Major Maus accompanied us only because requested to do so. Taking the latitude and altitude as a basis for his calculations, he had already determined with a lead pencil and piece of paper just what the climate of Baguio must be, and had demonstrated to his own complete satisfaction that the statements of the members of the Spanish committee above referred to were necessarily false.
Typical Kalingas
The people of this tribe, until recently fierce head-hunters, have been brought under effective control largely through the individual efforts of Lieutenant-Governor Walter F. Hale.
His first rude shock came when we were met at San Fernando by a young aide to Colonel[1] Duval, who was in command of the local garrison at that place. This lieutenant told us that some negro soldiers were stationed at Trinidad and were being kept supplied by an army pack train. I asked him how they were getting on. He said very well, except that they could not keep warm. They had called for all the spare blankets available, but still complained of the cold!
The trail proved to be in execrable condition. No repair work had been done on it since 1896, and its constant use during the then-existing rainy season by a pack train had completed its destruction. Much of the way it was a mere V in the earth, with deep mud at the bottom.
We left Naguilian early in the morning and stopped for lunch at a little place properly called Sablán, but unofficially known as “The Bells.” Aguinaldo had thought at one time of establishing his headquarters in Benguet and had planned to have a gun foundry at Sablán. His troops accordingly stole most of the church bells in the neighbouring lowland towns, meaning to use them for gun metal, and compelled the unfortunate Benguet Igorots to carry them up the steep trail. Boiler pipes, which had been used in lieu of carrying poles, had in several instances been badly bent out of shape. There was even an old vertical boiler which had been lugged up entire for some unknown reason.
The labour involved must have been enormous, and we were assured that when the Igorot bearers, prostrated with fatigue, had refused to continue their titanic task without rest, they had been driven to it at the muzzles of Insurgent rifles, and that some of them had been shot as a lesson to the others. At all events, the boiler and the bells were there, and there the boiler and the larger bells have remained ever since!
It was still steaming hot at Sablán, and the whole countryside was buried in the densest tropical vegetation. Major Maus was triumphant. Things were working out just as he had predicted. However, as we were already halfway up, we thought that we might as well continue the journey. I had expected to find pines and oaks, but had anticipated that they would grow amidst a dense tangle of damp tropical vegetation.