Ij THE LADRONES J
AND CAROLINES. J
S Value and Beauty of These Much-Discussed Islands ||§
'i in the Pacific Ocean. |||
I A QVEEB PEOPLE WITH (11JEEBEB CUSTOMS.
Far out in the Pacifio, where the
map looks as if a charge of bird shot
had peppered a spot no larger than
your thumb, the American flag is
fiying over the Ladrones. They are
but specks on the face of the deep.
Yet there is an empire of island wealth
nmid the rarest scenery in the world.
An earthly paradise it is called.
The capture of the Ladrones by the
United States with a seizure of the
Carolines just to the south of J the
group makes them of new interest to
Americans.
The Ladrones are a chain of vol
canic islands extending north and
south from latitude thirteen degrees
twelve minutes north to latitude
twenty degrees thirty-two minutes
south and in longitude about 146 east.
They were discovered by Magellan,
March 6, 1521, and named Ladrones
from the supposed stealing propensi
ties of the natives, Later, in 1668, the
islands were named Mariana, in honor
of Maria Anne, of Austria, the widow
of Phillip IV., King of Spain. The
inhabited islauds are Agrigan, Saipan,
Tmian, Rota and Guam. On the
other islands are volcanoes spouting
lire and steam. The mountains range
from 1000 to 3000 feet high, about
the altitude of the biggest of the
Catskills.
The Spaniards have controlled the
islands without interference or seri
ous trouble from the natives. There
is a small garrison at Agana, the cap
ital, where the Governor-General has
resided. Many natives of the Caro
line Islands have been imported into
the Ladrones and the races are inter
estingly mixed. The blending of the
tall, copper-colored, curly-haired,
long-beo "id and mustached Carolin
ians with the Philippian-looking La
drones, with their dark Malay skin,
A LADRONE BELLE.
has given a new tint to a large num
ber of young men and women.
The chief products for sustaining
life are cocoanuts and bread fruit.
They grow spontaneously everywhere.
It is said that one cocoanut tree will
feed a man. A grove of the fruit trees
to the islander is what a herd of cows
is to the Pennsylvania farmer.
These, with the tons of fish in the
lagoons, which are natural fish ponds,
are responsible for the profound in
dolence of the natives. They can
support life without laboring. Some
of the bread fruit trees are ten or
twelve feet in diameter. A single
tree is considered equal in life-sup
porting capacity to two acres of
wheat. Then there are other pro
ducts—guava, corn, ordinary wheat,
bananas, flgs and arrowroot.
The islands forming the Ladrones,
:HE BUSINESS SECTION OF AGANA. PRINCIPAL TOWN OF THE LAD RONE
beginning at the northernmost, are
Farallon de Pajaras, an active volcano
1000 feet in height; a group of three
rocky islets known as the Urracas;
Assumption, a partially active vol
canic peak 2848 feet in height; Agri
gau, seven miles in length, mountain
ous, and the northernmost inhabited
island; Pagan, having three active
cones, and peopled by a few natives;
the uninhabited islands of Alamagan,
Guguan, Sariguan, Anataxan and
Farallon de Medinilla; Saipan, fifteen
miles long, fertile, and having about
1000 inhabitants; Tiaian, originally
possessing 30,000 inhabitants, and
now a place of segregation for lepers,
with a population of 300; Aguijan, of
no importance; Rota, with 500 inhab
itants, and Guam.
Guam, or Guajan, the southernmost
and largest of the islands, is thirty
two miles long and has a population
of about 9000, two-thirds of whom are
in Agana, and nearly all the rest upon
the seaboard, the country inland be
ing almost without inhabitant. Agana,
BAHLDONAT, A TYPICAL TOWN IN THE CAROLINES.
the capital, is also a convict settle
ment. It is beautifully clean, and
possesses good government officials, a
hospital, schools and a church. The
Spanish residents have usually num
bered about twenty, and the regular
soldiery about '2OO, all quartered here.
The militia, comprising about all the
male population, is commanded by
native officers. The civil government
is similar to that of the Philippines.
Postal communication has been quar
terly.
When first discovered the Ladrones
had a population of about 60,000.
Not one of the original race survives,
and the islands are peopled chiefly by
Tagals and Bisayans from the Philip
pines, mixed of South
American Indians, a colony of Caro
line Islanders who founded Garapan
in the Island of Saipan, and numerous
Chamorro-Spanish half-breeds. The
census of 1888 reports a population of
6476 in Agana, and a total of 10,172
in all the islands, 5034 being males
5138 females. There are eighteen
schools in the Island of Guam. Only
ten per cent, of the Ladrone Islanders
are unable to read and write. Spanish
is the recognized language; but many
of the natives speak a little English.
The climate is good and equable; sev
enty degrees to eighty degrees
Fahrenheit is the range 112 the ther
mometer.
The present population are de
scribed as "wanting in energy, of in
different moral character, and miser
ably poor." They are descended in
part from the original inhabitants,
called Chamonos, and from the Mesti
zos, n mixed race formed by the union
of Spaniards with these natives.
On the island called Suypan a colony
from the Caroline Islauds, which lie to
the south of the Ladrones, was estab
lished some years ago. These people
are the most active and enterprising
inhabitants of the Ladrones.
Spain has derived no revenue from
these islands, and has done little to
civilize the people. At one time a
few small schools were started, but
they were soon abandoned.
In 1856 an ej>ideuiic destroyed one
third of the population.
August and September are the hot
test months, and the rain-fall in the
summer months is very heavy.
Agana, the capital, is well built of
timber, and many of the houses have
tiled roofs. There are twenty small
villages on the islands.
So little has been done to civilize
the people that they live in about the
same primitive fashion as character
ized them when Europeans first visited
them.
In one thing the people of the La
drones exoel all the natives of the
Polynesian islands—this is their
faculty for building and sailing a won
derful water craft with a lateen sail.
Sailors of all nations for over 300 years
have admired their skill with these
vessels.
They are built entirely without
metal, and the largest of them wil>
carry about seven men.
. The boat has an outrigger which is
carried on the lee side to prevent up
setting. It is said that these boats
make wonderful speed, and that they
can lie closer to the wind than any
other sailing craft known.
Customs, superstitions, dress, re-
NATIVES AND HUT IN THE LAD RONES.
ligion, etc., prove that the people of
the Ladrones have a common origin
with the other races of Polynesia, but
they have lived so long by themselves
that they have a distinct language.
Some writers have argued that the
raoe is of American origin, while
others bold that they are an offshoot
of the Japanese.
Gobien, the French writer, who
studies the people on the spot, says of
them:
"The natives are not so dark as
those of the Philippines, and are larger
of body than the average European.
They lived on roots, fish anu fruits,
and were extremely active and quick.
Many of them lived over 100 years."
Another French writer says that he
saw them dive and swim so well that
they caught fish in their hands under
water.
In character the Ladrones are gay
and amiable, loving pleasure, aud
spending much of their time in out
door amusements.
The women are usually lighter iu
color than the men, and mauy of them
are extremely beautiful, with luxuriant
hair reaching almost to the ground.
The Carolines are like the Ladrones,
only more extensive in number and
ar.'and densely populated. The
islands are widely scattered into three
great groups, the eastern, western and
central. Spain originally claimed all
the groups, but Germany recently
took the Marshall Islands. The cen
tral or main group, now belonging to
Spain, comprises forty-eight smaller
A CAROLINE WARRIOR.
groups, making a total of four or five
hundred islands.
Among the products of the country
are rioe, corn, wheat, sugar, cotton,
tobacco, indigo, bread fruit, castor
oil and kindred necessaries of life.
Among the carious natural features
are the palm trees, that produce vege
table ivory; banyan trees that grow
downward, the seeds being planted
by birds high up in other trees, de
posited in bark and crevices, sending
down rootlets to gather sustenance
and moisture from the soil.
Another tree bears a fruit so offen
sive in odor that no man not in piac
tice can endure it, but once in a
mouth the fruit tastes so delicious'y
that he caunot stop eating until it is
devoured.
The women of the Carolines are neat
and attractive at home or among their
eocoanut trees. The men are indus
trious—everywhere displaying ingen
uity and geutle thrift. •
The Caroline Archipelago consists
of minor groups, of which
the nine following are the principal:
The Palaos or Pelews, Yap, Uluthi,
Uleai, Namonuito, Hogolen or Ruk,
the East and West Mortlocks, Bonabe
or Ponape, and Kusaie, otherwise
called Ualan or Strong's Island.
The Pelew group contains some 200
islands and islets. Tho principal isl
and is Bad-el-Thaob, which in area is
equal to all the rest pat together. The
most important of the others are Kor
ror, Uruk, Tapel, Malk, Peleleu and
Angaur. The population of the Pe
lews is estimated at some 3000, but is
probably much more. The language
is a very peculiar and bizarre Malayan
dialect, somewhat akin to that of Sulu
Archipelago. The principal prodacts
are turtle shell, copra and beche de
met (Holothuria), which in the Chin
ese markets brings as much as S4OO
gold per ton.
There is always civil war going on
in the group between the various
tribes, aud a firm hand is needed to
keep things in order there. Captain
Butran, of the Velasco (lately sunk at
Manila), who visited the group in 1885,
gives these natives a good name. Cap
tain O'Keefe, however, a wealthy
trader of Yap, gives them a doubtful
reputation, putting them down as a
folk of piratical and turbulent charac
ter.
The enormous quartz wheels, the
famous aud curious stone money of
Yap in this group, were quarried in the
Island of Kokial. In oldeu time there
was great commercial activity here,
and the Yap and Pelew folks went on
extended voyages of trading and con
quest. Bab-el-Thaob is rich in good
timber. Great quantities of yams,
bread-fruits aud cocoanuts are grown.
Alligators are found in some of the
creeks, and a peculiar kind of a horned
frog, There are two kinds of snakes,
which the natives called Bersoiok and
Nguus, both somewhat venomous.
There is abundance of good pasture
for horses and cattle. Goats are plen
tiful, probably introduced by the early
Malayan settlers.
The Spanish have done next to noth
ing to show their occupation, and
everything goes on much as before.
There is no Spanish garrison. The
country is well worth opening up to
honest and energetic trade.
DIVING ELKS.
Trained to Perform Tricks That Seem
Almost Supernatural.
There seems to be no limit to the
ingenuity of man in devising sensa
tions to please the public. Especially
is this true in the matter of training
animals to perform feats which at first
seem impossible. One of the smallest
of insects, the flea, aud one of the
largest of animals, the elephant, have
been put through a course of training
which has resulted in their performing
A DAKINQ DIVE.
feats which seem almost supernatural.
However, it remained for Mr. Will H.
Barnes, of Sioux City, lowa, to train
an animal which was generally con
sidered to be the dullest of quad
rupeds, namely, the elk. His efforts
have proved beyond a doubt that the
elk is by no means lacking in in
telligence, and his famous diving elks
elicit admiration aud wonder from all
who see them perform. Mr. Barnos
secured the elks when they were
young, and though it required un
limited patience, he finally succeeded
in breaking them in harness. While
training the elks, the owner noticed
that they seemed utterly indifferent
to what height they jumped from, and
he then conceived the ideaof teaching
them to dive. The process was a
slow one, but now, after two years of
labor, they have attained a marvelous
degree of ability iu this feat, as they
make a headlong plunge of fifty feet
into a tank of water. Herewith is
presented a cut representing the elk
making the dive. As will be noticed,
the animal makes a headlong plunge
with his feet extended.
Strategy Iu the Ranks.
Captain J. W. Pratt has told a
mighty military story that came to
him somehow from the big camp of
the United States volunteers at San
Francisco. An infantryman had over
stayed his liberty. Detection meant
a fine and perhaps some imprison
ment, with the most disagreeable sort
of police duty. The infantry chap was
a genins. He pinued strips of white
paper down the legs of his trousers.
Then he made officer's shoulder straps
out of banana skins. Then he boldly
walked right through the line, an
swered "officer," aud accepted the
night honor of the sentry.—Pacific
Commercial Advertiser.
The ImpiiMlbU,
He—"What would you say if Iwere
to steal a kiss from you?"
She—"But that is impossible."
He—"lmpossible! Why so, pray?''
She—"Because you can't steal any
thing I haven't got. and no one has
ever given me u kiss—see?"— Chicago
Post.
The Old Bookkeeper at Lun«!i.
'The habits that use doth bMftd."
t FARM AMD GARDEIIJ
The Benefit* of Spraying.
Although spraying destroys fungus
growths, it seldom does so in time to
make a successful growth of fruit the
ih'st year it is tried. The leaves are
more or less injured and this makes
them unable to perfect the fruit. If
the fungus growths have been at
work several years they have probably
to some extent impaired the vigor of
growth of the tree, and there will be
less blossoming or setting of fruit
from the blossoms until the iujury has
been remedied.
Guinea Fowl* on Farms.
Every farmer ought to have a few
guinea fowls to add to the variety of
leathered life on the farm. They are
also a good protection against such
depredators as hawks and other en
emies of young chickeus, their loud
cries on the approach of any such in
truders giving signal to the weaker
fowl to make its escape. Guineas are
a rather wild fowl anil will not bear
confinement well. It is not best to
keep them unless there is good range.
The hens are great layers, but will
mostly steal their nests and will bring
off very large broods. The young
guinea fowl are very hardy and not so
subject to disease as are other fowl.—
American Cultivator.
Preparing the Soil for Firtl Wheat.
Wheat following potatoes generally
results in a heavy crop, and as the
price of wheat will probably remain at
a paying figure for some time the
ground now iu potatoes maybe profit
ably used for wheat in the fall. If the
potatoes have been well cultivated no
additional preparation of the laud
will be necessary for the wheat after
the potatoes are dug, with the possible
exception of going over the ground
once with a smoothing harrow.
Doubtless the best preparation of
the soil for a wheat crop is to turn
under a clover field, grow potatoes on
it, and follow in the fall with wheat.
The cultivation of the potatoes will
put the soil iu good condition for the
wheat, which will receive the benefit
of the plant food in the clover from the
moment the seed wheat is put ill the
ground.
Washing >lilk Vpsiels,
All through the warm weather, par
ticular care is needed to cleanse ves
sels that have contained milk. If auy
particle of milk is left in the crevices
or corners of vessels, it will sour and
affect auy milk that is afterwards
added. Many people in cleaning milk
from vessels wash them first with
scalding hut water. This is a mistake.
The hot water only coagulates the al
bumen, causing it to stick more close
ly to the sides of the vessel. If it
be of tin the scouring of the milk soon
eats through the coating of tin, and
causes rust on the iron beneath it.
What we call tin is merely iron with a
very thiu tin coating. Xosuch vessel
is fit for loug use, as the tin will wear
through, and all the more quickly if
the coagulated albumen, made by hot
water and milk,requires hard rubbing
to remove it. The right way to cleau
uiilk vessels is to rinse them well with
cold water, and then scald them, to
destroy any germs that the cold water
may have left.
Managing a Swarm of lices.
Swarming in a moderate degree will
not affect the work of honey making,
but usually one swarm from a hive
should bo all that is necessary for
each season. Swarms can best be
handled by a homemade swarming
box, which is simply a light box of
convenient size with a liaudle running
through both ends. A cover should
be provided for fastening over the top
when necessary and a few holes made
iu the box for ventilation. When the
bees swarm keep quiet until they alight
in a convenient place, then hold the
swarming box under the cluster,shake
off some of the bees into the box aud
most of the remaining ones will fol
low. Take the box of bees to the hive,
which has been previously prepared
for them, shake out a few at the en
trance, and the rest will follow them
into the hive. Small portions of the
swarm may have clustered away from
the main body, and all these should
be gathered so as to make sure of the
queen bee, which must be iu the hive
or the bees will not stay.—Atlauta
Journal.
Late Cul tl vat ion of Potatoes.
It used to be the rule with potato
growers never to cultivate after pota
toes are in blossom. It is then that
the earliest tubers begin to form and
the deep cultivation of potatoes at this
time so disturbs the roots as to stop
the growth of the first set of potatoes.
Hence the old way of growing pota
toes was to give a more thorough cul
tivation than ever the last time just
before the potatoes blossomed. Iu
doing this the soil was drawn from the
middle of the rows towards the pota
toes. This was called hilling up the
potatoes, and was almost always sup
plemented by drawing the loose soil
still closer to the hill with a hoe.
No matter how easily this was done,
the potato roots thus mutilated never
fully accommodated themselves to
their new conditions. The roots in
side the conical hills would not admit
much water, the potato vines died
down before the potatoes became very
large. Worst of all, as the hills were
washed down by rains many of the
potatoes were exposed to the sunlight
told were turned green. This eutirely
'destroys their value for cooking.
Green potatoes are not only bitter,
but are eveu poisonous. It is not
generally kuown that the potato be
longs to a plant family most of whose
members are i>oisouous. In the po-
tato this poisonous principle is (level,
oped by sunlight. Green potato tops
are poisonous to a certain extent, and
the tubers, when they are greened by
exposure to sunlight, are so acrid and
bitter that it is impossible to eat
Uieni.
But in modern growing of potatoes
the set is or should be planted from
three to live inches below the surface.
If it is hilled up at all the hilling
should be done before the potato is
up in the process of covering. The
ridges thus made ought always to be
leveled before the potatoes are up.
After this is done the best way to
cultivate potatoes is to run the culti
vator through them twice a week, 01
after every rain, but only to the depth
of an inch, or if the weather is dry,
even less than this. Shallow cultiva
tion does not disturb the roots, and
and can be continued even after the
vines are large enough to lop ova*
and cover the ground between the
rows. While all the surface soil may
be dry, that beneath it will hold
enough moisture for the growing po
tatoes.—American Cultivator.
Flower* of th« Yard.
How much the beautiful flowers
brighten up a home. Even a small
bed of pinks or asters or garden pe
tunias will give a farmhouse an air of
refinement and make it look, as one
little maiden said, "us though some
body lived there."
One of the prettiest screens that 1
ever saw was a bed of old-fashioned
morning glories. There was a space
about ten teet in length, between the
clothes-line post and the "big gate"
post. This was spaded up, making a
long uarrow bed, aud planted with
morning glory seed. Wires were
stretched across from the tops of the
posts, and carpet warp strung from
this wire to tiie ground made a suit
able support for the vines, where they
ran riot, their dark green leaves
forming a beautiful screen, that every
morning was covered with the sweet,
bell-shaped blossoms in which the
red, white and blue of our nation's
colors were represented.
This bit of beauty cost but a small
amount of time and labor, but gave a
large amount of pleasure not ouly to
those whose home it adorned but to
all who passed that way, especially in
the morning.
The people who lived on the next
farm "did not have time to fuss with
flowers," but they spent time
enough admiring these morning
glories to have cared for some
some of their very own. When fall
came they were presented with a gen
erous supply of seed of each color,
but whether they use them or not re
mains to be seeu. The plants were
protected from the ravages of the
hens by a network of brush laid over
the bed.
If one really wants some flowers
aud must have the hens about, a few
light brush, if carefully laid, are a
good protection until the plants are
large euough to protect themselves.
Last summer I saw a large dry
goods box placed in a yard, tilled with
soil and bright with beautiful blos
soms.
The hens "got a notion " of gimp
ing, or flying, ou to the edge of the
box and then revelling in a dirt bath
when the plants were small. A piece
of lath was nailed at each corner of
the box and some fence wire was
fastened about live inches above the
top edge of the 1 ox and this baffled
the hens. The plauts grew and throve
and delighted the hearts of all who
saw them. —Lillian Mcintosh in Farm,
Field aud Fireside.
Fitrm anil Oarilpn Note*.
Underfed or overfed hens are poor
layers.
It is well to feed a mash to the
chickens.
Beans make a very excellent food
for the hens.
When hot weather comes stop feed
ing corn to the poultry.
A good cheese may be known by its
firm, yet mellow, touch.
It never pays to keep any farm
stock after it is past its prime.
When ice is difficult to obtain, milk
and butter lowered into a well will be
much improved in keeping.
A few hours spent in draining a low
spot may allow a field to be worked
sooner than it could have been uu
dtained.
Where milking is doue without a
calf, a little feeding every evening
will improve the coming-up qualities
of milk cows.
Gooseberries do well in part shade,
and are often grown between the rows
of trees in young orchards. Iu form,
they can be traiue I like a tree or a
bush, but the bush shape is prefera
ble.
Every crop, if it i3 consumed on the
farm, has two values—its feeding
value aud its manui'ial value. The
man who neglects the latter will find
in time that he has neglected the more
important of the two.
Suicide in Japan.
Hari-kari is a Japanese word for sui
cide by diseuibottelment. This horrid
practice formerly prevailed among
high officials and members of the mil
itary class when uuwilling to survive
some personal or family disgrace, or
iu order to avoid the headsman's
sword after having received seutence
of death. By committing hari-kari the
culprit cleared his character and his
family was not disgraced. In the lat
ter case the act was performed in tho
presence of witnesses, aud was ac
companied by elaborate formalities.
At the moment the suicide ripped open
his abdomon with hia dirk his head
was struck off by the sword of his
second, who was usually a kinsman or
intimate friend. Hari-kari was first
instituted in the days of the Ashikaga
dynasty, 1336—1568 A, D.