MANILA AND THE PHILIPPINES 71 



worse ; the low ground has prevented the making of deep ditches, 

 as water appears at a depth of from two to three feet, and so it 

 was found necessary to bring out sand-bags and by other arti- 

 ficial means get the necessary height for the covering breast- 

 work. Careless of the danger from whistling bullets are the 

 Spanish soldiers lying in those miserable intrenchments; apa- 

 thetic everywhere; no activity, not even the wish or the will to 

 improve the very imperfect shelter ; such was the general impres- 

 sion upon a military expert; and the tropical sun sends down 

 its fiery arrows to the marshy land, with its numberless small 

 creeks and water ditches, and brews there the worst enemy of 

 the soldier — sickness. 



A marshy ground, tropical vegetation, jungles of bamboo, and 

 swampy rice fields are the condition of the land that the Span- 

 ish military leaders had to deal with. Thus modern long-range 

 firearms can be used to their full effect only under very rare 

 circumstances. The view is nearly always limited to a hundred 

 yards or less, and is never so extended as to make the full use 

 of such arms possible. The artillery is, practically speaking, 

 absolutely dependent upon the very bad roads ; driving across 

 the fields, as in European or American battlefields, is almost 

 impossible. For the same reasons which do not allow the use 

 of the higher sights of the rifles, the artillery fire can never de- 

 velop that overpowering strength which we attribute to it in 

 modern warfare. The batteries must therefore unlimber within 

 the best range of the rifle shots, so that casualties in the artil- 

 lery may be considered as disproportioned to its real effect. 

 That cavalry in such a country had to remain nearly always in 

 the rear, and that even reconnaissances are in most cases better 

 performed by infantry, is easily to be understood. In brief, the 

 character of the country seems to be almost ideal for the kind 

 of warfare which military men call "guerrilla fighting." 



Only a very methodical and slow warfare gives reliable and 

 enduring results. Block-houses must be built from one line to 

 the next, fortified points must be constructed on all river passages 

 and strategical points, if the inhabitants of a large countiy make 

 a serious and continued resistance. 



S | Kiin had never taken such absolutely necessary military 

 measures, and only in view of this can it be understood that with 

 every Tagal insurrection the whole interior of the country was 

 in the bands of the insurgents and Spanish rule was reduced to 

 the maintenance of the seaports round the islands. 



