Chapter XXV.Pampangos (2).The Pampangos are close neighbours of the Tagals. They inhabit the rich and fertile province of Pampanga and a large part of that of Tarlac. There are also some detached colonies of them in the towns of Bataán, Nueva Écija, Pangasinán, and Zambales. The population of Pampanga is given in the census of 1876 as 226,000. Allowing one-half the population of Tarlac to belong to this race, we have to add 41,000, and supposing one-tenth the population of Bataán, Nueva Écija, and Zambales, to be Pampangos, say 27,000, we get 294,000 as their number in 1876. Doubtless they have largely increased since then. The Pampangos speak a different language from the Tagals, yet they can understand each other to some extent. Many of the better class speak both languages. The Pampango does not greatly differ from the Tagal in appearance or character, but his environment and his occupations are different. He is not so much a sailor, a fisherman, or a mechanic. He excels in agriculture, is a good organiser of labour, rides well, is a good hunter, and makes a bold and determined soldier. Large numbers of this war-like race have fought under the Spanish flag against the Mahometan princes of the Moluccas, of Mindanao, and Sulu, as also against the British and the Dutch.Pampangos as Cultivators.The towns of San Fernando, Guágua Bacolor, Mexico, Angeles, Candaba, and many others have been built up by Pampanga industry. They contain many fine houses, where the European traveller is sure of a hospitable reception.The staple crop of Pampanga is sugar, and I shallexplain their organisation for its cultivation and manufacture.In Luzon the land is usually cultivated under an arrangement known asAparceria.The conditions ofAparceriavary according to the locality, and to established custom, since on the land near a town a smaller share is given to the cultivator than on land near the forests, where if he were not satisfied he might commence to clear land for himself. Also the land near the towns is more valuable than that at a distance for various reasons.The following is an example of the terms usual in Pampanga. The land-owner provides:A. Cleared land ready for the plough.B. Sugar-cane points for the first planting.C. Sugar-mill, boiling-pans and the building for same.D. Money advances to keep the cultivator and his family, and for taking off the crop.E. Carts for carrying the cane to the mill.The cultivator, orinquilino, provides:1. His labour and that of his family for ploughing, planting and cultivating the cane and fencing the plantations.2. The ploughs and implements of husbandry.3. The cattle (water buffaloes) for the above labours and for working the mill if it is a cattle mill.The money advanced to the cultivator by the land-owner is charged 20 per cent. per annum interest.For a daily task of 9 pilones from cattle-mills or 10 pilones from steam-mills there are employed:2 Labourers to cut caneat 25 cents and food.50 cents.1 Carterat 25 cents and food.252 Mill attendantsat 25 cents and food.50Sugar boiler and firemanat 25 cents and food.751 Megass carrierat 25 cents and food.25——Mexican dollars2.25Or 25 cents per pilon.Sugar Crop.The land-owner pays the men’s wages, and the cultivator gives them three meals a day and cigars.The sugar-moulds (pilones) cost about 12½ cents each, and the cost is divided between the parties.In making up the account, 6½ per cent. per annum is charged on the value of the land, machinery and building.The molasses which drains from the sugar belongs to the land-owner.These pilones are supposed to contain 140 lbs. of sugar when filled. They are placed upon a small pot to allow the molasses to drain off. When delivered their weight may be from 112 to 120 lbs. according to the time they have been draining. This sugar polarises about 80 per cent. according to circumstances and requires to be treated at thefarderiasin Manila to bring it up to an even sample before it is exported. The sugar loaves are cut up, sorted, crushed, mixed with other sugars, sun-dried, and a certain quantity of sand added before being put into bags for export asManila Sugar, usually No. 7 or No. 9 Dutch standard. It will be seen from the above figures how moderate the expenses are. Of course each land-owner has a number of cultivators, and often a number of mills.Notwithstanding the low price of sugar which has prevailed for many years, the provinces of Pampanga has made money out of it as the handsome houses of the land-owners in all their towns testify.The sugar crop in Pampanga has never quite reached a million pilones, but has exceeded nine hundred thousand, say from fifty to sixty thousand English tons. The cane is crushed in small steam or cattle mills having three horizontal rollers.These mills are mostly made in Glasgow and have now in Pampanga entirely superseded the Chinese mills with vertical rollers of granite or the native mills with vertical rollers of hard wood.1A Farderia, or Sugar Drying and Packing Place.A Farderia, or Sugar Drying and Packing Place.[To face p. 240In former years I pointed out, in a report written for General Jovellar, what a great advantage it would be to Pampanga if the planters would abandon the use of pilonesand make sugar suitable for direct export and so obviate the manipulation in thefarderiasat Manila.They could make a sugar similar to that produced in Negros and known as Ilo-ilo.Now that the Philippines have passed into the hands of the United States, I do not doubt that central sugar factories will be established and will turn out centrifugal sugars polarizing 96 per cent. similar to the Cuban sugar.Pampangos as Fishermen.There are some Pampanga fishermen on the River Betis, at San José, and amongst the labyrinth of creeks and mangrove swamps forming the north-western shores of Manila Bay.Their avocation is not destitute of danger, for these swamps are the home of the alligator.2Although they are not as large as some I have seen in the River Paraguay or on the River Dáule, in Ecuador, they are quite large enough to seize a horse or a man. I was once visiting Fr. Enrique Garcia, the parish priest of Macabébe, when a native woman came in and presented him with a dollar to say a Mass in thanksgiving for the escape of her husband from death that morning. She told us that he was pushing a shrimp-net in shallow water when the buaya seized him by the shoulder. The fisherman, however, called upon his patron saint, and putting out his utmost strength, with the aid of Saint Peter, succeeded in extricating himself from the reptile’s jaws and in beating him off. His shoulder, however, was badly lacerated by the alligator’s teeth. It was lucky for him that he was in shallow water, for the alligator usually holds its prey under water and drowns it.The Pampangos also fish on the Rio Grande, the Rio Chico, and in the Pinag de Candaba. This latter is an extensive swampy plain, partly under cultivation in the dry season, partly laid out as fish-ponds.The Nipa palm grows in abundance in the delta of the Bétis, and small colonies of half-savage people are settled on dry spots amongst these swamps engaged in collecting the juice or the leaves of this tree. The stems are punctured and the juice runs into small vessels made of cane. It is collected daily, poured into jars and carried in small canoes to the distillery where it is fermented and distilled.The distilleries are constructed in a very primitive manner, and are worked by Chinese or Chinese half-breeds.The produce is called Vino de Nipa, and is retailed in the native stalls and restaurants.The leaves are doubled and sewn with rattan strips upon a small piece of bamboo, they are taken to market upon a platform laid across the gunwales of two canoes. This arrangement is calledbangcas mancornadas, canoes yoked together. The nipa is sold by the thousand, and serves to thatch the native houses anywhere, except in certain parts of Manila and other towns where its use is forbidden on account of the great danger of its taking fire.From circumstances that have come under my own observation, I believe it to be a fact that when trade in nipa thatch is dull, the canoe-men set fire to the native houses in the suburbs of Manila to make a market. I have noticed more than once that houses have commenced to burn from the upper part of the thatched roof where they could not have caught fire accidentally. The Province of Pampanga extends to the westward, as far as the crests of the Zambales mountains, and the Cordillera of Mabanga is included within its boundaries. There is but little cultivated land beyond the town of Porac to the westward. Here the Pampangos trade with the Negritos, who inhabit the Zambales range, getting from them jungle produce in exchange for rice, tobacco, sugar, and other articles. Occasionally the Negritos steal cattle from the Pampangos or at times murder one of them if a good opportunity presents itself.Pampangos as Hunters.The natives of this part of the province are good wood-men and hunters.In addition to taking game by nets and ambuscade, some of them hunt the deer on ponies which are trained to run at full speed after the game, up or down hill, and to get near enough for the rider to throw or use his lance.Being at Porac in 1879 with the late Major Deare, 74th Highlanders (now 2nd Batt. Highland Light Infantry), an enthusiastic sportsman, we saw two men who had practised this sport for years, and were told that their arms, ribs, legs and collar-bones had been broken over and overagain. We saw them gallop down a rocky and precipitous descent after a deer at full speed.We could only wonder that they were alive if that was a sample of their hunting. Their saddles were fitted with strong martingales and cruppers and with triple girths so that they could not shift. The saddles themselves were of the usual native pattern, like miniature Mexicans. The men were light weights.N.B.—If any reader of this contemplates travelling in the Philippines, let him take a saddle with him. It should be as small as he could comfortably use, and light. The ponies are from twelve to thirteen hands high, but are remarkably strong and clever. I know from experience that a good one will carry fourteen stone over rough ground with safety.Tulisanes.Pampanga has produced some notable bandits orTulisaneswho have given the Spaniards much trouble. Of late years there has been a diminution in the number of crimes of violence, due in a great measure to the establishment of the Guardia Civil by General Gándara in 1867.I once built a nipa house on the banks of the Rio Grande, near Macabébe, and resided there for several months, carrying on some works. I was new to the country and ignorant of the customs of the people.There were no other Europeans in the vicinity, except the priests.I took care to treat all my native neighbours with strict justice, neither infringing their rights, nor allowing them to impose on me.There came to stay with me Mr. A. B. Whyte, then an employé, now a partner in one of the leading British firms in Manila, who frequently had ten thousand dollars in gold in his safe, and similar sums were remitted to him from Manila at different times for the purchase of sugar.One day we received a visit from an officer of the Civil Guard who came to warn us that we were in danger of an attack, that his post was too far off for him to protect us, and that the locality bore a very bad name for crimes of violence. We thanked him for his visit and warning, entertained him to lunch, and informed him that we intended to remain, after which he returned to his post atApalit. On making inquiry we found that some of our immediate neighbours were well-known bandits, but were thought to have retired from business. However, they never attacked us, and probably prevented any other Tulisanes from doing so lest they should get the blame. But had I encroached on their land or treated them contemptuously, or had I allowed them to impose upon me, I do not doubt we should have been attacked and to say the least we might have found ourselves in a tight place.A nipa house is no place to defend, for it can be burnt in a few minutes in the dry season, and a spear can be pushed through the sides, or up through the floor with ease.In cases like this one cannot entirely depend upon the assistance of native servants, for they have sometimes joined with criminals to rob or murder their master.There is a curious custom amongst bandits to invite an outsider to join them in a particular enterprise, and it is considered mean and as denoting a want of courage to refuse, even when a servant is invited to help rob or kill his master. Moreover, there is much danger in refusing to join the bandits, for it will give dire offence to them and perhaps have fatal consequences. This invitation is called aConvite[seeChap. V.].The hereditary taint of piracy in the Malay blood, and the low moral standard prevailing in the Archipelago, as well as fear of the consequences of a refusal, render it more difficult than a stranger can realise for a native servant to resist such a temptation.Pampanga Women.The women in Pampanga are smart in appearance, clever in business, and good at a bargain, whether buying or selling. The men are well aware of this and when selling their produce or buying a sugar-mill, they like to have the assistance of their wives, who are always the hardest customers to deal with.They are excellent sempstresses and good at embroidery. In some villages they make very durable silk handkerchiefs with coloured borders of blue, red or purple. Straw hats, mats,salacots, cigar and cigarette cases are also made by them.Their houses are kept clean, and the larger ones are well-suited for entertainments, as thesalaandcaidaare very spacious, and have polished floors ofnarra, or some other hard close-grained wood very pleasant to dance on.A ball at a big Pampanga house is a sight that will be remembered. Capitan Joaquin Arnédo Cruz of Sulípan, on the Rio Grande, a wealthy native sugar-planter, used to assemble in his fine house the principal people of the neighbourhood to meet royal or distinguished guests. One of his daughters is married to a distinguished lawyer, my friend Don Felipe Buencamino, author of the remarkable State paper addressed to the United States Senate, and published in the Congressional Record of January 9th, 1900, pp. 752–53–54. Capitan Joaquin possessed a magnificent porcelain table-service of two hundred pieces, specially made and marked with his monogram, sent him by a prince who had enjoyed his hospitality.He gave a ball for the Grand Duke Alexis of Russia, who afterwards declared that the room presented one of the most brilliant sights he had ever seen.This from a son of an Emperor might seem an exaggeration, but brilliant is the only word that can describe the effect produced on the spectator by the bright costumes and sparkling jewellery of the women.Their dress seems to exercise a fascination upon Europeans which the costume of any other eastern country fails to do.Monsieur Paul de la Gironière, in his charming book, ‘Vingt Ans aux Philippines,’ says, about the Mestiza dress: “Nothing so charming, socoquet, so provocative as this costume which excites to the highest point the admiration of all strangers.”He goes on to say that the women are well aware of this, and that on no account would they make a change. I will add my opinion that they are quite right, and may they ever stick to the saya, the báro, and the tapis under the Stars and Stripes, may they ever be as natural, as handsome and as prosperous as when the writer dwelt amongst them on the banks of the Rio Grande under the paternal rule of Alcalde Mayor Don José Fécéd y Temprado.1The roller pinions in both Chinese and native mills are of hard wood.2Crocodilus Porosus.
Chapter XXV.Pampangos (2).The Pampangos are close neighbours of the Tagals. They inhabit the rich and fertile province of Pampanga and a large part of that of Tarlac. There are also some detached colonies of them in the towns of Bataán, Nueva Écija, Pangasinán, and Zambales. The population of Pampanga is given in the census of 1876 as 226,000. Allowing one-half the population of Tarlac to belong to this race, we have to add 41,000, and supposing one-tenth the population of Bataán, Nueva Écija, and Zambales, to be Pampangos, say 27,000, we get 294,000 as their number in 1876. Doubtless they have largely increased since then. The Pampangos speak a different language from the Tagals, yet they can understand each other to some extent. Many of the better class speak both languages. The Pampango does not greatly differ from the Tagal in appearance or character, but his environment and his occupations are different. He is not so much a sailor, a fisherman, or a mechanic. He excels in agriculture, is a good organiser of labour, rides well, is a good hunter, and makes a bold and determined soldier. Large numbers of this war-like race have fought under the Spanish flag against the Mahometan princes of the Moluccas, of Mindanao, and Sulu, as also against the British and the Dutch.Pampangos as Cultivators.The towns of San Fernando, Guágua Bacolor, Mexico, Angeles, Candaba, and many others have been built up by Pampanga industry. They contain many fine houses, where the European traveller is sure of a hospitable reception.The staple crop of Pampanga is sugar, and I shallexplain their organisation for its cultivation and manufacture.In Luzon the land is usually cultivated under an arrangement known asAparceria.The conditions ofAparceriavary according to the locality, and to established custom, since on the land near a town a smaller share is given to the cultivator than on land near the forests, where if he were not satisfied he might commence to clear land for himself. Also the land near the towns is more valuable than that at a distance for various reasons.The following is an example of the terms usual in Pampanga. The land-owner provides:A. Cleared land ready for the plough.B. Sugar-cane points for the first planting.C. Sugar-mill, boiling-pans and the building for same.D. Money advances to keep the cultivator and his family, and for taking off the crop.E. Carts for carrying the cane to the mill.The cultivator, orinquilino, provides:1. His labour and that of his family for ploughing, planting and cultivating the cane and fencing the plantations.2. The ploughs and implements of husbandry.3. The cattle (water buffaloes) for the above labours and for working the mill if it is a cattle mill.The money advanced to the cultivator by the land-owner is charged 20 per cent. per annum interest.For a daily task of 9 pilones from cattle-mills or 10 pilones from steam-mills there are employed:2 Labourers to cut caneat 25 cents and food.50 cents.1 Carterat 25 cents and food.252 Mill attendantsat 25 cents and food.50Sugar boiler and firemanat 25 cents and food.751 Megass carrierat 25 cents and food.25——Mexican dollars2.25Or 25 cents per pilon.Sugar Crop.The land-owner pays the men’s wages, and the cultivator gives them three meals a day and cigars.The sugar-moulds (pilones) cost about 12½ cents each, and the cost is divided between the parties.In making up the account, 6½ per cent. per annum is charged on the value of the land, machinery and building.The molasses which drains from the sugar belongs to the land-owner.These pilones are supposed to contain 140 lbs. of sugar when filled. They are placed upon a small pot to allow the molasses to drain off. When delivered their weight may be from 112 to 120 lbs. according to the time they have been draining. This sugar polarises about 80 per cent. according to circumstances and requires to be treated at thefarderiasin Manila to bring it up to an even sample before it is exported. The sugar loaves are cut up, sorted, crushed, mixed with other sugars, sun-dried, and a certain quantity of sand added before being put into bags for export asManila Sugar, usually No. 7 or No. 9 Dutch standard. It will be seen from the above figures how moderate the expenses are. Of course each land-owner has a number of cultivators, and often a number of mills.Notwithstanding the low price of sugar which has prevailed for many years, the provinces of Pampanga has made money out of it as the handsome houses of the land-owners in all their towns testify.The sugar crop in Pampanga has never quite reached a million pilones, but has exceeded nine hundred thousand, say from fifty to sixty thousand English tons. The cane is crushed in small steam or cattle mills having three horizontal rollers.These mills are mostly made in Glasgow and have now in Pampanga entirely superseded the Chinese mills with vertical rollers of granite or the native mills with vertical rollers of hard wood.1A Farderia, or Sugar Drying and Packing Place.A Farderia, or Sugar Drying and Packing Place.[To face p. 240In former years I pointed out, in a report written for General Jovellar, what a great advantage it would be to Pampanga if the planters would abandon the use of pilonesand make sugar suitable for direct export and so obviate the manipulation in thefarderiasat Manila.They could make a sugar similar to that produced in Negros and known as Ilo-ilo.Now that the Philippines have passed into the hands of the United States, I do not doubt that central sugar factories will be established and will turn out centrifugal sugars polarizing 96 per cent. similar to the Cuban sugar.Pampangos as Fishermen.There are some Pampanga fishermen on the River Betis, at San José, and amongst the labyrinth of creeks and mangrove swamps forming the north-western shores of Manila Bay.Their avocation is not destitute of danger, for these swamps are the home of the alligator.2Although they are not as large as some I have seen in the River Paraguay or on the River Dáule, in Ecuador, they are quite large enough to seize a horse or a man. I was once visiting Fr. Enrique Garcia, the parish priest of Macabébe, when a native woman came in and presented him with a dollar to say a Mass in thanksgiving for the escape of her husband from death that morning. She told us that he was pushing a shrimp-net in shallow water when the buaya seized him by the shoulder. The fisherman, however, called upon his patron saint, and putting out his utmost strength, with the aid of Saint Peter, succeeded in extricating himself from the reptile’s jaws and in beating him off. His shoulder, however, was badly lacerated by the alligator’s teeth. It was lucky for him that he was in shallow water, for the alligator usually holds its prey under water and drowns it.The Pampangos also fish on the Rio Grande, the Rio Chico, and in the Pinag de Candaba. This latter is an extensive swampy plain, partly under cultivation in the dry season, partly laid out as fish-ponds.The Nipa palm grows in abundance in the delta of the Bétis, and small colonies of half-savage people are settled on dry spots amongst these swamps engaged in collecting the juice or the leaves of this tree. The stems are punctured and the juice runs into small vessels made of cane. It is collected daily, poured into jars and carried in small canoes to the distillery where it is fermented and distilled.The distilleries are constructed in a very primitive manner, and are worked by Chinese or Chinese half-breeds.The produce is called Vino de Nipa, and is retailed in the native stalls and restaurants.The leaves are doubled and sewn with rattan strips upon a small piece of bamboo, they are taken to market upon a platform laid across the gunwales of two canoes. This arrangement is calledbangcas mancornadas, canoes yoked together. The nipa is sold by the thousand, and serves to thatch the native houses anywhere, except in certain parts of Manila and other towns where its use is forbidden on account of the great danger of its taking fire.From circumstances that have come under my own observation, I believe it to be a fact that when trade in nipa thatch is dull, the canoe-men set fire to the native houses in the suburbs of Manila to make a market. I have noticed more than once that houses have commenced to burn from the upper part of the thatched roof where they could not have caught fire accidentally. The Province of Pampanga extends to the westward, as far as the crests of the Zambales mountains, and the Cordillera of Mabanga is included within its boundaries. There is but little cultivated land beyond the town of Porac to the westward. Here the Pampangos trade with the Negritos, who inhabit the Zambales range, getting from them jungle produce in exchange for rice, tobacco, sugar, and other articles. Occasionally the Negritos steal cattle from the Pampangos or at times murder one of them if a good opportunity presents itself.Pampangos as Hunters.The natives of this part of the province are good wood-men and hunters.In addition to taking game by nets and ambuscade, some of them hunt the deer on ponies which are trained to run at full speed after the game, up or down hill, and to get near enough for the rider to throw or use his lance.Being at Porac in 1879 with the late Major Deare, 74th Highlanders (now 2nd Batt. Highland Light Infantry), an enthusiastic sportsman, we saw two men who had practised this sport for years, and were told that their arms, ribs, legs and collar-bones had been broken over and overagain. We saw them gallop down a rocky and precipitous descent after a deer at full speed.We could only wonder that they were alive if that was a sample of their hunting. Their saddles were fitted with strong martingales and cruppers and with triple girths so that they could not shift. The saddles themselves were of the usual native pattern, like miniature Mexicans. The men were light weights.N.B.—If any reader of this contemplates travelling in the Philippines, let him take a saddle with him. It should be as small as he could comfortably use, and light. The ponies are from twelve to thirteen hands high, but are remarkably strong and clever. I know from experience that a good one will carry fourteen stone over rough ground with safety.Tulisanes.Pampanga has produced some notable bandits orTulisaneswho have given the Spaniards much trouble. Of late years there has been a diminution in the number of crimes of violence, due in a great measure to the establishment of the Guardia Civil by General Gándara in 1867.I once built a nipa house on the banks of the Rio Grande, near Macabébe, and resided there for several months, carrying on some works. I was new to the country and ignorant of the customs of the people.There were no other Europeans in the vicinity, except the priests.I took care to treat all my native neighbours with strict justice, neither infringing their rights, nor allowing them to impose on me.There came to stay with me Mr. A. B. Whyte, then an employé, now a partner in one of the leading British firms in Manila, who frequently had ten thousand dollars in gold in his safe, and similar sums were remitted to him from Manila at different times for the purchase of sugar.One day we received a visit from an officer of the Civil Guard who came to warn us that we were in danger of an attack, that his post was too far off for him to protect us, and that the locality bore a very bad name for crimes of violence. We thanked him for his visit and warning, entertained him to lunch, and informed him that we intended to remain, after which he returned to his post atApalit. On making inquiry we found that some of our immediate neighbours were well-known bandits, but were thought to have retired from business. However, they never attacked us, and probably prevented any other Tulisanes from doing so lest they should get the blame. But had I encroached on their land or treated them contemptuously, or had I allowed them to impose upon me, I do not doubt we should have been attacked and to say the least we might have found ourselves in a tight place.A nipa house is no place to defend, for it can be burnt in a few minutes in the dry season, and a spear can be pushed through the sides, or up through the floor with ease.In cases like this one cannot entirely depend upon the assistance of native servants, for they have sometimes joined with criminals to rob or murder their master.There is a curious custom amongst bandits to invite an outsider to join them in a particular enterprise, and it is considered mean and as denoting a want of courage to refuse, even when a servant is invited to help rob or kill his master. Moreover, there is much danger in refusing to join the bandits, for it will give dire offence to them and perhaps have fatal consequences. This invitation is called aConvite[seeChap. V.].The hereditary taint of piracy in the Malay blood, and the low moral standard prevailing in the Archipelago, as well as fear of the consequences of a refusal, render it more difficult than a stranger can realise for a native servant to resist such a temptation.Pampanga Women.The women in Pampanga are smart in appearance, clever in business, and good at a bargain, whether buying or selling. The men are well aware of this and when selling their produce or buying a sugar-mill, they like to have the assistance of their wives, who are always the hardest customers to deal with.They are excellent sempstresses and good at embroidery. In some villages they make very durable silk handkerchiefs with coloured borders of blue, red or purple. Straw hats, mats,salacots, cigar and cigarette cases are also made by them.Their houses are kept clean, and the larger ones are well-suited for entertainments, as thesalaandcaidaare very spacious, and have polished floors ofnarra, or some other hard close-grained wood very pleasant to dance on.A ball at a big Pampanga house is a sight that will be remembered. Capitan Joaquin Arnédo Cruz of Sulípan, on the Rio Grande, a wealthy native sugar-planter, used to assemble in his fine house the principal people of the neighbourhood to meet royal or distinguished guests. One of his daughters is married to a distinguished lawyer, my friend Don Felipe Buencamino, author of the remarkable State paper addressed to the United States Senate, and published in the Congressional Record of January 9th, 1900, pp. 752–53–54. Capitan Joaquin possessed a magnificent porcelain table-service of two hundred pieces, specially made and marked with his monogram, sent him by a prince who had enjoyed his hospitality.He gave a ball for the Grand Duke Alexis of Russia, who afterwards declared that the room presented one of the most brilliant sights he had ever seen.This from a son of an Emperor might seem an exaggeration, but brilliant is the only word that can describe the effect produced on the spectator by the bright costumes and sparkling jewellery of the women.Their dress seems to exercise a fascination upon Europeans which the costume of any other eastern country fails to do.Monsieur Paul de la Gironière, in his charming book, ‘Vingt Ans aux Philippines,’ says, about the Mestiza dress: “Nothing so charming, socoquet, so provocative as this costume which excites to the highest point the admiration of all strangers.”He goes on to say that the women are well aware of this, and that on no account would they make a change. I will add my opinion that they are quite right, and may they ever stick to the saya, the báro, and the tapis under the Stars and Stripes, may they ever be as natural, as handsome and as prosperous as when the writer dwelt amongst them on the banks of the Rio Grande under the paternal rule of Alcalde Mayor Don José Fécéd y Temprado.1The roller pinions in both Chinese and native mills are of hard wood.2Crocodilus Porosus.
Chapter XXV.Pampangos (2).The Pampangos are close neighbours of the Tagals. They inhabit the rich and fertile province of Pampanga and a large part of that of Tarlac. There are also some detached colonies of them in the towns of Bataán, Nueva Écija, Pangasinán, and Zambales. The population of Pampanga is given in the census of 1876 as 226,000. Allowing one-half the population of Tarlac to belong to this race, we have to add 41,000, and supposing one-tenth the population of Bataán, Nueva Écija, and Zambales, to be Pampangos, say 27,000, we get 294,000 as their number in 1876. Doubtless they have largely increased since then. The Pampangos speak a different language from the Tagals, yet they can understand each other to some extent. Many of the better class speak both languages. The Pampango does not greatly differ from the Tagal in appearance or character, but his environment and his occupations are different. He is not so much a sailor, a fisherman, or a mechanic. He excels in agriculture, is a good organiser of labour, rides well, is a good hunter, and makes a bold and determined soldier. Large numbers of this war-like race have fought under the Spanish flag against the Mahometan princes of the Moluccas, of Mindanao, and Sulu, as also against the British and the Dutch.Pampangos as Cultivators.The towns of San Fernando, Guágua Bacolor, Mexico, Angeles, Candaba, and many others have been built up by Pampanga industry. They contain many fine houses, where the European traveller is sure of a hospitable reception.The staple crop of Pampanga is sugar, and I shallexplain their organisation for its cultivation and manufacture.In Luzon the land is usually cultivated under an arrangement known asAparceria.The conditions ofAparceriavary according to the locality, and to established custom, since on the land near a town a smaller share is given to the cultivator than on land near the forests, where if he were not satisfied he might commence to clear land for himself. Also the land near the towns is more valuable than that at a distance for various reasons.The following is an example of the terms usual in Pampanga. The land-owner provides:A. Cleared land ready for the plough.B. Sugar-cane points for the first planting.C. Sugar-mill, boiling-pans and the building for same.D. Money advances to keep the cultivator and his family, and for taking off the crop.E. Carts for carrying the cane to the mill.The cultivator, orinquilino, provides:1. His labour and that of his family for ploughing, planting and cultivating the cane and fencing the plantations.2. The ploughs and implements of husbandry.3. The cattle (water buffaloes) for the above labours and for working the mill if it is a cattle mill.The money advanced to the cultivator by the land-owner is charged 20 per cent. per annum interest.For a daily task of 9 pilones from cattle-mills or 10 pilones from steam-mills there are employed:2 Labourers to cut caneat 25 cents and food.50 cents.1 Carterat 25 cents and food.252 Mill attendantsat 25 cents and food.50Sugar boiler and firemanat 25 cents and food.751 Megass carrierat 25 cents and food.25——Mexican dollars2.25Or 25 cents per pilon.Sugar Crop.The land-owner pays the men’s wages, and the cultivator gives them three meals a day and cigars.The sugar-moulds (pilones) cost about 12½ cents each, and the cost is divided between the parties.In making up the account, 6½ per cent. per annum is charged on the value of the land, machinery and building.The molasses which drains from the sugar belongs to the land-owner.These pilones are supposed to contain 140 lbs. of sugar when filled. They are placed upon a small pot to allow the molasses to drain off. When delivered their weight may be from 112 to 120 lbs. according to the time they have been draining. This sugar polarises about 80 per cent. according to circumstances and requires to be treated at thefarderiasin Manila to bring it up to an even sample before it is exported. The sugar loaves are cut up, sorted, crushed, mixed with other sugars, sun-dried, and a certain quantity of sand added before being put into bags for export asManila Sugar, usually No. 7 or No. 9 Dutch standard. It will be seen from the above figures how moderate the expenses are. Of course each land-owner has a number of cultivators, and often a number of mills.Notwithstanding the low price of sugar which has prevailed for many years, the provinces of Pampanga has made money out of it as the handsome houses of the land-owners in all their towns testify.The sugar crop in Pampanga has never quite reached a million pilones, but has exceeded nine hundred thousand, say from fifty to sixty thousand English tons. The cane is crushed in small steam or cattle mills having three horizontal rollers.These mills are mostly made in Glasgow and have now in Pampanga entirely superseded the Chinese mills with vertical rollers of granite or the native mills with vertical rollers of hard wood.1A Farderia, or Sugar Drying and Packing Place.A Farderia, or Sugar Drying and Packing Place.[To face p. 240In former years I pointed out, in a report written for General Jovellar, what a great advantage it would be to Pampanga if the planters would abandon the use of pilonesand make sugar suitable for direct export and so obviate the manipulation in thefarderiasat Manila.They could make a sugar similar to that produced in Negros and known as Ilo-ilo.Now that the Philippines have passed into the hands of the United States, I do not doubt that central sugar factories will be established and will turn out centrifugal sugars polarizing 96 per cent. similar to the Cuban sugar.Pampangos as Fishermen.There are some Pampanga fishermen on the River Betis, at San José, and amongst the labyrinth of creeks and mangrove swamps forming the north-western shores of Manila Bay.Their avocation is not destitute of danger, for these swamps are the home of the alligator.2Although they are not as large as some I have seen in the River Paraguay or on the River Dáule, in Ecuador, they are quite large enough to seize a horse or a man. I was once visiting Fr. Enrique Garcia, the parish priest of Macabébe, when a native woman came in and presented him with a dollar to say a Mass in thanksgiving for the escape of her husband from death that morning. She told us that he was pushing a shrimp-net in shallow water when the buaya seized him by the shoulder. The fisherman, however, called upon his patron saint, and putting out his utmost strength, with the aid of Saint Peter, succeeded in extricating himself from the reptile’s jaws and in beating him off. His shoulder, however, was badly lacerated by the alligator’s teeth. It was lucky for him that he was in shallow water, for the alligator usually holds its prey under water and drowns it.The Pampangos also fish on the Rio Grande, the Rio Chico, and in the Pinag de Candaba. This latter is an extensive swampy plain, partly under cultivation in the dry season, partly laid out as fish-ponds.The Nipa palm grows in abundance in the delta of the Bétis, and small colonies of half-savage people are settled on dry spots amongst these swamps engaged in collecting the juice or the leaves of this tree. The stems are punctured and the juice runs into small vessels made of cane. It is collected daily, poured into jars and carried in small canoes to the distillery where it is fermented and distilled.The distilleries are constructed in a very primitive manner, and are worked by Chinese or Chinese half-breeds.The produce is called Vino de Nipa, and is retailed in the native stalls and restaurants.The leaves are doubled and sewn with rattan strips upon a small piece of bamboo, they are taken to market upon a platform laid across the gunwales of two canoes. This arrangement is calledbangcas mancornadas, canoes yoked together. The nipa is sold by the thousand, and serves to thatch the native houses anywhere, except in certain parts of Manila and other towns where its use is forbidden on account of the great danger of its taking fire.From circumstances that have come under my own observation, I believe it to be a fact that when trade in nipa thatch is dull, the canoe-men set fire to the native houses in the suburbs of Manila to make a market. I have noticed more than once that houses have commenced to burn from the upper part of the thatched roof where they could not have caught fire accidentally. The Province of Pampanga extends to the westward, as far as the crests of the Zambales mountains, and the Cordillera of Mabanga is included within its boundaries. There is but little cultivated land beyond the town of Porac to the westward. Here the Pampangos trade with the Negritos, who inhabit the Zambales range, getting from them jungle produce in exchange for rice, tobacco, sugar, and other articles. Occasionally the Negritos steal cattle from the Pampangos or at times murder one of them if a good opportunity presents itself.Pampangos as Hunters.The natives of this part of the province are good wood-men and hunters.In addition to taking game by nets and ambuscade, some of them hunt the deer on ponies which are trained to run at full speed after the game, up or down hill, and to get near enough for the rider to throw or use his lance.Being at Porac in 1879 with the late Major Deare, 74th Highlanders (now 2nd Batt. Highland Light Infantry), an enthusiastic sportsman, we saw two men who had practised this sport for years, and were told that their arms, ribs, legs and collar-bones had been broken over and overagain. We saw them gallop down a rocky and precipitous descent after a deer at full speed.We could only wonder that they were alive if that was a sample of their hunting. Their saddles were fitted with strong martingales and cruppers and with triple girths so that they could not shift. The saddles themselves were of the usual native pattern, like miniature Mexicans. The men were light weights.N.B.—If any reader of this contemplates travelling in the Philippines, let him take a saddle with him. It should be as small as he could comfortably use, and light. The ponies are from twelve to thirteen hands high, but are remarkably strong and clever. I know from experience that a good one will carry fourteen stone over rough ground with safety.Tulisanes.Pampanga has produced some notable bandits orTulisaneswho have given the Spaniards much trouble. Of late years there has been a diminution in the number of crimes of violence, due in a great measure to the establishment of the Guardia Civil by General Gándara in 1867.I once built a nipa house on the banks of the Rio Grande, near Macabébe, and resided there for several months, carrying on some works. I was new to the country and ignorant of the customs of the people.There were no other Europeans in the vicinity, except the priests.I took care to treat all my native neighbours with strict justice, neither infringing their rights, nor allowing them to impose on me.There came to stay with me Mr. A. B. Whyte, then an employé, now a partner in one of the leading British firms in Manila, who frequently had ten thousand dollars in gold in his safe, and similar sums were remitted to him from Manila at different times for the purchase of sugar.One day we received a visit from an officer of the Civil Guard who came to warn us that we were in danger of an attack, that his post was too far off for him to protect us, and that the locality bore a very bad name for crimes of violence. We thanked him for his visit and warning, entertained him to lunch, and informed him that we intended to remain, after which he returned to his post atApalit. On making inquiry we found that some of our immediate neighbours were well-known bandits, but were thought to have retired from business. However, they never attacked us, and probably prevented any other Tulisanes from doing so lest they should get the blame. But had I encroached on their land or treated them contemptuously, or had I allowed them to impose upon me, I do not doubt we should have been attacked and to say the least we might have found ourselves in a tight place.A nipa house is no place to defend, for it can be burnt in a few minutes in the dry season, and a spear can be pushed through the sides, or up through the floor with ease.In cases like this one cannot entirely depend upon the assistance of native servants, for they have sometimes joined with criminals to rob or murder their master.There is a curious custom amongst bandits to invite an outsider to join them in a particular enterprise, and it is considered mean and as denoting a want of courage to refuse, even when a servant is invited to help rob or kill his master. Moreover, there is much danger in refusing to join the bandits, for it will give dire offence to them and perhaps have fatal consequences. This invitation is called aConvite[seeChap. V.].The hereditary taint of piracy in the Malay blood, and the low moral standard prevailing in the Archipelago, as well as fear of the consequences of a refusal, render it more difficult than a stranger can realise for a native servant to resist such a temptation.Pampanga Women.The women in Pampanga are smart in appearance, clever in business, and good at a bargain, whether buying or selling. The men are well aware of this and when selling their produce or buying a sugar-mill, they like to have the assistance of their wives, who are always the hardest customers to deal with.They are excellent sempstresses and good at embroidery. In some villages they make very durable silk handkerchiefs with coloured borders of blue, red or purple. Straw hats, mats,salacots, cigar and cigarette cases are also made by them.Their houses are kept clean, and the larger ones are well-suited for entertainments, as thesalaandcaidaare very spacious, and have polished floors ofnarra, or some other hard close-grained wood very pleasant to dance on.A ball at a big Pampanga house is a sight that will be remembered. Capitan Joaquin Arnédo Cruz of Sulípan, on the Rio Grande, a wealthy native sugar-planter, used to assemble in his fine house the principal people of the neighbourhood to meet royal or distinguished guests. One of his daughters is married to a distinguished lawyer, my friend Don Felipe Buencamino, author of the remarkable State paper addressed to the United States Senate, and published in the Congressional Record of January 9th, 1900, pp. 752–53–54. Capitan Joaquin possessed a magnificent porcelain table-service of two hundred pieces, specially made and marked with his monogram, sent him by a prince who had enjoyed his hospitality.He gave a ball for the Grand Duke Alexis of Russia, who afterwards declared that the room presented one of the most brilliant sights he had ever seen.This from a son of an Emperor might seem an exaggeration, but brilliant is the only word that can describe the effect produced on the spectator by the bright costumes and sparkling jewellery of the women.Their dress seems to exercise a fascination upon Europeans which the costume of any other eastern country fails to do.Monsieur Paul de la Gironière, in his charming book, ‘Vingt Ans aux Philippines,’ says, about the Mestiza dress: “Nothing so charming, socoquet, so provocative as this costume which excites to the highest point the admiration of all strangers.”He goes on to say that the women are well aware of this, and that on no account would they make a change. I will add my opinion that they are quite right, and may they ever stick to the saya, the báro, and the tapis under the Stars and Stripes, may they ever be as natural, as handsome and as prosperous as when the writer dwelt amongst them on the banks of the Rio Grande under the paternal rule of Alcalde Mayor Don José Fécéd y Temprado.1The roller pinions in both Chinese and native mills are of hard wood.2Crocodilus Porosus.
Chapter XXV.Pampangos (2).
The Pampangos are close neighbours of the Tagals. They inhabit the rich and fertile province of Pampanga and a large part of that of Tarlac. There are also some detached colonies of them in the towns of Bataán, Nueva Écija, Pangasinán, and Zambales. The population of Pampanga is given in the census of 1876 as 226,000. Allowing one-half the population of Tarlac to belong to this race, we have to add 41,000, and supposing one-tenth the population of Bataán, Nueva Écija, and Zambales, to be Pampangos, say 27,000, we get 294,000 as their number in 1876. Doubtless they have largely increased since then. The Pampangos speak a different language from the Tagals, yet they can understand each other to some extent. Many of the better class speak both languages. The Pampango does not greatly differ from the Tagal in appearance or character, but his environment and his occupations are different. He is not so much a sailor, a fisherman, or a mechanic. He excels in agriculture, is a good organiser of labour, rides well, is a good hunter, and makes a bold and determined soldier. Large numbers of this war-like race have fought under the Spanish flag against the Mahometan princes of the Moluccas, of Mindanao, and Sulu, as also against the British and the Dutch.Pampangos as Cultivators.The towns of San Fernando, Guágua Bacolor, Mexico, Angeles, Candaba, and many others have been built up by Pampanga industry. They contain many fine houses, where the European traveller is sure of a hospitable reception.The staple crop of Pampanga is sugar, and I shallexplain their organisation for its cultivation and manufacture.In Luzon the land is usually cultivated under an arrangement known asAparceria.The conditions ofAparceriavary according to the locality, and to established custom, since on the land near a town a smaller share is given to the cultivator than on land near the forests, where if he were not satisfied he might commence to clear land for himself. Also the land near the towns is more valuable than that at a distance for various reasons.The following is an example of the terms usual in Pampanga. The land-owner provides:A. Cleared land ready for the plough.B. Sugar-cane points for the first planting.C. Sugar-mill, boiling-pans and the building for same.D. Money advances to keep the cultivator and his family, and for taking off the crop.E. Carts for carrying the cane to the mill.The cultivator, orinquilino, provides:1. His labour and that of his family for ploughing, planting and cultivating the cane and fencing the plantations.2. The ploughs and implements of husbandry.3. The cattle (water buffaloes) for the above labours and for working the mill if it is a cattle mill.The money advanced to the cultivator by the land-owner is charged 20 per cent. per annum interest.For a daily task of 9 pilones from cattle-mills or 10 pilones from steam-mills there are employed:2 Labourers to cut caneat 25 cents and food.50 cents.1 Carterat 25 cents and food.252 Mill attendantsat 25 cents and food.50Sugar boiler and firemanat 25 cents and food.751 Megass carrierat 25 cents and food.25——Mexican dollars2.25Or 25 cents per pilon.Sugar Crop.The land-owner pays the men’s wages, and the cultivator gives them three meals a day and cigars.The sugar-moulds (pilones) cost about 12½ cents each, and the cost is divided between the parties.In making up the account, 6½ per cent. per annum is charged on the value of the land, machinery and building.The molasses which drains from the sugar belongs to the land-owner.These pilones are supposed to contain 140 lbs. of sugar when filled. They are placed upon a small pot to allow the molasses to drain off. When delivered their weight may be from 112 to 120 lbs. according to the time they have been draining. This sugar polarises about 80 per cent. according to circumstances and requires to be treated at thefarderiasin Manila to bring it up to an even sample before it is exported. The sugar loaves are cut up, sorted, crushed, mixed with other sugars, sun-dried, and a certain quantity of sand added before being put into bags for export asManila Sugar, usually No. 7 or No. 9 Dutch standard. It will be seen from the above figures how moderate the expenses are. Of course each land-owner has a number of cultivators, and often a number of mills.Notwithstanding the low price of sugar which has prevailed for many years, the provinces of Pampanga has made money out of it as the handsome houses of the land-owners in all their towns testify.The sugar crop in Pampanga has never quite reached a million pilones, but has exceeded nine hundred thousand, say from fifty to sixty thousand English tons. The cane is crushed in small steam or cattle mills having three horizontal rollers.These mills are mostly made in Glasgow and have now in Pampanga entirely superseded the Chinese mills with vertical rollers of granite or the native mills with vertical rollers of hard wood.1A Farderia, or Sugar Drying and Packing Place.A Farderia, or Sugar Drying and Packing Place.[To face p. 240In former years I pointed out, in a report written for General Jovellar, what a great advantage it would be to Pampanga if the planters would abandon the use of pilonesand make sugar suitable for direct export and so obviate the manipulation in thefarderiasat Manila.They could make a sugar similar to that produced in Negros and known as Ilo-ilo.Now that the Philippines have passed into the hands of the United States, I do not doubt that central sugar factories will be established and will turn out centrifugal sugars polarizing 96 per cent. similar to the Cuban sugar.Pampangos as Fishermen.There are some Pampanga fishermen on the River Betis, at San José, and amongst the labyrinth of creeks and mangrove swamps forming the north-western shores of Manila Bay.Their avocation is not destitute of danger, for these swamps are the home of the alligator.2Although they are not as large as some I have seen in the River Paraguay or on the River Dáule, in Ecuador, they are quite large enough to seize a horse or a man. I was once visiting Fr. Enrique Garcia, the parish priest of Macabébe, when a native woman came in and presented him with a dollar to say a Mass in thanksgiving for the escape of her husband from death that morning. She told us that he was pushing a shrimp-net in shallow water when the buaya seized him by the shoulder. The fisherman, however, called upon his patron saint, and putting out his utmost strength, with the aid of Saint Peter, succeeded in extricating himself from the reptile’s jaws and in beating him off. His shoulder, however, was badly lacerated by the alligator’s teeth. It was lucky for him that he was in shallow water, for the alligator usually holds its prey under water and drowns it.The Pampangos also fish on the Rio Grande, the Rio Chico, and in the Pinag de Candaba. This latter is an extensive swampy plain, partly under cultivation in the dry season, partly laid out as fish-ponds.The Nipa palm grows in abundance in the delta of the Bétis, and small colonies of half-savage people are settled on dry spots amongst these swamps engaged in collecting the juice or the leaves of this tree. The stems are punctured and the juice runs into small vessels made of cane. It is collected daily, poured into jars and carried in small canoes to the distillery where it is fermented and distilled.The distilleries are constructed in a very primitive manner, and are worked by Chinese or Chinese half-breeds.The produce is called Vino de Nipa, and is retailed in the native stalls and restaurants.The leaves are doubled and sewn with rattan strips upon a small piece of bamboo, they are taken to market upon a platform laid across the gunwales of two canoes. This arrangement is calledbangcas mancornadas, canoes yoked together. The nipa is sold by the thousand, and serves to thatch the native houses anywhere, except in certain parts of Manila and other towns where its use is forbidden on account of the great danger of its taking fire.From circumstances that have come under my own observation, I believe it to be a fact that when trade in nipa thatch is dull, the canoe-men set fire to the native houses in the suburbs of Manila to make a market. I have noticed more than once that houses have commenced to burn from the upper part of the thatched roof where they could not have caught fire accidentally. The Province of Pampanga extends to the westward, as far as the crests of the Zambales mountains, and the Cordillera of Mabanga is included within its boundaries. There is but little cultivated land beyond the town of Porac to the westward. Here the Pampangos trade with the Negritos, who inhabit the Zambales range, getting from them jungle produce in exchange for rice, tobacco, sugar, and other articles. Occasionally the Negritos steal cattle from the Pampangos or at times murder one of them if a good opportunity presents itself.Pampangos as Hunters.The natives of this part of the province are good wood-men and hunters.In addition to taking game by nets and ambuscade, some of them hunt the deer on ponies which are trained to run at full speed after the game, up or down hill, and to get near enough for the rider to throw or use his lance.Being at Porac in 1879 with the late Major Deare, 74th Highlanders (now 2nd Batt. Highland Light Infantry), an enthusiastic sportsman, we saw two men who had practised this sport for years, and were told that their arms, ribs, legs and collar-bones had been broken over and overagain. We saw them gallop down a rocky and precipitous descent after a deer at full speed.We could only wonder that they were alive if that was a sample of their hunting. Their saddles were fitted with strong martingales and cruppers and with triple girths so that they could not shift. The saddles themselves were of the usual native pattern, like miniature Mexicans. The men were light weights.N.B.—If any reader of this contemplates travelling in the Philippines, let him take a saddle with him. It should be as small as he could comfortably use, and light. The ponies are from twelve to thirteen hands high, but are remarkably strong and clever. I know from experience that a good one will carry fourteen stone over rough ground with safety.Tulisanes.Pampanga has produced some notable bandits orTulisaneswho have given the Spaniards much trouble. Of late years there has been a diminution in the number of crimes of violence, due in a great measure to the establishment of the Guardia Civil by General Gándara in 1867.I once built a nipa house on the banks of the Rio Grande, near Macabébe, and resided there for several months, carrying on some works. I was new to the country and ignorant of the customs of the people.There were no other Europeans in the vicinity, except the priests.I took care to treat all my native neighbours with strict justice, neither infringing their rights, nor allowing them to impose on me.There came to stay with me Mr. A. B. Whyte, then an employé, now a partner in one of the leading British firms in Manila, who frequently had ten thousand dollars in gold in his safe, and similar sums were remitted to him from Manila at different times for the purchase of sugar.One day we received a visit from an officer of the Civil Guard who came to warn us that we were in danger of an attack, that his post was too far off for him to protect us, and that the locality bore a very bad name for crimes of violence. We thanked him for his visit and warning, entertained him to lunch, and informed him that we intended to remain, after which he returned to his post atApalit. On making inquiry we found that some of our immediate neighbours were well-known bandits, but were thought to have retired from business. However, they never attacked us, and probably prevented any other Tulisanes from doing so lest they should get the blame. But had I encroached on their land or treated them contemptuously, or had I allowed them to impose upon me, I do not doubt we should have been attacked and to say the least we might have found ourselves in a tight place.A nipa house is no place to defend, for it can be burnt in a few minutes in the dry season, and a spear can be pushed through the sides, or up through the floor with ease.In cases like this one cannot entirely depend upon the assistance of native servants, for they have sometimes joined with criminals to rob or murder their master.There is a curious custom amongst bandits to invite an outsider to join them in a particular enterprise, and it is considered mean and as denoting a want of courage to refuse, even when a servant is invited to help rob or kill his master. Moreover, there is much danger in refusing to join the bandits, for it will give dire offence to them and perhaps have fatal consequences. This invitation is called aConvite[seeChap. V.].The hereditary taint of piracy in the Malay blood, and the low moral standard prevailing in the Archipelago, as well as fear of the consequences of a refusal, render it more difficult than a stranger can realise for a native servant to resist such a temptation.Pampanga Women.The women in Pampanga are smart in appearance, clever in business, and good at a bargain, whether buying or selling. The men are well aware of this and when selling their produce or buying a sugar-mill, they like to have the assistance of their wives, who are always the hardest customers to deal with.They are excellent sempstresses and good at embroidery. In some villages they make very durable silk handkerchiefs with coloured borders of blue, red or purple. Straw hats, mats,salacots, cigar and cigarette cases are also made by them.Their houses are kept clean, and the larger ones are well-suited for entertainments, as thesalaandcaidaare very spacious, and have polished floors ofnarra, or some other hard close-grained wood very pleasant to dance on.A ball at a big Pampanga house is a sight that will be remembered. Capitan Joaquin Arnédo Cruz of Sulípan, on the Rio Grande, a wealthy native sugar-planter, used to assemble in his fine house the principal people of the neighbourhood to meet royal or distinguished guests. One of his daughters is married to a distinguished lawyer, my friend Don Felipe Buencamino, author of the remarkable State paper addressed to the United States Senate, and published in the Congressional Record of January 9th, 1900, pp. 752–53–54. Capitan Joaquin possessed a magnificent porcelain table-service of two hundred pieces, specially made and marked with his monogram, sent him by a prince who had enjoyed his hospitality.He gave a ball for the Grand Duke Alexis of Russia, who afterwards declared that the room presented one of the most brilliant sights he had ever seen.This from a son of an Emperor might seem an exaggeration, but brilliant is the only word that can describe the effect produced on the spectator by the bright costumes and sparkling jewellery of the women.Their dress seems to exercise a fascination upon Europeans which the costume of any other eastern country fails to do.Monsieur Paul de la Gironière, in his charming book, ‘Vingt Ans aux Philippines,’ says, about the Mestiza dress: “Nothing so charming, socoquet, so provocative as this costume which excites to the highest point the admiration of all strangers.”He goes on to say that the women are well aware of this, and that on no account would they make a change. I will add my opinion that they are quite right, and may they ever stick to the saya, the báro, and the tapis under the Stars and Stripes, may they ever be as natural, as handsome and as prosperous as when the writer dwelt amongst them on the banks of the Rio Grande under the paternal rule of Alcalde Mayor Don José Fécéd y Temprado.
The Pampangos are close neighbours of the Tagals. They inhabit the rich and fertile province of Pampanga and a large part of that of Tarlac. There are also some detached colonies of them in the towns of Bataán, Nueva Écija, Pangasinán, and Zambales. The population of Pampanga is given in the census of 1876 as 226,000. Allowing one-half the population of Tarlac to belong to this race, we have to add 41,000, and supposing one-tenth the population of Bataán, Nueva Écija, and Zambales, to be Pampangos, say 27,000, we get 294,000 as their number in 1876. Doubtless they have largely increased since then. The Pampangos speak a different language from the Tagals, yet they can understand each other to some extent. Many of the better class speak both languages. The Pampango does not greatly differ from the Tagal in appearance or character, but his environment and his occupations are different. He is not so much a sailor, a fisherman, or a mechanic. He excels in agriculture, is a good organiser of labour, rides well, is a good hunter, and makes a bold and determined soldier. Large numbers of this war-like race have fought under the Spanish flag against the Mahometan princes of the Moluccas, of Mindanao, and Sulu, as also against the British and the Dutch.Pampangos as Cultivators.
The towns of San Fernando, Guágua Bacolor, Mexico, Angeles, Candaba, and many others have been built up by Pampanga industry. They contain many fine houses, where the European traveller is sure of a hospitable reception.
The staple crop of Pampanga is sugar, and I shallexplain their organisation for its cultivation and manufacture.
In Luzon the land is usually cultivated under an arrangement known asAparceria.
The conditions ofAparceriavary according to the locality, and to established custom, since on the land near a town a smaller share is given to the cultivator than on land near the forests, where if he were not satisfied he might commence to clear land for himself. Also the land near the towns is more valuable than that at a distance for various reasons.
The following is an example of the terms usual in Pampanga. The land-owner provides:
The cultivator, orinquilino, provides:
The money advanced to the cultivator by the land-owner is charged 20 per cent. per annum interest.
For a daily task of 9 pilones from cattle-mills or 10 pilones from steam-mills there are employed:
2 Labourers to cut caneat 25 cents and food.50 cents.1 Carterat 25 cents and food.252 Mill attendantsat 25 cents and food.50Sugar boiler and firemanat 25 cents and food.751 Megass carrierat 25 cents and food.25——Mexican dollars2.25Or 25 cents per pilon.
Sugar Crop.The land-owner pays the men’s wages, and the cultivator gives them three meals a day and cigars.The sugar-moulds (pilones) cost about 12½ cents each, and the cost is divided between the parties.In making up the account, 6½ per cent. per annum is charged on the value of the land, machinery and building.The molasses which drains from the sugar belongs to the land-owner.These pilones are supposed to contain 140 lbs. of sugar when filled. They are placed upon a small pot to allow the molasses to drain off. When delivered their weight may be from 112 to 120 lbs. according to the time they have been draining. This sugar polarises about 80 per cent. according to circumstances and requires to be treated at thefarderiasin Manila to bring it up to an even sample before it is exported. The sugar loaves are cut up, sorted, crushed, mixed with other sugars, sun-dried, and a certain quantity of sand added before being put into bags for export asManila Sugar, usually No. 7 or No. 9 Dutch standard. It will be seen from the above figures how moderate the expenses are. Of course each land-owner has a number of cultivators, and often a number of mills.Notwithstanding the low price of sugar which has prevailed for many years, the provinces of Pampanga has made money out of it as the handsome houses of the land-owners in all their towns testify.The sugar crop in Pampanga has never quite reached a million pilones, but has exceeded nine hundred thousand, say from fifty to sixty thousand English tons. The cane is crushed in small steam or cattle mills having three horizontal rollers.These mills are mostly made in Glasgow and have now in Pampanga entirely superseded the Chinese mills with vertical rollers of granite or the native mills with vertical rollers of hard wood.1A Farderia, or Sugar Drying and Packing Place.A Farderia, or Sugar Drying and Packing Place.[To face p. 240In former years I pointed out, in a report written for General Jovellar, what a great advantage it would be to Pampanga if the planters would abandon the use of pilonesand make sugar suitable for direct export and so obviate the manipulation in thefarderiasat Manila.They could make a sugar similar to that produced in Negros and known as Ilo-ilo.Now that the Philippines have passed into the hands of the United States, I do not doubt that central sugar factories will be established and will turn out centrifugal sugars polarizing 96 per cent. similar to the Cuban sugar.
Sugar Crop.
The land-owner pays the men’s wages, and the cultivator gives them three meals a day and cigars.The sugar-moulds (pilones) cost about 12½ cents each, and the cost is divided between the parties.In making up the account, 6½ per cent. per annum is charged on the value of the land, machinery and building.The molasses which drains from the sugar belongs to the land-owner.These pilones are supposed to contain 140 lbs. of sugar when filled. They are placed upon a small pot to allow the molasses to drain off. When delivered their weight may be from 112 to 120 lbs. according to the time they have been draining. This sugar polarises about 80 per cent. according to circumstances and requires to be treated at thefarderiasin Manila to bring it up to an even sample before it is exported. The sugar loaves are cut up, sorted, crushed, mixed with other sugars, sun-dried, and a certain quantity of sand added before being put into bags for export asManila Sugar, usually No. 7 or No. 9 Dutch standard. It will be seen from the above figures how moderate the expenses are. Of course each land-owner has a number of cultivators, and often a number of mills.Notwithstanding the low price of sugar which has prevailed for many years, the provinces of Pampanga has made money out of it as the handsome houses of the land-owners in all their towns testify.The sugar crop in Pampanga has never quite reached a million pilones, but has exceeded nine hundred thousand, say from fifty to sixty thousand English tons. The cane is crushed in small steam or cattle mills having three horizontal rollers.These mills are mostly made in Glasgow and have now in Pampanga entirely superseded the Chinese mills with vertical rollers of granite or the native mills with vertical rollers of hard wood.1A Farderia, or Sugar Drying and Packing Place.A Farderia, or Sugar Drying and Packing Place.[To face p. 240In former years I pointed out, in a report written for General Jovellar, what a great advantage it would be to Pampanga if the planters would abandon the use of pilonesand make sugar suitable for direct export and so obviate the manipulation in thefarderiasat Manila.They could make a sugar similar to that produced in Negros and known as Ilo-ilo.Now that the Philippines have passed into the hands of the United States, I do not doubt that central sugar factories will be established and will turn out centrifugal sugars polarizing 96 per cent. similar to the Cuban sugar.
The land-owner pays the men’s wages, and the cultivator gives them three meals a day and cigars.
The sugar-moulds (pilones) cost about 12½ cents each, and the cost is divided between the parties.
In making up the account, 6½ per cent. per annum is charged on the value of the land, machinery and building.
The molasses which drains from the sugar belongs to the land-owner.
These pilones are supposed to contain 140 lbs. of sugar when filled. They are placed upon a small pot to allow the molasses to drain off. When delivered their weight may be from 112 to 120 lbs. according to the time they have been draining. This sugar polarises about 80 per cent. according to circumstances and requires to be treated at thefarderiasin Manila to bring it up to an even sample before it is exported. The sugar loaves are cut up, sorted, crushed, mixed with other sugars, sun-dried, and a certain quantity of sand added before being put into bags for export asManila Sugar, usually No. 7 or No. 9 Dutch standard. It will be seen from the above figures how moderate the expenses are. Of course each land-owner has a number of cultivators, and often a number of mills.
Notwithstanding the low price of sugar which has prevailed for many years, the provinces of Pampanga has made money out of it as the handsome houses of the land-owners in all their towns testify.
The sugar crop in Pampanga has never quite reached a million pilones, but has exceeded nine hundred thousand, say from fifty to sixty thousand English tons. The cane is crushed in small steam or cattle mills having three horizontal rollers.
These mills are mostly made in Glasgow and have now in Pampanga entirely superseded the Chinese mills with vertical rollers of granite or the native mills with vertical rollers of hard wood.1
A Farderia, or Sugar Drying and Packing Place.A Farderia, or Sugar Drying and Packing Place.[To face p. 240
A Farderia, or Sugar Drying and Packing Place.
[To face p. 240
In former years I pointed out, in a report written for General Jovellar, what a great advantage it would be to Pampanga if the planters would abandon the use of pilonesand make sugar suitable for direct export and so obviate the manipulation in thefarderiasat Manila.
They could make a sugar similar to that produced in Negros and known as Ilo-ilo.
Now that the Philippines have passed into the hands of the United States, I do not doubt that central sugar factories will be established and will turn out centrifugal sugars polarizing 96 per cent. similar to the Cuban sugar.
Pampangos as Fishermen.There are some Pampanga fishermen on the River Betis, at San José, and amongst the labyrinth of creeks and mangrove swamps forming the north-western shores of Manila Bay.Their avocation is not destitute of danger, for these swamps are the home of the alligator.2Although they are not as large as some I have seen in the River Paraguay or on the River Dáule, in Ecuador, they are quite large enough to seize a horse or a man. I was once visiting Fr. Enrique Garcia, the parish priest of Macabébe, when a native woman came in and presented him with a dollar to say a Mass in thanksgiving for the escape of her husband from death that morning. She told us that he was pushing a shrimp-net in shallow water when the buaya seized him by the shoulder. The fisherman, however, called upon his patron saint, and putting out his utmost strength, with the aid of Saint Peter, succeeded in extricating himself from the reptile’s jaws and in beating him off. His shoulder, however, was badly lacerated by the alligator’s teeth. It was lucky for him that he was in shallow water, for the alligator usually holds its prey under water and drowns it.The Pampangos also fish on the Rio Grande, the Rio Chico, and in the Pinag de Candaba. This latter is an extensive swampy plain, partly under cultivation in the dry season, partly laid out as fish-ponds.The Nipa palm grows in abundance in the delta of the Bétis, and small colonies of half-savage people are settled on dry spots amongst these swamps engaged in collecting the juice or the leaves of this tree. The stems are punctured and the juice runs into small vessels made of cane. It is collected daily, poured into jars and carried in small canoes to the distillery where it is fermented and distilled.The distilleries are constructed in a very primitive manner, and are worked by Chinese or Chinese half-breeds.The produce is called Vino de Nipa, and is retailed in the native stalls and restaurants.The leaves are doubled and sewn with rattan strips upon a small piece of bamboo, they are taken to market upon a platform laid across the gunwales of two canoes. This arrangement is calledbangcas mancornadas, canoes yoked together. The nipa is sold by the thousand, and serves to thatch the native houses anywhere, except in certain parts of Manila and other towns where its use is forbidden on account of the great danger of its taking fire.From circumstances that have come under my own observation, I believe it to be a fact that when trade in nipa thatch is dull, the canoe-men set fire to the native houses in the suburbs of Manila to make a market. I have noticed more than once that houses have commenced to burn from the upper part of the thatched roof where they could not have caught fire accidentally. The Province of Pampanga extends to the westward, as far as the crests of the Zambales mountains, and the Cordillera of Mabanga is included within its boundaries. There is but little cultivated land beyond the town of Porac to the westward. Here the Pampangos trade with the Negritos, who inhabit the Zambales range, getting from them jungle produce in exchange for rice, tobacco, sugar, and other articles. Occasionally the Negritos steal cattle from the Pampangos or at times murder one of them if a good opportunity presents itself.
Pampangos as Fishermen.
There are some Pampanga fishermen on the River Betis, at San José, and amongst the labyrinth of creeks and mangrove swamps forming the north-western shores of Manila Bay.Their avocation is not destitute of danger, for these swamps are the home of the alligator.2Although they are not as large as some I have seen in the River Paraguay or on the River Dáule, in Ecuador, they are quite large enough to seize a horse or a man. I was once visiting Fr. Enrique Garcia, the parish priest of Macabébe, when a native woman came in and presented him with a dollar to say a Mass in thanksgiving for the escape of her husband from death that morning. She told us that he was pushing a shrimp-net in shallow water when the buaya seized him by the shoulder. The fisherman, however, called upon his patron saint, and putting out his utmost strength, with the aid of Saint Peter, succeeded in extricating himself from the reptile’s jaws and in beating him off. His shoulder, however, was badly lacerated by the alligator’s teeth. It was lucky for him that he was in shallow water, for the alligator usually holds its prey under water and drowns it.The Pampangos also fish on the Rio Grande, the Rio Chico, and in the Pinag de Candaba. This latter is an extensive swampy plain, partly under cultivation in the dry season, partly laid out as fish-ponds.The Nipa palm grows in abundance in the delta of the Bétis, and small colonies of half-savage people are settled on dry spots amongst these swamps engaged in collecting the juice or the leaves of this tree. The stems are punctured and the juice runs into small vessels made of cane. It is collected daily, poured into jars and carried in small canoes to the distillery where it is fermented and distilled.The distilleries are constructed in a very primitive manner, and are worked by Chinese or Chinese half-breeds.The produce is called Vino de Nipa, and is retailed in the native stalls and restaurants.The leaves are doubled and sewn with rattan strips upon a small piece of bamboo, they are taken to market upon a platform laid across the gunwales of two canoes. This arrangement is calledbangcas mancornadas, canoes yoked together. The nipa is sold by the thousand, and serves to thatch the native houses anywhere, except in certain parts of Manila and other towns where its use is forbidden on account of the great danger of its taking fire.From circumstances that have come under my own observation, I believe it to be a fact that when trade in nipa thatch is dull, the canoe-men set fire to the native houses in the suburbs of Manila to make a market. I have noticed more than once that houses have commenced to burn from the upper part of the thatched roof where they could not have caught fire accidentally. The Province of Pampanga extends to the westward, as far as the crests of the Zambales mountains, and the Cordillera of Mabanga is included within its boundaries. There is but little cultivated land beyond the town of Porac to the westward. Here the Pampangos trade with the Negritos, who inhabit the Zambales range, getting from them jungle produce in exchange for rice, tobacco, sugar, and other articles. Occasionally the Negritos steal cattle from the Pampangos or at times murder one of them if a good opportunity presents itself.
There are some Pampanga fishermen on the River Betis, at San José, and amongst the labyrinth of creeks and mangrove swamps forming the north-western shores of Manila Bay.
Their avocation is not destitute of danger, for these swamps are the home of the alligator.2Although they are not as large as some I have seen in the River Paraguay or on the River Dáule, in Ecuador, they are quite large enough to seize a horse or a man. I was once visiting Fr. Enrique Garcia, the parish priest of Macabébe, when a native woman came in and presented him with a dollar to say a Mass in thanksgiving for the escape of her husband from death that morning. She told us that he was pushing a shrimp-net in shallow water when the buaya seized him by the shoulder. The fisherman, however, called upon his patron saint, and putting out his utmost strength, with the aid of Saint Peter, succeeded in extricating himself from the reptile’s jaws and in beating him off. His shoulder, however, was badly lacerated by the alligator’s teeth. It was lucky for him that he was in shallow water, for the alligator usually holds its prey under water and drowns it.
The Pampangos also fish on the Rio Grande, the Rio Chico, and in the Pinag de Candaba. This latter is an extensive swampy plain, partly under cultivation in the dry season, partly laid out as fish-ponds.
The Nipa palm grows in abundance in the delta of the Bétis, and small colonies of half-savage people are settled on dry spots amongst these swamps engaged in collecting the juice or the leaves of this tree. The stems are punctured and the juice runs into small vessels made of cane. It is collected daily, poured into jars and carried in small canoes to the distillery where it is fermented and distilled.
The distilleries are constructed in a very primitive manner, and are worked by Chinese or Chinese half-breeds.
The produce is called Vino de Nipa, and is retailed in the native stalls and restaurants.
The leaves are doubled and sewn with rattan strips upon a small piece of bamboo, they are taken to market upon a platform laid across the gunwales of two canoes. This arrangement is calledbangcas mancornadas, canoes yoked together. The nipa is sold by the thousand, and serves to thatch the native houses anywhere, except in certain parts of Manila and other towns where its use is forbidden on account of the great danger of its taking fire.
From circumstances that have come under my own observation, I believe it to be a fact that when trade in nipa thatch is dull, the canoe-men set fire to the native houses in the suburbs of Manila to make a market. I have noticed more than once that houses have commenced to burn from the upper part of the thatched roof where they could not have caught fire accidentally. The Province of Pampanga extends to the westward, as far as the crests of the Zambales mountains, and the Cordillera of Mabanga is included within its boundaries. There is but little cultivated land beyond the town of Porac to the westward. Here the Pampangos trade with the Negritos, who inhabit the Zambales range, getting from them jungle produce in exchange for rice, tobacco, sugar, and other articles. Occasionally the Negritos steal cattle from the Pampangos or at times murder one of them if a good opportunity presents itself.
Pampangos as Hunters.The natives of this part of the province are good wood-men and hunters.In addition to taking game by nets and ambuscade, some of them hunt the deer on ponies which are trained to run at full speed after the game, up or down hill, and to get near enough for the rider to throw or use his lance.Being at Porac in 1879 with the late Major Deare, 74th Highlanders (now 2nd Batt. Highland Light Infantry), an enthusiastic sportsman, we saw two men who had practised this sport for years, and were told that their arms, ribs, legs and collar-bones had been broken over and overagain. We saw them gallop down a rocky and precipitous descent after a deer at full speed.We could only wonder that they were alive if that was a sample of their hunting. Their saddles were fitted with strong martingales and cruppers and with triple girths so that they could not shift. The saddles themselves were of the usual native pattern, like miniature Mexicans. The men were light weights.N.B.—If any reader of this contemplates travelling in the Philippines, let him take a saddle with him. It should be as small as he could comfortably use, and light. The ponies are from twelve to thirteen hands high, but are remarkably strong and clever. I know from experience that a good one will carry fourteen stone over rough ground with safety.
Pampangos as Hunters.
The natives of this part of the province are good wood-men and hunters.In addition to taking game by nets and ambuscade, some of them hunt the deer on ponies which are trained to run at full speed after the game, up or down hill, and to get near enough for the rider to throw or use his lance.Being at Porac in 1879 with the late Major Deare, 74th Highlanders (now 2nd Batt. Highland Light Infantry), an enthusiastic sportsman, we saw two men who had practised this sport for years, and were told that their arms, ribs, legs and collar-bones had been broken over and overagain. We saw them gallop down a rocky and precipitous descent after a deer at full speed.We could only wonder that they were alive if that was a sample of their hunting. Their saddles were fitted with strong martingales and cruppers and with triple girths so that they could not shift. The saddles themselves were of the usual native pattern, like miniature Mexicans. The men were light weights.N.B.—If any reader of this contemplates travelling in the Philippines, let him take a saddle with him. It should be as small as he could comfortably use, and light. The ponies are from twelve to thirteen hands high, but are remarkably strong and clever. I know from experience that a good one will carry fourteen stone over rough ground with safety.
The natives of this part of the province are good wood-men and hunters.
In addition to taking game by nets and ambuscade, some of them hunt the deer on ponies which are trained to run at full speed after the game, up or down hill, and to get near enough for the rider to throw or use his lance.
Being at Porac in 1879 with the late Major Deare, 74th Highlanders (now 2nd Batt. Highland Light Infantry), an enthusiastic sportsman, we saw two men who had practised this sport for years, and were told that their arms, ribs, legs and collar-bones had been broken over and overagain. We saw them gallop down a rocky and precipitous descent after a deer at full speed.
We could only wonder that they were alive if that was a sample of their hunting. Their saddles were fitted with strong martingales and cruppers and with triple girths so that they could not shift. The saddles themselves were of the usual native pattern, like miniature Mexicans. The men were light weights.
N.B.—If any reader of this contemplates travelling in the Philippines, let him take a saddle with him. It should be as small as he could comfortably use, and light. The ponies are from twelve to thirteen hands high, but are remarkably strong and clever. I know from experience that a good one will carry fourteen stone over rough ground with safety.
Tulisanes.Pampanga has produced some notable bandits orTulisaneswho have given the Spaniards much trouble. Of late years there has been a diminution in the number of crimes of violence, due in a great measure to the establishment of the Guardia Civil by General Gándara in 1867.I once built a nipa house on the banks of the Rio Grande, near Macabébe, and resided there for several months, carrying on some works. I was new to the country and ignorant of the customs of the people.There were no other Europeans in the vicinity, except the priests.I took care to treat all my native neighbours with strict justice, neither infringing their rights, nor allowing them to impose on me.There came to stay with me Mr. A. B. Whyte, then an employé, now a partner in one of the leading British firms in Manila, who frequently had ten thousand dollars in gold in his safe, and similar sums were remitted to him from Manila at different times for the purchase of sugar.One day we received a visit from an officer of the Civil Guard who came to warn us that we were in danger of an attack, that his post was too far off for him to protect us, and that the locality bore a very bad name for crimes of violence. We thanked him for his visit and warning, entertained him to lunch, and informed him that we intended to remain, after which he returned to his post atApalit. On making inquiry we found that some of our immediate neighbours were well-known bandits, but were thought to have retired from business. However, they never attacked us, and probably prevented any other Tulisanes from doing so lest they should get the blame. But had I encroached on their land or treated them contemptuously, or had I allowed them to impose upon me, I do not doubt we should have been attacked and to say the least we might have found ourselves in a tight place.A nipa house is no place to defend, for it can be burnt in a few minutes in the dry season, and a spear can be pushed through the sides, or up through the floor with ease.In cases like this one cannot entirely depend upon the assistance of native servants, for they have sometimes joined with criminals to rob or murder their master.There is a curious custom amongst bandits to invite an outsider to join them in a particular enterprise, and it is considered mean and as denoting a want of courage to refuse, even when a servant is invited to help rob or kill his master. Moreover, there is much danger in refusing to join the bandits, for it will give dire offence to them and perhaps have fatal consequences. This invitation is called aConvite[seeChap. V.].The hereditary taint of piracy in the Malay blood, and the low moral standard prevailing in the Archipelago, as well as fear of the consequences of a refusal, render it more difficult than a stranger can realise for a native servant to resist such a temptation.
Tulisanes.
Pampanga has produced some notable bandits orTulisaneswho have given the Spaniards much trouble. Of late years there has been a diminution in the number of crimes of violence, due in a great measure to the establishment of the Guardia Civil by General Gándara in 1867.I once built a nipa house on the banks of the Rio Grande, near Macabébe, and resided there for several months, carrying on some works. I was new to the country and ignorant of the customs of the people.There were no other Europeans in the vicinity, except the priests.I took care to treat all my native neighbours with strict justice, neither infringing their rights, nor allowing them to impose on me.There came to stay with me Mr. A. B. Whyte, then an employé, now a partner in one of the leading British firms in Manila, who frequently had ten thousand dollars in gold in his safe, and similar sums were remitted to him from Manila at different times for the purchase of sugar.One day we received a visit from an officer of the Civil Guard who came to warn us that we were in danger of an attack, that his post was too far off for him to protect us, and that the locality bore a very bad name for crimes of violence. We thanked him for his visit and warning, entertained him to lunch, and informed him that we intended to remain, after which he returned to his post atApalit. On making inquiry we found that some of our immediate neighbours were well-known bandits, but were thought to have retired from business. However, they never attacked us, and probably prevented any other Tulisanes from doing so lest they should get the blame. But had I encroached on their land or treated them contemptuously, or had I allowed them to impose upon me, I do not doubt we should have been attacked and to say the least we might have found ourselves in a tight place.A nipa house is no place to defend, for it can be burnt in a few minutes in the dry season, and a spear can be pushed through the sides, or up through the floor with ease.In cases like this one cannot entirely depend upon the assistance of native servants, for they have sometimes joined with criminals to rob or murder their master.There is a curious custom amongst bandits to invite an outsider to join them in a particular enterprise, and it is considered mean and as denoting a want of courage to refuse, even when a servant is invited to help rob or kill his master. Moreover, there is much danger in refusing to join the bandits, for it will give dire offence to them and perhaps have fatal consequences. This invitation is called aConvite[seeChap. V.].The hereditary taint of piracy in the Malay blood, and the low moral standard prevailing in the Archipelago, as well as fear of the consequences of a refusal, render it more difficult than a stranger can realise for a native servant to resist such a temptation.
Pampanga has produced some notable bandits orTulisaneswho have given the Spaniards much trouble. Of late years there has been a diminution in the number of crimes of violence, due in a great measure to the establishment of the Guardia Civil by General Gándara in 1867.
I once built a nipa house on the banks of the Rio Grande, near Macabébe, and resided there for several months, carrying on some works. I was new to the country and ignorant of the customs of the people.
There were no other Europeans in the vicinity, except the priests.
I took care to treat all my native neighbours with strict justice, neither infringing their rights, nor allowing them to impose on me.
There came to stay with me Mr. A. B. Whyte, then an employé, now a partner in one of the leading British firms in Manila, who frequently had ten thousand dollars in gold in his safe, and similar sums were remitted to him from Manila at different times for the purchase of sugar.
One day we received a visit from an officer of the Civil Guard who came to warn us that we were in danger of an attack, that his post was too far off for him to protect us, and that the locality bore a very bad name for crimes of violence. We thanked him for his visit and warning, entertained him to lunch, and informed him that we intended to remain, after which he returned to his post atApalit. On making inquiry we found that some of our immediate neighbours were well-known bandits, but were thought to have retired from business. However, they never attacked us, and probably prevented any other Tulisanes from doing so lest they should get the blame. But had I encroached on their land or treated them contemptuously, or had I allowed them to impose upon me, I do not doubt we should have been attacked and to say the least we might have found ourselves in a tight place.
A nipa house is no place to defend, for it can be burnt in a few minutes in the dry season, and a spear can be pushed through the sides, or up through the floor with ease.
In cases like this one cannot entirely depend upon the assistance of native servants, for they have sometimes joined with criminals to rob or murder their master.
There is a curious custom amongst bandits to invite an outsider to join them in a particular enterprise, and it is considered mean and as denoting a want of courage to refuse, even when a servant is invited to help rob or kill his master. Moreover, there is much danger in refusing to join the bandits, for it will give dire offence to them and perhaps have fatal consequences. This invitation is called aConvite[seeChap. V.].
The hereditary taint of piracy in the Malay blood, and the low moral standard prevailing in the Archipelago, as well as fear of the consequences of a refusal, render it more difficult than a stranger can realise for a native servant to resist such a temptation.
Pampanga Women.The women in Pampanga are smart in appearance, clever in business, and good at a bargain, whether buying or selling. The men are well aware of this and when selling their produce or buying a sugar-mill, they like to have the assistance of their wives, who are always the hardest customers to deal with.They are excellent sempstresses and good at embroidery. In some villages they make very durable silk handkerchiefs with coloured borders of blue, red or purple. Straw hats, mats,salacots, cigar and cigarette cases are also made by them.Their houses are kept clean, and the larger ones are well-suited for entertainments, as thesalaandcaidaare very spacious, and have polished floors ofnarra, or some other hard close-grained wood very pleasant to dance on.A ball at a big Pampanga house is a sight that will be remembered. Capitan Joaquin Arnédo Cruz of Sulípan, on the Rio Grande, a wealthy native sugar-planter, used to assemble in his fine house the principal people of the neighbourhood to meet royal or distinguished guests. One of his daughters is married to a distinguished lawyer, my friend Don Felipe Buencamino, author of the remarkable State paper addressed to the United States Senate, and published in the Congressional Record of January 9th, 1900, pp. 752–53–54. Capitan Joaquin possessed a magnificent porcelain table-service of two hundred pieces, specially made and marked with his monogram, sent him by a prince who had enjoyed his hospitality.He gave a ball for the Grand Duke Alexis of Russia, who afterwards declared that the room presented one of the most brilliant sights he had ever seen.This from a son of an Emperor might seem an exaggeration, but brilliant is the only word that can describe the effect produced on the spectator by the bright costumes and sparkling jewellery of the women.Their dress seems to exercise a fascination upon Europeans which the costume of any other eastern country fails to do.Monsieur Paul de la Gironière, in his charming book, ‘Vingt Ans aux Philippines,’ says, about the Mestiza dress: “Nothing so charming, socoquet, so provocative as this costume which excites to the highest point the admiration of all strangers.”He goes on to say that the women are well aware of this, and that on no account would they make a change. I will add my opinion that they are quite right, and may they ever stick to the saya, the báro, and the tapis under the Stars and Stripes, may they ever be as natural, as handsome and as prosperous as when the writer dwelt amongst them on the banks of the Rio Grande under the paternal rule of Alcalde Mayor Don José Fécéd y Temprado.
Pampanga Women.
The women in Pampanga are smart in appearance, clever in business, and good at a bargain, whether buying or selling. The men are well aware of this and when selling their produce or buying a sugar-mill, they like to have the assistance of their wives, who are always the hardest customers to deal with.They are excellent sempstresses and good at embroidery. In some villages they make very durable silk handkerchiefs with coloured borders of blue, red or purple. Straw hats, mats,salacots, cigar and cigarette cases are also made by them.Their houses are kept clean, and the larger ones are well-suited for entertainments, as thesalaandcaidaare very spacious, and have polished floors ofnarra, or some other hard close-grained wood very pleasant to dance on.A ball at a big Pampanga house is a sight that will be remembered. Capitan Joaquin Arnédo Cruz of Sulípan, on the Rio Grande, a wealthy native sugar-planter, used to assemble in his fine house the principal people of the neighbourhood to meet royal or distinguished guests. One of his daughters is married to a distinguished lawyer, my friend Don Felipe Buencamino, author of the remarkable State paper addressed to the United States Senate, and published in the Congressional Record of January 9th, 1900, pp. 752–53–54. Capitan Joaquin possessed a magnificent porcelain table-service of two hundred pieces, specially made and marked with his monogram, sent him by a prince who had enjoyed his hospitality.He gave a ball for the Grand Duke Alexis of Russia, who afterwards declared that the room presented one of the most brilliant sights he had ever seen.This from a son of an Emperor might seem an exaggeration, but brilliant is the only word that can describe the effect produced on the spectator by the bright costumes and sparkling jewellery of the women.Their dress seems to exercise a fascination upon Europeans which the costume of any other eastern country fails to do.Monsieur Paul de la Gironière, in his charming book, ‘Vingt Ans aux Philippines,’ says, about the Mestiza dress: “Nothing so charming, socoquet, so provocative as this costume which excites to the highest point the admiration of all strangers.”He goes on to say that the women are well aware of this, and that on no account would they make a change. I will add my opinion that they are quite right, and may they ever stick to the saya, the báro, and the tapis under the Stars and Stripes, may they ever be as natural, as handsome and as prosperous as when the writer dwelt amongst them on the banks of the Rio Grande under the paternal rule of Alcalde Mayor Don José Fécéd y Temprado.
The women in Pampanga are smart in appearance, clever in business, and good at a bargain, whether buying or selling. The men are well aware of this and when selling their produce or buying a sugar-mill, they like to have the assistance of their wives, who are always the hardest customers to deal with.
They are excellent sempstresses and good at embroidery. In some villages they make very durable silk handkerchiefs with coloured borders of blue, red or purple. Straw hats, mats,salacots, cigar and cigarette cases are also made by them.
Their houses are kept clean, and the larger ones are well-suited for entertainments, as thesalaandcaidaare very spacious, and have polished floors ofnarra, or some other hard close-grained wood very pleasant to dance on.
A ball at a big Pampanga house is a sight that will be remembered. Capitan Joaquin Arnédo Cruz of Sulípan, on the Rio Grande, a wealthy native sugar-planter, used to assemble in his fine house the principal people of the neighbourhood to meet royal or distinguished guests. One of his daughters is married to a distinguished lawyer, my friend Don Felipe Buencamino, author of the remarkable State paper addressed to the United States Senate, and published in the Congressional Record of January 9th, 1900, pp. 752–53–54. Capitan Joaquin possessed a magnificent porcelain table-service of two hundred pieces, specially made and marked with his monogram, sent him by a prince who had enjoyed his hospitality.
He gave a ball for the Grand Duke Alexis of Russia, who afterwards declared that the room presented one of the most brilliant sights he had ever seen.
This from a son of an Emperor might seem an exaggeration, but brilliant is the only word that can describe the effect produced on the spectator by the bright costumes and sparkling jewellery of the women.
Their dress seems to exercise a fascination upon Europeans which the costume of any other eastern country fails to do.
Monsieur Paul de la Gironière, in his charming book, ‘Vingt Ans aux Philippines,’ says, about the Mestiza dress: “Nothing so charming, socoquet, so provocative as this costume which excites to the highest point the admiration of all strangers.”
He goes on to say that the women are well aware of this, and that on no account would they make a change. I will add my opinion that they are quite right, and may they ever stick to the saya, the báro, and the tapis under the Stars and Stripes, may they ever be as natural, as handsome and as prosperous as when the writer dwelt amongst them on the banks of the Rio Grande under the paternal rule of Alcalde Mayor Don José Fécéd y Temprado.
1The roller pinions in both Chinese and native mills are of hard wood.2Crocodilus Porosus.
1The roller pinions in both Chinese and native mills are of hard wood.
2Crocodilus Porosus.