Ottumwa tri-weekly courier. [volume] (Ottumwa, Iowa) 1903-1916, 1909-02-04

l just received. 1t informed him that,
owing to the delay caused by the
quarantine, the, ship was urgently
!. needed at Manila, and for him to cut
: out Iloilo and get back to Manila as
fine fix. I was very anxious to get 10
my station before my predecessor lett
and did not want to go back to Mania
and thus lose the eleven days | had
already done and start at the begn-
ming again. After talking the matter
ov n with the quartermaster decided
to go up town and see what could be
done in the way of finding a liner
from Cebu to Iloilo. Therefore, in COM
pany with lieutenant Of the army
who had come from the States on the
Ruford with us and was on his way
to his station on the Lscum, l went
uptown and make INQUIRIES. l found
{ out that native liner was going to
leave that afternoon for lloilo. l.
therefore, engaged passage for myself
end mother thinking l was In luck, but
. had I known what ! would have to go
, through on that vessel / certainly
| would have gone back to Manila and
started all over again in preference to
, taking passage on her, but will explain
a little later.
After lunch on board the "Liscum'
(our last meal on that ship Lieut..
1
was going to her station on the LIS
cum, and myself all took q buggy ride
in and about Cebu. At three o'clock
mother and I We're set down at the
wharf of our vessel. tThe Francisco),
the school teacher went back to the
Liscum. and the lieutenant went to
| the depot to catch his train for Danao
: Cebu. Now don't smile, we really have
t trains in this country; in fact, have
v three systems; one on the island OF
Z Luzon, one on the island of Cebu, and
one on this island Of Fancy. They are
) run by both English and American
=. syndicates, backed by the United
States government, and are operated
e on the English system; that is, they
have what is known as the first and
:, second class coaches. The trains run
t at least ten miles an hour. and IN
: some some places only charge ten
. cents mile. Don't you think the In
a terstate Commerce association should
g look into the matter? Perhaps they
4 could work 1t so two cent fare would
). be adopted
!, Poor Accommodations.
: Promptly at $3.50 p. m. we started on
f our journey in our new boat l always
n considered the negroes as dirty people,
d but the Filipino and the Chinaman
: (who composed our passenger list with
g one exception besides ourselves; that
: being "Squawman," who had been
I one such q length of time that he was
It more native than white) are at least
n TO- per cent filthier, If such could be
n the case. If you will believe 1t, we
It even had one pony, three pigs, five
d dogs, and numerous chickens all run
g ming loose as first class passengers
If Besides the "Squawman'' there was
Is not a single person besides ourselves
i who could speak a word of English
l. out the native captain, and his vocab-
111a n
1T words You ought to have seen me
If talking with the natives by signs, as
only knew two words of their lingo al
20 the time namely Chow" which means
IS food, and aqua which means water
@ Being afraid of the food we only ate
e and would not touch anything bu
y what had been cooked as cholera is
often obtained by eating raw things
which have the germ on them. Whe1
night came they offered us the onl.
t room on the boat, but 1t was so dirt.
tn what little rest we could sitting in ou
to chairs on deck. I tell you we wer
es thankful that we would only be com
D PEELED to stay on board for "a hours
at At five o'clock. Tuesday evening Oct
lie over 20, 1908. we landed at Iloilo
~ on a native liner as long as I am IL
I'd the islands. I never knew befor
ut transportation facilities could be s
OF dirty.
r Arrives at IIoilo.
at AS soon as landing We went to tn
IN only hotel of the place (although II
az oilo has a population of 100000 PEG
at pie, being the second largest city /
e. the islands) and succeeded in gettin
n a fine large room. The meals, how
on ever, were a fierce proposition. The
ne had everything cooked in the SPANS
TO Stlye," and we could only stand it TO
ed ed enc enc day # you do not know wh i:
n. Everything is cooked in oil, and seas
ng oned with garlic. 1t is a sickenin
n taste to a white person not being use
re to it, and especially so in the morn
L., ing. After that first day of misery W
OF went to the only American restaurar
en- here and took the rest Of our meal
lal They were much better but not whe
us you would call first class In the State
on The restaurant proposition in the is
IN lands is a hard one. Practically every
d. thing brought over here that whit
cK man will eat is canned, and when 70
ao live on canned goods day in and da
snt out especially when cooked by native
be even though 1t is overseen by a whit
man, is not what it Is Cracked up t
be-"
Wednesday morning I reported
Law the office, and found Captain Quito
~ (the chief commissary) to be vel
,an pleasant as well as considerate gentle
- man. When he found out had brougl
"a ~, ~ my mother with me and it was our II
10 tention to go to housekeeping, he mat
80, me take the morning off and go hou
~ hunting. We looked at three hous
AN and decided on the one we are livir
10 in. They were all the same price {
% os peos equal to $40 in gold) so,
art course we picked out the best on
all houses in this city being quite scarce
,av that is, houses a white man wou
NC, rst care to live in. The only objection v
. ~ had to the house We selected was TIL
al it would not be empty until the first
a., the month, and we would have to p,
. q up with the restaurant fare for anotl
~ err week or two. When ] found O
80 what the conditions were in the CT
,,,,t I was very glad they had sent me
tne this place instead of keeping me
49, Manila. It Is much cheaper livil
az, here in the first place. The house '
tnG rented would cost, at least, 80 to 1
90 peos in Manila and then again the
~ 10 CT about 0ne-ha1f