The Mankato free press. [volume] (Mankato, Blue Earth County, Minn.) 1879-1924, 1900-06-15
WITH THE MORROS
MaDkato Boys Experience in
the Philippines.
Treachery of the Natives and the Pun.
ishment Imposed by Comrades of
Some Murdered Soldiers.

Private VIM. E. Jessup, of Co. 3D."
23d U. S infantry, writes home from
Jolo, Jolo island, in the Philippines, un-
der date of March Gath. His letter is
an interesting one, and we are permit
ted TO take the following extracts
On Oct. Sth, 1899, joined my COM
pany at SLASH, Siassi island, and re-
manned there until the 10th inst, when
we were relieved by F company and
Joined the regiment here, which Is
much better in every way. All the
time we were at SLASH we were Danish
ed from the outside world as it were.
We were on a small island, only seven
miles square, in the Sulur sea. peopled
by the MORO tribe, all of Mohamme-
dan religion, whose greatest desire is
to cut Christians head off with their
bolos, 'big knives" But we got along
with them with very little trouble, as
we made them understand that if they
made any attempt to kill soldier we
would shoot them all They would say
to US, "Mucha amego, Maracano
mucha boungboung," meaning they
would be friends to the Americans as
the Americans were too good at shoot
ing. They are much more Ignorant
than the most wild American Indian
and are very lazy. They live in little
huts made of bamboo and neepa,
kind of palm leaf Many of the build
ings are as small as about s by 10. and
the whole family sleep in them. They
have no furniture in the houses. When
they sit down they sit on their heels,
and sleep on the floor or mats on the
ground, One man may havefrom one to
twelve wives, according to his financial
standing, as they buy and sell women
the same as we do horses and cattle.
The prices of women ranges from S15
to $75 Mexican or Spanish money lone.
half the value of American money, &C.
cording to her age and general appear
ance.
The women dress very nearly the
same as the men when they dress at
all, and wear long hair while the men
wear very short hair. Their complec-
tions are all alike-jet black eyes,
straight, course. black hair and black
skin. Those who do not chew the
beetle nut have very pretty white
teeth, but nine.tenths of them use it
and it makes them look hideous. 1t
makes their teeth look Shiny black
and their lips look like they were cover.
ed with blood. Men, women and chill
dren use it. They also smoke cigarettes
made of native tobacco and shaped in
their own style-that is, pointed at one
end and rolled with a thin kind of
leaf The women all have hole pierre
ed in each ear and carry cigarette
stuck through each ear, so they always
have them ready for use. They own
ponies, cariboos and very peculiar
kind of cattle which they use to ride
and pack loads on. They travel in sim
gle file, following trails. They also
carry loads on their heads, walking
along with arms swinging as easy as if
they had nothing to balance on their
heads. They are such peculiar race
of people and have such peculiar ways
that cannot describe them fully in
this letter.
There are about 200 islands in the
Sulu groop, all peopled by Morros and
governed by sultan, and the sultan
has two or three dattos on each island
who rule under him. They fight
great deal among themoelves. and if
any are captured during the war among
them they are made slaves for the datto
or sultan and the future generations
the same. 1 have seen and been on
several of those islands on various ex-
petitions and they are more or less
mountainous but very fertile, being
covered with fine timber and tall grass
and various kinds of fruits, roots aud
plants which furnish food for man or
beast. There is no doubt but this is
the finest scenery in the world, The
seasons are all the same here the year
around, one continual summer. Trees,
plants, grass always green, flowers al
ways in bloom. Also always very
warm, also many mosquitoes, the earth
always covered with ants of many
kinds and many other troublesome in
sects. Centipedes are as thick here as
mosquitoes in Minnesota in July. I
have been in some of the jungles on
those islands, and the trees and vines
were 80 thick it was impossible to get
through without the aid of an axe; but
that is only in certain places, as there
are some fine clearings where there is
nothing but tall grass growing. Most
all of the islands have many monkeys
on them, and also some of them are the
home of the wild hog.
"H' company, of this regiment, was
zko%;ooad of Ronpouoh sixtv milas