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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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