CEBU, IN THE PHILIPPINES
In Cebu the carriages of the natives are evidently not built for comfort, and the ones we see in the picture we should not find very agreeable to ride in, I am sure.
This is the Public Square of Cebu, an old, old city on the island of Cebu, in the Philippines. Hundreds of years ago some Spanish people made a settlement there, and after that it was the capital city of the Philippines. Now it is still an important city, and large quantities of hemp are sent out from it to other parts of the world. Hemp, you know, is used to make ropes and sail-cloth and that strong yellow wrapping-paper called Manilla paper.
When growing, the hemp plant looks something like a banana tree, with big leaves in which is the fibre used to make rope. The native people have a rude sort of knife with which they scrape the pulp from the fibre, after which it is dried in the sun and then prepared for shipping.
There is also a very fine fibre that the natives sometimes get in small quantities, out of which they weave a soft material that looks something like silk. This fibre brings higher prices than the coarser, but there is not so much of it to be had.
It is very interesting to see the people at work, getting the hemp ready for market: almost everything is done by hand, for no machinery has yet been made which can do the work so well.
A Family “Turn-out” in the Public Square, Cebu, Philippine Islands
From Stereograph, copyright by Underwood & Underwood, New York