Читать книгу Beautiful Philippines: A Handbook of General Information онлайн

49 страница из 64

A Modern Thoroughfare, Taft Avenue, Manila

The Luneta At the extreme end of Burgos Drive, the traveler comes out on the broad expanse of a park, of partly natural and partly made land, on the inland side of which is the most famous recreation place of Manila—the Luneta. This is an oval stretch of lawn where, nearly every evening, the music of the fine band of the Philippine Constabulary or that of some military organization combines with the sea breeze and the gorgeous sunsets behind the top of Mount Mariveles to bring together a crowd so varied and brilliant as to make this gathering one of the most distinctively picturesque sights of the city. Hundreds of carriages and motor cars draw up along the curb or make the circuit of the driveway, while thousands of pedestrians throng the walks and lawns. It is a gay and cosmopolitan gathering—Government officials, wealthy Chinese merchants, Spaniards, officers of the Army and Navy, American women in the light and dainty gowns of the Tropics, and Filipino women of every class in the picturesque national dress of gorgeous semi-transparent native cloth, that has caused one observer to describe them as “jet-crowned butterflies.”