The Topeka state journal. [volume] (Topeka, Kansas) 1892-1980, 1899-07-24

To say that was delighted with their
picturesqueness and amazed at their
wonderful possibilities, would be to eX-
press It very mildly indeed.
When off the northeast coast OF
NegrOs, the sea was like a ripping
mill pond, we were running along at
about eight knetsy- close inshore. 1 had
been reading a Spanish volume en-
titled 'NegrOs and Its People" but the
book lay unOpen in my lap; the spell
of the magnolia and cocoanut palm was
upon me and saw with half-shut eyes
One of my companions was patiently
but vainly endeavOring to hook a speci-
men OF Passing sea-weed with bent
pin attached to a string Then there
was a ripple of suppressed excitement
at the discovery of a school of flying
fish. But flying fish are as plentiful as
heas in a Kansas dug out.
Their flight is like that of a dragon
! fly with the rapid vibration of trans
parent Wings; some are about the size
of minnows, others like mackerel with
/ the same Pickering opaIescent Iustre of
silvery blue. have seen them fly a
distance of three hundred yards and on
several occasions they have flown on
deck and there eagerly captured for
mess by the sailors.
After partaking Of the Spanish break
fast, thimbleful Of mild wine, a
slice of toast and a tiny egg, / came
on deck; the curtain seemed to have
been lifted for an act of a. grand opera
| The scene was the scene of q theater-
ture; it seemed to be bathed in new
paint and limelight. The water was
! peacock blue and FLASHED rythmically
on beach s white as freshly fallen
| snow, upon which some Filipino fisher
/ men (the opera chorus, let US designate
them) were plying their trade. As I
| watched them, two great sword fish
! jumped out Of the water just under
| the ships rail.
| Nesting in among the green hills on
the shores of tiny island. l saw the
shiny dOmes and steeples and the gal
vanized iron roofs of an insular city;
( pale blue. pink, cream and golden col
Ored with sheltering Verandas and ar
| caded fronts, edging the streets and
| strand with strings of arches and col
Umns to protect foot passengers from
the merciless glare of the tropical sun.
! These buildings cOntraSted strangely,
pathetically with the scores of nepa
huts. each standing on four legs among
a grove of regal palms or gigantic
teQues on the outskirts of the city. Far
back in the distance, rose the hills of
rugged volcanic shapes, clothed with
every shade of green; 1t was a scene of
assuredly theatrical glitter-without
atmosphere.
At Iloilo I went ashore for several
days. 1t is a strange sight, the harDOr
of IlOilO when one first enters it. The
city is built on a sort of pensinsula pro-
truding abruptly out into little bay.
The shores are lined with antiquated
fishing SmackS and caScOeS, overturned
on the beach and standing out at var
iOus distances are great varieties Of
craft Juggling restlessly at their an
chOr-chains as the tide GIBBS and flows.
An old half-destroyed fort stands out
on the little cape of the peninsula and
seems to mourn its inability to forbid
entrance to the ruins of a once beauti-
full city which stand behind it. There
are some very respectable looking
buildings which luckily escaped the in
cendiary inclinatiOns of the rebels as
they fed before the fire of the Petrel'S
Toms X
of the Tennesseeans and the Eighteenth
infantry. Looking at these one is led
to expect to hear an amaZOnian march
and to find the operas comedian who
has deserted a shreWish wife, in the
guise of king of the Cannibal Islands.
But uOilO is a real town with no music
unless one can call the rumbling of
the sugar-laden OK carts and the clat-
ter-te- bang of the government quarter
masters wagons drawn by big awk-
ward government mules, accompanied
by the shouts of eel ChinOs' and the
curses of Yankee drivers, music.
The streets were full of lazy, laugh
ing, jabbering Malays and sober-faced
Chinese with long 'pig-tails." The wO-
men dress in gaudy cotton gowns and
turbans Of every hue and the men wear
yellow, green, white and blue trousers
coming down only to their knees, fas-
tened around the waist with a bit of
bamboo bark or caribou hide roughly
tanned Barking, yelping, whining,
snarling, swapping, up and down the
streets were 1nnurneraDle nasty ours,
the sight of whom nauseates one. There
is little poetry about a half-starVed
yellow mongrel
Dressed in spotless white and Khaki
uniforms, Uncle Sans soldiers stroll
leisurely up and down the principal
thOroughfares, but always on the shady
side of the street. The glistening bare
backs of the natives and Chinese car
riers, as they trOt along with two bas-
kets or kegs or piculs tied on either end
of a bamboo pole, make one feel OPP
pressively warm and disa greea BILE, re-
gardless of the fact that always a cool
breeze comes from somewhere. That
somewhere was a decided puzzle to
me.
Spanish, German and English resi-
dents dressed in alpaca, duck, pOngee
or seersucker, with helmets on broad
brimmed hats of straw ride around in
the mornings and late afternoons in
funny two wheeled vehicles, called car
ranfetas" and ''quilez" behind the
scrawniest, most starveling ponies, many
of whom are suffering from CHAMBERS
and other diseases.
The names of the streets are Spanish:
TagalO, Viscayan and a few are blessed
with English cognOmens; the speech Of
the people is nothing if not cosmopoli-
tan, while the natives have for a lang
uage a lingo as incOherent to ones ears
a S it is Voluble, dramatized by an IN
ending gesture. Every word is made
eloquent by a big swing of one arm or
the other, or both, and occasional
shrugs of the shoulders and ludicrous
chickering's of the big, brown lips. The
grimace Of comedy, or the frOwn and
threat of ira gedy is all effected by ges-
ture. The lingo is a deplorable con-