Daily Kennebec journal. [microfilm reel] (Augusta, Me.) 1870-1975, 1899-02-04

I.rsn TASTED seven days from noon Oct.
During our detention at Carlg, We
! wcrc not treated az prisoners; we were
Informed that IL we wished to 2eturn T.
Manila by, the same road we had aoi.
to do so. Within the village itseIf We
had, OF course, entire liberty. We asked
Senior Villa II the. Philippine reAublit
crs, and used the same argument thai
had proved so efficient at Bayombong
lie replied that 1t world be the custom
only In time OF war. He ciassed this pc
at Paris as u mere suspension OF HOSTILE
| ties. at the end of which their nation
might again be envetoped IN war,
"Our relations with Scnor Vilia were
| mainly official; his manner toward us was
brnsque, and at times dlscourteous. Tic
WAS extremely suspicious Of us, particu.
| lirly OF the diary that we kept from day
| to day. and Of a camera that formed part
| Of our equipment. He became slowly
convinced, however, that we were moi
seeking fPr military Information. After
us that the colonel feared that we were
making maps of the country. During the
rest OF our Journey, we were entirely rec
from the. faint Of this suspicion.
According to Sn. Villas statement, the
charge had first been made 10y the Span
ish prisoners. who have never ceased to
warn the natives. that American troops
| would come into the province to conquer
them. when they would find themselves
in worse hands than before they rebelled
against Spain.
1t had rained almost constantly during
the last week and the two rivers be-
tween Carig and Echague were greatly
swollen. We lost horse In the river
Carig, but crossed without further acci-
dent. In these streams and particularly
In the river Magat and the Rio GRANGE
de Cdgayan. there are many alligators.
| OF which the natives are in great fear.
No native will venture into the water nor
/ int fnn oil tLx1 l., .vah Ia.
has first thrown stones in front Of him 10
| friShten away any allgatofs which may
| be IN the neighborlloOd.
| "Echague is somewhat larger and more
pretentious than Carig. 1t has guard
of ~ soldiers. From this town we went
by boat to Ilagan sending the servants
| with the horses by the road. The boat
was dugout % feet long and three feet
feet long. 1t was rOwed by six natives.
There are many eddies and whirlpools IN
the river rendering it for some distance
below Echa2ue almost unnaviga0le. even
for bancas. We shipped water repeated
ly and were twice nearly s.wamped. Fur
Their down, particularly below the mouth
Of the Rio Magat, the stream is deeper
and uuieter. and cascoes and pansas
come up to this point with freight re-
ceived from the steamers at APART.
We arrived at Easan that evening.
the province of Isabella. it has a popu-
latlon OF between 10000 and 1000 nhabi-
tants and has many large wooden houses
rooted with corrugated iron, giving Il
rather European appearance. II Is well
situated for defence, being at the juno
ton OF the Rio Pinananauan with the Rio
Grande. 1t is protected by these wide
To attack the city by land from the
south. it would be necessary to bring
troops up the eastern side of the Rio
THE site of the city is raised moreover
about 10 feet above the level Of the river.
In this town We were entertainsd at the
house Of a wealthy cTti.en;; The first
in our honor, at which there were over
fifty young ladies. and an equal number
OF well-dressed and gentlemaniy men.
The ball was well conducted; the aane er:'
invited to the theater to see two one-act
Spanish comedies. presented by the So
cicty young people OF the town They
well for the intelligence of the players.
1--WE desired TO continue our Journey
from Ilagan to Tuguegarao, ana from
western coast. This request was wired
by Senior Villa to Col. TirOna at Aparri.
The officer replied that would not pc
possible to make the proposed Trip az tn,s
vitation to visit APART. take a steamer
from that port, disembark at a nortnern
point on the western coast, ana CONTINUE
our journey south by land. rms ar
isfactory one left open to us.
There are many Spanish, prisoners In
this town.-civil officers, priests. soldiers. |
Eighty-four priests were paraded in the i
street for our inspection only four or five |
of them wearing robes of their Office: |
Nearly all of them wore long hair and
boards. They appeared in good health,
and we could detect no evidence of NAL |
treatment. These prisoners had been as
sembled from different parts of the prov
ince. They are kept under stricter guard
than either of the two other classes of
prisoners, for the reason that the native
officials fear that, if permitted to go
among the people. they will use the in
fluence they possess tough their posi- |
ton in the church TO incite them against
met Don Jose Perez, a Spaniard who had
previously been governor of the island. |
He was we'll dressed and seemed to DC
enjoying all the ordinary comforts.
I'm these two days we passed out OF
the province of Isabella. and entirely
through the province of Cagayen. These
are the leading tobacco provinces IN the
island. An idea of their wealth can be
obtained from the fact that. before the
Philippine 'insurrection, three million
dollars in tobacco alone came yearly from
the one province of Isabella. The tobac- |
co of this province is preferred for expor- |
tation to that of Cayaye. Both provinces
raise also sugar. rice, cocoa and coHee |
Cattle are shipped from Apart ,
the harbor the day before our arrival. |
brought news from Hong Kong papers
that the senator's from the United states
at the congress of Paris favored the IN
dependence of the islands. with an
American protectorate. Col. Tirona con-
sidered the informa ton of sufficient rel
liability to justify him IN regarding the
Philippines independence as assured. and
warfare in the island at an end For this
reason. he proceeded TO relinQuish the
military command he held over the prov |
inces. and to place this power in the |
hands of civil officer elected by the peo- !
pie.
"This officer also made a speech in !
which he thanked the disciplined military |
forces and their cOfonei for the service
they had rendered the province: and as |
sured them that the work they had be- !
gun would be perpetuated by the people |
of the province: where every man. wOm- |
an and child, stood ready to take up |
arms to defend their newly won liberty, !!
and to resist with the last drop Of their
blood the attempt of any nation what |
ever to bring them back to their former |
state of dependence. His speech was |
very imprisoned. He then knet. placed |
his hand on an open Bible. and took the
oath of Office.
I'VE were Hospitality entertained at the
APART: two balls were given in our hon-
or. The town has a population of 10000
Inhabitants. 1t had many handsome |
houses, and several well defined streets.
The military force stationed here consists |
of 800 soldiers. in addition to which the |
harbor has the protection of the gunboat. |
Philippine which carries two guns of