PUTTING DOWN THE REBELLION 45 never understood, in their opinion, to be an order, and were never taken as an order by those who heard them. He was understood to mean that the rebellion should be put down in the shortest possible time and with the least possible loss of life on both sides. CHAPTER IV FIRST IMPRESSIONS Rival of the Inland Sea-Filipino Life at First Hand "WE WE want you to write an article giving your impressions of Manila when you had been there one week. Do not wait until you are acclimatized. Tell us what an American traveler sees when he enters the city of Manila." This was the instruction received by the writer when leaving New York. Were he to give similar directions to another American traveler he would modify them in a single particular: "Write your impressions on the first day after landing." It does not take the traveler a week to yield to the seductive influences of this charming city. Passengers coming from the Pacific coast on a liner touch first at Yokohama and then at Nagasaki, Shanghai and Hong Kong, or sail directly from Nagasaki, according to the line and the steamer taken. Reaching Manila, as we did, on a transport, we approached the Philippines from the East, sighting Samar on our left and soon afterwards southern Luzon on our right, and sailed between the two islands through San Bernardino Strait, about five miles wide at the narrowest point. ENTERING MANILA BAY 47 The morning ride was one of surpassing beauty. The glimpse of tropical foliage which we had at Guam was simply a foretaste of what was now visible from either side of the ship. Many of the officers were returning to former fields or going to new ones, and their description of towns and villages, almost hidden from view, showed how varied were the aspects of Filipino life and how populous were the islands. The cocoanut palm and the everpresent bamboo could be seen near the shore, and frequently a little settlement. For hours during our first day among the Philippine Islands we had a fine view of the Mayon volcano, near the southern end of Luzon. A few officers on previous trips to Manila had sailed through the Inland Sea of Japan, and they declared that that famous sheet of water does not surpass in beauty, and certainly not in grandeur, the Straits of San Bernardino, and that Fujiyama itself is not so perfect in formation as Mayon. Manila Bay is entered from the sea by two channels, one on either side of Corregidor Island. The main channel is called the Boca Grande, or great mouth; the other is the Boca Chica, or little mouth. We sailed through the larger channel while the revolving light which guided Admiral Dewey on the memorable night of April 30, 1898, was still flashing its beams, alternately red and white, across the bay and far out to sea. When we anchored we were twenty-five miles from Corregidor, just outside the breakwater, with Manila a mile away, and Cavite, the scene of the great naval battle, a dozen miles distant at our right. The first impression that one receives while entering |