The Savannah morning news. (Savannah, Ga.) 1900-current, 1901-01-16
AMONG THE FILIPlNOS.
A Visitor to Their Islands Writes Of
Their Customs and Country.

n visitor to Their Islands Writes OF
Their Customs and Country.
Mr.. w. II. Robertson has recently re-
ceived from Mr. Charles B. wickens. a
friend in the Philippines, an interesting
letter regarding the people of the Philip
pines and some of the phases of the war
there. The letter was sent from Gale
Real, and was written Nov % though 1t
did not leave Manila until Dec. and
reached Savannah a couple of days ago
Speaking of the present condition of the
country, Mr. Wickens says: The in
surgents are very much discouraged since
the arrival of the troops from Cuba and
there is not much fighting They hate
our colored troops and do not seem 10 be
in the least afraid of them -as they are
of the whites. One poor fellow, a col
ored man, belonging to the Ninth Cav
airy, just arrived from Cuba, was taken
prisoner, and after waiting in vain for
US to try to rescue him, the insurgents
tortured MIN by removing the flesh from
his feet, and burying him alive, stand
ing up, with his head out of the trod-
den earth. His body was found by a
party of the Eleventh Cavalry in this
condition. The Fiipinos always treat
white prisoners well, but have a horrible
way of mutilating the dead that fall into
tue HdndS OF the LdurOneS.
Yes, the Filipinos are an interesting
race. They are wonderfully intellig ent
and clever at mechanics, and are very
much better educated than our colored
people, as nearly all can read and write
their own dialect and also Spanish. They
are, in character, languid, passionate and
revengeful, but not treacherouS; though
very cruel, it is open cruelty. / am, how
ever, tired of both the race and its hab-
it's, although have gathered a great deal
of material for literary work here.
In Mindanoa there are old stone ruins
and concal towers that antedate the
Spanish invasion and seem to point to
some former decayed civilization.
Our rainy season is nearly over now.
We have had some terrible typhoons that
destroyed harbors, towns and shipping
all along the coast and brought such
cold weather that an overcoat was really
needed We, however, call IS degrees a
cool evening temperature here. 1 have
seen it rain so hard that a palm tree
twenty feet away, was quite hidden.
1.-The first storm or typhoon that reach
ed Segaspi (where 1 was staying) swept
away all the fine piers and wrecked sew
eral schooners; at the same time wall
of water twenty feet high coming in from
the Pacific. deluged and half destroyed
the town. depositing the wrecked boats
in the streets. At the same time the
wind tore down trees, and carried away
both "nipa" and iron roofs. For seven
hours from p. m. until 3 a. M, the
wind blew and kept up its work of des-
tructon; and the waves rolled up the 200
yards of sand beach and deluged the
town. About five hundred women and
children took refuge in the old convent.
and about a hundred men, of whom 1 was
one. The roar of the sea, the bowling Of
the wind, and the swapping of breaking
buildings combined with the voices of
about three hundred children crying in
all tones, and not few women helping
them, the night was one to be long re-
membered. The old convent was indeed
shelter from the storms of the world,
the water and flying pieces of wood and
iron, beating in vain against its S-feet
thick walls.
I'm the morning the town was wreck,
the harbor and shipping had vanished
and left the beach clear of mans ar
tifices; and although there were many
bruised faces and forms lying around in
the eternal silence of death, the sea wore
the same placid smiles as of yore and one
could have rowed the whole twenty m les
of the bay in row boat so calm it was,
while the sun shone brightly. and the
air was as sweet as spring morning.