[54] Large boats undecked, pulling from 20 to 30 oars; they carry a four or six pounder and five or six swivels; they are fine boats and sail fast. The gun-boats carry a long 24 or 32 pounder, and six or eight swivels; and including marines, carry from 80 to 100 men. [↑]
[55] For recent information on this subject, see chapter on agriculture (revised by Frank Lamson-Scribner, chief of Bureau of Agriculture), in Official Handbook of Philippines, pp. 99–126; and Census of Philippines, iv, pp. 11–394, with full description of chief products of the islands, methods of cultivation, lists of fruits, vegetables, and fiber plants, and detailed statistics of production, lands, etc., as well as of domestic animals of all kinds.—Eds. [↑]
[56] The fish principally caught is one called Dalag (Blennius?)[57] This fish, common I believe to many parts of India, presents some phenomena well worth the attention of naturalists. In these extensive plains, only a few pools remain in the dry season; and after the rains, such multitudes of them are found, that they are caught with baskets only. They weigh from one to two pounds, and are from one to two feet in length; they are found in the rice fields, when these have been overflowed a few weeks, and strange to relate, in the graves and vaults of churches when in damp situations, but with little or no water near them; this fact is related on respectable authority. The fish, though not delicate, is good, and forms a valuable article of food for the poor. [↑]
[57] Montero y Vidal mentions this fish (Archipiélago filipino, p. 107), as belonging to the genus Ophicephalus; it is “abundant in the rivers, lakes, and pools.” See also Official Handbook of Philippines, pp. 151, 152.—Eds. [↑]
[58] They, very unaccountably, neglected any steps to procure the martin from Bengal or Cochin China.[59] This might, however, have arisen from an idea that, as in the Isle of France, the martins might have become as great a nuisance as the locusts; but surely the introduction of some species of hawk would have obviated this. [↑]
[59] Montero y Vidal says (Archipiélago filipino, p. 113) that the family of Orthoptera, “leaf-eaters in their adult stage, are the most fearful scourge for agriculture,” perhaps the worst of these plagues being the locust (Oedipoda manilensis; Spanish, langosta); “the Indians use great nets to catch them, because not only the government pays a bounty for a certain quantity of these destructive insects which the natives may present, but they preserve the insects and use them for food.” He also states (p. 96) that a species of grackle (Gracula) was imported from China (in the Hist. de Filipinas, ii, p. 294, he mentions in the same connection martins [pájaros martines]) to exterminate this pest; but does not mention the time or the result of this experiment.—Eds. [↑]
[60] See VOL. XLVIII, p. 96, note 37.—Eds. [↑]
[61] This is the Viverra Musanga.[62] See Horsfield’s Zoology of Java. [↑]
[62] Montero y Vidal states (Archipiélago filipino, pp. 86, 87) that two species of carnivores, Paradoxurus philippinensis and P. musanga, are dreaded by the coffee-planters; these creatures “spend the day in holes dug in the ground, and go out at night to hunt their game.” He mentions, besides these, two species of civets, both of the genus Viverra. Delgado says (p. 875) that he has never seen the miró (Paradoxurus) except in the island of Leyte.—Eds. [↑]