The Salt Lake herald. [volume] (Salt Lake City [Utah]) 1870-1909, 1898-09-03
The LADRONE ISLANDS.
Early Exploration, People and Pos
sibilities.


sibilities.
There Is an old theory concerning the
Ladrone islands. that the continent Of
America was peopled from them. The
recent taking of the Ladrone revives
interest in this contention, which has
now become somewhat obsolete, says
the New York Evening Post. Magel-
Ian, some years before he sailed west
ward as q naturaliZed SDaniard, to
discover the LadroneS and lose his life
in the Philippines. had already, as a
native OF Portugal, sailed eastward to
the Spice islands. a part, geograDhi-
cally, of the Philippines. When the Por-
tugueSe settled in the Spice islands,
they found the natives exchanging
spices for silver and emeralds from the
Ladrones. The Portuguese, however,
were never able to find any mines of
precious stones or metal in the La
drones, and the question arose,
Whence came the silver and emeralds
of the Ladrone islanders?" Considering
that emeralds were not produced in the
East Indies. that the Ladrones had
been evidently the home of an old civil
liZation. and that the Ladrone island
ers were still remarkable as naviSa-
tors. it was concluded by certain writ
ers that their silver and emeraldS were
IlCm America anu, lllS COuIeCllOn cS-
tablished, it was conjectured that here
lay the answer to the question,
Whence came the American Indians?"
The boats. called proas, of the La
drcne islanders, were reported by trav-
elers to be remarkable.
OF the flying Droas of the Ladrone
islanders the reports of travellers are
almost incredible. The appearance of
the proa filed the early voyager with
f-l,, ,,
der. This invention" says a recent
writer. would do credit to any civilized
nation The stem and stern are alike,
and are very sharp. The boat sails in
either direction. and always with the
same side to the wind. On the wind
ward side is a long outrigger, and at
its extremity is a log of wood point
ed at both ends and parallel with the
boat. This prevents the capsizing of
the boat. the lee side of which is verti-
cal to prevent drifting to leeward. while
the weather side is built in the ordi-
nary manner.
From these proas Magellan gave the
islands the appropriate name of 1slas
de las Velas Latinas. or the Lateen-
sail Islands. but his sailors called them
Ladrone or Robber islands. Drake
called the Pelew islands, IS, years later,
the Islands of Thieves. The Ladrone
selves and were kind to the stranger
in distress. In 1888 the ship Conception
was wrecked on one of these islands.
THE natives" writes LIE Gobien, gave
friendly assistance to those who were
saved of the Spanish crew, and en-
deavored to alleviate their misfortunes
by kind treatment" Los Jardine, or
The Gardens. and Dos Prazeres, or the
Pleasant Islands. are among the names
that have been given to these islands.
but since 1868 their official designation,
in honor of Marianne of Austria. has
been the Mariannes.
The islands forming the Ladrones,
beginning at the northernmoSt, are
Farallon de Pajaros. an active volcano
900 feet in height: a group of three
rocky islets known as the Urracas: As
sumption. a partially active volcano
peak 2.s4S feet in height; Agrigan,
seven miles in length, mountainous,
and the northernmost inhabited island;
Pagan, having three cones and peopled
by a few natives: the uninhabited
islands OF Alamagan, Guguan, Sari-
guam. Anataxan and Farallon de Me-
dinilla; SaiDan. Is miles long, fertile,
and having about 1000 inhabitants, and
now a place of segregation for lepers,
with population of 800; Aguijan. of no