pigs, and friends of the family, sleep pell-mell. In the other the master of the house sleeps alone; and in this commonly are stuck up the smoky figures of some saints, before which the family assemble and recite their prayers almost every hour of the day. These scenes of devotion are affecting; and would be still more so, if we did not know how easily these senseless people forget their religious duties, as soon as the moments of prayer are at an end.

The houses are regularly placed, and form streets tolerably wide, but not paved. Except those of stone, all are built on piles four feet high. This custom, which is almost general throughout the South Sea islands, could have been adopted only to guard the people against those diseases which the rainy season would not fail to produce.

The country round the town is not more cultivated than that at a distance from it. You may see, indeed, humble huts, round which a few yards of rice, Indian corn, and tobacco, are cultivated: but how much ground is lost! What culpable indolence prevails! . . . . I should have guessed, that the country belonged to the Spaniards, from the sacrilegious state of neglect in which it is left. I observed every hour in the day the conduct of some of the inhabitants, and those not the most idle: time must seem to them very long, and life very short. They sleep two-thirds of the day; and when they employ the other in labour it is scarcely ever without being obliged to do so by necessity or the governor. They smoke and chew the whole day; and seem to live only on tobacco and areca nut mixed with lime; they add, indeed, a few leaves of betel, but this seasoning requires a little care and trouble; and what person here will take either to live?

The arrival of a ship at the settlement is a remarkable event. As soon as one is descried, the people quit their ranchos, and proceed toward the capital. The most active prepare the articles they have to barter; and interest, for once at least, rouses them from their apathy. The streets are peopled, and we perceived a little motion in a country that might have been taken the day before for the realm of sleep.

The governor, in paying his compliments, observed, that he considered this as a happy year. Two Russian frigates, the Kamtschatka and the Kutusow, anchored here; the former on the 7th December, 1818; the latter, on the 14th of January, 1819. They were engaged separately on voyages of discovery, undertaken by order of their government. The brig Rurik, which we met with at the Cape of Good Hope, had also staid a week here. We could get no information respecting the object of the voyages of the two first vessels; but that of captain Kotzebue's did as much honour to the Russian minister, who directed it, as the result will to the learned commander, whom he selected to carry it into effect.

LETTER LXXIX - Guam (Marian Islands.)

NOWHERE, perhaps is there so much and so little religion as at Guam. The women bestow their favours for a rosary. The men do not blush to offer you a sister, or some other of their relations, and will immediately after prostrate themselves at the foot of the altar. In the churches the two sexes are separate; and if you see few girls without a veil, you also see few men gaze at them. In church the people behave like Christians; in the city, and in the country, like savages.

Here, as in Spain, the husbands are very jealous of their wives; lovers, of their mistresses: but, these excepted, you may pay your court, if you please, to their sisters and friends; what is it to them? What is not appropriated to themselves is no concern of theirs: and you will find men shameless enough to offer you, as soon as you enter their houses, one of their relations, for fear you should cast an eye on their wives. At the same time, you may be assured, that if you please the wife you will not long sigh in vain.

We should be astonished at the prodigious number of processions and religious ceremonies, with which the people are amused at Guam, if we were not aware, that the zeal of devotees, and even the carelessness of the indifferent, are beneficial to the church, and particularly to the priest, who takes advantage of every thing. Collections are made at the houses; requisitions are ordered; and there are few of the inhabitants who can escape that sort of tax. Such as have no money, of which there is very little in the settlement, provide fruit, vegetables, and meat, to fill the stores of the priest, who probably distributes a considerable portion among the poor* (*These practices do not exist at the Philippine islands, where the ministers of our holy religion set the people entrusted to their care an example of every virtue.) .......But I saw no poor at Guam!

I imagined the processions would cease when Lent was over, and that the people would have a few days respite. By no means: they went on more sedulously than ever: and, all things considered, these poor people, to whom the church prescribes rest or prohibits labour half the week, are not so much to blame for devoting three-fourths of their lives to idleness. Is it not even from excess of zeal that the land is so neglected? ....I cannot tell, but I fear I was too severe in my first conjectures. Let me be more circumspect in future.

The wind is contrary, and I am rejoiced at it, as several flying proas of the Caroline islands are just announced by the look-out at Humata, which gives us hopes of making our short trip with excellent pilots, and in boats better managed than those intended for us. I have also seen the ceremonies of the Passion-week, and have not an idea of the splendour with which our religious mysteries are celebrated here. With superior pomp and greater impositions on the people, they are celebrated here as they are at Manilla, and at Manilla as they are in Spain. It was to our captain that the priest of Agagna delivered the keys of the Holy Sepulcher. He kept them two days hung around his neck, and returned them on Easter eve, with exemplary devotion.

It is truly painful to see a people, who might so easily be guided aright, given up to the darkness in which they are enveloped, and even in the present day adopting, with blind confidence, the absurd narratives of pretended daily miracles with which they are amused every hour of the day. Our learned Abbe de Quelen, whose paternal cares are not confined to the instruction of the crew, with whom he has made so long a voyage, has had many conversations with the priest of Agagna; and he is convinced that the poor man can scarcely instruct his flock in the simplest lessons of the catechism, as he is himself ignorant of the fundamental principles of our religion. As to Latin, which he told us he had studied from his earliest infancy, under the ablest professors at Manilla, our chaplain, who speaks it with the greatest fluency, could scarcely make him understand a few words by turning and varying his phrases: and for my own part, I am convinced, that as long as such pastors as friar Ciriaco are sent to the Marianne islands, religion will be little hounoured there, and the morals of the people will not be in the slightest degree improved.

I have told you that Passion-week is a season revered by the inhabitants of Guam. There is no exaggeration, I assure you, in terming the festival of Easter the day of scandal.

P.S. To-day we have experienced two slight shocks of an earthquake.

LETTER LXXX - Agagna (Island of Guam)

THE governor of Diely, zealous for the welfare of the country entrusted to him, as soon as he arrived at Timor, established a little council, in which he conferred places on those of his officers whom he judged most capable of filling them: and, persuaded that to make all the branches of administration go on well, all the labours and offices must not rest on his shoulders alone, he wisely appointed judges, officers of police, and generals in the army, whose titles were confined to the settlement. The functions being thus distributed, business goes on much better: one affair is not thwarted by another; ten may be concluded at one time, and the people are satisfied. Here signor Medinilla is commander in chief, judge, counsellor, and often prosecutor. To whom can any appeal be made against his decrees? ..... Who will listen to a poor fellow that is proscribed? ..... At diely the governor has a account of all affairs laid before him: he is the council of revision: and with men who take such wise precautions to prevent disorders, it is seldom that abuses can be repeated, or that the injustice of a powerful oppressor can exempt him from being disgraced by the sovereign.

At Guam, who would dare to prefer a complaint against the confidential domestic of the governor? Yet who better deserves the vengeance of the law? Under the cloak of the chief he has made himself the little tyrant of the colony: and, if he have hitherto escaped the public animosity, he is indebted for it to the base protection granted him. Does not he make himself the participator in a crime who refuses to punish its perpetrators?

One of the chiefs of the colony (and not one of the least) said to me one day: 'It is not long since I saved the life of a man, whom you will see, no doubt, at Rota, in the trip you are going to make; and he has not proved very grateful for it. Hear me: I had a mistress' - 'I know it' - 'She adored me.' - 'I do not doubt it' - 'And, between ourselves, her fidelity was incorruptible. You are sensible that, in a country like this, we must seek amusement if we would not die of pure ennui. This young lady was in the habit every evening of coming to my palace; and, in spite of spies and of the bad consequences that might ensue from such nocturnal meetings....' -'I understand you.' - 'My friendship for this lovely unfortunate was drawn still closer by an event that I had not foreseen: but, in short, it was not my fault. Mademoiselle R..... was brought to bed; and the charming infant, with which she presented me, imposed on me fresh obligations. I summoned to my house the first workmen in Guam: I ordered them to quit their wives, their children, their domestic affairs, and devote themselves entirely to the work I meditated. In a country destitute of resources, like this, it requires some time to build a house of any respectability; but, after eighteen months of constant assiduity, I saw with pleasure the progress made. It is true, a few families had to suffer by the absence of their heads, whom I kept with me; but my child was every thing to me; and the idea of providing him with an abode worthy of himself and of his mother delighted me.

So far every thing went on well. The people were not ignorant that I had a mistress; but my example could scarcely have any effect of the vulgar, and no one here had any right to act as I did. One night, while she, for whom my heart was impatient, was proceeding slowly, and alone, toward my palace, the captain, of whom I just spoke to you, saw her, ran to her, and, in order to seduce her, made her proposals, at which a person so virtuous naturally revolted. Had it not been for a spy I set to watch that night, I should perhaps have heard nothing of this scandalous discourse, my mistress was so reserved, and so apprehensive of losing my favour; but being closely pressed, she blushing informed me of the solicitations of my rival. I was enraged, and, resolved on vengeance, deferred it only till the next day. In the evening, the captain, returning from his country house, was assaulted by a dozen domestics, against whom he at first defended himself courageously; but, overpowered by numbers, he fell, and the fellows were about to dispatch him, when I came forward, and said: 'Let him alone, he is dead.' - I caused him to be carried home carefully, and delivered to his wife and children.'

Some person coming in at this moment interrupted our discourse; and, surprised at his generosity, I mechanically thought of the Spanish monk, who lay in wait for passengers at the corner of a street in Barcelona, stabbed them with his stiletto, pretended to run up at the alarm, and was lavish of his interested assistance to the person he had just assassinated; which procured him first an immense fortune, and lastly the gallows.

'I should have been satisfied with my vengeance,' said my narrator to me on his return, 'if I had not learned from the public, which is not always the organ of truth, that my enemy had scarcely recovered from his wounds before he boasted he would rob me of my mistress, and make himself a party in the island.

'In consideration for the important rank he had always held in the colony, I had suffered a bad business to die away, a theft of gunpowder, in which he was suspected of being concerned; but his pursuit of my mistress rendered him more guilty in my eyes. I sent my guards to his house; he was arrested; I tried him; and, after having made him languish five months in prison, I sent him, in very bad weather, to grow old, and perhaps die, at Rota. However, as I am answerable for my conduct to the governor-general of the Philippine islands, I have myself drawn up the proces-verbal of the charge against him, in which it was unnecessary to say any thing of my mistress, who is the god-daughter of my prisoner; and I wait for the orders of my superior on the subject.'

This anecdote astonished me. I give it as I heard it, and leave it to your reflections.

In the villages punishments are ordered by the alcaldes, and executed by the gobernadorzillos (little governors). There is no appeal from their sentences; and he who should complain of having received five-and-twenty blows with a cane to-day, would receive fifty to-morrow for having dared to utter a complaint.....

A brother has a sister insulted by a neighbour; a son hears his mother calumniated: the best step they can take is to revenge it themselves; there are no laws here against calumniators.

Obscure and acknowledged assassins are committed to prison, and put in irons as a preliminary step. While they are in custody, the affair is examined very slightly, the culprits are employed, and the first opportunity they are sent to Manilla, where the mode of proceeding of the chiefs of Guam must excite no little astonishment.

A rich person here is always sure to take vengeance of an affront. He pays four or five known malefactors, and the insult is soon wiped out. The favourite domestic of the governor Medinilla is considered in the settlement as the leader of this association. There is only one thing to be feared, when he is charged with such an honourable commission, that he will carry his vengeance too far. And such monsters have protectors! I was almost going to say friends.

As to that police, which with us requires adroit knaves, who insinuate themselves into company, penetrate into all secrets, and whose sole trade, in a word, is to ruin families, while thinking they render themselves necessary to a government that despises while it pays them, there is no such thing here; and it would be useless, for the people know not what a conspiracy is. The state, the monarchy, the king, are words without meaning to the greater part of the inhabitants of the Marianne islands. They see nothing superior to the governor; and the love of these good people for their chiefs would rise to adoration, if they received from them benefits alone, and if none but the wicked had any thing to fear under their paternal administration.

Major Don Luis de Torres, the only native with whom you can venture to have a little conversation, has told me more than once, that a woman was the only cause of the disorders that for some time had afflicted the colony; and that but for her the governor would have been known here only as a benefactor.

What woman is there in Guam, whose qualities can justify so much weakness?

LETTER LXXXI - Agagna (island of Guam)

AT Agagna there are a royal college and several secondary schools. In the former, the scholars learn to read and sing: in the others, they are attempted to be taught to sing and read. Thus the music master is both first and second tutor. He is the principal of the college; for I do not consider as principal one Captain Augustus, who can scarcely read, and cannot sing. You would suppose, perhaps, that the Lulli of the settlement possesses some talents for music; but you would be mistaken. He has never made a noise, but in church; and except two or three patriotic songs, and four of five country ballads, his pupils know nothing beyond high mass, vespers, and a few hymns. Would you know in what the forty pupils of the college employed? In amusing the governor, and the captains of ships that wander thus far.

As they do not wish to make them men of science or learning, which would be nearly useless, why do they not make mechanics of them? They employ them in amusing strangers, and would blush to teach them a trade! They are intended to become, hereafter, persons of consequence in the settlement: there is no knowing how high they may be advanced; but this we may venture to affirm, they will always be useless beings.

The principal of the college (for let me observe again there is but one) has six dollars a month, or a shirt, and his allowance of provisions. The master of a secondary school, who implicitly follows the precepts of his superior, has only two dollars. Even this is paying dearly for a useless being.

It is more than six years since the present governor arrived; and he is ignorant to this moment of the system of education followed here. He has resolved to leave his successor a method of instruction, that must be very useful to the settlement, and which will show, a few score years hence, the folly of thus neglecting a people who are governed at so little expense. Long live philanthropy!

The ploughs and carts at Guam remind us of the infancy of agriculture and the arts.

There are also two or three manufacturers of silk-yarn. The machinery is French. There is one Chinese, more simple, and more useful than ours; consequently it has little employment.

As to architecture, it would answer no purpose here: and, without purchasing, at great expense, the whimsical pleasure of a magnificent residence, if the people would be contented with durable and commodious habitations, they have only to build after the models, perhaps rather too massive, left them by the first inhabitants, which neither time nor greedy conquerors have been able to destroy.

The common people are very superstitious at Agagna, and yet more so in the country; for superstition is the daughter of ignorance. Since our arrival, we have had four shocks of an earthquake, which have been attributed to the dissolute morals of the settlement. If we were to believe the inhabitants, God pays no attention to any country but theirs. No effect takes place, however trifling, in which they do not discern a great cause.

This superstition, which does not fail sometimes to have very fatal effects, is one of the immediate results of the ascendancy which the first conquerors of the archipelago acquired here. You will perceive hereafter, that it would be very astonishing if the people had emancipated themselves from them.

There is no country in the world where sons pay more respect to their fathers. Age does not free them from obedience; and I have seen men of forty tremble at a mere reprimand from their father. They never mention their name without the prefix of señor, and a sight inclination of the head.

It is very seldom that a mother does not suckle her own child; a serious illness alone could induce her to renounce the duties of maternity. The winds of Europe have not blown so far as these climates.

It would be necessary, however, in almost all the South-Sea islands included between the tropics, to prohibit to many mothers the pleasing duty, of which our females deprive themselves; and I do not even know but that it would be desirable to prohibit marriage to persons of either sex, afflicted with certain diseases, which there is a danger of their transmitting to their children. There are remedies in nature that are very violent, but the happy results of which have been demonstrated by experience.

Males here may marry at fourteen, and females at twelve; but such precocious matches are very rare.

The number of children in a family is commonly from three to five. I have seen an old man, who had twenty-seven, all living, and all consoling him in his infirmities. Greuse would have found in them a fine subject for a picture.

There is a woman in the settlement, the number of whose progeny amounts to a hundred and thirty-seven. To mention such instances is to prove their rarity.

LETTER LXXXII - Agana (Island of Guam)

THE primitive language of the inhabitants of the Marianne islands is monotonous, and extremely difficult. There are syllables, to the pronunciation of which our letters can only approximate; and I am now no longer astonished at the great differences I have observed in a number of savage words given by the early navigators.

The style is the man, says Buffon: and if apply here the same remark to the language (as the art of writing was long unknown here), we must allow some genius to the people who have certainly been debased by massacres and persecutions. They have adopted the language of their masters with their vices: but, though still retaining something of remote times, they have often shown that they would more easily have assumed their virtues.

Every thing leads me to believe, that this country, so long unknown, was already considerably civilized, when it was discovered by chance, and subdued by force of arms. The ancient monuments still to be seen would be an evident proof of it; if the language which is purified only by liberty, and the detestation of slavery, did not concur in supporting my assertion. It is as rich in figurative expressions, as varied in its construction. Translate one of their speeches word for word, and you will be astonished at its elegance and precision. 'The aspect of Tinian,' said a native to me yesterday, 'has I know not what of majestic, that enlarges the mind, and purifies the thoughts.' And, speaking of the lightness of the proas of the Carolines, he said: 'like the birds of the ocean they cut the waves, and display the wind: they are the wind itself.' I am quite certain that he who translated this phrase into Spanish did not embellish it; and could not have found, in the sort of education he received, the expressive terms of the Chamorrian language.

The dress of both men and women is like that of the common people in some provinces of Spain, with a few modifications. Instead of the cumbrous mantilla, that infolds the Spanish women with so much elegance, a handkerchief here covers the forehead, and floats loose over the shoulders. The hair is tied very low behind; and this fashion, which seems to lengthen the shape of the head, and displeases at first, becomes very pleasing when you are accustomed to it. The corset which slightly conceals the bosum, and seldom covers the loins, is attractive both from what it allows to be seen, and what it leaves to the conjecture. The men almost always wear a shirt over the trowsers, which are very short, seldom reaching below the knee.

The complexion of both sexes is a dark yellow. Their teeth are in general spoiled by the use of betel, and the lime with which they season it. Every body smokes; and in almost every house you may see children four or five years old with a segar in their mouths. The segars used by the women are of a monstrous size; and their is a sort of coquetry displayed in having them six inches long and eight or nine lines in diameter.

The petticoats are generally very long, to the regret of travelers: for the women have very well shaped legs, as well as the men, which, though small, might serve as models for our best statuaries. Their shape is superior to any thing we have hitherto observed.

The women sometimes wear men's hats: and this graceful dress, their truly fascinating walk, their almost general desire of making themselves agreeable to strangers, every thing in short conspires to fire the imagination of those, whom a long voyage has kept at a distance from this dangerous sex, rendered still more so by long absence from them, and the pleasing recollections they incessantly bring to mind.

Though the period of our stay, as appointed by M. Freycinet, has long elapsed, I look forward with regret to the moment of departure; for the ladies of Agagna, now less coy, begin to make us the confidants of their little vexations, and to accept the consolations we are eager to offer.

Guam is decidedly more agreeable.

LETTER LXXXIII - Agagna (Island of Guam)

I HAVE told you, my dear Batlle, they begin to be accustomed to our presence. The men no longer dread us so much, though we are become more formidable, from the confidence with which we have inspired in their wives. It seems to me, that they are willing to make a necessity of what they cannot prevent; and, all things considered, I think they act wisely. They would be much more deceived, if they sought to be less so; and from the evil, which they seemed so much to dread, three good consequences arise: the liberty of the women, the emancipation of the men from a chimera, and our personal satisfaction, which ought certainly to be taken into account.

Instead of shunning, the beauties of the country now seek us. They undertake to execute our commissions, of which they acquit themselves with zeal; come to our lodgings not unaccompanied; and at length visit us alone. We are no longer in their eyes formidable insurgents, thirsting after blood and plunder: we are become amiable and desired strangers; or, if some still retain doubts of our intentions, they; choose rather to expose themselves to the danger by a confiding boldness, than to shun it by a timid prudence. We have rosaries, beads, handkerchiefs, articles much prized among them: and our dealings with them, while they give them a high idea of our generosity, at the same time convince us of the goodness of their hearts. Our first conversations were very obscure, as few of us understood Spanish, and they cannot speak a word of French: but they are intelligent, and when necessary, gestures, the universal language, smooth out all difficulties, and serve us as an interpreter. In this view Europe appears to them the country of countries; and they ingenuously confess, that we know much more than their husbands. It is but fair to make the most of our advantages.

The town is bordered on the south by a pretty high mountain, lately abandoned from fear, and now frequented from security. On the north, fine clumps of cocoa trees form a majestic screen, the seems to oppose a barrier to the waves of the sea. Under these magnificent trees, intermingled with plantain and breadfruit trees, flows a small shallow river, that takes its rise a league from the city, in a delightful but little cultivated valley. Thither the maidens and wives of Agagna repair to confide their charms to the indiscreet water, that conceals them but slightly. This river became our usual place of meeting: for in these burning climes we were recommended to bathe frequently: and if at first our visits banished a sex unaccustomed to our presence, we were shortly convinced, that modesty alarmed was rather the pretense than the cause of its desertion. We may habituate ourselves to every thing, even to danger; as experience has just told us. In the beginning, the hour of our arrival at the river was that of the departure of the women: by degrees they did not retire till a few minutes after; by and by they did not leave it till we did; and at last the place became an actual rendezvous. Here I was enabled to observe the beauty of shapes, that bandages and laces had not profaned; and I confess I could scarcely have suspected such graceful forms under coarse veils, and sometimes beneath wretched rags.

From this confidence, so flattering to us, arose another important advantage. Our conversations, being less watched, had more liberty; and our remarks made an impression, as Madame Dacier, of Gothic memory says. It is not by paying minute attention to the manners and customs of a country, that we can judge of them, and form just comparisons: reason takes flight at the aspect of a stern brow; and it is by chatting playfully with different persons, that we can best appreciate them. If a pedagogue interrogate a young girl, adieu to truth, adieu to frankness; for even innocence is bashful. A gay youngster will ask a hundred questions; and if he inspire confidence (and youngsters do so more frequently than is supposed), his mistress will not venture to deceive him; she will conceal nothing from him; and will call a cat, a cat! His gaiety will inspire hers: his indulgence will excite on a subject connected with manners: and it is by playing, as it were, with customs and absurdities, that he will most readily acquire a knowledge of them.

Ignorance of the word virtue does not prevent its existing here: and it would be very unjust to judge lightly of the conduct of all the women. We find some who never violate their duties, among which they clearly comprehend fidelity to their husbands: but these instances are not very common; and the number of those who emancipate themselves from that law is infinitely greater than that of those who submit to it. We are four hundred thousand leagues from Europe.

It is probable that, previous to the conquests of this archipelago, wives never took the names of their husbands; since even at present, notwithstanding the Spanish laws are in force in the Marianne islands, that practive obtains, although some centuries of slavery might have been expected to obliterate it.

I may venture to introduce here some curious observations on the mixture of Spanish manners with those of the Chamorres, the first inhabitants of these islands. Although the latter were compelled to submit to a foreign yoke, and abjure certain ancient usages, they have nevertheless only adopted from their conquerors such as assimilate in some measure with their national character.

All their traditions are full of extraordinary phenomena, of which their country was the scene. Their tales are nothing but an absurd tissue of supernatural powers, who interfered in terrestrial affairs, and promised them rewards, or threatened them with cruel punishments. Accordingly no nation in the world has such faith in miraculous stories, with which Spanish books are filled, as that by which the Marianne islands is now inhabited. Neither has any people ever had more of that childish superstition, which so strongly characterizes the country people of the European peninsula. Here, if a man break his leg, it is immediately imputed to his having eaten a morsel of salt venison on a Friday. If a house be on fire, it is because the owner, being engaged in conversation, neglected to pull off his hat the moment he set his foot in the church. Do not attempt to extinguish the flames; both houses must be burned down: no human power can prevent it. This strange speech I heard the other day from the mouth of one of the principal persons in the colony, Captain Augustus; and it was acted upon by the crowd around him, which continued motionless at the fire, that might have proved fatal to a great part of the city. The zeal and activity of some of our sailors, however, gave the lie to the declaration of the imbecile captain, and one house only was destroyed. But what was his answer to this argument? He declared, that he saw the two courageous seamen, who were the foremost in subduing the fire, attending divine service that morning with exemplary devotion: unquestionably the house could have been saved only by them.

With this turn of mind, so advantageous to the ambitions projects of the Spaniards at the time of their first attempts on this archipelago, and with which they must have been struck, it becomes a matter of astonishment how so much blood should have been shed in every one of the islands; and by what strange concurrence of circumstances the feeble remnant of a numerous population contrived to escape their persecutions and massacres.

The history of the Spanish conquests is nothing but a long tissue of cruelties and horrors; yet what people upon ;earth have given more noble examples of greatness and magnanimity?

LETTER LXXXIV - Agagna (Guam), April, 1819

MESSRS. Gaudichard, Bérard, and I, are setting off for Rota and Tinian in the flying proas of the Caroline islands, that arrived a few days ago. The governor, always attentive to our accommodation, has persuaded us to embark with Carolinian pilots, as commanding stronger boats than any that have been for some years at the Marianne islands, and also as more skillful seamen. I must therefore suspend for some time my notes on Guam, as I am about to change the scene: and, at my return, I shall communicate to you such additional details as I procure.

From the advice hourly given us by signor Medinilla, and the sort of importance he appears to attach to this voyage, it might be supposed to be attended with danger. We regard it only as a party of pleasure.

It is ten o'clock: the men in office at Agagna, or captain, and a few of our companions, accompany us to the sea-side, and wish us a pleasant voyage.

The wind is brisk, and tolerably favorable: one of our conductors dives to the depth of eight or ten fathoms, to loosen from the rock the cord that holds fast our boat: the sale is hoisted; and, for the first time, I observe a gay departure.

Our little fleet consisted of eight proas. Gaudichaud was in the smallest: Bérard and I are in the largest, commanded by the chief pilot. We were going at the rate of five or six knots an hour, as there was a pretty fresh easterly wind, and soon lost sight of the town, which from the offing makes no appearance, and frequently is not even perceived, being concealed by a superb screen of cocoa-trees. Three points, however, mark its locality to the mariners. For St. Agatha, built on the mountain; the castle of St. Raphael, which is on the east, and forms a white spot; and a pretty large shed, which is here called the dockyard, because boats are repaired there, and a present a brig is building.

The wind dying away, we anchored in the evening at Rotignan, a magnificent hill on the north of the island, rather more than three leagues from the city. Squalls came on rapidly; and one of them was so violent, that a proa, not having time to rail up the sail, was upset (it was one of those manned by the inhabitants of the Marianne islands)...A hint to those who bestow exaggerated commendations on the goodness of these boats. Luckily no one of our trio was on board it: and, notwithstanding the dexterity of those who manned it, it was two hours before it was righted.

We spoke of the accident with some anxiety to our pilots, who only laughed at it, and by their confidence removed our apprehensions, assuring us that we had no reason to be afraid.

Who could imagine that in such frail boats, sometimes only three or four feet wide, and forty feet long, the planks of which are joined and fastened with a little lime and a gum obtained from the breadfruit tree, these daring men, unassisted by the compass, and guided only by the stars and their own experience, would venture to undertake voyages of more than six hundred leagues, and rarely fall victims to their confidence? What do these men want, to execute things better? Tools; iron. They frequently invent, and their conceptions are those of genius: they imitate also, thought rarely, and soon surpass their models. A few bits of iron attract the peaceful inhabitants of the Carolines to the Marianne islands: which of us would make the voyage in this manner to posses the whole of this rich archipelago? .....If our machines be more wonderful, how many steps must have been made to arrive at this perfection! One artist is preceded by another: one attempts follows an attempt less successful: a slight degree of success opens a new career; the mine is explored; and the man who first reaches the goal is indebted for it to a continued series of attempts, the authors of which remain almost always unknown, but possess not on this account the less merit. And, besides, consider that in Europe we are incessantly endeavoring to improve, and to arrive at perfection; here, as soon as they attain what is well, they seldom go any farther: and if the astonishing construction of their boats excited our admiration, it was already the same in the days of Anson, and had not varied perhaps for ages. Perfection, indeed, is a species of invention: but which has most merit, -he who finds a path traced out, and advances beyond it, or he who first discovers it, and puts us in the road: ....Since I have seen and known these men, whom in our foolish pride we do not blush to call savages, I no longer feel for them that pity which arises from contempt, but merely that which is inspired by a sense of the wants and evils of our neighbour. We shall see, hereafter, whether they would think themselves honoured by this more generous sentiment.

Being afraid to let slip the smallest peculiarity that could serve to characterise our cheerful pilots, you will find different traits of the scattered throughout my subsequent letters till our return to Guam. These people appear to me so good, they are so little known, that to omit the least observation would be an act of culpable negligence.

Besides, I dwell with so much pleasure on the particulars of their way of life: it is so uniform, so gentle! What people have ever deserved the attention and benefits of civilized countries more than these!

LETTER LXXXV - Passage from Guam to Rota

IF the first opinion with which the Carolinians inspire you be a favorable one, you will feel for them a degree of respect as you have opportunities of knowing them better. How is it they have been so fortunate as to escape the convulsions with which all this part of the globe has been torn for centuries? Nine-tenths of the inhabitants of the Marianne islands have be exterminated; and that religion, which ought to have established in them peace and happiness, has covered them with a funeral pall. One spot of blood has marked out Owhyhee to future nations: and the murder of Cook will ever be a terror to those voyagers who persuade themselves that these solitary nations are formed to cringe and obey, and are unworthy of the benefits of our civilization. New Guinea conceals cannibals in its bosom: New Holland, in several parts, is not perhaps less to be dreaded: human sacrifices were in use not long ago in the Society Islands, and are still in the archipelago of the Friendly Islands: shocking stories are told of the ferocity of the inhabitants of New Zealand: and on the coast of Timor, the interior of which is half savage, there exists an island, that of Ombay, where the people drink blood out of the skulls of their vanquished enemies. The inhabitants of the Caroline Islands alone have been hitherto strangers to all these horrors. Christianity, however, has penetrated among then; but for want of judicious interpreters, it has made few proselytes: but the first missionaries sent thither, inspired with a more Christian zeal, did not transform into fields of carnage a country which they were not so fortunate as to enlighten

The coast of Guam, along which we sailed the whole of the 22nd rises en echelon to the northernmost point, and is richly wooded in all parts. Breadfruits and cocoa-trees skirt the shore, which is varied by several capes, the most remarkable of which is that of the Two Lovers. As love forms a large part of the history of the human race, you can rarely traverse a country in which some one of these hackneyed epithets does not exist, and is the subject of some ridiculous tale, adopted by idleness and the love of the marvelous, and consecrated by antiquity. That of Guam is too absurd; I will therefore spare you the narration.

During our passage, Bérard shot several boobies; and neither the presence of a shark, nor the roughness of the sea, prevented one of the Carolinians from jumping into the water to fetch them. These men swim so well, that they seem quite a home when diving, or contending with the waves.

When a squall appears in the horizon, they crouch on their heels, clap at intervals with one hand open on the other half closed, make signs to the cloud to keep off, and pronounce in a low voice, with much devotion, and great rapidity, certain words that recur periodically; which shows at least that they have an idea of a superior power, capable of listening to their prayers.

As we appeared to be struck with these gestures and rapid motions, they asked us whether we did not perform the same ceremonies in France in great dangers. We told them we did not; at which they appeared surprised and sorry. The following is one of their prayers, which I transcribed.

Léga chédégas, léga cheldiliga, chédégas léga chédégas, legas cheldi léda chédégas, léga chédégas mottou.

Oguéren quenni chéré péré pei, orguéren quenni chéré péré pei.

We requested an explanation of them in vain from the chief pilot, who, having been several times at the Marianne islands, understood a few words of Spanish. All we could learn was, that they told the clouds to go away; but we never saw any thing less obedient.

They have a more certain mode of avoiding the squalls that appear in the horizon, to which they had recourse several times while we were with them. As soon as they rise, and are driven toward them, they tack about, if it be necessary, and if they are not anxious to reach the end of their voyage.

To judge from the intelligence of their principals, we may presume that they entrust the command only to the most skillful: is it the same every where, my friend?

We spent the night of the 22d in a little hut, where the good man, his wife, and his daughter, were busy preparing their frugal supper. As soon as they had given us permission to remain, we availed ourselves of it to lie down, for we had been rudely tossed about in the proas, which, thought lighter than our boats, and keeping the wind much better, are far more fatiguing. We were on the point of going to sleep, which we had farther encouraged by a tolerably good meal, when our Carolineans entered in a body; and, without asking permission, soon caused the remains of our poultry and fruit to disappear, made free with our mats, and desired us not to discomposed ourselves. We laughed at their familiarity, and their proximity did not prevent our enjoying a very sound sleep.

The next morning, after they had breakfasted on the birds which Bérard had killed, and dressed over the flames, they requested us to embark. Their stock of cocoa nuts was procured: but alas for the fields where these gentlemen are accustomed to halt! they know nothing of the right of property.

Among the birds shot was a raven, which they would not touch, giving us clearly to understand it was because it eats human flesh. This circumstance was another proof of the goodness of their dispositions.

We set sail the 23d, at seven o'clock in the morning. A north-east wind blew with some violence, and the five proas, partly manned by the people of Rota, refused to follow us. There was a strong current, which drifted us to the westward. The sea ran high, and I became dreadfully sea-sick. Never did I suffer so much; but the sight of Rota, which we made an hour after we sailed, revived me, and I contrived, though with difficulty, to make a few sketches. Some squalls passed over us, and, notwithstanding the prayers of our pilots, we escaped very few of them. At eight in the evening we were off the west point of Rota, but the wind having lulled, we did not reach the anchorage till eleven.

Fires were lighted along the coast, and we were convinced that we were expected. The bottom, in this road, is of coral and madrepores; and, as the breakers leave but a very narrow passage, our Carolinians refused to proceed through it by night, for fear of their boats being lost. I was in despair at this disappointment, which my companions, less fatigued, treated with indifference, when a canoe, twelve feet long, and a foot and a half wide, came alongside of us, with a single man in it, attracted by the report of a musket we had just fired, and which, as you will find presently, had spread alarm through the settlement. This Rotinian, raising his voice, asked us in Spanish whence we came, and what we wanted. I answered, that we came from Guam, had letters from the governor, and were Frenchmen. At the same time I requested him to take me ashore in his boat, and set off, in spite of the prudent remonstrances of Bérard.

It was midnight: my pilot rowed, and so often requested me not to stir, though I was sitting motionless, that I began to be uneasy. At length I asked him if we were in any danger, and he had scarcely answered No , before the canoe upset. I know very little of swimming; and the darkness of the night, an unknown person near me, the dull roar of the breakers, continued to a distance, and repeated by the mountain echoes, all combined, by no means improved my skill. However, I exerted myself, and contrived to lay hold of the upset canoe, which my odious guide was pushing out to sea. He spoke not a word, and I, resting feebly on this bit of wood, drank and shivered, endeavouring by my cries to rouse Bérard, whom in my fright I supposed asleep. How nauseous is the water of the South Sea! and how little was a situation like mine adapted to improve its flavour! I wished, I confess, that the current would drive us on rocks, as I was much less afraid of breaking my ribs than of swallowing the brine. Bérard at length heard me, and acquainted the Carolineans with my mishap. Immediately the chief tamor leaped into the waves, provided with a piece of an oar, and his rapid strokes soon brought him near me: I heard him coming, and my courage revived: he animated me by his voice; and at length I perceived him. With one hand he presented the piece of wood which he held; I seized hold of it, and doing my best to second him, we arrived on board; he pleased and laughing, I shivering, and still better pleased. As to my other pilot, he righted his boat, and went to carry the news to the alcalde, who ordered a large fire to be still kept up on the shore.

Recovered from my fright and fatigued, I presented my generous deliverer with a handkerchief, a few fish-hooks, and a shirt; but as soon as he understood that it was by way of reward for the service he had rendered me, he refused my offer; though he accepted it afterward as a token of my regard. Do you know many Europeans, my friend, capable of acting so nobly?

LETTER LXXXVI - Rota, June, 1819

THE arrival of Frenchmen at Rota spread alarm through the settlement, as I have told you. The inhabitants retired to the neighbouring mountains, taking with them their wives and children. The alcalde, in his thatched palace, feeling himself not strong enough to oppose the landing of the insurgents, was desirous of capitulating at once: accordingly he dispatched a proa, of larger dimensions than the former, and I had not finished shifting myself, when it came alongside of us. I received the envoy extraordinary, who offered me a passage, and accompanied him with Gaudichaud, whom we went to fetch. Bérard, being half asleep, refused to go with us.

In my eagerness to get ashore, I forgot our letters of recommendation, which could not be otherwise than well soaked, and arrived half naked at the alcalde's, who had just put on the only pair of white trowsers he possessed.

Figure to yourself, my friend, a poor draughtsman, benumbed with cold, without hat, without shoes, wrapped in a great coat much the worse for wear, and a botanist, armed with a chessboard, a large band-box, and a tin-case, making their triumphant entry into a country that was ready to be surrendered to them. Although unacquainted with the motives of our visit, the alcade gave us a very good reception: but as he had still some doubts respecting our designs, I requested him again to send his boat on board of us, and desired Bérard to come ashore, and to bring all my baggage with him. When he came, I showed the letters, which the alcalde could with difficulty read; and all suspicion was removed. By the side of the little prince was a person with an engaging and more dignified countenance than any we had noticed at Guam, who seemed to prompt the alcalde how he was to act. Supper was set before us at one o'clock in the morning: we fell to with a good appetite; and impatiently wait for day, to present ourselves in a more decent attire to our hosts and the persons in office.

The second person in the settlement, but who appeared here to act the principal part, was that captain Martinez, whom the governor of the Marianne islands had banished; and I soon discovered that he possessed greater information than all the officers in Guam put together, their chief included. I thought at first that he might have bee sacrificed to wounded vanity; but I was afterwards convinced that, if signor Médinilla had punished too severely a fault so slight as that of which he was accused (for stealing the powder was a calumny), he had acted with prudence, in banishing from Guam a citizen, who availed himself of the advantages he had received from nature and education only to seduce young wives, and sow enmity and dissension in families.

The hour of our rising was also that of our triumph. We had tolerably good clothes, and such a dress was scarcely know at Rota. Before breakfast, the alcalde introduced us to his wife, who is very passable; and my two companions, being less fatigued than I with our passage, took a walk together, while I made a drawing of the church, and sketched the portraits of two very charming little girls. My companions returned soon after: we were served with excellent fruit and a couple of fine fowls; and it must be confessed that our host, and more especially our pretty hostess, vied with each other, anticipating our slightest wishes. Every thing the island affords was offered to us with eagerness; the remotest parts were laid under contribution; and even our Carolinian gormandizers had to commend the abundance that presented itself to their ravenous appetites.

Here we made some fresh remarks on our conductors. The gaiety, that had accompanied them ever since our departure, had not diminished: they danced and sung part of the day, and filled up the intervals with rest and sleep. In the evening they assembled in a circle on the seashore, and chanted their hymn to the Eternal. Their chant was slow, regularly timed, and harmonious: their gestures graceful, and not hurried. The chief almost always began the prayer, and the rest seemed to repeat the same words in chorus. A religious silence often prevailed for some minutes; and no noise around them seemed to disturb their devotion. When the ceremony was ended, they quietly retired: the ground served them for a bed, and a stone, or a coca nut, for a pillow.

We would willingly have left Rota the day after our arrival: but the repairs it was necessary to make in the sail of one of our proas detained us; and we availed ourselves of the time this delay gave us to traverse the country, and judge of the real state of this little colony with our own eyes.

It is difficulty to find a place more fertile or more neglected. Guam itself is not to be compared with it. The trees are magnificent, the fruit and vegetables delicious. The country, rich in a varied vegetation, is over-run by thousands of rats, which are yet unable to destroy its roots: you cannot proceed ten steps without meeting hundreds; and it is really distressing that the inhabitants do not endeavor to destroy this devouring animal, which in a few years may become a real plague. We find here also monstrous bats, similar to those of Guam, perhaps even larger. The Carolinians would not eat them, though the people at Agagna are very fond of them, and I myself found the tolerably good.

The hills and valleys are decked with cotton trees, the bright tufts of which form a pleasing sight amid the verdure that surrounds them. The breadfruit, the tacca, the watermelons, every thing is of a better quality here than at Guam; and I am surprised that greater attention is not paid to a country which might become the granary and general storehouse of the marianne islands.

The centipede is the most dangerous animal in the settlement; it is found in infinite numbers in the caverns, of which the mountains are full: but it rarely comes out of them, and besides its bite occasions only a momentary and supportable pain. Another animal that should be carefully avoided is the wild hog, which rushes with impetuosity on the hunter, and sometimes obliges him to retreat.

The reckon nearly fourscore housed in the town, and four hundred persons in the whole island. There are five or six crucifixes in every street; and it is necessary that some outward signs should put them in mind of their religion, since there is no public worship. There has been no priest here for more than twenty years. People are born, live, die, and have no one to administer consolation. The houses are built on piles, as at Guam; but they are in a state infinitely more ruinous. The men may be said to go naked, for they wear no trowsers, except on Sundays. The women wear a handkerchief fastened by a string round the waist, and turn in round, according as you happen to be before or behind them: the rest of the body is perfectly naked. Their shape is completely beautiful; their walk easy: their shoulders amorously rounded; their breasts firm, prominent, and perfectly separated; their feet small; their legs well turned; their hair is admirable, of a fine black, and flowing down their shoulders and loins; they avoided us with an annoying perseverance; and I apprehend their dread of us stood them in the stead of virtue. On the mountains we met with some of these unfortunates bending under heavy loads, who, to avoid us, ran barefoot over the sharp flints, without appearing to feel the least pain.

As there are no priests at Rota, these young girls cannot be married: are they condemned therefore to perpetual virginity?

The inhabitants drink nothing but the water of a natural well, a dozen paces from the sea-shore on the north-east, and about a league and a half from the city. It is two feet and a half in diameter, and four feet and a half deep. I thought it a little brackish, though it was deemed good by my comrades.

The Rotinians adopt a very ingenious method of collecting rain water. They fix one of the leaves of the cocoa-tree to the summit of the trunk, so that the stoutest part of the spine is uppermost: another leaf is fastened to the first, a third to the second, and so on, to within a foot or two of the ground; all having their leaflets fixed to their stalks. The rain water runs along the