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.
march 27, 1894.
the easter holidays have come and gone, and one of the favorite vacation trips from manila has been brought to a close. five of us have seen lake, mountain, and river scenery; have been taking interesting walks, drives, swims; have camped out in a good house and enjoyed the hospitality of our native indian friends. whistling for the punka-boy to go ahead, i will now set down the record of our trip.
our destination was a town called pagsanjan at the foot of a range of mountains.
our destination was a town called pagsanjan at the foot of a range of mountains.
see page 63.
the week from the 18th of march to the 25th was practically one long holiday, but it was wednesday, the 21st, in the afternoon, that we left manila for the interior. rand and i got up the trip by procuring a large and commodious steam-launch for five days—gratis. having done our share, we left our three companions to look after the “chow” and [61]other kindred topics. to my “boy” i merely said, “wednesday we are going up to the laguna; prepare what is necessary for four days.” that was all, and on wednesday afternoon i found him at the launch with my clothes and bedding all ready to start. here also were assembled hams, boxes of ice, and other provisions, big bundles of personal effects, and the four “boys” (a “boy” may be seventy years old if he likes) whom we were going to take along.
the whistle blew, the special artist with his camera ambled aboard, amidst a pile of sun-hats, oranges, and excitement, and soon the vigilante was steaming up the river on her sixty-mile trip. familiar objects were first passed, but soon after leaving the uptown club new scenes presented themselves. the launch stirred up large waves astern that washed both banks of the river with great energy, and the first incident was the swamping of three banca-loads of grass that were on their way down to manila under charge of indian pedlers. turn after turn opened up new scenes; our house on the hill began to fade away, and soon we skimmed through native villages where white blood was “not in it.” the hills increased in size, the river lessened, and great bamboo-trees hung over toward the central channel. at one point, high up on the bluffs, perched a chinese pagoda-like chapel, said to have been constructed [62]by a wealthy celestial as a thanks-offering for his escape from a crocodile. he was bathing in the river, so the story goes, when suddenly he saw the monster making for him. he threw up his hands and vowed to build a monument to his patron saint if escape was vouchsafed him. and no sooner had he spoken than the crocodile turned to stone and lies there to-day, a long, low black mass, fretting the current that ripples over it. as we passed the rock it looked as if it had never been anything else, but the afternoon was too pleasant to doubt the veracity of the legend. on we went. the mountains ahead grew more to look like masses of rock and trees and less like soft blue velvet. pasig, an important town, was left behind, the lowlands came again, a multitude of fish-weirs stuck up ahead, and before we knew it the great lake was holding us on its rather muddy waters just where it slobbered into the mouth of the river, its only outlet.
on all sides save the one by which we had entered rose the mountains right out of the water, and i was reminded of norway or scotland. it was like a sea, and the farther shore was below the horizon. the sun had set and the full moon rose just ahead as we kept along the coast to the north. at half after eight o’clock we anchored off a little town called santa cruz that seemed to be backed up by two very [63]lofty mountain-peaks, and we were soon surrounded by two bancas filled with natives who began to transfer our many effects. and so we left the launch, were slowly poled ashore, and next found ourselves on a sandy beach surrounded by much people and baggage. dispatching two of our retinue up into the town to fetch enough of the two-wheeled covered gigs called carromatas for our assembly, in about three-quarters of an hour we had the felicity of seeing seven come racing down the road to the lake shore. our destination, by the way, was a town called pagsanjan, about three-quarters of an hour from santa cruz, and situated just at the foot of a range of mountains. the chattels were soon loaded, there was a cracking of whips, a creaking of harness, and the long procession started off at a rattling gait through the town and out into the rich cocoanut groves beyond.
at manila, outside of bamboo and banana trees, there is no sign of really equatorial vegetation, but up in the mountains there was no deception, and nature did her best to let us know that the temperate zone was far away. we bounced along at a terrific pace and presently saw the lights of our little village. rattling through an old stone archway, we drew up before the house of a certain captain feliz, to whom we had been recommended. the genial old man, whose [64]face and corporosity were charmingly circular in their rotundity, welcomed us with open-armed hospitality, and saying he knew of just the house that would accommodate our party, started to lead us to it. after a few steps he suddenly stopped, apologized smilingly, said he had forgotten his set of false teeth, and must return for them. and coming back shortly after, he took out his teeth, commented on their grace and usefulness, and said he could speak much better spanish with than without them.
in due season we drew up at a very thick-walled stone house on the high bank just above the river, and were invited to take possession. our “boys” got out the provisions in short order, for a late supper; our pieces of straw matting were spread out around the edges of the shining floor of the large “sala” which had been placed at our disposal for a dormitory; pillows and light coverings were duly regulated, and after eating a bit, we said good-night to our new friends and turned in on the floor to rest. i found the hardwood planks so soft after my bed at manila that before long i arose, arranged eight chairs in facing pairs, spread out my sleeping-arrangements, and soon fell asleep in a very good improvised bed which was high enough from the floor to keep cockroaches from using me as a promenade. thursday morning we arose early, washed ourselves on the [65]balcony that overlooked the fashionable avenue of the village, and, as is the true philippine custom, sprinkled the street with solutions of soapsuds.
now, as i have said before, the thursday and friday before easter are tremendously sacred days in the philippines, and no carriages of any description are permitted to move about. the little town was still as death, and the early-morning hush was only broken now and then by the weird caterwaulings of the peculiar passion songs which the natives in these parts sing off and on during lent. later on, as we finished breakfast, groups of women began coming out of the various houses and directed their steps church-ward. most of them were gorgeously dressed in all colors of the solar spectrum—with a little cloth added on—and it was instructive to see an expensively gowned indian woman emerge from a shabby little nipa hut that didn’t look as if it could incubate such starched freshness. for the dresses that some of these people wear are costly; and even their pi?a neckerchiefs often cost $100.
after breakfast we went down to the river and got into five hollowed-out tree-trunks, preparatory to the start up into the mountain-gorges. it was worse than riding a bicycle, trying to balance one of the crazy affairs, and for a few moments i feared my camera and i would get wet. however, nobody [66]turned turtle, and we were paddled up between the high cocoanut-fringed banks of the wonderfully clear river before the early morning sun had looked over the mountains into whose cool heart we were going.
where the crackers were wet. the rapids in the gorges of pagsanjan.
where the crackers were wet. the rapids in the gorges of pagsanjan.
see page 67.
then came the first rapids, with backgrounds of rich slopes showing heavy growths of hemp and cocoa palms. another short paddle and the second set of rapids was passed on foot. a clear blue lane of water then stretched out in front of us and reached squarely into the mountain fastnesses through a huge rift where almost perpendicular walls were artistically draped with rich foliage that concealed birds of many colors, a few chattering monkeys, and many hanging creepers. again it seemed like a norwegian fjord or the via mala, but here, instead of bare rocks, were deeply verdured ones. above, the blue sky showed in a narrow irregular line; below, the absolutely clear water reflected the heavens; the cliffs rose a thousand feet, the water was five hundred feet deep, the birds sang, the creepers hung, the water dripped, and we seemed to float through a sort of el dorado, a visionary and unreal paradise. at last we glided in through a specially narrow lane not more than fifty feet wide; a holy twilight prevailed; the cliffs seemed to hold up the few fleecy clouds that floated far over our head, and we landed on a little jutting point for bathing and refreshments. [67]it seemed as if we were diving into the river lethe or being introduced to the boudoir of nature herself. in an hour we pushed on, passed up by three more rapids, and halted at last at the foot of a bridal-veil waterfall that charmed the eye with its beauty, cooled the air with its mists, and set off the green foliage with its white purity. here we lunched, and in lieu of warm beer drank in the beauties of the scenery.
the return was a repetition of the advance, except that we shot one or two of the rapids, and that the banca holding the boy and the provisions upset in a critical place, wetting the crackers that were labelled “keep dry.” we got back to our house by early afternoon, and all agreed that an inimitable, unexcelled, wouldn’t-have-missed-it-for-the-world excursion had passed into history.
good old captain feliz took us to call on some of the native villagers in the late afternoon, who exhibited quite a bit of indian hospitality. at one house was a pretty indian girl who spoke spanish very well and entertained our party of six with as much grace as an american belle. of course the presence of five “ingleses” in town was quite an event in a place fifty miles from manila, and as we walked through street after street each house-window presented at least seven curious faces; dogs [68]barked, fighting-cocks crowed, and the occupations of the moment were suspended.
after dinner we sat out on the balcony to watch the procession that wound around through the various streets, starting from the fortress-like church and finally bringing up there. these church parades are a good deal like our torch-light processions, except that here images, not mud-besprinkled men, carry most of the torches. in this affair there were a dozen or more floats, each one bearing a saint, an apostle, or somebody else, and each decorated with very costly drapery, ornaments, and elaborate candelabra illuminators. scattered all along between the floats straggled natives carrying poles on which were images of a candle, a hand, a spear, a pair of nails, a cock, a set of garments, and other symbolic articles relating to the crucifixion. then came peter on a very elaborate moving pedestal, and in his hand he held the traditional bunch of keys. then a descent from the cross, with two apostles standing up on step-ladders. next came the band of the procession—three men singing to the tune of an old violin—and finally the virgin mary with glass tears rolling down her wax cheeks. on each side of the line from start to finish trooped the populace, mostly women dressed in black and carrying candles.
next day was good friday. no traps of any description [69]to be had, as none were allowed to run, and so we spent the day about the town and in walking up into the hills. a look into the great, solid old church in the morning showed us a fragrant and gaudily dressed audience kneeling in various postures on the tiled floors, while numerous dogs of various cross breeds and tempers meandered in through the door and among the worshippers. from the church we strolled across a very primitive bamboo bridge over a branch river, and wandered through a luxurious cocoanut grove beneath whose tall trees were situate a couple of very rudimentary cocoanut-oil mills and the houses of the operators. the machinery was very crude. one might think he was back in the days of stone knives, seeing these simple contrivances, the awkward levers, the foot-power grindstones, and the old pots and kettles. in the river near the mills were thousands of cocoanuts ready to be tied together in rafts for floating down to manila, and everybody’s business up this way seemed to consist in watching this oily fruit fall from the trees.
in the early evening, just before another religious procession started, we heard a great clatter up in the belfry of the old church, and learned that the hubbub was made by “devil-frighteners.” on inquiring as to the nature of this weird clap-trap symphony, it [70]seems that on these especially holy days men are stationed up in the bell-towers with huge wooden rattles, which they so manipulate from time to time that the noise is said to act as a scare-crow to the various devils who are supposed to be hovering about seeking whom they may devour.
after another peaceful night’s rest, some of us took our morning jump into the river, and all prepared for a twelve-mile carromata drive out along the lake shore beneath the mountains, to a little village called paquil, said to be possessed of a crystal spring bathing-pool. the road for a good bit of the way was of the napoleon-crossing-the-alps style, and it got to be so bad i rather thought we were in for a walk. not a bit of it. the carromatas are built strong as the rocks themselves, the wheels are huge and solid, the ponies tough as prize-fighters, and the driver urges the whole affair along at a tremendous pace. so we bounced along, and most of our time was spent, not on the seat, but midway between it and the roof, which occasionally came down and thumped our heads. on the way we passed through numerous little villages, and in one out-of-the-way place we called on an american, thomas collins, who has been practically shut in out here for twenty-five years. it seems that he got cheated out of a hundred and fifty thousand dollars’ worth of valuable wood a [71]good while ago by the officials of a certain provincial district, and has been trying to get the claim paid ever since. he was a queer chap, and had almost forgotten how to speak american; but at last he managed to remember the word “hell,” and then his ideas began to flow more freely.
when we arrived at paquil our conductor, the genial captain feliz, walked up to the house of an acquaintance and asked him to put it at our disposal. as before, the request was father to the grant, and we dumped our chattels down into a parlor full of wax virgins and crucifixes. the bath, for which the village is quite famous, is a large pool five feet deep, with a pebble bottom. at one end a stream of clear water gushes forth from the hillside, while at the other an overflow brook carries off the surplus and goes bubbling down through the village to the lake. we had our swim after all the native bathers had left, and got back to our house in time for a tiffin that had been brought with us in the baskets. in the early afternoon we took our siesta, in the later hours started for our jogglety return drive, and at pagsanjan found prepared for us a feast of sucking pigs.
on sunday morning we were ready for our return to manila. the seven gigs arrived, we said hearty farewell to our friends, presented captain feliz some empty bottles and two teapots, and rattled out [72]through the town toward santa cruz, where our launch was in waiting. the trip was cool and pleasant across the lake, but it was hot when in about four and a half hours we got to the low river-country again. the sail down was like the sail up, and by dinner-time we backed water to bump into the portico of the club, where all hands disembarked for dinner. thus ended what i suppose is the most popular and most delightful excursion which the foreigner can make from the capital of the philippines in the few days which the church feasts at easter put at his disposal.
april 6th.
the other night i dreamt i was climbing up a long hill on a bicycle. once at the top, i started down over the other side at a terrific pace. somehow or other, by mistake, the wheel ran off into a gutter at the side of the road, and bounced around in such a dangerous manner that it all but upset. however, with tremendous exertion, i managed to jump the mechanism back onto the smooth ground again, and continued safely down to the bottom of the hill at a two-forty gait. arrived at the bottom, i conveniently woke up, and heard a rat under the bed trying to slide one of my shoes off across the floor.
cocoanut rafts on the pasig, drifting down to manila.
cocoanut rafts on the pasig, drifting down to manila.
see page 69.
next morning, on coming down to the office, several of my business friends asked me if i had felt the severe [73]earthquake shock during the night. i said “no,” and inquired as to the particulars. it seems that the shock lasted some forty-five seconds, and my chum was awakened by his bed commencing to rock around and by the four walls of his room attempting to move in different directions. nothing in the city was much injured, i believe, and next day the really excellent observatory, conducted by the jesuits, gave out a full illustrated description of the affair.
up at our new bungalow, the only incidents worthy of note have been the attempted stealing of my pony and the consumption of my best shoes by one of our house-rats.
a philippine burglar, curiously enough, takes off his clothes, smears his dark skin with cocoanut-oil, and prowls around like a greased pig that cannot be caught. one of these slippery thieves got into our stable, unhitched my pony, and took him almost to the front gate before the sleepy coachman found his wits. but prompt action saved the day, and the lubricated robber escaped, leaving his booty pawing the ground.
but with my shoes i was not so fortunate. i woke up suddenly to hear something being dragged across the floor. thinking it was only a rat making off with a boot-jack with which to line his nest, i refrained from tempting providence by leaving the protection [74]of the mosquito-netting. next morning i found that one of these rodents had pulled a pair of my patent-leather shoes off a low shelf beneath the bed, dragged them out into the hallway behind a hat-rack, and eaten up the most savory portions of the bindings. complimentary to the prowess of the rat or to the lightness of my shoes—which? i keep them now as articles on which the patent has run out—worthless, but curiosities.
otherwise things have run smoothly, and each evening we lie in the long chairs on the broad veranda, watching the southern cross come up over the hills, or the score of brush-fires of dried rice-stalks that illuminate the darkness away off toward the mountains. the music from our piano seems to give much delight to the members of the servants’ hall, now nine in number, besides several puppies and game-cocks. the other night, although in the midst of the hot season, we had a prodigious cold snap again, when the thermometer went down to sixty, after being ninety-five during the day, and two blankets were not at all uncomfortable.
i see by the papers that there are at least two cases of small-pox in boston, that everybody is alarmed and hundreds are getting vaccinated. curious state of affairs—isn’t it?—when every day out here you see small children running around in the streets, covered [75]with evidences of this disease. nobody thinks anything about small-pox in manila, and one ceases to notice it if a philippine mamma sits opposite you in the tram-car, holding in her lap a scantily clothed child whose swarthy hide is illuminated with those unmistakable markings. some weeks ago there were even four hundred deaths a week in manila from this disease alone; and from the way in which the afflicted mix with the hale and hearty, you can only wonder that there were not four thousand. but small-pox flourishes best in the cool, dry days of our winter months, and is now being stamped out by the warmer weather. an effort is being made to have everybody vaccinated, and the steamers from japan have brought down whole cargoes of lymph, but the natives do not see any reason why they should undergo this experiment, and would much prefer to have the small-pox than to be vaccinated. and this being the case, it is no wonder that almost seventy-five per cent. of them bear those uncomplimentary marks of the disease’s attention.
now that i have inoculated my page with a reference to this rather unpleasant subject, it is only a bit of sad truth to tell of the only fatality caused by the malady in our little anglo-saxon colony. recently i went into the bay with a young englishman who had always lived in terror of this one disease, and had [76]avoided both contact with the natives and excursions into the infected districts. the launch took me to the vessel which we were loading, and then carried him on to that receiving cargo from his concern. later she returned with him, picked me up, and together we went ashore to stop a moment at the club before going home for the day. i never saw him again, poor chap, though i did take over his stable, for next morning he was taken with black small-pox and died in a week.
the families of the lightermen in the bay—crowded as they are into the hen-coops over the stern of the bulky craft—are full of it, and hence the fatal ending to our little afternoon excursion. as a rule, however, the members of the english-speaking colony get so used to this disease that they have no especial fear in suddenly turning a sharp corner of running into some native sufferer.
in days gone by, when cholera decimated manila’s numbers, when people died faster than they could be buried, when business was at a standstill and the city one great death-house, were the times that tried men’s souls. but now that those big water-mains which run along the ground bring fresh water from far up into the hills, the natives have given up the deadly practice of drinking from the river, and, thanks to the good supply system, no longer give the cholera free admittance. [77]
besides small-pox, then, fever is about the greatest enemy, and certain types of the malarial variety seem so common that the sufferers from them often walk into the club, drop into a chair, and say, “got the fever again. means another lay-off.” if they can keep about, the old stagers never give up; but novices buy thermometers and cracked ice, and either go through a terrific siege, like my friend, whose eight weeks’ struggle shrunk his head so that in convalescence his hat touched his ears, or escape with a week’s initiation. typhoid seems also common, and there is generally one member of the colony, for whom the rest are anxious, stretched out in ice-baths and wishing he had never seen the philippines. the old hands—who, by the way, seem to be regular sufferers from the fever—all say the only way to be safe is to drink plenty of whiskey, but so far i have found that the less one takes the better off he is.
someone in the states has suggested that if things get too hot it would be well to run over to hong kong for a change of scene. but if there is any place in the world that is hotter, stickier, more disagreeable than hong kong, in the months from may to october, let us hear from it. it is far worse in summer than manila, for, completely shut in as it is by the mountains, it does not receive the benefit of the [78]southwest monsoon, which blows with great force over the philippines during the above months. even japan itself gets a good roasting for the two or three months of the hot season, and there is not much left to do but to seek cold weather in australia. our only very hot months here are said to be april and may; sometimes part of june. the sun now is directly overhead and going fast to the north of us, but so far the temperature has never been unbearable. the mercury stands at about ninety-five from twelve to three each day, but somehow or other one does not feel it so much in the cool white suits, unless he attempts to fall asleep on some of the sheet-iron roofs. the nights are still cool and comfortable, and what with a cold snap now and then, such as i spoke of above, fans are having a poor sale. in the afternoon, walking, rowing, and tennis are still possible, and the bands of the luneta still have enough wind left to give us the “funeral march” or “prize song.”
the little native school under the big mango-tree.
the little native school under the big mango-tree.
see page 92.
april 28th.
manila fare, like manila life, is not unwholesome, but it lacks variety, and one rather tires, now and then, of soup, chicken, beefsteak, and toothpicks—four staples. but fortunately for us who like variety, though unhappily for five or six hundred other people, there occurred a vast conflagration yesterday afternoon [79]that sent about five or six hundred houses sailing off through the air in the form of smoke.
as we were getting ready to leave the office for the day, clouds of smoke suddenly began to rise over the iron house-roofs to the eastward, and we knew that one of manila’s semi-annual holocaustic celebrations was in progress. the church bells began to ring, and all sorts of people and carriages started toward the centre of interest.
the manila fire department consists of about six hand-engines and a few hose-carts, and if a fire gets started it generally burns along until an open field, a river, or a thick mass of banana-trees stops its progress. the english houses, to be sure, have recently gotten out from home one of their small steam “garden-pumps,” and many of the young britons have had weekly practice in manipulating its various parts. when the alarm for the present fire rang you might have seen several servants, employed in their respective homes by the members of the new volunteer fire department, slowly wandering toward the shed where the engine was kept, with some nicely folded red shirts, coats with brass buttons, helmets with matterhorn-like summits, and axes that shone from lack of work. these youths did not seem to be in any hurry, and it turned out that when they reached the engine-house, when their masters had togged [80]up sufficiently well to impress the spectators, and when the engine finally got to the fire, the buildings had been translated into their new and rather more ethereal form.
the fire was two miles, more or less, from the centre of the town. the volunteer fire brigade had to haul the engine the entire distance, as they feared that if the usual carabao oxen were hitched on, the speed over the pavements would be too great. after reaching the centre of action, an hour was spent in waiting for the man who brought some spare coal in a wheelbarrow and in choosing a location which would not be uncomfortable for the brigade. consequently, the “london garden pump” was stationed to windward of the fire, on a side where it could not possibly spread any farther, and thus all stray flames and smoke were avoided. a hose was stuck down into the creek, and steam turned on. a stream of water about large enough to be clearly visible with a microscope suddenly jumped forth into the middle of the street, wetting the spectators. somebody had forgotten to attach the extra pieces of hose that were to lead down to the fire, and steam had to be turned off. after everything was ready to get to business, a tram-car came along, and it wasn’t allowable to stop its progress by putting a hose across the track, even if there was a fire. and so it went from grave to [81]gay, the swell brigade furnishing the humorous part of the otherwise rather sad spectacle.
a philippine fire is like any other, except that with the many nipa houses it does its work quickly and well, and in this instance the whole affair lasted but a couple of hours. hundreds of families moved out into the wet rice-fields, with all their chattels, and there were many curious-looking groups. in saving various articles of furniture and other valuables, the fighting-cock, as usual, was considered the most important, and it was interesting to watch the natives trudging along with scared faces, holding a rooster by the legs in one hand and a baby or two in the other. pigs, chickens, and dogs seemed to come next in value, and after them ice-chests and images of the virgin mary. the sun went down on a strange spectacle, and it was hard not to pity all the crowd that were thus rudely thrown out of their habitations. myriads of spectators there were and myriads of carriages, of all ages and sizes, some loaded with chattels ready to take flight, and others waiting to be. at dusk, however, all danger was over; the mobs departed north, east, south, and west; the brigade carefully brushed the dust off their boots and shirts, and the poor burned-out unfortunates looked with moistened eyes on the ruin of their homes.
the wags go far enough to say that the dealers in [82]thatch are responsible for many of the big fires both in the capital and smaller villages and that, when times are bad or prices for thatch low, they arrange to “bull” the market by means of a conflagration. a lamp is tipped over—a thousand houses go up in smoke, and as go the houses so rise the prices for nipa thatch.
the second series of pony races occurred during the middle days of this month, at the race-track down below our bungalow, and all manila again came rolling up through the dust to see the performances of the smart ponies. the events were but a repetition of those which took place in march, except that in many respects the running-time was better and the races far more close and interesting.
some of the old stagers are beginning to complain of the heat. we take afternoon tea now and then, as is customary in all the business houses, with some of our friends, in an office on the other side of our building. yesterday afternoon a thermometer placed outside of our window registered 125° f., i suspect this was owing to some of the reflected heat coming from the iron roofs. inside the room the mercury stood at 97° f., but we drank our hot tea and enjoyed the coolness which resulted from consequent perspiration.
i have now been settled in manila long enough to [83]find out what it costs to live, and the general cheapness of existence is more appalling than i first thought. our house is a good one, with all the comforts of home, and is surrounded by an acre or two of land. we have stables for our horses and outbuildings for the families of our servants. at the end of the month all expenditures for house-rent, food, wages, light, and sundries are posted together and divided by three, and with everything included my monthly share comes to twenty-nine gold dollars—less than one of our american cart-wheels—per diem.
where in the states could you rent a suburban house and lot, keep half a dozen servants, pay your meat bill, your drink bill, and your rent all for less than a single dollar a day! you can scarcely drive a dozen blocks in a hansom or buy a pound of maillard’s for that money at home and yet, in manila, that one coin shelters you from the weather, ministers to the inner man, and keeps the parlor in order.
our cook, for instance, gets forty cents each morning to supply our table with dinner enough for four people, and for five cents extra he will decorate the cloth with orchids and put peas in the soup. to think of being able to get up a six-course dinner, including usually a whole chicken, besides a roast, with vegetables, salad, dessert, fruit, and coffee, for such a sum seems ridiculous in the extreme. [84]
the methods of marketing are almost as noteworthy as the low prices for “raw materials.” all meat must be eaten on the same day it is killed, since here in the tropics even ice fails to preserve fish, flesh, or fowl. as a result, while the beef and mutton are killed in the early morning—a few hours before the market opens—the smaller fry, such as chickens and game, are sold alive. from six to ten on any morning the native and chinese cooks from many families may be seen bargaining for the day’s supply among the nest of stalls in the big market. after filling their baskets numbers of them mount the little tram-car for the return trips to their kitchens and proceed to pluck the feathers off the live chickens or birds as they jog along on the front or rear platform. by the time they have arrived home the poor creatures are stripped of foliage, and, keenly suffering, are pegged down to the floor of the kitchen to await their fate. then, when the creaking of the front gate announces the return of the master, it is time enough to wring the necks of the unfortunates and shove them into the boiling-pot or roasting-pan that seems but to accentuate a certain toughness which fresh-killed meat possesses.
calzada de san miguel. cooled by fire-trees and bordered with residences of rich europeans.
calzada de san miguel. cooled by fire-trees and bordered with residences of rich europeans.
see page 96.
the washing-bill, again, is far from commensurate with the fulness of one’s clothes-hamper, and for two gold dollars per month i can turn over to my laundry-man[85]—who comes in from the country once a week—as much or as little as i please. two full suits of white sheeting clothes a day for thirty days make one item of no mean dimensions, and yet the lavandero turns up each week with his basketful, perfectly satisfied with his remuneration. then, too, he washes well, and although, when i see him standing knee-deep in the river whanging my trousers from over his head down onto a flat stone, i fear for seams and buttons, nothing appears to suffer. and although he builds a small bonfire in a brass flat-iron that looks like a warming-pan and runs it over my white coats all blazing as it is, the result is excellent, and one’s linen seems better laundered than in the mills that grind away at home.
as servants, these boys of ours could teach much to some of their more civilized brethren from ireland or nova scotia now holding sway in american families. they take bossing well, and actually expect to have their heads punched if things go wrong. they don’t put their arms akimbo and march out of the house if we mildly suggest that the quality of ants in the cake or the water-pitcher is not up to standard, and actually make one feel at liberty to require anything of them.
and speaking of ants, these little creatures are everywhere ready to eat your house or your dinner [86]right from under you. the legs of the dining-table, the ice-chest, and the sideboard must be islanded in cups of kerosene, and even the feet to one’s bed must undergo the same treatment, in order that the occupant may awake in the morning to find something of himself left. cockroaches are almost equally fierce and, endowed with wings, these creatures, sometimes four inches long, go sailing out the window as you close your eyes and try to step on them. they prowl around at night, with a sort of clicking sound, seeking something to devour, and are apparently just as satisfied to eat the glue out of a book-cover as they are to feed on the rims to one’s cuffs or shirt-collars, moist with perspiration.
what the ants don’t swarm over the cockroaches examine, and what they reject seems to be taken in charge by the heavy green mould that beards one’s shoes, valise, and tweed suits at the slightest suggestion of wet weather.
