small
clearing near the sea. Leaving the camp, we went along the almost
indistinguishable Moro trail to where the mighty Agus River plunges in
a greenish torrent over an abrupt wall into the deep, misty cavern far
below. The rushing of the waters guided us in places where we found
the trail inadequate. Arriving at the falls, we scrambled down by
means of vines until we reached a narrow shelf near where the cataract
began its plunge. Upon the opposite side an unyielding precipice was
covered with a damp green coat of moss and fern. It took five seconds
for a falling stone to reach the seething cloud of mist below.

The trail back to the camp was very wild. It led through jungles
of dense underbrush, where monkeys scolded at us, and where wild
pigs, with startled grunts, bolted precipitously for the thicket. A
deep ravine would be bridged by a fallen tree. The Iligan-Marahui
road now penetrates the wildest country in the world, and the most
wonderful. Turning abruptly from the coast about five miles from
Iligan, it winds among the rocky hills through forests of mahogany and
ebony, through jungles of rattan and young bamboo, and spanning the
swift Agus River with a modern steel bridge, finally connects the lake
and sea. It has been built to meet the military road from the south
coast, thus making possible, for the first time, communication _via_
the interior. The new roads practically follow the old Moro trails.

The scene at early morning on the road was one of great activity. Soon
after reveille the men are mustered, armed with picks and shovels in
the place of the more customary "Krag," and long before the tropic
sun has risen over the primeval woods, the chatter of monkeys and the
crow of jungle-cock is mingled with the crash of trees, the click
of shovels and the rumble of the dump-cart. The continued blasting
on the upper road, near the "Point of Rocks," disturbs the colonies
of squawking birds that dart into the forest depths like flashes of
bright color. As the land is cleared for fifty yards on either side in
order to admit the sunlight and to keep the Moras at a proper range,
the great macao-trees, with their snaky, parasitic vines, on crashing
to the ground, dislodge the pallid fungi and extraordinary orchids from
their heavy foliage. Deep cuts into the clayey soil sometimes bisect
whole galleries of wonderful white ants, causing untold consternation
to the occupants.

Each squad of soldiers was protected by