The National tribune., 1899-12-28

ported under instructions from the War De
partment for transportation TO the Philip
pine Islands, will proccel on the U. >.
transport Sherman. to sail from this port
about the 9th instant. and upon arrival III
Manila will report 10 the Commanding Gen
Cral. Department Of the Pacific, for lnsGuc-
tons.
The journey is necessary for the public
s,rr'iec.
b. command Of Maj r-Gene-al S,:atte.:
j. & i5ABCCCk.
Assistant AdjutdR General.
This of course aroused new ard increased
anxiety in reg AL 10 the j5uTncy. One OF
the party Immediately went out and plir-
CEASED q sweater and 4 guitar; ihrce had
tier phot graphs taken; three bought wa
oS-pro1 macintoshes, and al pacG@d their
belongings and pad their bills.
The party had b,el dilig ntly employed
for some days in securing Information and
getting experience which might be of bene-
fit on their trip.
TIE Spanish language is almosta ne6es-
Sity iii the civilized portion of the PhIlIp-
pines. and nearly every man had purchased
u Spanish method and a reg liar Seance
had Ecen arranged for each day at which
nothing bat the purest Castitian should be
uttered. Some had acquired SUcl flclilty
i'll the HiSpanian tongue as 10 be able TO
say" Buenos dios, cabalero!" to the MeXl-
can boot-black down stairs. bat unfortll-
nately with an accent that impelled that
stout young person to designate them as
Dutchmen or "DagOS."
VISIT TO CHINATOWN.
AS preliminary to careful study OF
still more mixed races in and about Manila,
| a visit to Chinatown became imperative.
Our party was fortunate in securing eff
cient guides and also as TO the occasion OF
their visit, it being the evening of an annual
banquet at one of the tea-houses where
middle-class Chinese of both sexes at such
times assemble.
We had already visited the Chinese ba-
Zaars purchased fans at Sing, Fat u Co. s,
compasses of Chun Lung kaw, and other
curios of All Moro; had explored the Josh
House of the Ming Young Association al
25 Waverly Place, and 'severally bought
the usual quantity. of incense-burnlng
punk; had been through an extensive
nearly 80 years of age and who never leaves
his couch, hit the pipe with the contmu-
Gus "long-draW had seen the opium
nourishei cat and watched from a proper
distance the repellant exhibitions OF aleper;
had seen the sights and smelt the smells OF
the Chinese g Palace Hotel and now II
was something of a relief to ascend into
these comparatively sumptuous apartments
and listen to a conversation, unlnteillgible
but brisk in gesture and Snappy in sound.
The guides understood the language to
some extent, and it appeared that two
themes of more than usual interest were
dominant One concerned the departure
of large number of Cinnamon with their
families and chattels by the Pacific Mail
hner-more returning to China the present
season than ever before. The past year
it appears has been unusually prosperous
with them, and many are enabled to go
back to the Celestial Kingdom with what
will be 10 them Il competence.
AS the sexes never eat at the same time
together, the men on this occasion were
furnishing their chop-sticks at the table,
while their female companions, who had
either dined or had that pleasure in antici-
patton, were seated in the rear of their mas
culine sponsors chatting vivaciously, the
entrance of our party seeming to have little
or no effect upon them.
A more tragic theme of conversation ap-
pears TO have been tnat number OF prOmi-
nent merchants, members OF the koW Chow
Society, had been scheduled by the high
binders fo- assas sination. These mer
chants had refused in public me ting to
comply with the request of tie Sc, GupS to
impose tax Of 81 per head on all members
of this order leaving for China. 1t was re-
ported that - hatchet men" had been Sc
lected to do the bloody work; that $500 a
head was the price agreed upon; that a
nGmher of the intended victims had been
iOtIlltl anu lldu Illu, DuJ ilIdJ
Joe Toy and Wong Wah were among those
still in the city. And SO murder had
been planned, il was said, to occur at the
jackson street theater, and at the request
of the managers the police force at that
point had been doubled.
Under such circumstances we had, of
course, to visit the theater. 1t was packed
to overfiowing with Chinese, and some
soldiers were turning away from the door
in disgust at not beng able to gain admis-
sion rs we entered the outer hall The
influence of our guides, backed by a con-
tribution of so cents from each of lis,
proved potent, however, and we were con-
Quoted through the packed audience OF
yellow-visagcl CeleSt'als to ,he green
room" AMI thence across the stage, where
we were seated in chairs 10 thr right as a
part OF the oXhib. tioa. Yet we scarcely
rec lived glance irDm the sea of eager
faces. so intent were they upon The cling,
ciang. clack Of ihe orchestra ir the rear,
the falSe.to tones and 1.-the mover cnts of the
iwo men :mperSonating hero nc:, The leaps
and grImaces of the clJIgn and lie tcrrible
tones and awful jumps of the tragedian.
There were no murders commit d. though
the stage manage backel q able log upon
one of the visitors feet.-H c. Kirk
En- Route to Manila,
On Board The Sherman. Dec. I, 1899.
We all consider ourselves fortunate in
securing transportation on the Sherman
II is the largesl transport owned by the
Government rlyin" between San Fran
cisco and Manila. 1t has "A carrying capac-