YESTERDAYS IN THE PHILIPPINES BY JOSEPH EARLE STEVENS AN EX-RESIDENT OF MANILA ILLUSTRATED NEW YORK CHARLES SCRIBNER'S SONS 1898 IN MEMORY OF MY MOTHER CONTENTS INTRODUCTION Page xiii I Leaving "God's Country"--Hong Kong--Crossing to Luzon--Manila Bay--First View of the City--Earthquake Precautions--Balconies and Window-gratings--The River Pasig--Promenade of the Malecon--The Old City--The Puente de España--Population--A Philippine Bed--The English Club--The Luneta--A Christmas Dinner at the Club, Page 1 II Shopping at the "Botica Inglesa"--The Chit System--Celebrating New Year's Eve--Manila Cooking Arrangements--Floors and Windows--Peculiarities of the Tram-car Service--Roosters Everywhere--Italian Opera--Philippine Music--The Mercury at 74° and an Epidemic of "Grippe"--Fight Between a Bull and a Tiger--A Sorry Fiasco--Carnival Sunday, Page 22 III A Philippine Valet--The Three Days Chinese New Year--Marionettes and Minstrels at Manila--Yankee Skippers--Furnishing a Bungalow--Rats, Lizards, and Mosquitoes--A New Arrival--Pony-races in Santa Mesa--Cigars and Cheroots--Servants--Cool Mountain Breezes--House-snakes--Cost of Living--Holy Week, Page 43 IV An Up-country Excursion--Steaming up the River to the Lake--Legend of the Chinaman and the Crocodile--Santa Cruz and Pagsanjan--Dress of the Women--Mountain Gorges and River Rapids--Church Processions--Cocoanut Rafts--A "Carromata" Ride to Paquil--An Earthquake Lasting Forty-five Seconds--Small-pox and other Diseases in the Philippines--The Manila Fire Department--How Thatch Dealers Boom the Market--Cost of Living, Page 60 V Visit of the Sagamore--Another Mountain Excursion--The Caves of Montalvan--A Hundred-mile View--A Village School--A "Fiesta" at Obando--The Manila Fire-tree--A Move to the Seashore--A Waterspout--Captain Tayler's Dilemma--A Trip Southward--The Lake of Taal and its Volcano--Seven Hours of Poling--A Night's Sleep in a Hen-coop, Page 87 VI First Storm of the Rainy Season--Fourth of July--Chinese "Chow" Dogs--Crullers and Pie and a Chinese Cook--A Red-letter Day--The China-Japan War--Manila Newspapers--General Blanco and the Archbishop--An American Fire-engine and its Lively Trial--The Coming of the Typhoon--Violence of the Wind--The Floods Next--Manila Monotony, Page 112 VII