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December 28, 1899

We are up at 5 a.m. The rain continues. Our strength seems to be completely exhausted. At 6 o’clock the honorable president ordered us on the march. So we begin the journey, though we slept in the water last night, had nothing to eat all day yesterday, and without even having any breakfast now. We are wet.

The rain stopped at 8 o’clock, and the sun is coming out, lessening our suffering from the cold. We have found a large “camote” patch, and we are all making a breakfast on raw “camotes.”

The path we have been traveling is so very narrow that we had to repair it at some points. One of the honorable president’s horses fell into a precipice and died. Finding no food in these regions to appease our hunger, we laid hands on the horse and utilized him for our luncheon. Afterwards we continued the journey until suddenly attacked by Igorrotes. The lances which they were throwing at us came from many points. The Igorrotes were occupying the dense part of the woods. The road along which we were passing was so narrow we could only travel in single file.

It was 5 o’clock in the afternoon, night was coming on, and so the honorable president, wishing to give these people a lesson, ordered 25 soldiers to go back and fire a volley at those who were pursuing us or followed on our trail. And so the 25 soldiers returned and fired several volleys at those Igorrotes. But as these people are much accustomed to the mountain, they run away and dodged about in the precipices until the pursuing soldiers lost sight of them.

Night came on us, and as we feared that the Igorrotes, under protection of the dense woods, might cause us some losses, the honorable, president decided we should seek a secure spot for pitching our camp. Having already found a good place we have halted here to spend the night.