The Somerset herald. [volume] (Somerset, Pa.) 1870-1936, 1898-07-20
THE PHILIPPINES.
Interesting Facts Relating to Them.


Oiled rags are used for brooms.
Cattle are no larger than goats.
Women exceed men in numbers.
Hats are worn only by foreigners.
All the women smoke large cigars.
Spanish soldiers march bar -foOted.
The natives bathe three times day.
Water buffaloes are used for blowing.
Manila was founded by Legaspi in
1871.
All the inhabitants fall asleep at mid
day.
Knives and forks are unknown in the
islands.
Freedom of speech is absolutely pro-
hibited.
Manila is pronounced Mah-nee-la by
the natives.
Indians and Chinese patronize the
horse-car lines.
In l645 the city was nearly destroy
ed by an earthquake.
A fashionable delieaey for the menu
is the grasshopper.
The poorer classes robe themselves in
one yard of cloth.
The common laborer receives as much
as ten cents day.
Mosquitoes are more formidable than
Spanish gunboats.
Electricity is used for Illuminating
purposes in Manila.
Manila paid $1,000 600 to England as
a ransom.
The yearly output of cigars from the
Philippines is 100000.
The chief occupation of some of the
savage nations is murder.
The streets of the capital city are un-
der water most of the time
Manila is considered commercially
equal to Calcutta and Batavia
Visitors TO the islands are no. numer-
Gus. The earliest was Magellan.
The high quality of the indigo is ac-
knowledged throughout the world.
The oil Of the cocoa is used for light
ing purposes throughout the islands.
The bushmen are more dreaded than
earthquakes, typhoons or plaques.
The land is fertile, but the natives
are too indolent and ignorant to culti-
vate il with the best results.
Hundreds of persons have been sent
to the penal settlements, and even de-
prived of life.
Horses are curiosity. The few that
are raised in the islands are too small
TO brand.
The male half caste wears trousers
and a shirt. The latter is not confined
in the trousers.
The streets of Manila are unpaved.
During the rainy season they are inn
passable.
In 1897 the United States took II per
cent. of the Manila hemp exported.
The insurrection has be IN caused by
oppressive greed and a crushing rate Of
taxation.
The British captured Manila in 1852
with fleet of fourteen ships and held
it for fourteen months.
Delinquent taxpayers are whipped at
the post, banished, and their property
confiscated.
The atmosphere of Manila has been
likened to the SAVIOR of eachous and the
bite Of red peppers.
1t is estimated that there are 200
islands in the group. There has been
no official counting.
The typhoOn and earthquake have
been the most frequent and dreaded
visitors up to the appearance of Dewey.
For three years the United Stst IS inn
ports from these islands have averaged
over S7,OOO,OO0 year.
Primo de Rivera, governor OF the ISL
ands twice, made an enormous fortune
out of gambling licenses.
The capital of the Philippines is Ma
Mia Ii has population of 1000 90 and
over 1000 in the suburbs.
In the Philippines they have butter
flies as large as bats. Their color is
fawn, and they have ruby eyes
The wealth of the man who owns
shirt is estin-..ed by the finent IS of its
texture and the way it is worn.
The streets of the city are Tired with
massive stone houses, somber churches,
and airy cottages in tropical groves
For two or three hundred years in
surgents in the islands have been in
creasing in numbers and strength of
purpose.
General Weyler was governor of the
islands for four years. He saved ST.
100000 out of his annual salary of s4O.-
600.
The chief diversion of Manila is the
eoek-fight. The pit is as big as a cir
Gus. Four thousand spectators can he
accommodated.
Houses are raised on posts to permit
the water To flow under them in rainy
The mestiza Of the islands is super
stitious and dangerous. She has been
called the human butterfly. Her gar
ments are silk, very thin, and very
loose.
The orchid. found in the ju lgles, and
ofaccess, sometimes C )mmands
$1,000 apiece. 1t takes mont hs TO stalk
the ''demon flowers"
Spain's troublesome and impecmlF-
Gus mobiles have always he an sent ~
Cuba and the Philippines 1t is noe
mannerly to question ho~~
they obtained their wealth when they
to Spain.
The Small Boys IDOL.