The National tribune., 1900-06-07

| to Dagupan7and IN places further on.
Bananas and the nipa palm, indistinguish-
| able from the banana tree at little dis
tance, and also mango trees are notice
able.
The streams along here, including the
ariioa, Santa Maria and Bigaa Rivers,
anastomose before reaching the Bay, and
during the rainy season the flat country
rs entirely under water; Deep bitches
extend as a protection on both sides of the
road its entire length.
AT Malolos, the defunct Capital of the
| insurgents, We caught the first view of
| Mt. Arayat, an extinct volcano, to the
eastward, which can be seen much of the
ings appear at the Malolos station, one
result of the battles from March 25 to
81, '99. The town itself, said to con.
| tain some 5000 inhabitants, is located
south of the road which runs nearly west
at this point.
Substantial truss bridges span the
various divisions of the Pampanga River
above Malolos, and are to be found over
most of the streams crossed by the road.
A row of cotton trees perfectly .denuded
of foliage, but with bolls swinging, was
noticeable short distance above the sta
ton.
At Calumpit, town having the same
| name as certain building trees found in
| the vicinity, the inSurgent rifle pits cap
| tured by Gen. Macarthur extend on both
sides of the road. The marks of conflict
are also apparent at Apalit, the first sta
ton in the Province of Pampanga, where
numerous corrugated iron roofs are also
seen to the east. Green T;ce-fclds, the
result Of irrigation, appear between this
place and Santo Tomas, a small town
| regarded by Col. Smith as being very
| deceptive in regard to the number Of in
surgents it contained When visited by
troops no "enemigos" could be found, and
| it WAS the most quiet and peaceful place
| lmaginabie:. yet friendly visits were quite
| impracticable, because attempts CT the
KIND always resulted IN hoStllltleS and the
| discovery of ladroneS.
We reached San Fernando before the
| train from the north arrived, so | had a
little time to observe the place. 1t is lOca-
| ted to the east of the station, has about
1000 inhabitants, and is one of the hand
soonest towns on the road. Among the
commodities for sale by venders at he
station was gogo bark, much used by the
natives as hair wash, and the tdtong. a
red fruit the size and general shape of
large apple, with flavor between that of a
banana and chestnut.
On the arrival of Maj. Stanton and deliv-
cry of the money, / learned that the first
train leaving Manila at s a. m. had been
fired on by insurectos, and one passenger
killed. He was a young Filipino who was
carrying message to Capt. MichaelS at
Angeles. l returned to Manila without
further incident, and reported. On the
9th Of April obtained a three days leave
to visit Dagupan, and took the same train
leaving at . a. m. from Manila. AT Ange-
les, where Gen. Fred ID. Grant has his
headquarters, extensive trenches left by the
insurgents are observable, as are similar
defenses at the next two stations north,
Mabalacat-with the accent on the lac
and Bambang, captured by. Gems. Nc
Arthur and Bell in November last.
The Sierra de Zambales Mountains
loom up in the west here much like huge
sawteeth, as the name implies, and the
tropical foliage appears in greater quantity
if not variety. Beside various Kinds Of
palm trees, the shrubhy chico and broad
spreading, rich-leaved mango, | noticed
n majestic tree called the sampaloc, or
tamarind, which affords hard wood much
used in building. incidentally, Sampa-
iOc is also the name of hard section of
Manila City. The number of cocoanut
trees increase on the way north, so that
their numbers predominate in the vicinity
profitable, as they bear in seven years
after planting and yield net profit of about
81 each for many years afterwards.
At Mabalacat the brick station and ware
house are in ruins, destroyed by the in
surgents when Gen. Macarthur captured
the place in November. A huge pile of
debris at Bamban, said to include eight
locomotives andtrains, lies in the gorge on
the north side next tn and under the bridge,
which is now temporarily restored. There
are also many trucks with their cars burned
off standing at the station. Why the
Superintendent Of the road, who is said to
have been with the insurgents, to save the
property, should have acquiesced in such