Chapter I: Front Matter

YESTERDAYS IN THE PHILIPPINES

BY

JOSEPH EARLE STEVENS

AN EX-RESIDENT OF MANILA

ILLUSTRATED

NEW YORK
CHARLES SCRIBNER'S SONS
1898

IN MEMORY OF MY MOTHER

CONTENTS

INTRODUCTION Page xiii

I

Leaving "God's Country"--Hong Kong--Crossing to Luzon--Manila
Bay--First View of the City--Earthquake Precautions--Balconies and
Window-gratings--The River Pasig--Promenade of the Malecon--The
Old City--The Puente de España--Population--A Philippine Bed--The
English Club--The Luneta--A Christmas Dinner at the Club, Page 1

II

Shopping at the "Botica Inglesa"--The Chit System--Celebrating
New Year's Eve--Manila Cooking Arrangements--Floors and
Windows--Peculiarities of the Tram-car Service--Roosters
Everywhere--Italian Opera--Philippine Music--The Mercury at 74°
and an Epidemic of "Grippe"--Fight Between a Bull and a Tiger--A
Sorry Fiasco--Carnival Sunday, Page 22

III

A Philippine Valet--The Three Days Chinese New Year--Marionettes
and Minstrels at Manila--Yankee Skippers--Furnishing a
Bungalow--Rats, Lizards, and Mosquitoes--A New Arrival--Pony-races
in Santa Mesa--Cigars and Cheroots--Servants--Cool Mountain
Breezes--House-snakes--Cost of Living--Holy Week, Page 43

IV

An Up-country Excursion--Steaming up the River to the
Lake--Legend of the Chinaman and the Crocodile--Santa Cruz
and Pagsanjan--Dress of the Women--Mountain Gorges and River
Rapids--Church Processions--Cocoanut Rafts--A "Carromata" Ride to
Paquil--An Earthquake Lasting Forty-five Seconds--Small-pox and
other Diseases in the Philippines--The Manila Fire Department--How
Thatch Dealers Boom the Market--Cost of Living, Page 60

V

Visit of the Sagamore--Another Mountain Excursion--The Caves of
Montalvan--A Hundred-mile View--A Village School--A "Fiesta"
at Obando--The Manila Fire-tree--A Move to the Seashore--A
Waterspout--Captain Tayler's Dilemma--A Trip Southward--The Lake
of Taal and its Volcano--Seven Hours of Poling--A Night's Sleep
in a Hen-coop, Page 87

VI

First Storm of the Rainy Season--Fourth of July--Chinese "Chow"
Dogs--Crullers and Pie and a Chinese Cook--A Red-letter Day--The
China-Japan War--Manila Newspapers--General Blanco and the
Archbishop--An American Fire-engine and its Lively Trial--The
Coming of the Typhoon--Violence of the Wind--The Floods
Next--Manila Monotony, Page 112

VII

A Series of Typhoons--A Chinese Feast-day--A Bank-holiday
Excursion--Lost in the Mist--Los Baños--The "Enchanted Lake"--Six
Dollars for a Human Life--A Religious Procession--Celebration
of the Expulsion of the Chinese--Bicycle Races and Fireworks,
Page 137

VIII

A Trip to the South--Contents of the "Puchero"--Romblon--Cebu,
the Southern Hemp-centre--Places Touched At--A Rich Indian
at Camiguin--Tall Trees--Primitive Hemp-cleaners--A New
Volcano--Mindanao Island--Moro Trophies--Iligan--Iloilo--Back
Again at Manila, Page 149

IX

Club-house Chaff--Christmas Customs and Ceremonies--New Year's
Calls--A Dance at the English Club--The Royal Exposition of the
Philippines--Fireworks on the King's Fête Day--Electric Lights and
the Natives--The Manila Observatory--A Hospitable Governor--The
Convent at Antipolo, Page 173

X

Exacting Harbor Regulations--The Eleanor takes French Leave--Loss
of the Gravina--Something about the Native Ladies--Ways of
Native Servants--A Sculptor who was a Dentist--Across the Bay
to Orani--Children in Plenty--A Public Execution by the Garrote,
Page 195

XI

Lottery Chances and Mischances--An American Cigarette-making
Machine and its Fate--Closing up Business--How the
Foreigner Feels Toward Life in Manila--Why the English
and Germans Return--Restlessness among the Natives--Their
Persecution--Departure and Farewell, Page 213