The Iola register. [volume] (Iola, Allen County, Kansas) 1875-1902, 1899-02-17

u lnb swamp auu nhu mistaken l0efT
lorns for bayonets. Along about
Dec. 10 there WAS some excitement
lere. There was some trouble at the
,utposts and all troops here were or
Tered to be In readiness. OF course
the Goth was put under arms aud
drew lot of ammunition and field
rations for two days. l mailed let
ter to you that same morning but 1
did not have time to add anything
of the excitement. The o. M. and
his force were to take ammunition out
to the troops If battle occurred.
1t was our inten lion to impress some
native carrmetoes (buggles that you
can rent by the hour and force the
driver to haul ammunition. But L
don't believe we will ever have to
fight them. Aguinsldo Is the back
bone of the whole Insurgent army
and seems to he very bright mill
tsry man. 1t il reported here, by
mouth and also in the manila papers,
that he had forsaken the Insurgent
forces and with some of the officers
had Yesterday given himself up to
Dewey. But you will have already
read such news in the United States
papers.
l suppose you would like to know
how the climate is affecting me thus
far. We have been here Just four
weeks today. l have been sick about
three days. Had chills and q fever
but did not go to bed. Then the next
day / had the first neuralgia. 1t was
in my eyes, or seemed to be, and was
awful until ] took acitanalid enough
to deaden the pain. / have Leen
quite welt since. | took quinine and
stopped the malaria. Nearly every
one here has had touch of the
malaria. About u week ago two
cases OF the smallpox were discovered
in the LIST battalion in Co. f.. To-
day there was II case found over here
in the 2nd battalion. The fellows
name is COrnett and he enlisted at
lola at the same time my patriotism
dragged me away from home and
| friends.
am not frightened over The small
pox as have a good fresh vaccination
scar and besides it does not seem to
be very fatal here. Nearly all the
natives have it some time in their
life and thousands:of their faces are
covered with pox marks. But this
country must be an awful place for
malaria, especially during the rainy
season. The city is cut all to pieces
by canals. They run every where and
are one of the means of Transportation.
They are also used as sewers and are
the dirtiest, filthiest streams of water
l ever saw. Every imaginable kind
of refuse can be seen in these, even
dead animals. One of the largest of
these runs past the rear of the build
ing in which the End. battalion is
quartered, and it is awfully dirty.
But most OF the water runs out at
low tide and of course carries lots of
the trash out to the sea. Lot of the
natives live in these canals and in
a sort of house boat. And i'm one of
these was discovered a native family,
three of whose members were down
with the small pox, no wonder per-
son is Liable to catch it. These ma
tives who live in the cascos do their
washing and battle right in this
dirty, filthy canal water. They are
good people to battle and keep their
clothes clean. Those who do not
live in boats, battle at hydrants every
day, l think, clear from head to foot
and pour several buckets of water on
the top of their heads. Their clothes
also look clean. They seem to under
stand that it is impossible to live
otherwise. But 1t looks to me like
the ones who battle in the canal would
better do without. Every thing
moulds here and we have to be con-
tinually airing our clothing. Now
perhaps you don't believe 1t, but its y
fact that Lizards about the length of
your finger run around on the walls
and ceilings of all the houses. l can
see two now in this room. They are
harmless and make sort ola bark
ing. They sometimes drop from the
ceiling and light on your mosquito
net but they scamper away again as
fast as they can. IL you have no net
over you they will try to hide by
crawling under you. But 1 always
aim to have my net over me. l am
afraid you can't make head COR tail of
this letter, remember that / started
to tell you about Christmas but see
l have wandered until all connection
with 1t Is severed. The people here,
especially the women, all rig out in