The Reign of Greed Part 47

_kalan:_ The small, portable, open, clay fireplace commonly used in cooking.

_kalikut:_ A short section of bamboo for preparing the _buyo_; a primitive betel-box.

_kamagon:_ A tree of the ebony family, from which fine cabinet-wood is obtained. Its fruit is the _mabolo_, or date-plum.

_lanete:_ A variety of timber used in carving.

_linintikan:_ A Tagalog exclamation of disgust or contempt--"thunder!"

_Malacanang:_ The palace of the Captain-General: from the vernacular name of the place where it stands, "fishermen's resort."

_Malecon:_ A drive along the bay sh.o.r.e of Manila, opposite the Walled City.

_Mestizo:_ A person of mixed Filipino and Spanish blood; sometimes applied also to a person of mixed Filipino and Chinese blood.

_naku:_ A Tagalog exclamation of surprise, wonder, etc.

_narra:_ The Philippine mahogany.

_nipa:_ Swamp palm, with the imbricated leaves of which the roofs and sides of the common native houses are constructed.

_novena:_ A devotion consisting of prayers recited for nine consecutive days, asking for some special favor; also, a booklet of these prayers.

_panguingui:_ A complicated card-game, generally for small stakes, played with a monte deck.

_panguinguera:_ A woman addicted to _panguingui_, this being chiefly a feminine diversion in the Philippines.

_pansit:_ A soup made of Chinese vermicelli.

_pansiteria:_ A shop where _pansit_ is prepared and sold.

_panuelo:_ A starched neckerchief folded stiffly over the shoulders, fastened in front and falling in a point behind: the most distinctive portion of the customary dress of Filipino women.

_peso:_ A silver coin, either the Spanish peso or the Mexican dollar, about the size of an American dollar and of approximately half its value.

_petate:_ Sleeping-mat woven from palm leaves.

_pina:_ Fine cloth made from pineapple-leaf fibers.

_Provincial:_ The head of a religious order in the Philippines.

_punales:_ "Daggers!"

_querida:_ A paramour, mistress: from the Spanish "beloved."

_real:_ One-eighth of a peso, twenty cuartos.

_sala:_ The princ.i.p.al room in the more pretentious Philippine houses.

_salakot:_ Wide hat of palm or bamboo, distinctively Filipino.

_sampaguita:_ The Arabian jasmine: a small, white, very fragrant flower, extensively cultivated, and worn in chaplets and rosaries by women and girls--the typical Philippine flower.

_sipa_: A game played with a hollow ball of plaited bamboo or rattan, by boys standing in a circle, who by kicking it with their heels endeavor to keep it from striking the ground.

_soltada_: A bout between fighting-c.o.c.ks.

_'Susmariosep_: A common exclamation: contraction of the Spanish, _Jesus, Maria, y Jose_, the Holy Family.

_tabi_: The cry used by carriage drivers to warn pedestrians.

_tabu_: A utensil fas.h.i.+oned from half of a coconut sh.e.l.l.

_taju_: A thick beverage prepared from bean-meal and syrup.

_tampipi_: A telescopic basket of woven palm, bamboo, or rattan.

_Tandang_: A t.i.tle of respect for an old man: from the Tagalog term for "old."

_tapis_: A piece of dark cloth or lace, often richly worked or embroidered, worn at the waist somewhat in the fas.h.i.+on of an ap.r.o.n; a distinctive portion of the native women's attire, especially among the Tagalogs.

_tatakut_: The Tagalog term for "fear."

_teniente-mayor_: "Senior lieutenant," the senior member of the town council and subst.i.tute for the gobernadorcillo.

_tertiary sister_: A member of a lay society affiliated with a regular monastic order.

_tienda_: A shop or stall for the sale of merchandise.

_tikbalang_: An evil spirit, capable of a.s.suming various forms, but said to appear usually as a tall black man with disproportionately long legs: the "bogey man" of Tagalog children.

_tulisan_: Outlaw, bandit. Under the old regime in the Philippines the _tulisanes_ were those who, on account of real or fancied grievances against the authorities, or from fear of punishment for crime, or from an instinctive desire to return to primitive simplicity, foreswore life in the towns "under the bell," and made their homes in the mountains or other remote places. Gathered in small bands with such arms as they could secure, they sustained themselves by highway robbery and the levying of black-mail from the country folk.

NOTES

[1] The Spanish designation for the Christianized Malay of the Philippines was _indio_ (Indian), a term used rather contemptuously, the name _filipino_ being generally applied in a restricted sense to the children of Spaniards born in the Islands.--Tr.

[2] Now generally known as the Mariquina.--Tr.

[3] This bridge, constructed in Lukban under the supervision of a Franciscan friar, was jocularly referred to as the _Puente de Capricho,_ being apparently an ignorant blunder in the right direction, since it was declared in an official report made by Spanish engineers in 1852 to conform to no known principle of scientific construction, and yet proved to be strong and durable.--Tr.

[4] Don Custodio's gesture indicates money.--Tr.

[5] Duck eggs, that are allowed to advance well into the duckling stage, then boiled and eaten. The senora is sneering at a custom among some of her own people.--Tr.