The daily morning journal and courier., 1904-06-07
FROM CORPORAL BANNos.
Interesting Letter From Former New
 Haven Boy Now in the PhiIipplnes.


 Interesting Letter From Former New Haven Boy Now in the Philippines. An interesting letter from Corporal J.
 cavalry, was rceived the other day by his brother. Frank Bannon, the popu-
 lar clerk at the Davenport Hotel. Cor poral Bannon. who is well known in
 New Haven, enlisted from this city and | is now stationed in Manila:
 PASAY BARRACKS.
 Manila, Philippine Islands. Easter Sunday, April 3, 1904. Dear Brother: Your letter of the
 18th was received the 2d of April. You cannot imagine how pleased I was to receive it. I have just got several diff ferent ones from the States.
 | At present K" troop is stationed at
 Pasay garrison, a beautiful place locat- ed on the2 beach of Manila bay, and
 but four miles from the big city. It is indeed a hot climate, far hotter than
 Cuba-that is, in the day time, but at night it is cool and delightful. The to- tai number of the Philippine Islands is about fourteen hundred; the largest and most northern Is Luzon; the cen tral group is the Visayas, the most inn portant of which are Panay, Negros, Cebu, Leyte, Samar and Bohol. The principal islands of the south are Min ldanao, Basilan, Sulu and Palawar, or
 Paragua. The total area of the archi- lpelago is 114,125 square miles. There is no country in the world where there are so many distinct tribes or so many native languages, or rather dialects, 1 spoken. There are at least eighty tribes and as many dialects. The lines | of travel are over alleged roads that would not compare even favorably with the rudest cattle trail of Texas in the | early days. The most dangerous ani- lmals or reptiles to be encountered are | the crocodiles. The seasons of wind
 and rain vary in the different islands and often in different localities on the same island. Mindanao and the other southern islands are most affected by the trade winds, and destructive ty- lphoons are unknown. The typhoons in Luzon and other islands to the north
 have destroyed whole villages and have uprooted the trees of forests, destroy ling everything in their path. Nothing lis dreaded more by the navigators of lthese waters than the typhoon.
 Well, Frank, suppose you will want | to know something of the voyage. I will start from Gibraltar. This invin- lcible fortress takes Its name from a
 Moorish leader Tarik Imbzoyad, who 1 in the eighth century crossed over and seized it as the site of fortress, nam l ing it Gebel Tarik (FIill of Tarik). Ma | ture has made it easy of defense. The rock, as it is commonly called is about 1 two miles in length and varies from eighty to two hundred and forty rods l in width. It rises nearly twelve hum dred feet from the low sandy isthnus connecting it with the mainland. The Three summits are known as Wolf's lcrag, or north front, Middle hill or Sig nal hill, and the Pan de Azucar or Su- l gar Loaf hill. On the Mediterranean
 side the walls are inaccessible, leaving lthe main defences on the west, where there are several forts and batteries, wherever they can be placed, from the sea wall up to the summit which here lrises 1850 feet. Huge galleries have been cut out of the solid rock in many places, some of them so wide as to let carriages pass. Port holes are so cut that he gunners are safe from any as- sailant, Over eight thousand ships en- ter there in a year, the greater part of which are English.
 The second stop we made was the Is- land of Malta. Malta passed success sively through the hands of the Phoe- nicians, Greeks and Carthaginians, and was finally attached to Rome. During the second Punic war, after the fall of Ithe Roman empire, it was seized at different times by Vandals, Goths and Saracens, and from the last it passed to Sicily and followed it's fortunes till I1522,. when Charles V. granted it to the Order of St. John of Jerusalem. Tn I179S the grand master surrendered 1t without defence to Napoleon. It was then taken by the British in 1900, and finally annexed by them in 1874. Be- sides the capital, Valetta, and three cit lies adjoining, there are several large towns or villages, the total population, inclusive of the garrison (about five thousand) is one hundred and sixty six thousand. The Mediterranean sea lis indeed a beautiful body of water; it's color is a light green and at night it sparkles. I have seen some of the grandest of sunsets while sailing through about 1880 miles of it's waters. Our next stop was Port Said, Egypt,
 the dirtiest place ever saw. I did not