of all who are proud of being called Filipinos. These acts are being
committed without restriction by civilians as well as soldiers perhaps
with the cooeperation of their respective chiefs, to the shame of
the authority vested in them and to the prejudice of the society to
which they unworthily belong, and even to the integrity itself of
the Republic. And in order that these barbarous and savage acts may
disappear and that rigorous and exemplary punishment be meted out,
I have deemed it proper to forward to you for general information
the proclamation of these Headquarters of February 12th last, which
is as follows":

* * * * *

(Signed) "_Mariano Trias_.

"_Lieutenant-General_.

"_To the Politico-Military Chief of Infanta_."--P.I.R., 896-9.

[404] "There does not seem to have been the faintest conception that
there was any reason for not using the white flag to deceive people
who were foolish enough to believe that Aguinaldo was going to adhere
to the rules prescribed for its use. The writer in the early spring
of 1899 once watched an insurgent party advance under a white flag
upon an American line of trenches. When an officer and a bugler went
forward to receive them they threw down the flag and immediately
opened fire with the rifles which they were then seen to be dragging
behind them."--_Taylor_, 48 HS.

[405] "Such ammunition was not effective unless fired from very
close quarters, but even its possession made the guerrillas stronger
than the people of the country and undoubtedly had much to do with
securing their cooeperation, not only as bolomen but also in the
digging of the pits which were placed in the trails and also set
about the towns. These were required to be constructed by the local
authorities. In the bottom was set a sharp spike of bamboo, sometimes
poisoned; and the pit was covered with leaves and soil upon a fragile
framework; so that if a man stood upon it he would fall through upon
the spike. Bows were set in the jungle with a string set across the
trail so that any one stumbling over it would discharge a sharp bamboo
shaft with a poisoned head. On September 18, 1900, Lukban congratulated
the people of the town of Katubig upon the efficient use they had made
of arrows with the heads dipped in 'dita,' a native poison. (P.I.R.,
502. 8.)"

--_Taylor_, 83 HS.

[406] See also the chapter entitled "Murder as a Governmental
Institution."

[407] See p. 313.