The Newberry herald and news. (Newberry, S.C.) 1884-1903, 1901-12-10
A LETTER FROM MANILA.
WRITTEN by NENvBEKRIAN NOW
MAKING SURVEY OF THE
ISLANDS.
An Interesting Story OF tho Country, Traits
and CustomS OF tho Natives, and the
BcRutios aud CurIOsitios to be Seen
Interestingly Told by Prof vii.
lIams Welch

The following letter has been re-
ceived by relative Of Prof. Williams
Welch, which has beon handed us for
publication. 1t ls interesting read
ing and will be enjoyed by our read
ers.
Manila, p. l., August, 80, 1901.
Dear Uncle Willie: In compliance
with your request to write you long
letter about this country etc, take
pleasure in mentioning some things
I trust may interest you.
On my way here when l reached
Colorado Springs at the foot Of the
Rocky Mountains, the scenery was
80 charming that stopped over two
days and SAW Pixies Peak, tho Gear
den Of the Gods" and the springs,
one Of which is good soda water, an
other is full of sulphur, while another
is full of iron in solution. The seen.
cry in the Rockets is not so beauti-
full as IN the Blue Ridge mountains,
but is on far grander scale. Zone
gorge through which the train passed
is three thousand feet deep.) 1t was
bitterly cold in crossing the summit
but the weather was delightful on
the other side at Salt Lake City where
made another stop. The trip from
there is across vast barren plain
which is almost desert. Scattering
sage bush is about the only vegita-
tion and there ara few signs of life
except al occasional cayote and some
immense hocks of sheep. Each flock
contained several thousand and was
cared for by two or three lonely herd
ers.
In crossing. the Sierra Nevada
mountains the snow was about two
feet deep and you can imagine my
surprise that very afternoon in the
Sacramento Valley to see such sum-
mer like weather that men we're gath
ering Strawberries in their shirt
sleeves. San Francisco is fine city
but the sight of the place is "China-
town." About forty thousand Chi
lad l.
their stores, templea, theatres and
oriental customs. I happened to see
funeral in which they beat gongs,
burnt paper and carried quantity of
food to the grave.
The Chinese religion is very diff
erent from ours. They reason that
God is too good to harm us and too
wise to make mistake; 80 to them
it would be sinful to pray and request
him to thange any Of his plans. The
devil, however, ie greatly dteaded.
, They represent him as dragon and
!, .'erythiug is done to please him or
AaB frighten him away. To please
SAEm they burn lanterns or incense,
d to frlghten him away they beat
gngs or burn things which have
ry disageeable odor
From San Francisco Il trip of six
4ys on an army transport brought
,s to the Hawiian Islands. The veg
Citation is all tropical and the noun
tains are nearly as high as the Rock.
les. Among them are several active vol
canoes and a great many extinct ora
ters. I climbed into one of the latter
and spent day getting out again.
These islands are the most isolated
land on earth, being more than two
thousand miles f.'om any inhabited
country. It is a most remarkable
fact that the original inhabitants
could sometimes navigate the ocean
for that distance in their large double
canoes. They had no compass and
they were either guided by the stars
or they had the same dense Of dlrec
ton as a dog, cat or carrier pigeon.
With the exception of being much
larger the natives are similar to those
of the Philippines. They make the
same kind of boats with outriggers
to keep them from turning over, their
language is related and they have
some similar customs although nearly
five thousand miles apart.
After another trip of about three
weeks we sighted the Ladrone Ia
lands. 1t was Christmas but the
weather was 80 hot number of us
slept on the decks at night. The
orr;ol .oyosol b,.l,ol ,o1