Читать книгу The Boy Travellers in the Far East, Part Third - Thomas Wallace Knox - Страница 12

COAST SCENE IN THE PHILIPPINE ISLANDS.

The boys were amused at the appearance of the houses along the banks; they had expected to see broad windows that would give as much ventilation as possible, and also allow strangers to have a peep at the internal arrangements without taking the trouble to enter. But they found, on the contrary, that the windows were generally narrow, and few in number, and the inhabitants consoled themselves for the lack of ventilation by spending a goodly portion of their time on the balcony. The roofs were covered with red tiles after the Spanish manner, and the Doctor remarked that the Spaniards in the Philippines, like the Dutch in Java and the English in India, had brought many of their home customs with them when settling in the eastern half of the world.

BARGE AND HOUSE ON THE PASIG.

They passed a barge laden with merchandise from one of the ships at anchor in the roadstead; it was propelled by men with long poles, which they fixed in the bottom of the river after the manner of the "setting poles" formerly in use on some of the streams of America. A broad plank was attached to each side of the barge just above the water-line, and on this plank two men walked as they pushed against the firmly fixed poles. The barge was a clumsy affair, with a roof of pandanus leaves, woven together and arranged in sections, so that it could be lifted off to receive cargo. There was a broad rudder at the stern of the barge, and the steersman stood under the mat roof, so that he was quite sheltered from the rays of the tropical sun.

There were many native craft in the river, and a few vessels of foreign rig; but all the latter were of small tonnage, and evidently employed in coast service among the islands. The boat with the three travellers pushed on to the custom-house, where the baggage was inspected, and, on being found to contain nothing liable to duty, was allowed to pass. Then the strangers were at liberty to seek a hotel, and they lost no time in doing so.

There are not many visitors in Manilla, and consequently the hotel accommodations are limited; there are only two establishments worthy the name, and even these are far from equal to the pretentious hostelries of Madrid and Seville. Frank remarked that they would be quite content as long as they had a roof to shelter them, and enough to eat; Fred pointed to a large hole above his bed where several tiles had been removed, and suggested that the shelter was not very promising at the outset. The attention of the hotel-keeper was called to the opening, and he quietly remarked that the rainy season was over, and the hole would do no harm.

The hotel was not in Manilla proper, but in the suburb of Bidondo, where most of the foreigners reside, and where the bulk of the commerce is conducted. It is on the northern bank of the Pasig, and those who live there are accustomed to regard themselves as of more consequence than the dwellers on the opposite side of the stream. Back of Bidondo there are some pleasant villages and private residences, and several of the latter are fitted up with a considerable attempt at luxury. The boys thought the houses were not as comfortable as in Singapore and Batavia, and the Doctor told them that Manilla was a more expensive place to live in than either of the cities they had named, and consequently the same amount of money would procure fewer necessaries or luxuries of life. Those who had only fixed salaries to rely upon frequently found it difficult to make both ends meet; and even the merchants were compelled to practise more economy than they desired. The houses were generally of two stories, but the lower one was rarely inhabited, on account of the dampness that rose constantly from the ground. It was generally used as a stable, and consequently the occupants of the upper floor had the advantage of a variety of smells without extra charge.

Doctor Bronson had a letter to a gentleman residing in Manilla, and as soon as the party was settled at the hotel, he set out to deliver it. During his absence the boys took a stroll in the neighborhood, and crossed the bridge that leads to the city proper, on the southern bank of the Pasig.

OLD BRIDGE AT MANILLA.

There was formerly a stone bridge of ten arches that spanned the river; it was erected more than two hundred years ago, and was regarded with pride by the inhabitants, but the earthquake of 1863 destroyed it. An iron suspension-bridge was constructed in its place, and the most of the piers of the old structure were removed in order to facilitate navigation.

A MANILLA DANDY.

A NATIVE GIRL IN MANILLA.

Frank and Fred found many things that were new to them in their walk. They had not gone a dozen yards before they met a man whose appearance raised a smile on their faces, but they carefully concealed it till he had passed. He was dressed in what he doubtless regarded as the perfection of wardrobe, and swung a light cane with all the dignity of the most accomplished promenader of Broadway or Fifth Avenue. His trousers were of a checked pattern, and his feet—bare of stockings—were thrust into patent-leather shoes. The rest of his costume consisted of a shirt, a stove-pipe hat, an eye-glass, and a cigar; and the novel feature of the dress was that the shirt was worn outside the trousers, and had no necktie. The boys at first thought they had encountered some one who did not know how to clothe himself properly; but they soon ascertained that it is the custom in Manilla to wear the shirt outside the trousers, and the man they met was a dandy who had gotten himself up "regardless of expense."

A few steps farther on they met a different sort of inhabitant—a native girl with a jar of water on her head, and bearing a large leaf in one hand. She was tall and well-formed, and her dress was very simple; it consisted of a light chemise, and a skirt that showed her bare feet as she walked gracefully along, and paused to take a glance at the strangers. Her thick hair was braided into a heavy tress, which formed an excellent cushion for the jar to rest upon; and her complexion was so light that Frank could hardly believe she was not a Spaniard, rather than a native of the islands. Afterward they met many more of the same type; and as they also encountered Spaniards and half-castes, they were not long in learning how to distinguish the various inhabitants of Manilla.

On their return to the hotel, they found the Doctor was there before them, as the gentleman he sought was not at his office, and therefore his visit had been very brief. They sat down to lunch, and just as they finished it there was a call for the Doctor. It proved to be from Mr. Segovia, a partner of the gentleman to whom he brought the letter, and he kindly offered to show any courtesy to the strangers in his power.

NATIVE AMUSEMENTS.

"I am afraid," said he, "that you will find Manilla a dull place. We have no theatre at present, and the newspapers contain nothing you would care to read; the only relief we have to the prevailing monotony is the religious processions, and I believe there will be none of these for two or three weeks. The amusement of the people is in cock-fighting, a vice that was introduced by the Spaniards, and has been adopted by every native that can afford to keep a bird. Some of them never go out-of-doors without their favorite birds in their arms; and there is hardly an hour of the day or night when there is not a fight going on in a dozen places in Manilla."

After some further talk about the city and what it contained, it was agreed that the gentleman would call late in the afternoon with a carriage to take the Doctor and his young companions to the evening promenade. The arrangement concluded, the gentleman retired, and the party sat down on the veranda to pass away the hot hours of the middle of the day and talk about the sights of the city.

The boys brought out their note-books to record what they had seen in their morning's walk; and when they had finished, they had a conversation with the Doctor relative to the Philippine Islands and their history since the time the Spaniards went there. They were astonished to find that the group comprised more than 1200 islands; but their surprise was somewhat diminished when Doctor Bronson told them that only twenty of the whole number were of any consequence, the rest being principally rocky islets. The entire group was said to have an area of about 120,000 square miles, and a population of from five to six millions. Some of the islands are independent, but the largest and most important belong to Spain, and have so belonged for more than three hundred years.

SPANISH GALLEONS ON THEIR WAY OVER THE PACIFIC.

"The group was discovered," said the Doctor, "in 1521 by the celebrated navigator Magellan, and occupied by the Spaniards about thirty years later. There have never been more than 10,000 Spaniards here at any one time, and probably there are not to-day over 5000 or 6000 persons of pure Spanish blood in all this region. For a long time the most of the trade of the Philippines was with Mexico, and once a year a ship or galleon was sent from Manilla to Acapulco with a load of silks and other valuable products of the East, which were sold for more than twice their cost. The last of these voyages was in 1811, owing to a royal decree that broke up the monopoly held by the rulers of the islands. Sometimes two or more galleons sailed together; the voyage across the Pacific Ocean was frequently more than one hundred days in length, and instances have been known of one hundred and fifty days being taken between Manilla and Acapulco. Now a sailing-ship that would not make the voyage in forty-five or fifty days would be considered slow, and a steamer would accomplish it in twenty-five."

One of the boys wished to know what the galleons brought back from Mexico in return for the silks they carried there.

"The greater part of their cargoes," was the reply, "was in silver dollars, and it is from this course of trade that we now find the Mexican dollar in such general circulation in the Far East. Then they brought quicksilver, which was sold in China at a large profit; and they brought cochineal and other dye-stuffs. Sometimes a single cargo would sell for $2,000,000, but this was unusual; the ordinary value of a cargo was about $500,000 at starting, and the returns were double that amount. There was very little produce of the islands in these cargoes, but mainly the silks and other Chinese goods which had been bought by the merchants of Manilla with gold-dust, sapan-wood, skins, and edible birds'-nests, together with the silver dollars, of which the Chinese are very fond.

"The Spaniards kept a monopoly of their trade down to the beginning of the present century. All other Europeans were carefully excluded from the islands until 1809, when an English house was allowed to establish itself here, and this concession was followed in 1814 by permission for all foreigners to come here under certain restrictions. The Spaniards always reserve the right to send away any foreigner who makes himself obnoxious, but the occasions when they do so are very rare. Even at the present day it is difficult for a foreigner to obtain permission to visit the interior of the island; and as late as twenty years ago there was a royal order that forbade their going there under any pretext whatever."

"Can we go there?" Fred asked. "I should so much like to see the interior of the island we are on."

"We have not time," the Doctor answered, "to go through the whole of the island, even if we could obtain permission; but I dare say we can make some short excursions, so that we will not be entirely ignorant of the Philippines when we go away."

After some further talk about the country they were in, the party separated, in order to follow the custom of Manilla, and devote an hour or two to sleep before going on their evening drive.

MOUTH OF THE BAY OF MANILLA.