Keowee courier. [volume] (Pickens Court House, S.C.) 1849-current, 1899-08-17

S."H 20 see AmerlcanS mere, instead
of the Spaniards, who's. they detest.
Now 10 aesoribe the little oity it is
sufficient to say that it is a park-a
beautiful park. There are no grand
buildings, monuments or other orna-
ments which 60 to make up a oity
of note. The store houses are COM
mon two-story frame buildings,
while the few residences are ordi-
nary one-story cottages. A prettier
place., however, is hard to find.
There are large, fine trees along the
streets-not one street, but all
streets-and little flower beds are in
abundance throughout the town.
The place is simply beautiful. There
are no street cars, hacks or other
such conveyances, not even horse,
80 it is merely park.
The climate is very fine. 1t is a
great deal healthier here than at
Manila. 'Of course, some parts of
tho day are very hot, but the latter
part of the afternoon and early even
ing hours are just cool enough to be
comfortable, while the later hours of
the night have little tendency to
be chilly, and that is saying a great
deal for this part of the world. We
are seven hundred miles South of
Manila.
JULIO, which have made vain
endeavor to describe, is the present
home of the 23d Infantry, and a
better place the officials could not
have sent us, so we think. We are
comfortably quartered; we are
pleased; we enjoy ourselves, even
though the place may have slight
sign of loneliness. We have beau
tiful bay, where we sw..n, row and
fish, when not on duty, and it is the
only place to 60 for recreation. Of
course there is fine country back
of the city with largo hills and noun
tains, and where grows all kinds of
fruit. Cocoanut trees are abundant;
but we have no desire to satisfy our
curiosity as to the country outside.
l speak of ourselves as individual
parties. Az a company, our regi-
ment is ready and willing at any
time to investigate, but for two or
three of us to venture out alone
would be mere suicide, % the ma
tives say we have no business out
side the walls of the city !; in fact,
they have not yet decided whether
we have any business hero at all or
not. This question is, however, for
us to decide and not them, and we
have decided to remain hcre.
Whether we shall have fight
here or not we do not know, but
it is very lik y we will. The Sui
tan has been in to see our officers
several times, and some how does
not seem satisfied; therefore, it
would not surprise us to be called to
arms at any moment. The natives
here are called Mhoors. They be-
lieve and practice the Mahomedan
religion. They are by no means of
a friendly disposition, and are not
to be trusted. In appearance they
do not at all resemble the Filipino
of Luzon island. They are much
darker in color, stupid, ugly and
desperate looking. Their teeth,
which are their pride, are of q shiny
black.
All the clothes that one of these
people wear could be made out Of
two yards of cloth. Each one of
these people carry large knife. We
call them bolos. They are of pc
culiar shape. They have a handle
about six inches long, while the
blade is five inches wide and about
fifteen inches long, an ugly article to
feast your eyes on, you may be sure.
These knives are their weapons in
war, as they have very few guns and
still less ammunition. They are
used to fighting with their knives
against rifles, for they and the Span
iards had many little battles during
the Spaniard's reign here.
These Mhoors are quick and act
i've, expert with their knives, and
they can spring upon one with the
} agility of cat. They are fearless.
Death is naught to them !; for to be
killed is to 60 direct to heaven, and
to kill Christian---that is what they
call us--is to accomplish o great and
good deed, for which their reward
t will be heaven after death. Such is
. their religion. We would much pre-
, fer they had rifles to fight with, al.
) though it is not pleasant to be shot
{ yet it is certainly moro horrible to
be butchorcd with one of those ugly