All strangers coming to Manilla should endeavour to make an excursion
to the great inland lake, or Laguna de Bay, as it is likely well to
repay the inconvenience one has to stand in such an excursion from
exposure to the sun, &c. The lake is of very considerable extent,
measuring, I think, about twenty-eight miles at its greatest length,
by about twenty-two at its extreme breadth; it is formed by an
amphitheatre of mountains, the various streams from which feed it;
and its opening or outlet forms the origin of the river Pasig, which,
bathing the walls of the fortress of Santiago and the capital of the
Philippines, flows into the arm of the sea called Manilla Bay.
About Christmastide there are many visitors to the lake, as from the
then cooler season the necessary exposure to the heat of a midday sun
in a slightly-covered boat is comparatively innocuous, and much less
disagreeable than it would prove at any other time of the year.
Several foreigners are in the habit of making an annual excursion
there from Manilla to spend these holidays, during which there is no
other amusement in town than church-going and procession-staring.
Having made arrangements to visit the lake either by starting from
Manilla in a large Pasig banca or prow, which although more tedious
than driving to the village of Guadaloupe, near Pasig, and then taking
the water, is, I think, the better plan of the two, as the river
scenery is well worth seeing, and there are no inconveniences such
as are inseparable from that of changing conveyances at Guadaloupe,
&c. When I started, my companion, who luckily happened to be an
experienced man in such affairs, having at different times of his
life roamed through the backwoods of Canada, and over the plains of
Australia, recommended the water conveyance for the whole distance,
as we were not pushed for time; and the excursion turned out to be one
of the pleasantest I have ever been engaged in, from the satisfactory
nature of his arrangements and his own hilarity and good-natured
usefulness; for of course he had not knocked about so much without
acquiring some _savoir faire_, so desirable in a companion during
such an excursion.
On Christmas eve we went together to a large dancing party or ball,
given by an old and rich Mestizo, at whose house we kept up dancing
and enjoying ourselves till about midnight; shortly before which all
the men started, in company with the ladies, to the parish church of
San Sebastian, there to hear a midnight mass, and welcome in the sacred
anniversary by saying our prayers. The spectacle was rather a fine one;
and on looking at the devout up-turned features of my fair companion,
when kneeling at her devotions, I could scarcely believe that she was
the good-natured, lively Mestiza girl I had been flirting with not
five minutes before; but after half an hour's worship, which, to do
them justice, was apparently of the most sincere and heartfelt kind,
the fair penitents returned to the supper room with a number of the
heretics, and afterwards, notwithstanding all their prayers, danced
with us, being quite as lively and as full of flirting as before their
visit to church. We stopped till about three o'clock in the morning,
when, being thoroughly tired of the heated rooms, my companion and I
resolved to enter the boat which had been engaged for the occasion,
and in which clothes, provender, &c., had previously been embarked,
and left under charge of a servant, Fernando, at a landing-place
from the river, near the house where we had been invited to pass the
evening. Taking the precaution to eat a hearty supper, to keep out
the night air, on arriving at the boat, and wrapping ourselves up in
our blankets, we both very speedily began to enjoy the rest necessary
for next day's exertions; and having previously secured our crew of
five picked men to pull, we were rapidly approaching the Laguna when
we awoke, and daylight had just rested on their oars next morning;
after breakfast, and a bath in the cool and delicious water of the
river above Pasig, we quickly passed by the pateros or villages for
breeding ducks, situated among the swamps at the outlets of the lake,
and the beginning of the river.
Several of these duck villages can scarcely be said to be situated on
_terra firma_, as many of the _nipa_ or attap-houses are founded on
the supporting trunks of trees growing out of the sedgy swamp. The
houses have a small lower platform of bamboo on two sides, for a
cooking-place and for landing from a boat, below and around being trees
or bamboos growing out of the water. Many of these clumps of bamboo,
some of which attain a great height, occasionally, perhaps, as much as
150 feet, are from their numbers a peculiar feature in the landscape
of the Philippines, and form some of the most beautiful objects of
luxuriant vegetation that can be imagined for a landscape. They are
found growing wild, very grand and fresh-looking in all parts of
the country, and are of many varieties, some of which any one may be
acquainted with who takes the trouble to consult the good old Padre
Blanco's book on the _flora de Filipiñas_.
At the pateros, near the entrance to the Laguna, the people breed large
flocks of ducks to supply the Manilla market, to the exclusion of all
other employment except, perhaps, catching and drying enough fish to
season their rice, which most of them purchase, and very few of them
grow. These Indians, although few in number, are to a considerable
extent isolated from the people of the country, from what cause I
know not, but they very rarely associate or intermarry except with
each other. The ducks they breed for the market are well trained,
being perfectly obedient to the call of their different masters,
and on hearing his signal come quickly sailing back, should they have
gone too far away. They get fat on the fish and tender sedgy grass,
and when placed on the dinner-table are very good eating.
After entering the lake, which is studded with wooded islets, the
largest of which is named Talim, the gun is called into requisition,
as the immense flocks of wild duck breeding here afford a constant
sport, and the advantages of their acquisition are not likely to be
overlooked either by the _gourmand_ or the hungry tourist. They are,
however, rather wild, and the best mode of shooting them appears
to be to dress in a blue cotton shirt and trousers like an Indian,
and paddle off as near the flock as they will permit; and then for a
chance among them. If there is more than one person in the grass-boat,
which is a very small and unhooded banca, which the natives use for
carrying small quantities of grass for horses, &c., the ducks are
apt to take the alarm, although I have sometimes been successful in
getting near them with an Indian paddling the boat.
Besides the ducks there are several other kinds of wild fowl,
and on coasting round the shores of Talim, an alligator basking
in the sun, frequently offers a mark for a ball, which, however,
seldom proves fatal. I struck one on the scales without producing
any apparent damage, the distance being probably about thirty yards,
and he merely shook himself a little and tumbled into the water from
off the rock he had been sleeping on, without seeming much startled
or to be in the least wounded. They are said to reach an immense age,
and the most incredible stories are told, and apparently believed,
by the natives themselves of their traditional longevity.
On Talim some deer and pigs may now and then be seen, although it
is too much frequented and disturbed to be at all a sure cover for
them; my companion shot a very beautiful variety of the hawk on the
island. After enjoying the hospitality of M. Vidie, an old French
planter at Jalajala, we set off in the direction of Tanay, whence we
had heard good reports of the game.
During a strong monsoon there is sometimes a heavy swell on the
water of the Laguna, and occasionally boats are swamped or upset,
so that frequently when we used to go out in our Pasig banca it was
against the will of our boatmen; but like true and stubborn Britons,
we always insisted upon having our own way, although the boatmen, who
certainly knew most about it, used to predict that we should all be
swamped to a certainty, but a well-trimmed and moderately well-handled
boat can go through any sea, and it is generally from want of care that
accidents occur. On one occasion in Manilla Bay, I have been swamped
solely from that cause, and the fright of a companion, whose alarm
induced the catastrophe by diverting the men's attention. However,
as an American whaler was luckily near and saw our situation, they
lowered a whale-boat and picked us up.
At the lake, in stormy weather, we used to go out with two men
steering the boat, each with a powerful paddle, and the remainder
of the crew managing the sail. Sometimes we got half full of water,
which it was the duty of the boy Fernando to bale out, but when he got
seasick and tired, we both set to to keep her free. On one occasion
of the sort, my chum Adam, taking pity on the forlorn condition of
the puking Fernando, recommended to him frequent sips from a bottle
of brandy, to keep away the retching; the hint was not thrown away,
and the lad lay down in the bottom of the boat, looking as miserable
as possible, and quite sick, utterly forgetful or unconscious of the
soiled condition of the splendid piña shirt which he wore at the time;
although in his hours of ease it commonly attracted a large proportion
of his regard and self-complacency. After many sips, apparently, the
brandy produced the desired effect, as my follower ceased to project
his mouth, every now and then, over the side of the banca, but had
sunk into a sound sleep, caused, we imagined, by the exhaustion and
lassitude subsequent to sea-sickness; and so he remained till our
approaching Tanay, when the sail was lowered, and he roused up and
left to bring our luggage up to the Casa Real, or townhouse, where
there is always a chamber and bedstead for strangers. For that place
we started, leaving him to follow.
After waiting some time impatiently, we were rather surprised to
see two of the boatmen marching up with Fernando, who gave tokens of
extreme lassitude and unsteadiness of gait, showing at times, when
he raised his drooping head, an attempt to shake off his conductors,
who were on these little manifestations reinforced by two of their
companions, who followed them, bearing our portmanteaus; and at length
the procession would move on again. After some difficulty they got
him into the Casa Real, where one of the men, spreading a mat upon
the floor, laid him down on it, staring wildly about him. After
contemplating him for a few seconds, he turned to me, and, inverting
the mouth of an empty bottle, to prove satisfactorily that it was
empty of the _vieux cognac_, which was marked on the label, laid it
down beside him, saying, "Es muy boracho, Senor, pero es valiente."
And so resulted the cure of sea-sickness by brandy, of which the lad
had taken such a dose as to shake him severely, although a strong
young fellow, for several days after it; in fact, we both became
afraid of him, and vowed never again to recommend the medicine,
except in quantities less than a bottle at a time.