THE PLANT WORLD 51 



before me the man in charge of the said estate, asking him which and 

 who are those who entered it causing injury to the coconuts planted there ; 

 and indeed he cited four individuals, named Felipe Mansapit, Joaquin 

 Ti-Quiongeo, Augustin Fegur, and Francisco Babasta. 



"Another individual, named Pantaleon de San Nicolas, presented 

 himself before me, making a similar complaint, to the effect that the 

 individual Clemente Mansapit, brother of the before-mentioned Felipe 

 Mansapit, had stolen from his plantation 13 coffee plants which had been 

 planted there, some fruit of cacao, sugar cane, and bananas. 



" All of these persons I have in confinement in this tribunal, awaiting 

 the superior action of your excellency as to whether they be sent before 

 your superior authority or suffer the appropriate punishment in this 

 village. 



For all which I beg your excellency to have the kindness to take 

 action, in case you approve of this my first official report, so that there 

 may be no mistake. 



" May God guard you many years. 



" The Gobernadorcillo , 

 " Merizo, 1st of September , 1S99. Pedro de la Cruz." 



The action of the Gobernadorcillo was approved, and orders given 

 that the punishment be carried out in the village where the offenses had 

 been committed ; that the property be restored ; and that if the offenders 

 could not pay the fines imposed, they be compelled to work on the roads 

 in the vicinity of the village. 



Saturday, September 2. — The wounded man died this morning be- 

 tween 2 and 3 o'clock. The doctor and I went to the hospital to see him 

 but found his bodj'- gone. At the house of the afflicted parents we found 

 the body laid out. All of his relatives had been summoned and the little 

 house was crowded with people. We were offered betel-nut and native- 

 made cigars on a tray and a glass of native aguardiente, distilled from the 

 fermented sap of the coconut. Preparations had evidently been made 

 for a kind of wake. The relatives seemed to feel perfectly confident of 

 the dead man's ultimate happiness ; for he had been properly shriven 

 and had received the last offices of the church. I assisted the doctor, who 

 removed a carbuncle from the arm of a little boy. He is gentle, kind, 

 and zealous, and will find plenty of work among these poor people. There 

 is some fever among them . The doctor has called attention to the water 

 they drink, which he thinks is the cause of sickness among them and 

 among our men. 



The chief engineer of the Brutus came to Agaiia to-day to select a 

 site for a water-distilling plant. Went with him along the river ; found 

 it in many places to be nearly stopped up with water plants iPotamogeton 

 and Char a') and the surface covered with decaying oranges with which the 

 natives wash their clothes. In places the banks lined with beautiful 

 white-flowered spider-lilies and overhung with coconut-palms. All of 



