CHAPTER I
FRANCISCO’S HOME
Francisco was a Filipino boy who lived in the southern part of the island of Luzon between the towns of Albay (Äl′-bȳ) and Camalig (Cȧ-mä′-lig). If you will look at a map of the Philippine Islands, you can find these places. His home was on a large tract of land where his father raised rice for the use of the family, and abaca (ä′-bä-cä), or Manila hemp, for the market. Back of their house was a grove of tall coconut trees. From the nuts which grew on these trees they made a part of their living, and their hemp crop was also of much value.
Francisco had one sister and two brothers, all older than himself. Pablo (Päb′-lō), the oldest brother, was studying in the College of Santo Tomas (Sän′-tō Tō-mäs′) in Manila, preparing to be a priest, while José (Hō-sā′) and Maria (Mȧ-re͞e′-ä), the sister, were living at home and attending school.
This home was very interesting and quite different from the houses in which American boys and girls live. The house was made almost entirely of bamboo,—bamboo walls, floors, ceilings, and rafters. The roof consisted of the leaves of the nipa (ne͞e′-pa) palm, sewed together to form shingles and tied to the rafters with strips of very strong rattan.
Filipinos always build their houses well up from the ground so as to be above the dampness. Francisco’s father had put their home on bamboo poles about six feet high. This made a large room underneath the house where were kept three pigs, a horse, and their little two-wheeled cart called a carromata (căr-rō-mä′-tä). Francisco’s mother found bamboo floors convenient, because very little sweeping was necessary; crumbs and waste from the kitchen were dropped between the strips of bamboo to the ground below, and there the pigs and chickens quickly ate them.
Camalig