o Araneta was rewarded with the post of
President of the Board of Health at an annual salary of $1,500 gold,
and Victorino Mapa was appointed a judge of the Supreme Court with an
annual emolument of $7,000 gold. In March, 1904, Raymundo Melliza,
ex-president of the native civil government, already referred to as
the advocate of social order, succeeded Delgado in the civil government
of the Yloilo province by popular vote.

Yloilo, formerly the second port of the Philippines, is situated on
the right bank of the creek. From the creek point to the square are
sheds used for sugar-storing, with, here and there, a commercial or
government office between. The most modern thoroughfares are traced
with regularity, and there are many good houses. In the square is the
church, which at a distance might be mistaken for a sugar-store, the
ruins of the Town Hall, the convent, and a few small, fairly well-built
houses of stone and wood, whilst all one side was once covered by a
fine new block of buildings of brick, stone and wood, with iron roofs.

The _Calle Real_ or High Street is a winding road, which leads through
the town into the country. The houses are indescribable--they are of
all styles. Without any pretence at architectural adornment, some are
high, others low; some stand back with several feet of pavement before
them, others come forward and oblige one to walk in the road. Here
and there is a gap, then a row of dingy hovels. This is the retail
trading-quarter and the centre for the Chinese. Going from the square
the creek runs along at the back of the right-hand-side houses;
turning off by the left-hand-side thoroughfares, which cannot be
called streets, there is a number of roughly-built houses and a few
good ones dispersed in all directions, with vacant, neglected plots
between. At the extreme end of the _Calle Real_ is the Government
House, built of wood and stone, of good style and in a fair condition,
with quite the appearance of an official residence. Before it is a
semicircular garden, and in front of this there is a round fenced-in
plot, in the middle of which stands a flag-staff. Just past the
Government House there is a bridge crossing the Jaro River, which
empties itself into the creek of Yloilo, and this creek is connected
with that of Otong. [223]

Yloilo lies low, and is always hot. Quite one-third of the shipping
and wholesale business quarter stands on land reclaimed from the
swamp by filling up with ear