"The abaca," he said, "is grown on the mountain slopes, and thrives best in a volcanic soil. It belongs to the banana family, and produces an abundance of seed; but the seed is not used for planting, owing to the long time required for it to grow up to be useful. The plants are propagated from cuttings taken from the base of the old trunk and set in the earth, where they soon take root and begin to grow. For the first two years much attention is needed to keep down the weeds which threaten to choke the plants; but by the third year the plant puts out its own broad leaves, and is able to take care of itself with an occasional slight weeding. "The vegetable silk is largely exported to Europe and America under the name of Manilla hemp; but it is only the coarser quality that goes to market. The finer kinds are woven by the natives, as you now see, and some of the cloth that they produce is as delicate as cambric or muslin. It is surprising what these people are able to accomplish with their rude implements and machinery. "No less than twelve varieties of abaca are cultivated; and it has been found that while it grows luxuriantly in some localities, it will not live at all in others. It takes from three to four years for the plant to produce fibre of a proper quality; at first only one stalk is cut from each bush, but later on the new branches grow so fast that they can be cut every eight or ten weeks. A good plantation will yield a ton and a half to the acre, and sometimes as high as two tons have been gathered. "Now, let us look at the loom where the weaving is going on. Perhaps Frank had better take down a description of it." [Illustration: A PRIMITIVE LOOM IN THE PHILIPPINE ISLANDS.] Frank brought out his note-book and wrote as follows, partly from his own observation, and partly from the dictation of Doctor Bronson and Fred: "The upper end consists of a piece of bamboo fastened between two posts, and the end of the web is tied to it. The weaver sits on the ground, and holds the lower end of the web by means of a wooden bow that passes across her back; she places her feet against a couple of pegs set in the ground, and by leaning backward draws the web out straight. The shuttle consists of a netting-needle a little longer than the width of the web, and, after the thread has been passed through the web, it is driven to its place with a wooden comb. A lath of hard wood serves as a trestle, and is turned on its edge after every stroke. "With this simple apparatus many thousand yards of cloth are woven in the Philippine Islands every year; it is the cloth almost universally worn by the natives, and it is wonderful to what a degree of fineness it is brought when we remember the rudeness of the loom."