de. In time we reached
our mountains, arid, bare, eroded, wind-bitten, and made our way
slowly and painfully up and through the pass, our trail hereabouts
being nothing but a trench so deep and narrow that part of the way we
could not keep our feet in the stirrups. As we neared the crest of
the range the pass disappeared, and for the last half-mile or so we
attacked the ridge directly. When we got to the top, we found a gallant
breeze blowing, and, spreading out before us, the vast plains of the
Cagayan Valley. Far over in the east, and apparently no nearer than
ever, rose the blue, cloud-like mountains of the Sierra Madre, now
showing like a wall, which indeed they are, and one which no man has
so far succeeded in scaling. But not a sign of life, of man or beast,
caught our eye. And yet this valley is an empire in itself; its axial
stream, the Rio Grande de Cagayan, or Ibanag, the "Philippine Tagus"
of the ancient chronicles, the longest river of the Archipelago, by
overflowing its banks every year, renews the fertility of the soil
wherever its waters can reach. We stood here on the ridge a long time,
resting and looking. Below us green ribbons, following the undulations
of the plain, marked the trail of various water-courses; but, apart
from this evidence of Nature's living forces, somehow or other the
entire landscape was silent and desolate. We now began the descent,
leading our ponies, for it was too steep to ride, and at last came to
a stream where we found shade and grass, and, better yet, the advance
guard of the party with food and drink ready. Our next stage was over
rolling country, covered with fine short grass; once over this, the
ground broke in our front, and we made the descent, finally coming
out on the lowest floor of the valley at Enrile, two or three miles
from the river. Night was falling as we made our way through its
grass-grown streets, finding the air heavy, the people dull-looking,
and everything commonplace: we had already begun to miss our mountains.

CHAPTER XXIV

Tobacco industry.--Tuguegarao.--Caves.--The Cagayan
River.--Barangayans.--Aparri.--Island of Fuga.--Sail for
Manila.--Stop at Vigan.--Arrival at Manila.

The great valley in which we now found ourselves really deserves more
notice than perhaps it is suitable to give it here. As everyone knows,
it furnishes the best tobacco of the Islands, tobacco that under proper
care would prove a dangerous rival to that of C