Corvallis gazette. [volume] (Corvallis, Benton County, Or.) 1900-1909, 1905-04-04
A PHILIPPINE LETTER.
Oriental Conditions Described by
a Niece of Mrs. S. L.
Henderson.


niece of Mrs. Henderson, who is
at present with her husband who
is attached to the guar termasters'
department in the Philippines.
Mrs. Carson is Portland woman
and her letter is one of the best
descriptive letters Of that coun-
try that we ever read. 1t is dated
Tacloban, Leyte, P. L., Feb. a.
1905, and is as follows:
We had a pleasant trip over; no
stormy weather and all Of us
we'll the entire voyage Of 28
days. Honolulu is a beautiful
place and l should like to live
there. Arriving at Manila. Mr..
Carson came out in launch and
took us off-the transports anchor
out in the bay. Manila is the
most interesting place; there are
people of every nationality. It
is larger than San Francisco,
and there are no street cars yet,
though tracks are being laid.
There are some fine stores,
Chinese aud japanese, but the
most interesting are kept by
merchants from Bombay. These
have such beautiful carved ivories
and embroideries, silks and laces.
There are also several fine
Spanish stores.
It is hot! Oh, so hotl All day
long,. But at night there is a
cool sea breeze, the baud plays
on the Luneta and you see hum
dreds of swell carriages; ladies
gorgeously dressed, officers in
uniforms and civilians in white.
The ladies ge bareheaded and
everyone rides, it is so warm you
can't take exercise, i
Manila is the most expensive
place in the world to live. Every
one keeps native servants and
small families keep three, for a
native servant only does one kind
of work; if he cooks, he won't
sweep nor do anything else, and
as they are very dishonest, al
ways helping themselves to every
thing they can carry away, two
or three servants are a big item.
Rents are exceedingly high. A
spool of cotton thread costs ten
cents gold; one dozen safety
pins twenty-five cents, and every
thing else in proportion.
l would not care to live here
permanently, but I am glad to
be able to sees the Oriental life.
We first lived at Calamba, forty
miles from Manila, by boat, but
are now living in Tacloban,
Leyte, P. /. Leyte is one of the
southern islands. It takes fou,
days and nights through the
China Sea from Manila here.
Tacloban is a sea port, and .
very beautiful place. There are
wild flowers blooming everywhere
and there is a fine beach, which
we all enjoy. The roads of thi.
place are made Of white coral
hard, clean, and the finest 1 eve
saw.
While there is much to enjoy
here, I am always thinking o
dear old Oregon and tsmine owl
people, and I shall not be sorr,
when we start home, although
don't know just when it will be
There is nothing at all in tn
way of vegetables raised here
and we live on canned stuff
which gets very tiresome, especi
ally milk and butter. And ther
are many unpleasant feature
everywhere; everything moldsan'
mildews. Your shoes turn greer
from mold, and hot, moist al
makes your clothes feel sticky
The air is hot and moist, jus
like a hot-house feels, and
rains the hardest you ever saw
It rains II inches in 20 hour
- -s - 4
sometimes.
Then there ants of every color
shape and size, and they get int
everything. There are big
brown spiders, cockroaches, an
lizards on the walls Of all th
houses; centipedes, snakes, mo-
quitos, and great, immense bat.
In the sea there are sharks,