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diff --git a/58863-0.txt b/58863-0.txt new file mode 100644 index 0000000..a0be63b --- /dev/null +++ b/58863-0.txt @@ -0,0 +1,11382 @@ +The Project Gutenberg EBook of An Englishwoman in the Philippines, by
+Mrs. Campbell Dauncey
+
+This eBook is for the use of anyone anywhere in the United States and most
+other parts of the world at no cost and with almost no restrictions
+whatsoever. You may copy it, give it away or re-use it under the terms of
+the Project Gutenberg License included with this eBook or online at
+www.gutenberg.org. If you are not located in the United States, you'll have
+to check the laws of the country where you are located before using this ebook.
+
+Title: An Englishwoman in the Philippines
+
+Author: Mrs. Campbell Dauncey
+
+Release Date: February 11, 2019 [EBook #58863]
+
+Language: English
+
+Character set encoding: UTF-8
+
+*** START OF THIS PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK AN ENGLISHWOMAN IN THE PHILIPPINES ***
+
+
+
+
+Produced by MFR and the Online Distributed Proofreading
+Team at http://www.pgdp.net (This file was produced from
+images generously made available by The Internet Archive)
+
+
+
+
+
+
+
+
+
+
+AN ENGLISHWOMAN IN THE PHILIPPINES
+
+FIRST EDITION _July 1906_
+
+_Reprinted_ _October 1906_
+
+
+
+
+ AN ENGLISHWOMAN
+ IN THE
+ PHILIPPINES
+
+ BY MRS CAMPBELL DAUNCEY
+
+ WITH ILLUSTRATIONS AND A MAP
+
+ NEW YORK
+ E. P. DUTTON AND COMPANY
+ 1906
+
+ _Printed in Great Britain_
+
+
+
+
+INTRODUCTION
+
+
+In the following letters, written during a stay of nine months in the
+Philippine Islands, I tried to convey to those at home a faithful
+impression of the country I was in and the people I met. Since I came
+home I have been advised to collect and prepare certain of my letters for
+publication, and this I have done to the best of my ability, though with
+considerable misgivings as to the fate of such a humble little volume.
+
+It is impossible to mention the Philippine Islands, either in daily life
+in the country itself, or in describing such life, without reference to
+the political situations which form the topic of most conversations in
+that uneasy land. On this subject also I wrote to the best of my power,
+faithfully and impartially; for I hold no brief for the Americans or
+the Filipinos. I merely aimed at a plain account of those scenes and
+conversations, generally written within a few hours of my observing them,
+which, it seemed to me, would best convey a true and unbiassed impression
+of what I saw of the Philippines as they are.
+
+
+
+
+CONTENTS
+
+
+ PAGE
+
+ LETTER I.
+
+ MANILA
+
+ Journey from Hong Kong. First sight of the Philippine coast.
+ Manila Bay. The Pasig River. A drive through the streets.
+ Old Manila. Spanish influences. Manila hotels. The Virgin of
+ Antipolo. Inter-island steamers. 1
+
+ LETTER II.
+
+ FROM MANILA TO ILOILO
+
+ Beautiful islands. Coin divers. A glimpse of Cebú. The hemp
+ industry. The Island of Mactan. Magellan. A curious record in
+ orthography. Fellow-passengers. Soldiers and school-teachers.
+ American theories. Social and racial equality. The Filipino
+ race. 8
+
+ LETTER III.
+
+ FIRST IMPRESSIONS OF ILOILO
+
+ Arrival at Iloilo. Situation of Guimaras and Negros. The Island
+ of Panay. Climate. House-hunting. Native methods. Conant
+ coinage. Philippine houses. 15
+
+ LETTER IV.
+
+ A PHILIPPINE HOUSE—AMERICAN PRICES—NATIVE SERVANTS—FURNITURE
+
+ We find a house. Domestic architecture. The Azotea. Results
+ of American extravagance. Iloilo shops. Filipino servants.
+ Settling down. Chinese shops. Furniture. “Philippines for the
+ Filipinos.” Rumours of the Custom House. 22
+
+ LETTER V.
+
+ HOUSEKEEPING IN ILOILO
+
+ Housekeeping. Strange insects. Chinese bread. The washerwoman.
+ Domestic etiquette. A hawker of orchids. 33
+
+ LETTER VI.
+
+ A WASTED LAND
+
+ The road to Molo. Picturesque scenes. Custom House methods. An
+ unpleasant surprise. Philippine trading firms. An over-zealous
+ law. The Philippine bed. Christmas Eve. The tropic dawn.
+ Christmas Day. The water-supply. Food and drink. Scarcity and
+ high prices. Book-learning _versus_ agriculture. 42
+
+ LETTER VII.
+
+ CUSTOMS AND DRESS OF THE NATIVES
+
+ A Filipino _Fiesta_. The national hero. Doctor Rizal and his
+ work. A languid festival. A musical people. Dress of the
+ native women. _Piña_ muslin. Dress of native men. Scrupulous
+ cleanliness. A walk on the beach. Gorgeous colouring. 50
+
+ LETTER VIII.
+
+ SOCIAL AMUSEMENTS
+
+ A ball at the Spanish Club. The _Rigodon_. Curious costumes.
+ Bringing in the New Year. A painful interlude. Position of
+ Eurasians. New Year’s Day. The suburbs of Iloilo. Filipino
+ children. 57
+
+ LETTER IX.
+
+ TARIFFS—INSECTS
+
+ More Custom House surprises. Official blunders. House-lizards.
+ Roof-menageries. _Anting-anting._ Snakes. _Cicadas._ Ants.
+ Cockroaches. Mosquitoes. 66
+
+ LETTER X.
+
+ A FILIPINO THEATRE—_CARABAOS_
+
+ Dramatic clubs. The Iloilo theatre. An amusing experience. An
+ operetta. The Jaro road. _Carabaos._ An evening scene by the
+ river. The fashionable _paseo_. 74
+
+ LETTER XI.
+
+ SOME RESULTS OF THE AMERICAN OCCUPATION
+
+ Heat and drought. Bathrooms. A handsome cow-boy. Cost of
+ living. Military manners. Camp Josman. The Government of
+ the Philippines. A “pull.” An arbitrary tax. The Plaza
+ Libertad. Effects of fire and bombardment. Story of the
+ American occupation. Unwelcome saviours. A pretty garden. The
+ “unemployed.” Scale of wages. A Philippine cabstand. Filipino
+ dignity. A charming scene. 82
+
+ LETTER XII.
+
+ CHINESE NEW YEAR—LABOUR CONDITIONS—A CINÉMATOGRAPH SHOW
+
+ The Chinese New Year. Question of Chinese labour. A
+ cinématograph entertainment. Unpleasant habits. An interesting
+ audience. Diplomatic warfare. A half “’cute” native. A Filipino
+ philosopher. Tropical rain. 95
+
+ LETTER XIII.
+
+ SOME INFLUENCES OF CLIMATE, SCENERY, AND RELIGION
+
+ The _Rainbow_. Sugar industry. A beautiful view. Unchanging
+ charms. “Always afternoon.” The fascination of the East.
+ Missionaries. A keen advocate. La Iglesia Filipina
+ Independiente. 103
+
+ LETTER XIV.
+
+ VOYAGE TO MANILA
+
+ A journey to Manila. The mail steamer. Food for Esquimaux. A
+ comfortable night. Dream Islands. Dress for Europeans. Manila.
+ The harbour. Curious reasoning. American hustling. A charming
+ house. The Luneta. 110
+
+ LETTER XV.
+
+ AN OFFICIAL ENTERTAINMENT
+
+ Evening on the Pasig River. Malacañan Palace. An evening
+ _fête_. The Arms of the Philippines. “The Gubernatorial party.”
+ “Manila at a glance.” The Gibson Girl. An amusing episode. A
+ drive in Manila. The fashions. Manila shops. A market for the
+ best diamonds. A “mixed” wedding. 120
+
+ LETTER XVI.
+
+ MANILA AND ITS INHABITANTS
+
+ The suburbs of Manila. Hawks. A nursery-garden. Orchids. By
+ the bandstand in the evening. Manila society. A city of cards.
+ Intramuros. Americanised Filipinos. The American Ideal. Blind
+ pride. Bilibid prison. Arts and crafts. The “Exposition” and
+ the inquiring voter. The Philippine sky. A steamer on fire.
+ A procession of death and degradation. “Sport.” A visit to
+ Malacañan. A beautiful woman. Some lovely embroideries. Manila
+ prices. Mr Taft and his Chinese servants. 128
+
+ LETTER XVII.
+
+ DEMOCRACY AND SOCIETY IN MANILA
+
+ A _Mestizo_ party. Seeking for democracy. And finding
+ aristocracy. A shopping expedition. Chinese enterprise. Bridge
+ again. A devotee and enthusiast. 143
+
+ LETTER XVIII.
+
+ THE RETURN VOYAGE AND MY COMPANIONS
+
+ Home letters. The Simla of Manila. The return journey to
+ Iloilo. A crowded ship. My cabin-mate. Filipino schoolboys.
+ The first-fruits of the American Ideal. Filipino manners. Some
+ Filipino views. Philippine Spanish. Dawn at the mouth of the
+ Iloilo River. Expensive religion. Wonderful costumes. Lax port
+ authorities. A hearty welcome home. 151
+
+ LETTER XIX.
+
+ A _BAILE_—A NEW COOK AND AMERICAN METHODS
+
+ Carnival festivities. Lenten relaxations. A Palais Royale farce
+ at the Filipino Club. “Hiawatha.” At a _baile_. A walk through
+ the town. A Chinese graveyard. A troublesome cook. Wily native
+ ways. A change of staff. Municipal marvels. _Noblesse oblige._ 161
+
+ LETTER XX.
+
+ FILIPINO INDOLENCE—A DROUGHT
+
+ The rising thermometer. A Filipino watering-cart. A harrowing
+ story. The Filipino employé. _Mañana._ A demonstration in
+ racial equality. More drought. A new acquisition. 169
+
+ LETTER XXI.
+
+ THE WHARVES—AN OLD SPANIARD
+
+ Roofs of Philippine houses. A walk along the quay. Chinese
+ sailors. A mistaken policy. Native shops. Curious cigars.
+ Desolate mud-flats. One of the results of high wages. A Spanish
+ courtier. _Los Indianos._ A cause for panic. 174
+
+ LETTER XXII.
+
+ A TRIP TO GUIMARAS—AN ASTONISHING PROPOSAL—HOUSEBUILDING
+
+ A little trip on the sea. Marvellous scenery. The ship of the
+ Ancient Mariner. Coast villages. A band in the Plaza. Oriental
+ tastes. The difference of Eastern and Western minds. Little
+ comedies. How we drive in Iloilo. An importunate visitor.
+ Strange American customs. A peaceful scene in the sunset.
+ Building a house. 182
+
+ LETTER XXIII.
+
+ A TROPICAL SHOWER—OUR SERVANTS—FILIPINO CUSTOMS
+
+ The mails. A good butler. “The inevitable _muchacho_.” Palm
+ Sunday. Negritos. Curly hair. Beggars. A Filipino funeral. 191
+
+ LETTER XXIV.
+
+ EASTER FESTIVITIES
+
+ Easter holidays. Superfluous precautions. A gruesome
+ procession. The Funeral of Christ. Rival religionists. A
+ midnight pageant. A pretty procession. Happy children. A dull
+ _baile_. 195
+
+ LETTER XXV.
+
+ A DAY AT NAGABA
+
+ A trip to Nagaba. A native house. The “Philippine cuckoo.”
+ _Nipa_ thatch. Ylang-Ylang. A swimming-bath. A stroll along
+ the rocks. A fisherman’s hut. Country-folk. The village.
+ Pig-scavengers. The fire-tree. The _tuba_ man. Mistaken
+ temperance enthusiasts. Cocoanut-growing. 202
+
+ LETTER XXVI.
+
+ THE MONSOON—AN ITALIAN OPERA COMPANY
+
+ Love-birds. Traces of the Filipino mind. The S.-W. Monsoon.
+ Typhoons. A horrible custom. A wandering Opera Company.
+ Increasing heat. 210
+
+ LETTER XXVII.
+
+ A WEEK-END AT NAGABA
+
+ The departure for Nagaba. An amusing landing. Morning on the
+ beach. A fish _corral_. Trading vessels. A native kitchen.
+ Betel-nut. A row up the river. Up in the woods. A magnificent
+ prospect. Wild fruits. A primitive hut. The simple life. The
+ American theory of education before food. Wanted a Colonial
+ Office. Harlequins of crab-land. The tropic night. Fishing by
+ torchlight. A _parao_. Skilful sailorising. Home again. 215
+
+ LETTER XXVIII.
+
+ A LITTLE EARTHQUAKE, AND AN OPERA COMPANY UNDER DIFFICULTIES
+
+ A slight earthquake. Grand opera under difficulties. Barbaric
+ laughter. The exodus to Hong Kong. Vagaries of the Monsoon. 226
+
+ LETTER XXIX.
+
+ AN EVENING ON THE RIVER—RIVAL BISHOPS
+
+ Evening on the Iloilo River. Pleasant natives. A
+ cocoanut-grove. The _bolo_. Green cocoanut. Salt pits. More
+ trouble with the Customs. The verdict of Solomon. A hopeless
+ grievance. Curiosities of taxation. Religious enthusiasm. Rival
+ bishops. The Cardinal Delegate and the Aglipayano Monsignore.
+ The Plaza at Jaro. A handsome old belfry. The Angelus. Peace
+ and goodwill. 231
+
+ LETTER XXX.
+
+ PHILIPPINE SANITATION—DECORATION DAY
+
+ The coolness of 90°. A letter from Benguet. Expense of
+ travelling. Baby mongeese. Native neighbours. The sanitary
+ control. An appeal to _verguenza_. An ill-kept town. An inhuman
+ custom. The new hospital. Decoration Day. Digging up American
+ soldiers. Unwholesome sentimentality. 239
+
+ LETTER XXXI.
+
+ MR TAFT—TROPICAL SUNSETS—UNPLEASANT NEIGHBOURS—FILIPINO LAW
+
+ News of the coming of Mr Taft and his party. Miss Alice
+ Roosevelt. A simple-minded damsel. Relaxing wind. By the Molo
+ road. A lovely scene. An Eurasian household. A melodrama. And a
+ farce. A flitting. Filipino justice. 247
+
+ LETTER XXXII.
+
+ OUR MONGEESE—A FIRE—THE NATIVE EDUCATION QUESTION
+
+ A distressing malady. Habits of my mongeese. An alarm of fire.
+ A strange state of affairs. “Arbitrary race-distinctions.”
+ Undemonstrable theories. 255
+
+ LETTER XXXIII.
+
+ A PAPER-CHASE—LACK OF SPORTS—PREPARATIONS FOR MR TAFT
+
+ A paper-chase. Lack of sports. Ladies astride. A problem for Mr
+ Taft. Amusing headlines. Sad little pets. 260
+
+ LETTER XXXIV.
+
+ TRYING HEAT—AN AMERICAN PROSPECTOR—NEW LODGERS—BARGAINING
+ FOR _PIÑA_
+
+ Damp heat. An enterprising millionaire. New neighbours. A happy
+ household. Buying _piña_ muslin. 265
+
+ LETTER XXXV.
+
+ DECLARATION DAY—THE CULT OF THE FLAG—A PROCESSION,
+ FESTIVITIES, AND A BALL
+
+ Declaration Day. The cult of the Stars and Stripes. An
+ angry critic. The procession. American officers. Methods
+ of horsemanship. A cruel vanity. American soldiers. The
+ Veteran Army of the Philippines. “Little brown brothers.”
+ Representative parades. Celebrations in the Plaza. Strange
+ developments of athletics. A melancholy contrast. Official ball
+ at the _Gobierno_. An ardent anti-Taftite. An amusing assembly.
+ Unconventional bandsmen. A keen pro-Filipino. An ill-bred
+ _Mestiza_. Balancing a _quilez_. Some of the drawbacks of
+ civilisation. 270
+
+ LETTER XXXVI.
+
+ COCK-FIGHTING—PULAJANES
+
+ A sad loss. The Filipino and his fighting-cock. Tricks of the
+ ring. Off to the front. Peace and prosperity. A horrible story.
+ A plague of flies. A slovenly guest. The poll-tax and some of
+ its workings. 286
+
+ LETTER XXXVII.
+
+ A PEARL OF GREAT PRICE
+
+ Philippine flowers. A town of swamps. Monotonous scenery.
+ Hawking a pearl. Pearl fisheries. Plentiful fish-supply. 292
+
+ LETTER XXXVIII.
+
+ AGRICULTURAL POSSIBILITIES
+
+ A Gymkhana on the beach. An _alfresco_ domestic servant agency.
+ Road-mending. The foreign cemetery. Justice for the white man.
+ Treatment of servants. The Filipino tiller of the soil. Wasted
+ opportunities. A terrible disease. Some native fruits, and some
+ more wasted opportunities. A welcome invitation. 295
+
+ LETTER XXXIX.
+
+ A LAST DAY AT NAGABA—THE “SECWAR”
+
+ Farewell to Nagaba. The three-card trick. The Secret Police.
+ A pleasant sail. Through the village. A native shop. Corn
+ pone. An Anglipayano church. An idyll. Filipino coffee. Lack
+ of American enterprise. A strange word. The coming of the
+ _Secwar_. Human mosquitoes. A familiar type of character. 301
+
+ LETTER XL.
+
+ PREPARATIONS
+
+ Preparations for the Patron Saint. Arcadian animals. Mr Taft’s
+ intentions. Determined patriots. A famous phrase. The blessings
+ of a free press. American altruism. Political Pecksniffs. The
+ spell of indolence. 310
+
+ LETTER XLI.
+
+ THE FESTIVITIES
+
+ The _Comitiva Taft_. A reception that failed. Unappreciative
+ guests. The decorations. A culinary treat. A call in the dark
+ before the dawn. Gay streets. The visitors. “Miss Alice.” Mr
+ Taft. The “Taft smile.” Looking for equality. A well-instructed
+ journalist. Floats. Some strange banners. Mr Taft’s opinions.
+ An amusing _contre-temps_. A very informal reception. A
+ little mistake in tact. The banquet. Disappointed admirers.
+ A haphazard feast. The mermaid. Speeches. A fiery patriot.
+ Instructive applause. A splendid orator. Mr Taft’s mission. Two
+ critics. 315
+
+ LETTER XLII.
+
+ WEIGHING ANCHOR
+
+ An Iloilo hotel. A faithful servant. Complaisant Americans.
+ Echoes of the visitation. Skilful reporting. A disappointed
+ well-wisher. 337
+
+ LETTER XLIII.
+
+ HOMEWARD BOUND
+
+ A pleasant prospect. Comfortable quarters. Chop-sticks. A happy
+ little slave. The Chinese pigtail. An unspoilt Filipino. The
+ dignity of the white man. The dregs of East and West. A last
+ whiff of the sugar-_camarins_. 342
+
+ INDEX. 347
+
+
+
+
+LIST OF ILLUSTRATIONS
+
+
+ DISCHARGING HEMP FROM PARAOS (Native Boats) _To face page_ 10
+
+ A FILIPINO GIRL, AGED 10—A CASCO (Barge) ” 14
+
+ OLD SPANISH HOUSES AT MOLO ” 20
+
+ THE BACK OF OUR HOUSE, showing Azotea and Outbuildings ” 24
+
+ FILIPINO SERVANTS ” 28
+
+ RIDING A CARABAO ” 78
+
+ SPANISH ARCHITECTURE IN THE PHILIPPINES: An Old Church
+ at Daraga ” 89
+
+ MANILA—Malacañan Palace ” 120
+
+ MANILA—The Escolta ” 126
+
+ A STREET IN MANILA, showing the Electric Tram ” 129
+
+ MANILA—The Luneta ” 130
+
+ BIRD’S-EYE VIEW OF INLAND SUBURBS OF MANILA ” 138
+
+ A PHILIPPINE PONY ” 174
+
+ NATIVE HOUSES ” 204
+
+ THE TRACK OF A TYPHOON ” 210
+
+ A FILIPINO MARKET-PLACE ” 218
+
+ A THREE-MAN BREEZE OFF GUIMARAS—A PARAO ” 222
+
+ A PALM GROVE ” 232
+
+ CATHEDRAL AND BELFRY AT JARO ” 236
+
+ A SUBURB OF ILOILO ” 242
+
+ AWAITING SHIPMENT—Coffins containing Bones of American
+ Soldiers stacked in Malate Cemetery, Manila ” 244
+
+ A VILLAGE COCK-FIGHT ” 287
+
+ WATERING CARABAOS ” 293
+
+ A FILIPINO FISH-MARKET ” 294
+
+
+
+
+AN ENGLISHWOMAN IN THE PHILIPPINES
+
+
+
+
+LETTER I.
+
+MANILA
+
+
+ MANILA, _27th November 1904_.
+
+We arrived here early yesterday morning from Hong Kong, after three
+days of rather a horrible sea voyage, as the steamer was more than
+crowded, the weather rough, and we carried a deck cargo of cattle.
+These conditions are not unusual, however, in fact I believe they are
+unvarying, as the 362 miles of sea between here and Hong Kong are always
+choppy, and the two mail steamers that ply to and fro, the _Rubi_ and the
+_Zafiro_, are always crammed full, and invariably carry cattle.
+
+The poor beasts stood in rows of pens on the main deck, each fitting
+tightly into his pen like a bean in a pod; many of them were ill, and one
+died. We watched the simple funeral with great interest, for the crew
+hoisted the dead animal by means of a crane, with a rope lashed round its
+horns, standing on the living beasts on each side to do it; but they had
+a good deal of difficulty in extracting the body from its pen, in which
+it was wedged sideways by two live neighbours, who stubbornly resented
+the whole affair. Finally, with a great deal of advice and swearing, the
+carcase was slung over the side, and it looked very weird sailing down
+the ship’s wake in the sunset.
+
+That was the only event of the voyage, till we sighted Luzon, the
+biggest and most northern of the Philippines, some time on Saturday
+afternoon—this is Monday, by-the-bye.
+
+The _Zafiro_ kept all along the coast, which loomed up dim and
+mountainous, but we could not see anything very clearly, for the
+atmosphere was thick and hazy. Here and there on the darkening mountain
+sides a column of smoke rose up very straight into the evening air,
+and I was told they came from forest clearings, but we saw no signs of
+human habitation. A man who had been many years in the Philippines, and
+was returning to what had become his home, told me that such fires on
+the mountain sides had been used a great deal as signals between the
+insurgents during the Spanish and the American wars, and had been made to
+indicate all manner of gruesome messages.
+
+About two in the morning, the _Zafiro_ arrived at Manila and anchored in
+the bay, and when it was light, about five o’clock, we came up on deck
+and looked round, but the land lies in a section of so vast a circle that
+one does not realise it is a bay at all. The morning was very dull and
+grey; hot, of course, but overcast, and the sea calm and grey like the
+sky. The city of Manila lay so nearly level with the water that it was
+almost out of sight, just a long low mass, rather darker than the sea.
+Far, far away inland a faint outline of mountains was perceptible, but
+Manila is built, for the most part, on a mud-flat at the mouth of a broad
+river called the Pasig. This is a curious river, only 14 miles long,
+coming from a big lake called the Laguna de Bayo, but yet it is wide and
+deep enough at the mouth for 5000-ton steamers to anchor at the wharves
+and turn in the stream.
+
+About seven o’clock, or earlier, our friends’ launch came out for us,
+and in this little craft we steamed up the mouth of the Pasig, past rows
+and rows of steamers anchored at the quays, and hundreds of huge native
+barges covered over with round roofs of brown matting. I noticed numbers
+of brilliantly green cabbages floating down the stream, sitting on the
+water like lilies, with long brown roots trailing behind, and thought
+a cargo of vegetables had been wrecked, but was told these are water
+plants drifting down from inland bays up the river. They are the most
+extraordinary plants, of intensely crude and violent emerald, and make
+a marvellous dash of colour amongst the grey and brown shipping on the
+yellow, muddy water.
+
+We landed at a big wharf, right in the town, and close to streets with
+shops, all looking strangely European after China and the Straits, the
+whole place reminding me more of the suburbs of Malaga or the port of
+Las Palmas than any other places I can think of. Here a carriage was
+waiting for us, and we drove all through the outskirts of the town, till
+we came out upon the bay again, and saw the open sea, where our friends’
+house is situated in a quarter called Ermita. All Manila is divided into
+quarters, or wards, with curious Spanish or Filipino names—Malate, Pasay,
+Intramuros, Binondo, etc., and many names of Saints.
+
+The days get very hot here after eight o’clock, whether the sun happens
+to be shining or not, so I did not go out until the cool of the evening,
+and spent the day in the house, unpacking and resting, and trying to
+forget the smell of those cattle. Never again, I am sure, shall I linger
+with pleasure near the door of a byre!
+
+Everyone here goes about in diminutive victorias, very like the Italian
+_carrozza_, and all the horses are tiny ponies, the result of a cross
+between the little Chinese horse and a small Spanish breed. They are
+sturdy little beasts, and remarkably quick trotters, with thick necks,
+and look pretty if they are well kept; but some of those in the hired
+carriages are very poor little creatures, though they tear about with
+incredible loads of brown-faced natives.
+
+We drove about the town, which all looks as if it had been put up in a
+hurry. There are no indications of antiquity outside Intramuros, the old
+Spanish Manila, founded in 1571, which stands, as its name signifies,
+within walls—crumbling grass-grown old walls, very high, and with a deep
+moat.
+
+This Walled City, as the Americans called it, is the town the British
+took under General Draper in 1762, and these are the walls our ships
+bombarded at the same time, under Admiral Cornish, papa’s great-uncle.
+When we were at home, it seemed strange that just before I came to the
+Philippines, I should inherit the lovely old emerald ring which the
+priestly Governor of Manila gave to the Admiral, when the former was a
+prisoner of war in the British Fleet, during the few days we held the
+Philippines, before we gave them back to Spain. But when I was actually
+under the walls they fought for, I looked at the old ring, and the
+coincidence seemed stranger still. I wished it were a magic emerald that
+I could rub it lightly, and summon some mysterious spirit which would
+tell me all the old ring had seen and heard. But now, Old Manila is only
+a backwash leading to nowhere, for the modern town has spread itself all
+up the banks of the Pasig River.
+
+Our way did not lie through the Walled City, but along outside it,
+down a broad avenue, bordered by handsome trees, over a bridge across
+the Pasig, and into the town of shops and streets. The whole place
+looked dull, grey, ugly, and depressing, and after Hong Kong it seemed
+positively squalid. Big houses like the magnificent stone palaces of Hong
+Kong, would be impossible here on account of the frequent earthquakes,
+but such buildings as there are look mean and dilapidated, and the
+streets are badly paved or not at all, weeds grow everywhere; in fact,
+there is a sort of hopeless untidiness about the place that is positively
+disheartening, like going into a dirty and untidy house. I think a great
+deal of the hopelessness, too, consists in the air of the natives, who
+appear small and indolent after one’s eye has become accustomed to the
+tall, fine figures of the busy Chinamen.
+
+I was particularly struck with the fact that I saw no traces of anything
+one is accustomed to think of as Spanish—no bright mule-trappings, or
+women with _mantillas_, or anything gay and coloured, and the houses are
+not built round _patios_. I was told that the reason of this is that
+the Spaniards who settled in the Philippines all came from the north of
+Spain, from Biscaya, and of course the Spain one knows and thinks of _as_
+Spanish is Andalusia and the South, with the wonderful glamour and poetry
+of the Moorish influence.
+
+In the course of our drive we went to a certain bridge to see a religious
+procession, and as we got near the place where it was to pass, the
+streets were crowded with people, and there were triumphal arches
+scattered about, all looking quite pretty in the rosy-pink glow of the
+sun, which was just beginning to set. We pulled up in a mass of carriages
+and traps on one side of the bridge, and waited an hour or more for the
+procession, which was then about three hours overdue.
+
+While we waited there, we met and talked with a Mr —— whom I mentioned to
+you before as having come out from England in the same series of steamers
+as ourselves. He told us that he was putting up at the best hotel in
+Manila, which, he said, was haphazard and dirty beyond belief. We said we
+had had the same account from other people, and considered ourselves more
+than lucky to be staying with friends.
+
+“Yes,” he said, “you are in luck, for you can’t imagine what a Manila
+hotel is like. And yet it is full of decent people. I wonder why they
+can’t run a better one.”
+
+It does seem odd when one comes to think of it, because, though Manila
+is off the tourist track of the world, and there is no reason for any
+mere traveller to come here, still, people do come sometimes, and anyhow
+there are the Americans themselves, who want a shelter of some sort, and
+that nation has the reputation of being accomplished connoisseurs in the
+matter of hotels. One would imagine that a good hotel would be the first
+thing they would demand or establish, but they have been here six years
+now, and the Manila hotels are still a byword for unutterable filth and
+discomfort.
+
+Well, about this procession, the occasion of which was the bringing down
+to Manila of a very sacred image, called the Virgin of Antipolo, from
+the town of Antipolo, which is inland, to deposit her in some church
+in Manila. She had been four hundred years in Antipolo, and was a very
+precious and much-battered relic, so her journey was a great event, and
+the procession had been travelling, by road and river, ever since before
+the dawn.
+
+At last the long lines of people began to appear, crawling over the
+bridge in the last grey shadows. It proved to be a very dull affair,
+simply consisting of endless files of the faithful, carrying unlighted
+candles, with every now and then a band of music, and every now and then
+a group of paper lanterns carried on poles, or some gaudy banner, and all
+moving along to the accompaniment of a weird, unearthly chant. This kind
+of thing went on and on, and after an hour we got tired of it, and drove
+away without having seen the actual image, which was, we were told, a
+little, armless, wooden figure, dressed in a stiff tinsel robe, perched
+up on an immense high platform, decorated with lamps and flowers, and
+surrounded by priests chanting, and acolytes swinging censers.
+
+We are to sail for Iloilo to-day, after lunch, having got a permit to go
+in the _Kai-Fong_, of the China Steam Navigation Company. We were to have
+come in this same steamer from Hong Kong, as I told you at the time, in
+which case we should have gone in her right through to Iloilo, touching
+here and at Cebú, but we received the telegram too late, an hour or so
+after she had left, and as we were told to start at once, we followed by
+that pleasing craft the _Zafiro_.
+
+By this manœuvre we have clashed with a vexatious local law that forbids
+foreign (_i.e._, not American or Filipino) steamers to convey passengers
+from Island to Island of the Philippines, so we had to apply for this
+special permit, as they say the regular mail steamers, which ply between
+Manila and Iloilo, are exceedingly dirty and uncomfortable. They are
+owned by a Spanish Company, trading under the American flag. However,
+it is all settled now, in favour of the English boat, and we sail this
+afternoon.
+
+I have only caught a passing glimpse of Manila, but I hope to be able to
+tell you more about it later on, as I have been invited to come back and
+pay a visit to our friends here in a month or two’s time.
+
+
+
+
+LETTER II.
+
+FROM MANILA TO ILOILO
+
+
+ S.S. “KAI-FONG,” CHINA SEA, _December 1, 1904_.
+
+I hear there will be a mail going out from Iloilo to-morrow, the day we
+arrive, so I will write you a letter to go by it, that you may not be
+disappointed—six weeks hence!
+
+We left Manila at three o’clock on Monday, in lovely sunshine, and had a
+delightful voyage through scenery which was simply a miracle of beauty.
+The sky was intensely blue, with little white clouds; the sea calm and
+still more intensely blue, dotted with dreams of islands, some mauve and
+dim and far away, some nearer and more solid-looking, and a few quite
+close, so that we could see the great forests of bright green trees and
+the grassy lawns, which cover the hills and clothe the whole islands down
+to long, white, sandy beaches, with fringes of palm trees.
+
+The islands are volcanic, mountainous, and of all shapes and sizes,
+from Luzon, which is nearly the size of England,[1] and Mindanao, which
+is larger still, down to tiny fantastic islets, but all rich, green,
+fertile—even a rock poking its head out of the brilliant sea, has its
+crown of green vegetation. I don’t know at what size an island ceases to
+be an island and becomes a mere rock, but anyhow, there are two thousand
+Philippines considered worth enumerating.
+
+I noticed very few signs of cultivation, or even of human habitation,
+but was told that even if there were villages in sight, they would be
+difficult to distinguish, unless we passed close to them, as they are
+built of brown thatch, and placed amongst the trees. Here and there was
+a little group of white buildings, generally, in fact always, clustering
+round a huge church. We passed quite close to some of the islands, so
+that we saw the trees and beaches clearly, but even those at a distance
+were very distinct, and I was particularly struck with the absence of
+colour-perspective, for the islands some way off, if they were not so
+far away as to look mauve, were just as brilliantly green as those close
+at hand. One after another, like a ceaseless kaleidoscope, these fairy
+islands slipped past all day—in fact, as I write, I can hardly keep my
+attention on my letter, the scenery is so wonderful and so constantly
+varying.
+
+We got to Cebú, which is the chief town of the island of that name, at
+six o’clock on Wednesday morning, and anchored just off the town, which
+appeared as a flat jumble of grey corrugated iron roofs and green trees,
+rather shut in by high mountains close behind. On account of these hills,
+they say Cebú is much hotter than Iloilo, as the latter town lies open to
+the Monsoons.
+
+These are the chief towns of the Philippines: Manila, the capital, in
+Luzon; Iloilo, in Panay; and Cebú, in Cebú; and that is the order they
+come in as to size, though between the two provincial towns there is
+endless rivalry on the subject of importance. In fact they are a sort of
+local Liverpool and Manchester—bitterly jealous, and yet pretending to
+despise each other. There was a P. and O. cargo steamer anchored not far
+from us, the first ever seen at Cebú, and everyone seemed very proud of
+the event.
+
+When we went on deck, we saw a couple of canoes, hollowed out of big tree
+trunks, circling round, and containing natives dressed in loin-cloths,
+offering to dive for coins, in the approved fashion, west of Port Saïd.
+They were fine young men, yellowy brown in colour, and they made a
+great deal of noise, but did not dive very well. After breakfast some
+of C——’s friends came off in a launch and took us ashore, when we drove
+in the usual little victoria, drawn by two small ponies, to the British
+Vice-Consulate, a large house on the borders of the town, where the
+Vice-Consul, Mr Fulcher, entertained us royally.
+
+Here I followed the same programme as I did at Manila, resting in the
+cool house all the long, hot day, and driving out in the evening at about
+five o’clock, when the sun had begun to go down. We drove all through
+dim streets, with a gorgeous sunset fading in the sky, and I could not
+make things out very distinctly, but could see that we were passing
+along ramshackle, half-country roads with overshadowing trees, and every
+now and then we passed a row of little open shops with bright lights in
+them, and natives squatting about. There are no bazaars in this country,
+by-the-bye, only little mat-shed shops where food is sold.
+
+That was all I saw of Cebú, as I did not go out this morning, and we
+sailed in the afternoon. When we came down to the wharf to get on board,
+the tide, or the Port Doctor, had allowed of the _Kai-Fong_, drawing
+up to the wharf, so we came on board up a plank, when one had to look
+at the ship instead of the water on each side! The ship was very busy
+getting a cargo of hemp into one of the holds, hemp being the peculiar
+produce of the Island of Cebú and the opposite ones of Samar and Leyte,
+all long-shaped islands lying almost parallel in the middle of the
+Archipelago.
+
+[Illustration: DISCHARGING HEMP FROM PARAOS (NATIVE BOATS).
+
+_To face page 10._]
+
+The hemp comes on board in great oblong bales, looking like oakum, and
+a man told me it was the fibre of a plant like a banana tree, which the
+natives split and shred very skilfully, and then it is dried and done up
+in bales, and “that is all there is _to_ it,” as the Americans say.
+
+Opposite the town of Cebú is a long, low island called Mactan, where the
+great Portuguese Navigator Magellan was killed in the year 1521. The
+story is that the natives of the islands, finding Magellan invincible,
+and believing him to be enchanted, lured the great explorer away by
+treachery to the little island of Mactan, where they had prepared a pit
+covered with branches, such as they use to trap wild pigs. Magellan fell
+into this trap, whereupon the savages rushed out of their hiding-places
+and shot him in the joints of his harness with poisoned arrows, and one
+bold man finally finished him off with a spear. They poison their arrows
+to this day as they did then, by dipping the tip into a decomposed human
+body.
+
+There is a monument to Magellan on the spot where he died, but we did
+not have time to go and see it, so I had to be content with looking at a
+photograph, which gave me a very good idea of the quaint old three-decker
+edifice of grey stone, tapering to a column at the top. The real and
+original spelling of Mactan is as I have written it, but it is now
+altered to Maktan, and for this change there is a very curious reason,
+dating from the days, some ten years ago, when the Filipinos, headed by a
+patriot of the name of Emilio Aguinaldo, revolted against the authority
+of Spain. The chief element in the uprising was a secret society, called
+the Katipunan, the device of which, on flags and so forth, was K K K, and
+to make this fact memorable, or to prove his power, Aguinaldo ordered
+the hard letter C to be replaced by K in all names in the Philippines,
+making Mactan, Maktan; Capiz, Kapiz; Catbologan, Katbologan, and so on.
+This alteration the Americans, some think unwisely, have not taken the
+trouble to abandon, so the revolutionary spelling remains a monument of
+the success of disloyalty, to say nothing of the names having thus lost
+all philological significance.
+
+We are now passing round the north end of the Island of Cebú, for Panay
+lies to the westward, in a rough parallel. Sometimes the north passage
+is taken, and sometimes the south, according to the wind and current.
+The currents are very strong between these islands—all the Philippine
+Islands, I mean, and in many places the sea is always rough, in fact it
+is very seldom really calm anywhere, I believe.
+
+Our fellow-passengers are all Americans, half of them military, officers
+and privates, who address each other in most unceremonious fashion, and
+the rest school-teachers. A most appropriate and characteristic company,
+as the American scheme out here is to educate the Filipino for all he is
+worth, so that he may, in the course of time, be fit to govern himself
+according to American methods; but at the same time they have ready
+plenty of soldiers to knock him on the head, if he shows signs of wanting
+his liberty before Americans think he is fit for it. A quaint scheme, and
+one full of the go-ahead originality of America.
+
+I can understand the conduct of the free and easy soldiers, for such
+equality is not inconsistent with American social theories; but what
+puzzles me is the use of these astounding pedagogues, who are honest,
+earnest, well-meaning folk, but their manners are those of ordinary
+European peasants. And as to the language they speak and profess, it is
+so unlike English that literally I find it difficult to catch their
+meaning when one of them speaks to me direct, and quite impossible when
+they talk to each other. Yet I could forgive them their dreadful lingo,
+if only they would not use the same knife indiscriminately to lap up
+yolk of egg, or help themselves to butter or salt. Of course these good
+people are fresh from America, and utterly ignorant of all things and
+people outside their native State (such ludicrous questions they ask!),
+but quite apart from that, and the hopeless blunders they must make on
+that account, it seems a pity that such rough diamonds should represent
+to these natives the manners and intellect of a great and ruling white
+nation.
+
+But here comes the most curious phenomenon of all, for I am told that
+the United States does not pose as either “white” or “ruling” in these
+islands, preferring, instead, to proclaim Equality, which seems a very
+strange way to treat Malays, and I find myself quite curious to see
+how the theory works out. I only hope it won’t mean that we shall have
+unmanageable servants and impudence to put up with. Our friends in Manila
+told me ominously that housekeeping was “difficult,” and I begin to
+wonder if Equality has anything to do with it!
+
+They are a funny little people, these Filipinos, the women averaging well
+under 5 feet, with pretty, slender figures and small hands and feet.
+The original race was a little, fuzzy-headed, black people, remnants of
+which are still to be found in the mountains and in the smaller islands,
+but the Filipino, as one sees him, is the result of Malay invasions. Up
+in the north, in Luzon, the Malays are a race or tribe called Tagalo,
+but all this part of the Archipelago is called Visaya, and the people
+Visayans. Of these broad outlines there are many subdivisions of type
+of course, in the way that physique is different even in different
+counties in so small a space as England; but the average Filipino is
+the same everywhere. The Filipinos (by which are meant the Tagalos and
+Visayans) are, as nearly as one can say, a short, thick-set people,
+with yellowy-brown skins, round, flat faces, very thick lips, which
+frequently jut out beyond the tip of the nose, and more bridge to the
+same said nose in proportion to the amount of foreign blood in the
+owner’s veins. It is not easy to lay down any very definite rule about
+their appearance though, as the race is so hopelessly mixed with Spanish,
+Chinese, European—every nation under the sun, that it is difficult to
+say what is a Filipino face. One feature they have in common, and that
+is magnificent, straight, jet-black hair, which the women turn back from
+the forehead, where it makes a roll so thick that it looks as if it must
+be done over a pad, while they twist the back high up, in shiny coils.
+The men look as if their thick mops were cut round a basin, and they have
+no beards and moustaches—I mean they can’t grow any, not that they don’t
+want them! As far as I have seen, they appear to be very lazy, and to
+talk a great deal. They are not a bit like the Chinese or Japanese in any
+way, unless they happen to have a strain of that blood in them, and even
+then the resemblance is only physical, for though the type may be varied,
+the universal character remains unalterable.
+
+I forgot to tell you that at Cebú we “collected” C——’s dog, a dear old
+brown person, with one of the sweetest faces I ever saw, who answers to
+the name of Tuyay, which is the Visayan for Victoria. I really must leave
+off writing now, as it is long past time to “turn in,” though I feel as
+if I could write on for hours, there is so much to tell you.
+
+[Illustration: A FILIPINO GIRL, AGED 10.
+
+A CASCO (BARGE).
+
+_To face page 14._]
+
+
+
+
+LETTER III.
+
+FIRST IMPRESSIONS OF ILOILO
+
+
+ ILOILO, _December 4, 1904_.
+
+We arrived here on Friday last (the 2nd), and I at once sent off a letter
+to you, written on board the _Kai-Fong_, which letter ought to reach you
+some time in the middle of January.
+
+We are so glad to be at the end of this long journey—exactly seven weeks
+from London—seven weeks to the very day, for we left London on a Friday
+and got here on a Friday; and all that time we have been travelling
+steadily, and have seen so much that it seems years already since we left
+home. I hope you got all the letters I wrote on the way? One each from
+Gibraltar, Marseilles, Port Saïd, Aden, Colombo, Singapore, Penang, Hong
+Kong, Manila, and lastly, Cebú. I give you this list because I always
+have a fixed conviction that letters posted on a sea voyage seldom turn
+up, as the last one sees of them is going over the side in a strange
+land, in the clutches of some oily, dark person, who swears he will spend
+the money one has given him in stamps. I try to believe him, but he, like
+Victor Hugo’s beggar, thinks he has to live somehow, I suppose.
+
+Well, so here we are at last on our “Desert Island,” as you call it—which
+is really a vast and fertile country, with several big towns, of which
+this is the chief and largest.
+
+We got in at dawn as usual, the run from Cebú (which I notice the
+Americans call _See_-boo) being about twelve hours, so our first view
+of the Island of Panay and the town of Iloilo was in the early morning
+light, from the deck of the steamer, which lay, waiting for _pratique_,
+in the “roads,” at the mouth of a river. We saw a long, flat, dark-green
+coast line, with a high range of purple mountains far inland, and the
+town of Iloilo, like Manila, almost imperceptible, as it lies so low on
+the mud-flats of a big estuary. It did not look at all inviting, just a
+line of very green trees, with some grey iron roofs amongst them, and it
+seemed as if it must be baking hot, but, as a matter of fact, the very
+flatness and the direction of the mountains keep the place cool, for, as
+I told you before, it lies exposed to the N.-E. and S.-W. Monsoons, the
+great arbiters of fate in the China seas.
+
+On the map you may find marked a small island called Guimaras, which is
+about 4 or 5 miles off, but in this air it looks so close that trees and
+houses can be seen over there with the naked eye, and yesterday evening,
+in driving down a street of Iloilo and seeing Guimaras at the end, I
+thought it was part of _this_ island at the end of the road!
+
+Guimaras is very small, with low, pointed hills, covered with forests,
+as are all these islands; and behind it, 7 miles further away, lies the
+big island of Negros, the mountains of which loom up, a dim, pale purple
+outline behind bright green Guimaras, making one more of these marvellous
+colour effects. One of the high peaks we see is a volcano called
+Malaspina or Canloon, which is 4592 feet high, and only half quiescent.
+At any rate, if we cannot actually see it, there is such a volcano in
+Negros. There are plenty of volcanoes in the Philippines, twenty-three
+of them all told, and that fact and the frequent earthquakes give an
+uncomfortable impression, as of a thin crust of rocks and trees over vast
+subterranean fires.
+
+Here, in Panay, the mountains are 20 miles inland, away to the west—a
+long range of peaks and serrated ridges, behind which the sun sets with
+magnificent effects. From the foot of the mountains the land stretches
+away quite flat, watered by big rivers, and where one of these streams
+forms a wide estuary, this town is built, as I told you, on the mud, in
+the same way that Manila stands on the mud-flats of the Pasig.
+
+The first settlement of white men in Panay was only a Spanish garrison,
+inside a fort built in the days when a few Spaniards in armour lurked
+under shelter from the poisoned arrows of the savage natives, while now
+and then a priest ventured out to see what a little talk and baptism
+would do towards making life more pleasant for everyone concerned.
+
+When the island became more civilised, or settled, or subdued, or all
+three, a town called Jaro (pronounced Hahro) was founded about 3 miles up
+the river, and became the capital of Panay, but now the tide of commerce
+has swept down-river, and the chief town is Iloilo, all crammed down
+at the edge of the sea, with many of its suburbs nothing more nor less
+than sandy beach. It is a big town, with long, straggling streets, and
+the houses, all two stories high, with grey corrugated iron roofs, stand
+apart, separated by little bits of garden with palms and flowering trees,
+which makes it quite pretty, in spite of all the buildings being totally
+devoid of any architectural beauty whatsoever.
+
+At present the N.-E. Monsoon is blowing, and everyone is anxious to
+point out to me how deliciously cool the weather is, and it is certainly
+not so overpowering as I had expected, but all the same I find it quite
+hot enough to be pleasant and a little over. Though there is no dew,
+the nights are refreshing—almost cold by contrast with the day, and
+the evenings charming, while the early mornings are simply delicious.
+Dawn begins at half-past five, and by six the sun is up, but the air is
+exquisite till about half-past eight, when it begins to get too hot for
+anything but shade and fans, if one has any choice. I think the average
+Fahrenheit now is 83°, but as life here is adapted to such temperature,
+you must not think that means anything like what 83° would be in England.
+Still, when all is said and done, it is very hot, and if this is what
+they call “winter,” I am only thankful that I have not plunged at once
+into “summer.” This “winter” goes on till March, and then the weather
+begins to get hotter and hotter till June, when the Monsoon shifts to the
+S.-W., and the rainy season begins.
+
+Four months dry and cool; four months dry and hot; four months wet and
+hot—that is the climate over most of the Philippine Islands, but it
+varies in sequence in different places—areas is a better word—and on the
+Pacific seaboard the seasons are quite reversed, so that it is rainy
+there when it is dry here. By rain and dry, however, I gather that a
+great deal of drought or a long, steady rain is not meant, for all during
+the dry season there are heavy showers, and everything remains green,
+while in the wet season there are spells of fine weather. Now I think I
+have described to you all I can of Iloilo till I see more of the place,
+but I know how anxious you will be to have some idea of what it is like.
+
+We are busy house-hunting, which is a tedious and toilsome business, as
+there is not such an institution as a house agency—you allow a rumour
+to get about that you want a house, and then people tell other people
+to tell you where an empty building, such as you say you want, is to
+be found. Then you go off and “find” the house—a matter, usually, of
+infinite difficulties and sometimes quite impossible, as the Filipino
+cab-drivers don’t know the names of the streets, or the numbers, or the
+names of the people. The best plan is, get into a rickety old trap and
+let the man drive about, while you lean out and ask for the house you
+started out to find, and end by seeing another one with _se aquila_ (to
+let) written up, and stopping as near to it as the driver can pull up his
+pony, and getting out there instead.
+
+Having thus “found” a house, you set to work to “find” the owner of it,
+who is probably at the club, or a cock-fight, or playing cards; and when
+he, or she, appears, you ask—and this is quite necessary—if the house
+is to let; for the board does not signify much, as they seldom take the
+trouble to remove one when once it has been put up. Most of the boards
+are obligingly going through the process of removing themselves, one nail
+at a time.
+
+When the house really is to let, you ask the rent, and whatever the
+answer is you throw up your hands in horror, and declare it is _muy
+caro_ (very dear), and that you will give half, calling assorted Saints
+to testify to all the drawbacks which make the house unfit for human
+habitation at any price.
+
+Then a long argument ensues, for the people never really want to lose
+a tenant, as they know there is no lack of choice, for trade is very
+bad, and so many houses stand empty. All the same, the rates and taxes
+are appallingly high, and the rents are preposterous for this sort of
+town, and for the accommodation offered. Moreover you have a strangely
+lazy, supercilious, half-bred sort of people to deal with, who would
+rather keep a house empty and say they must have 100 dollars a month and
+starve, than take 50 for it and live on the fat of their land.
+
+The money here is a dollar currency called Conant, which is worth 2s.
+1d.—half the American dollar. This is the Philippine currency, and is
+named after its inventor, an American called Conant, and I wish he had
+invented a cheaper unit, for 10 Conant dollars, or _pesos_, as they
+are called, are nothing to spend, whereas the equivalent, an English
+guinea, is an important sum, and represents four times the spending
+value of 10 _pesos_. It is a silver currency, dollars and notes, and
+the coins have rather a pretty design of a man sitting looking at the
+sea, surrounded by most amusing inscriptions. For instance, the 5-cent,
+piece is: “Five Centavos,” and underneath is “Filipinas.” Why not “Five
+cents.” and “Philippines,” or else “Cinco centavos, Filipinas?” Why such
+mongrel? One can only suppose it is the notion of Equality coming out in
+some mysterious way by meeting the natives half-way in Spanish, which,
+by-the-bye, is not their native language, and only a few of them speak it
+at all.
+
+The houses here, as I said before, are all two-storied, the upper part of
+wood, and the lower of stone or concrete. The floors are of long planks
+of hard, dark, native woods, which the servants polish with petroleum
+pads on their feet, sliding about till the surface is like brown glass.
+The walls are merely wooden partitions, painted white or green, and in
+the corners of the rooms appear the big tree trunks to which the house
+is lashed, sometimes just painted white like the walls, or encased in
+a wooden cover. The word “lashed,” I must tell you, is not a figure of
+speech, as the houses really are tied together with _bejuco_, rattan (a
+strong, fibrous vine), so as to allow sufficient play for earthquakes,
+which, it appears, are so frequent in these islands as to be in no way
+remarkable.
+
+[Illustration: OLD SPANISH HOUSES AT MOLO
+
+_To face page 20._]
+
+The “windows” are really the greater part of each side of the house
+left open and fitted with shutters, sliding in grooves. Even with these
+“windows” closed against rain or sun the rooms remain cool, as the
+shutters are composed of wooden slats a little apart. Inside these is
+another set for very rainy weather, made of small square panes, each
+filled with a very thin, white, pearl oyster shell.
+
+Taken all round, the Philippine houses are very pretty, and capable
+of a great deal of decoration, though, of course, one does not want
+any draperies or many ornaments about in such a climate, where such
+superfluities would simply become the homes and nurseries of clouds of
+mosquitoes and other small fry, besides being unendurably hot even to
+look at.
+
+At first it appears very odd to see houses without chimneys and rooms
+without fireplaces, though I can’t think why they have none, as it must
+be very difficult to keep the houses dry in the wet Monsoon.
+
+
+
+
+LETTER IV.
+
+A PHILIPPINE HOUSE—AMERICAN PRICES—NATIVE SERVANTS—FURNITURE
+
+
+ ILOILO, _December 10, 1904_.
+
+I am sure you will be pleased to hear that we have already found a house
+to suit us, in fact we are quite charmed with it, and can’t be too
+thankful that we did not hastily take any of the others we saw. C—— went
+to look at some on Tuesday, but on the way he saw this one, and liked it
+so much that he at once came back for me to look at it, and I went off
+to inspect, even in the middle of the day! I agreed with him in thinking
+the house charming, so we took it at once—or as soon as we had finished
+the preliminary pantomime with the Filipino landlady, a pleasant woman,
+married to a Spaniard.
+
+The house is in one of the two nicest streets, a little out off the town,
+on the spit of land formed by the estuary and the open sea. These two
+streets run parallel, but as the spit gets narrower they leave off, and
+end in the Government Hospital, the Cavalry _Corral_ (stables), some
+Government buildings, and diminish gradually to a long road, a house,
+some barren land, a few palms, a pilot’s hut, a little bit of beach, some
+pebbles, and one small crab.
+
+Our house faces S.-W. on a garden, and the back is all open to the river
+and the N.-E. Monsoon—the most important consideration here, for houses
+that do not get the wind are stifling and unhealthy. We saw two or three
+that would have suited us very well, but for the fact that they stood the
+wrong way, or because the through draught was impeded by some tree or
+building outside.
+
+The house we have taken is in the usual style, such as I described to you
+in my last letter, and in one-half of the lower part lives our Spanish
+landlord, while in the other half, rather vault-like, _se aquila_. The
+lower parts of the houses are unhealthy, because of the malarial gases
+arising from the soil, and the damp, so no one lives in the basements if
+they can afford anything else.
+
+The upper part of this house we are going to live in is quite a separate
+dwelling, as it is approached by an outside staircase, coming up upon an
+open balcony running round three sides of the upper story. The balcony is
+a great charm, and very few of the houses have this addition. I thought
+that the Spaniards would have made open balconies the fashion out here,
+but was very much surprised to see none, and can only attribute the lack
+of them to the fact that the settlers came from the North, in the same
+way that the houses have no _patios_, and so forth. A roofed balcony like
+this is not only a delightful lounge, but it keeps the house very cool,
+besides catching a lot of the heavy rains, and it seems incomprehensible
+that any sane person could build a house in this climate without one.
+Verandahs are, of course, quite unknown, but I daresay there is a reason
+for all this in the terrible Typhoons which sweep over these islands, and
+would make short shrift of any fancy out-works.
+
+We come into a big hall at the back of the house, with the outer side
+almost all (with shutters) open to the estuary, and the front portion of
+the house is the _sala_. Off these two, open five rooms, all large and
+airy, and freshly painted white. In many of the houses the top of each
+room has a deep frieze in the shape of a pretty wooden grill, a Chinese
+fashion, which allows the air to circulate freely through the house—to
+say nothing of the remarks of the dwellers! We have not got this extra
+luxury, which I suppose has not been considered necessary in so airy a
+house.
+
+At the back is what is called the _Azotea_, which in this case happens
+to be built over the house below. It is a big, sloping, concrete floor,
+on which are built the kitchen, bathroom, store-room, etc.—all very
+compact, and quite away from the house, and not coming between us and the
+wind. In this, again, some of the houses we saw were impossible, for the
+outbuildings on the Azotea were placed so that they stopped the draught
+through the house. You may think I am a little foolish on the subject of
+a current of air, but I assure you I am not, for in a position with no
+draught the pores of the skin open like so many sluices, and one’s head
+begins to throb.
+
+So that is our house, which, after genuine Spanish haggling, we got for
+50 _pesos_ a month, a sum working out at about £60 a year, a very low
+rent indeed out here. In fact, when we set out and said we meant to give
+no more than 50 dollars a month for a house, we were simply laughed at,
+and at first were almost inclined to think it could not be done, but when
+we saw the numbers of houses standing empty in all the nice streets, we
+stuck to our sum, and are very glad now that we did so. A Spaniard or
+_Mestizo_ (Eurasian) would not dream of giving more than thirty for a
+house like the one we have taken, but an American would give a hundred.
+That is where the trouble comes in—in making the people understand that
+we don’t mean to grind them down, nor, on the other hand, to pay foolish
+sums, but to give the right value for what we get.
+
+[Illustration: THE BACK OF OUR HOUSE.
+
+Showing Azotea and Outbuildings.
+
+_To face page 24._]
+
+You know the way Americans go about in Europe spending the unit, which is
+lower than their own, like water, with no sense of value? And how they
+raise prices wherever they go! Well, they have done the same thing here,
+and an American woman, who was talking to me the other day, told me it
+was now beginning to be apparent to them what a mistake they had made,
+and they bitterly regretted having made the Philippines as expensive
+as America, but that it was very difficult for them to go back now to
+the more reasonable scale, for as soon as a Filipino found out you were
+an American, nothing would move him from American prices. Poor thing,
+she was very bitter about it, and I felt very sorry for her (as well as
+rather alarmed for myself), for the sums she was paying in rent and wages
+to live at all in Iloilo, would have kept her in comfort in London or
+Paris.
+
+Well, when we had settled on the house, we drove straight to the
+shop-streets of the town—or rather, street, for there is only one with
+shops, the principal thoroughfare, called the Calle Real. Some of the
+shops have quite big, handsome windows of plate glass, with wonderful
+things displayed in them, but when you get inside you find they are, like
+the shop window in Browning’s poem, only “astonishing the street,” and
+beyond the window there is nothing but a large half-empty hall, where a
+few languid, sallow Eurasians stand trimming their nails behind long,
+untidy counters. These are the Spanish, Filipino, and German shops; but
+the Chinese are just the reverse, with no show in the little low window,
+and the inside a small, poky room, crammed with everything any human
+being ever invented, and kept by energetic, slant-eyed men who simply
+won’t let you go without buying something.
+
+The principal shop, however, is the great Store, which is kept by an
+English firm called Hoskyn & Co., and is said to be the best in the
+islands, and there we bought elemental necessaries, in the way of a few
+pieces of furniture, some groceries, china, glass, and so forth, at
+prices, when translated into shillings, to turn one faint with dismay.
+It was maddening to think of the lovely things we could have got for
+the same money at home, nevertheless these were very cheap for the
+Philippines, for this is a notoriously cheap “store,” which can afford
+to sell at low prices, as they have such an immense business, even being
+able to compete with the shops in Manila, where they send all manner
+of life’s necessaries. Though I am once more reminded of papa’s remark
+that he never realises what a curse human life has become till he reads
+through a store list.
+
+When we had done our shopping, we came back to the house and unpacked
+our new household goods as they came in, hung lamps, and so on, and all
+that day worked hard at the house. At intervals prospective servants
+kept dropping in, for servants are secured here in much the same way as
+houses—people tell other people about the opportunity, and the news flies
+about in servant-land.
+
+All shapes and sizes of Filipinos loomed on the balcony at intervals, and
+drifted into the hall and stood watching us till we had time to attend to
+them. In this country all the doors stand always open for coolness, and
+there are no bells, and when you go to a house you walk in at the door
+and sing out for a servant. Some people go so far as to have a hand bell
+at the top of the stairs, but the whole system seems to me ridiculous, so
+I have persuaded C—— to invest in a door bell, which he is going to fix
+to the main door into the hall.
+
+We were unpacking and going about the house, and every now and then we
+would come upon a silent figure waiting, just waiting, anywhere, leaning
+up against something, and perfectly indifferent to time or place. This
+stamped him as a candidate. To each one C—— put first of all the question:
+
+“Can you speak English?”
+
+And when the man said “Yeees, sair,” he was refused without any further
+parley, for nothing will induce us to take servants who can understand
+what we are saying, which would make life impossible in these open
+houses. Besides that, when they speak English it means they have been
+with Americans, who spoil the Filipino servants dreadfully with their
+well-meant notions of equality, and give ridiculous wages as well. In
+the Spanish days a Filipino head-servant got 5 or 6 _pesos_ a month, and
+the _peso_ then was the Mexican dollar, which is only about two-thirds
+of the Conant unit. It was, and is, riches to them, but so changed are
+these things now, that we are considered wonderful because we have found
+a _mayordomo_ or head boy willing to come to us for 10 _pesos_ a month
+and a second boy for 6. An American would give them twice as much, if not
+more, which would simply turn them into drunkards, or gamblers, or both,
+or worse.
+
+All the Philippine servants are men, as all over the East, though some
+women do have a native maid; but as all the women I have met do nothing
+but complain of the laziness and uselessness of these handmaidens, I have
+no idea of saddling myself with such a burden.
+
+The two men we have engaged are about twenty years of age, but it is
+always very difficult to tell how old Filipinos are, as they look old
+when they are young and young when they are old. They can give no
+particular account of themselves, these two, and have unaccountably
+mislaid their little books of references; but we are taking them on the
+recommendation of their faces, which are nice, and that is just as good
+a standard to go by in a Filipino as in anyone else! One is a native of
+Guimaras; the other a Tagalo, from Luzon; and both are short, thick-set,
+sturdy-looking fellows who ought not to give us much trouble with falling
+ill. Half the time here the servants are ill with fever, or colds, or
+heaven knows what, for it is a race without much stamina.
+
+One of the most aggravating characteristics of the Filipinos is the way
+they murmur, for they have naturally very soft voices, which become
+positively a whisper with shyness and awe. The English people here
+adopt the custom, which prevails throughout the East, of calling their
+servants “boys,” but the Americans use the Spanish word _muchacho_, and
+that is unfortunate, as they give all vowels the narrow, English value,
+making it this word _muchaycho_. It sounds so odd, this lack of ear, and
+quite alters some of the Spanish names—such as saying Cavyt for Cavite
+(the naval port of Manila), Caypiz for Capiz (a town in Panay), and so
+on, and though they pronounce Jaro exactly the same as the English town
+of Harrow, thank goodness they don’t go so far as to call this place
+Eye-low-Eye-low!
+
+[Illustration: FILIPINO SERVANTS.
+
+_To face page 28._]
+
+But I am wandering away from the servants, and I have not yet introduced
+the cook to you. We had less trouble to get this treasure than the
+others, as all the natives cook well by instinct—at least, they know how
+to make the best of what food there is to be had, which is all one wants.
+This particular _chef_ is a shrivelled, pock-marked person, about 4
+feet 6 in height, with an array of immense teeth, and an air of intense
+importance; this last characteristic being funny or annoying according to
+the mood one happens to be in oneself. His wages are 15 _pesos_ a month,
+and as he is a married man, or says so, he is to live with his family in
+the town.
+
+And that was the end of the first day, and a very long and fatiguing one
+in this climate.
+
+When we came back next morning we found that the _boys_, who had been
+left in charge of the house and what furniture we had fixed up, had
+already swept and polished the floors, which made an immense difference
+to the appearance of the place, and the lamps were filled and trimmed.
+There is electric light in the town, but it is so very bad, and is the
+cause of so much complaint, that all have to supplement their expensive
+electricity with oil lamps before they can read. We are, therefore, not
+going to have it put on, though it would be quite easy, as the wire
+passes over us from next door. The efficiency and intelligence of the new
+servants pleased us very much, but all the same we observed cautiously to
+each other: “New brooms sweep clean.”
+
+We left the new brooms still sweeping, and went off to the shops again,
+and once more spent important and heart-breaking sums on the bare
+necessities of life. This time it was furniture, at the shop of a Chinese
+Eurasian, where we got a lot of things that look very nice, though they
+are not anything wonderful in the way of wood; but in these light, open
+houses with no fires and no carpets, it is not necessary to have such
+rich-looking furniture as at home. If one likes to spend still more
+money, there are beautiful things to be had made from magnificent hard
+Philippine woods, but the high price of labour, the poverty everywhere,
+and lack of capital and enterprise, have made these hard-wood things so
+dear that they are luxuries. The ordinary furniture is, in spite of the
+cent.-per-cent. import duties, either made out of Oregon pine, or else
+imported ready made from Vienna; but an insect called _buc-buc_, with
+which the country abounds, eats these soft pine woods, though it will
+not touch the native mahogany, teak, ebony, etc. It is not as if this
+Philippine timber were swept off for export, for no trade is done with
+it as no cheap labour is to be had, and splendid trees just decay in the
+crowded forests on the hills.
+
+For our _sala_ we invested in basket furniture, a necessity in this
+heat, for padded chairs or cushions would be unendurable. The bamboo
+and rattan, of which Chinamen would make all sorts of pretty chairs and
+couches for a few _pesos_ a piece, grow plentifully here, but in the
+Philippines such articles are only to be had at three times the price, as
+they are imported from China, for the Filipinos are too lazy and stupid
+to make anything of the materials given them by “_el buen Dios_,” and
+if they did, the scale of wages, set by the American Government, would
+make the things even more expensive than those imported. So the reeds
+rot, and the woods rot; and we, for our part, cannot cease to regret that
+we did not, while we were in Hong Kong, invest in some of the cheap and
+beautiful furniture we saw there, but we took local advice and forbore
+to import anything into this land of prohibitive tariffs; though now we
+discover that, tariffs and all, we should have found it cheaper to have
+brought the things with us.
+
+All this expense of life springs from the accepted interpretation of the
+maxim, “Philippines for the Filipinos,” which saying was invented by
+the late (and first) Governor-General of the Philippines, a man of the
+name of Taft, who is now Secretary of War in the United States. I suppose
+the idea caught on in America, and the good people there, whose opinion
+controls affairs in this country, which they have never seen, think
+that prohibitive tariffs and the exclusion of cheap Chinese or Japanese
+labour, must be a good thing for these depopulated islands if it is a
+benefit to the overcrowded U.S.A.
+
+As a matter of fact, when applied to an indolent, indifferent race, the
+result is stagnation and starvation prices, which is a terrible state
+of affairs in a hot country like this, where food and labour ought to
+be plentiful and cheap, or nothing will pay. I can’t think that the
+Americans really believe the Filipinos to be as high a development of
+the human race as they are themselves; but since they wish, with the
+best intentions, to allow the Filipinos to benefit by American systems
+of government, these Malays must first learn the A B C of such a system.
+Whether they are capable of profiting by such lessons, or whether they
+are so foreign to the essence of this race as to ruin it, remains to be
+demonstrated.
+
+Well, I must get back to the house again, and the end of the story is
+that we moved into our house on Thursday, the 8th, and slept here that
+night. We were able to do this so soon, as people have been very kind in
+lending us things—sheets and towels from one, table-linen from another,
+and so on—but all the same I wish our cases would come, as there is such
+a responsibility about other people’s gear.
+
+_À propos_ of these same cases, we are rather uneasy in our minds about
+them, as we are beginning to hear alarming rumours of Customs duties to
+be paid. Wedding presents used to be exempt, but quite lately duties were
+levied on them, and I am afraid we shall have to pay for our own things,
+which is a bore, not to say rather a blow.
+
+We got through all our trunks, etc., that we had with us with a
+perfunctory opening of one box, a few questions, and the signing of
+papers, the only trouble being C——’s gun, which they took away, and he
+will not be able to get a licence, or allowed to have it out of the
+Customs House before he finds two “bonds” of 100 dollars each. That is,
+in clear English, he must find two people who are prepared to bet the
+American Government 100 dollars each that he is not going to sell the gun
+to an Insurgent.
+
+So, barring the gun anxiety, we got our boxes in all right, and are told
+it would have gone equally well with the cases had we had them with
+us, but as they are coming out by freight, they will be subject to the
+duties. However, the authorities tell us it will not be very severe—C——
+went and inquired about it, as he said he would rather not take our
+spoons and forks and things out of bond, but would prefer to send them
+back to Hong Kong rather than pay a large sum. So, all things considered,
+C—— is not reassured, so he has arranged to have the cases sent here
+unopened and in bond; and is going to open them, in bond, at the Custom
+House, and have the contents appraised before he decides what to do with
+them. The only reasonable hope is that many of the contents, such as
+plate, may be exempt, or very lightly taxed, as they are articles that
+could not possibly be produced in the Philippines; but when I mentioned
+this to a Customs official, he replied that such an idea had nothing to
+do with the system of taxation.
+
+This is a fearfully long letter, but even now I feel I have not told you
+half I wanted to.
+
+
+
+
+LETTER V.
+
+HOUSEKEEPING IN ILOILO
+
+
+ ILOILO, _December 17, 1904_.
+
+We are settling down very comfortably into our charming house, which we
+like more and more, and are continually congratulating ourselves on our
+luck in having found such a nice home.
+
+There is nothing special to tell you about since I last wrote, so I will
+try to give you some idea of my housekeeping, of which I think I have not
+yet told you anything beyond just mentioning how many servants we have.
+
+I find that the cook—he with the important manner and the big teeth—has
+been an under-cook in an American hotel, or what he is pleased to call
+an American hotel, by which I take it he means one of the saloons or
+eating-houses in the town. So far, however, he has proved himself a very
+good cook indeed, which is even more necessary here than anywhere else,
+for food in the Philippines has but little variety, and is not nourishing
+at its best. Every morning I give this person a _peso_ and a half, with
+which he goes off to the market and buys whatever takes his fancy, or,
+more probably, what is to be had, which generally takes the form of an
+incredibly small and thin fowl—alive; one or two little fish; some green
+peppers or egg-plants, and always a few very small, half-ripe tomatoes.
+With these and with help from the store-room, he concocts a very good
+lunch and dinner, and, doubtless, makes a good thing out of it, but most
+cooks charge 2 dollars for the same _menu_, and he really provides for
+us very well. I supply tea, salt, butter, lard, tinned fruits, potatoes,
+macaroni—in fact all the dry provisions usually kept in a store-room, I
+don’t know what is the technical name for them.
+
+The store-room (_dispensa_, they call it), where these treasures are
+hoarded up, is a very nice little dark cabin, with shelves all round,
+which I made the boys clean out and wipe everywhere with petroleum,
+an excellent precaution against the numberless and extraordinary
+animals with which one has to share the house. I got tall glass jars
+for protection against cockroaches, and tins to keep mice off, and
+wire-netting for rats, and naphthaline to astonish the scorpions and
+spiders; and last, but by no means least, a good strong padlock for human
+beings! When the tins and bottles were all arranged, they looked very
+home-like.
+
+We get up at half-past five or six, and I give one of the _boys_ 20[2]
+cents, with which he goes out and buys bread for the day at the shop
+of some Chinaman down the street. It is necessary to get small daily
+supplies of everything, for food will not keep. Some people have told
+me fearful anecdotes about the horrors perpetrated by the Chinamen in
+the making of their bread, and these faddists have theirs made at home,
+but the Chinese bread tastes quite good, and is much more light and
+digestible than that made by the house-cooks. As our cook has cooked for
+Americans, he knows how to make the hot cakes which are the great feature
+of American breakfasts, but we won’t have them, for they are deadly
+anywhere, especially in the tropics.
+
+After our seven o’clock breakfast, which consists very largely of eggs,
+and after C—— has gone to the office, I open the door of the _dispensa_
+and serve out the day’s supplies; but this routine was not brought about
+without a struggle, for at first the cook persisted in coming to me
+intermittently all day long to ask for things. At least, he invented
+wants, but I had an idea his only object was the key of the _dispensa_,
+as these Filipinos have a full measure of the cunning of the brown-faced
+person all the world over. However, I disappointed him about that, always
+leaving whatever I was doing to go and open the door and get out what he
+wanted, at the same time remarking, as best I could, that if he did not
+ask for things at the proper time he must do without them. Then once or
+twice I carried the threat into effect, and when he heard what C—— had
+to say about the dinner, that cured him. Everyone tells me doleful tales
+about the way the _muchacho_ or _boy_ robs them, so I thought it would be
+better to start from the first by giving as few opportunities as possible
+for trouble of this sort.
+
+In the morning the servants’ food is also given out, each one getting an
+allowance of rice (for which purpose we lay in a large sackful), and this
+they boil and eat with some tiny fish which they buy for themselves with
+a few extra cents I give them. I believe it is unheard-of extravagance
+to give the extra money; and I never measure out the rice, but let them
+take it, for, after all, it is all the poor souls live on. All over the
+Philippines the natives of all classes live almost entirely on rice,
+which formerly used to be grown in all the islands, but rinderpest
+destroyed many of the _carabaos_ (buffaloes), which worked the soil, and
+high wages and heavy taxes have wrought even greater havoc, so that now
+the supply nearly all comes from China. You see, high wages are offered
+in the towns, and what with that and the unsuitable education they
+receive, the country-people all flock into the towns, and the country
+places are empty. It is on the coast, in the towns, that rice is so much
+eaten, for inland the staple food is _camote_ (sweet potato); so the
+country-people think rice a luxury, and the town’s-people eat _camote_ as
+a treat.
+
+When I wrote last, I don’t think the staff was completed by the
+washerwoman, was it? A person with a huge, almost black, pan face came
+and stood in the picture of blue sky and green palm-branches framed in
+the doorway, dressed in a skirt formed of a tight fold of red cloth and a
+muslin bodice with huge sleeves (the native costume), holding a big black
+umbrella in one hand, and muttering in an undertone, while she kept one
+dull, rolling eye on Tuyay, who was disposed to growl and sniff.
+
+We were at breakfast at the time, and as we ate we conversed patiently
+with her till we found that this person wanted to be taken on as a
+_lavandera_ at 20 _pesos_ a month, which is about twenty-six guineas a
+year. This offer we refused with imprecations, and we added that we would
+not give more than 10.
+
+She melted away, murmuring, from the front door, and presently reappeared
+at the back door (both opening upon the hall, but at different ends),
+and murmured afresh. I must tell you, by-the-bye, that, following a very
+general custom here, we use one end of the hall as dining-room, though
+there is a room which has been used for that purpose, but it looks on the
+alley between this house and the next, and is not so cool as the hall.
+
+After more conversation, we decided to engage this pan-faced individual
+at 12 _pesos_ a month as a stop-gap, till we should be able to find some
+more intelligent woman, and there and then I gave her a bagful of soiled
+linen, and off she went.
+
+Next day at lunch she suddenly reappeared, perfectly cow-like and stolid,
+leaning up against the door-post and murmuring so that C—— simply got
+_wild_ with her, and would have thrown everything on the table at her
+head, I believe, if I had not been there.
+
+As the cook is the only one of the servants who speaks above a whisper,
+he was sent for, and he told us that pan-face wanted soap, starch, and
+charcoal. All the washing is done in cold water at some well, it appears,
+and they only want a little charcoal to put in the iron. So C—— wrote an
+order, a _vale_ they call it, upon Hoskyn’s for soap, a box-iron, starch,
+and charcoal, and away went the new _lavandera_.
+
+But we had not seen the last of her, for the next day she came again, at
+breakfast this time, and murmured again, clutching the bulgy gamp and
+leaning against the door-post. This time the cook told us she wanted tin
+tubs, and C—— gave a sort of roar as he asked her when the devil she was
+going to begin the washing, but she only looked more hopelessly stupid,
+and her face became more like a gorilla’s. At last she got her _vale_ for
+tubs, and off she went—but about mid-day she reappeared, on the balcony,
+outside the front door, with the tubs, huge tin baths, sitting beside her.
+
+C—— managed to control himself sufficiently to ask her if there was
+anything the matter with the tubs, and she was understood to say no, but
+she only wanted to show us she had got tubs; and she melted away.
+
+Next afternoon I was told the _lavandera_ had arrived, so I went out
+to tell her the _señor_ would soon be in and ready to listen to her,
+though I really had some doubt about the latter statement, but I found
+her undoing a huge bundle of washing—all finished and ready! And such
+beautiful work, C——’s white linen suits done to perfection, my frocks and
+blouses like new—I never saw clothes look more fresh and lovely. It was a
+pleasant surprise.
+
+So pan-face remains, but all the same we are quite prepared to find this
+standard not kept up for long, and if any remonstrance has to be made, we
+know we shall have that blank look and that murmuring to face again.
+
+The _boys_ are shaping very well, and if they go on as they are doing, no
+one could wish for better servants. I did not bewilder them more than I
+could help at first, but sprang a routine on them by degrees in a mixture
+of pantomime, Italian and a word or two of Spanish, that seems to answer
+the purpose very well. Two things C—— insisted on from the first: one,
+that the servants should wear native costume and bare feet in the house;
+and the other, that they must address us as _señor_ and _señora_, none of
+which little marks of etiquette are insisted on in American households,
+but we think, and I believe rightly, that they are of the greatest
+importance in dealing with Orientals. C—— said if they didn’t like these
+rules they could go, but apparently they did like them, and they have
+stayed.
+
+We asked some friends to dinner a few nights ago, and just before they
+arrived C—— went into the hall and found an unknown young man, in a very
+smart, white, buttoned-up, linen European suit with starched collar, and
+white canvas shoes, standing on a chair in the middle of the hall, doing
+something to one of the lamps. When the man turned round, we saw, to our
+amazement, that he was Domingo—our second _boy_!
+
+When he saw C——’s expression, the servant was quite frightened, not
+having any idea what crime he could be committing or have committed, but
+he very soon understood that if he did not take off those shoes and that
+coat he would be fired out of the house. I don’t think the poor creature
+meant any harm, in fact he was supposed to be got up in his best to do
+honour to our guests, but he fled at once to the Azotea, and has never
+been seen again except in the Filipino dress, which is a loose shirt
+rather like a Chinaman’s coat, only fastening up the middle, and with
+bare feet.
+
+Yesterday the cook appeared, carrying four huge, tall orchid plants,
+with very green leaves and pale mauve flowers, such lovely things, which
+he suggested would look well in the _sala_, and I quite agreed, so we
+began to negotiate for them. The countryman who had brought the flowers
+was ushered to the back door, and there was understood to murmur that
+he wanted 2 _pesos_ (four shillings) for the four plants, but the cook,
+who said this was _muy caro_, got him down to a _peso_ and 20 cents;
+only, the people here use many terms applicable to the old coinage, such
+as _real_, _peseta_, and so on, which make it so extremely puzzling to
+discover what the price of things really is, that I found it difficult
+to make out what to give; but the cook fished out a _peso_ and 20 cents
+out of a pile of money I put on the table, and the man picked the two
+coins up and went off quite content. In my ignorance, I thought it rather
+a shame to insist on so low a price for such lovely plants—and orchids,
+too! However, I have since found out that these plants grow wild in
+great profusion in the woods over in the Island of Guimaras, and that
+what I had paid was like giving a man at home two shillings for a bunch
+of primroses. In spite of this, I decline to consider myself swindled, or
+to be dissatisfied with my bargain.
+
+When the orchids had been bought, I asked the cook where he proposed to
+find pots to put them in, and he smiled in a very superior fashion, and
+said they only wanted some earth and a piece of sacking to live in, and
+they could be kept alive by certain airings and drinks of water; and when
+I said, “Who is going to do all this?”
+
+“Domingo, _señora_,” he said in a great hurry. “Domingo is the only one
+who really understands plants”—and he grinned and nodded his head with
+marvellous rapidity.
+
+I rather fancied the placid Domingo would be told he knew about plants
+and have to attend to them, after the fashion of one or two other “jobs”
+I had noticed, but I thought it best not to interfere, as Domingo is
+twice the size of the cook, and ought to be able to look after himself.
+Later on I saw the two of them fixing the tall plants, with roots neatly
+tied up in sacking bags, to the walls of the _sala_, or rather, Domingo
+very adroitly tying and nailing up, while the cook stood by to talk
+twenty to the dozen, and came afterwards to me for approval.
+
+We had a very amusing scene of this description at the very beginning,
+when we fixed up the mosquito nets, on which occasion all hands, myself
+included (with needle and cotton) did something tangible, while the cook
+devoted the time to talking and jabbering and hopping about, uncannily
+like a monkey.
+
+The orchids are really lovely, and make the _sala_ look charming with
+their masses of little blooms of mauve and yellow against the white
+walls, and in time I must try to get some small trees in tall Chinese
+stands of blue and green earthenware, which adorn the houses here in
+profusion, and suit the white paint and brown floors admirably.
+
+
+
+
+LETTER VI.
+
+A WASTED LAND
+
+
+ ILOILO, _Christmas Eve, 1904_.
+
+We have just come back from a delightful drive, to a town called Molo,
+which lies inland, in the direction of the river, but on the opposite
+bank to Jaro, the latter, as I think I told you, having been the capital
+of the Island of Panay in the olden days. There is a good road out to
+both of these towns, which crosses the river at Molo, and makes a circle,
+passing through a village called Mindoriao, and this is the great drive
+of the place, in fact the only one. The whole round is about 8 or 9
+miles, however, which is too long for a _paseo_ (promenade), so the
+carriages roll out at sunset to one of the two towns, turn round the
+quaint, ramshackle, old _plazas_, and return whence they came, spinning
+along in the fresh night air, with lamps lighted, and all the little
+ponies gallantly determined to pass each other.
+
+Along the sides of the road, for a long way out of the town, stretches
+a vast suburb of picturesque native huts of palm thatch, built on high
+poles in the jungle, or standing in the edge of the river, surrounded
+by palms and all sorts of tropical trees of different brilliant greens,
+through which may be caught glimpses of intensely blue river or sea and
+exquisite mauve mountain ranges.
+
+We enjoyed our drive immensely, and kept wishing that Papa could see the
+endless pictures of brown and yellow huts, women in bright red dresses,
+the groups of children and animals, the grey old Spanish churches and
+belfries—I think if you ever came out here he would spend his whole time
+on a camp stool, sketching for dear life!
+
+Our cases have come from home at last, though I don’t know why I should
+say that, as they have not been so very long after us, but we were rather
+grubbing along till they came, which made the time seem longer. When
+C—— was informed they had arrived, he went down to the Custom House and
+spent a long day with the official appraiser, a most polite and patient
+young man, weighing and examining everything. The methods of doing this
+are wonderful and alarming, for they weigh the silver and plate with
+their leather or wooden cases, and the duty is charged by so much on the
+kilo! Imagine what the proportion is on a dozen silver spoons or knives
+in a handsome oak case! All the italics and exclamations in the biggest
+printing house in the world could not convey my sentiments upon this
+subject. The textiles are examined with a magnifying glass, appraised as
+materials, and taxed as such, at the rate of 50 per cent., upon what the
+Customs people choose to say was their original value. If the material is
+made up, there is extra duty of 100 per cent., which makes me glad that
+I put so few of my frocks in the cases. The only way to console oneself
+is to think that even with the duty added, they cost about half what they
+would if one bought the materials and had them made up here.
+
+Well, the end of it was that C—— came home late in the afternoon and told
+me that the duty came to 300 _pesos_—a little over £30!—and did I think
+the things were worth it, or should we send them back to Hong Kong in
+bond?
+
+After we had discussed the matter, going into it all carefully, we came
+to the conclusion that we could not find substitutes for our things here
+for that sum. So we decided to take them, and the cases were brought up
+here by coolies, two or four carrying each one slung with _bejuco_ ropes
+on to a hard-wood pole.
+
+It is very nice to have all our own things about, but all the same it is
+a fearful hardship to have to pay their value for things that belong to
+us, and particularly annoying in the case of the wedding presents.
+
+This, the arrival of the cases, has been the great excitement of the
+week, and from the look of the box-room, bids fair to continue to excite
+all hands for some time to come.
+
+When we get the sketches hung up, the house will look very pretty, I
+think, and we are going to have some of them put in some frames that came
+in an old case full of C——’s things from Cebú. They will look very nice
+done up with enamel, and we can get some glass at a Chinaman’s shop, but
+all “crystal” comes from outside, of course, and is subject to a very
+heavy duty. You may be surprised, perhaps, to hear me mention Chinese
+shops so much, but nearly all the “stores” in the Philippines are kept
+by Chinamen, one (as I told you) by an English company here, and I don’t
+know if there are others, but I fancy not, and the rest by Spaniards and
+Germans. The chief businesses, big trading firms, are English all through
+the islands, and have been so for fifty years or more; and there are some
+Spanish companies, dealing in tobacco chiefly, and besides these, one or
+two Germans and Swiss, who import their native productions. Nearly all
+the Americans are official, military, educational, or missionaries. I am
+told that a few of the American soldiers, when the war was, or was said
+to be over, settled down on small plantations in the southern islands,
+and there are some saloon-keepers in the towns, a boot shop in Manila,
+and a struggling mechanic here and there; but so far, that is the extent
+of the American business interest in the place. Planters bringing in
+capital, such as our colonies profit by, do not, and never can, come into
+this country, for a new American law exists which prohibits all persons
+who are not natives from acquiring more than 40 acres of Philippine soil,
+and 40 acres in the tropics is not worth having, I believe.
+
+I rigged up my bed with my own pillow-cases and sheets yesterday.
+They were delicious to sleep in, and the idea of linen pillow-cases
+for coolness and cotton sheets for health is excellent, for a cotton
+pillow-covering would be very hot and uncomfortable, and linen sheets
+would be dangerous in such heat. I have got myself an iron bed with
+a wire mattress, for I cannot sleep on the Filipino bed, which is a
+little platform of woven cane, and quite hard and unyielding. They are
+wooden four-posters, these native beds, with a cotton roof, usually
+red, set off by a frill of lace all round the top, above the mosquito
+curtains. Some of the bedsteads I have seen, made of native woods, are
+very prettily carved round the pillars, and a really handsome piece of
+carving fills the space at each end to the height of two feet or so. All
+right so far as looks go, but the bed itself is an appalling instrument
+of torture to lie on, for in pattern and material it is the same as the
+seats of cane chairs, and as hard as iron—all for coolness. On the cane
+is spread a native grass mat called a _petate_; the luxurious and faddy
+add a sheet, but humbler folk sleep on the mat, which is aired in the
+sun every day, or ought to be, and frequently washed. In the bed there
+always lies a small, round bolster, called in Spanish an _embrasador_,
+but the Europeans name it Dutch Wife, and this is used to fling a leg
+and an arm over, for, in this climate, to lie with the limbs touching
+would be intolerable discomfort. It is also a well-known fact that the
+_embrasador_ is a great protection for the stomach against chills and
+fevers, which are a danger towards the small hours of the morning.
+Bedclothes, in the way of covering, are out of the question, but in every
+bed a small, thin blanket lies folded up, ready for the sudden chill of a
+rainy night. Once or twice people have said to me: “It was so cold last
+night. I was shivering even with my blanket.” This is the winter to them,
+you see. I only wish it struck me in the same way, for though the nights
+are by no means stifling or anything like that, it would be delightful to
+feel cold now and then.
+
+It is so difficult to realise that this is Christmas Eve—so odd to hear
+people talking of children’s parties; and Christmas trees seem absurdly
+out of place! The churches began to get excited some time ago, and for
+the last week some deadly bells have begun to clang before the dawn.
+
+The dawn, by-the-bye, is not what I expected, for I have often read
+descriptions of the coming of the tropic day—that is, night one
+minute and broad daylight the next. I find, however, that there is a
+considerable interval of twilight, both morning and evening. The other
+day I read a book by a very well-known writer, in which a description
+was given of the dayspring in Egypt coming like “the opening of an oven
+door,” which I knew to be nonsense as applied to Egypt, and now I find
+the same sort of hyperbole about the tropics equally false; for I have
+watched the grey dawn come gradually nearly every morning here, and I sit
+reading on the balcony in the twilight, in the evening. It is certainly
+not a long twilight, but all one reads about the sun shooting up from the
+night into the tropic day, and so forth, must be what they call “word
+pictures,” because it is certainly not truth, or even decent exaggeration.
+
+_Christmas Day._—I always write my letters to you all at one sitting,
+but I had to break off yesterday before I considered that I had covered
+enough paper to satisfy you, and I feel I can’t begin again to-day
+without this fresh heading; though it is not like Christmas a bit, and
+I think the bright green palms, blue sea and sky, and scorching sun are
+a very poor substitute for the lovely brown and purples of the winter
+landscape at home, the invigorating cold, and the exquisite skeletons of
+oaks and elms.
+
+I should not complain, though, for the weather here is really delicious
+just at present, with frequent heavy showers, which keep the vegetation
+fresh, and fill the water-tanks. There are lots of wells, in which the
+water is very hard, and people say it is sea-water filtered through the
+soil; and it must be so, for at high tide the wells are at their fullest,
+and quite brackish. So the water-supply one chiefly depends upon is that
+out of the rain-water tanks, which are fed from the corrugated roofs
+of the houses. However, it is not safe to drink even that unfiltered,
+and some people are very fanciful and boil it first, but that is rather
+absurd if one gets a good filter.
+
+Out of the filter, Sotero, the head boy, fills up soda-water bottles,
+which he takes to the English Club, where they are laid on the ice for
+a charge of 2 cents apiece, and these, after an hour or two on the ice,
+give us very refreshing drinks. Good and light beer is to be had, brewed
+in Manila; it works out at about a shilling a bottle, and the Americans
+drink it, but the English people consider beer an unwholesome beverage
+in this climate, and stick to whisky and soda very faithfully. Some
+adopt the Spanish custom of drinking light red wine, _vino tinto_,
+which is supposed to be strengthening and blood-making in a country
+where the prevailing trouble is anæmia. This wine comes from Spain in
+barrels, and I expect it really is the most wholesome of all. For my
+part, I keep pretty generally to lime juice and soda, or lemon squash.
+Lemons, which come from China, are about 2d. apiece. At this season,
+in the way of fruit, small tangerines are to be had also, hailing from
+China, and oranges, another luxury, 6d. each. It is rather a bore that
+such necessary and wholesome fruit should cost such ridiculous prices.
+Bananas, everlasting bananas, are the chief fruit, and even they are not
+astonishingly cheap, as they are sold here at exactly the same price
+as in London. Vegetables there are none, except miserable tomatoes and
+egg-plants. The lack of fresh fruit and vegetables is very trying,
+especially the vegetables. Whatever is sold is imported, except the
+bananas, tomatoes, and egg-plants. Fresh meat, too, would be a boon, and
+butter, and milk, for all these can only be obtained tinned—“canned”
+as they call it here. Once a week we get some provisions from the Cold
+Storage in Manila, Australian meat and butter, and sometimes vegetables,
+but this is only a private enterprise of a few of the English community,
+who club together and get down an ice-chest by the _Butuan_, the weekly
+Manila mail. It would be unwise to venture to lay in more than one day’s
+supply, which has to be cooked and eaten at once before it goes bad, even
+with an ice-chest to stand it in.
+
+It might be possible to put up with these discomforts with more or less
+philosophic calm, and not mind the deprivations if they were inevitable,
+but they are not so by any means, as the soil of the Philippines is
+one of the richest in the world, volcanic and full of natural chemical
+manures, the islands having also every sort of advantage and variety
+of climate from the plains to the mountain-tops, and being plentifully
+watered. I am for ever being told that anything and everything will grow
+and flourish here, which is so aggravating when all the fresh food to
+be procured is miserable poultry, fish, and egg-plants, tomatoes you
+would not look at in England, and costly bananas. Rice and potatoes
+from China, live cattle from China, or frozen meat from Australia, and
+_everything_ else under the sun in tins from London or America! This,
+after six years of what we are told is the most enlightened system of
+Colonial or Tropical Government yet invented. It is useless to point out
+that no roads exist inland, except one in Luzon for the Governor and his
+family to go to the hills; or to remark that labour is too dear for any
+enterprise to pay, and that all healthy foreign competition in the way of
+labour is excluded—the reply is an invitation to contemplate the splendid
+work that is being done in education. For these schools and swarming
+schoolmasters this pastoral country is taxed and tariffed to breaking
+point—schools to which the natives are being taken from the fields, and
+in which they are taught a crude wash of bad English and mathematics. The
+chief result is to bring all the “scholars” into the towns to loaf along
+in clerkships, if they can get them.
+
+You will laugh at my vehemence! But it does seem such a pity to see a
+splendid country wasted, as it were, thrown away, for the sake of a windy
+theory propounded by some well-meaning though ignorant sentimentalists at
+the other side of the globe.
+
+
+
+
+LETTER VII.
+
+CUSTOMS AND DRESS OF THE NATIVES
+
+
+ ILOILO, _December 31, 1904_.
+
+I think you may be amused to hear about a Filipino _Fiesta_, which took
+place yesterday, called Rizal Day—the anniversary of the death of the
+national hero, a Filipino of the name of Doctor Rizal. He was the William
+Tell of the Philippines, except that his existence was a reality, not a
+myth, for he died only eight years ago.
+
+This patriot obtained the degree of Doctor (of Philosophy and Medicine)
+in Spain, where he went to be educated and enlightened. When he returned
+from that land, Doctor Rizal set to work, endeavouring to free his
+countrymen from the frightful Spanish friars, who were the real rulers
+of the Spanish Philippines, and whose cruelty and wickedness were almost
+incredible. Any friars who were not good enough for Spain, were sent out
+to the Philippines, where each man became a little god and tyrant in a
+tiny _pueblo_ (village or district), in which his authority was unbounded
+and unquestioned. I suppose some of these friar-priests must have been
+good men, but no one can tell me they ever heard of such a being, for
+the enervating climate, lazy life, complete irresponsibility, and the
+irresistible power of the priest over the superstitious, childish Malays
+were too much for these men of God; and the stories of their cruelties,
+rapacities, and immoralities are all terrible and often simply sickening.
+I have heard them from people who lived in the _pueblos_, and the things
+that went on were like the Decameron and the Inquisition rolled into one.
+
+Well, this Doctor Rizal started a revolt against the power of these
+dreadful _men_, if one could call the friars by such a name, about 1872;
+and from that time the rest of his life was a series of plots, captures,
+escapes to Europe, imprisonment by the friars, banishment, return,
+recapture, till at last, by the simple device of the friars having Rizal
+cabled for to Spain and getting him back to the Philippines, the avenging
+Church had him executed, by order of the Spaniards, on the Luneta, the
+Promenade at Manila, on December 30, 1896. I have met people who were
+present at the execution of Rizal, and they tell me that the crowds were
+vast, and relate how Rizal faced a line of soldiers bravely and was shot.
+Rizal had a nice, clever face of a refined Filipino type, if one can
+trust the portraits on the Conant bank-notes, and the Filipinos simply
+adore his memory.
+
+It was in consequence of Rizal’s revolt that Aguinaldo and the Katipunan
+arose, who lived to revenge their hero’s memory, completing his work by
+turning the Spaniards and their dreadful priests out of the Islands. To
+do this, as you know, they had to get America to help them; which the
+Americans did, and stayed on. The idea is that they are going to teach
+the Filipinos how to govern themselves, which, it appears, ought only to
+be done by all peoples and races after the American method. The Filipinos
+are said to be delighted about this, but the puzzling anomaly is that
+they fought, and are still fighting the Americans tooth and nail to
+get their own liberty, their own way, but they are not asked what they
+think at all, and if they show any signs of wanting to get rid of this
+American burden and govern themselves in their own fashion, they are
+called Insurgents and knocked on the head, or dubbed common robbers and
+strung up to a tree.
+
+On account of this state of affairs, the natives seize on this
+anniversary to give relief to some of their patriotic emotions. The
+day is a public holiday, they hang out flags and lanterns, and every
+Filipino knocks off what little work he ever does, and crawls about the
+streets and spits, and every one of them who is not carrying some musical
+instrument, is to be seen taking a cock to or from a cock-fight; while
+the women slouch along in gangs with myriads of children, or else jolt up
+and down in hired carriages—and that is the _Fiesta_.
+
+They abandon these delirious joys during the hot hours of the day, from
+two to four, but swarm out again in redoubled numbers in the evening,
+walking about the streets till midnight in long processions, carrying
+paper lanterns of every shape and colour, and led by a guitar and
+mandoline band; while nearly every house is lighted up, and the big room
+full of people dancing.
+
+The Filipinos have a natural gift for music of a very light sort, and I
+am told by people, who I do not think are very competent judges, that
+the natives perform classic music pretty well too, when well directed.
+Everyone plays an instrument of some sort, the men forming themselves
+into little and large societies, bands, in fact, which, on an occasion
+like yesterday, go about the streets and play “Hiawatha” on the slightest
+provocation. The trail of Sousa and “rag-time” is over them all, and
+their own plaintive, minor melodies, some of them very beautiful, are
+never heard now. At least I say “their own” melodies, but these tunes
+have a great flavour of Spain about them, and, of course, after four
+centuries of Spanish influence, it is difficult to say what is original
+Malay and what is imported.
+
+The dress of the women is a mixture of the two races—Malay and
+Spanish—for the tight skirt (which is not worn in Manila, by-the-bye)
+is the _sarong_ of the Straits; and the muslin blouse or jacket, with
+its huge starched sleeves and _panuelo_ (a sort of folded _fichu_ collar
+which sticks up behind) is an interesting survival of the fashions in
+vogue in Europe, in the days when Spain took these Islands on one side
+of the globe, and fought the mariners of Elizabeth on the other. Beyond
+these two garments the outfit is simplicity itself, for it consists of
+one long cotton chemise. I don’t think you’ve ever seen a _sarong_,
+by-the-bye, which, when it is off, is like a bottomless sack; and when
+it is on, is drawn tightly across the back and tucked in over itself at
+the top, when it makes an outline exactly like the petticoats in Egyptian
+monuments, quite close at the back, with a fold like a kilt in front.
+Then over the upper part comes the muslin bodice, which is made in one
+piece, with a hole to slip over the head, after the fashion of a jibbah.
+It looks very cool, but the cut is clumsy, and the fashion is dwarfing
+to the tiny Filipino figures; while the big sticking-up collar gives a
+round-shouldered effect, and spoils what is one of their best points, a
+graceful set and carriage of the head and neck. They walk very straight,
+with all the motion from the hips, and their feet very much turned out,
+and generally wear no jewellery of any sort, except perhaps a pair of
+gold earrings, or a ring or two, or a rosary of European patterns.
+There is nothing characteristic in the way of native work or beads.
+The well-to-do Filipino women wear more trinkets, and the _Mestizas_
+(Eurasians) cover themselves with cheap and tawdry ornaments.
+
+The favourite material for the _camisa_ (bodice) is a native muslin
+woven from the fibres of pine-apple leaves, called _piña_, an exclusive
+manufacture of the Islands of Panay and Negros, where the pine-apples
+grow wild in the jungles. This the Filipino women weave with or without
+silk stripes and checks, and dye all sorts of colours; but the lower
+classes and peasants hardly ever wear anything beyond the plain, undyed
+yellowish-white, which, after all, suits them far better than any other
+colour. They look well though, on great occasions, in crimson, purple,
+or yellow, and they are wise when they stick to those warm colours, for
+blues and greens are fatally unbecoming to their yellow-brown skins,
+making them look heavy and dirty. They seem to have no natural taste for
+colour though, as they use some appalling aniline dyes, and make mixtures
+which set one’s teeth on edge. They are only really safe when they stick
+to the red _sarong_ and undyed _camisa_.
+
+The _piña_ is woven on hand-looms, which can be seen and heard clicking
+in almost every hut, and it is sent all over the Islands, and fetches
+enormous prices, but then it is practically everlasting, and when washed
+and done up with rice-starch, it looks like new.
+
+They also have a muslin, much cheaper stuff, called _Jusi_ (pronounced
+Hoosee), which is made from a fibre procured in China; and a third, and
+still cheaper one woven from hemp fibres and called _sinamay_—and the
+result of it all is that to the uninitiated the three materials all look
+exactly alike! On the _piña_ the women do a very beautiful embroidery of
+graceful designs worked out in fine white sewing-cotton and marvellously
+shaded, mixed with drawn threads, and some of the antique pieces are
+exquisite. This _piña_ embroidery is the only characteristic Filipino
+work I have been able to see or hear of, except the decoration of some
+weapons, and the grass mats with patterns.
+
+The dress of the men I think I have already hinted at, and it, too, is
+the last word in simplicity (short of the loin-cloth, which costume is
+not allowed in the towns), for all the Filipinos wear in the house is
+tight drawers and a vest, and when they go out they draw on over those
+a pair of white or blue cotton trousers and a collarless shirt, rather
+like a Chinaman’s coat, which I described to you before, I think. This
+shirt hangs outside the trousers, really looking much better than it
+sounds, and on galas and occasions of state they turn out in an ordinary
+European shirt, with a starched front, all pleated and embroidered, such
+as Frenchmen and Germans sometimes wear, and they look so clean and
+smart in them. In fact they look quite nice in their native costume, but
+unfortunately many of them now affect the white man’s buttoned-up linen
+coat, with stand-up starched collar, and put on shoes and stockings,
+which subtly vulgarises the wearers at once. Like all coloured races and
+many white ones, as soon as they attempt modern European fashions the
+Filipino taste is villainous, and they look inexpressibly common and
+disheartening.
+
+They are so clean—so scrupulously clean—all their clothes, even those of
+the very poorest, being spotless and fresh. They are for ever washing
+their bodies, too, or at least it is certain that the poor people are,
+for they may be seen at the wells and outside their houses tubbing
+ingenuously, the men with a single fold of stuff retained for decency,
+the women struggling inside a wet _sarong_.
+
+We went yesterday evening for a walk along the beach, on the side of this
+spit where the view embraces the open sea and the end of the Island of
+Guimaras, the latter with a promontory of mountainous Negros jutting
+out behind and beyond it, and all the rest clear horizon. The tide
+was out, so we walked on the firm wet sand at the edge of the waves,
+little, flat waves which did not run up very far, as the beach is steep
+and shelving. Over the mountains, inland, the sky was a deep glowing
+orange and crimson, but from where we were on the beach we could not see
+the mountains, only glimpses of the gorgeous colour through the high
+palms that fringe the shore; while on the other side, out to sea, was a
+reflection like a delicate wash of pinky gold, set above deep blue sea
+and purple islands.
+
+We walked a good long way, as far as the ends of the streets that come
+down on the beach, all dark with points of light, for the air was
+deliciously soft and the breeze almost fresh, and as the sunset faded,
+the stars came out and made quite a light upon the water, they looked so
+big and bright. We enjoyed the walk very much, and though we are too far
+this side of the town to be able to walk as far as the open country, we
+are very lucky not to be a long way from the beach, where we can always
+get a breath of fresh air and admire the lovely evenings.
+
+
+
+
+LETTER VIII.
+
+SOCIAL AMUSEMENTS
+
+
+ ILOILO, _January 8, 1905_.
+
+This is my first letter to you in the New Year, and it does seem so
+strange to be writing 1905 already.
+
+I wonder how you brought the year in. We were invited to a ball given by
+the Club Artistica, the Spanish Club, situated in a suite of very large
+rooms in the upper story of a big house in the Calle Real, the main
+street of the town, which I told you about when I was describing the
+amazing shops. The big basements are shops, but the long upper stories
+form large dwelling houses, very swagger ones, only the dust and noise
+are very disagreeable, and the rents about the same as flats in the best
+part of London, if not more. On these two accounts, most of them stand
+empty, displaying long rows of closed shutters, all the outside painted
+the prevailing bluey-grey. Some are used as clubs, however, one being
+this Artistica, and another, further down the street, the Filipino Club,
+which is called the Santa Cecilia—dedicated very appropriately to the
+patron saint of music, you see. These two clubs are very hospitable, and
+do nearly all the entertaining in the place, except for an occasional
+lecture at the Y.M.C.A., which, I daresay, is a wild revel, only I’ve
+never summoned up courage to go and see. The Swiss and Germans have a
+club, I believe, and the English Club has a beautiful house of its own,
+but neither of these institutions does anything towards the gaiety of
+nations, beyond playing billiards among their own members exclusively.
+It is a relief, however, to think that the poor fellows do not have such
+a very bad time as one might imagine, for they accept everything and go
+everywhere. The same comforting remark applies to the Americans, who
+have no club and don’t entertain privately, except tea or Bridge parties
+amongst each other. So, as I said before, it falls to the Spaniards and
+Filipinos to keep the place alive, and very well they do it too, if the
+ball on New Year’s Eve was a specimen of their average entertainments.
+
+The Spaniards, Eurasians, and natives are all passionately fond of
+dancing, and _really_ fond of it, for they do not make it a question of
+supper, as people do at home. All you have to do here is to clear the
+floor and get in some musicians (half the difficulty here is to keep
+groups of musicians out), and apparently your friends flow in. When we
+are coming home in the evenings, we often see the _salas_ of quite little
+houses lighted up and full of people dancing, and I have seen small
+native huts having a _baile_ of two couples jostling round in a space 10
+feet square.
+
+The chief room of the Spanish Club is a large apartment, almost a hall,
+where, on ordinary evenings, the members can be seen through the big
+lighted window-spaces, sitting about at little tables, with glasses at
+their elbows, playing dominoes; but for the _baile_ the club was cleared
+and hung with electric lights in paper flowers, and decorated with flags
+and palm branches, while in a large recess at one side was a numerous
+string band of Filipino performers.
+
+The music was excellent, but so slow that, as far as I was concerned,
+dancing was no pleasure, though that was not much of a grievance to me,
+as I was really far more anxious to look on than to dance.
+
+We were invited for ten o’clock, but when we arrived at eleven the
+entertainment was only just getting into full swing. We had missed the
+opening _Rigodon_, a dance without which no Filipino _baile_ could get
+under weigh at all, but the second half of the programme began with one,
+and I was very much interested to see it.
+
+Everyone who wanted to dance the _Rigodon_, and there were only about
+three people who did not, sat round the room in an immense square, as
+for a cotillon, and the band struck up a very jolly old Spanish tune,
+to which the sides facing each other went through a few simple figures
+at a very slow walk. When they had done, they sat down, and the other
+two sides took their turn; and that, to different tunes, was the whole
+dance, which went on for an incredible length of time. The figures were
+a mixture of lancers and quadrilles, but the dancers never went out
+of a dignified strut, and though the first tune was followed by the
+inevitable Sousa marches and “Hiawatha,” however lively the music became,
+the dancers continued to stroll and bow and shuffle about at the same
+slow pace. I am told that one becomes very fond of the _Rigodon_, but
+it seemed to me intolerably dull and listless as a dance, though as a
+spectacle it was vastly entertaining, and gave one a chance of really
+seeing the people, and they were well worth the trouble of turning out
+after dinner to look at.
+
+The men wore white suits, most of them buttoned-up white coats of the
+every day sort. There were three Englishmen in evening dress, one or
+two in white mess jackets, and several advanced young Filipinos in
+grey tweeds. The American women wore every sort of outfit, from the
+missionaries and schoolma’ams in blouses and boots to the more exalted
+personages in evening dress; while the Filipinas, _Mestizas_, and most
+of the Spaniards had on the native muslin _camisa_, some of them
+exquisitely embroidered and hand-painted, and always worn with European
+skirts of appalling colours and cut. One little brown woman had on a long
+train of scarlet plush, with huge white lace butterflies fixed across and
+down the front, which made one burst into perspiration merely to look
+at; and another was in emerald green velvet, with straggling bands of
+gold braid meandering over it in such a queer way that I could not resist
+walking round her to see if any point of view would make the lines come
+out as a pattern, but they refused to go by any rule of any art—even the
+“newest.”
+
+As to the waltzes, which formed the chief part of the programme, they
+were very amusing too, for the variety of styles was infinite, though
+the universal pace was so slow. The Spaniards and _Mestizos_ dance very
+well, and by that, of course, I mean Filipinos in general, for it is very
+difficult to distinguish between them, and to say where one race begins
+and the other leaves off. They are slow and graceful. The Americans are
+equally slow, but not very graceful, for they _walk_ instead of dance,
+holding each other in such a peculiar way, sideways and very close, the
+man leaning very far back, with his partner falling towards him, and the
+hands that are clasped held very high, and swinging up and down.
+
+At twelve o’clock everyone began to cheer and shake hands as the New Year
+came in; while the band played the American National Anthem, which is a
+most magnificent air, and then the Spanish Anthem, and then a few bars
+of “God Save the King,” which did for us and the Germans equally well,
+and which we all thought a very nice little compliment. Filipino waiters
+came in, carrying trays covered with tall glasses full of some sort of
+champagne cup, and everyone drank healths, shook hands, and wished their
+friends a Happy New Year. We stayed on a little longer, and I danced a
+two-step with a very nice American, which was the best dance I had the
+whole evening, for it is one in which they excel, though they perform it
+quite differently to what we are told at home is “the real American way
+to dance it,” as they do not plunge down the room in straight lines in
+the English fashion, but turn round more and make more of a waltz of it.
+
+Suddenly, during an interval between dances in the middle of the
+programme, without a word of warning, a _Mestiza_ sat down at the piano
+and played an accompaniment to which a young Eurasian, in a painfully
+blue satin dress, and with her face a ghastly grey-white with thick
+powder, sang a truly terrible song. She screamed in an awful manner,
+and I wondered that policemen did not rush up from the streets to see
+what was the matter, but she was perfectly self-possessed, and faced the
+audience with the aplomb and self-confidence of a prima-donna. I never
+heard such “singing” in my life—it was the sort of thing that is so bad
+that you feel all hot and ashamed, and sorry, and don’t want to catch the
+eye of any relation of the performer. This happened not once, but several
+times, and is, I am told, a custom in Filipino _bailes_.
+
+When we left at about half-past one, the ball was in full swing,
+and I afterwards heard that it went on till half-past four or five.
+Indefatigable people! I don’t know how they can keep it up so, for, of
+course, the heat was very great—a temperature in which no one would dream
+of dancing at home, and not a breath of cool air anywhere, but I suppose
+they become accustomed to it.
+
+One thing I have mentioned may strike you as odd, and that is the
+mixture of races and Eurasians, but there is socially no marked
+colour-distinction here as in every other country in the world, and
+this, I imagine, is because the natives of the civilised parts of the
+Philippines have been Christians for centuries, and intermarried with a
+Christian race. The fusion is not, however, really very complete, as one
+can see from a glance, at any gatherings, where the people of various
+shades of white and brown keep very much together. Some of the Eurasian
+women are quite pretty, but they spoil their little round faces with
+thick layers of powder over their nice brown skins, and use perfumes
+that nearly knock one down. The white men are friendly with many of
+the _Mestizos_, and dance with their pretty daughters, and are even
+occasionally foolish enough to marry the latter; but white women keep
+quite apart from the coloured folk, and it would be an unheard-of thing
+to dance with one; while as to marrying a Filipino, no woman one could
+speak to would ever dream of such a horrible fate. That is where the real
+impassable gulf is fixed. The Americans profess not to recognise any
+distinction, however, for, as I explained before, they announce that they
+consider the Filipino of any class as their social and every other equal,
+and have the expression “little brown brother” (invented by Mr. Taft),
+which is supposed to convey and establish this generous sentiment. The
+sentiment, apart from any political utility it may possess, is a noble
+one, but it does more credit to the heart of the Americans than to their
+wisdom.
+
+The Spaniards did not recognise the Filipinos as equals, but treated
+them with every courtesy, according to their degree, and I believe that
+whatever the political situation may have been in those days, society
+went peaceably enough, for every man knew his place and kept it; a system
+admirably suited to an Oriental people. Now, however, the _régime_ is
+quite different, and the sudden glare of ultra-equalising views is what
+the Filipinos can neither understand nor profit by.
+
+I wish I had been in the U.S.A to see many things for myself, but I have
+always read and heard much about the hard and fast line drawn in that
+country against “coloured” people and half-castes, and that the Americans
+have learned to adopt this custom from years of experience. This makes
+their professed attitude here very puzzling, and I can find no one who
+can even attempt to reconcile this extraordinary variation of opinion.
+Another unfathomable anomaly of American thought is that the “Equality,”
+Nobility of the Human Race—Rights as a human Being, and so on, are for
+the _Filipinos_, but all these grand schemes officially take no account
+of the fierce, naked savages; the Mahommedan tribes; the negritoes, and
+all the other wild natives of the Philippines; though how, or where, or
+when, or by whom the line is to be drawn and the distinction made is
+another unanswerable problem.
+
+New Year’s Day being a holiday, we thought we would treat ourselves to
+a drive. So we sent one of the boys out for a _carromata_, which is a
+sort of tiny gig, with the driver sitting on a small seat in front of
+his fare, in fact almost on one’s lap. Rain had been falling pretty well
+all day, and the _carromata_, when it arrived, was covered with mud, and
+looked such a disreputable turn-out that we burst out laughing when we
+saw it. However, there was no other to be had, and after all it was a
+very good specimen, so we climbed in over the wheel, and the driver, a
+boy of about twelve, gave the pony a chuck and a whack, and it turned
+round in the direction of the Plaza, and we stuck. Then the driver got
+down, and when he was out of the way and the pony became visible, we saw
+that we weighed the cart down so much at the back that as the little
+animal turned round he got his neck wedged under the shaft and was
+held in a rigid yoke. The youthful _cochero_ shoved him down somehow,
+evidently both of them quite accustomed to the trouble, and, once
+righted, the little beast tore along, and we had a delightful drive in
+the cool of the evening, enjoying the air, which was so fresh after the
+rain.
+
+We did not go far out of the town, as the sky was rather threatening,
+but kept more or less to the ever-amusing suburbs of native huts,
+which literally swarm with human beings, to every one of whom there is
+apparently an allowance of about six babies of under one year old, and on
+the roofs are cocks and hens clinging to the steep thatch; while under
+the hut lives the family _carabao_ (a big grey water-buffalo) in his
+mudhole, along with stray dogs and wild pigs which eat up the refuse.
+
+The number of children, very young children, is something astounding,
+but, according to statistics, I learn that 60 per cent. of the children
+born in the Philippines die under one year old, so that must help to keep
+the numbers of grown-up people down a bit. They are miserable little
+languid scraps, thin and solemn, but so supremely fortunate as to wear
+no clothes whatever, till they are about six, when a short muslin jacket
+is put on, which is more for adornment than anything else. The tiny ones
+ride astride the mother’s hip, with little thin legs dangling, and round
+black head wobbling about, looking so uncomfortable, poor little souls.
+They are fed on rice, which they eat till their little bodies swell up
+to a certain tightness, when the food is taken away, and they are not
+allowed more till they have “gone down” again. This process results in
+a permanent “rice-tummy,” which makes the babies look like air-balloons
+set on drumsticks; but, somehow, they lose that as they get older, and if
+they live, are generally very slender and well made.
+
+There is a great fuss made now about this waste of infant life, much of
+which is ascribed to the horrible and unhuman practices and superstitions
+attending the birth of a Filipino child; but I imagine from the
+appearance of the children themselves, that the whole question is merely
+an example of the Survival of the Fittest, for of so many children born
+in such a delicate race there must be numbers who are unable and unfit
+to live. They are not a hardy people, these Filipinos, and the heat,
+fevers, and plagues of the country affect them even more than they do the
+white races, oddly enough. I believe that in the wild parts the natives
+are stronger, and sometimes live to a great age; but there the life is
+simpler; the cross-breeding less frequent; in the absence of civilisation
+of any kind the great Darwinian Law operates even more rigorously;
+and the young who are sickly stand no chance at all of growing up and
+transmitting their weakness. The skin of these people is not a healthy
+skin, not a warm brown, but of a greeny-yellowy brown; their fingers are
+delicate and weak, and their eyes not clear or bright, but like little
+bits of dull plum-brown jelly.
+
+
+
+
+LETTER IX.
+
+TARIFFS—INSECTS
+
+
+ ILOILO, _January 16, 1905_.
+
+The day has come round for me to catch the mail, but I feel that I can
+hardly write calmly, as I am barely sane upon the subject I wish to tell
+you about, which is the Customs. I told you about the opening of our
+cases, and how we took them out of bond, as they were valued at £30?
+Well, a day or two ago the bill came in, and when we saw it we nearly
+fainted away, for the amount of duty came to 698 _pesos_—£70.
+
+Of course we thought some mistake had been made, so C—— went off to the
+Customs officer and asked him what it meant. All the consolation we
+got was that they were very sorry for us, but the Appraiser had made a
+mistake, and classed some of our things under Class B instead of Class A.
+
+So C—— said he could not afford this sum, which was far more than the
+whole of the contents of the cases were worth if they had been new. Of
+course it was impossible to send them back to Hong Kong, as we had taken
+them out of bond; but after a lot of talk, the officer said we could
+“abandon the goods” if we liked, which means refuse to pay the duty, when
+the things would be seized by the Customs and sold by auction to pay the
+Government; but we should be unable, by law, to buy them in ourselves.
+This seemed to be the only alternative open to us, and C—— came back
+and asked me what I thought of it, and asked the other Englishmen their
+opinion. They were full of sympathy and very kind, and at last one of
+them hit upon an excellent idea, which was to attend the sale and buy
+our things in for us as cheaply as possible. This, then, was arranged,
+but—“Oh no!” said the Customs, “you won’t gain anything by that, because
+if goods, when put up for sale, do not fetch the price at which the
+Customs House has valued them, they are publicly burned.”
+
+So that is the end of our story. We have paid more than their value
+for our wedding-presents, which seems to me the meanest and cruellest
+imposition I ever heard of. But I won’t say any more, for the subject can
+only be as painful to you as it is to us. We must just grin and bear it,
+I suppose, but good-bye to a pony and trap for a longer time than ever,
+and good-bye to any little jaunts in the hot season.
+
+I must try instead to be more pleasant, and the only thing I can think of
+is a little lizard I have been looking at for the last ten minutes, while
+my thoughts roamed gloomily over each one of those seventy good golden
+sovereigns that have gone to help to teach the Filipino that he is my
+equal. A worthy cause, no doubt, but one that does not appeal to me—at
+any rate to the extent of 698 _pesos_.
+
+This little lizard, which lives in the cornice above my writing-desk,
+has just come down on to the window beside me and nipped up a fly in the
+smartest manner. This is his hunting-ground, for the windows in the house
+only have sliding shutters, such as I described to you, like all the
+houses here. Glass windows are almost unknown, but this house happens to
+have them along the S.-W. front, where some former occupant has put in
+doors on to the balcony, with glass in the upper panels, because in the
+rainy season the Monsoon drives in on this side.
+
+In all the houses here these little grey lizards abound, living in the
+cornices and corners of the ceilings, and feeding on flies, mosquitoes,
+and any little toothsome creature they can pick up. They must have plenty
+of supplies and wide variety, for one seems to come across some new sort
+of insect every hour of the day—and night. No fleas, however, I don’t
+mean that, for Filipinos are clean and fleas are rare; but all sorts of
+queer insects crawl and fly and sit about, all of which I suppose the
+lizards enjoy; and I imagine they, in their turn, are having a good meal
+off some other still tinier creature.
+
+The ceilings are made of bulges of canvas or matting painted white,
+pale blue, or green; or, in some of the old houses, with patterns, as
+in Italy. In one house in Jaro, a big building with long, wide-open
+window-spaces, there is a ceiling that is covered with some sort of
+shiny oilcloth stuff, drawn up by buttons at intervals, so that it looks
+like the seat of some giant padded leather chair—a most fearful looking
+contrivance, but, no doubt, a source of much pride to the Filipino who
+owns it. There is a wide space above these ceilings, for the corrugated
+iron roofs are very deep, and here live rats, mice, cats, cockroaches,
+snakes, all sorts of beasts, which come down into the house for plunder.
+The nicest are these dear, clean, bright-eyed little lizards, which make
+a funny and very pretty note, a sort of clear, musical chuck-chuck.
+Sometimes, but very rarely, one of these lizards is found with a
+forked tail, and this the natives look upon as an emblem of the most
+extraordinary luck, and they do all they can to catch the lizard and try
+to take off his forked tail, which they dry and wear for _anting-anting_.
+Any kind of luck, or lucky emblem, is _anting-anting_, and the mystical
+emblems, observances, and relics of Roman Catholicism, which appeal to
+the Filipinos with irresistible force, have but added to their original
+stock of superstitions.
+
+In some of the houses there is a very _anting-anting_ lizard, of a
+large size, which makes a loud, clear double note like a cuckoo, that
+can be heard a long way off. I have never seen a “Philippine cuckoo,”
+as they are called, but have often heard them, and the houses that have
+this _anting-anting_ are well known. There is one in the old belfry at
+Jaro, another in a house the other side of the Plaza there, and one in a
+certain bamboo clump on the road to Molo, and so on, all over the place.
+
+A very general belief prevails that in the roof of each house there
+lives a big snake, which has a terrific meal of rats every now and then,
+and sleeps the rest of his time, coming down very rarely for water.
+I can quite credit this story, for the space between the roofs must
+be the very place for a snake, and many people tell me they have seen
+these creatures, but I don’t suppose they are really in all the houses.
+Curiously enough, I thought there was a snake overhead before I had ever
+been told about such a thing, for one day, when I was sitting in the
+_sala_, I heard a most extraordinary noise in the roof overhead—a sort
+of heavy, dragging sound, and then a thump, and then the dragging sound
+again—and, somehow, the thought of a snake instantly came into my mind.
+When I spoke about it to some friends, half jokingly, they replied quite
+seriously that it probably was a snake I had heard, and then told me how
+they live in the roofs.
+
+Talking of noises, one of the most curious sounds here is made by the
+crickets, the _cicadas_, which shrill night and day, ceaselessly and for
+ever. The ear becomes accustomed to the aggregate sound of their high,
+thin note, though I, for one, never get to like it, and sometimes it gets
+horribly on my nerves, so that I feel I must go anywhere to get away from
+it. At first when I heard it I was always having a curious impression of
+being in a Swiss field in the summer; but now that has worn off, and I
+think if I ever go into the Swiss fields again I shall think of nothing
+but Iloilo. When one of these _cicadas_ gets very near the house, it
+drives you nearly mad, and when, as happened a few evenings ago, one is
+actually in the house, everything must be searched for the beast before
+anyone can expect sanity or sleep. This one that got in, stowed itself
+away in the writing-table, and we had an awful time, standing almost on
+our heads and streaming from every pore, before we found it in a tiny
+corner where one of the drawers does not run quite into place. When we
+fished the _cicada_ out at last, or rather when one of the servants came
+in and took up the hunt for us and caught it, we found the disturber
+of our peace to be an ugly little browny-black creature, with a narrow
+waist, and the silly thing refused to give a single chirrup to show us
+how it was done.
+
+Talking of insects, one of the things we are most fortunate about in
+this house is that we have very few of the black or red ants, which are
+a fearful plague in these Islands, so much so that one has to stand
+the furniture with its feet in small enamel bowls filled with water or
+paraffine to prevent the ants crawling up, for they eat everything; and
+besides that, they look particularly nasty when dead in jam or butter, or
+floating in tea or coffee. Some of these ants are a good size, but the
+common sort are very small, and many of the most destructive are simply
+red specks that run like lightning. They are terrible destroyers, and I
+can’t think why ant-eaters don’t start living in the roof menageries,
+for they would get on splendidly if they did not die of over-eating.
+However, the ants do scavenge to a certain extent, and the way a busy
+little mob can carry off a huge dead cockroach is a lesson in natural
+history.
+
+The cockroaches, by-the-bye, are the size of mice. They are the most evil
+brutes I ever saw, besides being a constant source of terror and worry.
+You will hardly believe this, for you know that I never mind touching any
+animal—mice, worms, toads, slugs, earwigs—and how I have so often been
+laughed at, and even sniffed at, as rather an unpleasant young person,
+because I have no repugnance to taking them up in my bare hand, for,
+after all, they are only poor animals, and infinitely nicer to touch than
+many perfectly respectable human beings. Do you remember those people at
+Karnak who screamed when I brought them that lovely little toad with a
+speckled stomach? And the good folk at home who shudder if you pick up a
+poor slug out of a dusty road? Well, when it comes to these cockroaches,
+I confess that I have a genuine horror of the great red, evil-smelling
+brutes, with their horrible bulgy eyes and their long moving red antennæ.
+I can’t tell you what it is about them—but I am not alone in this, for
+everyone has a horror of them. They breed in the cesspits, and prefer
+manure to any other diet, but will gladly supplement their _menu_ with
+any form of food, as well as leather, paper, books, or clothes. The
+houses, the shops, and the steamers are full of them, and in the evenings
+they come out of their holes and run about. Ugh! they make one shudder.
+And every now and then they take it into their heads to fly about or into
+the lighted rooms, and I have even seen men who have been here for years
+turn quite sick when a cockroach lights on them, and as for the average
+woman, she screams outright, and many white women faint.
+
+These horrible brutes are the curse of housekeeping, necessitating
+everything being kept in glass jars or tins, and cupboards and drawers
+being overhauled and searched every week or so. I must say, though, that
+we have not had so much trouble with them as most people, and so far
+I have never had one amongst the linen or clothes, and I believe this
+is because I hang cakes of naphthaline in the rooms, and put balls of
+it in all boxes, drawers, and cupboards, and they don’t seem to like
+naphthaline, though they would come a thousand miles to eat ordinary
+insect powder, which is, apparently, just the very thing on which to
+bring up a nice little family of forty or fifty young cockroaches.
+
+There are some pleasing spiders too, one of which I saw the other day,
+with a body nearly the size of the palm of my hand, sitting in a huge,
+tough web like a hammock, and looking exactly like those in Doré’s
+picture of the Guest Chamber in the Castle Inn, in Croque Mitaine.
+
+I said there were very few fleas, but the mosquitoes make up for any
+biting that has to be done. I am beginning to get more accustomed to
+their venom now, but at first I was quite ill and feverish from it,
+and many people suffer so that it amounts to an illness, and white men
+frequently have to be invalided home for nothing but mosquitoes. Nothing
+I have ever seen in any place round the Mediterranean approaches the
+Philippine mosquito for venom or ferocity, and here, too, their efforts
+are not confined to the night-season when lucky mortals are stowed under
+nets with no rents in them, but they bite relentlessly all day as well.
+
+Well, I tried to leave harrowing subjects and tell you something more
+cheerful than the Customs woes, but I seem to have drifted into other
+griefs, and as my spirits are evidently damped beyond hope to-day, I had
+better leave off writing and end my letter.
+
+
+
+
+LETTER X.
+
+A FILIPINO THEATRE—_CARABAOS_
+
+
+ ILOILO, _January 22, 1905_.
+
+We went a night or two ago to a performance at the theatre—a Filipino
+performance in a Filipino theatre. I daresay it sounds strange to you
+to hear of a theatre in Iloilo, but you see this is really a very large
+town, and then all the people are musical, and they have plenty of time
+to rehearse. They get together little dramatic clubs, the chief one of
+which is not far from here, “as the crow flies,” though I think he would
+be a very keen crow for theatricals if he flew there as straight as he
+could. We heard this performance, an operetta, being rehearsed night
+and day before the performers considered it ready for the theatre. The
+rehearsals that went on until the early hours of the morning were those
+we cared least about; but we were really interested to hear them going on
+all day as well, for no one in the Dramatic Club apparently had any other
+occupation in life. At least, this seemed to me strange till I had become
+better acquainted with the Filipino character.
+
+To get to this show, we set off after dinner, driving in a hired
+_quielez_ with a disturbing cockroach somewhere about it, and soon came
+to a squash of all sorts of carriages and carts in one of the broader
+streets of the town—and a squash of vehicles driven by Filipinos is
+something no human mind can imagine without experience. We escaped
+alive, and went in at a big gateway into a courtyard, passing several
+stalls lighted with flaring naphtha, where native women sat behind flat
+rush trays containing cakes and sweetmeats, tumblers of coloured drinks,
+and ordinary ginger-beer and lemonade bottles. This, though I did not
+know it at the time, was the buffet.
+
+Inside the courtyard another high gate, decorated at the sides with palms
+and paper roses, and very dimly lighted, led to the door of the theatre,
+a big, crazy-looking building, and here stood two inconceivably stupid
+and self-satisfied natives bullying everyone, and making a hopeless and
+baffling muddle of the tickets. Why they did this I can’t think, as
+everyone passed into the place alike, whatever their ticket was, and
+scrambled up a broad wooden staircase, very steep and rickety, or else
+went about the ground-floor, every man looking for his own seat, and
+getting turned out of it by the next comer.
+
+The “boxes” were little pens railed off, containing six chairs with
+no room for your knees, and in and out of these and up and down the
+precipitous staircase jostled a crowd of Filipinos, _Mestizos_, Chinamen,
+and Spaniards, with little dark women in gaudy _camisas_, wearing
+flowers in their hair and diamond brooches. Here and there an American
+was patiently and persistently trying to gather information in his own
+language, while he took some female relation in a white cotton dress
+upstairs and then down again, to keep her quiet.
+
+I was so amused by these proceedings that I really felt as if it did not
+matter whether that was all we saw, but, nevertheless, we toiled up the
+staircase at the promptings of an obliging Filipino with one eye, very
+soon found our box, and settled down to wait for the friends who were to
+join us.
+
+In about two minutes, however, we were engaged in an endless discussion
+with a little mob of “brown brothers,” who declared quite politely that
+we had no right there, as the box was theirs. So we moved off and tried
+the ground-floor again; found another box with our number on it, empty;
+sat down again, put fans and programmes on the opposite chairs, and began
+to look about.
+
+But we were shifted again, so this time we tackled a native selling
+programmes, and asked him where our box was, and why the little pens all
+seemed to have the same number; and he, in very broken Spanish, at last
+made us understand that the numbers were repeated six times, once on each
+side upstairs and down. This was a wonderful effort of lucidity for a
+Filipino, and really helped us a good deal. So we toiled upstairs again,
+feeling sure that we knew all about the theatre now, and determined on
+a shot at the sides. On the way there we were delighted to see that the
+people who had turned us out of our first box were being ousted in their
+turn, but by this time we had begun to giggle, and were too helpless with
+heat and laughter to take much notice of anything. At last we got into
+a box from which we were never evicted during the rest of the evening,
+though some people did come along with a programme-seller to back their
+claim, but we showed fight, and they went away again.
+
+The theatre, a long, wooden building, appeared even more ramshackle from
+the inside than it had from the outside, and infinitely more dangerous,
+for the electric light was supplemented by Japanese paper lanterns, which
+looked the last word in incendiarism; and, when one considered the packed
+mass of faces all round, it was wiser not to let the imagination dwell on
+that steep wooden stairway, which was all there was between us and the
+next world.
+
+The floor of the building was arranged with rows of chairs facing
+squarely, by way of stalls, surrounded by a row of the boxes I have
+described, where the chairs went sideways. Above jutted out a broad
+balcony with a similar row of boxes, and above that again, jammed under
+the ceiling, was a dense crowd of poor people, standing on what was
+really only a ledge with an iron rail; and they looked positively more
+like huge black and white flies clinging to the ceiling than anything
+else.
+
+Everything looked as if it must fall down or break up, but no one seemed
+to be worrying about their doom, in fact all the faces were remarkably
+pleasant and jolly.
+
+The stage was a fairly large one, with a row of electric footlights,
+which waxed and waned and waxed again at their own sweet will, and quite
+regardless of the needs of the performance. In front of the stage, on
+the floor-level, was an orchestra of natives who really played very well
+indeed, and they and all the men in the audience were in white, which
+looks very quaint until one’s eye is accustomed to it.
+
+The piece performed was an operetta called “La Indiana,” a rather
+confused story about some old _Mestizo_ with a white beard, whose son
+had secretly married an Indian, which is the word the Spaniards use for
+the Filipinos, and is employed by the Filipinos themselves as well, when
+talking Spanish. Well, the old father informed his son, an appalling,
+gawky, young _Mestizo_ in a black morning coat, pepper and salt tweed
+trousers, and a very bright blue tie, that he must marry a white
+(_Mestiza_) girl of his, the father’s choosing. On hearing which, the
+hero sang a song to the effect that he would abandon the _Indiana_, and
+had a long duet with that personage to explain that they would just say
+nothing at all about being married. Then all the chorus came in again,
+the old father blessed the hero and the “white” girl, whereupon the
+_Indiana_, a frightfully ugly Filipina with a fine voice, sang a long and
+frenzied solo with her hair down—and then the curtain fell.
+
+I thought there must be another act, and was very much surprised to
+find that was the conclusion of the story. But evidently, to the native
+imagination, the plot was complete and the ends of poetic justice
+satisfied. They did not really act and sing as badly as I had expected,
+though, when one came to think of “La Indiana” as a public performance in
+a theatre, it really verged on audacity. No attempt at scenery or dress
+was made, the whole action taking place in a bare, worn, old “set” of a
+room, the usual stage room, unlike anything else on earth, and the only
+attempt at costume was the substitution of very ugly old European blouses
+for the _camisa_, which was a fatal mistake.
+
+We left after the first piece, though there were to be two more of the
+same sort, for it was very dull and depressing. There is nothing in these
+Filipinos, you see, for they have not the melodious voices of negroes,
+nor the faultless ear of Spaniards, nor the fine physique of Chinese, nor
+the taste of Japanese—they are simply dull, blunt, limited intelligences,
+with the ineffable conceit of such a character all over the world, and
+when they break out into a display such as “La Indiana,” all these
+deplorable qualities show up in the glare of the white light that beats
+even upon an Iloilo stage.
+
+Yesterday we went for a delightful drive out along the Jaro road, off
+which we turned a little way beyond the town, and went down a rough,
+sandy track to the banks of a broad, half-dried-up river, not the Iloilo
+river, but another parallel to it, or a branch.
+
+[Illustration: RIDING A CARABAO.
+
+_To face page 78._]
+
+There we got out and walked down the steep bank on to the sandy bed,
+where we strolled about for a long time, watching strings of _carabaos_
+coming up from being watered, each herd led by a small boy, riding on one
+of the big old grey cows with a calf running alongside. They looked very
+picturesque, with the shallow river all the colours of the sunset, and
+the tall palms on the opposite bank standing in black silhouette against
+an orange-crimson sky.
+
+The _carabaos_ are big grey or reddish-grey water-buffaloes, with immense
+horns curving backwards, and a long, narrow, flat muzzle. They are used
+for every sort of purpose, the natives even riding and driving the great
+unwieldy creatures like horses, and guiding them by means of a single
+string passed through between the nostrils. If they want the _carabao_ to
+go to the right they pull the string steadily, if to the left, they give
+a sharp jerk. Sometimes when the master is angry he will pull the poor
+_carabao’s_ nose, so that he tears the piece of flesh out altogether; not
+at all an uncommon occurrence, and nothing distressing to a Filipino.[3]
+In the days of the rebellion against Spain, a few years ago, when the
+Filipinos caught the hated Spanish friars, they ran a rope through the
+priests’ noses, tied their hands, and led them about like the _carabaos_,
+so that people might spit upon the hated tyrants, and insult them at
+their own pleasure.
+
+The _carabaos_ are as gentle and amenable as horses with the natives;
+quite tiny children ride and bully the huge beasts, looking so comically
+small on the big backs, with their tiny brown legs hardly reaching to
+each side of the broad ribs, and driving whole herds with the most
+perfect independence and self-possession. The _carabaos_ are not at all
+safe as regards white people, however, for they can smell and detect
+them at an immense distance; and they will occasionally charge them
+ferociously, so that they are very dangerous in the open country. I have
+heard some horrible stories of _carabaos_ killing and trampling on white
+men in out-of-the-way places. They don’t gore, I suppose because their
+horns are so flat, but they trample to death, which does just as well.
+
+These great grey, lumbering animals are very picturesque, and redeem many
+a Philippine scene from utter dulness as they go shambling along, drawing
+the native two-wheeled cart, with its big hood of brown matting filled
+with bundles of emerald-green _sacate_ grass. They can shamble at an
+amazing pace, and that is their usual gait; but they can gallop, too, as
+quickly as a horse.
+
+Besides the herds of _carabaos_, we saw several natives down in the bed
+of the river, going out to certain spots where the shelve of the sand was
+more abrupt for their supply of water. These were women, of course, for
+women do all the household tasks, even the most burdensome, their lords
+being busy standing about the roads or Plazas, or attending a cock-fight.
+
+These women had long bamboo poles, with the divisions knocked out and the
+end closed up, which they laid in the running stream to fill with water,
+when they hoisted the long poles to their shoulders and carried them off
+like giants’ lances. The slender little figures looked quaint and pretty
+as they came up over the yellow, sandy, shallows in their bright red
+_sarongs_ and white _camisas_, walking lightly and gracefully, with their
+thin brown feet well turned out, the fading light of the sky behind
+them, and the outline of dark, fretted palms.
+
+We walked through a little palm grove back to the place where we had left
+the carriage, driving back along the main road as the stars were coming
+out and the flaring naphtha lights appearing in the little mat-shed
+shops. There were a great many people about, and swarms of little
+children in fluttering muslin shirts, all enjoying the cool evening air,
+which was, as a matter of fact, the same temperature as an August mid-day
+at home. A lot of carriages and traps flew past, the little ponies
+tearing like the wind, amongst them the general’s wife in her victoria,
+drawn by ordinary Waler horses, looking like prehistoric monsters amongst
+the little Filipino ponies; and we met our pet aversion, three young
+_Mestizo_ “mashers,” driving at a furious pace in a spidery buggy with
+huge acetylene lamps, and ringing a bicycle bell.
+
+
+
+
+LETTER XI.
+
+SOME RESULTS OF THE AMERICAN OCCUPATION
+
+
+ ILOILO, _January 22, 1905_.
+
+Mail-day has come round again, but I don’t feel as though I had much
+energy for writing, or anything else, as we are in the midst of a
+heat-wave, which means, in this part of the world, that the Monsoon
+has dropped unaccountably, and the heat is suffocating and appalling.
+Everyone is saying that such a temperature is quite unusual at this
+season, and some even go so far as to say they never felt it so hot here
+before; but this does not surprise me, as I have never yet come in for
+normal weather anywhere.
+
+This heat comes in the middle of a drought, too, as we have not had
+rain for about four weeks—another phenomenon. Our rain-tank is empty,
+so we now depend on the supply of brackish water from the wells, and
+even that is reported to be limited, which is alarming, as one would
+commit almost any crime to get enough water for a bath. Even at times
+of plenty, however, one does not rejoice in the European style of bath,
+but an arrangement of a tub, the acquaintance of which I first made at
+Singapore, and I can’t say I was much struck with it when I did see it.
+
+The tub, of wood or china, is placed in a small room with a sloping floor
+of concrete or tiles, and the bather stands on a wooden rack; first using
+what soap he sees fit, and then pouring water over himself as best he
+can with a tin dipper. It is an economical method in countries where
+water is scarce and valuable; but it was a terrible disillusion to me,
+after the grand ideas I had always formed, when I read how every one in
+the Far East has his or her own bathroom. Don’t you know how jolly it
+sounds in Anglo-Indian novels, or in descriptions of the world beyond
+Port Saïd? A dreadful disenchantment!
+
+More than ever, in this heat, do we miss the dog-cart of our dreams,
+for we long to get out of the town on these hot evenings. Something
+to drive is a bare necessity of life out here, and even the humblest
+school-teachers and missionaries keep what the Americans call a “rig,”
+such a queer word, which is made to signify anything from a four-in-hand
+to a _carabao_-cart. The Americans all drive in a very strange fashion,
+holding a rein in each hand, which looks awkward at any time; but
+is most comical in the case of the swaggering negro who drives the
+military waggons, holding in a team about as fiery as a couple of old
+circus-horses, with a rein twisted round each of his hands, body thrown
+back, and the gestures of a Greek restraining an untamed pair round a
+stadium.
+
+The white man who drives the Government ice-cart amuses me too, for he
+is got up in full cow-boy pageantry—huge boots, loose shirt with broad
+leather belt, immense sombrero worn well over one eye, long moustaches
+standing out, and great gauntlets up to his elbows. All this to hawk ice
+about a dowdy little town.
+
+When a soldier rides one of these quiet old animals, he sits in an
+enormous Mexican saddle, with a very high peak back and front, and his
+feet, clad in big boots with huge spurs, thrust into roomy leather
+shoe-stirrups. To the casual observer these horsemen would certainly
+convey the impression that they were venturing great deeds in a wild
+country, and one can’t be anything but thankful to them for throwing a
+little picturesque relief into the humdrum life of the grey streets.
+
+We have tried hiring carriages, but besides the terrible discomfort of
+all hired vehicles, their prices are more uncomfortable still. Fancy, in
+a place like this, having to pay as much for a little carriage for two
+hours in the evening as one would for a brougham in London for the day!
+Yet such is the case, and it is only an indication of the cost of living
+here, which is really alarming; as you may imagine it must be when I tell
+you that all the Americans I have met complain bitterly, declaring that
+it is more expensive to _exist_ in the Philippines than to “have a good
+time” in New York or San Francisco! The only comfort is that we are not
+in Manila, which is a shade worse, I am told.
+
+So, except for an occasional carriage lent us, we continue to walk about
+after sunset, but I find I can’t get very far, for though exercise may
+not be very tiring at the time it is being taken, it makes you realise
+how the climate is taking it out of you.
+
+There is no meeting-place like the club of an English garrison town,
+for the Americans seem to have no idea of anything of the sort; and I
+think this may, perhaps, be owing to their democratic principles, for,
+of course, it would be impossible to exclude the private soldiers from
+such a place, as in theory they are as good as the officers. I notice
+that in practice the officers don’t think so at all, though most of
+them have risen from the ranks themselves. The U.S.A. have a sort of
+Sandhurst, called West Point, but I have been told, by highly-placed
+officers themselves, that the only way to get on in their army is to
+obtain a commission from the ranks through “pull” (political influence),
+and that “pull” is even more a factor in the army than in any other
+profession in America. This can easily be verified by reading the
+extraordinary cases that occur from time to time, when an officer with a
+“pull” gets the decision of a Court-Martial reversed without any further
+controversy, and, after an undoubted misdemeanour, is simply re-instated
+somewhere else, and often in a higher grade, by order of the Government
+at Washington.
+
+This independence of military authority, together with the principles of
+extreme democracy which America professes, accounts, I think, for the
+curious behaviour of the private soldiers, who are really quite different
+from any others I have seen anywhere else in the world, for they lounge
+about when addressing an officer, and speak to him as an equal; which
+looks more than odd to anyone not accustomed to such ways. Men who
+were here during the American War have told me most amusing stories of
+the discussions that used to go on between officers and privates on
+active service; all straggling about anyhow, and men, with no notion of
+saluting, just giving their opinion with a drawling “waal” by way of
+preface. All the same, they fight well, and perhaps, in modern warfare,
+individual intelligence may be a very good thing, and it is only in peace
+time that a lack of smartness and discipline jars upon the faddy European
+eye. Perhaps.
+
+But the oddest thing of all, to my mind, is to see officers in uniform
+salute ladies by taking their caps off. That I can’t get accustomed to!
+
+I call this a garrison town, though, as a matter of fact, the garrison
+is situated in the Island of Guimaras, at a place called Camp Josman,
+in the interior. This Camp, which is about 200 feet above sea-level,
+and possesses springs of good water, is supposed to be much healthier
+than Iloilo, where they only have the Hospital, Headquarters, and the
+Cavalry Barracks. It seems a strange and uncomfortable arrangement in
+a half-pacified country—the garrison half a day’s journey away; though
+the real object is, of course, to keep the American soldiers out of the
+towns, where they are no end of trouble.
+
+The town is well and even elaborately policed by the Constabulary, a
+Filipino corps of sturdy little “brown brothers” in dark blue linen
+suits. Each of these defenders supports an immense revolver in a leather
+case strapped to the back of his broad leather belt, and carries a short
+truncheon as well. I suppose they would fight all right, in reason, if
+there were a disturbance, and if the occasion were not of a patriotic
+nature. But that is not much consolation, as the occasion would not be
+likely to be of any character other than patriotic.
+
+The Americans give out and write in their papers that the Philippine
+Islands are completely pacified, and that the Filipinos love Americans
+and their rule. This, doubtless with good motives, is complete and utter
+humbug, for the country is honeycombed with insurrection and plots; the
+fighting has never ceased; and the natives loathe the Americans and their
+theories, saying so openly in their native press, and showing their
+dislike in every possible fashion. Their one idea is to be rid of the
+U.S.A. to have their government in their own hands, for good or evil, and
+to be free of a burden of taxation which may be just, but is heavier than
+any the Spaniards laid upon them. The present burden is more obvious to
+the Filipino mind than the ultimate blessings.
+
+They have no real say in their own affairs, you see, as the government
+of the Philippines is in the hands of a Commission consisting of five
+Americans, nominated by the President of the U.S.A. and three Filipinos,
+chosen by the Governor-General of the Philippines.[4] This body, however,
+does not govern the Islands according to what experience teaches, but is
+responsible to the Senate at Washington, whose members having their own
+interests to push or preserve, hamper the Philippine Commission at every
+turn.
+
+It does seem extraordinary to think that there is no Colonial Office,
+or Civil Service examinations, and that anyone in America who has a
+“pull” can get sent out here to fill any sort of post anyhow, anywhere.
+Tremendous salaries come out of the miserable Island Revenues to make
+these posts acceptable. So it is hardly surprising that, without the
+faintest glimmering of the language, customs, climate, or anything beyond
+their own State, these eager, well-meaning, bustling Americans tumble
+into pitfalls, and rub the Oriental the wrong way, and that the dislike
+and mistrust on both sides are about equal.
+
+I did not mean to let you in for this political dissertation, but now
+I am on the subject I am reminded of a new tax, which has lately been
+levied, and is causing much vexation. It will give you a good idea of
+the methods in vogue. This is an order requiring every owner of a horse
+to take his beast to the Philippine Government, or rather its local
+and selected representatives, who will brand the animal on one flank
+with certain marks by which it may at once be known. Then the owner is
+to brand it twice on the other flank, and to find two sureties of 250
+dollars gold (about £50) each, that the horse has not been stolen, and
+should the animal prove to have been dishonestly acquired, the sureties
+are to be held criminally liable!
+
+This in a country where the crime of horse-stealing is entirely unknown!
+But it is believed that the Senators in far-off Washington have an idea
+that the Philippines are a sort of California, so they insist on applying
+exactly the same law here as obtains in that wide, wild State. It is
+hardly necessary to add that the examination, branding, papers to be
+signed, stamps upon same, and so on, cost the wretched owner a pretty sum
+before he is safe from the police with his poor, disfigured horse.
+
+I have wandered away from a walk through the town, which I meant to
+describe to you—only I never seem to get ahead at all with descriptions
+here, as there are such endless mazes of side-issues to lure one from the
+track.
+
+At the end of this street one comes on the Plaza, a very wide square
+bordered by odds and ends of houses, which include the Police Court,
+the Y.M.C.A., the Prison, and the Cathedral, the three former buildings
+being large, ordinary, two-storied houses, the latter a big, plain, grey
+stone front, with a belfry on each side, not unlike a miniature of the
+cathedral at Las Palmas, and, as far as I remember, in much the same
+style.
+
+[Illustration: SPANISH ARCHITECTURE IN THE PHILIPPINES.
+
+An old church at Daraga.
+
+_To face page 89._]
+
+The town must have been quite handsome in the Spanish days, but during
+the Insurrection the Americans stood off and bombarded it from the
+open sea, while on shore the natives set it on fire. You see, when the
+Americans had conquered the Spaniards, and the Philippines had been
+handed over to the United States, the Spanish garrisons cleared out,
+leaving the Filipinos in charge to wait for their saviours. But the
+Filipinos beginning to realise that they had only sailed from Scylla
+to Charybdis, fought tooth and nail to prevent the American troops
+garrisoning their towns. So it came about that when the Americans had
+officially conquered the Spaniards, and _fêtes_ and rejoicings were
+in full blast in the U.S.A., the trouble here was really only just
+beginning, for though they had managed to dislodge an alien race like
+the Spaniards with the full help and concurrence of the natives of the
+country, it was a very different task to conquer the disaffected people
+of the soil, even when it was being done “for their own good.” When the
+American fleet came to take Iloilo, the Filipinos showed fight, and the
+American Admiral said they must give up the place or he would bombard it,
+allowing them so many hours to decide in—which hours, by-the-bye, were
+not unconnected with some complication regarding the Christmas dinners of
+the sailors, who insisted on eating plum-puddings they had brought with
+them, or had had sent from America. Well, the Filipinos replied that the
+Americans might come ashore and fight if they liked, but if the Admiral
+bombarded the town, they would set it on fire, and make Iloilo not worth
+the taking.
+
+The end of this exchange of courtesies was that the Admiral chose the
+alternative of bombardment, whereupon the Filipinos promptly fired the
+town, and Iloilo was pretty well destroyed, and eventually taken for
+the Stars and Stripes. The loss of life was one mule and one old woman,
+neither of whom probably cared two straws who the Philippines belonged
+to, poor things.
+
+One or two people were wounded, but this was only another instance of
+the extraordinarily small amount of damage done by a bombardment. I have
+heard many curious “yarns” about the bombardment and the fire, which
+took place on Christmas Day, 1899, but I have not time or space to tell
+you these legends now, even if I could remember them. I wish I could
+remember all the things I hear—though, I daresay, I remember quite enough
+for you as it is!
+
+The chief feature of the bombardment stories is the terrible drunkenness
+and looting that went on; but even if those anecdotes interested you,
+they are all connected with personal adventures of people you have never
+met, and would not entertain you. I am glad I was not here though, for
+the anarchy and misery seem to have been terrible.
+
+Many results of these stirring times still remain in the streets, for
+the top stories of the houses were knocked off and the stone foundations
+gutted, and when the people settled down peaceably again, there was no
+money to restore the buildings to their former state, so they just put
+rough rooms over the charred ruins, makeshift upper stories of Oregon
+pine with corrugated iron roofs, which arrangement makes the town look
+very shoddy and unfinished. In Jaro and Molo are to be seen many of the
+handsome old Spanish houses still standing, with carved wooden balconies
+and ornamented doorways, some of them still beautified by deep roofs of
+charming old red-brown hand-made tiles.
+
+There is a _café_ in the Plaza Libertad, in what was once a big, fine
+house, but now the thick concrete walls of the lower storey, with huge
+doorways and window-openings crossed by heavy bars, all blackened with
+smoke, end abruptly in a narrow-eaved corrugated roof, making a house
+like a misshapen little dwarf.
+
+There are many buildings like that, and in the streets the jumble of
+different sorts of odds and ends is most curious, but not the least
+picturesque, for it is all grey and mean and squalid.
+
+All the middle of the square, which, as I told you, is called the Plaza
+Libertad, is laid out as a pretty Alameda, with a low wall round it, and
+steps leading up on each side, the centre thickly planted with palms,
+bamboos, and various other trees of dark and light greens, intersected
+by four wide paths and a lot of little tracks, all bristling with seats.
+Some of the seats are of wood, broken and dilapidated, and others of iron
+painted to look like marble, which are quite warm to the touch hours
+after sunset. The first evening we were there, when I put my hand on one
+of the iron seats, thinking to touch cold stone, I got quite a shock on
+finding the surface warm.
+
+This flowerless garden is a very pretty place, especially at night,
+when the big arc-lights shine on the very green trees, and throw lovely
+shadows of palm branches on the white paths, making quite a theatrical
+effect; but it is all overgrown, untidy, neglected, the steps broken,
+paths untrimmed—always reminding me of some place in a deserted city, or
+the garden of a house long uninhabited.
+
+The Plaza Libertad has one resemblance to a real town park, however, in
+its rows of idle men; brown-faced, white-clad Filipinos in this case,
+who sit on the seats and low walls like rows of sea-birds, only, instead
+of making nests or catching food as birds would, they simply doze, and
+gamble, and talk, or, more often, sit about in the profound abstraction
+of the Oriental.
+
+The “unemployed” has no grievance against society, however, in this
+country, if he ever tries to attempt one, for work is abundant and
+labour not to be had, even at the present scale of wages, which enables
+a man to work for one day and then keep himself and his family to the
+remotest scions, in idleness and cock-fighting for a week. You see in
+the Spanish days the Philipino labourers got from 10 to 20 cents a day
+wages but now the American Government, which sets the scale, gives a
+_peso_ a day for unskilled labour, and that, of course, has altered the
+social conditions here, and, I believe, all over the Islands as well,
+for the same conditions prevail everywhere. A _peso_ a day they get for
+loading and unloading vessels—just wharf-coolies; and as for carpenters
+and people like that who used to get 70 cents from the Spaniards and live
+well on it, they are now with difficulty to be caught for 2½ to 3 _pesos_
+a day. Of course this has enormously increased the cost of living without
+bringing any extra benefits, but that particular increase chiefly affects
+the white man, for I have asked servants and natives, who tell me the
+cost of _their_ food, the eternal rice, fish, and bananas for them has
+very little altered, if at all.
+
+The high rate of wages, far from bringing plenty, has caused great
+demoralisation and consequent poverty; and it does seem a pity that some
+one who understood Orientals and their ways could not have come and
+pointed out to the Americans how dark races differ from white men in
+body and mind. As it is, I should think that even if the well-meaning
+reformers do find out their mistakes, which is very doubtful, it would be
+very difficult, if not impossible, for the Americans to go back now.
+
+On one side of the Plaza there stand a few specimens of the funny native
+trap called a _quilez_, which I have mentioned to you. It is very like
+the _tartana_ of Spain, a sort of tiny wagonette on two wheels, and
+covered so that it is really a sort of miniature two-wheeled omnibus.
+
+Such a cabstand! Such fearfully dilapidated old rattle-traps, with mangy
+ponies lashed in by odds and ends of straps and string, and the drivers
+dressed in dirty rags (the only dirty Filipinos I’ve ever seen) sprawling
+half-asleep on the boxes! This collection, as I have said, is by way of
+being a cab-rank, but there are always plenty of _quilezes_ plying the
+streets for hire; their number indeed being at first astounding, till one
+becomes better acquainted with the laziness of the fares, coupled with
+the high rates of hire, which alone would make one job a day quite a good
+investment.
+
+The discomfort and jolting of these conveyances is something which I can
+find no words to express —it is like one’s first ride on a camel—like
+waltzing with a Sandhurst cadet—like—like nothing in the world! A drive
+of one mile inside a _quilez_ is more fatiguing than a walk of two.
+
+One thinks regretfully of the delightful luxury of the rickshaws and
+chairs of the real Far East, and I was very much surprised to see none
+of these luxurious comforts when we first arrived in the Philippines. It
+seems that a company was formed some years ago to introduce them, and
+got the concession to bring rickshaws and coolies from China, but as
+soon as these useful institutions appeared in the streets of Manila, the
+Filipinos stoned them, and at last forced the American authorities to
+banish the innovation altogether: “For,” said the astute and progressive
+Filipino, “the next thing will be that _we_ shall be made to draw these
+things about, and we will not be treated as animals.”
+
+Fancy giving in to them! And fancy thinking of a splendid country and
+people like Japan, “where the rickshaws come from,” and listening to such
+preposterous nonsense from a Filipino! But these ignorant half-breeds got
+their way, and the only example they had ever had of energy or the real
+dignity of labour was promptly withdrawn to please them.
+
+In the middle of the Alameda is a bandstand, bare and empty, with a
+big spluttering arc-light over it, shedding its cheese-white light on
+nothingness—for no band ever plays there, and the glories of social
+Iloilo went with the gay and courteous Spaniards. A few people go and sit
+about, however, in the evenings, and it is not a bad place to loaf in for
+anyone who can’t drive out to the country and is tired of the beach.
+
+One evening, as we sat under the trees watching a group of _Mestizo_
+children playing about some older people sitting on a seat, a little
+_banda de musica_ came strolling by, half a dozen young Filipinos in
+white trousers and _camisas_, carrying mandolins and guitars. They
+stopped near to where the children were playing, and struck up a certain
+beautiful waltz which one hears everywhere here—the work of some native
+composer, I believe—whereupon the little things all danced about on
+the white path in the fretted shadows of the trees, making a perfectly
+charming picture, and all so happy and jolly it did one good to watch
+them, in spite of the excessive heat.
+
+The _banda de musica_ seemed to enjoy the fun too, for they smiled and
+showed their white teeth; speaking to the children and playing one tune
+after the other; and when we had to go home in time for dinner, we left
+them still dancing and playing under the trees, perfectly happy, even at
+that age, with anything in the nature of a _baile_.
+
+
+
+
+LETTER XII.
+
+CHINESE NEW YEAR—LABOUR CONDITIONS—A CINÉMATOGRAPH SHOW
+
+
+ ILOILO, _February 4, 1905_.
+
+To-day is the Chinese New Year, and all last night the Chinamen were
+letting off crackers down in the town. All to-day they have been going
+on with them, too, and as the chief rejoicing seems to be to explode
+the fireworks under a horse, you may imagine—no you can’t—what the
+streets are like. On an ordinary day there is a good deal of pretty wild
+driving and no small peril in getting about in a vehicle or on foot, but
+the frightful risks one runs on every other day of the year are mild
+adventures compared to this Chinese New Year.
+
+There are a great many Chinamen, you see, for they continue to come into
+the Philippines in spite of the heavy tax against them; and besides that,
+so many are left over from the Spanish days that Celestials are still the
+principal shopkeepers of the Islands. They make large fortunes here, I
+believe—the fortunes that are ready waiting for anyone who is as clever
+and industrious as a Chinaman—and so good a speculation do they think
+this country that they are constantly arriving, whenever they can get
+permission, paying the heavy tax, and then beginning by working for a
+year or two with some friend or relation for no pay!
+
+Of course, the Filipinos hate the idea of being cut out by strong,
+hard-working, clever rivals, who make fortunes under conditions in which
+they themselves starve, so they have forced the hand of the American
+Government in abolishing foreign labour, which measure, so the business
+men say, has been the ruin of the Philippines. They say that such a law
+is wise enough in a country like America, perhaps, which is teeming
+with a busy population of its own, but here it is quite different, and
+“Philippines for the Filipinos” would be all very well if these people
+wanted their country, which does not seem to be the case. Moreover, if
+they did want it, it is too large for them, for there are 75,000,000
+acres of cultivable soil in the Philippines, and the population _all
+told_ is barely 7,000,000. Suppose one calculated one in ten of the
+natives of all ages as a capable tiller of the earth—a _most_ unlikely
+average—and _if_ three Filipinos could do the work of one Chinaman or
+white man (which they can’t), even then one would think there would be
+room for competition and other labour.
+
+The magnificent forests of priceless woods simply fall into decay; the
+gold and all the metals with which the country is filled, lie untouched;
+the marbles are unquarried; the rich soil is uncultivated; and so these
+riches must remain as long as it pays no one to work them. Men often come
+to the Philippines to “prospect,” but when they find out the conditions
+of labour and the rate of Export and other Duties, they go away and are
+no more heard of; for, though you may run a sort of Government with
+philanthropical ideas, you won’t get business to flow in on the same
+system; and business men don’t care two straws if a labourer can read
+Latin or understand mathematics, so long as he will work well for low
+wages; but this latter ideal is the very last one the American Government
+appear to encourage or aim at.
+
+Well, we went last night to a cinématograph show, which has established
+itself in a big empty basement in the Calle Real, with a large sign
+outside, made of glass letters lighted behind with electricity, all in
+the most approved European style. The “show” lasts for half an hour,
+going on from six in the evening to about ten o’clock at night, and the
+proprietor makes about 300 _pesos_ a week out of it, for he has very few
+expenses, and it is the sort of thing these people love. They come out
+when the show is over, stand about and expectorate for a few minutes, and
+then pay their cents and go in again and enjoy the same thing about five
+times running, probably without the faintest idea what it is all about
+from start to finish. You remember the dreadful extent of the habit of
+expectoration in Spain? You have heard about this failing in America? The
+Filipino is the epitome and concentration of the two.
+
+Everything in the hall was boarded up to prevent any stray, non-paying
+enthusiast from getting a free peep; but all the same I saw several
+little brown forms in fluttering muslin shirts, outside, where the wall
+formed a side street, with eyes glued to the chinks of a door in rapt
+attention; though I don’t suppose the little chaps could really see
+anything but the extreme edge of the back row of benches.
+
+In the hall we were saved from suffocation by two electric fans, and
+kept awake by a Filipino playing a cracked old piano with astonishing
+dexterity, rattling out the sort of tunes you hear in a circus and
+nowhere else on earth. I could not help wondering where he had picked
+them up, till it suddenly dawned on me that one, at least, gave me a
+faint hint that perhaps the performer might once have heard “Hiawatha” on
+a penny flute; so I concluded that he was playing “variations.” Pianos
+never sound very well out here, and I am told it is difficult to keep
+them bearable at all, for the chords have an unmusical way of going
+rusty in the damp season, or else snapping with a loud _ping_.
+
+The moving pictures were not at all bad, rather jumpy at times, but
+the subjects really quite entertaining, and all the slides, from the
+appearance of the figures on them, made in Germany, I imagine. The series
+wound up with an interminable fairy tale in coloured pictures, really a
+sort of short play, and in this one could see the German element still
+more apparent, in the castles, the ancient costumes, and the whole
+composition of the thing. I don’t suppose the natives in the audience had
+the wildest idea what it was all about, or what the king and queen, the
+good fairy, and the wicked godmother, were meant to be, probably taking
+the whole story for some episode in the life of a Saint.
+
+The audience were really more amusing to me than the pictures, and I was
+quite pleased each time the light went up so that I could have a good
+look at them. In the front rows, which were cheap, as they were so close
+to the screen, sat the poorer people in little family groups, with clean
+_camisas_ and large cigars, the women’s hair looking like black spun
+glass. Our places were raised a little above them, and were patronised
+by the swells who had paid 40 cents—a shilling. Amongst the elect were
+one or two English and other foreigners; some fat Chinamen, with their
+pigtails done up in chignons, and wearing open-work German straw hats,
+accompanied by their native wives and little slant-eyed children; a few
+missionaries and schoolma’ams in coloured blouses and untidy coiffures
+_à la_ Gibson Girl; and one or two U.S.A. soldiers, with thick hair
+parted in the middle, standing treat to their Filipina girls—these last
+in pretty _camisas_, and very shy and happy. A funny little Filipino
+boy near us, rigged up in a knickerbocker suit and an immense yellow
+oil-skin motor-cap, was rather frightened at old Tuyay, who had insisted
+on coming to the show and sitting at our feet. When she sniffed the
+bare legs of this very small brown brother, he lost all his dignity and
+importance, and clung blubbing to his little flat-faced mother. Poor old
+Tuyay was dreadfully offended; she came and crawled right under C——’s
+chair, where she lay immovable till the performance was over.
+
+To watch the people here is an endless source of amusement to me, and I
+only wish my words could be more photographic, or our photographs more
+pictorial, so that I could convey to you a real impression of this queer
+end of the world. That is what it is—I feel as if I had arrived at the
+end of the world, where nobody cares or knows or hears or thinks of
+anything, and where the inertia that is in the very air of things will
+at last wear down even the vitality, pluck, and good intentions of the
+Americans themselves.
+
+I have arranged to go to Manila on the 28th, to-morrow three weeks,
+by the _Butuan_, the weekly mail. We heard fearful reports of these
+steamers, as I told you, when we were leaving Manila, but unfortunately
+there is no other means of getting to Manila from here. I am very glad it
+is arranged that I am to go, and I am looking forward very much to the
+change of air and scene. C—— is very anxious for me to take a servant to
+wait on me, for ladies generally take a native retainer with them when
+they travel about; but I won’t hear of such extravagance, and think I
+shall have far less trouble with only myself to look after, and without
+the extra burden of a bewildered Filipino. A friend of ours came from
+Manila the other day on a visit, with one of these appanages of state in
+her wake, and he seemed to me to be more trouble than the whole journey
+was worth.
+
+_À propos_ of servants, we had an amusing and very characteristic
+adventure with the cook a day or two ago, when it occurred to us that for
+some time past we had not seen what we thought was the worth of a _peso_
+and a half of food appearing on the table, and nearly all the dishes
+seemed to be concocted from ingredients out of the _dispensa_; and eggs
+which, tiny though they are, cost the same as fresh-laid ones of ordinary
+size at home. What is more, they go bad so quickly that the price is
+really more, because so many have to be thrown away. Well, C—— said to
+the cook quite amiably that that functionary must revert to his original
+plan of giving us a daily list of his expenses, and the cook replied,
+very sulkily, “_Si señor_.”
+
+Next morning, when I was giving out stores, the cook said:
+
+“I should like to leave the _señora’s_ service to-morrow. I can’t read or
+write, as the _señora_ knows, and the cook downstairs, who used to do my
+list for me, has gone away.”
+
+Of course I knew every word of this to be an utter lie, and that my wily
+friend was only “trying it on,” as they say, because he knew it would be
+very inconvenient for us to dismiss him before I went to Manila. But I
+did not flatter him or “play up” to him by looking the least surprised
+or put out; I merely answered, very gravely and politely: “Certainly,
+_cocinero_, that will suit us perfectly. I will see about your wages.”
+
+Such a look of utter disgust and surprise came over his
+monkey-face—exactly like Brookes’ monkey with the frying-pan—but I said
+nothing, and went on serving out potatoes and tinned fruit, and giving
+orders as to how I wished to have the things cooked.
+
+When C—— came home and heard this domestic history, he wanted to go
+and find the cook, and call him and his ancestry every name under the
+sun; but I implored him not to pander to the creature’s vanity by such
+a compliment as letting him think for one instant that we wished him
+to stay. So no words were said; but we observed that the _menu_ was
+immensely improved.
+
+Next morning, when Domingo came for the cook’s marketing money, instead
+of sending it out, I went out myself and said: “Well, do you want the
+_gastos_ money or your wages?”
+
+“Oh,” said the cook, with a regular sort of rogue’s way he has of looking
+you straight in the eye, “I will take the _gastos_. I will remain with
+the _señora_ to-day, as I see she has not been able to get another cook.”
+
+Inwardly I gasped; but I thought it better not to take any notice of
+such impudence, so I pretended I had not understood what he had said,
+and replied that I was very sorry he had not been able to find another
+situation, and that the _señor_ would permit him to stay on. He opened
+his mouth as if he were going to answer, but evidently changed his mind,
+for he said nothing, but just held out his hand for the money.
+
+Since which skirmish he has given us better food, and better cooked than
+we have ever had from him, and a daily list of expenses is handed to me
+without comment.
+
+I hope I don’t bore you with my simple domestic stories? But this one I
+felt I must really tell you, as it is so absolutely characteristic of the
+half “cute” Filipino.
+
+Talking of native characters, there is a strange but very typical
+hairdresser along our street, with one poor-looking little room opening
+on to the road as his whole shop. All the barbers here do their business
+in the evenings, when their saloons may be seen brightly lighted, with
+men inside being operated on, while others loaf and gossip, but we have
+never seen a sign of a customer in our neighbour’s little shop. Perhaps
+he does business in the day time, and though we doubt it, we always
+hope this is the case. In the evenings his door stands wide open, and
+inside, the barber is to be seen lying back in an old armchair, with
+his bare feet on the basin, playing an old fiddle in absolute peace and
+contentment, while he watches his reflection in a big looking-glass.
+
+In a sort of wild and whimsical way he makes me think of The Lady of
+Shalott, and I fancy that some day a real customer will come riding by,
+when the mirror will “crack from side to side,” and the hairdresser will
+look out and see the world as it really is, and just die of misery.
+
+But I am sure that as long as he sits and plays like that, it would be a
+thousand pities if anyone came in with foolish and mundane ideas about
+shaving chins or cutting hair.
+
+The burst of heat I told you of, is over, and the days are cool again,
+by comparison. Also, last night rain fell, and we got some water in our
+tank, after the preliminary excitement of diverting the pipe to let the
+dirt wash off the roof. This is a most important consideration, and as
+the servants are very apt to leave the pipe over the cistern, instead of
+moving it, so that when rain comes the first dirt will run away, one has
+to turn out at any hour of the day or night, when rain begins to rattle
+on the roofs. And how these tropical showers do rattle and roar, so that
+one cannot hear the other speak without “hailing the main top,” as papa
+would call it.
+
+
+
+
+LETTER XIII.
+
+SOME INFLUENCES OF CLIMATE, SCENERY, AND RELIGION
+
+
+ ILOILO, _February 18, 1905_.
+
+You must excuse my writing still being rather bad, as my illness has left
+me so weak that I shall not be out of bed for some days longer, in fact I
+am beginning to be fearfully afraid that I may not be well enough to go
+to Manila on the 28th after all. However, I have ten days to get well in,
+which gives me hope, and my progress so far has been simply wonderful,
+which is due to the extraordinary luck I have had in finding such good
+doctors and such a charming and clever nurse.
+
+I am much disappointed in having missed the visit of a U.S.A. man-of-war,
+the _Rainbow_, which is on a cruise through the Islands, and has come
+here for a couple of days. She is the flagship of the squadron the
+Americans keep in the China seas, and a very fine ship, I believe.
+
+Last night her crew gave a sing-song in the theatre, to which I persuaded
+C—— to go, and was very glad I had done so, as he enjoyed it immensely,
+and says it was a very good sort of Christy Minstrel “show.” It ended
+with a small play, done by real “American Negroes,” as they are called.
+The _Rainbow_ gave the same entertainment in Hong Kong, just before we
+arrived, and I heard then how good it was. This afternoon we have been
+invited to a reception to be held on board, but, of course, that also is
+out of the question for me, and C—— will be busy at the office till very
+late.
+
+There is a great deal of work at the office now, as the chief business in
+this island is sugar, and this is the height of the “season,” when great
+loads of thousands of sacks go out every day to be put into steamers and
+sailing vessels off the estuary. They have a rough factory here where
+the cane is crushed, and the stuff exported is a thick, brown sort of
+sand (_don’t_ make a joke about sand and sugar!), a great deal of which
+goes to Europe and America, but most to Hong Kong, where it is refined in
+great factories. The refined sugar that comes back from Hong Kong is what
+we buy here; and, though an English company has started a sugar refinery
+in Manila, they find that the conditions of trade in the Philippines are
+such that they can only _just_ compete with the stuff refined elsewhere
+and imported subject to the export tax and the enormous duties.
+
+I think I am very lucky in having such a nice room to be ill in. It is
+very large and shady, with three windows and two doors, and I look out
+on a bright garden belonging to the house opposite, and a green field
+and trees, which is charming. Through the trees are glimpses of the grey
+backs of the houses in the street parallel to this, and then a thick,
+high belt of palms, which hides the open sea.
+
+This is the S.-W. side of the house. The back, to the N.-E., looks out
+across a rough garden of fresh, thick grass to half a mile or so of
+shallows, where the tide fluctuates, and beyond is the strip of blue
+river, which looks so narrow seen from here that the big steamers which
+go by seem to be sailing on dry land. Beyond, again, comes a fringe of
+bright green palms, and then the open sea—a stretch of darkest blue—and a
+bit of hilly, verdant Guimaras.
+
+I think one of the great beauties of the views here is that the sky is
+never quite cloudless—there are always very white clouds somewhere in
+the dome of intense blue, which give relief and value to all the colours
+below.
+
+On days when the Monsoon is not too high, we open the shutters looking
+towards the river, but these open wooden slats keep the houses quite
+cool, even when the shutters are closed. I wish there were something like
+the _tatties_ of India; but no one out here has ever heard of such a
+thing. The open shutters are very nice though, and the view framed in the
+dark opening which faces us at table is like looking at a large, bright
+picture. Sometimes the tide is right up to the garden wall, the sky
+cloudy, and the water like slate. At other times, when it is far out, the
+shallows turn into mud-flats, with groups of native women wading about
+in their bright red clothes, looking for mysterious fish which Filipinos
+alone dare eat and live.
+
+Some friends from Manila were looking out of the hall window a little
+time ago, and said, “What a lovely view. I should never tire of that.” I
+said we never did, which was quite true.
+
+When I am well again, and if C—— can get away, I hope to be able to
+go beyond the roads to Jaro and Molo, though they are beautiful and
+inexhaustible. With all the beauty, however, I begin to have the same
+sort of feeling about this country that that old friend of ours, General
+R——, had about the girl at the Aldershot ball. You remember the story
+he told us of how he saw her exquisite face across the ball-room, and
+insisted on a common friend introducing him to her? And when he and the
+friend had got half way across the ball-room, the old general said:
+“Stop! Take me away. Get me out of it. Her face has never changed and
+never can change. It isn’t a face. It’s a mask, sir, a mask! It is not a
+human being. Come away!”
+
+Well, I feel like that about Philippine scenery, which can be dark
+or light according to the reflections thrown on it, but it has never
+changed, and even if there is a slight change, when that has passed
+it will always and for ever be the same greens and the same blue. No
+alternation to red and yellow autumn, no brown and purple winter, no
+delicate spring—nothing but perpetual, chromo-lithograph mid-summer,
+which has always seemed to me the least beautiful season of the year.
+
+When the wet Monsoon blows, I believe that season is counted as a sort
+of spring, for various trees then come into bloom, but, for the great
+part, everything just goes on growing and dying, and growing and dying
+in dull routine, like the natives. In fact I often think the much-abused
+Filipino is only a prototype, as it were, a sort of reflection, of his
+country. It seems as if this were so, too, for those who go away to Hong
+Kong or Japan to be educated, and come back full of civilisation and
+enthusiasms, soon cast off their energy like a slough and return to the
+shiftless, slouching habits of the land where it is “always afternoon.”
+For them such habits are natural, and perhaps necessary, but a worse
+effect is that white men get like that too, in time, and though they
+may work well enough at the business by which they live, they become
+indifferent, shiftless, careless about dress and the niceties of our
+civilisation; everything is too much trouble, and they just jog along
+in a half-animal routine. The young ones still fret for the world they
+have left, which remains fresh in their memories; but this life takes
+hold on men, and they become so rooted in its ways that they deteriorate
+and can never live happily anywhere else again—in the same way that a
+mind deteriorates on the slip-shod mental fare of magazine-reading, and
+cannot be happy with anything that requires more effort to assimilate.
+This, then, I find is the secret of that “nameless” fascination of
+the Far East that one hears and reads so much about—it is the secret
+of deterioration which is so easy, and elevation which is so hard, so
+useless, so unnecessary—let us lie in a long chair and drink one whisky
+peg after the other—who cares what the home papers say—what rot it is
+to bother about anything but poker and shooting, or why old Wing Chang
+bought Brown’s pony.
+
+And when you think of the _real_ meaning of “Ship me somewhere east of
+Suez”—well, you can’t think of it till you live there yourself for a
+month or two. My refrain is, “Ship me somewhere west of Suez,” where
+there is health for body and soul—the west of the exquisite thrush and
+the lilac bush, instead of the empty, gaudy parrot and the flaming,
+scentless canna.
+
+Heavens! What a tirade!
+
+_One_ woman have I met who likes the Philippines; though many, as I know,
+love India, and the Straits, and Ceylon. But then those are generally
+people who go away to “hills” and so on, or take trips home. Here there
+are no “hills,” and a trip home is a serious life-problem. Just so, this
+one woman who has been found to like the Philippines happens to be the
+wife of a missionary, so, of course, she goes every hot season for a
+“nice long holiday” to Japan.
+
+It occurs to me that you may imagine we have savages here when I
+speak of missionaries, but that is not the case, in this island at
+any rate, for these good people are here—oh such a lot of them!—to
+convert the Filipinos from Roman Catholicism. This is really a work
+of supererogation, for, though the Spanish priests did ill-treat
+the Filipinos, the natives are free now from that terror, and this
+religion, with its mysteries and pomp, appeals to them, and suits their
+dispositions perfectly.
+
+I am afraid the unbiassed observer would find the missionaries far more
+convincing in their enthusiasm, if it led them to give up the beautiful
+houses and comfortable carriages they enjoy here, their tea-parties,
+lectures, and so on, and go and rough it in some of the other islands,
+where there are plenty of savages, Mahommedans, devil-worshippers,
+cannibals, and all sorts of unreclaimed sheep.
+
+Before I left home, I remember a very enthusiastic but woefully ignorant
+old lady being filled with excitement when she heard I was going to the
+Philippine Islands, and showing me missionary journals with a great deal
+written in them about “the good work” being done out here. At first I
+very naturally thought it was the savages who were being tackled, but—“Oh
+dear no!” she cried, quite shocked. “The poor Filipinos are being saved
+from the dreadful influence of the Roman Catholics.”
+
+I said: “But surely they are also the followers of Christ? Only they do
+not interpret His sayings quite as we do ourselves.”
+
+“No, _no_, they are _wicked_ people! The Filipinos _must_ be saved! Do,
+_do_, when you are out there, interest yourself in this noble work. I
+will send you little books——”
+
+Strange, isn’t it? And of course about the people, the laws, the climate,
+she knew less than nothing, though I am sure the poor old soul gave many
+a shilling out of her miserable income towards the fund that gives the
+missionary’s well-dressed wife a “nice little holiday in Japan.”
+
+In these civilised (?) parts of the Philippines there is a good deal of
+religious trouble and dissension already, without missionary enterprise
+to stir it up, as a very determined patriot of the name of Aglipay has
+cut himself adrift from the authority of Rome and started a church
+called La Iglesia Filipina Independiente, which title, I am sure, needs
+no translating. His followers are numerous, in fact it is generally
+believed that they now out-number the orthodox; and the whole movement is
+known to be the outward and visible sign of inward and hidden fires of
+Insurrection and Independence. The _Aglipayanos_, as these independent
+thinkers are usually styled, have churches of their own, and processions
+and ceremonies almost indistinguishable from those of the Papists. Do
+you remember a procession I described to you when we were in Manila?
+The bringing down of the Virgin of Antipolo? I now learn that that was
+all to do with this quarrel amongst the followers of the gentle Christ,
+though to which side the Virgin of Antipolo belonged, and who was to be
+galvanised into loyalty by the contemplation of her journey, I am not
+quite clear, and do not much care, for the fate of the little old wooden
+doll is uninteresting—it is only the people who are ready to fly at each
+other’s throats about it who are remarkable. What poor “worms that bite
+and sting in the dust!”
+
+
+
+
+LETTER XIV.
+
+VOYAGE TO MANILA
+
+
+ S.S. “BUTUAN,” _March 1, 1905_.
+
+I am launched, you see, and on my journey to Manila after all, though
+I do not feel at all well again yet; but that is not surprising, as it
+takes such a long time to pull round in this climate. It is not that the
+climate is so much worse than any other, as long as you keep well, but as
+soon as you get ill you go all to pieces, and the first thing to be done
+is to ship you off to Hong Kong or Japan as soon as possible. The climate
+of the Philippines is very much abused, more than it really deserves,
+I think, for the chief causes of all illness are anæmia or liver, both
+arising more from the dreadful food and the lack of fresh vegetables,
+fruit, milk, and good meat than from the actual climate; though, of
+course, the illnesses arising from each bad diet are aggravated by the
+heat. The amount of tinned things the people eat would be trying in
+any climate, but out here they must be simply deadly. I have just been
+reading a book by a traveller, who announces that there is nothing the
+matter with the Philippine climate at all, because he tore round the
+Archipelago in record time, crossing the islands on foot at astounding
+speed, and living on native food—and he was not ill. Naturally, he was
+not ill; but then his experience is of little value to men who have to
+work for their living, sitting in offices for eight hours a day on six
+days of the week, whose food is the sort of provisions one can get in
+the towns, and their houses rooted on ill-drained mud-flats.
+
+Everyone would like to rush about and live a free, wild life, and, no
+doubt, if they did, there would be fewer illnesses and less human wrecks;
+but the trouble is that no one would pay them for doing it; and men must
+work out here just the same as in other climates—in fact they seem to me
+to work longer hours and harder than anywhere I ever saw; and the wonder
+to me is, not that they are ill, but that so many of them survive at all.
+Undoubtedly the only billets worth having in the tropics are those of a
+tea-planter, a British officer, or a professional traveller.
+
+I am in the regular mail steamer, you see, as I told you I should be,
+and we were certainly not given to understand more than the truth anent
+her shortcomings, for she is about the same size and class as those
+pestiferous little nightmares which run between Gibraltar and Ceuta.
+There is no deck but a plank or two outside the saloon, the latter a sort
+of excrescence on the ship, leaving just room to squeeze a chair between
+its sides and the scuppers. The space in the bows is thickly occupied by
+marine wonders covered with tarpaulins. What these may be, as they are
+not deck cargo, I can’t think, but they are evidently important enough to
+want all the fresh air in the ship.
+
+Aft, the galley treads upon the heels of the saloon, its fragrance
+extending still further, and the strip of deck outside it is completely
+blocked by dirty little tables, where frowzy men of the crew seem to
+carry on a perpetual March Hare’s tea-party.
+
+Beyond that, again, a half-clad native is for ever killing hens, and all
+in a muddle with a couple of terribly mangy but very kind dogs nosing
+about for snacks.
+
+She is a Spanish steamer, and the officers all Spaniards, very polite,
+but unkempt, unshaven, and dressed in soiled white linen suits with no
+attempt at a uniform.
+
+It is astonishing to think that this is the mail between Manila and the
+chief town of the Islands, and I can’t understand how it is that in six
+years no American enterprise has stepped in to do something better. I
+have asked Americans about this, but they tell me the question does
+not affect them, for they can always get permits to go in their own
+transports, and then, besides that, there is nothing to tempt American
+capital in so slow and jog-trot a fashion of making dollars. As we went
+out of the river, I tried to see our house in the estuary, but all the
+blue-grey houses, and corrugated roofs, and green trees and palms look so
+exactly alike that I found it impossible to distinguish ours from amongst
+the jumble.
+
+While I was looking over the side, a Filipino passenger, a middle-aged
+man, came up and said something to me, waving his hand towards the shore.
+I daresay he took me for his equal and meant no harm, but I thought it
+very cool of him to speak to me, so I simply drew myself up and said that
+I did not “habla Castellano,” whereupon he shuffled off and has not been
+seen again.
+
+Luckily the weather was very calm, and is so still, so I was able to
+appear at the evening meal, which came off at six! A deadly hour—when you
+have not had time to get up any interest in food since lunch, and yet if
+you don’t eat you are starving before bed-time. The dinner consisted of
+a thick meat-and-drink soup, such as one might imagine Russian convicts
+yearning for in the depths of a Siberian winter, but for which it was
+hardly possible to return thanks in a stifling cabin in the tropics.
+After this nice, comforting brew followed a procession of eight courses
+of thick and greasy fried lumps or appalling stews, each one more fatal
+and more full of garlic and spices than the last. I thought that even if
+I had been feeling fresh and hungry on a winter’s day at home I could
+hardly have faced the _Butuan_ _menu_, but, as it was, the mere sight and
+smell of the dishes made me almost hysterical.
+
+The polite little captain pressed me to eat, and I did not like to hurt
+his feelings by refusing what he thought was excellent fare; but I
+escaped alive by waiting till his head was turned, and then dexterously
+passing lumps down to one of the kind, mangy dogs until the poor beast
+was detected by a _muchacho_ and kicked, howling, on to the deck. After
+that I assured the skipper that I had had quite enough; an excellent
+dinner; I positively could not eat any more. He bowed and offered me
+coffee. I took a cup, and with that and dry biscuit made a tolerable meal.
+
+About eight o’clock I went below, as I felt very tired, because it was
+almost my first day out of bed since my illness. Besides that, even if I
+had been in keen and robust health there would have been nothing to tempt
+me to remain on the narrow deck, which was pitch dark, or in the stuffy
+saloon with a couple of guttering candles in tall stands on the table by
+way of sole illumination.
+
+The accommodation below is of much the same type as the luxury above,
+below decks being just of the build of one of the old penny steamers
+that used to go up and down the Thames—you remember the sort of things—a
+very low roof supported by small iron pillars. Off a narrow passage open
+seven small cabins, with four berths in each of them, but they are really
+not so bad when you get one all to yourself, and I have the best one, at
+the end of the ship. I caught the fat _Mayordomo_ (chief steward), and
+after endless trouble, managed to get a key for my cabin door, though
+the choice lay between having it open or dying of asphyxiation; but I
+preferred the latter risk of the two, as at least I could be certain what
+to expect if I kept it locked.
+
+One look at the mattresses was enough. I slept, or rather lay awake
+sweltering, on all the coverlets piled on the least filthy of the upper
+berths. The cabin smelt horrible, and the only light there, as in the
+saloon, was a candle in a bracket, the glass of which was so grimed with
+dirt that it gave hardly any light at all. No water was laid on to the
+filthy basin, and it did not do to let one’s mind dwell for one instant
+on cockroaches—like a child who tries not to think of some horrible ghost
+story in the dark.
+
+About six this morning the _muchacho_ (they have no word for steward
+apparently) woke me by rattling at the handle of my door, when I climbed
+down and held parley with him through the crack. He said something in
+English about “washing,” and I thinking he had brought me water to put in
+the unspeakable basin, said: “No, not yet,” and tried to shut the door.
+
+However, he was not to be ignored, for he shoved the door open,
+apologising as he did so, came in and shut and fastened down the
+scuttle, and then backed out again with many more bows and excuses. Then
+I understood that it was not I who was to be washed, but the decks!
+Somehow, it had not occurred to me that the decks of the _Butuan_ ever
+could be cleaned like those of other ships!
+
+All day long we have been slipping past these Dream Islands, sometimes
+so close that one can see the waves breaking on the rocks and the blue
+sea running up into fairy bays, and I should so much like to go ashore
+in some of them, and see the negritos and savages, and the beautiful
+jungles where monkeys swing about on great flowering vines. That is
+always the Tropic Island of one’s dreams, is it not? But now I begin
+to think that possibly life is not all a transformation scene in the
+lovely jungles, where there are doubtless deadly snakes; poisonous,
+scentless plants; swamps, and malaria, to say nothing of the fatigues
+and difficulties of getting there. On the whole, for beauty of scenery,
+health and comfort, I think I would rather live in a glen on a Scottish
+moor.
+
+My luggage is rather on my mind, as I found I had to bring such a
+quantity, for muslin and cotton frocks take up so much room that I was
+compelled to abandon my first plan of one moderate trunk, and am now
+engineering what looks like a family “flitting.” Talking of frocks, you
+once asked me to tell you if those I had brought out were all right.
+They are quite right, thanks, at least the muslins are and the very thin
+cottons, but anything thicker, even print, is too warm, and the very
+thinnest of stuff skirts or coats are stifling and impossible. I always
+envy the lucky women in Hong Kong whom I left going about in white serge
+and grey flannel, and even being compelled to put wraps on in the evening!
+
+Another thing I find about clothes is that every one wears white, and
+though one gets rather tired of it, still it is the best thing for the
+fashion of washing clothes by pounding them on boulders, and then drying
+them in this terrific sun will evaporate the strongest colours in an
+incredibly short time. Clothes don’t last long here anyhow, colour or no
+colour, as there is something in the water that rots material, so that
+it goes into holes and tears if you look at it, and something in the air
+which rots silk even more disastrously and quickly, and turns all white
+silk and satin quite deep yellow.
+
+I have been writing this at intervals all day, and now it is six o’clock,
+and the meal is due. I can see the polite skipper standing waiting for me
+to enter and take my seat, and the mangy dog trying to squeeze himself in
+under the bench where my place is. So I will leave off and finish this in
+Manila, where we are to arrive in the early morning.
+
+ MANILA, _March 2_.
+
+I thought a mail would be going out the day I got here, but I find it
+does not go till to-morrow morning, of which I am rather glad, as it
+gives me time to let you know I have arrived safely. Yet when you get
+this—oh what a long way off—the trip to Manila will be a half-forgotten
+thing of the past!
+
+The _Butuan_ (by-the-bye, she has taken that name from a town in the big
+southern island of Mindanao) anchored off the mouth of the Pasig at three
+o’clock this morning, and deck-washing began at four. So at about five I
+opened my door a little bit and roared for the _muchacho_, till someone
+else in another cabin got tired of hearing me, and took up the cry, and
+it spread through the ship like the cock-crowing in the dawn. By-the-bye,
+I got away from the shrill of the crickets for a few hours, but did not,
+as I had hoped, escape the eternal cock-crowing, for those fowls on board
+the _Butuan_ which had escaped death began to crow at four o’clock for
+all they were worth, poor things. Well, at last the _muchacho_ came along
+and brought me a perilous candle and some hot water, and I dressed and
+packed up the few things I had out, and went up on deck at about six.
+
+At sunrise—a thick, pink, hazy sunrise—we steamed up the river, but I
+was _blasé_ about everything but food, so I stayed in the saloon and
+managed to get some biscuits and coffee, and to avoid a plate full of
+deadly-looking ham and eggs.
+
+There was no room to anchor at the quay, which was fringed with a close
+line of steamers berthed stern-first, so she anchored in the stream;
+and until I was “fetched,” I amused myself watching the blue-green
+water-plants go trailing past, and trying to observe life on board the
+big, covered, brown lighters. No life was to be seen, however, except the
+natives wielding immense punt-poles, who walked along the sides of the
+barges on a platform one plank wide.
+
+At about seven the company’s launch came for me, and she made quite a
+long trip, down the Pasig and all along outside the breakwater, as the
+shorter way through was blocked by a dredger. A tremendous new harbour is
+being built, which bids fair to be a very fine concern, and the Americans
+think a great deal of it, and say it will enable Manila to compete with
+and eclipse the shipping of Hong Kong. This is a difficult piece of
+reasoning to follow, for a glance at a map shows how out of the stream
+of the world’s traffic Manila lies; and then, besides that, there are
+the tariffs and customs, and all the vexations of the American system of
+government, which will make it impossible to compete with the traffic of
+a free port like Hong Kong. Moreover, it will never pay anyone to shift
+cargoes in a port where the coolies are so lazy and labour so expensive
+as in Manila.
+
+It is the American go-ahead, run-before-you-walk way, too, to build great
+docks and harbours costing millions before they have spent the necessary
+thousands in constructing roads to bring the merchandise from inland, or
+sacrificed the hundreds required to encourage trade.
+
+The same thing is being done down in Iloilo, where two millions are
+being spent on a harbour, when there is not one tolerable road across
+the island, and all the revenues that choke agriculture go to pay the
+officials and the school-teachers, conditions which prevail throughout
+the Archipelago. The Americans mean well by the Philippines, that no
+one can doubt for an instant, which makes it all the more sad to see
+them wasting magnificent energy, and earning nothing but failure and
+unpopularity, by going dead against everything that has ever been
+discovered about the successful government of Asiatics. But then, is
+this real government? It is very difficult to know what to call it, as
+at one time the venture is referred to as a “Colony,” at another as “The
+youngest of the United States,” and yet again as “A Sacred Trust.” I
+mean they use these terms indiscriminately and officially, which is very
+puzzling.
+
+But I am wandering away from the trip in the launch, which went all round
+these same harbour works till it came right in front of our friends’
+house, where a boat came off and took me through the shallow water to the
+steps at the end of the garden.
+
+It was then nearly eight o’clock, so the day was getting very hot,
+and the cool house seemed delicious. Breakfast—nice, clean, ungreasy
+breakfast!—and the joys of a bath. There was a “bathroom” on the
+_Butuan_, but in a state of dirt that would have made bathing impossible,
+even if the bath itself had not been full of old lamps, boots, tin cans,
+and dirty clothes.
+
+I have spent all the day resting in the house, to save up my energies for
+an entertainment which I should be very sorry to miss. This is a public
+reception to be held by the Governor, Mr Luke E. Wright, at his palace on
+the river, where one will see, as a compatriot informed me, “all Manila
+at a glance.” I don’t think a glance will satisfy me though, for I want
+to go and have a good long look. I feel better already for the change
+of air and scene, and am sure I shall be quite equal to the reception,
+besides, I would rather be ill than miss such a party!
+
+I say I spent all the day in the house, but that is not quite accurate,
+for we went for a drive at sunset to a library in the town, in a Spanish
+book-shop; and on our way back took a turn round the Luneta, the
+promenade by the sea, which I fancy I may have mentioned to you already.
+The band plays there every evening, and everyone drives or walks about.
+It was a very pretty sight to see the people in white dresses, all moving
+about in the radius of the electric lights on the bandstand, the lights
+looking like spots of white fire against the yellow sunset.
+
+
+
+
+LETTER XV.
+
+AN OFFICIAL ENTERTAINMENT
+
+
+ MANILA, _March 3, 1905_.
+
+I sent a long letter to you by the mail, which went out this morning; but
+I must begin another at once, as I want to tell you about the reception
+last night. Indeed, if I don’t keep a letter always going on while I
+am here, I shall not be able to tell you half what I want to say about
+Manila.
+
+We dined at half-past seven last night, and then, with a small party
+of friends, drove through the town to a wharf in front of the large
+Cold-Storage buildings by the river. Here we had to pass over some large,
+flat lighters, on the decks of which the moonlight revealed myriads of
+enormous cockroaches hurrying about in all directions, which made us
+catch up our skirts and run for the launch lying alongside the lighters,
+and all decorated with palms and Japanese lanterns.
+
+At the wharf some more friends had joined us, so we were quite a large
+party in the bows of the launch as she steamed up the Pasig, and the
+cool, or comparatively cool, night air was delicious. The river looked
+quite pretty in the moonlight, and though it was only a small, rather new
+moon, the light was quite strong, and the green of the trees was quite
+perceptible, for there is colour in the moonlight in this part of the
+world, where the moon does not make mere black and white outlines, but
+you can distinguish colours quite plainly. The Palace of Malacañan soon
+came in sight—a big building blazing with lights, and adorned by rows of
+little lamps in festoons all along the water’s edge, like Earl’s Court
+Exhibition.
+
+[Illustration: MANILA.
+
+Malacañan Palace.
+
+_To face page 120._]
+
+We landed at a low stone wall, outlined for the occasion with red and
+yellow electric lights. The launch immediately in front of ours was
+that of the Chinese Consul, very profusely and beautifully decorated,
+and filled with Celestials in bright silk dresses. We stepped at once
+into the gardens, which come right down to the water’s edge, and found
+ourselves in the _fête_—all in full swing, with crowds of people walking
+up and down paths covered with sailcloth to protect the dresses. Of
+course everyone was going about in evening dress, as if in a ball-room
+at home, and feeling very hot, and looking for cool places. The idea of
+this perpetual heat soon becomes familiar, but sometimes it strikes the
+imagination, on occasions of this kind, with particular insistence. In
+my letters to you I can’t go on saying “It is very hot,” “It is very
+sultry,” and so on, and yet I know that you reading them at home, can
+have no idea of the _setting_ of all I tell you; of the terrible blazing
+sun all day long; the hot nights only bearable by comparison with the
+day; of one’s skin always moist, if it is not actually running in little
+rivulets, as in a Turkish bath; of even the dogs and cats spending all
+their lives trying to find draughts to lie in. And this, I am informed,
+is the “winter.”
+
+Well, this entertainment, which was very well done indeed, reminded me
+more and more of Earl’s Court, as we passed under arcades of coloured
+lights, and the Constabulary Band played selections on a grass lawn
+under the trees. There was a huge open-air ball-room, built over some
+lawn-tennis courts, raised up and approached by a little flight of steps,
+and with seats all round inside a rail.
+
+Our first duty was to present ourselves to the Governor, Mr Luke E.
+Wright, and his wife, who stood under a canopy of white silk, on which
+were embroidered the Arms of the Philippines. This coat of arms is a
+new invention, and this was its first appearance. It was designed by
+an American called Gillard Hunt, and its heraldic description is very
+complicated, and would probably convey as little to you as it does to
+me. It happened to be on the front of the programmes as well as on the
+canopy, so I had a good look at it, and the gist of the design is that it
+is all red and silver and blue, and the symbols are the Castle of Spain
+and a sea-lion, with a background of the stripes of the American flag.
+Above is the crest, which takes the form of the American Eagle, and the
+inscription written below is “Philippine Islands.” It makes a very pretty
+crest, but it is difficult to understand why the Philippine shield should
+be quartered with the Arms of Spain any more than if the American flag
+should have the Lion and the Unicorn in the corner. In fact the latter
+device would be far the more reasonable of the two.
+
+Well, as I say, the Wrights and their party stood under this white silk
+canopy, and the aide-de-camp introduced those whom they did not know
+already; whereupon our hosts shook hands, repeating each guest’s name,
+and adding “Pleased to meet you” in kindly American fashion.
+
+This little ceremony, the American introduction, always appals me,
+because I never know what one is supposed to say in answer. I am afraid I
+smile helplessly and murmur, “Thank you so much!” but I am sure that is
+not the right thing to do.
+
+Having passed what the Manila papers call “The Gobernatorial Party,”
+we proceeded to drift about the grounds, which were really charmingly
+pretty. I met a good many people I knew, and enjoyed the evening
+immensely. After a time I began to feel very tired, and Mr P—— took me to
+the ball-room, where he managed to find places, and we wedged ourselves
+into the row of people sitting all round. I did not dance, but I found
+quite enough amusement to compensate me in looking on.
+
+The crowd was pretty mixed, of course, but “Manila at a glance” included
+one or two who looked like gentle-folk, and there were certainly a
+great many pretty dresses, which, I am told, the wearers import from
+Paris recklessly. Some of the _camisas_ worn by the native ladies were
+quite lovely—beautiful, delicate fabrics exquisitely embroidered and
+hand-painted—and in the Official Rigodon, with which the ball began, I
+noticed how well the wearers moved.
+
+As a contrast, one of the most remarkable spectacles of the evening
+was the Gibson Girl, of whom there were several specimens to be seen
+strutting about. All Americans, men and women, as I have noticed at
+home and on the Continent, have something of this type about them, and
+I often wonder whether Dana Gibson has discovered the essentials of the
+American type, or whether he has invented a model which they admire and
+try to copy. Whichever it is, when it is natural it is pretty enough in
+moderation, but some of them have, as they would express it, “got right
+there,” and they may be picked out of any crowd of ordinary human shapes
+at a glance. Of course no human being really could have the proportions
+of the Gibson Girl as she is on paper, for no living thing ever had such
+length of leg and neck but a giraffe; only so many Americans have that
+type of face, with a low, pretty square forehead, thick, round nose,
+heavy jaw, and arched eyebrows. Corsets and high hair-pads can help
+towards the rest of the design. I can’t think how anyone wants to be a
+Gibson Girl, unless for twenty guineas a week at a theatre, as the pose
+and the untidy hair is inexpressibly common and shop-girlish. Moreover, I
+don’t see how anyone can expect to ape anything and avoid being vulgar.
+The Gibson Girl does not escape this latter calamity. She “gets right
+there just every time.”
+
+After watching the dancing for a good while, I was taken round the
+grounds and given refreshment at one of the little buffets in the garden.
+A most amusing episode occurred at the chief of these buffets, where a
+big bowl of punch was being administered by the Chinese servants, who
+opened everything they could lay hands on—whisky, port, claret, soda,
+liqueurs, brandy, champagne—and poured it all into the punch. You can
+imagine what ludicrous stories were afloat about people who had taken
+one sip of this fire-water, and were reported to have been carried off
+half-dying, and shipped home down the river.
+
+About half-past ten the crowds began to thin, and we left the palace,
+getting upon our launch again at the same place where we had landed.
+There was no more moon, but the stars made quite a bright light, and the
+air was so fresh upon the water at that hour that one could actually
+stand the extra warmth of a chiffon scarf across one’s bare shoulders.
+
+ _March 4._
+
+I found myself very tired yesterday after the _fête_, so I stayed in the
+house all day, except for a drive in the evening to the Escolta, which
+is the principal street of shops. When we came here in November, fresh
+from palatial Hong Kong, I thought this town the most shoddy and hideous
+place I had ever seen, but now I find it really difficult to recall my
+first impressions, for it seems a gay and handsome metropolis to the
+provincial from Iloilo!
+
+At Iloilo our streets consist of ruins hastily patched up, and great
+fire-blackened gaps in the rows of houses, but in Manila, though there
+has been apparently just as much hasty patching, there are comparatively
+few ruins to be seen, and perhaps a trifle less string used in the
+harnesses of the horses. White women and _Mestizas_ go about in hats too,
+which is a superfluity we do not affect in the provinces, and after so
+many weeks of not wearing a hat, I find it very irksome and hot to have
+to put one on. However, in Manila one must do as Manila does, I suppose,
+though the fashion, which did not obtain in the Spanish days, seems a
+foolish and unnecessary one, and the people who were here under the old
+_régime_ rail helplessly against the innovation. Certainly it is no gain
+to the coloured ladies to hide their nice, thick black hair with the
+frightful “Parisian” confections which appeal to their exotic taste; but,
+of course, it would never do for them not to follow the fashions set by
+their American equals. They have, however, that strange and subtle way of
+the Oriental all the world over, of setting a seal of their own upon even
+the most slavish imitations. One feels in this, as in everything else in
+Manila, that if the American influence were withdrawn, in twenty-four
+hours all trace of that busy, kind-hearted, bustling, incongruous people
+would begin to melt steadily away, and in a month would be wiped clean
+out.
+
+There are big, or comparatively big, shops, with a great display in the
+windows, and huge signs, and hurry-up-its-your-only-chance notices, and
+conversational advertisements in the American fashion. But when you get
+inside the shops there is the familiar barrenness, and there are the
+same half-asleep or half-drugged Filipinos and yellow _Mestizos_ yawning
+and trimming their nails with the same vague indifference, and nothing
+to sell that any human being ever wants. And the prices of the things
+you buy, instead of what you wanted, are enough to make your hair turn
+snow-white on the spot.
+
+[Illustration: MANILA.
+
+The Escolta.
+
+_To face page 126._]
+
+One fact, striking fact about the shops in this country is that the
+largest and most important are those of the jewellers, and the reason
+of this is that the Filipinos and Eurasians have a mistrust of banks
+and investments for their spare cash, with which they buy jewels partly
+for love of the glittering ornaments, and partly from some muddled idea
+of having their money safe in a portable form. I was talking about this
+to a very civil Frenchman in one of the biggest jeweller’s here this
+morning, while I was waiting for a ring they had been repairing, and he
+was very interested to hear I had come from Iloilo, for he told me he had
+travelled all about Panay selling jewellery a year or more ago, and that
+he knew that island quite well. I asked him if he had done well there,
+and he said yes, very good business indeed; and when I asked him what
+sort of things he sold, he showed me beautiful diamonds set in rather red
+gold, and said I would be astonished if I saw the “_types_” who could buy
+such ornaments. He said he rode a horse, as the roads were only rough
+tracks with broken bridges, but I don’t suppose he really did go all over
+the island, and fancy he must rather have gone in coasting steamers and
+ridden about the suburbs of the towns, for there are no inland towns in
+the Philippines, and no market, even for the best diamonds.
+
+Talking of _Mestizos_ reminds me of an account I heard, from a friend
+at the reception, of an English-_Mestizo_ wedding, which may amuse you,
+and is extraordinarily characteristic of these people. The bridal party
+assembled in church in the orthodox fashion, but the bride’s Filipino and
+Eurasian relations, instead of remaining in their pews, all crowded up to
+the altar and stood in a mass amongst the wedding-group and bridesmaids;
+and after this astonishing ceremony, the happy couple marched down the
+aisle to the strains of “The Washington Post.”
+
+
+
+
+LETTER XVI.
+
+MANILA AND ITS INHABITANTS
+
+
+ MANILA, _March 5, 1905_.
+
+I wrote in the morning yesterday, and after the heat of the day we drove
+outside the town to a nursery garden. To get there we passed through long
+streets of untidy suburbs, not of palm-thatch huts and bamboo groves like
+those in Iloilo, but very broad and treeless, with mean, low houses at
+intervals, and bits of waste ground strewn with lean dogs and rubbish.
+There are not scavenger pariahs here as in Turkey and the Near East,
+and I suppose they could not exist in such a climate, where the rubbish
+would be too putrid even for their savoury taste. There are a good many
+hawks about, but they don’t scavenge either, like the hawks in Egypt;
+all they seem to do is to hover over poultry, and every now and then get
+away with a young fowl or chicken. When we were driving round between
+Molo and Jaro a week or two ago, near the village of Mindoriao, we heard
+a great squawking and a scream, and looked round in time to see a hawk
+rise up from near a _nipa_ hut with a fair-sized hen in his claws. The
+people rushed about the plantation and sang out, and the hawk staggered
+once or twice, and nearly fell with the hen, which was very big and heavy
+for him; but he got away at last, and the people were left gazing after
+him into the sky, like in the picture of “Robert with his Red Umbrella”
+in _Struwwelpeter_. But the scavenging is, or should be, done by the
+half-wild pigs with which the native quarters teem—lean, rough, black and
+white animals, generally very mangy, and with long legs and snouts.
+
+[Illustration: A STREET IN MANILA.
+
+Showing Electric Tram.
+
+_To face page 129._]
+
+A great deal of the way to the nursery we followed the route of a new
+electric tram, which is to be opened in the course of a few weeks, and
+is to connect all the suburbs with the main town. Manila is immensely
+proud of this tram, which is such a token of progress that it somehow
+or other makes up for the lack of paving and other primary symbols
+of civilisation. There is a railway here too, the only one in the
+Philippines, which goes about 150 miles inland to a place called Dugupan.
+There is constant talk of railways to be built all over the islands,
+the concessions for which are being granted, of course, to American
+speculators; but those who know the islands well say the railways will
+not benefit anyone, even the speculators, for what are wanted besides
+labourers are roads, just good traffic roads, kept in good repair.
+However, it sounds imposing to talk of so many millions of dollars to
+be spent on railways “to open up the Philippines,” and a great deal of
+philanthropic energy is, somehow, inferred.
+
+The entrance to the nursery garden was up a narrow, sandy lane, where a
+lot of little, half-clad, brown children ran out after us and offered
+small, tousled bunches of faded flowers. Queer little souls, these
+Filipino children, with thin limbs and fluttering muslin garments.
+
+On each side of the sandy lane was a field planted with rose bushes;
+in the garden itself nothing appeared but rows and rows of flower-pots
+containing green plants and ferns—the sort of plants and ferns one
+only sees in conservatories at home. The garden was laid out in formal
+earthen paths, bordered with tiles, but the gardener was anything but
+formal—a huge, fat, old native with Chinese eyes, got up airily in white
+bathing-drawers and a muslin _camisa_.
+
+We went about, and my friend chose ferns and plants, some of which were
+lovely, and I very much wished I could have taken some home with me to
+Iloilo, but for the difficulty of transporting them by the _Butuan_.
+There was a charming old grey stone well in the garden, with steps
+leading up to it, some of them formed of beautiful old blue and green
+Chinese tiles, the whole shaded by big, drooping trees, which made that
+corner of the garden quite dark. Overhead, along the greater part of the
+paths, was a pergola of orchids, while all sorts of orchids grew from
+bundles of what looked like dried sticks tied to the posts. The sight of
+the orchids made me realise once again the temperature we live in, for I
+thought of how, on a summer’s day at home, one would find the outside air
+quite cold after an orchid house. It also occurred to me that it sounds
+all very fine to think of orchids in cheapness and profusion, but I have
+never yet seen an orchid that could compare as an object of beauty with a
+dog-rose out of a hedge.
+
+On the way back we halted to hear some jolly tunes played by the band
+on the Luneta. Again there was the blue dusk; the orange and saffron
+horizon; and the moving crowds in white on the bright green grass plots
+round the bandstand. We stayed in the carriage, which moved slowly round
+with hundreds of others, all going in the same direction. I believe the
+only carriage that has the privilege of moving the other way is that of
+the Governor.
+
+Going in and out of the crowd, everywhere, were two little American
+girls, seated astride on a bare-backed pony, with their hair floating
+loose behind, and tied with an immense bow of ribbon on one side of the
+forehead in American fashion; their thin little legs dangling side by
+side on each flank of the pony. They looked very happy and solemn, and
+the way they stuck on was simply wonderful.
+
+[Illustration: MANILA.
+
+The Luneta.
+
+_To face page 130._]
+
+The Luneta is a pretty sight in the evening, and even amusing, but I must
+confess I was very much disappointed in it, because I have read so much
+about Manila in American magazines, in which the Luneta is described as
+“an evening assemblage where all the nations of the world jostle one
+another”;—or phrases, more lurid, to that effect; followed by “word
+pictures” of Jew and Moor, Chinaman and Turk, Cingalee, Slav, and Hindu,
+all rubbing shoulders in their respective national costumes. So I looked
+out for this sight particularly, but have never seen anything but men of
+varying degrees of white and Malay in linen suits, and women and Gibson
+Girls in the last scream of Paris-Manila fashions. I have asked people
+about it too, in case I should have been to the Luneta only on days when
+the Jews, Moors, etc., were unavoidably absent; but I only got laughed
+at for imagining such nonsense, and when I said, I had read accounts by
+American eye-witnesses, my friends only laughed the more.
+
+ _March 6._
+
+I am afraid I am not seeing as much of Manila as I had hoped, after all,
+for I find I am not well enough to go about a great deal, but what I do
+see I try to remember in order to tell you. Having these letters to write
+is an amusement in the long, hot hours in the house, so don’t think that
+I am giving up delirious joys to find time to write to you! All the same,
+if I did go out more into Manila Society, I should not have any more to
+tell you, for there would be nothing to describe but Bridge. That is
+the only thing anyone ever does. Manila was pictured to me as a very
+gay place, in fact the Manila papers even go so far as to label it the
+“Gayest City of the Orient”; but it is really a dreadfully dull little
+town, with a very occasional dance to enliven the interminable round of
+dinner and Bridge parties, and those curious and costly luncheon parties
+which American women give to each other. So much I had already inferred
+from the Society Columns of the Manila papers, which come to us in Iloilo
+as a breath from the wide world! When I arrived here and saw the place,
+and asked some questions, I found my worst fears realised, and that
+far from being the gayest city of the Orient—think of Cairo, Calcutta,
+Colombo!—Manila is probably the dullest spot of the East or West, and any
+gaiety or intellect it might have is choked and strangled by Bridge and
+Euchre. In a country like this, where there is little or no housekeeping
+and no shopping to fill the minds and time of the average women,
+card-playing seems to attain colossal proportions, for they actually go
+out of their houses at eight in the morning to meet and play cards till
+lunch (the Americans do not use the word tiffin), and after a siesta they
+begin again, go home to dinner, or out to a dinner party, and probably
+play half the night.
+
+The Americans in Iloilo are just as keen, however, and the first question
+they ask you is if you play Bridge; and if you don’t they take no further
+interest in you, and never dream of inviting you to their houses.
+
+The Americans are fearfully down on the Filipino national game of
+_Monte_ about which the natives are infatuated, and over which they ruin
+themselves, but the indignation of the ruling race carries very little
+weight, as it is all precept and no example.
+
+I went for a little drive yesterday evening, through the old Spanish
+Intramuros, the Walled City, within the high old walls, which stand in
+a neglected moat, and are all covered with moss and grass and trailing
+weeds. The narrow streets are cobbled, and the quaint houses, with deep,
+barred basement windows, have a delightful air of repose, after the
+half-finished, skin-deep, hustling modernity of Americanised Manila. The
+whole quarter seems a far more appropriate setting than the rest of the
+town for the “mild-eyed lotus eaters,” which the Filipinos really are by
+choice, nature, and instinct. I think that if I lived in Manila (which
+heaven forbid should ever be my fate!) I should like to live in the
+Walled City—that is, if I survived the awful smells—and imagine myself in
+an East where there were no arc-lights, no electric trams, no drinking
+saloons, ice-cream sodas, “Hiawatha,” or Bridge, and where the natives
+would be humble, civil, prosperous, and happy.
+
+There are some fine old gates to the Walled City, but the Americans whose
+idiosyncrasy it is not to reverence antiquity unless it has cost fabulous
+sums at Drouot’s or Christie’s, are pulling them down for no reason at
+all.
+
+A great many natives bustle about American Manila in European or white
+linen suits, and it is a very exhausting place; but one can’t quite
+see the good of it all. I asked an American official (what they call
+“a prominent citizen”), whom I met at dinner the other night, how the
+Filipinos were to profit by all this bustle and book-learning.
+
+“Why,” he said, “I guess they will learn to appreciate our civilisation
+and then want it, and want all the things that civilisation entails,
+so there will be a demand, and trade will come right along, and these
+islands will wake up _and_ flourish.”
+
+I wanted to argue, however, so I said: “But why should the Filipinos
+wake up? Why not give the poor creatures lots of cheap food. If they
+have a little rice, and a banana patch, and a _nipa_ hut, and no priests
+to bother them, that is all they want, and there will always be an
+inexhaustible market for the produce of the islands. It seems such a pity
+to daze their poor brains, and hurry them about like this.” But he said
+it was no good trying to talk about this to me, as I evidently could not
+understand the American Ideal.
+
+So I dropped the subject, for when it comes to the American Ideal, I
+am hopelessly at variance, and think it better to say no more. The
+Ideal is this, you see, that every people in the world should have
+self-government and equal rights. This means, when reduced from windy
+oratory to common-sense, that they consider these Malay half-breeds to
+be capable, after six years of school-teaching by the type of master I
+described to you (about which type, by-the-bye, experience has given me
+no reason to change my mind), of understanding the motives, and profiting
+by the institutions which it has taken the highest white races two or
+three thousand years to evolve. They are supposed to be so wonderful,
+these flat-faced little chaps, because they have shown a sudden aptitude
+for the gramophone and imitation European clothes, a free and abusive
+press, and unlimited talk—endless talk. But it seems to me that these are
+the traits one is accustomed to in the emancipated coloured person all
+the world over. In fact, when I come to think of it, America with this
+funny little possession of hers is like a mother with her first child,
+who has never noticed anyone else’s children, and thinks her own bantling
+something entirely without parallel or precedent; quotes it as a miracle
+when it shows the most elementary symptoms of existence, and tries to
+bring it up on some fad of her own because it is so much more precious
+and more wonderful than any other child any one else ever had.
+
+ _March 7._
+
+Yesterday we went to buy prison-made goods at Bilibid, which is the big
+jail of Manila, and of the whole Philippine Islands. When anyone has
+committed a serious crime, he is sent up to Bilibid to eke out the period
+that has to elapse before he is carted back to his original island to
+be executed. The prison is a mass of half-finished-looking grey stone
+buildings, where prisoners in yellow-striped jerseys, like gigantic
+wasps, were going about behind iron railings.
+
+We went into a huge stone hall, where there were quantities of all sorts
+of basket-work furniture on show; a row of carriages, all prison-made;
+and at the farther end a white man standing behind some glass-covered
+tables containing little objects for sale. I wanted to get some small
+souvenirs to send home, and examined carefully all the little trifles
+and curios in black wood, bone, and silver, with which the cases were
+filled; but I could not see anything that was uncommon or characteristic,
+or even worth buying at all. All the things looked to me as if someone
+had been to Naples or Colombo, and come back and told the Filipinos what
+to make, for here were souvenir teaspoons, paper knives of black wood,
+bone hairpins, and so on, and not one of them of a pattern one has not
+seen prepared for the traveller in every city of the world. I hunted
+all through the cases, and amongst the furniture in the hall, but could
+find nothing distinctive—everything was well made, but utterly _banal_.
+However, this did not concern me much, as what I had really come for was
+ordinary furniture, and this I managed to get to my satisfaction, and a
+little cheaper than in the Chinamen’s shops in Iloilo, which is to say
+exactly double the prices of Hong Kong.
+
+Amongst a great many things stored in a corresponding hall upstairs
+were some basket chairs of an uncommon pattern, with a back like a huge
+spreading peacock’s tail; but, though they were pretty, these chairs did
+not strike me as characteristic of a people living in _nipa_ huts, but
+much more like the suggestion of a wandering admirer of _l’art nouveau_.
+
+Besides the chairs, I noticed some small columns of hard Filipino
+woods, intended for flower stands, but the price asked for them was 10
+_pesos_ (one guinea) each, which I thought ridiculous for plain, flat,
+polished wood. It appeared that they were derelict from the St Louis
+Exhibition, or, as it is called, “Exposition,” and on each was resting,
+temporarily, a little figure carved in wood and painted in bright
+colours, representing a Filipino man or woman—the woman in red skirt
+(not _sarong_) and _camisa_, and the men with their shirts outside, and
+carrying a fighting cock under one arm. By-the-bye, there is fierce
+indignation and terrible offence taken by the Filipinos about that
+same “Exposition,” as the Philippine section was got up attractively
+barbarous, with too much of the savage element, wild-men-of-the-woods in
+fantastic hovels, and so forth, to please the educated and high-class
+natives and _Mestizos_, who want independence, and think _they_ are more
+likely to get it than the prehistoric savage.
+
+On the way out here I met a German who had been to St Louis, and
+who told me that the two chief exhibits were the Boer War and the
+Philippine section, and that the latter was nearly all savages in huts,
+with fish-_corrals_ in artificial ponds, and all that sort of thing.
+I remember he was quite surprised to hear that there was any other
+town than Manila, or any civilisation in the Philippines except the
+marvellous dawn that rose with the Stars and Stripes. I believe that
+was very largely the impression produced in America, and not quite
+ingenuously—that the inhabitants of these islands were a race of naked
+cannibals and savages who were suddenly being transformed into the
+educated _Mestizo_, who goes to college in America and returns here
+to write seditious articles and talk his head off. Well, whatever the
+impression desired or produced, the way it was brought about has caused
+endless anger amongst those Islanders who would rather be thought
+civilised than picturesque.
+
+ _March 8._
+
+I have been out shopping this morning, going out at such an unusual hour
+because heavy rain had fallen in the night, and the air was fresh in the
+morning. It is nice to have a fresh morning, for the early part of the
+day here is heavy, and day dawns thick and foggy. At least, the mornings
+are thick and foggy in comparison with the exquisite clearness of the
+dawn and early hours of the day in Iloilo. Talking of that, I am much
+struck by the colour of the sky here—all over the Philippines, I mean, or
+rather, all over where I have been—for though it is very blue, it is a
+whity-blue, a thick sort of colour, not a bit transparent like the sky of
+Southern Europe or North Africa. I can’t quite describe it, but when one
+looks up at the zenith one does not seem to be looking into illimitable
+spaces of transparency, and the thick white of the horizon stretches far
+upwards.
+
+On this shopping expedition I went to buy some things for the house that
+I thought I might be able to get cheaper and better here than in Iloilo.
+The principal street of shops is, as I told you, the Escolta, and the
+next in importance is the Calla Rosario, where the shops are kept by
+Chinamen and one or two Japanese.
+
+On the way there I saw a steamer on fire, which was a great sight, but
+rather alarming. When the carriage was passing over the bridge spanning
+the Pasig, I saw crowds running and looking down on the river, so I
+told the coachman to stop, and stood up and saw a fairly large coasting
+steamer drawn out from the other vessels at the wharf and pulled across
+the stream, where it lay in a huge wall of flames like Brünnhilde in
+the opera of _Siegfried_. When I first caught sight of it, there was a
+complete steamer, but it burnt up with amazing rapidity, and as I looked,
+the machinery suddenly sank through the hull, the bows and stem rose up
+to meet each other, and the whole thing doubled up and vanished beneath
+the water. Of course there was no one left on board, but all the same it
+was a gruesome sight, and one I know I shall think of all the way back to
+Iloilo in that fearful little _Butuan_ with its wobbly candlesticks.
+
+In the evening we drove out to pay some calls, and then took a little
+turn out beyond Santa Mesa, which is a big residential suburb on some
+low hills inland. The people living there have told me that the air
+is appreciably cooler than down in Manila, and there are far fewer
+mosquitoes. The latter alone would be sufficient reason for living there,
+as the mosquitoes here are awful, and always hungry night and day.
+
+[Illustration: BIRD’S-EYE VIEW OF INLAND SUBURBS OF MANILA.
+
+_To face page 138._]
+
+We drove a little beyond Santa Mesa (which is, being translated, The
+Holy Supper) over abominable roads through little scrubby coppices.
+At one place we saw a most curious sight of hundreds of white-clad
+native people, in the sunset light, passing along a broad field-path
+bordered with trees; and I at first thought we had come across a
+religious procession. But when we got nearer, I saw that it was a crowd
+returning from the cock-pit; for every second man carried a cock under
+his arm; some sitting comfortably; some draggled with blood, wounded and
+miserable; some limp and dead.
+
+I can’t tell you what a feeling of sickness came over me, for I thought
+it one of the most horrible sights I had ever witnessed; and I was
+glad when the procession was out of sight, and I could no longer
+see the animal-like, degraded faces of the men and their miserable,
+blood-stained, dying birds.
+
+I suppose the good folk in the towns and little villages in the U.S.A.,
+the electors who control Philippine affairs, would rise as one man if a
+bull-fight took place in these Islands; but yet a bull-fight, horrible
+though it must be, is not so bad as these cock-fights, for at least the
+toreadors and matadors risk their own lives to a certain extent, and run
+an equal chance with the animals they torture; so it cannot help being a
+more noble, or less ignoble sport than this sickening cock-fighting. But
+so much has cock-fighting become the national “sport” of the Filipino
+that, as I have shown you, he is always represented, typically, with
+a fighting cock under his arm. But the significance of that also, and
+all its natural consequences of brutality, gambling, and cruelty, I
+suppose, escaped the attention of the benevolent elector, who visited the
+“Exposition” at St Louis.
+
+One thing I can never understand, and that is why people make less fuss
+about the cruelty towards an animal in proportion to its size. This
+sounds ridiculous at first, but when you come to think of it, it is
+absolutely true; for if horses or tigers were set to fight like these
+poor fowls—one fight in one palace!—there would be a howl all over the
+civilised world, would there not?
+
+ _March 9._
+
+We had tea yesterday afternoon at four as usual, and then drove out to
+Malacañan for me to call on Mrs Luke E. Wright. The grounds of the palace
+looked even more beautiful by daylight than they had when lighted up at
+night, and the house is very fine, with huge rooms like halls, and floors
+polished into brown looking-glass, all crowded with big pictures, arms,
+and handsome furniture.
+
+Mrs Wright received us on a big open balcony-terrace overlooking the
+river, with a fine view; and here we sat and had tea and talked. Some
+other people came before we left, for it was Mrs Wright’s At Home day,
+amongst them one of the prettiest women I have ever seen, wife of some
+young man in the American Diplomatic Service, a tall, dark girl with
+an exquisite face, and perfectly dressed in something very filmy and
+floating, of delicate mauves, with a big black hat. Her walk, her air,
+her dress, made one suddenly feel how far away Manila is from all the
+world one is accustomed to, and what a small, dull, back-water of the
+stream of life this is.
+
+We went on to call on the wife of Commissioner Worcester, a scientist as
+well as a politician, and, as his title implies, one of the Americans
+on the Philippine Commission. The Worcesters’ house was a little
+higher up the river, and again we sat on a balcony-terrace, but this
+one was all hung with plants and creepers, and overshadowed by dark
+green trees, through which could be seen the blue-green soapy-looking
+river swirling past, and the opposite bank with flat fields of emerald
+grass and bits of bright blue sky. The rail of the balcony was bordered
+with plants in pots, while all sorts of queer orchids and things grew
+on the over-hanging branches. It was like a scene in a play, I thought,
+and the shade of the deep trees was delightful, though they made the
+balcony rather steamy and airless. Mrs Worcester showed me some of the
+most lovely needlework I ever saw; all this native embroidery on _piña_
+muslin, of which she is a keen _connaisseuse_ and collector. Some of the
+pieces were as fine as the most delicate lace, and one large shawl, in
+particular, was a marvel of embroidery on what I took to be very fine
+net, but discovered to be drawn threads!
+
+I have been finding out about prices here, in case we are sent to Manila
+later on, and the result of my investigations is that I pray we may be
+kept in the Provinces! Rents are appalling, the equivalent of our £100 a
+year being quite a modest rent for a small unfurnished house, and wages
+are more than double what is given in Iloilo. You can’t get a cook to
+look at you here for less than 40 _pesos_ a month, which is £48 a year!
+Most of the cooks are Chinese, I believe, as it is considered rather
+common to have a native cook, though why this is I am unable to find
+out, for the Filipinos are excellent cooks. But that is just where the
+American Ideal of Philippines for the Filipinos begins to fall through,
+and I noticed at Malacañan Palace that all the servants were Chinese,
+and was told that they were an institution of Mrs Taft, the wife of the
+last Governor, the man who, as I told you, I think, was _the_ original
+pro-Filipino. One hears a good deal about this Governor Taft, who is now
+Secretary of War in the U.S.A. He was the first American Civil Governor
+of the Philippines, and seems to have a very strong personality, which he
+flung into the pro-Filipino cause for all he was worth, on which account
+he has become a sort of patron saint, rivalling Dr Rizal, with the
+natives, who believe he is working tooth and nail in the U.S.A. for the
+independence he promised them.
+
+It is as impossible to get a clear idea of Mr Taft as of any other
+public personage, for while some people tell me he is a high-souled,
+disinterested philanthropist, who will live up to every word he has
+uttered, others vow that he is only an American politician with a
+skin-deep catch-vote policy, and that having got the billet he wanted in
+America, he is quite capable of turning imperialist if it suits his book.
+What is one to believe?
+
+One thing they all agree in, which is that he has personal magnetism and
+a great deal of social charm, which great gifts have stood him in very
+good stead, I have no doubt, with the Filipinos, and have more to do with
+his vast popularity with these Orientals than any vows and protestations;
+and, perhaps helped to make up for the _faux-pas_ about the Chinese
+servants, which still rankles in the native mind.
+
+
+
+
+LETTER XVII.
+
+DEMOCRACY AND SOCIETY IN MANILA
+
+
+ MANILA, _March 10, 1905_.
+
+I am still in Manila, you see, but am going home to-morrow, so I will
+write a line to go out by the next mail, which I should miss if I waited
+till I get to Iloilo.
+
+I rambled off so in my last letter that I quite forgot to tell you about
+a party we went to at the house of some very rich _Mestizos_; a sort of
+reception, with desultory dancing, but in the afternoon, or rather, the
+evening hours before dinner.
+
+When we arrived, at about six, the party was in full blast; rooms cleared
+for action, blaze of electric lights, string band, crowds of pretty
+frocks, and grounds all lighted up with arcades of paper lanterns. This
+climate lends itself particularly to such entertainments, with the warm
+evenings, and there is not much trouble in the way of preparation, with
+big, open houses and polished floors.
+
+Our host was a small man, Filipino altogether, but his wife, a tall and
+very pretty Mestiza, “had fewer annas to the rupee,” and was exquisitely
+dressed.
+
+I walked about the pretty rooms and met many friends, besides recognising
+many of those I had seen at the Malacañan _fête_, and saw again the
+pretty young woman who had charmed me so at the palace, when we were
+calling there. She looked prettier than ever amongst a crowd, though
+they were all very smart, and some of the American women really well
+dressed with nice hats.
+
+This is such a small place, and so few travellers ever come here that
+everyone knows everyone else, which makes parties very pleasant, though
+I noticed, again, that the Americans are not really democratic a bit,
+and there is a great deal of social distinction made, and people do not
+recognise others whom they really know perfectly well.
+
+The army is just as superior as the soldier set in any garrison in
+any kingdom; and if a man is a merchant, unless his business happens
+to bring in a large income, it would be absurd for him or his family
+to expect to be asked to the exclusive dinners and parties at which
+the administrative, military, and millionaire set congregate. I don’t
+think I am at all keen to be a democrat, even a theoretical one, for it
+must be very tiresome to have no real social position of your own, but
+to depend on some one else’s recognition of your claims to a certain
+income, an appointment, or who you are seen with, and what you wear—and
+then, when all is said and done, to be the social equal of your workmen
+and servants. Not that I suppose for a moment that anyone is really
+a democrat, for I have never yet read or heard of such a being, and
+certainly I have never seen one.
+
+I have discussed this subject, in all good nature, and generally half
+in fun, with nearly all the Americans I have met, for it is one that
+interests me enormously; and the gist of all they tell me—or imply, which
+is better—is that all Americans are the equals of those above but not
+of those below them. If I suggest a social distinction between _any_
+citizen of the United States and the King of England, the mere idea of
+such a proposition makes these democrats go into fits of laughter; but
+when I ask them if they, personally, would consider it an indignity to
+be sent to dine in the King’s kitchen with his scullions, they generally
+get quite offended and can’t see that at all. I think, too, that these
+subtleties of democratic etiquette must be even more distracting to the
+simple Filipino brain than they are to persons like myself, for though
+the “little brown brother” is now being taught that all men are equal,
+he can see without doubt that a native or _Mestizo_ with plenty of money
+can get the wives of the highest American officials to visit his house,
+whereas the poorer relative is not even recognised.
+
+Emerson told his countrymen the truth once for all when he said that
+“humanity loves a lord,”—and it will have “lords,” and must make “lords,”
+and the best-intentioned Americans in the world will no more make these
+half-bred Malays equals of each other, or any one else, than _they_ are
+of each other or negroes.
+
+You will laugh at me for my vehemence, I expect! But you can’t think how
+aggravating it is to have a principle for ever forced down your throat
+by the good folk who blatantly and utterly disregard the practice. So
+the end of my reflections is that I am quite content to curtsey to a
+king—_and_ to make my Filipino servants call me _señora_, and put on a
+clean _camisa_ when they come into my presence.
+
+I have wandered away from the _Mestizo_ party, but not so very far in
+reality, for it is at such gatherings that such reflections occur to me,
+along with speculations about the floor, and the refreshments, and how
+much duty that woman paid for that frock. The refreshments, by-the-bye,
+were very well done; and indeed, so was the whole party, and the charming
+manners of the host and hostess did a great deal towards making
+everything go off well.
+
+Yesterday I spent a harrowing morning trying to buy some vests for C——.
+Perfectly ordinary white cotton vests, such as the men wear here under
+their white linen coats, but more difficult to track and procure in
+Manila than so many birds of paradise. When I told my friends I was going
+to get vests, they were amazed and asked me why I did such an eccentric
+thing, instead of sending to Hong Kong for them like everyone else. But I
+was rather on my mettle about it, and said I would get them in Manila in
+one of the Chinese shops, for people in Iloilo had done this thing, and
+why not I?
+
+At one shop, where I had been told to go, a weary-looking Chinaman was
+sitting in a chair at the shop door, and first I tried Spanish on him,
+but with no result, not even a flicker of intelligence on his face. I
+might have been talking in Pekin. So I said, “Do you sell cotton vests?”
+
+“Wests? No. No have got wests.” And he spoke in a tired, helpless drawl,
+as if his soul had been deadened by a life of trying to get “wests.”
+
+But I was not to be put off, as I had been to six other shops and was
+getting tired. So I said, “But I was told you sold vests. I don’t mean
+waistcoats,” which I know _they_ often do, “I mean things to wear under a
+coat. Vests.”
+
+“Oh, yes. Allitee wests. Mellikan-Filipino store on Escolta. Oh, yes;
+me savvy all about wests.” And he looked beyond me as if he had been
+marooned in mid-ocean. I think it was really opium, which one gets
+accustomed to in the Filipinos as well, for sometimes they are simply
+maddening when they speak as though in a dream, staring with dull eyes.
+
+The end of the vest story was that at last I tracked what I wanted to
+a Chinese shop, where the display in the windows consisted of tin pans,
+sausages, bead curtains, picture postcards, and things like that. After
+a tour of the Escolta, I had arrived at this shop by the advice of the
+coachman, to whom I managed to explain my wishes by a lurid pantomime
+in the middle of the street. When the coachman at last understood that
+I wanted to buy vests, and not to make him take his off, we went, as
+I say, to this Chinese shop with the unpromising window-decorations.
+When I entered and asked for vests, everyone brightened up, and a very
+yellow old man took an opium pipe out of his mouth, and said something in
+guttural words to a fat youth in the comfortable _négligé_ of a pair of
+blue cotton trousers and a jade bangle.
+
+This person evidently understood English, for he waived my Spanish aside
+and began to talk very fast in _pidgin_, which, when you hear the real
+thing, and not on the stage at home, is very difficult to understand.
+However, he seemed to bring the word “wests” in pretty often, so I began
+to feel hopeful, and made the old man draw a chair up to the counter for
+me, and sat down.
+
+Presently, after a fearful lot of talk with several other fat, yellow
+youths, and a great deal of hauling down and putting away again of bales
+and boxes, and sharp rebukes from another old Chinaman with a bead
+counting-board, who was doing his accounts in a big book with Indian ink
+and a paint brush, the boy who was attending to me came back to where I
+sat, and threw down a pile of big, flat bundles with a triumphant air,
+exclaiming “Wests!”
+
+No such luck, however, for the bundles contained coloured furniture
+cretonnes. So I set to work to explain again, but it was not so easy as
+it had been in the Spanish shops, for no one, as far as I could see, had
+on such a thing as a vest, an open coat being the most they wore above
+the waist line. I did not dare to go out and make a demonstration with
+the coachman, so I just struggled along with pantomime and bits of French
+and German, which really did just as well as English or Spanish; till at
+last a light dawned on a Celestial brain, and they all said some word
+in Chinese to each other, and nodded and grinned and replied: “Allitee,
+Mississy. Have got.”
+
+And at last a box was opened, inside which were really and truly white
+cotton vests. But the size was unfortunately intended for very small
+and consumptive youths, so I had to begin another long and troublesome
+explanation that the person they were intended for was forty-two inches
+round the chest, which was conveyed by calculations and juggling with a
+metre tape.
+
+“Ah,” said the two old men. “Can catchee flom Hong Kong. All same
+steamer. You waitee two tlee days.”
+
+I said I knew that already, and explained that I was going to Iloilo
+to-morrow.
+
+“Velly good,” said one old man. “Mollow can get. Catchee flom one piecee
+Chinaman in Manila.”
+
+“Can’t I go to the other Chinaman myself?” I asked.
+
+“Me catchee wests. Mollow can get number one size west.”
+
+However, while this was going on, a bright idea had evidently occurred to
+one of the shop boys, who had been looking so hard at me that I thought
+he was ill; but he suddenly left the shop, going out of a doorway with
+big Chinese letters in gold on a red placard over it, and came back, just
+as I was leaving the shop, with the very things I wanted—a dozen of them
+in a big cardboard box.
+
+Such, then, is shopping in Manila, and it is only the replica of how I
+tried to match embroidery cotton in the Spanish shop it had been bought
+in; and the other despairing adventure I had when I went in search of
+fruit dishes. So I now understand why everyone said it was absurd of me
+to think I could “go shopping” in Manila, and I wished I had done as
+everyone else does, and got the things direct from Hong Kong, and saved
+all the trouble, as well as the annoyance of paying double; for, duty and
+all, it is cheaper to get things in oneself.
+
+I am glad to be going home to Iloilo, as the weather is beginning to get
+pretty hot, and Iloilo is much cooler than this. Of course in Manila one
+has the advantages of the Australian provisions from the Cold Storage,
+which means fresh meat, vegetables, and fruit, besides being able to get
+any amount of ice, all of which luxuries are a great aid towards bearing
+up in a hot season; but the air at Iloilo is so much lighter, and the
+fresh mornings and evenings down there are wonderful tonics.
+
+As to the social attractions of Manila, they are no better than those at
+Iloilo. Bridge! How one gets to hate the very sound of the name of the
+game! And now when I see a group chained silently round a Bridge table, I
+can only think of the Souls tied to their Vices in the Frescoes of Hell
+in the Campo Santo at Pisa.
+
+I met at dinner the other night the wife of a very “prominent citizen,”
+who was a source of infinite delight to me in an elaborate defence I
+drew out of her by pretending I knew nothing about the game. I find this
+is the only safe course, by-the-bye, as, if you admit any knowledge of
+Bridge, you are forced to play whether you like it or not—or whether you
+can afford it or not, which is more important!
+
+This good lady told me that it was quite true that she and the other
+American ladies play cards all day, informing me that every morning she,
+herself, played Bridge from eight to twelve, either in her own house or
+in that of a friend. I said:
+
+“But how about your housekeeping?”
+
+“Why,” she answered, “if you have a good Chinese cook that don’t amount
+to anything.”
+
+“But it must be an awful bore,” I said, “in this climate to put on a
+dress and a hat and go out in the hottest part of the day.”
+
+To which she replied that if I would let her teach me Bridge I should
+understand why she did these things. She was very amusing, in her dry,
+American way, and made us all laugh very much at the comical things she
+said. However, she was really in earnest about her offer to teach me; but
+I said I was very grateful, only I thought I would rather remain ignorant
+as long as I could if it “took” so badly as she described.
+
+I feel much better in health for the change; and everybody here, both my
+hosts and others, have been so kind to me that I am quite sorry to leave
+them all. There are several pleasant people down in Iloilo, but I think a
+change of society does one as much good as anything else, don’t you?
+
+This will go out by the Hong Kong mail to-morrow, and I will catch the
+next one by writing as soon as I get home, and sending the letter by the
+_Butuan_ when she returns.
+
+
+
+
+LETTER XVIII.
+
+THE RETURN VOYAGE AND MY COMPANIONS
+
+
+ S.S. “BUTUAN,” _March 12, 1905_.
+
+I will begin a letter to you now, as I may not have much time for writing
+just after I get home. Not that there is really any fear of my letter
+to you coming off second best in any case! You say how much you like my
+letters, and what a pleasure they are to you, but they can’t be half
+such a treat as yours are to me. I can’t tell you what it is to hear all
+the home news, and about the frosty days, and the Christmas shops, and
+the cold, jolly winter, and all the things one longs for out here with a
+longing that is absolutely painful in this everlasting, sweltering heat.
+
+Talking of heat, I don’t think I told you about a place above Manila away
+inland, called Benguet? It is nick-named the Simla of Manila because it
+is a cool region, high up in the mountains, where there are pine trees,
+and frost at night, and fireplaces in the houses. This resort is not
+much good to the average person, however, for it is three days’ journey
+from Manila by rail and road—when the said road is not swept away, which
+is its usual condition—and the trip costs more than to go to Japan. The
+governor and the whole administration move up _en masse_ in the hot
+season, and they have very nice houses, but there is not much in the way
+of accommodation for mere mortals. This is the only attempt at “hills” in
+the Philippines, which is a great pity, but then there are no roads, and
+the places away from the big towns are not at all safe. Even round about
+Manila the country is infested with what are officially called _Ladrones_
+(robbers), who are really Insurgents, and quite recently the wife of a
+Filipino official was kidnapped, and there was a great fuss about it.
+
+The _Butuan_ is, on this trip, even less of a floating paradise than
+when I came in her, for, on arriving on board yesterday, I found to my
+horror that she was simply swarming with a Filipino boys’ school going
+on an Easter outing to Iloilo. I wonder if you can even faintly imagine
+what that means, or even dimly picture the condition of the ship, when I
+tell you that there are seven four-berth cabins and we carry seventy-two
+first-class passengers!
+
+I consider myself fortunate in being in the best cabin again, with
+nothing worse to put up with than the company of a pleasant native and
+her little maidservant. She, the mistress, is a full-blooded Filipina,
+and fearfully indignant at any insinuations to the contrary; a fat,
+swarthy person, with a good-tempered, flat face that is probably handsome
+according to its standards, and she wears a costume reduced to the last
+limits of propriety, in the form of an untidy skirt, a spotlessly white
+loose linen jacket, and slippers—which, I must say, is a most enviable
+get-up in this temperature.
+
+She tells me she was first married to a Spaniard, who left her very well
+off, and her present husband is a German-American in the coastguard
+service in Manila. She is now on a visit to her brother in the Island of
+Negros. I took this person to be about thirty; but she tells me she is
+forty-three, and that her good temper has kept her young looking, which I
+can quite believe, for she takes the most “unpleasant episodes” with the
+greatest amiability, and is really quite a charming companion. She says
+that her husband is of a worrying nature, so he looks forty——
+
+“Which is a very good thing,” she says, laughing all over her jolly fat
+brown face, “as he is only twenty-eight. Did you see him when we left
+Manila? He came to see me off.”
+
+But unfortunately I had missed this individual amongst the seething
+crowds that pushed about the deck till we started, and were then bundled
+over the side and down a plank like so many sheep. I can’t think why on
+earth none of these places have a gangway for the steamers.
+
+She has told me endless “yarns” about the Philippines and the Filipinos,
+the chief points of interest being emphasised by a bang of her fan on my
+knee, which conveys anything to me from her views on the Papal Supremacy
+to her opinion about the sanitation of this ship, the latter subject
+taxing even her powers of pantomime.
+
+We have so far had the marvellous luck of coolness, a clouded sky, and
+wind. The wind, however, is a mixed boon, for it means waves—waves
+which would hardly count on the Round Pond, but make the _Butuan_ roll
+heavily, and prove too much for the Filipino boys and youths, who are
+thick on the ship as swarming bees. They must be thankful to get rid—on
+the deck, by-the-bye—of the fearful, greasy meals which they stow away
+with horrible greediness. Knowing that the Filipinos eat lightly and
+sparingly, I remarked to my cabin mate, who came to sit next me at table,
+about the diet of these young countrymen of hers. She, herself, like the
+other native passengers, only eats very little—some chicken and a few
+vegetables, rice, and fruit. The gesture she made as she looked at the
+schoolboys was most expressive.
+
+“_Babuis!_” she said, which is Visayan for pigs, and as bad as calling a
+Frenchman _cochon_. “_Babuis!_ These Government Schools are ruining my
+people. I thank God that I have no son who will be taught to be insolent
+and unclean, and to eat like that.”
+
+I asked her what she meant by “unclean,” and she said that the Filipinos
+wash a great deal, which I knew already, and are very careful in certain
+small details of cleanliness and sanitation, but that all the new
+schoolboys were little better than animals.
+
+Opposite us at table sits a very good-looking American officer in khaki
+uniform, who is evidently not a keen advocate of equality, as he does not
+open his lips except to the captain, and even omits the little bow which
+the other passengers make on taking their seats at table. Moreover, he
+does not pass things, which is not a pretty example to the very polite
+Filipinos and _Mestizos_ at the table. All the Filipinos I have ever seen
+have those beautiful gracious Spanish manners which may mean nothing
+beyond mere politeness, but they do help to grease the wheels of life a
+great deal. The contrast to the older people of these horrible, noisy,
+ill-bred young “yahoos” is heartrending,—the first-fruit of the American
+ideal, dressed in appalling variations on the European costume; cheeky,
+gluttonous, self-important—just what one would expect of a mongrel Malay
+who is told he is the social equal of white women.
+
+As I write this to you I am sitting on the narrow deck, trying to get as
+far away as I can from the schoolboy crowd, whose portion of the deck is
+unspeakable, apart from the fact that they think I am an American, and
+spit on my chair whenever they get a chance of approaching within range
+of it.
+
+At the end of my chair (I brought my own with me) sits my cabin mate,
+looking at a lot of illustrated English papers which I have with me; and
+I am afraid my letter must read very disjointedly, as I am constantly
+leaving off to answer some of her endless and very intelligent questions.
+
+Near us are camped a Spanish _Mestizo_ and his fat little wife, who wears
+a great deal of sham jewellery and a cotton dressing-gown—a very superior
+person, with no pretence at veiling her scorn of my Filipino friend, nor
+of me for talking to her.
+
+The Filipina laughs very good-naturedly, and says the _Mestizas_ think
+themselves very great _señoras_, but she herself does not find their
+snubs humiliating, “For,” she says, “I behave as I should, and we all
+come from _el buen Dios_.”
+
+She is great on _el buen Dios_, and one of the first of her innumerable
+questions was to ask about my religion. When I said I was a Protestant,
+she hastened, politely, to assure me that she was very broad-minded on
+the subjects of heretics, and refused to believe that they were all
+devils.
+
+I remarked that I thought we were not much worse than anyone else.
+
+“Oh,” she said, “I quite think you are no worse. Once we had a young man
+to board in our house, who was in my husband’s business, and he was a
+Protestant. The _padre_ used to come to me very often and tell me the
+young man was a devil, and that I must send him away. But I would not do
+so, for I am broad-minded, and I said he seemed as good as anyone else,
+and, though he was a good man, _el buen Dios_ had made him a heretic for
+His own good reasons.”
+
+I complimented her upon her breadth of view, and asked her if she were
+an Aglipayano, but at this she very indignantly declared she thought
+it very wicked to side against the Holy Father, and one would surely
+be punished for such heresy. “They are worse than the heretics,” she
+declared, “and besides that, they are all _Insurrectos_.”
+
+“But,” I said, “if you don’t sympathise with the _Insurrectos_, then you
+like the Americans?”
+
+“No,” she said, “I hate them,” and she made an ugly grimace.
+
+I asked her why.
+
+She got quite excited, and exclaimed, “Why? Why, what are they doing
+here? Who asked them to govern the Philippines? Who wants them?”
+
+“Oh,” I said, “but they are a very civilised people, and are going to do
+you such a lot of good.”
+
+She simply laughed, and pointed with her fan at the schoolboys in the
+bows.
+
+After a little while she said, “_Paciencia!_ In a little time they will
+go. I hear all my people saying that the Americans will go.”
+
+“You want to govern yourselves, then?” I asked.
+
+“Yes, but I don’t think we shall be able to. Some other nation will come
+and take the islands when we are left alone. The Japanese, many say; but
+we do not want the Japanese.”
+
+On the whole she has made the voyage much more pleasant for me, for she
+interests me so much to talk to, and though it is uncomfortable to be at
+such close quarters in the cabin, nothing could exceed her kindness and
+good breeding, while the little maidservant is attentiveness itself.
+
+At night I wanted to have the door open, but they were both very
+frightened, and implored me to shut it and lock it as well, which I
+readily consented to, as they were so timid, and I thought it a shame to
+make them uneasy, though I felt quite brave now I was no longer alone.
+
+I daresay you are surprised at my accounts of these and other
+conversations in Spanish, but the fact is, though I have not tried to
+learn the _patois_ that obtains in the Philippines, I find it impossible
+not to pick up a good deal, partly from knowing Italian, I suppose, and
+partly from having to talk it occasionally in spite of myself. They
+speak badly, though, and the accent does not sound a bit like what one
+heard in Spain, besides which, there are so many native and Chinese
+words in current use. Instead of saying _andado_, they say _andao_;
+_pasao_ for _pasado_; and so on, with all the past participles, besides
+other variations on the pure Castilian tongue. I found that the Spanish
+grammars and books I had brought with me were of so little use for
+everyday life that I gave up trying to learn out of them, and just get
+along on what I pick up—though I am very shy of it, and would not for the
+world let any other English person hear me trying to talk! The native
+language is a queer, guggling noise; when written it looks all g’s and
+b’s and m’s, and full of uncouth combinations of hard consonants. Some of
+the names of places are native, but many are Spanish, and the Filipinos
+themselves all have fine, rolling Spanish Christian and surnames, which
+were dealt out to them indiscriminately by the priests.
+
+ ILOILO, _14th_.
+
+Now I am home again, you see, and delighted to be back in my own house,
+though I had a very good time while I was away. The _Butuan_ got in
+at four yesterday morning, anchoring off the mouth of the river, and
+deck-washing set in at once—never was it more needed!
+
+Oh, the scenes, the sights, the noises on that foul steamer! At the best
+of times she is dirty and uncomfortable, but no words of mine can convey
+her unspeakable condition with those awful Filipino boys on board—at
+least, no words that can be set down on paper.
+
+The air of the morning was fresh, when we dropped anchor off the mouth
+of the river, and a nice cold breeze blew from the shore, which at first
+only showed as a black line in the dark, with one or two points of light
+where the town lay. Gradually it became more and more distinct in the
+dawn, till we saw the outline of the corrugated roofs, the palm trees,
+and the shipping on the river, while a faint, steady crowing of cocks
+could be heard.
+
+Have I told you about the cock-crowing? It is one of the features of
+Philippine life, and one of the things you must get accustomed to, or lie
+down and die. It begins before daylight, and goes on till after the sun
+has set—the screaming of innumerable cocks, for every living Filipino
+keeps one, and most have two or three.
+
+We got a candle, and I dressed first and went on deck, where I was
+eventually joined by a tremendous swell in a trailing silk skirt, French
+blouse with lace yoke, long gold chain, white canvas shoes, and so on,
+whom I just managed to recognise as my cabin mate.
+
+While we leaned over the rail waiting for the _Sanidad_ (the port
+doctor’s launch), she told me she thought she should be able to get
+away that afternoon for Negros, but she hoped she should see me again,
+and said I must be sure to come and pay her a visit if I went to Manila
+again. To which end she proceeded to write down her address on a crumpled
+bit of paper which she pulled out of her pocket, handing me half of it to
+write mine on. I saw my piece had writing on it, and I said: “But is this
+not something you want to keep?”
+
+“No,” she said, “it is only a note of my home accounts for last month.”
+
+I looked at the accounts and saw the first item was: “To the _padre_—for
+a mass—two _pesos_;” then some vegetables and meat, and more _padre_;
+then cigarettes, and again _padre_, and lower down, yet again _padre_.
+
+“You seem to pay a lot to the _padre_,” I said.
+
+“Ah,” she answered, “for my mother’s soul.” (_Por el alma di mi madre._)
+“One must get to heaven.”
+
+“But the missionaries tell you that you need not pay money to go to
+heaven.”
+
+“Perhaps,” she said. “But with them one is certain to get to hell.”
+
+If my cabin mate was a swell, she was completely eclipsed by the
+brilliant appearance of the fat little _Mestiza_, who came up on deck
+and leaned over the rail not far from us with a really heroic effort to
+appear unconscious of her gorgeous clothes. Her husband was very waxed
+about the moustache, and thin and pointed about the boots, and he kept
+shifting his sombrero with a fat hand, which displayed one very long
+little finger nail and a huge diamond ring. The Filipino schoolboys were
+got up in all sorts of suits, some in tweeds, some in linen, and one in
+bright blue striped silk, which had shrunk a good deal, and a straw hat
+with the brim made in a pattern like an ornamental cane chair-back. The
+little chaps were showing each other their clothes, and the older boys,
+of fifteen and sixteen (or that was the age they looked), were fearfully
+busy and important, smoking cigarettes, giving orders, and switching
+their legs with little walking sticks.[5]
+
+About six o’clock the _Sanidad_ came and gave us _pratique_, though I
+think if he had come before the deck-washing he must have put us all in
+quarantine for the plague. Apparently, too, there was no objection raised
+to the number of passengers in proportion to the accommodation, so we
+got ashore. Long before this the company’s launch had come fussing down
+the river and out to the _Butuan_, with C—— standing in the bows; and as
+soon as the doctor’s tour was over, I was conducted across the _Sanidad_
+launch into the other, and we went straight to the wharf, and home in a
+_quilez_, leaving my luggage for the shipping agent to tackle.
+
+When I arrived at our house, old Tuyay flung herself down the staircase
+into the road with screams and yells of joy, wagging not only her tail
+but her whole body; and when I got into the hall there was the cat from
+downstairs squeaking, and telling me some long story about all she had
+noticed while I was away, and following me from room to room.
+
+This cat has established herself with us for the last few weeks, and now
+thinks it her right, not to say her duty, to smell everything that comes
+into the house. She was fearfully agitated about the furniture I brought
+from Manila, and while it was being rigged up, and other things shifted,
+and so on, the poor pussy went nearly wild with excitement and curiosity,
+to say nothing of laying herself out to be tumbled over and half killed.
+
+
+
+
+LETTER XIX.
+
+A _BAILE_—A NEW COOK AND AMERICAN METHODS
+
+
+ ILOILO, _March 20, 1905_.
+
+I am sure you will be glad to hear that I feel much better for my Manila
+trip, and able to go for our evening walks again, which we still enjoy
+very much, though the season is getting rather hot for moving about with
+much comfort.
+
+While I was away, there was an outburst of Carnival gaiety, and C—— went
+to a ball at the Spanish Club, which seems to have been a very good one.
+It was fancy dress, many of the costumes were beautiful, and there was a
+big supper laid out at little tables in the open air, with decorations
+and paper lanterns. They danced till five in the morning, when the more
+enduring and merry spirits drove round the town in open carriages; so
+they seem to have had a very gay time, and I was rather sorry I had
+missed it, as a fancy dress ball in Iloilo must be a rare and precious
+experience.
+
+So Lent has begun, but apparently it is not going to be made too strict,
+for last night we were bidden to an amateur theatrical performance at
+the Santa Cecilia (the Filipino) Club, which was a very festive affair.
+The big room of the Santa Cecilia, which is upstairs, like the Spanish
+one, but with a stage at one end, was very gay with festoons of pink
+and white muslin, and chains made of little hoops covered with tinsel
+paper. Nearly the whole audience consisted of Filipino women, in skirts
+of screaming reds, blues, greens, and yellows, set off by bewildering
+_camisas_, their black glossy hair adorned with many combs, and
+everywhere whiffs of penetrating cheap scent.
+
+The hall is so large that the two or three hundred people present did
+not nearly fill it, though little groups of men hung about the side that
+opened, with spaces between columns, on to the staircase and outer hall.
+
+We sat for a long time past the normal hour for beginning, staring at the
+drop-scene, which displayed a large picture of Saint Cecilia playing on
+a piano, and looking up to heaven; and had plenty of time to take in the
+paintings all round the room of Magellan, Rizal, Washington, and other
+heroes, which were stuck high up in frames, or frescoed on each side of
+the stage, while the band gave us waltzes, Sousa, and “Hiawatha.” This
+latter tune seems to have become a sort of Filipino National Anthem, for
+no entertainment of any sort can come off without it, and even a _banda
+de musica_, playing in the street in the evening, won’t go away, even
+after they had received money, before they have gone through “Hiawatha.”
+I don’t think I ever described to you a launch party we went one evening,
+on the occasion of a _despedida_ (farewell), to a departing American
+official? We were a large party, English and Americans mixed, and filled
+up the bows of a fair-sized launch, while abaft the engines a Filipino
+string band clung on and played as best they could as the launch rolled
+about in a choppy little sea off Guimaras. As we left the _Muelle_ (the
+quay) these musicians struck up “Hiawatha,” and when they had got through
+it they began again, and again, and again—and I have no doubt they
+would have played that air contentedly the whole way out and back, and
+probably fully intended to do so, if they had not been implored to stop.
+It is not a bad tune, though, and went remarkably well with the clicking
+of the launch’s machinery and the motion of the waves.
+
+But, to get back to this theatrical performance—though I don’t think
+there is much to say about it, for it was a very ordinary amateur show,
+and except that the skins of the performers were naturally darkened and
+not artificially white, and the language they spoke was Spanish, it was
+indistinguishable from the same sort of thing at a charity bazaar at
+home. Not musical, like the performance I told you about at the theatre,
+but a playlet of a strangely exotic type that must have been rather
+unintelligible to most of the brown brothers and sisters, for it was a
+sort of French farce about a man and his wife living in a flat below
+another couple, with the usual complications that apparently inevitably
+result from such a dangerous experiment in Paris. One man acted well,
+and was now and then really funny; but the humour was _not_ the most
+refined fooling I have ever heard, as you may judge when I tell you that
+the chief source of jokes was that one of the husbands was represented
+as insinuating himself into the other household by pretending to be
+a doctor, and there was no bowdlerising of his interviews with his
+lady patients. The few things he left unsaid were reserved for another
+character, who came in as a house-agent with the most extraordinary fund
+of questions imaginable. But the entertainment hit the popular taste,
+evidently, for the more broad the remarks, with no attempt at wit, the
+more the “little brown sisters” laughed, in true Oriental manner.
+
+I got very bored and tired, but did not like to go out till the first
+playlet was finished, for fear of hurting our hosts’ feelings. We
+afterwards heard from a friend that when the second piece was over, the
+floor was cleared for a _baile_, which was kept up till quite the early
+hours of the morning. In the middle of this dance, however, “a strange
+thing happened,” as a certain number of the hosts suddenly appeared with
+little plates to collect money for the expenses of the production. This
+manœuvre, as our friend expressed it to us, “knocked many of the guests
+completely out of time,” for the average person does not take much money
+to a dance. Some wrote little _vales_; but our friend was rather sharp,
+for when a girl held out a plate to him, he bowed very politely and took
+it from her, saying, “Pray let me help you,” and so became a collector
+instead of a contributor.
+
+We went a new walk through the town a few evenings ago, on a lovely
+night, when the grey streets were all black and white in the moonlight,
+but the shadows quite luminous and the sky a real blue, dark and velvety.
+We strolled down one or two streets and through a group of native huts by
+the shore; but that part of the shore is some way from here, as, you see,
+we were walking across the spit of land formed by the estuary and the
+open sea.
+
+In our walk we came to a walled-in graveyard, with an open grille in the
+great doorway, through which one could see a little chapel and green
+trees, looking very dark green in the moonlight. On the opposite side,
+across the rough, sandy road, was a high, broken wall of concrete, with a
+big iron gate, and apparently nothing but the sea beyond it. We wondered
+what the gate could lead to, and thought there must be some garden on
+the shore; but when we went up the one or two crumbling steps, we found
+ourselves at once on the beach, and at our feet a quantity of ruined
+graves, some half-opened, some newly-covered, all jumbled up in the
+moonlight, and strewn with rank grass, sand, and pebbles. It seemed so
+weird and uncanny, the great, strong wall shutting in nothing; and the
+tall gates leading to nothing; and we afterwards learnt that this was the
+Chinese graveyard, which is always being destroyed by storms, and the
+wall had suffered in the bombardment. I don’t suppose the Chinese use it
+much, as they always get their bodies sent back to China if they can, in
+huge, gaily-painted coffins, for burial in their native soil.
+
+I forget if I told you about the trouble we have been having with
+our cook—the voluble person I described to you when he was new and
+interesting. Now I know that type of Filipino so well! As time went on
+the cook’s easy flow of talk became less interesting, especially as it
+took the place of cooking, and I got tired of always telling him to do
+his best, for he was one of those half-clever people who always do things
+just not as well as they could do them. Whenever I reproved him, too, I
+found a stranger in the kitchen next day, who told me that he had been
+sent to take the place of my cook, who was ill “with his leg.”
+
+Always his leg. Though no human ingenuity could find out what he was
+supposed to have the matter with his leg. I was inclined to think it
+was a “sulk leg,” but C—— observed darkly that he had heard before of
+fellows getting “drink legs.” On these occasions the cook’s wife was
+generally to be found—a pleasant-faced little woman, in a bright, clean
+dress, and wearing long, gold earrings—squatting on her heels, outside
+the hall-door, smoking a huge cigar. The moment I appeared she always
+repeated the information about the leg, with apologies, and vanished.
+
+When the cook had recovered from his indisposition, he would take up
+his place in the kitchen, affable and fluent as ever, and no remarks
+would be made by anybody, for I put up with him as long as I could on
+account of his generally being sober—a rare and precious virtue. At
+last, however, when I was ill he surpassed himself in crime, sending in
+uneatable food to poor neglected C——, and giving me the same soup and
+rissoles every day, twice a day, for a fortnight, till I could not even
+bear the smell of them.
+
+When C—— remonstrated, the cook instantly became impudent, and as
+impudence is where C—— draws the forbearing line with Filipinos, he gave
+the cook one good kick that sent him sprawling out on to the Azotea. C——
+observed that if the cook summoned him for assault, he would half kill
+him next time, but our friend did not resort to Law. He gathered himself
+up and went off, and was no more seen again, though he sent the usual
+stop-gap to do his work next day. However, we had no intention of letting
+him farm our kitchen, so we asked the stop-gap, who was an excellent
+cook, if he would like to stay on permanently, and he said he would, and
+there he is “to this very day,” as they say in books.
+
+The change has made a great difference in my housekeeping, both socially
+and materially. By socially I mean that I now have a quiet, silent,
+intelligent man to deal with instead of a chattering, cunning monkey;
+and by materially, that this man caters for us infinitely better for a
+_peso_, including firewood, than the other gem did for a _peso_ and a
+half a day. He is willing to learn—real learning, not jabbering “_mi
+sabe, mi sabe_,” and then sending in the things all wrong—so I have got
+out my English cookery-book and explained many of our ways of preparing
+various foods, which he has grasped with intelligence and admirable
+results.
+
+We are in great tribulation about ice, as a deadlock has occurred by
+which we are without any in this hot season—a most serious and horrible
+discomfort. From the beginning we, like everyone else, got our daily ten
+pounds of ice from the Government factory—the military supply—which came
+round every morning in the cart driven by the Stage Cowboy whom I think I
+described to you. When this cart pulled up and the handsome driver sang
+out “Hielo” (Ice!), servants flew out from all the houses and presented a
+ticket, each man secured his nice cold lump and rushed upstairs again to
+put it in the ice-chest.
+
+But a month or more ago an American with a “pull” (political influence)
+got the municipal contract to supply this town with ice, to be worked
+in connection with the electric lighting of the streets, also placed in
+his control, on which the Government withdrew their supply so as not to
+interfere with private enterprise.
+
+So far, so good. But the “’cute” financier had got an old electric plant,
+which works so badly that the arc-lights are extinguished and the streets
+are pitch dark at night. The ice has given out altogether. The financier,
+still being paid out of the rates, has gone off to Manila, and there is
+no redress anywhere, for he has a relative high up in office, is received
+everywhere, and—in fact he has a “pull.”
+
+The Government won’t renew their supply of ice except to the Americans
+and the clubs. A few other people who have influence have managed to get
+a lump now and then, but for the greater part we struggle on, at 90° in
+the shade, with tepid water to drink, food decaying before the evening,
+and butter—even tinned train-oil butter—a thing of the past.
+
+Such a state of affairs is not so astounding out here, however, as it
+may sound to you, for though you may have heard of the corruption of
+American political life, it does not strike one with such force when
+read in papers as when it comes home to you in daily life like this.
+
+Even out here there seems to be no sense of that _noblesse oblige_, which
+alone can keep the ruling race upright before the eyes of the “little
+brown brother,” for one cannot take up a Manila paper without seeing
+the case of some Provincial Treasurer, or someone tried for official
+swindling.
+
+Each town or district is controlled by a _Presidente_, a Filipino,
+something like a mayor, who, in his turn, is under the guidance of an
+American, called a Provincial Treasurer. Far from being an example of
+integrity, the Provincial Treasurer is very often anything but proof
+against the temptations that beset him financially. It is not hearsay;
+there are the actual police reports in the papers. And if those found out
+and brought to justice are so many, one can only speculate in amazement
+upon the numbers who escape, or are sheltered by influence or a “pull.”
+
+It does seem such a pity that a great and noble nation should not be
+better represented in the eyes of another—and, when all is said and
+done—an inferior race.
+
+
+
+
+LETTER XX.
+
+FILIPINO INDOLENCE—A DROUGHT
+
+
+ ILOILO, _March 31, 1905_.
+
+Many thanks for your letter of February 23rd. We were greatly interested
+in your description of the radium baths, though it seems difficult, out
+here, to imagine that there is anyone anywhere taking so much trouble to
+get hot! I must say, though, that I don’t feel this heat quite so much
+as one might imagine, at least, as far as actually feeling hot goes. For
+an evening or two ago I was quite surprised, when we were in Hoskyn’s
+stores, to notice that the thermometer was marking 92° Fahrenheit. Of
+course that was in the cool of the evening, but I had not noticed any
+particular heat during the day. I thought how much it would interest
+you to get some idea of the temperature we live in, so we bought a
+thermometer and have hung it up in the _sala_. In a way, I am sorry we
+have done this, as we did not know before how hot we really were, and did
+not mind the heat half so much.
+
+A watering-cart has begun operations, and as I write, it is passing down
+the street. It is a most amusing contrivance, consisting of a _carabao_
+waggon with a cask laid longways on it, and a native sitting astride the
+_carabao_, guiding with a goad and one string. The water flows out of a
+bamboo pole at the back of the barrel, and a spray is produced by means
+of a circle of holes, through which the water squirts uncertainly. The
+only result, as far as the roads are concerned, is a long narrow puddle
+and a great waste of precious water, though I expect it is sea water
+they use. The whole contrivance is so amusingly extravagant, shiftless,
+inefficient—so characteristically Filipino!
+
+_À propos_ of the ways of the natives, a Spanish friend of C——’s, who was
+here the other day, told us a long and harrowing story, which was to him
+somewhat of a tragedy, though to me, I am afraid, it was only a source
+of amusement. This man tried the venture of keeping a small stable of
+_quilezes_ for hire, which is a favourite speculation with young men who
+want to play with a little capital, either with the idea of trying to
+keep body and soul together in this expensive country, or else with the
+perennial hope of being able to get away from it. One of the Englishmen
+professes to have made a good thing out of it (_quilez_-hiring), but when
+we told our Spanish friend this hopeful news, he refused to be comforted,
+and hunched up his shoulders and spread out his hands, saying, “Horses
+are cheap enough, and fares are high, which is very well from our point
+of view; but you have the eternal Filipino to deal with.”
+
+“What does he do in this case?” we asked.
+
+“He does nothing,” said the Spaniard. “In this, as in every other
+employment, he does not think it necessary to learn, or to know anything
+at all.”
+
+We said we had observed this trait, and that anyone seemed to be
+confident in signing on for any job, anyhow.
+
+“They do,” he said, “and this is the sort of conversation I have with
+every man who represents himself as a driver. ‘Where were you _cochero_
+before?’ I ask.
+
+“‘With _señor_ L—— at B——.’
+
+“‘How long ago was that?’
+
+“‘Five years ago.’
+
+“‘Where were you _cochero_ after that?’
+
+“‘Oh, I was not _cochero_. I was cook to _señor_ S——.’
+
+“‘And then?’
+
+“‘Then as _muchacho_ with _señor_ C——, and then as cook——’
+
+“‘And you are a cook, not a _cochero_!’
+
+“‘Oh no. _Mi trabajo_ (my job) is really a _cochero_, but I went as cook
+to _señor_ L——, and as _muchacho_ to _señor_ C——, and as——’
+
+“‘Yes, yes. I heard what you said.’
+
+“Then, as this is as good a man as you may hope to get, you engage him,
+and it is a great piece of luck if you get half your fares, and the pony
+not killed.”
+
+This story, and many others I have heard to the same effect, account, in
+some measure, for the marvellous and eccentric driving one sees going
+on—one can hardly call it “driving,” though, it is simply a rough and
+tumble with destiny, and there are more street accidents in Iloilo in any
+given number of hours than in the same time in the whole of London.
+
+It is so Filipino to be content with make-shifts—the same thing, the
+same lazy Malay, and Spanish _Mañana_ in their food, their music, their
+houses, their work—nothing thorough, nothing complete, no heart put
+into anything but cock-fighting and talk. I don’t suppose any influence
+could alter these racial faults, certainly not the hasty assimilation
+of mathematics, electric trams, and ice-cream sodas. They are stupid,
+too, these people, with the malicious cunning of all stupid people, and
+cruel—sickeningly cruel.
+
+A night or two ago we went again to the cinématograph, but the evening
+was rather spoilt by an unpleasant “incident.” While C—— was getting the
+tickets, I sat on an empty bench by the wall, whereupon a common native
+boy came and sat down beside me.
+
+I got up and walked away, for there were plenty of other benches empty,
+and I knew this was only an act of impudence. When C—— came back with the
+tickets and saw what had happened, he was simply furious, wanting to kick
+the fellow out of the place, and pretty well out of the world too! “You
+should have sat there,” he said, “and beckoned to me to kick the brute
+out.”
+
+But I implored him to let the thing pass unnoticed. “For,” I said, “if
+you touch him you know he will summons you, and the case will go against
+you. Besides, according to the customs of the country, the man was not
+doing any harm, for he thought I was an American, and his equal.”
+
+Whereupon C—— exploded; but luckily the door of the show was just
+opening, so I got him to hurry in to secure good seats, and the
+“incident” passed off. But when one thinks of the social status of the
+coloured person in America!—Words fail me!
+
+We are having more drought now—the rain-water tanks empty, and the
+well-water brackish. We filter the latter, even to make tea with,
+which makes the tea more palatable; but for washing, it is like using
+sand-paper on the skin, and after soap has been used the water remains
+perfectly clear, with the soap in a woolly cloud at the bottom. I wish
+some millionaire philanthropist would take it into his benevolent head
+to help his country with this “Trust from Heaven,” as they call the
+development of the Philippines, and begin with building an aqueduct from
+the hills into its second largest town! However, the 40-acre law would
+stop any extensive enterprise of that or any other sort.[6]
+
+Water is being brought over from Guimaras and sold in the streets at
+fabulous prices, only I am happy to say we have been lucky enough, so
+far, to secure a daily supply out of a friend’s well, sufficient to get
+along with if we are careful.
+
+All this time I have not told you our great piece of news, which is
+that we have bought a horse and trap—or rather a pony and a _calesa_—a
+sort of small dog-cart, with big, spidery wheels, to seat two, which
+tips up unless a third person, generally the groom, is sitting on a
+small perch behind. This is a very light and comfortable trap, and the
+pony an exceptionally good one, both being the property of an American
+officer we know who is going to Manila and selling off his effects. It
+is a great stroke of luck to get hold of such a turn-out, and we are to
+enter into possession in ten days or so, or possibly longer. I shall be
+glad to drive, as it is not very pleasant for ladies to walk about the
+town, owing to the way the Filipinos have of shoving white people off the
+footpath, when there is one, and expectorating as close as they dare.
+
+
+
+
+LETTER XXI.
+
+THE WHARVES—AN OLD SPANIARD
+
+
+ ILOILO, _April 9, 1905_.
+
+Many thanks for the book about carpentry, which arrived quite safely by
+this mail, and is a treasury of delight to C——, who has got all sorts
+of ideas out of it. One of the first things he did was to swarm up the
+box-room door, getting through a flap in the matting ceiling and up into
+the roof, to see what hold there would be to fix up a punkah over the
+dinner-table. All the English people, and many of the Americans, have
+punkahs in the dining-room, but we have not troubled about one so far, as
+we are so lucky in our splendid draught through the hall, right across
+the dinner-table. Now, however, the Monsoon is changing, and with the
+wind this other side of the house, we want a punkah badly, for, you see,
+if you get out of a draught here you nearly suffocate.
+
+[Illustration: A PHILIPPINE PONY.
+
+_To face page 174._]
+
+C—— said it was like a huge hall up in the roof, and fearfully hot,
+which I could quite believe, as the thermometer in the dark, airy rooms
+below stood at 91°. Many of the houses have a sort of small top roof,
+like a little hat, with a wide gap, which acts as a ventilator, and
+lets off this heat out of the space above the ceilings; but, of course,
+the corrugated iron always makes a dreadfully hot roof, however it is
+treated. The only cool, healthy, and reasonable houses are the native
+ones of palm thatch, but they are so very inflammable and dangerous that
+no company will insure them. Though the way the native huts are lighted
+with naked, flaring lights or rickety lamps, and remain unburnt for two
+hours, is a marvel and a never ceasing source of interest to us when we
+go about after dark. In each grass-covered _carabao_-cart, too, there is
+a flaring torch by way of complying with the lighting regulations, and
+when one sees them jolting and swaying along, it is impossible to imagine
+why the regulations are not exceeded by the whole cart going along in a
+blaze.
+
+We went a walk last night, down this street, through the Plaza Libertad,
+and down two more streets to the Muelle Loney, the quay along the
+estuary. As C—— had come back from the office late, we did not have tea
+till sunset, and by the time we went out it was nearly dark, and the
+moon had not risen. The Muelle was all deep shadows and spots of light,
+and the lamps in La Paz, the suburb the other side of the river, made
+long reflections of yellow light in the dark water, while the masts and
+sails of the ships at anchor stood out like Indian ink-drawings against
+the deep blue sky. All along the quay are offices of business houses,
+stevedores, customs, etc., and vast _camarins_ (warehouses) with low,
+corrugated iron roofs, and open in front with iron bars like colossal
+menagerie cages. Inside the _camarins_ could be seen shadowy piles of
+sacks of sugar, which is to be detected by a certain heavy, sweet,
+nauseous smell.
+
+The quay itself is a very wide road, with a stone wall going into the
+river—the latter deep enough to allow steamers of a fair size, such as
+the _Kai-Fong_ and the _Butuan_, to come up and lie at anchor opposite
+the wharves and _camarins_, as I told you when I went to Manila. There
+are a lot of curious, rusty old steamers huddled together at the side of
+the quay, with open decks and fixed iron awnings, which ply between here
+and Negros, and other neighbouring islands; little launches belonging to
+the offices; and the big steamers that go to Manila and Hong Kong, which
+all look quite commonplace by daylight, but seemed very mysterious in the
+darkness, with a light burning here and there, and always the tinkle of a
+guitar, and a voice singing softly in a minor key.
+
+There was one big, dark bulk, larger than the others, which was a Hong
+Kong steamer, and we heard the funny, quacking jabber of the Chinese
+crew on the fo’c’sle. They can’t get ashore in the Philippines, as a
+guard is placed on the gangway, and the captain is liable to a fine
+of 2000 dollars if a Chinaman escapes ashore. Now and then one reads
+in the Manila papers about a Chinaman without a passport having been
+caught, sentenced to a few months of Bilibid prison, and returned to Hong
+Kong. As we passed the Chinese steamer, I could not help thinking how
+tantalising it must be for such keen, industrious men to be almost on
+the soil of this Eldorado of lazy natives and high wages. The few who do
+enter, as I told you, make fortunes very quickly, or what is a fortune
+to them, as well as the fortunes of those who employ them. It is most
+unfortunate that popular opinion in the far-away U.S.A. is so dead set
+against this source of prosperity and revenue.
+
+At intervals along the Muelle, with its jumble of dark buildings on one
+side and jumble of dark ships on the other, in front of the offices and
+_camarins_, and at the corners of the little dark alleys that turn off
+into the town, were numbers of little stalls, each with a flaring naphtha
+light, round which natives were sitting about laughing and talking, and
+chewing betel-nut, and haggling for hours over the price of some little
+bunch of eggplant, or a tiny, insanitary fish. The wares were laid
+out on flat rush trays—bananas, maize, horrible-looking toffee, native
+fruits, and tumblers of pink _tuba_—a drink made of the sap of the palm
+tree coloured red. The stall-keeper was invariably a little brown native
+woman, with a huge cigar in her thick-lipped mouth—not such cigars as
+are sold at home, but a loose bundle of tobacco leaves about four times
+the size of the largest cigar you ever saw, and tied round with cotton
+or fibre. The way their mouths stick out beyond their noses when they
+are pulling at these big “weeds” makes their flat faces look very funny.
+I saw a native girl the other day, walking round the Plaza at Jaro, in
+a very tight _sarong_ and freshly-starched _camisa_, puffing at a big
+black cigar all coming to pieces and tied up with white cotton, and her
+swaggering gait, and the way she looked to right and left for admiration,
+displaying a profile with absolutely no nose, was one of the most comical
+things I have ever had the luck to see.
+
+There are always any amount of natives along the Muelle in the
+evening, for it is a favourite lounge, and they make such picturesque
+groups, loafing about the stalls or lying against the walls in deep
+thought or opium. Their voices are subdued, and they are all perfectly
+good-humoured, and another point about such a crowd here is that there
+is no smell from them, for the clothes of the poorest Filipino are
+spotlessly white and clean, and their bodies carefully washed. One or
+two costumes made up from empty sacks amused us very much, and they
+are really very effective, for the wearers imagine the names on them
+to be a pattern, and arrange the rows of letters quite carefully,
+generally across the back and chest. Beyond the offices and ships we
+came to immense mud-flats, which are partially covered at high tide,
+and look quite nice when they are a sheet of shallow water, but appear
+depressing, and smell nasty when they are bare. The tide was far out,
+and the rising moon showed up a lot of curious tracks and channels, with
+planks across them, and in the distance the backs of some of the houses
+in the town. Such a desolate place! The spot to which one would think
+sick animals would crawl when they feel they are going to die.
+
+A lot of little native boys were rushing and screaming about in a
+remote corner, their short shirts fluttering behind them, playing some
+mysterious, meaningless game, revolving round certain heaps of manure
+and dead dogs. The little chaps seemed happy enough, but they looked so
+uncanny, like little black and white imps in the moonlight.
+
+In time, I daresay, all this desolate waste will be reclaimed and built
+over, for someone told me that the Harbour Company are filling it up with
+dredgings. In Manila I saw a vast mud-flat being reclaimed in the same
+way by harbour-dredging, and the flattened, finished part had lines drawn
+on it, which I was told were the ground plans of streets and houses. It
+seems so strange to go on building the towns out on the mud-flats in a
+climate like this, when there are acres and acres of native huts standing
+on sound land a few feet above the sea-level. I asked a man who has lived
+here many years why this was done, and he told me that it was because of
+the great cost of transport, owing to the high rate of wages, which would
+take away all profit if one had one’s shops and _camarins_ far from the
+water’s edge. I said I thought it must be very unhealthy on the mud.
+
+“Absolutely fatal,” he said. “But then, you see, it is a toss-up between
+a chance of fever on the mud and a certainty of starvation in the town.”
+
+I enjoy the walks about very much, or rather, I am more interested and
+amused than exhilarated; but all the same I am looking forward so to
+having our trap and going for drives, and even though there are only two
+roads, still we shall be able to get out of the town. I keep thinking
+that it is spring at home—or rather, I try not to think of it! How one
+longs to see a bunch of daffodils or a snow-drop; to hear a blackbird
+sing; to see beautiful oaks and elms coming into leaf instead of these
+eternal green palms, and to feel fresh and invigorating air instead of
+this everlasting swelter and sun!
+
+We have a queer old neighbour here, an ancient Spaniard, who lives on
+the ground-floor of a house, in two rooms which are, so C—— tells me,
+hung with pictures of Isabella and the King; medals on velvet, framed and
+glazed; and certificates and memorials, for he was once some official in
+the Royal Household of Spain.
+
+He is a courtly and dignified old person, though about 4 feet 6 in
+height, and as broad as he is long. He is very poor, and when he can sell
+some piece of land, he is going back to Spain to die.
+
+This personage came to call on me a few evenings ago, on account
+of having on a black evening suit, as he had been to a funeral. We
+stumbled along in Spanish, and would have done better if my guest had
+not persisted in trying to remember French so as to convince me that he
+really had been in Paris. However, we got on very well, and I showed him
+some of papa’s sketches of Spain, which enchanted the poor old thing.
+Over the Alhambra he waxed quite sentimental, with his head on one side
+and one podgy hand raised to heaven. Of course the fact of my having been
+in his native land made me quite charming, and compliments bloomed like
+spring-flowers in the gardens of the Vega.
+
+He had told C—— that he wished to come and pay his respects, as he
+had heard that the _señora_ had good _custumbres_, which is a Spanish
+word for good breeding and good manners—not that I mean the two can be
+separated, but that the expression conveys those two, in a sort of way.
+This fact he repeated to me again, with much decorative compliment, and
+many assurances that I did not look the least like an Englishwoman—and
+oh, no! not a bit like a Frenchwoman—and still less like an Italian!
+Anyone would know at once that I must be a Spaniard—and from the southern
+land, where the women are elegant as flowers, and their eyes speak of
+love.
+
+At last he backed himself out, still showering compliments, and offering
+to teach me “_la lengua Castellana_.” His Spanish was beautiful to listen
+to, so round and full and correct, and he implored me, with his hands
+clasped, not to learn the language of “_los Indianos_,” as I told you the
+Spaniards call the Filipinos.
+
+All the Spaniards here long and yearn for Spain, and everything Spanish,
+which is only natural, I suppose. They hate the Archipelago, as they call
+it, but confess that the prospect of continuing to earn a living here
+ties them by the leg.
+
+Another old Spanish friend of C——’s, a man in business, amused me very
+much one day, by giving me, as one of his reasons for disliking the
+Philippines, that he was in constant terror of “_los Indianos_” coming
+and “click”—he drew his finger across his throat.
+
+“Really?” I said. “But you don’t, honestly, think that, do you?”
+
+“_Señora_,” he said, “I _know_ it will happen some day. There will be
+such an uprising as will wipe us all out. _Mi corazon_” (my heart) “beats
+perpetually with terror.”
+
+I thought, however, that this life of secret anguish could not have
+done much harm to the old fellow’s system, for he looked remarkably
+flourishing after thirty years of life in the tropics, without any idea
+of panic at all.
+
+As to this panic, I am surprised to find how prevalent is this notion of
+a general uprising, for though the Philippines are full of Insurrection,
+and many of them in a state of open warfare, still one can hardly believe
+that a reign of horror could sweep over these slow little towns. Not that
+the Filipinos are not capable of any atrocities when roused—and in the
+War many terrible and horrible things happened, which are not printed in
+newspapers or found in books.
+
+
+
+
+LETTER XXII.
+
+A TRIP TO GUIMARAS—AN ASTONISHING PROPOSAL—HOUSEBUILDING
+
+
+ ILOILO, _April 14, 1905_.
+
+Yesterday, Sunday, we had the launch offered us, so we arranged a little
+trip in the cool of the evening.
+
+We drove down to the Muelle Loney (too hot to walk at five o’clock), and
+when we had got on board the launch and seated ourselves in basket chairs
+in the bows, she steamed down the river and the estuary, and out into the
+channel. There was a fresh breeze blowing, and the air was delicious.
+As to the scenery—words fail me! The blue and green of the sea, and the
+mauve and rose lights reflected on Guimaras from the brilliant sunset
+behind us over the Panay Mountains, were like some wonderful picture
+wrought in amethysts and sapphires and exquisite enamels, while all along
+the shore line the groves of palm trees glowed in the strong light like a
+border of emeralds set in golden sand.
+
+We crossed over, going close to the opposite shore, with the object of
+visiting an old steamer which lies over by the quarries from which they
+are getting the stone to build the harbour. This steamer used to be a
+French packet, and was bought cheap by some Spaniards for inter-island
+traffic, but the owners soon found she burnt her head off with coal, and
+did not pay for her keep, so now they are trying to sell her, and she
+has lain out there at anchor for a year or more; a fine old boat, with
+splendid saloons and cabins all rotting away.
+
+We climbed up the rickety gangway and came up upon what looked like
+the ship of the Ancient Mariner or the Flying Dutchman, all still and
+silent, everything ready as if for use, but worn and rotten with the
+sun and weather. We went all over her, into the saloon with its long
+table of handsome, polished wood and ghostly chairs with high, carved
+backs; and into the cabins where the closed scuttles were dark with dirt,
+and there was a musty smell like bones, and our own reflections in the
+cracked green mirrors made us jump. C—— said he was sure there must be
+a forgotten skeleton of a pirate in one of the dingy bunks hidden by
+close-drawn curtains of faded green cloth, and really, the prospect of
+something of the sort seemed so inevitable that I did not dare look in
+one of them!
+
+We came out on the deck again, which looked quite a cheerful place after
+those spectral saloons and cabins, and we saw the galley, with dead
+fireplaces, and wandered on the bridge, up a very unsafe companion. Old
+Tuyay had scrambled off the launch after us and followed everywhere,
+struggling and slipping up and down stairs and ladders, smelling about,
+and getting stuck somewhere every now and then, and having to be helped
+and hauled by the collar.
+
+When we got back to the launch, there was still enough daylight to make
+a _paseo_ along the coast a little way. We went so close to the land
+that we could see right into lovely little bays, where palm-thatch
+huts stood amongst the groves and the white sands, and tiny figures
+were walking about or wading in the shallows for fish. It all looked
+exactly as it must have appeared on some fine evening, when the first
+Spanish navigators or Captain Cook came sailing along in their big
+three-deckers, while the people ran away into the jungles and began
+sharpening their arrows at the sight of a white face.
+
+We said to each other how much we should like to be Navigators, and go
+about in fine ships and land in undiscovered islands, and, if we escaped
+the arrows, fire a rifle or take a photograph, and be made kings for
+being so clever. Instead of doing that, however, we steamed back to
+Iloilo when darkness fell, and on landing, went to the Plaza Libertad,
+where a band was playing a two-step.
+
+This band which performs twice a week, on Thursdays and Sundays, from
+about half-past five to eight, is a new and delightful institution. It
+is not due to any enterprise on the part of the authorities, military
+or civil, but is a purely native enterprise, consisting of a number of
+Filipinos who have collected themselves together under the title of _La
+Banda de Musica Popular_. They started the notion of playing in the
+Plaza twice a week if they could raise enough subscriptions, whereupon
+we all paid up at once, promising to make the same contribution every
+month in so good a cause. I think our share, personally, comes to about 2
+_pesos_ a month, and it is really well worth it, for now the band is an
+institution, and a very good one too. They have not got a very extensive
+programme—some marches, a few “coon” tunes, an overture or two, and some
+dance music—but they play with spirit, and with the marches they are
+particularly successful. It is very creditable, too, when one thinks that
+this is a brass band, for the only instruments the Filipinos are really
+proficient with are the mandoline and guitar.
+
+It is a great pity that the American authorities left this very important
+affair to drift so that the natives themselves, in sheer desperation,
+started a band depending upon public charity. I am not exaggerating in
+calling it important, for the Filipinos, like all other Orientals, can
+understand and be ruled by tangible and visible signs of the ways of
+a ruling people; but the empty bandstands in the towns, and the dull,
+colourless lack of ceremonies or ceremonial of the American _régime_ have
+had an extremely bad effect, though the Filipinos are laughed at for
+wanting the gay, courteous Spaniards back again. Not only is this fact
+patent, but I have heard the people say so, and they are accused of being
+unreasonable about wanting the Spaniards back again after having got rid
+of them; but really, quite apart from their not having courted foreign
+rule at all, and loathing the usurpation of the Americans, the Filipinos
+have something to complain of in the lack of all that pomp which an
+Oriental loves and understands. The American Ideal is noble, grand—but it
+cannot be compressed into an Oriental brain. I can’t make myself better
+understood than by asking you to picture what India would be if the
+durbars were stage-managed by Americans!
+
+We delight in the band evenings, when we sit and watch the groups of
+natives walking about under the pretty trees; the fat mothers with coveys
+of slim, dark-haired daughters in fresh muslin frocks; the young Filipino
+“mashers” in white suits with straw hats worn daringly on one side, and
+long, thin, tight boots, trying to hide their shyness by a lot of swagger
+with a walking-stick; and all the little comedies and flirtations that
+go on. I have hardly ever seen any white people there except ourselves;
+a newly-married American couple who sit in the dark shadows very close
+together, and some American soldiers in khaki and turned-up _sombreros_.
+The programmes always end with “The Star-Spangled Banner,” on which
+we stand up and C—— takes his hat off, but the American soldiers
+unfortunately seldom trouble to salute their Anthem—and as to the
+Filipinos, they remain truculently seated with their hats on. It makes
+one feel rather foolish to be the only ones to take any notice, but C——
+insists.
+
+We have now entered into possession of our trap and pony, and have had
+some blissful drives along the eternal roads to Jaro and Molo, out in the
+sunset and back in the starlight or moonlight, skimming along on rubber
+tyres. Tracks that we used to _tear_ down when anyone lent us a carriage
+are now rigorously tabooed! Everyone here drives top-speed, and the
+Filipinos all crawl about the roads, and never dream of getting out of
+the way unless one shouts out a native word—“Tabé!”—when they just move
+enough to avoid instant death like a clever matador in a bull-fight. The
+curious thing is we have more trouble with the natives who are walking
+_towards_ us instead of those going the same way. That may sound strange
+to you, and even incredible, but if you knew the Philippines and the
+Filipinos you would understand that it could not be otherwise. This
+element is very exciting, and makes an ordinary evening-drive to Molo
+rather better than a trip on a fire-engine in Piccadilly.
+
+I quite forgot to tell you that some time ago an unknown man was
+announced and walked into the _sala_, in the evening, just before C——
+came home. This person was an American, of about thirty, with rather a
+good-looking face and the usual thick, long hair parted in the middle. He
+bowed and said:
+
+“Mis’ Darncey, I guess?”
+
+I said Mrs Dauncey was my name.
+
+“Is your husband to home?”
+
+I said he was not, and began to get alarmed, for I thought the man had
+come to tell me of some accident to C——; but he soon reassured me by
+telling me he guessed I could tell him what he wanted to know, which was
+whether we had a spare room, as he was looking for a family for himself
+and his wife to board with.
+
+I nearly fell down flat with amazement, but I managed, I hope, not to
+show my surprise, for I remembered that the Americans live out here in
+“messes,” often several families together, and I reflected that this
+touting must be some curious custom of which I had not heard. So I said,
+quite politely, that I was very sorry, but I was afraid this house was
+only large enough for ourselves.
+
+“Oh,” he said, with a great deal of bowing, but no intention of going
+away, “I heard this was a big house and reckoned you didn’t fill it.”
+
+“We have a room empty,” I said, “in fact we have two, but I am afraid my
+husband would never _hear_ of such a thing as anyone we did not know, or
+any friend, either, coming to live with us.”
+
+“Oh, that’s all right,” he said. “My wife is in a _quilez_ downstairs,
+and I can fetch her up to see you and look at the rooms.”
+
+At this fresh and astounding announcement, I gasped. But I kept my
+temper, and replied that I thought he need not disturb his wife, for we
+had really no intention of taking anyone to live in our house; but the
+man would not be convinced, and argued the point, saying that he had been
+to six other people, and he was “fair tired of going around.”
+
+I was wondering how to get rid of him, for he was so remarkably oily
+and polite, and kept on saying ma’am every two words. But just then C——
+came home, and when the visitor introduced himself, with explanations of
+his mission, C—— flushed up, and I began to be afraid he would kick the
+man out. But luckily the American was quick enough to see there was no
+mistaking the few words C—— said, nor the manner in which he said them
+in, and he bowed himself out in a about two seconds.
+
+A strange story? But stranger still is the fact that this was not a
+common man—I mean his position was not what we call common—as C—— has
+found out that he is an official high up in the Customs service, and
+lately married to a schoolma’am. And stranger still is the fact that the
+Americans to whom I have told this story can see nothing odd in it at all.
+
+I can’t suppose that such peculiar customs really prevail in the United
+States, and that if C—— were to call on the President’s wife, as they are
+all equals, and leave me in a cab below while he asked her if she took in
+boarders, that he would not get into trouble. Fancy if this man made a
+big fortune out here, and we called on him in his mansion in New York and
+insisted on taking rooms in it—the idea is preposterous—but _why_?
+
+After this person had departed, we soothed our excited nerves by sitting
+on the balcony and watching one of the eternally beautiful sunsets. I
+will describe it to you, for it is very much the same every evening, with
+varying shades of intensity. The sky behind the palms in the distance
+was deep orange, fading into rose, and overhead into apple-green blue.
+We went through the house and out on to the Azotea, and all the sky on
+that side was like a radiant, pale amethyst, with a big bright moon
+rising—a great silver shield—through the lilac and rosy mist; the water
+a deep sapphire blue; and Guimaras a brilliant green outline dividing
+the sea and sky. The tide was in, and the water came up to the wall
+at the end of the garden, where a sheep was nibbling grass at the end
+of its tether, perfectly indifferent to a fool of a puppy, which ran
+backwards and forwards barking at its heels. In the empty stables on each
+side of our own is a regular camp of poor people, who were lounging by
+the well, watching one or two naked brown babies playing on the ground.
+They all looked so peaceful and happy and so picturesque in the sunset
+and moonlight, that we agreed with each other that perhaps life in the
+Philippines might be quite pleasant if one only lived the right way and
+had a brown skin covered by a minimum of clothes.
+
+They are a singularly happy people, these Filipinos, when they are
+unspoilt by the advantages of civilisation. One never sees or hears
+people quarrelling, and they are so kind to their children—always
+laughing and chattering and showing their fine white teeth, so that
+to watch a group of poor people is always a pleasure. We have been
+amused for a long time by the spectacle of a house that is being built
+in the suburbs, a stately go-as-you-please undertaking that is being
+gone through in an amusingly characteristic manner. They begin a house
+by constructing the roof, all lashed with _bejuco_, and very neatly
+put together, which sits on the ground an indefinite time. Then the
+_arigis_—the posts of bamboo or hard wood—are put in position, and a
+floor is made about 15 or 20 feet from the earth. Our friends on the Molo
+road got so far, and then started to live in the bit that was finished,
+camping in a sort of tent on the split-cane floor, with the roof lying
+alongside on the ground. I daresay they were “out” of _nipa_ thatch,
+and did not dare to trust the building out of their sight, for the
+town-dwelling Filipinos are shocking thieves and burglars. Whatever their
+reason was, there they lived for quite a long time, till at last we were
+quite relieved to see them begin to put thatch on the framework. Then,
+one day when we passed we saw that the roof had also been thatched and
+hoisted into place, though how this latter feat was brought about I don’t
+know, as we unfortunately missed that part of the operations; but I have
+been told that, when the roof has been thatched, it is raised and put in
+position by sheer human force and much advice and swearing.
+
+
+
+
+LETTER XXIII.
+
+A TROPICAL SHOWER—OUR SERVANTS—FILIPINO CUSTOMS
+
+
+ ILOILO, _April 27, 1905_.
+
+Nothing from you by the mail to-day. The forwarding from Manila seems to
+be so unsatisfactory that we think you had better begin sending letters
+straight to this place. The address for the future, therefore, will be to
+us to—P.O. Box 140, Iloilo. You have to put this, as there is no delivery
+of letters—a most strange and tiresome system. In the outside wall of
+the post-office is a recess with a number of pigeon holes, some glazed,
+some shut with a flap, each with its own lock and key, of which the owner
+keeps a duplicate. On the wall outside is a blackboard where the arrivals
+and departures of mails are chalked up, and when you see a mail has come
+in, you go off and do a sort of “bran-pie” dip in your pigeon hole to see
+what you get out.
+
+To-day we have had a very heavy thunderstorm, which has filled the tanks
+and cooled the air, the thermometer having gone down from 90° to 82°. The
+rain came on just as I was dressing after my _siesta_, so I hurried on a
+dressing-gown and went out on to the Azotea to see about the pipe, as it
+was no good blowing my whistle for a servant in the noise of the storm
+and the terrific din of the rain upon the iron roofs.
+
+I found Sotero having a glorious time with a petroleum can, which
+people use here for all water-carrying, like we used to see them do in
+Palestine. This can was fixed to a line, and the _muchacho_ was risking
+his neck to let it down so as to intercept the overflow of a roof gutter
+belonging to the people below, and filling every tin, jug, and bath the
+house possessed, all spread out on the Azotea; giving the concrete floor
+of the Azotea itself a liberal wash-down at the same time. He was hopping
+about the balcony, face beaming and clothes dripping wet, and I laughed
+as I thought of the conventional idea of an English butler! He is a very
+good butler, all the same, or has learnt to be one, for when he came to
+us he did not know how to lay a table; while now, if we give a dinner,
+he insists on arranging everything himself, and does it perfectly, even
+to folding the serviettes in fancy shapes, which he has got some other
+servant to teach him.
+
+All round I hear stories of the miseries and terrors people go through
+with their Filipino servants, and “the inevitable _muchacho_” is a
+standing joke in the American papers. But our retainers just jog along
+in perfect peace, always in the house, always clean and tidy; and as to
+their work, not only not shirking it, but improving every day, and always
+ready and willing to give any help in the stables, or anything they can
+think of. I agree with my friends that we have been very lucky in finding
+such excellent “boys,” but I must take a little credit to myself too, for
+having treated them with the utmost consideration and politeness, showing
+them things patiently over and over again, and never once speaking
+sharply or angrily. I am sure they appreciate such treatment instead of
+the way in which I see people scolding and cursing their _muchachos_, and
+that our having such good and trustworthy servants is not entirely due to
+random luck in choosing them.
+
+Now the rain has come. We shall have mosquitoes again—they had almost
+disappeared in this long drought, but an hour or two after a shower the
+place is humming with them again.
+
+Yesterday was Palm Sunday, on account of which a procession was going
+about of all sorts of people carrying palm branches, headed by a _banda
+de musica_ playing “Hiawatha,” and in the midst a large cart covered with
+coloured paper, bearing an image of some sort; all very tawdry and crude,
+and not in the least picturesque.
+
+In the evening, when we drove into Jaro, we saw some Negritos from the
+mountains inland—the aborigines who sometimes come down into the towns on
+such occasions of _Fiesta_ to do a little trading, and beg and pick up
+what they can. These people are very small, much smaller even than the
+Filipinos, who are so little; and they have quite black skins, irregular
+faces of real nigger type, with big heads of fuzzy black hair, like
+Bescharins. They were all very dirty and ragged, and looked very skinny
+and miserable beside the plump Malay town’s-people, and those we saw were
+begging from door to door, and from everyone they met, poor souls.
+
+Sometimes in the Filipino race a child is born with curly locks instead
+of the usual black, straight, Chinese-looking hair, and this curliness
+is considered a great beauty, and tremendously admired; which is very
+strange, as, of course, such a trait is only a reversion to some strain
+of the despised Negrito; but the Filipinos are far too stupid to know
+that. In fact, if the hair is so curly as to be positively woolly, they
+are more pleased than ever.
+
+On _Fiesta_ days, too, certain beggars appear, sitting by the roads
+displaying horrible deformities, and praying away at an amazing rate,
+sometimes with a child to run out and beg for them. It is a simple,
+unsophisticated idea, that of having your begging done for you, but I
+don’t know that the custom is confined to Filipinos.
+
+A day or two ago an American described to me an incident of Filipino
+life, which I thought very characteristic of this people. She told me
+that after she first came here, she was sitting in the house one day,
+when she heard a band coming along the street playing a rattling two-step
+march, so she rushed to the window and pushed the shutter aside to see
+the fun, which turned out to be a funeral, with a pale blue coffin,
+decorated with garlands in carved wood painted pink.
+
+I asked her if she thought the people imagined the occasion to be a
+festive one; but she said no, that they simply did not know one sort
+of tune from another, she thought, for they were walking along in the
+most approved mourning style, and as to the coffin, it was only the
+Filipino idea of taste. It is curious to think what a very thin veneer
+of our civilisation these people have acquired, and how they would shed
+it all as easily as my little lizard has cast off his old coat; and
+would probably, as he does, feel infinitely lighter and jollier in the
+primitive covering underneath.
+
+
+
+
+LETTER XXIV.
+
+EASTER FESTIVITIES
+
+
+ ILOILO, _April 24, 1905_.
+
+This is Easter Monday, and since Thursday the town has been crammed full
+of people—natives—and alive with processions. We got a double allowance
+of the latter, as the Aglipayanos turned out in full force—fuller force,
+in fact, than the Orthodox, and their marching and counter-marching was
+most interesting, even if a little confusing.
+
+We are having holidays, of course, but a holiday here is never very
+complete, as the different religions go their own way, and now, for
+instance, the Chinese shops are all open; but the Spanish and _Mestizo_
+establishments are shut, while the Englishmen have all gone away, except
+a few juniors left in charge. One party has gone shooting, and they were
+very anxious for C—— to accompany them, but he did not like to leave me
+alone here, and refused. There is plenty of good shooting—wild duck,
+snipe, etc.—but some way inland, and the difficulty is to get there,
+when you are a busy man, with only forty-eight hours to spare at rare
+intervals.
+
+_À propos_ of shooting, C—— has only _now_ got his gun back from the
+Customs! It was detained by endless dilatoriness and delays, and the
+finding of the sureties, which I described to you. There was more trouble
+and fuss and worry about that gun and my little revolver than you, who
+have not been in this country, would believe. Such a lot of signing of
+papers, taking of oaths, and so forth! all of which precautions seem
+remarkable and rather superfluous in a “perfectly peaceful and contented
+country.”
+
+Well, C—— tried to console himself for not going shooting by playing
+lawn-tennis at the Bank, where a very good court has been marked out in a
+field at the back of the house, by the estuary. That gives you a little
+hint of the climate, does it not? A grass lawn-tennis court in the hot
+season?
+
+We walked to the Bank and back, as the pony had gone to be shod, and
+on our way home we were stopped in the Plaza by crowds of people
+evidently waiting for a procession to pass. We got across the road as
+best we could, and up into the garden in the middle of the Plaza, where
+we managed to get a foothold amongst a line of people—all natives of
+the poorer classes—standing on the low wall. Just as we got there the
+procession began to come past—a long double file of women in black skirts
+and black or white _camisas_; the men in mourning, which is an ordinary
+swallow-tail evening suit. This was Good Friday, and the Emblems of the
+Passion were borne aloft, draped in black, while the Madonna, carried
+shoulder-high on a big platform, had on a stiff, black robe; and the
+whole company was moving slowly along to a guitar and mandoline _banda de
+musica_, with big crape bows on their instruments, playing slow tunes in
+minor keys.
+
+What do you think this procession was?—Christ’s Funeral! The whole parade
+was a real funeral procession, and the last thing of all, preceded by
+acolytes in black, swinging censers with large crape bows on them, and
+followed by priests in black vestments saying (not chanting) prayers,
+was a huge black and gold catafalque—the coffin made with glass
+panels—through which could be seen a wax figure of the dead Christ lying
+swathed in an embroidered white satin winding-sheet, with a last touch of
+realism in His head, bound with a blood-stained handkerchief where the
+Crown of Thorns had rested.
+
+We waited long on the wall of the Alameda while this weird and gruesome
+procession trailed past, dwindling away down a long, straight street to
+the right, with its files of bowed figures and its great, black, swaying
+catafalque.
+
+When we turned to come away, C—— drew my attention to the curious fact
+that the Cathedral door was shut—a most extraordinary spectacle—which
+struck me as peculiar at once. At first we could not understand the
+reason, and thought it must be part of the solemnity. “Perhaps,” I said,
+“they go so far as to take the procession to a cemetery.”
+
+“I know!” said C——. “They’ve shut the doors because these fellows are the
+Aglipayanos!”
+
+Then it also occurred to us that of course this procession had had the
+native music, whereas the Orthodox go about to the strains of a brass
+Constabulary band to show that they are all right with the Government.
+I must tell you, too, that on these, and all occasions, fights are
+so frequent between these sects of the followers of Christ that the
+processions go about with a strong escort of police.
+
+As the tail end of the procession passed, we looked up our street from
+our vantage point on the wall, and C—— said: “What a pity we are not
+on our own balcony, as they have made a round, and are coming past the
+house.”
+
+But I thought they could not have had time to do that, slow as they had
+been, and was sure that what we saw must be the head of the procession
+passing the other side of the square. It was quite dark by now, and all
+the mourners carried lighted tapers. The crowd in the square and the
+procession all seemed hopelessly mixed, but when we at last made our way
+to the end of our own street, we found that we were both right about
+the Funeral, for there were two of them—the tail of the Aglipayanos was
+passing the end of our street, while away up, beyond our house, the road
+was blocked by the Romanists waiting to let the others go past.
+
+We tried to get up our street, but the R.C. procession had started to
+come down it, so we took refuge on a flight of stairs through an open
+doorway. We had a very good view of this Funeral too.
+
+It was just the same style of thing, only with more Spaniards and
+Eurasians amongst the mourners; and, following the bier of the Christ, a
+dozen or so of converted Chinamen with their pigtails lopped off. In this
+procession, too, the priests were white men, but on the other hand, the
+Aglipayano _padres_ are all Filipinos, only we had not been near enough
+to the first procession to see their faces, which would have shown us at
+once which sort they were.
+
+The Papists had their drums and trumpets tied with huge black bows, and
+their catafalque was a still more gloomy erection, set round with large
+oil lamps in frosted globes, and topped by great bunches of nodding black
+plumes, like the old prints of the funeral of Wellington.
+
+About midnight we were awakened by the sound of a slow, muffled band and
+feet shuffling along the road, so we went out on to the balcony, and saw
+the R.C. procession go trailing past, very solemn and uncanny in the
+moonlight, with their yellow taper-flames looking like little bits of
+gold paper in the strong white light. This time they had not the great
+catafalque with them, which, we imagined, must signify that the Christ
+was at rest in the tomb.
+
+Next morning, Saturday, things were very quiet, and the town much as
+usual, except for the crowds of people everywhere, all crawling up and
+down the streets in very clean clothes, with innumerable tiny children.
+
+Easter Sunday was very gay, beginning with deafening bells well in the
+dark hours of the morning, when even the cocks had hardly begun to tune
+up for the day. The great excitement was a children’s carnival (at the
+end of Lent!), got up by the Spanish Club; which event resolved itself
+into the inevitable procession through the streets, for these people are
+as inveterate procession-walkers as the Swiss; and whatever comes off,
+they turn out and walk about the streets, quite conceited and perfectly
+happy, taking the whole mummery with invulnerable seriousness.
+
+These children were really a very pretty sight, though, and the little
+things seemed to be enjoying themselves immensely. At about four o’clock
+they began to assemble, forming up and marching round the Plaza, and then
+up the Calle Real to the Gobierno (the Government buildings), round the
+grass plot in front of that building, back and down the street parallel
+to this, and finally along here, when we saw them from our balcony.
+
+One of the prettiest cars was got up as the Sea, with clouds of pale
+green and blue tulle, the back of the car a great fan-shaped shell, in
+which sat a very pretty little _Mestiza_ girl dressed as a mermaid,
+with a long pasteboard tail, and driving two swans. Another was “the
+world”—a huge globe with the four continents sitting one at each corner;
+another was a monster basket full of a miscellaneous collection of
+ballet-fairies, toreadors, Faust and Mephistopheles, gipsies, and so
+forth, all very solemn and perfectly happy. One tiny person of two years
+old was dressed as a cupid in pink muslin and roses—such a darling—and
+one little girl was a funny wee clown, as broad as she was long.
+
+After they had all gone past, we went to the Spanish Club to see the
+prize-giving, which was very amusing. “Iloilo at a glance” was squeezing
+and surging about in the big room upstairs, and I thought the floor
+must cave in; but Mr M——, who is a member of that club, told me it was
+all right, as they always put props under the floor for a _funcion_, a
+characteristically Spanish and haphazard idea.
+
+There was a band playing somewhere, and in an alcove a big tea-table
+spread out, while the whole of one wall was lined with long tables
+displaying the prizes—really lovely toys.
+
+We walked about, talking to the children, all very keen to show off and
+explain their costumes, and the mermaid immensely proud of the little
+wheel on which her tail moved along the floor. One miniature couple in
+evening dress, looking like grown-up people seen through the wrong end of
+a telescope, were well worth watching and following about, for neither of
+them would have sacrificed his or her dignity to a smile for anything in
+the world.
+
+The prize-giving went by vote, but the poor mites who had not got prizes
+were consoled by toys doled out in a novel and pretty fashion at the
+end of the show. I fancy I have seen it somewhere in a cotillon, but
+can’t be sure. From the ceiling hung two huge Japanese umbrellas, with
+coloured ribbons dangling from each spoke, and when they were lowered at
+the end, the children filed past underneath, each taking off a ribbon and
+tearing away to see what present it was good for. We saw the little man,
+of the couple in evening dress, going about showing off his prize—the
+first prize, I think it was—which was a beautiful doll. Then, to our
+astonishment, we found that the couple were a pair of little sisters,
+Filipinas, of course, for there were, none but Filipino, Spanish, and
+_Mestizo_ children taking part in the _fête_, though all the American
+Colony, as they call themselves, were in the room. I think there are
+very few American children here, and those that there are look miserably
+white, and thinner even than the Spanish or _Mestizo_ youngsters.
+
+We left about seven, before the rush, as we had the trap waiting outside,
+and the last thing we saw was the mermaid showing somebody her tail and
+the poor clown crying sleepily on her mother’s shoulder.
+
+In the evening there was a _baile_, which we summoned up energy to turn
+out for, but it was hardly worth the effort, as the floor had been spoilt
+by boots in the afternoon, while the band, half asleep, poor creatures,
+played intolerably slow and mournful music, to which the dancers crawled
+languidly about, for it was a very hot night, without a breath of air
+anywhere.
+
+
+
+
+LETTER XXV.
+
+A DAY AT NAGABA
+
+
+ ILOILO, _April 30, 1905_.
+
+We went last Sunday to spend the day at Nagaba, a native village opposite
+Iloilo, in the island of Guimaras. We took the trip at the invitation of
+some friends who had gone to spend Saturday to Monday in a native house
+which happened to be empty and available for hire. I have often wanted to
+visit some of the places about, but the great difficulty is how to put
+up, for there are no inns, and no lodgings to be had in the villages. One
+can’t go anywhere and back in a day, unless just across to Guimaras, but
+even that entails going out in the heat of the day, which is never very
+pleasant or very safe.
+
+We were lucky, however, in this trip to Nagaba, as the sky was cloudy and
+the breeze very fresh, and, though we left as late as ten in the morning,
+we did not suffer from the heat. I am constantly reminded of a certain
+book of adventure, which as children we used to love, called _The Coral
+Island_. It is by Ballantyne, I think—you remember it, I am sure? Do you
+remember the pictures of the three boys in the Tropic Island, standing
+in white sunshine, and wearing loose caps or no hats at all? and all the
+stories of their adventures, and how they set off at “about the middle
+of the day” in a canoe with sufficient meat and vegetables to last for a
+week, and how they went in this fashion to other small islands? This did
+not seem to me odd as a child, of course; and I daresay I saw nothing
+peculiar in the daily life of _The Swiss Family Robinson_, either; and
+probably should have raised no objections to any of these stories a few
+months ago, or minded a bit being told that English boys went about
+unscorched and alive with no protection from the tropic mid-day sun, or
+that meat was fit to eat after one day in a canoe, much less one week!
+
+Well, we got over to Guimaras in a very short time, landing from the
+launch in a small boat, from which C—— and I and the friend who was with
+us were carried ashore by our servants, who had come with us—we had also,
+by request, brought our plates, knives, forks, and tumblers!
+
+The house we were going to was situated on a small rocky steep leading up
+from the beach, a few hundred yards from a tiny village of brown _nipa_
+huts amongst the green bushes and palms in a bay at the mouth of a river.
+The house was a regular native dwelling, built on high poles of bamboo,
+with walls of _nipa_, and floors of pieces of split cane half an inch or
+so apart for coolness. The whole abode consisted of one very big room,
+part of which was partitioned off as a bedroom, while all along one side
+of the house towards the sea ran a broad balcony, built out over the
+rocks, and shaded by tall thickly-leaved trees, with a glorious view of
+the blue bay, the open green sea, and a bit of rose-purple Panay in the
+distance. I don’t think I ever saw a more lovely spot, and I could not
+help reflecting how different life in the Philippines must be to those
+who can live in such places as Nagaba instead of a street in a town.
+Though, to be practical, I suppose the food would be even worse, and
+ice—but one could not get less ice than we do now in the town.
+
+Some of us spent all the morning loafing about and talking on the
+balcony, enjoying the deep shade and the fresh breeze blowing straight
+in from the open sea. One of the men of the party had contrived to catch
+the _anting-anting_ lizard of the house, such as I described to you
+as having a call like a cuckoo and being considered very lucky by the
+Filipinos. He had tethered the creature by a piece of cotton tied round
+its body, so as to keep it for me to see when I arrived, and it was much
+larger than I had expected—about a foot long—and not unlike the desert
+lizards one sees dried in the bazaars in Upper Egypt, only the skin of
+the “Philippine cuckoo” is all a pattern of green and red. The poor thing
+was tame enough, but very shy, and inclined to get behind furniture or
+skirts, so when I had had a good look at it, they let it go again, when
+it vanished into the thick fringe of _nipa_ that protected the sides of
+the balcony. This _nipa_, when one sees it close at hand, is a sort of
+palm leaf folded in two, lengthways, and tied to frames of bamboo, but it
+makes very nice, cool houses, and is absolutely waterproof.
+
+One of the trees that shadowed the house was an Ylang-Ylang, from which
+the scent of that name is extracted; a tall, naked, light brown, smooth
+stem, with thin branches spreading out at the top, and leaves like an
+acacia. The perfume is in the small green blossom, which is not at all
+unlike that of a lime, and with infinite difficulty one or two of these
+were pulled down by means of a fishing-rod, and given to me to dry and
+put in my linen-cupboard in the native fashion. They dried up in a very
+few hours, but kept their delicious scent, and when I came home, I put
+them amongst my handkerchiefs, which are sweetly perfumed with them
+already.
+
+[Illustration: NATIVE HOUSES.
+
+_To face page 204._]
+
+Some of the men spent a riotous morning in a fresh-water swimming bath
+in a grove near the house. There is a spring of perfect water, which is
+brought in pipes past the house and out in long bamboo pipes on stands in
+the shallow water, where ships come and take it in to supply steamers, or
+to sell over in Iloilo. The flow of water is very great, enough to supply
+a city, and the main pipe is so contrived that by pulling out a plug one
+fills the swimming bath, which is a wonderful luxury.
+
+We heard the others splashing and shouting in the swimming bath all the
+morning, and when lunch time came, they appeared radiant and starving,
+and I have not seen men do such justice to their food since I came to the
+Philippines.
+
+After lunch we all settled down in various chosen nooks for a _siesta_,
+and our servant Sotero, who is a native of Nagaba, came and asked
+permission to go away for the afternoon, which surprised our friends very
+much, for they said they had never heard of a Filipino servant taking
+anything but “French leave.”
+
+I have not yet been able to acquire the habit of sleeping in the middle
+of the day, which is perhaps one of the reasons why I never feel well out
+here. So I sat about, and looked at some picture papers, and felt very
+tired—I could cheerfully have gone round to the sleeping forms and done
+them some injury simply because they could sleep!
+
+About four C—— awoke, so we went a little walk amongst the rocks close to
+the house, and thought we were exploring the whole island!
+
+We wandered about amongst scrub and rocks above the shore, where we
+came suddenly to a tiny hut perched up amongst big grey boulders, with
+fishing nets spread out to dry and a native lounging in the window-space.
+It looked such a nice little hut, just one large palm-thatch room on
+high poles, with a rickety step-ladder up to the door, where a round
+comfortable cat was sitting watching the fowls pecking about below. A
+little farther on we came to the banana patch, with brilliant green
+plants growing on a nook of dark earth amongst the grey rocks. All the
+rocks were very sharp; volcanic, with rough edges, which cut our shoes,
+even when we followed a tiny winding track. After we got to a little
+height, we could look down on the village and the sea and bay, which all
+appeared most bright and beautiful in the long rays of the low sun, and
+all so peaceful and quiet.
+
+We turned back again by a path which struck more inland, past some
+more little banana fields and another little hut with its back to a
+tiny precipice. It is strange how near the towns the primitive sets
+in, for the people in both lots of huts were quite shy of us, and the
+children ran away and hid; while in the village, through which we
+passed, by making a round across some rice-fields, the people were quite
+country-folk, not a bit like the cheeky, independent loungers in the
+towns; answering one quite civilly and even happily when one spoke to
+them.
+
+The village was delightfully quaint, all built on high poles planted
+in the sand of the shore, with many cheerful brown folk hanging out of
+the open sides of the houses, while mangy dogs with pups and fat old
+sows with immense families sprawled about down below. There are always
+quantities of pigs in a Philippine village, for, as I think I told you,
+they are the scavengers, and though the natives are not more unkind to
+those benefactors than to any other animals, to call one of them a pig is
+a frightful insult. In spite of all this, the favourite and most esteemed
+Filipino delicacy is sucking-pig, roasted whole.
+
+Beyond the village we went across a field of emerald grass, bordered by a
+deep green hedge of curious bushes with no flowers on them. Our friends
+told us that these plants come into bloom in the wet Monsoon. Now, with
+the hot weather a very beautiful tree is in flower everywhere, called
+the Fire tree, which was only naked brown branches for a long time, and
+then burst into huge bunches of brilliant scarlet blossoms, rather like
+orchids, and very handsome at a distance, but coarse and common close at
+hand. The effect of these masses of showy red against the vivid green
+palms is wonderful and almost too bright. There is one of these Fire
+trees in the garden of the house opposite to us, here in Iloilo, which
+is a gorgeous display, and a delight to me just to look at as I sit here
+writing.
+
+But, to get back to Nagaba, though there is not much to tell you, except
+that some of our friends joined us, and we ended our walk by a stroll
+through a cocoanut grove, where we saw an old man in a loin-cloth going
+up a tree to get the sap from which they make the _tuba_.[7] He had a
+long vessel made of a section of bamboo tied across his back, and a
+little round bowl of half a cocoanut tied in front of his body, with a
+big sharp knife beside it. He ran up the tree by means of notches cut all
+the way up the trunk, and at the top he tied the vessel under a bunch
+of buds, putting in it some of the stuff out of the bowl, which was red
+bark to dye the drink pink. This beverage I think I have mentioned to you
+before. One sees it anywhere, and the long tumblers of pink liquid are a
+feature in every little native shop.
+
+This vessel they leave there for twelve hours, during which the sap drips
+out of the palm, and in the morning the man goes up and takes down the
+bamboo, now full of _tuba_, which is very fresh and nice, and tastes of
+cocoanut and water, and is very wholesome, not to say medicinal. If it
+is left, however, the _tuba_ rapidly ferments, and by the evening is
+a very strong intoxicant, which constitutes the peculiar devil of the
+Philippines, and is the cause of most of the deterioration, physical,
+moral, and mental, of the race.
+
+When the American Army first came out to the Philippines, the temperance
+enthusiasts in the U.S.A. hearing that a good deal of drinking was
+going on out here, started an agitation, by means of which they got the
+Army Canteens in the Philippines abolished. The result of this drastic
+mothering was that the soldiers went off and got _tuba_, about which,
+of course, the good folk in America knew nothing. Frightful scandals
+happened, which unfortunately did harm to the American prestige, and even
+the restoration of the canteens has not swept away the folly and evil
+which were thus begun.
+
+This cocoanut grove, by the way, is kept for _tuba_, as are most of
+the palms one sees near the houses, for when the sap is taken in this
+way no fruit appears. Growing cocoanuts is one of the most lucrative
+speculations in the Philippines, as a tree bears fruit when it is six or
+seven years old, about a hundred nuts a year, the income yielded by a
+tree being about 2 _pesos_. So a grove of ten thousand trees or so is a
+very paying concern, if only the planter does not make the mistake, which
+I, myself, have often noticed, of placing his trees too close to one
+another, so that they do not get enough room to spread out at the top and
+find light and air.
+
+We turned back from the cocoanut grove by a different path, and went back
+to the house along the beach. As the tide was far out, we walked across
+the firm, damp sand, where there were myriads of tiny crabs of bright
+metallic blues and reds and greens, which all darted sideways into holes
+as soon as one got within a yard of them.
+
+After tea we loafed on the balcony, watching a lovely gold and rose
+sunset, while sailors and others took boxes and things down to the boat;
+and the man carrying our gear slipped on the rocks, and our plates and
+tumblers fell out and smashed to a thousand pieces. When it was almost
+dark, we returned in the launch to Iloilo, quite enchanted with our day
+at Nagaba and with the house on the rocks. We are determined to go over
+there one Saturday to Monday by ourselves, for it is a delightful change.
+
+
+
+
+LETTER XXVI.
+
+THE MONSOON—AN ITALIAN OPERA COMPANY
+
+
+ ILOILO, _May 5, 1905_.
+
+I had two sweet little love-birds sent me yesterday, sitting jammed
+up in a tiny dirty cage in which they had travelled from China. They
+looked so uncomfortable and draggled, poor scraps, that I set off after
+my _siesta_, and went “down town,” as the Americans call it, to see if
+I could get a cage for them. More Philippine shopping! I explained and
+argued at all sorts of emporiums, but no one had anything the least like
+a bird cage. At last I thought the wonderful English store might produce
+one, and when I got there, they said they thought they had something of
+the kind, made of wood, of native manufacture. I said I thought that
+would do very well, so after a lot of rummaging in a _camarin_, some very
+nice cages were found—large and clean, and made of split bamboo, with a
+little red and green paint here and there.
+
+[Illustration: THE TRACK OF A TYPHOON.
+
+_To face page 210._]
+
+I was delighted—till I found there was no mistake about their having been
+made by a Filipino! No water-pipkin; no tray to slide out; a door so
+small that I could only squeeze my hand into the cage with difficulty;
+and _no perches_! It was all there was to be had in Iloilo, however, so
+I took it with me, and climbed in under the apron of the _calesa_—it was
+raining very hard—and took my cage home and told the servants to make
+perches. This they did with considerable skill, and the results looked
+very nice, but when I put the birds on them, the poor things instantly
+tumbled off into the soap-dish full of water, which was meant for them to
+drink from. After a lot of anxious thought, it occurred to me that the
+perches were much thinner than those in the little cage the birds had
+arrived in, and perhaps they could not wrap their long toes round these;
+and this was evidently the trouble, for as soon as larger ones were made
+and fixed in, the couple got up and stuck on, whispering to each other
+how nice the new perches were.
+
+Of course the cat wants to eat them, and glares with greedy eyes, while
+old Tuyay is fearfully puzzled, coming to look intently, and snuffing
+very long and hard, which the wee birds don’t mind a bit. They are such
+sweet things, with their tiny chirpings and pretty ways.
+
+There is a strong S.-W. Monsoon blowing now—warm and tiring—and one’s
+skin feels sticky and uncomfortable. In a month or two, however, this
+will be the chronic condition of the atmosphere, and will go on till
+October, but I suppose one gets used to it after a time, as to everything
+else. Yesterday a Typhoon was signalled by the meteorological office,
+but it has not arrived yet, and I hope it won’t come our way at all, for
+the circular winds that sweep over these islands are the most frightful
+storms, tearing up trees, whipping off corrugated roofs, and setting the
+_nipa_ houses on fire.
+
+There are a great many rats here, which eat up whatever the cockroaches
+don’t finish—_i.e._, whatever is not in glass jars or tins. They get
+through nearly as many potatoes—at the price of new potatoes at home in
+May—as we do, so I invested in a large wire trap, which was set in the
+_dispensa_ ten days or more ago. The boys and the _sota_ (groom) watched
+the trap with the keenest interest, but never a rat would get into it to
+oblige them. Now, however, while I was writing this, Domingo came in,
+beaming, with the trap in his hand, and a huge grey rat in it. “What are
+you going to do with it?” I asked. “Are you going to kill it?”
+
+“_Si, señora_, by pouring petroleum on the rat and setting it alight.”
+He was astonished and obviously disappointed when I peremptorily forbade
+this horrible rite, which the Filipinos have learnt from the Chinese, who
+think that the poor, agonised, blazing animal runs away with the ill-luck
+of the house.
+
+Then he suggested boiling water, and was again disappointed and surprised
+when I didn’t join in this spree either, and went off quite gloomily to
+carry out my orders—to find something large enough to stand the trap in
+so as to drown the poor beast as quickly as possible.
+
+Nothing could be found, till the _sota_ fetched a tub from the stables,
+and this I made them fill with all the bath water—fresh water being far
+too precious to waste, even on sentiments of humanity! They collected all
+the water they could, and finally the flood reached the top of the cage,
+and though the sight of the rat struggling made me feel deadly sick, I
+waited till he was stiff and cold, as I did not know what cruelty these
+“little brown brothers” might not indulge in if left to their own devices.
+
+The cook had been at market, and Sotero had gone shopping, so there was
+not the crowd there might have been on the Azotea, and only half the
+advice. They don’t get excited, these Filipinos, unless they are fighting
+or massacring—one does not see frenzied little groups shouting in each
+other’s faces, and throwing their fingers about like Italians, or
+low-class Arabs, or people like that—they are very slow, and their voices
+always soft and gentle. I mean the Filipinos, for the _Mestizos_ differ
+from them in this, as well as in having curiously harsh, discordant
+voices, by which one readily detects their breed.
+
+We went a night or two ago to a performance given by a wandering Italian
+Opera Company, who were really very good indeed, acting remarkably well,
+and possessing good voices. Three of them sang in various selections,
+and the fourth conducted an orchestra of bare-footed, flat-faced natives
+in ragged _camisas_, whose battered old straw hats hung about the
+footlight-board and on the piano.
+
+The conductor played the piano splendidly, with incredible energy in
+such heat, and the result that he knocked out of his orchestra was
+astonishing. The theatre was very full, and we had shared a box with some
+friends, all sitting with our knees jammed together in a pattern like the
+ornamentation on a runic cross.
+
+We enjoyed the show immensely, but, oh, it was hot! And if we, looking
+on, felt faint with the heat, what must it have been for the performers
+and for the _Chef d’orchestre_! Talking of heat, the thermometer now
+averages 90° to 93° all day in the dark, airy house, and a little while
+ago, when we got some ice by luck and manœuvring, I put the thermometer
+in the ice chest, and it only went down to 80°!
+
+We have taken the house at Nagaba for next Saturday to Monday, and are
+busy making preparations for going over, with an anxious eye on the sky
+above and the weather-cock in the garden opposite. One has to take a good
+deal to the house at Nagaba, as all they provide is the four walls, a
+table, some chairs, a big native bed, and one or two hard cane couches.
+For this, however, one pays the same price a day as at a big London hotel
+for bed and breakfast for two people!
+
+
+
+
+LETTER XXVII.
+
+A WEEK-END AT NAGABA
+
+
+ ILOILO, _May 8, 1905_.
+
+We were just going to Nagaba when I finished my last letter, I think, and
+now we have just returned, after having had a most delightful time over
+there.
+
+We went over in the launch on Saturday, leaving here at half-past four,
+and to look at the start from here you would have thought we were going
+for good to China or Japan!
+
+Before we set out, we sent a boy for a _carabao_-cart, inside which the
+gear was stowed:—two rolls of bedding; some large wooden cases with
+household effects; C——’s suit-case with what clothes we had to take; and
+Sotero sitting behind, carrying a mysterious bundle, with the cook beside
+him, got up in a clean pink and green muslin _camisa_ and blue cotton
+trousers, carrying C——’s panama in one hand, and a long sack full of his
+beloved pots and pans in the other. C—— and I and Tuyay followed in the
+_calesa_, leaving Domingo in charge of the house, under oath to _mucho
+quedado_ (take great care), but rather gloomy at not being in the outing.
+
+At the Muelle Loney we embarked, with friends waving to us from the
+office windows as if we were going away for ever. The day was perfect
+and the crossing lovely, but a slight swell made it rather difficult for
+us to tranship into the small boat we had towed over. When we got to the
+other side, C—— did the complete and efficient sailorman in stowing the
+gear in the boat, handing me down (something after the fashion of the
+Arabs at Jaffa) into the cook’s embrace, and giving orders generally; but
+he spoilt the whole effect by falling into the boat right on top of me,
+and bonneting me in my own topee, at which _debâcle_ the cook showed all
+his dark red betel-stained teeth from ear to ear, and even Tuyay laughed.
+
+The tide was very far out, showing long stretches of wet sand and reefs,
+all shining in the sunlight, with strips of very blue water in between.
+C—— quite redeemed his reputation for sailorising as he steered the boat
+ashore by the colour of the water over the sand banks; and we managed
+to get not very far from the front of the house, which we could just
+manage to make out amongst the trees and rocks, but the water-pipes on
+the bamboo frames going out into the sea, showed us where to look. The
+crew and the servants waded ashore, carrying gear, and Tuyay was chucked
+out and splashed along with them, while two skinny brown ragamuffins made
+a “chair” of their arms, and carried me—with puffings and groanings, so
+rude!—to land, and set me down on the beach with a sigh of relief. After
+landing me and the _ménage_, C—— rowed back to the launch to put the
+sailors on board, and she steamed away to Iloilo again. Coming back in
+the boat alone, he tied her up to a fish _corral_—a sort of wattle fence
+in the shallow water—and then waded ashore and came gingerly up the sharp
+rocks.
+
+By the time he arrived I had unpacked, and it was about half-past five,
+so we put on bathing suits and filled the swimming bath, and the fun
+began at once. It was delicious, after the long, hot day, to splash
+about in the cool, fresh water, and we stayed there till it was quite
+dark, and we could see stars shining in the patches of dark sky between
+the branches. By-the-bye, I often think how strange it seems to see the
+same old Orion’s Belt and Cassiopeia looking down on us here. We see the
+Southern Cross, too, low on the horizon—a disappointing exhibition, and
+no one would think it was meant for a cross unless they were told so.
+
+We dined early, and were hungry, which was delightful. The cook and
+Sotero managed wonderfully, so that we were just as comfortable as in
+our own delightful house. There was a firefly flitting all about the big
+room, looking so pretty; appearing and disappearing like a tiny fairy
+light.
+
+Next morning, when I woke up, I heard only a few cocks crowing—nothing to
+speak of—and some twitterings of birds as well, and I think the latter
+pleased me as much as the whole trip! In the Philippines “the birds have
+no song and the flowers have no scent,” they say, which is a sweeping
+generalisation, but true for the most part.
+
+We put on our bathing suits, had a cup of tea, and were out on the beach
+by six o’clock. The tide was far out again, with long stretches of
+shining wet, ribbed sand; the sea all fresh and blue, and glittering in
+the sunlight. But where we went was still in shade, for the sun had not
+yet come up behind the Guimaras hills, and the morning air was exquisite.
+We “ran races in our mirth” along the wet sands, till we got opposite the
+fish _corral_, where the water was deeper and the boat was tied up to a
+bamboo pole.
+
+As we went along the beach, we saw people from the little huts we passed
+when we were here before, washing at a spring of water which flowed out
+from the rocks and down to the beach. They were some way off, though, and
+we were in the shade and they were in the still deeper shade under the
+cliffs, so we could not make them out very clearly, but we could see
+their coppered-coloured skins shining with water, and hear them laughing
+and talking.
+
+We swam about the boat for a long time, and found the water quite warm
+in the shallows, even before the sun was up. I had brought C——’s panama,
+which I hung to the fish _corral_ while I swam about in the shade, but
+when we went back to the house, I had to wear it, as the sun which was
+then on us is oppressively hot here as soon as it rises.
+
+The fish _corral_, by-the-bye, is an ingenious trap, rather after the
+fashion of a maze, into which the fish enter but never have the sense to
+get out again.
+
+When we got back to the house, we filled the swimming bath, which felt
+very cold after the sea, and it certainly washed off the salt water, but
+it was nearly as hard and harsh as the sea itself.
+
+[Illustration: A FILIPINO MARKET-PLACE.
+
+_To face page 218._]
+
+In the early morning a fleet of _paraos_ (native sailing boats) goes
+across to Iloilo to the market with fowls, mangoes, maize, pine-apples,
+etc., and our cook took passage in one of these vessels to go and do his
+marketing, for it is impossible to buy a single thing in Nagaba, where
+the people only just keep enough for their own scanty consumption. He
+returned about nine o’clock, and I went into the kitchen to inspect the
+result of his shopping. The kitchen was in the regular native fashion,
+just a prolongation of the living-room, with the same split-bamboo floor,
+through which could be seen the fowls and pigs wandering about under the
+house. There was no ceiling below the thatch and rafters, and everything
+seemed very nice and trim—the fireplace being a high table of concrete
+with holes in the top. In each hole they light little pieces of charcoal,
+so that each pot has its own fire, which seems a cumbersome method, but
+it saves fuel, and must be quite enough trouble for a Filipino, who
+has probably one pot of rice to boil and no more. From the roof hang
+all sorts of dried fruits or vegetables, and queer little bundles of
+herbs for flavourings and for medicines as well. I noticed that amongst
+the things the cook had brought he had not forgotten the day’s supply
+of _buyo_. When first I used to go into the kitchen here to look at the
+day’s supplies, I saw this little packet, not unlike a lily-leaf, tied up
+with a wisp of twine, and classed it amongst the mysterious little odds
+and ends intended for flavourings. But one day I had the curiosity to
+ask, and the cook, with much shyness and shrugging up of his shoulders,
+told me it was _buyo_ (betel-nut). I could quite believe it when I looked
+at his crimson teeth, and was thankful the supply was only for himself
+and not the other servants, for I could not stand being waited on at
+table by a person with a mouth as if he had been drinking fresh blood.
+The betel-chewers expectorate a great deal, though they can’t possibly
+do so more than their compatriots and the Spaniards and Americans, but
+the red expectoration is horrible, somehow, and I’ve often seen all the
+pavement outside a house or shop quite crimson with the great splashes of
+betel-juice ejected by the inmates.
+
+We spent all the morning pottering about and reading, and regretting
+that we could not carry out our plan of bathing again when the tide was
+up and deep below the house, as we were expecting a party of English and
+American friends from Iloilo, who had announced that they would visit us
+on Sunday morning. But the party never landed after all, which was rather
+a disappointment, as we were done out of our bathe, besides having no
+use for a dozen or two of sodas which we had brought over with infinite
+trouble.
+
+After the _siesta_, we thought we would make use of the boat for a little
+trip, so we sent into the village for two men who could row; and they
+fetched her to the beach and rowed us up the little estuary, past the
+village and up the river. Unfortunately, the tide had gone out again—very
+far out—and the river was too low to go as far as we had intended, which
+was to a convent and church, the corrugated roofs of which we had seen
+from a height. So we just went a little way up the narrow, muddy river,
+but we could not see much as we were below the level of the thick bushes
+that fringed the banks. At last we stuck and could get no further, so we
+turned back and went up a little back-water, and landed by a queer sort
+of lime-kiln in a palm-grove.
+
+We scrambled ashore, and walked up a track through the woods of mangoes
+and palms, till we got up a good height, with a map view of the river
+winding far below and a glimpse of the roofs of the convent. Down in the
+valley the land was all cultivated, chiefly in maize-fields and bananas,
+which looked green enough though uninteresting, but the hills were
+pretty, and wooded with trees of all tones of green, and the distances
+exquisite in gradations of mauves and blues. From where we stood, the sea
+was quite hidden, for we had our backs to it, and the hill between us and
+it; and the view spread out below was like some tropical version of the
+valley of the Doons. We went on up through the wood, still big dark mango
+trees with leaves like laurels—dark and shiny—and feathery, graceful
+cocoanut-palms in between. The ground was all covered with straggling
+plants, wild mint, and dead palm-branches, while wild pine-apples grew in
+quantities, each fruit sitting in a flat bush of spiky yellowish leaves,
+and looking delicious!
+
+By a very primitive hut in a clearing we came upon some natives, clad
+only in short white drawers, who were very nice and cheerful; very
+different from the people in the towns. They knew very little Spanish,
+but we made out that their chief occupations were gathering the fruit of
+the pine-apples for food and the leaves to make into the thread to weave
+the _piña_ muslin. They made charcoal too, and all this information C——
+elicited in Visayan and a few words of Spanish. I don’t suppose they
+trouble themselves much about even those simple occupations, and I should
+think the less thought they gave to the blessings of civilisation the
+happier they would be. What good on earth can education, whisky, votes,
+appendicitis, electric light, a free press, frozen meat, clothes, and
+pianos do to such happy simple souls? It seems so odd to think that in
+one part of the world cultivated, thinking men are trying their level
+best to destroy for others an ideally happy, simple life, while at home
+their one profession is a wish to return to it themselves, and their only
+idea of a holiday is to go off and camp in the Rockies, where they can
+approach as nearly as possible to the conditions one sees here in the
+country places. Indeed, as I told you, far from encouraging a simple,
+agricultural life, the land and other taxes, and the education they go to
+maintain, are having the effect of choking agriculture and hurrying the
+half-taught countrymen into the towns.
+
+But even with the elect, with the Filipinos, the sums of money raised
+should be spent on roads, on remitting the poll-tax, on reducing the
+export duties—and then, when a generation or two has been peaceful and
+well fed, it would be time enough to educate the masses—if such universal
+education is necessary or beneficial to such a people, or any people
+at all. In the white countries, with all their thousands of years of
+progress through Greece, Rome, and the Middle Ages, one can’t be sure,
+judging from the tone of literature that appeals to the masses, whether
+education has been an unmitigated boon; but hastily to apply the same
+methods to this infinitely lower development of the human race, is an
+absurdity that would be laughable if it were not pitiful and dangerous.
+And it seems so strange to think of a country being governed against its
+inclinations, not by legislators trained in its problems, but by a body
+of electors on the other side of the world, not one of whom knows more of
+its conditions and needs than the first cabman one would hail in London
+or Paris. Strange, is it not, when you come to think of it?
+
+Well, to get back to our trip up the river in Guimaras, we came down
+through the woods again, and got into our boat about sunset, rowing back
+to the beach opposite the house in a pale crimson sunset glow, with long
+dark shadows of trees and houses falling on the sand, and when we got out
+at the house, we walked up over the rocks and pools, and saw the little
+bright metallic-looking crabs running into their holes again. We tried
+very hard to catch one, but it was impossible, for they run sideways at a
+great pace, simply vanishing like so many harlequins of crab-land.
+
+[Illustration: A THREE-MAN BREEZE OFF GUIMARAS.
+
+A PARAO.
+
+_To face page 222._]
+
+We dined early, and spent the evening in long chairs on the balcony. It
+was a lovely night, fresh and cool, probably not more than 85°, with
+great stars shining brightly, making quite a silver light upon the sea.
+Many people from the village were out in the bay, wading in the shallows,
+and catching fish with spears and torches, shining a light on the water,
+and then plunging down a spear and bringing up the poor deluded fish. A
+man ran out from under our house, carrying a bamboo staff about 12 feet
+long, dipped in something resinous, and flaming at one end, and we saw
+another man join him, and they waded far out, till the torch was only
+a little speck of yellow in the silvery night. That was all very nice
+and primitive, but on the rocks below sat another engaging barbarian,
+squatting on his heels getting crabs out of the pools, and whistling
+“Hiawatha” perfectly in tune.
+
+We had a very early start next morning, turning out at half-past five,
+and packing and breakfasting as soon as it was light, for we had to be
+back in Iloilo in time for C—— to be at his office at eight o’clock. We
+had not been able to get the launch to come and fetch us, so, when we
+were on our way back from the river the night before, we had stopped by
+the village and made arrangements to take one of the _paraos_ lying at
+anchor there—long, thin frames of bamboo covered with _bejuco_ matting,
+tarred inside and out, in shape sharp and narrow as a blade, with big
+canvas sails and great wide outriggers. The crews of these boats consist
+of several men, one of whom steers while the others control the sails
+or run out on the outriggers, for the art of sailing them consists in a
+very skilful balance, according to the direction of the wind; and breezes
+here are known as “one-man” or “three-man” winds and so on, by the number
+of men that would be required on the outriggers of a _parao_. They are
+said to be safe enough, but they look very risky, and skim over the water
+like swallows, also they draw very little water, and can anchor in very
+shallow places.
+
+We got on board our _parao_, the _Soltero_, by about seven o’clock, and
+had a lovely, fresh three-man breeze, a glorious sunny morning, and I
+wished the crossing could have taken half a day instead of half an hour.
+C—— and I sat on the little narrow plank that served as deck; while the
+other half of the boat, where the “deck” stopped, was full of rolls of
+bedding and gear, and on top of all, sat the cook still clutching the
+panama and his sack of pots and pans. The boat towed behind, with one of
+the wooden cases in it, guarded by Sotero, holding in his arms a large
+and handsome rooster, to buy which he had asked for an advance upon
+his wages. I don’t like cock-fighting, and was depressed by the sight
+of this poor animal; but it would be silly to make a fuss and perhaps
+lose so good a servant, and, after all, though you can train a Filipino
+to understand your ways, it is no more possible to alter his being a
+Filipino by your theories than to wash his skin white with somebody’s
+soap.
+
+I was so interested in watching the marvellously nimble way the sailors
+ran out upon the outriggers, first to one side, then we made a wide
+tack and the sail swung round, nearly knocking our heads off, and the
+crew rushed over to the other side, doing feats of balancing far more
+wonderful than anything I ever saw in a circus, for they had not got a
+nice safe net below them, with a lot of men in brass buttons holding on
+to the poles and looking up to see if they made a slip. On the contrary,
+there was nothing but their astounding balance and agility between them,
+and fathoms of choppy sea running with a swift current, and full of
+sharks.
+
+They brought the boat to the beach at the end of the street which runs
+at right angles from our own, opposite the end of our house, and ran her
+broadside on in shallow water and then up on to the sand, where we could
+jump ashore from the bows.
+
+The sailors and the cook and Sotero carried the gear up into the house,
+and when I went into the hall, I had the impression of having been some
+weeks in a strange country, whereas we had really only been within sight
+of our own town from Saturday to Monday. So many new things—and yet,
+though I have written till I am tired, I feel that I have not told you
+half what we saw and noticed.
+
+
+
+
+LETTER XXVIII.
+
+A LITTLE EARTHQUAKE, AND AN OPERA COMPANY UNDER DIFFICULTIES
+
+
+ ILOILO, _May 15, 1905_.
+
+We had a slight earthquake here on Wednesday morning, the 11th. It was
+my first experience of that form of excitement, and I am sure I don’t
+want another. The queer thing that everyone here tells me, and they have
+plenty of experience to go by, is that people do not usually think much
+of their first earthquake, but instead of becoming accustomed to them,
+they become more alarmed, and get to be horribly frightened at the mere
+suggestion of the earth’s surface shifting about.
+
+This one took place at about half-past four in the morning, and at first
+I thought it was a burglar or someone moving about the room, and was just
+going to call to C—— when he cried out: “Wake up! There is an earthquake!”
+
+I woke up pretty quickly when I heard that! The shaking continued quite
+a long time, and I thought it a sickening sensation, and so horribly
+uncanny, with all the room trembling, and the furniture rattling and
+moving, while outside the air was deathly still. I think that what made
+the stillness was that no cocks crowed, and the eternal shrilling of the
+crickets ceased, which made a deadness in the ears such as one feels on
+coming out of a factory.
+
+C—— invited me to go out on the balcony and “see the street moving,”
+which I firmly refused to do. I am sorry now that I did not go on to the
+balcony, but at the time I felt too horribly frightened to move hand or
+foot.
+
+I don’t think I like earthquakes, but I expect I shall have to accustom
+myself to them, for they are so common in the Philippines as to excite no
+remark unless some building tumbles down; and the houses, as I think I
+told you, are built with a view to these hysterics of old mother Earth,
+with all the planks and beams tied with bands of _bejuco_ to give them
+room to shift a little.
+
+But besides the earthquake, we have been in more imminent danger since I
+last wrote, in the shape of the final and really conclusive and farewell
+performance of the Italian Quartette, which took place last Saturday
+night. The theatre was very full, and gaily decorated with loops of green
+leaves and paper roses of red and yellow, mixed up with perilous paper
+lanterns. The electric light, which has been weak for some time, chose,
+on this occasion, to go out altogether—in the midst of an impassioned
+duet.
+
+There was instantly great excitement, for the paper lanterns were not
+lighted, and the theatre was plunged in blackness of the deepest dye.
+Reckless scratching of matches sounded all round, and the little lights
+were held up for a few seconds till they burnt out, and then dropped just
+anywhere. One did not need to look to gather that a Filipino did this
+thing! It made one’s blood run cold to see them.
+
+Of course, though the electric light was in such a precarious state,
+and expected to expire at any minute, there had been no provision made
+in case of accidents, and the remedy now was a wild rush outside to buy
+candles, which were soon produced and stuck in dabs of their own grease
+along the front of the stage and amongst the orchestra. One or two
+lamps came somehow from somewhere and were placed jauntily about the
+building, while the spare candles were secured by enterprising spirits
+in the audience and put about so that they shone in the eye, and no one
+could see anything, and little brown ladies in _camisas_, with huge
+gauze sleeves, leaned past the naked lights with admirable indifference.
+There was not a single accident, however, but how that was managed, and
+indeed how the whole matchbox theatre was not burnt to the ground and the
+audience roasted, is simply the eighth wonder of the world.
+
+I can’t say I took the affair very cheerfully myself; in fact, to be
+truthful, the sensation of impending doom, and the trouble of having to
+keep my eye on the wobbling candles, spoilt my enjoyment a good deal. The
+singing was very good, and in spite of the partial gloom, the opening
+scene of La Bohême was given very well indeed, and it was such a treat
+to hear that glorious music. Of course the darkness suited that very
+well, and made the scene in the garret most realistic, though I expect
+the Quartier Latin was rather _caviare_ to the ladies in the muslin
+_camisas_. I loved to hear the Italian too, it sounded so full and round
+and pure after Spanish. I suppose one prefers whichever tongue one
+happens to learn first. After the opening piece the light suddenly went
+up, so we had a fairly good sight of the second part. They did a sort of
+shortening-up—I can think of no other name for it—of Cavalleria, acting
+really so remarkably well that the worn old story seemed as fresh and
+terrible as if it were just happening. I’ve never seen it done better
+in any part of the world—no, not even Caruso and Melba. One felt the
+full tragedy and pathos of the music, and the duet between Turiddú, and
+Santuzza, a handsome, graceful woman, was magnificently impassioned,
+leading up to an almost breathless moment when he cast the girl from
+him, and she fell upon the ground.
+
+But, alas!—we were in the presence of a Filipino audience, who greeted
+the fall of Santuzza with hearty laughter, and continued to giggle while
+the girl sang her curse as she dragged herself to her knees.
+
+I don’t know how the Italians went on acting as they did. I am afraid I
+should have lost my temper and had the curtain lowered.
+
+This great heat still continues, and is very exhausting, for the lightest
+clothes are always soaked, and the face and hands covered with little
+beads. No one thinks less of a “perfect lady” in this country if she mops
+her face with her handkerchief; in fact, it is the only thing for the
+poor creature to do. I simply long to feel fresh and energetic, and to
+be able to walk fast on a hard road on a cold day—what a dream of bliss!
+Even to enjoy food would be a pleasant change.
+
+Those who can get away, but they are very few, go to Hong Kong, where
+the people are making a fuss about their hot weather. It is coolness
+after the Philippines. The missionaries are the best off, with their nice
+little trips to Japan; and there has been a great exodus of these good
+people lately.
+
+The lowest average of the thermometer is 93°, which means that is
+sometimes as low as 90° but generally up to 95°. Some people tell me
+this is the usual thing at this time of year, and others vow it is
+abnormal. Whatever it is, it has gone on now for three months, and I
+am getting rather tired of it, and don’t think I shall be able to pull
+through another year out here. It is not only the climate that tells
+on one, but the scarcity and badness of the food. To think that you at
+home in an average of 60° think you would die off unless you had fresh
+cabbages, and peas, and beans, and gooseberries, currants, the first
+strawberries—how the very names make one’s mouth water! Well, they say
+the Monsoon will change soon, and then the rainy season begins and the
+air gets cooler, and that is something to look forward to. The wind blows
+now some days from one side and some days from another, in an undecided
+fashion, with intervals of stifling calm, and then a sudden burst, which
+whips the sunblinds from their anchorage.
+
+
+
+
+LETTER XXIX.
+
+AN EVENING ON THE RIVER—RIVAL BISHOPS
+
+
+ ILOILO, _May 17, 1905_.
+
+We went out on the river one evening last week at the invitation of two
+members of the boating club, which has its being in a _nipa_ hut on the
+bank above the town, off the Molo road. It was a regular little native
+hut, with a rickety ladder up to the door, and boats slung underneath—a
+delightfully primitive place.
+
+We went out in a boat and a canoe, making our way up-stream in the light
+of an exquisite sunset, all bright-red gold behind the mountains, and the
+river between its banks of low bushes like a path of pink crystal. The
+air was deliciously cool, or seemed so to us, and we rowed up a mile or
+more before landing at the bank on the farther shore from the town, where
+there were some fishing huts in a grove of palms.
+
+We beached the boats on the mudbank, and then walked about through the
+trees till we came to some huts, looking wonderfully picturesque in the
+long stripes of pink light and mauve shadows amongst the tall trees.
+Here a number of half-naked Filipinos were loafing about, very civil,
+kindly people, and one was a very skinny old woman, who took a deep and
+unbounded interest in me, and asked all sorts of extraordinary questions
+about me.
+
+The cocoanut trees in the grove bore many large green nuts in clusters at
+the top, like big green footballs, and as we were all rather thirsty, we
+asked if the hut folk would get one down for us to drink from.
+
+With much politeness and amazing alacrity, one of the younger men ran
+up a tree, putting his toes in the notches in the bark, and not falling
+and breaking his neck by yet another Philippine miracle. He came down
+with a big green nut, such an enormous thing—the same in proportion to a
+cocoanut as we see them at home, as a green almond or walnut is to the
+nut in a shop. We asked him to open it for us, so he squatted down and
+chopped very deftly with a sort of sword which they call a _bolo_, and I
+fancy I may have mentioned it to you before. These _bolos_ are a variety
+of the Malay _kris_, and are made in all sorts of cruel shapes, often
+inlaid very beautifully, but I believe the most frequent form is simply
+that of a short, thick, curved sword, which they use with deadly effect
+in fighting, and with great skill in almost every other event in life.[8]
+
+The little brown people stood round and looked at us while we watched the
+man with the _bolo_. He chopped with marvellous dexterity, slicing off
+the outer covering of soft green flesh, and then making a hole in the top
+of the tender unripe nut inside. The nut had a thin lining of transparent
+meat, and was full of pale green liquid, like slightly soapy water in
+appearance. This “milk” we drank out of a small wooden bowl produced by
+the old woman, a neat little vessel made out of half a cocoanut, all in
+the most approved style of the story books! The drink was refreshing
+enough, but sweet and sickly. Then the man split the nut open and made
+a clever little scoop with his _bolo_ out of a slice of bamboo which he
+picked up from the ground, and with this he shaved off some long strips
+of the white meat, of which we ate a good deal, but it was tough and
+tasteless.
+
+[Illustration: A PALM GROVE.
+
+_To face page 232._]
+
+So the opening of a green cocoanut was the means of dispelling almost
+the last of my illusions about a Tropic Island! I have so often read
+about the nectar and ambrosia of the green nut, and the wonderful yarns
+of travellers who say there is no drink on earth like the green milk—one
+book I remember went so far as to compare the stuff favourably with
+lemonade! Perhaps it is all right if you have been shipwrecked and your
+mouth is full of sea water, but then I imagine so few people who write
+the descriptions can ever have had that advantage.
+
+From the huts we went on till we came out upon wide, open mud-flats,
+where there were a great many salt pits, which fill with water when
+the tide rises, for the sea water stretches right up to this place and
+farther. The pits were surrounded by pumps, after the fashion of the
+_shadoofs_ on the Nile, and wells and all sorts of curious contrivances
+of bamboo, with long rows of pipes for drying the salt—it is marvellous
+what these people will do with bamboo. It was nearly dark by this time,
+and the mud-flats looked very weird and melancholy, the strange frames
+and poles appearing ghostly in the dusk.
+
+We came out upon the river bank again and walked to the place where
+we had left the boats. On the way I picked some sprays of small pink
+blossoms which grow on big ragged bushes with thorns, and look like May,
+and smell like sweet currant. They look very pretty in a vase in the
+_sala_, and are the only flower I have yet brought home or had given to
+me, that has lasted for so long as twenty-four hours.
+
+C—— has been having more trouble with the Customs, and this time over a
+boat he had to get from Hong Kong, as such a thing is not made and not
+to be had here. It is an ordinary boat for going out to the ships, and
+cost 40 _pesos_, but when C——, on being asked to value it, mentioned this
+sum to the Customs authorities, they exclaimed “Impossible!”
+
+Unfortunately it happened that he could not produce a bill for the
+boat, as he had got it through an agent in Hong Kong, who charges it
+to his account with the Firm in Manila, and he had not even a bill of
+lading, as a friend had brought it from Hong Kong for him. The Customs
+flatly refused to take his word about the price, and sent for some local
+sages to value the boat. One of these worthies gave it as his opinion,
+off-hand, that it was absurd to say you could buy a boat like that for
+less than 60 _pesos_. Another said, “Probably ninety.” A third, “Sixty at
+the lowest.”
+
+So the authorities, like Solomon, struck the happy medium, and charged
+C—— the duty (30 per cent.) on 80 _pesos_!!
+
+And there is no redress, for the Firm’s accounts will not be settled till
+the end of the month, or even later, by which time the dues on the boat
+will have been paid long ago, and when once a receipt is given by the
+Government, no power but a special Act of Congress can get one cent of it
+refunded. Oh, and we know this to our cost! For, during all these months,
+we have not ceased from appealing, reappealing, and worrying tooth and
+nail about the extra £40 we had to pay for our wedding presents. I wish
+to goodness we had a “pull.” We should get it back in a week.
+
+The tariffs here seem to be put on in an incomprehensible way. In a
+civilised old country it might help trade if there were an import tax
+against things the people could produce themselves, but the system here
+works out quite differently, for while a desire is being inculcated
+for things which the natives cannot and never will be able to produce,
+those articles are taxed at the same rate as they are in the most highly
+developed country full of manufactories. You will think I have become a
+regular blue-stocking when you read these long discourses! But you need
+not have any fears on that score, for I am only trying to describe to you
+the conditions under which we struggle for existence in one of the most
+fertile countries in the world, and these questions are of such vital
+and burning interest that I hear them discussed by the most unlikely and
+domesticated ladies!
+
+What the newspapers call “Religious Circles” have been in a great state
+of excitement lately, as the Pope has sent a Cardinal Delegate to the
+Philippines to rouse the Orthodox to a sense of their peril from the
+_Iglesia Independiente_, the Aglipayanos. When I was in Manila, this
+prelate was there, an Irishman of the name of Agius. I saw him and his
+suite at the Governor’s reception, and people told me he was a very
+charming person. Now he is touring about the Philippines, and this week
+arrived here on a visit to the Bishop of Panay—an American, whose name I
+forget.
+
+There were great ceremonies and processions, arches and welcomes on
+the arrival of the Cardinal. But the Aglipayanos did not let the
+occasion pass without comment, for they turned out in full force with
+counter-processions and, it must be confessed, with far larger crowds of
+followers.
+
+The day before yesterday the Cardinal arrived in great state. He drove
+off to Jaro, and the road out to that town swarmed with priests, and
+little carriages dashing about full of mysterious, greasy-looking
+hangers-on in black coats and bowlers, the like of which no human eye has
+ever before seen this side of Suez.
+
+The next day, yesterday, there was frantic excitement! The Filipino
+Archbishop arrived! With no official state, but greeted by an immense
+demonstration of crowds of _Independientes_, who went out to meet their
+pastor in decorated boats and launches, with bands playing, Chinese
+crackers popping about, and revolutionary marches with songs. He, also,
+went to Jaro, under more triumphal arches, with Welcomes, and one with
+his name, Monsignore Hijaldo, in huge red letters all across it.
+
+We drove out to Jaro in the evening to see the fun, and were well
+rewarded, for the whole Plaza was as good as a play—far better than
+anything the Iloilo theatre could produce intentionally.
+
+Jaro is a collection of rather fine old houses, of the prevailing
+two-storied pattern, but large and handsome, some of them with carved
+wooden ornamentations and balconies with pretty pillars. They stand round
+a very large green space, with a bandstand in the middle, which is the
+Plaza. At one side of the Plaza is the cathedral, a long, ugly building,
+like a stone tunnel, and alongside it is a smaller church, on much the
+same lines, which is the Aglipayano place of worship. Opposite the two,
+on the green Plaza, stands a handsome old grey stone belfry, thrown
+out of the perpendicular by earthquakes, and crumbling with decay. At
+each corner of the upper story is a huge white stone statue of a saint
+leaning forward with some giant emblem clasped in his or her arms—such a
+cumbersome, melancholy old edifice! We always stop by the belfry, when we
+drive into Jaro, to let the pony rest and crop the grass, which overflows
+liberally into the road, and five times out of six it happens that we are
+there when a small lamp is swung up over the cathedral door, and a couple
+of Filipino boys come across and go into the belfry to ring the Angelus,
+which they do by swinging themselves fearlessly about on the beams of the
+big bells.
+
+[Illustration: CATHEDRAL AND BELFRY AT JARO.
+
+_To face page 236._]
+
+When we drove out yesterday evening, we first met landaus containing the
+Delegate and the Bishop of Panay bowing and smiling to right and left,
+and lifting up hands of benediction; with many priests, secretaries, and
+retainers, most of them very fat men with very white faces.
+
+Then, on the other side of the water, in the suburb of La Paz, which is
+a big town in itself, we met the Aglipayanos—Aglipay himself and his
+followers—all brown, flat-faced Filipinos, dressed something like the
+R.C. priests, only with fantastically bent up hats, and driving in the
+native _quilezes_ or _calesas_.
+
+In Jaro itself the fun was fast and furious, for both the churches had
+a great display of decorations outside—the _Independiente_ considerably
+embellished by a long covered way built out, of latticed bamboo with
+palm-branches lashed to it, and paper lanterns, and quantities of little
+flags.
+
+Across the Plaza were the two houses, both blazing with lights and
+flowers, the balconies full of men in white suits and women in their
+smartest dresses. In front of each house a band was playing, as if no
+other music were within a hundred miles, and the din was awful—the
+constabulary brass band, which was serenading the Papal Delegate, or
+his house, smashing and braying Sousa Marches; while the Aglipayano
+mandolines, guitars, and violins twiddled and thumped steadily at
+“Hiawatha” and other Filipino airs.
+
+To anyone blessed with a glimmering of humour you may imagine that the
+whole show was a source of pure delight, and we lingered quite late,
+driving up and down in the hope that there might be a speech or a row
+or something. But apparently peace, if not goodwill, was the motto, as,
+when we at last had to return home, we left all hands as contented and
+jolly as if the other fellows did not exist at all, or lived in another
+continent.
+
+You must imagine all this in heat such as you have never felt, all the
+priests, devotees, and bandsmen limp and dripping, and the faces of the
+Filipinos like wet mahogany. We are in a chronic state of discomfort,
+too, ourselves, which makes the sight of the black and purple robes,
+the berettas, and the outfit of the secretaries and hangers-on a very
+tangible addition to our own discomfort. I “guess” the “Dallergit” wishes
+the “call” had “come right along” in the cool season!
+
+I told you about the little love-birds which had been presented to me, I
+think? “I had a dove, and the sweet dove died” ... but my first lovebird
+did not die of grieving, for I found him one morning with a gash in his
+throat which looked very like the work of a bad cat. When the wee bird
+was dead and buried, the other little scrap did not seem to mind much at
+first, but presently took to having fits, and soon expired too.
+
+I miss them very much, for they were dear little creatures, and such
+companions to me, with their sweet little chirping noises. People tell me
+it is very difficult to keep birds at all out here, as the little ants
+that swarm everywhere get under their feathers and worry them to death in
+a few hours.
+
+
+
+
+LETTER XXX.
+
+PHILIPPINE SANITATION—DECORATION DAY
+
+
+ ILOILO, _May 29, 1905_.
+
+I know you will be glad to hear that we are having a lull in the great
+heat, as the rain is beginning, or, at any rate, the Monsoon is blowing
+through rain, steadily from the S.-W., and the thermometer has gone down
+from 95° to 90°, which makes a vast difference to us, though it must
+still sound like great heat to you.
+
+I have just had a letter from a Manila friend, who is spending the
+hot season at Benguet, whither the “Gubernatorial party” and the
+Commissioners have also fled; and where, according to the Manila papers,
+I see they are having gay times ... lots of Bridge. She says:—“We are
+very chilly people up here, fires every evening, and hot-water bottles
+at night! This is a lovely country, all pine-woods and tree-ferns—a
+curious mixture. We ride about here a very great deal, play cards, walk,
+and generally have a thoroughly quiet, lovely time. I am going to a
+euchre party this afternoon at a house near by; there are to be very nice
+prizes, I hear. This climate is like England. You and Mr Dauncey would
+like it when he can get leave. There is a sanatorium, hospital place
+here, where you can go for one dollar, gold, a day per head. There is
+also this house, but you could not live at that here, at least I think
+not. I think this climate would do most people as much good as going
+home. It is a beautiful place, and they shortly expect a railway to
+run within 15 miles of it, which will make it cheaper to get here, and
+quicker; at present it takes three days from Manila.”
+
+That all sounds very tantalising to us sweltering down here, but I
+_think_ we shall wait till that mythical railway is ready, for we have
+several times discussed the pros and cons of a health trip to Benguet,
+but when C—— went into the matter, he found that the expenses from here
+and back would be more than to go to England! And then, if we did go to
+this paradise of pine-trees and hot-water bottles, we should only be that
+much to the good, for we should be still living on the awful Philippine
+food, and the question is, should we get rid of that cuirass of prickly
+heat? Also, would the water there still give _sarna_—which I think they
+call in India “dhobey-itch”? And these things being so, is it not better
+to go home? And being at home, would it not be the utmost folly ever to
+venture within a hundred miles of a Philippine island again as long as
+life lasts? I feel inclined to answer my own questions by saying—American
+fashion—“That’s so!”
+
+I missed my little love-birds so much that C—— got me some other pets,
+which we hope will flourish better—three baby mongeese. They are the
+dearest little things, so soft and gentle, and look like very fluffy
+weasels, with large dark beady eyes and long, busy, smelling-about noses.
+The people here call them _Gato del Monte_, which is, being translated,
+mountain-cat, though the animal we call by that name is a very different
+creature. They are found all over the islands, I believe, and there are
+many in Guimaras, whence these were brought by a countryman who was going
+round the offices trying to sell them, with the little things nestled in
+his coat. So C—— bought them for me for a couple of _pesos_. They are
+very young and very tame, in fact more than tame, for they run after me
+all over the house, and as soon as I sit down, climb up and sit on my
+shoulders, or curl up on my lap, and I daresay the warmth of their woolly
+little bodies would be grateful and comforting amongst the pines and
+tree-ferns at Benguet! C—— has made them a beautiful large cage out of a
+packing-case and some wire-netting, where they spend their time asleep
+in a box full of cotton wool, or else clamouring to be let out, with a
+curious guggling, rippling cry, a sort of cross between a nightingale’s
+“jug-jug” and a cab-whistle.
+
+Half the ground-floor of this house was let a little time ago to a rabbit
+warren of low-class Filipinos, who keep all sorts of animals in the
+rooms, and throw all their refuse out into the narrow alley between this
+and the next house. Unfortunately, this is all on the side where our
+bedrooms are. After a time we got accustomed to the mysterious noises to
+a certain extent, though the bleating of goats remained tiresome, and
+the person with consumption who coughed all night still disturbed us.
+The natives here die like flies of consumption, and the dreadful cough,
+hollow cheeks, and glittering eyes are a very common feature in the
+landscape.
+
+Well, we weathered through the noises, though we were often inclined to
+shift our quarters to the other side of the house, to the rooms which
+that persistent American wished to inhabit. Fancy breakfasting with
+them! I have not got over that yet! But on that side, unfortunately,
+the construction of the house is such that there is no through draught,
+without which one cannot sleep. Finally, however, the smell of the refuse
+gave C—— an attack of tonsilitis, with a touch of fever, and as I myself
+had also had some sore throats, we made the move across, and found it was
+not so bad after all, for the S.-W. Monsoon blowing straight in kept the
+air quite bearable.
+
+The smells on the other side got worse and worse, and we put bowls of
+disinfectant about, and complained to the landlord of the house. He
+said he had no power, meaning that he was really afraid to offend and
+lose his tenants, but he “would speak to the people,” advising us,
+at the same time, to go to the Sanitary Inspector of the town, who
+would set things right. Now, the municipality consists of natives,
+and the Sanitary Inspector is a Filipino with a Filipino’s notions of
+sanitation, so he can’t see what we have to complain about, and we went
+on sending in complaints and protests, which met with vague replies at
+first, and latterly with none at all. So at last C—— told the landlord
+that if he did not have the alley cleared, we would leave the house,
+whereupon _jornales_ (labourers) were promptly hired, and unimaginable
+arrears of horrors dug out and removed—oh, the smell! And as to future
+transgressions of the laws of cleanliness and decency, C—— has adopted
+his own method for that, which consists in the simple plan of leaning
+out of the window when the people below do anything he does not like,
+and calling them “_Babuis_” (pigs), or “_sin verguenza_” (without shame)
+in a very loud voice, which they don’t like at all; and this method has
+more effect than anything else, for he says: “You can always ‘get at’ a
+Filipino by making him ashamed of himself.”
+
+[Illustration: A SUBURB OF ILOILO.
+
+_To face page 242._]
+
+We are lucky to be no worse off, however, for it is a marvel to me how
+this town is not swept clean of inhabitants by some awful plague, when
+one thinks that it is absolutely without drainage or sanitation of any
+sort, and when one sees and smells the awful and ghastly rubbish heaps
+which fester right amongst the houses in the town. The only saving of
+the place is the Monsoons, and it is no wonder everyone feels so ill and
+languid, even the natives, as soon as the wind drops. There is a costly
+School of Tropical Medicine in Manila, and many learned articles appear
+in the papers from time to time about germs and bacilli, and so on,
+assuring us that, when the Filipinos know more mathematics and Latin,
+they will know how to live more healthily; but sound common-sense would
+seem to lie in the direction of a strong and efficient sanitary control
+of white experts and a few schoolma’ams replaced by some paved and
+drained streets.
+
+Oh, the streets! They are a disgrace to civilisation, for I have never,
+no, not in Morocco, not in little towns in the Canaries, known such
+neglect, such dirt, such squalor, and such smells!
+
+Grass grows at the sides of the streets, and in wet weather many stagnant
+pools appear on pieces of waste ground and between the houses, looking
+very pretty indeed amongst the brilliant greenery when the sun comes out
+again, with beautiful reflections mirrored in their shallow depths, and
+making little gems of scenes like bits out of a fairy pantomime. All the
+same, one could quite willingly sacrifice their beauty in the cause of
+health, and for the sake of matter-of-fact drainage!
+
+Mosquitoes breed in the swampy places in which the native houses
+generally stand, and at night the inhabitants frequently light fires
+under their flimsy dwellings to dry the ground and destroy the insects.
+At first sight these fires look very strange and alarming; we often pass
+them as we drive in the evenings, and it is yet another of the local
+miracles to see the dry thatch huts not taking fire from a pile of leaves
+and grass burning underneath.
+
+In connection with the swamps too, or I suppose so, the Filipinos have
+another curious custom, which is, as soon as anyone is taken ill, to
+shut the house up tightly, with the screens let down and fastened over
+the openings that serve as doors and windows, and whenever you pass a
+house all dark and hermetically sealed with tiny slits of light here
+and there, you know some unfortunate soul is ill inside, and in all
+probability dying, for the Filipinos have no physique, and if they
+get seriously ill, they snuff out like a taper. When a poor person is
+dying—really at the point of death—he or she is taken out of bed and
+carried to the priest to be assoiled, which generally has the effect
+of killing the invalid outright. Only two evenings ago we met one of
+these melancholy little groups going along the Jaro road, two of the men
+carrying a long bamboo pole on their shoulders, with a canvas hammock
+slung to it, and I think the poor woman, whose head was lolling out, was
+dead already.
+
+An American hospital, to which we have all contributed by request, is
+being provided for the town, and when we drive out, we often pass down
+the road where this remarkable building is rising slowly from a pile
+of beams and planks, all stacked ready, and cut to certain lengths. I
+say it is remarkable because the hospital has apparently been designed
+in America by someone who has never heard of the Philippines, for the
+main supports (the _arigis_), instead of being made of great trees of
+hardwoods, are quite slender posts of Oregon pine; and the cross-beams
+and, in fact, all the timber work, are of the same wood, which is about
+as much good as so many pieces of cardboard against insects, typhoons,
+earthquakes, and so forth. I daresay these plagues do not prevail in the
+country where this fantastic building was evolved.
+
+[Illustration: AWAITING SHIPMENT.
+
+Coffins containing Bones of American Soldiers stacked in Malate Cemetery,
+Manila.
+
+_To face page 244._]
+
+But if the substructure of the hospital was the laughing stock of the
+town, and the subject of many rather acid jests on the part of those who
+had contributed to such a monument of folly, you can imagine what was
+thought and said when the wards were seen in the making, and observed
+to consist of screens of _nipa_ and _bejuco_ matting! All so hasty, so
+shoddy, such a piece of blatant jobbery—but to hear its advocates talk
+you would think the finest hospital in Eu-_rope_ was being rendered silly
+and out of date!
+
+To-morrow is Decoration Day, the anniversary of the close of the war of
+the North and South, when the graves of the soldiers who fell in that
+struggle are decorated in the United States.
+
+Out here the day has also been established as a public holiday; observed
+with bands and processions; and they have so ordered the ceremony that
+the graves of those who fell out here in the war with Spain and the
+Insurrection are supposed to be decorated, Americans and Filipinos alike.
+But the two events become hopelessly confused in the native mind; and
+it is no wonder that the Filipinos have some dim idea that they are
+rejoicing over the fall of those of the Americans whom they managed to
+kill in the Insurrection. There are not many American soldiers’ graves
+out here to decorate, however, as the dead American warriors are being
+dug up everywhere and sent back to their homes—such a queer idea! Fancy
+if we dug up all the men who fell in our innumerable wars and sent them
+to their relations at home! There is nothing left but bones, of course,
+but each man is identified by a bottle containing his name, etc., which
+was buried with him. At least, they are identified to a certain extent;
+but a man who had the job of bringing a lot of these defunct warriors
+down the Pasig for shipment told C—— that the only thing to be done
+as a rule was to put a name on a coffin and then lay inside as many
+bones as you could find to make a complete skeleton. It sounds rather
+horrible, but I must say one can’t have much sympathy with such unheroic
+and superstitious sentimentality, which seems to me no better than the
+customs of the Chinese.
+
+
+
+
+LETTER XXXI.
+
+MR TAFT—TROPICAL SUNSETS—UNPLEASANT NEIGHBOURS—FILIPINO LAW
+
+
+ ILOILO, _June 5, 1905_.
+
+I don’t think I have yet mentioned to you the great excitement in Manila,
+and in the Philippines generally, which are convulsed by the wind of the
+coming of Mr Taft, the Secretary of War in the U.S.A., who, as I told
+you before, used to be Governor out here. He is returning now to the
+Philippines on a sort of tour of instruction for the benefit of a party
+of Senators who, so say the papers, have been opposed to Philippine
+interests at Washington, owing to these interests clashing with their
+own sugar plantations, mines, and tobacco industries. Everyone seems to
+think this expedition a very good idea, and it is going to be gay and
+social as well, for a good many ladies—wives and other relations of the
+Senators—are to be included, and they say that the President’s daughter,
+Miss Alice Roosevelt, may come too. Some say that she will come for the
+trip, as a pleasure party, and others declare that she is only to be sent
+as a pawn and symbol of the President’s goodwill towards Mr Taft and his
+schemes.
+
+In the meantime the papers are full of personal descriptions and puffs
+preliminary of the members of this party, but by far the most popular
+figure seems to be that of the President’s daughter, about whom we get
+columns of description and narrative. She must be a very fascinating
+and charming and lovely girl, for though she is only twenty, she has
+refused numberless offers of marriage from all sorts and conditions of
+men, including the “effete hand” of Gustavus Adolphus of Sweden, he
+to whom our Princess Margaret of Connaught is now engaged. About this
+latter affair there is a very long account copied from another American
+paper—I mean a U.S.A. one, not a Manila paper—where it is said that Miss
+Roosevelt had declined to be a princess because she will not marry a man
+she does not love. I think that is highly creditable to her, don’t you?
+And such a fine example to some of her countrywomen.
+
+This last week has been sunny every morning, and then clouded over
+in the afternoon, and generally there is rain towards evening, so we
+cannot make up our minds about our second trip to Nagaba, which has
+been on the _tapis_ for some time. We were going last week, but put it
+off for various reasons till to-morrow. Now, however, the weather looks
+so threatening that I doubt if we shall go at all. We are not without
+compensations, though, as the cool-looking grey skies are delicious,
+and the nights almost cold, so that a sheet is necessary, and sometimes
+even a blanket. In spite of the lowness of the temperature, however, I
+do not feel refreshed, as I had hoped to do, for the S.-W. wind is very
+enervating and relaxing, and everyone really feels more languid than in
+the heat. This wind has unshipped our green sunblinds, as it comes in
+great gusts, roaring and tossing in the thick belt of high palms that
+fringes the beach in the distance. The sound of the surf and the wind in
+the palms is delightful to me, for it reminds me of the pine-woods at
+home.
+
+A few evenings ago we got into some real country by leaving the trap on
+the Molo road and walking along a path that led away through some tall
+brakes of bamboo. These clumps of bamboo are very graceful and beautiful,
+and the outline of their tapering stems and little flat leaves against
+the sunset skies always reminds me of that embroidered Japanese screen we
+have at home—by which you are perhaps sitting as you read this! We passed
+the bamboos and bushes by the roadside, and came at once to big grass
+fields and palm-groves, with ramshackle huts dotted about and half-clad
+native—how well I can sympathise with their prompt abandonment of the
+unnecessary extras of the civilised wardrobe, and only wish it were our
+fate out here to be able to wear one garment in a palm-grove! We wandered
+about there for a long time, up and down paths and tracks, and enjoying
+wonderful glimpses of glades and green vistas that were like impossible
+fairylands. There was the pink and orange bloom of a fine sunset, too,
+to add to the unearthly beauty of the palm-groves, where we lingered a
+long time, just admiring everything in sight, and smelling the delicious
+freshness of the wet earth.
+
+We are very anxious to go there some day and try to get a few snap-shots,
+as a reminder of the scenes, though nothing could reproduce the colour.
+It is difficult to get enough light, as C—— is very busy just now, and
+does not get home before six. Eight to twelve and two to six—good long
+hours for office-work in the tropics! Still, we manage sometimes to get
+out before the daylight has quite gone, as the days are getting longer,
+but then it is, of course, too late to take the camera. That, by-the-bye,
+is another illusion dispelled, for I am sure I have always read and heard
+that the sun in these latitudes sinks suddenly at the same moment all the
+year round. I have already told you that I have watched in vain for this
+phenomenon. I don’t know what happens in other places, but since the sun
+has come North here, the sunset has gradually changed to quite half an
+hour later than it was in December. In fact, it may be even later than
+that, for I can read on the balcony for a long time after tea before the
+light fades. Of course the twilight is brief compared to the length of
+time it lingers on at home, and I suppose it is sudden if it is compared
+to a long summer evening in England, but then you can think of our
+longest twilight as a flash if you compare it with Greenland!
+
+About a month ago the basement of the empty house next door was taken
+by a typical Eurasian family—such a crew! beginning with an old father
+who goes about in a vest, slack, dirty trousers, and blue socks; an old
+mother, vastly fat, in petticoat, chemise, and slippers; some sons and
+daughters of all ages, and their husbands and wives and children, and two
+native servants. The basement they occupy consists of three large rooms.
+From our side windows we look right down into their windows, and get many
+astounding glimpses of their _vie intime_, including fearful revelations
+of _déshabillé_, which are the delight of C——’s life.
+
+This family, who are quite well known in Iloilo Filipino and _Mestizo_
+society, and turn out great swells at the band, sleep about on _petates_
+(mats) on the floor, in native fashion, and some of their notions of
+sanitation are indescribable. The old father has a fearful voice, a
+loud, not-human bellow of insanity, which echoes in our rooms sometimes
+and quite frightens me, and C—— says I should be still more alarmed if
+I could understand the awful expressions he is using. They are always
+having horrid rows amongst themselves, all in slatternly rags in their
+filthy rooms—in the streets they are well-dressed and well-behaved,
+in true Eurasian fashion, all the world over. The sons are in various
+employments, which would keep the whole family in comfort, if not in
+decency, but one need hardly say that it all goes in _Monte_ and buying
+diamond rings.
+
+About a week ago, just as we had finished breakfast, there was a terrible
+hullabaloo coming from the dovecote next door, and we said to each other
+that they must be having a worse row than usual; when we heard yells
+and loud voices, and the old man bellowing out even worse words than
+the awful things he shouts out when he wants salt, or a cigarette, or a
+sock. We rushed to the side of the house looking on their windows, but
+a hand was pulling the shutters together, and the screams and yells and
+oaths were terrible. So we ran out on to the balcony in time to see one
+of the sons-in-law shoot out of the house, as from a cannon, yelling
+“_Policia! Policia!_” and go running up the street to the police station
+at the corner. A crowd began to collect at once in the street, while
+heads appeared at every window, and the pandemonium in the house became
+deafening.
+
+Then, suddenly, a young woman in two garments ran out sobbing, with her
+hair down; followed a minute later by the fat old woman in her chemise
+and petticoat, wringing her hands and moaning, and running up and down,
+till someone caught hold of her and led her away to a house up the
+street. Then Juanita, the little native servant, with her hair streaming,
+rushed out with the baby in her arms; and the little girl of six came
+running in to the people below us, terrified and white and blubbering.
+Then another daughter—with a white, handsome face like a Bouguereau
+Madonna—hurried out, and after her a woman carrying clothes, whereupon a
+polite native clerk stepped across from an office and conducted her to
+the shelter of a friendly house.
+
+All this time the bellowing and voices in the house went on
+undiminished, till the son-in-law arrived with a trim blue linen-clad
+native policeman. They went into the house together and shut the shutters
+and closed the door, and the noise died down, and the crowd outside
+melted away!
+
+Nothing more happened all that day, and no human eye saw the policeman
+come out again. But next day we noticed that the old man was living with
+the natives under us; and C—— made some enquiries, whereupon they said,
+“The old man is mad,” adding quite casually that he stuck a knife into
+someone, so his family chucked him out.
+
+Well, so he lived there for a few days, with the windows of the house
+next door all shuttered so that he should not be able to see in, and
+every now and then he roared out “Ramon y Ju—a—ni—ta—aa!” or “Juanita y
+Raaaaa—mooooon!” always the names of both servants, when the two natives
+would go trembling to him, with the children for him to play with!
+
+This went on till yesterday, when there was an afternoon of shouting and
+cursing and futile advice, and the street blocked with _carabao_-carts,
+and natives swarming in and out of the house carrying furniture upside
+down, and trying to force it into the carts broadside on. We hear the
+reason and result of all this is that the old man has moved, some say
+to Manila, others, to the next street. I think the poor trembling old
+fat wife must have gone too, as I have not seen her about again since
+then. The house next door has its windows open on this side again, and
+there seem to be more people than ever lying about there—they never _do_
+anything—and Juanita-a-a-a still takes the babies out in a large wicker
+washing-basket mounted on squeaking wheels; and the young men and women
+look great swells at the bandstand on Sundays and Thursdays.
+
+I mentioned the way these people slept on the floor. That is a curious
+Filipino habit, but I daresay it is very nice and cool, and the floor
+can’t be any harder than the Filipino bed. The servants sleep about on
+mats, generally in the hall of the house, but ours refuse to sleep in
+this house, as they say it is haunted by the spirit of a young Spaniard
+who died here when it was occupied by the Spanish Consulate. So they
+spread their mats on the Azotea, and if I wake up thirsty and go out
+into the hall for a glass of water, I see them through the open door,
+lying asleep on their mats in the moonlight, looking like pictures of
+the corpse on the battlefield, out of the _Graphic_, and rather weird
+and uncanny, with their clothes very white in the moonlight, and their
+dark hands and faces and dark bare feet; but on damp or cold (or what we
+call cold!) nights they look still more uncanny, rolled in blankets, and
+looking like mummies.
+
+A friend who was here the other day told me an amusing instance of
+Filipino methods which happened a few days ago. A policeman came for
+his cook one morning, with a summons on the part of the cook’s wife for
+assaulting her. So off the cook went to the court, not the High Courts
+where American dignity administers the highest justice with his boots off
+and his feet, with holes in his socks, on a table before him, but the
+police court where a Filipino tries to deal with small offences.
+
+In the evening our friend noticed that his own cook and not a substitute
+was in the house, so he asked the man what had happened in the morning.
+
+“Oh,” said the cook, “they fined me five dollars and my wife five dollars
+too, and sent us away.”
+
+“But,” said Mr —— “you beat her.”
+
+“No one said I did not beat her. But they fined us both, you see, so I
+was allowed to go away again, free, in time to cook the _señor’s_ dinner.”
+
+And you may think that sounds like a sentence out of the _Hunting of
+the Snark_, but it is perfectly clear logic to the Filipino mind, and
+all parties seemed to think the most lucid and satisfying law had been
+administered.
+
+
+
+
+LETTER XXXII.
+
+OUR MONGEESE—A FIRE—THE NATIVE EDUCATION QUESTION
+
+
+ _June 15, 1905._
+
+You must forgive the writing of this letter being rather bad, as I am
+ill in bed again, and likely to remain there for some time, for I have
+developed a tiresome complaint, which takes, so people tell me, a long
+time to heal. It sounds very simple, for what has happened is that the
+mosquito bites, with which my feet are covered, have become poisoned
+with something in the water, or the touch of a fly, and I hobbled about
+for a long time in great pain, being doctored and told to lie up, but I
+would not consent to, as it is so dull, and the warmth of lying even on
+a mat makes one’s prickly heat unendurable. Now, however, I am forced to
+give in, for I can’t walk across a room. An American friend tells me she
+has had this malady, and it extended all the way up her limbs, and she
+suffered great pain, and was ill for months. I am afraid this does not
+console me much, for I am a bad patient, as I have never had anything the
+matter with me before I came out here. The climate is certainly trying,
+but some people seem to be able to weather through it pretty well, though
+I have never met anyone who is really what one would call robust. Some
+become wrecks, as I apparently should do if I stayed much longer. I can’t
+tell you how thankful I am to think that there is a chance of going home!
+
+Our dear little mongeese are flourishing. We let them out of the cage
+nearly all day now, and they go running and smelling about the house;
+squeaking when they think they are lost, and then I have to go and find
+them, when they crawl up me as up a large tree, and go to sleep on
+the branches, quite safe and happy. I think you would love them. They
+have the sweetest little innocent faces I ever saw, and such pluck and
+individuality, each with its own little fads and manners. In India, I
+believe, people keep mongeese to kill snakes; but here they seem to be
+ready to pursue any and everything, and the house evidently affords good
+hunting, especially the space under the roof. I saw one of the mongeese
+under my wardrobe the other day, struggling with what looked like some
+dreadful grey insides of a little animal, and I hauled her out, thinking
+she had got hold of something that might poison her. It was the mangled
+body of a house-lizard—horrible sight! Then another of the little
+creatures caught an immense spider yesterday, and sat under the _sala_
+table tearing off the long hairy legs, and then choking the body down in
+great gulps—ugh!
+
+One night last week I was awakened by a police-whistle in the street,
+sounding an alarm, which is one long note and two short ones. We found
+this alarm note out in a rather curious fashion, as one evening we
+whistled for one of the servants like that—we were sitting on the balcony
+at the time—and a few moments later a policeman knocked at the door and
+wanted to know what murder or other trouble we were in! And when C——
+enquired about it at the police station, they asked him not to blow a
+whistle in that way in the street again unless we were in danger. It was
+a comfort to know that the signal would work so well.
+
+So when we heard the long note and two short ones in the night, we
+turned out on to the balcony, whence we saw the glow of a big fire at the
+end of the street towards the point, and Filipino policemen were running
+along below with clanking buckets.
+
+The building that was on fire was the Military _Corral_ (stables),
+which made a fine blaze, and there was a stirring scene when the poor
+frightened horses came tearing down the quiet, dark street in a maddened
+rout. They were the American horses, which look so big and powerful and
+quite alarming to eyes accustomed to the little Filipino ponies. They
+clattered down the street in batches, tossing their heads and trying to
+pass one another, with the glow of the fire in the sky behind them, and
+we heard the sound of their hoofs dying away and away through the empty
+town. After a while the light in the sky faded out, the policemen with
+their buckets returned slowly, and we went back to bed; but no one else
+in the street had so much as looked out of a window!
+
+We learned afterwards that many of the horses were found wandering far
+out in the country, but I believe some of them have not been caught even
+yet. The _Corral_ was burnt to the ground, as they had to wait till
+the police arrived to put it out, because there were only two soldiers
+sleeping there, all the rest living in houses in the town and suburbs
+with their _queridas_ (native mistresses). This seems a very strange
+state of affairs, but it is a well-known fact, and on this particular
+occasion was referred to quite casually by the soldier on duty (of whom
+C—— was asking information), and who apparently thought it was the most
+natural arrangement for troops in a disaffected country.
+
+I have been reading a great deal since I have taken to bed, and
+besides all the home papers you send me, I have the Manila papers and
+_El Tiempo_ (Iloilo), which I find I can read quite easily now. _The
+Manila Times_ of June 10 had a long article about the eternal education
+question, headed “Arbitrary Race Distinctions,” in which, as you may
+gather from the title, some American works out his nation’s theory
+that there is no real difference between East and West. The writer
+very amiably wishes to point out that Filipino children are just as
+intelligent at school as are American children, and I think this is about
+the hundredth article I have read to that effect; but I have still to
+read or hear any observation to the effect that precocity is the natural
+heritage of every Oriental child. Americans always appear to judge the
+Philippines by no standard, precedent, or parallel; which I suppose
+is very natural for anyone coming straight from such an absolutely
+different country as the U.S.A. In this article, of which I am speaking
+at present, there are many long and fine words recklessly thrown about,
+such as “introspection,” “collective individuality,” and so forth, which
+I think are meant to prove that if a Filipino child is precocious, he
+will grow up a clever, cultured, and enlightened man or woman; whereas
+every unprejudiced person knows that the Filipino people learn with
+intelligence (an intelligence which is, after all, only remarkable when
+compared to a very ordinary white child) till they reach manhood or
+womanhood, and then it is as though a veil were drawn over the brightness
+of their minds, and they not only progress no further, but even go
+_backwards_!
+
+This optimist also pictures a future “in three generations,” when “the
+iron horse will spin merrily up and down the passes,” by which I take
+it he implies that means of communication will at last (instead of at
+first) be established; and after a lot of hyperbolical descriptions of
+machinery, he winds up with this, “a sleek, well-nourished Filipino
+will garner the grain and check the tree boles”—which is very fine talk,
+but, to begin with, no one ever saw a Filipino who was not sleek and
+well-nourished, and what one wants to know is, what labourers will toil
+at the “iron horse” and the machinery with sufficient thrift and honesty
+to make those concerns worth the attention of the American or even
+Filipino capitalist? It is easy to imagine that some day the natives of
+the Philippines may be allowed to administer their own government and
+deal out laws of life and death to each other, but where is capital to
+come from? For the notion of Wall Street putting money into a business
+run by a Filipino, would be beyond the wildest dreams of the most
+uninstructed voter in the remotest State.
+
+Now, what I can’t make out is this, are all these essays and writings
+and leaders about the absolute equality of the Filipino mind with the
+best white intellect really genuinely what the Americans think of these
+people, or are they just so much dust in the eyes of the native as well
+as the foreign critic to excuse and justify the position the U.S.A. has
+chosen to assume towards these Islands?
+
+
+
+
+LETTER XXXIII.
+
+A PAPER-CHASE—LACK OF SPORTS—PREPARATIONS FOR MR TAFT
+
+
+ ILOILO, _June 26, 1905_.
+
+C—— and another man got up a paper-chase last Sunday, and, by way of
+being cordial, advertised the event in _El Tiempo_ a day or two before,
+C—— and his friend arranging to be the hares, and let all Iloilo chase
+them, if it cared to. They were very keen and excited about their
+venture, which was something quite new in the way of local enterprise.
+The “meet” was in Plaza Libertad at six in the morning, and when they
+got there and found a large company of Spaniards, _Mestizos_, Swiss, and
+one or two other Englishmen, they were delighted, and set off in great
+feather. Our pony is a very good “goer,” and can fly along ahead of
+almost any other pony here, so C—— and his friend started and tore along
+the Jaro road in the cool morning, with the “field” after them.
+
+Beyond Jaro, where they were out in the open country, they noticed that
+the hunt was far out of sight and hearing, so they ambushed in some
+bamboo brake, and hung about, peeping round bushes for about a quarter
+of an hour, and then went cautiously back a few yards and hung about
+again, and so on till by degrees they got back into Jaro. Imagine their
+disgust when they at last tracked the other sportsmen to a bar where they
+were sitting at little tables drinking cold beer! Their fury about the
+incident is comical, but one cannot help sympathising with them after
+all the trouble they took to infuse a little sport into the place.
+
+One of the chief things Cebú crows about is possessing a race-course and
+a Jockey Club, and I think they are quite right so to crow, as something
+of the sort would be a boon here. One need hardly say that when anything
+like that is done in Manila or anywhere else, the Americans have no part
+in the initiative, as they are not a very sporting people, and all they
+do to keep themselves alive is base-ball. It seems so odd to be in a
+garrison town, and not see officers with sports or a club, or polo or
+gymkhanas or anything. The Filipinos have no games, and the great idea is
+to teach them base-ball, which, by-the-bye, the Americans call ball-game.
+When I say the Filipinos have no games, I forget a sort of ball they
+throw about, in the streets or anywhere, made of strips of bamboo bent
+into a hollow, spherical frame; but the throwing about is not conducted
+on any principle or according to any rules.
+
+When I am feeling well again, I should like to ride in the mornings,
+but I wish I had brought my saddle, as there is not such a thing as a
+side-saddle to be bought in Iloilo, or, the shopkeepers tell us, in the
+whole Islands. This is because the _Mestizas_ never ride at all, and the
+American women ride astride in large loose trousers that look like two
+skirts.[9] There are very few here who ride, but I saw several going
+about in Manila, and am confirmed once and for ever to my allegiance
+to the side-saddle, for a more hideous and ungainly effect than women
+astride I never saw, to say nothing of its vulgarity. The attitude also
+brings out all the disproportions of the female figure, making it look
+top-heavy and ill-balanced. It is all very well for the Amazons to look
+well on a Greek sarcophagus, but no modern woman of over sixteen is
+shaped like that—and I very much doubt if the ordinary ancients were
+either, quite apart from corsets, boots, and collars. Besides all that,
+from the point of view of sense, a woman’s knees can’t be strong enough
+to grip the saddle. So as I have not brought my own saddle I shall not
+be able to ride, and now we are thinking of going home, it is not worth
+while to send for it.
+
+I read in my Manila papers that there is a fearful row going on in Manila
+now, because the committee who are arranging the banquets and receptions
+for Mr Taft and his party have invited heads of every religious sect
+except the Iglesia Filipina, and the latter are making a terrible fuss,
+and insisting on Father Aglipay being included amongst the official
+guests. Of course, if he is asked, the R.C. won’t come, and the Pope
+will be furious, and the Insurrectionist Party will score one important
+point in the public eye. On the other hand, if the authorities fall out
+with Aglipay, they fall foul of his powerful following, who give quite
+enough trouble as it is, so they are in a very uncomfortable cleft stick,
+besides the fact of partizanship for any one religion being entirely
+unconstitutional. And the trouble is aggravated, you see, by Mr Taft
+being such an ardent pro-Filipino, and all the natives believing that his
+advent is to be a sort of second coming to announce the millennium of
+freedom.
+
+What he _is_ coming for, besides the personal conducting of the
+anti-Filipino Senators, is a staple subject of conversation, many
+thinking he will be allowed to announce a great reduction in taxation as
+a sort of halo to his visit. Whatever it is, I am so anxious not to miss
+his visit, and I do hope our return journey will not have to begin before
+he and his party arrive.
+
+Besides the Taft excitement, Manila has been convulsed for months by
+efforts to get fireworks from America for “the 4th.” Already in the month
+of April there were huge “scare-heads,” as they call them, in the papers,
+with letters big enough for a poster, beginning
+
+ FIREWORKS NOT GONE OFF YET,
+
+and then another headline to the effect that
+
+ THEY WILL NOT REACH MANILA TILL JUNE.
+
+Sometimes these headlines are very comical, whether intentionally or not
+I don’t know—for instance, when the transport _Sherman_ left, there was a
+headline in enormous letters,
+
+ _Sherman’s_ LIVING FREIGHT,
+
+which I at first took to mean cows or horses, but found to my surprise it
+was only a list of officers’ names.
+
+I am sure you will be sorry to hear that one of our dear little mongeese
+is dead, the little man of the party. He was very sick for a day or two,
+lying on the floor on his stomach as if in pain, and when the others came
+running into my room in the morning, he could only crawl very slowly
+after them. At last, at about ten in the morning, he died, poor, gentle
+little beast, and I made Domingo take him out and bury him in the garden.
+We don’t know what he died of, but we think it was tough cockroach, as
+his poor little throat was full of hard brown wings, which we hauled
+out, but it did him no good to get rid of them. What I fear is he may
+have picked up a cockroach which had died of rat-poison. I gave him
+weak sherry and water to revive him, but he brought it all up again with
+pitiful little groans and squeaks, and soon afterwards he died.
+
+The little widows did not seem to mind much, they hopped about as usual;
+but now one of them has injured an eye in some way, and has gone blind
+in it, and is very sick and sorry, and I am afraid she won’t live long
+either. I bathed the poor eye with cold tea, which gave the little
+creature some relief, for she lifted the lid slowly, and then I saw
+that the eye had a cut right across, as if some animal had scratched
+it. She can only move very slowly, with her head on one side—a very sad
+sight—just able to crawl as far as wherever I am, and then sit in a heap
+waiting to be lifted up, when she goes to sleep on my lap, and lies still
+for hours.
+
+
+
+
+LETTER XXXIV.
+
+TRYING HEAT—AN AMERICAN PROSPECTOR—NEW LODGERS—BARGAINING FOR _PIÑA_
+
+
+ ILOILO, _June 29, 1905_.
+
+The weather is becoming more stormy, and typhoons are signalled, but
+so far they seem to go wide of us, which is a very good thing. The
+thermometer the last few days has been very low, 78° to 80°, but the damp
+makes it more trying and relaxing than when we had over 90° to contend
+against. With the rain, all sorts of trees have come into bloom—things
+with coarse, strong foliage and huge bright flowers. The fields are all
+covered with very vivid green grass and corn coming up, and sometimes
+when there is a purple thunder-cloud across half the sky and all these
+colours in the sun, wet with rain, shining against it, the effect is
+simply like a scene cut out of glittering metals.
+
+As I explained to you when we first arrived, life here is adapted to dry
+heat, and the fears I had then about the wet season are being justified
+every day, for steel and silver rust while you look at them; clothes come
+out in feverish patches of blue mould; silk and satin “go” so that they
+tear like tissue paper; and all sorts of mysterious “beasts” are stowed
+away in our garments, while shoes have to be shaken before putting on
+more carefully than ever.
+
+C—— amused me the other day with an account of an American millionaire
+who came down by the last boat from Manila to “prospect” in this
+island and Negros for sugar. It seems that the fancy of this plutocrat,
+who is quite a common, roughly-dressed old man, is to buy up half the
+island, with which object he went to the office, as C——’s firm are the
+largest, if not the only exporters of sugar in these islands. C—— said
+the old chap’s notions filled everyone with amusement, for he wants
+to get control of some plantations, and put up sugar mills that will
+crush 10,000 tons of cane daily! The price and scarcity of labour were
+represented to him as a factor in his schemes, as well as the Export Tax,
+lack of roads, and other trifles. But he was not much depressed, and I
+daresay he will tackle the enterprise in the American sink or swim style,
+which seems rather a pity, as what the Philippines want is small and
+prosperous farms—not huge trust-like businesses to produce vast sums to
+be spent in New York or Paris.
+
+You remember my telling you about the _fracas_ next door? That family
+all moved away, eventually, but not to Manila, only to the next street
+parallel to this. The next-door basement is now occupied by a dressmaker,
+a jolly fat old Tagalo woman with a deep voice like a man, and her hair
+scraped up into a knob with a comb (an ordinary white bone one for
+_combing_) stuck across it. Besides the comb, she wears nothing but a
+chemise, petticoat, and slippers. The work-girls are all natives, and
+they sit about the big front room on mats on the floor, sewing and
+cutting out and talking all day long. They are there at five in the
+morning, and often work till after dark. Two have sewing machines on
+tables, and they look so queer in their tight native _sarong_ and muslin
+_camisa_, sitting on a Viennese cane chair at a treadle-machine.
+
+The husband of the Tagalo is a fat, greasy Spaniard, with side-whiskers,
+and an eternal cigar, who lounges all day in a cane chair in vest and
+trousers, reading the _Heraldo_, and balancing his slippers on the tips
+of his bare toes. They appear to hit it off very well, he and his old
+native wife, for he is quite content to blowze and loaf all day, and
+roll off to his club now and then, while she is a typical, thrifty,
+hard-working Tagalo,[10] always amongst her work-girls, and generally
+sewing herself. She sits in a chair, though, and every now and then picks
+up an old cigar-box that is for ever within her reach, and rolls herself
+a cigarette, scooping up very carefully every crumb of tobacco that falls
+into her capacious lap.
+
+This Filipina keeps the house much cleaner than the _Mestizas_ did,
+and has more regard for privacy, in the shape of curtains of bright
+cretonne nailed across the side windows. The old lady has a very pet
+dog, which is exactly like herself—a huge, fat, sleek, brown creature,
+perfectly good-natured, with a deep, full voice. They have a spaniel
+too, and other dogs that run in and out, and I can’t make out how many
+belong to the house, or how many are only friends; but I got to be quite
+certain of one, which nearly always lies on the window-ledge, and to
+know it by sight. After a time, however, it gradually dawned on me that
+this particular spaniel never moved—and then I discovered that he was
+_stuffed_! Till I knew that, he was, to me, a quiet, contemplative dog;
+but since I found he was stuffed, he has become a horrible, uncanny demon.
+
+Yesterday morning a little old native woman appeared wandering round the
+balcony with a bundle under her arm. When she caught sight of me she
+darted away, and in a few minutes Sotero came into the _sala_ saying that
+a _mujer_ (a woman) wanted to sell some _piña_ to the _señora_.
+
+I said I did not want _piña_ particularly, but that the woman could come
+and show it to me if she liked; so in she came and squatted on her heels
+in the doorway while she undid the bundle, first a piece of cotton, and
+then an old newspaper, then more cotton, and at last a lot of rolls of
+muslin. They were very pretty pieces of stuff, dyed in pale greens,
+pinks, blues, and mauves, but she wanted sixteen or eighteen _pesos_
+apiece (thirty-two to thirty-eight shillings) for them—dress lengths of
+fifteen narrow yards. I said: “I will give you nine _pesos_.”
+
+“_Santa Maria!_” she threw up her hands. “I could not live. My mistress
+would beat me!”
+
+I said that was nonsense, because she knew no Filipino lady would dream
+of giving her more than seven.
+
+“Fourteen at the very lowest, _señora_, and the American ladies gave me
+eighteen without any questions.”
+
+“That is very silly of them,” I said. But I knew it to be true, for I had
+been present at a great buying of _piña_ by American tourists, and the
+prices they gave were simply idiotic.
+
+“I am not _Americana_,” I said.
+
+“I know that” (I daresay she did, for on that point a native rarely, if
+ever, makes a mistake), “so I would not think of asking the _señora_ more
+than thirteen, which I hope she will not mention to anyone.”
+
+“Why should I pay thirteen for stuff that I know is to be had in the
+Filipino houses for nine?”
+
+“If I say twelve, may the _señora_ say a prayer that I may not be
+dismissed by my mistress.”
+
+“I am _Protestante_. I think each person must say their own prayers.”
+
+“The _señora_ is wise and good. She will give me eleven and a half.”
+
+And so on, and so on. Before we had done, I was the kindest, wisest,
+most humane, and beautiful and polite woman the sun ever shone on; I was
+blessed by all the Saints in turn—but I paid nine _pesos_ for a roll of
+blue _piña_, and the old woman said she would come any day and sell me
+any amount more at the same price.
+
+
+
+
+LETTER XXXV.
+
+DECLARATION DAY—THE CULT OF THE FLAG—A PROCESSION, FESTIVITIES, AND A BALL
+
+
+ ILOILO, _July 4_.
+
+This is a tremendous day here, and a universal public holiday—Declaration
+Day, you know; the anniversary of the day when the States declared
+themselves independent of the Mother Country. All the town is gay with
+palm-branches and myriads of Stars and Stripes, while the fun began at
+sunrise this morning by a great letting-off of Chinese crackers, and
+Americans coming out on their balconies in pyjamas and firing pistols
+into the air.
+
+I think the Americans must be a very patriotic people, for out here they
+keep up these anniversaries with even more fervour, I am told, than
+they do at home, where they are a tradition of the soil. The cult of
+the national flag, too, is a perfect passion with them, and I have yet
+to see an American house out here where the Stars and Stripes do not
+appear in some part or other. In very many houses the flag is used as
+window-curtains, as ceiling-draperies, as _portières_, as tablecloths,
+besides little extra sort of Christmas-cake flags being stuck about
+wherever an ornament is wanted. One does not see this sort of thing in
+colonies of other countries, but the American flag devotion is really
+so sincere that one cannot cavil at its excess. Nevertheless we should
+consider it odd if the houses of high officials, and of everyone, in
+fact, in one of our colonies were decorated with Union Jacks in this
+fashion! Of course the Spaniards laugh at it very much; but then they
+are, very naturally, rather critical of all things American. One of
+them was holding forth bitterly to me on this flag question a day or
+two ago, and when I said that I thought it very nice to see so much
+patriotic feeling, he waved his hands and replied, very hotly: “It is not
+patriotism! It is farce! We, who have been born and bred for hundreds of
+generations on our native soil and love our country as a mother—we hold
+our flag sacred! We do not use it as furniture!”
+
+I was much amused at his vehemence, but did not dare to smile for fear
+of hurting his feelings. Instead, I tried to soothe him down by saying
+that I thought the flag cult was perhaps a benefit as a direct appeal to
+the elementary natures of the Filipinos. This move of mine was a failure,
+however, for he burst out with renewed fury: “The Filipinos! What they
+think of it! Ha! You should hear them!” So I gave him up as a bad job!
+
+To get back to the Declaration Day. The popping of pistols and throwing
+of crackers into the streets went on intermittently till about eight
+o’clock, when a procession began marching about the town, and luckily
+the day is extremely fine, though it is very hot indeed, as, though the
+thermometer is as low as 84°, there is not a breath of wind stirring, and
+all nature is very still and bright and shining.
+
+The procession began to pass our house at about nine, so we had no more
+trouble to see it than just to lean over the balcony with some friends
+who had come round to profit by our position. C—— tried to get some
+snap-shots, but I am afraid they may not come out very well, as the
+camera is damp, like everything else in the house, and has a good coating
+of the prevailing blue mould.
+
+The first spectacle that came along was a number of American officers on
+horseback, in khaki, with sashes of any colour they seemed to fancy—pale
+blue, pink, scarlet—slung round one shoulder and tied in a large bow on
+the hip. They rode the big army horses, which are no larger than ordinary
+horses at home; but, as I told you before, they look like pantomime
+animals after one’s eye is used to the Filipino ponies.
+
+There was some hitch, out of sight, as the procession reached us, and
+all the officers pulled up their horses and turned round to look back. I
+don’t know what it was, but they halted a long time, trying all the time
+to get into the shade of the houses, for the heat was already very great.
+The men’s khaki suits were dark with perspiration, quite a different
+colour! Their horses dripped puddles of sweat when they halted, and one
+white horse was gradually turning _purple_!
+
+The Americans rode in the style which I notice they all adopt. It does
+not look well according to our ideas, for they slouch in the saddle and
+flap their elbows, sitting with their legs sticking out straight as if
+the horse had tar or something on its ribs which the rider wanted to keep
+clear of. They seem to hold their reins in any sort of way, in each hand
+and up to their chins being the favourite method, which looks awkward,
+to say the least of it. After them came one or two Filipinos, who all
+ride very well by instinct, sitting their horses firmly and gracefully,
+with flat thighs, and moving as if they were part of their mount, so that
+it is a pleasure to look at them. The little ponies and horses of the
+Filipinos pranced and curvetted about in a most engaging manner, which
+desirable result is brought about by means of an ingenious contrivance,
+borrowed from the Spaniards, of a sharp iron spike which runs into the
+roof of the horse’s mouth when the rein is pulled, causing the animal to
+fret and foam and sidle to the admiration of beholders, who wonder how
+the rider can be so brave and cool with such a spirited steed.
+
+After this little cavalcade had got past, the procession proper came
+along, headed by a military band from Guimaras, playing extremely well,
+and a long column of American soldiers, all in khaki and wearing khaki
+felt sombreros, such as our troops adopted in the Boer War, turned up at
+one side and with a narrow blue cord knotted in front, the ends finished
+off with two small blue acorns. They marched very well, all looking as
+exactly alike as so many toy soldiers on an expanding frame—you know the
+things? All very tall men, with long, handsome faces, narrow shoulders,
+and long, thin legs, not at all a robust type, no wiriness and no depth
+about them.
+
+After the soldiers came a dozen or so of ordinary civilians in white
+linen suits and _sombreros_, with stars and medals on their breasts. They
+were followed by a similar group of men on foot, and these two little
+bands represented the Veteran Army of the Philippines, which includes
+anyone who volunteered in any capacity during the War. We told C—— he
+ought to be in that company, or at least to have a medal, as he was once
+made a temporary “_loo_tenant,” and fought for the Americans in Samar.
+I think, however, that the V.A.P., as they call it, confines itself to
+American volunteers. With the American craze for societies and so forth,
+the V.A.P. are a sort of brotherhood, and have lodges and badges and
+meetings, and all that sort of thing. They gave a dance when we first
+came here, to which we went, and were awfully disgusted when we arrived
+to find that we had come too late for a solemn Lodge Meeting at which
+some ceremony had been performed.
+
+After the V.A.P. came a lot of Philippine Scouts, quite the opposite
+build to the American soldiers, as they were very small, square men,
+with brown, square faces, high shoulders, long bodies, and short legs.
+Sturdy-looking little people, and looking very trim and smart in their
+neat khaki uniforms. Their band followed them, and behind that came the
+Constabulary, more little square “brown brothers” in white gala suits,
+with _their_ band.
+
+A string of carriages came next, decorated, wheels and all, with
+Stars-and-Stripes flags and filled with all sorts of Americans,
+Filipinos, _Mestizos_, and Spaniards, men and women, a very gay crowd.
+Following them was the Fire Brigade, consisting of natives marching
+on each side of an old hand-pump, like a thing on a sailing ship, and
+carrying a most amusing banner, painted with a picture of a house on
+fire, where a man in the middle distance worked a hose with a Niagara
+pouring out of it, while in the foreground a huge woman holding a giant
+baby sat on a packing case amongst a lot of very small furniture.
+
+Next came a Filipino Base-ball Team, in khaki knickerbockers and black
+shirts, with ATLETICA in large white letters across their chests, after
+the fashion of that base-ball team we once saw play in the gardens of the
+Borghese.
+
+The great feature of the procession was a large car decorated with a
+quantity of American flags and portraits of Washington, surmounted by a
+big pasteboard column, striped red and white, on the top of which lay
+a scroll of paper, held down by a gigantic gilt ink-pot with a mammoth
+quill stuck in it, and on the scroll was written CONSTITUTION in big
+letters.
+
+All the men in the Port Works went past, some carrying hammers, and some
+bearing, between five or six of them, immense long boring-rods for
+blasting. They were Filipinos, of course; in fact, with the exception
+of the American soldiers and a dozen or so of the occupants of the
+carriages, the whole procession was Filipino—all quite pleased and
+childlike to march about with banners to Sousa’s stirring tunes. I don’t
+suppose one in twenty of the “little brown brothers” had the vaguest
+idea what their big white brothers were so rejoicing about; or if they
+had ever heard of Townshend and the Stamp Duties they would think the
+commemoration of the removal of a yoke of foreign bad government and
+taxation was something to do with their own everlasting struggle for
+independence. Besides this comical side to the rejoicings, there was the
+absurd anomaly that a great part of the funds for this celebration had
+been contributed by the British commercial houses!
+
+Well, it was an interminable string of people. The Normal Schools of
+Jaro, La Paz, Molo, etc., each under their own banner, a long file of
+boys and then girls in all sorts of outfits and colours, but the girls
+all wearing the Filipino _camisa_, and many of them carrying the branches
+of artificial and gilt flowers, which they use in religious processions.
+It was particularly noticeable that there was no priest of any sort in
+the procession, nor were the priestly colleges or the Convent Schools
+represented in any way.
+
+We got quite tired of watching them at last, especially as the whole
+thing kept on getting muddled up and having to stop for long, weary
+halts. We came to the conclusion at last that as there was no crowd in
+the street or at the end of it; there must be a tiger round the corner.
+But a very literal Scotch friend said: “There are no tigers in the
+Philippines.”
+
+A dance was given by the Spanish Club last night, and there is to be
+another to-night, at the invitation of the Presidente of the town, at his
+official residence, the Gobierno. I am not well enough to go to both,
+for I have not been out of the house for weeks, and even now it is rash
+to stand at all till my feet are healed, but I felt I must go to one of
+these functions, so I have chosen to-night, which is, according to Iloilo
+notions of etiquette, far the less exclusive of the two, so it will be
+much the more amusing.
+
+I have been writing this, lying in my long chair in the _sala_, while C——
+went out to the Plaza to see if he could hear any speeches or anything
+funny. He has just come back, and tells me there was a platform erected
+in the Plaza, where speeches had been rolled off, but he had been too
+late to hear any of them. A great pity, as I daresay they may have been
+amusing, because one of the speakers was a rabid pro-Filipino and the
+other (both Americans) a keen pro-American. I will finish this letter
+to-morrow, so as to be able to tell you all about the ball.
+
+ _July 5._
+
+We went for a drive yesterday, late in the afternoon, and when we got
+as far as the Plaza, we found a terrific _Fiesta_ in progress—all the
+lamp-posts decorated with Stars and Stripes and Japanese lanterns; and
+a huge stage, covered with palms and more Stars and Stripes, put up
+opposite the bandstand, and full of Americans, while vast crowds of
+Filipinos surged below—the men in white and the women in colours like
+those in a cheap church window—and it all looked very gay and pretty. I
+was very much surprised to see all this, as I had had no idea anything
+of the sort was in contemplation, and I was sorry that neither I nor
+the other Englishwoman had been invited to the stand, but I suppose they
+thought we would not care to take part in rejoicings over the Declaration
+of Independence although our countrymen had contributed, by request, a
+great part of the funds for the celebration.
+
+We pulled up and looked on for a little while, much interested in a
+tug of war which was unlike anything we had ever seen. The two sides,
+Filipinos, stood on a long wooden frame like a gigantic ladder lying on
+the ground, and on this they lay at opposite ends, with their purchase on
+the rungs, and pulled at the rope with no effect whatever to the amateur
+eye; but apparently some man in command thought otherwise, for a voice
+suddenly sang out that one side had won, whereupon the competitors all
+let go the rope and fell quite limp, and then got up and walked away.
+
+They had races, too, and a greasy pole—no, two greasy poles—of bamboo,
+with a packet of money at the top, and, of course, a flag of Stars and
+Stripes. Up these the enterprising native youth of Iloilo swarmed, to the
+intense joy of the onlookers, who howled and roared with appreciation.
+All sorts of dodges were allowed, which were ingenious if not
+particularly sporting. One small boy tried to get to the top by covering
+his hands and feet with sand, with which his pockets were laden and
+bulging, while the man who eventually got to the money hoisted himself by
+a device of bars of wood and rope, which betrayed him at once to C—— as
+a sailor. We very nearly gave up waiting for this enterprising mariner,
+who took an immense time to get up to the thin part at the top of the
+pole, where he could abandon his contrivance and get his hands round the
+bamboo—but he secured the prize, and the people below bellowed with
+delight.
+
+There were very few Americans amongst the crowd, all the officers and
+officials being in the stand, with many ladies in light frocks and big
+hats, while the rank and file could be seen in the bars round the Plaza,
+not caring a rap about tugs of war or greasy poles, or their “little
+brown brothers.” In the gaol the prisoners were crowded at the barred
+windows, getting what fun they could out of the general atmosphere
+of liberty; and as we drove round the Plaza, I saw a most ragged and
+miserable young countrywoman carrying a sad, puny baby at her breast,
+talking to her man through the bars of the prison, where the female
+relations come and hand food in to the dark ragged fellows inside. She
+slunk away round the Plaza, and her face was too pitiful for words, she
+was so gaunt and haggard. We had no money with us, but I doubt if she
+would have taken it if we offered it to her, as the country people are
+very proud, and very sensitive about “_verguenza_,” which is Spanish for
+shame. Very few of the white people seem to understand this _verguenza_,
+by an appeal to which, as I told you before, wonders can be done with a
+Filipino.
+
+This little incident put me out of humour with the Declaration
+celebrations, so we drove out on to the Molo road a little way and then
+returned, and I had a good long rest before dinner to prepare me for the
+evening’s festivities.
+
+The day wound up with the ball at the Gobierno, which is a kind of
+Government House comprising public offices, and the Law Courts, and so
+forth. It is a big building across the end of the Calle Real, with a
+large over-hanging balcony or verandah, under which the carriages pulled
+up on a stone-flag pavement, all muddled up anyhow, anywhere, each one
+turning and going out in any direction the horse chose, with the usual
+shouting and confusion and swearing on all sides.
+
+The big stone basement was decorated with palms tied against the columns,
+and Stars and Stripes, and all up the staircase more Stars and Stripes
+and more palms.
+
+The ball went on chiefly in the Court Room, a long narrow apartment,
+where the scheme of decoration was half a dozen huge American flags
+draped over the walls; and, stowed away over one doorway, a few folds
+of the red and yellow of Spain. On one side of the Court Room, through
+wide arches, was another long room, and on the street side was the long
+balcony, open to the night, and cool when compared to the rooms.
+
+When we arrived, the ball was in full blast with the Official Rigodon,
+which C—— and Mr M—— who went with us, did not care to dance, and I could
+not, so we sat in a row and looked on, and I talked to an American friend
+we had met as we came in. He asked me to dance, but I said that was not
+possible for me, as my feet were still unhealed, and all bandaged up for
+this dance.
+
+“Oh,” he said cheerfully, “I guess you are right to be careful, because
+if you neglect those things they turn into tropical ulcers, which are
+_in_-curable.”
+
+“Do they?” I said.
+
+“Why, yes, I had a friend who got mosquito bites poisoned just so, and he
+died of them.”
+
+In spite of this, however, I spent a very cheerful evening, and was
+quite rewarded for the trouble of going out by the spectacle itself. For
+some time our American friend remained by us, as he said it was the last
+chance he would have of seeing us to say good-bye, because he was going
+back to the United States. We asked him if he were going on leave, but
+he said no, he was giving up his appointment; which rather surprised us,
+as he is one of the chief officials here, and has a very good position.
+But he said he simply could not stand the Philippines any longer, and
+would rather work for half the pay in any other country.
+
+“Besides,” he said, “I am entirely out of sympathy with the whole thing,
+and can’t see what we are doing here anyway.”
+
+I said, “But you have the country to develop.”
+
+“Oh, I’m sick of hearing that,” he said. “What I want to do is to go
+right back to the States and see some development done there.”
+
+“Where do you mean?” we asked.
+
+“Why, in my own State alone there are hundreds of miles of virgin soil
+which I reckon I want to see developed before these silly old islands.”
+
+“Ah,” I said, “then you don’t like the Philippines?”
+
+“Have you ever met anyone who does?”
+
+“No,” I said, “at any rate not one American who does not loathe the
+place, except one woman, the wife of a missionary, who says she likes it,
+but then she spends all the disagreeable season in Japan.”
+
+“That’s so,” he said. “And I guess if I come back it’s going to be on the
+religious stunt, with no work and lots of _va_-cation.”
+
+The guests at the ball were all sorts and conditions of men, rather what
+C—— calls a “heterogeneous mass,” but most of the Americans were there
+too, and several new people whom I learned were officers and their wives
+from Camp Josman, over in Guimaras. One little woman particularly took my
+fancy, with her pale, pretty face and masses of fair hair, and a really
+lovely pink silk ball-dress. She looked so fresh and charming, but I felt
+quite anxious about her nice dress, as my own black skirt was a source
+of trouble on such dirty boards, where, I am sorry to say, some of the
+guests did not hesitate to expectorate when they felt inclined for this
+national pastime.
+
+The floor, as I say, was simply rough, unpolished, dusty, dark-wood
+planks, and all the American men, except our friend and two others, wore
+day suits and boots, while many of the women had on walking shoes, which
+did not improve things.
+
+The natives were all got up in blinding colours—little, dark,
+square-faced women in the harsh aniline dyes of thirty years ago—and
+some of them had on very handsome diamonds. C—— and I and Mr M—— were
+the only English people present. I believe the others, as well as many
+of the Americans, all thought the official ball not sufficiently select,
+which seemed to me a very amusing point of view in a place like Iloilo—or
+anywhere else for the matter of that.
+
+After watching the ball-room for a little while, we thought we would
+like some fresh air, so we moved out on to the balcony, where the air
+was fairly cool, and where the band was stationed on a platform of two
+steps in height. This was the Constabulary, native brass, which sounds
+very well out of doors in a procession, but is rather deafening in a
+room. On the platform were two or three music-stands at which a few men
+lounged, but the rest of the twenty-five sat and blew (all brass and two
+flutes) wherever they pleased, most of them festooned gracefully about
+the steps of the stand; some lying almost full length on one elbow; and
+some huddled up with their chins on their knees, looking exactly like
+performing monkeys. One man with strips of black sticking-plaster on his
+flat, brown face, lay on the steps of the stand, gazing at the ceiling,
+and playing his cornet in one hand.
+
+There were benches all round the balcony, and on one of these we sat, in
+company with a lot of other guests, while some energetic and perspiring
+dancers came out and extended the ball to the balcony, dancing solemnly
+up and down in front of the band. When some people moved away from
+the bench nearest the platform, half a dozen bandsmen instantly took
+possession of their vacant places and sat there, leaning back and blowing
+away at greater ease. They seemed to be playing instinctively while
+thinking of other things. One small boy on the bench by us was fast
+asleep, with his fingers still moving up and down on the stops, which so
+interested Mr M—— that he got up and put his ear down to the fellow’s
+trumpet, but declared he could hear no sound coming out of it at all. The
+other bandsmen watched him do this with impassive, expressionless faces,
+if they looked at him at all. This was during the second Rigodon, which
+we could see going on in the long Court Room, and when the last figure
+was reached, a bandsman suddenly sprang up from a recumbent position on
+the steps and tootled the first few bars of “Hiawatha,” which they all
+struck into with a swing, and some of the sleepers opened one dull eye,
+while the man with the black sticking-plaster on his face was suddenly
+galvanised into walking up and down to the tune—a sort of dancing walk—in
+front of the bandstand.
+
+While we sat by the band, we were joined by another American friend, also
+a “prominent citizen,” with whom I had a long and interesting shout about
+the Philippines in general, and Mr Taft in particular, which was most
+entertaining, for this friend was as ardent a pro-Filipino as the other
+had been anti-Taft and anti-everything. This man was very enthusiastic
+about Mr Taft’s scheme, as he called it, and when I said, “What scheme?”
+he replied:
+
+“Why, the way we run these Islands.”
+
+Whereupon we entered upon a hot discussion, for I was all in favour of
+roads and irrigation, and he was all for school-desks and more teachers.
+I quoted a paragraph I had seen in the Manila papers, where the public
+were informed that some new and wonderfully fertile valley had been
+opened up in the Island of Luzon, and that the Government’s first care
+had been to send ten thousand school-desks to this favoured spot.
+Whereupon he said:
+
+“Well, what is the matter with that, anyway?”
+
+I begged him to consider what Ceylon would be now if Sir Samuel Baker had
+opened it up with school-desks instead of roads and reservoirs.
+
+“Oh,” he said, “I never thought of it in that way. But perhaps our idea
+of raising these races is right. It is an experiment which time will
+prove.”
+
+And that we argued too, with a running comment of amusement on the
+_baile_, in spite of the loud blasts of the band.
+
+Before we left, we had excellent supper in a side-room, where two long
+tables stood covered with food, and all the ceiling was draped with loops
+of greenery and paper lanterns. There were plates set out, each with
+a helping of excellent cold turkey in the middle surrounded by little
+piles of stuffing and vegetables and things, which we followed by very
+nice meringues, and accompanied with delicious iced drinks—ice from the
+Government factory—such a treat! While we were at supper, standing at one
+of the long tables, a paper lamp flared up and fell in a flaming mass
+just behind me. C—— and some Spaniards promptly stamped it out. But some
+of the women were frightened, so the Spaniards sang out:
+
+“Terminado! Terminado!”
+
+And everyone went on eating again.
+
+A little group of natives and _Mestizos_ came into the room immediately
+afterwards, but they had not seen the lamp fall, and one of the women in
+a light trailing gown passed over some smouldering fragments. C—— sprang
+forward and said in Spanish:
+
+“Your dress! There has been a lamp burnt there!” And pointed to the
+sparks.
+
+But the woman merely glared over her shoulder, as if he had offered her
+some insult. I could gladly have stuck my fork into her impudent, bold,
+brown face, and can’t, as yet, see why in the Eternal Fitness of Things
+she did not catch fire and flare up.
+
+After supper we watched a waltz and a two-step, and then went away about
+twelve.
+
+On our way out I passed one of the alcove openings into the inner room,
+where I saw a sad, white Bouguereau Madonna face looking up at a man
+bending down, and recognised one of the heroines of the late _funcion_ (a
+delightful Spanish slang word) next door. So I perceived that the Marble
+Misery was a chronic pose, and nothing at all to do with her relations
+stabbing each other. Only, I must say she looked more “in the picture,”
+running down the street with her hair streaming, than in a bright
+ball-room.
+
+We had gone to the _baile_ in a hired _quilez_, as we did not want
+to take our own frisky pony out on such a night of Chinese crackers
+underfoot and rockets overhead, and we had told the _quilez_ man to come
+back for us. To our astonishment, he did so. Not that it was much of a
+treasure in the way of a carriage, for it was so badly balanced that our
+weight at the back would have lifted the pony clean off the ground if
+the driver had not kept the balance by squatting on the shafts over the
+pony’s tail. The little animal tore along, and it was a wonder and a
+mystery to see how the driver stuck on at all. It was probably chiefly
+done with his toes, for Filipino toes stand apart, supple like fingers,
+and are used in the most marvellous and uncanny ways. In the streets the
+Filipinos wear, or ought to wear, only slippers of gaudy velvet, called
+_chinelas_, but many of them now affect stockings and pointed shoes,
+which I think must be one of the most doubtful blessings of civilisation.
+In the procession I noticed many of the little school girls and boys with
+stockings on and awful shoes, and one or two of the little girls even
+wore hats, but, if I described them to you, you would not believe me!
+
+Well, have you ever had such a long letter in your life? And yet there is
+any amount more to tell you if I only had the energy to write it.
+
+
+
+
+LETTER XXXVI.
+
+COCK-FIGHTING—PULAJANES
+
+
+ ILOILO, _July 14, 1905_.
+
+I know you will be sorry to hear that the last of our dear little
+mongeese is dead—killed by the dogs next door a week ago. We heard
+squeaking and barking and scuffling in the alley-way one evening, and
+rushed to the windows, but it was all dark below, and we could see
+nothing. So C—— and Sotero went down with a lamp, but there was nothing
+to be seen, and when we sent in to ask the old Tagalo dressmaker about
+it, they all swore they had heard nothing. So we hoped it was only a rat;
+but we waited in vain for our poor little pet to come back, and she never
+appeared again.
+
+I could not bear the sight of the empty cage, and made the boys take it
+away after a day or two, and now I find it stands on the Azotea, with
+Sotero’s rooster sitting solemnly on a perch that has been fixed across
+the middle. This is the same cock, by-the-bye, that travelled back with
+us from Nagaba, and when C—— asks the boy about it, he always says it
+is “going to fight for fifteen _pesos_” on some Sunday—which never
+comes. The cock is as tame with Sotero as a dog, and allows itself to
+be combed and stroked the way one sees all the Filipinos do to their
+fighting-cocks.
+
+[Illustration: A VILLAGE COCK-FIGHT.
+
+_To face page 287._]
+
+In the native huts the fighting-cock is a very precious and sacred
+person, enthroned on a special perch at one end of the living-room. The
+night before he fights, this warrior is watched with the greatest care
+to see which point of the compass he faces, as on that omen hang many
+events, for if the creature faces the east he is bound to win, but if he
+is turned towards the west you may as well not take him to the battle at
+all. A little hope is left, however, for when the cocks all crow before
+the dawn, he who makes the first scrawk is bound to win, and you can put
+your last _peseta_ on him.
+
+The poor beasts are taken to the ring, where spurs of curved steel are
+fastened to the back of their heels, which makes the fight pretty short
+and decisive, and may be indirectly merciful if it helps towards a swift
+death. The making of the blades is a fine art, and they are carefully
+carried about in a small box with a little stone on which to sharpen
+them. When one sees a Filipino on the way to a cock-fight, with his bird
+sitting on his arm, there is generally another native walking beside
+him, carrying this little black box containing the spurs and the little
+whet-stone.
+
+There is as much roguery and “doping” amongst these cock-fighters as
+there is about horse-racing amongst “civilised” men, and some of the
+dodges are really very ingenious, such, for instance, as taking tiny
+pills of opium or other poison under the finger nail and dropping them in
+front of your opponent’s bird when it is pecking about before the contest
+begins.
+
+Before the fight the interested parties are allowed to test the roosters,
+like looking at a horse in the paddock, only they enjoy advantages which
+I believe are not to be indulged in a paddock at a race-meeting, for they
+may form their opinion of a bird by picking the animal up and feeling
+its muscles, looking at its thighs and examining its feet, of all of
+which points the Filipino is a wonderful judge, being able to graduate
+his large bets on the feeling of a muscle with great certainty. All the
+same, this is the occasion, if he is so minded and the other man is not
+quick enough, to injure the animal by means of a sharp pin point hidden
+in the palm of the hand or between the fingers.
+
+I notice that the fighting-cocks here don’t have their breasts pulled
+bare of feathers like those poor birds we saw in that old man’s house
+below the walls of the Alhambra. Do you remember how bald and horrible
+they looked? And how the old villain who kept them told us he pulled the
+feathers out and rubbed in spirits to keep the skin hard? They don’t seem
+to do that here, for I have never seen a bare-breasted cock, and never
+met anyone who has heard of such a custom.
+
+The General has gone off to Samar, the long island parallel to this, and
+on the other side of Cebú—though I can only use those terms vaguely,
+and by way of a general indication to you where to look on a map. The
+island is now under martial law, owing to the patriotism and enterprise
+of certain jolly fellows, called Pulajanes, going about with big curved
+_bolos_, and old Spanish flint-locks, and in fact anything they can catch
+hold of. These persons are really patriots of a most irreconcilable type,
+but it suits the programme of the Government to label them _ladrones_
+(robbers), and to refer to their own hard fights with them as “cleaning
+up the province.” On the strength of this nickname, the Americans cut
+down these patriots freely (when the Pulajanes do not do the cutting down
+first), and if they catch them alive the poor devils are hanged like
+common criminals.[11] The papers continue to publish long eulogiums on
+the peace and prosperity of the Philippines, and all the time the richest
+commercial centre of the Archipelago is under martial law, with all its
+business houses shut down; and soldiers and officers continue to arrive
+at the hospital here every now and then, with more or less severe wounds.
+Also waggons occasionally go past from the barracks, piled up with
+baggage, and followed by troops in service kit, and one hears that they
+have “gone to the front.”
+
+For some time past the staff of C——’s firm has been increased here, in
+this Iloilo branch, by the absorption into it of one of their men from
+Catbologan, the chief town of Samar, as their business there, along with
+all the others in that island, has had to be shut down.
+
+There is desultory fighting even here, in Panay, but we never hear of it
+except as an occasional paragraph in a Manila paper.
+
+So much for peace. As to prosperity, there is general scarcity, many
+districts suffer actual famine. In Cebú the lower classes are chiefly
+dependent on an allowance of so many sacks of rice a day, the gift of
+the Chinamen! In that town, indeed, matters are so bad that siege-like
+conditions prevail, and amongst other horrible things that happened, a
+starving native woman lately killed and ate her own baby. This is not
+hearsay, but sober reports in the _Manila Times_.
+
+I am paying the penalty of my recklessness in having gone to the
+Declaration Day ball, for the little walking I did that night made my
+feet very painful again, and I am laid up in bed once more, reading
+papers and trying to forget my American friend’s optimistic remarks about
+tropical ulcers. The doctor tells me I want feeding up to get the poison
+out of my system, and this I can quite believe, but fail to see how it
+is to be brought about. I have tried drinking a little wine, but that
+makes my prickly heat unendurable. The Spaniards here drink _tinto_—the
+red Spanish wine one gets at _tables d’hôte_ in Spain—but it has to be
+spirited up for export, so out here it is rather heady and sour; but I am
+sure it must be more wholesome than the whisky and soda of the English
+people, or the eternal tea of the American women. You will be tired of
+hearing about my mosquito bites, but I must just tell you one new thing
+that I have heard about this unpleasant ailment, which is that many
+people think the poison is introduced by flies—one fly would be quite
+enough! There were no flies, or very few, when we came here at first, in
+the dry season, but with the rain they have appeared in black swarms,
+and we live surrounded by large sheets of sticky paper with Tangle
+Foot written on them—a delightful American expression! Here again I am
+reminded of the amount of indifference shown to an animal in proportion
+to its size—comparative with that of a human being. For can you imagine
+anyone being tolerated, who caught cats or horses in deep, thick glue and
+let them slowly struggle to death? Yet what are you to do with flies?
+You can’t catch each one—first catch your fly, in fact—and then kill it
+in the quickest and most scientific manner. No. It must be Tangle Foot
+papers. But even though I find I am simply compelled to have them about
+the house, when I see a fly trying to haul one foot after the other out
+of the dreadful Tangle Foot, I can’t help appreciating the poor insect’s
+point of view.
+
+The old millionaire I told you about is still here, and everyone is
+trying to be civil to him, but I hear he is very difficult to entertain,
+for he insists on being the only man to talk, which he does very slowly
+and in an almost unintelligible accent. He gives considerable annoyance,
+too, by his bad clothes, dirty hands, and unshaven face, and one can’t
+help sympathising with the men who are irritated by such slovenliness, or
+agreeing with them, that it is not much good being a millionaire if you
+can’t get hold of a decent tailor and a razor and some soap!
+
+I think I told you that our friend Mr —— sent his wife and family off
+to Hong Kong when the heat began? They have come back, and are giving
+me so much annoyance by rhapsodies over the climate, the cheapness of
+everything, and the good food in Hong Kong that at last I had to _beg_
+them to say no more! Mrs —— is still comparing prices here with prices
+there, and she brought back pretty things for her house, which make me
+wild with envy—or would if we were not soon to pass to happier climes!
+Her husband went to fetch his little tribe, and he is raving, not so
+much about the comparison of prices and the joys of fresh milk, fruit,
+and vegetables as the horrible imposition of being compelled to pay the
+Philippine Cedula Tax all over again. Five _pesos_ a head—10 shillings
+each for his wife, the three children, and the nurse! And what annoyed
+him most of all, I think, was his having been away about three weeks
+himself and having to pay it again too. However, it has been worth the
+money to them, I should think, for they all look quite brown and jolly
+compared to the people here, and quite different beings to the washed-out
+folk they were when they went away. At this time of year, as I think
+I told you, all the Hong Kong people who can afford it go home or to
+Shanghai or Japan, as they consider Hong Kong at this season not fit to
+live in!
+
+
+
+
+LETTER XXXVII.
+
+A PEARL OF GREAT PRICE
+
+
+ ILOILO, _July 14, 1905_.
+
+We are having much cooler weather now, the thermometer sometimes as low
+as 77°, and hardly ever above 80°, and at night it has even been down
+to 64°. We have had some spells of hot sunshine, which have brought the
+flowers out in the few gardens and the cemeteries. We get a trayful now
+and then of all sorts of queer-looking blossoms, mostly bright reds
+and yellows, with no smell, and very gaudy and handsome. Many of them
+I have seen in hothouses at home, especially one big bright yellow
+funnel-shaped flower; but I don’t know any of their names, except the
+native words told me by the charming white-haired old Filipino gardener
+who brings them. Amongst the last lot was a thing exactly like a large
+periwinkle, which made me think at once of the garden at home, and some
+stuff like May-blossom, which made me feel more homesick than ever! They
+are beautiful, all these flowers, when they come in fresh, but there is
+no scent about them, and they seldom live twenty-four hours. One I do
+recognise, and that is the Canna lily, which I have seen in hothouses
+at home, and some irises of different sorts. I am feeling much better,
+so we went for a drive yesterday between the showers, but got caught in
+two tremendous squalls—one in the town and one on the Molo road. The
+_calesa_ has a hood, which is raised on crooks, and one can shut oneself
+in altogether in heavy rain, with an arrangement of waterproof curtains,
+the reins passing through a hole in the high apron. It looks so funny, in
+wet weather, to see the bottled-up _calesas_ going about, being driven as
+by magic, with the miserable _sota_ (groom) trying to make the best of
+his narrow perch behind.
+
+[Illustration: WATERING CARABAOS.
+
+_To face page 293._]
+
+The roads were a maze of huge pools of water, through which we just
+splashed anyhow, and all the palm-groves were brilliantly green, and full
+of new little fairy lakes, which looked so lovely that they were well
+worth the discomforts of the drive. Near the huge Priests’ College, a
+little way out of Iloilo, we saw some _carabaos_ having a glorious time
+in various new pools. They looked very picturesque, with their great dark
+curved horns, standing out against the shining water and the green grass.
+The greenness is wonderful—too wonderful. There is no beauty of purples
+and soft blues about a wet day here; it is all grey and green, and even
+the little lakes in the palm-groves are very garish, and all exactly
+alike. One longs for a change of colouring, and these crude tints get on
+one’s nerves like an oleograph in a hotel.
+
+Talking of nerves, the perpetual sounds were added to, as soon as the
+rainy season set in, by the bell-like voices of countless frogs, singing
+in every ditch and pool. They sing in the day, but at night they are
+loudest, or else most noticeable, and their melodious notes might be
+pretty if one heard less of them and a long way off.
+
+A day or two ago Sotero came to me saying that a woman was at the door
+wanting to sell me a ring. I said I would look at it; so he went off and
+brought me a dirty little piece of newspaper, out of which emerged a
+huge pearl set in a very common, florid, claw setting. I looked at the
+pearl and saw that though it was white enough, it was very rough, with
+no iridescent lustre, what connoisseurs call “skin,” I believe. I also
+noticed that as the stone tapered away, and was discoloured under the
+setting, it could not be worth more than £10 at the most. But Sotero said
+the woman wanted two hundred _pesos_ (£20), so the incident came to a
+rapid close. When C—— came back in the middle of the day, and I told him
+about the ring, he said he knew it quite well, for it had been hawked all
+over Iloilo; and everyone thought the price asked a preposterous sum. In
+spite of which the woman refused all reasonable offers.
+
+The pearl came from the pearl-fisheries of the Philippines, which are
+chiefly in the Sulu Islands, far away South, where the Philippines almost
+touch British North Borneo. They say the pearls are not very good ones
+at the best, but none of the best specimens find their way about the
+Islands, for they are sent straight away to Singapore by the Chinamen who
+own the fisheries. Here there are oysters with beautiful, transparent,
+white pearl shells, of which the small panes of the rain-shutters are
+made; but these shells have no pearls in them, and are of very little
+value. Besides these oysters, we get all manner of shell-fish—crabs,
+cray-fish, clams, shrimps, as well as soles, sprats, whiting, and
+quantities of other fish. Indeed the supply of fish is wonderfully varied
+and always exquisitely fresh, except on Fridays, when the servants of all
+good Catholics clear the markets, or even secure the fish before they get
+into the markets at all. In stormy weather, too, we don’t get much fish,
+but, as a rule, the supply is a great boon, and one of our chief sources
+of sustenance. I was astonished to find in Manila that fish was very
+scarce and dear, and people there envied us the fish here, while those
+who only knew Manila refused even to believe that we could have such a
+supply at all!
+
+[Illustration: A FILIPINO FISH-MARKET.
+
+_To face page 294._]
+
+
+
+
+LETTER XXXVIII.
+
+AGRICULTURAL POSSIBILITIES
+
+
+ ILOILO, _July 31_.
+
+I think I told you we had been very lucky in the selling of the greater
+part of our furniture, and now we have got the _calesa_ and pony off our
+hands as well, which is a great loss in the evenings, but we had to take
+what chance we could. Some of the young Englishmen got up a Gymkhana on
+the beach yesterday, and C—— rode the pony for the last time, when he was
+lucky enough to win two races out of three, and only missed the third by
+a misunderstanding about the start.
+
+It was a dull, showery afternoon, unfortunately, but when the rain went
+off, I strolled down to the beach to see if anything was to be seen. I
+found crowds of Filipinos standing about the upper part of the beach,
+and a few hurdles down on the sands, which the receding tide had left
+quite firm. The competitors, who included some of the young Spaniards and
+_Mestizos_, were riding up and down, and just as I arrived on the scene,
+a race came flying along in great style, to the intense joy of the native
+onlookers.
+
+The occasion was enlivened by the _banda de musica popular_, the members
+of which had been on their way to play in the Plaza, but had strolled
+down to the beach, where they stood amongst the crowd, and every now and
+then blew and tootled a tune while they goggled about.
+
+I signalled to our _sota_ and made him go up to the house and fetch
+me a chair, on which I sat and watched the race. As I sat there a
+Filipino youth came up and very civilly asked me if the _señora_ wanted
+a _muchacho_, but I said I did not, as I was quite content with the
+servants I had at present.
+
+We have had one or two very fine days again lately, and have been for
+one or two drives, but some very blood-thirsty road-mending has been
+going on, to prepare the town for the critical eyes of the Taft party,
+who are to arrive here from Manila on the 14th or 15th of next month.
+This road-mending is done by hauling the volcanic gravel out of the river
+beds, and dumping it in huge piles along the middle of the roads, and as
+the thoroughfares are not lighted, the result is a wild steeplechase with
+one wheel in the air. Sometimes fellows come along and spread the gravel
+out, but more generally it just spreads itself. It makes very soft roads,
+which the heavy _carabao_-carts plough up at once.
+
+One of the last drives we took was to visit the foreign cemetery, which
+is on the outskirts of the town, on a road running parallel to the beach.
+We got out of the trap at a tall wooden gate, which an old man opened
+to us, and walked up a short avenue of flowering bushes and palms. The
+graves stood on a grassy plot, with bushes growing about it, laden with
+large red or yellow blossoms, and crossed at right angles by sandy paths
+bordered with tiles. They were not ordinary graves, like those one sees
+at home, for each one was a sort of small brick tunnel some feet from the
+ground, and closed by a cemented tablet. There were names of some English
+people on one or two of them, and one had just been opened to send the
+bones of the occupant back to his native land. The man had been dead
+twenty-five years, and it seemed to me hardly worth while to disturb him.
+
+A little behind the main row of tombs we came on a Jewish grave—a big
+marble sarcophagus—with an iron rail round it and inscriptions in Hebrew
+on the flat top. The marble was native to this country, I have no doubt,
+as there is plenty of it in the Philippines; in fact some of the small
+islands are known to be of solid marble, but it does not pay to work
+them—did I not tell you this before, though?
+
+Mr B—— came to call this afternoon, and was very indignant about local
+justice, as it appears that one of his Filipino clerks was impudent to
+a white man in his firm, whereupon the white man naturally struck the
+Filipino as any ordinary man of grit strikes a man who is rude to him.
+However, the cur Filipino went off to the police and lodged a complaint.
+The white man was had up, and has been heavily fined for “assaulting” the
+Filipino, and Mr B—— says:
+
+“What on earth are you to do with impertinent natives if you don’t hit
+them? They don’t care a straw if you dismiss them, and take not the least
+notice of reproof.”
+
+But I think there is right on both sides, for the way some of the white
+men hit their servants about is brutal and foolish. I said something to
+this effect, whereupon Mr B—— said, very much surprised:
+
+“Why, doesn’t your husband have to kick your fellows about?”
+
+And he was quite incredulous when I assured him that C—— had never
+dreamed of such a thing except once, when our first cook had muttered
+impertinences, and been kicked out on to the Azotea for his rudeness.
+
+“But they are such stupid fools,” argued Mr B——.
+
+We replied that we did not think blows would make them any brighter,
+on which he laughed and said perhaps we were right, as we certainly had
+remarkably good servants.
+
+Another guest, Mr M——, was talking about Philippine food, and observed
+that tomatoes grew so well here. I said I thought they were miserable
+failures, as they are about the size of walnuts, and quite green. But
+he maintained that that was because the Filipino just sticks his tomato
+plants in the ground and goes off to sit in the shade or to a cock-fight,
+and when he sees any sign of fruit on the plants, he picks it and takes
+it to market. Any notion of tilling the soil—weeding or manuring—is
+absolutely unknown to these people, or if known, carefully avoided. Mr
+M—— said he had seen tomatoes, grown by Chinamen, as good as the very
+best out of a hothouse at home. There are several Chinese _potagères_
+in the town where rows of trim little beds may be seen thick with
+extraordinarily luxuriant crops of vegetables of every sort, but out here
+no one will eat anything grown by the Chinamen, as those enterprising
+people employ some dreadful and unmentionable methods of agriculture.
+Besides this, there are many germs in the teeming, prolific air which
+invest vegetables such as cabbages, lettuce, etc., and make them very
+unsafe experiments, even if one can procure any. When I was in Manila,
+there was a good deal of talk at dinner tables, and much writing in the
+papers about some American scientist who professed to have found out a
+way to “treat” the Philippine green lettuces before eating them, so as
+to destroy some dreadful germ which causes horrible complaints. But it
+seemed to me less trouble and a great deal safer to give up lettuce as a
+bad job!
+
+The great and terrible fear in the Philippines is the germ of a disease
+called “sprue”—a sort of wasting away—which is very difficult to remedy,
+and almost ineradicable.
+
+Melons would grow well here, for in the wet season anything in the nature
+of a gourd springs up like a weed—a habit which suits the Filipino
+agriculturist to perfection. Some of the more energetic spirits fasten a
+piece of _bejuco_ from the marrow plant up to a window, and gourd vines
+may often be seen obligingly toiling up a string to hand fruit in to the
+weary dwellers in a _nipa_ hut. Nevertheless, melons are only to be got
+from Hong Kong, and even then they are a costly delicacy. Some friends
+sent us half a watermelon a few days ago, as a present, but we did not
+like to accept anything so valuable, and insisted on paying for it. What
+a treat it was!
+
+With the rainy season we also have a tiny hard native fruit that
+looks like a damson outside, but has white flesh with a stone like a
+date-stone, and is entirely devoid of any flavour of any sort. I tried
+having this fruit stewed, but it was even nastier than when raw. When we
+were at Nagaba for the day, in the spring, we got some fruit like knobs
+of rose-coloured wax, pink all through, with black pips, and rather tart,
+but also tasteless. I suppose all these insipid, nasty little native
+fruits could be cultivated into something nice, in the way that cherries
+have been developed, and apples and everything else, from the tasteless
+wild fruit. At present, however, they are tolerable only to the native
+palate. The best of them is a tiny brown fruit called _lazones_, which
+has a fluffy thin brown skin, and grey brown flesh in divisions like an
+orange, each division containing a large green seed. The flavour of the
+_lazones_ is sharp, rather nice, and very refreshing, but this fruit only
+comes from Luzon, and is very expensive, besides being half-rotten by
+the time it gets here. Bananas, pine-apples, and mangoes—that is all.
+Bananas one gets unutterably sick of, and pine-apples too—and mangoes,
+even if one likes them (which we do not), give one prickly heat. In fact
+tinned strawberries and raspberries are about the best Philippine fruits.
+
+We have received an invitation to the banquet in honour of Mr Taft and
+his party on the 15th—on the payment of 12 _pesos_ each. But we may have
+to sail before that date if our Hong Kong steamer comes in. I shall be
+very sorry if we miss that event, for I think the Taft utterances would
+be well worth 25 shillings a head, though that does seem a pretty stiff
+sum for an Iloilo banquet!
+
+
+
+
+LETTER XXXIX.
+
+A LAST DAY AT NAGABA—THE “SECWAR”
+
+
+ ILOILO, _August 11, 1905_.
+
+We went a last trip to Nagaba on Sunday, but only for the day, and were
+lucky in having very fine weather and delightfully cool, only 80°, with a
+lovely breeze blowing, and the sky a little overcast.
+
+We roused ourselves up after lunch, and two friends came to the house to
+join the party, and we sent the “boy” for two _quilezes_. When we went
+down, I stepped into the first one; there was Tuyay lying in it already!
+How she knows when we are going out is simply marvellous.
+
+We drove to the Muelle Loney, at the farther end of which _paraos_ are
+moored for hire, and chose a nice big boat, the _Valentino_, with an
+upper deck of split bamboo, a rabbit-hutch cabin of _nipa_ matting, and a
+crew of eight men, and set sail for Nagaba.
+
+The sun came out soon after we started, so we lay half in and half out
+of the cabin and the shade it cast. It was a “three-man breeze,” so some
+of the crew ran out on the outriggers and others hauled ropes, while
+three ruffians sat on the deck, which was 3 feet wide, by-the-bye, and
+spread out a piece of blue paper, which they held down with their bare
+brown toes. We could not think what they were going to do, when, to our
+astonishment, one of them produced a pack of greasy cards and pieces of
+money and began the three-card trick! They did their best to get us
+interested in the game, the chief little old brown swindler losing to
+his confederates all in the best Derby style. We looked on with deep
+interest, but showed no signs of wishing to take part in the gamble,
+except for C—— to ask casually if they knew he was in the Secret Police,
+which made them look quite serious for a few minutes. This remark about
+Secret Police was no empty jest, for it is an Institution of the Free and
+Enlightened U.S.A., worthy of Russia or the Dark Ages. Well, after this
+disquieting joke about the Secret Police, the three-card trick seemed to
+lose its flavour, and the gamblers shifted billet again, to our intense
+amusement, crawling along the outriggers, and past the “cabin,” and on
+to the tiny space of after-deck, where the steersman sat huddled up with
+his legs round the tiller. Here they spread the blue paper out again,
+one of the confederates lying airily across the stern entrance, betting
+excitedly, with an occasional squint into the cabin to see if anyone was
+inclined to slip aft on the sly. But we never even looked round, so they
+soon abandoned that tactic and climbed on to the “cabin” roof, where they
+crouched like monkeys, chattering, and now and then a great flat brown
+face hung over the edge and looked down in on us; but we got rather tired
+of them, so C—— leaned out and hit one of them, and they gave that up too.
+
+All this time we were skimming through the water, going at a tremendous
+pace, the boat leaning over first to one side and then to the other, with
+the white foam spurting up from the brilliant green sea, the half-naked
+brown sailors running out on the long poles of the outriggers, and the
+big sails filled out tight. It was most exhilarating.
+
+We went straight across, a little wide of Nagaba, and then made a wide
+tack, which enabled the boat to go quite close to the beach, as the tide
+was high, and we came up right opposite the village. One of the boatmen
+carried me ashore, and the moment Tuyay saw me leave the ship, she flung
+herself into the water and swam after me in a sort of tragic despair that
+made us all laugh very much.
+
+Then other brawny little natives took C—— and our two friends astride on
+their shoulders and set us all down on the dry sand, and we walked up
+through the little village of huts, all amongst the babies and dogs and
+pigs. There were several new swamps to be seen, and everything was even
+greener than when we were last there, which was before the S.-W. Monsoon
+had really set in. I noticed, too, that the bushes had flowered, as our
+friends had predicted, and one of them was a beautiful, scentless yellow
+blossom, a little like a snapdragon.
+
+We had meant to go for a real walk, but the sun was too hot, as it was
+not more than four o’clock, so we wandered along to “our” house, through
+the fields and village. It was delightful to feel the fresh country air,
+and to smell the earth and plants after the streets of Iloilo, and we
+actually felt hungry, and began to ask each other what was to be done
+about food. Nothing was to be had at any house in the village, as we
+all knew by experience, but by luck we came upon a sort of open _nipa_
+shed, where a little Filipino woman was standing behind a wooden tray
+containing ears of maize, little heaps of rice, and betel-nut, which
+was by way of being a shop. From her, and a youth who cropped up from
+nowhere and conducted the bargaining, we bought what the Americans call
+corn-pone, which is whole ears of young maize roasted. We munched the
+corn, which was very sweet and tender, and uncommonly filling—after about
+half a “pone” one could hardly breathe.
+
+A little further on we regretted our haste in satiating ourselves with
+maize, as we saw a big open shed, with two steps up to it, and all sorts
+of glasses and dishes glittering on a table spread with a white cloth,
+evidently a sort of _Fiesta_ restaurant. We cheered up at this, and
+hurried along with talk of fizzing drinks, but when we came nearer, and
+out of the full glare of the sunlight, we got a horrible shock on finding
+it to be the Aglipay church!
+
+So we trailed on, rather despondent, and very thirsty, between the huts
+and boats, through the deep soft sand, which was unpleasant to walk on.
+We saw a big _parao_ lying drawn up, hewn out of one vast tree-trunk,
+which is the original model of these long, narrow boats, and it looked
+like a huge _baroto_ (canoe).
+
+When we got to the house, Tuyay was greeted most enthusiastically by a
+little spaniel friend, and the caretakers were civil enough to us, but
+incredibly stupid about a request for coffee. At last C—— made them
+understand by talking to them in Visayan, but it is really very strange
+how very few of the people in the country know any Spanish, and the
+town’s-people can only say a few words or phrases at the best.
+
+We took chairs out of the house, opened the sliding bamboo frames
+shutting off the balcony, and established ourselves out there in the
+cool shade. There we sat for an hour, munching maize, and watching three
+fowls and three brown babies picking up mysterious food on the rocks and
+in the shallow pools. One of the babies was an elderly person of five or
+six, who was “minding” the other two, and one could see that he was older
+and more important, as he had on a very short and entirely foolish white
+muslin shirt, but the other two were in nothing but fat brown skin. The
+tiniest was a very serious and bullet-headed little chap, with thin arms
+and legs, and a huge rice-tummy. All three mites were squatting about,
+very busy and solemn, finding some little shell-fish, which they cracked
+between stones and ate with the gestures of monkeys.
+
+They were to us a source of absolute delight, and it was not till the
+elderly pastor in the muslin shirt led his flock off to fresh pools out
+of sight that we went into the house and drank the coffee which the woman
+had prepared for us. It was excellent black coffee, made in the native
+fashion by holding the grounds in a little bag at the end of a piece of
+bamboo in a coffee pot—simple, but effective. With it went large flat
+cakes of yellowish sugar, called _caramelo_, and she had also produced
+from somewhere four ship’s biscuits. The latter were rather a relief
+after the maize, and indeed we thought the meal a delicious feast, though
+I have no doubt we would not have looked at it over the other side of the
+Guimaras Channel.
+
+After this, as it was about six o’clock, and the sun was going down, we
+walked down to the river mouth and got on board the good ship _Valentino_
+by crawling along another _parao_, which was beached in the shallower
+water further inshore, and thence by perilous ventures along those
+outriggers on which the sailors run about in a gale as if they were on
+firm land!
+
+The sail back in the sunset was exquisite, all the mountains of Panay
+dark blue against an orange sky, a young moon overhead, and the air
+exquisitely fresh.
+
+Altogether it was a most delightful trip, and I only wish we had had more
+such days, but with only one day a week to choose from it is often too
+hot, and sometimes too wet to go on the water. Most of the time, too,
+I have not been well enough for expeditions under the most favourable
+circumstances, and then, over and above all these reasons is the fact
+that one seldom has the inclination here to do anything or go anywhere.
+I think it must be owing to this latter phenomenon that there is no
+sort of “week-end resort” at Nagaba, for one can hardly understand
+how such an enterprising people as the Americans have neglected this
+golden opportunity for a business that, I believe, they understand so
+admirably—I mean sort of Simple Life Hotels. I remember an American
+whom I met at home once, in England, telling me a long story about
+some place in the Adirondaks, where people from New York (or was it
+Chicago?—no matter) go and live in tents; and millionaires catch food,
+and their priceless wives and daughters cook and sweep. The story came
+up _à propos_ the daughter of a millionaire who had just married an
+English duke, as this personage had been roughing it in the next tent
+to my friend. I think I may have told you the story at the time. But I
+have read so much and heard so much about the American love of country
+life that I am astounded to see how they all sit grilling in Iloilo when
+they might have a hotel at Nagaba. The truth is, of course, that such an
+enterprise might be a doubtful undertaking, as every American I have ever
+yet met or seen, from the highest to the humblest, is simply saving money
+to get away from the Philippines and back to “God’s Country.”
+
+We are still undecided about our departure, as the _Sung-Kiang_ (the
+sister-ship of the _Kai-Fong_ and the same Line) has come in before what
+the Americans call her “scheduled” time. That is a very queer word of
+theirs, by-the-bye, and they work the poor thing to death, making it
+do all sorts of unnatural gymnastics in place of good, ready, useful
+English. Probably we shall wait for the _Kai-Fong_, but whichever we
+decide for, we shall not miss the Taft party after all, which I am very
+pleased about, and we have put our names down for the banquet.
+
+They are in Manila now, the first intimation of their arrival having been
+a telegram in the Iloilo _El Tiempo_, headed “Impresiones de Miss Alice
+Roosevelt”—who had not been an hour in the Philippines, if she had landed
+at all, when the impression was what newspaper language calls “voiced.”
+
+Now we have _The Manila Times_ of that and the following two days, which
+are “all Taft,” of course, set forth in the quaintest concoction of
+cheap picture-writing, bad grammar, and awkward, slapdash slang. Much
+about “Miss Alice,”—a whole column of an interesting description of that
+lady’s every gesture at a race-meeting—in fact she looms so large in the
+Philippine eye that it looks as if she were here for a very good reason;
+perhaps to take the fierce, white light off Mr Taft a little. They allude
+to the latter, by-the-bye, as “the _Secwar_,” which, when I first came
+across it, I took to be the name of some Indian chief, but it at last
+dawned upon me that the word was a contraction of Secretary of War, and
+I have since been told that it is his telegraphic address used as an
+affectionate nickname.
+
+The American reporter seems to be as virulent in Manila as anywhere else,
+for before the party had landed one of these human mosquitoes asked a
+Senator what he thought of “these islands,” but the visitor cleverly
+replied that he had come to gather impressions, not to furnish them.
+
+The papers are still full of guesses about the true reasons for this
+visitation, for so many of them persist in the theory that Mr Taft is not
+entirely actuated by altruistic wishes for the welfare of his “little
+brown brothers,” but has a wary eye upon the elector at home, and will
+pose as the Saint of the Philippines just as far as his own interests
+are safe. I think it is a great shame to say this, however, for it is
+obvious that he has done the best he can for the Philippines according
+to his views; and whether one agrees with his theories or not, his good
+intentions are not to be denied. I had a long talk with a man who has
+been here in a good business for thirty-three years, and is supposed to
+know more about the Philippines than any other white man alive; and he
+told me that, as far as enlightening the Senators went, he thought the
+Taft visit was a costly farce, for they are to be allowed to see and hear
+nothing that does not “suit the Taft book.” A week in Manila of meetings,
+balls, parties, and banquets, followed by flying visits to the principal
+towns in the provinces and more banquets, all feasting and flags and
+anthems; but not a glimpse of the miserable, wasted agricultural
+districts, the abandoned rice-fields, and the real truth of the labour
+problem. Moreover, their opinion of the self-government problem is to be
+formed by the conversation of a few well-educated and carefully selected
+_Mestizos_ in the towns.
+
+The natives, themselves, however, are tremendously jubilant about the
+approaching visit of their Patron Saint, and expect all blessings to
+spring up miraculously in his footsteps.
+
+Talking of natives, I am glad to say that our three excellent servants
+have found good billets, with a rise in importance and wages, and they
+are all so pleased, poor souls, that we took the trouble to recommend
+them to our friends. They did not want much touting, for the spotless
+tidiness of their appearance is an advertisement that speaks for itself
+and their honesty is patent, for we trust them in a way that no one else
+dreams of doing with their Filipino servants. I don’t know how the two
+house boys will get on with impatient Englishmen, for they are both
+very shy, faithful, simple countrymen—real unspoilt Filipinos. But if
+they were spoken to sharply, or muddled in their work, they would become
+confused and stupid at once. Not that there is anything peculiar to the
+Filipino race in these traits, because they are perfectly familiar to me
+in many kindly, simple, limited souls in other latitudes. You have to
+take them as you find them, only hoping, as with the same type at home,
+that their secret cunning may be ranged on your own side, and that if you
+can’t make a silk purse out of a sow’s ear, you may perhaps manage to
+contrive a useful little leather bag if you are patient enough.
+
+ _Note._—I have before me _The Manila Times_ of 17th January
+ 1906, from which I give the following extract:—“While the
+ municipal and ecclesiastical dignitaries, etc., were awaiting
+ the arrival of Secretary Taft, a Government vessel slowly made
+ her way up the Pasig river filled with the dead and wounded
+ from the island of Samar. During the stay of the party in
+ Manila, four native men were brought in from the adjoining
+ province of Cavite frightfully mutilated because of their
+ pro-American sympathies.”
+
+
+
+
+LETTER XL.
+
+PREPARATIONS
+
+
+ ILOILO, _August 14, 1905_.
+
+We have now decided to go to Hong Kong by the _Kai-Fong_, which sails
+next Saturday or Monday, the 20th or 22nd. The _Sung-Kiang_ loaded up as
+much as she could and shoved off on Saturday, as she did not want to be
+paying port dues here the whole of to-day (Sunday) and to-morrow, which
+is a public holiday, being the anniversary of the taking of Manila by
+Admiral Dewey.
+
+The transport conveying the Taft party is _scheduled_ to arrive here
+to-day, and this evening they are to be present at a performance of the
+Filipino Amateur Dramatic Club, to which we have been invited by means of
+a huge printed invitation, couched in elaborate Spanish, and adorned by
+many ornaments and flourishes.
+
+We heard the sound of a band going past very early this morning, and
+when we went out on to the balcony, we saw it was the Infantry band from
+Guimaras, with the regiment behind them marching down the street. They
+marched splendidly, and the band was playing a most sad and beautiful
+tune, which made one think of war, and troops marching away, and women
+crying in the morning. The soldiers had just arrived, I expect, for
+everyone from Camp Josman is pouring into Iloilo for the _fêtes_ for the
+Taft party.
+
+Arches are being put up in the streets, and, as everybody has been
+requested to decorate their houses, we have hoisted a Union Jack on a
+long pole, and all this morning the servants were very happy, in the
+pouring rain, sticking up palm-branches which they had stolen from some
+plantation. They are much excited about the arrival of this hero of
+theirs, and one of them—who gets confused when we accuse him of being an
+_Independiente_, because he has his watch hung on a nail in the kitchen,
+with a portrait of Rizal over it, a sort of little shrine—is simply
+beaming with delight, and can’t haul up enough palms.
+
+In the office opposite, the native clerks are surpassing themselves with
+archway and window decorations of greenery and flowers; while the old
+Tagalo dressmaker next door has been busy for a week past making paper
+flowers of all the hues under the sun. In that house, by-the-bye, the
+stock of domestic pets has lately been increased by the addition of a
+sheep, which is quite tame, for we can hear its little hoofs tap-tapping
+over the bare boards, and see it sitting amongst the work-girls in the
+big front room. They have a nice little black pig, too, also running
+about the house and equally tame, and in the evenings the old man goes
+out for a walk to the beach with the fat old brown dog, the pig, and the
+sheep all running after him and playing about. I have often seen them go
+along the street—such a curious company! And people who live near the
+beach tell me he takes them all down to the sea, washes them, and then
+walks about to give them an airing. They are all sharing in the popular
+rejoicings, too, for the brown dog and the pig have got on necklaces of
+paper flowers, while the sheep is crowned in the most arcadian fashion.
+
+Mr Taft has made a lot of speeches in Manila, but, so far, they have
+only contained very nebulous references to the Independence question;
+though he has cast a sop to the malcontents by promises of abolition or
+reduction of certain export duties, by which the excited Filipinos argue
+and predict a millennium of agricultural improvement and general plenty.
+
+But none of the business men are very clear as to how this miracle
+is to be wrought, for the Government will not lower the standard of
+wages; Chinese labour will not be allowed in; and the Filipino will not
+suddenly, if ever, become a thrifty, hard-working tiller of the soil,
+even if he passes all the standards of the American schools.
+
+One paragraph stowed away in a corner of _The Manila Times_ made us laugh
+very much, for it was an account of how Poblete de los Reyes (a Filipino
+_Independiente_ agitator) and Father Aglipay were “haunting the corridors
+of the Ayuntamento” (the _Gobierno_ of Manila), “but up to noon to-day
+they had failed to get the ear of Secretary Taft.”
+
+This gave me a delightful vision of those two anxious flat brown faces
+peering out of all sorts of shadowy places, and Mr Taft for ever making a
+break for another room, and rushing through suites and up and down little
+staircases to escape the gen-u-_ine_ patriots. This is only a fancy
+picture, of course, but still it may contain a grain of truth, and at any
+rate it afforded us much amusement.
+
+Many people think Mr Taft is reserving some great pronouncement for
+Iloilo, as he favoured this town above all Philippine communities in
+that he made here his great pro-Filipino speech, two years ago, when he
+was Governor-General of the Philippines. In this famous oration he used
+these words: “These Philippine Islands are going to be governed _for_ the
+Filipinos, and no one _but_ the Filipinos, and any stranger or American
+who does not like it can get out.”
+
+This did much to ensure his popularity with the natives everywhere in
+the Islands, and in Iloilo in particular. However, even the easy-going
+Americans seem to have grasped that these words went a little too far,
+for they tried to hush up that part of the speech, but the Filipinos,
+already fully alive to the blessings of a free press, seized on this
+utterance, and it was published in _The Nuevo Heraldo_, which is the
+Iloilo _Independiente_ organ. The phrase got about everywhere, and did
+much to shake public confidence in justice towards the white man, with
+incidental harm to trade and enterprise, but it pleased the “little brown
+brother,” and added another step to the pedestal on which he has placed
+the Patron Saint.
+
+To the mere observer, however, this cry of Altruism is not very
+convincing in face of the fact that the Philippines lie so conveniently
+on the west of the future Panama Canal. It was not brotherly love which
+prompted astute American politicians to wash off the Spaniards with
+rivers of blood and treasure, and I think the Filipino will find that he
+gets just as much of “Philippines for the Filipinos” as is contained in
+the other famous phrase of “little brown brother”—and no more. Gradually,
+too, he will find that to be a “little brown brother” out here will be
+the same sort of distinction as being a big black brother in the U.S.A.
+
+In one of the last magazines we received from home is a description by
+some woman of a cruise in a tramp steamer in the Pacific. Lotus Islands,
+and all that sort of thing, and who-wants-to-return-to-fretful-Europe
+rhapsodies, which it struck me I should better have appreciated this time
+last year. But now all I think of is the utter, mental sterility of such
+a life, which appears to me, in the light of experience, still more like
+the impression made by a beautiful and stupid woman. She winds up with a
+fine peroration about the “spell of the Ancient World,” which “binds one
+to the Island home and the Island life for ever.”
+
+I can’t think what there is of the “Ancient World” about a Pacific
+island; but the spell, if there is one, must be that of indolence; or
+the attraction, as in the case of Stevenson, simply a matter of health;
+for it seems to me that no other inducements could make one willingly
+lose touch of all that civilisation has to offer to distinguish one from
+a south sea islander. Of course, in the temperate climes there are the
+inconveniences of dress, frost, and drainage, but those are small when
+compared with art, books, good music, and intelligent fellow-creatures.
+Oh, you can’t imagine the deadliness of the lives the white people lead
+here—the indifference, the stagnation, the animal round of food and
+sleep! I think if it had been my fate to stay on in the “Island home and
+the Island life” for ever, if I had not become physically ill, I must
+have become mentally an invalid for the rest of my life.
+
+
+
+
+LETTER XLI.
+
+THE FESTIVITIES
+
+
+ ILOILO, _August 17, 1905_.
+
+I must tell you all about this _Comitiva Taft_ dissipation, of which we
+had the first taste on Monday, the 15th, when a printed notice was left
+at our house, saying that the “Congressional party” had arrived that
+evening instead of next morning, and another large, flowery, and handsome
+invitation, bidding us to a reception to be held at the house of the De
+la Ramos, very rich Filipinos, who have a fine house in a broad, shady
+street, where the Bank and some other big houses stand within gardens.
+
+The reception was to be followed by the performance at the Filipino
+theatre, to which as I told you we had also been invited, but we thought
+that the reception, which was “scheduled” to come off at eight, would be
+quite enough for us for one evening.
+
+We dined early, and sent Domingo out for a _quilez_ “with a good horse.”
+He came back after a long while and said all the carriages in the town
+were already hired, but he had got what he could, and the _caballo_ was
+_poco bueno_ (little good). He was right. It was a horse to make one’s
+heart ache to look at; and when we stepped into the dirty old broken-down
+_quilez_, to which he was attached with odds and ends of old rope, the
+poor beast started going backwards all down the street. The driver roared
+profanities, and clicked his lips, and chucked the reins, but all to no
+effect; till at last he called one of our servants out of the house, and
+they each seized a wheel by the spokes and forced it round, so that the
+pony was shoved along, when it started off at a great pace; the driver
+sprang on the box, and we tore like the wind to the house of De la Ramos.
+
+There had been a great deal of rain, and the roads were very deep in mud,
+but the sky had cleared, and a bright moon was shining.
+
+In spite of this natural illumination, there was a reckless profusion of
+arc-lights in the streets, which, as I told you, had been in black gloom
+for months. We had seen the lamps being repaired for some days when we
+went out in the evenings, and the general furbishing-up and improvement
+extended to a sudden serving out of ice from the Government factory, so
+that everyone was wishing there could be one of these Visitations to
+Iloilo every week. Well, when we got to the De la Ramos house, we found
+all the front really extremely pretty, with _huge_ stars-and-stripes
+flags—stripes the size of palm-trunks and stars like soup-plates—draped
+right across the front, with green palm-branches stuck about, all in
+the light of brilliant illuminations. Great doors stood open to a vast
+lighted and decorated hall, with a very big cut-glass chandelier in the
+middle.
+
+The _poco bueno_ horse was pulled up on his haunches abruptly in front
+of all this magnificence, and some white men leaning against the doorway
+picking their teeth, looked at us, but offered no remark. So C——, in
+evening dress, got out and asked one of them if this was the house where
+the reception was to take place. One man, keeping his toothpick in his
+mouth, said:
+
+“Waal I guess there is _naht_ going to be any great shakes of a reception
+_to_-night.”
+
+“Oh,” said C——, “we got an invitation from the Reception Committee, and
+heard the _Manchuria_ had come in.”
+
+“That’s so, sirree,” said the man, “but Secretary Taft and Miss Alice is
+not coming ashore; leastways, they’re on board now eating their dinners.”
+
+“Will they go to the theatre, then?” we asked.
+
+“No,” said the man vaguely, “I guess naht. Leastways, I don’t rightly
+know. But Secretary Taft says he don’t want to come ashore before his
+skeddled time to-morrow morning. I reckon he’s gettin’ a bit sick of
+goin’ around.”
+
+The man was quite civil, but he and his fellow-loungers were so vague and
+depressing that we drove away again, feeling rather sorry we had taken
+the trouble to put on evening dress.
+
+We made our driver go down the end of the street to the quay by the
+Customs landing, where there was a very pretty arch, all lighted up, with
+portraits painted on it of Mr Roosevelt, and “Miss Alice,” and Mr Taft.
+This had been erected by the Filipinos, and the decorations, which were
+the work of a native artist, were really not at all discreditable. Across
+Calle Real was another arch, put up by the Chinese, at the entrance
+to where their shops begin, with more electric lights and pictures of
+angels, and more medallions of Mr Roosevelt, with an entirely different
+face from the Customs one, and “Miss Alice” looking about thirty, with
+fat, red cheeks and masses of black hair.
+
+After admiring these marvels, and noticing what could be seen of the
+decorations on the houses, we drove home and consoled our hearts
+very successfully with cold mutton—a treat from the Cold Storage in
+Manila—which would have made up to us for anything. You see, you can’t
+have cold meat in this climate without ice to cool it on, and we have
+been without ice for so many wretched months. Faddy people should be
+sent to Iloilo to learn to say a fervid and completely heart-whole grace
+before cold mutton, and I often think out here of the delicious cold meat
+which our servants at home may be, at that very moment, refusing to eat!
+
+Next day we were awakened by a brass band walking up and down the
+streets, and blowing Sousa and “Hiawatha” for all it was worth. It was
+not yet dawn when this festivity began, so after we had sworn at them,
+we went to sleep again, for the music did not mean that anything was
+happening, beyond that its playing was a sort of general rouse-out and
+reminder. We had been informed that the reception was to be held at the
+_Gobierno_ soon after the party landed, so, as we determined to bring
+this function to bay somehow, we sallied forth after breakfast to see
+what was to be seen.
+
+A _quilez_ was not to be had for love or money, nor, indeed, a “rig” of
+any sort, so we walked to the Plaza, and in the Calle Real picked up a
+_carromata_—one of the fearful little vehicles into which you climb over
+a muddy wheel and sit jammed up behind the driver.
+
+After sending back Sotero, who had followed to look for a _quilez_ for
+us, and making him carry away Tuyay, who insisted on not leaving us,
+we got into the _carromata_ and drove down the crowded streets to the
+_Gobierno_.
+
+All the houses were very gay with stars and stripes and greenery—the
+decorations very little spoilt by the rain—and the streets full of people
+in clean clothes; all the principal thoroughfares crowded, but the others
+very empty.
+
+The day, which had begun with rain, had cleared up, and was very
+fresh and jolly, as it had not yet had time to get steamy, and a cool
+breeze was blowing, the flags fluttered in the sun, bands were playing
+everywhere, and it was all very gay and sparkling. In one of the streets
+we began to pass a long procession, waiting behind the scenes, as it
+were, with flags unfurled and bands ready to strike up.
+
+There were crowds and crowds of people making for the palace, and we
+were told that the _Comitiva Taft_ had already landed and driven there,
+so we followed as best we could. There was a great deal of shouting of
+_Tabé_—and we were as near as anything over some of the revellers who
+were mooning about as if the streets were deserted.
+
+By-the-bye, I don’t know whether this expression _Comitiva Taft_ is bad
+Spanish or good Filipino, but it is the one employed by the Philippine
+newspapers, and I prefer it to the American “Taft Circus.”
+
+When we arrived at the _Gobierno_, we found large crowds of little,
+brown-faced Filipinos in white American suits, all looking up at the
+broad balcony—the one where the band had played on the night of the
+4th-of-July ball. The whole expanse of balcony was full of people, with
+many ladies standing in front in light frocks and big flat hats.
+
+We struggled through the crowd of sight-seers and into the big basement,
+which was decorated very profusely, and where a lot of people were
+standing about. A man told us he guessed the reception was going on
+upstairs; and we thought perhaps he had guessed correctly, so we mounted
+the broad stairs, between sheaves of palms and American flags, and found
+ourselves in a huge crowd in the outer room of the suite I described to
+you the night of the ball. The court room had been arranged with rows
+of chairs and benches facing the daïs, and the balcony beyond, with the
+bright blue sky and white glare of sunlight for a background, was a
+seething mass of white-clad humanity. I noticed the Americans were all
+at one end and the Filipinos at the other—an arrangement of choice, I
+imagine, rather than accident.
+
+Amongst the visitors I met again Mrs Luke E. Wright, and several other
+people whose acquaintance I had made in Manila, as the party had been
+nearly doubled by the numbers absorbed into it after arriving in the
+Philippines. My friends said they had heard I was ill, and that I was
+going home, and envied me, calling heaven to witness that they wished
+they were going “back home” too. The Governor’s secretary told me that
+the party now amounted to 170 people, and they had a very jolly time on
+board, and were expecting to have a very pleasant trip round the Islands.
+
+There was no regular presenting being done, and no one offered to
+introduce us to Mr Taft or “Miss Alice,” and we did not like to ask them
+to do so, which I am sorry about now, as I should have liked to have met
+them. However, Miss Alice was standing next to the Governor’s wife while
+I was talking to the latter, so I was able to get an impression of her
+appearance, which I thought quite pleasing; a young girl with a fluff
+of fair hair tied behind with a big bow of black ribbon, a very pale
+complexion, and heavily-lidded blue eyes. She had on a coat and skirt of
+stiff white pique, which did not do justice to her pretty figure, and a
+plain straw hat with blue ribbons on it tilted over her forehead.
+
+All the American ladies amongst the visitors were very plainly dressed
+in shirts and skirts, as for the country in the morning, with large,
+flat hats and floating gauze veils—just like the American tourists you
+see in London out of the season. The residents, however, had on pretty
+muslins and hats, and the Filipino ladies sported their most beautiful
+_camisas_ and finest jewels. I heard afterwards that the very plain
+costumes of the visitors were considered as rather a poor compliment,
+not to say a mistake in tact, for of course the Manila papers had given
+glowing accounts of the lovely dresses they wore at the entertainments in
+Manila, and Orientals think such a lot of that sort of thing—and so do
+Occidentals, too, for the matter of that!
+
+Mr Taft and the Senators were all in white linen suits; the officers in
+white linen, too, plus the badges of their rank. Mr Taft, who is a very
+tall, fair man of enormous build, towered over the heads of everyone
+about him. I don’t think I ever saw anyone so vast, and could quite
+believe that he weighed 250 pounds—though I must say that to hear a
+weight expressed in pounds does not convey much impression to my mind.
+He has a large, clever face, which creases up into an amiable smile for
+which he is famous, and which has helped him enormously in life. In
+curious contrast are his eyes, which are small, and placed rather close
+together, and very shrewd in expression. When he is serious, it is a
+stern, rather hard face, and not very pre-possessing, but when he smiles
+the “Taft smile,” it is altered in the most extraordinary manner, and he
+really looks charming.
+
+After we had been on the balcony a little time, the procession began
+to come into sight, headed by a brass band. At this the people on the
+balcony sorted themselves out, Mr Taft and “Miss Alice” standing in the
+front of the balcony with the chief personages behind them, and less
+important Americans in the doorways and on the outskirts, all in the
+most approved “democratic” style, while the brown faces all clustered
+at the other end of the balcony. I thought it a great pity that it did
+not occur to Mr Taft, or Miss Roosevelt, or the Governor, or anyone like
+that to go and stand amongst the Filipinos and give a real and tangible
+demonstration of the theories they were there to express. I did not see
+anyone talking to the visitors but Americans, either, and I thought that
+a pity too.
+
+You see, a little thing like that would convey more truth about Equality
+than miles of bombastic print or hours of windy rhetoric.
+
+The Governor’s secretary found me a place in front of the balcony, but
+I was foolish enough to move away for a moment to speak to someone,
+and so lost my place. Then we saw that people were beginning to stand
+on the benches, so C—— got me a place on one by asking some men to
+move, which they were rather huffy about. On one side of me was a tall,
+thin young Senator with a large hand-camera, who showed his resentment
+in tiresome little incivilities; but the man on the other side was a
+nice, good-natured soul, who tried to make room for me, and spoke very
+agreeably. He seemed to be feeling the heat very much, and complained
+that it was so fearfully hot, but I laughed and said: “This is the
+coolest day we have had for a long time.”
+
+“My!” he exclaimed, “I guess I’m not fair crazy to come and live in these
+old Phaluppeens.”
+
+“Oh,” I said, “then you have not joined the party at Manila?”
+
+He said he had come from America all the way, and told us he was a
+newspaper man with a mission, come to write up the trip. This made us
+understand better his asking from time to time such extraordinarily
+elementary questions. He wanted to know what a _carabao_ was, and was
+surprised to hear that sugar cane only flourished in Panay and Negros. I
+had to explain to him that we were in Panay, and pointed out Negros and
+Guimaras!
+
+I did not grudge the trouble of teaching him the A B C of the
+Philippines, but I could not help thinking it rather odd that he had no
+more preparation for his mission when his opinions would probably be
+“voiced” and quoted as oracles on his return to “God’s Country.”
+
+Of course he was choke full of long words about the American Ideal,
+and told me a lot about the absurdity of such narrow prejudice as
+race-distinctions; but I let that go without remark, and without even
+taking the trouble to draw his attention to the demonstrations before his
+eyes; for I have found out by this time that you might as well talk to
+the wind as to a race-equality American who won’t sit “on a car” with a
+negro in the States.
+
+C——, who was standing behind me, joined in the conversation, whereupon
+the American journalist instantly whipped out his visiting card and
+handed it to him, but of course C—— was quite unprepared, and had to
+spell his name and explain himself generally. It is very amusing, and at
+first rather embarrassing, the way Americans hand you a card as soon as
+you speak, but it has its advantages in getting names right.
+
+The procession was remarkably like the one we had seen on Declaration
+Day, only with different “floats.” I don’t suppose you know what
+“floats” are, and no more did I, for when I had read descriptions of
+the processions in Manila, and how the “floats” were “gotten up,” I
+concluded the function had been a water-pageant on the Pasig. I heard
+some people about me using the same word, however, and mentioned it to
+my journalistic friend, who informed me that the word was one which was
+employed in the U.S.A. to signify cars in a procession, and that its
+origin was in New Orleans, where they had processions on the river with
+decorated “floats” or rafts.
+
+This was a very long procession, and some of the agricultural cars were
+prettily done up with banana plants, and one had sugar canes growing in
+it; and there were ploughs, and rows of men carrying spades and hoes and
+things. Mr Taft stood and watched it all, talking to Miss Roosevelt; but
+he got what the children call a good deal of powder in his spoonful of
+jam, in the shape of huge white banners with large inscriptions on them
+about the financial situation and the tariffs. Some of these reminders
+were of a very ingenious pattern, like huge three-sided lanterns, with
+the inscription in English, Spanish, and Visayan, so that no one should
+make any mistake about what was meant. “A square deal” was written on
+one, and some of them were, to me, quite pathetic, for they said: “We are
+at your mercy,” and others were frank, not to say abrupt, requests for
+liberty, “to govern ourselves our own way.”
+
+At all these and at the strings of labourers from the Harbour Works, the
+Fire Brigade, etc., Mr Taft stared very solemnly and steadily, standing
+upright in front of the balcony, with Miss Roosevelt beside him, his arms
+folded across his chest. I was much struck by his expression, and could
+not help looking at him as much as at the procession and wondering what
+he really thought of it all. When the workmen came past, our journalist
+friend suddenly betrayed his knowledge of Philippine affairs by saying
+knowingly: “Ah, these are the Chinese labourers, I guess.”
+
+“No,” said C——. “Those are Filipinos. There are no Chinese labourers in
+the Philippines except in some mills in Luzon.”
+
+This information apparently took the man’s breath away; if he believed
+it, which he probably did not. He was quite silent for a long time.
+Perhaps some of his most elaborate perorations had been damaged, and C——
+and I thought afterwards that it was rather a pity we had disillusioned
+the poor creature as we did. Another of his cherished illusions was what
+I may call the St Louis “Exposition” idea of the Philippines, and we had
+the greatest difficulty in trying to persuade him that all he saw was not
+the direct result of the American occupation!
+
+At last the interminable lines of school children came past—all the
+Government schools, of course—as on Declaration Day; no priests or
+convents. Mr Taft had looked on unmoved and unsmiling at the Agricultural
+and Industrial displays, but when he saw these scholars, he broke into
+the “Taft smile,” and clapped his hands above his head. All the Americans
+followed his lead by bursting into applause, which they kept up, as he
+did, all the time the schools were passing. I turned my head to the
+right, where the little brown parents of these children were crowded
+together, and saw that not one single Filipino made one gesture of
+applause!
+
+The schools took a long, long time to crawl past, and the continuous
+applause became rather tiring. But even a Filipino procession must come
+to an end if only you can wait long enough, and the last of them went
+past, and we got down off our bench.
+
+Then followed a great surging and shifting of all the people on the
+balcony, everyone trying to secure a seat in the Court Room, and we were
+lucky enough to get near a door and not very far from the front.
+
+On the daïs were placed two or three rows of Vienna cane chairs, those
+for the important people in front, with arms to them. In these sat the
+Governor, Mrs Luke E. Wright, and “Miss Alice.” Next to the latter Mr
+Taft took the chair assigned to him, into which he wedged himself with
+infinite trouble; but the chair at once broke to pieces. Everyone laughed
+very much, Mr Taft most heartily of all, saying in a good-natured, jolly
+way: “Here! Someone give me a chair I can sit down on. I’m tired of
+standing.”
+
+So they brought him another chair, and he took his place, and the
+speechifying began.
+
+The _Presidente_ of Iloilo—a very courtly old Filipino of the name of
+Meliza—made a speech of welcome—a very long affair—which included the
+subjects of Taxation, Duties, and Independence, to which Mr Taft replied
+elusively, repeating nothing tangible but his old phrase of “Philippines
+for the Filipinos.”
+
+Then some more people made speeches—natives—and at last they drove Mr
+Taft into a corner about the Independence, and he said, “I am not come
+to give you your Independence, but to study your welfare. You will have
+your Independence when you are ready for it, which will not be in this
+generation—no, nor in the next, nor perhaps for a hundred years or more.”
+
+Even though I have told you how up to then no one had any idea of why
+he and his party had come to the Islands—most people thinking he was
+going to say something definite about the Americans retiring from the
+Islands—the natives all firmly convinced that he was coming to ratify the
+undated promise of Independence he made them two years ago—even though I
+have told you this, you can have no idea of the effect these words had
+upon the audience. We were simply staggered, and the darker complexioned
+amongst us sat quite still and immovable.
+
+The speeches lost some of their force by being translated as they went
+along by an interpreter, who spoke English and Spanish with equal
+perfection, and, indeed, he was quite marvellous; but all the same the
+utterances lost point, and it was not easy to follow the thread with
+long halts between. What was more serious was that the translations of
+Mr Taft’s opinions were softened by the courteous Spanish phrases, and
+the fiery patriotism of the Filipinos was marvellously toned down in the
+English rendering.
+
+During a question of taxation, Mr Taft said:
+
+“I want to know if you think it would be any good to reduce the Land Tax,
+or if, by suspending it for three years, the trade and agriculture of the
+country would benefit?”—or words to that effect. Whereupon he and old
+Señor Meliza had quite a long argument about this weighty point.
+
+The whole ceremony was indescribably free and easy, and even commonplace.
+Most of the Senators took very little interest in the proceedings, while
+the ladies with them did not even pretend to care about what was going
+on. As to “Miss Alice,” she was honest enough to make no pretence at all
+of listening to anything, but sat staring before her, drumming with her
+pretty, slender, white fingers on her lips, only waking up to signal
+and laugh to some friends in a doorway near the platform. She was very
+girlish and natural in this and in all her other gestures, and if she
+lacked the pose necessary to the occasion, one could not be too critical
+nor take objection to her lack of grand manner when people were presented
+to her, for, after all, such situations are only to be carried off with
+ease by those born and bred to State ceremonies. Besides, it would have
+been unreasonable to have looked for scrupulously aristocratic bearing
+amongst such a party of professed democrats.
+
+In spite of all that, however, the Filipinos, who, with their traditions
+of _custumbres_, are themselves a very polite people, were much shocked
+by the free and easy ways of their rulers, benefactors, or whatever
+they are. I afterwards heard many little comments upon the American
+lack of dignity, which made me feel sad, for these two peoples will
+never understand each other—even the good sentiments of the heart being
+conveyed by differences of manner, which are meat to one and poison to
+the other.
+
+In talking of taxation, the word “sugar” suddenly arose, on which Mr
+Taft, who was getting obviously bored, and mopping his face freely, rose
+and said:
+
+“See here. We’ve come to this place to talk about sugar. Now, look here,
+have you got any room where the gentlemen who are with me can meet your
+representatives? They would like to see a sugar plantation growing, too,
+if you can show them one.”
+
+The Filipinos said they thought that could be arranged, and, as a matter
+of fact, the hall for this confabulation was already prepared, and the
+growing cane ready as well.
+
+“That’s all right,” said Mr Taft. “All I care about is to get out of
+this room and get some of that nice cool wind on me!” He looked simply
+_melting_. So everyone rose up, and Mr Taft gave out that Mrs Carter, the
+wife of the General, invited the ladies of the party to luncheon with
+her at her house “on” the Calle Real at one o’clock. Then everyone filed
+away, and we went home to rest before the evening. It was then half-past
+eleven—very late for this country—and the sun very hot.
+
+I was afterwards told about the ladies’ luncheon party. It only consisted
+of the visitors, most of whom were already personal friends of Mrs
+Carter, so, of course, it was not an important function. Here, again, I
+thought, was a golden opportunity wasted, for a few invitations extended
+to leading Filipino and _Mestiza_ ladies would have done more good to the
+American cause than all the utterances of the cleverest orators.
+
+In the evening we went, in the usual pantomime _quilez_, to the Santa
+Cecilia Club, where the Filipino banquet to Mr Taft and his _Comitiva_
+was to be held. Or at least, that was the official description of the
+entertainment for which, as I told you, we each paid a preposterous sum.
+
+The whole building was ablaze with lights and bunting, while the familiar
+perilous medley of vehicles surged about in the mud outside, with
+hairbreadth escapes going on every minute, any one of which would have
+made the fortune of a clever paragraphist.
+
+The top of the stairs, the big landing, and outer place, were crowded
+with people, but the main room was still comparatively empty, so when we
+went in we had a good chance of seeing the decorations and tables. The
+latter were most ingeniously arranged to form the letters ILOILO, with a
+long table for the first I, then two long ones each with an elbow to make
+a sort of flat O, and then another long one with a long elbow for L, “and
+repeat,” as they say in knitting patterns. The only attempt at decoration
+was a mass of greenery all down the middle of each table, lying flat on
+the cloth, with oranges and _lanzone_ fruits lying on it, and salted
+pistachio nuts all thrown about anyhow. By each plate lay a small spray
+of flowers (gardenias, little roses etc.), a list of the guests, with
+a plan of the tables and the _menu_, which was a small blue paper book
+with a _nouveau art_ picture of a woman on the cover. On the back of
+this _menu_ was printed in large, clear type these words: “La situacion
+di Filipinas es como La de un enfermo que necesita una radical y eficaz
+medicacion. La supresion de la Tarifa Dingley es la mejor medicacion
+para Filipinas.” The interpretation of which is: “The situation of
+the Philippines is like that of a sick person for whom a radical and
+efficacious remedy is necessary. The suppression of the Dingley Tariff is
+the best medicine for the Philippines.”
+
+This _menu_ amused me a good deal, with the idea that poor long-suffering
+Mr Taft was to have politics written on everything he saw or touched,
+and certainly the Filipinos did not appear to be going to let slip any
+of this golden opportunity of “voicing” their grievances. The room was
+lighted by electric lights on the ceiling, arranged in the form of
+letters, spelling Taft on one side of the room and Visayas on the other,
+and flags, palm-branches, and paper roses were employed in the usual
+profusion.
+
+The people dropped in gradually, and when the Taft party arrived, Mr
+Taft took his place at the middle of the first L, under the picture of
+Washington. The rest of the party were scattered up and down the tables
+anyhow, with no scheme of precedence, which was very sensible, and the
+first tangible display of democratic principles I have seen since we came
+to the Philippines.
+
+About 258 guests were “scheduled,” and less than three-quarters of the
+places filled. When I looked round the hall, I saw that the English and
+Germans were fairly well represented; but there were very few Spaniards,
+only about half a dozen Filipinos, some _Chino-Mestizos_, and one or two
+Eurasian ladies in lovely _camisas_, and wearing magnificent diamonds.
+All the rest were Americans.
+
+Everyone seemed disappointed that Miss Roosevelt did not put in an
+appearance at the banquet. The rumour went about that she was too tired
+with the morning’s fatigues to be able to go out again. Afterwards I
+heard this discussed, when some said that “Miss Alice” was not at all
+strong, and that the round of gaieties in Manila had worn her out; while
+others declared that she always shirked the serious side of the trip if
+she could possibly do so; but I don’t expect the latter theory was true,
+and I thought it rather a shame of her country folk to say it.
+
+The feast began with tinned _julienne_, the Constabulary band playing at
+the side, in the outer room, with a vigour which quite relieved one of
+any necessity for conversation. I examined my list of guests and plan of
+the tables to find out who the people were, and saw that all the blank
+places were those of Filipinos! Fancy! Their welcome to their Patron
+Saint! But he had so disappointed them by his avowed sentiments at the
+reception at the _Gobierno_ in the morning that very few of them could be
+induced to come to the banquet.
+
+As far as eating went, the banquet was a haphazard affair, for it was
+almost impossible to persuade the dazed Filipino waiters to attend to
+one. At least, they did attend, but in a very Filipino way, for I got
+four bottles of white wine brought me; C—— had never a taste of soup; and
+we both had three plates of fish put down before us, which the people on
+each side took away, as they could not get any at all. Everyone was very
+good-natured, so it was all very amusing.
+
+There was considerable liberty of conscience displayed in the costumes of
+the guests, some of the American men being in soiled white day suits,
+conducting female relations in high cotton blouses; while others were got
+up in full evening dress. One handsome woman, who I heard was the wife
+of an officer in Camp Josman, was so much in evening dress, possibly to
+make up for the others in the blouses, that she was instantly nick-named
+The Mermaid. Her finely shaped head was dressed very low, and set off by
+classic bands of gold, with huge bunches of flowers and ribbons over each
+ear, and I heard a man near me suggest to another that someone should
+go and ask her to take some of the ornaments out of her _coiffure_ and
+put them round her bodice. But no one had the courage to do this thing,
+so the little _Mestiza_ ladies stared and giggled, and as for the few
+Orientals present, they looked at the Mermaid as if they thought Equality
+was going to be great fun.
+
+When we were just about to fall on some beef _à la mode_ which had at
+last, after incredible pertinacity on the part of C——, been placed before
+us, a man at one of the tables behind us suddenly got up and began to
+make a speech. Everyone slewed their heads round to see him, and forgot
+the beef, which the waiters instantly fell upon and swept away beyond
+recall.
+
+The speechmaker proposed a health, which we drank in very good red or
+white wine provided for us, and then he made a speech, and someone—one of
+the visiting party, I think—got up and replied.
+
+After him, another got up. But many people listened to him and still held
+on to their helping of turkey, which they tried to eat as noiselessly as
+possible; a most amusing sight.
+
+Then another; and another; popping up in all sorts of places, with the
+interpreter appearing suddenly beside them like a harlequin. Some of the
+speeches, in spite of the halting of the translation, were very good,
+and very interesting; for the speakers did not mince matters much—the
+natives saying things very plainly, and the Americans replying with equal
+frankness.
+
+Next me at table sat a Filipino swell in European evening dress, with
+splendid diamonds on his hands and in his embroidered shirt front, who
+turned his chair round when the speeches began, and sat astride, leaning
+on the back. He cleared his throat, and spat on the floor in such a
+dreadful manner that I felt sick, and at last I turned quite faint, and
+had to get up and move to an empty place further on. There I was not
+so well off, as far as hearing went, for the head of the next table
+was occupied by a cheery party of “prominent citizens,” Senators, and
+officers, who were drinking champagne and making a horrible noise.
+
+I moved again, this time to a doorway at the upper end of the hall, where
+a polite young _Mestizo_ offered me his chair; so I ended in being very
+well off as to a place, and heard and saw very well.
+
+An old Senator with a venerable beard was making a long speech on the
+subject of freedom and the folly of race-distinction. In defence of the
+latter theory, he rather rashly quoted Tennyson, repeating the lines
+about “Saxon and Norman and Dane are we,” which could not be applied
+in the remotest way to either Americans or Filipinos and came out pure
+gibberish in the translation.
+
+To him replied the editor of one of the Iloilo papers, a small,
+full-blooded Filipino, with sharp, clever features. He made a most fiery
+and eloquent speech, in which, with angry brown face, and clenched fists
+thumping the back of the chair on which he leant, he declared that the
+Philippine Islands had been discovered as long as America, and that the
+Filipinos had the same spirit as that which had caused the Americans to
+revolt from England.
+
+He got fearfully excited, and called God to witness that his people were
+only asking for their rights in wishing to have this foreign burden
+removed; he and they demanded, insisted on, their Independence! When he
+sat down, the waiters and the band, and the Filipino spectators who had
+strolled in, all applauded frantically.
+
+The applause, by-the-bye, was most instructive, for the American speeches
+were applauded to the echo with shouts by the Americans; but the
+Filipinos and _Mestizos_ received the Spanish translations in _utter_
+silence. On the other hand, the brown folk roared with applause over
+their own speakers, and the Americans did not take the least notice of
+the English translations. It was a most odd and unique scene.
+
+Last of all came Mr Taft, who spoke better, more clearly, and more simply
+than any of the others, and my only regret was that such a splendid
+delivery should have been impeded by the interpretations.
+
+He repeated all the things he had said in the morning at the _Gobierno_,
+walking even more boldly up to the Independence question, and saying that
+the people would be given their Independence when they were worthy of it,
+which was the sacred duty of the American people, who had received these
+Islands as a Trust from God.
+
+This was received with rapturous ovations by his countrymen, but the
+translation was taken in absolute and embarrassing silence—all but two or
+three hisses!
+
+He went on to expound the theory of educating the Filipino people up
+to Western ideals, and laid great stress upon the dignity and power
+of labour—“and you must work with your hands—your hands!”—thunders of
+applause from the white men. Absolute silence after the translation.
+For my part, I can’t say I felt much carried away by these phrases
+when I recollected the speaker’s attitude towards manual labour and
+book-learning a few hours before.
+
+When they were on a level with the free races, “in a hundred years,
+perhaps three hundred, four hundred, they would be worthy to stand and
+face the nations”—or something like that. He also said that he had
+certainly promised the Filipinos Independence, and he was not going back
+upon his words, no—he was come to uphold—to ratify them. “Dear Wards from
+God,” he called them, spreading his arms out and smiling the Taft smile,
+and saying “that the Philippines were a solemn trust, and the Americans
+would not fail in this great duty towards humanity.”
+
+So these fine words were all they got out of Mr Taft, and we all rose and
+trooped out to find our “rigs.”
+
+At the top of the staircase I met a very Prominent Citizen, who remarked
+that this had been a great occasion for Iloilo; and I said: “Yes, Mr Taft
+is a clever man and a brilliant orator.”
+
+“That’s so,” agreed my friend, “he made a _vurry fine_ speech.”
+
+I said: “He spoke a great many truths; what he said was very
+straightforward.”
+
+“Yes,” said the P. C., “but he should have said all that two years ago.”
+
+And that, I find, is the unanimous verdict of every class and nationality
+about Mr Taft’s subtle and rather tardy interpretation of the promises he
+made when he was Governor of the Philippines.
+
+Next evening, when the party had gone, and there was nothing left but
+to discuss what had taken place, we were leaning over the balcony when a
+Prominent Citizen of our acquaintance came walking past, and stopped, in
+the friendly, half-Spanish fashion of the country, to say good evening
+and make a few remarks.
+
+“It was a fine show,” we said.
+
+“Why yes,” he agreed, “I guess the Filipinos did their best for the
+_Secwar_.”
+
+“I think he disappointed them, though,” said C——.
+
+“Well, I should smile! I guess Secretary Taft’s the best hated man in
+these islands now.”
+
+And that, I believe, is the unfortunate truth.
+
+
+
+
+LETTER XLII.
+
+WEIGHING ANCHOR
+
+
+ HOTEL ——, ILOILO, _August 22, 1905_.
+
+We are up-rooted at last, you see, out of our own delightful house, and
+enduring the cooking and service of the best hotel this place has to
+afford, while we wait for the _Kai-Fong_, which is reported to be loading
+hard wood at Cebú.
+
+This is not really such a bad place for Iloilo, which means that it
+compares unfavourably in comfort, cleanliness, and sanitation with a
+second-class Commercial in a small town in Spain. However, I have a very
+nice big cool room, opening on to a broad balcony, where little trees
+and plants stand in tubs, and that is very agreeable to the eye, as we
+are right in the town and not near any gardens. There are four doors in
+this room, and six windows, so that the room is capable of the necessary
+draught without which it is impossible to sleep. So far so good, but the
+Filipino bed has to be reckoned with—in this case, a vast four-poster,
+with a very handsome piece of carving at each end. That at the head is
+particularly beautiful, a very free and graceful design of leaves, and
+corn, and fruit, which I wish I could take home with me. We took the
+precaution of bringing our own _petates_ and pillows when we left our
+house, as well as our own towels, and are continually thankful that we
+did so!
+
+It is the chief hotel of Iloilo, as I said before, and therefore
+frequented by all the Prominent Citizens and their families, to say
+nothing of the military, as many of the officers board here. I think they
+must be such good-natured people not to make any fuss about the dirty
+linen and unwashed plates, or the cold and greasy food. I am afraid we
+are not so amiable, for we began at once to have it understood that, as
+we were paying the prices of a first-class hotel in London or Paris, we
+expected comfort and some cleanliness, and C—— said very definitely to
+our waiter that he would knock him down if he attempted again to hand
+things on the wrong side. This cleared the air a good deal, and when they
+found we insisted on having things nice, they did their best for us, and
+really they have made us so comfortable that we are quite patient about
+the _Kai-Fong_.
+
+We cleared out of our own house on Friday (this is Monday), and spent all
+the following day making over the furniture to the various people who
+came, like Joseph’s brethren, bearing money in their hands. We were so
+sorry to see the rooms dismantled, for we loved that house, and had lived
+in it in such comfort, and so well cared for by our good servants. When
+C—— paid the latter off, he gave to each an extra present of money, which
+pleased them enormously; and the cook, really quite sad, said over and
+over again that he wished we would take him with us to England, and asked
+to be allowed to shake hands with us, which great honour we permitted.
+Sotero we have brought here to wait on us, as we would not allow Filipino
+hotel servants into our rooms, of course; but Domingo has been paid
+off, though he refuses to consider himself dismissed, and I believe he
+is sleeping in the empty house and standing guard over our big cases,
+though no one is likely to run away with them, as they take about five
+coolies each to move. I begin to realise here what our openness to the
+Monsoons meant, for I have just had to clear out of my bedroom, where I
+was writing, and come into the public _sala_ (which is really a furnished
+corridor), because the wind shifted a little, so that it no longer blew
+into the bedroom. By this I mean that when the wind was off me, I burst
+into perspiration, my face dripping on to the paper, my hands as if I
+had dipped them in water, my clothes soaking, and my head beginning to
+ache and throb. Oh, I can’t find words to express how thankful I am to be
+going away from this horrible, everlasting heat! It gets on one’s nerves
+not to be able to move a chair, to walk two yards without dripping at
+every pore, and one’s clothes feel so irksome and heavy. If one takes
+exercise it is acute discomfort—if one does not, one is ill!
+
+We are now having the echoes of the _Comitiva Taft_ visitation, and it is
+really most amusing to see how the popular idol has fallen. Fallen for
+the Filipinos that is, for the Americans all think him very great and
+“cute” to manage as he has done, though they are all declaring openly
+that he should have said all this two years ago, as our friend shrewdly
+observed to us when we were leaving the banquet. Of course, there is
+something to be said for Mr Taft, for if he had made such unpopular
+utterances when he was Governor here, his life would not have been worth
+two cents a day. All the same, to the lay mind, such subtle change of
+front is not very palatable, and one cannot help wishing that politicians
+could afford to say straight out what they mean, and stick to it for good
+or evil.
+
+The papers from Manila with the account of our festivities have arrived,
+and I never read such brazen lying in my life; in fact, the reports are
+so cooked that they leave off being annoying and begin to be funny.
+The wild scenes of popular enthusiasm, the crowded banquet, the frantic
+love of the people of Panay for their idol, and so on, and so on. And
+as to sheer reporting, Mr Taft’s speech (which the Manila people are
+informed was greeted by the natives with thunderous applause) is given
+at great length, but the impassioned utterances of the patriot who
+clutched the chair-back are dismissed in a few mild words. No mention,
+too, of the ominous banners in the procession, of the note on the back
+of the _menu_ at the banquet, and not the faintest hint of the one or
+two hisses which greeted the sentiments of the _Secwar_ himself. So much
+for the local papers. And if that is the way they dally with truth out
+here, one can only faintly wonder what impression of this trip is being
+disseminated amongst the intelligent voters in the far-off U.S.A., by our
+well-informed journalistic friend and others of his kidney.
+
+The Iloilo banquet, by-the-bye, wound up rather disastrously for American
+dignity, as the rowdy party at the table near us got up some quarrel with
+one of the Filipino waiters; there were blows and fighting, and the whole
+lot were chucked out into the street. This, as you may imagine, has made
+a horrible scandal, and produced a very bad impression.
+
+About the banquet, too, it now appears that the Filipinos subscribed
+70 _pesos_ towards that and the general expenses, and the rest of the
+community, ourselves included, made the sum up to the 4000 required, plus
+a grant from the Treasury.
+
+C—— went to see our poor old Spanish friend about something a day or two
+ago (the ex-courtier, whose visit I think I described to you), and when
+C—— said that he had not seen him at the banquet, the old fellow replied
+that he had sent the committee 12 _pesos_ towards the expenses, with a
+letter of well-wishing, etc., as he thought it was his duty to do so,
+and to contribute what he could.
+
+“Well,” said C——, “but didn’t they answer with an invitation to the
+banquet?”
+
+“No,” said the old man, “they did not even acknowledge the money.”
+
+He seemed rather down on his luck about the whole thing, and more anxious
+than ever to sell his piece of land and go home to Spain to die.
+
+
+
+
+LETTER XLIII.
+
+HOMEWARD BOUND
+
+
+ S.S. _Kai-Fong_, _August 25_, 10 A.M.
+
+Iloilo is now far away below the horizon astern, and if I look over the
+side, I am afforded the delightful spectacle of one Philippine Island
+slipping past after the other into pale blue fluff, and I hope they will
+stay down under my horizon for ever.
+
+We scraped out through a network of taxes, like fish trying to get out of
+a fish-_corral_. Our two large cases had to get a Customs permit before
+they could be put on board, for which they got from us a _peso_ in the
+form of a stamp upon the Export Entry, and another _peso_ and a half
+for what they call wharfage. This means that they did not examine the
+contents of the cases, but gave C—— a paper to sign and an export permit.
+Another item is an Internal Revenue tax of a _peso_ on each passenger
+ticket. Fancy if we at home had to pay 10 shillings in taxes before we
+could go across the Channel!
+
+It is so nice to be in such a clean and comfortable steamer, and to
+have fresh vegetables and fruit, brought on ice from Hong Kong; and one
+wonders how the Americans can tolerate the contrast between this and
+those dreadful Spanish cockroach-traps which they dignify by the name of
+the Mail.
+
+All the crew are Chinese, of course, looking so straight and tall and
+intelligent after the stumpy, stupid, little Filipinos. With them too, as
+with the Filipino horses, the eye has been thrown out of focus, for the
+Chinese simply look colossal. I keep on thinking to myself what a very
+tall man that is, and he is only the usual height of ordinary men.
+
+Most of the second-class passengers are Chinese, and they have queer
+meals on the lower deck, all squatting round a wooden tray on which are
+one or two big bowls of rice and bits of meat and vegetables. Round
+these are piled little bowls, into which the mixture is served out,
+and the Chinamen all set to work with chop-sticks, which is so like
+a conjuring-trick that one can watch them as long as they will go on
+with it! Amongst these people is a Chinaman with his Filipino wife, a
+little ugly woman, with her lips jutting out beyond the end of her nose,
+dressed in a gay _camisa_, and for ever smoking a huge, ragged cigar.
+Some children of theirs cling to them most of the time, and a very
+gaudily-dressed little chap of a more purely Filipino type, whom the
+Chinaman is exporting to a friend in Amoy who has bought the child for 10
+dollars. You can buy children very cheaply in the Philippines; and away
+from the big towns, and very often in them, they are openly offered for
+sale; and most of the rich native and _Mestizo_ families have servants
+which have been bought as children. I daresay, though I have never
+inquired about it, that the Americans strenuously deny this officially,
+but unofficially it is a perfectly well-known custom. This small slave
+was a very native little chap of three or four, got up in purple cotton
+coat and a crimson jockey cap, and radiantly happy in his new clothes,
+and we could not really feel very sorry for him. The Chinamen all take
+the greatest care of their hair, combing it out every day, and some of
+them have magnificent, glossy, black locks, right down to their knees;
+but others, whose hair is thin and scanty, eke out their pigtails with
+long cords of black silk gimp.
+
+Talking of servants, when we came down to the Muelle Loney (to think
+I shall never see that place again!) this morning, we found Domingo
+waiting, in his smartest clothes, spotlessly white, and his skin shining
+with soap, to see us off. Poor fellow, he hung round, blubbering quietly,
+and carrying anything he could catch hold of, and when he said good-bye
+his face was quite pathetic. I think he felt he was losing the only
+people in the world who had ever treated him well, and he was one of the
+best specimens of a typical, unspoilt Filipino, stolid, obedient, humble,
+and faithful as a dog, and C—— said he would have given anything to have
+been able to take him with us, as the poor creature implored us to do.
+At the last, when the launch was pushing off, Domingo made a wild rush
+to spring on board, but was too late; and the last we saw of him was
+standing on the quay with his hat off and the tears streaming down his
+big, brown face.
+
+We discussed this rush of Domingo’s, but can arrive at no satisfactory
+solution of what he wanted to do, for I think he only wanted to come
+out to the _Kai-Fong_, but C—— says he is certain he meant to follow us
+to Hong Kong and compel us to take him with us. Well, we can’t do that,
+but we have done our best for him in making him from a rough coolie into
+a clean, smart servant, who can get double the wages he received from
+us; and we found him a good place before we left, though, as I said
+before, I am not at all sure how either he or the other will do with
+the impatience and curses with which the average white man thinks he
+impresses his dignity upon the coloured person. It is not to be done in
+the Anglo-Indian method; no, nor in the American extreme of familiarity.
+Of that I was persuaded before I came here, and am still more convinced
+now that I have more experience.
+
+The only way to impress anyone, black, brown, _or_ white, with the idea
+of your dignity, is to be dignified yourself. But I suppose this is too
+much of an obvious truism for anyone to attempt to think over or act
+up to. Well, it served me in very good stead; and all I know is that,
+though every soul I spoke to had endless complaints about the impudence,
+laziness, or dishonesty of their servants, whether they were of the
+nation who kicked them, or those who allowed them to wear a vest in the
+house and not say _señor_, we never had any trouble once we got rid of
+our first Americanised cook—my house went as on oiled axles, and we never
+missed one single thing from start to finish. So what am I to say of the
+Filipinos? Those with whom I came in contact, as well as my own servants,
+were a narrow, cunning, good-humoured people, vain, superstitious,
+stupid, great gamblers, kind to their children, and bitterly cruel to
+animals—oh, the poor hens hung up by the heels in the sun! and the
+wretched pigs with their four feet lashed together that used to lie
+all day scorching in the Plaza at Molo! the awful open sores under the
+harness of the starving ponies! the brutal, sickening, cock-fighting!
+For those horrors alone, I should be thankful to leave this country,
+even were it the paradise which it is not. No, no terrestrial paradise,
+for one has the laziness, the heat, the apathy, and cruelty of the
+East, without the compensations of artistic beauty, cheapness, plenty,
+and luxury, which make up for those drawbacks in other hot countries.
+A shuffling, drab, discontented, thick-headed, costly East—with all
+the worst traditions of four hundred years of the off-scourings of the
+Spanish monkish orders, overlaid by a veneer of shallow cock-sureness
+hastily assimilated from a totally incongruous alien civilisation.
+
+We carry a cargo of sugar, and from the ventilators come up gusts of that
+peculiar, heavy, nauseous odour, which carries one back instantly to the
+_camarins_ of Iloilo. I can’t believe that the Philippines are really a
+thing of the past for me—it is not that I was there so long; but there
+was so little variety, and we saw and did and heard the same things so
+often, that I am left with an impression of as many years as we have been
+there months.
+
+
+THE END
+
+
+
+
+[Illustration: THE PHILIPPINE ISLANDS]
+
+
+
+
+FOOTNOTES
+
+
+[1] England is 50,823 square miles in extent, and Luzon is 40,885.
+
+[2] Fivepence. The amount of bread this sum will buy in the Philippines
+is equal to half the English 2d. loaf.
+
+[3] Another method is to tie a rope round the _carabao’s_ horns, and
+it is so tight that it cuts into the flesh, so that the _carabaos_
+frequently go mad with pain and “run amok.”
+
+[4] The actual numbers of the Commission have been changed several times,
+but the proportion of American to Filipino remains practically unaltered,
+as does the method of their election.
+
+[5] In the Spanish days, no Filipino was allowed to carry a
+walking-stick, except the _Presidente_ of a town, which distinction was
+jealously preserved.
+
+[6] The Government owns 60,000,000 acres; but no non-Filipino can obtain
+more than 40 acres, and no corporation may hold more than 2500 acres.
+Five years after the passing of this law, that is in 1907, all corporate
+lands owned in excess of this amount and under cultivation must be
+disposed of or forfeited.
+
+[7] A corruption of _tubig_, Visayan for water.
+
+[8] The fighting _bolo_, the more deadly and elaborate weapon is always
+kept concealed in the hut.
+
+[9] This breach of Oriental decorum is one of the most fatal and
+irreparable mistakes the Americans have made in the Philippines. It is a
+subject on which the Filipino or _Mestizo_ is not slow to speak his mind.
+Alas for misunderstandings!
+
+[10] The Tagalos are a much more industrious race than the Visayans, and
+are always in demand as clerks, workmen, or servants, in preference to
+the Southerners.
+
+[11] I have before me a cutting from _The Manila Times_, containing
+an account of the arrival in Manila, by the Transport _Dix_ from San
+Francisco, of “eleven strong-limbed, square-jawed bloodhounds” ... “for
+the work of trailing the _Ladrones_ of Cavite and the _Pulajanes_ of
+Samar.”
+
+
+
+
+INDEX
+
+
+ A
+
+ Agius, Cardinal, 235
+
+ Aglipay, Father, 109, 237, 262, 312
+
+ Aglipayanos, 109, 155, 195, 197, 235, 237
+
+ Agriculture, neglect of, 298, 299
+
+ Aguinaldo, Emilio, 11, 51
+
+ “American Ideal,” The, 134, 185
+
+ American occupation of the Philippines, 88, 156
+
+ _Anting-anting_, 69, 204
+
+ Antipolo, 6
+
+ Ants, 70
+
+ Arms of the Philippines, 122
+
+ _Azotea_, the, 24
+
+
+ B
+
+ _Baile_, a, or ball, 164, 201, 279
+
+ Baker, Sir Samuel, 283
+
+ Bananas, 206
+
+ _Banda de Musica Popular, La_, 184, 295
+
+ Banquet, 329
+
+ Beds, 45
+
+ Beggars, 193
+
+ Benguet, 151, 239
+
+ Betel-nut, 219
+
+ Bilibid prison, 135
+
+ _Bolo_, or native knife, 232
+
+ Bombardment of Iloilo, 89
+
+ Bread, price of, 34
+
+ Bridge, 132, 149
+
+ Business houses, 44
+
+ _Butuan_, S.S., 110, 152, 157
+
+
+ C
+
+ _Camarins_, 175
+
+ Camp Josman, 85, 280
+
+ Canloon volcano, 16
+
+ Carabaos, 79, 293
+
+ Card-playing, 132
+
+ Carnival, 161, 199
+
+ _Carromatas_, 63
+
+ Carter, Mrs, 328
+
+ Catbologan, 289
+
+ Cebú, 9
+
+ Children, 64, 129, 178;
+ sale of, 343
+
+ Chinese immigrants prohibited, 176
+
+ Chinese New Year, the, 195
+
+ Chinese servants, 141
+
+ “Christ’s Funeral,” 196
+
+ Christmas, 47
+
+ Cigars, native, 177
+
+ Climate, 18, 110, 169, 229
+
+ Clothes, 115
+
+ Clubs, 57, 161
+
+ Cock-fighting, 139, 286
+
+ Cockroaches, 71, 211
+
+ Cocoanuts, 207, 208, 231
+
+ Constabulary, 86
+
+ Crickets (_cicadas_), 69
+
+ Currency, 20, 27
+
+ Customs, tariff and methods, 32, 43, 65, 195, 234, 291, 342
+
+
+ D
+
+ Dancing, 57
+
+ Declaration Day, 270
+
+ Decoration Day, 245
+
+ Democracy, American idea of, 144
+
+ Dingley Tariff, 330
+
+ Dogs, 128
+
+ Dress, 53
+
+ Drought, 172
+
+
+ E
+
+ Earthquake, 226
+
+ Easter, 195
+
+ Education, 49, 221, 258
+
+ Eurasians, position of, 62
+
+
+ F
+
+ Fashions in Manila, 125
+
+ _Fiestas_, 52, 276
+
+ Filipinos, the, 13, 14, 62, 154, 189, 212, 244, 309
+
+ Fire trees, 207
+
+ Fish, 294;
+ traps for, 218
+
+ Flies, 290
+
+ Flowers, 130
+
+ Food, 48
+
+ Friars, Spanish, 50
+
+ Fruit, 48, 299
+
+ Fulcher, Mr, Vice-Consul at Cebú, 10
+
+ Funeral, a, 194
+
+ Furniture, 30
+
+
+ G
+
+ Gibson Girl, the, 123
+
+ _Gobierno_, the, 278
+
+ Government, character of the, 86
+
+ Graveyards, 164, 296
+
+ Guimaras, 16, 40, 55, 104, 182, 188, 203
+
+
+ H
+
+ Harbour at Manila, 117
+
+ Hawks, 128
+
+ Heat, 169, 229, 239, 265
+
+ Hemp, 11
+
+ Hijaldo, Monsignore, 236
+
+ Holidays, 195
+
+ Hong Kong, 229
+
+ Hoskyn’s Store, 26
+
+ Hospital, American, 244
+
+ Hotels, 6, 337
+
+ House-building, 189
+
+ Houses, descriptions of, 20, 23
+
+
+ I
+
+ Ice, 167
+
+ Iglesia Filipina Independiente, La. _See_ Aglipayanos.
+
+ Iloilo, 9, 16, 17, 118;
+ bombarded, 89
+
+ Intramuros, the old Spanish Manila, 4, 133
+
+
+ J
+
+ Jaro, 17, 42, 90, 186, 236
+
+ Jewellery, 126
+
+ _Jusi_, 54
+
+
+ K
+
+ _Kai-Fong_, S.S., 10, 310, 342
+
+ Katipunan, the, 11, 51
+
+ Kitchen, native, 218
+
+
+ L
+
+ _Ladrones_, 152, 288
+
+ Laguna de Bayo, 2
+
+ Language of the Filipinos, 157
+
+ Lazones, 299
+
+ Letters, 191
+
+ Lizards, 67
+
+ Love-birds, 238
+
+ Luneta, the, 131
+
+ Luzon, 2, 8, 283
+
+
+ M
+
+ Mactan (Maktan), 11
+
+ Magellan, 11, 162
+
+ Malacañan, Palace of, 120
+
+ Malaspina volcano, 16
+
+ Manila, 2, 117;
+ divided into wards, 3;
+ new harbour works, 117;
+ streets, 125, 138
+
+ Mindanao, 8
+
+ Mindoriao, 42
+
+ Missionaries, 107
+
+ Molo, 42, 90, 186
+
+ Mongeese, 240, 256, 262, 286
+
+ Monsoons, 16, 82, 174, 211, 230, 248
+
+ _Monte_, the native card-game, 132, 251
+
+ Mosquitoes, 72, 193, 243
+
+ Muelle Loney, 175, 176, 182
+
+ Music, 52, 162, 184
+
+
+ N
+
+ Nagaba, 202, 213, 215, 306
+
+ Native houses, 203, 205
+
+ Negritos, 193
+
+ Negros Island, 16, 56, 266
+
+ _Nipa_ thatch, 204
+
+ Nursery garden, a, 129
+
+
+ O
+
+ Opera, Italian, 213, 227
+
+ Orchids, 39, 40, 130
+
+
+ P
+
+ Palm Sunday, 193
+
+ Panay, 17, 182, 289
+
+ Paper-chase, attempt at a, 260
+
+ Pasig River, 2, 116
+
+ Pearls, 294
+
+ Philippines, arms of the, 122
+
+ _Piña_, 54, 268
+
+ Plaza Libertad, the, at Iloilo, 90
+
+ Ponies, Philippine, 4
+
+ Processions, 5, 193, 196, 198, 271, 323
+
+ Provincial treasurer, the, 168
+
+ _Pulajanes_, 288
+
+
+ Q
+
+ _Quilez_, or native carriage, 92, 170
+
+
+ R
+
+ Railways, 129
+
+ Rain, 191
+
+ _Rainbow_, U.S.S., 103
+
+ Rats, 211
+
+ Reclamation of mud-flats, 178
+
+ Rents, 24, 141
+
+ Rice, 35
+
+ _Rigodon_ dance, the, 59, 123, 279
+
+ Rizal, Doctor, 50, 162
+
+ Roman Catholics, 107, 194, 198, 235
+
+ Roosevelt, Miss Alice, 247, 307, 317, 327
+
+
+ S
+
+ St Louis Exhibition, 136
+
+ Salt-pits, 233
+
+ Samar Island, 288
+
+ _Sanidad_, launch, 158
+
+ Sanitary control, 242
+
+ Santa Mesa, 138
+
+ Schools, 49
+
+ School teachers, 12
+
+ Secret Police, 302
+
+ Servants, 27, 28, 38, 141, 164, 192
+
+ Shops, 25, 44, 138
+
+ Snakes, 69
+
+ Soil, the, 49
+
+ Spiders, 72
+
+ Sugar, production of, 104, 266, 328
+
+
+ T
+
+ Taft, Mr, 31, 62, 142, 247, 262, 300, 307-336, 339
+
+ Tagalos, the, 13, 14, 267
+
+ Theatricals, Filipino, 74, 161
+
+ Timber, 30
+
+ _Tuba_, 207
+
+ Typhoons, 23, 211
+
+
+ V
+
+ Vegetables, 48, 298
+
+ “Veteran Army of the Philippines,” 273
+
+ Virgin of Antipolo, the, 6, 109
+
+ Visaya, 13
+
+ Volcanoes, 16
+
+
+ W
+
+ Wages, 92, 141
+
+ Washington, George, 162
+
+ Water plants, 3
+
+ Water supply, 47, 172
+
+ Wedding, an English-Mestizo, 127
+
+ Wild pigs, 206
+
+ Worcester, Mrs, 140
+
+ Wright, Mr and Mrs Luke E., 119, 122, 140, 317
+
+
+ Y
+
+ _Ylang-Ylang_ tree, 204
+
+
+ Z
+
+ _Zafiro_, S.S., 2
+
+
+PRINTED BY OLIVER AND BOYD, EDINBURGH.
+
+
+
+
+
+End of the Project Gutenberg EBook of An Englishwoman in the Philippines, by
+Mrs. Campbell Dauncey
+
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+
+The Project Gutenberg EBook of An Englishwoman in the Philippines, by
+Mrs. Campbell Dauncey
+
+This eBook is for the use of anyone anywhere in the United States and most
+other parts of the world at no cost and with almost no restrictions
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+www.gutenberg.org. If you are not located in the United States, you'll have
+to check the laws of the country where you are located before using this ebook.
+
+Title: An Englishwoman in the Philippines
+
+Author: Mrs. Campbell Dauncey
+
+Release Date: February 11, 2019 [EBook #58863]
+
+Language: English
+
+Character set encoding: UTF-8
+
+*** START OF THIS PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK AN ENGLISHWOMAN IN THE PHILIPPINES ***
+
+
+
+
+Produced by MFR and the Online Distributed Proofreading
+Team at http://www.pgdp.net (This file was produced from
+images generously made available by The Internet Archive)
+
+
+
+
+
+
+</pre>
+
+
+<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_i" id="Page_i">[i]</a></span></p>
+
+<p class="center larger">AN ENGLISHWOMAN IN THE PHILIPPINES</p>
+
+<hr />
+
+<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_ii" id="Page_ii">[ii]</a></span></p>
+
+<p class="center"><span class="smcap">First Edition</span> <i>July 1906</i></p>
+
+<p class="center"><i>Reprinted</i> <i>October 1906</i></p>
+
+<hr />
+
+<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_iii" id="Page_iii">[iii]</a></span></p>
+
+<p class="titlepage larger">AN ENGLISHWOMAN<br />
+IN THE<br />
+PHILIPPINES</p>
+
+<p class="titlepage">BY MRS CAMPBELL DAUNCEY</p>
+
+<p class="titlepage smaller">WITH ILLUSTRATIONS AND A MAP</p>
+
+<p class="titlepage"><span class="smaller">NEW YORK</span><br />
+E. P. DUTTON AND COMPANY<br />
+<span class="smaller">1906</span></p>
+
+<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_iv" id="Page_iv">[iv]</a></span></p>
+
+<p class="titlepage smaller"><i>Printed in Great Britain</i></p>
+
+<hr />
+
+<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_v" id="Page_v">[v]</a></span></p>
+
+<h2>INTRODUCTION</h2>
+
+<p>In the following letters, written during a stay of
+nine months in the Philippine Islands, I tried to
+convey to those at home a faithful impression of
+the country I was in and the people I met. Since
+I came home I have been advised to collect and
+prepare certain of my letters for publication, and
+this I have done to the best of my ability, though
+with considerable misgivings as to the fate of such
+a humble little volume.</p>
+
+<p>It is impossible to mention the Philippine
+Islands, either in daily life in the country itself,
+or in describing such life, without reference to the
+political situations which form the topic of most
+conversations in that uneasy land. On this subject
+also I wrote to the best of my power, faithfully
+and impartially; for I hold no brief for the
+Americans or the Filipinos. I merely aimed at a
+plain account of those scenes and conversations,
+generally written within a few hours of my
+observing them, which, it seemed to me, would
+best convey a true and unbiassed impression of
+what I saw of the Philippines as they are.</p>
+
+<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_vi" id="Page_vi">[vi]</a></span></p>
+
+<hr />
+
+<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_vii" id="Page_vii">[vii]</a></span></p>
+
+<h2>CONTENTS</h2>
+
+<table summary="Contents">
+ <tr>
+ <td></td>
+ <td class="tdpg">PAGE</td>
+ </tr>
+ <tr>
+ <td class="tdc" colspan="2">LETTER I.<br />MANILA</td>
+ </tr>
+ <tr>
+ <td>Journey from Hong Kong. First sight of the Philippine
+ coast. Manila Bay. The Pasig River. A drive through
+ the streets. Old Manila. Spanish influences. Manila
+ hotels. The Virgin of Antipolo. Inter-island steamers.</td>
+ <td class="tdpg"><a href="#LETTER_1">1</a></td>
+ </tr>
+ <tr>
+ <td class="tdc" colspan="2">LETTER II.<br />FROM MANILA TO ILOILO</td>
+ </tr>
+ <tr>
+ <td>Beautiful islands. Coin divers. A glimpse of Cebú. The
+ hemp industry. The Island of Mactan. Magellan. A
+ curious record in orthography. Fellow-passengers.
+ Soldiers and school-teachers. American theories. Social
+ and racial equality. The Filipino race.</td>
+ <td class="tdpg"><a href="#LETTER_2">8</a></td>
+ </tr>
+ <tr>
+ <td class="tdc" colspan="2">LETTER III.<br />FIRST IMPRESSIONS OF ILOILO</td>
+ </tr>
+ <tr>
+ <td>Arrival at Iloilo. Situation of Guimaras and Negros.
+ The Island of Panay. Climate. House-hunting. Native
+ methods. Conant coinage. Philippine houses.</td>
+ <td class="tdpg"><a href="#LETTER_3">15</a></td>
+ </tr>
+ <tr>
+ <td class="tdc" colspan="2"><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_viii" id="Page_viii">[viii]</a></span>LETTER IV.<br />A PHILIPPINE HOUSE—AMERICAN PRICES—NATIVE SERVANTS—FURNITURE</td>
+ </tr>
+ <tr>
+ <td>We find a house. Domestic architecture. The Azotea.
+ Results of American extravagance. Iloilo shops. Filipino
+ servants. Settling down. Chinese shops. Furniture.
+ “Philippines for the Filipinos.” Rumours of the Custom
+ House.</td>
+ <td class="tdpg"><a href="#LETTER_4">22</a></td>
+ </tr>
+ <tr>
+ <td class="tdc" colspan="2">LETTER V.<br />HOUSEKEEPING IN ILOILO</td>
+ </tr>
+ <tr>
+ <td>Housekeeping. Strange insects. Chinese bread. The
+ washerwoman. Domestic etiquette. A hawker of
+ orchids.</td>
+ <td class="tdpg"><a href="#LETTER_5">33</a></td>
+ </tr>
+ <tr>
+ <td class="tdc" colspan="2">LETTER VI.<br />A WASTED LAND</td>
+ </tr>
+ <tr>
+ <td>The road to Molo. Picturesque scenes. Custom House methods.
+ An unpleasant surprise. Philippine trading firms. An
+ over-zealous law. The Philippine bed. Christmas Eve.
+ The tropic dawn. Christmas Day. The water-supply.
+ Food and drink. Scarcity and high prices. Book-learning
+ <i lang="la">versus</i> agriculture.</td>
+ <td class="tdpg"><a href="#LETTER_6">42</a></td>
+ </tr>
+ <tr>
+ <td class="tdc" colspan="2">LETTER VII.<br />CUSTOMS AND DRESS OF THE NATIVES</td>
+ </tr>
+ <tr>
+ <td>A Filipino <i lang="es">Fiesta</i>. The national hero. Doctor Rizal and his
+ work. A languid festival. A musical people. Dress of
+ the native women. <i lang="es">Piña</i> muslin. Dress of native men.
+ Scrupulous cleanliness. A walk on the beach. Gorgeous
+ colouring.</td>
+ <td class="tdpg"><a href="#LETTER_7">50</a></td>
+ </tr>
+ <tr>
+ <td class="tdc" colspan="2"><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_ix" id="Page_ix">[ix]</a></span>LETTER VIII.<br />SOCIAL AMUSEMENTS</td>
+ </tr>
+ <tr>
+ <td>A ball at the Spanish Club. The <i lang="es">Rigodon</i>. Curious costumes.
+ Bringing in the New Year. A painful interlude. Position
+ of Eurasians. New Year’s Day. The suburbs of Iloilo.
+ Filipino children.</td>
+ <td class="tdpg"><a href="#LETTER_8">57</a></td>
+ </tr>
+ <tr>
+ <td class="tdc" colspan="2">LETTER IX.<br />TARIFFS—INSECTS</td>
+ </tr>
+ <tr>
+ <td>More Custom House surprises. Official blunders. House-lizards.
+ Roof-menageries. <i lang="es">Anting-anting.</i> Snakes.
+ <i lang="es">Cicadas.</i> Ants. Cockroaches. Mosquitoes.</td>
+ <td class="tdpg"><a href="#LETTER_9">66</a></td>
+ </tr>
+ <tr>
+ <td class="tdc" colspan="2">LETTER X.<br />A FILIPINO THEATRE—<i lang="es">CARABAOS</i></td>
+ </tr>
+ <tr>
+ <td>Dramatic clubs. The Iloilo theatre. An amusing experience.
+ An operetta. The Jaro road. <i lang="es">Carabaos.</i> An evening
+ scene by the river. The fashionable <i lang="es">paseo</i>.</td>
+ <td class="tdpg"><a href="#LETTER_10">74</a></td>
+ </tr>
+ <tr>
+ <td class="tdc" colspan="2">LETTER XI.<br />SOME RESULTS OF THE AMERICAN OCCUPATION</td>
+ </tr>
+ <tr>
+ <td>Heat and drought. Bathrooms. A handsome cow-boy.
+ Cost of living. Military manners. Camp Josman. The
+ Government of the Philippines. A “pull.” An arbitrary
+ tax. The Plaza Libertad. Effects of fire and bombardment.
+ Story of the American occupation. Unwelcome
+ saviours. A pretty garden. The “unemployed.” Scale
+ of wages. A Philippine cabstand. Filipino dignity. A
+ charming scene.</td>
+ <td class="tdpg"><a href="#LETTER_11">82</a></td>
+ </tr>
+ <tr>
+ <td class="tdc" colspan="2"><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_x" id="Page_x">[x]</a></span>LETTER XII.<br />CHINESE NEW YEAR—LABOUR CONDITIONS—A CINÉMATOGRAPH SHOW</td>
+ </tr>
+ <tr>
+ <td>The Chinese New Year. Question of Chinese labour. A
+ cinématograph entertainment. Unpleasant habits. An
+ interesting audience. Diplomatic warfare. A half “’cute”
+ native. A Filipino philosopher. Tropical rain.</td>
+ <td class="tdpg"><a href="#LETTER_12">95</a></td>
+ </tr>
+ <tr>
+ <td class="tdc" colspan="2">LETTER XIII.<br />SOME INFLUENCES OF CLIMATE, SCENERY, AND RELIGION</td>
+ </tr>
+ <tr>
+ <td>The <i>Rainbow</i>. Sugar industry. A beautiful view. Unchanging
+ charms. “Always afternoon.” The fascination of the
+ East. Missionaries. A keen advocate. La Iglesia
+ Filipina Independiente.</td>
+ <td class="tdpg"><a href="#LETTER_13">103</a></td>
+ </tr>
+ <tr>
+ <td class="tdc" colspan="2">LETTER XIV.<br />VOYAGE TO MANILA</td>
+ </tr>
+ <tr>
+ <td>A journey to Manila. The mail steamer. Food for
+ Esquimaux. A comfortable night. Dream Islands.
+ Dress for Europeans. Manila. The harbour. Curious
+ reasoning. American hustling. A charming house. The
+ Luneta.</td>
+ <td class="tdpg"><a href="#LETTER_14">110</a></td>
+ </tr>
+ <tr>
+ <td class="tdc" colspan="2">LETTER XV.<br />AN OFFICIAL ENTERTAINMENT</td>
+ </tr>
+ <tr>
+ <td>Evening on the Pasig River. Malacañan Palace. An evening
+ <i lang="fr">fête</i>. The Arms of the Philippines. “The Gubernatorial
+ party.” “Manila at a glance.” The Gibson Girl. An
+ amusing episode. A drive in Manila. The fashions.
+ Manila shops. A market for the best diamonds. A
+ “mixed” wedding.</td>
+ <td class="tdpg"><a href="#LETTER_15">120</a></td>
+ </tr>
+ <tr>
+ <td class="tdc" colspan="2"><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_xi" id="Page_xi">[xi]</a></span>LETTER XVI.<br />MANILA AND ITS INHABITANTS</td>
+ </tr>
+ <tr>
+ <td>The suburbs of Manila. Hawks. A nursery-garden. Orchids.
+ By the bandstand in the evening. Manila society. A city
+ of cards. Intramuros. Americanised Filipinos. The
+ American Ideal. Blind pride. Bilibid prison. Arts and
+ crafts. The “Exposition” and the inquiring voter. The
+ Philippine sky. A steamer on fire. A procession of death
+ and degradation. “Sport.” A visit to Malacañan. A
+ beautiful woman. Some lovely embroideries. Manila
+ prices. Mr Taft and his Chinese servants.</td>
+ <td class="tdpg"><a href="#LETTER_16">128</a></td>
+ </tr>
+ <tr>
+ <td class="tdc" colspan="2">LETTER XVII.<br />DEMOCRACY AND SOCIETY IN MANILA</td>
+ </tr>
+ <tr>
+ <td>A <i lang="es">Mestizo</i> party. Seeking for democracy. And finding aristocracy.
+ A shopping expedition. Chinese enterprise.
+ Bridge again. A devotee and enthusiast.</td>
+ <td class="tdpg"><a href="#LETTER_17">143</a></td>
+ </tr>
+ <tr>
+ <td class="tdc" colspan="2">LETTER XVIII.<br />THE RETURN VOYAGE AND MY COMPANIONS</td>
+ </tr>
+ <tr>
+ <td>Home letters. The Simla of Manila. The return journey to
+ Iloilo. A crowded ship. My cabin-mate. Filipino schoolboys.
+ The first-fruits of the American Ideal. Filipino
+ manners. Some Filipino views. Philippine Spanish.
+ Dawn at the mouth of the Iloilo River. Expensive
+ religion. Wonderful costumes. Lax port authorities.
+ A hearty welcome home.</td>
+ <td class="tdpg"><a href="#LETTER_18">151</a></td>
+ </tr>
+ <tr>
+ <td class="tdc" colspan="2"><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_xii" id="Page_xii">[xii]</a></span>LETTER XIX.<br />A <i lang="es">BAILE</i>—A NEW COOK AND AMERICAN METHODS</td>
+ </tr>
+ <tr>
+ <td>Carnival festivities. Lenten relaxations. A Palais Royale farce
+ at the Filipino Club. “Hiawatha.” At a <i lang="es">baile</i>. A walk
+ through the town. A Chinese graveyard. A troublesome
+ cook. Wily native ways. A change of staff. Municipal
+ marvels. <i lang="fr">Noblesse oblige.</i></td>
+ <td class="tdpg"><a href="#LETTER_19">161</a></td>
+ </tr>
+ <tr>
+ <td class="tdc" colspan="2">LETTER XX.<br />FILIPINO INDOLENCE—A DROUGHT</td>
+ </tr>
+ <tr>
+ <td>The rising thermometer. A Filipino watering-cart. A
+ harrowing story. The Filipino employé. <i lang="es">Mañana.</i> A
+ demonstration in racial equality. More drought. A new
+ acquisition.</td>
+ <td class="tdpg"><a href="#LETTER_20">169</a></td>
+ </tr>
+ <tr>
+ <td class="tdc" colspan="2">LETTER XXI.<br />THE WHARVES—AN OLD SPANIARD</td>
+ </tr>
+ <tr>
+ <td>Roofs of Philippine houses. A walk along the quay. Chinese
+ sailors. A mistaken policy. Native shops. Curious
+ cigars. Desolate mud-flats. One of the results of high
+ wages. A Spanish courtier. <i lang="es">Los Indianos.</i> A cause
+ for panic.</td>
+ <td class="tdpg"><a href="#LETTER_21">174</a></td>
+ </tr>
+ <tr>
+ <td class="tdc" colspan="2">LETTER XXII.<br />A TRIP TO GUIMARAS—AN ASTONISHING PROPOSAL—HOUSEBUILDING</td>
+ </tr>
+ <tr>
+ <td>A little trip on the sea. Marvellous scenery. The ship of the
+ Ancient Mariner. Coast villages. A band in the Plaza.
+ Oriental tastes. The difference of Eastern and Western
+ minds. Little comedies. How we drive in Iloilo. An
+ importunate visitor. Strange American customs. A
+ peaceful scene in the sunset. Building a house.</td>
+ <td class="tdpg"><a href="#LETTER_22">182</a></td>
+ </tr>
+ <tr>
+ <td class="tdc" colspan="2"><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_xiii" id="Page_xiii">[xiii]</a></span>LETTER XXIII.<br />A TROPICAL SHOWER—OUR SERVANTS—FILIPINO CUSTOMS</td>
+ </tr>
+ <tr>
+ <td>The mails. A good butler. “The inevitable <i lang="es">muchacho</i>.”
+ Palm Sunday. Negritos. Curly hair. Beggars. A
+ Filipino funeral.</td>
+ <td class="tdpg"><a href="#LETTER_23">191</a></td>
+ </tr>
+ <tr>
+ <td class="tdc" colspan="2">LETTER XXIV.<br />EASTER FESTIVITIES</td>
+ </tr>
+ <tr>
+ <td>Easter holidays. Superfluous precautions. A gruesome procession.
+ The Funeral of Christ. Rival religionists.
+ A midnight pageant. A pretty procession. Happy
+ children. A dull <i lang="es">baile</i>.</td>
+ <td class="tdpg"><a href="#LETTER_24">195</a></td>
+ </tr>
+ <tr>
+ <td class="tdc" colspan="2">LETTER XXV.<br />A DAY AT NAGABA</td>
+ </tr>
+ <tr>
+ <td>A trip to Nagaba. A native house. The “Philippine cuckoo.”
+ <i lang="es">Nipa</i> thatch. Ylang-Ylang. A swimming-bath. A stroll
+ along the rocks. A fisherman’s hut. Country-folk. The
+ village. Pig-scavengers. The fire-tree. The <i lang="es">tuba</i> man.
+ Mistaken temperance enthusiasts. Cocoanut-growing.</td>
+ <td class="tdpg"><a href="#LETTER_25">202</a></td>
+ </tr>
+ <tr>
+ <td class="tdc" colspan="2">LETTER XXVI.<br />THE MONSOON—AN ITALIAN OPERA COMPANY</td>
+ </tr>
+ <tr>
+ <td>Love-birds. Traces of the Filipino mind. The S.-W. Monsoon.
+ Typhoons. A horrible custom. A wandering Opera
+ Company. Increasing heat.</td>
+ <td class="tdpg"><a href="#LETTER_26">210</a></td>
+ </tr>
+ <tr>
+ <td class="tdc" colspan="2"><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_xiv" id="Page_xiv">[xiv]</a></span>LETTER XXVII.<br />A WEEK-END AT NAGABA</td>
+ </tr>
+ <tr>
+ <td>The departure for Nagaba. An amusing landing. Morning
+ on the beach. A fish <i lang="es">corral</i>. Trading vessels. A native
+ kitchen. Betel-nut. A row up the river. Up in the
+ woods. A magnificent prospect. Wild fruits. A
+ primitive hut. The simple life. The American theory of
+ education before food. Wanted a Colonial Office. Harlequins
+ of crab-land. The tropic night. Fishing by torchlight.
+ A <i lang="es">parao</i>. Skilful sailorising. Home again.</td>
+ <td class="tdpg"><a href="#LETTER_27">215</a></td>
+ </tr>
+ <tr>
+ <td class="tdc" colspan="2">LETTER XXVIII.<br />A LITTLE EARTHQUAKE, AND AN OPERA COMPANY UNDER DIFFICULTIES</td>
+ </tr>
+ <tr>
+ <td>A slight earthquake. Grand opera under difficulties.
+ Barbaric laughter. The exodus to Hong Kong. Vagaries
+ of the Monsoon.</td>
+ <td class="tdpg"><a href="#LETTER_28">226</a></td>
+ </tr>
+ <tr>
+ <td class="tdc" colspan="2">LETTER XXIX.<br />AN EVENING ON THE RIVER—RIVAL BISHOPS</td>
+ </tr>
+ <tr>
+ <td>Evening on the Iloilo River. Pleasant natives. A cocoanut-grove.
+ The <i lang="es">bolo</i>. Green cocoanut. Salt pits. More
+ trouble with the Customs. The verdict of Solomon. A
+ hopeless grievance. Curiosities of taxation. Religious
+ enthusiasm. Rival bishops. The Cardinal Delegate and
+ the Aglipayano Monsignore. The Plaza at Jaro. A
+ handsome old belfry. The Angelus. Peace and goodwill.</td>
+ <td class="tdpg"><a href="#LETTER_29">231</a></td>
+ </tr>
+ <tr>
+ <td class="tdc" colspan="2"><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_xv" id="Page_xv">[xv]</a></span>LETTER XXX.<br />PHILIPPINE SANITATION—DECORATION DAY</td>
+ </tr>
+ <tr>
+ <td>The coolness of 90°. A letter from Benguet. Expense of
+ travelling. Baby mongeese. Native neighbours. The
+ sanitary control. An appeal to <i lang="es">verguenza</i>. An ill-kept
+ town. An inhuman custom. The new hospital. Decoration
+ Day. Digging up American soldiers. Unwholesome
+ sentimentality.</td>
+ <td class="tdpg"><a href="#LETTER_30">239</a></td>
+ </tr>
+ <tr>
+ <td class="tdc" colspan="2">LETTER XXXI.<br />MR TAFT—TROPICAL SUNSETS—UNPLEASANT NEIGHBOURS—FILIPINO LAW</td>
+ </tr>
+ <tr>
+ <td>News of the coming of Mr Taft and his party. Miss Alice
+ Roosevelt. A simple-minded damsel. Relaxing wind.
+ By the Molo road. A lovely scene. An Eurasian household.
+ A melodrama. And a farce. A flitting. Filipino
+ justice.</td>
+ <td class="tdpg"><a href="#LETTER_31">247</a></td>
+ </tr>
+ <tr>
+ <td class="tdc" colspan="2">LETTER XXXII.<br />OUR MONGEESE—A FIRE—THE NATIVE EDUCATION QUESTION</td>
+ </tr>
+ <tr>
+ <td>A distressing malady. Habits of my mongeese. An alarm of
+ fire. A strange state of affairs. “Arbitrary race-distinctions.”
+ Undemonstrable theories.</td>
+ <td class="tdpg"><a href="#LETTER_32">255</a></td>
+ </tr>
+ <tr>
+ <td class="tdc" colspan="2">LETTER XXXIII.<br />A PAPER-CHASE—LACK OF SPORTS—PREPARATIONS FOR MR TAFT</td>
+ </tr>
+ <tr>
+ <td>A paper-chase. Lack of sports. Ladies astride. A problem
+ for Mr Taft. Amusing headlines. Sad little pets.</td>
+ <td class="tdpg"><a href="#LETTER_33">260</a></td>
+ </tr>
+ <tr>
+ <td class="tdc" colspan="2"><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_xvi" id="Page_xvi">[xvi]</a></span>LETTER XXXIV.<br />TRYING HEAT—AN AMERICAN PROSPECTOR—NEW LODGERS—BARGAINING FOR <i lang="es">PIÑA</i></td>
+ </tr>
+ <tr>
+ <td>Damp heat. An enterprising millionaire. New neighbours.
+ A happy household. Buying <i lang="es">piña</i> muslin.</td>
+ <td class="tdpg"><a href="#LETTER_34">265</a></td>
+ </tr>
+ <tr>
+ <td class="tdc" colspan="2">LETTER XXXV.<br />DECLARATION DAY—THE CULT OF THE FLAG—A PROCESSION, FESTIVITIES, AND A BALL</td>
+ </tr>
+ <tr>
+ <td>Declaration Day. The cult of the Stars and Stripes. An
+ angry critic. The procession. American officers.
+ Methods of horsemanship. A cruel vanity. American
+ soldiers. The Veteran Army of the Philippines. “Little
+ brown brothers.” Representative parades. Celebrations
+ in the Plaza. Strange developments of athletics. A
+ melancholy contrast. Official ball at the <i lang="es">Gobierno</i>. An
+ ardent anti-Taftite. An amusing assembly. Unconventional
+ bandsmen. A keen pro-Filipino. An ill-bred
+ <i lang="es">Mestiza</i>. Balancing a <i lang="es">quilez</i>. Some of the drawbacks of
+ civilisation.</td>
+ <td class="tdpg"><a href="#LETTER_35">270</a></td>
+ </tr>
+ <tr>
+ <td class="tdc" colspan="2">LETTER XXXVI.<br />COCK-FIGHTING—PULAJANES</td>
+ </tr>
+ <tr>
+ <td>A sad loss. The Filipino and his fighting-cock. Tricks of the
+ ring. Off to the front. Peace and prosperity. A horrible
+ story. A plague of flies. A slovenly guest. The poll-tax
+ and some of its workings.</td>
+ <td class="tdpg"><a href="#LETTER_36">286</a></td>
+ </tr>
+ <tr>
+ <td class="tdc" colspan="2"><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_xvii" id="Page_xvii">[xvii]</a></span>LETTER XXXVII.<br />A PEARL OF GREAT PRICE</td>
+ </tr>
+ <tr>
+ <td>Philippine flowers. A town of swamps. Monotonous scenery.
+ Hawking a pearl. Pearl fisheries. Plentiful fish-supply.</td>
+ <td class="tdpg"><a href="#LETTER_37">292</a></td>
+ </tr>
+ <tr>
+ <td class="tdc" colspan="2">LETTER XXXVIII.<br />AGRICULTURAL POSSIBILITIES</td>
+ </tr>
+ <tr>
+ <td>A Gymkhana on the beach. An <i lang="it">alfresco</i> domestic servant
+ agency. Road-mending. The foreign cemetery. Justice
+ for the white man. Treatment of servants. The Filipino
+ tiller of the soil. Wasted opportunities. A terrible
+ disease. Some native fruits, and some more wasted
+ opportunities. A welcome invitation.</td>
+ <td class="tdpg"><a href="#LETTER_38">295</a></td>
+ </tr>
+ <tr>
+ <td class="tdc" colspan="2">LETTER XXXIX.<br />A LAST DAY AT NAGABA—THE “SECWAR”</td>
+ </tr>
+ <tr>
+ <td>Farewell to Nagaba. The three-card trick. The Secret Police.
+ A pleasant sail. Through the village. A native shop.
+ Corn pone. An Anglipayano church. An idyll. Filipino
+ coffee. Lack of American enterprise. A strange word.
+ The coming of the <i>Secwar</i>. Human mosquitoes. A
+ familiar type of character.</td>
+ <td class="tdpg"><a href="#LETTER_39">301</a></td>
+ </tr>
+ <tr>
+ <td class="tdc" colspan="2">LETTER XL.<br />PREPARATIONS</td>
+ </tr>
+ <tr>
+ <td>Preparations for the Patron Saint. Arcadian animals. Mr
+ Taft’s intentions. Determined patriots. A famous
+ phrase. The blessings of a free press. American altruism.
+ Political Pecksniffs. The spell of indolence.</td>
+ <td class="tdpg"><a href="#LETTER_40">310</a></td>
+ </tr>
+ <tr>
+ <td class="tdc" colspan="2"><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_xviii" id="Page_xviii">[xviii]</a></span>LETTER XLI.<br />THE FESTIVITIES</td>
+ </tr>
+ <tr>
+ <td>The <i lang="es">Comitiva Taft</i>. A reception that failed. Unappreciative
+ guests. The decorations. A culinary treat. A call in
+ the dark before the dawn. Gay streets. The visitors.
+ “Miss Alice.” Mr Taft. The “Taft smile.” Looking for
+ equality. A well-instructed journalist. Floats. Some
+ strange banners. Mr Taft’s opinions. An amusing
+ <i lang="fr">contre-temps</i>. A very informal reception. A little
+ mistake in tact. The banquet. Disappointed admirers.
+ A haphazard feast. The mermaid. Speeches. A fiery
+ patriot. Instructive applause. A splendid orator. Mr
+ Taft’s mission. Two critics.</td>
+ <td class="tdpg"><a href="#LETTER_41">315</a></td>
+ </tr>
+ <tr>
+ <td class="tdc" colspan="2">LETTER XLII.<br />WEIGHING ANCHOR</td>
+ </tr>
+ <tr>
+ <td>An Iloilo hotel. A faithful servant. Complaisant Americans.
+ Echoes of the visitation. Skilful reporting. A disappointed
+ well-wisher.</td>
+ <td class="tdpg"><a href="#LETTER_42">337</a></td>
+ </tr>
+ <tr>
+ <td class="tdc" colspan="2">LETTER XLIII.<br />HOMEWARD BOUND</td>
+ </tr>
+ <tr>
+ <td>A pleasant prospect. Comfortable quarters. Chop-sticks. A
+ happy little slave. The Chinese pigtail. An unspoilt
+ Filipino. The dignity of the white man. The dregs of
+ East and West. A last whiff of the sugar-<i lang="es">camarins</i>.</td>
+ <td class="tdpg"><a href="#LETTER_43">342</a></td>
+ </tr>
+ <tr>
+ <td class="pad-top"><span class="smcap">Index.</span></td>
+ <td class="pad-top tdpg"><a href="#INDEX">347</a></td>
+ </tr>
+</table>
+
+<hr />
+
+<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_xix" id="Page_xix">[xix]</a></span></p>
+
+<h2>LIST OF ILLUSTRATIONS</h2>
+
+<table summary="Contents">
+ <tr>
+ <td><span class="smcap">Discharging Hemp from Paraos</span> (Native Boats)</td>
+ <td class="tdpg"><i>To face page</i> <a href="#illus1">10</a></td>
+ </tr>
+ <tr>
+ <td><span class="smcap">A Filipino Girl, aged 10</span>—<span class="smcap">A Casco</span> (Barge)</td>
+ <td class="tdpg"><span class="ditto2">”</span> <a href="#illus2">14</a></td>
+ </tr>
+ <tr>
+ <td><span class="smcap">Old Spanish Houses at Molo</span></td>
+ <td class="tdpg"><span class="ditto2">”</span> <a href="#illus3">20</a></td>
+ </tr>
+ <tr>
+ <td><span class="smcap">The Back of our House</span>, showing Azotea and Outbuildings</td>
+ <td class="tdpg"><span class="ditto2">”</span> <a href="#illus4">24</a></td>
+ </tr>
+ <tr>
+ <td><span class="smcap">Filipino Servants</span></td>
+ <td class="tdpg"><span class="ditto2">”</span> <a href="#illus5">28</a></td>
+ </tr>
+ <tr>
+ <td><span class="smcap">Riding a Carabao</span></td>
+ <td class="tdpg"><span class="ditto2">”</span> <a href="#illus6">78</a></td>
+ </tr>
+ <tr>
+ <td><span class="smcap">Spanish Architecture in the Philippines</span>: An Old Church at Daraga</td>
+ <td class="tdpg"><span class="ditto2">”</span> <a href="#illus7">89</a></td>
+ </tr>
+ <tr>
+ <td><span class="smcap">Manila</span>—Malacañan Palace</td>
+ <td class="tdpg"><span class="ditto1">”</span> <a href="#illus8">120</a></td>
+ </tr>
+ <tr>
+ <td><span class="smcap">Manila</span>—The Escolta</td>
+ <td class="tdpg"><span class="ditto1">”</span> <a href="#illus9">126</a></td>
+ </tr>
+ <tr>
+ <td><span class="smcap">A Street in Manila</span>, showing the Electric Tram</td>
+ <td class="tdpg"><span class="ditto1">”</span> <a href="#illus10">129</a></td>
+ </tr>
+ <tr>
+ <td><span class="smcap">Manila</span>—The Luneta</td>
+ <td class="tdpg"><span class="ditto1">”</span> <a href="#illus11">130</a></td>
+ </tr>
+ <tr>
+ <td><span class="smcap">Bird’s-Eye View of Inland Suburbs of Manila</span></td>
+ <td class="tdpg"><span class="ditto1">”</span> <a href="#illus12">138</a></td>
+ </tr>
+ <tr>
+ <td><span class="smcap">A Philippine Pony</span></td>
+ <td class="tdpg"><span class="ditto1">”</span> <a href="#illus13">174</a></td>
+ </tr>
+ <tr>
+ <td><span class="smcap">Native Houses</span></td>
+ <td class="tdpg"><span class="ditto1">”</span> <a href="#illus14">204</a></td>
+ </tr>
+ <tr>
+ <td><span class="smcap">The Track of a Typhoon</span></td>
+ <td class="tdpg"><span class="ditto1">”</span> <a href="#illus15">210</a></td>
+ </tr>
+ <tr>
+ <td><span class="smcap">A Filipino Market-Place</span></td>
+ <td class="tdpg"><span class="ditto1">”</span> <a href="#illus16">218</a></td>
+ </tr>
+ <tr>
+ <td><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_xx" id="Page_xx">[xx]</a></span><span class="smcap">A Three-Man Breeze off Guimaras</span>—<span class="smcap">A Parao</span></td>
+ <td class="tdpg"><span class="ditto1">”</span> <a href="#illus17">222</a></td>
+ </tr>
+ <tr>
+ <td><span class="smcap">A Palm Grove</span></td>
+ <td class="tdpg"><span class="ditto1">”</span> <a href="#illus18">232</a></td>
+ </tr>
+ <tr>
+ <td><span class="smcap">Cathedral and Belfry at Jaro</span></td>
+ <td class="tdpg"><span class="ditto1">”</span> <a href="#illus19">236</a></td>
+ </tr>
+ <tr>
+ <td><span class="smcap">A Suburb of Iloilo</span></td>
+ <td class="tdpg"><span class="ditto1">”</span> <a href="#illus20">242</a></td>
+ </tr>
+ <tr>
+ <td><span class="smcap">Awaiting Shipment</span>—Coffins containing Bones of American Soldiers stacked in Malate Cemetery, Manila</td>
+ <td class="tdpg"><span class="ditto1">”</span> <a href="#illus21">244</a></td>
+ </tr>
+ <tr>
+ <td><span class="smcap">A Village Cock-Fight</span></td>
+ <td class="tdpg"><span class="ditto1">”</span> <a href="#illus22">287</a></td>
+ </tr>
+ <tr>
+ <td><span class="smcap">Watering Carabaos</span></td>
+ <td class="tdpg"><span class="ditto1">”</span> <a href="#illus23">293</a></td>
+ </tr>
+ <tr>
+ <td><span class="smcap">A Filipino Fish-Market</span></td>
+ <td class="tdpg"><span class="ditto1">”</span> <a href="#illus24">294</a></td>
+ </tr>
+</table>
+
+<hr />
+
+<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_1" id="Page_1">[1]</a></span></p>
+
+<h1>AN ENGLISHWOMAN IN THE PHILIPPINES</h1>
+
+<h2 id="LETTER_1">LETTER I.<br />
+<span class="smaller">MANILA</span></h2>
+
+<p class="right"><span class="smcap">Manila</span>, <i>27th November 1904</i>.</p>
+
+<p>We arrived here early yesterday morning from
+Hong Kong, after three days of rather a horrible
+sea voyage, as the steamer was more than crowded,
+the weather rough, and we carried a deck cargo of
+cattle. These conditions are not unusual, however,
+in fact I believe they are unvarying, as the
+362 miles of sea between here and Hong Kong
+are always choppy, and the two mail steamers
+that ply to and fro, the <i>Rubi</i> and the <i>Zafiro</i>, are
+always crammed full, and invariably carry cattle.</p>
+
+<p>The poor beasts stood in rows of pens on the
+main deck, each fitting tightly into his pen like a
+bean in a pod; many of them were ill, and one
+died. We watched the simple funeral with great
+interest, for the crew hoisted the dead animal by
+means of a crane, with a rope lashed round its
+horns, standing on the living beasts on each side to
+do it; but they had a good deal of difficulty in
+extracting the body from its pen, in which it was
+wedged sideways by two live neighbours, who
+stubbornly resented the whole affair. Finally,
+with a great deal of advice and swearing, the<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_2" id="Page_2">[2]</a></span>
+carcase was slung over the side, and it looked very
+weird sailing down the ship’s wake in the
+sunset.</p>
+
+<p>That was the only event of the voyage, till we
+sighted Luzon, the biggest and most northern of
+the Philippines, some time on Saturday afternoon—this
+is Monday, by-the-bye.</p>
+
+<p>The <i>Zafiro</i> kept all along the coast, which
+loomed up dim and mountainous, but we could
+not see anything very clearly, for the atmosphere
+was thick and hazy. Here and there on the
+darkening mountain sides a column of smoke rose
+up very straight into the evening air, and I was
+told they came from forest clearings, but we saw
+no signs of human habitation. A man who had
+been many years in the Philippines, and was
+returning to what had become his home, told me
+that such fires on the mountain sides had been
+used a great deal as signals between the insurgents
+during the Spanish and the American wars, and had
+been made to indicate all manner of gruesome
+messages.</p>
+
+<p>About two in the morning, the <i>Zafiro</i> arrived
+at Manila and anchored in the bay, and when it
+was light, about five o’clock, we came up on deck
+and looked round, but the land lies in a section of
+so vast a circle that one does not realise it is a bay
+at all. The morning was very dull and grey; hot,
+of course, but overcast, and the sea calm and grey
+like the sky. The city of Manila lay so nearly
+level with the water that it was almost out of
+sight, just a long low mass, rather darker than the
+sea. Far, far away inland a faint outline of
+mountains was perceptible, but Manila is built,
+for the most part, on a mud-flat at the mouth of
+a broad river called the Pasig. This is a curious
+river, only 14 miles long, coming from a big lake
+called the Laguna de Bayo, but yet it is wide and<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_3" id="Page_3">[3]</a></span>
+deep enough at the mouth for 5000-ton steamers to
+anchor at the wharves and turn in the stream.</p>
+
+<p>About seven o’clock, or earlier, our friends’
+launch came out for us, and in this little craft we
+steamed up the mouth of the Pasig, past rows and
+rows of steamers anchored at the quays, and
+hundreds of huge native barges covered over with
+round roofs of brown matting. I noticed numbers
+of brilliantly green cabbages floating down the
+stream, sitting on the water like lilies, with long
+brown roots trailing behind, and thought a cargo of
+vegetables had been wrecked, but was told these
+are water plants drifting down from inland bays up
+the river. They are the most extraordinary plants,
+of intensely crude and violent emerald, and make
+a marvellous dash of colour amongst the grey and
+brown shipping on the yellow, muddy water.</p>
+
+<p>We landed at a big wharf, right in the town, and
+close to streets with shops, all looking strangely
+European after China and the Straits, the whole
+place reminding me more of the suburbs of Malaga
+or the port of Las Palmas than any other places I
+can think of. Here a carriage was waiting for us,
+and we drove all through the outskirts of the
+town, till we came out upon the bay again, and
+saw the open sea, where our friends’ house is
+situated in a quarter called Ermita. All Manila
+is divided into quarters, or wards, with curious
+Spanish or Filipino names—Malate, Pasay, Intramuros,
+Binondo, etc., and many names of Saints.</p>
+
+<p>The days get very hot here after eight o’clock,
+whether the sun happens to be shining or not, so I
+did not go out until the cool of the evening, and
+spent the day in the house, unpacking and resting,
+and trying to forget the smell of those cattle.
+Never again, I am sure, shall I linger with pleasure
+near the door of a byre!</p>
+
+<p>Everyone here goes about in diminutive victorias,<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_4" id="Page_4">[4]</a></span>
+very like the Italian <i lang="it">carrozza</i>, and all the horses
+are tiny ponies, the result of a cross between the
+little Chinese horse and a small Spanish breed.
+They are sturdy little beasts, and remarkably quick
+trotters, with thick necks, and look pretty if they
+are well kept; but some of those in the hired
+carriages are very poor little creatures, though
+they tear about with incredible loads of brown-faced
+natives.</p>
+
+<p>We drove about the town, which all looks as if
+it had been put up in a hurry. There are no
+indications of antiquity outside Intramuros, the
+old Spanish Manila, founded in 1571, which stands,
+as its name signifies, within walls—crumbling
+grass-grown old walls, very high, and with a deep
+moat.</p>
+
+<p>This Walled City, as the Americans called
+it, is the town the British took under General
+Draper in 1762, and these are the walls our ships
+bombarded at the same time, under Admiral
+Cornish, papa’s great-uncle. When we were at
+home, it seemed strange that just before I came to
+the Philippines, I should inherit the lovely old
+emerald ring which the priestly Governor of Manila
+gave to the Admiral, when the former was a
+prisoner of war in the British Fleet, during the few
+days we held the Philippines, before we gave them
+back to Spain. But when I was actually under the
+walls they fought for, I looked at the old ring, and
+the coincidence seemed stranger still. I wished it
+were a magic emerald that I could rub it lightly,
+and summon some mysterious spirit which would
+tell me all the old ring had seen and heard. But now,
+Old Manila is only a backwash leading to nowhere,
+for the modern town has spread itself all up the
+banks of the Pasig River.</p>
+
+<p>Our way did not lie through the Walled City,
+but along outside it, down a broad avenue, bordered<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_5" id="Page_5">[5]</a></span>
+by handsome trees, over a bridge across the Pasig,
+and into the town of shops and streets. The whole
+place looked dull, grey, ugly, and depressing, and
+after Hong Kong it seemed positively squalid.
+Big houses like the magnificent stone palaces of
+Hong Kong, would be impossible here on account
+of the frequent earthquakes, but such buildings as
+there are look mean and dilapidated, and the streets
+are badly paved or not at all, weeds grow everywhere;
+in fact, there is a sort of hopeless untidiness
+about the place that is positively disheartening, like
+going into a dirty and untidy house. I think
+a great deal of the hopelessness, too, consists in
+the air of the natives, who appear small and
+indolent after one’s eye has become accustomed to
+the tall, fine figures of the busy Chinamen.</p>
+
+<p>I was particularly struck with the fact that I
+saw no traces of anything one is accustomed to
+think of as Spanish—no bright mule-trappings,
+or women with <i lang="es">mantillas</i>, or anything gay and
+coloured, and the houses are not built round <i lang="es">patios</i>.
+I was told that the reason of this is that the
+Spaniards who settled in the Philippines all came
+from the north of Spain, from Biscaya, and of
+course the Spain one knows and thinks of <em>as</em>
+Spanish is Andalusia and the South, with the
+wonderful glamour and poetry of the Moorish
+influence.</p>
+
+<p>In the course of our drive we went to a certain
+bridge to see a religious procession, and as we got
+near the place where it was to pass, the streets
+were crowded with people, and there were triumphal
+arches scattered about, all looking quite pretty in
+the rosy-pink glow of the sun, which was just
+beginning to set. We pulled up in a mass of
+carriages and traps on one side of the bridge, and
+waited an hour or more for the procession, which
+was then about three hours overdue.</p>
+
+<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_6" id="Page_6">[6]</a></span></p>
+
+<p>While we waited there, we met and talked with
+a Mr —— whom I mentioned to you before as
+having come out from England in the same series
+of steamers as ourselves. He told us that he was
+putting up at the best hotel in Manila, which, he
+said, was haphazard and dirty beyond belief. We
+said we had had the same account from other
+people, and considered ourselves more than lucky
+to be staying with friends.</p>
+
+<p>“Yes,” he said, “you are in luck, for you can’t
+imagine what a Manila hotel is like. And yet it is
+full of decent people. I wonder why they can’t run
+a better one.”</p>
+
+<p>It does seem odd when one comes to think of it,
+because, though Manila is off the tourist track of
+the world, and there is no reason for any mere
+traveller to come here, still, people do come sometimes,
+and anyhow there are the Americans themselves,
+who want a shelter of some sort, and that
+nation has the reputation of being accomplished
+connoisseurs in the matter of hotels. One would
+imagine that a good hotel would be the first thing
+they would demand or establish, but they have
+been here six years now, and the Manila hotels are
+still a byword for unutterable filth and discomfort.</p>
+
+<p>Well, about this procession, the occasion of which
+was the bringing down to Manila of a very sacred
+image, called the Virgin of Antipolo, from the town
+of Antipolo, which is inland, to deposit her in some
+church in Manila. She had been four hundred
+years in Antipolo, and was a very precious and
+much-battered relic, so her journey was a great
+event, and the procession had been travelling, by
+road and river, ever since before the dawn.</p>
+
+<p>At last the long lines of people began to appear,
+crawling over the bridge in the last grey shadows.
+It proved to be a very dull affair, simply consisting
+of endless files of the faithful, carrying unlighted<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_7" id="Page_7">[7]</a></span>
+candles, with every now and then a band of
+music, and every now and then a group of paper
+lanterns carried on poles, or some gaudy banner,
+and all moving along to the accompaniment of a
+weird, unearthly chant. This kind of thing went
+on and on, and after an hour we got tired of it, and
+drove away without having seen the actual image,
+which was, we were told, a little, armless, wooden
+figure, dressed in a stiff tinsel robe, perched up on
+an immense high platform, decorated with lamps
+and flowers, and surrounded by priests chanting,
+and acolytes swinging censers.</p>
+
+<p>We are to sail for Iloilo to-day, after lunch,
+having got a permit to go in the <i>Kai-Fong</i>, of the
+China Steam Navigation Company. We were
+to have come in this same steamer from Hong
+Kong, as I told you at the time, in which case we
+should have gone in her right through to Iloilo,
+touching here and at Cebú, but we received the
+telegram too late, an hour or so after she had left,
+and as we were told to start at once, we followed
+by that pleasing craft the <i>Zafiro</i>.</p>
+
+<p>By this manœuvre we have clashed with a
+vexatious local law that forbids foreign (<i>i.e.</i>, not
+American or Filipino) steamers to convey passengers
+from Island to Island of the Philippines, so we had
+to apply for this special permit, as they say the
+regular mail steamers, which ply between Manila
+and Iloilo, are exceedingly dirty and uncomfortable.
+They are owned by a Spanish Company, trading
+under the American flag. However, it is all settled
+now, in favour of the English boat, and we sail this
+afternoon.</p>
+
+<p>I have only caught a passing glimpse of Manila,
+but I hope to be able to tell you more about it
+later on, as I have been invited to come back and
+pay a visit to our friends here in a month or two’s
+time.</p>
+
+<hr />
+
+<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_8" id="Page_8">[8]</a></span></p>
+
+<h2 id="LETTER_2">LETTER II.<br />
+<span class="smaller">FROM MANILA TO ILOILO</span></h2>
+
+<p class="right"><span class="smcap">S.S. “Kai-Fong,” China Sea</span>, <i>December 1, 1904</i>.</p>
+
+<p>I hear there will be a mail going out from Iloilo
+to-morrow, the day we arrive, so I will write you a
+letter to go by it, that you may not be disappointed—six
+weeks hence!</p>
+
+<p>We left Manila at three o’clock on Monday, in
+lovely sunshine, and had a delightful voyage through
+scenery which was simply a miracle of beauty. The
+sky was intensely blue, with little white clouds;
+the sea calm and still more intensely blue, dotted
+with dreams of islands, some mauve and dim and far
+away, some nearer and more solid-looking, and a
+few quite close, so that we could see the great
+forests of bright green trees and the grassy lawns,
+which cover the hills and clothe the whole islands
+down to long, white, sandy beaches, with fringes of
+palm trees.</p>
+
+<p>The islands are volcanic, mountainous, and of
+all shapes and sizes, from Luzon, which is nearly
+the size of England,<a name="FNanchor_1" id="FNanchor_1"></a><a href="#Footnote_1" class="fnanchor">[1]</a> and Mindanao, which is
+larger still, down to tiny fantastic islets, but all
+rich, green, fertile—even a rock poking its head
+out of the brilliant sea, has its crown of green
+vegetation. I don’t know at what size an island
+ceases to be an island and becomes a mere rock,
+but anyhow, there are two thousand Philippines
+considered worth enumerating.</p>
+
+<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_9" id="Page_9">[9]</a></span></p>
+
+<p>I noticed very few signs of cultivation, or even
+of human habitation, but was told that even if
+there were villages in sight, they would be difficult
+to distinguish, unless we passed close to them, as
+they are built of brown thatch, and placed amongst
+the trees. Here and there was a little group of
+white buildings, generally, in fact always, clustering
+round a huge church. We passed quite close to
+some of the islands, so that we saw the trees and
+beaches clearly, but even those at a distance were
+very distinct, and I was particularly struck with
+the absence of colour-perspective, for the islands
+some way off, if they were not so far away as to
+look mauve, were just as brilliantly green as those
+close at hand. One after another, like a ceaseless
+kaleidoscope, these fairy islands slipped past all day—in
+fact, as I write, I can hardly keep my
+attention on my letter, the scenery is so wonderful
+and so constantly varying.</p>
+
+<p>We got to Cebú, which is the chief town of the
+island of that name, at six o’clock on Wednesday
+morning, and anchored just off the town, which
+appeared as a flat jumble of grey corrugated iron
+roofs and green trees, rather shut in by high
+mountains close behind. On account of these hills,
+they say Cebú is much hotter than Iloilo, as the
+latter town lies open to the Monsoons.</p>
+
+<p>These are the chief towns of the Philippines:
+Manila, the capital, in Luzon; Iloilo, in Panay;
+and Cebú, in Cebú; and that is the order they come
+in as to size, though between the two provincial
+towns there is endless rivalry on the subject of
+importance. In fact they are a sort of local
+Liverpool and Manchester—bitterly jealous, and
+yet pretending to despise each other. There was a
+P. and O. cargo steamer anchored not far from us,
+the first ever seen at Cebú, and everyone seemed
+very proud of the event.</p>
+
+<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_10" id="Page_10">[10]</a></span></p>
+
+<p>When we went on deck, we saw a couple of
+canoes, hollowed out of big tree trunks, circling
+round, and containing natives dressed in loin-cloths,
+offering to dive for coins, in the approved fashion,
+west of Port Saïd. They were fine young men,
+yellowy brown in colour, and they made a great
+deal of noise, but did not dive very well. After
+breakfast some of C——’s friends came off in a
+launch and took us ashore, when we drove in the
+usual little victoria, drawn by two small ponies, to
+the British Vice-Consulate, a large house on the
+borders of the town, where the Vice-Consul, Mr
+Fulcher, entertained us royally.</p>
+
+<p>Here I followed the same programme as I did
+at Manila, resting in the cool house all the long,
+hot day, and driving out in the evening at about
+five o’clock, when the sun had begun to go down.
+We drove all through dim streets, with a gorgeous
+sunset fading in the sky, and I could not make
+things out very distinctly, but could see that we
+were passing along ramshackle, half-country roads
+with overshadowing trees, and every now and then
+we passed a row of little open shops with bright
+lights in them, and natives squatting about. There
+are no bazaars in this country, by-the-bye, only
+little mat-shed shops where food is sold.</p>
+
+<p>That was all I saw of Cebú, as I did not go out
+this morning, and we sailed in the afternoon. When
+we came down to the wharf to get on board, the
+tide, or the Port Doctor, had allowed of the <i>Kai-Fong</i>,
+drawing up to the wharf, so we came on
+board up a plank, when one had to look at the
+ship instead of the water on each side! The ship
+was very busy getting a cargo of hemp into one of
+the holds, hemp being the peculiar produce of the
+Island of Cebú and the opposite ones of Samar
+and Leyte, all long-shaped islands lying almost
+parallel in the middle of the Archipelago.</p>
+
+<div class="figcenter" style="width: 600px;" id="illus1">
+<img src="images/illus1.jpg" width="600" height="375" alt="" />
+<p class="caption"><span class="smcap">Discharging Hemp from Paraos (Native Boats).</span></p>
+<p class="caption-r"><a href="#Page_10"><i>To face page 10.</i></a></p>
+</div>
+
+<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_11" id="Page_11">[11]</a></span></p>
+
+<p>The hemp comes on board in great oblong
+bales, looking like oakum, and a man told me it
+was the fibre of a plant like a banana tree, which
+the natives split and shred very skilfully, and then
+it is dried and done up in bales, and “that is all
+there is <em>to</em> it,” as the Americans say.</p>
+
+<p>Opposite the town of Cebú is a long, low island
+called Mactan, where the great Portuguese Navigator
+Magellan was killed in the year 1521. The
+story is that the natives of the islands, finding
+Magellan invincible, and believing him to be
+enchanted, lured the great explorer away by
+treachery to the little island of Mactan, where they
+had prepared a pit covered with branches, such as
+they use to trap wild pigs. Magellan fell into this
+trap, whereupon the savages rushed out of their
+hiding-places and shot him in the joints of his harness
+with poisoned arrows, and one bold man finally
+finished him off with a spear. They poison their
+arrows to this day as they did then, by dipping
+the tip into a decomposed human body.</p>
+
+<p>There is a monument to Magellan on the spot
+where he died, but we did not have time to go
+and see it, so I had to be content with looking at
+a photograph, which gave me a very good idea of
+the quaint old three-decker edifice of grey stone,
+tapering to a column at the top. The real and
+original spelling of Mactan is as I have written it,
+but it is now altered to Maktan, and for this
+change there is a very curious reason, dating from
+the days, some ten years ago, when the Filipinos,
+headed by a patriot of the name of Emilio
+Aguinaldo, revolted against the authority of Spain.
+The chief element in the uprising was a secret
+society, called the Katipunan, the device of which,
+on flags and so forth, was K K K, and to make
+this fact memorable, or to prove his power,
+Aguinaldo ordered the hard letter C to be replaced<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_12" id="Page_12">[12]</a></span>
+by K in all names in the Philippines, making
+Mactan, Maktan; Capiz, Kapiz; Catbologan,
+Katbologan, and so on. This alteration the
+Americans, some think unwisely, have not taken
+the trouble to abandon, so the revolutionary
+spelling remains a monument of the success of
+disloyalty, to say nothing of the names having thus
+lost all philological significance.</p>
+
+<p>We are now passing round the north end of the
+Island of Cebú, for Panay lies to the westward,
+in a rough parallel. Sometimes the north passage
+is taken, and sometimes the south, according to the
+wind and current. The currents are very strong
+between these islands—all the Philippine Islands,
+I mean, and in many places the sea is always
+rough, in fact it is very seldom really calm
+anywhere, I believe.</p>
+
+<p>Our fellow-passengers are all Americans, half
+of them military, officers and privates, who address
+each other in most unceremonious fashion, and
+the rest school-teachers. A most appropriate and
+characteristic company, as the American scheme
+out here is to educate the Filipino for all he is
+worth, so that he may, in the course of time, be fit
+to govern himself according to American methods;
+but at the same time they have ready plenty of
+soldiers to knock him on the head, if he shows signs
+of wanting his liberty before Americans think he
+is fit for it. A quaint scheme, and one full of the
+go-ahead originality of America.</p>
+
+<p>I can understand the conduct of the free and
+easy soldiers, for such equality is not inconsistent
+with American social theories; but what puzzles
+me is the use of these astounding pedagogues, who
+are honest, earnest, well-meaning folk, but their
+manners are those of ordinary European peasants.
+And as to the language they speak and profess, it
+is so unlike English that literally I find it difficult<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_13" id="Page_13">[13]</a></span>
+to catch their meaning when one of them speaks
+to me direct, and quite impossible when they talk
+to each other. Yet I could forgive them their
+dreadful lingo, if only they would not use the same
+knife indiscriminately to lap up yolk of egg, or help
+themselves to butter or salt. Of course these good
+people are fresh from America, and utterly ignorant
+of all things and people outside their native State
+(such ludicrous questions they ask!), but quite
+apart from that, and the hopeless blunders they
+must make on that account, it seems a pity
+that such rough diamonds should represent to these
+natives the manners and intellect of a great and
+ruling white nation.</p>
+
+<p>But here comes the most curious phenomenon
+of all, for I am told that the United States does
+not pose as either “white” or “ruling” in these
+islands, preferring, instead, to proclaim Equality,
+which seems a very strange way to treat Malays,
+and I find myself quite curious to see how the
+theory works out. I only hope it won’t mean that
+we shall have unmanageable servants and impudence
+to put up with. Our friends in Manila
+told me ominously that housekeeping was “difficult,”
+and I begin to wonder if Equality has
+anything to do with it!</p>
+
+<p>They are a funny little people, these Filipinos,
+the women averaging well under 5 feet, with
+pretty, slender figures and small hands and feet.
+The original race was a little, fuzzy-headed, black
+people, remnants of which are still to be found in
+the mountains and in the smaller islands, but the
+Filipino, as one sees him, is the result of Malay
+invasions. Up in the north, in Luzon, the Malays
+are a race or tribe called Tagalo, but all this part
+of the Archipelago is called Visaya, and the people
+Visayans. Of these broad outlines there are many
+subdivisions of type of course, in the way that<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_14" id="Page_14">[14]</a></span>
+physique is different even in different counties in so
+small a space as England; but the average Filipino
+is the same everywhere. The Filipinos (by which
+are meant the Tagalos and Visayans) are, as nearly
+as one can say, a short, thick-set people, with
+yellowy-brown skins, round, flat faces, very thick
+lips, which frequently jut out beyond the tip of
+the nose, and more bridge to the same said nose
+in proportion to the amount of foreign blood
+in the owner’s veins. It is not easy to lay down
+any very definite rule about their appearance
+though, as the race is so hopelessly mixed with
+Spanish, Chinese, European—every nation under
+the sun, that it is difficult to say what is a Filipino
+face. One feature they have in common, and that
+is magnificent, straight, jet-black hair, which the
+women turn back from the forehead, where it
+makes a roll so thick that it looks as if it must be
+done over a pad, while they twist the back high
+up, in shiny coils. The men look as if their thick
+mops were cut round a basin, and they have no
+beards and moustaches—I mean they can’t grow
+any, not that they don’t want them! As far as
+I have seen, they appear to be very lazy, and to talk
+a great deal. They are not a bit like the Chinese
+or Japanese in any way, unless they happen to have
+a strain of that blood in them, and even then the
+resemblance is only physical, for though the type
+may be varied, the universal character remains
+unalterable.</p>
+
+<p>I forgot to tell you that at Cebú we “collected”
+C——’s dog, a dear old brown person,
+with one of the sweetest faces I ever saw, who
+answers to the name of Tuyay, which is the
+Visayan for Victoria. I really must leave off
+writing now, as it is long past time to “turn in,”
+though I feel as if I could write on for hours, there
+is so much to tell you.</p>
+
+<div class="figcenter" style="width: 375px;" id="illus2">
+<img src="images/illus2.jpg" width="375" height="600" alt="" />
+<p class="caption"><span class="smcap">A Filipino Girl, aged 10.</span></p>
+<p class="caption"><span class="smcap">A Casco (Barge).</span></p>
+<p class="caption-r"><a href="#Page_14"><i>To face page 14.</i></a></p>
+</div>
+
+<hr />
+
+<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_15" id="Page_15">[15]</a></span></p>
+
+<h2 id="LETTER_3">LETTER III.<br />
+<span class="smaller">FIRST IMPRESSIONS OF ILOILO</span></h2>
+
+<p class="right"><span class="smcap">Iloilo</span>, <i>December 4, 1904</i>.</p>
+
+<p>We arrived here on Friday last (the 2nd), and I at
+once sent off a letter to you, written on board the
+<i>Kai-Fong</i>, which letter ought to reach you some
+time in the middle of January.</p>
+
+<p>We are so glad to be at the end of this long
+journey—exactly seven weeks from London—seven
+weeks to the very day, for we left London
+on a Friday and got here on a Friday; and all
+that time we have been travelling steadily, and
+have seen so much that it seems years already
+since we left home. I hope you got all the letters
+I wrote on the way? One each from Gibraltar,
+Marseilles, Port Saïd, Aden, Colombo, Singapore,
+Penang, Hong Kong, Manila, and lastly, Cebú.
+I give you this list because I always have a fixed
+conviction that letters posted on a sea voyage seldom
+turn up, as the last one sees of them is going over
+the side in a strange land, in the clutches of
+some oily, dark person, who swears he will spend
+the money one has given him in stamps. I
+try to believe him, but he, like Victor Hugo’s
+beggar, thinks he has to live somehow, I suppose.</p>
+
+<p>Well, so here we are at last on our “Desert
+Island,” as you call it—which is really a vast and
+fertile country, with several big towns, of which
+this is the chief and largest.</p>
+
+<p>We got in at dawn as usual, the run from Cebú
+(which I notice the Americans call <em>See</em>-boo) being<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_16" id="Page_16">[16]</a></span>
+about twelve hours, so our first view of the Island
+of Panay and the town of Iloilo was in the early
+morning light, from the deck of the steamer, which
+lay, waiting for <i lang="fr">pratique</i>, in the “roads,” at the
+mouth of a river. We saw a long, flat, dark-green
+coast line, with a high range of purple mountains
+far inland, and the town of Iloilo, like Manila, almost
+imperceptible, as it lies so low on the mud-flats of a
+big estuary. It did not look at all inviting, just a
+line of very green trees, with some grey iron roofs
+amongst them, and it seemed as if it must be baking
+hot, but, as a matter of fact, the very flatness and
+the direction of the mountains keep the place cool,
+for, as I told you before, it lies exposed to the N.-E.
+and S.-W. Monsoons, the great arbiters of fate in
+the China seas.</p>
+
+<p>On the map you may find marked a small island
+called Guimaras, which is about 4 or 5 miles off,
+but in this air it looks so close that trees and houses
+can be seen over there with the naked eye, and
+yesterday evening, in driving down a street of
+Iloilo and seeing Guimaras at the end, I thought it
+was part of <em>this</em> island at the end of the road!</p>
+
+<p>Guimaras is very small, with low, pointed hills,
+covered with forests, as are all these islands; and
+behind it, 7 miles further away, lies the big
+island of Negros, the mountains of which loom up,
+a dim, pale purple outline behind bright green
+Guimaras, making one more of these marvellous
+colour effects. One of the high peaks we see is a
+volcano called Malaspina or Canloon, which is 4592
+feet high, and only half quiescent. At any rate, if
+we cannot actually see it, there is such a volcano
+in Negros. There are plenty of volcanoes in the
+Philippines, twenty-three of them all told, and
+that fact and the frequent earthquakes give an
+uncomfortable impression, as of a thin crust of
+rocks and trees over vast subterranean fires.</p>
+
+<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_17" id="Page_17">[17]</a></span></p>
+
+<p>Here, in Panay, the mountains are 20 miles
+inland, away to the west—a long range of peaks
+and serrated ridges, behind which the sun sets with
+magnificent effects. From the foot of the mountains
+the land stretches away quite flat, watered by big
+rivers, and where one of these streams forms a
+wide estuary, this town is built, as I told you, on the
+mud, in the same way that Manila stands on the
+mud-flats of the Pasig.</p>
+
+<p>The first settlement of white men in Panay was
+only a Spanish garrison, inside a fort built in the
+days when a few Spaniards in armour lurked under
+shelter from the poisoned arrows of the savage
+natives, while now and then a priest ventured out to
+see what a little talk and baptism would do towards
+making life more pleasant for everyone concerned.</p>
+
+<p>When the island became more civilised, or
+settled, or subdued, or all three, a town called Jaro
+(pronounced Hahro) was founded about 3 miles
+up the river, and became the capital of Panay, but
+now the tide of commerce has swept down-river,
+and the chief town is Iloilo, all crammed down at
+the edge of the sea, with many of its suburbs
+nothing more nor less than sandy beach. It is a
+big town, with long, straggling streets, and the
+houses, all two stories high, with grey corrugated
+iron roofs, stand apart, separated by little bits of
+garden with palms and flowering trees, which
+makes it quite pretty, in spite of all the buildings
+being totally devoid of any architectural beauty
+whatsoever.</p>
+
+<p>At present the N.-E. Monsoon is blowing, and
+everyone is anxious to point out to me how
+deliciously cool the weather is, and it is certainly
+not so overpowering as I had expected, but all the
+same I find it quite hot enough to be pleasant
+and a little over. Though there is no dew, the
+nights are refreshing—almost cold by contrast with<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_18" id="Page_18">[18]</a></span>
+the day, and the evenings charming, while the early
+mornings are simply delicious. Dawn begins at
+half-past five, and by six the sun is up, but the air
+is exquisite till about half-past eight, when it begins
+to get too hot for anything but shade and fans, if
+one has any choice. I think the average Fahrenheit
+now is 83°, but as life here is adapted to such
+temperature, you must not think that means anything
+like what 83° would be in England. Still, when
+all is said and done, it is very hot, and if this is
+what they call “winter,” I am only thankful that I
+have not plunged at once into “summer.” This
+“winter” goes on till March, and then the weather
+begins to get hotter and hotter till June, when the
+Monsoon shifts to the S.-W., and the rainy season
+begins.</p>
+
+<p>Four months dry and cool; four months
+dry and hot; four months wet and hot—that
+is the climate over most of the Philippine
+Islands, but it varies in sequence in different
+places—areas is a better word—and on the Pacific
+seaboard the seasons are quite reversed, so that it
+is rainy there when it is dry here. By rain and dry,
+however, I gather that a great deal of drought or
+a long, steady rain is not meant, for all during the
+dry season there are heavy showers, and everything
+remains green, while in the wet season there are
+spells of fine weather. Now I think I have
+described to you all I can of Iloilo till I see
+more of the place, but I know how anxious
+you will be to have some idea of what it is
+like.</p>
+
+<p>We are busy house-hunting, which is a tedious
+and toilsome business, as there is not such an
+institution as a house agency—you allow a rumour to
+get about that you want a house, and then people
+tell other people to tell you where an empty
+building, such as you say you want, is to be found.<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_19" id="Page_19">[19]</a></span>
+Then you go off and “find” the house—a matter,
+usually, of infinite difficulties and sometimes quite
+impossible, as the Filipino cab-drivers don’t know
+the names of the streets, or the numbers, or the
+names of the people. The best plan is, get into
+a rickety old trap and let the man drive about,
+while you lean out and ask for the house you
+started out to find, and end by seeing another
+one with <i lang="es">se aquila</i> (to let) written up, and stopping
+as near to it as the driver can pull up his pony, and
+getting out there instead.</p>
+
+<p>Having thus “found” a house, you set to work
+to “find” the owner of it, who is probably at
+the club, or a cock-fight, or playing cards; and
+when he, or she, appears, you ask—and this is
+quite necessary—if the house is to let; for the board
+does not signify much, as they seldom take the
+trouble to remove one when once it has been put
+up. Most of the boards are obligingly going
+through the process of removing themselves, one
+nail at a time.</p>
+
+<p>When the house really is to let, you ask the
+rent, and whatever the answer is you throw up
+your hands in horror, and declare it is <i lang="es">muy caro</i>
+(very dear), and that you will give half, calling
+assorted Saints to testify to all the drawbacks
+which make the house unfit for human habitation
+at any price.</p>
+
+<p>Then a long argument ensues, for the people
+never really want to lose a tenant, as they know
+there is no lack of choice, for trade is very bad,
+and so many houses stand empty. All the same,
+the rates and taxes are appallingly high, and the
+rents are preposterous for this sort of town, and
+for the accommodation offered. Moreover you
+have a strangely lazy, supercilious, half-bred sort
+of people to deal with, who would rather keep a
+house empty and say they must have 100 dollars<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_20" id="Page_20">[20]</a></span>
+a month and starve, than take 50 for it and live
+on the fat of their land.</p>
+
+<p>The money here is a dollar currency called
+Conant, which is worth 2s. 1d.—half the American
+dollar. This is the Philippine currency, and is
+named after its inventor, an American called
+Conant, and I wish he had invented a cheaper
+unit, for 10 Conant dollars, or <i lang="es">pesos</i>, as they
+are called, are nothing to spend, whereas the equivalent,
+an English guinea, is an important sum, and
+represents four times the spending value of 10
+<i lang="es">pesos</i>. It is a silver currency, dollars and notes,
+and the coins have rather a pretty design of a man
+sitting looking at the sea, surrounded by most
+amusing inscriptions. For instance, the 5-cent,
+piece is: “Five Centavos,” and underneath is
+“Filipinas.” Why not “Five cents.” and “Philippines,”
+or else “Cinco centavos, Filipinas?” Why
+such mongrel? One can only suppose it is the
+notion of Equality coming out in some mysterious
+way by meeting the natives half-way in Spanish,
+which, by-the-bye, is not their native language, and
+only a few of them speak it at all.</p>
+
+<p>The houses here, as I said before, are all two-storied,
+the upper part of wood, and the lower of
+stone or concrete. The floors are of long planks
+of hard, dark, native woods, which the servants
+polish with petroleum pads on their feet, sliding
+about till the surface is like brown glass. The
+walls are merely wooden partitions, painted white
+or green, and in the corners of the rooms appear
+the big tree trunks to which the house is lashed,
+sometimes just painted white like the walls, or
+encased in a wooden cover. The word “lashed,”
+I must tell you, is not a figure of speech, as the
+houses really are tied together with <i lang="es">bejuco</i>, rattan
+(a strong, fibrous vine), so as to allow sufficient
+play for earthquakes, which, it appears, are so<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_21" id="Page_21">[21]</a></span>
+frequent in these islands as to be in no way
+remarkable.</p>
+
+<div class="figcenter" style="width: 600px;" id="illus3">
+<img src="images/illus3.jpg" width="600" height="400" alt="" />
+<p class="caption"><span class="smcap">Old Spanish Houses at Molo</span></p>
+<p class="caption-r"><a href="#Page_20"><i>To face page 20.</i></a></p>
+</div>
+
+<p>The “windows” are really the greater part of
+each side of the house left open and fitted with
+shutters, sliding in grooves. Even with these
+“windows” closed against rain or sun the rooms
+remain cool, as the shutters are composed of
+wooden slats a little apart. Inside these is another
+set for very rainy weather, made of small square
+panes, each filled with a very thin, white, pearl oyster
+shell.</p>
+
+<p>Taken all round, the Philippine houses are
+very pretty, and capable of a great deal of decoration,
+though, of course, one does not want any
+draperies or many ornaments about in such a climate,
+where such superfluities would simply become the
+homes and nurseries of clouds of mosquitoes and
+other small fry, besides being unendurably hot
+even to look at.</p>
+
+<p>At first it appears very odd to see houses
+without chimneys and rooms without fireplaces,
+though I can’t think why they have none, as it
+must be very difficult to keep the houses dry in
+the wet Monsoon.</p>
+
+<hr />
+
+<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_22" id="Page_22">[22]</a></span></p>
+
+<h2 id="LETTER_4">LETTER IV.<br />
+<span class="smaller">A PHILIPPINE HOUSE—AMERICAN PRICES—NATIVE
+SERVANTS—FURNITURE</span></h2>
+
+<p class="right"><span class="smcap">Iloilo</span>, <i>December 10, 1904</i>.</p>
+
+<p>I am sure you will be pleased to hear that we have
+already found a house to suit us, in fact we are
+quite charmed with it, and can’t be too thankful
+that we did not hastily take any of the others we
+saw. C—— went to look at some on Tuesday, but
+on the way he saw this one, and liked it so much
+that he at once came back for me to look at it,
+and I went off to inspect, even in the middle of the
+day! I agreed with him in thinking the house
+charming, so we took it at once—or as soon as we
+had finished the preliminary pantomime with the
+Filipino landlady, a pleasant woman, married to a
+Spaniard.</p>
+
+<p>The house is in one of the two nicest streets, a
+little out off the town, on the spit of land formed by
+the estuary and the open sea. These two streets
+run parallel, but as the spit gets narrower they
+leave off, and end in the Government Hospital,
+the Cavalry <i lang="es">Corral</i> (stables), some Government
+buildings, and diminish gradually to a long road,
+a house, some barren land, a few palms, a pilot’s
+hut, a little bit of beach, some pebbles, and one
+small crab.</p>
+
+<p>Our house faces S.-W. on a garden, and the back
+is all open to the river and the N.-E. Monsoon—the
+most important consideration here, for houses that
+do not get the wind are stifling and unhealthy.<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_23" id="Page_23">[23]</a></span>
+We saw two or three that would have suited us
+very well, but for the fact that they stood the
+wrong way, or because the through draught was
+impeded by some tree or building outside.</p>
+
+<p>The house we have taken is in the usual style,
+such as I described to you in my last letter, and in
+one-half of the lower part lives our Spanish landlord,
+while in the other half, rather vault-like, <i lang="es">se
+aquila</i>. The lower parts of the houses are unhealthy,
+because of the malarial gases arising from
+the soil, and the damp, so no one lives in the
+basements if they can afford anything else.</p>
+
+<p>The upper part of this house we are going to
+live in is quite a separate dwelling, as it is
+approached by an outside staircase, coming up
+upon an open balcony running round three sides of
+the upper story. The balcony is a great charm,
+and very few of the houses have this addition. I
+thought that the Spaniards would have made open
+balconies the fashion out here, but was very much
+surprised to see none, and can only attribute the
+lack of them to the fact that the settlers came from
+the North, in the same way that the houses have no
+<i lang="es">patios</i>, and so forth. A roofed balcony like this
+is not only a delightful lounge, but it keeps the
+house very cool, besides catching a lot of the heavy
+rains, and it seems incomprehensible that any sane
+person could build a house in this climate without
+one. Verandahs are, of course, quite unknown,
+but I daresay there is a reason for all this in the
+terrible Typhoons which sweep over these islands,
+and would make short shrift of any fancy out-works.</p>
+
+<p>We come into a big hall at the back of the
+house, with the outer side almost all (with shutters)
+open to the estuary, and the front portion of the
+house is the <i lang="es">sala</i>. Off these two, open five rooms,
+all large and airy, and freshly painted white. In
+many of the houses the top of each room has a deep<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_24" id="Page_24">[24]</a></span>
+frieze in the shape of a pretty wooden grill, a
+Chinese fashion, which allows the air to circulate
+freely through the house—to say nothing of the
+remarks of the dwellers! We have not got this
+extra luxury, which I suppose has not been considered
+necessary in so airy a house.</p>
+
+<p>At the back is what is called the <i lang="es">Azotea</i>, which
+in this case happens to be built over the house
+below. It is a big, sloping, concrete floor, on which
+are built the kitchen, bathroom, store-room, etc.—all
+very compact, and quite away from the house,
+and not coming between us and the wind. In this,
+again, some of the houses we saw were impossible,
+for the outbuildings on the Azotea were placed so
+that they stopped the draught through the house.
+You may think I am a little foolish on the subject
+of a current of air, but I assure you I am not, for
+in a position with no draught the pores of the skin
+open like so many sluices, and one’s head begins to
+throb.</p>
+
+<p>So that is our house, which, after genuine
+Spanish haggling, we got for 50 <i lang="es">pesos</i> a month, a
+sum working out at about £60 a year, a very low
+rent indeed out here. In fact, when we set out
+and said we meant to give no more than 50 dollars
+a month for a house, we were simply laughed at,
+and at first were almost inclined to think it could
+not be done, but when we saw the numbers of
+houses standing empty in all the nice streets, we
+stuck to our sum, and are very glad now that we
+did so. A Spaniard or <i lang="es">Mestizo</i> (Eurasian) would
+not dream of giving more than thirty for a house
+like the one we have taken, but an American would
+give a hundred. That is where the trouble comes
+in—in making the people understand that we don’t
+mean to grind them down, nor, on the other hand,
+to pay foolish sums, but to give the right value for
+what we get.</p>
+
+<div class="figcenter" style="width: 500px;" id="illus4">
+<img src="images/illus4.jpg" width="500" height="450" alt="" />
+<p class="caption"><span class="smcap">The Back of our House.</span></p>
+<p class="caption">Showing Azotea and Outbuildings.</p>
+<p class="caption-r"><a href="#Page_24"><i>To face page 24.</i></a></p>
+</div>
+
+<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_25" id="Page_25">[25]</a></span></p>
+
+<p>You know the way Americans go about in
+Europe spending the unit, which is lower than
+their own, like water, with no sense of value?
+And how they raise prices wherever they go!
+Well, they have done the same thing here, and an
+American woman, who was talking to me the other
+day, told me it was now beginning to be apparent
+to them what a mistake they had made, and they
+bitterly regretted having made the Philippines as
+expensive as America, but that it was very difficult
+for them to go back now to the more reasonable
+scale, for as soon as a Filipino found out you were
+an American, nothing would move him from
+American prices. Poor thing, she was very bitter
+about it, and I felt very sorry for her (as well as
+rather alarmed for myself), for the sums she was
+paying in rent and wages to live at all in Iloilo,
+would have kept her in comfort in London or Paris.</p>
+
+<p>Well, when we had settled on the house, we
+drove straight to the shop-streets of the town—or
+rather, street, for there is only one with shops, the
+principal thoroughfare, called the Calle Real. Some
+of the shops have quite big, handsome windows of
+plate glass, with wonderful things displayed in
+them, but when you get inside you find they are,
+like the shop window in Browning’s poem, only
+“astonishing the street,” and beyond the window
+there is nothing but a large half-empty hall, where
+a few languid, sallow Eurasians stand trimming
+their nails behind long, untidy counters. These are
+the Spanish, Filipino, and German shops; but the
+Chinese are just the reverse, with no show in the
+little low window, and the inside a small, poky
+room, crammed with everything any human being
+ever invented, and kept by energetic, slant-eyed
+men who simply won’t let you go without buying
+something.</p>
+
+<p>The principal shop, however, is the great<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_26" id="Page_26">[26]</a></span>
+Store, which is kept by an English firm called
+Hoskyn & Co., and is said to be the best in the
+islands, and there we bought elemental necessaries,
+in the way of a few pieces of furniture, some
+groceries, china, glass, and so forth, at prices, when
+translated into shillings, to turn one faint with
+dismay. It was maddening to think of the lovely
+things we could have got for the same money at
+home, nevertheless these were very cheap for the
+Philippines, for this is a notoriously cheap “store,”
+which can afford to sell at low prices, as they
+have such an immense business, even being able to
+compete with the shops in Manila, where they send
+all manner of life’s necessaries. Though I am once
+more reminded of papa’s remark that he never
+realises what a curse human life has become till he
+reads through a store list.</p>
+
+<p>When we had done our shopping, we came
+back to the house and unpacked our new household
+goods as they came in, hung lamps, and so on,
+and all that day worked hard at the house. At
+intervals prospective servants kept dropping in, for
+servants are secured here in much the same way
+as houses—people tell other people about the
+opportunity, and the news flies about in servant-land.</p>
+
+<p>All shapes and sizes of Filipinos loomed on the
+balcony at intervals, and drifted into the hall and
+stood watching us till we had time to attend to
+them. In this country all the doors stand always
+open for coolness, and there are no bells, and when
+you go to a house you walk in at the door and sing
+out for a servant. Some people go so far as to
+have a hand bell at the top of the stairs, but the
+whole system seems to me ridiculous, so I have
+persuaded C—— to invest in a door bell, which he
+is going to fix to the main door into the hall.</p>
+
+<p>We were unpacking and going about the house,<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_27" id="Page_27">[27]</a></span>
+and every now and then we would come upon a
+silent figure waiting, just waiting, anywhere, leaning
+up against something, and perfectly indifferent to
+time or place. This stamped him as a candidate.
+To each one C—— put first of all the question:</p>
+
+<p>“Can you speak English?”</p>
+
+<p>And when the man said “Yeees, sair,” he was
+refused without any further parley, for nothing
+will induce us to take servants who can understand
+what we are saying, which would make
+life impossible in these open houses. Besides
+that, when they speak English it means they
+have been with Americans, who spoil the
+Filipino servants dreadfully with their well-meant
+notions of equality, and give ridiculous
+wages as well. In the Spanish days a Filipino
+head-servant got 5 or 6 <i lang="es">pesos</i> a month, and
+the <i lang="es">peso</i> then was the Mexican dollar, which is
+only about two-thirds of the Conant unit. It
+was, and is, riches to them, but so changed are
+these things now, that we are considered wonderful
+because we have found a <i lang="es">mayordomo</i> or head boy
+willing to come to us for 10 <i lang="es">pesos</i> a month and
+a second boy for 6. An American would give
+them twice as much, if not more, which would
+simply turn them into drunkards, or gamblers,
+or both, or worse.</p>
+
+<p>All the Philippine servants are men, as all
+over the East, though some women do have
+a native maid; but as all the women I have met
+do nothing but complain of the laziness and
+uselessness of these handmaidens, I have no
+idea of saddling myself with such a burden.</p>
+
+<p>The two men we have engaged are about
+twenty years of age, but it is always very difficult
+to tell how old Filipinos are, as they look old
+when they are young and young when they are
+old. They can give no particular account of<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_28" id="Page_28">[28]</a></span>
+themselves, these two, and have unaccountably
+mislaid their little books of references; but we
+are taking them on the recommendation of their
+faces, which are nice, and that is just as good
+a standard to go by in a Filipino as in anyone
+else! One is a native of Guimaras; the other
+a Tagalo, from Luzon; and both are short,
+thick-set, sturdy-looking fellows who ought not
+to give us much trouble with falling ill. Half
+the time here the servants are ill with fever, or
+colds, or heaven knows what, for it is a race
+without much stamina.</p>
+
+<p>One of the most aggravating characteristics
+of the Filipinos is the way they murmur, for
+they have naturally very soft voices, which
+become positively a whisper with shyness and
+awe. The English people here adopt the custom,
+which prevails throughout the East, of calling
+their servants “boys,” but the Americans use the
+Spanish word <i lang="es">muchacho</i>, and that is unfortunate,
+as they give all vowels the narrow, English value,
+making it this word <i lang="es">muchaycho</i>. It sounds so
+odd, this lack of ear, and quite alters some of
+the Spanish names—such as saying Cavyt for
+Cavite (the naval port of Manila), Caypiz for
+Capiz (a town in Panay), and so on, and though
+they pronounce Jaro exactly the same as the
+English town of Harrow, thank goodness they
+don’t go so far as to call this place Eye-low-Eye-low!</p>
+
+<div class="figcenter" style="width: 600px;" id="illus5">
+<img src="images/illus5.jpg" width="600" height="350" alt="" />
+<p class="caption"><span class="smcap">Filipino Servants.</span></p>
+<p class="caption-r"><a href="#Page_28"><i>To face page 28.</i></a></p>
+</div>
+
+<p>But I am wandering away from the servants,
+and I have not yet introduced the cook to
+you. We had less trouble to get this treasure
+than the others, as all the natives cook well by
+instinct—at least, they know how to make the
+best of what food there is to be had, which
+is all one wants. This particular <i lang="fr">chef</i> is a
+shrivelled, pock-marked person, about 4 feet<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_29" id="Page_29">[29]</a></span>
+6 in height, with an array of immense teeth,
+and an air of intense importance; this last characteristic
+being funny or annoying according to
+the mood one happens to be in oneself. His
+wages are 15 <i lang="es">pesos</i> a month, and as he is a
+married man, or says so, he is to live with his
+family in the town.</p>
+
+<p>And that was the end of the first day, and
+a very long and fatiguing one in this climate.</p>
+
+<p>When we came back next morning we found
+that the <em>boys</em>, who had been left in charge of
+the house and what furniture we had fixed up,
+had already swept and polished the floors, which
+made an immense difference to the appearance
+of the place, and the lamps were filled and
+trimmed. There is electric light in the town,
+but it is so very bad, and is the cause of so much
+complaint, that all have to supplement their expensive
+electricity with oil lamps before they can read.
+We are, therefore, not going to have it put on,
+though it would be quite easy, as the wire passes
+over us from next door. The efficiency and intelligence
+of the new servants pleased us very much,
+but all the same we observed cautiously to each
+other: “New brooms sweep clean.”</p>
+
+<p>We left the new brooms still sweeping, and
+went off to the shops again, and once more spent
+important and heart-breaking sums on the bare
+necessities of life. This time it was furniture, at
+the shop of a Chinese Eurasian, where we got
+a lot of things that look very nice, though they
+are not anything wonderful in the way of wood;
+but in these light, open houses with no fires
+and no carpets, it is not necessary to have
+such rich-looking furniture as at home. If one
+likes to spend still more money, there are beautiful
+things to be had made from magnificent hard
+Philippine woods, but the high price of labour,<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_30" id="Page_30">[30]</a></span>
+the poverty everywhere, and lack of capital and
+enterprise, have made these hard-wood things
+so dear that they are luxuries. The ordinary
+furniture is, in spite of the cent.-per-cent. import
+duties, either made out of Oregon pine, or else
+imported ready made from Vienna; but an insect
+called <i>buc-buc</i>, with which the country abounds,
+eats these soft pine woods, though it will not
+touch the native mahogany, teak, ebony, etc.
+It is not as if this Philippine timber were swept
+off for export, for no trade is done with it as
+no cheap labour is to be had, and splendid trees
+just decay in the crowded forests on the hills.</p>
+
+<p>For our <i lang="es">sala</i> we invested in basket furniture,
+a necessity in this heat, for padded chairs or
+cushions would be unendurable. The bamboo
+and rattan, of which Chinamen would make all
+sorts of pretty chairs and couches for a few <i lang="es">pesos</i>
+a piece, grow plentifully here, but in the Philippines
+such articles are only to be had at three
+times the price, as they are imported from China,
+for the Filipinos are too lazy and stupid to
+make anything of the materials given them by
+“<i lang="es">el buen Dios</i>,” and if they did, the scale of
+wages, set by the American Government,
+would make the things even more expensive
+than those imported. So the reeds rot, and the
+woods rot; and we, for our part, cannot cease
+to regret that we did not, while we were in
+Hong Kong, invest in some of the cheap and
+beautiful furniture we saw there, but we took
+local advice and forbore to import anything into
+this land of prohibitive tariffs; though now we
+discover that, tariffs and all, we should have
+found it cheaper to have brought the things
+with us.</p>
+
+<p>All this expense of life springs from the
+accepted interpretation of the maxim, “Philippines<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_31" id="Page_31">[31]</a></span>
+for the Filipinos,” which saying was invented by the
+late (and first) Governor-General of the Philippines,
+a man of the name of Taft, who is now Secretary
+of War in the United States. I suppose the idea
+caught on in America, and the good people there,
+whose opinion controls affairs in this country, which
+they have never seen, think that prohibitive tariffs
+and the exclusion of cheap Chinese or Japanese
+labour, must be a good thing for these depopulated
+islands if it is a benefit to the overcrowded U.S.A.</p>
+
+<p>As a matter of fact, when applied to an indolent,
+indifferent race, the result is stagnation and
+starvation prices, which is a terrible state of
+affairs in a hot country like this, where food
+and labour ought to be plentiful and cheap, or
+nothing will pay. I can’t think that the Americans
+really believe the Filipinos to be as high a development
+of the human race as they are themselves;
+but since they wish, with the best intentions,
+to allow the Filipinos to benefit by American
+systems of government, these Malays must first
+learn the A B C of such a system. Whether
+they are capable of profiting by such lessons,
+or whether they are so foreign to the essence
+of this race as to ruin it, remains to be
+demonstrated.</p>
+
+<p>Well, I must get back to the house again, and
+the end of the story is that we moved into our
+house on Thursday, the 8th, and slept here that
+night. We were able to do this so soon, as people
+have been very kind in lending us things—sheets
+and towels from one, table-linen from another, and
+so on—but all the same I wish our cases would
+come, as there is such a responsibility about other
+people’s gear.</p>
+
+<p><i lang="fr">À propos</i> of these same cases, we are rather
+uneasy in our minds about them, as we are beginning
+to hear alarming rumours of Customs duties<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_32" id="Page_32">[32]</a></span>
+to be paid. Wedding presents used to be exempt,
+but quite lately duties were levied on them, and
+I am afraid we shall have to pay for our own
+things, which is a bore, not to say rather a blow.</p>
+
+<p>We got through all our trunks, etc., that we
+had with us with a perfunctory opening of one
+box, a few questions, and the signing of papers,
+the only trouble being C——’s gun, which they took
+away, and he will not be able to get a licence, or
+allowed to have it out of the Customs House
+before he finds two “bonds” of 100 dollars each.
+That is, in clear English, he must find two
+people who are prepared to bet the American
+Government 100 dollars each that he is not
+going to sell the gun to an Insurgent.</p>
+
+<p>So, barring the gun anxiety, we got our boxes
+in all right, and are told it would have gone equally
+well with the cases had we had them with us, but as
+they are coming out by freight, they will be subject
+to the duties. However, the authorities tell us it
+will not be very severe—C—— went and inquired
+about it, as he said he would rather not take our
+spoons and forks and things out of bond, but would
+prefer to send them back to Hong Kong rather than
+pay a large sum. So, all things considered, C—— is
+not reassured, so he has arranged to have the cases
+sent here unopened and in bond; and is going to
+open them, in bond, at the Custom House, and have
+the contents appraised before he decides what to do
+with them. The only reasonable hope is that
+many of the contents, such as plate, may be exempt,
+or very lightly taxed, as they are articles that could
+not possibly be produced in the Philippines; but
+when I mentioned this to a Customs official, he
+replied that such an idea had nothing to do with
+the system of taxation.</p>
+
+<p>This is a fearfully long letter, but even now I
+feel I have not told you half I wanted to.</p>
+
+<hr />
+
+<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_33" id="Page_33">[33]</a></span></p>
+
+<h2 id="LETTER_5">LETTER V.<br />
+<span class="smaller">HOUSEKEEPING IN ILOILO</span></h2>
+
+<p class="right"><span class="smcap">Iloilo</span>, <i>December 17, 1904</i>.</p>
+
+<p>We are settling down very comfortably into our
+charming house, which we like more and more,
+and are continually congratulating ourselves on
+our luck in having found such a nice home.</p>
+
+<p>There is nothing special to tell you about since
+I last wrote, so I will try to give you some idea
+of my housekeeping, of which I think I have not
+yet told you anything beyond just mentioning how
+many servants we have.</p>
+
+<p>I find that the cook—he with the important
+manner and the big teeth—has been an under-cook
+in an American hotel, or what he is pleased to
+call an American hotel, by which I take it he means
+one of the saloons or eating-houses in the town.
+So far, however, he has proved himself a very good
+cook indeed, which is even more necessary here
+than anywhere else, for food in the Philippines
+has but little variety, and is not nourishing at its
+best. Every morning I give this person a <i lang="es">peso</i>
+and a half, with which he goes off to the market
+and buys whatever takes his fancy, or, more probably,
+what is to be had, which generally takes
+the form of an incredibly small and thin fowl—alive;
+one or two little fish; some green
+peppers or egg-plants, and always a few very small,
+half-ripe tomatoes. With these and with help
+from the store-room, he concocts a very good lunch
+and dinner, and, doubtless, makes a good thing<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_34" id="Page_34">[34]</a></span>
+out of it, but most cooks charge 2 dollars for
+the same <i lang="fr">menu</i>, and he really provides for us very
+well. I supply tea, salt, butter, lard, tinned fruits,
+potatoes, macaroni—in fact all the dry provisions
+usually kept in a store-room, I don’t know what
+is the technical name for them.</p>
+
+<p>The store-room (<i lang="es">dispensa</i>, they call it), where
+these treasures are hoarded up, is a very nice little
+dark cabin, with shelves all round, which I made
+the boys clean out and wipe everywhere with
+petroleum, an excellent precaution against the numberless
+and extraordinary animals with which one
+has to share the house. I got tall glass jars for
+protection against cockroaches, and tins to keep
+mice off, and wire-netting for rats, and naphthaline
+to astonish the scorpions and spiders; and last,
+but by no means least, a good strong padlock for
+human beings! When the tins and bottles were
+all arranged, they looked very home-like.</p>
+
+<p>We get up at half-past five or six, and I
+give one of the <i>boys</i> 20<a name="FNanchor_2" id="FNanchor_2"></a><a href="#Footnote_2" class="fnanchor">[2]</a> cents, with which
+he goes out and buys bread for the day at the
+shop of some Chinaman down the street. It is
+necessary to get small daily supplies of everything,
+for food will not keep. Some people
+have told me fearful anecdotes about the horrors
+perpetrated by the Chinamen in the making of
+their bread, and these faddists have theirs made
+at home, but the Chinese bread tastes quite good,
+and is much more light and digestible than that
+made by the house-cooks. As our cook has
+cooked for Americans, he knows how to make
+the hot cakes which are the great feature of
+American breakfasts, but we won’t have them, for
+they are deadly anywhere, especially in the tropics.</p>
+
+<p>After our seven o’clock breakfast, which consists<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_35" id="Page_35">[35]</a></span>
+very largely of eggs, and after C—— has
+gone to the office, I open the door of the <i lang="es">dispensa</i>
+and serve out the day’s supplies; but this routine
+was not brought about without a struggle, for
+at first the cook persisted in coming to me intermittently
+all day long to ask for things. At
+least, he invented wants, but I had an idea his
+only object was the key of the <i lang="es">dispensa</i>, as these
+Filipinos have a full measure of the cunning of
+the brown-faced person all the world over.
+However, I disappointed him about that, always
+leaving whatever I was doing to go and open
+the door and get out what he wanted, at the
+same time remarking, as best I could, that if
+he did not ask for things at the proper time
+he must do without them. Then once or twice
+I carried the threat into effect, and when he
+heard what C—— had to say about the dinner, that
+cured him. Everyone tells me doleful tales about
+the way the <i lang="es">muchacho</i> or <i>boy</i> robs them, so I
+thought it would be better to start from the
+first by giving as few opportunities as possible
+for trouble of this sort.</p>
+
+<p>In the morning the servants’ food is also
+given out, each one getting an allowance of rice
+(for which purpose we lay in a large sackful),
+and this they boil and eat with some tiny fish which
+they buy for themselves with a few extra cents
+I give them. I believe it is unheard-of extravagance
+to give the extra money; and I never
+measure out the rice, but let them take it, for,
+after all, it is all the poor souls live on. All
+over the Philippines the natives of all classes
+live almost entirely on rice, which formerly used
+to be grown in all the islands, but rinderpest
+destroyed many of the <i lang="es">carabaos</i> (buffaloes), which
+worked the soil, and high wages and heavy taxes
+have wrought even greater havoc, so that now<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_36" id="Page_36">[36]</a></span>
+the supply nearly all comes from China. You
+see, high wages are offered in the towns,
+and what with that and the unsuitable education
+they receive, the country-people all flock into
+the towns, and the country places are empty.
+It is on the coast, in the towns, that rice is so
+much eaten, for inland the staple food is <i lang="es">camote</i>
+(sweet potato); so the country-people think rice
+a luxury, and the town’s-people eat <i lang="es">camote</i> as a
+treat.</p>
+
+<p>When I wrote last, I don’t think the staff
+was completed by the washerwoman, was it?
+A person with a huge, almost black, pan face
+came and stood in the picture of blue sky and green
+palm-branches framed in the doorway, dressed in a
+skirt formed of a tight fold of red cloth and a
+muslin bodice with huge sleeves (the native
+costume), holding a big black umbrella in one
+hand, and muttering in an undertone, while she
+kept one dull, rolling eye on Tuyay, who was
+disposed to growl and sniff.</p>
+
+<p>We were at breakfast at the time, and as
+we ate we conversed patiently with her till we
+found that this person wanted to be taken on
+as a <i lang="es">lavandera</i> at 20 <i lang="es">pesos</i> a month, which
+is about twenty-six guineas a year. This offer
+we refused with imprecations, and we added that
+we would not give more than 10.</p>
+
+<p>She melted away, murmuring, from the front
+door, and presently reappeared at the back
+door (both opening upon the hall, but at different
+ends), and murmured afresh. I must tell you, by-the-bye,
+that, following a very general custom
+here, we use one end of the hall as dining-room,
+though there is a room which has been used for
+that purpose, but it looks on the alley between
+this house and the next, and is not so cool as
+the hall.</p>
+
+<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_37" id="Page_37">[37]</a></span></p>
+
+<p>After more conversation, we decided to engage
+this pan-faced individual at 12 <i lang="es">pesos</i> a month
+as a stop-gap, till we should be able to find some
+more intelligent woman, and there and then I gave
+her a bagful of soiled linen, and off she went.</p>
+
+<p>Next day at lunch she suddenly reappeared,
+perfectly cow-like and stolid, leaning up against
+the door-post and murmuring so that C—— simply
+got <em>wild</em> with her, and would have thrown everything
+on the table at her head, I believe, if I had
+not been there.</p>
+
+<p>As the cook is the only one of the servants
+who speaks above a whisper, he was sent for, and
+he told us that pan-face wanted soap, starch, and
+charcoal. All the washing is done in cold
+water at some well, it appears, and they only want
+a little charcoal to put in the iron. So C——
+wrote an order, a <i lang="es">vale</i> they call it, upon Hoskyn’s
+for soap, a box-iron, starch, and charcoal, and away
+went the new <i lang="es">lavandera</i>.</p>
+
+<p>But we had not seen the last of her, for
+the next day she came again, at breakfast this
+time, and murmured again, clutching the bulgy
+gamp and leaning against the door-post. This
+time the cook told us she wanted tin tubs,
+and C—— gave a sort of roar as he asked her when
+the devil she was going to begin the washing, but
+she only looked more hopelessly stupid, and her
+face became more like a gorilla’s. At last she got
+her <i lang="es">vale</i> for tubs, and off she went—but about
+mid-day she reappeared, on the balcony, outside
+the front door, with the tubs, huge tin baths,
+sitting beside her.</p>
+
+<p>C—— managed to control himself sufficiently
+to ask her if there was anything the matter with
+the tubs, and she was understood to say no, but
+she only wanted to show us she had got tubs;
+and she melted away.</p>
+
+<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_38" id="Page_38">[38]</a></span></p>
+
+<p>Next afternoon I was told the <i lang="es">lavandera</i> had
+arrived, so I went out to tell her the <i lang="es">señor</i> would
+soon be in and ready to listen to her, though I
+really had some doubt about the latter statement,
+but I found her undoing a huge bundle of washing—all
+finished and ready! And such beautiful work,
+C——’s white linen suits done to perfection, my
+frocks and blouses like new—I never saw clothes
+look more fresh and lovely. It was a pleasant
+surprise.</p>
+
+<p>So pan-face remains, but all the same we are
+quite prepared to find this standard not kept up
+for long, and if any remonstrance has to be made,
+we know we shall have that blank look and that
+murmuring to face again.</p>
+
+<p>The <i>boys</i> are shaping very well, and if they go
+on as they are doing, no one could wish for better
+servants. I did not bewilder them more than I
+could help at first, but sprang a routine on them by
+degrees in a mixture of pantomime, Italian and a
+word or two of Spanish, that seems to answer the
+purpose very well. Two things C—— insisted on
+from the first: one, that the servants should wear
+native costume and bare feet in the house; and the
+other, that they must address us as <i lang="es">señor</i> and
+<i lang="es">señora</i>, none of which little marks of etiquette are
+insisted on in American households, but we think,
+and I believe rightly, that they are of the greatest
+importance in dealing with Orientals. C—— said
+if they didn’t like these rules they could go,
+but apparently they did like them, and they have
+stayed.</p>
+
+<p>We asked some friends to dinner a few nights
+ago, and just before they arrived C—— went into
+the hall and found an unknown young man, in a
+very smart, white, buttoned-up, linen European suit
+with starched collar, and white canvas shoes, standing
+on a chair in the middle of the hall, doing<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_39" id="Page_39">[39]</a></span>
+something to one of the lamps. When the man
+turned round, we saw, to our amazement, that he
+was Domingo—our second <i>boy</i>!</p>
+
+<p>When he saw C——’s expression, the servant
+was quite frightened, not having any idea what
+crime he could be committing or have committed,
+but he very soon understood that if he did not take
+off those shoes and that coat he would be fired
+out of the house. I don’t think the poor creature
+meant any harm, in fact he was supposed to
+be got up in his best to do honour to our
+guests, but he fled at once to the Azotea, and
+has never been seen again except in the Filipino
+dress, which is a loose shirt rather like a Chinaman’s
+coat, only fastening up the middle, and with
+bare feet.</p>
+
+<p>Yesterday the cook appeared, carrying four huge,
+tall orchid plants, with very green leaves and pale
+mauve flowers, such lovely things, which he suggested
+would look well in the <i lang="es">sala</i>, and I quite
+agreed, so we began to negotiate for them. The
+countryman who had brought the flowers was
+ushered to the back door, and there was understood
+to murmur that he wanted 2 <i lang="es">pesos</i> (four shillings)
+for the four plants, but the cook, who said this was
+<i lang="es">muy caro</i>, got him down to a <i lang="es">peso</i> and 20 cents;
+only, the people here use many terms applicable to
+the old coinage, such as <i lang="es">real</i>, <i lang="es">peseta</i>, and so on,
+which make it so extremely puzzling to discover
+what the price of things really is, that I found it
+difficult to make out what to give; but the cook
+fished out a <i lang="es">peso</i> and 20 cents out of a pile
+of money I put on the table, and the man picked
+the two coins up and went off quite content. In
+my ignorance, I thought it rather a shame to
+insist on so low a price for such lovely plants—and
+orchids, too! However, I have since
+found out that these plants grow wild in great<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_40" id="Page_40">[40]</a></span>
+profusion in the woods over in the Island of
+Guimaras, and that what I had paid was like
+giving a man at home two shillings for a bunch
+of primroses. In spite of this, I decline to consider
+myself swindled, or to be dissatisfied with my
+bargain.</p>
+
+<p>When the orchids had been bought, I asked the
+cook where he proposed to find pots to put them in,
+and he smiled in a very superior fashion, and said
+they only wanted some earth and a piece of sacking
+to live in, and they could be kept alive by certain
+airings and drinks of water; and when I said,
+“Who is going to do all this?”</p>
+
+<p>“Domingo, <i lang="es">señora</i>,” he said in a great hurry.
+“Domingo is the only one who really understands
+plants”—and he grinned and nodded his head with
+marvellous rapidity.</p>
+
+<p>I rather fancied the placid Domingo would be
+told he knew about plants and have to attend to
+them, after the fashion of one or two other “jobs”
+I had noticed, but I thought it best not to interfere,
+as Domingo is twice the size of the cook, and ought
+to be able to look after himself. Later on I saw
+the two of them fixing the tall plants, with roots
+neatly tied up in sacking bags, to the walls of the
+<i lang="es">sala</i>, or rather, Domingo very adroitly tying and
+nailing up, while the cook stood by to talk twenty
+to the dozen, and came afterwards to me for
+approval.</p>
+
+<p>We had a very amusing scene of this description
+at the very beginning, when we fixed up the
+mosquito nets, on which occasion all hands, myself
+included (with needle and cotton) did something
+tangible, while the cook devoted the time to
+talking and jabbering and hopping about, uncannily
+like a monkey.</p>
+
+<p>The orchids are really lovely, and make the
+<i lang="es">sala</i> look charming with their masses of little<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_41" id="Page_41">[41]</a></span>
+blooms of mauve and yellow against the white
+walls, and in time I must try to get some small
+trees in tall Chinese stands of blue and green
+earthenware, which adorn the houses here in profusion,
+and suit the white paint and brown floors
+admirably.</p>
+
+<hr />
+
+<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_42" id="Page_42">[42]</a></span></p>
+
+<h2 id="LETTER_6">LETTER VI.<br />
+<span class="smaller">A WASTED LAND</span></h2>
+
+<p class="right"><span class="smcap">Iloilo</span>, <i>Christmas Eve, 1904</i>.</p>
+
+<p>We have just come back from a delightful drive,
+to a town called Molo, which lies inland, in the
+direction of the river, but on the opposite bank to
+Jaro, the latter, as I think I told you, having been
+the capital of the Island of Panay in the olden days.
+There is a good road out to both of these towns,
+which crosses the river at Molo, and makes a circle,
+passing through a village called Mindoriao, and this
+is the great drive of the place, in fact the only
+one. The whole round is about 8 or 9 miles,
+however, which is too long for a <i lang="es">paseo</i> (promenade),
+so the carriages roll out at sunset to one of the two
+towns, turn round the quaint, ramshackle, old
+<i lang="es">plazas</i>, and return whence they came, spinning
+along in the fresh night air, with lamps lighted, and
+all the little ponies gallantly determined to pass
+each other.</p>
+
+<p>Along the sides of the road, for a long way out
+of the town, stretches a vast suburb of picturesque
+native huts of palm thatch, built on high poles in
+the jungle, or standing in the edge of the river,
+surrounded by palms and all sorts of tropical trees
+of different brilliant greens, through which may
+be caught glimpses of intensely blue river or sea
+and exquisite mauve mountain ranges.</p>
+
+<p>We enjoyed our drive immensely, and kept
+wishing that Papa could see the endless pictures of
+brown and yellow huts, women in bright red<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_43" id="Page_43">[43]</a></span>
+dresses, the groups of children and animals, the
+grey old Spanish churches and belfries—I think if
+you ever came out here he would spend his whole
+time on a camp stool, sketching for dear life!</p>
+
+<p>Our cases have come from home at last, though
+I don’t know why I should say that, as they have
+not been so very long after us, but we were rather
+grubbing along till they came, which made the time
+seem longer. When C—— was informed they had
+arrived, he went down to the Custom House and
+spent a long day with the official appraiser, a
+most polite and patient young man, weighing and
+examining everything. The methods of doing this
+are wonderful and alarming, for they weigh the
+silver and plate with their leather or wooden cases,
+and the duty is charged by so much on the kilo!
+Imagine what the proportion is on a dozen silver
+spoons or knives in a handsome oak case! All
+the italics and exclamations in the biggest printing
+house in the world could not convey my sentiments
+upon this subject. The textiles are examined
+with a magnifying glass, appraised as
+materials, and taxed as such, at the rate of 50
+per cent., upon what the Customs people choose
+to say was their original value. If the material
+is made up, there is extra duty of 100 per
+cent., which makes me glad that I put so few of
+my frocks in the cases. The only way to console
+oneself is to think that even with the duty added,
+they cost about half what they would if one bought
+the materials and had them made up here.</p>
+
+<p>Well, the end of it was that C—— came home
+late in the afternoon and told me that the duty
+came to 300 <i lang="es">pesos</i>—a little over £30!—and did I
+think the things were worth it, or should we send
+them back to Hong Kong in bond?</p>
+
+<p>After we had discussed the matter, going into
+it all carefully, we came to the conclusion that we<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_44" id="Page_44">[44]</a></span>
+could not find substitutes for our things here for
+that sum. So we decided to take them, and the
+cases were brought up here by coolies, two or four
+carrying each one slung with <i lang="es">bejuco</i> ropes on to a
+hard-wood pole.</p>
+
+<p>It is very nice to have all our own things about,
+but all the same it is a fearful hardship to have to
+pay their value for things that belong to us, and
+particularly annoying in the case of the wedding
+presents.</p>
+
+<p>This, the arrival of the cases, has been the great
+excitement of the week, and from the look of the
+box-room, bids fair to continue to excite all hands
+for some time to come.</p>
+
+<p>When we get the sketches hung up, the house
+will look very pretty, I think, and we are going to
+have some of them put in some frames that came
+in an old case full of C——’s things from Cebú.
+They will look very nice done up with enamel, and
+we can get some glass at a Chinaman’s shop, but
+all “crystal” comes from outside, of course, and is
+subject to a very heavy duty. You may be
+surprised, perhaps, to hear me mention Chinese
+shops so much, but nearly all the “stores” in the
+Philippines are kept by Chinamen, one (as I told
+you) by an English company here, and I don’t
+know if there are others, but I fancy not, and
+the rest by Spaniards and Germans. The chief
+businesses, big trading firms, are English all through
+the islands, and have been so for fifty years or
+more; and there are some Spanish companies,
+dealing in tobacco chiefly, and besides these, one or
+two Germans and Swiss, who import their native
+productions. Nearly all the Americans are official,
+military, educational, or missionaries. I am told
+that a few of the American soldiers, when the war
+was, or was said to be over, settled down on small
+plantations in the southern islands, and there are<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_45" id="Page_45">[45]</a></span>
+some saloon-keepers in the towns, a boot shop in
+Manila, and a struggling mechanic here and there;
+but so far, that is the extent of the American business
+interest in the place. Planters bringing in capital,
+such as our colonies profit by, do not, and never
+can, come into this country, for a new American
+law exists which prohibits all persons who are not
+natives from acquiring more than 40 acres of
+Philippine soil, and 40 acres in the tropics is not
+worth having, I believe.</p>
+
+<p>I rigged up my bed with my own pillow-cases
+and sheets yesterday. They were delicious to sleep
+in, and the idea of linen pillow-cases for coolness
+and cotton sheets for health is excellent, for a
+cotton pillow-covering would be very hot and
+uncomfortable, and linen sheets would be dangerous
+in such heat. I have got myself an iron bed with
+a wire mattress, for I cannot sleep on the Filipino
+bed, which is a little platform of woven cane, and
+quite hard and unyielding. They are wooden four-posters,
+these native beds, with a cotton roof,
+usually red, set off by a frill of lace all round the
+top, above the mosquito curtains. Some of the
+bedsteads I have seen, made of native woods, are
+very prettily carved round the pillars, and a really
+handsome piece of carving fills the space at each
+end to the height of two feet or so. All right so far
+as looks go, but the bed itself is an appalling
+instrument of torture to lie on, for in pattern and
+material it is the same as the seats of cane chairs,
+and as hard as iron—all for coolness. On the cane
+is spread a native grass mat called a <i lang="es">petate</i>; the
+luxurious and faddy add a sheet, but humbler folk
+sleep on the mat, which is aired in the sun every
+day, or ought to be, and frequently washed. In the
+bed there always lies a small, round bolster, called
+in Spanish an <i lang="es">embrasador</i>, but the Europeans name
+it Dutch Wife, and this is used to fling a leg and<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_46" id="Page_46">[46]</a></span>
+an arm over, for, in this climate, to lie with the limbs
+touching would be intolerable discomfort. It is
+also a well-known fact that the <i lang="es">embrasador</i> is a
+great protection for the stomach against chills and
+fevers, which are a danger towards the small hours
+of the morning. Bedclothes, in the way of covering,
+are out of the question, but in every bed a small,
+thin blanket lies folded up, ready for the sudden
+chill of a rainy night. Once or twice people have
+said to me: “It was so cold last night. I was
+shivering even with my blanket.” This is the
+winter to them, you see. I only wish it struck me
+in the same way, for though the nights are by no
+means stifling or anything like that, it would be
+delightful to feel cold now and then.</p>
+
+<p>It is so difficult to realise that this is Christmas
+Eve—so odd to hear people talking of children’s
+parties; and Christmas trees seem absurdly out
+of place! The churches began to get excited some
+time ago, and for the last week some deadly bells
+have begun to clang before the dawn.</p>
+
+<p>The dawn, by-the-bye, is not what I expected,
+for I have often read descriptions of the coming of
+the tropic day—that is, night one minute and broad
+daylight the next. I find, however, that there is
+a considerable interval of twilight, both morning
+and evening. The other day I read a book by
+a very well-known writer, in which a description
+was given of the dayspring in Egypt coming like
+“the opening of an oven door,” which I knew
+to be nonsense as applied to Egypt, and now
+I find the same sort of hyperbole about the
+tropics equally false; for I have watched the
+grey dawn come gradually nearly every morning
+here, and I sit reading on the balcony in the twilight,
+in the evening. It is certainly not a long
+twilight, but all one reads about the sun shooting
+up from the night into the tropic day, and so<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_47" id="Page_47">[47]</a></span>
+forth, must be what they call “word pictures,”
+because it is certainly not truth, or even decent
+exaggeration.</p>
+
+<p><i>Christmas Day.</i>—I always write my letters to
+you all at one sitting, but I had to break off
+yesterday before I considered that I had covered
+enough paper to satisfy you, and I feel I can’t
+begin again to-day without this fresh heading;
+though it is not like Christmas a bit, and I think
+the bright green palms, blue sea and sky, and
+scorching sun are a very poor substitute for the
+lovely brown and purples of the winter landscape
+at home, the invigorating cold, and the
+exquisite skeletons of oaks and elms.</p>
+
+<p>I should not complain, though, for the weather
+here is really delicious just at present, with
+frequent heavy showers, which keep the vegetation
+fresh, and fill the water-tanks. There are lots
+of wells, in which the water is very hard,
+and people say it is sea-water filtered through
+the soil; and it must be so, for at high tide the
+wells are at their fullest, and quite brackish.
+So the water-supply one chiefly depends upon
+is that out of the rain-water tanks, which are
+fed from the corrugated roofs of the houses.
+However, it is not safe to drink even that
+unfiltered, and some people are very fanciful and
+boil it first, but that is rather absurd if one gets
+a good filter.</p>
+
+<p>Out of the filter, Sotero, the head boy, fills
+up soda-water bottles, which he takes to the
+English Club, where they are laid on the ice
+for a charge of 2 cents apiece, and these, after an
+hour or two on the ice, give us very refreshing
+drinks. Good and light beer is to be had, brewed
+in Manila; it works out at about a shilling a bottle,
+and the Americans drink it, but the English people
+consider beer an unwholesome beverage in this<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_48" id="Page_48">[48]</a></span>
+climate, and stick to whisky and soda very faithfully.
+Some adopt the Spanish custom of drinking
+light red wine, <i lang="es">vino tinto</i>, which is supposed
+to be strengthening and blood-making in a
+country where the prevailing trouble is anæmia.
+This wine comes from Spain in barrels, and I
+expect it really is the most wholesome of all.
+For my part, I keep pretty generally to lime
+juice and soda, or lemon squash. Lemons,
+which come from China, are about 2d. apiece.
+At this season, in the way of fruit, small tangerines
+are to be had also, hailing from China, and
+oranges, another luxury, 6d. each. It is rather a
+bore that such necessary and wholesome fruit should
+cost such ridiculous prices. Bananas, everlasting
+bananas, are the chief fruit, and even they are
+not astonishingly cheap, as they are sold here at
+exactly the same price as in London. Vegetables
+there are none, except miserable tomatoes and
+egg-plants. The lack of fresh fruit and vegetables
+is very trying, especially the vegetables.
+Whatever is sold is imported, except the
+bananas, tomatoes, and egg-plants. Fresh meat,
+too, would be a boon, and butter, and milk, for
+all these can only be obtained tinned—“canned”
+as they call it here. Once a week we get some
+provisions from the Cold Storage in Manila,
+Australian meat and butter, and sometimes
+vegetables, but this is only a private enterprise
+of a few of the English community, who club
+together and get down an ice-chest by the
+<i>Butuan</i>, the weekly Manila mail. It would
+be unwise to venture to lay in more than one
+day’s supply, which has to be cooked and eaten
+at once before it goes bad, even with an ice-chest
+to stand it in.</p>
+
+<p>It might be possible to put up with these
+discomforts with more or less philosophic calm,<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_49" id="Page_49">[49]</a></span>
+and not mind the deprivations if they were
+inevitable, but they are not so by any means,
+as the soil of the Philippines is one of the richest
+in the world, volcanic and full of natural chemical
+manures, the islands having also every sort of advantage
+and variety of climate from the plains to the
+mountain-tops, and being plentifully watered. I
+am for ever being told that anything and everything
+will grow and flourish here, which is so aggravating
+when all the fresh food to be procured is
+miserable poultry, fish, and egg-plants, tomatoes
+you would not look at in England, and costly
+bananas. Rice and potatoes from China, live
+cattle from China, or frozen meat from Australia,
+and <em>everything</em> else under the sun in tins from
+London or America! This, after six years of
+what we are told is the most enlightened system
+of Colonial or Tropical Government yet invented.
+It is useless to point out that no roads exist inland,
+except one in Luzon for the Governor and his
+family to go to the hills; or to remark that
+labour is too dear for any enterprise to pay, and
+that all healthy foreign competition in the way
+of labour is excluded—the reply is an invitation
+to contemplate the splendid work that is being
+done in education. For these schools and swarming
+schoolmasters this pastoral country is taxed and
+tariffed to breaking point—schools to which the
+natives are being taken from the fields, and in which
+they are taught a crude wash of bad English and
+mathematics. The chief result is to bring all the
+“scholars” into the towns to loaf along in clerkships,
+if they can get them.</p>
+
+<p>You will laugh at my vehemence! But it does
+seem such a pity to see a splendid country wasted, as
+it were, thrown away, for the sake of a windy theory
+propounded by some well-meaning though ignorant
+sentimentalists at the other side of the globe.</p>
+
+<hr />
+
+<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_50" id="Page_50">[50]</a></span></p>
+
+<h2 id="LETTER_7">LETTER VII.<br />
+<span class="smaller">CUSTOMS AND DRESS OF THE NATIVES</span></h2>
+
+<p class="right"><span class="smcap">Iloilo</span>, <i>December 31, 1904</i>.</p>
+
+<p>I think you may be amused to hear about a
+Filipino <i lang="es">Fiesta</i>, which took place yesterday, called
+Rizal Day—the anniversary of the death of the
+national hero, a Filipino of the name of Doctor
+Rizal. He was the William Tell of the Philippines,
+except that his existence was a reality, not a
+myth, for he died only eight years ago.</p>
+
+<p>This patriot obtained the degree of Doctor (of
+Philosophy and Medicine) in Spain, where he
+went to be educated and enlightened. When he
+returned from that land, Doctor Rizal set to work,
+endeavouring to free his countrymen from the
+frightful Spanish friars, who were the real rulers
+of the Spanish Philippines, and whose cruelty and
+wickedness were almost incredible. Any friars
+who were not good enough for Spain, were
+sent out to the Philippines, where each man
+became a little god and tyrant in a tiny <i lang="es">pueblo</i>
+(village or district), in which his authority was
+unbounded and unquestioned. I suppose some
+of these friar-priests must have been good men,
+but no one can tell me they ever heard of
+such a being, for the enervating climate, lazy life,
+complete irresponsibility, and the irresistible power
+of the priest over the superstitious, childish Malays
+were too much for these men of God; and the
+stories of their cruelties, rapacities, and immoralities
+are all terrible and often simply sickening. I<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_51" id="Page_51">[51]</a></span>
+have heard them from people who lived in the
+<i lang="es">pueblos</i>, and the things that went on were like
+the Decameron and the Inquisition rolled into
+one.</p>
+
+<p>Well, this Doctor Rizal started a revolt against
+the power of these dreadful <em>men</em>, if one could call
+the friars by such a name, about 1872; and from
+that time the rest of his life was a series of plots,
+captures, escapes to Europe, imprisonment by the
+friars, banishment, return, recapture, till at last,
+by the simple device of the friars having Rizal
+cabled for to Spain and getting him back to the
+Philippines, the avenging Church had him executed,
+by order of the Spaniards, on the Luneta,
+the Promenade at Manila, on December 30, 1896.
+I have met people who were present at the execution
+of Rizal, and they tell me that the crowds were
+vast, and relate how Rizal faced a line of soldiers
+bravely and was shot. Rizal had a nice, clever
+face of a refined Filipino type, if one can trust the
+portraits on the Conant bank-notes, and the
+Filipinos simply adore his memory.</p>
+
+<p>It was in consequence of Rizal’s revolt that
+Aguinaldo and the Katipunan arose, who lived to
+revenge their hero’s memory, completing his work
+by turning the Spaniards and their dreadful priests
+out of the Islands. To do this, as you know, they
+had to get America to help them; which the
+Americans did, and stayed on. The idea is that
+they are going to teach the Filipinos how to govern
+themselves, which, it appears, ought only to be done
+by all peoples and races after the American method.
+The Filipinos are said to be delighted about this,
+but the puzzling anomaly is that they fought, and
+are still fighting the Americans tooth and nail to
+get their own liberty, their own way, but they are
+not asked what they think at all, and if they show
+any signs of wanting to get rid of this American<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_52" id="Page_52">[52]</a></span>
+burden and govern themselves in their own fashion,
+they are called Insurgents and knocked on the
+head, or dubbed common robbers and strung up
+to a tree.</p>
+
+<p>On account of this state of affairs, the natives
+seize on this anniversary to give relief to some of
+their patriotic emotions. The day is a public holiday,
+they hang out flags and lanterns, and every Filipino
+knocks off what little work he ever does, and
+crawls about the streets and spits, and every one
+of them who is not carrying some musical instrument,
+is to be seen taking a cock to or from a
+cock-fight; while the women slouch along in gangs
+with myriads of children, or else jolt up and down
+in hired carriages—and that is the <i lang="es">Fiesta</i>.</p>
+
+<p>They abandon these delirious joys during the
+hot hours of the day, from two to four, but swarm
+out again in redoubled numbers in the evening,
+walking about the streets till midnight in long
+processions, carrying paper lanterns of every
+shape and colour, and led by a guitar and
+mandoline band; while nearly every house is lighted
+up, and the big room full of people dancing.</p>
+
+<p>The Filipinos have a natural gift for music of
+a very light sort, and I am told by people, who I
+do not think are very competent judges, that the
+natives perform classic music pretty well too, when
+well directed. Everyone plays an instrument of
+some sort, the men forming themselves into little
+and large societies, bands, in fact, which, on an
+occasion like yesterday, go about the streets and
+play “Hiawatha” on the slightest provocation. The
+trail of Sousa and “rag-time” is over them all, and
+their own plaintive, minor melodies, some of them
+very beautiful, are never heard now. At least I
+say “their own” melodies, but these tunes have a
+great flavour of Spain about them, and, of course,
+after four centuries of Spanish influence, it is<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_53" id="Page_53">[53]</a></span>
+difficult to say what is original Malay and what is
+imported.</p>
+
+<p>The dress of the women is a mixture of the
+two races—Malay and Spanish—for the tight skirt
+(which is not worn in Manila, by-the-bye) is the
+<i lang="es">sarong</i> of the Straits; and the muslin blouse or
+jacket, with its huge starched sleeves and <i lang="es">panuelo</i>
+(a sort of folded <i lang="es">fichu</i> collar which sticks up behind)
+is an interesting survival of the fashions in vogue
+in Europe, in the days when Spain took these
+Islands on one side of the globe, and fought the
+mariners of Elizabeth on the other. Beyond these
+two garments the outfit is simplicity itself, for it
+consists of one long cotton chemise. I don’t think
+you’ve ever seen a <i lang="es">sarong</i>, by-the-bye, which, when
+it is off, is like a bottomless sack; and when it is
+on, is drawn tightly across the back and tucked
+in over itself at the top, when it makes an outline
+exactly like the petticoats in Egyptian monuments,
+quite close at the back, with a fold like a
+kilt in front. Then over the upper part comes
+the muslin bodice, which is made in one piece, with
+a hole to slip over the head, after the fashion of a
+jibbah. It looks very cool, but the cut is clumsy,
+and the fashion is dwarfing to the tiny Filipino
+figures; while the big sticking-up collar gives a
+round-shouldered effect, and spoils what is one of
+their best points, a graceful set and carriage of
+the head and neck. They walk very straight, with
+all the motion from the hips, and their feet very
+much turned out, and generally wear no jewellery
+of any sort, except perhaps a pair of gold earrings,
+or a ring or two, or a rosary of European patterns.
+There is nothing characteristic in the way of native
+work or beads. The well-to-do Filipino women
+wear more trinkets, and the <i lang="es">Mestizas</i> (Eurasians)
+cover themselves with cheap and tawdry ornaments.</p>
+
+<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_54" id="Page_54">[54]</a></span></p>
+
+<p>The favourite material for the <i lang="es">camisa</i> (bodice)
+is a native muslin woven from the fibres of pine-apple
+leaves, called <i lang="es">piña</i>, an exclusive manufacture
+of the Islands of Panay and Negros, where the
+pine-apples grow wild in the jungles. This the
+Filipino women weave with or without silk stripes
+and checks, and dye all sorts of colours; but the
+lower classes and peasants hardly ever wear anything
+beyond the plain, undyed yellowish-white, which,
+after all, suits them far better than any other colour.
+They look well though, on great occasions, in
+crimson, purple, or yellow, and they are wise when
+they stick to those warm colours, for blues and
+greens are fatally unbecoming to their yellow-brown
+skins, making them look heavy and dirty. They
+seem to have no natural taste for colour though, as
+they use some appalling aniline dyes, and make
+mixtures which set one’s teeth on edge. They are
+only really safe when they stick to the red <i lang="es">sarong</i>
+and undyed <i lang="es">camisa</i>.</p>
+
+<p>The <i lang="es">piña</i> is woven on hand-looms, which can
+be seen and heard clicking in almost every hut, and
+it is sent all over the Islands, and fetches enormous
+prices, but then it is practically everlasting, and
+when washed and done up with rice-starch, it looks
+like new.</p>
+
+<p>They also have a muslin, much cheaper stuff,
+called <i lang="es">Jusi</i> (pronounced Hoosee), which is made
+from a fibre procured in China; and a third, and
+still cheaper one woven from hemp fibres and called
+<i lang="es">sinamay</i>—and the result of it all is that to the
+uninitiated the three materials all look exactly
+alike! On the <i lang="es">piña</i> the women do a very beautiful
+embroidery of graceful designs worked out in fine
+white sewing-cotton and marvellously shaded, mixed
+with drawn threads, and some of the antique pieces
+are exquisite. This <i lang="es">piña</i> embroidery is the only
+characteristic Filipino work I have been able to<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_55" id="Page_55">[55]</a></span>
+see or hear of, except the decoration of some
+weapons, and the grass mats with patterns.</p>
+
+<p>The dress of the men I think I have already
+hinted at, and it, too, is the last word in simplicity
+(short of the loin-cloth, which costume is not
+allowed in the towns), for all the Filipinos wear in
+the house is tight drawers and a vest, and when
+they go out they draw on over those a pair of
+white or blue cotton trousers and a collarless shirt,
+rather like a Chinaman’s coat, which I described to
+you before, I think. This shirt hangs outside the
+trousers, really looking much better than it sounds,
+and on galas and occasions of state they turn out
+in an ordinary European shirt, with a starched
+front, all pleated and embroidered, such as Frenchmen
+and Germans sometimes wear, and they look
+so clean and smart in them. In fact they look
+quite nice in their native costume, but unfortunately
+many of them now affect the white man’s buttoned-up
+linen coat, with stand-up starched collar, and
+put on shoes and stockings, which subtly vulgarises
+the wearers at once. Like all coloured races and
+many white ones, as soon as they attempt modern
+European fashions the Filipino taste is villainous,
+and they look inexpressibly common and disheartening.</p>
+
+<p>They are so clean—so scrupulously clean—all
+their clothes, even those of the very poorest, being
+spotless and fresh. They are for ever washing
+their bodies, too, or at least it is certain that the
+poor people are, for they may be seen at the wells
+and outside their houses tubbing ingenuously, the
+men with a single fold of stuff retained for decency,
+the women struggling inside a wet <i lang="es">sarong</i>.</p>
+
+<p>We went yesterday evening for a walk along
+the beach, on the side of this spit where the view
+embraces the open sea and the end of the Island of
+Guimaras, the latter with a promontory of<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_56" id="Page_56">[56]</a></span>
+mountainous Negros jutting out behind and beyond
+it, and all the rest clear horizon. The tide was
+out, so we walked on the firm wet sand at the edge
+of the waves, little, flat waves which did not run
+up very far, as the beach is steep and shelving.
+Over the mountains, inland, the sky was a deep
+glowing orange and crimson, but from where we
+were on the beach we could not see the mountains,
+only glimpses of the gorgeous colour through the
+high palms that fringe the shore; while on the
+other side, out to sea, was a reflection like a
+delicate wash of pinky gold, set above deep blue
+sea and purple islands.</p>
+
+<p>We walked a good long way, as far as the
+ends of the streets that come down on the beach,
+all dark with points of light, for the air was
+deliciously soft and the breeze almost fresh, and
+as the sunset faded, the stars came out and
+made quite a light upon the water, they looked
+so big and bright. We enjoyed the walk very
+much, and though we are too far this side
+of the town to be able to walk as far as the open
+country, we are very lucky not to be a long way
+from the beach, where we can always get a breath
+of fresh air and admire the lovely evenings.</p>
+
+<hr />
+
+<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_57" id="Page_57">[57]</a></span></p>
+
+<h2 id="LETTER_8">LETTER VIII.<br />
+<span class="smaller">SOCIAL AMUSEMENTS</span></h2>
+
+<p class="right"><span class="smcap">Iloilo</span>, <i>January 8, 1905</i>.</p>
+
+<p>This is my first letter to you in the New Year, and
+it does seem so strange to be writing 1905 already.</p>
+
+<p>I wonder how you brought the year in. We
+were invited to a ball given by the Club Artistica,
+the Spanish Club, situated in a suite of very large
+rooms in the upper story of a big house in the Calle
+Real, the main street of the town, which I told you
+about when I was describing the amazing shops.
+The big basements are shops, but the long upper
+stories form large dwelling houses, very swagger
+ones, only the dust and noise are very disagreeable,
+and the rents about the same as flats in the best
+part of London, if not more. On these two
+accounts, most of them stand empty, displaying
+long rows of closed shutters, all the outside painted
+the prevailing bluey-grey. Some are used as clubs,
+however, one being this Artistica, and another,
+further down the street, the Filipino Club, which is
+called the Santa Cecilia—dedicated very appropriately
+to the patron saint of music, you see. These
+two clubs are very hospitable, and do nearly all the
+entertaining in the place, except for an occasional
+lecture at the Y.M.C.A., which, I daresay, is a wild
+revel, only I’ve never summoned up courage to go
+and see. The Swiss and Germans have a club, I
+believe, and the English Club has a beautiful house
+of its own, but neither of these institutions does
+anything towards the gaiety of nations, beyond playing
+billiards among their own members exclusively.<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_58" id="Page_58">[58]</a></span>
+It is a relief, however, to think that the poor
+fellows do not have such a very bad time as one
+might imagine, for they accept everything and go
+everywhere. The same comforting remark applies
+to the Americans, who have no club and don’t
+entertain privately, except tea or Bridge parties
+amongst each other. So, as I said before, it falls
+to the Spaniards and Filipinos to keep the place
+alive, and very well they do it too, if the ball on
+New Year’s Eve was a specimen of their average
+entertainments.</p>
+
+<p>The Spaniards, Eurasians, and natives are
+all passionately fond of dancing, and <em>really</em> fond
+of it, for they do not make it a question of
+supper, as people do at home. All you have to
+do here is to clear the floor and get in some
+musicians (half the difficulty here is to keep groups
+of musicians out), and apparently your friends flow
+in. When we are coming home in the evenings,
+we often see the <i lang="es">salas</i> of quite little houses lighted
+up and full of people dancing, and I have seen
+small native huts having a <i lang="es">baile</i> of two couples
+jostling round in a space 10 feet square.</p>
+
+<p>The chief room of the Spanish Club is a large
+apartment, almost a hall, where, on ordinary
+evenings, the members can be seen through the
+big lighted window-spaces, sitting about at little
+tables, with glasses at their elbows, playing
+dominoes; but for the <i lang="es">baile</i> the club was cleared
+and hung with electric lights in paper flowers, and
+decorated with flags and palm branches, while in a
+large recess at one side was a numerous string band
+of Filipino performers.</p>
+
+<p>The music was excellent, but so slow that, as
+far as I was concerned, dancing was no pleasure,
+though that was not much of a grievance to me, as
+I was really far more anxious to look on than
+to dance.</p>
+
+<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_59" id="Page_59">[59]</a></span></p>
+
+<p>We were invited for ten o’clock, but when we
+arrived at eleven the entertainment was only just
+getting into full swing. We had missed the opening
+<i lang="es">Rigodon</i>, a dance without which no Filipino <i lang="es">baile</i>
+could get under weigh at all, but the second half of
+the programme began with one, and I was very
+much interested to see it.</p>
+
+<p>Everyone who wanted to dance the <i lang="es">Rigodon</i>,
+and there were only about three people who did
+not, sat round the room in an immense square, as
+for a cotillon, and the band struck up a very jolly
+old Spanish tune, to which the sides facing each
+other went through a few simple figures at a very
+slow walk. When they had done, they sat down,
+and the other two sides took their turn; and that,
+to different tunes, was the whole dance, which went
+on for an incredible length of time. The figures
+were a mixture of lancers and quadrilles, but the
+dancers never went out of a dignified strut, and
+though the first tune was followed by the inevitable
+Sousa marches and “Hiawatha,” however lively the
+music became, the dancers continued to stroll and
+bow and shuffle about at the same slow pace. I
+am told that one becomes very fond of the <i lang="es">Rigodon</i>,
+but it seemed to me intolerably dull and listless as
+a dance, though as a spectacle it was vastly entertaining,
+and gave one a chance of really seeing the
+people, and they were well worth the trouble of
+turning out after dinner to look at.</p>
+
+<p>The men wore white suits, most of them
+buttoned-up white coats of the every day sort.
+There were three Englishmen in evening dress, one
+or two in white mess jackets, and several advanced
+young Filipinos in grey tweeds. The American
+women wore every sort of outfit, from the missionaries
+and schoolma’ams in blouses and boots to the
+more exalted personages in evening dress; while
+the Filipinas, <i lang="es">Mestizas</i>, and most of the Spaniards<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_60" id="Page_60">[60]</a></span>
+had on the native muslin <i lang="es">camisa</i>, some of them
+exquisitely embroidered and hand-painted, and
+always worn with European skirts of appalling
+colours and cut. One little brown woman had on
+a long train of scarlet plush, with huge white lace
+butterflies fixed across and down the front, which
+made one burst into perspiration merely to look
+at; and another was in emerald green velvet, with
+straggling bands of gold braid meandering over it
+in such a queer way that I could not resist walking
+round her to see if any point of view would make
+the lines come out as a pattern, but they refused to
+go by any rule of any art—even the “newest.”</p>
+
+<p>As to the waltzes, which formed the chief part
+of the programme, they were very amusing too, for
+the variety of styles was infinite, though the
+universal pace was so slow. The Spaniards and
+<i lang="es">Mestizos</i> dance very well, and by that, of course, I
+mean Filipinos in general, for it is very difficult to
+distinguish between them, and to say where one
+race begins and the other leaves off. They are
+slow and graceful. The Americans are equally
+slow, but not very graceful, for they <em>walk</em> instead
+of dance, holding each other in such a peculiar
+way, sideways and very close, the man leaning very
+far back, with his partner falling towards him, and
+the hands that are clasped held very high, and
+swinging up and down.</p>
+
+<p>At twelve o’clock everyone began to cheer and
+shake hands as the New Year came in; while the
+band played the American National Anthem, which
+is a most magnificent air, and then the Spanish
+Anthem, and then a few bars of “God Save the
+King,” which did for us and the Germans equally
+well, and which we all thought a very nice little
+compliment. Filipino waiters came in, carrying
+trays covered with tall glasses full of some sort of
+champagne cup, and everyone drank healths, shook<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_61" id="Page_61">[61]</a></span>
+hands, and wished their friends a Happy New Year.
+We stayed on a little longer, and I danced a
+two-step with a very nice American, which was the
+best dance I had the whole evening, for it is one
+in which they excel, though they perform it
+quite differently to what we are told at home is
+“the real American way to dance it,” as they do
+not plunge down the room in straight lines in the
+English fashion, but turn round more and make
+more of a waltz of it.</p>
+
+<p>Suddenly, during an interval between dances
+in the middle of the programme, without a word
+of warning, a <i lang="es">Mestiza</i> sat down at the piano
+and played an accompaniment to which a young
+Eurasian, in a painfully blue satin dress, and
+with her face a ghastly grey-white with thick
+powder, sang a truly terrible song. She screamed
+in an awful manner, and I wondered that policemen
+did not rush up from the streets to see
+what was the matter, but she was perfectly self-possessed,
+and faced the audience with the aplomb
+and self-confidence of a prima-donna. I never
+heard such “singing” in my life—it was the
+sort of thing that is so bad that you feel all hot
+and ashamed, and sorry, and don’t want to catch
+the eye of any relation of the performer. This
+happened not once, but several times, and is,
+I am told, a custom in Filipino <i lang="es">bailes</i>.</p>
+
+<p>When we left at about half-past one, the
+ball was in full swing, and I afterwards heard
+that it went on till half-past four or five.
+Indefatigable people! I don’t know how they
+can keep it up so, for, of course, the heat was
+very great—a temperature in which no one
+would dream of dancing at home, and not a
+breath of cool air anywhere, but I suppose
+they become accustomed to it.</p>
+
+<p>One thing I have mentioned may strike you as<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_62" id="Page_62">[62]</a></span>
+odd, and that is the mixture of races and Eurasians,
+but there is socially no marked colour-distinction
+here as in every other country in the world, and
+this, I imagine, is because the natives of the
+civilised parts of the Philippines have been
+Christians for centuries, and intermarried with
+a Christian race. The fusion is not, however,
+really very complete, as one can see from a glance,
+at any gatherings, where the people of various
+shades of white and brown keep very much
+together. Some of the Eurasian women are
+quite pretty, but they spoil their little round
+faces with thick layers of powder over their
+nice brown skins, and use perfumes that nearly
+knock one down. The white men are friendly
+with many of the <i lang="es">Mestizos</i>, and dance with
+their pretty daughters, and are even occasionally
+foolish enough to marry the latter; but white
+women keep quite apart from the coloured folk,
+and it would be an unheard-of thing to dance with
+one; while as to marrying a Filipino, no woman one
+could speak to would ever dream of such a
+horrible fate. That is where the real impassable
+gulf is fixed. The Americans profess not to
+recognise any distinction, however, for, as I
+explained before, they announce that they consider
+the Filipino of any class as their social
+and every other equal, and have the expression
+“little brown brother” (invented by Mr. Taft),
+which is supposed to convey and establish this
+generous sentiment. The sentiment, apart from
+any political utility it may possess, is a noble
+one, but it does more credit to the heart of the
+Americans than to their wisdom.</p>
+
+<p>The Spaniards did not recognise the Filipinos
+as equals, but treated them with every courtesy,
+according to their degree, and I believe that
+whatever the political situation may have been<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_63" id="Page_63">[63]</a></span>
+in those days, society went peaceably enough,
+for every man knew his place and kept it; a system
+admirably suited to an Oriental people. Now,
+however, the <i lang="fr">régime</i> is quite different, and the
+sudden glare of ultra-equalising views is what the
+Filipinos can neither understand nor profit by.</p>
+
+<p>I wish I had been in the U.S.A to see
+many things for myself, but I have always read
+and heard much about the hard and fast line drawn
+in that country against “coloured” people and
+half-castes, and that the Americans have learned
+to adopt this custom from years of experience.
+This makes their professed attitude here very
+puzzling, and I can find no one who can even
+attempt to reconcile this extraordinary variation
+of opinion. Another unfathomable anomaly of
+American thought is that the “Equality,” Nobility
+of the Human Race—Rights as a human Being,
+and so on, are for the <em>Filipinos</em>, but all these
+grand schemes officially take no account of the
+fierce, naked savages; the Mahommedan tribes;
+the negritoes, and all the other wild natives of
+the Philippines; though how, or where, or when,
+or by whom the line is to be drawn and the
+distinction made is another unanswerable problem.</p>
+
+<p>New Year’s Day being a holiday, we thought
+we would treat ourselves to a drive. So we sent
+one of the boys out for a <i lang="es">carromata</i>, which is a
+sort of tiny gig, with the driver sitting on a
+small seat in front of his fare, in fact almost on
+one’s lap. Rain had been falling pretty well
+all day, and the <i lang="es">carromata</i>, when it arrived,
+was covered with mud, and looked such a disreputable
+turn-out that we burst out laughing when
+we saw it. However, there was no other to be
+had, and after all it was a very good specimen,
+so we climbed in over the wheel, and the driver,
+a boy of about twelve, gave the pony a chuck<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_64" id="Page_64">[64]</a></span>
+and a whack, and it turned round in the direction
+of the Plaza, and we stuck. Then the driver
+got down, and when he was out of the way
+and the pony became visible, we saw that we
+weighed the cart down so much at the back
+that as the little animal turned round he got
+his neck wedged under the shaft and was
+held in a rigid yoke. The youthful <i lang="es">cochero</i>
+shoved him down somehow, evidently both of
+them quite accustomed to the trouble, and, once
+righted, the little beast tore along, and we had a
+delightful drive in the cool of the evening, enjoying
+the air, which was so fresh after the rain.</p>
+
+<p>We did not go far out of the town, as the sky
+was rather threatening, but kept more or less
+to the ever-amusing suburbs of native huts, which
+literally swarm with human beings, to every one of
+whom there is apparently an allowance of about
+six babies of under one year old, and on the roofs
+are cocks and hens clinging to the steep thatch;
+while under the hut lives the family <i lang="es">carabao</i> (a big
+grey water-buffalo) in his mudhole, along with stray
+dogs and wild pigs which eat up the refuse.</p>
+
+<p>The number of children, very young children,
+is something astounding, but, according to statistics,
+I learn that 60 per cent. of the children born in
+the Philippines die under one year old, so that
+must help to keep the numbers of grown-up
+people down a bit. They are miserable little
+languid scraps, thin and solemn, but so supremely
+fortunate as to wear no clothes whatever, till they
+are about six, when a short muslin jacket is put
+on, which is more for adornment than anything
+else. The tiny ones ride astride the mother’s
+hip, with little thin legs dangling, and round black
+head wobbling about, looking so uncomfortable,
+poor little souls. They are fed on rice, which they
+eat till their little bodies swell up to a certain tightness,<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_65" id="Page_65">[65]</a></span>
+when the food is taken away, and they are not
+allowed more till they have “gone down” again.
+This process results in a permanent “rice-tummy,”
+which makes the babies look like air-balloons set
+on drumsticks; but, somehow, they lose that
+as they get older, and if they live, are generally
+very slender and well made.</p>
+
+<p>There is a great fuss made now about this
+waste of infant life, much of which is ascribed to
+the horrible and unhuman practices and superstitions
+attending the birth of a Filipino child;
+but I imagine from the appearance of the children
+themselves, that the whole question is merely an
+example of the Survival of the Fittest, for of so
+many children born in such a delicate race there
+must be numbers who are unable and unfit to live.
+They are not a hardy people, these Filipinos, and the
+heat, fevers, and plagues of the country affect them
+even more than they do the white races, oddly
+enough. I believe that in the wild parts the
+natives are stronger, and sometimes live to a great
+age; but there the life is simpler; the cross-breeding
+less frequent; in the absence of civilisation of
+any kind the great Darwinian Law operates even
+more rigorously; and the young who are sickly
+stand no chance at all of growing up and transmitting
+their weakness. The skin of these people is
+not a healthy skin, not a warm brown, but of a
+greeny-yellowy brown; their fingers are delicate
+and weak, and their eyes not clear or bright, but
+like little bits of dull plum-brown jelly.</p>
+
+<hr />
+
+<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_66" id="Page_66">[66]</a></span></p>
+
+<h2 id="LETTER_9">LETTER IX.<br />
+<span class="smaller">TARIFFS—INSECTS</span></h2>
+
+<p class="right"><span class="smcap">Iloilo</span>, <i>January 16, 1905</i>.</p>
+
+<p>The day has come round for me to catch the
+mail, but I feel that I can hardly write calmly, as
+I am barely sane upon the subject I wish to tell
+you about, which is the Customs. I told you
+about the opening of our cases, and how we took
+them out of bond, as they were valued at £30?
+Well, a day or two ago the bill came in, and when
+we saw it we nearly fainted away, for the amount
+of duty came to 698 <i lang="es">pesos</i>—£70.</p>
+
+<p>Of course we thought some mistake had been
+made, so C—— went off to the Customs officer
+and asked him what it meant. All the consolation
+we got was that they were very sorry for us,
+but the Appraiser had made a mistake, and classed
+some of our things under Class B instead of
+Class A.</p>
+
+<p>So C—— said he could not afford this sum,
+which was far more than the whole of the contents
+of the cases were worth if they had been
+new. Of course it was impossible to send them
+back to Hong Kong, as we had taken them out of
+bond; but after a lot of talk, the officer said we
+could “abandon the goods” if we liked, which
+means refuse to pay the duty, when the things
+would be seized by the Customs and sold by
+auction to pay the Government; but we should be
+unable, by law, to buy them in ourselves. This
+seemed to be the only alternative open to us, and<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_67" id="Page_67">[67]</a></span>
+C—— came back and asked me what I thought
+of it, and asked the other Englishmen their opinion.
+They were full of sympathy and very kind, and
+at last one of them hit upon an excellent idea,
+which was to attend the sale and buy our things
+in for us as cheaply as possible. This, then, was
+arranged, but—“Oh no!” said the Customs, “you
+won’t gain anything by that, because if goods, when
+put up for sale, do not fetch the price at which
+the Customs House has valued them, they are
+publicly burned.”</p>
+
+<p>So that is the end of our story. We have paid
+more than their value for our wedding-presents,
+which seems to me the meanest and cruellest imposition
+I ever heard of. But I won’t say any more,
+for the subject can only be as painful to you as it is
+to us. We must just grin and bear it, I suppose,
+but good-bye to a pony and trap for a longer time
+than ever, and good-bye to any little jaunts in the
+hot season.</p>
+
+<p>I must try instead to be more pleasant, and the
+only thing I can think of is a little lizard I have
+been looking at for the last ten minutes, while my
+thoughts roamed gloomily over each one of those
+seventy good golden sovereigns that have gone to
+help to teach the Filipino that he is my equal. A
+worthy cause, no doubt, but one that does not
+appeal to me—at any rate to the extent of 698
+<i lang="es">pesos</i>.</p>
+
+<p>This little lizard, which lives in the cornice above
+my writing-desk, has just come down on to the
+window beside me and nipped up a fly in the
+smartest manner. This is his hunting-ground, for
+the windows in the house only have sliding
+shutters, such as I described to you, like all the
+houses here. Glass windows are almost unknown,
+but this house happens to have them along the
+S.-W. front, where some former occupant has put in<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_68" id="Page_68">[68]</a></span>
+doors on to the balcony, with glass in the upper
+panels, because in the rainy season the Monsoon
+drives in on this side.</p>
+
+<p>In all the houses here these little grey lizards
+abound, living in the cornices and corners of the
+ceilings, and feeding on flies, mosquitoes, and any
+little toothsome creature they can pick up. They
+must have plenty of supplies and wide variety, for
+one seems to come across some new sort of insect
+every hour of the day—and night. No fleas,
+however, I don’t mean that, for Filipinos are clean
+and fleas are rare; but all sorts of queer insects
+crawl and fly and sit about, all of which I suppose
+the lizards enjoy; and I imagine they, in their turn,
+are having a good meal off some other still tinier
+creature.</p>
+
+<p>The ceilings are made of bulges of canvas or
+matting painted white, pale blue, or green; or, in
+some of the old houses, with patterns, as in Italy.
+In one house in Jaro, a big building with long, wide-open
+window-spaces, there is a ceiling that is covered
+with some sort of shiny oilcloth stuff, drawn up by
+buttons at intervals, so that it looks like the seat of
+some giant padded leather chair—a most fearful
+looking contrivance, but, no doubt, a source of much
+pride to the Filipino who owns it. There is a wide
+space above these ceilings, for the corrugated iron
+roofs are very deep, and here live rats, mice, cats,
+cockroaches, snakes, all sorts of beasts, which come
+down into the house for plunder. The nicest are
+these dear, clean, bright-eyed little lizards, which
+make a funny and very pretty note, a sort of clear,
+musical chuck-chuck. Sometimes, but very rarely,
+one of these lizards is found with a forked tail, and
+this the natives look upon as an emblem of the
+most extraordinary luck, and they do all they can
+to catch the lizard and try to take off his forked tail,
+which they dry and wear for <i lang="es">anting-anting</i>. Any<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_69" id="Page_69">[69]</a></span>
+kind of luck, or lucky emblem, is <i lang="es">anting-anting</i>,
+and the mystical emblems, observances, and relics
+of Roman Catholicism, which appeal to the
+Filipinos with irresistible force, have but added to
+their original stock of superstitions.</p>
+
+<p>In some of the houses there is a very <i lang="es">anting-anting</i>
+lizard, of a large size, which makes a loud,
+clear double note like a cuckoo, that can be heard
+a long way off. I have never seen a “Philippine
+cuckoo,” as they are called, but have often heard
+them, and the houses that have this <i lang="es">anting-anting</i>
+are well known. There is one in the old
+belfry at Jaro, another in a house the other side of
+the Plaza there, and one in a certain bamboo clump
+on the road to Molo, and so on, all over the place.</p>
+
+<p>A very general belief prevails that in the roof of
+each house there lives a big snake, which has a
+terrific meal of rats every now and then, and sleeps
+the rest of his time, coming down very rarely for
+water. I can quite credit this story, for the space
+between the roofs must be the very place for a
+snake, and many people tell me they have seen
+these creatures, but I don’t suppose they are really
+in all the houses. Curiously enough, I thought
+there was a snake overhead before I had ever been
+told about such a thing, for one day, when I was
+sitting in the <i lang="es">sala</i>, I heard a most extraordinary
+noise in the roof overhead—a sort of heavy,
+dragging sound, and then a thump, and then the
+dragging sound again—and, somehow, the thought
+of a snake instantly came into my mind. When I
+spoke about it to some friends, half jokingly, they
+replied quite seriously that it probably was a snake
+I had heard, and then told me how they live in the
+roofs.</p>
+
+<p>Talking of noises, one of the most curious sounds
+here is made by the crickets, the <i lang="es">cicadas</i>, which shrill
+night and day, ceaselessly and for ever. The ear<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_70" id="Page_70">[70]</a></span>
+becomes accustomed to the aggregate sound of their
+high, thin note, though I, for one, never get to like
+it, and sometimes it gets horribly on my nerves, so
+that I feel I must go anywhere to get away from it.
+At first when I heard it I was always having a
+curious impression of being in a Swiss field in the
+summer; but now that has worn off, and I think if
+I ever go into the Swiss fields again I shall think of
+nothing but Iloilo. When one of these <i lang="es">cicadas</i>
+gets very near the house, it drives you nearly
+mad, and when, as happened a few evenings ago,
+one is actually in the house, everything must be
+searched for the beast before anyone can expect
+sanity or sleep. This one that got in, stowed itself
+away in the writing-table, and we had an awful
+time, standing almost on our heads and streaming
+from every pore, before we found it in a tiny corner
+where one of the drawers does not run quite into
+place. When we fished the <i lang="es">cicada</i> out at last, or
+rather when one of the servants came in and took
+up the hunt for us and caught it, we found the
+disturber of our peace to be an ugly little browny-black
+creature, with a narrow waist, and the silly
+thing refused to give a single chirrup to show us
+how it was done.</p>
+
+<p>Talking of insects, one of the things we are most
+fortunate about in this house is that we have very
+few of the black or red ants, which are a fearful
+plague in these Islands, so much so that one has to
+stand the furniture with its feet in small enamel
+bowls filled with water or paraffine to prevent the
+ants crawling up, for they eat everything; and
+besides that, they look particularly nasty when dead
+in jam or butter, or floating in tea or coffee.
+Some of these ants are a good size, but the common
+sort are very small, and many of the most destructive
+are simply red specks that run like lightning.
+They are terrible destroyers, and I can’t think why<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_71" id="Page_71">[71]</a></span>
+ant-eaters don’t start living in the roof menageries,
+for they would get on splendidly if they did not die
+of over-eating. However, the ants do scavenge to
+a certain extent, and the way a busy little mob can
+carry off a huge dead cockroach is a lesson in
+natural history.</p>
+
+<p>The cockroaches, by-the-bye, are the size of
+mice. They are the most evil brutes I ever saw,
+besides being a constant source of terror and worry.
+You will hardly believe this, for you know that I
+never mind touching any animal—mice, worms,
+toads, slugs, earwigs—and how I have so often been
+laughed at, and even sniffed at, as rather an
+unpleasant young person, because I have no repugnance
+to taking them up in my bare hand, for,
+after all, they are only poor animals, and infinitely
+nicer to touch than many perfectly respectable
+human beings. Do you remember those people
+at Karnak who screamed when I brought them
+that lovely little toad with a speckled stomach?
+And the good folk at home who shudder if you
+pick up a poor slug out of a dusty road? Well,
+when it comes to these cockroaches, I confess
+that I have a genuine horror of the great red, evil-smelling
+brutes, with their horrible bulgy eyes and
+their long moving red antennæ. I can’t tell you
+what it is about them—but I am not alone in this,
+for everyone has a horror of them. They breed in
+the cesspits, and prefer manure to any other diet,
+but will gladly supplement their <i lang="fr">menu</i> with any
+form of food, as well as leather, paper, books, or
+clothes. The houses, the shops, and the steamers are
+full of them, and in the evenings they come out of
+their holes and run about. Ugh! they make one
+shudder. And every now and then they take it
+into their heads to fly about or into the lighted
+rooms, and I have even seen men who have been
+here for years turn quite sick when a cockroach<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_72" id="Page_72">[72]</a></span>
+lights on them, and as for the average woman,
+she screams outright, and many white women
+faint.</p>
+
+<p>These horrible brutes are the curse of housekeeping,
+necessitating everything being kept in
+glass jars or tins, and cupboards and drawers being
+overhauled and searched every week or so. I must
+say, though, that we have not had so much
+trouble with them as most people, and so far I
+have never had one amongst the linen or clothes,
+and I believe this is because I hang cakes of
+naphthaline in the rooms, and put balls of it in all
+boxes, drawers, and cupboards, and they don’t
+seem to like naphthaline, though they would come
+a thousand miles to eat ordinary insect powder,
+which is, apparently, just the very thing on which
+to bring up a nice little family of forty or fifty
+young cockroaches.</p>
+
+<p>There are some pleasing spiders too, one of
+which I saw the other day, with a body nearly the
+size of the palm of my hand, sitting in a huge,
+tough web like a hammock, and looking exactly
+like those in Doré’s picture of the Guest Chamber
+in the Castle Inn, in Croque Mitaine.</p>
+
+<p>I said there were very few fleas, but the mosquitoes
+make up for any biting that has to be done.
+I am beginning to get more accustomed to their
+venom now, but at first I was quite ill and feverish
+from it, and many people suffer so that it amounts
+to an illness, and white men frequently have to
+be invalided home for nothing but mosquitoes.
+Nothing I have ever seen in any place round the
+Mediterranean approaches the Philippine mosquito
+for venom or ferocity, and here, too, their efforts
+are not confined to the night-season when lucky
+mortals are stowed under nets with no rents
+in them, but they bite relentlessly all day as
+well.</p>
+
+<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_73" id="Page_73">[73]</a></span></p>
+
+<p>Well, I tried to leave harrowing subjects and
+tell you something more cheerful than the Customs
+woes, but I seem to have drifted into other griefs,
+and as my spirits are evidently damped beyond
+hope to-day, I had better leave off writing and end
+my letter.</p>
+
+<hr />
+
+<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_74" id="Page_74">[74]</a></span></p>
+
+<h2 id="LETTER_10">LETTER X.<br />
+<span class="smaller">A FILIPINO THEATRE—<i lang="es">CARABAOS</i></span></h2>
+
+<p class="right"><span class="smcap">Iloilo</span>, <i>January 22, 1905</i>.</p>
+
+<p>We went a night or two ago to a performance at
+the theatre—a Filipino performance in a Filipino
+theatre. I daresay it sounds strange to you to
+hear of a theatre in Iloilo, but you see this is
+really a very large town, and then all the people
+are musical, and they have plenty of time to rehearse.
+They get together little dramatic clubs, the chief
+one of which is not far from here, “as the crow
+flies,” though I think he would be a very keen
+crow for theatricals if he flew there as straight
+as he could. We heard this performance, an
+operetta, being rehearsed night and day before the
+performers considered it ready for the theatre.
+The rehearsals that went on until the early hours
+of the morning were those we cared least about;
+but we were really interested to hear them going
+on all day as well, for no one in the Dramatic
+Club apparently had any other occupation in
+life. At least, this seemed to me strange till I
+had become better acquainted with the Filipino
+character.</p>
+
+<p>To get to this show, we set off after dinner,
+driving in a hired <i lang="es">quielez</i> with a disturbing cockroach
+somewhere about it, and soon came to a
+squash of all sorts of carriages and carts in one of
+the broader streets of the town—and a squash of
+vehicles driven by Filipinos is something no human
+mind can imagine without experience. We escaped<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_75" id="Page_75">[75]</a></span>
+alive, and went in at a big gateway into a courtyard,
+passing several stalls lighted with flaring
+naphtha, where native women sat behind flat rush
+trays containing cakes and sweetmeats, tumblers of
+coloured drinks, and ordinary ginger-beer and
+lemonade bottles. This, though I did not know it
+at the time, was the buffet.</p>
+
+<p>Inside the courtyard another high gate, decorated
+at the sides with palms and paper roses, and
+very dimly lighted, led to the door of the theatre,
+a big, crazy-looking building, and here stood two
+inconceivably stupid and self-satisfied natives
+bullying everyone, and making a hopeless and
+baffling muddle of the tickets. Why they did this
+I can’t think, as everyone passed into the place
+alike, whatever their ticket was, and scrambled up
+a broad wooden staircase, very steep and rickety,
+or else went about the ground-floor, every man
+looking for his own seat, and getting turned out of
+it by the next comer.</p>
+
+<p>The “boxes” were little pens railed off, containing
+six chairs with no room for your knees, and
+in and out of these and up and down the precipitous
+staircase jostled a crowd of Filipinos, <i lang="es">Mestizos</i>,
+Chinamen, and Spaniards, with little dark women
+in gaudy <i lang="es">camisas</i>, wearing flowers in their hair and
+diamond brooches. Here and there an American
+was patiently and persistently trying to gather
+information in his own language, while he took
+some female relation in a white cotton dress
+upstairs and then down again, to keep her quiet.</p>
+
+<p>I was so amused by these proceedings that I
+really felt as if it did not matter whether that was
+all we saw, but, nevertheless, we toiled up the
+staircase at the promptings of an obliging Filipino
+with one eye, very soon found our box, and settled
+down to wait for the friends who were to join us.</p>
+
+<p>In about two minutes, however, we were<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_76" id="Page_76">[76]</a></span>
+engaged in an endless discussion with a little mob
+of “brown brothers,” who declared quite politely
+that we had no right there, as the box was theirs.
+So we moved off and tried the ground-floor again;
+found another box with our number on it, empty;
+sat down again, put fans and programmes on the
+opposite chairs, and began to look about.</p>
+
+<p>But we were shifted again, so this time we
+tackled a native selling programmes, and asked him
+where our box was, and why the little pens all
+seemed to have the same number; and he, in very
+broken Spanish, at last made us understand that
+the numbers were repeated six times, once on each
+side upstairs and down. This was a wonderful
+effort of lucidity for a Filipino, and really helped
+us a good deal. So we toiled upstairs again,
+feeling sure that we knew all about the theatre
+now, and determined on a shot at the sides. On
+the way there we were delighted to see that the
+people who had turned us out of our first box were
+being ousted in their turn, but by this time we had
+begun to giggle, and were too helpless with heat
+and laughter to take much notice of anything. At
+last we got into a box from which we were never
+evicted during the rest of the evening, though some
+people did come along with a programme-seller to
+back their claim, but we showed fight, and they
+went away again.</p>
+
+<p>The theatre, a long, wooden building, appeared
+even more ramshackle from the inside than it had
+from the outside, and infinitely more dangerous, for
+the electric light was supplemented by Japanese
+paper lanterns, which looked the last word in
+incendiarism; and, when one considered the packed
+mass of faces all round, it was wiser not to let the
+imagination dwell on that steep wooden stairway,
+which was all there was between us and the next
+world.</p>
+
+<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_77" id="Page_77">[77]</a></span></p>
+
+<p>The floor of the building was arranged with
+rows of chairs facing squarely, by way of stalls,
+surrounded by a row of the boxes I have described,
+where the chairs went sideways. Above jutted out
+a broad balcony with a similar row of boxes, and
+above that again, jammed under the ceiling, was a
+dense crowd of poor people, standing on what was
+really only a ledge with an iron rail; and they
+looked positively more like huge black and white
+flies clinging to the ceiling than anything else.</p>
+
+<p>Everything looked as if it must fall down or
+break up, but no one seemed to be worrying about
+their doom, in fact all the faces were remarkably
+pleasant and jolly.</p>
+
+<p>The stage was a fairly large one, with a row of
+electric footlights, which waxed and waned and
+waxed again at their own sweet will, and quite
+regardless of the needs of the performance. In
+front of the stage, on the floor-level, was an
+orchestra of natives who really played very well
+indeed, and they and all the men in the audience
+were in white, which looks very quaint until one’s
+eye is accustomed to it.</p>
+
+<p>The piece performed was an operetta called
+“La Indiana,” a rather confused story about some
+old <i lang="es">Mestizo</i> with a white beard, whose son had
+secretly married an Indian, which is the word the
+Spaniards use for the Filipinos, and is employed by
+the Filipinos themselves as well, when talking
+Spanish. Well, the old father informed his son, an
+appalling, gawky, young <i lang="es">Mestizo</i> in a black morning
+coat, pepper and salt tweed trousers, and a very
+bright blue tie, that he must marry a white (<i lang="es">Mestiza</i>)
+girl of his, the father’s choosing. On hearing which,
+the hero sang a song to the effect that he would
+abandon the <i lang="es">Indiana</i>, and had a long duet with
+that personage to explain that they would just say
+nothing at all about being married. Then all the<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_78" id="Page_78">[78]</a></span>
+chorus came in again, the old father blessed the hero
+and the “white” girl, whereupon the <i lang="es">Indiana</i>, a
+frightfully ugly Filipina with a fine voice, sang
+a long and frenzied solo with her hair down—and
+then the curtain fell.</p>
+
+<p>I thought there must be another act, and was
+very much surprised to find that was the conclusion
+of the story. But evidently, to the native imagination,
+the plot was complete and the ends of poetic
+justice satisfied. They did not really act and sing
+as badly as I had expected, though, when one came
+to think of “La Indiana” as a public performance
+in a theatre, it really verged on audacity. No
+attempt at scenery or dress was made, the whole
+action taking place in a bare, worn, old “set” of a
+room, the usual stage room, unlike anything else on
+earth, and the only attempt at costume was the
+substitution of very ugly old European blouses for
+the <i lang="es">camisa</i>, which was a fatal mistake.</p>
+
+<p>We left after the first piece, though there were
+to be two more of the same sort, for it was very
+dull and depressing. There is nothing in these
+Filipinos, you see, for they have not the melodious
+voices of negroes, nor the faultless ear of Spaniards,
+nor the fine physique of Chinese, nor the taste of
+Japanese—they are simply dull, blunt, limited
+intelligences, with the ineffable conceit of such a
+character all over the world, and when they break
+out into a display such as “La Indiana,” all these
+deplorable qualities show up in the glare of the
+white light that beats even upon an Iloilo stage.</p>
+
+<p>Yesterday we went for a delightful drive out
+along the Jaro road, off which we turned a little
+way beyond the town, and went down a rough,
+sandy track to the banks of a broad, half-dried-up
+river, not the Iloilo river, but another parallel
+to it, or a branch.</p>
+
+<div class="figcenter" style="width: 600px;" id="illus6">
+<img src="images/illus6.jpg" width="600" height="450" alt="" />
+<p class="caption"><span class="smcap">Riding a Carabao.</span></p>
+<p class="caption-r"><a href="#Page_78"><i>To face page 78.</i></a></p>
+</div>
+
+<p>There we got out and walked down the steep<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_79" id="Page_79">[79]</a></span>
+bank on to the sandy bed, where we strolled about
+for a long time, watching strings of <i lang="es">carabaos</i>
+coming up from being watered, each herd led
+by a small boy, riding on one of the big old
+grey cows with a calf running alongside. They
+looked very picturesque, with the shallow river
+all the colours of the sunset, and the tall palms
+on the opposite bank standing in black silhouette
+against an orange-crimson sky.</p>
+
+<p>The <i lang="es">carabaos</i> are big grey or reddish-grey
+water-buffaloes, with immense horns curving
+backwards, and a long, narrow, flat muzzle.
+They are used for every sort of purpose, the
+natives even riding and driving the great unwieldy
+creatures like horses, and guiding them by
+means of a single string passed through between
+the nostrils. If they want the <i lang="es">carabao</i> to go to
+the right they pull the string steadily, if to the
+left, they give a sharp jerk. Sometimes when
+the master is angry he will pull the poor
+<i lang="es">carabao’s</i> nose, so that he tears the piece of
+flesh out altogether; not at all an uncommon
+occurrence, and nothing distressing to a Filipino.<a name="FNanchor_3" id="FNanchor_3"></a><a href="#Footnote_3" class="fnanchor">[3]</a>
+In the days of the rebellion against Spain, a
+few years ago, when the Filipinos caught the
+hated Spanish friars, they ran a rope through
+the priests’ noses, tied their hands, and led them
+about like the <i lang="es">carabaos</i>, so that people might
+spit upon the hated tyrants, and insult them
+at their own pleasure.</p>
+
+<p>The <i lang="es">carabaos</i> are as gentle and amenable as
+horses with the natives; quite tiny children ride
+and bully the huge beasts, looking so comically
+small on the big backs, with their tiny brown
+legs hardly reaching to each side of the broad<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_80" id="Page_80">[80]</a></span>
+ribs, and driving whole herds with the most
+perfect independence and self-possession. The
+<i lang="es">carabaos</i> are not at all safe as regards white
+people, however, for they can smell and detect
+them at an immense distance; and they will occasionally
+charge them ferociously, so that they
+are very dangerous in the open country. I have
+heard some horrible stories of <i lang="es">carabaos</i> killing and
+trampling on white men in out-of-the-way places.
+They don’t gore, I suppose because their horns
+are so flat, but they trample to death, which does
+just as well.</p>
+
+<p>These great grey, lumbering animals are very
+picturesque, and redeem many a Philippine scene
+from utter dulness as they go shambling along,
+drawing the native two-wheeled cart, with its big
+hood of brown matting filled with bundles of
+emerald-green <i lang="es">sacate</i> grass. They can shamble
+at an amazing pace, and that is their usual gait;
+but they can gallop, too, as quickly as a horse.</p>
+
+<p>Besides the herds of <i lang="es">carabaos</i>, we saw several
+natives down in the bed of the river, going out
+to certain spots where the shelve of the sand
+was more abrupt for their supply of water. These
+were women, of course, for women do all the
+household tasks, even the most burdensome,
+their lords being busy standing about the roads
+or Plazas, or attending a cock-fight.</p>
+
+<p>These women had long bamboo poles, with
+the divisions knocked out and the end closed up,
+which they laid in the running stream to fill with
+water, when they hoisted the long poles to their
+shoulders and carried them off like giants’ lances.
+The slender little figures looked quaint and pretty
+as they came up over the yellow, sandy, shallows
+in their bright red <i lang="es">sarongs</i> and white <i lang="es">camisas</i>,
+walking lightly and gracefully, with their thin
+brown feet well turned out, the fading light of<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_81" id="Page_81">[81]</a></span>
+the sky behind them, and the outline of dark,
+fretted palms.</p>
+
+<p>We walked through a little palm grove back
+to the place where we had left the carriage,
+driving back along the main road as the stars
+were coming out and the flaring naphtha lights
+appearing in the little mat-shed shops. There
+were a great many people about, and swarms of
+little children in fluttering muslin shirts, all enjoying
+the cool evening air, which was, as a matter
+of fact, the same temperature as an August mid-day
+at home. A lot of carriages and traps flew past,
+the little ponies tearing like the wind, amongst
+them the general’s wife in her victoria, drawn
+by ordinary Waler horses, looking like prehistoric
+monsters amongst the little Filipino ponies; and
+we met our pet aversion, three young <i lang="es">Mestizo</i>
+“mashers,” driving at a furious pace in a spidery
+buggy with huge acetylene lamps, and ringing a
+bicycle bell.</p>
+
+<hr />
+
+<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_82" id="Page_82">[82]</a></span></p>
+
+<h2 id="LETTER_11">LETTER XI.<br />
+<span class="smaller">SOME RESULTS OF THE AMERICAN OCCUPATION</span></h2>
+
+<p class="right"><span class="smcap">Iloilo</span>, <i>January 22, 1905</i>.</p>
+
+<p>Mail-day has come round again, but I don’t
+feel as though I had much energy for writing,
+or anything else, as we are in the midst of a
+heat-wave, which means, in this part of the world,
+that the Monsoon has dropped unaccountably, and
+the heat is suffocating and appalling. Everyone
+is saying that such a temperature is quite unusual
+at this season, and some even go so far as to say
+they never felt it so hot here before; but this does
+not surprise me, as I have never yet come in for
+normal weather anywhere.</p>
+
+<p>This heat comes in the middle of a drought,
+too, as we have not had rain for about four weeks—another
+phenomenon. Our rain-tank is empty,
+so we now depend on the supply of brackish water
+from the wells, and even that is reported to be
+limited, which is alarming, as one would commit
+almost any crime to get enough water for a bath.
+Even at times of plenty, however, one does not
+rejoice in the European style of bath, but an
+arrangement of a tub, the acquaintance of which
+I first made at Singapore, and I can’t say I was
+much struck with it when I did see it.</p>
+
+<p>The tub, of wood or china, is placed in a small
+room with a sloping floor of concrete or tiles, and
+the bather stands on a wooden rack; first using
+what soap he sees fit, and then pouring water over<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_83" id="Page_83">[83]</a></span>
+himself as best he can with a tin dipper. It is an
+economical method in countries where water is
+scarce and valuable; but it was a terrible disillusion
+to me, after the grand ideas I had always
+formed, when I read how every one in the Far East
+has his or her own bathroom. Don’t you know
+how jolly it sounds in Anglo-Indian novels, or in
+descriptions of the world beyond Port Saïd? A
+dreadful disenchantment!</p>
+
+<p>More than ever, in this heat, do we miss
+the dog-cart of our dreams, for we long to
+get out of the town on these hot evenings.
+Something to drive is a bare necessity of life out
+here, and even the humblest school-teachers and
+missionaries keep what the Americans call a “rig,”
+such a queer word, which is made to signify anything
+from a four-in-hand to a <i lang="es">carabao</i>-cart. The
+Americans all drive in a very strange fashion, holding
+a rein in each hand, which looks awkward at
+any time; but is most comical in the case of the
+swaggering negro who drives the military waggons,
+holding in a team about as fiery as a couple of old
+circus-horses, with a rein twisted round each of
+his hands, body thrown back, and the gestures of a
+Greek restraining an untamed pair round a stadium.</p>
+
+<p>The white man who drives the Government
+ice-cart amuses me too, for he is got up in
+full cow-boy pageantry—huge boots, loose shirt
+with broad leather belt, immense sombrero worn
+well over one eye, long moustaches standing out,
+and great gauntlets up to his elbows. All this to
+hawk ice about a dowdy little town.</p>
+
+<p>When a soldier rides one of these quiet old
+animals, he sits in an enormous Mexican saddle,
+with a very high peak back and front, and his
+feet, clad in big boots with huge spurs, thrust into
+roomy leather shoe-stirrups. To the casual observer
+these horsemen would certainly convey the impression<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_84" id="Page_84">[84]</a></span>
+that they were venturing great deeds in a
+wild country, and one can’t be anything but thankful
+to them for throwing a little picturesque relief
+into the humdrum life of the grey streets.</p>
+
+<p>We have tried hiring carriages, but besides the
+terrible discomfort of all hired vehicles, their prices
+are more uncomfortable still. Fancy, in a place
+like this, having to pay as much for a little carriage
+for two hours in the evening as one would for a
+brougham in London for the day! Yet such is the
+case, and it is only an indication of the cost of
+living here, which is really alarming; as you may
+imagine it must be when I tell you that all the
+Americans I have met complain bitterly, declaring
+that it is more expensive to <em>exist</em> in the Philippines
+than to “have a good time” in New York or San
+Francisco! The only comfort is that we are not in
+Manila, which is a shade worse, I am told.</p>
+
+<p>So, except for an occasional carriage lent us,
+we continue to walk about after sunset, but I find
+I can’t get very far, for though exercise may not
+be very tiring at the time it is being taken, it
+makes you realise how the climate is taking it out
+of you.</p>
+
+<p>There is no meeting-place like the club of an
+English garrison town, for the Americans seem to
+have no idea of anything of the sort; and I think
+this may, perhaps, be owing to their democratic
+principles, for, of course, it would be impossible to
+exclude the private soldiers from such a place, as
+in theory they are as good as the officers. I notice
+that in practice the officers don’t think so at all,
+though most of them have risen from the ranks
+themselves. The U.S.A. have a sort of Sandhurst,
+called West Point, but I have been told, by highly-placed
+officers themselves, that the only way to get
+on in their army is to obtain a commission from
+the ranks through “pull” (political influence), and<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_85" id="Page_85">[85]</a></span>
+that “pull” is even more a factor in the army than
+in any other profession in America. This can
+easily be verified by reading the extraordinary cases
+that occur from time to time, when an officer with
+a “pull” gets the decision of a Court-Martial
+reversed without any further controversy, and,
+after an undoubted misdemeanour, is simply
+re-instated somewhere else, and often in a higher
+grade, by order of the Government at Washington.</p>
+
+<p>This independence of military authority, together
+with the principles of extreme democracy which
+America professes, accounts, I think, for the curious
+behaviour of the private soldiers, who are really
+quite different from any others I have seen anywhere
+else in the world, for they lounge about
+when addressing an officer, and speak to him as
+an equal; which looks more than odd to anyone
+not accustomed to such ways. Men who were here
+during the American War have told me most amusing
+stories of the discussions that used to go on
+between officers and privates on active service; all
+straggling about anyhow, and men, with no notion
+of saluting, just giving their opinion with a drawling
+“waal” by way of preface. All the same, they
+fight well, and perhaps, in modern warfare, individual
+intelligence may be a very good thing, and
+it is only in peace time that a lack of smartness
+and discipline jars upon the faddy European eye.
+Perhaps.</p>
+
+<p>But the oddest thing of all, to my mind, is to
+see officers in uniform salute ladies by taking their
+caps off. That I can’t get accustomed to!</p>
+
+<p>I call this a garrison town, though, as a matter
+of fact, the garrison is situated in the Island of
+Guimaras, at a place called Camp Josman, in the
+interior. This Camp, which is about 200 feet
+above sea-level, and possesses springs of good
+water, is supposed to be much healthier than<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_86" id="Page_86">[86]</a></span>
+Iloilo, where they only have the Hospital, Headquarters,
+and the Cavalry Barracks. It seems a
+strange and uncomfortable arrangement in a half-pacified
+country—the garrison half a day’s journey
+away; though the real object is, of course, to keep
+the American soldiers out of the towns, where they
+are no end of trouble.</p>
+
+<p>The town is well and even elaborately policed
+by the Constabulary, a Filipino corps of sturdy
+little “brown brothers” in dark blue linen suits.
+Each of these defenders supports an immense
+revolver in a leather case strapped to the back of
+his broad leather belt, and carries a short truncheon
+as well. I suppose they would fight all right, in
+reason, if there were a disturbance, and if the
+occasion were not of a patriotic nature. But that
+is not much consolation, as the occasion would
+not be likely to be of any character other than
+patriotic.</p>
+
+<p>The Americans give out and write in their
+papers that the Philippine Islands are completely
+pacified, and that the Filipinos love Americans and
+their rule. This, doubtless with good motives, is
+complete and utter humbug, for the country is
+honeycombed with insurrection and plots; the
+fighting has never ceased; and the natives loathe
+the Americans and their theories, saying so openly
+in their native press, and showing their dislike in
+every possible fashion. Their one idea is to be
+rid of the U.S.A. to have their government in
+their own hands, for good or evil, and to be free
+of a burden of taxation which may be just, but is
+heavier than any the Spaniards laid upon them.
+The present burden is more obvious to the Filipino
+mind than the ultimate blessings.</p>
+
+<p>They have no real say in their own affairs, you
+see, as the government of the Philippines is in
+the hands of a Commission consisting of five<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_87" id="Page_87">[87]</a></span>
+Americans, nominated by the President of the
+U.S.A. and three Filipinos, chosen by the
+Governor-General of the Philippines.<a name="FNanchor_4" id="FNanchor_4"></a><a href="#Footnote_4" class="fnanchor">[4]</a> This body,
+however, does not govern the Islands according
+to what experience teaches, but is responsible to
+the Senate at Washington, whose members having
+their own interests to push or preserve, hamper the
+Philippine Commission at every turn.</p>
+
+<p>It does seem extraordinary to think that
+there is no Colonial Office, or Civil Service examinations,
+and that anyone in America who has a
+“pull” can get sent out here to fill any sort of
+post anyhow, anywhere. Tremendous salaries
+come out of the miserable Island Revenues to
+make these posts acceptable. So it is hardly
+surprising that, without the faintest glimmering
+of the language, customs, climate, or anything
+beyond their own State, these eager, well-meaning,
+bustling Americans tumble into pitfalls, and rub
+the Oriental the wrong way, and that the dislike
+and mistrust on both sides are about equal.</p>
+
+<p>I did not mean to let you in for this political
+dissertation, but now I am on the subject I am
+reminded of a new tax, which has lately been
+levied, and is causing much vexation. It will give
+you a good idea of the methods in vogue. This is
+an order requiring every owner of a horse to take
+his beast to the Philippine Government, or rather
+its local and selected representatives, who will
+brand the animal on one flank with certain marks
+by which it may at once be known. Then the
+owner is to brand it twice on the other flank, and
+to find two sureties of 250 dollars gold (about £50)
+each, that the horse has not been stolen, and
+should the animal prove to have been dishonestly<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_88" id="Page_88">[88]</a></span>
+acquired, the sureties are to be held criminally
+liable!</p>
+
+<p>This in a country where the crime of horse-stealing
+is entirely unknown! But it is believed
+that the Senators in far-off Washington have an
+idea that the Philippines are a sort of California,
+so they insist on applying exactly the same law here
+as obtains in that wide, wild State. It is hardly
+necessary to add that the examination, branding,
+papers to be signed, stamps upon same, and so on,
+cost the wretched owner a pretty sum before he is
+safe from the police with his poor, disfigured horse.</p>
+
+<p>I have wandered away from a walk through
+the town, which I meant to describe to you—only
+I never seem to get ahead at all with descriptions
+here, as there are such endless mazes of side-issues
+to lure one from the track.</p>
+
+<p>At the end of this street one comes on the
+Plaza, a very wide square bordered by odds and
+ends of houses, which include the Police Court, the
+Y.M.C.A., the Prison, and the Cathedral, the three
+former buildings being large, ordinary, two-storied
+houses, the latter a big, plain, grey stone front,
+with a belfry on each side, not unlike a miniature
+of the cathedral at Las Palmas, and, as far as I
+remember, in much the same style.</p>
+
+<div class="figcenter" style="width: 600px;" id="illus7">
+<img src="images/illus7.jpg" width="600" height="400" alt="" />
+<p class="caption"><span class="smcap">Spanish Architecture in the Philippines.</span></p>
+<p class="caption">An old church at Daraga.</p>
+<p class="caption-r"><a href="#Page_89"><i>To face page 89.</i></a></p>
+</div>
+
+<p>The town must have been quite handsome in
+the Spanish days, but during the Insurrection the
+Americans stood off and bombarded it from the
+open sea, while on shore the natives set it on
+fire. You see, when the Americans had conquered
+the Spaniards, and the Philippines had been
+handed over to the United States, the Spanish
+garrisons cleared out, leaving the Filipinos in
+charge to wait for their saviours. But the
+Filipinos beginning to realise that they had only
+sailed from Scylla to Charybdis, fought tooth
+and nail to prevent the American troops garrisoning<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_89" id="Page_89">[89]</a></span>
+their towns. So it came about that when the
+Americans had officially conquered the Spaniards,
+and <i lang="fr">fêtes</i> and rejoicings were in full blast in the
+U.S.A., the trouble here was really only just
+beginning, for though they had managed to dislodge
+an alien race like the Spaniards with the
+full help and concurrence of the natives of the
+country, it was a very different task to conquer
+the disaffected people of the soil, even when it
+was being done “for their own good.” When
+the American fleet came to take Iloilo, the
+Filipinos showed fight, and the American Admiral
+said they must give up the place or he would
+bombard it, allowing them so many hours to
+decide in—which hours, by-the-bye, were not
+unconnected with some complication regarding
+the Christmas dinners of the sailors, who insisted
+on eating plum-puddings they had brought with
+them, or had had sent from America. Well, the
+Filipinos replied that the Americans might come
+ashore and fight if they liked, but if the Admiral
+bombarded the town, they would set it on fire, and
+make Iloilo not worth the taking.</p>
+
+<p>The end of this exchange of courtesies was that
+the Admiral chose the alternative of bombardment,
+whereupon the Filipinos promptly fired the town,
+and Iloilo was pretty well destroyed, and eventually
+taken for the Stars and Stripes. The loss of
+life was one mule and one old woman, neither of
+whom probably cared two straws who the Philippines
+belonged to, poor things.</p>
+
+<p>One or two people were wounded, but this was
+only another instance of the extraordinarily small
+amount of damage done by a bombardment. I
+have heard many curious “yarns” about the
+bombardment and the fire, which took place on
+Christmas Day, 1899, but I have not time or space
+to tell you these legends now, even if I could<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_90" id="Page_90">[90]</a></span>
+remember them. I wish I could remember all the
+things I hear—though, I daresay, I remember quite
+enough for you as it is!</p>
+
+<p>The chief feature of the bombardment stories is
+the terrible drunkenness and looting that went on;
+but even if those anecdotes interested you, they are
+all connected with personal adventures of people
+you have never met, and would not entertain you.
+I am glad I was not here though, for the anarchy
+and misery seem to have been terrible.</p>
+
+<p>Many results of these stirring times still remain
+in the streets, for the top stories of the houses were
+knocked off and the stone foundations gutted, and
+when the people settled down peaceably again,
+there was no money to restore the buildings to
+their former state, so they just put rough rooms
+over the charred ruins, makeshift upper stories of
+Oregon pine with corrugated iron roofs, which
+arrangement makes the town look very shoddy and
+unfinished. In Jaro and Molo are to be seen many
+of the handsome old Spanish houses still standing,
+with carved wooden balconies and ornamented
+doorways, some of them still beautified by deep
+roofs of charming old red-brown hand-made tiles.</p>
+
+<p>There is a <i lang="fr">café</i> in the Plaza Libertad, in what
+was once a big, fine house, but now the thick concrete
+walls of the lower storey, with huge doorways
+and window-openings crossed by heavy bars, all
+blackened with smoke, end abruptly in a narrow-eaved
+corrugated roof, making a house like a misshapen
+little dwarf.</p>
+
+<p>There are many buildings like that, and in the
+streets the jumble of different sorts of odds and
+ends is most curious, but not the least picturesque,
+for it is all grey and mean and squalid.</p>
+
+<p>All the middle of the square, which, as I told
+you, is called the Plaza Libertad, is laid out as a
+pretty Alameda, with a low wall round it, and steps<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_91" id="Page_91">[91]</a></span>
+leading up on each side, the centre thickly planted
+with palms, bamboos, and various other trees of
+dark and light greens, intersected by four wide
+paths and a lot of little tracks, all bristling with
+seats. Some of the seats are of wood, broken and
+dilapidated, and others of iron painted to look like
+marble, which are quite warm to the touch hours
+after sunset. The first evening we were there,
+when I put my hand on one of the iron seats,
+thinking to touch cold stone, I got quite a shock
+on finding the surface warm.</p>
+
+<p>This flowerless garden is a very pretty place,
+especially at night, when the big arc-lights shine on
+the very green trees, and throw lovely shadows of
+palm branches on the white paths, making quite a
+theatrical effect; but it is all overgrown, untidy,
+neglected, the steps broken, paths untrimmed—always
+reminding me of some place in a deserted
+city, or the garden of a house long uninhabited.</p>
+
+<p>The Plaza Libertad has one resemblance to a
+real town park, however, in its rows of idle men;
+brown-faced, white-clad Filipinos in this case, who
+sit on the seats and low walls like rows of sea-birds,
+only, instead of making nests or catching food
+as birds would, they simply doze, and gamble, and
+talk, or, more often, sit about in the profound
+abstraction of the Oriental.</p>
+
+<p>The “unemployed” has no grievance against
+society, however, in this country, if he ever tries
+to attempt one, for work is abundant and labour
+not to be had, even at the present scale of wages,
+which enables a man to work for one day and
+then keep himself and his family to the remotest
+scions, in idleness and cock-fighting for a week.
+You see in the Spanish days the Philipino
+labourers got from 10 to 20 cents a day wages
+but now the American Government, which sets
+the scale, gives a <i lang="es">peso</i> a day for unskilled labour,<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_92" id="Page_92">[92]</a></span>
+and that, of course, has altered the social conditions
+here, and, I believe, all over the Islands
+as well, for the same conditions prevail everywhere.
+A <i lang="es">peso</i> a day they get for loading and unloading
+vessels—just wharf-coolies; and as for carpenters
+and people like that who used to get 70 cents from
+the Spaniards and live well on it, they are now
+with difficulty to be caught for 2½ to 3 <i lang="es">pesos</i> a day.
+Of course this has enormously increased the cost of
+living without bringing any extra benefits, but that
+particular increase chiefly affects the white man, for
+I have asked servants and natives, who tell me the
+cost of <em>their</em> food, the eternal rice, fish, and bananas
+for them has very little altered, if at all.</p>
+
+<p>The high rate of wages, far from bringing plenty,
+has caused great demoralisation and consequent
+poverty; and it does seem a pity that some one
+who understood Orientals and their ways could not
+have come and pointed out to the Americans how
+dark races differ from white men in body and
+mind. As it is, I should think that even if the
+well-meaning reformers do find out their mistakes,
+which is very doubtful, it would be very difficult,
+if not impossible, for the Americans to go back
+now.</p>
+
+<p>On one side of the Plaza there stand a few
+specimens of the funny native trap called a <i lang="es">quilez</i>,
+which I have mentioned to you. It is very like the
+<i lang="es">tartana</i> of Spain, a sort of tiny wagonette on two
+wheels, and covered so that it is really a sort of
+miniature two-wheeled omnibus.</p>
+
+<p>Such a cabstand! Such fearfully dilapidated
+old rattle-traps, with mangy ponies lashed in by
+odds and ends of straps and string, and the drivers
+dressed in dirty rags (the only dirty Filipinos I’ve
+ever seen) sprawling half-asleep on the boxes! This
+collection, as I have said, is by way of being a cab-rank,
+but there are always plenty of <i lang="es">quilezes</i> plying<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_93" id="Page_93">[93]</a></span>
+the streets for hire; their number indeed being at
+first astounding, till one becomes better acquainted
+with the laziness of the fares, coupled with the high
+rates of hire, which alone would make one job a
+day quite a good investment.</p>
+
+<p>The discomfort and jolting of these conveyances
+is something which I can find no words to express
+—it is like one’s first ride on a camel—like waltzing
+with a Sandhurst cadet—like—like nothing in the
+world! A drive of one mile inside a <i lang="es">quilez</i> is more
+fatiguing than a walk of two.</p>
+
+<p>One thinks regretfully of the delightful luxury
+of the rickshaws and chairs of the real Far East,
+and I was very much surprised to see none of these
+luxurious comforts when we first arrived in the
+Philippines. It seems that a company was formed
+some years ago to introduce them, and got the
+concession to bring rickshaws and coolies from
+China, but as soon as these useful institutions
+appeared in the streets of Manila, the Filipinos
+stoned them, and at last forced the American
+authorities to banish the innovation altogether:
+“For,” said the astute and progressive Filipino,
+“the next thing will be that <em>we</em> shall be made to
+draw these things about, and we will not be treated
+as animals.”</p>
+
+<p>Fancy giving in to them! And fancy thinking
+of a splendid country and people like Japan,
+“where the rickshaws come from,” and listening to
+such preposterous nonsense from a Filipino! But
+these ignorant half-breeds got their way, and the
+only example they had ever had of energy or the
+real dignity of labour was promptly withdrawn to
+please them.</p>
+
+<p>In the middle of the Alameda is a bandstand,
+bare and empty, with a big spluttering arc-light
+over it, shedding its cheese-white light on nothingness—for
+no band ever plays there, and the glories<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_94" id="Page_94">[94]</a></span>
+of social Iloilo went with the gay and courteous
+Spaniards. A few people go and sit about, however,
+in the evenings, and it is not a bad place to
+loaf in for anyone who can’t drive out to the country
+and is tired of the beach.</p>
+
+<p>One evening, as we sat under the trees watching
+a group of <i lang="es">Mestizo</i> children playing about some
+older people sitting on a seat, a little <i lang="es">banda de
+musica</i> came strolling by, half a dozen young
+Filipinos in white trousers and <i lang="es">camisas</i>, carrying
+mandolins and guitars. They stopped near to
+where the children were playing, and struck up a
+certain beautiful waltz which one hears everywhere
+here—the work of some native composer, I believe—whereupon
+the little things all danced about on
+the white path in the fretted shadows of the trees,
+making a perfectly charming picture, and all so
+happy and jolly it did one good to watch them, in
+spite of the excessive heat.</p>
+
+<p>The <i lang="es">banda de musica</i> seemed to enjoy the fun
+too, for they smiled and showed their white teeth;
+speaking to the children and playing one tune after
+the other; and when we had to go home in time for
+dinner, we left them still dancing and playing under
+the trees, perfectly happy, even at that age, with
+anything in the nature of a <i lang="es">baile</i>.</p>
+
+<hr />
+
+<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_95" id="Page_95">[95]</a></span></p>
+
+<h2 id="LETTER_12">LETTER XII.<br />
+<span class="smaller">CHINESE NEW YEAR—LABOUR CONDITIONS—A
+CINÉMATOGRAPH SHOW</span></h2>
+
+<p class="right"><span class="smcap">Iloilo</span>, <i>February 4, 1905</i>.</p>
+
+<p>To-day is the Chinese New Year, and all last night
+the Chinamen were letting off crackers down in the
+town. All to-day they have been going on with
+them, too, and as the chief rejoicing seems to be to
+explode the fireworks under a horse, you may
+imagine—no you can’t—what the streets are like.
+On an ordinary day there is a good deal of pretty
+wild driving and no small peril in getting about in a
+vehicle or on foot, but the frightful risks one runs
+on every other day of the year are mild adventures
+compared to this Chinese New Year.</p>
+
+<p>There are a great many Chinamen, you see, for
+they continue to come into the Philippines in spite
+of the heavy tax against them; and besides that, so
+many are left over from the Spanish days that
+Celestials are still the principal shopkeepers of the
+Islands. They make large fortunes here, I believe—the
+fortunes that are ready waiting for anyone who
+is as clever and industrious as a Chinaman—and so
+good a speculation do they think this country that
+they are constantly arriving, whenever they can get
+permission, paying the heavy tax, and then beginning
+by working for a year or two with some friend
+or relation for no pay!</p>
+
+<p>Of course, the Filipinos hate the idea of being
+cut out by strong, hard-working, clever rivals, who
+make fortunes under conditions in which they<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_96" id="Page_96">[96]</a></span>
+themselves starve, so they have forced the hand
+of the American Government in abolishing foreign
+labour, which measure, so the business men say,
+has been the ruin of the Philippines. They say
+that such a law is wise enough in a country
+like America, perhaps, which is teeming with a
+busy population of its own, but here it is quite
+different, and “Philippines for the Filipinos” would
+be all very well if these people wanted their country,
+which does not seem to be the case. Moreover,
+if they did want it, it is too large for them, for
+there are 75,000,000 acres of cultivable soil in the
+Philippines, and the population <em>all told</em> is barely
+7,000,000. Suppose one calculated one in ten of the
+natives of all ages as a capable tiller of the earth—a
+<em>most</em> unlikely average—and <em>if</em> three Filipinos
+could do the work of one Chinaman or white man
+(which they can’t), even then one would think there
+would be room for competition and other labour.</p>
+
+<p>The magnificent forests of priceless woods
+simply fall into decay; the gold and all the metals
+with which the country is filled, lie untouched; the
+marbles are unquarried; the rich soil is uncultivated;
+and so these riches must remain as long as it
+pays no one to work them. Men often come to the
+Philippines to “prospect,” but when they find out
+the conditions of labour and the rate of Export
+and other Duties, they go away and are no more
+heard of; for, though you may run a sort of
+Government with philanthropical ideas, you won’t
+get business to flow in on the same system; and
+business men don’t care two straws if a labourer
+can read Latin or understand mathematics, so long
+as he will work well for low wages; but this latter
+ideal is the very last one the American Government
+appear to encourage or aim at.</p>
+
+<p>Well, we went last night to a cinématograph
+show, which has established itself in a big empty<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_97" id="Page_97">[97]</a></span>
+basement in the Calle Real, with a large sign
+outside, made of glass letters lighted behind with
+electricity, all in the most approved European style.
+The “show” lasts for half an hour, going on from
+six in the evening to about ten o’clock at night, and
+the proprietor makes about 300 <i lang="es">pesos</i> a week out of
+it, for he has very few expenses, and it is the sort of
+thing these people love. They come out when the
+show is over, stand about and expectorate for a few
+minutes, and then pay their cents and go in again
+and enjoy the same thing about five times running,
+probably without the faintest idea what it is all
+about from start to finish. You remember the
+dreadful extent of the habit of expectoration in
+Spain? You have heard about this failing in
+America? The Filipino is the epitome and concentration
+of the two.</p>
+
+<p>Everything in the hall was boarded up to
+prevent any stray, non-paying enthusiast from
+getting a free peep; but all the same I saw several
+little brown forms in fluttering muslin shirts,
+outside, where the wall formed a side street, with
+eyes glued to the chinks of a door in rapt
+attention; though I don’t suppose the little chaps
+could really see anything but the extreme edge of
+the back row of benches.</p>
+
+<p>In the hall we were saved from suffocation by
+two electric fans, and kept awake by a Filipino
+playing a cracked old piano with astonishing
+dexterity, rattling out the sort of tunes you hear
+in a circus and nowhere else on earth. I could not
+help wondering where he had picked them up, till
+it suddenly dawned on me that one, at least, gave
+me a faint hint that perhaps the performer might
+once have heard “Hiawatha” on a penny flute;
+so I concluded that he was playing “variations.”
+Pianos never sound very well out here, and I am
+told it is difficult to keep them bearable at all, for<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_98" id="Page_98">[98]</a></span>
+the chords have an unmusical way of going rusty in
+the damp season, or else snapping with a loud <em>ping</em>.</p>
+
+<p>The moving pictures were not at all bad, rather
+jumpy at times, but the subjects really quite
+entertaining, and all the slides, from the appearance
+of the figures on them, made in Germany, I
+imagine. The series wound up with an interminable
+fairy tale in coloured pictures, really a sort
+of short play, and in this one could see the German
+element still more apparent, in the castles, the
+ancient costumes, and the whole composition of
+the thing. I don’t suppose the natives in the
+audience had the wildest idea what it was all
+about, or what the king and queen, the good
+fairy, and the wicked godmother, were meant to be,
+probably taking the whole story for some episode
+in the life of a Saint.</p>
+
+<p>The audience were really more amusing to me
+than the pictures, and I was quite pleased each
+time the light went up so that I could have a good
+look at them. In the front rows, which were cheap,
+as they were so close to the screen, sat the poorer
+people in little family groups, with clean <i lang="es">camisas</i>
+and large cigars, the women’s hair looking like
+black spun glass. Our places were raised a little
+above them, and were patronised by the swells who
+had paid 40 cents—a shilling. Amongst the elect
+were one or two English and other foreigners; some
+fat Chinamen, with their pigtails done up in chignons,
+and wearing open-work German straw hats, accompanied
+by their native wives and little slant-eyed
+children; a few missionaries and schoolma’ams in
+coloured blouses and untidy coiffures <i lang="fr">à la</i> Gibson
+Girl; and one or two U.S.A. soldiers, with thick
+hair parted in the middle, standing treat to their
+Filipina girls—these last in pretty <i lang="es">camisas</i>, and very
+shy and happy. A funny little Filipino boy near us,
+rigged up in a knickerbocker suit and an immense<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_99" id="Page_99">[99]</a></span>
+yellow oil-skin motor-cap, was rather frightened at
+old Tuyay, who had insisted on coming to the show
+and sitting at our feet. When she sniffed the bare
+legs of this very small brown brother, he lost all his
+dignity and importance, and clung blubbing to his
+little flat-faced mother. Poor old Tuyay was
+dreadfully offended; she came and crawled right
+under C——’s chair, where she lay immovable till
+the performance was over.</p>
+
+<p>To watch the people here is an endless source
+of amusement to me, and I only wish my words
+could be more photographic, or our photographs
+more pictorial, so that I could convey to you a
+real impression of this queer end of the world.
+That is what it is—I feel as if I had arrived at
+the end of the world, where nobody cares or knows
+or hears or thinks of anything, and where the
+inertia that is in the very air of things will at
+last wear down even the vitality, pluck, and good
+intentions of the Americans themselves.</p>
+
+<p>I have arranged to go to Manila on the 28th,
+to-morrow three weeks, by the <i>Butuan</i>, the weekly
+mail. We heard fearful reports of these steamers,
+as I told you, when we were leaving Manila, but
+unfortunately there is no other means of getting
+to Manila from here. I am very glad it is arranged
+that I am to go, and I am looking forward very
+much to the change of air and scene. C—— is
+very anxious for me to take a servant to wait on
+me, for ladies generally take a native retainer
+with them when they travel about; but I won’t
+hear of such extravagance, and think I shall have
+far less trouble with only myself to look after, and
+without the extra burden of a bewildered Filipino.
+A friend of ours came from Manila the other day
+on a visit, with one of these appanages of state in
+her wake, and he seemed to me to be more trouble
+than the whole journey was worth.</p>
+
+<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_100" id="Page_100">[100]</a></span></p>
+
+<p><i lang="fr">À propos</i> of servants, we had an amusing and
+very characteristic adventure with the cook a day
+or two ago, when it occurred to us that for some
+time past we had not seen what we thought was
+the worth of a <i lang="es">peso</i> and a half of food appearing
+on the table, and nearly all the dishes seemed to be
+concocted from ingredients out of the <i lang="es">dispensa</i>;
+and eggs which, tiny though they are, cost the
+same as fresh-laid ones of ordinary size at home.
+What is more, they go bad so quickly that the
+price is really more, because so many have to be
+thrown away. Well, C—— said to the cook quite
+amiably that that functionary must revert to his
+original plan of giving us a daily list of his expenses,
+and the cook replied, very sulkily, “<i lang="es">Si señor</i>.”</p>
+
+<p>Next morning, when I was giving out stores,
+the cook said:</p>
+
+<p>“I should like to leave the <i lang="es">señora’s</i> service
+to-morrow. I can’t read or write, as the <i lang="es">señora</i>
+knows, and the cook downstairs, who used to do
+my list for me, has gone away.”</p>
+
+<p>Of course I knew every word of this to be an
+utter lie, and that my wily friend was only “trying
+it on,” as they say, because he knew it would be
+very inconvenient for us to dismiss him before I went
+to Manila. But I did not flatter him or “play up”
+to him by looking the least surprised or put out;
+I merely answered, very gravely and politely:
+“Certainly, <i lang="es">cocinero</i>, that will suit us perfectly. I
+will see about your wages.”</p>
+
+<p>Such a look of utter disgust and surprise
+came over his monkey-face—exactly like Brookes’
+monkey with the frying-pan—but I said nothing,
+and went on serving out potatoes and tinned fruit,
+and giving orders as to how I wished to have the
+things cooked.</p>
+
+<p>When C—— came home and heard this
+domestic history, he wanted to go and find the<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_101" id="Page_101">[101]</a></span>
+cook, and call him and his ancestry every name
+under the sun; but I implored him not to pander
+to the creature’s vanity by such a compliment as
+letting him think for one instant that we wished
+him to stay. So no words were said; but we
+observed that the <i lang="fr">menu</i> was immensely improved.</p>
+
+<p>Next morning, when Domingo came for the
+cook’s marketing money, instead of sending it
+out, I went out myself and said: “Well, do
+you want the <i lang="es">gastos</i> money or your wages?”</p>
+
+<p>“Oh,” said the cook, with a regular sort
+of rogue’s way he has of looking you straight
+in the eye, “I will take the <i lang="es">gastos</i>. I will remain
+with the <i lang="es">señora</i> to-day, as I see she has not
+been able to get another cook.”</p>
+
+<p>Inwardly I gasped; but I thought it better
+not to take any notice of such impudence, so I
+pretended I had not understood what he had
+said, and replied that I was very sorry he had
+not been able to find another situation, and
+that the <i lang="es">señor</i> would permit him to stay on.
+He opened his mouth as if he were going to
+answer, but evidently changed his mind, for he
+said nothing, but just held out his hand for the
+money.</p>
+
+<p>Since which skirmish he has given us better
+food, and better cooked than we have ever had
+from him, and a daily list of expenses is handed
+to me without comment.</p>
+
+<p>I hope I don’t bore you with my simple
+domestic stories? But this one I felt I must
+really tell you, as it is so absolutely characteristic
+of the half “cute” Filipino.</p>
+
+<p>Talking of native characters, there is a strange
+but very typical hairdresser along our street,
+with one poor-looking little room opening on to
+the road as his whole shop. All the barbers
+here do their business in the evenings, when<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_102" id="Page_102">[102]</a></span>
+their saloons may be seen brightly lighted, with men
+inside being operated on, while others loaf and
+gossip, but we have never seen a sign of a customer
+in our neighbour’s little shop. Perhaps he does
+business in the day time, and though we doubt
+it, we always hope this is the case. In the
+evenings his door stands wide open, and inside,
+the barber is to be seen lying back in an old
+armchair, with his bare feet on the basin, playing
+an old fiddle in absolute peace and contentment,
+while he watches his reflection in a big looking-glass.</p>
+
+<p>In a sort of wild and whimsical way he
+makes me think of The Lady of Shalott, and
+I fancy that some day a real customer will come
+riding by, when the mirror will “crack from side
+to side,” and the hairdresser will look out and
+see the world as it really is, and just die of
+misery.</p>
+
+<p>But I am sure that as long as he sits and plays
+like that, it would be a thousand pities if anyone
+came in with foolish and mundane ideas about
+shaving chins or cutting hair.</p>
+
+<p>The burst of heat I told you of, is over, and
+the days are cool again, by comparison. Also,
+last night rain fell, and we got some water in
+our tank, after the preliminary excitement of
+diverting the pipe to let the dirt wash off the
+roof. This is a most important consideration,
+and as the servants are very apt to leave the
+pipe over the cistern, instead of moving it, so
+that when rain comes the first dirt will run
+away, one has to turn out at any hour of the
+day or night, when rain begins to rattle on the
+roofs. And how these tropical showers do rattle
+and roar, so that one cannot hear the other
+speak without “hailing the main top,” as papa
+would call it.</p>
+
+<hr />
+
+<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_103" id="Page_103">[103]</a></span></p>
+
+<h2 id="LETTER_13">LETTER XIII.<br />
+<span class="smaller">SOME INFLUENCES OF CLIMATE, SCENERY,
+AND RELIGION</span></h2>
+
+<p class="right"><span class="smcap">Iloilo</span>, <i>February 18, 1905</i>.</p>
+
+<p>You must excuse my writing still being rather bad,
+as my illness has left me so weak that I shall not
+be out of bed for some days longer, in fact I am
+beginning to be fearfully afraid that I may not be
+well enough to go to Manila on the 28th after all.
+However, I have ten days to get well in, which
+gives me hope, and my progress so far has been
+simply wonderful, which is due to the extraordinary
+luck I have had in finding such good doctors and
+such a charming and clever nurse.</p>
+
+<p>I am much disappointed in having missed the
+visit of a U.S.A. man-of-war, the <i>Rainbow</i>, which
+is on a cruise through the Islands, and has come
+here for a couple of days. She is the flagship of
+the squadron the Americans keep in the China
+seas, and a very fine ship, I believe.</p>
+
+<p>Last night her crew gave a sing-song in the
+theatre, to which I persuaded C—— to go, and was
+very glad I had done so, as he enjoyed it immensely,
+and says it was a very good sort of Christy Minstrel
+“show.” It ended with a small play, done by
+real “American Negroes,” as they are called.
+The <i>Rainbow</i> gave the same entertainment in
+Hong Kong, just before we arrived, and I heard
+then how good it was. This afternoon we have
+been invited to a reception to be held on board,
+but, of course, that also is out of the question for<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_104" id="Page_104">[104]</a></span>
+me, and C—— will be busy at the office till very
+late.</p>
+
+<p>There is a great deal of work at the office now,
+as the chief business in this island is sugar, and
+this is the height of the “season,” when great
+loads of thousands of sacks go out every day to
+be put into steamers and sailing vessels off the
+estuary. They have a rough factory here where
+the cane is crushed, and the stuff exported is a
+thick, brown sort of sand (<em>don’t</em> make a joke about
+sand and sugar!), a great deal of which goes to
+Europe and America, but most to Hong Kong,
+where it is refined in great factories. The refined
+sugar that comes back from Hong Kong is what
+we buy here; and, though an English company has
+started a sugar refinery in Manila, they find that
+the conditions of trade in the Philippines are such
+that they can only <em>just</em> compete with the stuff
+refined elsewhere and imported subject to the
+export tax and the enormous duties.</p>
+
+<p>I think I am very lucky in having such a nice
+room to be ill in. It is very large and shady, with
+three windows and two doors, and I look out on
+a bright garden belonging to the house opposite,
+and a green field and trees, which is charming.
+Through the trees are glimpses of the grey backs of
+the houses in the street parallel to this, and then a
+thick, high belt of palms, which hides the open sea.</p>
+
+<p>This is the S.-W. side of the house. The back,
+to the N.-E., looks out across a rough garden of
+fresh, thick grass to half a mile or so of shallows,
+where the tide fluctuates, and beyond is the
+strip of blue river, which looks so narrow seen
+from here that the big steamers which go by seem
+to be sailing on dry land. Beyond, again, comes a
+fringe of bright green palms, and then the open
+sea—a stretch of darkest blue—and a bit of hilly,
+verdant Guimaras.</p>
+
+<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_105" id="Page_105">[105]</a></span></p>
+
+<p>I think one of the great beauties of the views
+here is that the sky is never quite cloudless—there
+are always very white clouds somewhere in the dome
+of intense blue, which give relief and value to all
+the colours below.</p>
+
+<p>On days when the Monsoon is not too high, we
+open the shutters looking towards the river, but
+these open wooden slats keep the houses quite cool,
+even when the shutters are closed. I wish there
+were something like the <em>tatties</em> of India; but no one
+out here has ever heard of such a thing. The open
+shutters are very nice though, and the view framed
+in the dark opening which faces us at table is like
+looking at a large, bright picture. Sometimes the
+tide is right up to the garden wall, the sky cloudy,
+and the water like slate. At other times, when it
+is far out, the shallows turn into mud-flats, with
+groups of native women wading about in their
+bright red clothes, looking for mysterious fish which
+Filipinos alone dare eat and live.</p>
+
+<p>Some friends from Manila were looking out of
+the hall window a little time ago, and said, “What
+a lovely view. I should never tire of that.” I said
+we never did, which was quite true.</p>
+
+<p>When I am well again, and if C—— can get
+away, I hope to be able to go beyond the roads to
+Jaro and Molo, though they are beautiful and
+inexhaustible. With all the beauty, however, I begin
+to have the same sort of feeling about this country
+that that old friend of ours, General R——, had
+about the girl at the Aldershot ball. You remember
+the story he told us of how he saw her exquisite
+face across the ball-room, and insisted on a common
+friend introducing him to her? And when he and
+the friend had got half way across the ball-room, the
+old general said: “Stop! Take me away. Get
+me out of it. Her face has never changed and
+never can change. It isn’t a face. It’s a mask,<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_106" id="Page_106">[106]</a></span>
+sir, a mask! It is not a human being. Come
+away!”</p>
+
+<p>Well, I feel like that about Philippine scenery,
+which can be dark or light according to the
+reflections thrown on it, but it has never changed,
+and even if there is a slight change, when that has
+passed it will always and for ever be the same
+greens and the same blue. No alternation to red
+and yellow autumn, no brown and purple winter,
+no delicate spring—nothing but perpetual, chromo-lithograph
+mid-summer, which has always seemed
+to me the least beautiful season of the year.</p>
+
+<p>When the wet Monsoon blows, I believe that
+season is counted as a sort of spring, for various
+trees then come into bloom, but, for the great part,
+everything just goes on growing and dying, and
+growing and dying in dull routine, like the natives.
+In fact I often think the much-abused Filipino is
+only a prototype, as it were, a sort of reflection, of
+his country. It seems as if this were so, too, for
+those who go away to Hong Kong or Japan to be
+educated, and come back full of civilisation and
+enthusiasms, soon cast off their energy like a slough
+and return to the shiftless, slouching habits of
+the land where it is “always afternoon.” For
+them such habits are natural, and perhaps necessary,
+but a worse effect is that white men get like that
+too, in time, and though they may work well enough
+at the business by which they live, they become
+indifferent, shiftless, careless about dress and the
+niceties of our civilisation; everything is too much
+trouble, and they just jog along in a half-animal
+routine. The young ones still fret for the world
+they have left, which remains fresh in their
+memories; but this life takes hold on men, and
+they become so rooted in its ways that they
+deteriorate and can never live happily anywhere
+else again—in the same way that a mind deteriorates<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_107" id="Page_107">[107]</a></span>
+on the slip-shod mental fare of magazine-reading,
+and cannot be happy with anything that requires
+more effort to assimilate. This, then, I find is the
+secret of that “nameless” fascination of the Far
+East that one hears and reads so much about—it is
+the secret of deterioration which is so easy, and
+elevation which is so hard, so useless, so unnecessary—let
+us lie in a long chair and drink one whisky
+peg after the other—who cares what the home
+papers say—what rot it is to bother about anything
+but poker and shooting, or why old Wing Chang
+bought Brown’s pony.</p>
+
+<p>And when you think of the <em>real</em> meaning of
+“Ship me somewhere east of Suez”—well, you
+can’t think of it till you live there yourself for a
+month or two. My refrain is, “Ship me somewhere
+west of Suez,” where there is health for body and
+soul—the west of the exquisite thrush and the lilac
+bush, instead of the empty, gaudy parrot and the
+flaming, scentless canna.</p>
+
+<p>Heavens! What a tirade!</p>
+
+<p><em>One</em> woman have I met who likes the Philippines;
+though many, as I know, love India, and the
+Straits, and Ceylon. But then those are generally
+people who go away to “hills” and so on, or take
+trips home. Here there are no “hills,” and a trip
+home is a serious life-problem. Just so, this one
+woman who has been found to like the Philippines
+happens to be the wife of a missionary, so, of course,
+she goes every hot season for a “nice long holiday”
+to Japan.</p>
+
+<p>It occurs to me that you may imagine we
+have savages here when I speak of missionaries,
+but that is not the case, in this island at any
+rate, for these good people are here—oh such a lot
+of them!—to convert the Filipinos from Roman
+Catholicism. This is really a work of supererogation,
+for, though the Spanish priests did ill-treat<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_108" id="Page_108">[108]</a></span>
+the Filipinos, the natives are free now from
+that terror, and this religion, with its mysteries
+and pomp, appeals to them, and suits their dispositions
+perfectly.</p>
+
+<p>I am afraid the unbiassed observer would
+find the missionaries far more convincing in their
+enthusiasm, if it led them to give up the beautiful
+houses and comfortable carriages they enjoy
+here, their tea-parties, lectures, and so on, and
+go and rough it in some of the other islands,
+where there are plenty of savages, Mahommedans,
+devil-worshippers, cannibals, and all sorts of
+unreclaimed sheep.</p>
+
+<p>Before I left home, I remember a very enthusiastic
+but woefully ignorant old lady being filled
+with excitement when she heard I was going to
+the Philippine Islands, and showing me missionary
+journals with a great deal written in them about
+“the good work” being done out here. At first
+I very naturally thought it was the savages who
+were being tackled, but—“Oh dear no!” she cried,
+quite shocked. “The poor Filipinos are being
+saved from the dreadful influence of the Roman
+Catholics.”</p>
+
+<p>I said: “But surely they are also the
+followers of Christ? Only they do not interpret
+His sayings quite as we do ourselves.”</p>
+
+<p>“No, <em>no</em>, they are <em>wicked</em> people! The Filipinos
+<em>must</em> be saved! Do, <em>do</em>, when you are out there,
+interest yourself in this noble work. I will send
+you little books——”</p>
+
+<p>Strange, isn’t it? And of course about the
+people, the laws, the climate, she knew less than
+nothing, though I am sure the poor old soul
+gave many a shilling out of her miserable income
+towards the fund that gives the missionary’s well-dressed
+wife a “nice little holiday in Japan.”</p>
+
+<p>In these civilised (?) parts of the Philippines<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_109" id="Page_109">[109]</a></span>
+there is a good deal of religious trouble and dissension
+already, without missionary enterprise to
+stir it up, as a very determined patriot of the
+name of Aglipay has cut himself adrift from the
+authority of Rome and started a church called
+La Iglesia Filipina Independiente, which title,
+I am sure, needs no translating. His followers
+are numerous, in fact it is generally believed
+that they now out-number the orthodox; and the
+whole movement is known to be the outward and
+visible sign of inward and hidden fires of Insurrection
+and Independence. The <i lang="es">Aglipayanos</i>, as
+these independent thinkers are usually styled,
+have churches of their own, and processions and
+ceremonies almost indistinguishable from those
+of the Papists. Do you remember a procession I
+described to you when we were in Manila? The
+bringing down of the Virgin of Antipolo? I now
+learn that that was all to do with this quarrel
+amongst the followers of the gentle Christ,
+though to which side the Virgin of Antipolo
+belonged, and who was to be galvanised into
+loyalty by the contemplation of her journey, I
+am not quite clear, and do not much care, for
+the fate of the little old wooden doll is uninteresting—it
+is only the people who are ready to
+fly at each other’s throats about it who are
+remarkable. What poor “worms that bite and
+sting in the dust!”</p>
+
+<hr />
+
+<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_110" id="Page_110">[110]</a></span></p>
+
+<h2 id="LETTER_14">LETTER XIV.<br />
+<span class="smaller">VOYAGE TO MANILA</span></h2>
+
+<p class="right">S.S. “<span class="smcap">Butuan</span>,” <i>March 1, 1905</i>.</p>
+
+<p>I am launched, you see, and on my journey to
+Manila after all, though I do not feel at all well again
+yet; but that is not surprising, as it takes such a
+long time to pull round in this climate. It is not
+that the climate is so much worse than any other,
+as long as you keep well, but as soon as you get ill
+you go all to pieces, and the first thing to be done
+is to ship you off to Hong Kong or Japan as soon
+as possible. The climate of the Philippines is very
+much abused, more than it really deserves, I think,
+for the chief causes of all illness are anæmia or
+liver, both arising more from the dreadful food and
+the lack of fresh vegetables, fruit, milk, and good
+meat than from the actual climate; though, of
+course, the illnesses arising from each bad diet are
+aggravated by the heat. The amount of tinned
+things the people eat would be trying in any climate,
+but out here they must be simply deadly. I have
+just been reading a book by a traveller, who
+announces that there is nothing the matter with
+the Philippine climate at all, because he tore
+round the Archipelago in record time, crossing the
+islands on foot at astounding speed, and living on
+native food—and he was not ill. Naturally, he was
+not ill; but then his experience is of little value
+to men who have to work for their living, sitting in
+offices for eight hours a day on six days of the
+week, whose food is the sort of provisions one can<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_111" id="Page_111">[111]</a></span>
+get in the towns, and their houses rooted on ill-drained
+mud-flats.</p>
+
+<p>Everyone would like to rush about and live a
+free, wild life, and, no doubt, if they did, there
+would be fewer illnesses and less human wrecks;
+but the trouble is that no one would pay them for
+doing it; and men must work out here just the
+same as in other climates—in fact they seem to
+me to work longer hours and harder than anywhere
+I ever saw; and the wonder to me is, not
+that they are ill, but that so many of them survive
+at all. Undoubtedly the only billets worth having
+in the tropics are those of a tea-planter, a British
+officer, or a professional traveller.</p>
+
+<p>I am in the regular mail steamer, you see, as I
+told you I should be, and we were certainly not
+given to understand more than the truth anent her
+shortcomings, for she is about the same size and
+class as those pestiferous little nightmares which run
+between Gibraltar and Ceuta. There is no deck
+but a plank or two outside the saloon, the latter a
+sort of excrescence on the ship, leaving just room
+to squeeze a chair between its sides and the
+scuppers. The space in the bows is thickly
+occupied by marine wonders covered with tarpaulins.
+What these may be, as they are not deck cargo, I
+can’t think, but they are evidently important
+enough to want all the fresh air in the ship.</p>
+
+<p>Aft, the galley treads upon the heels of the
+saloon, its fragrance extending still further, and
+the strip of deck outside it is completely blocked by
+dirty little tables, where frowzy men of the crew seem
+to carry on a perpetual March Hare’s tea-party.</p>
+
+<p>Beyond that, again, a half-clad native is for ever
+killing hens, and all in a muddle with a couple of
+terribly mangy but very kind dogs nosing about
+for snacks.</p>
+
+<p>She is a Spanish steamer, and the officers all<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_112" id="Page_112">[112]</a></span>
+Spaniards, very polite, but unkempt, unshaven, and
+dressed in soiled white linen suits with no attempt
+at a uniform.</p>
+
+<p>It is astonishing to think that this is the mail
+between Manila and the chief town of the Islands,
+and I can’t understand how it is that in six years
+no American enterprise has stepped in to do something
+better. I have asked Americans about this,
+but they tell me the question does not affect them,
+for they can always get permits to go in their own
+transports, and then, besides that, there is nothing
+to tempt American capital in so slow and jog-trot a
+fashion of making dollars. As we went out of
+the river, I tried to see our house in the estuary,
+but all the blue-grey houses, and corrugated roofs,
+and green trees and palms look so exactly alike
+that I found it impossible to distinguish ours from
+amongst the jumble.</p>
+
+<p>While I was looking over the side, a Filipino
+passenger, a middle-aged man, came up and said
+something to me, waving his hand towards the
+shore. I daresay he took me for his equal and
+meant no harm, but I thought it very cool of him to
+speak to me, so I simply drew myself up and said
+that I did not “habla Castellano,” whereupon he
+shuffled off and has not been seen again.</p>
+
+<p>Luckily the weather was very calm, and is so
+still, so I was able to appear at the evening meal,
+which came off at six! A deadly hour—when you
+have not had time to get up any interest in food
+since lunch, and yet if you don’t eat you are starving
+before bed-time. The dinner consisted of a
+thick meat-and-drink soup, such as one might
+imagine Russian convicts yearning for in the depths
+of a Siberian winter, but for which it was hardly
+possible to return thanks in a stifling cabin in the
+tropics. After this nice, comforting brew followed
+a procession of eight courses of thick and greasy fried<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_113" id="Page_113">[113]</a></span>
+lumps or appalling stews, each one more fatal and
+more full of garlic and spices than the last. I
+thought that even if I had been feeling fresh and
+hungry on a winter’s day at home I could hardly
+have faced the <i>Butuan</i> <i lang="fr">menu</i>, but, as it was, the
+mere sight and smell of the dishes made me almost
+hysterical.</p>
+
+<p>The polite little captain pressed me to eat,
+and I did not like to hurt his feelings by refusing
+what he thought was excellent fare; but I
+escaped alive by waiting till his head was turned,
+and then dexterously passing lumps down to one
+of the kind, mangy dogs until the poor beast was
+detected by a <i lang="es">muchacho</i> and kicked, howling, on to
+the deck. After that I assured the skipper that I
+had had quite enough; an excellent dinner; I
+positively could not eat any more. He bowed and
+offered me coffee. I took a cup, and with that and
+dry biscuit made a tolerable meal.</p>
+
+<p>About eight o’clock I went below, as I felt very
+tired, because it was almost my first day out of bed
+since my illness. Besides that, even if I had been
+in keen and robust health there would have been
+nothing to tempt me to remain on the narrow deck,
+which was pitch dark, or in the stuffy saloon with a
+couple of guttering candles in tall stands on the
+table by way of sole illumination.</p>
+
+<p>The accommodation below is of much the same
+type as the luxury above, below decks being just of
+the build of one of the old penny steamers that used
+to go up and down the Thames—you remember
+the sort of things—a very low roof supported by
+small iron pillars. Off a narrow passage open
+seven small cabins, with four berths in each of
+them, but they are really not so bad when you get
+one all to yourself, and I have the best one, at the
+end of the ship. I caught the fat <i lang="es">Mayordomo</i> (chief
+steward), and after endless trouble, managed to get<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_114" id="Page_114">[114]</a></span>
+a key for my cabin door, though the choice lay
+between having it open or dying of asphyxiation;
+but I preferred the latter risk of the two, as at
+least I could be certain what to expect if I kept it
+locked.</p>
+
+<p>One look at the mattresses was enough. I
+slept, or rather lay awake sweltering, on all the
+coverlets piled on the least filthy of the upper
+berths. The cabin smelt horrible, and the only
+light there, as in the saloon, was a candle in a
+bracket, the glass of which was so grimed with dirt
+that it gave hardly any light at all. No water was
+laid on to the filthy basin, and it did not do to let
+one’s mind dwell for one instant on cockroaches—like
+a child who tries not to think of some horrible
+ghost story in the dark.</p>
+
+<p>About six this morning the <i lang="es">muchacho</i> (they
+have no word for steward apparently) woke me by
+rattling at the handle of my door, when I climbed
+down and held parley with him through the crack.
+He said something in English about “washing,”
+and I thinking he had brought me water to put in
+the unspeakable basin, said: “No, not yet,” and
+tried to shut the door.</p>
+
+<p>However, he was not to be ignored, for he
+shoved the door open, apologising as he did so,
+came in and shut and fastened down the scuttle, and
+then backed out again with many more bows and
+excuses. Then I understood that it was not I who
+was to be washed, but the decks! Somehow, it
+had not occurred to me that the decks of the <i>Butuan</i>
+ever could be cleaned like those of other ships!</p>
+
+<p>All day long we have been slipping past these
+Dream Islands, sometimes so close that one can
+see the waves breaking on the rocks and the blue
+sea running up into fairy bays, and I should so
+much like to go ashore in some of them, and see
+the negritos and savages, and the beautiful jungles<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_115" id="Page_115">[115]</a></span>
+where monkeys swing about on great flowering
+vines. That is always the Tropic Island of one’s
+dreams, is it not? But now I begin to think that
+possibly life is not all a transformation scene in
+the lovely jungles, where there are doubtless
+deadly snakes; poisonous, scentless plants; swamps,
+and malaria, to say nothing of the fatigues
+and difficulties of getting there. On the whole,
+for beauty of scenery, health and comfort, I think I
+would rather live in a glen on a Scottish moor.</p>
+
+<p>My luggage is rather on my mind, as I found I
+had to bring such a quantity, for muslin and cotton
+frocks take up so much room that I was compelled
+to abandon my first plan of one moderate trunk,
+and am now engineering what looks like a family
+“flitting.” Talking of frocks, you once asked me
+to tell you if those I had brought out were all right.
+They are quite right, thanks, at least the muslins
+are and the very thin cottons, but anything thicker,
+even print, is too warm, and the very thinnest of
+stuff skirts or coats are stifling and impossible.
+I always envy the lucky women in Hong Kong
+whom I left going about in white serge and grey
+flannel, and even being compelled to put wraps on
+in the evening!</p>
+
+<p>Another thing I find about clothes is that every
+one wears white, and though one gets rather tired
+of it, still it is the best thing for the fashion of
+washing clothes by pounding them on boulders,
+and then drying them in this terrific sun will
+evaporate the strongest colours in an incredibly
+short time. Clothes don’t last long here anyhow,
+colour or no colour, as there is something in the
+water that rots material, so that it goes into holes
+and tears if you look at it, and something in the air
+which rots silk even more disastrously and quickly,
+and turns all white silk and satin quite deep
+yellow.</p>
+
+<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_116" id="Page_116">[116]</a></span></p>
+
+<p>I have been writing this at intervals all day, and
+now it is six o’clock, and the meal is due. I can
+see the polite skipper standing waiting for me to
+enter and take my seat, and the mangy dog trying
+to squeeze himself in under the bench where my
+place is. So I will leave off and finish this in
+Manila, where we are to arrive in the early morning.</p>
+
+<p class="right"><span class="smcap">Manila</span>, <i>March 2</i>.</p>
+
+<p>I thought a mail would be going out the day I
+got here, but I find it does not go till to-morrow
+morning, of which I am rather glad, as it gives me
+time to let you know I have arrived safely. Yet
+when you get this—oh what a long way off—the
+trip to Manila will be a half-forgotten thing of the
+past!</p>
+
+<p>The <i>Butuan</i> (by-the-bye, she has taken that
+name from a town in the big southern island of
+Mindanao) anchored off the mouth of the Pasig at
+three o’clock this morning, and deck-washing began
+at four. So at about five I opened my door a little
+bit and roared for the <i lang="es">muchacho</i>, till someone else
+in another cabin got tired of hearing me, and took
+up the cry, and it spread through the ship like the
+cock-crowing in the dawn. By-the-bye, I got away
+from the shrill of the crickets for a few hours, but
+did not, as I had hoped, escape the eternal cock-crowing,
+for those fowls on board the <i>Butuan</i> which
+had escaped death began to crow at four o’clock for
+all they were worth, poor things. Well, at last the
+<i lang="es">muchacho</i> came along and brought me a perilous
+candle and some hot water, and I dressed and
+packed up the few things I had out, and went up
+on deck at about six.</p>
+
+<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_117" id="Page_117">[117]</a></span></p>
+
+<p>At sunrise—a thick, pink, hazy sunrise—we
+steamed up the river, but I was <i lang="fr">blasé</i> about
+everything but food, so I stayed in the saloon
+and managed to get some biscuits and coffee, and
+to avoid a plate full of deadly-looking ham and
+eggs.</p>
+
+<p>There was no room to anchor at the quay,
+which was fringed with a close line of steamers
+berthed stern-first, so she anchored in the stream;
+and until I was “fetched,” I amused myself
+watching the blue-green water-plants go trailing
+past, and trying to observe life on board the big,
+covered, brown lighters. No life was to be seen,
+however, except the natives wielding immense
+punt-poles, who walked along the sides of the
+barges on a platform one plank wide.</p>
+
+<p>At about seven the company’s launch came for
+me, and she made quite a long trip, down the Pasig
+and all along outside the breakwater, as the shorter
+way through was blocked by a dredger. A
+tremendous new harbour is being built, which bids
+fair to be a very fine concern, and the Americans
+think a great deal of it, and say it will enable
+Manila to compete with and eclipse the shipping of
+Hong Kong. This is a difficult piece of reasoning
+to follow, for a glance at a map shows how out of
+the stream of the world’s traffic Manila lies; and
+then, besides that, there are the tariffs and customs,
+and all the vexations of the American system of
+government, which will make it impossible to
+compete with the traffic of a free port like Hong
+Kong. Moreover, it will never pay anyone to shift
+cargoes in a port where the coolies are so lazy and
+labour so expensive as in Manila.</p>
+
+<p>It is the American go-ahead, run-before-you-walk
+way, too, to build great docks and harbours
+costing millions before they have spent the necessary
+thousands in constructing roads to bring the<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_118" id="Page_118">[118]</a></span>
+merchandise from inland, or sacrificed the hundreds
+required to encourage trade.</p>
+
+<p>The same thing is being done down in Iloilo,
+where two millions are being spent on a harbour,
+when there is not one tolerable road across the
+island, and all the revenues that choke agriculture go
+to pay the officials and the school-teachers, conditions
+which prevail throughout the Archipelago. The
+Americans mean well by the Philippines, that no one
+can doubt for an instant, which makes it all the
+more sad to see them wasting magnificent energy,
+and earning nothing but failure and unpopularity,
+by going dead against everything that has ever been
+discovered about the successful government of
+Asiatics. But then, is this real government? It is
+very difficult to know what to call it, as at one
+time the venture is referred to as a “Colony,” at
+another as “The youngest of the United States,”
+and yet again as “A Sacred Trust.” I mean they
+use these terms indiscriminately and officially, which
+is very puzzling.</p>
+
+<p>But I am wandering away from the trip in the
+launch, which went all round these same harbour
+works till it came right in front of our friends’
+house, where a boat came off and took me through
+the shallow water to the steps at the end of the
+garden.</p>
+
+<p>It was then nearly eight o’clock, so the day was
+getting very hot, and the cool house seemed
+delicious. Breakfast—nice, clean, ungreasy breakfast!—and
+the joys of a bath. There was a
+“bathroom” on the <i>Butuan</i>, but in a state of dirt
+that would have made bathing impossible, even if
+the bath itself had not been full of old lamps, boots,
+tin cans, and dirty clothes.</p>
+
+<p>I have spent all the day resting in the house, to
+save up my energies for an entertainment which I
+should be very sorry to miss. This is a public<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_119" id="Page_119">[119]</a></span>
+reception to be held by the Governor, Mr Luke E.
+Wright, at his palace on the river, where one will
+see, as a compatriot informed me, “all Manila at a
+glance.” I don’t think a glance will satisfy me
+though, for I want to go and have a good long look.
+I feel better already for the change of air and scene,
+and am sure I shall be quite equal to the reception,
+besides, I would rather be ill than miss such a
+party!</p>
+
+<p>I say I spent all the day in the house, but that is
+not quite accurate, for we went for a drive at sunset
+to a library in the town, in a Spanish book-shop;
+and on our way back took a turn round the Luneta,
+the promenade by the sea, which I fancy I may
+have mentioned to you already. The band plays
+there every evening, and everyone drives or walks
+about. It was a very pretty sight to see the people
+in white dresses, all moving about in the radius of
+the electric lights on the bandstand, the lights
+looking like spots of white fire against the yellow
+sunset.</p>
+
+<hr />
+
+<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_120" id="Page_120">[120]</a></span></p>
+
+<h2 id="LETTER_15">LETTER XV.<br />
+<span class="smaller">AN OFFICIAL ENTERTAINMENT</span></h2>
+
+<p class="right"><span class="smcap">Manila</span>, <i>March 3, 1905</i>.</p>
+
+<p>I sent a long letter to you by the mail, which went
+out this morning; but I must begin another at once,
+as I want to tell you about the reception last night.
+Indeed, if I don’t keep a letter always going on
+while I am here, I shall not be able to tell you half
+what I want to say about Manila.</p>
+
+<p>We dined at half-past seven last night, and then,
+with a small party of friends, drove through the
+town to a wharf in front of the large Cold-Storage
+buildings by the river. Here we had to pass over
+some large, flat lighters, on the decks of which the
+moonlight revealed myriads of enormous cockroaches
+hurrying about in all directions, which
+made us catch up our skirts and run for the launch
+lying alongside the lighters, and all decorated with
+palms and Japanese lanterns.</p>
+
+<p>At the wharf some more friends had joined us,
+so we were quite a large party in the bows of the
+launch as she steamed up the Pasig, and the cool,
+or comparatively cool, night air was delicious. The
+river looked quite pretty in the moonlight, and
+though it was only a small, rather new moon, the
+light was quite strong, and the green of the trees
+was quite perceptible, for there is colour in the
+moonlight in this part of the world, where the
+moon does not make mere black and white outlines,
+but you can distinguish colours quite plainly. The
+Palace of Malacañan soon came in sight—a big<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_121" id="Page_121">[121]</a></span>
+building blazing with lights, and adorned by rows
+of little lamps in festoons all along the water’s edge,
+like Earl’s Court Exhibition.</p>
+
+<div class="figcenter" style="width: 600px;" id="illus8">
+<img src="images/illus8.jpg" width="600" height="250" alt="" />
+<p class="caption"><span class="smcap">Manila.</span></p>
+<p class="caption">Malacañan Palace.</p>
+<p class="caption-r"><a href="#Page_120"><i>To face page 120.</i></a></p>
+</div>
+
+<p>We landed at a low stone wall, outlined for the
+occasion with red and yellow electric lights. The
+launch immediately in front of ours was that of the
+Chinese Consul, very profusely and beautifully
+decorated, and filled with Celestials in bright silk
+dresses. We stepped at once into the gardens,
+which come right down to the water’s edge, and
+found ourselves in the <i lang="fr">fête</i>—all in full swing, with
+crowds of people walking up and down paths
+covered with sailcloth to protect the dresses. Of
+course everyone was going about in evening dress,
+as if in a ball-room at home, and feeling very
+hot, and looking for cool places. The idea of this
+perpetual heat soon becomes familiar, but sometimes
+it strikes the imagination, on occasions of
+this kind, with particular insistence. In my letters
+to you I can’t go on saying “It is very hot,” “It is
+very sultry,” and so on, and yet I know that you
+reading them at home, can have no idea of the
+<em>setting</em> of all I tell you; of the terrible blazing sun
+all day long; the hot nights only bearable by
+comparison with the day; of one’s skin always
+moist, if it is not actually running in little rivulets,
+as in a Turkish bath; of even the dogs and cats
+spending all their lives trying to find draughts to
+lie in. And this, I am informed, is the “winter.”</p>
+
+<p>Well, this entertainment, which was very well
+done indeed, reminded me more and more of Earl’s
+Court, as we passed under arcades of coloured
+lights, and the Constabulary Band played selections
+on a grass lawn under the trees. There was a
+huge open-air ball-room, built over some lawn-tennis
+courts, raised up and approached by a little
+flight of steps, and with seats all round inside a
+rail.</p>
+
+<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_122" id="Page_122">[122]</a></span></p>
+
+<p>Our first duty was to present ourselves to the
+Governor, Mr Luke E. Wright, and his wife, who
+stood under a canopy of white silk, on which were
+embroidered the Arms of the Philippines. This
+coat of arms is a new invention, and this was its
+first appearance. It was designed by an American
+called Gillard Hunt, and its heraldic description is
+very complicated, and would probably convey as
+little to you as it does to me. It happened to be on
+the front of the programmes as well as on the
+canopy, so I had a good look at it, and the gist of
+the design is that it is all red and silver and blue,
+and the symbols are the Castle of Spain and a sea-lion,
+with a background of the stripes of the
+American flag. Above is the crest, which takes
+the form of the American Eagle, and the inscription
+written below is “Philippine Islands.” It makes
+a very pretty crest, but it is difficult to understand
+why the Philippine shield should be quartered with
+the Arms of Spain any more than if the American
+flag should have the Lion and the Unicorn in the
+corner. In fact the latter device would be far the
+more reasonable of the two.</p>
+
+<p>Well, as I say, the Wrights and their party
+stood under this white silk canopy, and the aide-de-camp
+introduced those whom they did not know
+already; whereupon our hosts shook hands,
+repeating each guest’s name, and adding “Pleased
+to meet you” in kindly American fashion.</p>
+
+<p>This little ceremony, the American introduction,
+always appals me, because I never know
+what one is supposed to say in answer. I am
+afraid I smile helplessly and murmur, “Thank you
+so much!” but I am sure that is not the right thing
+to do.</p>
+
+<p>Having passed what the Manila papers call
+“The Gobernatorial Party,” we proceeded to drift
+about the grounds, which were really charmingly<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_123" id="Page_123">[123]</a></span>
+pretty. I met a good many people I knew, and
+enjoyed the evening immensely. After a time
+I began to feel very tired, and Mr P—— took
+me to the ball-room, where he managed to find
+places, and we wedged ourselves into the row
+of people sitting all round. I did not dance, but
+I found quite enough amusement to compensate
+me in looking on.</p>
+
+<p>The crowd was pretty mixed, of course, but
+“Manila at a glance” included one or two who
+looked like gentle-folk, and there were certainly
+a great many pretty dresses, which, I am told,
+the wearers import from Paris recklessly. Some
+of the <i lang="es">camisas</i> worn by the native ladies were
+quite lovely—beautiful, delicate fabrics exquisitely
+embroidered and hand-painted—and in the Official
+Rigodon, with which the ball began, I noticed
+how well the wearers moved.</p>
+
+<p>As a contrast, one of the most remarkable
+spectacles of the evening was the Gibson Girl, of
+whom there were several specimens to be seen
+strutting about. All Americans, men and women,
+as I have noticed at home and on the Continent,
+have something of this type about them, and I
+often wonder whether Dana Gibson has discovered
+the essentials of the American type, or whether
+he has invented a model which they admire and
+try to copy. Whichever it is, when it is natural
+it is pretty enough in moderation, but some of
+them have, as they would express it, “got right
+there,” and they may be picked out of any
+crowd of ordinary human shapes at a glance.
+Of course no human being really could have the
+proportions of the Gibson Girl as she is on paper,
+for no living thing ever had such length of leg
+and neck but a giraffe; only so many Americans
+have that type of face, with a low, pretty square
+forehead, thick, round nose, heavy jaw, and arched<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_124" id="Page_124">[124]</a></span>
+eyebrows. Corsets and high hair-pads can help
+towards the rest of the design. I can’t think
+how anyone wants to be a Gibson Girl, unless
+for twenty guineas a week at a theatre, as the
+pose and the untidy hair is inexpressibly common
+and shop-girlish. Moreover, I don’t see how
+anyone can expect to ape anything and avoid
+being vulgar. The Gibson Girl does not escape
+this latter calamity. She “gets right there just
+every time.”</p>
+
+<p>After watching the dancing for a good while,
+I was taken round the grounds and given
+refreshment at one of the little buffets in the
+garden. A most amusing episode occurred at the
+chief of these buffets, where a big bowl of punch
+was being administered by the Chinese servants,
+who opened everything they could lay hands on—whisky,
+port, claret, soda, liqueurs, brandy,
+champagne—and poured it all into the punch.
+You can imagine what ludicrous stories were
+afloat about people who had taken one sip of
+this fire-water, and were reported to have been
+carried off half-dying, and shipped home down
+the river.</p>
+
+<p>About half-past ten the crowds began to thin,
+and we left the palace, getting upon our launch
+again at the same place where we had landed.
+There was no more moon, but the stars made
+quite a bright light, and the air was so fresh
+upon the water at that hour that one could
+actually stand the extra warmth of a chiffon scarf
+across one’s bare shoulders.</p>
+
+<p class="right"><i>March 4.</i></p>
+
+<p>I found myself very tired yesterday after the
+<i lang="fr">fête</i>, so I stayed in the house all day, except for<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_125" id="Page_125">[125]</a></span>
+a drive in the evening to the Escolta, which is
+the principal street of shops. When we came
+here in November, fresh from palatial Hong Kong,
+I thought this town the most shoddy and hideous
+place I had ever seen, but now I find it really
+difficult to recall my first impressions, for it seems
+a gay and handsome metropolis to the provincial
+from Iloilo!</p>
+
+<p>At Iloilo our streets consist of ruins hastily
+patched up, and great fire-blackened gaps in the
+rows of houses, but in Manila, though there has
+been apparently just as much hasty patching, there
+are comparatively few ruins to be seen, and perhaps
+a trifle less string used in the harnesses of the
+horses. White women and <i lang="es">Mestizas</i> go about in
+hats too, which is a superfluity we do not affect in
+the provinces, and after so many weeks of not
+wearing a hat, I find it very irksome and hot to have
+to put one on. However, in Manila one must
+do as Manila does, I suppose, though the fashion,
+which did not obtain in the Spanish days, seems a
+foolish and unnecessary one, and the people who
+were here under the old <i lang="fr">régime</i> rail helplessly
+against the innovation. Certainly it is no gain to
+the coloured ladies to hide their nice, thick black
+hair with the frightful “Parisian” confections which
+appeal to their exotic taste; but, of course, it would
+never do for them not to follow the fashions set by
+their American equals. They have, however, that
+strange and subtle way of the Oriental all the
+world over, of setting a seal of their own upon even
+the most slavish imitations. One feels in this, as
+in everything else in Manila, that if the American
+influence were withdrawn, in twenty-four hours all
+trace of that busy, kind-hearted, bustling, incongruous
+people would begin to melt steadily away,
+and in a month would be wiped clean out.</p>
+
+<p>There are big, or comparatively big, shops,<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_126" id="Page_126">[126]</a></span>
+with a great display in the windows, and huge
+signs, and hurry-up-its-your-only-chance notices,
+and conversational advertisements in the American
+fashion. But when you get inside the shops there
+is the familiar barrenness, and there are the same
+half-asleep or half-drugged Filipinos and yellow
+<i lang="es">Mestizos</i> yawning and trimming their nails with
+the same vague indifference, and nothing to sell
+that any human being ever wants. And the prices
+of the things you buy, instead of what you wanted,
+are enough to make your hair turn snow-white on
+the spot.</p>
+
+<div class="figcenter" style="width: 600px;" id="illus9">
+<img src="images/illus9.jpg" width="600" height="325" alt="" />
+<p class="caption"><span class="smcap">Manila.</span></p>
+<p class="caption">The Escolta.</p>
+<p class="caption-r"><a href="#Page_126"><i>To face page 126.</i></a></p>
+</div>
+
+<p>One fact, striking fact about the shops in this
+country is that the largest and most important are
+those of the jewellers, and the reason of this is
+that the Filipinos and Eurasians have a mistrust of
+banks and investments for their spare cash, with
+which they buy jewels partly for love of the
+glittering ornaments, and partly from some muddled
+idea of having their money safe in a portable form.
+I was talking about this to a very civil Frenchman
+in one of the biggest jeweller’s here this morning,
+while I was waiting for a ring they had been
+repairing, and he was very interested to hear I had
+come from Iloilo, for he told me he had travelled
+all about Panay selling jewellery a year or more
+ago, and that he knew that island quite well. I
+asked him if he had done well there, and he said
+yes, very good business indeed; and when I asked
+him what sort of things he sold, he showed me
+beautiful diamonds set in rather red gold, and said
+I would be astonished if I saw the “<em>types</em>” who
+could buy such ornaments. He said he rode a
+horse, as the roads were only rough tracks with
+broken bridges, but I don’t suppose he really did
+go all over the island, and fancy he must rather
+have gone in coasting steamers and ridden about
+the suburbs of the towns, for there are no inland<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_127" id="Page_127">[127]</a></span>
+towns in the Philippines, and no market, even for
+the best diamonds.</p>
+
+<p>Talking of <i lang="es">Mestizos</i> reminds me of an account I
+heard, from a friend at the reception, of an
+English-<i lang="es">Mestizo</i> wedding, which may amuse you,
+and is extraordinarily characteristic of these people.
+The bridal party assembled in church in the
+orthodox fashion, but the bride’s Filipino and
+Eurasian relations, instead of remaining in their
+pews, all crowded up to the altar and stood in a
+mass amongst the wedding-group and bridesmaids;
+and after this astonishing ceremony, the happy
+couple marched down the aisle to the strains of
+“The Washington Post.”</p>
+
+<hr />
+
+<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_128" id="Page_128">[128]</a></span></p>
+
+<h2 id="LETTER_16">LETTER XVI.<br />
+<span class="smaller">MANILA AND ITS INHABITANTS</span></h2>
+
+<p class="right"><span class="smcap">Manila</span>, <i>March 5, 1905</i>.</p>
+
+<p>I wrote in the morning yesterday, and after the
+heat of the day we drove outside the town to a
+nursery garden. To get there we passed through
+long streets of untidy suburbs, not of palm-thatch
+huts and bamboo groves like those in Iloilo, but
+very broad and treeless, with mean, low houses
+at intervals, and bits of waste ground strewn
+with lean dogs and rubbish. There are not
+scavenger pariahs here as in Turkey and the
+Near East, and I suppose they could not exist in
+such a climate, where the rubbish would be too
+putrid even for their savoury taste. There are a
+good many hawks about, but they don’t scavenge
+either, like the hawks in Egypt; all they seem to do
+is to hover over poultry, and every now and then
+get away with a young fowl or chicken. When we
+were driving round between Molo and Jaro a week
+or two ago, near the village of Mindoriao, we heard
+a great squawking and a scream, and looked round
+in time to see a hawk rise up from near a <i lang="es">nipa</i> hut
+with a fair-sized hen in his claws. The people
+rushed about the plantation and sang out, and the
+hawk staggered once or twice, and nearly fell with
+the hen, which was very big and heavy for him;
+but he got away at last, and the people were left
+gazing after him into the sky, like in the picture of
+“Robert with his Red Umbrella” in <cite>Struwwelpeter</cite>.
+But the scavenging is, or should be, done by the<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_129" id="Page_129">[129]</a></span>
+half-wild pigs with which the native quarters teem—lean,
+rough, black and white animals, generally
+very mangy, and with long legs and snouts.</p>
+
+<div class="figcenter" style="width: 600px;" id="illus10">
+<img src="images/illus10.jpg" width="600" height="375" alt="" />
+<p class="caption"><span class="smcap">A Street in Manila.</span></p>
+<p class="caption">Showing Electric Tram.</p>
+<p class="caption-r"><a href="#Page_129"><i>To face page 129.</i></a></p>
+</div>
+
+<p>A great deal of the way to the nursery we
+followed the route of a new electric tram, which is
+to be opened in the course of a few weeks, and is
+to connect all the suburbs with the main town.
+Manila is immensely proud of this tram, which is
+such a token of progress that it somehow or other
+makes up for the lack of paving and other primary
+symbols of civilisation. There is a railway here
+too, the only one in the Philippines, which goes
+about 150 miles inland to a place called Dugupan.
+There is constant talk of railways to be built all
+over the islands, the concessions for which are being
+granted, of course, to American speculators; but
+those who know the islands well say the railways
+will not benefit anyone, even the speculators, for
+what are wanted besides labourers are roads, just
+good traffic roads, kept in good repair. However,
+it sounds imposing to talk of so many millions of
+dollars to be spent on railways “to open up the
+Philippines,” and a great deal of philanthropic
+energy is, somehow, inferred.</p>
+
+<p>The entrance to the nursery garden was up a
+narrow, sandy lane, where a lot of little, half-clad,
+brown children ran out after us and offered small,
+tousled bunches of faded flowers. Queer little
+souls, these Filipino children, with thin limbs and
+fluttering muslin garments.</p>
+
+<p>On each side of the sandy lane was a field
+planted with rose bushes; in the garden itself
+nothing appeared but rows and rows of flower-pots
+containing green plants and ferns—the sort of plants
+and ferns one only sees in conservatories at home.
+The garden was laid out in formal earthen paths,
+bordered with tiles, but the gardener was anything
+but formal—a huge, fat, old native with Chinese<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_130" id="Page_130">[130]</a></span>
+eyes, got up airily in white bathing-drawers and a
+muslin <i lang="es">camisa</i>.</p>
+
+<p>We went about, and my friend chose ferns and
+plants, some of which were lovely, and I very much
+wished I could have taken some home with me to
+Iloilo, but for the difficulty of transporting them by
+the <i>Butuan</i>. There was a charming old grey stone
+well in the garden, with steps leading up to it,
+some of them formed of beautiful old blue and
+green Chinese tiles, the whole shaded by big,
+drooping trees, which made that corner of the
+garden quite dark. Overhead, along the greater
+part of the paths, was a pergola of orchids, while
+all sorts of orchids grew from bundles of what
+looked like dried sticks tied to the posts. The
+sight of the orchids made me realise once again the
+temperature we live in, for I thought of how, on a
+summer’s day at home, one would find the outside
+air quite cold after an orchid house. It also
+occurred to me that it sounds all very fine to think
+of orchids in cheapness and profusion, but I have
+never yet seen an orchid that could compare as an
+object of beauty with a dog-rose out of a hedge.</p>
+
+<p>On the way back we halted to hear some jolly
+tunes played by the band on the Luneta. Again
+there was the blue dusk; the orange and saffron
+horizon; and the moving crowds in white on the
+bright green grass plots round the bandstand. We
+stayed in the carriage, which moved slowly round
+with hundreds of others, all going in the same
+direction. I believe the only carriage that has the
+privilege of moving the other way is that of the
+Governor.</p>
+
+<p>Going in and out of the crowd, everywhere,
+were two little American girls, seated astride on a
+bare-backed pony, with their hair floating loose
+behind, and tied with an immense bow of ribbon on
+one side of the forehead in American fashion; their<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_131" id="Page_131">[131]</a></span>
+thin little legs dangling side by side on each flank
+of the pony. They looked very happy and solemn,
+and the way they stuck on was simply wonderful.</p>
+
+<div class="figcenter" style="width: 600px;" id="illus11">
+<img src="images/illus11.jpg" width="600" height="250" alt="" />
+<p class="caption"><span class="smcap">Manila.</span></p>
+<p class="caption">The Luneta.</p>
+<p class="caption-r"><a href="#Page_130"><i>To face page 130.</i></a></p>
+</div>
+
+<p>The Luneta is a pretty sight in the evening,
+and even amusing, but I must confess I was very
+much disappointed in it, because I have read so
+much about Manila in American magazines, in which
+the Luneta is described as “an evening assemblage
+where all the nations of the world jostle one
+another”;—or phrases, more lurid, to that effect;
+followed by “word pictures” of Jew and Moor,
+Chinaman and Turk, Cingalee, Slav, and Hindu, all
+rubbing shoulders in their respective national
+costumes. So I looked out for this sight particularly,
+but have never seen anything but men of
+varying degrees of white and Malay in linen suits,
+and women and Gibson Girls in the last scream of
+Paris-Manila fashions. I have asked people about
+it too, in case I should have been to the Luneta
+only on days when the Jews, Moors, etc., were unavoidably
+absent; but I only got laughed at for
+imagining such nonsense, and when I said, I had
+read accounts by American eye-witnesses, my
+friends only laughed the more.</p>
+
+<p class="right"><i>March 6.</i></p>
+
+<p>I am afraid I am not seeing as much of Manila as
+I had hoped, after all, for I find I am not well
+enough to go about a great deal, but what I do see
+I try to remember in order to tell you. Having these
+letters to write is an amusement in the long, hot
+hours in the house, so don’t think that I am giving
+up delirious joys to find time to write to you! All
+the same, if I did go out more into Manila Society, I
+should not have any more to tell you, for there
+would be nothing to describe but Bridge. That is<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_132" id="Page_132">[132]</a></span>
+the only thing anyone ever does. Manila was
+pictured to me as a very gay place, in fact the
+Manila papers even go so far as to label it the
+“Gayest City of the Orient”; but it is really a
+dreadfully dull little town, with a very occasional
+dance to enliven the interminable round of dinner
+and Bridge parties, and those curious and costly
+luncheon parties which American women give to
+each other. So much I had already inferred from
+the Society Columns of the Manila papers, which
+come to us in Iloilo as a breath from the wide
+world! When I arrived here and saw the place,
+and asked some questions, I found my worst fears
+realised, and that far from being the gayest city
+of the Orient—think of Cairo, Calcutta, Colombo!—Manila
+is probably the dullest spot of the East or
+West, and any gaiety or intellect it might have is
+choked and strangled by Bridge and Euchre. In
+a country like this, where there is little or no
+housekeeping and no shopping to fill the minds and
+time of the average women, card-playing seems to
+attain colossal proportions, for they actually go out
+of their houses at eight in the morning to meet and
+play cards till lunch (the Americans do not use the
+word tiffin), and after a siesta they begin again, go
+home to dinner, or out to a dinner party, and
+probably play half the night.</p>
+
+<p>The Americans in Iloilo are just as keen,
+however, and the first question they ask you is if
+you play Bridge; and if you don’t they take no
+further interest in you, and never dream of
+inviting you to their houses.</p>
+
+<p>The Americans are fearfully down on the Filipino
+national game of <i lang="es">Monte</i> about which the
+natives are infatuated, and over which they ruin
+themselves, but the indignation of the ruling race
+carries very little weight, as it is all precept and no
+example.</p>
+
+<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_133" id="Page_133">[133]</a></span></p>
+
+<p>I went for a little drive yesterday evening,
+through the old Spanish Intramuros, the Walled
+City, within the high old walls, which stand in a
+neglected moat, and are all covered with moss and
+grass and trailing weeds. The narrow streets are
+cobbled, and the quaint houses, with deep, barred
+basement windows, have a delightful air of repose,
+after the half-finished, skin-deep, hustling modernity
+of Americanised Manila. The whole quarter seems
+a far more appropriate setting than the rest of the
+town for the “mild-eyed lotus eaters,” which the
+Filipinos really are by choice, nature, and instinct.
+I think that if I lived in Manila (which heaven
+forbid should ever be my fate!) I should like to
+live in the Walled City—that is, if I survived the
+awful smells—and imagine myself in an East where
+there were no arc-lights, no electric trams, no
+drinking saloons, ice-cream sodas, “Hiawatha,”
+or Bridge, and where the natives would be humble,
+civil, prosperous, and happy.</p>
+
+<p>There are some fine old gates to the Walled
+City, but the Americans whose idiosyncrasy it is not
+to reverence antiquity unless it has cost fabulous
+sums at Drouot’s or Christie’s, are pulling them
+down for no reason at all.</p>
+
+<p>A great many natives bustle about American
+Manila in European or white linen suits, and it is
+a very exhausting place; but one can’t quite see the
+good of it all. I asked an American official (what
+they call “a prominent citizen”), whom I met at
+dinner the other night, how the Filipinos were to
+profit by all this bustle and book-learning.</p>
+
+<p>“Why,” he said, “I guess they will learn to
+appreciate our civilisation and then want it, and
+want all the things that civilisation entails, so there
+will be a demand, and trade will come right along,
+and these islands will wake up <em>and</em> flourish.”</p>
+
+<p>I wanted to argue, however, so I said: “But<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_134" id="Page_134">[134]</a></span>
+why should the Filipinos wake up? Why not give
+the poor creatures lots of cheap food. If they have
+a little rice, and a banana patch, and a <i lang="es">nipa</i> hut,
+and no priests to bother them, that is all they
+want, and there will always be an inexhaustible
+market for the produce of the islands. It seems
+such a pity to daze their poor brains, and hurry
+them about like this.” But he said it was no good
+trying to talk about this to me, as I evidently could
+not understand the American Ideal.</p>
+
+<p>So I dropped the subject, for when it comes to
+the American Ideal, I am hopelessly at variance,
+and think it better to say no more. The Ideal is
+this, you see, that every people in the world should
+have self-government and equal rights. This means,
+when reduced from windy oratory to common-sense,
+that they consider these Malay half-breeds to
+be capable, after six years of school-teaching by the
+type of master I described to you (about which type,
+by-the-bye, experience has given me no reason to
+change my mind), of understanding the motives, and
+profiting by the institutions which it has taken the
+highest white races two or three thousand years to
+evolve. They are supposed to be so wonderful,
+these flat-faced little chaps, because they have shown
+a sudden aptitude for the gramophone and imitation
+European clothes, a free and abusive press,
+and unlimited talk—endless talk. But it seems to
+me that these are the traits one is accustomed to in
+the emancipated coloured person all the world over.
+In fact, when I come to think of it, America with
+this funny little possession of hers is like a mother
+with her first child, who has never noticed anyone
+else’s children, and thinks her own bantling something
+entirely without parallel or precedent; quotes
+it as a miracle when it shows the most elementary
+symptoms of existence, and tries to bring it up on
+some fad of her own because it is so much more<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_135" id="Page_135">[135]</a></span>
+precious and more wonderful than any other child
+any one else ever had.</p>
+
+<p class="right"><i>March 7.</i></p>
+
+<p>Yesterday we went to buy prison-made goods
+at Bilibid, which is the big jail of Manila, and of
+the whole Philippine Islands. When anyone has
+committed a serious crime, he is sent up to
+Bilibid to eke out the period that has to elapse
+before he is carted back to his original island
+to be executed. The prison is a mass of half-finished-looking
+grey stone buildings, where
+prisoners in yellow-striped jerseys, like gigantic
+wasps, were going about behind iron railings.</p>
+
+<p>We went into a huge stone hall, where there
+were quantities of all sorts of basket-work furniture
+on show; a row of carriages, all prison-made; and
+at the farther end a white man standing behind
+some glass-covered tables containing little objects
+for sale. I wanted to get some small souvenirs to
+send home, and examined carefully all the little
+trifles and curios in black wood, bone, and silver,
+with which the cases were filled; but I could not
+see anything that was uncommon or characteristic,
+or even worth buying at all. All the things looked
+to me as if someone had been to Naples or
+Colombo, and come back and told the Filipinos
+what to make, for here were souvenir teaspoons,
+paper knives of black wood, bone hairpins, and so
+on, and not one of them of a pattern one has not
+seen prepared for the traveller in every city of the
+world. I hunted all through the cases, and
+amongst the furniture in the hall, but could find
+nothing distinctive—everything was well made, but
+utterly <em>banal</em>. However, this did not concern me
+much, as what I had really come for was ordinary<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_136" id="Page_136">[136]</a></span>
+furniture, and this I managed to get to my satisfaction,
+and a little cheaper than in the Chinamen’s
+shops in Iloilo, which is to say exactly double the
+prices of Hong Kong.</p>
+
+<p>Amongst a great many things stored in a
+corresponding hall upstairs were some basket
+chairs of an uncommon pattern, with a back like a
+huge spreading peacock’s tail; but, though they
+were pretty, these chairs did not strike me as
+characteristic of a people living in <i lang="es">nipa</i> huts, but
+much more like the suggestion of a wandering
+admirer of <i lang="fr">l’art nouveau</i>.</p>
+
+<p>Besides the chairs, I noticed some small columns
+of hard Filipino woods, intended for flower stands,
+but the price asked for them was 10 <i lang="es">pesos</i> (one
+guinea) each, which I thought ridiculous for
+plain, flat, polished wood. It appeared that they
+were derelict from the St Louis Exhibition, or, as
+it is called, “Exposition,” and on each was resting,
+temporarily, a little figure carved in wood and
+painted in bright colours, representing a Filipino
+man or woman—the woman in red skirt (not <i lang="es">sarong</i>)
+and <i lang="es">camisa</i>, and the men with their shirts outside,
+and carrying a fighting cock under one arm. By-the-bye,
+there is fierce indignation and terrible
+offence taken by the Filipinos about that same
+“Exposition,” as the Philippine section was got up
+attractively barbarous, with too much of the savage
+element, wild-men-of-the-woods in fantastic hovels,
+and so forth, to please the educated and high-class
+natives and <i lang="es">Mestizos</i>, who want independence, and
+think <em>they</em> are more likely to get it than the prehistoric
+savage.</p>
+
+<p>On the way out here I met a German who had
+been to St Louis, and who told me that the two
+chief exhibits were the Boer War and the Philippine
+section, and that the latter was nearly all savages
+in huts, with fish-<i lang="es">corrals</i> in artificial ponds, and all<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_137" id="Page_137">[137]</a></span>
+that sort of thing. I remember he was quite
+surprised to hear that there was any other town
+than Manila, or any civilisation in the Philippines
+except the marvellous dawn that rose with the
+Stars and Stripes. I believe that was very largely
+the impression produced in America, and not quite
+ingenuously—that the inhabitants of these islands
+were a race of naked cannibals and savages who
+were suddenly being transformed into the educated
+<i lang="es">Mestizo</i>, who goes to college in America and returns
+here to write seditious articles and talk his head
+off. Well, whatever the impression desired or produced,
+the way it was brought about has caused endless
+anger amongst those Islanders who would rather
+be thought civilised than picturesque.</p>
+
+<p class="right"><i>March 8.</i></p>
+
+<p>I have been out shopping this morning, going
+out at such an unusual hour because heavy rain
+had fallen in the night, and the air was fresh
+in the morning. It is nice to have a fresh morning,
+for the early part of the day here is heavy, and day
+dawns thick and foggy. At least, the mornings
+are thick and foggy in comparison with the exquisite
+clearness of the dawn and early hours of the day
+in Iloilo. Talking of that, I am much struck by
+the colour of the sky here—all over the Philippines,
+I mean, or rather, all over where I have been—for
+though it is very blue, it is a whity-blue, a thick
+sort of colour, not a bit transparent like the sky of
+Southern Europe or North Africa. I can’t quite
+describe it, but when one looks up at the zenith
+one does not seem to be looking into illimitable
+spaces of transparency, and the thick white of the
+horizon stretches far upwards.</p>
+
+<p>On this shopping expedition I went to buy<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_138" id="Page_138">[138]</a></span>
+some things for the house that I thought I might
+be able to get cheaper and better here than in
+Iloilo. The principal street of shops is, as I told
+you, the Escolta, and the next in importance is
+the Calla Rosario, where the shops are kept by
+Chinamen and one or two Japanese.</p>
+
+<p>On the way there I saw a steamer on fire,
+which was a great sight, but rather alarming.
+When the carriage was passing over the bridge
+spanning the Pasig, I saw crowds running and
+looking down on the river, so I told the coachman
+to stop, and stood up and saw a fairly large
+coasting steamer drawn out from the other
+vessels at the wharf and pulled across the stream,
+where it lay in a huge wall of flames like
+Brünnhilde in the opera of <cite>Siegfried</cite>. When I
+first caught sight of it, there was a complete
+steamer, but it burnt up with amazing rapidity,
+and as I looked, the machinery suddenly sank
+through the hull, the bows and stem rose up
+to meet each other, and the whole thing doubled
+up and vanished beneath the water. Of course
+there was no one left on board, but all the same
+it was a gruesome sight, and one I know I shall
+think of all the way back to Iloilo in that fearful
+little <i>Butuan</i> with its wobbly candlesticks.</p>
+
+<p>In the evening we drove out to pay some
+calls, and then took a little turn out beyond
+Santa Mesa, which is a big residential suburb
+on some low hills inland. The people living
+there have told me that the air is appreciably
+cooler than down in Manila, and there are far
+fewer mosquitoes. The latter alone would be
+sufficient reason for living there, as the mosquitoes
+here are awful, and always hungry night and
+day.</p>
+
+<div class="figcenter" style="width: 600px;" id="illus12">
+<img src="images/illus12.jpg" width="600" height="400" alt="" />
+<p class="caption"><span class="smcap">Bird’s-Eye View of Inland Suburbs of Manila.</span></p>
+<p class="caption-r"><a href="#Page_138"><i>To face page 138.</i></a></p>
+</div>
+
+<p>We drove a little beyond Santa Mesa (which
+is, being translated, The Holy Supper) over<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_139" id="Page_139">[139]</a></span>
+abominable roads through little scrubby coppices.
+At one place we saw a most curious sight of
+hundreds of white-clad native people, in the
+sunset light, passing along a broad field-path
+bordered with trees; and I at first thought we
+had come across a religious procession. But
+when we got nearer, I saw that it was a crowd
+returning from the cock-pit; for every second man
+carried a cock under his arm; some sitting
+comfortably; some draggled with blood, wounded
+and miserable; some limp and dead.</p>
+
+<p>I can’t tell you what a feeling of sickness
+came over me, for I thought it one of the most
+horrible sights I had ever witnessed; and I was
+glad when the procession was out of sight, and
+I could no longer see the animal-like, degraded
+faces of the men and their miserable, blood-stained,
+dying birds.</p>
+
+<p>I suppose the good folk in the towns and little
+villages in the U.S.A., the electors who control
+Philippine affairs, would rise as one man if a
+bull-fight took place in these Islands; but yet a
+bull-fight, horrible though it must be, is not so
+bad as these cock-fights, for at least the toreadors
+and matadors risk their own lives to a certain
+extent, and run an equal chance with the animals
+they torture; so it cannot help being a more
+noble, or less ignoble sport than this sickening
+cock-fighting. But so much has cock-fighting
+become the national “sport” of the Filipino that,
+as I have shown you, he is always represented,
+typically, with a fighting cock under his arm.
+But the significance of that also, and all its
+natural consequences of brutality, gambling, and
+cruelty, I suppose, escaped the attention of the
+benevolent elector, who visited the “Exposition”
+at St Louis.</p>
+
+<p>One thing I can never understand, and that<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_140" id="Page_140">[140]</a></span>
+is why people make less fuss about the cruelty
+towards an animal in proportion to its size.
+This sounds ridiculous at first, but when you
+come to think of it, it is absolutely true; for
+if horses or tigers were set to fight like these
+poor fowls—one fight in one palace!—there
+would be a howl all over the civilised world,
+would there not?</p>
+
+<p class="right"><i>March 9.</i></p>
+
+<p>We had tea yesterday afternoon at four as
+usual, and then drove out to Malacañan for me to
+call on Mrs Luke E. Wright. The grounds of the
+palace looked even more beautiful by daylight than
+they had when lighted up at night, and the house is
+very fine, with huge rooms like halls, and floors
+polished into brown looking-glass, all crowded with
+big pictures, arms, and handsome furniture.</p>
+
+<p>Mrs Wright received us on a big open balcony-terrace
+overlooking the river, with a fine view;
+and here we sat and had tea and talked. Some
+other people came before we left, for it was Mrs
+Wright’s At Home day, amongst them one of the
+prettiest women I have ever seen, wife of some
+young man in the American Diplomatic Service,
+a tall, dark girl with an exquisite face, and perfectly
+dressed in something very filmy and floating, of
+delicate mauves, with a big black hat. Her walk,
+her air, her dress, made one suddenly feel how
+far away Manila is from all the world one is
+accustomed to, and what a small, dull, back-water
+of the stream of life this is.</p>
+
+<p>We went on to call on the wife of Commissioner
+Worcester, a scientist as well as a politician,
+and, as his title implies, one of the Americans
+on the Philippine Commission. The Worcesters’<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_141" id="Page_141">[141]</a></span>
+house was a little higher up the river, and
+again we sat on a balcony-terrace, but this one
+was all hung with plants and creepers, and overshadowed
+by dark green trees, through which could
+be seen the blue-green soapy-looking river swirling
+past, and the opposite bank with flat fields of emerald
+grass and bits of bright blue sky. The rail of the
+balcony was bordered with plants in pots, while all
+sorts of queer orchids and things grew on the over-hanging
+branches. It was like a scene in a play, I
+thought, and the shade of the deep trees was delightful,
+though they made the balcony rather steamy and
+airless. Mrs Worcester showed me some of the
+most lovely needlework I ever saw; all this native
+embroidery on <i lang="es">piña</i> muslin, of which she is a keen
+<i lang="fr">connaisseuse</i> and collector. Some of the pieces
+were as fine as the most delicate lace, and one
+large shawl, in particular, was a marvel of
+embroidery on what I took to be very fine net,
+but discovered to be drawn threads!</p>
+
+<p>I have been finding out about prices here, in
+case we are sent to Manila later on, and the result
+of my investigations is that I pray we may be kept
+in the Provinces! Rents are appalling, the equivalent
+of our £100 a year being quite a modest rent
+for a small unfurnished house, and wages are more
+than double what is given in Iloilo. You can’t
+get a cook to look at you here for less than 40
+<i lang="es">pesos</i> a month, which is £48 a year! Most of the
+cooks are Chinese, I believe, as it is considered
+rather common to have a native cook, though why
+this is I am unable to find out, for the Filipinos
+are excellent cooks. But that is just where the
+American Ideal of Philippines for the Filipinos
+begins to fall through, and I noticed at Malacañan
+Palace that all the servants were Chinese, and was
+told that they were an institution of Mrs Taft, the
+wife of the last Governor, the man who, as I told<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_142" id="Page_142">[142]</a></span>
+you, I think, was <em>the</em> original pro-Filipino. One
+hears a good deal about this Governor Taft, who
+is now Secretary of War in the U.S.A. He was the
+first American Civil Governor of the Philippines, and
+seems to have a very strong personality, which he
+flung into the pro-Filipino cause for all he was
+worth, on which account he has become a sort of
+patron saint, rivalling Dr Rizal, with the natives,
+who believe he is working tooth and nail in the
+U.S.A. for the independence he promised them.</p>
+
+<p>It is as impossible to get a clear idea of Mr
+Taft as of any other public personage, for while
+some people tell me he is a high-souled, disinterested
+philanthropist, who will live up to every word
+he has uttered, others vow that he is only an
+American politician with a skin-deep catch-vote
+policy, and that having got the billet he wanted in
+America, he is quite capable of turning imperialist
+if it suits his book. What is one to believe?</p>
+
+<p>One thing they all agree in, which is that he
+has personal magnetism and a great deal of social
+charm, which great gifts have stood him in very
+good stead, I have no doubt, with the Filipinos,
+and have more to do with his vast popularity with
+these Orientals than any vows and protestations;
+and, perhaps helped to make up for the <i lang="fr">faux-pas</i>
+about the Chinese servants, which still rankles in
+the native mind.</p>
+
+<hr />
+
+<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_143" id="Page_143">[143]</a></span></p>
+
+<h2 id="LETTER_17">LETTER XVII.<br />
+<span class="smaller">DEMOCRACY AND SOCIETY IN MANILA</span></h2>
+
+<p class="right"><span class="smcap">Manila</span>, <i>March 10, 1905</i>.</p>
+
+<p>I am still in Manila, you see, but am going home
+to-morrow, so I will write a line to go out by
+the next mail, which I should miss if I waited
+till I get to Iloilo.</p>
+
+<p>I rambled off so in my last letter that I quite
+forgot to tell you about a party we went to at
+the house of some very rich <i lang="es">Mestizos</i>; a sort of
+reception, with desultory dancing, but in the
+afternoon, or rather, the evening hours before
+dinner.</p>
+
+<p>When we arrived, at about six, the party was
+in full blast; rooms cleared for action, blaze of
+electric lights, string band, crowds of pretty frocks,
+and grounds all lighted up with arcades of paper
+lanterns. This climate lends itself particularly to
+such entertainments, with the warm evenings, and
+there is not much trouble in the way of preparation,
+with big, open houses and polished floors.</p>
+
+<p>Our host was a small man, Filipino altogether,
+but his wife, a tall and very pretty Mestiza,
+“had fewer annas to the rupee,” and was exquisitely
+dressed.</p>
+
+<p>I walked about the pretty rooms and met
+many friends, besides recognising many of those
+I had seen at the Malacañan <i lang="fr">fête</i>, and saw again
+the pretty young woman who had charmed me
+so at the palace, when we were calling there.
+She looked prettier than ever amongst a crowd,<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_144" id="Page_144">[144]</a></span>
+though they were all very smart, and some of
+the American women really well dressed with
+nice hats.</p>
+
+<p>This is such a small place, and so few travellers
+ever come here that everyone knows everyone
+else, which makes parties very pleasant, though
+I noticed, again, that the Americans are not
+really democratic a bit, and there is a great deal
+of social distinction made, and people do not recognise
+others whom they really know perfectly well.</p>
+
+<p>The army is just as superior as the soldier set
+in any garrison in any kingdom; and if a man is a
+merchant, unless his business happens to bring in a
+large income, it would be absurd for him or his family
+to expect to be asked to the exclusive dinners
+and parties at which the administrative, military,
+and millionaire set congregate. I don’t think I
+am at all keen to be a democrat, even a theoretical
+one, for it must be very tiresome to have no real
+social position of your own, but to depend on
+some one else’s recognition of your claims to a
+certain income, an appointment, or who you are
+seen with, and what you wear—and then, when
+all is said and done, to be the social equal of
+your workmen and servants. Not that I suppose
+for a moment that anyone is really a democrat,
+for I have never yet read or heard of such a
+being, and certainly I have never seen one.</p>
+
+<p>I have discussed this subject, in all good
+nature, and generally half in fun, with nearly
+all the Americans I have met, for it is one that
+interests me enormously; and the gist of all they
+tell me—or imply, which is better—is that all
+Americans are the equals of those above but
+not of those below them. If I suggest a social
+distinction between <em>any</em> citizen of the United States
+and the King of England, the mere idea of such
+a proposition makes these democrats go into<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_145" id="Page_145">[145]</a></span>
+fits of laughter; but when I ask them if they,
+personally, would consider it an indignity to be
+sent to dine in the King’s kitchen with his
+scullions, they generally get quite offended and
+can’t see that at all. I think, too, that these
+subtleties of democratic etiquette must be even
+more distracting to the simple Filipino brain
+than they are to persons like myself, for though
+the “little brown brother” is now being taught
+that all men are equal, he can see without
+doubt that a native or <i lang="es">Mestizo</i> with plenty of
+money can get the wives of the highest American
+officials to visit his house, whereas the poorer
+relative is not even recognised.</p>
+
+<p>Emerson told his countrymen the truth once
+for all when he said that “humanity loves a lord,”—and
+it will have “lords,” and must make “lords,”
+and the best-intentioned Americans in the world
+will no more make these half-bred Malays equals
+of each other, or any one else, than <em>they</em> are of
+each other or negroes.</p>
+
+<p>You will laugh at me for my vehemence, I
+expect! But you can’t think how aggravating it
+is to have a principle for ever forced down your
+throat by the good folk who blatantly and utterly
+disregard the practice. So the end of my reflections
+is that I am quite content to curtsey to a
+king—<em>and</em> to make my Filipino servants call me
+<i lang="es">señora</i>, and put on a clean <i lang="es">camisa</i> when they come
+into my presence.</p>
+
+<p>I have wandered away from the <i lang="es">Mestizo</i> party,
+but not so very far in reality, for it is at such
+gatherings that such reflections occur to me, along
+with speculations about the floor, and the refreshments,
+and how much duty that woman paid for
+that frock. The refreshments, by-the-bye, were
+very well done; and indeed, so was the whole
+party, and the charming manners of the host and<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_146" id="Page_146">[146]</a></span>
+hostess did a great deal towards making everything
+go off well.</p>
+
+<p>Yesterday I spent a harrowing morning trying
+to buy some vests for C——. Perfectly ordinary
+white cotton vests, such as the men wear here
+under their white linen coats, but more difficult to
+track and procure in Manila than so many birds
+of paradise. When I told my friends I was going
+to get vests, they were amazed and asked me why
+I did such an eccentric thing, instead of sending to
+Hong Kong for them like everyone else. But I
+was rather on my mettle about it, and said I would
+get them in Manila in one of the Chinese shops,
+for people in Iloilo had done this thing, and why
+not I?</p>
+
+<p>At one shop, where I had been told to go, a
+weary-looking Chinaman was sitting in a chair at
+the shop door, and first I tried Spanish on him, but
+with no result, not even a flicker of intelligence on
+his face. I might have been talking in Pekin. So
+I said, “Do you sell cotton vests?”</p>
+
+<p>“Wests? No. No have got wests.” And he
+spoke in a tired, helpless drawl, as if his soul had
+been deadened by a life of trying to get “wests.”</p>
+
+<p>But I was not to be put off, as I had been to
+six other shops and was getting tired. So I said,
+“But I was told you sold vests. I don’t mean
+waistcoats,” which I know <em>they</em> often do, “I mean
+things to wear under a coat. Vests.”</p>
+
+<p>“Oh, yes. Allitee wests. Mellikan-Filipino
+store on Escolta. Oh, yes; me savvy all about
+wests.” And he looked beyond me as if he had
+been marooned in mid-ocean. I think it was really
+opium, which one gets accustomed to in the
+Filipinos as well, for sometimes they are simply
+maddening when they speak as though in a dream,
+staring with dull eyes.</p>
+
+<p>The end of the vest story was that at last I<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_147" id="Page_147">[147]</a></span>
+tracked what I wanted to a Chinese shop, where
+the display in the windows consisted of tin pans,
+sausages, bead curtains, picture postcards, and
+things like that. After a tour of the Escolta, I had
+arrived at this shop by the advice of the coachman,
+to whom I managed to explain my wishes by a
+lurid pantomime in the middle of the street. When
+the coachman at last understood that I wanted to
+buy vests, and not to make him take his off, we
+went, as I say, to this Chinese shop with the
+unpromising window-decorations. When I entered
+and asked for vests, everyone brightened up, and a
+very yellow old man took an opium pipe out of his
+mouth, and said something in guttural words to a
+fat youth in the comfortable <i lang="fr">négligé</i> of a pair of
+blue cotton trousers and a jade bangle.</p>
+
+<p>This person evidently understood English, for
+he waived my Spanish aside and began to talk very
+fast in <em>pidgin</em>, which, when you hear the real thing,
+and not on the stage at home, is very difficult to
+understand. However, he seemed to bring the
+word “wests” in pretty often, so I began to feel
+hopeful, and made the old man draw a chair up to
+the counter for me, and sat down.</p>
+
+<p>Presently, after a fearful lot of talk with several
+other fat, yellow youths, and a great deal of hauling
+down and putting away again of bales and boxes,
+and sharp rebukes from another old Chinaman with
+a bead counting-board, who was doing his accounts
+in a big book with Indian ink and a paint brush,
+the boy who was attending to me came back to
+where I sat, and threw down a pile of big, flat
+bundles with a triumphant air, exclaiming “Wests!”</p>
+
+<p>No such luck, however, for the bundles contained
+coloured furniture cretonnes. So I set to work
+to explain again, but it was not so easy as it had
+been in the Spanish shops, for no one, as far as I
+could see, had on such a thing as a vest, an open<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_148" id="Page_148">[148]</a></span>
+coat being the most they wore above the waist line.
+I did not dare to go out and make a demonstration
+with the coachman, so I just struggled along with
+pantomime and bits of French and German, which
+really did just as well as English or Spanish; till
+at last a light dawned on a Celestial brain, and they
+all said some word in Chinese to each other, and
+nodded and grinned and replied: “Allitee, Mississy.
+Have got.”</p>
+
+<p>And at last a box was opened, inside which
+were really and truly white cotton vests. But the
+size was unfortunately intended for very small and
+consumptive youths, so I had to begin another long
+and troublesome explanation that the person they
+were intended for was forty-two inches round the
+chest, which was conveyed by calculations and
+juggling with a metre tape.</p>
+
+<p>“Ah,” said the two old men. “Can catchee
+flom Hong Kong. All same steamer. You waitee
+two tlee days.”</p>
+
+<p>I said I knew that already, and explained that
+I was going to Iloilo to-morrow.</p>
+
+<p>“Velly good,” said one old man. “Mollow can
+get. Catchee flom one piecee Chinaman in Manila.”</p>
+
+<p>“Can’t I go to the other Chinaman myself?”
+I asked.</p>
+
+<p>“Me catchee wests. Mollow can get number
+one size west.”</p>
+
+<p>However, while this was going on, a bright idea
+had evidently occurred to one of the shop boys,
+who had been looking so hard at me that I thought
+he was ill; but he suddenly left the shop, going out
+of a doorway with big Chinese letters in gold on a
+red placard over it, and came back, just as I was
+leaving the shop, with the very things I wanted—a
+dozen of them in a big cardboard box.</p>
+
+<p>Such, then, is shopping in Manila, and it is only
+the replica of how I tried to match embroidery<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_149" id="Page_149">[149]</a></span>
+cotton in the Spanish shop it had been bought in;
+and the other despairing adventure I had when I
+went in search of fruit dishes. So I now understand
+why everyone said it was absurd of me to think I
+could “go shopping” in Manila, and I wished I had
+done as everyone else does, and got the things
+direct from Hong Kong, and saved all the trouble,
+as well as the annoyance of paying double; for,
+duty and all, it is cheaper to get things in oneself.</p>
+
+<p>I am glad to be going home to Iloilo, as the
+weather is beginning to get pretty hot, and Iloilo is
+much cooler than this. Of course in Manila one
+has the advantages of the Australian provisions
+from the Cold Storage, which means fresh meat,
+vegetables, and fruit, besides being able to get any
+amount of ice, all of which luxuries are a great aid
+towards bearing up in a hot season; but the air
+at Iloilo is so much lighter, and the fresh mornings
+and evenings down there are wonderful tonics.</p>
+
+<p>As to the social attractions of Manila, they are
+no better than those at Iloilo. Bridge! How one
+gets to hate the very sound of the name of the
+game! And now when I see a group chained
+silently round a Bridge table, I can only think of
+the Souls tied to their Vices in the Frescoes of Hell
+in the Campo Santo at Pisa.</p>
+
+<p>I met at dinner the other night the wife of a
+very “prominent citizen,” who was a source of
+infinite delight to me in an elaborate defence I drew
+out of her by pretending I knew nothing about the
+game. I find this is the only safe course, by-the-bye,
+as, if you admit any knowledge of Bridge,
+you are forced to play whether you like it or
+not—or whether you can afford it or not, which is
+more important!</p>
+
+<p>This good lady told me that it was quite true
+that she and the other American ladies play cards
+all day, informing me that every morning she, herself,<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_150" id="Page_150">[150]</a></span>
+played Bridge from eight to twelve, either in
+her own house or in that of a friend. I said:</p>
+
+<p>“But how about your housekeeping?”</p>
+
+<p>“Why,” she answered, “if you have a good
+Chinese cook that don’t amount to anything.”</p>
+
+<p>“But it must be an awful bore,” I said, “in this
+climate to put on a dress and a hat and go out in
+the hottest part of the day.”</p>
+
+<p>To which she replied that if I would let her
+teach me Bridge I should understand why she did
+these things. She was very amusing, in her dry,
+American way, and made us all laugh very much
+at the comical things she said. However, she was
+really in earnest about her offer to teach me; but I
+said I was very grateful, only I thought I would
+rather remain ignorant as long as I could if it
+“took” so badly as she described.</p>
+
+<p>I feel much better in health for the change; and
+everybody here, both my hosts and others, have
+been so kind to me that I am quite sorry to
+leave them all. There are several pleasant people
+down in Iloilo, but I think a change of society
+does one as much good as anything else, don’t
+you?</p>
+
+<p>This will go out by the Hong Kong mail
+to-morrow, and I will catch the next one by
+writing as soon as I get home, and sending the
+letter by the <i>Butuan</i> when she returns.</p>
+
+<hr />
+
+<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_151" id="Page_151">[151]</a></span></p>
+
+<h2 id="LETTER_18">LETTER XVIII.<br />
+<span class="smaller">THE RETURN VOYAGE AND MY COMPANIONS</span></h2>
+
+<p class="right">S.S. “<span class="smcap">Butuan</span>,” <i>March 12, 1905</i>.</p>
+
+<p>I will begin a letter to you now, as I may not have
+much time for writing just after I get home. Not
+that there is really any fear of my letter to you
+coming off second best in any case! You say
+how much you like my letters, and what a pleasure
+they are to you, but they can’t be half such a treat
+as yours are to me. I can’t tell you what it is to
+hear all the home news, and about the frosty days,
+and the Christmas shops, and the cold, jolly winter,
+and all the things one longs for out here with a
+longing that is absolutely painful in this everlasting,
+sweltering heat.</p>
+
+<p>Talking of heat, I don’t think I told you about
+a place above Manila away inland, called Benguet?
+It is nick-named the Simla of Manila because it is
+a cool region, high up in the mountains, where
+there are pine trees, and frost at night, and fireplaces
+in the houses. This resort is not much good
+to the average person, however, for it is three days’
+journey from Manila by rail and road—when the
+said road is not swept away, which is its usual
+condition—and the trip costs more than to go to
+Japan. The governor and the whole administration
+move up <i lang="fr">en masse</i> in the hot season, and they
+have very nice houses, but there is not much in the
+way of accommodation for mere mortals. This is the
+only attempt at “hills” in the Philippines, which is<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_152" id="Page_152">[152]</a></span>
+a great pity, but then there are no roads, and the
+places away from the big towns are not at all safe.
+Even round about Manila the country is infested
+with what are officially called <i lang="es">Ladrones</i> (robbers),
+who are really Insurgents, and quite recently the
+wife of a Filipino official was kidnapped, and there
+was a great fuss about it.</p>
+
+<p>The <i>Butuan</i> is, on this trip, even less of a
+floating paradise than when I came in her, for, on
+arriving on board yesterday, I found to my horror
+that she was simply swarming with a Filipino boys’
+school going on an Easter outing to Iloilo. I
+wonder if you can even faintly imagine what that
+means, or even dimly picture the condition of the
+ship, when I tell you that there are seven four-berth
+cabins and we carry seventy-two first-class
+passengers!</p>
+
+<p>I consider myself fortunate in being in the best
+cabin again, with nothing worse to put up with than
+the company of a pleasant native and her little
+maidservant. She, the mistress, is a full-blooded
+Filipina, and fearfully indignant at any insinuations
+to the contrary; a fat, swarthy person, with a
+good-tempered, flat face that is probably handsome
+according to its standards, and she wears a
+costume reduced to the last limits of propriety,
+in the form of an untidy skirt, a spotlessly white
+loose linen jacket, and slippers—which, I must say,
+is a most enviable get-up in this temperature.</p>
+
+<p>She tells me she was first married to a
+Spaniard, who left her very well off, and her
+present husband is a German-American in the
+coastguard service in Manila. She is now on
+a visit to her brother in the Island of Negros. I
+took this person to be about thirty; but she tells
+me she is forty-three, and that her good temper has
+kept her young looking, which I can quite believe,
+for she takes the most “unpleasant episodes” with<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_153" id="Page_153">[153]</a></span>
+the greatest amiability, and is really quite a charming
+companion. She says that her husband is of a
+worrying nature, so he looks forty——</p>
+
+<p>“Which is a very good thing,” she says, laughing
+all over her jolly fat brown face, “as he is
+only twenty-eight. Did you see him when we
+left Manila? He came to see me off.”</p>
+
+<p>But unfortunately I had missed this individual
+amongst the seething crowds that pushed about
+the deck till we started, and were then bundled
+over the side and down a plank like so many
+sheep. I can’t think why on earth none of these
+places have a gangway for the steamers.</p>
+
+<p>She has told me endless “yarns” about the
+Philippines and the Filipinos, the chief points
+of interest being emphasised by a bang of her
+fan on my knee, which conveys anything to me
+from her views on the Papal Supremacy to her
+opinion about the sanitation of this ship, the latter
+subject taxing even her powers of pantomime.</p>
+
+<p>We have so far had the marvellous luck of
+coolness, a clouded sky, and wind. The wind,
+however, is a mixed boon, for it means waves—waves
+which would hardly count on the Round
+Pond, but make the <i>Butuan</i> roll heavily, and
+prove too much for the Filipino boys and youths,
+who are thick on the ship as swarming bees.
+They must be thankful to get rid—on the deck,
+by-the-bye—of the fearful, greasy meals which
+they stow away with horrible greediness. Knowing
+that the Filipinos eat lightly and sparingly, I
+remarked to my cabin mate, who came to
+sit next me at table, about the diet of these
+young countrymen of hers. She, herself, like
+the other native passengers, only eats very little—some
+chicken and a few vegetables, rice, and
+fruit. The gesture she made as she looked at
+the schoolboys was most expressive.</p>
+
+<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_154" id="Page_154">[154]</a></span></p>
+
+<p>“<i>Babuis!</i>” she said, which is Visayan for pigs,
+and as bad as calling a Frenchman <i lang="fr">cochon</i>. “<i>Babuis!</i>
+These Government Schools are ruining my people.
+I thank God that I have no son who will be taught
+to be insolent and unclean, and to eat like that.”</p>
+
+<p>I asked her what she meant by “unclean,”
+and she said that the Filipinos wash a great deal,
+which I knew already, and are very careful in
+certain small details of cleanliness and sanitation,
+but that all the new schoolboys were little better
+than animals.</p>
+
+<p>Opposite us at table sits a very good-looking
+American officer in khaki uniform, who is
+evidently not a keen advocate of equality, as he
+does not open his lips except to the captain, and
+even omits the little bow which the other
+passengers make on taking their seats at table.
+Moreover, he does not pass things, which is not
+a pretty example to the very polite Filipinos and
+<i lang="es">Mestizos</i> at the table. All the Filipinos I have
+ever seen have those beautiful gracious Spanish
+manners which may mean nothing beyond mere
+politeness, but they do help to grease the wheels
+of life a great deal. The contrast to the older
+people of these horrible, noisy, ill-bred young
+“yahoos” is heartrending,—the first-fruit of the
+American ideal, dressed in appalling variations
+on the European costume; cheeky, gluttonous,
+self-important—just what one would expect of
+a mongrel Malay who is told he is the social
+equal of white women.</p>
+
+<p>As I write this to you I am sitting on the
+narrow deck, trying to get as far away as I can
+from the schoolboy crowd, whose portion of the
+deck is unspeakable, apart from the fact that they
+think I am an American, and spit on my chair
+whenever they get a chance of approaching within
+range of it.</p>
+
+<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_155" id="Page_155">[155]</a></span></p>
+
+<p>At the end of my chair (I brought my own with
+me) sits my cabin mate, looking at a lot of
+illustrated English papers which I have with me;
+and I am afraid my letter must read very disjointedly,
+as I am constantly leaving off to answer
+some of her endless and very intelligent questions.</p>
+
+<p>Near us are camped a Spanish <i lang="es">Mestizo</i> and his
+fat little wife, who wears a great deal of sham
+jewellery and a cotton dressing-gown—a very
+superior person, with no pretence at veiling her
+scorn of my Filipino friend, nor of me for talking
+to her.</p>
+
+<p>The Filipina laughs very good-naturedly, and
+says the <i lang="es">Mestizas</i> think themselves very great
+<i lang="es">señoras</i>, but she herself does not find their snubs
+humiliating, “For,” she says, “I behave as I should,
+and we all come from <i lang="es">el buen Dios</i>.”</p>
+
+<p>She is great on <i lang="es">el buen Dios</i>, and one of the
+first of her innumerable questions was to ask about
+my religion. When I said I was a Protestant, she
+hastened, politely, to assure me that she was very
+broad-minded on the subjects of heretics, and
+refused to believe that they were all devils.</p>
+
+<p>I remarked that I thought we were not much
+worse than anyone else.</p>
+
+<p>“Oh,” she said, “I quite think you are no
+worse. Once we had a young man to board in our
+house, who was in my husband’s business, and he
+was a Protestant. The <i lang="es">padre</i> used to come to me
+very often and tell me the young man was a devil,
+and that I must send him away. But I would not
+do so, for I am broad-minded, and I said he seemed
+as good as anyone else, and, though he was a good
+man, <i lang="es">el buen Dios</i> had made him a heretic for His
+own good reasons.”</p>
+
+<p>I complimented her upon her breadth of view,
+and asked her if she were an Aglipayano, but at this
+she very indignantly declared she thought it very<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_156" id="Page_156">[156]</a></span>
+wicked to side against the Holy Father, and one
+would surely be punished for such heresy. “They
+are worse than the heretics,” she declared, “and
+besides that, they are all <i lang="es">Insurrectos</i>.”</p>
+
+<p>“But,” I said, “if you don’t sympathise with
+the <i lang="es">Insurrectos</i>, then you like the Americans?”</p>
+
+<p>“No,” she said, “I hate them,” and she made
+an ugly grimace.</p>
+
+<p>I asked her why.</p>
+
+<p>She got quite excited, and exclaimed, “Why?
+Why, what are they doing here? Who asked them
+to govern the Philippines? Who wants them?”</p>
+
+<p>“Oh,” I said, “but they are a very civilised
+people, and are going to do you such a lot
+of good.”</p>
+
+<p>She simply laughed, and pointed with her fan at
+the schoolboys in the bows.</p>
+
+<p>After a little while she said, “<i lang="es">Paciencia!</i> In a
+little time they will go. I hear all my people
+saying that the Americans will go.”</p>
+
+<p>“You want to govern yourselves, then?” I
+asked.</p>
+
+<p>“Yes, but I don’t think we shall be able to.
+Some other nation will come and take the islands
+when we are left alone. The Japanese, many say;
+but we do not want the Japanese.”</p>
+
+<p>On the whole she has made the voyage much
+more pleasant for me, for she interests me so much
+to talk to, and though it is uncomfortable to be at
+such close quarters in the cabin, nothing could
+exceed her kindness and good breeding, while the
+little maidservant is attentiveness itself.</p>
+
+<p>At night I wanted to have the door open, but
+they were both very frightened, and implored me
+to shut it and lock it as well, which I readily
+consented to, as they were so timid, and I thought
+it a shame to make them uneasy, though I felt
+quite brave now I was no longer alone.</p>
+
+<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_157" id="Page_157">[157]</a></span></p>
+
+<p>I daresay you are surprised at my accounts of
+these and other conversations in Spanish, but the
+fact is, though I have not tried to learn the <i lang="fr">patois</i>
+that obtains in the Philippines, I find it impossible
+not to pick up a good deal, partly from knowing
+Italian, I suppose, and partly from having to talk
+it occasionally in spite of myself. They speak
+badly, though, and the accent does not sound a bit
+like what one heard in Spain, besides which, there
+are so many native and Chinese words in current
+use. Instead of saying <i lang="es">andado</i>, they say <i lang="es">andao</i>;
+<i lang="es">pasao</i> for <i lang="es">pasado</i>; and so on, with all the past
+participles, besides other variations on the pure
+Castilian tongue. I found that the Spanish
+grammars and books I had brought with me were
+of so little use for everyday life that I gave up
+trying to learn out of them, and just get along on
+what I pick up—though I am very shy of it, and
+would not for the world let any other English
+person hear me trying to talk! The native
+language is a queer, guggling noise; when written
+it looks all g’s and b’s and m’s, and full of uncouth
+combinations of hard consonants. Some of the
+names of places are native, but many are Spanish,
+and the Filipinos themselves all have fine, rolling
+Spanish Christian and surnames, which were dealt
+out to them indiscriminately by the priests.</p>
+
+<p class="right"><span class="smcap">Iloilo</span>, <i>14th</i>.</p>
+
+<p>Now I am home again, you see, and delighted
+to be back in my own house, though I had a very
+good time while I was away. The <i>Butuan</i> got in
+at four yesterday morning, anchoring off the mouth
+of the river, and deck-washing set in at once—never
+was it more needed!</p>
+
+<p>Oh, the scenes, the sights, the noises on that<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_158" id="Page_158">[158]</a></span>
+foul steamer! At the best of times she is dirty and
+uncomfortable, but no words of mine can convey
+her unspeakable condition with those awful
+Filipino boys on board—at least, no words that can
+be set down on paper.</p>
+
+<p>The air of the morning was fresh, when we
+dropped anchor off the mouth of the river, and a
+nice cold breeze blew from the shore, which at first
+only showed as a black line in the dark, with one
+or two points of light where the town lay.
+Gradually it became more and more distinct in the
+dawn, till we saw the outline of the corrugated
+roofs, the palm trees, and the shipping on the river,
+while a faint, steady crowing of cocks could be
+heard.</p>
+
+<p>Have I told you about the cock-crowing? It is
+one of the features of Philippine life, and one of the
+things you must get accustomed to, or lie down and
+die. It begins before daylight, and goes on till
+after the sun has set—the screaming of innumerable
+cocks, for every living Filipino keeps one, and most
+have two or three.</p>
+
+<p>We got a candle, and I dressed first and went on
+deck, where I was eventually joined by a tremendous
+swell in a trailing silk skirt, French blouse with lace
+yoke, long gold chain, white canvas shoes, and so on,
+whom I just managed to recognise as my cabin mate.</p>
+
+<p>While we leaned over the rail waiting for the
+<i lang="es">Sanidad</i> (the port doctor’s launch), she told me she
+thought she should be able to get away that afternoon
+for Negros, but she hoped she should see me
+again, and said I must be sure to come and pay her
+a visit if I went to Manila again. To which end
+she proceeded to write down her address on a
+crumpled bit of paper which she pulled out of her
+pocket, handing me half of it to write mine on. I
+saw my piece had writing on it, and I said: “But is
+this not something you want to keep?”</p>
+
+<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_159" id="Page_159">[159]</a></span></p>
+
+<p>“No,” she said, “it is only a note of my home
+accounts for last month.”</p>
+
+<p>I looked at the accounts and saw the first item
+was: “To the <i lang="es">padre</i>—for a mass—two <i lang="es">pesos</i>;”
+then some vegetables and meat, and more <i lang="es">padre</i>;
+then cigarettes, and again <i lang="es">padre</i>, and lower down,
+yet again <i lang="es">padre</i>.</p>
+
+<p>“You seem to pay a lot to the <i lang="es">padre</i>,” I said.</p>
+
+<p>“Ah,” she answered, “for my mother’s soul.”
+(<i lang="es">Por el alma di mi madre.</i>) “One must get to
+heaven.”</p>
+
+<p>“But the missionaries tell you that you need not
+pay money to go to heaven.”</p>
+
+<p>“Perhaps,” she said. “But with them one is
+certain to get to hell.”</p>
+
+<p>If my cabin mate was a swell, she was completely
+eclipsed by the brilliant appearance of the fat little
+<i lang="es">Mestiza</i>, who came up on deck and leaned over the
+rail not far from us with a really heroic effort to
+appear unconscious of her gorgeous clothes. Her
+husband was very waxed about the moustache, and
+thin and pointed about the boots, and he kept
+shifting his sombrero with a fat hand, which displayed
+one very long little finger nail and a huge diamond
+ring. The Filipino schoolboys were got up in all
+sorts of suits, some in tweeds, some in linen, and
+one in bright blue striped silk, which had shrunk a
+good deal, and a straw hat with the brim made in a
+pattern like an ornamental cane chair-back. The
+little chaps were showing each other their clothes,
+and the older boys, of fifteen and sixteen (or that
+was the age they looked), were fearfully busy and
+important, smoking cigarettes, giving orders, and
+switching their legs with little walking sticks.<a name="FNanchor_5" id="FNanchor_5"></a><a href="#Footnote_5" class="fnanchor">[5]</a></p>
+
+<p>About six o’clock the <i lang="es">Sanidad</i> came and gave<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_160" id="Page_160">[160]</a></span>
+us <i lang="fr">pratique</i>, though I think if he had come before
+the deck-washing he must have put us all in
+quarantine for the plague. Apparently, too, there
+was no objection raised to the number of
+passengers in proportion to the accommodation, so
+we got ashore. Long before this the company’s
+launch had come fussing down the river and out
+to the <i>Butuan</i>, with C—— standing in the bows;
+and as soon as the doctor’s tour was over, I was
+conducted across the <i lang="es">Sanidad</i> launch into the other,
+and we went straight to the wharf, and home in a
+<i lang="es">quilez</i>, leaving my luggage for the shipping agent
+to tackle.</p>
+
+<p>When I arrived at our house, old Tuyay flung
+herself down the staircase into the road with
+screams and yells of joy, wagging not only her tail
+but her whole body; and when I got into the hall
+there was the cat from downstairs squeaking, and
+telling me some long story about all she had
+noticed while I was away, and following me from
+room to room.</p>
+
+<p>This cat has established herself with us for the
+last few weeks, and now thinks it her right, not to
+say her duty, to smell everything that comes into
+the house. She was fearfully agitated about the
+furniture I brought from Manila, and while it was
+being rigged up, and other things shifted, and so on,
+the poor pussy went nearly wild with excitement
+and curiosity, to say nothing of laying herself out to
+be tumbled over and half killed.</p>
+
+<hr />
+
+<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_161" id="Page_161">[161]</a></span></p>
+
+<h2 id="LETTER_19">LETTER XIX.<br />
+<span class="smaller">A <i lang="es">BAILE</i>—A NEW COOK AND AMERICAN METHODS</span></h2>
+
+<p class="right"><span class="smcap">Iloilo</span>, <i>March 20, 1905</i>.</p>
+
+<p>I am sure you will be glad to hear that I feel
+much better for my Manila trip, and able to go for
+our evening walks again, which we still enjoy very
+much, though the season is getting rather hot for
+moving about with much comfort.</p>
+
+<p>While I was away, there was an outburst of
+Carnival gaiety, and C—— went to a ball at the
+Spanish Club, which seems to have been a very
+good one. It was fancy dress, many of the
+costumes were beautiful, and there was a big
+supper laid out at little tables in the open air, with
+decorations and paper lanterns. They danced till
+five in the morning, when the more enduring and
+merry spirits drove round the town in open
+carriages; so they seem to have had a very gay
+time, and I was rather sorry I had missed it, as a
+fancy dress ball in Iloilo must be a rare and
+precious experience.</p>
+
+<p>So Lent has begun, but apparently it is not
+going to be made too strict, for last night we were
+bidden to an amateur theatrical performance at
+the Santa Cecilia (the Filipino) Club, which was
+a very festive affair. The big room of the Santa
+Cecilia, which is upstairs, like the Spanish one,
+but with a stage at one end, was very gay with
+festoons of pink and white muslin, and chains made
+of little hoops covered with tinsel paper. Nearly<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_162" id="Page_162">[162]</a></span>
+the whole audience consisted of Filipino women, in
+skirts of screaming reds, blues, greens, and yellows,
+set off by bewildering <i lang="es">camisas</i>, their black glossy
+hair adorned with many combs, and everywhere
+whiffs of penetrating cheap scent.</p>
+
+<p>The hall is so large that the two or three
+hundred people present did not nearly fill it,
+though little groups of men hung about the side
+that opened, with spaces between columns, on to
+the staircase and outer hall.</p>
+
+<p>We sat for a long time past the normal hour
+for beginning, staring at the drop-scene, which
+displayed a large picture of Saint Cecilia playing
+on a piano, and looking up to heaven; and had
+plenty of time to take in the paintings all round
+the room of Magellan, Rizal, Washington, and
+other heroes, which were stuck high up in frames,
+or frescoed on each side of the stage, while the
+band gave us waltzes, Sousa, and “Hiawatha.”
+This latter tune seems to have become a sort of
+Filipino National Anthem, for no entertainment
+of any sort can come off without it, and even a
+<i lang="es">banda de musica</i>, playing in the street in the evening,
+won’t go away, even after they had received money,
+before they have gone through “Hiawatha.” I
+don’t think I ever described to you a launch party
+we went one evening, on the occasion of a
+<i lang="es">despedida</i> (farewell), to a departing American
+official? We were a large party, English and
+Americans mixed, and filled up the bows of a
+fair-sized launch, while abaft the engines a Filipino
+string band clung on and played as best they
+could as the launch rolled about in a choppy little
+sea off Guimaras. As we left the <i lang="es">Muelle</i> (the
+quay) these musicians struck up “Hiawatha,” and
+when they had got through it they began again, and
+again, and again—and I have no doubt they would
+have played that air contentedly the whole way out<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_163" id="Page_163">[163]</a></span>
+and back, and probably fully intended to do so, if they
+had not been implored to stop. It is not a bad
+tune, though, and went remarkably well with the
+clicking of the launch’s machinery and the motion
+of the waves.</p>
+
+<p>But, to get back to this theatrical performance—though
+I don’t think there is much to say about
+it, for it was a very ordinary amateur show, and
+except that the skins of the performers were
+naturally darkened and not artificially white, and
+the language they spoke was Spanish, it was indistinguishable
+from the same sort of thing at a
+charity bazaar at home. Not musical, like the
+performance I told you about at the theatre, but
+a playlet of a strangely exotic type that must have
+been rather unintelligible to most of the brown
+brothers and sisters, for it was a sort of French farce
+about a man and his wife living in a flat below
+another couple, with the usual complications that
+apparently inevitably result from such a dangerous
+experiment in Paris. One man acted well, and was
+now and then really funny; but the humour was <em>not</em>
+the most refined fooling I have ever heard, as
+you may judge when I tell you that the chief
+source of jokes was that one of the husbands was
+represented as insinuating himself into the other
+household by pretending to be a doctor, and there
+was no bowdlerising of his interviews with his lady
+patients. The few things he left unsaid were
+reserved for another character, who came in as
+a house-agent with the most extraordinary fund
+of questions imaginable. But the entertainment
+hit the popular taste, evidently, for the more
+broad the remarks, with no attempt at wit, the
+more the “little brown sisters” laughed, in true
+Oriental manner.</p>
+
+<p>I got very bored and tired, but did not like to
+go out till the first playlet was finished, for fear of<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_164" id="Page_164">[164]</a></span>
+hurting our hosts’ feelings. We afterwards heard
+from a friend that when the second piece was over,
+the floor was cleared for a <i lang="es">baile</i>, which was kept up
+till quite the early hours of the morning. In the
+middle of this dance, however, “a strange thing
+happened,” as a certain number of the hosts
+suddenly appeared with little plates to collect
+money for the expenses of the production. This
+manœuvre, as our friend expressed it to us,
+“knocked many of the guests completely out of
+time,” for the average person does not take much
+money to a dance. Some wrote little <i lang="es">vales</i>; but
+our friend was rather sharp, for when a girl held
+out a plate to him, he bowed very politely and took
+it from her, saying, “Pray let me help you,” and so
+became a collector instead of a contributor.</p>
+
+<p>We went a new walk through the town a few
+evenings ago, on a lovely night, when the grey
+streets were all black and white in the moonlight,
+but the shadows quite luminous and the sky a real
+blue, dark and velvety. We strolled down one or
+two streets and through a group of native huts by
+the shore; but that part of the shore is some way
+from here, as, you see, we were walking across the
+spit of land formed by the estuary and the open sea.</p>
+
+<p>In our walk we came to a walled-in graveyard,
+with an open grille in the great doorway, through
+which one could see a little chapel and green trees,
+looking very dark green in the moonlight. On the
+opposite side, across the rough, sandy road, was a
+high, broken wall of concrete, with a big iron gate,
+and apparently nothing but the sea beyond it. We
+wondered what the gate could lead to, and thought
+there must be some garden on the shore; but when
+we went up the one or two crumbling steps, we
+found ourselves at once on the beach, and at our
+feet a quantity of ruined graves, some half-opened,
+some newly-covered, all jumbled up in the moonlight,<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_165" id="Page_165">[165]</a></span>
+and strewn with rank grass, sand, and
+pebbles. It seemed so weird and uncanny, the
+great, strong wall shutting in nothing; and the tall
+gates leading to nothing; and we afterwards
+learnt that this was the Chinese graveyard, which is
+always being destroyed by storms, and the wall had
+suffered in the bombardment. I don’t suppose the
+Chinese use it much, as they always get their bodies
+sent back to China if they can, in huge, gaily-painted
+coffins, for burial in their native soil.</p>
+
+<p>I forget if I told you about the trouble we have
+been having with our cook—the voluble person I
+described to you when he was new and interesting.
+Now I know that type of Filipino so well! As
+time went on the cook’s easy flow of talk became
+less interesting, especially as it took the place of
+cooking, and I got tired of always telling him to do
+his best, for he was one of those half-clever people
+who always do things just not as well as they could
+do them. Whenever I reproved him, too, I found
+a stranger in the kitchen next day, who told me
+that he had been sent to take the place of my cook,
+who was ill “with his leg.”</p>
+
+<p>Always his leg. Though no human ingenuity
+could find out what he was supposed to have the
+matter with his leg. I was inclined to think it was a
+“sulk leg,” but C—— observed darkly that he had
+heard before of fellows getting “drink legs.” On
+these occasions the cook’s wife was generally to be
+found—a pleasant-faced little woman, in a bright,
+clean dress, and wearing long, gold earrings—squatting
+on her heels, outside the hall-door,
+smoking a huge cigar. The moment I appeared she
+always repeated the information about the leg, with
+apologies, and vanished.</p>
+
+<p>When the cook had recovered from his indisposition,
+he would take up his place in the kitchen,
+affable and fluent as ever, and no remarks would be<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_166" id="Page_166">[166]</a></span>
+made by anybody, for I put up with him as long as
+I could on account of his generally being sober—a
+rare and precious virtue. At last, however, when I
+was ill he surpassed himself in crime, sending in
+uneatable food to poor neglected C——, and giving
+me the same soup and rissoles every day, twice a
+day, for a fortnight, till I could not even bear the
+smell of them.</p>
+
+<p>When C—— remonstrated, the cook instantly
+became impudent, and as impudence is where C——
+draws the forbearing line with Filipinos, he gave
+the cook one good kick that sent him sprawling out
+on to the Azotea. C—— observed that if the cook
+summoned him for assault, he would half kill him
+next time, but our friend did not resort to Law.
+He gathered himself up and went off, and was no
+more seen again, though he sent the usual stop-gap
+to do his work next day. However, we had no
+intention of letting him farm our kitchen, so we
+asked the stop-gap, who was an excellent cook, if
+he would like to stay on permanently, and he said
+he would, and there he is “to this very day,” as
+they say in books.</p>
+
+<p>The change has made a great difference in my
+housekeeping, both socially and materially. By
+socially I mean that I now have a quiet, silent,
+intelligent man to deal with instead of a chattering,
+cunning monkey; and by materially, that this man
+caters for us infinitely better for a <i lang="es">peso</i>, including
+firewood, than the other gem did for a <i lang="es">peso</i> and a
+half a day. He is willing to learn—real learning, not
+jabbering “<i lang="es">mi sabe, mi sabe</i>,” and then sending in
+the things all wrong—so I have got out my
+English cookery-book and explained many of our
+ways of preparing various foods, which he has
+grasped with intelligence and admirable results.</p>
+
+<p>We are in great tribulation about ice, as a
+deadlock has occurred by which we are without any<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_167" id="Page_167">[167]</a></span>
+in this hot season—a most serious and horrible
+discomfort. From the beginning we, like everyone
+else, got our daily ten pounds of ice from the
+Government factory—the military supply—which
+came round every morning in the cart driven by the
+Stage Cowboy whom I think I described to you.
+When this cart pulled up and the handsome driver
+sang out “Hielo” (Ice!), servants flew out from all
+the houses and presented a ticket, each man secured
+his nice cold lump and rushed upstairs again to put
+it in the ice-chest.</p>
+
+<p>But a month or more ago an American with a
+“pull” (political influence) got the municipal
+contract to supply this town with ice, to be worked
+in connection with the electric lighting of the streets,
+also placed in his control, on which the Government
+withdrew their supply so as not to interfere with
+private enterprise.</p>
+
+<p>So far, so good. But the “’cute” financier had
+got an old electric plant, which works so badly that
+the arc-lights are extinguished and the streets are
+pitch dark at night. The ice has given out
+altogether. The financier, still being paid out of
+the rates, has gone off to Manila, and there is no
+redress anywhere, for he has a relative high up in
+office, is received everywhere, and—in fact he has
+a “pull.”</p>
+
+<p>The Government won’t renew their supply of ice
+except to the Americans and the clubs. A few
+other people who have influence have managed to
+get a lump now and then, but for the greater part
+we struggle on, at 90° in the shade, with tepid
+water to drink, food decaying before the evening,
+and butter—even tinned train-oil butter—a thing of
+the past.</p>
+
+<p>Such a state of affairs is not so astounding out
+here, however, as it may sound to you, for though
+you may have heard of the corruption of American<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_168" id="Page_168">[168]</a></span>
+political life, it does not strike one with such
+force when read in papers as when it comes home
+to you in daily life like this.</p>
+
+<p>Even out here there seems to be no sense of
+that <i lang="fr">noblesse oblige</i>, which alone can keep the
+ruling race upright before the eyes of the “little
+brown brother,” for one cannot take up a Manila
+paper without seeing the case of some Provincial
+Treasurer, or someone tried for official swindling.</p>
+
+<p>Each town or district is controlled by a
+<i lang="es">Presidente</i>, a Filipino, something like a mayor, who,
+in his turn, is under the guidance of an American,
+called a Provincial Treasurer. Far from being an
+example of integrity, the Provincial Treasurer
+is very often anything but proof against the
+temptations that beset him financially. It is not
+hearsay; there are the actual police reports in the
+papers. And if those found out and brought
+to justice are so many, one can only speculate
+in amazement upon the numbers who escape, or
+are sheltered by influence or a “pull.”</p>
+
+<p>It does seem such a pity that a great and
+noble nation should not be better represented
+in the eyes of another—and, when all is said
+and done—an inferior race.</p>
+
+<hr />
+
+<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_169" id="Page_169">[169]</a></span></p>
+
+<h2 id="LETTER_20">LETTER XX.<br />
+<span class="smaller">FILIPINO INDOLENCE—A DROUGHT</span></h2>
+
+<p class="right"><span class="smcap">Iloilo</span>, <i>March 31, 1905</i>.</p>
+
+<p>Many thanks for your letter of February 23rd.
+We were greatly interested in your description of
+the radium baths, though it seems difficult, out
+here, to imagine that there is anyone anywhere
+taking so much trouble to get hot! I must say,
+though, that I don’t feel this heat quite so
+much as one might imagine, at least, as far as
+actually feeling hot goes. For an evening or
+two ago I was quite surprised, when we were
+in Hoskyn’s stores, to notice that the thermometer
+was marking 92° Fahrenheit. Of course that
+was in the cool of the evening, but I had not
+noticed any particular heat during the day. I
+thought how much it would interest you to get
+some idea of the temperature we live in, so we
+bought a thermometer and have hung it up in
+the <i lang="es">sala</i>. In a way, I am sorry we have done
+this, as we did not know before how hot we
+really were, and did not mind the heat half so
+much.</p>
+
+<p>A watering-cart has begun operations, and as
+I write, it is passing down the street. It is a
+most amusing contrivance, consisting of a <i lang="es">carabao</i>
+waggon with a cask laid longways on it, and a
+native sitting astride the <i lang="es">carabao</i>, guiding with
+a goad and one string. The water flows out
+of a bamboo pole at the back of the barrel, and
+a spray is produced by means of a circle of<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_170" id="Page_170">[170]</a></span>
+holes, through which the water squirts uncertainly.
+The only result, as far as the roads are concerned,
+is a long narrow puddle and a great waste of
+precious water, though I expect it is sea water
+they use. The whole contrivance is so amusingly
+extravagant, shiftless, inefficient—so characteristically
+Filipino!</p>
+
+<p><i lang="fr">À propos</i> of the ways of the natives, a Spanish
+friend of C——’s, who was here the other day,
+told us a long and harrowing story, which was
+to him somewhat of a tragedy, though to me, I
+am afraid, it was only a source of amusement. This
+man tried the venture of keeping a small stable
+of <i lang="es">quilezes</i> for hire, which is a favourite speculation
+with young men who want to play with a little
+capital, either with the idea of trying to keep
+body and soul together in this expensive country,
+or else with the perennial hope of being able
+to get away from it. One of the Englishmen
+professes to have made a good thing out of
+it (<i lang="es">quilez</i>-hiring), but when we told our Spanish
+friend this hopeful news, he refused to be
+comforted, and hunched up his shoulders and
+spread out his hands, saying, “Horses are cheap
+enough, and fares are high, which is very well
+from our point of view; but you have the eternal
+Filipino to deal with.”</p>
+
+<p>“What does he do in this case?” we asked.</p>
+
+<p>“He does nothing,” said the Spaniard. “In this,
+as in every other employment, he does not think
+it necessary to learn, or to know anything at all.”</p>
+
+<p>We said we had observed this trait, and that
+anyone seemed to be confident in signing on for
+any job, anyhow.</p>
+
+<p>“They do,” he said, “and this is the sort
+of conversation I have with every man who
+represents himself as a driver. ‘Where were
+you <i lang="es">cochero</i> before?’ I ask.</p>
+
+<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_171" id="Page_171">[171]</a></span></p>
+
+<p>“‘With <i lang="es">señor</i> L—— at B——.’</p>
+
+<p>“‘How long ago was that?’</p>
+
+<p>“‘Five years ago.’</p>
+
+<p>“‘Where were you <i lang="es">cochero</i> after that?’</p>
+
+<p>“‘Oh, I was not <i lang="es">cochero</i>. I was cook to <i lang="es">señor</i>
+S——.’</p>
+
+<p>“‘And then?’</p>
+
+<p>“‘Then as <i lang="es">muchacho</i> with <i lang="es">señor</i> C——, and then
+as cook——’</p>
+
+<p>“‘And you are a cook, not a <i lang="es">cochero</i>!’</p>
+
+<p>“‘Oh no. <i lang="es">Mi trabajo</i> (my job) is really a <i lang="es">cochero</i>,
+but I went as cook to <i lang="es">señor</i> L——, and as <i lang="es">muchacho</i>
+to <i lang="es">señor</i> C——, and as——’</p>
+
+<p>“‘Yes, yes. I heard what you said.’</p>
+
+<p>“Then, as this is as good a man as you may hope
+to get, you engage him, and it is a great piece of
+luck if you get half your fares, and the pony not
+killed.”</p>
+
+<p>This story, and many others I have heard to
+the same effect, account, in some measure, for the
+marvellous and eccentric driving one sees going on—one
+can hardly call it “driving,” though, it is
+simply a rough and tumble with destiny, and there
+are more street accidents in Iloilo in any given
+number of hours than in the same time in the whole
+of London.</p>
+
+<p>It is so Filipino to be content with make-shifts—the
+same thing, the same lazy Malay, and Spanish
+<i lang="es">Mañana</i> in their food, their music, their houses,
+their work—nothing thorough, nothing complete,
+no heart put into anything but cock-fighting and
+talk. I don’t suppose any influence could alter
+these racial faults, certainly not the hasty assimilation
+of mathematics, electric trams, and ice-cream
+sodas. They are stupid, too, these people, with
+the malicious cunning of all stupid people, and
+cruel—sickeningly cruel.</p>
+
+<p>A night or two ago we went again to the<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_172" id="Page_172">[172]</a></span>
+cinématograph, but the evening was rather spoilt
+by an unpleasant “incident.” While C—— was
+getting the tickets, I sat on an empty bench by the
+wall, whereupon a common native boy came and
+sat down beside me.</p>
+
+<p>I got up and walked away, for there were
+plenty of other benches empty, and I knew this
+was only an act of impudence. When C—— came
+back with the tickets and saw what had happened,
+he was simply furious, wanting to kick the fellow
+out of the place, and pretty well out of the world
+too! “You should have sat there,” he said, “and
+beckoned to me to kick the brute out.”</p>
+
+<p>But I implored him to let the thing pass
+unnoticed. “For,” I said, “if you touch him you
+know he will summons you, and the case will go
+against you. Besides, according to the customs
+of the country, the man was not doing any harm,
+for he thought I was an American, and his
+equal.”</p>
+
+<p>Whereupon C—— exploded; but luckily the
+door of the show was just opening, so I got him to
+hurry in to secure good seats, and the “incident”
+passed off. But when one thinks of the social
+status of the coloured person in America!—Words
+fail me!</p>
+
+<p>We are having more drought now—the rain-water
+tanks empty, and the well-water brackish.
+We filter the latter, even to make tea with, which
+makes the tea more palatable; but for washing, it is
+like using sand-paper on the skin, and after soap has
+been used the water remains perfectly clear, with
+the soap in a woolly cloud at the bottom. I wish
+some millionaire philanthropist would take it into
+his benevolent head to help his country with this
+“Trust from Heaven,” as they call the development
+of the Philippines, and begin with building an
+aqueduct from the hills into its second largest<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_173" id="Page_173">[173]</a></span>
+town! However, the 40-acre law would stop any
+extensive enterprise of that or any other sort.<a name="FNanchor_6" id="FNanchor_6"></a><a href="#Footnote_6" class="fnanchor">[6]</a></p>
+
+<p>Water is being brought over from Guimaras and
+sold in the streets at fabulous prices, only I am
+happy to say we have been lucky enough, so far, to
+secure a daily supply out of a friend’s well, sufficient
+to get along with if we are careful.</p>
+
+<p>All this time I have not told you our great piece
+of news, which is that we have bought a horse and
+trap—or rather a pony and a <i lang="es">calesa</i>—a sort of small
+dog-cart, with big, spidery wheels, to seat two,
+which tips up unless a third person, generally the
+groom, is sitting on a small perch behind. This is
+a very light and comfortable trap, and the pony an
+exceptionally good one, both being the property of
+an American officer we know who is going to
+Manila and selling off his effects. It is a great
+stroke of luck to get hold of such a turn-out, and
+we are to enter into possession in ten days or so,
+or possibly longer. I shall be glad to drive, as
+it is not very pleasant for ladies to walk about the
+town, owing to the way the Filipinos have of shoving
+white people off the footpath, when there is one,
+and expectorating as close as they dare.</p>
+
+<hr />
+
+<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_174" id="Page_174">[174]</a></span></p>
+
+<h2 id="LETTER_21">LETTER XXI.<br />
+<span class="smaller">THE WHARVES—AN OLD SPANIARD</span></h2>
+
+<p class="right"><span class="smcap">Iloilo</span>, <i>April 9, 1905</i>.</p>
+
+<p>Many thanks for the book about carpentry, which
+arrived quite safely by this mail, and is a treasury
+of delight to C——, who has got all sorts of ideas
+out of it. One of the first things he did was to
+swarm up the box-room door, getting through a
+flap in the matting ceiling and up into the roof,
+to see what hold there would be to fix up a punkah
+over the dinner-table. All the English people,
+and many of the Americans, have punkahs in the
+dining-room, but we have not troubled about one
+so far, as we are so lucky in our splendid draught
+through the hall, right across the dinner-table.
+Now, however, the Monsoon is changing, and with
+the wind this other side of the house, we want a
+punkah badly, for, you see, if you get out of a draught
+here you nearly suffocate.</p>
+
+<div class="figcenter" style="width: 500px;" id="illus13">
+<img src="images/illus13.jpg" width="500" height="450" alt="" />
+<p class="caption"><span class="smcap">A Philippine Pony.</span></p>
+<p class="caption-r"><a href="#Page_174"><i>To face page 174.</i></a></p>
+</div>
+
+<p>C—— said it was like a huge hall up in the
+roof, and fearfully hot, which I could quite believe,
+as the thermometer in the dark, airy rooms below
+stood at 91°. Many of the houses have a sort of
+small top roof, like a little hat, with a wide gap,
+which acts as a ventilator, and lets off this heat
+out of the space above the ceilings; but, of course,
+the corrugated iron always makes a dreadfully hot
+roof, however it is treated. The only cool, healthy,
+and reasonable houses are the native ones of
+palm thatch, but they are so very inflammable and
+dangerous that no company will insure them.<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_175" id="Page_175">[175]</a></span>
+Though the way the native huts are lighted with
+naked, flaring lights or rickety lamps, and remain
+unburnt for two hours, is a marvel and a never
+ceasing source of interest to us when we go about
+after dark. In each grass-covered <i lang="es">carabao</i>-cart, too,
+there is a flaring torch by way of complying with
+the lighting regulations, and when one sees them
+jolting and swaying along, it is impossible to
+imagine why the regulations are not exceeded by
+the whole cart going along in a blaze.</p>
+
+<p>We went a walk last night, down this street,
+through the Plaza Libertad, and down two more
+streets to the Muelle Loney, the quay along the
+estuary. As C—— had come back from the
+office late, we did not have tea till sunset, and by
+the time we went out it was nearly dark, and the
+moon had not risen. The Muelle was all deep
+shadows and spots of light, and the lamps in La
+Paz, the suburb the other side of the river, made
+long reflections of yellow light in the dark water,
+while the masts and sails of the ships at anchor
+stood out like Indian ink-drawings against the
+deep blue sky. All along the quay are offices of
+business houses, stevedores, customs, etc., and
+vast <i lang="es">camarins</i> (warehouses) with low, corrugated
+iron roofs, and open in front with iron bars like
+colossal menagerie cages. Inside the <i lang="es">camarins</i>
+could be seen shadowy piles of sacks of sugar,
+which is to be detected by a certain heavy, sweet,
+nauseous smell.</p>
+
+<p>The quay itself is a very wide road, with a stone
+wall going into the river—the latter deep enough
+to allow steamers of a fair size, such as the <i>Kai-Fong</i>
+and the <i>Butuan</i>, to come up and lie at
+anchor opposite the wharves and <i lang="es">camarins</i>, as I
+told you when I went to Manila. There are a lot
+of curious, rusty old steamers huddled together at
+the side of the quay, with open decks and fixed<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_176" id="Page_176">[176]</a></span>
+iron awnings, which ply between here and Negros,
+and other neighbouring islands; little launches
+belonging to the offices; and the big steamers that
+go to Manila and Hong Kong, which all look quite
+commonplace by daylight, but seemed very
+mysterious in the darkness, with a light burning
+here and there, and always the tinkle of a guitar,
+and a voice singing softly in a minor key.</p>
+
+<p>There was one big, dark bulk, larger than the
+others, which was a Hong Kong steamer, and we
+heard the funny, quacking jabber of the Chinese
+crew on the fo’c’sle. They can’t get ashore in the
+Philippines, as a guard is placed on the gangway,
+and the captain is liable to a fine of 2000 dollars
+if a Chinaman escapes ashore. Now and then one
+reads in the Manila papers about a Chinaman
+without a passport having been caught, sentenced
+to a few months of Bilibid prison, and returned to
+Hong Kong. As we passed the Chinese steamer,
+I could not help thinking how tantalising it must
+be for such keen, industrious men to be almost on
+the soil of this Eldorado of lazy natives and high
+wages. The few who do enter, as I told you, make
+fortunes very quickly, or what is a fortune to
+them, as well as the fortunes of those who employ
+them. It is most unfortunate that popular opinion
+in the far-away U.S.A. is so dead set against this
+source of prosperity and revenue.</p>
+
+<p>At intervals along the Muelle, with its jumble
+of dark buildings on one side and jumble of dark
+ships on the other, in front of the offices and
+<i lang="es">camarins</i>, and at the corners of the little dark
+alleys that turn off into the town, were numbers of
+little stalls, each with a flaring naphtha light, round
+which natives were sitting about laughing and
+talking, and chewing betel-nut, and haggling for
+hours over the price of some little bunch of eggplant,
+or a tiny, insanitary fish. The wares were<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_177" id="Page_177">[177]</a></span>
+laid out on flat rush trays—bananas, maize,
+horrible-looking toffee, native fruits, and tumblers
+of pink <i lang="es">tuba</i>—a drink made of the sap of the palm
+tree coloured red. The stall-keeper was invariably
+a little brown native woman, with a huge cigar in
+her thick-lipped mouth—not such cigars as are sold
+at home, but a loose bundle of tobacco leaves about
+four times the size of the largest cigar you ever saw,
+and tied round with cotton or fibre. The way
+their mouths stick out beyond their noses when
+they are pulling at these big “weeds” makes their
+flat faces look very funny. I saw a native girl the
+other day, walking round the Plaza at Jaro, in a
+very tight <i lang="es">sarong</i> and freshly-starched <i lang="es">camisa</i>,
+puffing at a big black cigar all coming to pieces and
+tied up with white cotton, and her swaggering gait,
+and the way she looked to right and left for admiration,
+displaying a profile with absolutely no nose,
+was one of the most comical things I have ever had
+the luck to see.</p>
+
+<p>There are always any amount of natives along
+the Muelle in the evening, for it is a favourite
+lounge, and they make such picturesque groups,
+loafing about the stalls or lying against the walls in
+deep thought or opium. Their voices are subdued,
+and they are all perfectly good-humoured, and
+another point about such a crowd here is that there
+is no smell from them, for the clothes of the
+poorest Filipino are spotlessly white and clean, and
+their bodies carefully washed. One or two costumes
+made up from empty sacks amused us very much,
+and they are really very effective, for the wearers
+imagine the names on them to be a pattern, and
+arrange the rows of letters quite carefully, generally
+across the back and chest. Beyond the offices and
+ships we came to immense mud-flats, which are
+partially covered at high tide, and look quite nice
+when they are a sheet of shallow water, but appear<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_178" id="Page_178">[178]</a></span>
+depressing, and smell nasty when they are bare.
+The tide was far out, and the rising moon showed up
+a lot of curious tracks and channels, with planks
+across them, and in the distance the backs of some
+of the houses in the town. Such a desolate place!
+The spot to which one would think sick animals
+would crawl when they feel they are going to die.</p>
+
+<p>A lot of little native boys were rushing and
+screaming about in a remote corner, their short
+shirts fluttering behind them, playing some mysterious,
+meaningless game, revolving round certain
+heaps of manure and dead dogs. The little chaps
+seemed happy enough, but they looked so uncanny,
+like little black and white imps in the moonlight.</p>
+
+<p>In time, I daresay, all this desolate waste will
+be reclaimed and built over, for someone told me
+that the Harbour Company are filling it up with
+dredgings. In Manila I saw a vast mud-flat being
+reclaimed in the same way by harbour-dredging,
+and the flattened, finished part had lines drawn on
+it, which I was told were the ground plans of streets
+and houses. It seems so strange to go on building
+the towns out on the mud-flats in a climate like this,
+when there are acres and acres of native huts
+standing on sound land a few feet above the sea-level.
+I asked a man who has lived here many
+years why this was done, and he told me that it
+was because of the great cost of transport, owing to
+the high rate of wages, which would take away all
+profit if one had one’s shops and <i lang="es">camarins</i> far from
+the water’s edge. I said I thought it must be very
+unhealthy on the mud.</p>
+
+<p>“Absolutely fatal,” he said. “But then, you see,
+it is a toss-up between a chance of fever on the
+mud and a certainty of starvation in the town.”</p>
+
+<p>I enjoy the walks about very much, or rather,
+I am more interested and amused than exhilarated;
+but all the same I am looking forward so to<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_179" id="Page_179">[179]</a></span>
+having our trap and going for drives, and even
+though there are only two roads, still we shall
+be able to get out of the town. I keep thinking
+that it is spring at home—or rather, I try not
+to think of it! How one longs to see a bunch
+of daffodils or a snow-drop; to hear a blackbird
+sing; to see beautiful oaks and elms coming
+into leaf instead of these eternal green palms,
+and to feel fresh and invigorating air instead of
+this everlasting swelter and sun!</p>
+
+<p>We have a queer old neighbour here, an
+ancient Spaniard, who lives on the ground-floor
+of a house, in two rooms which are, so C—— tells
+me, hung with pictures of Isabella and the King;
+medals on velvet, framed and glazed; and certificates
+and memorials, for he was once some official
+in the Royal Household of Spain.</p>
+
+<p>He is a courtly and dignified old person,
+though about 4 feet 6 in height, and as broad as he
+is long. He is very poor, and when he can sell
+some piece of land, he is going back to Spain
+to die.</p>
+
+<p>This personage came to call on me a few
+evenings ago, on account of having on a black
+evening suit, as he had been to a funeral. We
+stumbled along in Spanish, and would have done
+better if my guest had not persisted in trying to
+remember French so as to convince me that he
+really had been in Paris. However, we got on
+very well, and I showed him some of papa’s
+sketches of Spain, which enchanted the poor old
+thing. Over the Alhambra he waxed quite
+sentimental, with his head on one side and one
+podgy hand raised to heaven. Of course the
+fact of my having been in his native land made
+me quite charming, and compliments bloomed
+like spring-flowers in the gardens of the Vega.</p>
+
+<p>He had told C—— that he wished to come<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_180" id="Page_180">[180]</a></span>
+and pay his respects, as he had heard that the
+<i lang="es">señora</i> had good <i lang="es">custumbres</i>, which is a Spanish
+word for good breeding and good manners—not
+that I mean the two can be separated, but
+that the expression conveys those two, in
+a sort of way. This fact he repeated to me
+again, with much decorative compliment, and
+many assurances that I did not look the least
+like an Englishwoman—and oh, no! not a bit
+like a Frenchwoman—and still less like an
+Italian! Anyone would know at once that I
+must be a Spaniard—and from the southern land,
+where the women are elegant as flowers, and
+their eyes speak of love.</p>
+
+<p>At last he backed himself out, still showering
+compliments, and offering to teach me “<i lang="es">la lengua
+Castellana</i>.” His Spanish was beautiful to listen
+to, so round and full and correct, and he implored
+me, with his hands clasped, not to learn the
+language of “<i lang="es">los Indianos</i>,” as I told you the
+Spaniards call the Filipinos.</p>
+
+<p>All the Spaniards here long and yearn for
+Spain, and everything Spanish, which is only
+natural, I suppose. They hate the Archipelago, as
+they call it, but confess that the prospect of continuing
+to earn a living here ties them by the leg.</p>
+
+<p>Another old Spanish friend of C——’s, a man
+in business, amused me very much one day, by
+giving me, as one of his reasons for disliking
+the Philippines, that he was in constant terror of
+“<i lang="es">los Indianos</i>” coming and “click”—he drew his
+finger across his throat.</p>
+
+<p>“Really?” I said. “But you don’t, honestly,
+think that, do you?”</p>
+
+<p>“<i lang="es">Señora</i>,” he said, “I <em>know</em> it will happen some
+day. There will be such an uprising as will
+wipe us all out. <i lang="es">Mi corazon</i>” (my heart) “beats
+perpetually with terror.”</p>
+
+<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_181" id="Page_181">[181]</a></span></p>
+
+<p>I thought, however, that this life of secret
+anguish could not have done much harm to the
+old fellow’s system, for he looked remarkably
+flourishing after thirty years of life in the tropics,
+without any idea of panic at all.</p>
+
+<p>As to this panic, I am surprised to find how
+prevalent is this notion of a general uprising,
+for though the Philippines are full of Insurrection,
+and many of them in a state of open warfare,
+still one can hardly believe that a reign of
+horror could sweep over these slow little towns.
+Not that the Filipinos are not capable of any
+atrocities when roused—and in the War many
+terrible and horrible things happened, which are
+not printed in newspapers or found in books.</p>
+
+<hr />
+
+<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_182" id="Page_182">[182]</a></span></p>
+
+<h2 id="LETTER_22">LETTER XXII.<br />
+<span class="smaller">A TRIP TO GUIMARAS—AN ASTONISHING
+PROPOSAL—HOUSEBUILDING</span></h2>
+
+<p class="right"><span class="smcap">Iloilo</span>, <i>April 14, 1905</i>.</p>
+
+<p>Yesterday, Sunday, we had the launch offered us,
+so we arranged a little trip in the cool of the
+evening.</p>
+
+<p>We drove down to the Muelle Loney (too hot
+to walk at five o’clock), and when we had got on
+board the launch and seated ourselves in basket
+chairs in the bows, she steamed down the river and
+the estuary, and out into the channel. There was
+a fresh breeze blowing, and the air was delicious.
+As to the scenery—words fail me! The blue and
+green of the sea, and the mauve and rose lights
+reflected on Guimaras from the brilliant sunset
+behind us over the Panay Mountains, were like
+some wonderful picture wrought in amethysts and
+sapphires and exquisite enamels, while all along the
+shore line the groves of palm trees glowed in the
+strong light like a border of emeralds set in golden
+sand.</p>
+
+<p>We crossed over, going close to the opposite
+shore, with the object of visiting an old steamer
+which lies over by the quarries from which
+they are getting the stone to build the harbour.
+This steamer used to be a French packet, and was
+bought cheap by some Spaniards for inter-island
+traffic, but the owners soon found she burnt her
+head off with coal, and did not pay for her keep, so
+now they are trying to sell her, and she has lain out<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_183" id="Page_183">[183]</a></span>
+there at anchor for a year or more; a fine old boat,
+with splendid saloons and cabins all rotting away.</p>
+
+<p>We climbed up the rickety gangway and came
+up upon what looked like the ship of the Ancient
+Mariner or the Flying Dutchman, all still and silent,
+everything ready as if for use, but worn and rotten
+with the sun and weather. We went all over her,
+into the saloon with its long table of handsome,
+polished wood and ghostly chairs with high, carved
+backs; and into the cabins where the closed
+scuttles were dark with dirt, and there was a
+musty smell like bones, and our own reflections in
+the cracked green mirrors made us jump. C——
+said he was sure there must be a forgotten skeleton
+of a pirate in one of the dingy bunks hidden by
+close-drawn curtains of faded green cloth, and
+really, the prospect of something of the sort seemed
+so inevitable that I did not dare look in one of them!</p>
+
+<p>We came out on the deck again, which looked
+quite a cheerful place after those spectral saloons
+and cabins, and we saw the galley, with dead
+fireplaces, and wandered on the bridge, up a very
+unsafe companion. Old Tuyay had scrambled
+off the launch after us and followed everywhere,
+struggling and slipping up and down stairs and
+ladders, smelling about, and getting stuck somewhere
+every now and then, and having to be helped
+and hauled by the collar.</p>
+
+<p>When we got back to the launch, there was still
+enough daylight to make a <i lang="es">paseo</i> along the coast a
+little way. We went so close to the land that we
+could see right into lovely little bays, where palm-thatch
+huts stood amongst the groves and the
+white sands, and tiny figures were walking about or
+wading in the shallows for fish. It all looked
+exactly as it must have appeared on some fine
+evening, when the first Spanish navigators or Captain
+Cook came sailing along in their big three-deckers,<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_184" id="Page_184">[184]</a></span>
+while the people ran away into the jungles and
+began sharpening their arrows at the sight of a
+white face.</p>
+
+<p>We said to each other how much we should like
+to be Navigators, and go about in fine ships and
+land in undiscovered islands, and, if we escaped the
+arrows, fire a rifle or take a photograph, and be
+made kings for being so clever. Instead of doing
+that, however, we steamed back to Iloilo when
+darkness fell, and on landing, went to the Plaza
+Libertad, where a band was playing a two-step.</p>
+
+<p>This band which performs twice a week, on
+Thursdays and Sundays, from about half-past five
+to eight, is a new and delightful institution. It is
+not due to any enterprise on the part of the
+authorities, military or civil, but is a purely native
+enterprise, consisting of a number of Filipinos who
+have collected themselves together under the title
+of <i lang="es">La Banda de Musica Popular</i>. They started the
+notion of playing in the Plaza twice a week if they
+could raise enough subscriptions, whereupon we all
+paid up at once, promising to make the same
+contribution every month in so good a cause. I
+think our share, personally, comes to about 2 <i lang="es">pesos</i>
+a month, and it is really well worth it, for now the
+band is an institution, and a very good one too.
+They have not got a very extensive programme—some
+marches, a few “coon” tunes, an overture or
+two, and some dance music—but they play with
+spirit, and with the marches they are particularly
+successful. It is very creditable, too, when one
+thinks that this is a brass band, for the only instruments
+the Filipinos are really proficient with are
+the mandoline and guitar.</p>
+
+<p>It is a great pity that the American authorities
+left this very important affair to drift so that
+the natives themselves, in sheer desperation,
+started a band depending upon public charity.<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_185" id="Page_185">[185]</a></span>
+I am not exaggerating in calling it important,
+for the Filipinos, like all other Orientals, can
+understand and be ruled by tangible and visible
+signs of the ways of a ruling people; but the empty
+bandstands in the towns, and the dull, colourless
+lack of ceremonies or ceremonial of the American
+<i lang="fr">régime</i> have had an extremely bad effect, though
+the Filipinos are laughed at for wanting the gay,
+courteous Spaniards back again. Not only is this
+fact patent, but I have heard the people say so, and
+they are accused of being unreasonable about
+wanting the Spaniards back again after having got
+rid of them; but really, quite apart from their not
+having courted foreign rule at all, and loathing the
+usurpation of the Americans, the Filipinos have
+something to complain of in the lack of all that
+pomp which an Oriental loves and understands.
+The American Ideal is noble, grand—but it cannot
+be compressed into an Oriental brain. I can’t make
+myself better understood than by asking you to
+picture what India would be if the durbars were
+stage-managed by Americans!</p>
+
+<p>We delight in the band evenings, when we sit
+and watch the groups of natives walking about
+under the pretty trees; the fat mothers with
+coveys of slim, dark-haired daughters in fresh
+muslin frocks; the young Filipino “mashers” in
+white suits with straw hats worn daringly on one
+side, and long, thin, tight boots, trying to hide
+their shyness by a lot of swagger with a walking-stick;
+and all the little comedies and flirtations
+that go on. I have hardly ever seen any white
+people there except ourselves; a newly-married
+American couple who sit in the dark shadows very
+close together, and some American soldiers in khaki
+and turned-up <i lang="es">sombreros</i>. The programmes always
+end with “The Star-Spangled Banner,” on which
+we stand up and C—— takes his hat off, but the<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_186" id="Page_186">[186]</a></span>
+American soldiers unfortunately seldom trouble to
+salute their Anthem—and as to the Filipinos, they
+remain truculently seated with their hats on. It
+makes one feel rather foolish to be the only ones to
+take any notice, but C—— insists.</p>
+
+<p>We have now entered into possession of our
+trap and pony, and have had some blissful drives
+along the eternal roads to Jaro and Molo, out in
+the sunset and back in the starlight or moonlight,
+skimming along on rubber tyres. Tracks that we
+used to <em>tear</em> down when anyone lent us a carriage
+are now rigorously tabooed! Everyone here drives
+top-speed, and the Filipinos all crawl about the
+roads, and never dream of getting out of the way
+unless one shouts out a native word—“Tabé!”—when
+they just move enough to avoid instant
+death like a clever matador in a bull-fight. The
+curious thing is we have more trouble with the
+natives who are walking <em>towards</em> us instead of
+those going the same way. That may sound
+strange to you, and even incredible, but if you
+knew the Philippines and the Filipinos you would
+understand that it could not be otherwise. This
+element is very exciting, and makes an ordinary
+evening-drive to Molo rather better than a trip on
+a fire-engine in Piccadilly.</p>
+
+<p>I quite forgot to tell you that some time ago an
+unknown man was announced and walked into
+the <i lang="es">sala</i>, in the evening, just before C—— came
+home. This person was an American, of about
+thirty, with rather a good-looking face and the
+usual thick, long hair parted in the middle. He
+bowed and said:</p>
+
+<p>“Mis’ Darncey, I guess?”</p>
+
+<p>I said Mrs Dauncey was my name.</p>
+
+<p>“Is your husband to home?”</p>
+
+<p>I said he was not, and began to get alarmed,
+for I thought the man had come to tell me of some<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_187" id="Page_187">[187]</a></span>
+accident to C——; but he soon reassured me by
+telling me he guessed I could tell him what he
+wanted to know, which was whether we had a spare
+room, as he was looking for a family for himself
+and his wife to board with.</p>
+
+<p>I nearly fell down flat with amazement, but I
+managed, I hope, not to show my surprise, for I
+remembered that the Americans live out here in
+“messes,” often several families together, and
+I reflected that this touting must be some curious
+custom of which I had not heard. So I said, quite
+politely, that I was very sorry, but I was afraid this
+house was only large enough for ourselves.</p>
+
+<p>“Oh,” he said, with a great deal of bowing, but
+no intention of going away, “I heard this was a
+big house and reckoned you didn’t fill it.”</p>
+
+<p>“We have a room empty,” I said, “in fact we
+have two, but I am afraid my husband would never
+<em>hear</em> of such a thing as anyone we did not know,
+or any friend, either, coming to live with us.”</p>
+
+<p>“Oh, that’s all right,” he said. “My wife is in
+a <i lang="es">quilez</i> downstairs, and I can fetch her up to see
+you and look at the rooms.”</p>
+
+<p>At this fresh and astounding announcement, I
+gasped. But I kept my temper, and replied that
+I thought he need not disturb his wife, for we
+had really no intention of taking anyone to live
+in our house; but the man would not be convinced,
+and argued the point, saying that he had been to
+six other people, and he was “fair tired of going
+around.”</p>
+
+<p>I was wondering how to get rid of him, for
+he was so remarkably oily and polite, and kept
+on saying ma’am every two words. But just then
+C—— came home, and when the visitor introduced
+himself, with explanations of his mission, C——
+flushed up, and I began to be afraid he would kick
+the man out. But luckily the American was quick<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_188" id="Page_188">[188]</a></span>
+enough to see there was no mistaking the few
+words C—— said, nor the manner in which he said
+them in, and he bowed himself out in a about two
+seconds.</p>
+
+<p>A strange story? But stranger still is the
+fact that this was not a common man—I mean his
+position was not what we call common—as C——
+has found out that he is an official high up in
+the Customs service, and lately married to a
+schoolma’am. And stranger still is the fact that
+the Americans to whom I have told this story can
+see nothing odd in it at all.</p>
+
+<p>I can’t suppose that such peculiar customs
+really prevail in the United States, and that if
+C—— were to call on the President’s wife, as they
+are all equals, and leave me in a cab below while
+he asked her if she took in boarders, that he would
+not get into trouble. Fancy if this man made a
+big fortune out here, and we called on him in his
+mansion in New York and insisted on taking
+rooms in it—the idea is preposterous—but <em>why</em>?</p>
+
+<p>After this person had departed, we soothed our
+excited nerves by sitting on the balcony and
+watching one of the eternally beautiful sunsets. I
+will describe it to you, for it is very much the
+same every evening, with varying shades of intensity.
+The sky behind the palms in the distance was
+deep orange, fading into rose, and overhead into
+apple-green blue. We went through the house
+and out on to the Azotea, and all the sky on that
+side was like a radiant, pale amethyst, with a big
+bright moon rising—a great silver shield—through
+the lilac and rosy mist; the water a deep sapphire
+blue; and Guimaras a brilliant green outline
+dividing the sea and sky. The tide was in, and the
+water came up to the wall at the end of the garden,
+where a sheep was nibbling grass at the end of its
+tether, perfectly indifferent to a fool of a puppy,<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_189" id="Page_189">[189]</a></span>
+which ran backwards and forwards barking at its
+heels. In the empty stables on each side of our
+own is a regular camp of poor people, who were
+lounging by the well, watching one or two naked
+brown babies playing on the ground. They all
+looked so peaceful and happy and so picturesque
+in the sunset and moonlight, that we agreed with
+each other that perhaps life in the Philippines might
+be quite pleasant if one only lived the right way
+and had a brown skin covered by a minimum of
+clothes.</p>
+
+<p>They are a singularly happy people, these
+Filipinos, when they are unspoilt by the advantages
+of civilisation. One never sees or hears people
+quarrelling, and they are so kind to their children—always
+laughing and chattering and showing their
+fine white teeth, so that to watch a group of poor
+people is always a pleasure. We have been amused
+for a long time by the spectacle of a house that is
+being built in the suburbs, a stately go-as-you-please
+undertaking that is being gone through in an
+amusingly characteristic manner. They begin a
+house by constructing the roof, all lashed with
+<i lang="es">bejuco</i>, and very neatly put together, which sits on
+the ground an indefinite time. Then the <i lang="es">arigis</i>—the
+posts of bamboo or hard wood—are put in position,
+and a floor is made about 15 or 20 feet from the
+earth. Our friends on the Molo road got so far,
+and then started to live in the bit that was finished,
+camping in a sort of tent on the split-cane floor,
+with the roof lying alongside on the ground. I
+daresay they were “out” of <i lang="es">nipa</i> thatch, and did
+not dare to trust the building out of their sight, for
+the town-dwelling Filipinos are shocking thieves
+and burglars. Whatever their reason was, there
+they lived for quite a long time, till at last we were
+quite relieved to see them begin to put thatch on
+the framework. Then, one day when we passed<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_190" id="Page_190">[190]</a></span>
+we saw that the roof had also been thatched and
+hoisted into place, though how this latter feat was
+brought about I don’t know, as we unfortunately
+missed that part of the operations; but I have been
+told that, when the roof has been thatched, it is
+raised and put in position by sheer human force and
+much advice and swearing.</p>
+
+<hr />
+
+<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_191" id="Page_191">[191]</a></span></p>
+
+<h2 id="LETTER_23">LETTER XXIII.<br />
+<span class="smaller">A TROPICAL SHOWER—OUR SERVANTS—FILIPINO
+CUSTOMS</span></h2>
+
+<p class="right"><span class="smcap">Iloilo</span>, <i>April 27, 1905</i>.</p>
+
+<p>Nothing from you by the mail to-day. The
+forwarding from Manila seems to be so unsatisfactory
+that we think you had better begin sending
+letters straight to this place. The address for the
+future, therefore, will be to us to—P.O. Box 140,
+Iloilo. You have to put this, as there is no delivery
+of letters—a most strange and tiresome system.
+In the outside wall of the post-office is a recess
+with a number of pigeon holes, some glazed, some
+shut with a flap, each with its own lock and key,
+of which the owner keeps a duplicate. On the
+wall outside is a blackboard where the arrivals and
+departures of mails are chalked up, and when you
+see a mail has come in, you go off and do a sort of
+“bran-pie” dip in your pigeon hole to see what you
+get out.</p>
+
+<p>To-day we have had a very heavy thunderstorm,
+which has filled the tanks and cooled the air, the
+thermometer having gone down from 90° to 82°.
+The rain came on just as I was dressing after my
+<i lang="es">siesta</i>, so I hurried on a dressing-gown and went
+out on to the Azotea to see about the pipe, as it
+was no good blowing my whistle for a servant in
+the noise of the storm and the terrific din of the
+rain upon the iron roofs.</p>
+
+<p>I found Sotero having a glorious time with a
+petroleum can, which people use here for all water-carrying,<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_192" id="Page_192">[192]</a></span>
+like we used to see them do in Palestine.
+This can was fixed to a line, and the <i lang="es">muchacho</i> was
+risking his neck to let it down so as to intercept
+the overflow of a roof gutter belonging to the
+people below, and filling every tin, jug, and bath the
+house possessed, all spread out on the Azotea;
+giving the concrete floor of the Azotea itself a
+liberal wash-down at the same time. He was
+hopping about the balcony, face beaming and
+clothes dripping wet, and I laughed as I thought of
+the conventional idea of an English butler! He is
+a very good butler, all the same, or has learnt to be
+one, for when he came to us he did not know how
+to lay a table; while now, if we give a dinner, he
+insists on arranging everything himself, and does it
+perfectly, even to folding the serviettes in fancy
+shapes, which he has got some other servant to
+teach him.</p>
+
+<p>All round I hear stories of the miseries and
+terrors people go through with their Filipino
+servants, and “the inevitable <i lang="es">muchacho</i>” is a standing
+joke in the American papers. But our
+retainers just jog along in perfect peace, always
+in the house, always clean and tidy; and as to
+their work, not only not shirking it, but improving
+every day, and always ready and willing to give
+any help in the stables, or anything they can
+think of. I agree with my friends that we have
+been very lucky in finding such excellent “boys,”
+but I must take a little credit to myself too, for
+having treated them with the utmost consideration
+and politeness, showing them things patiently over
+and over again, and never once speaking sharply
+or angrily. I am sure they appreciate such treatment
+instead of the way in which I see people
+scolding and cursing their <i lang="es">muchachos</i>, and that our
+having such good and trustworthy servants is not
+entirely due to random luck in choosing them.</p>
+
+<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_193" id="Page_193">[193]</a></span></p>
+
+<p>Now the rain has come. We shall have mosquitoes
+again—they had almost disappeared in
+this long drought, but an hour or two after a
+shower the place is humming with them again.</p>
+
+<p>Yesterday was Palm Sunday, on account of
+which a procession was going about of all sorts
+of people carrying palm branches, headed by a
+<i lang="es">banda de musica</i> playing “Hiawatha,” and in the
+midst a large cart covered with coloured paper,
+bearing an image of some sort; all very tawdry
+and crude, and not in the least picturesque.</p>
+
+<p>In the evening, when we drove into Jaro, we
+saw some Negritos from the mountains inland—the
+aborigines who sometimes come down into the
+towns on such occasions of <i lang="es">Fiesta</i> to do a little
+trading, and beg and pick up what they can.
+These people are very small, much smaller even
+than the Filipinos, who are so little; and they
+have quite black skins, irregular faces of real
+nigger type, with big heads of fuzzy black hair,
+like Bescharins. They were all very dirty and
+ragged, and looked very skinny and miserable
+beside the plump Malay town’s-people, and those
+we saw were begging from door to door, and from
+everyone they met, poor souls.</p>
+
+<p>Sometimes in the Filipino race a child is born
+with curly locks instead of the usual black, straight,
+Chinese-looking hair, and this curliness is considered
+a great beauty, and tremendously admired;
+which is very strange, as, of course, such a trait is
+only a reversion to some strain of the despised
+Negrito; but the Filipinos are far too stupid to know
+that. In fact, if the hair is so curly as to be
+positively woolly, they are more pleased than ever.</p>
+
+<p>On <i lang="es">Fiesta</i> days, too, certain beggars appear,
+sitting by the roads displaying horrible deformities,
+and praying away at an amazing rate, sometimes
+with a child to run out and beg for them. It is a<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_194" id="Page_194">[194]</a></span>
+simple, unsophisticated idea, that of having your
+begging done for you, but I don’t know that the
+custom is confined to Filipinos.</p>
+
+<p>A day or two ago an American described to
+me an incident of Filipino life, which I thought
+very characteristic of this people. She told me
+that after she first came here, she was sitting in
+the house one day, when she heard a band
+coming along the street playing a rattling two-step
+march, so she rushed to the window and
+pushed the shutter aside to see the fun, which
+turned out to be a funeral, with a pale blue
+coffin, decorated with garlands in carved wood
+painted pink.</p>
+
+<p>I asked her if she thought the people imagined
+the occasion to be a festive one; but she said no,
+that they simply did not know one sort of tune
+from another, she thought, for they were walking
+along in the most approved mourning style, and
+as to the coffin, it was only the Filipino idea of
+taste. It is curious to think what a very thin
+veneer of our civilisation these people have
+acquired, and how they would shed it all as
+easily as my little lizard has cast off his old
+coat; and would probably, as he does, feel infinitely
+lighter and jollier in the primitive covering
+underneath.</p>
+
+<hr />
+
+<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_195" id="Page_195">[195]</a></span></p>
+
+<h2 id="LETTER_24">LETTER XXIV.<br />
+<span class="smaller">EASTER FESTIVITIES</span></h2>
+
+<p class="right"><span class="smcap">Iloilo</span>, <i>April 24, 1905</i>.</p>
+
+<p>This is Easter Monday, and since Thursday the
+town has been crammed full of people—natives—and
+alive with processions. We got a double
+allowance of the latter, as the Aglipayanos turned
+out in full force—fuller force, in fact, than the
+Orthodox, and their marching and counter-marching
+was most interesting, even if a little confusing.</p>
+
+<p>We are having holidays, of course, but a holiday
+here is never very complete, as the different
+religions go their own way, and now, for instance,
+the Chinese shops are all open; but the Spanish
+and <i lang="es">Mestizo</i> establishments are shut, while the
+Englishmen have all gone away, except a few juniors
+left in charge. One party has gone shooting, and
+they were very anxious for C—— to accompany
+them, but he did not like to leave me alone here,
+and refused. There is plenty of good shooting—wild
+duck, snipe, etc.—but some way inland, and
+the difficulty is to get there, when you are a busy
+man, with only forty-eight hours to spare at rare
+intervals.</p>
+
+<p><i lang="fr">À propos</i> of shooting, C—— has only <em>now</em> got his
+gun back from the Customs! It was detained by
+endless dilatoriness and delays, and the finding of
+the sureties, which I described to you. There was
+more trouble and fuss and worry about that gun
+and my little revolver than you, who have not been
+in this country, would believe. Such a lot of<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_196" id="Page_196">[196]</a></span>
+signing of papers, taking of oaths, and so forth! all
+of which precautions seem remarkable and rather
+superfluous in a “perfectly peaceful and contented
+country.”</p>
+
+<p>Well, C—— tried to console himself for not
+going shooting by playing lawn-tennis at the Bank,
+where a very good court has been marked out in a
+field at the back of the house, by the estuary.
+That gives you a little hint of the climate, does
+it not? A grass lawn-tennis court in the hot
+season?</p>
+
+<p>We walked to the Bank and back, as the pony
+had gone to be shod, and on our way home we
+were stopped in the Plaza by crowds of people
+evidently waiting for a procession to pass. We
+got across the road as best we could, and up into
+the garden in the middle of the Plaza, where we
+managed to get a foothold amongst a line of people—all
+natives of the poorer classes—standing on
+the low wall. Just as we got there the procession
+began to come past—a long double file of women in
+black skirts and black or white <i lang="es">camisas</i>; the men in
+mourning, which is an ordinary swallow-tail evening
+suit. This was Good Friday, and the Emblems
+of the Passion were borne aloft, draped in black,
+while the Madonna, carried shoulder-high on a
+big platform, had on a stiff, black robe; and the
+whole company was moving slowly along to a guitar
+and mandoline <i lang="es">banda de musica</i>, with big crape bows
+on their instruments, playing slow tunes in minor
+keys.</p>
+
+<p>What do you think this procession was?—Christ’s
+Funeral! The whole parade was a real
+funeral procession, and the last thing of all, preceded
+by acolytes in black, swinging censers with large
+crape bows on them, and followed by priests in
+black vestments saying (not chanting) prayers, was
+a huge black and gold catafalque—the coffin made<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_197" id="Page_197">[197]</a></span>
+with glass panels—through which could be seen a
+wax figure of the dead Christ lying swathed in
+an embroidered white satin winding-sheet, with a
+last touch of realism in His head, bound with a
+blood-stained handkerchief where the Crown of
+Thorns had rested.</p>
+
+<p>We waited long on the wall of the Alameda
+while this weird and gruesome procession trailed
+past, dwindling away down a long, straight street
+to the right, with its files of bowed figures and its
+great, black, swaying catafalque.</p>
+
+<p>When we turned to come away, C—— drew my
+attention to the curious fact that the Cathedral
+door was shut—a most extraordinary spectacle—which
+struck me as peculiar at once. At first we
+could not understand the reason, and thought it
+must be part of the solemnity. “Perhaps,” I said,
+“they go so far as to take the procession to a
+cemetery.”</p>
+
+<p>“I know!” said C——. “They’ve shut the
+doors because these fellows are the Aglipayanos!”</p>
+
+<p>Then it also occurred to us that of course this
+procession had had the native music, whereas the
+Orthodox go about to the strains of a brass Constabulary
+band to show that they are all right with
+the Government. I must tell you, too, that on
+these, and all occasions, fights are so frequent
+between these sects of the followers of Christ that
+the processions go about with a strong escort of
+police.</p>
+
+<p>As the tail end of the procession passed, we
+looked up our street from our vantage point on the
+wall, and C—— said: “What a pity we are not on
+our own balcony, as they have made a round, and
+are coming past the house.”</p>
+
+<p>But I thought they could not have had time to
+do that, slow as they had been, and was sure that
+what we saw must be the head of the procession<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_198" id="Page_198">[198]</a></span>
+passing the other side of the square. It was
+quite dark by now, and all the mourners carried
+lighted tapers. The crowd in the square and the
+procession all seemed hopelessly mixed, but when
+we at last made our way to the end of our own
+street, we found that we were both right about the
+Funeral, for there were two of them—the tail of the
+Aglipayanos was passing the end of our street,
+while away up, beyond our house, the road was
+blocked by the Romanists waiting to let the others
+go past.</p>
+
+<p>We tried to get up our street, but the R.C.
+procession had started to come down it, so we took
+refuge on a flight of stairs through an open doorway.
+We had a very good view of this Funeral too.</p>
+
+<p>It was just the same style of thing, only with
+more Spaniards and Eurasians amongst the
+mourners; and, following the bier of the Christ, a
+dozen or so of converted Chinamen with their pigtails
+lopped off. In this procession, too, the priests
+were white men, but on the other hand, the Aglipayano
+<i lang="es">padres</i> are all Filipinos, only we had not
+been near enough to the first procession to see
+their faces, which would have shown us at once
+which sort they were.</p>
+
+<p>The Papists had their drums and trumpets tied
+with huge black bows, and their catafalque was a
+still more gloomy erection, set round with large oil
+lamps in frosted globes, and topped by great
+bunches of nodding black plumes, like the old
+prints of the funeral of Wellington.</p>
+
+<p>About midnight we were awakened by the
+sound of a slow, muffled band and feet shuffling
+along the road, so we went out on to the balcony,
+and saw the R.C. procession go trailing past, very
+solemn and uncanny in the moonlight, with their
+yellow taper-flames looking like little bits of gold
+paper in the strong white light. This time they<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_199" id="Page_199">[199]</a></span>
+had not the great catafalque with them, which, we
+imagined, must signify that the Christ was at rest in
+the tomb.</p>
+
+<p>Next morning, Saturday, things were very quiet,
+and the town much as usual, except for the crowds
+of people everywhere, all crawling up and down the
+streets in very clean clothes, with innumerable tiny
+children.</p>
+
+<p>Easter Sunday was very gay, beginning with
+deafening bells well in the dark hours of the morning,
+when even the cocks had hardly begun to tune
+up for the day. The great excitement was a
+children’s carnival (at the end of Lent!), got up by
+the Spanish Club; which event resolved itself into
+the inevitable procession through the streets, for
+these people are as inveterate procession-walkers
+as the Swiss; and whatever comes off, they turn
+out and walk about the streets, quite conceited and
+perfectly happy, taking the whole mummery with
+invulnerable seriousness.</p>
+
+<p>These children were really a very pretty sight,
+though, and the little things seemed to be enjoying
+themselves immensely. At about four o’clock they
+began to assemble, forming up and marching round
+the Plaza, and then up the Calle Real to the
+Gobierno (the Government buildings), round the
+grass plot in front of that building, back and down
+the street parallel to this, and finally along here,
+when we saw them from our balcony.</p>
+
+<p>One of the prettiest cars was got up as the Sea,
+with clouds of pale green and blue tulle, the back
+of the car a great fan-shaped shell, in which sat a
+very pretty little <i lang="es">Mestiza</i> girl dressed as a mermaid,
+with a long pasteboard tail, and driving two swans.
+Another was “the world”—a huge globe with the
+four continents sitting one at each corner; another
+was a monster basket full of a miscellaneous collection
+of ballet-fairies, toreadors, Faust and Mephistopheles,<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_200" id="Page_200">[200]</a></span>
+gipsies, and so forth, all very solemn and
+perfectly happy. One tiny person of two years old
+was dressed as a cupid in pink muslin and roses—such
+a darling—and one little girl was a funny
+wee clown, as broad as she was long.</p>
+
+<p>After they had all gone past, we went to the
+Spanish Club to see the prize-giving, which was
+very amusing. “Iloilo at a glance” was squeezing
+and surging about in the big room upstairs, and I
+thought the floor must cave in; but Mr M——, who
+is a member of that club, told me it was all right, as
+they always put props under the floor for a <i lang="es">funcion</i>,
+a characteristically Spanish and haphazard idea.</p>
+
+<p>There was a band playing somewhere, and in an
+alcove a big tea-table spread out, while the whole
+of one wall was lined with long tables displaying
+the prizes—really lovely toys.</p>
+
+<p>We walked about, talking to the children, all
+very keen to show off and explain their costumes,
+and the mermaid immensely proud of the little
+wheel on which her tail moved along the floor.
+One miniature couple in evening dress, looking like
+grown-up people seen through the wrong end of a
+telescope, were well worth watching and following
+about, for neither of them would have sacrificed
+his or her dignity to a smile for anything in the
+world.</p>
+
+<p>The prize-giving went by vote, but the poor
+mites who had not got prizes were consoled by toys
+doled out in a novel and pretty fashion at the end
+of the show. I fancy I have seen it somewhere in
+a cotillon, but can’t be sure. From the ceiling hung
+two huge Japanese umbrellas, with coloured ribbons
+dangling from each spoke, and when they were
+lowered at the end, the children filed past underneath,
+each taking off a ribbon and tearing away to
+see what present it was good for. We saw the
+little man, of the couple in evening dress, going<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_201" id="Page_201">[201]</a></span>
+about showing off his prize—the first prize, I think
+it was—which was a beautiful doll. Then, to our
+astonishment, we found that the couple were a pair
+of little sisters, Filipinas, of course, for there were,
+none but Filipino, Spanish, and <i lang="es">Mestizo</i> children
+taking part in the <i lang="fr">fête</i>, though all the American
+Colony, as they call themselves, were in the room.
+I think there are very few American children here,
+and those that there are look miserably white,
+and thinner even than the Spanish or <i lang="es">Mestizo</i>
+youngsters.</p>
+
+<p>We left about seven, before the rush, as we had
+the trap waiting outside, and the last thing we saw
+was the mermaid showing somebody her tail and
+the poor clown crying sleepily on her mother’s
+shoulder.</p>
+
+<p>In the evening there was a <i lang="es">baile</i>, which we
+summoned up energy to turn out for, but it was
+hardly worth the effort, as the floor had been spoilt
+by boots in the afternoon, while the band, half
+asleep, poor creatures, played intolerably slow and
+mournful music, to which the dancers crawled
+languidly about, for it was a very hot night, without
+a breath of air anywhere.</p>
+
+<hr />
+
+<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_202" id="Page_202">[202]</a></span></p>
+
+<h2 id="LETTER_25">LETTER XXV.<br />
+<span class="smaller">A DAY AT NAGABA</span></h2>
+
+<p class="right"><span class="smcap">Iloilo</span>, <i>April 30, 1905</i>.</p>
+
+<p>We went last Sunday to spend the day at Nagaba,
+a native village opposite Iloilo, in the island of
+Guimaras. We took the trip at the invitation of
+some friends who had gone to spend Saturday to
+Monday in a native house which happened to be
+empty and available for hire. I have often wanted
+to visit some of the places about, but the great
+difficulty is how to put up, for there are no inns,
+and no lodgings to be had in the villages. One
+can’t go anywhere and back in a day, unless just
+across to Guimaras, but even that entails going out
+in the heat of the day, which is never very pleasant
+or very safe.</p>
+
+<p>We were lucky, however, in this trip to Nagaba,
+as the sky was cloudy and the breeze very fresh,
+and, though we left as late as ten in the morning,
+we did not suffer from the heat. I am constantly
+reminded of a certain book of adventure, which as
+children we used to love, called <cite>The Coral Island</cite>.
+It is by Ballantyne, I think—you remember it, I
+am sure? Do you remember the pictures of
+the three boys in the Tropic Island, standing in
+white sunshine, and wearing loose caps or no hats
+at all? and all the stories of their adventures, and
+how they set off at “about the middle of the day”
+in a canoe with sufficient meat and vegetables to
+last for a week, and how they went in this fashion
+to other small islands? This did not seem to me<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_203" id="Page_203">[203]</a></span>
+odd as a child, of course; and I daresay I saw
+nothing peculiar in the daily life of <cite>The Swiss
+Family Robinson</cite>, either; and probably should
+have raised no objections to any of these stories
+a few months ago, or minded a bit being told that
+English boys went about unscorched and alive with
+no protection from the tropic mid-day sun, or that
+meat was fit to eat after one day in a canoe, much
+less one week!</p>
+
+<p>Well, we got over to Guimaras in a very short
+time, landing from the launch in a small boat, from
+which C—— and I and the friend who was with
+us were carried ashore by our servants, who had
+come with us—we had also, by request, brought
+our plates, knives, forks, and tumblers!</p>
+
+<p>The house we were going to was situated on a
+small rocky steep leading up from the beach, a
+few hundred yards from a tiny village of brown
+<i lang="es">nipa</i> huts amongst the green bushes and palms
+in a bay at the mouth of a river. The house
+was a regular native dwelling, built on high poles
+of bamboo, with walls of <i lang="es">nipa</i>, and floors of pieces
+of split cane half an inch or so apart for coolness.
+The whole abode consisted of one very big room,
+part of which was partitioned off as a bedroom,
+while all along one side of the house towards the
+sea ran a broad balcony, built out over the rocks,
+and shaded by tall thickly-leaved trees, with a
+glorious view of the blue bay, the open green sea,
+and a bit of rose-purple Panay in the distance.
+I don’t think I ever saw a more lovely spot, and I
+could not help reflecting how different life in the
+Philippines must be to those who can live in such
+places as Nagaba instead of a street in a town.
+Though, to be practical, I suppose the food would
+be even worse, and ice—but one could not get
+less ice than we do now in the town.</p>
+
+<p>Some of us spent all the morning loafing about<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_204" id="Page_204">[204]</a></span>
+and talking on the balcony, enjoying the deep
+shade and the fresh breeze blowing straight in from
+the open sea. One of the men of the party had
+contrived to catch the <i lang="es">anting-anting</i> lizard of the
+house, such as I described to you as having
+a call like a cuckoo and being considered very lucky
+by the Filipinos. He had tethered the creature
+by a piece of cotton tied round its body, so as
+to keep it for me to see when I arrived, and
+it was much larger than I had expected—about a
+foot long—and not unlike the desert lizards one sees
+dried in the bazaars in Upper Egypt, only the skin
+of the “Philippine cuckoo” is all a pattern of
+green and red. The poor thing was tame enough,
+but very shy, and inclined to get behind furniture
+or skirts, so when I had had a good look at it, they
+let it go again, when it vanished into the thick
+fringe of <i lang="es">nipa</i> that protected the sides of the
+balcony. This <i lang="es">nipa</i>, when one sees it close at hand,
+is a sort of palm leaf folded in two, lengthways,
+and tied to frames of bamboo, but it makes very
+nice, cool houses, and is absolutely waterproof.</p>
+
+<p>One of the trees that shadowed the house was
+an Ylang-Ylang, from which the scent of that
+name is extracted; a tall, naked, light brown, smooth
+stem, with thin branches spreading out at the top,
+and leaves like an acacia. The perfume is in the
+small green blossom, which is not at all unlike
+that of a lime, and with infinite difficulty one or
+two of these were pulled down by means of a
+fishing-rod, and given to me to dry and put in
+my linen-cupboard in the native fashion. They
+dried up in a very few hours, but kept their
+delicious scent, and when I came home, I put them
+amongst my handkerchiefs, which are sweetly
+perfumed with them already.</p>
+
+<div class="figcenter" style="width: 600px;" id="illus14">
+<img src="images/illus14.jpg" width="600" height="400" alt="" />
+<p class="caption"><span class="smcap">Native Houses.</span></p>
+<p class="caption-r"><a href="#Page_204"><i>To face page 204.</i></a></p>
+</div>
+
+<p>Some of the men spent a riotous morning in
+a fresh-water swimming bath in a grove near the<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_205" id="Page_205">[205]</a></span>
+house. There is a spring of perfect water, which
+is brought in pipes past the house and out in long
+bamboo pipes on stands in the shallow water,
+where ships come and take it in to supply steamers,
+or to sell over in Iloilo. The flow of water is very
+great, enough to supply a city, and the main pipe
+is so contrived that by pulling out a plug one fills
+the swimming bath, which is a wonderful luxury.</p>
+
+<p>We heard the others splashing and shouting in
+the swimming bath all the morning, and when lunch
+time came, they appeared radiant and starving, and
+I have not seen men do such justice to their food
+since I came to the Philippines.</p>
+
+<p>After lunch we all settled down in various
+chosen nooks for a <i lang="es">siesta</i>, and our servant Sotero,
+who is a native of Nagaba, came and asked permission
+to go away for the afternoon, which surprised
+our friends very much, for they said they had
+never heard of a Filipino servant taking anything
+but “French leave.”</p>
+
+<p>I have not yet been able to acquire the habit
+of sleeping in the middle of the day, which is
+perhaps one of the reasons why I never feel well
+out here. So I sat about, and looked at some
+picture papers, and felt very tired—I could cheerfully
+have gone round to the sleeping forms and
+done them some injury simply because they could
+sleep!</p>
+
+<p>About four C—— awoke, so we went a little
+walk amongst the rocks close to the house, and
+thought we were exploring the whole island!</p>
+
+<p>We wandered about amongst scrub and rocks
+above the shore, where we came suddenly to a tiny
+hut perched up amongst big grey boulders, with
+fishing nets spread out to dry and a native lounging
+in the window-space. It looked such a nice little
+hut, just one large palm-thatch room on high poles,
+with a rickety step-ladder up to the door, where<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_206" id="Page_206">[206]</a></span>
+a round comfortable cat was sitting watching the
+fowls pecking about below. A little farther on we
+came to the banana patch, with brilliant green
+plants growing on a nook of dark earth amongst
+the grey rocks. All the rocks were very sharp;
+volcanic, with rough edges, which cut our shoes,
+even when we followed a tiny winding track. After
+we got to a little height, we could look down on
+the village and the sea and bay, which all appeared
+most bright and beautiful in the long rays of the
+low sun, and all so peaceful and quiet.</p>
+
+<p>We turned back again by a path which struck
+more inland, past some more little banana fields
+and another little hut with its back to a tiny
+precipice. It is strange how near the towns the
+primitive sets in, for the people in both lots of huts
+were quite shy of us, and the children ran away
+and hid; while in the village, through which we
+passed, by making a round across some rice-fields,
+the people were quite country-folk, not a
+bit like the cheeky, independent loungers in the
+towns; answering one quite civilly and even happily
+when one spoke to them.</p>
+
+<p>The village was delightfully quaint, all built on
+high poles planted in the sand of the shore, with
+many cheerful brown folk hanging out of the open
+sides of the houses, while mangy dogs with pups and
+fat old sows with immense families sprawled about
+down below. There are always quantities of pigs
+in a Philippine village, for, as I think I told you,
+they are the scavengers, and though the natives
+are not more unkind to those benefactors than to
+any other animals, to call one of them a pig is a
+frightful insult. In spite of all this, the favourite
+and most esteemed Filipino delicacy is sucking-pig,
+roasted whole.</p>
+
+<p>Beyond the village we went across a field of
+emerald grass, bordered by a deep green hedge of<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_207" id="Page_207">[207]</a></span>
+curious bushes with no flowers on them. Our
+friends told us that these plants come into bloom in
+the wet Monsoon. Now, with the hot weather a
+very beautiful tree is in flower everywhere, called
+the Fire tree, which was only naked brown
+branches for a long time, and then burst into huge
+bunches of brilliant scarlet blossoms, rather like
+orchids, and very handsome at a distance, but
+coarse and common close at hand. The effect of
+these masses of showy red against the vivid green
+palms is wonderful and almost too bright. There
+is one of these Fire trees in the garden of the house
+opposite to us, here in Iloilo, which is a gorgeous
+display, and a delight to me just to look at as I sit
+here writing.</p>
+
+<p>But, to get back to Nagaba, though there is not
+much to tell you, except that some of our friends
+joined us, and we ended our walk by a stroll
+through a cocoanut grove, where we saw an old
+man in a loin-cloth going up a tree to get the sap
+from which they make the <i lang="es">tuba</i>.<a name="FNanchor_7" id="FNanchor_7"></a><a href="#Footnote_7" class="fnanchor">[7]</a> He had a long
+vessel made of a section of bamboo tied across his
+back, and a little round bowl of half a cocoanut
+tied in front of his body, with a big sharp knife
+beside it. He ran up the tree by means of notches
+cut all the way up the trunk, and at the top he tied
+the vessel under a bunch of buds, putting in it some
+of the stuff out of the bowl, which was red bark to
+dye the drink pink. This beverage I think I have
+mentioned to you before. One sees it anywhere,
+and the long tumblers of pink liquid are a feature
+in every little native shop.</p>
+
+<p>This vessel they leave there for twelve hours,
+during which the sap drips out of the palm, and in
+the morning the man goes up and takes down the
+bamboo, now full of <i lang="es">tuba</i>, which is very fresh and
+nice, and tastes of cocoanut and water, and is very<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_208" id="Page_208">[208]</a></span>
+wholesome, not to say medicinal. If it is left, however,
+the <i lang="es">tuba</i> rapidly ferments, and by the evening
+is a very strong intoxicant, which constitutes the
+peculiar devil of the Philippines, and is the cause
+of most of the deterioration, physical, moral, and
+mental, of the race.</p>
+
+<p>When the American Army first came out to
+the Philippines, the temperance enthusiasts in the
+U.S.A. hearing that a good deal of drinking was
+going on out here, started an agitation, by means
+of which they got the Army Canteens in the
+Philippines abolished. The result of this drastic
+mothering was that the soldiers went off and got
+<i lang="es">tuba</i>, about which, of course, the good folk
+in America knew nothing. Frightful scandals
+happened, which unfortunately did harm to the
+American prestige, and even the restoration of the
+canteens has not swept away the folly and evil
+which were thus begun.</p>
+
+<p>This cocoanut grove, by the way, is kept for
+<i lang="es">tuba</i>, as are most of the palms one sees near the
+houses, for when the sap is taken in this way no
+fruit appears. Growing cocoanuts is one of the
+most lucrative speculations in the Philippines, as a
+tree bears fruit when it is six or seven years old,
+about a hundred nuts a year, the income yielded by
+a tree being about 2 <i lang="es">pesos</i>. So a grove of ten
+thousand trees or so is a very paying concern, if
+only the planter does not make the mistake, which
+I, myself, have often noticed, of placing his trees
+too close to one another, so that they do not get
+enough room to spread out at the top and find
+light and air.</p>
+
+<p>We turned back from the cocoanut grove by a
+different path, and went back to the house along
+the beach. As the tide was far out, we walked
+across the firm, damp sand, where there were
+myriads of tiny crabs of bright metallic blues<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_209" id="Page_209">[209]</a></span>
+and reds and greens, which all darted sideways
+into holes as soon as one got within a yard of
+them.</p>
+
+<p>After tea we loafed on the balcony, watching a
+lovely gold and rose sunset, while sailors and
+others took boxes and things down to the boat; and
+the man carrying our gear slipped on the rocks, and
+our plates and tumblers fell out and smashed to a
+thousand pieces. When it was almost dark, we
+returned in the launch to Iloilo, quite enchanted
+with our day at Nagaba and with the house on the
+rocks. We are determined to go over there one
+Saturday to Monday by ourselves, for it is a delightful
+change.</p>
+
+<hr />
+
+<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_210" id="Page_210">[210]</a></span></p>
+
+<h2 id="LETTER_26">LETTER XXVI.<br />
+<span class="smaller">THE MONSOON—AN ITALIAN OPERA COMPANY</span></h2>
+
+<p class="right"><span class="smcap">Iloilo</span>, <i>May 5, 1905</i>.</p>
+
+<p>I had two sweet little love-birds sent me yesterday,
+sitting jammed up in a tiny dirty cage in which
+they had travelled from China. They looked so
+uncomfortable and draggled, poor scraps, that I
+set off after my <i lang="es">siesta</i>, and went “down town,”
+as the Americans call it, to see if I could get a
+cage for them. More Philippine shopping! I
+explained and argued at all sorts of emporiums,
+but no one had anything the least like a bird
+cage. At last I thought the wonderful English
+store might produce one, and when I got there,
+they said they thought they had something of
+the kind, made of wood, of native manufacture. I
+said I thought that would do very well, so after a lot
+of rummaging in a <i lang="es">camarin</i>, some very nice cages
+were found—large and clean, and made of split
+bamboo, with a little red and green paint here
+and there.</p>
+
+<div class="figcenter" style="width: 600px;" id="illus15">
+<img src="images/illus15.jpg" width="600" height="350" alt="" />
+<p class="caption"><span class="smcap">The Track of a Typhoon.</span></p>
+<p class="caption-r"><a href="#Page_210"><i>To face page 210.</i></a></p>
+</div>
+
+<p>I was delighted—till I found there was no
+mistake about their having been made by a
+Filipino! No water-pipkin; no tray to slide out;
+a door so small that I could only squeeze my hand
+into the cage with difficulty; and <em>no perches</em>! It
+was all there was to be had in Iloilo, however,
+so I took it with me, and climbed in under the
+apron of the <i lang="es">calesa</i>—it was raining very hard—and
+took my cage home and told the servants<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_211" id="Page_211">[211]</a></span>
+to make perches. This they did with considerable
+skill, and the results looked very nice, but when
+I put the birds on them, the poor things instantly
+tumbled off into the soap-dish full of water, which
+was meant for them to drink from. After a lot of
+anxious thought, it occurred to me that the perches
+were much thinner than those in the little cage
+the birds had arrived in, and perhaps they could
+not wrap their long toes round these; and this
+was evidently the trouble, for as soon as larger
+ones were made and fixed in, the couple got up
+and stuck on, whispering to each other how nice
+the new perches were.</p>
+
+<p>Of course the cat wants to eat them, and glares
+with greedy eyes, while old Tuyay is fearfully
+puzzled, coming to look intently, and snuffing very
+long and hard, which the wee birds don’t mind
+a bit. They are such sweet things, with their
+tiny chirpings and pretty ways.</p>
+
+<p>There is a strong S.-W. Monsoon blowing now—warm
+and tiring—and one’s skin feels sticky and
+uncomfortable. In a month or two, however, this
+will be the chronic condition of the atmosphere, and
+will go on till October, but I suppose one gets
+used to it after a time, as to everything else.
+Yesterday a Typhoon was signalled by the
+meteorological office, but it has not arrived yet,
+and I hope it won’t come our way at all, for the
+circular winds that sweep over these islands are
+the most frightful storms, tearing up trees, whipping
+off corrugated roofs, and setting the <i lang="es">nipa</i>
+houses on fire.</p>
+
+<p>There are a great many rats here, which eat
+up whatever the cockroaches don’t finish—<i>i.e.</i>,
+whatever is not in glass jars or tins. They get
+through nearly as many potatoes—at the price
+of new potatoes at home in May—as we do, so
+I invested in a large wire trap, which was set<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_212" id="Page_212">[212]</a></span>
+in the <i lang="es">dispensa</i> ten days or more ago. The boys
+and the <i lang="es">sota</i> (groom) watched the trap with the
+keenest interest, but never a rat would get into
+it to oblige them. Now, however, while I was
+writing this, Domingo came in, beaming, with the
+trap in his hand, and a huge grey rat in it.
+“What are you going to do with it?” I asked.
+“Are you going to kill it?”</p>
+
+<p>“<i lang="es">Si, señora</i>, by pouring petroleum on the rat
+and setting it alight.” He was astonished and
+obviously disappointed when I peremptorily forbade
+this horrible rite, which the Filipinos have
+learnt from the Chinese, who think that the poor,
+agonised, blazing animal runs away with the ill-luck
+of the house.</p>
+
+<p>Then he suggested boiling water, and was again
+disappointed and surprised when I didn’t join in
+this spree either, and went off quite gloomily to
+carry out my orders—to find something large
+enough to stand the trap in so as to drown the
+poor beast as quickly as possible.</p>
+
+<p>Nothing could be found, till the <i lang="es">sota</i> fetched a
+tub from the stables, and this I made them fill with
+all the bath water—fresh water being far too
+precious to waste, even on sentiments of humanity!
+They collected all the water they could, and finally
+the flood reached the top of the cage, and though
+the sight of the rat struggling made me feel deadly
+sick, I waited till he was stiff and cold, as I did
+not know what cruelty these “little brown
+brothers” might not indulge in if left to their
+own devices.</p>
+
+<p>The cook had been at market, and Sotero had
+gone shopping, so there was not the crowd there
+might have been on the Azotea, and only half the
+advice. They don’t get excited, these Filipinos,
+unless they are fighting or massacring—one does not
+see frenzied little groups shouting in each other’s<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_213" id="Page_213">[213]</a></span>
+faces, and throwing their fingers about like Italians,
+or low-class Arabs, or people like that—they are
+very slow, and their voices always soft and gentle.
+I mean the Filipinos, for the <i lang="es">Mestizos</i> differ from
+them in this, as well as in having curiously harsh,
+discordant voices, by which one readily detects
+their breed.</p>
+
+<p>We went a night or two ago to a performance
+given by a wandering Italian Opera Company,
+who were really very good indeed, acting remarkably
+well, and possessing good voices. Three of
+them sang in various selections, and the fourth
+conducted an orchestra of bare-footed, flat-faced
+natives in ragged <i lang="es">camisas</i>, whose battered old
+straw hats hung about the footlight-board and on
+the piano.</p>
+
+<p>The conductor played the piano splendidly,
+with incredible energy in such heat, and the
+result that he knocked out of his orchestra was
+astonishing. The theatre was very full, and we
+had shared a box with some friends, all sitting
+with our knees jammed together in a pattern like
+the ornamentation on a runic cross.</p>
+
+<p>We enjoyed the show immensely, but, oh, it
+was hot! And if we, looking on, felt faint with
+the heat, what must it have been for the performers
+and for the <i lang="fr">Chef d’orchestre</i>! Talking of heat, the
+thermometer now averages 90° to 93° all day in the
+dark, airy house, and a little while ago, when we
+got some ice by luck and manœuvring, I put the
+thermometer in the ice chest, and it only went
+down to 80°!</p>
+
+<p>We have taken the house at Nagaba for next
+Saturday to Monday, and are busy making preparations
+for going over, with an anxious eye on
+the sky above and the weather-cock in the garden
+opposite. One has to take a good deal to the
+house at Nagaba, as all they provide is the<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_214" id="Page_214">[214]</a></span>
+four walls, a table, some chairs, a big native
+bed, and one or two hard cane couches. For
+this, however, one pays the same price a day as
+at a big London hotel for bed and breakfast for
+two people!</p>
+
+<hr />
+
+<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_215" id="Page_215">[215]</a></span></p>
+
+<h2 id="LETTER_27">LETTER XXVII.<br />
+<span class="smaller">A WEEK-END AT NAGABA</span></h2>
+
+<p class="right"><span class="smcap">Iloilo</span>, <i>May 8, 1905</i>.</p>
+
+<p>We were just going to Nagaba when I finished
+my last letter, I think, and now we have just
+returned, after having had a most delightful time
+over there.</p>
+
+<p>We went over in the launch on Saturday, leaving
+here at half-past four, and to look at the start from
+here you would have thought we were going for
+good to China or Japan!</p>
+
+<p>Before we set out, we sent a boy for a <i lang="es">carabao</i>-cart,
+inside which the gear was stowed:—two rolls
+of bedding; some large wooden cases with household
+effects; C——’s suit-case with what clothes
+we had to take; and Sotero sitting behind, carrying
+a mysterious bundle, with the cook beside him, got
+up in a clean pink and green muslin <i lang="es">camisa</i> and blue
+cotton trousers, carrying C——’s panama in one
+hand, and a long sack full of his beloved pots and
+pans in the other. C—— and I and Tuyay followed
+in the <i lang="es">calesa</i>, leaving Domingo in charge of the
+house, under oath to <i lang="es">mucho quedado</i> (take great
+care), but rather gloomy at not being in the
+outing.</p>
+
+<p>At the Muelle Loney we embarked, with friends
+waving to us from the office windows as if we were
+going away for ever. The day was perfect and the
+crossing lovely, but a slight swell made it rather
+difficult for us to tranship into the small boat we
+had towed over. When we got to the other side,<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_216" id="Page_216">[216]</a></span>
+C—— did the complete and efficient sailorman
+in stowing the gear in the boat, handing me down
+(something after the fashion of the Arabs at Jaffa)
+into the cook’s embrace, and giving orders generally;
+but he spoilt the whole effect by falling into the boat
+right on top of me, and bonneting me in my own
+topee, at which <i lang="fr">debâcle</i> the cook showed all his
+dark red betel-stained teeth from ear to ear, and
+even Tuyay laughed.</p>
+
+<p>The tide was very far out, showing long
+stretches of wet sand and reefs, all shining in the
+sunlight, with strips of very blue water in between.
+C—— quite redeemed his reputation for sailorising
+as he steered the boat ashore by the colour of the
+water over the sand banks; and we managed to
+get not very far from the front of the house, which
+we could just manage to make out amongst the
+trees and rocks, but the water-pipes on the bamboo
+frames going out into the sea, showed us where to
+look. The crew and the servants waded ashore,
+carrying gear, and Tuyay was chucked out and
+splashed along with them, while two skinny brown
+ragamuffins made a “chair” of their arms, and
+carried me—with puffings and groanings, so rude!—to
+land, and set me down on the beach with a
+sigh of relief. After landing me and the <i lang="fr">ménage</i>,
+C—— rowed back to the launch to put the sailors
+on board, and she steamed away to Iloilo again.
+Coming back in the boat alone, he tied her up to a
+fish <i lang="es">corral</i>—a sort of wattle fence in the shallow
+water—and then waded ashore and came gingerly
+up the sharp rocks.</p>
+
+<p>By the time he arrived I had unpacked, and it
+was about half-past five, so we put on bathing suits
+and filled the swimming bath, and the fun began at
+once. It was delicious, after the long, hot day, to
+splash about in the cool, fresh water, and we
+stayed there till it was quite dark, and we could<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_217" id="Page_217">[217]</a></span>
+see stars shining in the patches of dark sky
+between the branches. By-the-bye, I often think
+how strange it seems to see the same old Orion’s
+Belt and Cassiopeia looking down on us here. We
+see the Southern Cross, too, low on the horizon—a
+disappointing exhibition, and no one would think it
+was meant for a cross unless they were told so.</p>
+
+<p>We dined early, and were hungry, which was
+delightful. The cook and Sotero managed wonderfully,
+so that we were just as comfortable as in our
+own delightful house. There was a firefly flitting all
+about the big room, looking so pretty; appearing
+and disappearing like a tiny fairy light.</p>
+
+<p>Next morning, when I woke up, I heard only a
+few cocks crowing—nothing to speak of—and some
+twitterings of birds as well, and I think the latter
+pleased me as much as the whole trip! In the
+Philippines “the birds have no song and the
+flowers have no scent,” they say, which is a sweeping
+generalisation, but true for the most part.</p>
+
+<p>We put on our bathing suits, had a cup of tea,
+and were out on the beach by six o’clock. The
+tide was far out again, with long stretches of shining
+wet, ribbed sand; the sea all fresh and blue, and
+glittering in the sunlight. But where we went was
+still in shade, for the sun had not yet come up
+behind the Guimaras hills, and the morning air was
+exquisite. We “ran races in our mirth” along the
+wet sands, till we got opposite the fish <i lang="es">corral</i>, where
+the water was deeper and the boat was tied up to
+a bamboo pole.</p>
+
+<p>As we went along the beach, we saw people
+from the little huts we passed when we were here
+before, washing at a spring of water which flowed
+out from the rocks and down to the beach. They
+were some way off, though, and we were in the
+shade and they were in the still deeper shade under
+the cliffs, so we could not make them out very<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_218" id="Page_218">[218]</a></span>
+clearly, but we could see their coppered-coloured
+skins shining with water, and hear them laughing
+and talking.</p>
+
+<p>We swam about the boat for a long time, and
+found the water quite warm in the shallows, even
+before the sun was up. I had brought C——’s
+panama, which I hung to the fish <i lang="es">corral</i> while I
+swam about in the shade, but when we went back
+to the house, I had to wear it, as the sun which
+was then on us is oppressively hot here as soon as
+it rises.</p>
+
+<p>The fish <i lang="es">corral</i>, by-the-bye, is an ingenious trap,
+rather after the fashion of a maze, into which the
+fish enter but never have the sense to get out
+again.</p>
+
+<p>When we got back to the house, we filled the
+swimming bath, which felt very cold after the sea,
+and it certainly washed off the salt water, but it
+was nearly as hard and harsh as the sea itself.</p>
+
+<div class="figcenter" style="width: 600px;" id="illus16">
+<img src="images/illus16.jpg" width="600" height="375" alt="" />
+<p class="caption"><span class="smcap">A Filipino Market-Place.</span></p>
+<p class="caption-r"><a href="#Page_218"><i>To face page 218.</i></a></p>
+</div>
+
+<p>In the early morning a fleet of <i lang="es">paraos</i> (native
+sailing boats) goes across to Iloilo to the market
+with fowls, mangoes, maize, pine-apples, etc., and
+our cook took passage in one of these vessels to go
+and do his marketing, for it is impossible to buy a
+single thing in Nagaba, where the people only just
+keep enough for their own scanty consumption. He
+returned about nine o’clock, and I went into the
+kitchen to inspect the result of his shopping.
+The kitchen was in the regular native fashion, just
+a prolongation of the living-room, with the same
+split-bamboo floor, through which could be seen the
+fowls and pigs wandering about under the house.
+There was no ceiling below the thatch and rafters,
+and everything seemed very nice and trim—the fireplace
+being a high table of concrete with holes in the
+top. In each hole they light little pieces of charcoal,
+so that each pot has its own fire, which seems
+a cumbersome method, but it saves fuel, and must<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_219" id="Page_219">[219]</a></span>
+be quite enough trouble for a Filipino, who has
+probably one pot of rice to boil and no more.
+From the roof hang all sorts of dried fruits or
+vegetables, and queer little bundles of herbs for
+flavourings and for medicines as well. I noticed
+that amongst the things the cook had brought he
+had not forgotten the day’s supply of <i lang="es">buyo</i>. When
+first I used to go into the kitchen here to look at
+the day’s supplies, I saw this little packet, not unlike
+a lily-leaf, tied up with a wisp of twine, and
+classed it amongst the mysterious little odds and
+ends intended for flavourings. But one day I had
+the curiosity to ask, and the cook, with much shyness
+and shrugging up of his shoulders, told me it
+was <i lang="es">buyo</i> (betel-nut). I could quite believe it when
+I looked at his crimson teeth, and was thankful the
+supply was only for himself and not the other
+servants, for I could not stand being waited on at
+table by a person with a mouth as if he had been
+drinking fresh blood. The betel-chewers expectorate
+a great deal, though they can’t possibly do
+so more than their compatriots and the Spaniards
+and Americans, but the red expectoration is
+horrible, somehow, and I’ve often seen all the
+pavement outside a house or shop quite crimson
+with the great splashes of betel-juice ejected by the
+inmates.</p>
+
+<p>We spent all the morning pottering about and
+reading, and regretting that we could not carry out
+our plan of bathing again when the tide was up
+and deep below the house, as we were expecting a
+party of English and American friends from Iloilo,
+who had announced that they would visit us on
+Sunday morning. But the party never landed after
+all, which was rather a disappointment, as we were
+done out of our bathe, besides having no use for
+a dozen or two of sodas which we had brought
+over with infinite trouble.</p>
+
+<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_220" id="Page_220">[220]</a></span></p>
+
+<p>After the <i lang="es">siesta</i>, we thought we would make use
+of the boat for a little trip, so we sent into the village
+for two men who could row; and they fetched her
+to the beach and rowed us up the little estuary, past
+the village and up the river. Unfortunately, the tide
+had gone out again—very far out—and the river
+was too low to go as far as we had intended, which
+was to a convent and church, the corrugated roofs
+of which we had seen from a height. So we just
+went a little way up the narrow, muddy river, but
+we could not see much as we were below the level
+of the thick bushes that fringed the banks. At
+last we stuck and could get no further, so we
+turned back and went up a little back-water, and
+landed by a queer sort of lime-kiln in a palm-grove.</p>
+
+<p>We scrambled ashore, and walked up a track
+through the woods of mangoes and palms, till we
+got up a good height, with a map view of the river
+winding far below and a glimpse of the roofs of the
+convent. Down in the valley the land was all cultivated,
+chiefly in maize-fields and bananas, which
+looked green enough though uninteresting, but the
+hills were pretty, and wooded with trees of all tones
+of green, and the distances exquisite in gradations of
+mauves and blues. From where we stood, the sea
+was quite hidden, for we had our backs to it, and
+the hill between us and it; and the view spread out
+below was like some tropical version of the valley
+of the Doons. We went on up through the wood,
+still big dark mango trees with leaves like laurels—dark
+and shiny—and feathery, graceful cocoanut-palms
+in between. The ground was all covered
+with straggling plants, wild mint, and dead palm-branches,
+while wild pine-apples grew in quantities,
+each fruit sitting in a flat bush of spiky yellowish
+leaves, and looking delicious!</p>
+
+<p>By a very primitive hut in a clearing we came
+upon some natives, clad only in short white<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_221" id="Page_221">[221]</a></span>
+drawers, who were very nice and cheerful; very
+different from the people in the towns. They
+knew very little Spanish, but we made out that
+their chief occupations were gathering the fruit of
+the pine-apples for food and the leaves to make
+into the thread to weave the <i lang="es">piña</i> muslin. They
+made charcoal too, and all this information C——
+elicited in Visayan and a few words of Spanish.
+I don’t suppose they trouble themselves much
+about even those simple occupations, and I should
+think the less thought they gave to the blessings
+of civilisation the happier they would be. What
+good on earth can education, whisky, votes,
+appendicitis, electric light, a free press, frozen
+meat, clothes, and pianos do to such happy simple
+souls? It seems so odd to think that in one part
+of the world cultivated, thinking men are trying
+their level best to destroy for others an ideally
+happy, simple life, while at home their one profession
+is a wish to return to it themselves, and
+their only idea of a holiday is to go off and camp in
+the Rockies, where they can approach as nearly as
+possible to the conditions one sees here in the
+country places. Indeed, as I told you, far from
+encouraging a simple, agricultural life, the land and
+other taxes, and the education they go to maintain,
+are having the effect of choking agriculture and
+hurrying the half-taught countrymen into the
+towns.</p>
+
+<p>But even with the elect, with the Filipinos,
+the sums of money raised should be spent on roads,
+on remitting the poll-tax, on reducing the export
+duties—and then, when a generation or two has
+been peaceful and well fed, it would be time enough
+to educate the masses—if such universal education
+is necessary or beneficial to such a people, or any
+people at all. In the white countries, with all
+their thousands of years of progress through<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_222" id="Page_222">[222]</a></span>
+Greece, Rome, and the Middle Ages, one can’t
+be sure, judging from the tone of literature that
+appeals to the masses, whether education has been
+an unmitigated boon; but hastily to apply the
+same methods to this infinitely lower development
+of the human race, is an absurdity that would be
+laughable if it were not pitiful and dangerous.
+And it seems so strange to think of a country
+being governed against its inclinations, not by
+legislators trained in its problems, but by a body of
+electors on the other side of the world, not one
+of whom knows more of its conditions and needs
+than the first cabman one would hail in London
+or Paris. Strange, is it not, when you come
+to think of it?</p>
+
+<p>Well, to get back to our trip up the river
+in Guimaras, we came down through the woods
+again, and got into our boat about sunset,
+rowing back to the beach opposite the house
+in a pale crimson sunset glow, with long dark
+shadows of trees and houses falling on the sand,
+and when we got out at the house, we walked
+up over the rocks and pools, and saw the little
+bright metallic-looking crabs running into their
+holes again. We tried very hard to catch one,
+but it was impossible, for they run sideways at
+a great pace, simply vanishing like so many
+harlequins of crab-land.</p>
+
+<div class="figcenter" style="width: 375px;" id="illus17">
+<img src="images/illus17.jpg" width="375" height="600" alt="" />
+<p class="caption"><span class="smcap">A Three-Man Breeze off Guimaras.</span></p>
+<p class="caption"><span class="smcap">A Parao.</span></p>
+<p class="caption-r"><a href="#Page_222"><i>To face page 222.</i></a></p>
+</div>
+
+<p>We dined early, and spent the evening in
+long chairs on the balcony. It was a lovely night,
+fresh and cool, probably not more than 85°, with
+great stars shining brightly, making quite a silver
+light upon the sea. Many people from the village
+were out in the bay, wading in the shallows, and
+catching fish with spears and torches, shining a
+light on the water, and then plunging down a spear
+and bringing up the poor deluded fish. A man
+ran out from under our house, carrying a bamboo<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_223" id="Page_223">[223]</a></span>
+staff about 12 feet long, dipped in something
+resinous, and flaming at one end, and we saw
+another man join him, and they waded far out,
+till the torch was only a little speck of yellow in
+the silvery night. That was all very nice and
+primitive, but on the rocks below sat another
+engaging barbarian, squatting on his heels getting
+crabs out of the pools, and whistling “Hiawatha”
+perfectly in tune.</p>
+
+<p>We had a very early start next morning, turning
+out at half-past five, and packing and breakfasting
+as soon as it was light, for we had to be
+back in Iloilo in time for C—— to be at his
+office at eight o’clock. We had not been able
+to get the launch to come and fetch us, so, when
+we were on our way back from the river the
+night before, we had stopped by the village and
+made arrangements to take one of the <i lang="es">paraos</i>
+lying at anchor there—long, thin frames of bamboo
+covered with <i lang="es">bejuco</i> matting, tarred inside and out,
+in shape sharp and narrow as a blade, with big
+canvas sails and great wide outriggers. The
+crews of these boats consist of several men, one
+of whom steers while the others control the sails
+or run out on the outriggers, for the art of sailing
+them consists in a very skilful balance, according
+to the direction of the wind; and breezes here
+are known as “one-man” or “three-man” winds
+and so on, by the number of men that would be
+required on the outriggers of a <i lang="es">parao</i>. They are
+said to be safe enough, but they look very risky,
+and skim over the water like swallows, also
+they draw very little water, and can anchor in very
+shallow places.</p>
+
+<p>We got on board our <i lang="es">parao</i>, the <i>Soltero</i>, by
+about seven o’clock, and had a lovely, fresh three-man
+breeze, a glorious sunny morning, and I
+wished the crossing could have taken half a day<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_224" id="Page_224">[224]</a></span>
+instead of half an hour. C—— and I sat on
+the little narrow plank that served as deck; while
+the other half of the boat, where the “deck”
+stopped, was full of rolls of bedding and gear,
+and on top of all, sat the cook still clutching the
+panama and his sack of pots and pans. The boat
+towed behind, with one of the wooden cases in it,
+guarded by Sotero, holding in his arms a large
+and handsome rooster, to buy which he had asked
+for an advance upon his wages. I don’t like
+cock-fighting, and was depressed by the sight of
+this poor animal; but it would be silly to make a
+fuss and perhaps lose so good a servant, and,
+after all, though you can train a Filipino to
+understand your ways, it is no more possible to
+alter his being a Filipino by your theories than
+to wash his skin white with somebody’s soap.</p>
+
+<p>I was so interested in watching the marvellously
+nimble way the sailors ran out upon the
+outriggers, first to one side, then we made a
+wide tack and the sail swung round, nearly
+knocking our heads off, and the crew rushed
+over to the other side, doing feats of balancing
+far more wonderful than anything I ever saw
+in a circus, for they had not got a nice safe net
+below them, with a lot of men in brass buttons
+holding on to the poles and looking up to see
+if they made a slip. On the contrary, there was
+nothing but their astounding balance and agility
+between them, and fathoms of choppy sea running
+with a swift current, and full of sharks.</p>
+
+<p>They brought the boat to the beach at the end
+of the street which runs at right angles from our
+own, opposite the end of our house, and ran her
+broadside on in shallow water and then up on to
+the sand, where we could jump ashore from the
+bows.</p>
+
+<p>The sailors and the cook and Sotero carried the<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_225" id="Page_225">[225]</a></span>
+gear up into the house, and when I went into the
+hall, I had the impression of having been some weeks
+in a strange country, whereas we had really only
+been within sight of our own town from Saturday
+to Monday. So many new things—and yet, though I
+have written till I am tired, I feel that I have not
+told you half what we saw and noticed.</p>
+
+<hr />
+
+<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_226" id="Page_226">[226]</a></span></p>
+
+<h2 id="LETTER_28">LETTER XXVIII.<br />
+<span class="smaller">A LITTLE EARTHQUAKE, AND AN OPERA COMPANY
+UNDER DIFFICULTIES</span></h2>
+
+<p class="right"><span class="smcap">Iloilo</span>, <i>May 15, 1905</i>.</p>
+
+<p>We had a slight earthquake here on Wednesday
+morning, the 11th. It was my first experience
+of that form of excitement, and I am sure I don’t
+want another. The queer thing that everyone here
+tells me, and they have plenty of experience to go
+by, is that people do not usually think much of their
+first earthquake, but instead of becoming accustomed
+to them, they become more alarmed, and get to be
+horribly frightened at the mere suggestion of the
+earth’s surface shifting about.</p>
+
+<p>This one took place at about half-past four in the
+morning, and at first I thought it was a burglar or
+someone moving about the room, and was just
+going to call to C—— when he cried out: “Wake
+up! There is an earthquake!”</p>
+
+<p>I woke up pretty quickly when I heard that!
+The shaking continued quite a long time, and I
+thought it a sickening sensation, and so horribly
+uncanny, with all the room trembling, and the
+furniture rattling and moving, while outside the
+air was deathly still. I think that what made the
+stillness was that no cocks crowed, and the eternal
+shrilling of the crickets ceased, which made a deadness
+in the ears such as one feels on coming out of
+a factory.</p>
+
+<p>C—— invited me to go out on the balcony and
+“see the street moving,” which I firmly refused to<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_227" id="Page_227">[227]</a></span>
+do. I am sorry now that I did not go on to the
+balcony, but at the time I felt too horribly frightened
+to move hand or foot.</p>
+
+<p>I don’t think I like earthquakes, but I expect I
+shall have to accustom myself to them, for they are
+so common in the Philippines as to excite no remark
+unless some building tumbles down; and the houses,
+as I think I told you, are built with a view to these
+hysterics of old mother Earth, with all the planks
+and beams tied with bands of <i lang="es">bejuco</i> to give them
+room to shift a little.</p>
+
+<p>But besides the earthquake, we have been in
+more imminent danger since I last wrote, in the
+shape of the final and really conclusive and farewell
+performance of the Italian Quartette, which took
+place last Saturday night. The theatre was very
+full, and gaily decorated with loops of green leaves
+and paper roses of red and yellow, mixed up with
+perilous paper lanterns. The electric light, which
+has been weak for some time, chose, on this occasion,
+to go out altogether—in the midst of an impassioned
+duet.</p>
+
+<p>There was instantly great excitement, for the
+paper lanterns were not lighted, and the theatre
+was plunged in blackness of the deepest dye.
+Reckless scratching of matches sounded all round,
+and the little lights were held up for a few seconds
+till they burnt out, and then dropped just anywhere.
+One did not need to look to gather that a Filipino
+did this thing! It made one’s blood run cold to
+see them.</p>
+
+<p>Of course, though the electric light was in such
+a precarious state, and expected to expire at any
+minute, there had been no provision made in case
+of accidents, and the remedy now was a wild rush
+outside to buy candles, which were soon produced
+and stuck in dabs of their own grease along the
+front of the stage and amongst the orchestra. One<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_228" id="Page_228">[228]</a></span>
+or two lamps came somehow from somewhere and
+were placed jauntily about the building, while the
+spare candles were secured by enterprising spirits
+in the audience and put about so that they shone in
+the eye, and no one could see anything, and little
+brown ladies in <i lang="es">camisas</i>, with huge gauze sleeves,
+leaned past the naked lights with admirable
+indifference. There was not a single accident,
+however, but how that was managed, and indeed
+how the whole matchbox theatre was not burnt to
+the ground and the audience roasted, is simply the
+eighth wonder of the world.</p>
+
+<p>I can’t say I took the affair very cheerfully myself;
+in fact, to be truthful, the sensation of impending
+doom, and the trouble of having to keep my eye on
+the wobbling candles, spoilt my enjoyment a good
+deal. The singing was very good, and in spite of
+the partial gloom, the opening scene of La Bohême
+was given very well indeed, and it was such a treat
+to hear that glorious music. Of course the darkness
+suited that very well, and made the scene in the
+garret most realistic, though I expect the Quartier
+Latin was rather <i lang="fr">caviare</i> to the ladies in the muslin
+<i lang="es">camisas</i>. I loved to hear the Italian too, it sounded
+so full and round and pure after Spanish. I suppose
+one prefers whichever tongue one happens to learn
+first. After the opening piece the light suddenly
+went up, so we had a fairly good sight of the
+second part. They did a sort of shortening-up—I
+can think of no other name for it—of Cavalleria,
+acting really so remarkably well that the worn old
+story seemed as fresh and terrible as if it were
+just happening. I’ve never seen it done better in
+any part of the world—no, not even Caruso and
+Melba. One felt the full tragedy and pathos of
+the music, and the duet between Turiddú, and
+Santuzza, a handsome, graceful woman, was magnificently
+impassioned, leading up to an almost<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_229" id="Page_229">[229]</a></span>
+breathless moment when he cast the girl from him,
+and she fell upon the ground.</p>
+
+<p>But, alas!—we were in the presence of a
+Filipino audience, who greeted the fall of Santuzza
+with hearty laughter, and continued to giggle while
+the girl sang her curse as she dragged herself to
+her knees.</p>
+
+<p>I don’t know how the Italians went on acting
+as they did. I am afraid I should have lost my
+temper and had the curtain lowered.</p>
+
+<p>This great heat still continues, and is very
+exhausting, for the lightest clothes are always
+soaked, and the face and hands covered with little
+beads. No one thinks less of a “perfect lady” in
+this country if she mops her face with her handkerchief;
+in fact, it is the only thing for the poor
+creature to do. I simply long to feel fresh and
+energetic, and to be able to walk fast on a hard
+road on a cold day—what a dream of bliss! Even
+to enjoy food would be a pleasant change.</p>
+
+<p>Those who can get away, but they are very
+few, go to Hong Kong, where the people are
+making a fuss about their hot weather. It is
+coolness after the Philippines. The missionaries
+are the best off, with their nice little trips to
+Japan; and there has been a great exodus of
+these good people lately.</p>
+
+<p>The lowest average of the thermometer is 93°,
+which means that is sometimes as low as 90° but
+generally up to 95°. Some people tell me this
+is the usual thing at this time of year, and
+others vow it is abnormal. Whatever it is, it has
+gone on now for three months, and I am getting
+rather tired of it, and don’t think I shall be able
+to pull through another year out here. It is not
+only the climate that tells on one, but the scarcity
+and badness of the food. To think that you at
+home in an average of 60° think you would die off<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_230" id="Page_230">[230]</a></span>
+unless you had fresh cabbages, and peas, and beans,
+and gooseberries, currants, the first strawberries—how
+the very names make one’s mouth water!
+Well, they say the Monsoon will change soon, and
+then the rainy season begins and the air gets cooler,
+and that is something to look forward to. The wind
+blows now some days from one side and some days
+from another, in an undecided fashion, with
+intervals of stifling calm, and then a sudden burst,
+which whips the sunblinds from their anchorage.</p>
+
+<hr />
+
+<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_231" id="Page_231">[231]</a></span></p>
+
+<h2 id="LETTER_29">LETTER XXIX.<br />
+<span class="smaller">AN EVENING ON THE RIVER—RIVAL BISHOPS</span></h2>
+
+<p class="right"><span class="smcap">Iloilo</span>, <i>May 17, 1905</i>.</p>
+
+<p>We went out on the river one evening last week at
+the invitation of two members of the boating club,
+which has its being in a <i lang="es">nipa</i> hut on the bank above
+the town, off the Molo road. It was a regular
+little native hut, with a rickety ladder up to the
+door, and boats slung underneath—a delightfully
+primitive place.</p>
+
+<p>We went out in a boat and a canoe, making
+our way up-stream in the light of an exquisite sunset,
+all bright-red gold behind the mountains, and
+the river between its banks of low bushes like a
+path of pink crystal. The air was deliciously cool,
+or seemed so to us, and we rowed up a mile or
+more before landing at the bank on the farther shore
+from the town, where there were some fishing huts
+in a grove of palms.</p>
+
+<p>We beached the boats on the mudbank, and
+then walked about through the trees till we came
+to some huts, looking wonderfully picturesque in
+the long stripes of pink light and mauve shadows
+amongst the tall trees. Here a number of half-naked
+Filipinos were loafing about, very civil,
+kindly people, and one was a very skinny old
+woman, who took a deep and unbounded interest
+in me, and asked all sorts of extraordinary questions
+about me.</p>
+
+<p>The cocoanut trees in the grove bore many
+large green nuts in clusters at the top, like big<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_232" id="Page_232">[232]</a></span>
+green footballs, and as we were all rather thirsty,
+we asked if the hut folk would get one down for
+us to drink from.</p>
+
+<p>With much politeness and amazing alacrity, one
+of the younger men ran up a tree, putting his toes
+in the notches in the bark, and not falling and
+breaking his neck by yet another Philippine miracle.
+He came down with a big green nut, such an
+enormous thing—the same in proportion to a cocoanut
+as we see them at home, as a green almond or
+walnut is to the nut in a shop. We asked him to
+open it for us, so he squatted down and chopped
+very deftly with a sort of sword which they call a
+<i lang="es">bolo</i>, and I fancy I may have mentioned it to you
+before. These <i lang="es">bolos</i> are a variety of the Malay <i>kris</i>,
+and are made in all sorts of cruel shapes, often inlaid
+very beautifully, but I believe the most frequent
+form is simply that of a short, thick, curved sword,
+which they use with deadly effect in fighting, and
+with great skill in almost every other event in life.<a name="FNanchor_8" id="FNanchor_8"></a><a href="#Footnote_8" class="fnanchor">[8]</a></p>
+
+<p>The little brown people stood round and looked
+at us while we watched the man with the <i lang="es">bolo</i>. He
+chopped with marvellous dexterity, slicing off the
+outer covering of soft green flesh, and then making
+a hole in the top of the tender unripe nut inside.
+The nut had a thin lining of transparent meat, and
+was full of pale green liquid, like slightly soapy
+water in appearance. This “milk” we drank out
+of a small wooden bowl produced by the old
+woman, a neat little vessel made out of half a
+cocoanut, all in the most approved style of the
+story books! The drink was refreshing enough,
+but sweet and sickly. Then the man split the nut
+open and made a clever little scoop with his <i lang="es">bolo</i>
+out of a slice of bamboo which he picked up from
+the ground, and with this he shaved off some long<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_233" id="Page_233">[233]</a></span>
+strips of the white meat, of which we ate a good
+deal, but it was tough and tasteless.</p>
+
+<div class="figcenter" style="width: 600px;" id="illus18">
+<img src="images/illus18.jpg" width="600" height="425" alt="" />
+<p class="caption"><span class="smcap">A Palm Grove.</span></p>
+<p class="caption-r"><a href="#Page_232"><i>To face page 232.</i></a></p>
+</div>
+
+<p>So the opening of a green cocoanut was
+the means of dispelling almost the last of my
+illusions about a Tropic Island! I have so often
+read about the nectar and ambrosia of the green
+nut, and the wonderful yarns of travellers who say
+there is no drink on earth like the green milk—one
+book I remember went so far as to compare the
+stuff favourably with lemonade! Perhaps it is all
+right if you have been shipwrecked and your
+mouth is full of sea water, but then I imagine so
+few people who write the descriptions can ever
+have had that advantage.</p>
+
+<p>From the huts we went on till we came out
+upon wide, open mud-flats, where there were a
+great many salt pits, which fill with water when the
+tide rises, for the sea water stretches right up to
+this place and farther. The pits were surrounded
+by pumps, after the fashion of the <i>shadoofs</i> on
+the Nile, and wells and all sorts of curious contrivances
+of bamboo, with long rows of pipes for
+drying the salt—it is marvellous what these people
+will do with bamboo. It was nearly dark by this
+time, and the mud-flats looked very weird and
+melancholy, the strange frames and poles appearing
+ghostly in the dusk.</p>
+
+<p>We came out upon the river bank again and
+walked to the place where we had left the boats.
+On the way I picked some sprays of small
+pink blossoms which grow on big ragged bushes
+with thorns, and look like May, and smell like
+sweet currant. They look very pretty in a vase in
+the <i lang="es">sala</i>, and are the only flower I have yet brought
+home or had given to me, that has lasted for so
+long as twenty-four hours.</p>
+
+<p>C—— has been having more trouble with the
+Customs, and this time over a boat he had to get<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_234" id="Page_234">[234]</a></span>
+from Hong Kong, as such a thing is not made and
+not to be had here. It is an ordinary boat for
+going out to the ships, and cost 40 <i lang="es">pesos</i>, but when
+C——, on being asked to value it, mentioned this
+sum to the Customs authorities, they exclaimed
+“Impossible!”</p>
+
+<p>Unfortunately it happened that he could not
+produce a bill for the boat, as he had got it through
+an agent in Hong Kong, who charges it to his
+account with the Firm in Manila, and he had not
+even a bill of lading, as a friend had brought it
+from Hong Kong for him. The Customs flatly
+refused to take his word about the price, and sent
+for some local sages to value the boat. One of
+these worthies gave it as his opinion, off-hand, that
+it was absurd to say you could buy a boat like
+that for less than 60 <i lang="es">pesos</i>. Another said, “Probably
+ninety.” A third, “Sixty at the lowest.”</p>
+
+<p>So the authorities, like Solomon, struck the
+happy medium, and charged C—— the duty (30
+per cent.) on 80 <i lang="es">pesos</i>!!</p>
+
+<p>And there is no redress, for the Firm’s accounts
+will not be settled till the end of the month, or
+even later, by which time the dues on the boat will
+have been paid long ago, and when once a receipt is
+given by the Government, no power but a special
+Act of Congress can get one cent of it refunded.
+Oh, and we know this to our cost! For, during all
+these months, we have not ceased from appealing,
+reappealing, and worrying tooth and nail about the
+extra £40 we had to pay for our wedding presents.
+I wish to goodness we had a “pull.” We should
+get it back in a week.</p>
+
+<p>The tariffs here seem to be put on in an incomprehensible
+way. In a civilised old country it
+might help trade if there were an import tax
+against things the people could produce themselves,
+but the system here works out quite differently, for<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_235" id="Page_235">[235]</a></span>
+while a desire is being inculcated for things which the
+natives cannot and never will be able to produce,
+those articles are taxed at the same rate as they are
+in the most highly developed country full of manufactories.
+You will think I have become a regular
+blue-stocking when you read these long discourses!
+But you need not have any fears on that score, for
+I am only trying to describe to you the conditions
+under which we struggle for existence in one of
+the most fertile countries in the world, and these
+questions are of such vital and burning interest
+that I hear them discussed by the most unlikely
+and domesticated ladies!</p>
+
+<p>What the newspapers call “Religious Circles”
+have been in a great state of excitement lately, as
+the Pope has sent a Cardinal Delegate to the
+Philippines to rouse the Orthodox to a sense
+of their peril from the <i lang="es">Iglesia Independiente</i>, the
+Aglipayanos. When I was in Manila, this prelate
+was there, an Irishman of the name of Agius. I
+saw him and his suite at the Governor’s reception,
+and people told me he was a very charming person.
+Now he is touring about the Philippines, and this
+week arrived here on a visit to the Bishop of
+Panay—an American, whose name I forget.</p>
+
+<p>There were great ceremonies and processions,
+arches and welcomes on the arrival of the Cardinal.
+But the Aglipayanos did not let the occasion pass
+without comment, for they turned out in full force
+with counter-processions and, it must be confessed,
+with far larger crowds of followers.</p>
+
+<p>The day before yesterday the Cardinal arrived
+in great state. He drove off to Jaro, and the
+road out to that town swarmed with priests,
+and little carriages dashing about full of mysterious,
+greasy-looking hangers-on in black coats
+and bowlers, the like of which no human eye has
+ever before seen this side of Suez.</p>
+
+<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_236" id="Page_236">[236]</a></span></p>
+
+<p>The next day, yesterday, there was frantic excitement!
+The Filipino Archbishop arrived! With no
+official state, but greeted by an immense demonstration
+of crowds of <i lang="es">Independientes</i>, who went out to
+meet their pastor in decorated boats and launches,
+with bands playing, Chinese crackers popping about,
+and revolutionary marches with songs. He, also,
+went to Jaro, under more triumphal arches, with
+Welcomes, and one with his name, Monsignore
+Hijaldo, in huge red letters all across it.</p>
+
+<p>We drove out to Jaro in the evening to see
+the fun, and were well rewarded, for the whole
+Plaza was as good as a play—far better than
+anything the Iloilo theatre could produce intentionally.</p>
+
+<p>Jaro is a collection of rather fine old houses,
+of the prevailing two-storied pattern, but large
+and handsome, some of them with carved wooden
+ornamentations and balconies with pretty pillars.
+They stand round a very large green space, with
+a bandstand in the middle, which is the Plaza.
+At one side of the Plaza is the cathedral, a long,
+ugly building, like a stone tunnel, and alongside
+it is a smaller church, on much the same lines,
+which is the Aglipayano place of worship.
+Opposite the two, on the green Plaza, stands a
+handsome old grey stone belfry, thrown out of the
+perpendicular by earthquakes, and crumbling with
+decay. At each corner of the upper story is a huge
+white stone statue of a saint leaning forward with
+some giant emblem clasped in his or her arms—such
+a cumbersome, melancholy old edifice! We always
+stop by the belfry, when we drive into Jaro, to let
+the pony rest and crop the grass, which overflows
+liberally into the road, and five times out of six
+it happens that we are there when a small lamp
+is swung up over the cathedral door, and a couple
+of Filipino boys come across and go into the<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_237" id="Page_237">[237]</a></span>
+belfry to ring the Angelus, which they do by
+swinging themselves fearlessly about on the beams
+of the big bells.</p>
+
+<div class="figcenter" style="width: 500px;" id="illus19">
+<img src="images/illus19.jpg" width="500" height="425" alt="" />
+<p class="caption"><span class="smcap">Cathedral and Belfry at Jaro.</span></p>
+<p class="caption-r"><a href="#Page_236"><i>To face page 236.</i></a></p>
+</div>
+
+<p>When we drove out yesterday evening, we
+first met landaus containing the Delegate and
+the Bishop of Panay bowing and smiling to
+right and left, and lifting up hands of benediction;
+with many priests, secretaries, and retainers,
+most of them very fat men with very white
+faces.</p>
+
+<p>Then, on the other side of the water, in the
+suburb of La Paz, which is a big town in itself,
+we met the Aglipayanos—Aglipay himself and his
+followers—all brown, flat-faced Filipinos, dressed
+something like the R.C. priests, only with fantastically
+bent up hats, and driving in the native <i lang="es">quilezes</i>
+or <i lang="es">calesas</i>.</p>
+
+<p>In Jaro itself the fun was fast and furious,
+for both the churches had a great display of
+decorations outside—the <i lang="es">Independiente</i> considerably
+embellished by a long covered way built out, of
+latticed bamboo with palm-branches lashed to it,
+and paper lanterns, and quantities of little flags.</p>
+
+<p>Across the Plaza were the two houses, both
+blazing with lights and flowers, the balconies
+full of men in white suits and women in their
+smartest dresses. In front of each house a band
+was playing, as if no other music were within
+a hundred miles, and the din was awful—the
+constabulary brass band, which was serenading
+the Papal Delegate, or his house, smashing and
+braying Sousa Marches; while the Aglipayano
+mandolines, guitars, and violins twiddled and
+thumped steadily at “Hiawatha” and other
+Filipino airs.</p>
+
+<p>To anyone blessed with a glimmering of
+humour you may imagine that the whole show
+was a source of pure delight, and we lingered<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_238" id="Page_238">[238]</a></span>
+quite late, driving up and down in the hope that
+there might be a speech or a row or something.
+But apparently peace, if not goodwill, was the
+motto, as, when we at last had to return home,
+we left all hands as contented and jolly as if the
+other fellows did not exist at all, or lived in
+another continent.</p>
+
+<p>You must imagine all this in heat such as you
+have never felt, all the priests, devotees, and bandsmen
+limp and dripping, and the faces of the
+Filipinos like wet mahogany. We are in a chronic
+state of discomfort, too, ourselves, which makes the
+sight of the black and purple robes, the berettas,
+and the outfit of the secretaries and hangers-on
+a very tangible addition to our own discomfort.
+I “guess” the “Dallergit” wishes the “call” had
+“come right along” in the cool season!</p>
+
+<p>I told you about the little love-birds which had
+been presented to me, I think? “I had a dove,
+and the sweet dove died” ... but my first lovebird
+did not die of grieving, for I found him one
+morning with a gash in his throat which looked
+very like the work of a bad cat. When the wee
+bird was dead and buried, the other little scrap did
+not seem to mind much at first, but presently took
+to having fits, and soon expired too.</p>
+
+<p>I miss them very much, for they were dear little
+creatures, and such companions to me, with their
+sweet little chirping noises. People tell me it is
+very difficult to keep birds at all out here, as
+the little ants that swarm everywhere get under
+their feathers and worry them to death in a few
+hours.</p>
+
+<hr />
+
+<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_239" id="Page_239">[239]</a></span></p>
+
+<h2 id="LETTER_30">LETTER XXX.<br />
+<span class="smaller">PHILIPPINE SANITATION—DECORATION DAY</span></h2>
+
+<p class="right"><span class="smcap">Iloilo</span>, <i>May 29, 1905</i>.</p>
+
+<p>I know you will be glad to hear that we are having
+a lull in the great heat, as the rain is beginning, or,
+at any rate, the Monsoon is blowing through rain,
+steadily from the S.-W., and the thermometer has
+gone down from 95° to 90°, which makes a vast
+difference to us, though it must still sound like
+great heat to you.</p>
+
+<p>I have just had a letter from a Manila friend,
+who is spending the hot season at Benguet, whither
+the “Gubernatorial party” and the Commissioners
+have also fled; and where, according to the Manila
+papers, I see they are having gay times ... lots of
+Bridge. She says:—“We are very chilly people
+up here, fires every evening, and hot-water bottles
+at night! This is a lovely country, all pine-woods
+and tree-ferns—a curious mixture. We ride about
+here a very great deal, play cards, walk, and generally
+have a thoroughly quiet, lovely time. I am going
+to a euchre party this afternoon at a house near
+by; there are to be very nice prizes, I hear. This
+climate is like England. You and Mr Dauncey
+would like it when he can get leave. There is a
+sanatorium, hospital place here, where you can
+go for one dollar, gold, a day per head. There is
+also this house, but you could not live at that here,
+at least I think not. I think this climate would do
+most people as much good as going home. It is a<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_240" id="Page_240">[240]</a></span>
+beautiful place, and they shortly expect a railway to
+run within 15 miles of it, which will make it cheaper
+to get here, and quicker; at present it takes three
+days from Manila.”</p>
+
+<p>That all sounds very tantalising to us sweltering
+down here, but I <em>think</em> we shall wait till that mythical
+railway is ready, for we have several times discussed
+the pros and cons of a health trip to Benguet, but
+when C—— went into the matter, he found that the
+expenses from here and back would be more than
+to go to England! And then, if we did go to this
+paradise of pine-trees and hot-water bottles, we
+should only be that much to the good, for we should
+be still living on the awful Philippine food, and the
+question is, should we get rid of that cuirass of
+prickly heat? Also, would the water there still give
+<i lang="es">sarna</i>—which I think they call in India “dhobey-itch”?
+And these things being so, is it not better
+to go home? And being at home, would it not be
+the utmost folly ever to venture within a hundred
+miles of a Philippine island again as long as life
+lasts? I feel inclined to answer my own questions
+by saying—American fashion—“That’s so!”</p>
+
+<p>I missed my little love-birds so much that C——
+got me some other pets, which we hope will flourish
+better—three baby mongeese. They are the dearest
+little things, so soft and gentle, and look like very
+fluffy weasels, with large dark beady eyes and long,
+busy, smelling-about noses. The people here call
+them <i lang="es">Gato del Monte</i>, which is, being translated,
+mountain-cat, though the animal we call by that
+name is a very different creature. They are found
+all over the islands, I believe, and there are many
+in Guimaras, whence these were brought by a
+countryman who was going round the offices trying
+to sell them, with the little things nestled in his
+coat. So C—— bought them for me for a couple
+of <i lang="es">pesos</i>. They are very young and very tame, in<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_241" id="Page_241">[241]</a></span>
+fact more than tame, for they run after me all over
+the house, and as soon as I sit down, climb up and
+sit on my shoulders, or curl up on my lap, and I
+daresay the warmth of their woolly little bodies
+would be grateful and comforting amongst the pines
+and tree-ferns at Benguet! C—— has made them
+a beautiful large cage out of a packing-case and
+some wire-netting, where they spend their time
+asleep in a box full of cotton wool, or else clamouring
+to be let out, with a curious guggling, rippling
+cry, a sort of cross between a nightingale’s “jug-jug”
+and a cab-whistle.</p>
+
+<p>Half the ground-floor of this house was let a
+little time ago to a rabbit warren of low-class
+Filipinos, who keep all sorts of animals in the rooms,
+and throw all their refuse out into the narrow alley
+between this and the next house. Unfortunately,
+this is all on the side where our bedrooms are.
+After a time we got accustomed to the mysterious
+noises to a certain extent, though the bleating of
+goats remained tiresome, and the person with consumption
+who coughed all night still disturbed
+us. The natives here die like flies of consumption,
+and the dreadful cough, hollow cheeks, and
+glittering eyes are a very common feature in the
+landscape.</p>
+
+<p>Well, we weathered through the noises, though
+we were often inclined to shift our quarters to the
+other side of the house, to the rooms which that
+persistent American wished to inhabit. Fancy
+breakfasting with them! I have not got over that
+yet! But on that side, unfortunately, the construction
+of the house is such that there is no through
+draught, without which one cannot sleep. Finally,
+however, the smell of the refuse gave C—— an
+attack of tonsilitis, with a touch of fever, and as I
+myself had also had some sore throats, we made
+the move across, and found it was not so bad after<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_242" id="Page_242">[242]</a></span>
+all, for the S.-W. Monsoon blowing straight in kept
+the air quite bearable.</p>
+
+<p>The smells on the other side got worse and worse,
+and we put bowls of disinfectant about, and complained
+to the landlord of the house. He said he
+had no power, meaning that he was really afraid
+to offend and lose his tenants, but he “would speak
+to the people,” advising us, at the same time, to go to
+the Sanitary Inspector of the town, who would set
+things right. Now, the municipality consists of
+natives, and the Sanitary Inspector is a Filipino with
+a Filipino’s notions of sanitation, so he can’t see
+what we have to complain about, and we went on
+sending in complaints and protests, which met with
+vague replies at first, and latterly with none at all.
+So at last C—— told the landlord that if he did
+not have the alley cleared, we would leave the
+house, whereupon <i lang="es">jornales</i> (labourers) were
+promptly hired, and unimaginable arrears of
+horrors dug out and removed—oh, the smell! And
+as to future transgressions of the laws of cleanliness
+and decency, C—— has adopted his own
+method for that, which consists in the simple
+plan of leaning out of the window when the
+people below do anything he does not like, and
+calling them “<i>Babuis</i>” (pigs), or “<i lang="es">sin verguenza</i>”
+(without shame) in a very loud voice, which they
+don’t like at all; and this method has more effect
+than anything else, for he says: “You can always
+‘get at’ a Filipino by making him ashamed of
+himself.”</p>
+
+<div class="figcenter" style="width: 600px;" id="illus20">
+<img src="images/illus20.jpg" width="600" height="375" alt="" />
+<p class="caption"><span class="smcap">A Suburb of Iloilo.</span></p>
+<p class="caption-r"><a href="#Page_242"><i>To face page 242.</i></a></p>
+</div>
+
+<p>We are lucky to be no worse off, however, for
+it is a marvel to me how this town is not swept
+clean of inhabitants by some awful plague, when
+one thinks that it is absolutely without drainage or
+sanitation of any sort, and when one sees and
+smells the awful and ghastly rubbish heaps which
+fester right amongst the houses in the town. The<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_243" id="Page_243">[243]</a></span>
+only saving of the place is the Monsoons, and it is
+no wonder everyone feels so ill and languid, even the
+natives, as soon as the wind drops. There is a costly
+School of Tropical Medicine in Manila, and many
+learned articles appear in the papers from time to
+time about germs and bacilli, and so on, assuring us
+that, when the Filipinos know more mathematics
+and Latin, they will know how to live more
+healthily; but sound common-sense would seem to
+lie in the direction of a strong and efficient sanitary
+control of white experts and a few schoolma’ams
+replaced by some paved and drained streets.</p>
+
+<p>Oh, the streets! They are a disgrace to civilisation,
+for I have never, no, not in Morocco, not in
+little towns in the Canaries, known such neglect,
+such dirt, such squalor, and such smells!</p>
+
+<p>Grass grows at the sides of the streets, and in
+wet weather many stagnant pools appear on pieces
+of waste ground and between the houses, looking
+very pretty indeed amongst the brilliant greenery
+when the sun comes out again, with beautiful
+reflections mirrored in their shallow depths, and
+making little gems of scenes like bits out of a fairy
+pantomime. All the same, one could quite willingly
+sacrifice their beauty in the cause of health, and for
+the sake of matter-of-fact drainage!</p>
+
+<p>Mosquitoes breed in the swampy places in
+which the native houses generally stand, and at
+night the inhabitants frequently light fires under
+their flimsy dwellings to dry the ground and destroy
+the insects. At first sight these fires look very
+strange and alarming; we often pass them as we
+drive in the evenings, and it is yet another of the
+local miracles to see the dry thatch huts not taking
+fire from a pile of leaves and grass burning
+underneath.</p>
+
+<p>In connection with the swamps too, or I suppose
+so, the Filipinos have another curious custom, which<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_244" id="Page_244">[244]</a></span>
+is, as soon as anyone is taken ill, to shut the house
+up tightly, with the screens let down and fastened
+over the openings that serve as doors and windows,
+and whenever you pass a house all dark and
+hermetically sealed with tiny slits of light here and
+there, you know some unfortunate soul is ill inside,
+and in all probability dying, for the Filipinos have
+no physique, and if they get seriously ill, they snuff out
+like a taper. When a poor person is dying—really
+at the point of death—he or she is taken out of bed
+and carried to the priest to be assoiled, which
+generally has the effect of killing the invalid outright.
+Only two evenings ago we met one of these
+melancholy little groups going along the Jaro road,
+two of the men carrying a long bamboo pole on
+their shoulders, with a canvas hammock slung to it,
+and I think the poor woman, whose head was lolling
+out, was dead already.</p>
+
+<p>An American hospital, to which we have all
+contributed by request, is being provided for the
+town, and when we drive out, we often pass down
+the road where this remarkable building is rising
+slowly from a pile of beams and planks, all stacked
+ready, and cut to certain lengths. I say it is remarkable
+because the hospital has apparently been
+designed in America by someone who has never
+heard of the Philippines, for the main supports (the
+<i lang="es">arigis</i>), instead of being made of great trees of hardwoods,
+are quite slender posts of Oregon pine; and
+the cross-beams and, in fact, all the timber work, are
+of the same wood, which is about as much good
+as so many pieces of cardboard against insects,
+typhoons, earthquakes, and so forth. I daresay
+these plagues do not prevail in the country where
+this fantastic building was evolved.</p>
+
+<div class="figcenter" style="width: 600px;" id="illus21">
+<img src="images/illus21.jpg" width="600" height="350" alt="" />
+<p class="caption"><span class="smcap">Awaiting Shipment.</span></p>
+<p class="caption">Coffins containing Bones of American Soldiers stacked in Malate Cemetery, Manila.</p>
+<p class="caption-r"><a href="#Page_244"><i>To face page 244.</i></a></p>
+</div>
+
+<p>But if the substructure of the hospital was the
+laughing stock of the town, and the subject of many
+rather acid jests on the part of those who had<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_245" id="Page_245">[245]</a></span>
+contributed to such a monument of folly, you can
+imagine what was thought and said when the wards
+were seen in the making, and observed to consist of
+screens of <i lang="es">nipa</i> and <i lang="es">bejuco</i> matting! All so hasty,
+so shoddy, such a piece of blatant jobbery—but to
+hear its advocates talk you would think the finest
+hospital in Eu-<em>rope</em> was being rendered silly and
+out of date!</p>
+
+<p>To-morrow is Decoration Day, the anniversary
+of the close of the war of the North and
+South, when the graves of the soldiers who
+fell in that struggle are decorated in the United
+States.</p>
+
+<p>Out here the day has also been established as a
+public holiday; observed with bands and processions;
+and they have so ordered the ceremony that the
+graves of those who fell out here in the war with
+Spain and the Insurrection are supposed to be
+decorated, Americans and Filipinos alike. But the
+two events become hopelessly confused in the
+native mind; and it is no wonder that the Filipinos
+have some dim idea that they are rejoicing over the
+fall of those of the Americans whom they managed
+to kill in the Insurrection. There are not many
+American soldiers’ graves out here to decorate,
+however, as the dead American warriors are being
+dug up everywhere and sent back to their homes—such
+a queer idea! Fancy if we dug up all the
+men who fell in our innumerable wars and sent them
+to their relations at home! There is nothing left
+but bones, of course, but each man is identified by
+a bottle containing his name, etc., which was buried
+with him. At least, they are identified to a certain
+extent; but a man who had the job of bringing a
+lot of these defunct warriors down the Pasig for
+shipment told C—— that the only thing to be done
+as a rule was to put a name on a coffin and then
+lay inside as many bones as you could find to make<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_246" id="Page_246">[246]</a></span>
+a complete skeleton. It sounds rather horrible,
+but I must say one can’t have much sympathy
+with such unheroic and superstitious sentimentality,
+which seems to me no better than the customs of
+the Chinese.</p>
+
+<hr />
+
+<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_247" id="Page_247">[247]</a></span></p>
+
+<h2 id="LETTER_31">LETTER XXXI.<br />
+<span class="smaller">MR TAFT—TROPICAL SUNSETS—UNPLEASANT
+NEIGHBOURS—FILIPINO LAW</span></h2>
+
+<p class="right"><span class="smcap">Iloilo</span>, <i>June 5, 1905</i>.</p>
+
+<p>I don’t think I have yet mentioned to you the
+great excitement in Manila, and in the Philippines
+generally, which are convulsed by the wind of the
+coming of Mr Taft, the Secretary of War in the
+U.S.A., who, as I told you before, used to be
+Governor out here. He is returning now to the
+Philippines on a sort of tour of instruction for the
+benefit of a party of Senators who, so say the
+papers, have been opposed to Philippine interests
+at Washington, owing to these interests clashing
+with their own sugar plantations, mines, and
+tobacco industries. Everyone seems to think this
+expedition a very good idea, and it is going to be
+gay and social as well, for a good many ladies—wives
+and other relations of the Senators—are to
+be included, and they say that the President’s
+daughter, Miss Alice Roosevelt, may come too.
+Some say that she will come for the trip, as a
+pleasure party, and others declare that she is only
+to be sent as a pawn and symbol of the President’s
+goodwill towards Mr Taft and his schemes.</p>
+
+<p>In the meantime the papers are full of personal
+descriptions and puffs preliminary of the members
+of this party, but by far the most popular figure
+seems to be that of the President’s daughter, about
+whom we get columns of description and narrative.
+She must be a very fascinating and charming and<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_248" id="Page_248">[248]</a></span>
+lovely girl, for though she is only twenty, she has
+refused numberless offers of marriage from all sorts
+and conditions of men, including the “effete hand”
+of Gustavus Adolphus of Sweden, he to whom our
+Princess Margaret of Connaught is now engaged.
+About this latter affair there is a very long account
+copied from another American paper—I mean a
+U.S.A. one, not a Manila paper—where it is said
+that Miss Roosevelt had declined to be a princess
+because she will not marry a man she does not
+love. I think that is highly creditable to her, don’t
+you? And such a fine example to some of her
+countrywomen.</p>
+
+<p>This last week has been sunny every morning,
+and then clouded over in the afternoon, and generally
+there is rain towards evening, so we cannot make
+up our minds about our second trip to Nagaba,
+which has been on the <i lang="fr">tapis</i> for some time. We
+were going last week, but put it off for various
+reasons till to-morrow. Now, however, the
+weather looks so threatening that I doubt if we
+shall go at all. We are not without compensations,
+though, as the cool-looking grey skies are delicious,
+and the nights almost cold, so that a sheet is
+necessary, and sometimes even a blanket. In
+spite of the lowness of the temperature, however,
+I do not feel refreshed, as I had hoped to do, for
+the S.-W. wind is very enervating and relaxing, and
+everyone really feels more languid than in the heat.
+This wind has unshipped our green sunblinds, as
+it comes in great gusts, roaring and tossing in the
+thick belt of high palms that fringes the beach in
+the distance. The sound of the surf and the wind
+in the palms is delightful to me, for it reminds me
+of the pine-woods at home.</p>
+
+<p>A few evenings ago we got into some real
+country by leaving the trap on the Molo road and
+walking along a path that led away through some<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_249" id="Page_249">[249]</a></span>
+tall brakes of bamboo. These clumps of bamboo
+are very graceful and beautiful, and the outline of
+their tapering stems and little flat leaves against
+the sunset skies always reminds me of that
+embroidered Japanese screen we have at home—by
+which you are perhaps sitting as you read this!
+We passed the bamboos and bushes by the roadside,
+and came at once to big grass fields and palm-groves,
+with ramshackle huts dotted about and
+half-clad native—how well I can sympathise with
+their prompt abandonment of the unnecessary
+extras of the civilised wardrobe, and only wish it
+were our fate out here to be able to wear one
+garment in a palm-grove! We wandered about
+there for a long time, up and down paths and
+tracks, and enjoying wonderful glimpses of glades
+and green vistas that were like impossible fairylands.
+There was the pink and orange bloom of a
+fine sunset, too, to add to the unearthly beauty of
+the palm-groves, where we lingered a long time,
+just admiring everything in sight, and smelling the
+delicious freshness of the wet earth.</p>
+
+<p>We are very anxious to go there some day and
+try to get a few snap-shots, as a reminder of the
+scenes, though nothing could reproduce the colour.
+It is difficult to get enough light, as C—— is very
+busy just now, and does not get home before six.
+Eight to twelve and two to six—good long hours for
+office-work in the tropics! Still, we manage sometimes
+to get out before the daylight has quite gone,
+as the days are getting longer, but then it is, of
+course, too late to take the camera. That, by-the-bye,
+is another illusion dispelled, for I am sure I
+have always read and heard that the sun in these
+latitudes sinks suddenly at the same moment all
+the year round. I have already told you that I
+have watched in vain for this phenomenon. I
+don’t know what happens in other places, but since<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_250" id="Page_250">[250]</a></span>
+the sun has come North here, the sunset has
+gradually changed to quite half an hour later than
+it was in December. In fact, it may be even later
+than that, for I can read on the balcony for a long
+time after tea before the light fades. Of course
+the twilight is brief compared to the length of time
+it lingers on at home, and I suppose it is sudden if
+it is compared to a long summer evening in England,
+but then you can think of our longest twilight as a
+flash if you compare it with Greenland!</p>
+
+<p>About a month ago the basement of the empty
+house next door was taken by a typical Eurasian
+family—such a crew! beginning with an old father
+who goes about in a vest, slack, dirty trousers, and
+blue socks; an old mother, vastly fat, in petticoat,
+chemise, and slippers; some sons and daughters of
+all ages, and their husbands and wives and children,
+and two native servants. The basement they
+occupy consists of three large rooms. From our
+side windows we look right down into their
+windows, and get many astounding glimpses of
+their <i lang="fr">vie intime</i>, including fearful revelations of
+<i lang="fr">déshabillé</i>, which are the delight of C——’s life.</p>
+
+<p>This family, who are quite well known in Iloilo
+Filipino and <i lang="es">Mestizo</i> society, and turn out great
+swells at the band, sleep about on <i lang="es">petates</i> (mats) on
+the floor, in native fashion, and some of their
+notions of sanitation are indescribable. The old
+father has a fearful voice, a loud, not-human
+bellow of insanity, which echoes in our rooms
+sometimes and quite frightens me, and C—— says
+I should be still more alarmed if I could understand
+the awful expressions he is using. They are
+always having horrid rows amongst themselves, all
+in slatternly rags in their filthy rooms—in the
+streets they are well-dressed and well-behaved, in
+true Eurasian fashion, all the world over. The sons
+are in various employments, which would keep the<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_251" id="Page_251">[251]</a></span>
+whole family in comfort, if not in decency, but one
+need hardly say that it all goes in <i lang="es">Monte</i> and
+buying diamond rings.</p>
+
+<p>About a week ago, just as we had finished
+breakfast, there was a terrible hullabaloo coming
+from the dovecote next door, and we said to each
+other that they must be having a worse row than
+usual; when we heard yells and loud voices, and
+the old man bellowing out even worse words than
+the awful things he shouts out when he wants salt,
+or a cigarette, or a sock. We rushed to the side
+of the house looking on their windows, but a hand
+was pulling the shutters together, and the screams
+and yells and oaths were terrible. So we ran out
+on to the balcony in time to see one of the sons-in-law
+shoot out of the house, as from a cannon,
+yelling “<i lang="es">Policia! Policia!</i>” and go running up the
+street to the police station at the corner. A
+crowd began to collect at once in the street, while
+heads appeared at every window, and the pandemonium
+in the house became deafening.</p>
+
+<p>Then, suddenly, a young woman in two garments
+ran out sobbing, with her hair down; followed
+a minute later by the fat old woman in her chemise
+and petticoat, wringing her hands and moaning, and
+running up and down, till someone caught hold of
+her and led her away to a house up the street.
+Then Juanita, the little native servant, with her
+hair streaming, rushed out with the baby in her
+arms; and the little girl of six came running in to
+the people below us, terrified and white and
+blubbering. Then another daughter—with a white,
+handsome face like a Bouguereau Madonna—hurried
+out, and after her a woman carrying clothes,
+whereupon a polite native clerk stepped across
+from an office and conducted her to the shelter of a
+friendly house.</p>
+
+<p>All this time the bellowing and voices in the<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_252" id="Page_252">[252]</a></span>
+house went on undiminished, till the son-in-law
+arrived with a trim blue linen-clad native policeman.
+They went into the house together and shut the
+shutters and closed the door, and the noise died
+down, and the crowd outside melted away!</p>
+
+<p>Nothing more happened all that day, and no
+human eye saw the policeman come out again.
+But next day we noticed that the old man was
+living with the natives under us; and C—— made
+some enquiries, whereupon they said, “The old
+man is mad,” adding quite casually that he stuck
+a knife into someone, so his family chucked him
+out.</p>
+
+<p>Well, so he lived there for a few days, with
+the windows of the house next door all shuttered
+so that he should not be able to see in, and every
+now and then he roared out “Ramon y Ju—a—ni—ta—aa!”
+or “Juanita y Raaaaa—mooooon!”
+always the names of both servants, when the
+two natives would go trembling to him, with
+the children for him to play with!</p>
+
+<p>This went on till yesterday, when there was
+an afternoon of shouting and cursing and futile
+advice, and the street blocked with <i lang="es">carabao</i>-carts,
+and natives swarming in and out of the house
+carrying furniture upside down, and trying to
+force it into the carts broadside on. We hear
+the reason and result of all this is that the old
+man has moved, some say to Manila, others, to
+the next street. I think the poor trembling old
+fat wife must have gone too, as I have not seen
+her about again since then. The house next
+door has its windows open on this side again,
+and there seem to be more people than ever
+lying about there—they never <em>do</em> anything—and
+Juanita-a-a-a still takes the babies out in a
+large wicker washing-basket mounted on squeaking
+wheels; and the young men and women look<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_253" id="Page_253">[253]</a></span>
+great swells at the bandstand on Sundays and
+Thursdays.</p>
+
+<p>I mentioned the way these people slept
+on the floor. That is a curious Filipino habit,
+but I daresay it is very nice and cool, and the
+floor can’t be any harder than the Filipino bed.
+The servants sleep about on mats, generally in
+the hall of the house, but ours refuse to sleep
+in this house, as they say it is haunted by the
+spirit of a young Spaniard who died here when
+it was occupied by the Spanish Consulate. So
+they spread their mats on the Azotea, and
+if I wake up thirsty and go out into the
+hall for a glass of water, I see them through
+the open door, lying asleep on their mats in
+the moonlight, looking like pictures of the corpse
+on the battlefield, out of the <cite>Graphic</cite>, and rather
+weird and uncanny, with their clothes very white
+in the moonlight, and their dark hands and faces
+and dark bare feet; but on damp or cold (or
+what we call cold!) nights they look still more
+uncanny, rolled in blankets, and looking like
+mummies.</p>
+
+<p>A friend who was here the other day told me
+an amusing instance of Filipino methods which
+happened a few days ago. A policeman came
+for his cook one morning, with a summons on
+the part of the cook’s wife for assaulting her.
+So off the cook went to the court, not the High
+Courts where American dignity administers the
+highest justice with his boots off and his feet,
+with holes in his socks, on a table before him,
+but the police court where a Filipino tries to
+deal with small offences.</p>
+
+<p>In the evening our friend noticed that his own
+cook and not a substitute was in the house, so he
+asked the man what had happened in the
+morning.</p>
+
+<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_254" id="Page_254">[254]</a></span></p>
+
+<p>“Oh,” said the cook, “they fined me five dollars
+and my wife five dollars too, and sent us away.”</p>
+
+<p>“But,” said Mr —— “you beat her.”</p>
+
+<p>“No one said I did not beat her. But they
+fined us both, you see, so I was allowed to go
+away again, free, in time to cook the <i lang="es">señor’s</i>
+dinner.”</p>
+
+<p>And you may think that sounds like a sentence
+out of the <cite>Hunting of the Snark</cite>, but it is perfectly
+clear logic to the Filipino mind, and all parties
+seemed to think the most lucid and satisfying
+law had been administered.</p>
+
+<hr />
+
+<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_255" id="Page_255">[255]</a></span></p>
+
+<h2 id="LETTER_32">LETTER XXXII.<br />
+<span class="smaller">OUR MONGEESE—A FIRE—THE NATIVE EDUCATION
+QUESTION</span></h2>
+
+<p class="right"><i>June 15, 1905.</i></p>
+
+<p>You must forgive the writing of this letter being
+rather bad, as I am ill in bed again, and likely to
+remain there for some time, for I have developed
+a tiresome complaint, which takes, so people tell
+me, a long time to heal. It sounds very simple,
+for what has happened is that the mosquito
+bites, with which my feet are covered, have become
+poisoned with something in the water, or the touch
+of a fly, and I hobbled about for a long time in
+great pain, being doctored and told to lie up, but I
+would not consent to, as it is so dull, and the
+warmth of lying even on a mat makes one’s prickly
+heat unendurable. Now, however, I am forced to
+give in, for I can’t walk across a room. An
+American friend tells me she has had this malady,
+and it extended all the way up her limbs, and she
+suffered great pain, and was ill for months. I am
+afraid this does not console me much, for I am a bad
+patient, as I have never had anything the matter with
+me before I came out here. The climate is certainly
+trying, but some people seem to be able to weather
+through it pretty well, though I have never met
+anyone who is really what one would call robust.
+Some become wrecks, as I apparently should do if
+I stayed much longer. I can’t tell you how thankful
+I am to think that there is a chance of going
+home!</p>
+
+<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_256" id="Page_256">[256]</a></span></p>
+
+<p>Our dear little mongeese are flourishing. We
+let them out of the cage nearly all day now, and
+they go running and smelling about the house;
+squeaking when they think they are lost, and then
+I have to go and find them, when they crawl up me
+as up a large tree, and go to sleep on the branches,
+quite safe and happy. I think you would love them.
+They have the sweetest little innocent faces I ever
+saw, and such pluck and individuality, each with its
+own little fads and manners. In India, I believe,
+people keep mongeese to kill snakes; but here they
+seem to be ready to pursue any and everything,
+and the house evidently affords good hunting,
+especially the space under the roof. I saw one of
+the mongeese under my wardrobe the other day,
+struggling with what looked like some dreadful
+grey insides of a little animal, and I hauled her out,
+thinking she had got hold of something that might
+poison her. It was the mangled body of a house-lizard—horrible
+sight! Then another of the little
+creatures caught an immense spider yesterday, and
+sat under the <i lang="es">sala</i> table tearing off the long hairy
+legs, and then choking the body down in great
+gulps—ugh!</p>
+
+<p>One night last week I was awakened by a
+police-whistle in the street, sounding an alarm,
+which is one long note and two short ones. We
+found this alarm note out in a rather curious fashion,
+as one evening we whistled for one of the servants
+like that—we were sitting on the balcony at the
+time—and a few moments later a policeman knocked
+at the door and wanted to know what murder or
+other trouble we were in! And when C——
+enquired about it at the police station, they asked
+him not to blow a whistle in that way in the street
+again unless we were in danger. It was a comfort
+to know that the signal would work so well.</p>
+
+<p>So when we heard the long note and two short<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_257" id="Page_257">[257]</a></span>
+ones in the night, we turned out on to the balcony,
+whence we saw the glow of a big fire at the
+end of the street towards the point, and Filipino
+policemen were running along below with clanking
+buckets.</p>
+
+<p>The building that was on fire was the Military
+<i lang="es">Corral</i> (stables), which made a fine blaze, and there
+was a stirring scene when the poor frightened
+horses came tearing down the quiet, dark street in a
+maddened rout. They were the American horses,
+which look so big and powerful and quite alarming
+to eyes accustomed to the little Filipino ponies.
+They clattered down the street in batches, tossing
+their heads and trying to pass one another, with
+the glow of the fire in the sky behind them, and we
+heard the sound of their hoofs dying away and away
+through the empty town. After a while the light
+in the sky faded out, the policemen with their
+buckets returned slowly, and we went back to bed;
+but no one else in the street had so much as looked
+out of a window!</p>
+
+<p>We learned afterwards that many of the horses
+were found wandering far out in the country, but I
+believe some of them have not been caught even
+yet. The <i lang="es">Corral</i> was burnt to the ground, as they
+had to wait till the police arrived to put it out,
+because there were only two soldiers sleeping there,
+all the rest living in houses in the town and suburbs
+with their <i lang="es">queridas</i> (native mistresses). This seems
+a very strange state of affairs, but it is a well-known
+fact, and on this particular occasion was referred to
+quite casually by the soldier on duty (of whom
+C—— was asking information), and who apparently
+thought it was the most natural arrangement for
+troops in a disaffected country.</p>
+
+<p>I have been reading a great deal since I have
+taken to bed, and besides all the home papers
+you send me, I have the Manila papers and <cite>El<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_258" id="Page_258">[258]</a></span>
+Tiempo</cite> (Iloilo), which I find I can read quite
+easily now. <cite>The Manila Times</cite> of June 10 had a
+long article about the eternal education question,
+headed “Arbitrary Race Distinctions,” in which, as
+you may gather from the title, some American
+works out his nation’s theory that there is no real
+difference between East and West. The writer
+very amiably wishes to point out that Filipino
+children are just as intelligent at school as are
+American children, and I think this is about the
+hundredth article I have read to that effect; but I
+have still to read or hear any observation to the
+effect that precocity is the natural heritage of every
+Oriental child. Americans always appear to judge
+the Philippines by no standard, precedent, or
+parallel; which I suppose is very natural for
+anyone coming straight from such an absolutely
+different country as the U.S.A. In this article,
+of which I am speaking at present, there are many
+long and fine words recklessly thrown about, such
+as “introspection,” “collective individuality,” and
+so forth, which I think are meant to prove that if a
+Filipino child is precocious, he will grow up a clever,
+cultured, and enlightened man or woman; whereas
+every unprejudiced person knows that the Filipino
+people learn with intelligence (an intelligence which
+is, after all, only remarkable when compared to a
+very ordinary white child) till they reach manhood
+or womanhood, and then it is as though a veil
+were drawn over the brightness of their minds,
+and they not only progress no further, but even go
+<em>backwards</em>!</p>
+
+<p>This optimist also pictures a future “in three
+generations,” when “the iron horse will spin
+merrily up and down the passes,” by which I take it
+he implies that means of communication will at last
+(instead of at first) be established; and after a lot
+of hyperbolical descriptions of machinery, he winds<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_259" id="Page_259">[259]</a></span>
+up with this, “a sleek, well-nourished Filipino will
+garner the grain and check the tree boles”—which
+is very fine talk, but, to begin with, no one ever saw
+a Filipino who was not sleek and well-nourished,
+and what one wants to know is, what labourers will
+toil at the “iron horse” and the machinery with
+sufficient thrift and honesty to make those concerns
+worth the attention of the American or even
+Filipino capitalist? It is easy to imagine that some
+day the natives of the Philippines may be allowed
+to administer their own government and deal out
+laws of life and death to each other, but where is
+capital to come from? For the notion of Wall
+Street putting money into a business run by a
+Filipino, would be beyond the wildest dreams of
+the most uninstructed voter in the remotest State.</p>
+
+<p>Now, what I can’t make out is this, are all
+these essays and writings and leaders about the
+absolute equality of the Filipino mind with the best
+white intellect really genuinely what the Americans
+think of these people, or are they just so much dust
+in the eyes of the native as well as the foreign critic
+to excuse and justify the position the U.S.A. has
+chosen to assume towards these Islands?</p>
+
+<hr />
+
+<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_260" id="Page_260">[260]</a></span></p>
+
+<h2 id="LETTER_33">LETTER XXXIII.<br />
+<span class="smaller">A PAPER-CHASE—LACK OF SPORTS—PREPARATIONS
+FOR MR TAFT</span></h2>
+
+<p class="right"><span class="smcap">Iloilo</span>, <i>June 26, 1905</i>.</p>
+
+<p>C—— and another man got up a paper-chase last
+Sunday, and, by way of being cordial, advertised
+the event in <cite>El Tiempo</cite> a day or two before, C——
+and his friend arranging to be the hares, and let all
+Iloilo chase them, if it cared to. They were very
+keen and excited about their venture, which was
+something quite new in the way of local enterprise.
+The “meet” was in Plaza Libertad at six in the
+morning, and when they got there and found a
+large company of Spaniards, <i lang="es">Mestizos</i>, Swiss, and
+one or two other Englishmen, they were delighted,
+and set off in great feather. Our pony is a very
+good “goer,” and can fly along ahead of almost any
+other pony here, so C—— and his friend started
+and tore along the Jaro road in the cool morning,
+with the “field” after them.</p>
+
+<p>Beyond Jaro, where they were out in the open
+country, they noticed that the hunt was far out of
+sight and hearing, so they ambushed in some
+bamboo brake, and hung about, peeping round
+bushes for about a quarter of an hour, and then
+went cautiously back a few yards and hung about
+again, and so on till by degrees they got back into
+Jaro. Imagine their disgust when they at last
+tracked the other sportsmen to a bar where they
+were sitting at little tables drinking cold beer!
+Their fury about the incident is comical, but one<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_261" id="Page_261">[261]</a></span>
+cannot help sympathising with them after all the
+trouble they took to infuse a little sport into the place.</p>
+
+<p>One of the chief things Cebú crows about is
+possessing a race-course and a Jockey Club, and
+I think they are quite right so to crow, as something
+of the sort would be a boon here. One
+need hardly say that when anything like that is
+done in Manila or anywhere else, the Americans
+have no part in the initiative, as they are not a very
+sporting people, and all they do to keep themselves
+alive is base-ball. It seems so odd to be in a
+garrison town, and not see officers with sports or a
+club, or polo or gymkhanas or anything. The
+Filipinos have no games, and the great idea is to
+teach them base-ball, which, by-the-bye, the
+Americans call ball-game. When I say the
+Filipinos have no games, I forget a sort of ball they
+throw about, in the streets or anywhere, made of
+strips of bamboo bent into a hollow, spherical
+frame; but the throwing about is not conducted
+on any principle or according to any rules.</p>
+
+<p>When I am feeling well again, I should like to
+ride in the mornings, but I wish I had brought my
+saddle, as there is not such a thing as a side-saddle
+to be bought in Iloilo, or, the shopkeepers tell us,
+in the whole Islands. This is because the <i lang="es">Mestizas</i>
+never ride at all, and the American women ride
+astride in large loose trousers that look like two
+skirts.<a name="FNanchor_9" id="FNanchor_9"></a><a href="#Footnote_9" class="fnanchor">[9]</a> There are very few here who ride, but I
+saw several going about in Manila, and am confirmed
+once and for ever to my allegiance to the
+side-saddle, for a more hideous and ungainly effect
+than women astride I never saw, to say nothing of
+its vulgarity. The attitude also brings out all the<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_262" id="Page_262">[262]</a></span>
+disproportions of the female figure, making it
+look top-heavy and ill-balanced. It is all very
+well for the Amazons to look well on a Greek
+sarcophagus, but no modern woman of over sixteen
+is shaped like that—and I very much doubt if the
+ordinary ancients were either, quite apart from
+corsets, boots, and collars. Besides all that, from
+the point of view of sense, a woman’s knees can’t
+be strong enough to grip the saddle. So as I
+have not brought my own saddle I shall not be
+able to ride, and now we are thinking of going
+home, it is not worth while to send for it.</p>
+
+<p>I read in my Manila papers that there is a
+fearful row going on in Manila now, because the
+committee who are arranging the banquets and
+receptions for Mr Taft and his party have invited
+heads of every religious sect except the Iglesia
+Filipina, and the latter are making a terrible fuss,
+and insisting on Father Aglipay being included
+amongst the official guests. Of course, if he
+is asked, the R.C. won’t come, and the Pope
+will be furious, and the Insurrectionist Party will
+score one important point in the public eye.
+On the other hand, if the authorities fall out
+with Aglipay, they fall foul of his powerful
+following, who give quite enough trouble as it
+is, so they are in a very uncomfortable cleft stick,
+besides the fact of partizanship for any one religion
+being entirely unconstitutional. And the trouble
+is aggravated, you see, by Mr Taft being such an
+ardent pro-Filipino, and all the natives believing
+that his advent is to be a sort of second coming
+to announce the millennium of freedom.</p>
+
+<p>What he <em>is</em> coming for, besides the personal
+conducting of the anti-Filipino Senators, is a staple
+subject of conversation, many thinking he will be
+allowed to announce a great reduction in taxation
+as a sort of halo to his visit. Whatever it is, I am<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_263" id="Page_263">[263]</a></span>
+so anxious not to miss his visit, and I do hope our
+return journey will not have to begin before he
+and his party arrive.</p>
+
+<p>Besides the Taft excitement, Manila has been
+convulsed for months by efforts to get fireworks
+from America for “the 4th.” Already in the
+month of April there were huge “scare-heads,”
+as they call them, in the papers, with letters big
+enough for a poster, beginning</p>
+
+<p class="center">FIREWORKS NOT GONE OFF YET,</p>
+
+<p class="noindent">and then another headline to the effect that</p>
+
+<p class="center">THEY WILL NOT REACH MANILA TILL JUNE.</p>
+
+<p class="noindent">Sometimes these headlines are very comical, whether
+intentionally or not I don’t know—for instance,
+when the transport <i>Sherman</i> left, there was a headline
+in enormous letters,</p>
+
+<p class="center"><i>Sherman’s</i> <span class="smcapuc">LIVING FREIGHT</span>,</p>
+
+<p class="noindent">which I at first took to mean cows or horses, but
+found to my surprise it was only a list of officers’
+names.</p>
+
+<p>I am sure you will be sorry to hear that
+one of our dear little mongeese is dead, the little
+man of the party. He was very sick for a day or
+two, lying on the floor on his stomach as if in
+pain, and when the others came running into my
+room in the morning, he could only crawl very
+slowly after them. At last, at about ten in the
+morning, he died, poor, gentle little beast, and I
+made Domingo take him out and bury him in the
+garden. We don’t know what he died of, but we
+think it was tough cockroach, as his poor little
+throat was full of hard brown wings, which we
+hauled out, but it did him no good to get rid of
+them. What I fear is he may have picked up a<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_264" id="Page_264">[264]</a></span>
+cockroach which had died of rat-poison. I gave
+him weak sherry and water to revive him, but he
+brought it all up again with pitiful little groans
+and squeaks, and soon afterwards he died.</p>
+
+<p>The little widows did not seem to mind much,
+they hopped about as usual; but now one of them
+has injured an eye in some way, and has gone
+blind in it, and is very sick and sorry, and I am
+afraid she won’t live long either. I bathed the
+poor eye with cold tea, which gave the little
+creature some relief, for she lifted the lid slowly,
+and then I saw that the eye had a cut right across,
+as if some animal had scratched it. She can only
+move very slowly, with her head on one side—a
+very sad sight—just able to crawl as far as
+wherever I am, and then sit in a heap waiting to
+be lifted up, when she goes to sleep on my lap,
+and lies still for hours.</p>
+
+<hr />
+
+<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_265" id="Page_265">[265]</a></span></p>
+
+<h2 id="LETTER_34">LETTER XXXIV.<br />
+<span class="smaller">TRYING HEAT—AN AMERICAN PROSPECTOR—NEW
+LODGERS—BARGAINING FOR <i lang="es">PIÑA</i></span></h2>
+
+<p class="right"><span class="smcap">Iloilo</span>, <i>June 29, 1905</i>.</p>
+
+<p>The weather is becoming more stormy, and
+typhoons are signalled, but so far they seem to go
+wide of us, which is a very good thing. The
+thermometer the last few days has been very low,
+78° to 80°, but the damp makes it more trying and
+relaxing than when we had over 90° to contend
+against. With the rain, all sorts of trees have
+come into bloom—things with coarse, strong foliage
+and huge bright flowers. The fields are all
+covered with very vivid green grass and corn
+coming up, and sometimes when there is a purple
+thunder-cloud across half the sky and all these
+colours in the sun, wet with rain, shining against
+it, the effect is simply like a scene cut out of
+glittering metals.</p>
+
+<p>As I explained to you when we first arrived,
+life here is adapted to dry heat, and the fears I had
+then about the wet season are being justified every
+day, for steel and silver rust while you look at
+them; clothes come out in feverish patches of
+blue mould; silk and satin “go” so that they tear
+like tissue paper; and all sorts of mysterious
+“beasts” are stowed away in our garments, while
+shoes have to be shaken before putting on more
+carefully than ever.</p>
+
+<p>C—— amused me the other day with an
+account of an American millionaire who came<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_266" id="Page_266">[266]</a></span>
+down by the last boat from Manila to “prospect”
+in this island and Negros for sugar. It seems
+that the fancy of this plutocrat, who is quite a
+common, roughly-dressed old man, is to buy up
+half the island, with which object he went to the
+office, as C——’s firm are the largest, if not the
+only exporters of sugar in these islands. C——
+said the old chap’s notions filled everyone with
+amusement, for he wants to get control of some
+plantations, and put up sugar mills that will
+crush 10,000 tons of cane daily! The price and
+scarcity of labour were represented to him as a
+factor in his schemes, as well as the Export Tax,
+lack of roads, and other trifles. But he was not
+much depressed, and I daresay he will tackle the
+enterprise in the American sink or swim style, which
+seems rather a pity, as what the Philippines want
+is small and prosperous farms—not huge trust-like
+businesses to produce vast sums to be spent in New
+York or Paris.</p>
+
+<p>You remember my telling you about the <i lang="fr">fracas</i>
+next door? That family all moved away, eventually,
+but not to Manila, only to the next street parallel to
+this. The next-door basement is now occupied by
+a dressmaker, a jolly fat old Tagalo woman with
+a deep voice like a man, and her hair scraped
+up into a knob with a comb (an ordinary white
+bone one for <em>combing</em>) stuck across it. Besides
+the comb, she wears nothing but a chemise,
+petticoat, and slippers. The work-girls are all
+natives, and they sit about the big front room
+on mats on the floor, sewing and cutting out and
+talking all day long. They are there at five in the
+morning, and often work till after dark. Two
+have sewing machines on tables, and they look
+so queer in their tight native <i lang="es">sarong</i> and muslin
+<i lang="es">camisa</i>, sitting on a Viennese cane chair at a
+treadle-machine.</p>
+
+<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_267" id="Page_267">[267]</a></span></p>
+
+<p>The husband of the Tagalo is a fat, greasy
+Spaniard, with side-whiskers, and an eternal cigar,
+who lounges all day in a cane chair in vest and
+trousers, reading the <cite>Heraldo</cite>, and balancing his
+slippers on the tips of his bare toes. They appear
+to hit it off very well, he and his old native wife,
+for he is quite content to blowze and loaf all day,
+and roll off to his club now and then, while she
+is a typical, thrifty, hard-working Tagalo,<a name="FNanchor_10" id="FNanchor_10"></a><a href="#Footnote_10" class="fnanchor">[10]</a> always
+amongst her work-girls, and generally sewing
+herself. She sits in a chair, though, and every
+now and then picks up an old cigar-box that is
+for ever within her reach, and rolls herself a
+cigarette, scooping up very carefully every crumb
+of tobacco that falls into her capacious lap.</p>
+
+<p>This Filipina keeps the house much cleaner
+than the <i lang="es">Mestizas</i> did, and has more regard for
+privacy, in the shape of curtains of bright cretonne
+nailed across the side windows. The old lady
+has a very pet dog, which is exactly like herself—a
+huge, fat, sleek, brown creature, perfectly good-natured,
+with a deep, full voice. They have a
+spaniel too, and other dogs that run in and out,
+and I can’t make out how many belong to the
+house, or how many are only friends; but I got
+to be quite certain of one, which nearly always
+lies on the window-ledge, and to know it by
+sight. After a time, however, it gradually dawned
+on me that this particular spaniel never moved—and
+then I discovered that he was <em>stuffed</em>! Till
+I knew that, he was, to me, a quiet, contemplative
+dog; but since I found he was stuffed, he has
+become a horrible, uncanny demon.</p>
+
+<p>Yesterday morning a little old native woman
+appeared wandering round the balcony with a<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_268" id="Page_268">[268]</a></span>
+bundle under her arm. When she caught sight
+of me she darted away, and in a few minutes
+Sotero came into the <i lang="es">sala</i> saying that a <i lang="es">mujer</i> (a
+woman) wanted to sell some <i lang="es">piña</i> to the <i lang="es">señora</i>.</p>
+
+<p>I said I did not want <i lang="es">piña</i> particularly, but
+that the woman could come and show it to me if
+she liked; so in she came and squatted on her heels
+in the doorway while she undid the bundle, first a
+piece of cotton, and then an old newspaper, then
+more cotton, and at last a lot of rolls of muslin.
+They were very pretty pieces of stuff, dyed in
+pale greens, pinks, blues, and mauves, but she
+wanted sixteen or eighteen <i lang="es">pesos</i> apiece (thirty-two
+to thirty-eight shillings) for them—dress lengths of
+fifteen narrow yards. I said: “I will give you
+nine <i lang="es">pesos</i>.”</p>
+
+<p>“<i lang="es">Santa Maria!</i>” she threw up her hands. “I
+could not live. My mistress would beat me!”</p>
+
+<p>I said that was nonsense, because she knew
+no Filipino lady would dream of giving her more
+than seven.</p>
+
+<p>“Fourteen at the very lowest, <i lang="es">señora</i>, and the
+American ladies gave me eighteen without any
+questions.”</p>
+
+<p>“That is very silly of them,” I said. But I
+knew it to be true, for I had been present at a
+great buying of <i lang="es">piña</i> by American tourists, and
+the prices they gave were simply idiotic.</p>
+
+<p>“I am not <i lang="es">Americana</i>,” I said.</p>
+
+<p>“I know that” (I daresay she did, for on that
+point a native rarely, if ever, makes a mistake), “so
+I would not think of asking the <i lang="es">señora</i> more than
+thirteen, which I hope she will not mention to
+anyone.”</p>
+
+<p>“Why should I pay thirteen for stuff that I
+know is to be had in the Filipino houses for nine?”</p>
+
+<p>“If I say twelve, may the <i lang="es">señora</i> say a prayer
+that I may not be dismissed by my mistress.”</p>
+
+<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_269" id="Page_269">[269]</a></span></p>
+
+<p>“I am <i lang="es">Protestante</i>. I think each person must
+say their own prayers.”</p>
+
+<p>“The <i lang="es">señora</i> is wise and good. She will give
+me eleven and a half.”</p>
+
+<p>And so on, and so on. Before we had done,
+I was the kindest, wisest, most humane, and
+beautiful and polite woman the sun ever shone
+on; I was blessed by all the Saints in turn—but
+I paid nine <i lang="es">pesos</i> for a roll of blue <i lang="es">piña</i>, and the
+old woman said she would come any day and
+sell me any amount more at the same price.</p>
+
+<hr />
+
+<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_270" id="Page_270">[270]</a></span></p>
+
+<h2 id="LETTER_35">LETTER XXXV.<br />
+<span class="smaller">DECLARATION DAY—THE CULT OF THE FLAG—A
+PROCESSION, FESTIVITIES, AND A BALL</span></h2>
+
+<p class="right"><span class="smcap">Iloilo</span>, <i>July 4</i>.</p>
+
+<p>This is a tremendous day here, and a universal public
+holiday—Declaration Day, you know; the anniversary
+of the day when the States declared themselves
+independent of the Mother Country. All
+the town is gay with palm-branches and myriads of
+Stars and Stripes, while the fun began at sunrise
+this morning by a great letting-off of Chinese
+crackers, and Americans coming out on their
+balconies in pyjamas and firing pistols into the air.</p>
+
+<p>I think the Americans must be a very patriotic
+people, for out here they keep up these anniversaries
+with even more fervour, I am told, than they do at
+home, where they are a tradition of the soil. The
+cult of the national flag, too, is a perfect passion
+with them, and I have yet to see an American
+house out here where the Stars and Stripes do not
+appear in some part or other. In very many
+houses the flag is used as window-curtains, as
+ceiling-draperies, as <i lang="fr">portières</i>, as tablecloths,
+besides little extra sort of Christmas-cake flags
+being stuck about wherever an ornament is wanted.
+One does not see this sort of thing in colonies of
+other countries, but the American flag devotion is
+really so sincere that one cannot cavil at its excess.
+Nevertheless we should consider it odd if the houses
+of high officials, and of everyone, in fact, in one of
+our colonies were decorated with Union Jacks in<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_271" id="Page_271">[271]</a></span>
+this fashion! Of course the Spaniards laugh at
+it very much; but then they are, very naturally,
+rather critical of all things American. One of them
+was holding forth bitterly to me on this flag question
+a day or two ago, and when I said that I thought
+it very nice to see so much patriotic feeling, he
+waved his hands and replied, very hotly: “It is
+not patriotism! It is farce! We, who have been
+born and bred for hundreds of generations on our
+native soil and love our country as a mother—we
+hold our flag sacred! We do not use it as
+furniture!”</p>
+
+<p>I was much amused at his vehemence, but did
+not dare to smile for fear of hurting his feelings.
+Instead, I tried to soothe him down by saying that
+I thought the flag cult was perhaps a benefit as a
+direct appeal to the elementary natures of the
+Filipinos. This move of mine was a failure,
+however, for he burst out with renewed fury:
+“The Filipinos! What they think of it! Ha!
+You should hear them!” So I gave him up as a
+bad job!</p>
+
+<p>To get back to the Declaration Day. The
+popping of pistols and throwing of crackers into the
+streets went on intermittently till about eight
+o’clock, when a procession began marching about the
+town, and luckily the day is extremely fine, though
+it is very hot indeed, as, though the thermometer is
+as low as 84°, there is not a breath of wind stirring,
+and all nature is very still and bright and shining.</p>
+
+<p>The procession began to pass our house at
+about nine, so we had no more trouble to see it
+than just to lean over the balcony with some
+friends who had come round to profit by our
+position. C—— tried to get some snap-shots, but
+I am afraid they may not come out very well, as the
+camera is damp, like everything else in the house,
+and has a good coating of the prevailing blue mould.</p>
+
+<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_272" id="Page_272">[272]</a></span></p>
+
+<p>The first spectacle that came along was a number
+of American officers on horseback, in khaki, with
+sashes of any colour they seemed to fancy—pale
+blue, pink, scarlet—slung round one shoulder and
+tied in a large bow on the hip. They rode the big
+army horses, which are no larger than ordinary
+horses at home; but, as I told you before, they look
+like pantomime animals after one’s eye is used to
+the Filipino ponies.</p>
+
+<p>There was some hitch, out of sight, as the procession
+reached us, and all the officers pulled up
+their horses and turned round to look back. I don’t
+know what it was, but they halted a long time, trying
+all the time to get into the shade of the houses, for the
+heat was already very great. The men’s khaki suits
+were dark with perspiration, quite a different colour!
+Their horses dripped puddles of sweat when they
+halted, and one white horse was gradually turning
+<em>purple</em>!</p>
+
+<p>The Americans rode in the style which I notice
+they all adopt. It does not look well according to
+our ideas, for they slouch in the saddle and flap
+their elbows, sitting with their legs sticking out
+straight as if the horse had tar or something on its
+ribs which the rider wanted to keep clear of.
+They seem to hold their reins in any sort of way, in
+each hand and up to their chins being the favourite
+method, which looks awkward, to say the least of
+it. After them came one or two Filipinos, who all
+ride very well by instinct, sitting their horses firmly
+and gracefully, with flat thighs, and moving as if
+they were part of their mount, so that it is a
+pleasure to look at them. The little ponies and
+horses of the Filipinos pranced and curvetted about
+in a most engaging manner, which desirable result
+is brought about by means of an ingenious contrivance,
+borrowed from the Spaniards, of a sharp iron
+spike which runs into the roof of the horse’s mouth<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_273" id="Page_273">[273]</a></span>
+when the rein is pulled, causing the animal to fret
+and foam and sidle to the admiration of beholders,
+who wonder how the rider can be so brave and
+cool with such a spirited steed.</p>
+
+<p>After this little cavalcade had got past, the procession
+proper came along, headed by a military
+band from Guimaras, playing extremely well, and a
+long column of American soldiers, all in khaki and
+wearing khaki felt sombreros, such as our troops
+adopted in the Boer War, turned up at one side
+and with a narrow blue cord knotted in front, the
+ends finished off with two small blue acorns. They
+marched very well, all looking as exactly alike as
+so many toy soldiers on an expanding frame—you
+know the things? All very tall men, with
+long, handsome faces, narrow shoulders, and long,
+thin legs, not at all a robust type, no wiriness and
+no depth about them.</p>
+
+<p>After the soldiers came a dozen or so of ordinary
+civilians in white linen suits and <i lang="es">sombreros</i>, with
+stars and medals on their breasts. They were
+followed by a similar group of men on foot, and
+these two little bands represented the Veteran
+Army of the Philippines, which includes anyone who
+volunteered in any capacity during the War. We
+told C—— he ought to be in that company, or at
+least to have a medal, as he was once made a
+temporary “<em>loo</em>tenant,” and fought for the Americans
+in Samar. I think, however, that the V.A.P.,
+as they call it, confines itself to American volunteers.
+With the American craze for societies and so forth,
+the V.A.P. are a sort of brotherhood, and have
+lodges and badges and meetings, and all that sort
+of thing. They gave a dance when we first came
+here, to which we went, and were awfully disgusted
+when we arrived to find that we had come too late
+for a solemn Lodge Meeting at which some ceremony
+had been performed.</p>
+
+<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_274" id="Page_274">[274]</a></span></p>
+
+<p>After the V.A.P. came a lot of Philippine
+Scouts, quite the opposite build to the American
+soldiers, as they were very small, square men, with
+brown, square faces, high shoulders, long bodies,
+and short legs. Sturdy-looking little people, and
+looking very trim and smart in their neat khaki
+uniforms. Their band followed them, and behind
+that came the Constabulary, more little square
+“brown brothers” in white gala suits, with <em>their</em>
+band.</p>
+
+<p>A string of carriages came next, decorated,
+wheels and all, with Stars-and-Stripes flags and
+filled with all sorts of Americans, Filipinos,
+<i lang="es">Mestizos</i>, and Spaniards, men and women, a very
+gay crowd. Following them was the Fire Brigade,
+consisting of natives marching on each side of an
+old hand-pump, like a thing on a sailing ship, and
+carrying a most amusing banner, painted with a
+picture of a house on fire, where a man in the
+middle distance worked a hose with a Niagara
+pouring out of it, while in the foreground a huge
+woman holding a giant baby sat on a packing case
+amongst a lot of very small furniture.</p>
+
+<p>Next came a Filipino Base-ball Team, in khaki
+knickerbockers and black shirts, with <span class="smcapuc">ATLETICA</span>
+in large white letters across their chests, after the
+fashion of that base-ball team we once saw play in
+the gardens of the Borghese.</p>
+
+<p>The great feature of the procession was a large
+car decorated with a quantity of American flags and
+portraits of Washington, surmounted by a big
+pasteboard column, striped red and white, on the
+top of which lay a scroll of paper, held down by a
+gigantic gilt ink-pot with a mammoth quill stuck in
+it, and on the scroll was written <span class="smcapuc">CONSTITUTION</span> in
+big letters.</p>
+
+<p>All the men in the Port Works went past, some
+carrying hammers, and some bearing, between five or<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_275" id="Page_275">[275]</a></span>
+six of them, immense long boring-rods for blasting.
+They were Filipinos, of course; in fact, with the
+exception of the American soldiers and a dozen or
+so of the occupants of the carriages, the whole
+procession was Filipino—all quite pleased and
+childlike to march about with banners to Sousa’s
+stirring tunes. I don’t suppose one in twenty of
+the “little brown brothers” had the vaguest idea
+what their big white brothers were so rejoicing
+about; or if they had ever heard of Townshend
+and the Stamp Duties they would think the
+commemoration of the removal of a yoke of foreign
+bad government and taxation was something to do
+with their own everlasting struggle for independence.
+Besides this comical side to the rejoicings, there
+was the absurd anomaly that a great part of the
+funds for this celebration had been contributed by
+the British commercial houses!</p>
+
+<p>Well, it was an interminable string of people.
+The Normal Schools of Jaro, La Paz, Molo, etc.,
+each under their own banner, a long file of boys
+and then girls in all sorts of outfits and colours, but
+the girls all wearing the Filipino <i lang="es">camisa</i>, and
+many of them carrying the branches of artificial and
+gilt flowers, which they use in religious processions.
+It was particularly noticeable that there was no
+priest of any sort in the procession, nor were the
+priestly colleges or the Convent Schools represented
+in any way.</p>
+
+<p>We got quite tired of watching them at last,
+especially as the whole thing kept on getting
+muddled up and having to stop for long, weary
+halts. We came to the conclusion at last that as
+there was no crowd in the street or at the end of
+it; there must be a tiger round the corner. But a
+very literal Scotch friend said: “There are no
+tigers in the Philippines.”</p>
+
+<p>A dance was given by the Spanish Club last<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_276" id="Page_276">[276]</a></span>
+night, and there is to be another to-night, at the
+invitation of the Presidente of the town, at his
+official residence, the Gobierno. I am not well
+enough to go to both, for I have not been out of
+the house for weeks, and even now it is rash to
+stand at all till my feet are healed, but I felt I must
+go to one of these functions, so I have chosen
+to-night, which is, according to Iloilo notions of
+etiquette, far the less exclusive of the two, so it
+will be much the more amusing.</p>
+
+<p>I have been writing this, lying in my long
+chair in the <i lang="es">sala</i>, while C—— went out to the
+Plaza to see if he could hear any speeches or
+anything funny. He has just come back, and tells
+me there was a platform erected in the Plaza, where
+speeches had been rolled off, but he had been too
+late to hear any of them. A great pity, as I
+daresay they may have been amusing, because one
+of the speakers was a rabid pro-Filipino and the
+other (both Americans) a keen pro-American. I
+will finish this letter to-morrow, so as to be able to
+tell you all about the ball.</p>
+
+<p class="right"><i>July 5.</i></p>
+
+<p>We went for a drive yesterday, late in the
+afternoon, and when we got as far as the Plaza, we
+found a terrific <i lang="es">Fiesta</i> in progress—all the lamp-posts
+decorated with Stars and Stripes and Japanese
+lanterns; and a huge stage, covered with palms
+and more Stars and Stripes, put up opposite the
+bandstand, and full of Americans, while vast
+crowds of Filipinos surged below—the men in
+white and the women in colours like those in a
+cheap church window—and it all looked very gay and
+pretty. I was very much surprised to see all this,
+as I had had no idea anything of the sort was<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_277" id="Page_277">[277]</a></span>
+in contemplation, and I was sorry that neither I
+nor the other Englishwoman had been invited to
+the stand, but I suppose they thought we would
+not care to take part in rejoicings over the
+Declaration of Independence although our countrymen
+had contributed, by request, a great part of the
+funds for the celebration.</p>
+
+<p>We pulled up and looked on for a little while,
+much interested in a tug of war which was
+unlike anything we had ever seen. The two sides,
+Filipinos, stood on a long wooden frame like a
+gigantic ladder lying on the ground, and on this
+they lay at opposite ends, with their purchase on
+the rungs, and pulled at the rope with no effect
+whatever to the amateur eye; but apparently
+some man in command thought otherwise, for a
+voice suddenly sang out that one side had won,
+whereupon the competitors all let go the rope
+and fell quite limp, and then got up and walked
+away.</p>
+
+<p>They had races, too, and a greasy pole—no,
+two greasy poles—of bamboo, with a packet of
+money at the top, and, of course, a flag of Stars
+and Stripes. Up these the enterprising native
+youth of Iloilo swarmed, to the intense joy of the
+onlookers, who howled and roared with appreciation.
+All sorts of dodges were allowed, which
+were ingenious if not particularly sporting. One
+small boy tried to get to the top by covering his
+hands and feet with sand, with which his pockets
+were laden and bulging, while the man who eventually
+got to the money hoisted himself by a device
+of bars of wood and rope, which betrayed him at
+once to C—— as a sailor. We very nearly gave up
+waiting for this enterprising mariner, who took
+an immense time to get up to the thin part at the
+top of the pole, where he could abandon his contrivance
+and get his hands round the bamboo—but<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_278" id="Page_278">[278]</a></span>
+he secured the prize, and the people below bellowed
+with delight.</p>
+
+<p>There were very few Americans amongst the
+crowd, all the officers and officials being in the
+stand, with many ladies in light frocks and big
+hats, while the rank and file could be seen in the
+bars round the Plaza, not caring a rap about tugs
+of war or greasy poles, or their “little brown
+brothers.” In the gaol the prisoners were crowded
+at the barred windows, getting what fun they
+could out of the general atmosphere of liberty; and
+as we drove round the Plaza, I saw a most ragged
+and miserable young countrywoman carrying a
+sad, puny baby at her breast, talking to her man
+through the bars of the prison, where the female
+relations come and hand food in to the dark ragged
+fellows inside. She slunk away round the Plaza,
+and her face was too pitiful for words, she was so
+gaunt and haggard. We had no money with us,
+but I doubt if she would have taken it if we offered
+it to her, as the country people are very proud, and
+very sensitive about “<i lang="es">verguenza</i>,” which is Spanish
+for shame. Very few of the white people seem to
+understand this <i lang="es">verguenza</i>, by an appeal to which,
+as I told you before, wonders can be done with a
+Filipino.</p>
+
+<p>This little incident put me out of humour with
+the Declaration celebrations, so we drove out on
+to the Molo road a little way and then returned,
+and I had a good long rest before dinner to prepare
+me for the evening’s festivities.</p>
+
+<p>The day wound up with the ball at the Gobierno,
+which is a kind of Government House comprising
+public offices, and the Law Courts, and so forth. It
+is a big building across the end of the Calle Real,
+with a large over-hanging balcony or verandah,
+under which the carriages pulled up on a stone-flag
+pavement, all muddled up anyhow, anywhere, each<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_279" id="Page_279">[279]</a></span>
+one turning and going out in any direction the
+horse chose, with the usual shouting and confusion
+and swearing on all sides.</p>
+
+<p>The big stone basement was decorated with
+palms tied against the columns, and Stars and
+Stripes, and all up the staircase more Stars and
+Stripes and more palms.</p>
+
+<p>The ball went on chiefly in the Court Room, a
+long narrow apartment, where the scheme of decoration
+was half a dozen huge American flags draped
+over the walls; and, stowed away over one doorway,
+a few folds of the red and yellow of Spain.
+On one side of the Court Room, through wide
+arches, was another long room, and on the street
+side was the long balcony, open to the night, and
+cool when compared to the rooms.</p>
+
+<p>When we arrived, the ball was in full blast with
+the Official Rigodon, which C—— and Mr M——
+who went with us, did not care to dance, and I
+could not, so we sat in a row and looked on, and I
+talked to an American friend we had met as we
+came in. He asked me to dance, but I said that
+was not possible for me, as my feet were still
+unhealed, and all bandaged up for this dance.</p>
+
+<p>“Oh,” he said cheerfully, “I guess you are
+right to be careful, because if you neglect those
+things they turn into tropical ulcers, which are
+<em>in</em>-curable.”</p>
+
+<p>“Do they?” I said.</p>
+
+<p>“Why, yes, I had a friend who got mosquito
+bites poisoned just so, and he died of them.”</p>
+
+<p>In spite of this, however, I spent a very cheerful
+evening, and was quite rewarded for the trouble of
+going out by the spectacle itself. For some time
+our American friend remained by us, as he said it
+was the last chance he would have of seeing us to
+say good-bye, because he was going back to the
+United States. We asked him if he were going on<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_280" id="Page_280">[280]</a></span>
+leave, but he said no, he was giving up his appointment;
+which rather surprised us, as he is one of
+the chief officials here, and has a very good position.
+But he said he simply could not stand the Philippines
+any longer, and would rather work for half the pay
+in any other country.</p>
+
+<p>“Besides,” he said, “I am entirely out of
+sympathy with the whole thing, and can’t see what
+we are doing here anyway.”</p>
+
+<p>I said, “But you have the country to develop.”</p>
+
+<p>“Oh, I’m sick of hearing that,” he said. “What
+I want to do is to go right back to the States and
+see some development done there.”</p>
+
+<p>“Where do you mean?” we asked.</p>
+
+<p>“Why, in my own State alone there are
+hundreds of miles of virgin soil which I reckon I
+want to see developed before these silly old islands.”</p>
+
+<p>“Ah,” I said, “then you don’t like the
+Philippines?”</p>
+
+<p>“Have you ever met anyone who does?”</p>
+
+<p>“No,” I said, “at any rate not one American
+who does not loathe the place, except one woman,
+the wife of a missionary, who says she likes it, but
+then she spends all the disagreeable season in
+Japan.”</p>
+
+<p>“That’s so,” he said. “And I guess if I come
+back it’s going to be on the religious stunt, with no
+work and lots of <em>va</em>-cation.”</p>
+
+<p>The guests at the ball were all sorts and
+conditions of men, rather what C—— calls a
+“heterogeneous mass,” but most of the Americans
+were there too, and several new people whom I
+learned were officers and their wives from Camp
+Josman, over in Guimaras. One little woman
+particularly took my fancy, with her pale, pretty
+face and masses of fair hair, and a really lovely
+pink silk ball-dress. She looked so fresh and
+charming, but I felt quite anxious about her nice<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_281" id="Page_281">[281]</a></span>
+dress, as my own black skirt was a source of
+trouble on such dirty boards, where, I am sorry to
+say, some of the guests did not hesitate to
+expectorate when they felt inclined for this national
+pastime.</p>
+
+<p>The floor, as I say, was simply rough, unpolished,
+dusty, dark-wood planks, and all the American
+men, except our friend and two others, wore day
+suits and boots, while many of the women had on
+walking shoes, which did not improve things.</p>
+
+<p>The natives were all got up in blinding colours—little,
+dark, square-faced women in the harsh aniline
+dyes of thirty years ago—and some of them had
+on very handsome diamonds. C—— and I and
+Mr M—— were the only English people present.
+I believe the others, as well as many of the
+Americans, all thought the official ball not sufficiently
+select, which seemed to me a very amusing
+point of view in a place like Iloilo—or anywhere
+else for the matter of that.</p>
+
+<p>After watching the ball-room for a little while,
+we thought we would like some fresh air, so we
+moved out on to the balcony, where the air was
+fairly cool, and where the band was stationed on a
+platform of two steps in height. This was the
+Constabulary, native brass, which sounds very well
+out of doors in a procession, but is rather deafening
+in a room. On the platform were two or three
+music-stands at which a few men lounged, but the
+rest of the twenty-five sat and blew (all brass and
+two flutes) wherever they pleased, most of them
+festooned gracefully about the steps of the stand;
+some lying almost full length on one elbow; and
+some huddled up with their chins on their knees,
+looking exactly like performing monkeys. One
+man with strips of black sticking-plaster on his flat,
+brown face, lay on the steps of the stand, gazing at
+the ceiling, and playing his cornet in one hand.</p>
+
+<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_282" id="Page_282">[282]</a></span></p>
+
+<p>There were benches all round the balcony, and
+on one of these we sat, in company with a
+lot of other guests, while some energetic and
+perspiring dancers came out and extended the
+ball to the balcony, dancing solemnly up and down
+in front of the band. When some people moved
+away from the bench nearest the platform, half
+a dozen bandsmen instantly took possession of
+their vacant places and sat there, leaning back
+and blowing away at greater ease. They seemed
+to be playing instinctively while thinking of other
+things. One small boy on the bench by us was
+fast asleep, with his fingers still moving up and
+down on the stops, which so interested Mr M——
+that he got up and put his ear down to the fellow’s
+trumpet, but declared he could hear no sound
+coming out of it at all. The other bandsmen
+watched him do this with impassive, expressionless
+faces, if they looked at him at all. This was
+during the second Rigodon, which we could see
+going on in the long Court Room, and when the
+last figure was reached, a bandsman suddenly
+sprang up from a recumbent position on the
+steps and tootled the first few bars of “Hiawatha,”
+which they all struck into with a swing, and
+some of the sleepers opened one dull eye, while
+the man with the black sticking-plaster on his
+face was suddenly galvanised into walking up
+and down to the tune—a sort of dancing walk—in
+front of the bandstand.</p>
+
+<p>While we sat by the band, we were joined by
+another American friend, also a “prominent
+citizen,” with whom I had a long and interesting
+shout about the Philippines in general, and Mr
+Taft in particular, which was most entertaining,
+for this friend was as ardent a pro-Filipino as
+the other had been anti-Taft and anti-everything.
+This man was very enthusiastic about Mr Taft’s<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_283" id="Page_283">[283]</a></span>
+scheme, as he called it, and when I said,
+“What scheme?” he replied:</p>
+
+<p>“Why, the way we run these Islands.”</p>
+
+<p>Whereupon we entered upon a hot discussion,
+for I was all in favour of roads and irrigation,
+and he was all for school-desks and more teachers.
+I quoted a paragraph I had seen in the Manila
+papers, where the public were informed that
+some new and wonderfully fertile valley had
+been opened up in the Island of Luzon, and that
+the Government’s first care had been to send ten
+thousand school-desks to this favoured spot.
+Whereupon he said:</p>
+
+<p>“Well, what is the matter with that, anyway?”</p>
+
+<p>I begged him to consider what Ceylon would
+be now if Sir Samuel Baker had opened it up with
+school-desks instead of roads and reservoirs.</p>
+
+<p>“Oh,” he said, “I never thought of it in that
+way. But perhaps our idea of raising these races
+is right. It is an experiment which time will
+prove.”</p>
+
+<p>And that we argued too, with a running
+comment of amusement on the <i lang="es">baile</i>, in spite of
+the loud blasts of the band.</p>
+
+<p>Before we left, we had excellent supper in a
+side-room, where two long tables stood covered
+with food, and all the ceiling was draped with
+loops of greenery and paper lanterns. There were
+plates set out, each with a helping of excellent
+cold turkey in the middle surrounded by little
+piles of stuffing and vegetables and things, which
+we followed by very nice meringues, and accompanied
+with delicious iced drinks—ice from the
+Government factory—such a treat! While we
+were at supper, standing at one of the long tables, a
+paper lamp flared up and fell in a flaming mass just
+behind me. C—— and some Spaniards promptly<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_284" id="Page_284">[284]</a></span>
+stamped it out. But some of the women were
+frightened, so the Spaniards sang out:</p>
+
+<p>“Terminado! Terminado!”</p>
+
+<p>And everyone went on eating again.</p>
+
+<p>A little group of natives and <i lang="es">Mestizos</i> came
+into the room immediately afterwards, but they
+had not seen the lamp fall, and one of the women
+in a light trailing gown passed over some
+smouldering fragments. C—— sprang forward
+and said in Spanish:</p>
+
+<p>“Your dress! There has been a lamp burnt
+there!” And pointed to the sparks.</p>
+
+<p>But the woman merely glared over her shoulder,
+as if he had offered her some insult. I could
+gladly have stuck my fork into her impudent,
+bold, brown face, and can’t, as yet, see why in the
+Eternal Fitness of Things she did not catch fire
+and flare up.</p>
+
+<p>After supper we watched a waltz and a two-step,
+and then went away about twelve.</p>
+
+<p>On our way out I passed one of the alcove
+openings into the inner room, where I saw a sad,
+white Bouguereau Madonna face looking up at
+a man bending down, and recognised one of the
+heroines of the late <i lang="es">funcion</i> (a delightful Spanish
+slang word) next door. So I perceived that the
+Marble Misery was a chronic pose, and nothing at
+all to do with her relations stabbing each other.
+Only, I must say she looked more “in the picture,”
+running down the street with her hair streaming,
+than in a bright ball-room.</p>
+
+<p>We had gone to the <i lang="es">baile</i> in a hired <i lang="es">quilez</i>, as we
+did not want to take our own frisky pony out on such
+a night of Chinese crackers underfoot and rockets
+overhead, and we had told the <i lang="es">quilez</i> man to come
+back for us. To our astonishment, he did so.
+Not that it was much of a treasure in the way of a
+carriage, for it was so badly balanced that our weight<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_285" id="Page_285">[285]</a></span>
+at the back would have lifted the pony clean off
+the ground if the driver had not kept the balance
+by squatting on the shafts over the pony’s tail.
+The little animal tore along, and it was a wonder
+and a mystery to see how the driver stuck on at all.
+It was probably chiefly done with his toes, for
+Filipino toes stand apart, supple like fingers, and
+are used in the most marvellous and uncanny ways.
+In the streets the Filipinos wear, or ought to wear,
+only slippers of gaudy velvet, called <i lang="es">chinelas</i>, but
+many of them now affect stockings and pointed
+shoes, which I think must be one of the most
+doubtful blessings of civilisation. In the procession
+I noticed many of the little school girls and boys
+with stockings on and awful shoes, and one or two
+of the little girls even wore hats, but, if I described
+them to you, you would not believe me!</p>
+
+<p>Well, have you ever had such a long letter in
+your life? And yet there is any amount more to
+tell you if I only had the energy to write it.</p>
+
+<hr />
+
+<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_286" id="Page_286">[286]</a></span></p>
+
+<h2 id="LETTER_36">LETTER XXXVI.<br />
+<span class="smaller">COCK-FIGHTING—PULAJANES</span></h2>
+
+<p class="right"><span class="smcap">Iloilo</span>, <i>July 14, 1905</i>.</p>
+
+<p>I know you will be sorry to hear that the last
+of our dear little mongeese is dead—killed by the
+dogs next door a week ago. We heard squeaking
+and barking and scuffling in the alley-way one
+evening, and rushed to the windows, but it was all
+dark below, and we could see nothing. So C——
+and Sotero went down with a lamp, but there was
+nothing to be seen, and when we sent in to ask
+the old Tagalo dressmaker about it, they all swore
+they had heard nothing. So we hoped it was only
+a rat; but we waited in vain for our poor little
+pet to come back, and she never appeared again.</p>
+
+<p>I could not bear the sight of the empty cage,
+and made the boys take it away after a day or
+two, and now I find it stands on the Azotea,
+with Sotero’s rooster sitting solemnly on a perch
+that has been fixed across the middle. This is
+the same cock, by-the-bye, that travelled back with
+us from Nagaba, and when C—— asks the boy
+about it, he always says it is “going to fight for
+fifteen <i lang="es">pesos</i>” on some Sunday—which never comes.
+The cock is as tame with Sotero as a dog, and
+allows itself to be combed and stroked the way
+one sees all the Filipinos do to their fighting-cocks.</p>
+
+<div class="figcenter" style="width: 600px;" id="illus22">
+<img src="images/illus22.jpg" width="600" height="350" alt="" />
+<p class="caption"><span class="smcap">A Village Cock-Fight.</span></p>
+<p class="caption-r"><a href="#Page_287"><i>To face page 287.</i></a></p>
+</div>
+
+<p>In the native huts the fighting-cock is a very
+precious and sacred person, enthroned on a special
+perch at one end of the living-room. The night
+before he fights, this warrior is watched with the<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_287" id="Page_287">[287]</a></span>
+greatest care to see which point of the compass
+he faces, as on that omen hang many events, for
+if the creature faces the east he is bound to win,
+but if he is turned towards the west you may
+as well not take him to the battle at all. A little
+hope is left, however, for when the cocks all crow
+before the dawn, he who makes the first scrawk
+is bound to win, and you can put your last <i lang="es">peseta</i>
+on him.</p>
+
+<p>The poor beasts are taken to the ring, where
+spurs of curved steel are fastened to the back of
+their heels, which makes the fight pretty short and
+decisive, and may be indirectly merciful if it helps
+towards a swift death. The making of the blades
+is a fine art, and they are carefully carried about in
+a small box with a little stone on which to sharpen
+them. When one sees a Filipino on the way to a
+cock-fight, with his bird sitting on his arm, there is
+generally another native walking beside him,
+carrying this little black box containing the spurs
+and the little whet-stone.</p>
+
+<p>There is as much roguery and “doping”
+amongst these cock-fighters as there is about
+horse-racing amongst “civilised” men, and some of
+the dodges are really very ingenious, such, for
+instance, as taking tiny pills of opium or other
+poison under the finger nail and dropping them in
+front of your opponent’s bird when it is pecking
+about before the contest begins.</p>
+
+<p>Before the fight the interested parties are
+allowed to test the roosters, like looking at a horse
+in the paddock, only they enjoy advantages which
+I believe are not to be indulged in a paddock at
+a race-meeting, for they may form their opinion of
+a bird by picking the animal up and feeling its
+muscles, looking at its thighs and examining its
+feet, of all of which points the Filipino is a
+wonderful judge, being able to graduate his large<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_288" id="Page_288">[288]</a></span>
+bets on the feeling of a muscle with great certainty.
+All the same, this is the occasion, if he is so minded
+and the other man is not quick enough, to injure
+the animal by means of a sharp pin point hidden
+in the palm of the hand or between the fingers.</p>
+
+<p>I notice that the fighting-cocks here don’t have
+their breasts pulled bare of feathers like those poor
+birds we saw in that old man’s house below the
+walls of the Alhambra. Do you remember how
+bald and horrible they looked? And how the old
+villain who kept them told us he pulled the feathers
+out and rubbed in spirits to keep the skin hard?
+They don’t seem to do that here, for I have never
+seen a bare-breasted cock, and never met anyone
+who has heard of such a custom.</p>
+
+<p>The General has gone off to Samar, the long
+island parallel to this, and on the other side of
+Cebú—though I can only use those terms vaguely,
+and by way of a general indication to you where
+to look on a map. The island is now under martial
+law, owing to the patriotism and enterprise of
+certain jolly fellows, called Pulajanes, going about
+with big curved <i lang="es">bolos</i>, and old Spanish flint-locks,
+and in fact anything they can catch hold of. These
+persons are really patriots of a most irreconcilable
+type, but it suits the programme of the Government
+to label them <i lang="es">ladrones</i> (robbers), and to refer to
+their own hard fights with them as “cleaning up the
+province.” On the strength of this nickname, the
+Americans cut down these patriots freely (when the
+Pulajanes do not do the cutting down first), and if
+they catch them alive the poor devils are hanged
+like common criminals.<a name="FNanchor_11" id="FNanchor_11"></a><a href="#Footnote_11" class="fnanchor">[11]</a> The papers continue to<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_289" id="Page_289">[289]</a></span>
+publish long eulogiums on the peace and prosperity
+of the Philippines, and all the time the richest
+commercial centre of the Archipelago is under
+martial law, with all its business houses shut
+down; and soldiers and officers continue to arrive
+at the hospital here every now and then, with more
+or less severe wounds. Also waggons occasionally
+go past from the barracks, piled up with baggage,
+and followed by troops in service kit, and one hears
+that they have “gone to the front.”</p>
+
+<p>For some time past the staff of C——’s firm has
+been increased here, in this Iloilo branch, by the
+absorption into it of one of their men from
+Catbologan, the chief town of Samar, as their
+business there, along with all the others in that
+island, has had to be shut down.</p>
+
+<p>There is desultory fighting even here, in Panay,
+but we never hear of it except as an occasional
+paragraph in a Manila paper.</p>
+
+<p>So much for peace. As to prosperity, there is
+general scarcity, many districts suffer actual
+famine. In Cebú the lower classes are chiefly
+dependent on an allowance of so many sacks of
+rice a day, the gift of the Chinamen! In that
+town, indeed, matters are so bad that siege-like
+conditions prevail, and amongst other horrible
+things that happened, a starving native woman
+lately killed and ate her own baby. This is not
+hearsay, but sober reports in the <cite>Manila Times</cite>.</p>
+
+<p>I am paying the penalty of my recklessness in
+having gone to the Declaration Day ball, for the little
+walking I did that night made my feet very painful
+again, and I am laid up in bed once more, reading
+papers and trying to forget my American friend’s
+optimistic remarks about tropical ulcers. The
+doctor tells me I want feeding up to get the poison
+out of my system, and this I can quite believe, but
+fail to see how it is to be brought about. I have<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_290" id="Page_290">[290]</a></span>
+tried drinking a little wine, but that makes my
+prickly heat unendurable. The Spaniards here
+drink <i lang="es">tinto</i>—the red Spanish wine one gets at
+<i lang="fr">tables d’hôte</i> in Spain—but it has to be spirited up
+for export, so out here it is rather heady and sour;
+but I am sure it must be more wholesome than the
+whisky and soda of the English people, or the
+eternal tea of the American women. You will be
+tired of hearing about my mosquito bites, but I
+must just tell you one new thing that I have heard
+about this unpleasant ailment, which is that many
+people think the poison is introduced by flies—one
+fly would be quite enough! There were no flies, or
+very few, when we came here at first, in the dry
+season, but with the rain they have appeared in
+black swarms, and we live surrounded by large
+sheets of sticky paper with Tangle Foot written on
+them—a delightful American expression! Here
+again I am reminded of the amount of indifference
+shown to an animal in proportion to its size—comparative
+with that of a human being. For can
+you imagine anyone being tolerated, who caught
+cats or horses in deep, thick glue and let them
+slowly struggle to death? Yet what are you to do
+with flies? You can’t catch each one—first catch
+your fly, in fact—and then kill it in the quickest
+and most scientific manner. No. It must be
+Tangle Foot papers. But even though I find I am
+simply compelled to have them about the house,
+when I see a fly trying to haul one foot after the
+other out of the dreadful Tangle Foot, I can’t help
+appreciating the poor insect’s point of view.</p>
+
+<p>The old millionaire I told you about is still
+here, and everyone is trying to be civil to him,
+but I hear he is very difficult to entertain, for he
+insists on being the only man to talk, which he
+does very slowly and in an almost unintelligible
+accent. He gives considerable annoyance, too, by<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_291" id="Page_291">[291]</a></span>
+his bad clothes, dirty hands, and unshaven face,
+and one can’t help sympathising with the men who
+are irritated by such slovenliness, or agreeing with
+them, that it is not much good being a millionaire if
+you can’t get hold of a decent tailor and a razor
+and some soap!</p>
+
+<p>I think I told you that our friend Mr —— sent
+his wife and family off to Hong Kong when the
+heat began? They have come back, and are giving
+me so much annoyance by rhapsodies over the
+climate, the cheapness of everything, and the good
+food in Hong Kong that at last I had to <em>beg</em> them
+to say no more! Mrs —— is still comparing prices
+here with prices there, and she brought back pretty
+things for her house, which make me wild with
+envy—or would if we were not soon to pass to
+happier climes! Her husband went to fetch his
+little tribe, and he is raving, not so much about the
+comparison of prices and the joys of fresh milk,
+fruit, and vegetables as the horrible imposition of
+being compelled to pay the Philippine Cedula Tax
+all over again. Five <i lang="es">pesos</i> a head—10 shillings
+each for his wife, the three children, and the nurse!
+And what annoyed him most of all, I think, was
+his having been away about three weeks himself
+and having to pay it again too. However, it has
+been worth the money to them, I should think, for
+they all look quite brown and jolly compared to the
+people here, and quite different beings to the
+washed-out folk they were when they went away.
+At this time of year, as I think I told you, all the
+Hong Kong people who can afford it go home or
+to Shanghai or Japan, as they consider Hong Kong
+at this season not fit to live in!</p>
+
+<hr />
+
+<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_292" id="Page_292">[292]</a></span></p>
+
+<h2 id="LETTER_37">LETTER XXXVII.<br />
+<span class="smaller">A PEARL OF GREAT PRICE</span></h2>
+
+<p class="right"><span class="smcap">Iloilo</span>, <i>July 14, 1905</i>.</p>
+
+<p>We are having much cooler weather now, the
+thermometer sometimes as low as 77°, and hardly
+ever above 80°, and at night it has even been down
+to 64°. We have had some spells of hot sunshine,
+which have brought the flowers out in the few
+gardens and the cemeteries. We get a trayful now
+and then of all sorts of queer-looking blossoms,
+mostly bright reds and yellows, with no smell, and
+very gaudy and handsome. Many of them I have
+seen in hothouses at home, especially one big
+bright yellow funnel-shaped flower; but I don’t
+know any of their names, except the native words
+told me by the charming white-haired old Filipino
+gardener who brings them. Amongst the last lot
+was a thing exactly like a large periwinkle, which
+made me think at once of the garden at home, and
+some stuff like May-blossom, which made me feel
+more homesick than ever! They are beautiful, all
+these flowers, when they come in fresh, but there is no
+scent about them, and they seldom live twenty-four
+hours. One I do recognise, and that is the Canna
+lily, which I have seen in hothouses at home, and
+some irises of different sorts. I am feeling much
+better, so we went for a drive yesterday between
+the showers, but got caught in two tremendous
+squalls—one in the town and one on the Molo
+road. The <i lang="es">calesa</i> has a hood, which is raised on
+crooks, and one can shut oneself in altogether in<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_293" id="Page_293">[293]</a></span>
+heavy rain, with an arrangement of waterproof
+curtains, the reins passing through a hole in the
+high apron. It looks so funny, in wet weather,
+to see the bottled-up <i lang="es">calesas</i> going about, being
+driven as by magic, with the miserable <i lang="es">sota</i> (groom)
+trying to make the best of his narrow perch
+behind.</p>
+
+<div class="figcenter" style="width: 600px;" id="illus23">
+<img src="images/illus23.jpg" width="600" height="350" alt="" />
+<p class="caption"><span class="smcap">Watering Carabaos.</span></p>
+<p class="caption-r"><a href="#Page_293"><i>To face page 293.</i></a></p>
+</div>
+
+<p>The roads were a maze of huge pools of water,
+through which we just splashed anyhow, and all the
+palm-groves were brilliantly green, and full of new
+little fairy lakes, which looked so lovely that they
+were well worth the discomforts of the drive.
+Near the huge Priests’ College, a little way out of
+Iloilo, we saw some <i lang="es">carabaos</i> having a glorious
+time in various new pools. They looked very
+picturesque, with their great dark curved horns,
+standing out against the shining water and the
+green grass. The greenness is wonderful—too
+wonderful. There is no beauty of purples and
+soft blues about a wet day here; it is all grey and
+green, and even the little lakes in the palm-groves
+are very garish, and all exactly alike. One longs
+for a change of colouring, and these crude tints get
+on one’s nerves like an oleograph in a hotel.</p>
+
+<p>Talking of nerves, the perpetual sounds were
+added to, as soon as the rainy season set in, by the
+bell-like voices of countless frogs, singing in every
+ditch and pool. They sing in the day, but at night
+they are loudest, or else most noticeable, and their
+melodious notes might be pretty if one heard less
+of them and a long way off.</p>
+
+<p>A day or two ago Sotero came to me saying
+that a woman was at the door wanting to sell me
+a ring. I said I would look at it; so he went off
+and brought me a dirty little piece of newspaper,
+out of which emerged a huge pearl set in a very
+common, florid, claw setting. I looked at the
+pearl and saw that though it was white enough, it<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_294" id="Page_294">[294]</a></span>
+was very rough, with no iridescent lustre, what
+connoisseurs call “skin,” I believe. I also noticed
+that as the stone tapered away, and was discoloured
+under the setting, it could not be worth more
+than £10 at the most. But Sotero said the
+woman wanted two hundred <i lang="es">pesos</i> (£20), so the
+incident came to a rapid close. When C——
+came back in the middle of the day, and I told him
+about the ring, he said he knew it quite well, for it
+had been hawked all over Iloilo; and everyone
+thought the price asked a preposterous sum. In spite
+of which the woman refused all reasonable offers.</p>
+
+<p>The pearl came from the pearl-fisheries of the
+Philippines, which are chiefly in the Sulu Islands,
+far away South, where the Philippines almost
+touch British North Borneo. They say the pearls
+are not very good ones at the best, but none of the
+best specimens find their way about the Islands, for
+they are sent straight away to Singapore by the
+Chinamen who own the fisheries. Here there are
+oysters with beautiful, transparent, white pearl
+shells, of which the small panes of the rain-shutters
+are made; but these shells have no pearls in them,
+and are of very little value. Besides these oysters,
+we get all manner of shell-fish—crabs, cray-fish,
+clams, shrimps, as well as soles, sprats, whiting,
+and quantities of other fish. Indeed the supply
+of fish is wonderfully varied and always exquisitely
+fresh, except on Fridays, when the servants of all
+good Catholics clear the markets, or even secure
+the fish before they get into the markets at all. In
+stormy weather, too, we don’t get much fish, but, as
+a rule, the supply is a great boon, and one of our
+chief sources of sustenance. I was astonished to
+find in Manila that fish was very scarce and dear,
+and people there envied us the fish here, while those
+who only knew Manila refused even to believe that
+we could have such a supply at all!</p>
+
+<div class="figcenter" style="width: 600px;" id="illus24">
+<img src="images/illus24.jpg" width="600" height="450" alt="" />
+<p class="caption"><span class="smcap">A Filipino Fish-Market.</span></p>
+<p class="caption-r"><a href="#Page_294"><i>To face page 294.</i></a></p>
+</div>
+
+<hr />
+
+<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_295" id="Page_295">[295]</a></span></p>
+
+<h2 id="LETTER_38">LETTER XXXVIII.<br />
+<span class="smaller">AGRICULTURAL POSSIBILITIES</span></h2>
+
+<p class="right"><span class="smcap">Iloilo</span>, <i>July 31</i>.</p>
+
+<p>I think I told you we had been very lucky in the
+selling of the greater part of our furniture, and now
+we have got the <i lang="es">calesa</i> and pony off our hands as
+well, which is a great loss in the evenings, but we
+had to take what chance we could. Some of the
+young Englishmen got up a Gymkhana on the
+beach yesterday, and C—— rode the pony for the
+last time, when he was lucky enough to win two
+races out of three, and only missed the third by a
+misunderstanding about the start.</p>
+
+<p>It was a dull, showery afternoon, unfortunately,
+but when the rain went off, I strolled down to
+the beach to see if anything was to be seen. I
+found crowds of Filipinos standing about the upper
+part of the beach, and a few hurdles down on the
+sands, which the receding tide had left quite firm.
+The competitors, who included some of the young
+Spaniards and <i lang="es">Mestizos</i>, were riding up and down,
+and just as I arrived on the scene, a race came flying
+along in great style, to the intense joy of the native
+onlookers.</p>
+
+<p>The occasion was enlivened by the <i lang="es">banda de
+musica popular</i>, the members of which had been
+on their way to play in the Plaza, but had strolled
+down to the beach, where they stood amongst the
+crowd, and every now and then blew and tootled
+a tune while they goggled about.</p>
+
+<p>I signalled to our <i lang="es">sota</i> and made him go up to<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_296" id="Page_296">[296]</a></span>
+the house and fetch me a chair, on which I sat and
+watched the race. As I sat there a Filipino youth
+came up and very civilly asked me if the <i lang="es">señora</i>
+wanted a <i lang="es">muchacho</i>, but I said I did not, as I was
+quite content with the servants I had at present.</p>
+
+<p>We have had one or two very fine days again
+lately, and have been for one or two drives, but
+some very blood-thirsty road-mending has been
+going on, to prepare the town for the critical eyes
+of the Taft party, who are to arrive here from
+Manila on the 14th or 15th of next month. This
+road-mending is done by hauling the volcanic
+gravel out of the river beds, and dumping it in
+huge piles along the middle of the roads, and as
+the thoroughfares are not lighted, the result is a
+wild steeplechase with one wheel in the air. Sometimes
+fellows come along and spread the gravel out,
+but more generally it just spreads itself. It makes
+very soft roads, which the heavy <i lang="es">carabao</i>-carts
+plough up at once.</p>
+
+<p>One of the last drives we took was to visit the
+foreign cemetery, which is on the outskirts of the
+town, on a road running parallel to the beach. We
+got out of the trap at a tall wooden gate, which an
+old man opened to us, and walked up a short avenue
+of flowering bushes and palms. The graves stood
+on a grassy plot, with bushes growing about it,
+laden with large red or yellow blossoms, and crossed
+at right angles by sandy paths bordered with tiles.
+They were not ordinary graves, like those one sees
+at home, for each one was a sort of small brick
+tunnel some feet from the ground, and closed by
+a cemented tablet. There were names of some
+English people on one or two of them, and one had
+just been opened to send the bones of the occupant
+back to his native land. The man had been dead
+twenty-five years, and it seemed to me hardly worth
+while to disturb him.</p>
+
+<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_297" id="Page_297">[297]</a></span></p>
+
+<p>A little behind the main row of tombs we came
+on a Jewish grave—a big marble sarcophagus—with
+an iron rail round it and inscriptions in Hebrew
+on the flat top. The marble was native to this
+country, I have no doubt, as there is plenty of it
+in the Philippines; in fact some of the small islands
+are known to be of solid marble, but it does not
+pay to work them—did I not tell you this before,
+though?</p>
+
+<p>Mr B—— came to call this afternoon, and was
+very indignant about local justice, as it appears
+that one of his Filipino clerks was impudent to
+a white man in his firm, whereupon the white man
+naturally struck the Filipino as any ordinary man
+of grit strikes a man who is rude to him. However,
+the cur Filipino went off to the police and
+lodged a complaint. The white man was had up,
+and has been heavily fined for “assaulting” the
+Filipino, and Mr B—— says:</p>
+
+<p>“What on earth are you to do with impertinent
+natives if you don’t hit them? They don’t
+care a straw if you dismiss them, and take not
+the least notice of reproof.”</p>
+
+<p>But I think there is right on both sides, for the
+way some of the white men hit their servants
+about is brutal and foolish. I said something
+to this effect, whereupon Mr B—— said, very much
+surprised:</p>
+
+<p>“Why, doesn’t your husband have to kick
+your fellows about?”</p>
+
+<p>And he was quite incredulous when I assured
+him that C—— had never dreamed of such a thing
+except once, when our first cook had muttered
+impertinences, and been kicked out on to the
+Azotea for his rudeness.</p>
+
+<p>“But they are such stupid fools,” argued Mr
+B——.</p>
+
+<p>We replied that we did not think blows would<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_298" id="Page_298">[298]</a></span>
+make them any brighter, on which he laughed
+and said perhaps we were right, as we certainly
+had remarkably good servants.</p>
+
+<p>Another guest, Mr M——, was talking about
+Philippine food, and observed that tomatoes
+grew so well here. I said I thought they were
+miserable failures, as they are about the size of
+walnuts, and quite green. But he maintained that
+that was because the Filipino just sticks his tomato
+plants in the ground and goes off to sit in the shade
+or to a cock-fight, and when he sees any sign of
+fruit on the plants, he picks it and takes it to
+market. Any notion of tilling the soil—weeding
+or manuring—is absolutely unknown to these
+people, or if known, carefully avoided. Mr M——
+said he had seen tomatoes, grown by Chinamen,
+as good as the very best out of a hothouse at
+home. There are several Chinese <i lang="fr">potagères</i> in
+the town where rows of trim little beds may be seen
+thick with extraordinarily luxuriant crops of vegetables
+of every sort, but out here no one will
+eat anything grown by the Chinamen, as those
+enterprising people employ some dreadful and
+unmentionable methods of agriculture. Besides
+this, there are many germs in the teeming, prolific
+air which invest vegetables such as cabbages,
+lettuce, etc., and make them very unsafe experiments,
+even if one can procure any. When
+I was in Manila, there was a good deal of talk
+at dinner tables, and much writing in the papers
+about some American scientist who professed to
+have found out a way to “treat” the Philippine
+green lettuces before eating them, so as to destroy
+some dreadful germ which causes horrible complaints.
+But it seemed to me less trouble and a
+great deal safer to give up lettuce as a bad job!</p>
+
+<p>The great and terrible fear in the Philippines is
+the germ of a disease called “sprue”—a sort of<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_299" id="Page_299">[299]</a></span>
+wasting away—which is very difficult to remedy,
+and almost ineradicable.</p>
+
+<p>Melons would grow well here, for in the wet
+season anything in the nature of a gourd springs
+up like a weed—a habit which suits the Filipino
+agriculturist to perfection. Some of the more
+energetic spirits fasten a piece of <i lang="es">bejuco</i> from
+the marrow plant up to a window, and gourd
+vines may often be seen obligingly toiling up a
+string to hand fruit in to the weary dwellers in
+a <i lang="es">nipa</i> hut. Nevertheless, melons are only to be
+got from Hong Kong, and even then they are a
+costly delicacy. Some friends sent us half a watermelon
+a few days ago, as a present, but we did not
+like to accept anything so valuable, and insisted on
+paying for it. What a treat it was!</p>
+
+<p>With the rainy season we also have a tiny
+hard native fruit that looks like a damson outside,
+but has white flesh with a stone like a date-stone,
+and is entirely devoid of any flavour of any sort.
+I tried having this fruit stewed, but it was even
+nastier than when raw. When we were at
+Nagaba for the day, in the spring, we got some
+fruit like knobs of rose-coloured wax, pink all
+through, with black pips, and rather tart, but also
+tasteless. I suppose all these insipid, nasty little
+native fruits could be cultivated into something
+nice, in the way that cherries have been developed,
+and apples and everything else, from the tasteless
+wild fruit. At present, however, they are tolerable
+only to the native palate. The best of them
+is a tiny brown fruit called <i lang="es">lazones</i>, which has a
+fluffy thin brown skin, and grey brown flesh in
+divisions like an orange, each division containing
+a large green seed. The flavour of the <i lang="es">lazones</i>
+is sharp, rather nice, and very refreshing, but this
+fruit only comes from Luzon, and is very expensive,
+besides being half-rotten by the time it gets here.<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_300" id="Page_300">[300]</a></span>
+Bananas, pine-apples, and mangoes—that is all.
+Bananas one gets unutterably sick of, and pine-apples
+too—and mangoes, even if one likes them
+(which we do not), give one prickly heat. In
+fact tinned strawberries and raspberries are about
+the best Philippine fruits.</p>
+
+<p>We have received an invitation to the banquet
+in honour of Mr Taft and his party on the 15th—on
+the payment of 12 <i lang="es">pesos</i> each. But we may
+have to sail before that date if our Hong Kong
+steamer comes in. I shall be very sorry if we
+miss that event, for I think the Taft utterances
+would be well worth 25 shillings a head, though
+that does seem a pretty stiff sum for an Iloilo
+banquet!</p>
+
+<hr />
+
+<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_301" id="Page_301">[301]</a></span></p>
+
+<h2 id="LETTER_39">LETTER XXXIX.<br />
+<span class="smaller">A LAST DAY AT NAGABA—THE “SECWAR”</span></h2>
+
+<p class="right"><span class="smcap">Iloilo</span>, <i>August 11, 1905</i>.</p>
+
+<p>We went a last trip to Nagaba on Sunday, but
+only for the day, and were lucky in having very
+fine weather and delightfully cool, only 80°, with a
+lovely breeze blowing, and the sky a little overcast.</p>
+
+<p>We roused ourselves up after lunch, and two
+friends came to the house to join the party, and we
+sent the “boy” for two <i lang="es">quilezes</i>. When we went
+down, I stepped into the first one; there was Tuyay
+lying in it already! How she knows when we are
+going out is simply marvellous.</p>
+
+<p>We drove to the Muelle Loney, at the farther
+end of which <i lang="es">paraos</i> are moored for hire, and
+chose a nice big boat, the <i>Valentino</i>, with an upper
+deck of split bamboo, a rabbit-hutch cabin of <i lang="es">nipa</i>
+matting, and a crew of eight men, and set sail for
+Nagaba.</p>
+
+<p>The sun came out soon after we started, so we
+lay half in and half out of the cabin and the shade
+it cast. It was a “three-man breeze,” so some
+of the crew ran out on the outriggers and others
+hauled ropes, while three ruffians sat on the deck,
+which was 3 feet wide, by-the-bye, and spread out
+a piece of blue paper, which they held down with
+their bare brown toes. We could not think what
+they were going to do, when, to our astonishment,
+one of them produced a pack of greasy cards and
+pieces of money and began the three-card trick!<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_302" id="Page_302">[302]</a></span>
+They did their best to get us interested in the
+game, the chief little old brown swindler losing to
+his confederates all in the best Derby style. We
+looked on with deep interest, but showed no signs
+of wishing to take part in the gamble, except for
+C—— to ask casually if they knew he was in the
+Secret Police, which made them look quite serious
+for a few minutes. This remark about Secret
+Police was no empty jest, for it is an Institution of
+the Free and Enlightened U.S.A., worthy of Russia
+or the Dark Ages. Well, after this disquieting
+joke about the Secret Police, the three-card trick
+seemed to lose its flavour, and the gamblers shifted
+billet again, to our intense amusement, crawling
+along the outriggers, and past the “cabin,” and on
+to the tiny space of after-deck, where the steersman
+sat huddled up with his legs round the tiller. Here
+they spread the blue paper out again, one of the
+confederates lying airily across the stern entrance,
+betting excitedly, with an occasional squint into
+the cabin to see if anyone was inclined to slip aft on
+the sly. But we never even looked round, so they
+soon abandoned that tactic and climbed on to the
+“cabin” roof, where they crouched like monkeys,
+chattering, and now and then a great flat brown
+face hung over the edge and looked down in on us;
+but we got rather tired of them, so C—— leaned
+out and hit one of them, and they gave that up too.</p>
+
+<p>All this time we were skimming through the
+water, going at a tremendous pace, the boat leaning
+over first to one side and then to the other, with
+the white foam spurting up from the brilliant green
+sea, the half-naked brown sailors running out on
+the long poles of the outriggers, and the big sails
+filled out tight. It was most exhilarating.</p>
+
+<p>We went straight across, a little wide of
+Nagaba, and then made a wide tack, which enabled
+the boat to go quite close to the beach, as the tide<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_303" id="Page_303">[303]</a></span>
+was high, and we came up right opposite the
+village. One of the boatmen carried me ashore,
+and the moment Tuyay saw me leave the ship, she
+flung herself into the water and swam after me in
+a sort of tragic despair that made us all laugh very
+much.</p>
+
+<p>Then other brawny little natives took C——
+and our two friends astride on their shoulders and
+set us all down on the dry sand, and we walked
+up through the little village of huts, all amongst the
+babies and dogs and pigs. There were several
+new swamps to be seen, and everything was even
+greener than when we were last there, which was
+before the S.-W. Monsoon had really set in. I
+noticed, too, that the bushes had flowered, as our
+friends had predicted, and one of them was a
+beautiful, scentless yellow blossom, a little like a
+snapdragon.</p>
+
+<p>We had meant to go for a real walk, but the
+sun was too hot, as it was not more than four
+o’clock, so we wandered along to “our” house,
+through the fields and village. It was delightful
+to feel the fresh country air, and to smell the earth
+and plants after the streets of Iloilo, and we actually
+felt hungry, and began to ask each other what was to
+be done about food. Nothing was to be had at any
+house in the village, as we all knew by experience,
+but by luck we came upon a sort of open <i lang="es">nipa</i>
+shed, where a little Filipino woman was standing
+behind a wooden tray containing ears of maize,
+little heaps of rice, and betel-nut, which was by
+way of being a shop. From her, and a youth
+who cropped up from nowhere and conducted the
+bargaining, we bought what the Americans call corn-pone,
+which is whole ears of young maize roasted.
+We munched the corn, which was very sweet and
+tender, and uncommonly filling—after about half a
+“pone” one could hardly breathe.</p>
+
+<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_304" id="Page_304">[304]</a></span></p>
+
+<p>A little further on we regretted our haste in
+satiating ourselves with maize, as we saw a big
+open shed, with two steps up to it, and all sorts
+of glasses and dishes glittering on a table spread
+with a white cloth, evidently a sort of <i lang="es">Fiesta</i>
+restaurant. We cheered up at this, and hurried
+along with talk of fizzing drinks, but when we came
+nearer, and out of the full glare of the sunlight,
+we got a horrible shock on finding it to be the
+Aglipay church!</p>
+
+<p>So we trailed on, rather despondent, and very
+thirsty, between the huts and boats, through the
+deep soft sand, which was unpleasant to walk on.
+We saw a big <i lang="es">parao</i> lying drawn up, hewn out of
+one vast tree-trunk, which is the original model
+of these long, narrow boats, and it looked like a
+huge <i lang="es">baroto</i> (canoe).</p>
+
+<p>When we got to the house, Tuyay was greeted
+most enthusiastically by a little spaniel friend, and
+the caretakers were civil enough to us, but incredibly
+stupid about a request for coffee. At last C——
+made them understand by talking to them in
+Visayan, but it is really very strange how very few
+of the people in the country know any Spanish,
+and the town’s-people can only say a few words or
+phrases at the best.</p>
+
+<p>We took chairs out of the house, opened the
+sliding bamboo frames shutting off the balcony, and
+established ourselves out there in the cool shade.
+There we sat for an hour, munching maize, and
+watching three fowls and three brown babies picking
+up mysterious food on the rocks and in the
+shallow pools. One of the babies was an elderly
+person of five or six, who was “minding” the other
+two, and one could see that he was older and more
+important, as he had on a very short and entirely
+foolish white muslin shirt, but the other two were
+in nothing but fat brown skin. The tiniest was a<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_305" id="Page_305">[305]</a></span>
+very serious and bullet-headed little chap, with thin
+arms and legs, and a huge rice-tummy. All three
+mites were squatting about, very busy and solemn,
+finding some little shell-fish, which they cracked
+between stones and ate with the gestures of
+monkeys.</p>
+
+<p>They were to us a source of absolute delight,
+and it was not till the elderly pastor in the muslin
+shirt led his flock off to fresh pools out of sight that
+we went into the house and drank the coffee which
+the woman had prepared for us. It was excellent
+black coffee, made in the native fashion by holding
+the grounds in a little bag at the end of a piece of
+bamboo in a coffee pot—simple, but effective.
+With it went large flat cakes of yellowish sugar,
+called <i lang="es">caramelo</i>, and she had also produced from
+somewhere four ship’s biscuits. The latter were
+rather a relief after the maize, and indeed we
+thought the meal a delicious feast, though I have
+no doubt we would not have looked at it over the
+other side of the Guimaras Channel.</p>
+
+<p>After this, as it was about six o’clock, and the
+sun was going down, we walked down to the
+river mouth and got on board the good ship
+<i>Valentino</i> by crawling along another <i lang="es">parao</i>, which
+was beached in the shallower water further inshore,
+and thence by perilous ventures along those outriggers
+on which the sailors run about in a gale as
+if they were on firm land!</p>
+
+<p>The sail back in the sunset was exquisite, all
+the mountains of Panay dark blue against an
+orange sky, a young moon overhead, and the air
+exquisitely fresh.</p>
+
+<p>Altogether it was a most delightful trip, and I
+only wish we had had more such days, but with
+only one day a week to choose from it is often too
+hot, and sometimes too wet to go on the water.
+Most of the time, too, I have not been well enough<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_306" id="Page_306">[306]</a></span>
+for expeditions under the most favourable circumstances,
+and then, over and above all these reasons
+is the fact that one seldom has the inclination here
+to do anything or go anywhere. I think it must be
+owing to this latter phenomenon that there is no
+sort of “week-end resort” at Nagaba, for one can
+hardly understand how such an enterprising people
+as the Americans have neglected this golden
+opportunity for a business that, I believe, they
+understand so admirably—I mean sort of Simple
+Life Hotels. I remember an American whom I met
+at home once, in England, telling me a long story
+about some place in the Adirondaks, where people
+from New York (or was it Chicago?—no matter) go
+and live in tents; and millionaires catch food, and
+their priceless wives and daughters cook and sweep.
+The story came up <i lang="fr">à propos</i> the daughter of a
+millionaire who had just married an English duke,
+as this personage had been roughing it in the next
+tent to my friend. I think I may have told you
+the story at the time. But I have read so much
+and heard so much about the American love of
+country life that I am astounded to see how they
+all sit grilling in Iloilo when they might have a
+hotel at Nagaba. The truth is, of course, that such
+an enterprise might be a doubtful undertaking, as
+every American I have ever yet met or seen, from
+the highest to the humblest, is simply saving money
+to get away from the Philippines and back to
+“God’s Country.”</p>
+
+<p>We are still undecided about our departure, as
+the <i>Sung-Kiang</i> (the sister-ship of the <i>Kai-Fong</i>
+and the same Line) has come in before what the
+Americans call her “scheduled” time. That is a
+very queer word of theirs, by-the-bye, and they work
+the poor thing to death, making it do all sorts of
+unnatural gymnastics in place of good, ready, useful
+English. Probably we shall wait for the <i>Kai-Fong</i>,<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_307" id="Page_307">[307]</a></span>
+but whichever we decide for, we shall not miss the
+Taft party after all, which I am very pleased about,
+and we have put our names down for the banquet.</p>
+
+<p>They are in Manila now, the first intimation of
+their arrival having been a telegram in the Iloilo
+<cite>El Tiempo</cite>, headed “Impresiones de Miss Alice
+Roosevelt”—who had not been an hour in the
+Philippines, if she had landed at all, when the
+impression was what newspaper language calls
+“voiced.”</p>
+
+<p>Now we have <cite>The Manila Times</cite> of that and
+the following two days, which are “all Taft,” of
+course, set forth in the quaintest concoction of
+cheap picture-writing, bad grammar, and awkward,
+slapdash slang. Much about “Miss Alice,”—a
+whole column of an interesting description of that
+lady’s every gesture at a race-meeting—in fact she
+looms so large in the Philippine eye that it looks as
+if she were here for a very good reason; perhaps to
+take the fierce, white light off Mr Taft a little.
+They allude to the latter, by-the-bye, as “the
+<i>Secwar</i>,” which, when I first came across it, I took
+to be the name of some Indian chief, but it at last
+dawned upon me that the word was a contraction
+of Secretary of War, and I have since been told
+that it is his telegraphic address used as an
+affectionate nickname.</p>
+
+<p>The American reporter seems to be as virulent
+in Manila as anywhere else, for before the party
+had landed one of these human mosquitoes asked a
+Senator what he thought of “these islands,” but the
+visitor cleverly replied that he had come to gather
+impressions, not to furnish them.</p>
+
+<p>The papers are still full of guesses about the
+true reasons for this visitation, for so many of them
+persist in the theory that Mr Taft is not entirely
+actuated by altruistic wishes for the welfare of his
+“little brown brothers,” but has a wary eye<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_308" id="Page_308">[308]</a></span>
+upon the elector at home, and will pose as the
+Saint of the Philippines just as far as his own
+interests are safe. I think it is a great shame to say
+this, however, for it is obvious that he has done
+the best he can for the Philippines according to his
+views; and whether one agrees with his theories or
+not, his good intentions are not to be denied. I
+had a long talk with a man who has been here in a
+good business for thirty-three years, and is supposed
+to know more about the Philippines than any
+other white man alive; and he told me that, as far
+as enlightening the Senators went, he thought the
+Taft visit was a costly farce, for they are to be
+allowed to see and hear nothing that does not “suit
+the Taft book.” A week in Manila of meetings,
+balls, parties, and banquets, followed by flying visits
+to the principal towns in the provinces and more
+banquets, all feasting and flags and anthems; but
+not a glimpse of the miserable, wasted agricultural
+districts, the abandoned rice-fields, and the real
+truth of the labour problem. Moreover, their
+opinion of the self-government problem is to be
+formed by the conversation of a few well-educated
+and carefully selected <i lang="es">Mestizos</i> in the towns.</p>
+
+<p>The natives, themselves, however, are tremendously
+jubilant about the approaching visit of their
+Patron Saint, and expect all blessings to spring up
+miraculously in his footsteps.</p>
+
+<p>Talking of natives, I am glad to say that our
+three excellent servants have found good billets,
+with a rise in importance and wages, and they are
+all so pleased, poor souls, that we took the trouble
+to recommend them to our friends. They did not
+want much touting, for the spotless tidiness of their
+appearance is an advertisement that speaks for
+itself and their honesty is patent, for we trust them
+in a way that no one else dreams of doing with their
+Filipino servants. I don’t know how the two house<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_309" id="Page_309">[309]</a></span>
+boys will get on with impatient Englishmen, for
+they are both very shy, faithful, simple countrymen—real
+unspoilt Filipinos. But if they were spoken
+to sharply, or muddled in their work, they would
+become confused and stupid at once. Not that
+there is anything peculiar to the Filipino race in
+these traits, because they are perfectly familiar to
+me in many kindly, simple, limited souls in other
+latitudes. You have to take them as you find
+them, only hoping, as with the same type at home,
+that their secret cunning may be ranged on your
+own side, and that if you can’t make a silk purse
+out of a sow’s ear, you may perhaps manage to
+contrive a useful little leather bag if you are
+patient enough.</p>
+
+<p class="smaller"><i>Note.</i>—I have before me <cite>The Manila Times</cite> of
+17th January 1906, from which I give the following
+extract:—“While the municipal and ecclesiastical
+dignitaries, etc., were awaiting the arrival of
+Secretary Taft, a Government vessel slowly made
+her way up the Pasig river filled with the dead
+and wounded from the island of Samar. During
+the stay of the party in Manila, four native men
+were brought in from the adjoining province of
+Cavite frightfully mutilated because of their pro-American
+sympathies.”</p>
+
+<hr />
+
+<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_310" id="Page_310">[310]</a></span></p>
+
+<h2 id="LETTER_40">LETTER XL.<br />
+<span class="smaller">PREPARATIONS</span></h2>
+
+<p class="right"><span class="smcap">Iloilo</span>, <i>August 14, 1905</i>.</p>
+
+<p>We have now decided to go to Hong Kong by the
+<i>Kai-Fong</i>, which sails next Saturday or Monday,
+the 20th or 22nd. The <i>Sung-Kiang</i> loaded up as
+much as she could and shoved off on Saturday, as
+she did not want to be paying port dues here the
+whole of to-day (Sunday) and to-morrow, which is
+a public holiday, being the anniversary of the taking
+of Manila by Admiral Dewey.</p>
+
+<p>The transport conveying the Taft party is
+<em>scheduled</em> to arrive here to-day, and this evening
+they are to be present at a performance of the
+Filipino Amateur Dramatic Club, to which we have
+been invited by means of a huge printed invitation,
+couched in elaborate Spanish, and adorned by many
+ornaments and flourishes.</p>
+
+<p>We heard the sound of a band going past very
+early this morning, and when we went out on to
+the balcony, we saw it was the Infantry band from
+Guimaras, with the regiment behind them marching
+down the street. They marched splendidly, and
+the band was playing a most sad and beautiful
+tune, which made one think of war, and troops
+marching away, and women crying in the morning.
+The soldiers had just arrived, I expect, for everyone
+from Camp Josman is pouring into Iloilo for
+the <i lang="fr">fêtes</i> for the Taft party.</p>
+
+<p>Arches are being put up in the streets, and, as
+everybody has been requested to decorate their<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_311" id="Page_311">[311]</a></span>
+houses, we have hoisted a Union Jack on a long
+pole, and all this morning the servants were very
+happy, in the pouring rain, sticking up palm-branches
+which they had stolen from some plantation.
+They are much excited about the arrival of
+this hero of theirs, and one of them—who gets
+confused when we accuse him of being an <i lang="es">Independiente</i>,
+because he has his watch hung on a nail
+in the kitchen, with a portrait of Rizal over it, a
+sort of little shrine—is simply beaming with delight,
+and can’t haul up enough palms.</p>
+
+<p>In the office opposite, the native clerks are
+surpassing themselves with archway and window
+decorations of greenery and flowers; while the old
+Tagalo dressmaker next door has been busy for a
+week past making paper flowers of all the hues
+under the sun. In that house, by-the-bye, the
+stock of domestic pets has lately been increased by
+the addition of a sheep, which is quite tame, for we
+can hear its little hoofs tap-tapping over the bare
+boards, and see it sitting amongst the work-girls in
+the big front room. They have a nice little black
+pig, too, also running about the house and equally
+tame, and in the evenings the old man goes out for
+a walk to the beach with the fat old brown dog,
+the pig, and the sheep all running after him and
+playing about. I have often seen them go along
+the street—such a curious company! And people
+who live near the beach tell me he takes them all
+down to the sea, washes them, and then walks
+about to give them an airing. They are all sharing
+in the popular rejoicings, too, for the brown dog and
+the pig have got on necklaces of paper flowers,
+while the sheep is crowned in the most arcadian
+fashion.</p>
+
+<p>Mr Taft has made a lot of speeches in Manila,
+but, so far, they have only contained very nebulous
+references to the Independence question; though<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_312" id="Page_312">[312]</a></span>
+he has cast a sop to the malcontents by promises
+of abolition or reduction of certain export duties,
+by which the excited Filipinos argue and predict
+a millennium of agricultural improvement and
+general plenty.</p>
+
+<p>But none of the business men are very clear as
+to how this miracle is to be wrought, for the
+Government will not lower the standard of wages;
+Chinese labour will not be allowed in; and the
+Filipino will not suddenly, if ever, become a thrifty,
+hard-working tiller of the soil, even if he passes all
+the standards of the American schools.</p>
+
+<p>One paragraph stowed away in a corner of <cite>The
+Manila Times</cite> made us laugh very much, for it was
+an account of how Poblete de los Reyes (a Filipino
+<i lang="es">Independiente</i> agitator) and Father Aglipay were
+“haunting the corridors of the Ayuntamento” (the
+<i lang="es">Gobierno</i> of Manila), “but up to noon to-day they
+had failed to get the ear of Secretary Taft.”</p>
+
+<p>This gave me a delightful vision of those two
+anxious flat brown faces peering out of all sorts of
+shadowy places, and Mr Taft for ever making a break
+for another room, and rushing through suites and up
+and down little staircases to escape the gen-u-<em>ine</em>
+patriots. This is only a fancy picture, of course, but
+still it may contain a grain of truth, and at any rate
+it afforded us much amusement.</p>
+
+<p>Many people think Mr Taft is reserving some
+great pronouncement for Iloilo, as he favoured
+this town above all Philippine communities in that
+he made here his great pro-Filipino speech, two
+years ago, when he was Governor-General of the
+Philippines. In this famous oration he used these
+words: “These Philippine Islands are going to
+be governed <em>for</em> the Filipinos, and no one <em>but</em> the
+Filipinos, and any stranger or American who does
+not like it can get out.”</p>
+
+<p>This did much to ensure his popularity with<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_313" id="Page_313">[313]</a></span>
+the natives everywhere in the Islands, and in Iloilo
+in particular. However, even the easy-going
+Americans seem to have grasped that these words
+went a little too far, for they tried to hush up that
+part of the speech, but the Filipinos, already fully
+alive to the blessings of a free press, seized on
+this utterance, and it was published in <cite>The Nuevo
+Heraldo</cite>, which is the Iloilo <i lang="es">Independiente</i> organ.
+The phrase got about everywhere, and did much
+to shake public confidence in justice towards the
+white man, with incidental harm to trade and
+enterprise, but it pleased the “little brown
+brother,” and added another step to the pedestal
+on which he has placed the Patron Saint.</p>
+
+<p>To the mere observer, however, this cry of
+Altruism is not very convincing in face of the fact
+that the Philippines lie so conveniently on the west
+of the future Panama Canal. It was not brotherly
+love which prompted astute American politicians
+to wash off the Spaniards with rivers of blood and
+treasure, and I think the Filipino will find that he
+gets just as much of “Philippines for the Filipinos”
+as is contained in the other famous phrase of “little
+brown brother”—and no more. Gradually, too,
+he will find that to be a “little brown brother” out
+here will be the same sort of distinction as being a
+big black brother in the U.S.A.</p>
+
+<p>In one of the last magazines we received from
+home is a description by some woman of a cruise
+in a tramp steamer in the Pacific. Lotus Islands,
+and all that sort of thing, and who-wants-to-return-to-fretful-Europe
+rhapsodies, which it struck me I
+should better have appreciated this time last year.
+But now all I think of is the utter, mental sterility
+of such a life, which appears to me, in the light of
+experience, still more like the impression made by
+a beautiful and stupid woman. She winds up
+with a fine peroration about the “spell of the<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_314" id="Page_314">[314]</a></span>
+Ancient World,” which “binds one to the Island
+home and the Island life for ever.”</p>
+
+<p>I can’t think what there is of the “Ancient
+World” about a Pacific island; but the spell, if
+there is one, must be that of indolence; or the
+attraction, as in the case of Stevenson, simply a
+matter of health; for it seems to me that no other
+inducements could make one willingly lose touch of
+all that civilisation has to offer to distinguish one
+from a south sea islander. Of course, in the
+temperate climes there are the inconveniences of
+dress, frost, and drainage, but those are small
+when compared with art, books, good music, and
+intelligent fellow-creatures. Oh, you can’t imagine
+the deadliness of the lives the white people lead
+here—the indifference, the stagnation, the animal
+round of food and sleep! I think if it had been
+my fate to stay on in the “Island home and the
+Island life” for ever, if I had not become physically
+ill, I must have become mentally an invalid for the
+rest of my life.</p>
+
+<hr />
+
+<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_315" id="Page_315">[315]</a></span></p>
+
+<h2 id="LETTER_41">LETTER XLI.<br />
+<span class="smaller">THE FESTIVITIES</span></h2>
+
+<p class="right"><span class="smcap">Iloilo</span>, <i>August 17, 1905</i>.</p>
+
+<p>I must tell you all about this <i lang="es">Comitiva Taft</i> dissipation,
+of which we had the first taste on Monday, the
+15th, when a printed notice was left at our house, saying
+that the “Congressional party” had arrived that
+evening instead of next morning, and another large,
+flowery, and handsome invitation, bidding us to
+a reception to be held at the house of the De la
+Ramos, very rich Filipinos, who have a fine house
+in a broad, shady street, where the Bank and some
+other big houses stand within gardens.</p>
+
+<p>The reception was to be followed by the performance
+at the Filipino theatre, to which as I told
+you we had also been invited, but we thought that
+the reception, which was “scheduled” to come off
+at eight, would be quite enough for us for one
+evening.</p>
+
+<p>We dined early, and sent Domingo out for
+a <i lang="es">quilez</i> “with a good horse.” He came back
+after a long while and said all the carriages in
+the town were already hired, but he had got
+what he could, and the <i lang="es">caballo</i> was <i lang="es">poco bueno</i>
+(little good). He was right. It was a horse to
+make one’s heart ache to look at; and when we
+stepped into the dirty old broken-down <i lang="es">quilez</i>,
+to which he was attached with odds and ends
+of old rope, the poor beast started going backwards
+all down the street. The driver roared
+profanities, and clicked his lips, and chucked the<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_316" id="Page_316">[316]</a></span>
+reins, but all to no effect; till at last he called
+one of our servants out of the house, and they
+each seized a wheel by the spokes and forced it
+round, so that the pony was shoved along, when
+it started off at a great pace; the driver sprang
+on the box, and we tore like the wind to the
+house of De la Ramos.</p>
+
+<p>There had been a great deal of rain, and the
+roads were very deep in mud, but the sky had
+cleared, and a bright moon was shining.</p>
+
+<p>In spite of this natural illumination, there
+was a reckless profusion of arc-lights in the streets,
+which, as I told you, had been in black gloom
+for months. We had seen the lamps being
+repaired for some days when we went out in
+the evenings, and the general furbishing-up and
+improvement extended to a sudden serving out
+of ice from the Government factory, so that everyone
+was wishing there could be one of these
+Visitations to Iloilo every week. Well, when
+we got to the De la Ramos house, we found all
+the front really extremely pretty, with <em>huge</em> stars-and-stripes
+flags—stripes the size of palm-trunks
+and stars like soup-plates—draped right across the
+front, with green palm-branches stuck about, all in
+the light of brilliant illuminations. Great doors
+stood open to a vast lighted and decorated hall,
+with a very big cut-glass chandelier in the middle.</p>
+
+<p>The <i lang="es">poco bueno</i> horse was pulled up on his
+haunches abruptly in front of all this magnificence,
+and some white men leaning against the doorway
+picking their teeth, looked at us, but offered no
+remark. So C——, in evening dress, got out
+and asked one of them if this was the house
+where the reception was to take place. One
+man, keeping his toothpick in his mouth, said:</p>
+
+<p>“Waal I guess there is <em>naht</em> going to be any
+great shakes of a reception <em>to</em>-night.”</p>
+
+<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_317" id="Page_317">[317]</a></span></p>
+
+<p>“Oh,” said C——, “we got an invitation
+from the Reception Committee, and heard the
+<i>Manchuria</i> had come in.”</p>
+
+<p>“That’s so, sirree,” said the man, “but
+Secretary Taft and Miss Alice is not coming
+ashore; leastways, they’re on board now eating
+their dinners.”</p>
+
+<p>“Will they go to the theatre, then?” we asked.</p>
+
+<p>“No,” said the man vaguely, “I guess naht.
+Leastways, I don’t rightly know. But Secretary
+Taft says he don’t want to come ashore before
+his skeddled time to-morrow morning. I reckon
+he’s gettin’ a bit sick of goin’ around.”</p>
+
+<p>The man was quite civil, but he and his
+fellow-loungers were so vague and depressing
+that we drove away again, feeling rather sorry
+we had taken the trouble to put on evening dress.</p>
+
+<p>We made our driver go down the end of the
+street to the quay by the Customs landing, where
+there was a very pretty arch, all lighted up, with
+portraits painted on it of Mr Roosevelt, and “Miss
+Alice,” and Mr Taft. This had been erected by
+the Filipinos, and the decorations, which were the
+work of a native artist, were really not at all
+discreditable. Across Calle Real was another arch,
+put up by the Chinese, at the entrance to where
+their shops begin, with more electric lights and
+pictures of angels, and more medallions of Mr
+Roosevelt, with an entirely different face from the
+Customs one, and “Miss Alice” looking about
+thirty, with fat, red cheeks and masses of
+black hair.</p>
+
+<p>After admiring these marvels, and noticing
+what could be seen of the decorations on the
+houses, we drove home and consoled our hearts
+very successfully with cold mutton—a treat from the
+Cold Storage in Manila—which would have made up
+to us for anything. You see, you can’t have cold<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_318" id="Page_318">[318]</a></span>
+meat in this climate without ice to cool it on, and
+we have been without ice for so many wretched
+months. Faddy people should be sent to Iloilo to
+learn to say a fervid and completely heart-whole
+grace before cold mutton, and I often think out
+here of the delicious cold meat which our servants
+at home may be, at that very moment, refusing
+to eat!</p>
+
+<p>Next day we were awakened by a brass band
+walking up and down the streets, and blowing
+Sousa and “Hiawatha” for all it was worth. It
+was not yet dawn when this festivity began, so
+after we had sworn at them, we went to sleep again,
+for the music did not mean that anything was
+happening, beyond that its playing was a sort of
+general rouse-out and reminder. We had been
+informed that the reception was to be held at the
+<i lang="es">Gobierno</i> soon after the party landed, so, as we
+determined to bring this function to bay somehow,
+we sallied forth after breakfast to see what was to
+be seen.</p>
+
+<p>A <i lang="es">quilez</i> was not to be had for love or money,
+nor, indeed, a “rig” of any sort, so we walked to
+the Plaza, and in the Calle Real picked up a
+<i lang="es">carromata</i>—one of the fearful little vehicles into
+which you climb over a muddy wheel and sit
+jammed up behind the driver.</p>
+
+<p>After sending back Sotero, who had followed to
+look for a <i lang="es">quilez</i> for us, and making him carry
+away Tuyay, who insisted on not leaving us, we got
+into the <i lang="es">carromata</i> and drove down the crowded
+streets to the <i lang="es">Gobierno</i>.</p>
+
+<p>All the houses were very gay with stars and
+stripes and greenery—the decorations very little
+spoilt by the rain—and the streets full of people in
+clean clothes; all the principal thoroughfares
+crowded, but the others very empty.</p>
+
+<p>The day, which had begun with rain, had<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_319" id="Page_319">[319]</a></span>
+cleared up, and was very fresh and jolly, as it had
+not yet had time to get steamy, and a cool breeze
+was blowing, the flags fluttered in the sun, bands
+were playing everywhere, and it was all very gay
+and sparkling. In one of the streets we began to
+pass a long procession, waiting behind the scenes,
+as it were, with flags unfurled and bands ready to
+strike up.</p>
+
+<p>There were crowds and crowds of people
+making for the palace, and we were told that the
+<i lang="es">Comitiva Taft</i> had already landed and driven
+there, so we followed as best we could. There was
+a great deal of shouting of <i lang="es">Tabé</i>—and we were as
+near as anything over some of the revellers who
+were mooning about as if the streets were deserted.</p>
+
+<p>By-the-bye, I don’t know whether this expression
+<i lang="es">Comitiva Taft</i> is bad Spanish or good Filipino,
+but it is the one employed by the Philippine
+newspapers, and I prefer it to the American “Taft
+Circus.”</p>
+
+<p>When we arrived at the <i lang="es">Gobierno</i>, we found
+large crowds of little, brown-faced Filipinos in
+white American suits, all looking up at the broad
+balcony—the one where the band had played
+on the night of the 4th-of-July ball. The whole
+expanse of balcony was full of people, with many
+ladies standing in front in light frocks and big
+flat hats.</p>
+
+<p>We struggled through the crowd of sight-seers
+and into the big basement, which was decorated
+very profusely, and where a lot of people were
+standing about. A man told us he guessed the
+reception was going on upstairs; and we thought
+perhaps he had guessed correctly, so we mounted
+the broad stairs, between sheaves of palms and
+American flags, and found ourselves in a huge
+crowd in the outer room of the suite I described
+to you the night of the ball. The court room had<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_320" id="Page_320">[320]</a></span>
+been arranged with rows of chairs and benches
+facing the daïs, and the balcony beyond, with the
+bright blue sky and white glare of sunlight for a
+background, was a seething mass of white-clad
+humanity. I noticed the Americans were all at
+one end and the Filipinos at the other—an arrangement
+of choice, I imagine, rather than accident.</p>
+
+<p>Amongst the visitors I met again Mrs Luke
+E. Wright, and several other people whose acquaintance
+I had made in Manila, as the party had been
+nearly doubled by the numbers absorbed into it
+after arriving in the Philippines. My friends said
+they had heard I was ill, and that I was going
+home, and envied me, calling heaven to witness
+that they wished they were going “back home”
+too. The Governor’s secretary told me that the
+party now amounted to 170 people, and they had
+a very jolly time on board, and were expecting to
+have a very pleasant trip round the Islands.</p>
+
+<p>There was no regular presenting being done,
+and no one offered to introduce us to Mr Taft or
+“Miss Alice,” and we did not like to ask them to
+do so, which I am sorry about now, as I should have
+liked to have met them. However, Miss Alice was
+standing next to the Governor’s wife while I was
+talking to the latter, so I was able to get an impression
+of her appearance, which I thought quite
+pleasing; a young girl with a fluff of fair hair tied
+behind with a big bow of black ribbon, a very pale
+complexion, and heavily-lidded blue eyes. She had
+on a coat and skirt of stiff white pique, which did
+not do justice to her pretty figure, and a plain
+straw hat with blue ribbons on it tilted over her
+forehead.</p>
+
+<p>All the American ladies amongst the visitors
+were very plainly dressed in shirts and skirts, as
+for the country in the morning, with large, flat hats
+and floating gauze veils—just like the American<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_321" id="Page_321">[321]</a></span>
+tourists you see in London out of the season. The
+residents, however, had on pretty muslins and hats,
+and the Filipino ladies sported their most beautiful
+<i lang="es">camisas</i> and finest jewels. I heard afterwards that
+the very plain costumes of the visitors were considered
+as rather a poor compliment, not to say a
+mistake in tact, for of course the Manila papers had
+given glowing accounts of the lovely dresses they
+wore at the entertainments in Manila, and Orientals
+think such a lot of that sort of thing—and so do
+Occidentals, too, for the matter of that!</p>
+
+<p>Mr Taft and the Senators were all in white
+linen suits; the officers in white linen, too, plus
+the badges of their rank. Mr Taft, who is a
+very tall, fair man of enormous build, towered
+over the heads of everyone about him. I don’t
+think I ever saw anyone so vast, and could quite
+believe that he weighed 250 pounds—though I
+must say that to hear a weight expressed in pounds
+does not convey much impression to my mind.
+He has a large, clever face, which creases up into
+an amiable smile for which he is famous, and
+which has helped him enormously in life. In
+curious contrast are his eyes, which are small, and
+placed rather close together, and very shrewd in
+expression. When he is serious, it is a stern, rather
+hard face, and not very pre-possessing, but when
+he smiles the “Taft smile,” it is altered in the
+most extraordinary manner, and he really looks
+charming.</p>
+
+<p>After we had been on the balcony a little time,
+the procession began to come into sight, headed by
+a brass band. At this the people on the balcony
+sorted themselves out, Mr Taft and “Miss Alice”
+standing in the front of the balcony with the chief personages
+behind them, and less important Americans
+in the doorways and on the outskirts, all in the most
+approved “democratic” style, while the brown faces<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_322" id="Page_322">[322]</a></span>
+all clustered at the other end of the balcony. I
+thought it a great pity that it did not occur to Mr
+Taft, or Miss Roosevelt, or the Governor, or anyone
+like that to go and stand amongst the Filipinos and
+give a real and tangible demonstration of the theories
+they were there to express. I did not see anyone
+talking to the visitors but Americans, either, and
+I thought that a pity too.</p>
+
+<p>You see, a little thing like that would convey
+more truth about Equality than miles of bombastic
+print or hours of windy rhetoric.</p>
+
+<p>The Governor’s secretary found me a place in
+front of the balcony, but I was foolish enough to
+move away for a moment to speak to someone, and
+so lost my place. Then we saw that people were
+beginning to stand on the benches, so C—— got
+me a place on one by asking some men to move,
+which they were rather huffy about. On one side
+of me was a tall, thin young Senator with a large
+hand-camera, who showed his resentment in tiresome
+little incivilities; but the man on the other
+side was a nice, good-natured soul, who tried to
+make room for me, and spoke very agreeably. He
+seemed to be feeling the heat very much, and complained
+that it was so fearfully hot, but I laughed
+and said: “This is the coolest day we have had
+for a long time.”</p>
+
+<p>“My!” he exclaimed, “I guess I’m not fair
+crazy to come and live in these old Phaluppeens.”</p>
+
+<p>“Oh,” I said, “then you have not joined the
+party at Manila?”</p>
+
+<p>He said he had come from America all the way,
+and told us he was a newspaper man with a
+mission, come to write up the trip. This made us
+understand better his asking from time to time
+such extraordinarily elementary questions. He
+wanted to know what a <i lang="es">carabao</i> was, and was
+surprised to hear that sugar cane only flourished<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_323" id="Page_323">[323]</a></span>
+in Panay and Negros. I had to explain to him
+that we were in Panay, and pointed out Negros
+and Guimaras!</p>
+
+<p>I did not grudge the trouble of teaching him
+the A B C of the Philippines, but I could not help
+thinking it rather odd that he had no more
+preparation for his mission when his opinions
+would probably be “voiced” and quoted as oracles
+on his return to “God’s Country.”</p>
+
+<p>Of course he was choke full of long words
+about the American Ideal, and told me a lot about
+the absurdity of such narrow prejudice as race-distinctions;
+but I let that go without remark, and
+without even taking the trouble to draw his
+attention to the demonstrations before his eyes;
+for I have found out by this time that you might
+as well talk to the wind as to a race-equality
+American who won’t sit “on a car” with a negro
+in the States.</p>
+
+<p>C——, who was standing behind me, joined in the
+conversation, whereupon the American journalist
+instantly whipped out his visiting card and handed
+it to him, but of course C—— was quite unprepared,
+and had to spell his name and explain himself
+generally. It is very amusing, and at first rather
+embarrassing, the way Americans hand you a card
+as soon as you speak, but it has its advantages in
+getting names right.</p>
+
+<p>The procession was remarkably like the one we
+had seen on Declaration Day, only with different
+“floats.” I don’t suppose you know what “floats”
+are, and no more did I, for when I had read
+descriptions of the processions in Manila, and
+how the “floats” were “gotten up,” I concluded
+the function had been a water-pageant on the
+Pasig. I heard some people about me using the
+same word, however, and mentioned it to my
+journalistic friend, who informed me that the word<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_324" id="Page_324">[324]</a></span>
+was one which was employed in the U.S.A. to
+signify cars in a procession, and that its origin was
+in New Orleans, where they had processions on the
+river with decorated “floats” or rafts.</p>
+
+<p>This was a very long procession, and some of
+the agricultural cars were prettily done up with
+banana plants, and one had sugar canes growing in
+it; and there were ploughs, and rows of men
+carrying spades and hoes and things. Mr Taft
+stood and watched it all, talking to Miss Roosevelt;
+but he got what the children call a good deal of
+powder in his spoonful of jam, in the shape of huge
+white banners with large inscriptions on them about
+the financial situation and the tariffs. Some of
+these reminders were of a very ingenious pattern,
+like huge three-sided lanterns, with the inscription
+in English, Spanish, and Visayan, so that no one
+should make any mistake about what was meant.
+“A square deal” was written on one, and some of
+them were, to me, quite pathetic, for they said:
+“We are at your mercy,” and others were frank,
+not to say abrupt, requests for liberty, “to govern
+ourselves our own way.”</p>
+
+<p>At all these and at the strings of labourers
+from the Harbour Works, the Fire Brigade, etc.,
+Mr Taft stared very solemnly and steadily, standing
+upright in front of the balcony, with Miss Roosevelt
+beside him, his arms folded across his chest. I
+was much struck by his expression, and could not
+help looking at him as much as at the procession
+and wondering what he really thought of it all.
+When the workmen came past, our journalist friend
+suddenly betrayed his knowledge of Philippine
+affairs by saying knowingly: “Ah, these are the
+Chinese labourers, I guess.”</p>
+
+<p>“No,” said C——. “Those are Filipinos. There
+are no Chinese labourers in the Philippines except
+in some mills in Luzon.”</p>
+
+<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_325" id="Page_325">[325]</a></span></p>
+
+<p>This information apparently took the man’s
+breath away; if he believed it, which he probably
+did not. He was quite silent for a long time.
+Perhaps some of his most elaborate perorations had
+been damaged, and C—— and I thought afterwards
+that it was rather a pity we had disillusioned the poor
+creature as we did. Another of his cherished illusions
+was what I may call the St Louis “Exposition”
+idea of the Philippines, and we had the greatest difficulty
+in trying to persuade him that all he saw was
+not the direct result of the American occupation!</p>
+
+<p>At last the interminable lines of school children
+came past—all the Government schools, of course—as
+on Declaration Day; no priests or convents.
+Mr Taft had looked on unmoved and unsmiling
+at the Agricultural and Industrial displays, but
+when he saw these scholars, he broke into the
+“Taft smile,” and clapped his hands above his
+head. All the Americans followed his lead by
+bursting into applause, which they kept up, as he
+did, all the time the schools were passing. I
+turned my head to the right, where the little brown
+parents of these children were crowded together,
+and saw that not one single Filipino made one
+gesture of applause!</p>
+
+<p>The schools took a long, long time to crawl
+past, and the continuous applause became rather
+tiring. But even a Filipino procession must come
+to an end if only you can wait long enough, and
+the last of them went past, and we got down off our
+bench.</p>
+
+<p>Then followed a great surging and shifting of
+all the people on the balcony, everyone trying to
+secure a seat in the Court Room, and we were
+lucky enough to get near a door and not very far
+from the front.</p>
+
+<p>On the daïs were placed two or three rows of
+Vienna cane chairs, those for the important people<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_326" id="Page_326">[326]</a></span>
+in front, with arms to them. In these sat the
+Governor, Mrs Luke E. Wright, and “Miss Alice.”
+Next to the latter Mr Taft took the chair assigned
+to him, into which he wedged himself with infinite
+trouble; but the chair at once broke to pieces.
+Everyone laughed very much, Mr Taft most heartily
+of all, saying in a good-natured, jolly way: “Here!
+Someone give me a chair I can sit down on. I’m
+tired of standing.”</p>
+
+<p>So they brought him another chair, and he took
+his place, and the speechifying began.</p>
+
+<p>The <i lang="es">Presidente</i> of Iloilo—a very courtly old
+Filipino of the name of Meliza—made a speech of
+welcome—a very long affair—which included the
+subjects of Taxation, Duties, and Independence, to
+which Mr Taft replied elusively, repeating nothing
+tangible but his old phrase of “Philippines for the
+Filipinos.”</p>
+
+<p>Then some more people made speeches—natives—and
+at last they drove Mr Taft into a corner
+about the Independence, and he said, “I am not
+come to give you your Independence, but to study
+your welfare. You will have your Independence
+when you are ready for it, which will not be in this
+generation—no, nor in the next, nor perhaps for a
+hundred years or more.”</p>
+
+<p>Even though I have told you how up to then no
+one had any idea of why he and his party had come
+to the Islands—most people thinking he was going
+to say something definite about the Americans
+retiring from the Islands—the natives all firmly convinced
+that he was coming to ratify the undated
+promise of Independence he made them two years
+ago—even though I have told you this, you can
+have no idea of the effect these words had upon the
+audience. We were simply staggered, and the
+darker complexioned amongst us sat quite still and
+immovable.</p>
+
+<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_327" id="Page_327">[327]</a></span></p>
+
+<p>The speeches lost some of their force by being
+translated as they went along by an interpreter,
+who spoke English and Spanish with equal perfection,
+and, indeed, he was quite marvellous; but
+all the same the utterances lost point, and it was
+not easy to follow the thread with long halts
+between. What was more serious was that the
+translations of Mr Taft’s opinions were softened
+by the courteous Spanish phrases, and the fiery
+patriotism of the Filipinos was marvellously toned
+down in the English rendering.</p>
+
+<p>During a question of taxation, Mr Taft said:</p>
+
+<p>“I want to know if you think it would be any
+good to reduce the Land Tax, or if, by suspending
+it for three years, the trade and agriculture of the
+country would benefit?”—or words to that effect.
+Whereupon he and old Señor Meliza had quite a
+long argument about this weighty point.</p>
+
+<p>The whole ceremony was indescribably free and
+easy, and even commonplace. Most of the Senators
+took very little interest in the proceedings, while
+the ladies with them did not even pretend to care
+about what was going on. As to “Miss Alice,”
+she was honest enough to make no pretence at all
+of listening to anything, but sat staring before her,
+drumming with her pretty, slender, white fingers on
+her lips, only waking up to signal and laugh to some
+friends in a doorway near the platform. She was
+very girlish and natural in this and in all her
+other gestures, and if she lacked the pose necessary
+to the occasion, one could not be too critical nor
+take objection to her lack of grand manner when
+people were presented to her, for, after all, such
+situations are only to be carried off with ease by
+those born and bred to State ceremonies. Besides,
+it would have been unreasonable to have looked for
+scrupulously aristocratic bearing amongst such a
+party of professed democrats.</p>
+
+<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_328" id="Page_328">[328]</a></span></p>
+
+<p>In spite of all that, however, the Filipinos, who,
+with their traditions of <i lang="es">custumbres</i>, are themselves a
+very polite people, were much shocked by the free
+and easy ways of their rulers, benefactors, or
+whatever they are. I afterwards heard many little
+comments upon the American lack of dignity, which
+made me feel sad, for these two peoples will never
+understand each other—even the good sentiments
+of the heart being conveyed by differences of
+manner, which are meat to one and poison to the
+other.</p>
+
+<p>In talking of taxation, the word “sugar”
+suddenly arose, on which Mr Taft, who was
+getting obviously bored, and mopping his face
+freely, rose and said:</p>
+
+<p>“See here. We’ve come to this place to talk
+about sugar. Now, look here, have you got any
+room where the gentlemen who are with me can
+meet your representatives? They would like to see
+a sugar plantation growing, too, if you can show
+them one.”</p>
+
+<p>The Filipinos said they thought that could be
+arranged, and, as a matter of fact, the hall for this
+confabulation was already prepared, and the growing
+cane ready as well.</p>
+
+<p>“That’s all right,” said Mr Taft. “All I care
+about is to get out of this room and get some of
+that nice cool wind on me!” He looked simply
+<em>melting</em>. So everyone rose up, and Mr Taft gave
+out that Mrs Carter, the wife of the General,
+invited the ladies of the party to luncheon with her
+at her house “on” the Calle Real at one o’clock.
+Then everyone filed away, and we went home to
+rest before the evening. It was then half-past
+eleven—very late for this country—and the sun
+very hot.</p>
+
+<p>I was afterwards told about the ladies’ luncheon
+party. It only consisted of the visitors, most of<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_329" id="Page_329">[329]</a></span>
+whom were already personal friends of Mrs Carter,
+so, of course, it was not an important function.
+Here, again, I thought, was a golden opportunity
+wasted, for a few invitations extended to leading
+Filipino and <i lang="es">Mestiza</i> ladies would have done more
+good to the American cause than all the utterances
+of the cleverest orators.</p>
+
+<p>In the evening we went, in the usual pantomime
+<i lang="es">quilez</i>, to the Santa Cecilia Club, where the Filipino
+banquet to Mr Taft and his <i lang="es">Comitiva</i> was to be held.
+Or at least, that was the official description of the
+entertainment for which, as I told you, we each
+paid a preposterous sum.</p>
+
+<p>The whole building was ablaze with lights and
+bunting, while the familiar perilous medley of
+vehicles surged about in the mud outside, with
+hairbreadth escapes going on every minute, any
+one of which would have made the fortune of a
+clever paragraphist.</p>
+
+<p>The top of the stairs, the big landing, and
+outer place, were crowded with people, but the main
+room was still comparatively empty, so when
+we went in we had a good chance of seeing the
+decorations and tables. The latter were most
+ingeniously arranged to form the letters ILOILO,
+with a long table for the first I, then two long
+ones each with an elbow to make a sort of
+flat O, and then another long one with a long
+elbow for L, “and repeat,” as they say in knitting
+patterns. The only attempt at decoration was
+a mass of greenery all down the middle of
+each table, lying flat on the cloth, with oranges
+and <i lang="es">lanzone</i> fruits lying on it, and salted pistachio
+nuts all thrown about anyhow. By each plate
+lay a small spray of flowers (gardenias, little roses
+etc.), a list of the guests, with a plan of the tables
+and the <i lang="fr">menu</i>, which was a small blue paper
+book with a <i lang="fr">nouveau art</i> picture of a woman on<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_330" id="Page_330">[330]</a></span>
+the cover. On the back of this <i lang="fr">menu</i> was printed
+in large, clear type these words: “La situacion
+di Filipinas es como La de un enfermo que necesita
+una radical y eficaz medicacion. La supresion de la
+Tarifa Dingley es la mejor medicacion para Filipinas.”
+The interpretation of which is: “The situation
+of the Philippines is like that of a sick person
+for whom a radical and efficacious remedy is
+necessary. The suppression of the Dingley Tariff
+is the best medicine for the Philippines.”</p>
+
+<p>This <i lang="fr">menu</i> amused me a good deal, with
+the idea that poor long-suffering Mr Taft was
+to have politics written on everything he saw
+or touched, and certainly the Filipinos did not
+appear to be going to let slip any of this golden
+opportunity of “voicing” their grievances. The
+room was lighted by electric lights on the ceiling,
+arranged in the form of letters, spelling Taft on
+one side of the room and Visayas on the other,
+and flags, palm-branches, and paper roses were
+employed in the usual profusion.</p>
+
+<p>The people dropped in gradually, and when
+the Taft party arrived, Mr Taft took his place at
+the middle of the first L, under the picture of
+Washington. The rest of the party were scattered
+up and down the tables anyhow, with no scheme
+of precedence, which was very sensible, and the
+first tangible display of democratic principles I
+have seen since we came to the Philippines.</p>
+
+<p>About 258 guests were “scheduled,” and less
+than three-quarters of the places filled. When
+I looked round the hall, I saw that the English
+and Germans were fairly well represented; but
+there were very few Spaniards, only about half
+a dozen Filipinos, some <i lang="es">Chino-Mestizos</i>, and one
+or two Eurasian ladies in lovely <i lang="es">camisas</i>, and wearing
+magnificent diamonds. All the rest were
+Americans.</p>
+
+<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_331" id="Page_331">[331]</a></span></p>
+
+<p>Everyone seemed disappointed that Miss
+Roosevelt did not put in an appearance at the
+banquet. The rumour went about that she was
+too tired with the morning’s fatigues to be able
+to go out again. Afterwards I heard this discussed,
+when some said that “Miss Alice” was
+not at all strong, and that the round of gaieties
+in Manila had worn her out; while others declared
+that she always shirked the serious side of the
+trip if she could possibly do so; but I don’t
+expect the latter theory was true, and I thought
+it rather a shame of her country folk to say it.</p>
+
+<p>The feast began with tinned <i lang="fr">julienne</i>, the
+Constabulary band playing at the side, in the
+outer room, with a vigour which quite relieved
+one of any necessity for conversation. I examined
+my list of guests and plan of the tables to find
+out who the people were, and saw that all the blank
+places were those of Filipinos! Fancy! Their
+welcome to their Patron Saint! But he had so
+disappointed them by his avowed sentiments at
+the reception at the <i lang="es">Gobierno</i> in the morning
+that very few of them could be induced to come to
+the banquet.</p>
+
+<p>As far as eating went, the banquet was a
+haphazard affair, for it was almost impossible
+to persuade the dazed Filipino waiters to attend
+to one. At least, they did attend, but in a very
+Filipino way, for I got four bottles of white
+wine brought me; C—— had never a taste of
+soup; and we both had three plates of fish put
+down before us, which the people on each side
+took away, as they could not get any at all.
+Everyone was very good-natured, so it was all
+very amusing.</p>
+
+<p>There was considerable liberty of conscience
+displayed in the costumes of the guests, some of the
+American men being in soiled white day suits,<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_332" id="Page_332">[332]</a></span>
+conducting female relations in high cotton blouses;
+while others were got up in full evening dress.
+One handsome woman, who I heard was the wife
+of an officer in Camp Josman, was so much in
+evening dress, possibly to make up for the others
+in the blouses, that she was instantly nick-named
+The Mermaid. Her finely shaped head was
+dressed very low, and set off by classic bands of
+gold, with huge bunches of flowers and ribbons
+over each ear, and I heard a man near me suggest
+to another that someone should go and ask her
+to take some of the ornaments out of her <i lang="fr">coiffure</i>
+and put them round her bodice. But no one had
+the courage to do this thing, so the little <i lang="es">Mestiza</i>
+ladies stared and giggled, and as for the few
+Orientals present, they looked at the Mermaid as
+if they thought Equality was going to be great
+fun.</p>
+
+<p>When we were just about to fall on some beef
+<i lang="fr">à la mode</i> which had at last, after incredible
+pertinacity on the part of C——, been placed
+before us, a man at one of the tables behind us
+suddenly got up and began to make a speech.
+Everyone slewed their heads round to see him,
+and forgot the beef, which the waiters instantly
+fell upon and swept away beyond recall.</p>
+
+<p>The speechmaker proposed a health, which we
+drank in very good red or white wine provided for us,
+and then he made a speech, and someone—one of
+the visiting party, I think—got up and replied.</p>
+
+<p>After him, another got up. But many people
+listened to him and still held on to their helping of
+turkey, which they tried to eat as noiselessly as
+possible; a most amusing sight.</p>
+
+<p>Then another; and another; popping up in all
+sorts of places, with the interpreter appearing
+suddenly beside them like a harlequin. Some of
+the speeches, in spite of the halting of the translation,<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_333" id="Page_333">[333]</a></span>
+were very good, and very interesting; for the
+speakers did not mince matters much—the natives
+saying things very plainly, and the Americans
+replying with equal frankness.</p>
+
+<p>Next me at table sat a Filipino swell in
+European evening dress, with splendid diamonds
+on his hands and in his embroidered shirt front,
+who turned his chair round when the speeches
+began, and sat astride, leaning on the back. He
+cleared his throat, and spat on the floor in such a
+dreadful manner that I felt sick, and at last I
+turned quite faint, and had to get up and move to
+an empty place further on. There I was not so
+well off, as far as hearing went, for the head of the
+next table was occupied by a cheery party of
+“prominent citizens,” Senators, and officers, who
+were drinking champagne and making a horrible
+noise.</p>
+
+<p>I moved again, this time to a doorway at
+the upper end of the hall, where a polite young
+<i lang="es">Mestizo</i> offered me his chair; so I ended in being
+very well off as to a place, and heard and saw very
+well.</p>
+
+<p>An old Senator with a venerable beard was
+making a long speech on the subject of freedom
+and the folly of race-distinction. In defence of
+the latter theory, he rather rashly quoted Tennyson,
+repeating the lines about “Saxon and Norman
+and Dane are we,” which could not be applied
+in the remotest way to either Americans or
+Filipinos and came out pure gibberish in the
+translation.</p>
+
+<p>To him replied the editor of one of the Iloilo
+papers, a small, full-blooded Filipino, with sharp,
+clever features. He made a most fiery and
+eloquent speech, in which, with angry brown face,
+and clenched fists thumping the back of the chair
+on which he leant, he declared that the Philippine<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_334" id="Page_334">[334]</a></span>
+Islands had been discovered as long as America,
+and that the Filipinos had the same spirit as that
+which had caused the Americans to revolt from
+England.</p>
+
+<p>He got fearfully excited, and called God to
+witness that his people were only asking for their
+rights in wishing to have this foreign burden
+removed; he and they demanded, insisted on, their
+Independence! When he sat down, the waiters
+and the band, and the Filipino spectators who had
+strolled in, all applauded frantically.</p>
+
+<p>The applause, by-the-bye, was most instructive,
+for the American speeches were applauded to the
+echo with shouts by the Americans; but the
+Filipinos and <i lang="es">Mestizos</i> received the Spanish translations
+in <em>utter</em> silence. On the other hand, the
+brown folk roared with applause over their own
+speakers, and the Americans did not take the
+least notice of the English translations. It was
+a most odd and unique scene.</p>
+
+<p>Last of all came Mr Taft, who spoke better,
+more clearly, and more simply than any of the
+others, and my only regret was that such a splendid
+delivery should have been impeded by the interpretations.</p>
+
+<p>He repeated all the things he had said in the
+morning at the <i lang="es">Gobierno</i>, walking even more
+boldly up to the Independence question, and
+saying that the people would be given their
+Independence when they were worthy of it, which
+was the sacred duty of the American people, who
+had received these Islands as a Trust from God.</p>
+
+<p>This was received with rapturous ovations by
+his countrymen, but the translation was taken in
+absolute and embarrassing silence—all but two or
+three hisses!</p>
+
+<p>He went on to expound the theory of educating
+the Filipino people up to Western ideals, and laid<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_335" id="Page_335">[335]</a></span>
+great stress upon the dignity and power of labour—“and
+you must work with your hands—your
+hands!”—thunders of applause from the white
+men. Absolute silence after the translation. For
+my part, I can’t say I felt much carried away by
+these phrases when I recollected the speaker’s
+attitude towards manual labour and book-learning
+a few hours before.</p>
+
+<p>When they were on a level with the free races,
+“in a hundred years, perhaps three hundred, four
+hundred, they would be worthy to stand and face
+the nations”—or something like that. He also
+said that he had certainly promised the Filipinos
+Independence, and he was not going back upon
+his words, no—he was come to uphold—to ratify
+them. “Dear Wards from God,” he called them,
+spreading his arms out and smiling the Taft smile,
+and saying “that the Philippines were a solemn
+trust, and the Americans would not fail in this great
+duty towards humanity.”</p>
+
+<p>So these fine words were all they got out of
+Mr Taft, and we all rose and trooped out to
+find our “rigs.”</p>
+
+<p>At the top of the staircase I met a very
+Prominent Citizen, who remarked that this had
+been a great occasion for Iloilo; and I said: “Yes,
+Mr Taft is a clever man and a brilliant orator.”</p>
+
+<p>“That’s so,” agreed my friend, “he made a
+<em>vurry fine</em> speech.”</p>
+
+<p>I said: “He spoke a great many truths;
+what he said was very straightforward.”</p>
+
+<p>“Yes,” said the P. C., “but he should have said
+all that two years ago.”</p>
+
+<p>And that, I find, is the unanimous verdict of
+every class and nationality about Mr Taft’s subtle
+and rather tardy interpretation of the promises he
+made when he was Governor of the Philippines.</p>
+
+<p>Next evening, when the party had gone, and<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_336" id="Page_336">[336]</a></span>
+there was nothing left but to discuss what had
+taken place, we were leaning over the balcony when
+a Prominent Citizen of our acquaintance came
+walking past, and stopped, in the friendly, half-Spanish
+fashion of the country, to say good evening
+and make a few remarks.</p>
+
+<p>“It was a fine show,” we said.</p>
+
+<p>“Why yes,” he agreed, “I guess the Filipinos
+did their best for the <i>Secwar</i>.”</p>
+
+<p>“I think he disappointed them, though,”
+said C——.</p>
+
+<p>“Well, I should smile! I guess Secretary
+Taft’s the best hated man in these islands now.”</p>
+
+<p>And that, I believe, is the unfortunate truth.</p>
+
+<hr />
+
+<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_337" id="Page_337">[337]</a></span></p>
+
+<h2 id="LETTER_42">LETTER XLII.<br />
+<span class="smaller">WEIGHING ANCHOR</span></h2>
+
+<p class="right"><span class="smcap">Hotel ——</span>, <span class="smcap">Iloilo</span>, <i>August 22, 1905</i>.</p>
+
+<p>We are up-rooted at last, you see, out of our own
+delightful house, and enduring the cooking and
+service of the best hotel this place has to afford,
+while we wait for the <i>Kai-Fong</i>, which is reported
+to be loading hard wood at Cebú.</p>
+
+<p>This is not really such a bad place for Iloilo,
+which means that it compares unfavourably in
+comfort, cleanliness, and sanitation with a second-class
+Commercial in a small town in Spain. However,
+I have a very nice big cool room, opening on
+to a broad balcony, where little trees and plants
+stand in tubs, and that is very agreeable to the eye,
+as we are right in the town and not near any
+gardens. There are four doors in this room, and
+six windows, so that the room is capable of the
+necessary draught without which it is impossible to
+sleep. So far so good, but the Filipino bed has to
+be reckoned with—in this case, a vast four-poster,
+with a very handsome piece of carving at each end.
+That at the head is particularly beautiful, a very
+free and graceful design of leaves, and corn, and
+fruit, which I wish I could take home with me.
+We took the precaution of bringing our own <i lang="es">petates</i>
+and pillows when we left our house, as well as our
+own towels, and are continually thankful that we
+did so!</p>
+
+<p>It is the chief hotel of Iloilo, as I said before,<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_338" id="Page_338">[338]</a></span>
+and therefore frequented by all the Prominent
+Citizens and their families, to say nothing of the
+military, as many of the officers board here. I
+think they must be such good-natured people not
+to make any fuss about the dirty linen and unwashed
+plates, or the cold and greasy food. I am
+afraid we are not so amiable, for we began at once
+to have it understood that, as we were paying the
+prices of a first-class hotel in London or Paris, we
+expected comfort and some cleanliness, and C—— said
+very definitely to our waiter that he would
+knock him down if he attempted again to hand
+things on the wrong side. This cleared the air a
+good deal, and when they found we insisted on
+having things nice, they did their best for us, and
+really they have made us so comfortable that we
+are quite patient about the <i>Kai-Fong</i>.</p>
+
+<p>We cleared out of our own house on Friday
+(this is Monday), and spent all the following day
+making over the furniture to the various people
+who came, like Joseph’s brethren, bearing money in
+their hands. We were so sorry to see the rooms
+dismantled, for we loved that house, and had lived
+in it in such comfort, and so well cared for by our
+good servants. When C—— paid the latter off, he
+gave to each an extra present of money, which
+pleased them enormously; and the cook, really
+quite sad, said over and over again that he wished
+we would take him with us to England, and asked
+to be allowed to shake hands with us, which great
+honour we permitted. Sotero we have brought
+here to wait on us, as we would not allow Filipino
+hotel servants into our rooms, of course; but
+Domingo has been paid off, though he refuses to
+consider himself dismissed, and I believe he is
+sleeping in the empty house and standing guard
+over our big cases, though no one is likely to run
+away with them, as they take about five coolies<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_339" id="Page_339">[339]</a></span>
+each to move. I begin to realise here what our
+openness to the Monsoons meant, for I have just
+had to clear out of my bedroom, where I was writing,
+and come into the public <i lang="es">sala</i> (which is really
+a furnished corridor), because the wind shifted a
+little, so that it no longer blew into the bedroom.
+By this I mean that when the wind was off me, I
+burst into perspiration, my face dripping on to the
+paper, my hands as if I had dipped them in water,
+my clothes soaking, and my head beginning to ache
+and throb. Oh, I can’t find words to express how
+thankful I am to be going away from this horrible,
+everlasting heat! It gets on one’s nerves not to
+be able to move a chair, to walk two yards without
+dripping at every pore, and one’s clothes feel so
+irksome and heavy. If one takes exercise it is
+acute discomfort—if one does not, one is ill!</p>
+
+<p>We are now having the echoes of the <i lang="es">Comitiva Taft</i>
+visitation, and it is really most amusing to see how
+the popular idol has fallen. Fallen for the Filipinos
+that is, for the Americans all think him very
+great and “cute” to manage as he has done,
+though they are all declaring openly that he should
+have said all this two years ago, as our friend
+shrewdly observed to us when we were leaving
+the banquet. Of course, there is something to be
+said for Mr Taft, for if he had made such unpopular
+utterances when he was Governor here, his life
+would not have been worth two cents a day. All
+the same, to the lay mind, such subtle change of
+front is not very palatable, and one cannot help
+wishing that politicians could afford to say straight
+out what they mean, and stick to it for good or
+evil.</p>
+
+<p>The papers from Manila with the account of
+our festivities have arrived, and I never read such
+brazen lying in my life; in fact, the reports are so
+cooked that they leave off being annoying and begin<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_340" id="Page_340">[340]</a></span>
+to be funny. The wild scenes of popular enthusiasm,
+the crowded banquet, the frantic love of the
+people of Panay for their idol, and so on, and so
+on. And as to sheer reporting, Mr Taft’s speech
+(which the Manila people are informed was greeted
+by the natives with thunderous applause) is given
+at great length, but the impassioned utterances of
+the patriot who clutched the chair-back are
+dismissed in a few mild words. No mention, too,
+of the ominous banners in the procession, of the
+note on the back of the <i lang="fr">menu</i> at the banquet, and
+not the faintest hint of the one or two hisses which
+greeted the sentiments of the <i>Secwar</i> himself. So
+much for the local papers. And if that is the way
+they dally with truth out here, one can only faintly
+wonder what impression of this trip is being
+disseminated amongst the intelligent voters in the
+far-off U.S.A., by our well-informed journalistic
+friend and others of his kidney.</p>
+
+<p>The Iloilo banquet, by-the-bye, wound up rather
+disastrously for American dignity, as the rowdy
+party at the table near us got up some quarrel with
+one of the Filipino waiters; there were blows and
+fighting, and the whole lot were chucked out into
+the street. This, as you may imagine, has made
+a horrible scandal, and produced a very bad
+impression.</p>
+
+<p>About the banquet, too, it now appears that
+the Filipinos subscribed 70 <i lang="es">pesos</i> towards that and
+the general expenses, and the rest of the community,
+ourselves included, made the sum up to
+the 4000 required, plus a grant from the Treasury.</p>
+
+<p>C—— went to see our poor old Spanish friend
+about something a day or two ago (the ex-courtier,
+whose visit I think I described to you), and when
+C—— said that he had not seen him at the banquet,
+the old fellow replied that he had sent the committee
+12 <i lang="es">pesos</i> towards the expenses, with a letter of<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_341" id="Page_341">[341]</a></span>
+well-wishing, etc., as he thought it was his duty
+to do so, and to contribute what he could.</p>
+
+<p>“Well,” said C——, “but didn’t they answer
+with an invitation to the banquet?”</p>
+
+<p>“No,” said the old man, “they did not even
+acknowledge the money.”</p>
+
+<p>He seemed rather down on his luck about the
+whole thing, and more anxious than ever to sell his
+piece of land and go home to Spain to die.</p>
+
+<hr />
+
+<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_342" id="Page_342">[342]</a></span></p>
+
+<h2 id="LETTER_43">LETTER XLIII.<br />
+<span class="smaller">HOMEWARD BOUND</span></h2>
+
+<p class="right">S.S. <i>Kai-Fong</i>, <i>August 25</i>, 10 <span class="smcap">A.M.</span></p>
+
+<p>Iloilo is now far away below the horizon astern,
+and if I look over the side, I am afforded the delightful
+spectacle of one Philippine Island slipping past
+after the other into pale blue fluff, and I hope they
+will stay down under my horizon for ever.</p>
+
+<p>We scraped out through a network of taxes, like
+fish trying to get out of a fish-<i lang="es">corral</i>. Our two
+large cases had to get a Customs permit before they
+could be put on board, for which they got from us a
+<i lang="es">peso</i> in the form of a stamp upon the Export Entry,
+and another <i lang="es">peso</i> and a half for what they call
+wharfage. This means that they did not examine
+the contents of the cases, but gave C—— a paper
+to sign and an export permit. Another item is an
+Internal Revenue tax of a <i lang="es">peso</i> on each passenger
+ticket. Fancy if we at home had to pay 10 shillings
+in taxes before we could go across the Channel!</p>
+
+<p>It is so nice to be in such a clean and comfortable
+steamer, and to have fresh vegetables and
+fruit, brought on ice from Hong Kong; and one
+wonders how the Americans can tolerate the
+contrast between this and those dreadful Spanish
+cockroach-traps which they dignify by the name
+of the Mail.</p>
+
+<p>All the crew are Chinese, of course, looking so
+straight and tall and intelligent after the stumpy,
+stupid, little Filipinos. With them too, as with the<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_343" id="Page_343">[343]</a></span>
+Filipino horses, the eye has been thrown out of
+focus, for the Chinese simply look colossal. I
+keep on thinking to myself what a very tall man
+that is, and he is only the usual height of ordinary
+men.</p>
+
+<p>Most of the second-class passengers are Chinese,
+and they have queer meals on the lower deck, all
+squatting round a wooden tray on which are one
+or two big bowls of rice and bits of meat and vegetables.
+Round these are piled little bowls, into
+which the mixture is served out, and the Chinamen
+all set to work with chop-sticks, which is so like a
+conjuring-trick that one can watch them as long as
+they will go on with it! Amongst these people is a
+Chinaman with his Filipino wife, a little ugly woman,
+with her lips jutting out beyond the end of her nose,
+dressed in a gay <i lang="es">camisa</i>, and for ever smoking a
+huge, ragged cigar. Some children of theirs cling
+to them most of the time, and a very gaudily-dressed
+little chap of a more purely Filipino type,
+whom the Chinaman is exporting to a friend in
+Amoy who has bought the child for 10 dollars.
+You can buy children very cheaply in the
+Philippines; and away from the big towns, and
+very often in them, they are openly offered for
+sale; and most of the rich native and <i lang="es">Mestizo</i>
+families have servants which have been bought as
+children. I daresay, though I have never inquired
+about it, that the Americans strenuously deny this
+officially, but unofficially it is a perfectly well-known
+custom. This small slave was a very
+native little chap of three or four, got up in purple
+cotton coat and a crimson jockey cap, and radiantly
+happy in his new clothes, and we could not really
+feel very sorry for him. The Chinamen all take
+the greatest care of their hair, combing it out every
+day, and some of them have magnificent, glossy,
+black locks, right down to their knees; but others,<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_344" id="Page_344">[344]</a></span>
+whose hair is thin and scanty, eke out their pigtails
+with long cords of black silk gimp.</p>
+
+<p>Talking of servants, when we came down to the
+Muelle Loney (to think I shall never see that
+place again!) this morning, we found Domingo
+waiting, in his smartest clothes, spotlessly white,
+and his skin shining with soap, to see us off. Poor
+fellow, he hung round, blubbering quietly, and carrying
+anything he could catch hold of, and when he
+said good-bye his face was quite pathetic. I think he
+felt he was losing the only people in the world who
+had ever treated him well, and he was one of the
+best specimens of a typical, unspoilt Filipino,
+stolid, obedient, humble, and faithful as a dog, and
+C—— said he would have given anything to have
+been able to take him with us, as the poor creature
+implored us to do. At the last, when the launch
+was pushing off, Domingo made a wild rush to
+spring on board, but was too late; and the last we
+saw of him was standing on the quay with his hat
+off and the tears streaming down his big, brown
+face.</p>
+
+<p>We discussed this rush of Domingo’s, but can
+arrive at no satisfactory solution of what he wanted
+to do, for I think he only wanted to come out
+to the <i>Kai-Fong</i>, but C—— says he is certain he
+meant to follow us to Hong Kong and compel us
+to take him with us. Well, we can’t do that, but
+we have done our best for him in making him from
+a rough coolie into a clean, smart servant, who can
+get double the wages he received from us; and we
+found him a good place before we left, though, as
+I said before, I am not at all sure how either he
+or the other will do with the impatience and curses
+with which the average white man thinks he
+impresses his dignity upon the coloured person. It
+is not to be done in the Anglo-Indian method; no,
+nor in the American extreme of familiarity. Of<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_345" id="Page_345">[345]</a></span>
+that I was persuaded before I came here, and
+am still more convinced now that I have more
+experience.</p>
+
+<p>The only way to impress anyone, black, brown,
+<em>or</em> white, with the idea of your dignity, is to be
+dignified yourself. But I suppose this is too much
+of an obvious truism for anyone to attempt to
+think over or act up to. Well, it served me in very
+good stead; and all I know is that, though every
+soul I spoke to had endless complaints about the
+impudence, laziness, or dishonesty of their servants,
+whether they were of the nation who kicked them,
+or those who allowed them to wear a vest in the
+house and not say <i lang="es">señor</i>, we never had any trouble
+once we got rid of our first Americanised cook—my
+house went as on oiled axles, and we never
+missed one single thing from start to finish. So
+what am I to say of the Filipinos? Those with
+whom I came in contact, as well as my own
+servants, were a narrow, cunning, good-humoured
+people, vain, superstitious, stupid, great gamblers,
+kind to their children, and bitterly cruel to animals—oh,
+the poor hens hung up by the heels in the
+sun! and the wretched pigs with their four feet
+lashed together that used to lie all day scorching
+in the Plaza at Molo! the awful open sores under
+the harness of the starving ponies! the brutal,
+sickening, cock-fighting! For those horrors alone,
+I should be thankful to leave this country, even
+were it the paradise which it is not. No, no
+terrestrial paradise, for one has the laziness, the
+heat, the apathy, and cruelty of the East, without
+the compensations of artistic beauty, cheapness,
+plenty, and luxury, which make up for those drawbacks
+in other hot countries. A shuffling, drab, discontented,
+thick-headed, costly East—with all the
+worst traditions of four hundred years of the off-scourings
+of the Spanish monkish orders, overlaid<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_346" id="Page_346">[346]</a></span>
+by a veneer of shallow cock-sureness hastily
+assimilated from a totally incongruous alien civilisation.</p>
+
+<p>We carry a cargo of sugar, and from the
+ventilators come up gusts of that peculiar, heavy,
+nauseous odour, which carries one back instantly to
+the <i lang="es">camarins</i> of Iloilo. I can’t believe that the
+Philippines are really a thing of the past for me—it
+is not that I was there so long; but there was so
+little variety, and we saw and did and heard the
+same things so often, that I am left with an
+impression of as many years as we have been there
+months.</p>
+
+<p class="titlepage">THE END</p>
+
+<hr />
+
+<div class="figcenter" style="width: 300px">
+<p class="transnote">Transcriber’s Note: The map is clickable for a larger version, if
+the device you’re reading this on supports that.</p>
+<a href="images/map.jpg"><img src="images/map-small.jpg" width="300" height="225" alt="Map" /></a>
+<p class="caption">THE PHILIPPINE ISLANDS</p>
+</div>
+
+<hr />
+
+<div class="footnotes">
+
+<h2>FOOTNOTES</h2>
+
+<div class="footnote">
+
+<p><a name="Footnote_1" id="Footnote_1"></a><a href="#FNanchor_1"><span class="label">[1]</span></a> England is 50,823 square miles in extent, and Luzon is
+40,885.</p>
+
+</div>
+
+<div class="footnote">
+
+<p><a name="Footnote_2" id="Footnote_2"></a><a href="#FNanchor_2"><span class="label">[2]</span></a> Fivepence. The amount of bread this sum will buy in
+the Philippines is equal to half the English 2d. loaf.</p>
+
+</div>
+
+<div class="footnote">
+
+<p><a name="Footnote_3" id="Footnote_3"></a><a href="#FNanchor_3"><span class="label">[3]</span></a> Another method is to tie a rope round the <i lang="es">carabao’s</i> horns,
+and it is so tight that it cuts into the flesh, so that the <i lang="es">carabaos</i>
+frequently go mad with pain and “run amok.”</p>
+
+</div>
+
+<div class="footnote">
+
+<p><a name="Footnote_4" id="Footnote_4"></a><a href="#FNanchor_4"><span class="label">[4]</span></a> The actual numbers of the Commission have been changed
+several times, but the proportion of American to Filipino remains
+practically unaltered, as does the method of their election.</p>
+
+</div>
+
+<div class="footnote">
+
+<p><a name="Footnote_5" id="Footnote_5"></a><a href="#FNanchor_5"><span class="label">[5]</span></a> In the Spanish days, no Filipino was allowed to carry a
+walking-stick, except the <i lang="es">Presidente</i> of a town, which distinction
+was jealously preserved.</p>
+
+</div>
+
+<div class="footnote">
+
+<p><a name="Footnote_6" id="Footnote_6"></a><a href="#FNanchor_6"><span class="label">[6]</span></a> The Government owns 60,000,000 acres; but no non-Filipino
+can obtain more than 40 acres, and no corporation may
+hold more than 2500 acres. Five years after the passing of
+this law, that is in 1907, all corporate lands owned in excess
+of this amount and under cultivation must be disposed of or
+forfeited.</p>
+
+</div>
+
+<div class="footnote">
+
+<p><a name="Footnote_7" id="Footnote_7"></a><a href="#FNanchor_7"><span class="label">[7]</span></a> A corruption of <i>tubig</i>, Visayan for water.</p>
+
+</div>
+
+<div class="footnote">
+
+<p><a name="Footnote_8" id="Footnote_8"></a><a href="#FNanchor_8"><span class="label">[8]</span></a> The fighting <i lang="es">bolo</i>, the more deadly and elaborate weapon
+is always kept concealed in the hut.</p>
+
+</div>
+
+<div class="footnote">
+
+<p><a name="Footnote_9" id="Footnote_9"></a><a href="#FNanchor_9"><span class="label">[9]</span></a> This breach of Oriental decorum is one of the most fatal
+and irreparable mistakes the Americans have made in the
+Philippines. It is a subject on which the Filipino or <i lang="es">Mestizo</i>
+is not slow to speak his mind. Alas for misunderstandings!</p>
+
+</div>
+
+<div class="footnote">
+
+<p><a name="Footnote_10" id="Footnote_10"></a><a href="#FNanchor_10"><span class="label">[10]</span></a> The Tagalos are a much more industrious race than the
+Visayans, and are always in demand as clerks, workmen, or
+servants, in preference to the Southerners.</p>
+
+</div>
+
+<div class="footnote">
+
+<p><a name="Footnote_11" id="Footnote_11"></a><a href="#FNanchor_11"><span class="label">[11]</span></a> I have before me a cutting from <cite>The Manila Times</cite>, containing
+an account of the arrival in Manila, by the Transport
+<i>Dix</i> from San Francisco, of “eleven strong-limbed, square-jawed
+bloodhounds” ... “for the work of trailing the <i lang="es">Ladrones</i> of
+Cavite and the <i lang="es">Pulajanes</i> of Samar.”</p>
+
+</div>
+
+</div>
+
+<hr />
+
+<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_347" id="Page_347">[347]</a></span></p>
+
+<h2 id="INDEX">INDEX</h2>
+
+<ul>
+
+<li class="ifrst">A</li>
+
+<li class="indx">Agius, Cardinal, <a href="#Page_235">235</a></li>
+
+<li class="indx">Aglipay, Father, <a href="#Page_109">109</a>, <a href="#Page_237">237</a>, <a href="#Page_262">262</a>, <a href="#Page_312">312</a></li>
+
+<li class="indx" id="Aglipayanos">Aglipayanos, <a href="#Page_109">109</a>, <a href="#Page_155">155</a>, <a href="#Page_195">195</a>, <a href="#Page_197">197</a>, <a href="#Page_235">235</a>, <a href="#Page_237">237</a></li>
+
+<li class="indx">Agriculture, neglect of, <a href="#Page_298">298</a>, <a href="#Page_299">299</a></li>
+
+<li class="indx">Aguinaldo, Emilio, <a href="#Page_11">11</a>, <a href="#Page_51">51</a></li>
+
+<li class="indx">“American Ideal,” The, <a href="#Page_134">134</a>, <a href="#Page_185">185</a></li>
+
+<li class="indx">American occupation of the Philippines, <a href="#Page_88">88</a>, <a href="#Page_156">156</a></li>
+
+<li class="indx"><i lang="es">Anting-anting</i>, <a href="#Page_69">69</a>, <a href="#Page_204">204</a></li>
+
+<li class="indx">Antipolo, <a href="#Page_6">6</a></li>
+
+<li class="indx">Ants, <a href="#Page_70">70</a></li>
+
+<li class="indx">Arms of the Philippines, <a href="#Page_122">122</a></li>
+
+<li class="indx"><i lang="es">Azotea</i>, the, <a href="#Page_24">24</a></li>
+
+<li class="ifrst">B</li>
+
+<li class="indx"><i lang="es">Baile</i>, a, or ball, <a href="#Page_164">164</a>, <a href="#Page_201">201</a>, <a href="#Page_279">279</a></li>
+
+<li class="indx">Baker, Sir Samuel, <a href="#Page_283">283</a></li>
+
+<li class="indx">Bananas, <a href="#Page_206">206</a></li>
+
+<li class="indx"><i lang="es">Banda de Musica Popular, La</i>, <a href="#Page_184">184</a>, <a href="#Page_295">295</a></li>
+
+<li class="indx">Banquet, <a href="#Page_329">329</a></li>
+
+<li class="indx">Beds, <a href="#Page_45">45</a></li>
+
+<li class="indx">Beggars, <a href="#Page_193">193</a></li>
+
+<li class="indx">Benguet, <a href="#Page_151">151</a>, <a href="#Page_239">239</a></li>
+
+<li class="indx">Betel-nut, <a href="#Page_219">219</a></li>
+
+<li class="indx">Bilibid prison, <a href="#Page_135">135</a></li>
+
+<li class="indx"><i lang="es">Bolo</i>, or native knife, <a href="#Page_232">232</a></li>
+
+<li class="indx">Bombardment of Iloilo, <a href="#Page_89">89</a></li>
+
+<li class="indx">Bread, price of, <a href="#Page_34">34</a></li>
+
+<li class="indx">Bridge, <a href="#Page_132">132</a>, <a href="#Page_149">149</a></li>
+
+<li class="indx">Business houses, <a href="#Page_44">44</a></li>
+
+<li class="indx"><i>Butuan</i>, S.S., <a href="#Page_110">110</a>, <a href="#Page_152">152</a>, <a href="#Page_157">157</a></li>
+
+<li class="ifrst">C</li>
+
+<li class="indx"><i lang="es">Camarins</i>, <a href="#Page_175">175</a></li>
+
+<li class="indx">Camp Josman, <a href="#Page_85">85</a>, <a href="#Page_280">280</a></li>
+
+<li class="indx">Canloon volcano, <a href="#Page_16">16</a></li>
+
+<li class="indx">Carabaos, <a href="#Page_79">79</a>, <a href="#Page_293">293</a></li>
+
+<li class="indx">Card-playing, <a href="#Page_132">132</a></li>
+
+<li class="indx">Carnival, <a href="#Page_161">161</a>, <a href="#Page_199">199</a></li>
+
+<li class="indx"><i lang="es">Carromatas</i>, <a href="#Page_63">63</a></li>
+
+<li class="indx">Carter, Mrs, <a href="#Page_328">328</a></li>
+
+<li class="indx">Catbologan, <a href="#Page_289">289</a></li>
+
+<li class="indx">Cebú, <a href="#Page_9">9</a></li>
+
+<li class="indx">Children, <a href="#Page_64">64</a>, <a href="#Page_129">129</a>, <a href="#Page_178">178</a>;</li>
+<li class="isub1">sale of, <a href="#Page_343">343</a></li>
+
+<li class="indx">Chinese immigrants prohibited, <a href="#Page_176">176</a></li>
+
+<li class="indx">Chinese New Year, the, <a href="#Page_195">195</a></li>
+
+<li class="indx">Chinese servants, <a href="#Page_141">141</a></li>
+
+<li class="indx">“Christ’s Funeral,” <a href="#Page_196">196</a></li>
+
+<li class="indx">Christmas, <a href="#Page_47">47</a></li>
+
+<li class="indx">Cigars, native, <a href="#Page_177">177</a></li>
+
+<li class="indx">Climate, <a href="#Page_18">18</a>, <a href="#Page_110">110</a>, <a href="#Page_169">169</a>, <a href="#Page_229">229</a></li>
+
+<li class="indx">Clothes, <a href="#Page_115">115</a></li>
+
+<li class="indx">Clubs, <a href="#Page_57">57</a>, <a href="#Page_161">161</a></li>
+
+<li class="indx">Cock-fighting, <a href="#Page_139">139</a>, <a href="#Page_286">286</a></li>
+
+<li class="indx">Cockroaches, <a href="#Page_71">71</a>, <a href="#Page_211">211</a></li>
+
+<li class="indx">Cocoanuts, <a href="#Page_207">207</a>, <a href="#Page_208">208</a>, <a href="#Page_231">231</a></li>
+
+<li class="indx">Constabulary, <a href="#Page_86">86</a></li>
+
+<li class="indx">Crickets (<i lang="es">cicadas</i>), <a href="#Page_69">69</a></li>
+
+<li class="indx"><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_348" id="Page_348">[348]</a></span>Currency, <a href="#Page_20">20</a>, <a href="#Page_27">27</a></li>
+
+<li class="indx">Customs, tariff and methods, <a href="#Page_32">32</a>, <a href="#Page_43">43</a>, <a href="#Page_65">65</a>, <a href="#Page_195">195</a>, <a href="#Page_234">234</a>, <a href="#Page_291">291</a>, <a href="#Page_342">342</a></li>
+
+<li class="ifrst">D</li>
+
+<li class="indx">Dancing, <a href="#Page_57">57</a></li>
+
+<li class="indx">Declaration Day, <a href="#Page_270">270</a></li>
+
+<li class="indx">Decoration Day, <a href="#Page_245">245</a></li>
+
+<li class="indx">Democracy, American idea of, <a href="#Page_144">144</a></li>
+
+<li class="indx">Dingley Tariff, <a href="#Page_330">330</a></li>
+
+<li class="indx">Dogs, <a href="#Page_128">128</a></li>
+
+<li class="indx">Dress, <a href="#Page_53">53</a></li>
+
+<li class="indx">Drought, <a href="#Page_172">172</a></li>
+
+<li class="ifrst">E</li>
+
+<li class="indx">Earthquake, <a href="#Page_226">226</a></li>
+
+<li class="indx">Easter, <a href="#Page_195">195</a></li>
+
+<li class="indx">Education, <a href="#Page_49">49</a>, <a href="#Page_221">221</a>, <a href="#Page_258">258</a></li>
+
+<li class="indx">Eurasians, position of, <a href="#Page_62">62</a></li>
+
+<li class="ifrst">F</li>
+
+<li class="indx">Fashions in Manila, <a href="#Page_125">125</a></li>
+
+<li class="indx"><i lang="es">Fiestas</i>, <a href="#Page_52">52</a>, <a href="#Page_276">276</a></li>
+
+<li class="indx">Filipinos, the, <a href="#Page_13">13</a>, <a href="#Page_14">14</a>, <a href="#Page_62">62</a>, <a href="#Page_154">154</a>, <a href="#Page_189">189</a>, <a href="#Page_212">212</a>, <a href="#Page_244">244</a>, <a href="#Page_309">309</a></li>
+
+<li class="indx">Fire trees, <a href="#Page_207">207</a></li>
+
+<li class="indx">Fish, <a href="#Page_294">294</a>;</li>
+<li class="isub1">traps for, <a href="#Page_218">218</a></li>
+
+<li class="indx">Flies, <a href="#Page_290">290</a></li>
+
+<li class="indx">Flowers, <a href="#Page_130">130</a></li>
+
+<li class="indx">Food, <a href="#Page_48">48</a></li>
+
+<li class="indx">Friars, Spanish, <a href="#Page_50">50</a></li>
+
+<li class="indx">Fruit, <a href="#Page_48">48</a>, <a href="#Page_299">299</a></li>
+
+<li class="indx">Fulcher, Mr, Vice-Consul at Cebú, <a href="#Page_10">10</a></li>
+
+<li class="indx">Funeral, a, <a href="#Page_194">194</a></li>
+
+<li class="indx">Furniture, <a href="#Page_30">30</a></li>
+
+<li class="ifrst">G</li>
+
+<li class="indx">Gibson Girl, the, <a href="#Page_123">123</a></li>
+
+<li class="indx"><i lang="es">Gobierno</i>, the, <a href="#Page_278">278</a></li>
+
+<li class="indx">Government, character of the, <a href="#Page_86">86</a></li>
+
+<li class="indx">Graveyards, <a href="#Page_164">164</a>, <a href="#Page_296">296</a></li>
+
+<li class="indx">Guimaras, <a href="#Page_16">16</a>, <a href="#Page_40">40</a>, <a href="#Page_55">55</a>, <a href="#Page_104">104</a>, <a href="#Page_182">182</a>, <a href="#Page_188">188</a>, <a href="#Page_203">203</a></li>
+
+<li class="ifrst">H</li>
+
+<li class="indx">Harbour at Manila, <a href="#Page_117">117</a></li>
+
+<li class="indx">Hawks, <a href="#Page_128">128</a></li>
+
+<li class="indx">Heat, <a href="#Page_169">169</a>, <a href="#Page_229">229</a>, <a href="#Page_239">239</a>, <a href="#Page_265">265</a></li>
+
+<li class="indx">Hemp, <a href="#Page_11">11</a></li>
+
+<li class="indx">Hijaldo, Monsignore, <a href="#Page_236">236</a></li>
+
+<li class="indx">Holidays, <a href="#Page_195">195</a></li>
+
+<li class="indx">Hong Kong, <a href="#Page_229">229</a></li>
+
+<li class="indx">Hoskyn’s Store, <a href="#Page_26">26</a></li>
+
+<li class="indx">Hospital, American, <a href="#Page_244">244</a></li>
+
+<li class="indx">Hotels, <a href="#Page_6">6</a>, <a href="#Page_337">337</a></li>
+
+<li class="indx">House-building, <a href="#Page_189">189</a></li>
+
+<li class="indx">Houses, descriptions of, <a href="#Page_20">20</a>, <a href="#Page_23">23</a></li>
+
+<li class="ifrst">I</li>
+
+<li class="indx">Ice, <a href="#Page_167">167</a></li>
+
+<li class="indx">Iglesia Filipina Independiente, La. <a href="#Aglipayanos"><i>See</i> Aglipayanos.</a></li>
+
+<li class="indx">Iloilo, <a href="#Page_9">9</a>, <a href="#Page_16">16</a>, <a href="#Page_17">17</a>, <a href="#Page_118">118</a>;</li>
+<li class="isub1">bombarded, <a href="#Page_89">89</a></li>
+
+<li class="indx">Intramuros, the old Spanish Manila, <a href="#Page_4">4</a>, <a href="#Page_133">133</a></li>
+
+<li class="ifrst">J</li>
+
+<li class="indx">Jaro, <a href="#Page_17">17</a>, <a href="#Page_42">42</a>, <a href="#Page_90">90</a>, <a href="#Page_186">186</a>, <a href="#Page_236">236</a></li>
+
+<li class="indx">Jewellery, <a href="#Page_126">126</a></li>
+
+<li class="indx"><i lang="es">Jusi</i>, <a href="#Page_54">54</a></li>
+
+<li class="ifrst">K</li>
+
+<li class="indx"><i>Kai-Fong</i>, S.S., <a href="#Page_10">10</a>, <a href="#Page_310">310</a>, <a href="#Page_342">342</a></li>
+
+<li class="indx">Katipunan, the, <a href="#Page_11">11</a>, <a href="#Page_51">51</a></li>
+
+<li class="indx"><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_349" id="Page_349">[349]</a></span>Kitchen, native, <a href="#Page_218">218</a></li>
+
+<li class="ifrst">L</li>
+
+<li class="indx"><i lang="es">Ladrones</i>, <a href="#Page_152">152</a>, <a href="#Page_288">288</a></li>
+
+<li class="indx">Laguna de Bayo, <a href="#Page_2">2</a></li>
+
+<li class="indx">Language of the Filipinos, <a href="#Page_157">157</a></li>
+
+<li class="indx">Lazones, <a href="#Page_299">299</a></li>
+
+<li class="indx">Letters, <a href="#Page_191">191</a></li>
+
+<li class="indx">Lizards, <a href="#Page_67">67</a></li>
+
+<li class="indx">Love-birds, <a href="#Page_238">238</a></li>
+
+<li class="indx">Luneta, the, <a href="#Page_131">131</a></li>
+
+<li class="indx">Luzon, <a href="#Page_2">2</a>, <a href="#Page_8">8</a>, <a href="#Page_283">283</a></li>
+
+<li class="ifrst">M</li>
+
+<li class="indx">Mactan (Maktan), <a href="#Page_11">11</a></li>
+
+<li class="indx">Magellan, <a href="#Page_11">11</a>, <a href="#Page_162">162</a></li>
+
+<li class="indx">Malacañan, Palace of, <a href="#Page_120">120</a></li>
+
+<li class="indx">Malaspina volcano, <a href="#Page_16">16</a></li>
+
+<li class="indx">Manila, <a href="#Page_2">2</a>, <a href="#Page_117">117</a>;</li>
+<li class="isub1">divided into wards, <a href="#Page_3">3</a>;</li>
+<li class="isub1">new harbour works, <a href="#Page_117">117</a>;</li>
+<li class="isub1">streets, <a href="#Page_125">125</a>, <a href="#Page_138">138</a></li>
+
+<li class="indx">Mindanao, <a href="#Page_8">8</a></li>
+
+<li class="indx">Mindoriao, <a href="#Page_42">42</a></li>
+
+<li class="indx">Missionaries, <a href="#Page_107">107</a></li>
+
+<li class="indx">Molo, <a href="#Page_42">42</a>, <a href="#Page_90">90</a>, <a href="#Page_186">186</a></li>
+
+<li class="indx">Mongeese, <a href="#Page_240">240</a>, <a href="#Page_256">256</a>, <a href="#Page_262">262</a>, <a href="#Page_286">286</a></li>
+
+<li class="indx">Monsoons, <a href="#Page_16">16</a>, <a href="#Page_82">82</a>, <a href="#Page_174">174</a>, <a href="#Page_211">211</a>, <a href="#Page_230">230</a>, <a href="#Page_248">248</a></li>
+
+<li class="indx"><i lang="es">Monte</i>, the native card-game, <a href="#Page_132">132</a>, <a href="#Page_251">251</a></li>
+
+<li class="indx">Mosquitoes, <a href="#Page_72">72</a>, <a href="#Page_193">193</a>, <a href="#Page_243">243</a></li>
+
+<li class="indx">Muelle Loney, <a href="#Page_175">175</a>, <a href="#Page_176">176</a>, <a href="#Page_182">182</a></li>
+
+<li class="indx">Music, <a href="#Page_52">52</a>, <a href="#Page_162">162</a>, <a href="#Page_184">184</a></li>
+
+<li class="ifrst">N</li>
+
+<li class="indx">Nagaba, <a href="#Page_202">202</a>, <a href="#Page_213">213</a>, <a href="#Page_215">215</a>, <a href="#Page_306">306</a></li>
+
+<li class="indx">Native houses, <a href="#Page_203">203</a>, <a href="#Page_205">205</a></li>
+
+<li class="indx">Negritos, <a href="#Page_193">193</a></li>
+
+<li class="indx">Negros Island, <a href="#Page_16">16</a>, <a href="#Page_56">56</a>, <a href="#Page_266">266</a></li>
+
+<li class="indx"><i lang="es">Nipa</i> thatch, <a href="#Page_204">204</a></li>
+
+<li class="indx">Nursery garden, a, <a href="#Page_129">129</a></li>
+
+<li class="ifrst">O</li>
+
+<li class="indx">Opera, Italian, <a href="#Page_213">213</a>, <a href="#Page_227">227</a></li>
+
+<li class="indx">Orchids, <a href="#Page_39">39</a>, <a href="#Page_40">40</a>, <a href="#Page_130">130</a></li>
+
+<li class="ifrst">P</li>
+
+<li class="indx">Palm Sunday, <a href="#Page_193">193</a></li>
+
+<li class="indx">Panay, <a href="#Page_17">17</a>, <a href="#Page_182">182</a>, <a href="#Page_289">289</a></li>
+
+<li class="indx">Paper-chase, attempt at a, <a href="#Page_260">260</a></li>
+
+<li class="indx">Pasig River, <a href="#Page_2">2</a>, <a href="#Page_116">116</a></li>
+
+<li class="indx">Pearls, <a href="#Page_294">294</a></li>
+
+<li class="indx">Philippines, arms of the, <a href="#Page_122">122</a></li>
+
+<li class="indx"><i lang="es">Piña</i>, <a href="#Page_54">54</a>, <a href="#Page_268">268</a></li>
+
+<li class="indx">Plaza Libertad, the, at Iloilo, <a href="#Page_90">90</a></li>
+
+<li class="indx">Ponies, Philippine, <a href="#Page_4">4</a></li>
+
+<li class="indx">Processions, <a href="#Page_5">5</a>, <a href="#Page_193">193</a>, <a href="#Page_196">196</a>, <a href="#Page_198">198</a>, <a href="#Page_271">271</a>, <a href="#Page_323">323</a></li>
+
+<li class="indx">Provincial treasurer, the, <a href="#Page_168">168</a></li>
+
+<li class="indx"><i lang="es">Pulajanes</i>, <a href="#Page_288">288</a></li>
+
+<li class="ifrst">Q</li>
+
+<li class="indx"><i lang="es">Quilez</i>, or native carriage, <a href="#Page_92">92</a>, <a href="#Page_170">170</a></li>
+
+<li class="ifrst">R</li>
+
+<li class="indx">Railways, <a href="#Page_129">129</a></li>
+
+<li class="indx">Rain, <a href="#Page_191">191</a></li>
+
+<li class="indx"><i>Rainbow</i>, U.S.S., <a href="#Page_103">103</a></li>
+
+<li class="indx">Rats, <a href="#Page_211">211</a></li>
+
+<li class="indx">Reclamation of mud-flats, <a href="#Page_178">178</a></li>
+
+<li class="indx">Rents, <a href="#Page_24">24</a>, <a href="#Page_141">141</a></li>
+
+<li class="indx">Rice, <a href="#Page_35">35</a></li>
+
+<li class="indx"><i lang="es">Rigodon</i> dance, the, <a href="#Page_59">59</a>, <a href="#Page_123">123</a>, <a href="#Page_279">279</a></li>
+
+<li class="indx">Rizal, Doctor, <a href="#Page_50">50</a>, <a href="#Page_162">162</a></li>
+
+<li class="indx">Roman Catholics, <a href="#Page_107">107</a>, <a href="#Page_194">194</a>, <a href="#Page_198">198</a>, <a href="#Page_235">235</a></li>
+
+<li class="indx"><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_350" id="Page_350">[350]</a></span>Roosevelt, Miss Alice, <a href="#Page_247">247</a>, <a href="#Page_307">307</a>, <a href="#Page_317">317</a>, <a href="#Page_327">327</a></li>
+
+<li class="ifrst">S</li>
+
+<li class="indx">St Louis Exhibition, <a href="#Page_136">136</a></li>
+
+<li class="indx">Salt-pits, <a href="#Page_233">233</a></li>
+
+<li class="indx">Samar Island, <a href="#Page_288">288</a></li>
+
+<li class="indx"><i lang="es">Sanidad</i>, launch, <a href="#Page_158">158</a></li>
+
+<li class="indx">Sanitary control, <a href="#Page_242">242</a></li>
+
+<li class="indx">Santa Mesa, <a href="#Page_138">138</a></li>
+
+<li class="indx">Schools, <a href="#Page_49">49</a></li>
+
+<li class="indx">School teachers, <a href="#Page_12">12</a></li>
+
+<li class="indx">Secret Police, <a href="#Page_302">302</a></li>
+
+<li class="indx">Servants, <a href="#Page_27">27</a>, <a href="#Page_28">28</a>, <a href="#Page_38">38</a>, <a href="#Page_141">141</a>, <a href="#Page_164">164</a>, <a href="#Page_192">192</a></li>
+
+<li class="indx">Shops, <a href="#Page_25">25</a>, <a href="#Page_44">44</a>, <a href="#Page_138">138</a></li>
+
+<li class="indx">Snakes, <a href="#Page_69">69</a></li>
+
+<li class="indx">Soil, the, <a href="#Page_49">49</a></li>
+
+<li class="indx">Spiders, <a href="#Page_72">72</a></li>
+
+<li class="indx">Sugar, production of, <a href="#Page_104">104</a>, <a href="#Page_266">266</a>, <a href="#Page_328">328</a></li>
+
+<li class="ifrst">T</li>
+
+<li class="indx">Taft, Mr, <a href="#Page_31">31</a>, <a href="#Page_62">62</a>, <a href="#Page_142">142</a>, <a href="#Page_247">247</a>, <a href="#Page_262">262</a>, <a href="#Page_300">300</a>, <a href="#Page_307">307-336</a>, <a href="#Page_339">339</a></li>
+
+<li class="indx">Tagalos, the, <a href="#Page_13">13</a>, <a href="#Page_14">14</a>, <a href="#Page_267">267</a></li>
+
+<li class="indx">Theatricals, Filipino, <a href="#Page_74">74</a>, <a href="#Page_161">161</a></li>
+
+<li class="indx">Timber, <a href="#Page_30">30</a></li>
+
+<li class="indx"><i lang="es">Tuba</i>, <a href="#Page_207">207</a></li>
+
+<li class="indx">Typhoons, <a href="#Page_23">23</a>, <a href="#Page_211">211</a></li>
+
+<li class="ifrst">V</li>
+
+<li class="indx">Vegetables, <a href="#Page_48">48</a>, <a href="#Page_298">298</a></li>
+
+<li class="indx">“Veteran Army of the Philippines,” <a href="#Page_273">273</a></li>
+
+<li class="indx">Virgin of Antipolo, the, <a href="#Page_6">6</a>, <a href="#Page_109">109</a></li>
+
+<li class="indx">Visaya, <a href="#Page_13">13</a></li>
+
+<li class="indx">Volcanoes, <a href="#Page_16">16</a></li>
+
+<li class="ifrst">W</li>
+
+<li class="indx">Wages, <a href="#Page_92">92</a>, <a href="#Page_141">141</a></li>
+
+<li class="indx">Washington, George, <a href="#Page_162">162</a></li>
+
+<li class="indx">Water plants, <a href="#Page_3">3</a></li>
+
+<li class="indx">Water supply, <a href="#Page_47">47</a>, <a href="#Page_172">172</a></li>
+
+<li class="indx">Wedding, an English-Mestizo, <a href="#Page_127">127</a></li>
+
+<li class="indx">Wild pigs, <a href="#Page_206">206</a></li>
+
+<li class="indx">Worcester, Mrs, <a href="#Page_140">140</a></li>
+
+<li class="indx">Wright, Mr and Mrs Luke E., <a href="#Page_119">119</a>, <a href="#Page_122">122</a>, <a href="#Page_140">140</a>, <a href="#Page_317">317</a></li>
+
+<li class="ifrst">Y</li>
+
+<li class="indx"><i>Ylang-Ylang</i> tree, <a href="#Page_204">204</a></li>
+
+<li class="ifrst">Z</li>
+
+<li class="indx"><i>Zafiro</i>, S.S., <a href="#Page_2">2</a></li>
+
+</ul>
+
+<p class="titlepage smaller">PRINTED BY OLIVER AND BOYD, EDINBURGH.</p>
+
+
+
+
+
+
+
+
+<pre>
+
+
+
+
+
+End of the Project Gutenberg EBook of An Englishwoman in the Philippines, by
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