Omaha daily bee., 1902-05-04

III
pine islands. The lowlands are so under
laid with water that in some sections you
can break through the crust at almost any
place and by digging down a few feet come
to a Shiny mud which is fun of fish. Some
of the mud fish are as long as your arm anu
they are so common that after a rain the
bitches and streams are filled with them.
Small mud fish are sometimes found even In
the cutters of Manila. In the wet season
the people always go out after a heavy
rain to fish in the rice fields, and in dry
times you may see women and men wading
in the mud of every canal with fishing traps.
These are mere cylinders of bamboo open
at both ends. The fisherman pushes his
cylinder down through the muddy water
into the mud bed of the canal to prevent the
fish caught in it from getting out and then
reaches in with his bare arm and pulls out
the fish. Many such fish have no scales;
they seem to be a sort of catfish.
Waterways OF Manila.
I spent much of my time in Manila in
strolling about the canals. Parts of the
city remind one of Venice, they are so cut
up by waterways, overhung by old Spanish
buildings. The business parts of the towns
can all be reached by canals. The Escolta
runs parallel with the Pasig river and
canals cut through Binondo and Tondo.
These waterways are filled with craft OF all
kinds, from teamers from China and all
parts of the archipelago to the little dugout
canoes in which the natives bring their
wares to the market. A trip through these
parts of Manila gives you an idea of the
real business of the Philippines. There are
ships from the north unloading great car
goes of tobacco and steamers from the south
- nh $4,000
filled with cocoanuts and other fiat boats of
goods brought in by the steamers out in
Manila bay. The cascoes are the chief boats
Of the interior. They are found in all the
large canals and you see many at anchor in
different parts Of Manila, their owners
using them as retail stores, in which they
peddle out the stuff they have brought in
from the country. In one canal not far from
the Oriente hotel you may find floating rice
stores. The rice is exposed for sale in great
baskets and in piles, and it is peddled out
by the women belonging to the boats. There
are cascoes of %frewood, cascoes filled with
grass, cascoes Of vinegar and sugar, and,
in fact, cascoes filled with every kind OF
Philippine product.
Many of these cascOes form the homes
of their owners and the people who live in
them are of their own kind. They nave
q NONtlkh AWNING w pht ~ VI htA
boats and it is there that they cook and
eat. 1t is there that most Of them are
born and there many of them die.
The cascoes are intended for inland travel
and freighting. They are Darges about
fifteen feet wide, six feet deep and 100 or
more feet long. They are made or great
timbers of hardwood so Joined together
that the prov and stern rise high out OF
the water. On each side of the Cascoe is
a path of bamboo poles laid upon supports
extending out at right. angles with the
boat. This is for the pushers, who thrust
long poles into the banks or bed of the
stream and thus force the boat onward.
Each cascoe has a supply of mats or woven
bamboo which are stretched over the boa,
to protect it from the sun and rain, max
ing it look not unlike the cover Of an old
fashioned emigrant wagon.
. Manila FerrybOats.
The ferry boats Of Manila are the small
} est and cheapest Of their kind. They are
t mere RATS with a floor not bigger than a
bed quilt and Of about the same shape.
, Each has a rude mating canopy over It
e and each is manipulated by a ferryman, a
/, brown skinned, barefooted, bareheaded Fill
!. ipino. The fare is equal to half a cent OF
2 our money The passengers stand up as
g they ride and a stream OF brown FlIlpIn1s.
white-helmeted Englishmen, American sol
p diers in khaki and others flows on such
% boats across the Manila canals from day
. light to dark. FRANK G. CARPENTER