* * * * *

[Pleasures of travel.] Strangers travelling in the interior have daily fresh opportunities of enjoying the hospitality of nature.  The atmosphere is so equitably warm that one would gladly dispense with all clothing except a sun-hat and a pair of light shoes.  Should one be tempted to pass the night in the open air, the construction of a hut from the leaves of the palm and the fern is the work of a few minutes; [Village rest houses.] but in even the smallest village the traveller finds a “common house” (casa real), in which he can take up his quarters and be supplied with the necessaries of life at the market price.  There too he will always meet with semaneros (those who perform menial duties) ready to serve him as messengers or porters for the most trifling remuneration.  But long practice has taught me that their services principally consist in doing nothing.  On one occasion I wanted to send a man who was playing cards and drinking tuba (fresh or weakly-fermented palm-sap) with his companions, on an errand. [Pleasant prison life.] Without stopping his game the fellow excused himself on the ground of being a prisoner, and one of his guardians proceeded in the midst of the intense heat to carry my troublesome message.  Prisoners have certainly little cause to grumble. [Frequent floggings little regarded.] The only inconvenience to which they are exposed are the floggings which the local authorities very liberally dispense by the dozens for the most trifling offences.  Except the momentary bodily pain, however, these appear in most cases to make little impression on a people who have been accustomed to corporal punishment from their youth upwards.  Their acquaintances stand round the sufferers, while the blows are being inflicted, and mockingly ask them how it tastes.

[Change from Malayan character.] A long residence amongst the earnest, quiet, and dignified Malays, who are most anxious for their honor, while most submissive to their superiors, makes the contrast in character exhibited by the natives of the Philippines, who yet belong to the Malay race, all the more striking.  The change in their nature appears to be a natural consequence of the Spanish rule, for the same characteristics may be observed in the natives of Spanish America.  The class distinctions and the despotic oppression prevalent under their former chiefs doubtless rendered the Filipinos of the past more like the Malays of today.

CHAPTER V

[The familiar field for travellers.] The environs of Manila, the Pasig, and the Lagoon of Bay, which are visited by every fresh arrival in the colony, have been so often described that I have restricted myself to a few short notes upon these parts of the country, and intend to relate in detail only my excursions into the south-eastern provinces of Luzon, Camarines, and Albay, and the islands which lie to the east of them, Samar and Leyte.  Before doing this, however, it will not be out of place to glance at the map and give some slight description of their geographical conditions.