The sun. [volume] (New York [N.Y.]) 1833-1916, 1898-08-08

ing against the wall and occasionally put
ting n word In the conversation. when their
stock OF English happened to enable them to
do so.
E]vERYTHINa TAXED NJ THE SPANISH.
First OF all there was talk. The Diaz brothers
explained their Official position and produced
the ta4 rolls OF the village. The rolls showed
230 inhabitants Of Sournaye last year. seven
births THAT was apparently inaccurateh and
six deaths. There are slxty-four families.
thirty-four unmarried men and thirty-siX un-
married women. The tax ia seventy-lve cents
q head every six months. with n further tax
for every birth THAT may account for the mp
parent innccuracy OF the listL every death,
every wedding, in fact almost every act. There
are taxes on all sorts OF property and products.
Everything il taxed. and IL makes the poor
Chnmorro hustle TO get money enough to
pay. II II were not for the occasional
ship to which he sells bananas, c~ocoanuts. and
pineapples he would be likely to fall short. Ho
lives easily enough. Nature looks out for that.
But nature never had my conception OF Span
ish taxes. When the tax list had been exhib-
tied the resources and condition OF the island
were exploited. The Chamorros gave much the
snme account that the Spaniards had given
Capt. Glass. Coffee growing Is beginning and
will pay. The great rainfall. evenly distributed.
is what coffee needs most. There are no violent
winds to strip the bushes. and there are plenty
Of sheltered hillsides on which to plant them.
The soil Ia OF q clayey nature. with a
rich subsoil OF red clay. On the low
lands rice grows plentifully. Sugar cane is
far richer and bigger than in Hawaii. and
all sorts OF fruits are abundant. There
Is almost no attention paid to the very
profitable growing OF cocoanuts. The natives
simply take what grow wild, with no thought
OF the possibilities OF development. The pine
apples Of Guam have never been cultivated,
and are very small compared with the big fruit
Of Hawaii. but they arc far juicier. better in
flavor. and swceter. and they do not exhaust
the land. as Is the case in most pineapple coun-
tries. No great effort has been made with
tobacco. 1t Is probably too wet for successful
growth. and. besides. II is plenty enough and
cheap enough as importedfrom the Philippines.
Potatoes grow in plenty. but they are a sort Of
yam or sweet potato. No effort has ever been
made. so far as the Diaz brothers know. with
Irish potatoes.
SOME NATIVE MUSIC.
While all this talk about their country was
going on Vincente Diaz produced cigarettes
and cigars Of Manila make and q bottle OF hell
fire aguardiente OF his own distillation. Then
from some mysterious inside nook he brought
out n new and shiny accordion. He gave 1t to
n vacant-faced and bashful young man and
commanded him to play. The Americans
| joined in the demand at once and asked for n
dance. But Diaz replied that the Chamorros had
no dances. The boy tried the accordion a while
and began to play. The first bar made every
American in the room cock his ears and stare
at his neighbor. No weird. fantastic music OF
any sort could have surprised them. They ex-
pected that. They would have called it native
and been we'll pleased with 1t. But this was
familiar. 1t wasn't exactly as they remembered
1t. but rs the song grew louder it developed
Enthusiastically into the New Bully" and when
it struck the chorus the whole crowd Joined
with a roar in yelling:
When I walk that levce roun'
I'm lookin' fer dat bully n he mus be foun'.
The applause that followed this performance
80 astonished the young artist that he stopped
playing. When he was persuaded to go on
again he played Overwhelmingly annie
the widest cheers. The reception the Ameri,
cans gave his music surprised him very much
There were loud inquiries as TO where he
learned the tunes. but this was the only cues.
ton. almost. that the Diazes could not answer
They guessed" that it was from a whaler
and probably they guessed right, But the
New Bully" is not 80 very old. and it was
mighty queer to hear it ground out on an &C,
Gordon under n cocoanut palm thatch in Guam
when it was Just the other day that May Irwin
was singing it in New York. Finally we die
get the young fellow to play a native tune. and
three other young chaps sang. It was a curl.
Gus tune of four notes, and the song was all Ia.
la-la through set teeth with a harsh nasa
twang. 1t was all with the same emphasis and
there was no accent. There was no evident
reason for its ending and it might Just as wei
be going now. probably is IL the boats are MOI
all back to their ships yet. The concert wounc
up with "Peek-a-Boo" waltz and two Cha,
morros danced Just a plain waltz step.
After that the whole party filed out in process
sion and went through the village. We saw the
church and schoolhouse. and a plantation
where women were grinding corn. and a still
in operation. and bullock carts drawn by watel
bufHalo-one big blue-black bull. like the one
Mowgli drove up for Osborne Sahib to see
We went into half the houses of the village. anC
every time the women bowed and smiled anC
disappeared.
BACK TO THE SHIP.
Then back to the boat out on the reef. and t.
the ship-but not in a minute. There were
things to get-cocoanuts by the bushel. banana
by the bunch. %pincapples by the hundred. al
long as we had change to pay for them. Pine
apples are very expensive In GUIANA dollar
hundred. There were machetes. too. Ono o
llt lhb VIC bd" III 'hV Iiu was u IoIB'
and blacksmith shop where a sturdy ChamorrC
was hammering out machetes from a band o
steel. The blades were short. broad ant
heavy. A hard wood like llgnum vita wa
used for tho handles. which were fastened
to the hats OF the knife blades by big cop
per rivets. These are carried in soft leathe
sheaths swung from leather belts by cord
made Of the always useful cocoanut palm leaf
This cord Is soft and very pliahle. and tough
and strong. Cocoanut palm leaf should max,
very seryiceable rope. The women wcav,
from these leaves baskets OF all sizes. shapet
like bags. with pucker strings OF the same ma
terial. The children filled these little basket
with curious. bright-colored shells picked III
on the beach. and gave them TO the Americans
So. with our boat loaded down with fruit ant
curios. we got back to the ship for dinner. tire
out after an unusually energetic day. TIC
morrow We get away on the last stretch OF tn
long journey to Manila.