The Inhabitants of the Philippines.

The Inhabitants of the Philippines.Chapter I.Extent, Beauty and Fertility.Extent, beauty, and fertility of the Archipelago—Variety of landscape—Vegetation—Mango trees—Bamboos.Extent.The Philippine Archipelago, in which I include the Sulu group, lies entirely within the northern tropic; the southernmost island of the Tawi-tawi group called Sibutu reaches down to 4° 38′ N., whilst Yami, the northernmost islet of the Batanes group, lies in 21° 7′ N. This gives an extreme length of1100 miles, whilst the extreme breadth is about680 miles, measured a little below the 8th parallel from the Island of Balábac to the east coast of Mindanao.Various authorities give the number of islands and islets at 1200 and upwards; many have probably never been visited by a white man. We need only concern ourselves with the principal islands and those adjacent to them.From the hydrographic survey carried out by officers of the Spanish Navy, the following areas have been calculated and are considered official, except those marked with an asterisk, which are only estimated.Sq. Miles.Sq. Miles.Luzon42,458Babuyanes Islands272Batanes Islands104Mindoro4,153Catanduanes721Marinduque332Polillo300Buriás116Ticao.144Masbate1,642——7,784——Total Luzon and adjacent islands50,242Visayas, etc.Panay4,898Negros3,592Cebú2,285Bohol1,226Leyte3,706Samar5,182——20,889Mindanao34,456Palawan and Balabac5,963Calamianes Islands640——Area of principal islands112,190The Spanish official estimate of the area of the whole Archipelago is114,214 square miles1equivalent to 73,000,000 acres, so that the remaining islands ought to measure between them something over 2000 square miles.Beauty and Fertility.Lest I should be taxed with exaggeration when I record my impressions of the beauty and potential wealth of the Archipelago, so far as I have seen it; I shall commence by citing the opinions of some who, at different times, have visited the islands.I think I cannot do better than give precedence to the impressions of two French gentlemen who seem to me to have done justice to the subject, then cite the calm judgment of a learned and sagacious Teuton, and lastly quote from the laboured paragraphs of a much-travelled cosmopolite, at one time Her Britannic Majesty’s Consul at Manila.Monsieur Dumont D’Urville says: “The Philippines, and above all Luzon, have nothing in this world to equal them in climate, beauty of landscape, and fertility of soil. Luzon is the finest diamond that the Spanish adventurers have ever found.“It has remained uncut in their hands; but deliver over Luzon to British activity and tolerance, or else to the laborious tenacity of the Dutch Creoles, and you will see what will come out of this marvellous gem.”Monsieur de Guignes says: “Of the numerous colonies belonging to the Spaniards, as one of the most important must indisputably be reckoned the Philippines. Their position, their great fertility, and the nature of their productions, render them admirably adapted for active commerce, and if the Spaniards have not derived much benefit from them, to themselves and to their manner of training is the fault to be ascribed.”Herr Jagor, speaking of the Province of Bulacan, says the roads were good and were continuously shaded by fruit trees, cocoa and areca palms, and the aspect of this fruitful province reminded him of the richest districts in Java, but he found thepuebloshere exhibited more comfort than thedesasthere.Mr. Gifford Palgrave says: “Not the Ægean, not the West Indian, not the Samoan, not any other of the fair island clusters by which our terraqueous planet half atones for her dreary expanses of grey ocean and monotonous desert elsewhere, can rival in manifold beauties of earth, sea, sky, the Philippine Archipelago; nor in all that Archipelago, lovely as it is through its entire extent, can any island vie with the glories of Luzon.”Variety of Landscape.If I may without presumption add my testimony to that of these illustrious travellers, I would say that, having been over a great part of South America, from Olinda Point to the Straits of Magellan, from Tierra del Fuego to Panama, not only on the coasts but in the interior, from the Pampas of the Argentine and the swamps of the Gran Chaco to where“The roots of the Andes strike deep in the earthAs their summits to heaven shoot soaringly forth;”having traversed the fairest gems of the Antilles and seen some of the loveliest landscapes in Japan, I know of no land more beautiful than Luzon, certainly of none possessing more varied features or offering more striking contrasts.Limestone cliffs and pinnacles, cracked and hollowed into labyrinthine caves, sharp basalt peaks, great ranges of mountains, isolated volcanic cones, cool crystalline springs, jets of boiling water, cascades, rivers, lakes, swamps, narrowvalleys and broad plains, rocky promontories and coral reefs, every feature is present, except the snow-clad peak and the glacier.Vegetation.Vegetation here runs riot, hardly checked by the devastating typhoon, or the fall of volcanic ashes. From the cocoa-nut palm growing on the coral strand, from the mangrove, building its pyramid of roots upon the ooze, to the giant bamboo on the banks of the streams, and the noble mango tree adorning the plains, every tropical species flourishes in endless variety, and forests of conifers2clothe the summits of the Zambales and Ilocan mountains.As for the forest wealth, the trees yielding indestructible timber for ships, houses or furniture, those giving valuable drugs and healing oils, gums and pigments, varnishes, pitch and resin, dyes, sap for fermenting or distilling, oil for burning, water, vinegar, milk, fibre, charcoal, pitch, fecula, edible fungi, tubers, bark and fruits, it would take a larger book than this to enumerate them in their incredible variety.Mango Trees.A notable feature of the Philippine landscape is the mango tree. This truly magnificent tree is often of perfect symmetry, and rears aloft on its massive trunk and wide-spreading branches a perfect dome of green and glistening leaves, adorned in season with countless strings of sweet-scented blossom and pendent clusters of green and golden fruit, incomparably luscious, unsurpassed, unequalled.Beneath that shapely vault of verdure the feathered tribes find shelter. The restless mango bird3displays his contrasted plumage of black and yellow as he flits from bough to bough, the crimson-breasted pigeon and the ring-dove rest secure.These glorious trees are pleasing objects for the eye to rest on. All through the fertile valleys of Luzon they stand singly or in groups, and give a character to the landscape which would otherwise be lacking. Only the largest andfinest English oaks can compare with the mango trees in appearance; but whilst the former yield nothing of value, one or two mango trees will keep a native family in comfort and even affluence with their generous crop.Bamboos.On the banks of the Philippine streams and rivers that giant grass, the thorny bamboo, grows and thrives. It grows in clumps of twenty, forty, fifty stems. Starting from the ground, some four to six inches in diameter, it shoots aloft for perhaps seventy feet, tapering to the thickness of a match at its extremity, putting forth from each joint slender and thorny branches, carrying small, thin, and pointed leaves, so delicately poised as to rustle with the least breath of air.The canes naturally take a gradual curve which becomes more and more accentuated as their diameter diminishes, until they bend over at their tops and sway freely in the breeze.I can only compare a fine clump of bamboos to a giant plume of green ostrich feathers. Nothing in the vegetable kingdom is more graceful, nothing can be more useful. Under the blast of a typhoon the bamboo bends so low that it defies all but the most sudden and violent gusts. If, however, it succumbs, it is generally the earth under it that gives way, and the whole clump falls, raising its interlaced roots and a thick wall of earth adhering to and embraced by them.Piercing the hard earth, shoving aside the stones with irresistible force, comes the new bamboo, its head emerging like a giant artichoke.Each flinty-headed shoot soars aloft with a rapidity astonishing to those who have only witnessed the tardy growth of vegetation in the temperate zone. I carefully measured a shoot of bamboo in my garden in Santa Ana and found that it grew two feet in three days, that is, eight inches a day, ⅓ inch per hour.I could see it grow.When I commenced to measure the shoot it was eighteen inches high and was four inches in diameter. This rapid growth, which, considering the extraordinary usefulness of the bamboo ought to excite man’s gratitude to Almighty Providence, has, to the shame of human nature, led the Malay and the Chinaman to utilise the bamboo to inflict death byhideous torture on his fellow men. (See Tûkang Bûrok’s story in Hugh Clifford’s ‘Studies of Brown Humanity.’)Each joint is carefully enveloped by nature in a wrapper as tough as parchment, covered, especially round the edges, with millions of small spines. The wrapper, when dry, is brown, edged with black, but when fresh the colours are remarkable, pale yellow, dark yellow, orange, brown, black, pale green, dark green, black; all shaded or contrasted in a way to make a Parisian dress designer feel sick with envy.This wrapper does not fall off till the joint has hardened and acquired its flinty armour so as to be safe from damage by any animal.It would take a whole chapter to enumerate the many and varied uses of the bamboo.Suffice it to say that I cannot conceive how the Philippine native could do without it.Everlastingly renewing its youth, perpetually soaring to the sky, proudly overtopping all that grows, splendidly flourishing when meaner plants must fade from drought, this giant grass, which delights the eyes, takes rank as one of God’s noblest gifts to tropical man.View on the Pasig with Bamboos and Canoe.View on the Pasig with Bamboos and Canoe.To face p. 6.1England has 51,000 square miles area; Wales, 7378; Ireland, 31,759; Scotland, nearly 30,000. Total, Great Britain and Ireland, etc., 121,000 square miles.2Worcester, p. 446, mentions Conifers at sea level in Sibuyan Island, province of Romblon.3Called in Spanish the oropéndola (Broderipus achrorchus).

Extent, beauty, and fertility of the Archipelago—Variety of landscape—Vegetation—Mango trees—Bamboos.

Extent.The Philippine Archipelago, in which I include the Sulu group, lies entirely within the northern tropic; the southernmost island of the Tawi-tawi group called Sibutu reaches down to 4° 38′ N., whilst Yami, the northernmost islet of the Batanes group, lies in 21° 7′ N. This gives an extreme length of1100 miles, whilst the extreme breadth is about680 miles, measured a little below the 8th parallel from the Island of Balábac to the east coast of Mindanao.Various authorities give the number of islands and islets at 1200 and upwards; many have probably never been visited by a white man. We need only concern ourselves with the principal islands and those adjacent to them.From the hydrographic survey carried out by officers of the Spanish Navy, the following areas have been calculated and are considered official, except those marked with an asterisk, which are only estimated.Sq. Miles.Sq. Miles.Luzon42,458Babuyanes Islands272Batanes Islands104Mindoro4,153Catanduanes721Marinduque332Polillo300Buriás116Ticao.144Masbate1,642——7,784——Total Luzon and adjacent islands50,242Visayas, etc.Panay4,898Negros3,592Cebú2,285Bohol1,226Leyte3,706Samar5,182——20,889Mindanao34,456Palawan and Balabac5,963Calamianes Islands640——Area of principal islands112,190The Spanish official estimate of the area of the whole Archipelago is114,214 square miles1equivalent to 73,000,000 acres, so that the remaining islands ought to measure between them something over 2000 square miles.

Extent.

The Philippine Archipelago, in which I include the Sulu group, lies entirely within the northern tropic; the southernmost island of the Tawi-tawi group called Sibutu reaches down to 4° 38′ N., whilst Yami, the northernmost islet of the Batanes group, lies in 21° 7′ N. This gives an extreme length of1100 miles, whilst the extreme breadth is about680 miles, measured a little below the 8th parallel from the Island of Balábac to the east coast of Mindanao.Various authorities give the number of islands and islets at 1200 and upwards; many have probably never been visited by a white man. We need only concern ourselves with the principal islands and those adjacent to them.From the hydrographic survey carried out by officers of the Spanish Navy, the following areas have been calculated and are considered official, except those marked with an asterisk, which are only estimated.Sq. Miles.Sq. Miles.Luzon42,458Babuyanes Islands272Batanes Islands104Mindoro4,153Catanduanes721Marinduque332Polillo300Buriás116Ticao.144Masbate1,642——7,784——Total Luzon and adjacent islands50,242Visayas, etc.Panay4,898Negros3,592Cebú2,285Bohol1,226Leyte3,706Samar5,182——20,889Mindanao34,456Palawan and Balabac5,963Calamianes Islands640——Area of principal islands112,190The Spanish official estimate of the area of the whole Archipelago is114,214 square miles1equivalent to 73,000,000 acres, so that the remaining islands ought to measure between them something over 2000 square miles.

Various authorities give the number of islands and islets at 1200 and upwards; many have probably never been visited by a white man. We need only concern ourselves with the principal islands and those adjacent to them.

From the hydrographic survey carried out by officers of the Spanish Navy, the following areas have been calculated and are considered official, except those marked with an asterisk, which are only estimated.

Sq. Miles.Sq. Miles.Luzon42,458Babuyanes Islands272Batanes Islands104Mindoro4,153Catanduanes721Marinduque332Polillo300Buriás116Ticao.144Masbate1,642——7,784——Total Luzon and adjacent islands50,242Visayas, etc.Panay4,898Negros3,592Cebú2,285Bohol1,226Leyte3,706Samar5,182——20,889Mindanao34,456Palawan and Balabac5,963Calamianes Islands640——Area of principal islands112,190

The Spanish official estimate of the area of the whole Archipelago is114,214 square miles1equivalent to 73,000,000 acres, so that the remaining islands ought to measure between them something over 2000 square miles.

Beauty and Fertility.Lest I should be taxed with exaggeration when I record my impressions of the beauty and potential wealth of the Archipelago, so far as I have seen it; I shall commence by citing the opinions of some who, at different times, have visited the islands.I think I cannot do better than give precedence to the impressions of two French gentlemen who seem to me to have done justice to the subject, then cite the calm judgment of a learned and sagacious Teuton, and lastly quote from the laboured paragraphs of a much-travelled cosmopolite, at one time Her Britannic Majesty’s Consul at Manila.Monsieur Dumont D’Urville says: “The Philippines, and above all Luzon, have nothing in this world to equal them in climate, beauty of landscape, and fertility of soil. Luzon is the finest diamond that the Spanish adventurers have ever found.“It has remained uncut in their hands; but deliver over Luzon to British activity and tolerance, or else to the laborious tenacity of the Dutch Creoles, and you will see what will come out of this marvellous gem.”Monsieur de Guignes says: “Of the numerous colonies belonging to the Spaniards, as one of the most important must indisputably be reckoned the Philippines. Their position, their great fertility, and the nature of their productions, render them admirably adapted for active commerce, and if the Spaniards have not derived much benefit from them, to themselves and to their manner of training is the fault to be ascribed.”Herr Jagor, speaking of the Province of Bulacan, says the roads were good and were continuously shaded by fruit trees, cocoa and areca palms, and the aspect of this fruitful province reminded him of the richest districts in Java, but he found thepuebloshere exhibited more comfort than thedesasthere.Mr. Gifford Palgrave says: “Not the Ægean, not the West Indian, not the Samoan, not any other of the fair island clusters by which our terraqueous planet half atones for her dreary expanses of grey ocean and monotonous desert elsewhere, can rival in manifold beauties of earth, sea, sky, the Philippine Archipelago; nor in all that Archipelago, lovely as it is through its entire extent, can any island vie with the glories of Luzon.”

Beauty and Fertility.

Lest I should be taxed with exaggeration when I record my impressions of the beauty and potential wealth of the Archipelago, so far as I have seen it; I shall commence by citing the opinions of some who, at different times, have visited the islands.I think I cannot do better than give precedence to the impressions of two French gentlemen who seem to me to have done justice to the subject, then cite the calm judgment of a learned and sagacious Teuton, and lastly quote from the laboured paragraphs of a much-travelled cosmopolite, at one time Her Britannic Majesty’s Consul at Manila.Monsieur Dumont D’Urville says: “The Philippines, and above all Luzon, have nothing in this world to equal them in climate, beauty of landscape, and fertility of soil. Luzon is the finest diamond that the Spanish adventurers have ever found.“It has remained uncut in their hands; but deliver over Luzon to British activity and tolerance, or else to the laborious tenacity of the Dutch Creoles, and you will see what will come out of this marvellous gem.”Monsieur de Guignes says: “Of the numerous colonies belonging to the Spaniards, as one of the most important must indisputably be reckoned the Philippines. Their position, their great fertility, and the nature of their productions, render them admirably adapted for active commerce, and if the Spaniards have not derived much benefit from them, to themselves and to their manner of training is the fault to be ascribed.”Herr Jagor, speaking of the Province of Bulacan, says the roads were good and were continuously shaded by fruit trees, cocoa and areca palms, and the aspect of this fruitful province reminded him of the richest districts in Java, but he found thepuebloshere exhibited more comfort than thedesasthere.Mr. Gifford Palgrave says: “Not the Ægean, not the West Indian, not the Samoan, not any other of the fair island clusters by which our terraqueous planet half atones for her dreary expanses of grey ocean and monotonous desert elsewhere, can rival in manifold beauties of earth, sea, sky, the Philippine Archipelago; nor in all that Archipelago, lovely as it is through its entire extent, can any island vie with the glories of Luzon.”

I think I cannot do better than give precedence to the impressions of two French gentlemen who seem to me to have done justice to the subject, then cite the calm judgment of a learned and sagacious Teuton, and lastly quote from the laboured paragraphs of a much-travelled cosmopolite, at one time Her Britannic Majesty’s Consul at Manila.

Monsieur Dumont D’Urville says: “The Philippines, and above all Luzon, have nothing in this world to equal them in climate, beauty of landscape, and fertility of soil. Luzon is the finest diamond that the Spanish adventurers have ever found.

“It has remained uncut in their hands; but deliver over Luzon to British activity and tolerance, or else to the laborious tenacity of the Dutch Creoles, and you will see what will come out of this marvellous gem.”

Monsieur de Guignes says: “Of the numerous colonies belonging to the Spaniards, as one of the most important must indisputably be reckoned the Philippines. Their position, their great fertility, and the nature of their productions, render them admirably adapted for active commerce, and if the Spaniards have not derived much benefit from them, to themselves and to their manner of training is the fault to be ascribed.”

Herr Jagor, speaking of the Province of Bulacan, says the roads were good and were continuously shaded by fruit trees, cocoa and areca palms, and the aspect of this fruitful province reminded him of the richest districts in Java, but he found thepuebloshere exhibited more comfort than thedesasthere.

Mr. Gifford Palgrave says: “Not the Ægean, not the West Indian, not the Samoan, not any other of the fair island clusters by which our terraqueous planet half atones for her dreary expanses of grey ocean and monotonous desert elsewhere, can rival in manifold beauties of earth, sea, sky, the Philippine Archipelago; nor in all that Archipelago, lovely as it is through its entire extent, can any island vie with the glories of Luzon.”

Variety of Landscape.If I may without presumption add my testimony to that of these illustrious travellers, I would say that, having been over a great part of South America, from Olinda Point to the Straits of Magellan, from Tierra del Fuego to Panama, not only on the coasts but in the interior, from the Pampas of the Argentine and the swamps of the Gran Chaco to where“The roots of the Andes strike deep in the earthAs their summits to heaven shoot soaringly forth;”having traversed the fairest gems of the Antilles and seen some of the loveliest landscapes in Japan, I know of no land more beautiful than Luzon, certainly of none possessing more varied features or offering more striking contrasts.Limestone cliffs and pinnacles, cracked and hollowed into labyrinthine caves, sharp basalt peaks, great ranges of mountains, isolated volcanic cones, cool crystalline springs, jets of boiling water, cascades, rivers, lakes, swamps, narrowvalleys and broad plains, rocky promontories and coral reefs, every feature is present, except the snow-clad peak and the glacier.

Variety of Landscape.

If I may without presumption add my testimony to that of these illustrious travellers, I would say that, having been over a great part of South America, from Olinda Point to the Straits of Magellan, from Tierra del Fuego to Panama, not only on the coasts but in the interior, from the Pampas of the Argentine and the swamps of the Gran Chaco to where“The roots of the Andes strike deep in the earthAs their summits to heaven shoot soaringly forth;”having traversed the fairest gems of the Antilles and seen some of the loveliest landscapes in Japan, I know of no land more beautiful than Luzon, certainly of none possessing more varied features or offering more striking contrasts.Limestone cliffs and pinnacles, cracked and hollowed into labyrinthine caves, sharp basalt peaks, great ranges of mountains, isolated volcanic cones, cool crystalline springs, jets of boiling water, cascades, rivers, lakes, swamps, narrowvalleys and broad plains, rocky promontories and coral reefs, every feature is present, except the snow-clad peak and the glacier.

“The roots of the Andes strike deep in the earthAs their summits to heaven shoot soaringly forth;”

“The roots of the Andes strike deep in the earth

As their summits to heaven shoot soaringly forth;”

having traversed the fairest gems of the Antilles and seen some of the loveliest landscapes in Japan, I know of no land more beautiful than Luzon, certainly of none possessing more varied features or offering more striking contrasts.

Limestone cliffs and pinnacles, cracked and hollowed into labyrinthine caves, sharp basalt peaks, great ranges of mountains, isolated volcanic cones, cool crystalline springs, jets of boiling water, cascades, rivers, lakes, swamps, narrowvalleys and broad plains, rocky promontories and coral reefs, every feature is present, except the snow-clad peak and the glacier.

Vegetation.Vegetation here runs riot, hardly checked by the devastating typhoon, or the fall of volcanic ashes. From the cocoa-nut palm growing on the coral strand, from the mangrove, building its pyramid of roots upon the ooze, to the giant bamboo on the banks of the streams, and the noble mango tree adorning the plains, every tropical species flourishes in endless variety, and forests of conifers2clothe the summits of the Zambales and Ilocan mountains.As for the forest wealth, the trees yielding indestructible timber for ships, houses or furniture, those giving valuable drugs and healing oils, gums and pigments, varnishes, pitch and resin, dyes, sap for fermenting or distilling, oil for burning, water, vinegar, milk, fibre, charcoal, pitch, fecula, edible fungi, tubers, bark and fruits, it would take a larger book than this to enumerate them in their incredible variety.Mango Trees.A notable feature of the Philippine landscape is the mango tree. This truly magnificent tree is often of perfect symmetry, and rears aloft on its massive trunk and wide-spreading branches a perfect dome of green and glistening leaves, adorned in season with countless strings of sweet-scented blossom and pendent clusters of green and golden fruit, incomparably luscious, unsurpassed, unequalled.Beneath that shapely vault of verdure the feathered tribes find shelter. The restless mango bird3displays his contrasted plumage of black and yellow as he flits from bough to bough, the crimson-breasted pigeon and the ring-dove rest secure.These glorious trees are pleasing objects for the eye to rest on. All through the fertile valleys of Luzon they stand singly or in groups, and give a character to the landscape which would otherwise be lacking. Only the largest andfinest English oaks can compare with the mango trees in appearance; but whilst the former yield nothing of value, one or two mango trees will keep a native family in comfort and even affluence with their generous crop.Bamboos.On the banks of the Philippine streams and rivers that giant grass, the thorny bamboo, grows and thrives. It grows in clumps of twenty, forty, fifty stems. Starting from the ground, some four to six inches in diameter, it shoots aloft for perhaps seventy feet, tapering to the thickness of a match at its extremity, putting forth from each joint slender and thorny branches, carrying small, thin, and pointed leaves, so delicately poised as to rustle with the least breath of air.The canes naturally take a gradual curve which becomes more and more accentuated as their diameter diminishes, until they bend over at their tops and sway freely in the breeze.I can only compare a fine clump of bamboos to a giant plume of green ostrich feathers. Nothing in the vegetable kingdom is more graceful, nothing can be more useful. Under the blast of a typhoon the bamboo bends so low that it defies all but the most sudden and violent gusts. If, however, it succumbs, it is generally the earth under it that gives way, and the whole clump falls, raising its interlaced roots and a thick wall of earth adhering to and embraced by them.Piercing the hard earth, shoving aside the stones with irresistible force, comes the new bamboo, its head emerging like a giant artichoke.Each flinty-headed shoot soars aloft with a rapidity astonishing to those who have only witnessed the tardy growth of vegetation in the temperate zone. I carefully measured a shoot of bamboo in my garden in Santa Ana and found that it grew two feet in three days, that is, eight inches a day, ⅓ inch per hour.I could see it grow.When I commenced to measure the shoot it was eighteen inches high and was four inches in diameter. This rapid growth, which, considering the extraordinary usefulness of the bamboo ought to excite man’s gratitude to Almighty Providence, has, to the shame of human nature, led the Malay and the Chinaman to utilise the bamboo to inflict death byhideous torture on his fellow men. (See Tûkang Bûrok’s story in Hugh Clifford’s ‘Studies of Brown Humanity.’)Each joint is carefully enveloped by nature in a wrapper as tough as parchment, covered, especially round the edges, with millions of small spines. The wrapper, when dry, is brown, edged with black, but when fresh the colours are remarkable, pale yellow, dark yellow, orange, brown, black, pale green, dark green, black; all shaded or contrasted in a way to make a Parisian dress designer feel sick with envy.This wrapper does not fall off till the joint has hardened and acquired its flinty armour so as to be safe from damage by any animal.It would take a whole chapter to enumerate the many and varied uses of the bamboo.Suffice it to say that I cannot conceive how the Philippine native could do without it.Everlastingly renewing its youth, perpetually soaring to the sky, proudly overtopping all that grows, splendidly flourishing when meaner plants must fade from drought, this giant grass, which delights the eyes, takes rank as one of God’s noblest gifts to tropical man.View on the Pasig with Bamboos and Canoe.View on the Pasig with Bamboos and Canoe.To face p. 6.

Vegetation.

Vegetation here runs riot, hardly checked by the devastating typhoon, or the fall of volcanic ashes. From the cocoa-nut palm growing on the coral strand, from the mangrove, building its pyramid of roots upon the ooze, to the giant bamboo on the banks of the streams, and the noble mango tree adorning the plains, every tropical species flourishes in endless variety, and forests of conifers2clothe the summits of the Zambales and Ilocan mountains.As for the forest wealth, the trees yielding indestructible timber for ships, houses or furniture, those giving valuable drugs and healing oils, gums and pigments, varnishes, pitch and resin, dyes, sap for fermenting or distilling, oil for burning, water, vinegar, milk, fibre, charcoal, pitch, fecula, edible fungi, tubers, bark and fruits, it would take a larger book than this to enumerate them in their incredible variety.Mango Trees.A notable feature of the Philippine landscape is the mango tree. This truly magnificent tree is often of perfect symmetry, and rears aloft on its massive trunk and wide-spreading branches a perfect dome of green and glistening leaves, adorned in season with countless strings of sweet-scented blossom and pendent clusters of green and golden fruit, incomparably luscious, unsurpassed, unequalled.Beneath that shapely vault of verdure the feathered tribes find shelter. The restless mango bird3displays his contrasted plumage of black and yellow as he flits from bough to bough, the crimson-breasted pigeon and the ring-dove rest secure.These glorious trees are pleasing objects for the eye to rest on. All through the fertile valleys of Luzon they stand singly or in groups, and give a character to the landscape which would otherwise be lacking. Only the largest andfinest English oaks can compare with the mango trees in appearance; but whilst the former yield nothing of value, one or two mango trees will keep a native family in comfort and even affluence with their generous crop.Bamboos.On the banks of the Philippine streams and rivers that giant grass, the thorny bamboo, grows and thrives. It grows in clumps of twenty, forty, fifty stems. Starting from the ground, some four to six inches in diameter, it shoots aloft for perhaps seventy feet, tapering to the thickness of a match at its extremity, putting forth from each joint slender and thorny branches, carrying small, thin, and pointed leaves, so delicately poised as to rustle with the least breath of air.The canes naturally take a gradual curve which becomes more and more accentuated as their diameter diminishes, until they bend over at their tops and sway freely in the breeze.I can only compare a fine clump of bamboos to a giant plume of green ostrich feathers. Nothing in the vegetable kingdom is more graceful, nothing can be more useful. Under the blast of a typhoon the bamboo bends so low that it defies all but the most sudden and violent gusts. If, however, it succumbs, it is generally the earth under it that gives way, and the whole clump falls, raising its interlaced roots and a thick wall of earth adhering to and embraced by them.Piercing the hard earth, shoving aside the stones with irresistible force, comes the new bamboo, its head emerging like a giant artichoke.Each flinty-headed shoot soars aloft with a rapidity astonishing to those who have only witnessed the tardy growth of vegetation in the temperate zone. I carefully measured a shoot of bamboo in my garden in Santa Ana and found that it grew two feet in three days, that is, eight inches a day, ⅓ inch per hour.I could see it grow.When I commenced to measure the shoot it was eighteen inches high and was four inches in diameter. This rapid growth, which, considering the extraordinary usefulness of the bamboo ought to excite man’s gratitude to Almighty Providence, has, to the shame of human nature, led the Malay and the Chinaman to utilise the bamboo to inflict death byhideous torture on his fellow men. (See Tûkang Bûrok’s story in Hugh Clifford’s ‘Studies of Brown Humanity.’)Each joint is carefully enveloped by nature in a wrapper as tough as parchment, covered, especially round the edges, with millions of small spines. The wrapper, when dry, is brown, edged with black, but when fresh the colours are remarkable, pale yellow, dark yellow, orange, brown, black, pale green, dark green, black; all shaded or contrasted in a way to make a Parisian dress designer feel sick with envy.This wrapper does not fall off till the joint has hardened and acquired its flinty armour so as to be safe from damage by any animal.It would take a whole chapter to enumerate the many and varied uses of the bamboo.Suffice it to say that I cannot conceive how the Philippine native could do without it.Everlastingly renewing its youth, perpetually soaring to the sky, proudly overtopping all that grows, splendidly flourishing when meaner plants must fade from drought, this giant grass, which delights the eyes, takes rank as one of God’s noblest gifts to tropical man.View on the Pasig with Bamboos and Canoe.View on the Pasig with Bamboos and Canoe.To face p. 6.

As for the forest wealth, the trees yielding indestructible timber for ships, houses or furniture, those giving valuable drugs and healing oils, gums and pigments, varnishes, pitch and resin, dyes, sap for fermenting or distilling, oil for burning, water, vinegar, milk, fibre, charcoal, pitch, fecula, edible fungi, tubers, bark and fruits, it would take a larger book than this to enumerate them in their incredible variety.

Mango Trees.A notable feature of the Philippine landscape is the mango tree. This truly magnificent tree is often of perfect symmetry, and rears aloft on its massive trunk and wide-spreading branches a perfect dome of green and glistening leaves, adorned in season with countless strings of sweet-scented blossom and pendent clusters of green and golden fruit, incomparably luscious, unsurpassed, unequalled.Beneath that shapely vault of verdure the feathered tribes find shelter. The restless mango bird3displays his contrasted plumage of black and yellow as he flits from bough to bough, the crimson-breasted pigeon and the ring-dove rest secure.These glorious trees are pleasing objects for the eye to rest on. All through the fertile valleys of Luzon they stand singly or in groups, and give a character to the landscape which would otherwise be lacking. Only the largest andfinest English oaks can compare with the mango trees in appearance; but whilst the former yield nothing of value, one or two mango trees will keep a native family in comfort and even affluence with their generous crop.

Mango Trees.

A notable feature of the Philippine landscape is the mango tree. This truly magnificent tree is often of perfect symmetry, and rears aloft on its massive trunk and wide-spreading branches a perfect dome of green and glistening leaves, adorned in season with countless strings of sweet-scented blossom and pendent clusters of green and golden fruit, incomparably luscious, unsurpassed, unequalled.Beneath that shapely vault of verdure the feathered tribes find shelter. The restless mango bird3displays his contrasted plumage of black and yellow as he flits from bough to bough, the crimson-breasted pigeon and the ring-dove rest secure.These glorious trees are pleasing objects for the eye to rest on. All through the fertile valleys of Luzon they stand singly or in groups, and give a character to the landscape which would otherwise be lacking. Only the largest andfinest English oaks can compare with the mango trees in appearance; but whilst the former yield nothing of value, one or two mango trees will keep a native family in comfort and even affluence with their generous crop.

Beneath that shapely vault of verdure the feathered tribes find shelter. The restless mango bird3displays his contrasted plumage of black and yellow as he flits from bough to bough, the crimson-breasted pigeon and the ring-dove rest secure.

These glorious trees are pleasing objects for the eye to rest on. All through the fertile valleys of Luzon they stand singly or in groups, and give a character to the landscape which would otherwise be lacking. Only the largest andfinest English oaks can compare with the mango trees in appearance; but whilst the former yield nothing of value, one or two mango trees will keep a native family in comfort and even affluence with their generous crop.

Bamboos.On the banks of the Philippine streams and rivers that giant grass, the thorny bamboo, grows and thrives. It grows in clumps of twenty, forty, fifty stems. Starting from the ground, some four to six inches in diameter, it shoots aloft for perhaps seventy feet, tapering to the thickness of a match at its extremity, putting forth from each joint slender and thorny branches, carrying small, thin, and pointed leaves, so delicately poised as to rustle with the least breath of air.The canes naturally take a gradual curve which becomes more and more accentuated as their diameter diminishes, until they bend over at their tops and sway freely in the breeze.I can only compare a fine clump of bamboos to a giant plume of green ostrich feathers. Nothing in the vegetable kingdom is more graceful, nothing can be more useful. Under the blast of a typhoon the bamboo bends so low that it defies all but the most sudden and violent gusts. If, however, it succumbs, it is generally the earth under it that gives way, and the whole clump falls, raising its interlaced roots and a thick wall of earth adhering to and embraced by them.Piercing the hard earth, shoving aside the stones with irresistible force, comes the new bamboo, its head emerging like a giant artichoke.Each flinty-headed shoot soars aloft with a rapidity astonishing to those who have only witnessed the tardy growth of vegetation in the temperate zone. I carefully measured a shoot of bamboo in my garden in Santa Ana and found that it grew two feet in three days, that is, eight inches a day, ⅓ inch per hour.I could see it grow.When I commenced to measure the shoot it was eighteen inches high and was four inches in diameter. This rapid growth, which, considering the extraordinary usefulness of the bamboo ought to excite man’s gratitude to Almighty Providence, has, to the shame of human nature, led the Malay and the Chinaman to utilise the bamboo to inflict death byhideous torture on his fellow men. (See Tûkang Bûrok’s story in Hugh Clifford’s ‘Studies of Brown Humanity.’)Each joint is carefully enveloped by nature in a wrapper as tough as parchment, covered, especially round the edges, with millions of small spines. The wrapper, when dry, is brown, edged with black, but when fresh the colours are remarkable, pale yellow, dark yellow, orange, brown, black, pale green, dark green, black; all shaded or contrasted in a way to make a Parisian dress designer feel sick with envy.This wrapper does not fall off till the joint has hardened and acquired its flinty armour so as to be safe from damage by any animal.It would take a whole chapter to enumerate the many and varied uses of the bamboo.Suffice it to say that I cannot conceive how the Philippine native could do without it.Everlastingly renewing its youth, perpetually soaring to the sky, proudly overtopping all that grows, splendidly flourishing when meaner plants must fade from drought, this giant grass, which delights the eyes, takes rank as one of God’s noblest gifts to tropical man.View on the Pasig with Bamboos and Canoe.View on the Pasig with Bamboos and Canoe.To face p. 6.

Bamboos.

On the banks of the Philippine streams and rivers that giant grass, the thorny bamboo, grows and thrives. It grows in clumps of twenty, forty, fifty stems. Starting from the ground, some four to six inches in diameter, it shoots aloft for perhaps seventy feet, tapering to the thickness of a match at its extremity, putting forth from each joint slender and thorny branches, carrying small, thin, and pointed leaves, so delicately poised as to rustle with the least breath of air.The canes naturally take a gradual curve which becomes more and more accentuated as their diameter diminishes, until they bend over at their tops and sway freely in the breeze.I can only compare a fine clump of bamboos to a giant plume of green ostrich feathers. Nothing in the vegetable kingdom is more graceful, nothing can be more useful. Under the blast of a typhoon the bamboo bends so low that it defies all but the most sudden and violent gusts. If, however, it succumbs, it is generally the earth under it that gives way, and the whole clump falls, raising its interlaced roots and a thick wall of earth adhering to and embraced by them.Piercing the hard earth, shoving aside the stones with irresistible force, comes the new bamboo, its head emerging like a giant artichoke.Each flinty-headed shoot soars aloft with a rapidity astonishing to those who have only witnessed the tardy growth of vegetation in the temperate zone. I carefully measured a shoot of bamboo in my garden in Santa Ana and found that it grew two feet in three days, that is, eight inches a day, ⅓ inch per hour.I could see it grow.When I commenced to measure the shoot it was eighteen inches high and was four inches in diameter. This rapid growth, which, considering the extraordinary usefulness of the bamboo ought to excite man’s gratitude to Almighty Providence, has, to the shame of human nature, led the Malay and the Chinaman to utilise the bamboo to inflict death byhideous torture on his fellow men. (See Tûkang Bûrok’s story in Hugh Clifford’s ‘Studies of Brown Humanity.’)Each joint is carefully enveloped by nature in a wrapper as tough as parchment, covered, especially round the edges, with millions of small spines. The wrapper, when dry, is brown, edged with black, but when fresh the colours are remarkable, pale yellow, dark yellow, orange, brown, black, pale green, dark green, black; all shaded or contrasted in a way to make a Parisian dress designer feel sick with envy.This wrapper does not fall off till the joint has hardened and acquired its flinty armour so as to be safe from damage by any animal.It would take a whole chapter to enumerate the many and varied uses of the bamboo.Suffice it to say that I cannot conceive how the Philippine native could do without it.Everlastingly renewing its youth, perpetually soaring to the sky, proudly overtopping all that grows, splendidly flourishing when meaner plants must fade from drought, this giant grass, which delights the eyes, takes rank as one of God’s noblest gifts to tropical man.View on the Pasig with Bamboos and Canoe.View on the Pasig with Bamboos and Canoe.To face p. 6.

The canes naturally take a gradual curve which becomes more and more accentuated as their diameter diminishes, until they bend over at their tops and sway freely in the breeze.

I can only compare a fine clump of bamboos to a giant plume of green ostrich feathers. Nothing in the vegetable kingdom is more graceful, nothing can be more useful. Under the blast of a typhoon the bamboo bends so low that it defies all but the most sudden and violent gusts. If, however, it succumbs, it is generally the earth under it that gives way, and the whole clump falls, raising its interlaced roots and a thick wall of earth adhering to and embraced by them.

Piercing the hard earth, shoving aside the stones with irresistible force, comes the new bamboo, its head emerging like a giant artichoke.

Each flinty-headed shoot soars aloft with a rapidity astonishing to those who have only witnessed the tardy growth of vegetation in the temperate zone. I carefully measured a shoot of bamboo in my garden in Santa Ana and found that it grew two feet in three days, that is, eight inches a day, ⅓ inch per hour.I could see it grow.When I commenced to measure the shoot it was eighteen inches high and was four inches in diameter. This rapid growth, which, considering the extraordinary usefulness of the bamboo ought to excite man’s gratitude to Almighty Providence, has, to the shame of human nature, led the Malay and the Chinaman to utilise the bamboo to inflict death byhideous torture on his fellow men. (See Tûkang Bûrok’s story in Hugh Clifford’s ‘Studies of Brown Humanity.’)

Each joint is carefully enveloped by nature in a wrapper as tough as parchment, covered, especially round the edges, with millions of small spines. The wrapper, when dry, is brown, edged with black, but when fresh the colours are remarkable, pale yellow, dark yellow, orange, brown, black, pale green, dark green, black; all shaded or contrasted in a way to make a Parisian dress designer feel sick with envy.

This wrapper does not fall off till the joint has hardened and acquired its flinty armour so as to be safe from damage by any animal.

It would take a whole chapter to enumerate the many and varied uses of the bamboo.

Suffice it to say that I cannot conceive how the Philippine native could do without it.

Everlastingly renewing its youth, perpetually soaring to the sky, proudly overtopping all that grows, splendidly flourishing when meaner plants must fade from drought, this giant grass, which delights the eyes, takes rank as one of God’s noblest gifts to tropical man.

View on the Pasig with Bamboos and Canoe.View on the Pasig with Bamboos and Canoe.To face p. 6.

View on the Pasig with Bamboos and Canoe.

To face p. 6.

1England has 51,000 square miles area; Wales, 7378; Ireland, 31,759; Scotland, nearly 30,000. Total, Great Britain and Ireland, etc., 121,000 square miles.2Worcester, p. 446, mentions Conifers at sea level in Sibuyan Island, province of Romblon.3Called in Spanish the oropéndola (Broderipus achrorchus).

1England has 51,000 square miles area; Wales, 7378; Ireland, 31,759; Scotland, nearly 30,000. Total, Great Britain and Ireland, etc., 121,000 square miles.

2Worcester, p. 446, mentions Conifers at sea level in Sibuyan Island, province of Romblon.

3Called in Spanish the oropéndola (Broderipus achrorchus).

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