646
THE GREEN BAG
son by intermittent sloughs of despondentlooking mud in lieu of a trail, and at all seasons by head-hunting savages. No American that I ever heard of, except my esteemed friend, Colonel Robert L. Howze, then Lieutenant-Colonel of the Thirty-fourth Volunteer Infantry, now Commandant at West Point, ever got across that Caraballa North Range. Colonel Howze had suc ceeded in doing so because: (i) He was trying to hammer into pieces the last rem nants of Aguinaldo's organized forces — which he did; (2) He was trying to rescue Lieut. Gilmore of the navy, as to whose possible ultimate fate the American Presi dent and people were gravely apprehensive — which he did; (3) He was, and is, pos sessed of as much restless, exuberant physi cal energy as anybody you are likely to meet in a day's journey (except the present Chief Magistrate of the nation.) The only way to travel from the capital of Ilocos Norte to the capital of Cagayan, except by following in the footsteps of Colonel Howze, was to go by sea, thirty miles due north, to the northwestern corner of the Island of Luzon, thence east sixty miles to the mouth of a river, the Rio Grande de Cagayan, and thence south seventy miles up this Cagayan River. Of course, in due time after the degree of practical adjacency sustained by these two provinces to one another became familiar to the Department of Justice at Manila, a law was finally passed re-district ing them, and also other provinces which had originally been grouped unadvisedly. But that is another story. Just at present we are to confront and solve transportation problems more difficult than travelling ninety miles by sea on a government launch, and seventy miles up a river on a merchant steamer. In the last half of 1901, the First Judicial District of the Philippine Islands consisted of four provinces, to wit, the two already named and two others, Isabela and Neuva Viscaya. The Civil Government had been inaugurated July 4, 1001. Pursuant to the |
Judiciary Act, I had opened court in the Province of Ilocos Norte in July and had kept busy there until time to depart for Cagayan, to open the fall term of court there on the date fixed by law, which if I recollect aright was the first Monday in September. Cagayan Court duly opened and kept grinding until time to adjourn in order to open in Isabela province on the statutory date, which, if I mistake not, was the first Monday in October. The trip from the capital of Cagayan Province to that of Isabela Province was interesting. At the outset, before we started, a moral question arose. The rainy season was in full swing, the roads were impassable, and the river was swollen. No native boat could travel up that stream forty miles This river, the Rio Grande de Cagayan, — there are numerous "Rio Grandes," in all Spanish countries, each being named after the territory it drains — watered a wonder fully fertile valley, down which it ran due north some hundred and fifty miles or more to the north end of Luzon, and into the China Sea. The Cagayan Valley is the great tobacco country of the Philippines. The tobacco industry there is controlled very largely by a corporation called "The Gen eral Tobacco Company of the Philippines." It has been there a great many years, and is fairly well equipped with most of the essentials, including river boats. Seeing my emergency, they offered me a small steam launch. She was big enough to hold the padrone (man in charge of her), Mr. Brower (my stenographer), and myself, little enough to get through the shallow places, and strong enough to swim up stream. She was the one thing that made possible that year a session of the Court of First Instance of the Province of Isabela at the time and place prescribed by law. I decided that the travel contemplated was necessary for the public service and accepted the offer. If the Tobacco Company, had had any case of importance pending in Isabela province, I knew the chances were ten to one that I
