[7] Guam belonged to Spain until Colonel Thomas Anderson stopped there on his way to the Philippines with the first United States troops. The Spanish governor had not even heard that war was declared, and when the ships fired, he thought it was a salute in his honour. He surrendered the fifteen small islands; fourteen were given back to Spain in the Treaty of Paris and they were sold to Germany. Guam has an excellent harbour. It is under the control of the United States Navy at present. Marines are stationed there. [8] The party at present in power in the United States appears to have given very little attention to the Islands, except as a source of income for deserving Democrats, if we may judge from the latest Democratic platform. That document contains the promise, "as soon as practicable, to give a territorial form of government to Hawaii." For eighteen years they have had it! [9] When Mr. Dole's term as United States judge expired a few months ago, President Wilson refused to reappoint him, though all Hawaii petitioned for him. The position was given to a Democrat. [10] Castle says Halemaumau really means, "home of the _Maumau_ fern," this fern having a leaf much like the curled and twisted lava in shape. [11] A trip to the Lake of Bay should be taken and to the fertile valley of the Cagayan. The gorge of Pagsanjan is very beautiful. Los Banos is an old bathing establishment not far from Kalamba, where Rizal was born. It is part of a day's trip from Manila to this hot mineral spring, which was a fashionable resort in days gone by. Now an American military hospital has been built there. [12] The American coloured troops in the Philippines certainly deserve mention. They were among the best fighters we sent out there. [13] Koxinga was really one of the most noted characters of the Orient at that time. He was the son of a Japanese mother and a Chinese father, and seldom has China had a man to compare with him in courage, enterprise and ability. At the age of twenty-two, he held one of the highest military commands in his country. With his courage and natural ability it was his purpose to carve out a kingdom for himself. Being as shrewd as he was bold, Koxinga made the acquaintance of a Dominican friar in Amoy, whom he converted into an ambassador and sent to Manila. Fortunately for the Spaniards, Koxinga's career was cut short by his early death, in 1662, while still under forty years of age, and just as he was making preparations to invade the Philippines. [14] To-day Aguinaldo seems to be a thoroughly "reconstructed rebel," as this incident told by General Anderson's daughter shows: