Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1900-05-12
1t is the Mohammedan Capital Of
the Philippines.
M0R0S WILL Be HARD TO MANAGE
Soldiers Life in Barracks on the
Edge Of the Equator.
UNCLE SANS BIG FARMS
Copyrighted, 1900 by Frank G. CARPENTER.


Special Correspondence of The Evening Star.
ZAMBOANGA, MARCH 26, 1900.
80 you are going to make some explora-
| lions around Zamboanga! Well, all have
| to say is that if you want to be sure of
| your head you had better tie 1t on with
| string!'
| These words were uttered by Col. Jas. F.
Petit, the military governor, the man who
| has charge of our troops in Mndanao and
| in the Sulu Islands further off to the south
| OF US. He has more than a thousand SOL
| diers scattered at different stations about
| the southern and eastern coast of this great
| island and other troops occupy the leading
ports of the north.
| Zamboanga has for several hundred years
been the chief garrison town of this part of
| the world. The Spaniards made 1t the
he adquarters of their army and navy of
| the south, and it occupies the same posi-
| ton today with the Americans. 1t Is stu
ated on the extreme southwestern end of
Mindanao on the wide but deep Basian,
| through which the vessels move going from
Japan to Australia. 1t has a fairly good
harbor, but the ships have to anchor far
out from the shore, and passengers ana
freight are brought to the town in small
boats One of the transports was fifteen
| days landing 100 tons of cargo. The mule
transport upon which / came had to send
| its wagons ashore IN QuSOutS, ana lue
were made to swim. Two steam boilers for
an ice plant having been Theoretically sealed
and plugged up well, f1oated ashore, and.
altogether, days were taken In landing stun
| which should have consumed hours.
Our Mohammednn Capital.
Zamboanga cannot be called a Moham-
| medan town, for 1t is occupied only by the
troops, the Chinese and some Filipino
Christians. 1t is, however, the capital of
our Mohammedan zone, and from 1t are
controlled the two three hundred thou
sand Moros who now pay allegiance to
Uncle SAM There is Moro village which
has more people than Zamboanga itself, on
the shore lust above 1t, and Moros by the
hundreds, dressed in gay clothes and wear
ing turbans, walk to and fro through It's
streets.
Every surrounding of the place, in fact,
is picturesque. 1t looks more like botan-
ical garden with the accompaniment of
midway plaisance 'han an everyday Aneri-
can garrison. Its houses are shaded with
cocoanut trees. Tall bananas rustic their
leaves as you walk through the streets, ana
all about 1T is the most luxurlant OF tropl-
cal vegetation. There are miles and miles
of cocoanut groves above and below 1t, ana
when you ride out into the country toward
the mountains which hang over 1t you are
shaded by cocoanut trees. some Of which
are a hundred feet high. You see fields or
bananas and hemp, and here and there the
vanished green leaves Of the coffee bush
The town itself is a gem. 1t is com
posed Of two streets running parallel TO the
sea The one nearest the water is the main
street Its sides are lined with great trees,
the branches of which almost meet over
head and under them. In the center-of the
street, flows a canal whose waters are as
clear as crystal The canal Is crossed here
and there by rustic bridges made OF ma
hcgany, teak or other hard woods. 1t is
fed by a little river at the lower end or
the town and there is a bridge over this
which leads you into the market and homes
of the Moros.
JTpon the main street are the offices of the
collector of the port. an Omaha man. Cap
tain SWobe and also the general head
quarters of the Department OF Mindanao.
The headquarters building Is large struc-
ture with oyster shell windows and great
balcony looking out over the sea. In 1t you
find the colonel of the 31st Regiment and his
staff, who have the management of all things
here both civil and military. The mer-
chants for instance. are all Chinese, but
Colonel Petit regulates their licenses and
they have to pay so much month Tor
the right to sell goods. He fixes the prices
of things in the market and tells Just how
many eggs shall be sold for 10 cents. He
makes liquor laws by a stroke of the pen.and
recently announced that no whisky should
be sold in Zambcanga- This last was very
disgusting to a little Irish ex-soldier, who
wanted to open a saloon to sell whisky.
To him the colonel said: "You know there
are only two classes of people in this re-
gion There are the Moros and the Chris
tians The Moros, according to their re-
ligion are not permitted to drink, ana the
only Christians here who have money TO
ing is that I give you the permission TO
sell bad whisky to my soldiers; Well, sir,
you can't have it!' The lrshman went
away sorrowful.
Uncle Sans Biggest Farm.
One of the most curious duties that Colo
mel Petit has is the acting as manager to
the biggest farm which the United States
owns. 1t is situated about fifteen miles
from here and is so large that a fast walker
could not get around 1t in a day. 1t con-
tains between 10000 and 10000 acres. and
netted the Spaniards, 1t is said. about
$75 600 a year. Within the past few months
one Of the Chinese capitalists here has of.
fered to pay $4,000 year rental Tor 1t II
the government will hand 1T over to him
on lease, but as yet his proposition has not
been accepted. The farm contains large
hemp plantations. and 1t is said that there
on 1t ready for shipment. 1t has tens of
thousands of cocoanut trees. and includes |
some valuable timber. There is saw
mill upon 1t, but the machinery Of this
is out of order. The farm was operated
by the Spaniards penal settlement, |
and inasmuch 1t belonged to the govern |
the United States. The Spaniards worked |
several hundred convicts upon 1t. and. the |
most of the revenues of 1t probably went
into the pockets of the officials.
Uncle Sam has two other farms just out |
side of Zamboanga, which come to him In |
the same way. They embrace some fine |
rice lands and large banana plantation. |
They are right on the edge of the town, |
and 1t was in company with the presidente. |
or mayor. and Quartermaster Sharpley, that |
I drove out to see it.
There were perhaps fifty men and women |
at work in the rice fields harvesting the |
crop. and strange to say, they were work |
ing away under umbrellas. They had put |
up white cotton upon a rude framework |
and this was attached to pole which was |
stuck upright in the ground so that they |
could work away under it and be in the |
shade. They were cutting the rice stalk by |
stalk as is the custom here. leaving only |
about eight inches Of straw on each stalk