Cock-fighting in the Philippines is honest sport; there is no such thing as throwing the game as in a prize-fight, or pulling a horse as in racing. The fowls are usually so evenly matched that there is little of advantage in either one, from which to choose a preference, the book-makers in almost every case relying on their good fortune. These mains are the most popular sport in the islands, and, in consequence of the honest methods of the promoters in conducting them, have been carried on for ages without cessation or municipal interference, such as is sometimes waged against bull-fighting, horse-racing, and prize-fighting in other countries. The very atmosphere of the Philippines attracts you to these large nippa and bamboo arenas, and it seems you involuntarily follow the procession here as you would the race-track following in New Orleans or the daily crowd that gather to witness “Cuban pelota” in Havana. It is the antique axiom exemplified: “When in Rome do as the Romans do.” XIV. Departure of the 29th Infantry from the Philippines Brigade Headquarters, Ft. Wm. McKinley――Afloat on the Pásig River――Quarantine at Mariveles――Liberty in Japan――Across the Pacific――Reception in Honolulu――Greetings in “Frisco”――Via Santa Fé to Governor’s Island. It was midday in August, 1909, when the long chain of cascoes and steam-launches loaded with the three battalions and band of the Twenty-ninth Infantry swung into the rapids of the Pásig River to the strains of that dear old Southern melody, “My Old Kentucky Home,” leaving, as we floated with the current, many a heart-broken “mestizo” with her bandanna soaked in tears, wafting adieu to her “Americano soldado,” with whom she had had her last glide in the dance-halls of Guadeloupe. After a campaign of two years in a brigade post under the burning sun of the tropics, the course of our homeward-bound journey had begun on the historical old Pásig River, which, could it voice its history, might tell many a weird tale of adventure and bloody struggle. The military rendezvous and scene of our departure was Fort William McKinley, situated on a plateau near the Pásig and Tagigue Rivers, overlooking the broad bay and city of Manila on the west, and the beautiful lake in the district of Laguna de Bay on the east. In close proximity was a branch line of the Manila and Dagupán Railroad, connecting the provincial territory between Manila and the village of Antipolo. In addition to the steam-train, a trolley system covered the government reservation, terminating in the barrio of Pásig.