The highest authority in the country presided and handed the prizes to the winning jockeys, who were brought up to him by the vice-president of the club. But on an occasion when the Governor-General and Segundo Cabo were absent, I witnessed the races which were presided over by no less a personage than His Grace the Archbishop of Manila, Fray Pedro Payo, in his archiepiscopal garments, and smoking a big Havana cigar. The old gentleman enjoyed the sport and most graciously presented the handsome prizes to the winners. Betting was conducted by the totalisator, or pari-mutuel, the bet being five dollars, repeated as often as you liked. As I presume my readers understand this system, I shall not describe it. The natives bet amongst themselves to a considerable amount. Pavilions were erected by different clubs or bodies, and a profuse hospitality characterised each day. Winners of large silver cups usually filled them with champagne and passed them round. Bets were made with the ladies as an excuse for giving them presents. Dinner-parties were given in the evenings at private houses, and there were dinners at the clubs. There were two race-meetings in the year. No doubt this sport, temporarily interrupted by insurrection and war, will again flourish when tranquillity prevails. There was a boating-club in connection with the British Club at Nagtajan, now removed to Ermita, and some very good skiffs and boats were available. There was a regatta and illuminated procession of boats each year. Polo clubs and rifle clubs had a rather precarious existence, except that the Swiss Rifle Club was well kept up, and there were some excellent shots in it. There was a lawn tennis club, which had ladies and gentlemen as members, and some very good games were played there and valuable prizes given. Shooting was a favourite sport with many Englishmen and a few mestizos. Excellent snipe-shooting is to be had in all the paddy-fields around Manila and the lake. But at San Pedro on the Pasig, there is a wide expanse of rough ground with clumps of bushes, and it was here that the most exciting sport was to be had, and it took some shooting to get the birds as they flew across the openings between the bushes. Snipe-shooting began in September, when the paddy was high enough to give cover, and lasted to the end of November. The birds, when they first arrived, were thin, but they soon put on flesh, and by November were fat and in splendid condition for the table. There is no better bird to be eaten anywhere than a Manila snipe. Bags of eighty were sometimes made in a morning by two guns.