We saw the sugar-cane growing. Coffee also is almost wild, and large
quantities of rice are exported to China. The cocoa-palm and the
bamboo, as well as cacao, beans, indigo, silk, and cotton are produced.
We were shown a species of banana, called abaca, the finer filaments of
which, mixed with silk, are manufactured into native cloth. A rougher
sort, called Manilla hemp, is made into rope, which, with the raw
material, is largely exported. The most curious manufacture we saw,
however, was that from the pine-apple leaf, which produces a fibre so
fine and light, that the weaving operation must be carried on under
water, as the least current of air will break it. The Tagal girls work
it into handkerchiefs, which they richly embroider. These are greatly
valued. A more substantial manufacture is produced from the thicker
fibres, for dress pieces, which are also considered of great value. We
saw also some beautiful mats made from strips of bamboo, and leaves of
various trees, used for boat-sails, beds, or carpets. The hats and
cigar-cases of Manilla are also of a beautiful style of manufacture.

Although I might have written a more interesting account of the country,
I prefer giving this brief extract from my journal, that I may have more
space to narrate the numerous adventures through which we afterwards
passed.

CHAPTER EIGHT.

CROSS THE SEA OF CELEBES.

Once more we were free of islands, crossing the wide Celebes Sea. After
the bracing climate of Japan, we felt the heat considerably. We had
done so even when there was a breeze; it now fell calm. I scarcely
before knew what a real calm at sea was. The ocean was literally as
smooth as a sheet of glass--not the slightest swell was perceptible--not
the faintest cat's-paw played over the water. Some chips thrown
overboard floated exactly where they had fallen; and hour after hour, as
I looked over the side, there they were. Even a light vane of feathers
fastened in the mizzen-rigging hung down. The smoke from the galley
fire curled up in a thin blue wreath towards the sky, gradually growing
thinner and thinner, but still visible to a great height. Far as the
eye could reach, in the circle in the centre of which we floated, there
was the same shining, unbroken surface; except when here and there some
flying-fish leaped out of the translucent sea, or the fin of some
monster of the deep appeared as he swam near the surface.

It was hot below--hotter eve