ANIMALS.
The buffalo is, perhaps, the most useful of Philippine
quadrupeds. Immense herds of wild buffaloes are found in the interior,
but the tamed animal is employed in the labours of the fields and
the transport of commodities, whether on its back or in waggons. His
enjoyment is to be merged in water or mud. Such is the attachment of
the mother to her young that she has been known to spring into the
river and furiously to pursue the crocodile that had robbed her of
her calf. Wild boars and deer abound.
A good deal of attention has been paid to improvement of the race of
native ponies, and their value has much increased with the increasing
demand. Till of late years the price was from forty to fifty dollars,
but the Captain-General told me that the four ponies which he was
accustomed to use in his carriage cost 500 dollars.
Though the accounts of the silent, concealed and rapid ravages of the
white ants would sometimes appear incredible, credulity respecting
them will outstrip all bounds. We had a female servant at Hong Kong
who told us she had lent her savings in hard dollars to one of her
relations, and, on claiming repayment, was informed that the white
ants had eaten the dollars, nor did the woman's simplicity doubt the
story. In the Philippines at sunset during the rains their presence
becomes intolerable. One well-authenticated fact may serve as an
illustration of the destructive powers of these insects, to whom
beautiful gauze wings have been given, as to butterflies in the
later stage of their existence, which wings drop off as they find a
resting-place. In the town of Obando, province of Bulacan, on the 18th
of March, 1838, the various objects destined for the services of the
mass, such as robes, albs, amices, the garments of the priests, &c,
were examined and placed in a trunk made of the wood called narra
(Pterocarpus palidus). On the 19th they were used in the divine
services, and in the evening were restored to the box. On the 20th
some dirt was observed near it, and on opening, every fragment of the
vestments and ornaments of every sort were found to have been reduced
to dust, except the gold and silver lace, which were tarnished with
a filthy deposit. On a thorough examination, not an ant was found in
any other part of the church, nor any vestige of the presence of these
voracious destroyers; but five days afterwards they were discovered
to have penetrated through a beam six inches thick.
Few of the larger wild animals are found in the Philippines. The
elephant must have been known in former times, as the names gadya
(elephant) and nangagadya (elephant-hunting) are preserved in
the Tagal language. Oxen, swine, buffaloes, deer, goats, sheep,
a great variety of apes and monkeys, cats, flying squirrels, dogs,
rats, mungoes and other quadrupeds, are found in various stages of
domesticity and wildness.
The great insect pests of the Philippines are the white ants (termes)
and the mosquitos. Fleas, bugs and flies are less numerous and
tormenting than in many temperate regions.
Some of the bats measure from five to six feet from the tips of
their wings.
There are incredible stories about a small black bird of the swallow
race, which is said to make its nest in the tail of wild horses. De Mas
quotes what he calls undoubtedly trustworthy authorities [28] for his
arguments. There is an immense variety of gallinaceous fowls, pigeons
and birds, whose Indian names would to European ornithologists bring
little information; among which the balicyao is celebrated for its
song; the mananayom (solitary), which always dies when captured; the
coling, easily taught to talk; numerous parrots; the calao, which has
a large transparent bill and crows like a cock; the bocuit, or bird of
seven colours, which has a singularly sweet note; the valoor, a pigeon
whose plumage is varied like that of the partridge; another called the
dundunay, which is reported to be one of the most beautiful of birds.
Snakes, lizards and other reptiles abound; spiders of enormous size,
tarantulas, &c. The guiko is very disturbing, from its noise. I
was struck with the tenacity with which this creature held, even in
the agonies of death, to a piece of timber on which it was placed;
the soles of its feet seemed to have all the power of the sucker
with which boys amuse themselves, and the animal was detached with
great difficulty.
The fire-flies illuminate the forests at night. There are some trees
to which they attach themselves in preference to others. Few objects
are more beautiful than a bush or tree lighted by these bright and
glancing stars. The brilliant creatures seem to have a wonderful
sympathy with one another, sometimes by the production of a sudden
blaze of beautiful fire, of a light and delicate green, and sometimes
by its as sudden extinction.
Of aquatic creatures the tortoise is of considerable commercial
importance. The natives, who watch the time of their coming on shore,
conceal themselves, and, when a certain number are marching inland,
run between the tortoises and the waves, turn them one after another
on their backs, and return at their leisure to remove them. The large
bivalve called by the natives taclovo, and which is used much in the
churches as the receptacle for holy water, and is seen frequently
at the entrance of houses, is captured by dropping a cord upon the
body of the animal when the shell is opened, the animal immediately
closes upon the cord, and is dragged to the surface with the greatest
ease. I am not aware of the existence of any conchological work on the
Philippines, though there is a great variety of land and water shells.