64 THE ECONOMIC CONDITION OF THE PHILIPPINES 



Company, which has not yet been able to make its electric 

 power station yield a good dividend. 



There are horse-car lines in the city, and a steam street rail- 

 way runs to Malabon, a large village situated to the north. 



Besides the private vehicles, there are in the city a large num- 

 ber of hackney coaches. These are divided into three classes: 

 the carruajes (landau, with two horses), quiles (two-wheelers, 

 closed, door behind, one horse), and carromatas (two-wheelers, 

 drawn by one horse). The latter are also used in the interior, 

 so far as there are any roads. The transport of goods is carried 

 on by means of two-wheeled carts, drawn each by a buffalo 

 and holding some 1,000 kilos. 



Life for foreigners in the Philippines is quite agreeable, and 

 particularly so in Manila, where there are comfortable resi- 

 dences ; nor is there lack of company, excursions, and other 

 sources of recreation. In other respects, also, creature comforts 

 are by no means neglected, provided the requirements are not 

 too high. If once the city and its neighborhood were developed 

 in the manner indicated, there would be little lacking to make 

 life there thoroughly agreeable. Manila would then soon sur- 

 pass all other tropical towns as regards health and comfort. 



What the future may bring to the rich and beautiful Philip- 

 pine islands it is difficult to say. It is, at all events, my sincere 

 hope that this insular domain may soon blossom forth into that 

 degree of importance to which it is by nature entitled. 



A recent report of the British vice-consul at Hodeida on the 

 Red sea contains some interesting information concerning the 

 province of Yemen. Mocha, once its capital and the queen of 

 the Red sea, has now only ruins to show what its glory was^in 

 the fifteenth century. Zabud, also a city of note in ancient 

 times, is now a center of the trade in hides and skins. Except 

 weaving a kind of cloth, dyeing, making mats and ropes, and 

 building sailing vessels, there are no manufacturing industries. 

 All the food grains are cultivated, however, and but for the un- 

 settled state of the province and the want of education, the 

 inhabitants would, it is said, be rich and prosperous. Hodeida 

 is connected with the outer world by a line of mail steamers, 

 and a weekly mail is sent to the chief towns of the interior. It 

 is also connected by telegraph with Mocha and Sana, and with 

 foreign countries through Perim. The population of the province 

 is estimated at 3,000,000. 



