86 



THE LIVING RACES OF MANKIND 



In a cosmopolitan city 

 like Manila and its suburbs, 

 where so many races of 

 humanity assemble, it is in- 

 teresting to observe the varied 

 costumes and modes of attire. 

 The Americans and Europeans 

 mostly dress in white. The 

 Chinese keep to their own 

 peculiar national dress, with 

 the pig-tail curled up into a 

 chignon. Pure natives and 

 many half-breeds wear the 

 shirt outside the trousers. 

 The native " lady " wears a 

 flowing skirt of gay colours, 

 bright red, green, or white. 

 She has not yet adopted 

 the corset. In her hand 

 she carries a fan, without 

 which she would feel lost, and 

 she makes a great display of 

 jewellery. Her gait is awk- 

 ward, quite unlike the digni- 

 fied and graceful air of a 

 Spanish lady. The peasant 

 women look very picturesque 

 in their short skirts, enveloped 

 in a cotton cloth of blue, red, 

 or black. A "first-class" 

 native funeral in Manila is a 

 remarkable display. The bier 

 is hideous with rude relics of 

 savage ornaments. A native 

 driver, with a tall " chimney- 

 pot" hat, drives the funeral team of mules, followed by a band playing a lively march and a 

 line of carriages containing the deceased's relations and friends. 



The chief amusement of the natives is cock-fighting, a sport carried on with a passionate 

 earnestness that strikes every stranger. Almost every native keeps a fighting-cock. Some men 

 are seldom seen out of doors without their favourites under their arms. They pay as much 

 as fifty dollars, and sometimes even more, for these pets; and should a native discover that 

 his house is on fire, he flies to rescue his bird rather than his wife and family. This passion 

 for cock-fighting may well be termed a national vice. Incredibly large sums, in proportion to 

 the means of the gamblers, are staked on the result of a match, and it lias been well said 

 that the sport does more harm and causes more misery than the earthquakes and typhoons 

 together. The passion for the game leads many to borrow at usury, to embezzlement, and 

 even to highway robbery. Many of the pirates are ruined gamesters. 



According to M. Reclus, the population of the Philippine Archipelago is over 6,000,000; 

 of these the Christians and Chinese make up about 2,500,000. Here we have a country which 

 has been conquered as much by ecclesiastical as by military power. The Christianised "Indians" 

 (natives) have, to some extent, grafted their new religion on to the old one. Being deeply 

 superstitious, they became ready converts of the Roman Catholic missionaries. The Church 



From Dr. A. B. Meyer's "Album von Philippine!! Typeit," Dresdtn. 

 A NEGRITO MAN, WITH SPEAR. 



