The Washington times., 1902-03-20

! narcn We came 10 a clearing; bananas.
Young cocoanut palms, etc, were plenti-
/ ful. as well as comotes and garbi. l halt
ed, gathering in as much as we could
| carry. cutting down young cccoanut palms
| tor the heart. On the opposite side of tho
! river there was another clearing, with
fine potato vines all over the hillside. l
sent native across and got a quantity OF
line sweet potatoes. Striking a trail We
followed ii for a short while perhaps five
! minutes, when ii opened into another
| clearing. On this one there was a good
shack. while the field was planted with
! potatoes and garbi. The sun came out
and by the aid of the two object lenses
| of my field glasses we got a fire and
| cooked potatoes, not only enough for q
| meal. but to last us two days. ! also had
| the natives dig potatoes to carry When
we had been al this place about an hour
and a half Captain Bearss, Corporal Muir
ply, and the native had sent to Captain
| Porter in the morning Joined us.
Made Three Miles Day.
Bearss told me the column could only
make about three miles day at the rate
| they were going. He had left them about
an hour and half hack. The raft they
built would not float. | sent a native
! back TO Captain Porter. telling him of our
| ind and directing him to bring the col
umn forward. hold the three clearings un-
til his men were rested and then follow
the trail ! would make and mark to save
| his rations, and use the potatoes and
other food. that | would surely reach
through and bring supplies. clothing
shoes, and stockings to him waited ar
hour more and pushed on. We again
crossed the river and followed trail
but 1t was lost Going to the river | fol-
lowed short while. and then crossed
at what seemed another clearing II
turned out to be a clearing with a good
shack. fire going and food cooking We
got more potatoes here, and then finding
a trail followed 1t until. evening coming, |
vas forced to camp. We camped near the
river on shingle bar, got a good fro
and were very comfortable. The mems
feet were very bad, SO | had them take a
swim. Their feet were well washed with
soap and bathed in good strong solution
OF bichloride solution. Only enough bacon
was issued TO make a little grease to fry
potatoes IN. Cold boiled potatoes and
comotes were issued. The man sent back
to Captain Porter had returned and re-
ported that insurrectos were so numerous
that he was afraid. Captain Bearss said
he was sure Captain Porter would follow
Us. as he was considering it when he left
had left note in pole at our stopping
place in the clearing first found. On the
d
trail and followed it, but lost il anG
pushed on, cutting our own way
Compass Defective.
We crossed the main river, always
working about west-southwest. as well as
We could with a defective compass. The
main river was crossed by means of ba-
huac vines; the river was very deep and
swift. Passing through very small clear
ing, We struck into the mountains again.
came to the river. crossed it, and camped
In the morning we went into the noun
tains again and picked up a good, we'll
defined trail. We followed this for two
hours, crossing two rivers, and after
searching for half an hour, the officers
asked that we turn back and take the
other part of the trail from the point
where we Joined it. | objected to this be-
cause | was sure we were on the right
trail; still / gave in, and we went back
short time after leaving our own trail
this new one came to a stop at the main
river. 1t was impossible to cross this
even with bahuac. There was a clearing
on the opposite side, field OF palawan
and potatoes, but we could no shack.
Looking up stream, / thought / saw an
other clearing on our side of the river;
sent Captain Bearss apd Lieutenant Lyles
to examine. Captain Bearss returned,
saying that they had found a trail and
clearing. We rushed the first shack and
captured five people-two men two wom-
en-, and boy about twelve. BY means of
an interpreter-one of our natives who
spoke Spanish-we explained that
would not hurt them. but wished guide
to Basey. One of the men and the boy
knew the way stating ii was one long
days march. We put these two under
guard and released the others; prepared
food and camped for the night. The rain
stopped for a moment before dark and
the mist cleared away; we saw in the dis
tance the cliffs of the Sojoton. On the
morning of the 5th we were off as soon
as it was light enough to see We were led
by the boy. who took us over our trail OF
the day before back over the river and to
the point on the second river where We
had lost the trail and turned back. He
turned up the river and without hesita-
tion or doubt led us for hours up the
river walking in water up to our necks
at times We reached the Sojoton River, to
find IL so high and swift that we could not
cross at the trail. We went down the
river for a short distance and crossed by
means of vines and log. ] cut a trail
along the bank to the point opposite
where we first struck the Sojoton. and at
this point | saw for the first time the Gel
ebrated Spanish trail leading from the
Soioton caves to the Surabao River. When
the column came up we marched by this
new trail and continued until between Z
and S o'clock at night. then biveuacked
by the trail at about the point marked
SOP" on the map.
Lived on Raw Bacon