The Worcester spy. [volume] (Worcester, Mass.) 1898-1904, 1899-10-21
IN BEAUTIFUL JoLo.
The Prettiest City in All Our Eastern
Possessions.

q. T. McCutcheon in the Chicago Rec
ord.)
A few native sampans come out to the
Churruca as she drops her anchor and
some soldiers paddle out in native dug
outs. In an hour we are landed on the
pier, and then we begin to have a COM
plete idea of the exquisite beauty OF
Jolo, the prettiest place in the Philip
pines. huge castellated gateway
stands at the end of the pier, and
through this you pass into the main
avenue, Gale Marina of Jolo. You
at once feel that you've been dropped
down in park or a venerable college
campus. The street is lined with i'm
mense trees that make a tunnel even
though the street is forty yards wide.
On one SIDE is the fine residence of
Capt. Tiana, the captain Chinaman of
the Zulus and his house, both in situa-
ton and extent, is the best one in the
town. On the other side is short row
of shops, all uniform in size and de-
sign, and painted with delicate shades
Of coloring. Then there comes a lit
tie park with a fountain playing deep
in the waving tropical verdure that fills
it. Then more shops, all alike in col
'
beneath which are tables and chairs
like a Partisan boulevard cafe.
The streets are as clean as brooms
can make them for there are no vehi-
cles in Jolo and horses are allowed in
only by special permission. All the
architecture is ornate and gayly col
ored, and everything is on such a tiny
scale that you imagine yourself looking
at some fancy stage setting. All the
CT oil x1rith ,,
ing trees and flanked here and there
with carefully kept gardens.
A wall about ten feet high surrounds
the town, and scattered along on it's
top are little sentry towers while at
the corners and gates are fancy block
houses.
In fifteen minutes you can walk
through every street in the town, for
Jolo is scarcely more than 500 yards
long and 300 yards deep, and such a
walk is sure to leave you in a state
of establishment and wonder at finding
such a perfect gem of a town in such an
out-of-the-way place. There are water
works and excellent stone cutters, and
the town, unlike most towns, has no
poor quarter, but is everywhere uni
formly clean and excellently built
AS there is no hotel in Jolo, we scat
tered around in the messes of our old
lIlGnuS OL rOTb OdHlIdBOi where naQ
lived so many weeks in Manila
1t was then that we began hearing the
wonderful stories of Governor Arolas
the Spaniard whose energy had trans
formed tins lonely tropical beach into
such a place of comfort and beauty
Arolas was sent to Jolo because the
Spanish government wanted to get rid
of him. Spain had made the island a
penal colony and was shipping her de
portados" from the north down to the
Sulus The population consequently was
made up of four elasses-first, the
Moros, who hated the Spaniards be-
cause of their religion; second, a riff
raft of Egyptian and Arabian renegades
who had swarmed around the Moham-
medan rulers of the island on the
strength of their religion; third, the
worst element of Tagalo criminals, and
fourth, and finally, the little Spanish
garrison.
Arolas determined that if he had to
stay there he'd make it as pleasant as
possible, So he planned a town, with all
modern OBSERVATION-DISCLOSURES avenues,
g plaza, big market place, forts, block