Gadao

The pictographs in the cave above Inarajan Bay are small, no taller than a hand. White lines on limestone, drawn in lime that bonded chemically to the wall and held there for over a thousand years. One figure stands beside another, something tucked beneath an arm, perhaps a coconut. The drawings range from finger-width markings to figures the length of a forearm. Two of them are said to be Gadao and the chief he humbled without lifting a fist.

He was the maga’låhi of Inalåhan, the village now spelled Inarajan, on the southern coast of Guahan. The title meant something specific in the old Mariana Islands: high-ranking male, the strongest and wisest of his clan, a leader by both blood and capacity. The stories agree he was a real man, a chief who once lived. They do not quite agree on what he actually did. Gadao earned the title by carrying more than it required.

The stories begin with a shark. He and his companions were paddling home from Umatac with a haul of fish when something pale and long shouldered toward the canoe. He drove his fisga through the body in a single throw, killing it in the water. The chiefs of the island heard, and decided this man from the south might lead them all. Most agreed. A few demanded proof.

So they set him three tasks, and the tasks are the kind only legend would ask. He had to swim around Guam twenty-five times without stopping, in the season of heaviest rain. He had to crack a coconut tree into pieces with his bare hands. He had to level the tallest mountain on the island, which was Mount Lamlam. The version told by Lawrence Cunningham gives him twenty-five circuits inside an hour, after which he rested a day, then shook a coconut tree so hard the nuts flew for miles. The version is impossible. That is the point.

What followed was less triumphant than the legend wants. Having earned the high chieftaincy, Gadao set his sons to fortify the island against invaders, telling them to drag a great boulder across the reef from Inarajan to Agana Bay before sunrise. The boys carried the stone as far as the reef between Piti and Asan. Then a star rose in the early dark and twinkled, and they took it for dawn, and dropped the boulder where they stood. It is still there. People call it Camel Rock now, but in Chamorro it has another name: Gapang, the unfinished task. The morning star they trusted is called Dinague Laolao, fooled by the twinkling star. The Spanish came afterward. Gadao met them in combat with a sword made from the spine of a stingray, and could not match what they carried.

The other story is more cheerful, and more famous. Word reached Tumon, in the north, that the strongest chief on the island was not Malaguaña of Tumon but Gadao of Inarajan, and Malaguaña did not take the rumour well. He paddled south to settle the matter. The first man he met when he reached the village was working in plain clothes, like a farmer, and Malaguaña did not recognise him. He announced himself with the standard greeting and demanded to be taken to Gadao at once. The farmer said yes, of course, but first they should eat. He went to a coconut tree and shook it until the nuts came down. Then he picked one up and broke it in half with his bare hands and offered Malaguaña a share.

Malaguaña tried to crack one when his host’s back was turned. He could not. Some versions say Gadao split coconuts with a single finger and wrung the milk from them. Whatever the detail, the message was the same. If a farmer was this strong, the chief would be stronger. Malaguaña decided he had urgent business at home, and the farmer offered to help him paddle his canoe back. They set out together, Malaguaña at the bow, Gadao at the stern. Both began to paddle. Only one of them was paddling toward Tumon. The canoe trembled between them and did not move, so they paddled harder, until the wood gave up and split, and the two halves shot apart, Malaguaña north and Gadao south, both still seated, both still rowing. Malaguaña reached Tumon Bay before he understood that he had only half a boat. Gadao, the stories say, laughed.

He went to the cave afterward and drew the scene on the wall. That, at any rate, is what some on Guam will tell you. The pictograph on the east wall of Gadao’s Cave shows two figures standing together, and one of them appears to hold something under an arm. Other interpretations exist. Anthropologists who have studied the cave place the paintings somewhere around 800 CE, which is centuries before any chief named Gadao is thought to have lived. The dates do not particularly bother the legend.

His strength was not magic. The stories give him no divine parent, no forged weapon, no boon beyond his own arms. What he had was the body of an ordinary man scaled past plausibility, and the wit to know when not to use it. The cleverness is half the legend. Malaguaña was never beaten in a fight. He was beaten by a coconut and a paddle, and he beat himself the rest of the way home.

What Gadao could not do was foresee. His sons trusted a star and lost the island. He met steel with bone and could not push it back. The legend keeps both stories, the one where strength wins and the one where it is not enough, and refuses to choose between them. A statue of him sits on the shore of Inarajan Bay now, holding a paddle, riding the half of a canoe that brought him home.

Frequently Asked Questions

Who is Gadao?

Gadao is the legendary maga’låhi, or high chief, of Inarajan in southern Guam, remembered in Chamorro mythology for his prodigious strength and cunning. Oral tradition holds that he was a real pre-contact chief whose deeds were lifted into folk-hero status, defining what a Chamorro leader could be. His memory survives in a statue at Inarajan Bay, a cave of ancient pictographs, and place names along the southern reef.

What three tasks did Gadao perform to become high chief?

To prove he could lead all of Guam, Gadao was told to swim around the island twenty-five times without stopping in the season of heaviest rain, crack a coconut tree into pieces with his bare hands, and level Mount Lamlam, the tallest mountain on the island. The version recorded by Lawrence Cunningham has him completing the circuits inside an hour and then shaking a coconut tree so hard the nuts flew for miles. The feats are deliberately impossible, which is the point of the legend.

How did Gadao defeat Chief Malaguaña of Tumon?

Gadao defeated Malaguaña of Tumon not in combat but through a contest of strength and trickery involving a canoe. When Malaguaña arrived in Inarajan to challenge him, Gadao greeted him in farmer’s clothes, shook coconuts down from a tree, and broke one open with his bare hands, which Malaguaña could not match. The two then set out paddling Malaguaña’s canoe in opposite directions until the wood split in half and the two pieces shot apart, sending Malaguaña home with only half a boat.

What is Gadao’s Cave?

Gadao’s Cave is a limestone cave above Inarajan Bay containing ancient pictographs drawn in lime that bonded chemically to the wall and held there for over a thousand years. The drawings include small white figures ranging from finger-width markings to figures the length of a forearm, and one scene on the east wall shows two figures standing together with one apparently holding something under an arm, traditionally identified as Gadao and the chief he humbled. Anthropologists date the paintings to around 800 CE, centuries before any chief named Gadao is thought to have lived.

What is Camel Rock and how is it connected to Gadao?

Camel Rock is a great boulder sitting on the reef between Piti and Asan in Guam, left there during a failed task Gadao set for his sons. He told them to drag the stone from Inarajan to Agana Bay before sunrise to fortify the island, but they mistook a twinkling star for the morning star and dropped the boulder where they stood. In Chamorro the rock is called Gapang, the unfinished task, and the deceiving star is remembered as Dinague Laolao.

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