country where it grows. It is a kind
of reed, and grows very tall. It has joints like the joints of a corn
stalk. It is not solid like a corn stalk, but is hollow inside. It is
so thick and strong that the people make houses of it and all kinds of
furniture.

[Illustration: Bamboo.]

The Moro men are good sailors and swimmers. They are also good divers.
They dive into the water for pearls and coral. They can stay under the
water for two or three minutes at a time. The children also are good
swimmers. They spend a great deal of time in the water.

There is another tribe called the Man'gy-ans. These people live in the
mountains. They have black hair and flat noses. They are very strong,
for they spend most of their time out of doors.

Some months of the year they do not live in houses. They sleep under
trees. But other months of the year it rains very much. Then they
sleep in houses. Their houses are made of poles with roofs of leaves.

The Mangyan women and girls wear a very strange kind of dress. It is
made of cords coiled around their waists. The cords are narrow strips
of rattan braided together. Rattan is the stem of a plant which grows
to a very great height. It sometimes grows a hundred feet high. It is
as thick as a man's wrist, and it is very tough and strong. The people
split the rattan into thin strips. With these they make baskets, seats
of chairs, walking canes, ropes, and many other things.

The Mangyan men are good hunters. They hunt an animal called the
tim'a-rau. It is like a buffalo. They shoot it with bows and arrows.

There are a great many large forests in the Philippines, and there are
very fine trees in them. The most useful of the plants or trees is the
bamboo. I have already told you about it. The cocoanut palm is also a
very useful tree. The nuts give food and drink and oil.

[Illustration: A Philippine woman carrying water.]

On one of the islands there is a wonderful plant called the pitcher
plant. Its leaves are in the shape of pitchers. Some of the pitchers
have lids, and are large enough to hold a pint of water.

In the Philippines they raise coffee, bananas, sugar, tobacco, and
cotton. One of their most useful plants is the plant from which they
get hemp for making ropes and cords. This plant is called "ab'a-ca" by
the people in the Philippines, and its hemp is called Manila hemp.

There is a great deal of rice grown in the Philippines. Rice is