Yesterdays in the PhilippinesStevens, Joseph Earle
History
Yesterdays in the Philippines
Stevens, Joseph Earle
Philippines -- Description and travel
The other day the yacht Sagamore dropped anchor in the bay, her owner
and his guests, all Harvard men, having got thus far on their tour
around the world. I was sitting on the Luneta, Sunday evening, when I
saw those familiar Harvard hat-ribbons coming, and in behalf of our
little American colony welcomed the wearers of them to Manila. In
return for a dinner or two at the club and a visit to the huge
cigar-factories, where three or four thousand operators pound away
all day at the fragrant weed, I spent a noon and afternoon aboard the
yacht, glad to enjoy a change of fare. The Sagamore is a worthy boat
and seems to be loaded up with gimcracks and curios of all classes
and descriptions. A collector would positively be squint-eyed with
pleasure to see the old vases, carved wood-work, plaques, knives,
sabres, pots and kettles that her passengers have picked up all along
the way; and it is indeed the only method by which to scour curios
from the Orient. The boys thought the Luneta was the best place in
its way they had yet seen, and it was as much as I could do to get
them away from listening to the artillery-band and looking at the
crowds of people in carriages. Three men in a boat of the Sagamore's
size make a pretty small passenger-list for a pretty long voyage.
We've kept up our record as tripsters by having gone again up into
the mountains, seen pounds of scenery, breathed fine air, and received
great hospitality from the natives. Monday was a bank-holiday, so late
on Saturday afternoon four of us started in two-horse carromatas for a
mountain village called Montalvan, about twenty miles from Manila. Two
boys had been sent along a day ahead, with provisions and bedding,
to find a native hut and provide for our arrival. We had a delightful
drive out of Manila, passed through numerous native villages, forded
three rivers, saw a fine sunset, and at about eight o'clock, after
a three hours' journey, pulled up at a little native house situated
in a village at the foot of a lofty mountain-range. The occupants
seemed willing and glad to turn out of their little shanty and put
it at our disposal, and we were very comfortable. The house was not
large, but it had a very neat little parlor--curious name for a room
out here--and in the corner, covered with a light bed-quilt, stood
a wax figure of the Virgin Mary, with the usual glass tears running
down her cheeks. The family of about fourteen slept somewhere out
in the rear regions of the building, leaving us to spread out around
the floor of the little sala, like unmounted club sandwiches.
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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