An Englishwoman in the Philippines . that of a short, thick, curved sword,which they use with deadly effect in fighting, andwith great skill in almost every other event in life,^ The little brown people stood round and lookedat us while we watched the man with the bolo. Hechopped with marvellous dexterity, slicing off theouter covering of soft green flesh, and then makinga hole in the top of the tender unripe nut nut had a thin lining of transparent meat, andwas full of pale green liquid, like slightly soapywater in appearance. This milk we drank outof a small wooden bowl produced b
An Englishwoman in the Philippines . that of a short, thick, curved sword,which they use with deadly effect in fighting, andwith great skill in almost every other event in life,^ The little brown people stood round and lookedat us while we watched the man with the bolo. Hechopped with marvellous dexterity, slicing off theouter covering of soft green flesh, and then makinga hole in the top of the tender unripe nut nut had a thin lining of transparent meat, andwas full of pale green liquid, like slightly soapywater in appearance. This milk we drank outof a small wooden bowl produced by the oldwoman, a neat little vessel made out of half acocoanut, all in the most approved style of thestory books! The drink was refreshing enough,but sweet and sickly. Then the man split the nutopen and made a clever little scoop with his boloout of a slice of bamboo which he picked up fromthe ground, and with this he shaved off some long 1 The fighting holo, the more deadly and elaborate weaponis always kept concealed in the >o P-, THE RIVER BANKS 233 strips of the white meat, of which we ate a gooddeal, but it was tough and tasteless. So the opening of a green cocoanut wasthe means of dispelling almost the last of myillusions about a Tropic Island! I have so oftenread about the nectar and ambrosia of the greennut, and the wonderful yarns of travellers who saythere is no drink on earth like the green milk—onebook I remember went so far as to compare thestuff favourably with lemonade ! Perhaps it is allright if you have been shipwrecked and yourmouth is full of sea water, but then I imagine sofew people who write the descriptions can everhave had that advantage. From the huts we went on till we came outupon wide, open mud-flats, where there were agreat many salt pits, which fill with water when thetide rises, for the sea water stretches right up tothis place and farther. The pits were surroundedby pumps, after the fashion of the shadoofs onthe Nile, and wells and al
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Keywords: ., bookcentury1900, bookdecade1900, bookpublisherlondo, bookyear1906
