Evening star., 1926-06-13

| Raising his deck glasses, Lieut..
Lukens of the Coast and Geodetic Sur
vey peered intently from the bridge of
| the Romblon across Sunlit Coral Bay.
| The surveying vessel. a veteran OF the
| Philippine service, had just rounded
| Arrecife Island, revealing a small fleet
| of native vintas in hurried flight.
| Flashing paddles gave evidence Of in
creasing fear as the brown-skinned
occupants sought frantically to make
up for their idle sails.
"SamaleS" muttered the officer.
after u keen inspection. Without
turning, he gave an order to the man
at the wheel. The Romblon veered
sharply to the right, following a zig
gag channel through the treacherous
coral heads A second order sent part
of the crew to the boat daVits, while
others ran for Springfields and ammu-
milton.
Shots Scatter Samales.
Drop a few shots near them" !"
directed the lieutenant, as the ship
began to gain. A moment later the
spat-spat of ricocheting bullets sent
the frightened SamaleS Scurrying for
the nearest reefs. Lowering two boats
the commander of the Romblon fol-
lowed quickly with an armed crew.
The natives hastily abandoned their
yintas upon the beach, and with the
exception of three or four dashed into
the sheltering thicllets nearby.
These few braver ones started for
ward. brandishing their razor edged
barongs as the boats grounded, but
retreated sullenly under cover OF the
menacing rifles. The landing party
wasted no time. Four or five shots
below the water line of each Vinta and
the men from the Romblon were on
their way back to the ship,
eThey'u plug up the holes COM
mented Lieut.. Lukons, undisturbed by
the angry clamor which rose behind
them. "but maybe they'll quit bother
ing U.S."
The Samales, descendants of the old
Borneo pirates, had been caught in
the midst of q plundering expedition
along the southern PalaWan coast. AS
usual, the more timid natives had fed
to the hills at their approach. leaving
their villages open to the spoilers. A
Filipino land party, left temporarily
on Arrecife by the Romblon, had also
departed without ceremony for safer
retreat. The Samales had then pro-
ceeted to tear down the carefully
erected triangulation signals. appro-
priating the wire, cloth and nails for
their own use.
Surveying Always Hazardous.
surveying in the Philippine Islands
ALWAYS is carried on under difficulties,
and the least of those is the dlsap-
pearance of markers ana SlSnal sla-
tions. Even with the peaceful natives
,, of the northern islands the engineers
find trouble, mainly through deeply
rooted superstition. Lieut.. K. f. A.
Studds of the Coast and Geodetlc
Survey relates several such incidents
which occurred in the survey OF the
| islands north of LuZon.
ION my very first shore duty came
ND against one of those tradltlnS
| NV party had landed to place signal
| tower on top of mountain. When
| I asked the panglim, or village chief,
for guides through the interior he re-
fused to lend any of his men because
Of a tribe of wild men with tails which
he said lived in the hills. [ overcame
this objection only to have the natives
| balk as we neared the summit. l found
| that they believed the end of the world
Law lust over the peak, and that they
would fall into space if they took one
| step too far. We finally had to go on
| alone.
AT another time our cargadores
mack bearers) almost deserted when
| told to pass near q rather gloomy cave.
Their head man explained fearfully
| that the cave was filled with fierce
cobras, re-embodied spirits of men who
had hidden treasure there. Seven men
| who had attempted to enter the cave
| were killed, re said, and were in turn
transformed into cobras. No amount
of argument could overcome this be-
lief. The cave was later explored by
Americans with flashlights, but neither
| treasure nor cobras were seen.
| Zone of our parties was completely
ldisorganized when two Army airplanes
/ came from Manila to make an aerial
survey. Our cargadores dropped their
packs and took to the hills. We had
to scour the whole section to find