Domestic Live-stock--Ponies, Buffaloes, Etc.
The Phillipine pony is not an indigenous animal. It is said to have
originated from the small Andalusian horse and the Chinese mare. I have
ridden more than 500 Philippine ponies, and, in general, I have found
them swift, strong, and elegant animals when well cared for. Geldings
are rarely met with. Before the American occupation ponies ranged
in value from P25 to P150 for a sound animal. Unfortunately,
prices of everything have risen since 1898, and, moreover, a fatal
horse-disease, called "surra," unknown in the Islands before that
period, has considerably reduced the stock of ponies. Due to these
causes, ponies cost to-day about three times the former prices.
The importation of Spanish and Australian horses resulted in failure,
because green grass (_zacate_)--the fodder of Philippine ponies--was
not the diet they had been accustomed to. Amateur enthusiasts
constantly urged the Spanish authorities to take measures for the
improvement of the breed, and in 1888 the acting Gov.-General Molto
sent a commission to British India to purchase breeding-horses
and mares. A number of fine animals was brought to Manila, but the
succeeding Gov.-General, Weyler, disapproved of the transaction, and
the stock was sold to the public. Two stallions and two mares fetched
together P2,600, the prices of the others ranging about P700 each.
Pony-races took place at Santa Mesa (Manila) every spring. They
were organized by "the Manila Jockey Club," usually patronized by
the Gov.-General of the day, and the great meet lasted three days,
when prizes were awarded to the winners. Ponies which had won races
in Manila fetched from P300 to P1,000. The new racecourse is at Pasay.
In Cebu also there were pony races every autumn on the racecourse
facing the _Cotta_ and the Government House.
Since 1898 the American authorities have imported thousands of horses
from the United States for the public service, and American dealers
have brought quantities of them from Australia and the United States
for private sale. All their fodder, however, has to be procured from
America in pressed bales, as they cannot thrive on the food of the
country. It is thought, however, that a plant, called _Teosinte_,
which is now being cultivated, will be suitable for horse-fodder when
the animals become thoroughly acclimatized.
The ordinary native has no notion of the proper treatment of ponies,
his idea being, generally, that this highly nervous animal can be
managed by brute force and the infliction of heavy punishment. Sights,
as painful as they are ridiculous, are often the result of this
error. Unfortunately, the lower-class native feels little attachment
to any animal but the Buffalo, or _Carabao_, as it is called here,
and the family pig.
Buffaloes six years old are considered in the prime of life
for beginning work, and will continue at hard labour, when well
pastured and bathed, for another six years. At 12 years of age a
carefully worked buffalo will still serve for light labour for about
five years. It is an amphibious animal, and if left to itself it
would pass quite one-third of its life in water or mud, whilst it
is indispensable to allow it to bathe every day. When grazing near
flooded land it will roam into the water up to its neck and immerse
its head for two minutes at a time, searching for vegetable food
below the surface. Whilst undisturbed in the field it is usually
accompanied by five or six white herons, which follow in its trail
in perfect security and feed on the worms and insects brought to the
surface by its foot-prints. It seems also to enjoy the attentions of
a small black bird, which hops about on its back and head to cleanse
its skin and ears of vermin. It is curious to watch this bird flying
towards the buffalo, which raises its head to receive it.
The rustic and the buffalo are familiar companions, and seem to
understand each other perfectly well. There is a certain affinity
between them in many ways. When a peasant is owner of the animal he
works, he treats it almost like one of the family. It is very powerful,
docile, slow in its movements, and easy to train. Many times I have
seen a buffalo ridden and guided by a piece of split rattan attached
to a rattan-ring in its nostril by a child three years of age. It
knows the voices of the family to which it belongs, and will approach
or stand still when called by any one of them. It is not of great
endurance, and cannot support hard work in the sun for more than a
couple of hours without rest and bathing if water be near. Europeans
cannot manage this animal, and very few attempt it; it requires the
patience, the voice, and the peculiar movement of the native.
Altogether the buffalo may be considered the most useful animal in
the Philippines. It serves for carting, ploughing, carrying loads
on its back, and almost all labour of the kind where great strength
is required for a short time. A peasant possessed of a bowie-knife,
a buffalo, and good health, need not seek far to make an independent
living. I owe a certain gratitude to buffaloes, for more than once they
have pulled my carriage out of the mud in the provinces, where horses
could get along no farther. Finally, buffalo-meat is an acceptable
article of food when nothing better can be got; by natives it is
much relished. Its flesh, like that of deer and oxen, is sometimes
cut into thin slices and sun-dried, to make what is called in the
Philippines _Tapa_, in Cuba _Tasajo_, and in Spain _Cecina_.
In the Visayas Islands oxen are used as draught-animals as frequently
as buffaloes,--sometimes even for carriages.
Wild buffaloes are met with, and, when young, they are easily
tamed. Buffalo-hunting, as a sport, is a very dangerous diversion, and
rarely indulged in, as death or victory must come to the infuriated
beast or the chaser. A good hunting-ground is Nueva Ecija, near the
Caraballo de Baler Mountain.
The domesticated buffalo is subject to a bronchial disease called
_garrotillo_; it rarely recovers from a serious sprain, and more
rarely still from a broken leg. In 1887-88, an epidemic disease,
previously unknown, appeared among the cattle, and several thousands
of them died. From the autopsy of some diseased buffaloes, it was
seen that the inside had become converted into blood. Agriculturists
suffered great losses. In the poor neighbourhood of Antipolo alone,
1,410 head of cattle died within four months, according to a report
which the Governor of Morong showed to me. An old acquaintance of mine
in Bulacan Province lost 85 per cent. of his live-stock in the season,
whilst the remainder were more or less affected.
As a consequence of the Revolution (1896-98) and the War of
Independence (1899-1901) the stock of buffaloes was considerably
reduced, many thousands of these useful animals having been stolen
from their owners by the belligerents, only to slay them or work them
to death. When peace dawned again on the Colony, rinderpest commenced
to make ravages in the buffalo herds, which are now reduced to a
mere fraction of what they were in 1896. The consequences of these
losses in live-stock are referred to in Chap. xxxi. Before the wars,
a buffalo could be got for P10 in places, such as hemp districts,
where ploughing is seldom necessary, whilst in the sugar-yielding
Island of Negros P30 was about the lowest price for an average trained
animal. The present value is from P125 to P250.
In all my travels in this Colony I have seen only five _Donkeys_,
which were imported simply as curiosities.
Mules have been imported into the Islands by the American authorities
for the public service. If sold they would fetch about P300 each. They
are the most satisfactory draught-animals ever introduced and, but
for the fear of the new disease "surra," might take the place of
buffaloes in agriculture.
Sheep do not thrive in this climate. They are brought from Shanghai,
and, as a rule, they languish and die in a few months. Oxen, goats,
dogs, cats, pigs, monkeys, fowls, ducks, turkeys, and geese are
among the ordinary domestic live-stock. Both the dogs and the cats
are of very poor species, and the European breeds are eagerly sought
for. The better class of natives have learned to appreciate the higher
instincts of the European dog. Many Chinese dogs with long, straight
hair, pointed nose, small eyes, and black tongues are brought over
from Hong-Kong. All thoroughbred Philippine cats have a twist in
their tails, and are not nearly so fine as the European race.
Natives do not particularly relish mutton or goat's flesh, which
they say is heating to the blood. I have found stewed monkey very
good food, but the natives only eat it on very rare occasions,
solely as a cure for cutaneous diseases. No flesh, fish or poultry
has the same flavour here as in Europe; sometimes, indeed, the meat
of native oxen sold in Manila has a repulsive taste when the animal
has been quickly fattened for the market on a particular herb, which
it eats readily. Neither can it be procured so tender as in a cold
climate. If kept in an ice-chest it loses flavour; if hung up in
cool air it becomes flabby and decomposes. However, the cold-storage
established by the American authorities and private firms, since
1898, has greatly contributed to improve the supply of tender meat,
and meat shipments are regularly received from Australia and America.
The seas are teeming with fish, and there are swarms of sharks,
whose victims are numerous, whilst crocodiles are found in most of
the deep rivers and large swamps in uncultivated tracts. The _Taclobo_
sea-shell is sometimes found weighing up to about 180 lbs. Fresh-water
fish is almost flavourless and little appreciated.
In all the rice-paddy fields, small fish called _Dalag_ (_Ophiocephalus
vagus_), are caught by the natives, for food, with cane nets, or
rod and line, when the fields are flooded. Where this piscatorial
phenomenon exists in the dry season no one has been able satisfactorily
to explain.
The only beast of prey known in the Philippines is the wild cat,
and the only wild animal to be feared is the buffalo.
Both the jungles and the villages abound with insects and reptilia,
such as lizards, snakes, iguanas, frogs, and other batrachian species,
land-crabs, centipedes [159], tarantulas, scorpions, huge spiders,
hornets, common beetles, queen-beetles (_elator noctilucus_) and
others of the vaginopennous order, red ants (_formica smaragdina_),
etc. Ants are the most common nuisance, and food cannot be left on
the table a couple of hours without a hundred or so of them coming
to feed. For this reason sideboards and food-cupboards are made
with legs to stand in basins of water. There are many species of
ants, from the size of a pin's head to half an inch long. On the
forest-trees a bag of a thin whitish membrane, full of young ants,
is sometimes seen hanging, and the traveller, for his own comfort,
should be careful not to disturb it.
Boa-Constrictors are also found, but they are rare, and I have never
seen one in freedom. They are the most harmless of all snakes in
the Philippines. Sometimes the Visayos keep them in their houses,
in cages, as pets. Small _Pythons_ are common. The snakes most to
be dreaded are called by the natives _Alupong_ and _Daghong-palay_
(Tagalog dialect). Their bite is fatal if not cauterized at once. The
latter is met with in the deep mud of rice-fields and amongst the tall
rice-blades, hence its name. Stagnant waters are nearly everywhere
infested with _Leeches_. In the trees in dense forests there is also
a diminutive species of leech which jumps into one's eyes.
In the houses and huts in Manila, and in most low-lying places,
mosquitoes are troublesome, but thanks to an inoffensive kind of
lizard with a disproportionately big ugly head called the _chacon_,
and the small house-newt, one is tolerably free from crawling
insects. _Newts_ are quite harmless to persons, and are rather
encouraged than otherwise. If one attempts to catch a newt by its
tail it shakes it off and runs away, leaving it behind. Rats and mice
are numerous. There are myriads of cockroaches; but happily fleas,
house-flies, and bugs are scarce. In the wet-season evenings the
croaking of frogs in the pools and swamps causes an incessant din.
In the dry-season evenings certain trees are illuminated by swarms
of fire-flies, which assemble and flicker around the foliage as do
moths around the flame of a candle. The effect of their darting in
and out like so many bright sparks between the branches is very pretty.
There are many very beautiful _Moths_ and _Butterflies_. In 1897 I
brought home about 300 specimens of Philippine butterflies for the
Hon. Walter Rothschild.
The _White Ant_ (_termes_), known here as _Anay_, is by far the
most formidable insect in its destructive powers. It is also common
in China. Here it eats through most woods, but there are some rare
exceptions, such as Molave, Ipil, Yacal, etc. If white ants earnestly
take possession of the woodwork of a building not constructed of
the finest timber, it is a hopeless case. I have seen deal-wood
packing-cases, which have come from Europe, so eaten away that they
could not be lifted without falling to pieces. Merchants' warehouses
have had to be pulled down and rebuilt owing to the depredations of
this insect, as, even if the building itself were not in danger, no
one would care to risk the storage of goods inside. The destruction
caused by _anay_ is possibly exaggerated, but there is no doubt that
many traders have lost considerable sums through having had to realize,
at any price, wares into which this insect had penetrated.
Bats are to be seen in this Colony, measuring up to 5 feet from
tip to tip of their wings. They are caught for the value of their
beautiful soft skins, which generally find a sale to Europeans
returning home. Bat-shooting is a good pastime, and a novelty to
Europeans. Small Bats frequently fly into the houses in the evening.
Deer and _Wild Boars_ are plentiful, and afford good sport to the
huntsman. In Morong district--in Negros Island--and in Rizal Province,
on and in the vicinity of the estate which I purchased--I have had
some good runs. Monkeys, too, abound in many of the forests. In all
the islands there is enjoyment awaiting the sportsman. Pheasants,
snipe, a dozen varieties of wild pigeons, woodcock, jungle-fowl
(_gallus bankiva_), wild ducks, water-fowl, etc. are common, whilst
there are also turtle-doves, _calaos_ (_buceros hydrocorax_), hawks,
cranes, herons, crows, parrots, cockatoos, kingfishers, parroquets,
and many others peculiar to the Archipelago which I will leave to
ornithologists to describe. [160] One curious species of pigeon
(_calanas nicobarina_) is called in Spanish _Paloma de punalada_
because of the crimson feathers on its breast, which look exactly as if
they were blood-stained from a dagger-stab. [161] In 1898 I saw some
specimens of this pigeon in the Hamburg Zoological Gardens. There
are several birds of gorgeous plumage, such as the _oropendolo_
(Spanish name).
It is a curious fact that these Islands have no singing birds.
The _Locust Plague_ is one of the great risks the planter has to
run. In 1851 the Government imported some _Martins_ from China with
the hope of exterminating the locusts. When the birds arrived in
the port of Manila they were right royally received by a body of
troops. A band of music accompanied them with great ceremony to Santa
Mesa, where they were set at liberty, and the public were forbidden
to destroy them under severe penalties. At that date there were
countless millions of locusts among the crops. These winged insects
(Tagalog, _balang_) come in swarms of millions at a time, and how
to exterminate them is a problem. I have seen a mass of locusts so
dense that a row of large trees the other side of them could not be
distinguished. Sailing along the Antique coast one evening, I observed,
on the fertile shore, a large brown-coloured plateau. For the moment I
thought it was a tract of land which had been cleared by fire, but on
nearing it I noticed that myriads of locusts had settled on several
fields. We put in quite close to them and I fired off a revolver,
the noise of which caused them to move off slowly in a cloud. When
locusts settle on cultivated lands, miles of crops are often ruined
in a night by the foliage being consumed, and at daybreak only fields
of stalks are to be seen. In the daytime, when the locusts are about
to attack a planted field, the natives rush out with their tin cans,
which serve as drums, bamboo clappers, red flags, etc., to scare
them off, whilst others light fires in open spaces with damp fuel to
raise smoke. Another effective method adopted to drive them away is to
fire off small mortars, such as the natives use at provincial feasts,
as these insects are sensitive to the least noise.
The body of a locust is similar in appearance to a large
grasshopper. The females are of a dark brown colour, and the males of
a light reddish-brown. The female extends the extremity of her body
in the form of an augur, with which she pierces the earth to the depth
of an inch, there to deposit her eggs. In two or three weeks the eggs
hatch. Every few days the females lay eggs, if allowed to settle. The
newly-born insects, having no wings until they are about ten days
old, cannot be driven off, and in the meantime they make great havoc
among the crops, where it is difficult to extinguish them. The method
employed to get rid of them is to place a barrier, such as sheets of
corrugated iron roofing, at one side of a field, dig a pit in front of
the barrier, and send a number of men to beat round the three sides
of the field until the young locusts jump in heaps into the pit. I
have heard planters say that they have succeeded, in this way, in
destroying as much as 20 tons of locusts in one season. I do not know
the maximum distance that locusts can fly in one continuous journey,
but they have been known to travel as much as 60 miles across the
sea. Millions of unwinged locusts (called _lucton_) have been seen
floating down river streams, whilst, however, the winged insect cannot
resist the heavy rains which accompany a hurricane.
It is said that the food passes through the body of a locust as
fast as it eats, and that its natural death is due either to want of
nourishment, or to a small worm which forms in the body and consumes
it. It is also supposed that the female dies after laying a certain
number of eggs. Excepting the damage to vegetation, locusts are
perfectly harmless insects, and native children catch them to play
with; also, when fried, they serve as food for the poorest classes--in
fact, I was assured, on good authority, that in a certain village in
Tayabas Province, where the peasants considered locusts a dainty dish,
payment was offered to the parish priest for him to say Mass and pray
for the continuance of the luxury. In former times, before there were
so many agriculturists interested in their destruction, these insects
have been known to devastate the Colony during six consecutive years.
In the mud of stagnant waters, a kind of beetle, called in Visaya
dialect _Tanga_, is found, and much relished as an article of food. In
the dry season, as much as fifty cents a dozen is paid for them in Molo
(Yloilo) by well-to-do natives. Many other insects, highly repugnant
to the European, are a _bonne bouche_ for the natives.