92 BOARD OF AGRICULTURE. [Jan., 



people must develop ossified hips from their use. Possibly 

 there is some connection between these bamboo hard beds and 

 the prevailing custom of carrying the babies here astride of 

 either hip, instead of in the arms or on the back as most mothers 

 do elsewhere. Mosquito nets are necessary. The insect is 

 small, does not sing, but is present everywhere, and a vora- 

 cious biter. The streets are fairly wide and clean. There are 

 about 55,000 Chinamen there, and they constitute the workers, 

 servants, and shop keepers of the city. They are industrious, 

 active, and shrewd, and constitute a very important element of 

 the population. It is amazing to see the great loads which 

 some of them carry hung from bamboo sticks, balanced across 

 the shoulders. 



(Photograph No. 8.) 



One street, for several blocks, is lined on each side with lit- 

 tle shops about the width of an ordinary window. Chinese 

 women sell drygoods. The goods are piled up on each side 

 of them, and they sit in the middle for business. At midday 

 a canvas is suspended from awnings at the curb to shut off the 

 heat of the sun, and the whole thing looks like a toy shop. 



Of course, everybody there rides when they can, as it is too 

 hot to walk. The cab and street service of the city is miser- 

 able. 



(Photograph No. 9.) 



Most of the buildings are of stucco or hard wood, with the 

 floors in mahogany or tile. Ants eat up everything else, and 

 the cockroaches take what they leave. 



Outside of the city, in the outskirts, and in the poorer quar- 

 ters, the houses are nothing but huts, made of bamboo, and 

 thatched with nipa. They are built from six to ten feet above 

 the ground, and have good ventilation if lacking in other things. 

 Everything is subordinated to coolness, and life is hardly 

 worth living then. A shirt worn with the tail out and a pair of 

 pants is the prevailing costume. Sometimes the shirt is of lace, 

 but it is worn the same way. 



The people, as a whole, are small, with splendid coal black 

 hair, dark brown skin, small features, and little hands and feet. 

 They appear to have few wants and apparently no ambitions. 

 As a rule they are clean, but know little of sanitary regulations. 

 They are, of course, ignorant. An officer told me of one town 

 of 5,000 people where an attempt was made to establish local 



