Sports in the Philippines.

Manawatu Herald, 3 December 1898, Page 2

Sports in the Philippines.

(Continued.) "Dead hen" is the unbeautiful name given by the English to the staple article of food in Manila. When they are off for home on their year's vacation they pass by "hen," no matter under what name it masquerades on the bill of fare. Next to the thought of seeing sweetheart and kissing parents, the man on furlough takes most joy in realizing that for twelve months he cannot be made to eat either eggs or chioken. He has eaten them three times a day for six years. His voice is growing shrill and he feels 'feathery, m year's total ab« stinence will restore him to his normal condition. Otherwise he would be a. bird. Ham is high in Manila, too. One dollar a pound for any that is fit to eat, while chickens are only two cents a piece and eggs a shilling a hundred. Beef is not plentiful. It generally comes from China, and, as the dingy line of steamers plying from Hong Kong does not provide cold storage, beef is often too high, too, when it arrives — even higher than the ham. A decent line of vessels, with ice on board, could bring down Kobe beef from Japan with ease. Kobe supplies China and produces the best beef in the whole world. The Caljada, in Manila* is an odd sight in the latter part of the afternoon, when the day's business is over^ and the air is cooler. Everyone is? there, and, as nearly every one knows every one and has more time to be polite than folk have in some other parts of the world, the crowd is in a state of continual salutation. The newcomer fears the promenaders have got to going so they will not be able to stop ; but when the grand bells of thd cathedral toll for vespers he will dis^ j k j cover his misapprehension, for every one in that great throng will bow or kneel, with uncovered head, and, before he has realized what he is look* ing at, the throng is noddiug right and left as industriously as ever. There is good hunting near Manila and some big game 'on the nearby island. "Flying toxes" are queer game. They hang like black bags from the branches of trees, where they are j, aot easily seen on account of the dense m 1 foliage. When they are roused they make the air tumultuous with their cries as they whirl to and fro. The natives and the Spaniards eat them with relish, and say they are better than quail. When their wings are spread as far as possible they measure five or six feet from tip to tip. They have heads like foxes, and are as great poachers as the sly animals from w&?m they take their name. They dp mischief to the farmers, but their pilfering leads jk their own destruction often. Tbflfll are fond of the juioe of sugar case, and will drink it evtn when fermented*

The Manila farmer sometime finds his cane fields full of intoxicated bats in the morning. A bat with a jag is .lost. Even the crows make a monkey of him. The native women dress prettily, and if they have money very expensively. They werr only two garments — a short chemisette,, coming | hardly to the waist, and a saya, or skirt, made of a single piece of cloth, and wrapped tight about the figure. The material is pina, from the fibre oi bromelia, a kind of pineapple. The best quality is exquisitely fine and is transparent. A single saya will cost sometimes as much as $2,000, a scarf $400 and a handkerchief from $25 to $ioo. The threads are so light that great care must be taken in the factories to prevent gusts of air from tangling the delicate strands. (To be continued.)