Wealth of the World's Waste Places and Oceania

by Jewett C. Gilson

Carabaos are easily trained to farm work, and even children can drive them—or ride on their backs in going to school. The milk of a carabao is as good and wholesome as that of an ordinary cow; the meat is pretty tough, but it is not unwholesome.

One thing, however, the carabao must have, and that is a bath several times a day. Deprived of its bath, the animal at first becomes restless; then it breaks away in a half-crazed condition for the nearest water, where it buries itself, all but its head. Native drivers know just how to manage their animals and drive them to the nearest water several times a day.

There are horses in the islands, but not many. Most of them are very much like the mustang. The Spanish brought Andalusian ponies to the islands many years ago, but they did not prove very useful. Within a few years American horses were introduced, but they could not live on Philippine grasses. Mexican mustangs and Mongolian ponies were much better, however, but they are used chiefly as riding animals.

Of all the beasts of burden in the Philippine Islands, none is in the same class with John Chinaman. Everywhere his bland smile is seen; his patience has no end—and, apparently, his work has none. The Filipino farmer works merely to keep body and soul together; John Chinaman works to save hard cash, and he saves it. Wherever there is any money to be made, John is pretty certain to be near by. He is the cook and "maid-of-all-work" in the house of the foreign resident, the stevedore on the dock, the clerk in the forwarding house, the "boss" in the rice plantation, the handy man in the tobacco factory, and the store-keeper in the remote Filipino village. Sixteen hours of hard work every day and Sunday seem to make him grow fat; the rest of the time he just works for fun—and hard cash.

Long before the Chinese coolie came to the United States the Spanish raised the cry "The Chinese must go." The Spanish made short work of them, killing them by thousands and tens of thousands. But in a year or two John was on hand again, smiling and working sixteen hours a day—strictly for cash. And he is in the Philippine Islands to stay.

As a rule the Filipinos rarely live isolated as do the American farmers. Almost always they cluster in villages of one or two hundred people. The Filipino is not likely to cultivate a big farm. Two or three acres will supply the family with all the food required, and the Chinese merchant will buy enough of his produce to provide a few dollars in cash and the cloth for the family wearing apparel. In the smaller villages there is an open place that answers for a street, but the houses are apt to be scattered about without much regularity of arrangement.

The houses, like those of the Pacific islands generally, are built of bamboo frames—heavy pieces for the framework itself and woven bamboo splints for the side sheathing. The roof is carefully thatched with the leaves of the nipa-palm and these are sewn into a thick mat with ratan. In places where the ground is likely to be overflowed, each house is set on posts so that the floors are several feet from the ground. In this case the "pig" does not "live in the parlor"; the pigs and chickens occupy the "ground floor." All told, the Filipino village mansion may not be very ornate, but it is extremely comfortable.

The larger villages and cities are built much alike. There is a plaza or public square. Around the four sides, and facing the plaza, are the church, government buildings, and stores. The more pretentious residences are near by. Further away these give place to the Filipino, or "nipa houses," as they are called. The street surrounding the plaza is broad and well kept; elsewhere the streets are quagmires in the rainy, and dust holes in the dry season. Pretty nearly always there is a Chinese quarter that is crowded and dirty; quite likely, too, the best stores in the town are kept by Chinese merchants. That is the way the Spaniards laid out their cities and towns in Spain; they did not change the plan in the Philippines. The houses built for them in the islands are much like those in Spanish towns—adobe walls plastered with stucco, and roofed with tiles.