l stream of water
that has been brought down from the hills above. There is a finely
constructed aqueduct that must have cost the Spaniards a great deal
of money, even with cheap labor. It is certainly a very delightfully
situated little town. This place is famous for its mats; they are woven
of every conceivable color and texture, and are of all sizes, from
those for a child's bed to those for the side of a house. The edges of
some mats are woven to look like lace, and some like embroidery. They
range in price from fifty cents to fifty dollars. Every one who visits
Romblom is sure to bring away a mat.

On every island much corn is raised, perhaps for export; certainly
the staple is rice. Quite a number of young men who were officers in
our volunteer regiments, have located on the island of Guimeras, and
I have no doubt that, with their New England thrift, they will be able
to secure magnificent crops. The soil is amazingly rich; under skilled
care it will produce a hundred fold. Many of the islands are so near
to one another that it is an easy matter to pass from island to island.

LITERATURE.

CHAPTER TWENTY-FIVE.

In no house of any town, on any island, nor in the very best houses
of the so-called very best families, did I ever see any books,
newspapers, magazines, periodicals of any kind whatever. One woman
triumphantly took out of a box a book, nicely folded up in wax paper,
a history of the United States, printed in 1840. In a lower room of a
large house, once a convent, but now occupied by two or three priests,
there were perhaps four or five hundred books written in Spanish and
Latin on church matters. One reason for the dearth of books is the
difficulty of protecting them from the ravages of the ants. We found
to our horror that our books were devoured by them. And then the times
were troublous and things were out of joint. In the large seminary at
Molo, where hundreds of girls are taught every year, I did not see a
single book of any kind or any printed matter, except a few pamphlets
concerning the Roman church. The girls work on embroideries, and surely
for fineness they surpass all others. They do the most cobweb-like
drawn work, and on this are wrought roses, lilies, and butterflies
with outspread wings that look as if they had just lighted down to sip
the nectar from the blossoms; these very fine embroideries are done
on the pina cloth. It is no wonder that the people would get even the
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