The Pacific commercial advertiser. [volume] (Honolulu, Hawaiian Islands) 1885-1921, 1903-12-16
Continued from page -

flowers tempting our eyes, InOuSn out
of reach of our hands; sometimes,
where the banks We're precipitous, we
kept close to them, securing ourselves
against mishap by holding fast the
branches of trees and shrubs while we
climbed over rocks or waded pools get
ting our pockets full of beautiful, clear.
cold mountain water. Yet in all this
noted that got very little water in my
shoes-for the obvious reason that they
were otherwise occupied.
A RARE PLEASURE TRIP.
In spite of hardships, privations and
exposure to sun and rain, both of the
tropical varieties, 1 shall always look
back upon this as a. rare pleasure trip
We spent five hours at Balagan, get
ting dinner, finding new boats and
pilots" and resting. At half past nine
we set out for Canabid, at the mouth
of the UIut river. The full moon was
shining in all her tropical splendor.
changing the ravishing beauties of the
day into the more modest ones of the
night. Within an hour we passed the
last of the cascades, and, wrapping
my=elf in my blanket, which I had
continued to keep dry, I settled my
self for the night. But inside of the
blanket I was wet and cold. Then
came rheumatism, reminding me of the
spring. time in dear old Iowa, when the
last snow drifts were melting beside
the fences, the ice was running out of
the swollen streams, and the slush and
the mud were deep in the roads. Then
came this same rheumatism in this
same hip, warning me that my school
days for the year We're over, and that
could then have a nights sleep in
payment for a days work in the field
and on no other condition. Then with
the honest, sturdy, heroic farmer boys
1 left the school to. the genuine, sim
cere, true-hearted, dear girls in their
beautiful dark calico dresses, hitched
up my team and began my years work.
But 1 wonder if these things were as
perfectly lovely as they now seem.
What a blessing it is for man that he
has imagination and that he gets it so
mixed up with his memory! 1 fancy
the pleasures of memory would be
small indeed if rigidly segregated. How
ever that may be, my mental pictures
We're so fine that l lay there fairly en-
joying my rheumatism with its train
VI IllciiOIiSS dliQ lllt ROl
warm and fell asleep. For four hours
slept without waking-net the heavy
sleep of exhaustion but the refresh
ing dreamless. blessed sleep of my
childhood.
At seven in the morning we reached
Canabid. New nipa shacks every
where and for adj purposes tell the
old story-burned during the war. At
eight o'clock I was in the school; at
ten, breakfast over, was on my way
to Paric, the seat of this municipality,
some five miles to the north, while the
remainder of the party were to go to
Tubig, say eight or ten miles to the
south. Paric is a town of five thou
sand inhabitants, yet it is a mere clus-
ter of nipa shacks, telling the familiar
story of fire and sword. Here / found
a school of a hundred and fifty at
tendance, by actual count, in build
ing which would hardly be used to
store hay in road-builders' camp in
Hawaii. How hard fight these peo-
pie have had since the war and how
bravely they have made it, there are
few to tell. AT one o'clock, contrary
to the customs of the country set out
for Tubig. Resting at Gambia as long
as seemed prudent, 1 arrived at Tubig
at half past six. All this day's.trav-
cling could have been done on horse
back, but / preferred walking to rid
ing a thin pony bareback, and there
was not saddle in either of these
towns.
HARDSHIPS ON THE ROAD.
~, of Sc
vember 1 set out by boat, a dugout, to
go by sea to Borongan, some eighteen
miles to the south, intending to do my
work at Tubig on my return. Stop
ping at Sulat on the way, I saw one
of the most complete examples of the
phoenix to be found anywhere, only
the new phoenix is not well feathered
out. The ruins indicate that here
stood really fine town, and there is
one lone building which is pointed out
as all that is left of the old town. It
is a little stone house with tile roof,
and seems to have been left by acct
dent, overlooked because it was not
worth the trouble it would be to burn
it. My business at this place completed,
I fastened on to Borongan, assured
that I had just time to reach that
town by six o'clock. But the weather
was less favorable in the afternoon,
and seven o'clock found us still at sea.
| Then a rain came on and my pilots"
were unable to find the mouth of the
| harbor. Rain and moonshine alter
mated till we finally got ashore at
| Borongan at half past three in the
| morning. l went at once to the bar
racks of the Philippine Scouts, and
T, the corporal of the guard kindly gave
me a cot on which to spread my blan-
| ket and rest till morning. As my
blanket and pyjamas had been kept
dry, wrapped in oilcloth, I soon made
myself very comfortable indeed. The
last L remember of that night is hear
ing the clock strike four; and the first
I knew of the morning was that the
bugler was standing within three feet
of me and blowing like an honest man
blowing for a good salary. That was
at half past five. I mustered up cour-
age to put on my cold, wet clothes and
make an early call on the command
iy,cr off T !,