he long row of mimosa-trees that made a leafy archway over the cool
street; or the fruit merchants squatting beside the bunches of bananas
and the tiny oranges spread out upon the ground? There was the pink
pavilion where that enterprising Chinaman, Ah Gong, conducted his
indifferent restaurant. After these many days I can still hear the
clatter of the plates, the jingle of the knives and forks, placed
on the tables by the Chinese waiters. There was the crowd on the
veranda waiting for the second table, opening their correspondence
as they waited. And what an indescribable sensation was imparted on
receiving the first letter in a foreign land!

The long, cool barrack-rooms were swept by the fresh breezes. Here,
in the bungalow, the army cots had been arranged in rows and covered
by mosquito-bars suspended from the wires stretched overhead. When
tucked inside of the mosquito-bar, one felt as though he were a part
of a menagerie. "_Muchacho_" was the first new word you learned. It
was advisable to call for a _muchacho_ often, even though you did
not need his services, in order to exploit your own experience and
your superiority. And here you were first cheated by the wily Chinese
peddlers--although you had cut them down to half their price--when
they unrolled their packs of crepe pajamas, net-work underwear,
and other merchandise.

And all one Sunday afternoon you listened to a lecture from the
President of the Manila Board of Health, who told of the diseases
that the flesh was heir to in the Philippines, and cheerfully assured
you that within a month or two your weight would be reduced to the
extent of twenty-five or fifty pounds. And after dinner--where you
learned that _chiquos_ though they looked a good deal like potatoes,
were a kind of fruit--while you were strolling down the avenue beyond
the markethouse, you got a ducking from a sudden shower that ceased
quite as unceremoniously as it had begun. There was excitement in the
bungalow that night because of its invasion by a hostile monkey. An
impromptu vigilance committee finally succeeded in ejecting the
unwelcome visitor, persuading him of the superior advantages of
"Barracks B."

Together with a few dissenters, I moved out next morning, finding
better quarters in the first floor of a Spanish house in Magallanes. We
made the best of an old ruin opposite, which we considered picturesque,
and which was occupied by Filipino squatters, who conducted a hand
laundry