The Montgomery advertiser., 1904-06-26
LETTER FROM PHILIPPINES.
Vice Governor Ide Describes Portion of
 the Archipelago.

the Archipelago.
 Jacksonville, Ala. June "A, 1904.
 With the consent of the recipient your correspondent herewith sends an extract from a recent letter of Hon. Henry c. Ide, Vice Governor of the Philippine Islands, to his nephew, George P. Ide, of this place. It pre- sents a pleasing view of at least part of our possessions in the Orient and reads like folder descriptive of our Land of the Sky"
 Baguio, Benquet Province, P. l.,
 May 12th 1904.
 AS the months of April and May are the worst ones for heat in Manila, when there is substantially no rain and the thermometer ranges well up in the 9O's, the commissioners, with their families, left Manila early in April and came up here to Beguio. province of Banguet. where we hold regular sessions and carry on our daily work as assiduously as in Manila. We have our staff of stenographers, clerks and secretaries at hand and are able to clean up business much more effectu- ally than in the city.
 q left Manila between four and five weeks ago. and 1t took us three days to get here. We came up through a gigantic gorge along which the Gov eIUneHN IS DulIulHS d TOdu. inc SCen- cry is magnificent. and the road will be one of great attraction for all the Orient. When we left the gorge to get out of 1t, we had to come over a zig rag trail that took us. up about 2500 feet in the course of four miles This of course, Is very steep and with only a horse trail. We are here at an ele- vation of 5000 feet above the level of the sea. The forenoons are clear and bright and sunshiny and splendid; there are occasional showers in the after noons although oftentimes the whole day is bright and beautiful. The pine trees prevail all through the elevated region. the country Is rolling and many of the places look like a beautiful park with pine trees and grass. and magnid- cent mountain views in the distance. Annie and Majorie are out for the day now. with other women who have cot tages near, entirely after the manner of our Vermont picnics in which we indulged so freely last summer.
 There are no wheeled vehicles in this province except one wheeled cart. or cartella, as it is called here, and one Japanese jinrinkasha. The method of locomotion is by horseback for all long jaunts, though we do great deal of walking for exercise, Last
 
 we were in an elevated open park of pine trees, and immediately below us fine springs of cold water and a grand view extending for miles and miles up over the mountains. The climate is far different from that of Manila. The highest temperature during the month of April this year was I6. in the warm est part of the day. The night temper ature has been in the vicinity of SO de- grees nearly every night since we came here, and I suppose that the general range will be from 60 to z5 during these hot months. In December, Jan uary and February it Is decidedly cool CT.
 Our new road up here has already cost us more than a million dollars, but if will open up this province, develop its resources and undoubtedly cause a great town to grow up here at BaguIo, to which the people of the islands will resort in hot weather, It is n great boon to Americans. civil and military. 10 he able to get into a temperate zone io two or three days instead of being obliged to take month of sea travel going to the States and another month