reasons, in the shape of dead bodies, for putting the questions, "Who is she?" and "How much was it?" for their murders proceed usually from quarrels as to women, or land, or cattle. A good many of our officers on the frontier have been assassinated, sometimes out of mere wantonness, and they have to go about armed or guarded.

It is the extraordinary union of virtues and vices which forms the most puzzling feature in the Afghan character. To courage, strength, and the other better features of a wild, sentimental mountain people, they unite vices which are usually attributed to the decrepitude of corrupt civilizations and dying races; and though their fidelity is often able to overcome torture and death, it as often succumbs to the most trivial and meanest temptations.

I am inclined to believe that much of the badness of the Afghans is owing to the influence of Mohammedanism. One might expect that so simple and intelligible a religion, holding the doctrine of the unity of God, and admitting Christ as one of its line of prophets, would be superior in its effects to polytheistic Hindooism, and especially to Brahmanism, the acceptance of which after and in face of Buddhism involved a moral suicide on the part of the people of India. But certainly my knowledge of India does not support that conclusion. Among a purely Semitic race like the Arabs, secluded among their deserts and at a certain stereotyped stage of thought, Mohammedanism may be good, and it undoubtedly appears to have exercised a beneficial influence in its removal of ancient superstitions; but in the larger sphere and greater complication of modern life it becomes an evil influence, from its essentially Pharisaical character and its want of power to touch the human heart. I need not speak of Christianity or of Buddhism, with their enthusiasm of love and their doctrines of self-sacrifice: but even in Brahmanism there are humanizing iufluences; and in the older Hindooism, as Dr. John Muir has so well shown by his metrical translations, the law of love finds an important place. It is not even the worst of Mohammedanism that it is a system of external observances and mechanical devotion. Its central idea, as elaborated to-day, is that of the Creator and Governor of the universe as a merciless tyrant, ruling after the caprice of a fathomless will, breaking the clay of humanity into two pieces, throwing the one to the right, saying, "These into heaven, and I care not;" and the other to the left, saying, "These into hell, and I care not." Whenever God is thus regarded as an arbitrary tyrant, instead of an all-loving Father whose dealings with his children transcend our knowledge but do not revolt our moral consciousness, religion, or rather that which takes its place, becomes a frightful instrument of evil; and even when the natural working of the human heart is too strong to allow of its being carried out practically to its logical conclusions, on the other hand, it prevents our higher sympathies from being of much practical use. It is worthy of such a system that it should regard a few external observances, and the mere utterance of such a formula 66 There is no God but God, and Mohammed is his prophet," as insuring an entrance into heaven, and that its heaven should be one of purely sensual delight. I do not mean to say that Mohammed is responsible for all that Mohammedanism has become; for even in this case there has been manifested that curious tendency of religions to thrust forward and deify that which their founders began with repudiating and condemning; but he is in great part responsible, and

as,

of all famous books in the world the Koran is about the least edifying.

Hardy, brave, mean, and wicked a people as the Afghans are, they are great lovers of poetry, and have produced not a little poetry of a high order. They are very fond, at night, round their camp-fires, of reciting verses, and these verses are usually of a melancholy kind, relating to love, war, the unsatisfactoriness of all earthly enjoyment, and the cruelty of fate. Captain Raverty has rendered a great service in presenting us with an almost literal translation of the productions of the more famous Afghan poets; and these do not at all make the Afghan character more intelligible. When the women of a village ventured to come out to look at me, usually some man with a big stick drove them away with heavy blows, and remarks upon them which even a Rabelais would have hesitated to report; yet the Afghans have romantic ideas of love, and are fond of singing these beautiful lines.

"Thou art in truth the all-engrossing idea of my mind,

Every hour, every moment, by my God, I swear! "The dust of thy feet is an ointment for the eyesBy this very dust beneath thy feet I swear!

My heart ever yearneth toward thee exceedingly

By this very yearning of mine unto thee I swear!

"When thou laughest, they are nothing in comparison,

Both rubies and pearls-by thy laugh I swear! "Truly I am thy lover, and thine, thine onlyAnd this I, Kushhal, by thy sweet face swear!

THE Rev. Julian Young's "Journal" contains the subjoined good story of a polemical parishioner:

In one of my ministerial rounds at Fairlight, in Sussex, I visited Dame Pankhurstquite a character in her way: bluff, blunt, and shrewd, and close on the verge of eighty. She was seated at her tea-table, and, with knitted brows and a puzzled expression of face, was poring over her baize-covered Bible.

As soon as I entered, she took off her spectacles, wiped them with her checked apron, and deposited them on the chair by her side, and thus accosted me: "Muster Young, 'tis very handy your coming in just now, for I be sadly put about; and I ain't, to say, easy in my mind at summut as I've been a-reading in this here Book. I've stumbled, I think, on one of the things as Peter says 'is hard to be understood.'" She then pointed to the first chapter of St. James, and desired me to read aloud for her the second verse, which had so disconcerted her: "Count it all joy when ye fall into divers temptations." When I had complied with her request, she stuck her arms akimbo, and, shaking her head skeptically and defiantly, asked me "what I thought o' that? If there be meaning in them words, they mean as we are to be glad to fall into temptations! Perhaps there's summut more in the meaning of that word 'temptations' than I know on. Anyhow I can't make head or tail on't." She then hung down her head and repeated to herself, in tones of dissatisfaction, almost of indignation, the words, " temp-ta-tions! tempta-tions! temp-ta-tions, indeed! What be um, I'd like to know?" I told her that the word had two meanings-one signifying "to allure or entice;" the other, "to try;" and that in the passage to which she had directed my attention the word "temptation" meant "trial." That St. James, in writing those words, was exhorting Christians "to be patient under trial;" and that though God could not directly tempt his servants, yet that sometimes, as in the case of Job and St. Paul, he permitted them to be tempted, that by the confirmation of their faith they might win the more glory, and therefore have the greater cause for joy. In confirmation of my assertion, that God could not himself directly tempt, however he might be said to do so indirectly, I pointed her notice to the thirteenth verse of the same chapter, on which she fairly exploded, "What d'ye mean? My mother taught me to pray to God, 'Lead us not into temptation,' from the Lord's Prayer. The Master himself tells us, Watch and pray, that ye enter not into temptation;' and this here St. James, an excellent good man, I suppose, tells us that we're to be uncommon glad if we fall into temptations. Why are we to be warned against temptations, if, when they come, they are to make us happy? And then, again, as to what you've been saying out o' your own head-I mean that God can't tempt-if he can't tempt, what's the use of praying to him not to tempt us?"

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ing at her primitive loom. The upper end, consisting of a piece of bamboo, was fixed to two bars, and to the two notched ends of a small lath, which supplied the place of the weaving-beam, hooked on a wooden bow, in which the back of the lath was fitted. Placing her feet against two pegs in the ground, and bending her back, by means of the bow she stretched the material straight. A netting-needle, longer than the breadth of the web, served instead of the weaver's shuttle. A lath of wood, sharpened by a knife, represented the trestle, and after every stroke it was placed on the edge. Then the comb was pushed forward, a thread put through, struck fast, etc. The material used was the fibre of the abáca and pineapple, the latter for the more costly fabrics.

The huts of the people were composed, as usual, of bamboo and palm leaves, and mostly surrounded with splendid fields of batata, maize, caladium, and sugar-cane.

Our author found his hill-friends quite musical. One lad played very well on a kind of a lute, which realized the rude idea of the harp or plectrum. Others played on jews'harps of bamboo, and one ingenious performer had made a very creditable imitation of a European guitar, on which he played with no little skill. The musicians were very proud to display their accomplishments before the white stranger. Both men and women were found to be quite as decently clad as the Indian Christians, and to have quite as correct an idea of the proprieties of life.

The few products of a more advanced civilization which these simple people need they procure by the sale of the spontaneous products of their forests, their tobacco (in other parts of the Philippines a government monopoly), and their woven goods. Some of the head-men, indeed, are quite wealthy, and able to live with all the comforts of civilized life, did they not prefer the primitive plainness of their forefathers. Physicians, or magicians, persons supposed to have superior powers, are unknown to them, a characteristic of their barbarous state essentially different from the reigning superstition which other similar races display. While they say they believe in one God, even in Christ, and have some of the external practices of Christianity, they employ them rather as spells than defined religious ceremonies. The men are skilled hunters and agriculturists, doing all the hard work, and the women are kindly treated. Indeed, Mr. Jagor's account of this wild tribe would seem to rank them high above the Christianized Indians of the cities and villages in all the genuine virtues of life. They are peaceful and honest, justice being rigorously administered on the principle of the lex talionis. For a child a child is slain, a woman for a woman, a man for a man, the nearest kinsman performing the part of avenger or executioner. The trouble is, that this retaliation again calls for a similar course, so the affair may become a regular matter of family feud, a sort of Corsican vendetta, which only ends with the extermination of all the contending parties. The similar practice among the North American Indians and several other races is well known. In other respects the Ygorrotes of Ysaróg

are distinguished by very unusual virtues as a people. As they were not permitted to have cocoa-palms for the preparation of wine, brandy, and vinegar, so that they might not infringe the monopoly of the hacienda, they made their visitor the bearer of a petition to the Manila government, asking for the favor. Their kindness to our traveler was well repaid, for his solicitations gained for them double what they requested in their quaint petition.

On his return route to Legaspi he shot some specimens of a very curious and gigantic bat, found only in these islands, the panike. These monstrous creatures, each of whose wings covers nearly five feet when extended, hang asleep during the day from the branches of the trees, and frequently their young are seen suckling them. When the mothers were first shot it was quite affecting to see how the little animals chung more and more firmly to the bodies of their parents. This pathetic delusion, however, like many in human nature, was soon dissipated. For, when the store of milk was exhausted, the old ones were deserted, like empty bottles. Man, after all, has many points of resemblance to the lower order of creation, and the Darwinian hypothesis would seem to get point from moral as well as physical reasons.

The whole coast was found to be in a state of consternation from the ravages of Moorish corsairs, who had been carrying on a wholesale pillage and kidnapping. The pirates had established a fortified position on several small islands convenient to the mainland, and from this coign of vantage pursued their operations with a reckless daring. Government vessels, or faluás, had been sent to drive away the buccaneers, but the latter laughed them to scorn, as the assailants did not know how to use their cannon, and, moreover, held the Moors in such dread as to take safety in flight at the slightest excuse. Between the inefficiency of the Manila and district authorities, the timidity of the government crews, who were almost entirely unskilled in the manipulation of arms, and the difficulty of pursuing the depredators through the tortuous bayous and channels which make a net-work of many parts of the coast, the corsairs of Suli were having their own way. A year or two after our author's residence in the Philippines, a fleet of light-draught steam-gunboats, which had been built in England expressly for the service, succeeded not only in ridding the Philippines of these fierce pests, but of "carrying the war into Africa," and inflicting a severe punishment on the Sultan of Suli by burning down his capital town, and driving him into the interior with a loss of most of his vessels and

treasures.

Our traveler found the interior very difficult to traverse on account of the badness of the roads, and the extreme fear on the part of the people in regard to the pirates, who were ravaging on the coast and making inland incursions. Brief journeys and long stops were forced on him much to his annoyance. During one of his involuntary halts at the capital of the province he had an opportunity of witnessing the election of the district officials- -a process typical of similar

acts all over the islands. The governor conducted the election in person, in the commou hall, the gobernadorcillos and constables, with all those who had held the offices before them, being seated near by, and acting as electors. Each one wrote three names, and the one receiving the most votes was elected. The whole affair seemed to be conducted on the principle of a close corporation, and every precaution taken to keep the matter in the hands of the few.

On Mr. Jagor's departure from Legaspi to the island of Sámar, in a small schooner which happened to be making the trip in spite of the pirates, he lost his servant, Pepe, who had served him quite faithfully-that is, measured by the Philippine standard of faithfulness, which is by no means a high one. Pepe had just received his eight months' wages in a lump, and, as he had become a small capitalist, he wished to rest from his arduous labors for a while, and enjoy something of the dolce far niente to which he had lately been a stranger. None of the Philippine-Islanders could understand why any rational human being should go wandering about, enduring danger and privation, simply for the pleasure of travel and observation. The description given of the worthy Pepe is so lively and graphic that it is worth quoting:

"Pepe was good-natured, very skillful, and always good-tempered. He had learned much from the numerous Spanish soldiers and sailors resident in Cavíte, his native place, where he used to be playfully called 'the Spaniard of Cavite.' Roving from one place to another was his delight; and he quickly acquired acquaintances. He knew especially how to gain the favor of the ladies, for he possessed many social accomplishments, being equally able to play the guitar and to milk the buffalo-cows. When we came to a pueblo where a mestize, or even a 'daughter of the country' (creole), dwelt, he would, when practicable, ask permission to milk a cow; and, after bringing the señora some of the milk, under pretext of being the interpreter of my wishes, he would maintain such a flow of ingeniously courteous conversation, praising the beauty and graces of the lady, and most modestly allowing his prodigious traveling adventures to be extracted from him, that both knight and esquire beamed with brilliant radiance. A present was always welcome, and brought us many a little basket of oranges; and buffalo-milk is excellent with chocolate-but it seemed as if one seldom has the opportunity of milking a cow. Unfortunately, Pepe did not like climbing mountains, and, when he was to have gone with me, he either got the belly-ache or gave away my strong shoes, or allowed them to be stolen; the native ones, however, being allowed to remain untouched, for he knew well that they were fit only for riding, and derived comfort from the fact. In company with me he worked quickly and cheerfully; but, when alone, it became tedious to him. Particularly he found friends who hindered him, and then he would abandon his skinning of the birds, which therefore became putrid and had to be thrown away. Packing was still more disagreeable to him, and consequently he did it as quickly as possible, though not always with sufficient care: as, on one occasion, he tied up, in one and the same bundle, shoes, arsenic-soap, drawings, and chocolate. Notwithstanding trifling faults of this kind, he was very useful and agreeable to me, but he would not willingly go to such an uncivilized place as Sámar."

As his feet had become sore and inflamed, no trifling ailment in a hot climate, most of our traveler's land-journeying was now for some time done by litter. A loose mat, very thick and pliable, is laid on a frame woven with bamboo basket-work, the projecting ends being borne on the shoulders of four robust polistas. About every ten minutes the bearers are changed, and, as a protection against sun and rain, the frame is furnished with a light roof of pandanus. Though by no means a bad method of journeying when the roads are difficult, the traveler was not sorry to reach the town of Loguelócun, on the river of the same name, which flows southward to the ocean in a succession of rapids. Here the governor had provided two small but well-manned boats, the crews of which were accustomed to their work, and were alike hardy and skillful. Often they were obliged to make portages, and sometimes, in spite of the alacrity and coolness of the voya geurs, the boats were nearly swamped. At some of the more considerable water-falls the boats were let down over the chasm by means of the lianas which hung from the magnificent forest-trees, a boundless supply of strong and flexible natural ropes manufactured ready to the hand of man.

The last part of this boat-journey was of great interest, the course of the river being through white calcareous cliffs of a species of marble, clothed with superb vegetation, flowering trailers hanging down to the very water's edge, and their blossoms waving like gorgeous butterflies over the foaming waves, which glanced among the rocks with a swift, arrowy rush.

On this boat-journey opportunity offered of securing two live specimens of the macanco, or mago, an extremely rare and delicate animal, belonging to the class of semi-ape, and only found in the island of Sámar. These magos were very voracious, but disdained all vegetable food. They were even particular in their choice of insects, the live grasshopper being the favorite bonne bouche of this four-footed little epicure. It was extremely ludicrous, when one was fed in the daytime, to see the animal standing perched on his two thin legs, waving his bare tail ominously, and turning his large head-round and smooth as a billiard-ball, with very large, yellow, owl-like eyes-in every direction, looking like a darklantern on a pedestal, with a circular swivel. Only gradually would he fix his eye on the object presented, but when he did perceive it he would immediately extend his little arms sideways, as though somewhat bashful; theu, like a delighted child, would suddenly seize it with band and mouth at once, and deliberately tear the prey to pieces. During the day the mago proved sleepy, shortsighted, and morose, but at night was agile, active, and good-natured in the extreme. They became quite tame and affectionate, but did not live long enough to enable their master to take them to Europe on his return, where they would have been great rarities.

Mr. Jagor, while traveling on the coast, met several Polynesians, who had been cast away on the island, having come from the Micronesian group, nearly a thousand miles away. There were many traditions of such

wonderful but involuntary voyages having been made before. The following extract from Captain Salmon's "History of the Oriental Islands," published in 1733, is a case in point:

"Father Clan (Clain), in a letter from Manila, which has been incorporated in the 'Philosophical Transactions,' makes the following statement respecting them: 'It happened that when he was in the town of Guivam, on the island of Sámar, he met twentynine Palaos (there had been thirty, but one died soon after in Guíuan), or natives of certain recently discovered islands, who had been driven thither by the east winds, which prevail from December to May. According to their own statement, they were driven about by the winds for seventy days, without getting sight of land, until they arrived opposite to Guivam. When they sailed from their own country, their two boats were quite full, carrying thirty-five souls, including their wives and children; but several had died miserably on the way from the fatigue which they had undergone. When some one from Guivam wished to go on board to them, they

were thrown into such a state of terror that all who were in one of the boats sprang overboard, along with their wives and children. However, they at last thought it best to come into the harbor; so they came ashore on the 28th of December, 1696. They fed on cocoanuts and roots, which were charitably supplied to them, but refused even to taste cooked rice, which is the general food of the Asiatic nations. Two women, who had previously been cast away on the same islands, acted as interpreters for them... The people of the country went half-naked, and the men painted their bodies with spots and all kinds of devices. . . . As long as they were on the sea they lived on fish, which they caught in a certain kind of fish-basket, with a wide mouth but tapering to a point at the bottom, which was dragged along underneath the boats; and rain-water, when they could catch it (or, as is stated in the letter itself, preserved in the shells of the cocoa - nut), served them for drink. When they were about to be taken into the presence of the father, whom, from the great respect which was shown to him, they took for the governor, they colored their bodies entirely yellow, an operation which they considered highly important, as enabling them to appear as persons of consideration.""

It seems not improbable that there may have been many such castaways in times past, and that the inhabitants of the Philippines may have thus been much influenced by Polynesian contact, even as the people of the Western islands clearly display the influences exerted on them by the Chinese and Japanese. It would be in this way easy to account for many of the peculiarities of the Bisayans (inhabitants of Sámar and Léyte), so distinct from those of the Tagals and Bicols.

Many parts of the Sámar coast proved to be extremely beautiful. Specially was this the case in the small strait dividing the two islands. On the west were steep banks of tufa, which would tolerate no mangroves on their borders. Here the lofty, primeval forest approaches in all its sublimity close to the shore, interrupted by groves of cocoa only here and there, in whose sharply-defined shadows are to be found solitary huts. The steep hills facing the sea, and numerous small, rocky islands, are crowned with little castles of coral blocks. At the eastern end of the strait the south coast of Sámar con

sists of white limestone, like marble, but of quite modern date, which in many places forms precipitous cliffs.

At one place they project into the sea in a succession of picturesque rocks, above one hundred feet in height and rounded like a dome. These are thickly covered with glowing vegetation, and, corroded at the base by the waters of the sea, rise out of the waves like gigantic mushrooms. A peculiar atmosphere of enchantment pervades the locality, whose influence on the native mariner must be all the more powerful when, escaping from the billows outside and the buffeting of the northeast wind, he suddenly enters so tranquil a refuge. It is no wonder that superstition peopled these caverns with spirits.

Here the old Pintados (primitive inhabitants) interred their heroes and ancestors in well-locked coffins, surrounded by those objects held in most regard during life. Oftentimes the dead were embalmed with aromatic spices and wrapped up in costly cloths, while jewels were placed in their eyes, ears, and mouths, and the implements of eating and drinking left hard by. Slaves were also bound and immured alive at the funerals of great men, so that the departed chiefs could have their servants with them in the other world. The numerous coffins, ornaments, arms, and trinkets in many cases had remained undisturbed for centuries, protected by religious terrors. No boat ever would pass without the observance of special rites, derived from old heathen days, to propitiate the spirits, who were believed to have the power to inflict storm and shipwreck.

About thirty years since a zealous young monk felt his soul burn with wrath at these heathen abominations, and he determined to extirpate them by the very roots. He equipped several boats with crosses, banners, pictures of the saints, and all the improved machinery for driving out Satan, and led an expedition against the haunted rocks, which were climbed to the sound of music

and prayer, and the loud report of fireworks. After holy water had been dashed by the bucketful into the cave, the young zealot rushed in with uplifted crucifix. Of course this daring onslaught was rewarded with a brilliant victory. The coffins were broken to fragments, and the mouldering bones hurled into the sea. So the objects of superstition were annihilated, but the superstition survives to the present time.

Our traveler tells us no legend could have supplied an enchanted royal sepulchre with a more suitable approach than one of these caverns. The rock rises out of the sea with perpendicular sides of marble, and only in one spot is to be observed a natural opening made by the water, hardly two feet above the surface. Through this low archway the boat glided into a spacious circular court, overarched by the sky, the floor covered by the sea and adorned with a rich garden of corals. By the steep sides, thickly hung with lianas, ferns, and orchids, one easily climbs up to the cavern sixty feet above the

water.

One of the principal towns on the island, Basey, is celebrated for the superior endowments and laziness of its inhabitants. The

cura, or pastor, received our author with great hospitality, and gave him much aid in enlarging his collection in natural history. The natives of Basey practised a peculiar method of capturing crocodiles, which indi

CUADRILLERO.

An Armed Escort fully equipped (Hat, Shirt, Drawers, and Weapons).

cated no little ingenuity. This contrivance consists of a light raft of bamboo with a stage, on which, several feet above the water, is placed a dog or a cat securely fastened. Alongside the animal is set a strong, sharp iron hook, secured to the swimming bamboo by means of the fibres of the abáca. The crocodile, when it has swallowed the bait and the hook, endeavors in vain to break away, for the pliability of the raft prevents its being torn to pieces, and the peculiar elasticity of the bundle of fibres causes it to be very difficult to bite through it. So the raft serves as a buoy for the captured animal.

The crocodile-hunters told Mr. Jagor that the largest of the great reptiles, who were sometimes, it was said, forty feet in length, lived far away from all human habitations, generally selecting oozy swamps, overgrown with thick vegetation. Their bellies dragging along leave infallible trails for the eyes of the initiated. The parties sent out failed to obtain one of the largest size, whose skeleton the traveler was anxious to secure and take back to Europe, the old patriarchs being exceedingly wary and cunning, and not to be seduced from their haunts by any trivial device.

Shortly afterward, in the neighboring island of Léyte, however, a lake was visited which gratified the naturalist's cravings without difficulty. Here the fishermen on their loosely-bound rafts of bamboo, sinking half a foot deep in the water, moved about among an incredible number of saurians of huge

size, both parties seeming to view each other with great indifference. It was quite striking to see the fearlessness with which little girls waded out into the water within a few feet of the monsters. Fortunately the latter were amply supplied with their rations of fish, of which the lake contained a vast quantity.

In the environs of Basey the Ignatius bean grows in large quantities, though not found elsewhere. Its field of propagation is very limited, and efforts to raise it from the seed seem to have been not very successful. In these seeds is found strychnine. It is used in many households of the Philippines as a remedy, and is highly prized by the natives for its effects, which are quite exhilarating when properly and prudently governed. The bean is generally believed by the more ignorant and superstitious natives to possess magical qualities, many of them wearing it as an amulet around the neck. It is supposed to protect the owner against poison, contagion, and philters, so that indeed the devil in propria persona could not hurt the wearer. Superstition has ascribed all kinds of miracles to the Ignatius bean, in spite of the protestation and argument of the worthy fathers, who wish to have a monopoly of the miracle-making business for themselves.

The inhabitants of the islands of Sámar and Léyte are Bisayans, a race different in many respects from the Tagals and Bicols of the island of Luzon, and much inferior to the latter both in physique and character. Some of their customs are quite singular and worthy of a few brief notes. There being no markets, the buyer is obliged to seek his wares in the different houses, and in like manner the seller offers his goods. An Indian seeking to borrow money has to give ample security and pay heavy interest. He rarely is permitted to borrow more than five dollars at a time, for which sum he can be legally imprisoned in default of payment. If the debtor fails, he frequently parts with one of his children, who serves the lender for his bare food, till the debt is extinguished.

Our author met a young man who had so served for five years in liquidation of a debt of his father; in another case a pretty young girl who had loaned herself for nearly the same time to settle a debt of three dollars. It was no uncommon thing for a native to borrow two and a half dollars to purchase his exemption from the forty days of annual service, and then to work a whole year in the service of the creditor to expunge the debt.

The principle of serving to get possession of a wife is quite general in this section of the Philippines. The suitor has to labor in the house of the bride's parents for two, three, even five years, before he can take his bride home, and even money cannot buy exemption from this onerous duty. He not only labors, but is obliged to furnish all his own food except the rice. The girls are kept under very rigid control by parental authority, in order to increase the time of the lover's servitude as much as possible.

Of ancient traditions, legends, or ballads, there are next to none among this race. They have songs at their dances, but mostly spiritless improvisations, and pitched to a high,

monotonous key. They have not preserved any memorials of former civilization, and their pagan forefathers built no temples, each one performing religious rites in his own house. It was only on certain occasions that the old Bisayans celebrated the grand festival called Pandat, and worshiped in huts (expressly built to accommodate the idols), covered with foliage, and adorned with flowers and lamps. Among their gods they numbered their fathers and grandfathers, whose images were kept in the house, like the lares and penates of the old Romans.

One of the main drawbacks to the prosperity of the Philippines has been the tobacco monopoly on the part of the government, which has made the cultivation, manipulation, and sale of the plant the object of most jealous precaution.

The Manila cigars are of fine quality and flavor, and wealthy merchants throughout the Oriental ports, to whom price is no object, prefer them to the best Havana brands. In Europe, however, the Manila cigars are steadily losing their reputation, owing to the uncertain crop, the system of compulsory labor, and the peculiar restrictions laid on the growth and manufacture. The manufacture of sugar, hemp, and palm-oil, all of which might be made important articles of export, also languish under the hide-bound system of Spanish colonial policy.

Mr. Jagor, who observes in his extensive journey through the islands with the eye of a trained and impartial traveler, sees in this richly - favored group a magnificent future, but finds little hope for the full development of their resources except in the influence exerted by the United States in its trade-relations with Eastern Asia. Directly in the