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| author | nfenwick <nfenwick@pglaf.org> | 2025-01-27 17:43:56 -0800 |
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| committer | nfenwick <nfenwick@pglaf.org> | 2025-01-27 17:43:56 -0800 |
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diff --git a/.gitattributes b/.gitattributes new file mode 100644 index 0000000..d7b82bc --- /dev/null +++ b/.gitattributes @@ -0,0 +1,4 @@ +*.txt text eol=lf +*.htm text eol=lf +*.html text eol=lf +*.md text eol=lf diff --git a/LICENSE.txt b/LICENSE.txt new file mode 100644 index 0000000..6312041 --- /dev/null +++ b/LICENSE.txt @@ -0,0 +1,11 @@ +This eBook, including all associated images, markup, improvements, +metadata, and any other content or labor, has been confirmed to be +in the PUBLIC DOMAIN IN THE UNITED STATES. + +Procedures for determining public domain status are described in +the "Copyright How-To" at https://www.gutenberg.org. + +No investigation has been made concerning possible copyrights in +jurisdictions other than the United States. Anyone seeking to utilize +this eBook outside of the United States should confirm copyright +status under the laws that apply to them. diff --git a/README.md b/README.md new file mode 100644 index 0000000..46afb82 --- /dev/null +++ b/README.md @@ -0,0 +1,2 @@ +Project Gutenberg (https://www.gutenberg.org) public repository for +eBook #60842 (https://www.gutenberg.org/ebooks/60842) diff --git a/old/60842-8.txt b/old/60842-8.txt deleted file mode 100644 index fdd9239..0000000 --- a/old/60842-8.txt +++ /dev/null @@ -1,5957 +0,0 @@ -Project Gutenberg's Yesterdays in the Philippines, by Joseph Earle Stevens - -This eBook is for the use of anyone anywhere in the United States and most -other parts of the world at no cost and with almost no restrictions -whatsoever. You may copy it, give it away or re-use it under the terms of -the Project Gutenberg License included with this eBook or online at -www.gutenberg.org. If you are not located in the United States, you'll have -to check the laws of the country where you are located before using this ebook. - -Title: Yesterdays in the Philippines - -Author: Joseph Earle Stevens - -Release Date: December 3, 2019 [EBook #60842] - -Language: English - -Character set encoding: ISO-8859-1 - -*** START OF THIS PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK YESTERDAYS IN THE PHILIPPINES *** - - - - -Produced by Jeroen Hellingman and the Online Distributed -Proofreading Team at http://www.pgdp.net/ for Project -Gutenberg (This file was produced from images generously -made available by The Internet Archive/American Libraries.) - - - - - - - - - - YESTERDAYS IN THE PHILIPPINES - - BY - - JOSEPH EARLE STEVENS - - AN EX-RESIDENT OF MANILA - - - - ILLUSTRATED - - NEW YORK - CHARLES SCRIBNER'S SONS - 1898 - - - - - - - - - IN MEMORY OF MY MOTHER - - - - - - - - -CONTENTS - - - INTRODUCTION Page xiii - - - I - - Leaving "God's Country"--Hong Kong--Crossing to Luzon--Manila - Bay--First View of the City--Earthquake Precautions--Balconies and - Window-gratings--The River Pasig--Promenade of the Malecon--The - Old City--The Puente de España--Population--A Philippine Bed--The - English Club--The Luneta--A Christmas Dinner at the Club, Page 1 - - - II - - Shopping at the "Botica Inglesa"--The Chit System--Celebrating - New Year's Eve--Manila Cooking Arrangements--Floors and - Windows--Peculiarities of the Tram-car Service--Roosters - Everywhere--Italian Opera--Philippine Music--The Mercury at 74° - and an Epidemic of "Grippe"--Fight Between a Bull and a Tiger--A - Sorry Fiasco--Carnival Sunday, Page 22 - - - III - - A Philippine Valet--The Three Days Chinese New Year--Marionettes - and Minstrels at Manila--Yankee Skippers--Furnishing a - Bungalow--Rats, Lizards, and Mosquitoes--A New Arrival--Pony-races - in Santa Mesa--Cigars and Cheroots--Servants--Cool Mountain - Breezes--House-snakes--Cost of Living--Holy Week, Page 43 - - - IV - - An Up-country Excursion--Steaming up the River to the - Lake--Legend of the Chinaman and the Crocodile--Santa Cruz - and Pagsanjan--Dress of the Women--Mountain Gorges and River - Rapids--Church Processions--Cocoanut Rafts--A "Carromata" Ride to - Paquil--An Earthquake Lasting Forty-five Seconds--Small-pox and - other Diseases in the Philippines--The Manila Fire Department--How - Thatch Dealers Boom the Market--Cost of Living, Page 60 - - - V - - Visit of the Sagamore--Another Mountain Excursion--The Caves of - Montalvan--A Hundred-mile View--A Village School--A "Fiesta" - at Obando--The Manila Fire-tree--A Move to the Seashore--A - Waterspout--Captain Tayler's Dilemma--A Trip Southward--The Lake - of Taal and its Volcano--Seven Hours of Poling--A Night's Sleep - in a Hen-coop, Page 87 - - - VI - - First Storm of the Rainy Season--Fourth of July--Chinese "Chow" - Dogs--Crullers and Pie and a Chinese Cook--A Red-letter Day--The - China-Japan War--Manila Newspapers--General Blanco and the - Archbishop--An American Fire-engine and its Lively Trial--The - Coming of the Typhoon--Violence of the Wind--The Floods - Next--Manila Monotony, Page 112 - - - VII - - A Series of Typhoons--A Chinese Feast-day--A Bank-holiday - Excursion--Lost in the Mist--Los Baños--The "Enchanted Lake"--Six - Dollars for a Human Life--A Religious Procession--Celebration - of the Expulsion of the Chinese--Bicycle Races and Fireworks, - Page 137 - - - VIII - - A Trip to the South--Contents of the "Puchero"--Romblon--Cebu, - the Southern Hemp-centre--Places Touched At--A Rich Indian - at Camiguin--Tall Trees--Primitive Hemp-cleaners--A New - Volcano--Mindanao Island--Moro Trophies--Iligan--Iloilo--Back - Again at Manila, Page 149 - - - IX - - Club-house Chaff--Christmas Customs and Ceremonies--New Year's - Calls--A Dance at the English Club--The Royal Exposition of the - Philippines--Fireworks on the King's Fête Day--Electric Lights and - the Natives--The Manila Observatory--A Hospitable Governor--The - Convent at Antipolo, Page 173 - - - X - - Exacting Harbor Regulations--The Eleanor takes French Leave--Loss - of the Gravina--Something about the Native Ladies--Ways of - Native Servants--A Sculptor who was a Dentist--Across the Bay - to Orani--Children in Plenty--A Public Execution by the Garrote, - Page 195 - - - XI - - Lottery Chances and Mischances--An American Cigarette-making - Machine and its Fate--Closing up Business--How the - Foreigner Feels Toward Life in Manila--Why the English - and Germans Return--Restlessness among the Natives--Their - Persecution--Departure and Farewell, Page 213 - - - CONCLUSION Page 230 - - - - - - - - - LIST OF ILLUSTRATIONS - - - Facing page - - How We Dressed for $2.50 Frontispiece - Our Office and the Punkah under which the Old Salts - Sat for Free Sea Breezes 8 - Plaza de Cervantes, Foreign Business Quarter 14 - Puente de España. Manila's Main Highway Across the Pasig 20 - The Busy Pasig, from the Puente de España 26 - A Philippine Sleeping-machine 32 - The English Club on the Banks of the Pasig 40 - The Bull and Tiger Fight--Opening Exercises 46 - Suburb of Santa Mesa 54 - Our Destination was a Town Called Pagsanjan at the Foot of a - Range of Mountains 60 - The Rapids in the Gorges of Pagsanjan 66 - Cocoanut Rafts on the Pasig, Drifting down to Manila 72 - The Little Native School under the Big Mango-tree 78 - Calzada de San Miguel 84 - A Native Village Up Country 90 - A "Chow" Shop on a Street Corner 98 - Puentes de Ayala, which Help two of Manila's Suburbs to Shake - Hands Across the Pasig 106 - Calzada de San Sebastian 114 - Ploughing in the Rice-fields with the Carabao 122 - Types of True Filipinos Waiting to Call Themselves Americans 130 - On the Banks of the Enchanted Lake 138 - In the Narrow Streets of Old Manila. A Procession 144 - A Citizen from the Interior 152 - How the World's Supply of Manila Hemp is Cleaned 160 - Moro Chiefs from Mindanao 168 - Manila Fruit-girls in a Street-Corner Attitude 176 - A Typical "Nipa" House 184 - The Little Flower-girl at the Opera 192 - Rapid Transit in the Suburbs of Manila 202 - The Fourth of July, '95. Execution by the Garrote 210 - Paseo de la Luneta 220 - Captain Tayler, the Genial Skipper of the Esmeralda 226 - Map of Philippines At End of Volume - - - - - - -INTRODUCTION - - -By the victory of our fleet at Manila Bay, one more of the world's -side-tracked capitals has been pulled from obscurity into main lines -of prominence and the average citizen is no longer left, as in days -gone by, to suppose that Manila is spelt with two l's and is floating -around in the South Sea somewhere between Fiji and Patagonia. The -Philippines have been discovered, and the daily journals with their -cheap maps have at last located Spain's Havana in the Far East. It is -indeed curious that a city of a third of a million people--capital -of a group of islands as large as New England, New York, Delaware, -Maryland, and New Jersey, which have long furnished the whole world -with its entire supply of Manila hemp, which have exported some -160,000 tons of sugar in a single year and which to-day produce as -excellent tobacco as that coming from the West Indies--it is curious, -I say, that a city of this size should have gone so long unnoticed -and misspelt. But such has been the case, and until Admiral Dewey -fired the shots that made Manila heard round the world, the people of -these United States--with but few exceptions--lived and died without -knowing where the stuff in their clothes-lines came from. - -Now that the Philippines are ours, do we want them? Can we run -them? Are they the long-looked-for El Dorado which those who have -never been there suppose? To all of which questions--even at the risk -of being called unpatriotic--I am inclined to answer, No. - -Do we want them? Do we want a group of 1,400 islands, nearly 8,000 -miles from our Western shores, sweltering in the tropics, swept -with typhoons and shaken with earthquakes? Do we want to undertake -the responsibility of protecting those islands from the powers in -Europe or the East, and of standing sponsor for the nearly 8,000,000 -native inhabitants that speak a score of different tongues and live -on anything from rice to stewed grasshoppers? Do we want the task of -civilizing this race, of opening up the jungle, of setting up officials -in frontier, out-of-the-way towns who won't have been there a month -before they will wish to return? - -Do we want them? No. Why? Because we have got enough to look after -at home. Because--unlike the Englishman or the German who, early -realizing that his country is too small to support him, grows up -with the feeling that he must relieve the burden by going to the -uttermost parts of the sea--our young men have room enough at home -in which to exert their best energies without going eight or eleven -thousand miles across land and water to tropic islands in the Far East. - -Can we run them? The Philippines are hard material with which to -make our first colonial experiment, and seem to demand a different -sort of treatment from that which our national policy favors or has -had experience in giving. Besides the peaceable natives occupying -the accessible towns, the interiors of many of the islands are -filled with aboriginal savages who have never even recognized the -rule of Spain--who have never even heard of Spain, and who still -think they are possessors of the soil. Even on the coast itself are -tribes of savages who are almost as ignorant as their brethren in the -interior, and only thirty miles from Manila are races of dwarfs that -go without clothes, wear knee-bracelets of horsehair, and respect -nothing save the jungle in which they live. To the north are the -Igorrotes, to the south the Moros, and in between, scores of wild -tribes that are ready to dispute possession. And is the United States -prepared to maintain the forces and carry on the military operations -in the fever-stricken jungles necessary in the march of progress to -exterminate or civilize such races? Have we, like England for instance, -the class of troops who could undertake that sort of work, and do we -feel called upon to do it, when the same expenditure at home would go -so much further? The Philippines must be run under a despotic though -kindly form of government, supported by arms and armor-clads, and to -deal with the perplexing questions and perplexing difficulties that -arise, needs knowledge gained by experience, by having dealt with -other such problems before. - -Are the Philippines an El Dorado? Like Borneo, like Java and the Spice -Islands, the Philippines are rich in natural resources, but their -capacity to yield more than the ordinary remuneration to labor I much -question. Leaving aside the question of gold and coal, in the working -of which, so far, more money has been put into the ground than has -ever been taken out, the great crops in these islands are sugar, hemp, -and tobacco. The sugar crop, to be sure, has the possibilities that -it has anywhere, where the soil is rich and conditions favorable. The -tobacco industry has perhaps more possibilities, and might be made -a close rival to that in Cuba. But the hemp crop is limited by -the world's needs, and as those needs are just so much each year, -there is no object in increasing a supply which up to date has been -adequate. There are foreigners in the Philippines, who have been -there for years, who have controlled the exports of sugar or hemp or -tobacco, who have made their living, and who from having been longer -on the ground should be the first to improve the opportunities that -may come with the downfall of Spanish rule. There are some things -which the United States can send to the Philippines cheaper than the -Continental manufacturers, but not many. She can send flour and some -kinds of machinery, she can put in electric plants, she can build -railways, but at present she can't produce the cheap implements, -and the necessaries required by the great bulk of poor natives at -the low price which England and Germany can. - -The Philippines are not an El Dorado simply because for the first -time they have been brought to our notice. They should not yield -more than the ordinary return to labor, and the question is, does the -average American want to live in a distant land, cut off from friends -and a civilized climate, only to get the ordinary return for his -efforts? To which, even though of course there is much to be said on -the other side, I would answer, No. We have gone to war, remembering -the Maine, to free Cuba, and at the first blow have taken another -group of islands--a Cuba in the East--to deal with. I have not the -space here to discuss the solution of the problem, but, for my part, -I should like to see England interested in buying back an archipelago -which she formerly held for ransom, leaving us perhaps a coaling port, -and opening up the country to such as chose to go there. Then, with -someone else to shoulder the burden of government and protection, we -should still have all the opportunities for proving whether or not the -islands were the El Dorado dreamed of in our clubs or counting-rooms. - -At the close of 1893, I went to Manila for Messrs. Henry W. Peabody & -Co., of Boston and New York, in the interest of their hemp business, -and, associated with Mr. A. H. Rand, remained there for two years. We -two were the representatives of the only American house doing business -in the Philippines, and made up practically fifty per cent. of the -American business colony in Manila. The years from 1894 to 1896 were -peculiarly peaceful with the quiet coming before the storm, and we were -fortunate enough to be able to make many excursions and go into many -parts of the island that later would have been dangerous. But as the -short term of our service drew to a close, rumors of trouble began to -circulate. The natives had long suffered from the demands made by the -Church and the tax-gatherer, and there was a feeling that they might -again attempt to throw off the Spanish yoke, as they attempted, without -success, some years before. It was at this period that Messrs. Peabody -& Co. decided it would be to their unquestionable advantage to retire -from the islands and to place their business in the hands of an English -firm, long established on the ground, and well equipped with men who, -unlike ourselves, looked forward to passing the rest of their days -in the Philippines. And the move was a good one, for no sooner had -we left Manila than revolution broke out. The Spanish troops were at -the south, and that mysterious native brotherhood of the Katipunan -called its members to attack the capital. A massacre was planned, -but the right leaders were lacking and the attempt failed. The troops -were recalled, guards doubled, drawbridges into old Manila pulled up -nightly, arrests and executions made. As is well known, one hundred -suspects were crowded into that old dungeon on the river, just at the -corner of the city wall, and because it came on to rain, at night-fall, -an officer shut down the trap-door leading to the prisoners' cells to -keep out the water. But it also kept out the air, and next morning -sixty out of the one hundred persons were suffocated. Then Manila -had her Black Hole. Later, other suspects were stood on the curbing -that surrounds the Luneta and were shot down while the big artillery -band discoursed patriotic music to the crowds that thronged the -promenade. And from then until Admiral Dewey silenced the guns at -Cavité and sunk the Spanish ships that used to swing peacefully at -anchor off the breakwater, the Spaniards had their hands full with -a revolution brought on by their own rotten system of government. - -If in place of the more systematic narratives of description, the more -serious presentations of statistics, or the more exciting accounts -of the bloody months of the revolution and the wonderful victory of -our gallant fleet, which are to be looked for from other sources, the -reader cares to get some idea of casual life in Manila, by accepting -the rather colloquial chronicle of an ex-resident that follows, I shall -have made some little return to islands that robbed me of little else -than two years of a more hurried existence in State Street or Broadway. - - - - - - - - -YESTERDAYS IN THE PHILIPPINES - -I - - Leaving "God's Country"--Hong Kong--Crossing to Luzon--Manila - Bay--First View of the City--Earthquake Precautions--Balconies and - Window-Gratings--The River Pasig--Promenade of the Malecon--The - Old City--The Puente de España--Population--A Philippine Bed--The - English Club--The Luneta--A Christmas Dinner at the Club. - - -"I wouldn't give much for your chances of coming back unboxed," said -the Captain to me, as the China steamed out from the Golden Gate on -the twenty-five day voyage to Hong Kong via Honolulu and Yokohama. - -"That's God's country we're leaving behind, sure enough," said he, -"and you'll find it out after a week or two in the Philippines. There's -Howe came back with us last trip from there; almost shuffled off on -the way. Spent half a year in Manila with small-pox, fever, snakes, -typhoons, and earthquakes, and had to be carried aboard ship at Hong -Kong and off at 'Frisco. Guess he's about done for all right." - -And as Howe happened to be the unfortunate whose place in Manila I -was going to take, you know, I heeded the skipper's advice and looked -with more fervor on God's country than I had for some days. For it -was a dusty trip across country from Boston on the Pacific express; -and because babies are my pet aversion every mother's son of them -aboard the train was quartered in my car--three families moving West -to grow up with the country, and all of them occupying the three -sections nearest mine. I got so weary of the five cooing, coughing, -crying "clouds-of-glory-trailers," that it seemed a relief at San -Francisco to wash off the dust of the Middle West and get aboard the -P. M. S. Company's steamer China bound for the far East. - -But the Captain, like the whistle, was somewhat of a blower, and liked -to make me and the missionaries aboard feel we were leaving behind all -that was desirable. And how he bothered the twoscore or more of them -bound for the up-river ports of Middle China! When, after leaving the -Sandwich Islands, the voyage had proceeded far enough for everybody on -the passenger-list to get fairly well acquainted with his neighbors, -these spreaders of the gospel followed the custom established by their -predecessors and made plans for a Sunday missionary service. Without so -much as asking leave of the skipper, they posted in the companion-way -the following notice: - - - Service in the Saloon, - - Sunday, 10 A.M. - - Rev. X. Y. Z. Smith, of Wang-kiang, - China, will speak on mission - work on the Upper Yangtse. - - All are invited. - - -But they counted without their host. The Captain had never schooled -himself to look on missionaries with favor, and he accordingly made -arrangements to cross the meridian where the circle of time changes and -a day is dropped early on Sunday morning. He calculated to a nicety, -and as the passengers came down to Sabbath breakfast they saw posted -below the other notice, in big letters, the significant words: - - - Sunday, Nov. 29th. - - Ship crosses 180th meridian - - 9.30 A.M., - - After which it will be Monday. - - -In Yokohama and Hong Kong the wiseacres were free in saying they -wouldn't be found dead in Manila or the Philippines for anything. They -had never been there, but knew all about it, and seemed ready to wave -any one bound thither a sort of never'll-see-you-again farewell that -was most affecting. It is these very people that have made Manila the -side-tracked capital that it is and have scared off globe-trotters from -making it a visit on their way to the Straits of Malacca and India. - -Hong Kong, the end of the China's outward run, bursts into view -after a narrow gateway, between inhospitable cliffs, lets the -steamer into a great bay which is the centre of admiration for bleak -mountain-ranges. The city, with its epidemic of arcaded balconies, -lies along the water to the left and goes stepping up the steep -slopes to the peak behind, on whose summit the signal-flags announce -our arrival. The China has scarcely a chance to come to anchor in -peace before a storm of sampans bite her sides like mosquitoes, -and hundreds of Chinawomen come hustling up to secure your trade, -while their lazy husbands stay below and smoke. - -Hong Kong rather feels as if it were the "central exchange" for the -Far East, and from the looks of things I judge it is. The great bay is -full of deep-water ships, the quays teem with life, and the streets are -full of quiet bustle. It is quite enough to give one heart disease to -shin up the hills to the residence part of the town, and it took me -some time to find breath enough to tell the Spanish Consul I wanted -him to visé my passport to Manila. - -This interesting stronghold of Old England in the East is fertile in -descriptive matter by the wholesale, but I can't rob my friends in -the Philippines of more space than enough to chronicle the doings of -a Chinese tailor who made me up my first suit of thin tweeds. Ripping -off the broad margin to the Hong Kong Daily Press, he stood me on a -box, took my measure with his strip of paper, making sundry little -tears along its length, according as it represented length of sleeve -or breadth of chest, and sent me off with a placid "Me makee allee -same plopper tree day; no fittee no takee." And I'm bound to say that -the thin suits Tak Cheong built for $6 apiece, from nothing but the -piece of paper full of tears, fit to far greater perfection than the -system of measurement would seem to have warranted. - -The voyage from Hong Kong to Manila, 700 miles to the southeast, is one -of the worst short ocean-crossings in existence, and the Esmeralda, -Captain Tayler, as she went aslant the seas rolling down from Japan, -in front of the northeast monsoon, developed such a corkscrew motion -that I fear it will take a return trip against the other monsoon to -untwist the feelings of her passengers. On the morning of the second -day, however, the yawing ceased; the skipper said we were under the -lee of Luzon, the largest and most northern island of the Philippines, -and not long after the high mountains of the shore-range loomed up -off the port bow. From then on our chunky craft of 1,000 tons steamed -closer to the coast and turned headland after headland as she poked -south through schools of flying-fish and porpoises. - -By afternoon the light-house on Corregidor appeared, and with a big -sweep to the left the Esmeralda entered the Boca Chica, or narrow -mouth to Manila Bay. On the left, the coast mountains sloped steeply -up for some 5,000 feet, while on the right the island of Corregidor, -with its more moderate altitude, stood planted in the twelve-mile -opening to worry the tides that swept in and out from the China -Sea. Beyond lay the Boca Grande, or wide mouth used by ships coming -from the south or going thither, and still beyond again rose the lower -mountains of the south coast. In front the Bay opened with a grand -sweep right and left, till the shore was lost in waves of warm air, -and only the dim blue of distant mountains showed where the opposite -perimeter of the great circle might be located. - -It was twenty-seven miles across the bay, and the sun had set with -a wealth of color in the opening behind us before we came to anchor -amid a fleet of ships and steamers off a low-lying shore that showed -many lights in long rows. Next morning Manila lay visibly before us, -but failed to convey much idea of its size, from the fact that it -stretched far back on the low land, thus permitting the eye to see -only the front line of buildings and a few taller and more distant -church-steeples. Not far in the background rose a high range of -velvet-like looking mountains whose tops aspired to show themselves -above the clouds, and on the right and left stretched flanking ranges -of lower altitude. - -In due season my colleague came off to the anchorage in a small launch, -and we were soon steaming back up a narrow river thickly fringed -with small ships, steamers, houses, quays, and people. It was piping -hot at the low custom-house on the quay. Panting carabao--the oxen -of the East--tried to find shade under a parcel of bamboos, shaggy -goats nosed about for stray bits of crude sugar dropped from bags -being discharged by coolies, piles of machinery were lying around -promiscuously dumped into the deep mud of the outyards, natives with -bared backs gleaming in the sun were lugging hemp or prying open -boxes, and under-officials with sharp rods were probing flour-sacks -in the search for contraband. Spanish officials in full uniform, -smoking cigarettes, playing chess, and fanning themselves in their -comfortable seats in bent-wood rocking-chairs, were interrupted by -our arrival, and made one boil within as they upset the baggage and -searched for smuggled dollars. - -Here, then, was the anti-climax to the long journey of forty days from -Boston, and those were the moments in which to realize the meaning of -the expression made by the Captain of the China as she left the Golden -Gate: "Take a last look, for you're leaving behind God's country." - -Before arrival, while yet the Esmeralda was steaming down the coast, -I was resolved to refrain from judging Manila by first impressions. I -felt primed for anything, and was bound to be neither surprised nor -disappointed. At first, I may admit, my chin and collar drooped, -but on meeting with my new associate I gave them a mental starching -and stepped with courage into the rickety barouche that, drawn by two -small and bony ponies, took us to the office of Henry W. Peabody & -Co., the only American house in the Philippines. - -And having entered the two upstair rooms, that looked out over -the little Plaza de Cervantes, I was introduced to bamboo chairs, -a quartette of desks, and half a dozen office-boys, who were rudely -awakened from their morning's slumber by the scuffle of my heavy -boots on the broad, black planks of the shining floors. Across the -larger room, suspended from the ceiling, hung the big "punka," which -seems to form a most important article of furniture in every tropical -establishment. On my arrival the boy who pulled the string got down -to work, and amid the sea-breezes that blew the morning's mail about, -business of the day began. - -The first thing I noticed was that cloth instead of plaster formed -the walls and ceilings, and seemed far less likely than the mixture -of lime and water to fall into baby's crib or onto the dinner-table -during those terrestrial or celestial exhibitions for which Manila is -famous. For the Philippines are said to be the cradle of earthquake -and typhoon, and in buildings, everywhere, construction seems to -conform to the requirements of these much-respected "movers." Tiles -on roofs, they say, are now forbidden, since the passers-by below are -not willing to wear brass helmets or carry steel umbrellas to ward -off a shower of those missiles started by a heavy shake. Galvanized -iron is used instead, and, while detracting from the picturesque, -has added to the security of households who once used to be rudely -awakened from their slumbers by the extra weight of tile bedspreads. - -And Manila houses. Down in the town, outside the city walls, the -regular, or rather irregular, Spanish type prevails, and nature, -in her nervousness, seems to have done much in dispensing with -lines horizontal and perpendicular. The buildings all have an -appearance of feebleness and senility, and look as if a good blow -or a heavy shake would lay them flat. But in the old city, behind -the fortifications, are heavy buttressed buildings of by-gone days, -built when it was thought that earthquakes respected thick walls -rather than thin, and the sturdy buttresses so occupy the narrow -sidewalks that pedestrians must travel single file. The Spanish--so -it seems--rejoice to huddle together in these gloomy houses of -Manila proper, but the rich natives, half-castes, and foreigners all -prefer the newer villas outside the narrow streets and musty walls; -and just as much as the Anglo-Saxon likes to place a grass-plot or -a garden between him and the thoroughfare in front of his residence, -so does the Spaniard seek to hug close to the street, and even builds -his house to overhang the sidewalk. Save for carriages and dogs, the -lower floors of city houses are generally deserted, and, on account of -fevers that hang about in the mists of the low-ground, everyone takes -to living on the upper story. Balconies, which are so elaborate that -they carry the whole upper part of the house out over the sidewalk, -are a conspicuous feature in all the buildings of older construction, -and with their engaging overhang afford opportunities for leaning out -to talk with passers-by below, or a convenient vantage-ground from -which to throw the waste water from wash-basins. Huge window-gratings -thrust themselves forward from the walls of the lower story, and are -often big enough to permit dogs and servants to sit in them and watch -the pedestrians, who almost have to leave the sidewalk to get around -these great cages. - -It may be just as well, before going farther, to say something about -this town that is sarcastically labelled "Pearl of the Orient" -and "Venice of the Far East" by poets who have only seen the -oyster-shell windows or back doors on the Pasig on the cover-labels -of cigar-boxes. It seems big enough to supply me with the pianos and -provisions which kind friends suggested I bring out with me in case -of need, and the main street, Escolta, is as busy with life and as -well fringed with shops as a Washington street or a Broadway. - -Spanish, of course, is the court and commercial language and, except -among the uneducated natives who have a lingo of their own or among the -few members of the Anglo-Saxon colony--it has a monopoly everywhere. No -one can really get on without it, and even the Chinese come in with -their peculiar pidgin variety. - -The city squats around its old friend the river Pasig, and shakes -hands with itself in the several bridges that bind one side to the -other. On the right bank of the river, coming in from the bay and -passing up by the breakwater, lies the old walled town of Manila -proper, whose weedy moats, ponderous drawbridges, and heavy gates -suggest a troubled past. Old Manila may be figured as a triangle, -a mile on a side, and the dingy walls seem, as it were, to herd in -a drove of church-steeples, schools, houses, and streets. The river -is the boundary on the north, and the wall at that side but takes up -the quay which runs in from the breakwater and carries it up to the -Puente de España, the first bridge that has courage enough to span -the yellow stream. - -The front wall runs a mile to the south along the bay front, starting -at the river in the old fort and battery that look down on the berth -where the Esmeralda lies, and is separated from the beach only by -an old moat and the promenade of the Malecon, which, also beginning -at the river, runs to an open plaza called the Luneta, a mile up the -beach. The east wall takes up the business at that point, and wobbles -off at an angle again till it brings up at the river fortifications, -just near where the Puente de España, already spoken of, carries all -the traffic across the Pasig. Thus the old city is cooped up like -pool-balls, in a triangle three miles around, and the walls do as -much in keeping out the wind as they do in keeping in the various -unsavory odors that come from people who like garlic and don't take -baths. Here is the cathedral--a fine old church that cost a million -of money and was widowed of its steeple in the earthquakes of the -'80s--and besides a lot of smaller churches are convent schools, -the city hall, army barracks, and a raft of private residences. - -Opposite Old Manila, on the other bank, lies the business section, -with the big quays lined with steamers and alive with movement. The -custom-house and the foreign business community are close by the -river-side, while in back are hundreds of narrow streets, store-houses, -and shops that go to make up the stamping ground of the Chinese who -control so large a part of the provincial trade. - -Everything centres at the foot of the Puente de España, which pours -its perspiring flood into the narrow lane of the Escolta, and people, -carriages, tram-cars, and dust all sail in here from north, east, -south, and west. As on the other side, the busy part of the section -runs a mile up and down the river and a mile back from it, while out -or up beyond come the earlier residential suburbs. In Old Manila, -the Church seems to rule, but on this side the Pasig the State makes -itself felt, from the custom-house to the governor's palace--a couple -of miles up stream. - -As to population, Manila, in the larger sense, may hold 350,000 souls, -besides a few dogs. Of the lot, call 50,000 Chinese, 5,000 Spaniards, -150 Germans, 90 English, and 4 Americans. The rest are natives or -half-castes of the Malay type, whose blood runs in all mixtures of -Chinese, Spanish, and what-not proportions, and whose Chinese eyes, -flat noses, and high cheek-bones are queer accompaniments to their -Spanish accents. Thus the majority of the souls in Manila,--like the -dogs--are mongrels, or mestizos, as the word is, and the saying goes -that happy is the man who knows his own father. - -I spent my first night in Manila at the Spanish Hotel El Oriente, and -it was here that I became acquainted with that peculiar institution, -the Philippine bed. And to the newly arrived traveller its peculiar -rig and construction make it command a good deal of interest, if not -respect. It is a four-poster, with the posts extending high enough -to support a light roof, from whose eaves hang copious folds of deep -lace. The bed-frame is strung tightly across with regular chair-bottom -cane, and the only other fittings are a piece of straw matting spread -over the cane, a pillow, and a surrounding wall of mosquito-netting -that drops down from the roof and is tucked in under the matting. How -to get into one of these cages was the first question that presented -itself, and what to do with myself after I got in was the second. It -took at least half an hour to make up my mind as to the proper mode -of entrance, when I was for the first time alone with this Philippine -curiosity, and I couldn't make out whether it was proper to get in -through the roof or the bottom or the side. After finally pulling away -the netting, I found the hard cane bottom about as soft as the teak -floor, and looked in vain for blankets, sheets, and mattresses. In -fact, it seems as if I had gotten into an unfurnished house, and the -more I thought about it the longer I stayed awake. At last I cut my -way out of the peculiar arrangement, dressed, and spent the decidedly -cool night in a long cane chair, preferring not to experiment further -with the sleeping-machine until I found out how it worked. - -Next morning my breakfast was brought up by a native boy, and consisted -of a cup of thick chocolate, a clammy roll, and a sort of seed-cake -without any hole in it. How to drink the chocolate, which was as -thick as molasses, seemed the chief question, but I rightly concluded -that the seed-cake was put there to sop it out of the cup, after the -fashion of blotting-paper. Fortified with this peculiar combination, -I started on my second business day by trying to remember in what -direction the office lay, and wandered cityward through busy streets, -often bordered with arcaded sidewalks, which were further shaded from -the sun by canvas curtains. - -After beginning the morning by ordering a dozen suits of white sheeting -from a native tailor--price $2.50 apiece--I was introduced to the -members of the English Club, and began to feel more at home stretched -out in one of the long chairs in the cool library. It seems that -the club affords shelter and refreshment to its fourscore members at -two widely separated points of the compass, one just on the banks of -the Pasig River, where its waters, slouching down from the big lake -at the foot of the mountains, are first introduced to the outlying -suburbs of the city, and the other in the heart of the business -section. The same set of native servants do for both departments, -since no one stays uptown during the middle of the day and no one -downtown after business hours. As a result, on week-days, after the -light breakfast of the early morning is over at the uptown building, -the staff of waiters and assistants hurry downtown in the tram-cars -and make ready for the noon meal at the other structure, returning -home to the suburbs in time to officiate at dinner. - -At the downtown club is the 6,000-volume library, and after the -noonday tiffin it is always customary to stretch out in one of the -long bamboo chairs and read one's self to sleep. This is indeed a land -where laziness becomes second nature. If you want a book or paper on -the table, and they lie more than a yard or two from where you are -located, it is not policy to reach for them. O, no! You ring a bell -twice as far off, take a nap while the boy comes from a distance, and -wake up to find him handing you them with a graceful "Aquí, Señor!" In -fact, I have even just now met an English fellow who, they tell me, -took a barber with him on a recent trip to the southern provinces, to -look after his scanty beard that was composed of no more than three or -four dozen hairs, each of which grew one-eighth of an inch quarterly. - -On the day before Christmas one of the guest-rooms at the uptown -club was vacated, and I moved in. The building is about two and -a half miles out of the city, and its broad balcony, shaded by -luxuriant palms and other tropical trees, almost overhangs the main -river that splits Manila in two. The view from this tropical piazza -is most peaceful. Opposite lie the rice-fields, with a cluster of -native huts surrounding an old church, while, blue in the distance, -sleeps a range of low mountains. To the left the river winds back -up-country and soon loses itself in many turns among the foothills -that later grow into the more adult uplifts on the Pacific Coast, -while to the right it turns a sharp corner and slides down between -broken rows of native huts and more elaborate bungalows. - -The club-house is long, low, and rambling. The reading, writing, -and music rooms front on the river, and the glossy hard-wood floors, -hand-hewn out of solid trees, seem to suggest music and coolness. It -is possible to reach the city by jumping into a native boat at the -portico on the river bank, or to go by one of the two-wheel gigs, -called carromatas, waiting at the front gate, or to walk a block and -take the tram-car which jogs down through the busy highroad. - -It is very difficult to absorb the points of so large a place at one's -first introduction, so I won't go further now than to speak of that -far-famed seaside promenade called the Luneta, where society takes -its airing after the heat of the day is over. - -Imagine an elliptical plaza, about a thousand feet long, situated -just above the low beach which borders the Bay, and looking over -toward the China Sea. Running around its edge is a broad roadway, -bounded on one side by the sea-wall, and on the other by the green -fields and bamboo-trees of the parade-grounds. In the centre of the -raised ellipse is the band-stand, and on every afternoon, from six -to eight, all Manila come here to feel the breeze, hear the music, -and see their neighbors. Hundreds of carriages line the roadways, -and mounted police keep them in proper file. The movement is from -right to left, and only the Archbishop and the Governor-General are -allowed to drive in the opposite direction. - -The gentler element, in order not to encourage a flow of perspiration -that may melt off their complexions, take to carriages, but the -sterner sex prefer to walk up and down, crowd around the band-stand, -or sit along the edge of the curbing in chairs rented for a couple -of coppers. Directly in front lies the great Bay, with the sun -going down in the Boca Chica, between the hardly visible island of -Corregidor and the main land, thirty miles away. To the rear stretches -the parade-ground, backed up by clumps of bamboos and the distant -mountains beyond. To the right lie the corner batteries and walls of -Old Manila, and to the left the attractive suburb of Ermita, with the -stretch of shore running along toward the naval station of Cavité, -eleven miles away. To take a chair, watch the people walking to and -fro, and see the endless stream of smart turn-outs passing in slow -procession; to hear a band of fifty pieces render popular and classic -music with the spirit of a Sousa or a Reeves, is to doubt that you -are in a capital 8,000 miles from Paris and 11,000 miles from New -York. Footmen with tall hats, in spotless white uniforms, grace the -box-seats of the low-built victorias, while tastefully dressed Spanish -women or wealthy half-castes recline against the soft cushions and -take for granted the admiration of those walking up and down the mall. - -The splendidly trained artillery-band, composed entirely of natives, -but conducted by a Spaniard, plays half a dozen selections each -evening, and here is a treat that one can have every afternoon of -the year, free of charge. There are no snow-drifts or cold winds to -mar the performance, and, except during the showers and winds of the -rainy season, it goes on without interruption. - -After the music is over the carriages rush off in every direction, -behind smart-stepping little ponies that get over the ground at a -tremendous pace, and the dinner-hour is late enough not to rob one -of those pleasant hours at just about sunset. There are no horses in -Manila--all ponies, and some of them are so small as to be actually -insignificant. They are tremendously tough little beasts, however, -and stand more heat, work, and beating than most horses of twice -their size. - -Our Christmas dinner at the club has just ended, and from the bill -of fare one would never suspect he was not at the Waldorf or the -Parker House. Long punkas swung to and fro over the big tables, -small serving boys in bare feet rushed hither and thither with -meat and drink, corks popped, the smart breeze blew jokes about, and -everyone unbent. Soups, fish, joints, entrées, rémoves, hors-d'oeuvres, -mince-pies, plum-puddings, and all the delicacies to be found in cooler -climes had their turn, as did a variety of liquid courses. Singing, -speeches, and music followed the more material things, and everyone was -requested to take some part in the performance. By the time the show -was over the piano was dead-beat and everybody hoarse from singing -by the wrong method. - - - - - - - - -II - - Shopping at the "Botica Inglesa"--The Chit System--Celebrating - New Year's Eve--Manila Cooking Arrangements--Floors and - Windows--Peculiarities of the Tram-car Service--Roosters - Everywhere--Italian Opera--Philippine Music--The Mercury at 74° - and an Epidemic of "Grippe"--Fight Between a Bull and a Tiger--A - Sorry Fiasco--Carnival Sunday. - - - January 7th. - -My third Sunday in Manila is a cool breezy day, with fresh winds -blowing down from the mountains. The weather has lately been as -temperate as one could wish, and has corresponded to some of our soft -spring conditions. From noon until three o'clock has usually seemed -warm, but the mornings have made walking pleasant, the afternoons -have given opportunities for tennis, and the evenings have hinted -that an overcoat would not be amiss. One could hardly ask for any -more comfortable place to live in than Manila as it stands to-day, -and although sanitary appliances are most primitive, the city seems -to be healthy and without noisome pestilence. - -During the holiday season, just over, foreign business has been -suspended and everyone socially inclined. Shopping has been in -vogue, and on one of my expeditions for photographic materials I was -introduced to the "Botica Inglesa," or English chemist's shop, which -seems to be the largest variety-store in town. Here it is possible -to buy anything from a glass of soda to a full-fledged lawn-mower, -including all the intermediates that reach from tooth-brushes to -photographic cameras. - -And speaking of shopping brings mo to the "chit" system, which has -been such a curse to the Far East. In making purchases, no one pays -cash for anything, since the heavy Mexican dollars--which are the -only currency of the islands--are too heavy to lug around in the -thin suits made of white sheeting. One simply signs an "I.O.U." for -the amount of the bill in any shop that he may choose to patronize, -and thinks no more about it till at the end of the month all the -"chits" which bear his name are sent around for collection. - -Result: one never feels as if he were spending anything until the first -day of the incoming month ushers in a host of these big or little -reminders. If your chits at one single shop run into large amounts, -the collector generally brings along with him a coolie or a wheelbarrow -with which to lug away the weight of dollars that you pour into his -hands, and when two or three collectors come in together the office -reminds one of a "money-'changer's. Counterfeit money is so prevalent -that one after the other of your callers bites the silver or drops -it on the floor to detect lead, and to listen to the resulting sound -is not to feel complimented by their opinion of your integrity. So -it goes, many of the shop-keepers being swindled out of their dues -by debtors who choose to skip off rather than to pay, and waking up -at the end of the month to find their supposed profits existing only -in the chits whose signers have skedaddled to Hong Kong or Singapore. - -New Year's Eve was celebrated with due hilarity and elaborate -provisions. The club bill of fare was remarkable, and when it is -realized there are no stoves in Manila, the wonder is that the cooking -is so complex. A Manila stove is no more nor less than a good-sized -earthen jar, shaped something like an old shoe. The vamp of the shoe -represents the hearth; the opening in front, the place for putting in -the small sticks of wood; and the enclosing upper, the rim on which -rests the single big pot or kettle. In a well-regulated kitchen, -there may be a dozen of these stoves, one for each course, and their -cost being only a peseta, it is a simple matter to keep a few extra -ones on hand in the bread-closet. And so, as one goes through the -streets where native huts predominate, he sees a family meal being -cooked in sections, and is forced to admire the complexity of the -greasy dishes that are evolved from so simple a contrivance. - -As the Manila cooking arrangements are rude, so I suspect are the -pantry's dish-washing opportunities. I really should hesitate to enter -even our club-kitchen, for certain dim suggestions which are conveyed -to the senses from spoons and forks, and certain plate surfaces that -would calm troubled waters if hung from a ship's side, all hint at -unappetizing sights. All in all, the less one sees of native cooking, -in transitu, the greater will one's appetite be. - -I had expected an early introduction to earthquakes, but none have -occurred so far, and I am almost tempted to get reckless. Soon after -my arrival I was inclined to put my chemical bottles in a box of -sawdust, empty part of the water out of my pitcher, and pack my watch -in cotton-wool in anticipation of some nocturnal disturbance. For the -old stagers who saw the city fall to pieces back in the '80's deem -it their duty to alarm the new arrival, and almost turn pale when a -heavy dray rolls by over the cobblestones in the street near the club, -or make ready to fly out-of-doors at the first suspicion of vibration. - -A word or two more about the floors in Manila houses. I don't suppose -there is a soft-wood tree in the islands, and as a result one sees -some very interesting hard-wood productions. The floors come under -this category. Rough-hewn as they are--out of huge hand-sawed hard-wood -planks--they are models. By certain processes of polishing with banana -leaves and greasy rags, they are made to shine like genius itself, -and give such a clean, cool air to the houses that one is compelled -to regard them with admiration. In fact, there is a certain charm -in Manila about many specimens of hand-work that one encounters -everywhere. The stilted regularities--as our good professor used to -say--of machine-made articles are frequently conspicuous by their -absence, and instead one sees the inequalities, the lack of exact -repetition, the informality of lines that are not just perpendicular or -horizontal, all of which make up the charm of work that is handmade, -that reflects the movements of a living arm and mind rather than -those of a wheel or a lever. - -The curious windows that are everywhere are likewise instructive. Like -the blinds, they slide in grooves on the railings of the balconies, -and serve to shut out the weather from the interior. They consist -of frames containing a multitude of small lattice-work squares, into -which are placed thin, flat, translucent sea-shells which admit light, -but are not look-throughable. We have all heard of shell-roads, but -never of shell-windows, and one misses the presence of glass until -he has got accustomed to a Manila house, whose sliding sides are one -vast window that is rarely closed. - -Manila streets, outside of the city proper, are smooth, hard, and well -shaded by the arching bamboos. They are already proving attractive to -the bicycle, which, though very expensive out here at the antipodes, -is growing in favor, especially among the wealthier half-castes, -or mestizos. - -Tram-car service is slow, but pretty generally good. The car is a -thing by itself, as is the one lean pony that pulls it. It takes -one man to drive and one to work the whip, and if the wind blows -too hard, service is generally suspended. The conductor carries a -small valise suspended from his neck, and whistles through his lips -"up-hill" to stop, and "down-hill" as the starting-sign. The usual -notice, "Smoking allowed on the three rear seats only," is absent, -for everyone smokes, even to the conductor, who generally drops the -ash off a 15-for-a-cent cigarette into your lap as he hands you a -receipt for your dos centavos. The chief rule of the road says: - -"This car has seats for twelve persons, and places for eight on each -platform. Passengers are requested to stand in equal numbers only on -both platforms, to prevent derailment." - -And so if there are four "fares" on the front and six on the back -platform, somebody has to stumble forward to equalize the weight. No -one is allowed to stand inside, and if the car contains its quota -of passengers, the driver hangs out the sign, "Lleno" (full), and -doesn't stop even for the Archbishop. It is just as well, perhaps, -to sit at the front end of the car if you are afraid of small-pox, -for the other morning a Philippine mamma brushed into a seat holding a -scantily clothed babe well covered with evidences of that disease. One -sympathizes with the single pony that does the pulling as he sees -thirty people besides the car in his load, and it is no uncommon -thing on a slight rise or sharp turn for all hands to get off and -help the vehicle over the difficulty. The driver holds the whip by -the wrong end and lets the heavy one come down with double force on -the terribly tough hide of the motive power. Aside from tram-cars -some of these little beasts, however, are possessed of great speed, -and with a reckless cochero in charge, it is no uncommon sight to -see three or four turnouts come tearing down the street abreast, -full tilt, clearing the road, killing dogs and roosters, and making -one's hair stand on end. - -Speaking of roosters, they are the native dog in the Philippines. The -inhabitants pet and coddle them, smooth down their plumage, clean -their combs, or pull out their tail-feathers to make them fight, -to their heart's content, and it is a fact that these cackling -glass-eaters really seem to show affection for their proprietors, -in as great measure as they exhibit hatred for their brothers. Every -native has his fighting-cock, which is reared with the greatest care -until he has shown sufficient prowess to entitle him to an entrance -into the cock-pit. In case of fire, the rooster is the first thing -rescued and removed to a place of safety, for babies--common luxuries -in the Philippines--are a secondary consideration and more easily -duplicated than the feathered biped. It is almost impossible to walk -along any street in the suburban part of the town without seeing -dozens of natives trudging along with roosters under their arms, -which are being talked to and petted to distraction. At every other -little roadside hut, an impromptu battle will be going on between two -birds of equal or unequal merit, the two proprietors holding their -respective roosters by the tails in order that they may not come -into too close quarters. The cock-pits, where gatherings are held on -Thursdays and Sundays, are large enclosures covered with a roof of -thatch sewed onto a framework of bamboo; they are open on all sides, -and banked up with tiers of rude seats that surround a sawdust ring -in the centre. Outside the gates to the flimsy structure sit a motley -crowd of women, young and old, selling eatables whose dark, greasy -texture beggars description, while here and there in the open spaces -a couple of natives will be giving their respective roosters a sort of -preliminary trial with each other. As the show goes on inside, shouts -and applause resound at every opportunity, and at the close of the -performance a multitude of two-wheeled gigs carry off the victors with -their spoils, while the losers trudge home through the dust on foot. - -Other familiar street-scenes consist of Chinese barbers, who carry -around a chair, a pair of scissors, and a razor wherever they go, -and stop to give you a shave or hair-cut at any part of the block; -or Chinese ear-cleaners, who scoop out of those organs some of the -unprintable epithets hurled by one native at another. Cascades of -slops not uncommonly descend into the street as one walks along -beneath a slightly overhanging second story of some of the houses, -and one is impressed, if not wet, by this favorite method of laying -the street-dust. - -Besides the daily afternoon music on the Luneta, a full-fledged Italian -opera troupe has come to town and has begun to give performances in -the Teatro Zorilla. "Carmen" and "The Cavalleria Rusticana" are on -the bill for this week, and many other of the old standbys are going -to have their turn later. - -In respect to music, side-tracked though it is, Manila seems to be more -favored than her sister capitals in the Far East, and everyone appears -to be able to play on something. Such of the native houses as are too -frail to support pianos shelter harps, violins, and other stringed -instruments, while some of the more expensive structures contain the -whole selection. Of an evening--in the suburbs--it is no uncommon thing -to hear the strains of a well-played Spanish march issuing from under -the thatch of a rickety hut, or to find an impromptu concert going on -in the little tram-car which is bringing home a handful of native youth -with their guitars or mandolins. Every district has its band, some of -the instruments in which are often made out of empty kerosene-cans, -and the nights resound with tunes from all quarters. In fact, the -Philippine band is one of the chief articles of export from Manila, -and groups of natives with their cheap instruments are shipped off -to Japan, India, and the Spice Islands, to carry harmony into the -midst of communities where music is uncultivated. All in all, it is -extremely curious that out of all the peoples of the Far East the -Filipinos are the only ones possessing a natural talent for music, -and that the islands to-day stand out unique from among all the -surrounding territory as being the home of a musical race, who do not -make the night as hideous with weird beatings of tom-toms as they do -poetic with soft waltzes coaxed from gruff trombones. - - - - January 18th. - -Manila is pretty well, thanks. The weather has been cool and -comfortable. Showers have come every day or two to lay the dust, -and one could not want a more salubrious condition of things. The -sunsets from the Luneta have been more than pyrotechnic, and I now -believe that nowhere do you see such displays of color as in the -Orient, Land of the Sunrise. During these three weeks of my stay, -so far there have been five holidays, and we have had ample time -to take afternoon walks up the beach, or play tennis at the club, -or indulge in moonlight rows on the Pasig. - -A week ago on the island just opposite the club, where lies a -good-sized village, containing an old church, there was a religious -festival, which lasted all the week. This was the Fiesta of Pandacan, -and all the natives for miles around came pouring down by our veranda, -in bancas and barges, on their way across the river. Every night -during the week, bands of music played on one side of the stream and -on the other side, and then crossed to their respective opposites, -playing in transitu, and then setting up shop on shore again. Then -there were fireworks, bombs, and rockets galore, so that the early -night was alive with noise and sparks. On the evening of the grand -wind-up we crossed over to see the sights, in one of the usual -hollowed-out tree-trunk ferryboats. Crowds of gayly dressed natives -surged around the plaza, near the old church, while everywhere along -the edges squatted old men and women, cooking all sorts of greasy -"chow" on those peculiar Philippine stoves described in the last -chapter. Everybody smoked, as well as the pots and kettles, and -the air was therefore foggy. The little, low-thatched houses were -jauntily decorated with lanterns and streamers, and at all the open -fronts leaned out rows of grinning natives. - -Here and there were small "tiendas," or little booths, where cheap -American toys, collar-buttons, pictures, and little figures of the -Saviour were sold, and great was the hubbub. The houses, as well as -the people, are very low of stature, and as we walked along the narrow, -almost cunning streets, our shoulders level with the eaves of many of -the shanties, and above the heads of many of the people, we felt indeed -like giants. Many were the pianos in those native huts, and peculiar -mixtures of strikingly decent playing fell upon the ear from all sides. - -The whole circus wound up with a grand pyrotechnical illumination of -the old church from base to tower, and a score of loud explosions, -caused by the setting off of many dozen bombs at the same time, made up -in noise what the religious celebration lacked in spirituality. Then -all the bands came back and played their lungs out as they crossed -the river, and all the people rushed for bancas, and came chattering -home. Thus did this pretty little religious show consume, in noise -and sparks, the contributions of a very long time. - -The grand opera company which is here is doing remarkably well, and -"Faust" was given the other evening to a crowded house. The theatre -Zorilla is round, like a circus, and in the centre of the ring sit -the holders of our regular orchestra seats, facing the stage, which -chops off the segment of the circle opposite the main entrance. In a -rim surrounding the central arena stretches the single row of boxes, -a good deal like small open sheep-pens, separated from each other -only by insignificant railings. Next comes the surrounding aisle, -and in the broad outside section of the circle, rising up in steep -tiers, are the seats for the natives and gallery gods, who invariably -bring their lunch with them, to pass away the time during the long -intermissions. The orchestra is a native one, led by an Italian -conductor, and doesn't tuck its shirt into its trousers. The musicians, -who battle with the difficult score, grind out their music quite as -successfully as some of our home performers, who would scorn the dark -faces and flying shirt-tails of their Philippine brethren. - -During the performance the management introduced a ballet, whose -members were native Filipinas. It was too laughable. The faces and -arms of the women who formed the corps seemed first to have been -covered with mucilage, and then besprinkled with flour in order to -bring the dark-brown complexion up to the softer half-tints of the -Italian performers. The native lady, as a rule, is unacquainted with -French shoes or high heels, slippers being the every-day equipment, -and when these flowery beings came forward on to the stage, saw -the huge audience, and tried to go through the mazes of the dance -in European footgear, they felt entirely snarled up, even if they -didn't look more than half so. But this only served to keep the -audience in a good humor, and everybody seemed to enjoy both the -singing and the deviltry of Mephistopheles, whose part was well -taken. The waits between the acts were long, and the drop-curtain -was covered with barefaced advertisements of dealers in pills, hats, -and carriages. But there were cool little cafés across the roadway -running by the theatre, and one forgot the delay in the pleasure of -being refreshed by Spanish chocolate and crisp buñuelos. - -In front of the main entrance to the theatre stood two firemen, with -hose in hand, ready to play on anything as soon as the orchestra -stopped or a lamp fell, but otherwise nothing was particularly -strange. The whole structure was oil-lighted with rickety chandeliers, -which shed a dangerous though brilliant glare down upon a large -audience of most exquisitely dressed Spanish people, mestizos and -foreigners. Pretty little flower-girls wandered about trying to dispose -of their wares to the rather over-dressed dudes of the upper half-caste -400, and their mammas often followed them around to assist in making -sales. If it begins to rain in the afternoon, before the performance, -everybody understands that the show is to be postponed, provided -clearing conditions do not follow, and those who hold tickets are, -as a rule, grateful not to be obliged to risk their horses and their -starched clothes to the treatment of a possible downpour. - -The Luneta is still a close rival to the opera, and each afternoon a -dozen of us will generally meet there to refresh ourselves with the -music and the passing show. Toward sundown, in the afternoons, of -late, the big guns in the batteries up along the walls of Old Manila, -hard by, have been used in long-distance sea target-practice, and it -has been interesting, on the way from the office to the promenade, -to walk along the beach and see the cannon-balls zip over the water -and slump into it miles from their destination. The same target serves -every afternoon, and seems perfectly safe from being hit. I wish I -could say as much for the fleet of American ships that are lying off -the breakwater, at the anchorage. - - - - February 8th. - -It seems peculiar to see the moon standing directly overhead o'nights, -and casting a shadow of one's self that is without meaning. I never -yet realized we had so little shape before, looking from above, -as when I saw this new species of shadow the other night, and was -really sorry that the angels never had a chance to look at us from -a better point of view. - -To be politic, and begin with the weather as usual, a cold snap -lately has given everyone the "grippe." The mercury actually stood -at 74° all one day, and couldn't be coaxed to go higher. Think of the -suffering that such low temperature would occasion among a people who -have no furnaces or open fireplaces. You may think I am facetious, -but 74° in the Philippines means a great deal to people who are always -accustomed to 95°. - -The opera-talk continues, and "Fra Diavolo" was most successfully -performed to a crowded house the other evening. "The Barber of Seville" -was given Sunday night with equal éclat, and the prima donna was a star -of the first water, whose merits were recognized in the presentation -of some huge flower-pieces, probably paid for by herself. But the -opera has had a rival, and those who are not so musically inclined -have spent most of their spare moments in discussing the great bull -and tiger fight which took place Sunday afternoon. - -It was a queer show, and not altogether edifying. The old bull-ring, -squatting out in the rice-fields of Ermita suburb, was to be used -for the last time, and the occasion was to be of unusual interest, -since the flaming posters announced, in grown-up letters: - - - STRUGGLE BETWEEN WILD BEASTS. - - Grand Fight to the Death between Full-blooded Spanish Bull, - and Royal Bengal Tiger, Direct from the Jungles of India. - - -For days before the show came off, conversation in the cafés along the -Escolta invariably turned to the subject of the coming exhibition, -and it was evident that the managers fully intended both to reap -a large harvest of heavy dollars and to wind up the career of the -bull-ring association in a blaze of blood and glory. - -The steaming Sunday afternoon found everybody directing his steps -toward the wooden structure which consisted of a lot of rickety -seats piled up around a circular arena. The reserved sections -were covered with a light roof, to keep off the afternoon sun, -but the bleaching-boards for those that held only "billetes de sol" -were exposed to the blinding glare. The audience, a crowd of three -thousand persons, with dark faces showing above suits of white -sheeting, found the centre of the ring ornamented with a huge iron -cage some two rods square, while off at the sides were smaller cages -containing the "fieras," or wild beasts. - -The show opened amid breathless excitement, with an exhibition of -panthers, and a man dressed in pink tights ate dinner in the big cage, -after setting off a bunch of firecrackers under one of the "fieras," -who didn't seem inclined to wake up enough to lick his chops and -make-believe masticate somebody. The daring performer lived to digest -his glass of water, with one cracker thrown in, and a deer was next -introduced into the enclosure. The panther, at command of the keeper -to get to business, seemed unwilling to attack his gentle foe, and -on continued hissing from the big audience, the two animals were at -length withdrawn. - -Then great shouts of "El toro! El toro!" arose, as off at the small -gate, at one side, appeared the bull, calmly walking forward, under -the guidance of two natives, who didn't wear any shoes. And renewed -applause arose, as the small heavy cage containing the R. B. tiger was -rolled up to a sliding-door of the central structure. The bull was -shoved into the iron jail, the gate closed, a dozen or more bunches -of firecrackers were set off in the small box holding the tiger, in -order to waken him up, the slide connecting the two was withdrawn, -and, with a deafening roar, the great Indian cat rushed forth and -tried to swallow a man who was standing outside the bars waving a -heated pitchfork. The bull stood quietly in one corner wagging his -tail, and after blinking his eyes once or twice, proceeded to examine -his antagonist, in a most friendly spirit. In fact, there seemed to -be no hard feeling at all between the two beasts, and the tiger only -wanted to get at the gentleman outside the cage, not at the bull. The -audience howled, jeered at the tiger, bet on the bull, and criticised -the man with the pitchfork as he gave the tiger several hard pokes -in the ribs. This served to anger the beast so that he finally did -make a dive at the bull, and promptly found himself tossed into the -air. But as he came down, he hung on to the bull's nose, and dug his -claws into the tough hide. Curiously enough, the bull didn't seem to -mind that in the least, and the two stood perfectly still for some -five minutes, locked in close quarters. - -To make a long story short, there occurred four or five of these mild -attacks, always incited by the man with the pitchfork, during which the -bull stepped on the tiger, making him howl with pain, and the latter -badly bit the former on the legs and nose. After the fourth round, -both beasts seemed to be in want of a siesta. It was growing dark, -and the dissatisfied audience cried for another bull and another -tiger. The first animal was finally dragged away, after the tiger -had retreated to his cage, and a fresh bull with more spirit was -introduced. Now, however, the tiger was less game than ever, and no -amount of firecrackers or pitchforkings could induce him to stir from -the small cage. He seemed far too sensible, and literally appeared -to be the possessor of an asbestos skin. - -It had now got pretty dark, and the audience joined in the pandemonium -of howls coming from the various cages. People began to light matches -to see their programmes, and the circus-ring looked as if it were -filled with fireflies. Then the programmes themselves were ignited -for more light, and cries of "Give us back our money," "What's -the matter with the tiger?" and others of a less printable order, -arose. Men jumped into the ring, but the tiger refused to move for -anybody. In the hope of stirring things up, a couple of panthers -were again hastily wheeled up and pushed into the cage, where the -bull was standing with an expression of wonder on his face. But the -bull merely licked one panther on the nose and wagged his tail at the -other, while the show was declared off on account of darkness. Then -everybody filed out in disgust, and the man with the tiger, panthers, -and pitchfork made arrangements to sail for foreign shores by the first -steamer. Such was the last performance in the Plaza de Toros de Manila. - -It was a pleasant contrast after the fight to adjourn to the -Luneta. The day was Carnival Sunday, and all the young children -of the community were rigged up in many sorts of inconceivable -gowns. Clowns and ballet-dancers, devils and angels, all wandered -up and down the smooth walk, and the crowd was immense. Numbers of -the older people also took part, and many of the smart traps were -occupied with grotesque figures. The artillery-band rendered some of -its finest selections. The ships off in the bay were almost completely -reflected in the calm water. The mountains rose blue, like velvet, -in the distance, and a red glow in the Boca Chica told where the sun -had gone down for us, only to rise on the distant snows of New England. - - - - - - - - -III - - A Philippine Valet--The Three Days Chinese New Year--Marionettes - and Minstrels at Manila--Yankee Skippers--Furnishing a - Bungalow--Rats, Lizards, and Mosquitoes--A New Arrival--Pony-Races - in Santa Mesa--Cigars and Cheroots--Servants--Cool Mountain - Breezes--House-snakes--Cost of Living--Holy Week. - - - February 16th. - -News to begin with. I have engaged a Philippine valet, price $4.50 -per month; a man with a wife, two children, and a fighting-cock, -who buys all his better half's pink calico gowns and all the food for -the party on this large salary. It is a wonder what revolutions have -taken place in my wardrobe. My heavy clothes, already grown musty -from disuse, have been taken out, sun-dried, and laid carefully -away. I no longer have to decide what to wear each morning, for it -is settled for me beforehand. Everything that my "boy" wishes me to -don is laid out on a chair during my early pilgrimage to the bath, -and all that is necessary to do on my return is to get into them. It -is quite a luxury, and I shall certainly be inclined to bring this -cheap gentleman back with me when I return to Boston. My neckties, -which have hitherto snarled themselves up in the corner of a drawer, -now are hanging from a neat clothes-line, side by side. My books and -papers on the centre table are arranged with unnatural formality, -and the smaller articles, such as lead-pencils, buttons, pin-cushions, -are all adjusted in definite geometrical formation. At breakfast and -dinner in the club-house I no longer have to whistle to be waited on, -for my slave is always behind the chair, ready to spill the soup on -my coat or pass the plum-pudding. These serving-boys all belong to -the Tagalog race, which seems to include in its numbers most of the -native inhabitants in Manila and the adjacent towns. They all have -straight, thick black hair, speak their peculiar Tagalog language, -and only pick up enough Spanish to carry them through the performance -of their simple duties. - -And still the holidays, more or less, continue. About this time of -year there is one a week, and just now the Chinese New Year occupies -about three days. The business part of the town is quiet. All the -Chinese merchants have driven off on a picnic, and it is impossible -to hire carriages of any sort. - -Manila, on the whole, is waking up, and besides the opera we now -have the marionette troupe, something entirely new to the average -citizen. It seems there are four sisters travelling around the -world with their little collection of string-pulled puppets, giving -exhibitions in all the larger centres. Their fame had preceded them, -and so the other night when the doors of the Teatro Filipino were -thrown open, a huge crowd assembled to see the performance. The stage -was a fairly large one, but so arranged optically that it made the -figures appear larger than they really were. The actors (puppets) were -remarkable for their lifelikeness, and if one had not seen the strings -stretching upward he would have taken them to be animate beings. Their -costumes were complete and elaborate in every particular. First came -a tight-rope walker, then an acrobat balancing a pair of chairs, -and then Old Mother Hubbard, out of whose voluminous petticoats -jumped half a dozen little men and women, all of whom danced and -cut up as if they were really reasoning bipeds instead of material, -loose jointed, wax-faced dolls. Old Mamma was especially good, and -as she stirred up her little children with a long staff, looked at -first this one and then that, shook her head, pointed her finger, -and danced with the others, she brought down the house with applause. - -Later on came a minstrel troupe, with two end-men, a leader who waved -a baton, a harpist, and two other musicians. They all played, and the -end-men cracked jokes. Next came a clog-dance between two darkies, -and it was difficult to believe that they were not alive. Further on -came a bulldog, which grabbed a policeman by the nether breeches and -pulled a huge piece out of them; a bull, who chased a farmer and threw -him over a rail fence (this took wonderfully well, for the Spaniards -go crazy over anything with a bull in it); then a boarding-house -scene, with a folding-bed that shut up its occupants inside; next, -a balloon ascension, in which a man on the ground was suddenly -caught up into the air by an anchor thrown out from the balloon; -then the death of the two aëronauts, who fall from a dizzy height; -next, a ride in a donkey-cart by two lovers, who find themselves -run away with and get snarled up on the wagon, to be kicked black -and blue by the donkey. Finally came a very complete little play of -"Bluebeard," with complete scenery, costumes, and ballet. All of the -scenery was of the lightning-change sort, and the Spaniards, mestizos, -and natives in the audience sat and looked on with open-mouthed wonder, -too astonished to laugh, too senseless to cry, and able but to clothe -their faces with expressions of wonder. - -To change the subject rather abruptly, the captain of the Esmeralda, -the little steamer on which I came from Hong Kong, has been good -enough to ask me on board his vessel to tiffin as often as she comes -into port. As Captain Tayler's table is noted both for its excellence -and profusion, the very few of us who comprise the American colony, -as well as all the Englishmen in town, always covet an invitation to -spend Sunday in his company and enjoy various dishes that are not to -be procured in Manila markets. - -Besides the several steamers that ply between ports on the neighboring -coast, there is now a large fleet of American ships at anchor in the -bay, and our office, which shelters the only American firm in the -Philippines, is a great centre for the various Yankee, nasal-twanged -skippers, who, dressed in hot-looking, ready-made tweeds, come -ashore without their collars to ask questions about home topics and -read newspapers six weeks old. They delight to enjoy the sea-breezes -generated by our big punka, and only leave the office on matters of -urgent necessity. Several of the captains have their whole families -with them, and one, who is especially well-to-do, owns his own ship, -carries along a bright tutor, who is preparing some of the skipper's -sons for college, and has transformed the vessel into a veritable -institution of learning. On nearly every evening the whole fleet -in a body go to some one ship, sing songs and have refreshments, -and the other night Governor Robie was the host. Being invited to -partake of the festivities, we two Yankees went off into the bay at -about sunset, ate a regulation New England dinner, with rather too -much weight to it for hot climates, and met all the belles of the -fleet. The moon overhead was full, and with a good piano, violin, -hand-organ, and a couple of ocarinas, giving vent to sweet sounds, -we had an impromptu dance on the quarter-deck. We stayed out on the -ship of our host and hostess all night. They apologized because the -bunks in the state-rooms assigned to us were so hard, little realizing -that we couldn't sleep worth a continental on account of their being -so ridiculously soft after our Philippine cane arrangements. - -Everybody is talking horse now, and business will be at a standstill -during the first few days of the coming month, when the pony races -take place at the suburban course in Santa Mesa. As a result, -every afternoon that some of us do not go rowing or play tennis, we -adjourn to the race-track, and, in company with groups of Spaniards -and wealthy mestizos, watch the smart ponies circle around the track. - -And, speaking of the race-course, I have just made arrangements with -one of my new friends to take a bungalow situated on a low rise that -backgrounds the track at the quarter-mile post. It stands, prettily -shaded by bamboo-trees, on practically the first bit of upland that -later grows into the lofty mountains of the interior, and the view -off over the race-course and low-lying paddy-fields, squared off into -sections, toward the city, is most picturesque. On another side we -look off over the winding river toward the mountains, which hardly -appear five miles away, and still another view is a bamboo grove, -against which is backed up our little stable with various outbuildings, -including the kitchen. A broad veranda runs entirely around the main -building, where the living-rooms are located, and Venetian roll-blinds -let down from the piazza-roof keep off the afternoon sun. - -Yesterday I had my first experience in making extensive purchases -of furniture, and was interested to see about twelve coolies start -off from the city toward our country residence, three miles away, -loaded down with beds, tables, chairs, and other articles. Four of -them started off later on with the upright piano balanced on a couple -of cross-sticks resting on their shoulders, and trotted the whole -distance without sitting down to play the "Li Hung Chang March" more -than twice. These living carriers rather take the place of express -wagons in the East, and a long caravan of furniture-laden Celestials, -solemnly going along through the highway at a jog-trot, is no uncommon -sight. We shall need dishes, knives, pots and kettles, and a whole -World's Fair of trumpery, before we get started, and I shall have to -be busy with a Spanish dictionary, in order to get familiar with the -right names for the right things. - -You have asked me how the mosquitoes fare upon the newly arrived -foreigner. To tell the truth, I have not seen more than half a dozen -since coming to Manila, and those all sang in tune. Everybody sleeps -under nettings, of course, but so far I have not seen as many biters -flying around at night as there are in the United States of America. To -be sure, one sees a good many lizards hanging by the eye-teeth to the -walls, or walking about unconcernedly up-side-down on the ceilings, -but they do good missionary work by devouring the host of smaller bugs, -and it is one of our highest intellectual pursuits here in Manila to -stretch out in a long chair and go to sleep gazing upward at these -enterprising bug-catchers pursuing their vocation. And, now and then, -from some piazza-roof or ceiling will drop on your face a so-called -hairy caterpillar whose promenade on one's epidermis will cause it -to swell up in great welts that close one's eyes and ruffle the temper. - -Rats are more numerous than mosquitoes, and the other day, on my -opening a drawer in some of our office furniture, three jumped -out. The office was transformed into an impromptu race-course, and -all hands were called to take part in the slaughter. But Manila doors -are loose-jointed, and the rodents escaped somewhere into the next -room. Since then I have had the legs sawed off of my desk, so that -these literary beggars, who delight to eat up one's valuable papers, -should not climb in and make a meal off of my private cable code--a -thing which they started to do some time ago. They have already several -times run off with the candle which was used for heating sealing-wax, -and possess such prowess that they even took it out of the candlestick. - -We had a new arrival at the club lately in the person of a young -Englishman who came fresh from Britain. Someone had stuffed him -with tales of indolent life in the Far East, for he came in to his -first dinner at the club clad only in pajamas and green carpet-bag -slippers. He also thought that the Spanish language consisted in adding -final a's to words in the English tongue and shouted all over the club -next morning for sopa, sopa, with which to cleanse himself. But the -servant brought him a plate of soup, and he is now trying to remember -that soap in Spanish is translated by jabon, not sopa. Jamon, the -word for ham, however, is close enough to give him trouble and he -will no doubt ask for soap instead of ham at our next repast. - - - - March 16th. - -The pony races came off with great éclat on the first four days of -this month, and were decidedly interesting. All Manila turned out, -and such a collection of carriages I have never seen. All the Spanish -ladies put an extra coat of paint on their complexions, and, dressed -in their best bibs and tuckers, made somewhat of a ghastly show in -the searching light of early afternoon. The high, thatched-roofed -grand stand presented a duly gay appearance as the bell rang for the -first event, and the dried-up paddy-fields, far and near, crackled -with natives directing their steps toward the centre of attraction. - -In front of the grand stand groups of Spaniards, Englishmen, and -sea-captains formed centres for betting, and off at the sides were -refreshment-booths to which everyone made pilgrimage as often as the -articulatory muscles were in need of lubrication. - -Some of the ponies were splendid-looking little "critters" and made -almost as fast time as their larger brethren, the horses. During -race-afternoons, business in the city was entirely suspended, and -everyone who had a dollar took it to the race-course to gain other -dollars. As the currency system is all metal, bets were paid in hard -coin, and if you happened to buy a lucky ticket in that gambling -machine, the "totalizator," you would perhaps have a whole hatful -of heavy silver cart-wheels shoved at you on presenting the winning -pasteboard. And it was no uncommon sight at the close of the races -to see some of the thinly clad natives whom fortune had favored go -trudging home across the rice-fields, carrying a load of dollars in -a straw hat or a bright bandana. - -One by one the vessels are dropping away from their anchorage in the -bay, and by Saturday our Vigilant will heave up anchor and start on -her twenty-thousand-mile journey to Boston via the Cape, with her big -cargo of hemp. Thanks to our attentions to the captains, they have -seemed willing to take home for us any amount of souvenirs and curios, -and I have sent along quite an assortment of stuffed bats, lizards, -and snake-skin canes, which I feel sure will cause somebody to creep -on their arrival. - -Manila's best cigar, made of a special, selected tobacco, wrapped -in the neatest of silverfoil and packed in rosewood boxes tied with -Spanish ribbon, costs about five cents and is considered a rare -delicacy. One scarcely ever sees these cigars, the "Incomparables," -outside of the city itself, and the brand is so choice that but few -smokers are acquainted with it. The foreigner in Manila thinks he -is paying dear for his weed at $20 per thousand, and some of our -professional smokers limit themselves to those favorite "Bouquets" -which correspond to our "two-for-a-quarter" variety but sell here for -$1.80 a hundred. Below these upper grades come a various assortment of -cheaper varieties, including the cheroots, big at one end and small -at the other, and the $3-a-thousand cigars which are made of the -first thing that comes handy, to be sold to the crews of deep-water -merchantmen. A native of the Philippines wants his cigarette, and -gets it. Packages of thirty are sold on almost every corner for a -couple of coppers, and to my mind the Manila cigarette is far superior -to the variety found in Cuba. Smoking is, of course, encouraged by -prices such as these, and one finds it perfectly good form to borrow -a cigarette, as well as a light, from his neighbor in the tram-car -or on the plaza. Even on the toll-bridge which spans the Pasig you -pay your copper for crossing, and get in change a box of matches; -and if you are queer enough not to want the matches, the man will -give you instead a ticket that avails for the return trip. - -Sunday I left my room at the club and moved into our new house out -in the suburb of Santa Mesa. It is just a week now since the Chinese -cook came and began to christen the pots and saucepans, whose Spanish -names I shall never get to remember. He began by rendering me a small -account of the "extras" provided for our table, and I was floored the -first thing on an item of five cents put down as "Hongos." I asked him -what that was. He spluttered around in Spanish and looked about the -room to see if he couldn't find a few growing in one of our pictures of -still life on the walls. At length, being struck with an inspiration, -he seized a small fan, excitedly stuck it into one of our flower-pots, -balanced on top of it an inverted ash-tray, and danced around, pointing -first to the item on the bill and then to the peculiar growth in the -flower-pot. I confess I didn't follow his reasoning, till suddenly it -struck me that for our first dinner in the new house we had partaken -of mushrooms. Not far off from an ash-tray balanced on a Japanese fan -growing out of a flower-pot--are they? The style of decoration in our -house is especially Japanese, and, needless to say, artistic, since -there are large Japanese and Indian shops in Manila, where one can -get all sorts of gimcracks at low prices. Our servants number seven, -a small quota for two of us. Although their wages are small, amounting, -as a rule, to $4 apiece per month, yet it is necessary to have plenty -of them, in order that a certain few shall be awake when wanted. - -The fresh breeze, which in the evenings and early mornings blows -down direct from the lofty mountains, is so cool that often several -blankets have been necessary in the sleeping contrivance. Mosquitoes -are still conspicuous by their absence, but the rats up in the roof -sound tremendously numerous. All night they seem to be pulling boxes -to and fro, taking up boards and nailing them down, and having a -general all-hands-round sort of a dance. - -Nearly all of the older bungalows in Manila possess what are called -house-snakes; huge reptiles generally about twelve or fourteen feet -long and as thick as a fire-engine hose, that permanently reside up -in the roof and live on the rats. These big creatures are harmless, -and rarely, if ever, leave their abodes. Judging from the noise over -my cloth ceiling, a pair of these pets find pasturage up above, and I -can hear them whacking around about once a week in their chase after -rats. They are good though noisy rat-catchers, but since they must -needs eat all they catch, their efficiency appears to be limited -to their length of stomach, and one night of energetic campaign is -generally followed by several days of rest, during which the snake -sees if he has bitten off more than he can chew. If the Philippine -cats were more noble specimens of the quadruped, I should try to -place half a dozen up in this midnight concert-hall, but they are so -feeble that I fear their lives would be in danger. It is hardly to -be wondered at that these native cats are modestly retiring, when -you wake at night to hear your shoes being dragged off across the -floor by some huge rice-fed rodent, and I don't blame them at all -for having right angles at the end of their tails. - -The only way to get rid of the rats seems to be to buy more snakes, -and this is simple enough, for you often see the natives hawking -them around in town, the boas curled up around bamboo poles, to which -their heads are tied. - -Some of our other domestic pets are lizards, supposed to be about four -feet long, who sing every evening at 8.30 P.M., from somewhere off -down in the shrubbery; several roving turkeys and pigs that belong to -the boys that serve us, a cluster of fighting-cocks, and a family of -puppies. It is easy to be seen that our establishment is thus somewhat -of a tropical menagerie, and a performance is almost always going on -in some quarter or other. - -I have just completed the purchase of a horse and carriage complete, -including the coachman, for $100, and on the first trial we passed -everything on the road. The pony is a high-stepper, and rattled along -over the ground at a terrific speed, as a good Philippine animal -should. The coachman seems to know how to drive, which is a rare -attainment among the natives, and so far, though he has run over two -boys, he has not taken off any wheels in the car-tracks. - -They say it costs a good deal to live well out this way, but that is a -mistake, and if one lived at home in the same style the bills would be -at least ten times as large. To be sure, it would be possible to come -to Manila, board with a Spanish family in the old city, avoid joining -the club, and live almost for nothing. However, this is a custom not -much encouraged in the Orient, and one cannot properly take his place -among the colony of English and other Europeans without spending a -certain reasonable amount. - -Business is done more on a social scale than at home, and the lowest -English clerk in the large houses feels that he must enter into the -free and easy expenditure of his better-paid chief. After office hours -are over everyone stands on the same social plane, and all business -talk is tabooed. The office-boy often calls his lord and master -"Bill," and frequently has a better-looking horse and carriage. - -The U.S.S. Concord has just come into the bay and been saluted by the -fort. Some of her officers will probably come ashore to breakfast -at the club, and it will probably devolve on the four Americans -in the city to do what is needful in the way of courtesy to our -fellow-countrymen. - -To-day is the beginning of Easter Week, nearly all of whose days are -holidays or holy days. This is one of the closest-observed seasons -of the year, and on next Thursday and Friday, if you will believe it, -no carriages are allowed to appear in the streets either of Manila or -of the other cities. The tram-cars, to be sure, have of late years -been allowed to run, and the doctor's carriage and the ice-carts -can obtain permits. Beyond them, however, everybody has to stay at -home or walk; and in former times tram-cars were forbidden and no -one was allowed to carry an open umbrella. It seems the proper thing -to do to make arrangements with some of the English colony to take a -trip off into the mountains, and my chum and I expect to start off -by launch on Wednesday afternoon. Our party will consist of five, -not including half a dozen servants, who are to make arrangements -for bringing the provisions and bedding. - -On my return I hope to have some fodder for my pen and relate some -of our experiences in the up-country districts. - - - - - - - - -IV - - An Up-country Excursion--Steaming up the River to the - Lake--Legend of the Chinaman and the Crocodile--Santa Cruz - and Pagsanjan--Dress of the Women--Mountain Gorges and River - Rapids--Church Processions--Cocoanut Rafts--A "Carromata" Ride to - Paquil--An Earthquake Lasting Forty-five Seconds--Small-pox and - other Diseases in the Philippines--The Manila Fire Department--How - Thatch Dealers Boom the Market--Cost of Living. - - - March 27, 1894. - -The Easter holidays have come and gone, and one of the favorite -vacation trips from Manila has been brought to a close. Five of us have -seen lake, mountain, and river scenery; have been taking interesting -walks, drives, swims; have camped out in a good house and enjoyed the -hospitality of our native Indian friends. Whistling for the punka-boy -to go ahead, I will now set down the record of our trip. - -The week from the 18th of March to the 25th was practically one long -holiday, but it was Wednesday, the 21st, in the afternoon, that we -left Manila for the interior. Rand and I got up the trip by procuring -a large and commodious steam-launch for five days--gratis. Having -done our share, we left our three companions to look after the "chow" -and other kindred topics. To my "boy" I merely said, "Wednesday we are -going up to the laguna; prepare what is necessary for four days." That -was all, and on Wednesday afternoon I found him at the launch with my -clothes and bedding all ready to start. Here also were assembled hams, -boxes of ice, and other provisions, big bundles of personal effects, -and the four "boys" (a "boy" may be seventy years old if he likes) -whom we were going to take along. - -The whistle blew, the special artist with his camera ambled aboard, -amidst a pile of sun-hats, oranges, and excitement, and soon the -Vigilante was steaming up the river on her sixty-mile trip. Familiar -objects were first passed, but soon after leaving the uptown club new -scenes presented themselves. The launch stirred up large waves astern -that washed both banks of the river with great energy, and the first -incident was the swamping of three banca-loads of grass that were on -their way down to Manila under charge of Indian pedlers. Turn after -turn opened up new scenes; our house on the hill began to fade away, -and soon we skimmed through native villages where white blood was -"not in it." The hills increased in size, the river lessened, and -great bamboo-trees hung over toward the central channel. At one point, -high up on the bluffs, perched a Chinese pagoda-like chapel, said to -have been constructed by a wealthy Celestial as a thanks-offering for -his escape from a crocodile. He was bathing in the river, so the story -goes, when suddenly he saw the monster making for him. He threw up his -hands and vowed to build a monument to his patron saint if escape was -vouchsafed him. And no sooner had he spoken than the crocodile turned -to stone and lies there to-day, a long, low black mass, fretting the -current that ripples over it. As we passed the rock it looked as if -it had never been anything else, but the afternoon was too pleasant -to doubt the veracity of the legend. On we went. The mountains ahead -grew more to look like masses of rock and trees and less like soft -blue velvet. Pasig, an important town, was left behind, the lowlands -came again, a multitude of fish-weirs stuck up ahead, and before we -knew it the great lake was holding us on its rather muddy waters just -where it slobbered into the mouth of the river, its only outlet. - -On all sides save the one by which we had entered rose the mountains -right out of the water, and I was reminded of Norway or Scotland. It -was like a sea, and the farther shore was below the horizon. The sun -had set and the full moon rose just ahead as we kept along the coast -to the north. At half after eight o'clock we anchored off a little -town called Santa Cruz that seemed to be backed up by two very lofty -mountain-peaks, and we were soon surrounded by two bancas filled with -natives who began to transfer our many effects. And so we left the -launch, were slowly poled ashore, and next found ourselves on a sandy -beach surrounded by much people and baggage. Dispatching two of our -retinue up into the town to fetch enough of the two-wheeled covered -gigs called carromatas for our assembly, in about three-quarters of -an hour we had the felicity of seeing seven come racing down the road -to the lake shore. Our destination, by the way, was a town called -Pagsanjan, about three-quarters of an hour from Santa Cruz, and -situated just at the foot of a range of mountains. The chattels were -soon loaded, there was a cracking of whips, a creaking of harness, -and the long procession started off at a rattling gait through the -town and out into the rich cocoanut groves beyond. - -At Manila, outside of bamboo and banana trees, there is no sign of -really equatorial vegetation, but up in the mountains there was no -deception, and Nature did her best to let us know that the temperate -zone was far away. We bounced along at a terrific pace and presently -saw the lights of our little village. Rattling through an old stone -archway, we drew up before the house of a certain Captain Feliz, -to whom we had been recommended. The genial old man, whose face and -corporosity were charmingly circular in their rotundity, welcomed us -with open-armed hospitality, and saying he knew of just the house -that would accommodate our party, started to lead us to it. After -a few steps he suddenly stopped, apologized smilingly, said he had -forgotten his set of false teeth, and must return for them. And coming -back shortly after, he took out his teeth, commented on their grace -and usefulness, and said he could speak much better Spanish with than -without them. - -In due season we drew up at a very thick-walled stone house on the high -bank just above the river, and were invited to take possession. Our -"boys" got out the provisions in short order, for a late supper; our -pieces of straw matting were spread out around the edges of the shining -floor of the large "sala" which had been placed at our disposal for a -dormitory; pillows and light coverings were duly regulated, and after -eating a bit, we said good-night to our new friends and turned in on -the floor to rest. I found the hardwood planks so soft after my bed -at Manila that before long I arose, arranged eight chairs in facing -pairs, spread out my sleeping-arrangements, and soon fell asleep in -a very good improvised bed which was high enough from the floor to -keep cockroaches from using me as a promenade. Thursday morning we -arose early, washed ourselves on the balcony that overlooked the -fashionable avenue of the village, and, as is the true Philippine -custom, sprinkled the street with solutions of soapsuds. - -Now, as I have said before, the Thursday and Friday before Easter are -tremendously sacred days in the Philippines, and no carriages of any -description are permitted to move about. The little town was still as -death, and the early-morning hush was only broken now and then by the -weird caterwaulings of the peculiar Passion songs which the natives -in these parts sing off and on during Lent. Later on, as we finished -breakfast, groups of women began coming out of the various houses and -directed their steps church-ward. Most of them were gorgeously dressed -in all colors of the solar spectrum--with a little cloth added on--and -it was instructive to see an expensively gowned Indian woman emerge -from a shabby little nipa hut that didn't look as if it could incubate -such starched freshness. For the dresses that some of these people -wear are costly; and even their piña neckerchiefs often cost $100. - -After breakfast we went down to the river and got into five -hollowed-out tree-trunks, preparatory to the start up into the -mountain-gorges. It was worse than riding a bicycle, trying to balance -one of the crazy affairs, and for a few moments I feared my camera and -I would get wet. However, nobody turned turtle, and we were paddled -up between the high cocoanut-fringed banks of the wonderfully clear -river before the early morning sun had looked over the mountains into -whose cool heart we were going. - -Then came the first rapids, with backgrounds of rich slopes showing -heavy growths of hemp and cocoa palms. Another short paddle and the -second set of rapids was passed on foot. A clear blue lane of water -then stretched out in front of us and reached squarely into the -mountain fastnesses through a huge rift where almost perpendicular -walls were artistically draped with rich foliage that concealed -birds of many colors, a few chattering monkeys, and many hanging -creepers. Again it seemed like a Norwegian fjord or the Via Mala, -but here, instead of bare rocks, were deeply verdured ones. Above, -the blue sky showed in a narrow irregular line; below, the absolutely -clear water reflected the heavens; the cliffs rose a thousand feet, -the water was five hundred feet deep, the birds sang, the creepers -hung, the water dripped, and we seemed to float through a sort of -El Dorado, a visionary and unreal paradise. At last we glided in -through a specially narrow lane not more than fifty feet wide; -a holy twilight prevailed; the cliffs seemed to hold up the few -fleecy clouds that floated far over our head, and we landed on a -little jutting point for bathing and refreshments. It seemed as if we -were diving into the river Lethe or being introduced to the boudoir -of Nature herself. In an hour we pushed on, passed up by three more -rapids, and halted at last at the foot of a bridal-veil waterfall -that charmed the eye with its beauty, cooled the air with its mists, -and set off the green foliage with its white purity. Here we lunched, -and in lieu of warm beer drank in the beauties of the scenery. - -The return was a repetition of the advance, except that we shot -one or two of the rapids, and that the banca holding the boy and -the provisions upset in a critical place, wetting the crackers -that were labelled "keep dry." We got back to our house by -early afternoon, and all agreed that an inimitable, unexcelled, -wouldn't-have-missed-it-for-the-world excursion had passed into -history. - -Good old Captain Feliz took us to call on some of the native -villagers in the late afternoon, who exhibited quite a bit of Indian -hospitality. At one house was a pretty Indian girl who spoke Spanish -very well and entertained our party of six with as much grace as an -American belle. Of course the presence of five "Ingleses" in town -was quite an event in a place fifty miles from Manila, and as we -walked through street after street each house-window presented at -least seven curious faces; dogs barked, fighting-cocks crowed, and -the occupations of the moment were suspended. - -After dinner we sat out on the balcony to watch the procession -that wound around through the various streets, starting from -the fortress-like church and finally bringing up there. These -church parades are a good deal like our torch-light processions, -except that here images, not mud-besprinkled men, carry most of -the torches. In this affair there were a dozen or more floats, -each one bearing a saint, an apostle, or somebody else, and each -decorated with very costly drapery, ornaments, and elaborate candelabra -illuminators. Scattered all along between the floats straggled natives -carrying poles on which were images of a candle, a hand, a spear, a -pair of nails, a cock, a set of garments, and other symbolic articles -relating to the crucifixion. Then came Peter on a very elaborate -moving pedestal, and in his hand he held the traditional bunch of -keys. Then a Descent from the Cross, with two apostles standing up -on step-ladders. Next came the band of the procession--three men -singing to the tune of an old violin--and finally the Virgin Mary -with glass tears rolling down her wax cheeks. On each side of the -line from start to finish trooped the populace, mostly women dressed -in black and carrying candles. - -Next day was Good Friday. No traps of any description to be had, as -none were allowed to run, and so we spent the day about the town and in -walking up into the hills. A look into the great, solid old church in -the morning showed us a fragrant and gaudily dressed audience kneeling -in various postures on the tiled floors, while numerous dogs of various -cross breeds and tempers meandered in through the door and among -the worshippers. From the church we strolled across a very primitive -bamboo bridge over a branch river, and wandered through a luxurious -cocoanut grove beneath whose tall trees were situate a couple of very -rudimentary cocoanut-oil mills and the houses of the operators. The -machinery was very crude. One might think he was back in the days of -stone knives, seeing these simple contrivances, the awkward levers, -the foot-power grindstones, and the old pots and kettles. In the river -near the mills were thousands of cocoanuts ready to be tied together -in rafts for floating down to Manila, and everybody's business up this -way seemed to consist in watching this oily fruit fall from the trees. - -In the early evening, just before another religious procession started, -we heard a great clatter up in the belfry of the old church, and -learned that the hubbub was made by "devil-frighteners." On inquiring -as to the nature of this weird clap-trap symphony, it seems that on -these especially holy days men are stationed up in the bell-towers -with huge wooden rattles, which they so manipulate from time to time -that the noise is said to act as a scare-crow to the various devils -who are supposed to be hovering about seeking whom they may devour. - -After another peaceful night's rest, some of us took our morning jump -into the river, and all prepared for a twelve-mile carromata drive out -along the lake shore beneath the mountains, to a little village called -Paquil, said to be possessed of a crystal spring bathing-pool. The road -for a good bit of the way was of the Napoleon-crossing-the-Alps style, -and it got to be so bad I rather thought we were in for a walk. Not a -bit of it. The carromatas are built strong as the rocks themselves, -the wheels are huge and solid, the ponies tough as prize-fighters, -and the driver urges the whole affair along at a tremendous pace. So -we bounced along, and most of our time was spent, not on the seat, -but midway between it and the roof, which occasionally came down -and thumped our heads. On the way we passed through numerous little -villages, and in one out-of-the-way place we called on an American, -Thomas Collins, who has been practically shut in out here for -twenty-five years. It seems that he got cheated out of a hundred and -fifty thousand dollars' worth of valuable wood a good while ago by -the officials of a certain provincial district, and has been trying -to get the claim paid ever since. He was a queer chap, and had almost -forgotten how to speak American; but at last he managed to remember -the word "hell," and then his ideas began to flow more freely. - -When we arrived at Paquil our conductor, the genial Captain Feliz, -walked up to the house of an acquaintance and asked him to put it -at our disposal. As before, the request was father to the grant, -and we dumped our chattels down into a parlor full of wax virgins -and crucifixes. The bath, for which the village is quite famous, is a -large pool five feet deep, with a pebble bottom. At one end a stream -of clear water gushes forth from the hillside, while at the other an -overflow brook carries off the surplus and goes bubbling down through -the village to the lake. We had our swim after all the native bathers -had left, and got back to our house in time for a tiffin that had -been brought with us in the baskets. In the early afternoon we took -our siesta, in the later hours started for our jogglety return drive, -and at Pagsanjan found prepared for us a feast of sucking pigs. - -On Sunday morning we were ready for our return to Manila. The seven -gigs arrived, we said hearty farewell to our friends, presented Captain -Feliz some empty bottles and two teapots, and rattled out through the -town toward Santa Cruz, where our launch was in waiting. The trip was -cool and pleasant across the lake, but it was hot when in about four -and a half hours we got to the low river-country again. The sail down -was like the sail up, and by dinner-time we backed water to bump into -the portico of the club, where all hands disembarked for dinner. Thus -ended what I suppose is the most popular and most delightful excursion -which the foreigner can make from the capital of the Philippines in -the few days which the church feasts at Easter put at his disposal. - - - - April 6th. - -The other night I dreamt I was climbing up a long hill on a -bicycle. Once at the top, I started down over the other side at a -terrific pace. Somehow or other, by mistake, the wheel ran off into a -gutter at the side of the road, and bounced around in such a dangerous -manner that it all but upset. However, with tremendous exertion, -I managed to jump the mechanism back onto the smooth ground again, -and continued safely down to the bottom of the hill at a two-forty -gait. Arrived at the bottom, I conveniently woke up, and heard a rat -under the bed trying to slide one of my shoes off across the floor. - -Next morning, on coming down to the office, several of my business -friends asked me if I had felt the severe earthquake shock during the -night. I said "No," and inquired as to the particulars. It seems that -the shock lasted some forty-five seconds, and my chum was awakened by -his bed commencing to rock around and by the four walls of his room -attempting to move in different directions. Nothing in the city was -much injured, I believe, and next day the really excellent observatory, -conducted by the Jesuits, gave out a full illustrated description of -the affair. - -Up at our new bungalow, the only incidents worthy of note have been -the attempted stealing of my pony and the consumption of my best -shoes by one of our house-rats. - -A Philippine burglar, curiously enough, takes off his clothes, smears -his dark skin with cocoanut-oil, and prowls around like a greased -pig that cannot be caught. One of these slippery thieves got into our -stable, unhitched my pony, and took him almost to the front gate before -the sleepy coachman found his wits. But prompt action saved the day, -and the lubricated robber escaped, leaving his booty pawing the ground. - -But with my shoes I was not so fortunate. I woke up suddenly to -hear something being dragged across the floor. Thinking it was only -a rat making off with a boot-jack with which to line his nest, I -refrained from tempting Providence by leaving the protection of the -mosquito-netting. Next morning I found that one of these rodents had -pulled a pair of my patent-leather shoes off a low shelf beneath the -bed, dragged them out into the hallway behind a hat-rack, and eaten up -the most savory portions of the bindings. Complimentary to the prowess -of the rat or to the lightness of my shoes--which? I keep them now as -articles on which the patent has run out--worthless, but curiosities. - -Otherwise things have run smoothly, and each evening we lie in the -long chairs on the broad veranda, watching the Southern Cross come -up over the hills, or the score of brush-fires of dried rice-stalks -that illuminate the darkness away off toward the mountains. The -music from our piano seems to give much delight to the members of -the servants' hall, now nine in number, besides several puppies and -game-cocks. The other night, although in the midst of the hot season, -we had a prodigious cold snap again, when the thermometer went down -to sixty, after being ninety-five during the day, and two blankets -were not at all uncomfortable. - -I see by the papers that there are at least two cases of small-pox -in Boston, that everybody is alarmed and hundreds are getting -vaccinated. Curious state of affairs--isn't it?--when every day out -here you see small children running around in the streets, covered with -evidences of this disease. Nobody thinks anything about small-pox in -Manila, and one ceases to notice it if a Philippine mamma sits opposite -you in the tram-car, holding in her lap a scantily clothed child whose -swarthy hide is illuminated with those unmistakable markings. Some -weeks ago there were even four hundred deaths a week in Manila from -this disease alone; and from the way in which the afflicted mix with -the hale and hearty, you can only wonder that there were not four -thousand. But small-pox flourishes best in the cool, dry days of our -winter months, and is now being stamped out by the warmer weather. An -effort is being made to have everybody vaccinated, and the steamers -from Japan have brought down whole cargoes of lymph, but the natives -do not see any reason why they should undergo this experiment, and -would much prefer to have the small-pox than to be vaccinated. And this -being the case, it is no wonder that almost seventy-five per cent. of -them bear those uncomplimentary marks of the disease's attention. - -Now that I have inoculated my page with a reference to this rather -unpleasant subject, it is only a bit of sad truth to tell of -the only fatality caused by the malady in our little Anglo-Saxon -colony. Recently I went into the Bay with a young Englishman who -had always lived in terror of this one disease, and had avoided -both contact with the natives and excursions into the infected -districts. The launch took me to the vessel which we were loading, and -then carried him on to that receiving cargo from his concern. Later -she returned with him, picked me up, and together we went ashore to -stop a moment at the club before going home for the day. I never saw -him again, poor chap, though I did take over his stable, for next -morning he was taken with black small-pox and died in a week. - -The families of the lightermen in the Bay--crowded as they are into -the hen-coops over the stern of the bulky craft--are full of it, and -hence the fatal ending to our little afternoon excursion. As a rule, -however, the members of the English-speaking colony get so used to -this disease that they have no especial fear in suddenly turning a -sharp corner of running into some native sufferer. - -In days gone by, when cholera decimated Manila's numbers, when -people died faster than they could be buried, when business was at -a standstill and the city one great death-house, were the times that -tried men's souls. But now that those big water-mains which run along -the ground bring fresh water from far up into the hills, the natives -have given up the deadly practice of drinking from the river, and, -thanks to the good supply system, no longer give the cholera free -admittance. - -Besides small-pox, then, fever is about the greatest enemy, and certain -types of the malarial variety seem so common that the sufferers from -them often walk into the club, drop into a chair, and say, "Got the -fever again. Means another lay-off." If they can keep about, the old -stagers never give up; but novices buy thermometers and cracked ice, -and either go through a terrific siege, like my friend, whose eight -weeks' struggle shrunk his head so that in convalescence his hat -touched his ears, or escape with a week's initiation. Typhoid seems -also common, and there is generally one member of the colony, for -whom the rest are anxious, stretched out in ice-baths and wishing -he had never seen the Philippines. The old hands--who, by the way, -seem to be regular sufferers from the fever--all say the only way to -be safe is to drink plenty of whiskey, but so far I have found that -the less one takes the better off he is. - -Someone in the States has suggested that if things get too hot it would -be well to run over to Hong Kong for a change of scene. But if there -is any place in the world that is hotter, stickier, more disagreeable -than Hong Kong, in the months from May to October, let us hear from -it. It is far worse in summer than Manila, for, completely shut in -as it is by the mountains, it does not receive the benefit of the -southwest monsoon, which blows with great force over the Philippines -during the above months. Even Japan itself gets a good roasting for -the two or three months of the hot season, and there is not much left -to do but to seek cold weather in Australia. Our only very hot months -here are said to be April and May; sometimes part of June. The sun now -is directly overhead and going fast to the north of us, but so far the -temperature has never been unbearable. The mercury stands at about -ninety-five from twelve to three each day, but somehow or other one -does not feel it so much in the cool white suits, unless he attempts -to fall asleep on some of the sheet-iron roofs. The nights are still -cool and comfortable, and what with a cold snap now and then, such -as I spoke of above, fans are having a poor sale. In the afternoon, -walking, rowing, and tennis are still possible, and the bands of the -Luneta still have enough wind left to give us the "Funeral March" or -"Prize Song." - - - - April 28th. - -Manila fare, like Manila life, is not unwholesome, but it lacks -variety, and one rather tires, now and then, of soup, chicken, -beefsteak, and toothpicks--four staples. But fortunately for us who -like variety, though unhappily for five or six hundred other people, -there occurred a vast conflagration yesterday afternoon that sent -about five or six hundred houses sailing off through the air in the -form of smoke. - -As we were getting ready to leave the office for the day, clouds of -smoke suddenly began to rise over the iron house-roofs to the eastward, -and we knew that one of Manila's semi-annual holocaustic celebrations -was in progress. The church bells began to ring, and all sorts of -people and carriages started toward the centre of interest. - -The Manila Fire Department consists of about six hand-engines and a -few hose-carts, and if a fire gets started it generally burns along -until an open field, a river, or a thick mass of banana-trees stops -its progress. The English houses, to be sure, have recently gotten out -from home one of their small steam "garden-pumps," and many of the -young Britons have had weekly practice in manipulating its various -parts. When the alarm for the present fire rang you might have seen -several servants, employed in their respective homes by the members -of the new Volunteer Fire Department, slowly wandering toward the -shed where the engine was kept, with some nicely folded red shirts, -coats with brass buttons, helmets with Matterhorn-like summits, and -axes that shone from lack of work. These youths did not seem to be in -any hurry, and it turned out that when they reached the engine-house, -when their masters had togged up sufficiently well to impress the -spectators, and when the engine finally got to the fire, the buildings -had been translated into their new and rather more ethereal form. - -The fire was two miles, more or less, from the centre of the town. The -Volunteer Fire Brigade had to haul the engine the entire distance, -as they feared that if the usual carabao oxen were hitched on, the -speed over the pavements would be too great. After reaching the centre -of action, an hour was spent in waiting for the man who brought some -spare coal in a wheelbarrow and in choosing a location which would -not be uncomfortable for the brigade. Consequently, the "London Garden -Pump" was stationed to windward of the fire, on a side where it could -not possibly spread any farther, and thus all stray flames and smoke -were avoided. A hose was stuck down into the creek, and steam turned -on. A stream of water about large enough to be clearly visible with -a microscope suddenly jumped forth into the middle of the street, -wetting the spectators. Somebody had forgotten to attach the extra -pieces of hose that were to lead down to the fire, and steam had -to be turned off. After everything was ready to get to business, -a tram-car came along, and it wasn't allowable to stop its progress -by putting a hose across the track, even if there was a fire. And so -it went from grave to gay, the swell brigade furnishing the humorous -part of the otherwise rather sad spectacle. - -A Philippine fire is like any other, except that with the many nipa -houses it does its work quickly and well, and in this instance the -whole affair lasted but a couple of hours. Hundreds of families moved -out into the wet rice-fields, with all their chattels, and there were -many curious-looking groups. In saving various articles of furniture -and other valuables, the fighting-cock, as usual, was considered the -most important, and it was interesting to watch the natives trudging -along with scared faces, holding a rooster by the legs in one hand and -a baby or two in the other. Pigs, chickens, and dogs seemed to come -next in value, and after them ice-chests and images of the Virgin -Mary. The sun went down on a strange spectacle, and it was hard -not to pity all the crowd that were thus rudely thrown out of their -habitations. Myriads of spectators there were and myriads of carriages, -of all ages and sizes, some loaded with chattels ready to take flight, -and others waiting to be. At dusk, however, all danger was over; -the mobs departed north, east, south, and west; the brigade carefully -brushed the dust off their boots and shirts, and the poor burned-out -unfortunates looked with moistened eyes on the ruin of their homes. - -The wags go far enough to say that the dealers in thatch are -responsible for many of the big fires both in the capital and smaller -villages and that, when times are bad or prices for thatch low, they -arrange to "bull" the market by means of a conflagration. A lamp is -tipped over--a thousand houses go up in smoke, and as go the houses -so rise the prices for nipa thatch. - -The second series of pony races occurred during the middle days of -this month, at the race-track down below our bungalow, and all Manila -again came rolling up through the dust to see the performances of -the smart ponies. The events were but a repetition of those which -took place in March, except that in many respects the running-time -was better and the races far more close and interesting. - -Some of the old stagers are beginning to complain of the heat. We -take afternoon tea now and then, as is customary in all the business -houses, with some of our friends, in an office on the other side of -our building. Yesterday afternoon a thermometer placed outside of -our window registered 125° F., I suspect this was owing to some of -the reflected heat coming from the iron roofs. Inside the room the -mercury stood at 97° F., but we drank our hot tea and enjoyed the -coolness which resulted from consequent perspiration. - -I have now been settled in Manila long enough to find out what it -costs to live, and the general cheapness of existence is more appalling -than I first thought. Our house is a good one, with all the comforts -of home, and is surrounded by an acre or two of land. We have stables -for our horses and outbuildings for the families of our servants. At -the end of the month all expenditures for house-rent, food, wages, -light, and sundries are posted together and divided by three, and -with everything included my monthly share comes to twenty-nine gold -dollars--less than one of our American cart-wheels--per diem. - -Where in the States could you rent a suburban house and lot, keep -half a dozen servants, pay your meat bill, your drink bill, and your -rent all for less than a single dollar a day! You can scarcely drive a -dozen blocks in a hansom or buy a pound of Maillard's for that money at -home and yet, in Manila, that one coin shelters you from the weather, -ministers to the inner man, and keeps the parlor in order. - -Our cook, for instance, gets forty cents each morning to supply our -table with dinner enough for four people, and for five cents extra -he will decorate the cloth with orchids and put peas in the soup. To -think of being able to get up a six-course dinner, including usually -a whole chicken, besides a roast, with vegetables, salad, dessert, -fruit, and coffee, for such a sum seems ridiculous in the extreme. - -The methods of marketing are almost as noteworthy as the low prices for -"raw materials." All meat must be eaten on the same day it is killed, -since here in the tropics even ice fails to preserve fish, flesh, -or fowl. As a result, while the beef and mutton are killed in the -early morning--a few hours before the market opens--the smaller fry, -such as chickens and game, are sold alive. From six to ten on any -morning the native and Chinese cooks from many families may be seen -bargaining for the day's supply among the nest of stalls in the big -market. After filling their baskets numbers of them mount the little -tram-car for the return trips to their kitchens and proceed to pluck -the feathers off the live chickens or birds as they jog along on the -front or rear platform. By the time they have arrived home the poor -creatures are stripped of foliage, and, keenly suffering, are pegged -down to the floor of the kitchen to await their fate. Then, when -the creaking of the front gate announces the return of the master, -it is time enough to wring the necks of the unfortunates and shove -them into the boiling-pot or roasting-pan that seems but to accentuate -a certain toughness which fresh-killed meat possesses. - -The washing-bill, again, is far from commensurate with the fulness of -one's clothes-hamper, and for two gold dollars per month I can turn -over to my laundry-man--who comes in from the country once a week--as -much or as little as I please. Two full suits of white sheeting clothes -a day for thirty days make one item of no mean dimensions, and yet the -lavandero turns up each week with his basketful, perfectly satisfied -with his remuneration. Then, too, he washes well, and although, when -I see him standing knee-deep in the river whanging my trousers from -over his head down onto a flat stone, I fear for seams and buttons, -nothing appears to suffer. And although he builds a small bonfire in -a brass flat-iron that looks like a warming-pan and runs it over my -white coats all blazing as it is, the result is excellent, and one's -linen seems better laundered than in the mills that grind away at home. - -As servants, these boys of ours could teach much to some of their -more civilized brethren from Ireland or Nova Scotia now holding sway -in American families. They take bossing well, and actually expect -to have their heads punched if things go wrong. They don't put their -arms akimbo and march out of the house if we mildly suggest that the -quality of ants in the cake or the water-pitcher is not up to standard, -and actually make one feel at liberty to require anything of them. - -And speaking of ants, these little creatures are everywhere ready to -eat your house or your dinner right from under you. The legs of the -dining-table, the ice-chest, and the sideboard must be islanded in -cups of kerosene, and even the feet to one's bed must undergo the same -treatment, in order that the occupant may awake in the morning to find -something of himself left. Cockroaches are almost equally fierce and, -endowed with wings, these creatures, sometimes four inches long, -go sailing out the window as you close your eyes and try to step -on them. They prowl around at night, with a sort of clicking sound, -seeking something to devour, and are apparently just as satisfied to -eat the glue out of a book-cover as they are to feed on the rims to -one's cuffs or shirt-collars, moist with perspiration. - -What the ants don't swarm over the cockroaches examine, and what -they reject seems to be taken in charge by the heavy green mould -that beards one's shoes, valise, and tweed suits at the slightest -suggestion of wet weather. - - - - - - - - -V - - Visit of the Sagamore--Another Mountain Excursion--The Caves of - Montalvan--A Hundred-mile View--A Village School--A "Fiesta" - at Obando--The Manila Fire-tree--A Move to the Seashore--A - Waterspout--Captain Tayler's Dilemma--A Trip Southward--The Lake - of Taal and its Volcano--Seven Hours of Poling--A Night's Sleep - in a Hen-coop. - - - May 9, 1894. - -The other day the yacht Sagamore dropped anchor in the bay, her owner -and his guests, all Harvard men, having got thus far on their tour -around the world. I was sitting on the Luneta, Sunday evening, when I -saw those familiar Harvard hat-ribbons coming, and in behalf of our -little American colony welcomed the wearers of them to Manila. In -return for a dinner or two at the club and a visit to the huge -cigar-factories, where three or four thousand operators pound away -all day at the fragrant weed, I spent a noon and afternoon aboard the -yacht, glad to enjoy a change of fare. The Sagamore is a worthy boat -and seems to be loaded up with gimcracks and curios of all classes -and descriptions. A collector would positively be squint-eyed with -pleasure to see the old vases, carved wood-work, plaques, knives, -sabres, pots and kettles that her passengers have picked up all along -the way; and it is indeed the only method by which to scour curios -from the Orient. The boys thought the Luneta was the best place in -its way they had yet seen, and it was as much as I could do to get -them away from listening to the artillery-band and looking at the -crowds of people in carriages. Three men in a boat of the Sagamore's -size make a pretty small passenger-list for a pretty long voyage. - -We've kept up our record as tripsters by having gone again up into -the mountains, seen pounds of scenery, breathed fine air, and received -great hospitality from the natives. Monday was a bank-holiday, so late -on Saturday afternoon four of us started in two-horse carromatas for a -mountain village called Montalvan, about twenty miles from Manila. Two -boys had been sent along a day ahead, with provisions and bedding, -to find a native hut and provide for our arrival. We had a delightful -drive out of Manila, passed through numerous native villages, forded -three rivers, saw a fine sunset, and at about eight o'clock, after -a three hours' journey, pulled up at a little native house situated -in a village at the foot of a lofty mountain-range. The occupants -seemed willing and glad to turn out of their little shanty and put -it at our disposal, and we were very comfortable. The house was not -large, but it had a very neat little parlor--curious name for a room -out here--and in the corner, covered with a light bed-quilt, stood -a wax figure of the Virgin Mary, with the usual glass tears running -down her cheeks. The family of about fourteen slept somewhere out -in the rear regions of the building, leaving us to spread out around -the floor of the little sala, like unmounted club sandwiches. - -One of the party, more sensitive than the rest, woke about one in the -morning and disturbed us by finding some four-inch spiders stringing -cobwebs from the end of his nose to his ear and down to one finger. He -was for the moment embarrassed enough to shout for joy and throw his -slippers somewhere. But except for this, and a few rats that now and -then tickled our toes, we slept well, and next morning before breakfast -we went down to the shallow river for a swim. After a jolly good bath, -a hearty breakfast, and a few preparations, our party of four, with -the two boys and two guides, started up a steep valley that wound in -among lofty mountains to the so-called Caves of Montalvan. - -One of our guides was the principal of a village school, who held -sway over a group of little Indian girls under a big mango-tree, -and he shut up shop to join our expedition. - -In about two hours and a half our caravan reached the narrower defile -that pierced two mountains which came down hobnobbing together like -a great gate, grand and picturesque. From a large, quiet pool just -beneath the gates, we climbed almost straight up the mouth of the -stalactite caves that run no one knows how far into the mountains, -starting at a point about two hundred feet above the river. The guides -made flare-torches of bamboos, and we entered the damp darkness, -bounded by white limestone walls from which hung beautiful stalactites -that glistened as the light struck them. In we went for a long way, -now crawling on hands and knees and now stumbling into large vaulted -chambers. Blind bats flew about and water trickled. It was ghostly, -uncanny, but interesting. It seemed as if we were going into the very -heart of the mountain, or were reading "King Solomon's Mines," and this -impression was further carried out when we came to a small subterranean -river that coursed down through a dark outlet and disappeared with -weird gurglings. Unpleasant but perhaps imaginary rumblings suggested -that a sudden earthquake might easily block our exit, and, retracing -our steps, we breathed more freely on coming to the first glimmer of -light. Once more in the air, we descended, took a good swim in the -pool, lunched, and lay around for an hour. After another bath later -on, we donned our sun-hats and trudged homeward over the long, rough -path. A good walk, a good supper, a little dancing and music by the -natives who occupied our house, and we went to sleep upon the floor. - -Next morning, after another early bath in the river, our party started -to climb the mountain back of the town for a little experience in the -bush. The work was hard and warm, but at the top came the reward of a -superb view for a hundred miles around. Manila and the great plain, -the bay and mountains beyond, were glorious before us, and behind -the great mountain wilds that reached to the Pacific stretched off -and up in great overlapping slabs of heavy greenness. - -The plain was cut up into the regulation checker-board farms of -the richest looking description, and the scene was very much like -an English one. Far away at the edge of the Bay could be seen -the glistening white houses and steeples of Manila. Away to the -northwest and southwest were the great fertile stretches of country -that produce tons and tons of rice and sugar, reaching to the sky -or distant mountains. We had luncheon in a leafy grotto; the guides -found water, and brought it in lengths of bamboo which they cut down; -deer ran past now and then down below us, and a short siesta on a bed -of leaves finished off our morning's work. The return was so steep -that it seemed as if we should go heels over head. However, we hung -on to the long grass, and painted our once white suits with dust in -the effort to reach level ground again. After a long descent, we came -to the big mango-tree where the rural school was in session, and the -little Filipinos were immediately given a recess. They rushed about, -got benches and water for us, and the old schoolmaster, who had left -his wife to do the teaching while he went with us, set two or three -of the shavers at work mopping off his ebony skin. Our visit at the -school was in the order of an ovation. The children opened their almond -eyes almost to the extent of turning them into circles, and when the -camera was pointed at them for the first time in their young lives, -their mouths so far followed suit that recitations had to be suspended. - -After thoroughly disorganizing discipline in the establishment, -we accompanied the half naked president of the seminary--who had -been our guide--to the river, and there washed off such of the day's -impressions as went easily into solution. - -And finally, after returning to our hut for tea, we packed up our -baskets, whistled for the carromatas and jolted back to Manila through -a flood of dust and sunset. - -Although the hot season is trying to do its best to scorch us, it has -but dismally succeeded, and we have had scarcely any severe weather -at all. The thunder-showers, harbingers of the southwest monsoon and -the wet season, began two weeks ago, and it rains now nearly every -afternoon. The nights are all delightfully cool, and a coverlet is -always comfortable. The sun is going well to the north to make hot -June and July days for people in the States, and our season of light -is growing shorter. When he gets back overhead again, heavy clouds -will protect us from his attentions. - -Owing to the outbreak of black plague or something else among the -Chinese in Hong Kong, the quarantine regulations here in Manila -will cause the steamer by which I was going to send the mail to miss -connections. It was at first reported there were three thousand deaths -in Hong Kong in six days, but I believe they have now taken off one -or two ciphers from that amount. At all events Manila seems to be -below the zone of this peculiar epidemic and is much better off at -this time of the year than Hong Kong, which swelters away in that -great unventilated scoop in the mountains. - -The men of the big artillery-band that plays at the Luneta twice a -week have all been vaccinated lately, and are too broken up to blow -their trumpets. The people are objecting, because the infantry band -doesn't make nearly as good music, and only plays twice a week at -most. The third regimental band is still fighting the savage Moros -with trombones down at the south, although it is rumored they will soon -return, and so at present about all the music and fireworks we have are -derived from the thunder-storms that play around the sheet-iron roofs -as if they meant business. But in spite of the terrific cannonade of -sound and the blinding flashes of lightning nothing seems to get hit, -and the iron roofs may act as dispersers of the electric fluid even -though attracting it. - - - - June 6th. - -Several days ago, a number of us went up the railroad line to see -a "fiesta" at a little village called Obando. It was a religious -observance lasting three days, and pilgrims from many villages thought -it their duty to go there on foot. A great dingy old church with -buttressed walls yards thick, a large plaza shaded by big trees, -and beyond, on all sides, the native houses. Such a crowd I have -rarely seen. Everybody seemed to think it his duty to dance; and -men, women, old men and children, mothers with babies and papas -with kids, shouted, jumped around, danced, joggled each other, -and rumpussed about until they were blue in the face, dripping with -heat, and covered with dust. Then they would stop and another crowd -take up the play. As the circus proceeded the crowds increased; -the old church was packed with worshippers who brought candles, and, -receiving a blessing, spent an hour or so on the stone pavements in -positions of contrite humility. Around the walls of the church were -placed realistic paintings of the chromo order, representing hell -and the river Styx, and as the natives looked at portraits of devils -driving nails into the heads of the tormented, of sulphurous flames -that licked the cheeks of the wicked in this world, or serpents that -twined themselves into square knots around the chests of a dozen -unfortunates, and of countless horned demons who plucked out the -heartstrings of the condemned, they counted their beads with renewed -vigor and mumbled long prayers. - -Countless little booths stood like mushrooms round about outside, -and cheap jewellery, made in Germany, found ready sale. The dancing -and shouting increased as the sun sank in the west, until the ground -fairly shook and the dust arose in vast clouds. Around the edge of -the church, under the porticoes, slept sections of the multitude -who were preparing themselves to take part in the proceedings when -others were tired out. It was a motley crowd, a motley scene, and an -unforgettable collection of perfumes. - -We left after a few hours' stay, and got back to Manila to find water -a foot deep in some of the streets, as a result of one of the tropical -thunder-storms which have now begun in real earnest. And speaking of -rain, everything is looking fresh and green, now that the dusty days -of the hot season are a thing of the past. All the bamboo-trees have -leafed out anew, flowering shrubs have taken life, and all nature -seems to have had a bath. - -One of the most showy trees in Manila is the arbol de fuego (fire-tree) -and this product of nature resembles a large oak in general and -a full-blown Japanese cherry blossom in particular. Many of the -streets in the city are bordered with groups of these fire-trees, -of large and stately dimensions, and at present they are simply -one mass of huge flaming red blossoms growing thickly together and -showing a wonderful fire-like carnation color. Scarcely any leaves -make their appearance on these trees during the season of blossom, -and although now and then bits of green look out from the mass of red, -yet the general effect is a vast blaze of burning color. - -We have left our country house on the hills of Santa Mesa, and have -moved down to a little villa on the seacoast. The third man of our -party, like many of his brother Englishmen who are burdened with -small salaries but large debit balances, has at last decided to save -money and room at his office. The house had too many regular boarders -in the form of rats and snakes, was too large and too far off for -the two of us left, and we decided to make a move to the seashore -district. Our army of servants successfully solved the transportation -problems involved, and we are now settled in new quarters. Although we -miss the view of the mountains, and even the paddy-fields, we now get -the salt air first hand, look out over the waters of the Bay, and are -lulled to sleep by the rhythmic beating of the waves on the beach. Our -view seaward leads the eye across a beautiful garden belonging to one -of the rich house-owners living directly on the shore front, and the -green of the trees, with the scent of somebody else's flowers, temper -both the excess of glare and the brackish qualities of the sea-breeze. - -In Malate, where we now are, things are much civilized. We find we -miss the snakes in the roof, but we have running water in the house -and a shower-bath in the bath-room; two rooms on the first floor; a -parlor, two bed-rooms, dining-room, large hallway, kitchen, bath and -"boys'" rooms on the second floor; a small garden at the front and a -stable at the back, and all included in a rent of $15 a month. The -stable accommodates two ponies, and it is a jolly drive downtown -in the morning or home in the evening. The road leads all the way -along by the sea, Luneta, and Malecon Promenade, that runs under the -yawning mouths of the old muzzle-loaders in front of the grim walls -of the old city, between them and the beach. The salt-water bath in -the early morning is often very pleasant, though the temperature of -the liquid is somewhat too high to be exhilarating. Now and then some -of the Britons living in the neighborhood will issue a summons for -a sunrise swimming-party, and one of them will perhaps punctuate the -ceremonies by supplying a typical breakfast of fresh fish and boiled -rice, on the veranda of a house that perhaps overlooks the Bay. These -seaside houses are particularly cool and fresh now that the winds of -the southwest monsoon come blowing into the front windows directly -off the water, but later on, when typhoons become epidemic, it looks -as if we should have the wind in more than wholesale doses. - - - - June 12th. - -Although the San Francisco steamer does not sail for Hong Kong until -the 21st, it is necessary, on account of this quarantine business, -to post our letters in the Manila office to-day. - -Two of our latest vessels have come in together and begun to take -in their cargoes of hemp for Boston. The captains are ruddy-faced -veterans who seem to have taken part in the Civil War. One of them, -who wears false teeth when he is ashore, and hails from New Hampshire, -is particularly fond of cooling off under our big punka. The other -may be of French descent, though he comes from Ireland, and looks -something like one of our distinguished Boston statesmen. They both -climb up the stairs to our counting-room daily, call our big clock a -"time destroyer" and so vie with each other in their efforts to handle -the truth carelessly that it is often a question who comes off victor -in these verbal contests. However, the skipper with the false ivories -generally fails to get the last word, for he often loses his suction -power by fast talking, and has to leave off to prevent his teeth -from slipping down his oesophagus. Once again the air in the office -assumes a nautical aroma, and we shall be well employed and well -talked to death. A whole parcel of American ships are now about due, -and the Bay will liven up again with the Stars and Stripes as it did -some two months ago. - -It rains every afternoon now, at about a quarter past three, and just -after tiffin is over we begin to look for the thunder-clouds that -predict the coming shower. The other day a huge waterspout formed out -in the Bay, swirled along, gyrated about, scooted squarely through the -shipping, and broke on the beach between our house and the Luneta. The -cloud effects were extremely curious, and the whole display was a -number not generally down on the day's programme. - -The company who are putting in the new electric lights seem to be -doing good work, and it is expected that everything will be running -by the end of the year. So far, Manila has been favored only with the -dull light given by petroleum, previously brought out from New York, -or over from China, and, curiously enough, the empty tins in which the -oil has come seem to be almost as valuable as their contents. They are -used here for about everything under the sun, the natives cover their -roofs with tin from these sources, and some of those more musically -inclined even make a petroleum can up into a trombone or cornet. - -Our house by the sea continues to prove very pleasant, and, peculiarly -enough, the surf seems to beat on the beach with the same sound that it -has on the New England coast. The southwest breeze blows strong from -the Bay each afternoon, and the cumulus clouds are becoming heavier -and more numerous day by day. The artillery-band still favors us with -music at the Luneta, but before long it looks as if the rains would -interrupt the afternoon promenade. - -The black plague at Hong Kong does not seem to diminish, as was -expected, and it is said that many people are leaving the city. All -steamers coming from that port to this suffer a fortnight's quarantine -down the Bay, and, if the difficulty continues much longer, Manila -markets will be destitute of two of their chief staples--mutton and -potatoes--both of which have to come across from China, or down from -Japan. And speaking of sheep, Captain Tayler, of the Esmeralda, -has had another of his usual interesting experiences with the -custom-house. Just as his vessel, fresh from quarantine and Hong Kong, -had been visited by the doctor, on her way to her berth some distance -up the river, one of the sheep died. Rule number something-or-other -in the Code of the Sanidad says that anything or anybody dying during -the day must be buried before sundown, under penalty, for neglect, -of $50. Rule number something-else in the Customs Code, however, -says that the captain of any vessel turning out cargo short or in -excess of the amount called for by the manifest shall be fined $100 -for each piece too many or too little. If my good friend, the Captain, -buried the sheep, he would be fined $100 at the custom-house for short -out-turn. If he didn't bury it, the Board of Health would come down on -him for $50, for neglecting regulations. The Captain, being a wise man, -decided that it was more politic to be in the right with the doctor -than with the officials at the custom-house, and at some considerable -expense sent the sheep on shore and had it buried with due honors. He -could not have thrown it into the river, for this would have been -to incur an additional fine. Next morning, he presented the ship's -manifest and a sheep's tail at the custom-house and the discharge of -the live stock was begun. But, tail or no tail, the officials found -the ship one sheep short and the Esmeralda was fined $100. Not quite -so barefaced as the swindling of the poor skipper who came over from -China with a load of paving-stones for Manila's Street Department. His -vessel turned out seven paving-stones too many, and the fine was $700. - -In the language of Daniel Webster, I "refrain from saying" that a few -dollars or a good dinner, bestowed upon the right person, in Manila, -often go a long way toward throwing some official off the scent in -his hungry search for irregularity, but am willing to admit that, in -dealing with customs men who frequently "examine" cases of champagne -by drinking up the contents of a bottle from each one in order to -see that the liquid is not chloroform or cologne, one must keep his -purse full, his talk cool, and his temper on ice. - - - - June 25, 1894. - -Last Monday was the monthly bank-holiday again, and three of us had -previously decided to take a journey southward for the purpose of -seeing one of Luzon's active volcanoes and getting a little change -of air and "chow." - -So, late on Saturday afternoon, we went aboard a dirty little steamer, -which was to take us ninety miles down the coast. She wasn't as big -as a good-sized tug and was laden with multicolored natives, who were -on their way back to the provinces after a brief shopping expedition -to the capital. We were soon sailing out past the fleet of larger -vessels in the Bay, with our dull prow pointed to the mouth of the -great inclosed body of water. At nightfall we reached the Corregidor -light-house, at the Bay's entrance, and thence our course lay to -the south. At half-past two that night our craft reached a place -called Taal. During our trip down we had become acquainted with a -very pleasant Indian sugar-planter, who is as well off in dollars -as rich in hospitality. At Taal he took us to one of the three big -houses he owns, and, although only three o'clock in the morning, -gave us a delicious breakfast. We talked and chatted away comfortably, -and as the first streaks of dawn appeared I played several appropriate -selections on one of the two very good-toned pianos belonging to his -establishment. This brought out his family, and before we set out -for the river from which our start to the volcano was to be made, -quite a social gathering was in progress. - -The natives all through the islands seemed indeed most courteous -and hospitable to foreigners, and although a Spaniard hesitates to -show his face outside of any of the garrison towns, yet any of the -other European bipeds is known in a minute and well treated. Our -good friend at Taal went so far as to harness up a pair of ponies -and drive us down to the river at four o'clock in the morning, and -we found a large banca, previously ordered, waiting to take us up to -the Lake of Taal and across to the volcano. - -Our banca was of good size, was rowed by seven men and steered by one, -and had a little thatched hen-coop arrangement over the stern, to keep -the sun off our heads. We had brought one "boy" with us from Manila, -with enough "chow" to last for two days, and soon all was stowed -away in our floating tree-trunk. The river was shallow, and for most -of the six miles of its length poles were the motive-power. It was -slow work, and both wind and current were hostile. In due course, -however, the lake came into view, and in its centre rose the volcano, -smoking away like a true Filipino. The wind was now blowing strong -and unfavorable, and we saw that it was not going to be an easy row -across the six or seven miles of open water to the centre island. But -the men worked with a will, and although the choppy waves slopped over -into our roost once or twice so jocosely that it almost seemed as if -we should have to turn back, we kept on. Benefitting by a lull or two, -our progress was gradual, and at half after twelve, seven hours from -Taal, we landed on the volcanic island and prepared for an ascent. - -The lake of Taal is from fifteen to twenty miles across, is surrounded -by high hills and mountains, for the most part, and has for its -centre the volcanic island upon whose edges rise the sloping sides -of an active cone a thousand feet high. The lake is certainly good -to look at, reminding one forcibly of Loch Lomond, and the waters, -shores, and mountains around all seem to bend their admiring gaze on -the little volcano in its centre. - -Filling our water-jug, we set off up the barren lava-slopes of this -nature's safety-valve, sweltering under the stiff climb in the hot -sun. Happily, the view bettered each moment, the smell of the sulphur -became stronger, and we forgot present discomfort in anticipations of -the revelation to come. After banging our shins on the particularly -rough lava-beds of the ascent, near the top, we saw a great steaming -crater yawning below us and sending up clouds of sulphurous steam. In -the centre of this vast, dreary Circus Maximus rose a flat cone -of red-hot squashy material, and out of it ascended the steam and -smoke. All colors of the rainbow played with each other in the sun, -and farther to the right was a boiling lake of fiery material that -was variegated enough to suit an Italian organ-grinder. - -It was all very weird, and if we had not been so lazy we should -probably have descended farther into this laboratory of fire than -we did. But it was too hot to make matches of ourselves and the air -smelt like the river Styx at low tide. So we were contented with a -good view of the wonders of the volcano from a distance, enjoyed the -panorama from the narrow encircling apex-ridge, and cooled off in the -smart breeze. Once more at the lake, and it was not long before we were -in it, tickling our feet on the rough cinders of the bottom. The bath -was most rejuvenating after a hot midday climb, and just to sit in the -warmish water up to one's neck gave one a sort of mellow feeling like -that presumably possessed by a ripe apple ready to fall on the grass. - -The wind was now fresher than ever and more unfavorable to our -course. The captain of the tree-trunk, in a tone quite as authoritative -as that manipulated by the commander of an ocean liner, said we could -not proceed for some time, so the boy arranged the provisions and -we had a meal in our little hen-coop. After a provoking wait until -four o'clock the old banca was pushed off again and the struggle -renewed. The seven men, who had now been poling and rowing since early -morning, seemed pretty well beat, but there was no shelter on the -volcanic islands and we had to push on. The other shore looked far -away and we slopped forward sluggishly. The sun set, the moon rose, -and still we were buffeting with the choppy waves. It reminded me a -good deal of the sea of Galilee; and it did seem as if the dickens -himself was blowing at us and trying to keep us from ever getting to -that farther shore. - -At last we reached the lee of a lofty perpendicular island part way -across the lake, and, although its upright sides offered no chance -to land, yet they kept off that southeast wind. The men shut their -teeth hard, and in due course moved our bark around the point and -out into more moonlight and breeze. The lights and shadows on the -great lump of rock standing a thousand feet out of the water behind -us were worth looking at, and in many places huge basaltic columns -seemed to be holding up the mass above. Not to put as much labor into -these lines as our men put into the oars, at half after ten we came -to land, seven hours from the shore of the volcano, a distance which -in fair wind ought to be covered in a little over one. - -On shore there seemed to be about four huts, two pig-sties, and nothing -more. Stared at by a crowd of natives whom our arrival suddenly -incubated from somewhere, and who swarmed down to see who we were, -we talked with our boatman, but only succeeded in finding out that -we had come to a place not down on the map or on the highroad to the -next village whither we were bound. It was simply a collection of -huts, children, and pigs, situated at the lake's edge and connected -with the outer world by a foot-path that led up over the hills eight -miles to the nearest pueblo. To walk those eight miles at eleven -o'clock was out of the question, and to sleep in one of those little -dirty huts ashore was just as bad. The crowd of natives had grown, -and so, to avoid being overrun with the eminently curious, we pushed -off from shore and anchored out in the lake, to eat a little "chow" -and decide what to do. Weariness tempered our decision, which was to -sleep where we were, in the banca, under the hen-coop, and, having -made it known to our trusty but hard-looking crew, they fell down -like shots and, in less than a minute, were asleep in all sorts of -jackstraw positions. One slept on the oars, another on the poles, -a third on our collection of volcanic rocks, a fourth in the bottom -of the boat, a fifth sitting up, and a sixth--I don't know where. - -We three lay down side by side in the little cooped-over roost, -and found there was just room to reside like sardines in a box. Our -feet were out under the stars at one side, our heads at the other, and -there we were, and there we slept, in an unknown wilderness. Though no -one could change his position we all rested fairly well, and nothing -happened to mar the beauty of the night. As the sun reddened the east, -feeling more like awakened chickens than anything else, we packed up, -paid out some of the heavy dollars, that made each of us feel like -sinkers on a fish-line, and loaded what little luggage we had upon a -bony pony ashore. Adieus were said to the lake and to our crew, and our -little caravan started up a broad foot-path for the village of Tanauan, -about eight miles away. It was a long walk, on no refreshment save a -night's sleep in a hen-coop, but after passing over hills and dales, -by nipa huts of all sizes and descriptions, and after being stared -at by curious natives, we arrived at our destination, a good-sized -village, in two and a half hours. We responded to an invitation -of the captain of the pueblo, to take possession of his house, and -got up a very decent breakfast out of our fast depleting stock. The -old captain treated us most cordially, and after a three-hours' stay -helped us to load ourselves and our chattels aboard two stout-wheeled -carromatas each hitched to two ponies. - -Off again, once more, our course was shaped overland toward the -other great lake up back of Manila, by which the return was to -be made. The road was fearful, the ruts two feet deep in places, -and the bad sections far more numerous than the good pieces. We got -stuck in the mud, had to pry our conveyances and the ponies out, and -I fear did not enjoy the beauties of the rather tame scenery on the -way. At last the crest of a hill brought the Laguna de Bay in sight, -and in less than an hour we reached the village of Calamba, on its -shores. A shabby little native house was put at our disposal after -we boldly walked up and took possession of it; a swarm of children -were shoved out of the one decent room, and in a short time our boy -was giving us canned turtle-soup and herrings. In the afternoon we -merely lounged about the town and took a swim in the lake, while in -the evening, early after the very good little dinner gotten up by -our servant there was nothing to do but to turn in, even though the -house was surrounded by the curious, who had looked in at the windows -to watch people dining with knives, forks, plates, and napkins. - -The floor of our room was of bamboo slats, just below whose many -openings were four fighting-cocks and when bed-time came we were tired -enough to tumble down on the canes just as we stood. The cock who sang -out of tune woke us at about sunrise Tuesday morning, and after one -more swim in the lake we packed up our traps and prepared ourselves -to take the little Manila steamer that left at eight o'clock on its -thirty-mile return trip. The sail down the lake and into the Pasig -River was cool, delightful, and without incident, and at noon Tuesday -we pulled up at the wharf at Manila, having completed an almost perfect -circle of travel one hundred and fifty miles in circumference, to be -heartily congratulated on having successfully made a trip which few -perform but many covet. My own cane sleeping machine seemed good again -after hen-coops and bamboo floors, and smooth roads and civilization -far better than ruts and rickety carromatas. - - - - - - - - -VI - - First Storm of the Rainy Season--Fourth of July--Chinese "Chow" - Dogs--Crullers and Pie and a Chinese Cook--A Red-Letter Day--The - China-Japan War--Manila Newspapers--General Blanco and the - Archbishop--An American Fire-Engine and its Lively Trial--The - Coming of the Typhoon--Violence of the Wind--The Floods - Next--Manila Monotony. - - - July 4th. - -The mails have been badly snarled up lately, and although nobody -has received any letters for nearly two weeks, none are expected -for about ten days. The other morning began the first real storm -of the rainy season, and we came very near having a bad typhoon, -but someone turned the switch, and it swirled up the back coast on -the Pacific side and crossed through a notch in the mountains, some -distance to the north of Manila, giving the city only four days of -monstrous winds and floods of rain. The streets were two feet deep -with water in the business section, and down at our house by the -sea the wind blew so hard that it carried the tin from our roof off -to visit the next suburb. Then it was that those sturdy windows of -small sea-shells set into hardwood lattice seemed far more secure -than glass, and I doubt if anything less well constructed would have -stood the blast that surged in from the broad bay. - -Going downtown in the morning, my carriage was slid clean across the -road by the force of the wind, and once it seemed as if I might be -lifted up into the low clouds that scudded close to the tops of the -bamboo-trees. Huge seas came tumbling ashore on the beach, and the -vessels in the great exposed Bay had all they could do to hang to their -anchors, as the surf sometimes dashed as high as their lower foreyards. - -The natives never carry umbrellas in the rain, but march along and -do not seem to mind getting wet to the skin. They do indeed look -bedraggled in their thin clothes, that cling like sticking-plaster, -and it seems as if they would get the fever. During the present blow, -the single pony hitched to a tram-car often found his load moving -him astern, and it was only by leaving the whole car wide open, so -that the air could have free passage through from end to end and side -to side, that he now and then made headway against the blast. This -was not pleasant for the passengers, but made less demand on the -motive-power. The bands at the Luneta have played when they got a -chance, but the wind howls in from the Bay, as a rule, louder than -the tunes bowl out of their brass instruments. - -To-day seems to be the Glorious Fourth, and my colleague and I have -just come back from the shipping, where the Captain of the Helen -Brewer asked us to eat a celebrative dinner. All the ships in the -Bay were dressed with flags, and the Brewer, which possessed more -than her share, had a long line stretched from the bowsprit over the -three masts down to the stern. Everybody was interested in the feast, -and the Captain with the false teeth, who comes from New Hampshire, -sent over a goose and some mince-pies. Eight of us sat down in the cozy -saloon and partook of a meal altogether too hearty for the climate. The -day was cool and overcast, and we spent a lazy afternoon on deck, -listening to yarns told by two old salts who seemed to have had more -than their share of wrecks, typhoons, and other adventures. - -When we came ashore, at about sunset, there was gathered up from the -remains of the feast the "seven basketsful," and we each went back -in the launch, decorated with a bag of doughnuts under one arm and -a bag of mince-pies under the other. - -One of our small family of dogs was run over by the tram-car the -other morning, in front of the house, and now rests in peace in a -little grave down on the beach, hard by the rhythmic cadence of the -waves. His little brother, who was suffering at the time from the -distemper, was so grieved at the loss that he too speedily faded away, -and now lies close beside the other victim of circumstances. On the -tombstone is a touching epitaph: - - - "Pompey and Nettie, here they lie; - Born to live, they had to die. - The wheels of fate ran over one, - The other was by grief undone." - - -Most of the large army of dogs that make a Manila night hideous -are of that mongrel order, which is always looking for something to -eat, but now and then one sees a good many of the so-called Chinese -"chow"-dogs about the streets, and with their black tongues, long -hair, and peculiar bushy tails that curl sharply up over their backs, -they are quite as interesting, as unaffectionate. Over in China they -make very good eating up to the age of three months, and from this -fact derive the "chow" part of their name. Although they are very -susceptible to changes of locality and climate, we are now making -negotiations to have one brought over to take the place of the dear -departed eulogized above. And later, I may even try the experiment -of having one for Sunday dinner--if he doesn't make a good pet. - -The doughnuts which I brought home from the Brewer have proved very -interesting to my cook, and I have been obliged to count them each -day for purposes of security. He now watches me closely as I make away -with one or two for breakfast, to see just what effect these marvellous -looking "fried holes" have on my intellect. I notice he looks to see -if there are any crumbs left, from which he might gather an inkling as -to the composition of these curios; but so far there haven't been any -crumbs. As he is cooking for us now, instead of the Chinese gentleman -that we originally had, this curiosity is but natural, and some day he -will probably try to furnish us with the native-made article. In fact -he has already tried the experiment of concocting a mince-pie after the -general appearance of one of the earlier donations made by a captain -in the Bay, and the result was worthy of description. As I arranged -to measure the original pie after each meal, before locking it up in -our safe, in order to protect it from disappearing, my faithful cook -could only guess as to its composition by sundry glances from afar. But -being of an inventive mind he conceived the idea of chopping up some -well-done roast beef, mixing with it some sugar and raisins, roofing -it over with a thatch of pastry, and serving it for dessert. And then -as we came to the course in question he stood in the doorway waiting -for our verdict. His effort was worthy of all praise, but his pie -was damnable, and pieces of it went sailing out the windows. - - - - July 28th. - -On the 20th instant a steamer arrived from Hong Kong, and had the -honor of being the first vessel to come in from that port in thirty -days. She was supposed to have three American mails aboard, but it -turned out that they were down to arrive by the vessel coming in six -days later. I came to the office the other morning, and looking toward -my desk, found it almost invisible. It looked as if somebody in the -neighborhood were the editor of a paper, and as if all the spring -poets in the universe had sent their manuscripts for inspection. The -desk groaned beneath the bulky chaos of three mails from the United -States, delayed in transmission by the black plague, and fumigated -together down the bay. But no sooner had we gotten through the first -course of an epistolary feast than the captain of a large four-masted -ship shuffled into the room and deposited a huge pot of steaming baked -beans, just fresh from his steward's galley-stove, on the table. What -with beans, letters, magazines, and comic papers, it might be said -our day was a red-letter one. - -The other day my colleague and I took dinner off aboard the Nagato -Maru, a smart steamer just in from Japan, and captained by an American -who knows what it is to set a good table. It seems that the China-Japan -war has actually broken out in all its glory, and as there is a vague -rumor that a Chinese war-ship is waiting outside to capture this very -same steamer, she is going to stay here for awhile. - -The Japanese have sunk several Chinese transport ships already, -and one of the unfortunate craft used to come here to Manila. In -other directions the Chinese are said to have beaten the Japs badly -on land, but over in this slow old moth-eaten place the daily papers -will publish cablegrams from Spain by the page, that give out nothing -but official stuff and Government appointments; and when it comes to -something of real interest, like a war, they will either be without any -news whatever, or tell the whole story wrong side out in a single line, -that may or may not be true. And so you are probably getting better -news of this whole affair, twelve thousand miles away, than we are, -who are almost on the field of action. - -Our Manila papers consist of four pages, the first two of which are -especially reserved for advertisements. Half of one of the inside -leaves is likewise reserved, and the remaining half is covered with -blocks full of gloomy sentiments which relate to the decease of this -or that person. There is a little black frame of type around each -square, and at the top is a cross, with a "R.I.P." or "D.O.M." under -it. Below comes the name of the defunct, with hour, minute, day, -and year of his birth and death, and below his virtues are extolled -and his friends invited to pray for the repose of his soul. Every -year, each person that has died the year before has his anniversary, -both in church and in the newspapers; and when you recollect that -out of a population of 350,000 a good many depart each twelvemonth, -it is hard to see why the whole paper shouldn't consist of these -notices. The other inside page contains the news, and we learn that -a bad odor has been discovered up some side-street; that a dog fell -into the river and was drowned; that a perfumery store has received a -new kind of liquefied scent; that it will probably rain in some part -of the island during the day; and that the band on the Luneta ought -not to be frightened off merely by a few drops that fall from some -passing cloud. And so it goes until the French or English mail comes -in, and then the progressive dailies copy all the news they can find, -out of the foreign papers, and serve it up cold, æt. one month. - -I met General Blanco, Governor of the islands, the other evening, -and he seemed to enjoy the good music and good supper which one of -our popular bank-managers and his wife provided for some of us in -the colony on the occasion of a birthday. He is an elderly man, and -kindly, and appears milder in disposition than would seem advisable -for one occupying so important a position. I should think he might -let some of those sharp eyed little ministers of his run him, and he -appears almost too modest, too kind-hearted, to be the ruler that -he is. Suffice to say the General is modest in dress and modest in -manner. He often walks up and down the Malecon promenade by the Bay -in the afternoon, saluting everyone that passes, and when the vesper -bells ring out the hour of prayer from one of the old churches inside -the city walls he stops, removes his tall gray stove-pipe and, as -do a host of other pedestrians, bows his head. To tell the truth he -has little of the Spanish aspect about him and is just the kind of -a man one would go up and speak to on the Teutonic or Campania. In -sharp contrast is he to the Archbishop, who drives about behind -his fine white horses and looks as keen as well-nourished. But who -knows! Appearances are deceitful, and foolish he who trusts to them. - - - - August 11th. - -Two steamers have just come in from Hong Kong and are tied up in -quarantine down at Marivelis, at the mouth of the Bay. The mail ought -to be here in forty-eight hours, but two days is a very short time to -give Manila postal authorities, for they really are slow enough to -desire four--one in which to make up their minds to send a launch, -two in which to go, three in which to come back, and four in which -to distribute the results of their camphorated fumigation. - -The most noteworthy thing that has happened in the way of excitement -since the last mail was the operating of the new American fire-engine, -which we imported from the States for the wealthy proprietor of our -hemp-press, who is part Spaniard, part native, and part Chinese. It -seems he was up in our office one day, and on the centre-table -saw a catalogue containing pictures of a collection of our modern -fire-fighters. He asked what those things were, and, on being told -that they were used to put out fires, said he wanted one at once, -the biggest we could get him, in order that he might reduce the -insurance he was paying on his large store-houses and still go on -collecting the premiums from those whose goods were in his charge. - -Although ours is an exporting business, and we do not know much about -fire-engines, yet the occasion seemed auspicious, the prospect of -payment sure, and the outlook interesting. The result was that we -forwarded the order to New York by the first mail, and the other -day, after four months of waiting, the pieces of the big engine came -over on the Esmeralda, in big cases. They were very heavy, and the -natives began the exhibition by nearly dropping the boiler into the -river as they attempted to hoist it into a lighter. To skip over the -difficulties which were encountered in hoisting the cases onto the -quay in front of the offices of our well-to-do purchaser, we come to -the mental hardships that were encountered in putting the machine -together; for no one in Manila had ever seen a Yankee fire engine -before, and although we had a full description of the complicated -mechanism, with drawings of the parts, and numbers where each piece -was to fit onto some other piece, there was no one in town who could -help us much in getting it into working order. - -Fortunately, the hemp business was dull and my colleague and I were -thus enabled to give more attention to this Chinese puzzle than if -the fibre market had been booming. The red wheels with gold stripes -were the first thing to be adjusted, and the eyes of the onlookers -who happened to be strolling up and down the quay opened to large -dimensions as the covering was stripped from the nickel-plated boiler -and the process of establishment went on. At last the big machine -was on its feet, with valves and gear adjusted, and with the slight -assistance which we got from a Spanish engineer who knew something -about marine machinery, we found out that the whistle ought not to -be screwed onto the safety-valve. - -Several Englishmen who happened to come by in the early stages of -our efforts made sarcastic comments on the appearance of our new toy, -and could not see how an affair with so much gold paint on the wheels -and so much nickel on the boiler was going to work successfully. But -we did not say much, since we were well occupied in trying to find out -the proper way to fill the boiler. Someone suggested pouring the water -down the whistle, and so, mounted on a step-ladder, one to us began -the interesting experiment. The water seemed to run in all right, -as it gurgled down through the pipes, and did not leak out of the -bottom. As there did not seem to be any other loophole to the boiler, -we concluded this must be the right method, and took turns for an hour -in emptying the contents of an old kerosene tin into the whistle-valve. - -Next, with great trepidation, we started a fire in the grate, and were -rejoiced to see that the new engine was soon fuming away like an old -veteran. It quite spruced us up to hear the fire crackle under the -boiler; but our heads became even more swelled when steam enough was -generated to tickle the feed-pump into taking care of all the vacant -lots in the boiler-tubes. - -When our friend Don Capitan found that the engine was going to work -and knew its business, he said we must have a big trial and let all -Manila see the show. To this end he sent around printed programmes -of what was going to take place, to all the prominent people in the -city--for he was an Alderman, by the way--inviting them to inspect -the working of the engine and partake of a collation afterward in -the spacious buildings of the hemp-press. - -Wednesday, the fatal day, arrived, and the great American fire-engine -stood out on the quay glistening in the sun, the centre of an admiring -crowd of open-mouthed natives. The Englishmen in the background rather -put their heads together and shook them the wrong way, as they often -do at anything American, but the natives allowed their lower lips to -drop from overwhelming admiration. Everybody was curious, and all were -expectant, from the small kids dressed in nothing but the regulation -Philippine undershirt, who played shinney with the coal for the boiler -and looked down the hose-nozzle, to Don Capitan himself, who went -around shaking by the hands all the high and mighty officials who had -come to see his latest freak. My associate and I felt fairly important -as we gruffly ordered the police to clear the ground for action and -blew the whistle to scare the audience. The huge suction-hose was run -into the river, and our host made his pet servant jump in after it to -hold the strainer out of the mud. Ten natives were stationed at the -nozzle of the four-inch hose, which was pointed up the small plaza -running back from the quay, and while I poked up the fire to give us -a little impressive smoke, Rand rang the bell and turned on steam. - -The affair worked admirably, and the big stream of yellow water went -so far as to gently soak down a lot of baled tobacco that was lying -on a street-corner at the next block, supposedly beyond reach. The -owner of the tobacco, thinking that a thunder-storm had struck -the town, came to the door of his office, just behind, to see what -was up, and, as the engine suddenly began to work a little better, -the stream of water somehow knocked him over and played around the -entrance to his store-house. At the rate things were going it looked -as if the exhibition would prove expensive and, to avoid diplomatic -complications, we shut off steam long enough to shift the hose over -for a more unobstructed spurt along the river. - -In a few moments after the change had been made an open throttle made -a truly huge torrent belch from the long nozzle with such force as -to make the ten hose-men feel decidedly nervous, but it did not stop -them from turning the stream toward a lighter which was being polled -down the Pasig by two Malays. The foremost was washed backward into -the lighter, and the hindmost swept off into the river as if he had -been a cockroach. A Chinaman who was paddling a load of vegetables to -the Esmeralda in a hollow tree-trunk suffered the same fate. He and -his greens were swished out of the banca, in an instant, and he found -himself sitting on his inverted craft floating helplessly down-stream. - -Then suddenly, as we opened the throttle to the last notch, the hose -men, in their excitement to wet some coolies loading hemp, far up -the quay, tried to turn the torrent back onto the pavement, but, -with its force of fifteen hundred gallons to the minute, it was too -quick for them, and with one mighty "kerchug" broke away to send the -nozzle flying around like a mill-wheel. Before they knew what struck -them the ten men holding the nozzle were knocked prostrate, and two -small boys in undershirts, who were playing around in the mud-puddles -near by, were whisked off into the river like so much dust. A dozen -lightning wriggles of the hose, and the frenzied cataract shot a -third boy through the wire door into the office of our friend, Don -Capitan. Inside the door, on a wooden settee, were sitting some of the -family servants holding their infants, and the same stream on which -the boy travelled through the door washed the whole party, settee -and all, across the hallway into a heap at the foot of the stairs. - -Outside, the audience stampeded, and the man in the river, holding -on to the suction hose, had hard work to prevent being drawn up -through the strainer and pumped out the other end in fragments. All -this took place in a quarter of the time it takes to tell of it, and -events followed each other in such quick succession that the hose had -started to turn over on its back and charge on the engine before one -of us rushed in to shut off steam. The two boys washed into the river -were fished out more dead than alive, but more frightened than hurt, -and the native Philippine policeman on duty at the front arrested -them promptly for daring to be drowned. The boy blown through the -screen-door had his ear badly torn, and was likewise arrested for -not entering the house in a more civilized manner. The natives nursed -their bare feet stepped on in the rush; the Englishmen, who had been -sarcastic several days before, said nothing; but the Spaniards asked -where the collation was, and, waterlogged though they were, began to -eat like good ones. The policeman marched the three boys in undershirts -to the station-house, and next morning the daily newspapers devoted -more space than was usual in describing the wonderful machinery that -came from America, for the benefit of their readers, who, like that -English dude of old, "didn't weahlly dweam that so much wattah could -come out of such a wehwey diminootive-looking affaiah." - -Otherwise, in Manila we are now enjoying the so-called veranillo, -or little summer, which every year comes along about the middle of -August, and which consists of two or three weeks of cool, pleasant -weather, that comes between the rains of July and the typhoon season of -September. And fine weather it is, with a jolly breeze blowing in from -the China Sea all day, with delightful afternoons, moonlight nights, -and fresh mornings. - - - - September 20th. - -There has been no opportunity to start letters off for the other side -of the globe since the early days of the present month, on account -of a typhoon which has visited our fair capital, and which has so -delayed steamers that all connections seem to have been scattered to -the four winds. I have long been waiting to become acquainted with -one of these aërial disturbances, and at last the meteorological -monotony has been broken. - -Early in this eventful week, warnings came from our most excellent -observatory, run by the Jesuit priests, that trouble was brewing down -in the Pacific to the south and east, and by Friday signal No. 1 of the -danger system was displayed on the flagstaff of the look-out tower. The -news about the storm was indefinite, but the villain was supposed to be -slowly moving northwest, headed directly for Manila. Saturday up went -signal No. 2, and in the afternoon No. 3, and by evening No. 4. Still -everything was calm and peaceful, and Sunday morning dawned pleasant -but for the exception of a dull haze. Early in the afternoon up -went signal No. 5, which means that things are getting pretty bad, -and which is not far from No. 8, the worst that can be hoisted. - -Everybody now began to get ready for the invisible monster. All -the steamers and ships in the river put out extra cables, and the -vessels in the Bay extra anchors. No small craft of any kind were -permitted to pass out by the breakwater, and later navigation in the -river itself was prohibited. Still everything was calm and quiet, -but the haze thickened and low scud-clouds began to sail in from the -China Sea. Shortly after tiffin at our residence by the seaside, our -gaze was attracted by a native coming down the street, dressed in a -black coat with shirt-tails hanging out beneath, and wearing white -trousers and a tall hat. He carried a decorated cane, wore no shoes, -and marched down the centre of the street, giving utterance to solemn -sentences in a deep musical voice. In short, he was the official crier -to herald the coming of the typhoon, and as he marched along the bells -up in the old church beyond our house rang out what poets would call -"a wild, warning plea." - -The natives opposite began hastily to sling ropes over the thatch of -their light shanties, and one of the Englishmen who lived not far back -of us had already stretched good solid cables over the steep-sloping -roof of his domicile. A sort of hush prevailed, and then sudden -gusts began to blow in off the bay. The scud-clouds increased and -appeared to be in a fearful hurry. The roar of the surf loudened, and -one after the other of our sliding sea-shell windows had to be shut -and bolstered up for precaution. The typhoon seemed to be advancing -slowly, as they often do, but its course was sure. Our eight o'clock -dinner-hour passed and the wind began to howl. Before turning in for -the night, we moved out of our little parlor such valuable articles as -might be most missed if they decided to journey off through the air -in company with the roof, and later tried to sleep amidst a terrific -din of rattlings. But slumber was impossible. Our house trembled like -a blushing bride before the altar, and for the triumphal music of the -"Wedding March" the tin was suddenly stripped off our rain-shed roof -like so much paper. And then the racket! Great pieces of tin were -slapping around against the house like all possessed; the trees in the -front garden were sawing against the cornices, as if they wanted to -get in, and the rush of air outside seemed to generate a vacuum within. - -At 3 A.M. things got so bad that it seemed as if something were -going to burst, and my chum and I decided to take a last look into -the parlor before seeking the safety of the cellar. No glass would -have withstood the gusts that came pouncing in from the Bay, but -our sea-shell windows did not seem to yield. The rain was sizzling -in through the cracks like hot grease when a fresh doughnut is -dropped into the spider, and the noise outside was deafening. As -our house seemed to be holding together, however, we gave up going -to the regions below, and turned in again, thankful that we were not -off on the ships in the Bay. Now and then the wind lulled somewhat, -and blew from another quarter, but by early morning came some of the -most terrific blowings I have ever felt, resulting from the change -of direction. Down came all the wires in the main street; over went -half a dozen nipa houses to one side of us, and "kerplunk" broke off -some venerable trees that for many years had withstood the blast. The -street was a mass of wreckage, as far down as the eye could see, and -few signs of life were visible. During the rest of the day the wind -blew most fiercely, but from the change of direction it was easy to -see that the centre of the typhoon was passing off to the northwest. - -I sallied out later in the afternoon, dressed in not much more than a -squash-hat, a rubber coat, and a pair of boots, whose soles were holy -enough to let the water out as fast as it came in. It was as much as -one could do to stand against the blast, but I managed to keep along -behind the houses, cross the streets, and reach the Luneta, where -all the lamps bent their heads with broken glass, and where the huge -waves were flying far up into the air in their efforts to dispose -of the stone sea-wall. The clumps of fishing and bath houses which -stood perched on posts out in the surf were being fast battered to -pieces, and those which were not minus roof and sides were washed up -into the road as driftwood. The natives were rushing gingerly hither -and thither, grabbing such logs as they could find, while some of the -fishermen's families were crouching behind a stone wall watching their -wrecked barns, and sitting on their saucepans, furniture, and babies, -to keep them from sailing skyward. The surf was tremendous, the vessels -in the bay were shrouded in spray, and several of them seemed almost -to be ashore in the breakers. A steamer appeared to have broken adrift -and was locked in the embrace of a Nova Scotia bark. But everything -comes to an end and as night drew on the winds and rain subsided and -comparative quiet succeeded a season of exaggerated movement and din. - -The typhoon was wide in diameter, perhaps two hundred miles, and so -was not destructive, like the one that laid Manila low way back in the -'80's. It seems that the larger the diameter of one of these circular -storms, the less its intensity, and although the wind at any given -time is moving with tremendous velocity within the circle, the whole -disturbance is not advancing at a pace much over a dozen miles an hour. - -After the typhoon came the floods, and the old Pasig covered the -adjacent country. The water concealed the road to the uptown club -at Nagtajan under a depth of several feet, and one could without -difficulty row into the billiard-room or play water-polo in the -bowling-alley. Two of my friends were nearly drowned by trying to -drive when they should have swum or gone by boat. The pony walked -off with their carriage into a rice-field, in the darkness, and was -drowned in more than eight feet of water. The boys only crawled -out with difficulty, and just managed to reach "dry land" (that -with three feet of water over it) in the nick of time. As it was, -one of them practically saved the other's life, and has since been -presented with a gold watch, which does not run. - -One of the bank-managers was to give a dinner-dance at his house -next evening, to which everyone was invited, when word came that -his bungalow could only be reached by boats, and that the festivities -would have to be put off until the parlor floor appeared. To the north, -where the actual centre of the typhoon passed, the railway was swept -away, the telegraph line that connects with the cable to Hong Kong -torn down, and the country in general laid under water. But the show -is now concluded, and business, which had been paralyzed for a week, -once more starts up with the coming of the cablegrams. - -Manila life goes on as ever, and it is curious to note how fast the -days and weeks slip backward. Everyone agrees that the most rapid -thing in town, except the winds of the typhoons, is the speed with -which the Philippine to-day becomes yesterday. The secret seems to -lie in the fact that there are no landmarks by which to remember -the weeks that are gone. The trees are green all the year round, -and there are no snow-storms to mark the contrast between winter and -summer. There are no class-days, no ball-games, and no coming out -in spring fashions to break the orderly procession of the sun, moon, -and stars. We wear our white starched suits every day in the year, and -one's wardrobe is not replete with various checks, plaids, and stripes -that mark an epoch in one's appearance. We cannot, like Teufelsdröch, -in "Sartor Resartus," speculate much on the "clothes philosophy," -though we may do so on the centres of indifference; for our garments -are not complex enough to invite transcendental theorizing. Manila -food is alike from Christmas morn to the following Christmas eve, and -so, take it all in all, the past is practically without milestones, -and seems far shorter than one in which many events make the measured -steps more clearly differentiated. - -At present everybody dates his ideas from the typhoon, and that -will remain a landmark for some time, if the fire which took place -the other evening on the banks of the river does not usurp its -position. Ten thousand bales of hemp, and a lot of copra, sugar, -and cocoanut-oil were sent aloft in less earthly form. Æsthetically -the sight was beautiful, and the eye was charmed by the mingling of -vast tongues of blue, green, red, and yellow flames, some of which -burst forth from the very waters of the river itself on which the -inflammable materials had excursioned. Our new fire-engine was on -hand for the first time, in actual service, and, together with the -small English engine brought out from London, did its duty. America, -as usual, was in the lead, and everybody stood aghast to see the big -five-inch stream mow down the brick walls of the burning houses like -grain before the reaper. One native in particular, whose frail hut was -washed to splinters by that big cataract played upon it to save it from -the flames, said he'd rather lose his property by fire than to stand -by and see the blooming bomba (fire-engine) blow it all to bits. The -local department, as usual, lost their heads, and while some began to -chop the tiles off the roofs of neighboring houses, others directed the -streams from the hand-pumps onto the choppers. Even our gallant friend -the American broker, who helps swell the number of Yankee business -men in Manila to four, almost got roasted alive by being shut into an -iron vault as he tried to rescue some valuable papers belonging to a -customer and had to be soused with water, after his miraculous escape, -to lower his temperature. But at length Providence and water prevailed, -and the damage did not come to more than half a million dollars. - - - - - - - - -VII - - A Series of Typhoons--A Chinese Feast-day--A Bank-holiday - Excursion--Lost in the Mist--Los Baños--The "Enchanted Lake"--Six - Dollars for a Human Life--A Religious Procession--Celebration of - the Expulsion of the Chinese--Bicycle Races and Fireworks. - - - October 5th. - -Phew! We have hardly had time to breathe since the last mail, for -we have been in the midst of typhoon after typhoon, shipwrecks, -house-wrecks, and telegraph-wrecks, both simplex and duplex. Manila -had scarcely gotten over talking of the war of the elements, above -spoken of, before another cyclone was announced to the south, and -soon we were going through an experience similar to that related -the other day. When that was over, everybody began to draw breath -again, but before the lungs of the populace were fully expanded, -the wind suddenly went into that dangerous quarter, the northwest, -and up went signal No. 5 again. The blow came on more suddenly than -the former one, and all hands left the business offices to go home -and sit on their roofs. The tin was again stripped like paper from -our portico, and great masses of metal banged around outside with -the clash of cymbals. It was a terrific night. The ships in the Bay -dragged their anchors nearly to the breakwater, and in the morning -four Spanish brigs were a total wreck. One in particular went ashore -on the bar at the river's mouth, and at daylight was being swept fore -and aft by the great seas. Eight men were hanging on for dear life, -and it looked as if they would be swallowed up in the great drink, but -two big lifeboats were got out, and as the sea moderated somewhat, the -sailors were at length rescued, just as their ship went all to smash. A -thousand houses were blown down, many of the streets in Manila were -flooded, telegraph lines prostrated, and tram-car service interrupted. - -But things have now quieted down, and Sunday was a big feast-day -in the Chinese quarter. All the wealthy Chinamen were celebrating -something or other, and they invited all the foreign merchants, as -well as their local friends, to the celebration. They served tea and -refreshments in their various little junk shops, and some of the more -influential members of the colony of fifty thousand gave elaborate -spreads, followed by dances and concerts. The streets were filled -with peculiar processions of men carrying banners and graven images, -and the sidewalks were lined with spectators. - -I went to one of the most pretentious of the indoor functions, found -myself in a gorgeously furnished suite of apartments, decorated -in true Chinese fashion, and was royally entertained by a shrewd -Celestial who was supposed to be worth several million dollars. He -began conversation with me by saying that, in his belief, bathing was -injurious, and that he had not taken a bath in thirty years. From all -I could judge, others of his brethren seemed to hold the same views -as he, and the long rooms, halls, and corridors in due season got to -be so warm and fragrant that it was a relief to escape. - -Now and then the bells in the big church rang lustily, and many -lanterns lighted it up from cornice to keystone. Hundreds of carriages -drove through the streets, apparently bound nowhere in particular, -and the bands played in all quarters. - -It almost seems as if each week in the calendar brought in a religious -display of some sort in some one part of the town, and every Sunday -evening finds a big church somewhere blazing with light or a street -blinking with candles. - - - - November 13th. - -The Monday after the departure of the monthly direct mail from Manila -to the Peninsula is always devoted to our old friend "bank-holiday," -and all the foreign merchants close their doors. This event occurred -the first of this week, and on Saturday afternoon last some of the -more energetic of us, deciding to take another little outing into the -hills, started up the river on a small launch, bound for the big lake -at the foot of the mountains. A drizzling rain was falling and the -weather did not look propitious, but we pushed on, left the mouth of -the river where the lake empties into it, and sallied out on the broad -waters of the Laguna de Bay. Numerous serving-boys, boxes of china, -food, ice, and bedding ballasted the stern of our little steamer, -and as it grew dark a feast was prepared for us on deck. In going up -the lake, the pilot, who was accustomed only to navigating the launch -along the quays of Manila itself, got quite at sea and lost his way in -the evening mist. Some of us, however, more nautical than the rest, -procured a chart, consulted a compass which the native mariner in -his stupidity chose utterly to disregard, and by dint of perseverance -brought the frail bark back into her proper course, without further -mishap than running through a series of fish-weirs. - -We anchored near a little settlement, Los Baños, shortly before -midnight. The deck planking did not make a soft bed, but nevertheless -the snoring soon became hard likewise, and Sunday morning found us -refreshed by the bracing air of the provinces. The rain had cleared -away, and after an early breakfast the pilot ran the launch slowly -ashore on a smooth beach, beneath a high bank fringed with bamboo. The -gang-plank was run out, and several of our little party started off -with guns to get some duck, snipe, and pigeons, which were plentiful -in the jungle beyond. - -Those of us who were left, with a couple of native guides, climbed -up the steep slopes of an extinct volcano to explore a so-called -"Enchanted Lake" that occupied the low crater. The way led past several -ponds filled to overflowing with pink pond-lilies, and, as we wound -up along the rising knolls, the air was as fragrant as that of a -greenhouse. Then came a short climb which brought us to the crater's -edge. The Enchanted Lake lay like a mirror below, and the rich foliage -all about was almost perfectly reflected in the still, green water. - -The locality being romantic, it is quite regular that there should -be connected with it an interesting story which seems to bear on its -face the evidences of truth. It seems there used to live a fisherman -and his wife hard by the sloping banks that surround the Enchanted -Lake. One day, so the story goes, the fisherman's spouse had reason -to suspect the fidelity of her husband, and aflame with pious rage, -she concocted a scheme to rid herself of her worser half. Calling -upon two rival fishermen whose hut was not far distant, she promised -them the large amount of twelve dollars if they would put her husband -out of the way. This being a pot of money to them, they agreed to her -proposition, and during one of the next excursions out to the distant -fish-weirs in the parent lake below, contrived to tip him overboard -and hold him under. Coming back in the afternoon, they went to the -hut of the freshly made widow and demanded the twelve dollars. - -"I can give you but six," said she, "for I'm hard up." - -"But you promised us twelve if we would do the business," said they. - -"But I tell you I can give you but six," responded the widow. "Take -that or nothing." - -Angry at having been thus deceived, the two murderers excitedly -paddled over to the neighboring village of Los Baños, went to the -cuartel, presided over by a Spanish official, and addressed him with -these words: - -"A lady over there by the Enchanted Lake promised us twelve dollars -if we would kill her husband. We have done the job and asked her for -our money, but she will only give us six. We want you to arrest her." - -The official, thinking the whole thing a joke, laughingly said he -would attend to the matter. The two simple-minded criminals went off, -apparently satisfied, and disappeared. - -Later, our friend the official thought there might be some truth behind -the apparent absurdity of the yarn, and on investigation found that a -murder had actually been committed. But someone more credulous than -the Spaniard gave a friendly warning to the committers of the deed, -and they were not brought to justice until some months afterward. Such -is the comparative esteem in which the native holds human life and -Mexican dollars. - -Later we descended again to the bold coast-line of the Laguna de -Bay and, to the accompaniment of banging guns, which showed that -some of the rest of our party were really on the war-path, returned -launch-ward. The hunting-expedition came in soon after with large bags -of snipe and pigeon, and all hands then joined in a series of dives -off the stern of our boat, or soused around in the tepid water. The -group of savages living in the huts near by were much startled at our -taking plunges headlong. They themselves never dive otherwise than -feet first, for it is a common superstition among the Filipinos that -the evil water-spirits would catch them by the head and hold them -under if this article came along before the feet put in an appearance. - -At noontime our native cooks did themselves proud in getting up a game -breakfast, and in the afternoon the launch backed off and steamed -across the narrow bay to Los Baños itself, a little town clustering -around some boiling springs whose vapor floats over a good hotel -and some elaborate bathing-establishments. This seems to be a rather -favorite resort for the Spanish population of Manila at certain times -of the year, and once or twice a week the old side-wheeler Laguna de -Bay stops here on her way up from the capital to Santa Cruz. - -Behind the town the land slopes steeply up to the mountain heights -of still another extinct volcano, whose ghost exists merely to give -life to the hot waters of the springs below. In front it runs off -to the lake shore, and, all in all, the scenery is as picturesque -as the air is healthy. From Los Baños we crossed the lake, cruised -down along the abrupt mountainous shores between the two fine old -promontories of Halla Halla, that jut out like the prongs to a W, -and stopped every now and then at some particularly attractive little -native village coming down to the water's edge. At about sundown on -Monday afternoon, the prow was turned Manilaward, and after a cool -sunset sail of twenty miles we drew in at the portico of the uptown -club, all the better for our two day's trip, which cost us each but -a little over five gold dollars. - -Last night there occurred another one of those religious torch-light -processions which are so common in the streets of Old Manila. It -started after sunset, inside the city walls, from a big church brightly -illuminated from top to bottom with small candle-cups that gave it -the appearance of a great sugar palace. The procession consisted of -many richly decorated floats, containing life-size figures of saints -and apostles dressed in garments of gold and purple and borne along -by sweating coolies, who staggered underneath a draping that shielded -from view all save their lower limbs and naked feet. The larger floats -were covered with dozens of candelabra and guarded by soldiers with -fixed bayonets. Other rolling floats of smaller magnitude were pulled -along by little children in white gowns, while troops of old maids, -young maids, and Spanish women marched before and behind, dressed in -black and carrying candles. The black mantillas which fell gracefully -from the heads of many of the torch-bearers gave their faces a look of -saint-like grace, except at such times as the evening breeze made the -candle-grease refractory, and one might easily have imagined himself -a spectator at a celebration in Seville. - -Many bands all playing different tunes in different times and keys, -rows of hard-faced, fat-stomached priests trying to look religious -but failing completely to do so, and five hundred small boys, who, -like ours at home, formed a sort of rear guard to the solemnities, -all went to make up the peculiar performance. The whole long affair -started from the church, wound through the narrow streets, and finally -brought up at the church again, where it was saluted by fireworks -and ringing of bells. - -In the balconies of the houses that almost overhung the route were -smiling crowds of lookers-on, and Roman candles and Bengola lights -added impressiveness to the scene, or dropped their sparks on the -garments of those promenading below. As the various images of the -Virgin Mary and the Descent from the Cross passed by, everyone took off -his hat and appeared deeply impressed with religious feeling. After the -carriers of the floats had put down for good their expensive burdens -in the vestry of the church, a few liquid refreshments easily started -them quarrelling as to the merits of their respective displays. One set -claimed that their Descent from the Cross was more life-like than that -carried by their rivals, and they almost came to blows over which of -the Virgin Marys wore the finest clothes. - -Yesterday was the celebration of the expulsion of the Chinese invaders -from the Philippines, about a hundred years ago, and the whole city -was aglow with flags and decorations. In the afternoon everybody -went to the Luneta to see the bicycle races and to hear the music. A -huge crowd surged around the central plaza, and the best places in -the band-stand were reserved for the Spanish ladies and Government -dignitaries. The races were slow, but the crowd cheered and seemed -perfectly satisfied as one after another of the contestants tipped over -going around the sharp corners. After the races a beautiful Spanish -maiden, whose eyes were so crossed that she must have easily mixed -up the winning bicycle with the tail-ender, distributed the prizes, -and the police had hard work to keep the crowd from overwhelming the -centre of attraction. Then everybody listened to the music, walked or -drove around in carriages, and waited for the fireworks, which were -set off not long after sunset. The costly display was accompanied -by murmurings of "Oh!" from hundreds of throats. There was an Eiffel -Tower of flame, several mixed-up crosses that twisted in and out of -each other, numerous scroll-wheels, fountains, and a burst of bombs -and rockets. Some of the parachute stars gracefully floated out over -the Bay and descended into the water, causing startled exclamations -from the natives, who are not accustomed to look on fireworks with -equanimity. But as of old, everything finally ended in smoke, and the -multitude melted away, thoroughly satisfied with the celebration of -the anniversary of the victory over the Chinese. - -As it seems about time to take a longer rest than usual from the labor -attendant on waiting for a boom in the hemp market, I hope next week -to start off on one of the well-equipped provincial steamers, that -makes a run of two thousand miles south, among the sugar-islands and -the hemp-ports, and in the next chapter there ought to be a rather -long account of what is said to be a very interesting voyage. - - - - - - - - -VIII - - A Trip to the South--Contents of the "Puchero"--Romblon--Cebu, - the Southern Hemp-Centre--Places Touched At--A Rich Indian - at Camiguin--Tall Trees--Primitive Hemp-Cleaners--A New - Volcano--Mindanao Island--Moro Trophies--Iligan--Iloilo--Back - Again at Manila. - - - December 23, 1894. - -I have just returned from the south, and feel able enough to begin -the narrative. On Saturday, December 1, thick clouds obscured the -sky, and gusty showers of rain continued to fall until evening, -when they formed themselves into a respectable downpour. It was -objectionable weather for the dry season just commencing, but the -northwest monsoon was said to be heavy outside, and the rain on -our east coast evidently slid over the mountains back of Manila, -instead of staying where it belonged. Such was the day of starting, -while, to cap the climax, just before the advertised leaving-time of -the Uranus, word came from the Jesuit observatory that a typhoon was -apparently getting ready to sail directly across the course we were -to take, and up went signal No. 3 on the flag-staff at the mouth of -the river. Philosophers, however, must not be bothered by trifles, -and although my friends predicted a miserable voyage, and told -me to take all my water-proofs and sou'westers, I went aboard the -steamer with a smiling countenance only, followed by three "boys" -who deposited my traps in a state-room of lean proportions. - -At half after seven in the evening the whistle blew, the visitors -departed, and the Uranus slowly began to back down the narrow river -into the black night. She is one of the largest and newest "province -steamers" in the Philippines, and it took a great deal of manipulation -to turn her around and get her headed toward the Bay. As large, -perhaps, as one of our coasting boats that runs to the West Indies, -she has a flush deck from stem to stern, and is ruled over by a very -jolly, stubby, little Spanish captain who looks eminently well fed -if not so well groomed. - -We got out of the river at eight o'clock, saw the three warning, -red, typhoon lanterns glaring at us, and started full speed ahead for -Romblon, our first calling-port, eighteen hours away. Dinner was served -on deck from a large table formed by closing down the huge skylights -to the regular dining-saloon below, and the eaters took far more -enjoyment in their Spanish bill of fare under the awnings than they -would have done had the same victuals been dished up downstairs. I -say "victuals," for the word seems to be the only invention for just -such combinations as were set before us, and "dished up" suggests -the scooped-out-of-a-kettle process far better than "served." Spanish -food is rather too mixy, too garlicky, too unfathomable for me, but -as one can get used to anything I accommodated myself to the puchero -(a mixture of meat, beans, sausages, cabbage, and pork), and was soon -eating fish as a fifth course instead of a second. The feast began -with soup and sundries, and was continued by the puchero which was -merely an introduction to the fish course, the roast, and all the -cheese and things that followed. Every dinner was practically the -same, differing slightly in details, and the deck each time played its -part as dining-room. Early breakfast came at six, late breakfast came -at ten, and dinner poked along at five--a combination of meal hours -which was enough to give one indigestion before touching a mouthful. - -During the night we all waited in vain to hear the sizzling of the -typhoon that came not, and got up next morning to find the scare -had been for nothing. The clouds and rain were clearing away, and -the prow of the Uranus was headed directly for a region of blue -sky. By breakfast-time there was hardly a cloud in the heavens, -the rooster up for'ard began to crow, the mooly-cow which we were -soon to eat began to moo, the islands in front drew nearer, and the -scene became fairer each moment. At noon we steamed below a great -mountainous island, crossed a sound between it and another group, -entered a narrow channel, and at one o'clock dropped anchor in -the small land-locked harbor of Romblon. Everywhere the hills fell -abruptly into the water, and houses looked as if they had slid down -off the steep slopes to hobnob with each other in a mass below. There -was a public bath down beside a brook, where everybody came to wash, -an old church, the market-place, and a prodigious long flight of steps -leading up to the upper districts, where the view down back over the -low nipa houses toward the bay was most extensive. - -We stayed in this little Garden of Eden until after three o'clock, -then pulled out to the steamer, and left again for the south, over -a calm sea and beneath a glorious sky. Some of us slept on deck in -the moonlight, but, finding it if anything too cool and breezy, were -up betimes to see the island of Cebu looming on our right hand. Our -early six-o'clock breakfast finished, we sat up on the bridge in -easy-chairs, beneath the double awning, as the Uranus poked down along -the mountainous coast toward the city of Cebu. At ten o'clock we passed -through the narrow channel that leads between a small island and its -big brother Cebu, and soon saw the white houses of the town lapping -the harbor's edge. Two American ships were apparently taking in their -cargoes of hemp, and beside them a small fleet of native craft and -steamers smudged the little bay. Anchor was dropped again and those of -us who cared to go ashore met some of our former friends from Manila on -'change and took a look over this great hemp-centre of the South. - -The local excitement was limited, and, except that a Chinaman had -been beheaded by some enemy the night before as he was walking home -through the street, news was scarce. Numerous people, however, were -gathered together outside the police-station, looking at the remains, -and several sailors from the American ships, who had swum ashore -during the night to get drunk, were being returned to their vessels -in charge of the civil guard. - -The Uranus was not to stop long, and most of the through -passengers returned early to the steamer to enjoy a view tempered -by rather more breeze and less smell than that which the narrow -streets afforded. Cebu, from the deck, was worthy of a sonnet; the -white houses and church spires were set off against the dark-green -background of mountains, and as the sun got lower the place did not -have the broiled-alive aspect that it bore during the middle of the -day. At four the stubby little Captain came aboard, and soon we turned -northeast for our next stopping-place, Ormoc. Another colored sunset, -another dinner in the golden light, another moonrise, another sail up -among the islands, and at eleven on the evening of Monday we entered -the harbor of Ormoc. Here two or three ponies were hoisted overboard to -be taken landward, a can of kerosene was loaded into the purser's boat -as he went ashore with the papers, and a little chorus of shoutings -concluded our midnight visit to the second stop of the day. - -Tuesday morning the sun rose over the lofty mountains on the island -of Leyte, and the Uranus shaped her course for Catbalogan, another -of the larger hemp-ports. The steam up the bay blotched with islands -was perfection, and by ten o'clock the anchor hunted round for a -soft bed in the ooze, some eight hundred yards off a sandy beach, -above which lay the town. Those of us who had energy enough to bolt -our hearty breakfast were taken by the jolly-boat onto the mud flats, -and were carried through the shallow water on oars to dry land. On -the slopes of the higher mountains, behind the town, the hemp-plants -(looking exactly like banana-trees), grew luxuriously, and in front -of many of the houses in Catbalogan the white fibre was out drying -on clothes-lines. A short taste of the hot sun easily satisfied our -curiosity as to Catbalogan, and we were off to the ship again for more -breakfast, just as several hungry-looking Spanish guests, including -the Governor's family, came aboard from the town to partake of a meal -hearty enough to last them till the arrival of the next steamer. - -From Catbalogan to its sister town, Tacloban, four hours to the south, -the course leads among the narrow straits between high, richly wooded -islands, and the scenery was most picturesque. Here and there little -white beaches gleamed along the shore, and in front of the nipa -shanties that now and then looked out from among the trees hung rows -of hemp drying in the sun. Off and on the big waves, kicked up by the -forward movement of the Uranus in the land-locked waters, woke up the -stillness resting on the banks, and nearly upset small banca loads of -the white fibre which was perhaps being paddled down to some larger -centre from more remote stamping-grounds. From the bridge our view -was most comprehensive, and it wasn't long before the steamer actually -entered the river like strait that separates the islands of Samar and -Leyte. We twisted around like a snake through the narrow channel, -on each side of which were high hills and mountains, richly treed -with cocoanuts and hemp-plants, and, just as the sun was getting low, -hauled into Tacloban, situated inside an arm of land that protects -it from the dashing surges of the Apostles' Bay beyond. - -At Tacloban there was little to see. A high range of hills rose -behind the town, and in the evening half-light everything looked more -or less attractive. We climbed a small knoll that looked off over -the Bay of St. Peter and St. Paul to the south and down over the -village. The strait through which we came stretched up back among -the hills like a river, and in the foreground lay the Uranus. A -number of hemp store-houses lined the water-front, and as usual the -ever-present Chinese were the central figures of the commercial part -of the community. At eight the anchor came up once more, and we left -Tacloban to steam religiously down the bay of St. Peter and St. Paul -for Cabalian, eight hours to the south. - -Cabalian is another little hemp-town, at the foot of a huge mountain; -but in the starlight of the very early morning we stopped there only -long enough to leave the mail and drop a pony overboard. Sunrise caught -us still steering to the south, but nine o'clock tied our steamer to -a little wharf in Surigao, directly in front of a large hemp-press -and store-house belonging to the owners of the ship on which we were -journeying. Some of the best hemp that comes to the Manila market -is pressed at Surigao, and all around were stacks of loose fibre -drying in the sun or being separated into different grades by native -coolies. Several of us left the ship and walked to the main village, -but, as before, found little to note except the intense heat of a -boiling sun. - -There was the customary hill behind the town, and at the risk of -going entirely into solution during the effort, two of us climbed to -the top for a breath of air and a panoramic view. - -Dinner came along as usual at five; but I must say that the more I -ate of those curiously timed meals the less I could accommodate my -mental powers to the comprehension of what I was doing. Everybody -knows what a difficult psychological problem it is to determine the -exact numerical nature of the feeling in the second and third toes of -his feet, as compared with that in the fingers of his hands. On your -hands you can distinctly feel the first finger, the middle finger, and -the fourth finger; but on your feet your second toe doesn't feel like -your first finger nor as a second toe should naturally feel. The great -toe corresponds in sensation to one's first finger, and all the other -toes save the last seem to be muddled up without that differentiated -sensation which the fingers have. And so with these meals aboard -ship. A ten o'clock breakfast was neither breakfast nor luncheon, -and it bothered me considerably to know what in the dickens I was -really eating. In fact, it affected my mind to such a degree that -somehow the food tasted as if it did not belong to any particular -meal, but came from another order of things; and I spent long, -serious moments between the courses in trying to locate the repast -in my library of prehistoric sensations, just as I have often tried -to locate the digit which my second toe corresponds to in feeling. - -We left Surigao an hour before midnight, sailed away over moonlit -seas toward the island of Camiguin, and when I stuck my head out of -the port-hole at half after five next morning, the two very lofty -mountain-peaks which formed this sky-scraper of the Philippines -were just ridding themselves of the garb of darkness. Three of us -went ashore at seven, and were introduced to a rich Indian, who, -although the possessor of four hundred thousand dollars, lived in a -common little nipa house. He invited us to see the country, fitted -us out with three horses and a mounted servant, and sent us up into -the mountains, where his men were working on the hemp-plantations. - -We started up the sharp slopes, and were soon getting a wider and -wider view back over the town and blue bay below. First the path was -bounded with rice-fields, but, as we rose, the hemp plants which, as -before said, look just like their relatives, the banana-trees, began to -hem us in. Now and again we came to a little hut where long strings of -fibre were out drying in the sun, but our boy kept going upward until -we were rising at an angle of almost forty-five degrees. Everywhere the -tall twenty-five-foot hemp-trees extended toward the mountain summit as -far as the eye could carry, and we were much interested in seeing so -much future rope in its primogenital state. Up we went across brooks, -over rocks, beneath tall, tropical hardwood trees, nearly two hundred -feet high, that here and there lifted themselves up toward heaven and -at last came to the place where the natives were actually separating -the hemp from strippings by pulling them under a knife pressed down -on a block of wood. The whole little machine was so absurdly simple, -with its rough carving-knife and rude levers, that it hardly seemed -to correspond with the elaborate transformation that took place from -the tall trees to the slender white fibre separated by the rusty -blade. One man could clean only twenty-five pounds of hemp a day, -and when it is remembered the whole harvest consists of about 800,000 -bales, or 200,000,000 pounds per year, it seems the more remarkable -that so rude an instrument should have so star a part to play. We -each tried pulling the long, tough strippings under the knife that -seemed glued to the block, but there was a certain knack which we did -not seem to possess, and the thing stuck fast. All in all this visit -to the hemp-cleaners will supply us with strong answers to letters -from manufacturers who have written us to make efforts in introducing -heavy machines for separating hemp from the parent tree, but who have -failed to understand that a couple of levers and a carving knife are -far easier to carry up a steep mountain-slope than a steam engine, -and an arrangement as big as a modern reaper. We lingered about all -the morning on these up-in-the-air plantations, and at noon picked -our way slowly back again over the stony path to the village, glad -that we didn't have to earn fifty cents a day by so laborious a method. - -Leaving our host with a promise to come ashore again and use his -horses in the afternoon, we went down to the long pier and rowed -off to the Uranus in one of the big ship's boats that was feeding -her empty forehold with instalments of hemp. In the early afternoon -we again went ashore, took other ponies and started off up the coast -toward a remarkable volcano, which, though not existing in 1871, has -since been business-like enough to grow up out of the sandy beach, -until it is now a thousand feet high. A whole town was destroyed -during the growing process, but to-day the signs of activity are not -so evident. The path up the mountain-side was terrifically stony and -somewhat obscure. Long creepers frequently caught us by the neck, -or wound themselves about our feet, in attempts to rid the ponies of -their burden. It was a laborious undertaking, and it didn't look as -if we should reach the crater before dark, but we kept on ascending, -thinking each knoll would give us that longed-for look into the -business office of the volcano. But in vain. It was now getting so -near sunset that we feared to lose the way, and, instead of pushing on -farther, we reluctantly turned about and went full speed astern. The -descent was unspeakable; the horses' knees were tired; they stumbled -badly; the vines and creepers snarled us up, and everyone muttered -yards of cuss-words. On the way down we saw several wonderful views -over the hemp-trees to the coast below, met numerous natives cleaning -up their last few stalks of fibre for the day, and at last came out -once more on the rough pasture-road leading to Mambajao, off which -the Uranus was anchored. It was now moonlight, we all broke into a -gallop for the three-quarter-hour ride to the village, and everybody, -including the jaded ponies, thanked Heaven when we reached the first -lights of the town. - -Late the same evening the Uranus left, sailed around the island's -western edge in the moonlight, and turned southward for Cagayan, on -Mindanao Island, the last of the Philippines to resist subjection -by the Spanish and now the scene of wars and conflicts with the -bloodthirsty savages who are indigenous to the soil. - -Morning introduced us to a shaky wharf and to a group of gig-drivers, -who said the town was fully three miles away. We were in the enemy's -country, but nevertheless two of us started off to walk to the village, -following quite a party who had already taken the road. It was an -hour's plod along beneath tall cocoanut-palms before we came to the -main part of the settlement, surrounding the jail, court-house, and -residence of the Spanish Governor. Hard by ran a river spanned by a -curious suspension-bridge. It carried the high road to the village -and country on the other bank, and in our party from the steamer was -an engineer who had come down to inspect this structure, which but -a short time ago had utterly collapsed under the strain of its own -opening exercises, killing a Spaniard, and cutting open the head of -the Governor's wife. Of late, however, the bridge had been repaired, -and the question seemed to be, was it safe? For my benefit, as I walked -over the long eight-hundred-foot span, the old bridge wobbled around -like a bowl of jelly, and considering that there were alligators in -the reflective waters below, I did not feel I was doing the right -thing by my camera and friends to stay longer where I was. Some of -the secondary cables were flimsy affairs, and inspection revealing -the fact that the structure was just one-twentieth as strong as it -ought to be, placards were put up to the effect that the bridge was -closed except for the passing of one person at a time. - -At the bridge we fell into talk with a pleasant Spaniard, who was the -interventor or official go-between in affairs concerning Governor and -natives. We asked him as to the prospects of finding some Moro arms, -knives, and shields in the settlement for being in a district upon -which a recent descent had been made it seemed as if the town should -be rich in bloody curios. He gave us some encouragement, and off we -trotted across the central plaza with its old church, on an expedition -of search. It seems that all the houses around this plaza were armed -to the teeth, and in time of need the whole place could be transformed -into a fort. Every house in the pueblo had one of the newest type -of Mauser rifles standing up in the corner, and in fifteen minutes -fifteen hundred men could be mustered ready armed to fight the savage -Moros. We really felt as if we were in one of the Indian outposts of -early American days, and were quite interested in the conversation -of our guide, who seemed to take a great liking to two foreigners. We -went into several little huts where knives and spears were hung upon -the doors, and succeeded in exchanging many of our dollars for rude, -weird weapons with waving edges or poisoned points. We passed several -"tamed" Moros in the street and took off some bead necklaces, turbans, -and bracelets which they had on. Further search revealed shields and -hats, and before the morning turned to afternoon we had visited nearly -half the houses in the village. Sometimes a tune on the ever-present -piano, coaxed out by yours truly, would bring a shield from off the -wall, and at others the more telling music coming from the jingling -dollars was more effectual. - -For dinner we went to the house of the interventor to lunch on some -grass mixed with macaroni, canned fish, bread and water, and if I -hadn't been so much occupied with our Spanish conversation I might have -felt hungry. After the meal our host wanted me to take a photograph -of him and his wife dressed up in a discarded theatrical costume, -and it was quite as ludicrous as anything on the trip. An upholstered -throne--part of the stage-setting in their play of the week before--was -rigged up in the back yard, and the señor and señora, robed as king and -queen of Aragon, put on all the airs of a royal family as they stood -before the camera. These good people pulled the house to pieces to -show us wigs, crowns, and wooden swords, and it seemed as if we should -never get away. Later, however, our good friend borrowed a horse in -one place, a carriage in another, helped us to go around and collect -our various purchases, presented me with a shield which he took down -off his own wall, and drove us back to the steamer. Here we unloaded -all the stuff, and, surrounded by a curious throng of questioners, -went aboard to stow our possessions away. The day had been a prolific -one, and, although we had not expected to go into the curio business -on the excursion, our respective staterooms were now loaded up with -gimcracks that would interest the most rabid ethnographer. - -Toward midnight the Uranus steamed out of the Bay of Cagayan and -headed for Misamis, still farther south. Another calm night, and -Saturday morning saw us approaching a little collection of nipa huts -presided over by an old stone fort and backed up by the usual high -range of mountains. Two Spanish gunboats, the Elcano and Ulloa, all -flags flying, in honor of Sunday or something were at anchor in the -Bay, and at eight o'clock we pulled ashore to fritter away an hour -or so in looking about an uninteresting village. There was a saying -here that no photographer ever lived to get fairly into the town, -for the only two who had ever come before this way were drowned in -getting ashore from their vessels. As I walked about the streets, -several Indian women stuck their heads out of the windows of their -huts seeming quite amazed to see a live picture-maker, and asked -in poor Spanish how much I would charge for a dozen copies of their -inimitable physiognomies. - -Misamis business detained the Uranus but for a short hour, and she then -turned her head across the Bay eastward for Iligan, the seat of all the -war operations in Mindanao. During the two hours and a half that our -course led close along the hostile shore, we had breakfast and arrived -at Iligan, the most dismal place in the world, about two o'clock in the -afternoon. Everything looked down-in-the-mouth except the thermometer, -and that was up in the roaring hundreds. The town was like all other -Philippine villages, except that around the outskirts were the ruins of -an old stockade with observation-towers, and in the streets soldiers, -both native and Spanish, held the corners at every turn. - -While I paddled across a creek to get a photograph of some friendly -savages on the other bank, one of my steamer friends went up to the -Government house to make a formal visit. It seems he found no one at -home except the wife of one of the high department officials, and -she was reading the latest letters just fresh from the mail-bag of -the Uranus. As I got back from across the river I heard a tremendous -pandemonium going on in the upper story of the building in question, -and soon my fellow-passenger came bolting down the stairs and out into -the street below. The poor woman, on reading in her freshly opened -letter that her husband, who had but recently gone up to Manila for -a week's stay, was an absconder to the extent of some three hundred -thousand dollars, suddenly lost her mind. He had tried to get across to -China, so it seemed, but was taken on the sailing-day of the steamer, -and the wife now first heard the news. So, as chairs and flower-pots -came sailing out the windows or down the stairs, we wisely decided to -get out of harm's way, and together walked back to the steamer-landing, -musing on Spanish methods of pocket-lining. - -The Moros themselves are sturdy beggars, though most picturesque -ones, and the tame specimens that came into Iligan were curious in -the extreme. Dressed in native-made cloths of all colors, their heads -were ornamented with turbans of red and white and blue, while gaudy -sashes gave them an air of aristocratic distinction which few of their -northern brothers possessed. Some of them black all their teeth, others -only put war-paint on their two front pairs of ivories, and while some -looked as if they had no chewing machinery at all, others appeared as -if they might only have played centre rush on a modern foot-ball team. - -For years now Spain has sent men and gun-boats down to Mindanao to wipe -out the savages and bring the island under complete subjection, but -without avail. Young boys from the north have been drafted into native -regiments to go south on this fatal errand. The prisons of Manila -have been emptied and the convicts, armed with bolos or meat-choppers, -have followed their more righteous brethren to the front. Well-trained -native troops have gone there; Spanish troops have gone; officers have -tried it, but to no end. If, in the storming of some Moro stronghold, -a dozen miles back inland from the beach, the convicts in the front -rank were cut to pieces by the enemy, it was of no importance. If the -drafted youths were slaughtered, there were more at home. If the native -troops failed to carry the charge, things began to look serious. But if -the Spanish companies were touched, it was time to flee. Such have been -the tactics in this great grave-yard, and where the Moros lost the day, -fever stepped in and won. The towns along the coast are Spain's, but -the interior still swarms with savages, who are there to dispute her -advance and are daily tramping over the graves of many of her soldiers. - -We left Moro land at eight o'clock in the evening, after dining -various officials who came aboard to see what they could get to eat, -and by Sunday morning at sunrise had crossed northward to the island -of Bohol, dropping anchor in Maribojoc, a small uninteresting place -with an old church, a Spanish padre who had not been out of town -in thirty years long enough ever to see a railroad or a telephone, -and the usual collection of thick-lipped natives. We stayed here to -unload a lot of bulky school-desks and chairs destined to be used by -the semi-naked youth of the vicinity, and a few of our company went -ashore merely to walk lazily about the village. - -Next, a second stop at Cebu for the mails bound Manilaward, a good-by -for the second time to our friends, and the Uranus now kept back down -the coast toward Dumaguete, a prosperous town on the rich sugar-island -of Negros. At ten o'clock that night we were off again, and Tuesday -noon ushered us in to Iloilo, the second city of the Philippines. A lot -of "go-downs" (store-houses) and dwellings on the swampy peninsula made -a fearfully stupid-looking place, and the glare off the sheet-iron -roofs was blinding. Scarcely a foot above tide-water, Iloilo was -far less prepossessing than Manila, but everyone seemed cordial, -and friends were so glad to see us that we appeared to confer a -favor in stopping off to see them. The surroundings of Iloilo are -far more picturesque than those of Manila, and just across the bay a -wooded island, whose high altitude stands out in bold contrast to the -marshes over which the city steeps, gave an outlook from the town that -compensated for the inlook over dusty streets and dirty quays. The -English club occupied its usually central position in the commercial -section of the city, and formed an oasis of refreshment in the midst -of the thirsty desert of iron roofs surrounding it. And if any single -stanza of verse could have been quoted to describe the feelings of a -newly arrived guest, sitting in a long chair on the club piazza and -looking off at the bubbling volumes of hot air rising from those roofs, -it would have been that in which the poet says: - - - "Where the latitude's mean and the longitude's low, - Where the hot winds of summer perennially blow, - Where the mercury chokes the thermometer's throat, - And the dust is as thick as the hair on a goat, - Where one's throat is as dry as a mummy accursed, - Here lieth the land of perpetual thirst." - - -The afternoon-tea hour is perhaps more carefully observed among -the English business houses here than in the capital to the north, -and we left the very good little club, with its billiard-tables and -stale newspapers, to join one of the regular gatherings in the large -office of a friend. But tea, toast, jam, and oranges had no sooner -been set before us than the deep whistle of the Uranus sounded, and -those of us who were going north had to make a hurried adjournment -to the neighboring wharf. Then, as everybody on deck began to say -"adios," and everybody on shore "hasta la vista," the stubby little -captain roared out "avante" and our steamer started for Manila, -two hundred and fifty miles away. - -Next morning we got our first taste of the monsoon, and it came up -pretty rough as we crossed some of the broad, open spaces between the -islands. There were three dozen passengers aboard ship, and everybody, -including four dogs, was desperately sea-sick. But sheltering islands -soon brought relief to the prevailing misery, the dogs recovered their -equilibrium enough to renew the curl in their tails, and the heaving -vessel grew quite still. We touched again at Romblon, on our way up, -long enough to get the mail and bring off an unshaven padre or two, -bound up to the capital for spiritual refreshment, and for the last -time headed for Manila. The monsoon apparently went down with the sun; -we were not troubled further with heaving waters, and early on Thursday -morning passed through the narrow mouth of Manila Bay, just as the sun -was rising in the east, and the full moon setting over Mariveles in -the west. The Uranus made a short run across the twenty-seven miles -of water to the anchorage among the shipping, and everybody bundled -ashore in a noisy launch, almost before the town had had its breakfast. - -In the afternoon, when the steamer came into the river, I brought all -of my arms, armor, and shells ashore to the office, and the American -skippers who were waiting for free breezes from the punkah began -outbidding each other with offers of baked beans and doughnuts for -the whole collection. At home, the house had not been blown away, -but was firm as ever; the dogs rejoiced to see me back; the cat, -with a crook in her tail, purred extra loudly; the ponies, that had -grown fat on lazy living, pawed the stone floor in the stable; the -boy put flowers on the table for dinner and peas in the soup, and the -moon looked in on us in full dress. Thus ended a fortnight's trip of -some two thousand miles down through the arteries of the archipelago. - - - - - - - - -IX - - Club-house Chaff--Christmas Customs and Ceremonies--New Year's - Calls--A Dance at the English Club--The Royal Exposition of the - Philippines--Fireworks on the King's Fête Day--Electric Lights and - the Natives--The Manila Observatory--A Hospitable Governor--The - Convent at Antipolo. - - - December 26th. - -"'A young Bostonian, in business in the Philippines,' that is you, -isn't it?" - -"'Trembling like a blushing bride before the altar.'" "Well, blushing -bride, how are you?" - -"'The bells in the old church rang out a wild, warning plea.' They did, -did they? And did, 'The lowing herd wind slowly o'er the lea?'" - -"'The fishermen's wives were sitting on their saucepans, furniture, -and babies, to keep them from sailing off skyward.' Poor things! Quite -witty, weren't they?" - -These were some of the expressions that greeted me as I entered the -Club the other evening, about two hours after the last mail arrived. - -My attention was called to the bulletin-board where the official -notices were posted, and there, tacked up in all its glory was -a printed copy of my letter on the typhoon, while on all sides -were various members of the English colony, laughing boisterously, -and poking me in the ribs with canes and billiard-cues. Some of the -brokers had apparently learned the contents of that fatal letter by -heart, and stood on chairs reciting those touching lines in dialogue -with unharnessed levity. - -To say that I was mildly flummuxed at hearing my familiar verbiage -proceeding from the mouths of others would be mild, but it was -impossible not to join in the general laugh, and digest, in an offhand -way, the jibes and jokes which were epidemic. It seems my cautions have -been of no avail, and the letter which you so kindly gave the Boston -editor to read and print was sent out here to my facetious friend the -American broker, whose whole life seems to be spent in trying to find -the laugh on the other man. Somebody else also sent him a spare copy -to give to his friends, and down town at the tiffin club next noon, -my late entrance to the breakfast-room was a signal for the whole -colony to suspend mastication and with clattering knives and clapping -hands to vent their mirth in breezy epithets. But jokes are few and -far between in this far Eastern land, and somebody or other might as -well be the butt of them. - -Just as surely as the 24th of December comes around, all the -office-boys of your friends, who have perhaps brought letters from -their counting-room to yours, all the chief cooks and bottle-washers -of your establishment, all of the policemen on the various beats -between your house and the club, and all the bill collectors who -come in every month to wheedle you out of sundry dollars, have the -cheek to ask for pourboires. Imagine a man coming around to collect a -bill, and asking you to fee him for being good enough to bring that -document to hand. But that is just what the Manila bill-collector -does at Christmas-tide. Then all of the native fruit-girls, who each -day climb the stairs with baskets of oranges on their heads, come in -with little printed blessings and hold out their hands for fifty cents. - -Once out of the office, you go home to find the ice-man, the ashman, -the coachman, and the cook all looking for tips, and you are compelled -to feel most religiously holy, as you remember that it is more blessed -to give than to receive. - -Christmas-eve, somehow, did not seem natural, though the town was -very lively. Some of the shops had brought over evergreen branches -from Shanghai to carry out the spirit of the occasion. The streets -were crowded with shoppers, everybody was carrying parcels, and if -it had been cold, we might have looked for Santa Claus. - -There are but half a dozen English ladies in our little Anglo-Saxon -colony, and each of them takes a turn in giving dinners, asking as -her guests, besides a few outsiders, the other five. On Christmas-eve -took place one of these rather stereotyped feasts, and afterward -the guests went down in carriages to the big cathedral, that cost a -million dollars, inside the old walled town, to hear the midnight -mass. Accompanied by a large orchestra and a good organ, the mass -was more jolly than impressive. The music consisted of polkas, jigs, -and minuets, and everybody walked around the great building, talking -and smiling most gracefully. A few of the really devout sat in a small -enclosed space in the centre of the church, but they found it hard to -keep awake, and their eyes were red with weeping, not for the sins of -an evil world, but from opening and shutting their jaws in a series -of yawns. - -Just before the hour of midnight, comparative quiet ensued with the -reading of a solemn prayer or two, but just as the most reverend father -who was conducting the ceremonies finished bowing behind the high gold -and velvet collar to his glittering gown, thirteen bells wagged their -tongues that broke up the stillness of the midnight, and everybody -wished everybody else "Felices Pascuas!" (Merry Christmas!) The organ -tuned up, the boy-choir sang itself red, white, and blue, the priestly -assistants swung the censors until the church was heavy with fragrance, -and all those who had nothing else to do yawned and wished they were -in bed. - -After staying a little longer, our party left, and went over to the -Jesuit Church near by, where a very good orchestra seemed to be playing -a Virginia reel. Here were similar ceremonies modified somewhat to -suit the rather different requirements of the Order, and after staying -long enough not to appear as intruding spectators, we made our exit. - -And now that Christmas is all over, everybody seems to be wearing a -new hat, the most appropriate present that can be given in this land -of sun-strokes and fevered brows. - - - - January 5th. - -The new year has come and gone, though out this way no one believes -in turning over a new leaf. - -It seems to be a custom to start the year by calling on all the -married ladies of the colony, who make their guests loquacious with -sundry little cocktails that stand ready prepared on the front -verandas. Everybody makes calls, till he forgets where anything -but his head is situated, and then brings up at the club out by the -river-bank more or less the worse for wear. In honor of the day, the -menu was most attractive, but many of the party were in no condition -to partake, and spent the first day of the new calendar in suffering -from the effects of their morning visits. - -With the new year came the dance, which we bachelor members of the -club gave to the English ladies in particular and to Manila society -in general, as a small return for hospitality received, and it was -declared a huge success. The club-house was decorated from top to -toe. Two or three hundred invitations were sent out, and the crême de -la crême of the European population were on hand, including General -Blanco, the governor of the islands. - -The English club rarely gives a dance more than once in five years, -and when the engraved invitations first appeared there was much talk -and hobnobbing among the Spaniards to see who had and who had not -been invited. All the greedy Dons who had ever met any of the clubmen -expected to be asked, and considered it an insult not to receive an -invitation. One high official, who had himself been invited, wrote to -the committee seeking an invitation for some friends. As, of course, -only a limited number could be accommodated at the club-house, the -invitations were strictly limited, and a reply was sent to the Spanish -gentleman in question, stating that there were no more invitations -to be had. - -"Do you mean to insult me and my friends?" he wrote, "by saying that -there are no more invitations left for them? Do you mean to say that -my friends are not gentlemen, and so you won't ask them? I must insist -on an explanation, or satisfaction." - -For several days before the party one might have heard young women and -girls who walked up and down the Luneta talking nothing but dance, -and the Spanish society seemed to be divided up into two distinct -cliques, the chosen and the uninvited. - -The chosen proceeded at once to starve themselves and use what -superfluous dollars they could collect in buying new gowns at the -large Parisian shops on the Escolta. Most of the Spanish women in -Manila can well afford to be abstemious and devote the surplus thus -obtained to the ornamentation of their persons, since they are so -fairly stout that the fires of their appetite can be kept going some -time after actual daily food-supplies have been cut off. The men, -however, seem to be as slender as the women are robust, and they, poor -creatures, cannot endure a long fast. Nevertheless, the cash-drawers -of the Paris shops got fat as the husbands of the wives who bought new -gowns there grew more slender; and just before the ball came off these -merchant princes of the Philippines actually offered to contribute five -hundred dollars if another dance should be given within a short time, -so great had been the rush of patrons to their attractive counters. - -To make a long story short, after a lot of squabbles and wranglings -among those who were invited and those who were not, the night of the -party came, and only those who held the coveted cards were permitted -by the giants at the door to enter Paradise. - -Japanese lanterns lighted the road which led from the main highway to -the club, and the old rambling structure was aglow with a thousand -colored cup-lights that made it look like fairyland. Within and -without were dozens of palms and all sorts of tropical shrubs, -and the entrance-way was one huge bower-like fernery. Around the -lower entrance-room colored flags grouped themselves artistically, -and below a huge mass of bunting at the farther end rose the grand -staircase that led above. Upstairs, the ladies' dressing-room was most -gorgeous, and the walls were hung with costly, golden-wove tapestries -from Japan. The main parlor formed one of the dancing-rooms and opened -into two huge adjoining bed-chambers which were thrown together in -one suite. All around the walls and ceilings were garlands and long -festoons and wreaths, and everywhere were bowers of plants, borrowed -mirrors, and lights. - -Out on the veranda, overhanging the river, were clusters of small -tables, glowing under fairy lamps, and the railings were a mass -of verdure. - -The orchestra consisted of twenty-five natives, dressed in white shirts -whose tails were not tucked in, hidden behind a forest of plants, -and as the clock struck ten they began to coax from their instruments -a dreamy waltz. The guests began to pour in--Spanish dons with their -corpulent wives, and strapping Englishmen with their leaner better -halves. The Spaniards, sniffing the air, all looked longingly toward -the supper-rooms, while the ladies who came with them ambled toward -the powder and paint boxes in the boudoir. I suppose about two hundred -people in all were on hand, and the sight was indeed gay. After every -one had become duly hot from dancing or duly hungry from waiting, -supper was served, and there was almost a panic as the Spanish element -with one accord made for the large room at the extreme other end of -the building, where dozens of small tables glistened below candelabra -with red shades, and improvised benches groaned under the weight of -a great variety of refreshments. - -Soon the slender caballeros got to look fatter in the face, and the -double chins of their ladies grew doubler every moment. Knives, forks, -and spoons were all going at once, and talk was suspended. But the -room presented a pretty sight, with its fourscore couples sitting -around beneath the swaying punkahs, and the soft warm light made -beauties out of many ordinary-looking persons. - -After everybody was satisfied, dancing was resumed in the big front -rooms on the river, and the gayety went on; but the heavy supper made -many of the foreign guests grow dull, and the cool hours of early -morning saw everyone depart, carrying with them or in them food enough -for many days. - -Thus ended the great ball given to balance the debt of hospitality -owed by the bachelors to their married friends, and now will come -the committee's collectors for money to pay the piper. - - - - January 31st. - -Manila has been quite outdoing herself lately, and the gayeties have -been numerous. The opening of the Royal Exposition of the Philippines -took place last week, and was quite as elaborate as the name itself. - -The Exposition buildings were grouped along the raised ground filled in -on the paddy-fields, by the side of the broad avenue that divides our -suburb of Malate from that of Ermita, and runs straight back inland -from the sea. The architecture is good, the buildings numerous, and -with grounds tastefully decorated with plants and fountains, it is, -in a way, like a pocket edition of the Chicago Exposition. - -Everybody in town was invited to attend the opening ceremonies by a -gorgeously gotten-up invitation, and interesting catalogues of the -purpose of the exhibition and its exhibits were issued in both Spanish -and English. To be sure, the language in the catalogue translated -from the Spanish was often ridiculous, and announcements were made of -such exhibits as "Collections of living animals of laboring class," -and "tabulated prices of transport terrestrial and submarine." But -all of the élite of Manila were on hand at the ceremonies, from -the Archbishop and Governor-General down to my coachman's wife, -and bands played, flags waved in the fresh breeze, tongues wagged, -guns fired, and whistles blew. General Blanco opened the fair with a -well-worded speech on the importance of the Philippines, of the debt -that the inhabitants owed to the protection of the mother-country, -and of the great future predestined for the Archipelago. And just as -the speaker had finished and the closing hours of the day arrived, -the new electric lights were turned on for the first time. Then all -Manila, hitherto illuminated by the dull and dangerous petroleum -lamps, shone forth under the radiance of several hundred arc-lights -and a couple of thousand incandescent ones. - -The improvement is tremendous, and the streets, which have always -been dim from an excess of real tropical, visible, feelable, darkness, -are now respectably illuminated. - -The exposition was opened on the name-day of the little King of Spain, -and every house in town was requested, if not ordered, to hang out -some sort of a flag or decoration. It was said that a fine of $5 would -be charged to those who did not garb their shanties in colors of -some sort, and all the natives were particular to obey the law. It -was indeed instructive, if not pathetic, to see shawls, colored -handkerchiefs, red table-cloths, carpets, and even sofa-cushions, -hanging out of windows, or on poles from poverty-stricken little nipa -huts, and any article with red or yellow in it seemed good enough to -answer the purpose. We, in turn, were also officially requested to -show our colors, and I hung out two bath-wraps from our front window, -articles which I had picked up on the recent excursion to Mindanao, -and which the wild savages there wear down to the river when they -go to wash clothes or themselves. But they likewise had enough red -and yellow in their composition to fill the bill, and, together with -five pieces of red flannel from my photographic dark-room, our windows -showed a most prepossessing appearance. - -On the Sunday after the King's name-day, a costly display of fireworks -took place off the water, in front of the Luneta, further to celebrate -the occasion. The bombs and rockets were ignited from large floats -anchored near the shore, while complicated set-pieces were erected on -tall bamboos standing up in the water and bolstered from behind with -supports and guy-lines. The exhibition began shortly after dinner, -and never had I seen a crowd of such large dimensions before in -Manila. There must have been twenty-five thousand people jammed into -the near vicinity of the promenade, and a great sea of faces islanded -hundreds of traps of all species and genders. - -The display was excellent, and both of the large military bands -backed it up with good music. One of the set pieces was a royal -representation of a full-rigged man-of-war carrying the Spanish flag, -and she was shown in the act of utterly annihilating an iron-clad -belonging to some indefinite enemy. The reflections in the water -doubled the beauty of the scene, and with rockets, bombs, mines, -parachutes, going up at the same time, there was little intermission -to the excitement. Several rockets came down into the crowd, and one -alighted on the back of a pony, causing him to start off on somewhat -of a tangent. Otherwise there were no disasters, and it was nearly -midnight before the great audience scattered in all directions. - -The electric lights, of course, are of tremendous interest to the -more ignorant natives, and every evening finds groups of the latter -gathered around the posts supporting the arc-lamps, looking upward -at the sputtering carbon, or examining the bugs which lose their life -in attempting to make closer analyses of the artificial suns. - -A fresh edition of the opera company has come out again from Italy, and -performances are given Tuesdays, Thursdays, and Sundays. Everybody, -as usual, is allowed behind the scenes during the intermissions, -and the other evening, in the middle of a most pathetic scene in -"Faust," a Yankee skipper, somewhat the jollier from a shore dinner, -walked directly across the back of the stage and took his hat off to -the audience. Episodes like this are hardly common, but in Manila -there are not the barriers to the stage-door that exist in the -U.S.A. The artillery-band on the Luneta has several times played the -"Washington Post March" which you sent me, and which I gave to the fat, -pleasant-faced conductor. The championship games at the tennis-court -have begun, and all of the English colony generally assemble there -to see the play just before sunset. Small dinners and dances are also -numerous, and the cool weather seems to be incubating gayety. - - - - February 22d. - -Manila is said to have the most complete astronomical, meteorological, -and seismological observatory anywhere east of the Mediterranean. Not -to miss anything of such reputation, several of us decided to make -a call on Padre Faure, who presides over the institution, and who -is well known scientifically all over the world. At the observatory -we were cordially received by an assistant, who spoke English well -enough to turn us off from using Spanish, and were conducted over the -establishment. Here were machines which would write down the motions -of the earth in seismological disturbances, and which conveyed to -the ear various subterranean noises going on below the surface. Still -other instruments were so delicate that they rang electric bells when -mutterings took place far underground, and thus warned the observers -of approaching trouble. Another, into which you could look, showed a -moving black cross on a white ground, that danced at all the slight -tremblings continually going on; and the rumbling of a heavy cart over -the neighboring highroad would make it tremble with excitement. A solid -tower of rock twenty feet square extended up through the building from -bottom to top, and was entirely disconnected with the surrounding -structure. On this column all of the earthquake-instruments were -arranged; and any sort of an oscillation that took place would be -recorded in ink on charts arranged for the purpose. Various wires -and electric connections were everywhere visible, and an approaching -disturbance would be sure to set enough bells and tickers a-going to -arouse one of the attendants. - -The great school-building in which the observatory was placed was -fully six hundred feet square, with a large court-yard in the centre -containing fountains and tropical plants in profusion. After leaving -the lower portions of the building, we ascended through long hallways, -to visit the meteorological department above. Barometers, thermometers, -wind-gauges, rain-measurers, and all sorts of recording instruments -filled a most interesting room; and Padre Faure gave us a long -discourse on typhoons, earthquakes, and various other phenomena. From -the roof of the observatory a splendid view of the city, Bay, and -adjacent country may be had, and Manila lay before us steaming in the -sun. Before leaving, we saw the twenty-inch telescope, constructed -in Washington under the direction of the Padre who was our guide, -which is soon to be installed in a special building constructed for -the purpose. He seemed much impressed by the United States, and at our -departure presented us with one of the monthly observatory reports, -which give the whole story of the movements of the earth, winds, -heavens, tides, stars, and clouds, at every hour of the day and night, -for every day during the month, and for every month during the year. - -Last Monday was again the usual bank-holiday; and on the Saturday -before, the customary three of us who seem to be more energetic at -seeing the country than our friends, decided to take another excursion -up the river into the hill-country. - -In the forenoon we gave orders to the boys to get ready the provisions, -and meet us at the club-house in the early afternoon. Our plan was to -take one of the light randans from the boat-house, row up the river -for twelve or fifteen miles, take carromatas up into the hills to a -place called Antipolo, and finally to horseback it over the mountains -to Bossa Bossa, a lonely hill village, ten miles farther on. - -The time came. All of our goods and chattels were piled into the -boat. We took off white coats, put on our big broad-brimmed straw hats, -turned up our trouserloons, and prepared for a long row up against -the current. But, thanks to Providence, we were able to hitch onto -one of the stone-lighters that regularly bring rock down from the -lake district, for use on the new breakwater and port-works at Manila, -and which was being towed up for more supplies. The sun got lower and -lower, and finally set, just as the moon rose over the mountains. The -sail in the soft light of evening was very picturesque, and the banks -were lined with the usual collection of native huts, in front of which -groups of natives were either washing clothes or themselves. Large -freight cascos or small bancas were either being poled up-stream by -heated boatmen, or were drifting lazily down with the current, and -everywhere a sort of indolent attractiveness prevailed. We continued -on behind the lighter until almost at the lake itself; then cast -adrift and branched off into a small side-stream that ran up toward -the hills in a northerly direction. - -On we wound, now between a deep fringe of bamboo-trees, now between -open meadows, now between groups of thatched huts, and again through -clumps of fish-weirs, coming at last to a town called Cainta, nearly -an hour's row from the main stream. We stopped beneath an old stone -bridge that carried the main turnpike to Manila from the mountains, -and were greeted by all the towns-people, who were out basking in the -moonlight. They had evidently never seen a boat of the randan type -before, and expressed much curiosity at the whole equipment. Before -many moments the governor of the village appeared in the background and -asked us to put up at his residence. Ten willing natives seized upon -our goods and chattels, others pulled the boat up on the sloping bank, -and we adjourned to the small thatched house where lived our host. The -Filipinos gathered around outside, the privileged ones came in, -and everybody stared. The governor did everything for our amusement; -called in singing-girls, with an old chap who played on the guitar, -and otherwise arranged for our entertainment. At eleven he said "Shoo" -and everybody left. His wife gave us pieces of straw matting to sleep -on, and we stretched out upon one of those familiar floors of bamboo -slats which make one feel like a pair of rails on a set of cross-ties. - -Later the family all turned in on the floor in the same manner, -and soon the cool night-wind was whistling up through the apertures. - -Next morning, Sunday, a hot dusty ride of an hour and a half, over a -fearful road, continually ascending, brought us to Antipolo, a stupid -village commanding a grand view over the plains toward Manila and the -Bay beyond. To find out where we could get ponies to take us over -the rough foot-path to Bossa Bossa, we called at the big convento -where live the priests who officiate at the great white church, -whose tower is visible from the capital. Mass was just over, but -the stone corridors reverberated with loud jestings and the click of -billiard-balls above. On going upstairs, we broke in upon a group of -padres playing billiards, drinking beer, smoking cigars, and cracking -jokes ad libitum. They received us cordially, did not seem inclined to -talk much on religious subjects, but advised us where we might find the -necessary horseflesh. Not so much impressed with their spirituality -as with their courtesy, we left, got three ponies and two carriers, -and started out for the ride over the mountains. - -The path was narrow and steep, the sun was hot, but the scenery -was good. On and up we went, until the view back and down over the -lower country became most extensive. Across brooks, over stones, -through gullies, and over trees carried us to the last rise, and -after passing through a grove of mangoes we came to the edge of the -ridge. Down below, in a fair little valley that looked like a big -wash-basin, lay Bossa Bossa, a small collection of houses shutting -in a big church without any steeple. Squarely up behind, on the -other side of the valley, rose the lofty peaks of the Cordilleras, -and the scene was good enough for the most critical. - -On descending to the isolated little pueblo, we got accommodation -in the best house of the place, belonging to the native Governor, -and adjourned for rest and refreshments. All we had left to eat -in our baskets were two cold chickens, three biscuits, and four -bottles of soda. We sent out for more food, and in half an hour a -boy came back with the only articles that the market afforded--two -cocoanuts. The house in which we were seemed to be the only one -in town that possessed a chair, and, as it was, we found it more -comfortable to sit on the floor. This was the centre of the great -hunting-district, and all around in the hills and mountains deer and -wild boar were abundant. During the following night it got so cold -that it was possible to see one's breath, and without coverings as we -were, the whole party dreamed of arctic circles and polar bears. At -daylight next morning, numb with the cold, we sat down to a breakfast -consisting of carabao milk and hard bread made of pounded-rice flour, -and felt pretty fairly well removed from tropics and civilization. The -old church, which we could see out of the window, stood in a small -plaza, and the steeple, which consisted of four tall posts covered -by a small roof of thatch that protected a group of bells from the -morning dew, was off by itself in a corner of the churchyard. A long -clothes-line seemed to lead from the bells to a native house across -the street, and we learned that the sexton was accustomed to lie -in bed and ring the early morning chimes by wagging his right foot, -to which the string was attached. - -On the return trip we met a large party of hunters coming up from -Manila for a week's deer-shooting, and by noon got back to Antipolo, -where we rested in the police-station to wait for our carromatas that -were to arrive at one o'clock. - -The return to Cainta was as hot and dusty as the advance, but we were -pleasantly received by our friend the governor, who had instructed the -"boys" to have the refreshments ready for us. Later in the afternoon, -we prepared to return to the metropolis, and the whole village came -down to see us off. The governor refused to accept money for the use -of his house, we were all invited to come again, and amid a chorus -of cheers we shoved off for Manila. - -The row down took only three hours, but on getting to the club, -at moonrise, it seemed as if we had been away three weeks. - - - - - - - - -X - - Exacting Harbor Regulations--The Eleanor takes French Leave--Loss - of the Gravina--Something about the Native Ladies--Ways of - Native Servants--A Sculptor who was a Dentist--Across the Bay to - Orani--Children in Plenty--A Public Execution by the Garrote. - - - April 19th. - -If a ship in the Bay desires to load or discharge cargo on Sundays -or religious holidays, permission can only be obtained through the -Archbishop, not the Governor-General. The Easter season has come and -gone, and as the Captain of the Esmeralda could not successfully play -on the feelings of that highest dignitary of the church, his steamer -had to lie idle for the holidays, and so miss connecting with the -Peking, which ought to have taken the United States mail. - -The American yacht Eleanor dropped anchor in the Bay the other -afternoon, and it seemed good again to see the countenances of some -of our countrymen. It appears the Spanish officials did not consent -to treat her with the courtesy which a yacht or war-ship merits, and -went so far as to station carabineros on her decks, as is customary -on merchant-vessels to prevent smuggling. The Eleanor presented a -fine appearance as she lay among the fleet of more prosaic craft, -and her rails were decorated with Gatling guns put there for the -voyage up through the southern archipelagoes where pirates reign. On -the Wednesday before Holy Thursday, the owner of the Eleanor decided -to start for Hong Kong, that his guests might enjoy Easter Sunday in -those more civilized districts that surround the English cathedral. The -yacht, like any merchantman, was obliged to get her clearance papers -from the custom-house before she sailed, and to that end the Captain -went ashore shortly after midday. But the chief of the harbor office -had gone home for a siesta, remarking that he would not return until -Monday, and that any business coming up would have to wait till then -for attention. - -"But I must have my papers," said the Captain, "for we leave to-night -for China." - -"Them you cannot have till Monday," replied the hireling in charge. - -"Then I shall have to sail without them," answered the Captain, -and he stormed out of the office to find our consul, whom he hoped -would straighten matters out. But the efforts of the consul were of no -avail. The king-pin of the harbor office refused to be interviewed, and -the Captain of the yacht returned aboard with fire in his eye. After -a council of war had been held, it was decided to sail, papers or -no papers, and the two soldiers who were pacing up and down the deck -were told the vessel was going to sea. - -"But we won't let you go without your papers," said they. - -"Papers or no papers, we are going to sea to-night," roared the -Captain. "And if you fellows don't git aboard into that boat mighty -quick, we'll be feeding you to the sharks." - -The Gatling guns and show of rifles in the companion-way looked -eloquent, and the two carabineros, murmuring that they would surely be -killed for neglect of duty when they got ashore, were pushed down the -gangway into a row-boat as the Eleanor got her anchor up, and steamed -out of the Bay in the face of Providence and the southwest wind, almost -across the bows of the Spanish flagship Reina Cristina. A tremendous -diplomatic hullabaloo resulted. The consul was summoned, the guards -were blown up by the discharge of verbal powder, and it almost looked -as if our representative would have to send for war-ships. But the -matter has finally been straightened out, and the passengers on the -Eleanor have probably had their Easter Sunday at Hong Kong. - -Curiously enough, for April, another typhoon has recently sailed -through the gap in the mountains to the north of our capital, and gone -swirling over to China, leaving in its wake a sunken steamer, which -foundered with her living freight of close to three hundred souls. Out -in front of the big steamship office across the way hundreds of natives -are inquiring for their brothers or husbands or children. It seems the -Gravina, a ship of the best part of a thousand tons, was coming down -from the north, heavily loaded with rice, tobacco, and native boys, -who, for not paying their tax bills, had been drafted into service for -the purpose of being sent against the savages in Mindanao. She had -only fifty more miles to go before reaching the entrance to Manila -Bay, when the barometer fell, the wind hauled to the northwest, and -the typhoon struck her. Her after-hatchway was washed overboard, -and, deep in the water as she was, the seas washed over into the -opening. As fast as fresh coverings were substituted they were ripped -off and carried away. The engines became disabled, the water rushed -into the boiler-room, putting out the fires, and the passengers, who -were locked into the cabins, were panic-stricken. The steamer began -to settle, and under the onslaught of a big sea, accompanied with -terrific wind, suddenly heeled over and foundered with all on board, -save three, the Captain standing on the bridge as she went down, crying -"Viva España." Two natives and a Spanish woman got clear of the ship -before she sucked them under, and floated about on an awning-pole -and a deck-table. Scarcely had the survivors got clear of one danger -before a shark swooped down on the Spanish woman, and, attracted by -her lighter color, bit off a limb. He paid no attention to the two -natives kicking out their feet near by, and, though neither of them -could swim a stroke, they managed to paddle ashore on their supports, -after being in the water two nights and a day. - -These two men, the only survivors of the large passenger-list of -the Gravina, came into our office yesterday, and, after giving a -graphic description of the catastrophe, easily got us to loosen our -purse-strings. The accident is the worst that has occurred for many -a day, and there is a gloom over the whole city. The newspapers came -out with black borders, and many families are bereaved. - - - - May 20th. - -The more I see of these native servants, the more I appreciate that -they are great fabricators and excuse-makers. Your boy, for example, -every now and then wants an advance of five or ten dollars on his -salary. His father has just died, he tells you, and he needs the money -to pay for the saying of a mass for the repose of his soul. Then comes -another boy, who says that by his sister's marrying somebody or other -his aunt has become his grandmother, and he wants cinco pesos, to buy -her a present of a fighting-cock or something else. This matter of -relationship here in the Philippines is a most delicate one to keep -control of, and in the matter of deaths, births, and marriages among -your servants' relations it is very essential that you keep an accurate -list of the family tree, so that you may check up any tendency on their -part to kill off their fathers and mothers more than twice or three -times during the year for the purposes of self-aggrandizement. As an -example of this, my own boy actually had the cheek to ask me for the -loan of a dozen dollars to arrange for the repose of the soul of one -of his relatives I had once before assisted him to bury. - -I seem to have gone a long way in my chronicles without speaking much -of the native "ladies" in Manila, and I owe them an apology. But one -of them the other day so swished her long pink calico train in front -of a pony that was cantering up to the club with a carromata in which -two of us were seated, that we were dumped out into a muddy rice-field -by the wayside. So the apology should be mutual. The costumes worn by -the women are far from simple and are made up of that brilliant skirt -with long train that is swished around and tucked into the belt in -front, the short white waist that, at times divorced from the skirt -below, has huge flaring sleeves of piña fibre which show the arms, -and the costly piña handkerchief which, folded on the diagonal, -encircles the neck. They wear no hats, often go without stockings, -and invariably walk as if they were carrying a pail of water on their -heads. They generally chew betelnuts, which color the mouth an ugly -red, smoke cigars, and put so much cocoanut-oil on their straight, -black hair that it is not pleasant to get to leeward of them in -an open tram-car. Otherwise they are generally the mothers of many -children and often play well on the harp. - -I made a call on the local dentist yesterday, and found him sitting -on a wooden figure of St. Peter, carving some expression into the -face. I thought I had got into a carpenter's shop instead of a dental -establishment, and apologized for the intrusion. But the gentleman said -he was the dentist, and dropped his mallet and chisel to usher me into -his other operating-room. It is quite a jump from carving out features -of apostles to filling teeth, but on being assured that he had received -due instruction from an American dentist, I allowed him to proceed to -business. The whole operation lasted about seven and one-half minutes, -and by the time I had got out my dollar to pay him for the filling -I swallowed soon after, he was again at work on Biblical subjects. - -All in all it doesn't pay to neglect one's health in the Philippines, -for the only English doctor that Manila boasts of has been here so -long that the climate has shrivelled up his memory. After he has -attended your serious case of fever or influenza for several days, -he will suddenly stroll in some morning and give you a sinking feeling -with the words: - -"Oh, by the way, what is the matter with you?" - -This is hardly comforting to one who considers himself a gone coon, -but in justice to our friend the medico, I must say he never displays -these symptoms to patients whose case is really getting desperate. - -Tons and tons of water have been drunk up by the clouds of late, -and have just now begun to be unceremoniously dumped down upon flat -Manila, so that she has seemed likely to be washed into the sea. But -rain has been badly needed. A long heat has made many the worse for -wear, and the doctors have all said that unless the rain came soon, -an epidemic would probably break out. - -Before the showers began, we improved the spare time of another Sunday -and bank-holiday by an aquatic excursion to some of the provincial -towns away across to the north side of Manila Bay. Don Capitan, the -purchaser of our fire-engine and the millionaire ship-owner who runs -several lines of steamers and store-houses, was our host, and invited -us to spend the days as his guests aboard the trim paddle-wheel -steamer that makes regular trips to the bay ports. Early on Sunday -morning we started from the quay in front of the big hemp-press, -and while the lower decks of the steamer were crowded with native -market-women, fishermen, and Chinese, the more sightly portions of -the upper promenade were reserved for us and provided with Vienna -chairs. Breakfast was served in a large chart-room connected with -the wheel-house, and was a fitting accompaniment to the fresh sail -out of the river through the shipping. - -After discharging groups of passengers and freight into large -tree-trunk boats at several little villages, we came at noon to Orani, -the end of the outward run. The sister-in-law of the jet-black captain -owned the largest house in the village, and put it at our disposal. Our -advent had been heralded the day before, and a groaning table supported -a sumptuous repast. - -There were four of us besides the half-caste family of the captain's -sister-in-law, and an old withered-up Spaniard who used to be governor -of the village. Various cats roamed around under the table, and on -top were toothpicks built up into cones, Spanish sausages, olives, -flowers, and fruit with an unpronounceable name, that looked like -freshly dug potatoes well covered with soil. - -Beside each chair was a red clay jar, into which each participator -in the repast could from time to time transfer such articles as were -apparently unswallowable, and all around stood thick-lipped serving -boys, who looked as if they were only waiting to pour soup in one's -lap, or garlic gravy down one's neck. The feast began with soup, -and though the family could not well eat that with their knives, -they could the remaining courses. After soup came the puchero, -that mixture of beans, potatoes, cabbage, tough meat, pork, grass, -garlic, and grease, and I steeled myself for the fray. Next came -cooked hen with a limpid gravy accompaniment, and as the chicken had -been alive up to within a few moments of going into the kettle, the -question of attack was difficult. Then followed in succession cow's -tongue and roast goat, fish, salad with sliced tomatoes, and dessert -consisting of those fluffy affairs made of sugar and eggs which taste -like captivated sea-foam. As is always customary, cheese and fruit -were served together, but while a servant had to carry the fruit, -the cheese seemed inclined to walk around by itself. - -In due season all the débris was removed. A boy went in pursuit of -the cheese and the table was cleared for strong coffee that looked -dangerous. The mortality, however, among the party was not great, and -all those who were able to get up from the table went to take a siesta. - -At about four, we were awakened by the familiar noise coming from -the grinding of an ice-cream freezer, and afternoon tea, consisting -of chocolate, sandwiches, cakes and frozen pudding, was served half -an hour later. At five we were to take a drive along the shore in -the only two landaus that the place possessed, and since the padre -who lived close by in the big church had been good enough to lend us -one, we called on him in state, taking with us, for his refreshment, -a small caldron of ice-cream. His greeting was right cordial, and -after amusing us with stories of his many adventures, told in fluent -English, he dismissed us with his blessing. - -Two of our party got into his carriage, while other two went in that -belonging to the governor of the town, and behind smart-stepping -ponies we bowled off up the road that led west along the Bay. - -Old Malthus would have been interested to see the number of children -that exist in these provincial villages, and it really seemed as if at -least one hundred and two per cent. of the population were kids. About -eighteen infants could be seen leaning out of every window, in every -native hut, and in the streets, by-ways, and hedges they were thick -as locusts. Most of these children trailed little else than clouds -of glory, since clothes were scarce and expensive. An undershirt was -all that any of them seemed to wear, and only the dudes of the one -hundred and two per cent. wore that. - -Much to our amusement, the loiterers by the wayside everywhere saluted -us with a "Buenos tardes, Padre," and it appeared that since the holy -father is the only one who drives regularly in a landau, the whole -population thought of course we must be he, or some of his saintly -brethren. And so we went until the gathering darkness compelled -a return to the starting-point. An elaborate supper, consisting -of hard-shelled crabs and other indigestibles, was followed by an -impromptu dance and musicale, and the evening ended in a burst of song. - -Next morning the little steamer took us and a load of fish and -vegetables back to the capital. - - - - July 6th. - -Our modern journals, I know, rejoice to go into all the gruesome -details of crime and its punishment, and many of their readers take -as much morbid pleasure in poring over accounts of hangings, pictures -of the culprit, diagrams of his cell, and last conversations with the -jailer, as do the reporters in getting the information with which -to make up long, padded articles paid for by the column. I am not -morbidly curious myself, and trust you will not think I went to see -the capital punishment of two murderers for any other than purely -scientific reasons. - -The two men who were executed on July 4th, just passed, were convicted -of chopping a Spaniard to pieces to get the few dollars which he kept -in his house, and to avenge themselves for harsh treatment. They were -nothing more than native boys, one twenty and the other twenty-two, -employed as servants in the family of the unfortunate victim. In -short, they were sentenced to death by the garrote, and to the -end of carrying out the decree a platform was erected in the open -parade-ground behind the Luneta. But the people in the neighborhood -objected. The women said they could not sleep from thinking over it, -and could not bear to have their children see the scaffold. General -Blanco was petitioned, and the place of execution was changed to a -broad avenue that leads down through the back part of Manila, by the -public slaughter-house. Surely the selection was appropriate. - -On the fatal day, my colleague and I drove to the scene shortly after -sunrise, and crowds of people had already begun to come together -from the adjoining districts. Carriages of all classes rolled in from -all directions. Chinamen with cues, natives with their wives, women -with their infants, young girls and children, old men and maidens, -were all there, dressed in their best clothes. - -I knew it would be useless to stand in the crowd, so I pushed over -toward a nipa hut, whose windows, which were filled with natives, -looked fairly out on the scaffold itself. In the name of my camera -I asked admittance, which was cordially accorded, since we were -"Ingleses," and on going to the upper floor we had a free view over -the crowd below toward the fatal platform, with its two posts to which -were attached two narrow seats. The crowd increased; they climbed -into bamboo-trees, which bent to the ground; they tried to surge up -on the lower framework of the house in which we were standing, and -only desisted as the proprietress slashed the encroachers right and -left with a bamboo-cane. The roofs of neighboring houses were black -with people, the windows swarmed, and the street below heaved. Our -hostess was pleasant, though fiery, and all she wanted in return for -our admission was a photograph of herself. The favor was granted, -and she gave us two chairs to sit in. The crowd increased, and the -guards had hard work keeping back the struggling mass. Every available -square inch of space was filled, and a sea of heads pulsated before us. - -At last, cries of "aquí vienen" (here they come) arose, and the solemn -procession came into view after its long journey from the central jail, -over a mile away. First came the cavalry, then a group of priests, -among whom marched a man wearing an apron, carrying the sacred banner -of the Church, embroidered in black and gold. Next marched the prison -officials, and behind them came two small, open tip-carts, drawn by -ponies, in which travelled the condemned men, each supported by a -couple of priests who held crucifixes before their eyes, exhorting -them to confess and believe. - -Following the carts, which were surrounded by a square of soldiers, -walked the executioner himself, a condemned criminal, but spared -from being executed by his choosing to accept the office of public -executioner. Last of all came a small company of soldiers, with -bayonetted guns, and the whole procession advanced to the foot of -the steps leading to the platform. - -The garroting instrument seems to consist of a collar of brass, -whose front-piece opens on a hinge, and part of whose rear portion -is susceptible to being suddenly pushed forward by the impulse of a -big fourth-rate screw working through the post, something after the -system of a letter-press. The criminal sentenced to death is seated -on a small board attached to the upright, his neck is placed in the -brass collar, the front-piece is snapped to, and when all is ready, the -executioner merely gives the handle of the screw a complete turn. The -small moving back-piece in the collar is by this means suddenly -pushed forward against the top of the spine of the unfortunate, -and death comes instantaneously from the snapping of the spinal cord. - -The executioners in Manila have always been themselves criminals, -and in breaking the spinal cords of their fellow-criminals, they -certainly pay a price for keeping their own vertebræ intact. Like -most men in their profession, however, they are well paid, and this -operator got sixteen dollars besides his regular monthly salary of -twenty, for each man on whom he turned the screw. - -The sight of the unfortunate prisoners in the little carts, supported -by the priests, was pitiable in the extreme, and their faces bore -marks of unforgetable anguish. The priests ascended the platform, -and the man with the embroidered banner was careful to stand far away -at the side, for, according to the religious custom of the epoch, -a condemned man who merely happens to touch the standard of the -Church on his way to the scaffold cannot thereafter be executed, -but suffers only life imprisonment. - -The executioner, in a derby hat, black coat, white breeches, and no -shoes, took his position behind the post at one side of the scaffold, -and the first victim was carried up out of the cart and seated on the -narrow bench. He was too weak to help himself or make resistance; -the black cloak was thrown over his shoulders, a rope tied around -his waist, the hood drawn down over his face, and the collar sprung -around his neck. Then, while two priests, with uncovered heads, held -their crucifixes up before him, and sprinkled holy water over the -hood and long, black death-robes, the chief prison official waved his -sword, the executioner gave the big screw-handle a sudden twist till -his arms crossed, and without a motion of any sort, except a slight -forward movement of the naked feet, the first of the condemned men -had solved the great problem. - -The second poor wretch all the while cowered in the little cart, but -when his turn came he ascended the steps with more fortitude. After -he had put on the long black gown and hood, he seated himself on -the bench at the second post and the same process was repeated. But -the screw-thread seemed to be rusty, and one of the native officials -helped the executioner give the handle an additional turn, for which -he was promptly fined $20. The doctor tarried a few moments on the -scaffold, the priests read several prayers and shook holy water over -the immovable black-robed figures wedded to the posts, and then, -after one of the acolytes had nearly set fire to the flowing gown of -the head padre with his long candle, everyone descended. - -The remnants of the procession returned to the prison, the troops -stationed themselves in a large hollow square around the scaffold, and -two dark, motionless figures locked to two posts were left in the hot -sun till noon, set out against the blue background of sky and clouds. - -The crowds began to disperse, the young girls chatted and joked with -each other, the curious were satisfied, and the bamboo-trees were -left to lift their heads at leisure. - -Thus began Manila's Fourth of July, and curiously enough, my watch -stopped and the cord-pull to my instantaneous camera broke just as -the screw was turned on the first man to be executed. - - - - - - - - -XI - - Lottery Chances and Mischances--An American Cigarette-Making - Machine and its Fate--Closing up Business--How the - Foreigner Feels Toward Life in Manila--Why the English - and Germans Return--Restlessness among the Natives--Their - Persecution--Departure and Farewell. - - - August 25th. - -I lost $80,000 yesterday. Perhaps I have spoken of lottery tickets, -but have failed to say what an important institution in Manila the -"Lotería Nacional" really is. Drawings come each month over in the -Lottery Building in Old Manila, and everybody is invited to inspect the -fairness with which the prize-balls drop out of one revolving cylinder -like a peanut-roaster while the ticket-number balls slide out of the -other. The Government runs the lottery to provide itself with revenue, -and starts off by putting twenty-five per cent. of the value of the -ticket-issue into its own coffers. If all the tickets are not sold, -the Lotería Nacional keeps the balance for itself and promptly pockets -whatever prizes those tickets draw. Lottery tickets are everywhere, -in every window, and urchins of all sizes and genders moon about the -streets selling little twentieths to such as haven't the ten dollars to -buy a whole one. Guests at dinner play cards for lottery tickets paid -for by the losers, Englishmen bet lottery tickets that the Esmeralda -won't bring the mail from home, and natives dream of lucky numbers, -to go searching all over town for the pieces that bear the figures -of their visions. - -Four months ago I got reckless enough to plank $10 on the counter of -the little shop, which, at the corner of the Escolta and the Puente de -España, is said to dispense the largest number of winning tickets, and -became the owner of number 1700. It sounded too even, too commonplace, -to be lucky, but as it was considered unlucky to change a ticket -once handed you, I trudged off and locked the paper in the safe. The -drawing came, and 1700 drew $100. Fortune seemed bound my way, so I -made arrangements (as so many buyers of lucky tickets do) to keep 1700 -every month. My name was put in the paper as holding 1700, and for -three long months I remembered to send my servant to the Government -office ten days before the drawing, for the ticket reserved in my -name. But for three drawings it never tempted fortune. Last week I -forgot lottery and everything else in our further straggle with a new -piece of American machinery which was being introduced for the first -time to Manila, and woke up to-day to find it the occasion of the -drawing. My ticket--uncalled for--had been sold. At noon I walked by -the little tienda whose proprietor had first given me the fatal number, -to see him perched up on a step-ladder, posting up the big prizes, -as fast as they came to his wife by telephone. The space opposite the -first prize of $80,000 was empty. His wife handed him a paper. Into -the grooves he slid a figure 1, then a 7, and then two ciphers. Ye -gods--my ticket! The capital prize--not mine! $80,000 lost because I -forgot--and to think that the whole sum would have been paid in hard, -jingling coin, for which I should have had to send a dray or two! But -I am not quite so inconsolable as my friends the two Englishmen, who -kept their ticket for two years, and at last, discouraged, sold it, -Christmas-eve, to a native clerk, only to wake up next day and find -it had drawn $100,000. They have never been the same since. Nor have I. - -And the machine that caused all the trouble--another whim of our rich -friend, the owner of the fire-engine, who saw from the catalogues -on our office table that American cigarette-machines could turn -out 125,000 pieces a day against some 60,000, the capacity of the -French mechanisms, which were in use in all the great factories in -Manila. He wanted one for his friend that ran the little tobacco-mill -up in a back street, for whom he furnished the capital. If it worked, -he was in the market for two dozen more, and vowed to knock spots -out of the big Compañía General and Fábrica Insular. - -Out came our machine some weeks ago, and with it two skilled machinists -to make it work. The big companies pricked up their ears and appeared -clearly averse to seeing an American article introduced, which should -outclass the French machines for which they had contracted. - -One morning the two machinists came to our office and handed us an -anonymous note which had been thrust under the door of their room at -the Hotel Oriente: - -"Stop your work--it will be better for you." - -It was perhaps not diplomatic, but we told them the story of the -two Protestant missionaries who some years before came to Manila -and attempted to preach their doctrines in the face of Catholic -disapproval. One morning they found a piece of paper beneath their -door in the same hotel, reading: - -"You are warned to desist your preaching." - -Paying no attention to the warning, they woke up two sunrises later -on to find another note beneath the door: - -"Stop your work and leave the city, or take the consequences." - -Still they heeded not; and a third paper under the door, some days -later, read: - -"For the last time you are warned to leave. Heed this and beware of -neglect to do so." - -But, like Christian soldiers, they were only the more zealous in -their work. - -In two days more they were found dead in their rooms--poisoned. - -Our friends, the engineers, were not soothed by a relation of these -facts, but kept on with their work. In three days they, too, got a -second warning: - -"Leave your work and go away by the first steamer." - -Things began to look serious, and the more timid mechanic of the two -could hardly be restrained from buying a ticket to Hong Kong. - -When, however, in two more days, a third piece of yellow paper was -slipped into their rooms, bearing the pencilled words, "For the last -time you are told to take the next steamer," the matter assumed such -proportions that we arranged to have them see the Archbishop, whose -knowledge is far-reaching and whose power complete. The letters were -suddenly stopped and the work on the machine carried to a successful -completion. - -Then came the day of trial, and invitations were extended to -interested persons to view the operation. The machine was started, -and the cigarettes began to sizzle out at the rate of nearly two -hundred to the minute. But scarcely had the run begun before there -was a sudden jar, several of the important parts gave way, and the -machine was a wreck. It had been tampered with, and it was evident -that the instigators of the anonymous letters had taken this more -effective means of stopping competition. - -The parts could not be made in Manila; America was far away, and our -two machinists have just gone home in disgust. - -Is it a wonder that I forgot the lottery drawing? - -Somehow there are currents of trouble in the air, and some of the -old residents say they wouldn't be surprised to see the outbreak of -a revolution among the natives. Peculiar night-fires have been seen -now for some time, burning high up on the mountain-sides and suddenly -going out. There seems to be some anti-American sentiment among the -powers that be, and only last week matters came to a crisis by the -Government putting an embargo on the business of one of the largest -houses here, in which an American is a partner. Smuggled silk was -discovered coming ashore at night, supposedly from the Esmeralda, and -as that steamer was consigned to the firm in question, the authorities -demanded payment of a fine of $30,000. Our friends refused, the -officials closed the doors of their counting-room, our consul cabled -to Japan for war-ships again, the Governor-General read the telegram, -hasty summons were given to the parties concerned, heated arguments -followed, and the matter was finally smoothed over on the surface. - -But there seems to be a distinct feeling against us, and we have -been instructed from home to prepare to leave--making arrangements -to turn our business into the hands of an English firm, who will act -as agents after our departure. - - - - September 20th. - -The cable has come, and we hope by next month to leave this land of -intrigue and iniquity. It has treated me well, but complications are -daily appearing in the business world, and if we get away without -suddenly being dragged into some civil dispute it will be delightful. - -I am glad to have been here these two years nearly, but it is time to -thicken up one's blood again in cooler climes, and I feel these fair -islands are no place for the permanent residence of an American. We -seem to be like fish out of water here in the Far East, and as few -in numbers. The Englishman and the German are everywhere, and why -shouldn't they be? Their home-roosts are too small for them to perch -upon, and they are born with the instinct to fly from their nests to -some foreign land. But, America is so big that we ought not to feel -called upon to swelter in the tropics amid the fevers and the ferns, -and I, for one, am content to "keep off the grass" of these distant -foreign colonies. - -The Englishman or German comes out here on a five-years' contract, -and generally runs up a debit balance the first year that keeps him -busy economizing the other four. At the end of his first season, he -wishes he were at home. At the end of the second, he has exhausted -all the novelties of the new situation. At the close of the third, -he has settled down to humdrum life. At the end of the fourth, he has -become completely divorced from home habits and modern ideals. And -at the close of the fifth, he goes home a true Filipino, though -thinking all the while he is glad to get away. He says he is never -coming back, but wiser heads know better. He has heard about America, -and goes home via the States, to see Niagara and New York. But his -first laundry-bill in San Francisco so scatters those depreciated -silver "Mexicans," which have lost half their value in being turned -into gold, that he takes the fast express to the Atlantic coast, and -leaves our shores by the first steamer. At home, his friends have all -got married or had appendicitis, and the bustle of London, the raw -rain-storms of the cold weather and the conventionality of life all -bring up memories of the Philippines, which now seem to lie off there -in the China Sea surrounded by a halo. And so, before a year is out, he -renews his contract, and at the end of a twelvemonth goes sailing back -Manilaward to take up the careless life where he left it, and grow old -in the Escolta or the Luneta. In London he paid his penny and took the -'bus, he lived in a dingy room, and packed his own bag. But in Manila, -with no more outlay, he owns his horse and carriage, he lives in a -spacious bungalow with many rooms, and he lets his servants wait on -him by inches. How do I know? Oh, because we've talked it all over, -now that our turn for departure comes next. - -The whisperings of a restlessness among the natives continue, and it is -hard to see why indeed they do not rise up against their persecutors, -the tax-gatherers and the guardia civil. Ten per cent. of their -average earnings have to go to pay their poll-taxes, and if they -cannot produce the receipted bills from their very pockets on any -avenue or street-corner, to the challenge of the veterana, they -are hustled off to the cuartel, and you are minus your dinner or -your coachman. Once in the hands of the law, they are then drafted -into the native regiments for operations against those old enemies, -the Moros, in the fever-stricken districts of Mindanao, and their -wives or families are left to swallow Spanish reglamientos. They -have not forgotten their brothers, who, dragged down from the north, -went to the bottom in the typhoon which pushed the Gravina down. They -have not forgotten the execution in the public square. They remember -that the Spaniards address them with the servile pronoun "tu," not -"usted," and some day they may remember not to forget. They are not -quarrelsome, but they are treacherous; they are not fighters, but -when they run amuck they kill right and left. They do not seem to have -many wants save to be left alone, to be able to shake a cocoanut from -the palm for their morning's meal, or to collect the shakings from a -thousand trees and ship them to Manila; to collect the few strands -of fibre to sew the nipa thatch to the frame of their bamboo roof, -or to gather enough to fill a schooner for the capital; in fact, -to be able to work or not to work, and to know that the results of -their labor are to be theirs, not somebody else's. - -But what has all this got to do with our hegira? These last days -have been replete with the labors attendant on breaking camp before -the long march. Clearings out of furniture, selling one's ponies and -carriages, closing up of books, shipping of one's cases and curios on -those hemp-ships that are to start on the long 20,000-mile voyage to -Boston, and trying to think of the things that have been left undone, -or ought to be done, have all gone to make the season a busy one. - -Now that it has come down to actually leaving Manila, I begin to -feel the home sickness that comes from tearing one's self away from -the midst of friends and a congenial life. I shall miss the hearty -Englishmen with whom I rowed or played tennis or went into the -country. I shall miss the servants who got so little for making life -the easier. I shall miss the ponies, the dogs with the black tongues, -and the cats with the crooks in their tails; the big fire-engine -which we used to run, and which has now been varnished over to save -trouble in cleaning; the Luneta, with its soft breezes and good music; -the walks out on to the long breakwater to see the sunset, and the -hobnobbing with the old salts from the ships in the bay, who called -our office the little American oasis in the midst of a great desert of -foreign houses. But the clock has struck, and the Esmeralda ought early -next month to start us on the forty-day voyage back to God's country. - - - - October 22d. - -Is this sleep, or not sleep? Is it reality or fancy? Am I laboring -under a hallucination, a weird phantasmagoria, or are my powers -of appreciation, my efferent nerve-centres and their connecting -links, my sum total of receptive faculties, doing their duty? I feel -hypnotized. I kick myself to see if this is real, and am only led to -conclude it is by looking into my sewing-kit, where the needles are -rusty, the thread gone, and the depleted stock of suspender-buttons -wrongly shoved into the partition labelled "piping-cord." I never -did know what piping-cord was. My socks are holy, my handkerchiefs -have burst in tears, and my lingerie in general looks as if it had -been used for a Chinese ensign on one of the ships that fought in -the naval battle of the Yalu. For two years those garments have held -together under the peculiar processes of Philippine laundering, but -now that barbarians have once more got hold of them and subjected them -to modern treatment, they recognize the enemy and go to pieces. And so -the condition of my clothes leads me to believe I am awake, although -everything else suggests the dream. - -Actually away from Manila, actually eating food that is food once -more, actually sleeping on springs and mattresses, putting on heavier -clothes, talking the English language, meeting civilized people, and -realizing what it means to be homeward bound! It seems unreal after -those two years of Manila life that was so different, so divorced -from the busy life of the western world; much more unreal than did -the new Philippine environment appear two years ago, after jumping -into it fresh from God's country, as the Captain called it. - -Here we are, eight days out from Manila, steaming up through that -far-famed inland sea of Japan, on the good ship Coptic, bound for San -Francisco; and for the life of me those twenty-four moons just passed -all seem to huddle into yesterday. Surely it was only the day before -that the China was taking me and my trunks the other way. And so it -takes but eight short days of new experiences, new food, new air, -to efface completely the effect of seven hundred yesterdays in the -Philippines. Those whole seven hundred seem now as but one, and when -I think of all the housekeeping, the bookkeeping, the hemp-pressing, -and the cheerful putting up with all sorts of things, they all seem -to be playing leapfrog with each other in the dream of a night, -and I wake up to find the pines of Japan lending a certain cordial -to the air that is very grateful. We never knew what we were missing -in Manila in the slight matter of eating alone until we got over to -Hong Kong again, and it is perhaps just as well we didn't. To think -of the "dead hen," as they call it, and rice, the daily couple of -eggs, the fried potatoes, and the banana-fritters on which we have -tried to fatten our frames, and then look at the bill of fare on the -Coptic! We exiles from Manila have gained over five pounds in these -eight days, and would almost go through another two years in the -haunts of heathendom for the sake of again living through a sundry -few days like the past eight, in which the inner man wakes up to -see his opportunities, and makes up for lost time on soups that are -not all rice and water, on fish that is not fishy, on chickens that -are not boiled almost alive, on roasts that taste not of garlic, -on vegetables that are something more than potatoes, on butter that -is not axle-grease, and on puddings and pies that are not made of -chopped blotting paper and flavored with pomatum sauces. - -An exuberance of spirit must be forgiven, for so welcome is the change -from the old cultivated Manila contentment that the present burst of -native enthusiasm is but natural. Not that I am playing false to the -Malay capital--for let it be said that when once you have forgotten -the good things at home the articles which that Pearl of the Orient -had to furnish went well enough indeed--but that after schooling one's -taste to things of low degree it is peculiarly melodramatic to return -to things of high estate. - -Our send-off from Manila on the 14th was as gay as the sad occasion -could warrant, and several launch-loads of the "bosses and the boys" -worried out to bid us a last adios. The Esmeralda was to have the honor -of taking us away from the place to which she had brought us, and I -was thoroughly prepared to go through the interesting process that was -needed finally to straighten me out after the peculiar twisting which -the voyage from Manila to Hong Kong had given me two years before. - -The sunset over the mountains at the mouth of the bay was eminently -fitting in its concluding ceremonies, and it seemed to do its best -for us on this last evening in the Philippines. The many ships in -the fleet lay quietly swinging at their anchors. The breeze from the -early northeast monsoon blew gently off the shore, and Manila never -looked fairer than she did on that evening, with her white churches -and towers backed up against the tall blue velvet mountains, and her -whole long low-lying length lifted, as it were, into mid-air by the -smooth sea-mirror between us and the shore. - -Captain Tayler was as jovial and entertaining as ever, and the colony -had no reason to regret being participators in the farewell. We -well realized that our departure was an epoch in the life of the -little Anglo-Saxon colony, and in a city where important events are -registered as occurring "just after Smith arrived" or "just before -Jones went away," it was essential to give the occasion weight enough -to carry it down into the weeks succeeding our departure. - -Our native servants came off with the bags and baggage and seemed to -show as much feeling as they had ever exhibited in the receipt of a -Christmas present or a box on the ear. And some of our old Chinese -friends, from whom we bought bales and bales of hemp in the days gone -by, came too, bringing with them presents of silk and tea. Everybody -looked sad and thirsty, and made frequent pilgrimages to the saloon -in quest of the usual good-by stimulant. - -The Esmeralda panted to get away, and we had our last words with the -motley little assemblage. We were seeing Manila and the most of them -for the last time, and I confess both they and the shore often looked -gurgled up in the blur that somehow formed in our eyes. - -The sun sank below the horizon; the swift darkness that in the tropics -hurries after it, brought the electric lights' twinkling gleam out -on the Luneta and the long Malecon road running along in front of -the old city, from the promenade to the river. The revolving light -on the breakwater cast a red streak over the river. The white eye -on Corregidor, far away, blinked as the night began, and, just as -the warning of "all ashore" was sounded, the faint strains of the -artillery band playing on the Luneta floated out on the breeze over -the sleepy waters of the Bay. - -Our friends clambered aboard the launch, the customs officers took -a last taste of the refreshment that Captain Tayler gives them to -make them genial, the anchor was hoisted, and, with cheers from the -tug and the screeching of launch-whistles, the Esmeralda put to sea, -bearing with her, in us two, half the American colony in Manila and -the only American firm in the Philippines. - - - - - - - - -CONCLUSION - - -If one has thoughts of going out to the Philippines he should learn how -to speak Spanish, and how to accept, "cum grano salis," descriptions -of the country, either too glowing or too gloomy. Some have gone -to Manila and liked it, others have made their retreat homeward -echo with tales of weary woe about this Malay capital. To each it -seems to mean something different according as he kept his health -or lost it, as he fell in with the life or didn't, and as he was -successful or unsuccessful in that for which he left the upper side -of the globe. Before buying one's ticket for the Far East one must -not be moved by the suggestions of "thoughtful" persons, who say you -are going to the ends of the earth and must therefore take all sorts -of clothes, pianos, and means of subsistence. Accept their sympathy -but not always their advice, and if Manila be your destination, be -assured you are not bound for an altogether isolated village. They -may do some things out there which are not down on the programme of -a day's routine in the United States. The fire-engines may be drawn -by oxen, the natives--contrary to Biblical suggestion--may build the -roof to their shanties first and make arrangements for underpinning -afterward; women may smoke cigars, and snakes may be more effective -rat-catchers than cats or terriers. But there are shops in Manila, -tailors, drug-stores, parks, tramways, churches, electric lights, -schools, and theatres which are not altogether unlike those in the -Western world. - -And, in times of peace, the capital is not an altogether bad sort of -a place to live in, though I can't say as much for some of the lesser -towns. One may be susceptible to fever, in which case he must avoid -sleeping near the ground or going about much in the sun. He may suffer -from prickly heat, in which case he will not want to take oatmeal, -drink chocolate, eat mangoes, or smoke pipes. Or he may become a -mark for sprue--that peculiarly oriental disease which seems to -destroy the lining to one's interior--in which case the quicker he -takes the steamer for Japan or for 'Frisco the better. He may run -against small-pox, but ought not to take it. He will have a cold -or two, but won't hear of cholera or find a native word for yellow -fever. Should the wind strike in from the northwest during the wet -season, he must look out for typhoons, and not be surprised if, -like my friend the Englishman, he some day finds only his upright -piano on the spot where his light-built house stood--the rest of his -things having hastened to the next village. If he feels the ground -getting restless he must look out for the oil lamps on the table, -or the tiles on the roof. He must not take too cold baths, sleep in -silk pajamas, or walk when he has the "peseta" to ride. And in all -things he will be better off by remembering to apply that motto of -the ancient Greeks, mêden agan--in nothing to excess. - -Manila is the new Mecca, and for some time to come she is going to -be looked at on the map, talked about at the dinner-table and by the -fireside, and written up from all quarters. At present this Pearl of -the Orient is but a jewel in the rough, but with good men to make her -laws, and her gates wide open to the pilgrims of the world, she soon -should shine as brilliantly as any city in the Far East. - - - - - - - - -End of the Project Gutenberg EBook of Yesterdays in the Philippines, by -Joseph Earle Stevens - -*** END OF THIS PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK YESTERDAYS IN THE PHILIPPINES *** - -***** This file should be named 60842-8.txt or 60842-8.zip ***** -This and all associated files of various formats will be found in: - http://www.gutenberg.org/6/0/8/4/60842/ - -Produced by Jeroen Hellingman and the Online Distributed -Proofreading Team at http://www.pgdp.net/ for Project -Gutenberg (This file was produced from images generously -made available by The Internet Archive/American Libraries.) - -Updated editions will replace the previous one--the old editions will -be renamed. - -Creating the works from print editions not protected by U.S. copyright -law means that no one owns a United States copyright in these works, -so the Foundation (and you!) can copy and distribute it in the United -States without permission and without paying copyright -royalties. 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-} -@media handheld { -} -/* CSS rules copied from @style attributes in TEI file */ -</style> -</head> -<body> - - -<pre> - -Project Gutenberg's Yesterdays in the Philippines, by Joseph Earle Stevens - -This eBook is for the use of anyone anywhere in the United States and most -other parts of the world at no cost and with almost no restrictions -whatsoever. You may copy it, give it away or re-use it under the terms of -the Project Gutenberg License included with this eBook or online at -www.gutenberg.org. If you are not located in the United States, you'll have -to check the laws of the country where you are located before using this ebook. - -Title: Yesterdays in the Philippines - -Author: Joseph Earle Stevens - -Release Date: December 3, 2019 [EBook #60842] - -Language: English - -Character set encoding: ISO-8859-1 - -*** START OF THIS PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK YESTERDAYS IN THE PHILIPPINES *** - - - - -Produced by Jeroen Hellingman and the Online Distributed -Proofreading Team at http://www.pgdp.net/ for Project -Gutenberg (This file was produced from images generously -made available by The Internet Archive/American Libraries.) - - - - - - -</pre> - -<div class="front"> -<div class="div1 cover"><span class="pagenum">[<a href="#toc">Contents</a>]</span><div class="divBody"> -<p class="first"></p> -<div class="figure cover-imagewidth"><img src="images/front.jpg" alt="Original Front Cover." width="486" height="720"></div><p> -</p> -</div> -</div> -<div class="div1 frenchtitle"><span class="pagenum">[<a href="#toc">Contents</a>]</span><div class="divBody"> -<p class="first xd29e108">YESTERDAYS IN THE PHILIPPINES -</p> -</div> -</div> -<div id="frontis" class="div1 frontispiece"><span class="pagenum">[<a href="#toc">Contents</a>]</span><div class="divBody"> -<p class="first"></p> -<div class="figure frontispiecewidth"><img src="images/frontispiece.jpg" alt="How We Dressed for $2.50." width="444" height="720"><p class="figureHead">How We Dressed for $2.50.</p> -<p class="first seepage"><i>See page <a href="#pb16" class="pageref">16</a>.</i> </p> -</div><p> -</p> -</div> -</div> -<div class="div1 titlepage"><span class="pagenum">[<a href="#toc">Contents</a>]</span><div class="divBody"> -<p class="first"></p> -<div class="figure titlepage-imagewidth"><img src="images/titlepage.png" alt="Original Title Page." width="439" height="720"></div><p> -</p> -</div> -</div> -<div class="titlePage"> -<div class="docTitle"> -<div class="mainTitle">YESTERDAYS IN THE PHILIPPINES</div> -</div> -<div class="byline">BY -<br><span class="docAuthor">JOSEPH EARLE STEVENS</span> -<br>AN EX-RESIDENT OF MANILA </div> -<div class="docImprint"><i>ILLUSTRATED</i> -<br>NEW YORK <br>CHARLES SCRIBNER’S SONS <br><span class="docDate">1898</span> </div> -</div> -<p><span class="pagenum">[<a id="pb.iv" href="#pb.iv">iv</a>]</span></p> -<div class="div1 copyright"><span class="pagenum">[<a href="#toc">Contents</a>]</span><div class="divBody"> -<p class="first xd29e154"><span class="sc">Copyright, 1898, by</span> <br>CHARLES SCRIBNER’S SONS -</p> -<p class="xd29e154">TROW DIRECTORY <br>PRINTING AND BOOKBINDING COMPANY <br>NEW YORK -<span class="pagenum">[<a id="pb.v" href="#pb.v">v</a>]</span> </p> -</div> -</div> -<div class="div1 dedication"><span class="pagenum">[<a href="#toc">Contents</a>]</span><div class="divBody"> -<p class="first xd29e108"><i>IN MEMORY OF <br>MY MOTHER</i> -<span class="pagenum">[<a id="pb.vii" href="#pb.vii">vii</a>]</span> </p> -</div> -</div> -<div id="toc" class="div1 contents"><span class="pagenum">[<a href="#toc">Contents</a>]</span><div class="divHead"> -<h2 class="main">CONTENTS</h2> -</div> -<div class="divBody"> -<p class="first tocChapter"><a href="#intro" id="xd29e180">INTRODUCTION</a> <span class="tocPageNum"><i>Page xiii</i></span> -</p> -<p class="tocChapter"><a href="#ch1" id="xd29e187">I</a> -</p> -<p class="tocArgument">Leaving “God’s Country”—Hong Kong—Crossing to Luzon—Manila Bay—First View of the City—Earthquake -Precautions—Balconies and Window-gratings—The River Pasig—Promenade of the Malecon—The -Old City—The Puente de España—Population—A Philippine Bed—The English Club—The Luneta—A -Christmas Dinner at the Club, <span class="tocPageNum"><i>Page 1</i></span> -</p> -<p class="tocChapter"><a href="#ch2" id="xd29e196">II</a> -</p> -<p class="tocArgument">Shopping at the “<span lang="es">Botica Inglesa</span>”—The Chit System—Celebrating New Year’s Eve—Manila Cooking Arrangements—Floors and -Windows—Peculiarities of the Tram-car Service—Roosters Everywhere—Italian Opera—Philippine -Music—The Mercury at 74° and an Epidemic of “Grippe”—Fight Between a Bull and a Tiger—A -Sorry Fiasco—Carnival Sunday, <span class="tocPageNum"><i>Page 22</i></span> -</p> -<p class="tocChapter"><a href="#ch3" id="xd29e208">III</a> -</p> -<p class="tocArgument">A Philippine Valet—The Three Days Chinese New Year—Marionettes and Minstrels at Manila—Yankee -Skippers—Furnishing a Bungalow—Rats, Lizards, and Mosquitoes—A New Arrival—Pony-races -in Santa Mesa—Cigars and Cheroots—Servants—Cool Mountain Breezes—House-snakes—Cost -of Living—Holy Week, <span class="tocPageNum"><i>Page 43</i></span> -<span class="pagenum">[<a id="pb.viii" href="#pb.viii">viii</a>]</span></p> -<p class="tocChapter"><a href="#ch4" id="xd29e218">IV</a> -</p> -<p class="tocArgument">An Up-country Excursion—Steaming up the River to the Lake—Legend of the Chinaman and -the Crocodile—Santa Cruz and Pagsanjan—Dress of the Women—Mountain Gorges and River -Rapids—Church Processions—Cocoanut Rafts—A “Carromata” Ride to Paquil—An Earthquake -Lasting Forty-five Seconds—Small-pox and other Diseases in the Philippines—The Manila -Fire Department—How Thatch Dealers Boom the Market—Cost of Living, <span class="tocPageNum"><i>Page 60</i></span> -</p> -<p class="tocChapter"><a href="#ch5" id="xd29e227">V</a> -</p> -<p class="tocArgument">Visit of the Sagamore—Another Mountain Excursion—The Caves of Montalvan—A Hundred-mile -View—A Village School—A “Fiesta” at Obando—The Manila Fire-tree—A Move to the Seashore—A -Waterspout—Captain Tayler’s Dilemma—A Trip Southward—The Lake of Taal and its Volcano—Seven -Hours of Poling—A Night’s Sleep in a Hen-coop, <span class="tocPageNum"><i>Page 87</i></span> -</p> -<p class="tocChapter"><a href="#ch6" id="xd29e237">VI</a> -</p> -<p class="tocArgument">First Storm of the Rainy Season—Fourth of July—Chinese “Chow” Dogs—Crullers and Pie -and a Chinese Cook—A Red-letter Day—The China-Japan War—Manila Newspapers—General -Blanco and the Archbishop—An American Fire-engine and its Lively Trial—The Coming -of the Typhoon—Violence of the Wind—The Floods Next—Manila Monotony, <span class="tocPageNum"><i>Page 112</i></span> -</p> -<p class="tocChapter"><a href="#ch7" id="xd29e246">VII</a> -</p> -<p class="tocArgument">A Series of Typhoons—A Chinese Feast-day—A Bank-holiday Excursion—Lost in the Mist—Los -Baños—The “Enchanted Lake”—Six Dollars for a Human Life—A Religious Procession—Celebration -of the Expulsion of the Chinese—Bicycle Races and Fireworks, <span class="tocPageNum"><i>Page 137</i></span> -<span class="pagenum">[<a id="pb.ix" href="#pb.ix">ix</a>]</span></p> -<p class="tocChapter"><a href="#ch8" id="xd29e256">VIII</a> -</p> -<p class="tocArgument">A Trip to the South—Contents of the “Puchero”—Romblon—Cebu, the Southern Hemp-centre—Places -Touched At—A Rich Indian at Camiguin—Tall Trees—Primitive Hemp-cleaners—A New Volcano—Mindanao -Island—Moro Trophies—Iligan—Iloilo—Back Again at Manila, <span class="tocPageNum"><i>Page 149</i></span> -</p> -<p class="tocChapter"><a href="#ch9" id="xd29e265">IX</a> -</p> -<p class="tocArgument">Club-house Chaff—Christmas Customs and Ceremonies—New Year’s Calls—A Dance at the -English Club—The Royal Exposition of the Philippines—Fireworks on the King’s Fête -Day—Electric Lights and the Natives—The Manila Observatory—A Hospitable Governor—The -Convent at Antipolo, <span class="tocPageNum"><i>Page 173</i></span> -</p> -<p class="tocChapter"><a href="#ch10" id="xd29e274">X</a> -</p> -<p class="tocArgument">Exacting Harbor Regulations—The Eleanor takes French Leave—Loss of the Gravina—Something -about the Native Ladies—Ways of Native Servants—A Sculptor who was a Dentist—Across -the Bay to Orani—Children in Plenty—A Public Execution by the Garrote, <span class="tocPageNum"><i>Page 195</i></span> -</p> -<p class="tocChapter"><a href="#ch11" id="xd29e284">XI</a> -</p> -<p class="tocArgument">Lottery Chances and Mischances—An American Cigarette-making Machine and its Fate—Closing -up Business—How the Foreigner Feels Toward Life in Manila—Why the English and Germans -Return—Restlessness among the Natives—Their Persecution—Departure and Farewell, - <span class="tocPageNum"><i>Page 213</i></span> -</p> -<p class="tocChapter"><a href="#conclusion" id="xd29e293">CONCLUSION</a> <span class="tocPageNum"><i>Page 230</i></span> -<span class="pagenum">[<a id="pb.xi" href="#pb.xi">xi</a>]</span> </p> -</div> -</div> -<div class="div1 contents"><span class="pagenum">[<a href="#toc">Contents</a>]</span><div class="divHead"> -<h2 class="main">LIST OF ILLUSTRATIONS</h2> -<ul> -<li> <span class="tocPageNum"><i>Facing page</i></span> -</li> -<li><a href="#frontis">How We Dressed for $2.50</a> <span class="tocPageNum"><i>Frontispiece</i></span> </li> -<li><a href="#p008">Our Office and the Punkah under which the Old Salts Sat for Free Sea Breezes</a> <span class="tocPageNum">8</span> </li> -<li><a href="#p014">Plaza de Cervantes, Foreign Business Quarter</a> <span class="tocPageNum">14</span> </li> -<li><a href="#p020">Puente de España. Manila’s Main Highway Across the Pasig</a> <span class="tocPageNum">20</span> </li> -<li><a href="#p026">The Busy Pasig, from the Puente de España</a> <span class="tocPageNum">26</span> </li> -<li><a href="#p032">A Philippine Sleeping-machine</a> <span class="tocPageNum">32</span> </li> -<li><a href="#p040">The English Club on the Banks of the Pasig</a> <span class="tocPageNum">40</span> </li> -<li><a href="#p046">The Bull and Tiger Fight—Opening Exercises</a> <span class="tocPageNum">46</span> </li> -<li><a href="#p054">Suburb of Santa Mesa</a> <span class="tocPageNum">54</span> </li> -<li><a href="#p060">Our Destination was a Town Called Pagsanjan at the Foot of a Range of Mountains</a> <span class="tocPageNum">60</span> </li> -<li><a href="#p066">The Rapids in the Gorges of Pagsanjan</a> <span class="tocPageNum">66</span> </li> -<li><a href="#p072">Cocoanut Rafts on the Pasig, Drifting down to Manila</a> <span class="tocPageNum">72</span> </li> -<li><a href="#p078">The Little Native School under the Big Mango-tree</a> <span class="tocPageNum">78</span> </li> -<li><a href="#p084">Calzada de San Miguel</a> <span class="tocPageNum">84</span> </li> -<li><a href="#p090">A Native Village Up Country</a> <span class="tocPageNum">90</span> </li> -<li><a href="#p098">A “Chow” Shop on a Street Corner</a> <span class="tocPageNum">98</span> </li> -<li><a href="#p106">Puentes de Ayala, which Help two of Manila’s Suburbs to Shake Hands Across the Pasig</a> <span class="tocPageNum">106</span> </li> -<li><a href="#p114">Calzada de San Sebastian</a> <span class="tocPageNum">114</span> <span class="pagenum">[<a id="pb.xii" href="#pb.xii">xii</a>]</span></li> -<li><a href="#p122">Ploughing in the Rice-fields with the Carabao</a> <span class="tocPageNum">122</span> </li> -<li><a href="#p130">Types of True Filipinos Waiting to Call Themselves Americans</a> <span class="tocPageNum">130</span> </li> -<li><a href="#p138">On the Banks of the Enchanted Lake</a> <span class="tocPageNum">138</span> </li> -<li><a href="#p144">In the Narrow Streets of Old Manila. A Procession</a> <span class="tocPageNum">144</span> </li> -<li><a href="#p152">A Citizen from the Interior</a> <span class="tocPageNum">152</span> </li> -<li><a href="#p160">How the World’s Supply of Manila Hemp is Cleaned</a> <span class="tocPageNum">160</span> </li> -<li><a href="#p168">Moro Chiefs from Mindanao</a> <span class="tocPageNum">168</span> </li> -<li><a href="#p176">Manila Fruit-girls in a Street-Corner Attitude</a> <span class="tocPageNum">176</span> </li> -<li><a href="#p184">A Typical “Nipa” House</a> <span class="tocPageNum">184</span> </li> -<li><a href="#p192">The Little Flower-girl at the Opera</a> <span class="tocPageNum">192</span> </li> -<li><a href="#p202">Rapid Transit in the Suburbs of Manila</a> <span class="tocPageNum">202</span> </li> -<li><a href="#p210">The Fourth of July, ’95. Execution by the Garrote</a> <span class="tocPageNum">210</span> </li> -<li><a href="#p220">Paseo de la Luneta</a> <span class="tocPageNum">220</span> </li> -<li><a href="#p226">Captain Tayler, the Genial Skipper of the Esmeralda</a> <span class="tocPageNum">226</span> </li> -<li><a href="#map">Map of Philippines</a> <span class="tocPageNum"><i>At End of Volume</i></span> </li> -</ul> -<p><span class="pagenum">[<a id="pb.xiii" href="#pb.xiii">xiii</a>]</span></p> -</div> -</div> -<div id="intro" class="div1 introduction"><span class="pagenum">[<a href="#xd29e180">Contents</a>]</span><div class="divHead"> -<h2 class="main">INTRODUCTION</h2> -</div> -<div class="divBody"> -<p class="first">By the victory of our fleet at Manila Bay, one more of the world’s side-tracked capitals -has been pulled from obscurity into main lines of prominence and the average citizen -is no longer left, as in days gone by, to suppose that Manila is spelt with two l’s -and is floating around in the South Sea somewhere between Fiji and Patagonia. The -Philippines have been discovered, and the daily journals with their cheap maps have -at last located Spain’s Havana in the Far East. It is indeed curious that a city of -a third of a million people—capital of a group of islands as large as New England, -New York, Delaware, Maryland, and New Jersey, which have long furnished the whole -world with its entire supply of Manila hemp, which have exported some 160,000 tons -of sugar in a single year and which to-day produce as excellent tobacco as that coming -from the West Indies—it is curious, I say, that a city of this size should have gone -so long unnoticed and misspelt. But such has been the case, and until Admiral Dewey -fired the shots that made Manila heard round <span class="pagenum">[<a id="pb.xiv" href="#pb.xiv">xiv</a>]</span>the world, the people of these United States—with but few exceptions—lived and died -without knowing where the stuff in their clothes-lines came from. -</p> -<p>Now that the Philippines are ours, do we want them? Can we run them? Are they the -long-looked-for El Dorado which those who have never been there suppose? To all of -which questions—even at the risk of being called unpatriotic—I am inclined to answer, -No. -</p> -<p>Do we want them? Do we want a group of 1,400 islands, nearly 8,000 miles from our -Western shores, sweltering in the tropics, swept with typhoons and shaken with earthquakes? -Do we want to undertake the responsibility of protecting those islands from the powers -in Europe or the East, and of standing sponsor for the nearly 8,000,000 native inhabitants -that speak a score of different tongues and live on anything from rice to stewed grasshoppers? -Do we want the task of civilizing this race, of opening up the jungle, of setting -up officials in frontier, out-of-the-way towns who won’t have been there a month before -they will wish to return? -</p> -<p>Do we want them? No. Why? Because we have got enough to look after at home. Because—unlike -the Englishman or the German who, early realizing that his country is too small to -support him, grows up with the feeling that he must relieve the burden <span class="pagenum">[<a id="pb.xv" href="#pb.xv">xv</a>]</span>by going to the uttermost parts of the sea—our young men have room enough at home -in which to exert their best energies without going eight or eleven thousand miles -across land and water to tropic islands in the Far East. -</p> -<p>Can we run them? The Philippines are hard material with which to make our first colonial -experiment, and seem to demand a different sort of treatment from that which our national -policy favors or has had experience in giving. Besides the peaceable natives occupying -the accessible towns, the interiors of many of the islands are filled with aboriginal -savages who have never even recognized the rule of Spain—who have never even heard -of Spain, and who still think they are possessors of the soil. Even on the coast itself -are tribes of savages who are almost as ignorant as their brethren in the interior, -and only thirty miles from Manila are races of dwarfs that go without clothes, wear -knee-bracelets of horsehair, and respect nothing save the jungle in which they live. -To the north are the Igorrotes, to the south the Moros, and in between, scores of -wild tribes that are ready to dispute possession. And is the United States prepared -to maintain the forces and carry on the military operations in the fever-stricken -jungles necessary in the march of progress to exterminate or civilize such races? -Have we, like England for instance, <span class="pagenum">[<a id="pb.xvi" href="#pb.xvi">xvi</a>]</span>the class of troops who could undertake that sort of work, and do we feel called upon -to do it, when the same expenditure at home would go so much further? The Philippines -must be run under a despotic though kindly form of government, supported by arms and -armor-clads, and to deal with the perplexing questions and perplexing difficulties -that arise, needs knowledge gained by experience, by having dealt with other such -problems before. -</p> -<p>Are the Philippines an El Dorado? Like Borneo, like Java and the Spice Islands, the -Philippines are rich in natural resources, but their capacity to yield more than the -ordinary remuneration to labor I much question. Leaving aside the question of gold -and coal, in the working of which, so far, more money has been put into the ground -than has ever been taken out, the great crops in these islands are sugar, hemp, and -tobacco. The sugar crop, to be sure, has the possibilities that it has anywhere, where -the soil is rich and conditions favorable. The tobacco industry has perhaps more possibilities, -and might be made a close rival to that in Cuba. But the hemp crop is limited by the -world’s needs, and as those needs are just so much each year, there is no object in -increasing a supply which up to date has been adequate. There are foreigners in the -Philippines, who have been there for years, who have controlled the exports <span class="pagenum">[<a id="pb.xvii" href="#pb.xvii">xvii</a>]</span>of sugar or hemp or tobacco, who have made their living, and who from having been -longer on the ground should be the first to improve the opportunities that may come -with the downfall of Spanish rule. There are some things which the United States can -send to the Philippines cheaper than the Continental manufacturers, but not many. -She can send flour and some kinds of machinery, she can put in electric plants, she -can build railways, but at present she can’t produce the cheap implements, and the -necessaries required by the great bulk of poor natives at the low price which England -and Germany can. -</p> -<p>The Philippines are not an El Dorado simply because for the first time they have been -brought to our notice. They should not yield more than the ordinary return to labor, -and the question is, does the average American want to live in a distant land, cut -off from friends and a civilized climate, only to get the ordinary return for his -efforts? To which, even though of course there is much to be said on the other side, -I would answer, No. We have gone to war, remembering the Maine, to free Cuba, and -at the first blow have taken another group of islands—a Cuba in the East—to deal with. -I have not the space here to discuss the solution of the problem, but, for my part, -I should like to see England interested in buying back an archipelago which she formerly -<span class="pagenum">[<a id="pb.xviii" href="#pb.xviii">xviii</a>]</span>held for ransom, leaving us perhaps a coaling port, and opening up the country to -such as chose to go there. Then, with someone else to shoulder the burden of government -and protection, we should still have all the opportunities for proving whether or -not the islands were the El Dorado dreamed of in our clubs or counting-rooms. -</p> -<p>At the close of 1893, I went to Manila for Messrs. Henry W. Peabody & Co., of Boston -and New York, in the interest of their hemp business, and, associated with Mr. A. H. -Rand, remained there for two years. We two were the representatives of the only American -house doing business in the Philippines, and made up practically fifty per cent. of -the American business colony in Manila. The years from 1894 to 1896 were peculiarly -peaceful with the quiet coming before the storm, and we were fortunate enough to be -able to make many excursions and go into many parts of the island that later would -have been dangerous. But as the short term of our service drew to a close, rumors -of trouble began to circulate. The natives had long suffered from the demands made -by the Church and the tax-gatherer, and there was a feeling that they might again -attempt to throw off the Spanish yoke, as they attempted, without success, some years -before. It was at this period that Messrs. Peabody & Co. decided it would be to their -unquestionable <span class="pagenum">[<a id="pb.xix" href="#pb.xix">xix</a>]</span>advantage to retire from the islands and to place their business in the hands of an -English firm, long established on the ground, and well equipped with men who, unlike -ourselves, looked forward to passing the rest of their days in the Philippines. And -the move was a good one, for no sooner had we left Manila than revolution broke out. -The Spanish troops were at the south, and that mysterious native brotherhood of the -Katipunan called its members to attack the capital. A massacre was planned, but the -right leaders were lacking and the attempt failed. The troops were recalled, guards -doubled, drawbridges into old Manila pulled up nightly, arrests and executions made. -As is well known, one hundred suspects were crowded into that old dungeon on the river, -just at the corner of the city wall, and because it came on to rain, at night-fall, -an officer shut down the trap-door leading to the prisoners’ cells to keep out the -water. But it also kept out the air, and next morning sixty out of the one hundred -persons were suffocated. Then Manila had her Black Hole. Later, other suspects were -stood on the curbing that surrounds the Luneta and were shot down while the big artillery -band discoursed patriotic music to the crowds that thronged the promenade. And from -then until Admiral Dewey silenced the guns at Cavité and sunk the Spanish ships that -used to swing <span class="pagenum">[<a id="pb.xx" href="#pb.xx">xx</a>]</span>peacefully at anchor off the breakwater, the Spaniards had their hands full with a -revolution brought on by their own rotten system of government. -</p> -<p>If in place of the more systematic narratives of description, the more serious presentations -of statistics, or the more exciting accounts of the bloody months of the revolution -and the wonderful victory of our gallant fleet, which are to be looked for from other -sources, the reader cares to get some idea of casual life in Manila, by accepting -the rather colloquial chronicle of an ex-resident that follows, I shall have made -some little return to islands that robbed me of little else than two years of a more -hurried existence in State Street or Broadway. -<span class="pagenum">[<a id="pb1" href="#pb1">1</a>]</span> </p> -</div> -</div> -</div> -<div class="body"> -<div id="ch1" class="div1 chapter"><span class="pagenum">[<a href="#xd29e187">Contents</a>]</span><div class="divHead"> -<h2 class="super">YESTERDAYS IN THE PHILIPPINES</h2> -<h2 class="main">I</h2> -<div class="argument"> -<p class="first">Leaving “God’s Country”—Hong Kong—Crossing to Luzon—Manila Bay—First View of the City—Earthquake -Precautions—Balconies and Window-Gratings—The River Pasig—Promenade of the Malecon—The -Old City—The Puente de España—Population—A Philippine Bed—The English Club—The Luneta—A -Christmas Dinner at the Club.</p> -</div> -</div> -<div class="divBody"> -<p class="first">“I wouldn’t give much for your chances of coming back unboxed,” said the Captain to -me, as the China steamed out from the Golden Gate on the twenty-five day voyage to -Hong Kong via Honolulu and Yokohama. -</p> -<p>“That’s God’s country we’re leaving behind, sure enough,” said he, “and you’ll find -it out after a week or two in the Philippines. There’s Howe came back with us last -trip from there; almost shuffled off on the way. Spent half a year in Manila with -<span class="corr" id="xd29e588" title="Source: smallpox">small-pox</span>, fever, snakes, typhoons, and earthquakes, and had to be carried aboard ship at Hong -Kong and off at ’Frisco. Guess he’s about done for all right.” -</p> -<p>And as Howe happened to be the unfortunate <span class="pagenum">[<a id="pb2" href="#pb2">2</a>]</span>whose place in Manila I was going to take, you know, I heeded the skipper’s advice -and looked with more fervor on God’s country than I had for some days. For it was -a dusty trip across country from Boston on the Pacific express; and because babies -are my pet aversion every mother’s son of them aboard the train was quartered in my -car—three families moving West to grow up with the country, and all of them occupying -the three sections nearest mine. I got so weary of the five cooing, coughing, crying -“clouds-of-glory-trailers,” that it seemed a relief at San Francisco to wash off the -dust of the Middle West and get aboard the P. M. S. Company’s steamer China bound -for the far East. -</p> -<p>But the Captain, like the whistle, was somewhat of a blower, and liked to make me -and the missionaries aboard feel we were leaving behind all that was desirable. And -how he bothered the twoscore or more of them bound for the up-river ports of Middle -China! When, after leaving the Sandwich Islands, the voyage had proceeded far enough -for everybody on the passenger-list to get fairly well acquainted with his neighbors, -these spreaders of the gospel followed the custom established by their predecessors -and made plans for a Sunday missionary service. Without so much as asking leave of -the skipper, they posted in the companion-way the following notice: -<span class="pagenum">[<a id="pb3" href="#pb3">3</a>]</span></p> -<div class="q boxed xd29e598"> -<p class="first">Service in the Saloon, -</p> -<p>Sunday, 10 A.M. -</p> -<p>Rev. X. Y. Z. Smith, of Wang-kiang, China, will speak on mission work on the Upper -Yangtse. -</p> -<p>All are invited.</p> -</div><p> -</p> -<p>But they counted without their host. The Captain had never schooled himself to look -on missionaries with favor, and he accordingly made arrangements to cross the meridian -where the circle of time changes and a day is dropped early on Sunday morning. He -calculated to a nicety, and as the passengers came down to Sabbath breakfast they -saw posted below the other notice, in big letters, the significant words: -</p> -<div class="q boxed xd29e606"> -<p class="first">Sunday, Nov. 29th. -</p> -<p>Ship crosses 180th meridian -</p> -<p>9.30 A.M., -</p> -<p>After which it will be Monday.</p> -</div><p> -<span class="pagenum">[<a id="pb4" href="#pb4">4</a>]</span></p> -<p>In Yokohama and Hong Kong the wiseacres were free in saying they wouldn’t be found -dead in Manila or the Philippines for anything. They had never been there, but knew -all about it, and seemed ready to wave any one bound thither a sort of never’ll-see-you-again -farewell that was most affecting. It is these very people that have made Manila the -side-tracked capital that it is and have scared off globe-trotters from making it -a visit on their way to the Straits of Malacca and India. -</p> -<p>Hong Kong, the end of the China’s outward run, bursts into view after a narrow gateway, -between inhospitable cliffs, lets the steamer into a great bay which is the centre -of admiration for bleak mountain-ranges. The city, with its epidemic of arcaded balconies, -lies along the water to the left and goes stepping up the steep slopes to the peak -behind, on whose summit the signal-flags announce our arrival. The China has scarcely -a chance to come to anchor in peace before a storm of sampans bite her sides like -mosquitoes, and hundreds of Chinawomen come hustling up to secure your trade, while -their lazy husbands stay below and smoke. -</p> -<p>Hong Kong rather feels as if it were the “central exchange” for the Far East, and -from the looks of things I judge it is. The great bay is full of deep-water ships, -the quays teem with life, and the streets <span class="pagenum">[<a id="pb5" href="#pb5">5</a>]</span>are full of quiet bustle. It is quite enough to give one heart disease to shin up -the hills to the residence part of the town, and it took me some time to find breath -enough to tell the Spanish Consul I wanted him to visé my passport to Manila. -</p> -<p>This interesting stronghold of Old England in the East is fertile in descriptive matter -by the wholesale, but I can’t rob my friends in the Philippines of more space than -enough to chronicle the doings of a Chinese tailor who made me up my first suit of -thin tweeds. Ripping off the broad margin to the Hong Kong <i>Daily Press</i>, he stood me on a box, took my measure with his strip of paper, making sundry little -tears along its length, according as it represented length of sleeve or breadth of -chest, and sent me off with a placid “Me makee allee same plopper tree day; no fittee -no takee.” And I’m bound to say that the thin suits Tak Cheong built for $6 apiece, -from nothing but the piece of paper full of tears, fit to far greater perfection than -the system of measurement would seem to have warranted. -</p> -<p>The voyage from Hong Kong to Manila, 700 miles to the southeast, is one of the worst -short ocean-crossings in existence, and the Esmeralda, Captain Tayler, as she went -aslant the seas rolling down from Japan, in front of the northeast monsoon, developed -such a corkscrew motion that I <span class="pagenum">[<a id="pb6" href="#pb6">6</a>]</span>fear it will take a return trip against the other monsoon to untwist the feelings -of her passengers. On the morning of the second day, however, the yawing ceased; the -skipper said we were under the lee of Luzon, the largest and most northern island -of the Philippines, and not long after the high mountains of the shore-range loomed -up off the port bow. From then on our chunky craft of 1,000 tons steamed closer to -the coast and turned headland after headland as she poked south through schools of -flying-fish and porpoises. -</p> -<p>By afternoon the light-house on Corregidor appeared, and with a big sweep to the left -the Esmeralda entered the Boca Chica, or narrow mouth to Manila Bay. On the left, -the coast mountains sloped steeply up for some 5,000 feet, while on the right the -island of Corregidor, with its more moderate altitude, stood planted in the twelve-mile -opening to worry the tides that swept in and out from the China Sea. Beyond lay the -Boca Grande, or wide mouth used by ships coming from the south or going thither, and -still beyond again rose the lower mountains of the south coast. In front the Bay opened -with a grand sweep right and left, till the shore was lost in waves of warm air, and -only the dim blue of distant mountains showed where the opposite perimeter of the -great circle might be located. -<span class="pagenum">[<a id="pb7" href="#pb7">7</a>]</span></p> -<p>It was twenty-seven miles across the bay, and the sun had set with a wealth of color -in the opening behind us before we came to anchor amid a fleet of ships and steamers -off a low-lying shore that showed many lights in long rows. Next morning Manila lay -visibly before us, but failed to convey much idea of its size, from the fact that -it stretched far back on the low land, thus permitting the eye to see only the front -line of buildings and a few taller and more distant church-steeples. Not far in the -background rose a high range of velvet-like looking mountains whose tops aspired to -show themselves above the clouds, and on the right and left stretched flanking ranges -of lower altitude. -</p> -<p>In due season my colleague came off to the anchorage in a small launch, and we were -soon steaming back up a narrow river thickly fringed with small ships, steamers, houses, -quays, and people. It was piping hot at the low custom-house on the quay. Panting -<i>carabao</i>—the oxen of the East—tried to find shade under a parcel of bamboos, shaggy goats -nosed about for stray bits of crude sugar dropped from bags being discharged by coolies, -piles of machinery were lying around promiscuously dumped into the deep mud of the -outyards, natives with bared backs gleaming in the sun were lugging hemp or prying -open boxes, and under-officials with sharp rods were probing <span class="pagenum">[<a id="pb8" href="#pb8">8</a>]</span>flour-sacks in the search for contraband. Spanish officials in full uniform, smoking -cigarettes, playing chess, and fanning themselves in their comfortable seats in bent-wood -rocking-chairs, were interrupted by our arrival, and made one boil within as they -upset the baggage and searched for smuggled dollars. -</p> -<p></p> -<div class="figure p008width" id="p008"><img src="images/p008.jpg" alt="Our Office and the Punkah under which the Old Salts Sat for Free Sea Breezes." width="713" height="536"><p class="figureHead">Our Office and the Punkah under which the Old Salts Sat for Free Sea Breezes.</p> -<p class="first seepage"><i>See page <a href="#pb8" class="pageref">8</a>.</i> </p> -</div><p> -</p> -<p>Here, then, was the anti-climax to the long journey of forty days from Boston, and -those were the moments in which to realize the meaning of the expression made by the -Captain of the China as she left the Golden Gate: “Take a last look, for you’re leaving -behind God’s country.” -</p> -<p>Before arrival, while yet the Esmeralda was steaming down the coast, I was resolved -to refrain from judging Manila by first impressions. I felt primed for anything, and -was bound to be neither surprised nor disappointed. At first, I may admit, my chin -and collar drooped, but on meeting with my new associate I gave them a mental starching -and stepped with courage into the rickety barouche that, drawn by two small and bony -ponies, took us to the office of Henry W. Peabody & Co., the only American house in -the Philippines. -</p> -<p>And having entered the two upstair rooms, that looked out over the little Plaza de -Cervantes, I was introduced to bamboo chairs, a quartette of desks, and half a dozen -office-boys, who were rudely awakened <span class="pagenum">[<a id="pb9" href="#pb9">9</a>]</span>from their morning’s slumber by the scuffle of my heavy boots on the broad, black -planks of the shining floors. Across the larger room, suspended from the ceiling, -hung the big “punka,” which seems to form a most important article of furniture in -every tropical establishment. On my arrival the boy who pulled the string got down -to work, and amid the sea-breezes that blew the morning’s mail about, business of -the day began. -</p> -<p>The first thing I noticed was that cloth instead of plaster formed the walls and ceilings, -and seemed far less likely than the mixture of lime and water to fall into baby’s -crib or onto the dinner-table during those terrestrial or celestial exhibitions for -which Manila is famous. For the Philippines are said to be the cradle of earthquake -and typhoon, and in buildings, everywhere, construction seems to conform to the requirements -of these much-respected “movers.” Tiles on roofs, they say, are now forbidden, since -the passers-by below are not willing to wear brass helmets or carry steel umbrellas -to ward off a shower of those missiles started by a heavy shake. Galvanized iron is -used instead, and, while detracting from the picturesque, has added to the security -of households who once used to be rudely awakened from their slumbers by the extra -weight of tile bedspreads. -</p> -<p>And Manila houses. Down in the town, outside <span class="pagenum">[<a id="pb10" href="#pb10">10</a>]</span>the city walls, the regular, or rather irregular, Spanish type prevails, and nature, -in her nervousness, seems to have done much in dispensing with lines horizontal and -perpendicular. The buildings all have an appearance of feebleness and senility, and -look as if a good blow or a heavy shake would lay them flat. But in the old city, -behind the fortifications, are heavy buttressed buildings of by-gone days, built when -it was thought that earthquakes respected thick walls rather than thin, and the sturdy -buttresses so occupy the narrow sidewalks that pedestrians must travel single file. -The Spanish—so it seems—rejoice to huddle together in these gloomy houses of Manila -proper, but the rich natives, half-castes, and foreigners all prefer the newer villas -outside the narrow streets and musty walls; and just as much as the Anglo-Saxon likes -to place a grass-plot or a garden between him and the thoroughfare in front of his -residence, so does the Spaniard seek to hug close to the street, and even builds his -house to overhang the sidewalk. Save for carriages and dogs, the lower floors of city -houses are generally deserted, and, on account of fevers that hang about in the mists -of the low-ground, everyone takes to living on the upper story. Balconies, which are -so elaborate that they carry the whole upper part of the house out over the sidewalk, -are a conspicuous feature in all the buildings of older construction, and <span class="pagenum">[<a id="pb11" href="#pb11">11</a>]</span>with their engaging overhang afford opportunities for leaning out to talk with passers-by -below, or a convenient vantage-ground from which to throw the waste water from wash-basins. -Huge window-gratings thrust themselves forward from the walls of the lower story, -and are often big enough to permit dogs and servants to sit in them and watch the -pedestrians, who almost have to leave the sidewalk to get around these great cages. -</p> -<p>It may be just as well, before going farther, to say something about this town that -is sarcastically labelled “Pearl of the Orient” and “Venice of the Far East” by poets -who have only seen the oyster-shell windows or back doors on the Pasig on the cover-labels -of cigar-boxes. It seems big enough to supply me with the pianos and provisions which -kind friends suggested I bring out with me in case of need, and the main street, Escolta, -is as busy with life and as well fringed with shops as a Washington street or a Broadway. -</p> -<p>Spanish, of course, is the court and commercial language and, except among the uneducated -natives who have a lingo of their own or among the few members of the Anglo-Saxon -colony—it has a monopoly everywhere. No one can really get on without it, and even -the Chinese come in with their peculiar pidgin variety. -</p> -<p>The city squats around its old friend the river <span class="pagenum">[<a id="pb12" href="#pb12">12</a>]</span>Pasig, and shakes hands with itself in the several bridges that bind one side to the -other. On the right bank of the river, coming in from the bay and passing up by the -breakwater, lies the old walled town of Manila proper, whose weedy moats, ponderous -drawbridges, and heavy gates suggest a troubled past. Old Manila may be figured as -a triangle, a mile on a side, and the dingy walls seem, as it were, to herd in a drove -of church-steeples, schools, houses, and streets. The river is the boundary on the -north, and the wall at that side but takes up the quay which runs in from the breakwater -and carries it up to the Puente de España, the first bridge that has courage enough -to span the yellow stream. -</p> -<p>The front wall runs a mile to the south along the bay front, starting at the river -in the old fort and battery that look down on the berth where the Esmeralda lies, -and is separated from the beach only by an old moat and the promenade of the Malecon, -which, also beginning at the river, runs to an open plaza called the Luneta, a mile -up the beach. The east wall takes up the business at that point, and wobbles off at -an angle again till it brings up at the river fortifications, just near where the -Puente de España, already spoken of, carries all the traffic across the Pasig. Thus -the old city is cooped up like pool-balls, in a triangle three miles around, and the -walls do as much in <span class="pagenum">[<a id="pb13" href="#pb13">13</a>]</span>keeping out the wind as they do in keeping in the various unsavory odors that come -from people who like garlic and don’t take baths. Here is the cathedral—a fine old -church that cost a million of money and was widowed of its steeple in the earthquakes -of the ’80s—and besides a lot of smaller churches are convent schools, the city hall, -army barracks, and a raft of private residences. -</p> -<p>Opposite Old Manila, on the other bank, lies the business section, with the big quays -lined with steamers and alive with movement. The custom-house and the foreign business -community are close by the river-side, while in back are hundreds of narrow streets, -<span class="corr" id="xd29e675" title="Source: storehouses">store-houses</span>, and shops that go to make up the stamping ground of the Chinese who control so large -a part of the provincial trade. -</p> -<p>Everything centres at the foot of the Puente de España, which pours its perspiring -flood into the narrow lane of the Escolta, and people, carriages, <span class="corr" id="xd29e680" title="Source: tramcars">tram-cars</span>, and dust all sail in here from north, east, south, and west. As on the other side, -the busy part of the section runs a mile up and down the river and a mile back from -it, while out or up beyond come the earlier residential suburbs. In Old Manila, the -Church seems to rule, but on this side the Pasig the State makes itself felt, from -the custom-house to the governor’s palace—a couple of miles up stream. -<span class="pagenum">[<a id="pb14" href="#pb14">14</a>]</span></p> -<p>As to population, Manila, in the larger sense, may hold 350,000 souls, besides a few -dogs. Of the lot, call 50,000 Chinese, 5,000 Spaniards, 150 Germans, 90 English, and -4 Americans. The rest are natives or half-castes of the Malay type, whose blood runs -in all mixtures of Chinese, Spanish, and what-not proportions, and whose Chinese eyes, -flat noses, and high cheek-bones are queer accompaniments to their Spanish accents. -Thus the majority of the souls in Manila,—like the dogs—are mongrels, or <i>mestizos</i>, as the word is, and the saying goes that happy is the man who knows his own father. -</p> -<p></p> -<div class="figure p014width" id="p014"><img src="images/p014.jpg" alt="Plaza de Cervantes, Foreign Business Quarter." width="720" height="509"><p class="figureHead">Plaza de Cervantes, Foreign Business Quarter.</p> -<p class="first seepage"><i>See page <a href="#pb8" class="pageref">8</a>.</i> </p> -</div><p> -</p> -<p>I spent my first night in Manila at the Spanish Hotel El Oriente, and it was here -that I became acquainted with that peculiar institution, the Philippine bed. And to -the newly arrived traveller its peculiar rig and construction make it command a good -deal of interest, if not respect. It is a four-poster, with the posts extending high -enough to support a light roof, from whose eaves hang copious folds of deep lace. -The bed-frame is strung tightly across with regular chair-bottom cane, and the only -other fittings are a piece of straw matting spread over the cane, a pillow, and a -surrounding wall of mosquito-netting that drops down from the roof and is tucked in -under the matting. How to get into one of these cages was the first question that -presented itself, and <span class="pagenum">[<a id="pb15" href="#pb15">15</a>]</span>what to do with myself after I got in was the second. It took at least half an hour -to make up my mind as to the proper mode of entrance, when I was for the first time -alone with this Philippine curiosity, and I couldn’t make out whether it was proper -to get in through the roof or the bottom or the side. After finally pulling away the -netting, I found the hard cane bottom about as soft as the teak floor, and looked -in vain for blankets, sheets, and mattresses. In fact, it seems as if I had gotten -into an unfurnished house, and the more I thought about it the longer I stayed awake. -At last I cut my way out of the peculiar arrangement, dressed, and spent the decidedly -cool night in a long cane chair, preferring not to experiment further with the sleeping-machine -until I found out how it worked. -</p> -<p>Next morning my breakfast was brought up by a native boy, and consisted of a cup of -thick chocolate, a clammy roll, and a sort of seed-cake without any hole in it. How -to drink the chocolate, which was as thick as molasses, seemed the chief question, -but I rightly concluded that the seed-cake was put there to sop it out of the cup, -after the fashion of blotting-paper. Fortified with this peculiar combination, I started -on my second business day by trying to remember in what direction the office lay, -and wandered cityward through busy streets, often bordered with <span class="pagenum">[<a id="pb16" href="#pb16">16</a>]</span>arcaded sidewalks, which were further shaded from the sun by canvas curtains. -</p> -<p>After beginning the morning by ordering a dozen suits of white sheeting from a native -tailor—price $2.50 apiece—I was introduced to the members of the English Club, and -began to feel more at home stretched out in one of the long chairs in the cool library. -It seems that the club affords shelter and refreshment to its fourscore members at -two widely separated points of the compass, one just on the banks of the Pasig River, -where its waters, slouching down from the big lake at the foot of the mountains, are -first introduced to the outlying suburbs of the city, and the other in the heart of -the business section. The same set of native servants do for both departments, since -no one stays uptown during the middle of the day and no one downtown after business -hours. As a result, on week-days, after the light breakfast of the early morning is -over at the uptown building, the staff of waiters and assistants hurry downtown in -the tram-cars and make ready for the noon meal at the other structure, returning home -to the suburbs in time to officiate at dinner. -</p> -<p>At the downtown club is the 6,000-volume library, and after the noonday tiffin it -is always customary to stretch out in one of the long bamboo chairs and read one’s -self to sleep. This is indeed a land where laziness <span class="pagenum">[<a id="pb17" href="#pb17">17</a>]</span>becomes second nature. If you want a book or paper on the table, and they lie more -than a yard or two from where you are located, it is not policy to reach for them. -O, no! You ring a bell twice as far off, take a nap while the boy comes from a distance, -and wake up to find him handing you them with a graceful “<span lang="es">Aquí, Señor!</span>” In fact, I have even just now met an English fellow who, they tell me, took a barber -with him on a recent trip to the southern provinces, to look after his scanty beard -that was composed of no more than three or four dozen hairs, each of which grew one-eighth -of an inch quarterly. -</p> -<p>On the day before Christmas one of the guest-rooms at the uptown club was vacated, -and I moved in. The building is about two and a half miles out of the city, and its -broad balcony, shaded by luxuriant palms and other tropical trees, almost overhangs -the main river that splits Manila in two. The view from this tropical piazza is most -peaceful. Opposite lie the rice-fields, with a cluster of native huts surrounding -an old church, while, blue in the distance, sleeps a range of low mountains. To the -left the river winds back up-country and soon loses itself in many turns among the -foothills that later grow into the more adult uplifts on the Pacific Coast, while -to the right it turns a sharp corner and slides down between broken rows of native -huts and more elaborate bungalows. -<span class="pagenum">[<a id="pb18" href="#pb18">18</a>]</span></p> -<p>The club-house is long, low, and rambling. The reading, writing, and music rooms front -on the river, and the glossy hard-wood floors, hand-hewn out of solid trees, seem -to suggest music and coolness. It is possible to reach the city by jumping into a -native boat at the portico on the river bank, or to go by one of the two-wheel gigs, -called <i>carromatas</i>, waiting at the front gate, or to walk a block and take the tram-car which jogs down -through the busy highroad. -</p> -<p>It is very difficult to absorb the points of so large a place at one’s first introduction, -so I won’t go further now than to speak of that far-famed seaside promenade called -the Luneta, where society takes its airing after the heat of the day is over. -</p> -<p>Imagine an elliptical plaza, about a thousand feet long, situated just above the low -beach which borders the Bay, and looking over toward the China Sea. Running around -its edge is a broad roadway, bounded on one side by the sea-wall, and on the other -by the green fields and bamboo-trees of the parade-grounds. In the centre of the raised -ellipse is the band-stand, and on every afternoon, from six to eight, all Manila come -here to feel the breeze, hear the music, and see their neighbors. Hundreds of carriages -line the roadways, and mounted police keep them in proper file. The movement is from -right to left, and only <span class="pagenum">[<a id="pb19" href="#pb19">19</a>]</span>the Archbishop and the Governor-General are allowed to drive in the opposite direction. -</p> -<p>The gentler element, in order not to encourage a flow of perspiration that may melt -off their complexions, take to carriages, but the sterner sex prefer to walk up and -down, crowd around the band-stand, or sit along the edge of the curbing in chairs -rented for a couple of coppers. Directly in front lies the great Bay, with the sun -going down in the Boca Chica, between the hardly visible island of Corregidor and -the main land, thirty miles away. To the rear stretches the parade-ground, backed -up by clumps of bamboos and the distant mountains beyond. To the right lie the corner -batteries and walls of Old Manila, and to the left the attractive suburb of Ermita, -with the stretch of shore running along toward the naval station of Cavité, eleven -miles away. To take a chair, watch the people walking to and fro, and see the endless -stream of smart turn-outs passing in slow procession; to hear a band of fifty pieces -render popular and classic music with the spirit of a Sousa or a Reeves, is to doubt -that you are in a capital 8,000 miles from Paris and 11,000 miles from New York. Footmen -with tall hats, in spotless white uniforms, grace the box-seats of the low-built victorias, -while tastefully dressed Spanish women or wealthy half-castes recline against the -soft cushions and take <span class="pagenum">[<a id="pb20" href="#pb20">20</a>]</span>for granted the admiration of those walking up and down the mall. -</p> -<p></p> -<div class="figure p020width" id="p020"><img src="images/p020.jpg" alt="Puente de España. Manila’s Main Highway Across the Pasig." width="720" height="507"><p class="figureHead">Puente de España. Manila’s Main Highway Across the Pasig.</p> -<p class="first seepage"><i>See page <a href="#pb12" class="pageref">12</a>.</i> </p> -</div><p> -</p> -<p>The splendidly trained artillery-band, composed entirely of natives, but conducted -by a Spaniard, plays half a dozen selections each evening, and here is a treat that -one can have every afternoon of the year, free of charge. There are no snow-drifts -or cold winds to mar the performance, and, except during the showers and winds of -the rainy season, it goes on without interruption. -</p> -<p>After the music is over the carriages rush off in every direction, behind smart-stepping -little ponies that get over the ground at a tremendous pace, and the dinner-hour is -late enough not to rob one of those pleasant hours at just about sunset. There are -no horses in Manila—all ponies, and some of them are so small as to be actually insignificant. -They are tremendously tough little beasts, however, and stand more heat, work, and -beating than most horses of twice their size. -</p> -<p>Our Christmas dinner at the club has just ended, and from the bill of fare one would -never suspect he was not at the Waldorf or the Parker House. Long punkas swung to -and fro over the big tables, small serving boys in bare feet rushed hither and thither -with meat and drink, corks popped, the smart breeze blew jokes about, and everyone -unbent. <span class="pagenum">[<a id="pb21" href="#pb21">21</a>]</span>Soups, fish, joints, entrées, rémoves, hors-d’œuvres, mince-pies, plum-puddings, and -all the delicacies to be found in cooler climes had their turn, as did a variety of -liquid courses. Singing, speeches, and music followed the more material things, and -everyone was requested to take some part in the performance. By the time the show -was over the piano was dead-beat and everybody hoarse from singing by the wrong method. -<span class="pagenum">[<a id="pb22" href="#pb22">22</a>]</span> </p> -</div> -</div> -<div id="ch2" class="div1 chapter"><span class="pagenum">[<a href="#xd29e196">Contents</a>]</span><div class="divHead"> -<h2 class="main">II</h2> -<div class="argument"> -<p class="first">Shopping at the “<span lang="es">Botica Inglesa</span>”—The Chit System—Celebrating New Year’s Eve—Manila Cooking Arrangements—Floors and -Windows—Peculiarities of the Tram-car Service—Roosters Everywhere—Italian Opera—Philippine -Music—The Mercury at 74° and an Epidemic of “Grippe”—Fight Between a Bull and a Tiger—A -Sorry Fiasco—Carnival Sunday.</p> -</div> -</div> -<div class="divBody"> -<p class="first date">January 7th. -</p> -<p>My third Sunday in Manila is a cool breezy day, with fresh winds blowing down from -the mountains. The weather has lately been as temperate as one could wish, and has -corresponded to some of our soft spring conditions. From noon until three o’clock -has usually seemed warm, but the mornings have made walking pleasant, the afternoons -have given opportunities for tennis, and the evenings have hinted that an overcoat -would not be amiss. One could hardly ask for any more comfortable place to live in -than Manila as it stands to-day, and although sanitary appliances are most primitive, -the city seems to be healthy and without noisome pestilence. -</p> -<p>During the holiday season, just over, foreign business has been suspended and everyone -socially inclined. Shopping has been in vogue, and on one of <span class="pagenum">[<a id="pb23" href="#pb23">23</a>]</span>my expeditions for photographic materials I was introduced to the “<span lang="es">Botica Inglesa</span>,” or English chemist’s shop, which seems to be the largest variety-store in town. -Here it is possible to buy anything from a glass of soda to a full-fledged lawn-mower, -including all the intermediates that reach from tooth-brushes to photographic cameras. -</p> -<p>And speaking of shopping brings mo to the “chit” system, which has been such a curse -to the Far East. In making purchases, no one pays cash for anything, since the heavy -Mexican dollars—which are the only currency of the islands—are too heavy to lug around -in the thin suits made of white sheeting. One simply signs an “<abbr title="I owe you">I.O.U.</abbr>” for the amount of the bill in any shop that he may choose to patronize, and thinks -no more about it till at the end of the month all the “chits” which bear his name -are sent around for collection. -</p> -<p>Result: one never feels as if he were spending anything until the first day of the -incoming month ushers in a host of these big or little reminders. If your chits at -one single shop run into large amounts, the collector generally brings along with -him a coolie or a wheelbarrow with which to lug away the weight of dollars that you -pour into his hands, and when two or three collectors come in together the office -reminds one of a “money-’changer’s. Counterfeit <span class="pagenum">[<a id="pb24" href="#pb24">24</a>]</span>money is so prevalent that one after the other of your callers bites the silver or -drops it on the floor to detect lead, and to listen to the resulting sound is not -to feel complimented by their opinion of your integrity. So it goes, many of the shop-keepers -being swindled out of their dues by debtors who choose to skip off rather than to -pay, and waking up at the end of the month to find their supposed profits existing -only in the chits whose signers have skedaddled to Hong Kong or Singapore. -</p> -<p>New Year’s Eve was celebrated with due hilarity and elaborate provisions. The club -bill of fare was remarkable, and when it is realized there are no stoves in Manila, -the wonder is that the cooking is so complex. A Manila stove is no more nor less than -a good-sized earthen jar, shaped something like an old shoe. The vamp of the shoe -represents the hearth; the opening in front, the place for putting in the small sticks -of wood; and the enclosing upper, the rim on which rests the single big pot or kettle. -In a well-regulated kitchen, there may be a dozen of these stoves, one for each course, -and their cost being only a peseta, it is a simple matter to keep a few extra ones -on hand in the bread-closet. And so, as one goes through the streets where native -huts predominate, he sees a family meal being cooked in sections, and is forced to -admire the complexity of the <span class="pagenum">[<a id="pb25" href="#pb25">25</a>]</span>greasy dishes that are evolved from so simple a contrivance. -</p> -<p>As the Manila cooking arrangements are rude, so I suspect are the pantry’s dish-washing -opportunities. I really should hesitate to enter even our club-kitchen, for certain -dim suggestions which are conveyed to the senses from spoons and forks, and certain -plate surfaces that would calm troubled waters if hung from a ship’s side, all hint -at unappetizing sights. All in all, the less one sees of native cooking, <i>in transitu</i>, the greater will one’s appetite be. -</p> -<p>I had expected an early introduction to earthquakes, but none have occurred so far, -and I am almost tempted to get reckless. Soon after my arrival I was inclined to put -my chemical bottles in a box of sawdust, empty part of the water out of my pitcher, -and pack my watch in cotton-wool in anticipation of some nocturnal disturbance. For -the old stagers who saw the city fall to pieces back in the ’80’s deem it their duty -to alarm the new arrival, and almost turn pale when a heavy dray rolls by over the -cobblestones in the street near the club, or make ready to fly out-of-doors at the -first suspicion of vibration. -</p> -<p>A word or two more about the floors in Manila houses. I don’t suppose there is a soft-wood -tree in the islands, and as a result one sees some very interesting hard-wood productions. -The floors come under <span class="pagenum">[<a id="pb26" href="#pb26">26</a>]</span>this category. Rough-hewn as they are—out of huge hand-sawed hard-wood planks—they -are models. By certain processes of polishing with banana leaves and greasy rags, -they are made to shine like genius itself, and give such a clean, cool air to the -houses that one is compelled to regard them with admiration. In fact, there is a certain -charm in Manila about many specimens of hand-work that one encounters everywhere. -The stilted regularities—as our good professor used to say—of machine-made articles -are frequently conspicuous by their absence, and instead one sees the inequalities, -the lack of exact repetition, the informality of lines that are not just perpendicular -or horizontal, all of which make up the charm of work that is handmade, that reflects -the movements of a living arm and mind rather than those of a wheel or a lever. -</p> -<p></p> -<div class="figure p026width" id="p026"><img src="images/p026.jpg" alt="The Busy Pasig, from the Puente de España. Old Manila on the Left. Business Quarter to the Right." width="720" height="505"><p class="figureHead">The Busy Pasig, from the Puente de España. Old Manila on the Left. Business Quarter -to the Right.</p> -<p class="first seepage"><i>See page <a href="#pb13" class="pageref">13</a>.</i> </p> -</div><p> -</p> -<p>The curious windows that are everywhere are likewise instructive. Like the blinds, -they slide in grooves on the railings of the balconies, and serve to shut out the -weather from the interior. They consist of frames containing a multitude of small -lattice-work squares, into which are placed thin, flat, translucent sea-shells which -admit light, but are not look-throughable. We have all heard of shell-roads, but never -of shell-windows, and one misses the presence of glass until he has got accustomed -to a Manila house, <span class="pagenum">[<a id="pb27" href="#pb27">27</a>]</span>whose sliding sides are one vast window that is rarely closed. -</p> -<p>Manila streets, outside of the city proper, are smooth, hard, and well shaded by the -arching bamboos. They are already proving attractive to the bicycle, which, though -very expensive out here at the antipodes, is growing in favor, especially among the -wealthier half-castes, or <i>mestizos</i>. -</p> -<p>Tram-car service is slow, but pretty generally good. The car is a thing by itself, -as is the one lean pony that pulls it. It takes one man to drive and one to work the -whip, and if the wind blows too hard, service is generally suspended. The conductor -carries a small valise suspended from his neck, and whistles through his lips “up-hill” -to stop, and “down-hill” as the starting-sign. The usual notice, “Smoking allowed -on the three rear seats only,” is absent, for everyone smokes, even to the conductor, -who generally drops the ash off a 15-for-a-cent cigarette into your lap as he hands -you a receipt for your <i lang="es">dos centavos</i>. The chief rule of the road says: -</p> -<p>“This car has seats for twelve persons, and places for eight on each platform. Passengers -are requested to stand in equal numbers only on both platforms, to prevent derailment.” -</p> -<p>And so if there are four “fares” on the front and six on the back platform, somebody -has to stumble <span class="pagenum">[<a id="pb28" href="#pb28">28</a>]</span>forward to equalize the weight. No one is allowed to stand inside, and if the car -contains its quota of passengers, the driver hangs out the sign, “<i lang="es">Lleno</i>” (full), and doesn’t stop even for the Archbishop. It is just as well, perhaps, to -sit at the front end of the car if you are afraid of <span class="corr" id="xd29e824" title="Source: smallpox">small-pox</span>, for the other morning a Philippine mamma brushed into a seat holding a scantily -clothed babe well covered with evidences of that disease. One sympathizes with the -single pony that does the pulling as he sees thirty people besides the car in his -load, and it is no uncommon thing on a slight rise or sharp turn for all hands to -get off and help the vehicle over the difficulty. The driver holds the whip by the -wrong end and lets the heavy one come down with double force on the terribly tough -hide of the motive power. Aside from tram-cars some of these little beasts, however, -are possessed of great speed, and with a reckless <i>cochero</i> in charge, it is no uncommon sight to see three or four turnouts come tearing down -the street abreast, full tilt, clearing the road, killing dogs and roosters, and making -one’s hair stand on end. -</p> -<p>Speaking of roosters, they are the native dog in the Philippines. The inhabitants -pet and coddle them, smooth down their plumage, clean their combs, or pull out their -tail-feathers to make them fight, to their heart’s content, and it is a fact that -these cackling <span class="pagenum">[<a id="pb29" href="#pb29">29</a>]</span>glass-eaters really seem to show affection for their proprietors, in as great measure -as they exhibit hatred for their brothers. Every native has his fighting-cock, which -is reared with the greatest care until he has shown sufficient prowess to entitle -him to an entrance into the cock-pit. In case of fire, the rooster is the first thing -rescued and removed to a place of safety, for babies—common luxuries in the Philippines—are -a secondary consideration and more easily duplicated than the feathered biped. It -is almost impossible to walk along any street in the suburban part of the town without -seeing dozens of natives trudging along with roosters under their arms, which are -being talked to and petted to distraction. At every other little roadside hut, an -impromptu battle will be going on between two birds of equal or unequal merit, the -two proprietors holding their respective roosters by the tails in order that they -may not come into too close quarters. The cock-pits, where gatherings are held on -Thursdays and Sundays, are large enclosures covered with a roof of thatch sewed onto -a framework of bamboo; they are open on all sides, and banked up with tiers of rude -seats that surround a sawdust ring in the centre. Outside the gates to the flimsy -structure sit a motley crowd of women, young and old, selling eatables whose dark, -greasy texture beggars description, while here and there in <span class="pagenum">[<a id="pb30" href="#pb30">30</a>]</span>the open spaces a couple of natives will be giving their respective roosters a sort -of preliminary trial with each other. As the show goes on inside, shouts and applause -resound at every opportunity, and at the close of the performance a multitude of two-wheeled -gigs carry off the victors with their spoils, while the losers trudge home through -the dust on foot. -</p> -<p>Other familiar street-scenes consist of Chinese barbers, who carry around a chair, -a pair of scissors, and a razor wherever they go, and stop to give you a shave or -hair-cut at any part of the block; or Chinese ear-cleaners, who scoop out of those -organs some of the unprintable epithets hurled by one native at another. Cascades -of slops not uncommonly descend into the street as one walks along beneath a slightly -overhanging second story of some of the houses, and one is impressed, if not wet, -by this favorite method of laying the street-dust. -</p> -<p>Besides the daily afternoon music on the Luneta, a full-fledged Italian opera troupe -has come to town and has begun to give performances in the Teatro Zorilla. “Carmen” -and “The Cavalleria Rusticana” are on the bill for this week, and many other of the -old standbys are going to have their turn later. -</p> -<p>In respect to music, <span class="corr" id="xd29e839" title="Source: sidetracked">side-tracked</span> though it is, Manila seems to be more favored than her sister capitals <span class="pagenum">[<a id="pb31" href="#pb31">31</a>]</span>in the Far East, and everyone appears to be able to play on something. Such of the -native houses as are too frail to support pianos shelter harps, violins, and other -stringed instruments, while some of the more expensive structures contain the whole -selection. Of an evening—in the suburbs—it is no uncommon thing to hear the strains -of a well-played Spanish march issuing from under the thatch of a rickety hut, or -to find an impromptu concert going on in the little tram-car which is bringing home -a handful of native youth with their guitars or mandolins. Every district has its -band, some of the instruments in which are often made out of empty kerosene-cans, -and the nights resound with tunes from all quarters. In fact, the Philippine band -is one of the chief articles of export from Manila, and groups of natives with their -cheap instruments are shipped off to Japan, India, and the Spice Islands, to carry -harmony into the midst of communities where music is uncultivated. All in all, it -is extremely curious that out of all the peoples of the Far East the Filipinos are -the only ones possessing a natural talent for music, and that the islands to-day stand -out unique from among all the surrounding territory as being the home of a musical -race, who do not make the night as hideous with weird beatings of tom-toms as they -do poetic with soft waltzes coaxed from gruff trombones. -<span class="pagenum">[<a id="pb32" href="#pb32">32</a>]</span></p> -<p class="date">January 18th. -</p> -<p>Manila is pretty well, thanks. The weather has been cool and comfortable. Showers -have come every day or two to lay the dust, and one could not want a more salubrious -condition of things. The sunsets from the Luneta have been more than pyrotechnic, -and I now believe that nowhere do you see such displays of color as in the Orient, -Land of the Sunrise. During these three weeks of my stay, so far there have been five -holidays, and we have had ample time to take afternoon walks up the beach, or play -tennis at the club, or indulge in moonlight rows on the Pasig. -</p> -<p></p> -<div class="figure p032width" id="p032"><img src="images/p032.jpg" alt="A Philippine Sleeping-machine." width="668" height="536"><p class="figureHead">A Philippine Sleeping-machine.</p> -<p class="first seepage"><i>See page <a href="#pb14" class="pageref">14</a>.</i> </p> -</div><p> -</p> -<p>A week ago on the island just opposite the club, where lies a good-sized village, -containing an old church, there was a religious festival, which lasted all the week. -This was the Fiesta of Pandacan, and all the natives for miles around came pouring -down by our veranda, in bancas and barges, on their way across the river. Every night -during the week, bands of music played on one side of the stream and on the other -side, and then crossed to their respective opposites, playing <i lang="la">in transitu</i>, and then setting up shop on shore again. Then there were fireworks, bombs, and rockets -galore, so that the early night was alive with noise and sparks. On the evening of -the grand wind-up we crossed over to see the sights, in one of the usual hollowed-out -tree-trunk ferryboats. Crowds of <span class="pagenum">[<a id="pb33" href="#pb33">33</a>]</span>gayly dressed natives surged around the plaza, near the old church, while everywhere -along the edges squatted old men and women, cooking all sorts of greasy “chow” on -those peculiar Philippine stoves described in the last chapter. Everybody smoked, -as well as the pots and kettles, and the air was therefore foggy. The little, low-thatched -houses were jauntily decorated with lanterns and streamers, and at all the open fronts -leaned out rows of grinning natives. -</p> -<p>Here and there were small “<i>tiendas</i>,” or little booths, where cheap American toys, collar-buttons, pictures, and little -figures of the Saviour were sold, and great was the hubbub. The houses, as well as -the people, are very low of stature, and as we walked along the narrow, almost cunning -streets, our shoulders level with the eaves of many of the shanties, and above the -heads of many of the people, we felt indeed like giants. Many were the pianos in those -native huts, and peculiar mixtures of strikingly decent playing fell upon the ear -from all sides. -</p> -<p>The whole circus wound up with a grand pyrotechnical illumination of the old church -from base to tower, and a score of loud explosions, caused by the setting off of many -dozen bombs at the same time, made up in noise what the religious celebration lacked -in spirituality. Then all the bands came back <span class="pagenum">[<a id="pb34" href="#pb34">34</a>]</span>and played their lungs out as they crossed the river, and all the people rushed for -bancas, and came chattering home. Thus did this pretty little religious show consume, -in noise and sparks, the contributions of a very long time. -</p> -<p>The grand opera company which is here is doing remarkably well, and “Faust” was given -the other evening to a crowded house. The theatre Zorilla is round, like a circus, -and in the centre of the ring sit the holders of our regular orchestra seats, facing -the stage, which chops off the segment of the circle opposite the main entrance. In -a rim surrounding the central arena stretches the single row of boxes, a good deal -like small open sheep-pens, separated from each other only by insignificant railings. -Next comes the surrounding aisle, and in the broad outside section of the circle, -rising up in steep tiers, are the seats for the natives and gallery gods, who invariably -bring their lunch with them, to pass away the time during the long intermissions. -The orchestra is a native one, led by an Italian conductor, and doesn’t tuck its shirt -into its trousers. The musicians, who battle with the difficult score, grind out their -music quite as successfully as some of our home performers, who would scorn the dark -faces and flying shirt-tails of their Philippine brethren. -</p> -<p>During the performance the management introduced <span class="pagenum">[<a id="pb35" href="#pb35">35</a>]</span>a ballet, whose members were native Filipinas. It was too laughable. The faces and -arms of the women who formed the corps seemed first to have been covered with mucilage, -and then besprinkled with flour in order to bring the dark-brown complexion up to -the softer half-tints of the Italian performers. The native lady, as a rule, is unacquainted -with French shoes or high heels, slippers being the every-day equipment, and when -these flowery beings came forward on to the stage, saw the huge audience, and tried -to go through the mazes of the dance in European footgear, they felt entirely snarled -up, even if they didn’t look more than half so. But this only served to keep the audience -in a good humor, and everybody seemed to enjoy both the singing and the deviltry of -<i>Mephistopheles</i>, whose part was well taken. The waits between the acts were long, and the drop-curtain -was covered with barefaced advertisements of dealers in pills, hats, and carriages. -But there were cool little cafés across the roadway running by the theatre, and one -forgot the delay in the pleasure of being refreshed by Spanish chocolate and crisp -<i><span class="corr" id="xd29e883" title="Source: bunuelos">buñuelos</span></i>. -</p> -<p>In front of the main entrance to the theatre stood two firemen, with hose in hand, -ready to play on anything as soon as the orchestra stopped or a lamp fell, but otherwise -nothing was particularly strange. <span class="pagenum">[<a id="pb36" href="#pb36">36</a>]</span>The whole structure was oil-lighted with rickety chandeliers, which shed a dangerous -though brilliant glare down upon a large audience of most exquisitely dressed Spanish -people, <i>mestizos</i> and foreigners. Pretty little flower-girls wandered about trying to dispose of their -wares to the rather over-dressed dudes of the upper half-caste 400, and their mammas -often followed them around to assist in making sales. If it begins to rain in the -afternoon, before the performance, everybody understands that the show is to be postponed, -provided clearing conditions do not follow, and those who hold tickets are, as a rule, -grateful not to be obliged to risk their horses and their starched clothes to the -treatment of a possible downpour. -</p> -<p>The Luneta is still a close rival to the opera, and each afternoon a dozen of us will -generally meet there to refresh ourselves with the music and the passing show. Toward -sundown, in the afternoons, of late, the big guns in the batteries up along the walls -of Old Manila, hard by, have been used in long-distance sea target-practice, and it -has been interesting, on the way from the office to the promenade, to walk along the -beach and see the cannon-balls zip over the water and slump into it miles from their -destination. The same target serves every afternoon, and seems perfectly safe from -being hit. I wish I could say as <span class="pagenum">[<a id="pb37" href="#pb37">37</a>]</span>much for the fleet of American ships that are lying off the breakwater, at the anchorage. -</p> -<p class="date">February 8th. -</p> -<p>It seems peculiar to see the moon standing directly overhead o’nights, and casting -a shadow of one’s self that is without meaning. I never yet realized we had so little -shape before, looking from above, as when I saw this new species of shadow the other -night, and was really sorry that the angels never had a chance to look at us from -a better point of view. -</p> -<p>To be politic, and begin with the weather as usual, a cold snap lately has given everyone -the “grippe.” The mercury actually stood at 74° all one day, and couldn’t be coaxed -to go higher. Think of the suffering that such low temperature would occasion among -a people who have no furnaces or open fireplaces. You may think I am facetious, but -74° in the Philippines means a great deal to people who are always accustomed to 95°. -</p> -<p>The opera-talk continues, and “Fra Diavolo” was most successfully performed to a crowded -house the other evening. “The Barber of Seville” was given Sunday night with equal -<i>éclat</i>, and the <i>prima donna</i> was a star of the first water, whose merits were recognized in the presentation of -some huge flower-pieces, probably paid for by herself. But the opera <span class="pagenum">[<a id="pb38" href="#pb38">38</a>]</span>has had a rival, and those who are not so musically inclined have spent most of their -spare moments in discussing the great bull and tiger fight which took place Sunday -afternoon. -</p> -<p>It was a queer show, and not altogether edifying. The old bull-ring, squatting out -in the rice-fields of Ermita suburb, was to be used for the last time, and the occasion -was to be of unusual interest, since the flaming posters announced, in grown-up letters: -</p> -<div class="q boxed xd29e911"> -<p class="first">STRUGGLE BETWEEN WILD BEASTS. -</p> -<p><span class="sc">Grand Fight to the Death between Full-blooded Spanish Bull, and Royal Bengal Tiger, -Direct from the Jungles of India.</span></p> -</div><p> -</p> -<p>For days before the show came off, conversation in the cafés along the Escolta invariably -turned to the subject of the coming exhibition, and it was evident that the managers -fully intended both to reap a large harvest of heavy dollars and to wind up the career -of the bull-ring association in a blaze of blood and glory. -</p> -<p>The steaming Sunday afternoon found everybody directing his steps toward the wooden -structure which consisted of a lot of rickety seats piled up around a circular arena. -The reserved sections were covered with a light roof, to keep off the afternoon sun, -but <span class="pagenum">[<a id="pb39" href="#pb39">39</a>]</span>the bleaching-boards for those that held only “<i lang="es">billetes de sol</i>” were exposed to the blinding glare. The audience, a crowd of three thousand persons, -with dark faces showing above suits of white sheeting, found the centre of the ring -ornamented with a huge iron cage some two rods square, while off at the sides were -smaller cages containing the “<i lang="es">fieras</i>,” or wild beasts. -</p> -<p>The show opened amid breathless excitement, with an exhibition of panthers, and a -man dressed in pink tights ate dinner in the big cage, after setting off a bunch of -firecrackers under one of the “<i>fieras</i>,” who didn’t seem inclined to wake up enough to lick his chops and make-believe masticate -somebody. The daring performer lived to digest his glass of water, with one cracker -thrown in, and a deer was next introduced into the enclosure. The panther, at command -of the keeper to get to business, seemed unwilling to attack his gentle foe, and on -continued hissing from the big audience, the two animals were at length withdrawn. -</p> -<p>Then great shouts of “<span lang="es">El toro! El toro!</span>” arose, as off at the small gate, at one side, appeared the bull, calmly walking -forward, under the guidance of two natives, who didn’t wear any shoes. And renewed -applause arose, as the small heavy cage containing the R. B. tiger was rolled up to -a sliding-door <span class="pagenum">[<a id="pb40" href="#pb40">40</a>]</span>of the central structure. The bull was shoved into the iron jail, the gate closed, -a dozen or more bunches of firecrackers were set off in the small box holding the -tiger, in order to waken him up, the slide connecting the two was withdrawn, and, -with a deafening roar, the great Indian cat rushed forth and tried to swallow a man -who was standing outside the bars waving a heated pitchfork. The bull stood quietly -in one corner wagging his tail, and after blinking his eyes once or twice, proceeded -to examine his antagonist, in a most friendly spirit. In fact, there seemed to be -no hard feeling at all between the two beasts, and the tiger only wanted to get at -the gentleman outside the cage, not at the bull. The audience howled, jeered at the -tiger, bet on the bull, and criticised the man with the pitchfork as he gave the tiger -several hard pokes in the ribs. This served to anger the beast so that he finally -did make a dive at the bull, and promptly found himself tossed into the air. But as -he came down, he hung on to the bull’s nose, and dug his claws into the tough hide. -Curiously enough, the bull didn’t seem to mind that in the least, and the two stood -perfectly still for some five minutes, locked in close quarters. -</p> -<p></p> -<div class="figure p040width" id="p040"><img src="images/p040.jpg" alt="The English Club on the Banks of the Pasig. A Banca in the Foreground." width="720" height="534"><p class="figureHead">The English Club on the Banks of the Pasig. A <i>Banca</i> in the Foreground.</p> -<p class="first seepage"><i>See page <a href="#pb16" class="pageref">16</a>.</i> </p> -</div><p> -</p> -<p>To make a long story short, there occurred four or five of these mild attacks, always -incited by <span class="pagenum">[<a id="pb41" href="#pb41">41</a>]</span>the man with the pitchfork, during which the bull stepped on the tiger, making him -howl with pain, and the latter badly bit the former on the legs and nose. After the -fourth round, both beasts seemed to be in want of a siesta. It was growing dark, and -the dissatisfied audience cried for another bull and another tiger. The first animal -was finally dragged away, after the tiger had retreated to his cage, and a fresh bull -with more spirit was introduced. Now, however, the tiger was less game than ever, -and no amount of firecrackers or pitchforkings could induce him to stir from the small -cage. He seemed far too sensible, and literally appeared to be the possessor of an -asbestos skin. -</p> -<p>It had now got pretty dark, and the audience joined in the pandemonium of howls coming -from the various cages. People began to light matches to see their programmes, and -the circus-ring looked as if it were filled with fireflies. Then the programmes themselves -were ignited for more light, and cries of “Give us back our money,” “What’s the matter -with the tiger?” and others of a less printable order, arose. Men jumped into the -ring, but the tiger refused to move for anybody. In the hope of stirring things up, -a couple of panthers were again hastily wheeled up and pushed into the cage, where -the bull was standing with an expression of wonder on his face. But <span class="pagenum">[<a id="pb42" href="#pb42">42</a>]</span>the bull merely licked one panther on the nose and wagged his tail at the other, while -the show was declared off on account of darkness. Then everybody filed out in disgust, -and the man with the tiger, panthers, and pitchfork made arrangements to sail for -foreign shores by the first steamer. Such was the last performance in the Plaza de -Toros de Manila. -</p> -<p>It was a pleasant contrast after the fight to adjourn to the Luneta. The day was Carnival -Sunday, and all the young children of the community were rigged up in many sorts of -inconceivable gowns. Clowns and ballet-dancers, devils and angels, all wandered up -and down the smooth walk, and the crowd was immense. Numbers of the older people also -took part, and many of the smart traps were occupied with grotesque figures. The artillery-band -rendered some of its finest selections. The ships off in the bay were almost completely -reflected in the calm water. The mountains rose blue, like velvet, in the distance, -and a red glow in the Boca Chica told where the sun had gone down for us, only to -rise on the distant snows of New England. -<span class="pagenum">[<a id="pb43" href="#pb43">43</a>]</span> </p> -</div> -</div> -<div id="ch3" class="div1 chapter"><span class="pagenum">[<a href="#xd29e208">Contents</a>]</span><div class="divHead"> -<h2 class="main">III</h2> -<div class="argument"> -<p class="first">A Philippine Valet—The Three Days Chinese New Year—Marionettes and Minstrels at Manila—Yankee -Skippers—Furnishing a Bungalow—Rats, Lizards, and Mosquitoes—A New Arrival—Pony-Races -in Santa Mesa—Cigars and Cheroots—Servants—Cool Mountain Breezes—House-snakes—Cost -of Living—Holy Week.</p> -</div> -</div> -<div class="divBody"> -<p class="first date">February 16th. -</p> -<p>News to begin with. I have engaged a Philippine valet, price $4.50 per month; a man -with a wife, two children, and a fighting-cock, who buys all his better half’s pink -calico gowns and all the food for the party on this large salary. It is a wonder what -revolutions have taken place in my wardrobe. My heavy clothes, already grown musty -from disuse, have been taken out, sun-dried, and laid carefully away. I no longer -have to decide what to wear each morning, for it is settled for me beforehand. Everything -that my “boy” wishes me to don is laid out on a chair during my early pilgrimage to -the bath, and all that is necessary to do on my return is to get into them. It is -quite a luxury, and I shall certainly be inclined to bring this cheap gentleman back -with me when I return to Boston. My neckties, which have hitherto snarled themselves -up in the corner of a drawer, now are <span class="pagenum">[<a id="pb44" href="#pb44">44</a>]</span>hanging from a neat clothes-line, side by side. My books and papers on the centre -table are arranged with unnatural formality, and the smaller articles, such as lead-pencils, -buttons, pin-cushions, are all adjusted in definite geometrical formation. At breakfast -and dinner in the club-house I no longer have to whistle to be waited on, for my slave -is always behind the chair, ready to spill the soup on my coat or pass the plum-pudding. -These serving-boys all belong to the Tagalog race, which seems to include in its numbers -most of the native inhabitants in Manila and the adjacent towns. They all have straight, -thick black hair, speak their peculiar Tagalog language, and only pick up enough Spanish -to carry them through the performance of their simple duties. -</p> -<p>And still the holidays, more or less, continue. About this time of year there is one -a week, and just now the Chinese New Year occupies about three days. The business -part of the town is quiet. All the Chinese merchants have driven off on a picnic, -and it is impossible to hire carriages of any sort. -</p> -<p>Manila, on the whole, is waking up, and besides the opera we now have the marionette -troupe, something entirely new to the average citizen. It seems there are four sisters -travelling around the world with their little collection of string-pulled puppets, -giving exhibitions in all the larger centres. Their fame had <span class="pagenum">[<a id="pb45" href="#pb45">45</a>]</span>preceded them, and so the other night when the doors of the Teatro Filipino were thrown -open, a huge crowd assembled to see the performance. The stage was a fairly large -one, but so arranged optically that it made the figures appear larger than they really -were. The actors (puppets) were remarkable for their lifelikeness, and if one had -not seen the strings stretching upward he would have taken them to be animate beings. -Their costumes were complete and elaborate in every particular. First came a tight-rope -walker, then an acrobat balancing a pair of chairs, and then Old Mother Hubbard, out -of whose voluminous petticoats jumped half a dozen little men and women, all of whom -danced and cut up as if they were really reasoning bipeds instead of material, loose -jointed, wax-faced dolls. Old Mamma was especially good, and as she stirred up her -little children with a long staff, looked at first this one and then that, shook her -head, pointed her finger, and danced with the others, she brought down the house with -applause. -</p> -<p>Later on came a minstrel troupe, with two end-men, a leader who waved a baton, a harpist, -and two other musicians. They all played, and the end-men cracked jokes. Next came -a clog-dance between two darkies, and it was difficult to believe that they were not -alive. Further on came a bulldog, which grabbed a <span class="pagenum">[<a id="pb46" href="#pb46">46</a>]</span>policeman by the nether breeches and pulled a huge piece out of them; a bull, who -chased a farmer and threw him over a rail fence (this took wonderfully well, for the -Spaniards go crazy over anything with a bull in it); then a boarding-house scene, -with a folding-bed that shut up its occupants inside; next, a balloon ascension, in -which a man on the ground was suddenly caught up into the air by an anchor thrown -out from the balloon; then the death of the two aëronauts, who fall from a dizzy height; -next, a ride in a donkey-cart by two lovers, who find themselves run away with and -get snarled up on the wagon, to be kicked black and blue by the donkey. Finally came -a very complete little play of “Bluebeard,” with complete scenery, costumes, and ballet. -All of the scenery was of the lightning-change sort, and the Spaniards, <i>mestizos</i>, and natives in the audience sat and looked on with open-mouthed wonder, too astonished -to laugh, too senseless to cry, and able but to clothe their faces with expressions -of wonder. -</p> -<p></p> -<div class="figure p046width" id="p046"><img src="images/p046.jpg" alt="The Bull and Tiger Fight—Opening Exercises." width="711" height="535"><p class="figureHead">The Bull and Tiger Fight—Opening Exercises.</p> -<p class="first seepage"><i>See page <a href="#pb38" class="pageref">38</a>.</i> </p> -</div><p> -</p> -<p>To change the subject rather abruptly, the captain of the Esmeralda, the little steamer -on which I came from Hong Kong, has been good enough to ask me on board his vessel -to tiffin as often as she comes into port. As Captain Tayler’s table is noted both -for its excellence and profusion, the very few of us who comprise the American colony, -as well as all the <span class="pagenum">[<a id="pb47" href="#pb47">47</a>]</span>Englishmen in town, always covet an invitation to spend Sunday in his company and -enjoy various dishes that are not to be procured in Manila markets. -</p> -<p>Besides the several steamers that ply between ports on the neighboring coast, there -is now a large fleet of American ships at anchor in the bay, and our office, which -shelters the only American firm in the Philippines, is a great centre for the various -Yankee, nasal-twanged skippers, who, dressed in hot-looking, ready-made tweeds, come -ashore without their collars to ask questions about home topics and read newspapers -six weeks old. They delight to enjoy the sea-breezes generated by our big punka, and -only leave the office on matters of urgent necessity. Several of the captains have -their whole families with them, and one, who is especially well-to-do, owns his own -ship, carries along a bright tutor, who is preparing some of the skipper’s sons for -college, and has transformed the vessel into a veritable institution of learning. -On nearly every evening the whole fleet in a body go to some one ship, sing songs -and have refreshments, and the other night Governor Robie was the host. Being invited -to partake of the festivities, we two Yankees went off into the bay at about sunset, -ate a regulation New England dinner, with rather too much weight to it <span class="pagenum">[<a id="pb48" href="#pb48">48</a>]</span>for hot climates, and met all the belles of the fleet. The moon overhead was full, -and with a good piano, violin, hand-organ, and a couple of ocarinas, giving vent to -sweet sounds, we had an impromptu dance on the quarter-deck. We stayed out on the -ship of our host and hostess all night. They apologized because the bunks in the state-rooms -assigned to us were so hard, little realizing that we couldn’t sleep worth a continental -on account of their being so ridiculously soft after our Philippine cane arrangements. -</p> -<p>Everybody is talking horse now, and business will be at a standstill during the first -few days of the coming month, when the pony races take place at the suburban course -in Santa Mesa. As a result, every afternoon that some of us do not go rowing or play -tennis, we adjourn to the race-track, and, in company with groups of Spaniards and -wealthy <i>mestizos</i>, watch the smart ponies circle around the track. -</p> -<p>And, speaking of the race-course, I have just made arrangements with one of my new -friends to take a bungalow situated on a low rise that backgrounds the track at the -quarter-mile post. It stands, prettily shaded by bamboo-trees, on practically the -first bit of upland that later grows into the lofty mountains of the interior, and -the view off over the race-course and low-lying paddy-fields, squared off into sections, -<span class="pagenum">[<a id="pb49" href="#pb49">49</a>]</span>toward the city, is most picturesque. On another side we look off over the winding -river toward the mountains, which hardly appear five miles away, and still another -view is a bamboo grove, against which is backed up our little stable with various -outbuildings, including the kitchen. A broad veranda runs entirely around the main -building, where the living-rooms are located, and Venetian roll-blinds let down from -the piazza-roof keep off the afternoon sun. -</p> -<p>Yesterday I had my first experience in making extensive purchases of furniture, and -was interested to see about twelve coolies start off from the city toward our country -residence, three miles away, loaded down with beds, tables, chairs, and other articles. -Four of them started off later on with the upright piano balanced on a couple of cross-sticks -resting on their shoulders, and trotted the whole distance without sitting down to -play the “Li Hung Chang March” more than twice. These living carriers rather take -the place of express wagons in the East, and a long caravan of furniture-laden Celestials, -solemnly going along through the highway at a jog-trot, is no uncommon sight. We shall -need dishes, knives, pots and kettles, and a whole World’s Fair of trumpery, before -we get started, and I shall have to be busy with a Spanish dictionary, in order to -get familiar with the right names for the right things. -<span class="pagenum">[<a id="pb50" href="#pb50">50</a>]</span></p> -<p>You have asked me how the mosquitoes fare upon the newly arrived foreigner. To tell -the truth, I have not seen more than half a dozen since coming to Manila, and those -all sang in tune. Everybody sleeps under nettings, of course, but so far I have not -seen as many biters flying around at night as there are in the United States of America. -To be sure, one sees a good many lizards hanging by the eye-teeth to the walls, or -walking about unconcernedly up-side-down on the ceilings, but they do good missionary -work by devouring the host of smaller bugs, and it is one of our highest intellectual -pursuits here in Manila to stretch out in a long chair and go to sleep gazing upward -at these enterprising bug-catchers pursuing their vocation. And, now and then, from -some piazza-roof or ceiling will drop on your face a so-called hairy caterpillar whose -promenade on one’s epidermis will cause it to swell up in great welts that close one’s -eyes and ruffle the temper. -</p> -<p>Rats are more numerous than mosquitoes, and the other day, on my opening a drawer -in some of our office furniture, three jumped out. The office was transformed into -an impromptu race-course, and all hands were called to take part in the slaughter. -But Manila doors are loose-jointed, and the rodents escaped somewhere into the next -room. Since then I have had the legs sawed off of my desk, so that <span class="pagenum">[<a id="pb51" href="#pb51">51</a>]</span>these literary beggars, who delight to eat up one’s valuable papers, should not climb -in and make a meal off of my private cable code—a thing which they started to do some -time ago. They have already several times run off with the candle which was used for -heating sealing-wax, and possess such prowess that they even took it out of the candlestick. -</p> -<p>We had a new arrival at the club lately in the person of a young Englishman who came -fresh from Britain. Someone had stuffed him with tales of indolent life in the Far -East, for he came in to his first dinner at the club clad only in pajamas and green -carpet-bag slippers. He also thought that the Spanish language consisted in adding -final a’s to words in the English tongue and shouted all over the club next morning -for sopa, sopa, with which to cleanse himself. But the servant brought him a plate -of soup, and he is now trying to remember that soap in Spanish is translated by <i>jabon</i>, not sopa. <i>Jamon</i>, the word for ham, however, is close enough to give him trouble and he will no doubt -ask for soap instead of ham at our next repast. -</p> -<p class="date">March 16th. -</p> -<p>The pony races came off with great <i>éclat</i> on the first four days of this month, and were decidedly interesting. All Manila -turned out, and such a collection of <span class="pagenum">[<a id="pb52" href="#pb52">52</a>]</span>carriages I have never seen. All the Spanish ladies put an extra coat of paint on -their complexions, and, dressed in their best bibs and tuckers, made somewhat of a -ghastly show in the searching light of early afternoon. The high, thatched-roofed -grand stand presented a duly gay appearance as the bell rang for the first event, -and the dried-up paddy-fields, far and near, crackled with natives directing their -steps toward the centre of attraction. -</p> -<p>In front of the grand stand groups of Spaniards, Englishmen, and sea-captains formed -centres for betting, and off at the sides were refreshment-booths to which everyone -made pilgrimage as often as the articulatory muscles were in need of lubrication. -</p> -<p>Some of the ponies were splendid-looking little “critters” and made almost as fast -time as their larger brethren, the horses. During race-afternoons, business in the -city was entirely suspended, and everyone who had a dollar took it to the race-course -to gain other dollars. As the currency system is all metal, bets were paid in hard -coin, and if you happened to buy a lucky ticket in that gambling machine, the “totalizator,” -you would perhaps have a whole hatful of heavy silver <span class="corr" id="xd29e1039" title="Source: cartwheels">cart-wheels</span> shoved at you on presenting the winning pasteboard. And it was no uncommon sight -at the close of the races to see some of the thinly clad natives whom fortune had -favored go <span class="pagenum">[<a id="pb53" href="#pb53">53</a>]</span>trudging home across the rice-fields, carrying a load of dollars in a straw hat or -a bright bandana. -</p> -<p>One by one the vessels are dropping away from their anchorage in the bay, and by Saturday -our Vigilant will heave up anchor and start on her twenty-thousand-mile journey to -Boston via the Cape, with her big cargo of hemp. Thanks to our attentions to the captains, -they have seemed willing to take home for us any amount of souvenirs and curios, and -I have sent along quite an assortment of stuffed bats, lizards, and snake-skin canes, -which I feel sure will cause somebody to creep on their arrival. -</p> -<p>Manila’s best cigar, made of a special, selected tobacco, wrapped in the neatest of -silverfoil and packed in rosewood boxes tied with Spanish ribbon, costs about five -cents and is considered a rare delicacy. One scarcely ever sees these cigars, the -“Incomparables,” outside of the city itself, and the brand is so choice that but few -smokers are acquainted with it. The foreigner in Manila thinks he is paying dear for -his weed at $20 per thousand, and some of our professional smokers limit themselves -to those favorite “Bouquets” which correspond to our “two-for-a-quarter” variety but -sell here for $1.80 a hundred. Below these upper grades come a various assortment -of cheaper varieties, including the cheroots, big at one end and small at the other, -and the $3-a-thousand <span class="pagenum">[<a id="pb54" href="#pb54">54</a>]</span>cigars which are made of the first thing that comes handy, to be sold to the crews -of deep-water merchantmen. A native of the Philippines wants his cigarette, and gets -it. Packages of thirty are sold on almost every corner for a couple of coppers, and -to my mind the Manila cigarette is far superior to the variety found in Cuba. Smoking -is, of course, encouraged by prices such as these, and one finds it perfectly good -form to borrow a cigarette, as well as a light, from his neighbor in the tram-car -or on the plaza. Even on the toll-bridge which spans the Pasig you pay your copper -for crossing, and get in change a box of matches; and if you are queer enough not -to want the matches, the man will give you instead a ticket that avails for the return -trip. -</p> -<p></p> -<div class="figure p054width" id="p054"><img src="images/p054.jpg" alt="Suburb of Santa Mesa. From the Veranda of our Bungalow We Looked down on the Rice-fields and Race-Course." width="720" height="513"><p class="figureHead">Suburb of Santa Mesa. From the Veranda of our Bungalow We Looked down on the Rice-fields -and Race-Course.</p> -<p class="first seepage"><i>See page <a href="#pb48" class="pageref">48</a>.</i> </p> -</div><p> -</p> -<p>Sunday I left my room at the club and moved into our new house out in the suburb of -Santa Mesa. It is just a week now since the Chinese cook came and began to christen -the pots and saucepans, whose Spanish names I shall never get to remember. He began -by rendering me a small account of the “extras” provided for our table, and I was -floored the first thing on an item of five cents put down as “Hongos.” I asked him -what that was. He spluttered around in Spanish and looked about the room to see if -he couldn’t find a few growing in one of our pictures of still life on the walls. -At length, being <span class="pagenum">[<a id="pb55" href="#pb55">55</a>]</span>struck with an inspiration, he seized a small fan, excitedly stuck it into one of -our flower-pots, balanced on top of it an inverted ash-tray, and danced around, pointing -first to the item on the bill and then to the peculiar growth in the flower-pot. I -confess I didn’t follow his reasoning, till suddenly it struck me that for our first -dinner in the new house we had partaken of mushrooms. Not far off from an ash-tray -balanced on a Japanese fan growing out of a flower-pot—are they? The style of decoration -in our house is especially Japanese, and, needless to say, artistic, since there are -large Japanese and Indian shops in Manila, where one can get all sorts of gimcracks -at low prices. Our servants number seven, a small quota for two of us. Although their -wages are small, amounting, as a rule, to $4 apiece per month, yet it is necessary -to have plenty of them, in order that a certain few shall be awake when wanted. -</p> -<p>The fresh breeze, which in the evenings and early mornings blows down direct from -the lofty mountains, is so cool that often several blankets have been necessary in -the sleeping contrivance. Mosquitoes are still conspicuous by their absence, but the -rats up in the roof sound tremendously numerous. All night they seem to be pulling -boxes to and fro, taking up boards and nailing them down, and having a general all-hands-round -sort of a dance. -<span class="pagenum">[<a id="pb56" href="#pb56">56</a>]</span></p> -<p>Nearly all of the older bungalows in Manila possess what are called house-snakes; -huge reptiles generally about twelve or fourteen feet long and as thick as a fire-engine -hose, that permanently reside up in the roof and live on the rats. These big creatures -are harmless, and rarely, if ever, leave their abodes. Judging from the noise over -my cloth ceiling, a pair of these pets find pasturage up above, and I can hear them -whacking around about once a week in their chase after rats. They are good though -noisy rat-catchers, but since they must needs eat all they catch, their efficiency -appears to be limited to their length of stomach, and one night of energetic campaign -is generally followed by several days of rest, during which the snake sees if he has -bitten off more than he can chew. If the Philippine cats were more noble specimens -of the quadruped, I should try to place half a dozen up in this midnight concert-hall, -but they are so feeble that I fear their lives would be in danger. It is hardly to -be wondered at that these native cats are modestly retiring, when you wake at night -to hear your shoes being dragged off across the floor by some huge rice-fed rodent, -and I don’t blame them at all for having right angles at the end of their tails. -</p> -<p>The only way to get rid of the rats seems to be to buy more snakes, and this is simple -enough, for you <span class="pagenum">[<a id="pb57" href="#pb57">57</a>]</span>often see the natives hawking them around in town, the boas curled up around bamboo -poles, to which their heads are tied. -</p> -<p>Some of our other domestic pets are lizards, supposed to be about four feet long, -who sing every evening at 8.30 <span class="asc">P.M.</span>, from somewhere off down in the shrubbery; several roving turkeys and pigs that belong -to the boys that serve us, a cluster of fighting-cocks, and a family of puppies. It -is easy to be seen that our establishment is thus somewhat of a tropical menagerie, -and a performance is almost always going on in some quarter or other. -</p> -<p>I have just completed the purchase of a horse and carriage complete, including the -coachman, for $100, and on the first trial we passed everything on the road. The pony -is a high-stepper, and rattled along over the ground at a terrific speed, as a good -Philippine animal should. The coachman seems to know how to drive, which is a rare -attainment among the natives, and so far, though he has run over two boys, he has -not taken off any wheels in the car-tracks. -</p> -<p>They say it costs a good deal to live well out this way, but that is a mistake, and -if one lived at home in the same style the bills would be at least ten times as large. -To be sure, it would be possible to come to Manila, board with a Spanish family in -the old city, avoid joining the club, and live almost for nothing. <span class="pagenum">[<a id="pb58" href="#pb58">58</a>]</span>However, this is a custom not much encouraged in the Orient, and one cannot properly -take his place among the colony of English and other Europeans without spending a -certain reasonable amount. -</p> -<p>Business is done more on a social scale than at home, and the lowest English clerk -in the large houses feels that he must enter into the free and easy expenditure of -his better-paid chief. After office hours are over everyone stands on the same social -plane, and all business talk is tabooed. The office-boy often calls his lord and master -“Bill,” and frequently has a better-looking horse and carriage. -</p> -<p>The U.S.S. Concord has just come into the bay and been saluted by the fort. Some of -her officers will probably come ashore to breakfast at the club, and it will probably -devolve on the four Americans in the city to do what is needful in the way of courtesy -to our fellow-countrymen. -</p> -<p>To-day is the beginning of Easter Week, nearly all of whose days are holidays or holy -days. This is one of the closest-observed seasons of the year, and on next Thursday -and Friday, if you will believe it, no carriages are allowed to appear in the streets -either of Manila or of the other cities. The tram-cars, to be sure, have of late years -been allowed to run, and the doctor’s carriage and the ice-carts can obtain permits. -Beyond them, however, everybody has to stay at home <span class="pagenum">[<a id="pb59" href="#pb59">59</a>]</span>or walk; and in former times tram-cars were forbidden and no one was allowed to carry -an open umbrella. It seems the proper thing to do to make arrangements with some of -the English colony to take a trip off into the mountains, and my chum and I expect -to start off by launch on Wednesday afternoon. Our party will consist of five, not -including half a dozen servants, who are to make arrangements for bringing the provisions -and bedding. -</p> -<p>On my return I hope to have some fodder for my pen and relate some of our experiences -in the up-country districts. -<span class="pagenum">[<a id="pb60" href="#pb60">60</a>]</span> </p> -</div> -</div> -<div id="ch4" class="div1 chapter"><span class="pagenum">[<a href="#xd29e218">Contents</a>]</span><div class="divHead"> -<h2 class="main">IV</h2> -<div class="argument"> -<p class="first">An Up-country Excursion—Steaming up the River to the Lake—Legend of the Chinaman and -the Crocodile—Santa Cruz and Pagsanjan—Dress of the Women—Mountain Gorges and River -Rapids—Church Processions—Cocoanut Rafts—A “Carromata” Ride to Paquil—An Earthquake -Lasting Forty-five Seconds—Small-pox and other Diseases in the Philippines—The Manila -Fire Department—How Thatch Dealers Boom the Market—Cost of Living.</p> -</div> -</div> -<div class="divBody"> -<p class="first date">March 27, 1894. -</p> -<p>The Easter holidays have come and gone, and one of the favorite vacation trips from -Manila has been brought to a close. Five of us have seen lake, mountain, and river -scenery; have been taking interesting walks, drives, swims; have camped out in a good -house and enjoyed the hospitality of our native Indian friends. Whistling for the -punka-boy to go ahead, I will now set down the record of our trip. -</p> -<p></p> -<div class="figure p060width" id="p060"><img src="images/p060.jpg" alt="Our Destination was a Town Called Pagsanjan at the Foot of a Range of Mountains." width="700" height="539"><p class="figureHead">Our Destination was a Town Called Pagsanjan at the Foot of a Range of Mountains.</p> -<p class="first seepage"><i>See page <a href="#pb63" class="pageref">63</a><span class="corr" id="xd29e1109" title="Not in source">.</span></i> </p> -</div><p> -</p> -<p>The week from the 18th of March to the 25th was practically one long holiday, but -it was Wednesday, the 21st, in the afternoon, that we left Manila for the interior. -Rand and I got up the trip by procuring a large and commodious steam-launch for five -days—gratis. Having done our share, we left our three companions to look after the -“chow” and <span class="pagenum">[<a id="pb61" href="#pb61">61</a>]</span>other kindred topics. To my “boy” I merely said, “Wednesday we are going up to the -laguna; prepare what is necessary for four days.” That was all, and on Wednesday afternoon -I found him at the launch with my clothes and bedding all ready to start. Here also -were assembled hams, boxes of ice, and other provisions, big bundles of personal effects, -and the four “boys” (a “boy” may be seventy years old if he likes) whom we were going -to take along. -</p> -<p>The whistle blew, the special artist with his camera ambled aboard, amidst a pile -of sun-hats, oranges, and excitement, and soon the Vigilante was steaming up the river -on her sixty-mile trip. Familiar objects were first passed, but soon after leaving -the <span class="corr" id="xd29e1118" title="Source: up-town">uptown</span> club new scenes presented themselves. The launch stirred up large waves astern that -washed both banks of the river with great energy, and the first incident was the swamping -of three banca-loads of grass that were on their way down to Manila under charge of -Indian pedlers. Turn after turn opened up new scenes; our house on the hill began -to fade away, and soon we skimmed through native villages where white blood was “not -in it.” The hills increased in size, the river lessened, and great bamboo-trees hung -over toward the central channel. At one point, high up on the bluffs, perched a Chinese -pagoda-like chapel, said to have been constructed <span class="pagenum">[<a id="pb62" href="#pb62">62</a>]</span>by a wealthy Celestial as a thanks-offering for his escape from a crocodile. He was -bathing in the river, so the story goes, when suddenly he saw the monster making for -him. He threw up his hands and vowed to build a monument to his patron saint if escape -was vouchsafed him. And no sooner had he spoken than the crocodile turned to stone -and lies there to-day, a long, low black mass, fretting the current that ripples over -it. As we passed the rock it looked as if it had never been anything else, but the -afternoon was too pleasant to doubt the veracity of the legend. On we went. The mountains -ahead grew more to look like masses of rock and trees and less like soft blue velvet. -Pasig, an important town, was left behind, the lowlands came again, a multitude of -fish-weirs stuck up ahead, and before we knew it the great lake was holding us on -its rather muddy waters just where it slobbered into the mouth of the river, its only -outlet. -</p> -<p>On all sides save the one by which we had entered rose the mountains right out of -the water, and I was reminded of Norway or Scotland. It was like a sea, and the farther -shore was below the horizon. The sun had set and the full moon rose just ahead as -we kept along the coast to the north. At half after eight o’clock we anchored off -a little town called Santa Cruz that seemed to be backed up by two very <span class="pagenum">[<a id="pb63" href="#pb63">63</a>]</span>lofty mountain-peaks, and we were soon surrounded by two <i>bancas</i> filled with natives who began to transfer our many effects. And so we left the launch, -were slowly poled ashore, and next found ourselves on a sandy beach surrounded by -much people and baggage. Dispatching two of our retinue up into the town to fetch -enough of the two-wheeled covered gigs called <i>carromatas</i> for our assembly, in about three-quarters of an hour we had the felicity of seeing -seven come racing down the road to the lake shore. Our destination, by the way, was -a town called Pagsanjan, about three-quarters of an hour from Santa Cruz, and situated -just at the foot of a range of mountains. The chattels were soon loaded, there was -a cracking of whips, a creaking of harness, and the long procession started off at -a rattling gait through the town and out into the rich cocoanut groves beyond. -</p> -<p>At Manila, outside of bamboo and banana trees, there is no sign of really equatorial -vegetation, but up in the mountains there was no deception, and Nature did her best -to let us know that the temperate zone was far away. We bounced along at a terrific -pace and presently saw the lights of our little village. Rattling through an old stone -archway, we drew up before the house of a certain Captain Feliz, to whom we had been -recommended. The genial old man, whose <span class="pagenum">[<a id="pb64" href="#pb64">64</a>]</span>face and corporosity were charmingly circular in their rotundity, welcomed us with -open-armed hospitality, and saying he knew of just the house that would accommodate -our party, started to lead us to it. After a few steps he suddenly stopped, apologized -smilingly, said he had forgotten his set of false teeth, and must return for them. -And coming back shortly after, he took out his teeth, commented on their grace and -usefulness, and said he could speak much better Spanish with than without them. -</p> -<p>In due season we drew up at a very thick-walled stone house on the high bank just -above the river, and were invited to take possession. Our “boys” got out the provisions -in short order, for a late supper; our pieces of straw matting were spread out around -the edges of the shining floor of the large “<i>sala</i>” which had been placed at our disposal for a dormitory; pillows and light coverings -were duly regulated, and after eating a bit, we said good-night to our new friends -and turned in on the floor to rest. I found the hardwood planks so soft after my bed -at Manila that before long I arose, arranged eight chairs in facing pairs, spread -out my sleeping-arrangements, and soon fell asleep in a very good improvised bed which -was high enough from the floor to keep cockroaches from using me as a promenade. Thursday -morning we arose early, washed ourselves on the <span class="pagenum">[<a id="pb65" href="#pb65">65</a>]</span>balcony that overlooked the fashionable avenue of the village, and, as is the true -Philippine custom, sprinkled the street with solutions of soapsuds. -</p> -<p>Now, as I have said before, the Thursday and Friday before Easter are tremendously -sacred days in the Philippines, and no carriages of any description are permitted -to move about. The little town was still as death, and the early-morning hush was -only broken now and then by the weird caterwaulings of the peculiar Passion songs -which the natives in these parts sing off and on during Lent. Later on, as we finished -breakfast, groups of women began coming out of the various houses and directed their -steps church-ward. Most of them were gorgeously dressed in all colors of the solar -spectrum—with a little cloth added on—and it was instructive to see an expensively -gowned Indian woman emerge from a shabby little <i>nipa</i> hut that didn’t look as if it could incubate such starched freshness. For the dresses -that some of these people wear are costly; and even their <i>piña</i> neckerchiefs often cost $100. -</p> -<p>After breakfast we went down to the river and got into five hollowed-out tree-trunks, -preparatory to the start up into the mountain-gorges. It was worse than riding a bicycle, -trying to balance one of the crazy affairs, and for a few moments I feared my camera -and I would get wet. However, nobody <span class="pagenum">[<a id="pb66" href="#pb66">66</a>]</span>turned turtle, and we were paddled up between the high cocoanut-fringed banks of the -wonderfully clear river before the early morning sun had looked over the mountains -into whose cool heart we were going. -</p> -<p></p> -<div class="figure p066width" id="p066"><img src="images/p066.jpg" alt="Where the Crackers were Wet. The Rapids in the Gorges of Pagsanjan." width="506" height="720"><p class="figureHead">Where the Crackers were Wet. The Rapids in the Gorges of Pagsanjan.</p> -<p class="first seepage"><i>See page <a href="#pb67" class="pageref">67</a>.</i> </p> -</div><p> -</p> -<p>Then came the first rapids, with backgrounds of rich slopes showing heavy growths -of hemp and cocoa palms. Another short paddle and the second set of rapids was passed -on foot. A clear blue lane of water then stretched out in front of us and reached -squarely into the mountain fastnesses through a huge rift where almost perpendicular -walls were artistically draped with rich foliage that concealed birds of many colors, -a few chattering monkeys, and many hanging creepers. Again it seemed like a Norwegian -fjord or the Via Mala, but here, instead of bare rocks, were deeply verdured ones. -Above, the blue sky showed in a narrow irregular line; below, the absolutely clear -water reflected the heavens; the cliffs rose a thousand feet, the water was five hundred -feet deep, the birds sang, the creepers hung, the water dripped, and we seemed to -float through a sort of El Dorado, a visionary and unreal paradise. At last we glided -in through a specially narrow lane not more than fifty feet wide; a holy twilight -prevailed; the cliffs seemed to hold up the few fleecy clouds that floated far over -our head, and we landed on a little jutting point for bathing and refreshments. <span class="pagenum">[<a id="pb67" href="#pb67">67</a>]</span>It seemed as if we were diving into the river Lethe or being introduced to the boudoir -of Nature herself. In an hour we pushed on, passed up by three more rapids, and halted -at last at the foot of a bridal-veil waterfall that charmed the eye with its beauty, -cooled the air with its mists, and set off the green foliage with its white purity. -Here we lunched, and in lieu of warm beer drank in the beauties of the scenery. -</p> -<p>The return was a repetition of the advance, except that we shot one or two of the -rapids, and that the <i>banca</i> holding the boy and the provisions upset in a critical place, wetting the crackers -that were labelled “keep dry.” We got back to our house by early afternoon, and all -agreed that an inimitable, unexcelled, wouldn’t-have-missed-it-for-the-world excursion -had passed into history. -</p> -<p>Good old Captain Feliz took us to call on some of the native villagers in the late -afternoon, who exhibited quite a bit of Indian hospitality. At one house was a pretty -Indian girl who spoke Spanish very well and entertained our party of six with as much -grace as an American belle. Of course the presence of five “Ingleses” in town was -quite an event in a place fifty miles from Manila, and as we walked through street -after street each house-window presented at least seven curious faces; dogs <span class="pagenum">[<a id="pb68" href="#pb68">68</a>]</span>barked, fighting-cocks crowed, and the occupations of the moment were suspended. -</p> -<p>After dinner we sat out on the balcony to watch the procession that wound around through -the various streets, starting from the fortress-like church and finally bringing up -there. These church parades are a good deal like our torch-light processions, except -that here images, not mud-besprinkled men, carry most of the torches. In this affair -there were a dozen or more floats, each one bearing a saint, an apostle, or somebody -else, and each decorated with very costly drapery, ornaments, and elaborate candelabra -illuminators. Scattered all along between the floats straggled natives carrying poles -on which were images of a candle, a hand, a spear, a pair of nails, a cock, a set -of garments, and other symbolic articles relating to the crucifixion. Then came Peter -on a very elaborate moving pedestal, and in his hand he held the traditional bunch -of keys. Then a Descent from the Cross, with two apostles standing up on step-ladders. -Next came the band of the procession—three men singing to the tune of an old violin—and -finally the Virgin Mary with glass tears rolling down her wax cheeks. On each side -of the line from start to finish trooped the populace, mostly women dressed in black -and carrying candles. -</p> -<p>Next day was Good Friday. No traps of any description <span class="pagenum">[<a id="pb69" href="#pb69">69</a>]</span>to be had, as none were allowed to run, and so we spent the day about the town and -in walking up into the hills. A look into the great, solid old church in the morning -showed us a fragrant and gaudily dressed audience kneeling in various postures on -the tiled floors, while numerous dogs of various cross breeds and tempers meandered -in through the door and among the worshippers. From the church we strolled across -a very primitive bamboo bridge over a branch river, and wandered through a luxurious -cocoanut grove beneath whose tall trees were situate a couple of very rudimentary -cocoanut-oil mills and the houses of the operators. The machinery was very crude. -One might think he was back in the days of stone knives, seeing these simple contrivances, -the awkward levers, the foot-power grindstones, and the old pots and kettles. In the -river near the mills were thousands of cocoanuts ready to be tied together in rafts -for floating down to Manila, and everybody’s business up this way seemed to consist -in watching this oily fruit fall from the trees. -</p> -<p>In the early evening, just before another religious procession started, we heard a -great clatter up in the belfry of the old church, and learned that the hubbub was -made by “devil-frighteners.” On inquiring as to the nature of this weird clap-trap -symphony, it <span class="pagenum">[<a id="pb70" href="#pb70">70</a>]</span>seems that on these especially holy days men are stationed up in the bell-towers with -huge wooden rattles, which they so manipulate from time to time that the noise is -said to act as a scare-crow to the various devils who are supposed to be hovering -about seeking whom they may devour. -</p> -<p>After another peaceful night’s rest, some of us took our morning jump into the river, -and all prepared for a twelve-mile <i>carromata</i> drive out along the lake shore beneath the mountains, to a little village called -Paquil, said to be possessed of a crystal spring bathing-pool. The road for a good -bit of the way was of the Napoleon-crossing-the-Alps style, and it got to be so bad -I rather thought we were in for a walk. Not a bit of it. The <i>carromatas</i> are built strong as the rocks themselves, the wheels are huge and solid, the ponies -tough as prize-fighters, and the driver urges the whole affair along at a tremendous -pace. So we bounced along, and most of our time was spent, not on the seat, but midway -between it and the roof, which occasionally came down and thumped our heads. On the -way we passed through numerous little villages, and in one out-of-the-way place we -called on an American, Thomas Collins, who has been practically shut in out here for -twenty-five years. It seems that he got cheated out of a hundred and fifty thousand -dollars’ worth of valuable wood a <span class="pagenum">[<a id="pb71" href="#pb71">71</a>]</span>good while ago by the officials of a certain provincial district, and has been trying -to get the claim paid ever since. He was a queer chap, and had almost forgotten how -to speak American; but at last he managed to remember the word “hell,” and then his -ideas began to flow more freely. -</p> -<p>When we arrived at Paquil our conductor, the genial Captain Feliz, walked up to the -house of an acquaintance and asked him to put it at our disposal. As before, the request -was father to the grant, and we dumped our chattels down into a parlor full of wax -virgins and crucifixes. The bath, for which the village is quite famous, is a large -pool five feet deep, with a pebble bottom. At one end a stream of clear water gushes -forth from the hillside, while at the other an overflow brook carries off the surplus -and goes bubbling down through the village to the lake. We had our swim after all -the native bathers had left, and got back to our house in time for a tiffin that had -been brought with us in the baskets. In the early afternoon we took our siesta, in -the later hours started for our jogglety return drive, and at Pagsanjan found prepared -for us a feast of sucking pigs. -</p> -<p>On Sunday morning we were ready for our return to Manila. The seven gigs arrived, -we said hearty farewell to our friends, presented Captain Feliz some empty bottles -and two teapots, and rattled out <span class="pagenum">[<a id="pb72" href="#pb72">72</a>]</span>through the town toward Santa Cruz, where our launch was in waiting. The trip was -cool and pleasant across the lake, but it was hot when in about four and a half hours -we got to the low river-country again. The sail down was like the sail up, and by -dinner-time we backed water to bump into the portico of the club, where all hands -disembarked for dinner. Thus ended what I suppose is the most popular and most delightful -excursion which the foreigner can make from the capital of the Philippines in the -few days which the church feasts at Easter put at his disposal. -</p> -<p class="date">April 6th. -</p> -<p>The other night I dreamt I was climbing up a long hill on a bicycle. Once at the top, -I started down over the other side at a terrific pace. Somehow or other, by mistake, -the wheel ran off into a gutter at the side of the road, and bounced around in such -a dangerous manner that it all but upset. However, with tremendous exertion, I managed -to jump the mechanism back onto the smooth ground again, and continued safely down -to the bottom of the hill at a two-forty gait. Arrived at the bottom, I conveniently -woke up, and heard a rat under the bed trying to slide one of my shoes off across -the floor. -</p> -<p></p> -<div class="figure p072width" id="p072"><img src="images/p072.jpg" alt="Cocoanut Rafts on the Pasig, Drifting down to Manila." width="713" height="537"><p class="figureHead">Cocoanut Rafts on the Pasig, Drifting down to Manila.</p> -<p class="first seepage"><i>See page <a href="#pb69" class="pageref">69</a>.</i> </p> -</div><p> -</p> -<p>Next morning, on coming down to the office, several of my business friends asked me -if I had felt the severe <span class="pagenum">[<a id="pb73" href="#pb73">73</a>]</span>earthquake shock during the night. I said “No,” and inquired as to the particulars. -It seems that the shock lasted some forty-five seconds, and my chum was awakened by -his bed commencing to rock around and by the four walls of his room attempting to -move in different directions. Nothing in the city was much injured, I believe, and -next day the really excellent observatory, conducted by the Jesuits, gave out a full -illustrated description of the affair. -</p> -<p>Up at our new bungalow, the only incidents worthy of note have been the attempted -stealing of my pony and the consumption of my best shoes by one of our house-rats. -</p> -<p>A Philippine burglar, curiously enough, takes off his clothes, smears his dark skin -with cocoanut-oil, and prowls around like a greased pig that cannot be caught. One -of these slippery thieves got into our stable, unhitched my pony, and took him almost -to the front gate before the sleepy coachman found his wits. But prompt action saved -the day, and the lubricated robber escaped, leaving his booty pawing the ground. -</p> -<p>But with my shoes I was not so fortunate. I woke up suddenly to hear something being -dragged across the floor. Thinking it was only a rat making off with a boot-jack with -which to line his nest, I refrained from tempting Providence by leaving the protection -<span class="pagenum">[<a id="pb74" href="#pb74">74</a>]</span>of the mosquito-netting. Next morning I found that one of these rodents had pulled -a pair of my patent-leather shoes off a low shelf beneath the bed, dragged them out -into the hallway behind a hat-rack, and eaten up the most savory portions of the bindings. -Complimentary to the prowess of the rat or to the lightness of my shoes—which? I keep -them now as articles on which the patent has run out—worthless, but curiosities. -</p> -<p>Otherwise things have run smoothly, and each evening we lie in the long chairs on -the broad veranda, watching the Southern Cross come up over the hills, or the score -of brush-fires of dried rice-stalks that illuminate the darkness away off toward the -mountains. The music from our piano seems to give much delight to the members of the -servants’ hall, now nine in number, besides several puppies and game-cocks. The other -night, although in the midst of the hot season, we had a prodigious cold snap again, -when the thermometer went down to sixty, after being ninety-five during the day, and -two blankets were not at all uncomfortable. -</p> -<p>I see by the papers that there are at least two cases of small-pox in Boston, that -everybody is alarmed and hundreds are getting vaccinated. Curious state of affairs—isn’t -it?—when every day out here you see small children running around in the streets, -covered <span class="pagenum">[<a id="pb75" href="#pb75">75</a>]</span>with evidences of this disease. Nobody thinks anything about small-pox in Manila, -and one ceases to notice it if a Philippine mamma sits opposite you in the tram-car, -holding in her lap a scantily clothed child whose swarthy hide is illuminated with -those unmistakable markings. Some weeks ago there were even four hundred deaths a -week in Manila from this disease alone; and from the way in which the afflicted mix -with the hale and hearty, you can only wonder that there were not four thousand. But -small-pox flourishes best in the cool, dry days of our winter months, and is now being -stamped out by the warmer weather. An effort is being made to have everybody vaccinated, -and the steamers from Japan have brought down whole cargoes of lymph, but the natives -do not see any reason why they should undergo this experiment, and would much prefer -to have the small-pox than to be vaccinated. And this being the case, it is no wonder -that almost seventy-five per cent. of them bear those uncomplimentary marks of the -disease’s attention. -</p> -<p>Now that I have inoculated my page with a reference to this rather unpleasant subject, -it is only a bit of sad truth to tell of the only fatality caused by the malady in -our little Anglo-Saxon colony. Recently I went into the Bay with a young Englishman -who had always lived in terror of this one disease, and had <span class="pagenum">[<a id="pb76" href="#pb76">76</a>]</span>avoided both contact with the natives and excursions into the infected districts. -The launch took me to the vessel which we were loading, and then carried him on to -that receiving cargo from his concern. Later she returned with him, picked me up, -and together we went ashore to stop a moment at the club before going home for the -day. I never saw him again, poor chap, though I did take over his stable, for next -morning he was taken with black small-pox and died in a week. -</p> -<p>The families of the lightermen in the Bay—crowded as they are into the <span class="corr" id="xd29e1233" title="Source: hencoops">hen-coops</span> over the stern of the bulky craft—are full of it, and hence the fatal ending to our -little afternoon excursion. As a rule, however, the members of the English-speaking -colony get so used to this disease that they have no especial fear in suddenly turning -a sharp corner of running into some native sufferer. -</p> -<p>In days gone by, when cholera decimated Manila’s numbers, when people died faster -than they could be buried, when business was at a standstill and the city one great -death-house, were the times that tried men’s souls. But now that those big water-mains -which run along the ground bring fresh water from far up into the hills, the natives -have given up the deadly practice of drinking from the river, and, thanks to the good -supply system, no longer give the cholera free admittance. -<span class="pagenum">[<a id="pb77" href="#pb77">77</a>]</span></p> -<p>Besides small-pox, then, fever is about the greatest enemy, and certain types of the -malarial variety seem so common that the sufferers from them often walk into the club, -drop into a chair, and say, “Got the fever again. Means another lay-off.” If they -can keep about, the old stagers never give up; but novices buy thermometers and cracked -ice, and either go through a terrific siege, like my friend, whose eight weeks’ struggle -shrunk his head so that in convalescence his hat touched his ears, or escape with -a week’s initiation. Typhoid seems also common, and there is generally one member -of the colony, for whom the rest are anxious, stretched out in ice-baths and wishing -he had never seen the Philippines. The old hands—who, by the way, seem to be regular -sufferers from the fever—all say the only way to be safe is to drink plenty of whiskey, -but so far I have found that the less one takes the better off he is. -</p> -<p>Someone in the States has suggested that if things get too hot it would be well to -run over to Hong Kong for a change of scene. But if there is any place in the world -that is hotter, stickier, more disagreeable than Hong Kong, in the months from May -to October, let us hear from it. It is far worse in summer than Manila, for, completely -shut in as it is by the mountains, it does not receive the benefit of the <span class="pagenum">[<a id="pb78" href="#pb78">78</a>]</span>southwest monsoon, which blows with great force over the Philippines during the above -months. Even Japan itself gets a good roasting for the two or three months of the -hot season, and there is not much left to do but to seek cold weather in Australia. -Our only very hot months here are said to be April and May; sometimes part of June. -The sun now is directly overhead and going fast to the north of us, but so far the -temperature has never been unbearable. The mercury stands at about ninety-five from -twelve to three each day, but somehow or other one does not feel it so much in the -cool white suits, unless he attempts to fall asleep on some of the sheet-iron roofs. -The nights are still cool and comfortable, and what with a cold snap now and then, -such as I spoke of above, fans are having a poor sale. In the afternoon, walking, -rowing, and tennis are still possible, and the bands of the Luneta still have enough -wind left to give us the “Funeral March” or “Prize Song.” -</p> -<p></p> -<div class="figure p078width" id="p078"><img src="images/p078.jpg" alt="The Little Native School under the Big Mango-tree." width="691" height="536"><p class="figureHead">The Little Native School under the Big Mango-tree.</p> -<p class="first seepage"><i>See page <a href="#pb92" class="pageref">92</a>.</i> </p> -</div><p> -</p> -<p class="date">April 28th. -</p> -<p>Manila fare, like Manila life, is not unwholesome, but it lacks variety, and one rather -tires, now and then, of soup, chicken, beefsteak, and toothpicks—four staples. But -fortunately for us who like variety, though unhappily for five or six hundred other -people, there occurred a vast conflagration yesterday afternoon <span class="pagenum">[<a id="pb79" href="#pb79">79</a>]</span>that sent about five or six hundred houses sailing off through the air in the form -of smoke. -</p> -<p>As we were getting ready to leave the office for the day, clouds of smoke suddenly -began to rise over the iron house-roofs to the eastward, and we knew that one of Manila’s -semi-annual holocaustic celebrations was in progress. The church bells began to ring, -and all sorts of people and carriages started toward the centre of interest. -</p> -<p>The Manila Fire Department consists of about six hand-engines and a few hose-carts, -and if a fire gets started it generally burns along until an open field, a river, -or a thick mass of banana-trees stops its progress. The English houses, to be sure, -have recently gotten out from home one of their small steam “garden-pumps,” and many -of the young Britons have had weekly practice in manipulating its various parts. When -the alarm for the present fire rang you might have seen several servants, employed -in their respective homes by the members of the new Volunteer Fire Department, slowly -wandering toward the shed where the engine was kept, with some nicely folded red shirts, -coats with brass buttons, helmets with Matterhorn-like summits, and axes that shone -from lack of work. These youths did not seem to be in any hurry, and it turned out -that when they reached the engine-house, when their masters had togged <span class="pagenum">[<a id="pb80" href="#pb80">80</a>]</span>up sufficiently well to impress the spectators, and when the engine finally got to -the fire, the buildings had been translated into their new and rather more ethereal -form. -</p> -<p>The fire was two miles, more or less, from the centre of the town. The Volunteer Fire -Brigade had to haul the engine the entire distance, as they feared that if the usual -<i>carabao</i> oxen were hitched on, the speed over the pavements would be too great. After reaching -the centre of action, an hour was spent in waiting for the man who brought some spare -coal in a wheelbarrow and in choosing a location which would not be uncomfortable -for the brigade. Consequently, the “London Garden Pump” was stationed to windward -of the fire, on a side where it could not possibly spread any farther, and thus all -stray flames and smoke were avoided. A hose was stuck down into the creek, and steam -turned on. A stream of water about large enough to be clearly visible with a microscope -suddenly jumped forth into the middle of the street, wetting the spectators. Somebody -had forgotten to attach the extra pieces of hose that were to lead down to the fire, -and steam had to be turned off. After everything was ready to get to business, a tram-car -came along, and it wasn’t allowable to stop its progress by putting a hose across -the track, even if there was a fire. And so it went from grave to <span class="pagenum">[<a id="pb81" href="#pb81">81</a>]</span>gay, the swell brigade furnishing the humorous part of the otherwise rather sad spectacle. -</p> -<p>A Philippine fire is like any other, except that with the many <i>nipa</i> houses it does its work quickly and well, and in this instance the whole affair lasted -but a couple of hours. Hundreds of families moved out into the wet rice-fields, with -all their chattels, and there were many curious-looking groups. In saving various -articles of furniture and other valuables, the fighting-cock, as usual, was considered -the most important, and it was interesting to watch the natives trudging along with -scared faces, holding a rooster by the legs in one hand and a baby or two in the other. -Pigs, chickens, and dogs seemed to come next in value, and after them ice-chests and -images of the Virgin Mary. The sun went down on a strange spectacle, and it was hard -not to pity all the crowd that were thus rudely thrown out of their habitations. Myriads -of spectators there were and myriads of carriages, of all ages and sizes, some loaded -with chattels ready to take flight, and others waiting to be. At dusk, however, all -danger was over; the mobs departed north, east, south, and west; the brigade carefully -brushed the dust off their boots and shirts, and the poor burned-out unfortunates -looked with moistened eyes on the ruin of their homes. -</p> -<p>The wags go far enough to say that the dealers in <span class="pagenum">[<a id="pb82" href="#pb82">82</a>]</span>thatch are responsible for many of the big fires both in the capital and smaller villages -and that, when times are bad or prices for thatch low, they arrange to “bull” the -market by means of a conflagration. A lamp is tipped over—a thousand houses go up -in smoke, and as go the houses so rise the prices for <i>nipa</i> thatch. -</p> -<p>The second series of pony races occurred during the middle days of this month, at -the race-track down below our bungalow, and all Manila again came rolling up through -the dust to see the performances of the smart ponies. The events were but a repetition -of those which took place in March, except that in many respects the running-time -was better and the races far more close and interesting. -</p> -<p>Some of the old stagers are beginning to complain of the heat. We take afternoon tea -now and then, as is customary in all the business houses, with some of our friends, -in an office on the other side of our building. Yesterday afternoon a thermometer -placed outside of our window registered 125° F., I suspect this was owing to some -of the reflected heat coming from the iron roofs. Inside the room the mercury stood -at 97° F., but we drank our hot tea and enjoyed the coolness which resulted from consequent -perspiration. -</p> -<p>I have now been settled in Manila long enough to <span class="pagenum">[<a id="pb83" href="#pb83">83</a>]</span>find out what it costs to live, and the general cheapness of existence is more appalling -than I first thought. Our house is a good one, with all the comforts of home, and -is surrounded by an acre or two of land. We have stables for our horses and outbuildings -for the families of our servants. At the end of the month all expenditures for house-rent, -food, wages, light, and sundries are posted together and divided by three, and with -everything included my monthly share comes to twenty-nine gold dollars—less than one -of our American cart-wheels—<i>per diem</i>. -</p> -<p>Where in the States could you rent a suburban house and lot, keep half a dozen servants, -pay your meat bill, your drink bill, and your rent all for less than a single dollar -a day! You can scarcely drive a dozen blocks in a hansom or buy a pound of Maillard’s -for that money at home and yet, in Manila, that one coin shelters you from the weather, -ministers to the inner man, and keeps the parlor in order. -</p> -<p>Our cook, for instance, gets forty cents each morning to supply our table with dinner -enough for four people, and for five cents extra he will decorate the cloth with orchids -and put peas in the soup. To think of being able to get up a six-course dinner, including -usually a whole chicken, besides a roast, with vegetables, salad, dessert, fruit, -and coffee, for such a sum seems ridiculous in the extreme. -<span class="pagenum">[<a id="pb84" href="#pb84">84</a>]</span></p> -<p>The methods of marketing are almost as noteworthy as the low prices for “raw materials.” -All meat must be eaten on the same day it is killed, since here in the tropics even -ice fails to preserve fish, flesh, or fowl. As a result, while the beef and mutton -are killed in the early morning—a few hours before the market opens—the smaller fry, -such as chickens and game, are sold alive. From six to ten on any morning the native -and Chinese cooks from many families may be seen bargaining for the day’s supply among -the nest of stalls in the big market. After filling their baskets numbers of them -mount the little tram-car for the return trips to their kitchens and proceed to pluck -the feathers off the live chickens or birds as they jog along on the front or rear -platform. By the time they have arrived home the poor creatures are stripped of foliage, -and, keenly suffering, are pegged down to the floor of the kitchen to await their -fate. Then, when the creaking of the front gate announces the return of the master, -it is time enough to wring the necks of the unfortunates and shove them into the boiling-pot -or roasting-pan that seems but to accentuate a certain toughness which fresh-killed -meat possesses. -</p> -<p></p> -<div class="figure p084width" id="p084"><img src="images/p084.jpg" alt="Calzada de San Miguel. Cooled by Fire-trees and Bordered with Residences of Rich Europeans." width="720" height="503"><p class="figureHead">Calzada de San Miguel. Cooled by Fire-trees and Bordered with Residences of Rich Europeans<span class="corr" id="xd29e1301" title="Not in source">.</span></p> -<p class="first seepage"><i>See page <a href="#pb96" class="pageref">96</a>.</i> </p> -</div><p> -</p> -<p>The washing-bill, again, is far from commensurate with the fulness of one’s clothes-hamper, -and for two gold dollars per month I can turn over to my laundry-man<span class="pagenum">[<a id="pb85" href="#pb85">85</a>]</span>—who comes in from the country once a week—as much or as little as I please. Two full -suits of white sheeting clothes a day for thirty days make one item of no mean dimensions, -and yet the <i lang="es">lavandero</i> turns up each week with his basketful, perfectly satisfied with his remuneration. -Then, too, he washes well, and although, when I see him standing knee-deep in the -river whanging my trousers from over his head down onto a flat stone, I fear for seams -and buttons, nothing appears to suffer. And although he builds a small bonfire in -a brass flat-iron that looks like a warming-pan and runs it over my white coats all -blazing as it is, the result is excellent, and one’s linen seems better laundered -than in the mills that grind away at home. -</p> -<p>As servants, these boys of ours could teach much to some of their more civilized brethren -from Ireland or Nova Scotia now holding sway in American families. They take bossing -well, and actually expect to have their heads punched if things go wrong. They don’t -put their arms akimbo and march out of the house if we mildly suggest that the quality -of ants in the cake or the water-pitcher is not up to standard, and actually make -one feel at liberty to require anything of them. -</p> -<p>And speaking of ants, these little creatures are everywhere ready to eat your house -or your dinner <span class="pagenum">[<a id="pb86" href="#pb86">86</a>]</span>right from under you. The legs of the dining-table, the ice-chest, and the sideboard -must be islanded in cups of kerosene, and even the feet to one’s bed must undergo -the same treatment, in order that the occupant may awake in the morning to find something -of himself left. Cockroaches are almost equally fierce and, endowed with wings, these -creatures, sometimes four inches long, go sailing out the window as you close your -eyes and try to step on them. They prowl around at night, with a sort of clicking -sound, seeking something to devour, and are apparently just as satisfied to eat the -glue out of a book-cover as they are to feed on the rims to one’s cuffs or shirt-collars, -moist with perspiration. -</p> -<p>What the ants don’t swarm over the cockroaches examine, and what they reject seems -to be taken in charge by the heavy green mould that beards one’s shoes, valise, and -tweed suits at the slightest suggestion of wet weather. -<span class="pagenum">[<a id="pb87" href="#pb87">87</a>]</span> </p> -</div> -</div> -<div id="ch5" class="div1 chapter"><span class="pagenum">[<a href="#xd29e227">Contents</a>]</span><div class="divHead"> -<h2 class="main">V</h2> -<div class="argument"> -<p class="first">Visit of the Sagamore—Another Mountain Excursion—The Caves of Montalvan—A Hundred-mile -View—A Village School—A “Fiesta” at Obando—The Manila Fire-tree—A Move to the Seashore—A -Waterspout—Captain Tayler’s Dilemma—A Trip Southward—The Lake of Taal and its Volcano—Seven -Hours of Poling—A Night’s Sleep in a Hen-coop.</p> -</div> -</div> -<div class="divBody"> -<p class="first date">May 9, 1894. -</p> -<p>The other day the yacht Sagamore dropped anchor in the bay, her owner and his guests, -all Harvard men, having got thus far on their tour around the world. I was sitting -on the Luneta, Sunday evening, when I saw those familiar Harvard hat-ribbons coming, -and in behalf of our little American colony welcomed the wearers of them to Manila. -In return for a dinner or two at the club and a visit to the huge cigar-factories, -where three or four thousand operators pound away all day at the fragrant weed, I -spent a noon and afternoon aboard the yacht, glad to enjoy a change of fare. The Sagamore -is a worthy boat and seems to be loaded up with gimcracks and curios of all classes -and descriptions. A collector would positively be squint-eyed with pleasure to see -the old vases, carved wood-work, plaques, knives, sabres, <span class="pagenum">[<a id="pb88" href="#pb88">88</a>]</span>pots and kettles that her passengers have picked up all along the way; and it is indeed -the only method by which to scour curios from the Orient. The boys thought the Luneta -was the best place in its way they had yet seen, and it was as much as I could do -to get them away from listening to the artillery-band and looking at the crowds of -people in carriages. Three men in a boat of the Sagamore’s size make a pretty small -passenger-list for a pretty long voyage. -</p> -<p>We’ve kept up our record as tripsters by having gone again up into the mountains, -seen pounds of scenery, breathed fine air, and received great hospitality from the -natives. Monday was a bank-holiday, so late on Saturday afternoon four of us started -in two-horse <i>carromatas</i> for a mountain village called Montalvan, about twenty miles from Manila. Two boys -had been sent along a day ahead, with provisions and bedding, to find a native hut -and provide for our arrival. We had a delightful drive out of Manila, passed through -numerous native villages, forded three rivers, saw a fine sunset, and at about eight -o’clock, after a three hours’ journey, pulled up at a little native house situated -in a village at the foot of a lofty mountain-range. The occupants seemed willing and -glad to turn out of their little shanty and put it at our disposal, and we were very -comfortable. The house was not large, but it had a very neat little parlor<span class="pagenum">[<a id="pb89" href="#pb89">89</a>]</span>—curious name for a room out here—and in the corner, covered with a light bed-quilt, -stood a wax figure of the Virgin Mary, with the usual glass tears running down her -cheeks. The family of about fourteen slept somewhere out in the rear regions of the -building, leaving us to spread out around the floor of the little <i>sala</i>, like unmounted club sandwiches. -</p> -<p>One of the party, more sensitive than the rest, woke about one in the morning and -disturbed us by finding some four-inch spiders stringing cobwebs from the end of his -nose to his ear and down to one finger. He was for the moment embarrassed enough to -shout for joy and throw his slippers somewhere. But except for this, and a few rats -that now and then tickled our toes, we slept well, and next morning before breakfast -we went down to the shallow river for a swim. After a jolly good bath, a hearty breakfast, -and a few preparations, our party of four, with the two boys and two guides, started -up a steep valley that wound in among lofty mountains to the so-called Caves of Montalvan. -</p> -<p>One of our guides was the principal of a village school, who held sway over a group -of little Indian girls under a big mango-tree, and he shut up shop to join our expedition. -</p> -<p></p> -<div class="figure p090width" id="p090"><img src="images/p090.jpg" alt="A Native Village Up Country." width="720" height="506"><p class="figureHead">A Native Village Up Country.</p> -<p class="first seepage"><i>See page <a href="#pb70" class="pageref">70</a>.</i> </p> -</div><p> -</p> -<p>In about two hours and a half our caravan reached the narrower defile that pierced -two mountains which <span class="pagenum">[<a id="pb90" href="#pb90">90</a>]</span>came down hobnobbing together like a great gate, grand and picturesque. From a large, -quiet pool just beneath the gates, we climbed almost straight up the mouth of the -stalactite caves that run no one knows how far into the mountains, starting at a point -about two hundred feet above the river. The guides made flare-torches of bamboos, -and we entered the damp darkness, bounded by white limestone walls from which hung -beautiful stalactites that glistened as the light struck them. In we went for a long -way, now crawling on hands and knees and now stumbling into large vaulted chambers. -Blind bats flew about and water trickled. It was ghostly, uncanny, but interesting. -It seemed as if we were going into the very heart of the mountain, or were reading -“King Solomon’s Mines,” and this impression was further carried out when we came to -a small subterranean river that coursed down through a dark outlet and disappeared -with weird gurglings. Unpleasant but perhaps imaginary rumblings suggested that a -sudden earthquake might easily block our exit, and, retracing our steps, we breathed -more freely on coming to the first glimmer of light. Once more in the air, we descended, -took a good swim in the pool, lunched, and lay around for an hour. After another bath -later on, we donned our sun-hats and trudged homeward over the long, rough path. A -good walk, a good supper, a little <span class="pagenum">[<a id="pb91" href="#pb91">91</a>]</span>dancing and music by the natives who occupied our house, and we went to sleep upon -the floor. -</p> -<p>Next morning, after another early bath in the river, our party started to climb the -mountain back of the town for a little experience in the bush. The work was hard and -warm, but at the top came the reward of a superb view for a hundred miles around. -Manila and the great plain, the bay and mountains beyond, were glorious before us, -and behind the great mountain wilds that reached to the Pacific stretched off and -up in great overlapping slabs of heavy greenness. -</p> -<p>The plain was cut up into the regulation checker-board farms of the richest looking -description, and the scene was very much like an English one. Far away at the edge -of the Bay could be seen the glistening white houses and steeples of Manila. Away -to the northwest and southwest were the great fertile stretches of country that produce -tons and tons of rice and sugar, reaching to the sky or distant mountains. We had -luncheon in a leafy grotto; the guides found water, and brought it in lengths of bamboo -which they cut down; deer ran past now and then down below us, and a short siesta -on a bed of leaves finished off our morning’s work. The return was so steep that it -seemed as if we should go heels over head. However, we hung on to the long grass, -and painted our once white suits with dust in the effort to <span class="pagenum">[<a id="pb92" href="#pb92">92</a>]</span>reach level ground again. After a long descent, we came to the big mango-tree where -the rural school was in session, and the little Filipinos were immediately given a -recess. They rushed about, got benches and water for us, and the old schoolmaster, -who had left his wife to do the teaching while he went with us, set two or three of -the shavers at work mopping off his ebony skin. Our visit at the school was in the -order of an ovation. The children opened their almond eyes almost to the extent of -turning them into circles, and when the camera was pointed at them for the first time -in their young lives, their mouths so far followed suit that recitations had to be -suspended. -</p> -<p>After thoroughly disorganizing discipline in the establishment, we accompanied the -half naked president of the seminary—who had been our guide—to the river, and there -washed off such of the day’s impressions as went easily into solution. -</p> -<p>And finally, after returning to our hut for tea, we packed up our baskets, whistled -for the <i>carromatas</i> and jolted back to Manila through a flood of dust and sunset. -</p> -<p>Although the hot season is trying to do its best to scorch us, it has but dismally -succeeded, and we have had scarcely any severe weather at all. The thunder-showers, -harbingers of the southwest monsoon and the wet season, began two weeks ago, and it -rains <span class="pagenum">[<a id="pb93" href="#pb93">93</a>]</span>now nearly every afternoon. The nights are all delightfully cool, and a coverlet is -always comfortable. The sun is going well to the north to make hot June and July days -for people in the States, and our season of light is growing shorter. When he gets -back overhead again, heavy clouds will protect us from his attentions. -</p> -<p>Owing to the outbreak of black plague or something else among the Chinese in Hong -Kong, the quarantine regulations here in Manila will cause the steamer by which I -was going to send the mail to miss connections. It was at first reported there were -three thousand deaths in Hong Kong in six days, but I believe they have now taken -off one or two ciphers from that amount. At all events Manila seems to be below the -zone of this peculiar epidemic and is much better off at this time of the year than -Hong Kong, which swelters away in that great unventilated scoop in the mountains. -</p> -<p>The men of the big artillery-band that plays at the Luneta twice a week have all been -vaccinated lately, and are too broken up to blow their trumpets. The people are objecting, -because the infantry band doesn’t make nearly as good music, and only plays twice -a week at most. The third regimental band is still fighting the savage Moros with -trombones down at the south, although it is rumored they will soon <span class="pagenum">[<a id="pb94" href="#pb94">94</a>]</span>return, and so at present about all the music and fireworks we have are derived from -the thunder-storms that play around the sheet-iron roofs as if they meant business. -But in spite of the terrific cannonade of sound and the blinding flashes of lightning -nothing seems to get hit, and the iron roofs may act as dispersers of the electric -fluid even though attracting it. -</p> -<p class="date">June 6th. -</p> -<p>Several days ago, a number of us went up the railroad line to see a “fiesta” at a -little village called Obando. It was a religious observance lasting three days, and -pilgrims from many villages thought it their duty to go there on foot. A great dingy -old church with buttressed walls yards thick, a large plaza shaded by big trees, and -beyond, on all sides, the native houses. Such a crowd I have rarely seen. Everybody -seemed to think it his duty to dance; and men, women, old men and children, mothers -with babies and papas with kids, shouted, jumped around, danced, joggled each other, -and rumpussed about until they were blue in the face, dripping with heat, and covered -with dust. Then they would stop and another crowd take up the play. As the circus -proceeded the crowds increased; the old church was packed with worshippers who brought -candles, and, receiving a blessing, spent an hour or so on the <span class="pagenum">[<a id="pb95" href="#pb95">95</a>]</span>stone pavements in positions of contrite humility. Around the walls of the church -were placed realistic paintings of the chromo order, representing hell and the river -Styx, and as the natives looked at portraits of devils driving nails into the heads -of the tormented, of sulphurous flames that licked the cheeks of the wicked in this -world, or serpents that twined themselves into square knots around the chests of a -dozen unfortunates, and of countless horned demons who plucked out the heartstrings -of the condemned, they counted their beads with renewed vigor and mumbled long prayers. -</p> -<p>Countless little booths stood like mushrooms round about outside, and cheap jewellery, -made in Germany, found ready sale. The dancing and shouting increased as the sun sank -in the west, until the ground fairly shook and the dust arose in vast clouds. Around -the edge of the church, under the porticoes, slept sections of the multitude who were -preparing themselves to take part in the proceedings when others were tired out. It -was a motley crowd, a motley scene, and an unforgettable collection of perfumes. -</p> -<p>We left after a few hours’ stay, and got back to Manila to find water a foot deep -in some of the streets, as a result of one of the tropical thunder-storms which have -now begun in real earnest. And <span class="pagenum">[<a id="pb96" href="#pb96">96</a>]</span>speaking of rain, everything is looking fresh and green, now that the dusty days of -the hot season are a thing of the past. All the bamboo-trees have leafed out anew, -flowering shrubs have taken life, and all nature seems to have had a bath. -</p> -<p>One of the most showy trees in Manila is the <i lang="es">arbol de fuego</i> (fire-tree) and this product of nature resembles a large oak in general and a full-blown -Japanese cherry blossom in particular. Many of the streets in the city are bordered -with groups of these fire-trees, of large and stately dimensions, and at present they -are simply one mass of huge flaming red blossoms growing thickly together and showing -a wonderful fire-like carnation color. Scarcely any leaves make their appearance on -these trees during the season of blossom, and although now and then bits of green -look out from the mass of red, yet the general effect is a vast blaze of burning color. -</p> -<p>We have left our country house on the hills of Santa Mesa, and have moved down to -a little villa on the seacoast. The third man of our party, like many of his brother -Englishmen who are burdened with small salaries but large debit balances, has at last -decided to save money and room at his office. The house had too many regular boarders -in the form of rats and snakes, was too large and too far off for the two of us left, -and we decided to make a move to the seashore <span class="pagenum">[<a id="pb97" href="#pb97">97</a>]</span>district. Our army of servants successfully solved the transportation problems involved, -and we are now settled in new quarters. Although we miss the view of the mountains, -and even the paddy-fields, we now get the salt air first hand, look out over the waters -of the Bay, and are lulled to sleep by the rhythmic beating of the waves on the beach. -Our view seaward leads the eye across a beautiful garden belonging to one of the rich -house-owners living directly on the shore front, and the green of the trees, with -the scent of somebody else’s flowers, temper both the excess of glare and the brackish -qualities of the sea-breeze. -</p> -<p>In Malate, where we now are, things are much civilized. We find we miss the snakes -in the roof, but we have running water in the house and a shower-bath in the bath-room; -two rooms on the first floor; a parlor, two bed-rooms, dining-room, large hallway, -kitchen, bath and “boys’ ” rooms on the second floor; a small garden at the front -and a stable at the back, and all included in a rent of $15 a month. The stable accommodates -two ponies, and it is a jolly drive <span class="corr" id="xd29e1406" title="Source: down-town">downtown</span> in the morning or home in the evening. The road leads all the way along by the sea, -Luneta, and Malecon Promenade, that runs under the yawning mouths of the old muzzle-loaders -in front of the grim walls of the old city, between <span class="pagenum">[<a id="pb98" href="#pb98">98</a>]</span>them and the beach. The salt-water bath in the early morning is often very pleasant, -though the temperature of the liquid is somewhat too high to be exhilarating. Now -and then some of the Britons living in the neighborhood will issue a summons for a -sunrise swimming-party, and one of them will perhaps punctuate the ceremonies by supplying -a typical breakfast of fresh fish and boiled rice, on the veranda of a house that -perhaps overlooks the Bay. These seaside houses are particularly cool and fresh now -that the winds of the southwest monsoon come blowing into the front windows directly -off the water, but later on, when typhoons become epidemic, it looks as if we should -have the wind in more than wholesale doses. -</p> -<p></p> -<div class="figure p098width" id="p098"><img src="images/p098.jpg" alt="A “Chow” Shop on a Street Corner. Stewed Grasshoppers for a Penny." width="720" height="505"><p class="figureHead">A “Chow” Shop on a Street Corner. Stewed Grasshoppers for a Penny.</p> -</div><p> -</p> -<p class="date">June 12th. -</p> -<p>Although the San Francisco steamer does not sail for Hong Kong until the 21st, it -is necessary, on account of this quarantine business, to post our letters in the Manila -office to-day. -</p> -<p>Two of our latest vessels have come in together and begun to take in their cargoes -of hemp for Boston. The captains are ruddy-faced veterans who seem to have taken part -in the Civil War. One of them, who wears false teeth when he is ashore, and hails -from New Hampshire, is particularly fond of cooling off under our big punka. The other -may be of French <span class="pagenum">[<a id="pb99" href="#pb99">99</a>]</span>descent, though he comes from Ireland, and looks something like one of our distinguished -Boston statesmen. They both climb up the stairs to our counting-room daily, call our -big clock a “time destroyer” and so vie with each other in their efforts to handle -the truth carelessly that it is often a question who comes off victor in these verbal -contests. However, the skipper with the false ivories generally fails to get the last -word, for he often loses his suction power by fast talking, and has to leave off to -prevent his teeth from slipping down his œsophagus. Once again the air in the office -assumes a nautical aroma, and we shall be well employed and well talked to death. -A whole parcel of American ships are now about due, and the Bay will liven up again -with the Stars and Stripes as it did some two months ago. -</p> -<p>It rains every afternoon now, at about a quarter past three, and just after tiffin -is over we begin to look for the thunder-clouds that predict the coming shower. The -other day a huge waterspout formed out in the Bay, swirled along, gyrated about, scooted -squarely through the shipping, and broke on the beach between our house and the Luneta. -The cloud effects were extremely curious, and the whole display was a number not generally -down on the day’s programme. -</p> -<p>The company who are putting in the new electric <span class="pagenum">[<a id="pb100" href="#pb100">100</a>]</span>lights seem to be doing good work, and it is expected that everything will be running -by the end of the year. So far, Manila has been favored only with the dull light given -by petroleum, previously brought out from New York, or over from China, and, curiously -enough, the empty tins in which the oil has come seem to be almost as valuable as -their contents. They are used here for about everything under the sun, the natives -cover their roofs with tin from these sources, and some of those more musically inclined -even make a petroleum can up into a trombone or cornet. -</p> -<p>Our house by the sea continues to prove very pleasant, and, peculiarly enough, the -surf seems to beat on the beach with the same sound that it has on the New England -coast. The southwest breeze blows strong from the Bay each afternoon, and the cumulus -clouds are becoming heavier and more numerous day by day. The artillery-band still -favors us with music at the Luneta, but before long it looks as if the rains would -interrupt the afternoon promenade. -</p> -<p>The black plague at Hong Kong does not seem to diminish, as was expected, and it is -said that many people are leaving the city. All steamers coming from that port to -this suffer a fortnight’s quarantine down the Bay, and, if the difficulty continues -much longer, Manila markets will be destitute of two of their chief staples—mutton -and potatoes—both of <span class="pagenum">[<a id="pb101" href="#pb101">101</a>]</span>which have to come across from China, or down from Japan. And speaking of sheep, Captain -Tayler, of the Esmeralda, has had another of his usual interesting experiences with -the custom-house. Just as his vessel, fresh from quarantine and Hong Kong, had been -visited by the doctor, on her way to her berth some distance up the river, one of -the sheep died. Rule number something-or-other in the Code of the Sanidad says that -anything or anybody dying during the day must be buried before sundown, under penalty, -for neglect, of $50. Rule number something-else in the Customs Code, however, says -that the captain of any vessel turning out cargo short or in excess of the amount -called for by the manifest shall be fined $100 for each piece too many or too little. -If my good friend, the Captain, buried the sheep, he would be fined $100 at the custom-house -for short out-turn. If he didn’t bury it, the Board of Health would come down on him -for $50, for neglecting regulations. The Captain, being a wise man, decided that it -was more politic to be in the right with the doctor than with the officials at the -custom-house, and at some considerable expense sent the sheep on shore and had it -buried with due honors. He could not have thrown it into the river, for this would -have been to incur an additional fine. Next morning, he presented the ship’s <span class="pagenum">[<a id="pb102" href="#pb102">102</a>]</span>manifest and a sheep’s tail at the custom-house and the discharge of the live stock -was begun. But, tail or no tail, the officials found the ship one sheep short and -the Esmeralda was fined $100. Not quite so barefaced as the swindling of the poor -skipper who came over from China with a load of paving-stones for Manila’s Street -Department. His vessel turned out seven paving-stones too many, and the fine was $700. -</p> -<p>In the language of Daniel Webster, I “refrain from saying” that a few dollars or a -good dinner, bestowed upon the right person, in Manila, often go a long way toward -throwing some official off the scent in his hungry search for irregularity, but am -willing to admit that, in dealing with customs men who frequently “examine” cases -of champagne by drinking up the contents of a bottle from each one in order to see -that the liquid is not chloroform or cologne, one must keep his purse full, his talk -cool, and his temper on ice. -</p> -<p class="date">June 25, 1894. -</p> -<p>Last Monday was the monthly bank-holiday again, and three of us had previously decided -to take a journey southward for the purpose of seeing one of Luzon’s active volcanoes -and getting a little change of air and “chow.” -</p> -<p>So, late on Saturday afternoon, we went aboard a <span class="pagenum">[<a id="pb103" href="#pb103">103</a>]</span>dirty little steamer, which was to take us ninety miles down the coast. She wasn’t -as big as a good-sized tug and was laden with multicolored natives, who were on their -way back to the provinces after a brief shopping expedition to the capital. We were -soon sailing out past the fleet of larger vessels in the Bay, with our dull prow pointed -to the mouth of the great inclosed body of water. At nightfall we reached the Corregidor -light-house, at the Bay’s entrance, and thence our course lay to the south. At half-past -two that night our craft reached a place called Taal. During our trip down we had -become acquainted with a very pleasant Indian sugar-planter, who is as well off in -dollars as rich in hospitality. At Taal he took us to one of the three big houses -he owns, and, although only three o’clock in the morning, gave us a delicious breakfast. -We talked and chatted away comfortably, and as the first streaks of dawn appeared -I played several appropriate selections on one of the two very good-toned pianos belonging -to his establishment. This brought out his family, and before we set out for the river -from which our start to the volcano was to be made, quite a social gathering was in -progress. -</p> -<p>The natives all through the islands seemed indeed most courteous and hospitable to -foreigners, and although a Spaniard hesitates to show his face outside <span class="pagenum">[<a id="pb104" href="#pb104">104</a>]</span>of any of the garrison towns, yet any of the other European bipeds is known in a minute -and well treated. Our good friend at Taal went so far as to harness up a pair of ponies -and drive us down to the river at four o’clock in the morning, and we found a large -<i>banca</i>, previously ordered, waiting to take us up to the Lake of Taal and across to the -volcano. -</p> -<p>Our <i>banca</i> was of good size, was rowed by seven men and steered by one, and had a little thatched -hen-coop arrangement over the stern, to keep the sun off our heads. We had brought -one “boy” with us from Manila, with enough “chow” to last for two days, and soon all -was stowed away in our floating tree-trunk. The river was shallow, and for most of -the six miles of its length poles were the motive-power. It was slow work, and both -wind and current were hostile. In due course, however, the lake came into view, and -in its centre rose the volcano, smoking away like a true Filipino. The wind was now -blowing strong and unfavorable, and we saw that it was not going to be an easy row -across the six or seven miles of open water to the centre island. But the men worked -with a will, and although the choppy waves slopped over into our roost once or twice -so jocosely that it almost seemed as if we should have to turn back, we kept on. Benefitting -by a lull or two, our progress was gradual, and at half after twelve, <span class="pagenum">[<a id="pb105" href="#pb105">105</a>]</span>seven hours from Taal, we landed on the volcanic island and prepared for an ascent. -</p> -<p>The lake of Taal is from fifteen to twenty miles across, is surrounded by high hills -and mountains, for the most part, and has for its centre the volcanic island upon -whose edges rise the sloping sides of an active cone a thousand feet high. The lake -is certainly good to look at, reminding one forcibly of Loch Lomond, and the waters, -shores, and mountains around all seem to bend their admiring gaze on the little volcano -in its centre. -</p> -<p>Filling our water-jug, we set off up the barren lava-slopes of this nature’s safety-valve, -sweltering under the stiff climb in the hot sun. Happily, the view bettered each moment, -the smell of the sulphur became stronger, and we forgot present discomfort in anticipations -of the revelation to come. After banging our shins on the particularly rough lava-beds -of the ascent, near the top, we saw a great steaming crater yawning below us and sending -up clouds of sulphurous steam. In the centre of this vast, dreary Circus Maximus rose -a flat cone of red-hot squashy material, and out of it ascended the steam and smoke. -All colors of the rainbow played with each other in the sun, and farther to the right -was a boiling lake of fiery material that was variegated enough to suit an Italian -organ-grinder. -<span class="pagenum">[<a id="pb106" href="#pb106">106</a>]</span></p> -<p>It was all very weird, and if we had not been so lazy we should probably have descended -farther into this laboratory of fire than we did. But it was too hot to make matches -of ourselves and the air smelt like the river Styx at low tide. So we were contented -with a good view of the wonders of the volcano from a distance, enjoyed the panorama -from the narrow encircling apex-ridge, and cooled off in the smart breeze. Once more -at the lake, and it was not long before we were in it, tickling our feet on the rough -cinders of the bottom. The bath was most rejuvenating after a hot midday climb, and -just to sit in the warmish water up to one’s neck gave one a sort of mellow feeling -like that presumably possessed by a ripe apple ready to fall on the grass. -</p> -<p></p> -<div class="figure p106width" id="p106"><img src="images/p106.jpg" alt="Puentes de Ayala, which Help two of Manila’s Suburbs to Shake Hands Across the Pasig." width="715" height="520"><p class="figureHead">Puentes de Ayala, which Help two of Manila’s Suburbs to Shake Hands Across the Pasig.</p> -</div><p> -</p> -<p>The wind was now fresher than ever and more unfavorable to our course. The captain -of the tree-trunk, in a tone quite as authoritative as that manipulated by the commander -of an ocean liner, said we could not proceed for some time, so the boy arranged the -provisions and we had a meal in our little hen-coop. After a provoking wait until -four o’clock the old <i>banca</i> was pushed off again and the struggle renewed. The seven men, who had now been poling -and rowing since early morning, seemed pretty well beat, but there was no shelter -on the volcanic islands <span class="pagenum">[<a id="pb107" href="#pb107">107</a>]</span>and we had to push on. The other shore looked far away and we slopped forward sluggishly. -The sun set, the moon rose, and still we were buffeting with the choppy waves. It -reminded me a good deal of the sea of Galilee; and it did seem as if the dickens himself -was blowing at us and trying to keep us from ever getting to that farther shore. -</p> -<p>At last we reached the lee of a lofty perpendicular island part way across the lake, -and, although its upright sides offered no chance to land, yet they kept off that -southeast wind. The men shut their teeth hard, and in due course moved our bark around -the point and out into more moonlight and breeze. The lights and shadows on the great -lump of rock standing a thousand feet out of the water behind us were worth looking -at, and in many places huge basaltic columns seemed to be holding up the mass above. -Not to put as much labor into these lines as our men put into the oars, at half after -ten we came to land, seven hours from the shore of the volcano, a distance which in -fair wind ought to be covered in a little over one. -</p> -<p>On shore there seemed to be about four huts, two pig-sties, and nothing more. Stared -at by a crowd of natives whom our arrival suddenly incubated from somewhere, and who -swarmed down to see who we were, we talked with our boatman, but only succeeded <span class="pagenum">[<a id="pb108" href="#pb108">108</a>]</span>in finding out that we had come to a place not down on the map or on the highroad -to the next village whither we were bound. It was simply a collection of huts, children, -and pigs, situated at the lake’s edge and connected with the outer world by a foot-path -that led up over the hills eight miles to the nearest pueblo. To walk those eight -miles at eleven o’clock was out of the question, and to sleep in one of those little -dirty huts ashore was just as bad. The crowd of natives had grown, and so, to avoid -being overrun with the eminently curious, we pushed off from shore and anchored out -in the lake, to eat a little “chow” and decide what to do. Weariness tempered our -decision, which was to sleep where we were, in the <i>banca</i>, under the hen-coop, and, having made it known to our trusty but hard-looking crew, -they fell down like shots and, in less than a minute, were asleep in all sorts of -jackstraw positions. One slept on the oars, another on the poles, a third on our collection -of volcanic rocks, a fourth in the bottom of the boat, a fifth sitting up, and a sixth—I -don’t know where. -</p> -<p>We three lay down side by side in the little cooped-over roost, and found there was -just room to reside like sardines in a box. Our feet were out under the stars at one -side, our heads at the other, and there we were, and there we slept, in an unknown -wilderness. <span class="pagenum">[<a id="pb109" href="#pb109">109</a>]</span>Though no one could change his position we all rested fairly well, and nothing happened -to mar the beauty of the night. As the sun reddened the east, feeling more like awakened -chickens than anything else, we packed up, paid out some of the heavy dollars, that -made each of us feel like sinkers on a fish-line, and loaded what little luggage we -had upon a bony pony ashore. Adieus were said to the lake and to our crew, and our -little caravan started up a broad foot-path for the village of Tanauan, about eight -miles away. It was a long walk, on no refreshment save a night’s sleep in a hen-coop, -but after passing over hills and dales, by <i>nipa</i> huts of all sizes and descriptions, and after being stared at by curious natives, -we arrived at our destination, a good-sized village, in two and a half hours. We responded -to an invitation of the captain of the pueblo, to take possession of his house, and -got up a very decent breakfast out of our fast depleting stock. The old captain treated -us most cordially, and after a three-hours’ stay helped us to load ourselves and our -chattels aboard two stout-wheeled<a id="xd29e1484"></a> <i>carromatas</i> each hitched to two ponies. -</p> -<p>Off again, once more, our course was shaped overland toward the other great lake up -back of Manila, by which the return was to be made. The road was fearful, the ruts -two feet deep in places, and the bad sections far more numerous than the good pieces. -<span class="pagenum">[<a id="pb110" href="#pb110">110</a>]</span>We got stuck in the mud, had to pry our conveyances and the ponies out, and I fear -did not enjoy the beauties of the rather tame scenery on the way. At last the crest -of a hill brought the <i>Laguna de Bay</i> in sight, and in less than an hour we reached the village of Calamba, on its shores. -A shabby little native house was put at our disposal after we boldly walked up and -took possession of it; a swarm of children were shoved out of the one decent room, -and in a short time our boy was giving us canned turtle-soup and herrings. In the -afternoon we merely lounged about the town and took a swim in the lake, while in the -evening, early after the very good little dinner gotten up by our servant there was -nothing to do but to turn in, even though the house was surrounded by the curious, -who had looked in at the windows to watch people dining with knives, forks, plates, -and napkins. -</p> -<p>The floor of our room was of bamboo slats, just below whose many openings were four -fighting-cocks and when bed-time came we were tired enough to tumble down on the canes -just as we stood. The cock who sang out of tune woke us at about sunrise Tuesday morning, -and after one more swim in the lake we packed up our traps and prepared ourselves -to take the little Manila steamer that left at eight o’clock on its thirty-mile return -trip. The sail down the lake and into the Pasig River was cool, delightful, <span class="pagenum">[<a id="pb111" href="#pb111">111</a>]</span>and without incident, and at noon Tuesday we pulled up at the wharf at Manila, having -completed an almost perfect circle of travel one hundred and fifty miles in circumference, -to be heartily congratulated on having successfully made a trip which few perform -but many covet. My own cane sleeping machine seemed good again after hen-coops and -bamboo floors, and smooth roads and civilization far better than ruts and rickety -<i>carromatas</i>. -<span class="pagenum">[<a id="pb112" href="#pb112">112</a>]</span> </p> -</div> -</div> -<div id="ch6" class="div1 chapter"><span class="pagenum">[<a href="#xd29e237">Contents</a>]</span><div class="divHead"> -<h2 class="main">VI</h2> -<div class="argument"> -<p class="first">First Storm of the Rainy Season—Fourth of July—Chinese “Chow” Dogs—Crullers and Pie -and a Chinese Cook—A Red-Letter Day—The China-Japan War—Manila Newspapers—General -Blanco and the Archbishop—An American Fire-Engine and its Lively Trial—The Coming -of the Typhoon—Violence of the Wind—The Floods Next—Manila Monotony.</p> -</div> -</div> -<div class="divBody"> -<p class="first date">July 4th. -</p> -<p>The mails have been badly snarled up lately, and although nobody has received any -letters for nearly two weeks, none are expected for about ten days. The other morning -began the first real storm of the rainy season, and we came very near having a bad -typhoon, but someone turned the switch, and it swirled up the back coast on the Pacific -side and crossed through a notch in the mountains, some distance to the north of Manila, -giving the city only four days of monstrous winds and floods of rain. The streets -were two feet deep with water in the business section, and down at our house by the -sea the wind blew so hard that it carried the tin from our roof off to visit the next -suburb. Then it was that those sturdy windows of small sea-shells set into hardwood -lattice seemed far more secure than glass, and I <span class="pagenum">[<a id="pb113" href="#pb113">113</a>]</span>doubt if anything less well constructed would have stood the blast that surged in -from the broad bay. -</p> -<p>Going <span class="corr" id="xd29e1514" title="Source: down-town">downtown</span> in the morning, my carriage was slid clean across the road by the force of the wind, -and once it seemed as if I might be lifted up into the low clouds that scudded close -to the tops of the bamboo-trees. Huge seas came tumbling ashore on the beach, and -the vessels in the great exposed Bay had all they could do to hang to their anchors, -as the surf sometimes dashed as high as their lower foreyards. -</p> -<p>The natives never carry umbrellas in the rain, but march along and do not seem to -mind getting wet to the skin. They do indeed look bedraggled in their thin clothes, -that cling like sticking-plaster, and it seems as if they would get the fever. During -the present blow, the single pony hitched to a tram-car often found his load moving -him astern, and it was only by leaving the whole car wide open, so that the air could -have free passage through from end to end and side to side, that he now and then made -headway against the blast. This was not pleasant for the passengers, but made less -demand on the motive-power. The bands at the Luneta have played when they got a chance, -but the wind howls in from the Bay, as a rule, louder than the tunes bowl out of their -brass instruments. -<span class="pagenum">[<a id="pb114" href="#pb114">114</a>]</span></p> -<p>To-day seems to be the Glorious Fourth, and my colleague and I have just come back -from the shipping, where the Captain of the Helen Brewer asked us to eat a celebrative -dinner. All the ships in the Bay were dressed with flags, and the Brewer, which possessed -more than her share, had a long line stretched from the bowsprit over the three masts -down to the stern. Everybody was interested in the feast, and the Captain with the -false teeth, who comes from New Hampshire, sent over a goose and some mince-pies. -Eight of us sat down in the cozy saloon and partook of a meal altogether too hearty -for the climate. The day was cool and overcast, and we spent a lazy afternoon on deck, -listening to yarns told by two old salts who seemed to have had more than their share -of wrecks, typhoons, and other adventures. -</p> -<p></p> -<div class="figure p114width" id="p114"><img src="images/p114.jpg" alt="Calzada de San Sebastian. Iron Church in the background “Made in Belgium” and Brought Out in Pieces. " width="720" height="505"><p class="figureHead">Calzada de San Sebastian. Iron Church in the background “Made in <span class="corr" id="xd29e1525" title="Source: Germany">Belgium</span>” and Brought Out in Pieces. </p> -</div><p> -</p> -<p>When we came ashore, at about sunset, there was gathered up from the remains of the -feast the “seven basketsful,” and we each went back in the launch, decorated with -a bag of doughnuts under one arm and a bag of mince-pies under the other. -</p> -<p>One of our small family of dogs was run over by the tram-car the other morning, in -front of the house, and now rests in peace in a little grave down on the beach, hard -by the rhythmic cadence of the waves. His little brother, who was suffering at the -time from the <span class="pagenum">[<a id="pb115" href="#pb115">115</a>]</span>distemper, was so grieved at the loss that he too speedily faded away, and now lies -close beside the other victim of circumstances. On the tombstone is a touching epitaph: -</p> -<div class="lgouter"> -<p class="line">“Pompey and Nettie, here they lie; </p> -<p class="line">Born to live, they had to die. </p> -<p class="line">The wheels of fate ran over one, </p> -<p class="line">The other was by grief undone.” </p> -</div> -<p class="first">Most of the large army of dogs that make a Manila night hideous are of that mongrel -order, which is always looking for something to eat, but now and then one sees a good -many of the so-called Chinese “chow”-dogs about the streets, and with their black -tongues, long hair, and peculiar bushy tails that curl sharply up over their backs, -they are quite as interesting, as unaffectionate. Over in China they make very good -eating up to the age of three months, and from this fact derive the “chow” part of -their name. Although they are very susceptible to changes of locality and climate, -we are now making negotiations to have one brought over to take the place of the dear -departed eulogized above. And later, I may even try the experiment of having one for -Sunday dinner—if he doesn’t make a good pet. -</p> -<p>The doughnuts which I brought home from the Brewer have proved very interesting to -my cook, and I have been obliged to count them each day for <span class="pagenum">[<a id="pb116" href="#pb116">116</a>]</span>purposes of security. He now watches me closely as I make away with one or two for -breakfast, to see just what effect these marvellous looking “fried holes” have on -my intellect. I notice he looks to see if there are any crumbs left, from which he -might gather an inkling as to the composition of these curios; but so far there haven’t -been any crumbs. As he is cooking for us now, instead of the Chinese gentleman that -we originally had, this curiosity is but natural, and some day he will probably try -to furnish us with the native-made article. In fact he has already tried the experiment -of concocting a mince-pie after the general appearance of one of the earlier donations -made by a captain in the Bay, and the result was worthy of description. As I arranged -to measure the original pie after each meal, before locking it up in our safe, in -order to protect it from disappearing, my faithful cook could only guess as to its -composition by sundry glances from afar. But being of an inventive mind he conceived -the idea of chopping up some well-done roast beef, mixing with it some sugar and raisins, -roofing it over with a thatch of pastry, and serving it for dessert. And then as we -came to the course in question he stood in the doorway waiting for our verdict. His -effort was worthy of all praise, but his pie was damnable, and pieces of it went sailing -out the windows. -<span class="pagenum">[<a id="pb117" href="#pb117">117</a>]</span></p> -<p class="date">July 28th. -</p> -<p>On the 20th instant a steamer arrived from Hong Kong, and had the honor of being the -first vessel to come in from that port in thirty days. She was supposed to have three -American mails aboard, but it turned out that they were down to arrive by the vessel -coming in six days later. I came to the office the other morning, and looking toward -my desk, found it almost invisible. It looked as if somebody in the neighborhood were -the editor of a paper, and as if all the spring poets in the universe had sent their -manuscripts for inspection. The desk groaned beneath the bulky chaos of three mails -from the United States, delayed in transmission by the black plague, and fumigated -together down the bay. But no sooner had we gotten through the first course of an -epistolary feast than the captain of a large four-masted ship shuffled into the room -and deposited a huge pot of steaming baked beans, just fresh from his steward’s galley-stove, -on the table. What with beans, letters, magazines, and comic papers, it might be said -our day was a red-letter one. -</p> -<p>The other day my colleague and I took dinner off aboard the Nagato Maru, a smart steamer -just in from Japan, and captained by an American who knows what it is to set a good -table. It seems that the China-Japan war has actually broken out in all <span class="pagenum">[<a id="pb118" href="#pb118">118</a>]</span>its glory, and as there is a vague rumor that a Chinese war-ship is waiting outside -to capture this very same steamer, she is going to stay here for awhile. -</p> -<p>The Japanese have sunk several Chinese transport ships already, and one of the unfortunate -craft used to come here to Manila. In other directions the Chinese are said to have -beaten the Japs badly on land, but over in this slow old moth-eaten place the daily -papers will publish cablegrams from Spain by the page, that give out nothing but official -stuff and Government appointments; and when it comes to something of real interest, -like a war, they will either be without any news whatever, or tell the whole story -wrong side out in a single line, that may or may not be true. And so you are probably -getting better news of this whole affair, twelve thousand miles away, than we are, -who are almost on the field of action. -</p> -<p>Our Manila papers consist of four pages, the first two of which are especially reserved -for advertisements. Half of one of the inside leaves is likewise reserved, and the -remaining half is covered with blocks full of gloomy sentiments which relate to the -decease of this or that person. There is a little black frame of type around each -square, and at the top is a cross, with a “R.I.P.” or “D.O.M.” under it. Below comes -the name of the defunct, with hour, minute, day, and year of his birth and death, -and below <span class="pagenum">[<a id="pb119" href="#pb119">119</a>]</span>his virtues are extolled and his friends invited to pray for the repose of his soul. -Every year, each person that has died the year before has his anniversary, both in -church and in the newspapers; and when you recollect that out of a population of 350,000 -a good many depart each twelvemonth, it is hard to see why the whole paper shouldn’t -consist of these notices. The other inside page contains the news, and we learn that -a bad odor has been discovered up some side-street; that a dog fell into the river -and was drowned; that a perfumery store has received a new kind of liquefied scent; -that it will probably rain in some part of the island during the day; and that the -band on the Luneta ought not to be frightened off merely by a few drops that fall -from some passing cloud. And so it goes until the French or English mail comes in, -and then the progressive dailies copy all the news they can find, out of the foreign -papers, and serve it up cold, <i>æt.</i> one month. -</p> -<p>I met General Blanco, Governor of the islands, the other evening, and he seemed to -enjoy the good music and good supper which one of our popular bank-managers and his -wife provided for some of us in the colony on the occasion of a birthday. He is an -elderly man, and kindly, and appears milder in disposition than would seem advisable -for one occupying so important a position. I should think he might let <span class="pagenum">[<a id="pb120" href="#pb120">120</a>]</span>some of those sharp eyed little ministers of his run him, and he appears almost too -modest, too kind-hearted, to be the ruler that he is. Suffice to say the General is -modest in dress and modest in manner. He often walks up and down the Malecon promenade -by the Bay in the afternoon, saluting everyone that passes, and when the vesper bells -ring out the hour of prayer from one of the old churches inside the city walls he -stops, removes his tall gray stove-pipe and, as do a host of other pedestrians, bows -his head. To tell the truth he has little of the Spanish aspect about him and is just -the kind of a man one would go up and speak to on the Teutonic or Campania. In sharp -contrast is he to the Archbishop, who drives about behind his fine white horses and -looks as keen as well-nourished. But who knows! Appearances are deceitful, and foolish -he who trusts to them. -</p> -<p class="date">August 11th. -</p> -<p>Two steamers have just come in from Hong Kong and are tied up in quarantine down at -Marivelis, at the mouth of the Bay. The mail ought to be here in forty-eight hours, -but two days is a very short time to give Manila postal authorities, for they really -are slow enough to desire four—one in which to make up their minds to send a launch, -two in which to go, three in which to come back, and four in which to <span class="pagenum">[<a id="pb121" href="#pb121">121</a>]</span>distribute the results of their camphorated fumigation. -</p> -<p>The most noteworthy thing that has happened in the way of excitement since the last -mail was the operating of the new American fire-engine, which we imported from the -States for the wealthy proprietor of our hemp-press, who is part Spaniard, part native, -and part Chinese. It seems he was up in our office one day, and on the centre-table -saw a catalogue containing pictures of a collection of our modern fire-fighters. He -asked what those things were, and, on being told that they were used to put out fires, -said he wanted one at once, the biggest we could get him, in order that he might reduce -the insurance he was paying on his large store-houses and still go on collecting the -premiums from those whose goods were in his charge. -</p> -<p>Although ours is an exporting business, and we do not know much about fire-engines, -yet the occasion seemed auspicious, the prospect of payment sure, and the outlook -interesting. The result was that we forwarded the order to New York by the first mail, -and the other day, after four months of waiting, the pieces of the big engine came -over on the Esmeralda, in big cases. They were very heavy, and the natives began the -exhibition by nearly dropping the boiler into the river as they attempted to hoist -it into a lighter. To <span class="pagenum">[<a id="pb122" href="#pb122">122</a>]</span>skip over the difficulties which were encountered in hoisting the cases onto the quay -in front of the offices of our well-to-do purchaser, we come to the mental hardships -that were encountered in putting the machine together; for no one in Manila had ever -seen a Yankee fire engine before, and although we had a full description of the complicated -mechanism, with drawings of the parts, and numbers where each piece was to fit onto -some other piece, there was no one in town who could help us much in getting it into -working order. -</p> -<p></p> -<div class="figure p122width" id="p122"><img src="images/p122.jpg" alt="Ploughing the Rice-fields with the Carabao." width="715" height="534"><p class="figureHead">Ploughing the Rice-fields with the Carabao.</p> -<p class="first">A copy of which was sent to an American concern, who thought there was business for -steam-ploughs in the Philippines. They don’t think so now. </p> -</div><p> -</p> -<p>Fortunately, the hemp business was dull and my colleague and I were thus enabled to -give more attention to this Chinese puzzle than if the fibre market had been booming. -The red wheels with gold stripes were the first thing to be adjusted, and the eyes -of the onlookers who happened to be strolling up and down the quay opened to large -dimensions as the covering was stripped from the nickel-plated boiler and the process -of establishment went on. At last the big machine was on its feet, with valves and -gear adjusted, and with the slight assistance which we got from a Spanish engineer -who knew something about marine machinery, we found out that the whistle ought not -to be screwed onto the safety-valve. -</p> -<p>Several Englishmen who happened to come by in the early stages of our efforts made -sarcastic comments <span class="pagenum">[<a id="pb123" href="#pb123">123</a>]</span>on the appearance of our new toy, and could not see how an affair with so much gold -paint on the wheels and so much nickel on the boiler was going to work successfully. -But we did not say much, since we were well occupied in trying to find out the proper -way to fill the boiler. Someone suggested pouring the water down the whistle, and -so, mounted on a step-ladder, one to us began the interesting experiment. The water -seemed to run in all right, as it gurgled down through the pipes, and did not leak -out of the bottom. As there did not seem to be any other loophole to the boiler, we -concluded this must be the right method, and took turns for an hour in emptying the -contents of an old kerosene tin into the whistle-valve. -</p> -<p>Next, with great trepidation, we started a fire in the grate, and were rejoiced to -see that the new engine was soon fuming away like an old veteran. It quite spruced -us up to hear the fire crackle under the boiler; but our heads became even more swelled -when steam enough was generated to tickle the feed-pump into taking care of all the -vacant lots in the boiler-tubes. -</p> -<p>When our friend Don Capitan found that the engine was going to work and knew its business, -he said we must have a big trial and let all Manila see the show. To this end he sent -around printed <span class="pagenum">[<a id="pb124" href="#pb124">124</a>]</span>programmes of what was going to take place, to all the prominent people in the city—for -he was an Alderman, by the way—inviting them to inspect the working of the engine -and partake of a collation afterward in the spacious buildings of the hemp-press. -</p> -<p>Wednesday, the fatal day, arrived, and the great American fire-engine stood out on -the quay glistening in the sun, the centre of an admiring crowd of open-mouthed natives. -The Englishmen in the background rather put their heads together and shook them the -wrong way, as they often do at anything American, but the natives allowed their lower -lips to drop from overwhelming admiration. Everybody was curious, and all were expectant, -from the small kids dressed in nothing but the regulation Philippine undershirt, who -played shinney with the coal for the boiler and looked down the hose-nozzle, to Don -Capitan himself, who went around shaking by the hands all the high and mighty officials -who had come to see his latest freak. My associate and I felt fairly important as -we gruffly ordered the police to clear the ground for action and blew the whistle -to scare the audience. The huge suction-hose was run into the river, and our host -made his pet servant jump in after it to hold the strainer out of the mud. Ten natives -were stationed at the nozzle of the four-inch <span class="pagenum">[<a id="pb125" href="#pb125">125</a>]</span>hose, which was pointed up the small plaza running back from the quay, and while I -poked up the fire to give us a little impressive smoke, Rand rang the bell and turned -on steam. -</p> -<p>The affair worked admirably, and the big stream of yellow water went so far as to -gently soak down a lot of baled tobacco that was lying on a street-corner at the next -block, supposedly beyond reach. The owner of the tobacco, thinking that a thunder-storm -had struck the town, came to the door of his office, just behind, to see what was -up, and, as the engine suddenly began to work a little better, the stream of water -somehow knocked him over and played around the entrance to his <span class="corr" id="xd29e1597" title="Source: storehouse">store-house</span>. At the rate things were going it looked as if the exhibition would prove expensive -and, to avoid diplomatic complications, we shut off steam long enough to shift the -hose over for a more unobstructed spurt along the river. -</p> -<p>In a few moments after the change had been made an open throttle made a truly huge -torrent belch from the long nozzle with such force as to make the ten hose-men feel -decidedly nervous, but it did not stop them from turning the stream toward a lighter -which was being polled down the Pasig by two Malays. The foremost was washed backward -into the lighter, and the hindmost swept off into the river as if he had been a cockroach. -A Chinaman who was <span class="pagenum">[<a id="pb126" href="#pb126">126</a>]</span>paddling a load of vegetables to the Esmeralda in a hollow tree-trunk suffered the -same fate. He and his greens were swished out of the <i>banca</i>, in an instant, and he found himself sitting on his inverted craft floating helplessly -down-stream. -</p> -<p>Then suddenly, as we opened the throttle to the last notch, the hose men, in their -excitement to wet some coolies loading hemp, far up the quay, tried to turn the torrent -back onto the pavement, but, with its force of fifteen hundred gallons to the minute, -it was too quick for them, and with one mighty “kerchug” broke away to send the nozzle -flying around like a mill-wheel. Before they knew what struck them the ten men holding -the nozzle were knocked prostrate, and two small boys in undershirts, who were playing -around in the mud-puddles near by, were whisked off into the river like so much dust. -A dozen lightning wriggles of the hose, and the frenzied cataract shot a third boy -through the wire door into the office of our friend, Don Capitan. Inside the door, -on a wooden settee, were sitting some of the family servants holding their infants, -and the same stream on which the boy travelled through the door washed the whole party, -settee and all, across the hallway into a heap at the foot of the stairs. -</p> -<p>Outside, the audience stampeded, and the man in <span class="pagenum">[<a id="pb127" href="#pb127">127</a>]</span>the river, holding on to the suction hose, had hard work to prevent being drawn up -through the strainer and pumped out the other end in fragments. All this took place -in a quarter of the time it takes to tell of it, and events followed each other in -such quick succession that the hose had started to turn over on its back and charge -on the engine before one of us rushed in to shut off steam. The two boys washed into -the river were fished out more dead than alive, but more frightened than hurt, and -the native Philippine policeman on duty at the front arrested them promptly for daring -to be drowned. The boy blown through the screen-door had his ear badly torn, and was -likewise arrested for not entering the house in a more civilized manner. The natives -nursed their bare feet stepped on in the rush; the Englishmen, who had been sarcastic -several days before, said nothing; but the Spaniards asked where the collation was, -and, waterlogged though they were, began to eat like good ones. The policeman marched -the three boys in undershirts to the station-house, and next morning the daily newspapers -devoted more space than was usual in describing the wonderful machinery that came -from America, for the benefit of their readers, who, like that English dude of old, -“didn’t weahlly dweam that so much wattah could come out of such a wehwey diminootive-looking -affaiah.” -<span class="pagenum">[<a id="pb128" href="#pb128">128</a>]</span></p> -<p>Otherwise, in Manila we are now enjoying the so-called <i>veranillo</i>, or little summer, which every year comes along about the middle of August, and which -consists of two or three weeks of cool, pleasant weather, that comes between the rains -of July and the typhoon season of September. And fine weather it is, with a jolly -breeze blowing in from the China Sea all day, with delightful afternoons, moonlight -nights, and fresh mornings. -</p> -<p class="date">September 20th. -</p> -<p>There has been no opportunity to start letters off for the other side of the globe -since the early days of the present month, on account of a typhoon which has visited -our fair capital, and which has so delayed steamers that all connections seem to have -been scattered to the four winds. I have long been waiting to become acquainted with -one of these aërial disturbances, and at last the meteorological monotony has been -broken. -</p> -<p>Early in this eventful week, warnings came from our most excellent observatory, run -by the Jesuit priests, that trouble was brewing down in the Pacific to the south and -east, and by Friday signal No. 1 of the danger system was displayed on the flagstaff -of the look-out tower. The news about the storm was indefinite, but the villain was -supposed to be slowly moving northwest, headed directly for Manila. Saturday <span class="pagenum">[<a id="pb129" href="#pb129">129</a>]</span>up went signal No. 2, and in the afternoon No. 3, and by evening No. 4. Still everything -was calm and peaceful, and Sunday morning dawned pleasant but for the exception of -a dull haze. Early in the afternoon up went signal No. 5, which means that things -are getting pretty bad, and which is not far from No. 8, the worst that can be hoisted. -</p> -<p>Everybody now began to get ready for the invisible monster. All the steamers and ships -in the river put out extra cables, and the vessels in the Bay extra anchors. No small -craft of any kind were permitted to pass out by the breakwater, and later navigation -in the river itself was prohibited. Still everything was calm and quiet, but the haze -thickened and low scud-clouds began to sail in from the China Sea. Shortly after tiffin -at our residence by the seaside, our gaze was attracted by a native coming down the -street, dressed in a black coat with shirt-tails hanging out beneath, and wearing -white trousers and a tall hat. He carried a decorated cane, wore no shoes, and marched -down the centre of the street, giving utterance to solemn sentences in a deep musical -voice. In short, he was the official crier to herald the coming of the typhoon, and -as he marched along the bells up in the old church beyond our house rang out what -poets would call “a wild, warning plea.” -<span class="pagenum">[<a id="pb130" href="#pb130">130</a>]</span></p> -<p>The natives opposite began hastily to sling ropes over the thatch of their light shanties, -and one of the Englishmen who lived not far back of us had already stretched good -solid cables over the steep-sloping roof of his domicile. A sort of hush prevailed, -and then sudden gusts began to blow in off the bay. The scud-clouds increased and -appeared to be in a fearful hurry. The roar of the surf loudened, and one after the -other of our sliding sea-shell windows had to be shut and bolstered up for precaution. -The typhoon seemed to be advancing slowly, as they often do, but its course was sure. -Our eight o’clock dinner-hour passed and the wind began to howl. Before turning in -for the night, we moved out of our little parlor such valuable articles as might be -most missed if they decided to journey off through the air in company with the roof, -and later tried to sleep amidst a terrific din of rattlings. But slumber was impossible. -Our house trembled like a blushing bride before the altar, and for the triumphal music -of the “Wedding March” the tin was suddenly stripped off our rain-shed roof like so -much paper. And then the racket! Great pieces of tin were slapping around against -the house like all possessed; the trees in the front garden were sawing against the -cornices, as if they wanted to get in, and the rush of air outside seemed to generate -a vacuum within. -</p> -<p></p> -<div class="figure p130width" id="p130"><img src="images/p130.jpg" alt="Types of True Filipinos Waiting to Call Themselves Americans." width="706" height="591"><p class="figureHead">Types of True Filipinos Waiting to Call Themselves Americans.</p> -</div><p> -<span class="pagenum">[<a id="pb131" href="#pb131">131</a>]</span></p> -<p>At 3 <span class="asc">A.M.</span> things got so bad that it seemed as if something were going to burst, and my chum -and I decided to take a last look into the parlor before seeking the safety of the -cellar. No glass would have withstood the gusts that came pouncing in from the Bay, -but our sea-shell windows did not seem to yield. The rain was sizzling in through -the cracks like hot grease when a fresh doughnut is dropped into the spider, and the -noise outside was deafening. As our house seemed to be holding together, however, -we gave up going to the regions below, and turned in again, thankful that we were -not off on the ships in the Bay. Now and then the wind lulled somewhat, and blew from -another quarter, but by early morning came some of the most terrific blowings I have -ever felt, resulting from the change of direction. Down came all the wires in the -main street; over went half a dozen <i>nipa</i> houses to one side of us, and “kerplunk” broke off some venerable trees that for -many years had withstood the blast. The street was a mass of wreckage, as far down -as the eye could see, and few signs of life were visible. During the rest of the day -the wind blew most fiercely, but from the change of direction it was easy to see that -the centre of the typhoon was passing off to the northwest. -</p> -<p>I sallied out later in the afternoon, dressed in not much more than a squash-hat, -a rubber coat, and a pair <span class="pagenum">[<a id="pb132" href="#pb132">132</a>]</span>of boots, whose soles were holy enough to let the water out as fast as it came in. -It was as much as one could do to stand against the blast, but I managed to keep along -behind the houses, cross the streets, and reach the Luneta, where all the lamps bent -their heads with broken glass, and where the huge waves were flying far up into the -air in their efforts to dispose of the stone sea-wall. The clumps of fishing and bath -houses which stood perched on posts out in the surf were being fast battered to pieces, -and those which were not minus roof and sides were washed up into the road as driftwood. -The natives were rushing gingerly hither and thither, grabbing such logs as they could -find, while some of the fishermen’s families were crouching behind a stone wall watching -their wrecked barns, and sitting on their saucepans, furniture, and babies, to keep -them from sailing skyward. The surf was tremendous, the vessels in the bay were shrouded -in spray, and several of them seemed almost to be ashore in the breakers. A steamer -appeared to have broken adrift and was locked in the embrace of a Nova Scotia bark. -But everything comes to an end and as night drew on the winds and rain subsided and -comparative quiet succeeded a season of exaggerated movement and din. -</p> -<p>The typhoon was wide in diameter, perhaps two <span class="pagenum">[<a id="pb133" href="#pb133">133</a>]</span>hundred miles, and so was not destructive, like the one that laid Manila low way back -in the ’80’s. It seems that the larger the diameter of one of these circular storms, -the less its intensity, and although the wind at any given time is moving with tremendous -velocity within the circle, the whole disturbance is not advancing at a pace much -over a dozen miles an hour. -</p> -<p>After the typhoon came the floods, and the old Pasig covered the adjacent country. -The water concealed the road to the <span class="corr" id="xd29e1650" title="Source: up-town">uptown</span> club at Nagtajan under a depth of several feet, and one could without difficulty -row into the billiard-room or play water-polo in the bowling-alley. Two of my friends -were nearly drowned by trying to drive when they should have swum or gone by boat. -The pony walked off with their carriage into a rice-field, in the darkness, and was -drowned in more than eight feet of water. The boys only crawled out with difficulty, -and just managed to reach “dry land” (that with three feet of water over it) in the -nick of time. As it was, one of them practically saved the other’s life, and has since -been presented with a gold watch, which does not run. -</p> -<p>One of the bank-managers was to give a dinner-dance at his house next evening, to -which everyone was invited, when word came that his bungalow could only be reached -by boats, and that the festivities <span class="pagenum">[<a id="pb134" href="#pb134">134</a>]</span>would have to be put off until the parlor floor appeared. To the north, where the -actual centre of the typhoon passed, the railway was swept away, the telegraph line -that connects with the cable to Hong Kong torn down, and the country in general laid -under water. But the show is now concluded, and business, which had been paralyzed -for a week, once more starts up with the coming of the cablegrams. -</p> -<p>Manila life goes on as ever, and it is curious to note how fast the days and weeks -slip backward. Everyone agrees that the most rapid thing in town, except the winds -of the typhoons, is the speed with which the Philippine to-day becomes yesterday. -The secret seems to lie in the fact that there are no landmarks by which to remember -the weeks that are gone. The trees are green all the year round, and there are no -snow-storms to mark the contrast between winter and summer. There are no class-days, -no ball-games, and no coming out in spring fashions to break the orderly procession -of the sun, moon, and stars. We wear our white starched suits every day in the year, -and one’s wardrobe is not replete with various checks, plaids, and stripes that mark -an epoch in one’s appearance. We cannot, like <i lang="de">Teufelsdröch</i>, in “Sartor Resartus,” speculate much on the “clothes philosophy,” though we may -do so on the centres of indifference; for our garments are not complex <span class="pagenum">[<a id="pb135" href="#pb135">135</a>]</span>enough to invite transcendental theorizing. Manila food is alike from Christmas morn -to the following Christmas eve, and so, take it all in all, the past is practically -without milestones, and seems far shorter than one in which many events make the measured -steps more clearly differentiated. -</p> -<p>At present everybody dates his ideas from the typhoon, and that will remain a landmark -for some time, if the fire which took place the other evening on the banks of the -river does not usurp its position. Ten thousand bales of hemp, and a lot of copra, -sugar, and cocoanut-oil were sent aloft in less earthly form. Æsthetically the sight -was beautiful, and the eye was charmed by the mingling of vast tongues of blue, green, -red, and yellow flames, some of which burst forth from the very waters of the river -itself on which the inflammable materials had excursioned. Our new fire-engine was -on hand for the first time, in actual service, and, together with the small English -engine brought out from London, did its duty. America, as usual, was in the lead, -and everybody stood aghast to see the big five-inch stream mow down the brick walls -of the burning houses like grain before the reaper. One native in particular, whose -frail hut was washed to splinters by that big cataract played upon it to save it from -the flames, said he’d rather lose his property by fire than to stand by <span class="pagenum">[<a id="pb136" href="#pb136">136</a>]</span>and see the blooming <i>bomba</i> (fire-engine) blow it all to bits. The local department, as usual, lost their heads, -and while some began to chop the tiles off the roofs of neighboring houses, others -directed the streams from the hand-pumps onto the choppers. Even our gallant friend -the American broker, who helps swell the number of Yankee business men in Manila to -four, almost got roasted alive by being shut into an iron vault as he tried to rescue -some valuable papers belonging to a customer and had to be soused with water, after -his miraculous escape, to lower his temperature. But at length Providence and water -prevailed, and the damage did not come to more than half a million dollars. -<span class="pagenum">[<a id="pb137" href="#pb137">137</a>]</span> </p> -</div> -</div> -<div id="ch7" class="div1 chapter"><span class="pagenum">[<a href="#xd29e246">Contents</a>]</span><div class="divHead"> -<h2 class="main">VII</h2> -<div class="argument"> -<p class="first">A Series of Typhoons—A Chinese Feast-day—A Bank-holiday Excursion—Lost in the Mist—Los -<span class="corr" id="xd29e1678" title="Source: Banos">Baños</span>—The “Enchanted Lake”—Six Dollars for a Human Life—A Religious Procession—Celebration -of the Expulsion of the Chinese—Bicycle Races and Fireworks.</p> -</div> -</div> -<div class="divBody"> -<p class="first date">October 5th. -</p> -<p>Phew! We have hardly had time to breathe since the last mail, for we have been in -the midst of typhoon after typhoon, shipwrecks, house-wrecks, and telegraph-wrecks, -both simplex and duplex. Manila had scarcely gotten over talking of the war of the -elements, above spoken of, before another cyclone was announced to the south, and -soon we were going through an experience similar to that related the other day. When -that was over, everybody began to draw breath again, but before the lungs of the populace -were fully expanded, the wind suddenly went into that dangerous quarter, the northwest, -and up went signal No. 5 again. The blow came on more suddenly than the former one, -and all hands left the business offices to go home and sit on their roofs. The tin -was again stripped like paper from our portico, and great masses of metal banged <span class="pagenum">[<a id="pb138" href="#pb138">138</a>]</span>around outside with the clash of cymbals. It was a terrific night. The ships in the -Bay dragged their anchors nearly to the breakwater, and in the morning four Spanish -brigs were a total wreck. One in particular went ashore on the bar at the river’s -mouth, and at daylight was being swept fore and aft by the great seas. Eight men were -hanging on for dear life, and it looked as if they would be swallowed up in the great -drink, but two big lifeboats were got out, and as the sea moderated somewhat, the -sailors were at length rescued, just as their ship went all to smash. A thousand houses -were blown down, many of the streets in Manila were flooded, telegraph lines prostrated, -and tram-car service interrupted. -</p> -<p></p> -<div class="figure p138width" id="p138"><img src="images/p138.jpg" alt="On the Banks of the Enchanted Lake." width="699" height="532"><p class="figureHead">On the Banks of the Enchanted Lake.</p> -<p class="first seepage"><i>See page <a href="#pb141" class="pageref">141</a>.</i> </p> -</div><p> -</p> -<p>But things have now quieted down, and Sunday was a big feast-day in the Chinese quarter. -All the wealthy Chinamen were celebrating something or other, and they invited all -the foreign merchants, as well as their local friends, to the celebration. They served -tea and refreshments in their various little junk shops, and some of the more influential -members of the colony of fifty thousand gave elaborate spreads, followed by dances -and concerts. The streets were filled with peculiar processions of men carrying banners -and graven images, and the sidewalks were lined with spectators. -</p> -<p>I went to one of the most pretentious of the indoor <span class="pagenum">[<a id="pb139" href="#pb139">139</a>]</span>functions, found myself in a gorgeously furnished suite of apartments, decorated in -true Chinese fashion, and was royally entertained by a shrewd Celestial who was supposed -to be worth several million dollars. He began conversation with me by saying that, -in his belief, bathing was injurious, and that he had not taken a bath in thirty years. -From all I could judge, others of his brethren seemed to hold the same views as he, -and the long rooms, halls, and corridors in due season got to be so warm and fragrant -that it was a relief to escape. -</p> -<p>Now and then the bells in the big church rang lustily, and many lanterns lighted it -up from cornice to keystone. Hundreds of carriages drove through the streets, apparently -bound nowhere in particular, and the bands played in all quarters. -</p> -<p>It almost seems as if each week in the calendar brought in a religious display of -some sort in some one part of the town, and every Sunday evening finds a big church -somewhere blazing with light or a street blinking with candles. -</p> -<p class="date">November 13th. -</p> -<p>The Monday after the departure of the monthly direct mail from Manila to the Peninsula -is always devoted to our old friend “bank-holiday,” and all the foreign merchants -close their doors. This event occurred the first of this week, and on Saturday afternoon -<span class="pagenum">[<a id="pb140" href="#pb140">140</a>]</span>last some of the more energetic of us, deciding to take another little outing into -the hills, started up the river on a small launch, bound for the big lake at the foot -of the mountains. A drizzling rain was falling and the weather did not look propitious, -but we pushed on, left the mouth of the river where the lake empties into it, and -sallied out on the broad waters of the Laguna de Bay. Numerous serving-boys, boxes -of china, food, ice, and bedding ballasted the stern of our little steamer, and as -it grew dark a feast was prepared for us on deck. In going up the lake, the pilot, -who was accustomed only to navigating the launch along the quays of Manila itself, -got quite at sea and lost his way in the evening mist. Some of us, however, more nautical -than the rest, procured a chart, consulted a compass which the native mariner in his -stupidity chose utterly to disregard, and by dint of perseverance brought the frail -bark back into her proper course, without further mishap than running through a series -of fish-weirs. -</p> -<p>We anchored near a little settlement, Los Baños, shortly before midnight. The deck -planking did not make a soft bed, but nevertheless the snoring soon became hard likewise, -and Sunday morning found us refreshed by the bracing air of the provinces. The rain -had cleared away, and after an early breakfast the pilot ran the launch slowly ashore -on a smooth <span class="pagenum">[<a id="pb141" href="#pb141">141</a>]</span>beach, beneath a high bank fringed with bamboo. The gang-plank was run out, and several -of our little party started off with guns to get some duck, snipe, and pigeons, which -were plentiful in the jungle beyond. -</p> -<p>Those of us who were left, with a couple of native guides, climbed up the steep slopes -of an extinct volcano to explore a so-called “Enchanted Lake” that occupied the low -crater. The way led past several ponds filled to overflowing with pink pond-lilies, -and, as we wound up along the rising knolls, the air was as fragrant as that of a -greenhouse. Then came a short climb which brought us to the crater’s edge. The Enchanted -Lake lay like a mirror below, and the rich foliage all about was almost perfectly -reflected in the still, green water. -</p> -<p>The locality being romantic, it is quite regular that there should be connected with -it an interesting story which seems to bear on its face the evidences of truth. It -seems there used to live a fisherman and his wife hard by the sloping banks that surround -the Enchanted Lake. One day, so the story goes, the fisherman’s spouse had reason -to suspect the fidelity of her husband, and aflame with pious rage, she concocted -a scheme to rid herself of her worser half. Calling upon two rival fishermen whose -hut was not far distant, she promised them the large amount of <span class="pagenum">[<a id="pb142" href="#pb142">142</a>]</span>twelve dollars if they would put her husband out of the way. This being a pot of money -to them, they agreed to her proposition, and during one of the next excursions out -to the distant fish-weirs in the parent lake below, contrived to tip him overboard -and hold him under. Coming back in the afternoon, they went to the hut of the freshly -made widow and demanded the twelve dollars. -</p> -<p>“I can give you but six,” said she, “for I’m hard up.” -</p> -<p>“But you promised us twelve if we would do the business,” said they. -</p> -<p>“But I tell you I can give you but six,” responded the widow. “Take that or nothing.” -</p> -<p>Angry at having been thus deceived, the two murderers excitedly paddled over to the -neighboring village of Los Baños, went to the <i>cuartel</i>, presided over by a Spanish official, and addressed him with these words: -</p> -<p>“A lady over there by the Enchanted Lake promised us twelve dollars if we would kill -her husband. We have done the job and asked her for our money, but she will only give -us six. We want you to arrest her.” -</p> -<p>The official, thinking the whole thing a joke, laughingly said he would attend to -the matter. The two simple-minded criminals went off, apparently satisfied, and disappeared. -<span class="pagenum">[<a id="pb143" href="#pb143">143</a>]</span></p> -<p>Later, our friend the official thought there might be some truth behind the apparent -absurdity of the yarn, and on investigation found that a murder had actually been -committed. But someone more credulous than the Spaniard gave a friendly warning to -the committers of the deed, and they were not brought to justice until some months -afterward. Such is the comparative esteem in which the native holds human life and -Mexican dollars. -</p> -<p>Later we descended again to the bold coast-line of the Laguna de Bay and, to the accompaniment -of banging guns, which showed that some of the rest of our party were really on the -war-path, returned launch-ward. The hunting-expedition came in soon after with large -bags of snipe and pigeon, and all hands then joined in a series of dives off the stern -of our boat, or soused around in the tepid water. The group of savages living in the -huts near by were much startled at our taking plunges headlong. They themselves never -dive otherwise than feet first, for it is a common superstition among the Filipinos -that the evil water-spirits would catch them by the head and hold them under if this -article came along before the feet put in an appearance. -</p> -<p>At noontime our native cooks did themselves proud in getting up a game breakfast, -and in the afternoon the launch backed off and steamed across the narrow <span class="pagenum">[<a id="pb144" href="#pb144">144</a>]</span>bay to Los Baños itself, a little town clustering around some boiling springs whose -vapor floats over a good hotel and some elaborate bathing-establishments. This seems -to be a rather favorite resort for the Spanish population of Manila at certain times -of the year, and once or twice a week the old side-wheeler Laguna de Bay stops here -on her way up from the capital to Santa Cruz. -</p> -<p></p> -<div class="figure p144width" id="p144"><img src="images/p144.jpg" alt="In the Narrow Streets of Old Manila. A Procession." width="720" height="503"><p class="figureHead">In the Narrow Streets of Old Manila. A Procession.</p> -<p class="first seepage"><i>See page <a href="#pb145" class="pageref">145</a>.</i> </p> -</div><p> -</p> -<p>Behind the town the land slopes steeply up to the mountain heights of still another -extinct volcano, whose ghost exists merely to give life to the hot waters of the springs -below. In front it runs off to the lake shore, and, all in all, the scenery is as -picturesque as the air is healthy. From Los Baños we crossed the lake, cruised down -along the abrupt mountainous shores between the two fine old promontories of Halla -Halla, that jut out like the prongs to a W, and stopped every now and then at some -particularly attractive little native village coming down to the water’s edge. At -about sundown on Monday afternoon, the prow was turned Manilaward, and after a cool -sunset sail of twenty miles we drew in at the portico of the uptown club, all the -better for our two day’s trip, which cost us each but a little over five gold dollars. -</p> -<p>Last night there occurred another one of those religious <span class="corr" id="xd29e1753" title="Source: torchlight">torch-light</span> processions which are so common <span class="pagenum">[<a id="pb145" href="#pb145">145</a>]</span>in the streets of Old Manila. It started after sunset, inside the city walls, from -a big church brightly illuminated from top to bottom with small candle-cups that gave -it the appearance of a great sugar palace. The procession consisted of many richly -decorated floats, containing life-size figures of saints and apostles dressed in garments -of gold and purple and borne along by sweating coolies, who staggered underneath a -draping that shielded from view all save their lower limbs and naked feet. The larger -floats were covered with dozens of candelabra and guarded by soldiers with fixed bayonets. -Other rolling floats of smaller magnitude were pulled along by little children in -white gowns, while troops of old maids, young maids, and Spanish women marched before -and behind, dressed in black and carrying candles. The black mantillas which fell -gracefully from the heads of many of the torch-bearers gave their faces a look of -saint-like grace, except at such times as the evening breeze made the candle-grease -refractory, and one might easily have imagined himself a spectator at a celebration -in Seville. -</p> -<p>Many bands all playing different tunes in different times and keys, rows of hard-faced, -fat-stomached priests trying to look religious but failing completely to do so, and -five hundred small boys, who, like ours at home, formed a sort of rear guard <span class="pagenum">[<a id="pb146" href="#pb146">146</a>]</span>to the solemnities, all went to make up the peculiar performance. The whole long affair -started from the church, wound through the narrow streets, and finally brought up -at the church again, where it was saluted by fireworks and ringing of bells. -</p> -<p>In the balconies of the houses that almost overhung the route were smiling crowds -of lookers-on, and Roman candles and Bengola lights added impressiveness to the scene, -or dropped their sparks on the garments of those promenading below. As the various -images of the Virgin Mary and the Descent from the Cross passed by, everyone took -off his hat and appeared deeply impressed with religious feeling. After the carriers -of the floats had put down for good their expensive burdens in the vestry of the church, -a few liquid refreshments easily started them quarrelling as to the merits of their -respective displays. One set claimed that their Descent from the Cross was more life-like -than that carried by their rivals, and they almost came to blows over which of the -Virgin Marys wore the finest clothes. -</p> -<p>Yesterday was the celebration of the expulsion of the Chinese invaders from the Philippines, -about a hundred years ago, and the whole city was aglow with flags and decorations. -In the afternoon everybody went to the Luneta to see the bicycle races and to hear -the music. A huge crowd surged around the <span class="pagenum">[<a id="pb147" href="#pb147">147</a>]</span>central plaza, and the best places in the band-stand were reserved for the Spanish -ladies and Government dignitaries. The races were slow, but the crowd cheered and -seemed perfectly satisfied as one after another of the contestants tipped over going -around the sharp corners. After the races a beautiful Spanish maiden, whose eyes were -so crossed that she must have easily mixed up the winning bicycle with the tail-ender, -distributed the prizes, and the police had hard work to keep the crowd from overwhelming -the centre of attraction. Then everybody listened to the music, walked or drove around -in carriages, and waited for the fireworks, which were set off not long after sunset. -The costly display was accompanied by murmurings of “Oh!” from hundreds of throats. -There was an Eiffel Tower of flame, several mixed-up crosses that twisted in and out -of each other, numerous scroll-wheels, fountains, and a burst of bombs and rockets. -Some of the parachute stars gracefully floated out over the Bay and descended into -the water, causing startled exclamations from the natives, who are not accustomed -to look on fireworks with equanimity. But as of old, everything finally ended in smoke, -and the multitude melted away, thoroughly satisfied with the celebration of the anniversary -of the victory over the Chinese. -</p> -<p>As it seems about time to take a longer rest than <span class="pagenum">[<a id="pb148" href="#pb148">148</a>]</span>usual from the labor attendant on waiting for a boom in the hemp market, I hope next -week to start off on one of the well-equipped provincial steamers, that makes a run -of two thousand miles south, among the sugar-islands and the hemp-ports, and in the -next chapter there ought to be a rather long account of what is said to be a very -interesting voyage. -<span class="pagenum">[<a id="pb149" href="#pb149">149</a>]</span> </p> -</div> -</div> -<div id="ch8" class="div1 chapter"><span class="pagenum">[<a href="#xd29e256">Contents</a>]</span><div class="divHead"> -<h2 class="main">VIII</h2> -<div class="argument"> -<p class="first">A Trip to the South—Contents of the “Puchero”—Romblon—Cebu, the Southern Hemp-Centre—Places -Touched At—A Rich Indian at Camiguin—Tall Trees—Primitive Hemp-Cleaners—A New Volcano—Mindanao -Island—Moro Trophies—Iligan—Iloilo—Back Again at Manila.</p> -</div> -</div> -<div class="divBody"> -<p class="first date">December 23, 1894. -</p> -<p>I have just returned from the south, and feel able enough to begin the narrative. -On Saturday, December 1, thick clouds obscured the sky, and gusty showers of rain -continued to fall until evening, when they formed themselves into a respectable downpour. -It was objectionable weather for the dry season just commencing, but the northwest -monsoon was said to be heavy outside, and the rain on our east coast evidently slid -over the mountains back of Manila, instead of staying where it belonged. Such was -the day of starting, while, to cap the climax, just before the advertised leaving-time -of the Uranus, word came from the Jesuit observatory that a typhoon was apparently -getting ready to sail directly across the course we were to take, and up went signal -No. 3 on the flag-staff at the mouth of the river. Philosophers, however, must not -be bothered by <span class="pagenum">[<a id="pb150" href="#pb150">150</a>]</span>trifles, and although my friends predicted a miserable voyage, and told me to take -all my water-proofs and sou’westers, I went aboard the steamer with a smiling countenance -only, followed by three “boys” who deposited my traps in a state-room of lean proportions. -</p> -<p>At half after seven in the evening the whistle blew, the visitors departed, and the -Uranus slowly began to back down the narrow river into the black night. She is one -of the largest and newest “province steamers” in the Philippines, and it took a great -deal of manipulation to turn her around and get her headed toward the Bay. As large, -perhaps, as one of our coasting boats that runs to the West Indies, she has a flush -deck from stem to stern, and is ruled over by a very jolly, stubby, little Spanish -captain who looks eminently well fed if not so well groomed. -</p> -<p>We got out of the river at eight o’clock, saw the three warning, red, typhoon lanterns -glaring at us, and started full speed ahead for Romblon, our first calling-port, eighteen -hours away. Dinner was served on deck from a large table formed by closing down the -huge skylights to the regular dining-saloon below, and the eaters took far more enjoyment -in their Spanish bill of fare under the awnings than they would have done had the -same victuals been dished up downstairs. I say “victuals,” for the word seems <span class="pagenum">[<a id="pb151" href="#pb151">151</a>]</span>to be the only invention for just such combinations as were set before us, and “dished -up” suggests the scooped-out-of-a-kettle process far better than “served.” Spanish -food is rather too mixy, too garlicky, too unfathomable for me, but as one can get -used to anything I accommodated myself to the <i>puchero</i> (a mixture of meat, beans, sausages, cabbage, and pork), and was soon eating fish -as a fifth course instead of a second. The feast began with soup and sundries, and -was continued by the <i>puchero</i> which was merely an introduction to the fish course, the roast, and all the cheese -and things that followed. Every dinner was practically the same, differing slightly -in details, and the deck each time played its part as dining-room. Early breakfast -came at six, late breakfast came at ten, and dinner poked along at five—a combination -of meal hours which was enough to give one indigestion before touching a mouthful. -</p> -<p>During the night we all waited in vain to hear the sizzling of the typhoon that came -not, and got up next morning to find the scare had been for nothing. The clouds and -rain were clearing away, and the prow of the Uranus was headed directly for a region -of blue sky. By breakfast-time there was hardly a cloud in the heavens, the rooster -up for’ard began to crow, the mooly-cow which we were soon to eat began to moo, the -islands in front <span class="pagenum">[<a id="pb152" href="#pb152">152</a>]</span>drew nearer, and the scene became fairer each moment. At noon we steamed below a great -mountainous island, crossed a sound between it and another group, entered a narrow -channel, and at one o’clock dropped anchor in the small land-locked harbor of Romblon. -Everywhere the hills fell abruptly into the water, and houses looked as if they had -slid down off the steep slopes to hobnob with each other in a mass below. There was -a public bath down beside a brook, where everybody came to wash, an old church, the -market-place, and a prodigious long flight of steps leading up to the upper districts, -where the view down back over the low <i>nipa</i> houses toward the bay was most extensive. -</p> -<p></p> -<div class="figure p152width" id="p152"><img src="images/p152.jpg" alt="A Citizen from the Interior." width="534" height="720"><p class="figureHead">A Citizen from the Interior.</p> -</div><p> -</p> -<p>We stayed in this little Garden of Eden until after three o’clock, then pulled out -to the steamer, and left again for the south, over a calm sea and beneath a glorious -sky. Some of us slept on deck in the moonlight, but, finding it if anything too cool -and breezy, were up betimes to see the island of Cebu looming on our right hand. Our -early six-o’clock breakfast finished, we sat up on the bridge in easy-chairs, beneath -the double awning, as the Uranus poked down along the mountainous coast toward the -city of Cebu. At ten o’clock we passed through the narrow channel that leads between -a small island and its big brother Cebu, and soon saw the white houses of the town -lapping the harbor’s edge. Two American <span class="pagenum">[<a id="pb153" href="#pb153">153</a>]</span>ships were apparently taking in their cargoes of hemp, and beside them a small fleet -of native craft and steamers smudged the little bay. Anchor was dropped again and -those of us who cared to go ashore met some of our former friends from Manila on ’change -and took a look over this great hemp-centre of the South. -</p> -<p>The local excitement was limited, and, except that a Chinaman had been beheaded by -some enemy the night before as he was walking home through the street, news was scarce. -Numerous people, however, were gathered together outside the police-station, looking -at the remains, and several sailors from the American ships, who had swum ashore during -the night to get drunk, were being returned to their vessels in charge of the civil -guard. -</p> -<p>The Uranus was not to stop long, and most of the through passengers returned early -to the steamer to enjoy a view tempered by rather more breeze and less smell than -that which the narrow streets afforded. Cebu, from the deck, was worthy of a sonnet; -the white houses and church spires were set off against the dark-green background -of mountains, and as the sun got lower the place did not have the broiled-alive aspect -that it bore during the middle of the day. At four the stubby little Captain came -aboard, and soon we turned northeast for our next stopping-place, <span class="pagenum">[<a id="pb154" href="#pb154">154</a>]</span>Ormoc. Another colored sunset, another dinner in the golden light, another moonrise, -another sail up among the islands, and at eleven on the evening of Monday we entered -the harbor of Ormoc. Here two or three ponies were hoisted overboard to be taken landward, -a can of kerosene was loaded into the purser’s boat as he went ashore with the papers, -and a little chorus of shoutings concluded our midnight visit to the second stop of -the day. -</p> -<p>Tuesday morning the sun rose over the lofty mountains on the island of Leyte, and -the Uranus shaped her course for Catbalogan, another of the larger hemp-ports. The -steam up the bay blotched with islands was perfection, and by ten o’clock the anchor -hunted round for a soft bed in the ooze, some eight hundred yards off a sandy beach, -above which lay the town. Those of us who had energy enough to bolt our hearty breakfast -were taken by the jolly-boat onto the mud flats, and were carried through the shallow -water on oars to dry land. On the slopes of the higher mountains, behind the town, -the hemp-plants (looking exactly like banana-trees), grew luxuriously, and in front -of many of the houses in Catbalogan the white fibre was out drying on clothes-lines. -A short taste of the hot sun easily satisfied our curiosity as to Catbalogan, and -we were off to the ship again for more breakfast, just as several hungry-looking <span class="pagenum">[<a id="pb155" href="#pb155">155</a>]</span>Spanish guests, including the Governor’s family, came aboard from the town to partake -of a meal hearty enough to last them till the arrival of the next steamer. -</p> -<p>From Catbalogan to its sister town, Tacloban, four hours to the south, the course -leads among the narrow straits between high, richly wooded islands, and the scenery -was most picturesque. Here and there little white beaches gleamed along the shore, -and in front of the <i>nipa</i> shanties that now and then looked out from among the trees hung rows of hemp drying -in the sun. Off and on the big waves, kicked up by the forward movement of the Uranus -in the land-locked waters, woke up the stillness resting on the banks, and nearly -upset small <i>banca</i> loads of the white fibre which was perhaps being paddled down to some larger centre -from more remote stamping-grounds. From the bridge our view was most comprehensive, -and it wasn’t long before the steamer actually entered the river like strait that -separates the islands of Samar and Leyte. We twisted around like a snake through the -narrow channel, on each side of which were high hills and mountains, richly treed -with cocoanuts and hemp-plants, and, just as the sun was getting low, hauled into -Tacloban, situated inside an arm of land that protects it from the dashing surges -of the Apostles’ Bay beyond. -<span class="pagenum">[<a id="pb156" href="#pb156">156</a>]</span></p> -<p>At Tacloban there was little to see. A high range of hills rose behind the town, and -in the evening half-light everything looked more or less attractive. We climbed a -small knoll that looked off over the Bay of St. Peter and St. Paul to the south and -down over the village. The strait through which we came stretched up back among the -hills like a river, and in the foreground lay the Uranus. A number of hemp store-houses -lined the water-front, and as usual the ever-present Chinese were the central figures -of the commercial part of the community. At eight the anchor came up once more, and -we left Tacloban to steam religiously down the bay of St. Peter and St. Paul for Cabalian, -eight hours to the south. -</p> -<p>Cabalian is another little hemp-town, at the foot of a huge mountain; but in the starlight -of the very early morning we stopped there only long enough to leave the mail and -drop a pony overboard. Sunrise caught us still steering to the south, but nine o’clock -tied our steamer to a little wharf in Surigao, directly in front of a large hemp-press -and store-house belonging to the owners of the ship on which we were journeying. Some -of the best hemp that comes to the Manila market is pressed at Surigao, and all around -were stacks of loose fibre drying in the sun or being separated into different grades -by native coolies. Several of us left the ship and walked to the main <span class="pagenum">[<a id="pb157" href="#pb157">157</a>]</span>village, but, as before, found little to note except the intense heat of a boiling -sun. -</p> -<p>There was the customary hill behind the town, and at the risk of going entirely into -solution during the effort, two of us climbed to the top for a breath of air and a -panoramic view. -</p> -<p>Dinner came along as usual at five; but I must say that the more I ate of those curiously -timed meals the less I could accommodate my mental powers to the comprehension of -what I was doing. Everybody knows what a difficult psychological problem it is to -determine the exact numerical nature of the feeling in the second and third toes of -his feet, as compared with that in the fingers of his hands. On your hands you can -distinctly feel the first finger, the middle finger, and the fourth finger; but on -your feet your second toe doesn’t feel like your first finger nor as a second toe -should naturally feel. The great toe corresponds in sensation to one’s first finger, -and all the other toes save the last seem to be muddled up without that differentiated -sensation which the fingers have. And so with these meals aboard ship. A ten o’clock -breakfast was neither breakfast nor luncheon, and it bothered me considerably to know -what in the dickens I was really eating. In fact, it affected my mind to such a degree -that somehow the food tasted as if it did not belong to any particular meal, but came -from <span class="pagenum">[<a id="pb158" href="#pb158">158</a>]</span>another order of things; and I spent long, serious moments between the courses in -trying to locate the repast in my library of prehistoric sensations, just as I have -often tried to locate the digit which my second toe corresponds to in feeling. -</p> -<p>We left Surigao an hour before midnight, sailed away over moonlit seas toward the -island of Camiguin, and when I stuck my head out of the port-hole at half after five -next morning, the two very lofty mountain-peaks which formed this sky-scraper of the -Philippines were just ridding themselves of the garb of darkness. Three of us went -ashore at seven, and were introduced to a rich Indian, who, although the possessor -of four hundred thousand dollars, lived in a common little <i>nipa</i> house. He invited us to see the country, fitted us out with three horses and a mounted -servant, and sent us up into the mountains, where his men were working on the hemp-plantations. -</p> -<p>We started up the sharp slopes, and were soon getting a wider and wider view back -over the town and blue bay below. First the path was bounded with rice-fields, but, -as we rose, the hemp plants which, as before said, look just like their relatives, -the banana-trees, began to hem us in. Now and again we came to a little hut where -long strings of fibre were out drying in the sun, but our boy kept going upward until -we were rising at an angle of almost forty-five <span class="pagenum">[<a id="pb159" href="#pb159">159</a>]</span>degrees. Everywhere the tall twenty-five-foot hemp-trees extended toward the mountain -summit as far as the eye could carry, and we were much interested in seeing so much -future rope in its primogenital state. Up we went across brooks, over rocks, beneath -tall, tropical hardwood trees, nearly two hundred feet high, that here and there lifted -themselves up toward heaven and at last came to the place where the natives were actually -separating the hemp from strippings by pulling them under a knife pressed down on -a block of wood. The whole little machine was so absurdly simple, with its rough carving-knife -and rude levers, that it hardly seemed to correspond with the elaborate transformation -that took place from the tall trees to the slender white fibre separated by the rusty -blade. One man could clean only twenty-five pounds of hemp a day, and when it is remembered -the whole harvest consists of about 800,000 bales, or 200,000,000 pounds per year, -it seems the more remarkable that so rude an instrument should have so star a part -to play. We each tried pulling the long, tough strippings under the knife that seemed -glued to the block, but there was a certain knack which we did not seem to possess, -and the thing stuck fast. All in all this visit to the hemp-cleaners will supply us -with strong answers to letters from manufacturers who have written us to make efforts -in introducing heavy machines for separating <span class="pagenum">[<a id="pb160" href="#pb160">160</a>]</span>hemp from the parent tree, but who have failed to understand that a couple of levers -and a carving knife are far easier to carry up a steep mountain-slope than a steam -engine, and an arrangement as big as a modern reaper. We lingered about all the morning -on these up-in-the-air plantations, and at noon picked our way slowly back again over -the stony path to the village, glad that we didn’t have to earn fifty cents a day -by so laborious a method. -</p> -<p></p> -<div class="figure p160width" id="p160"><img src="images/p160.jpg" alt="How the World’s Supply of Manila Hemp is Cleaned. Capacity, Twenty-five Pounds per Diem." width="713" height="536"><p class="figureHead">How the World’s Supply of Manila Hemp is Cleaned. Capacity, Twenty-five Pounds per -Diem.</p> -<p class="first seepage"><i>See page <a href="#pb159" class="pageref">159</a>.</i> </p> -</div><p> -</p> -<p>Leaving our host with a promise to come ashore again and use his horses in the afternoon, -we went down to the long pier and rowed off to the Uranus in one of the big ship’s -boats that was feeding her empty forehold with instalments of hemp. In the early afternoon -we again went ashore, took other ponies and started off up the coast toward a remarkable -volcano, which, though not existing in 1871, has since been business-like enough to -grow up out of the sandy beach, until it is now a thousand feet high. A whole town -was destroyed during the growing process, but to-day the signs of activity are not -so evident. The path up the mountain-side was terrifically stony and somewhat obscure. -Long creepers frequently caught us by the neck, or wound themselves about our feet, -in attempts to rid the ponies of their burden. It was a laborious undertaking, and -it didn’t look as if we should reach the crater before dark, but we kept on <span class="pagenum">[<a id="pb161" href="#pb161">161</a>]</span>ascending, thinking each knoll would give us that longed-for look into the business -office of the volcano. But in vain. It was now getting so near sunset that we feared -to lose the way, and, instead of pushing on farther, we reluctantly turned about and -went full speed astern. The descent was unspeakable; the horses’ knees were tired; -they stumbled badly; the vines and creepers snarled us up, and everyone muttered yards -of cuss-words. On the way down we saw several wonderful views over the hemp-trees -to the coast below, met numerous natives cleaning up their last few stalks of fibre -for the day, and at last came out once more on the rough pasture-road leading to Mambajao, -off which the Uranus was anchored. It was now moonlight, we all broke into a gallop -for the three-quarter-hour ride to the village, and everybody, including the jaded -ponies, thanked Heaven when we reached the first lights of the town. -</p> -<p>Late the same evening the Uranus left, sailed around the island’s western edge in -the moonlight, and turned southward for Cagayan, on Mindanao Island, the last of the -Philippines to resist subjection by the Spanish and now the scene of wars and conflicts -with the bloodthirsty savages who are indigenous to the soil. -</p> -<p>Morning introduced us to a shaky wharf and to a group of gig-drivers, who said the -town was fully <span class="pagenum">[<a id="pb162" href="#pb162">162</a>]</span>three miles away. We were in the enemy’s country, but nevertheless two of us started -off to walk to the village, following quite a party who had already taken the road. -It was an hour’s plod along beneath tall cocoanut-palms before we came to the main -part of the settlement, surrounding the jail, court-house, and residence of the Spanish -Governor. Hard by ran a river spanned by a curious suspension-bridge. It carried the -high road to the village and country on the other bank, and in our party from the -steamer was an engineer who had come down to inspect this structure, which but a short -time ago had utterly collapsed under the strain of its own opening exercises, killing -a Spaniard, and cutting open the head of the Governor’s wife. Of late, however, the -bridge had been repaired, and the question seemed to be, was it safe? For my benefit, -as I walked over the long eight-hundred-foot span, the old bridge wobbled around like -a bowl of jelly, and considering that there were alligators in the reflective waters -below, I did not feel I was doing the right thing by my camera and friends to stay -longer where I was. Some of the secondary cables were flimsy affairs, and inspection -revealing the fact that the structure was just one-twentieth as strong as it ought -to be, placards were put up to the effect that the bridge was closed except for the -passing of one person at a time. -<span class="pagenum">[<a id="pb163" href="#pb163">163</a>]</span></p> -<p>At the bridge we fell into talk with a pleasant Spaniard, who was the <i>interventor</i> or official go-between in affairs concerning Governor and natives. We asked him as -to the prospects of finding some Moro arms, knives, and shields in the settlement -for being in a district upon which a recent descent had been made it seemed as if -the town should be rich in bloody curios. He gave us some encouragement, and off we -trotted across the central plaza with its old church, on an expedition of search. -It seems that all the houses around this plaza were armed to the teeth, and in time -of need the whole place could be transformed into a fort. Every house in the <i>pueblo</i> had one of the newest type of Mauser rifles standing up in the corner, and in fifteen -minutes fifteen hundred men could be mustered ready armed to fight the savage Moros. -We really felt as if we were in one of the Indian outposts of early American days, -and were quite interested in the conversation of our guide, who seemed to take a great -liking to two foreigners. We went into several little huts where knives and spears -were hung upon the doors, and succeeded in exchanging many of our dollars for rude, -weird weapons with waving edges or poisoned points. We passed several “tamed” Moros -in the street and took off some bead necklaces, turbans, and bracelets which they -had on. <span class="pagenum">[<a id="pb164" href="#pb164">164</a>]</span>Further search revealed shields and hats, and before the morning turned to afternoon -we had visited nearly half the houses in the village. Sometimes a tune on the ever-present -piano, coaxed out by yours truly, would bring a shield from off the wall, and at others -the more telling music coming from the jingling dollars was more effectual. -</p> -<p>For dinner we went to the house of the <i>interventor</i> to lunch on some grass mixed with macaroni, canned fish, bread and water, and if -I hadn’t been so much <span class="corr" id="xd29e1877" title="Source: ocpied">occupied</span> with our Spanish conversation I might have felt hungry. After the meal our host wanted -me to take a photograph of him and his wife dressed up in a discarded theatrical costume, -and it was quite as ludicrous as anything on the trip. An upholstered throne—part -of the stage-setting in their play of the week before—was rigged up in the back yard, -and the señor and señora, robed as king and queen of Aragon, put on all the airs of -a royal family as they stood before the camera. These good people pulled the house -to pieces to show us wigs, crowns, and wooden swords, and it seemed as if we should -never get away. Later, however, our good friend borrowed a horse in one place, a carriage -in another, helped us to go around and collect our various purchases, presented me -with a shield which he took down off his own wall, and drove us back to the steamer. -Here <span class="pagenum">[<a id="pb165" href="#pb165">165</a>]</span>we unloaded all the stuff, and, surrounded by a curious throng of questioners, went -aboard to stow our possessions away. The day had been a prolific one, and, although -we had not expected to go into the curio business on the excursion, our respective -staterooms were now loaded up with gimcracks that would interest the most rabid ethnographer. -</p> -<p>Toward midnight the Uranus steamed out of the Bay of Cagayan and headed for Misamis, -still farther south. Another calm night, and Saturday morning saw us approaching a -little collection of <i>nipa</i> huts presided over by an old stone fort and backed up by the usual high range of -mountains. Two Spanish gunboats, the Elcano and Ulloa, all flags flying, in honor -of Sunday or something were at anchor in the Bay, and at eight o’clock we pulled ashore -to fritter away an hour or so in looking about an uninteresting village. There was -a saying here that no photographer ever lived to get fairly into the town, for the -only two who had ever come before this way were drowned in getting ashore from their -vessels. As I walked about the streets, several Indian women stuck their heads out -of the windows of their huts seeming quite amazed to see a live picture-maker, and -asked in poor Spanish how much I would charge for a dozen copies of their inimitable -physiognomies. -</p> -<p>Misamis business detained the Uranus but for a <span class="pagenum">[<a id="pb166" href="#pb166">166</a>]</span>short hour, and she then turned her head across the Bay eastward for Iligan, the seat -of all the war operations in Mindanao. During the two hours and a half that our course -led close along the hostile shore, we had breakfast and arrived at Iligan, the most -dismal place in the world, about two o’clock in the afternoon. Everything looked down-in-the-mouth -except the thermometer, and that was up in the roaring hundreds. The town was like -all other Philippine villages, except that around the outskirts were the ruins of -an old stockade with observation-towers, and in the streets soldiers, both native -and Spanish, held the corners at every turn. -</p> -<p>While I paddled across a creek to get a photograph of some friendly savages on the -other bank, one of my steamer friends went up to the Government house to make a formal -visit. It seems he found no one at home except the wife of one of the high department -officials, and she was reading the latest letters just fresh from the mail-bag of -the Uranus. As I got back from across the river I heard a tremendous pandemonium going -on in the upper story of the building in question, and soon my fellow-passenger came -bolting down the stairs and out into the street below. The poor woman, on reading -in her freshly opened letter that her husband, who had but recently gone up to Manila -for a week’s stay, was an absconder <span class="pagenum">[<a id="pb167" href="#pb167">167</a>]</span>to the extent of some three hundred thousand dollars, suddenly lost her mind. He had -tried to get across to China, so it seemed, but was taken on the sailing-day of the -steamer, and the wife now first heard the news. So, as chairs and flower-pots came -sailing out the windows or down the stairs, we wisely decided to get out of harm’s -way, and together walked back to the steamer-landing, musing on Spanish methods of -pocket-lining. -</p> -<p>The Moros themselves are sturdy beggars, though most picturesque ones, and the tame -specimens that came into Iligan were curious in the extreme. Dressed in native-made -cloths of all colors, their heads were ornamented with turbans of red and white and -blue, while gaudy sashes gave them an air of aristocratic distinction which few of -their northern brothers possessed. Some of them black all their teeth, others only -put war-paint on their two front pairs of ivories, and while some looked as if they -had no chewing machinery at all, others appeared as if they might only have played -centre rush on a modern foot-ball team. -</p> -<p>For years now Spain has sent men and gun-boats down to Mindanao to wipe out the savages -and bring the island under complete subjection, but without avail. Young boys from -the north have been drafted into native regiments to go south on this <span class="pagenum">[<a id="pb168" href="#pb168">168</a>]</span>fatal errand. The prisons of Manila have been emptied and the convicts, armed with -<i>bolos</i> or meat-choppers, have followed their more righteous brethren to the front. Well-trained -native troops have gone there; Spanish troops have gone; officers have tried it, but -to no end. If, in the storming of some Moro stronghold, a dozen miles back inland -from the beach, the convicts in the front rank were cut to pieces by the enemy, it -was of no importance. If the drafted youths were slaughtered, there were more at home. -If the native troops failed to carry the charge, things began to look serious. But -if the Spanish companies were touched, it was time to flee. Such have been the tactics -in this great grave-yard, and where the Moros lost the day, fever stepped in and won. -The towns along the coast are Spain’s, but the interior still swarms with savages, -who are there to dispute her advance and are daily tramping over the graves of many -of her soldiers. -</p> -<p></p> -<div class="figure p168width" id="p168"><img src="images/p168.jpg" alt="Moro Chiefs from Mindanao." width="528" height="664"><p class="figureHead">Moro Chiefs from Mindanao.</p> -<p class="first seepage"><i>See page <a href="#pb167" class="pageref">167</a>.</i> </p> -</div><p> -</p> -<p>We left Moro land at eight o’clock in the evening, after dining various officials -who came aboard to see what they could get to eat, and by Sunday morning at sunrise -had crossed northward to the island of Bohol, dropping anchor in Maribojoc, a small -uninteresting place with an old church, a Spanish <i>padre</i> who had not been out of town in thirty years long enough ever to see a railroad or -a telephone, and the <span class="pagenum">[<a id="pb169" href="#pb169">169</a>]</span>usual collection of thick-lipped natives. We stayed here to unload a lot of bulky -school-desks and chairs destined to be used by the semi-naked youth of the vicinity, -and a few of our company went ashore merely to walk lazily about the village. -</p> -<p>Next, a second stop at Cebu for the mails bound Manilaward, a good-by for the second -time to our friends, and the Uranus now kept back down the coast toward Dumaguete, -a prosperous town on the rich sugar-island of Negros. At ten o’clock that night we -were off again, and Tuesday noon ushered us in to Iloilo, the second city of the Philippines. -A lot of “go-downs” (store-houses) and dwellings on the swampy peninsula made a fearfully -stupid-looking place, and the glare off the sheet-iron roofs was blinding. Scarcely -a foot above tide-water, Iloilo was far less prepossessing than Manila, but everyone -seemed cordial, and friends were so glad to see us that we appeared to confer a favor -in stopping off to see them. The surroundings of Iloilo are far more picturesque than -those of Manila, and just across the bay a wooded island, whose high altitude stands -out in bold contrast to the marshes over which the city steeps, gave an outlook from -the town that compensated for the inlook over dusty streets and dirty quays. The English -club occupied its usually central position in the commercial section of the city, -and formed an <span class="pagenum">[<a id="pb170" href="#pb170">170</a>]</span>oasis of refreshment in the midst of the thirsty desert of iron roofs surrounding -it. And if any single stanza of verse could have been quoted to describe the feelings -of a newly arrived guest, sitting in a long chair on the club piazza and looking off -at the bubbling volumes of hot air rising from those roofs, it would have been that -in which the poet says: -</p> -<div class="lgouter"> -<p class="line">“Where the latitude’s mean and the longitude’s low, </p> -<p class="line">Where the hot winds of summer perennially blow, </p> -<p class="line">Where the mercury chokes the thermometer’s throat, </p> -<p class="line">And the dust is as thick as the hair on a goat, </p> -<p class="line">Where one’s throat is as dry as a mummy accursed, </p> -<p class="line">Here lieth the land of perpetual thirst.” </p> -</div> -<p class="first">The afternoon-tea hour is perhaps more carefully observed among the English business -houses here than in the capital to the north, and we left the very good little club, -with its billiard-tables and stale newspapers, to join one of the regular gatherings -in the large office of a friend. But tea, toast, jam, and oranges had no sooner been -set before us than the deep whistle of the Uranus sounded, and those of us who were -going north had to make a hurried adjournment to the neighboring wharf. Then, as everybody -on deck began to say “adios,” and everybody on shore “hasta la vista,” the stubby -little captain roared out “avante” and our steamer started for Manila, two hundred -and fifty miles away. -<span class="pagenum">[<a id="pb171" href="#pb171">171</a>]</span></p> -<p>Next morning we got our first taste of the monsoon, and it came up pretty rough as -we crossed some of the broad, open spaces between the islands. There were three dozen -passengers aboard ship, and everybody, including four dogs, was desperately sea-sick. -But sheltering islands soon brought relief to the prevailing misery, the dogs recovered -their equilibrium enough to renew the curl in their tails, and the heaving vessel -grew quite still. We touched again at Romblon, on our way up, long enough to get the -mail and bring off an unshaven <i>padre</i> or two, bound up to the capital for spiritual refreshment, and for the last time -headed for Manila. The monsoon apparently went down with the sun; we were not troubled -further with heaving waters, and early on Thursday morning passed through the narrow -mouth of Manila Bay, just as the sun was rising in the east, and the full moon setting -over Mariveles in the west. The Uranus made a short run across the twenty-seven miles -of water to the anchorage among the shipping, and everybody bundled ashore in a noisy -launch, almost before the town had had its breakfast. -</p> -<p>In the afternoon, when the steamer came into the river, I brought all of my arms, -armor, and shells ashore to the office, and the American skippers who were waiting -for free breezes from the punkah began outbidding each other with offers of baked -<span class="pagenum">[<a id="pb172" href="#pb172">172</a>]</span>beans and doughnuts for the whole collection. At home, the house had not been blown -away, but was firm as ever; the dogs rejoiced to see me back; the cat, with a crook -in her tail, purred extra loudly; the ponies, that had grown fat on lazy living, pawed -the stone floor in the stable; the boy put flowers on the table for dinner and peas -in the soup, and the moon looked in on us in full dress. Thus ended a fortnight’s -trip of some two thousand miles down through the arteries of the archipelago. -<span class="pagenum">[<a id="pb173" href="#pb173">173</a>]</span> </p> -</div> -</div> -<div id="ch9" class="div1 chapter"><span class="pagenum">[<a href="#xd29e265">Contents</a>]</span><div class="divHead"> -<h2 class="main">IX</h2> -<div class="argument"> -<p class="first">Club-house Chaff—Christmas Customs and Ceremonies—New Year’s Calls—A Dance at the -English Club—The Royal Exposition of the Philippines—Fireworks on the King’s <span class="corr" id="xd29e1948" title="Source: Fete">Fête</span> Day—Electric Lights and the Natives—The Manila Observatory—A Hospitable Governor—The -Convent at Antipolo.</p> -</div> -</div> -<div class="divBody"> -<p class="first date">December 26th. -</p> -<p>“ ‘A young Bostonian, in business in the Philippines,’ that is you, isn’t it?” -</p> -<p>“ ‘Trembling like a blushing bride before the altar.’ ” “Well, blushing bride, how -are you?” -</p> -<p>“ ‘The bells in the old church rang out a wild, warning plea.’ They did, did they? -And did, ‘The lowing herd wind slowly o’er the lea?’ ” -</p> -<p>“ ‘The fishermen’s wives were sitting on their saucepans, furniture, and babies, to -keep them from sailing off skyward.’ Poor things! Quite witty, weren’t they?” -</p> -<p>These were some of the expressions that greeted me as I entered the Club the other -evening, about two hours after the last mail arrived. -</p> -<p>My attention was called to the bulletin-board where the official notices were posted, -and there, tacked up in all its glory was a printed copy of my letter on the <span class="pagenum">[<a id="pb174" href="#pb174">174</a>]</span>typhoon, while on all sides were various members of the English colony, laughing boisterously, -and poking me in the ribs with canes and billiard-cues. Some of the brokers had apparently -learned the contents of that fatal letter by heart, and stood on chairs reciting those -touching lines in dialogue with unharnessed levity. -</p> -<p>To say that I was mildly flummuxed at hearing my familiar verbiage proceeding from -the mouths of others would be mild, but it was impossible not to join in the general -laugh, and digest, in an offhand way, the jibes and jokes which were epidemic. It -seems my cautions have been of no avail, and the letter which you so kindly gave the -Boston editor to read and print was sent out here to my facetious friend the American -broker, whose whole life seems to be spent in trying to find the laugh on the other -man. Somebody else also sent him a spare copy to give to his friends, and down town -at the tiffin club next noon, my late entrance to the breakfast-room was a signal -for the whole colony to suspend mastication and with clattering knives and clapping -hands to vent their mirth in breezy epithets. But jokes are few and far between in -this far Eastern land, and somebody or other might as well be the butt of them. -</p> -<p>Just as surely as the 24th of December comes around, all the office-boys of your friends, -who have <span class="pagenum">[<a id="pb175" href="#pb175">175</a>]</span>perhaps brought letters from their counting-room to yours, all the chief cooks and -bottle-washers of your establishment, all of the policemen on the various beats between -your house and the club, and all the bill collectors who come in every month to wheedle -you out of sundry dollars, have the cheek to ask for <i>pourboires</i>. Imagine a man coming around to collect a bill, and asking you to fee him for being -good enough to bring that document to hand. But that is just what the Manila bill-collector -does at Christmas-tide. Then all of the native fruit-girls, who each day climb the -stairs with baskets of oranges on their heads, come in with little printed blessings -and hold out their hands for fifty cents. -</p> -<p>Once out of the office, you go home to find the ice-man, the ashman, the coachman, -and the cook all looking for tips, and you are compelled to feel most religiously -holy, as you remember that it is more blessed to give than to receive. -</p> -<p>Christmas-eve, somehow, did not seem natural, though the town was very lively. Some -of the shops had brought over evergreen branches from Shanghai to carry out the spirit -of the occasion. The streets were crowded with shoppers, everybody was carrying parcels, -and if it had been cold, we might have looked for Santa Claus. -</p> -<p>There are but half a dozen English ladies in our <span class="pagenum">[<a id="pb176" href="#pb176">176</a>]</span>little Anglo-Saxon colony, and each of them takes a turn in giving dinners, asking -as her guests, besides a few outsiders, the other five. On Christmas-eve took place -one of these rather stereotyped feasts, and afterward the guests went down in carriages -to the big cathedral, that cost a million dollars, inside the old walled town, to -hear the midnight mass. Accompanied by a large orchestra and a good organ, the mass -was more jolly than impressive. The music consisted of polkas, jigs, and minuets, -and everybody walked around the great building, talking and smiling most gracefully. -A few of the really devout sat in a small enclosed space in the centre of the church, -but they found it hard to keep awake, and their eyes were red with weeping, not for -the sins of an evil world, but from opening and shutting their jaws in a series of -yawns. -</p> -<p></p> -<div class="figure p176width" id="p176"><img src="images/p176.jpg" alt="How to Sit without Chairs, or Manila Fruit-girls in a Street-Corner Attitude." width="720" height="507"><p class="figureHead">How to Sit without Chairs, or Manila Fruit-girls in a Street-Corner Attitude.</p> -<p class="first seepage"><i>See page <a href="#pb175" class="pageref">175</a>.</i> </p> -</div><p> -</p> -<p>Just before the hour of midnight, comparative quiet ensued with the reading of a solemn -prayer or two, but just as the most reverend father who was conducting the ceremonies -finished bowing behind the high gold and velvet collar to his glittering gown, thirteen -bells wagged their tongues that broke up the stillness of the midnight, and everybody -wished everybody else “<span lang="es">Felices Pascuas!</span>” (Merry Christmas!) The organ tuned up, the boy-choir sang itself red, white, and -blue, the priestly assistants swung <span class="pagenum">[<a id="pb177" href="#pb177">177</a>]</span>the censors until the church was heavy with fragrance, and all those who had nothing -else to do yawned and wished they were in bed. -</p> -<p>After staying a little longer, our party left, and went over to the Jesuit Church -near by, where a very good orchestra seemed to be playing a Virginia reel. Here were -similar ceremonies modified somewhat to suit the rather different requirements of -the Order, and after staying long enough not to appear as intruding spectators, we -made our exit. -</p> -<p>And now that Christmas is all over, everybody seems to be wearing a new hat, the most -appropriate present that can be given in this land of sun-strokes and fevered brows. -</p> -<p class="date">January 5th. -</p> -<p>The new year has come and gone, though out this way no one believes in turning over -a new leaf. -</p> -<p>It seems to be a custom to start the year by calling on all the married ladies of -the colony, who make their guests loquacious with sundry little cocktails that stand -ready prepared on the front verandas. Everybody makes calls, till he forgets where -anything but his head is situated, and then brings up at the club out by the river-bank -more or less the worse for wear. In honor of the day, the <i>menu</i> was most attractive, but many of the party were in no condition to partake, and spent -the first day of the new calendar <span class="pagenum">[<a id="pb178" href="#pb178">178</a>]</span>in suffering from the effects of their morning visits. -</p> -<p>With the new year came the dance, which we bachelor members of the club gave to the -English ladies in particular and to Manila society in general, as a small return for -hospitality received, and it was declared a huge success. The club-house was decorated -from top to toe. Two or three hundred invitations were sent out, and the <i lang="fr">crême de la crême</i> of the European population were on hand, including General Blanco, the governor of -the islands. -</p> -<p>The English club rarely gives a dance more than once in five years, and when the engraved -invitations first appeared there was much talk and hobnobbing among the Spaniards -to see who had and who had not been invited. All the greedy Dons who had ever met -any of the clubmen expected to be asked, and considered it an insult not to receive -an invitation. One high official, who had himself been invited, wrote to the committee -seeking an invitation for some friends. As, of course, only a limited number could -be accommodated at the club-house, the invitations were strictly limited, and a reply -was sent to the Spanish gentleman in question, stating that there were no more invitations -to be had. -</p> -<p>“Do you mean to insult me and my friends?” he wrote, “by saying that there are no -more invitations <span class="pagenum">[<a id="pb179" href="#pb179">179</a>]</span>left for them? Do you mean to say that my friends are not gentlemen, and so you won’t -ask them? I must insist on an explanation, or satisfaction.” -</p> -<p>For several days before the party one might have heard young women and girls who walked -up and down the Luneta talking nothing but dance, and the Spanish society seemed to -be divided up into two distinct cliques, the chosen and the uninvited. -</p> -<p>The chosen proceeded at once to starve themselves and use what superfluous dollars -they could collect in buying new gowns at the large Parisian shops on the Escolta. -Most of the Spanish women in Manila can well afford to be abstemious and devote the -surplus thus obtained to the ornamentation of their persons, since they are so fairly -stout that the fires of their appetite can be kept going some time after actual daily -food-supplies have been cut off. The men, however, seem to be as slender as the women -are robust, and they, poor creatures, cannot endure a long fast. Nevertheless, the -cash-drawers of the Paris shops got fat as the husbands of the wives who bought new -gowns there grew more slender; and just before the ball came off these merchant princes -of the Philippines actually offered to contribute five hundred dollars if another -dance should be given within a short time, so great had been the rush of patrons to -their attractive counters. -<span class="pagenum">[<a id="pb180" href="#pb180">180</a>]</span></p> -<p>To make a long story short, after a lot of squabbles and wranglings among those who -were invited and those who were not, the night of the party came, and only those who -held the coveted cards were permitted by the giants at the door to enter Paradise. -</p> -<p>Japanese lanterns lighted the road which led from the main highway to the club, and -the old rambling structure was aglow with a thousand colored cup-lights that made -it look like fairyland. Within and without were dozens of palms and all sorts of tropical -shrubs, and the entrance-way was one huge bower-like fernery. Around the lower entrance-room -colored flags grouped themselves artistically, and below a huge mass of bunting at -the farther end rose the grand staircase that led above. Upstairs, the ladies’ dressing-room -was most gorgeous, and the walls were hung with costly, golden-wove tapestries from -Japan. The main parlor formed one of the dancing-rooms and opened into two huge adjoining -bed-chambers which were thrown together in one suite. All around the walls and ceilings -were garlands and long festoons and wreaths, and everywhere were bowers of plants, -borrowed mirrors, and lights. -</p> -<p>Out on the veranda, overhanging the river, were clusters of small tables, glowing -under fairy lamps, and the railings were a mass of verdure. -</p> -<p>The orchestra consisted of twenty-five natives, <span class="pagenum">[<a id="pb181" href="#pb181">181</a>]</span>dressed in white shirts whose tails were not tucked in, hidden behind a forest of -plants, and as the clock struck ten they began to coax from their instruments a dreamy -waltz. The guests began to pour in—Spanish dons with their corpulent wives, and strapping -Englishmen with their leaner better halves. The Spaniards, sniffing the air, all looked -longingly toward the supper-rooms, while the ladies who came with them ambled toward -the powder and paint boxes in the boudoir. I suppose about two hundred people in all -were on hand, and the sight was indeed gay. After every one had become duly hot from -dancing or duly hungry from waiting, supper was served, and there was almost a panic -as the Spanish element with one accord made for the large room at the extreme other -end of the building, where dozens of small tables glistened below candelabra with -red shades, and improvised benches groaned under the weight of a great variety of -refreshments. -</p> -<p>Soon the slender <i>caballeros</i> got to look fatter in the face, and the double chins of their ladies grew doubler -every moment. Knives, forks, and spoons were all going at once, and talk was suspended. -But the room presented a pretty sight, with its fourscore couples sitting around beneath -the swaying punkahs, and the soft warm light made beauties out of many ordinary-looking -persons. -<span class="pagenum">[<a id="pb182" href="#pb182">182</a>]</span></p> -<p>After everybody was satisfied, dancing was resumed in the big front rooms on the river, -and the gayety went on; but the heavy supper made many of the foreign guests grow -dull, and the cool hours of early morning saw everyone depart, carrying with them -or in them food enough for many days. -</p> -<p>Thus ended the great ball given to balance the debt of hospitality owed by the bachelors -to their married friends, and now will come the committee’s collectors for money to -pay the piper. -</p> -<p class="date">January 31st. -</p> -<p>Manila has been quite outdoing herself lately, and the gayeties have been numerous. -The opening of the Royal Exposition of the Philippines took place last week, and was -quite as elaborate as the name itself. -</p> -<p>The Exposition buildings were grouped along the raised ground filled in on the paddy-fields, -by the side of the broad avenue that divides our suburb of Malate from that of Ermita, -and runs straight back inland from the sea. The architecture is good, the buildings -numerous, and with grounds tastefully decorated with plants and fountains, it is, -in a way, like a pocket edition of the Chicago Exposition. -</p> -<p>Everybody in town was invited to attend the opening ceremonies by a gorgeously gotten-up -invitation, <span class="pagenum">[<a id="pb183" href="#pb183">183</a>]</span>and interesting catalogues of the purpose of the exhibition and its exhibits were -issued in both Spanish and English. To be sure, the language in the catalogue translated -from the Spanish was often ridiculous, and announcements were made of such exhibits -as “Collections of living animals of laboring class,” and “tabulated prices of transport -terrestrial and submarine.” But all of the <i>élite</i> of Manila were on hand at the ceremonies, from the Archbishop and Governor-General -down to my coachman’s wife, and bands played, flags waved in the fresh breeze, tongues -wagged, guns fired, and whistles blew. General Blanco opened the fair with a well-worded -speech on the importance of the Philippines, of the debt that the inhabitants owed -to the protection of the mother-country, and of the great future predestined for the -Archipelago. And just as the speaker had finished and the closing hours of the day -arrived, the new electric lights were turned on for the first time. Then all Manila, -hitherto illuminated by the dull and dangerous petroleum lamps, shone forth under -the radiance of several hundred arc-lights and a couple of thousand incandescent ones. -</p> -<p>The improvement is tremendous, and the streets, which have always been dim from an -excess of real tropical, visible, feelable, darkness, are now respectably illuminated. -<span class="pagenum">[<a id="pb184" href="#pb184">184</a>]</span></p> -<p>The exposition was opened on the name-day of the little King of Spain, and every house -in town was requested, if not ordered, to hang out some sort of a flag or decoration. -It was said that a fine of $5 would be charged to those who did not garb their shanties -in colors of some sort, and all the natives were particular to obey the law. It was -indeed instructive, if not pathetic, to see shawls, colored handkerchiefs, red table-cloths, -carpets, and even sofa-cushions, hanging out of windows, or on poles from poverty-stricken -little <i>nipa</i> huts, and any article with red or yellow in it seemed good enough to answer the purpose. -We, in turn, were also officially requested to show our colors, and I hung out two -bath-wraps from our front window, articles which I had picked up on the recent excursion -to Mindanao, and which the wild savages there wear down to the river when they go -to wash clothes or themselves. But they likewise had enough red and yellow in their -composition to fill the bill, and, together with five pieces of red flannel from my -photographic dark-room, our windows showed a most prepossessing appearance. -</p> -<p></p> -<div class="figure p184width" id="p184"><img src="images/p184.jpg" alt="Cool, but Combustible. A Typical Nipa House." width="720" height="548"><p class="figureHead">Cool, but Combustible. A Typical <i>Nipa</i> House.</p> -<p class="first seepage"><i>See page <a href="#pb81" class="pageref">81</a>.</i> </p> -</div><p> -</p> -<p>On the Sunday after the King’s name-day, a costly display of fireworks took place -off the water, in front of the Luneta, further to celebrate the occasion. The bombs -and rockets were ignited from large floats <span class="pagenum">[<a id="pb185" href="#pb185">185</a>]</span>anchored near the shore, while complicated set-pieces were erected on tall bamboos -standing up in the water and bolstered from behind with supports and guy-lines. The -exhibition began shortly after dinner, and never had I seen a crowd of such large -dimensions before in Manila. There must have been twenty-five thousand people jammed -into the near vicinity of the promenade, and a great sea of faces islanded hundreds -of traps of all species and genders. -</p> -<p>The display was excellent, and both of the large military bands backed it up with -good music. One of the set pieces was a royal representation of a full-rigged man-of-war -carrying the Spanish flag, and she was shown in the act of utterly annihilating an -iron-clad belonging to some indefinite enemy. The reflections in the water doubled -the beauty of the scene, and with rockets, bombs, mines, parachutes, going up at the -same time, there was little intermission to the excitement. Several rockets came down -into the crowd, and one alighted on the back of a pony, causing him to start off on -somewhat of a tangent. Otherwise there were no disasters, and it was nearly midnight -before the great audience scattered in all directions. -</p> -<p>The electric lights, of course, are of tremendous interest to the more ignorant natives, -and every evening finds groups of the latter gathered around the <span class="pagenum">[<a id="pb186" href="#pb186">186</a>]</span>posts supporting the arc-lamps, looking upward at the sputtering carbon, or examining -the bugs which lose their life in attempting to make closer analyses of the artificial -suns. -</p> -<p>A fresh edition of the opera company has come out again from Italy, and performances -are given Tuesdays, Thursdays, and Sundays. Everybody, as usual, is allowed behind -the scenes during the intermissions, and the other evening, in the middle of a most -pathetic scene in “Faust,” a Yankee skipper, somewhat the jollier from a shore dinner, -walked directly across the back of the stage and took his hat off to the audience. -Episodes like this are hardly common, but in Manila there are not the barriers to -the stage-door that exist in the U.S.A. The artillery-band on the Luneta has several -times played the “Washington Post March” which you sent me, and which I gave to the -fat, pleasant-faced conductor. The championship games at the tennis-court have begun, -and all of the English colony generally assemble there to see the play just before -sunset. Small dinners and dances are also numerous, and the cool weather seems to -be incubating gayety. -</p> -<p class="date">February 22d. -</p> -<p>Manila is said to have the most complete astronomical, meteorological, and seismological -observatory anywhere east of the Mediterranean. Not to miss <span class="pagenum">[<a id="pb187" href="#pb187">187</a>]</span>anything of such reputation, several of us decided to make a call on Padre Faure, -who presides over the institution, and who is well known scientifically all over the -world. At the observatory we were cordially received by an assistant, who spoke English -well enough to turn us off from using Spanish, and were conducted over the establishment. -Here were machines which would write down the motions of the earth in seismological -disturbances, and which conveyed to the ear various subterranean noises going on below -the surface. Still other instruments were so delicate that they rang electric bells -when mutterings took place far underground, and thus warned the observers of approaching -trouble. Another, into which you could look, showed a moving black cross on a white -ground, that danced at all the slight tremblings continually going on; and the rumbling -of a heavy cart over the neighboring highroad would make it tremble with excitement. -A solid tower of rock twenty feet square extended up through the building from bottom -to top, and was entirely disconnected with the surrounding structure. On this column -all of the earthquake-instruments were arranged; and any sort of an oscillation that -took place would be recorded in ink on charts arranged for the purpose. Various wires -and electric connections were everywhere visible, and an approaching disturbance <span class="pagenum">[<a id="pb188" href="#pb188">188</a>]</span>would be sure to set enough bells and tickers a-going to arouse one of the attendants. -</p> -<p>The great school-building in which the observatory was placed was fully six hundred -feet square, with a large court-yard in the centre containing fountains and tropical -plants in profusion. After leaving the lower portions of the building, we ascended -through long hallways, to visit the meteorological department above. Barometers, thermometers, -wind-gauges, rain-measurers, and all sorts of recording instruments filled a most -interesting room; and Padre Faure gave us a long discourse on typhoons, earthquakes, -and various other phenomena. From the roof of the observatory a splendid view of the -city, Bay, and adjacent country may be had, and Manila lay before us steaming in the -sun. Before leaving, we saw the twenty-inch telescope, constructed in Washington under -the direction of the Padre who was our guide, which is soon to be installed in a special -building constructed for the purpose. He seemed much impressed by the United States, -and at our departure presented us with one of the monthly observatory reports, which -give the whole story of the movements of the earth, winds, heavens, tides, stars, -and clouds, at every hour of the day and night, for every day during the month, and -for every month during the year. -</p> -<p>Last Monday was again the usual bank-holiday; <span class="pagenum">[<a id="pb189" href="#pb189">189</a>]</span>and on the Saturday before, the customary three of us who seem to be more energetic -at seeing the country than our friends, decided to take another excursion up the river -into the hill-country. -</p> -<p>In the forenoon we gave orders to the boys to get ready the provisions, and meet us -at the club-house in the early afternoon. Our plan was to take one of the light <i>randans</i> from the boat-house, row up the river for twelve or fifteen miles, take <i>carromatas</i> up into the hills to a place called Antipolo, and finally to horseback it over the -mountains to Bossa Bossa, a lonely hill village, ten miles farther on. -</p> -<p>The time came. All of our goods and chattels were piled into the boat. We took off -white coats, put on our big broad-brimmed straw hats, turned up our trouserloons, -and prepared for a long row up against the current. But, thanks to Providence, we -were able to hitch onto one of the stone-lighters that regularly bring rock down from -the lake district, for use on the new breakwater and port-works at Manila, and which -was being towed up for more supplies. The sun got lower and lower, and finally set, -just as the moon rose over the mountains. The sail in the soft light of evening was -very picturesque, and the banks were lined with the usual collection of native huts, -in front of which groups of natives were either washing clothes or themselves. Large -freight <i>cascos</i> or small <i>bancas</i> <span class="pagenum">[<a id="pb190" href="#pb190">190</a>]</span>were either being poled up-stream by heated boatmen, or were drifting lazily down -with the current, and everywhere a sort of indolent attractiveness prevailed. We continued -on behind the lighter until almost at the lake itself; then cast adrift and branched -off into a small side-stream that ran up toward the hills in a northerly direction. -</p> -<p>On we wound, now between a deep fringe of bamboo-trees, now between open meadows, -now between groups of thatched huts, and again through clumps of fish-weirs, coming -at last to a town called Cainta, nearly an hour’s row from the main stream. We stopped -beneath an old stone bridge that carried the main turnpike to Manila from the mountains, -and were greeted by all the towns-people, who were out basking in the moonlight. They -had evidently never seen a boat of the <i>randan</i> type before, and expressed much curiosity at the whole equipment. Before many moments -the governor of the village appeared in the background and asked us to put up at his -residence. Ten willing natives seized upon our goods and chattels, others pulled the -boat up on the sloping bank, and we adjourned to the small thatched house where lived -our host. The Filipinos gathered around outside, the privileged ones came in, and -everybody stared. The governor did everything for our amusement; called in singing-girls, -with an old chap who <span class="pagenum">[<a id="pb191" href="#pb191">191</a>]</span>played on the guitar, and otherwise arranged for our entertainment. At eleven he said -“Shoo” and everybody left. His wife gave us pieces of straw matting to sleep on, and -we stretched out upon one of those familiar floors of bamboo slats which make one -feel like a pair of rails on a set of cross-ties. -</p> -<p>Later the family all turned in on the floor in the same manner, and soon the cool -night-wind was whistling up through the apertures. -</p> -<p>Next morning, Sunday, a hot dusty ride of an hour and a half, over a fearful road, -continually ascending, brought us to Antipolo, a stupid village commanding a grand -view over the plains toward Manila and the Bay beyond. To find out where we could -get ponies to take us over the rough foot-path to Bossa Bossa, we called at the big -<i>convento</i> where live the priests who officiate at the great white church, whose tower is visible -from the capital. Mass was just over, but the stone corridors reverberated with loud -jestings and the click of billiard-balls above. On going upstairs, we broke in upon -a group of <i>padres</i> playing billiards, drinking beer, smoking cigars, and cracking jokes <i>ad libitum</i>. They received us cordially, did not seem inclined to talk much on religious subjects, -but advised us where we might find the necessary horseflesh. Not so much impressed -with their spirituality as with their courtesy, we left, got three ponies <span class="pagenum">[<a id="pb192" href="#pb192">192</a>]</span>and two carriers, and started out for the ride over the mountains. -</p> -<p>The path was narrow and steep, the sun was hot, but the scenery was good. On and up -we went, until the view back and down over the lower country became most extensive. -Across brooks, over stones, through gullies, and over trees carried us to the last -rise, and after passing through a grove of mangoes we came to the edge of the ridge. -Down below, in a fair little valley that looked like a big wash-basin, lay Bossa Bossa, -a small collection of houses shutting in a big church without any steeple. Squarely -up behind, on the other side of the valley, rose the lofty peaks of the Cordilleras, -and the scene was good enough for the most critical. -</p> -<p></p> -<div class="figure p192width" id="p192"><img src="images/p192.jpg" alt="A Half Caste. The Little Flower-girl at the Opera." width="504" height="720"><p class="figureHead">A Half Caste. The Little Flower-girl at the Opera.</p> -<p class="first seepage"><i>See page <a href="#pb36" class="pageref">36</a>.</i> </p> -</div><p> -</p> -<p>On descending to the isolated little <i>pueblo</i>, we got accommodation in the best house of the place, belonging to the native Governor, -and adjourned for rest and refreshments. All we had left to eat in our baskets were -two cold chickens, three biscuits, and four bottles of soda. We sent out for more -food, and in half an hour a boy came back with the only articles that the market afforded—two -cocoanuts. The house in which we were seemed to be the only one in town that possessed -a chair, and, as it was, we found it more comfortable to sit on the floor. This was -the centre of the great hunting-district, and all around in <span class="pagenum">[<a id="pb193" href="#pb193">193</a>]</span>the hills and mountains deer and wild boar were abundant. During the following night -it got so cold that it was possible to see one’s breath, and without coverings as -we were, the whole party dreamed of arctic circles and polar bears. At daylight next -morning, numb with the cold, we sat down to a breakfast consisting of carabao milk -and hard bread made of pounded-rice flour, and felt pretty fairly well removed from -tropics and civilization. The old church, which we could see out of the window, stood -in a small plaza, and the steeple, which consisted of four tall posts covered by a -small roof of thatch that protected a group of bells from the morning dew, was off -by itself in a corner of the churchyard. A long clothes-line seemed to lead from the -bells to a native house across the street, and we learned that the sexton was accustomed -to lie in bed and ring the early morning chimes by wagging his right foot, to which -the string was attached. -</p> -<p>On the return trip we met a large party of hunters coming up from Manila for a week’s -deer-shooting, and by noon got back to Antipolo, where we rested in the police-station -to wait for our <i>carromatas</i> that were to arrive at one o’clock. -</p> -<p>The return to Cainta was as hot and dusty as the advance, but we were pleasantly received -by our friend the governor, who had instructed the “boys” to <span class="pagenum">[<a id="pb194" href="#pb194">194</a>]</span>have the refreshments ready for us. Later in the afternoon, we prepared to return -to the metropolis, and the whole village came down to see us off. The governor refused -to accept money for the use of his house, we were all invited to come again, and amid -a chorus of cheers we shoved off for Manila. -</p> -<p>The row down took only three hours, but on getting to the club, at moonrise, it seemed -as if we had been away three weeks. -<span class="pagenum">[<a id="pb195" href="#pb195">195</a>]</span> </p> -</div> -</div> -<div id="ch10" class="div1 chapter"><span class="pagenum">[<a href="#xd29e274">Contents</a>]</span><div class="divHead"> -<h2 class="main">X</h2> -<div class="argument"> -<p class="first">Exacting Harbor Regulations—The Eleanor takes French Leave—Loss of the Gravina—Something -about the Native Ladies—Ways of Native Servants—A Sculptor who was a Dentist—Across -the Bay to Orani—Children in Plenty—A Public Execution by the Garrote.</p> -</div> -</div> -<div class="divBody"> -<p class="first date">April 19th. -</p> -<p>If a ship in the Bay desires to load or discharge cargo on Sundays or religious holidays, -permission can only be obtained through the Archbishop, not the Governor-General. -The Easter season has come and gone, and as the Captain of the Esmeralda could not -successfully play on the feelings of that highest dignitary of the church, his steamer -had to lie idle for the holidays, and so miss connecting with the Peking, which ought -to have taken the United States mail. -</p> -<p>The American yacht Eleanor dropped anchor in the Bay the other afternoon, and it seemed -good again to see the countenances of some of our countrymen. It appears the Spanish -officials did not consent to treat her with the courtesy which a yacht or war-ship -merits, and went so far as to station <i>carabineros</i> on her decks, as is customary on merchant-vessels to prevent <span class="pagenum">[<a id="pb196" href="#pb196">196</a>]</span>smuggling. The Eleanor presented a fine appearance as she lay among the fleet of more -prosaic craft, and her rails were decorated with Gatling guns put there for the voyage -up through the southern archipelagoes where pirates reign. On the Wednesday before -Holy Thursday, the owner of the Eleanor decided to start for Hong Kong, that his guests -might enjoy Easter Sunday in those more civilized districts that surround the English -cathedral. The yacht, like any merchantman, was obliged to get her clearance papers -from the custom-house before she sailed, and to that end the Captain went ashore shortly -after midday. But the chief of the harbor office had gone home for a siesta, remarking -that he would not return until Monday, and that any business coming up would have -to wait till then for attention. -</p> -<p>“But I must have my papers,” said the Captain, “for we leave to-night for China.” -</p> -<p>“Them you cannot have till Monday,” replied the hireling in charge. -</p> -<p>“Then I shall have to sail without them,” answered the Captain, and he stormed out -of the office to find our consul, whom he hoped would straighten matters out. But -the efforts of the consul were of no avail. The king-pin of the harbor office refused -to be interviewed, and the Captain of the yacht returned aboard with fire in his eye. -After a council of war <span class="pagenum">[<a id="pb197" href="#pb197">197</a>]</span>had been held, it was decided to sail, papers or no papers, and the two soldiers who -were pacing up and down the deck were told the vessel was going to sea. -</p> -<p>“But we won’t let you go without your papers,” said they. -</p> -<p>“Papers or no papers, we are going to sea to-night,” roared the Captain. “And if you -fellows don’t git aboard into that boat mighty quick, we’ll be feeding you to the -sharks.” -</p> -<p>The Gatling guns and show of rifles in the companion-way looked eloquent, and the -two <i>carabineros</i>, murmuring that they would surely be killed for neglect of duty when they got ashore, -were pushed down the gangway into a row-boat as the Eleanor got her anchor up, and -steamed out of the Bay in the face of Providence and the southwest wind, almost across -the bows of the Spanish flagship Reina Cristina. A tremendous diplomatic hullabaloo -resulted. The consul was summoned, the guards were blown up by the discharge of verbal -powder, and it almost looked as if our representative would have to send for war-ships. -But the matter has finally been straightened out, and the passengers on the Eleanor -have probably had their Easter Sunday at Hong Kong. -</p> -<p>Curiously enough, for April, another typhoon has recently sailed through the gap in -the mountains to <span class="pagenum">[<a id="pb198" href="#pb198">198</a>]</span>the north of our capital, and gone swirling over to China, leaving in its wake a sunken -steamer, which foundered with her living freight of close to three hundred souls. -Out in front of the big steamship office across the way hundreds of natives are inquiring -for their brothers or husbands or children. It seems the Gravina, a ship of the best -part of a thousand tons, was coming down from the north, heavily loaded with rice, -tobacco, and native boys, who, for not paying their tax bills, had been drafted into -service for the purpose of being sent against the savages in Mindanao. She had only -fifty more miles to go before reaching the entrance to Manila Bay, when the barometer -fell, the wind hauled to the northwest, and the typhoon struck her. Her after-hatchway -was washed overboard, and, deep in the water as she was, the seas washed over into -the opening. As fast as fresh coverings were substituted they were ripped off and -carried away. The engines became disabled, the water rushed into the boiler-room, -putting out the fires, and the passengers, who were locked into the cabins, were panic-stricken. -The steamer began to settle, and under the onslaught of a big sea, accompanied with -terrific wind, suddenly heeled over and foundered with all on board, save three, the -Captain standing on the bridge as she went down, crying “Viva España.” Two natives -and a <span class="pagenum">[<a id="pb199" href="#pb199">199</a>]</span>Spanish woman got clear of the ship before she sucked them under, and floated about -on an awning-pole and a deck-table. Scarcely had the survivors got clear of one danger -before a shark swooped down on the Spanish woman, and, attracted by her lighter color, -bit off a limb. He paid no attention to the two natives kicking out their feet near -by, and, though neither of them could swim a stroke, they managed to paddle ashore -on their supports, after being in the water two nights and a day. -</p> -<p>These two men, the only survivors of the large passenger-list of the Gravina, came -into our office yesterday, and, after giving a graphic description of the catastrophe, -easily got us to loosen our purse-strings. The accident is the worst that has occurred -for many a day, and there is a gloom over the whole city. The newspapers came out -with black borders, and many families are bereaved. -</p> -<p class="date">May 20th. -</p> -<p>The more I see of these native servants, the more I appreciate that they are great -fabricators and excuse-makers. Your boy, for example, every now and then wants an -advance of five or ten dollars on his salary. His father has just died, he tells you, -and he needs the money to pay for the saying of a mass for the repose of his soul. -Then comes another boy, who says that by his sister’s marrying somebody or other <span class="pagenum">[<a id="pb200" href="#pb200">200</a>]</span>his aunt has become his grandmother, and he wants <i lang="es">cinco pesos</i>, to buy her a present of a fighting-cock or something else. This matter of relationship -here in the Philippines is a most delicate one to keep control of, and in the matter -of deaths, births, and marriages among your servants’ relations it is very essential -that you keep an accurate list of the family tree, so that you may check up any tendency -on their part to kill off their fathers and mothers more than twice or three times -during the year for the purposes of self-aggrandizement. As an example of this, my -own boy actually had the cheek to ask me for the loan of a dozen dollars to arrange -for the repose of the soul of one of his relatives I had once before assisted him -to bury. -</p> -<p>I seem to have gone a long way in my chronicles without speaking much of the native -“ladies” in Manila, and I owe them an apology. But one of them the other day so swished -her long pink calico train in front of a pony that was cantering up to the club with -a <i>carromata</i> in which two of us were seated, that we were dumped out into a muddy rice-field by -the wayside. So the apology should be mutual. The costumes worn by the women are far -from simple and are made up of that brilliant skirt with long train that is swished -around and tucked into the belt in front, the short white waist that, at times divorced -<span class="pagenum">[<a id="pb201" href="#pb201">201</a>]</span>from the skirt below, has huge flaring sleeves of <i>piña</i> fibre which show the arms, and the costly <i>piña</i> handkerchief which, folded on the diagonal, encircles the neck. They wear no hats, -often go without stockings, and invariably walk as if they were carrying a pail of -water on their heads. They generally chew betelnuts, which color the mouth an ugly -red, smoke cigars, and put so much cocoanut-oil on their straight, black hair that -it is not pleasant to get to leeward of them in an open tram-car. Otherwise they are -generally the mothers of many children and often play well on the harp. -</p> -<p>I made a call on the local dentist yesterday, and found him sitting on a wooden figure -of St. Peter, carving some expression into the face. I thought I had got into a carpenter’s -shop instead of a dental establishment, and apologized for the intrusion. But the -gentleman said he was the dentist, and dropped his mallet and chisel to usher me into -his other operating-room. It is quite a jump from carving out features of apostles -to filling teeth, but on being assured that he had received due instruction from an -American dentist, I allowed him to proceed to business. The whole operation lasted -about seven and one-half minutes, and by the time I had got out my dollar to pay him -for the filling I swallowed soon after, he was again at work on Biblical subjects. -<span class="pagenum">[<a id="pb202" href="#pb202">202</a>]</span></p> -<p>All in all it doesn’t pay to neglect one’s health in the Philippines, for the only -English doctor that Manila boasts of has been here so long that the climate has shrivelled -up his memory. After he has attended your serious case of fever or influenza for several -days, he will suddenly stroll in some morning and give you a sinking feeling with -the words: -</p> -<p>“Oh, by the way, what is the matter with you?” -</p> -<p>This is hardly comforting to one who considers himself a gone coon, but in justice -to our friend the medico, I must say he never displays these symptoms to patients -whose case is really getting desperate. -</p> -<p>Tons and tons of water have been drunk up by the clouds of late, and have just now -begun to be unceremoniously dumped down upon flat Manila, so that she has seemed likely -to be washed into the sea. But rain has been badly needed. A long heat has made many -the worse for wear, and the doctors have all said that unless the rain came soon, -an epidemic would probably break out. -</p> -<p></p> -<div class="figure p202width" id="p202"><img src="images/p202.jpg" alt="The Fast Set in the Philippines. Rapid Transit in the Suburbs of Manila." width="715" height="535"><p class="figureHead">The Fast Set in the Philippines. Rapid Transit in the Suburbs of Manila.</p> -</div><p> -</p> -<p>Before the showers began, we improved the spare time of another Sunday and bank-holiday -by an aquatic excursion to some of the provincial towns away across to the north side -of Manila Bay. Don Capitan, the purchaser of our fire-engine and the millionaire ship-owner -who runs several lines of steamers and <span class="corr" id="xd29e2218" title="Source: storehouses">store-houses</span>, was our host, and invited us to spend <span class="pagenum">[<a id="pb203" href="#pb203">203</a>]</span>the days as his guests aboard the trim paddle-wheel steamer that makes regular trips -to the bay ports. Early on Sunday morning we started from the quay in front of the -big hemp-press, and while the lower decks of the steamer were crowded with native -market-women, fishermen, and Chinese, the more sightly portions of the upper promenade -were reserved for us and provided with Vienna chairs. Breakfast was served in a large -chart-room connected with the wheel-house, and was a fitting accompaniment to the -fresh sail out of the river through the shipping. -</p> -<p>After discharging groups of passengers and freight into large tree-trunk boats at -several little villages, we came at noon to Orani, the end of the outward run. The -sister-in-law of the jet-black captain owned the largest house in the village, and -put it at our disposal. Our advent had been heralded the day before, and a groaning -table supported a sumptuous repast. -</p> -<p>There were four of us besides the half-caste family of the captain’s sister-in-law, -and an old withered-up Spaniard who used to be governor of the village. Various cats -roamed around under the table, and on top were toothpicks built up into cones, Spanish -sausages, olives, flowers, and fruit with an unpronounceable name, that looked like -freshly dug potatoes well covered with soil. -</p> -<p>Beside each chair was a red clay jar, into which <span class="pagenum">[<a id="pb204" href="#pb204">204</a>]</span>each participator in the repast could from time to time transfer such articles as -were apparently unswallowable, and all around stood thick-lipped serving boys, who -looked as if they were only waiting to pour soup in one’s lap, or garlic gravy down -one’s neck. The feast began with soup, and though the family could not well eat that -with their knives, they could the remaining courses. After soup came the <i>puchero</i>, that mixture of beans, potatoes, cabbage, tough meat, pork, grass, garlic, and grease, -and I steeled myself for the fray. Next came cooked hen with a limpid gravy accompaniment, -and as the chicken had been alive up to within a few moments of going into the kettle, -the question of attack was difficult. Then followed in succession cow’s tongue and -roast goat, fish, salad with sliced tomatoes, and dessert consisting of those fluffy -affairs made of sugar and eggs which taste like captivated sea-foam. As is always -customary, cheese and fruit were served together, but while a servant had to carry -the fruit, the cheese seemed inclined to walk around by itself. -</p> -<p>In due season all the débris was removed. A boy went in pursuit of the cheese and -the table was cleared for strong coffee that looked dangerous. The mortality, however, -among the party was not great, and all those who were able to get up from the table -went to take a siesta. -<span class="pagenum">[<a id="pb205" href="#pb205">205</a>]</span></p> -<p>At about four, we were awakened by the familiar noise coming from the grinding of -an ice-cream freezer, and afternoon tea, consisting of chocolate, sandwiches, cakes -and frozen pudding, was served half an hour later. At five we were to take a drive -along the shore in the only two landaus that the place possessed, and since the <i>padre</i> who lived close by in the big church had been good enough to lend us one, we called -on him in state, taking with us, for his refreshment, a small caldron of ice-cream. -His greeting was right cordial, and after amusing us with stories of his many adventures, -told in fluent English, he dismissed us with his blessing. -</p> -<p>Two of our party got into his carriage, while other two went in that belonging to -the governor of the town, and behind smart-stepping ponies we bowled off up the road -that led west along the Bay. -</p> -<p>Old Malthus would have been interested to see the number of children that exist in -these provincial villages, and it really seemed as if at least one hundred and two -per cent. of the population were kids. About eighteen infants could be seen leaning -out of every window, in every native hut, and in the streets, by-ways, and hedges -they were thick as locusts. Most of these children trailed little else than clouds -of glory, since clothes were scarce and expensive. An undershirt was all that any -of them seemed to wear, <span class="pagenum">[<a id="pb206" href="#pb206">206</a>]</span>and only the dudes of the one hundred and two per cent. wore that. -</p> -<p>Much to our amusement, the loiterers by the wayside everywhere saluted us with a “<i lang="es">Buenos tardes, Padre</i>,” and it appeared that since the holy father is the only one who drives regularly -in a landau, the whole population thought of course we must be he, or some of his -saintly brethren. And so we went until the gathering darkness compelled a return to -the starting-point. An elaborate supper, consisting of hard-shelled crabs and other -indigestibles, was followed by an impromptu dance and musicale, and the evening ended -in a burst of song. -</p> -<p>Next morning the little steamer took us and a load of fish and vegetables back to -the capital. -</p> -<p class="date">July 6th. -</p> -<p>Our modern journals, I know, rejoice to go into all the gruesome details of crime -and its punishment, and many of their readers take as much morbid pleasure in poring -over accounts of hangings, pictures of the culprit, diagrams of his cell, and last -conversations with the jailer, as do the reporters in getting the information with -which to make up long, padded articles paid for by the column. I am not morbidly curious -myself, and trust you will not think I went to see the capital punishment of two murderers -for any other than purely scientific reasons. -<span class="pagenum">[<a id="pb207" href="#pb207">207</a>]</span></p> -<p>The two men who were executed on July 4th, just passed, were convicted of chopping -a Spaniard to pieces to get the few dollars which he kept in his house, and to avenge -themselves for harsh treatment. They were nothing more than native boys, one twenty -and the other twenty-two, employed as servants in the family of the unfortunate victim. -In short, they were sentenced to death by the garrote, and to the end of carrying -out the decree a platform was erected in the open parade-ground behind the Luneta. -But the people in the neighborhood objected. The women said they could not sleep from -thinking over it, and could not bear to have their children see the scaffold. General -Blanco was petitioned, and the place of execution was changed to a broad avenue that -leads down through the back part of Manila, by the public slaughter-house. Surely -the selection was appropriate. -</p> -<p>On the fatal day, my colleague and I drove to the scene shortly after sunrise, and -crowds of people had already begun to come together from the adjoining districts. -Carriages of all classes rolled in from all directions. Chinamen with cues, natives -with their wives, women with their infants, young girls and children, old men and -maidens, were all there, dressed in their best clothes. -</p> -<p>I knew it would be useless to stand in the crowd, <span class="pagenum">[<a id="pb208" href="#pb208">208</a>]</span>so I pushed over toward a <i>nipa</i> hut, whose windows, which were filled with natives, looked fairly out on the scaffold -itself. In the name of my camera I asked admittance, which was cordially accorded, -since we were “Ingleses,” and on going to the upper floor we had a free view over -the crowd below toward the fatal platform, with its two posts to which were attached -two narrow seats. The crowd increased; they climbed into bamboo-trees, which bent -to the ground; they tried to surge up on the lower framework of the house in which -we were standing, and only desisted as the proprietress slashed the encroachers right -and left with a bamboo-cane. The roofs of neighboring houses were black with people, -the windows swarmed, and the street below heaved. Our hostess was pleasant, though -fiery, and all she wanted in return for our admission was a photograph of herself. -The favor was granted, and she gave us two chairs to sit in. The crowd increased, -and the guards had hard work keeping back the struggling mass. Every available square -inch of space was filled, and a sea of heads pulsated before us. -</p> -<p>At last, cries of “<i lang="es">aquí vienen</i>” (here they come) arose, and the solemn procession came into view after its long -journey from the central jail, over a mile away. First came the cavalry, then a group -of priests, among whom marched a man wearing an <span class="pagenum">[<a id="pb209" href="#pb209">209</a>]</span>apron, carrying the sacred banner of the Church, embroidered in black and gold. Next -marched the prison officials, and behind them came two small, open tip-carts, drawn -by ponies, in which travelled the condemned men, each supported by a couple of priests -who held crucifixes before their eyes, exhorting them to confess and believe. -</p> -<p>Following the carts, which were surrounded by a square of soldiers, walked the executioner -himself, a condemned criminal, but spared from being executed by his choosing to accept -the office of public executioner. Last of all came a small company of soldiers, with -bayonetted guns, and the whole procession advanced to the foot of the steps leading -to the platform. -</p> -<p>The garroting instrument seems to consist of a collar of brass, whose front-piece -opens on a hinge, and part of whose rear portion is susceptible to being suddenly -pushed forward by the impulse of a big fourth-rate screw working through the post, -something after the system of a letter-press. The criminal sentenced to death is seated -on a small board attached to the upright, his neck is placed in the brass collar, -the front-piece is snapped to, and when all is ready, the executioner merely gives -the handle of the screw a complete turn. The small moving back-piece in the collar -is by this means suddenly pushed forward <span class="pagenum">[<a id="pb210" href="#pb210">210</a>]</span>against the top of the spine of the unfortunate, and death comes instantaneously from -the snapping of the spinal cord. -</p> -<p>The executioners in Manila have always been themselves criminals, and in breaking -the spinal cords of their fellow-criminals, they certainly pay a price for keeping -their own vertebræ intact. Like most men in their profession, however, they are well -paid, and this operator got sixteen dollars besides his regular monthly salary of -twenty, for each man on whom he turned the screw. -</p> -<p>The sight of the unfortunate prisoners in the little carts, supported by the priests, -was pitiable in the extreme, and their faces bore marks of unforgetable anguish. The -priests ascended the platform, and the man with the embroidered banner was careful -to stand far away at the side, for, according to the religious custom of the epoch, -a condemned man who merely happens to touch the standard of the Church on his way -to the scaffold cannot thereafter be executed, but suffers only life imprisonment. -</p> -<p></p> -<div class="figure p210width" id="p210"><img src="images/p210.jpg" alt="The Fourth of July, ’95. Execution by the Garrote." width="552" height="704"><p class="figureHead">The Fourth of July, ’95. Execution by the Garrote.</p> -<p class="first">“My watch stopped and the cord-pull to my camera broke just as the screw was turned -on the first man to be executed.” -</p> -<p class="seepage"><i>See page <a href="#pb212" class="pageref">212</a>.</i> </p> -</div><p> -</p> -<p>The executioner, in a derby hat, black coat, white breeches, and no shoes, took his -position behind the post at one side of the scaffold, and the first victim was carried -up out of the cart and seated on the narrow bench. He was too weak to help himself -or make resistance; the black cloak was thrown over his <span class="pagenum">[<a id="pb211" href="#pb211">211</a>]</span>shoulders, a rope tied around his waist, the hood drawn down over his face, and the -collar sprung around his neck. Then, while two priests, with uncovered heads, held -their crucifixes up before him, and sprinkled holy water over the hood and long, black -death-robes, the chief prison official waved his sword, the executioner gave the big -screw-handle a sudden twist till his arms crossed, and without a motion of any sort, -except a slight forward movement of the naked feet, the first of the condemned men -had solved the great problem. -</p> -<p>The second poor wretch all the while cowered in the little cart, but when his turn -came he ascended the steps with more fortitude. After he had put on the long black -gown and hood, he seated himself on the bench at the second post and the same process -was repeated. But the screw-thread seemed to be rusty, and one of the native officials -helped the executioner give the handle an additional turn, for which he was promptly -fined $20. The doctor tarried a few moments on the scaffold, the priests read several -prayers and shook holy water over the immovable black-robed figures wedded to the -posts, and then, after one of the acolytes had nearly set fire to the flowing gown -of the head <i>padre</i> with his long candle, everyone descended. -</p> -<p>The remnants of the procession returned to the <span class="pagenum">[<a id="pb212" href="#pb212">212</a>]</span>prison, the troops stationed themselves in a large hollow square around the scaffold, -and two dark, motionless figures locked to two posts were left in the hot sun till -noon, set out against the blue background of sky and clouds. -</p> -<p>The crowds began to disperse, the young girls chatted and joked with each other, the -curious were satisfied, and the bamboo-trees were left to lift their heads at leisure. -</p> -<p>Thus began Manila’s Fourth of July, and curiously enough, my watch stopped and the -cord-pull to my instantaneous camera broke just as the screw was turned on the first -man to be executed. -<span class="pagenum">[<a id="pb213" href="#pb213">213</a>]</span> </p> -</div> -</div> -<div id="ch11" class="div1 chapter"><span class="pagenum">[<a href="#xd29e284">Contents</a>]</span><div class="divHead"> -<h2 class="main">XI</h2> -<div class="argument"> -<p class="first">Lottery Chances and Mischances—An American Cigarette-Making Machine and its Fate—Closing -up Business—How the Foreigner Feels Toward Life in Manila—Why the English and Germans -Return—Restlessness among the Natives—Their Persecution—Departure and Farewell.</p> -</div> -</div> -<div class="divBody"> -<p class="first date">August 25th. -</p> -<p>I lost $80,000 yesterday. Perhaps I have spoken of lottery tickets, but have failed -to say what an important institution in Manila the “Lotería Nacional” really is. Drawings -come each month over in the Lottery Building in Old Manila, and everybody is invited -to inspect the fairness with which the prize-balls drop out of one revolving cylinder -like a peanut-roaster while the ticket-number balls slide out of the other. The Government -runs the lottery to provide itself with revenue, and starts off by putting twenty-five -per cent. of the value of the ticket-issue into its own coffers. If all the tickets -are not sold, the Lotería Nacional keeps the balance for itself and promptly pockets -whatever prizes those tickets draw. Lottery tickets are everywhere, in every window, -and urchins of all sizes and genders moon about the streets selling little twentieths -<span class="pagenum">[<a id="pb214" href="#pb214">214</a>]</span>to such as haven’t the ten dollars to buy a whole one. Guests at dinner play cards -for lottery tickets paid for by the losers, Englishmen bet lottery tickets that the -Esmeralda won’t bring the mail from home, and natives dream of lucky numbers, to go -searching all over town for the pieces that bear the figures of their visions. -</p> -<p>Four months ago I got reckless enough to plank $10 on the counter of the little shop, -which, at the corner of the Escolta and the Puente de España, is said to dispense -the largest number of winning tickets, and became the owner of number 1700. It sounded -too even, too commonplace, to be lucky, but as it was considered unlucky to change -a ticket once handed you, I trudged off and locked the paper in the safe. The drawing -came, and 1700 drew $100. Fortune seemed bound my way, so I made arrangements (as -so many buyers of lucky tickets do) to keep 1700 every month. My name was put in the -paper as holding 1700, and for three long months I remembered to send my servant to -the Government office ten days before the drawing, for the ticket reserved in my name. -But for three drawings it never tempted fortune. Last week I forgot lottery and everything -else in our further straggle with a new piece of American machinery which was being -introduced for the first time to Manila, and woke up to-day to find it the <span class="pagenum">[<a id="pb215" href="#pb215">215</a>]</span>occasion of the drawing. My ticket—uncalled for—had been sold. At noon I walked by -the little <i>tienda</i> whose proprietor had first given me the fatal number, to see him perched up on a -step-ladder, posting up the big prizes, as fast as they came to his wife by telephone. -The space opposite the first prize of $80,000 was empty. His wife handed him a paper. -Into the grooves he slid a figure 1, then a 7, and then two ciphers. Ye gods—my ticket! -The capital prize—not mine! $80,000 lost because I forgot—and to think that the whole -sum would have been paid in hard, jingling coin, for which I should have had to send -a dray or two! But I am not quite so inconsolable as my friends the two Englishmen, -who kept their ticket for two years, and at last, discouraged, sold it, <span class="corr" id="xd29e2323" title="Source: Chrismas-eve">Christmas-eve</span>, to a native clerk, only to wake up next day and find it had drawn $100,000. They -have never been the same since. Nor have I. -</p> -<p>And the machine that caused all the trouble—another whim of our rich friend, the owner -of the fire-engine, who saw from the catalogues on our office table that American -cigarette-machines could turn out 125,000 pieces a day against some 60,000, the capacity -of the French mechanisms, which were in use in all the great factories in Manila. -He wanted one for his friend that ran the little tobacco-mill up in <span class="pagenum">[<a id="pb216" href="#pb216">216</a>]</span>a back street, for whom he furnished the capital. If it worked, he was in the market -for two dozen more, and vowed to knock spots out of the big Compañía General and Fábrica -Insular. -</p> -<p>Out came our machine some weeks ago, and with it two skilled machinists to make it -work. The big companies pricked up their ears and appeared clearly averse to seeing -an American article introduced, which should outclass the French machines for which -they had contracted. -</p> -<p>One morning the two machinists came to our office and handed us an anonymous note -which had been thrust under the door of their room at the Hotel Oriente: -</p> -<p>“Stop your work—it will be better for you.” -</p> -<p>It was perhaps not diplomatic, but we told them the story of the two Protestant missionaries -who some years before came to Manila and attempted to preach their doctrines in the -face of Catholic disapproval. One morning they found a piece of paper beneath their -door in the same hotel, reading: -</p> -<p>“You are warned to desist your preaching.” -</p> -<p>Paying no attention to the warning, they woke up two sunrises later on to find another -note beneath the door: -</p> -<p>“Stop your work and leave the city, or take the consequences.” -<span class="pagenum">[<a id="pb217" href="#pb217">217</a>]</span></p> -<p>Still they heeded not; and a third paper under the door, some days later, read: -</p> -<p>“For the last time you are warned to leave. Heed this and beware of neglect to do -so.” -</p> -<p>But, like Christian soldiers, they were only the more zealous in their work. -</p> -<p>In two days more they were found dead in their rooms—poisoned. -</p> -<p>Our friends, the engineers, were not soothed by a relation of these facts, but kept -on with their work. In three days they, too, got a second warning: -</p> -<p>“Leave your work and go away by the first steamer.” -</p> -<p>Things began to look serious, and the more timid mechanic of the two could hardly -be restrained from buying a ticket to Hong Kong. -</p> -<p>When, however, in two more days, a third piece of yellow paper was slipped into their -rooms, bearing the pencilled words, “For the last time you are told to take the next -steamer,” the matter assumed such proportions that we arranged to have them see the -Archbishop, whose knowledge is far-reaching and whose power complete. The letters -were suddenly stopped and the work on the machine carried to a successful completion. -</p> -<p>Then came the day of trial, and invitations were extended to interested persons to -view the operation. <span class="pagenum">[<a id="pb218" href="#pb218">218</a>]</span>The machine was started, and the cigarettes began to sizzle out at the rate of nearly -two hundred to the minute. But scarcely had the run begun before there was a sudden -jar, several of the important parts gave way, and the machine was a wreck. It had -been tampered with, and it was evident that the instigators of the anonymous letters -had taken this more effective means of stopping competition. -</p> -<p>The parts could not be made in Manila; America was far away, and our two machinists -have just gone home in disgust. -</p> -<p>Is it a wonder that I forgot the lottery drawing? -</p> -<p>Somehow there are currents of trouble in the air, and some of the old residents say -they wouldn’t be surprised to see the outbreak of a revolution among the natives. -Peculiar night-fires have been seen now for some time, burning high up on the mountain-sides -and suddenly going out. There seems to be some anti-American sentiment among the powers -that be, and only last week matters came to a crisis by the Government putting an -embargo on the business of one of the largest houses here, in which an American is -a partner. Smuggled silk was discovered coming ashore at night, supposedly from the -Esmeralda, and as that steamer was consigned to the firm in question, the authorities -demanded payment of a fine of $30,000. Our friends refused, the <span class="pagenum">[<a id="pb219" href="#pb219">219</a>]</span>officials closed the doors of their counting-room, our consul cabled to Japan for -war-ships again, the Governor-General read the telegram, hasty summons were given -to the parties concerned, heated arguments followed, and the matter was finally smoothed -over on the surface. -</p> -<p>But there seems to be a distinct feeling against us, and we have been instructed from -home to prepare to leave—making arrangements to turn our business into the hands of -an English firm, who will act as agents after our departure. -</p> -<p class="date">September 20th. -</p> -<p>The cable has come, and we hope by next month to leave this land of intrigue and iniquity. -It has treated me well, but complications are daily appearing in the business world, -and if we get away without suddenly being dragged into some civil dispute it will -be delightful. -</p> -<p>I am glad to have been here these two years nearly, but it is time to thicken up one’s -blood again in cooler climes, and I feel these fair islands are no place for the permanent -residence of an American. We seem to be like fish out of water here in the Far East, -and as few in numbers. The Englishman and the German are everywhere, and why shouldn’t -they be? Their home-roosts are too small for them to perch upon, and they are born -with the instinct to fly from their nests <span class="pagenum">[<a id="pb220" href="#pb220">220</a>]</span>to some foreign land. But, America is so big that we ought not to feel called upon -to swelter in the tropics amid the fevers and the ferns, and I, for one, am content -to “keep off the grass” of these distant foreign colonies. -</p> -<p></p> -<div class="figure p220width" id="p220"><img src="images/p220.jpg" alt="Paseo de la Luneta, where the Band Played, the Breezes Blew, and Manila Aired Herself Each Afternoon." width="720" height="504"><p class="figureHead">Paseo de la Luneta, where the Band Played, the Breezes Blew, and Manila Aired Herself -Each Afternoon.</p> -<p class="first seepage"><i>See page <a href="#pb18" class="pageref">18</a>.</i> </p> -</div><p> -</p> -<p>The Englishman or German comes out here on a five-years’ contract, and generally runs -up a debit balance the first year that keeps him busy economizing the other four. -At the end of his first season, he wishes he were at home. At the end of the second, -he has exhausted all the novelties of the new situation. At the close of the third, -he has settled down to humdrum life. At the end of the fourth, he has become completely -divorced from home habits and modern ideals. And at the close of the fifth, he goes -home a true Filipino, though thinking all the while he is glad to get away. He says -he is never coming back, but wiser heads know better. He has heard about America, -and goes home via the States, to see Niagara and New York. But his first laundry-bill -in San Francisco so scatters those depreciated silver “Mexicans,” which have lost -half their value in being turned into gold, that he takes the fast express to the -Atlantic coast, and leaves our shores by the first steamer. At home, his friends have -all got married or had appendicitis, and the bustle of London, the raw rain-storms -of the cold weather and the conventionality of <span class="pagenum">[<a id="pb221" href="#pb221">221</a>]</span>life all bring up memories of the Philippines, which now seem to lie off there in -the China Sea surrounded by a halo. And so, before a year is out, he renews his contract, -and at the end of a twelvemonth goes sailing back Manilaward to take up the careless -life where he left it, and grow old in the Escolta or the Luneta. In London he paid -his penny and took the ’bus, he lived in a dingy room, and packed his own bag. But -in Manila, with no more outlay, he owns his horse and carriage, he lives in a spacious -bungalow with many rooms, and he lets his servants wait on him by inches. How do I -know? Oh, because we’ve talked it all over, now that our turn for departure comes -next. -</p> -<p>The whisperings of a restlessness among the natives continue, and it is hard to see -why indeed they do not rise up against their persecutors, the tax-gatherers and the -<i lang="es">guardia civil</i>. Ten per cent. of their average earnings have to go to pay their poll-taxes, and -if they cannot produce the receipted bills from their very pockets on any avenue or -street-corner, to the challenge of the <i>veterana</i>, they are hustled off to the <i>cuartel</i>, and you are minus your dinner or your coachman. Once in the hands of the law, they -are then drafted into the native regiments for operations against those old enemies, -the Moros, in the fever-stricken districts of Mindanao, and their wives or families -<span class="pagenum">[<a id="pb222" href="#pb222">222</a>]</span>are left to swallow Spanish <i>reglamientos</i>. They have not forgotten their brothers, who, dragged down from the north, went to -the bottom in the typhoon which pushed the Gravina down. They have not forgotten the -execution in the public square. They remember that the Spaniards address them with -the servile pronoun “<i>tu</i>,” not “<i>usted</i>,” and some day they may remember not to forget. They are not quarrelsome, but they -are treacherous; they are not fighters, but when they run amuck they kill right and -left. They do not seem to have many wants save to be left alone, to be able to shake -a cocoanut from the palm for their morning’s meal, or to collect the shakings from -a thousand trees and ship them to Manila; to collect the few strands of fibre to sew -the <i>nipa</i> thatch to the frame of their bamboo roof, or to gather enough to fill a schooner -for the capital; in fact, to be able to work or not to work, and to know that the -results of their labor are to be theirs, not somebody else’s. -</p> -<p>But what has all this got to do with our hegira? These last days have been replete -with the labors attendant on breaking camp before the long march. Clearings out of -furniture, selling one’s ponies and carriages, closing up of books, shipping of one’s -cases and curios on those hemp-ships that are to start on the long 20,000-mile voyage -to Boston, and trying to think of the things that have been left undone, or <span class="pagenum">[<a id="pb223" href="#pb223">223</a>]</span>ought to be done, have all gone to make the season a busy one. -</p> -<p>Now that it has come down to actually leaving Manila, I begin to feel the home sickness -that comes from tearing one’s self away from the midst of friends and a congenial -life. I shall miss the hearty Englishmen with whom I rowed or played tennis or went -into the country. I shall miss the servants who got so little for making life the -easier. I shall miss the ponies, the dogs with the black tongues, and the cats with -the crooks in their tails; the big fire-engine which we used to run, and which has -now been varnished over to save trouble in cleaning; the Luneta, with its soft breezes -and good music; the walks out on to the long breakwater to see the sunset, and the -hobnobbing with the old salts from the ships in the bay, who called our office the -little American oasis in the midst of a great desert of foreign houses. But the clock -has struck, and the Esmeralda ought early next month to start us on the forty-day -voyage back to God’s country. -</p> -<p class="date">October 22d. -</p> -<p>Is this sleep, or not sleep? Is it reality or fancy? Am I laboring under a hallucination, -a weird phantasmagoria, or are my powers of appreciation, my efferent nerve-centres -and their connecting links, my sum total of receptive faculties, doing their duty? -I <span class="pagenum">[<a id="pb224" href="#pb224">224</a>]</span>feel hypnotized. I kick myself to see if this is real, and am only led to conclude -it is by looking into my sewing-kit, where the needles are rusty, the thread gone, -and the depleted stock of suspender-buttons wrongly shoved into the partition labelled -“piping-cord.” I never did know what piping-cord was. My socks are holy, my handkerchiefs -have burst in tears, and my lingerie in general looks as if it had been used for a -Chinese ensign on one of the ships that fought in the naval battle of the Yalu. For -two years those garments have held together under the peculiar processes of Philippine -laundering, but now that barbarians have once more got hold of them and subjected -them to modern treatment, they recognize the enemy and go to pieces. And so the condition -of my clothes leads me to believe I am awake, although everything else suggests the -dream. -</p> -<p>Actually away from Manila, actually eating food that is food once more, actually sleeping -on springs and mattresses, putting on heavier clothes, talking the English language, -meeting civilized people, and realizing what it means to be homeward bound! It seems -unreal after those two years of Manila life that was so different, so divorced from -the busy life of the western world; much more unreal than did the new Philippine environment -appear two years ago, <span class="pagenum">[<a id="pb225" href="#pb225">225</a>]</span>after jumping into it fresh from God’s country, as the Captain called it. -</p> -<p>Here we are, eight days out from Manila, steaming up through that far-famed inland -sea of Japan, on the good ship Coptic, bound for San Francisco; and for the life of -me those twenty-four moons just passed all seem to huddle into yesterday. Surely it -was only the day before that the China was taking me and my trunks the other way. -And so it takes but eight short days of new experiences, new food, new air, to efface -completely the effect of seven hundred yesterdays in the Philippines. Those whole -seven hundred seem now as but one, and when I think of all the housekeeping, the bookkeeping, -the hemp-pressing, and the cheerful putting up with all sorts of things, they all -seem to be playing leapfrog with each other in the dream of a night, and I wake up -to find the pines of Japan lending a certain cordial to the air that is very grateful. -We never knew what we were missing in Manila in the slight matter of eating alone -until we got over to Hong Kong again, and it is perhaps just as well we didn’t. To -think of the “dead hen,” as they call it, and rice, the daily couple of eggs, the -fried potatoes, and the banana-fritters on which we have tried to fatten our frames, -and then look at the bill of fare on the Coptic! We exiles from Manila have gained -over five pounds in these eight days, <span class="pagenum">[<a id="pb226" href="#pb226">226</a>]</span>and would almost go through another two years in the haunts of heathendom for the -sake of again living through a sundry few days like the past eight, in which the inner -man wakes up to see his opportunities, and makes up for lost time on soups that are -not all rice and water, on fish that is not fishy, on chickens that are not boiled -almost alive, on roasts that taste not of garlic, on vegetables that are something -more than potatoes, on butter that is not axle-grease, and on puddings and pies that -are not made of chopped blotting paper and flavored with pomatum sauces. -</p> -<p></p> -<div class="figure p226width" id="p226"><img src="images/p226.jpg" alt="Captain Tayler, the Genial Skipper of the Esmeralda." width="710" height="536"><p class="figureHead">Captain Tayler, the Genial Skipper of the Esmeralda.</p> -<p class="first seepage"><i>See page <a href="#pb227" class="pageref">227</a>.</i> </p> -</div><p> -</p> -<p>An exuberance of spirit must be forgiven, for so welcome is the change from the old -cultivated Manila contentment that the present burst of native enthusiasm is but natural. -Not that I am playing false to the Malay capital—for let it be said that when once -you have forgotten the good things at home the articles which that Pearl of the Orient -had to furnish went well enough indeed—but that after schooling one’s taste to things -of low degree it is peculiarly melodramatic to return to things of high estate. -</p> -<p>Our send-off from Manila on the 14th was as gay as the sad occasion could warrant, -and several launch-loads of the “bosses and the boys” worried out to bid us a last -<i>adios</i>. The Esmeralda was to have the honor of taking us away from the place to which she -had brought us, and I was thoroughly <span class="pagenum">[<a id="pb227" href="#pb227">227</a>]</span>prepared to go through the interesting process that was needed finally to straighten -me out after the peculiar twisting which the voyage from Manila to Hong Kong had given -me two years before. -</p> -<p>The sunset over the mountains at the mouth of the bay was eminently fitting in its -concluding ceremonies, and it seemed to do its best for us on this last evening in -the Philippines. The many ships in the fleet lay quietly swinging at their anchors. -The breeze from the early northeast monsoon blew gently off the shore, and Manila -never looked fairer than she did on that evening, with her white churches and towers -backed up against the tall blue velvet mountains, and her whole long low-lying length -lifted, as it were, into mid-air by the smooth sea-mirror between us and the shore. -</p> -<p>Captain Tayler was as jovial and entertaining as ever, and the colony had no reason -to regret being participators in the farewell. We well realized that our departure -was an epoch in the life of the little Anglo-Saxon colony, and in a city where important -events are registered as occurring “just after Smith arrived” or “just before Jones -went away,” it was essential to give the occasion weight enough to carry it down into -the weeks succeeding our departure. -</p> -<p>Our native servants came off with the bags and baggage and seemed to show as much -feeling as they <span class="pagenum">[<a id="pb228" href="#pb228">228</a>]</span>had ever exhibited in the receipt of a Christmas present or a box on the ear. And -some of our old Chinese friends, from whom we bought bales and bales of hemp in the -days gone by, came too, bringing with them presents of silk and tea. Everybody looked -sad and thirsty, and made frequent pilgrimages to the saloon in quest of the usual -good-by stimulant. -</p> -<p>The Esmeralda panted to get away, and we had our last words with the motley little -assemblage. We were seeing Manila and the most of them for the last time, and I confess -both they and the shore often looked gurgled up in the blur that somehow formed in -our eyes. -</p> -<p>The sun sank below the horizon; the swift darkness that in the tropics hurries after -it, brought the electric lights’ twinkling gleam out on the Luneta and the long Malecon -road running along in front of the old city, from the promenade to the river. The -revolving light on the breakwater cast a red streak over the river. The white eye -on Corregidor, far away, blinked as the night began, and, just as the warning of “all -ashore” was sounded, the faint strains of the artillery band playing on the Luneta -floated out on the breeze over the sleepy waters of the Bay. -</p> -<p>Our friends clambered aboard the launch, the customs <span class="pagenum">[<a id="pb229" href="#pb229">229</a>]</span>officers took a last taste of the refreshment that Captain Tayler gives them to make -them genial, the anchor was hoisted, and, with cheers from the tug and the screeching -of launch-whistles, the Esmeralda put to sea, bearing with her, in us two, half the -American colony in Manila and the only American firm in the Philippines. -<span class="pagenum">[<a id="pb230" href="#pb230">230</a>]</span> </p> -</div> -</div> -</div> -<div class="back"> -<div id="conclusion" class="div1 chapter"><span class="pagenum">[<a href="#xd29e293">Contents</a>]</span><div class="divHead"> -<h2 class="main">CONCLUSION</h2> -</div> -<div class="divBody"> -<p class="first">If one has thoughts of going out to the Philippines he should learn how to speak Spanish, -and how to accept, “<span lang="la">cum grano salis</span>,” descriptions of the country, either too glowing or too gloomy. Some have gone to -Manila and liked it, others have made their retreat homeward echo with tales of weary -woe about this Malay capital. To each it seems to mean something different according -as he kept his health or lost it, as he fell in with the life or didn’t, and as he -was successful or unsuccessful in that for which he left the upper side of the globe. -Before buying one’s ticket for the Far East one must not be moved by the suggestions -of “thoughtful” persons, who say you are going to the ends of the earth and must therefore -take all sorts of clothes, pianos, and means of subsistence. Accept their sympathy -but not always their advice, and if Manila be your destination, be assured you are -not bound for an altogether isolated village. They may do some things out there which -are not down on the programme of a day’s routine in the United States. The fire-engines -may be drawn by oxen, the <span class="pagenum">[<a id="pb231" href="#pb231">231</a>]</span>natives—contrary to Biblical suggestion—may build the roof to their shanties first -and make arrangements for underpinning afterward; women may smoke cigars, and snakes -may be more effective rat-catchers than cats or terriers. But there are shops in Manila, -tailors, drug-stores, parks, tramways, churches, electric lights, schools, and theatres -which are not altogether unlike those in the Western world. -</p> -<p>And, in times of peace, the capital is not an altogether bad sort of a place to live -in, though I can’t say as much for some of the lesser towns. One may be susceptible -to fever, in which case he must avoid sleeping near the ground or going about much -in the sun. He may suffer from prickly heat, in which case he will not want to take -oatmeal, drink chocolate, eat mangoes, or smoke pipes. Or he may become a mark for -sprue—that peculiarly oriental disease which seems to destroy the lining to one’s -interior—in which case the quicker he takes the steamer for Japan or for ’Frisco the -better. He may run against small-pox, but ought not to take it. He will have a cold -or two, but won’t hear of cholera or find a native word for yellow fever. Should the -wind strike in from the northwest during the wet season, he must look out for typhoons, -and not be surprised if, like my friend the Englishman, he some day finds only his -upright piano on the spot where his <span class="pagenum">[<a id="pb232" href="#pb232">232</a>]</span>light-built house stood—the rest of his things having hastened to the next village. -If he feels the ground getting restless he must look out for the oil lamps on the -table, or the tiles on the roof. He must not take too cold baths, sleep in silk pajamas, -or walk when he has the “peseta” to ride. And in all things he will be better off -by remembering to apply that motto of the ancient Greeks, <span class="trans" title="mēden agan"><span lang="grc" class="grek">μηδὲν ἄγαν</span></span>—in nothing to excess. -</p> -<p>Manila is the new Mecca, and for some time to come she is going to be looked at on -the map, talked about at the dinner-table and by the fireside, and written up from -all quarters. At present this Pearl of the Orient is but a jewel in the rough, but -with good men to make her laws, and her gates wide open to the pilgrims of the world, -she soon should shine as brilliantly as any city in the Far East. -</p> -</div> -</div> -<div class="div1 map"><span class="pagenum">[<a href="#toc">Contents</a>]</span><div class="divBody"> -<p class="first"></p> -<div class="figure mapwidth" id="map"><a href="images/maph.jpg"><img src="images/map.jpg" alt="Map of Philippines" width="490" height="720"></a></div><p> -</p> -</div> -</div> -<div class="transcriberNote"> -<h2 class="main">Colophon</h2> -<h3 class="main">Availability</h3> -<p class="first">This eBook is for the use of anyone anywhere at no cost and with almost no restrictions -whatsoever. You may copy it, give it away or re-use it under the terms of the Project -Gutenberg License included with this eBook or online at <a class="seclink xd29e40" title="External link" href="https://www.gutenberg.org/" rel="home">www.gutenberg.org</a>. -</p> -<p>This eBook is produced by the Online Distributed Proofreading Team at <a class="seclink xd29e40" title="External link" href="https://www.pgdp.net/">www.pgdp.net</a>. -</p> -<p>Scans of this book are available from the Internet Archive (copy <a class="seclink xd29e40" title="External link" href="https://archive.org/details/yesterdayinphili00stev/">1</a>). -</p> -<h3 class="main">Metadata</h3> -<table class="colophonMetadata"> -<tr> -<td><b>Title:</b></td> -<td>Yesterdays in the Philippines</td> -<td></td> -</tr> -<tr> -<td><b>Author:</b></td> -<td>Stevens, Joseph Earle (1870–)</td> -<td><a href="https://viaf.org/viaf/94346563/" class="seclink">Info</a></td> -</tr> -<tr> -<td><b>Language:</b></td> -<td>English</td> -<td></td> -</tr> -<tr> -<td><b>Original publication date:</b></td> -<td>1898</td> -<td></td> -</tr> -<tr> -<td><b>Keywords:</b></td> -<td>Philippines -- Description and travel</td> -<td></td> -</tr> -<tr> -<td><b>Library of Congress:</b></td> -<td><a href="https://lccn.loc.gov/c98000280" class="seclink">c98000280</a></td> -<td></td> -</tr> -<tr> -<td><b>Open Library (Book):</b></td> -<td><a href="https://openlibrary.org/books/OL24660741M" class="seclink">OL24660741M</a></td> -<td></td> -</tr> -<tr> -<td><b>Open Library (Work):</b></td> -<td><a href="https://openlibrary.org/works/OL15749385W" class="seclink">OL15749385W</a></td> -<td></td> -</tr> -</table> -<h3 class="main">Revision History</h3> -<ul> -<li>2019-11-27 Started. </li> -</ul> -<h3 class="main">External References</h3> -<p>This Project Gutenberg eBook contains external references. These links may not work -for you.</p> -<h3 class="main">Corrections</h3> -<p>The following corrections have been applied to the text:</p> -<table class="correctionTable" summary="Overview of corrections applied to the text."> -<tr> -<th>Page</th> -<th>Source</th> -<th>Correction</th> -<th>Edit distance</th> -</tr> -<tr> -<td class="width20"><a class="pageref" href="#xd29e588">1</a>, <a class="pageref" href="#xd29e824">28</a></td> -<td class="width40 bottom">smallpox</td> -<td class="width40 bottom">small-pox</td> -<td class="bottom">1</td> -</tr> -<tr> -<td class="width20"><a class="pageref" href="#xd29e675">13</a>, <a class="pageref" href="#xd29e2218">202</a></td> -<td class="width40 bottom">storehouses</td> -<td class="width40 bottom">store-houses</td> -<td class="bottom">1</td> -</tr> -<tr> -<td class="width20"><a class="pageref" href="#xd29e680">13</a></td> -<td class="width40 bottom">tramcars</td> -<td class="width40 bottom">tram-cars</td> -<td class="bottom">1</td> -</tr> -<tr> -<td class="width20"><a class="pageref" href="#xd29e839">30</a></td> -<td class="width40 bottom">sidetracked</td> -<td class="width40 bottom">side-tracked</td> -<td class="bottom">1</td> -</tr> -<tr> -<td class="width20"><a class="pageref" href="#xd29e883">35</a></td> -<td class="width40 bottom">bunuelos</td> -<td class="width40 bottom">buñuelos</td> -<td class="bottom">1 / 0</td> -</tr> -<tr> -<td class="width20"><a class="pageref" href="#xd29e1039">52</a></td> -<td class="width40 bottom">cartwheels</td> -<td class="width40 bottom">cart-wheels</td> -<td class="bottom">1</td> -</tr> -<tr> -<td class="width20"><a class="pageref" href="#xd29e1109">60</a>, <a class="pageref" href="#xd29e1301">84</a></td> -<td class="width40 bottom"> -[<i>Not in source</i>] -</td> -<td class="width40 bottom">.</td> -<td class="bottom">1</td> -</tr> -<tr> -<td class="width20"><a class="pageref" href="#xd29e1118">61</a>, <a class="pageref" href="#xd29e1650">133</a></td> -<td class="width40 bottom">up-town</td> -<td class="width40 bottom">uptown</td> -<td class="bottom">1</td> -</tr> -<tr> -<td class="width20"><a class="pageref" href="#xd29e1233">76</a></td> -<td class="width40 bottom">hencoops</td> -<td class="width40 bottom">hen-coops</td> -<td class="bottom">1</td> -</tr> -<tr> -<td class="width20"><a class="pageref" href="#xd29e1406">97</a>, <a class="pageref" href="#xd29e1514">113</a></td> -<td class="width40 bottom">down-town</td> -<td class="width40 bottom">downtown</td> -<td class="bottom">1</td> -</tr> -<tr> -<td class="width20"><a class="pageref" href="#xd29e1484">109</a></td> -<td class="width40 bottom">,</td> -<td class="width40 bottom"> -[<i>Deleted</i>] -</td> -<td class="bottom">1</td> -</tr> -<tr> -<td class="width20"><a class="pageref" href="#xd29e1525">114</a></td> -<td class="width40 bottom">Germany</td> -<td class="width40 bottom">Belgium</td> -<td class="bottom">6</td> -</tr> -<tr> -<td class="width20"><a class="pageref" href="#xd29e1597">125</a></td> -<td class="width40 bottom">storehouse</td> -<td class="width40 bottom">store-house</td> -<td class="bottom">1</td> -</tr> -<tr> -<td class="width20"><a class="pageref" href="#xd29e1678">137</a></td> -<td class="width40 bottom">Banos</td> -<td class="width40 bottom">Baños</td> -<td class="bottom">1 / 0</td> -</tr> -<tr> -<td class="width20"><a class="pageref" href="#xd29e1753">144</a></td> -<td class="width40 bottom">torchlight</td> -<td class="width40 bottom">torch-light</td> -<td class="bottom">1</td> -</tr> -<tr> -<td class="width20"><a class="pageref" href="#xd29e1877">164</a></td> -<td class="width40 bottom">ocpied</td> -<td class="width40 bottom">occupied</td> -<td class="bottom">2</td> -</tr> -<tr> -<td class="width20"><a class="pageref" href="#xd29e1948">173</a></td> -<td class="width40 bottom">Fete</td> -<td class="width40 bottom">Fête</td> -<td class="bottom">1 / 0</td> -</tr> -<tr> -<td class="width20"><a class="pageref" href="#xd29e2323">215</a></td> -<td class="width40 bottom">Chrismas-eve</td> -<td class="width40 bottom">Christmas-eve</td> -<td class="bottom">1</td> -</tr> -</table> -<h3 class="main">Abbreviations</h3> -<p>Overview of abbreviations used.</p> -<table class="abbreviationtable" summary="Overview of abbreviations used."> -<tr> -<th>Abbreviation</th> -<th>Expansion</th> -</tr> -<tr> -<td class="bottom">I.O.U.</td> -<td class="bottom">I owe you</td> -</tr> -</table> -</div> -</div> - 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