Chapter XLV: Letter XLIII: Homeward Bound

S.S. _Kai-Fong_, _August 25_, 10 A.M.

Iloilo is now far away below the horizon astern, and if I look over the side, I am afforded the delightful spectacle of one Philippine Island slipping past after the other into pale blue fluff, and I hope they will stay down under my horizon for ever.

We scraped out through a network of taxes, like fish trying to get out of a fish-_corral_. Our two large cases had to get a Customs permit before they could be put on board, for which they got from us a _peso_ in the form of a stamp upon the Export Entry, and another _peso_ and a half for what they call wharfage. This means that they did not examine the contents of the cases, but gave C—— a paper to sign and an export permit. Another item is an Internal Revenue tax of a _peso_ on each passenger ticket. Fancy if we at home had to pay 10 shillings in taxes before we could go across the Channel!

It is so nice to be in such a clean and comfortable steamer, and to have fresh vegetables and fruit, brought on ice from Hong Kong; and one wonders how the Americans can tolerate the contrast between this and those dreadful Spanish cockroach-traps which they dignify by the name of the Mail.

All the crew are Chinese, of course, looking so straight and tall and intelligent after the stumpy, stupid, little Filipinos. With them too, as with the Filipino horses, the eye has been thrown out of focus, for the Chinese simply look colossal. I keep on thinking to myself what a very tall man that is, and he is only the usual height of ordinary men.

Most of the second-class passengers are Chinese, and they have queer meals on the lower deck, all squatting round a wooden tray on which are one or two big bowls of rice and bits of meat and vegetables. Round these are piled little bowls, into which the mixture is served out, and the Chinamen all set to work with chop-sticks, which is so like a conjuring-trick that one can watch them as long as they will go on with it! Amongst these people is a Chinaman with his Filipino wife, a little ugly woman, with her lips jutting out beyond the end of her nose, dressed in a gay _camisa_, and for ever smoking a huge, ragged cigar. Some children of theirs cling to them most of the time, and a very gaudily-dressed little chap of a more purely Filipino type, whom the Chinaman is exporting to a friend in Amoy who has bought the child for 10 dollars. You can buy children very cheaply in the Philippines; and away from the big towns, and very often in them, they are openly offered for sale; and most of the rich native and _Mestizo_ families have servants which have been bought as children. I daresay, though I have never inquired about it, that the Americans strenuously deny this officially, but unofficially it is a perfectly well-known custom. This small slave was a very native little chap of three or four, got up in purple cotton coat and a crimson jockey cap, and radiantly happy in his new clothes, and we could not really feel very sorry for him. The Chinamen all take the greatest care of their hair, combing it out every day, and some of them have magnificent, glossy, black locks, right down to their knees; but others, whose hair is thin and scanty, eke out their pigtails with long cords of black silk gimp.

Talking of servants, when we came down to the Muelle Loney (to think I shall never see that place again!) this morning, we found Domingo waiting, in his smartest clothes, spotlessly white, and his skin shining with soap, to see us off. Poor fellow, he hung round, blubbering quietly, and carrying anything he could catch hold of, and when he said good-bye his face was quite pathetic. I think he felt he was losing the only people in the world who had ever treated him well, and he was one of the best specimens of a typical, unspoilt Filipino, stolid, obedient, humble, and faithful as a dog, and C—— said he would have given anything to have been able to take him with us, as the poor creature implored us to do. At the last, when the launch was pushing off, Domingo made a wild rush to spring on board, but was too late; and the last we saw of him was standing on the quay with his hat off and the tears streaming down his big, brown face.

We discussed this rush of Domingo’s, but can arrive at no satisfactory solution of what he wanted to do, for I think he only wanted to come out to the _Kai-Fong_, but C—— says he is certain he meant to follow us to Hong Kong and compel us to take him with us. Well, we can’t do that, but we have done our best for him in making him from a rough coolie into a clean, smart servant, who can get double the wages he received from us; and we found him a good place before we left, though, as I said before, I am not at all sure how either he or the other will do with the impatience and curses with which the average white man thinks he impresses his dignity upon the coloured person. It is not to be done in the Anglo-Indian method; no, nor in the American extreme of familiarity. Of that I was persuaded before I came here, and am still more convinced now that I have more experience.

The only way to impress anyone, black, brown, _or_ white, with the idea of your dignity, is to be dignified yourself. But I suppose this is too much of an obvious truism for anyone to attempt to think over or act up to. Well, it served me in very good stead; and all I know is that, though every soul I spoke to had endless complaints about the impudence, laziness, or dishonesty of their servants, whether they were of the nation who kicked them, or those who allowed them to wear a vest in the house and not say _señor_, we never had any trouble once we got rid of our first Americanised cook—my house went as on oiled axles, and we never missed one single thing from start to finish. So what am I to say of the Filipinos? Those with whom I came in contact, as well as my own servants, were a narrow, cunning, good-humoured people, vain, superstitious, stupid, great gamblers, kind to their children, and bitterly cruel to animals—oh, the poor hens hung up by the heels in the sun! and the wretched pigs with their four feet lashed together that used to lie all day scorching in the Plaza at Molo! the awful open sores under the harness of the starving ponies! the brutal, sickening, cock-fighting! For those horrors alone, I should be thankful to leave this country, even were it the paradise which it is not. No, no terrestrial paradise, for one has the laziness, the heat, the apathy, and cruelty of the East, without the compensations of artistic beauty, cheapness, plenty, and luxury, which make up for those drawbacks in other hot countries. A shuffling, drab, discontented, thick-headed, costly East—with all the worst traditions of four hundred years of the off-scourings of the Spanish monkish orders, overlaid by a veneer of shallow cock-sureness hastily assimilated from a totally incongruous alien civilisation.

We carry a cargo of sugar, and from the ventilators come up gusts of that peculiar, heavy, nauseous odour, which carries one back instantly to the _camarins_ of Iloilo. I can’t believe that the Philippines are really a thing of the past for me—it is not that I was there so long; but there was so little variety, and we saw and did and heard the same things so often, that I am left with an impression of as many years as we have been there months.

THE END

FOOTNOTES

[1] England is 50,823 square miles in extent, and Luzon is 40,885.

[2] Fivepence. The amount of bread this sum will buy in the Philippines is equal to half the English 2d. loaf.

[3] Another method is to tie a rope round the _carabao’s_ horns, and it is so tight that it cuts into the flesh, so that the _carabaos_ frequently go mad with pain and “run amok.”

[4] The actual numbers of the Commission have been changed several times, but the proportion of American to Filipino remains practically unaltered, as does the method of their election.

[5] In the Spanish days, no Filipino was allowed to carry a walking-stick, except the _Presidente_ of a town, which distinction was jealously preserved.

[6] The Government owns 60,000,000 acres; but no non-Filipino can obtain more than 40 acres, and no corporation may hold more than 2500 acres. Five years after the passing of this law, that is in 1907, all corporate lands owned in excess of this amount and under cultivation must be disposed of or forfeited.

[7] A corruption of _tubig_, Visayan for water.

[8] The fighting _bolo_, the more deadly and elaborate weapon is always kept concealed in the hut.

[9] This breach of Oriental decorum is one of the most fatal and irreparable mistakes the Americans have made in the Philippines. It is a subject on which the Filipino or _Mestizo_ is not slow to speak his mind. Alas for misunderstandings!

[10] The Tagalos are a much more industrious race than the Visayans, and are always in demand as clerks, workmen, or servants, in preference to the Southerners.

[11] I have before me a cutting from _The Manila Times_, containing an account of the arrival in Manila, by the Transport _Dix_ from San Francisco, of “eleven strong-limbed, square-jawed bloodhounds” ... “for the work of trailing the _Ladrones_ of Cavite and the _Pulajanes_ of Samar.”

INDEX

A

Agius, Cardinal, 235

Aglipay, Father, 109, 237, 262, 312

Aglipayanos, 109, 155, 195, 197, 235, 237

Agriculture, neglect of, 298, 299

Aguinaldo, Emilio, 11, 51

“American Ideal,” The, 134, 185

American occupation of the Philippines, 88, 156

_Anting-anting_, 69, 204

Antipolo, 6

Ants, 70

Arms of the Philippines, 122

_Azotea_, the, 24

B

_Baile_, a, or ball, 164, 201, 279

Baker, Sir Samuel, 283

Bananas, 206

_Banda de Musica Popular, La_, 184, 295

Banquet, 329

Beds, 45

Beggars, 193

Benguet, 151, 239

Betel-nut, 219

Bilibid prison, 135

_Bolo_, or native knife, 232

Bombardment of Iloilo, 89

Bread, price of, 34

Bridge, 132, 149

Business houses, 44

_Butuan_, S.S., 110, 152, 157

C

_Camarins_, 175

Camp Josman, 85, 280

Canloon volcano, 16

Carabaos, 79, 293

Card-playing, 132

Carnival, 161, 199

_Carromatas_, 63

Carter, Mrs, 328

Catbologan, 289

Cebú, 9

Children, 64, 129, 178;
sale of, 343

Chinese immigrants prohibited, 176

Chinese New Year, the, 195

Chinese servants, 141

“Christ’s Funeral,” 196

Christmas, 47

Cigars, native, 177

Climate, 18, 110, 169, 229

Clothes, 115

Clubs, 57, 161

Cock-fighting, 139, 286

Cockroaches, 71, 211

Cocoanuts, 207, 208, 231

Constabulary, 86

Crickets (_cicadas_), 69

Currency, 20, 27

Customs, tariff and methods, 32, 43, 65, 195, 234, 291, 342

D

Dancing, 57

Declaration Day, 270

Decoration Day, 245

Democracy, American idea of, 144

Dingley Tariff, 330

Dogs, 128

Dress, 53

Drought, 172

E

Earthquake, 226

Easter, 195

Education, 49, 221, 258

Eurasians, position of, 62

F

Fashions in Manila, 125

_Fiestas_, 52, 276

Filipinos, the, 13, 14, 62, 154, 189, 212, 244, 309

Fire trees, 207

Fish, 294;
traps for, 218

Flies, 290

Flowers, 130

Food, 48

Friars, Spanish, 50

Fruit, 48, 299

Fulcher, Mr, Vice-Consul at Cebú, 10

Funeral, a, 194

Furniture, 30

G

Gibson Girl, the, 123

_Gobierno_, the, 278

Government, character of the, 86

Graveyards, 164, 296

Guimaras, 16, 40, 55, 104, 182, 188, 203

H

Harbour at Manila, 117

Hawks, 128

Heat, 169, 229, 239, 265

Hemp, 11

Hijaldo, Monsignore, 236

Holidays, 195

Hong Kong, 229

Hoskyn’s Store, 26

Hospital, American, 244

Hotels, 6, 337

House-building, 189

Houses, descriptions of, 20, 23

I

Ice, 167

Iglesia Filipina Independiente, La. _See_ Aglipayanos.

Iloilo, 9, 16, 17, 118;
bombarded, 89

Intramuros, the old Spanish Manila, 4, 133

J

Jaro, 17, 42, 90, 186, 236

Jewellery, 126

_Jusi_, 54

K

_Kai-Fong_, S.S., 10, 310, 342

Katipunan, the, 11, 51

Kitchen, native, 218

L

_Ladrones_, 152, 288

Laguna de Bayo, 2

Language of the Filipinos, 157

Lazones, 299

Letters, 191

Lizards, 67

Love-birds, 238

Luneta, the, 131

Luzon, 2, 8, 283

M

Mactan (Maktan), 11

Magellan, 11, 162

Malacañan, Palace of, 120

Malaspina volcano, 16

Manila, 2, 117;
divided into wards, 3;
new harbour works, 117;
streets, 125, 138

Mindanao, 8

Mindoriao, 42

Missionaries, 107

Molo, 42, 90, 186

Mongeese, 240, 256, 262, 286

Monsoons, 16, 82, 174, 211, 230, 248

_Monte_, the native card-game, 132, 251

Mosquitoes, 72, 193, 243

Muelle Loney, 175, 176, 182

Music, 52, 162, 184

N

Nagaba, 202, 213, 215, 306

Native houses, 203, 205

Negritos, 193

Negros Island, 16, 56, 266

_Nipa_ thatch, 204

Nursery garden, a, 129

O

Opera, Italian, 213, 227

Orchids, 39, 40, 130

P

Palm Sunday, 193

Panay, 17, 182, 289

Paper-chase, attempt at a, 260

Pasig River, 2, 116

Pearls, 294

Philippines, arms of the, 122

_Piña_, 54, 268

Plaza Libertad, the, at Iloilo, 90

Ponies, Philippine, 4

Processions, 5, 193, 196, 198, 271, 323

Provincial treasurer, the, 168

_Pulajanes_, 288

Q

_Quilez_, or native carriage, 92, 170

R

Railways, 129

Rain, 191

_Rainbow_, U.S.S., 103

Rats, 211

Reclamation of mud-flats, 178

Rents, 24, 141

Rice, 35

_Rigodon_ dance, the, 59, 123, 279

Rizal, Doctor, 50, 162

Roman Catholics, 107, 194, 198, 235

Roosevelt, Miss Alice, 247, 307, 317, 327

S

St Louis Exhibition, 136

Salt-pits, 233

Samar Island, 288

_Sanidad_, launch, 158

Sanitary control, 242

Santa Mesa, 138

Schools, 49

School teachers, 12

Secret Police, 302

Servants, 27, 28, 38, 141, 164, 192

Shops, 25, 44, 138

Snakes, 69

Soil, the, 49

Spiders, 72

Sugar, production of, 104, 266, 328

T

Taft, Mr, 31, 62, 142, 247, 262, 300, 307-336, 339

Tagalos, the, 13, 14, 267

Theatricals, Filipino, 74, 161

Timber, 30

_Tuba_, 207

Typhoons, 23, 211

V

Vegetables, 48, 298

“Veteran Army of the Philippines,” 273

Virgin of Antipolo, the, 6, 109

Visaya, 13

Volcanoes, 16

W

Wages, 92, 141

Washington, George, 162

Water plants, 3

Water supply, 47, 172

Wedding, an English-Mestizo, 127

Wild pigs, 206

Worcester, Mrs, 140

Wright, Mr and Mrs Luke E., 119, 122, 140, 317

Y

_Ylang-Ylang_ tree, 204

Z

_Zafiro_, S.S., 2

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