Keowee courier. [volume] (Pickens Court House, S.C.) 1849-current, 1898-05-19
! CTSAB0UT PHILIPPINES. J
Islands Were Named In Honor o
stz.t Philip liz 4.

covery of Magellan and have ever
since been claimed by Spain. The
discovery wns made March 81, 1872,
and on April 90, 1922, Magellan was
killed by q native of Mactan, one
of the smaller islands. His ship, the
Victoria, which made the first voyage
around the world, was taken back to
Spain by Sebastian Cano, who sue
ceeded in command. ....''
The islands are of volcanic forma-
ton, many of them being simply bare
rocks, polished by the action of the
waves. Those which have any soil
at all are very fertile. Tobacco is the
principal product and abaca, or ma
nila hemp, comes next. Excepting
Cuba, tho Philippines are Spain's
richest colonial possessions, and like
Cuba, they have nearly always been
misgovened and large portions of
their territory have never been more
than nominally under the control of
Spain.
Glass feeling runs very high. The
Philippine Spanish arc considered
not quite up TO the tone OF the pen
insular Spanish together they hate
all the other races, all tho other races
hate them and each other, and every
body joins in most cordial hate of
the foreigner.
Owing TO tho confguration of the
'land-open toward the China sea
and practically land-locked toward
the Pacific--the tides run to cxccs-
sive heights. Sometimes two tides,
running in opposite direction, hurl
themselves against each other and the
noise of the shock can be heard for q
mile. Ships caught in the rush of
waters are utterly helpless.
The Philippines are the most
northern group Of the Indian archi-
polago. They have n range Of 1850
miles from North to South and 700
miles from East to West. There are
only 40 of any Importance, of which
Luzon, $50 miles long and 175 miles
wide, is tho largest. The islands,
with her fantastic, tortuous forms,
furrowcd by straits, stretch out in
cvery direction, their long, narrow
penisulars and capes. From them q
succession Of islands leads to
Borcno and a chain of small islands
to Formosa.
From November to April the tenn
perature, though often reaching 80
degrees, is not oppressive and the
nights and mornings are generally
cool. During the rainy season, which
continues from May to November,
the heat is very oppressive and ener-
waiting and is unhealthy fer strangers.
Epidemic diseases are, however, rare.
Cholera> is occasionally epidemic,
but not more so than in other and
cooler countries.
Thunder storms are frequent and
disastrous and tremendous damage is
done by the vagulo, sort Of cyclone
which sweeps over the country from
the East, rotating uniformly from
left u right and spending itself in the
China sea or breaking upon the Asia
tic continent, as did the one of Sep
tember 3, 1874, which swept an cnor-
nous mass of water upon the city of
Hong Kong, engulting over 700 peo.
pie and laundering fourteen ships.
The bay of Manila is one of the
most spacious and beautiful ia the
world. The old city of Manila, which
was founded by Lagaspi in 1871, is
surrounded by a crumbling wall OF
masonry 200 or 300 years old. In this
wall are vaults for storage and a mum
Der of guns arc mounted on the top
Soldiers and priests are plentiful il
the narrow, dark streets Of the old
city. The river Pasig, which flows
into the harbor, is q rival for filth OF
our own Chicago river. There are
many ruins in evidence of the hiddor
power of the earthquakes which occa
sionally work great damage in the is
lands. The streets Of Manila ar,
lighted by kerosene, as the freduono,
of earthquake makes the laying 0
gaspipes impracticable.
a frequent and to the forcigne
rather odd sight is the carabao O.
water buffalo, which is usod univer
rally both in city and country rs
beast Of burden. 1t is an ungainly
ox-like animal, about one-third large
than our cattle, of q dark, leader
color, with whitish feet, scanty ant
coarse hair. It's head ia carried low
with the large, finttoned horns ATTEND
ing almost horizontally backward