Show LONG MARCHES MADE BY t tOUR OUR SOLDIERS IN SAMAR First Infantry Cover Miles it to m Eighteen Lays l ays Fighting Filipinos and Insects The expedition just returned comprised com about men moving in eight columns all under command of Capt Jackson First Infantry who commanded commanded com com- the main column The hike performed by this column is deserving of mention as probably the longest longes ever made by American troops In Sa mar The men were absent from thel thell station about eighteen days and covered covered cov ered Bred nearly miles mUes On the tenth tent day out over oyer two-thirds two of the meta men were unable to proceed on account of ot exhaustion and sore feet and days days' rest was taken In camp mp The columns were ordered to converge con converge verge toward Mount Puros a watershed water watershed shed about thirty miles from the west and fifty miles mUes from the north coasts of Samar Simultaneously with this move troops were ordered to make at ar demonstration demonstration all over Samar In order orde to prevent the enemy fleeing to the tha south and cast The expedition cleaned up so so to speak an ap approximate approximate proximate total of fifty Insurgents killed twenty prisoners prisoners' four rebel strongholds strongholds' and twenty barrios destroyed de de' destroyed sacks of rice and fiftY captured The column from Mauo under Capt Jackson had for Its sole purpose the capture of Lukban It consisted of ot twenty scouts and fifteen men med of company L L. L First Infantry The little column left Mauo at 7 t o'clock on the morning of ot November in a pouring rain It may be added that from that time on to November eight days dry feet and dry clothing were unknown After three hours' hours marching toward the Interior half of which was through in deep mud the river was waa reached which h at this place was very deep and swift The river was split In three channels by two rocks It was found necessary to bridge the first channel which was done by fastening one end of a log to the other 1 to the rock A rope of a strong vine was stretched as a handrail and nn 1 In nr nei o 1 1 no ed f by t the 1 force e of the current i- i the he channel chan chan- channel h nel was crossed The other two channels channels channels chan chan- nels were only deep breast-deep and were wera forded the big fellow helping the little ones The hike was resumed early the next morning and on this day I had a chance to see what hiking in Samar was like On thi day also I had my first experience with lith the gentle and seductive Samar leech When we were not wading in the beds of mountain brooks we were climbing the sides of mountains or else floundering in morasses Hill succeeded hill in endless endless endless end end- less succession and not until night when we made camp at the foot of a beautiful waterfall where the limits of our vision extended to more than fifty yards before cut off by hills Throughout this as the previous day there was no sight of any human tation During the day we covered less than a mile an hour the men be being being being be- be ing obliged to Join hands and pull one another over the steep places On the next day November the leeches made their appearance In force These little pests are found only on the mountain slopes slopes never never In the val val leys They are about an inch and a quarter in length of the thickness of ofa ofa ofa a needle knitting-needle and when they walk them h themselves They reach th the soldiers from the grass and bamboo bushes and quickly enter leggings and shoes through the lace holes and fasten fasten fasten fas fas- ten themselves upon the legs usually about the ankles They absorb blood until about the size of a amans mans man's finger when they loosen their hold and drop off leaving an open wound which bleeds for hours I ha have ye seen a soldier soldier sol sol- sol sol- dier pick as many as thirty of these off oft his legs and ankles at night and as each pun puncture ture leaves a small bleeding wound the loss of blood is sometimes quite serious The natives being barelegged barelegged bare bare- legged acquire more leeches than the American soldiers but but for the sam same samek reason see them sooner and pick the theoff of off before serious damage has been done In addition to the pest of leeches wo we now began to find many traps man-traps pits dug in the earth with poisoned pointing upward and the whole covered over with lea leaves Yes There were also spring guns set so that when the trigger was released a Javelin would be discharged taking effect in the abdomen of the victim Many of ot the men fell Into the but none were seriously hurt In crossing one small mountain we came upon a lL most Ingenious The road was cut cut narrow and clean a precipice on one side sId and a steep bank on the other way Half-way up the mountain three pits were dug In the road and on the top ton was a a. pile of logs so balanced that it could easily be set rolling down the road Having passed the pits the logs were supposed to be set off by a look look look- out With a precipice on one side and a sheer cliff on the other three spear spear- pits behind and ten tons of logs bound Ing ng down the way in front what is a man to do If he dont don't know how to fly fly This trap had been broken before w we reached the mountain and we passed in Mauo l Samar Correspond Correspondence Correspond Correspond- can ence November SOth Manila Ameri- Ameri |