The Former Philippines thru Foreign Eyes eBook

This eBook from the Gutenberg Project consists of approximately 759 pages of information about The Former Philippines thru Foreign Eyes.

The Former Philippines thru Foreign Eyes eBook

This eBook from the Gutenberg Project consists of approximately 759 pages of information about The Former Philippines thru Foreign Eyes.
class cock-fighters, for their whole lives seem to be taken up with the breeding and fighting of these birds.  On the exit from a cockpit, I was much amused with the mode of giving the return check, which was done by a stamp on the naked arm, and precludes the possibility of its transfer to another person.  The dress of the lower order of females is somewhat civilized, yet it bore so strong a resemblance to that of the Polynesians as to recall the latter to our recollection.  A long piece of colored cotton is wound round the body, like the pareu, and tucked in at the side:  this covers the nether limbs; and a jacket fitting close to the body is worn, without a shirt.  In some, this jacket is ornamented with work around the neck; it has no collar, and in many cases no sleeves, and over this a richly embroidered cape.  The feet are covered with slippers, with wooden soles, which are kept on by the little toe, only four toes entering the slipper, and the little one being on the outside.  The effect of both costumes is picturesque.

[Ducks.] The market is a never failing place of amusement to a foreigner, for there a crowd of the common people is always to be seen, and their mode of conducting business may be observed.  The canals here afford great facilities for bringing vegetables and produce to market in a fresh state.  The vegetables are chiefly brought from the shores of the Laguna de Bay, through the river Pasig.  The meat appeared inferior, and as in all Spanish places the art of butchering is not understood.  The poultry, however, surpasses that of any other place I have seen, particularly in ducks, the breeding of which is pursued to a great extent.  Establishments for breeding these birds are here carried on in a systematic manner, and are a great curiosity.  They consist of many small enclosures, each about twenty feet by forty or fifty, made of bamboo, which are placed on the bank of the river, and partly covered with water.  In one corner of the enclosure is a small house, where the eggs are hatched by artificial heat, produced by rice-chaff in a state of of fermentation.  It is not uncommon to see six or eight hundred ducklings all of the same age.  There are several hundreds of these enclosures, and the number of ducks of all ages may be computed at millions.  The manner in which they are schooled to take exercise, and to go in and out of the water, and to return to their house, almost exceeds belief.  The keepers or tenders are of the Tagalog tribe, who live near the enclosures, and have them at all times under their eye.  The old birds are not suffered to approach the young, and all of one age are kept together.  They are fed upon rice and a small species of shell-fish that is found in the river and is peculiar to it.  From the extent of these establishments we inferred that ducks were the favorite article of food at Manila, and the consumption of them must be immense.  The markets are well supplied with chickens, pigeons, young partridges, which are brought in alive,

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The Former Philippines thru Foreign Eyes from Project Gutenberg. Public domain.