Unofficial letters of an official's wife [by] Edith Moses.

UNOFFICIAL LETTERS OF

steep hill trail. The trail from Naguilian lay in the
heat and sun, but from Sablan we went up through
shady canions, where immense pink and purple
orchids hung from the trees, and wild begonias,
ferns, and new plants in endless variety kept us constantly exclaiming at their beauty. In many places
a violet flower like a cluster of feathery balls covered the roadside, and a berry like the thimble berry
overhung the path. I might go on describing what
we saw for pages, and fail to give you an idea of
the beauty and luxuriance of the foliage. We
crossed many mountain streams, and drank from
numberless springs without a thought of cholera.
We sang, laughed, and shouted, while our Igorrotes
gazed at us in wonder. About noon we saw the
first pine, and under it grew a great tree fern. My
botanical ideas have been all turned topsy-turvy. I
have seen tree ferns growing in the rotunda of a
conservatory, and expected to find them in the
swamps of the coast land. Here they flourish in
places where only pines and grass will grow. The
story of the coolness of the province has not been
exaggerated. It is cooler than the Santa Cruz
mountains to-day, and April is the hottest month of
the year.
The hospital has been built on the side of a hill.
There are pine groves behind it, and in front and
below is a marshy hollow; opposite, a broad upland
rises, on which are built the two or three shacks
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