ears ago it cost the government a little more than half a cent to
collect every dollar of taxation. In Luzon, it now costs ninety-five
cents. The only taxes that can be profitably collected are those in
Manila. The rich islands of Leyte and Mindanao contribute practically
nothing.

The first islands to revolt were Luzon, Mindanao, and Leyte. About one
year and a half ago, agents of the insurrectionists appealed to the
government at Washington to interfere in their behalf. The petition was
received and filed.

In the hot season, during the greater part of the day, the heat is so
intense that Europeans frequently fall with heat apoplexy. Even the
Spaniards do their business in the early hours, whiling away the heat of
the day in sleep. Late in the afternoon Manila begins to awaken.

The Escolta, or principal street, is crowded with loungers of all ranks
and colours, each with a segarito stuck pen-like behind his ear.
Caromattas, a species of two-wheeled hooded cabriolets peculiar to the
natives, crowd the roadway, together with the buggies and open carriages
of the foreign element.

At sunset the various tobacco stores close, and their thousand of
employees turn out into the streets. They form a motley yet effective
feature among the wayfarers. The Malay girls are usually very pretty, with
languishing eyes, shaded by long lashes, and supple figures, whose
graceful lines are revealed by their thin clothing. In fine weather their
bare feet are thrust into light, gold-embroidered slippers. In wet weather
they raise themselves on high clogs, which necessitates a very becoming
swinging of the hips.

There is not a bonnet to be seen. Women of the better classes affect lace
and flowers, those of the lower wear their own hair flowing down their
backs, in a long, blue-black wave. Jewelry is profusely worn. Every woman
sparkles with bracelets, earrings, and chains. Many of the males are
similarly attired. Everybody smokes. Cigarettes at fifteen for a cent are
in chief favour with the natives. Cigars at $1.50 a hundred are in favour
with the foreigners. The handful of Englishmen resident in Manila are
mostly bachelors, eager to make their pile and return to pleasanter
surroundings. These take up their quarters in a large house at Sampalog,
which is club and boarding-house combined, or in "chummeries," established
in adjacent buildings.

The Spaniards classify all the Philippine islanders under three religious
groups,--the inf