ISS .mi;ki{ili>. 



(■(HiipiiK'iit. ;itti[ ill rii(lca\(iriii,i;' tn ohiaiii in loniiat ion rcuaiMlin.u' Mniiiit 

 llalcoii. As wc expected. Iml Ncrv little wliicli was (Icliiiite rogar(liii<i; it 

 c-oiild 1)0 sei'iir('(l in Calapan. Fortunately, we met an Ainerican wlio had 

 a placer claim on tlie J>inal»ay IJivcr and who had heen as far inland as 

 the junction of the Binahay with the Ala^'. 11'' inl'ormed as that a good 

 ti'ail existed from Snhaan to the Alag KMvcr and althou_u'h he had no 

 information regard inu' the country heyond the Alaji", he was of the 

 opinion that llahon could he reached and ascended hy this route. Topo- 

 ,i:ra]ihically. this seemed to us to he the more direct way, although 

 Lieutenant Jennings had i'e])oi'te(l his Ixdief that a more feasihle route 

 could he found from the south, either hy way of the Catuyran River, a 

 trihutary of the Baco, from Lake Naujan, or from the west coast. AVe 

 were already^acquainted with Mr. Whitehead's experiences on the T)u- 

 langan spur of [falcon and also aware of the fact that Lieutenant Jen- 

 nings had heen unal)le to reach the highest peak of llalc(»n l»y following 

 Whitehead's coiyrse, and as a selection of any of the routes suggested by 

 Lieutenant Jennings would have necessitated much more overland travel 

 than hy way of the trail leading inhmd from Suhaan to the Alag River, 

 the latter was chosen. Accordingly, two large native boats were secured 

 to take the party and equipment up the coast to Subaan, a small village 

 about 10 miles northwest of Calapan; November 1 was entirely occupied 

 in making this trip, and in securing the native carriers for the journey 

 inland. On the morning of November 2 the party left Subaan for the 

 Jiinahay River, two scouts remaining behind to guard the food supply 

 and e(]uipment which was not immediately taken forward. As rations 

 for forty days had been brought and as the equi])nient and sup])lies for 

 field work were bulky and difficult to transport, it was found ([uite im- 

 j)ossil)le to secure the necessary carriers to take all at one ti-ip. so that 

 plans were nuide to establish camps from time to time and have the 

 imiterial brought in hy relays. The trail U>y about 2 miles led through 

 an open, flat, semiculti\ate<l region and shortlv after leaving the coast 

 we were obliged to ford the Suhaan L'iver. a sli'eam of coiisidei'ahle size. 

 At the end of 2 miles the trail left the le\cl land and ci'ossed a broad, 

 interrupted ridge, densely forested with magnificent ti'ces and bi'oken by 

 ravines coidaining small sti-eams. some ti-ihutary to the Suhaan i'iver, 

 others to tlu; Binabay. 'I'he highest altitude reached on this ridge was 

 about 1,000 feet. We established our hrst camp where the trail crossed 

 the Binahay Kixer at a distance of about (i miles from Suhaan ami at 

 an altitude of ;oo feet, nudxiiig it with some .\merican niiiu'i-s who hail 

 located a placer claim in the stream bed as coai'sc gold tit a limited extent 

 is hmml in t he sand. 



On NoNcmher ■'! the c.irriers were sent hack to Suhaan for niorr* sup- 

 plies and the other mendters of the partv reconuoitered for trails in the 

 vicinity leading towards lialcon, clindiing to the top of the ridge to the 



