The Half-breeds, or Mestizos.
No less interesting, and even more influential than the natives, are the half-breeds, or mestizos. They form a large percentage of the population. These are usually of native mothers and of Spanish or Chinese fathers. The Spanish fathers are, however, a distinct class from the Chinese fathers, and rank much higher socially, exchanging visits with the pure Spanish. They are, most always, a handsome race, and more intelligent than the pure natives, and far more energetic and ambitious. Among them are many leading merchants and men of influence.
The mestiza girls are, as a rule, often of wonderful beauty. They are lithe and graceful and of a soft olive complexion, with red lips, pearly teeth, and ravishing black eyes, whose long lashes droop coquettishly in response to the admiring glance of a stranger. Their dancing is justly famed, and those educated in the convents are musical and often accomplished in other ways. The peculiar characteristics and the increase of energy due to this infusion of European blood, however, disappear if no further admixture takes place in the second generation. It is more lasting, on the other hand, where the Malay has been crossed with the Chinese. This is probably due to the great similarity of the two races.
These Malays, with an infusion of Chinese, are called mestizo-Chinos. They also are more intelligent than the pure Malay, and far more shrewd. Many of the leading merchants of Manila are of this mixture. They do not, however, enjoy the confidence of the people, and are a tricky and disturbing element in the population. They have the mongrel stamp and a cunning, shifty look. They are full of intrigue too, and it was, indeed, because they formed so large a part of the rebels that the high-class natives hesitated so long about joining the insurgents; not wishing to combine even with the despised mestizo-Chinos against the hated Spanish; for the government of the latter was preferable to that of the former.