THE MODERN INHABITANTS. 123 



PERSONAL AND DOMESTIC ECONOMY. 



Dress. ^ — The natives dress very much after the manner of the 

 people of jNIanihi. The men wear cotton trousers, and shirts outside of 

 the trousers, either white oi- of some striped material. Some of them 

 wetir white jackets which tit closely about the neck, fastened with 

 buttons or silver studs, riiey wear either imported hats of straw or 

 felt, or hats of pandanus woven on the island. When Hshino- on the 

 reef or when at work on their ranchos many of them content themselves 

 with a l)reechcloth and a straw hat. They wear shoes, slippers, or 

 sandals, or, if engaged in work which does not require the feet to 

 be protected, go barefooted. As is the case in Japan and at Manila it 

 is the custom wdiile sitting in the house to slip oti' the shoes. At 

 church the women usually take them otf and kneel upon them. 



The ordinary dress of the women is an ample skirt of print or 

 brioht-colored gingham with a short chemisette of thin white material, 

 cut low in the neck and provided with wHde flowing sleeves. Stockings 

 are worn by few except on feast days and Sundays. Women of the 

 better class follow the Manila fashions and Avear garments of more 

 costly materials. Some of them have begun to wear corsets. A few 

 wear European liats; the remainder go l)areheaded or content them- 

 selves with handkerchiefs tied over the head. Nearly all of them 

 wear kerchiefs across the bosom and a rosary about the neck. vSome 

 of the native costumes are ver}- prettily ornamented with lace or 

 embroidery, and the handkerchiefs are often of tine texture, with a 

 colored border. It is considered unseemly for the older women to 

 wear bright colors or fancy laces. Flowers are scarcely at all worn 

 by the natives, but that they have a love for beauty is shown ])y the 

 decorated altars in their houses and the bright-colored foliage plants 

 and flowers in their gardens. 



Dw^ELLiNGS. — With the exception of a few families living in ran- 

 cherias, the natives live in villages and go to their fincas, or country 

 places, for the purpose of feeding and watering their stock or for cul- 

 tivating their flelds. The tow-n houses are well constructed. The}- 

 are raised from the ground on substantial, durable posts (PI. XX), 

 or ])uilt of masonry with a basement or "bodega''' which is used as a 

 storeroom or cellar (PL XIX). Some of them are surrounded by bal- 

 conies, inclosed by shutters or ])y windows with translucent Placuna 

 shells for panes. The roofs are either of thatch or tile, the best thatch 

 being that made of the leaflets of the nipa palm. Man}^ of the houses 

 are provided with vegetable gardens in which dome-shaped ovens ma}^ 

 be seen. Under the eaves, so as to catch the drippings from the roof, 

 are rows of bright-colored Phyllaurea and variegated Acanthaceae. 

 Ornamental Araliaceae are also planted, some with flnely divided leaves 

 {Nothopanax fruticosum), others with leaves shaped like saucers (iV^. 



