The Scranton tribune. [volume] (Scranton, Pa.) 1891-1910, 1899-11-16

be covered by the tapis or apron, but
the full short sleeves and the curious
panuelo or kerchief folded over the
bosom-amonr the ricn a veritable
work of art in embroidered pima fab
ric-are all pervading, save among the
poorest The hair combed off the face,
and generally of great length, streams
down the back in an ebon cataract.
LOCAL COLOR.
To the south and east lies the old
city, dull, forlorn and grim, with it's
earthquake-shattered walls and anti
quated cannon; its moat sewer which
even the cholera Of 1882 failed to
cleanse. Within. 1t is a city of the
dead, in spite of the new cathedral
which now replaces the earlier build
ing, whose crumbling towers still serve
as a monument OF dormant seismic
forces. The life of the place has pass
ed across the river and centres in the
Escolta, the Regent Street of Manila,
where are shops, tramways, electric
lights, and all the adjuncts of western
civilization. Not that all touches of
local color are gone. The tiled roofs
have, indeed, given place to the at
rocity of corrugated iron as more safe
in times of earthquake but within the
charming wide balconies the weather
is kept out by sliding lattice screens,
much like those OF japan, except that
in place of paper the squares are filled
by thin sections of the pearl-oyster.
The pavement of the smaller streets is
more than bad, the mud in the rainy
season terrible, but worst of all is the
reckless disregard of sanitation which
offends fastidious European senses at
every step. bitches and canals inter-
sect the streets and are regarded as lit
receptacles for every species of filth;
while the slops of the household are
| jerked from the upper windows with
a disregard of the feelings Of the pass
ing wayfarer, which the hardest-heart-
ed inhabitant of Edinburgh in past
days would not have been guilty OF.
But, fortunately, there are other as
| poets Of Manila life, and if we wander
ont in the direction of Ermita, or of
| San Miguel, we shall find many a
| pleasant tree-embcwered villa,the resi-
dence of some Spanish official or
wealthy mestizo. We may leave uneX-
plored the swarming Tondo-the dis
/ trict of the fishermen and waterfolk--
! to run up the river, beautiful in it's
| tropic vegetation, and pay visit to
| the English club, in whose cool Ver-
anda we may rest until the world Of
Manila, rousing itself from it's siesta,
emerges for the evening promenade.
| There may not be much beauty in the
| Malecon, whittier we follow them, but
at least we get the pure sea-breezes.
And does II not lead to the Luneta
where the finest band in the East daily
plays its best to half the city2
SPANISH CRUELTY.
For the patriot Filpino-the insur>
gent If we must use the harsher term
memories other than those Of oper-
attic music and flirting mestiza arc con-
nected with this Frado of the Pacific,
memories little likely to be obliterated
by time, which would in the end, per-
haps, have brought about the downfall
of Spain in the islands as surely, if not
rs rapidly as Admiral Deweys guns.
To one of its lamp posts, which stretch
in unsightly rows across the otherwise
bare oval, the insurgent leader, Dr.
Rial, was tied early one morning in
December, 1896, and shot in the back
by file of soldiers-"one of Polavie-
jas foulest acts" Mr.. Foreman rightly
terms 1t. RiZal was but one of many.
Here, in hundreds, guilty or innocent,
insurgent or syn(pathzer the Fill
pinos have paid the last penalty. The
confinement of one hundred and sixty
nine prisoners one August night in a
dungeon of the old city led to another
"Black Hole of Calcutta" and though
their number was thus reduced by fif-
ty-four, on the following morning the
survivors were taken out and shot. Mr..
Lala tells us that:
Here were enacted some of the most
horrible tragedies in the recent rebel
lion. Hundreds of native prisoners
were here executed; and such an exc
cution was made occasion Of great re-
joicing. The fashionable Spanish ele-
ment, men and women, was not want
ing to witness it; and while the band
discoursed lively air, the poor fellows
, were made to stand on the sea-walI
racing the sea; at given signal the
firing squad discharged a Volley, and
they fell dead or mortally wounded
White the onlookers cheered for tyranny
and Spain"
Nor is this the biased account of a
sympathzer with the insurgent cause
for other witnesses of our own natior
have described how the victims were
shot to operatic music and the cheers
of the Spaniards; and Major Young,
husbands book, which is fully fur
/ nished with illustrations of battle
murder and sudden death, reproduces
some of these scenes from photographs
| taken at the time.
With these facts in mind, It is per,
, haps only natural to make inquiries
for the bull-ring. There is one, It Il
true, but its mere existence is its chic
, feature, for it draws no vast crowds
, either of high or low, as in the PENN.
sula. Perhaps the island bulls are al.
, together too tame, though any Euro.
pean who has had a carabao or nativ,
buffalo in full pursuit at his heels mus
= have felt quite satisfied as to the suit,
: ability of this animal as a substitute
> The Filipino, and often his Europear
! master, seeks excitement at the gal
, lera instead, for cock-fighting is tn
2 ruling passion of all, young and old
and this building is quite as necessar,
e a part Of every village as the friar anC
: the church Indeed, it has often beer
; said that the native, If caught in on
: of the fires so frequent among thes,
1 nipa-built houses, viii seek to save hi
r favorite bird from the flames rathe,
q than his wife and family.
{ OTHER ISLANDS.
With Manila, in the majority Of cases
a the ordinary travellers acquaintanc,
q with the Philippines will begin and end
= He may ascend the Pasg to the beau