exchange with ourselves. The Javanese princes seem to attach especial
importance to anticipating the Europeans in good-breeding, and
forestalling the desires and wishes of strangers. At last, towards 2 A.M.,
we went to rest, and despite the fatigue of the previous day, were by 5
A.M. seated in the carriage of the Regent, _en route_ to the residence of
Dr. Junghuhn. We drove the two first posts, about 10 _paals_, when we
exchanged that mode of conveyance for our horses, which in less than an
hour brought us to Lembang, situated about 4000 feet above sea-level, in
an almost European climate. Standing alone close to this village is the
beautiful dwelling of Junghuhn, at the foot of the volcano Tangkuban
Prahu, and surrounded on all sides by beautifully-laid-out gardens, in
which, cut off from the scientific world, he lives with his family.
Everything around gives to the stranger a thoroughly home-feeling; in
every countenance is visible content, in every glance the most heart-felt
cheerfulness.

Franz Junghuhn, a German by birth, from the district of Mansfeld in the
Harz-mountains, saw many years hard service as a military surgeon in the
service of the Dutch Government, and at present holds the appointments of
Inspector of Scientific Explorations, and Director of the entire
China-tree cultivation of the Island of Java, with ample means for the
solution of this problem. This indefatigable naturalist (of whom there is
an excellent engraving at the Royal Botanical Gardens at Kew), to whom
science is indebted for the most comprehensive information relating to
Java, has himself ascended 45 different volcanic peaks, and that at a
period when there were no bridle-roads leading to their foot, but only
those singular zig-zag paths which the rhinoceros has worn for himself, in
order to browse at his leisure and undisturbed on the roots and rich grass
of these lofty pastures. His imposing exterior and expression of
countenance all betoken the indefatigable perseverance and gigantic
powers, both physical and intellectual, which find expression in his
incomparable work upon Java, and his great chart of that island.

The renowned _savant_ received us like old friends, with the most
delightful fervent hospitality, related to us his very latest experiments
and observations with respect to the cultivation of the quinquina plant,
and presented us with his last work,[56] to which he seemed exclusively to
devote his entire activity. For our own part, we in return promised Dr.
Junghuhn to make most special inquiries upon the subject during the period
of our stay in the native country of the Cinchona, and to endeavour to be
able to answer to the questions we were charged with; as by so doing we
hoped to repay in some degree our tribute of gratitude, for the countless
instances of personal interest and attention which had been shown us by
the scientific gentlemen in Java, as well as by all the government
officials.

Adjoining Junghuhn's dwelling, a large proportion of the coffee beans
raised in the Preanger district are prepared for the European market. The
Government has farmed the process to one M. Phlippan, and first deals with
the beans when, packed in sacks, they are ready for exportation. The
entire coffee crop of the environs of Bandong, averaging about 80,000
piculs (or 10,000,000 lbs.), is conveyed annually over the hills to
Lembang, where the fleshy berries are first shelled and made ready. For
this purpose they use the Brazilian or moist mode of treatment, by which
process, however, according to the opinion of connoisseurs in coffee
beans, much of their flavour must be lost. But, instead of attributing the
well-marked decrease of flavour of the Java coffee bean to this mode of
preparation,[57] others are disposed to find the cause of this
deterioration in degeneration of the coffee-shrub itself, and accordingly
the Dutch Government sent out to Java the well-known botanist Professor
Vriese (with appointments[58] which must appear almost fabulous to a
German botanist), in order to determine upon scientific data the cause of
the falling off of the coffee bean. The sending out to Java a Professor of
the University of Leyden, who had never before been in the Dutch East
Indies, in order to enlighten the practical coffee planters, already on
the spot, as to the deterioration of that plant, made anything but a
favourable impression. Some bitter wags, indeed, of whom there is no lack
in Java, any more than of Punches or Charivari at home, said that the
mission of Professor Vriese was as singular as if a native Javanese had
been despatched to Holland in order to teach the farmers there how to make
_cheese_.

Nevertheless, the solution of this question of the degeneracy of the
coffee is of the very highest importance to the country, as it produces
annually about 800,000 piculs (100,000,000 lbs.) coffee beans,[59] and as
its climate and soil are eminently suitable for a far more extended
development of that branch of cultivation, which was first introduced from
Mocha into Java, about 1718, by the then Governor, Hendrik
Zwoardecroon.[60] The entire coffee crop must be delivered by the coffee
planters to the Government at a fixed price, and while paying in the
interior 3-1/2 guilders (5_s._ 10_d._) per picul (125 lbs.), it fetches in
Batavia, where the people are far more heavily taxed, 9 guilders (15_s._)
per picul. The Netherlands Trading Company (_Nederlandsche
Handels-Maatschappy_), which possesses the sole right of shipment, pays
the Dutch Government from 28 to 30 guilders (46_s._ 8_d._ to 50_s._) per
picul of coffee, which it sells in the European market for its own
account. How thoroughly such a monopoly must check the growth of trade and
commerce may be best seen in the stagnation of haughty old Batavia, as
compared with the youthful, flourishing free port of Singapore. The Dutch
Government has, however, within the last few years taken a stride in the
direction of liberalism, and has thrown open a portion of the products of
the Island (as, for example, sugar, the whole of which Government itself
had hitherto sent to Holland) to public auction on the spot; and it is
hoped this system may ultimately be extended to other colonial products,
especially coffee, and that a little later, not alone Batavia, Samarang,
and Soerabaya may be declared free, but that all the harbours may be
thrown open to free trade. With this question of free interchange of
commodities is intimately bound up that of compulsory labour, which
consists in the natives of the interior being compelled to work for the
Government at certain fixed rates. In all districts where the Government
owns coffee or other plantations, the cultivation of these must be
attended to by the natives of the nearest villages, for a remuneration
fixed by the Government. The coolies or porters must, for the fixed price
of 2-1/2 or 3 doits per paal, carry goods or do service as runners or
messengers, while free labour is at least four times as dear. A party,
strongly supported at home, has arisen in Java, advocating the doing away
with compulsory labour throughout the island, but, owing to the many
important interests imperilled by such a policy, it has been very
generally repudiated. It is impossible in Java to broach the topic of
doing away with compulsory servitude without inaugurating an envenomed
discussion. For this question concerns many planters and Government
officials not less closely than that of the abolition of slavery does the
planters of the southern States of America. On this point we have heard
such widely different opinions pronounced by experienced, thoughtful,
impartial men, that we are the less disposed to express, on the occasion
of so short a visit as ours, any decided sentiments, since such would have
probably been entirely changed, or at all events modified, if we had lived
all our lives among the natives, and had become better acquainted with
their customs and peculiarities of character.

It is believed--such at least is the general impression--that in a land so
favoured by Nature as Java there is but little to be hoped for from free
labour, as the requirements of the natives are very limited, and easily
satisfied. Abandoned to his own impulses of activity, the Javanese would
only work sufficiently to supply what was necessary for his mere
subsistence, or would only perform any extra duties so long as the
imposition of regular labour does not set itself in direct antagonism with
his docile, gentle disposition. The manners and customs of the country,
the condition of the populace relative to their princes and chiefs, are
favourable to the condition of forced labour, in which they have been
confirmed by their Dutch conquerors, thus rendering it less perceptible
and intolerable. It is patent to all that since the introduction in 1830
by General Van den Bosch of the Culture system, or system of compulsory
labour, the internal state of the colony has enormously benefited,[61] and
the revenues of the Government increased in a most extraordinary degree.
In fact, what is known as the _Batig Stal_, or balance of the colonial
administration for the past year (1859), gave a total of 41,000,000
guilders (£3,416,000). But the pecuniary profits which the State Treasury
wrings from the labour of its subjects are, unfortunately (as was amply
proved in the South American colonies during the days of Spanish
ascendency), not always a correct standard of the prosperity of a country
or of the felicity of its inhabitants.

In company of Dr. Vrij the geologist of our Expedition ascended from
Lembang the volcano of Tangkuban Prahu, whence, following an excellent
route of travel drawn up by Dr. Junghuhn, he was enabled to visit all the
more important points of geological interest in the Preanger Regency. Of
these two highly interesting excursions, which derived an additional charm
from the cordial hospitality of the Javanese princes, we borrow from Dr.
Hochstetter's memoranda the following particulars:--

"On the northern side of the table-land of Bandong, which is a veritable
garden of Eden, hemmed in by roaring volcanic mountains, there rises a
mountain-chain 6000 feet above the level of the sea, and 4000 above the
lofty plateau of Bandong. In this range three peaks are conspicuous. The
native, accustomed to indicate each majestic natural feature of his lovely
native land by some name which gives a clear idea of its peculiar
character, or expresses the emotion it makes upon his senses, has named
the easternmost truncated conical peak Gunung Tungul (7800 feet), that is,
the Broken Stump or Tree, and affirms that the long central ridge of
Tangkuban Prahu (6427 feet), or the Inverted Boat, was formed by the
overturned trunk of the tree, while the third very serrated peak, the
Buranguang (5690 feet), or Boughs of the Tree, forms the crown of the tree
with its branches and twigs. Only the long central ridge, the actual hill,
though its shape would not readily lead us to suppose so, is at this day
an active volcano. Its crater is one of the most extraordinary spectacles
in the volcanic system of Java. Formerly it was necessary to follow in the
tracks of the rhinoceroses up the sides of this mountain, and the ascent
was not indeed without danger, since it occasionally happened that the
traveller, while treading some of these funnel-shaped, narrow, tremendous
defiles, unexpectedly found himself at some sudden turn face to face with
one of these gigantic animals, and that, with a precipice on one hand and
a wall of rock on the other, there was no visible means of escaping. Under
such circumstances there was nothing for it but to fight for life and
death, until the stronger marched over the corpse of the weaker. At
present an excellent bridle-path leads from Lembang to the summit of the
mountain, for the construction of which the community is indebted to Dr.
Junghuhn.

"On the morning of 18th May we set out from Lembang for the summit of
Tangkuban Prahu, in company with Dr. de Vrij. The Regent of Bandong had
sent us capital horses of the pure Macassar race, and, followed by a crowd
of well-disciplined Sundanese, we at length after a two hours' ride stood
at the edge of the crater.

"Dense clouds of vapour filled the abyss below, from which at a
considerable depth and in various directions issued the most appalling
sounds, as though hundreds of steam engines were sobbing at work far
beneath us, or like the broken sound of water falling in spray from a
great height upon the rocks. Some dead trees standing on the brink of the
abyss had a blackened appearance as though they had been charred, which we
ascribed to the sulphureous vapours, that must be evolved with most
destructive power when the crater is in full activity. Into this hideous
abyss we now prepared to descend, by a narrow, steep ledge of the rock,
which gradually lost itself among the vapour between two perpendicular,
precipitous walls. We followed the Javanese, who were scrambling down
before us, having ourselves given orders to be conducted if possible to
the bottom of the crater, and therefore continued on as best we could,
confident that those people had already often descended into the depths to
get themselves sulphur.

"Fortunately the vapours dispersed during our arduous clamber, and there
at one view lay plain before us the fearful chasm from its floor to the
rim running round it. With amazement and surprise, we perceived that the
ledge on which we stood was but a narrow central ridge, separating two
deep nearly circular volcanic cauldrons, which were both surrounded by a
lofty ellipse-shaped crater-wall! There was also a singular double or twin
crater. In both cavities, right and left, white clouds of steam rose
hissing and sputtering to the height of the rim. In the left-hand or
western crater, which the natives called _Kawah Upas_, or the Poison
Crater, we perceived in the midst of the smoking _solfataras_ a tranquil
pool of water of a sulphur-yellow hue, while the lofty internal slopes of
the crater, nearly 1000 feet high, were densely covered with brushwood,
down almost to the bottom. Very different was the eastern crater, _Kawah
Ratu_, or King's Crater; its floor seemed to consist of dried mud, from
the clefts and springs in which steam and sulphureous vapours were
constantly bursting impetuously forth. The wall of this crater, not above
500 or 600 feet high, was naked and bare to the very summit. At the first
glance one could almost fancy he gazed on an expanse of snow amid a green
forest, so bleached and greyish-white did everything look, owing to the
rocks being pulverized and changed by the vapours which continually issued
from the soil. Above these white desolate masses of rock were
distinguishable the blackened, charred, knotted stems of bushes and trunks
of trees, the relics of the vegetation formerly here, tokens of the last
eruption in 1846, in which this King's Crater threw up boiling mud,
impregnated with sulphur, besides sand and stones, till throughout an
extended area the green forests on every side were killed or desolated.
Already however the rich green of the fern, and the _Thibaudia_ (not
unlike our own whortleberry), is seen shooting up amidst the bare stones,
in close proximity to the blackened trees and shrubs, charred and altered
by the action of the sulphureous vapours and the soil, impregnated as it
is with sulphur.

"Continuing to scramble forward, we reached in safety the floor of the
Poison Crater, and had to observe the greatest vigilance, for the entire
ground around the boiling lake in the crater to the steep walls consists
of nothing but smoking solfataras, or a dense crust of sulphur, full of
holes and fissures, over the cooled surface of which the traveller walks,
constantly in danger of breaking through, not indeed into a fathomless
abyss, but into boiling hot, bitter water, in which we would counsel no
one to take a foot-bath. If the crust be broken off, there are seen
shining beneath the most exquisite lustrous crystals of sulphur. This
sulphur, which is exhibited here piled up in immense masses like small
hills, is the same as that which occasionally entices the Javanese into
these appalling abysses. The most powerful solfatara, which lies exactly
in the middle ridge, and like a geyser throws up to a height apparently of
one or two feet a column of boiling water, consisting in part of sulphur,
is for that reason unapproachable by man.

"From the Poison Crater we climbed over into the King's Crater. The hard
masses of rubbish thrown out during the last eruption afforded firm
footing here, until we got near the sputtering solfataras, when the hot
yielding mud made further progress impracticable.

"The visit to these two craters, which change features from year to year,
furnished much material for observation. It was long past noon when we
retraced our steps upwards along the precipitous path by which we had
descended. Ere long we found ourselves once more on the summit, protected
from the sun's vertical rays by the grateful shelter of the hut which
Junghuhn had erected here, and from which we could take in at one glance,
in all its vast proportions, the entire abyss, with its two smoking
craters in all their horrid sublimity. The oval of the exterior rim
measures not less than 6000 feet in length by 3000 in breadth, and from
the upper wall the descent sheer into the abyss is not less than 800 feet
perpendicular.

"This was the last crater which we had an opportunity of visiting while
in Java--our further peregrinations being directed towards the schistose
formation abounding in petrifactions, which is found in the S.W. mountain
range of the table-land of Bandong.

"On the evening of the 18th, after we had returned from Tangkuban Prahu,
we left Lembang, still in the company of Dr. de Vrij, who sacrificed his
own convenience to accompany us throughout our interesting tour, and
returned to Bandong.

"Junghuhn had sketched out a second _carte de voyage_, which he had sent
to the Resident of Bandong, with a request that this gentleman would make
all necessary preparations to enable the projected excursion to be made in
the shortest possible time, and for our comfort while on the road. We thus
found everything prepared beforehand, and, after passing a most agreeable
evening with the Resident and the Regent of Bandong, the latter of whom
caused his dancing-girls to execute in our presence some of their most
characteristic national dances, we were enabled to start early the
following morning to prosecute our journey further among the mountains.

"Gratitude to M. Visscher, the Assistant Resident, and to Raden Adipata
Wira Nata Kusuma, the Regent of Bandong,[62] makes it an imperative duty
that we should make the most ample acknowledgment for the great pains
taken by both those gentlemen to enable us, without losing time consulting
about other cares, to devote our entire attention to scientific
examination. Indeed, the whole arrangements of this trip may be held to
indicate what the Dutch Government is able to attain by the astute policy
of leaving the executive power entirely in the hands of the native chiefs,
and with what admirable exactness the despotic orders of these two united
powers are carried into execution.

"The brother of the Regent of Bandong, a truly chivalrous soul, but
imperious and full of aristocratic hauteur in his deportment towards the
peasantry, was our companion and guard of honour. All our material
requirements had been cared for by the Regent in the most luxurious
profusion. Four servants and a special cook, together with a number of
coolies, were sent in advance to our next designated resting-place,
sometimes in the heart of a forest, or upon a hill, or in a narrow defile,
so that on our arrival we found our table already set for us. On these
occasions, when there was no Pasanggrahan or comfortable hut at hand for
our mid-day siesta, or for our accommodation at night, we found an elegant
hut of bamboo and palm-leaves (of which materials the Javanese construct
a thousand articles of every-day use) newly erected, and containing
dining-room, sleeping-apartment, and bath-room. In order to travel with as
much celerity as possible, our riding horses were changed three or four
times a day. The fresh animals were everywhere ready for us to mount. At
those points where petrifactions were likely to be found collected
together natives would be sent forward, and that not by twos and threes,
but by dozens and twenties, who were charged to dig and collect together
whatever was found, so that all we had to do was to select what we
required, when we found we had a splendid collection without trouble or
loss of time. Even on roads seldom frequented, in outlying districts among
the mountains, we found everything arranged anew, and we do not exaggerate
when we say that between forty and fifty small bridges and narrow stiles
made of bamboo and with bamboo balustrades must have been constructed
solely to make this path passable. But still more particularly we had
occasion to remark, that when it was necessary to descend into the
defiles, which would naturally be of special interest to a geologist on
account of their explanations of the phenomena of nature, fresh paths had
been made, and all obstacles presented by the rocky soil overcome by means
of steps cut in the rock or bamboo ladders! And all this had been planned
and executed after the Regent had been informed of the day fixed for our
departure from Bandong on our projected tour.

"No fewer than thirty-eight mounted Sundanese, all gaily dressed in their
national costume, being in fact the chiefs and magistrates of the
district, had attached themselves to us with all their retinue, besides a
number of porters to attend upon the cavalcade, by all of whom we were
cordially welcomed. Towards evening we entered amid music and dancing into
the village, which it had been arranged was to be our quarters for the
night, and amid more music, and a general gathering of the population, we
once more, in the grey dawn of the next morning, mounted our horses. Such
is the mode of travel in Java when a Junghuhn prescribes the route, when a
Dutch Government official issues the requisite orders, and when a native
Regent carries them out.

"On the 19th May we set off in an easterly direction from Bandong for the
river Tji-Tarum. Our object was to explore the beautiful natural defile
which is presented by the deep chasm which forms the bed of that stream,
where it has forced a passage in a northerly direction through a
round-backed range of green-stone and porphyritic mountains which spring
from the table-land of Bandong, forming in this part of its course the
beautiful water-falls of Tjuruk-Kapek, Tjuruk-Lanong, and Tjuruk-Djombong.
In close proximity to the very oldest volcanic formations of Java, one
sees here, laid bare by the river, lofty walls of the latest fresh-water
strata of the plateau of Bandong. We now rode through the porphyritic
ridge to the rocky cone of Batu-Susun, on the flank of the Gunung Bulut,
formed of vast columns of a sort of porphyritic green-stone, and the same
evening reached Tjililui, the chief town of the district named Rongga,
owing to its richness in petrifactions. Not greater was our surprise at
our exceedingly hospitable reception, than at beholding, as we sat down to
our evening meal in the Pasanggrahan where we were stopping, a huge table
drawn forth, loaded with petrifactions and geological specimens, which the
Wedanah had collected, and which, classified according to a chart of the
district which he had himself prepared, he now placed at our disposal. The
name of this spirited Sundanese is Mas Djaja Bradja, Wedanah of Tjililui.

"On the 20th we inspected the spot itself where these are found. By
daybreak we were _en route_ for the chalk-kilns of Liotji Tjangkang, where
a coral bank, abounding in petrifactions, lies full in view from the
summit of an adjoining eminence. Hence we directed our steps in a S.E.
direction, getting deeper into the mountains, in the neighbourhood of
Gonnong Gatu, renowned for the numbers of tigers which range the immense
wilderness of _allang_ grass (_Imperata Allang_), which now forms the
covering of these mountains, utterly denuded as they are of their original
vegetation, and in which they find plenty of prey among the stags, wild
boars, and buffaloes. Hunting however was not our object, but the
succession of chasms, 100 feet deep, worn through the soft pumice and
trachytic tufas by the action of the Tji-Lanang and its little tributary
streams. First we had to scramble down to the confluence of the Tji-Burial
and the Tji-Tangkil, where, in close proximity to the dykes of trachyte,
several well-preserved _conchylia_ were found amid the rubbish that had
been detached from the sides of this cavity, which are composed of a sort
of muddy tufa. After riding at full speed through a thinly-inhabited
mountain district, in order to avoid an impending thunder-storm, we
luckily reached the little mountain village of Gunung-Alu, lying on the
Tji-Dadass, at the foot of a mountain ridge, which forms the water-shed
between the northern and southern coasts of Java.

"On 21st May we set off for the valley of the Tji-Lanang, which stretches
beneath the steep sandstone acclivities of the Gunung Sela, another spot
where petrifactions are exceedingly abundant, and where the remains of the
fossils may be observed in the position they originally occupied, imbedded
in the strata of mud and sandstone. A species of fossil resin is also
frequently found there, in juxtaposition with other beautiful fossils.
From this point we followed the valley of the Tji-Lanang in a northerly
direction, and on quitting it we came upon a little traversed road leading
to the valley of the Tji-Tjamotha, at the calcareous-brecciose rocks of
Batu-Kakapa, and still further on reached the mountainous village of
Tji-Jabang, whence we descended once more to the river Tji-Tarum, which at
this point passes through a narrow cleft in the rock, more than a thousand
feet deep, forming thus the grandest waterfall in Java, as it breaks
through the western barrier range of the plateau of Bandong, consisting
of porphyritic green-stone, trachytic-basalt, and perpendicular cliffs of
chalk. Below this, after a series of splendid cascades, it becomes a
navigable stream, flowing gently over the terrace of Radjamandala.

"The majestic scale of the natural scenery of Java is seen fully developed
in these savage, awful rocky defiles, shaded by primeval forest, and
haunted by every description of wild animal. There are three points of
special interest, Tjukang-Raon, Tjuruk-Almion, and Sangjang-Holut, at any
of which one may study in the very bowels of the earth the geognostical
structure of the Lanang chain, where the river has burst through. These
points lie quite near to each other on the edge of the stream which here
frets in its channel, hemmed closely by the rocks, but in order to reach
any one of them it is always necessary to retrace one's steps to the
village of Tji-jabang, on the plateau of the mountain, and thence scramble
down and up again the precipitous rocky wall in height from 1000 to 1600
feet! One can readily believe what Junghuhn writes in 1854, that 'although
Tjurak-Almion' (dust or vapour fall) 'is the grandest waterfall in Java,
no European had, as yet, visited the spot but himself.' It was here
especially that we had occasion to notice what pains the natives had taken
to render the various localities more accessible. We found fresh-hewn
steps, ladders, and Rotang ropes, and thus we were enabled, so to speak,
to tread in the footsteps of Junghuhn.

"On the 21st we could only visit the Tjuruk-Baon, where the Tji-Tarum,
raging along in its entire volume, is compelled to pass through a gate of
rock not above 12 feet wide. A frail-looking bamboo ladder, with Rotang
ropes suspended on either side at a dizzy elevation above, leads down the
perpendicular walls of this stone portal.

"On the morning of the 22nd we visited Tjuruk-Almion, the finest waterfall
of the Tji-Tarum, which is here precipitated over a precipice of
green-stone forty feet in height, and thence, after passing the steep
basaltic chain of Gunung-Lanang, we descended from a height of 2653 Paris
feet, into the deepest part (990 Paris feet above sea-level) of the chasm
formed by volcanic eruption in the mountain Sangjang-Holut, where close to
the steep broken rim, and in juxtaposition to the tertiary formations on
the level of Radjamandala, the perpendicular sandstone banks of the river
leave a passage only 10 feet in width.

"The same day we reached the little village of Gua, at the foot of the
northern side of Gunung Nungnang, an enormous mass of limestone, whose
steep sides form a portion of the extensive limestone barrier, which
bounds the table-land of Radjamandala to the southward. Gunung Nungnang is
traversed by fissures and clefts from top to bottom, in which the Salangan
swallow builds edible nests, which the natives gather for the Regent, not
without peril to life.

"On the 23rd May we carefully explored Sangjang Tji-Koro, a
limestone-hill, through which one arm of the Tji-Tarum, after it has
burst through the barrier-ridge, flows in a subterranean channel;
interesting in a geological point of view, because at this point we find
the very same limestone rocks which in an upright position form the
structure of the hill, lying horizontally on the flat plain of
Radjamandala, on the opposite bank of this brook. At Radjamandala we once
more struck the main road, and found our travelling chaise ready, which
conveyed us to Tjiandjur, and thence back to Batavia."

While the geologist of our Expedition was occupied in the excursion above
described, the commodore and his companions witnessed a most interesting
spectacle in an ethnographical point of view. The Javanese Regent of
Tjiandjur prepared a great fête, to which all the populace were invited,
in the great hall of the palace, where a variety of entertainments, games,
and dramatic representations took place. Here, as at Bandong, the interior
of the house was entirely furnished in the European fashion, and only the
ear-splitting, deafening tones of the gamelong,[63] the stout, bustling
female house-keeper, who, richly apparelled and wearing yellow
unmentionables, did the honours with a somewhat waddling gait, and the
Oriental dress of the Regent, behind whom a couple of Javanese servants,
crouched on their hams, carrying a neatly-carved silver box of exquisite
workmanship, containing the ingredients for the betel, recalled to our
recollection that we were in Java, in the residence of a native prince.
The stiff, troublesome formalities of the Dutch were outdone by those of
the Javanese: nay, so great is the observance of etiquette by these
people, that even the nearest relatives of the house are fain to take up
their place in the verandah or colonnade which runs round the house, but
do not dare venture into the saloon itself. In this latter, besides the
Regent and his consort, there were only the European guests invited, while
the people thronged the doors and windows as spectators of what was going
on. The fête began with some very monotonous, infinitely tedious dances
executed by the _Bayadères_. In the choreographic art, despite the
important part which dancing plays in their religious worship, the
Javanese, like all the other populations of Asia, lag far behind the
natives of the north. True, the dance with them has a widely different
meaning, compared with that which we attach to it, who waltz and polka
away in joyous, frolicsome mood, whereas the Asiatics, the Malay and the
Hindoo, also dance during seasons of grief and anguish; with them dancing
is nothing but a mode of expressing their feelings, whether these be grave
or gay, joyous or sad. And so deeply is this custom implanted among the
coloured races, that we have ourselves seen in Costa Rica Indian parents,
who had been converted to Christianity, dancing before the dead body of
their child, which was about being committed to consecrated earth.[64]

The figures of the dance performed by the Javanese dancing-girls were
nothing but a series of very slow rigid movements of advance and retreat,
in the course of which they went through all sorts of attitudes and
contortions with their hands and fingers. We were informed that these
dancers were representing four sisters who were searching for their lost
mother, and by their various postures and figuring hoped to obtain her
again from the deity. This exhibition was succeeded by a war-dance,
performed by eight maidens clothed as warriors, which however scarcely
differed from the former, and was not less tedious. These dancers all
appeared in extremely elegant richly-appointed dresses, which
unfortunately only made the ugliness of their features more disagreeably
conspicuous. Amid all these representations the deep boom of the gamelong
almost unceasingly resounded in our ears, being struck, evidently for the
purpose of stunning the senses, by a crowd of Javanese cowering on the
ground with their feet crossed beneath them, while from without there fell
on our ear the tunes of a brass band, especially noticeable by its
overpowering penetrating sound. About 10 P.M. a number of rockets and
fire-wheels were let off, and a disorderly crowd of maskers, on horse and
foot, to the great delight of the assembled populace, made their
appearance and marched about a dozen times round the great room. The chief
honours of the entire procession were reserved for a transparent serpent,
at least 20 feet long, which was borne along in the air by six or eight
youths, who imitated with surprising address the wriggling motions of that
lithe reptile.

To a European observer, however, what was going on in one corner of the
great room seemed far more extraordinary and surprising. A number of
native fanatics were standing here round a heap of red-hot coals and
ashes, before which a Mahometan priest, holding in his hand a small open
book, was murmuring a prayer, accompanied by doleful cries and
unintelligible groans. Several natives sprang barefooted into the fire,
and turned about several times in its midst. The priest also, singing and
praying the while, skipped upon the red-hot floor, apparently with the
intention of inciting the by-standers to yet further exertions. The whole
exhibition bore the character of being a form of religious expiation,
although it was carried on amid all the noise and fun of a popular
festival.

A still more painful impression was made by several Javanese, who placed
iron circlets set with fine sharp points on the cheeks, forehead, and
eyes, and thus accoutred, twisted their bodies about in every conceivable
direction, as though they were striving all they could to drill deep into
their flesh with this heavy iron instrument. The leading idea contemplated
in this rude fearsome exhibition, seems, however, to have been simply to
amuse a circle of curious spectators, and gain their applause.

The Javanese Regent, Radhen Adhipati Aria Kusuma Ningrat, who gave this
fête, a tall, robust man, of about fifty years of age, is held in high
esteem by the inhabitants of his district, not alone for his political
worth, but also for his intellectual qualities. He is an author and a
poet, and availed himself of the opportunity to present to the foreign
guests his last poem, an epic.

Early on the morning of the 17th the entire company of travellers set out
from Tjiandjur on their return to Batavia by the Java road, by which they
had come. The naturalists, too, did not leave the capital of the Preanger
Residency without substantial tokens of amity, since a medical gentleman
settled there, Dr. I. Ch. Ploem, presented them with a number of
interesting specimens, botanical and zoological, and not alone enriched
their collections in natural history with many new objects, but also
promised in future to maintain an active interchange of objects of
scientific interest with the museum of the Empire-city on the Danube.

The journey back to Buitenzorg, despite a tremendous thunder-storm,
accompanied by such a shower as is only encountered in the tropics, was
nevertheless pretty quickly got over, and even one trifling adventure
which was encountered on the way--in the course of which one of the
travelling carriages fell into a ditch on one side of the road, near
Megamendung, in consequence of which the coachman and attendants were
somewhat injured by their sudden precipitation from the box--had no more
serious ulterior consequences than that we had to get out of the carriage
for a short space under a deluge of rain, so as to admit of its being more
readily put into running order again. Despite the inclemency of the
weather we were on this occasion accompanied on horseback by the
magistrates of the villages through which we passed, and although many of
these were shivering and chattering with the wet and cold, they were
nevertheless inexorable in assisting to send us forward, and though not
required to do so, accompanied us to our next station, where their place
was supplied by others not less attentive.

While still on the road, the commodore and several members of the
Expedition received an invitation from the Governor-general to stop at his
summer residence of Buitenzorg, and to make it for some days their
resting-place. It was unfortunate, that this display of hospitality was
somewhat weakened in cordiality by a too rigid observance of those minor
matters of etiquette, which his Excellency seemed to think he could not
afford to dispense with even in his quiet, unostentatious country-seat.
The stringent observance of such unbending measured ceremony is the more
remarkable, in the case of a man who has raised himself from an obscure
grade of citizenship to this lofty post, and who does not even indulge in
that lavish expense or profuse luxury, which would at least be in harmony
with the ceremonial usages with which he surrounds himself. M. Van Pahud
came to Batavia about twenty years before, as a school-master, and ere
long, having become an employé in the civil service, secured through his
administrative capacity, and restless activity, the confidence and
sympathies of the Government, was somewhat later appointed Colonial
Minister in Holland, and finally, in 1856, Governor-general of the Dutch
East Indies. The introduction of the _quinquina_ plant from Peru and its
present extension throughout Java, are his chief claims to recognition.

As M. Van Pahud is a widower, the honours of his mansion were performed by
his daughter, a lady in delicate health, who a few years previously had
the distressing trial of beholding her husband, who filled one of the most
important posts as Resident at a Regency in the interior, cut down before
her eyes by a Malay!

We spent a couple of days in this charming retreat of Buitenzorg, whose
botanical garden ever unfolded fresh beauties, and had the pleasure on
this, as on the occasion of our first visit, to make several most
agreeable acquaintances. A deep interest attaches to our visit to Madame
Hartmann, the widow of a former Resident in Borneo, who possesses a small
but every way remarkable collection of ethnographic objects illustrative
of that island, and who not alone had the thoughtful courtesy to show us
all these treasures of natural history, but even presented us with a
considerable portion of them. The writer of this account felt himself in
an especial degree under obligation to this excellent lady for a number of
skeletons of the various races of men inhabiting that island, which it
would have been exceedingly difficult to procure otherwise. There existed
but one object in this anthropological collection with which Madame
Hartmann would not part: this was the skull of a Chinaman, who, during the
fearful insurrection of these emigrants in Borneo in 1819, made a
murderous onslaught on her husband, whose servants fortunately succeeded
in rendering timely aid by cutting the miscreant down.

Early on 20th May we quitted Buitenzorg. On the same morning two criminals
accused of murder and robbery were brought thither. Although the
punishment of death is only inflicted in cases of extreme atrocity, yet we
were informed that in the capital scarcely a month passes without the
infliction of this last penalty.

On our return to Batavia we once more found ourselves the objects of that
charming hospitality, to which we are indebted for the memory of many most
agreeable hours.

There was one gentleman in particular, a German countryman, Colonel Von
Schierbrand, who has lived nearly thirty years in Java, and at present
holds the high position of head of the Engineer department and President
of the Topographical Institute, who most hospitably entertained the
voyagers of the _Novara_ in his elegant, comfortable dwelling, and
arranged a variety of amusements and agreeable receptions.[65] Among
these, the gentlemen who took part in it will long have a special
recollection of a hunting party, which, owing to the great interest taken
by all classes of the community near the seat of action, abounding in
antelopes and wild hogs, became ultimately a regular ovation and popular
festival. At various points arches covered with leaves were erected, flags
fluttered to the breeze on every side, and all along our path the
inhabitants, gaily attired, formed a dense array lining the road; while
the evening was whiled away in the elegantly furnished mansion of a
Chinese, the Mayor of his district, by Javanese dancing-girls, who
performed a variety of national dances to the monotonous, lugubrious sound
of the gamelong and other musical instruments, after which there was a
comedy, the whole winding up with Chinese fire-works on the grandest
scale.

Another splendid entertainment was got up in honour of the _Novara_
Expedition by the military "Concordia" society, in their large, handsome
assembly-room in Weltevreden. The dancing-hall was tastefully fitted up,
adorned with blue and green hangings and parti-coloured flags, while over
the entrance was suspended a portrait of our Emperor. In the background of
the saloon there was set up in front of a transparency an elegant boat,
with an Austrian flag at the gaff, and carrying a cannon crowned with
flowers and nautical emblems, all artistically designed and executed. The
stewards all wore red and white ribbons round their dress, while the rich
attire of the ladies consisted principally of stuffs in the Austrian
colours. When the commander of the Expedition entered the saloon with his
staff, the band struck up the Austrian National Hymn. The whole festivity
went off most agreeably, and the majority of the company, which numbered
about 800 guests, kept it up till daybreak. Both Dutch and Austrian
officers vied with each other in making this a truly fraternal feast.
Still as the band played on, there seemed no end to the fun and frolic,
and one pair of joyous spirits suddenly bethought them of the droll idea
of hauling the cannon "with all its honours thick upon it" through the
apartment, with a not less frolicsome comrade sitting astride it, singing
and shouting! Unluckily, during this peregrination one of the Dutch
officers fell under the wheel, and had his thigh broken near the knee. The
unfortunate had to be conveyed to the hospital forthwith, where for weeks
he could ruminate upon the consequences of a moment's misplaced revelry.
This gentleman, singularly enough, had just retired home and gone to bed,
when a couple of his comrades insisted on his accompanying them, amid much
cheering and noise, back to the apartment, where the accident happened to
him!

One remarkable character in Batavia, whose acquaintance we only made
during the latter days of our stay, is Raden Saleh, a Javanese of high
birth, and princely descent, who, born in 1816 at Djokjokarta in the
interior of the island, was at the expense of the Dutch Government brought
to Europe when a boy of 14, where he lived for a long time at the Hague,
and afterwards in Dresden and Paris, turning his attention chiefly to
painting, and who, after 23 years' absence, had returned to Java shortly
before our arrival. Raden Saleh, who speaks and writes several European
languages with fluency, draws a not inconsiderable sum yearly from the
Colonial Government, by way of remuneration for pictures which he is from
time to time commissioned to paint for Government House. At the period of
our visit the artist was busy engaged in executing for the King of Holland
a large oil-painting, representing a stag-hunt on the plain of Mundschul,
in the Preanger Regency, at the foot of the Malabar range. The
composition, the landscape, the aerial perspective, the attitudes and
grouping of the mounted huntsmen, gave evidence of uncommon talent, which
unfortunately, however, has not been cultivated to that extent as to
enable him to stamp all his performances with the impress of artistic
perfection. Raden Saleh cherishes a warm feeling for Germany, which even
his placid, delightful residence among the Eden-like landscapes of his own
native land has not been able to weaken. "I owe so much to Germany," he
would say to us; "my thoughts and my feelings ever revert to Germany!" It
seemed that in his case, as in that of the young negro prince, Aquasie
Boachi, of the Gold Coast, considerations of health were the main reason
for his return to the Dutch East Indies.

The last days of our stay at Batavia we devoted to an inspection of
various public institutions. First of all we carefully examined the
barracks, which present several points of special interest. Major Smits
was so kind as to accompany us over the extensive grounds, in which were
at the time some 800 men. The soldiers are all volunteers, and consist of
about 250 whites, and 600 of the various coloured races of the Malay
Archipelago. The white troops sleep in beds, the coloured upon wooden
settles covered with mosquito-nets. Each soldier is allowed to have his
wife beside him, and it is affirmed that this extraordinary practice tends
to make them more orderly and regular, by accustoming them more speedily
to life in the barrack, which thus becomes for them a sort of small town!
The women for their part prove highly serviceable as cooks, washerwomen,
vendors of edibles, &c., and manage a sort of small market for each
company, where the soldier can find everything he may require for
satisfying his usually very moderate wants.

Major Smits ordered a number of the soldiers, representatives of the most
important Malay types, to be submitted to a series of anthropometrical
measurements, and made a present to the Expedition of a number of objects
of ethnographical interest.

In company with Dr. Steenstra Toussaint, an ardent and amiable companion,
we visited the various prisons, and the Loar-Badang,[66] of evil repute,
which will be discussed in the medical section of the _Novara_
publications.

The prisons of Batavia stand in much need of reform, especially as regards
construction, management, and treatment. The humane sentiments that
characterize our century, have more care even for a robber or murderer
than to load him with chains, and make him still more dangerous to
society, by lengthened confinement within the thick lofty walls of a
prison. There are two categories, into which all criminals in Java are
divided, those who during the entire term of their sentence are to remain
within the prison, and those who during the day are employed outside the
prison on the public works, most of whom wear an iron ring round their
neck, or chains on their hands or feet, whence they are usually termed
"chain-gang" prisoners.

In the city Bridewell, where the criminals serve their sentences in cells,
there is room for 200, and at the time of our visit there were 70 male and
two female prisoners in confinement. The disagreeable impression made at
finding such an establishment located in an exceedingly unhealthy site, is
anything but diminished when the visitor perceives that it consists mainly
of a large number of narrow corridors and high walls running parallel
with each other at short distances, between which the prisoners, in
divisions of from six to ten, are confined in small cells, two
occasionally inhabiting the same cell. Those condemned to imprisonment for
debt are shut up in a special compartment, apart from the common run of
criminals, but in respect of accommodation and general treatment are in no
respect better off than the latter. The law permits the incarceration of a
debtor for three years, but the creditor is compelled to pay 10 guilders a
month (£10 per annum), to defray the cost of his maintenance. It is
illustrative of the Chinese character, and its speculative propensities,
that hardly any of that nation are to be found on the criminal side,
whereas they furnish the longest quota of those imprisoned for debt. We
saw one Javanese woman, who of her own free will submitted to be
imprisoned with her husband who had been condemned to several years'
incarceration, although she could only communicate with him in the
presence of witnesses, and had to live in an entirely different part of
the building.

In the prison where the "chain-gangers" were confined, there were 170
prisoners.[67] Owing to the circumstance that those committed in Batavia
are draughted off to the prisons in the interior, while those sentenced in
the provinces are sent to fulfil their sentences in the prisons of
Batavia, the stranger encounters in these latter numerous peculiar types
of natives from the various districts of Java and the adjoining islands,
and this rare opportunity was made use of by myself and Dr. Schwarz to
obtain some corporeal measurements of individuals presenting the
characteristics of their respective races, as had already been done in the
barracks.

Dr. Toussaint presented the Expedition with several pathological
preparations, as also with one curiosity rather of historical than
scientific interest, namely, the skull of a man, found a few years before
in the maw of a shark which had been picked up dead at sea!

A very singular impression was left on us by a visit we paid to "Meester
Cornelis," a sort of bazaar in the outskirts of Batavia, where a singular
phase of life may be seen nightly in full activity. On a wide open square
are a large number of booths, in which are sold all sorts of eatables and
drinkables, while there is at the same time no lack of dancing-girls,
Javanese musicians, opium-dens, gambling "hells," and other
breeding-places of human depravity. The majority of its frequenters are
Chinese, who spend here in the most extravagant manner what they have
earned during the day. They especially affect the filthy little closets,
where for a couple of doits (a halfpenny English) they can lie stretched
out in a pitiable state of stupefaction, the result of opium-smoking, but
are likewise by no means backward in patronizing the gambling booths. A
group of these half-naked children of the Celestial Empire, seated in a
circle on the ground amid the flare of torches and lamps, each holding in
his lean hand a pair of greasy, well-worn cards, and with a little heap of
copper or silver pieces spread out before him, following the chances of
the game with a wild eagerness that makes him utterly heedless of what is
passing around him, presents a spectacle of such powerful interest, that
the beholder, especially if a foreigner, likes to remain amid a scene so
peculiar, despite its repulsiveness. The most melancholy consideration
perhaps of all is that this form of dissipation seems by no means
indigenous to Java, but was first introduced with many other forms of vice
under the influence of foreign civilization.

For the observant traveller, a visit to such so-called "places of
amusement" possesses a far deeper interest than theatres or operas, which
one may see and hear among the various settlements in this Archipelago.
Such wandering companies, even those which are as highly remunerated as
the "troupes" who minister to the æsthetic tastes of the wealthy
inhabitants of the countries beyond sea,[68] or rather to an indispensable
fashion, must awaken among European visitors melancholy reminiscences of
vanished triumphs of art. Thus Batavia, during our stay, could boast a
French operatic company. The theatre, lofty and airy, though of but one
storey, without either boxes or gallery, had far more the appearance of a
concert-room than a regular theatre. The rather heavy cost was defrayed by
lotteries, which were set on foot by the Colonial Government from time to
time for the behoof of the funds of the theatre. Several of the
"cantatrices" carry on simultaneously with their engagements a lucrative
business in French articles for the toilette, while the men-singers give
instruction in vocalization, by which they not merely eke out their
living, but contribute handsomely to the annoyance of their next-door
neighbours.

There is but little sociability in Batavia. The people live in a
thoroughly retired manner, each usually receiving only a small circle of
friends in his own house. On this point, as on many others, our _own_
experience is _directly contrary_ to the actual state of matters, seeing
that during our entire stay one invitation followed on the heels of
another;--but those who live here for years together, even under the most
favourable auspices, have repeatedly assured us that life in Batavia is
unsociable and tedious.

This is the misfortune of all countries "beyond sea," where Europeans do
not settle permanently, but flock thither with the intention, after a
certain number of years of industry and activity, of returning home with a
fortune made by their own personal exertions. We see this in Brazil, in
the West Indies, in the Western coast of South America; in a word, in all
tropical or sub-tropical countries where, on account of climatic
considerations, the greater part of the European population is changed
every ten years, and is recruited by fresh arrivals from Europe. How out
of place, accordingly, does social or intellectual life appear in such
countries, as compared with the colonies settled in temperate climates, in
North America, at the Cape, in Australia, in New Zealand, in all of which
the immigrant population is of a fixed character, building up for
themselves a second home, and clinging with love and gratitude to the soil
that gives them sustenance, and on which their sons will grow up, under
the invigorating influences of free institutions, into free, prosperous,
self-relying men!

Even in Batavia the majority of the European residents change every eight
or ten years; instances such as that of Colonel von Schierbrand, of men
who during 30 years have never once left the island, never yet seen a
railroad, being of rare occurrence.

Of the numerous friends whom we were so fortunate as to make during our
stay in Java, and to whom such heart-felt thanks are due for their
hospitality and the warm interest they took in the objects of our
Expedition,[69] many have since left the island for ever, and by their
return to Europe left many a lamentable vacancy.[70] The more deserving
of acknowledgment is the constant endeavour of the present Colonial
Government to attract to itself fresh intelligence, and so not alone
stimulate the scientific activity of the present, but also provide for the
filling up of the various posts by properly qualified persons. The
magnificent and expensive works which have been published of late years in
Java by men of science, are the splendid fruit of that noble-minded
support, and it is much to be regretted that the Government does not
extend this liberality to their _political_ system,--that despite the
glorious example in their own immediate neighbourhood of the results of
English Free Trade, Government still cramps the energies of the colony
with monopolies and privileges, and thereby checks the development of a
country, which, alike by its position and its manifold natural advantages,
bids fair to be one of the wealthiest and most prosperous countries in the
world.

At seven A.M. on the 29th May, the _Novara_ weighed anchor in the roads of
Batavia, after a stay of 23 days. Our next visit was to be paid to the
Philippine Archipelago,--to the flourishing island of Luzon, or rather to
Manila, the most important settlement in the entire group. This was the
pleasantest trip throughout the whole voyage. The distance, some 1800
nautical miles, was achieved in 17 days, with delightful weather, and
balmy south-west monsoons.[71] By the 14th June we were in sight of the
coast of Luzon, and on the following day we ran on before the freshening
monsoon into the broad, beautiful gulf of Manila. As we passed between the
rock La Monja (the Nun) and "El Corregidor," or Governor's Island, which
lie right in the channel, we met the _Cleopatra_, a large English
screw-steamer, which had a freight of 1150 Chinese, who were to be
imported into the Havanna as so-called "free" labourers. These poor
wretches came from Amoy, and, as we afterwards learned, had been put on
board so scantily provided, and so little cared for by the authorities,
that thus early, during the voyage from Amoy to Manila, only 700 miles,
eleven of these "passengers" had died, and the captain found himself
compelled to bear up for the nearest harbour in consequence of a sort of
malignant fever having broken out on board, so virulent that there were
deaths occurring almost every day. We shall treat more particularly of
this hideous trade in men, which is chiefly carried on by the Portuguese,
when describing our visit to Macao.

The Bay of Manila is a beautiful land-locked basin, of such splendid
proportions that when we had passed Governor's Island the city of Manila
was still below the horizon. We anchored on the afternoon of 18th June in
the harbour of Cavite (seven nautical miles south of Manila), because
during the S.W. monsoon this harbour is more sheltered, and therefore
safer for ships, than the shallow open roadstead of the capital. Cavite,
which boasts a fort, an arsenal, a dockyard, and a cigar manufactory, lies
on a low, narrow tongue of land projecting into the bay. Whoever may have
first set foot at Cavite, on the soil of the Island of Luzon, so renowned
for its natural magnificence of scenery, must involuntarily feel that his
anticipations have been sorely disappointed; he will with all possible
diligence make the best of his way from the glaring white sands and black
walls of the fortress here to Manila, the next object of our hopes. A
small screw plies daily between Cavite and the last-named city, and this
vessel also conveyed the Expeditionists from Cavite to the capital of the
Philippine Archipelago.

FOOTNOTES:

[34] Several copies of these various publications of the different
scientific societies of Java were presented to the Expedition by the
members of these learned bodies.

[35] Still the chief article of cultivation is rice, which constitutes
almost the sole bread-stuff of the Javanese. Crauford in his admirably
digested dictionary of the Indian Archipelago calculates that the annual
rice crop is about 500,000,000 lbs., and that each individual consumes
annually one quarter, or 480 lbs.!

[36] For some extremely beautiful and costly weapons used by the Malay
races we are especially indebted to Mr. J. Netscher, one of the directors
of the Society of Arts and Sciences, a profound scholar in the various
idioms spoken in Java, and who on the same occasion enriched our
collections with some of his own valuable numismatic specimens and
philological researches, and to this day neglects no opportunity of
advancing the special objects of our Expedition.

[37] Only two of the various races of Java have remained constant to the
belief of their fathers, and still honour, some of them Buddha, some
Brahma. Among these are the Badawis, who constitute all that remain of a
once mighty race at the east end of the island, among the hills of Kendang
in the Residency of Bandang, on the Tenggers, also at the east of the
island in the Residency of Passeruwan, the former numbering 1500, the
latter about 4000 souls.

[38] Garsick, the Grisse of modern days, was the first spot where these
jealous sectaries settled about the year 1374, and the two Arabic sheikhs
Dulla and Moellana are usually cited by later historians as the
introducers of the Mahometan worship into Java.

[39] There are at present two kings reigning on the Island of Lombok: Ratù
Agong Agong Suedé Carang-assem, and Ratù Agong Agong Madé Carang-assem.
These had submitted under special treaties to the Dutch Government, whose
vassals they now are.

[40] Yellow is the royal colour of the Ruler of Lombok. According to the
prevalent custom, no one but the king and members of his family is
permitted to use that colour in their dress or ornaments.

[41] This peculiarity of Eastern manners is universally prevalent wherever
Oriental nations have come in contact with Europeans. It is of course as
entirely unlike the genuine hospitality of the rude Bedouin or Tartar as
it is possible to imagine, and seems to belong to an early and very
imperfect notion of true refinement. Traces of it will be found in all
countries, even in Europe, and in its original form of making a present in
the expectation of receiving something more valuable in return, which lies
at the bottom of all this pseudo-generosity. The astuteness of the Scotch
Highlanders, themselves a race remarkably free from such meannesses, has
hitched the system into a pithy proverb, the sense of which is to "send a
hen's egg in order to get a goose's in exchange."

[42] 73.75 paals (posts) are equal to one degree of the equator, whence
one paal = within a small fraction of 4943 feet 6 inches. This method of
indicating land-measure originated in the circumstance that on every road
intersecting Java from west to east, the respective distances from the
three chief places, Batavia, Samarang, and Surabaya, are marked up upon
wooden "paale" or posts.

[43] As yet there are no railroads on the island. But a company has been
formed with the intention of uniting the more important and productive
districts of the island, an enterprise which will extend to about 1000
miles (English), and will cost about £8,500,000.

[44] It is well known that Holland in former days recruited her black
regiments of the Netherland Indies by men from the Gold Coast, and in fact
had set on foot a sort of traffic in men with the king of Ashantee.

[45] Dr. Junghuhn, in his admirable work upon Java, describes the rainy
season--which usually has fairly set in by the month of January, when the
westerly and north-westerly winds are driving the rain-clouds before
them--in the following spirited language:--"The floods stream from the
clouds often for four-and-twenty hours at a stretch without the slightest
interruption, and with such violence that the noise of the plash of the
falling element drowns the voices of the inhabitants, compelled as they
are to keep to their houses. Every brook and river overflows its banks,
covering with a tide of muddy brown water the alluvial soil wrested from
the bed of ocean, while the frogs croak incessantly day and night, and the
lizards and snakes emerge from their holes, and creep into every corner of
the dwellings of every man; all through the hours of darkness is heard the
loud thousand-voiced hum of insects, of myriads of mosquitoes, till it is
hardly possible to find a dry place throughout the house. The hot, sultry
air is saturated with moisture, so that everything becomes damp, in
consequence of the fine particles of the rain-vapour penetrating into the
inmost corners of the house."

[46] Pronounced _Chipannas_ (hot stream), from _Tji_, water, and _Pannas_,
hot. _Tji_ is always pronounced like _chi_, and _oe_ like _oo_.

[47] One can form some idea of the enormous fecundity of this insect, if
we mention that it takes 200,000 in a dried state to make one pound of the
cochineal of commerce.

[48] Two Vanilla plants, imported in 1841 from the Botanical Garden of
Leyden, remained barren for nine years, till recourse was at last had to
the system of artificial fructification, upon which these plants increased
so rapidly that the plants at present under cultivation at Pondok-Gedeh
amount to 700,000!

[49] Now named _Cankrienia Chrysantha_. The plant most characteristic of
this region was the _gnaphalium arboreum_.

[50] These four species were _Cinchona Calisaya_, _C. Condanimea_, _C.
Lanceolata_, and _C. Ovata_.

[51] According to our latest advices from Java, which extend to November,
1860, there are at present in the Preanger Regency upwards of 100,000
China plants in the very best order, so that this valuable commodity not
only may be regarded as fully naturalized in that island, but the Dutch
Government even complied with the request of the British Government for a
certain number of seedlings for introduction into India.

[52] Pronounce _Tschipodas_ and _Tschangschoor_ (Sweet Water)
respectively.

[53] Called in the Sunda dialect Gunung Masigit, or Hill of the Mosque, in
consequence of the chalk, of which it is composed, being broken into
pinnacles of remarkable uniformity, and strongly resembling the appearance
presented by the minarets of a mosque.

[54] As these edible swallows'-nests form a very important article of
commerce among the Colonial products, and their collection provides the
means of subsistence to a considerable section of the population of Java,
we shall follow here the description given by Dr. Junghuhn, in his truly
classic Monograph upon Java, in which (Book I. p. 468) he speaks as
follows respecting the marvellous abodes selected by this species of
swallow, and the perils dared by the native in obtaining their nests. "In
Karangbólong, a portion of the entrance to the holes where the swallows
breed is on a level with the surface of the water, and at times covered by
the sea. In one of these cavities, the Gua Gedé, the edge of the
coast-wall rises 80 Paris feet above low water, in a concave form, so that
it actually overhangs; however, at an elevation of about 25 feet there
occurs a projection, which the Rotang-ladder reaches by being suspended
perpendicularly. The ladder is made by two side ropes of reed, which every
inch-and-a-half, or two inches, are bound to each other by cross-bars of
wood. The roof of the entrance to the cave is only 10 feet above the sea,
which even at ebb-tide washes the flow throughout its extent, while at
flood-tide the mouth of the cave is entirely closed by the sweep of the
rollers. Only during ebb-tide therefore, and with perfectly smooth water,
is it possible for any one to penetrate into the interior. Even then this
would be impossible, were not the rocky vault, or roof of the cavern,
pierced through, eaten away, and corroded into innumerable holes. By the
projecting angles of these holes it is that the strongest and most daring
gatherer who first makes his way in, has to hold on, while he attaches to
them ropes made of Rotang, which thus hang from the roof to a length of
four or five feet. At their lower extremities other Rotang ropes are
securely fastened crosswise, thus running, rather more horizontally,
parallel with the roof, so that they form a hanging bridge as it were
along the whole length of the roof. The roof is about 100 feet wide, and
from the entrance at the south to the deepest recess in the north end, the
cave is about 150 feet in length. Although only 10 feet high at the
entrance, the roof becomes gradually more and more lofty as the cavern
retreats, till at the farthest extremity it is about 20 to 25 feet above
the sea-level. Before any one of the nest-hunters proceeds to erect his
ladder, and again before proceeding to climb up upon it in such fearful
proximity to the thundering swell, a solemn prayer is proffered to the
goddess or queen of the sea-coast, whose blessing is invoked. At this
place she bears the name of _Njaï-Ratu-Segor-Kidul_, or sometimes
_Ratu-Loro-Djunggrang_, and has dedicated to her in the village of
Karangbólong a temple, which is kept scrupulously clean. Occasionally the
gatherers make also a solemn sacrifice at the tomb of _Serot_, who,
according to a Javanese legend, is revered as the first discoverer of the
bird-nest caves." (The meaning of the above Javanese words is as follows:
_Njaï_, the title of honour of a female, corresponding to our
"Madame:"--_Ratu_, Queen:--_Segoro_, ocean:--_Kidul_, south:--_Lero_,
maiden:--_Djunggrang_ is a surname.) Compare "Java, its physical Features,
Vegetation, and internal Structure," by Franz Junghuhn. Leipsig, Arnold,
1842.

[55] The picul varies in weight between 125 and 133-1/3 pounds.

[56] Toestand der aangeweekete Kinabomen op het eiland Java in het laatst
der Maand Julij, en het begni van Augustus, 1857. Kort beschreven door F.
Junghuhn, 116 pp.

[57] At all events, among the planters up the country the opinion prevails
that the coffee beans prepared by the native population on what is called
the parching method are of far finer and more durable quality than those
prepared by the former process.

[58] Professor Vriese, besides having all expenses paid, drew a salary of
£1000 per annum, besides 10 guilders (16_s._ 8_d._) a day for every day
passed by him in the interior of the island while engaged in its
explorations.

[59] The commercial and statistical particulars of Java, for which we are
mainly indebted to the kindness of Mr. Fraser, the Austrian Consul in
Batavia, will be specially considered in a different part of the work.

[60] The Javanese agriculturist, especially the coffee planter, is sadly
tormented by three kinds of grass, which Dr. Junghuhn has named the
Javanese Trinity, and which are invariably found with the coffee
plant--_Erichthitas Valerianifolia_ (which was introduced from Mocha with
the coffee-shrub, and was never before known in Java), _Agerahun
Conisoïdes_, and _Bideus Sundaica_. The civet-cat, too (called _Luah_ in
Javanese, Jjáruh in the Sunda language), does great damage to the coffee
plantations, just as the crop is being collected. It eats only the fleshy
part of the brown berry, the beans, at least according to what the
Javanese say, actually gaining a flavour by the process to which they are
subjected in the maw of the animal!

[61] In 1859 the most important of the colonial products, grown for
account of the Government, presented the following quantities:--

  Coffee                      piculs 727,000 (of 125 lbs. each)
  Sugar                         "    901,000.
  Indigo                                                    558,800 lbs.
  Cassia                                                    256,000  "
  Cochineal (a failure in the crops owing to incessant rains) 6,700  "
  Tea                                                     2,057,400  "
  Pepper                                                     45,000  "

The duties on imports and exports for that year in the islands of Java and
Madura alone amounted to 7,440,579 guilders, or £620,048.

N.B. The picul of 125 lbs. = 136 lbs. 10 ounces avoirdupois.

[62] Since this was written a number of the Dutch officials and _savans_
at Java, who showed so many civilities to the Austrian travellers, were
decorated by our Government with Austrian orders, among whom was also the
Raden Adipata Wira Nata Kusuma, the first native Javanese Regent ever
decorated by a foreign power. The prince was extremely delighted when he
was informed of it, and said he longed for the hour when the imperial
decoration was to arrive that he might put it on and wear it. Singularly
enough the presents and letters of acknowledgment sent to the Dutch
Government in the Hague for remittance, were not forwarded direct by the
mail steamer, but as customary by sailing vessels, so that they only
arrived six months after they were presented!

[63] A genuine Javanese musical instrument, consisting of a number of
bells all differently tuned, which are struck with two small
bamboo-sticks.

[64] Die Republic Costa Rica, in Central-America, mit besonderer
Berücksichtigung der Naturverhältnisse, und der frage der deutschen
Answanderung und Colonisation. Reisestudien und Reiseskizzen aus den
Jahren 1853 und 1854. Von Dr. M. Wagner and Dr. Karl Scherzer. Leipzig,
Arnold'sche Buchhandlung. 1856. S. 196-197.

[65] Colonel Von Schierbrand, to whom natural science is already under
deep obligations for acquiring a variety of valuable objects, is
constantly and indefatigably endeavouring, both as a friend of knowledge
and a zealous sportsman, to procure, sometimes by personal exertion,
sometimes by employing natives engaged at his own expense, a series of
rare geological specimens. He appears to be, like so many other of our
excellent friends in Java, a living contradiction to the proverb, "Out of
sight, out of mind," as he has since the return of the Expedition already
sent over as presents to the museums of our native country, valuable
selections of curious objects of natural history from the Indian
Archipelago.

[66] The Loar-Badang (Public Market) is an immense building, a sort of
brothel on a large scale, kept by a Frenchman, who pays a handsome annual
sum to Government for the privilege of his infamous traffic. Here, among
others, are some 40 or 50 wretched outcasts, whom he sends off in boats
every evening to the merchantmen in the port, for the accommodation of
their crews!!!

[67] According to official return, the number of criminals, in the year
1857, convicted in the islands of Java and Madura, was 3864, of whom 198
were females and 955 were sentenced to the chain-gang. In the year 1857
alone, 2525 coloured criminals were sentenced to hard labour, with or
without chains. The number of convictions in the Dutch East Indies,
exclusive of Java and Madura, amounted in the same year to 4430.

[68] Thus the "Prima donna" receives for tragic opera 1500 guilders
(£125), and for comic opera 1800 guilders (£150) per month during the
season. The "troupe" is usually engaged for a year and a half or two years
together.

[69] Of these we cannot refrain from mentioning Dr. Van den Broek, who
shortly before our arrival had returned from Japan, where he had resided
seven years as physician and Government agent. Dr. Van den Broek, who is
at present engaged in the editing a dictionary of the Dutch and Japanese
languages, presented us with a botanical work in Japanese with numerous
woodcuts, and at the same time was so exceedingly kind as to present us
with a small vocabulary of the Court and the popular dialects used in
Japan.

[70] Among scientific circles in Batavia the recent departure of the
renowned ichthyologist, Dr. Bleeker, who intends to settle in Holland or
Germany, will be the more appreciated, that this resolve will be regarded
by his numerous European friends as a satisfactory assurance that the
valuable materials relating to natural history which he has collected will
ere long make their appearance in a suitable form.

[71] Voyagers between Batavia and Manila must not, however, always expect
to make so rapid a voyage. In Manila we fell in with a ship captain, who
had left Batavia in April, and, owing to the prevalence of calms and
contrary winds, had been 59 days on the passage!

           [Illustration: View from the Battlements at Manila.]

                                  XIII.

                                 Manila.

                  Stay from 15th to 25th June, 1858.

    Historical notes relating to the Philippines.--From Cavite to
    Manila.--The river Pasig.--First impressions of the city.--Its
    inhabitants.--Tagales and Negritoes.--Preponderating influence
    of Monks.--Visit to the four chief monasteries.--Conversation
    with an Augustine Monk.--Grammars and Dictionaries of the idioms
    chiefly in use in Manila.--Reception by the Governor-general of
    the Philippines.--Monument in honour of Magelhaens.--The
    "Calzada."--Cock-fighting.--"Fiestas Reales."--Causes of the
    languid trade with Europe hitherto.--Visit to the
    Cigar-manufactories.--Tobacco cultivation in Luzon and at the
    Havanna.--Abáca, or Manila hemp.--Excursion to the "Laguna de
    Bay."--A row on the river Pasig.--The village of Patero.--
    Wild-duck breeding.--Sail on the Lagoon.--Plans for
    canalization.--Arrival at Los Baños.--Canoe-trip on the
    "enchanted sea."--Alligators.--Kalong Bats.--Gobernador and
    Gobernadorcillo.--The Poll-tax.--A hunt in the swamps of
    Calamba.--Padre Lorenzo.--Return to Manila.--The "Pebete."--The
    military Library.--The civil and military Hospital.--
    Ecclesiastical processions.--Ave Maria.--Tagalian merriness.--
    Condiman.--Lunatic Asylum.--Gigantic serpent thirty-two years
    old.--Departure.--Chinese pilots.--First glimpse of the coasts
    of the Celestial Empire.--The Lemmas Channel.--Arrival in
    Hong-kong Harbour.

Luzon, or Manila, the largest and most important island, politically
speaking, of the Philippine Archipelago, is the sole possession of the
Spanish Crown which was visited by the _Novara_ during her numerous
traverses and diagonal tracks on her voyage round the world. As we had
hitherto come into contact for the most part with the Anglo-Saxon race and
its colonies, it was naturally doubly interesting to have an opportunity
of becoming likewise acquainted with the results of civilization and
colonization as exemplified by what are called the Romaic or Latin
branches of the great Caucasian family, and by personal examination to
satisfy ourselves in what fashion the Castilians have succeeded in
identifying their own advantages with those of the natives of these
islands. True it is, that the history of the earlier Spanish dependencies
is by no means calculated to heighten our regard for the wisdom and
mildness of the colonial policy of Spain, or to give a particularly
favourable impression of the political and social condition of the
Philippine Islands. A state, whose power at the commencement of the
present century was still beaming in all its lustre, who has lost the
fairest and most fertile lands on the face of the earth, which it had
possessed for above three hundred years, without the slightest attempt to
defend them, whose Government, through its inflexible adherence to
obsolete forms and ordinances, after the dizzy pre-eminence of ruling the
world has dwindled into a power of the third class,--leaves nothing to
hope that any part of its organization should have remained intact, that
the canker in its political and social proclivities, which so suddenly and
so disastrously brought about the downfal of one of the mightiest and
most extended empires in the world, should not likewise have made its
appearance in the Philippines. However, it is precisely these
considerations which make the contrast between the colonies founded by the
Anglo-Saxon race in remote regions of the globe, and those of the Spanish,
Portuguese, Dutch, and so forth, so valuable and instructive, although a
rigid analysis of the causes which have conduced to the present condition
of the majority of the countries conquered and ruled by races of Latin
origin, must necessarily impress the unprejudiced inquirer in a sense
little flattering to these latter, namely, that the history of every
quarter of the globe would have assumed an entirely different aspect had
these countries been first discovered and colonized by the Anglo-Saxon
race, with its watchwords of freedom and religious toleration, instead of
the Spaniard or Portuguese, with tyranny and fanaticism inscribed on its
banners.

The Archipelago of the Philippines comprises those numerous islands and
islets between the parallels of 5° and 21° N., and which are scattered
between the North Pacific Ocean on the east and the Chinese Sea on the
west. The entire group, which, according to the Spanish account, consists
of not fewer than 408 islands, extends over 16° of latitude by 9° of
longitude, covering a superficial area of 91,000 square miles, or about
the dimensions of England, Ireland, and Wales, exclusive of Scotland. Only
two islands however of the whole cluster are of considerable dimensions,
viz. Luzon, or Manila, which is about the same size as Galicia, Moravia,
and Silesia taken together, and Mindanão, which, in superficial area, is
about equal to Styria, Carinthia, and Carniola.

As in size, so in fertility, natural advantages, and commerce, Luzon is
the most important island in the Archipelago, as it is likewise one of the
most delightful spots in the tropics. The climate is adapted to the
cultivation of all the plants and various forms of vegetation alike of the
torrid and the temperate zones. On the coast the thermometer never falls
below 71°.6 Fahr., nor rises above 95° Fahr. In the highland valley of
Banjanao, 6000 feet above the level of the sea, albeit not above 36 miles
distant from Manila, the thermometer frequently descends as low as 44°.6
Fahr. The highest register of the thermometer is during the rainy
months,[72] from May to September; but we were assured over and over again
that in Manila the heat is very equably distributed over the entire year,
and never attains such a high degree as many summer days in Madrid. The
most valuable and most extensively used plants of the tropical and
sub-tropical zones, suck as sugar, coffee, cocoa, cotton, bananas, maize,
tobacco, and rice, flourish here. The forests abound in all the most
valuable descriptions of cabinet-wood, but the narrow-minded illiberality
that has always characterized the colonial policy of Spain, the
numberless restrictions to which her commerce is subjected, do not admit
of that magnificent development of which this insular cluster, so
abounding in natural wealth, would be susceptible under a more free-souled
rule. The Spaniards have conquered and have subjugated the islands,
fanatical monks have what they call Christianized the people, but, during
the three hundred years that the Castilian has held the supremacy here,
little if anything has been done for the prosperity and development of the
country, or the intellectual and moral advancement of the people.

The Philippine Islands were discovered by Magelhaens and Pigafetta on the
17th March, 1521, nearly twenty-nine years after the discovery of America
by Columbus, and two years after the conquest of Mexico by Fernando
Cortez. In consonance with the religious customs of that age, the group
was named by Magelhaens "The Archipelago of St. Lazarus," because the day
on which it was discovered corresponded with the fête-day of that saint in
the calendar. But the discovery did not imply the conquest of the
Archipelago. Four expeditions were dispatched at various intervals,
without their succeeding in subduing the natives. The solitary result
obtained thence was, that the commander of the fourth expedition, that of
1542, Don Ruy Lopez de Villalobos by name, changed the Scriptural name of
the Archipelago for that by which it is at present known, in honour of the
prince of Asturias (then 15 years old), afterwards Philip II.

It was not till a fifth expedition had started in 1565, forty-one years
after the first discovery of the Archipelago by Magelhaens, that the
conquest was finally completed. The leader of this was Miguel Lopez de
Legaspi, a man noways inferior to a Cortez or a Pizarro in venturesomeness
of spirit, inflexible perseverance, and brilliant courage, and in humanity
far exceeding either. His squadron consisted of five ships, and his entire
force, including soldiers and mariners, was but 400 men.

On 21st November, 1564, Legaspi sailed from Port Natividad in Spain, and
on 16th February, 1565, hove in sight of the Philippines. The hardy
navigator was accompanied by a number of Augustinian monks, who in the
subsequent subjugation of the islands proved far more serviceable than his
soldiers. The superior of these monks, Fray Andres de Urdañeta, a very
remarkable man, had commanded a ship in the first expedition, and had
afterwards been admitted into the order of St. Augustine.

Four years after their arrival at the Philippines, and after they had
subdued the native inhabitants of the fertile islands of Cebu and Panay,
Legaspi first discovered Luzon, and there in the year 1571 founded the
city of Manila. Since this first conquest the Spaniards have by no means
been permitted to retain undisturbed possession of this smiling cluster of
islands. Not alone the Portuguese and the Dutch bestirred themselves at
various intervals to drive the Spaniards out of the Archipelago, but the
English likewise, in 1762, towards the close of the Seven Years' War,
invaded these settlements.[73]

The area conquered, however, did not extend further inland than to a
distance of ten miles from the walls of the city, and after an occupation
of ten months, Manila was restored to the Crown of Spain by the Peace of
Paris, 1763. Since that memorable period, the Philippine group has
remained uninterruptedly under the dominion of the Spaniards, and has up
to the present day been a faithful dependent of the Royal House of
Castile. In fact, with the exception of Cuba and Porto Rico, the
Philippine and Marianne Archipelagoes are the sole colonies that Spain
still retains of her once so enormous possessions in the distant portions
of the globe, although in Manila even in our own day, as will be more
fully detailed presently, despite her honourable distinction of "_La
Siempre real ciudad_" (The Ever Loyal city), there is no lack of
discontent, and the generally prevailing "loyal tranquillity" is, none the
less, boding many serious perils for the Spanish supremacy.

The most striking peculiarity of the natural configuration of Luzon[74]
is its strongly-marked separation into two peninsulas, a northern, which
comprises the larger portion, and a southern, smaller island; the former
named Luzon by the Spanish, the latter Camarinas. The length of the entire
island, including its numerous curves, is about 550 miles, and its
greatest width about 135 miles, but in many places it is little more than
thirty miles in breadth. The chain of the Caraballos mountains traverse
Luzon from north to south, and sends off spurs in various directions,
which impart an exceeding hilly aspect to the entire island.

The Spaniards divide Luzon into three main divisions; Costa, Contra-Costa,
and Centro, corresponding pretty nearly with the western side, the eastern
side, and the interior of the island, and formerly indicating in what
order these different sections of the country had been subjected to the
Spanish dominion. The latest distribution is into 35 provinces and 12
districts.

Manila, the capital of Luzon, as also of the whole Archipelago, and the
oldest European settlement in this region of the globe, lies at the mouth
of a small but rather rapid river, the Pasig, which after a course of
about 30 miles, draws off to the sea the waters of the great Bay-Lake
(_Laguna de Bay_). In consequence of a not very conveniently situated
mole, the Pasig is forming a bar close to its own embouchure, which makes
it somewhat dangerous for boats to attempt an entrance in bad weather.
Ships, however, can anchor about 1-1/2 miles below the fortified walls of
the city, which, though impregnable to the attack of a native force, would
probably be found powerless to repel a European force attacking from
seaward.

The members of the Scientific Commission started from Cavite, where the
frigate lay at anchor, in the small steamer which plies daily to the
capital, which, when beheld from a distance, with its gloomy, lofty,
defiant fortifications, and its dense clusters of monastic buildings and
church towers, gives the impression rather of some great Catholic Mission
than a place of commerce. In the roads there were not above 16 ships lying
at anchor, whereas we counted 165 in Singapore, a disproportion which,
considering the favourable site of Manila and its wealth in all manner of
valuable produce, can only be accounted for by the pressure of political
and administrative regulations, which weigh like a mountain upon trade and
commerce.

On pulling up the river from its mouth, where it is about 300 feet wide,
we find ourselves in the vicinity of the light-house, in front of a dense
mass of the inevitable filthy bamboo huts, which being inhabited by the
very poorest section of the population, increase the dismal, gloomy
impression left by the first view of the city. We land in the
neighbourhood of the harbour-master's office, and have to pick our steps
through a dirty quarter of the town in order to reach the focus of public
activity.

The river Pasig divides Manila Proper from its sister city of Binondo. Two
handsome bridges, one an old-fashioned stone one, the other a modern
suspension bridge of imposing dimensions, form the communication between
the two cities. Manila, situate on the southern or left bank, and enclosed
on all sides with ditches and fortifications, has all the peculiar
features of a Spanish town of the ancient type. It consists of eight
straight, narrow streets, all running in one direction. Within these are
most of the public buildings; the Governor-general's Palace and that of
the Archbishop, the Municipality, the Supreme Courts, the Cathedral, the
Arsenal, the Barracks. Profound silence reigns in the grass-grown streets,
between the gloomy masses of stone, of which at least one-third are Church
property. There is no evidence anywhere of joyous life or social progress,
and the variegated, charming flower-garden, lately laid out in the square
in front of the Cathedral, stands out like a solitary gay picture, amid
austere, sombre, historical paintings of vanished might and faded
splendour. Within the walls of this melancholy old city only Spaniards and
their descendants may dwell, all other races being excluded from this
privilege. The number of inhabitants within the fortifications does not
probably exceed 10,000 souls.

On the other hand, Binondo, on the northern or right bank of the river, is
the true business city and head-quarters of trade. Here Europeans,
Chinese, Malays, and their endless intermixtures of blood, amounting in
all to more than 140,000 souls, reside in the most perfect harmony with
each other; here are all the warehouses, shops, and manufactories; here
prevails from morning till night a perpetual whirl of busy, cheerful
crowds circulating through the streets, of which that called the Escolta
is the most frequented, as it is the handsomest and most attractive. The
houses, on account of the frequency of earthquakes, are usually one storey
high, enclosing large courts (_patios_), and very frequently with a sort
of terrace on the roof. The interiors of the houses have an unusually
spacious appearance, owing to their almost universally having but little
furniture, in many cases simply a number of chairs ranged along the walls.
But the most singular aspect of these houses is to be found in the
windows, the panes of most of them being made, not of glass, but of the
shell of a species of oyster (_Placuna Placenta_), ground down to the
requisite thinness! The subdued light which is thus obtained is
exceedingly grateful, and these mussel-shells have been found to be
cheaper and more lasting than panes of glass, which, in a country so
frequently visited by earthquakes and hurricanes, could only be replaced
when injured at an immense expense. The streets are rather narrow, so much
so that linen awnings are stretched across the streets from one row of
shops to that opposite, thus securing to the foot-passenger the
inestimable boon of being able during the hottest hours of the day to
traverse almost every street in Binondo under shade.

That which the stranger understands by the emphatic word "comfort" is only
to be found in the houses of European residents, and is not obtainable by
money. The two hotels lately started to levy, unchallenged, Californian
prices for even the most moderate requirements, and so far as cleanliness
and orderliness are concerned, lag far behind the commonest country inn in
North America or the British colonies.[75]

Despite the various races that meet the stranger's gaze, Manila has,
beyond any other colony in the East, the appearance of a European town.
One remarks here, that the colonists are more completely amalgamated with
the natives, and that with the religion these latter have also adopted a
considerable proportion of the customs of Europeans.

Among the populace of Manila belonging to the coloured races, that most
prevalent in the capital is the Tagal, or Tagalag, on whose territory the
Spaniards founded their first settlement. The obscurity that envelopes
their origin has never been dispelled, although some of the older
religious writers thought they found on Borneo and other islands of the
Sunda Archipelago some traces of their stock. They were confirmed in this
impression by the fact, that in the most cultivated dialects and idioms
of the Tagal is to be found an unusually great number of Malay and
Javanese words. The majority of the plants cultivated here, such as rice,
sugar-cane, yam, indigo, cocoa-palm, as also all domestic animals, many of
the metals, and even the digits used in enumeration, are, although greatly
corrupted, directly traceable to the corresponding words or names in
Malay. Moreover, there is a tradition very prevalent throughout Luzon,
that the Spaniards, at their first arrival in this Archipelago, found
certain Bornese officials here, who were levying taxes and tithes for the
Rajahs resident in that island.

Next in number to the Tagals rank the Chinese with their descendants, and
to these succeed the Spaniards, with their offspring born in the country,
who amount together to barely 5000, or about a 28th of the whole
population of the capital; of Spaniards of pure descent, there are not
above 300 in Manila.[76]

Besides the Tagal there is in this Archipelago yet another race, the
_Negritos_, who only inhabit the mountain districts of the islands of
Luzon, Mindoro, Panay, Negros, and Mindanão, and are estimated at about
25,000 souls. These Negritos del Monte, or Negrillos, also called Aeta,
Aigta, Ite, Inapta, and Igorote, are small in physical conformation as
compared with their African congeners. The characteristic features of the
negro are less strongly marked, the colour of their skin and their
complexion are both less black. For this reason old Spanish authors speak
of them as "_menos negro y menos feo_" (less negro-like and less hideous).
Owing to their small stature, which does not average above 4 feet 8 inches
English, they have received the appellation of Negritos (diminutive
Negroes). By Spanish writers upon the Philippines they have been described
as a still existent branch of the lowest type of humanity, without fixed
dwellings, without regular employment, eking out a bare subsistence on
roots and wild fruits, and such animals as they could bring down with the
bow and arrow, their only weapon. Through the kind offices of Mr. Grahame,
we had an opportunity of gratifying our curiosity to see an individual of
this singular race of Negritos. This was a girl of about 12 or 14 years of
age, of dwarf-like figure, with woolly hair, broad nostrils, but without
the dark skin and wide everted lips which characterize the negro type.
This pleasing-looking, symmetrically formed girl had been brought up in
the house of a Spaniard, apparently with the pious object of rescuing her
soul from heathenism. The poor little Negrilla hardly understood her own
mother tongue, besides a very little Tagal, so that we had considerable
difficulty in understanding each other. The received opinion that the
Negrillos and the Igorotes are of a distinct race, but having some
affinity with the Papuans of New Guinea, seems to us for many reasons very
problematical. We are as yet far too little acquainted with the races
inhabiting the most inaccessible parts of the island, to be able to
pronounce a correct opinion upon such a point. The probabilities are not
less that the Negritos and Igorotes stand in the same relation to the
dwellers on the coast as the Bushmen to the Hottentots, the Weddahs to the
Cingalese, or the savages of Sambalong to the natives of the rest of the
Nicobars.

The Spanish language is only available in Manila and the vicinity;--a few
miles in the interior, even in places which hold almost daily
communication with Manila, Tagal is much more commonly used. At present
Tagal is written and printed exclusively in the Roman character. While in
Manila, we never once saw a book or MS. in which the ancient character had
been used. Even the oldest printed matter, such as, for instance, a Tagal
grammar, published in Manila in 1610, contains only a few samples of the
native alphabet, while as to its original arrangement, as also the form of
the numerals, the utmost uncertainty prevails. The entire alphabet, which,
including the three vowels, consists of but 17 letters, comprises the
following characters:

[Transcriber's Note: Each of the italicized character groups below
designate the Roman equivalent to a Tagal character. The Tagal character
can not be rendered here. It is available in the .html version of this
book.]

                                 Vowels.

               _a_      _e_ and _i_      _o_  and  _u_

                               Consonants.

          _ba_     _ca_     _da_ a. _ra_     _ga_     _ñga_

          _ha_     _la_     _ma_     _na_     _pa_ a. _fa_

                   _sa_     _ta_     _va_     _ya_

A dot _above_ the character changes the vowel sound _a_ of the original
consonants into _e_ and _i_.

  _be_   _ke_   _de_ a. _re_   _ge_   _ñge_   _he_   _le_   _me_   _ne_

                      [Line of Tagal characters]

  _bi_   _ki_   _di_ a. _ri_   _gi_   _ñgi_   _hi_   _li_   _mi_   _ni_

              _pe_ a. _fe_   _se_   _te_   _ve_   _ye_

                      [Line of Tagal characters]

              _pi_ a. _fi_   _si_   _ti_   _vi_   _yi_

A dot _below_ the character changes the vowel sound _a_ of the original
consonant into _o_ and _u_.

  _bo_   _co_   _do_ a. _ro_   _go_   _ñgo_   _ho_   _lo_   _mo_   _no_

                      [Line of Tagal characters]

  _bu_   _cu_   _du_ a. _ru_   _gu_   _ñgu_   _hu_   _lu_   _mu_   _nu_

                _po_ a. _fo_  _so_   _to_   _vo_   _yo_

                       [Line of Tagal characters]

                _pu_ a. _fu_  _su_   _tu_   _vu_   _yu_

From the foregoing characters it would appear that _a_ and _o_, as also
_e_ and _i_, _da_ and _ra_, _pa_ and _fa_, had each but one and the same
character.[77]--Besides the Tagal, five other different idioms are used by
the civilized races of Luzon, namely, Bisaya, Pangasinana (the same as
Ilocano), Tbanác (same as Cagayana), Bicol, and Pampanya.

The Tagals are a small race, of a clear yellow complexion, and,
notwithstanding their broad flat noses and thick lips, are by no means of
unpleasing appearance. The hair of the head is rigid, bristly, and black;
the beard very sparse. They all wear European clothes more or less,
although the fashion in which they wear them is quite peculiar and
ludicrously odd. Not merely do the lower orders and servants wear the
shirt ironed perfectly smooth and unwrinkled, instead of a coat, above
their continuations, but the Tagal dandy prides himself on his
well-lacquered boots, his white stockings, his new Paris silk hat worn
with a jaunty cock to one side, and above all his carefully plaited
resplendent white shirt, as he struts through the streets of Manila,
cigaret in his mouth, and swinging an elegant little cane! The women wear,
like the Javanese women, the "Sarong," a parti-coloured striped cotton
dress, rolled round the loins, and a close-fitting very short jacket, so
short indeed that between it and the gown a space about an inch wide
intervenes through which the naked body is visible, while the fine
transparent gauze-like stuff of which the jacket is made is much better
calculated to show off than to conceal their attractions. This universal
fashion of dress is the more surprising, as the various orders of monks
exercise in all other respects an almost despotic control over the
natives, and as it is much more attributable to their influence than to
that of the secular authorities that the speech, manners, and customs of
old Castile have taken firm and extensive root in the Philippines. It
seems, however, unjust to compare this group of islands, as has been done
by modern writers, on account of the all-pervading influence of the
Spanish element, with a province of Spain, in contradistinction to the
colonies of other nations, where the Europeans have always been regarded
by the natives as the lords of a conquered country. The English in India,
Ceylon, and New Zealand, and the Dutch in Java, all appear to have a much
firmer and more secure footing than the Spaniards, despite their having
mingled with the people. How little can be effected by forced amalgamation
of speech and manners, is best illustrated by the late separation of
Central and Southern America from the Spanish rule, although in most of
these countries the majority of the people speak only Spanish, and are
governed entirely in accordance with Spanish customs. Much better founded
seems to us the observation that it was less the sword than the cross of
Spain which brought the Philippines under the throne of Castile, and that
the natives have become Spanish Christians, without being Spanish
subjects. The entire Archipelago is nothing but one rich church domain, a
safe retreat for the legion of Spanish monks, who are able to lord it here
with unrestrained power. There is a Governor-general of the Philippines
only so long as it pleases the Augustinian, Dominican, and Franciscan
friars; and if ever an insurrection breaks out in the Archipelago,
designed to shake off the Spanish yoke, there will be more than one monk
to head the movement.

In a country where the cloister and its denizens interfere so arbitrarily
in all the concerns of life, and impart to the capital itself, as indeed
to the entire Archipelago, a character entirely peculiar to itself,
religious establishments and their zealous occupants call for special
consideration, and the reader need assuredly feel no surprise that we
should begin the narrative of our visit to the capital of the Philippines
by a description of its monasteries. In Manila these unfortunately are
not, as they were in the middle ages, the nurseries of culture and
civilization, of science and art, but rather give the impression of being
simply huge establishments for the maintenance of zealous souls, weary of
life, who wish to close their days of labour in tranquil contemplation,
exempt from all anxiety.

The four orders of monks to whose hands are confided the entire spiritual
and very much of the secular well-being of the inhabitants of the
Philippines, are the Augustines (_Agustinos Calzados_--sandalled friars),
the Franciscans, the Dominicans, and the barefoot Augustinian mendicants
(_Agustinos descalzados_ or _Recoletos_).

The monastery of the Bare-Foot Friars, lying close to the wall of the
fortifications, consists of a number of spacious buildings, some of which
date from the 17th century. Everything here tells of former power and
splendour. From the billiard-room and parlour on the first storey, the eye
is charmed by a marvellous landscape commanding the Bay of Manila and the
mountains that surround it. How delightful must it be in the evening
twilight to pace these airy chambers in the society of congenial souls,
and, while the brow is fanned by the cool sea-breeze, to give free scope
to the reins of fancy, as it swept far away over the Bay of Manila! For
what privations must not such a source of pure exquisite enjoyment
indemnify the ascetic brethren of the cloister! That spiritual meditation
and converse however do not form the sole topics discussed in these
departments, was abundantly evidenced by the hints let fall by several of
the monks who conducted us through the various corridors and apartments,
and who were constantly indulging in visions of Carlist supremacy and a
return of the halcyon days of monasticism. On our remarking that so far as
worldly consideration was concerned, the cloister enjoyed far more cordial
support in Manila than either in Spain or Cuba, one of the Augustinians
who was accompanying us, a tall commanding figure, attired in the plain
garb of the order, replied: "The Government knows that it has need of us,
that it could not get on a day without us, therefore it leaves us in
peace, and places no impediments in our path as in Spain."[78] And he was
right. Whensoever the monks lift the finger, Spain has ceased to rule in
the Philippines. The spiritual reins have ever bridled the secular
authority, and such a state of things is the severest impediment to the
development of the country and its intellectual growth.

Of the various monastic orders resident in Manila the Augustinians are by
far the best educated. They have made the various dialects of the native
races their study far more deeply than the other orders. The "_Flora de
las Filipinas_," the _only_ botanical work which has ever been published
in the Spanish language, treating of this interesting Archipelago, was
compiled by an Augustinian monk, Fray Manuel Blanco.[79]

The number of monks resident in the monastery of Manila when we were there
was 48, but there was room enough for three times as many. Altogether
there were of the Augustinian order 58 monasteries and parishes in the
island of Luzon, extending from one end of the island to the other. In the
entire Archipelago there are, according to public documents, 145
Augustinian monks, whose authority extends over 14 provinces and 153
villages, numbering 1,615,051 souls.[80]

The monastery of the Dominicans is kept clean and comfortable, and its
wide spacious apartments leave a less vivid impression of decay and human
indifference than the majority of the monastic edifices. Here also the
lofty, light chambers in the upper storeys command a magnificent prospect.
The Prior, Padre Vellinchon, received the Austrian travellers with much
cordiality, and conducted them in person round all the apartments of the
very extensive building. He spoke Latin pretty fluently, and without the
peculiar Spanish accent, besides possessing a slight acquaintance with
French; and was somewhat better informed upon European matters than his
spiritual _confrères_. The library of the order is not kept in the
convent, but in one of the buildings of the University of St. Thomas also
used by the Dominicans, but it is quite unimportant, whether as regards
the number of works it contains or their scientific value.

The spiritual jurisdiction of the Dominicans extends over eight provinces
of the Archipelago, including 76 villages, with in all 427,593 souls,
whose eternal interests are watched over by 76 brethren of the order.[81]

A Dominican friar, Joaquin Fonseca, is president of the permanent
commission of Censorship of Books, consisting in all of nine members, five
of whom are nominated by Government and four by the Archbishop of
Manila.[82] We had the pleasure of being made acquainted with Fray
Joaquin Fonseca, who also holds the appointment of Professor of Theology
in the University of St. Thomas, and were presented by him with a copy of
an imperfect epic poem composed in Spanish, which had for subject the
history of the island of Luzon and its inhabitants.[83] Of this
interesting fragment we shall publish a translation in another place.

Just as we were leaving the Dominican monastery, its worthy Prior begged
our acceptance, by way of souvenir of our visit, of a copy of Dante's
Divina Commedia in the original text, and a dictionary of the Ybanác, one
of the idioms most extensively used throughout the Archipelago.

The monastery of the Franciscans presents no other feature of interest,
than in so far as it is an emblem of the melancholy spiritual decay in
which the members of this order at present find themselves in Manila. The
dirt and untidiness which were not merely apparent in the various
apartments, but which were even but too obvious in the external appearance
of the brothers of the order, make a most disagreeable impression; for
poverty and necessity, these two cardinal principles of the mendicant
orders, are by no means incompatible with cleanliness and neatness.

The Franciscans possess 16 missions in 14 of the provinces, comprising
159 villages and 749,804 inhabitants.[84] The spiritual instruction of
these is intrusted to 184 brethren of the order, 74 priests, and 43
_Clerigos Interinos_ (occasional preachers).

The monastery of the _Recoletos_, or Reformed Augustinians, offers a not
less impressive prospect than that of the Franciscans. Here, too, the
occupants permit to appear a careless indifference utterly destructive of
the value of their ghostly ministration. As we entered, the brethren of
the order had finished their mid-day repast. Some of the monks were still
sitting in a dirty, gloomy verandah round a table on which was spread a
table-cloth stained with food and drink, while in front of each stood a
half-empty wineglass. A lay brother announced us, upon which one of the
monks rose to bid us welcome. From his rather jovial appearance, and the
suspicious colour of his nose, we presumed he was the cellarer, and were
not a little surprised when, in the course of conversation, he announced
that it was the Prior himself who was speaking with us.

We had the utmost difficulty in making the brethren, whose information was
of a most limited extent, comprehend from what country we came. The
circumstance that the original German name _Oesterreich_ is pronounced
Austria in Spanish, puzzled still more hopelessly the comprehension of
the monks, whose geographical knowledge did not seem to extend much
beyond the sphere of their vision. At first they confounded Austria with
Australia, and fancied we must have come direct from the fifth quarter of
the globe, but when the _Novara_ voyagers, proud of their Fatherland,
refused to permit this opinion to pass current, and gave a more clear
explanation, one of the younger monks thought he had at last found out our
_habitat_, and evidently priding himself on having solved the riddle, gave
his less ingenious brethren to understand that we came, not from
Australia, but from Asturias, and were consequently fellow-countrymen! The
limited intelligence of the Franciscan mistook Austria for Asturias, and
made of the Austrian Empire a Spanish province! Lest the hypothesis should
suggest itself to the reader, that this confusion of foreign empires with
domestic provinces might possibly have originated in our not being
acquainted with the language of the country, it is necessary that we
should inform him that one member of the Expedition was thoroughly versed
in Spanish, so as to be able to maintain fluent conversation, and that he
was perfectly comprehended upon all other topics. Just as little must it
be supposed that the above anecdote is but an ill-natured imputation, or
the expression of a long-vanished national jealousy, or anything else than
a proof of the present state of education among the present occupants of
the monasteries of Manila.

The Recoletos watch over the spiritual weal of 567,416[85] children
belonging to parishes in the various islands of the Archipelago, and
number 127 brethren.

In each monastery there is what is called a _Procuracion_, where the
various printed books published by the order (almost exclusively
dictionaries and grammars of the native languages and dialects) are sold
for the behoof of the funds of the monastery. The members of our
Expedition exerted themselves to form a very complete collection of all
such publications; and while thus engaged they also succeeded in getting
several MS. treatises on language.[86] Works and memoirs on the history of
the island and the state of its inhabitants are scarcely met with in the
wretchedly deficient libraries of the monasteries, which consist of not
more than 500 or 600 volumes, mostly works of theology and philosophy.
Whatever of valuable literary material may once have belonged to these
institutions has apparently been removed to Spain, whose libraries have
also gradually absorbed the literary treasures of the monasteries of
Central and Southern America.

Besides the monasteries, Government Square (Plaza de Gobierno), in the
inner portion of the city, possesses some little interest for strangers.
It has the shape of a large oblong, surrounded on each of its four sides
by the palace of the Governor-general, that of the archbishop, the
cathedral, and the law offices, with a well-kept garden-plot in the
centre, in which is a handsome statue of Charles IV., the whole strongly
recalling the principal square in the Havanna. The cathedral is equally as
remarkable for the clumsiness of its exterior as for the profusion of
perishable gold and silver within. The first edifice was erected by
Legaspi, the conqueror of Luzon, in 1571, and was composed of bamboo-cane
thatched with palm-leaves. The present temple was built in 1654 during the
papacy of Innocent X., after several previous buildings had been
destroyed, some by fire, others by earthquake. The palace of the
Captain-general is an extensive but very simple building, with long wide
corridors internally, but which can make no pretensions to architectural
magnificence externally. In one of its saloons our Commodore and his
companions were received by the Captain-general of the Philippines, Don
Fernando Narzagaray, who had held this elevated post since 1857. Formerly
Governor of the island of Porto Rico, in the West Indies, Don Fernando
was, in consequence of his openly avowed Carlist proclivities, sent into
honourable exile to the Philippines, and by a lucky chance is at present
once more invested with the dignity of one of the highest officials of
Queen Isabel II. of Spain. This gentleman received the voyagers of the
_Novara_ with the proverbial lofty courtesy of the Spaniards, yet not
without suffering to appear in his address a certain embarrassment and
hesitation, which however may have been due to his not being sufficiently
acquainted with any other tongue than the Spanish, to enable him to use it
in giving fluent expression to his thoughts. The conversation turned
chiefly upon the scene of our latest visit, Java. Notwithstanding the not
very formidable distance, and the constant communication existing between
the two islands, the Captain-general seemed to have but a very vague
conception of the political and social condition of Java, and framed his
questions as though they related to some remote island, in some entirely
different section of the globe, rather than an island in all but immediate
vicinity. As we prepared to return to our vehicles, Don Fernando made use
of the usual unmeaning compliment "_Usted[87] sabe que mi casa es à la
disposicion de Usted!_" (You know you may consider my house as entirely at
your disposal):[88] it would rather have astonished him though, had his
visitors taken him at his word!

Passports, which are absolutely necessary in Manila to make the very
shortest excursion into the interior, are given with the utmost alacrity
to strangers, without any one thenceforward paying the slightest attention
to enabling any expedition to carry out its objects. This cold, utterly
indifferent treatment was doubly felt by travellers fresh from Batavia,
where they had been overwhelmed with every sort of attention.

In the office of the Captain-general we saw several large sheets of
printed matter in columns, suspended on the walls, which we presumed were
the annual statistics of the commerce of the Archipelago, and accordingly
requested one of the officials to provide us with one. It was only when
unfolding a little later the documents which had been so readily given to
us that we discovered our error, and became aware that these tables
printed with such care and elegance did not in any way refer to what we
had supposed, but were the statistics of the various monasteries, and
their inhabitant brethren throughout the Philippines. We had far greater
trouble and difficulty ere we could get at the particulars of the natural
productions and state of trade of Manila.

When the visitor passes through the St. Domingo gate to the suburb of
Binondo, on the N.E. side of the inner city, we traverse what is called
the Isthmus, a narrow strip of meadow-land, surrounded by water on both
sides, on which has been erected within these few years a simple monument
in honour of Magelhaens, the discoverer of the Philippines, who, wounded
by a native with a poisoned arrow, breathed his last, 15th April, 1521, on
the small island of Mactan, lying opposite Cebu. A Doric column of black
marble, 76 feet high, with inscriptions engraven on the four sides of the
pedestal, lifts its head here since 1854,[89] and is altogether a more
appropriate monument than that which the Spaniards erected at Havanna to
the greatest navigator of any age, Christopher Columbus, to whom they owe
all their after power and greatness, on the spot where his ashes reposed
for many a long year in the cathedral before they were conveyed back to
Spain. A poor insignificant votive tablet, built into a recess near the
altar, is all that intimates that there once reposed there for a season
the mortal remains of the man who, to use the words of a German poet,
"bestowed on the world another world."[90]

On this isthmus are situated the most delightful pleasure grounds in
Manila; the esplanade, with its simple, shady walks, and benches on which
to repose, and further on, nearer the sea on the left bank of the river,
the "Calzada" dam (causeway). Hither every evening comes the gay world of
Manila, in long rows of carriages, to be fanned by the delicious cool
sea-breeze. Arrived at the farther extremity of the promenade, the
coachman, resplendent in gorgeous livery and large shining top-boots, for
he does not drive from the box but rides postilion, is usually ordered to
stop, and the gentlemen leave the carriage in order to chat with the
ladies in the surrounding vehicles, just as we accost our fair friends in
the theatre, and pay our visits in the boxes. For in Manila there are
neither theatres nor concert-rooms, and the public promenade is therefore
the only rendezvous of the "beau monde."

Unfortunately we reached Manila in the height of the rainy season, when
even the attractiveness of nature can only be guessed at by occasional
glimpses, and the delightful outdoor life which enlivens the streets and
the front porch of the private residences of the inhabitants, is utterly
arrested. Here, as in Batavia, the tropical rains fall with a violence of
which a native of the northern climates, who has never lived in the
tropics, and knows only the rainfall of his own country, can hardly form
any conception. In July, 1857, it rained here for fourteen days
uninterruptedly, so that the Pasig overflowed its banks, and people were
ferried about the streets of Manila, as in the city of Lagoons, by means
of small boats, called here _bancas_. This inundation was converted into a
merry-making, and visits were paid on all sides in elegant little boats.

The one sole amusement with which even the rainy season cannot interfere,
is cock-fighting. So soon as the bad weather has fairly set in, universal
recourse is had to this, the most popular of amusements, whose cruel,
murderous issue is strangely in contrast with the mild, soft, timid
character of the natives. These "_Gallos_," as they are called, are a
monopoly of Government, that is to say, they can only be held with their
permission, and upon payment of a fee for such license. The revenue which
Government derives from this anything but civilized amusement is very
considerable,[91] and the fee paid by the owners of the cocks and the
spectators is at any rate the least objectionable part of the spectacle,
for far larger sums are lost in the betting. What cards and hazard are for
_blasée_ Europe, cock-fighting is for the simple native of Manila. Such is
their passionate excitement, that several days elapse before their
ordinary apathy subsides into its state of chronic contentment. It is
singular that, with the exception of the Spaniards and the mixed race
founded by them in various distant parts of the world, there is not now
one single civilized nation that can find any pleasure in such brutal
amusements as cock-fights and bull-fights.

The scene of action is a small building, built of bamboo, and thatched
with palm-leaves, in the interior of which the benches for the spectators
rise behind each other in form of an amphitheatre, while the arena, or
pit, is filled with the owners of cocks and betting-men, until the signal
for the commencement of the combat is given. Each owner caresses or
incites once more his champion, or to prove his courage flings him against
one of the other cocks. At last the spectators have decided to back one or
the other of the cocks, red or white, the flat comb or the round comb; the
bets are "on," and the "spur," a sharp-pointed weapon above two inches in
length, and provided with a sheath, is firmly attached to the right foot.
Then the two cocks are simultaneously swung against each other, and a few
feathers are plucked from their necks to excite their fury. The bell in
the hand of the director gives the signal for the commencement of the
"main." The spectators retire from the "pit," the sheaths are taken off
the trenchant spurs, and the encounter commences. Most marvellous is the
eagerness for the fray, the dogged valour, which these two knightly
antagonists display to the very last gasp; how even wounded, bleeding, and
sorely fatigued, they will not give up the contest! Occasionally it
happens that neither of the combatants is hailed the victor. The
extraordinary keen, sharp "spur" sometimes wounds both warriors with
terrible severity, till with severed limbs, and bleeding from every pore,
both lie dead on the field of battle.[92]

Very comical is the method hit upon in those places of amusements to
supply the places of the return tickets in use amongst ourselves, and at
the same time render it impossible for any different person to make use of
them. When a native wishes to leave the apartment with the intention of
returning he has his naked fore arm, near the wrist, stamped as he goes
out with a black die, which secures his re-admission, and at the same time
obviates all anxiety as to his losing his return ticket! On his return
this mark is easily wiped out.

During our stay occurred the "_Fiestas Reales_," or royal fêtes, which
were given by the Colonial Government in honour of the birth of an heir to
the Spanish throne, Don Alfonso, Prince of the Asturias. The little
heir-apparent had, in fact, seen the light in the month of November
preceding, at Madrid, but when the news reached the Philippines it was
Lent; respect for the tenets of the Catholic Church deferred the
festivities, and afterwards the various fire-works, triumphal arches,
illuminations, &c., took so long a preparation that the month of June and
the rainy season were again at hand before the fête could be held, which
owing to the latter circumstance fell through, and excited hardly any
interest. That intelligence should be so many months in arriving at the
Philippines is due less to their great distance, than to the little care
taken by Government to promote the public interests. Until 1857, all
letters to Europe were for the most part dispatched by sailing vessels, so
that letters remained four or five months on the way, and owing to the
uncertainties of the length of passage made by the various vessels, it was
constantly happening that the last letters sent came to hand before those
dispatched several weeks earlier. This irregularity and uncertainty
weighed so heavily upon commerce, that since March, 1858, there has been
established regular communication by steam between Manila and Europe, the
epistolary matter from Europe, for the residents throughout the
Archipelago, being conveyed by a Spanish steamer from Hong-kong, which is
distant only 600 miles, while all letters for Europe are conveyed to the
latter port in time for the mails of the 1st and 15th of each month,
whence they are forwarded together with the English correspondence viâ
Singapore and Suez.

On the other hand there is up to this moment no regular communication with
any of the adjacent islands in the Archipelago, even the Government only
availing itself of such sailing vessels as private adventurers may from
time to time charter. When any change of officials takes place, the new
appointment must often remain vacant for months till the occupant reach
his post; indeed, during our stay in Manila we witnessed a case in which
the consort of the Governor of the Marianne Archipelago had been vainly
waiting for months for an opportunity to return to her husband.[93] Some
foreign merchants settled at Manila had made an offer to the Government,
in consideration of a fixed subsidy, to establish regular communication
between the various islands of the Archipelago, and to keep it on foot by
means of five steam vessels. But the Colonial Government did not see its
way to giving the company a larger subsidy than 43,000 Spanish piasters
(£6763 at par), and thus the whole plan once more fell through, the
carrying out of which would so greatly tend to the development of these
islands.

Notwithstanding the fertility of the islands in all manner of natural
wealth, there are at present but three products of the soil which are
exported in anything like large quantities to the European and North
American markets, and which thus give this group any importance in the
eyes of the commercial world, viz. tobacco, Abáca, or Manila hemp, and
sugar. The amount of all other articles exported, such as coffee, indigo,
Sapan wood (_Cæsalpinia sapan_), straw-plait,[94] hides and skins of
animals, &c., is proportionately but small. We visited the great
manufactories of Binondo, as also that of Arroceros, where _cigarillos_,
or paper-covered cigarettes, are exclusively manufactured. The former
gives employment to about 8000 work-people, mostly women. In the long
workshops, where it is common to see 800 females sitting at work on low
wooden benches in front of a narrow table, there prevails a most
disagreeable deafening hubbub. Some are busy moistening the leaves, and
cutting off the requisite lengths, or are sorting the fragments and
smaller pieces, of which inferior cigars will be made; others hold in
their right hand a flat smoothed stone, with which they keep continually
pounding each single leaf, in order to make these more susceptible of
being rolled up. This drumming noise, and the cries of several hundreds of
workwomen, who, on the appearance of foreign visitors, handle their
implements of stone with yet more energy, apparently out of sheer
wantonness, the strong odour of the tobacco, and the disagreeable
exhalations from the bodies of so many human beings shut up together in
one close apartment, in a tropical temperature, have such an unpleasant,
uncomfortable effect that one hastens to exchange the damp sultry vapours
of the workshops for the fresh air without.

In the _Cigarillo_ manufactory about 2000 workmen find employment. Here
also there is felt in the workshops the same clammy, sultry atmosphere. A
workman can make about 150 packages of 25 cigarettes, or 3750, per diem,
for which he is paid four reals[95] (1_s._ 7_d._ English). Most