While cruising in the Pacific Ocean Magellan discovered a chain of islands about fifteen hundred miles east of the Philippine group. While he lay at anchor, predatory natives stole some of his belongings; thereupon Magellan gave them a bad name, and to this day the islands bear the name Ladrones, or "thieves" islands.

Guam, the largest island in the group, became more or less important just after the Spanish-American War, inasmuch as it was required as one of our chain of naval and coaling stations that pretty nearly encircles the earth. As islands go, Guam is of fair size, about thirty miles long and from three to ten miles in width. It is mountainous and the surface is jungle-covered except where the natives have made trails and clearings. Fringing coral reefs, broken here and there, encircle the island. One of these breaks is opposite a bight in the coast, San Luis d'Apra, or Apra, as it is now called; and the bay and channel together form a harbor so well guarded that no transport laden with hostile troops would ever attempt landing.

In 1668 a mission was established. At this time the population numbered about one hundred thousand. The country was so well cultivated that the whole island seemed like a beautiful garden, for the people were pretty good farmers. Rice and tropical fruits were cultivated in abundance. The natives were also skilful in the making of pottery and they had a well-regulated calendar.

For a time they were well disposed toward their intruders; but at length, as they began to learn that conversion to the Christian faith meant also slavery to the Spanish, they rebelled against a system which was so one-sided, and their opposition led to constant strife and bloodshed.

In the course of time the severe treatment of the Spaniards, together with contagious diseases introduced, so completely wiped out the native population that, at the end of seventy years, scarcely two thousand were left. Perhaps no peoples in all the South Sea Islands have suffered more keenly from contact with Europeans than these aborigines.

Frightened at the terrible mortality they had caused, the conquerors turned to the Philippines to replenish the depopulated island. Tagals were brought over to occupy the place of the fast-disappearing natives, and with these many of the natives intermarried. The half-castes are inferior to the original inhabitants, but they have increased in population, and now number ten thousand.

Spain ceded Guam to the United States in 1898. Since the acquisition our government has established both day and evening schools for the natives, and they are making rapid progress in education.

It is a long journey to Guam—thirty-five hundred miles almost from Honolulu and not quite half as far from Manila. And how to get there? Well, it is not an easy matter. If you go to Apia, or to Manila, and remain long enough—perhaps six weeks, maybe six months—a German trading schooner will come along and take you aboard. You get there in time; for the trading schooner is likely to make a very circuitous trip, calling at a dozen islands to get copra in exchange for cloth, knives, and cheap jewelry. But if one happens to have the right sort of "pull," one can get a pass on an army transport. That means a most delightful trip from San Francisco to Honolulu, and thence to Guam. Uncle Sam does the square thing by his soldiers, and the army transports that carry them to the distant stations are fitted so as to be as comfortable as the best liners. There are a big exercise deck and a reading-room with plenty of books. Not the least important part of the equipment is a self-playing piano and a good assortment of music.

There is not very much to see after one reaches Guam. One village is just about the same as all the others. Perhaps half a dozen huts are built of mud, or possibly of coral limestone; the rest are made of bamboo frames covered with palm—all in one room in which the family and the pig live.

AgaÑa, however, is a village of six or seven thousand people. It is laid out in streets which are fairly regular. They are deep with dust during the dry season, and with mud the rest of the year. There are several government buildings which are neat and trim, two or three churches, several school buildings, and a few stores. Most of the people one meets on the street speak Spanish; a few speak English. English is the coming language, however; for the schools are there to stay and every one of the fifteen hundred youngsters who attend school carries away a little English. A fine road bordered with palms connects AgaÑa with Apra, seven miles south.

There is not much to see in Guam. The scenery is much like that of every island in that part of the Pacific. About the only diversion of the soldiers stationed there is hunting, which is pretty good if one is content to hunt deer and wild hogs. Artistic sportsmen might prefer the deer, but all the real fun is the share of the hog-hunters. The hogs are savage beasts when cornered; they likewise are full of animal cunning.

Along the coast lowlands one may find rice-farms as skilfully cultivated as those of Japan or of China. Most of the rice is consumed on the island; however, copra, or dried cocoanut, is an export, and its sale brings enough money to the natives to purchase the cloth and other goods needed. Since American occupation the caÇao tree has been cultivated, and cocoa bids fair to be the chief export in the near future.

The government of Guam is better under American rule than at any time in the previous history of the island. When the late Admiral Schroeder was governor of Guam he consulted his log-book and discovered that he was altogether too far away from Washington to be tied to rules and regulations, or to be tangled up in official red tape. So he cut the tape and used good common sense instead. Perhaps the government was a bit patriarchal, but it was good, clean, and wholesome—and every one profited by it.