That the commerce of the islands, now mainly British, will ultimately pass into American hands, can scarcely be doubted. They are not yet firmly seated in power, but their attitude to British and foreign firms is already sufficiently pronounced to allow an observant onlooker to make a forecast of what it will be later on. Dominating Cuba, holding the Philippines, the Sandwich Islands and Porto Rico, the Americans will control the cane sugar trade, the tobacco trade, and the hemp trade, in addition to the vast branches of production they now hold in their hands. CHAPTER XIX. LIFE IN MANILA. (A CHAPTER FOR THE LADIES.) Climate--Seasons--Terrible Month of May--Hot winds--Longing for rain--Burst of the monsoon--The Alimóom--Never sleep on the ground floor--Dress--Manila houses--Furniture--Mosquitoes--Baths--Gogo--Servants--Wages in 1892--The Maestro cook--The guild of cooks--The Mayordomo--Household budget, 1892--Diet--Drinks--Ponies--Carriage a necessity for a lady--The garden--Flowers--Shops--Pedlars--Amusements--Necessity of access to the hills--Good Friday in Manila. Climate. The average shade temperature of Manila all the year round is 83° Fahrenheit. The highest I have ever seen there was 96°, at 2 P.M. in May, and the lowest 68°, at 6 A.M. in December. The temperature of the sea-water on the shore at Malate is usually 82°, and that of well-water about the same. The water-pipes from the reservoir at San Juan del Monte are not buried, but are carried on an embankment. They are partly shaded from the sun by clumps of bamboos, but on a hot afternoon the water sometimes attains a temperature of 90°. Those figures are high, yet the heat is mitigated by the sea-breeze, and the nights are usually cool enough to allow a refreshing sleep. The climate of Manila is not harmful to the constitutions of healthy Europeans or Americans between twenty and fifty years of age, provided they at once adopt a mode of life suitable to the country, and in clothing, diet, habits and recreations, adapt themselves to the new conditions. On the other hand, I apprehend that, for persons of either sex over fifty who have had no previous experience of life in the tropics, there will be great difficulty in acclimatising themselves, and the mortality amongst such will be abnormal. Ladies' complexions will not suffer more than if they lived in a steam-heated house in Harlem, New York.