The commonwealth. (Greenwood, Miss.) 1896-1923, 1900-02-16

the route but made the sixty miles be-
tween sunrise and sunset. A night IN
the mountains had few attractions for
me, especially a. my orderly was partly
drunk. The entire country IA literally
filled with the vile viris,'' which II Il
almost impossible to keep our men
from drinking, and the result ID. unless
we nss the sternest discipline, our CEN.
mand Is liable TO go to pieces at mo-
ment's notice Do you wonder that ]
am almost a teetOtalerS l brought .
pint Of whiskey with me from Buhs.
loo. Now Yor:::. and assure you, that
except a toddy which I made for Gen.
Lawton before he was killed, that
not 4 drop OF IL has come ont Of that
flask, and have not taken drink OF.
cept bottle Of champagne at dinner
with the old Spani Jh governor OF Iloco,
since left the United States. Doesn't
that speak we'll for the sobriety Of my
brother officers and associates. for II
they hsd been drinkers and knew had
that whiskey II would not have lasted
three seconds, where everything 10 -
wet. Lawton. however. was an excep-
tion and bis toddy took more than half
the pint.
think have talked enough about
myself and 80 quit Cor good and say
things nbont tho Islands. the people, etc.
Lnxon, vou know, is the principle ls.
land Of the Archipelago Of !, 200 islands.
Luzon is little larger than Mississippi
being about 900 miles long and from 10
TO $50 wide. There are about lsix mil
lion people In Luzon alone and Of all
the Jaw breaking dialects the tribes
here have the worst | ever saw. One
tribe cannot understand Its neighbors
miles away l am quite apt at most
languages but no sooner do l learn q
little Tagalo dialect when l get into
the Campango country and ! ain total
ly lost again, and have to try all over
only to be, confused with Pangasinsn,
and | learned the most important
words Of this only for nothing for We
followed Aguinaldo into the lloeo
country and now az say am with the
Igorrotss.
Here in Manila am alright ~ evert,
thing Ia Spanish, or at least Spanish 10
understood, and am almost as much
at home with the tongue Of Castillo, -
with English Tho plains Of the South
near Manila are beastly hot, suffocat.
ing, stesming, hot. but the mountains
Of the North, in lloco and Igorrote
country are delightful a. regards ell
mate. Tobacco Is the principle pro-
duct raised here. l send by this mail
TO my uncle q couple of boxes Of what
I think In most excellent cigar. Any.
way II Is all tobacco and pure Caguyua
Province at that. don't think it can
be bought ut all, for love or money in
the States, 1t is from q lot I seized
from the personal wagon train Of
President Aguinaldo. They were oil
confiscated and sold and bought few
boxes. Tell him l hope hs will enjoy
them AZ much az / have.
To 90 on about the country. Evss-
thing tropical of course grows 10 .
most wonderful protusion. have not
had any American food for . long
time. but manage to keep alive On b.
nanas, plantains. pineapples cocoanuta
and all kinds Of tropical fruit, chickens,
eggs, turkeys, rice, -four, sugar, coffee,
and q few thousand other things "
find almost without any price 10 them
and sometimes really without any eoU1
to M as they are 10 plentiful. Every.
thing In the outer Provinces 10 % much
cheaper than here. For instance, thG
cigar I am sending my uncle Would
cost him were II possible TO buy II, d
least Is cents apiece, whereas ] bought
It for a. 10 per hundred.
In Manila, gay Manila, with 10 huA,
dreds Of thousands Of people. things q
different and prices are really Id
.