ile the tall slenderness of the mother excited
their voluble admiration. But neither mother nor daughter appreciated
natives, except as accessories to the landscape, so they delayed not
on the order of their going, and audibly marvelled that I could be
interested in such filthy wretches, insinuating that a carbolic bath
would be necessary on our return to the ship. But the Moro women,
unconscious of any criticism as to their personal neatness, smiled
at the _Americanas_ delightedly, telling me through the interpreter
that it would take two or three Moro women to make one as tall as the
quartermaster's wife, who looked very young indeed to have attained
so great a height!

When the officers had completed their purchases, they started through
the village on a tour of inspection, and at their approach my women
friends beat a hasty retreat, scattering in every direction like so
many quail; but as we proceeded along the one street of the town,
accompanied by a veritable army of native boys and men, I saw at
the windows of different houses many familiar faces, all grinning
cheerfully in response to my nods of recognition.

The houses of Tampakan are built on one side of this broad street,
and are small nipa shacks on stilts, with steps of bamboo logs,
and steep thatched roofs, while back of this first row of houses
stands another row, and back of that still another. At the far end
of the street two or three houses are built at right angles to the
rest, and it was here that beautifully woven _petates_, or sleeping
mats, were offered for sale, some of them white with appliques of
red and blue cloth in curious designs, and others of split bamboo,
the patterns being woven in with different colours.

These mats were most reasonable in price, none of them costing over
a dollar and a half, and some very pretty ones were valued at only
fifty cents apiece, but for sanitary reasons we were obliged to
forswear them, unique as they were, for they had all been in use,
and we had seen more than one leper among the villagers, and numerous
evidences in scars and sores of loathsome skin diseases.

Embroidered turbans, _jabuls_, and _sarongs_ were also offered for
sale, as were chow-covers and tall pointed hats, while one man with
great pride produced for our inspection a pressed glass sugar bowl,
that variety which one does not have to examine or tap with the
finger to prove counterfeit. It was pressed glass with no intention to
deceive,