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About Hemingford herald. (Hemingford, Box Butte County, Neb.) 1895-190? | View Entire Issue (Aug. 26, 1898)
"ff ife,-;, If w & FIRST SUBMARINU BOAT. Invontfon of David BtislmoU at Early ns 1775. Doubtless what was the first sub martno torpedo boat was tho Inventloi of, David Hushnell of Saybrook, Conn It was built In 1T76, though nushnel appears to have been working on tin Idea for many years prior to that. While the boat was n rude affair of most primitive construction, there Is hardly a Question but that some use might have been made of It, had the government been willing to second him In his labors. As It was he spent his fortune on his Invention and derived no uenoflt from It, nor did any one else. Of the publlo men of tho day, Thomas Jefferson nlon' nccms to have taken nn Interest In -the boat, for the only com plete description of It Is to bo found In a letter which Bushnell wrote to him under date of October, 1787, In which he fully described the construction and operation of his unique craft. This dcscrlplton Is most minute and detailed, but In view of Holland's much discussed submarine boat and the In terest all classes, save government offi cials, have taken In It, the letter la worth whllo producing In part, It Is as follows: "The external shape of the silbrna. rlne boat bore some resemblance to two upper tortoise shells, Joined togeth er, tho flue or entrance Into tho vessel being represented by the openings mado by the swells of the shells at the head of the animal. The Inside wns capable of containing the operator and air suf ficient to support him for thirty min utes without receiving fresh air. At the bottom opposite the entrance wns fixed a quantity of lead as ballast, at one edge. Directly before tho operator, who sat upright, was an oar for row ing forward or backward. At the other was a rudder for steering. An aper ture nt the bottom, with Its valves, was designed to admit water, for tho pur pose of descending, and two brass forc ing pumps served to eject tho water within when necessary for ascending. At tho top there was likewise an oar for ascending or descending, or con tinuing nt any particular depth. A water gauge or barometer determined the depth of the descent, a compass di rected the course, and a ventilator sup plied the vessel with fresh air when on the surface. "The entrance Into the vessel was elliptical and so small as barely to ad mit one person. This entrance was sur rounded by an Iron band, the lower edge of which was let Into the wood on which the body of the vessel was made In such a manner as to give Its utmost support to the body of the vessel against the pressure of the water. Above the upper edge of this Iron band ther was a crown or cover resembling a hat, with Its crown and brim, which shut water tight upon the Iron band. The crown was hung to the Iror. band with hinges to make It turn over side ways when opened. To make It per fectly secure when shut It might be screwed down upon tho band by the operator, or by a person within. "There was in the brass crown three" round doors, one dliectly in front, and one on each side, large enough to put the hand through. When open they ad mitted fresh air. Their shutters were ground perfectly tight Into their plnc;s when shut. There were likewise sev eral glass windows In the crown for looking through and for admitting light In the daytime, with covers to secure them. "There were two air pipes In the crown, a ventilator, which drew fresh air through one of the pipes and dis charged It Into the bottom part of the vessel. The fresh aid Introduced by the ventilator expelled Impure air thro' the outer pipe. Both air pipes were so constructed that they shut themselves whenever the water rose near their tops, so that no water could enter thro them. "The vessel was chiefly ballasted with lead fixed to the bottom: when there was not sufficient a quantity was placed within, more or less, according to the weight of the operator. Its bal last rendered It so solid there was no danger of Its oversetting. The vessel with all Its appendages and the oper. ntor was of sufficient weight to settle It low In the water. About 2C0 pounds of lead at the bottom for ballast could be let down forty or fifty feet below the vessel. This enabled the operator to rise Instantly to the surface of the water In case of accident. "When the operator desired to de scend he placed his foot upon the top of the brass valve, depressing it, by which he opened a large aperture In the bot'om of the vessel, through which the water entered nt his pleasure. When he had admitted a certain quantity he descended very gradually. If he ad mitted too large a quantity, In order to obtain an equilibrium he ejected as much as was necessary by the two brass forcing pumps, which were placed at each end; when ever the vessel leak ed or he desired to ascend to the sur face he also made use of the forcing pumps. "When the operator had obtained an equilibrium, he could row upward or downward, or continue at any particu lar depth, with an oar placed near the top of the vessel formed upon the prln clple of a screw. By turning the oar In one direction he raised the vessel: by turning It In the other he depressed it "A glass tube eight Inches long and one inch in diameter, standing upright. Its upper end closed ana Its lower end, which was open, secured Into a brass pipe, through which the external water had a passage Into the glass tube, served as a water gauge. "Therejwas a piece of cork with phosphorus on It put Into the water ?augc condensing tho air within ant' jearlng tho cork on Its surface. By the Iglit of tho phosphorus the ascent of .he water In tho gaugo wob rendered visible, and tho depth of tho vessel re orded by n graduated scale. "An oar formed on tho principle of tho screw wns fixed In the foro part of the vessel, and being turned in one di rection rowed tho vessel forward, and turned In tho other rowed It back ward. It was constructed to bo turned by the hand or foot. "A rudder to the hinder part of the vessel, which commanded It with the greatest case, was mado very flexible and might be used for rowing forward "A compass marked with phosphorus directed the course above and under tho water. "The Internal shape of the vessel In every possible Boctlon of It verged to wnrd an ellipsis, as near as tho design would allow, but every horizontal sec tion, although elliptical was yet as near to a circle as could be obtained. , . Every opening was well se cured. The pumps had two sets of valves. The aperture at tho bottom for admitting water wns covered with a plate perforated full of holes, to re ceive the water and to prevent any thing from closing the passage or stop ping the valves from shutting. The brass valve might likewise be forced Into Us placo with n screw. The air pipes had a kind of hollow sphere fixed round the top of each to secure them from Injury. These hollow spheres were perforated full of holes for the passage of the air through the pipes. Without the air pipes were shutters to secure them should any accident happen to the pipes or the valves on their tops." Bushnell does not give the dimensions 6f his craft, but from his description and tho fact that it was designed to carry but one man, It is probable It was no longer than a small row boat. Crude as It was, It fully expresses the idea back of the submarine boat of today. Even when floating on the surface of the water It must have been welt nigh invisible. The flrat submarine bont was equip ped with a torpedo, or "Infernal," of which Bushnell also seems to have been the Inventor, for In his letter he tells of the difficulty he had In convincing people that powder could be exploded In the water. Describing the torpedo and tho ar rangement made for conveying It and placing It In position to fire, Bushnell says: "In the forepart of the brim of the crown of the vessel was a socket thro' which an Iron tube passed. The tube stood upright, and could slide up or down six Inches. At the top of the tube was a wooden screw fixed by means of a rod which passed through the tube and screwed the wood screw fast upon the top of the tube. By push. Ing the wood screw up again the bot tom of a ship and turning It nt the same time, It would enter the planks. When the wood screw was firmly fixed It could be cast off by unscrewing the rod which fastened It upon the top of the tube. "Behind the vessel was a place above the rudder tor carrying a large powder magaelrs. This wa3 mode of two pieces of oak timber large enough when hol lowed out to contain ICO pounds of pow der, with the npparatus used In firing it. A rope extended from the maga. zlne to the wood screw above men tloned. When tho wood tube was fixed and to be cast off from Us tube, tho magazine was to be cast off likewise, leaving It hanging to the wood screw. It was lighter than the water, that It might rise up against the object to which tho screw and Itself were fast, ened. "Within the magazine was a clock constructed to run any proposed length I o' time under twelve hours. When It had run out Its time It unplnloned a strong lock resembling a gun lock, which gave fire to the powder. Tho apparatus was so pinioned that It could not possibly move till by casting off the magazine from the vessel It was set In motion. "The operator could swim so low In the water as to approach very near a ship In the night, without fear of being discovered, and mtght. If he so chose, approach tho stem or stern with very little danger He could sink very quickly, keep at any necessary depth and row a grat distance In any direc tion he desired without coming to the surface. When he rose to th'e surface he could soon obtain n fresh supply of air, and If It was necessary he might then descend again and pursue his course." Bushnell mnde many experiments with his queer craft. In order to dem Instrnte Its practicability. While none of the experiments were entirely suc cessful, they were all far from being failures. They served to show that the boat and Its Infernal might be used on the ships of the enemy with telling re sults. One attempt was made on a man- of. war lying off Governor's Island, New York harbor. The operator succeeded tn propelling his bont under his Intend ed victim without the least difficulty, so Bushnell claimed, but when It came to fastening the wooden screw In her planking he encountered some hard suDsiance, ana in snirting ror a new point of attack drifted clear of the ship and could not again find her. After continuing his search for a long time he rose to the surface for a fresh sup. ply of air, when he discovered that It was not far from daylight, and fearing discovery returned to New York. Some what later a trial was made In tlu Hudson river, but nothing was accom plished by It. In 1777 Bushnell made his most sue cessful experiment. It was conducted against the English frigate Cerberus, as she lay at anchor off New London. By mr is of a lino whUh ho controlled at a safe distance from a whalo boat, he send his magazlno or torpedo drift. Ing down against the frigate's side. Tho magazine was heavily charged with powder and was to be exploded at the proper moment by a gun look on the Insldo. It never reached Its Intended prey, however, but drifted foul of a small schooner, tho crew of which took It from tho water and proceeded to ex amlno It at their leisure on deck.' As they worked with It they managed to release the lock, and a frightful explo sion followed, which killed threo mcnl on the spot and blew a fourth over board. A subsequent attempt was made by Bushnell on the ships of a British fleet in the Delaware river. In this trial he did not use his submarine boat, but only his magazines or torpe does. This nttempt was entirely unsuc cessful, owing to his lack of knowledge of the river's currents. This nppears to have been his last effort to Impress tho public with the importance and utility of his inventions, for he shortly after wards went to France, and remained abroad for many years. When he final ly returned to America he settled In Georgia, where he died In 1820. When a Person is Homesick. There are few of us who have never known tho pangs of homesickness, and those few are rather to bo pitied than envied. Homesickness In mild form Is a sign of a gentle mind, and Indicates the possession of a love of home and country which Is the characteristic of civilized and normal man. This mild form, fortunately, Is the only kind which most of us have ex perienced, for when the Bevero form takes possession of a person It Is a terrible disease, cnustng untold misery and even death. This severe form, us ually called nostalgia, has grown less common In these days of quick com munication, or rapid transmission of news and of a widespread knowledge of geography. The element of Ignorance of one's surroundings and consequent sense of helplessness and despair of ever seeing home again, which at times gone by so oppressed the sufferer from nostal gia, Is now removed, except In the case of the very young or the densely Ig norant. The greatest sufferers are Highland ers, German and Swiss mountaineers, or the Celtic Scots, and men are more apt to be overcome than women. The victim of this extreme form of homesickness Is almost always a re sourceless person, one whose life Is a routine of trivialities, whose Ideas are few and limited, and such as they are, based upon familiar objects and well known associates. When such a per son Is placed In new surroundings no new Ideas are created, but there Is a gnawing longing for the past, which Is the more Intense as a return seems Im possible. The patient, for such he really Is, broods over what he has lost, rejects what Is offered In place of It, and be comes apathetic and taciturn. Sleep becomes fitful, and Is disturbed by viv id dreams of home. The appetite falls, digestion grows poor, and tho sufferer becomes thin and haggard. There Is headache, with dullness of Intellect and finally, perhaps, a condition of com plete Indifference to everybody and everything, which may end In death from a failure of the vital organs to perform their functions. Could Not Boil tho Water. The advice given probably to each and every soldier before he left tho United States as to how he might avoid the climatic dangers of Cuba could not in most instances be followed. The water, which was apparently good, was not boiled, for the good reason that there was nothing In which to boll It. One Massachusetts company was for tunate enough to have pots and kettles enough for the purpose and a captain energetic enough to enforce the order, and the men drank nothing but fluid which had gone through the beating process. The remainder of the army used the raw liquid. Neither did the soldiers refrain from sleeping In the open air at night. On their forced marches they threw away nearly everything they had except their rifles, cartridge belts and can teens. When the halt came they sim ply threw themselves on the ground and slept there. Big camp fires were not and cannot be built, for the simple rea son that they would be beacons to the enemy and also because dry firewood Is scarce In a country so thoroughly saturated with moisture as Cuba Is at this season of the year. Keeping clean was another bit of ad vice which could not generally be fol lowed. When on duty at the seashore the men took baths at every opportun ity, but In the country, when march ing, fighting and struggling for life, they were glad If they could get some thing to eat, which happened some times, and a dry place to sleep In, which did not often happen. Uniforms which were In fair condition when the wearers arrived In Cuba soon became disreputably dirty. Linen could not be washed, as there were no laundries nnd no washerwomen around. To keep clean under the circumstances was an Impossibility for the average soldier. All the advice crlven uaa wpii mpnnt and If It could have been followed would doubtless have prevented much suffering, but things so shaped them selves that It became Impracticable to obey all the rules of sanitation or even any of them. There were cases In which It seemed that things might have been done differently. The hos pital at this place, for Instance, might have been located In a healthier place than next to a row of old buildings and a railroad track, where two noisy lo comotives ran hack and forth at all hours. The facilities at hand might ,Yve been sd to better advantnge. Probably this has been recognized by those at fault or their superiors and I?m Kture campaigns similar mistakes will be avoided. WHY WARS ABE SHOUT. Tuoy Affoct tho Wliolo World in a Business Way. Short wars, very bitter and savage, whllo they lasted, but soon over, have been the rulo of modern times. The modern spirit will not brook delay In anything, least of all In military oper ations. When the present war broke out the entire nation was clamorous for the immediate Invasion of Cuba; thousands fully expected that the stars and stripes would be raised over Morro within a week, and wero disappointed that this result was not achieved. Dis regarding tho fact that this country was utterly unprepared for war, people expected Impossibilities. Tho govern ment was compelled to create and equip an army, and, to do the administra tion justice, tho work was done with wonderful celerity; but the fact that it was not Instantly accomplished was, to many a cause of annoyanco and com plaint. Yet In three months two Span ish fleets have been destroyed, the victorious American arms have been carried Into the two Spanish posses sions In the West Indies and a formid able force has been sent half round tho world to fight for freedom on the Asiatic Islands. Spain has had enough and if the war does not speedily end It will constitute a remarkable excep tlon to the wars of our age. The only other exceptions to the rule prevalent In this century have been civil conflicts waged among the people of the same country. A civil war dif fers in many important respects from a conflict between Independent states. It Is characterized by greater bitterness and, being carried on by the peoplo rather than by the armies, rages In every country town and neighborhood and Is protracted by the personal ani mosities of the peoplo themselves. Our civil war lasted four years, the last Insurrection In Cuba continued ten years; the last Corllst war in Spain was carried' on for a period of four years, a previous insurrection among the Basques continued from 1830 to 1810, while the civil strife In the same re gion, following the pacification else where after the downfall of Napoleon, continued seven years. These are the longest wars of this century; the re mainder were seldom protracted be yond the second campaign. The war between China and Japan lasted less than a year, for the signal success of the Japanese on sea and land resulted In the complete collapse of the Chinese military system, and overtures of peace were made as soon as the fact was clearly apprehended In Pekln. The next serious conflict before that was the war between Turkey and Russia, which began'early In the spring of 1877 and lasted through the summer. Military operations were suspended during the winter, and In the following spring peace was concluded before the season for campaigning began. The The war which freed northern Italy from the domination of the Austrluns and mado the peninsular kingdom a possibility, was waged between May 12 and July 12, sixty days covering not only the preliminary operations of the war, but also the negotiations of peace. All the actual campaigning was done In three weeks, Magenta being fought on June 4, and the battle of Solferlno on June 24. The latter virtually con cluded the war by satisfying the Aus trlans that there was no hope of ulti mate success. The last war between England and Russia, commonly known as the Cri mean war, lasted about two years, be ing declared on March 28, 1854, and peace being declared March 30, 1856. The Crimean war originated In a dis pute between France, Russia and Tur key as to the guardianship of the Church of the Holy Sepulcher In Je rusalem. Russia claimed the honor of controlling the holy places In virtue of the fact that they were nominally under the rule of Greek ecclesiastics, while the sultan, as lord of the land, declared that the shrines of the Holy City were his own peculiar property. "War between Russia and Turkey be gan, and was conducted for a consld erable time before the other powers of Europe participated in the struggle, 'but when the purpose of Russia to lay violent hands on as much of Asia Mi nor as could be appropriated became evident, England nnd France Interfered snd Victor Emmanuel, then king of Sardinia, sent a small contingent of troops to give his country a position among the European states. The allied passage of the Danube, the heroic de fense of Plevna, the bloody struggles for the Shlpk passes, the naval op tjratloas 4 Me Black sea, the sieges of Batoum and Kars, the Bulgarian massacres, the complete defeat and dis persion of the army of Suleiman Pasha, the passage of the Dardanelles by the Ironclade, all were crowded into a per iod of less than a year. The tremendous war between France and Prussia lasted only one year. Wur was declared In midsummer, and be fore the following spring the conflict was over. Gravelotte and Sedan. th sieges of Metz and Paris, the occupa- I tlon of all northern andtcentral France by the German hosts, the horrors of ,the commune and the suppression of the Insurrection by the troops of the line In the streets of Paris crowded upon each other like the incidents of a melodrama, and before the astonished world fully realized the actual state of the case France was prostrate and United Germany consolidated Into an empire, was the leading state of cen tral Europe. The war of 18C6 between Austria and Prussia Is known as the Seven Weeks' war. War was proclaimed June 18, the battle of Koeniggratz followed In a few days, and the decisive overthrow of the Austrian arms on that memor able field led tho government at Vienna to aBk for peace at once. Tho petition was granted, and on August 23 tlu treaty was concluded by which peace ful relations wero resumed. The Schles-wlg-Holsteln war lasted but a few days all the active campaigning being ovei in a week but then this conflict war not really a war at all, for the help lessness of Denmark against tho two powerful robbers which despoiled her territory led tho government of Den mark to conserve the lives of Its men, and only a show of resistance was made. The war between this country nnd Mexico lasted two years, but there was really but ono campaign, that mado by Pcott through tho territory of Mexico, and resulting In tho occupation of the capital. The war between the Tcxans and tho Mexicans had been going on for Beveral years prior to participation by tho United States, but, being of the nature of a civil war, or, rather, of a rebellion against an organized gov ernment, does not come Into the cate gory of a war between Independent states. The wars resulting from the French revolution lasted, with short Intervals, from 1799 to 1815, but though the whole period was virtually ono protracted struggle, the Individual wars of this time were short. Napoleon had the faculty of being able to overcome his enemy In a single campaign and rarely wero two necessary to accomplish his purpose. Napoleon's campaign In It aly In 179G was enough for Austria, and a treaty followed. The battle of Ma rengo In 1800 decided the fate of all North Italy, and was followed by peace; the campaign of Austerlltz re sulted In the complete overthrow of the Austrian military power In 1805, and and the Austro-Hungarlan emperor was glad to make terms with the conquer or. Prussia was prostrated in a single campaign, which ended with the tri umph at Jena In 1806. Napoleon sub dued Spain In one summer, though the French did not count upon the guer rilla warfare Immediately inaugurated by the Spanish chiefs against the In vaders, which ultimately brought as sistance from England, and was one of the contributing causes of the down fall of the great emperor. The Russian arms could not resist the advance of Napoleon and the over- -whelmlng defeat at Borodino, In 1812, gave him possession of the ancient capital of the czara. The emperor, how ever, could not overcome the elements. As Victor Hugo says. "Napoleon was conquered by God." He was not pre pared for tho terrible Russian winter, and the arctic winds, snow and sleet accomplished what the arms of man had never been able to effect. The fall of the great Corslcan was as swift as his rise to power. One campaign, end ing at Lelpslc, sent him to Elba; from Elba he returned and with an expedi tion that seemed almost supernatural, prepared to take the field. The second empire lasted but 100 days, yet In this time were comprised the march from Paris Into Belgium, and the mighty struggle at Waterloo. The shortness of the wars of recent times Is not by any means occidental, but attributable entirely to the condi tions which now prevail. In former centuries war was carried on by kings and noblemen through personal mo tives, to gain private ends or gratify Individual piques, often petty slights or affronts, such as are now regarded as unimportant. Monarchs and noblemen are now the servants Instead of the masters of their people, and the re straints thrown about them by legis lative bodies are such as often forbid their personal ambitions or animosi ties from Involving a nation In war. War was formerly waged by all the men of a nation. Every man was a soldier, but all soldiers did not serve at once, and while some were engaged In war, others remained at home to cultivate their lands and support the rest. Then armies In the field, In the most literal sense of the expression, lived upon the country, the soldiers paying little regard to the rights of property, and appropriating without even the promise of payment every thing that might be needed for the use of tho army. Now war Is waged by regular or volunteer troops, forming, save In the case of one or two powers, only a small part of the nation. The expense of putting an army In the field and maintaining It there Is enormous, and of Itself so serious an Item as to cause rulers to think twice ere com mitting their people to active hostili ties. At the close of a war, It Is now the general practice to compel the van quished to bear all the cost of the war, and thus. In addition to the expense of equipping, maintaining and paying Its own forces, the vanquished nation Is compelled to shoulder the burden of the conquerors, and a knowledge that every penny will be mercilessly exacted In case of defeat acts as a deterrent upon governments that might be ready to rush Into war. War fs no longer carried on as It once was, purely for the love of fighting. In erller times war was the principal business of man, and fighting his choic est amusement. The German nobles of 300 years ago were always fighting, seizing the slightest occasion of con troversy to war upon their neighbors The Italian republics were quite as warlike, while In France and Spain the power of the aristocrats was mainly military, and so lightly did the royal authority rest upon the higher classes thnt lords of cities and country cas tles seldom took the trouble to refer their disputes to ths crown, but settled them for themselves, so that all Eu rope was practically In n state of civil war: noblemen and small states strug. glmg with each other about matters not in themsolvos of the slightest conse. quence, and which would now be re garded as Insufficient cause for a law suit, much less for war. Under such circumstances, war was almost continual, disputes were handed lown from father to son, and thus were , wars protracted almost indefinitely. The hundred years' war between England and France wns a case In point. Undtr present conditions It would never have been waged at all, the differences which , operated as cause and occasion would have been settled by a meeting of rep resentatives from the two nations. As with the hundred years' war, so with the thirty years' war, which, however, much the historians may attempt to exalt It as a struggle for religious lib erty, was brought about quite as much by political and personal as by religious considerations, and long before it end ed Cathollq. and Protestant states were fighting on both sides. Such protracted conflicts llko the two just mentioned were not wars at all In the modern sense, for the armies of both sides resolved themselves Into thieving, murdering, plundering bands, avoiding decisive engagements nnd lim iting their operations to sieges of iso lated castles of twns and the defeat of, small hostile detachments. Crecy, Pol-, tiers, Aglncourt, almost every battle of the hundred years' war was fought be cause the French were In numbers so overwhelming as to be confident of vic tory, and the English army wns placed' in a position where it was Impossible to continue a retreat; but the defeats suffered by the French did not stop the war, which dragged Its slow length along as before these thrilling victo ries. The Bpirlt of the modern age is one of commerce, of buying and selling. It Is pre-eminently a peaceful spirit, and there Is no more serious Interruption to business interests, nothing Is more destructive of business prosperity than war. All nations are now bound to gether by commercial ties of such In-' trlcacy that a disturbance of peace re lations of two states Instantly affects the general prosperity. War Is thereforo a serious nuisance in the family of na tions, deprecated by all, for however remote It may be from the leadtng cen-1 ters of finance and commerce, Its Injur ious effects are felt In Paris, In Ber lin, In New York, In short, wherever there ore merchants, traders, banks and bankers. The battle in Manila bay af fected the commerce of Amsterdam,' Antwerp and Bremen. Shatter's attack on Santiago was felt In London and Paris; Miles advance Into Porto Rico had Its Influence on the business of all nations which had representatives on the Island. Civilization Is thus approaching a point where war will not be tolerated at all when by any possibility It can be avoided, and where all nations affected by a quarrel between two will Join hands to Induce the belligerents to cease their strife at the earliest pos sible moment. International arbitra tion Is yet a dream of the enthusiast, but the disastrous effectB of war upon the business of neutrals are such that after avdeclslve engagement, or at most a campaign, other nations whose In. terests are suffering will tender their good offices to the belligerents to bring about a return of peace. So long as present conditions continue, therefore, wars will probably be slioit. As longi as human nature remains what It al ways has been there will be strife; as long as the lust for conquest, the de sire for revenge and the love of glory endure In the world there will be wars, but In the Interest of civilization the controlling states of the world will do what they can to limit the length of an armed struggle between two and restrict It to the narrowest possiblo limits. Races in tlio Philippines. Of the seven million Inhabitants found In the Philippines, very few of them are Spaniards, less than one-fortieth of them live In Manila and about one seventh of the entire population are believed to be unconquered natives. Among the natives are found repre sentatives of Beveral distinct races. The aborigines were probably the Negritos, a diminutive, dark-hued race, with features resembling the American ne gro. They are still found In limited numbers, a harmless, nomadic people, very fond of the dog and of a cigar, which they frequently smoke with the lighted end In the mouth. The aboriginal people were gradually conquered and driven Into the Interior by Invading Malays, whose descend ants now form a large proportion of the population. The Tagals and Igo lotes are the most Important of the Malay tribes, the latter being law-abiding and devoted to agricultural pur suits. The Tagals, with more warlike propensities, occupy the lowlands, llv- , Ing near the water In picturesque, ele- ' vated huts. They are In full posses sion of the Interior of Mindanao, where, under the sovereignty of their own sultans, they are free to enjoy the cock fights, dancing and music, for which they seem to have a great aptitude. They have Btrongly fortified villages on the mountain sides, and while they acknowledge the suzerainty of Spain they do not pay taxes nor permit Span ish officials to reside among them. Besides these two races there are In the Philippines Malay Indians and na tive Caucasians, with a large number of Chinese and Mestizoes. The laziness of the natives In time of peace is pro verbial, but this Is r.ot to be wondered nt when we know that nature has fur nished the Islands with a wealth of vegetation which may be used for food. -Their Indolence Is probably increased by the climate, which Is hot and ener vating. The heat Is, however, greatly moderated by alternating land and sea breezes, and a more healthful climate Its unknown In tropical countries.. "The Philippine Islands." by John A. Osborne in the Chautauquan for July. J: X) & t : V TO v
