Four Young Explorers Part 30

"Thank you, Professor; and I think I understand it now," added Uncle Moses.

"_Quiera V. ensenarme sus manillas, Signorina Blanche?_" said Louis with a laugh. Of course she did not understand him; and he added, "Will you show me your small hands, Miss Blanche?" But she did not do so.

"I should very much like to have all geographical names reduced to a common standard, for I do not believe in translating proper names," said the commander. "I have been sometimes greatly bothered by the difference in names. When I came to Aachen in Belgium, I did not know where I was till I looked in my guide-book, and found it was Aix-la-Chapelle.

Vienna has about three or four different names, and people there would not know what you meant if you called it as we do, or Vienne as the French write and spell it."

"I think you are quite right, Mr. Commander," added the professor.

"But I have a few words to say about our voyage; for I find it necessary to repress the ambition of some of my pa.s.sengers," continued the captain. "Some of them wish to visit all the Philippine Islands, and there are about two thousand of them."

"Oh! oh! oh!" groaned some of the party.

"But the number I gave includes every rock, reef, and shoal that lifts its head above the water. Some call it twelve hundred. We will not stay to count them; but there are many of them big enough to have quite a number of towns on them. I wish to announce that it will not be possible for us to go to any of them except Manila, spelled with one _l_, and make an excursion up the Pasig River, and to the lake. But the ambition of the party is more expansive in regard to China and j.a.pan. As I have told you, we can take only a specimen city in each country we visit.

Hong-Kong and Canton in China, with some more northern port or city not yet selected, will be enough to give us an idea of the Central Flowery Nation."

The party left the cabin, and went on deck to study the map of the islands they were to visit.

CHAPTER XXVII

SOME ACCOUNT OF THE PHILIPPINES

The Guardian-Mother continued on her course without encountering either typhoon or other tempest, and her pa.s.sengers kept very comfortable under the awnings. The ship was in about 10 of north lat.i.tude and 110 of east longitude. She was sailing with the wind nearly dead ahead, and therefore the breeze was good on deck, and even in the cabins.

At the appointed hour the pa.s.sengers were in their chairs in Conference Hall, two of them occupied by the siamangs, and the baby in the lap of Miss Blanche, who had become very much attached to the little creature.

On the frame in front of the orang-outang was a complete map of the Philippine Islands, covering seventeen degrees of lat.i.tude, and ten of longitude, with enough of the seas around them to make their position clear to the audience.

Professor Giroud was introduced for this occasion as the speaker; and he was received with more than usual applause, for he had not occupied the rostrum as much as formerly, General Noury having been kept busy since his reappearance off Batavia. It may be said that after the rest of the day before the party were in excellent condition to be instructed.

"We are sailing just now in comparatively shallow water; and just to the south of us there are innumerable shoals, with only from four to ten fathoms of water on them. If the water were entirely drained from the China Sea, the bottom would be like a hilly region; for these numerous shoals would be the tops of various elevations, and the same would be true of a less extent north of us. The portion of the sea over which we are now moving would appear to be a considerable valley. You all have imagination enough to see what I have described.

"All around the Philippines on the east and south the water is from two to four thousand fathoms deep; so that if the seas were dried up around them, these islands would appear like a number of irregular chains of mountains, and the highest peak would be over 10,000 feet above the present surface of the water.

"From north to south these islands extend about a thousand miles, and from east to west about half that distance, with the Sulu or Mindoro Sea four hundred miles across it in either direction, nearly enclosed within them; for the north-east coast of Borneo is part of its boundary on the south. As the commander mentioned at dinner last evening, there are over two thousand islands in the group; and leaving out those rocks and shoals which are not big enough for a man to stand upon, there are twelve hundred of them.

"On a map of the world, or even of Asia, the Philippine Islands occupy but a small s.p.a.ce, and in your school-days you have doubtless regarded them as of but little importance; but several of the islands are larger than any New England State, and two of them are as large as Virginia and Ohio, and nearly as large as New York and Pennsylvania. Luzon and Mindanao," and the professor pointed to them on the map, "the most northerly and the most southerly, have each about 40,000 square miles, and the area of all the islands is 116,000 miles. I think most of you could have no idea from your study of maps of the extent of the Philippines.

"Mindoro, the next island south of Luzon, has 9,000; and the others from 1,200 to 5,500. I shall not mention or describe them separately. We shall visit only Manila and the country near it, and you would not remember even the names of the islands over night. They are all mountainous and volcanic. The highest mountain is Apo, in Mindanao, which is 10,400 feet high, and there are others of 9,000 feet.

"The islands are volcanic, and therefore subject to earthquakes; and an instrument in Manila which indicates vibrations of the earth is said to be shaking about all the time. Several destructive ones are recorded in the past. In 1863 Manila was nearly destroyed by one, and the great southern island is especially liable to them.

"The mountain ranges mostly extend north and south; and there is s.p.a.ce between them for some considerable rivers, as the Rio Grande in Luzon has a course of 220 miles. The Agusan in Mindanao is navigable for 60 miles. In this island are several lakes, with rivers flowing from them.

In addition to which are many lacustrine basins."

"Spare us, Professor!" exclaimed Uncle Moses.

"The word comes from _lacus_, Latin for lake, and applies here to such lakes as send their overflow to the sea or other lakes by streams made by the rush of water. But I don't use many such words, and I hardly expected a cla.s.sical scholar to object," replied the professor.

"But I objected in behalf of several here who never studied Latin; and besides the overflow is entirely apart from the root of the word. But I am satisfied, and the commander may invite you to proceed," chuckled Brother Avoirdupois.

"On account of the high mountains and the abundant sea-breezes, though hot and moist, this group is not so unhealthy as most tropical islands and countries. The fevers of hot countries are here of the mild, intermittent kind"--

"What is intermittent, Professor?" asked Felix. "Is it the kind they don't have in Ireland?"

"I should say that it was."

"An intermittent fever, Felix, is one that comes and goes, like the old woman's soap," interjected Mrs. Blossom, the nurse; and everybody laughed to hear her say anything.

"The diseases most dreaded in these islands are consumption, dysentery, and anaemia"--

"Mercy, Professor!" cried Mr. Woolridge.

"The reduction in the amount of blood in the system, and the condition resulting from this loss, is anaemia. Dr. Hawkes can explain it more fully," replied the professor.

"Not necessary," added the surgeon.

"As all over the Eastern Archipelago, there are two seasons, the wet and the dry, produced by the monsoons; but the irregularity of the surface variously modifies the result. For the southern and western sides of the mountains the south-west monsoons give the wet season, and the north-east the dry season, and _vice versa_. Manila is subjected by the influence of the south-west winds to rains from June to November, with dry weather the rest of the year.

"The temperature is about the same all the year round. The coolest month is December, when the gla.s.s stays at about 77; and in May, the hottest month, at 86. Of course there are days, and times of day, when the temperature is lower than the one, and higher than the other. The extremes where we are going vary only about 25--from 66 to 91; and we have it hotter than the last in New York. The average rainfall is about seventy inches, varying by months from one-third of an inch in March, to twenty inches in August.

"The flora of the islands is just what you would expect in this climate.

Nearly or quite all the plants you have found in the other islands you have visited are to be found here. Particularly plenteous here are the fibrous plants, and abaca forms in its prepared state one of the most important exports of the islands. This is a sort of plantain from which comes the Manila hemp, as it is sometimes called, though it is a misnomer; and with us it is called simply manila, the sailors tell me.

It is extensively cultivated here, and grows something like the banana.

"The stalks on which the leaves grow are split into long strips, are threshed, combed, washed, and dried, and then they become manila, of which many of the ropes of this ship are made, though hemp makes the better article. The finest fibres are sometimes fifteen feet long, and from such some very delicate manufactured goods are produced. The coa.r.s.er parts are used for cordage, which is very serviceable. When we were at Na.s.sau, in the Island of New Providence, last year, we saw fields of _sisal_, which has in late years come into use as a subst.i.tute for common hemp and manila, and is said to resist the action of sea-water better than any other material.

"The fauna may seem to be quite limited to the Nimrods of our company, for the large animals we have found in other islands do not exist in the Philippines. The buffalo and the gibbon are the largest in the islands, with a variety of monkeys. The elephant, tiger, rhinoceros, bear, and orang-outang have no home here. The only dangerous animals are the crocodile, serpents, and other reptiles. If the Nimrods wish to hunt they will have to try their hand at the wild buffaloes, though they are not to be found near Manila.

"Birds are numerous and various, and especially the gallinaceous bipeds, such as barnyard fowls, grouse, and pheasants; but the most highly valued here is the 'rooster,' if I may call him by his common American name, for c.o.c.k-fighting is one of the national amus.e.m.e.nts of Spain and its dependencies. You will see plenty of it in Manila, if you are so disposed; but it is not an elevating sport, any more than bull-fighting, which may possibly prevail here. Coal and iron are the most common minerals, with others; but mining is too severe work for the enterprise of the people, and I believe most of the mines of Cuba are worked by Americans.

"The original inhabitants of the Philippines were doubtless Negritos; and I hasten to explain the name before I am 'picked up.' It was the word used by the Spaniards to designate, not alone the negroes as we find them in Africa, but those who are similar to them. People of this race formerly inhabited all these islands, but there are scarcely any of them left at the present time. Hindus, Malays, and other natives of the adjacent countries and islands, came here, and the races mingled.

"The people found here at the present time have a variety of names, beginning with the pure Spaniards, Creoles, Tagals, Chinese, and Mestizoes. The Spaniards and the Tagals need no explanation, for the latter are the pure natives of the islands. Creole, I believe, is variously used in different locations; but it is a Spanish word, coming from _criolla_, which means grown up. They are one thing in the Spanish West Indies, another in Brazil.

"A more general definition is a person born in any country, but not of native blood. In the Philippines, Creoles are the children of Spanish fathers and native mothers. Mestizoes are children of Chinese parents on one side and natives on the other. The last cla.s.s are usually called 'metis' in Manila and elsewhere. You will doubtless see all of these cla.s.ses, and with a little practice will be able to identify them.

"The Spaniards of the islands are Catholics, often, I am sorry to say, merely nominally such. Many of the natives are Mohammedan, though the greater portion are Catholic. The Philippines were discovered by Magellan, as we generally call him, though that was not his correct name, in 1521. He was born in Portugal, and his name was Magalhes. He served as a soldier in Malacca and Morocco, and was lamed for life in a battle in the latter. He did not think his services were appreciated by his king, and he offered them to Spain.

"He presented to Charles V. a plan for reaching the Moluccas by sailing to the west; and, his scheme being approved, he was fitted out with a fleet of five ships. He pa.s.sed through the straits south of Patagonia, which still bear his name, crossed the great ocean, to which he gave the name of Pacific, though it was discovered by Balboa, who called it the South Sea. Succeeding in his enterprise, he reached the Philippines, after putting down a mutiny. He was killed in an expedition he led in the islands. The Victoria, his ship, returned to Spain in charge of one of his subordinates, thus completing the first voyage ever made around the world.

"There were several governments in the islands, and most of them were conquered or conciliated so that they came under Spanish rule; but the Mohammedans of Sulu, the Archipelago north-east of Borneo, and Mindanao retained their independence for a long period, and they still retain their boundaries and government.

"Manila has a population of 270,000, and there are several other considerable towns with 30,000 or more. There is a submarine cable to Hong Kong, 720 miles of telegraph, and 16 miles of railroad out of Manila. The army consists of 4,800 men, with 3,500 gendarmerie, or police, such as ride in pairs all over Spain. It has a navy of two corvettes, six _avisos_, or despatch vessels, sixteen gunboats, with 2,000 sailors and marines. I believe I have told you all that is necessary to know about the Philippine Islands in a general way; and I thank you for your attention through the long talk I have given you,"

the professor concluded, and retired from the rostrum in the midst of the hearty applause bestowed upon him.

"I think we all know more about the Philippines than we ever knew before, though I have been there; and to-morrow I shall have something to say, very briefly, about the city of Manila," said the commander.