The Portland daily press., 1899-11-02
FROM MANILA.
A Portland Soldiers Experiences tn
Hawaii and Luzon.

The following interesting letter from
Manila was recsntly received In this city
from Il. E Cummings. Company A.
Engineers, who Is nowin Lnzon. Mr.. Cum
mines was q resident of this city when
he entered this army.
CONVENT DE MALATE.
Mantle, p. l., Aug. o, 1892.
We reached Honolulu thu 30th Of May
Mem orial Day., and stopped there until
June LIST as our good ship. the U. :.
caftleship) bad to coal. Honolulu 10
bt ntiful place Just as Stevenson descrie ted
1t ss b ing Gland Of music and flowers
The clim ate ia mild, the temperature
during the entire year ranging from 20 TO
80. All tropical fruits grow here 10 abun-
dance such as manaroves, tamarinds,
-yams, etc., and banann and cooosnut
trees line the Streets on either side.
Sugar and cotton are also raitsd here as
ars oil the various kinds OF Vegetables
AS celery, potatoes. beets, tarnips radish-
es, stc Back Of the city are high peaks,
cloud. tpped and extinct volcanoes; the
water front IL low lined with beautiful
sandy beaches and hsrbor is snoompassed
BIZ outlying reefs of coral over which
the surgss Of the Pacific roll In long Lazy
swslls. The city itself 10 modern In
every detail, having brick and stone busi.
streets, two theatres (ioyt's "A Trip
to Chinatown" was being played when
l was there), n Y. NJ. q. A. building,
many churches, electric lights, police ami
fire deraI n ents, Salvation army, masonic
temple, horseless street cars (mules), etc.
In fact every thing that goes to make
citv modern.
/ went to linus (the firing line
on the south, about twenty miles
from hereJ. There we built
bridge, also ore 1T Zspote. 1t was very
hard work as we had to "hike" walk
both ways 10 heavy marching order and
there we worked from sunriss to su INSET
in the boiling sun and the tropical.
drenching rain We wer, gems over "a
week. While there saw the dead ard
wounded brought In during the skirmish
near San Francisco de Malabon, Aug.
iltb, in fact was talking with Lamp
man, the scout who was killed, the night
before the battle. On TIE way to linus
just teyond Parauque We passed a native
CEN tery, which Inspected. Ii was sur
rounded BY AN ancient stone wall, gr sen
with age and decay, some 10 feet In
height and eight In thickre3s, perforated
from the inside by inches tor tae entonb'
ing of the dead "Gugus." Here they may
lie as long as the friends pay rant TO the
church." but when the rent stops the
bones are thrown into big heap IN either
corner, ana the soul of the departed roams
In endless partition forever. | saw the
piles of bones h3re all lying exposed to
rain and sun. In the center OF the eE-
closure is erected the cross native
funeral is very strange sight. Inc
coffin Is carried upon ths shoulders of
two men, preceded by q band or he be
person OF importsr ce) and carried TO the
cemetery, whsn the body is taken out and
the caskst returned to the undertaken, MS
It Is only hired for the occasion.
A land of black worn about the
left sleeve is tae sign of mourning.
We arrived In Manila Bay, June Is.
after n fine voyage fIom Honolulu. i say
tine, / mean the weather was fine. hardly
a ripple, IL was SO smooth. But transport
life il hardly u snap. There were over
1900 on the fisherman" crowded In ike
sheep; ice.making machine broke down
alter leaving Honolllu; warm wea ther
set ir tons and tons of fresh teef for our
lss spoiled and wss thrown overheard
(although we ate some of III; the drink
ing water on account OF no ice Nas warm
aud disagreeable AMI sometimes there
was none at sill. the condensers not te'ng
able to supply the demand. 80 We were
all glad when the Isle Of Luzon was
tigt ted, ana after STAINING along Its
wild and picturesque shores We passed the
beautiful Island Of Corrsgidor and en-.
tered Manila tay. The harbor was hlled
with Transports and hospital ships; war
vessels Of different ne tionalities lay at
anchor, the "RaltimoIe" bsing very near
US; hugh caEco6s or lighters were being
lowed here and there laden with troops
and munitions Of war; huge Chinese
juuks with sails of mating DRIFT aIongi
steamers from the southern isiasus iauen
with tobacco and hemp crawl in towards
tha shore: and native oanoes cut from the
solid trunk Of u tree, rugged with out
riders Of bamboo and covered by an avn
ing OF mating move about padded py
natives by means OF an-shaped paddles.
Over towards the south lay CaSite vita
the wrecks Of several spanish gun-toats
on the beach near by. Old Manila or
the ssWalled City," lay directly ahead Of
Us on the right bank Of the Pasig river.
New Manila, the business centre, Is on
the left bank Old Manila comprises all
the old state buildings, vast structures OF
stons, gloomy locking and damp; the
barracks of the Spanish sold.ery; grand
cathsdrals adorned with allegorical cart
ing OF greatest valre now rottsd and fall
en- into decay; what was on,e fine statu-
airy. such ss the monument to Magellan,
or that OF Carries W., Is seen In the
plazas, but Their, is no beauty there no ",
the streets are dark and narrow, heavily
Iayed and almost DISTRACTED by dirt and
garbage. Surrounding this vast monu-
ment symbolic Of the fallen grandeur OF
Spain, is the great wall surmounted ny
bastiiions and turrsts, pierced here ana
there by sally ports, defended by the
portcnllis and draw-bridge, AMI also By
obsolst to broEzs cannon on the rnmpart,.
Now all Is decay. The wall Is green with
great age. covered With cltnging wesds
and vines. orumbling to pieces, In some
places gIest breaches yawn, the ruined
masonry lying In the choked up moat
below, Such In Old Manila. A medieval
city Of times long past and gene. New
Manils 10 connected to the old town by
the Pusnta de Espanol (Bridge OF Spain)
erected In 1856. line STRUCTURE OF stone
a.. Al Al Ia. aaft ra1
thus Binodo Il the business portion. hers
are all the retail stores. dark looking
holes tucked into hreavy stone building.
rooted with the earthern thing p,olliAr
to Spain, every door and window heavily
grated and barred. The streets here are
narf O N and crooked the sideUalks only