132 Menace Expedition to the Philippines 



goods at the Custom House and to procure proper licenses, a 

 Royal Order from Spain was received by the C^overnor General. 

 This fortunate arrival aided us greatly. Not only were our 

 requests promptly granted, but in addition we were given a 

 special letter from the Governor General to the Governors of all 

 the provinces which we intended to visit. This is not only a 

 letter of introduction but is also an order to the effect that all 

 our reasonable requests be granted and our safety be looked after 

 by the 'Governor of the province to whom the letter might be 

 presented. 



Besides this letter we obtained one from the Rt. Rev. 

 Netter, acting Archbishop of Manila, addressed to the resident 

 priests of the PhiHppines. This letter will be, and has already 

 been, of great service to us, as in many of the smaller and more 

 out of the way places the priest is the only white man to be 

 found and is therefore a man of much influence. 



Being thus well supplied with letters and papers from both 

 civil and ecclesiastical authorities, we were prepared to start 

 out on our work. We decided for our first trip to visit Panay^ 

 Guimaras, Negros and Siquijor, but as the boat did not leave for 

 three weeks, we were compelled to look out for some suitable 

 place near Manila where we could put in the intervening time. 

 It was difficult to find such a place as all the region around 

 Manila is under cultivation and for our work we must be 

 near the forest. Finally we met an American named Thomas 

 Collins, who told us that he thought his place would just suit 

 us. He was engaged in the wood business at a small place 

 called Quisao, about forty miles from Manila on the eastern 

 side of the great Lake of Bay. His wood boats were going and 

 coming every week, making it easy of access, so we accepted 

 an invitation to visit him. 



Taking small river boats (bancas) at Manila, we went up the 

 Pasig river to the lake, where we found one of Mr. Collins' 

 cascas or wood boats awaiting us. It was evening when we 

 reached the boat and three o'clock A. M. before we set sail, but 

 the wind being favorable, by noon of the next day we were at 

 Quisao, and soon comfortably established in Mr. Collins' house 

 and ready for work. The forest was farther off than we had 

 expected to find it, and could only be reached by two hours' 

 hard tramping, but we decided to make the best of it. 



