ated iron blinds of the shops are pulled down;
all the carriages have disappeared; the only sign of life in the
Escolta is the comical little tram-car, loaded down with little
brown men dressed in white, the driver tooting a toy horn, and all
the passengers dismounting to assist the car uphill.

The banking center of Manila, built around a dusty plaza in the Tondo
district, and consisting of low buildings occupied by offices of
shipping and commercial companies, suggests a scene from "The Merchant
of Venice" or "Othello." English firms--such as Warner, Barnes &
Co.; Smith, Bell & Co.; the Hong Kong-Shanghai Banking Corporation,
where the silver _pesos_ jingle as the deft clerks stack them up or
handle them with their small spades--are situated hereabouts.

Near by, and on an emerald plaza, stand the buildings of the Insular
Tobacco Company and of the Oriente Hotel. These buildings are the
finest modern structures in Manila. Carriages are waiting in the
street in front of the hotel, and at the entrance may be seen a
group of army officers in khaki uniform, in white and gold, or--very
much more modern--olive drab. The dining-room is entered through the
rustling bead-work curtain. Here the Chinese waiters, in long gowns
glide noiselessly around.

But the Rosario, where opium-saturated Chinamen sit tailor-fashion
at the entrance to their little stalls--where narrow galleries and
alleys swarm with Chinese life--is one of the most interesting and
complex: of all Manila's thoroughfares. On one side of the street the
drygoods-shops are shaded from the sun by curtains in broad stripes of
blue and white. The dreamy merchant sits barelegged on the doorsill,
and is not to be disturbed by the mere entrance of a purchaser. The
opposite side is lined with _Chino_ hardware stores, and in each one
of them the stock is just the same. These shops supply the stock of
merchandise to the provincial agents; for an intricate feudal system
is maintained among the Chinese of the archipelago. The rich Manila
merchants who have seen their fellow-countrymen safe through from
China, and have furnished goods on credit, reap the profits like so
many Oriental Shylocks.

At four o'clock the shopping begins again in the Escolta. Apparently
the whole town has turned out for a ride. Since the Americans
have come, odd sights have been seen in Manila,--cavalry horses
harnessed to pony vehicles, phaetons drawn by Filipino ponies, and
victorias, intended