The Hood River glacier. (Hood River, Or.) 1889-1933, 1914-03-12

many of the tunes picked up by the
natives from the American bands are
not always understood, they are not al
ways appropriate to the occasion.
While few of US were visiting a Man
lila cemetery four funerals were in
progress. There was a race to get
there first. as the cemetery attendants
were limited to one funeral at time.
As the coffin was borne to the grave
the band struck up: There Will be a
Hot Time in the Old Town Tonight.
A shovel of earth was dropped on the
coffin. We would say. Earth to
earth, dust to dust" but the band
played, Guess That Will hold You
Awhile. " Then the funeral cortage
sadly moved away to the tune of 1--WE
Hope He'll Never Come Back. A"
To get a glimpse of the country we
took an auto ride to San Pablo, rs
miles from Manila. That was pleas
ure. The roads would do credit to the
boulevards of Portland-good grades
and well surfaced. The speed of the
cor made cool breeze that was de-
light. Frequently passing through the
native barrios. or villages, with their
cluster of Nipa huts each side the road,
their old churches, ruins. then on
through the country, it was scene
never to be forgotten. Near Manila
the principle crop was rice, most of
which had been harvested and many
rice stacks were still in the field. each
with a small wooden cross on top to
keep off lightning or other damage.
Some of the rice paddles had another
crop started, and we saw the grain in
all stages, to the ripe grain uncut. The
pest of the rice field is the rice bird,
about as large as a sparrow. These
birds descend in clouds on the fields
and eat large quantities of the rice,
even of the young shoots just starting.
In many fields we're scare crows of
various sorts to scare them away.
Fields of corn were common, in all
stages from the young shoots just out
of the ground to the ripened grain.
This is the dry season and except
where irrigation is practiced, the fields
lie dormant. Banana trees are to be
seen everywhere, generally growing up
around the huts, uncared for and viz
tually wild. They are mostly of small
size, but very palatable. Very few
large bananas are seen in the market
here. The southern islands. we were
told, raised the larger and better vari-
cites.
A number of good sized sugar plan
tations were seen along the road. most
of them with only crude crushing
plants for extracting the juice of the
cane. There are no retineries on the
island, the dark sugar cake being sent
to China or Japan for refining.
We stopped at Los Banos hot springs
for breakfast. There is little village
there and fair hotel with hot baths
similar to the springs at Collins or
Shepherds, but lot nearly so large nor
well patronized. This place is at the
southern end of Lake Laguna, a large
body of water extending within dozen
miles of Manila. Leaving Los Banos
we passed around beautiful mountains,
some of them three or four thousand
feet high. covered with tropical ver-
ure. We were told that in the thick
forests there were monkeys. but we did
not see any. They are to be found
ulOiC piSHllIul III Tue WlluST sSCliolo VI
the provinces.
Numerous cocoanut groves were soon
encountered. some of them covering
many acres. 1t was certainly beauti-
ful sight as we would wind around
mountain and after quite climb sud
denly find spread out before us a view
similar to spots in Hood River valley,
but instead of apple orchards see vast
groves of stately cocoanut palms
loaded with their great clusters of
green and ripe nuts, high in the top
at the base of the leaves.
Reaching San Pablo, a barrio, or
village, of wealthy cocoanut planters,
we stopped to rest and took in the
town" A short walk led us to the
bank of beautiful lake, not unlike
Crater lake in Oregon, a circular body
of water perhaps a mile or less across,
with the banks all round the lake ris-
Ipg up abruptly Is or 20 feet, while
across the lake were beautiful groves
of cocoanuts and bananas. The surface
Of the water was still and clear as
glass, so that the reflection of noun
tain and vegetation was perfect i'm
age inverted in the mirror below.
A trip up the Pasig river to Lake