"It was late in the evening when we returned from our drive; the people were thinning out somewhat at the promenade, but the most of them did not appear in a hurry to get home. Though they go late to bed, they rise early in Manilla, at least those who have any business; and they make up for the short hours of night by sleeping in the middle of the day. In the best of the houses there are bath-rooms, with bamboo windows in fine lattice-work, and some of the people manage to keep cool by bathing several times a day. The water for supplying the city comes from the Pasig River, several miles above Manilla, but the means of distributing it are very primitive." The second morning of their stay in Manilla our young friends were out in good season, and off on an excursion around the city. Their ride took them along the river, but further up stream than they had previously been; they continued it beyond the city to a little village, where the natives were having so jolly a time in the water that the boys proposed stopping to look at them. The Doctor consented, and so they left their carriage and sat down on the bank. [Illustration: LIFE IN THE WATER.] Three or four girls were in the shallow water near the edge of the stream, and they amused themselves by splashing a Chinese boatman who was urging his craft among them. Evidently he did not like the sport, as he was threatening to strike them with his oar, of which they did not seem to have much fear. A boy who had never in all probability seen a circus was balancing himself on the back of a wide-horned ox, and urging the beast to join the bathing-party; the ox was not at all disinclined to the bath, and the Doctor told the boys that the oxen, or buffaloes, of the Philippines cannot exist without frequent bathing. They like to lie all day in the water, and, if it is not attainable, they will readily accept mud as a substitute. Consequently, they are not particularly clean in their general appearance, as they are veneered with mud for the greater part of the time, and the more mud they can accumulate the better they are satisfied. [Illustration: HORNS OF THE BUFFALO.] The Doctor called the attention of the boys to the wide horns of the buffalo, and said they were often six feet in length, while specimens had been known that measured seven feet from tip to tip. He further remarked that the animal knows how to use them, as any hunter in the interior of the islands can testify; and some are unable to give their personal evidence, for the reason that they have been killed by them. The buffalo is a dangerous beast to encounter when he is enraged; he will shun the white man as long as he can, but, when pressed and pursued, he turns and shows fight. "We shall hear more of him by-and-by," the Doctor remarked, "and what you hear will be likely to increase your respect for him."