sense of honor; she called him a fool, which appellation, I am assured, is extremely of fensive in the Visayan dialect, much more so than in Anglo-Saxon, being in fact, the "most offensive term that can be used. This opprobrious epithet being hurled at the supersensitive Malay, he proceeded to avenge the insult by drawing his bolo and cutting the offender to pieces. A somewhat similar case was before the court a short time since, wherein the out raged party, as the male head of the family, found it necessary for the proper maintenance of his dignity to nearly sever the cheek and ear of one of the female relatives who had talked about him among the neighbors and personally called him names, and, when ex postulated with, had actually passed her fingers derisively between his lips. This mark of contempt was more than Malay human nature could endure, so drawing the ever ready national weapon, he taught the younger female member of the family a les son in manners by slashing her across the cheek, almost severing the lobe of the left ear, and leaving an indelible brand on the face. The mass of the people are by no means devoid of sensibility. Not many days since a fellow appeared for trial, whose looks were evidence against him,—a dark, sullen, stolid looking man. It seemed as though the bolo just naturally fitted to his grasp, a veri table descendant of the old time Malay pirates, who with creese between their teeth swarmed up the sides of the good brig Betsy, as she lay becalmed in the Sulu Seas seventy years ago, and massacred our grand fathers, or were sunk with their proas while attempting such massacre, by the old fash ioned brass six-pounder on the good brig's deck. Well, it turned out that the evidence failed to show much of anything against the defendant, and before he was released, the court spoke a few words of counsel or admonition, which were duly interpreted by the provincial fiscal. As mention was made of his home, the tears started into his eyes, giving evidence that looks are deceptive with
this people. As a class, they are extremely fond of their homes, so much so, that when employed by the government to work on the railroad at a distance from their homes, they soon become homesick, for which reason so many desert that it was a serious question to procure an adequate labor supply for the public works. To obtain the services of a Philippino, and feel secure in such service, one should take the wife and family, as well as the husband and father, and then should take out a policy of insurance in order to enjoy a complete sense of safety. The questions propounded to a witness would stagger an American lawyer unaccus tomed to the procedure in vogue. What would the practitioner at home think to hear the prosecuting attorney begin his examina tion of a witness by the interrogation, "Why did you hit Antonio Maceo over the head with a bolo, thereby causing his death?" After the new code goes into operation, the Spanish and Philippino lawyer will be al most absolutely helpless; before a jury they would be as helpless as a child. The systems are in some respects very dissimilar, es pecially as to pleading and the manner of taking testimony, in which respects the legal system and procedure are as dissimilar as the English and Spanish languages. Under the existing law, while the code is, or shortly will be, American, the language of the courts is Spanish, and will continue to be such until the year 1906. So under existing conditions, the burden of learning a new language is on the American lawyer, that of learning a new system of legal procedure on the native and Spanish attorney. In some respects, the Spanish code in force here is excellent in theory, its pro visions being drawn with extreme care. It is probably true, as frequently remarked, that the evils under the Spanish regime were not in the laws, but in their administration, and in the procedure, which was attended with infinite delays and exorbitant cost to the litigant. The legal conscience is not over sensitive in matters regarding the interests of the at
