A Visit to the Philippine Islands

I once heard a remark that the Crystal Palace itself could have been filled with specimens of various applications of the bamboo. Minus the glass, the palace itself might have been constructed of this material alone, and the protecting police furnished from it with garments, hats and instruments of punishment. The living trees would fill a conservatory with forms and colours of wondrous variety and beauty; and if paintings and poetry, in which the bamboo takes a prominent place, were allowed, not the walls of the Louvre could be sufficient for the pictures and the scrolls.

The various classes of canes, rattans and others of the Calamus family, have a great importance and value. The palasan is frequently three hundred feet long, and in Mindanao it is said they have been found of more than treble that length. They are used for cords and cables; but as the fibres are susceptible of divisions, down to a very fine thread, they are woven into delicate textures, some of which, as in the case of hats and cigar-cases, are sold at enormous prices. If not exposed to damp, the fibres are very enduring, and are safe from the attacks of the weevil.

The native name for hemp is anabo, the Spanish, cañamo; but the raw material known in commerce as Manila hemp, is called in the Philippines by its Indian name, abacá. It is become a very important article of export, and in the year 1858 no less than 25,000 tons were shipped for foreign countries from Manila alone. Of this quantity Great Britain received about one-fourth, and the greater portion of the remainder went to the United States. Next to sugar and tobacco, it ranks highest in the list of exported produce. It is employed not only for cordage, but for textile fabrics. It is the fibre of one of the plantain family – the Musa trogloditarum textoria. Dampier says that its growth is confined to the island of Mindanao; but the quantity there grown is, at the present time, trifling compared to the production of Luzon, Panay, and other islands of the archipelago. The finer qualities are in considerable demand for weaving, and these are, of course, subjected to a more elaborate manipulation. It readily receives red and blue dyes; the morinda and marsdenia, native plants, being employed for the purpose. The fruit is said to be edible, but I am not aware of ever having seen it introduced, nor would it be likely to compete with the best of the delicious plantains which the Philippines produce. Father Blanco says that of these there are no less than fifty-seven varieties. The native name is saguing. Curious traditions are connected with this fruit. The Arabs say it was introduced into the world by Allah, when the Prophet lost his teeth, and could no longer enjoy the date. It is sometimes called Adam’s apron, on the supposition that it was the plant whose leaves he and Eve employed to cover their nakedness. Its use is universal, both in its natural state and cooked in various forms.

The cultivation of Coffee might be largely extended. For that, and indeed for every tropical produce, there is scarcely a limit to the unappropriated lands well suited to their production. Some of the coffee is of excellent quality, scarcely distinguishable from that of Arabia, but the general character is less favourable.

Indeed there is an obvious contrast between the great improvements which have taken place in the Dutch archipelago, the British colonies, Ceylon for example, and the stagnation created by the too stationary habits of the Indian producer. He is little attentive to the proper selection of soil, the temperature or elevation of the ground, the choice of the seed, the pruning of the tree, the care of the berry, the separation of the outer coatings, and other details, which may help to account for the comparatively small extension of coffee production, especially considering the enormously increased demand for the article, and the prodigious development of its cultivation in Netherlands India, Ceylon and elsewhere.

The quality of the Cocoa is excellent, and I have nowhere tasted better chocolate than in the Philippines, but the tree is principally planted for the private use of its possessors. In the convents particularly, the friars are proud of their chocolate, which is generally made under their own superintendence, and from fruit raised in their own grounds and gardens. A little attention is required in the selection of soil and locality; the fruit is gathered as it ripens, and after the removal of the cuticle simply requires to be sun-dried.

It is sown in the month of November, and the shade of the banana is sought for its protection. The cocoa of Zebu is reported to be equal in excellence to that of the Caracas. In the island of Negros there is a large spontaneous production. The Indian soaks the cocoa in sugar juice, and in many parts the beverage is taken twice a day.

The supply of Cotton is one of the most interesting of questions as regards our manufacturing population, and I have felt surprised at the small sagacity, the parva sapientia, which has been exhibited by many who have devoted their attention to the matter. The expectation that Negroland Africa will be able to fill up the anticipated vacuum of supply is a vain hope originating in ignorance of the character and habits of the native races, and it will end in disappointment and vexation. The capabilities of British India are great, and the elements of success are there; but the capabilities of China are vastly greater, and I believe that as in two or three years China was able to send raw silk to the value of ten millions sterling into the market, and immediately to make up for the absence of the European supply, so to China we may hereafter look for a boundless supply of raw cotton; she now clothes more than three hundred and fifty millions of her people from her own cotton-fields. The prices in China are so nearly on a level with those of India that though they allow an importation to the yearly value of two or three millions sterling in the southern provinces of China, importations into the northern are scarcely known. The quality, the modes of cultivation, of cleaning, of packing, are all susceptible of great improvements; their interests will make the Chinese teachable, and the Yang-tse-Kiang may be the channel for the solution of the cotton difficulty.

There seems no sufficient reason why cotton wool should not have been more largely exported from the Philippines. It is cheaply produced and might follow the crops of mountain rice. There is a domestic demand, and that seems to satisfy the grower, for cotton has almost ceased to be an article of foreign trade. The staple is said to be short. The plant is an annual and produces its crop in two or three months after it is sown. It is gathered in the midday sun before the advent of the rainy season, which destroys both shrub and seedpod.

Cocoa-nut trees (Cocos nucifera), called Nioc by the Tagals, eminently contribute to the ornament, comfort, and prosperity of the natives. Trunks, branches, leaves, fruit, all are turned to account. Oil, wine and spirits are made from its juices. The bark is employed for caulking and cables; the shell of the cocoa is wrought and carved in many ways for spoons, cups and domestic utensils; the burnt shell is employed for dyeing black. The trunk often forms the frame, the leaves the cover, of the Indian houses. The fibres of the leaves are manufactured into cloths for garments; the fibres of the fruit into brushes. The pulp is eaten or made into sweetmeats and the milk is esteemed for its medicinal virtues. The root, when roasted, is used as a decoction for the cure of dysentery.

A Spanish writer says that an Indian wants nothing but his Cocal (cocoa-nut palm garden) for his comfortable support. The tree will give him water, wine, oil, vinegar, food, cords, cups, brushes, building materials, black paint, soap, roofing for his house, strings for his rosaries, tow, red dye, medicine, plaister for wounds, light, fire, and many other necessaries. It produces fruit after seven years’ growth. The nipa palm is almost, though not quite as useful. These spontaneous bounties of nature may not be the allies or promoters of civilization, but they are the compensations which make savage life tolerable and, if not of high enjoyment, not far from happy.

A very small quantity of Pepper is now grown, though it was formerly one of the most prized productions of the islands. It is said that the Indians destroyed all their pepper plantations in consequence of frauds practised on them by the Manila merchants.

Attempts to introduce some of the more costly spices, such as the Cinnamon and Nutmeg, have not been attended with success.

Fruits are abundant. There are no less than fifty-seven varieties of the banana. The fame of the Manila mango is universal in the East. There are many sorts of oranges, pines (ananas) in great quantities, guavas, rose-apples, and the mangosteen is found in Mindanao. The chico is a favourite fruit in winter, somewhat resembling the medlar, hut I must refer those who desire more extended information to Father Blanco’s Flora, imperfect though it be.

Among the riches of the Philippine Islands, the forest trees occupy an important place. A collection of 350 specimens was sent to the Royal Exhibition in London in the form of square-based prisms. In the year 1858 Colonel Valdes published a report on the character and resistance of Philippine woods for buildings (maderas de construction). The specimens on which the experiments were made were cubes of one centimetre and prisms of one centimetre square by one metre of breadth. The woods were allowed one year’s drying. Five experiments were made on each, and the average results adopted.

The abbreviations employed in the following tables, which give a synopsis of the results, are: —

Scale of Resistance and Special Qualities of Woods, extracted from the Table, pp. 266–71.

Those with an asterisk are little used for building, either on account of their cost, scarcity, or unsuitableness for the purpose.

CHAPTER XVI

ANIMALS

The buffalo is, perhaps, the most useful of Philippine quadrupeds. Immense herds of wild buffaloes are found in the interior, but the tamed animal is employed in the labours of the fields and the transport of commodities, whether on its back or in waggons. His enjoyment is to be merged in water or mud. Such is the attachment of the mother to her young that she has been known to spring into the river and furiously to pursue the crocodile that had robbed her of her calf. Wild boars and deer abound.

A good deal of attention has been paid to improvement of the race of native ponies, and their value has much increased with the increasing demand. Till of late years the price was from forty to fifty dollars, but the Captain-General told me that the four ponies which he was accustomed to use in his carriage cost 500 dollars.

Though the accounts of the silent, concealed and rapid ravages of the white ants would sometimes appear incredible, credulity respecting them will outstrip all bounds. We had a female servant at Hong Kong who told us she had lent her savings in hard dollars to one of her relations, and, on claiming repayment, was informed that the white ants had eaten the dollars, nor did the woman’s simplicity doubt the story. In the Philippines at sunset during the rains their presence becomes intolerable. One well-authenticated fact may serve as an illustration of the destructive powers of these insects, to whom beautiful gauze wings have been given, as to butterflies in the later stage of their existence, which wings drop off as they find a resting-place. In the town of Obando, province of Bulacan, on the 18th of March, 1838, the various objects destined for the services of the mass, such as robes, albs, amices, the garments of the priests, &c, were examined and placed in a trunk made of the wood called narra (Pterocarpus palidus). On the 19th they were used in the divine services, and in the evening were restored to the box. On the 20th some dirt was observed near it, and on opening, every fragment of the vestments and ornaments of every sort were found to have been reduced to dust, except the gold and silver lace, which were tarnished with a filthy deposit. On a thorough examination, not an ant was found in any other part of the church, nor any vestige of the presence of these voracious destroyers; but five days afterwards they were discovered to have penetrated through a beam six inches thick.

Few of the larger wild animals are found in the Philippines. The elephant must have been known in former times, as the names gadya (elephant) and nangagadya (elephant-hunting) are preserved in the Tagal language. Oxen, swine, buffaloes, deer, goats, sheep, a great variety of apes and monkeys, cats, flying squirrels, dogs, rats, mungoes and other quadrupeds, are found in various stages of domesticity and wildness.

The great insect pests of the Philippines are the white ants (termes) and the mosquitos. Fleas, bugs and flies are less numerous and tormenting than in many temperate regions.

Some of the bats measure from five to six feet from the tips of their wings.

There are incredible stories about a small black bird of the swallow race, which is said to make its nest in the tail of wild horses. De Mas quotes what he calls undoubtedly trustworthy authorities28 for his arguments. There is an immense variety of gallinaceous fowls, pigeons and birds, whose Indian names would to European ornithologists bring little information; among which the balicyao is celebrated for its song; the mananayom (solitary), which always dies when captured; the coling, easily taught to talk; numerous parrots; the calao, which has a large transparent bill and crows like a cock; the bocuit, or bird of seven colours, which has a singularly sweet note; the valoor, a pigeon whose plumage is varied like that of the partridge; another called the dundunay, which is reported to be one of the most beautiful of birds.

Snakes, lizards and other reptiles abound; spiders of enormous size, tarantulas, &c. The guiko is very disturbing, from its noise. I was struck with the tenacity with which this creature held, even in the agonies of death, to a piece of timber on which it was placed; the soles of its feet seemed to have all the power of the sucker with which boys amuse themselves, and the animal was detached with great difficulty.

The fire-flies illuminate the forests at night. There are some trees to which they attach themselves in preference to others. Few objects are more beautiful than a bush or tree lighted by these bright and glancing stars. The brilliant creatures seem to have a wonderful sympathy with one another, sometimes by the production of a sudden blaze of beautiful fire, of a light and delicate green, and sometimes by its as sudden extinction.

Of aquatic creatures the tortoise is of considerable commercial importance. The natives, who watch the time of their coming on shore, conceal themselves, and, when a certain number are marching inland, run between the tortoises and the waves, turn them one after another on their backs, and return at their leisure to remove them. The large bivalve called by the natives taclovo, and which is used much in the churches as the receptacle for holy water, and is seen frequently at the entrance of houses, is captured by dropping a cord upon the body of the animal when the shell is opened, the animal immediately closes upon the cord, and is dragged to the surface with the greatest ease. I am not aware of the existence of any conchological work on the Philippines, though there is a great variety of land and water shells.

CHAPTER XVII

MINERALS

The Mining Laws, Reglamento de Minas, are of a liberal character and allow concessions to be made to any person, Spaniard, Indian, mestizo, naturalized or established foreigner, who shall discover and report the discovery of a mine, and undertake to work it. Sundry officials and all ecclesiastics are excluded from the privilege. The work must be entered upon in ninety days, under certain conditions; four months of continued suspension, or eight months of interrupted labour, within the year bring the loss of the conceded privilege. There must not be less than eight labourers employed. The mines are subjected to the inspection of the mining department The mining regulations were published by the Captain-General Claveria in January, 1846.

The gold of the Philippines is produced by washing and digging. In several of the provinces it is found in the rivers, and natives are engaged in washing their deposits. The most remarkable and profitable of the gold mines worked by the Indians are those of Tulbin and Suyuc. They break the rock with hammers, and crush it between two small millstones, dissolving the fragments in water, by which the gold is separated. They melt it in small shells, and it produces generally from eight to ten dollars an ounce, but its fineness seldom exceeds sixteen carats. It is found in quartz, but the nuggets are seldom of any considerable size. The inhabitants of Caraga cut in the top of a mountain a basin of considerable size, and conduct water to it through canals made of the wild palm; they dig up the soil while the basin is filling, which is opened suddenly, and exhibits for working any existing stratification of gold; these operations are continued till the pits get filled with inroads of earth, when they are abandoned; generally, when a depth has been reached which produces the most advantageous returns, the rush of waters conveys away much of the metal which would otherwise be deposited and collected. Gold is also found in the alluvial deposits which are ground between stones, thrown into water, and the metal sinks to the bottom. The rivers of Caraballo, Camarines, and Misamis, and the mountains of Caraga and Zebu, are the most productive. Many Indian families support themselves by washing the river sands, and in the times of heavy rains gold is found in the streets of some of the pueblos when the floods have passed. There can be no doubt of the existence of much gold in the islands, but principally in the parts inhabited by the independent tribes.

The Sociedad Exploradora is engaged in working gold-mines and washing auriferous sands in the province of New Ecija.

Gold dust is the instrument of exchange in the interior of Mindanao, and is carried about in bags for the ordinary purposes of life. The possession of California by the Spaniards for so many generations without the development of its riches may explain their inertness and indifference in the Philippines, notwithstanding the repeated averments of Spanish writers that the archipelago abounds in gold.

Iron also abounds, especially in the province of Bulacan; but it may be doubted whether it can be produced as cheaply as it may be imported, especially while roads are in so backward a state, and carriage charges so heavy. Many iron-works have been entered on and abandoned.

A coal-mine is being explored at Guila Guila, in the island of Zebu, on the river Mananga, at a distance of about six miles from the town of San Nicolas, which has nearly 20,000 inhabitants and is by far the largest town in the island. There are reported to be strata of coal from one to four feet in thickness. The proprietor informs me that he expects in the course of another year to be able to deliver coals on the coast at a moderate rate in Tangui, which is close to the town of Falisay.

Of the various objects of speculation, mining is probably the most attractive to the adventurer, from the high premiums which it sometimes brings to the successful. When the risk is divided among many shareholders, it partakes of the character of a lottery, in which the chances are proportioned to the stakes; but where, as in most of the mining speculations of the Philippines, the enterprises are conducted by individuals, without adequate means to overcome the preliminary difficulties and to support the needful outlay, disappointment, loss, ruin and the abandonment of probably valuable and promising undertakings are but of too frequent occurrence. I have before me some details of the attempts made to work the copper ores of Mancayan, in the district of Cagan (now called Lepanto), in South Ilocos (Luzon). They have been worked in the rudest way by the Igorrote Indians from time immemorial, and the favourable report of the richness of the ores which were sent to Europe led to renewed but inadequate attempts for their exploitation. A good deal of money has, I understand, been lost, without providing the necessary machinery for extracting the metal, or roads for its conveyance. A sample taken from a stratum ten feet in height and seven in breadth, on the side of a pit four yards deep, gave, as the results of an analysis, 44 per cent. of copper, 29 of sulphur, 18 of arsenic, and 9 of iron. The ruggedness of the rocks, the thickness of the forest jungle, the indolence of the natives, and, probably more than these, the absence of an intelligent direction and sufficient pecuniary resources, have produced much discouragement. Don Antonio Hernandez says there are 280 Indian (Igorrote) families occupied in Mancayan in copper digging and melting; that they only produce annually about 200 picos (of 137½ lbs. each), which they sell at from eight to nine dollars per pico on the spot; to the neighbouring Christian Indians at ten to twelve, who resell them on the coast at from thirteen to sixteen dollars.

The Indians in Ilocos and Pangasinan manufacture their own domestic utensils from the copper extracted by themselves.

Finely variegated marbles exist in the province of Bataan, and some have been used for ornamenting the churches; but their existence has excited little attention, and no sale was found for some large blocks quarried by a patriotic adventurer.

I have before mentioned that there are many mineral waters in the island – sulphurous and ferruginous – at Antipolo. In the Laguna there is a virgin patroness, whose festival lasts eighteen days, and immense crowds of all races come to drink the waters, and join the processions in her honour. The inhabitants of Manila attribute great virtues to the waters of Pagsanghan.

CHAPTER XVIII

MANUFACTURES

The art of weaving, or that of crossing threads so as to produce a wearable tissue, is one of the evidences of a transition from savage towards civilized life. In cold countries the painting the body, or covering it with furs and skins, or bark of trees, is the resource of a wild people; but the necessity for dress of any sort is so little felt in tropical regions that the missionaries claim the credit of introducing the loom, and of instructing the natives in all the matters most conducive to their comforts. For their houses they taught them to make lime and brick and tiles – staircases, windows and chimneys – and better to protect themselves against rain and storms; chairs, tables and domestic utensils followed; carriages for conveyance of commodities; but, above all, the friars boast of the application, and devotion, and success of the Indians in decorating the Christian churches, building and ornamenting altars, sculpturing virgins and saints, and generally contributing to the splendours of ecclesiastical ceremonials.

The science of ship-building made great advances. To the canoes (barotos is the Indian name) scooped out of a single trunk, and used only for river navigation, succeeded well-built vessels of several hundred tons, by which a commerce along the coast and among the islands was established. At first the planks were the whole length of the vessel, but European improvements have gradually been adopted, and the ships now built in the Philippines are not distinguishable from those of the mother country. We found many on the stocks on the banks of the river Agno, and the Indian constructors were desirous of looking into all the details of H. M.’s ship Magicienne, in which the captain and officers most courteously aided them, in order to avail themselves of any improvements which our vessel exhibited. The cost of construction was reported to be about 15l. sterling per ton. The Bella Bascongada, a vessel of 760 tons, built in Pangasinan, cost 54,000 dollars, or about 11,000l. sterling.