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

of this difficulty. We passed wild
guavas on our way and with them I
beguiled my stomach for time, but
at last it revolted against such treat
ment and was humping at the doors
of my brain, apparently thinking the
same must be asleep, when, at half
past ten we arrived at Loquilocan.
!. Here we met with a disappointment,
the unexpected having seized another
opportunity. A message sent in ad-
vance to the lieutenant of the viii
lage to secure us pilots to continue
the trip across the island had failed
to reach him. All the pilots were
out in the distant fields harvesting rice
and there was nothing for us to do but
/ wait. But life has its compensations,
and this delay gave us time to wash
| our clothes and get acquainted with
I the place.
Loquilocan is situated at a certain
/ distance inland from Paranas. That
! is a safe statement. Any other that /
could make would be open to grave
doubts. Our guide estimated the dis
| tanee at seventeen miles; I estimated
| 1t at eight Only the distance was
certain; none of us were. It's eleva-
/! ton is said to be twelve hundred feet;
and it certainly resembles places in
| Hawaii of about that elevation. As
| usual the strangers We're put UP in the
| town hall, which bore evidences of not
having been burned in the time of the
war. No thatch roof could have be-
/, come so thoroughly bad in the short
period since hostilities. Rain came on
| in the afternoon, and at night there
| was a great hunt for dry spots on
which to lie. The next morning the
cool, bracing climate of this elevation
would have been better appreciated if
| the clothes we had washed the day
before had had a chance to dry. The
mountain chill on them was decidedly
| disagreeable, but pajamas would not
| do for hiking" and we were travel
| ing light.
On the thirtieth day of October at s
| O'Clock in the morning, we set out in
.'dugouts" from Laquilocan down the
| Ulut river to the Pacific Ocean on the
east coast of Samar. This was a voy-
age down a mountain stream over
rapids and past cascades and water
falls so numerous that lost count of
them entirely. 1t is my opinion, how
| ever, that we got out of our boats to
ease or carry them over bad places
not less than twenty-five times. and
we must have shot two or three times
that number of rapids. How long this
voyage was in miles nobody knows, as
the U1ut river has a way of its own of
reaching the sea. Uiut is the local ma
tive word for monkey, and at first I
| jumped at the conclusion that the river
was so named on account of the large
number of monkeys along it's banks;
| but my faith in that conclusion was
shaken by the fact that We saw very
few monkeys on our voyage. 1t now
seems more probable that it was
on account of the inconsequent, ira
| tional, erratic and unaccountable course
which it takes. After running toward
| all the cardinal points of the compass
and all the other points of the same.
apparently by, the merest accident it
| finally comes into contact with the Pa
cific. Yet it was fortunate for us that
| it does not run a direct course; for
| in that case it would not be at all
navigable.
Our first course was to the town of
Balagan, which we reached at half
past four, having stopped one hour on
the way to get something to eat and
give the pilots" a little rest. Every
hour had new pleasures. Such a ka-
1eidoscopic panorama of beauty never
passed before my eyes. OF luxuriant
tropical vegetation I hardly need speak
to the readers in Hawaii. Add to the
beauties of the Olaa forest a stream
carrying perhaps hundred millions of
gallons of water per day, now gushing
in white foam over rapids, now roaring
over cascades, now so broad and calm
that it reflects all the beauties of sky
and forest and bank, doubling and
glorifying them. When we had to
leave our boats and travel on foot for
time. sometimes we climbed along
bank rich in ferns, cycas and palms
new to my eyes; sometimes we walked
with uncertain steps over piles of rug
ged rocks laid bare by the stream in
its flood times, lured to our sorrow by
the orchids over head which reached
downward with their long spikes of
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