[Paper I] 



LETTERS FROM THE MENAGE SCIENTIFIC EXPEDI- 

 TION TO THE PHILIPPINE ISLANDS 



By Dean C. Worcester and Frank S. Bourns 



[The following- letters were written by the two young men who went out 

 as leaders of the Menage Scientific Expedition to the Philippine Islands. This 

 Expedition was fitted out and maintained from the summer of 1890 until the 

 close of 1892, by Louis F. Menage, Esq., a citizen of Minneapolis and a member 

 of the Minnesota Academy of Natural Sciences. While these letters were 

 written as reports to the Academy of the progress of the work of the Expedi- 

 tion, they form so interesting an itinerary of exploring scientists and so in- 

 structive an account of a collector's adventures in a strange region, that they 

 are published for wider reading. Mr. L. A. Griffin has selected for publication 

 here only the paragraphs pertaining to the scientific aspects of the work of 

 the Expedition. 



After leaving the Philippines, Mr. Bourns spent some time in Borneo for 

 the double purpose of taking notes on the relations of the Borneo fauna and 

 that of the islands which had been so successfully explored and of securing 

 some orangs for the Academy. His account of "An Orang Hunt in Borneo," 

 written for another use by the Academy, is so interesting .and so fitting an 

 associate to the letters that it is given a place at their close. — C. W. Hall.] 



I. 



Salay Davo, Guimaras (opposite Iloilo), 

 Philippine Islands, December 12, 1890. 

 Gentlemen of the Minnesota Academy of Natural Sciences, 

 Minneapolis, Minnesota : 



Since our arrival in the Philippine Islands, Sept. 6th, we 

 have been anxiously awaiting the letter promised us from the 

 Bishop of Minnesota to the Archbishop of Manila and instruc- 

 tions as to which of the methods of preparing birdskins we 

 should follow. But as mail up to October 28th has arrived and 

 no communication from you has reached us, and as it is past 

 the end of the first quarter, we have decided not to delay longer 

 in writing you, and accordingly have the honor to submit the 

 following report. 



We were subjected to a great deal of annoying delay in 

 Manila, on account of the non-arrival of our letter from Spain. 

 Since our visit here in 1887 the laws regarding firearms have 

 l)een greatly changed, making it much more difficult to import 

 them and nearly impossible for a foreigner to obtain permission 

 to use them. Just as we had obtained permission to pass our 



