LADRONES, or MARIAN ISLANDS, a large archipelago on the verge of the Pacific ocean, stretching from north to south about 200 miles, are situated between the 11° and 21° of North Lat. and nearly under the 145th parallel of East Long. They were originally discovered by Magellan in 1521, who first gave them the name of Las islas de las Ve las, from the peculiar sails of their prows ; but afterwards denominated them Las islas de los Ladrones, from the thievish disposition and dexterity of the inhabitants. Near ly a century and a half elapsed before the Spaniards pro ceeded to take formal possession of these islands, or to make any kind of settlement upon them; but, about the year 1668. Mary-Anne of Austria, widow of Philip IV. sent out a body of missionaries for the instruction of the natives; and it was owing to this circumstance that they received the name of the Marian, or more properly Mary Anne islands. About ten years afterwards, a small military force was dispatched to support the missionary establish ment; but disputes between the soldiery and the inhabi tants were the consequence of this measure ; and it was not till the year 1695, that the whole of the islands were completely subjected to the Spanish dominion. These in dolent conquerors, however, have dune nothing either to improve the condition of the natives, or to render the islands beneficial to their empire ; but have merely held them as a post of communication between their possessions in the East and West Indies : Their measures have rather tend ed to desolate the most fertile of these distant possessions. About the end of the 17th century, an epidemical disorder having thinned the population, the remaining inhabitants of Tinian were cruelly torn from their native shores, to recruit the settlements at Guam, where the unhappy exiles droop ed, and died in despair.
The Ladrones are fourteen in number ; but only three or four of them are•inhabited. The principal are, Guam. or St. John, the largest and most southerly, which is about 35 leagues in circumference, and is situated in 13° 23' North Lat. (see Guam); Zarpane, or Rota, about seven leagues farther north, and 15 in circumference ; Aguig nan, or St. Ann, a high island, of difficult access, three leagues round, and 13 north of Zarpane ; Tinian, about 12 miles long and six broad, separated from the last men tioned by a narrow strait ; Saypan. or St. Joseph, three leagues north of Tinian, and 25 in circuit ; Anatachan, or St. Joachim, 10 leagues round, and 36 north of Saypan ; Sarigan, or St. Charle5„ four leagues in circumference, and separated from the last mentioned by a channel eight or nine miles in breadth ; Guguam, or St. Philip, still smaller, and six miles farther north ; Amalagan, or Conception isle, 12 leagues northward, and five in circumference ; Pa gon, or St. Ignatius, 10 leagues from the last mentioned, and in circuit ; Agrigai,, or St. Xavier, at 10 leagues distance from the last mentioned, and nearly of the same size ; Assonsong, or Assumption island, nearly 12 leagues northwards, a black, rugged, uninhabited cone, about 40 toiscs above the level of the sea, with the crater of a vol cano on its summit ; Urac, a desert isle, three leagues in circumference, and the most northerly of the chain, is si tuated in 20° 4 North Lat.
Among these islands are numerous rocks, shoals, and currents, which render navigation extremely dangerous ; and there are few safe harbours or roads in the group, except on that of Guam, particularly at the town of Agana, the residence of the Spanish governor. The cli mate of the Ladrones, in general, though they lie under the torrid zone, is serene and temperate, except in the months of July and August, when the weather is intoler ably hot ; and during the season of the western monsoons, between June and October, when tremendous hurricanes arc experienced at the full and change of the moon. Their general aspect is beautiful and picturesque, their moun tains and forests covered with perpetual verdure, and their soh naturally fertile and productive. The decreasing
numbers and depressed state of the inhabitants, however, have occasioned a deplorable change in those respects ; and the most delightful among them have been suffered to relapse, from a state of cultivated beauty, into the rudest forms of an impenetrable wilderness. In the year 1742, the island of Tinian, according to the description given in Lord Anson's voyage, was one of the most interesting and healthy spots in the world. The land rose in gentle slopes from the beach to the middle of the island, occasionally in terrupted by vallies of easy descent ; and woods of lofty spreading trees, many of them loaded with salutary fruits, covered the rising grounds. The lawns, which skirted the forests in various directions, and of considerable ex tent, were clothed with a clean and uniform turf, compos ed of the finest trefoil, intermixed with flowers. This beautiful herbage frequently extended a considerable space under the shade of the adjoining forests, which in many places were entirely free from all bushes and underwood. In these woods were found inconceivable quantities of co coanuts and cabbages on the same tree, guanas, limes, sweet and sour oranges, and the celebrated bread-fruit, be sides a variety of wholesome vegetables, such as water melons, creeping purslain, mint, scurvy-grass, and sorrel. Cattle of a milk-white colour, with black or brown ears, and whose flesh was extremely well tasted, were seen in herds of some thousands, grazing in the meadows ; and wild fowl of various kinds, particularly duck, teal, curlew, and the whistling plover, abounded on the fresh water lakes in the centre of the island. Even domestic poultry ranged the woods in great numbers, and could be run down with little trouble. Every circumstance, in short, in the aspect of the country, and the habits of the animals, conveyed the idea of a place recently inhabited, and care fully cultivated. The climate also was peculiarly salubri ous and agreeable, cooled by constant breezes, and short refreshing showers; and produced the most astonishing effects upon the diseased and debilitated frames of the sea men. But, in little more than 20 years afterwards, the same spot, when visited by Byron and Wallis, presented a picture, almost in every feature, completely opposite to that which Anson beheld. The woods were overgrown with underwood, and parasitical plants, which obstructed every path. The lawns were covered with rank grass and reeds, furnishing a secure asylum to swarms of centi pedes, scorpions, and other venomous insects. The cattle were few in number, and so extremely shy, as to render the pursuit of them a most laborious service. Ti.e air was so hot and oppressive, that the seamen could bearcely make the necessary exertion to procure the requisite sup plies of provisions ; and had so powerful an effect upon the animals which they were able to kill, as to render their flesh almost instantaneously putrid. The water was brack ish, and full of worms. The rains were incessant, while a suffocating heat continued to prevail ; and the climate prov ed so unpropitious, that many of the crew were seized with fevers. The fruits were much the same as at the period of Anson's visit ; but none of the vegetables, so salutary in the cure of scurvy, were to be found. If the picture drawn by the first voyagers may be supposed to have been over charged, in the delightful sensations which a sickly crew would experience on reaching a verdant shore, the same reasons should equally have influenced the subsequent na vigators, whose description presents so striking a con trast ; and, after making every allowance for different sea sons and different feelings in the writers, the change must obviously have been great in the state of the island, and furnishes a remarkable instance of the effects produced by human culture on the soil and climate of a country, and of the rapid relapse into all their original wildness, when that influence is withdrawn.