ssed acts providing for the
creation of a sort of sanitary council of numerous members authorized
to pass on public health measures proposed by the director of health
and instructed to disapprove them if not in accordance with the
beliefs and customs of the Filipinos.

In protecting the public health in the Philippine Islands emergencies
constantly arise which must be instantly and effectively met. It would
be as logical to place a commanding general directing a battle under
the control of an advisory board as it would thus to tie the hands of
the director of health, and it is difficult to see how any competent
and self-respecting sanitarian could be willing to continue to hold
this position if so hampered.

The Philippine Commission has heretofore invariably tabled the
acts designed to accomplish this end, but that body has now been
"Filipinized" and its future attitude on this very important
question is therefore in doubt. Hardly had the legislative session
opened in October, 1913, when the assembly again passed the same
old bill. Should it become a law, there will be occasion to watch,
with especial interest, the death rate of Manila and that of the
archipelago as a whole.

CHAPTER XVII

Baguio and the Benguet Road

In June, 1892, when sitting in a native house on a hill overlooking
Naujan Lake in Mindoro, and anxiously awaiting the boats which were
to make it possible for my party to return to the coast, I saw a
small flotilla approaching.

To my surprise and regret I found that it was not coming for us, but
brought a number of Spanish officers who had heard that we had some
mysterious procedure for killing the tamarau, an extraordinarily wild
and vicious little buffalo peculiar to this island. They had come to
get us to tell them how we did it, if possible, and if not to watch
us and find out for themselves.

We described to them our method, which was easily understood. It
consisted in picking up a likely trail along some water course,
following it until the tamarau was overtaken, and then shooting
him. This looked suspiciously simple to our Spanish friends before they
had tried it, and they shook their heads. After trying it they became
convinced that more than a few days of experience would be necessary
before satisfactory results could be obtained. They profited little
by the best information we could give them, and by the services of
the expert tracker whom we loaned to them. Meanwhile I obtained