The San Francisco call., 1898-08-14

carved walnut bedsteads that Ameri-
 can curio seekers would give hundreds
 for With an intense hatred of the
 priests the native footed his church
 and imprisoned the priest or shot him,
 but still clings to the old faith. You
 will meet but few without the scapular
 of his patron saint, some with two.
 Douviers, one of Aguinaldo's lieuten-
 ants, who told me of fourteen of the
 priests being shot, said that there was
 a great difference between the religion
 and the man sent out to the Philippines to teach it.
 Skirmishing goes on daily between Aguinaldo and the Spaniards, and
 Spanish prisoners are continually arriving This is not brought about
 by reason of brilliant feats of
 arms but more by reason of
 hunger. Since Dewey interfered with AguinaIdo in behalf of better food the Spaniards have been faring better than
 ever they did in their own army, At
 5 o'clock 1 can hear desultory firing going on in the town. Aguinaldo is be-
 tween one and one-half miles of Man
 ila's walled town. From Mir. Allison,
 an English gentleman, who yesterday
 sought the protection of the English Consul and who has dWelt in Manila long time, l learn that the Spanlards have destroyed all of the trees on the beautiful drive. called the Luneta, and also the unrivaled collection of tropical trees in the botanical gardens They have planted sharp bamboo paltngs for a space of ten feet wide inside of the
 walls, with the points upward, ana have dug trench inside of the bamboo palings at a distance of ten feet. These precautions against an attack by American troops are worthy ot that doughty Chinese warrior, MT Confu- ciuS but have no place in modern war fare Flour is $27 a sack and meat and other necessities correspondingly high, This condition prevails, when Au- gusti might easily make an honorable surrender and claim the protection of the American soldiery. If Aguinaldo carries the town before the arrival of the American endorsements there will be loot and pillage, ravishment and cruelty Then the black eyes of the Filipino will snap and he will use the native knife and he will make good the boasts of years! Unjust treatment has bred rancorous hate. and the sins of their forefathers will be visited upon the modern Spaniard!
 Augusti is quoted as saying that the presence of the big German fleet re- minds him of the cormorant waiting for the death in order to pick the bones."
 There has been a decided cooling of the directions or these QuODudin II1eIluS since it has become known that Ger many desires a coaling station as the price of her affection. Germany IS play ing a double game, giving advice to and. coquetting with Au- gusti
 The German admirars launch has been to and fro between insurgent headquarters and the German fleet many times since our arrival The Ger man troopship Darmstadt with soldiers aboard is expected soon. The German ships in the bay are the Kaiserin Au gusta, Princess Wilhelmina and Kali ser and three or four smaller vessels. while the Deutscherland and Gefer are The Kaiserin Augusta is splendid vessel, not quite so speedy as the Baltimore or Olympia nor as pow erful as either of these or the Boston or as to guns or armament.
 The British are the cruisers Immor talite and the BonaVenture, with the Barfieur and Iphigenia coming. The French cruisers are the Bruix, the Pas cal and Bayard, and there are two Jap anese cruisers. It is the opinion of na- val men that British have the strongest fleet here, not excepting the Americans.
 This enforced idleness is giving the correspondents, of whom there are many, a chance to study the country. l have been in two directions for about six miles toward Manila and away from Cavite, and found it a low flat country covered with a species of locust trees and bamboo forests. The bamboo is almost impenetrable in places and the is quite thick The at is muggy and damp and the vegetation rank, while the odor of tropical flowers is sometimes quite op- pressive. I have seen hibiscus bloom that measures four to five inches across There are many beautiful vel low blossoms whose names do not know There are large butterflies that have feathery wings that give them the of birds. This is a densely populated district and people are found in the midst of bamboo thickets when least expected. The pOplation in and around Manila must foot up some 350,- 900 souls and in the walled city of Man fla there are some 60,000 people
 In riding through to some of Agui- naldo's posts I have been stopped by the comical gentry he calls soldiers. but as soon as they discovered l was an American I have been allowed to go on.
 The Filipino reminds me more of our American Indian than anything else, and with this exception, that poor Lo" is more dignified and decent. Why the American Government should have dignified this individual Aguinaldo with more powers than a Cheyenne chief is past my understanding. With his comical clothes and his makeup of nondescript trousers and bare feet. his black and green helmet and straw hats, the inSurgent soldier is an appalling spectacle. The only thing that l can compare the insurgent army uniform to is the novel brown canvas uniform of our own soldiers. At nearly a mile distance apart along the roads there are small outposts of the insurgents. At each of these is a sergeant or other n-commissioned officer in charge of seven or. eight men. AS a result of my excursions I should say that Aguinaldo is massing some ten thousand men to- ward Manila, and that the country Is not as difficult to travel over as had been reported by natives and journalists who had been, over the ground; that the climate is not near so difficult to live in as people suppose; that a white may live here and never need rhysician if he exercise ordinary clean Illness, takes his siesta regularly and abjures strong drink. The lesson of taking a siesta and leaving stimulants alone is one that will never be learned