he
muscles of the thumb throws the mass into the mouth with a skill that
is marvelous to any but a Filipino. To judge from the most reliable
information, the poorest class do not have an abundance of food,
although it would seem that such a condition of things would be
well-nigh impossible. However, in a census of one hundred school
children there were found six boys and four girls who declared that
they had never had enough to eat, and the native teacher stated that
this was probably true.

The wide gulf between the _tao_ and the rich man is filled by the
great middle class of Filipinos.

CHAPTER VIII.

VISIT TO A LEPER COLONY.

Not far from our town was a leper colony and the first Saturday that
could be spared was set aside for a trip to the place. It happened
that none of the other Americans were at leisure on this particular
morning, but, rather then delay the trip or miss it altogether, the
writer, armed with a revolver, started out alone.

The road had been described so accurately by one who was supposed to
know it that it was deemed well-nigh impossible to miss the way. The
main highway was followed to the point where the by-path supposed to
lead to the settlement turned off through some bamboo thickets and a
low tropical wood. This path led straight away towards the sea-coast
where the houses of the colony were said to stand in a cocoanut grove
by the beach.

Upon arriving at the settlement, a very inhospitable reception was
received from a mangy cur that growled and showed a very uninviting
set of sharp, white teeth behind his snarling lips. The growling of
the dog had attracted the attention of an old man who, with age-bent
back, was pounding rice in a mortar about fifty yards away. He turned
slowly around and, upon seeing an intruder into the primitive quiet of
the place, gave a sharp, far-reaching call. The sound had scarcely
rung through the grove when from about a dozen of the little grass
houses dotted here and there fifteen or twenty men armed with bolos
came out and gathered around the old man. A sense of my danger flashed
upon me. Three miles from town and alone in a tropical jungle, I could
be almost instantly overcome by this band of bolo-men, and the only
report that would ever reach my people would be that I had
"disappeared." Of course, attack was by no means certain, but the
potentiality of the situation was thrilling. A drawn revolver and the
gleaming of its shining barrel had