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

UNOFFICIAL LETTERS OF

drying in the sun. The forge fires were abandoned
at the approaching clatter of our ambulance, and
perspiring, naked smiths with dangerous-looking
blades rushed out to stare at us with mild, goodnatured faces, in which curiosity was the predominant emotion revealed. The mat industry we investigated later and found the Apalit weave was
durable, and the weavers not altogether lacking in
the decorative instinct. The wide-necked ollas or
jars were too heavy to carry or we should have
bought a few on account of their soft color and
quaint shapes.
We drove directly through the village to the public square where the church is situated. This is a
well-proportioned, solid structure the exterior of
which has some pretensions to architectural excellence and the interior shows the result of artistic
aspirations. From the tower we looked over a flat,
rich country covered with maize and sugar plantations. The course of the river was plainly indicated
by the bamboo and banana plantations along its
banks. The soft brown thatch of the nipa houses
made shadows in the greenery, and the red tile roofs
of the more pretentious houses accentuated the vivid
colors of the banana and bamboo. The ylang-ylang
and breadfruit trees towered above the banana
groves, and off to our left Mt. Arayat, an isolated
blue peak, was pointed out as a refuge for all the
outlaws of the surrounding district. Just below us
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