Butler citizen. [volume] (Butler, Pa.) 1877-1922, 1900-06-21
4 LETTER FROM MANILA.
CATANDUANES,

BlRAk, APRIL. -.
DEAR FRIENDS ONE AND ALL:
Owing to so many inquiries in mail
received from my friends at home in re
gard to my trip from New York to Man
lila ] concluded to write it as near cor
rect from the start as possible and send
it to the Butler CITIZEN which ! know
has large circulation
Leaving N. Y. harbor at p. m Nov.
4, we started on our long journey to
Manila, by six o'clock | was sea-sick, be
ing my first experience, | felt almost
dead, it soon wore off and only came
back when we struck heavy seas. Be
ing 3203 miles to our next port we did
not see land till Nov. If at about 1890
n. IN. We anchored in the harbor, salu-
tes were exchanged after which the
officers went ashore You know this is
the greatest fort in the world there is
a gun placed there each year so it won t
be long till there be 1900 powerful guns
situated on solid Mt of rock You
have all no doubt seen the picture
Of Gibralter although that would only
give you faint idea of its strength.
Nov. l6 Mt p. III. we started for Nal
tn which is 90S miles from Gibralter.
We were cheered by thousands of Eng
IlHit 6Di'tifIS as We lJdEHtAl OtlA VI bIst ilhl
bor The bands exchanged National
airs and again we were fast leaYing
sight Of land which was Spain, Gibral-
ter and the northern part Of Africa, on
the afternoon of the 17th we passed the
island of Velita owned by italy where
she keeps her convicts 1t looked from
the transport to be a very nice place,
Nov. 10 we arrived at Malta about day
break, after pulling into the harbor we
were received with much admiration.
Many salutes were fired after which we
saluted This was beautiful place
though the houses looked very strange,
being Of white stone and all built to-
gether The fort here has more guns
than Gibralter but hasn't the protec-
tion it has, cruiser once in the harbor
would have very little chance of escape.
Next our whole regiment went ashore
for dress parade, we had on brand
new uniforms and only wore our belts.
We received some very fine compliments
from English officers. That afternoon
a Regt. Of English soldiers left the har
Dor for South Africa Nov % we start
ed for Port Said lil2 miles and after an
uneventful trip Of 3 days we arrived at
Port Said the mouth Of the SueZ Canal
We stopped here long enough TO take
on IL pilot and electric machines for
our night trip through The canal. 1t
was n rather slow trip, as vessel il not
allowed to run over 4 miles per hour.
We grounded once on bar but soon
pulled Off when daylight came all we
could gee was the yellow sandy desert
as far as the eye could reach, with the
exception of few thistles and an oc-
casional bunch Of bushes, droves Of
camels could be be seen crossing along,
also a few naked Egyptians who ran
along the shore begging for clothes,
money or most anything. We reached
the town Of SueZ about noon Nov 2S,
after stopping long enough TO let the
pilot off. We soon found ourselves far
out in the Red sea, the water has n
black appearance and what ! saw was
far from being red Some time next
day we passed Mt. Sinai the place where
Moses received the Ten Commandments
On the afternoon of the 31st we passed
what is called the IL Apostle Rocks
they were only II large Mts. of rock in
a straight row. az land was not in sight
it has always kept me guessing how
they got there The first OF Dec. we
arrived at the city of Alden, the natives
here being more upciyllized than any
we had seen. and Of n very small statue,
Here we took on coal, we left next a.
m land could be seen throughout the
day though none Of it seemed TO be in
habitated We coon entered the Indian
ocean passing the Malacca Islands
On Dec . we could see the coast Of
Ceylon and by 10 n. III. we had arrived
at Colombo the principal port and town
Of CcylOn ! was ashore for hours
here and saw very many interesting
sights, the natives had large ringg in
their ears and noses and ] took notice
30 some with what ! would call a rivet
right through tho end Of their nose.
After going all around town in q cart
hauled by native ! returned TO the
bOat and on Dec / we left for Snga
pore $50 miles distant, arriving there
AT about noon Dec rs, ! was ashore here
and about the only difference ! saw
from Colombo was more Chinese and
Japs The upper class have small two
wheeled buggies and use the lower
class for horses TO pull them around, lots
Of our boys got into ride behind the two
legged horses, they would start off on
trDt which would equal that Of any or
binary horse and keep it mp. Thus far
we had a very pleasant trip having no
deaths and very little sickness. Dec ~
we left Singapore for Manila 1886 miles
distant, on the morning Of Dec. % lights
could be seen in Manila Bay 80 thickly
that we thought we were entering the
city though it was evening before we
found ourselves among a fleet Of Amerl
can Iron Clads, we were now lying
where Dewey did his deadly work
Dec % we were unlOadcd into cascOrE
II n.
Mcresti, where after few light skir-
mishes we were moved 90 what il call
ed Guddluppe Ridge we lay in the
trenches for week and then were
brought back 10 Manila TO board the
transport Hancock for our present post
| am enjoying soldier life very well but