Attorney Michael White from Saipan sent me pics of two postcards written in Chamorro from the Northern Marianas during the German Administration in 1900.
The first one, seen above, was addressed to Froilán Mangloña in Luta. I will render it in my Chamorro orthography but you can easily follow it by reading the original :
Gi echongñan i plåsa gi me'nan i gima' u fan ma tånme flores yan man dikkiki' na trongkon håyo siha yan un gua'ot ni dångkulo para kumahulo' guato i gima'.
In English, "By the side of the square in front of the house flowers and small trees will be planted and a large staircase to go up to the house."
I like this postcard because it uses the word ECHONGÑA which is now obsolete; no one uses this word anymore which is why even good Chamorro speakers have no idea why we sing in the hymn "O Maria Nana'magof" the words TUNANAS GI ECHONGÑÅ-MO. People think it means "crooked mosquito," "echong ñåmu." But ECHONGÑA means "side."
The second postcard was addressed to Luís Igualeman which is really EGAULIMAN, a Carolinian in Saipan. It says,
I gima' gaige gi hilo' okso', gai padet kuåttro yan meggai haligi-ña lao trabia ti monhåhåyan.
In English, "The house is on top of a hill, it has four concrete (perhaps walls) and it has many posts, but it is not finished yet."
