Illustrations

    Filipino School Children Frontispiece
    The Pali, near Honolulu 28
    West Indian Rain-tree, or Monkey-pod Tree 34
    The Volcano of Mayon 40
    View of Corregidor 42
    Swarming Craft on the Pasig River, Manila 46
    “The Rat-pony and the Two-wheeled Nightmare” 48
    The Luneta, Manila 52
    The Bend in the River at Capiz 62
    Street Scene in Romblon 64
    Church, Plaza, and Public Buildings, Capiz 80
    The Home of an American Schoolteacher 90
    A Characteristic Group of Filipino Students 100
    Filipino School Children 110
    A Filipino Mother and Family 120
    A Company of Constabulary Police 132
    Group of Officials in front of Presidente’s (Mayor’s)
    Residence 142
    A High-class Provincial Family, Capiz 148
    Pasig Church 154
    The Isabella Gate, Manila 162
    Calle Real, Manila 174
    Procession and Float in Streets of Capiz, in Honor of Filipino
    Patriot and Martyr, Jose Rizal 184
    A Rich Cargo of Fruit on the Way to Market 194
    A Family Group and Home in the Settled Interior 200
    Filipino Children “Going Swimming” in the Rio Cagayan 212
    Mortuary Chapel in Paco Cemetery, Manila 220
    The “Ovens” in Paco Cemetery, Manila 228
    Peasant Women of the Cagayan Valley 236
    A Wedding Party Leaving the Church 252
    A Funeral on Romblon Island 264
    Bicol School Children One Generation Removed from Savagery 272
    Sunset over Manila Bay 282

CHAPTER I

The Voyage Begins

I Find the Transport Ship Buford and My Stateroom—­Old Maids and Young Maids Bound for the Orient—­The Deceitful Sea—­Making New Friends and Acquaintances.

On a hot July day the army transport Buford lay at the Folsom Dock, San Francisco, the Stars and Stripes drooping from her stern, her Blue Peter and a cloud of smoke announcing a speedy departure, and a larger United States flag at her fore-mast signifying that she was bound for an American port.  I observed these details as I hurried down the dock accompanied by a small negro and a dressing-bag, but I was not at that time sufficiently educated to read them.  I thought only that the Buford seemed very large (she is not large, however), that she was beautifully white and clean; and that I was delighted to be going away to foreign lands upon so fine a ship.

Having recognized with relief a pile of luggage going aboard—­luggage which I had carefully pasted with red, white, and blue labels crossed by the letters “U.S.A.T.S.” and Buford—­I dismissed the negro, grasped the dressing-bag with fervor, and mounted the gangway.  To me the occasion was momentous.  I was going to see the world, and I was one of an army of enthusiasts enlisted to instruct our little brown brother, and to pass the torch of Occidental knowledge several degrees east of the international date-line.