Adventures in the Philippine IslandsLa Gironière, Paul P. de
History
Adventures in the Philippine Islands
La Gironière, Paul P. de
Philippines
While I stayed at Manilla I did not wish to be idle. The Spaniards
reminded me that at a former epoch I had carried on the art of
medicine, and with great success. I soon had patients from all quarters
of the island, and I resumed my old profession, and gave advice. But
what difference between this time and that of my débût. Then I was
young, full of strength and of hope; then I indulged in the illusions
usual to youth; a long future of happiness presented itself to my
imagination. Now, overwhelmed by the weight of troubles and of the
laborious works I had executed, there was only one wish to excite
me, and that was, to see France again; and yet my recollections took
me continually back to Jala-Jala. Poor little corner of the globe,
which I civilised! where my best years were spent in a life of labour,
of emotions, of happiness, and of bitterness! Poor Indians! who loved
me so much! I was never to see you again! We were soon to be separated
by the immensity of the ocean.
Reflections and recollections beyond number thus occupied my mind. But,
alas! it is vain to struggle against one's destiny; and Providence,
in its impenetrable views, was reserving me for rude trials and
fresh misfortunes.
Having again become a doctor at Manilla, where I had such difficulty
at my commencement, I visited patients from morning until night. To
Dolorès and to her sister Trinidad I was indebted for the most touching
and most delicate attentions, calculated to heal the wounds which were
still bleeding in the bottom of my heart. I frequently saw the two
sisters of my poor wife, Joaquina and Mariquita, as well as my young
niece, the daughter of excellent Josephine, for whom I had entertained
so warm a friendship, and who so soon followed my darling Anna to
the grave. By little and little I was forming new ties of affection,
which I was soon to break, and never afterwards to renew. I could
not forget Jala-Jala, and my recollections never quitted that place
where were deposited the remains of those whom of all the world I
had most loved. My eager wishes induced me to hope that my work of
colonisation should continue, and that my friend Vidie should find some
compensation for the rough task he had undertaken. At this period, even
while I remained in Manilla, a great misfortune was nearly the cause
of throwing Jala-Jala back into its former state of barbarism. The
bandits, who always respected the place while I was in possession of
it, came one night to attack it, and made themselves masters of the
house in which Vidie had shut himself up, and defended until he was
forced to escape out of a window, and to run and hide in the woods,
leaving his daughter, then very young, to the care of an Indian
nurse. The bandits pillaged and shattered everything in the house;
wounded his daughter by a sabre-cut, of which to this day she bears the
marks; and then went off with the plunder they had made. But Jala-Jala
had become too important a point to be neglected; and the Spanish
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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