Owing to their geographical position, none of the Philippine ports are on the line of the regular mail and passenger steamers _en route_ elsewhere; hence, unlike Hong-Kong, Singapore, and other Eastern ports, there is little profit to be derived from a cosmopolitan floating population. Due, probably, to the tedious Customs regulations--the obligation of every person to procure, and carry on his person, a document of identification--the requirement of a passport to enter the Islands, and complicated formalities to recover it on leaving--the absence of railroads and hotels in the interior and the difficulties of travelling--this Colony, during the Spanish _regime_, was apparently outside the region of tourists and "globe-trotters." Indeed the Philippine Archipelago formed an isolated settlement in the Far East which traders or pleasure-seekers rarely visited _en passant_ to explore and reveal to the world its natural wealth and beauty. It was a Colony comparatively so little known that, forty years ago, fairly educated people in England used to refer to it as "The Manillas," whilst up to the end of Spanish rule old residents, on visiting Singapore and Hong-Kong, were often highly amused by the extravagant notions which prevailed, even there, concerning the Philippines. But the regulations above referred to were an advantage to the respectable resident, for they had the desirable effect of excluding many of those nondescript wanderers and social outcasts who invade other colonies. Since the Revolution there has been a large influx of American tourists to the Islands, arriving in the army-transports, passage free, to see "the new possession," as the Archipelago is popularly called in the United States. CHAPTER XVI Agriculture In years gone by, before so many colonies were opened up all over the world, the few who, in the Philippines, had the courage to face the obstacles to agriculture in a primitive country made fairly large fortunes in the main staple products--sugar and hemp. Prices were then treble what they have since been, labour was cheaper, because the needs of the labouring-class were fewer, and, owing to the limited demand and the rarity of epidemic cattle-disease, buffaloes for tilling were worth one-eighth of what they cost at the present day. Although the amount of trade was vastly less, those natives engaged in it were in sounder positions than the same class generally is now.