West Virginia argus. [volume] (Kingwood, W. Va.) 1877-1946, 1898-11-03

aha recuiiar Caisine - Carrying
Postage stamps In Saddlebags over
Picturesque Mountain Trail-The
FlOnrishing Coffee Industry.
From the Morsantown New Dominion.
Worth Jolliffe. resident OF this
county. who has long been in the
United States mail service. was sent to
Porto Rico bv the go',rumsnt to es-
tabli@h mail routes and postofice.. He
thus writes about IL TO his sister, un-
der date OF Playa. Ponce:
Here nm Mt IItundo. 40 miles
northeast of Ponce Monday morning
1 estA blished the. first United States
postofiice ever established in the in.
terror OF the island OF Porto Rico. and
the second one ON the whole island.
This is a little place aud has no COM
munication with anywhere except by
pack and wagon train. MY postofRce
Is In the same room with the United
States signal corps telegraph office.
and the operator and / sleep In the
office. Tue Sixth Massachusetts vol
nnteers are stationed here, but they
arc trying very hard to get away. as
thev have had rough time aud a
great many of them arc sick. My
board here is very good, but strictly
| Spanish. and the way they season
things with tomatoes. onions and gar
lie is awful. but am getting fat on it.
81 left Ponce Saturday, about 10 a.
m, in company with Maj Charles
Darling. the plucky little Irshman.
who lad the Fl sht at Guanica when the
Spanish bullets cut the wires As he
started across the barbsd wire fence.
Another OF the -four was Corporal Dra-
per, OF the Sixth Massachusetts. whose
father il Ambassador TO Italy; another
was Charles Turner. just out OF the
hospital, and the fourth was Worth.
but you should have seen US. On my
legs was pair of legRings from the
Cuban campaign; on my right hip
hung Colts IS caliber six-shooter;
over my left = good canteen partly
! full OF warm water: strapped in front
OF nv saddle was my macintosh. and
behind my saddle was bag contain
ing 800 worth OF stamps, and SO on.
In my IaddlebaRs j had u can of corned
beef a can OF apricots and two loavea
of bread.
The first night wa came TO Adjun.
tas, little place about as large as
Smithtown. and took soldiers fare
| The next day Sunday we started over
tho widest and most picturesque trail
L ever saw. The mountains rose to
sharp peaks above US. and as we passed
around sharp points on the trail in
very many places. misstep of foot
would have thrown uf straight down
over the cliff into the Rio Grands river,
about 500 or 1000 feet below. Al
together it was the grandest scenery
ever saw. The opposite hillside and
the valley below were covered with
banana trees, with leaves shaped like
= laurel leaf, but about eight to ten
| feet long and one To three feet wide.
Then, projecting high above them.
was tall cocoanut palD without lin b
or not until the bunch Of cocoanuts
was reached away at the top. Where.
eyer the land was tillable AZ all along
the road 1t was covered with coffee
trees, and rode along and pulled off
green coffee just as you would pull off
green crabapples in the United States
Every hut along the mountain side had
a sack spread out and was drying cof-
fee. just as we dry sugar corn.
did l tell you that there is no but
ter in Porto Rico except what CONES
/ from Denmark in cans? IL is called
mantequilla, pronounced man-tay- keel
va. This is a wild. weird experience.
such as will probably not happen again
within my lifetime. and i wouldn't
have missed it for great deal How
aver, am not going to marry and
settle down here. Keep this. for il is
postnsrked with the old spanish post.
marked stamp which the Uaited states
captured when they took the town. /
have Hot received my United States
stsmps yet, so ] use this."