having become
common talk among the natives in the neighbourhood, many of them
suggested that an evil spirit prevented the foundations of the bridge
being built. They proposed to propitiate him by throwing live children
into the river; consequently many mothers migrated with their infants
until they heard that the difficulty was overcome.

[131] The sale of Alcohol was a Government monopoly until
1862. Molasses is sold by the _Tinaja_, an earthenware jar measuring
19 inches in height and 17 1/2 inches at the maximum diameter; it
contains 16 _gantas_ (liquid measure) = say 11 gallons.

[132] British patents for paper-making from sugar-cane fibre were
granted to Berry in 1838, Johnson in 1855, Jullion in 1855, Ruck and
Touche (conjointly) in 1856, and Hook in 1857.

[133] Since about the year 1885 a weed has been observed to germinate
spontaneously around the roots of the sugar-cane in the Laguna
Province. The natives have given it the name of _Bulaclac ng tubo_
(Sugar-cane flower). It destroys the saccharine properties of the
cane. The bitter juice of this weed has been found to be a useful
palliative for certain diseases.

[134] Extract from a letter dated September 29, 1885, from
H. Strachan, Esq., Superintendent, Government Experimental Farm,
Hyderabad, Sindh--and Extract from a letter dated February 13, 1886,
from A. Stormont, Esq., Superintendent, Government Experimental Farm,
Khandesh (_vide_ "The Tropical Agriculturist," Colombo, June 1, 1886,
p. 876 _et seq_.).

[135] The extremely fine muslin of delicate texture known in the
Philippines as _Pina_ is made _exclusively_ of pine-apple _leaf_
fibre. When these fibres are woven together with the slender filament
drawn from the edges of the hemp petiole, the manufactured article
is called _Husi_.

[136] A British patent for Manila hemp-paper was granted to Newton
in 1852.

[137] A large proportion of the product sent from Mauban to Manila
as marketable hemp is really a wild hemp-fibre locally known by the
name of _Alinsanay_. It is a worthless, brittle filament which has
all the external appearance of marketable hemp. A sample of it broke
as easily as silk thread between my fingers. Its maximum strength is
calculated to be one-fourth of hemp fibre.

[138] _Vide_ Instructions _re_ Contraband from the Treasury
Superintendent, Juan Manuel de la Matta, to the "Intendente de Visayas"
in 1843.

[139] _Instruccion General para la Direccion, Administracion y
In