f area Samar is the third island in the Philippines. In
its interior are many rugged peaks and heavily forested mountains. It
was here that a detachment of United States marines under the command
of Major Waller, while attempting to cross the island, were lost for
nearly two weeks, going without food for days and enduring terrible
hardships.

At the time in question there were not five miles of road on the
island passable for a vehicle, nor were there trails through the
mountains over which horses could be ridden. The only interior lines
of communication were a few footpaths over which the natives were
accustomed to make their way from the mountains to the coast.

Troops have perhaps never attempted a campaign in a country more
difficult than the interior of Samar. The traditional needle in the
haystack would be easy to find compared with an outlaw, or band of
outlaws, in such a rugged wilderness.

Upon the outbreak of trouble troops were hurried to Samar, and by
December, 1904, according to Blount himself, there were some 1800
native soldiers on the island who were left free for active operations
in the field by the garrisoning of various coast towns with sixteen
companies of United States infantry.

If the nature of the feuds between the Samar lowlanders and highlanders
had then been better understood, the ensuing troubles, which were
more or less continuous for nearly two years, might perhaps have
been avoided. As soon as it became evident that the situation was
such as to demand the use of the army it was employed to supplement
the operations of the constabulary.

About the time that trouble ended in Samar it began in Leyte. There
was no real connection between the disorders in the two islands. No
leader on either island is known to have communicated with any leader
on the other; no fanatical follower ever left Samar for Leyte or
Leyte for Samar so far as we are informed.

For convenience of administration the two islands were grouped in a
single command after the army was requested to take over the handling
of the disturbances there, in cooeperation with the constabulary. The
trouble ended in 1907 and both islands have remained quiet ever
since. The same causes would again produce the same results now or
at any time in the future, and they would be then, as in the past,
the outcome of the oppression of the weak by the strong and without
other political significance. Under a good government they should
never