to hide it from the Spaniards.  Executions in the Philippines were in the nature of dramatic entertainments.  There were often many persons present, and ladies as conspicuous as at bull fights.  There is no more objections offered to photographing an execution than a cock fight, which is the sport about which the Filipinos are crazily absorbed.  It is the festal character to the Spaniard of the rebel shooting that permits the actualities to be reproduced, and hence these strange contributions to our gallery.

Many of our pictures are self-explanatory.  They were selected to show things characteristic, and hence instructive, peasants’ customs—­women riding buffaloes through palm groves—­native houses, quaint costumes.  “The insurgent outlook” reveals a native house—­a structure of grasses.  This is a perfect picture.  The southern islanders, and the group of Moors, the dressing of the girls, work in the fields, the wealth of vegetation, the dining room of the Governor-General prepared for company, General Merritt’s palatial headquarters before he had taken the public property into his care and suited it to his convenience; the Spanish dude officer, showing a young man contented in his uniform, and a pony pretty in his harness.

We reproduce the war department map of the Philippine islands.  It will be closely studied for each island has become a subject of American interest.  The imprint of the war department is an assurance of the closest attainable accuracy.  The map of the Hawaiian islands clearly gives them in their relative positions and proportions as they are scattered broadcast in the Pacific.  The Philippine and Hawaiian groups as they thus appear will be found more extensive than the general fancy has painted them.  The Philippine Archipelago has been held to resemble a fan, with Luzon for the handle.  The shape is something fantastic.  It is worth while to note that the distance between the north coast of Luzon and the Sulu Archipelago is equal to that from England to Southern Italy.

There are pictures in our gallery that could only be found at the end of a journey of ten thousand miles, and they go far to show the life of the people of a country that is in such relations with ourselves the whole world is interested.  There is truthtelling that should be prized in photography, and our picture gallery is one of the most remarkable that has been assembled.

CHAPTER XXV

Cuba and Porto Rico.

Conditions In and Around Havana—­Fortifications and Water Supply of the Capital City—­Other Sections of the Pearl of the Antilles—­Porto Rico, Our New Possession, Described—­Size and Population—­Natural Resources and Products—­Climatic Conditions—­Towns and Cities—­Railroads and Other Improvements—­Future Possibilities.