[Native contempt for private Spaniards.] On the following day my Spanish host went twice to the tribunal to procure the carabao carts which were necessary for the furtherance of my collections.  His courteous request was unsuccessful; but the command of the parish priest, who personally informed the Gobernadorcillo in his house, was immediately obeyed.  The Filipino authorities have, as a rule, but little respect for private Spanish people, and treat them not seldom with open contempt.  An official recommendation from the alcalde is usually effectual, but not in all the provinces; for many alcaldes do hurt to their own authority by engaging the assistance or connivance of the native magistrates in the furtherance of their personal interests.

[Giant bats.] I here shot some panikes, great bats with wings nearly five feet wide when extended, which in the day time hang asleep from the branches of trees, and, among them, two mothers with their young sucking ones uninjured.  It was affecting to see how the little animals clung more and more firmly to the bodies of their dying parents, and how tenderly they embraced them even after these were dead.  The apparent feeling, however, was only self-interest at bottom, for, when their store of milk was exhausted, the old ones were treated without respect, like empty bottles.  As soon as the young ones were separated, they fed on bananas, and lived several days, until I at length placed them in spirits.

[A muddy dry season.] Early in the morning I rode on the priest’s horse to Legaspi, and in the evening through deep mud to the alcalde at Albay.  We were now (June) in the middle of the so-called dry season, but it rained almost every day; and the road between Albay and Legaspi was worse than ever.  During my visit information arrived from the commandant of the faluas on the south coast that, as he was pursuing two pirate vessels, [Power of Moro pirates.] six others suddenly made their appearance, in order to cut off his return; for which reason he bad quickly made his way back.  The faluas are very strongly manned, and provided with cannon, but the crews furnished by the localities on the coast are entirely unpractised in the use of fire-arms, and moreover hold the Moros in such dread that, if the smallest chance offers of flight, they avail themselves of it to ensure their safety by making for the land.  The places on the coast, destitute of other arms than wooden pikes, were completely exposed to the pirates, who had firmly established themselves in Catanduanes, Biri, and several small islands, and seized ships with impunity, or robbed men on the land.  Almost daily fresh robberies and murders were announced from the villages on the shore.  During a plundering expedition the men caught are employed at the oars and at its close sold as slaves; and, on the division of the spoil, one of the crew falls to the share of the dato (Moro chief) who fitted out the vessel. [155] The coasting vessels