-s
ii
DALUPAON, Ambos Camarines Prov
ince, July 1. (Special Correspond
ence of The Sunday Oregonian.)
What are probably the richest tropical'
forests in the -world will be opened up to
exploitation by the projected railway lines
to be built In the Philippines under the
eupervlslon of the Insular Government of
the Archipelago. The line leading from
Manila south to the southern peninsula
of Luzon will tap a dense virgin forest
on the west coast of Ambos Camarines
nd Albay Provinces, 150 miles long and
15 miles wide. The Government has ac
cepted a bid for this line from Speyer
Eros., and It will, with Its total length
ef a little over 200 miles. Including feed
ers, tap the timber belt of Pasacao. on
the Gulf of Ragay, In less than two years.
Th line 'will place such Important lum
bering stations as Octoc Point, Binahian,
Dalupaon and Jamuraun within easy rail
road communication. The line leading
north to Aparrl, for the building of which
the Manila & Dagupan Railroad Is among
Its bidders, will open up some almost un
known forested areas In Central Luzon
and alonf the great Cagayan River. The
railroads In the southern Islands will per
form a similar office. Acre for acre
!there are no denser stands of hardwood
timber anywhere than In the Philippine
(Islands. Their value Is so enormous that
1t Is estimated by the Forestry Bureau of
the Archipelago at 'no less than 2,000.000,
000. Na one knows, of course. Just what
Is the value of the standing timber In
wonderful mahoganies, ebonies, lronwoods
and other tropical hardwoods in the isl
ands, but It Is so Immense as to be
scarcely susceptible of an accurate com
putation. Glory and Wonder of Forests.
Standing on the low-lying hills of the
Southern Peninsula of Luion, one sees a
typical Philippine forest a vast sea of
Interwoven tree tops stretching for miles
and miles in every direction and in the
distance growing Indistinct and merging
into the vista of bright green color that
is characteristic of the foliage.
Wonderful are the forests of the Phil
ippines! Kither from the viewpoint of
the artist and Nature-lover or the capi
talist and lumberman, the forests of the
Philippines probably excel the forests of
j any other portion of the world covering
an equal area. With a charm and grand
eur all their own, with giant trees meet
ing In thick crown 80 to 150 feet overhead
anj shading the earth so that it is twi
light at mldda.yr with a firm carpet of dry
mold clear of underbrush, like the park
of a peer of Kngland, and giving way
often to huge tree ferns 10 to 35 feet in
height that seem like pigmy hothouse
weakllnits beneath such Cyclopean hard
wood growths: there is a glory and won
der in the forests of the Philippines'' such
as you will find nowhere else in the
world.
niches Going to Waste.
In face of these statements one Is apt
to ask how it Is that capital, ever seek
ing investment, has not entered into the
Philippine lumber Held. The answer comes
back two-fold. . In the first place, the
Forestry . Bureau has, until very lately,
hampered even the legitimate develop
ment of the forests by a series of aca
demic and unbusinesslike restrictions, so
that millions and millions of feet of the
tinest timber in the world have come to
maturity and passed through the period
of its commercial usefulness on to decay
without vibrating to the stroke of the
woodman's ax. The annual growth of
the Philippine forests is estimated to be
1.100.000,000 feet, or about three times the
cut for 1900 In the entire United States.
Kully 99 per cent of tills annual growth
is going to waste.
In the second place. It Is only recently
that the true worth of the Philippine
lorests has been recognized, or that any-,
thing like modern methods of lumbering
Jiave come to take the place of the anti
quated, costly and inefficient logging and
. milling systems of the old Spanlbli and
Philippine lumbermen. Outside of Ma
Oiila, Dalupaon, In the southern peninsula
ft IJJZnn. and Santa Maria, on,. the Island
pi Mindanao, there Is not a modern plant
Ik
mi
on the Islands. Of course even these
plants do not compare with some of the
vast sawmilling plants in the States. But
a giant plant would pay tremendously.
There is nothing but grief and waste
from the time that the native begins to
fell the tree with a bolo until It is worked
up Into marketable lumber.
Bcglnlng Exploitation.
"When the Americans first occupied the
archipelago the fear was expressed that
capital might exploit and ruthlessly de
stroy the forests regardless of the future.
It was a part of the general scheme of
things to preserve the resources of the
Islands to the Filipino people, whether
they were developed or not. Accordingly
the most stringent regulations as to the
manner of cutting the trees were adopted;
rigorous, almost prohibitive, taxes per
cubic foot on lumber cut were imposed.
One of these regulations, absurd but not
important, was that the trees before cut
ting should be marked for lumbering by
a trained expert of the forestry bureau.
Often It happened that the expert on
going out with the cutters was unable
to identify the trees he had previously
marked. But the old order of things is
changed. The forestry bureau Is invit
ing lumbermen with capital. The Filipino
Chamber of Commerce is beginning a
vigorous campaign to advertise the re
sources of the islands to attract capital
and settlers. The surveyors and contract
ors for a great system of railroads to
be built under the supervision of the
insular government are already here. A
new era is at hand for the Philippines.
It is estimated that two-thirds of the
Philippine archipelago is covered with
timber. With the exception of the most
densely settled areas and the Interior
mountains of Northern Luzon, almost the
entire Philippines are covered with huge
forests of dense trees. The finest mer
chantable forests in the Islands are found
in the southern peninsula of Luzon, the
Islands of Mlndoro and Negros and on the
Island of Mindanao.
Value Beyond Comprehension.
A few weeks ago the writer sought out
John Orr, a Scotchman of 14 years' resi
dence In the Philippines, who- la said to
be the best authority on timber in the
Islands. Mr. Orr lives at Dalupaon. Am
bos Camarines province, Luzon. and is
manager of E00 woodcutters scattered
throughout a forest area of 5t miles long
and six miles wide. During all his years
in the Islands Mr. Orr has been constantly
lumbering. Three weeks in the forests
with Mr. Orr, investigating the size, tex
ture, character and extent of the forests,
revealed the fact that it U difficult for
the man who has not actually been in
the great lumber districts to understand
their tremendous value and possibilities.
In fact, the forests of the Philippines
possess possibilities for development as
great as any of the once great lumber
ing regions of the United States.
With the exception of the pine forests
on the east and west coasts of Northern
Luzon and the huge calentas or Philip
pine cedars found throughout the is-'
lands, all of the commercial woods of
the Philippines are hard woods. Their
specific gravity Is so dense and their tex
ture so close that most of them, even
when dry, will sink In salt water like
so much lead. These woods not -only
occur in ebonies and mahoganies, from
which Is made the most exquisite furni
ture, but they possess timbers of wonder
ful strength for building purposes and
peculiarly suited to the tropics.
Various Hardwoods.
There are two kinds of hardwoods In
the Islands, known roughly as construc
tion woods and cabinet woods. Even
many species of the construction woods,
which are used in shipbuilding and house
building, take on a brilliant polish, and
would be deemed adapted to decorative
work in any country where hardwood is
less abundant. Taking up the construc
tion woods, probably the most plentiful
commercial building timber is that known
as molave. In external appearance, the
molave resembles a huge oak, growing
even larger than the greatest American
oaks. In color, the wood, after being
sawn, is gray. In markings, it has some
thing the appearance of the eurly maple,
but it has more th texture of the Amer
ican oak than any other tree of the
tropics. Huge molave logs are attained
which are 40 inches in diameter, and 40
THE SUNDAY OKEGONIAN, PORTLAND. AUGUST 19, 1906.
iLiiiLi Lit
UntbIdTWcdth of the Philippine Islands m the
Finest of Hard Woods.
"IT I
to 60 feet long. Molave weighs 76 pounds
to the cubic foot. Thus it sinks even in
salt water. It is used for shipbuilding
(and they make the strongest, finest lit-,
tie ships in the world in the Philippines),
for posts,, windows and joists of houses,
and rollers in the old type of sugar mills,
etc. In one of the old cathedrals here I
saw an Immense molave beam that 4iad,
Stood in place for 200 years, and was un
affected by the annay (ants) or by the
water.
Batitinan la the teak wood of the Phil
ippines. The wood is really better than
the famous teak of India. It is very
elastic and resists the action of salt wa-.
ter. It is one of the finest woods for
the planking and decks of ships in the
world. It is found all over the Philip
pines, and probably in appearance resem
bles black oak more closely than any
other tree. The logs come straight id
feet long and SO inches in diameter.
A wood something like the molave is
the yacal. having a yellowish color. It
is a tremendous weight-carrier. The logs
come 70 feet, long and 40 inches in diam
eter. The yacal Js not as exceptionally
hard as is the molave. One of the
lighter woods in the Philippines is the
mangachupay. It weighs about 63 pounds
to the cubic foot, and, though much
heavier than our commercial woods in
the United States, many of the man
gachupay logs will float. Mangachupay
is used for all ordinary house construc
tion and planking. It makes the best
sticks for ships' masts in all the Orient.
An ordinary log Is about 60 feet long and
20 inches in diameter. In giving the di
mensions of logs, the average good-sized
log Is given rather than the extraordi
nary sizes.
A wood something like, though not
quite as valuable as the mangachupay, is
the guijo.
The Philippine Cedar.
A soft wood of the Philippines Is the
huge calentas or cedar. It grows every
where, floats high' out of the water, and
almost all of the cigar boxes of the Ori
ent are made of calentas. An enormous
calentas timber exhibited at the St. Louis
Exposition was cut not far from Dalu
paon. where I am writing this article.
A well-known construction and cabinet
wood is the camagon; it comes both in
jet black and ashy red.
Among the cabinet woods is the narra,
or Philippine mahogany, an immense tree
found in great abundance and furnishing
logs 40 or more feet long and seven feet
In diameter. The wood is always worth
at least a dollar in American money a
cubic foot, and even the branehes, which
are huge and straight, are sawed into
logs. The roots of the narra extend in
huge flanges about the base of the tree,
often starting to spread outward and
downward 20 feet or more above the
ground. From these great flat flanges ca,n
be cut tremendouH tables eight or ten
feet in diameter. The photograph shows
flanges'whlch are more than 40 feet across
at the base. Usually a log of narra is
sawed up in thin planks, a single plank
being wide enough for a table or door.
When the narra Is cut to the heart the
heart wood bleeds a vivid red juice, like
LjS" - JLL
blood. The natives make cups of the
narra, and when water is put into the
cups the dry wood imparts a bluish tinge
to it, and this decoction is highly thought
of by the natives as being good for drop
sical troubles. There are two species of
narra, the yellow and the red; the one
having a golden straw color and the other
a blood red surface. When rubbed with
a little linseed oil or banana peel (varnish
does not do well In the tropics on account
of the heat), the narra sparkles and glis
tens like a plate-glass mirror. One can
see his face in it,
Valuable as Jewels.
A magnificent wood Is the tindalo, the
tree being somewhat larger in sizev and
even greater in specific gravity than the
narra. It is "one of the most valuable
jewels of the home, where it remains for
ever impervious to decay," says an old
Spanish padre (priest), "in China former
ly it sold for its weight In silver. , Even
now it Is extremely valuable. They' make
from It many curlpusdesks, chairs and
stools.' When first cut the tindalo is
bright red, then gradually it takes on a
deep red color, and In the course of years
becomes a claret red. The Chinese pre
serve the bright red color permanently by
a solution of salt water. Tindalo can be
used in all kinds of construction. It Is
used for desks and tables, for doors, win
dows, rollers, and for bedsteads. It Is
very durable exposed to the weather,
and probably no American wood cat; com
pare with it. If care is taken to keep the
wood polished, In time It becomes so lus
trous that one's face can be seen in it.
Soldiers In the Philippines in the war
days will remember the old Oriente Hotel
in Manila, and the huge staircase of rich,
glistening tindalo. Tindalo logs are some
times almost shoulder high. The Span
iards appreciated the wonderful woods.
In remote provinces In the islands one
will find mansions built by the old 9pan
Irads with - huge boards two feet in
breadth, and. shining like mirrors, bolted
to the floors; great doors made of single
boards In natural color, wine black and
red, that would have graced the homes
of Washington or Jefferson. These are
the kind of houses that one would be
proud to be born in, get married in and
die in. Such a dwelling is the one in
which I am writing this article. "King
John the First of Dulapon" they call the
owner, from Singapore to Nagasaki, eer
cause of the many people under him.
The Ebony.
A valuable wood is the Philippine
ebony. In many parts of the Islands
ebony is very plentiful, but the tree
is small. The ebony, which is the heart
of the tree, Is Jet black and forms only
about one-third of it, -the rest being
white-colored sapweod. Timbers vine
feet long and 20 Inches around are ob
tained, and they sell by weight alone,
an unusually fine specimen being worth
its weight in silver in the markets of
the world. In Masbate there is a wagon
bridge built of solid ebony.- '
The heaviest of ail known woods Is
the Philippine fungan or irenwood.
There are many fine woods in the
Philippines .well known to. old, fprestj
"
jf
ers as bein valuable, but which have
not yet been generally introduced into
the markets. Anionic these is the tree
called dao, and not listed as yet in the
government forestry books, the. woods
being only listed according to present
demand. The tree resembles a huge
sycagaore. The timber Is red.
Wvo gigantic trees, the timber of
both of which is used for building, are
the apiton tree which grows 15a feet
high, giving clear logs 100 feet long
and breast high, and the species known
as the supa.
Probably no troplqal region In the
world possesses such an abundance of
the most magnificent and costjy hard
woods as do the Philippines. Nor is
there any region where these woods
can be more easily and cheaply lum
bered. The great swamps which are
such a hindrance to commercial lum
bering in most tropical forests are not
present here in the archipelago, where
the forests are usually found on the
hillsides or rolling country. These hills
would allow of working overland cable
stages, as worked in California . and
Canada.
Money Value of a Tree.
Already the islands are filled with
numerous small cuttings, and there are
five or six large concerns engaged in
lumbering, several of which own sawmills-
Those owning sawmills are mak
ing from 30 to 50 per cent on their inr
vestment. Americans, French, Germans
and Spanish business men are becoming
interested. The forests of the Philip
pines offer a tremendous opportunity
to capital and Industry, for here is a
yast field virjjUt iorest with vtza-
Projected RTailways'wiil
Timber to Mill Men.
it."
mm
ticallj
com
etltlr
Whe
the writer
was recently on the Island of Min
he met three representatives of a big
French firm who, after a year's tour
over the world, had decided to locate
in the Philippines.
At a eonnervative 'estimate, fair
stands of timber in the Philippines will
run about 100 valuable commercial
trees to the acre, which, when put
Into log, will run not less than 80 cubic
feet to the log. A cubio font is equal
to 13 feet board measure. The cheap
est Philippine wood, red lauan. Is
bringing $40 American money per 1009
feet, hoard measure. Molave is bring
ing $135: red narra, $150: acle, 1151. In
fact standing timber in the Philippines
is probably worth from J400 to 1300
American money to the acre, even
where the growths run from 12. .100 to
14.000 feet board measure an acre. In
the states now, a forest running r.000
feet to the acre (s a fortune. In general
the Forestry Bureau counts' on about
40.03) feet b. m. to the acre as. the for
ests run, taking In both thick and thin
growths.
Using the t'arabao for Work."
In the Philippine forests the logs,
after being cut, are hauled down to the
water's edge by carabao teams. Fre
quently tiiese huge timbers are of such
extraordinary weight that, even when
skidways are built, it will take from
eight to 13 enormous carabao to haul
them through the woods. Often when a
difficult plane is encountered, where
there Is a slight upward grade. It is
necessary to make use of block and
tackle, thus pulling wHh double the
strength, to remove the great log that is
as ponderous and obstinate as some giant
boulder. When the logs have reached the
ocean beach or the deep water of some
river, they are attached to bamboo poles
in order that they may be floated out to
the sailing vessel or lighter in which they
are carried to Manila.
Philippine lumber is so heavy that half
of a vessel's hold full generally Joads her
down close to the water line. For thia
reason in the islands one never sees a
vessel with her decks covered with lum
ber. Hunters and lumbermen In the Philip
pine forests have often been startled by
the weird cry of the hour or callao bird.
The bird itself is seldom seen, but the
cry reverberates through the great for
ests for miles. The callao, which is a
variety of hornbill, is as large as a
turkey. The male possesses a bright red
bill as large as a man's two hands. In
the female the bill Is black. The bill is
a hard cellular structure especially adapt
ed to cutting the fruits and nuts on which
the callao lives. There are 12 species of
callao birds In the Philippines, none of
them being found outside. In time of
breeding, the male plasters the lemale up
Soon' Open Up the
35
I
in a tree, so as to protect ier from
possible enemies: then he feeds her. I
saw one, 'through a spyglass, feeding a
female, and it looked like a giant wood
pecker pecking a tree. The callao is one
of the oldest orders of birds, and with
its long, bony tail is probably about as
close to the lizard as any known bird.
The skin of the live callao Is practically
separated from the body, and the bird is
able to Inflate himself like a pouter pig-
eon before giving his weird, booming call.
For this reason the callao is easily
skinned If one is fortunate enough to sur
prise and shoot a specimen. At regular
intervals of the day the birds visit cer
tain trees In the dense forests, and by
lying in wait concealed the hunter may
possibly get a shot. It takes buckshot
or No. 2 shot to bring a callao down
from the tops of the trees, though their
bones are brittle and they die easily if
hit. HAMILTON WRIGHT.
APACHES WORSHIP THE SUM
Pray to Orb of Day at OutsA of
Every Great Undertaking.
The Apache?, like many other North
American tribes, are sun worshipers.
Their inyths tell them that the sun is the
artl-powprful deity, and to it all supplica
tions are addressed. On going Into battle,
planting c" or on starting on a cattle
stealing expedition the sun is asked to
look with faVor.
Tiiat they Brieve in a future -world is
proved by their Custom ( killing hordes
and burying them;, as well as their oloth
ing and implements of the chase, for- life
in the future worlds Not only the medi
cine men, but the people, claim to hold
communion with the Chindl, or spirits of
their ancestors.
They are also great believers In omens,
talismens and amulets, bwt are very -conservative,
and It 4s with .difficulty that
one gets them to discuss 'things super
natural. They will not talk inbout Gofl
among their own people with familiarity,
and scarcely at all with the white riS
Are You a Millionaire?
Pittsburg Gazette.
Tou may be a millionaire and yet net
be aware of the fact. .
uon t faint here's the smelling
Now we'll proceed.
aalta.
a. "dollar" millionaire is
number of simoleons.
worth that
llMX)o'Cmt" mil"on,lrB th possesor of
A "mill" millionaire Is forth Just 1000
But to'what class do you belong? Aha
we thought so. - ,
iuur minions, line our own can
be figured in Chinese money,
only
V.