Recollections of Manilla and the Philippines Part 4

CHAPTER XI.

As a body, such Spanish gentlemen as I have been acquainted with, appeared to be quite as remarkable for good breeding as they usually have the credit of being. They generally have a great appearance of candour or frankness of manner, which, although it is for the most part more studied than natural, is prepossessing, and makes them pleasant companions.

Here, however, I am afraid my praise must stop, because I have seen among a great number of them a good deal of dissimulation, or, to speak more plainly, of bad faith,--with regard to which their modes of thinking are very different from those prevailing at home; and among their mercantile people especially, they often appear to imitate, or unconsciously to act upon a smart Yankee trader's modes of getting the best of a bargain, being very frequently rather too unscrupulous in their representations, when it appears to them that it is for their interest to be so.

To give an idea of their opinions about the subject of buying and selling, I will tell the reader a story. A lad, the son of a high government officer, sold an unsound horse to a companion as a sound one, which, on being discovered by the purchaser, of course made him very indignant, and he demanded his money back, complaining at the same time to the boy's father, who pa.s.ses for a person of high character and good sense, about the scurvy trick his son had played him. "Well,"

said this respectable old gentleman, "I am glad to see that the lad is so sharp; for, if he could get the better of you so well, he will make a capital merchant, and be able to cheat the Chinamen!"

Without exaggeration this is a good deal the system on which the Spaniards carry on business. They always appear to be trying to take advantage of a purchaser, and if successful have very complaisant consciences; but should they themselves be taken in, or have the worst of a bargain, their virtuous horror and indignation on discovering it know no bounds. There is very little, or almost none, of that mutual confidence existing between them which exists between British merchants, and which is so necessary in large transactions, or in carrying on an extensive business, as they do.

The large number of government _empleados_ residing at Manilla makes an important addition to the society of the place, as, from being idle men to a great extent, they seek how to amuse and be amused, and are cultivators of the society of the English, whose dinner tables are probably the chief causes of the intercourse which exists between them.

The entire white population in Manilla amounts to about 5,000, a large proportion of them being officers, sergeants, and corporals of the troops stationed either within the town, or in the immediate vicinity.

All the officers are not, however, persons of European descent, as occasionally a black may be seen in an officer's uniform, and very frequently is to be found wearing a sergeant's or corporal's coat. But the natives promoted to the rank of commissioned officers are not many, and on the whole it is probably better for the army that few of them should be so, as were it a common occurrence, or were they allowed to rise to high rank, or to occupy important places, beyond a doubt the _morale_ of the troops would suffer; for when those men do rise from the ranks, they are not considered on an equality by their European brother officers, nor in fact do they consider themselves to be so, and have little or no intercourse with them, beyond the routine of their military duties.

The appearance of the troops is good on the whole; but they appeared to me to be wanting in precision of movement, being by no means equal or similar to some of our best Sepoy soldiers. It is clear that frequently they have not been precisely drilled into all their attempted evolutions. The men, as individuals, are well and powerfully formed, although they are rather deficient in stature and soldierly appearance; they are naturally bold, and when lately tried against the Sooloos, evinced no want of resolution to follow, when their officers would lead them on. I have seen several of them suffer death with an admirable and even heroic composure, such as any man might envy when his last hour comes. It is not an unfrequent thing to see soldiers shot at Manilla for some misdemeanours, and I have not heard of one of them dying a poltroon; certainly, all those I have ever seen suffer, met their doom with the utmost calmness.

The cavalry force, for the purposes of actual conflict, is about the most inefficient branch of the military establishment, being mounted on the ponies of the country, which stand on an average about twelve hands. But as irregulars they might be of some use. It always appeared to me that a single well-mounted squadron of our heavy dragoons could, without any difficulty, ride down the entire regiment. The Government is aware of the inactive state of the horses, their attention having been called thereto by my friend Captain de la O----, an officer of the force, who, in conjunction with the colonel of the regiment, has for some time past been occupied in investigations, and in preparing estimates of the probable expense of an attempt to improve the breed of horses by crossing them with Arab stallions, which it has for some time been in contemplation to send for to cover the country mares.

It would probably be necessary for Government, in order to accomplish this successfully, to adopt a plan similar to that followed at the East India Company's breeding stables in Bengal, and should the project be followed out and properly managed, there can be no doubt but that it will be of the most essential importance to the government service, and a boon to the country.

The horses of the Philippines are small, but for their inches uncommonly powerful, and sometimes fast. They do not appear to have any distinguis.h.i.+ng peculiarity, except perhaps that the head of most of them is rather too large, and very rarely indeed is that feature quite perfect in any of the horses one meets with. At Manilla, and for a considerable distance round it, no mares are allowed to be used, which secures a higher and better looking horse in the neighbourhood of the capital than is met with in the interior of the country; none of them are geldings, and of course they are stronger and more playful in consequence.

But to return to the service and the officers of it whom one meets in society. They are not fond of being sent to the colony, and although with about double the amount of pay they would receive at home, most of them would infinitely prefer remaining in Spain.

After a term of service abroad they get a step in rank, which appears to be the main attraction to those who come to Manilla. Many of them are not very well educated men, and are therefore rather inferior to my countrymen of the same profession in that respect.

A considerable proportion of them, perhaps an equal ratio to those of our army, are gentlemen, or persons of good birth and family connections. They are in general, however, poor, or at all events not over burdened with the good things of this life, and like soldiers of all nations and times, some of them have a certain notoriety for outrunning the constable, or for spending all that they can, which is generally merely their pay. Soon after reaching Manilla, I was accidentally thrown a good deal into their society, from chancing to meet with Don Francisco Caro, a pleasant and lively young lieutenant, at the house of my Spanish teacher, where he was as eager to learn English as I was to be able to speak good Spanish. We became intimate, and agreed to visit each other, he to talk in English to me, and I to him in Spanish,--a practice which very soon enabled us to pick up the languages, and saved a world of trouble in getting up tasks for a teacher, whom we were soon able to do without. The fact of my going frequently to his house, and taking part in the conversation of himself and the many friends with whom he made me acquainted, gave me a considerable facility in talking the language, from having gained a knowledge of it in this way in place of from a pedantic teacher, whose purisms were quite thrown away on one whose wish it was to speak it fluently, although it might be at some sacrifice of elegance.

Here let me record my regret at the manner in which this old companion and friend met his untimely fate, which is not the less regretted because it proceeded from his own strong sense of duty and habitual gallantry of spirit--for this poor fellow was a true Spaniard in all his best qualities. Having been ordered into the provinces with a detachment on the very disagreeable service of hunting up a band of _tulisanes_, or robbers, the necessary exposure to the sun on such an expedition operated so severely on his const.i.tution as to produce a very high fever; yet even in this state he would not succ.u.mb to it, but persisted in marching for several days at the head of his men, although they, on perceiving his condition, had several times endeavoured to persuade him to make use of a litter which they had framed for the purpose, and wished to carry him in. But he would not remain in it even when they almost forced him to use it, and would take no repose until after having accomplished his duty. In this he was successful, as he surprised and destroyed the robber band,--but the effort cost him his life, for he died solely from the effects of the unnatural exertion which he had undergone while the fever was raging within him.

Your many amiable and good qualities yet live, Francisco, in the fond memories of former friends, although you are no longer among them; and your heroic death, while it chastens grief, has added another memento, and a laurel leaf to the wreath your brave Castilian ancestors left behind them, bequeathed to the care of one who knew so well how to value and protect it, and to add to its honour.

CHAPTER XII.

The Church is under the regulation of an Archbishop and four Bishops. The present Archbishop of Manilla, whose reputation for piety and good feeling towards all men stands very high, is an old soldier, who, after serving his king when a young man as lieutenant of cavalry for several years, changed his master, and a.s.suming the habit of a priest, devoted himself to religion for the remainder of his life.

There are about 500 parochial curacies throughout the islands under him in the four bishoprics, 167 of the curacies being situated in his own see; and several literary, charitable, and pious inst.i.tutions at Manilla look up to him as their patron and head; among others may be mentioned the University of Santo Tomas, having chairs for students of Latin, logic, metaphysics, moral philosophy, canon law, theology, &c.

As a body, the ministers of religion in the Philippines are not apparently so well educated a cla.s.s as those of Great Britain, even in the education of the schools, and are possessed of less general information, of course, from the want of any periodical literature equal to that which we have, from whose sources much of the information, and some of the apparent learning of my countrymen are derived, at little cost of time or expense.

However, many of the Spanish _padres_ are men of general and varied attainments, such as would adorn any church or station in life; but the greater number of them can scarcely claim so much, as, although they are all respectably educated, their attention for many years of their life has been directed chiefly to the prosecution of such studies as would influence their advancement in the Church, such as the canon law, church history, theology, &c., on a knowledge of which their consideration for accomplishments among themselves princ.i.p.ally depends, I believe.

Most of the priests I have been in contact with, appeared to be thoroughly convinced of, and faithful to their religion in its purity; and as a body, appear to be about as sincere and pious a cla.s.s as clergymen at home.

Occasionally, however, you meet with startling exceptions to this rule, which astonish any one accustomed to see the high regard to outward decency observed by the same cloth at home; for instance, it would be considered most reprehensible at home, for any clergyman to keep a mistress; and if the fact became known, would occasion his instant dismissal from his cure, and his expulsion from the Church.

This is not so, however, in the Philippines, and may be seen at any time, especially among the Mestizo and native Indian priests, whose education is worse, and their ideas of religion much more vague, incorrect, and superst.i.tious than those of the Spaniards; and sometimes, in the country parishes, an Indian or Mestizo _padre_ is found openly living in the _convento_ or parsonage-house with his mistress and natural children. But frequently, in cases where a sense of decency prevents them doing this openly, one occasionally meets in their houses young half-caste children, who pa.s.s for the family of some brother or sister, although these had never any existence, and there is in reality little or no doubt as to the priest himself being their father.

This state of things, however, is not the general state of the Church, although it may but too frequently be met with; and is not considered nearly so reprehensible as it would be, were they at liberty to marry, as Protestant clergymen are. In many cases its existence can scarcely fail to be known to their bishops, by whom however it appears to be winked at; and is not considered by the laity as being particularly scandalous, their notions on the subject being somewhat indefinite.

Within a very short distance of Manilla, I have been in a convento where the priest, his mistress, and family all lived together, the padre being a Mestizo. On the village feast-day, one of the party with whom I was in the country, hired some jugglers who had come down from Bengal to act their wonderful tricks in the theatre at Manilla, and sent them out to Mariquina on the feast-day, there to amuse the people, and to please the padre, as he knew it would do, he being an old acquaintance of his. Accordingly, in the afternoon they exhibited to an immense crowd of natives, just before the open church-door. A platform had been quickly erected for their accommodation, from which they were exhibiting their tricks to the intense astonishment of the Indians, most of whom had never seen anything of the sort before; and in the evening, the padre having asked leave for the jugglers to come to the convento, gave a great party to all the Spaniards, or white men, who were then in the pueblo, in order to watch their tricks more closely than could be done at a public exhibition.

Several Spanish ladies were present, and among them, quite as a matter of course, was the mistress of the priest. One or two of the ladies present were wives of high officials at Manilla, and all of them were persons of the best character and standing, yet they did not appear in the least discomposed by her presence, although none of them paid her any attention, or noticed her as the lady of the house; in fact, she appeared to be regarded by them as a sort of privileged housekeeper more than in any other light, although they were perfectly aware of the irregularity of her life. This may give some idea of their modes of thinking of such affairs, for all of them present perfectly understood the relation in which the spiritual adviser of so large a population as that of Mariquina stood to her.

Both the priest and she were elderly people, and their intercourse has, I understood, been of long standing; and during the course of it several children have been born. But the most wonderful thing appears to be, how such a man could direct the wors.h.i.+p of his paris.h.i.+oners, or lay before them the scripture tenets of his and their faith, while openly violating it before their eyes. But the same thing has taken place in Europe not unfrequently, and quite as openly, without exciting excessive scandal in many places.

There is an immense deal more of immorality among the clergy of all denominations and countries than would be believed. Alas, for human nature!

CHAPTER XIII.

The site of Manilla is low-lying and level, and as the country in the vicinity of the capital is of the same nature, being covered by far stretching paddy fields, it presents few picturesque attractions, in order to enjoy which, and the verdure, freshness, and variety of an undulating landscape, excursions are frequently made to various places at some short distance from the town, and during some period of each year, most of the foreign merchants have latterly got into the plan of renting houses within driving distance, and of spending most of the dry season in them, going and returning frequently, or generally daily, to their counting-houses, so long as the roads are pa.s.sable. The village of Mariquina, about seven miles from Manilla, is the most favourite place of resort, although the road to it is very bad, but it presents the attractions of very good pure air and water, and a bright landscape. Those persons who are not fond of horse exercise, make use of American light spider-carriages, drawn by a pair of ponies, as that sort of vehicle is found to be the only conveyance capable of standing the ruts and jolting over these country paths, which would to a certainty break the springs of any other description of carriage I have ever seen.

Owing to their great lightness and strength, these spider-carriages are favourite conveyances here, and these qualities render them by much the most suitable description for the country.

In the neighbourhood of Mariquina, the country is in many respects picturesque and fine; a more lovely _coup d'oeil_ is seldom seen, than that which may be witnessed from the road at the top of the hill just before beginning the descent leading past the old Jesuit Convent, a partly ruinous building, now known by the name of the Hacienda; from that point, looking down on the valleys which burst on the view at once, especially at the season when they are waving with the ripe and yellow grain, or clothed in a beautiful coat of green,--on the fine river, peacefully winding through them, on the splendid old trees covered with green and luxuriant foliage, which are interspersed and dot the scene, across to the distant hills, clothed in all the glories of a tropical sunset or sunrise, and varied by the many tints of light and shade of brilliant colours, it often is a sight truly worthy of being witnessed for its glowing beauty.

At Mariquina, there is a well, the water of which has the reputation of curing many sorts of disease, more especially those of the skin, and many are the sufferers who visit it in the hope that bathing in the trough into which the spring drops, may cure their ailments. The water is slightly tepid and not disagreeable to drink, being tasteless, and is recommended for diseases of the kidneys and stomach, by the Manilla doctors.

Some miles beyond Mariquina, there is a most curious cave, of great extent, at the village of San Mateo, which is well worthy of a visit by the curious. Shortly after entering it, the height of the cavern rises to about fifty feet, although it varies continually,--so much so, that at some places there is scarcely height enough for a man to sit upright. The formations within are of a singular character, resembling sometimes immense icicles pendant from the roof to within a few feet of the floor, or in some places rising from the ground like ever-growing pyramids, as from the dropping water they are continually increasing. These pillars of stalact.i.te are extremely hard and difficult to splinter, even after repeated blows with a hammer, some of them being beautifully milk white, while others appear rather discoloured from some cause. Several of the columns hanging from the roof may measure about a yard or more in circ.u.mference, their forms being sometimes most curious and fantastic, one stalk expanding as it descended, looked not unlike a gigantic leaf springing from its slender arm.

From the main cave there are several openings diverging and leading to chambers similar to the main room, by some openings at the sides of which the dropping water is drained off.

The temperature within the cavern was 77, and without 86, being a very considerable change, even in the cool of the evening, on coming out of it, just after sunset. I am afraid to give an estimate as to the extent of this immense cave, it requires, however, five or six hours to partially see its curiosities, and of course would take far more time to investigate it properly. The only living creatures met within it, appear to be bats, which are not very numerous. Should a sportsman visit the place for several days, his gun will generally procure him some venison and wild pig to feast upon, or to present to the village priest, or to forward to his Mariquina or Manilla acquaintances. At Boroboso, also, some distance from Mariquina, he is sure of finding similar game, and in greater quant.i.ty than at San Mateo, where it is too much poached.

The great want he will experience is that of trained dogs, those used by the Indians being nearly useless, as after alarming the game by their noise, they can't hunt it with any thing like spirit. Some few Kangaroo dogs, however, brought from Sydney, have been eagerly purchased by the Indian sportsmen, and are said to be an immense improvement on those of the country, although I have never seen their performances in the field; from their speed and strength, however, they appear more than a match for the deer of the islands, which are small-sized and greatly inferior in strength to those of the Highlands of Scotland.

The race of dogs formerly known as Manilla bloodhounds has become quite extinct, although some descendants of a half-bred progeny still remain, being a cross between them and the street curs. Although they possess some of the fierce and savage qualities of the old hound, it is in a much inferior degree to that of the genuine breed, whose size and appearance was very much finer than any of the mongrels now to be seen.

The old breed were so fierce as to be absolutely unsafe when at liberty, and always required to be chained up. Several years ago two fine dogs of the old breed were procured with considerable trouble, and at some expense sent to England, to a gentleman fond of dogs.

He gave orders to keep them at all times on the chain, during which they behaved so well, that a groom, going out to air a horse one morning, unloosed the chain of one of them, and took him along with him.

The dog remained quiet enough till happening to meet another man, also airing a pair of skittish horses,--the capering of the horses, or something else, roused the brute's savage nature, and he sprang on one of them like a tiger, fastening on his flank, and sucking his blood so greedily that all the two men could do did not make the savage beast quit his hold, till gorged with the blood of the victim.

The horse was spoiled for ever, or, I believe, died from the hemorrhage, and as he chanced to be a valuable one, which, of course, the owner of the dog had to pay for, he was so disgusted at having to do so, that he made both of them be shot at once, in order to prevent any possibility of the recurrence of such an accident.