orn,
without a shirt. In some, this jacket is ornamented with work around
the neck; it has no collar, and in many cases no sleeves, and over
this a richly embroidered cape. The feet are covered with slippers,
with wooden soles, which are kept on by the little toe, only four toes
entering the slipper, and the little one being on the outside. The
effect of both costumes is picturesque.

[Ducks.] The market is a never failing place of amusement to a
foreigner, for there a crowd of the common people is always to be seen,
and their mode of conducting business may be observed. The canals
here afford great facilities for bringing vegetables and produce to
market in a fresh state. The vegetables are chiefly brought from the
shores of the Laguna de Bay, through the river Pasig. The meat appeared
inferior, and as in all Spanish places the art of butchering is not
understood. The poultry, however, surpasses that of any other place
I have seen, particularly in ducks, the breeding of which is pursued
to a great extent. Establishments for breeding these birds are here
carried on in a systematic manner, and are a great curiosity. They
consist of many small enclosures, each about twenty feet by forty or
fifty, made of bamboo, which are placed on the bank of the river,
and partly covered with water. In one corner of the enclosure is a
small house, where the eggs are hatched by artificial heat, produced
by rice-chaff in a state of of fermentation. It is not uncommon to see
six or eight hundred ducklings all of the same age. There are several
hundreds of these enclosures, and the number of ducks of all ages
may be computed at millions. The manner in which they are schooled
to take exercise, and to go in and out of the water, and to return
to their house, almost exceeds belief. The keepers or tenders are of
the Tagalog tribe, who live near the enclosures, and have them at all
times under their eye. The old birds are not suffered to approach
the young, and all of one age are kept together. They are fed upon
rice and a small species of shell-fish that is found in the river
and is peculiar to it. From the extent of these establishments we
inferred that ducks were the favorite article of food at Manila, and
the consumption of them must be immense. The markets are well supplied
with chickens, pigeons, young partridges, which are brought in alive,
and turkeys. Among strange articles that we saw for sale, were cakes
of coagulated blood. The mark