Recollections of Manilla and the Philippines

R >> Robert Mac Micking >> Recollections of Manilla and the Philippines

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At noon the public offices are closed, and he drives home to dine about
one or two o'clock, after which he generally sleeps till about five,
for nearly all of the Spanish residents take a long siesta. About
that time of the day, however, he is awakened to dress and prepare
for the _paseo_ on the Calyada, and for the _tertulia_ after it, at
the house of some acquaintance; or if he should by any chance happen
to be without acquaintance, to saunter through the Chinamen's shops,
admiring walking-canes, cravats, or waistcoat-pieces; and while
so engaged, he is pretty sure to meet some companion for a gossip,
or other amusement. After this he sets off to sup at home, and to
sleep till another day comes round, when the same routine must be
gone through.

It would be hard to conjecture a mode of passing or sauntering through
life with less apparent object than many of them have. Books are scarce
and expensive, and are in little demand by most of the residents,
even if they were worth reading, and cheaper, and more procurable
than they now are; the library--if the term may be applied to their
collection--of such people, generally only comprising one or two plays,
and perhaps a novel--sometimes also Don Quixote's adventures, which,
with a volume of poetry, is about the average amount of learning and
amusement on their book-shelves. But should the owner be a military
man, he probably has, in addition to these, some Spanish standard
book, equivalent to our "Dundas's Principles," or "Regulations for
the Cavalry."

Smoking, sleeping, and eating, are the labours of their days, and
in all of these they are adepts. Their prevalent taste, however, as
regards cookery, is not suitable to a British palate, as the favourite
accompaniment of garlic is commonly used in such a quantity by their
cooks, that they are very apt to spoil a dinner for a foreigner's
eating, unless they are checked or cautioned with regard to the use
of it.

Their usual drink is wine of different kinds, which they take out of
a glass or tumbler, as we would beer or water: the quantity consumed
is moderate enough, about a pint being a usual allowance--and that
is frequently mixed with about an equal quantity of water. Sherry,
claret, priorato, pajarete, manzanilla, malaga, and muscatel, are the
sorts most in request, all of them being of ordinary quality, to the
taste of any one accustomed to drink good wine at home, from which the
wines procurable here are as different as possible, and especially the
sherry. But in that resides a mystery known best to the wine-merchants,
who doctor up the wine consumed in Great Britain to suit the taste of
those who buy it from them. Strange to say, even to this, a Spanish
colony, there is not sent out a single pipe of wine, such as any one
accustomed to drink the British _composition_ would call good sherry.

Claret, or _vino tinto_, is very generally used in preference to
tea or coffee at breakfast, but at that early time of the day it is
mixed with a large proportion of water. This meal, however, is not a
general one in the Philippines, as the custom of taking chocolate in
the morning destroys all appetite for it, and the early dinner hour
of the Spaniards in general, does not render it essential.

The want of interesting occupation, and the heat of the sun, preventing
out-of-door exercise during the day, has doubtless originated these
indolent customs, which have given rise to many bad habits, and the
low scale of morality prevailing among them.

A large proportion of them being bachelors, are in the habit of
selecting a mistress as a companion with whom they may forget the
dullness, and shake off the apathy of their aimless existence; a very
large proportion, in fact, nearly all of them, being in the habit of
choosing such a household companion from among the Creole, Mestiza,
or native girls, but generally from the last two races.

The native girls have the reputation of proving more faithful to
their lovers than the other two, as they look upon such a connection
in the light of a marriage, and consider themselves guilty of no
immorality during its continuance. When a native beauty forms such
a connection with a white man, her relations do not sunder all the
former ties existing between her and them, by casting her off, but
on the contrary are, as frequently as not, highly pleased at it,
viewing the affair in the light of a fortunate marriage for her.

These feelings, however, are not universal, for some of the richer
class of Indians would be highly displeased with a female relation
forming such a connection.

Among the Indians themselves this arrangement frequently takes place,
as very many of the poorest people are unable to save money enough to
pay their marriage fees, and in the event of a couple living together
without having had the ceremony performed previously, they regard
themselves, and are considered by their neighbours, as not the less
man and wife. As an instance of the extent to which this prevails among
them, I may mention a circumstance which struck me much at the time:--

Being near the cathedral at Manilla one evening in April last, I
entered an open door of the edifice and wandered into a room attached
to it, where several people were in waiting, and among them several
women with children to be baptized. I stopped to witness the ceremony,
and had the curiosity to look into the register where their names were
enrolled; in that book, two of them were described as illegitimate
children, and the third was the only one born in matrimony.

Although the custom does not prevail to anything like the extent
of two-thirds of the population, still it is a very frequent one,
and proves among other things, that the sort of religion prevailing
among the people is only that of forms, possessing no sufficient hold
over their minds to regulate their conduct.

Compare their religious ideas with those of the old Scottish
covenanters, or English puritans, and how different are the effects
of faith; but perhaps they are not more dissimilar than the natures
of the two races are. For there is no race in the world with all the
good qualities of the Celtic breed crossed by the Saxon, and that
again by the Norman; for depend upon it, blood tells in every human
being--aye, and as much in men as in dogs or horses.

But, unfortunately for ourselves, men pay less attention to the innate
qualities and virtues of blood and pedigree, when selecting a mate for
themselves, than they do when their dogs or horses are in question,
as then no trouble is spared to trace out and scrutinise the qualities
of _their_ sires, and to breed only from a good stock.

By pedigree, of course not the worldly station of men is meant, but
the history of their lives and reputations, as good and useful men of
their time. Of necessity both parents affect the character of their
offspring, and so we frequently see a great and good man leaving
behind him none in his family capable of supplying his place. Now,
how is this? Why, it comes from the mistake he has made in selecting
his mate, for if he had been more cautious in that respect the produce
would have been equal to the promise.

How often do we see wise men with silly wives and tall men with short
wives. The only wonder is, that the offspring of such couples are
not worse than they are.

CHAPTER X.

The intercourse between the Spaniards and many of the foreigners
residing at Manilla is not very great, as the British here,
as everywhere else, appear to prefer associating with their own
countrymen to frequenting the houses of their Spanish friends,
even although quite sure of a cordial reception there. The time
for visiting is in the evening, when there are numbers of impromptu
conversaziones--or tertulias, as they are called--of which the Dons
are very fond, and in which very many of their evenings are passed.

Any one having a few Spanish acquaintances is pretty sure to number
among them some persons who, from their own character, or that of
some member of their family, such as a pretty and pleasant wife,
or a handsome daughter, has generally many visitors at his house,
perhaps six, ten, or a dozen of an evening, who call there without
any preconcerted plan, and sit down to play a round game at cards
or gossip with each other for an hour. Should there be ladies of the
party, music and dancing are probably the amusements for an hour or
two; you may, of course, escape and go on to the house of some one
else should the party turn out to be dull, which, however, is very
seldom the case when Spaniards are the company, as every one appears
to exert himself to amuse and be amused to the best of his power.

The time for evening visits is any time after seven o'clock, for till
about that hour nearly all the white population are enjoying the cool
air on the Calyada, or on some of the other drives, all of which are
crowded with carriages from about half-past five till that time of
the evening.

Some of these equipages are handsome enough, and are almost universally
horsed by a pair of the country ponies, there being only one or two
people who turn out with a pair of Sydney horses, and very few who
drive a single-horse vehicle, although it is met with now and then. The
only persons allowed to drive four horses in their carriages are the
Governor and the Archbishop: this regulation is frequently grumbled at
by the Spanish Jehus, and one gentleman, the colonel of a regiment,
having applied to the government for permission to indulge his taste
in this respect by driving a four-in-hand, was refused it, so he had
to content himself with turning out with only three in his drag. With
that number of quadrupeds, however, he did a good deal to frighten and
amuse the world, apparently wishing to break his neck, in which he very
nearly succeeded on more than one occasion; Spanish accomplishments
in driving being by no means equal to those general at home.

A young Spaniard who fills an important office connected with the
commerce of Manilla, a situation he is said to owe more to the frailty
of his mother, a fair lady at the court of the late King of Spain,
whom he exactly resembles in appearance, temper, and manners, than
to any qualifications especially pointing him out for the post, used
frequently to assert his royal blood by turning out a neat barouche
and pair, accompanied by two outriders, and certainly he looked much
smarter and better appointed than either of the authorities driving
four horses.

The expense of keeping horses is very small, so that nearly all,
except the very poorest people, keep carriages, which in that climate
are considered more as necessaries of life than as luxuries, and to a
certain extent really are so; for the sun most effectually prevents
Europeans walking to any distance during the heat of the day, and
should any one attempt doing so, a month of it is about time enough
seriously to injure or perhaps to kill him. About sunset everybody is
most glad to escape from the impure air of the town and the crowded
narrow streets, to inhale the fresh breeze from the bay on the Calyada,
which is the most frequented drive.

Formerly all the ladies turned out to drive without bonnets or
coverings of any sort on the head, but bowled along, seated in open
carriages, in about the same style of evening dress they would appear
in at a tertulia or the theatre, or, in fact, at a ball-room. They
were in the habit of spreading a sort of gum, which washed easily
off, over the hair after it had been dressed, in order to keep out
the dust, &c.; but within the last two years several bonnets have
made their appearance in the carriages at the drive, and I fear
their general use will supersede the former fashion, which from its
simplicity allowed their most striking beauties of eyes, hair, &c.,
to be seen in a most charming manner.

Many of the Creole girls have very handsome countenances, and there
are not a few who would be remarked upon as fine women by the side of
any European beauty: but they are generally seen to most advantage in
the evening, as their chief attraction does not consist in freshness
of complexion so much as in fine features, which are often full of
character and lighted up by eyes as brilliant as they are soft. Their
figures are good, and their feet and ankles quite unexceptionable,
being generally very much more neatly turned than those of my
handsomest countrywomen.

As dress is a study which has a good deal of their attention, they
appear to understand it pretty well, but show a marked fondness for gay
colours, as no doubt their pale complexions require their aid more than
when ruddy health is upon their cheeks. In the forenoon the skin of a
Creole or Spanish beauty appears to be rather too pale to please the
general taste; and sometimes their colour degenerates into sallowness,
which I fancy may proceed from their fondness for chocolate, that being
very largely consumed by all of them. This, and the want of exercise,
communicated a somewhat bilious look to their appearance.

Many ladies, especially those from the northern provinces of Spain,
have sometimes the beautiful white skins and the ruddy freshness of
complexion so much admired in my countrywomen; but, unfortunately,
that colour is not very lasting, as the first season they pass in
the Philippines is generally sufficient to blanch their bloom, but
it is very often succeeded by a soft and delicate-looking paleness,
which is perhaps not a whit less dangerous to amatory bachelors than
the more brilliant colours which preceded it.

Although lively and talkative enough, Spanish women seldom shine in
conversation, which perhaps is more owing to the narrow and defective
education they too often have in youth than to any natural want of
the quickness and tact to talk well.

Their manners are peculiarly soft and pleasing, and their lively
ingenuousness is extremely seductive. Their accomplished management
of the fan has made it peculiarly their own weapon, and it has been
converted into an important auxiliary to their natural good looks,
both in attack and defence. There are few things more striking to a
stranger than to see the ladies use it at the casino, when a number
of them are together, and while there is no want of men to admire the
graceful movement of the hand. Mere children are constantly seen using
it. It is a ludicrous thing to watch one of these little creatures
going through a set of flirting motions with a fan, should you look
at her, copying no doubt the motions or play with it from those of
some grown-up sister or gay mamma.

Foreign ladies seldom or never attain the same degree of dexterity
and ease in the use of their fans, the climate they were born in not
requiring that it should be placed in their hands at an early age.

The dress of Spanish ladies is becoming every day more like the
French modes, although some elderly people still continue to use the
country dress, which, from its coolness, is much more comfortable than
the European habit; but it is rapidly going out, and young Spanish
ladies never appear to wear it, as formerly they frequently did,
within doors and in the country.

The mantilla is very rarely seen, except perhaps in the morning,
when some fair penitent goes or returns from one of the churches,
all of which are thrown open at a very early hour in the morning, at
or before daylight, to give the people an opportunity of going there
unostentatiously and unnoticed, to say their prayers and get home
again before any one, but those on an errand similar to their own,
is likely to meet them in the streets.

Nearly all the women, after reaching thirty years of age, get stout
or fall off in flesh and become very thin, for there apparently is
very little medium between the two degrees, as nearly all the old
women one sees are either very fat or very thin. Of the two sorts
the fat retain their good looks the longest; for after attaining a
certain age, the thin women are seldom anything but atrociously ugly,
probably caused by the climate more than anything else, as those
Europeans who enjoy good health at Manilla appear to become stout
in that climate, while those who get thin seldom appear to be well,
and are unable to stand a lengthened residence there.

In youth, however, their natural elasticity of character prevents
delicate girls getting sick, if moderate care be taken of them, and
they are generally rather more slender figures than English girls,
until reaching about twenty-five, when they begin to get fat or to
become thin; at that age they look very matronly.

_Apropos des dames._ Even in these degenerate days, Spanish blood
is as hot and Castilian gentlemen are as gallant as any of those of
former times. Not long ago the following circumstance happened at
the casino:--Don Camilo de T----, a natural son of the late King of
Spain, after dancing with a female acquaintance, rejoined a group
of acquaintances, who were standing together in a knot, criticising
the appearance of their several fair friends, when just as he joined
them some one happened to say to another that the lady he had just
been dancing with appeared to have padded her bosom. On hearing this,
Don Camilo took the speaker rather by surprise, by calling out "It
is a lie," in a tone loud enough to be heard by all near him, and by
saying that as he had just been dancing with that lady, he knew that
it was not so, and must resent the remark as a personal affront. A
duel took place in consequence, in which the gallant was wounded
in the sword arm, which, by letting out a little of his hot blood,
may probably prevent a recurrence of such extreme devotion to his
fair acquaintances.

CHAPTER XI.

As a body, such Spanish gentlemen as I have been acquainted with,
appeared to be quite as remarkable for good breeding as they usually
have the credit of being. They generally have a great appearance of
candour or frankness of manner, which, although it is for the most
part more studied than natural, is prepossessing, and makes them
pleasant companions.

Here, however, I am afraid my praise must stop, because I have seen
among a great number of them a good deal of dissimulation, or,
to speak more plainly, of bad faith,--with regard to which their
modes of thinking are very different from those prevailing at home;
and among their mercantile people especially, they often appear to
imitate, or unconsciously to act upon a smart Yankee trader's modes
of getting the best of a bargain, being very frequently rather too
unscrupulous in their representations, when it appears to them that
it is for their interest to be so.

To give an idea of their opinions about the subject of buying and
selling, I will tell the reader a story. A lad, the son of a high
government officer, sold an unsound horse to a companion as a sound
one, which, on being discovered by the purchaser, of course made him
very indignant, and he demanded his money back, complaining at the same
time to the boy's father, who passes for a person of high character
and good sense, about the scurvy trick his son had played him. "Well,"
said this respectable old gentleman, "I am glad to see that the lad
is so sharp; for, if he could get the better of you so well, he will
make a capital merchant, and be able to cheat the Chinamen!"

Without exaggeration this is a good deal the system on which the
Spaniards carry on business. They always appear to be trying to take
advantage of a purchaser, and if successful have very complaisant
consciences; but should they themselves be taken in, or have
the worst of a bargain, their virtuous horror and indignation on
discovering it know no bounds. There is very little, or almost none,
of that mutual confidence existing between them which exists between
British merchants, and which is so necessary in large transactions,
or in carrying on an extensive business, as they do.

The large number of government _empleados_ residing at Manilla makes
an important addition to the society of the place, as, from being idle
men to a great extent, they seek how to amuse and be amused, and are
cultivators of the society of the English, whose dinner tables are
probably the chief causes of the intercourse which exists between them.

The entire white population in Manilla amounts to about 5,000, a large
proportion of them being officers, sergeants, and corporals of the
troops stationed either within the town, or in the immediate vicinity.

All the officers are not, however, persons of European descent, as
occasionally a black may be seen in an officer's uniform, and very
frequently is to be found wearing a sergeant's or corporal's coat. But
the natives promoted to the rank of commissioned officers are not many,
and on the whole it is probably better for the army that few of them
should be so, as were it a common occurrence, or were they allowed to
rise to high rank, or to occupy important places, beyond a doubt the
_morale_ of the troops would suffer; for when those men do rise from
the ranks, they are not considered on an equality by their European
brother officers, nor in fact do they consider themselves to be so,
and have little or no intercourse with them, beyond the routine of
their military duties.

The appearance of the troops is good on the whole; but they appeared
to me to be wanting in precision of movement, being by no means
equal or similar to some of our best Sepoy soldiers. It is clear
that frequently they have not been precisely drilled into all their
attempted evolutions. The men, as individuals, are well and powerfully
formed, although they are rather deficient in stature and soldierly
appearance; they are naturally bold, and when lately tried against the
Sooloos, evinced no want of resolution to follow, when their officers
would lead them on. I have seen several of them suffer death with an
admirable and even heroic composure, such as any man might envy when
his last hour comes. It is not an unfrequent thing to see soldiers
shot at Manilla for some misdemeanours, and I have not heard of one of
them dying a poltroon; certainly, all those I have ever seen suffer,
met their doom with the utmost calmness.

The cavalry force, for the purposes of actual conflict, is about the
most inefficient branch of the military establishment, being mounted
on the ponies of the country, which stand on an average about twelve
hands. But as irregulars they might be of some use. It always appeared
to me that a single well-mounted squadron of our heavy dragoons could,
without any difficulty, ride down the entire regiment. The Government
is aware of the inactive state of the horses, their attention having
been called thereto by my friend Captain de la O----, an officer of
the force, who, in conjunction with the colonel of the regiment, has
for some time past been occupied in investigations, and in preparing
estimates of the probable expense of an attempt to improve the breed
of horses by crossing them with Arab stallions, which it has for some
time been in contemplation to send for to cover the country mares.

It would probably be necessary for Government, in order to accomplish
this successfully, to adopt a plan similar to that followed at the East
India Company's breeding stables in Bengal, and should the project be
followed out and properly managed, there can be no doubt but that it
will be of the most essential importance to the government service,
and a boon to the country.

The horses of the Philippines are small, but for their inches
uncommonly powerful, and sometimes fast. They do not appear to have
any distinguishing peculiarity, except perhaps that the head of most
of them is rather too large, and very rarely indeed is that feature
quite perfect in any of the horses one meets with. At Manilla, and
for a considerable distance round it, no mares are allowed to be used,
which secures a higher and better looking horse in the neighbourhood
of the capital than is met with in the interior of the country;
none of them are geldings, and of course they are stronger and more
playful in consequence.

But to return to the service and the officers of it whom one meets in
society. They are not fond of being sent to the colony, and although
with about double the amount of pay they would receive at home,
most of them would infinitely prefer remaining in Spain.

After a term of service abroad they get a step in rank, which appears
to be the main attraction to those who come to Manilla. Many of them
are not very well educated men, and are therefore rather inferior to
my countrymen of the same profession in that respect.

A considerable proportion of them, perhaps an equal ratio to those
of our army, are gentlemen, or persons of good birth and family
connections. They are in general, however, poor, or at all events not
over burdened with the good things of this life, and like soldiers
of all nations and times, some of them have a certain notoriety for
outrunning the constable, or for spending all that they can, which
is generally merely their pay. Soon after reaching Manilla, I was
accidentally thrown a good deal into their society, from chancing to
meet with Don Francisco Caro, a pleasant and lively young lieutenant,
at the house of my Spanish teacher, where he was as eager to learn
English as I was to be able to speak good Spanish. We became intimate,
and agreed to visit each other, he to talk in English to me, and I
to him in Spanish,--a practice which very soon enabled us to pick
up the languages, and saved a world of trouble in getting up tasks
for a teacher, whom we were soon able to do without. The fact of my
going frequently to his house, and taking part in the conversation of
himself and the many friends with whom he made me acquainted, gave me
a considerable facility in talking the language, from having gained
a knowledge of it in this way in place of from a pedantic teacher,
whose purisms were quite thrown away on one whose wish it was to
speak it fluently, although it might be at some sacrifice of elegance.

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