The Philippine Islands Part 15

The Governor showed me great attention, and personally took command of a gunboat, which conducted me to the mouth of the Iguajit River. This is the great river of the district, and is navigable for about three miles. I put off in a boat manned by marines, and was rowed about two miles up, as far as the mission station. The missionary received me well, and I stayed there that night, with five men, whom I had engaged to carry my luggage, for we had a journey before us of some days on foot to the opposite coast.

My luggage, besides the ordinary travelling requisites and provisions, included about 90 yards of printed stuffs of bright colours, six dozen common handkerchiefs, and some 12 pounds' weight of beads on strings, with a few odds and ends of trinkets; whilst my native bearers were provided with rice, dried fish, betel-nut, tobacco, etc., for a week or more. We set out on foot the next day, and in three days and a half we reached the western sh.o.r.e.

The greatest height above the sea-level on our route was about 900 metres, according to my aneroid reading, and the maximum heat at mid-day in the shade (month of January) was 82 Fahr. The nights were cold, comparatively speaking, and at midnight the thermometer once descended to 59 Fahr.

The natives proved to be a very pacific people. We found some engaged in collecting gum from the trees in the forest, and others cutting and making up bundles of rattans. They took these products down to the Iguajit River mission station, where Chinese traders bartered for them stuffs and other commodities. The value of coin was not altogether unknown in the mission village, although the difference in value between copper and silver coinage was not understood. In the interior they lived in great misery, their cabins being wretched hovels. They planted their rice without ploughing at all, and all their agricultural implements were made of wood or bamboo.

The native dress is made of the bark of trees, smashed with stones, to extract the ligneous parts. In the cool weather they make tunics of bark, and the women wear drawers of the same material. They adorn their waists with sea-sh.e.l.l and cocoanut sh.e.l.l ornaments, whilst the fibre of the palm serves for a waistband. The women pierce very large holes in their ears, in which they place sh.e.l.ls, wood, etc. They never bathe intentionally. Their arms are bows and arrows, and darts blown through a kind of pea-shooter made of a reed resembling _bojo_ (q.v). They are a very dirty people, and they eat their fish or flesh raw.

I had no difficulty whatever in procuring guides from one group of huts to the next on payment in goods, and my instructions were always to lead me towards the coast, the nearest point of which I knew was due west or a few points to the north.

We pa.s.sed through a most fertile country the whole way. There were no rivers of any importance, but we were well supplied with drinking-water from the numerous springs and rivulets. The forests are very rich in good timber, chiefly _Ipil_ (_Eperma decandria)_, a very useful hardwood (_vide_ Woods). I estimated that many of these trees, if felled, would have given clean logs of 70 to 80 feet long. I presume the felling of timber was not attempted by these natives on account of the difficulties, or rather, total want of transport means. From a plateau, within half a day's journey of the opposite coast, the scenery was remarkably beautiful, with the sea to the west and an interminable grandeur of forest to the east. There were a few fishermen on the west coast, but further than that, there was not a sign of anything beyond the gifts of Nature. About half a mile from the coast, on the fringe of the forest, there was a group of native huts, two of which were vacated for our accommodation in exchange for goods.

With an abundance of fish, we were able to economize our provisions. One of my men fell ill with fever, so that we had to wait two days on the west coast, whilst I dosed him with Eno's fruit salt and quinine. In the meantime, I studied the habits of these people. Among the many things which astonished them was the use of matches, whilst our cooking highly amused them. Such a thing as a horse I suppose had never been seen here, although I would gladly have bought or hired one, for I was very weary of our delay. We all went on the march again, on foot nearly all the way, by the same pa.s.ses to the Iguajit River, where we found a canoe, which carried us back to Puerta Princesa.

The island produces many marketable articles, such as beeswax, edible bird's nests, fine sh.e.l.ls, dried sh.e.l.l-fish, a few pearls, bush-rope or _palasan_ (q.v.) of enormous length, wild nutmegs, ebony, logwood, etc., which the Chinese obtain in barter for knives and other small manufactures.

The first survey of the Palauan Island coast is said to have been made by the British. A British map of Puerta Princesa, with a few miles of adjoining coast, was shown to me in the Government House of this place. It appears that the west coast is not navigable for ships within at least two miles of the sh.o.r.e, although there are a few channels leading to creeks. Vessels coming from the west usually pa.s.s through the Straits of Balabac, between the island of that name and the islets off the Borneo Island coast.

In the Island of Balabac there was absolutely nothing remarkable to be seen, unless it were a little animal about the size of a big cat, but in shape a perfect model of a doe. [70] I took one to Manila, but it died the day we arrived. No part of the island (which is very mountainous and fertile) appeared to be cultivated, and even the officials at the station had to obtain supplies from Manila, whilst cattle were brought from the Island of Cuyo, one of the Calamianes group.

In the latter years, the Home Government made efforts to colonize Palauan Island by offering certain advantages to emigrants. By Royal Order, dated February 25, 1885, the Islands of Palauan and Mindanao were to be occupied in an effectual manner, and outposts established, wherever necessary, to guarantee the secure possession of these islands. The points mentioned for such occupation in Palauan Island were Tagbusao and Malihut on the east coast, and Colasian and Malanut on the west coast. It also confirmed the Royal Decree of July 30, 1860, granting to all families emigrating to these newly established military posts, and all peaceful tribes of the Islands who might choose to settle there, exemption from the payment of tribute for six years. The families would be furnished with a free pa.s.sage to these places, and each group would be supplied with seed and implements.

A subsequent Royal Order, dated January 19, 1886, was issued, to the effect:--That the Provincial Governors of the Provinces of North and South Ilocos were to stimulate voluntary emigration of the natives to Palauan Island, to the extent of 25 families from each of the two provinces per annum. That any payments due by them to the Public Treasury were to be condoned. That such families and any persons of good character who might establish themselves in Palauan should be exempt from the payment of taxes for ten years, and receive free pa.s.sage there for themselves and their cattle, and three hectares of land gratis, to be under cultivation within a stated period. That two chupas of rice (_vide_ Rice measure) and ten cents of a peso should be given to each adult, and one chupa of rice to each minor each day during the first six months from the date of their embarking. That the Governor of Palauan should be instructed respecting the highways to be constructed, and the convenience of opening free ports in that island. That the land and sea forces should be increased; and of the latter, a third-rate man-o'-war should be stationed on the west coast. That convicts should continue to be sent to Palauan, and the Governor should be authorized to employ all those of bad conduct in public works. That schools of primary instruction should be established in the island wherever such might be considered convenient, etc., etc. [71]

The Spaniards (in 1898) left nearly half the Philippine Archipelago to be conquered, but only its Mahometan inhabitants ever persistently took the aggressive against them in regular continuous warfare. The attempts of the Jesuit missionaries to convert them to Christianity were entirely futile, for the _Panditas_ and the Romish priests were equally tenacious of their respective religious beliefs. The last treaty made between Spain and Sulu especially stipulated that the Mahometans should not be persecuted for their religion.

To overturn a dynasty, to suppress an organized system of feudal laws, and to eradicate an ancient belief, the principles of which had firmly established themselves among the populace in the course of centuries, was a harder task than that of bringing under the Spanish yoke detached groups of Malay immigrants. The pliant, credulous nature of the Luzon settlers--the fact that they professed no deeply-rooted religion, and--although advanced from the migratory to the settled condition--were mere nominal lieges of their puppet kinglings, were facilities for the achievement of conquest. True it is that the dynasties of the Aztecs of Mexico and the Incas of Peru yielded to Spanish valour, but there was the incentive of untold wealth; here, only of military glory, and the former outweighed the latter.

If the Spaniards failed to subjugate the Mahometans, or to incorporate their territory in the general administrative system of the Colony, after three centuries of intermittent endeavour, it is difficult to conceive that the Philippine Republic (had it subsisted) would have been more successful. It would have been useless to have resolved to leave the Moros to themselves, practically ignoring their existence. Any Philippine Government must needs hold them in check for the public weal, for the fact is patent that the Moro hates the native Christian not one iota less than he does the white man.

CHAPTER XI

Domesticated Natives--Origin--Character

The generally-accepted theory regarding the origin of the composite race which may be termed "domesticated natives," is, that their ancestors migrated to these Islands from Malesia, or the Malay Peninsula. But so many learned dissertations have emanated from distinguished men, propounding conflicting opinions on the descent of the Malays themselves, that we are still left on the field of conjecture.

There is good reason to surmise that, at some remote period, these Islands and the Islands of Formosa and Borneo were united, and possibly also they conjointly formed a part of the Asiatic mainland. Many of the islets are mere coral reefs, and some of the larger islands are so distinctly of coral formation that, regarded together with the numerous volcanic evidences, one is induced to believe that the Philippine Archipelago is the result of a stupendous upheaval by volcanic action. [72] At least it seems apparent that no autochthonous population existed on these lands in their island form. The first settlers were probably the _Aetas,_ called also _Negritos_ and _Balugas_, who may have drifted northwards from New Guinea and have been carried by the strong currents through the San Bernadino Straits and round Punta Santiago until they reached the still waters in the neighbourhood of Corregidor Island, whilst others were carried westwards to the tranquil Sulu Sea, and travelling thence northwards would have settled on the Island of Negros. It is a fact that for over a century after the Spanish conquest, Negros Island had no other inhabitants but these mountaineers and escaped criminals from other islands.

The st.u.r.dy races inhabiting the Central Luzon highlands, decidedly superior in physique and mental capacity to the _Aetas,_ may be of j.a.panese origin, for shortly after the conquest by Legaspi a Spanish galley cruising off the north coast of Luzon fell in with j.a.panese, who probably penetrated to the interior of that island up the Rio Grande de Cagayan. Tradition tells us how the j.a.panese used to sail down the east coast of Luzon as far as the neighbourhood of Lamon Bay, where they landed and, descending the little rivers which flowed into the Lake of Bay, settled in that region which was called by the first Spanish conquerors Pagsanjan Province, and which included the Laguna Province of to-day, with a portion of the modern Tayabas Province.

Either the j.a.panese extended their sphere from the Lake of Bay sh.o.r.e, or, as some a.s.sert (probably erroneously), shipwrecked j.a.panese went up the Pansipit River to the Bombon Lake: the fact remains that Taal, with the Bombon Lake sh.o.r.e, was a j.a.panese settlement, and even up to now the Taalenos have characteristics differing from those of the pure Malay immigrant descendants. The Philippine patriot, Dr. Jose Rizal, was a good j.a.panese-Malay type.

The Tagalogs, who occupy a small portion of Luzon Island, chiefly the provinces of Batangas, Laguna, Rizal, and Bulacan, are believed to be the cross-breed descendants of these j.a.panese immigrants. At the period of the Spanish conquest the _Tao ilog_, that is to say, "the man who came by the river," afterwards corrupted into the more euphonious name of _Tagalog_, occupied only the lands from the south sh.o.r.e of Laguna de Bay southwards. Some traded with the Malay settlers at Maynila (as the city on the Pasig River was then called) and, little by little, radicated themselves in the Manila suburbs of Quiapo, Sampaloc, and Santa Cruz. [73]

From the West, long before the Spanish conquest, there was a great influx of Malays, who settled on the sh.o.r.es and the lowlands and drove the first settlers (_Aetas_) to the mountains. Central Luzon and the Lake environs being already occupied, they spread all over the vacant lands and adjacent islands south of Luzon. These expeditions from Malesia were probably accompanied by Mahometan propagandists, who had imparted to the Malays some notions, more or less crude, of their religion and culture, for at the time of Legaspi's arrival in Manila we find he had to deal with two chiefs, or petty kings, both a.s.suming the Indian t.i.tle of _Rajah_, whilst one of them had the Mahometan Arabic name of Soliman. Hitherto the _Tao ilog,_ or Tagalog, had not descended the Pasig River so far as Manila, and the religious rites of the Tondo-Manila people must have appeared to Legaspi similar to the Mahometan rites, [74] for in several of his despatches to his royal master he speaks of these people as _Moros_. All the dialects spoken by the Filipinos of Malay and j.a.panese descent have their root in the pure Malay language. After the expulsion of all the adult male j.a.panese Lake settlers in the 17th century, it is feasible to suppose that the language of the males who took their place in the Lake district and intermarried there, should prevail over the idiom of the primitive settlers, and possibly this amalgamation of speech accounts for the difference between the Tagalog dialect and others of these islands peopled by Malays.

The Malay immigration must have taken place several generations prior to the coming of the Spaniards, for at that period the lowland occupants were already divided into peoples speaking different dialects and distinguishing themselves by groups whose names seem to be a.s.sociated with the districts they inhabited, such as Pampanga, Iloco, and Cagayan; these denominations are probably derived from some natural condition, such as _Pampang_, meaning a river embankment, _Ilog_, a river, _Cauayan_, a bamboo, etc.

In a separate chapter (x.) the reputed origin of the Mahometans of the southern islands is alluded to. They are also believed to be immigrants from the West, and at the time of the conquest recent traditions which came to the knowledge of the Spaniards, and were recorded by them, prove that commercial relations existed between Borneo and Manila. There is a tradition [75] also of an attempted conquest of Luzon by a Borneo chief named Lacasama, about 250 years before the Spanish advent; but apparently the expedition came to grief near Luzon, off an island supposed by some to be Masbate.

The descendants of the j.a.panese and Malay immigrants were the people whom the Spanish invaders had to subdue to gain a footing. To the present day they, and the correlative Chinese and Spanish half-castes, are the only races, among the several in these Islands, subjected, in fact, to civilized methods. The expression "Filipino" neither denotes any autochthonous race, nor any nationality, but simply one born in those islands named the Philippines: it is, therefore, open to argument whether the child of a Filipino, born in a foreign country, could be correctly called a Filipino.

The christianized Filipinos, enjoying to-day the benefits of European training, are inclined to repudiate, as compatriots, the descendants of the non-christian tribes, although their concurrent existence, since the time of their immigrant forefathers, makes them all equally Filipinos. Hence many of them who were sent to the St. Louis Exhibition in 1904 were indignant because the United States Government had chosen to exhibit some types of uncivilized natives, representing about one-twelfth of the Philippine population. Without these exhibits, and on seeing only the educated Filipinos who formed the Philippine Commission, the American people at home might well have asked--Is not American civilization a superfluity in those islands?

The inhabitants of these Islands were by no means savages, entirely unreclaimed from barbarism before the Spanish advent in the 16th century. They had a culture of their own, towards which the Malay settlers themselves appear to have contributed very little. In the nascent pre-Spanish civilization, j.a.panese immigrants were almost the only agriculturists, mine-workers, manufacturers, gold-seekers, goldsmiths, and masters of the industrial arts in general. Pagsanjan (Laguna) was their great industrial centre. Malolos (Bulacan) was also an important j.a.panese trading base. Whilst working the mines of Ilocos their exemplary industry must undoubtedly have influenced the character of the Ilocanos. Away down in the Bicol country of Camarines, the j.a.panese pushed their trade, and from their great settlement in Taal their traffic must have extended over the whole province, first called by the Spaniards Taal y Balayan, but since named Batangas. From the j.a.panese, the Malays learnt the manufacture of arms, and the Igorrotes the art of metal-working. Along the coasts of the large inhabited islands the Chinese travelled as traders or middlemen, at great personal risk of attack by individual robbers, bartering the goods of manufacturers for native produce, which chiefly consisted of sinamay cloth, shark-fin, balate (trepang), edible birds'-nests, gold in grain, and siguey-sh.e.l.ls, for which there was a demand in Siam for use as money. Every north-east monsoon brought down the junks to barter leisurely until the south-west monsoon should waft them back, and neither Chinese nor j.a.panese made the least attempt, nor apparently had the least desire, to govern the Islands or to overrule the natives. Without coercion, the Malay settlers would appear to have unconsciously submitted to the influence of the superior talent or astuteness of the sedulous races with whom they became merged and whose customs they adopted, proof of which can be traced to the present day. [76] Presumably the busy, industrious immigrants had neither time nor inclination for sanguinary conflicts, for those recorded appear to be confined to the raids of the migratory mountaineers and an occasional attack by some ambitious Borneo buccaneer. The reader who would wish to verify these facts is recommended to make a comparative study of native character in Vigan, Malolos, Taal, and Pagsanjan.

In treating of the domesticated natives' character, I wish it to be understood that my observations apply solely to the _large majority_ of the six or seven millions of them who inhabit these Islands.

In the capital and the ports open to foreign trade, where cosmopolitan vices and virtues obtain, and in large towns, where there is a constant number of domiciled Europeans and Americans, the native has become a modified being. It is not in such places that a just estimate of character can be arrived at, even during many years' sojourn. The native must be studied by often-repeated casual residence in localities where his, or her, domestication is only "by law established," imposing little restraint upon natural inclinations, and where exotic notions have gained no influence.

Several writers have essayed to depict the Philippine native character, but with only partial success. Dealing with such an enigma, the most eminent physiognomists would surely differ in their speculations regarding the Philippine native of the present day. That Catonian figure, with placid countenance and solemn gravity of feature, would readily deceive any one as to the true mental organism within. The late parish priest of Alaminos (Batangas)--a Franciscan friar, who spent half his life in the Colony--left a brief ma.n.u.script essay on the native character. I have read it. In his opinion, the native is an incomprehensible phenomenon, the mainspring of whose line of thought and the guiding motive of whose actions have never yet been, and perhaps never will be, discovered.

The reasoning of a native and a European differs so largely that the mental impulse of the two races is ever clashing. Sometimes a native will serve a master satisfactorily for years, and then suddenly abscond, or commit some such hideous crime as conniving with a brigand band to murder the family and pillage the house.

When the hitherto faithful servant is remonstrated with for having committed a crime, he not unfrequently accounts for the fact by saying, "_Senor_, my head was hot." When caught in the act on his first start on highway robbery or murder, his invariable excuse is that he is not a scoundrel himself, but that he was "invited" by a relation or _compadre_ to join the company.

He is fond of gambling, profligate, lavish in his promises, but _lache_ in the extreme as to their fulfilment. He will never come frankly and openly forward to make a clean breast of a fault committed, or even a pardonable accident, but will hide it, until it is found out. In common with many other non-European races, an act of generosity or a voluntary concession of justice is regarded as a sign of weakness. Hence it is that the experienced European is often compelled to be more harsh than his real nature dictates.

If one pays a native 20 cents for a service performed, and that be exactly the customary remuneration, he will say nothing, but if a feeling of compa.s.sion impels one to pay 30 cents, the recipient will loudly protest that he ought to be paid more. [77] In Luzon the native is able to say "Thank you" (_salamat-po_) in his mother-tongue, but in Panay and Negros there is no way of expressing thanks in native dialect to a donor (the nearest approach to it is _Dios macbayat_); and although this may, at first sight, appear to be an insignificant fact, I think, nevertheless, a great deal may be deduced from it, for the deficiency of the word in the Visaya vernacular denotes a deficiency of the idea which that word should express.

If the native be in want of a trivial thing, which by plain asking he could readily obtain, he will come with a long tale, often begin by telling a lie, and whilst he invariably scratches his head, he will beat about the bush until he comes to the point, with a supplicating tone and a saintly countenance hiding a ma.s.s of falsity. But if he has nothing to gain for himself, his reticence is astonishingly inconvenient, for he may let one's horse die and tell one afterwards it was for want of rice-paddy, or, just at the very moment one wants to use something, he will tell one "_Uala-po_"--there is not any.

I have known natives whose mothers, according to their statement, have died several times, and each time they have tried to beg the loan of the burial expenses. The mother of my first servant died twice, according to his account.

Even the best cla.s.s of natives do not appreciate, or feel grateful for, or even seem to understand a spontaneous gift. Apparently, they only comprehend the favour when one yields to their asking. The lowest cla.s.ses never give to each other, unsolicited, a cent's worth, outside the customary reciprocal feast-offerings. If a European makes _voluntary_ gratuities to the natives, he is considered a fool--they entertain a contempt for him, which develops into intolerable impertinence. If the native comes to borrow, lend him a little less than he asks for, after a verbose preamble; if one at once lent, or gave, the full value requested, he would continue to invent a host of pressing necessities, until one's patience was exhausted. He seldom restores the loan of anything voluntarily. On being remonstrated with for his remissness, after the date of repayment or return of the article has expired, he will coolly reply, "You did not ask me for it." An amusing case of native reasoning came within my experience just recently. I lent some articles to an educated Filipino, who had frequently been my guest, and, at the end of three months, I requested their return. Instead of thanking me for their use, he wrote a letter expressing his indignation at my reminder, saying that I "ought to know they were in very good hands!" A native considers it no degradation to borrow money: it gives him no recurrent feeling of humiliation or distress of mind. Thus, he will often give a costly feast to impress his neighbours with his wealth and maintain his local prestige, whilst on all sides he has debts innumerable. At most, with his looseness of morality, he regards debt as an inconvenience, not as a calamity.

Before entering another (middle- or lower-cla.s.s) native's house, he is very complimentary, and sometimes three minutes' polite excusatory dialogue is exchanged between the visitor and the native visited before the former pa.s.ses the threshold. When the same cla.s.s of native enters a European's house, he generally satisfies his curiosity by looking all around, and often pokes his head into a private room, asking permission to enter afterwards.

The lower-cla.s.s native never comes at first call; among themselves it is usual to call five or six times, raising the voice each time. If a native is told to tell another to come, he seldom goes to him to deliver the message, but calls him from a distance. When a native steals (and I must say they are fairly honest), he steals only what he wants. One of the rudest acts, according to their social code, is to step over a person asleep on the floor. Sleeping is, with them, a very solemn matter; they are very averse to waking any one, the idea being, that during sleep the soul is absent from the body, and that if slumber be suddenly arrested the soul might not have time to return. When a person, knowing the habits of the native, calls upon him and is told "He is asleep," he does not inquire further--the rest is understood: that he may have to wait an indefinite time until the sleeper wakes up--so he may as well depart. To urge a servant to rouse one, one has to give him very imperative orders to that effect: then he stands by one's side and calls "Senor, senor!" repeatedly, and each time louder, until one is half awake; then he returns to the low note, and gradually raises his voice again until one is quite conscious.

In Spanish times, wherever I went in the whole Archipelago--near the capital, or 500 miles from it--I found mothers teaching their offspring to regard the European as a demoniacal being, an evil spirit, or, at least, as an enemy to be feared! If a child cried, it was hushed by the exclamation, "Castila!" (European). If a white man approached a poor hut or a fine native residence, the cry of caution, the watchword for defence was always heard--"Castila!"--and the children hastened their retreat from the dreaded object. But this is now a thing of the past since the native crossed swords with the "Castila"

(q.v.) and the American on the battle-field, and, rightly or wrongly, thoroughly believes himself to be a match for either in equal numbers.

The Filipino, like most Orientals, is a good imitator, but having no initiative genius, he is not efficient in anything. He will copy a model any number of times, but one cannot get him to make two copies so much alike that the one is undistinguishable from the other. Yet he has no attachment for any occupation in particular. To-day he will be at the plough; to-morrow a coachman, a collector of accounts, a valet, a sailor, and so on; or he will suddenly renounce social trammels in pursuit of lawless vagabondage. I once travelled with a Colonel Marques, acting-Governor of Cebu, whose valet was an ex-law student. Still, many are willing to learn, and really become very expert artisans, especially machinists.

The native is indolent in the extreme, and never tires of sitting still, gazing at nothing in particular. He will do no regular work without an advance; his word cannot be depended upon; he is fertile in exculpatory devices; he is momentarily obedient, but is averse to subjection. He feigns friendship, but has no loyalty; he is calm and silent, but can keep no secret; he is daring on the spur of the moment, but fails in resolution if he reflects. He is wantonly unfeeling towards animals; cruel to a fallen foe; tyrannical over his own people when in power; rarely tempers his animosities with compa.s.sion or pity, but is devotedly fond of his children. He is shifty, erratic, void of chivalrous feeling; and if familiarity be permitted with the common-cla.s.s native, he is liable to presume upon it. The Tagalog is docile and pliant, but keenly resents an injustice.

Native superst.i.tion and facile credulity are easily imposed upon. A report emitted in jest, or in earnest, travels with alarming rapidity, and the consequences have not unfrequently been serious. The native rarely sees a joke, and still more rarely makes one. He never reveals anger, but he will, with the most profound calmness, avenge himself, awaiting patiently the opportunity to use his bowie-knife with effect. Mutilation of a vanquished enemy is common among these Islanders. If a native recognizes a fault by his own conscience, he will receive a flogging without resentment or complaint; if he is not so convinced of the misdeed, he will await his chance to give vent to his rancour.

He has a profound respect only for the elders of his household, and the lash justly administered. He rarely refers to past generations in his lineage, and the lowest cla.s.s do not know their own ages. The Filipino, of any cla.s.s, has no memory for dates. In 1904 not one in a hundred remembered the month and year in which General Aguinaldo surrendered. During the Independence war, an esteemed friend of mine, a Philippine priest, died, presumably of old age. I went to his town to inquire all about it from his son, but neither the son nor another near relation could recollect, after two days' reflection, even the year the old man pa.s.sed away. Another friend of mine had his brains blown out during the Revolution. His brother was anxious to relate the tragedy to me and how he had lost 20,000 pesos in consequence, but he could not tell me in which month it happened. Families are very united, and claims for help and protection are admitted however distant the relationship may be. Sometimes the connection of a "hanger-on" with his host's family will be so remote and doubtful, that he can only be recognized as "_un poco pariente nada mas_"

(a sort of kinsman). But the house is open to all.

The native is a good father and a good husband, unreasonably jealous of his wife, careless of the honour of his daughter, and will take no heed of the indiscretions of his spouse committed before marriage. Cases have been known of natives having fled from their burning huts, taking care to save their fighting-c.o.c.ks, but leaving their wives and children to look after themselves.