Recollections of Manilla and the Philippines Part 7

CHAPTER XIX.

Very few of the native Indians or Mestizos are possessed of much wealth, according to British ideas of the term, although there are some of the latter cla.s.s who are considered among themselves as very well off, if their savings amount to from five to twenty thousand dollars; and when they reach fifty thousand dollars, they are looked upon as rich capitalists.

In Manilla, there are one or two of these Mestizo traders whose fortunes amount to more than this; but such occurances are rare, and are seldom heard of. Many of these amounts have been collected together by their possessors by their engaging in a sort of usurious money-lending or banking business with the poverty-struck cultivators of the soil, by advancing seed to many of them for their paddy fields, and making the hard condition of exacting in return about one half of the produce of the ensuing crop. But perhaps these money-lenders are, to a certain extent, necessary to supply the wants of an improvident and careless race, these habits being besetting sins of the Indian character; yet there can be little doubt that the money acquired by such a usurious repayment of the sums advanced, does an immense deal of harm, and lessens the natural independence of the Indians who are so unfortunate as to fall into the clutches of the money-lender. Should a poor Indian, the possessor of a patch of paddy-land capable of producing very little more than is required to feed his family, once run short of seed, he has a very hard battle to fight with the soil before he is able to get that debt cleared off, should his neighbours be too poor to a.s.sist him, as he must then have recourse to the usurer. For although, through his greater efforts and improved cultivation, he may produce much more paddy than his land had done before, yet he is seldom able to save enough for seed from the moiety of the produce which his appet.i.te restricted to live upon, as the other half must go to repay the usurer who advanced him seed, or money to purchase it.

I have seldom heard of Europeans engaging in this business, for which their nature and habits are much less suitable than those Mestizo capitalists who devote themselves to the traffic.

These debts are frequently contracted by the Indians in emulating the splendour of some richer neighbour on their patron saint's feast-day, when, in proportion to their means, an immense deal of extravagant expenditure usually takes place; but, with the exception of the c.o.c.kpit, all their other expenses are very slight and thrifty.

Their houses are mostly composed of attap, or nipa gra.s.s, on a bamboo framework fixed on and supported by several strong wooden posts, generally the trunks of trees, sunk deep enough in the ground to render them capable of resisting the violent gales of wind common over all the islands during particular months of the year. In the villages some of the richer natives have wooden houses--that is to say, the framework of the part of the house dwelt in is of wood, being generally supported by a stone wall which composes the bodega, &c., underneath.

Their furniture is generally made from the bamboo, and from this most useful plant several of their household utensils are also formed; all these are of the simplest description, but amply sufficient to supply their wants.

A crucifix, and the portraits of several saints, are universally found attached to the walls, and before these they are at all seasons accustomed devoutly to repeat their morning and evening orisons--all the family kneeling while the mother recites the prayer.

At nearly all houses in the country a large mortar scooped out of the trunk of some tree is found, being the instrument employed to free their paddy from the husk, and convert it into rice. This operation appears to rank among those household duties which fall to the wife's share to perform. The pestle is sometimes of considerable weight; and when it is so, is worked by two women at once.

In their field operations the buffalo is the only animal employed, and is probably the only one domesticated possessing the requisite strength to perform the work, as the country oxen and horses are much too small; and although more active, are too weak to drag the plough through the flooded paddy fields in which they would get entangled and sink, sometimes to their middles; but through land in this state the bulky buffalo delights to wade, and, although slowly, creeps along, and forces himself through.

In the towns the buffalo is still employed in carts and light work, for which it is not so well suited as the active-paced horses or oxen of the country would be, and they no doubt will in time be adopted for these purposes.

In the country the horses are only used for the saddle, and for conveying small packages of goods from one country shopkeeper to another, as the roads they have to traverse are such as to preclude any use of conveyances upon wheels.

CHAPTER XX.

Throughout the islands there is a part of every village set apart for the market-place, where in the early morning, and after sunset in the evening, the utmost activity in buying and selling prevails. At all of these places rice, fish, and butcher meat (generally, but not always), fruit, and merchandise of the most suitable sorts to supply the wants of the people who are likely to purchase it, are exposed for sale. It is a curious scene to walk through such a place for the first time, especially after sunset, when the red glare of the torches or lamps shows to perfection the sparkling eyes, swarthy features, and long hair, which, waving about over the foreheads of the men, gives them a wildness of look, which their sombre dress, consisting of a dark blue s.h.i.+rt and trousers, having nothing to attract the attention from the sparkle of their eyes, makes all the more striking.

In Santa Cruz market-place at Manilla, between the hours of six and eight in the morning and evening, an immense crowd collect to supply their household wants, and innumerable are the articles displayed in the shops;--here the cochineal of Java, there the sago of Borneo, or the earthenware of China. In the Bamboo Islands the more perishable commodities are exposed for sale; and fish being the princ.i.p.al article of the natives' food (and also a favourite one of the white men), is found exposed for sale in large quant.i.ties. But all so offered is dead, even when the vendor is a Chinaman, although in his native country great quant.i.ties of it are hawked about the streets by the sellers carrying them alive, in water, so that the purchaser is certain always to have this food fresh and untainted by keeping; for even a few hours is sufficient to spoil it in this climate.

The market is well supplied with all descriptions of fish caught in the Pasig or the bay, most of which are well tasted; the fishermen of the villages in the neighbourhood being the princ.i.p.al suppliers. A small sort is found in the river very much resembling white-bait in taste. Shrimps are also consumed in large quant.i.ties. After the rains there may generally be procured, by those who like them, frogs, which are taken from the ditch round the walls in great numbers, and are then fat, and in good condition for eating, making a very favourite curry of some of the Europeans, their flesh being very tender.

The natives princ.i.p.ally eat fish, but there is besides a large quant.i.ty of beef and pork consumed by them, which are always procurable, except on Fridays, when some little difficulty may be experienced in procuring flesh, as there is only enough killed on the morning of that day to supply the wants of the invalids. The country-fed pork is seldom or never seen at the tables of Europeans, these animals being too frequently allowed to feed in a most disgusting manner; and many pigs may at any time be seen in the suburbs of the town where the Indians dwell roaming about the streets, and efficiently performing the duties of scavengers, by removing the filth and garbage from many of these remote streets.

But notwithstanding their knowing, and in fact daily seeing, this gross and disgusting mode of feeding, it is the most universal and favourite food of the Chinese at Manilla, and is also a favourite with the Indians.

The continued use of pork so fed not unfrequently produces a skin disease called sarnas, something resembling itch.

Fowls, turkeys, and ducks, both tame and wild, are at all times procurable, the supplies of the latter being from the Laguna. Geese are seldom or never exposed for sale, but are sometimes sent from China to private persons merely for their own consumption.

It is a curious thing that geese will not produce eggs, or sit upon them to hatch their young, at Manilla; and it is also a sufficiently odd circ.u.mstance, that turkeys die in a short time after reaching Singapore, where they are sometimes sent to private individuals for domestic use, although they thrive very well both in the Philippines and in Java. At Singapore, however, after being a few days ash.o.r.e, some of them are attacked by a peculiar sickness, apparently giddiness of the head, which invariably ends in death in a few minutes after the commencement of the attack. All these birds are subject to it at that place, if allowed to go about too long before being seized upon by the cook.

The princ.i.p.al food of the Indians being rice, it is found exposed for sale, in large and small quant.i.ties, in the bazaars, where nearly all the kinds of fruits of the season may also be found. The catalogue of fruits grown in the islands is a long one, but among those most commonly seen may be reckoned plantains of all kinds, of which there are an immense variety; mangoes, which are remarkably good, and superior to any species grown in the East, excepting those of Bombay, to which they are equal; the custard-apple, the pine-apple, seldom equal to those of Batavia or Singapore; limes, and oranges, not very good, and greatly inferior to those of China, from whence some are imported by the trading Spanish vessels constantly running between the two places; melons of different kinds, of middling quality; cuc.u.mbers, pumpkins, jackfruit, lanzones, and many other sorts.

The best gardens, or those from which Manilla is chiefly supplied with fruit, are in the vicinity of Cavite, from which place the country people bring it every morning, the carriers being generally young women, who, from the steadiness requisite to balance the fruit-baskets on their heads, acquire a good walk, somewhat at the expense of their necks, however.

The most common sorts of vegetables exposed for sale appear to be the sweet potatoes, yams, and lettuce; and green pea-pods are sometimes to be had, but the latter are seldom good.

The temperature induces such a rapid vegetation as to injure their taste, as it prevents their ripening, for, after attaining a certain growth, the sun dries up the pod in a very few days, to prevent which they are pulled very early, when the pea is so small and delicate, being barely formed, that the cooks usually serve up both pods and peas together at table, after having minced them into small pieces with a knife, being unable to separate them properly.

The common potatoe is imported from China, and from the Australian colonies. Those from Van Diemen's Land are the best; the sorts received from China are usually watery and small, being greatly inferior to those sent up from Australia.

In the fair monsoon, the Chinamen sometimes get supplies of apples, pears, cabbage, &c., from Shanghai, and these are considered as great delicacies.

There are many other fruits and vegetables procurable at Manilla, but those mentioned are the sorts usually met with.

CHAPTER XXI.

The population of the islands is very uncertain, for although the Government makes the census _apparently_ with some exactness, a very little knowledge of the country is sufficient to show that they do not do so in reality, but that this resembles all their other statistical information, and cannot be depended upon, although it is useful in leading to an approximation.

Their data are made up from the revenue derived from a capitation tax, which is so much per head for all grown up persons; but as it is the interest of all who may be called upon to pay it to keep out of the way during the period of its collection, many of them do so without much difficulty, more especially in the remote districts, where their facilities for concealment are much greater than in the neighbourhood of Manilla, or of the provincial capitals, where the alcaldes reside; so that those actually liable to it are very much greater than the payers of the tax. I estimate the population at a little under five million souls, the great bulk of whom are engaged in agricultural pursuits.

Great numbers of people are also employed as fishermen, artizans of all sorts, and as manufacturers of cloth fabrics of various descriptions. In addition to the people so gaining a livelihood by their industry, there are scattered throughout the islands many Indians, without any occupation, and apparently altogether dependent on the fruit of the plaintain-tree for subsistence, and indulging all their natural laziness and indolence of disposition by its aid, preferring to subsist on the fruit of this most productive plant, which they can do, from its being always procurable and at all times of the year in season, without an effort towards its cultivation, to undertaking the labour and attention necessary to grow rice.

Some of these people are hunters, occasionally going out to the wilds in pursuit of game, which must alternate beneficially with their vegetable diet.

As an article of food, however, the plantain does not appear to be so nutritive or strength-supporting as rice; at least, those persons who are princ.i.p.ally dependent on it for food appear less robust looking than the rice-fed population. This, however, may not be entirely owing to that cause, but may be attributable in some degree to their lazy habits, which, by preventing them taking much exercise or bodily exertion, renders the muscles of their bodies less developed than those of the other Indians whose harder work keeps their frames in a proper state of health.

In person, the native Indians are a good deal slighter and shorter than Europeans, but are, on the average, taller and stouter than the Malays, many of them having that broad make of shoulders and l.u.s.tiness of limb which indicate personal strength.

Their countenances are in general open and pleasing, and would be handsome, but for their smallness of nose, which is the worst feature in the native physiognomy; however, when that feature is well shaped, as it frequently is, their faces are decidedly handsome and good-looking.

These remarks apply to both s.e.xes; a number of the women are very beautiful, for although their skin is dusky, the ruddiness of their blood shows through it on the cheek, producing a very beautiful colour, and their dark, l.u.s.trous eyes are in general more lit up with intelligence and vivacity of expression, than those of any Indians I have seen elsewhere.

A very pleasant trait, to my taste, is the nearly universal frankness and candid look that nature has stamped upon their features, which, when accompanied by the softness of manner common to all Asiatics, is particularly gratifying in the fairer part of creation.

Their figures are well shaped, being perfectly straight and graceful, and nearly all of them have the small foot and hand, which may be regarded as a symbol of unmixed blood when very small and well shaped; as although the Mestizas gain from their European progenitor a greater fairness of skin, they generally retain the marks of it in their larger bones, and their hands and feet are seldom so well shaped as those of the pure-bred Indian, even although the Spaniards are noted for possessing these points in equal or greater perfection than the people of other European countries.

The bath is a great luxury among the natives, and of all country-born people, who appear to be fully as fond of the water as ducks are, and never look so well pleased as when they are paddling about in it, for nearly all the women can swim.

It used to be a very favourite sport to make up a bathing party of ladies, who, dressed in their long gowns, bathed with their male friends equipped in parjamas, or in short bathing trousers, without hesitation, swimming about in a retired part of the river for a long time, generally stopping at least an hour in the water, on leaving which, and dressing, all reunited to breakfast, or amuse themselves in some way, with dancing or music. These parties, however, are now seldom heard of, as the late arrivals from Spain have been so many as to be able to take the lead, and give a tone to the society of Manilla, and are now in the midst of revolutionizing the old habits and customs of the place, certainly not at all for the better, as they have yet to learn that what is suitable in Europe is not so in the tropics.

Fondness for gay dress is universal, and the _ninas_ take considerable pains to understand the subject, and to adorn their natural good looks to the most advantage by the selection of the most appropriate colours.

Their hair is one of the most remarkable beauties in the native and Mestiza women, being very much longer, and of a finer gloss, than that of any Europeans.

The staple and most favourite food of the people is rice seasoned by sun-dried or salted fish, if they should be unable to procure it fresh, which is, however, seldom the case, as the rivers in the country abound with many different sorts, and all of them appear to be very good and well tasted.

And not only do the rivers abound with fish, but great numbers of _dalag_ are found in the flooded paddy fields during and subsequent to the rainy season, when they are soaked with water. How this fish, which is not very good to eat, being tasteless and insipid, comes there, is a curious problem, as it is often killed in paddy grounds at a great distance from any stream, out of which it could come during an overflow. I am not quite certain whether this fish is ever killed in a stream or not, or whether it is only found in the paddy fields.