The mirror. (Stillwater, Minn.) 1894-1925, 1905-08-03

decoration we saved for use as fire.
wood, as we did not feel in the mood
to cut wood in that climate, and then
we set fire to the huts. AS these huts
were built of bamboo, the accompany
ing noise was like the discharge of fire.
arms, caused by the popping of the
hollow bamboo as it became filled with
gas. The houses of the poorer class
are all built of bamboo, about five feet
above the ground and are covered
with nipa roofs.
When considering the population of
these towns you must take into con-
sideration the fact that from twelve to
forty persons live in each hut. The
houses of the better class both in towns
and on haciendas are built of hard
wood, the forests having an abundance
of such trees as cedar, ironwood, ebony,
bamboo and many others too numerous
to mention. They have corrugated iron
roofs and are furnished with the very
finest of furniture which often takes
from five to ten years to complete, due
no doubt to the primitive methods
used in getting the material from the
forests, and the short hours which
native will labor each day; but when
they are completed they are beauties.
One feature of the work is that you
cannot find nail in any part of them.
In weeks time we were relieved
from duty at Harrow City by COM
pany of native troops and returned to
San Augustene barracks where we
spent the next two weeks During this
time we spent the money that we had
secured at Harrow City and were
standing the restaurant keepers off for
meals, but they soon refused us credit
as there was no telling when we would
be ordered out, ard there was no sign
of the paymaster. AS last resort
one of the fellows thought of our
friend who had the paper money
which we heard was no good, and aft
er finding him he gave us few bills
telling us that he had tried to use it
with the natives. meeting with no
success. We went to Chinese res
taurant, sat down and ordered four as
good meals as could be had in town,
ate them and prepared for trouble
when we presented our bills for pay
ment To our surprise the Chink took
them, asked us whether we wanted
"gold or mex" for change and passed
us back little over two dollars each
in mex. Of course we had to find our
friend and tell him of our luck, for
which he gave US each few more bills,
and when he got chance he made a
deposit of sixteen hundred dollars with
the paymaster, which was pretty good
for what was considered worthless
material.
Again we were ordered out on a
hike, this time to Dav, a small village
forty miles south. 1t took us three
days and was full of excitement from
start to finish. Through ravines and
over painless mountains, wading
creeks and rivers, many of them five
feet or more in depth and the water
ice cold, meeting natives everywhere
but not getting within speaking dis
tance; feasting on canned salmon and
hardtack and expecting surprise at
any moment, were but few of the
unpleasant features of our march
Nothing of special Importance oc
Cured, however, except the taking of g
, few natives that had fighting bolos or
: their person.
We arrived at the village only to bt
: informed that the insurrectOs ha(
r left the same morning, our guide be
5 ing lieutenant of the band. Before
t leaving they had put the constabular.
. out of business, had plundered th'
t village and even taken great many o
4 the women and children away will
8 them. This may have been so, we ha,
t to take the presidents word for it, bu
: during our sojourn of two months a
9 this place we had no trouble of an
r kind, except q fight or two that oc
y Cured in the cockpit.
It In conclusion I will say that m
It opinion Of the Visayans is far tror
n what I would like it to be. The
o appear to be a mean and treacherou
Is class of people, caused partly by ne
h ture, partly by the treatment they r.
IL ceived while under Spanish rule, an
II more SO by the continued squabblin