Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1900-03-03

! clothes and the most of the costumes are
| white. In many respects the Ffipinos are
| IKE the JapG neSe, or rather more like the
| Burmese, both of whom are noted for their
| cleanliness and frequent bathing. Among
i the women on the streets you see many
| who wear their hair down their backs, their
/ rich black names falling usually from their
| iecks to their waists. My guide Thomas
| a Beckett" he says his name is Beckett,
tells me his is because they are fresh from
the bath and that they go about SO to
let their hair dry. He says there are
swimming baths for women in the city and
that he himself takes u plunge in the canal
near his home every morning.
AS 70 s2Nageness, the people seem to me
more civilized than any of the Malay races
/ have yet seen. They are far more good
natured and friendly than the natives of
the Straits Settlements. They appear to be
fond of one another and / see men and
boys going along with Joined hands The
women go in pairs Il rule. and all laugh
5 and chat as they move along together.
1here Is no scowiing at the foreigner as in
China, and il they really hate the Ameri-
cans they do not show it in their faces
Queer Street Scenes,
But to return to the streets through which
we are moving. The crowd has
grown as We approached the business sec
ton. and we are often forced to step out
in the road The sidewalks of Manila are
seldom more than three feet in width and
abreast upon them. They are tagged with
rough stones, the roadway being unpayed
as a rule. The houses are cye,ywbere close
TO the streets and in many cases there are
blocks of buildings which have these over
hanging balconies SO that as YOU walk Won
are shaded by them from the rays of the
sun. Many of the balconies have their shell
windows pushed back, and We frequently
get a glance from a Filipino maiden as
she sits III them and looks down on the
street.
The scenes in the middle of the street are
even more strange than those on the side
walks What would you think of having
rats and hogs to pull your draws and vour
carriages? Well, the Filipino draught ami
mails are not much unlike these. The car
r1ages are drawn by little ponies NOT bio
ger than three months old calves who are
as ratty looking as the team of mice which
appeared before Cinderella, to be turned
by me wand OF the fairy into the magnifi-
the prince They form the riding and driv-
ing animals Of the people, who fog then,
without mercy as thew 90 tbrnnSb -
streets. '-i'
The heavy work is all done by carabao or
water buhalos, which can best be described
py calling them immense black hogs with
m norLls; Iney are as big as the average
durham COW, and are of the same pan11s
but no respectable American COW would
acknowledge that it had any relation to
them. The carabao has a skin like a mig,
with black bristlfng hair standing mi
upon it, so that you can see eyervwbere
the hide through the bristles They have
am told, lew pores in their skin and they
wallow in the Water and mud inst like
hogs. They are worse in this resnect tban
hogs, Tor they must wallow several times q
uay III the hot weather, or they will 90
crazy, and mad carabao is a dangerous
beast. FOR this reason their drivers sion
them every now and then at the river orr q
canal as they go through the streets and
let them take ten-minute bath. The great
beasts walk down steps INTO the water and
ne mere with nothing but their heads
showing out. You may see scores of than,
SO patnlng during a half hours walk along
the waterways of Manila
me most of the hauling is done by tbesa
carapao on drays and carts. They form =
part or the street cleaning brigade which
Zen. Otis has organized, and thousands Of
tnem are employed in transporting the spn
pies Tor the troops. They usually worl,
single in shafts which are Joined AT the
end by hoop-like yoke, which rests on
the neck just in front of the shoulders
ihey are led or driven by means of a ring
through the nose, to which lines are fast
ehea- fhey are very strong and as a rule
very gentle If they have their regular baths
OF water and mud. am told that they
are used generally throughout the Philip-
pines. Even the children ride them, and
out In the country it is not an uncommon
sight to see four-year-oId boy astride of
a carabao as it feeds in the pasture Thev
furnish much of the milk of Manila. and
the poorer classes use their meat for roasts
ana stews. FRANK G. CARPENTER