The times., 1899-08-07
THE OUTLAWS OF NEGR0S.
Some Side-Liphfs on Campo EninE
in the Philippine Islands.

Carlos with a view to promoting
the tranquility of the northeastern
portion Of Negros. The settled in
habitants of this fertile and beau
tiful region are eminently peaceful in
their aims, desiring an opportunity to grow
their food crops and to harvest the sugar.
cane, which this year yields an extraor-
binary profit. The expense OF producing a
picul Of raw sugar amounts 10 IL pesos,
while it sells for as much as 1-2 To the
northward CT San Carlos, however, there
| is band of outlaws composed of malcon
! tents Of all descriptions, including mere
bandits, or Tuiisanes, and an association OF
enemies of the white race, or their de-
scendants, called Babaylanes Among these
outlaws are many Tagalos, whose mission
in the island seems to be to prevent a
peaceful solution Of the difficulties which
may arise The outlaws gather in the fast
nesses of Mount Solitario, which seems to
| be an extinct volcano and lies to the east
/ ward Of Escalante. This conical mountain
is heavily wooded and scored with many
! deep ravines. 1t affords admirable cover
| for the outlaws for only those who have
made the attempt know how difficult it
| is for white man to traverse the inter-
| laced vines and the thorny underground of
| the Philippine forest. The natives how
ever, familiar with these difficulties from
childhood and skilled in the use of the
| woodman's knife, slip along through these
| obstructions like SO many rabbits.
The bandits have for some time past been
| terrorizing the peaceful inhabitants of
northeastern Negros. Indeed, about the 1st
| OF June most of the white men about San
Carlos fed 10 Iloilo in not ill-founded fear
of their lives, for they were unarmed and
therefore almost helpless. On June 7 "a
| detachment OF ten men and corporal was
placed at San Carlos 1t soon appeared
that this detachment was too small to
| answer its purpose, and it was therefore
replaced week later by whole company.
l landed at San Carlos witll~Sthe de-
tachment in the hope of prosecuting geo.
logical researches, and in particular of ex-
amining belt Of Ignite deposits which is
known TO exist in the mountains at dis
tance of seven or eight miles from the coast
and roughly parallel with ii. Along this
part of Negros there is a strip of fiat or
rolling land a mile or more and sometimes
less in width which is available for agrl-
culture. Back of this strip lies range OF
foothills some hundreds OF feet in height,
| the eastern slopes Of which are also culti-
waited. Behind them the country is noun
famous, heavily timbered and wild, rising
eventually to a lofty crest, the backbone
of the island, several thousand feet in
height. The southern end of this crest is
the active volcano of Canlaon tsometimes
called Malespina on Spanish maps) which
is always steaming, though the last erup-
ton took place in July, 1893.
Information from the residents, native
and foreign, soon convinced me that IN
justifiable risks would attend any attempt
| to penetrate the wild country where the
coal lies with SO small a force as could
be spared from the first little detachment
at San Carlos. There is no valid excuse
from military point Of view for running
into an ambuscade, but to guard against
such a casualty it is requisite to have
men enough for an advance guard and
fiankers as well as main body and a
/ rear guard. The news received made it
evident that an ambush might be attempted
! in the mountains, and indeed it was twice
circumstantially reported that an attack
: was to be made on the detachment in San
Carlos itself. Though incredulous, oi
course we sept with our arms, and We're
: always ready for signal from the senti-
2 | neis Until the company came l was thus
necessarily limited to studying the cora
foothills near San Carlos as well as the
coral island OF Refugio and to tracing II
the topography the history of the success
: | sive upheavals which have converted {
4 | cluster of rocky islets into the superb ant
r productive island of Negros. The scenery
. is enchanting. San Carlos is on blight
e the beach is strewn with shells such as
|, used to see in the best rooms" of Ne"
! ! England sea captains, and strange Mala.
: craft lie on the sand. Fringing the shor'
! are cocoanut groves with picturesque nipi
4 nuts among them; grand forest trees do
the foothills in the nearer distance, ant
$ the steaning peak Of Canlaon towers SOM
e fifteen miles away, rising above the iieec,
: clouds. / longed to work. out the connec
:. ton between these upheavals and the Sui
9 canism OF Canlaon but alasi
: When Company G reached San Carlo.
S there was somewhat more freedom O
d action. On June Is Lieutenant Goodel
e and fifteen men accompanied me to Talabe
about five miles north of San Carlos, wher'
! we stopped at the hacienda of MIR. Kapeller
a Swiss gentleman, who owns a sugar es
tate at this point. The hacienda mean
u the residence, mill, shops, ETC., OF sucl
e an estate-in a word the settlement upol
It it.
Il The next morning, leaving one man ol
i guard and taking guides, we went up tn
Talabe River to the coal deposit. 1t wa
u a magnificent trip, but a hard one. BY tn
Is path we took the deposit was nine mile
X or thereabouts from our starting point
!, We had to wade the river more thai
thirty times and climb many steep, rough
coral slopes hundreds of feet in heigh
'r through a tangie of vegetation and hot
lg house atmosphere. When we reached til
=
: fered many irreparable injuries and ther
were many sore feet; but such misfortune
are temporary, and every man brough
away memories which he will long cheris
of the grand forest, the rushing river an
ID the picturesque vistas of tropical scener!
,e The coral reaches an altitude of more tha
" 600 feet above sea level and is sometime
covered with volcanic debris emanatin
= from the central range. 1t extends
CT about four miles in straight line froI
ly the coast, and seems to represent sys
r: TEN of barrier reefs. The coal, or rattle
"A Ignite, lies in highly tilted and disturbe
= tertiary strata between carbonaceou
= shales These strata strike to the west
O. north and dip in a westerly direction. Th
E. only seams exposed at this locality al
D. small and contain considerable sulphu
They have no economical value, exceptin
as they indicate the possibility that th
same series of rocks may contain other an
- more valuable deposits.
u So far as my meagre information goe
he the island of Negros would seem to posse
az | a core of tertiary rocks, that have bee
nj | greatly compressed and plicated along
axis which on the Talabe River strikes
u the west of north. They have been owe
lie whelmed and doubtless broken through
e. volcanic rocks mainly of the variety know
q. as andesitic, but are probably in part basa
tic. Connected with the eruptions the
have been successive upheavals, Of whi
the more recent ones have laid bare gre
expanse Of rich, arabic land along the coas
he this area being far wider on the west tht
mt on the east The sea adjacent to the islal
n. is extremely shallow, and If the upheava
- are renewed great additions will be ma
" TO the territory. ] cannot learn of histoI
"a, cal uplifts in this island, but most of tho
ii now fracea hIp are Re0l0pjcally recent