The genius of destructiveness seems incarnate in this Malay race. The missionaries alone venture to travel among these ferocious tribes. They, too, have made the sacrifice of their lives, and, holding life worth nothing, they have succeeded in winning the respect of these savages in evangelising and converting them. They work for God and for their country, and the poorest and most wretched among the natives are not unwilling to accept the faith and to submit to Spain; but the missionaries insist on their leaving their homes and going to another district, to which, for many reasons, the neophytes gladly consent. After several days’ journey a pueblo is founded. These villages have multiplied for many years past, forming oases of comparative peace and civilisation amid the barbarism by which they are surrounded, and are open to all who choose to seek a shelter in them. The more neophytes the pueblo holds, the less exposed it is to hostile incursions. Doctor Montano gives a very striking account of one of these daring missionaries, Father Saturnino Urios, of the Society of Jesus, who, in a single year, converted and baptised fifty-two hundred people. There are thirty-one islands of considerable size in the Philippine group. Their area exceeds that of Great Britain. Pine and fir-trees are abundant. Large areas are suitable for wheat. There are eight ports open to commerce. The principal exports are hemp, sugar, rice, tobacco, cigars, coffee, and cocoa. Previous to the rebellion the annual value of the sugar output was $30,000,000. Now it is almost nothing. The population of the islands is about eight million, of which more than three million are in Luzon, the insurgent stronghold. “Under the administration of Spain the Philippines were subject to a governor-general with supreme powers, assisted by a ‘junta of authorities’ instituted in 1850, and consisting of the archbishop, the commander of the forces, the admiral, the president of the supreme court, etc.; a central junta of agriculture, industry, and commerce (dating from 1866), and a council of administration. In the provinces and districts the chief power is in the hands of alcades mayores and civico-military governors. The chief magistrate of a commune is known as the gobernadorcillo, or captain; the native who is responsible for the collection of the tribute of a certain group of families is the cabeca de barangay. Every Indian between the ages of sixteen and sixty, subject to Spain, was forced to pay tribute to the amount of $1.17, descendants of the first Christians of Cebu, new converts, gobernadorcillos, etc., being exempted. Chinese were subject to special taxes, and by a law of 1883 Europeans and Spanish half-castes were required to pay a poll-tax of $2.50.” The largest island in the archipelago is Luzon, with an area of 40,885 square miles, and on which is situated the city of Manila.