Narrative of the Circumnavigation of the Globe by the Austrian Frigate Novara Volume Ii Part 11

Tea 2,057,400 "

Pepper 45,000 "

The duties on imports and exports for that year in the islands of Java and Madura alone amounted to 7,440,579 guilders, or 620,048.

N.B. The picul of 125 lbs. = 136 lbs. 10 ounces avoirdupois.

[62] Since this was written a number of the Dutch officials and _savans_ at Java, who showed so many civilities to the Austrian travellers, were decorated by our Government with Austrian orders, among whom was also the Raden Adipata Wira Nata Kusuma, the first native Javanese Regent ever decorated by a foreign power. The prince was extremely delighted when he was informed of it, and said he longed for the hour when the imperial decoration was to arrive that he might put it on and wear it. Singularly enough the presents and letters of acknowledgment sent to the Dutch Government in the Hague for remittance, were not forwarded direct by the mail steamer, but as customary by sailing vessels, so that they only arrived six months after they were presented!

[63] A genuine Javanese musical instrument, consisting of a number of bells all differently tuned, which are struck with two small bamboo-sticks.

[64] Die Republic Costa Rica, in Central-America, mit besonderer Berucksichtigung der Naturverhaltnisse, und der frage der deutschen Answanderung und Colonisation. Reisestudien und Reiseskizzen aus den Jahren 1853 und 1854. Von Dr. M. Wagner and Dr. Karl Scherzer. Leipzig, Arnold'sche Buchhandlung. 1856. S. 196-197.

[65] Colonel Von Schierbrand, to whom natural science is already under deep obligations for acquiring a variety of valuable objects, is constantly and indefatigably endeavouring, both as a friend of knowledge and a zealous sportsman, to procure, sometimes by personal exertion, sometimes by employing natives engaged at his own expense, a series of rare geological specimens. He appears to be, like so many other of our excellent friends in Java, a living contradiction to the proverb, "Out of sight, out of mind," as he has since the return of the Expedition already sent over as presents to the museums of our native country, valuable selections of curious objects of natural history from the Indian Archipelago.

[66] The Loar-Badang (Public Market) is an immense building, a sort of brothel on a large scale, kept by a Frenchman, who pays a handsome annual sum to Government for the privilege of his infamous traffic. Here, among others, are some 40 or 50 wretched outcasts, whom he sends off in boats every evening to the merchantmen in the port, for the accommodation of their crews!!!

[67] According to official return, the number of criminals, in the year 1857, convicted in the islands of Java and Madura, was 3864, of whom 198 were females and 955 were sentenced to the chain-gang. In the year 1857 alone, 2525 coloured criminals were sentenced to hard labour, with or without chains. The number of convictions in the Dutch East Indies, exclusive of Java and Madura, amounted in the same year to 4430.

[68] Thus the "Prima donna" receives for tragic opera 1500 guilders (125), and for comic opera 1800 guilders (150) per month during the season. The "troupe" is usually engaged for a year and a half or two years together.

[69] Of these we cannot refrain from mentioning Dr. Van den Broek, who shortly before our arrival had returned from j.a.pan, where he had resided seven years as physician and Government agent. Dr. Van den Broek, who is at present engaged in the editing a dictionary of the Dutch and j.a.panese languages, presented us with a botanical work in j.a.panese with numerous woodcuts, and at the same time was so exceedingly kind as to present us with a small vocabulary of the Court and the popular dialects used in j.a.pan.

[70] Among scientific circles in Batavia the recent departure of the renowned ichthyologist, Dr. Bleeker, who intends to settle in Holland or Germany, will be the more appreciated, that this resolve will be regarded by his numerous European friends as a satisfactory a.s.surance that the valuable materials relating to natural history which he has collected will ere long make their appearance in a suitable form.

[71] Voyagers between Batavia and Manila must not, however, always expect to make so rapid a voyage. In Manila we fell in with a s.h.i.+p captain, who had left Batavia in April, and, owing to the prevalence of calms and contrary winds, had been 59 days on the pa.s.sage!

[Ill.u.s.tration: View from the Battlements at Manila.]

XIII.

Manila.

Stay from 15th to 25th June, 1858.

Historical notes relating to the Philippines.--From Cavite to Manila.--The river Pasig.--First impressions of the city.--Its inhabitants.--Tagales and Negritoes.--Preponderating influence of Monks.--Visit to the four chief monasteries.--Conversation with an Augustine Monk.--Grammars and Dictionaries of the idioms chiefly in use in Manila.--Reception by the Governor-general of the Philippines.--Monument in honour of Magelhaens.--The "Calzada."--c.o.c.k-fighting.--"Fiestas Reales."--Causes of the languid trade with Europe hitherto.--Visit to the Cigar-manufactories.--Tobacco cultivation in Luzon and at the Havanna.--Abaca, or Manila hemp.--Excursion to the "Laguna de Bay."--A row on the river Pasig.--The village of Patero.-- Wild-duck breeding.--Sail on the Lagoon.--Plans for ca.n.a.lization.--Arrival at Los Banos.--Canoe-trip on the "enchanted sea."--Alligators.--Kalong Bats.--Gobernador and Gobernadorcillo.--The Poll-tax.--A hunt in the swamps of Calamba.--Padre Lorenzo.--Return to Manila.--The "Pebete."--The military Library.--The civil and military Hospital.-- Ecclesiastical processions.--Ave Maria.--Tagalian merriness.-- Condiman.--Lunatic Asylum.--Gigantic serpent thirty-two years old.--Departure.--Chinese pilots.--First glimpse of the coasts of the Celestial Empire.--The Lemmas Channel.--Arrival in Hong-kong Harbour.

Luzon, or Manila, the largest and most important island, politically speaking, of the Philippine Archipelago, is the sole possession of the Spanish Crown which was visited by the _Novara_ during her numerous traverses and diagonal tracks on her voyage round the world. As we had hitherto come into contact for the most part with the Anglo-Saxon race and its colonies, it was naturally doubly interesting to have an opportunity of becoming likewise acquainted with the results of civilization and colonization as exemplified by what are called the Romaic or Latin branches of the great Caucasian family, and by personal examination to satisfy ourselves in what fas.h.i.+on the Castilians have succeeded in identifying their own advantages with those of the natives of these islands. True it is, that the history of the earlier Spanish dependencies is by no means calculated to heighten our regard for the wisdom and mildness of the colonial policy of Spain, or to give a particularly favourable impression of the political and social condition of the Philippine Islands. A state, whose power at the commencement of the present century was still beaming in all its l.u.s.tre, who has lost the fairest and most fertile lands on the face of the earth, which it had possessed for above three hundred years, without the slightest attempt to defend them, whose Government, through its inflexible adherence to obsolete forms and ordinances, after the dizzy pre-eminence of ruling the world has dwindled into a power of the third cla.s.s,--leaves nothing to hope that any part of its organization should have remained intact, that the canker in its political and social proclivities, which so suddenly and so disastrously brought about the downfal of one of the mightiest and most extended empires in the world, should not likewise have made its appearance in the Philippines. However, it is precisely these considerations which make the contrast between the colonies founded by the Anglo-Saxon race in remote regions of the globe, and those of the Spanish, Portuguese, Dutch, and so forth, so valuable and instructive, although a rigid a.n.a.lysis of the causes which have conduced to the present condition of the majority of the countries conquered and ruled by races of Latin origin, must necessarily impress the unprejudiced inquirer in a sense little flattering to these latter, namely, that the history of every quarter of the globe would have a.s.sumed an entirely different aspect had these countries been first discovered and colonized by the Anglo-Saxon race, with its watchwords of freedom and religious toleration, instead of the Spaniard or Portuguese, with tyranny and fanaticism inscribed on its banners.

The Archipelago of the Philippines comprises those numerous islands and islets between the parallels of 5 and 21 N., and which are scattered between the North Pacific Ocean on the east and the Chinese Sea on the west. The entire group, which, according to the Spanish account, consists of not fewer than 408 islands, extends over 16 of lat.i.tude by 9 of longitude, covering a superficial area of 91,000 square miles, or about the dimensions of England, Ireland, and Wales, exclusive of Scotland. Only two islands however of the whole cl.u.s.ter are of considerable dimensions, viz. Luzon, or Manila, which is about the same size as Galicia, Moravia, and Silesia taken together, and Mindano, which, in superficial area, is about equal to Styria, Carinthia, and Carniola.

As in size, so in fertility, natural advantages, and commerce, Luzon is the most important island in the Archipelago, as it is likewise one of the most delightful spots in the tropics. The climate is adapted to the cultivation of all the plants and various forms of vegetation alike of the torrid and the temperate zones. On the coast the thermometer never falls below 71.6 Fahr., nor rises above 95 Fahr. In the highland valley of Banjanao, 6000 feet above the level of the sea, albeit not above 36 miles distant from Manila, the thermometer frequently descends as low as 44.6 Fahr. The highest register of the thermometer is during the rainy months,[72] from May to September; but we were a.s.sured over and over again that in Manila the heat is very equably distributed over the entire year, and never attains such a high degree as many summer days in Madrid. The most valuable and most extensively used plants of the tropical and sub-tropical zones, suck as sugar, coffee, cocoa, cotton, bananas, maize, tobacco, and rice, flourish here. The forests abound in all the most valuable descriptions of cabinet-wood, but the narrow-minded illiberality that has always characterized the colonial policy of Spain, the numberless restrictions to which her commerce is subjected, do not admit of that magnificent development of which this insular cl.u.s.ter, so abounding in natural wealth, would be susceptible under a more free-souled rule. The Spaniards have conquered and have subjugated the islands, fanatical monks have what they call Christianized the people, but, during the three hundred years that the Castilian has held the supremacy here, little if anything has been done for the prosperity and development of the country, or the intellectual and moral advancement of the people.

The Philippine Islands were discovered by Magelhaens and Pigafetta on the 17th March, 1521, nearly twenty-nine years after the discovery of America by Columbus, and two years after the conquest of Mexico by Fernando Cortez. In consonance with the religious customs of that age, the group was named by Magelhaens "The Archipelago of St. Lazarus," because the day on which it was discovered corresponded with the fete-day of that saint in the calendar. But the discovery did not imply the conquest of the Archipelago. Four expeditions were dispatched at various intervals, without their succeeding in subduing the natives. The solitary result obtained thence was, that the commander of the fourth expedition, that of 1542, Don Ruy Lopez de Villalobos by name, changed the Scriptural name of the Archipelago for that by which it is at present known, in honour of the prince of Asturias (then 15 years old), afterwards Philip II.

It was not till a fifth expedition had started in 1565, forty-one years after the first discovery of the Archipelago by Magelhaens, that the conquest was finally completed. The leader of this was Miguel Lopez de Legaspi, a man noways inferior to a Cortez or a Pizarro in venturesomeness of spirit, inflexible perseverance, and brilliant courage, and in humanity far exceeding either. His squadron consisted of five s.h.i.+ps, and his entire force, including soldiers and mariners, was but 400 men.

On 21st November, 1564, Legaspi sailed from Port Natividad in Spain, and on 16th February, 1565, hove in sight of the Philippines. The hardy navigator was accompanied by a number of Augustinian monks, who in the subsequent subjugation of the islands proved far more serviceable than his soldiers. The superior of these monks, Fray Andres de Urdaneta, a very remarkable man, had commanded a s.h.i.+p in the first expedition, and had afterwards been admitted into the order of St. Augustine.

Four years after their arrival at the Philippines, and after they had subdued the native inhabitants of the fertile islands of Cebu and Panay, Legaspi first discovered Luzon, and there in the year 1571 founded the city of Manila. Since this first conquest the Spaniards have by no means been permitted to retain undisturbed possession of this smiling cl.u.s.ter of islands. Not alone the Portuguese and the Dutch bestirred themselves at various intervals to drive the Spaniards out of the Archipelago, but the English likewise, in 1762, towards the close of the Seven Years' War, invaded these settlements.[73]

The area conquered, however, did not extend further inland than to a distance of ten miles from the walls of the city, and after an occupation of ten months, Manila was restored to the Crown of Spain by the Peace of Paris, 1763. Since that memorable period, the Philippine group has remained uninterruptedly under the dominion of the Spaniards, and has up to the present day been a faithful dependent of the Royal House of Castile. In fact, with the exception of Cuba and Porto Rico, the Philippine and Marianne Archipelagoes are the sole colonies that Spain still retains of her once so enormous possessions in the distant portions of the globe, although in Manila even in our own day, as will be more fully detailed presently, despite her honourable distinction of "_La Siempre real ciudad_" (The Ever Loyal city), there is no lack of discontent, and the generally prevailing "loyal tranquillity" is, none the less, boding many serious perils for the Spanish supremacy.

The most striking peculiarity of the natural configuration of Luzon[74]

is its strongly-marked separation into two peninsulas, a northern, which comprises the larger portion, and a southern, smaller island; the former named Luzon by the Spanish, the latter Camarinas. The length of the entire island, including its numerous curves, is about 550 miles, and its greatest width about 135 miles, but in many places it is little more than thirty miles in breadth. The chain of the Caraballos mountains traverse Luzon from north to south, and sends off spurs in various directions, which impart an exceeding hilly aspect to the entire island.

The Spaniards divide Luzon into three main divisions; Costa, Contra-Costa, and Centro, corresponding pretty nearly with the western side, the eastern side, and the interior of the island, and formerly indicating in what order these different sections of the country had been subjected to the Spanish dominion. The latest distribution is into 35 provinces and 12 districts.

Manila, the capital of Luzon, as also of the whole Archipelago, and the oldest European settlement in this region of the globe, lies at the mouth of a small but rather rapid river, the Pasig, which after a course of about 30 miles, draws off to the sea the waters of the great Bay-Lake (_Laguna de Bay_). In consequence of a not very conveniently situated mole, the Pasig is forming a bar close to its own embouchure, which makes it somewhat dangerous for boats to attempt an entrance in bad weather.

s.h.i.+ps, however, can anchor about 1-1/2 miles below the fortified walls of the city, which, though impregnable to the attack of a native force, would probably be found powerless to repel a European force attacking from seaward.

The members of the Scientific Commission started from Cavite, where the frigate lay at anchor, in the small steamer which plies daily to the capital, which, when beheld from a distance, with its gloomy, lofty, defiant fortifications, and its dense cl.u.s.ters of monastic buildings and church towers, gives the impression rather of some great Catholic Mission than a place of commerce. In the roads there were not above 16 s.h.i.+ps lying at anchor, whereas we counted 165 in Singapore, a disproportion which, considering the favourable site of Manila and its wealth in all manner of valuable produce, can only be accounted for by the pressure of political and administrative regulations, which weigh like a mountain upon trade and commerce.

On pulling up the river from its mouth, where it is about 300 feet wide, we find ourselves in the vicinity of the light-house, in front of a dense ma.s.s of the inevitable filthy bamboo huts, which being inhabited by the very poorest section of the population, increase the dismal, gloomy impression left by the first view of the city. We land in the neighbourhood of the harbour-master's office, and have to pick our steps through a dirty quarter of the town in order to reach the focus of public activity.

The river Pasig divides Manila Proper from its sister city of Binondo. Two handsome bridges, one an old-fas.h.i.+oned stone one, the other a modern suspension bridge of imposing dimensions, form the communication between the two cities. Manila, situate on the southern or left bank, and enclosed on all sides with ditches and fortifications, has all the peculiar features of a Spanish town of the ancient type. It consists of eight straight, narrow streets, all running in one direction. Within these are most of the public buildings; the Governor-general's Palace and that of the Archbishop, the Munic.i.p.ality, the Supreme Courts, the Cathedral, the a.r.s.enal, the Barracks. Profound silence reigns in the gra.s.s-grown streets, between the gloomy ma.s.ses of stone, of which at least one-third are Church property. There is no evidence anywhere of joyous life or social progress, and the variegated, charming flower-garden, lately laid out in the square in front of the Cathedral, stands out like a solitary gay picture, amid austere, sombre, historical paintings of vanished might and faded splendour. Within the walls of this melancholy old city only Spaniards and their descendants may dwell, all other races being excluded from this privilege. The number of inhabitants within the fortifications does not probably exceed 10,000 souls.

On the other hand, Binondo, on the northern or right bank of the river, is the true business city and head-quarters of trade. Here Europeans, Chinese, Malays, and their endless intermixtures of blood, amounting in all to more than 140,000 souls, reside in the most perfect harmony with each other; here are all the warehouses, shops, and manufactories; here prevails from morning till night a perpetual whirl of busy, cheerful crowds circulating through the streets, of which that called the Escolta is the most frequented, as it is the handsomest and most attractive. The houses, on account of the frequency of earthquakes, are usually one storey high, enclosing large courts (_patios_), and very frequently with a sort of terrace on the roof. The interiors of the houses have an unusually s.p.a.cious appearance, owing to their almost universally having but little furniture, in many cases simply a number of chairs ranged along the walls.

But the most singular aspect of these houses is to be found in the windows, the panes of most of them being made, not of gla.s.s, but of the sh.e.l.l of a species of oyster (_Placuna Placenta_), ground down to the requisite thinness! The subdued light which is thus obtained is exceedingly grateful, and these mussel-sh.e.l.ls have been found to be cheaper and more lasting than panes of gla.s.s, which, in a country so frequently visited by earthquakes and hurricanes, could only be replaced when injured at an immense expense. The streets are rather narrow, so much so that linen awnings are stretched across the streets from one row of shops to that opposite, thus securing to the foot-pa.s.senger the inestimable boon of being able during the hottest hours of the day to traverse almost every street in Binondo under shade.

That which the stranger understands by the emphatic word "comfort" is only to be found in the houses of European residents, and is not obtainable by money. The two hotels lately started to levy, unchallenged, Californian prices for even the most moderate requirements, and so far as cleanliness and orderliness are concerned, lag far behind the commonest country inn in North America or the British colonies.[75]

Despite the various races that meet the stranger's gaze, Manila has, beyond any other colony in the East, the appearance of a European town.

One remarks here, that the colonists are more completely amalgamated with the natives, and that with the religion these latter have also adopted a considerable proportion of the customs of Europeans.

Among the populace of Manila belonging to the coloured races, that most prevalent in the capital is the Tagal, or Tagalag, on whose territory the Spaniards founded their first settlement. The obscurity that envelopes their origin has never been dispelled, although some of the older religious writers thought they found on Borneo and other islands of the Sunda Archipelago some traces of their stock. They were confirmed in this impression by the fact, that in the most cultivated dialects and idioms of the Tagal is to be found an unusually great number of Malay and Javanese words. The majority of the plants cultivated here, such as rice, sugar-cane, yam, indigo, cocoa-palm, as also all domestic animals, many of the metals, and even the digits used in enumeration, are, although greatly corrupted, directly traceable to the corresponding words or names in Malay. Moreover, there is a tradition very prevalent throughout Luzon, that the Spaniards, at their first arrival in this Archipelago, found certain Bornese officials here, who were levying taxes and t.i.thes for the Rajahs resident in that island.

Next in number to the Tagals rank the Chinese with their descendants, and to these succeed the Spaniards, with their offspring born in the country, who amount together to barely 5000, or about a 28th of the whole population of the capital; of Spaniards of pure descent, there are not above 300 in Manila.[76]

Besides the Tagal there is in this Archipelago yet another race, the _Negritos_, who only inhabit the mountain districts of the islands of Luzon, Mindoro, Panay, Negros, and Mindano, and are estimated at about 25,000 souls. These Negritos del Monte, or Negrillos, also called Aeta, Aigta, Ite, Inapta, and Igorote, are small in physical conformation as compared with their African congeners. The characteristic features of the negro are less strongly marked, the colour of their skin and their complexion are both less black. For this reason old Spanish authors speak of them as "_menos negro y menos feo_" (less negro-like and less hideous).

Owing to their small stature, which does not average above 4 feet 8 inches English, they have received the appellation of Negritos (diminutive Negroes). By Spanish writers upon the Philippines they have been described as a still existent branch of the lowest type of humanity, without fixed dwellings, without regular employment, eking out a bare subsistence on roots and wild fruits, and such animals as they could bring down with the bow and arrow, their only weapon. Through the kind offices of Mr. Grahame, we had an opportunity of gratifying our curiosity to see an individual of this singular race of Negritos. This was a girl of about 12 or 14 years of age, of dwarf-like figure, with woolly hair, broad nostrils, but without the dark skin and wide everted lips which characterize the negro type.

This pleasing-looking, symmetrically formed girl had been brought up in the house of a Spaniard, apparently with the pious object of rescuing her soul from heathenism. The poor little Negrilla hardly understood her own mother tongue, besides a very little Tagal, so that we had considerable difficulty in understanding each other. The received opinion that the Negrillos and the Igorotes are of a distinct race, but having some affinity with the Papuans of New Guinea, seems to us for many reasons very problematical. We are as yet far too little acquainted with the races inhabiting the most inaccessible parts of the island, to be able to p.r.o.nounce a correct opinion upon such a point. The probabilities are not less that the Negritos and Igorotes stand in the same relation to the dwellers on the coast as the Bushmen to the Hottentots, the Weddahs to the Cingalese, or the savages of Sambalong to the natives of the rest of the Nicobars.

The Spanish language is only available in Manila and the vicinity;--a few miles in the interior, even in places which hold almost daily communication with Manila, Tagal is much more commonly used. At present Tagal is written and printed exclusively in the Roman character. While in Manila, we never once saw a book or MS. in which the ancient character had been used. Even the oldest printed matter, such as, for instance, a Tagal grammar, published in Manila in 1610, contains only a few samples of the native alphabet, while as to its original arrangement, as also the form of the numerals, the utmost uncertainty prevails. The entire alphabet, which, including the three vowels, consists of but 17 letters, comprises the following characters:

[Transcriber's Note: Each of the italicized character groups below designate the Roman equivalent to a Tagal character. The Tagal character can not be rendered here. It is available in the .html version of this book.]

Vowels.

_a_ _e_ and _i_ _o_ and _u_

Consonants.

_ba_ _ca_ _da_ a. _ra_ _ga_ _nga_