Yesterdays in the Philippines

Contents

INTRODUCTION Page xiii

I

Leaving" God's Country "—Hong Kong— Crossing to Luzon— Manila Bay— First View of the City— Earthquake Precautions— Balconies and Window-gratings — The River Pasig — Promenade of the Malecon— The Old City— The Puente de Espana— Population — A Philippine Bed— The English Club— The Luneta — A Christmas Dinner at the Club, Page i

II

Shopping at the " Botica Inglesa "—The Chit System— Celebrating New Year's Eve — Manila Cooking Arrangements — Floors and Windows — Peculiarities of the Tram-car Service — Roosters Everywhere—Italian Opera— Philippine Music— The Mercury at 74° and an Epidemic of " Grippe "—Fight Between a Bull and a Tiger —A Sorry Fiasco— Carnival Sunday, Page 22

III

A Philippine Valet— The Three Days Chinese New Year — Marionettes and Minstrels at Manila— Yankee Skippers — Furnishing a Bungalow — Rats, Lizards, and Mosquitoes— A New Arrival — Pony-races in Santa Mesa— Cigars and Cheroots — Servants — Cool Mountain Breezes — House-snakes— Cost of Living— Holy Week, Page 43

V1U CONTENTS

IV

An Up-country Excursion— Steaming up the River to the Lake- Legend of the Chinaman and the Crocodile— Santa Cruz and Pagsanjan — Dress of the Women — Mountain Gorges and River Rapids— Church Processions — Cocoanut Rafts— A " Carromata" Ride to Paquil— An Earthquake Lasting Forty-five Seconds— Small-pox and other Diseases in the Philippines — The Manila Fire Department— How Thatch Dealers Boom the Market— Cost of Living, Page 60

Visit of the Sagamore— Another Mountain Excursion— The Caves of Montalvan— A Hundred-mile View— A Village School— A " Fiesta " at Obando— The Manila Fire-tree— A Move to the Seashore — A Waterspout — Captain Tayler's Dilemma— A Trip Southward —The Lake of Taal and its Volcano — Seven Hours of Poling — A Night's Sleep in a Hen-coop, Page 8?

VI

First Storm of the Rainy Season— Fourth of July — Chinese " Chow " Dogs— Crullers and Pie and a Chinese Cook— A Red-letter Day —The China- Japan War— Manila Newspapers— General Blanco and the Archbishop — An American Fire-engine and its Lively Trial— The Coming of the Typhoon — Violence of the Wind — The Floods Next— Manila Monotony, Page 112

VII

A Series of Typhoons— A Chinese Feast-day— A Bank-holiday Excursion— Lost in the Mist— Los Banos— The " Enchanted Lake "— Six Dollars for a Human Life — A Religious Procession— Celebration of the Expulsion of the Chinese— Bicycle Races and Fireworks, Page 737

CONTENTS IX

VIII

A Trip to the South— Contents of the " Puchero "— Romblon—Cebu, the Southern Hemp-centre— Places Touched At— A Rich Indian at Camiguin— Tall Trees— Primitive Hemp-cleaners — A New Volcano — Mindanao Island — Moro Trophies— Iligan — Iloilo — Back Again at Manila, Page 149

IX

Club-house Chaff— Christmas Customs and Ceremonies— New Year's Calls— A Dance at the English Club— The Royal Exposition of the Philippines — Fireworks on the King's Fete Day— Electric Lights and the Natives— The Manila Observatory— A Hospitable Governor — The Convent at Antipolo, Page 173

Exacting Harbor Regulations— The Eleanor takes French Leave— Loss of the Gravina — Something about the Native Ladies — Ways of Native Servants — A Sculptor who was a Dentist— Across the Bay to Orani— Children in Plenty— A Public Execution by the Garrote, Page 195

XI

Lottery Chances and Mischances— An American Cigarette-making Machine and its Fate — Closing up Business— How the Foreigner Feels Toward Life in Manila — Why the English and Germans Return— Restlessness among the Natives— Their Persecution — Departure and Farewell, Page 213

CONCLUSION Page 230

LIST OF ILLUSTRATIONS

Facing

page

How We Dressed for $2.50 Frontispiece

Our Office and the Punkah under which the Old Salts Sat for

Free Sea Breezes 8

Plaza de Cervantes, Foreign Business Quarter . . .14

Puente de Espana. Manila's Main Highway Across the Pasig . 2o The Busy Pasig, from the Puente de Espana . . . . 26

A Philippine Sleeping-machine 32

The English Club on the Banks of the Pasig .... 40 The Bull and Tiger Fight— Opening Exercises . . .46

Suburb of Santa Mesa 54

Our Destination was a Town Called Pagsanjan at the Foot of

a Range of Mountains 60

The Rapids in the Gorges of Pagsanjan 66

Cocoanut Rafts on the Pasig, Drifting down to Manila . . 72 The Little Native School under the Big Mango-tree . . 78

Calzada de San Miguel . .84

A Native Village Up Country ....... 90

A " Chow " Shop on a Street Corner 98

Puentes de Ayala, which Help two of Manila's Suburbs to Shake

Hands Across the Pasig 106

Calzada de San Sebastian .114

xi xii LIST OF ILLUSTRATIONS

Facing page

Ploughing in the Rice-fields with the Carabao . . .122 Types of True Filipinos Waiting to Call Themselves Americans. 130

On the Banks of the Enchanted Lake 138

In the Narrow Streets of Old Manila. A Procession . . 144

A Citizen from the Interior 152

How the World's Supply of Manila Hemp is Cleaned . . 160

Moro Chiefs from Mindanao 168

Manila Fruit-girls in a Street-Corner Attitude . . .176

A Typical " Nipa " House .... . . 184

The Little Flower-girl at the Opera 192

Rapid Transit in the Suburbs of Manila 202

The Fourth of July, '95. Execution by the Garrote . . 210

Paseo de la Luneta 220

Captain Tayler, the Genial Skipper of the Esmeralda . . 226

Map of Philippines At End of Volume