ed Spaniards whose early demise would have
been looked upon with favour by those in power. He converted it into
a healthy place the death rate of which compared favourably with that
of European cities, thereby demonstrating conclusively what could
be done even under very unfavourable conditions. No troops in the
islands were kept in anything like such physical condition as were
the regiments assigned to him, and he bore a lasting grudge against
any one inconsiderate enough to die in Jolo.

Everywhere I saw people dying of curable ailments. Malaria was
prevalent in many regions in which it was impossible to secure good
quinine. The stuff on sale usually consisted largely of cornstarch,
or plaster of Paris. Fortunately we had brought with us from the
United States a great quantity of quinine and we made friends with
the Filipinos in many a town by giving this drug gratis to their sick.

Smallpox was generally regarded as a necessary ailment of childhood. It
was a common thing to see children covered with the eruption of
this disease watching, or joining in, the play of groups of healthy
little ones.

The clothing of people who had died of smallpox was handed on to other
members of the family, sometimes without even being washed. The victims
of the disease often immersed themselves in cold water when their fever
was high, and paid the penalty for their ignorance with their lives.

The average Spaniard was a firm believer in the noxiousness of night
air, which he said produced _paludismo_. [499] Most Filipinos were
afraid of an imaginary spirit, devil or mythical creature known as
_asuang_, and closed their windows and doors after dark as a protection
against it. Thus it came about that in a country where fresh air is
especially necessary at night no one got it.

Tuberculosis was dreadfully common, and its victims were conveying
it to others without let or hindrance.

A distressingly large percentage of native-born infants died before
reaching one year of age on account of infection at birth, insufficient
clothing, or improper food. I have many times seen a native mother
thrust boiled rice into the mouth of a child only a few days old,
and I have seen babies taught to smoke tobacco before they could walk.

Before our party left the islands in 1888, cholera had broken out
at a remote and isolated place. A little later it spead over a
considerable part of the archipelago. On my return in 1890 I heard
the most shocking