Meade County news. [volume] (Meade, Kan.) 1900-1918, 1900-05-24
From the Philippines.
Damunjugon, Cebu Island Feb. 2S, 1900
In Kitchen, Officers Headquarters.
Mr. Dave MacLev

49,. Law NAo\NSJ3
Dear Sir-As Pete is going to write to
you, 1 thought would drop you few lines
to let you know that 1 am well and hope you
are the same, also your family. Pete is the
officers chief cook now and has been for some
time. will not tell you any news for Pete
will do that. Will feel very grateful to you
if you will tell my parents you have heard
from US, also our friends. We are in good
quarters, have good grub and have whipped
everything on the island, so far. Well, Pete
has come now and 1 will stop. Hoping this
will find you all we'll, 1 remain,
Yours as ever,
BROTHER BUS,
Co. I, 44th U. S. v. Inf.
Well Dave, you and wife and children are
same as brother and sister to me. 1 hope
this will find you all as well as 1 am. Now
am going to tell you about our sights and
scenery. Now if you want 10 see the actions
of people here, go back in the Bible 400 years
look at the people and their dress and their
knives which are called bolos for war; their
guns are wooden the same as ours with
large spear on the end of it. They use blow
guns, the gun is about 3 feet long and what
we would call pop-gun; the arrow is about
3 inches long with fuzz on the end like cot
ton and is very light and substantial with a
light steel point inches in length as sharp
as needle and three-cornered. They can
shoot IS yards very good, almost as good as
we can with rifle. There is not more than
200 rifles now in the hands of the natives.
This island is SO miles in length, the widest
place is ~ miles with average of 10 miles.
foot-paths and crooks we make the nearest
points in 90 miles the way we have to go.
We are now in quarters and maybe we will be
here for year. All we have to do is keep
keep back the insurgents and robbers and
take hike over the mountains once month
and be gone week or ten days. All the
natives here live in Bamboo shacks from to
IS in shack. There are about 900, 600
people on the island and about one-tenth of
them insurgents. But everything is quiet at
the present time, the talk is that the war is
over with, there is bay between Cebu and
Negros island about 10 miles wide. Negros
island is about two times as large as Cebu.
The Ist battalion is stationed there and they
will keep things quiet on that island.
Now then will tell you something about
trading. We can only buy bananas, eggs,
chickens, cocoanut, now drinks tuba, beno,
tuba is I ducko a drink also beno, eggs 2
an American nickle, Mexican money 10
ducKos. All the money we have here duckos
worth q of cent American. Their s-cent
piece is called amada preceda. The prceda
is their dime. Amadia peso is soc Mexican
25c American. Peso is their dollar or soc
American. Our beef comes from Australia
and looks exactly like our Jersey COWS and
about the same size. The carabou is some
thing like the sacred OK and is the water buff
falo. There is no game here except wild
chickens and big snakes. Cobra snakes,
whip snakes and the large lizard which look
like an alligator, monkies and panther and in
some parts small deer and small birds. But
sea shells of all descriptions, some are very
nice. Later on 1 will fix up a small box of
the incest and send you present. Our ma
tives they simply work and grow tobacco,
cane. hemp. the finest in the world. They
make their own clothes, weave everything
themselves. There is about 1 in 50 that has
a carabou and a cart, the rest of them are
bare-handed and a-foot. The carabou and
cart is worth about $50 and it is rich Flip
pino that has one. All work is done by the
women and the men have nothing to say
about anything. There marriage is similar
to that of an Indian. The wealthy ones are
married by priests and it costs them $40. The
poor ones only promise to keep their women
Oh s'sowsow'' which means grub. When
ever they can't keep her in grub she quits
him and goes home. The average size of the
men is about of Dickie Buis, the girls are
about the size of Hattie Rhodes. The wom-
en- wear long straight hair done up in old
style on the back of their head and when
down comes to their hips. The men wear
short hair and no beard. All the natives
hair is black. They are well built bat not
very stout. Tell all the boys and girls that 1
have not got stuck on any Filipino woman
yet. 1 can't talk to them or the men either.
Good night to one and all. My regards to