nce."

"If you were ill in the forest, and caught fever from the mosquitoes
and ants that stung you, the bark of this tree would cure you, just
as quinine does," continued the Padre.

"Is it the little quinine, or cinchona, tree?" I inquired.

"No, it is a sister tree. We call it 'Dita' in our language."

"I said our forests would house and feed you. Now I'll show you
how they would also clothe you. Please show me your handkerchief,
Filippa," said the Padre.

Filippa handed him a little square of linen cloth, so thin and watery
in color, or absence of color, that I could look through it.

"In your country, that little handkerchief would be worth twenty-five
dollars. It is woven from the very thin fibers drawn from pineapple
leaves, and is called Pina cloth, or Pina linen."

Filippa's mother added: "It is finer than silk or hemp linen. We make
our best shiny gowns and laces out of it. Because it is so fine,
it takes a long time to get enough threads to weave and work it
together. The time spent in making it, explains its great cost."

"I see now why Filippa is promised a Pina gown for our coming feast,
or fiesta day, that you kindly promise to give in my honor before I
go away. It certainly is a cloth fit for a queen," I replied.

"Oh! when will the feast day come?" Filippa eagerly inquired.

"Soon," laughed her mother.

"Here is a more wonderful tree, from the gum of which we make
automobile tires, rubber heels, elastic bands, hot water bags, rain
coats, rubber shoes, hose, and so on," exclaimed the Padre.

I looked; and surely enough, there was the identical rubber tree
which we see in florists' shops or in the greenhouse at home; only
this tree was larger. Its thick leaves were nearly as large as a hat.

"We cut a hole in the bark, and, when the yellow gum oozes out, we
boil it down thick, till it is dark colored. Then we mix it with chalk
and sulphur; and behold, afterwards we roll out your automobile tire,"
explained the wise Padre.

"Could you pull the rubber tree out as high as the stars, and would
it snap back again?" asked joking Moro.

"Stop your joking," replied Fil's mother. "You know very well that the
rubber tree itself is not pure gum, any more than the maple tree in
America is pure sugar. It is the gum of the rubber tree that becomes
the rubber."

CHAPTER X

MINERALS

"It is not only what towers above us, that makes our islands rich. Dig
at your feet, and you will find valua