As we were eager to visit one of the large estates, we were given a heavy guard and went inland about two miles from the port; it was certainly a fine plantation, much better kept than any I had ever seen before. We were apparently cordially received, and were assured if we would only stay we could partake of some of the family pig, that was even then wandering around in the best room in the house.
The floor of the large reception room was polished as perfectly as a piano top; its boards were at least eighteen inches wide and sixteen to twenty feet long. I asked several persons the name of this beautiful place, but could not find out. On the sideboard were quantities of fine china and silver that had been received only a few days before from Spain, there was a large grand piano, and there were eight or ten chairs in the center of the room forming a hollow square. Here we were seated and were offered refreshments of wine, cigars and “dulce.” While this place seemed isolated it was not more than ten minutes before we had a gathering of several hundred natives, indeed our visit was shortened by the fear that we might be outnumbered and captured, and so we hastened back to quarters.
While all the islands are tropical in appearance, Cebu is pre-eminently luxuriant. We were sorry not to stay longer and learn more of its people and its industries.
Romblom is considered by many the most picturesque of the islands. The entrance is certainly beautiful; small ships can come up to the dock. The town itself is on the banks of a wonderful stream of water that has been brought down from the hills above. There is a finely constructed aqueduct that must have cost the Spaniards a great deal of money, even with cheap labor. It is certainly a very delightfully situated little town. This place is famous for its mats; they are woven of every conceivable color and texture, and are of all sizes, from those for a child’s bed to those for the side of a house. The edges of some mats are woven to look like lace, and some like embroidery. They range in price from fifty cents to fifty dollars. Every one who visits Romblom is sure to bring away a mat.
On every island much corn is raised, perhaps for export; certainly the staple is rice. Quite a number of young men who were officers in our volunteer regiments, have located on the island of Guimeras, and I have no doubt that, with their New England thrift, they will be able to secure magnificent crops. The soil is amazingly rich; under skilled care it will produce a hundred fold. Many of the islands are so near to one another that it is an easy matter to pass from island to island.
Literature.
Chapter Twenty-Five.
In no house of any town, on any island, nor in the very best houses of the so-called very best families, did I ever see any books, newspapers, magazines, periodicals of any kind whatever. One woman triumphantly took out of a box a book, nicely folded up in wax paper, a history of the United States, printed in 1840. In a lower room of a large house, once a convent, but now occupied by two or three priests, there were perhaps four or five hundred books written in Spanish and Latin on church matters. One reason for the dearth of books is the difficulty of protecting them from the ravages of the ants. We found to our horror that our books were devoured by them. And then the times were troublous and things were out of joint. In the large seminary at Molo, where hundreds of girls are taught every year, I did not see a single book of any kind or any printed matter, except a few pamphlets concerning the Roman church. The girls work on embroideries, and surely for fineness they surpass all others. They do the most cobweb-like drawn work, and on this are wrought roses, lilies, and butterflies with outspread wings that look as if they had just lighted down to sip the nectar from the blossoms; these very fine embroideries are done on the piña cloth. It is no wonder that the people would get even the advertisements on our canned goods and ask any American whom they met what the letters were and what the words meant. Our empty cans with tomato, pear, peach labels were to them precious things. Whereever our soldiers were, the adults and the children crowded around them and impromptu classes were formed to spell out all the American words they could find; even the newspaper wrappers and the letter envelopes, that were thrown away, were carefully picked up so as to glean the meaning of these “Americano” words. There was near our quarters a very large building that was used for the education of boys; one can form some idea of the size of this building when two or three regiments were encamped there with all their equipments.
