Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1900-03-17
so that they can pull them down as their
customers demand

so that they can pull them down as their
customers demand
Women Merchants.
All of the women merchants are in their
bare feet, and all are bareheaded. Their
sleeves, as big around ut the end as a
wash basin. come only to the elbow, and
the necks of their jackets are cut so low
that as they handle the goods a bare Shout
der now and then slips out and you fear
the whole may come off.
There is a woman who is selling some
dressed in Filipino costume. The cloth is
black; 1t looks like a shawl. See. one of
the girls is taking 1t and is wrapping 1t
tightly about her waist so that it falls to
garments worn by the Filipino women and
she is trying it on. She evidently likes It,
FOR she is scowling and protesting at the
price which the merchant asks for the
goods. Buying and selling is here to a
large extent a matter of bargain. and the
TWO may dicker long time before the sale
can be made
At the next counter man Is buying a
bright piece of calico, and farther on other
women are turning over the calicpes as
rapidly as our women hanlIe the. goods on
a bargain counter. As We go on down
the aisle we meet women peddlers They
nave baskets as big around as an umbrella
ana about an inch deep filled with all sorts
OF notions They carry them about upon
their heads. taking them down when they
meet possible customer.
Some Queer Shoes
We go out of this aisle into another,
where we find nothing but shoes. The
most of the shoes have wooden soles, with
merely strip of leather on top to fasten
the toe. There are some which are almost
stills, the tee and heel of the sole extend
ing two inches below the instep. Those
shoes are much like the rain shoes of
Japan. and they are intended for use in
wet weather. The ordinary Filipino shoe
Is little more than a slipper. and none of
the shoes confine the heel They are held
on by the toe, and as but few people wear
stockings, their bare heels go bobbing up
and down whenever they walk. See those
two girls coming this way. Notice how
they throw their feet out they push
their way along on their heelIess. clogs.
They swing their arms to and fro as they
go and throw their stomachs out, standing
so straight that they almost lean back
ward: The girls of Japan are pigeon-toed.
Inc t1hpino maidens are just the reverse.
In another part of the market We find
scores of women selling vegetables of all
Kinds. They nave sweet potatoes and
sGuashcs. lettuce and onions and MANY
vegetables strange to our eyes. Here is
one squirting with basket of white roots
beside her. / wonder what they are and
pick up root and bite into IL. 1t makes
my tongue smart, end l find IL Is ginger
II IS dug in the woods where 1t grows wild,
but so far almost none is exported 1t is
sold to the natives. who make Il weak tea
of II, which they drink with their rice and
fish.
Chewing the Betel.
But what are those queer looking nuts
which we see in that tray on the other side
of the ginger? They lock like our butter
nuts or white walnuts. There is little
pile of wet lime near them with some palm
leaves beside 1t. A woman has stopped
and IS handling the nuts. She picks up one
and bites 1t.
As she opens her mouth T notice her gums
seem to be- bleeding. Her tongue Is red
and her teeth seem to drip blood. Now
and then she stops and chews a bit be-
/, tween her sentences. She seems 10 have
a--quid inside of her. cheek. See. she splits
blood She is chewing betei nuts. a supply
os which she. is about to buy. The hetel
mt comes from the area palm. 1t Is
ground or cut up. and when chewed a bit
OF fine is mixed with it The effect is
somewhat like that of tobacco. Chewing
the betel is common among both men and
women here There are hundreds of shops
in Manila where the nuts and lime are
sold. Every other woman we meet In the