The Indianapolis journal. [volume] (Indianapolis [Ind.]) 1867-1904, 1898-08-21
IN THE PHILIPPINES.
Life There Is Not without Serious In
cOnVeniences.
Medical News.


In the Philippine rivers are huge cay
mans that are very cruel and bloodthirsty.
The natives fear them much that in
cursing an enemy they say, May the cay
man kill him. And there is superstition
among them that if they swear falsely, or
break their promises, the cayman will Kill
them, and they can always cite instances
in which this fate has happened TO wrong
doors. In Manila mosquitoes are very troub-
lesome, but there are few crawling insects,
for the reason that they are destroyed by
the newt and a species of lizard called
chacoh. The newt is a strange little rep
tile and if is caught by the tail he
shakes 1t off and runs away without 1t. AT
night huge bats fly about overhead, ana
these nocturnal visitors inspire the greatest
horror in one who does not know what they
are, for they often measure five feet from
tip to tip of their wings. Bat shooting is
considered fine sport among the young men
in the Philippines, and those who were COM
PEELED to stay long in Manila in antebellum
days were glad of any form or amusement,
for ordinarily it is dull city, though the
girls are said to be the most beautiful in
the world. There are no popular cafes, no
opera house, and absolutely no place OF
recreation Not until 1887 were there any
gardens in the public squares. The streets
are narrow, and badly lighted by petro-
leum lamps, and in the suburbs cocoanut
oil is sometimes used for that purpose. The
paving is Wretched, and during the wet
season it is almost impssiD.e to get about.
poorest working classes, huts with matched
roofs are still constructed, and the only
drainage in this part of the city is by
bitches cut around each square. In the wet
season this district is a mass of pollution
many of the huts having pools of stagnant
water under them for months When the
rains stop and evaporation commences fever
breaks out among these wretched people
and many of them die.
Down in the city itself the conditions are
somewhat better. and a foreigner could
make himself fairly comfortable, for there
are several Spanish hotels where the fare
used to be decent, but the beds and other
tiOnG
of the houses have more than the ground
story and one upper floor. The former IS
so damp that 1t is used generally for lodg-
ing the native servants and for COACH
house. Manila is not place that would
be chosen as a residence by person look
ing for pleasure and comfort. me climate
is very trying, except for about four months
Of the year, and typhoon comes along &C.
casionally and makes things lively for
composed about as follows: Sixty-seven per
cent pure natives 80 per cent. Chinese and
Chinese half-breeds and per cent; spanish
and a few other Europeans It is within
the last hundred years that Spanish SOL
diers were so badly and irregularly paid
that they used to go begging from house to
house about the city 1 presume from pres
ent indications that before this letter
reaches YOU. if Commodore Dewey con-
tinues to maintain the blockade in the pres
ent effective way, the officers. and even the
governor general, will become accomplished
mendicants as well me entire maze e po n7,a
PEELED to carry arms and consider them-
selves in the military service. There is a
medical board, composed of European Span
iards. that has general supervision over the
troops The military hospitals are subject
to the authority of this board. which NOM
mates an officer to each of the regiments.
This officer is called an agudante.
In America we often hear doctors COM
plain of the fierceness of competition among
the members of the medical profession. but
in Manila there is mob of third-rate ma
tive doctors who manage somehow TO exc
ont a poor existence. They are mostly sons
no W. a anxious see
their children launched in the learned pro-
feSSinnS -