main deck not otherwise occupied was simply filled with roosters,
all challenging one another night and day by indefatigable crowing. As
illustrating the difficulties of navigation in these parts, our steamer
was two hours getting out of the river and across the bar, a matter
of not more than a mile. Once out, she began to roll and pitch in an
incomprehensible manner, seeing there was no wind and no sea. It was
simply the never-ending contest between the Pacific Ocean and the
China Sea. Once fairly in the latter, she behaved steadily enough.

Our journey was without incident; it did not, much to
my disappointment, include the side trip sometimes made to the
Babuyanes Islands for cattle. One of these islands, Fuga, is
especially interesting; urn-burial prevailed in it in the past, the
urns in some cases being arranged in a circle around a central urn
or altar. Moreover, there is in Fuga a stone building known as the
"Castle," with arched doorways, said not to be of Spanish origin,
and near by is a plain strewn with human skulls and other bones,
probably the scene of a battle. The skulls are remarkable from their
great size, some of them being reported as extraordinary in this
respect. The present inhabitants of these islands and of the Batanes
live in stone houses, much like those of North Ireland and the islands
west of Scotland. [44] And so we had hoped, Campbell and I, that
we might get at least a look at Fuga. For, although it lies near to
Aparri, it is hard to reach; small boats, even on calm, smooth days,
being occasionally caught in the wicked currents of these waters and
swamped out of hand. The next morning we made Kurrimao, which has a
shore-line strikingly picturesque in a land almost surfeited with the
picturesque. We stayed long enough to take on a number of carabaos,
which were swum out to the ship, and then hauled out of the water by
a sling passed around their horns.