St. Tammany farmer. [volume] (Covington, La.) 1874-current, 1903-08-15
TRAVELLING IN LUzoN.
Scenes and Incidents of Journey
Through the Provinces of
Rial and Laguna.

| scenes and Incidents n Journey
Through the Provinces of
Rial and LnGuna.
The provinces of Rial and Laguna
are more disaffected than any others
in the Island Of LuZon and have been
filled with ladrone bands, which still
exist in scattered condition, accord
ing to the Manila correspondent OF
the Philadelphia Ledger. The route
to the volcano, Taal, lies through
these provinces. There is line OF
steam launches-boats perhaps 80
feet in length-owned and misman-
eyed by Fdipinos, which takes the
traveller part of the distance from
Manila to Taal, passing through the
whole length of the River Pasig and
through the lake from which the dis
trict of Laguna takes its name.
Along the river is continuous line
of native villages. the inhabitants be-
ing engaged in fishing and farming.
As fishermen their methods are
unique. Some of the men just wade
out till their heads only are out of
the water and then, taking LONG
breath, they go below and actually
catch fish with their hands. This
may appear to be incredible, but we
saw it-saw them actually come up
with the fish; it is true that their
catch was made only once out of a
dozen dives, but they got there at
times. Others use nets, wading in
the river and holding the net, which
is sort of trap mounted on bamboo
sticks, in front of them as they walk
along the river bed. The fish are
plentiful, or their methods would
have poor results. The women do
most of the farming.
Their agriculture is extremely
poor. It was the dry season and the
crops were very much parched. The
land is fertile plain and the river
was running within q. few yards OF
the parched crops. A tenth OF the
energy spent in fishing, if applied to
irrigation, would have given them
more food than they needed, but
they know nothing of irrigation. II
the Lord sends them water, well; ii
not, then there is no water.
The boats, managed by Filipinos,
wait at different points for reasons
that would not stop an American
rowboat; once we were stopped in a
boiling sun, in the middle of the
lake, waiting for three hours for the
appearance of another steamer,
which had two cows to be trans
ferred to our boat. We had about
$50 passengers aboard. and the Fill
ipino passengers seemed quite con-
tent to wait until the boat should
start, no matter how long it might
be. On a recent occasion one of
these boats was out in the lake all
night because it had run out of coal,
and in the morning the officials OF
the boat tried to collect another fare
from the passengers, because it was
"otro dia"
We were eight hours on this twin
screw launch making about IS miles.
Arriving at Calamba, military post,
we found the people well enough dis
posed to Americans and willing to
oblige in every way. Throughout the
trip we found these people far bet
ter disposed to us in all places where
there was or had been military
post. There was very good mil
itary road from this place to Tanaa-
un, where we had to change We
hicles. 1t is not the terminus of the
military road, but the road takes an
other direction. Here there was no
military post, and the behavior of
the people was in marked contrast
with that we had experienced in
Calamba.
The road from Calamba to Amba-
lon, the village nearest the volcano,
was native road. The ride was a
wild dream, or, rather, nightmare.
The vehicle, drawn by two native
ponies. was the complete and perfect
work Of the evil one. It ratified,
iolted, and threatened to go to
pieces. The native road was the very
worst road I have ever seen, and I
have ridden a bicycle on ali the by
roads of Connecticut and New York
states for IL years. The seat of
the vehicle was of hardwood; the
makers had not considered the pos
sibility of their containing anyone
larger than Filipino. and the head
of a fairly tall American just
touched the roof. Every time the
cart struck stone the Americans
head struck the roof. and. as the
road was all stones, the tops of our
heads were pretty well mashed by
the time the luke was reached. Then
there was mean continuance placed
on the. back of the seat; it was in
tended to represent back rest, but
it was of hardwood, and the sharp
side out, and so placed that it just
caught the back of an American in
place where the bone is most prom
inent. The misery Of that ride will
never be forgotten.
Beautiful Metal Lace.
After a great many experiments,
metal lace has been produced of great
strength and considerable beauty. For
screen doors or fire screens Noting
ham lace curtain stuffs. in green,
brown. gold or silver oxide colors, are
beautiful far beyond the possibilities
Of common white netting. A strip of
common lace metallized in gold or sill
yer and made into lampshade gives
q nh rmin0 offocf Ara him lace uheu