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Recollections of Manilla and the Philippines

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Title: Recollections of Manilla and the Philippines

Author: Robert MacMicking


        
Release date: December 26, 2006 [eBook #20189]

Language: English

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*** START OF THE PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK RECOLLECTIONS OF MANILLA AND THE PHILIPPINES ***




Produced by Clare Boothby, Jeroen Hellingman and the Online
Distributed Proofreading Team at http://www.pgdp.net/









                         RECOLLECTIONS

                               OF

                  MANILLA AND THE PHILIPPINES,

                  DURING 1848, 1849, AND 1850.




                               BY

                    ROBERT MAC MICKING, ESQ.




                            LONDON:
            RICHARD BENTLEY, NEW BURLINGTON STREET,
             Publisher in Ordinary to Her Majesty.

                             1851.







INTRODUCTION.


The Philippines, in many respects situated most advantageously
for trade, having long been governed by a people whose notions of
government and political economy have never produced the happiest
results in any of their once numerous and important colonies, appear
at last to be slowly reaping the benefit of the new commercial maxims
now in course of operation, in Spain, and show symptoms of progressing
with increased speed in the march of civilization, encouraged by
commerce. As such a state is always interesting, more especially to
my countrymen, whose commercial and manufacturing welfare is closely
bound up with the rate at which civilization advances in every part
of the world, I have attempted to give some idea of the actual state
and prospects of this valuable colony, as they appeared to me during a
residence there of the three years 1848-9-50, with the double object
of directing more attention to these islands than has hitherto been
paid to them by our merchants and manufacturers, and of deriving
some employment in doing so, during a tedious voyage from Singapore
to Hongkong, when, being in a great measure debarred from personal
activity, an interesting occupation was felt to be more than usually
necessary to engage the mind.

There are many imperfections in the execution of my task; but for these
the critical reader is requested to make some allowance, and entreated
not to forget the inconveniences all landsmen are subjected to at sea.

                                                    September, 1851.








                         RECOLLECTIONS

                               OF

                  MANILLA AND THE PHILIPPINES.




CHAPTER I.


About the time the Spanish arms under Hernan Cortez, Pizarro, and
Almagro, were meeting with their most splendid successes in America,
the thought occurred to Hernando Magallanes, a Portuguese gentleman
in the service of King Charles the Fifth of Spain, that if by sailing
south he could pass the new Western World, it would be possible to
reach the famous Spice Islands of the East, which he supposed to
contain untold-of wealth in their bosoms. This vast, and, in the
state of their knowledge at the time, apparently hardy and even rash
idea, met with approval by the King, who honoured Magallanes with
the distinguished military order of Santiago, and appointed him to
the command of a squadron which he immediately set about fitting out
to accomplish the project, with the view of conquering and annexing
these islands to his crown.

At length, when all the preparations were completed, on the 10th of
August, 1519, six ships, no one of which exceeded 130 tons, and some
of them being less than half that size, sailed from the port of San
Lucan de Barrameda on this bold and perilous enterprise.

In the prosecution of their voyage, many obstacles were encountered;
but everything disappeared before the ardour of their chief,
who, discovering, passed through the Straits of Magellan, which
alone immortalize his name, and spreading his sails to the gale,
stood boldly with his squadron, now reduced to three crazy vessels,
into the unknown and vast ocean which lay open before him, with all
the hardihood characteristic of his time, traversing in its utmost
breadth the Pacific, without, however, chancing to meet with any of
the numerous islands now scattered throughout its extent. At last,
the Mariana or Ladrone Islands were descried on the 16th of August,
1521, and a few days afterwards a cape on the east coast of Mindanao
was seen.

Coasting along the shores of Caraga, the ships anchored off Limasna,
where Magallanes was well received by the natives of the place;
from thence steering towards Cebu, he managed to establish a good
understanding with the country people, although upwards of two
thousand of them had assembled, armed with spears and javelins,
to oppose his landing.

Having constructed a house at this place, in order that mass might
be decently said, he landed to hear it, accompanied by his crews.

The royal family of Cebu, curious to observe the manners of their
strange visitors, attended its celebration, and, as the story
goes, were so much edified by the sight, that they were baptized
Christians, and an oath of allegiance and vassalage to the King of
Spain administered to them; and their example being followed to a
great extent by the nobles and people of Cebu, the Christian forms
of faith and the symbolic cross were planted by the Spaniards in the
country of the antipodes.

Some time afterwards, Magallanes met the end which best becomes a
brave and good soldier, by dying in the battle-field in the cause of
his new friends and allies.

But without his master-mind to direct them, things no longer went
on so smoothly between the Spaniards and the natives; and under his
successor, the hostile feelings then given birth to, soon found a
tragical vent, which resulted in a number of the white men being
cruelly massacred by their Indian hosts, and in the flight of
their companions, who, fearful of their own safety, made all sail
on their ships, and bore away, leaving their unfortunate countrymen
to their fate, without attempting and even refusing to ransom such
of them whose lives were spared, from having been less obnoxious to
the Indians than the others. This fatal accident left the surviving
crews so much weakened in numerical strength, that not having men
enough left to work all the ships, the "Concepcion" was set fire to,
and the survivors steered towards the Moluccas.

It were tedious to follow them through all their adventures; suffice
it to say, that Juan Sebastian de El Cano was the only captain who
succeeded in taking his ship home again round the Cape of Good
Hope. After many anxieties and vicissitudes he entered the same
port of San Lucar from which he had sailed about three years before;
and as a memento of his skill and of his being the first navigator
who had made the circuit of the world, the king granted him for an
armorial bearing, a globe, with the legend, "Primus circumdedit me,"
which he had thus so honourably gained.

At intervals of about four years between each other, three separate
expeditions were fitted out from Spain and America for these islands,
which were named "_Las Felipiñas_" by Villalobos, commander of the
last of these squadrons, in honour of the then Prince of Asturias,
afterwards better known as King Philip the Second of Spain.

In the meantime the Portuguese, jealous of the vicinity of such
powerful neighbours as the Spaniards, to their empire of the East
which Vasco de Gama and Albuquerque had so brilliantly founded
for their country, took advantage of the financial distress of the
Spanish king, who was then arming against France and Germany, and
for an inconsiderable amount purchased his right of conquest over
all the Philippines.

But they did not long retain them; for on Prince Philip of the Asturias
becoming King of Spain he regained the islands by breaking through
the treaty which confirmed their sale. Having, in 1564, appointed
Don Miguel Lopez de Legaspi commander of an expedition fitted out
for the purpose of reacquiring them, and having made him Governor and
Adelantado of all the countries he could conquer,--which now-a-days
appears to be rather a vague commission, but was then a custom of that
venturous time,--that dignitary reached the Philippines, which had
been altogether neglected by the Portuguese, and without difficulty
re-established Spanish supremacy over the group, of which he may be
considered as the first governor.

Their favorable reception by the natives rendered the acquisition
altogether, or nearly, a bloodless one, for the warriors who gained
them over to Spain were not their steel-clad chivalry, but the
soldiers of the cross:--the priests, who, going out among a simple
but somewhat passionate people, astonished and kindled them by their
enthusiasm in the cause of Christ; while the novel doctrines they
taught so enthusiastically, aided by the usual splendid accompaniments
of that religion, captivated their senses, and took possession of
their imaginations.

Manilla was founded on the island of Luzon, the most important
of all the islands in the group; and the situation of the new
capital on the shore of a long bay, into which flow numerous rivers,
bringing down from the interior of a fertile country through which
they run, its varied and valuable produce, has secured for it
prosperity and commercial importance. A trade with China sprang up,
and its commencement was soon followed by many emigrants from that
densely-peopled country, whose habits of industry and prudence very
soon began to increase and develope the natural fertility of the soil,
and whose numerous descendants have mingled with the native character
some of those useful virtues which it seems scarcely probable they
would possess but for this slight mixture of blood.

Alas, that priestly ambition and the desire of domination should
in time usurp the place of those laborious, enthusiastic, and
pious missionaries who, so happily for the natives, had managed
to revolutionize their minds, and so spared their country those
scenes of blood which blot with a fearful stain the history
of Spanish power in America. But the influence of churchmen,
as usual, in the Philippines, was not always to be well directed;
for the merciless Inquisition having established itself at Manilla,
commenced its terrible career. No one was safe, none were exempt
from its powers; its emissaries penetrated even into the palace of
the Governor. Moderation in religion, or remissness in its strictest
observances, became crimes, punishable by the severest discipline of
that fearful and cruel establishment. All attempts, even when aided
or directed by the authority and influence of the highest officials,
to lessen its power, proved unsuccessful; and frequently a _Bishop_
was chosen to occupy the Governor-general's place, to perform his civil
and military duties! Everything was in the hands of the churchmen,
the subsequent effects of which were demonstrated to the world by the
easy success of the British expedition of 1762, which they permitted
to enter the bay without opposition, having passed the fortified
island of Corregidor at its entrance without a shot being fired to
prevent them. And the same effects caused but a feeble resistance to
be opposed to their arms, and the speedy surrender of Manilla by its
priest-ridden and effeminate defenders.




CHAPTER II.


The Government of Spain has, ever since the period of their
acquisition, shown itself ignorant or neglectful of the commercial
importance of these islands, the commerce of which has long been
subjected to regulations and restrictions as injurious in their
tendency as can well be imagined,--they being framed, apparently at
least, more for the purpose of smothering it in its earliest existence
than with any kindly or paternal views of nourishing and increasing it.

But a change having at length once begun, a new era may be said
to have commenced with regard to them, and it is to be hoped that
increasing wisdom and liberality of ideas may clear away some of the
remaining obstacles which for so long encumbered, and even yet impede
and circumscribe within a very narrow circle, the natural course of
their commerce. For the Spanish Government are far from following a
similar policy to that of the great Henry the Fourth of France, who,
as an encouragement to the manufacturing industry of the country,
rewarded those silk manufacturers who had carried on business for
twelve years, with patents of nobility, as men who by doing so not
only benefited themselves, but deserved well of their country for
their enterprise and commercial spirit. Don Simon Anda was about
the first person who showed any desire to augment the trade of the
islands; and his election to the highest offices of the colony,
after its restoration by the English, was a most fortunate event for
Manilla. Although, unluckily, many of the steps he took with the best
intentions, notwithstanding being infinitely in advance of those of
his predecessors in office, were not always in the right direction,
and consequently unattended by the highest degree of success which he
aimed at, partial good results were obtained by them, and a beneficial
change began to regulate affairs.

The expulsion of the Jesuits from the Philippines in 1768, by throwing
their immense estates out of cultivation, and also the wars and
disturbances subsequent to the French Revolution, being felt even in
this remote part of the world, were attended with the worst effects
to the trade and agriculture of the islands. On the peace of 1814,
the condition of the country was truly deplorable, as, during a
long period of isolation and inactivity, abuses had multiplied to an
alarming extent, and the minds of the Indian population especially
had become divided between superstition and sedition, from each of
which a sanguinary catastrophe resulted. Public opinion at the time
fastened on the priests the guilt of the massacre of the Protestant
foreigners at Manilla in 1820, and the growing discontent of the
people blew into open rebellion in 1823, under a Creole leader,
who then rose and attempted to shake off the Spanish authority.

To give the reader some idea of the commercial regulations then
existing, which helped, no doubt, to bring about these disorders,
it may be mentioned that among many other things, even after the
port of Manilla was thrown open to ships of all nations, the vessels
belonging to that port itself were not allowed to trade with Europe,
or to proceed beyond the Cape of Good Hope; and Government yet further
limited their intercourse with the only ports of China and India
which were open to them, by issuing passes to all colonial ships,
the conditions of which were perfectly incompatible with the usual
course of commerce, as they were required to return home directly
from the port to which they were destined from Manilla, and were not
at liberty to touch at, or have any intercourse with, other places
than those specified in their passport.

These absurd restrictions of course prevented a ship from profiting
by any freight she might be offered at the port of her destination
from Manilla, because the terms of her pass made it compulsory for
her to return there before she could accept any new engagement such as
might be offered her, and of course, in such a case, frequently forced
them to decline most profitable business; consequently, the colonial
shipowners found that they had to sail their vessels at a great
disadvantage with all others who were free from such interference.

Neither was the trade with Spain open to them, for the Trading Company
numbered among their many other privileges, that of having the sole
right of placing ships on the berth for the Peninsula.

This state of things actually remained in force till 1820, when a
royal order confirmed a decree of the Cortes exempting from all duties
whatever any products of the Philippines which might be imported into
Spain during the ensuing ten years; and this step may be considered
as the first evidence of a desire shown by that Government to give
an impulse to their colonial agriculture or to the manufactures and
commerce of these splendid islands.

This good work, having once begun, was followed up by the
enlightened and benevolent government of Don Pascual Enrile, who was
Captain-General of the Philippines from 1831 to 1835, and whose entire
administration has left behind it the happiest results for the people
he governed.

Commencing his reform of the laws relating to navigation by giving
passes to ships, for the period of two years, without requiring them
to declare to what place or places they were bound, or might touch
at during their absence from the port to which they belonged, he
had an opportunity of satisfying himself of the good results ensuing
from non-interference; and some time afterwards entirely loosed the
fetters which burdened them, by giving colonial ships liberty to
sail wherever they chose without restrictions as to time or place:
and certainly, his doing so was an honour for the national flag,
which then waved on every sea. These concessions proved alike wise
and beneficent; and since the time of their being granted, the tonnage
and commerce of Manilla has increased in an amazing degree, and still
goes on prosperously augmenting Her Most Catholic Majesty's treasury,
besides improving the condition of the people and the agriculture of
the country.

But this was far from being the only wise act of Governor Enrile,
for under his administration a boon of even greater importance was
secured to the country and the people of the colony, by the opening
of internal communications throughout the Philippines. He established
a comprehensive system of roads, and organised posts throughout the
islands. Although most of the roads are now kept in most wretched
order, yet being nearly always passable by horses, they are found
to be of the utmost importance to the well-being of the country,
even as they now exist.

But should a time come when more attention will be bestowed upon them
than now is, and new ones judiciously constructed in districts where
they have not yet been, the agriculture of the islands will improve
to a great degree, and corresponding advantages will follow in its
train to be reaped by the Government that is enlightened enough to
undertake them, and which is sensible enough to know what is most for
its true interests. May that day soon come, for it will be a happy
one to the Philippines and all belonging to them.




CHAPTER III.


On approaching Manilla from the bay in one of the bancas--or canoes
having a cover as a protection against the sun--which generally go off
to all ships after their anchor has been let go, and the port-captain's
boat has boarded the new arrival, the spires, towers of churches,
and lofty red-tiled roofs of houses or convents are all that can be
seen over the walls, so that the first impressions of a stranger are
not in general very vivid or interesting.

On reaching the múrallon, your banca enters the waters of the Pasig
river, prolonged by two piers into the bay, on the extreme point
of one of which is situated a small fort garrisoned by a company
of soldiers, and on the other the lighthouse, a most insignificant
and nearly useless building. Passing these, the boatmen pull up the
river to the garrita, a small round house, where the banca is viséd
by the people of the gun-boats, at all times stationed there for
that purpose, and should there be any packages or baggage in it,
the port-captain's deputy, or aide-de-camp, puts a guard on board,
who conducts you to the custom-house for the purpose of having it
inspected there; but the examination is generally not a very minute
one, and personal effects are for the most part passed merely by
opening the boxes and showing the tops of their contents, although
you may be asked whether it contains either pocket-pistols or a bible,
both of which are prohibited and seizable.

The city of Manilla, ever since its foundation, which took place at
a very early period of the Spanish power in Luzon, from the natural
advantages combined in its situation--so judiciously chosen by
them--continued to be the capital of the Philippines, whose history
ever since may be said to have centered in the transactions which at
various times have taken place under the shadow of its walls.

It is built at the mouth of the river Pasig, on the low-lying and
sandy point formed by its junctions with the waters of the bay,
between which and the ditch that surrounds the walls on the seaward
side, a level sward stretches along the beach.

An Englishman, on arriving, perceives a marked difference between
the place and people and any of his country's Indian possessions; the
air he breathes, and the habits he gradually falls into from seeing
them the customary ones of other people, are not the same as those
of his countrymen in British India. Should he be fortunate enough to
have arrived towards the end of the year, in addition to the greater
coolness of the weather then usually prevalent, and so delightful in
the tropics, he will most probably not want opportunities for enjoying
himself; as, after suffering a penitential confinement to the house
during the long rainy season, for some time before Christmas, the
cool nights and other circumstances induce the residents to break out
into greater gaiety than is prevalent at other seasons of the year;
and amusement, about that time, generally appears to be the order of
the day.

The city is not unworthy of a curiosity seeker's visit. The town,
within the fortifications, although not of great size, is for the
most part well planned, the streets being straight, regular, and some
of them kept clean and in good order, although many of the smaller
ones are allowed to fall into great disrepair. They are too narrow,
moreover, for the heat of the climate, as the confined air and stench
frequently existing in them, are principally generated by their
closeness, and more especially during the cool of the evening and
early morning, are far from conducing to the health of the population.

The latitude of the citadel, or Fuerza de Santiago, is 14° 36' N.,
longitude 127° 15' E. of Cadiz, or in latitude 14° 36' 8'' N., and
longitude 120° 53 1/2' E. of Greenwich.

The fortifications surrounding the town are regular, and apparently
strong, defences; but although the walls and ditch look formidable
enough in themselves, the want of sufficient good artillery to
protect them would probably be felt in the event of an assault,
and might render the place not a very difficult prize to a large
attacking force. But no invader need now-a-days expect to meet with
such very easy success as attended our expedition last century,
at a time when weak and priestly notions not only ruled the church,
but governed the people and the camp.

Very different feelings and modes of action are now prevalent among
the white population, from those then in operation among them.

For some years past the influx of fresh blood from Europe has been
very much greater than in former times, the consequence of which
is that a change is creeping over the place, from the energy and
enterprize of the new comers.

There is little doubt but that all this is for the best, and in the
course of a few years more, I hope to hear that the Government,
increasing in liberality and wisdom, will allow the natural
capabilities of the Philippines to be developed, and their importance
appreciated, by permitting foreigners to hold land and become planters,
as without their capital and knowledge it will probably be a long
time before the Spaniards of themselves attain these ends in the like
perfection; such measures would ensure their doing so at once.

By far the most populous and important part of the town of Manilla
is situated without the walls, and on the other side of the river
from the fortified city, the intermediate communication being by a
handsome bridge, one of the eight arches of which, having given way
to the shock of an earthquake, has not been rebuilt, but is replaced
by wood. It has been proposed to construct a drawbridge at this point,
so as to allow the colonial shipping to proceed up the river above the
bridge, which they cannot now do. And should the project be carried
into effect, it is likely that the small sized coasting vessels,
when nothing better offers for them to do, will go on to the Laguna,
and supersede the clumsy _cascos_ which now solely navigate the lake
and bring down the produce of the fruitful country which surrounds it,
to dispose of in the market of Manilla.

Without the walls nearly all the trade is carried on, the Escolta
and Rosario, on that side of the river, being the principal streets,
built however without any regard to regularity, so that they are
not handsome, but in them nearly all the best Chinamen's shops are
situated. These are in general very small confined places, though
crammed with manufactures, the produce of Manchester, Glasgow,
Birmingham, and of many other European and Chinese manufacturing
marts. Some of the shops may also be seen stuffed to the door with the
valuable Piña cloth, husè, and other productions of the native looms.

The great object of the Chinese shopmen appears to be, to show the
most varied, and frequently miscellaneous, collection of goods in the
smallest possible space; as, their shops being for the most part not
more than ten feet broad towards the street, leaves but little space
besides the doorway to display the attractions of their wares, and
every inch has to be made the most of by them. These China shopkeepers
have nearly driven all competition, except with each other out of the
market,--very few Mestizos or Spaniards being able to live on the
small profits which the competition among themselves has reduced
them to. A China shopkeeper generally makes his shop his home,
all of them sleeping in those confined dens at night, from which,
on opening their doors about five in the morning, as they usually do,
a most noisome and pestiferous smell issues and is diffused through
the streets. The Mestizos cannot do this, but must have a house to
live in out of the profits of the shop; and the consequence has been,
that when their shopkeeping profits could no longer do that, they have
nearly all betaken themselves to other more suitable occupations, from
which the energies of their Chinese rivals are less likely to drive
them. The number of Chinamen in Manilla and throughout the islands
is very great, and nearly the whole provincial trade in manufactured
goods is in their hands. Numerous traders of that nation have shops
opened throughout the islands, their business being carried on by
one of their own countrymen, generally the principal person of the
concern, who remains resident at Manilla, while his various agents
in the country keep him advised of their wants, to meet which he
makes large purchases from the merchants, and forwards the same to
his country friends. Besides having many shops in the provinces,
each of these head men is generally in the habit of having a number
of shops in Manilla, sometimes upwards of a dozen being frequently all
contiguous to one another, so that any one going into one of his shops
and asking for something the price of which appears too dear, refuses
it and goes to the next shop, which probably belongs to the same man,
and is likely to buy it, as he is apt to think--because they all ask
the same price--that it cannot be got cheaper elsewhere, so gives
the amount demanded for it, although it is probably very much too dear.

There is another advantage which the Chinese have found from the
system they pursue,--that large purchasers of goods from the merchants
who import them for sale are frequently able to buy them for less
money than those smaller traders who are not in the habit of making
purchases to the same amount from the importers,--as the credit of
a small dealer is not sufficiently good to induce a merchant to sell
them more than he imagines he is likely to be paid for.

In these Chinese shops, the owner usually engages all the activity
of his countrymen employed by him in them, by giving each of them a
share in the profits of the concern, or, in fact, by making them all
small partners in the business, of which he of course takes care to
retain the lion's share, so that while doing good for him by managing
it well, they are also benefiting themselves. To such an extent is
this principle carried, that it is usual to give even their coolies
a share in the profits of the business in lieu of fixed wages, and
the plan appears to suit their temper well; for although they are
in general most complete eye-servants when working for a fixed wage,
they are found to be most industrious and useful ones when interested
even for the smallest share.

The amount of business done by some of these Chinamen with the
principal importers of manufactured goods, who are the British
merchants, is very considerable, some of them frequently making monthly
purchases to the extent of ten or fifteen thousand dollars from one
person, nearly all of the goods being sold to them on credits of
three, four, or six months after the date of purchase and delivery
of the merchandise. Occasionally, however, some of them break down,
and those importers who have been trusting them for large amounts,
of course burn their fingers; Chinamen, as a general rule, being
honest and trustworthy only so long as it appears to be their own
interest to remain so. Most of them at Manilla are people who have
made everything for themselves, from nothing except their hands to
begin with, as no rich Chinamen, such as are met with in their native
country, and occasionally in Java and Singapore, are found at Manilla;
for nearly all those who come there have originally arrived as coolies,
earning their bread by manual labour, but very few of them indeed
having inherited anything from their fathers, except the arts of
reading and writing, which nearly the whole of them, however poor,
understand and are able to perform. Whenever they make money, they
invariably return to China, the Government holding out no inducements
for them to remain in the Philippines, as they do elsewhere in the
Archipelago, where greater freedom and protection are allowed them.




CHAPTER IV.


The streets of Manilla have at all times a dead and dull appearance,
with the exception of the two already mentioned as being in the
business part of the town. The basement-floor of the houses being
generally uninhabited, there are no windows opened in their walls,
which present a mass of whitewashed stone and lime, without an object
to divert the eye, except here and there, where small shops have
been opened in them, these being generally for selling rice, fruit,
oil, &c., and entirely deficient in the glare or glittering colours
of gay merchandise, nearly all of which is confined to the shops of
the Escolta, Rosario, and Santo Christo.

The houses here, as elsewhere in hot climates, are arranged with great
regard to ventilation and coolness, and are mostly large edifices;
but are seldom well laid out, and are deficient in many respects. The
entire white population, which amounts to upwards of 5,000, resides
either in the city, by which is meant that portion of it within the
walls, or in the principal part of the town outside the walls, and
on the other side of the river from the city within the walls; and
in this district is comprehended the great bulk of the population,
which amounts to upwards of 200,000 souls.

Those resident within the walls are principally government servants,
&c., induced, by the proximity of the public offices, regimental
cantonments, &c., as well as a lower house-rent, to brave the greater
heat usually felt there, from the confined space within the walls,
and the narrow streets, not permitting so free a circulation of air
as is enjoyed in the houses _extra muros_.

The largest description of houses, being the residences of Europeans,
are spacious, and in many cases built on one plan, most of them
being quadrangles inclosing a court-yard within their squares. Here
the stables, &c., are usually situated; and, as may be supposed,
the smell and view of them, should they happen to be in the least
negligently kept, as they frequently are, afford but very little
gratification to persons whose windows happen to be near.

The upper part of the house, or second story, as we would say in
Scotland, is in general the only portion of the house inhabited by
its residents. The rooms below, being considered unhealthy, are in
general converted into warehouses or shops, if they can be let as such
from happening to be conveniently situated, or serve as coach-houses,
lumber-rooms, &c. &c. The masonry of the lower walls is usually very
substantial and strong, being calculated to resist the shocks of
earthquakes, which occasionally happen. Those of the upper stories,
which rise from them, and form the habitable part of the house above,
are much slighter than the lower ones, and the joists and wooden-work
about the roof are adapted for security against such accidents,
by their being fastened with bolts on either side of the masonry,
thus enabling it to give a little play to the motion of the shock,
without being displaced by it, and coming down, as thick and heavy
walls would most certainly do.

However, on the occurrence of an earthquake, it is usual to run down
stairs, and have the protection of the thick lower walls against
any accident, such as that of the roof giving way. As the house I
lived in while there may be taken as a specimen of many others, I
shall describe it. After entering the gateway, the door of which is
always very stout and heavy, and under the constant protection of a
porter, for security's sake, you reach a flight of steps leading to
the habitable part of the house, and enter a gallery running from
the top of the staircase, and a suite of rooms facing the street,
to the gala or drawing-room at the other end of the house, and a
suite of rooms facing the river. The entire length of the gallery
is about a hundred feet, by twenty broad, and it looks into the open
court-yard forming the centre of the building, on one side. There are
several large and spacious bedrooms on the other side, the windows of
which are lighted from a narrow street running to the river. Facing
the gallery, and on the other side of the house, across the central
court-yard, that entire side of the building is appropriated by the
servants for cooking and sleeping-places.

The beams supporting the upper or habitable floor extend four or
five feet beyond the outer wall, towards the street, forming a sort
of verandah, or corridor, as it is called in Spanish as well as in
English, round the entire building, affording a considerable protection
against the sun's rays. The outer side of this corridor is composed
of coarse and dark-coloured mother-of-pearl shell of little value,
set in a wooden framework of small squares, forming windows which move
on slides. Although the light admitted through this sort of window is
much inferior to what glass would give, it has the advantage of being
strong, and is not very liable to be damaged by the severe weather
to which it is occasionally exposed during some months of the year.

There are few buildings distinguishable for architectural beauty,
and those few are for the most part churches. The governor's house,
or the palace, is a large and spacious building within the walls,
and forms one side of the Playa, the other three being formed by
the cathedral, the Cabildo, and some private houses, whose irregular
height detracts considerably from the appearance of the square. In the
centre of the square stands a statue of I forget what King of Spain,
well executed in bronze.

It is usual for a military band to perform before the palace on
Sunday and feast-day evenings, and on these occasions many carriages
go there from the drive, about eight o'clock, to enjoy the music,
and give people a good opportunity for either gossip or love-making,
as their tastes or the moonlight may incline them.

The native Indians appear to have a good ear for music, and execute
many of the finest operas with spirit and taste; and the amateur
musicians in particular, who train the casino band, have brought the
native performers to a very high degree of perfection in most of the
pieces performed by them. A good deal more attention, however, appears
to be paid to training these military bands, than in perfecting the
troops themselves in their evolutions.

Religious processions are as frequently passing through the streets,
as they are in all the Roman Catholic countries of Europe, but
the features of all are very nearly identical, and so need not be
particularly described.

When one of these processions takes place during the day, an awning
is spread along the streets it will pass through, to protect the
bareheaded promenaders from the sun, the canvass being attached to
the house roofs along the streets; making them incredibly hot to pass
along, so long as it remains there.

A good deal of display in silver and gold ornaments may be seen in
some of the churches, the collections of many successive years, as
every incumbent shows his piety and zeal by adding something to them
during the time he holds the cure.

The jewels in some of the dresses of the figures, especially those of
the Virgin, are valued at, or amount to, a considerable sum of money,
and I have heard twenty thousand dollars mentioned as the value of
those belonging to one church in Manilla.

The houses of the Indian and Mestizo population are for the most
part in the outskirts of the business part of the town, those of the
richer sort being built of stone, and those of the poorest class being
composed of _nipa_, or attap. Among houses of this sort, when a fire
takes place, great and rapid destruction is inevitable, and the only
way of saving any portion of them from its fury is by throwing down
all those in the direction of its advance.

Nearly every season, however, some fires happen among them, and
hundreds of families are frequently burned out before its progress can
be arrested. This, however, is not anything like so calamitous an event
for them as such an occurrence would be to the poor of Europe, for as
the chief cost of a _nipa_ house consists in the labour of erection,
after such a misfortune, they are soon replaced by their own personal
labour--for whatever their usual trade or occupation may be, nearly
all of the Indians are quite capable of constructing these houses for
themselves, and often manage to complete them roughly in a few days. No
nails need be used in their construction, everything necessary being
produced in the islands, and easily attainable. Houses so constructed
are very suitable for the climate, affording all the shelter requisite;
and indeed the people appear to be much better lodged than many of
the poor in England, where the cold and damp of the climate demand
a substantial house, which too often they do not possess.




CHAPTER V.


The government of all the Philippine group, including the Mariana
Islands, is intrusted to the charge of a Captain-General, who in
virtue of his office is commander-in-chief of the forces, president
of the Hacienda, admiral of marine, postmaster-general &c., &c. His
power and authority, in short, extend to all those departments,
over which his control, should he choose to exert it, is very absolute.

The civil department of Her Most Catholic Majesty's service, so far
as finance, &c., are concerned, is left to the administration of an
officer who takes the title of Super-Intendente of the Hacienda; and
who, putting the Archbishop aside, is regarded as the second official
person at Manilla, or as ranking next to the Governor, the revenue,
&c., being the branch he has principal charge of; but his acts are
always subject to the control of the Captain-General.

A military officer under the title of segundo Cabo, is under the
Governor as acting commander-in-chief of the forces, and, in the event
of the governor's absence from Manilla, is the person who fills his
situation and succeeds him in his power. A post-captain of the navy
is usually the rank of the person intrusted with the direction and
management of the sea force, but he always has, I believe, the local
or brevet rank of an admiral.

The internal administration of the country is carried on by officials
subordinate to those above-mentioned, the whole of the islands being
parcelled out or divided into several provinces, in each of which
there is an Alcalde, or Lieutenant-Governor, receiving his orders
from, and quite dependent on the Captain-General, to whose favour he
generally owes his appointment.

These officers are invested with the chief civil and military
authority in their own provinces; but although they have always a
small guard of soldiers, the good order and quiet generally prevalent
everywhere throughout the country render their military duties very
unimportant, and their principal care is now required in the collection
of revenue and the administration of justice within their several
jurisdictions. These are not very arduous duties, owing principally
to the efficient assistance derived from the authorities under them.

Every province is divided into districts or parishes, in which there is
some village or town, and in each of these places there is an official
whom I shall call the Major, or _Capitan Gobernadorcillo_, and also
some _Tenientes_ or Aldermen, as well as police alguacils. All
of these have to report to the alcalde of the province any thing
of importance occuring within their districts, and are commanded
severally to assist and promote the views of the cura, or priest,
by every means in their power. Most of the people who fill these
situations are Indians or Mestizos, rather better off in worldly
goods than the run of their countrymen.

These gobernadorcillos, or little governors, possess considerable
authority over the natives, for, besides having the chief municipal
authority in their own districts, they are allowed to decide judicially
in civil cases, when the amount in dispute does not exceed the
value of forty-four dollars, or about ten pounds sterling, and in
criminal cases undertake the prosecution, collecting the evidence
and ascertaining the charges against any delinquent within their
district, all of which is remitted by them to the provincial-governor
and judge for his decision. Their election takes place annually,
on the commencement of the new year, all over the country, and their
power is exactly defined in a printed commission which they all hold
from the Governor of the Philippines.

The half-breeds, or people of mixed Chinese and Indian blood, known by
the name of Sangleys, are usually permitted, in districts where their
number is considerable, to elect a Major from among their own class,
whose power over them is exactly similar to that of the captain of
the village where they reside over the aboriginal Indians: they do
not interfere with each other, and are quite independent of any one
save the alcalde of the province. When there are two gobernadorcillos
in the same village, they each look after their own class, whether
Mestizos or natives.

In addition to these local officials there is another curious body of
men, called _Cabezas de barangay_; each of whom has under his charge
about fifty families, whose tribute to government he has to collect,
and for the amount of which he is held accountable.

The persons who fill this office are usually resident in the immediate
neighbourhood or in the same street with those from whom they have to
collect the tribute, and have some slight authority over those who pay
it to them, such as deciding petty quarrels and disputes among them,
&c. The institution of this body is uncertain, and is said to have
been originated by the aboriginal Indians themselves, and to have
been found in full operation at the time of the earliest Spanish
intercourse with them. The probability is, however, that at that
period it was of a military nature, and their duties then were more
to officer the armies of the native kings than for any of the uses
it has been subsequently wisely put to by the white man. The office
is hereditary in their families; but in the event of the person who
exercises it changing his residence, or from other causes becoming
unfit to discharge its duties, a successor is elected in his place.

They are recompensed for their trouble in collecting taxes, &c.,
by being themselves exempted from paying tribute to the state,
and have several privileges by virtue of their office. As a body,
they are always considered the principal people of their village,
and only from among them, and by their votes alone, is the mayor or
gobernadorcillo of the _pueblo_ chosen; that is to say, they choose
a list of three Indians from among their own number for that office,
each of whom should by law be able to speak, read, and write Spanish;
and this list being forwarded to the alcalde, he indicates which
of them is to be chosen, by scratching his name and filling up his
commission. The election of these candidates ought to be made with
closed doors, and must be authorized by the presence of an escribano,
or attorney, to note the proceedings. The parish priest is allowed
to attend if he choose, in order that he may influence the election
of fit persons for the office by speaking in their favour, but he
has not any vote in the matter.

In the capital, owing to the number of Chinamen there, and in the
neighbourhood, they are obliged to choose a capitan from among
themselves, in order that he may collect their tribute and arrange
their petty disputes with each other, which some one conversant with
their customs and language is only fit to do.

There are some fees now attached to this office, but the duties are so
troublesome that the industrious Celestials very frequently find them
incompatible with the management of their own trade or business, and
for the most part are not at all ambitious of the honour of filling
the situation, even although some fees accompany it.

At the same time that the capitan is elected, his lieutenant and a
head constable are also chosen by their countrymen.

All Chinese arriving at Manilla are registered in a book kept for
the purpose, for, as they pay tribute according to their occupation,
the amount of it, and their numbers, are at once ascertained from
that. Should they leave the country, their passports have to be
countersigned by their capitan, who is to some extent responsible
for them while residing in it.

The emoluments of government offices are not very high; much too low,
in fact, to recompense the class of men who are required to discharge
them, and the consequence is, (as usual in such cases), that extortion
and improper means are resorted to in order to increase their amount,
all of which fall much heavier on the people than regularly collected
taxes, sufficient to support their proper or adequate pay, would
amount to.

In the province of Cagayan, for instance, the alcalde's nominal pay
is 600 dollars a-year, which sum is of course totally insufficient to
recompense any educated man for undertaking and supporting the dignity
of governor of a considerable province. But as the best tobacco is
grown there, one of his duties is to collect and forward it to Manilla,
for which he is allowed a commission, and this, with other privileges,
is found to yield him in ordinary years about 20,000 dollars a-year,
being in reality one of the most lucrative situations at the disposal
of the Government.

I believe that most people will concur with me in the opinion that the
system of reducing the fixed official pay below a remuneration that
will induce men of standing and education to undertake the duties
which their situation requires them to exercise, and to trust to
exaction supplying its place, is extremely impolitic, and much more
expensive to the country than a more liberal scale of pay would prove.

The alcaldes are allowed to trade on their own account, and for this
their position affords them many facilities; but for the permission
to do so, they are required to pay a considerable annual fee to
Government, ranging from about one hundred to three thousand dollars.

The wisdom of granting them this permission is very doubtful, as it
not unfrequently happens that the privilege is abused by rapacious
men, eager to make the most of their time and collect a fortune,
and occasionally it gives rise to much oppression.

The poor Indian cultivators of the soil, accustomed all their lives
to look upon the alcalde of their native province as the greatest
and most powerful man they know of, have very little redress for
their grievance, should that person, in the pursuit of money-making
and trade buy up all their crop of sugar, rice, or other produce,
whatever it may be, and in a falling market refuse to receive the
articles contracted for, or to complete the bargain agreed upon with
them. On the contrary, however, should anything he may have contracted
to buy be rising in value at Manilla, the poor Indian, who has sold it
too cheap to him, has no chance of getting clear of the bad bargain he
may have made with the alcalde, should it appear to that individual
worth his while to keep him to it, as every means are at his command
or beck, aided by all the force of the executive, and the terrors of
a law administered by himself, to compel him to ratify his contract.

In these circumstances the alcalde never makes a bad bargain, or loses
money on any of his transactions, and there is little wonder that
rapid fortunes are made by men holding these situations, when such
scandalous means are constantly resorted to by them, so that generally,
after a very few years of office, these people are upon very easy terms
with the world, although nominally only receiving a wretchedly low pay.

Notwithstanding these abuses, however, the government of the people
is on the whole much more effective, and consequently better, than
it is in many places of British India. No such thing was ever known
as disaffection becoming so generally diffused among them as to lead
to a rebellion of the people, or an attempt to shake off the leeches
who suck them so deeply; and this can only be attributed to the sway
the priesthood have over the minds of the Indians, as without their
influence and aid, beyond a doubt, such an attempt would be made;
and if it should ever come about, it would be no very difficult
affair for the natives, if properly led, to overthrow the sway of the
Spaniards. Although there is very little religion among the Indians,
there is abundance of superstitious feeling, and fear of the padre's
displeasure; indeed, the church has long proved to be, upon the whole,
by much the most cheap and efficacious instrument of good government
and order that could be employed anywhere, so long as its influence
has been properly directed. In the Philippines there appears to be
little doubt but that it is one of the most beneficial that could
be exerted as a medium for the preservation of good order among the
people, who are admonished and taught to be contented, while it is
not forgetful of their interests, as they very generally learn reading
by its aid--so much of it, at least, as to enable them to read their
prayer-books, or other religious manuals.

There are very few Indians who are unable to read, and I have
always observed that the Manilla men serving on board of ships,
and composing their crews, have been much oftener able to subscribe
their names to the ship's articles than the British seamen on board
the same vessels could do, or even on board of Scottish ships, whose
crews are sometimes superior men, so far as education is concerned,
to those born in other parts of Great Britain. This fact startled
me at first; but it has been frequently remarked upon by people very
strongly prejudiced in favour of white men, and who despise the black
skins of Manilla men, regarding them as inferior beings to themselves,
as strongly as many of our countrymen often do.




CHAPTER VI.


From old prejudices, and other causes, the Spanish people have not
as yet learned how to work the more liberal form of government now
enjoyed by their country. But there is no doubt that the experience
necessary to do so is daily being acquired by them at home, and when
it becomes prevalent, its effects may be expected to be shown by the
class of men selected to administer the government of their colonies,
the white population of which are of considerably more advanced
intelligence than their countrymen in Spain.

In most colonies the people appear to possess a superior degree of
vigour or freshness of mind to those born in Europe, or in old and
thickly inhabited countries. This may result in a great degree from
their comparative freedom from conventional prejudices, the results
of a long and insensible growth in families, which trammel nearly
every mind in densely peopled countries, and more especially in places
where commerce is languidly carried on. Perhaps also in some measure
it may be owing to the greater facility the poorer classes have in
all colonies of earning a livelihood, which, by freeing their minds
from anxiety on that score, leaves some room for their speculations
on other matters.

In the administration of government, they are even now guided
essentially by the most imperative rules; but I hope that, ere long, in
many cases, the very arbitrary proceedings of their chief authorities
abroad, may become subject to approval by a council such as exists
in our Indian possessions, and in Java among the Dutch, as there can
be little doubt but that it would prove advantageous to the country
did such a body exist.

As an example of the procedures of the Manilla government, I may
mention the following facts, which occurred to an acquaintance of my
own, and on which every dependence may be placed.

Don Francisco P. de O---- having been presented with the governorship
of one of the best or most lucrative provinces in the Philippines,
set out for his residency and commenced his duties, which he continued
to fulfil satisfactorily to himself and the people for upwards of
a year--about fifteen months, I believe. His commission as Governor
embraced four years from the date of his appointment; however, at the
end of the first year in his office, a nephew of the then Governor
happened to arrive at Manilla, and it became an object of interest
to his uncle to get him into some good place before the term of his
appointment as Governor expired. Casting his eyes around on everything
that might serve his turn, he happened to recollect Don Francisco's
alcalde-ship, and forthwith despatched an order to my unfortunate
friend to return to Manilla, there to answer some complaints which,
he alleged in the order of recall, had been made against his
administration of the province, and at the same time told him to
deliver over all authority to the person he sent for the purpose,
that individual being neither more nor less than his own nephew.

Don Francisco, ignorant of committing any crime or fault, or of
anything that could justify this very unceremonious recall, hastened to
Manilla, and presenting himself at the palace, demanded what charges
had been lodged against him, and by whom they had been made. But
he could learn nothing of them, and was commanded by the Governor
to wait in Manilla till he should be formally summoned to answer
them. It is now, however, upwards of ten years since this happened,
and from that day to this he has never been summoned, nor has he been
even able to find out what the charges were on which he was recalled
from his lucrative appointment, although repeated applications were
made to the Governor who recalled him for a trial. All the subsequent
Governors have professed their inability to give him the information,
which, had such charges actually been framed, must have been found in
the archives, so that no doubt can now exist but that this villanous
trick was trumped up by the Governor to serve his own family by the
bestowal of Don Francisco's place. And as my friend has since filled
other situations, (and, in fact, is an Alcalde,) having been selected
by different Governors for office, the accusation does not in the
least affect his character.

But, in truth, many of the natives of Spain who are even now selected
to fill the highest offices, are about as despotic and as unscrupulous
as any Asiatics in their notions of government and in their exercise
of power, and as bad even as the Turks themselves are in their
administration of justice and equity; while the Spanish government,
and the political knowledge of the people, are infinitely behind the
Turkish government in everything concerning their commercial policy.

During the time of electing members for the Cortes, or parliament
in Spain, of course the existing government were anxious to secure
the tide of the general election running in their favour--but what
means do you, my courteous reader, imagine they took to secure this
object? Why, neither more nor less than to order the police to seize
all persons suspected of being likely to oppose their party actively
at the ensuing elections throughout the country. Thousands of people
were actually seized and hurried off to jail, to be confined there
till the danger was past; and many of them, on the jails becoming too
full to contain them all, were hurried to a seaport town and put on
board ships sailing to Manilla, or, by hundreds at a time, sent out
on a voyage of four months' duration, to reconsider their political
opinions, and then to find their road home as they best might.

These people were captured in all situations of time and place, and
were not allowed to communicate with their friends while in prison
in Spain, which must have given rise to at least as much distress
and privation among as many persons as the numbers of those seized,
for very many of them were people with families entirely dependent
upon them for support.

About a thousand of these _deportados_ reached Manilla in 1848-9, and
being entirely destitute of all resources or means of subsistence, they
had to be taken care of by the Colonial Government, who allowed them
some rice and water every day, and had, finally, to charter vessels
to re-ship them for the Peninsula. One of them was an Irishman, who
having entered the Spanish service when a lad, had reached the rank
of Colonel; his father was a general officer and K.C.B. of our own
army, who, I believe, had married a Spanish lady, and after his death,
his family had become resident in Spain.

The bad accommodation of a crowded ship, together with the want
of change of clothes, which he was not allowed to procure from
his friends, and the general filthiness of the people with whom he
was obliged to be cooped up during the long voyage, acted on him so
severely that it caused his death a very short time after his arrival
at Manilla. Thus the poor fellow fell a sacrifice to this abominable
stretch of arbitrary power, and dying destitute, was buried there,
after having been maintained decently in a hotel during the remainder
of his existence, at the expense of his countrymen then at Manilla.

When acts so atrocious as these can be done with impunity in any
European country by a powerful minister of the crown, we may form some
idea of its advance in the arts of self-government and the security
of its people.

This young man was very far from being the only person who fell a
victim to these acts, as many died from causes similar to those which
deprived him of life; and his case is only mentioned to give some
idea of the lengths men will proceed to when no checks are placed
on the Government machine, to prevent its bursting, and damaging
thousands. These abuses are so shameful, that they are scarcely
credible in Britain; but they are easily capable of corroboration
by inquiry and a little knowledge of Spain, where very frequently
caprice is the only law in existence, or at least is the only one acted
upon. I might multiply instances, but this is doubtless sufficient.

The orders of the Court at Madrid are not always laws in their
colonies, for every now and then the most imperative commands come
out from Spain which are refused obedience to at Manilla, where it
is openly asserted that the home government gives orders in favour
of importunate suitors, without the least expectation that they will
be acted upon by those to whom they are addressed; granting them,
in fact, merely to get rid of troublesome people who might annoy them
at home if their demands were refused.




CHAPTER VII.


People are generally seen to most advantage in their own houses;
and nowhere, I think, does any one appear to play the host better
than an average specimen of a Spanish gentleman under his own roof.

Notwithstanding a great deal of ceremony and the customary exaggerated
polite expressions used to every stranger, there is so much innate
hospitality in the national character that it is not to be mistaken,
and is perhaps one of their best and greatest virtues as individuals.

The modes of expression usual on occasions such as that of a first
visit to a house appear rather strange to any one born under a colder
sun than that of old Castile, and the first time that one is told,
on taking leave of his host at a place he has been visiting for the
first time, that the house, and every thing and person in it, are
his, or at his disposal, he is apt to be puzzled by the exaggeration
of the speech which contains such an unlimited offer, should he
be ignorant that it is quite a usual expression. Of course it means
nothing more than were any one to say or subscribe himself in English,
"I am your obedient servant," which he may be very far from feeling,
and may be constantly in the habit of using to his inferiors, and
even to people paid or employed by himself.

Some years ago an eccentric man, when this expression was used to him,
was known occasionally to interpret the words in their literal sense,
and in more than one instance he had the credit of having adroitly made
his court to a lady in that manner. He would watch for an opportunity,
or give a turn to the conversation, which would afford him a chance
of expressing admiration of some ornament she wore at the time, when
the fair owner would, as a matter of course, say that it was at his
disposal. Much to her surprise, the offer would be accepted, and the
swain would walk off with the ornament he had praised. However, next
day he always returned it in person; and to soothe her irritation,
which must have been excited by such conduct, he took the opportunity
of presenting her with some other ornament, or complimentary gift of
some description. This, if done as an atonement and peace-offering,
would probably be accepted, and the way was paved for an entrance into
her good graces, which he might have been quite unable to obtain by
any more direct means.

Frankness or openness of manner is considered by the Spaniards to be
the most desirable point of good breeding; and when any one possesses
that quality, he is pretty sure to be well received by them.

It is the custom at Manilla for any respectably-dressed European
passing by a house where music and dancing are going on, to be
permitted to join the party, although he may be a perfect stranger
to every one there; and should any one do so, after having made his
bow to the master of the house, and said some words, of course about
the liberty he was taking, and his fondness for music and dancing,
&c., he is always welcomed by him, and is at perfect liberty to ask
any lady present to dance; nor is she likely to refuse him, as her
doing so would scarcely be considered well bred.

This degree of freedom is not, however, at all times acted on in
the houses of the natives of Spain, or of any European foreigners,
as any one going so unceremoniously into these might not meet with
so cordial a reception as he would do from the rich Mestizos, who,
when they give such _fêtes_ on feast days, are in general well pleased
to receive Europeans, although perfect strangers, in their houses.

These very free and unceremonious manners, among people who have
such a reputation for the love of ceremony in all forms, are strange
enough, for the same custom prevails in Spain, although to a more
limited extent.

Some years ago a British merchant, resident at Manilla, was very
much blamed by his countrymen for not conforming to the customs of
the country in this respect. He broke through them in this manner;--

After the China war, a part of the expedition visited Manilla,
including some of the principal officers both of the army and navy,
who had just been so gallantly distinguishing themselves in that
country. On their arrival at Manilla, the houses of their countrymen
to whom they went provided with introductions were in a great measure
thrown open to them; and of course, as their hospitable entertainers
wished to show them something of the people and the place, a good
deal of gaiety was got up to amuse them. Among others the gentleman
in question gave a ball to General Lord Saltoun and the Admiral,
including, of course, most of the other officers of the expedition. The
party was a large one, and included nearly all the British residents
there, together with his Spanish acquaintances.

Hearing the sounds of music and dancing in the street, a stranger
entered the house and walked up stairs; and unperceived, I believe,
by the landlord, entered the ball-room, where he engaged a Spanish
lady to dance,--the girl whom he asked chancing to be the daughter of
a military officer of rank, and a particular friend of the giver of
the party. On leading her up to her place, the stranger was remarked,
and recognised by some one present, who asked his host if he knew
who the person was; but he, on looking at him, merely said that he
did not, and was passing on without more notice or thought about
him. Just at the moment, some one wishing to quiz him, said to the
host, who was a man of hasty temper and feelings,--"So, D----, you
have got my tailor to meet your guests," pointing, at the same time,
towards the stranger whom he had just been observing.

Of course, Mr. D---- was angry at the liberty taken by such a person
in joining his party, and probably afraid of the laugh it would give
rise to; for he walked up to the tailor, and asked him in a most angry
manner by whose invitation he came there, and then, without waiting
for any reply, catching his coat-collar, walked with him to the top of
the stairs, and kicked him down. The man complained to the governor,
and the consequence was that Mr. D---- was fined a considerable amount,
and for some time banished to a place at a short distance from Manilla,
which he was forbidden to enter. As he was a merchant, and of course
had his business to attend to, this was a most severe punishment,
which, by the influence of the Consul, however, was subsequently
rescinded, and he was allowed to return to town.

In giving entertainments in honour of their saints, great sums of
money are frequently spent by the richer class of Mestizos and Indians,
every one appearing to vie with his neighbour, as to who shall be most
splendid in his saint's honour; and even among nearly the whole of
the poor people there is always some little extravagance gone into on
these occasions: some time previous to the feast taking place, part of
their earnings are carefully set apart for the feast-night's enjoyment.

At many of their _fiestas_, besides the devotional exercises, there is
a great deal of amusement going on, the Mestiza girls being frequently
good-looking, and nearly all of them addicted to dancing; many of
them are passionately fond of waltzes, and dance them remarkably
well--better, I think, than any women I have elsewhere seen in a
private room.

Their dress, which is well adapted to the climate, is, when worn by
a good-looking girl, particularly neat.

It consists of a little shirt, generally made of piña cloth, with wide
short sleeves: it is worn loose, and, quite unbound to the figure in
any way, reaches to the waist, round which the _saya_ or petticoat
is girt, it being generally made of silk, checked or striped, of gay
colours, of _husè_ cloth, or of cotton cloth. Within doors, these
compose their dress, no stockings being worn, but their well-formed
feet, inserted in slight slippers without heels, and embroidered with
gold and silver lace, lose nothing in beauty from the want of them.

Out of doors, another piece of dress called the _sapiz_, composed of
dark blue silk or cotton cloth, slightly striped with narrow white
stripes, is usually worn over the saya.

No bonnets or hats of any sort are worn by them, their long and
beautiful hair being considered a sufficient protection to the head,
which they arrange in something like the European fashion, it being
fastened by a comb, or some gold ornament in a knot at the back of
the head.

On going out of doors, a handkerchief is often thrown over the head,
should the sun be strong, or an umbrella or parasol is carried as a
protection against it.

A similar dress, made of coarser and cheaper materials, is the usual
costume of all the native women.

The men, both native and Mestizo, wear trousers fastened round the
waist by a cord or tape, the fabric being sometimes silk of country
manufacture, for their gala dresses, or of cotton cloth striped and
coloured, for every-day use.

The shirt, which is worn outside the trousers, that is to say, the
tails hanging loose above the trousers, and reaching to just below the
hips, is generally made of piña cloth, or, among the poorest people,
of blue or white cotton cloth. When of piña cloth, the pattern is
generally of blue or other coloured stripes with flowers, &c. worked
on them, and it is a very handsome and gay piece of dress. When worn
outside the trousers, it is much cooler than when stuffed into them
in the European manner. A hat and slippers, or sandals of native
manufacture, complete their dress, and the only difference of costume
between the rich and poor consists in the greater or less value of
the materials which compose it. No coat or jacket is worn, but many
of the men, and nearly all the women, wear a rosary of beads or gold
round their necks; and frequently a gold cross, suspended by a chain
of the same metal, rests between the bosoms of the fair. Many of them
also wear charms, which having been blessed by the priest, are supposed
to be faithful guardians, and to preserve the wearer from all evil.




CHAPTER VIII.


The honours paid to the saints by the celebration of their feast-days
are nearly altogether practised by the Mestizo and Indian population,
the richer or upper classes of Spaniards being for the most part too
careless on such occasions, except when their turn comes to dance at
the _fêtes_, or to eat the supper set out by their Mestizo neighbours
on these anniversaries; and certainly, if their piety be judged by
the alacrity usually displayed on such occasions, they will stand
very forward in the race out of purgatory. For, strange to say, the
modern Spaniards--at least those who come to the Philippines--are
as little superstitious or priest-ridden as the people of any
nation in Europe. Probably this is a symptom of their return to a
more moderate degree of faith than they used to evince prior to the
French Revolution, which has altered the tone of opinion and manners
throughout the world. And after the severity and rigid observance of
all the church high-days and holydays formerly prevalent among them,
the tide of opinion appears to have run into the opposite extreme.

I have frequently been astonished at discovering the extent to which
infidel notions are current among my Spanish acquaintances; their
prevailing opinions on the subject being, that the priests and some
of the tenets of the Catholic church are behind the age, and as such,
are to some extent unworthy of the serious attention of well-informed
people of the present day, and that those things are only suitable for
women and children. _Es cosa de mugeres_, is the usual expression,
should the subject be mentioned; and as regards the priests, the
laity very generally fancy that they must be watched carefully, as
they are certain to assume importance should an opportunity offer for
thrusting their noses into any affair they can, military or civil--it
matters not which to these ambitious men.

Among the native population, however, high church opinions, or a
notion that virtue is inherent in the walls of the church and the
priestly office, is very common, so that whatever the _padre_ says
is looked upon as indisputable by them. But I cannot say that any
rational systems of religion, or feelings not associated so much with
the _padre's_ office and dress, and with the stone and lime of the
church, as with the more pure and immaterial subjects of religious
belief, exist among them, or influence their conduct. Frequently one
sees instances of this, which place their feelings in the grossest
and worst light. For example, the first act of a courtesan in the
morning is generally to repair to the church, and after, as a matter
of course, having said her prayers, to pass the time in any species
of debauchery or immorality her lovers may wish. I state this fact,
to give some idea of the extent of superstition and of priestly
influence over their conduct, which shows how powerfully mere habits
and custom may influence our manners without improving our minds,
when we are brought up in a formal routine of habits of respect for we
don't know well what; for they have no further acquaintance with the
principles of religious belief than the habit of crossing themselves
before figures of the Virgin and the crucifixion.

For even these women, infamous though they be, seldom omit the
observance of such practices, and are in general as punctual in
repeating diurnally the formal prayer which has been taught them in
childhood, as any Christian can be, whenever the hour of _oraçion_
is come, which is notified to all the population by the tolling of
the church bells.

However, Manilla appears not to be quite singular as to these matters;
for it has been frequently stated by visitors to the states of the
Church, that nine months after the great religious festival of the
Carnival there, a much greater number of illegitimate children are
born than during other seasons of the year.

This statement, which I have seen mentioned as a statistical fact,
is probably attributable to the idleness of the people, ignorant and
uninstructed as to any higher devotional feelings than those which
custom teaches; although, doubtless, religious admonition, having
a tendency to unloose the mind, and withdraw it from its customary
objects of interest, may induce these softer emotions, and among
people in whom the animal passions preponderate over those of the
mind, or of a spiritual nature, may frequently lead to conduct of
this loose description.

Perhaps, also, the sense of satisfaction after having gone through the
ceremony of attending church, and of having performed the humble duty
which all are taught to practise there, disposes the people to this
license, for they carry away no new idea with them from the sacred
house. The formal exercise there being gone through by rote, without
exciting new feelings, or touching new chords in their hearts, may
cause them to break away from strictness, and give a rein to their
passions after the exercise of their religious duties.

The Indians are people who, being bred up with a regard to observances
which retain no hold over their minds--at least, over the reason
which God has endowed them with--in order to judge for themselves,
think religious observances derive their importance only from custom;
but having been trained up with little regard to the sterner and
self-denying mental duties or instruction usually held up to our
admiration in Britain and other Protestant countries, they can scarcely
be expected to practise them. In addition to this, the heat of the
climate probably disposes them this way; as in all countries where
the _dolce far niente_ is most agreeable to them, or is generally
practised by the inhabitants, those feelings are likely to prevail
in a greater degree than where active habits are more congenial to
the people and the temperature of the climate.




CHAPTER IX.


The habits of the Spanish residents at Manilla are exceedingly
indolent. As persons in the government service form the great
proportion of the white population, a sketch of the habits of one
of them may not be uninteresting;--say those of an average officer
of the Hacienda, for instance. He usually gets out of bed about six,
or a little after, to enjoy the cool air of the morning, and sip his
chocolate, with the aid of _broas_, without which he could scarcely
manage to get through the day; he then dresses, and drives to his
office, where he remains till twelve o'clock, which hour finishes
his official duties for the day. While in his office the nature
of his work is not very arduous, and does not appear to call into
play any powers of the mind, as it appears to consist only in his
remaining for about four hours in a cool and large room, generally
seated at a table or desk, overlooking a number of native writers,
occupied in making out and filling up forms which are required by
the existing regulations for the government service. The Spaniard,
however, has nothing to do with all that, only occasionally exerting
himself so far as to sign his name, or merely to dash his rubrica,
without taking the trouble to sign his name, to the papers presented
to him by these native copyists; and should you enter his office,
he generally appears to be just awaking from a nap, as he opens his
eyes, and rouses himself to salute a visitor.

At noon the public offices are closed, and he drives home to dine about
one or two o'clock, after which he generally sleeps till about five,
for nearly all of the Spanish residents take a long siesta. About
that time of the day, however, he is awakened to dress and prepare
for the _paseo_ on the Calyada, and for the _tertulia_ after it, at
the house of some acquaintance; or if he should by any chance happen
to be without acquaintance, to saunter through the Chinamen's shops,
admiring walking-canes, cravats, or waistcoat-pieces; and while
so engaged, he is pretty sure to meet some companion for a gossip,
or other amusement. After this he sets off to sup at home, and to
sleep till another day comes round, when the same routine must be
gone through.

It would be hard to conjecture a mode of passing or sauntering through
life with less apparent object than many of them have. Books are scarce
and expensive, and are in little demand by most of the residents,
even if they were worth reading, and cheaper, and more procurable
than they now are; the library--if the term may be applied to their
collection--of such people, generally only comprising one or two plays,
and perhaps a novel--sometimes also Don Quixote's adventures, which,
with a volume of poetry, is about the average amount of learning and
amusement on their book-shelves. But should the owner be a military
man, he probably has, in addition to these, some Spanish standard
book, equivalent to our "Dundas's Principles," or "Regulations for
the Cavalry."

Smoking, sleeping, and eating, are the labours of their days, and
in all of these they are adepts. Their prevalent taste, however, as
regards cookery, is not suitable to a British palate, as the favourite
accompaniment of garlic is commonly used in such a quantity by their
cooks, that they are very apt to spoil a dinner for a foreigner's
eating, unless they are checked or cautioned with regard to the use
of it.

Their usual drink is wine of different kinds, which they take out of
a glass or tumbler, as we would beer or water: the quantity consumed
is moderate enough, about a pint being a usual allowance--and that
is frequently mixed with about an equal quantity of water. Sherry,
claret, priorato, pajarete, manzanilla, malaga, and muscatel, are the
sorts most in request, all of them being of ordinary quality, to the
taste of any one accustomed to drink good wine at home, from which the
wines procurable here are as different as possible, and especially the
sherry. But in that resides a mystery known best to the wine-merchants,
who doctor up the wine consumed in Great Britain to suit the taste of
those who buy it from them. Strange to say, even to this, a Spanish
colony, there is not sent out a single pipe of wine, such as any one
accustomed to drink the British _composition_ would call good sherry.

Claret, or _vino tinto_, is very generally used in preference to
tea or coffee at breakfast, but at that early time of the day it is
mixed with a large proportion of water. This meal, however, is not a
general one in the Philippines, as the custom of taking chocolate in
the morning destroys all appetite for it, and the early dinner hour
of the Spaniards in general, does not render it essential.

The want of interesting occupation, and the heat of the sun, preventing
out-of-door exercise during the day, has doubtless originated these
indolent customs, which have given rise to many bad habits, and the
low scale of morality prevailing among them.

A large proportion of them being bachelors, are in the habit of
selecting a mistress as a companion with whom they may forget the
dullness, and shake off the apathy of their aimless existence; a very
large proportion, in fact, nearly all of them, being in the habit of
choosing such a household companion from among the Creole, Mestiza,
or native girls, but generally from the last two races.

The native girls have the reputation of proving more faithful to
their lovers than the other two, as they look upon such a connection
in the light of a marriage, and consider themselves guilty of no
immorality during its continuance. When a native beauty forms such
a connection with a white man, her relations do not sunder all the
former ties existing between her and them, by casting her off, but
on the contrary are, as frequently as not, highly pleased at it,
viewing the affair in the light of a fortunate marriage for her.

These feelings, however, are not universal, for some of the richer
class of Indians would be highly displeased with a female relation
forming such a connection.

Among the Indians themselves this arrangement frequently takes place,
as very many of the poorest people are unable to save money enough to
pay their marriage fees, and in the event of a couple living together
without having had the ceremony performed previously, they regard
themselves, and are considered by their neighbours, as not the less
man and wife. As an instance of the extent to which this prevails among
them, I may mention a circumstance which struck me much at the time:--

Being near the cathedral at Manilla one evening in April last, I
entered an open door of the edifice and wandered into a room attached
to it, where several people were in waiting, and among them several
women with children to be baptized. I stopped to witness the ceremony,
and had the curiosity to look into the register where their names were
enrolled; in that book, two of them were described as illegitimate
children, and the third was the only one born in matrimony.

Although the custom does not prevail to anything like the extent
of two-thirds of the population, still it is a very frequent one,
and proves among other things, that the sort of religion prevailing
among the people is only that of forms, possessing no sufficient hold
over their minds to regulate their conduct.

Compare their religious ideas with those of the old Scottish
covenanters, or English puritans, and how different are the effects
of faith; but perhaps they are not more dissimilar than the natures
of the two races are. For there is no race in the world with all the
good qualities of the Celtic breed crossed by the Saxon, and that
again by the Norman; for depend upon it, blood tells in every human
being--aye, and as much in men as in dogs or horses.

But, unfortunately for ourselves, men pay less attention to the innate
qualities and virtues of blood and pedigree, when selecting a mate for
themselves, than they do when their dogs or horses are in question,
as then no trouble is spared to trace out and scrutinise the qualities
of _their_ sires, and to breed only from a good stock.

By pedigree, of course not the worldly station of men is meant, but
the history of their lives and reputations, as good and useful men of
their time. Of necessity both parents affect the character of their
offspring, and so we frequently see a great and good man leaving
behind him none in his family capable of supplying his place. Now,
how is this? Why, it comes from the mistake he has made in selecting
his mate, for if he had been more cautious in that respect the produce
would have been equal to the promise.

How often do we see wise men with silly wives and tall men with short
wives. The only wonder is, that the offspring of such couples are
not worse than they are.




CHAPTER X.


The intercourse between the Spaniards and many of the foreigners
residing at Manilla is not very great, as the British here,
as everywhere else, appear to prefer associating with their own
countrymen to frequenting the houses of their Spanish friends,
even although quite sure of a cordial reception there. The time
for visiting is in the evening, when there are numbers of impromptu
conversaziones--or tertulias, as they are called--of which the Dons
are very fond, and in which very many of their evenings are passed.

Any one having a few Spanish acquaintances is pretty sure to number
among them some persons who, from their own character, or that of
some member of their family, such as a pretty and pleasant wife,
or a handsome daughter, has generally many visitors at his house,
perhaps six, ten, or a dozen of an evening, who call there without
any preconcerted plan, and sit down to play a round game at cards
or gossip with each other for an hour. Should there be ladies of the
party, music and dancing are probably the amusements for an hour or
two; you may, of course, escape and go on to the house of some one
else should the party turn out to be dull, which, however, is very
seldom the case when Spaniards are the company, as every one appears
to exert himself to amuse and be amused to the best of his power.

The time for evening visits is any time after seven o'clock, for till
about that hour nearly all the white population are enjoying the cool
air on the Calyada, or on some of the other drives, all of which are
crowded with carriages from about half-past five till that time of
the evening.

Some of these equipages are handsome enough, and are almost universally
horsed by a pair of the country ponies, there being only one or two
people who turn out with a pair of Sydney horses, and very few who
drive a single-horse vehicle, although it is met with now and then. The
only persons allowed to drive four horses in their carriages are the
Governor and the Archbishop: this regulation is frequently grumbled at
by the Spanish Jehus, and one gentleman, the colonel of a regiment,
having applied to the government for permission to indulge his taste
in this respect by driving a four-in-hand, was refused it, so he had
to content himself with turning out with only three in his drag. With
that number of quadrupeds, however, he did a good deal to frighten and
amuse the world, apparently wishing to break his neck, in which he very
nearly succeeded on more than one occasion; Spanish accomplishments
in driving being by no means equal to those general at home.

A young Spaniard who fills an important office connected with the
commerce of Manilla, a situation he is said to owe more to the frailty
of his mother, a fair lady at the court of the late King of Spain,
whom he exactly resembles in appearance, temper, and manners, than
to any qualifications especially pointing him out for the post, used
frequently to assert his royal blood by turning out a neat barouche
and pair, accompanied by two outriders, and certainly he looked much
smarter and better appointed than either of the authorities driving
four horses.

The expense of keeping horses is very small, so that nearly all,
except the very poorest people, keep carriages, which in that climate
are considered more as necessaries of life than as luxuries, and to a
certain extent really are so; for the sun most effectually prevents
Europeans walking to any distance during the heat of the day, and
should any one attempt doing so, a month of it is about time enough
seriously to injure or perhaps to kill him. About sunset everybody is
most glad to escape from the impure air of the town and the crowded
narrow streets, to inhale the fresh breeze from the bay on the Calyada,
which is the most frequented drive.

Formerly all the ladies turned out to drive without bonnets or
coverings of any sort on the head, but bowled along, seated in open
carriages, in about the same style of evening dress they would appear
in at a tertulia or the theatre, or, in fact, at a ball-room. They
were in the habit of spreading a sort of gum, which washed easily
off, over the hair after it had been dressed, in order to keep out
the dust, &c.; but within the last two years several bonnets have
made their appearance in the carriages at the drive, and I fear
their general use will supersede the former fashion, which from its
simplicity allowed their most striking beauties of eyes, hair, &c.,
to be seen in a most charming manner.

Many of the Creole girls have very handsome countenances, and there
are not a few who would be remarked upon as fine women by the side of
any European beauty: but they are generally seen to most advantage in
the evening, as their chief attraction does not consist in freshness
of complexion so much as in fine features, which are often full of
character and lighted up by eyes as brilliant as they are soft. Their
figures are good, and their feet and ankles quite unexceptionable,
being generally very much more neatly turned than those of my
handsomest countrywomen.

As dress is a study which has a good deal of their attention, they
appear to understand it pretty well, but show a marked fondness for gay
colours, as no doubt their pale complexions require their aid more than
when ruddy health is upon their cheeks. In the forenoon the skin of a
Creole or Spanish beauty appears to be rather too pale to please the
general taste; and sometimes their colour degenerates into sallowness,
which I fancy may proceed from their fondness for chocolate, that being
very largely consumed by all of them. This, and the want of exercise,
communicated a somewhat bilious look to their appearance.

Many ladies, especially those from the northern provinces of Spain,
have sometimes the beautiful white skins and the ruddy freshness of
complexion so much admired in my countrywomen; but, unfortunately,
that colour is not very lasting, as the first season they pass in
the Philippines is generally sufficient to blanch their bloom, but
it is very often succeeded by a soft and delicate-looking paleness,
which is perhaps not a whit less dangerous to amatory bachelors than
the more brilliant colours which preceded it.

Although lively and talkative enough, Spanish women seldom shine in
conversation, which perhaps is more owing to the narrow and defective
education they too often have in youth than to any natural want of
the quickness and tact to talk well.

Their manners are peculiarly soft and pleasing, and their lively
ingenuousness is extremely seductive. Their accomplished management
of the fan has made it peculiarly their own weapon, and it has been
converted into an important auxiliary to their natural good looks,
both in attack and defence. There are few things more striking to a
stranger than to see the ladies use it at the casino, when a number
of them are together, and while there is no want of men to admire the
graceful movement of the hand. Mere children are constantly seen using
it. It is a ludicrous thing to watch one of these little creatures
going through a set of flirting motions with a fan, should you look
at her, copying no doubt the motions or play with it from those of
some grown-up sister or gay mamma.

Foreign ladies seldom or never attain the same degree of dexterity
and ease in the use of their fans, the climate they were born in not
requiring that it should be placed in their hands at an early age.

The dress of Spanish ladies is becoming every day more like the
French modes, although some elderly people still continue to use the
country dress, which, from its coolness, is much more comfortable than
the European habit; but it is rapidly going out, and young Spanish
ladies never appear to wear it, as formerly they frequently did,
within doors and in the country.

The mantilla is very rarely seen, except perhaps in the morning,
when some fair penitent goes or returns from one of the churches,
all of which are thrown open at a very early hour in the morning, at
or before daylight, to give the people an opportunity of going there
unostentatiously and unnoticed, to say their prayers and get home
again before any one, but those on an errand similar to their own,
is likely to meet them in the streets.

Nearly all the women, after reaching thirty years of age, get stout
or fall off in flesh and become very thin, for there apparently is
very little medium between the two degrees, as nearly all the old
women one sees are either very fat or very thin. Of the two sorts
the fat retain their good looks the longest; for after attaining a
certain age, the thin women are seldom anything but atrociously ugly,
probably caused by the climate more than anything else, as those
Europeans who enjoy good health at Manilla appear to become stout
in that climate, while those who get thin seldom appear to be well,
and are unable to stand a lengthened residence there.

In youth, however, their natural elasticity of character prevents
delicate girls getting sick, if moderate care be taken of them, and
they are generally rather more slender figures than English girls,
until reaching about twenty-five, when they begin to get fat or to
become thin; at that age they look very matronly.

_Apropos des dames._ Even in these degenerate days, Spanish blood
is as hot and Castilian gentlemen are as gallant as any of those of
former times. Not long ago the following circumstance happened at
the casino:--Don Camilo de T----, a natural son of the late King of
Spain, after dancing with a female acquaintance, rejoined a group
of acquaintances, who were standing together in a knot, criticising
the appearance of their several fair friends, when just as he joined
them some one happened to say to another that the lady he had just
been dancing with appeared to have padded her bosom. On hearing this,
Don Camilo took the speaker rather by surprise, by calling out "It
is a lie," in a tone loud enough to be heard by all near him, and by
saying that as he had just been dancing with that lady, he knew that
it was not so, and must resent the remark as a personal affront. A
duel took place in consequence, in which the gallant was wounded
in the sword arm, which, by letting out a little of his hot blood,
may probably prevent a recurrence of such extreme devotion to his
fair acquaintances.




CHAPTER XI.


As a body, such Spanish gentlemen as I have been acquainted with,
appeared to be quite as remarkable for good breeding as they usually
have the credit of being. They generally have a great appearance of
candour or frankness of manner, which, although it is for the most
part more studied than natural, is prepossessing, and makes them
pleasant companions.

Here, however, I am afraid my praise must stop, because I have seen
among a great number of them a good deal of dissimulation, or,
to speak more plainly, of bad faith,--with regard to which their
modes of thinking are very different from those prevailing at home;
and among their mercantile people especially, they often appear to
imitate, or unconsciously to act upon a smart Yankee trader's modes
of getting the best of a bargain, being very frequently rather too
unscrupulous in their representations, when it appears to them that
it is for their interest to be so.

To give an idea of their opinions about the subject of buying and
selling, I will tell the reader a story. A lad, the son of a high
government officer, sold an unsound horse to a companion as a sound
one, which, on being discovered by the purchaser, of course made him
very indignant, and he demanded his money back, complaining at the same
time to the boy's father, who passes for a person of high character
and good sense, about the scurvy trick his son had played him. "Well,"
said this respectable old gentleman, "I am glad to see that the lad
is so sharp; for, if he could get the better of you so well, he will
make a capital merchant, and be able to cheat the Chinamen!"

Without exaggeration this is a good deal the system on which the
Spaniards carry on business. They always appear to be trying to take
advantage of a purchaser, and if successful have very complaisant
consciences; but should they themselves be taken in, or have
the worst of a bargain, their virtuous horror and indignation on
discovering it know no bounds. There is very little, or almost none,
of that mutual confidence existing between them which exists between
British merchants, and which is so necessary in large transactions,
or in carrying on an extensive business, as they do.

The large number of government _empleados_ residing at Manilla makes
an important addition to the society of the place, as, from being idle
men to a great extent, they seek how to amuse and be amused, and are
cultivators of the society of the English, whose dinner tables are
probably the chief causes of the intercourse which exists between them.

The entire white population in Manilla amounts to about 5,000, a large
proportion of them being officers, sergeants, and corporals of the
troops stationed either within the town, or in the immediate vicinity.

All the officers are not, however, persons of European descent, as
occasionally a black may be seen in an officer's uniform, and very
frequently is to be found wearing a sergeant's or corporal's coat. But
the natives promoted to the rank of commissioned officers are not many,
and on the whole it is probably better for the army that few of them
should be so, as were it a common occurrence, or were they allowed to
rise to high rank, or to occupy important places, beyond a doubt the
_morale_ of the troops would suffer; for when those men do rise from
the ranks, they are not considered on an equality by their European
brother officers, nor in fact do they consider themselves to be so,
and have little or no intercourse with them, beyond the routine of
their military duties.

The appearance of the troops is good on the whole; but they appeared
to me to be wanting in precision of movement, being by no means
equal or similar to some of our best Sepoy soldiers. It is clear
that frequently they have not been precisely drilled into all their
attempted evolutions. The men, as individuals, are well and powerfully
formed, although they are rather deficient in stature and soldierly
appearance; they are naturally bold, and when lately tried against the
Sooloos, evinced no want of resolution to follow, when their officers
would lead them on. I have seen several of them suffer death with an
admirable and even heroic composure, such as any man might envy when
his last hour comes. It is not an unfrequent thing to see soldiers
shot at Manilla for some misdemeanours, and I have not heard of one of
them dying a poltroon; certainly, all those I have ever seen suffer,
met their doom with the utmost calmness.

The cavalry force, for the purposes of actual conflict, is about the
most inefficient branch of the military establishment, being mounted
on the ponies of the country, which stand on an average about twelve
hands. But as irregulars they might be of some use. It always appeared
to me that a single well-mounted squadron of our heavy dragoons could,
without any difficulty, ride down the entire regiment. The Government
is aware of the inactive state of the horses, their attention having
been called thereto by my friend Captain de la O----, an officer of
the force, who, in conjunction with the colonel of the regiment, has
for some time past been occupied in investigations, and in preparing
estimates of the probable expense of an attempt to improve the breed
of horses by crossing them with Arab stallions, which it has for some
time been in contemplation to send for to cover the country mares.

It would probably be necessary for Government, in order to accomplish
this successfully, to adopt a plan similar to that followed at the East
India Company's breeding stables in Bengal, and should the project be
followed out and properly managed, there can be no doubt but that it
will be of the most essential importance to the government service,
and a boon to the country.

The horses of the Philippines are small, but for their inches
uncommonly powerful, and sometimes fast. They do not appear to have
any distinguishing peculiarity, except perhaps that the head of most
of them is rather too large, and very rarely indeed is that feature
quite perfect in any of the horses one meets with. At Manilla, and
for a considerable distance round it, no mares are allowed to be used,
which secures a higher and better looking horse in the neighbourhood
of the capital than is met with in the interior of the country;
none of them are geldings, and of course they are stronger and more
playful in consequence.

But to return to the service and the officers of it whom one meets in
society. They are not fond of being sent to the colony, and although
with about double the amount of pay they would receive at home,
most of them would infinitely prefer remaining in Spain.

After a term of service abroad they get a step in rank, which appears
to be the main attraction to those who come to Manilla. Many of them
are not very well educated men, and are therefore rather inferior to
my countrymen of the same profession in that respect.

A considerable proportion of them, perhaps an equal ratio to those
of our army, are gentlemen, or persons of good birth and family
connections. They are in general, however, poor, or at all events not
over burdened with the good things of this life, and like soldiers
of all nations and times, some of them have a certain notoriety for
outrunning the constable, or for spending all that they can, which
is generally merely their pay. Soon after reaching Manilla, I was
accidentally thrown a good deal into their society, from chancing to
meet with Don Francisco Caro, a pleasant and lively young lieutenant,
at the house of my Spanish teacher, where he was as eager to learn
English as I was to be able to speak good Spanish. We became intimate,
and agreed to visit each other, he to talk in English to me, and I
to him in Spanish,--a practice which very soon enabled us to pick
up the languages, and saved a world of trouble in getting up tasks
for a teacher, whom we were soon able to do without. The fact of my
going frequently to his house, and taking part in the conversation of
himself and the many friends with whom he made me acquainted, gave me
a considerable facility in talking the language, from having gained
a knowledge of it in this way in place of from a pedantic teacher,
whose purisms were quite thrown away on one whose wish it was to
speak it fluently, although it might be at some sacrifice of elegance.

Here let me record my regret at the manner in which this old companion
and friend met his untimely fate, which is not the less regretted
because it proceeded from his own strong sense of duty and habitual
gallantry of spirit--for this poor fellow was a true Spaniard in all
his best qualities. Having been ordered into the provinces with a
detachment on the very disagreeable service of hunting up a band of
_tulisanes_, or robbers, the necessary exposure to the sun on such an
expedition operated so severely on his constitution as to produce a
very high fever; yet even in this state he would not succumb to it, but
persisted in marching for several days at the head of his men, although
they, on perceiving his condition, had several times endeavoured to
persuade him to make use of a litter which they had framed for the
purpose, and wished to carry him in. But he would not remain in it
even when they almost forced him to use it, and would take no repose
until after having accomplished his duty. In this he was successful,
as he surprised and destroyed the robber band,--but the effort cost
him his life, for he died solely from the effects of the unnatural
exertion which he had undergone while the fever was raging within him.

Your many amiable and good qualities yet live, Francisco, in the fond
memories of former friends, although you are no longer among them; and
your heroic death, while it chastens grief, has added another memento,
and a laurel leaf to the wreath your brave Castilian ancestors left
behind them, bequeathed to the care of one who knew so well how to
value and protect it, and to add to its honour.




CHAPTER XII.


The Church is under the regulation of an Archbishop and four
Bishops. The present Archbishop of Manilla, whose reputation for piety
and good feeling towards all men stands very high, is an old soldier,
who, after serving his king when a young man as lieutenant of cavalry
for several years, changed his master, and assuming the habit of a
priest, devoted himself to religion for the remainder of his life.

There are about 500 parochial curacies throughout the islands under
him in the four bishoprics, 167 of the curacies being situated in his
own see; and several literary, charitable, and pious institutions at
Manilla look up to him as their patron and head; among others may be
mentioned the University of Santo Tomas, having chairs for students of
Latin, logic, metaphysics, moral philosophy, canon law, theology, &c.

As a body, the ministers of religion in the Philippines are not
apparently so well educated a class as those of Great Britain,
even in the education of the schools, and are possessed of less
general information, of course, from the want of any periodical
literature equal to that which we have, from whose sources much of
the information, and some of the apparent learning of my countrymen
are derived, at little cost of time or expense.

However, many of the Spanish _padres_ are men of general and varied
attainments, such as would adorn any church or station in life; but
the greater number of them can scarcely claim so much, as, although
they are all respectably educated, their attention for many years
of their life has been directed chiefly to the prosecution of such
studies as would influence their advancement in the Church, such as
the canon law, church history, theology, &c., on a knowledge of which
their consideration for accomplishments among themselves principally
depends, I believe.

Most of the priests I have been in contact with, appeared to be
thoroughly convinced of, and faithful to their religion in its purity;
and as a body, appear to be about as sincere and pious a class as
clergymen at home.

Occasionally, however, you meet with startling exceptions to this
rule, which astonish any one accustomed to see the high regard to
outward decency observed by the same cloth at home; for instance,
it would be considered most reprehensible at home, for any clergyman
to keep a mistress; and if the fact became known, would occasion his
instant dismissal from his cure, and his expulsion from the Church.

This is not so, however, in the Philippines, and may be seen at
any time, especially among the Mestizo and native Indian priests,
whose education is worse, and their ideas of religion much more
vague, incorrect, and superstitious than those of the Spaniards;
and sometimes, in the country parishes, an Indian or Mestizo _padre_
is found openly living in the _convento_ or parsonage-house with his
mistress and natural children. But frequently, in cases where a sense
of decency prevents them doing this openly, one occasionally meets
in their houses young half-caste children, who pass for the family
of some brother or sister, although these had never any existence,
and there is in reality little or no doubt as to the priest himself
being their father.

This state of things, however, is not the general state of the Church,
although it may but too frequently be met with; and is not considered
nearly so reprehensible as it would be, were they at liberty to marry,
as Protestant clergymen are. In many cases its existence can scarcely
fail to be known to their bishops, by whom however it appears to be
winked at; and is not considered by the laity as being particularly
scandalous, their notions on the subject being somewhat indefinite.

Within a very short distance of Manilla, I have been in a convento
where the priest, his mistress, and family all lived together, the
padre being a Mestizo. On the village feast-day, one of the party
with whom I was in the country, hired some jugglers who had come down
from Bengal to act their wonderful tricks in the theatre at Manilla,
and sent them out to Mariquina on the feast-day, there to amuse the
people, and to please the padre, as he knew it would do, he being an
old acquaintance of his. Accordingly, in the afternoon they exhibited
to an immense crowd of natives, just before the open church-door. A
platform had been quickly erected for their accommodation, from which
they were exhibiting their tricks to the intense astonishment of the
Indians, most of whom had never seen anything of the sort before;
and in the evening, the padre having asked leave for the jugglers
to come to the convento, gave a great party to all the Spaniards,
or white men, who were then in the pueblo, in order to watch their
tricks more closely than could be done at a public exhibition.

Several Spanish ladies were present, and among them, quite as a matter
of course, was the mistress of the priest. One or two of the ladies
present were wives of high officials at Manilla, and all of them were
persons of the best character and standing, yet they did not appear in
the least discomposed by her presence, although none of them paid her
any attention, or noticed her as the lady of the house; in fact, she
appeared to be regarded by them as a sort of privileged housekeeper
more than in any other light, although they were perfectly aware
of the irregularity of her life. This may give some idea of their
modes of thinking of such affairs, for all of them present perfectly
understood the relation in which the spiritual adviser of so large
a population as that of Mariquina stood to her.

Both the priest and she were elderly people, and their intercourse
has, I understood, been of long standing; and during the course of it
several children have been born. But the most wonderful thing appears
to be, how such a man could direct the worship of his parishioners,
or lay before them the scripture tenets of his and their faith,
while openly violating it before their eyes. But the same thing has
taken place in Europe not unfrequently, and quite as openly, without
exciting excessive scandal in many places.

There is an immense deal more of immorality among the clergy of
all denominations and countries than would be believed. Alas, for
human nature!




CHAPTER XIII.


The site of Manilla is low-lying and level, and as the country in
the vicinity of the capital is of the same nature, being covered by
far stretching paddy fields, it presents few picturesque attractions,
in order to enjoy which, and the verdure, freshness, and variety of
an undulating landscape, excursions are frequently made to various
places at some short distance from the town, and during some period
of each year, most of the foreign merchants have latterly got into
the plan of renting houses within driving distance, and of spending
most of the dry season in them, going and returning frequently, or
generally daily, to their counting-houses, so long as the roads are
passable. The village of Mariquina, about seven miles from Manilla,
is the most favourite place of resort, although the road to it is
very bad, but it presents the attractions of very good pure air and
water, and a bright landscape. Those persons who are not fond of horse
exercise, make use of American light spider-carriages, drawn by a pair
of ponies, as that sort of vehicle is found to be the only conveyance
capable of standing the ruts and jolting over these country paths,
which would to a certainty break the springs of any other description
of carriage I have ever seen.

Owing to their great lightness and strength, these spider-carriages
are favourite conveyances here, and these qualities render them by
much the most suitable description for the country.

In the neighbourhood of Mariquina, the country is in many respects
picturesque and fine; a more lovely _coup d'oeil_ is seldom seen,
than that which may be witnessed from the road at the top of the hill
just before beginning the descent leading past the old Jesuit Convent,
a partly ruinous building, now known by the name of the Hacienda;
from that point, looking down on the valleys which burst on the view
at once, especially at the season when they are waving with the ripe
and yellow grain, or clothed in a beautiful coat of green,--on the
fine river, peacefully winding through them, on the splendid old trees
covered with green and luxuriant foliage, which are interspersed and
dot the scene, across to the distant hills, clothed in all the glories
of a tropical sunset or sunrise, and varied by the many tints of light
and shade of brilliant colours, it often is a sight truly worthy of
being witnessed for its glowing beauty.

At Mariquina, there is a well, the water of which has the reputation
of curing many sorts of disease, more especially those of the skin,
and many are the sufferers who visit it in the hope that bathing in
the trough into which the spring drops, may cure their ailments. The
water is slightly tepid and not disagreeable to drink, being tasteless,
and is recommended for diseases of the kidneys and stomach, by the
Manilla doctors.

Some miles beyond Mariquina, there is a most curious cave, of great
extent, at the village of San Mateo, which is well worthy of a visit
by the curious. Shortly after entering it, the height of the cavern
rises to about fifty feet, although it varies continually,--so much
so, that at some places there is scarcely height enough for a man
to sit upright. The formations within are of a singular character,
resembling sometimes immense icicles pendant from the roof to within
a few feet of the floor, or in some places rising from the ground
like ever-growing pyramids, as from the dropping water they are
continually increasing. These pillars of stalactite are extremely hard
and difficult to splinter, even after repeated blows with a hammer,
some of them being beautifully milk white, while others appear rather
discoloured from some cause. Several of the columns hanging from the
roof may measure about a yard or more in circumference, their forms
being sometimes most curious and fantastic, one stalk expanding as
it descended, looked not unlike a gigantic leaf springing from its
slender arm.

From the main cave there are several openings diverging and leading
to chambers similar to the main room, by some openings at the sides
of which the dropping water is drained off.

The temperature within the cavern was 77°, and without 86°, being a
very considerable change, even in the cool of the evening, on coming
out of it, just after sunset. I am afraid to give an estimate as to
the extent of this immense cave, it requires, however, five or six
hours to partially see its curiosities, and of course would take far
more time to investigate it properly. The only living creatures met
within it, appear to be bats, which are not very numerous. Should a
sportsman visit the place for several days, his gun will generally
procure him some venison and wild pig to feast upon, or to present
to the village priest, or to forward to his Mariquina or Manilla
acquaintances. At Boroboso, also, some distance from Mariquina, he
is sure of finding similar game, and in greater quantity than at San
Mateo, where it is too much poached.

The great want he will experience is that of trained dogs, those
used by the Indians being nearly useless, as after alarming the game
by their noise, they can't hunt it with any thing like spirit. Some
few Kangaroo dogs, however, brought from Sydney, have been eagerly
purchased by the Indian sportsmen, and are said to be an immense
improvement on those of the country, although I have never seen their
performances in the field; from their speed and strength, however,
they appear more than a match for the deer of the islands, which are
small-sized and greatly inferior in strength to those of the Highlands
of Scotland.

The race of dogs formerly known as Manilla bloodhounds has become quite
extinct, although some descendants of a half-bred progeny still remain,
being a cross between them and the street curs. Although they possess
some of the fierce and savage qualities of the old hound, it is in
a much inferior degree to that of the genuine breed, whose size and
appearance was very much finer than any of the mongrels now to be seen.

The old breed were so fierce as to be absolutely unsafe when at
liberty, and always required to be chained up. Several years ago two
fine dogs of the old breed were procured with considerable trouble,
and at some expense sent to England, to a gentleman fond of dogs.

He gave orders to keep them at all times on the chain, during which
they behaved so well, that a groom, going out to air a horse one
morning, unloosed the chain of one of them, and took him along
with him.

The dog remained quiet enough till happening to meet another man,
also airing a pair of skittish horses,--the capering of the horses,
or something else, roused the brute's savage nature, and he sprang
on one of them like a tiger, fastening on his flank, and sucking
his blood so greedily that all the two men could do did not make the
savage beast quit his hold, till gorged with the blood of the victim.

The horse was spoiled for ever, or, I believe, died from the
hemorrhage, and as he chanced to be a valuable one, which, of course,
the owner of the dog had to pay for, he was so disgusted at having to
do so, that he made both of them be shot at once, in order to prevent
any possibility of the recurrence of such an accident.

The only other dog at Manilla besides the worthless street cur, is a
sort of ladies' poodle, with long and silky white hairs; their fine
coats only making them favorites, as they are good for nothing else
than women's pets.

The smaller these are, when full grown, the more they are esteemed;
their white hair should be entirely free from any spots of black or
brown, these being generally the mark of a mongrel breed.

They are so delicate, that few of them can stand a sea-voyage,
and all those I have ever sent away from Manilla, to any distance,
have died before reaching their destination. A well-bred dog of this
breed of middling size, is about as large as a full grown tom-cat,
or a little bigger.

It has always appeared to me a most curious and inexplicable fact,
that when good dogs are sent out from home to a hot climate such as
this, they invariably are found to deteriorate to an uncommon extent,
the heat causing them to lose their spirit, and also their scent. But,
in fact, the animal in perfection, or, as he has been truly called
at home, "the most intelligent of beasts, and the companion of man,"
is only found in some places of Europe to be such.

In all tropical countries he is no longer so, becoming, even should
a good breed be introduced there from Europe, very much inferior in a
few generations in all respects to what we have him in Great Britain,
where they appear to be found in the greatest perfection.

In hot climates the dog has not the same strength or swiftness, nor
is he of equal courage, sincerity, and gentleness of character which
peculiarly distinguish him from all other animals at home. Among
orientals he is no longer treated in the same manner as he is in
Europe, nor in fact does his character, as it exists among them,
deserve equal kindness to that usually shown this faithful animal
in Britain; but in Asia he is driven from their households by the
Mohammedans and Hindoos alike, being regarded by them all as useless,
and a pest.

In China, he is fattened for the table, and the flesh of dogs is
as much liked by them as mutton is by us, being exposed for sale by
their butchers and in their cook-shops.

At Canton, I have seen the hind quarters of dogs hanging up in the
most prominent parts of their shops exposed for sale.

They are considered in China as a most dainty food, and are consumed
by both the rich and the poor.

The breeds common in that country are apparently peculiar to itself,
and they are apparently objects of more attention to their owners
than elsewhere in Asia, the Celestials perhaps having an eye to their
tender haunches, which bad treatment would toughen and spoil. They do
not appear to be of greater sagacity than the other tropical breeds,
although more bulky and stronger-looking than most of the other sorts
I have seen.




CHAPTER XIV.


All strangers coming to Manilla should endeavour to make an excursion
to the great inland lake, or Laguna de Bay, as it is likely well to
repay the inconvenience one has to stand in such an excursion from
exposure to the sun, &c. The lake is of very considerable extent,
measuring, I think, about twenty-eight miles at its greatest length,
by about twenty-two at its extreme breadth; it is formed by an
amphitheatre of mountains, the various streams from which feed it;
and its opening or outlet forms the origin of the river Pasig, which,
bathing the walls of the fortress of Santiago and the capital of the
Philippines, flows into the arm of the sea called Manilla Bay.

About Christmastide there are many visitors to the lake, as from the
then cooler season the necessary exposure to the heat of a midday sun
in a slightly-covered boat is comparatively innocuous, and much less
disagreeable than it would prove at any other time of the year.

Several foreigners are in the habit of making an annual excursion
there from Manilla to spend these holidays, during which there is no
other amusement in town than church-going and procession-staring.

Having made arrangements to visit the lake either by starting from
Manilla in a large Pasig banca or prow, which although more tedious
than driving to the village of Guadaloupe, near Pasig, and then taking
the water, is, I think, the better plan of the two, as the river
scenery is well worth seeing, and there are no inconveniences such
as are inseparable from that of changing conveyances at Guadaloupe,
&c. When I started, my companion, who luckily happened to be an
experienced man in such affairs, having at different times of his
life roamed through the backwoods of Canada, and over the plains of
Australia, recommended the water conveyance for the whole distance,
as we were not pushed for time; and the excursion turned out to be one
of the pleasantest I have ever been engaged in, from the satisfactory
nature of his arrangements and his own hilarity and good-natured
usefulness; for of course he had not knocked about so much without
acquiring some _savoir faire_, so desirable in a companion during
such an excursion.

On Christmas eve we went together to a large dancing party or ball,
given by an old and rich Mestizo, at whose house we kept up dancing
and enjoying ourselves till about midnight; shortly before which all
the men started, in company with the ladies, to the parish church of
San Sebastian, there to hear a midnight mass, and welcome in the sacred
anniversary by saying our prayers. The spectacle was rather a fine one;
and on looking at the devout up-turned features of my fair companion,
when kneeling at her devotions, I could scarcely believe that she was
the good-natured, lively Mestiza girl I had been flirting with not
five minutes before; but after half an hour's worship, which, to do
them justice, was apparently of the most sincere and heartfelt kind,
the fair penitents returned to the supper room with a number of the
heretics, and afterwards, notwithstanding all their prayers, danced
with us, being quite as lively and as full of flirting as before their
visit to church. We stopped till about three o'clock in the morning,
when, being thoroughly tired of the heated rooms, my companion and I
resolved to enter the boat which had been engaged for the occasion,
and in which clothes, provender, &c., had previously been embarked,
and left under charge of a servant, Fernando, at a landing-place
from the river, near the house where we had been invited to pass the
evening. Taking the precaution to eat a hearty supper, to keep out
the night air, on arriving at the boat, and wrapping ourselves up in
our blankets, we both very speedily began to enjoy the rest necessary
for next day's exertions; and having previously secured our crew of
five picked men to pull, we were rapidly approaching the Laguna when
we awoke, and daylight had just rested on their oars next morning;
after breakfast, and a bath in the cool and delicious water of the
river above Pasig, we quickly passed by the pateros or villages for
breeding ducks, situated among the swamps at the outlets of the lake,
and the beginning of the river.

Several of these duck villages can scarcely be said to be situated on
_terra firma_, as many of the _nipa_ or attap-houses are founded on
the supporting trunks of trees growing out of the sedgy swamp. The
houses have a small lower platform of bamboo on two sides, for a
cooking-place and for landing from a boat, below and around being trees
or bamboos growing out of the water. Many of these clumps of bamboo,
some of which attain a great height, occasionally, perhaps, as much as
150 feet, are from their numbers a peculiar feature in the landscape
of the Philippines, and form some of the most beautiful objects of
luxuriant vegetation that can be imagined for a landscape. They are
found growing wild, very grand and fresh-looking in all parts of
the country, and are of many varieties, some of which any one may be
acquainted with who takes the trouble to consult the good old Padre
Blanco's book on the _flora de Filipiñas_.

At the pateros, near the entrance to the Laguna, the people breed large
flocks of ducks to supply the Manilla market, to the exclusion of all
other employment except, perhaps, catching and drying enough fish to
season their rice, which most of them purchase, and very few of them
grow. These Indians, although few in number, are to a considerable
extent isolated from the people of the country, from what cause I
know not, but they very rarely associate or intermarry except with
each other. The ducks they breed for the market are well trained,
being perfectly obedient to the call of their different masters,
and on hearing his signal come quickly sailing back, should they have
gone too far away. They get fat on the fish and tender sedgy grass,
and when placed on the dinner-table are very good eating.

After entering the lake, which is studded with wooded islets, the
largest of which is named Talim, the gun is called into requisition,
as the immense flocks of wild duck breeding here afford a constant
sport, and the advantages of their acquisition are not likely to be
overlooked either by the _gourmand_ or the hungry tourist. They are,
however, rather wild, and the best mode of shooting them appears
to be to dress in a blue cotton shirt and trousers like an Indian,
and paddle off as near the flock as they will permit; and then for a
chance among them. If there is more than one person in the grass-boat,
which is a very small and unhooded banca, which the natives use for
carrying small quantities of grass for horses, &c., the ducks are
apt to take the alarm, although I have sometimes been successful in
getting near them with an Indian paddling the boat.

Besides the ducks there are several other kinds of wild fowl,
and on coasting round the shores of Talim, an alligator basking
in the sun, frequently offers a mark for a ball, which, however,
seldom proves fatal. I struck one on the scales without producing
any apparent damage, the distance being probably about thirty yards,
and he merely shook himself a little and tumbled into the water from
off the rock he had been sleeping on, without seeming much startled
or to be in the least wounded. They are said to reach an immense age,
and the most incredible stories are told, and apparently believed,
by the natives themselves of their traditional longevity.

On Talim some deer and pigs may now and then be seen, although it
is too much frequented and disturbed to be at all a sure cover for
them; my companion shot a very beautiful variety of the hawk on the
island. After enjoying the hospitality of M. Vidie, an old French
planter at Jalajala, we set off in the direction of Tanay, whence we
had heard good reports of the game.

During a strong monsoon there is sometimes a heavy swell on the
water of the Laguna, and occasionally boats are swamped or upset,
so that frequently when we used to go out in our Pasig banca it was
against the will of our boatmen; but like true and stubborn Britons,
we always insisted upon having our own way, although the boatmen, who
certainly knew most about it, used to predict that we should all be
swamped to a certainty, but a well-trimmed and moderately well-handled
boat can go through any sea, and it is generally from want of care that
accidents occur. On one occasion in Manilla Bay, I have been swamped
solely from that cause, and the fright of a companion, whose alarm
induced the catastrophe by diverting the men's attention. However,
as an American whaler was luckily near and saw our situation, they
lowered a whale-boat and picked us up.

At the lake, in stormy weather, we used to go out with two men
steering the boat, each with a powerful paddle, and the remainder
of the crew managing the sail. Sometimes we got half full of water,
which it was the duty of the boy Fernando to bale out, but when he got
seasick and tired, we both set to to keep her free. On one occasion
of the sort, my chum Adam, taking pity on the forlorn condition of
the puking Fernando, recommended to him frequent sips from a bottle
of brandy, to keep away the retching; the hint was not thrown away,
and the lad lay down in the bottom of the boat, looking as miserable
as possible, and quite sick, utterly forgetful or unconscious of the
soiled condition of the splendid piña shirt which he wore at the time;
although in his hours of ease it commonly attracted a large proportion
of his regard and self-complacency. After many sips, apparently, the
brandy produced the desired effect, as my follower ceased to project
his mouth, every now and then, over the side of the banca, but had
sunk into a sound sleep, caused, we imagined, by the exhaustion and
lassitude subsequent to sea-sickness; and so he remained till our
approaching Tanay, when the sail was lowered, and he roused up and
left to bring our luggage up to the Casa Real, or townhouse, where
there is always a chamber and bedstead for strangers. For that place
we started, leaving him to follow.

After waiting some time impatiently, we were rather surprised to
see two of the boatmen marching up with Fernando, who gave tokens of
extreme lassitude and unsteadiness of gait, showing at times, when
he raised his drooping head, an attempt to shake off his conductors,
who were on these little manifestations reinforced by two of their
companions, who followed them, bearing our portmanteaus; and at length
the procession would move on again. After some difficulty they got
him into the Casa Real, where one of the men, spreading a mat upon
the floor, laid him down on it, staring wildly about him. After
contemplating him for a few seconds, he turned to me, and, inverting
the mouth of an empty bottle, to prove satisfactorily that it was
empty of the _vieux cognac_, which was marked on the label, laid it
down beside him, saying, "Es muy boracho, Senor, pero es valiente."

And so resulted the cure of sea-sickness by brandy, of which the lad
had taken such a dose as to shake him severely, although a strong
young fellow, for several days after it; in fact, we both became
afraid of him, and vowed never again to recommend the medicine,
except in quantities less than a bottle at a time.




CHAPTER XV.


Adam W---- having on a former shooting expedition been at Tanay,
had at the time made the acquaintance of some of the townspeople,
who had shown him all the attentions in their power; so that soon
after our arrival, having dressed and refreshed at the Casa Real,
we sallied out together to call on several of his old acquaintances,
hoping to obtain from some of them such information and assistance
as would help us discovering the whereabouts of a good huntsman and
guide, in order that we might avail ourselves of his local knowledge
in selecting the best district of the neighbourhood for sport.

On entering the house of the Fiel of Tobacco, we were most hospitably
received and warmly invited to take quarters there during our residence
in Tanay; and as the offer was much too good to be refused, even
had it been less warmly backed by the unequivocal demonstrations
of welcome than those which they evinced, it was at once accepted,
with not the less good-will because there was only the Casa Real
to sleep in had we chosen to refuse it, which assuredly no one who
had the fear of bugs, fleas, or musquitoes before his eyes would do,
these animals being of the utmost size and activity in every one of
the Casas Reales I have ever slept in.

After some conversation with our host, who was rather a fine-looking
Spanish Mestizo, as to our plans, &c., he most good-naturedly set
off to seek a huntsman whom he recommended as a guide, leaving us in
the meantime to the society of his wife--a strapping native beauty,
although somewhat swarthy, full of good nature and the gossip of the
place. From her, Adam soon learned all about his former acquaintances,
and among others of the Capitan Tomas, his buxom wife, and pretty
daughter, who we were told was considered the beauty of the town.

After their names had been mentioned with that addition, he got
rather impatient all of a sudden for a stroll about the town; so we
started together, after paying a visit to our portmanteaus and the
still insensible Fernando, at the town-house, where my friend armed
himself with a bottle of eau de Cologne, a box of which I found that
he carried about with him for distribution among such native beauties
as he was ambitious of standing well with, for they were sure to like
this perfume, which his experience of the country taught him was seldom
procurable in such out-of-the-way places, and to a dead certainty
always procured him favour in the eyes of the unsophisticated fair,
whom he taught how to use it.

For this it was that he had hinted something about thieves and the
state of Fernando, and proposed looking in to see if the portmanteaus
were still safe at the Casa Real, so I resolved to be revenged
for the double dealing of his proposal upon seeing the top of the
Cologne bottle peeping out from his shooting-jacket pocket. I watched
a chance, and snatched it away without being noticed, determined that
the half-caste beauty whose praises he was so eloquent in during our
promenade, should not have him to thank it for at all events.

We reached the house, and were well received by the Capitan, who
pressed us to stop with him, and when he found we were engaged, invited
us to pass next day with him, which, as the beauty was looking her very
best, there was great risk of our doing, in preference to prosecuting
our pig-shooting scheme, as had been originally intended. Poor Adam was
evidently smitten by her attractions. After talking with these good
people for some time, I observed that his attention was engrossed
in watching Rita's movements, when, as the Capitan, his wife, and
myself were all standing at an open window, looking at the flowers in
his garden, and talking away, and their daughter, occupied in some
household duty, was leaving the sala, Adam, who had been watching
like a lynx for such an opportunity, seized it on the moment, and
managed to slip away from us, and get out of the room after her, in
the hopes of being able to snatch a kiss or something of the sort,
and to present the scented water, which he had not missed from his
pocket, although as he slipped away in all the agitation of pursuit,
I saw first one hand and then the other slipped into the pockets of
the coat where it should have been; but he was so much engaged in
getting out of the room quickly and silently, that he did not miss
it. Reaching the open door just as she had gone out, when about two
paces beyond it, he popped his head over her shoulder unobserved, and
stole a kiss; I heard the smack, then a rustle, and then a titter,
during which Adam was searching his pockets for the missing bottle,
which of course he did not find there; and when he said something
or other about the kiss, he foolishly, in his search for it, told
her that he had lost so very desirable a present; upon which, as he
afterwards told me, the beauty looked saucy, and very plainly did
not believe a word about it, but fancied he had invented the story to
excuse the kiss, and pretended to get a little angry with the liberty
taken with her blooming cheek; so she walked off, and left him quite
at a loss to account for its disappearance.

Before leaving, I took an opportunity of presenting the missing bottle
at a time when the owner of it was not by, and fancied, from the blush
which gave additional beauty to her cheek as I did so, that with the
natural quickness of a woman and a beauty, she had read the stratagem
played off on poor Adam; so she frankly offered me the same reward,
by presenting her blooming lips to be kissed, even by so very recent
an acquaintance.

On making arrangements for a shooting party, it is quite necessary to
hire beaters to drive the game, which there would be little chance
otherwise of sighting, without undergoing more walking than most
people find pleasant under a tropical sun.

Having had the precaution to bring our own saddles with us, some
miserable-looking ponies were procured, and started with a guide at
an early hour in the morning, along a path formed for the most part,
up and down thickly wooded hills, the road being sometimes a dry
watercourse, or mountain stream.

However, we got over the ground, passing through a beautiful country,
and arrived at the meet after a four hours' ride, the place appointed
being a hut belonging to the huntsman, and surrounded by three paddy
fields, which he tilled, with his family, but did not live there,
except at planting and reaping time, or for about six weeks of the
year, from fear of the tulisanes, who, he said, frequented this
wild and uninhabited neighbourhood. This is a frequent effect of the
bad police of the Philippines, as much of the country that might be
most advantageously cultivated, is abandoned to the jungle, solely
from fear of these robbers, who sometimes add to their plundering
propensities crimes of a more atrocious dye.

After some good sport with deer and pigs, which constituted the supper
of ourselves and all the beaters, night was very welcome, and seldom,
indeed, did either of us enjoy repose more than in this hut, although
through the holes in the grass walls of it the wind was whistling,
and near us the beaters were noisily carousing, miscellaneously,
upon sherry, cognac, and beer, it mattered not which to them, for we
had presented some bottles of each, in order to celebrate the good
day's sport.

Next morning we heard of a wild cimmarone (or buffalo) having been
seen in the neighbourhood some days previously, and endeavoured to
find out his whereabouts, but none of the scouts could get a trace of
him. Although these splendid animals are occasionally found in the
country, they are not very common, and their reputation for savage
ferocity is so great, that few of the Indians like to shoot them,
because, if merely wounded without being disabled, they are certain
to charge the hunter, which is more than Oriental nerves are fond of.

Monkeys chattering in the trees are very common; but I never shot
any of them, having, in truth, an antipathy to kill a brute with a
shape so nearly human.

Near this end of the lake few Europeans ever go, as it is quite out
of the beaten track, which leads them in an opposite direction, to
look down the crater of a volcano, generally simmering, but seldom
boiling over to such an extent as to spout lava to any distance.

Calamba and Calawan are also places they usually go to see; at
the latter of which, there is a cotton-spinning mill, the property
of a Mestizo, who dresses like a Spaniard, and no doubt wishes to
be considered such. The machinery employed is of Belgian or French
make, and of a very simple construction, and far from being equal to
the sort now used at home for the purpose; but is considered by its
owner to be the only sort that would answer well there, as it can be
kept in order, and even, I believe, put into repair on occasion by a
native blacksmith, who acts as engineer, which could not, of course,
be the case were machinery of a finer and more complex and elaborate
construction employed, as that would render a staff of good European
workmen essential to keep it in order and good repair, and their pay
in this climate, would run away with all the profits of the adventure.

The yarn produced is of the coarser descriptions, and is only saleable
to the native weavers of cotton cloth, by the excessive duty put on
grey cotton twist of British manufacture, which is 40 per cent. on a
high _ad valorem_ valuation if imported by a Spanish ship, and 50 per
cent. if by any foreign vessel, amounting virtually to a prohibition
on its importation.

At the village of Los Baños, on the shores of the laguna, there are
some hot springs, flowing into baths cut out of the natural rock.

The temperature of the water as it issues from the rock is sufficient
to boil an egg; but not having a thermometer, we were unable to
ascertain it more exactly. As it mixes with the cool water of the
laguna, however, the heat decreases, and at sunrise on a cool morning
forms just there a very pleasant bath. The baths, from which the place
is named, having for long been little frequented by invalids, are now
in a semi-ruinous state. In cases of debility they are said to be most
beneficial, and the old Manilla doctor, Don Lorenzo Negrao, whose long
experience of the country and of the diseases incidental to it is most
valuable, in such cases sometimes recommends his patients to try these
baths for some peculiar diseases, and once recommended them to me.

The great mistake of our doctors in India is dosing their patients
with calomel, which, although necessary in some cases, where it is the
only medicine powerful enough to arrest the rapid strides with which
disease advances in tropical countries, is too often had recourse to,
when simples would be just as effective. And this mistake of theirs is
equalled, in bad effects only, by the practice of the Spanish doctors,
who will never administer calomel at all, even in the most urgent
cases, as they prefer trusting altogether to simple remedies for a
cure, and if a patient dies who has had calomel administered to him,
do not hesitate to tell the practitioner who gave it that the medicine
killed him.

Within the tropics lengthened residence is the most essential
qualification in a medical attendant, as although old men may not be
so well up to the latest improvements of the science as those fresh
from college, yet they have from practice found out the best way of
treating tropical diseases, to which the treatment applicable in a
London, Edinburgh, or Paris hospital in similar cases, would be quite
out of place when practised in so different a climate as the tropics,
where the symptoms vary and succeed each other with ten times the
rapidity they do in Europe.




CHAPTER XVI.


Before leaving Manilla on a lengthened country excursion, it is always
desirable to procure introductions to the priests of the district you
are going to visit, which may be effected with very little difficulty
by almost any of your Spanish acquaintances. As although they are
in general a most hospitable class of men, and usually invite any
respectable looking European whom chance may throw in their way, to
sleep at the convento if he be passing the night at their village,
yet without an introduction one remains always a stranger to them,
and sees nothing of their usual habits or modes of life.

Sometimes their good-nature is put to a trial by the eccentricities
of their British guests, and some odd incidents happen. A good story
is told of one of the former British merchants of the place, who
having taken it into his head to make an excursion, before starting
provided himself with letters of recommendation from the Archbishop
of Manilla, to whom he paid court by loans of newspapers, addressed
to the parish priests, and set off with these in his pocket, finding
them of the greatest service in insuring a welcome wherever he went,
being described therein in the most favourable colours, by the high
church dignitary.

One day, after a long and fatiguing ride, he arrived, about two in the
afternoon, in a very ravenous state, at a convent or parsonage. On
ascending the stairs of the convento, the first thing which met the
eyes of the hungry traveller was a table neatly arranged for the
padre's dinner, who, he was informed by the servants, would be back
in about an hour to dine. An hour still--why it seemed to be a century
since he had broken his fast; however, he waited for what appeared to a
hungry man to be a long time, but in reality was probably ten minutes,
when, losing all patience at the non-appearance of the priest, whose
house he had so coolly taken possession of, he told the boys to put
something to eat on the table, and they, apparently mistaking his
meaning, in a trice served up the good priest's half-cooked dinner,
which, without the delay of asking any questions, he proceeded to
devour. In a very short space of time he had cleared away the best
part of it, and was beginning to relax in his exertions, as the good
effects of a hearty meal began to mollify his craving stomach, in
fact he was just beginning to attack the last relic of a fat capon,
which formed the main battle of the dishes set out before him, when
a heavy footstep was heard on the stairs, and in another instant the
gaunt figure of the priest himself stood before the empty plates on the
dinner table, and the unknown and unexpected guest, whose jaws were at
the moment occupied in masticating the last morsel of the fat fowl,
which the father had ordered for himself, and looking forward to it
had caused him to take a lengthened promenade, in order to promote
appetite. Imagine the scene--but whether the good padre's momentary
wrath, and then utter astonishment and indignation, or the guest's
embarrassment, were greatest--or the most ludicrous, it would be hard
to determine. For some time they merely looked at each other, without
speaking--the priest, probably, because he could not articulate--and
his guest, perhaps, because his mouth was full--till the absurdity of
the whole affair apparently striking them both at once, they mutually
broke out into laughter, the violence of which threatened to convulse
them. From this, however, the padre was the first to recover, when the
intruder, mastering his muscles, regained his countenance so far as
to be able to mutter something in the shape of an apology, in which,
probably, the word "starvation" was the only one intelligible; after
it had been good-humouredly received, and the priest had welcomed the
strange guest, the Archbishop's letter was produced as his credentials,
but not till then. And afterwards they passed the evening together in
the old convento, which, as the evening advanced, rang to many a merry
laugh and jest about the affair in which both had figured so awkwardly.

The caprices of all the visitors to the country are not, however,
so harmless; it is not long since a party of young men, headed by one
notorious for his love of fun, and what are called practical jokes,
chartered a _chatta_, or covered cargo boat, of from 25 to 30 tons,
and having put two carronades on board of her, set sail for the laguna,
and while there amused themselves by bearing down, after nightfall,
on the villages and towns on its banks, and bombarding them with the
guns, taking care, however, not to do harm or to kill any one, either
by not shooting the guns, or if there was a ball in one of them, by
aiming it a little over the houses, so as not to damage them. On the
noise made by the guns being heard, and the flash seen so close to them
in the dark nights, the whole male population of the place would turn
out in haste to repel the attack of this supposed band of tulisanes,
arming themselves with any sort of weapon, and getting the women and
children out of harm's way by sending them off--and probably an urgent
despatch would be forwarded by the gobernadorcillo of the village to
the governor of the province, if he lived within some few miles of
him, requesting assistance--or detailing the flight of the robbers,
who, on seeing the determination and force of the villagers prepared
to defend their hearths, had not ventured to attempt landing, but had
sailed away without having been able to do any damage to the pueblo.

These midnight bombardments were repeated so frequently as to lead the
local authorities to make great efforts to put down the daring troop
of robbers who bearded them at their very doors at the town of Santa
Cruz, near which the Governor lives, and kept the country people,
who had begun to talk about them, in a state of constant alarm.

Notwithstanding all their efforts to discover the hiding-place of the
band, nothing could be found out about them, no one ever imagining
that the party of gentlemen in the chatta could be at all mixed up
with them--in fact, the well-intentioned alcalde of the province,
hearing that such a party was visiting the lake, sent off a _ministro_
to give them information about the desperate band of tulisanes who
were lurking in the neighbourhood, and advised them to be upon their
guard against an attack; for which attention they of course thanked
him, and assured the envoy that it was for that reason only they had
provided themselves with the two formidable looking pieces of ordnance
which he saw in the boat.

They were not found out to have been representing the parts of the
supposed tulisanes, till, on their return to Manilla, where people
had heard of the disturbances in the province of the Laguna by these
robbers, and were talking about it, the story somehow got wind, and,
when it was known who had caused so much trouble, of course there
was a general laugh at the local authorities.

Lucky enough it was, however, that the affair rested there, as all
of the party might have suffered severely for their amusement and
fondness for carronading. It only caused the government to increase
their strictness in giving passports to the country, which now were
only conceded on the pleas of urgent business, or of ill health when
that was backed by a medical certificate; the alcalde also became
more strict in seeing that all travellers through the province were
provided with these documents.




CHAPTER XVII.


In the course of these excursions to the country, the native Indians,
with a stray half-breed, generally of the China Mestizo race, are
nearly the only people met with, as few Europeans are settled in the
provinces, except in the provincial capitals, or near the alcalde,
whose dependents they generally are. Should a stranger be able to
speak to the natives in their own language, he has a much better
opportunity of becoming acquainted with their character, habits,
and feelings, than if he is merely able to speak Spanish, a language
which only a very small proportion of them understand in the country,
although most of those in the neighbourhood of Manilla can speak
it after a fashion. For although the law makes it requisite for the
Capitan of every pueblo to be able to speak as well as to read and
write Spanish, yet this is not always the case, as I have frequently
met with these officials, more especially in out-of-the-way places,
who did not understand it.

Nearly the whole, certainly above three-fourths of the population, make
use of the Tagala or Tagaloc language, which, so far as I am aware,
is quite peculiar to these islands, having little or no similarity
to Malayee, so that it does not appear to have been derived from a
Malay root, although some few Malay words have been engrafted on it,
probably from the circumstance of that language being made use of
in the province of Bisayas, which is the only place in the islands
where it is spoken.

In Pampanga province, the natives speak a distinct language, differing
entirely from Tagaloc, quite as much as Welsh does from English,
although many of the Pampangans, on growing up, find it useful to know
how to speak the Tagaloc, which most of them understand a little of.

The _Negritos_, who are found in some parts of the islands, are a
peculiar race, with features exactly resembling the African negro,
although in general smaller made men, but formed with all the
characteristics of the African. They also use a distinct language,
and have very little intercourse with either of the other races--many
tribes of them living, even up to this day, independent of, and
unsubdued by, the Spaniards, whose active missionaries have however
of late years been making every effort to reduce them to allegiance
to the government of Manilla, as well as to the religion of the cross.

These good men have penetrated, where soldiers dare not enter with
arms in their hands, and in their case, truly, the sword has given
place to the gown, with good effects to all concerned in the reduction
of these wild Indians to the Roman Catholic faith, and the arts of
civilized life; for many hundreds of them, nay, I believe thousands,
are now peaceful cultivators of the soil, which, these good fathers
have taught them how to till, instead of living, as they formerly did,
at warfare with mankind, and solely on the produce of the chase.

How these differences of race and language have arisen, it is probably
impossible now to discover, at least I have never heard any one of
the many theories on the subject, for they are nothing more than
speculations, which could sustain all the requirements necessary to
account for their existence in their present state.

In the character of the native Indians there are very many good points,
although they have long had a bad name, from their characters and
descriptions coming from the Spanish mouths, who are too indolent
to investigate it beyond their households, or at the most beyond
their city walls; as very few, indeed, of all the Spaniards I met
with have ever been in the country any distance from Manilla, except
those whose duty it has been to proceed to a distance, as an alcalde
of the province, or as an officer of the troops scattered through
the islands,--very many of whom remain at home in the residency or
in their quarters, smoking or drinking chocolate, and bewailing their
hard fates, which have condemned them to live so far away from Manilla,
from the theatre, and from society. They come and go without knowing,
or caring to know, anything about the people around them, except when
a feast-day comes, when they are always ready enough to visit their
houses, dance with the beauties, and consume their suppers.

The most noticeable traits in the Philippine Indians appear to be
their hospitality, good-nature, and _bonhommie_ which very many
of them have. Their tempers are quick; but, like all of that sort,
after effervescing, soon subside into quiet again.

Very frequently have I been invited to enter their houses in the
country, when loitering about during the heat of the sun, under
the protection of an immense and thick sombrero which prevented me
suffering much from the exposure; and on going into one of them,
after the host or hostess had accommodated me with a seat on the
_banco_ of bamboo, a cigarillo, or the _buyo_, which is universally
chewed by them, and composed of the betel nut and lime spread over an
envelope of leaf, such as nearly all Asiatics use, has been offered
by the handsome, though swarthy, hands of the hostess or of a grown-up
daughter: or, if their rice was cooking at the time, often have I been
invited to share it, and have sometimes so made a most excellent and
hearty meal, using the natural aid of the fingers in place of a spoon,
or other of the customary aids for eating. After eating they always
wash their hands and mouths, so cleanly are their habits.

So long as any white man behaves properly towards them, and treats
them as human beings should be treated, their character will evince
many good points; but should they be beaten or abused without a
cause, or for something that they do not understand, as they but too
frequently are when composing the crews of ships, the masters of which
are seldom able to speak to them in their own language or in Spanish:
who can blame them if the knife is drawn from its sheath, and their
own arm avenges the maltreatment of some brutal shipmaster or his
mates for the wrong they have suffered at their hands? In all I have
seen or had to do with them they have never appeared as aggressors,
and it has only been when the white men, despising their dark skins,
have ventured on unjustifiable conduct, that I have heard of their
hands being raised to revenge it.

When they know that they are in the wrong, however, should the
harshest measures be used towards them, I have never known or heard
of their having had recourse to the knife, and I have frequently seen
them suffer very severe bodily chastisement for very slight causes
of offence.

They are easily kept in order by gentleness, but have spirit enough to
resent ill-treatment if undeserved. Not long ago an instance of the
kind happened to a person who has the character of being a violent
and irascible man. He one day fell into a passion about something
or other, and fastened his ill-nature and passion on an inoffensive
servant who chanced to be near him at the time, and ended some abuse
by ordering the man to go into a room, where he followed him, and after
locking the door and putting the key into his pocket, took up a riding
switch and began to flog the servant, who bore it for a while, until,
losing his temper completely, he seized his master by the throat,
and, taking the whip from him, administered with it quite as much
castigation as he had himself received.

Their general character is that of a good-natured and merry people,
strongly disposed to enjoy the present, and caring little for the
future.

So far as regards personal strength and mental activity or power,
they are much superior to any of the Javanese or Malays I have seen
in Java, or at Batavia and Singapore. But, to our modes of thinking,
the greatest defect in their character is their indolence and dislike
to any bodily exertion, which are the effects of the sun under which
they live; but their native maxims and their habits, although we
may disapprove of them now-a-days, when everything goes by steam,
might be dignified by a great poet's verse into the truest and best
philosophy; for does he not sing,--


            Otium bello furiosa Thrace,
            Otium Medi pharetra decori
            Grosphe, non gemmis, neque purpura venale, nec auro.

            Vivitur parvo bene, cui paternum
            Splendat in mensâ tenui salinum;
            Nec leves somnos timor aut Cupido
                     Sordidus aufert.

            Lætus in præsens animus, quod ultra est
            Oderit curare, et amara lento
            Temperet risu, &c.----Hor. II. xvi.





CHAPTER XVIII.


At Manilla a labourer's pay is a quarter of a dollar a-day, or a little
more than a shilling, which is enough to keep him supplied with food
of as good quality and quantity as he needs to eat for about two or
three days, so that if a labourer or coolie, who has only himself to
support, work two days out of the seven, he has enough to supply all
his necessities, and can enjoy what is to him a high degree of pleasure
and amusement,--the training of a cock for the cockpit, sleeping
a long siesta, gossiping with his neighbour, and chewing _buyos_,
or smoking cigarillos, quite at his ease, during the rest of the time.

They have all a strong dislike to settling down to any employment
demanding the exercise of much bodily exertion, even when it is well
remunerated; and the consequence is, that the extreme difficulty of
procuring labour forms the greatest drawback there is to a planter
settling in the Philippines, and not unfrequently causes the one or two
people who have now got plantations there on a small scale, to suffer
the utmost inconvenience in the management of their estates; and this
operates to so great an extent, as virtually to prevent any one but a
very bold and speculative man investing money in sugar plantations,
or otherwise locking it up in agriculture. Government has long been
sensible of this, and the present Captain-General has issued an order,
containing a permission for persons engaging in plantations to import
Chinese labourers, to whom, if actually engaged in tilling the soil,
are conceded certain privileges which they have not hitherto enjoyed,
being subject to less tribute than what is paid by the rest of their
countrymen who are engaged in other avocations.

This decree had been lying ready for years in the desks of the
Government officials, no Governor till recently having had the courage
to publish an order so greatly in advance of their general policy. As
it is, this is one of the greatest steps they have ever taken in
the right direction; and I trust it may be attended with the best
effects, although some of the restrictions on the China labourers
may tell against it; and I fear that the large outlay necessary to
import labour from China, while they have a supply, although it is
a very uncertain one, at their doors, without incurring the expense
and risk of doing so, may hinder the success of the scheme.

There are very few people in the colony who are possessed of the
capital necessary to start a plantation on a large scale. And the
existing laws prevent or check foreigners doing so, unless they
get married to a Spanish or native woman, which, from their general
character, few British would like to do; or by abjuring their religion,
and getting naturalized, which is a measure equally or more repugnant
to the human breast, unless self-interest is the beacon which directs
the path, or is the motive for doing so.

However, should plantations on a large scale ever be carried on
in these islands with an equal degree of facility, science, care,
and attention, and with the improved machinery now employed in sugar
estates in Jamaica and elsewhere, there can be little doubt that the
productions of the islands will be greatly increased, and it will do
good so far; but whether it would tend to improve the condition, or
increase the comforts of the people, now so independent of care for
a livelihood, appears to be more than doubtful; in other respects,
it would do them good, by stimulating their energies.

At present there are no large plantations on the islands, although
two or three of small size exist, none of which are understood to be
sufficiently remunerating to offer any inducement to invest money in
a similar manner.

At Jalajala, M. Vidie, an hospitable old Frenchman, has an estate;
but I understand that the most unceasing efforts, and the greatest
economy, care, and attention, have been necessary to make it answer,
both on his part and on that of its former owner, an Anglo-American,
and a person of great ingenuity, who got so much disgusted with the
incessant battle he had to fight with the soil, and those who tilled
it, that after overcoming the greatest difficulties, he sold the
estate, and was glad to be quit of it.

The whole of the productions of the islands are raised by the poor
Indian cultivators, each from his own small patch of land, which they
till with very simple, though efficient implements of agriculture.

With the existing high prices of labour, there is, however, probably
nearly as much surplus produce available for exportation as there
would be for years to come, under the system of large plantations and
dear labour. Because the present occupiers of the land--employing
no hired labour, but only directing the industry of the farmer and
that of his family, to the small patch on which they were born, and,
of course, have some affection for--are certain to expend far more
labour on their own land, and to bring it to a much higher degree of
cultivation, than it would suit the purpose of a large planter to do;
who, like the Australian or Canadian colonist, would probably find it
most for his interest to cultivate a large surface of land imperfectly,
as under high wages of labour, and comparatively cheap land, it would
be likely to yield him a better return than if he cultivated only a
small surface of ground highly.

For this seems to be the only policy, where the elements to be combined
are dear labour and cheap land; just as when they are dear land and
cheap labour, the contrary would be the case, as it is in Britain.

Now, when I call a quarter of a dollar per diem a high rate of labour,
I may be misunderstood if it is not stated that this rate, when paid
to the slow and careless Indian labourer, is fully equivalent to
three times that sum to a white or British labourer working at home;
as an able-bodied man at home would do about three times as much work,
and would perform it in a highly superior manner.

These reasons make me loath to see the present system of small holdings
changed, which would sever old and respectable ties, and would force
the present independent Indian cottage-farmer to seek employment from
the extensive cultivator, and, without getting more work out of him
in the course of a year, would lower him in self-respect, and in the
many virtues which that teaches, without deriving any correspondent
advantage to society.

In a tropical climate the elements of society are varied, and
quite different from those of a country with a climate like that of
Great Britain. A native Indian, under a tropical sun, could scarcely
support a system of really _hard_ labour for six days of the week for
any length of time; and their indolent habits are, in some degree,
necessary to their existence, perhaps as much as his night's rest
is to the British labourer; for without days of relaxation to supply
the stamina which they have lost during exposure to the sun and hard
labour under it, it is my decided opinion that the men so exposed,
and exhausted, would, after a very few years, knock themselves up,
and become unfit to work, thereby rendering themselves an unproductive
class, and burdens on their friends and on society.

The present cultivators, who show a high degree of intelligence
in many of their operations, in cultivating their staple, rice,
for example, actually expend more labour on their land, and work
much more constantly than any hirelings would do; as at Jalajala,
out of upwards of a hundred labourers in the village who had no other
employment or source of revenue but their labour, not above a third
of the able-bodied men mustered in the fields when the labours of
the day began in the morning; and I understood from the owner of the
estate, that under no circumstances could he prevail on the whole
body of labourers to muster, nor, so long as their rice lasts, will
they work; it is only when that fails, and they will starve if they
do not exert themselves, that they will undergo hard labour in the
fields under the broiling sun.




CHAPTER XIX.


Very few of the native Indians or Mestizos are possessed of much
wealth, according to British ideas of the term, although there are some
of the latter class who are considered among themselves as very well
off, if their savings amount to from five to twenty thousand dollars;
and when they reach fifty thousand dollars, they are looked upon as
rich capitalists.

In Manilla, there are one or two of these Mestizo traders whose
fortunes amount to more than this; but such occurances are rare,
and are seldom heard of. Many of these amounts have been collected
together by their possessors by their engaging in a sort of usurious
money-lending or banking business with the poverty-struck cultivators
of the soil, by advancing seed to many of them for their paddy fields,
and making the hard condition of exacting in return about one half
of the produce of the ensuing crop. But perhaps these money-lenders
are, to a certain extent, necessary to supply the wants of an
improvident and careless race, these habits being besetting sins of
the Indian character; yet there can be little doubt that the money
acquired by such a usurious repayment of the sums advanced, does
an immense deal of harm, and lessens the natural independence of
the Indians who are so unfortunate as to fall into the clutches of
the money-lender. Should a poor Indian, the possessor of a patch of
paddy-land capable of producing very little more than is required to
feed his family, once run short of seed, he has a very hard battle to
fight with the soil before he is able to get that debt cleared off,
should his neighbours be too poor to assist him, as he must then have
recourse to the usurer. For although, through his greater efforts and
improved cultivation, he may produce much more paddy than his land
had done before, yet he is seldom able to save enough for seed from
the moiety of the produce which his appetite restricted to live upon,
as the other half must go to repay the usurer who advanced him seed,
or money to purchase it.

I have seldom heard of Europeans engaging in this business, for which
their nature and habits are much less suitable than those Mestizo
capitalists who devote themselves to the traffic.

These debts are frequently contracted by the Indians in emulating the
splendour of some richer neighbour on their patron saint's feast-day,
when, in proportion to their means, an immense deal of extravagant
expenditure usually takes place; but, with the exception of the
cockpit, all their other expenses are very slight and thrifty.

Their houses are mostly composed of attap, or nipa grass, on a bamboo
framework fixed on and supported by several strong wooden posts,
generally the trunks of trees, sunk deep enough in the ground to
render them capable of resisting the violent gales of wind common
over all the islands during particular months of the year. In the
villages some of the richer natives have wooden houses--that is to
say, the framework of the part of the house dwelt in is of wood,
being generally supported by a stone wall which composes the bodega,
&c., underneath.

Their furniture is generally made from the bamboo, and from this most
useful plant several of their household utensils are also formed;
all these are of the simplest description, but amply sufficient to
supply their wants.

A crucifix, and the portraits of several saints, are universally
found attached to the walls, and before these they are at all seasons
accustomed devoutly to repeat their morning and evening orisons--all
the family kneeling while the mother recites the prayer.

At nearly all houses in the country a large mortar scooped out of the
trunk of some tree is found, being the instrument employed to free
their paddy from the husk, and convert it into rice. This operation
appears to rank among those household duties which fall to the wife's
share to perform. The pestle is sometimes of considerable weight;
and when it is so, is worked by two women at once.

In their field operations the buffalo is the only animal employed,
and is probably the only one domesticated possessing the requisite
strength to perform the work, as the country oxen and horses are much
too small; and although more active, are too weak to drag the plough
through the flooded paddy fields in which they would get entangled and
sink, sometimes to their middles; but through land in this state the
bulky buffalo delights to wade, and, although slowly, creeps along,
and forces himself through.

In the towns the buffalo is still employed in carts and light work,
for which it is not so well suited as the active-paced horses or oxen
of the country would be, and they no doubt will in time be adopted
for these purposes.

In the country the horses are only used for the saddle, and for
conveying small packages of goods from one country shopkeeper to
another, as the roads they have to traverse are such as to preclude
any use of conveyances upon wheels.




CHAPTER XX.


Throughout the islands there is a part of every village set apart for
the market-place, where in the early morning, and after sunset in the
evening, the utmost activity in buying and selling prevails. At all of
these places rice, fish, and butcher meat (generally, but not always),
fruit, and merchandise of the most suitable sorts to supply the wants
of the people who are likely to purchase it, are exposed for sale. It
is a curious scene to walk through such a place for the first time,
especially after sunset, when the red glare of the torches or lamps
shows to perfection the sparkling eyes, swarthy features, and long
hair, which, waving about over the foreheads of the men, gives them a
wildness of look, which their sombre dress, consisting of a dark blue
shirt and trousers, having nothing to attract the attention from the
sparkle of their eyes, makes all the more striking.

In Santa Cruz market-place at Manilla, between the hours of six and
eight in the morning and evening, an immense crowd collect to supply
their household wants, and innumerable are the articles displayed
in the shops;--here the cochineal of Java, there the sago of Borneo,
or the earthenware of China. In the Bamboo Islands the more perishable
commodities are exposed for sale; and fish being the principal article
of the natives' food (and also a favourite one of the white men),
is found exposed for sale in large quantities. But all so offered
is dead, even when the vendor is a Chinaman, although in his native
country great quantities of it are hawked about the streets by the
sellers carrying them alive, in water, so that the purchaser is
certain always to have this food fresh and untainted by keeping;
for even a few hours is sufficient to spoil it in this climate.

The market is well supplied with all descriptions of fish caught in
the Pasig or the bay, most of which are well tasted; the fishermen of
the villages in the neighbourhood being the principal suppliers. A
small sort is found in the river very much resembling white-bait in
taste. Shrimps are also consumed in large quantities. After the rains
there may generally be procured, by those who like them, frogs, which
are taken from the ditch round the walls in great numbers, and are
then fat, and in good condition for eating, making a very favourite
curry of some of the Europeans, their flesh being very tender.

The natives principally eat fish, but there is besides a large quantity
of beef and pork consumed by them, which are always procurable,
except on Fridays, when some little difficulty may be experienced in
procuring flesh, as there is only enough killed on the morning of
that day to supply the wants of the invalids. The country-fed pork
is seldom or never seen at the tables of Europeans, these animals
being too frequently allowed to feed in a most disgusting manner;
and many pigs may at any time be seen in the suburbs of the town
where the Indians dwell roaming about the streets, and efficiently
performing the duties of scavengers, by removing the filth and garbage
from many of these remote streets.

But notwithstanding their knowing, and in fact daily seeing, this
gross and disgusting mode of feeding, it is the most universal and
favourite food of the Chinese at Manilla, and is also a favourite
with the Indians.

The continued use of pork so fed not unfrequently produces a skin
disease called sarnas, something resembling itch.

Fowls, turkeys, and ducks, both tame and wild, are at all times
procurable, the supplies of the latter being from the Laguna. Geese
are seldom or never exposed for sale, but are sometimes sent from
China to private persons merely for their own consumption.

It is a curious thing that geese will not produce eggs, or sit upon
them to hatch their young, at Manilla; and it is also a sufficiently
odd circumstance, that turkeys die in a short time after reaching
Singapore, where they are sometimes sent to private individuals for
domestic use, although they thrive very well both in the Philippines
and in Java. At Singapore, however, after being a few days ashore,
some of them are attacked by a peculiar sickness, apparently giddiness
of the head, which invariably ends in death in a few minutes after
the commencement of the attack. All these birds are subject to it at
that place, if allowed to go about too long before being seized upon
by the cook.

The principal food of the Indians being rice, it is found exposed for
sale, in large and small quantities, in the bazaars, where nearly all
the kinds of fruits of the season may also be found. The catalogue
of fruits grown in the islands is a long one, but among those most
commonly seen may be reckoned plantains of all kinds, of which
there are an immense variety; mangoes, which are remarkably good,
and superior to any species grown in the East, excepting those of
Bombay, to which they are equal; the custard-apple, the pine-apple,
seldom equal to those of Batavia or Singapore; limes, and oranges,
not very good, and greatly inferior to those of China, from whence
some are imported by the trading Spanish vessels constantly running
between the two places; melons of different kinds, of middling quality;
cucumbers, pumpkins, jackfruit, lanzones, and many other sorts.

The best gardens, or those from which Manilla is chiefly supplied with
fruit, are in the vicinity of Cavite, from which place the country
people bring it every morning, the carriers being generally young
women, who, from the steadiness requisite to balance the fruit-baskets
on their heads, acquire a good walk, somewhat at the expense of their
necks, however.

The most common sorts of vegetables exposed for sale appear to be the
sweet potatoes, yams, and lettuce; and green pea-pods are sometimes
to be had, but the latter are seldom good.

The temperature induces such a rapid vegetation as to injure their
taste, as it prevents their ripening, for, after attaining a certain
growth, the sun dries up the pod in a very few days, to prevent which
they are pulled very early, when the pea is so small and delicate,
being barely formed, that the cooks usually serve up both pods and
peas together at table, after having minced them into small pieces
with a knife, being unable to separate them properly.

The common potatoe is imported from China, and from the Australian
colonies. Those from Van Diemen's Land are the best; the sorts received
from China are usually watery and small, being greatly inferior to
those sent up from Australia.

In the fair monsoon, the Chinamen sometimes get supplies of apples,
pears, cabbage, &c., from Shanghai, and these are considered as
great delicacies.

There are many other fruits and vegetables procurable at Manilla,
but those mentioned are the sorts usually met with.




CHAPTER XXI.


The population of the islands is very uncertain, for although the
Government makes the census _apparently_ with some exactness, a very
little knowledge of the country is sufficient to show that they do not
do so in reality, but that this resembles all their other statistical
information, and cannot be depended upon, although it is useful in
leading to an approximation.

Their data are made up from the revenue derived from a capitation
tax, which is so much per head for all grown up persons; but as it
is the interest of all who may be called upon to pay it to keep out
of the way during the period of its collection, many of them do so
without much difficulty, more especially in the remote districts,
where their facilities for concealment are much greater than in the
neighbourhood of Manilla, or of the provincial capitals, where the
alcaldes reside; so that those actually liable to it are very much
greater than the payers of the tax. I estimate the population at a
little under five million souls, the great bulk of whom are engaged
in agricultural pursuits.

Great numbers of people are also employed as fishermen, artizans
of all sorts, and as manufacturers of cloth fabrics of various
descriptions. In addition to the people so gaining a livelihood
by their industry, there are scattered throughout the islands many
Indians, without any occupation, and apparently altogether dependent
on the fruit of the plaintain-tree for subsistence, and indulging
all their natural laziness and indolence of disposition by its aid,
preferring to subsist on the fruit of this most productive plant,
which they can do, from its being always procurable and at all times
of the year in season, without an effort towards its cultivation,
to undertaking the labour and attention necessary to grow rice.

Some of these people are hunters, occasionally going out to the
wilds in pursuit of game, which must alternate beneficially with
their vegetable diet.

As an article of food, however, the plantain does not appear to be so
nutritive or strength-supporting as rice; at least, those persons who
are principally dependent on it for food appear less robust looking
than the rice-fed population. This, however, may not be entirely owing
to that cause, but may be attributable in some degree to their lazy
habits, which, by preventing them taking much exercise or bodily
exertion, renders the muscles of their bodies less developed than
those of the other Indians whose harder work keeps their frames in
a proper state of health.

In person, the native Indians are a good deal slighter and shorter
than Europeans, but are, on the average, taller and stouter than the
Malays, many of them having that broad make of shoulders and lustiness
of limb which indicate personal strength.

Their countenances are in general open and pleasing, and would
be handsome, but for their smallness of nose, which is the worst
feature in the native physiognomy; however, when that feature is
well shaped, as it frequently is, their faces are decidedly handsome
and good-looking.

These remarks apply to both sexes; a number of the women are very
beautiful, for although their skin is dusky, the ruddiness of their
blood shows through it on the cheek, producing a very beautiful
colour, and their dark, lustrous eyes are in general more lit up with
intelligence and vivacity of expression, than those of any Indians
I have seen elsewhere.

A very pleasant trait, to my taste, is the nearly universal frankness
and candid look that nature has stamped upon their features, which,
when accompanied by the softness of manner common to all Asiatics,
is particularly gratifying in the fairer part of creation.

Their figures are well shaped, being perfectly straight and graceful,
and nearly all of them have the small foot and hand, which may be
regarded as a symbol of unmixed blood when very small and well shaped;
as although the Mestizas gain from their European progenitor a greater
fairness of skin, they generally retain the marks of it in their
larger bones, and their hands and feet are seldom so well shaped as
those of the pure-bred Indian, even although the Spaniards are noted
for possessing these points in equal or greater perfection than the
people of other European countries.

The bath is a great luxury among the natives, and of all country-born
people, who appear to be fully as fond of the water as ducks are,
and never look so well pleased as when they are paddling about in it,
for nearly all the women can swim.

It used to be a very favourite sport to make up a bathing party of
ladies, who, dressed in their long gowns, bathed with their male
friends equipped in parjamas, or in short bathing trousers, without
hesitation, swimming about in a retired part of the river for a long
time, generally stopping at least an hour in the water, on leaving
which, and dressing, all reunited to breakfast, or amuse themselves
in some way, with dancing or music. These parties, however, are now
seldom heard of, as the late arrivals from Spain have been so many as
to be able to take the lead, and give a tone to the society of Manilla,
and are now in the midst of revolutionizing the old habits and customs
of the place, certainly not at all for the better, as they have yet
to learn that what is suitable in Europe is not so in the tropics.

Fondness for gay dress is universal, and the _ninas_ take considerable
pains to understand the subject, and to adorn their natural good looks
to the most advantage by the selection of the most appropriate colours.

Their hair is one of the most remarkable beauties in the native and
Mestiza women, being very much longer, and of a finer gloss, than
that of any Europeans.

The staple and most favourite food of the people is rice seasoned
by sun-dried or salted fish, if they should be unable to procure
it fresh, which is, however, seldom the case, as the rivers in the
country abound with many different sorts, and all of them appear to
be very good and well tasted.

And not only do the rivers abound with fish, but great numbers of
_dalag_ are found in the flooded paddy fields during and subsequent
to the rainy season, when they are soaked with water. How this fish,
which is not very good to eat, being tasteless and insipid, comes
there, is a curious problem, as it is often killed in paddy grounds at
a great distance from any stream, out of which it could come during
an overflow. I am not quite certain whether this fish is ever killed
in a stream or not, or whether it is only found in the paddy fields.

I do not recollect of its once being caught in a river, although
the natives kill the fish in the ditches and paddy fields in large
quantities, either by shooting them with shot, as they flounder in
the fields, or by pursuing and capturing them, and knocking them down
with a stick.

In fact, I suspect the _dalag_ to be an intermediary between the
reptile and the fish, although not naturalist enough to investigate
the subject in a proper manner.



CHAPTER XXII.


Many of my readers may chance to be aware that the whole group of
Philippine islands was mortgaged to Great Britain for payment of the
ransom agreed upon at the time of our conquest of them nearly a century
ago; and as up till this time neither the money nor the interest on
it has been obtainable, as it probably never will be, they are, at
this, or any other time, virtually our property, should the British
Government foreclose the mortgage and demand payment. This, even at
present, when the kingdom is groaning under extreme pressure for the
necessary funds annually squeezed out of it, would not be thought a
prudent course, even by the ultra-economical politicians who are so
lavish of displaying their crude projects of retrenchment on neatly
ruled-off paper.

There is no doubt, however, that the cash is never likely to be
forthcoming from the Spaniards, and, under these circumstances, it
surely would be worth the attention of Her Majesty's Government, more
especially as they profess free-trade ideas, to make this state of
things the basis of a request, or even of a _claim_, on the Spanish
Government, for obtaining some liberal concessions in favour of
their countrymen, and the rest of the world, carrying on commercial
intercourse with the Philippines, which is now limited to Manilla;
all foreigners being prohibited from engaging in the country trade,
or from owning property in lands, houses, or ships in the Philippines.

Of course, the Spaniards themselves suffer for the illiberality
of this policy, as there can be no doubt that, were it more free,
and less burdened with restrictions of all sorts than it now is,
it would be attended with the best effects to their own treasury,
as well as be for the general welfare of the islands.

This is what they cannot yet comprehend; but it would not be difficult
to make them understand it, if the employé who undertook the task
understood it himself, and possessed knowledge enough of the character
of the people he had to deal with. Any request, if made in a proper
tone, by our Government, would draw attention to the subject at Madrid,
and some good might be done, even were it only of partial advantage,
as for many years to come they are not likely to step boldly out into
the subject.

At Zamboanga, opposite Zooloo, there already exists a custom-house
and other government offices for the regulation of their own trade
with these islands. But no foreigners are allowed to reside at
Zamboanga. Surely the permission for them to do so is worthy the
attention of a government which has established and is supporting,
at considerable expense, the colony of Labuan for the object not
only of extending our trade and the use of the products of our
manufacturing population, but also with the more generous and noble
idea of civilizing the people in its neighbourhood by their influence,
and of teaching them the blessings that flow from industry and peace.

The appointment of Sir James Brooke as Governor of Labuan was in every
respect a wise proceeding, as it affords a philanthropist a very wide
field on which to exert his influence. Unfortunately, however, for him,
a number of well-informed people, residing in the neighbourhood of the
spot where his philanthropic exertions are said to have taken place,
deny their having had any existence; but, on the contrary, accuse
that gentleman, through the columns of a Singapore newspaper, of the
worst motives and conduct: in short, he is accused in that newspaper
of murdering innocent natives in great numbers by falsely representing
them to be pirates, to serve his own purposes and gratify his Sarawak
subjects' dislike of them; the naval officers, whose services had
been placed at his disposal to put down piracy, being misled by him.

I am not sufficiently acquainted with all the facts of the case to
say with what truth this accusation is made, although, I believe,
so grave a charge has never been contradicted by him, or by his
friends authorized to do so in his name, and to state the true facts
of the case to the public. But, as far as Labuan is concerned, those
people who are best qualified to judge appear to be of opinion that,
although it should have a fair trial for some years longer, it will
never become a place of much commercial importance.

There is little doubt that were foreigners allowed to settle at
Zamboango, where Zooloo, Mindanao, and the entire southern coasts
of the Philippines would be open to their enterprise, it would be
productive of the most beneficial effects, not merely to our merchants
and manufacturers, but to the cause of civilization throughout all
these barbarous countries, and would probably be found much more
effective in putting an end to the existing state of piracy and
kidnapping, which are now carried on to some extent, than any warlike
means which have hitherto been employed to suppress them.

There are many other objects of a commercial nature worth
the consideration of an enlightened government, such as the
disproportionate protective duties in favour of their national
shipping and the produce of Spain; and some degree of toleration to
the religious opinions of foreigners residing at Manilla might also
be obtained; so far, at least, as to permit their having a piece
of consecrated ground for burying their dead, if no more should be
granted; at present they are not permitted to place the remains of
a Protestant within the limits of consecrated ground; but have to
bury them in a field where Chinamen, who retained their country's
faith till the end of their lives, are laid, and where swine are
continually going about routing up the soil, at the imminent hazard
of disturbing recently interred bodies.

Liberty for foreigners to settle in the country for the purposes of
trade or agriculture, and to hold property, might be obtained without
much difficulty, were it properly explained, and shown that their
doing so would benefit the Spaniards as much as themselves.

Under the existing laws their inability to hold property prevents
those foreigners who, after passing many years in the country, have
become as it were almost native, and where they have contracted ties
and formed connexions which few men would like to break, from settling
down in it for the remainder of their lives. As they have no means of
investing their gains with security, though they have probably reached
an age when the cares of business press heavily on relaxed energies,
and they are disposed to sit down quietly, and enjoy themselves in
the country where they are naturalized in every thing but in the eye
of the law--all the interest which good citizens, holding pecuniary
investments, naturally take in the well-being of the country, is
withdrawn from them. No wonder, then, that they are careless about the
domestic improvement of the Philippines, or of their progress in those
arts which fill the treasuries of rulers, and make subjects happy.




CHAPTER XXIII.


The laws do not appear to be bad in themselves, but the dilatoriness
with which they are administered has the effect of rendering them as
baneful to those living under them as if they were radically bad;
the delays and accidents inseparable from the mode of conducting
legal business are very vexatious, and frequently from its cost it
is quite inefficient for its purposes of justice. However, Spain and
its colonies are not singular in that respect, as there is one great
and flourishing country which I could name, where the same defects
exist, although, thank God, in a less degree than they do either
in the colony of Spain, or in that country itself; so the less said
about the mote in our brother's eye, the better for those who have
at this moment a beam in the organ of their own judicial executive.

In conducting a _pleito_ at Manilla, all is done by writing; first,
the charge is made out and filed; then comes an answer to the charge;
then a counter-answer is put in, and that again is replied to; and
so on they go for any length of time, determined by the weight of
the purses of the respective contending parties, till, if no more
is to be said, or if one or both of them gets tired of the expense,
and the case is decided, the other, if he be a rich man, can refer the
whole affair to Spain, where the same pleadings have to be again gone
through, and all the vexation and expense re-incurred, besides that the
decision of the case may with a little management be protracted for any
indefinite length of time. This is not worse than what happens at home,
and is similar to some of our Scotch cases in former times, when for a
century or more one case would be agitated to gratify family dislike
or prejudice. That no one may think I exaggerate, it may be as well
to mention a case which is still undecided at this moment, and which
originated about 1731, between the lairds of Kilantringan and Miltonise
in Galloway, although near kinsmen, namesakes, and neighbours.

There are few things more dreaded by the Spaniards themselves than
a lawsuit with one another. Many of them, however, are glad of the
chance it gives them to be revenged on people with whom they are not
upon good terms. So vile is the whole law and practice relating to
the testamentary disposal of property, and to such lengths have the
abuses in this particular branch of it gone, that it has become a
proverb among Spaniards to say that a wise man would prefer being
a trustee on an estate, to being heir to it; and several people at
Manilla are well known to be living on their gains from executorships,
&c., having no other means of support. These persons, although their
incomes are almost universally known to be so derived, are not in
the least shunned as dishonest people, but are looked upon as being
perfectly entitled to feather their own nests in place of performing
their duty, as we should understand it to be in Britain.

The police laws and regulations are also badly administered, being
very shameful to the Government which permits things to go on under the
same loose system as before. Were there a more numerous and efficient
police force scattered over the country, none of the Spaniards would be
afraid, as many of them now actually are, to live out of town, or to
make distant excursions to the country, from fear of the _tulisanes_,
or robber-bands, which are scattered about in various places, and are
found pursuing their avocations in the neighbourhood of the capital,
although not so boldly as they did a few years since. These robbers
plunder the country in bands perfectly organized, and bodies of them
are generally existing within a few miles of Manilla,--the wilds and
forests of the Laguna being favourite haunts, as well as the shores of
the Bay of Manilla, from which they can come by night, without leaving
a trace of the direction they have taken, in bodies of ten and twenty
men at a time, in a large banca. They have apparently some friends
in Manilla, who plan out their enterprises, send them intelligence,
and direct their attacks; so that every now and then they are heard
of as having gutted some rich native or Mestizo's house in the suburbs
of Manilla, after which they generally manage to get away clear before
the alguacils come up.

The houses of Europeans are also occasionally attacked, although much
less boldly within the last year or two; yet it is the custom for
people to ret

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