Gilpin observer., 1899-03-02
GALE DE ALIx, SAN SEBASTIAN, /
Manila p Ian. 3 1899.

Manila, p. l., Jan. 8, 1899.
Dear Brother-Your letters received
upon my arrival in Manila, and your
letter of November II received January L.
1 am always glad, of course, to receive
your letters, and since / am so far away
from America l am more anxious than
ever to get letters from home. l shall
shall not try to interest you in weary
story of army life, as you have read so
many letters in the papers from home
sick kids which will naturally lead rela-
tives to believe that there surely must
be some truth in them.
There is, of course, much dissatisfac-
tion, but expected great deal of hard
ship, and so far / have no particular
complaint to make. Our voyage from
Honolulu to Manila was fine; plenty to
eat-army rations of course. Did not
expect fried chicken, etc Made the
trip from Honolulu to Manila in fifteen
days; no deaths; very little fever; plenty
of seasicknes5 of course; did not ex-
perience one moments sea sickness
during the entire trip from San Fran
cisco to Manila, but felt sorry for the
poor fellows who were sick. | gained
flesh during the voyage; and when you
read of so many deaths, it is generally
those who drink, dissipate and run after
the sporting clement of women, and
finally wind up with scrofulous diseases,
which in this warm climate takes
fellow off quick. Leprosy, small pox and
all such diseases prevail here, but L pay
10 attention to it. l have made two
visits to the walled city, where the
Spanish prisoners are quartered, and 1t is
full of small pox, and never anticipate
any sickness.
h. hn- Cn1rn1 tn
death of measles, but they don't think
anything of small pox. These natives
are just like the American Indian in a
great many respects. The woman does
all the heavy work, and the old man
takes the money. They come into the
city with potatoes, chickens. radishes,
lettuce, etc, by the basketful, and the
man walks behind. The women carry
as much as half bushel of potatoes on
their head for miles into the city. They
wear no clothing to speak of. The
woman has about two and one-half
yards of some cheap calico wrapped
around her waist at the hips, and the
end tucked under so it will not fall off;
then it is lifted up from the bottom and
tucked in under at the waist again, SO as
to allow the free use of their limbs.
They have no modesty at all. The men
wear just about the same. They do not
work on the principle of making money.
They Just want enough TO eat on, and
what they eat would starve an American.
They receive for one days wages uno
pesado, which is 20 cents in their money
or 10 cents in silver in our money. Our
money is worth double. Fer 50 gold
piece American money we get SlO.7O
Spanish silver money.
And since l have been speaking OF
gold, will tell you of the mining re-
sources. In the first place the Spanish
government would not allow mining OF
any kind to be carried on. They did
grant one certain corporation TO mine,
and when they reached a depth of 2lo
feet the ore run 81 ounces in gold. The
government raised the royalties to sop
cent, and of course they were compelled
to shut down. This is the deepest shaft
in the Philippine islands. This mine is
on the island Cf Mendona, south OF
Luzon $50 miles. On the island of Men
dona the gold is so plentiful that tho
natives pan it out with cocoanut shell,
and in your experience with n pan you
know just how much they can do with a
cocoanut shell. If they cannot pick it
out with their fingers they let itgo. The
same way here on this island; and quartz
is plentiful here. The ore is the same
character as Gilpin county ores, sui
phides of copper and iron. The quartz
is red. ] have seen the sluice gold, and
it is good for sore eyes. Since the war is
on the Cinnamon go into the mountains
and pan it out bring it in and sell it to
the banks for just half of what it is
worth.
And coal! This island is abundant in
it. Three distinct veins have already
been discovered, fine quality of bitumi-
nous coal of course. Coal has been
mined here for some time past, but in a
very desutory manner, Just the surface
being taken off. When it came to tim
bering they had to quit. They could not
handle bad ground, and after killing
few natives you could not get another
native within fifty miles of the shaft.
Besides, they are very superstitious
about digging into the bowels OF the
earth, and they will not do it unless they
are accompanied by n white man. So
you see there is fortune in sight for n
miner who will stay here and content
himself with a few hardships. coal
mine is a vast fortune for man here,
to say nothing of the gold, silver and
lead, which / know there is plenty Of,
only go after it,
The Spanish government would not
allow it, but the Americans will profit
by it, and / for one, if ] am not killed in
battle, and as | never anticipate being
killed, / will come back to America II
better man than when | left
And now must close. The mail for
United States closes at 1870 o'clock to-
day With my love and remembrance to
all who inquire Of me, / am your brother,
CHARLES ii. BERRYMAN,
70 I, First Colo Volunteer
Tim MunIInr Commission ComnanY