subdue his savage
fellow. For ages have a few thousand Spanish merchants been enabled to
hold one-third of the native inhabitants in direct and absolute slavery;
while more than another third has acknowledged their sway by the payment
of tribute. The remaining fraction consists of wild tribes, who, too
remote from the seat of commerce and power to make them an object of
conquest, still retain their barbarian independence.

But it has ever been the policy of Spain to shut up her colonies from the
intrusion of foreign enterprise--the policy of all nations who retrograde,
or are hastening toward decay. This is the true reason why so little has
been written about the Philippines and their inhabitants, many of whose
customs are both strange and interesting. Perhaps not the least singular
of these is that which forms the subject of our sketch--_Comer el Buyo_
(Chewing the Buyo).

The buyo is a thing composed of three ingredients--the leaf of the
buyo-palm, a sea-shell which is a species of periwinkle, and a root
similar in properties to the _betel_ of India. It is prepared thus: the
leaves of the palm, from which it has its name, are collected at a certain
season, cut into parallelograms, and spread upon a board or table with the
inner cuticle removed. Upon this the powdered root and the shell, also
pulverized, are spread in a somewhat thick layer. The shell of itself is a
strong alkali, and forms a chief ingredient in the mixture. After having
been exposed for some time to the sun, the buyo-leaf is rolled inwardly,
so as to inclose the other substances, and is thus formed into a regular
cartridge, somewhat resembling a cheroot. Thus prepared, the buyo is ready
for use--that is, to be eaten.

In order that it may be carried conveniently in the pocket, it is packed
in small cases formed out of the leaves of another species of the
palm-tree. Each of these cases contains a dozen cartridges of the buyo.

Buyo-eating is a habit which must be cultivated before it becomes
agreeable. To the stranger, the taste of the buyo is about as pleasant as
tobacco to him who chews it for the first time; and although it is not
followed by the terrible sickness that accompanies the latter operation,
it is sure to excoriate the tongue of the rash tyro, and leave his mouth
and throat almost skinless. Having once undergone this fearful
matriculation, he feels ever afterward a craving to return to the
indulgence, and the appetite is soon confirme