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Show i n i GUM America's .New Possession is a Rival of Ireland. . . .- Washington, March 23. General Wheeler has submitted to the navy department de-partment a report upon his observations observa-tions and impressions of the island of Guam. He eays the area of the island is about fifteen square miles, of which one-half is susceptible of cultivation, although only about 1 per cent is now under cultivation. The population is fixed at' about 9,000 soute, nearly all of whom reside in the towns. The soil is very fertile, and fruits and staples are produced in quantity, the cocoanut trees especially having- an appearance of thrift and bearing power superior to any teen in the tropic?. The dugdug and other bread fruit trees grow to an enormous size in the island. Deer and wild goats are found In abundance. Flying foxes are numerous, and form one of the principal staples of food. Centipedes, wasps, large spiders spid-ers and a species of email scorpion are common, but their bite or sting is not dangerous. There are no tarantulas and no enakes. The principal, and, in fact, the only industry of any consequence in Guam ia the production and exportation of copra, the product in England selling for $75 a ton. The towns of the island are very neat and complete, a good portion of them being built of stone, and the rest of nipa and bamboo. The roads, with few-exceptions, few-exceptions, become very bad in the wet ' season, but as all towns are on the coast, sea travel is alwayn available. There is very little money on the island, and wages are low. The temperature ia mild, and much cooler than that of the Philippines, although al-though the inhabitants declare the heat in Auguet and September ia almost suffocating. suf-focating. The rainfall is very heavy, and dry days are few. Monsoons are felt with violence for three months of the year, but hurricanes are comparatively rare! Earthquakes are tolerably frequent. It had been Etated that in the southwest part of Guam leprosy was. prevalent, but there are few traces of this dread disease now, although one or two persona per-sona were encountered who had the appearance of lepers. The peopte are very friendly, and, as a whole, have regular features and erect forms. To the drinkink water on the island is attributed a great amount of sickness sick-ness among: others than natives, and a plant for distilling water has been erected at Agana, the principal town. Agana has about 6,400 inhabitants, and is described as being a clean, well kept little city. |