THE EVACUATION OF HAVANA.

The complete transfer of authority in the island of Cuba from Spain to the United States took place on Sunday, January 1, 1899. At noon on that day Captain-General Castellanos and staff met the representatives of the United States in the hall of his palace, and with due formality and marked Spanish courtesy, in the name of the King and Queen Regent of Spain, delivered possession of Cuba to General Wade, head of the American Evacuation Committee, and he in turn transferred the same to General Brooke, who had been appointed by President McKinley as Military Governor of the Division of Cuba. No unpleasant incident marred the occasion. General Castellanos spoke with evident yet becoming emotion on so important an occasion. Three Cuban generals were present, who, at General Castellanos' request, were presented to him, and the Spaniard said, with marked grace and evident sincerity, "I am sorry, gentlemen, that we are enemies, being of the same blood;" to which one of the Cuban patriots courteously responded, with commendable charity, "We fought only for Cuba, and now that she is free we are no longer enemies."

The formal transfer had scarcely taken place within the palace hall when the flag of Spain was lowered from Morro Castle, Cabanas Fortress, and all the public buildings, and the stars and stripes instantly arose in its place on the flagpoles of these old and historic buildings. As its graceful folds floated gently out upon the breeze, the crowds from the streets cheered, the band played the most appropriate of all airs, while voices in many places in the throng, catching up the tune, sang the inspiring words of the "Star-Spangled Banner."

OUR NEW POSSESSIONS (CONTINUED).

BEAUTIFUL PORTO RICO.

It was in November of the year 1493, on his second voyage to the New World, that Columbus landed upon a strange island in quest of water for his ships. He found it in abundance, and called the place Aquadilla—the watering place. As he had done at Cuba the year before, the great discoverer held pleasant conferences with the natives, and with due ceremony took possession of the island for his benefactors and sovereigns—Ferdinand and Isabella of Spain. From that day until it was ceded to the United States in 1898, as a result of the Spanish-American War, Porto Rico remained one of the most attractive and valuable of Spain's West Indian possessions.

The simple and friendly natives gladly welcomed their Spanish invaders, who, with the same promptness which was manifested in Cuba, proceeded to enslave and exterminate them. In 1510, Ponce de Leon founded the first settlement on the site of the present village of Puerto Viejo. The next year the noted invader founded San Juan, the present capital of the island. One of the most interesting sights of this old city to-day is the Casa Blanca, built at that period as the palatial residence of Ponce de Leon. It was there, perhaps, after he had finished his conquest of the island, that this famous old Spaniard listened to the wonderful story of the natives, who served him as slaves, concerning the mysterious country over the sea which had hidden in its forests a fountain wherein an old man might plunge and be restored to all the vigor of youth. It was there and thus, perhaps, while sitting at leisure in his palace, that de Leon planned the voyage in search of that "fountain of youth" which resulted in the discovery and exploration of Florida.

ANCIENT INHABITANTS.

As to the number of natives in Porto Rico when the Spaniards came old chroniclers differ. Some say there were 500,000, others 300,000. It is all surmise. Probably the latter figure is an over-estimate, for Cuba, more than ten times as large, was not thought to contain more than half a million inhabitants at most. A detailed account of their manners and customs was written by one of the early Spaniards, and part of it is translated by the British Consul, Mr. Bidwell, in his Consular Report of 1880. Some of the statements in this old book are most peculiar and interesting. Within the last forty years archæologists have discovered many stone axes, spear-heads and knives, stone and clay images, and pieces of earthenware made by the aboriginal Porto Ricans, and these are preserved in the Smithsonian Institute at Washington, in Berlin, and elsewhere. It is curious that none of these remains had been found prior to 1856. On the banks of the Rio Grande there still stands, also, a rude stone monument, with strange designs carved upon its surface.

From the earliest times, the island, with its rich produce and commerce, was the prey of robbers. The fierce cannibal Caribs from the south made expeditions to it before the white men came; and for many decades after the Spanish conquest it suffered attacks from pirates by sea and brigands upon land, who found easy hiding within its deep forests.

ATTACKS AND INVASIONS BY FOREIGN FORCES.

In 1595, San Juan was sacked by the English under Drake, and again, three years later, by the Duke of Cumberland. In 1615, Baldwin Heinrich, a Dutchman, lost his life in an attack upon the governor's castle, and several of his ships were destroyed by a hurricane. The English failed to capture it, fifty-three years later; and Abercrombie tried it again in 1797, but had to give up the undertaking after a three days' siege. It was one hundred and one years after Abercrombie's siege before another hostile fleet appeared before and bombarded San Juan. That was done by Admiral Sampson, May 12, 1898, with the United States squadron of modern ironclad battleships and cruisers. In this engagement Morro Castle, which, though impregnable a hundred years before, was unable to withstand modern guns, and was in a large part reduced to ruins.

General Nelson A. Miles landed his United States troops on the island in July, 1898, and on the 12th of August, before he completed his conquest, hostilities were closed by the protocol of peace, and amid the rejoicing of the natives "Beautiful Porto Rico" became a province of the United States. The one and only attempt the Porto Ricans ever made to throw off the Spanish yoke was in 1820; but conditions for hiding from the soldiers were not so good as the Cubans enjoyed in their large island, and Spanish supremacy was completely re-established by 1823.

THE ISLAND AND ITS POPULATION.

Porto Rico is at once the most healthful and most densely populated island of the West Indies. It is almost rectangular in form—100 miles long and 36 broad. Its total area is about 3,600 square miles—a little larger than the combined areas of Rhode Island and Delaware. Its population, unlike that of Cuba, has greatly increased within the last fifty years. In 1830, it numbered 319,000; in 1887, 813,937—about 220 people to the square mile, a density which few States of the Union can equal. About half of its population are negroes or mulattoes, who were introduced by the Spaniards as slaves in the 16th and 17th centuries.

Among the people of European origin the most numerous are the Spaniards, with many Germans, Swedes, Danes, Russians, Frenchmen, Chuetos (descendants from the Moorish Jews), and natives of the Canary Islands. There are also a number of Chinese, while the Gibaros, or small land-holders and day-laborers of the country districts, are a curious old Spanish cross with the aboriginal Indian blood. In this class the aborigines are more fortunate than the original Cubans in having even a trace of their blood preserved.

The island is said to be capable of easily supporting three times its present population, the soil is so universally fertile and its resources are so well diversified. Though droughts occur in certain parts of the island, it is all extremely well watered, by more than one thousand streams, enumerated on the maps, and the dry sections have a system of irrigation which may be operated very effectually and with little expense. Of the 1,300 streams, forty-seven are considerable rivers.

TIMBER IN ABUNDANCE AND VARIETY.

Forests still cover all the elevated parts of the hill country of the interior, the inhabitants living mostly along the coast. The main need to set the interior teeming with a thrifty and healthy population is a system of good roads. The interior, with the exception of a few extensive savannas, is one vast expanse of rounded hills, covered with such rich soil that they may be cultivated to their summits. At present these forests are accessible only by mule tracks. "The timber of the island," says our official report, "comprises more than five hundred varieties of trees, and in the more elevated regions the vegetation of the temperate zones is not unknown. On the hills is found a luxuriant and diversified vegetation, tree-ferns and mountain palms being abundant. At a lower level grow many varieties of trees noted for their useful woods, such as the mahogany, cedar, walnut, and laurel. The mammee, guaiacum, and copal, besides other trees and shrubs valuable for their gum, flourish in all parts of the island. The coffee tree and sugar cane, both of which grow well at an altitude of a thousand feet or more, were introduced into the island—the former from Martinique in 1722, the latter from the Canaries, through Santo Domingo. Tobacco grows easily in the lowlands, while maize, pineapples, bananas, etc., are all prolific. The banana and plantain bear fruit within ten months after planting, and like the cocoa palm, live through an ordinary life-time."

MINERALS AND MINING.

"The mineral resources of the island," says our consul in his report, "have been very little developed, the only mineral industry of any importance being the salt works situated at Guanica, Salinas, and Cabo Rojo. Sulphides of copper and magnetic oxides of iron are found in large quantities, and formerly gold to a considerable extent was found in many of the streams. At present the natives still wash out nuggets by the crude process in use in the time of Ponce de Leon. Marble, carbonates, lignite, and amber are also present in varying quantities, and hot springs and mineral waters occur, the best known ones being at Coamo, near Santa Isabel."

COMMERCE.

The commerce of Porto Rico amounted, in 1896, to $36,624,120, exceeding the records of all previous years; the increase, no doubt, being largely due to the unsettled condition of Cuba. The value of the exports for the same year was, for the first time for more than a decade, slightly in excess of that of the imports; the former being valued at $18,341,430, the latter at $18,282,690. The chief exports from the island are agricultural products. The principal articles are sugar, coffee, molasses, and tobacco; while rice, wheat, flour, and manufactured articles are among the chief imports. The value of the sugar and molasses exported to the United States during the ten years from 1888 to 1897 made up 95 per cent. of the total value of the exports to that country. Fruits, nuts, and spices are also exported to a small extent. Of the non-agricultural exports the most important are perfumery and cosmetics; chemicals, drugs, and dyes; unmanufactured wood, and salt.

The leading article of import from the United States is wheat flour. Corn and meal, bread, biscuit, meats, dairy products, wood and its manufactures, iron, steel, etc., are also imported.

CITIES AND TOWNS.

San Juan, the capital, is situated on an island off the northern coast of the mainland, with which it is now connected by the San Antonio bridge. The city is a perfect specimen of a walled and fortified town, with Morro Castle crowning the promontory at the western extremity of the island. The population, including the inhabitants of Marina and Puerta de Tierra, as well as those within the city walls, was estimated in 1896 at 30,000, and consists largely of negroes and of mixed races. Owing to the lack of a good water supply, and the general unsanitary conditions which prevail, the city is unhealthy. The houses are all of two stories, the poorer inhabitants occupying the ground floor, while those better off live above them. There is no running water in the city, the inhabitants being dependent for their supply upon the rainfall which is caught on the flat roofs of the houses and stored in cisterns, and in dry seasons the supply is entirely exhausted. The city is built upon clay mixed with lime packed hard and impervious to water. Its manufactures are of small importance.

The city of Ponce, with a population of 37,500, and in commercial importance the second city of Porto Rico, is situated two miles from the coast in the southern part of the island. With an ample water supply conveyed to the city by an aqueduct it is, perhaps, the healthiest town on the island. Playa, its port, having a population of 5,000, is connected with it by a fine road.

The town of Arecibo, with a population of from 6,000 to 7,000, is situated on the northern coast of Porto Rico, and is the port for a district of some 30,000 inhabitants.

CLIMATE.

The climate of the island, though hot and humid, is healthful, except in marshy districts and in cities where sanitary rules are neglected. Yellow fever seldom occurs, and when it does it is confined to the unsanitary towns and their surroundings, never appearing far from the coasts. The thermometer does not fall below 50° or rise above 90°. The heat is not so great as at Santiago, though the latter is one and a half degrees further north. As in Cuba, there are but two seasons, the rainy and the dry, the former lasting from July to December, the latter from January to the close of June. The delightful, dry and salubrious atmosphere of midwinter and spring, with its general healthfulness, promises to bring this island into prominence both as a resort for invalids and for homes to those who would escape the rigors of northern winters.

Porto Rico is an ideal lazy man's country, and the overworked American will, undoubtedly, come to make it more and more his Mecca for rest and recuperation. Even the interior feels the soft, salt air from the ocean. The people are kind-hearted, "easy-going," hospitable, and fond of amusement. Every environment conduces to the dismission of all worriment, to rest, sleep, and a happy-go-lucky state of mind.

OUR NEW POSSESSIONS (CONTINUED).

THE PHILIPPINE ISLANDS.

"Most bounteous here in her sea-girt lands,
Nature stretches forth her hands,

And walks on gold and silver, and knows her power increased,
Nor fears the tyrant longer—'Our Lady of the East.'"—Stoddard.

The most important, and by far the most interesting, as well as the least known of America's new possessions, gained by her war with Spain, are the Philippine Islands. Comparatively few Americans have ever set foot upon that far-away and semi-civilized land, the possession of which enables America to say with England, "The sun never sets upon our flag."

The Philippines lie almost exactly on the other side of the globe from us. Approximately speaking, our noonday is their midnight; our sunset is their sunrise. There are some 1,200 of these islands, 400 of which are inhabited or capable of supporting a population; they cover about 125,000 square miles; they lie in the tropical seas, generally speaking, from five to eighteen degrees north latitude, and are bounded by the China Sea on the west and the Pacific Ocean on the east; they are about 7,000 miles southwest from San Francisco, a little over 600 southeast from Hong Kong, China, and about 1,000 almost due north from Australia; they contain between 5,000,000 and 8,000,000 inhabitants, about one-third of whom had prior to Dewey's victory, May 1, 1898, acknowledged Spanish sovereignty to the extent of paying regular tribute to the Spanish crown; the remainder are bound together in tribes under independent native princes or Mohammedan rulers. Perhaps 2,500,000 all told have become nominal Catholics in religion. The rest are Mohammedans and idolaters. There are no Protestant churches in the islands.

THE STORY OF DISCOVERY.

It was twenty-nine years after Columbus discovered America that Magellan saw the Philippines, the largest archipelago in the world, in 1521. The voyage of Magellan was much longer and scarcely less heroic than that of the discoverer of America. Having been provided with a fleet by the Spanish king with which to search for spice islands, but secretly determined to sail round the world, he set out with five vessels on August 10, 1519, crossed the Atlantic to America, and skirted the eastern coast southward in the hope of finding some western passage into the Pacific, which, a few years previous, had been discovered by Balboa. It was a year and two months to a day from the time he left Spain until he reached the southern point of the mainland of South America and passed through the straight which has since borne his name. On the way, one of his vessels deserted; another was wrecked in a storm. When he passed through the Straight of Magellan he had remaining but three of his original five ships, and they were the first European vessels that ever breasted the waves of the mighty western ocean. Once upon the unknown but placid sea—which he named the Pacific—the bold navigator steered straight to the northwest. Five months later, about March 1st, he discovered the Ladrone Islands—which name Magellan gave to the group on account of the thieving propensities of the natives—the word Ladrone meaning robber.

After a short stay at the islands, he steered southwest, landing on the north coast of Mindanao, the second largest island of the Philippines. The natives were friendly and offered to pilot Magellan to the island of Cebu, which lay to the north, and which they reported to be very rich. After taking possession of Mindanao in the name of his king, the discoverer proceeded to Cebu, where he made such demonstrations and gave such descriptions of the glory and power of Spain that he easily formed a treaty with the king of the island, who swore allegiance to his new-found master and had himself and chief advisers baptized in the Catholic faith. Magellan then joined the king in his war against some of the neighboring powers, and on April 25, 1521, was killed in a skirmish. The spot where he fell is now marked by a monument.

FIRST CIRCUMNAVIGATION OF THE GLOBE.

Trouble soon arose between Magellan's sailors and their new-found allies. The Spaniards were invited to a banquet, and twenty-seven of them were treacherously slain. The remainder, fearing for their lives, escaped in their ships and sailed for home. It was soon discovered that they had too few men to manage the three vessels, and one of them was destroyed. The other two proceeded on their voyage and discovered the spice island of Tidor, where they loaded with spices; but a few days later one of the vessels sprang a leak and went down with her freight and crew. The other, after many hardships, reached Spain, thus completing the first circumnavigation of the globe.

SECOND EXPEDITION TO THE PHILIPPINES.

In 1555, Philip II. came to the Spanish throne and determined to send another expedition to the East Indies. His religious zeal inspired him to conquer and christianize the islands. To shorten the long and dangerous voyage, he decided to prepare and start with five ships from the coast of Mexico. Miguel Lopez de Legaspi led the expedition, consisting of four hundred soldiers and sailors and six Augustine monks. In due time the expedition landed at Cebu. The formidable appearance of the ships awed the natives, and on April 27, 1565—forty years after Magellan's remnant had fled from the island—Legaspi landed and took possession. In honor of the Spanish king the archipelago was given the name of the Philippine Islands.

In 1570 Legaspi sent his grandson, Salcedo, to subdue the island of Luzon, the northernmost and the largest of the Philippine group. He landed near the present site of Manila. The trustful natives readily agreed to accept the Spanish king as their master, and to pay tribute. Such slight tribal resistances as were offered were quickly subdued. The next year Legaspi went to Manila to visit his grandson; and, seeing the importance of the situation and its fine harbor, declared that city the capital of the whole archipelago and the king of Spain the sovereign of all the islands. Accordingly, he moved his headquarters to that point, built houses and fortifications, and within a year had the city well organized, when he died, leaving Salcedo as his successor in command. It is remarkable how much these two men accomplished with so small a force; but they did it not so much by arms as by cajoling and deceiving the simple natives. Furthermore, they allowed the conquered people to be governed by their own chiefs in their own way, so long as they paid a liberal tribute to the Spanish crown.

STRUGGLES FOE SUPREMACY.

The history of the Philippines has been monotonous from their discovery until the present, a monotony broken at times by periods of adventures in which Manila has generally been the central scene. About 1580, Lima-hong, a Chinese pirate, took the city with an armed fleet of sixty-two vessels, bearing 4,000 men and 1,500 women. They met with stubborn resistance, but succeeded in scaling the walls and entering the city. The Spanish forces were driven into a fort, which the Chinese stormed. A bloody hand-to-hand conflict followed, and the Chinese were finally repulsed.

Early in the seventeenth century the Dutch attempted to obtain possession of the Philippines. They captured scores of Spanish merchantmen and treasure ships. Many naval engagements followed, the details of which read like the thrilling records of buccaneers and pirates, rather than the wars between two civil powers. Finally, after half a century of warfare, the Dutch were decisively beaten, and abandoned their efforts to capture the Spanish islands, much to the disadvantage of the Filipinos, for the islands of Java, Sumatra, and other Dutch possessions to the south of the Philippines have been remarkably prosperous under the mild rule of the Netherlands.

MANILA TAKEN BY THE ENGLISH.

In 1662, the Chinese planned a revolution against the Spanish authorities. The governor heard of it, and a general massacre of the Mongolians followed. It was even planned to destroy every Chinaman on the islands, and they were in a fair way to do it, when, at length, the Spaniards bethought themselves that by so doing they would practically depopulate the islands of tradesmen and mechanics. Accordingly, they offered pardon to those who would surrender and swear allegiance. A century later, England sent a fleet under Admiral Cornish, with General Draper commanding the troops, against Manila. After a desperate battle the city fell, and the terms of surrender incorporated provisions for free trade, freedom of speech, and, best of all, freedom in religion to the inhabitants of the islands, and required Spain to pay England about $4,000,000 indemnity. By the Peace of Paris, in 1763, however, the war between England and Spain was terminated, and one of the conditions was that Spain should retain the sovereignty of the Philippines. The English troops were withdrawn, and the unfortunate islands were again placed (as Cuba was by the same treaty) under the domination of their tyrannical mistress, and remained under Spanish rule from that time until the Americans freed them in 1898.

UPRISINGS OF THE NATIVES.

In nearly all the uprisings of the natives, the tyranny of the church, as conducted by the friars and priests, was the cause. Such was the case in 1622, in 1649, and in 1660. The occasion of the revolt of 1744 is a fair example of the provocations leading to all. A Jesuit priest ordered all his parishioners arrested as criminals when they failed to attend mass. One of the unfortunates died, and the priest denied him rights of burial, ordering that his body be thrown upon the ground and left to rot in the sun before his dwelling. The brother of the man in his exasperation organized a mob, captured the priest, killed him, and exposed his body for four days. Thus was formed the nucleus of a rebel army. The insurgents in their mountain fastnesses gained their independence and maintained it for thirty-five years, until they secured from Spain a promise of the expulsion of the Jesuit priests from the colony.

Other revolutions followed in 1823, 1827, and 1844, but all were suppressed. In 1872, the most formidable outbreak up to that time occurred at Cavite. Hatred of the Spanish friars was the cause of this uprising also. Spain had promised in the Council of Trent to prohibit friars from holding parishes. The promises were never carried out, and the friars grew continually richer and more powerful and oppressive. Had the plan of the insurgents not been balked by a mistaken signal, no doubt they would have destroyed the Spanish garrison at Manila, but a misunderstanding caused their defeat. The friars insisted that the captured leaders should be executed, and it was done.

THE LAST STRUGGLE FOR LIBERTY.

In 1896, the insurrection broke out again. Its causes were the old oppressions: unbearable taxes, and imprisonment or banishment, with the complete confiscation of property of those who could not pay; no justice except for those who could buy it; extortion by the friars; marriage ceremony so costly that a poor man could not pay the fee; homes and families broken up and ruined; burial refused to the dead, unless a large sum was paid in advance; no provision and no chance for education. Such were some of the causes that again goaded the natives to revolution and nerved them with courage to achieve victory after victory over their enemies until they were, promised most of the reforms which they demanded. Then they laid down their arms, and, as usual, the Governor-General failed to carry out a single pledge.

Such was the condition, and another revolt, more formidable than any of the past, was forming, when Commodore Dewey with his American fleet entered Manila Bay, May 1, 1898, and, by a victory unparalleled in naval warfare, sunk the Spanish ships, silenced the forts, and dethroned the power of Spain forever in a land which her tyranny had blighted for more than three hundred years.

THE PEOPLE OF THE PHILIPPINE ISLANDS: THEIR MANNERS AND CUSTOMS.

It is impossible within the scope of this article to give details concerning all the inhabitants of this far-away archipelago. Professor Worcester, of the University of Michigan, tells us that the population comprises more than eighty distinct tribes, with individual peculiarities. They are scattered over hundreds of islands, and one who really wants to know these peoples must leave cities and towns far behind, and, at the risk of his life, through pathless forests, amid volcanic mountains, at the mercy of savages, penetrate to the innermost wilds. Notwithstanding the fact that for hundreds of years bold men, led by the love of science or by the spirit of adventure, have continued to penetrate these dark regions, there are many sections where the foot of civilized man has never trod; or, if so, he came not back to tell of the lands and peoples which his eyes beheld.

DIFFICULTIES OF EXPLORING THE COUNTRY.

There have been great obstacles in the way of a thorough exploration of these islands. Spain persistently opposed the representatives of any other nation entering the country. She suspected every man with a gun of designing to raise an insurrection or make mischief among the natives. The account of red tape necessary to secure guns and ammunition for a little party of four or five explorers admitted through the customs at Manila is one of the most significant, as well as one of the most humorous, passages in Professor Worcester's story of his several years' sojourn while exploring the archipelago.

In the second place, the savage tribes in the interior had no respect for Spain's authority, and will have none for ours for years to come. Two-thirds of them paid no tribute, and many of them never heard of Spain, or, if so, only remembered that a long time ago white men came and cruelly persecuted the natives along the shore. These wild tribes think themselves still the owners of the land. Some of them go naked and practice cannibalism and other horrible savage customs. Any explorer's life is in danger among them; consequently most tourists to the Philippines see Manila and make short excursions around that city. The more ambitious run down to the cities of Iloilo and Cebu, making short excursions into the country from those points, and then return, thinking they have seen the Philippines. Nothing could be further from the truth. Such travelers no more see the Philippine Islands than Columbus explored America.

Even near the coast there are savages who are almost as ignorant as their brethren in the interior. Mr. Stevens tells us that only "thirty miles from Manila is a race of dwarfs that go without clothes, wear knee-bracelets of horsehair, and respect nothing but the jungle in which they live." The principal native peoples are of Malayan origin. Of these, to the north of Manila are the Igorrotes; in the islands south of Luzon are the civilized Visayas, and below them in Mindanao and the Sulu Archipelago are the fierce Moros, who originally came from the island of Borneo, settling in the Philippines a short time before the Spanish discovery. They are Mohammedans in religion, and as fanatical and as fearless fighters as the Turks themselves. For three hundred years the Spaniards have been fighting these savages, and while they have overcome them in nearly all the coast towns, they have expended, it is said, upward of $100,000,000 and sacrificed more than one hundred thousand lives in doing so.

THE WARLIKE MOROS.

The fierce Moro warriors keep the Spanish settlers along their coasts in a constant state of alarm, and the visitor to the towns feels as if he were at an Indian outpost in early American history, because of the constant state of apprehension that prevails. Fortunately, however, the Moros along the coast have learned to distinguish between the Spaniard and the Englishman or American, and through them the generosity of the Englese, as they call all Anglo-Saxons, has spread to their brethren in the interior. Therefore, American and English explorers have been enabled to go into sections where the Spanish friars and monks, who have been practically the only Spanish explorers, would meet with certain death. The Mohammedan fanaticism of the Moros, and that of the Catholic friars and Jesuits, absolutely refuse compromise.

The Negritos (little Negroes) and the Mangyans are the principal representatives of the aboriginal inhabitants before the Malayan tribes came. There are supposed to be, collectively, about 1,000,000 of them, and they are almost as destitute of clothing and as uncivilized as the savages whom Columbus found in America, and far more degenerate and loathsome in habits.

THE CITY OF MANILA.

The Island of Luzon, on which the city of Manila stands, is about as large as the State of New York, its area being variously estimated at from 43,000 to 47,000 square smiles. It is the largest island in the Philippine group, comprising perhaps one-third of the area of the entire archipelago. Its inhabitants are the most civilized, and its territory the most thoroughly explored. The city of Manila is the metropolis of the Philippines. The population of the city proper and its environs is considered to be some 300,000 souls, of whom 200,000 are natives, 40,000 full-blooded Chinese, 50,000 Chinese half-castes, 5,000 Spanish, mostly soldiers, 4,000 Spanish half-castes, and 300 white foreigners other than Spaniards. Mr. Joseph Earle Stevens, already referred to, who represented the only American firm in the city of Manila, under Spanish rule (which finally had to turn its business over to the English and leave the island a few years since), informs us that he and three others were the only representatives of the United States in Manila as late as 1893.

The city is built on a beautiful bay from twenty-five to thirty miles across, and on both shores of the Pasig River. On the right bank of the river, going up from the bay, is the old walled town, and around the walls are the weedy, moats or ditches. The heavy guns and frowning cannon from the walls suggest a troubled past. This old city is built in triangular form, about a mile on each side, and is regarded as very unhealthful, for the walls both keep out the breeze and keep in the foul air and odors. The principal buildings in the old part of the city are the cathedral, many parish churches, a few schoolhouses, and the official buildings. The population in the walled city is given at 20,000. Up to a few years ago, no foreigner was permitted to sleep within its walls on account of the Spaniards' fear of a conspiracy. A bridge across the Pasig connects old Manila with the new or unwalled city, where nearly all of the business is done and the native and foreign residents live.

EARTHQUAKES AND TYPHOONS.

It does not take one long to exhaust the sights of Manila, if the people, who are always interesting, are excepted. Aside from the cathedral and a few of the churches, the buildings of the city are anything but imposing. In fact, there is little encouragement to construct fine edifices because of the danger from earthquakes and typhoons. It is said that not a year passes without a number of slight earthquake shocks, and very serious ones have occurred. In 1645 nearly all of the public buildings were wrecked and 600 persons killed. A very destructive earthquake was that of 1863, when 400 people were killed, 2,000 wounded, and 46 public buildings and 1,100 private houses were badly injured or completely destroyed. In 1874 earthquakes were again very numerous throughout the islands, shocks being felt at intervals in certain sections for several weeks. But the most violent convulsion of modern times occurred in 1880 when even greater destruction than in 1863 visited Manila and other towns of Luzon. Consequently there are very few buildings to be found more than two stories high; and the heavy tile roofs formerly in use have, for the most part, been replaced by lighter coverings of galvanized iron.

These light roofs, however, are in constant danger of being stripped off by the typhoons, terrible storms which come with a twisting motion as if rising from the earth or the sea, fairly pulling everything detachable after them. Masts of ships and roofs of houses are frequently carried by these hurricanes miles distant. The better to resist the typhoons, most of the light native houses are built on bamboo poles, which allow the wind to pass freely under them, and sway and bend in the storm like a tree; whereas, if they were set solidly on the earth, they would be lifted up bodily and carried away. Glass windows being too frail to resist the shaking of the earthquakes and the typhoons, small, translucent oyster shells are used instead. The light thus admitted resembles that passing through ground-glass, or, rather, stained glass, for the coloring in the shells imparts a mellow tinted radiance like the windows of a cathedral.

MANILA AS A BUSINESS CENTER.

The streets of Manila are wretchedly paved or not paved at all, and as late as 1893 were lighted by kerosene lamps or by wicks suspended in dishes of cocoanut oil. Lately an electric plant has been introduced, and parts of the city are lighted in this manner. There are two lines of street cars in Manila. The motive power for a car is a single small pony, and foreigners marvel to see one of those little animals drawing thirty-odd people.

The retail trade and petty banking of Manila is almost entirely in the hands of the half-castes and Chinese, and many of them have grown immensely wealthy. There are only about three hundred Europeans in business in the whole Philippine group, and they conduct the bulk of the importing and exporting trade. Manila contains a number of large cigar and cigarette factories, one of which employs 10,000 hands. There is also a sugar refinery, a steam rice mill, and a rope factory worked partly by men and partly by oxen, a Spanish brewery and a German cement factory, a Swiss umbrella factory and a Swiss hat factory. The single cotton mill, in which $200,000 of English capital is invested, runs 6,000 spindles.

The statistics of 1897 show that the whole trade of Manila comprised only forty-five Spanish, nineteen German, and seventeen English firms, with six Swiss brokers and two French storekeepers having large establishments. One of the most profitable businesses is said to be that of selling cheap jewelry to the natives. Breastpins which dealers buy in Europe for twelve cents each are readily sold for from $1.50 to $2.00 each to the simple Filipinos. Almost everything that is manufactured abroad has a fine prospective market in the Philippines, when the condition of the people permits them to buy.

A certain charm attaches to many specimens of native handiwork. The women weave exquisitely beautiful fabrics from the fiber of plants. The floors of Manila houses are admired by all foreigners. They are made of hard wood and polished with banana leaves and greasy cloths until they shine brightly and give an aspect of cool airiness to the room.

Any kind of amusement is popular with the Filipinos—with so much leisure on their hands—provided it does not require too great exertion on their part. They are fond of the theatre, and, up to a few years ago, bullfighting was a favorite pastime; but the most prominent of modern amusements for the natives and half-castes is cockfighting. It is said that every native has his fighting cock, which is reared and trained with the greatest care until he shows sufficient skill to entitle him to an entrance into the public cockpit where he will fight for a prize. The chickens occupy the family residence, roosting overhead; and, in case of fire, it is said that the game "rooster" is saved before the babies. Professor Worcester tells an amusing story of the annoyance of the crowing cocks above his head in the morning and the devices and tricks he and his companions employed to quiet them. The Manila lottery is another institution which intensely excites the sluggish native, and takes from him the money which he does not lose on the cockfights. Under the United States Government this lottery will, no doubt, be abolished in time. It formerly belonged to the Spanish Government, and Spain derived an annual profit of half a million dollars from it.

GENERAL COMMERCE OF THE PHILIPPINES.

It is hardly necessary, so far as the commercial world is concerned, to mention any other locality outside of the city of Manila. To commerce, this city (whose total imports in 1897 were only $10,000,000 and its exports $20,000,000) is the Philippine Islands. Its present meagre foreign trade represents only an average purchase of about one dollar per inhabitant, and an average sale of two dollars per inhabitant for the largest archipelago in the world, and one of the richest in soil and natural resources. The bulk of these exports were hemp, sugar, and tobacco; and, strange as it may seem, the United States received 41 per cent. of her hemp and 55 per cent. of her sugar for the year 1897, notwithstanding the fact that we had not one commercial firm doing business in that whole vast domain.

The city of Iloilo is on the southern coast of the fertile island of Panay, and, next to Manila, the chief port of the Philippines. It has an excellent harbor, and the surrounding country is very productive, having extensive plantations of sugar, rice, and tobacco. The population of Iloilo is only 12,000, but there are a few larger towns in the district, of which it is the seaport. Though the city at spring tides is covered with water, it is said to be a very healthful place, and much cooler than Manila.

The other open port, Cebu, on the eastern coast of the island of the same name, is a well-built town, and has a population of about 13,000. From this point the bulk of the hemp for export comes.

GENERAL CHARACTER OF THE ISLANDS.

It is impossible to speak of the other islands in detail. Seven of the group average larger than the State of New Jersey; Luzon is as extensive as Ohio, Mindanao equals Indiana; and, as we have stated before, about four hundred of them are inhabitable, and, like Java, Borneo, and the Spice Islands, all are rich in natural resources. They are of a volcanic origin, and may be described in general as rugged and mountainous. The coasts of most of the islands are deeply indented by the sea, and the larger ones are well watered by streams, the mouths of which afford good harbors. Many of the mountainous parts abound in minerals. Mr. Karuph, President of the Philippine Mineral Syndicate, in May, 1898, addressed a letter to Hon. John Hay, at that time our ambassador to England, in which he declares that the Philippines will soon come prominently forward as a new center of the world's gold production. "There is not a brook," says Mr. Karuph, "that finds its way into the Pacific Ocean whose sands and gravel do not pan the color of gold. Many valuable deposits are close to deep water. I know of no other part of the world, the Alaskan Treadwell mines alone excepted, where pay ore is found within a few hundred yards of the anchorage of sea-going vessels." In addition to gold, iron, copper, lead, sulphur, and other minerals are found, and are believed to exist in paying quantities. The numerous mineral springs attest their presence in almost every part of the principal islands.