Omaha daily bee., 1899-11-19


for toll and get box of matches in return
or ticket good for return trip.
1--WE had finished our work on the field
and things were becoming monotonous when
General Otis proposed sending us on a
pleasure trip to the southern islands in
the group. The party was small and select
one and included only four women-Mrs.
Schwchtenberg, Mrs Oscar King Davis, wife
of the New York Sun correspondent, Mrs.
Anna Benjamin and myself. The others
were mostly officers and newspaper men.
We visited the islands of Iloilo, Mindanao,
Bohol Negros Sulu, San Nicholas and any
number of towns, including the court OF the
sultan of Sulu, Jolo. Maimbaum and other
places.
"At Jolo we met General Bates and his
commission and we're present at the sign
ing Of the treaty. We returned over the
same trip and expected to sail on the New
port, but when we arrived at Manila we
found a note waiting for us saying that we
could return on navy ship. 1t had been
written week before by Admiral Watson
and the ship had sailed for the states the
day before. However, we were given the
privilege of sailing as passengers on the
next navy ship that left the port-the Solace.
Impressions of Guam.
"On the return trip we stopped at Guam
one OF the Ladrone islands. Everybody
knows of the capture of Guam and we
had great desire to see the islands and
the natives. We found the people there very
simple and true. In fact they might even
be called dwarfs. About once in five months
General Otis sends boat over to that island
to see II everything is all right
Intelligent? Yes, they are as intelligent
as necessary. You can hardly realize that
they are full-grown people, they are so
small. native priest came out to greet
us when we arrived. He was an old man.
yet chldlike in manner and with peculiar
dignified bearing. The military governor of
the island insisted that we wait to see a
native dance. The natives were assembled
by three short whistles and the dance began
without any undue delay. 1t was a good
deal like an Indian dance and as they moved
or swayed about they kept time to a low
and unmusical chant 1t was very different
from the dances we had seen in the southern
islands, some of which were really gorgeous.
On this island everything was made OF
straw and the natives live on fish and sea
birds eggs Their only weapons are spears.
The water around the island was of a pale
green shade. There are monkeys galore
and all kinds of birds on the island Back
in the island we found that the natives had
whitewashed large pieces of mahogany,
thinking the whtewash prettier than the
natural color and finish Of the wood The
women do what work there Is to do. Our
visit on this island was interesting be-
cause 1t was SO absolutely different from
every other place we had visited We were
at Guam four days and were the first ,rls
that had been seen there for ages.
:ntes Big Man.
We met General Bates ard his COM
mission-everybody down there called it
his commssion-on the Charleston bet Tween
Jolo and Maimbaum and We're his guests
during the trip. The natives of the SuIu
islands called General Bates the Big God
from Manila. On the island the party was
accompanied by one of the Sulu chiefs, a
man who happened to be a rival CT the sui
tan, ana who, In fact, was almos. as pow
erful He was suspicious and would not go
with General Bates unless allowed guard
OF fifty OF his own men. These people are
unusually bright and intelligent and this
chief especially 50. We couldn't phase him.
He was much interested in the machin-
cry of the big ship and when he saw a big
megaphone he declared that he was going
to have one like it. And he was true to
with megaphone of his own make and
he shouted his commands to his men through
that thing in way that made them stand
around. He was constantly on The alert and
the officers tried in every way to overawe
him. He was friendly simply because he
knew that he had to be. On board the ship
Charleston he was shown row Of electric
buttons and told that If he pressed the first
one Chinese servant would appear The
chief was sarcastic and would not believe
us, so he pressed the button and sure
enough the Chinaman appeared. He was
puzzled and began to tremble at what he
thought was the magic influence Of Cen
eral Bates. He had just enough courage to
press another button for the captains or
derly and few seconds later man in red
clothing appeared on the deck. This was
too much for him and he was our man after
that. The aged sultana, mother of the sui
tam, proposed marriage to this chief some
time ago. They say she has a habit of
killing off her husbands and this chief re-
fused, replying to her proposal that he pre-
ferred to kill himself II he had to die that
way.
THE party first visited the sultapa's q
home, where they were all entertained to a
dinner, consisting of dried fish in OIL The
sultana is an old hag in appearance. Most
Of her tech are gone and these that re-
main are perfectly black. She wore a SOL
dier's left hand white glove on her right
hand, for the reason. so it was afterward
explained, that she didn't want to shake
hands with the Christian dogs. However,
she treated us exceedingly well and spoke of
brotherly love and apparently seemed in
favor of having the treaty signed
1--WE said We couldn't eat the fish that was
brought out to US, but General Bates said
that If we refused the sultana would be
offended and that for the sake of the treaty
we would have to eat some of it. The chief
that had furnished so much amusement for
the party sat at one end OF the table, but
he refused absolutely to eat anything think
ing the fish was poisoned. 1t was before
this that he had refused to marry the sui
tana and he naturally expected she had a
desire to kill him. 1t required good deal
of nerve to eat the stuff, especially after
one Of the natives had refused to eat IL
because he thought 1t might be poisoned
All the American officers were unarmed and
we were completely at their mercy. General
Bates thought that going among them with
out arms would demonstrate the friendliness
..N. ,s,a II 49,, Alz... GNN