In 1874, a Spanish political exile named Francisco Chacón Lara came to Guam. Years later, he wrote a book about his time on Guam and what he observed.
In it he praises the Chamorro woman, especially for her virtues of hard work.
He says,
"The poor Chamorras, that is, the poor women among the natives of the Marianas, are generally more hard-working, more at ease and communicative as their husbands, and one can state that they have no equal in the whole of Oceania. Indeed, they work in the fields, sowing and harvesting rice, tobacco, corn and sugarcane; they handle the axe and the machete with dexterity; they climb coconut trees and the tall breadfruit trees with the same agility and safety that one of our best balancers in our gymnastic academies; they ride the bulls and water buffalos as well as the men, and travel alone between the towns, crossing mountains and avoiding ravines; they climb aboard small canoes dug out from a breadfruit tree trunk, sailing along the beaches, fishing and rowing from their settlements to their farms and vice versa; they make all kinds of verbal contracts to buy or sell, cash or credit, an occupation for which they are highly trusted by their husbands; many of them are good seamstresses and a few of them are excellent cooks."
Another writer also said that the Chamorro women of the Marianas are given a lot of leeway by their husbands on account of their industry, enterprise and hard work.
Chamorro women were more than nurturers of their children. They were often the very anchor of the entire family, many times outshining their husbands.
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