Three Years' Wanderings in the Northern Provinces of China / Including a visit to the tea, silk, and cotton countries; with an account of the agriculture and horticulture of the Chinese, new plants, etc.

by Robert Fortune

The air-plants are not found so frequently in the dense shaded parts of the forests as in the edges of the woods, on trees by the road-sides, and in exposed situations. I found the genus Aërides very often in the most dense parts of the woods, but never a single plant of Phalænopsis. The latter was commonly found growing on the branches of the Mango in the cleared parts of the woods, near the cottages of the Indians, and sometimes on the very tops of high trees where it was fully exposed to the sun. I confess this fact was quite contrary to the opinion I had formed of the habits of these plants; for I expected to have found them principally in damp shaded forests, where the sun's rays could seldom penetrate; but such is not the case, at least in the Philippine Islands.

Having ransacked the country around Don Inego's farm, I now set off, accompanied by my servants and some other Indians to St. Pablo and Dolores. Dolores is a small village in a wild part of the country, where the natives bear a very bad character, having frequently attacked and robbed travellers. During our progress my companions related a great many stories of this kind, and were evidently not a little frightened. The roads were only narrow lanes, leading through dense thickets of brushwood, and the locality was certainly an excellent one for lawless characters of every description to do exactly as they pleased in. On one occasion, when I had gone a little way ahead of the party, something alarmed them, and the whole set took to their heels and ran off in another direction. I rode back after the fugitives, and being well armed explored the ground in every direction to find out the cause of their alarm, but could discover nothing, and at length I persuaded them to return and pursue the journey. Shortly after this, however, a wild-looking Indian stepped out of the forest, and stood eyeing us narrowly as we passed him oil the road. He had a short matchlock in his hand, and evidently belonged to the band of free-booters who infested this part of the country. I passed him in a very slow and deliberate manner, taking care to watch his motions, and to let him see that I and some of my party were well armed, and prepared for any attack. After looking at us in silence for a minute or two, he jumped into the jungle and disappeared.

As our path winded through the jungle, we sometimes could only see a very short distance either before or behind us. At one of these bends we heard a noise amongst the bushes, as if a number of men were advancing rapidly towards us, and naturally concluded that we were about to be attacked. A halt was instantly called, and then the question was whether we should advance or recede. As I had no time to lose I looked to my fire-arms and determined to proceed. Accordingly I rode forward a few paces to reconnoitre, and saw a numerous band, not of robbers or free-booters, but—I hope my courteous reader will not laugh—of monkeys! there must have been several hundreds of these animals on the trees, jumping about from branch to branch, and evidently enjoying themselves vastly. As we passed amongst them they commenced chattering and making all sorts of faces at us.

At length we reached the little village of Dolores, and as in duty bound, I immediately went to pay my respects to the Padre. His house was a small miserable hut, little better than those of the Indians which surrounded it, and poorly furnished.

He received us kindly, and told us that we were welcome to the shelter his house afforded, and that although he had little to offer us in the way of luxuries, he should do every thing in his power to make us comfortable. At the same time he informed us we were in a dangerous neighbourhood, and that he could not answer for the security of the ponies or baggage. The servants and Indians who accompanied me, were accommodated in another house which was building for the Padre, and the ponies were tied up there, and a watch set over them. The Indians mounted guard by turns; they were well armed, and as they were much frightened, there was no danger of their neglecting their duty. I was told in the morning, that they had been roused several times during the night; but I fancy imagination had something to do with it, as I found that every thing belonging to us was perfectly safe. In the evening, after dark, the worthy Padre did every thing in his power to amuse me. He had an old pianoforte which had found its way by some means into this wild mountain district, but I presume it had never been tuned since its first arrival, for it was sadly out of order. On this he played a number of Spanish and Italian airs, accompanying the instrument with his voice. After exhausting his own stock of songs he sent for his servant-boy, and the head man of the village, who were musicians, and got up a sort of concert. The Padre played on the pianoforte, the boy on the fife, and the other on the clarionette. It must be confessed, however, that the music was not very harmonious.

The greater part of the following day was spent in exploring the surrounding country, and in the afternoon I bade the hospitable priest adieu, and started for St. Pablo, which was situated in a more civilised part of the country. There, also, and indeed wherever I went, the priests were most kind and hospitable.

The Philippine Islands must, atone time, have been a complete nest of volcanoes. With one exception, they are now all inactive; but traces of them were met with at every step of our progress through the higher districts of the country, in the form of circular pools of stagnant water, and masses of lava which still emit a most disagreeable odour when they are stirred up. On the top of a high hill, near St. Pablo, I came unexpectedly on the remains of a still more recent volcano. The trees in its vicinity were in a most unhealthy state, many of their roots and branches being decayed. Sometimes I sunk nearly up to the knees amongst burnt-looking earth, which emitted a strong sulphureous smell; and, as none of the natives were with me, I was sometimes afraid of getting into the mouth of the crater, and going down altogether.

The Island of Luzon, of which Manila is the capital, is very like Java and other parts of the straits. It is very hilly, but extremely fertile, and affords a most striking contrast to the barren shores of the south of China which I had just left. Large crops of rice are produced on the low lands which are capable of being flooded. Sugar and tobacco are grown on such ground as would produce good wheat in England; and coffee and chocolate trees are planted on the sides of the hills. The Manila mango is considered one of the finest in the world, not inferior to that which is produced near Bombay. Cocoa-nuts, plantains, bananas, and other tropical fruits abound, and are to be had in great perfection. Besides these oranges are also cultivated; but they are inferior to those of China and Europe; indeed, as might be expected, all the fruits, natives of more northern latitudes, which we find in these islands, are far surpassed by the same kinds which grow in climates more congenial to their nature. The vine is largely cultivated, but it produces grapes of a very inferior quality.

The mountainous portions of the country are for the most part in a state of nature, being covered with trees, and with brushwood; which in some places is so thick that I had to employ the Indians to cut a way through it with small billhooks which they kept for the purpose. In other parts, the tops of the tall trees form a mass so dense, that no ray ever shines through them. The ground on the sides of these mountains is always in a moist and slimy condition; and is the habitation of millions of leeches. In my first excursion to the mountains I observed the feet and legs of the Indians, who were cutting a path for me, covered with blood, and at first I fancied that they must have wounded themselves with the thorny shrubs which they were cutting. On inquiry, however, I found that it was the leeches that were doing the mischief, and in a very little time I had a good many specimens of their powers upon my own skin. There were two species, one a small linear one, and the other nearly round. "Whenever the former fixed upon the Indians, they invariably pulled it off, but they never interfered with the little round one. I found that the reason for this was, that the latter, if taken off by force, would leave a very painful wound; but that, if allowed to suck until it was full, it would drop off, of its own accord, and leave scarcely a mark; the other species might be taken off with impunity. At first, when they fixed themselves upon me, which they did through my stockings, I set to work to pull them off, without regard to species, although warned by the natives of the impropriety of doing so. In a short time my legs were covered with blood, and the wounds annoyed me with a kind of itching soreness for several days afterwards.

With the exception of the Orchids, the Philippines are not very rich in plants of an ornamental kind. As far as I had an opportunity of judging, the vegetation of Luzon bears a great resemblance to the island of Java and the other parts of the Malay Archipelago. The country is, however, very rich in birds and shells, and many of the land species of the latter are extremely valuable. Mr. Cuming, who is well known in this part of the world, made very large collections of them, and has already distributed them over the greater part of Europe and America.