Cameron County press. [volume] (Emporium, Cameron County, Pa.) 1866-1922, 1901-02-28
Thomas Harrington's Interesting Let-
ter From Luzon.

Ter FEOTH LGEOU.
We have read the very interesting
letter from Thos. Harrington, in last
weeks Coudersport Enterprise, and
only regret we have not the room to
reproduce the entire communication.
However, we will quote that portion
relative to the country:
GEN. YoUNG's NORTHERN EXPEDITION,
/ TABOO, Little Ingorrote Barrio, in
! the Foothills, Seven Miles South of
Bangued, Province of Abra, Luzon,
P. l., New Years Day, 1901.
OLD FRIEND:-This welcome New
Years Day is the sixty-first day of our
marching and scouting through the
mountains of North Luzon. Our expe-
dition has been a most trying one to
men and beasts of burden, but we who
! survive are cheered with the official
assurance that our work has been recog-
nized at headquarters as having been
we'll done. And this is sufficient re.
ward for any true soldier-especially
an American. Our two months work,
am glad to tell you, has effectually
quenched the last life-sparks of insur-
rection in Gen. Young's territory. We
have lost men, horses and mules, but
comparatively our casualties have been
light. To-day, for the first time in
many weeks, we are resting and listen
| ing to circumstantial and incoherent
stories from all soldiers, regarding tbe
recall home of volunteers. We listen
with no small pleasure to the report
just reaching camp, that in fifteen days
we will march to the coast near Vigan
or San Esteban to take transport to
Manila, preparatory to going home.
! On October 31st, when we started on
/ this expedition, many of us were fairly
/ fat. This lovely New Years morning,
! 3,400 feet above sea level, finds us a
] regiment fliving(a and fever-consumed)
skeletons. The men who sixty-one
days ago averaged 40 pounds in
weight, will not this morning round
up at 100 each. l, the only G. A. r.
man in the regiment, sacrificed less
than did many of the young fellows.
started out at 143I, am 1877 today.
f1abby, anyhow, as all Philippine grown
meat and muscle are-we leave in the
wide provinces of Ilocos Sur, Ilocos
I Norte, Abra and Cagaya, a believed-in
impression among the native tribes of
/ the God guided good through their new
protector under Old Glory, that is in
store for all who would hereafter for
ever live in the full enjoyment of the
peace, security and prosperity, which
would be theirs under no other flag on
earth. The most isolated tribes of
mountain men we have found have
shown extraordinary aptitude in their
appreciation of the proper meaning of
Americanism. These Northern Luzon
tribes are probably the most intelligent
semi-savages yet found in any part of
the world. They have no religion that
we can discover-not even sun or fire
worship. But they bury their dead
much after Christian fashion. They
are home GLOWING, affectionate, hospit-
able PEOPLE, who idolize their children
and care tenderly for the sick and old
The women do the heavy labor work.
The men smoke and hunt, but are not
so much addicted to gambling as are
the lowland or coast tribes. They
treated us to most interesting peace
dances in many villages in which we
camped. Their dancing and music
were almost exact reproductions of the
dances, as I remember them, of the
Mochi and Zuni Indians of New Mexico
and Arizona. And the hand-looms on
which they weave beautiful cloth
Though they wear but shreds of it) are
precise counterparts of the looms on
which the Navajo Indians weave their
world famed blankets. The cotton of
which the Ingorrotes make their cloth
grows wild in the mountains here. 1t
is fine, silky and more durable than
cultivated cotton. On our expedition
the fact has been solidly established
that these Northern Luzon mountains
are rich in gold and other precious
minerals. But it will be two, three, per-