The Topeka state journal. [volume] (Topeka, Kansas) 1892-1980, 1899-04-21

ground. I remember. when at Camp
Dewey before the capture of Manila;
that, soaked to the marrow, L Would
SILVER with cold all night and next
morning when the sun shone for few
moments through a rift in the clouds,
the heat was almost prostrating.
The maximum degree of heat is about
1O2 degrees and the minimum from 90
to 81 degrees. The daily variation IS
never more than eight degrees, from
which fact it results that any noticeable
variation is very keenly felt.
AN ELECTRIC STORM.
Worthy of note are the frequent dis
plays of electrical phenomena Only a
few nights ago L was at Guadaloupe,
doing some engineer work for the can
Standing the top of the great wall
surrounding the church, L was watch
ing the pale moon as 1T langu1dly cInp-
ed over the distant mountains to the
east. Blood red, it seemed to me, and
wearing a veil of silver. A heavy, black
cloud swung its huge body over the
mountain tops further to the south ana
started northward soon obscuring the
beautiful sight before me. 1 felt the
cooling patter of a few raindrops on my
face A gentle sobbing of the wind was
the only sound that broke the majestic
stiffness. Soon, afar off the notes OF a
bugle filled the air. Tattoo had gone
Then all was still. The wind ceased it's
sobbing No breath of sound swept
across the spaces and linked our hey
dey world to the splendid silence of the
sky. The moon had melted and run
away in blackened riVuletS down the
rugged mountain side and left but fit
full Hastings to paint the deepened
darkness of the caves in FOUNDER noun
tains. Their sides were dark and dun
and as / watched there played a sudden
flame of lightning in their mysterious
caverns 1t was not a zigzag flash nor
a sweeping blaze that comprised the
horizon; it was a glow that lighted up
the groves, and passed away, then came
again.
For full ten minutes 1 watched this
wonderful illumination and then the
patter of a rain storm came. There was
no wind, but the lightning from its
sources in that mountain cloud flashed
the whole wide woods into binding
light-that was followed by a darkness
as intense. The fury of the storm in
creased and through it all those grow
ing. gathering mountains whose sides
pulsed with electric flame that, dying,
left deeper gloom.
L was supposed to have returned to
Malate by ten o'clock. but at midnight
l still stood by the window. enraptured
by the most beautiful spectacle 1 ever
beheld-the frolics of the lightning.
RICH IN MINERAL
The Philippine Islands are fabulOusly
rich in every kind of mineral: Gold.
silver copper iron and quicksilver are
mined to some extent. Coal is mined in
Cebu but the quality is very inferior
AS ships coal it is next to worthless.
Petroleum is also found in Cebu in
small quantities. sulphur abounds, and
lead. generally bearing gold and silver.
is mined in Cebu and CamarineS.
/ have seen fine specimens of placer
gold in heavy. coarse grains with many
nuggets mingled The natives along
the Tarlac and Abra rivers have
method of collecting the auriferouS par
ticIes by means of a soapy preparation
of some native plant. which attracts
the gold forming kind of amalgam.
The Spanish people are not prospect
ors or miners hence mining. which I'M
der Anglo-Sax rule may yet become
a great source of wealth in the Philip
pines, has been almost entirely
neglected.
AS TO VEGETABLES.
The vegetable products of the Ma
lasian archipelago are of numerous
variety. Among the most important
are rice, sugar, pepper, cocoa and Man
lila hemp, one of the greatest exports of
the country. Tobacco is also raised and
the superior quality of Manila cigars
is acknowledged the world over. Coffee
was, several years ago, quite extensively
grown. but the plant has been almost
exterminated by the raVages of an in
sect and the effect of a kind of fungus.
In several parts of Luzon 1 have seen
corn growing but it does not attain
great size presumably because the soil
bakes around the roots.
ROADS ARE WRETCHED.
Highways are in d most deplora BILE
condition in the Philippines. being i'm
passable a greater portion of the year
on account of the mud. Few bridges ex-
ist and even the few that do are almost