The Ely miner. [volume] (Ely, Minn.) 1895-1986, 1939-09-28
Air Clippers Bring New
Life to Forgotten
Spot.

Prepared by National Geographic Society.
Washington. D. C.-WNU Service.
Green, warm, and inviting,
Guam lies in the path of the
Pan American Clipper ships as
once it lay on the direct route of
the Spanish treasure galleons
that piled between Manila and
Acapulco. 1t is no longer an
isolated and forgotten spot on
the map, but an important link
in a chain that encircles the
globe. Before the coming of the
air Clippers, Guam had no di-
rect mail communication with
the United States and by the
time letter arrived it was often
more than a month old. Mail
either came on irregular and in
frequent naval transports re-
quiring a full three weeks for the
voyage, or else went by liner all
the way to Manila, whence it was
brought back to Guam on one of
three transports visiting the island
from the Asiatic side each month.
Today the trans-Pacific clippers,
on a regular schedule of plane a
week in each direction, carry mail
and passengers from Guam to Ala
media, Calf, and vice versa, in four
days.
There are just so many houses
available for American occupancy
in Guam, and it is necessary for
the departing personnel to go aboard
the same transport that brings re-
placements. The departing families
leave their houses in operating or
der, with well-stocked refrigerators,
and servants already installed. This
makes moving day practically per-
feet.
Land of Sunshine.
Guam is a land of brilliant sum
shine and deep shadows; happy chill
dren and forlorn, neglected dogs and
cats; canned milk and cow-drawn
vehicles. The natives pack the Gin
ema houses to see western pictures,
sing cowboy songs in praise of the
great open spaces, and 60 home to
sleep, ten or more in room, with
all the windows closed and locked
to keep out evil spirits!
The Chamorro language, one of
that great family of Malayan
tongues, is the vernacular of the
island. All instruction in the schools
is carried on in English, by native
teachers, but the moment school is
out the youngsters begin to chatter
in their preferred language, and for
get all about English until school
opens the following morning.
They call their language Fino-
java, the 'Idiom of the South" and
refer to Spanish, which many under
stand and speak to some extent, as
Fino-lago, or the 'Idiom of the
North" because the Spaniards first
appeared here from the north.
While an increasingly large num-
Der of Chamorros now have a work
ing knowledge of English, there re-
main many who speak only their
native language. There are Span
ish residents who speak only Span
ish and Chamorro, Japanese who
have acquired knowledge of Cha
MORO, but little English. Thus
amusing difficulties often arise,
sometimes requiring a battery of
interpreters.
Wedding Customs.
The lot of the Chamorro BRIDE
groom is a hard one. More often
than not all the wedding plans are
made by the parents of the con-
tracing parties. The house in which
the couple is to live, its furnishings,
even the brides wedding gown and
fandango dress and all the brides
maids costumes, are planned by the
elders, but the bridegroom has to
pay for them.
BY no means the least expensive
item is the fandango. Any young
man of standing in the community
is expected to provide feast for a
hundred or more of his friends.
Because Friday is the favorite
morning for weddings, you are
awakened early almost every Fri
day morning by the clatter of the
cathedral bells, announcing that an
other knot has been tied, and that
perhaps, for some time to come,
another young lad will be trying to
pay his fandango bills!
In Agana, the capital of Guam,
where more than half of the island
population lives, there are many ma
tive families of means, very often of
wealth, according to the local scale.
They are business men, government
employees, and school-teachers.
They read books and magazines, 60
to the movies, and in other ways
keep more or less abreast of the
times.
They are, for the most part. mes