Missouri Valley times. [volume] (Missouri Valley, Iowa) 1874-1931, 1899-01-05

!, could Go that without orders Ne
| were hot allowed to shoot, for The flssh
would make too good u target for tile
insursent sha1pshooters, so we Law
waiting for orders everyone aching To
''nsf' into the ihlclset and give the
:'eaiti"ns IA touch "f high life, for th,.
s,lGler dn,,'t seem to have much
'hora love for AN insnf gent than fer a
>paniard.
They must lave surm;sta ,lut rein
'5'rcemen!s have come, t,,G not MANY
shots were fred Till all WAS qi..e. again
Ms II was rain!ne al iha time and no
( lear OF AN attack, the compan. was
io'de!td beck a short distance 10 a
bilck house, where we managed to oct
III out OF he rain, but we were so
crowded we Gidn't have room to
change our minds Next morning we
marched back to camp. not having
! gained any victories or lost any men,
but having a better idea of what sol
nler lifr really means But the wors.
OF all was to come. "Drders: Wash
the brown uniforms, shoes and leg
jg'ngs and lie ready for brigade dress
parade aud extended order drill"
The next day three of us got a
twelve hour pass AS we have fine
racing scnil. we 1lloaght pull up the
river would be the most interesting
thing We made an early start up the
river l'asig. so as to nave tie hsnent of
ne tide as 1t came i'm. The pasig
river is quite swift and is $50 wards
vide. 1t is nice rowing about five
miles when the curren! makes the row.
Ing hard. AS the river is quite deep
it is navigable for good sized vessels
for fifty miles, The number of small
o?ats we met coming down that morn.
tns was surprising. Also great rafts
iloaaed down with eoooanuts which
looked like iloating islands, aud big
fat boats loaded with hemp. For some
distance around to the south of Manila
the country is low, and there where
rice is grown.
On account of the wars that have
been here of hate good share of the
land is uncultivated and has grown up
IN langles and thiekets OF wild ha.
mana, eoooahut, and all kinds of vines
and plants.
1 AS we got further inland the seem
cry was more beautiful: on, each side
OF the river were forests of the rarest
k.ad1 UT trees, such as the mohogany
and camphoE wood, and several fine
species unknown to nae, The river
winds along till finally We reached a
higher country, where the banks we're
high and rocky, and we passed two or
three villages, We stopped at each
and held a powwow with the natives.
as they all speak Spanish. They we're
really too clever, for they all wanted
lis to eat with them, but we declined
as we had taken our dinner along with
us. Then these natives here don't
strike me as being the tid.est people IN
the world, anyway Their bill of fare
is principally rice and fish. They do
all cooking ana eating on the bare
gTound under their bamboo houses.
which are SCI up on stakes on account
of the rainy season.
If they havo rive for dinner, that is
Gil they have; it is cooked in large
bowl, and often after cooling it. it is
placed on the ground (the larger the
family ths larger the bowl, of course)
and the whole family dig in with their
fingers, and the one with the biggest
Unit" gets the most to eat. Some
thing after the style of soldier.
Sabe?
In four hours after leaving the city
we hove in sight OF quite large town,
which we found to be the town of
Pasig. This is an old Spanish town
and the main buildings arc of stone,
like those of Manila. Here we found
what seemed to be the headquarters Of
the 1nsurgent army, there being sew
eral high officers there and scarcely
any Spanish, and we were shown all
over the city, and ! don't think that
Americans are very common in that
locality, for they followed us all around
the town, and seemed to be greatly
surprised at one of ths boys having
red hair.
We staid in this place for couple
or hours, and having gotten hold OF
cone nice relies, such as machetes, q
| few old coins, we started for home,
AS we came down tbs river we were
i slapped every little ways by the Insur.
.. nts. who wanted to know where we
,,,,a,o % ,going; sentries were posted
had been none when we
-. ~ ~ ~ said halt we alwrys stop
p.u, M -, aa q, vi ley looked as thoagh they
"al,YI ..,..,. - heshieg to shoot at, and we
urun "s b anything but six ehooters
w so' ast the line of sentries, and
as we hs, ple"-'y of time We thong..*
We woole .snd at nice place we saw
aheae I'D seyif we could get shot
AZ sometime plumsged birds we hat
So It, lug vols and vines are 81
thick we had a h ard time in landing q