Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1900-04-07
ON PANAY ISLAND
Graphic Picture of a Little-Known
Part Of the Philippines,
BUT IT is As Big as CONNECTICUT
Full Of Agricultural Riches, Though
It Raises Bandits, Too.
A CHAT WITH GEN. HUGHES

Copyrighted, 1900, by Frank G. Carpenter.)
On board the transport Port Stephens in
the harbor of Iloilo. February II, 1900.
am at my first stopping place after
leaving Manila on tour OF the southern
parts of the Philippine Islands. 1 am on a
mule transport, which is bound for all Of
the out Of the way ports to take wagons,
mules. horses and supplies for our garri-
sons. We shall travel more than 1000 miles
before We return to Manila and shall go to
many places which have not been open to
trade or travellers. We shall spend several
days at each place, landing cargo. and in
our tour will not only visit the Sulu Is
lands. where the sultan lives with his wives
and slaves, but will also coast clear around
the great Island Of Mindanao, which is
practically unknown to the world. 1t has
naked sayages, wild Moros and sultans even
more powerful than the one with whom
General Bates made his treaty Of friendship
and peace
On a Mule Transport.
Our ship Is like nothing you see on the
Atlantic. 1t Is a vessel as long as a city
block and so wide that it would fill the Or
binary street from one side to the other.
1t has three stories devoted to mule stalls
and a vast hold below this in which hum
dreds Of tons Of hay. oats and other cargo
are stored. The ship Is SO high indeed that
IL it stood In city street its upper deck
would be about even with the fifth-story
flats. and when the mules are taken out to
exercise upon 1t they almost twice as
high up in the air as the roof Of a two-story
house.
When came on the ship 1 was told that
1 should have to rough it. and was urged
by the captain not to go. l was told that
hn
mules. but none for passengers. and that
l should have to sleep on the deck. l re-
piled that as this was my only way of
reaching the posts l would risk it. So 1
have bought a cot and an army blanket,
and rolled up in 1t l sleep out under the
stars as the mules stamp and bray beneath
me. 1t Is not at all bad, l assure you. eat
with the captain. have my bath from a
bucket OF salt water on deck and write on
table which have fixed up al the stern
of the ship.
The Port Stephens Is essentially and pure
ly mule ship. Its guests are these long
cared animals, each of which has a stall
or room three feet wide to himself. The
stalls are arranged in long lines, a double
row on each story, and the animals face
one another. with their tails turned toward
by which they are led up to the exercise
deck. and by which they are taken from
story to story. They are. in fact. treated
with much care as the men They are
fed regularly and given a foot and leg bath
every morning. After their bath they are
brought upstairs for their constitutional and
then tied there for a time with their faces
toward the sea, in order that they NAV
see the wild ocean as 1t rolls They are
carefully inspected every morning and
their temperature Is taken four times day
by the mule doctor. II they are not Just
right they get a dose of medicine at once,
and are more carefully fed AS a result
the mules are today in better condition
than when they left Seattle three months
ago They have weathered some of the
most terrible Of ocean storms, have been
sea sick and battered about, and still only
five have been lost in the cargo OF five
hundred and nine.
100000 Worth of Mules.
The cargo OF one Of these transports Is a
one. A mule by the time 1t gets
to the Philippines costs Uncle Sam at least
$780, and the number ON board the Port
Is worth at least 500 600 Some
OF them have come from Porto Rico, having
been sent from San Juan and Ponce to
and thence forwarded clear
across the continent to Seattle. so that they
have Travelled something like IL, go miles In
coming to Manila. Others came direct from
Kentucky and Missouri but all have cost
SO much thai it pays to take care Of them
The captain quartermaster who has
charge Of them had much to do with carry
Ing the horses and mules for our armies in
Cuba and Porto Rico. He is Capt Joseph
C. Byron. who was wounded while in the
army in Porto Rico, and afterward assigned
to the quartermaster's department He
transported more than 5000 animals to and |
from the West Indies. and lost only five,
and he Is today one of the experts in this |
branch of the department.
This ship has been fitted up according to
Capt Byron's directions. 1t has ventilating
fans, which draw in fresh air to the stables
and at the same time the foul air is taken |
out. The cir Of the hold of the steamer ia |
thus kept as fresh as that of the deck, and !
with the washing and cleaning of the stalls
with the hose every morning there is no |
more smell about the steamer than in a !
Dutch kitchen.
More Mules Needed.
A mule is worth more than a soldier |
over here in the Philippines at present. |
There are no adequate means of transpor- |
tauon of men or baggage. and pack trains
and carts are in demand at all Of the posts. |
The only available animal is the water |
buffalo, which can make only about one |
mile an hour with any kind of a load and |
which is OF little use in the hills. The
horses of the country are so small that |
one of the army mules could swallow a |
Filipino steed Of the average size without |
much distending its stomach-so small that /