floating in oil and smelling of garlic, it went overboard. Eggs
cooked in oil followed the salad; last the "dulce," a composition of
rice and custard perfumed with anise seed oil, made the menu of the
fishes complete. I now gladly opened my box of crackers and cheese,
oranges, figs and dates.

As the sun declined, I sat watching the islands. We were passing
by what is known as the inner course. They lay fair and fragrant as
so many Edens afloat upon a body of water as beautiful as any that
mortal eyes have ever seen. Huge palms rose high in air, their long
feathery leaves swaying softly in the golden light. Darkness fell
like a curtain; but the waters now gleamed like nether heavens with
their own stars of phosphorescent light.

On the voyage to Japan, a fellow passenger asked if I were sure that
Iloilo was my destination in the Philippines and, being assured that
it was, informed me that there was no such place on the ship's maps,
which were considered very accurate. The Island of Panay was there,
but no town of Iloilo.

Iloilo (e-lo-e-lo) is the second city in size of the Philippines. It
stands on a peninsula and has a good harbor if it were not for the
shifting sands that make it rather difficult for the large steamers
to come to the wharf and the tide running very high at times makes
it harder still. There is a long wharf bordered with huge warehouses
full of exports and imports. Vast quantities of sugar, hemp and
tobacco are gathered here for shipment. It is a center of exchange,
a place of large business, especially active during the first years
of our occupation.

Immense caravan trains go out from here to the various army posts to
carry food and other supplies, while ships, like farm yards adrift,
ply on the same errand between port and port. Cebu and Negros are
the largest receiving stations.

In the center of the town is the plaza or park. Here, after getting
things in order, a pole was set, and the stars and stripes unfurled to
the breeze. The quarters of our soldiers were near the park and so our
boys had a pleasant place to lounge when off duty in the early morning
or evening. When our troops first landed here in 1898 there was quite a
battle, but I am not able to give its details. The results are obvious
enough. The native army set fire to the city before fleeing across
the river to the town of Jaro (Har-ro). The frame work of the upper
part of the buildings was burned but the walls or lower part rem