The intercourse between the Spaniards and many of the foreigners
residing at Manilla is not very great, as the British here,
as everywhere else, appear to prefer associating with their own
countrymen to frequenting the houses of their Spanish friends,
even although quite sure of a cordial reception there. The time
for visiting is in the evening, when there are numbers of impromptu
conversaziones--or tertulias, as they are called--of which the Dons
are very fond, and in which very many of their evenings are passed.
Any one having a few Spanish acquaintances is pretty sure to number
among them some persons who, from their own character, or that of
some member of their family, such as a pretty and pleasant wife,
or a handsome daughter, has generally many visitors at his house,
perhaps six, ten, or a dozen of an evening, who call there without
any preconcerted plan, and sit down to play a round game at cards
or gossip with each other for an hour. Should there be ladies of the
party, music and dancing are probably the amusements for an hour or
two; you may, of course, escape and go on to the house of some one
else should the party turn out to be dull, which, however, is very
seldom the case when Spaniards are the company, as every one appears
to exert himself to amuse and be amused to the best of his power.
The time for evening visits is any time after seven o'clock, for till
about that hour nearly all the white population are enjoying the cool
air on the Calyada, or on some of the other drives, all of which are
crowded with carriages from about half-past five till that time of
the evening.
Some of these equipages are handsome enough, and are almost universally
horsed by a pair of the country ponies, there being only one or two
people who turn out with a pair of Sydney horses, and very few who
drive a single-horse vehicle, although it is met with now and then. The
only persons allowed to drive four horses in their carriages are the
Governor and the Archbishop: this regulation is frequently grumbled at
by the Spanish Jehus, and one gentleman, the colonel of a regiment,
having applied to the government for permission to indulge his taste
in this respect by driving a four-in-hand, was refused it, so he had
to content himself with turning out with only three in his drag. With
that number of quadrupeds, however, he did a good deal to frighten and
amuse the world, apparently wishing to break his neck, in which he very
nearly succeeded on more than one occasion; Spanish accomplishments
in driving being by no means equal to those general at home.
A young Spaniard who fills an important office connected with the
commerce of Manilla, a situation he is said to owe more to the frailty
of his mother, a fair lady at the court of the late King of Spain,
whom he exactly resembles in appearance, temper, and manners, than
to any qualifications especially pointing him out for the post, used
frequently to assert his royal blood by turning out a neat barouche
and pair, accompanied by two outriders, and certainly he looked much
smarter and better appointed than either of the authorities driving
four horses.
The expense of keeping horses is very small, so that nearly all,
except the very poorest people, keep carriages, which in that climate
are considered more as necessaries of life than as luxuries, and to a
certain extent really are so; for the sun most effectually prevents
Europeans walking to any distance during the heat of the day, and
should any one attempt doing so, a month of it is about time enough
seriously to injure or perhaps to kill him. About sunset everybody is
most glad to escape from the impure air of the town and the crowded
narrow streets, to inhale the fresh breeze from the bay on the Calyada,
which is the most frequented drive.
Formerly all the ladies turned out to drive without bonnets or
coverings of any sort on the head, but bowled along, seated in open
carriages, in about the same style of evening dress they would appear
in at a tertulia or the theatre, or, in fact, at a ball-room. They
were in the habit of spreading a sort of gum, which washed easily
off, over the hair after it had been dressed, in order to keep out
the dust, &c.; but within the last two years several bonnets have
made their appearance in the carriages at the drive, and I fear
their general use will supersede the former fashion, which from its
simplicity allowed their most striking beauties of eyes, hair, &c.,
to be seen in a most charming manner.
Many of the Creole girls have very handsome countenances, and there
are not a few who would be remarked upon as fine women by the side of
any European beauty: but they are generally seen to most advantage in
the evening, as their chief attraction does not consist in freshness
of complexion so much as in fine features, which are often full of
character and lighted up by eyes as brilliant as they are soft. Their
figures are good, and their feet and ankles quite unexceptionable,
being generally very much more neatly turned than those of my
handsomest countrywomen.
As dress is a study which has a good deal of their attention, they
appear to understand it pretty well, but show a marked fondness for gay
colours, as no doubt their pale complexions require their aid more than
when ruddy health is upon their cheeks. In the forenoon the skin of a
Creole or Spanish beauty appears to be rather too pale to please the
general taste; and sometimes their colour degenerates into sallowness,
which I fancy may proceed from their fondness for chocolate, that being
very largely consumed by all of them. This, and the want of exercise,
communicated a somewhat bilious look to their appearance.
Many ladies, especially those from the northern provinces of Spain,
have sometimes the beautiful white skins and the ruddy freshness of
complexion so much admired in my countrywomen; but, unfortunately,
that colour is not very lasting, as the first season they pass in
the Philippines is generally sufficient to blanch their bloom, but
it is very often succeeded by a soft and delicate-looking paleness,
which is perhaps not a whit less dangerous to amatory bachelors than
the more brilliant colours which preceded it.
Although lively and talkative enough, Spanish women seldom shine in
conversation, which perhaps is more owing to the narrow and defective
education they too often have in youth than to any natural want of
the quickness and tact to talk well.
Their manners are peculiarly soft and pleasing, and their lively
ingenuousness is extremely seductive. Their accomplished management
of the fan has made it peculiarly their own weapon, and it has been
converted into an important auxiliary to their natural good looks,
both in attack and defence. There are few things more striking to a
stranger than to see the ladies use it at the casino, when a number
of them are together, and while there is no want of men to admire the
graceful movement of the hand. Mere children are constantly seen using
it. It is a ludicrous thing to watch one of these little creatures
going through a set of flirting motions with a fan, should you look
at her, copying no doubt the motions or play with it from those of
some grown-up sister or gay mamma.
Foreign ladies seldom or never attain the same degree of dexterity
and ease in the use of their fans, the climate they were born in not
requiring that it should be placed in their hands at an early age.
The dress of Spanish ladies is becoming every day more like the
French modes, although some elderly people still continue to use the
country dress, which, from its coolness, is much more comfortable than
the European habit; but it is rapidly going out, and young Spanish
ladies never appear to wear it, as formerly they frequently did,
within doors and in the country.
The mantilla is very rarely seen, except perhaps in the morning,
when some fair penitent goes or returns from one of the churches,
all of which are thrown open at a very early hour in the morning, at
or before daylight, to give the people an opportunity of going there
unostentatiously and unnoticed, to say their prayers and get home
again before any one, but those on an errand similar to their own,
is likely to meet them in the streets.
Nearly all the women, after reaching thirty years of age, get stout
or fall off in flesh and become very thin, for there apparently is
very little medium between the two degrees, as nearly all the old
women one sees are either very fat or very thin. Of the two sorts
the fat retain their good looks the longest; for after attaining a
certain age, the thin women are seldom anything but atrociously ugly,
probably caused by the climate more than anything else, as those
Europeans who enjoy good health at Manilla appear to become stout
in that climate, while those who get thin seldom appear to be well,
and are unable to stand a lengthened residence there.
In youth, however, their natural elasticity of character prevents
delicate girls getting sick, if moderate care be taken of them, and
they are generally rather more slender figures than English girls,
until reaching about twenty-five, when they begin to get fat or to
become thin; at that age they look very matronly.
_Apropos des dames._ Even in these degenerate days, Spanish blood
is as hot and Castilian gentlemen are as gallant as any of those of
former times. Not long ago the following circumstance happened at
the casino:--Don Camilo de T----, a natural son of the late King of
Spain, after dancing with a female acquaintance, rejoined a group
of acquaintances, who were standing together in a knot, criticising
the appearance of their several fair friends, when just as he joined
them some one happened to say to another that the lady he had just
been dancing with appeared to have padded her bosom. On hearing this,
Don Camilo took the speaker rather by surprise, by calling out "It
is a lie," in a tone loud enough to be heard by all near him, and by
saying that as he had just been dancing with that lady, he knew that
it was not so, and must resent the remark as a personal affront. A
duel took place in consequence, in which the gallant was wounded
in the sword arm, which, by letting out a little of his hot blood,
may probably prevent a recurrence of such extreme devotion to his
fair acquaintances.