On the above estates there was little or nothing done by the owners to improve the land. They had limited themselves to building large and convenient houses and granaries for their own accommodation, and to entertain their friends.
In 1884 I constructed a pumping station on the River Tuliajan in this estate, and laid a pipe line right through the property to supply fresh water to the sugar refinery at Malabon, five miles distant. I had no difficulty in obtaining permission, indeed, Fray Arsenio Campo (now Bishop of Nueva Cáceres) facilitated the work in every way. The only protest was by Doroteo Cortes, a half-caste lawyer, who interposed as the pipe had to pass between two fish-ponds belonging to him, and he extorted a blackmail $800 to withdraw his opposition. Let the reader contrast the behaviour of the Spaniard and the half-caste, now posing as an “Americanista.”
San Francisco de Malabon, another possession of theirs, is a magnificent property, situated on the fertile, well-watered land that slopes from the summits of the Tagaytay range, north of the vast crater-lake of Bombon, to the shores of the ever-famous Bay of Bacoor, the scene of Spain’s naval collapse.
Through the volcanic soil three rivers, the Ilang-ilang, the Camanchíle, and the Jálan, have cut deep gashes down to the bed-rock, on the surface of which the rapid waters rush downwards to the sea.
A nobly-proportioned house of stone, almost a fortress, was planted where it commanded a grand, a stately view. From its windows the spectator looked over fields of waving grain, over fruit trees, and town and hamlets, down to the sea shore, and across the vast expanse of placid bay to where in the far north solitary Arayat rears his head. The thick walls and lofty roof excluded the solar heat, and the green-painted Venetians saved the inmate from the glare. Very welcome was that hostel, furnished in severe ecclesiastical almost mediæval style, to me, after the dusty up-hill drive of eight miles from Cavite.
I visited this estate in 1879, and found that extensive irrigation works had been carried out. A new dam on one of the rivers, about fifty feet high, was approaching completion. Unfortunately, the work had been executed by a lay-brother, a stone mason, without professional supervision. He was ignorant of the necessity of taking special precautions when preparing the seat for the dam. Although he had a bed of volcanic tuff to build upon he would not go to the trouble to cut into and stop all faults and crevices in the rock before laying his first course of masonry, and he hurried on the job to save expense as he supposed. For the same reason he did not attempt to follow the correct profile of the dam. When the pressure came on, the water spouted up in little fountains, and gradually increased as it cut away the soft stone. I advised them what to do, and after a good deal of work, Portland cement and puddled clay got them out of their difficulty.
About four miles to the eastward of San Francisco de Malabon, and on the same volcanic soil, is the great estate of Imus belonging to the Recollets, or unshod Augustinians. It is about five miles from the landing-place at Bacoor. Here again three rivers run through the property, and the view from the house is the same.
The house itself was a grim fortress and served the rebels well in 1896, for they found arms and ammunition in it, and successfully defended it against General Aiguirre who had to retire, being unable to take it without artillery.
In 1897 the army of General Lachambre advanced against Imus, and on the 24th March took the outer defences of the town, notwithstanding the determined resistance of the Tagals, of whom three hundred were killed in a hand-to-hand combat. Next day the estate house, which adjoins the town and had been for six months the stronghold of the Katipunan, was bombarded and burnt, only the ruins remain.
There are extensive works of irrigation at this place also, and formerly a large sugar works was built here by the owners, but it failed, as there was no one fit to take charge of it.