Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1900-06-16

comes out over the walls with wide ex-
tending caves. There Is not q glass VIM
dow. a chimney a bit OF plaster In
the whole town. The windows are mere
holes in the walls with shutters which can
be raised slid back. and the floors of
most o. the houses are of strips of bamboo.
in some cases so far apart that you have
to be careful not to catch your toes in the
cracks while walking over them in your
bare feet.
Fences of Growing Pickets.
The houses are all some distance back
from the street fenced off by pickets driven
into the ground The pickets have been put
in green. and ii is n evidence of the rich
ness of the soil that the most of them are
sprouting out green branches and leaves.
There are no gardens about the houses. no
beds of flowers. nothing but grass and
trees of various kinds.
A common tree is the mango. which here
grows as big the giants OF our forests
and which is now loaded down with fruit.
The boys and girls may be seen every
where throwing clubs into the branches, Of
these trees and knocking down the fruit,
just boys ga thcr chcstnuts
Speaking of the children. they swarm.
The crop of humanity Is bigger than any
other every family having from six to a
dozen. The inhabitants of the town are
Visayans or Christians. and their children
are exceedingly bright. Although the
troops have been here only a few days the
little ones have already learned 10 say
good morning." good evening" and good
day. They hardly understand the precise
meaning of the words, and they will fire.
quentiy give the three citations of the
words at once They also say Americana
much bueno.' and seem very much pleased
to have the soldiers here. Major Liggett
will open a school for them next week. and
he Is now having a new roof put on the
school house. He will have one hundred
and sixty children of school age to start
with. and will begin with two female teach
ers and one male. He expects to have them
taught English and to make English the
principal study. He says the children are
very quick to learn. and he believes they
will be made into American citizens in the
future.
Our Soldiers In the Philippines.
l find here at Davao, as at every other
place where 1 have been. that the soldiers
have made great improvements. AS soon
as they take charge of post they set the
men to cleaning the streets. They make
them remove all the garbage. open up the
cutters and cut down decaying vegetation.
There are, l venture. no cleaner towns in
the United States than those occupied by
our soldiers In Mndanao. While l was at
Zamboanga Colonel Petit was having a
canal stripped of Its vegetation and gar
bage. This was done by natives, who went
through and pulled up the weeds with
same way. Pollok. on the Gulf of Illana Is
as clean as a new pin and the same may
be said of Davao
Major Liggett is repairing the public
buildings. He has put new roof on the
hospital and he Is now having a roof sewed
onto the building occupied by himself and
his staff as headquarters. This building
covers at least a quarter Of an acre 1t
has several large rooms. with great porch
twelve feet wide running about it and a
Veranda in front. Its roof Is of a ridge
shape and so large that 1t would take 10000
nlpa shingles to cover 1t. Each of these
shingles is made of leaves fastened together
with strips of rattan, and all are being
sewed to framework OF bamboo poles
which forms the foundation of the roof.
mere Will probably be 5.0OO,0OO stitches in
the roof but when completed 1t will be as
tight as any steel roof Of the United States
and cooler than any covering that can be
made here.
The Soldiers Are Well.
have had talk here with Capt. A. L.
Haines. the surgeon of the post as to the
health Of the troops. He tells me that they
are In good physical condition and that
they stand the climate remarkably well.
He says the statements as to the I'M
healthiness Of the Philippines are greatly
exaggerated and that the soldiers are more
healthy here than in most parts of the
United States. Those who are stationed at
Davao came to this place almost directly
from the states and went at once into
camps and barracks. So far there have
been but two sick in quarters and scarcely
any in the hospital. Capt. Haines says
that the diseases that they have are not
the result of their residence here but Of
things contracted in the past. He says
that there is some intermittent malaria
fever. which yields readily to treatment.
Typhoid and consumption are practically
unknown among the natives and although
the people have no medical attendance they
live to a good old age. The mortality
among children is great. largely owing. to
their ignorance as to the laws Of health. and
also that little trouble is taken to save the
sickly child's life. There are no intestinal
disorders to speak of and ordinary care as
to fruit and water is all that is necessary.
Capt. Haines thinks that white men can
live and work in this country quite well
as in the southern parts OF the United
States. / have heard similar statements
from others. l think however. such state
ments should be carefully weighed before
being accepted final l find that one
grows tired much more quickly than at
home. The sun is hot at midday and I
doubt whether our people can live in the
tropics and do any considerable manual
labor. If one merely acts an overseer,
keeping indoors in the middle of the day,
there is no reason why he should not live
just as comfortably at home, but the
working Of the islands by American labor
would seem to me to be still a matter Of
experiment. FRANK G.. CARPENTER.