1 889. J A Month in the Eastern Phillipines. 105 
authorities seem to have become discouraged in trying to make 
roads in such a country, and though a bridge had been built 
over the river, the road after running along the beach for two 
miles, had been abandoned, and all the commerce of the place 
is carried in boats and on men's backs. The mountains were 
heavily timbered and very steep. Several mountain streams 
formed the river, these flowing along narrow ravines, running 
for some distance over flat-ledges of rock and then breaking 
over perpendicular precipices in waterfalls into deep pools 
below. We found the beds of these shallow streams our best 
paths, and adopting the native alpargate, a canvas sandal with 
hemp sole, we spent our time in following their beds, shooting 
from the overhanging trees, and the mountain sides above. It 
was still dry at the town, though it rained nearly every day in 
the mountains, but usually in the afternoon, and everything 
was dripping with moisture. We seemed to be in the rain 
clouds themselves. The land leeches were swarming and very 
troublesome, even making their way through the meshes of our 
stockings. But with all our discouragements we were rapidly 
adding species new to our collection, and new to science. 
Among these were a new squirrel, a new broad-bill of the 
genus Sarcophanops, first described from Basilian, two new 
Avoodpcckers, and another fruit-thrush, and a little crow, these 
two latter staying in the mountains and not interfering with 
their relatives about the town below. A great horn-bill proved 
to be distinct from its allies in Mindanao and Luzon. 
A division of the party took a native boat, and pushed 
down to the south into the strait of San Juanico, between Samar 
and Leite, and stopped for ten days at the village of Babat- 
gnon, on the latter island. The fauna appeared to be identical 
with that from Samar as might be expected, the strait being in 
many places not over a mile or two in width and this fre- 
quently narrowed by small islands. 
Toward the latter part of our stay, the rains came farther 
and farther down the mountain side, and storms became fre- 
quent at the town itself, and so continuous in the mountains as 
to hinder us considerably in our work. Reptiles were abund- 
