A Womans Journey through the Philippines | Page 5

and ethnologist.
At every stopping-place my little note-book was filled with statistics as
to trade in hemp, cane-sugar, cocao, rice, copra, tobacco, and the like. I
even had a hint here and there as to the geology of the group, but
ruthlessly blue-pencilled out such bits of useful information, and while
it may not be at all utilitarian, rejoice that I have been privileged to see
these islands in a state of nature, before the engineer has honeycombed
the virgin forest with iron rails; before the great heart of the hills is torn
open for the gold, or coal, or iron to be found there; before the
primitive plough, buffalo, and half-dressed native give way to the latest
type of steam or electric apparatus for farming; before the picturesque
girls pounding rice in wooden mortars step aside for noisy mills; before

the electric light frightens away the tropic stars, and dims the lantern
hanging from the gable of every nipa shack; before banking houses do
away with the cocoanut into which thrifty natives drop their money,
coin by coin, through a slit in the top; before the sunlit stillness of these
coast towns is marred by the jar and grind of factory machinery; before
the child country is grown too old and too worldly-wise.
Chapter II
DUMAGUETE
Our first stopping place after a two days' trip from Manila was
Dumaguete, on the southeast corner of the island of Negros. We
reached there at seven o'clock on Christmas morning, and found it a
tropically picturesque little town, surrounded by forest-grown hills, and
built mostly of nipa, with the exception of the church, convento,
watch-tower, and tribunal, which were of wood painted a dazzling
white.
All day long men and boys, innocent of even an excuse for clothes,
hovered about the ship in bancas or dugouts, chattering volubly with
each other in Visayan, or begging us in broken Spanish to throw down
coins that they might exhibit their natatorial accomplishments, and,
when we finally yielded, diving with yells of delight for the bits of
silver, seeming quite as much pleased, however, with chocolates
wrapped in tin-foil as they had been with the money, and uttering shrill
cries that sounded profanely like "Dam'me--dam'me," to attract our
attention.
When a coin was thrown overboard every one dived for it with
becoming unanimity, and the water being very clear, we could see their
frog-like motions as they swam downward after the vanishing prize,
and the good-natured scuffle under water for its possession. Laughing,
sputtering, coughing, they would come to the surface, shaking the
water out of their bright eyes like so many cocker spaniels, the sun
gleaming on their brown skins, their white teeth shining, as they
pointed out the complacent victor, who would hold the money up that

we might see it, before they would again begin their clamour of
"Dam'me--dam'me," and go through a pantomime of how quickly each
personally would dive and bring it up, did we throw our donation in his
direction.
When the supply of coins and candies had been exhausted, some one
bethought him of throwing chunks of ice overboard, and as none
among the natives had ever seen ice before, their amazement may well
be imagined. The first boy to pick up a piece of the glittering whiteness
let it drop with a howl, and when he caught his breath again warned the
others in shrill staccato tones that he had been burned, that it was hot,
muy caliente, wringing his hands as if, indeed, they had been scorched.
Presently, finding that the burn left no mark and had stopped hurting,
he shamefacedly picked up the ice again, shifting it from one hand to
the other with the utmost rapidity, and occasionally crossing himself in
the interim.
Meanwhile more ice had been thrown overboard, and the rest of the
natives, not at all deterred by their comrade's warning, examined the
strange substance for themselves. Very excited were their comments,
those in the far bancas scrambling over the intervening boats to see
with their own eyes the miracle of hard water so cold that it was hot.
They smelled and tasted of it, like so many monkeys, chattering
excitedly the while, and they rubbed it on each other's bare backs amid
screams of genuine fright, while many tumbled overboard to escape the
horrible sensation of having it touch their flesh, the superstitious being
reminded, no doubt, of all the tales the padres had ever told them of
hell or purgatory.
Some thrifty and unimaginative souls tied up their bits of ice in cloths
or packed them in small boxes, to take back to the village, while others,
engrossed in their examination of the strange substance, transferred it
from one hand to the other until, miracle of miracles, it had entirely
disappeared.