Chapter XX.Sport.(A Chapter for Men.)The Jockey Club—Training—The races—An archbishop presiding—The Totalisator or Pari Mutuel—The Manila Club—Boating club—Rifle clubs—Shooting—Snipe—Wild duck—Plover—Quail—Pigeons—Tabon—Labuyao, or jungle cock—Pheasants—Deer—Wild pig—No sport in fishing.Manila was not so badly off for sport as might be thought. The pony-races, conducted under the auspices of the Jockey Club, excited the greatest interest amongst all classes.The ponies underwent their training at the race-course in Santa Mesa, and their owners and other members of the club were provided with early breakfast there. The native grooms took as much interest in the success of the pony they attended as the owner, and they backed their favourite for all they were worth.Only members were allowed to ride, and the weights were remarkably heavy for such small ponies. When the races came off, business was almost suspended for three days, and all Manila appeared at the race-course. There were sometimes two thousand vehicles and immense crowds on foot.The ladies in their most resplendent toilettes were received by the stewards, presented with elegantly-bound programmes, and conducted to their places on the grand stand.Presently a military band would strike up the “Marcha Réal,” as the Governor-General’s equipage entered the enclosure, and that exalted personage, dressed in black frock coat and silk hat, white trousers and waistcoat, with the crimson silk sash of a general, just peeping from under his waistcoat, was conducted to his box, followed by his suite and the favoured persons invited to join his party.The highest authority in the country presided and handed the prizes to the winning jockeys, who were brought up to him by the vice-president of the club. But on an occasion when the Governor-General and Segundo Cabo were absent, I witnessed the races which were presided over by no less a personage than His Grace the Archbishop of Manila, Fray Pedro Payo, in his archiepiscopal garments, and smoking a big Havana cigar. The old gentleman enjoyed the sport and most graciously presented the handsome prizes to the winners.Betting was conducted by the totalisator, or pari-mutuel, the bet being five dollars, repeated as often as you liked. As I presume my readers understand this system, I shall not describe it. The natives bet amongst themselves to a considerable amount.Pavilions were erected by different clubs or bodies, and a profuse hospitality characterised each day. Winners of large silver cups usually filled them with champagne and passed them round. Bets were made with the ladies as an excuse for giving them presents. Dinner-parties were given in the evenings at private houses, and there were dinners at the clubs. There were two race-meetings in the year. No doubt this sport, temporarily interrupted by insurrection and war, will again flourish when tranquillity prevails.There was a boating-club in connection with the British Club at Nagtajan, now removed to Ermita, and some very good skiffs and boats were available. There was a regatta and illuminated procession of boats each year.Polo clubs and rifle clubs had a rather precarious existence, except that the Swiss Rifle Club was well kept up, and there were some excellent shots in it. There was a lawn tennis club, which had ladies and gentlemen as members, and some very good games were played there and valuable prizes given.Shooting was a favourite sport with many Englishmen and a few mestizos.Excellent snipe-shooting is to be had in all the paddy-fields around Manila and the lake. But at San Pedro on the Pasig, there is a wide expanse of rough ground with clumps of bushes, and it was here that the most exciting sport was to be had, and it took some shooting to get the birds as they flew across the openings between the bushes. Snipe-shooting began in September, when the paddy washigh enough to give cover, and lasted to the end of November. The birds, when they first arrived, were thin, but they soon put on flesh, and by November were fat and in splendid condition for the table. There is no better bird to be eaten anywhere than a Manila snipe. Bags of eighty were sometimes made in a morning by two guns.Excellent wild-duck and teal-shooting was to be got on and around the lake and on the Pinag de Candaba, and wherever there was a sheet of water. When crossing the lake I have seen wild fowl resting on the surface in such enormous numbers that they looked like sandbanks. They are not easy to approach, but I have killed some by firing a rifle into the flock. The crested-lapwing and the golden-plover are in plenty, and on the seashores widgeon and curlew abound. Inland, on the stubbles, there are plenty of quail. Pigeons of all sorts, sizes, and colours, abound at all times, especially when the dap-dap tree opens its large crimson blossoms. Some kinds of brush-turkeys, such as the tabon, a bird (Megapodius cuningi) the size of a partridge, that lays an egg as large as a goose egg and buries it in a mound of gravel by the shore, are found.The labuyao, or jungle cock, is rare and not easy to shoot in a sportsmanlike way, although a poacher could easily shoot them on a moonlight night.In the Southern Islands some remarkable pheasants of most brilliant plumage are to be found, and whilst in Palawan I obtained two good specimens of the pavito real (Polyplectron Napoleonis), a very handsome game bird with two sharp spurs on each leg. They are rather larger than a partridge, but their fan-shaped tails have two rows of eyes like a peacock’s tail, there being four eyes in each feather.Deer and wild-pig abound, and can be shot within four hours’ journey of Manila by road. Round about Montalban is a good place for them. They are plentiful at Jala-jala, on the lake at Porac in Pampanga, and round about the Puerto Jamelo and Pico de Loro, at the mouth of Manila Bay. In fact, they are found wherever there is cover and pasture for them. The season is from December to April.The usual way is to go with a party of five or six guns and employ some thirty native beaters, each bringing one or two dogs.The guns are stationed in suitable spots and the beaters and their dogs, fetching a compass, extend their line anddrive the game up to the guns. This is rather an expensive amusement, as you have to pay and feed the beaters and their dogs; but it is very good sport, and in proceeding and returning to camp from two beats in the morning and two in the afternoon, you got quite as much exercise as you want or as is good for you. The venison and wild-pig is very good eating, but it is difficult to get it to Manila fresh, whatever precautions you take.Taken all round, Luzon is well supplied with game, and may be considered satisfactory from a sportsman’s point of view.There is no sport to be had in fishing; in Luzon, so far as I know, there are no game fish. When living on the banks of the Rio Grande, near Macabébe, I noticed some natives taking fish at night by placing a torch on the bow of a canoe, which was paddled by one man slowly along near the bank, another man standing in the bow with a fish-spear of three prongs, similar to the “grains” used in England. As the fish came up to the light he struck at them with his spear and managed to pick up a good many.This appeared good sport, and I arranged for a native to come for me in a canoe with torch, and I borrowed a spear. We started off, but there was some difficulty in standing up in a small, narrow canoe, and darting the spear. My first stroke was a miss, the fish escaped; my second, however, was all right, and I shook my catch off the spear into the canoe, but the native shouted out, “Másamang áhas pó!” (a poisonous snake, sir) not forgetting to be polite even in that somewhat urgent situation. The snake was wriggling towards me, but I promptly picked him up again on the spear and threw him overboard, much to my own relief and that of the Pampanga.It was one of those black and yellow water-snakes, reputed as poisonous. That was enough fishing for me, and I remembered that I had a particular appointment at home, and left fishing to professionals.Curiously enough, fish cannot be taken by the trawl, for a mestizo got out a trawling steamer with gear, and men to handle it, and after repeated trials in different places, had to give it up as a bad job.
Chapter XX.Sport.(A Chapter for Men.)The Jockey Club—Training—The races—An archbishop presiding—The Totalisator or Pari Mutuel—The Manila Club—Boating club—Rifle clubs—Shooting—Snipe—Wild duck—Plover—Quail—Pigeons—Tabon—Labuyao, or jungle cock—Pheasants—Deer—Wild pig—No sport in fishing.Manila was not so badly off for sport as might be thought. The pony-races, conducted under the auspices of the Jockey Club, excited the greatest interest amongst all classes.The ponies underwent their training at the race-course in Santa Mesa, and their owners and other members of the club were provided with early breakfast there. The native grooms took as much interest in the success of the pony they attended as the owner, and they backed their favourite for all they were worth.Only members were allowed to ride, and the weights were remarkably heavy for such small ponies. When the races came off, business was almost suspended for three days, and all Manila appeared at the race-course. There were sometimes two thousand vehicles and immense crowds on foot.The ladies in their most resplendent toilettes were received by the stewards, presented with elegantly-bound programmes, and conducted to their places on the grand stand.Presently a military band would strike up the “Marcha Réal,” as the Governor-General’s equipage entered the enclosure, and that exalted personage, dressed in black frock coat and silk hat, white trousers and waistcoat, with the crimson silk sash of a general, just peeping from under his waistcoat, was conducted to his box, followed by his suite and the favoured persons invited to join his party.The highest authority in the country presided and handed the prizes to the winning jockeys, who were brought up to him by the vice-president of the club. But on an occasion when the Governor-General and Segundo Cabo were absent, I witnessed the races which were presided over by no less a personage than His Grace the Archbishop of Manila, Fray Pedro Payo, in his archiepiscopal garments, and smoking a big Havana cigar. The old gentleman enjoyed the sport and most graciously presented the handsome prizes to the winners.Betting was conducted by the totalisator, or pari-mutuel, the bet being five dollars, repeated as often as you liked. As I presume my readers understand this system, I shall not describe it. The natives bet amongst themselves to a considerable amount.Pavilions were erected by different clubs or bodies, and a profuse hospitality characterised each day. Winners of large silver cups usually filled them with champagne and passed them round. Bets were made with the ladies as an excuse for giving them presents. Dinner-parties were given in the evenings at private houses, and there were dinners at the clubs. There were two race-meetings in the year. No doubt this sport, temporarily interrupted by insurrection and war, will again flourish when tranquillity prevails.There was a boating-club in connection with the British Club at Nagtajan, now removed to Ermita, and some very good skiffs and boats were available. There was a regatta and illuminated procession of boats each year.Polo clubs and rifle clubs had a rather precarious existence, except that the Swiss Rifle Club was well kept up, and there were some excellent shots in it. There was a lawn tennis club, which had ladies and gentlemen as members, and some very good games were played there and valuable prizes given.Shooting was a favourite sport with many Englishmen and a few mestizos.Excellent snipe-shooting is to be had in all the paddy-fields around Manila and the lake. But at San Pedro on the Pasig, there is a wide expanse of rough ground with clumps of bushes, and it was here that the most exciting sport was to be had, and it took some shooting to get the birds as they flew across the openings between the bushes. Snipe-shooting began in September, when the paddy washigh enough to give cover, and lasted to the end of November. The birds, when they first arrived, were thin, but they soon put on flesh, and by November were fat and in splendid condition for the table. There is no better bird to be eaten anywhere than a Manila snipe. Bags of eighty were sometimes made in a morning by two guns.Excellent wild-duck and teal-shooting was to be got on and around the lake and on the Pinag de Candaba, and wherever there was a sheet of water. When crossing the lake I have seen wild fowl resting on the surface in such enormous numbers that they looked like sandbanks. They are not easy to approach, but I have killed some by firing a rifle into the flock. The crested-lapwing and the golden-plover are in plenty, and on the seashores widgeon and curlew abound. Inland, on the stubbles, there are plenty of quail. Pigeons of all sorts, sizes, and colours, abound at all times, especially when the dap-dap tree opens its large crimson blossoms. Some kinds of brush-turkeys, such as the tabon, a bird (Megapodius cuningi) the size of a partridge, that lays an egg as large as a goose egg and buries it in a mound of gravel by the shore, are found.The labuyao, or jungle cock, is rare and not easy to shoot in a sportsmanlike way, although a poacher could easily shoot them on a moonlight night.In the Southern Islands some remarkable pheasants of most brilliant plumage are to be found, and whilst in Palawan I obtained two good specimens of the pavito real (Polyplectron Napoleonis), a very handsome game bird with two sharp spurs on each leg. They are rather larger than a partridge, but their fan-shaped tails have two rows of eyes like a peacock’s tail, there being four eyes in each feather.Deer and wild-pig abound, and can be shot within four hours’ journey of Manila by road. Round about Montalban is a good place for them. They are plentiful at Jala-jala, on the lake at Porac in Pampanga, and round about the Puerto Jamelo and Pico de Loro, at the mouth of Manila Bay. In fact, they are found wherever there is cover and pasture for them. The season is from December to April.The usual way is to go with a party of five or six guns and employ some thirty native beaters, each bringing one or two dogs.The guns are stationed in suitable spots and the beaters and their dogs, fetching a compass, extend their line anddrive the game up to the guns. This is rather an expensive amusement, as you have to pay and feed the beaters and their dogs; but it is very good sport, and in proceeding and returning to camp from two beats in the morning and two in the afternoon, you got quite as much exercise as you want or as is good for you. The venison and wild-pig is very good eating, but it is difficult to get it to Manila fresh, whatever precautions you take.Taken all round, Luzon is well supplied with game, and may be considered satisfactory from a sportsman’s point of view.There is no sport to be had in fishing; in Luzon, so far as I know, there are no game fish. When living on the banks of the Rio Grande, near Macabébe, I noticed some natives taking fish at night by placing a torch on the bow of a canoe, which was paddled by one man slowly along near the bank, another man standing in the bow with a fish-spear of three prongs, similar to the “grains” used in England. As the fish came up to the light he struck at them with his spear and managed to pick up a good many.This appeared good sport, and I arranged for a native to come for me in a canoe with torch, and I borrowed a spear. We started off, but there was some difficulty in standing up in a small, narrow canoe, and darting the spear. My first stroke was a miss, the fish escaped; my second, however, was all right, and I shook my catch off the spear into the canoe, but the native shouted out, “Másamang áhas pó!” (a poisonous snake, sir) not forgetting to be polite even in that somewhat urgent situation. The snake was wriggling towards me, but I promptly picked him up again on the spear and threw him overboard, much to my own relief and that of the Pampanga.It was one of those black and yellow water-snakes, reputed as poisonous. That was enough fishing for me, and I remembered that I had a particular appointment at home, and left fishing to professionals.Curiously enough, fish cannot be taken by the trawl, for a mestizo got out a trawling steamer with gear, and men to handle it, and after repeated trials in different places, had to give it up as a bad job.
Chapter XX.Sport.(A Chapter for Men.)The Jockey Club—Training—The races—An archbishop presiding—The Totalisator or Pari Mutuel—The Manila Club—Boating club—Rifle clubs—Shooting—Snipe—Wild duck—Plover—Quail—Pigeons—Tabon—Labuyao, or jungle cock—Pheasants—Deer—Wild pig—No sport in fishing.Manila was not so badly off for sport as might be thought. The pony-races, conducted under the auspices of the Jockey Club, excited the greatest interest amongst all classes.The ponies underwent their training at the race-course in Santa Mesa, and their owners and other members of the club were provided with early breakfast there. The native grooms took as much interest in the success of the pony they attended as the owner, and they backed their favourite for all they were worth.Only members were allowed to ride, and the weights were remarkably heavy for such small ponies. When the races came off, business was almost suspended for three days, and all Manila appeared at the race-course. There were sometimes two thousand vehicles and immense crowds on foot.The ladies in their most resplendent toilettes were received by the stewards, presented with elegantly-bound programmes, and conducted to their places on the grand stand.Presently a military band would strike up the “Marcha Réal,” as the Governor-General’s equipage entered the enclosure, and that exalted personage, dressed in black frock coat and silk hat, white trousers and waistcoat, with the crimson silk sash of a general, just peeping from under his waistcoat, was conducted to his box, followed by his suite and the favoured persons invited to join his party.The highest authority in the country presided and handed the prizes to the winning jockeys, who were brought up to him by the vice-president of the club. But on an occasion when the Governor-General and Segundo Cabo were absent, I witnessed the races which were presided over by no less a personage than His Grace the Archbishop of Manila, Fray Pedro Payo, in his archiepiscopal garments, and smoking a big Havana cigar. The old gentleman enjoyed the sport and most graciously presented the handsome prizes to the winners.Betting was conducted by the totalisator, or pari-mutuel, the bet being five dollars, repeated as often as you liked. As I presume my readers understand this system, I shall not describe it. The natives bet amongst themselves to a considerable amount.Pavilions were erected by different clubs or bodies, and a profuse hospitality characterised each day. Winners of large silver cups usually filled them with champagne and passed them round. Bets were made with the ladies as an excuse for giving them presents. Dinner-parties were given in the evenings at private houses, and there were dinners at the clubs. There were two race-meetings in the year. No doubt this sport, temporarily interrupted by insurrection and war, will again flourish when tranquillity prevails.There was a boating-club in connection with the British Club at Nagtajan, now removed to Ermita, and some very good skiffs and boats were available. There was a regatta and illuminated procession of boats each year.Polo clubs and rifle clubs had a rather precarious existence, except that the Swiss Rifle Club was well kept up, and there were some excellent shots in it. There was a lawn tennis club, which had ladies and gentlemen as members, and some very good games were played there and valuable prizes given.Shooting was a favourite sport with many Englishmen and a few mestizos.Excellent snipe-shooting is to be had in all the paddy-fields around Manila and the lake. But at San Pedro on the Pasig, there is a wide expanse of rough ground with clumps of bushes, and it was here that the most exciting sport was to be had, and it took some shooting to get the birds as they flew across the openings between the bushes. Snipe-shooting began in September, when the paddy washigh enough to give cover, and lasted to the end of November. The birds, when they first arrived, were thin, but they soon put on flesh, and by November were fat and in splendid condition for the table. There is no better bird to be eaten anywhere than a Manila snipe. Bags of eighty were sometimes made in a morning by two guns.Excellent wild-duck and teal-shooting was to be got on and around the lake and on the Pinag de Candaba, and wherever there was a sheet of water. When crossing the lake I have seen wild fowl resting on the surface in such enormous numbers that they looked like sandbanks. They are not easy to approach, but I have killed some by firing a rifle into the flock. The crested-lapwing and the golden-plover are in plenty, and on the seashores widgeon and curlew abound. Inland, on the stubbles, there are plenty of quail. Pigeons of all sorts, sizes, and colours, abound at all times, especially when the dap-dap tree opens its large crimson blossoms. Some kinds of brush-turkeys, such as the tabon, a bird (Megapodius cuningi) the size of a partridge, that lays an egg as large as a goose egg and buries it in a mound of gravel by the shore, are found.The labuyao, or jungle cock, is rare and not easy to shoot in a sportsmanlike way, although a poacher could easily shoot them on a moonlight night.In the Southern Islands some remarkable pheasants of most brilliant plumage are to be found, and whilst in Palawan I obtained two good specimens of the pavito real (Polyplectron Napoleonis), a very handsome game bird with two sharp spurs on each leg. They are rather larger than a partridge, but their fan-shaped tails have two rows of eyes like a peacock’s tail, there being four eyes in each feather.Deer and wild-pig abound, and can be shot within four hours’ journey of Manila by road. Round about Montalban is a good place for them. They are plentiful at Jala-jala, on the lake at Porac in Pampanga, and round about the Puerto Jamelo and Pico de Loro, at the mouth of Manila Bay. In fact, they are found wherever there is cover and pasture for them. The season is from December to April.The usual way is to go with a party of five or six guns and employ some thirty native beaters, each bringing one or two dogs.The guns are stationed in suitable spots and the beaters and their dogs, fetching a compass, extend their line anddrive the game up to the guns. This is rather an expensive amusement, as you have to pay and feed the beaters and their dogs; but it is very good sport, and in proceeding and returning to camp from two beats in the morning and two in the afternoon, you got quite as much exercise as you want or as is good for you. The venison and wild-pig is very good eating, but it is difficult to get it to Manila fresh, whatever precautions you take.Taken all round, Luzon is well supplied with game, and may be considered satisfactory from a sportsman’s point of view.There is no sport to be had in fishing; in Luzon, so far as I know, there are no game fish. When living on the banks of the Rio Grande, near Macabébe, I noticed some natives taking fish at night by placing a torch on the bow of a canoe, which was paddled by one man slowly along near the bank, another man standing in the bow with a fish-spear of three prongs, similar to the “grains” used in England. As the fish came up to the light he struck at them with his spear and managed to pick up a good many.This appeared good sport, and I arranged for a native to come for me in a canoe with torch, and I borrowed a spear. We started off, but there was some difficulty in standing up in a small, narrow canoe, and darting the spear. My first stroke was a miss, the fish escaped; my second, however, was all right, and I shook my catch off the spear into the canoe, but the native shouted out, “Másamang áhas pó!” (a poisonous snake, sir) not forgetting to be polite even in that somewhat urgent situation. The snake was wriggling towards me, but I promptly picked him up again on the spear and threw him overboard, much to my own relief and that of the Pampanga.It was one of those black and yellow water-snakes, reputed as poisonous. That was enough fishing for me, and I remembered that I had a particular appointment at home, and left fishing to professionals.Curiously enough, fish cannot be taken by the trawl, for a mestizo got out a trawling steamer with gear, and men to handle it, and after repeated trials in different places, had to give it up as a bad job.
Chapter XX.Sport.(A Chapter for Men.)The Jockey Club—Training—The races—An archbishop presiding—The Totalisator or Pari Mutuel—The Manila Club—Boating club—Rifle clubs—Shooting—Snipe—Wild duck—Plover—Quail—Pigeons—Tabon—Labuyao, or jungle cock—Pheasants—Deer—Wild pig—No sport in fishing.
The Jockey Club—Training—The races—An archbishop presiding—The Totalisator or Pari Mutuel—The Manila Club—Boating club—Rifle clubs—Shooting—Snipe—Wild duck—Plover—Quail—Pigeons—Tabon—Labuyao, or jungle cock—Pheasants—Deer—Wild pig—No sport in fishing.
The Jockey Club—Training—The races—An archbishop presiding—The Totalisator or Pari Mutuel—The Manila Club—Boating club—Rifle clubs—Shooting—Snipe—Wild duck—Plover—Quail—Pigeons—Tabon—Labuyao, or jungle cock—Pheasants—Deer—Wild pig—No sport in fishing.
Manila was not so badly off for sport as might be thought. The pony-races, conducted under the auspices of the Jockey Club, excited the greatest interest amongst all classes.The ponies underwent their training at the race-course in Santa Mesa, and their owners and other members of the club were provided with early breakfast there. The native grooms took as much interest in the success of the pony they attended as the owner, and they backed their favourite for all they were worth.Only members were allowed to ride, and the weights were remarkably heavy for such small ponies. When the races came off, business was almost suspended for three days, and all Manila appeared at the race-course. There were sometimes two thousand vehicles and immense crowds on foot.The ladies in their most resplendent toilettes were received by the stewards, presented with elegantly-bound programmes, and conducted to their places on the grand stand.Presently a military band would strike up the “Marcha Réal,” as the Governor-General’s equipage entered the enclosure, and that exalted personage, dressed in black frock coat and silk hat, white trousers and waistcoat, with the crimson silk sash of a general, just peeping from under his waistcoat, was conducted to his box, followed by his suite and the favoured persons invited to join his party.The highest authority in the country presided and handed the prizes to the winning jockeys, who were brought up to him by the vice-president of the club. But on an occasion when the Governor-General and Segundo Cabo were absent, I witnessed the races which were presided over by no less a personage than His Grace the Archbishop of Manila, Fray Pedro Payo, in his archiepiscopal garments, and smoking a big Havana cigar. The old gentleman enjoyed the sport and most graciously presented the handsome prizes to the winners.Betting was conducted by the totalisator, or pari-mutuel, the bet being five dollars, repeated as often as you liked. As I presume my readers understand this system, I shall not describe it. The natives bet amongst themselves to a considerable amount.Pavilions were erected by different clubs or bodies, and a profuse hospitality characterised each day. Winners of large silver cups usually filled them with champagne and passed them round. Bets were made with the ladies as an excuse for giving them presents. Dinner-parties were given in the evenings at private houses, and there were dinners at the clubs. There were two race-meetings in the year. No doubt this sport, temporarily interrupted by insurrection and war, will again flourish when tranquillity prevails.There was a boating-club in connection with the British Club at Nagtajan, now removed to Ermita, and some very good skiffs and boats were available. There was a regatta and illuminated procession of boats each year.Polo clubs and rifle clubs had a rather precarious existence, except that the Swiss Rifle Club was well kept up, and there were some excellent shots in it. There was a lawn tennis club, which had ladies and gentlemen as members, and some very good games were played there and valuable prizes given.Shooting was a favourite sport with many Englishmen and a few mestizos.Excellent snipe-shooting is to be had in all the paddy-fields around Manila and the lake. But at San Pedro on the Pasig, there is a wide expanse of rough ground with clumps of bushes, and it was here that the most exciting sport was to be had, and it took some shooting to get the birds as they flew across the openings between the bushes. Snipe-shooting began in September, when the paddy washigh enough to give cover, and lasted to the end of November. The birds, when they first arrived, were thin, but they soon put on flesh, and by November were fat and in splendid condition for the table. There is no better bird to be eaten anywhere than a Manila snipe. Bags of eighty were sometimes made in a morning by two guns.Excellent wild-duck and teal-shooting was to be got on and around the lake and on the Pinag de Candaba, and wherever there was a sheet of water. When crossing the lake I have seen wild fowl resting on the surface in such enormous numbers that they looked like sandbanks. They are not easy to approach, but I have killed some by firing a rifle into the flock. The crested-lapwing and the golden-plover are in plenty, and on the seashores widgeon and curlew abound. Inland, on the stubbles, there are plenty of quail. Pigeons of all sorts, sizes, and colours, abound at all times, especially when the dap-dap tree opens its large crimson blossoms. Some kinds of brush-turkeys, such as the tabon, a bird (Megapodius cuningi) the size of a partridge, that lays an egg as large as a goose egg and buries it in a mound of gravel by the shore, are found.The labuyao, or jungle cock, is rare and not easy to shoot in a sportsmanlike way, although a poacher could easily shoot them on a moonlight night.In the Southern Islands some remarkable pheasants of most brilliant plumage are to be found, and whilst in Palawan I obtained two good specimens of the pavito real (Polyplectron Napoleonis), a very handsome game bird with two sharp spurs on each leg. They are rather larger than a partridge, but their fan-shaped tails have two rows of eyes like a peacock’s tail, there being four eyes in each feather.Deer and wild-pig abound, and can be shot within four hours’ journey of Manila by road. Round about Montalban is a good place for them. They are plentiful at Jala-jala, on the lake at Porac in Pampanga, and round about the Puerto Jamelo and Pico de Loro, at the mouth of Manila Bay. In fact, they are found wherever there is cover and pasture for them. The season is from December to April.The usual way is to go with a party of five or six guns and employ some thirty native beaters, each bringing one or two dogs.The guns are stationed in suitable spots and the beaters and their dogs, fetching a compass, extend their line anddrive the game up to the guns. This is rather an expensive amusement, as you have to pay and feed the beaters and their dogs; but it is very good sport, and in proceeding and returning to camp from two beats in the morning and two in the afternoon, you got quite as much exercise as you want or as is good for you. The venison and wild-pig is very good eating, but it is difficult to get it to Manila fresh, whatever precautions you take.Taken all round, Luzon is well supplied with game, and may be considered satisfactory from a sportsman’s point of view.There is no sport to be had in fishing; in Luzon, so far as I know, there are no game fish. When living on the banks of the Rio Grande, near Macabébe, I noticed some natives taking fish at night by placing a torch on the bow of a canoe, which was paddled by one man slowly along near the bank, another man standing in the bow with a fish-spear of three prongs, similar to the “grains” used in England. As the fish came up to the light he struck at them with his spear and managed to pick up a good many.This appeared good sport, and I arranged for a native to come for me in a canoe with torch, and I borrowed a spear. We started off, but there was some difficulty in standing up in a small, narrow canoe, and darting the spear. My first stroke was a miss, the fish escaped; my second, however, was all right, and I shook my catch off the spear into the canoe, but the native shouted out, “Másamang áhas pó!” (a poisonous snake, sir) not forgetting to be polite even in that somewhat urgent situation. The snake was wriggling towards me, but I promptly picked him up again on the spear and threw him overboard, much to my own relief and that of the Pampanga.It was one of those black and yellow water-snakes, reputed as poisonous. That was enough fishing for me, and I remembered that I had a particular appointment at home, and left fishing to professionals.Curiously enough, fish cannot be taken by the trawl, for a mestizo got out a trawling steamer with gear, and men to handle it, and after repeated trials in different places, had to give it up as a bad job.
Manila was not so badly off for sport as might be thought. The pony-races, conducted under the auspices of the Jockey Club, excited the greatest interest amongst all classes.
The ponies underwent their training at the race-course in Santa Mesa, and their owners and other members of the club were provided with early breakfast there. The native grooms took as much interest in the success of the pony they attended as the owner, and they backed their favourite for all they were worth.
Only members were allowed to ride, and the weights were remarkably heavy for such small ponies. When the races came off, business was almost suspended for three days, and all Manila appeared at the race-course. There were sometimes two thousand vehicles and immense crowds on foot.
The ladies in their most resplendent toilettes were received by the stewards, presented with elegantly-bound programmes, and conducted to their places on the grand stand.
Presently a military band would strike up the “Marcha Réal,” as the Governor-General’s equipage entered the enclosure, and that exalted personage, dressed in black frock coat and silk hat, white trousers and waistcoat, with the crimson silk sash of a general, just peeping from under his waistcoat, was conducted to his box, followed by his suite and the favoured persons invited to join his party.
The highest authority in the country presided and handed the prizes to the winning jockeys, who were brought up to him by the vice-president of the club. But on an occasion when the Governor-General and Segundo Cabo were absent, I witnessed the races which were presided over by no less a personage than His Grace the Archbishop of Manila, Fray Pedro Payo, in his archiepiscopal garments, and smoking a big Havana cigar. The old gentleman enjoyed the sport and most graciously presented the handsome prizes to the winners.
Betting was conducted by the totalisator, or pari-mutuel, the bet being five dollars, repeated as often as you liked. As I presume my readers understand this system, I shall not describe it. The natives bet amongst themselves to a considerable amount.
Pavilions were erected by different clubs or bodies, and a profuse hospitality characterised each day. Winners of large silver cups usually filled them with champagne and passed them round. Bets were made with the ladies as an excuse for giving them presents. Dinner-parties were given in the evenings at private houses, and there were dinners at the clubs. There were two race-meetings in the year. No doubt this sport, temporarily interrupted by insurrection and war, will again flourish when tranquillity prevails.
There was a boating-club in connection with the British Club at Nagtajan, now removed to Ermita, and some very good skiffs and boats were available. There was a regatta and illuminated procession of boats each year.
Polo clubs and rifle clubs had a rather precarious existence, except that the Swiss Rifle Club was well kept up, and there were some excellent shots in it. There was a lawn tennis club, which had ladies and gentlemen as members, and some very good games were played there and valuable prizes given.
Shooting was a favourite sport with many Englishmen and a few mestizos.
Excellent snipe-shooting is to be had in all the paddy-fields around Manila and the lake. But at San Pedro on the Pasig, there is a wide expanse of rough ground with clumps of bushes, and it was here that the most exciting sport was to be had, and it took some shooting to get the birds as they flew across the openings between the bushes. Snipe-shooting began in September, when the paddy washigh enough to give cover, and lasted to the end of November. The birds, when they first arrived, were thin, but they soon put on flesh, and by November were fat and in splendid condition for the table. There is no better bird to be eaten anywhere than a Manila snipe. Bags of eighty were sometimes made in a morning by two guns.
Excellent wild-duck and teal-shooting was to be got on and around the lake and on the Pinag de Candaba, and wherever there was a sheet of water. When crossing the lake I have seen wild fowl resting on the surface in such enormous numbers that they looked like sandbanks. They are not easy to approach, but I have killed some by firing a rifle into the flock. The crested-lapwing and the golden-plover are in plenty, and on the seashores widgeon and curlew abound. Inland, on the stubbles, there are plenty of quail. Pigeons of all sorts, sizes, and colours, abound at all times, especially when the dap-dap tree opens its large crimson blossoms. Some kinds of brush-turkeys, such as the tabon, a bird (Megapodius cuningi) the size of a partridge, that lays an egg as large as a goose egg and buries it in a mound of gravel by the shore, are found.
The labuyao, or jungle cock, is rare and not easy to shoot in a sportsmanlike way, although a poacher could easily shoot them on a moonlight night.
In the Southern Islands some remarkable pheasants of most brilliant plumage are to be found, and whilst in Palawan I obtained two good specimens of the pavito real (Polyplectron Napoleonis), a very handsome game bird with two sharp spurs on each leg. They are rather larger than a partridge, but their fan-shaped tails have two rows of eyes like a peacock’s tail, there being four eyes in each feather.
Deer and wild-pig abound, and can be shot within four hours’ journey of Manila by road. Round about Montalban is a good place for them. They are plentiful at Jala-jala, on the lake at Porac in Pampanga, and round about the Puerto Jamelo and Pico de Loro, at the mouth of Manila Bay. In fact, they are found wherever there is cover and pasture for them. The season is from December to April.
The usual way is to go with a party of five or six guns and employ some thirty native beaters, each bringing one or two dogs.
The guns are stationed in suitable spots and the beaters and their dogs, fetching a compass, extend their line anddrive the game up to the guns. This is rather an expensive amusement, as you have to pay and feed the beaters and their dogs; but it is very good sport, and in proceeding and returning to camp from two beats in the morning and two in the afternoon, you got quite as much exercise as you want or as is good for you. The venison and wild-pig is very good eating, but it is difficult to get it to Manila fresh, whatever precautions you take.
Taken all round, Luzon is well supplied with game, and may be considered satisfactory from a sportsman’s point of view.
There is no sport to be had in fishing; in Luzon, so far as I know, there are no game fish. When living on the banks of the Rio Grande, near Macabébe, I noticed some natives taking fish at night by placing a torch on the bow of a canoe, which was paddled by one man slowly along near the bank, another man standing in the bow with a fish-spear of three prongs, similar to the “grains” used in England. As the fish came up to the light he struck at them with his spear and managed to pick up a good many.
This appeared good sport, and I arranged for a native to come for me in a canoe with torch, and I borrowed a spear. We started off, but there was some difficulty in standing up in a small, narrow canoe, and darting the spear. My first stroke was a miss, the fish escaped; my second, however, was all right, and I shook my catch off the spear into the canoe, but the native shouted out, “Másamang áhas pó!” (a poisonous snake, sir) not forgetting to be polite even in that somewhat urgent situation. The snake was wriggling towards me, but I promptly picked him up again on the spear and threw him overboard, much to my own relief and that of the Pampanga.
It was one of those black and yellow water-snakes, reputed as poisonous. That was enough fishing for me, and I remembered that I had a particular appointment at home, and left fishing to professionals.
Curiously enough, fish cannot be taken by the trawl, for a mestizo got out a trawling steamer with gear, and men to handle it, and after repeated trials in different places, had to give it up as a bad job.