An Englishwoman In The Philippines - free ebook by Campbell Dauncey

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An Englishwoman In The Philippines

Campbell Dauncey

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INTRODUCTION

INTRODUCTION

In the following letters, written during a stay of nine months in the Philippine Islands, I tried to convey to those at home a faithful impression of the country I was in and the people I met. Since I came home I have been advised to collect and prepare certain of my letters for publication, and this I have done to the best of my ability, though with considerable misgivings as to the fate of such a humble little volume. It is impossible to mention the Philippine Islands, either in daily life in

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LETTER I. MANILA

LETTER I. MANILA

Manila , 27th November 1904 . We arrived here early yesterday morning from Hong Kong, after three days of rather a horrible sea voyage, as the steamer was more than crowded, the weather rough, and we carried a deck cargo of cattle. These conditions are not unusual, however, in fact I believe they are unvarying, as the 362 miles of sea between here and Hong Kong are always choppy, and the two mail steamers that ply to and fro, the Rubi and the Zafiro , are always crammed full, and invariably carr

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LETTER II. FROM MANILA TO ILOILO

LETTER II. FROM MANILA TO ILOILO

S.S. “Kai-Fong,” China Sea , December 1, 1904 . I hear there will be a mail going out from Iloilo to-morrow, the day we arrive, so I will write you a letter to go by it, that you may not be disappointed—six weeks hence! We left Manila at three o’clock on Monday, in lovely sunshine, and had a delightful voyage through scenery which was simply a miracle of beauty. The sky was intensely blue, with little white clouds; the sea calm and still more intensely blue, dotted with dreams of islands, some m

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LETTER III. FIRST IMPRESSIONS OF ILOILO

LETTER III. FIRST IMPRESSIONS OF ILOILO

Iloilo , December 4, 1904 . We arrived here on Friday last (the 2nd), and I at once sent off a letter to you, written on board the Kai-Fong , which letter ought to reach you some time in the middle of January. We are so glad to be at the end of this long journey—exactly seven weeks from London—seven weeks to the very day, for we left London on a Friday and got here on a Friday; and all that time we have been travelling steadily, and have seen so much that it seems years already since we left hom

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LETTER IV. A PHILIPPINE HOUSE—AMERICAN PRICES—NATIVE SERVANTS—FURNITURE

LETTER IV. A PHILIPPINE HOUSE—AMERICAN PRICES—NATIVE SERVANTS—FURNITURE

Iloilo , December 10, 1904 . I am sure you will be pleased to hear that we have already found a house to suit us, in fact we are quite charmed with it, and can’t be too thankful that we did not hastily take any of the others we saw. C—— went to look at some on Tuesday, but on the way he saw this one, and liked it so much that he at once came back for me to look at it, and I went off to inspect, even in the middle of the day! I agreed with him in thinking the house charming, so we took it at once

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LETTER V. HOUSEKEEPING IN ILOILO

LETTER V. HOUSEKEEPING IN ILOILO

Iloilo , December 17, 1904 . We are settling down very comfortably into our charming house, which we like more and more, and are continually congratulating ourselves on our luck in having found such a nice home. There is nothing special to tell you about since I last wrote, so I will try to give you some idea of my housekeeping, of which I think I have not yet told you anything beyond just mentioning how many servants we have. I find that the cook—he with the important manner and the big teeth—h

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LETTER VI. A WASTED LAND

LETTER VI. A WASTED LAND

Iloilo , Christmas Eve, 1904 . We have just come back from a delightful drive, to a town called Molo, which lies inland, in the direction of the river, but on the opposite bank to Jaro, the latter, as I think I told you, having been the capital of the Island of Panay in the olden days. There is a good road out to both of these towns, which crosses the river at Molo, and makes a circle, passing through a village called Mindoriao, and this is the great drive of the place, in fact the only one. The

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LETTER VII. CUSTOMS AND DRESS OF THE NATIVES

LETTER VII. CUSTOMS AND DRESS OF THE NATIVES

Iloilo , December 31, 1904 . I think you may be amused to hear about a Filipino Fiesta , which took place yesterday, called Rizal Day—the anniversary of the death of the national hero, a Filipino of the name of Doctor Rizal. He was the William Tell of the Philippines, except that his existence was a reality, not a myth, for he died only eight years ago. This patriot obtained the degree of Doctor (of Philosophy and Medicine) in Spain, where he went to be educated and enlightened. When he returned

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LETTER VIII. SOCIAL AMUSEMENTS

LETTER VIII. SOCIAL AMUSEMENTS

Iloilo , January 8, 1905 . This is my first letter to you in the New Year, and it does seem so strange to be writing 1905 already. I wonder how you brought the year in. We were invited to a ball given by the Club Artistica, the Spanish Club, situated in a suite of very large rooms in the upper story of a big house in the Calle Real, the main street of the town, which I told you about when I was describing the amazing shops. The big basements are shops, but the long upper stories form large dwell

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LETTER IX. TARIFFS—INSECTS

LETTER IX. TARIFFS—INSECTS

Iloilo , January 16, 1905 . The day has come round for me to catch the mail, but I feel that I can hardly write calmly, as I am barely sane upon the subject I wish to tell you about, which is the Customs. I told you about the opening of our cases, and how we took them out of bond, as they were valued at £30? Well, a day or two ago the bill came in, and when we saw it we nearly fainted away, for the amount of duty came to 698 pesos —£70. Of course we thought some mistake had been made, so C—— wen

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LETTER X. A FILIPINO THEATRE—CARABAOS

LETTER X. A FILIPINO THEATRE—CARABAOS

Iloilo , January 22, 1905 . We went a night or two ago to a performance at the theatre—a Filipino performance in a Filipino theatre. I daresay it sounds strange to you to hear of a theatre in Iloilo, but you see this is really a very large town, and then all the people are musical, and they have plenty of time to rehearse. They get together little dramatic clubs, the chief one of which is not far from here, “as the crow flies,” though I think he would be a very keen crow for theatricals if he fl

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LETTER XI. SOME RESULTS OF THE AMERICAN OCCUPATION

LETTER XI. SOME RESULTS OF THE AMERICAN OCCUPATION

Iloilo , January 22, 1905 . Mail-day has come round again, but I don’t feel as though I had much energy for writing, or anything else, as we are in the midst of a heat-wave, which means, in this part of the world, that the Monsoon has dropped unaccountably, and the heat is suffocating and appalling. Everyone is saying that such a temperature is quite unusual at this season, and some even go so far as to say they never felt it so hot here before; but this does not surprise me, as I have never yet

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LETTER XII. CHINESE NEW YEAR—LABOUR CONDITIONS—A CINÉMATOGRAPH SHOW

LETTER XII. CHINESE NEW YEAR—LABOUR CONDITIONS—A CINÉMATOGRAPH SHOW

Iloilo , February 4, 1905 . To-day is the Chinese New Year, and all last night the Chinamen were letting off crackers down in the town. All to-day they have been going on with them, too, and as the chief rejoicing seems to be to explode the fireworks under a horse, you may imagine—no you can’t—what the streets are like. On an ordinary day there is a good deal of pretty wild driving and no small peril in getting about in a vehicle or on foot, but the frightful risks one runs on every other day of

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LETTER XIII. SOME INFLUENCES OF CLIMATE, SCENERY, AND RELIGION

LETTER XIII. SOME INFLUENCES OF CLIMATE, SCENERY, AND RELIGION

Iloilo , February 18, 1905 . You must excuse my writing still being rather bad, as my illness has left me so weak that I shall not be out of bed for some days longer, in fact I am beginning to be fearfully afraid that I may not be well enough to go to Manila on the 28th after all. However, I have ten days to get well in, which gives me hope, and my progress so far has been simply wonderful, which is due to the extraordinary luck I have had in finding such good doctors and such a charming and cle

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LETTER XIV. VOYAGE TO MANILA

LETTER XIV. VOYAGE TO MANILA

S.S. “ Butuan ,” March 1, 1905 . I am launched, you see, and on my journey to Manila after all, though I do not feel at all well again yet; but that is not surprising, as it takes such a long time to pull round in this climate. It is not that the climate is so much worse than any other, as long as you keep well, but as soon as you get ill you go all to pieces, and the first thing to be done is to ship you off to Hong Kong or Japan as soon as possible. The climate of the Philippines is very much

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LETTER XV. AN OFFICIAL ENTERTAINMENT

LETTER XV. AN OFFICIAL ENTERTAINMENT

Manila , March 3, 1905 . I sent a long letter to you by the mail, which went out this morning; but I must begin another at once, as I want to tell you about the reception last night. Indeed, if I don’t keep a letter always going on while I am here, I shall not be able to tell you half what I want to say about Manila. We dined at half-past seven last night, and then, with a small party of friends, drove through the town to a wharf in front of the large Cold-Storage buildings by the river. Here we

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LETTER XVI. MANILA AND ITS INHABITANTS

LETTER XVI. MANILA AND ITS INHABITANTS

Manila , March 5, 1905 . I wrote in the morning yesterday, and after the heat of the day we drove outside the town to a nursery garden. To get there we passed through long streets of untidy suburbs, not of palm-thatch huts and bamboo groves like those in Iloilo, but very broad and treeless, with mean, low houses at intervals, and bits of waste ground strewn with lean dogs and rubbish. There are not scavenger pariahs here as in Turkey and the Near East, and I suppose they could not exist in such

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LETTER XVII. DEMOCRACY AND SOCIETY IN MANILA

LETTER XVII. DEMOCRACY AND SOCIETY IN MANILA

Manila , March 10, 1905 . I am still in Manila, you see, but am going home to-morrow, so I will write a line to go out by the next mail, which I should miss if I waited till I get to Iloilo. I rambled off so in my last letter that I quite forgot to tell you about a party we went to at the house of some very rich Mestizos ; a sort of reception, with desultory dancing, but in the afternoon, or rather, the evening hours before dinner. When we arrived, at about six, the party was in full blast; room

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LETTER XVIII. THE RETURN VOYAGE AND MY COMPANIONS

LETTER XVIII. THE RETURN VOYAGE AND MY COMPANIONS

S.S. “ Butuan ,” March 12, 1905 . I will begin a letter to you now, as I may not have much time for writing just after I get home. Not that there is really any fear of my letter to you coming off second best in any case! You say how much you like my letters, and what a pleasure they are to you, but they can’t be half such a treat as yours are to me. I can’t tell you what it is to hear all the home news, and about the frosty days, and the Christmas shops, and the cold, jolly winter, and all the t

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LETTER XIX. A BAILE—A NEW COOK AND AMERICAN METHODS

LETTER XIX. A BAILE—A NEW COOK AND AMERICAN METHODS

Iloilo , March 20, 1905 . I am sure you will be glad to hear that I feel much better for my Manila trip, and able to go for our evening walks again, which we still enjoy very much, though the season is getting rather hot for moving about with much comfort. While I was away, there was an outburst of Carnival gaiety, and C—— went to a ball at the Spanish Club, which seems to have been a very good one. It was fancy dress, many of the costumes were beautiful, and there was a big supper laid out at l

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LETTER XX. FILIPINO INDOLENCE—A DROUGHT

LETTER XX. FILIPINO INDOLENCE—A DROUGHT

Iloilo , March 31, 1905 . Many thanks for your letter of February 23rd. We were greatly interested in your description of the radium baths, though it seems difficult, out here, to imagine that there is anyone anywhere taking so much trouble to get hot! I must say, though, that I don’t feel this heat quite so much as one might imagine, at least, as far as actually feeling hot goes. For an evening or two ago I was quite surprised, when we were in Hoskyn’s stores, to notice that the thermometer was

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LETTER XXI. THE WHARVES—AN OLD SPANIARD

LETTER XXI. THE WHARVES—AN OLD SPANIARD

Iloilo , April 9, 1905 . Many thanks for the book about carpentry, which arrived quite safely by this mail, and is a treasury of delight to C——, who has got all sorts of ideas out of it. One of the first things he did was to swarm up the box-room door, getting through a flap in the matting ceiling and up into the roof, to see what hold there would be to fix up a punkah over the dinner-table. All the English people, and many of the Americans, have punkahs in the dining-room, but we have not troub

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LETTER XXII. A TRIP TO GUIMARAS—AN ASTONISHING PROPOSAL—HOUSEBUILDING

LETTER XXII. A TRIP TO GUIMARAS—AN ASTONISHING PROPOSAL—HOUSEBUILDING

Iloilo , April 14, 1905 . Yesterday, Sunday, we had the launch offered us, so we arranged a little trip in the cool of the evening. We drove down to the Muelle Loney (too hot to walk at five o’clock), and when we had got on board the launch and seated ourselves in basket chairs in the bows, she steamed down the river and the estuary, and out into the channel. There was a fresh breeze blowing, and the air was delicious. As to the scenery—words fail me! The blue and green of the sea, and the mauve

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LETTER XXIII. A TROPICAL SHOWER—OUR SERVANTS—FILIPINO CUSTOMS

LETTER XXIII. A TROPICAL SHOWER—OUR SERVANTS—FILIPINO CUSTOMS

Iloilo , April 27, 1905 . Nothing from you by the mail to-day. The forwarding from Manila seems to be so unsatisfactory that we think you had better begin sending letters straight to this place. The address for the future, therefore, will be to us to—P.O. Box 140, Iloilo. You have to put this, as there is no delivery of letters—a most strange and tiresome system. In the outside wall of the post-office is a recess with a number of pigeon holes, some glazed, some shut with a flap, each with its ow

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LETTER XXIV. EASTER FESTIVITIES

LETTER XXIV. EASTER FESTIVITIES

Iloilo , April 24, 1905 . This is Easter Monday, and since Thursday the town has been crammed full of people—natives—and alive with processions. We got a double allowance of the latter, as the Aglipayanos turned out in full force—fuller force, in fact, than the Orthodox, and their marching and counter-marching was most interesting, even if a little confusing. We are having holidays, of course, but a holiday here is never very complete, as the different religions go their own way, and now, for in

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LETTER XXV. A DAY AT NAGABA

LETTER XXV. A DAY AT NAGABA

Iloilo , April 30, 1905 . We went last Sunday to spend the day at Nagaba, a native village opposite Iloilo, in the island of Guimaras. We took the trip at the invitation of some friends who had gone to spend Saturday to Monday in a native house which happened to be empty and available for hire. I have often wanted to visit some of the places about, but the great difficulty is how to put up, for there are no inns, and no lodgings to be had in the villages. One can’t go anywhere and back in a day,

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LETTER XXVI. THE MONSOON—AN ITALIAN OPERA COMPANY

LETTER XXVI. THE MONSOON—AN ITALIAN OPERA COMPANY

Iloilo , May 5, 1905 . I had two sweet little love-birds sent me yesterday, sitting jammed up in a tiny dirty cage in which they had travelled from China. They looked so uncomfortable and draggled, poor scraps, that I set off after my siesta , and went “down town,” as the Americans call it, to see if I could get a cage for them. More Philippine shopping! I explained and argued at all sorts of emporiums, but no one had anything the least like a bird cage. At last I thought the wonderful English s

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LETTER XXVII. A WEEK-END AT NAGABA

LETTER XXVII. A WEEK-END AT NAGABA

Iloilo , May 8, 1905 . We were just going to Nagaba when I finished my last letter, I think, and now we have just returned, after having had a most delightful time over there. We went over in the launch on Saturday, leaving here at half-past four, and to look at the start from here you would have thought we were going for good to China or Japan! Before we set out, we sent a boy for a carabao -cart, inside which the gear was stowed:—two rolls of bedding; some large wooden cases with household eff

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LETTER XXVIII. A LITTLE EARTHQUAKE, AND AN OPERA COMPANY UNDER DIFFICULTIES

LETTER XXVIII. A LITTLE EARTHQUAKE, AND AN OPERA COMPANY UNDER DIFFICULTIES

Iloilo , May 15, 1905 . We had a slight earthquake here on Wednesday morning, the 11th. It was my first experience of that form of excitement, and I am sure I don’t want another. The queer thing that everyone here tells me, and they have plenty of experience to go by, is that people do not usually think much of their first earthquake, but instead of becoming accustomed to them, they become more alarmed, and get to be horribly frightened at the mere suggestion of the earth’s surface shifting abou

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LETTER XXIX. AN EVENING ON THE RIVER—RIVAL BISHOPS

LETTER XXIX. AN EVENING ON THE RIVER—RIVAL BISHOPS

Iloilo , May 17, 1905 . We went out on the river one evening last week at the invitation of two members of the boating club, which has its being in a nipa hut on the bank above the town, off the Molo road. It was a regular little native hut, with a rickety ladder up to the door, and boats slung underneath—a delightfully primitive place. We went out in a boat and a canoe, making our way up-stream in the light of an exquisite sunset, all bright-red gold behind the mountains, and the river between

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LETTER XXX. PHILIPPINE SANITATION—DECORATION DAY

LETTER XXX. PHILIPPINE SANITATION—DECORATION DAY

Iloilo , May 29, 1905 . I know you will be glad to hear that we are having a lull in the great heat, as the rain is beginning, or, at any rate, the Monsoon is blowing through rain, steadily from the S.-W., and the thermometer has gone down from 95° to 90°, which makes a vast difference to us, though it must still sound like great heat to you. I have just had a letter from a Manila friend, who is spending the hot season at Benguet, whither the “Gubernatorial party” and the Commissioners have also

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LETTER XXXI. MR TAFT—TROPICAL SUNSETS—UNPLEASANT NEIGHBOURS—FILIPINO LAW

LETTER XXXI. MR TAFT—TROPICAL SUNSETS—UNPLEASANT NEIGHBOURS—FILIPINO LAW

Iloilo , June 5, 1905 . I don’t think I have yet mentioned to you the great excitement in Manila, and in the Philippines generally, which are convulsed by the wind of the coming of Mr Taft, the Secretary of War in the U.S.A., who, as I told you before, used to be Governor out here. He is returning now to the Philippines on a sort of tour of instruction for the benefit of a party of Senators who, so say the papers, have been opposed to Philippine interests at Washington, owing to these interests

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LETTER XXXII. OUR MONGEESE—A FIRE—THE NATIVE EDUCATION QUESTION

LETTER XXXII. OUR MONGEESE—A FIRE—THE NATIVE EDUCATION QUESTION

June 15, 1905. You must forgive the writing of this letter being rather bad, as I am ill in bed again, and likely to remain there for some time, for I have developed a tiresome complaint, which takes, so people tell me, a long time to heal. It sounds very simple, for what has happened is that the mosquito bites, with which my feet are covered, have become poisoned with something in the water, or the touch of a fly, and I hobbled about for a long time in great pain, being doctored and told to lie

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LETTER XXXIII. A PAPER-CHASE—LACK OF SPORTS—PREPARATIONS FOR MR TAFT

LETTER XXXIII. A PAPER-CHASE—LACK OF SPORTS—PREPARATIONS FOR MR TAFT

Iloilo , June 26, 1905 . C—— and another man got up a paper-chase last Sunday, and, by way of being cordial, advertised the event in El Tiempo a day or two before, C—— and his friend arranging to be the hares, and let all Iloilo chase them, if it cared to. They were very keen and excited about their venture, which was something quite new in the way of local enterprise. The “meet” was in Plaza Libertad at six in the morning, and when they got there and found a large company of Spaniards, Mestizos

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LETTER XXXIV. TRYING HEAT—AN AMERICAN PROSPECTOR—NEW LODGERS—BARGAINING FOR PIÑA

LETTER XXXIV. TRYING HEAT—AN AMERICAN PROSPECTOR—NEW LODGERS—BARGAINING FOR PIÑA

Iloilo , June 29, 1905 . The weather is becoming more stormy, and typhoons are signalled, but so far they seem to go wide of us, which is a very good thing. The thermometer the last few days has been very low, 78° to 80°, but the damp makes it more trying and relaxing than when we had over 90° to contend against. With the rain, all sorts of trees have come into bloom—things with coarse, strong foliage and huge bright flowers. The fields are all covered with very vivid green grass and corn coming

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LETTER XXXV. DECLARATION DAY—THE CULT OF THE FLAG—A PROCESSION, FESTIVITIES, AND A BALL

LETTER XXXV. DECLARATION DAY—THE CULT OF THE FLAG—A PROCESSION, FESTIVITIES, AND A BALL

Iloilo , July 4 . This is a tremendous day here, and a universal public holiday—Declaration Day, you know; the anniversary of the day when the States declared themselves independent of the Mother Country. All the town is gay with palm-branches and myriads of Stars and Stripes, while the fun began at sunrise this morning by a great letting-off of Chinese crackers, and Americans coming out on their balconies in pyjamas and firing pistols into the air. I think the Americans must be a very patriotic

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LETTER XXXVI. COCK-FIGHTING—PULAJANES

LETTER XXXVI. COCK-FIGHTING—PULAJANES

Iloilo , July 14, 1905 . I know you will be sorry to hear that the last of our dear little mongeese is dead—killed by the dogs next door a week ago. We heard squeaking and barking and scuffling in the alley-way one evening, and rushed to the windows, but it was all dark below, and we could see nothing. So C—— and Sotero went down with a lamp, but there was nothing to be seen, and when we sent in to ask the old Tagalo dressmaker about it, they all swore they had heard nothing. So we hoped it was

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LETTER XXXVII. A PEARL OF GREAT PRICE

LETTER XXXVII. A PEARL OF GREAT PRICE

Iloilo , July 14, 1905 . We are having much cooler weather now, the thermometer sometimes as low as 77°, and hardly ever above 80°, and at night it has even been down to 64°. We have had some spells of hot sunshine, which have brought the flowers out in the few gardens and the cemeteries. We get a trayful now and then of all sorts of queer-looking blossoms, mostly bright reds and yellows, with no smell, and very gaudy and handsome. Many of them I have seen in hothouses at home, especially one bi

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LETTER XXXVIII. AGRICULTURAL POSSIBILITIES

LETTER XXXVIII. AGRICULTURAL POSSIBILITIES

Iloilo , July 31 . I think I told you we had been very lucky in the selling of the greater part of our furniture, and now we have got the calesa and pony off our hands as well, which is a great loss in the evenings, but we had to take what chance we could. Some of the young Englishmen got up a Gymkhana on the beach yesterday, and C—— rode the pony for the last time, when he was lucky enough to win two races out of three, and only missed the third by a misunderstanding about the start. It was a d

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LETTER XXXIX. A LAST DAY AT NAGABA—THE “SECWAR”

LETTER XXXIX. A LAST DAY AT NAGABA—THE “SECWAR”

Iloilo , August 11, 1905 . We went a last trip to Nagaba on Sunday, but only for the day, and were lucky in having very fine weather and delightfully cool, only 80°, with a lovely breeze blowing, and the sky a little overcast. We roused ourselves up after lunch, and two friends came to the house to join the party, and we sent the “boy” for two quilezes . When we went down, I stepped into the first one; there was Tuyay lying in it already! How she knows when we are going out is simply marvellous.

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LETTER XL. PREPARATIONS

LETTER XL. PREPARATIONS

Iloilo , August 14, 1905 . We have now decided to go to Hong Kong by the Kai-Fong , which sails next Saturday or Monday, the 20th or 22nd. The Sung-Kiang loaded up as much as she could and shoved off on Saturday, as she did not want to be paying port dues here the whole of to-day (Sunday) and to-morrow, which is a public holiday, being the anniversary of the taking of Manila by Admiral Dewey. The transport conveying the Taft party is scheduled to arrive here to-day, and this evening they are to

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LETTER XLI. THE FESTIVITIES

LETTER XLI. THE FESTIVITIES

Iloilo , August 17, 1905 . I must tell you all about this Comitiva Taft dissipation, of which we had the first taste on Monday, the 15th, when a printed notice was left at our house, saying that the “Congressional party” had arrived that evening instead of next morning, and another large, flowery, and handsome invitation, bidding us to a reception to be held at the house of the De la Ramos, very rich Filipinos, who have a fine house in a broad, shady street, where the Bank and some other big hou

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LETTER XLII. WEIGHING ANCHOR

LETTER XLII. WEIGHING ANCHOR

Hotel —— , Iloilo , August 22, 1905 . We are up-rooted at last, you see, out of our own delightful house, and enduring the cooking and service of the best hotel this place has to afford, while we wait for the Kai-Fong , which is reported to be loading hard wood at Cebú. This is not really such a bad place for Iloilo, which means that it compares unfavourably in comfort, cleanliness, and sanitation with a second-class Commercial in a small town in Spain. However, I have a very nice big cool room,

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LETTER XLIII. HOMEWARD BOUND

LETTER XLIII. HOMEWARD BOUND

S.S. Kai-Fong , August 25 , 10 A.M. Iloilo is now far away below the horizon astern, and if I look over the side, I am afforded the delightful spectacle of one Philippine Island slipping past after the other into pale blue fluff, and I hope they will stay down under my horizon for ever. We scraped out through a network of taxes, like fish trying to get out of a fish- corral . Our two large cases had to get a Customs permit before they could be put on board, for which they got from us a peso in t

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