icraft, music, painting,
sculpture, or even diversions. The peculiar traditional customs of
an Eastern people--their native dress, their characteristic habits,
constitute--by their originality and variation, the only charm to
the ordinary European traveller. The Manila middle-class native,
in particular, possesses none of this. He is but a vivid contrast
to his vivacious Spanish model, a striking departure from his own
picturesque aboriginal state, and an unsuccessful imitator of the
grace and easy manners of his Western tutor. In short, he is neither
one thing nor the other in its true representation compared with the
genial, genuine, and natural type to be found in the provinces.

Many years' residence in Manila, or in any one particular locality of
the Archipelago, will not enable either the alien or the native to form
a just opinion of the physical, social, or economic conditions of the
Colony; they can only be understood after extensive travelling through
and around the Islands. Nor will three or four tours suffice for the
intelligent inquirer, because first impressions often lead to false
conclusions; information obtained through one source must needs be
verified by another; the danger of mistaking isolated cases for general
rules has to be avoided, and, lastly, the native does not reveal to the
first-time traveller the intricacies of Philippine life. Furthermore,
the traveller in any official capacity is necessarily the least
informed person concerning the real thought and aspirations of the
Filipino or true Philippine life; his position debars him from the
opportunity of investigating these things.

It would be beyond the scope of this work to take the reader mentally
through the thousand or more miles of lovely scenery, and into the
homes of the unsophisticated classes who still preserve, unalloyed,
many of their natural characteristics and customs. But within half a
day's journey from the capital there are many places of historical
interest, among which, on account of its revived popularity since
the American advent, may be mentioned Los Banos, on the south shore
of the Laguna de Bay.

Los Banos (the baths) owes its origin to the hot springs flowing from
the volcanic Maquiling Mountain, which have been known to the natives
from time immemorial when the place was called Maynit, which signifies
"hot."

At the close of the 16th century these mineral waters attracted the
attention of Martyr Saint Pedro Ba