United States or Vatican City ? Vote for the TOP Country of the Week !
From the convent a view is had of part of the island of Samar, the mountain forms of which appear to be a continuation of the horizontal strata. Quite recently several pontins and four schooners, laden with abacá, were captured, and the crews cruelly murdered, their bodies having been cut to pieces.
This form of government spread with the advance of Aguinaldo's arms. Municipal elections were held in Tarlac in July, in Ilocos Norte and Tayabas in August, in Benguet and the Batanes Islands in September, 1898, in Panay in December, 1898, and in Leyte and Samar in January, 1899.
Two or three scanty springs afford a muddy, brackish water, almost at the level of the sea, with which the indolent people are content so that they have just enough. Wealthy people have their water brought from Samar, and the poorer classes are sometimes compelled, by the drying-up of the springs, to have recourse to the same place.
If the nature of the feuds between the Samar lowlanders and highlanders had then been better understood, the ensuing troubles, which were more or less continuous for nearly two years, might perhaps have been avoided. As soon as it became evident that the situation was such as to demand the use of the army it was employed to supplement the operations of the constabulary.
As I have already remarked, it is divided from Samar only by the small strait of San Juanico. The chief town, Tacloban or Taclobang, lies at the eastern entrance of this strait, with a very good harbor and uninterrupted communication with Manila, and has consequently become the chief emporium of trade to Leyte, Biliran, and South and East Samar.
Notwithstanding trifling faults of this kind, he was very useful and agreeable to me; but he did not go willingly to such an uncivilized island as Samar; and when he received his wages in full for eight months all in a lump, and so became a small capitalist, he could not resist the temptation to rest a little from his labors.
Robberies are of rare occurrence in Samar, and thefts almost unknown. There are schools also here in the pueblos, which accomplish quite as much as they do in Camarines. At the church festivals they perform a drama translated from the Spanish, generally of a religious character; and the expense of the entertainment is defrayed by voluntary contributions of the wealthy.
"But we proceeded to ram down their throats a preconceived theory that the only road to self-government was for an alien people to step in and make the ignorant masses the sine qua non." Blount, p. 546. Also: "Of course the ignorant elecorate we perpetrated on Samar as an 'expression of our theoretical views' proved that we had 'gone too fast' in conferring self-government, or to quote Mr.
The cultivation of rice in Leyte is conducted as in Samar, but it has given way to the cultivation of abacá; the governors, while they were allowed to trade, compelled the natives to devote a part of their fields and of their labor to it. Should a peasant be in arrears, it is the prevalent custom in the country for him to pay to the dealer double the balance remaining due at the next harvest.
It seems to rise straight from the sea; with its perfectly sloping sides and a summit wreathed in delicate vapors, it is worthy of the pride with which it is regarded by the Filipinos. Then we entered the Strait of San Bernardino, between Luzon and Samar, and passed for a day through a region of isles.
Word Of The Day