Excerpt from America's Insular Possessions, Vol. 2 of 2 Prior to 1898, when America knocked rudely at her doors, the Philippine Archipelago was one of the most secluded portions of the earth. Only within the present generation have its ports been open to the commerce of the world. When the Archipelago passed into the possession of the United States there was not an American firm in Manila. The Islands have never been brought within the ever-extending bounds of tourist travel and are not yet upon a main steamship route, but are reached by a branch line from Hong Kong. About the Publisher Forgotten Books publishes hundreds of thousands of rare and classic books. Find more at www.forgottenbooks.com This book is a reproduction of an important historical work. Forgotten Books uses state-of-the-art technology to digitally reconstruct the work, preserving the original format whilst repairing imperfections present in the aged copy. In rare cases, an imperfection in the original, such as a blemish or missing page, may be replicated in our edition. We do, however, repair the vast majority of imperfections successfully; any imperfections that remain are intentionally left to preserve the state of such historical works.