The Great White Tribe in FilipiniaGilbert, Paul T. (Paul Thomas)
History
The Great White Tribe in Filipinia
Gilbert, Paul T. (Paul Thomas)
Philippines -- Social life and customs
It was about the last of January that I made a trip to Iligan,
arriving in a Moro sailboat from another port on the north coast
of Mindanao. Two or three army transports, with the quarantine
flag flying (for the cholera was still in evidence), lay quietly
at anchor in the bay. Along the shore a warm breeze ruffled the
green branches of the _copra_ palms. Near the new dock a gang of
Moros were at work, perspiring in the hot rays of the tropic sun. A
tawny group of soldiers, dressed in khaki, rested in the shade of a
construction-house, and listened dreamily to far-off bugle calls.
The Moros were dressed picturesquely in a great variety of costume,
ranging from bright-colored silk to dirty corduroy. Red _buya_-juice,
was leaking from the corners of their mouths. Their turbans, though
disgracefully unclean, were silk. Their coats were fastened by brass
military buttons, and their sashes, green and red, with a long fringe,
were tied around their waists; their trousers, like a pair of riding
breeches, buttoned up the side.
While spending the first evening at the club, I had seen mingling
with the young lieutenants, immaculate in their new olive uniforms,
bronzed, mud-bespattered officers in the blue army shirt and khaki,
with the Colt's six-shooter hanging from an ammunition belt. These
were the strangers from the town of white tents on the border of the
woods. At midnight possibly, or even later, they would mount their
horses and go riding through the night to the encampment on the
hill. The very next day one of the immaculate lieutenants, laying
off the olive uniform, might have to don the old campaign hat and
the flannel shirt, and follow his unshaven comrades up the road.
We stretched our army cots that night in the roulette room (this
is not a country of hotels), and to the rattle of the balls and the
monotonous drone of the croupier, "'teen and the red wins," dropped off
to sleep. On the day following the _Dr. Hans_ dropped in with Generals
Wade and Sumner, and the jingle of the cavalry was heard as they rode
out with mounted escort to inspect the operations of the road. After
a dance and a reception at the residence of the commanding officer in
honor of the visitors, "guard mount," the social feature of the day,
was viewed from the pavilion in the little plaza where the exercise
takes place. Its dignity was sadly marred that evening when a Moro
datto, self-important in an absurd, overwhelming hat, accompanied
by an obedient old wife on a moth-eaten Filipino pony, and a dog,
ignoring everybody, jogged along the street and through the lines.
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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