A Womans Journey through the Philippines | Page 8

one had only to turn in order to have hot or cold
water, either salt or fresh, in the tub, the basin, or the shower. Even the
electric piano failed to impress them as did this aqueous marvel, and
they crossed themselves and called on the Virgin and all her angels to
testify that verily the American nation was a mighty one.
The men were of course greatly interested in our gallant armament of
rapid-fire guns, and when the quartermaster, who is a crack shot, hit an
improvised target in the water several times in succession with a
one-pounder in the stern of the ship, the Filipinos were astounded, and
stared at him in even greater admiration than they had shown for the
formidable little weapon. Two shotguns of newest design were also
brought on deck, and while the native women were frankly bored at this
display of ordnance and preferred to talk about the way our gowns were
made, the men were delighted, declaring they never imagined a gun
could be broken in pieces and put together again so easily.
Before our guests left, lemonade and cake were served on the
quarter-deck, and it was really amusing to watch their faces as they
discussed the coldness of the drink, while the pieces of ice in their
glasses excited as much perturbation as the untutored savages had
shown the day before. One travelled lady, however, who had been to
Iloilo once and tasted ice there, drank her lemonade with ostentatious
indifference to its temperature, as became one versed in the ways of the
world, explaining to me with condescension a few moments later that
the Iloilo ice had been much colder than ours,--an item of physical
research which I accepted politely.
We women were asked innumerable questions as to our respective ages,
the extent of our incomes, our religious beliefs, and other inquiries of
so personal a character as to be quite embarrassing. They seemed,
though, to be very genuine in their admiration of us, and evinced great
interest in our clothes, especially those of the quartermaster's wife, who,
being a recent arrival in the Philippines, had yet the enviable trail of the
Parisian serpent upon her apparel. One heavy cloth walking-skirt of
hers, fitting smoothly over the hips and with no visible means by which

it could be got into, animated the same inquiry from these people as
good King George is said to have made anent the mystery of getting the
apple into the dumpling, a problem of no little difficulty, as any one
will agree. At more than one stopping-place we were called upon to
solve the riddle of that skirt, and I verily believe that, being women,
they were even more awed at the thought of a garment fastening
invisibly at one side of the front under a very deceptive little pocket
than at all the electrical marvels shown them on the ship.
While in Dumaguete we were driven around the town and far out into
the country surrounding it, finding everything much more tropical and
luxuriant in growth than in Manila or its vicinity. There were giant
cocoanut-palms, looking not unlike the royal palm so often spoken of
by travellers on the Mediterranean, clusters of bamboo and groups of
plantains, flowering shrubs and fields of young rice, green as a well
kept lawn at home.
Picturesque natives saluted us from the roadway, or from the windows
of their nipa shacks; naked brown children fled at our approach, and
wakened their elders from afternoon siestas that they might see two
white women and a yellow-haired child drive by; carabao, wallowing in
the muddy water of a near-by stream, stared at us stolidly;
fighting-cocks crowed lustily as we passed; and hens barely escaped
with their cackling lives from under our very wheels.
A native lazily pounding rice in a mortar rested from his appearance of
labour and watched the carriage until it became a mere speck in the
distance. Two women beating clothes on the rocks of a little stream
stopped their gossip to peep at us shyly from under their brown hands.
Weavers of abaca left their looms and hung out of the windows to talk
with their neighbours about the great event. Heretofore they had
thought the Americans were like Chinamen, who came to the country,
yes, and made money from it, but never settled down as did the
Spaniards, never brought their families with them and made the islands
their home. But here were two American women and a little girl--surely
evidences of domesticity.
Everyone was friendly and peaceably disposed, everyone seemed glad

to see us, if smiles and hearty greetings carry weight, and there was
apparently no race prejudice, no half-concealed doubt or mistrust of us.
Yet in a few days thereafter that very road