Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1902-05-03

All of the Filpinos are excellent fishers
and fish trappers. They catch fish with
hooks. they seine them out in great nets
and entice them into traps of all shapes
and sizes. The rivers are filled with fish
traps, labyrinthine networks of bamboo
into which the fish swim and cannot find
their way out. All along the coast of the
islands you see great fish cOrr:,ls fenced
in with bamboo canes woven together with
rattan, so set that they arr below the
water at high tide. The fishes swim in
and when the tide falls they cannot find
their way out Then the men come and
scoop them up in dip nets, killing the
larger ones with their spears. They have
also small fish traps, bamboo barrels, which
are not unlike lobster traps.
Fish Which Live in the Mud.
What would you think of going into the
fields and catching fish in every mud pud
die? That is what they do in the Philip
pine Islands The !owltu1s urder-
laid with water that in some sections you
can break through the crust at almost any
place and by digging down a .ew feet
come to a Shiny mud which is full CT fish.
Some of the mud fish are as long your
arm and they are so common that after a
rain the bitches and streams are Elled 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 ice fields.
and in dry times you may see women and
men Wading in the mul OF every canal
with fishing traps. Tnesa are mere cyln-
ders of bamboo open at Doth 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 ard pulls out the fish.
Many such fish nave 70 scales; they Seem
to be sort of catfish.
The Waterways of Manila.
I spent much of nv time ill Manila IN
strolling about the canals Parts of the
city remind one of Venice. they cut
up by waterways, o!-crhung by old Span
ish 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 Tordo.
These waterways are filled with craft of
all kinds, from steamers from China and
all parts of the archipelago to the little
dugout canoes in which tn. 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 cargoes of ,opacco and steamers
from the south with cargoe5 OF hemp.
There are cascoes filled with cocoanuts and
other fiat boats of goods brought in by
the steamers out in Manila bay. The cas-
Goes are the chief boats OF the interior.
They are found in Ill the large canals and
you see many at anchor IN different parts
of Manila, their owners using them AS re-
tail stores. in which they peddlc out the
stuff they have brought in from the coun-
try. In one canal rot far from the Giierte
Hotel you may find floating rice stores.
The rice is exposed for sale in great baS-
kets and in piles, and it is peddled out
by the women belonging to the boats.
There are cascoes of firewood cascoes
filled with grass. cas,rns If vinegar and
nd n laH with
every kind of Philippine product.
Mary of these cascoes form the homes
of their owners and the people who live in
them are of their own kind They have
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 freightng. They are barges about
fifteen feet wide. six feet deep and 100 or
more feet long. They are made of 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 casco has a supply of mats of woven
bamboo, which are stretched over the boat
to protect it from the sun and rain max
ing 1t look not unlike the cover of an old
fashioned emigrant wagon.
Manila Ferry Boats.
The ferry boats of Manila are the small
est and cheapest OF their kind. They are
mere RATS with a floor not bigger than
bed quilt and of about the same shape.
Each has a rude mating canopy over 1t
and each is manipulated by ferryman,
brown-skinned, barefooted, bareheaded Fill
Pine. The fare is equal to half cent of
our money. The passengers stand up as
they ride and a stream of brown Filipinos,
white-helmeted Englishmen, Americans SOL
diers in khaki and others flows on such
boats across the Manila canals from day.
light to dark. FRANK G. CARPENTER.