The largest town in
this island is Manila.
Many tribes of people live in the Philippine Islands. Each tribe has a
language of its own.
It is very warm in these islands. So the people need but little
clothing. Their houses are not very high. The highest house is only
two stories. In some parts they have strange windows in their houses.
The panes are not made of glass, as in our houses. They are made of
oyster shells. But they are not like our oyster shells. They are very
thin--so thin that the light can come through them nearly as well as
through glass. The shell is made square, and fits in the window like a
pane of glass. Sometimes the sides or walls of the upper stories are
made of frames, with oyster shells for panes. The people can slide
these walls back, so as to let the cool air into the rooms.
[Illustration: A Philippine House.]
There is one tribe in the islands called the Moro tribe. The people of
this tribe have very strange houses. They build their houses in the
water near the shore. They build them on the top of long poles. The
first stories are high above the water. The people use ladders to go
up to them. These houses are built of bamboo.
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