Father Blanco says of the piper betel (Pimenta betel), whose leaves are employed as envelopes to the areca nut and lime: – “This plant is universally known, in consequence of the immense consumption of the betel, or buyo, as the betel is called by the Spaniards. The betel of Pasay, near Manila, is much esteemed; that of Banang, in Batangas, is the best of that province, and probably superior to the betel of Pasay. The tree prefers a somewhat sandy soil, but if too sandy, as in Pasay, fish is used as a manure, or the rind of the Ajonjoli (sesame), or other oleaginous fruits. The tree must be frequently watered. The roots are renovated after a year, but if left to grow old they produce flowers like the litlit (Piper obliquum). The fruit is called by the natives poro. Of the Piper parvifolium, an inebriating liquor is made. The Indians use the leaves as a preservative against the cholera. All the species of Piper are useful against the poison of snakes. The wound is first scarified, and either the juice or bruised leaves of the plant applied and frequently changed. ‘I was called,’ says the author of the Flora of the Antilles, ‘to a negro whose thigh had just been bitten by a snake. The poison had made frightful progress. All the remedies of art had been employed in vain. A negro appeared, and asked leave to apply the popular mode of cure. There was then no hope of the recovery of the patient – human life was at stake – I did not hesitate. In a few moments the progress of the poison was stopped by the simple application of the Piper procumbens. On the third application the cure was completed.’” – (Pp. 16, 17.)
Of the vegetation of the Philippines, the bamboo may be deemed the most extensive, the most useful, and the most beautiful. The graceful groups of Cañas (the Spanish name, the Tagál is Bocaui) are among the most charming decorations of the island scenery, and are scattered with great profusion and variety on the sides of the streams and rivers, on hills and plains, and always to be found adjacent to the residence of the native. Waving their light branches at the smallest breeze, they give perpetual life to the landscape, while they are of daily service to the people. The Bambus arundo grows to a great height, and its cane is sometimes more than eight inches in diameter. In it is sometimes found a small stone, called Tabaxir, to which the Indians attribute miraculous healing virtues. The Bambus lumampao and the lima are so hard that the wood is used for polishing brass. The bamboo serves for an infinity of uses; from the food that nourishes man or beast, to the weapons that destroy his life: for the comforts of home; for the conveniences of travel; for the construction of bridges, several hundred feet in length, over which heavy artillery can safely pass; for shipping and cordage; for shelter, and for dwellings and domestic utensils of all sorts; for vessels of every size to retain, and tubes to convey, water and other fluids; for mats, palings, and scaffoldings; for musical instruments, even organs for churches; for a hundred objects of amusement; and, indeed, for all the purposes of life the bamboo is distinguished. It is the raw material on which the rude artist makes his experiments – roots, trunks, branches, leaves, all are called into the field of utility. There is much of spontaneous production, but it may be multiplied by layers and cuttings. Some of the bamboos grow to an enormous size. That called by the natives cauayang totoo, and by the Spaniards caña espino, reaches the height of from forty to fifty feet, the diameter of the stalk or trunk exceeding eight inches. One of its divisions will sometimes hold two pecks of wheat. An infusion of this bamboo is poisonous to deer; but its leaves are eaten by horses and cattle and its young shoots as salad by man. The cauayang quiling (caña macho of the Spaniards) grows to about forty feet in height, its stem being of the size of a man’s arm. From the thickness of the rind and the smallness of the hollow, it is the strongest of the bamboos, and is used for carrying burdens on the shoulders; a fourth part of the whole cane, of the length of two yards, when split, will support any weight that a man can carry. The cane has an elasticity which lightens the burden to the bearer. The varieties of the bamboo are scarcely to be counted. The interior of the osin gives a white substance, which is used as a cure for urinal and eye diseases.
I once heard a remark that the Crystal Palace itself could have been filled with specimens of various applications of the bamboo. Minus the glass, the palace itself might have been constructed of this material alone, and the protecting police furnished from it with garments, hats and instruments of punishment. The living trees would fill a conservatory with forms and colours of wondrous variety and beauty; and if paintings and poetry, in which the bamboo takes a prominent place, were allowed, not the walls of the Louvre could be sufficient for the pictures and the scrolls.
The various classes of canes, rattans and others of the Calamus family, have a great importance and value. The palasan is frequently three hundred feet long, and in Mindanao it is said they have been found of more than treble that length. They are used for cords and cables; but as the fibres are susceptible of divisions, down to a very fine thread, they are woven into delicate textures, some of which, as in the case of hats and cigar-cases, are sold at enormous prices. If not exposed to damp, the fibres are very enduring, and are safe from the attacks of the weevil.
The native name for hemp is anabo, the Spanish, cañamo; but the raw material known in commerce as Manila hemp, is called in the Philippines by its Indian name, abacá. It is become a very important article of export, and in the year 1858 no less than 25,000 tons were shipped for foreign countries from Manila alone. Of this quantity Great Britain received about one-fourth, and the greater portion of the remainder went to the United States. Next to sugar and tobacco, it ranks highest in the list of exported produce. It is employed not only for cordage, but for textile fabrics. It is the fibre of one of the plantain family – the Musa trogloditarum textoria. Dampier says that its growth is confined to the island of Mindanao; but the quantity there grown is, at the present time, trifling compared to the production of Luzon, Panay, and other islands of the archipelago. The finer qualities are in considerable demand for weaving, and these are, of course, subjected to a more elaborate manipulation. It readily receives red and blue dyes; the morinda and marsdenia, native plants, being employed for the purpose. The fruit is said to be edible, but I am not aware of ever having seen it introduced, nor would it be likely to compete with the best of the delicious plantains which the Philippines produce. Father Blanco says that of these there are no less than fifty-seven varieties. The native name is saguing. Curious traditions are connected with this fruit. The Arabs say it was introduced into the world by Allah, when the Prophet lost his teeth, and could no longer enjoy the date. It is sometimes called Adam’s apron, on the supposition that it was the plant whose leaves he and Eve employed to cover their nakedness. Its use is universal, both in its natural state and cooked in various forms.
The cultivation of Coffee might be largely extended. For that, and indeed for every tropical produce, there is scarcely a limit to the unappropriated lands well suited to their production. Some of the coffee is of excellent quality, scarcely distinguishable from that of Arabia, but the general character is less favourable.
Indeed there is an obvious contrast between the great improvements which have taken place in the Dutch archipelago, the British colonies, Ceylon for example, and the stagnation created by the too stationary habits of the Indian producer. He is little attentive to the proper selection of soil, the temperature or elevation of the ground, the choice of the seed, the pruning of the tree, the care of the berry, the separation of the outer coatings, and other details, which may help to account for the comparatively small extension of coffee production, especially considering the enormously increased demand for the article, and the prodigious development of its cultivation in Netherlands India, Ceylon and elsewhere.
The quality of the Cocoa is excellent, and I have nowhere tasted better chocolate than in the Philippines, but the tree is principally planted for the private use of its possessors. In the convents particularly, the friars are proud of their chocolate, which is generally made under their own superintendence, and from fruit raised in their own grounds and gardens. A little attention is required in the selection of soil and locality; the fruit is gathered as it ripens, and after the removal of the cuticle simply requires to be sun-dried.
It is sown in the month of November, and the shade of the banana is sought for its protection. The cocoa of Zebu is reported to be equal in excellence to that of the Caracas. In the island of Negros there is a large spontaneous production. The Indian soaks the cocoa in sugar juice, and in many parts the beverage is taken twice a day.
The supply of Cotton is one of the most interesting of questions as regards our manufacturing population, and I have felt surprised at the small sagacity, the parva sapientia, which has been exhibited by many who have devoted their attention to the matter. The expectation that Negroland Africa will be able to fill up the anticipated vacuum of supply is a vain hope originating in ignorance of the character and habits of the native races, and it will end in disappointment and vexation. The capabilities of British India are great, and the elements of success are there; but the capabilities of China are vastly greater, and I believe that as in two or three years China was able to send raw silk to the value of ten millions sterling into the market, and immediately to make up for the absence of the European supply, so to China we may hereafter look for a boundless supply of raw cotton; she now clothes more than three hundred and fifty millions of her people from her own cotton-fields. The prices in China are so nearly on a level with those of India that though they allow an importation to the yearly value of two or three millions sterling in the southern provinces of China, importations into the northern are scarcely known. The quality, the modes of cultivation, of cleaning, of packing, are all susceptible of great improvements; their interests will make the Chinese teachable, and the Yang-tse-Kiang may be the channel for the solution of the cotton difficulty.
There seems no sufficient reason why cotton wool should not have been more largely exported from the Philippines. It is cheaply produced and might follow the crops of mountain rice. There is a domestic demand, and that seems to satisfy the grower, for cotton has almost ceased to be an article of foreign trade. The staple is said to be short. The plant is an annual and produces its crop in two or three months after it is sown. It is gathered in the midday sun before the advent of the rainy season, which destroys both shrub and seedpod.
Cocoa-nut trees (Cocos nucifera), called Nioc by the Tagals, eminently contribute to the ornament, comfort, and prosperity of the natives. Trunks, branches, leaves, fruit, all are turned to account. Oil, wine and spirits are made from its juices. The bark is employed for caulking and cables; the shell of the cocoa is wrought and carved in many ways for spoons, cups and domestic utensils; the burnt shell is employed for dyeing black. The trunk often forms the frame, the leaves the cover, of the Indian houses. The fibres of the leaves are manufactured into cloths for garments; the fibres of the fruit into brushes. The pulp is eaten or made into sweetmeats and the milk is esteemed for its medicinal virtues. The root, when roasted, is used as a decoction for the cure of dysentery.
A Spanish writer says that an Indian wants nothing but his Cocal (cocoa-nut palm garden) for his comfortable support. The tree will give him water, wine, oil, vinegar, food, cords, cups, brushes, building materials, black paint, soap, roofing for his house, strings for his rosaries, tow, red dye, medicine, plaister for wounds, light, fire, and many other necessaries. It produces fruit after seven years’ growth. The nipa palm is almost, though not quite as useful. These spontaneous bounties of nature may not be the allies or promoters of civilization, but they are the compensations which make savage life tolerable and, if not of high enjoyment, not far from happy.
A very small quantity of Pepper is now grown, though it was formerly one of the most prized productions of the islands. It is said that the Indians destroyed all their pepper plantations in consequence of frauds practised on them by the Manila merchants.
Attempts to introduce some of the more costly spices, such as the Cinnamon and Nutmeg, have not been attended with success.
Fruits are abundant. There are no less than fifty-seven varieties of the banana. The fame of the Manila mango is universal in the East. There are many sorts of oranges, pines (ananas) in great quantities, guavas, rose-apples, and the mangosteen is found in Mindanao. The chico is a favourite fruit in winter, somewhat resembling the medlar, hut I must refer those who desire more extended information to Father Blanco’s Flora, imperfect though it be.
Among the riches of the Philippine Islands, the forest trees occupy an important place. A collection of 350 specimens was sent to the Royal Exhibition in London in the form of square-based prisms. In the year 1858 Colonel Valdes published a report on the character and resistance of Philippine woods for buildings (maderas de construction). The specimens on which the experiments were made were cubes of one centimetre and prisms of one centimetre square by one metre of breadth. The woods were allowed one year’s drying. Five experiments were made on each, and the average results adopted.
The abbreviations employed in the following tables, which give a synopsis of the results, are: —
Scale of Resistance and Special Qualities of Woods, extracted from the Table, pp. 266–71.
Those with an asterisk are little used for building, either on account of their cost, scarcity, or unsuitableness for the purpose.
CHAPTER XVI
ANIMALS
The buffalo is, perhaps, the most useful of Philippine quadrupeds. Immense herds of wild buffaloes are found in the interior, but the tamed animal is employed in the labours of the fields and the transport of commodities, whether on its back or in waggons. His enjoyment is to be merged in water or mud. Such is the attachment of the mother to her young that she has been known to spring into the river and furiously to pursue the crocodile that had robbed her of her calf. Wild boars and deer abound.
A good deal of attention has been paid to improvement of the race of native ponies, and their value has much increased with the increasing demand. Till of late years the price was from forty to fifty dollars, but the Captain-General told me that the four ponies which he was accustomed to use in his carriage cost 500 dollars.
Though the accounts of the silent, concealed and rapid ravages of the white ants would sometimes appear incredible, credulity respecting them will outstrip all bounds. We had a female servant at Hong Kong who told us she had lent her savings in hard dollars to one of her relations, and, on claiming repayment, was informed that the white ants had eaten the dollars, nor did the woman’s simplicity doubt the story. In the Philippines at sunset during the rains their presence becomes intolerable. One well-authenticated fact may serve as an illustration of the destructive powers of these insects, to whom beautiful gauze wings have been given, as to butterflies in the later stage of their existence, which wings drop off as they find a resting-place. In the town of Obando, province of Bulacan, on the 18th of March, 1838, the various objects destined for the services of the mass, such as robes, albs, amices, the garments of the priests, &c, were examined and placed in a trunk made of the wood called narra (Pterocarpus palidus). On the 19th they were used in the divine services, and in the evening were restored to the box. On the 20th some dirt was observed near it, and on opening, every fragment of the vestments and ornaments of every sort were found to have been reduced to dust, except the gold and silver lace, which were tarnished with a filthy deposit. On a thorough examination, not an ant was found in any other part of the church, nor any vestige of the presence of these voracious destroyers; but five days afterwards they were discovered to have penetrated through a beam six inches thick.
Few of the larger wild animals are found in the Philippines. The elephant must have been known in former times, as the names gadya (elephant) and nangagadya (elephant-hunting) are preserved in the Tagal language. Oxen, swine, buffaloes, deer, goats, sheep, a great variety of apes and monkeys, cats, flying squirrels, dogs, rats, mungoes and other quadrupeds, are found in various stages of domesticity and wildness.
The great insect pests of the Philippines are the white ants (termes) and the mosquitos. Fleas, bugs and flies are less numerous and tormenting than in many temperate regions.
Some of the bats measure from five to six feet from the tips of their wings.
There are incredible stories about a small black bird of the swallow race, which is said to make its nest in the tail of wild horses. De Mas quotes what he calls undoubtedly trustworthy authorities28 for his arguments. There is an immense variety of gallinaceous fowls, pigeons and birds, whose Indian names would to European ornithologists bring little information; among which the balicyao is celebrated for its song; the mananayom (solitary), which always dies when captured; the coling, easily taught to talk; numerous parrots; the calao, which has a large transparent bill and crows like a cock; the bocuit, or bird of seven colours, which has a singularly sweet note; the valoor, a pigeon whose plumage is varied like that of the partridge; another called the dundunay, which is reported to be one of the most beautiful of birds.
Snakes, lizards and other reptiles abound; spiders of enormous size, tarantulas, &c. The guiko is very disturbing, from its noise. I was struck with the tenacity with which this creature held, even in the agonies of death, to a piece of timber on which it was placed; the soles of its feet seemed to have all the power of the sucker with which boys amuse themselves, and the animal was detached with great difficulty.
The fire-flies illuminate the forests at night. There are some trees to which they attach themselves in preference to others. Few objects are more beautiful than a bush or tree lighted by these bright and glancing stars. The brilliant creatures seem to have a wonderful sympathy with one another, sometimes by the production of a sudden blaze of beautiful fire, of a light and delicate green, and sometimes by its as sudden extinction.
Of aquatic creatures the tortoise is of considerable commercial importance. The natives, who watch the time of their coming on shore, conceal themselves, and, when a certain number are marching inland, run between the tortoises and the waves, turn them one after another on their backs, and return at their leisure to remove them. The large bivalve called by the natives taclovo, and which is used much in the churches as the receptacle for holy water, and is seen frequently at the entrance of houses, is captured by dropping a cord upon the body of the animal when the shell is opened, the animal immediately closes upon the cord, and is dragged to the surface with the greatest ease. I am not aware of the existence of any conchological work on the Philippines, though there is a great variety of land and water shells.