XIII.
Manila.
Stay from 15th to 25th June, 1858.
Historical notes relating to the Philippines.—From Cavite to Manila.—The river Pasig.—First impressions of the city.—Its inhabitants.—Tagales and Negritoes.—Preponderating influence of Monks.—Visit to the four chief monasteries.—Conversation with an Augustine Monk.—Grammars and Dictionaries of the idioms chiefly in use in Manila.—Reception by the Governor-general of the Philippines.—Monument in honour of Magelhaens.—The "Calzada."—Cock-fighting.—"Fiestas Reales."—Causes of the languid trade with Europe hitherto.—Visit to the Cigar-manufactories.—Tobacco cultivation in Luzon and at the Havanna.—Abáca, or Manila hemp.—Excursion to the "Laguna de Bay."—A row on the river Pasig.—The village of Patero.—Wild-duck breeding.—Sail on the Lagoon.—Plans for canalization.—Arrival at Los Baños.—Canoe-trip on the "enchanted sea."—Alligators.—Kalong Bats.—Gobernador and Gobernadorcillo.—The Poll-tax.—A hunt in the swamps of Calamba.—Padre Lorenzo.—Return to Manila.—The "Pebete."—The military Library.—The civil and military Hospital.—Ecclesiastical processions.—Ave Maria.—Tagalian merriness.—Condiman.—Lunatic Asylum.—Gigantic serpent thirty-two years old.—Departure.—Chinese pilots.—First glimpse of the coasts of the Celestial Empire.—The Lemmas Channel.—Arrival in Hong-kong Harbour.
Luzon, or Manila, the largest and most important island, politically speaking, of the Philippine Archipelago, is the sole possession of the Spanish Crown which was visited by the
Novara during her numerous traverses and diagonal tracks on her voyage round the world. As we had hitherto come into contact for the most part with the Anglo-Saxon race and its colonies, it was naturally doubly interesting to have an opportunity of becoming likewise acquainted with the results of civilization and colonization as exemplified by what are called the Romaic or Latin branches of the great Caucasian family, and by personal examination to satisfy ourselves in what fashion the Castilians have succeeded in identifying their own advantages with those of the natives of these islands. True it is, that the history of the earlier Spanish dependencies is by no means calculated to heighten our regard for the wisdom and mildness of the colonial policy of Spain, or to give a particularly favourable impression of the political and social condition of the Philippine Islands. A state, whose power at the commencement of the present century was still beaming in all its lustre, who has lost the fairest and most fertile lands on the face of the earth, which it had possessed for above three hundred years, without the slightest attempt to defend them, whose Government, through its inflexible adherence to obsolete forms and ordinances, after the dizzy pre-eminence of ruling the world has dwindled into a power of the third class,—leaves nothing to hope that any part of its organization should have remained intact, that the canker in its political and social proclivities, which so suddenly and so disastrously brought about the downfal
of one of the mightiest and most extended empires in the world, should not likewise have made its appearance in the Philippines. However, it is precisely these considerations which make the contrast between the colonies founded by the Anglo-Saxon race in remote regions of the globe, and those of the Spanish, Portuguese, Dutch, and so forth, so valuable and instructive, although a rigid analysis of the causes which have conduced to the present condition of the majority of the countries conquered and ruled by races of Latin origin, must necessarily impress the unprejudiced inquirer in a sense little flattering to these latter, namely, that the history of every quarter of the globe would have assumed an entirely different aspect had these countries been first discovered and colonized by the Anglo-Saxon race, with its watchwords of freedom and religious toleration, instead of the Spaniard or Portuguese, with tyranny and fanaticism inscribed on its banners.
The Archipelago of the Philippines comprises those numerous islands and islets between the parallels of 5° and 21° N., and which are scattered between the North Pacific Ocean on the east and the Chinese Sea on the west. The entire group, which, according to the Spanish account, consists of not fewer than 408 islands, extends over 16° of latitude by 9° of longitude, covering a superficial area of 91,000 square miles, or about the dimensions of England, Ireland, and Wales, exclusive of Scotland. Only two islands however of the whole cluster are
of considerable dimensions, viz. Luzon, or Manila, which is about the same size as Galicia, Moravia, and Silesia taken together, and Mindanão, which, in superficial area, is about equal to Styria, Carinthia, and Carniola.
As in size, so in fertility, natural advantages, and commerce, Luzon is the most important island in the Archipelago, as it is likewise one of the most delightful spots in the tropics. The climate is adapted to the cultivation of all the plants and various forms of vegetation alike of the torrid and the temperate zones. On the coast the thermometer never falls below 71°.6 Fahr., nor rises above 95° Fahr. In the highland valley of Banjanao, 6000 feet above the level of the sea, albeit not above 36 miles distant from Manila, the thermometer frequently descends as low as 44°.6 Fahr. The highest register of the thermometer is during the rainy months,[72] from May to September; but we were assured over and over again that in Manila the heat is very equably distributed over the entire year, and never attains such a high degree as many summer days in Madrid. The most valuable and most extensively used plants of the tropical and sub-tropical zones, suck as sugar, coffee, cocoa, cotton, bananas, maize, tobacco, and rice, flourish here. The forests abound in all the most valuable descriptions of cabinet-wood, but the narrow-minded illiberality that has always characterized the colonial policy
of Spain, the numberless restrictions to which her commerce is subjected, do not admit of that magnificent development of which this insular cluster, so abounding in natural wealth, would be susceptible under a more free-souled rule. The Spaniards have conquered and have subjugated the islands, fanatical monks have what they call Christianized the people, but, during the three hundred years that the Castilian has held the supremacy here, little if anything has been done for the prosperity and development of the country, or the intellectual and moral advancement of the people.
The Philippine Islands were discovered by Magelhaens and Pigafetta on the 17th March, 1521, nearly twenty-nine years after the discovery of America by Columbus, and two years after the conquest of Mexico by Fernando Cortez. In consonance with the religious customs of that age, the group was named by Magelhaens "The Archipelago of St. Lazarus," because the day on which it was discovered corresponded with the fête-day of that saint in the calendar. But the discovery did not imply the conquest of the Archipelago. Four expeditions were dispatched at various intervals, without their succeeding in subduing the natives. The solitary result obtained thence was, that the commander of the fourth expedition, that of 1542, Don Ruy Lopez de Villalobos by name, changed the Scriptural name of the Archipelago for that by which it is at present known, in honour of the prince of Asturias (then 15 years old), afterwards Philip II.
It was not till a fifth expedition had started in 1565, forty-one years after the first discovery of the Archipelago by Magelhaens, that the conquest was finally completed. The leader of this was Miguel Lopez de Legaspi, a man noways inferior to a Cortez or a Pizarro in venturesomeness of spirit, inflexible perseverance, and brilliant courage, and in humanity far exceeding either. His squadron consisted of five ships, and his entire force, including soldiers and mariners, was but 400 men.
On 21st November, 1564, Legaspi sailed from Port Natividad in Spain, and on 16th February, 1565, hove in sight of the Philippines. The hardy navigator was accompanied by a number of Augustinian monks, who in the subsequent subjugation of the islands proved far more serviceable than his soldiers. The superior of these monks, Fray Andres de Urdañeta, a very remarkable man, had commanded a ship in the first expedition, and had afterwards been admitted into the order of St. Augustine.
Four years after their arrival at the Philippines, and after they had subdued the native inhabitants of the fertile islands of Cebu and Panay, Legaspi first discovered Luzon, and there in the year 1571 founded the city of Manila. Since this first conquest the Spaniards have by no means been permitted to retain undisturbed possession of this smiling cluster of islands. Not alone the Portuguese and the Dutch bestirred themselves at various intervals to drive the Spaniards out of the Archipelago, but the English likewise, in 1762,
towards the close of the Seven Years' War, invaded these settlements.[73]
The area conquered, however, did not extend further inland than to a distance of ten miles from the walls of the city, and after an occupation of ten months, Manila was restored to the Crown of Spain by the Peace of Paris, 1763. Since that memorable period, the Philippine group has remained uninterruptedly under the dominion of the Spaniards, and has up to the present day been a faithful dependent of the Royal House of Castile. In fact, with the exception of Cuba and Porto Rico, the Philippine and Marianne Archipelagoes are the sole colonies that Spain still retains of her once so enormous possessions in the distant portions of the globe, although in Manila even in our own day, as will be more fully detailed presently, despite her honourable distinction of "La Siempre real ciudad" (The Ever Loyal city), there is no lack of discontent, and the generally prevailing "loyal tranquillity" is, none the less, boding many serious perils for the Spanish supremacy.
The most striking peculiarity of the natural configuration
of Luzon[74] is its strongly-marked separation into two peninsulas, a northern, which comprises the larger portion, and a southern, smaller island; the former named Luzon by the Spanish, the latter Camarinas. The length of the entire island, including its numerous curves, is about 550 miles, and its greatest width about 135 miles, but in many places it is little more than thirty miles in breadth. The chain of the Caraballos mountains traverse Luzon from north to south, and sends off spurs in various directions, which impart an exceeding hilly aspect to the entire island.
The Spaniards divide Luzon into three main divisions; Costa, Contra-Costa, and Centro, corresponding pretty nearly with the western side, the eastern side, and the interior of the island, and formerly indicating in what order these different sections of the country had been subjected to the Spanish dominion. The latest distribution is into 35 provinces and 12 districts.
Manila, the capital of Luzon, as also of the whole Archipelago, and the oldest European settlement in this region of the globe, lies at the mouth of a small but rather rapid river, the Pasig, which after a course of about 30 miles, draws off to the sea the waters of the great Bay-Lake (Laguna de Bay). In
consequence of a not very conveniently situated mole, the Pasig is forming a bar close to its own embouchure, which makes it somewhat dangerous for boats to attempt an entrance in bad weather. Ships, however, can anchor about 1 1⁄2 miles below the fortified walls of the city, which, though impregnable to the attack of a native force, would probably be found powerless to repel a European force attacking from seaward.
The members of the Scientific Commission started from Cavite, where the frigate lay at anchor, in the small steamer which plies daily to the capital, which, when beheld from a distance, with its gloomy, lofty, defiant fortifications, and its dense clusters of monastic buildings and church towers, gives the impression rather of some great Catholic Mission than a place of commerce. In the roads there were not above 16 ships lying at anchor, whereas we counted 165 in Singapore, a disproportion which, considering the favourable site of Manila and its wealth in all manner of valuable produce, can only be accounted for by the pressure of political and administrative regulations, which weigh like a mountain upon trade and commerce.
On pulling up the river from its mouth, where it is about 300 feet wide, we find ourselves in the vicinity of the light-house, in front of a dense mass of the inevitable filthy bamboo huts, which being inhabited by the very poorest section of the population, increase the dismal, gloomy impression left by the first view of the city. We land in the neighbourhood of the
harbour-master's office, and have to pick our steps through a dirty quarter of the town in order to reach the focus of public activity.
The river Pasig divides Manila Proper from its sister city of Binondo. Two handsome bridges, one an old-fashioned stone one, the other a modern suspension bridge of imposing dimensions, form the communication between the two cities. Manila, situate on the southern or left bank, and enclosed on all sides with ditches and fortifications, has all the peculiar features of a Spanish town of the ancient type. It consists of eight straight, narrow streets, all running in one direction. Within these are most of the public buildings; the Governor-general's Palace and that of the Archbishop, the Municipality, the Supreme Courts, the Cathedral, the Arsenal, the Barracks. Profound silence reigns in the grass-grown streets, between the gloomy masses of stone, of which at least one-third are Church property. There is no evidence anywhere of joyous life or social progress, and the variegated, charming flower-garden, lately laid out in the square in front of the Cathedral, stands out like a solitary gay picture, amid austere, sombre, historical paintings of vanished might and faded splendour. Within the walls of this melancholy old city only Spaniards and their descendants may dwell, all other races being excluded from this privilege. The number of inhabitants within the fortifications does not probably exceed 10,000 souls.
On the other hand, Binondo, on the northern or right bank of the river, is the true business city and head-quarters of
trade. Here Europeans, Chinese, Malays, and their endless intermixtures of blood, amounting in all to more than 140,000 souls, reside in the most perfect harmony with each other; here are all the warehouses, shops, and manufactories; here prevails from morning till night a perpetual whirl of busy, cheerful crowds circulating through the streets, of which that called the Escolta is the most frequented, as it is the handsomest and most attractive. The houses, on account of the frequency of earthquakes, are usually one storey high, enclosing large courts (patios), and very frequently with a sort of terrace on the roof. The interiors of the houses have an unusually spacious appearance, owing to their almost universally having but little furniture, in many cases simply a number of chairs ranged along the walls. But the most singular aspect of these houses is to be found in the windows, the panes of most of them being made, not of glass, but of the shell of a species of oyster (Placuna Placenta), ground down to the requisite thinness! The subdued light which is thus obtained is exceedingly grateful, and these mussel-shells have been found to be cheaper and more lasting than panes of glass, which, in a country so frequently visited by earthquakes and hurricanes, could only be replaced when injured at an immense expense. The streets are rather narrow, so much so that linen awnings are stretched across the streets from one row of shops to that opposite, thus securing to the foot-passenger the inestimable boon of being able during the hottest hours of the day to traverse almost every street in Binondo under shade.
That which the stranger understands by the emphatic word "comfort" is only to be found in the houses of European residents, and is not obtainable by money. The two hotels lately started to levy, unchallenged, Californian prices for even the most moderate requirements, and so far as cleanliness and orderliness are concerned, lag far behind the commonest country inn in North America or the British colonies.[75]
Despite the various races that meet the stranger's gaze, Manila has, beyond any other colony in the East, the appearance of a European town. One remarks here, that the colonists are more completely amalgamated with the natives, and that with the religion these latter have also adopted a considerable proportion of the customs of Europeans.
Among the populace of Manila belonging to the coloured races, that most prevalent in the capital is the Tagal, or Tagalag, on whose territory the Spaniards founded their first settlement. The obscurity that envelopes their origin has never been dispelled, although some of the older religious writers thought they found on Borneo and other islands of the Sunda Archipelago some traces of their stock. They were confirmed in this impression by the fact, that in the
most cultivated dialects and idioms of the Tagal is to be found an unusually great number of Malay and Javanese words. The majority of the plants cultivated here, such as rice, sugar-cane, yam, indigo, cocoa-palm, as also all domestic animals, many of the metals, and even the digits used in enumeration, are, although greatly corrupted, directly traceable to the corresponding words or names in Malay. Moreover, there is a tradition very prevalent throughout Luzon, that the Spaniards, at their first arrival in this Archipelago, found certain Bornese officials here, who were levying taxes and tithes for the Rajahs resident in that island.
Next in number to the Tagals rank the Chinese with their descendants, and to these succeed the Spaniards, with their offspring born in the country, who amount together to barely 5000, or about a 28th of the whole population of the capital; of Spaniards of pure descent, there are not above 300 in Manila.[76]
Besides the Tagal there is in this Archipelago yet another race, the Negritos, who only inhabit the mountain districts of the islands of Luzon, Mindoro, Panay, Negros, and Mindanão, and are estimated at about 25,000 souls. These Negritos del Monte, or Negrillos, also called Aeta, Aigta, Ite, Inapta, and Igorote, are small in physical conformation as compared with their African congeners. The characteristic features of
the negro are less strongly marked, the colour of their skin and their complexion are both less black. For this reason old Spanish authors speak of them as "menos negro y menos feo" (less negro-like and less hideous). Owing to their small stature, which does not average above 4 feet 8 inches English, they have received the appellation of Negritos (diminutive Negroes). By Spanish writers upon the Philippines they have been described as a still existent branch of the lowest type of humanity, without fixed dwellings, without regular employment, eking out a bare subsistence on roots and wild fruits, and such animals as they could bring down with the bow and arrow, their only weapon. Through the kind offices of Mr. Grahame, we had an opportunity of gratifying our curiosity to see an individual of this singular race of Negritos. This was a girl of about 12 or 14 years of age, of dwarf-like figure, with woolly hair, broad nostrils, but without the dark skin and wide everted lips which characterize the negro type. This pleasing-looking, symmetrically formed girl had been brought up in the house of a Spaniard, apparently with the pious object of rescuing her soul from heathenism. The poor little Negrilla hardly understood her own mother tongue, besides a very little Tagal, so that we had considerable difficulty in understanding each other. The received opinion that the Negrillos and the Igorotes are of a distinct race, but having some affinity with the Papuans of New Guinea, seems to us for many reasons very problematical. We are as yet far too little acquainted with the races
inhabiting the most inaccessible parts of the island, to be able to pronounce a correct opinion upon such a point. The probabilities are not less that the Negritos and Igorotes stand in the same relation to the dwellers on the coast as the Bushmen to the Hottentots, the Weddahs to the Cingalese, or the savages of Sambalong to the natives of the rest of the Nicobars.
The Spanish language is only available in Manila and the vicinity;—a few miles in the interior, even in places which hold almost daily communication with Manila, Tagal is much more commonly used. At present Tagal is written and printed exclusively in the Roman character. While in Manila, we never once saw a book or MS. in which the ancient character had been used. Even the oldest printed matter, such as, for instance, a Tagal grammar, published in Manila in 1610, contains only a few samples of the native alphabet, while as to its original arrangement, as also the form of the numerals, the utmost uncertainty prevails. The entire alphabet, which, including the three vowels, consists of but 17 letters, comprises the following characters:
A dot above the character changes the vowel sound a of the original consonants into e and i.
A dot below the character changes the vowel sound a of the original consonant into o and u.
From the foregoing characters it would appear that a and o, as also e and i, da and ra, pa and fa, had each but one and the same character.[77]—Besides the Tagal, five other different idioms are used by the civilized races of Luzon, namely, Bisaya, Pangasinana (the same as Ilocano), Tbanác (same as Cagayana), Bicol, and Pampanya.
The Tagals are a small race, of a clear yellow complexion, and, notwithstanding their broad flat noses and thick lips, are by no means of unpleasing appearance. The hair of the head is rigid, bristly, and black; the beard very sparse.
They all wear European clothes more or less, although the fashion in which they wear them is quite peculiar and ludicrously odd. Not merely do the lower orders and servants wear the shirt ironed perfectly smooth and unwrinkled, instead of a coat, above their continuations, but the Tagal dandy prides himself on his well-lacquered boots, his white stockings, his new Paris silk hat worn with a jaunty cock to one side, and above all his carefully plaited resplendent white shirt, as he struts through the streets of Manila, cigaret in his mouth, and swinging an elegant little cane! The women wear, like the Javanese women, the "Sarong," a parti-coloured striped cotton dress, rolled round the loins, and a close-fitting very short jacket, so short indeed that between it and the gown a space about an inch wide intervenes through which the naked body is visible, while the fine transparent gauze-like stuff of which the jacket is made is much better calculated to show off than to conceal their attractions. This universal fashion of dress is the more surprising, as the various orders of monks exercise in all other respects an almost despotic control over the natives, and as it is much more attributable to their influence than to that of the secular authorities that the speech, manners, and customs of old Castile have taken firm and extensive root in the Philippines. It seems, however, unjust to compare this group of islands, as has been done by modern writers, on account of the all-pervading influence of the Spanish element, with a province of Spain, in contradistinction to the colonies
of other nations, where the Europeans have always been regarded by the natives as the lords of a conquered country. The English in India, Ceylon, and New Zealand, and the Dutch in Java, all appear to have a much firmer and more secure footing than the Spaniards, despite their having mingled with the people. How little can be effected by forced amalgamation of speech and manners, is best illustrated by the late separation of Central and Southern America from the Spanish rule, although in most of these countries the majority of the people speak only Spanish, and are governed entirely in accordance with Spanish customs. Much better founded seems to us the observation that it was less the sword than the cross of Spain which brought the Philippines under the throne of Castile, and that the natives have become Spanish Christians, without being Spanish subjects. The entire Archipelago is nothing but one rich church domain, a safe retreat for the legion of Spanish monks, who are able to lord it here with unrestrained power. There is a Governor-general of the Philippines only so long as it pleases the Augustinian, Dominican, and Franciscan friars; and if ever an insurrection breaks out in the Archipelago, designed to shake off the Spanish yoke, there will be more than one monk to head the movement.
In a country where the cloister and its denizens interfere so arbitrarily in all the concerns of life, and impart to the capital itself, as indeed to the entire Archipelago, a character entirely peculiar to itself, religious establishments and their
zealous occupants call for special consideration, and the reader need assuredly feel no surprise that we should begin the narrative of our visit to the capital of the Philippines by a description of its monasteries. In Manila these unfortunately are not, as they were in the middle ages, the nurseries of culture and civilization, of science and art, but rather give the impression of being simply huge establishments for the maintenance of zealous souls, weary of life, who wish to close their days of labour in tranquil contemplation, exempt from all anxiety.
The four orders of monks to whose hands are confided the entire spiritual and very much of the secular well-being of the inhabitants of the Philippines, are the Augustines (Agustinos Calzados—sandalled friars), the Franciscans, the Dominicans, and the barefoot Augustinian mendicants (Agustinos descalzados or Recoletos).
The monastery of the Bare-Foot Friars, lying close to the wall of the fortifications, consists of a number of spacious buildings, some of which date from the 17th century. Everything here tells of former power and splendour. From the billiard-room and parlour on the first storey, the eye is charmed by a marvellous landscape commanding the Bay of Manila and the mountains that surround it. How delightful must it be in the evening twilight to pace these airy chambers in the society of congenial souls, and, while the brow is fanned by the cool sea-breeze, to give free scope to the reins of fancy, as it swept far away over the Bay of Manila!
For what privations must not such a source of pure exquisite enjoyment indemnify the ascetic brethren of the cloister! That spiritual meditation and converse however do not form the sole topics discussed in these departments, was abundantly evidenced by the hints let fall by several of the monks who conducted us through the various corridors and apartments, and who were constantly indulging in visions of Carlist supremacy and a return of the halcyon days of monasticism. On our remarking that so far as worldly consideration was concerned, the cloister enjoyed far more cordial support in Manila than either in Spain or Cuba, one of the Augustinians who was accompanying us, a tall commanding figure, attired in the plain garb of the order, replied: "The Government knows that it has need of us, that it could not get on a day without us, therefore it leaves us in peace, and places no impediments in our path as in Spain."[78] And he was right. Whensoever the monks lift the finger, Spain has ceased to rule in the Philippines. The spiritual reins have ever bridled the secular authority, and such a state of things is the severest impediment to the development of the country and its intellectual growth.
Of the various monastic orders resident in Manila the Augustinians are by far the best educated. They have made the various dialects of the native races their study far more deeply than the other orders. The "Flora de las Filipinas," the only botanical work which has ever been published in the Spanish language, treating of this interesting Archipelago, was compiled by an Augustinian monk, Fray Manuel Blanco.[79]
The number of monks resident in the monastery of Manila when we were there was 48, but there was room enough for three times as many. Altogether there were of the Augustinian order 58 monasteries and parishes in the island of Luzon, extending from one end of the island to the other. In the entire Archipelago there are, according to public documents, 145 Augustinian monks, whose authority extends over 14 provinces and 153 villages, numbering 1,615,051 souls.[80]
The monastery of the Dominicans is kept clean and comfortable, and its wide spacious apartments leave a less vivid impression of decay and human indifference than the majority of the monastic edifices. Here also the lofty, light chambers in the upper storeys command a magnificent prospect. The Prior, Padre Vellinchon, received the Austrian travellers with much cordiality, and conducted them in person round all the apartments of the very extensive building. He spoke Latin pretty fluently, and without the peculiar Spanish accent, besides possessing a slight acquaintance with French; and was somewhat better informed upon European matters than his spiritual confrères. The library of the order is not kept in the convent, but in one of the buildings of the University of St. Thomas also used by the Dominicans, but it is quite unimportant, whether as regards the number of works it contains or their scientific value.
The spiritual jurisdiction of the Dominicans extends over eight provinces of the Archipelago, including 76 villages, with in all 427,593 souls, whose eternal interests are watched over by 76 brethren of the order.[81]
A Dominican friar, Joaquin Fonseca, is president of the permanent commission of Censorship of Books, consisting in all of nine members, five of whom are nominated by Government and four by the Archbishop of Manila.[82] We had the
pleasure of being made acquainted with Fray Joaquin Fonseca, who also holds the appointment of Professor of Theology in the University of St. Thomas, and were presented by him with a copy of an imperfect epic poem composed in Spanish, which had for subject the history of the island of Luzon and its inhabitants.[83] Of this interesting fragment we shall publish a translation in another place.
Just as we were leaving the Dominican monastery, its worthy Prior begged our acceptance, by way of souvenir of our visit, of a copy of Dante's Divina Commedia in the original text, and a dictionary of the Ybanác, one of the idioms most extensively used throughout the Archipelago.
The monastery of the Franciscans presents no other feature of interest, than in so far as it is an emblem of the melancholy spiritual decay in which the members of this order at present find themselves in Manila. The dirt and untidiness which were not merely apparent in the various apartments, but which were even but too obvious in the external appearance of the brothers of the order, make a most disagreeable impression; for poverty and necessity, these two cardinal principles of the mendicant orders, are by no means incompatible with cleanliness and neatness.
The Franciscans possess 16 missions in 14 of the provinces,
comprising 159 villages and 749,804 inhabitants.[84] The spiritual instruction of these is intrusted to 184 brethren of the order, 74 priests, and 43 Clerigos Interinos (occasional preachers).
The monastery of the Recoletos, or Reformed Augustinians, offers a not less impressive prospect than that of the Franciscans. Here, too, the occupants permit to appear a careless indifference utterly destructive of the value of their ghostly ministration. As we entered, the brethren of the order had finished their mid-day repast. Some of the monks were still sitting in a dirty, gloomy verandah round a table on which was spread a table-cloth stained with food and drink, while in front of each stood a half-empty wineglass. A lay brother announced us, upon which one of the monks rose to bid us welcome. From his rather jovial appearance, and the suspicious colour of his nose, we presumed he was the cellarer, and were not a little surprised when, in the course of conversation, he announced that it was the Prior himself who was speaking with us.
We had the utmost difficulty in making the brethren, whose information was of a most limited extent, comprehend from what country we came. The circumstance that the original German name Oesterreich is pronounced Austria in Spanish, puzzled still more hopelessly the comprehension of
the monks, whose geographical knowledge did not seem to extend much beyond the sphere of their vision. At first they confounded Austria with Australia, and fancied we must have come direct from the fifth quarter of the globe, but when the Novara voyagers, proud of their Fatherland, refused to permit this opinion to pass current, and gave a more clear explanation, one of the younger monks thought he had at last found out our habitat, and evidently priding himself on having solved the riddle, gave his less ingenious brethren to understand that we came, not from Australia, but from Asturias, and were consequently fellow-countrymen! The limited intelligence of the Franciscan mistook Austria for Asturias, and made of the Austrian Empire a Spanish province! Lest the hypothesis should suggest itself to the reader, that this confusion of foreign empires with domestic provinces might possibly have originated in our not being acquainted with the language of the country, it is necessary that we should inform him that one member of the Expedition was thoroughly versed in Spanish, so as to be able to maintain fluent conversation, and that he was perfectly comprehended upon all other topics. Just as little must it be supposed that the above anecdote is but an ill-natured imputation, or the expression of a long-vanished national jealousy, or anything else than a proof of the present state of education among the present occupants of the monasteries of Manila.
The Recoletos watch over the spiritual weal of 567,416[85] children belonging to parishes in the various islands of the Archipelago, and number 127 brethren.
In each monastery there is what is called a Procuracion, where the various printed books published by the order (almost exclusively dictionaries and grammars of the native languages and dialects) are sold for the behoof of the funds of the monastery. The members of our Expedition exerted themselves to form a very complete collection of all such publications; and while thus engaged they also succeeded in getting several MS. treatises on language.[86] Works and memoirs on the history of the island and the state of its inhabitants are scarcely met with in the wretchedly deficient libraries of the monasteries, which consist of not more than 500 or 600 volumes, mostly works of theology and philosophy. Whatever of valuable literary material may once have belonged to these institutions has apparently been removed to Spain, whose libraries have also gradually absorbed the literary treasures of the monasteries of Central and Southern America.
Besides the monasteries, Government Square (Plaza de Gobierno), in the inner portion of the city, possesses some
little interest for strangers. It has the shape of a large oblong, surrounded on each of its four sides by the palace of the Governor-general, that of the archbishop, the cathedral, and the law offices, with a well-kept garden-plot in the centre, in which is a handsome statue of Charles IV., the whole strongly recalling the principal square in the Havanna. The cathedral is equally as remarkable for the clumsiness of its exterior as for the profusion of perishable gold and silver within. The first edifice was erected by Legaspi, the conqueror of Luzon, in 1571, and was composed of bamboo-cane thatched with palm-leaves. The present temple was built in 1654 during the papacy of Innocent X., after several previous buildings had been destroyed, some by fire, others by earthquake. The palace of the Captain-general is an extensive but very simple building, with long wide corridors internally, but which can make no pretensions to architectural magnificence externally. In one of its saloons our Commodore and his companions were received by the Captain-general of the Philippines, Don Fernando Narzagaray, who had held this elevated post since 1857. Formerly Governor of the island of Porto Rico, in the West Indies, Don Fernando was, in consequence of his openly avowed Carlist proclivities, sent into honourable exile to the Philippines, and by a lucky chance is at present once more invested with the dignity of one of the highest officials of Queen Isabel II. of Spain. This gentleman received the voyagers of the Novara with the proverbial lofty courtesy of
the Spaniards, yet not without suffering to appear in his address a certain embarrassment and hesitation, which however may have been due to his not being sufficiently acquainted with any other tongue than the Spanish, to enable him to use it in giving fluent expression to his thoughts. The conversation turned chiefly upon the scene of our latest visit, Java. Notwithstanding the not very formidable distance, and the constant communication existing between the two islands, the Captain-general seemed to have but a very vague conception of the political and social condition of Java, and framed his questions as though they related to some remote island, in some entirely different section of the globe, rather than an island in all but immediate vicinity. As we prepared to return to our vehicles, Don Fernando made use of the usual unmeaning compliment "Usted[87] sabe que mi casa es à la disposicion de Usted!" (You know you may consider my house as entirely at your disposal):[88] it would rather have astonished him though, had his visitors taken him at his word!
Passports, which are absolutely necessary in Manila to make the very shortest excursion into the interior, are given with the utmost alacrity to strangers, without any one thenceforward paying the slightest attention to enabling any expedition to carry out its objects. This cold, utterly indifferent treatment was doubly felt by travellers fresh from Batavia, where they had been overwhelmed with every sort of attention.
In the office of the Captain-general we saw several large sheets of printed matter in columns, suspended on the walls, which we presumed were the annual statistics of the commerce of the Archipelago, and accordingly requested one of the officials to provide us with one. It was only when unfolding a little later the documents which had been so readily given to us that we discovered our error, and became aware that these tables printed with such care and elegance did not in any way refer to what we had supposed, but were the statistics of the various monasteries, and their inhabitant brethren throughout the Philippines. We had far greater trouble and difficulty ere we could get at the particulars of the natural productions and state of trade of Manila.
When the visitor passes through the St. Domingo gate to the suburb of Binondo, on the N.E. side of the inner city, we traverse what is called the Isthmus, a narrow strip of
meadow-land, surrounded by water on both sides, on which has been erected within these few years a simple monument in honour of Magelhaens, the discoverer of the Philippines, who, wounded by a native with a poisoned arrow, breathed his last, 15th April, 1521, on the small island of Mactan, lying opposite Cebu. A Doric column of black marble, 76 feet high, with inscriptions engraven on the four sides of the pedestal, lifts its head here since 1854,[89] and is altogether a more appropriate monument than that which the Spaniards erected at Havanna to the greatest navigator of any age, Christopher Columbus, to whom they owe all their after power and greatness, on the spot where his ashes reposed for many a long year in the cathedral before they were conveyed back to Spain. A poor insignificant votive tablet, built into a recess near the altar, is all that intimates that there once reposed there for a season the mortal remains of the man who, to use the words of a German poet, "bestowed on the world another world."[90]
On this isthmus are situated the most delightful pleasure grounds in Manila; the esplanade, with its simple, shady walks, and benches on which to repose, and further on, nearer the sea on the left bank of the river, the "Calzada" dam (causeway). Hither every evening comes the gay
world of Manila, in long rows of carriages, to be fanned by the delicious cool sea-breeze. Arrived at the farther extremity of the promenade, the coachman, resplendent in gorgeous livery and large shining top-boots, for he does not drive from the box but rides postilion, is usually ordered to stop, and the gentlemen leave the carriage in order to chat with the ladies in the surrounding vehicles, just as we accost our fair friends in the theatre, and pay our visits in the boxes. For in Manila there are neither theatres nor concert-rooms, and the public promenade is therefore the only rendezvous of the "beau monde."
Unfortunately we reached Manila in the height of the rainy season, when even the attractiveness of nature can only be guessed at by occasional glimpses, and the delightful outdoor life which enlivens the streets and the front porch of the private residences of the inhabitants, is utterly arrested. Here, as in Batavia, the tropical rains fall with a violence of which a native of the northern climates, who has never lived in the tropics, and knows only the rainfall of his own country, can hardly form any conception. In July, 1857, it rained here for fourteen days uninterruptedly, so that the Pasig overflowed its banks, and people were ferried about the streets of Manila, as in the city of Lagoons, by means of small boats, called here bancas. This inundation was converted into a merry-making, and visits were paid on all sides in elegant little boats.
The one sole amusement with which even the rainy season
cannot interfere, is cock-fighting. So soon as the bad weather has fairly set in, universal recourse is had to this, the most popular of amusements, whose cruel, murderous issue is strangely in contrast with the mild, soft, timid character of the natives. These "Gallos," as they are called, are a monopoly of Government, that is to say, they can only be held with their permission, and upon payment of a fee for such license. The revenue which Government derives from this anything but civilized amusement is very considerable,[91] and the fee paid by the owners of the cocks and the spectators is at any rate the least objectionable part of the spectacle, for far larger sums are lost in the betting. What cards and hazard are for blasée Europe, cock-fighting is for the simple native of Manila. Such is their passionate excitement, that several days elapse before their ordinary apathy subsides into its state of chronic contentment. It is singular that, with the exception of the Spaniards and the mixed race founded by them in various distant parts of the world, there is not now one single civilized nation that can find any pleasure in such brutal amusements as cock-fights and bull-fights.
The scene of action is a small building, built of bamboo, and thatched with palm-leaves, in the interior of which the benches for the spectators rise behind each other in form of an amphitheatre, while the arena, or pit, is filled with the owners of cocks and betting-men, until the signal for the
commencement of the combat is given. Each owner caresses or incites once more his champion, or to prove his courage flings him against one of the other cocks. At last the spectators have decided to back one or the other of the cocks, red or white, the flat comb or the round comb; the bets are "on," and the "spur," a sharp-pointed weapon above two inches in length, and provided with a sheath, is firmly attached to the right foot. Then the two cocks are simultaneously swung against each other, and a few feathers are plucked from their necks to excite their fury. The bell in the hand of the director gives the signal for the commencement of the "main." The spectators retire from the "pit," the sheaths are taken off the trenchant spurs, and the encounter commences. Most marvellous is the eagerness for the fray, the dogged valour, which these two knightly antagonists display to the very last gasp; how even wounded, bleeding, and sorely fatigued, they will not give up the contest! Occasionally it happens that neither of the combatants is hailed the victor. The extraordinary keen, sharp "spur" sometimes wounds both warriors with terrible severity, till with severed limbs, and bleeding from every pore, both lie dead on the field of battle.[92]
Very comical is the method hit upon in those places of amusements to supply the places of the return tickets in use amongst ourselves, and at the same time render it impossible for any different person to make use of them. When a native wishes to leave the apartment with the intention of returning he has his naked fore arm, near the wrist, stamped as he goes out with a black die, which secures his re-admission, and at the same time obviates all anxiety as to his losing his return ticket! On his return this mark is easily wiped out.
During our stay occurred the "Fiestas Reales," or royal fêtes, which were given by the Colonial Government in honour of the birth of an heir to the Spanish throne, Don Alfonso, Prince of the Asturias. The little heir-apparent had, in fact, seen the light in the month of November preceding, at Madrid, but when the news reached the Philippines it was Lent; respect for the tenets of the Catholic Church deferred the festivities, and afterwards the various fire-works, triumphal
arches, illuminations, &c., took so long a preparation that the month of June and the rainy season were again at hand before the fête could be held, which owing to the latter circumstance fell through, and excited hardly any interest. That intelligence should be so many months in arriving at the Philippines is due less to their great distance, than to the little care taken by Government to promote the public interests. Until 1857, all letters to Europe were for the most part dispatched by sailing vessels, so that letters remained four or five months on the way, and owing to the uncertainties of the length of passage made by the various vessels, it was constantly happening that the last letters sent came to hand before those dispatched several weeks earlier. This irregularity and uncertainty weighed so heavily upon commerce, that since March, 1858, there has been established regular communication by steam between Manila and Europe, the epistolary matter from Europe, for the residents throughout the Archipelago, being conveyed by a Spanish steamer from Hong-kong, which is distant only 600 miles, while all letters for Europe are conveyed to the latter port in time for the mails of the 1st and 15th of each month, whence they are forwarded together with the English correspondence viâ Singapore and Suez.
On the other hand there is up to this moment no regular communication with any of the adjacent islands in the Archipelago, even the Government only availing itself of such sailing vessels as private adventurers may from time to time
charter. When any change of officials takes place, the new appointment must often remain vacant for months till the occupant reach his post; indeed, during our stay in Manila we witnessed a case in which the consort of the Governor of the Marianne Archipelago had been vainly waiting for months for an opportunity to return to her husband.[93] Some foreign merchants settled at Manila had made an offer to the Government, in consideration of a fixed subsidy, to establish regular communication between the various islands of the Archipelago, and to keep it on foot by means of five steam vessels. But the Colonial Government did not see its way to giving the company a larger subsidy than 43,000 Spanish piasters (£6763 at par), and thus the whole plan once more fell through, the carrying out of which would so greatly tend to the development of these islands.
Notwithstanding the fertility of the islands in all manner of natural wealth, there are at present but three products of the soil which are exported in anything like large quantities to the European and North American markets, and which thus give this group any importance in the eyes of the commercial world, viz. tobacco, Abáca, or Manila hemp, and sugar. The amount of all other articles exported, such as coffee, indigo, Sapan wood (Cæsalpinia sapan), straw-plait,[94] hides
and skins of animals, &c., is proportionately but small. We visited the great manufactories of Binondo, as also that of Arroceros, where cigarillos, or paper-covered cigarettes, are exclusively manufactured. The former gives employment to about 8000 work-people, mostly women. In the long workshops, where it is common to see 800 females sitting at work on low wooden benches in front of a narrow table, there prevails a most disagreeable deafening hubbub. Some are busy moistening the leaves, and cutting off the requisite lengths, or are sorting the fragments and smaller pieces, of which inferior cigars will be made; others hold in their right hand a flat smoothed stone, with which they keep continually pounding each single leaf, in order to make these more susceptible of being rolled up. This drumming noise, and the cries of several hundreds of workwomen, who, on the appearance of foreign visitors, handle their implements of stone with yet more energy, apparently out of sheer wantonness, the strong odour of the tobacco, and the disagreeable exhalations from the bodies of so many human beings shut up together in one close apartment, in a tropical temperature, have such an unpleasant, uncomfortable effect that one hastens to exchange the damp sultry vapours of the workshops for the fresh air without.
In the Cigarillo manufactory about 2000 workmen find employment.
Here also there is felt in the workshops the same clammy, sultry atmosphere. A workman can make about 150 packages of 25 cigarettes, or 3750, per diem, for which he is paid four reals[95] (1s. 7d. English). Most extraordinary is the rapidity, bordering almost upon the magical, with which the cigarillos are counted, divided into packages, bound up, and stamped. The unpractised vision of the visitor is hardly able to follow the celerity of motion of the workman's hands and fingers.
Besides the two factories already mentioned, there is yet a third cigarillo manufactory in Cavite, which employs 4000, and a fourth in Malabon, employing 5000, workwomen. The quantities annually produced by these various manufactories amount to about 1,200,000,000 cigarillos. If we deduct the numerous holidays of the Church, on which no work is done, we shall find that about 5,000,000 must be made daily. Government buys up each year from the planters the entire crop of tobacco at a fixed price, and exports it partly in leaf, but for the most part in cigars, the right to manufacture which no one possesses but the Government. The monopoly of tobacco was, after great difficulties had been encountered, first introduced into the Philippines in 1787 by Don José Basco, the then Governor-general.
The greater part of the cigars are shipped to the East Indies, the islands of the Malay Archipelago, and North America, only a small quantity in proportion coming to Europe for sale.
The principal tobacco-growing districts of the island of Luzon are Cagayan and Bisayx, in which on an average 180,000 cwt. of tobacco are grown annually; of these about 80,000 cwt. are sent annually in the leaf to Spain, while the surplus are worked up into cigars in Luzon itself, sold at auction (al martillo) every month, and knocked down to the highest bidder. The average price is 8 to 10 dollars per 1000 Costados. There is but one species of tobacco grown in Manila, and the size of the leaf is the sole element that regulates the value. The Manila tobacco is a very strong narcotic; there is, notwithstanding the prevailing opinion in Europe, no opium mingled with it; one end being simply dipped in rice juice to glue it together. Indeed, the enormous cost of that liquid drug, which plays so important a part in the history of the Chinese empire, would alone prevent its being used. As cigars are greatly in request by both sexes in Manila, and it is necessary first to provide for the supply of the country itself, it occasionally happens that the stocks are not sufficiently large at once to supply all demands for exportation. Except during the public sales by auction, no one is permitted to buy of Government more than 1000 cigars at once, a regulation most vicious in principle and useless in practice, as persons who wish to possess larger quantities of cigars have simply to send round to any number of persons in the tobacco trade, in order to provide themselves with what they require. We ourselves experienced how any one, who was desirous of buying 45,000 cigars, sent 45 different
individuals to the bonded magazine, from which each brought 1000 cigars without any further interference.
Although altogether more tobacco is raised on the island of Luzon than in Cuba, yet the exportation from the former is far less in quantity, for the reason already commented upon, that a large portion of the tobacco so grown is consumed in the country itself. Luzon provides 1⁄10th, and Cuba 1⁄12th of the entire production of tobacco on the earth, which amounts to 4,000,000 cwt.[96] There are indeed two countries which produce a far
larger quantity of tobacco than either Luzon or Cuba,[97] but in no other country does the tobacco leaf attain such superior quality, owing to favourable climate and congenial soil, as in the Spanish possessions already named.
Another chief product of the Philippines, which first found its way into the markets of the world from these islands, is what is called Manila hemp. This, however, is not the common hemp plant (Cannabis sativa), but is procured from the fibres of
the "Musa textilis," a species of banana, and is called by the Tagals abáca. The plant comes in great quantities from almost every one of the Philippines, from Luzon to Mindanão, so that the area over which it extends stretches between the equator and 20° N. This seems, however, to be the most northerly limit of vegetation of the Musa textilis, and consequently it is out of question to attempt to introduce into Europe the cultivation of this most useful plant, which, ere it can be profitably grown, requires a temperature of 77° Fahr. The stem of this musacea grows in the Philippines to a height of from 9 to 12 feet, by about 6 inches in thickness, its leaves being of an exceedingly dark green colour, 8 feet in length by 1 1⁄2 feet in width. The fruit is smaller, and neither so yellow nor so palatable as that of the common banana. To procure the hemp, the trunk, so soon as the fleshy bulbous fruit makes its appearance, is stripped of its splendid leaves, which serve as fodder for the oxen, and is left about three days to ferment. It is then peeled off in pieces, which by the application of a corresponding pressure are drawn between two knives, not too sharp, in order to separate the hemp, which now begins to be visible, from the bast, which, owing to the fermentation, has become rather brittle. This process is continued until the hemp is sufficiently cleaned to admit of its being spread out and dried in the sun. A skilful workman may make extract from 8 to 10 feet of hemp a day. There are 450,000 cwt. of hemp produced annually, of the value of £520,000, the greater part of which is sent to the United States of North
America, while from 30,000 to 60,000 cwt. is manufactured into rigging for ships in the country itself, at the splendid factory of Messrs. Russell and Sturgis, an American firm, by whom it is exported to Singapore, Australia, and China. This raw material, as well as the various products manufactured from it, has a magnificent future opening to it, and will ere long compete advantageously with English and Russian hemp in the European markets. The principal objection as yet made to the use of the Manila hemp for rigging, viz. its contracting in wet weather, can easily be obviated by more careful treatment of the fibres in the process of manufacture. On the other hand, in strength and elasticity the abáca surpasses its rival, as has been proved by repeated experiments, especially over common European, and even Russian, hemp.[98] Messrs. Russell and Sturgis have, it is true, monopolized the hemp product of the entire Archipelago, but under their fostering care it must sensibly increase and become perceptibly improved. From the leaves of Musa textilis, like those of all other species of the banana tribe, very excellent paper can be made, and by the increasing cultivation of the musaceæ in the
tropics, two main objects could be attained, viz. providing a plentiful subsistence for the natives, and extending and cheapening the medium that mainly contributes to widen the circle of knowledge of mankind.[99]
Next to Musa textilis, the Ramé-shrub (Boehmeria tenacissima) especially deserves the attention of business men. The fibre of this member of the urticaceæ, which unites extraordinary toughness with much beauty and fineness, is stronger and more durable than that of Russian hemp, and with careful preparation would make into finer thread than the very expensive material which is used in Europe at the present day for making the world-famous Brussels point-lace. The variety of purposes to which this useful plant may be applied has hitherto been less fully recognized than those of the Manila hemp. In Europe the Boehmeria tenacissima is but found in botanical gardens, or herbariums, and as yet not the slightest use is made of it for industrial purposes. And yet the introduction on a large scale of Manila hemp and Ramé fibre into the European markets in place of Russian hemp, would have more than merely a commercial and industrial importance![100]
We may also notice in this connection another description of fabrics made from fibrous material, which, though but little known beyond the limits of the Archipelago, seems to us to deserve to be more extensively known, and, it would seem, may
be most profitably taken up. These are the delicate almost transparent tissues prepared from the fibres of one of the Bromeliaceæ (ananassa sativa), which are used by the natives for ornamental shirts, chemisettes, and necklaces, and are known in commerce by the names of Piña or grass-cloths.[101] The threads of these textures are so thin, that they can only be woven in apartments where there is not the slightest breath of air. The natives contrive to weave them into the most beautiful designs, and were they submitted to some chemical process which should impart to the web a clearer colour, less of a dirty yellow, the world of taste would be enriched by the addition of one of the most exquisite materials that could be presented to adorn the graceful form of woman, and while seeming to conceal her charms, would but render them more conspicuously attractive.
Although the rainy season, during which we visited Manila, was but little inviting for excursions, we yet could not resist the temptation to make an excursion to the celebrated Laguna de Bay, a short distance in the interior. Mr. J. Steffan, consul for Bremen, a Swiss by birth, and a partner in one of the most eminent mercantile houses in Manila (Jenny and Co.), who from the moment the Austrian expeditionaries set foot in the Philippines manifested to them the most delightful hospitality, was on this occasion also our companion and cicerone. Two other foreigners, an English artist and a merchant from Amsterdam,
joined our party. The first-named had lived for long on the island, and had already visited all its most accessible spots, whence he had returned with some very accurate sketches; the latter had been sent out by his firm to Manila, in 1857, when the price of sugar had fallen, for the purpose of purchasing, at the price to which he was limited, a large quantity of that important article of colonial produce. By the time, however, he had reached the capital of the Philippines, the value of the sugar had already, in consequence of a favourable crop, exceeded the limit assigned him, and has since then advanced 300 per cent. Still the Amsterdam agent held on, awaiting a fall, and meanwhile did his best to wile away his time of exile by feasting his eyes with all the various beauties of the island.
On a grey, dreary morning we found ourselves pulling up the Pasig in small covered boats, till we reached the Lagune, where a larger craft was awaiting us, to take the entire company of pilgrims on board and transport them to the opposite shore of this inland lake, as far as Los Baños. In clear sunny weather a row in a banca upon the river Pasig, the aorta of Manila, which forms the communication between the city and the Lagune, together with all the various settlements along the shores of that internal sea, must be exceedingly pleasant. The banks of the river, indeed, are flat and unsightly, but the vegetation rejoices in a marvellous profusion of the most beautiful forms and colours. The Bambusaceæ are the chief ornament of the shores, on which there are but few palms to
be seen, while the banana, the sugar-cane, or the rice-plant are only exceptionally met with at certain points. The delicate-leaved bamboo accordingly presents hereabouts an elegance and variety of form, which at first sight seems to mark out its individual representatives as belonging to so many different families of plants. Wherever the subjacent rock is visible along the banks it presents beds of an ashen-grey pumice-stone, which constitutes the chief building material of Manila. On the shores of the river, near the city, are situate the various factories and iron-foundries, above which are the residences of the wealthy Mestizoes and foreign settlers, as also the country-seat of the Governor-general, whence, still ascending the stream, are Tagal villages of wretched cane huts, grouped round stately churches and parsonages, which peep picturesquely through lovely groves of bamboo.
There are three modes of boating on the Pasig and through the Lagune, namely, the banca, consisting of a large trunk of a tree hollowed out and covered with an awning of bamboo; the lorcha or falúa (corruption of felucca), large, comfortable, but exceedingly clumsy row-boats, which, particularly during the rainy season when there is a heavy sea running, are those chiefly used in this navigation; and finally, the casco, which is of equal breadth at either end, and has more the appearance of a raft. The last-named is principally made use of for the transport of heavy merchandise, and is in especial favour with the natives, for the reason that it is practicable to hoist sail upon it as well as to row. On the
Lagune there is also found yet a fourth kind of boat, the Paráho, the principle of which, as well as the name, has obviously been borrowed from the Malay Prahu, which it closely resembles in form and mode of steering.
On the Pasig there is a constant and amazing tide of human activity. Numberless boats pass and repass, some bound for the city, to supply it with provisions and other necessary articles, even to drinking-water, which has to be shipped in casks at a considerable distance, others returning with all sorts of purchases made in Manila, for the supply of the various residents on the shores of the Lagune with the necessaries of life. On this voyage we got a sight of numbers of grackles (Pastor Rosen), the well-known grasshopper-destroyer, which, about five years before, had been introduced from China at considerable expense, with the view of extirpating this formidable locust. But since these birds, to kill which is punishable by imprisonment, have become acclimatized, they seem to have lost all relish for grasshoppers, sitting quiet and unmoved on the trees and roofs of the houses, while swarms of locusts are disporting under their very eyes. Apparently the number of these destructive insects is less great in China than in Manila, where these voracious wanderers often appear in dense swarms, which, in the shape of black clouds, absolutely obscure the daylight! Probably, too, their means of sustenance is much more limited in China than in the Philippines, where these birds, being in fact treated as tame animals, and fairly domesticated,
find frequent opportunities of satisfying their hunger otherwise.
At the village of Patero (from Pato, duck), which is situated five miles from the capital on the left bank, the inhabitants are mainly employed in breeding ducks. In front of each hut, and near the river, there is a large area fenced in, where these birds can bask in the sun or bathe at pleasure. The floor of the little poultry house is carefully cleaned every morning with river-water, and the ground dug up and plentifully filled daily with shell-fish for the use of the ducks, which the natives bring in their small canoes from the sea, where they thrive by millions in the mud. The spectacle of the gently-sloping assembling-places of these cackling denizens of the watery element, and the clamours with which we were saluted, strongly recalled to us the penguins of the Island of St. Paul. In Patero millions of ducks are annually reared as articles of trade, as the Tagalese look upon the half-hatched eggs and the new-born chickens as special dainties.
The natives whom we met on the way all wore large round hats, made of plaited straw or bamboo, white hose, and above these the invariable shirt, a custom so singular, that it is but very gradually the eye of the foreigner becomes reconciled to it. The farther we got from the capital the more the use of Spanish seemed to diminish, till at the Lagune the natives only speak Tagal and Bisay.
Our original intention had been to row up in bancas as far as the entrance to the Lagune, where it had been arranged
that the lorcha, which had started from Manila a day or two before, was to await our arrival. But when little more than half way beyond the village of Pasig we overtook the great clumsy concern, and it was forthwith resolved to remove into it bag and baggage, not forgetting the "provant," and endeavour to make ourselves as comfortable as we could for a few days and nights.
As it was perfectly calm, and the lorcha had to be poled along, we were a considerable time before reaching the entrance to the Lagune, where the industrious natives had erected a variety of nets and other fishing apparatus of very peculiar nature. The banks of the Lagune are for some distance from the shore thickly studded with thousands of what are called coráls, or fish-runs, and a special pilot is required to enable the lorcha to thread this labyrinth of fishing apparatus of every conceivable form, so as to reach the open water. Singularly enough, it is for the most part the Tagalese women who manipulate the fishing instruments, while the men, as we were told, sit in the house and embroider. Near the entrance is stationed a sort of guardship. A Tagalese overseer overhauled our passports, turned them over in his hands two or three times with much official importance, and then returned them to us. The worthy officer of the law was obviously ignorant of the art of reading, but for that very reason he looked doubly massy, for fear of exposing his weak side to the Europeans.
The Lagune de Bay is a fresh-water lake of such dimensions,
that even on a clear day it is impossible, from the entrance, to see the coast on the further side, much less, of course, in the wretched rainy weather which stuck by us throughout our trip. Nevertheless, it is far inferior in size to the great lakes of North America. Its greatest breadth is little more than 30 miles.[102] All around the fertile shores of this charming lake nestle little villages, and the daily intercourse with the capital is so extensive that a steam-boat company would pay well. While on the one hand the Colonial Government objects to the expense of entering upon an undertaking so important for developing the general trade, engineers, on the other hand, have for the last 14 years been busily engaged projecting the immense work of connecting the Lagune with the ocean by means of a canal, in such manner as would enable ships approaching Luzon from the southwards to reach Manila easily, and with great saving in time, instead of having to sail all round the island. This short cut through the tongue of land would, it may well be supposed, be in other respects of incalculable benefit for the country, for the shipping and for trade generally, especially were the execution of this splendid project to be carried out hand in hand with a liberal policy, that should shake off that despotism which at present weighs like a mountain upon every sort of intellectual and political activity.
Let Manila be declared a free port, let the ships of all mercantile nations visit unrestrictedly the various harbours of the Archipelago, and Spain will under such relaxations reap far more profit than from her present retrograde colonial policy, which can only result in permanent discontent and impoverishment. A thoroughly unprejudiced Spanish statesman might make most valuable observations by a brief visit to the neighbouring colony of Singapore, that marvellous British settlement, which, owing to a commercial policy conceived in the free, liberal spirit that characterizes the 19th century, has sprung up from a nest of pirates into the most flourishing and the wealthiest emporium in the entire Malay Archipelago. The situation of Manila, as also its numerous natural advantages and resources, would soon make it a rival to Singapore. But of what avail are the choicest treasures of nature, if the mind be wanting which can turn them to their proper use, and elicit their real value?
The continued bad weather compelled us to pass the night most uncomfortably on board the lorcha; however, the morning after our departure from Manila we arrived at the village of Los Baños on the southern shore of the Lagune, where we were most courteously received by Padre Lorenzo, a Tagalese (only the monks being of Spanish blood, whereas among the secular clergy there are numbers of coloured persons). The parsonage, formerly an hospital, is an extensive edifice, with covered terraces, from whence the visitor enjoys the most splendid views of the neighbouring hills, as also
over the village. Here we were rejoined by those members of the Expedition who, there not being room for all on board the lorcha, had made out the voyage to Los Baños in a small boat. The Government officer of the village of Pasig was so kind as to provide for our exploration of the lake a well-appointed, thoroughly armed and equipped war-galley; by no means a superfluous precaution when making an excursion upon the lake, as it has not unfrequently happened that unprotected strangers have returned to Manila robbed of everything.
We had great difficulty in making our kind Father Lorenzo, whose wanderings had been rather limited, comprehend from what country we came, and to what nation we belonged. The natives of Luzon for the most part believe that all mankind consists of but two nations, Spaniards and English; the former they regard as their own masters, while the political and commercial power of the latter impress them with more terror than sympathy, and this feeling is still further deepened by that spiritual teaching, which makes everything seem to their untutored minds of the most terrible criminality, which does not strictly accord with Roman Catholicism.
Los Baños (the baths), so named on account of the numerous hot springs, whose source is close at hand at the foot of the now extinct volcanic cone of Maquilui, thickly wooded to its very summit, was so far back as the end of the 16th century a place of resort for invalids, who hoped here to find a cure for their various maladies. In the interests of
suffering humanity, the Franciscans of those days, then in the height of their influence, built over the baths a sort of hut, and a hospital dedicated to "Nuestra Señora de las Aguas santas de Maynit" (our Lady of the Holy waters of Maynit, the latter name expressing hot in Tagal). Although at present in a very forlorn and dilapidated condition, there is still in existence, quite near to the edge of the Lake, an apartment enclosed within a wall, within which there boils up from a considerable depth a spring of hot water of a temperature of 186°.8 Fahr.; which is occasionally used, both by natives and foreigners, as a vapour bath, although these Thermæ are more used to scald poultry than for their original purpose of curing disease. The entire neighbourhood is volcanic. Behind Maquilui, which is about 3400 feet high, lies, surrounded by a deep lake, the active crater of the renowned volcano of Taal, while to one side of the first-named mountain rises in the blue distance, to a height of from 6000 to 7000 feet, the gigantic mass of the Majayjay[103] range, a volcanic system long since extinct. An oppressive sultriness in the atmosphere, such as we had never before experienced, and a drenching thunder-storm, put a complete stopper on our projected excursion to make a closer acquaintance with the hills. Somewhat of the terrific heat experienced here, may, with much justice, be attributed to the great number of almost boiling springs which issue from the foot of the Maquilui, so that even on entirely clear days, when
the mountain-top is quite free of clouds, the country about Los Baños seems enveloped in an atmosphere of mist.
The main object and ever-memorable result of our excursion was the Laguna Encantada (or Enchanted Lake,—the Socol of the Tagalese), distant not much more than a mile from Los Baños. Volcanic agency and tropical beauty have combined to prepare here one of the most singular and mysterious phenomena that the eye of man may ever behold. Although this small lake is only separated by a low hill from the larger basin, yet the approach to it is extremely troublesome and arduous. It is necessary here and there to use one's hands, in order to creep through the brushwood along the steep wall of rock, till the shore of the lake is at last reached. Even the very "dug-outs," in which the lake is to be navigated, have to be transported over this lonely inhospitable hill. As the Lagune enjoys the unenviable reputation of being the haunt of numbers of ravenous crocodiles, which have on several occasions overturned the light canoes navigating it at the time, and without further ceremony devoured their crews, the natives had learned to take the precaution of binding two or three canoes close together with bamboos and cords, in order to diminish the risk of being overturned while boating on this dreary haunt of "caymano."
While the natives were getting ready this handsome specimen of a craft, we stood on the shore, every one absorbed in gazing at this singular natural picture. Calm and mysterious-looking the lake lay before us, a circular
basin, of a deep green from innumerable almost microscopic water plants, unfathomable, if we may trust common report, and enclosed by a crater-like wall of lava-blocks. All along the shore grew the tropical forest; gigantic primeval trunks, wildly festooned with wondrously luxuriant creepers, raised their towering crests, their splendid coronets of leaves reflected in the calm mirror below, and casting the lake in every corner into a dusky, shadowy obscurity of outline. From the topmost branches of the trees were suspended huge brown, indistinct-looking fruits. There was death-like silence all around. Only at fitful intervals might be distinguished the note of a bird, or the muttered growl of distant thunder. We now got into our canoes and rowed silently over the waters of the lake. As though to add to the interest of the adventure, it came on to rain pretty heavily. Some of the party followed the very practical custom of the natives, who forthwith divested themselves of their clothing, and left the rain to beat upon their naked bodies, while they put their dresses under the seats of the boat to prevent their being soaked. Fortunately the alligators at no time made their appearance in such numbers as the tales of the natives had led us to anticipate. We saw but one of these monsters, apparently about 15 feet long, who however speedily dived out of our sight.[104] Our guides
maintained it would be advisable to take a dog with us, whose howl would have aroused the alligators and brought them up to the surface in hope as of prey. Indeed people frequently sacrifice dogs in order to entice these rapacious monsters from their haunts for the purpose of hunting them.
If however disappointed in this spectacle, we were recompensed by another not less peculiar. For hardly had a shot been fired at one of the water-fowls which were skimming to and fro over the lake, than at once tree and thicket seemed filled with life. Birds of all kinds, screaming and whirring, fluttered about or dashed wildly against each other on every side. Thousands that had been sitting on the beach concealed in the deep shade, wood-pigeons and legions of gigantic bats, which had been suddenly frightened out of their listless repose, now flew about directly before the murderous fowling-pieces. The singular-looking fruits which seemed to be so strangely dependent from the trees, were transformed into Kalong bats (Pteropus edulis), and flew about in immense flocks that obscured the light of day, directly over our heads, hastily seeking a shelter in the forest, which should hide them from the gaze of the sportsmen. Probably we should have brought down some of these singular animals, had not our fowling-pieces, owing to the incessant pour of rain, got so thoroughly out of order that we had to content ourselves
with getting a very few specimens for our zoological collection.
On returning to the parsonage from this interesting excursion, we found the Alcalde Mayor, who had come to Los Baños from the adjacent small town of Santa Cruz, to welcome the foreigners, and be of service to them. The Alcalde Mayor, or Gobernador, is the highest official, the chief both of administration and justice in the province, a sort of prefect, under whom are the Gobernadorcillos, or departmental administrators, beneath whom again the Cabezas,[105] or parish justices, form yet a lower grade. The chief duties of these native officials consist in seeing that the proper amount of tribute or head-money is duly collected. This impost is divided into three parts: the duty for defraying the State expenses amounting to five reals, that for supporting the Church amounts to three reals, and that for the wants of the community amounting to one real, so that the whole taxation levied upon each individual liable is about nine reals (4s. 9d. English). In addition to the natives, the Chinese resident in Manila and the half-breed Chinese are subject to a poll-tax, the pure Chinese being rated according to their social position and the nature of their calling. They pay on the average about 17 dollars, or about 15 times as much as the native. The poll-tax of the Chinese Mestizo amounts to 18 reals, or about twice as much as that on the native. All males are liable to be rated for the poll-tax, as also all females when
married, or when they have attained the age of 25. Those exempted from the poll-tax are all Spaniards and their half-caste children, all foreign residents except the Chinese, as also all natives above 60, and a few native families, whose ancestors had performed certain services for the Spaniards at the period of the conquest; and, lastly, all native authorities during their tenure of office (usually six years).[106]
The morning after our excursion to the Enchanted Lake, a hunt of water-fowl was organized among the swamps surrounding Calamba, which furnished us with plenty of sport, as well as important scientific results, in which it would have been yet more productive, had it not been suddenly brought to a close by the acute illness of one of the canoe-men. As some cases of cholera had occurred during the few days immediately preceding, it seemed to be only a wise precaution to exercise some little prudence on the present occasion. Strange to say, however, the man attacked, despite his sickness, rowed resolutely till the party reached Los Baños, during all which period he showed the most lively interest in the hunt, constantly calling our attention to birds which his keen eye detected at a distance, or which were moving softly over the water without being observed.
Meanwhile one of the zoologists was busy at the parsonage, making preparations of the most interesting specimens procured.
Padre Lorenzo could hardly believe his eyes when he beheld the naturalist engaged in such a bloody business, apparently on precisely the most agreeable spot of the whole terrace, and performing the various dissections requisite upon the dead bodies of some couple of dozen of birds. In whatever direction one turned in the apartment, the eye encountered nothing but birds of variegated plumage, gigantic Kalong bats, monkeys, or else barrels filled with spirits of wine, in which were preserved snakes, fish, and other small inhabitants of the deep. The poor padre, accustomed to peaceful meditation and full of simplicity, appeared quite convinced he must have sinned grievously that such a visitation should have overtaken him, as that this horde of foreigners should have disturbed the repose of his peaceful asylum with such appalling practices. The youths of the village, encouraged by the promise of remuneration, busied themselves with yet further increasing our zoological collection, and made their appearance, breathless with running, each with some still more curious and important object to show to the strange gentleman, who found such interest in snakes and insects, that he even paid money down for them!
Padre Lorenzo, however, was ere long rid of his singular guests, with whom he could even not get upon an intelligible footing. On the same day on which the hunt among the swamps of Calamba took place in the morning, the Expeditionary party returned from Los Baños, and by way of recompense to the obliging padre for the discomfort inflicted,
they presented him with some provisions and some bottles of claret, which filled the worthy gentleman with delight, and seemed completely to reconcile him to the "Estranjeros." Some of the members of our Expedition also visited the two villages of Jalla-jalla and Binangonan, lying close to the shore of the lake, places of great interest in a geographical sense, while the remainder of the party returned to Manila in the same way they had come. Unfortunately throughout the entire distance the rain fell worse than ever. It never ceased pouring in deluges, so that for hours together we could not get upon deck, but had to remain below in the small bleak, comfortless cabin. Here there was nothing for it but to wile away the time as best we might. We talked "de omnibus rebus, et quibusdam aliis," we laughed, we sang, and we—SMOKED, a habit, be it remarked incidentally, so constant and universal here, that the Pebete with its glowing top is constantly circulating from hand to hand. This is a sort of tinder in the shape of small thin rods, a cubit long, which is prepared in China from a mixture of fine dried sawdust, fir, and clay, and forms a by no means insignificant article of commerce, the greater part coming from Macao.[107] A chest of eight cubic feet, filled with Pebete or "joss-sticks," as the English call this tinder, the use of which pervades the entire Malay Archipelago as far as Madras, costs from 10s. to 16s. 6d. sterling.
By 11 P.M. we had got back to Manila. The weather had cleared up somewhat, the rain had ceased, and the city and environs were gay with the gleam of innumerable variegated lamps, intended to represent the illuminations expressive of the joy of the people at the birth of a prince of the Asturias. This did not however continue long; the enthusiasm that was finding vent through the glitter of the lamps was drowned in another deluge of rain, and as the exhibition had now lasted for several nights in succession, people at last had got weary of the trouble of constantly relighting them; the gaudy triumphal arches were decomposed into their constituent atoms—rough boards, wooden pegs, nails, and filthy little oil-lamps.
The continuance of the wet weather put more distant excursions out of the question. We had to content ourselves with having seen all that was really worth seeing in the city and environs during our limited stay.
Many additional visits were paid to the interior of the city, to the fort, to the monasteries, and the various public institutions. Of these latter, two call for a more particular notice: the "Biblioteca Militar," and the immense hospital of San Juan de Dios, under the charge of the Charitable Friars.
The attraction of the Military Library, which is situated in one portion of the cloister of the Jesuits which had been almost entirely destroyed[108] by a former earthquake, consisted
far less in its bibliographic treasures, than in a small collection of objects illustrative of natural history, of which the first beginning had been made but a few months before our arrival. It deserves the more notice that it was not the project of a professed naturalist, but solely of an "aficimado," or friend to scientific inquiry, Colonel Miguel Creus. Although very deficient, still the bare experiment has paved the way to a better and more complete collection, which at present comprises, besides about 100 species of birds and a few mammalia, a number of objects illustrative of ethnography, geological specimens, and the various manufactures and natural products of the Archipelago (among which are 37 species of rice). Considering the natural resources of this Archipelago, (some of which, especially the Conchylia,[109] far surpass in richness of colour, beauty, and gracefulness of form anything that has yet been met with in any part of the globe,) the inauguration of this small collection may yet prove the foundation of one of the most magnificent and marvellous museums of natural history, provided the laudable intention
of the founder receive adequate support; and the work, commenced as a labour of love, be continued and promoted with energy and perseverance.[110]
The great Civil Hospital, to which Dr. Fullerton, a Scotchman settled in Manila, was so kind as to accompany us, is a very extensive range of buildings, with large airy rooms, but so unclean and ill-kept, that it is no wonder if the report be true, that many natives in bad health prefer to run the chance of death without, to being brought to this infirmary. Indeed most of the rooms are empty and unoccupied, there being in the whole building but 30 confined to their beds, which in a city of not less than 130,000 souls, with but one hospital, is at all events a remarkable phenomenon. Every year on St. John's day the brethren of the order give a fête, when all the different rooms are scoured, swept, and garnished, and the sick in the hospital are present at the festivities, and, unrestricted by considerations of diet, are regaled with food and wine to their heart's content. This is likewise the period at which the hospital is most extensively patronized, and not only by those actually sick, but far more by those
who qualify for a residence in the hospital by a too great devotion to the plentiful viands provided on St. John's day. When the English were in possession of Manila during the Seven Years' War, this range of buildings was used as a barrack, for which reason the church was considered as desecrated for 90 years, and only in 1857 consecrated once more as a temple of God.
There is also in the Calle de Hospicio a Military Hospital, somewhat better kept, and not like the former under the charge of a brotherhood, but of a medical staff. Unfortunately the arrangements here leave very much to be desired. The rooms, insufficiently ventilated, are in the immediate vicinity of the kitchen, the smoke and odours from which cannot but be very prejudicial to the patients. In the various wards there were about 150 to 200 sick, whose lot called for redoubled sympathy, considering the little attention paid them.
Unfortunately no opportunity presented itself during our stay at Manila of witnessing any of those processions of the Church, which are necessarily so frequent in the course of the year. This was the more to be regretted, as we were told of many peculiarities of these costly processions. Here apparently, as in the earlier dependencies of Spain, in Central and Southern America, the Roman Catholic ritual has become mingled in the most extraordinary manner with ceremonies borrowed from paganism. The earliest Spanish missionaries were especially prone to believe that by retaining some of
the former ceremonies they would facilitate the work of conversion, and increase the number of neophytes. They saw no scandal in the native, attired sometimes as a giant twelve feet high, sometimes as a Malay warrior, sometimes as an aboriginal savage, fantastically painted, and accoutred with bow and arrow, in a word, in all sorts of masquerading costume, frolicking in the very midst of the sacred procession, and performing all manner of buffoonery in front of the life-sized and gaily-adorned images of saints; but appeared rather to contemplate with pleasure that these wild beings, who had resisted the Spaniards on their first arrival on the island, were now subjected to the Holy Church, and rejoiced in her service! There are also numbers of natives dressed up as animals, and girls gaily decorated with flowers and in robes of spotless white, as also a fantastically-attired jester, who from time to time gives national dances and sings national songs, to the best of his ability, all in one long procession, accompanied by monks singing chorals and carrying wax tapers, while a promiscuous crowd of the faithful bring up the rear.
The sight of such processions have anything but an edifying influence upon a European, but on the mind of the masses they seem to make a deep impression, and for weeks after, when smoking a cigarette in the privacy of the family circle, they will talk of the splendour of such solemnities, and the motley episodes that accompanied it. If it were admissible to judge of the religious mind of a people by their outward
observances, the Tagalese would be the most devout race in the world. Wherever the natives come in contact with the Church, they put on an extraordinary stern and reverential deportment, and even in the most trivial matters the great influence of the priesthood upon the masses becomes abundantly apparent. This is the most conspicuous every evening as the clock tolls for the Ave Maria. The tones work like enchantment upon the people at whatever distance they may be audible, and for a few moments a profound silence succeeds to the noise and bustle. The labourer and the promenader, the ladies and gentlemen of the upper ranks in their elegant carriages, as well as the poor Tagale returning homeward from his hard day's work, and driving his laden mule before him, are for the space of an instant awed by the solemn sounds. All vehicles stop suddenly short, the gentlemen and servants uncover their heads, the restless masses stand as though nailed to the ground, and then sink gradually on their knees in prayer, their heads bared and their cigars extinguished; no one would venture to break in upon the universal stillness so long as the bell continues to toll. But as soon as it is silent, each jumps to his feet, and proceeds on again, believing he may now in safety give way to his frolicsomeness and pursue his pleasures.
Life in Manila during the dry season was described to us as exceedingly agreeable and gay. Then almost every evening joyous groups thread the city singing and joking, while from every hut resounds some snatch of melody
accompanied by the guitar. We had a slight foretaste of the joviality which must prevail in Manila during the delicious summer evenings from the joyous disposition manifested by the various Tagal families, even during the wet season, when the almost incessant rain, and the swampy state of the streets, compelled the natives to remain crowded in the narrow rooms of their poor little huts. In St. Miguel, a hamlet in the immediate neighbourhood of Manila, with a number of country-seats of wealthy foreigners and natives, we repeatedly heard the sweet plaintive notes of the native women singing Tagal ditties, which for pathos and thrilling tenderness surpassed all we had hitherto heard or read of the talents of the coloured races for song and melody. We shall be able in the Appendix to give the notes of a very characteristic melody, the words of which form a very favourite popular song (Condiman), which we ultimately succeeded in taking down through the kindness of Señor Balthasar Girandier of Manila.
It was at San Miguel that we had not alone the most agreeable, but also the most melancholy, experience of our entire stay in the capital of the Philippines. On an island opposite the handsome, beautifully situate residence of our hospitable friend Mr. Steffan, the Bremen Consul, is the Poorhouse, in which the insane as well as the sick are confined together, the whole being, like all the other humane institutions of Manila, under the superintendence of an ecclesiastic, in the present case a Mestizo. It appeared there was no proper or
regular medical attendance. Without assistance, or any one responsible for their proper care, these miserable beings, left in an indescribably desolate and neglected condition, cower down upon the bare stone floor in the damp, filthy rooms, staring vacantly before them, or slink about among the cool corridors, murmuring unintelligibly to themselves. The padre, habituated to such a state of matters, seems never to give it a moment's thought, but rather to make it his amusement to conduct strangers through the dismal, horrible wards, where at each step one encounters some fresh form of misery. We felt most pity at the sight of a female, whose features and whole appearance spoke of a happier lot in by-gone days. It seemed a mystery crying aloud for reparation, that this unhappy being, an orphan, worthy of all compassion, should for a slight attack of melancholy be liable to be sent to the asylum for the insane by her unscrupulous relations, that they might with the greater security possess themselves of her property. So deep and so permanent was the impression made by this melancholy spectacle, that even now, after the lapse of years of varied experience, since our visit to the lunatic asylum of Manila, the ill-fated being, with her wan yet striking features, her large, melancholy black eyes, and her wavy, shining black hair, her dress neglected and half torn into pieces, stands out life-like before us, as an embodiment of misery.
Early on the day on which we bade adieu to Manila we found an opportunity of seeing a live boa-constrictor, said
to be 48 feet long and seven inches thick, at the house of a secular ecclesiastic in the suburb of Santa Cruz. This gigantic reptile had been confined for 32 years in a large wooden cage, where it had enjoyed such a carefully tended existence that it had fairly outlived the good padre, and was now for sale by his heirs. The indolent animal, constantly lying almost motionless among the sand, is fed only once in every four weeks, when it is usually presented with a young pig.
On the 24th of June the members of our Expedition went on board the small steamer plying to Cavite, where lay the frigate, on board which all necessary preparations had been made. Now, on the eve of departure, almost every one of our number mourned the disappointment of cherished expectations. The inclemency of the weather had not alone precluded our undertaking the more distant excursions which would have repaid our researches in the natural history of the islands, but had even interposed serious obstacles to our wanderings in the immediate neighbourhood; moreover, up to the very moment of our departure the Government manifested the utmost indifference to the objects of the Expedition, while even the educated portion of the Spanish residents never took the slightest notice. The more reason therefore is it, under such circumstances, that we should not be unmindful of the few, such as Messrs. Steffan, Schmidt, Wegener, Wood, Fullerton, Fonseca, Girandier, and Creus, who, with warm interest in our plans, furnished us with
new material relating to the Philippines and their inhabitants, and left us with the agreeable prospect of a permanent exchange of literary and scientific labours.
At one A.M. of the 25th June we weighed anchor in the harbour of Cavite, on our voyage to the Empire of China. The land breeze, which sets in regularly every night, carried us clear out of the Bay of Manila, but in the open sea outside we found, contrary to expectation, instead of the S.W. monsoon, light variable winds and calms, which materially interfered with our progress. At last, when we were about mid-way across the China Sea, we fell in with the long-looked for S.W. wind, which speedily wafted us to the next station we were to visit, the British colony of Hong-kong, or Victoria. With favourable winds the voyage from Manila to Hong-kong, a distance of about 700 nautical miles, is four or five days' sail; owing to the constant contrary winds we were double that time.
Already, before we came in sight of land, a Chinese fishing vessel had put a pilot on board in the shape of a long-tailed son of the Celestial Empire, who jabbered English in a fashion to set the hair on end, and was lost in wonder at our flag, which he had never before seen. We afterwards found that the dialect used by our pilot was what is called Canton-English, such as is spoken by all Chinese who have dealings with the British, and consisting exclusively of a most ludicrous distortion of the commonest English phrases.
About noon on the 4th July we sighted the Chinese coast;
and before sundown we had passed the Lemmas islands, and found ourselves in the island-studded, many-bayed archipelago at the mouth of the Canton River, where the English have selected Hong-kong, with its admirable harbour, for the site of their colony. Thousands of fishing-boats covered the surface of the ocean all around us, always sailing parallel with each other, in fact, quite a fleet of fishermen, who, on a favourable opportunity, add a little buccaneering, and have numerous secure retreats among the thousands of coves all around, so that even up to the present day they can carry on almost unpunished their piratical attempts upon their own fellow-countrymen, as well as upon foreigners ignorant of their danger. It was the first time we had seen in any numbers the Chinese Junk, with its strange-looking rigging. On most of these small but clumsy vessels there was cut or painted on either side of the forecastle a huge eye, as though the crew were anxious to increase the power of vision of their vessel, so that it might more readily pick its way through the numerous dangerous reefs and coral banks. On the other hand the superstitious sea-faring Chinese sometimes veil and cover up the eyes of their vessels, in order that they should not behold certain strange things passing by, as, for instance, a dead body, or an approaching thunder-storm, and not be frightened by them.[111]
The nearer we approached the coast, the more was our
gaze rivetted by a landscape of the most imposing character, and now not owing to the altitude of the hills (for the highest peak is only 3000 feet), but to the grandeur of their form and their contour. Here are sharp, needle-shaped pinnacles, their steep rocky cones reminding one of the Sugar Loaf at Rio, and then round shoulders of hills, and far-extending ranges, penetrated by deep defiles, all nearly perpendicular, and without any extent of level land, and rising sheer out of the sea. These mountain ranges are almost entirely naked, or covered only with a scanty grass or bush vegetation: no tree, no forest hides the majestic groups of rocks and stones, and when the setting sun picked out with dark, well-defined shadows the sharp outline of the granite rock, it was as though there lay before us a "bit" of the Swiss Alps, bathed in the sea as far as the limit of forest-vegetation, and our sailors contemplated with redoubled enjoyment a scene which reminded them of their native Dalmatia.
As the night was dark, with neither moonlight nor light-house (of which latter there is unfortunately an utter lack here), we could not venture to wind our way through the narrow channel into the harbour of Hong-kong, on the north side of the island, and we anchored therefore about 9 P.M. on the west side, in the Lemmas Channel; and with the first beams of the sun, on the morning of the 5th July, we stood in to the enchanting harbour of Hong-kong. Where the previous day we could descry from seaward hardly any traces of human activity in the hills and rocks along the coast,
so that the land seemed desolate and deserted, there now smiled upon us, as we doubled Green Island, the city of Victoria, rising amphitheatre-like; and, lying invitingly before us, its harbour, all alive with numbers of stately ships and steamers, looking like an inland lake,—in fact, entirely land-locked. Several old ships of the line, which the English use as hospitals and coal depôts, filled the background, among which was the Royal Charlotte, 130 guns, the first three-decker that has passed the Equator.
At 10 A.M. we cast anchor directly opposite the town; and amid the flags of England, America, France, Holland, and Russia, there now flaunted proudly forth the flag of Austria!