Unofficial letters of an official's wife [by] Edith Moses.

AN OFFICIAL'S WIFE

VII
A WINTER IN MANILA
MANILA, November 20, I901.
RETURNING from a journey of two months in
China, I found my worst fears realized on the
trip from Hongkong. The monsoon was blowing
with unusual force, and from the time we left Hongkong harbor until we reached the shelter of the
Mariveles point we were tossed and battered about
in a most disagreeable fashion. The waves banged
themselves viciously against the steamer, but the
Chang Cha was stanch. All day and all night the
dishes, pots and pans, and all the movable cargo
crashed back and forth, adding to the din of dashing
waves and splashing water. We all stayed miserably in bed, waiting in dull despair for the two
nights and the day to pass.
Finally, we reached the coast of Corregidor,
where the government tug was to meet us, and
where the Chang Cha's owners had agreed to take
us, Manila not being a port of call on their trip. It
was accommodating in them, for they went about
ninety miles out of their course. At dawn the capI8I