The Ellensburg dawn. [volume] (Ellensburg, Wash.) 1898-1914, 1899-02-10
A LETTER FROM MANILA
Ralph Van Buskirk Writes q
Letter to his Brother, Chas.
Van BuSkirk

landS:--
Dear Bro.:-As you will notice,
our journey is ended. | wanted to
see the Philippines, and | have had
my wish. We arrived in Manila
Harbor early Saturday morning,
Nov. 26. We were out from Homo
lulu just Is days before we sighted
land. We had what sailors call n
very peaceful voyage, but it was
plenty stormy to suit me. | am
a very poor sailor and sea voyaging
isn't the thing it's cracked up to be.
Take my advice if you come over,
and travel by land. ] am going to
wait until they bridge the Pacific
or make aerial navigation success
before | go back to America. We
sighted land-the most welcome
sight | ever saw in my life, | think
on Thanksgiving day. We sailed
along the western coast of Luzon
all the next day and very early the
following morn steamed into MI
Mia Bay and dropped anchor. We
remained in harbor 6 days in plain
view of the city. | didn't get to go
into the city until last Thursday
Then the old guard got shore leave
from 10 in the morning to 5 in the
afternoon: 1t is a queer sold hole"
| never saw anything like it be-
fore in my life! The Pasig river, a
stream much larger than the
Yakima, flows through the city.
The river is walled on either side.
The inhabitants are native Fill
pinos, Chinese, Japs and Spanish.
You will look quite while before
seeing an American or Englishman.
The Filipinos are queer little peo-
pie, very small, and very friendly
towards the soldiers-that is, if the
boys do the square thing with them.
They look quite bit like Chinese.
The first thing that took my eye
was the cute little ponies hitched
to little carriages. The city streets
are just lined with them. The
horses are about the size of Shetland
ponies, but with the exception OF
being small they are like the ordin-
airy horse. They are tough and
wiry and you can't kill them.
They are swift as deer in running,
and make the fire fly in trotting.
The buggies are Undiscovered top
and cushion seats as rich look
ing as any carriages | ever saw, but
correspond in size to the horses.
They have no large horses here.
For their draying, they use water
buffalo. Many of the houses are
made of straw and bamboo. Almost
a third of,he buildings are Catholic
churches, and some of them are
very beautiful, and immense
pieces of architecture The streets
are very narrow and also very
dirty. There is smell about
everywhere that reminds one of
Cinnamon. The weather is quite
warm, but really not half so warm
as | thought it would be. l have
suffered more from heat in Yakima
than | do here. There is kind of
a cooling feelingni the atmosphere
that seems to kind of equalize
things. Although you sweat like
everything all the time-the sweat
at this very minute is just stream
ing down my face-yet l do not
notice the heat. l am getting so l
feel like my old self once more and
think I shall like this place first
rate. We will not receive our pay
until about the middle of January,
1899, and | am dead broke. While
l was sea.sick l could not eat the
army rations, SO l spent all my
money in buying canned goods and
dainties from thecommissary, but l
manage to get along pretty well l
guess, because if you get acquainted
with the natives they will trust you
for anything, All fellow has to
do is to 60 into any of the stores,
leave your name, company and
regiment, and you can get anything