with a
stock of lemon soda-water, sarsaparilla, sticks of boiled rice, cakes,
and cigarettes. A game of _monte_ was immediately started on the deck,
the Filipinos squatting anxiously around the dealer, wagering their
_suca ducos_ (pennies) or their silver pieces on the turn of certain
cards. It was a perfectly good-natured game, rendered absurd by the
concentric circles of bare feet surrounding it. There seemed to be
a personality about those feet; there were the sleek extremities
of some more prosperous councilman or _insurrecto_ general; there
were the horny feet of the old women, slim and bony, or a pair of
great toes quizzically turned in; and there were flat feet, speckled,
brown, or yellow, like a starfish cast up on the sand. They seemed to
watch the game with interest, and to note every move the dealer made,
smiling or frowning as they won or lost. There was a tramway at Salay,
drawn by a bull, and driven by a fellow whose chief object seemed to
be to linger with the _senorita_ at the terminus. The town was hotter
than the desert of Sahara, and as sandy; there was little prospect
oL relief save in the distant mountains rising to the clouds in the
blue distance.

Returning to our caravansary at Iloilo, we discovered that our beds
had been assigned to others; there was nothing left to do but take
possession of the first unoccupied beds that we saw. One of our party
evidently got into the "Spaniard's" bed, the customary resting-place
of the proprietor, for presently we were awakened by the anxious
cries of the _muchachos, "Senor, senor, el Espanol viene_!" (Sir,
the Spaniard comes!) But he was not to be put out by any Spaniard,
and expressed his sentiments by rolling over and emitting a loud
snore. The Spaniard, easily excited, on his entrance flew into an
awful rage, while the usurper calmly snored, and the _muchachos_
peeked in through the door at peril of their lives.

Nothing especially of interest is to be found at Iloilo,--only a
long avenue containing Spanish, native, and Chinese stores; a tiny
_plaza_, where the city band played and the people promenaded hand
in hand; a harbor flecked with white, triangular sails of native
_velas_; and the river, where the coasting boats and tugs are lying
at the docks. Neat cattle take the place of carabaos here to a great
extent. There is the usual stone fort that seems to belong to some
scene of a comic opera. America was represented here by a Young Men's
Christian As