en
small. Carabao sometimes go crazy, and when they do, they tread down
everything in their way. Notwithstanding their ungainly bulk they can
run as well as a good horse, and can endure long journeys quite as
well. They are urged to greater speed by the driver taking the tail
and giving it a twist or kicking them in the flank.

I used to spend most of my time threatening my driver that he would
have to go to a calaboose if he did not stop abusing the animal. The
horses are only caricatures. They are so small, so poorly kept,
and so badly driven that one burns with indignation at the sight of
them. There is no bit and the bridle is always bad. The nose piece
is fitted tight and has on the under side a bit of horny fish skin,
its spikes turned towards the flesh. These are jerked into the flesh
of the poor horse until, in its frenzy, it dashes madly from one side
of the road to the other.

Cows are of little use. They look fair but they give little milk. Goats
are next in importance, and are delightful to watch. The kids, in
pairs and triplets, are such pretty little creatures, so perfectly
formed, that I could scarcely resist the desire to bring a few home.

The dogs are the worst looking creatures imaginable. They are so
maimed that they are pests rather than pets; but there are thousands
of them. There was one exception, a dog that was brought to me one day
from a burning house, the like of which I had never seen before. It was
called an Andalusian poodle. It proved to be not only the handsomest
but the best little dog I ever had. Being a lover of dogs, I regretted
very much to give him up upon my return.

AMUSEMENTS AND STREET PARADES.

CHAPTER SEVENTEEN.

As a drowning man catches at a straw, so was I eager for anything
that would give even slight relief from consuming anxieties and
pressing hardships. The natives responded quickly to the slightest
encouragement; small change drew groups of two to fifty to give me
"special performances." There were blind fiddlers who would play
snatches of operas picked up "by ear" on the rudest kind of a fiddle
made out of hollow bamboo with only one string; it was astonishing
how much music they could draw from the rude instrument. The bow was a
piece of bent bamboo with shredded abaka for the bow-strings. Flutes
were made of bamboo stalks; drums out of carabao hide stretched over
a cylindrical piece of bamboo. Some of these strolling bands came many
miles to my