Part 4

Admiral Dewey, after studying Philippine conditions, during the Spanish-American War, spoke of the Filipinos as follows:

"In my opinion, these people are far more superior in intelligence and more capable of self-government than the natives of Cuba. I am familiar with both races."

General Merrit, on his arrival in Paris in October, 1898, was reported as saying:

"The Filipinos impressed me very favorably. I think great injustice has been done to the native population.... They are more capable of self-government than, I think, the Cubans are. They are considered to be good Catholics. They have lawyers, doctors, the men of kindred professions, who stand well in the community, and bear favorable comparison to those of other countries. They are dignified, courteous, and reserved."

Leonard Sargent, a naval cadet, and W. B. Wilcox, paymaster of the Navy, after travelling over the Island of Luzon, at that time wrote a report of their trip, which was referred by Admiral Dewey to the Navy Department with the indorsement that it was "the most complete information obtainable." Mr. Sargent remarked:

"Although this government has never been recognized, and in all probability will go out of existence without recognition, yet, it cannot be denied that, in a region occupied by many millions of inhabitants, for nearly six months, it stood alone between anarchy and order.

"As a tribute to the efficiency of Aguinaldo's government and to the law-abiding character of his subjects, I offer the fact that Mr. Wilcox and I pursued our journey throughout in perfect security, and returned to Manila with only the most pleasing recollections of the quiet and orderly life which we found the natives to be leading under the new régime."

IV. POPULATION OF THE PHILIPPINE ISLANDS

[A Homogeneous People]

The Filipinos are a homogeneous people. An American, Dr. Merton Miller, former chief ethnologist of the Philippine Bureau of Science is the foremost authority for the claim that:

"From the extreme northern end of the Archipelago to its southernmost limits, with the exception of the few scattered Negritos, the people of the Philippines, pagan, Moro and Christian are one racially. There is some reason for believing that they migrated into the islands at two different times. But in all probability they came from the same general region and have a common ancestry.

"There are many different languages or dialects in the Philippines but all are closely related one to another, the pronunciation and mode of speech vary but little from one section of the Philippines to another and the majority of the words are common to two or more of the Philippine languages. These languages, whether spoken by pagan, Moro or Christian, belong to the great Malayo-Polynesian family, branches of which are found in Sumatra, the Hawaiian Islands, Madagascar and on many islands between."

Ex-President Taft has the following to say about Filipino homogeneity:

"The word 'tribe' gives an erroneous impression. There is no tribal relation among the Filipinos. There is a racial solidarity among them undoubtedly. They are homogeneous. I can not tell the difference between an Ilocano and a Tagalog or a Visayan.... To me all the Filipinos were alike."

While Governor General Harrison, before a joint committee of Congress, expressed himself thus:

"To my way of thinking, they are very remarkably homogeneous, quite as much so as any nation in the world to-day with which I have any acquaintance. From one end of the Philippine Islands to the other the people look very much alike; their manners are very much the same; their style of living is about the same; and they are being generally educated along the same lines by the government and by the private schools, which are coöperating with the government. So that I think they already have one of the prime requisites to a nationality, namely, a general and universal feeling that they belong to the same race of people."

[Total Population]

The total population of the Philippine Islands according to the Census of 1918 is 10,350,640. Of this number 9,495,272 are Christians, while 855,368 are non-Christian so-called. The non-Christian element, therefore, represents 8.2 per cent of the total population. In this number are included the Mohammedans of the South and the Igorots and other mountaineers, who have been so widely advertised abroad and often represented as typical Filipinos.

FOREIGN POPULATION OF THE PHILIPPINE ISLANDS

American 6,405 Spanish 4,015 English 1,063 German 312 French 218 Swiss 451 Chinese 45,156 Japanese 6,684 All others 1,111 Total 65,415

COMPARATIVE POPULATION

Philippines 10,350,640 Argentina 8,284,000 Belgium 7,658,000 Canada 8,361,000 Australia 4,971,000 Cuba 2,628,000

V. GEOGRAPHICAL ITEMS OF INTEREST

The Philippine Archipelago is entirely in the Tropics. They lie north of the Dutch and British Island of Borneo and the Dutch Island of Celebes; South of the Japanese Island of Formosa; East of French Indo-China, and Southeast of Hongkong and the Southern provinces of China.

[Number of Islands]

There are 7,083 islands in all extending 1,152 statute miles from north to south and 688 statute miles from east to west. Two thousand four hundred and forty-one of the Islands have names, while 4,642 are unnamed. The northernmost Island known as Y'Ami Island is 65 miles from Formosa while the southernmost, called Salwag, 4° 40' from the Equator, is only 30 miles east of Borneo.

[Total Land Area]

The total land area of the entire archipelago is approximately 115,000 square miles. This is in excess of the combined areas of the States of New York, New Jersey, Pennsylvania, and Delaware; only about 7,000 square miles less than the total area of the British Isles; about 5,000 square miles more than the total area of Italy; and about two-thirds the size of Spain. Luzon Island alone which is the largest is as large as Denmark, Belgium, and Holland combined. It contains 46,969 square miles. Mindanao, the second largest, is about equal in area to Portugal. Ten islands contain more than 10,000 square miles each or 6,400,000 acres; while 20 of the islands have between 100 and 1,000 square miles each. About seven-eighths of the total number of islands composing the Archipelago contain less than 1 square mile each.

[Bays and Straits]

There are twenty-one fine harbors and eight land-locked straits. Manila Bay with an area of 770 square miles and a circumference of 120 miles is reputed to be the finest in the Far East. It is said that it can accommodate the entire fleet of the world. It is a roadstead, in all parts of which vessels can anchor. Manila, Cebu, Iloilo, Zamboanga, and Jolo are at present the ports of entry.

The interisland waters are shallow, averaging between seventy-five and five hundred fathoms.

[Mountains]

There are at least seven principal mountain ranges and twenty more or less active volcanoes. Mount Apo in Mindanao is the highest being 9,610 feet. Canlaon in Negros is second with 7,995 feet; Mayon in Albay third, with 7,943 feet.

[Rivers]

Nearly all the principal islands have important river systems. In Luzon are the Rio Grande de Cagayan, 220 miles long, which drains 16,000 square miles of territory, the Rio Grande de Pampanga, emptying into Manila Bay through a dozen mouths, the Agno, the Abra, Bued, and the more familiar Pasig. The Rio Grande de Mindanao, 330 miles long, is the largest in the Islands, and the Agusan, also in Mindanao, is the third in size. Mindoro has 60 rivers and Samar, 26. In Panay, are the Jalaud and Panay and in Negros the Danao and the Lanao. Inter-island steamers berth in the Pasig as far as the Jones Bridge. The larger rivers, in addition to being navigable for steamers and launches of light draft for distances of from 20 to 200 miles, could furnish abundant water power for manufacturing purposes.

[Lakes]

Mindanao, especially the basin of the Agusan, has a vast number of lakes, among them the famous lakes Lanao, Mainit, and Lagusan. Laguna de Bay, near Manila, Lake Naujan in Mindoro, Taal, and Bombon lakes in Batangas, and Lake Bito in Leyte are also noted for size and beauty.

[Falls]

The Falls of Pagsanjan and the Botocan at Majayjay, in Laguna Province; the Maria Cristina, the Pigduktan, and Kalilokan, in Mindanao, are the largest and most beautiful.

[Mineral Springs]

Some 170 or more medico-mineral springs, hot and cold, are known in the Islands, many rivaling the most famous of Europe and America. Near Manila are those of Los Baños, Sibul, Lemery, Tivi, and Marilao.

[Climate]

Father Algué, the world famous Director of the Weather Bureau, divides the climate into three types, the classification being based on distance above sea level and exposure to ocean breezes.

November, December, January, and February are the temperate months. The mean average temperature at this season is about 77° to 79° Fahrenheit. In April, May, and June, the hot months, the mean average is between 83° and 84°. In other months it is about 80°. The nights are seldom unpleasantly hot even in the hot season, and a temperature of 100° is a rarity in Manila. The mountain regions of the north are cool as September in the temperate zone. The mean average maximum for Baguio is 80° and the minimum 53°. Far south, nearer the equator, in some localities it is hotter; but Zamboanga and the Provinces of Bukidnon and Lanao boast a most agreeable and healthful climate.

The climate is thus mildly tropical. Sunstrokes are unknown. The recorded death rate per 1,000 whites in Manila for 1917 was 8.8, as compared with 16.5 for New York, 15 for San Francisco, 14 for Chicago, 18 for Glasgow, and 22 for Belfast.

DIFFERENCES IN TIME

Manila is in advance of: London 8 hours and 3 minutes. New York 12 hours and 59 minutes. San Francisco 16 hours and 11 minutes. Washington 13 hours.

COMPARATIVE AREAS

Sq. Miles Philippines 114,400 British Isles 121,438 New York, New Jersey, Pennsylvania, and Delaware 104,970 Japan 147,698 Hungary 125,641 Italy 110,660 Norway 124,675

RAINFALL

Maximum days of rain in July, August, September.

Minimum days of rain in February and March.

Dry Season: November to May, inclusive.

Wet Season: June to October, inclusive.

Typhoons: Frequent in July, August, September, and October.

The lowest average rainfall for the last twelve years for the whole Archipelago was 60.73 inches in the driest region, the highest, 125.68, in the wettest. Manila's average was 75.46.

VI. THE CITY OF MANILA

[Entrance to Manila Bay]

You enter Manila Bay thru a narrow passage in the middle of which is the famous Island of Corregidor, the "Rock," the "Gibraltar of the Far East," the "Home of the Big Guns," that guards the harbor. It is also a hydroplane station of the United States. The island is a stalwart sentinel, as it were, at the harbor's mouth. Nearby are two other "watch dogs" of Uncle Sam, known as "El Fraile" and "El Carabao," two other well fortified islands holding many a surprise for any invading fleet.

Down the bay your steamer glides amid the shipping of many nations and the launches of the customs and quarantine soon appear to "look the stranger over."

MANILA.--After the quarantine and customs inspection you get off your steamer and you are in Manila, the capital of the Philippine Archipelago. Your first impressions are of the tourist sort. Your interest is immediately arrested by the dress and habits of the Filipinos, of the Chinese, and of the various residents from every quarter of the globe. The water buffalo or the carabao, the one horse carriage, or the carromata, and the slippers, or "chinelas," worn in the streets by the poor will startle you to the realization that you are in a world other than your own. The every-day clothes worn by the people give you an ensemble of all the colors imaginable, more so when there is a procession, parade or similar festivities--royal purple, plum, heliotrope, magenta, psolferino, scarlet, geranium, salmon, pinks, greens, vivid and tender, all the blues, yellow, orange, champaca, in short every hue, shade, and tint that art has borrowed from nature or has invented.

You stroll around the City and one of the first things you notice is the various means of transportation. There is the automobile, from the popular Ford Lizzie to the Packard Limousine; there is the one-horse carriage, in shape and looks unique in the world; and there is the street car propelled by the familiar electricity.

The Walled City.--Near the pier you see a cluster of buildings enclosed by solid stone walls about twenty feet high. This is the famous Walled City or Intramuros, a remnant of Spanish days. It is something less than a mile long and half a mile wide. The walls used to be fortresses with which the Spaniards used to repel the many attacks and invasions. To go into this Walled City is to remind you of Madrid, Spain, with all its narrow streets and typical Spanish buildings. The walls had been begun prior to the end of the sixteenth century; before the next was far advanced, the place boasted of a cathedral, hospitals, and a university; walled Manila had grown into quite a city.

The Walled City is the original Manila, of which every other part of the modern city is, historically speaking, a suburb. Its battlemented wall is a little over 2 1/2 miles in circuit, and is still for the most part in an excellent state of preservation. The age of the walls is hard to state; its oldest existing portions were undoubtedly built before the end of the sixteenth century, but it has been continuously patched and added to, almost up to the present generation. Parts of it are from twenty to thirty feet in height and thickness. Considering everything, it makes this district one of the best examples of a mediæval walled town in existence.

[Fort Santiago]

While in this Walled City, do not fail to visit Fort Santiago, the oldest part of Spanish Manila, long the citadel of the city, and now the headquarters of the United States Army in the Philippines. It probably stands very nearly on the site of the native fort which the Spanish reconnoitering expedition carried by assault in 1570. It has undergone comparatively little external change in three centuries. There are plenty of traditions connected with the old place--stories of cells below the river level for the "unintentional" execution of inconvenient persons, and of chambers found filled with dislocated skeletons. Though none of these places are now identifiable, it is a historical fact that one cell, either in the fort or in the wall to the east of it (since removed), was the scene, as late as the night of the 31st of August, 1896, of a tragedy much resembling that of the Black Hole of Calcutta. Fifty-six out of sixty Filipinos who had been crowded into it, on being arrested on suspicion of complicity in the insurrection then raging, were the victims of the poisoned atmosphere or of the desperate struggle that took place within.

Pursuing your travels around Manila you see an admixture of the quaintly native, of the mediæval, and of the strictly modern. In architecture, you see splendid examples of Grecian, Moorish, Spanish, Renaissance, Gothic, and Byzantine. Likewise you see many native nipa houses, small yet cool and cozy, and exceedingly appropriate for the needs of the climate.

[Three Manilas]

For in reality there are three Manilas, which are still noticeable. First, there is the Manila of the original Malay, which, with its nipa shacks, its carabaos, and its quaint fishing boats, exists much as it did in the days of Raja Lacandola. Secondly, there is the Manila of the sixteenth and seventeenth century Spaniard--adventurer, merchant, and crusader in equal parts--who, in the churches and convents, the walls and gates, and the half-Moorish domestic architecture, has left ineffaceable memorials of the fact that this, the oldest of the European settlements in the East, was in its day among the chief glories of the "once imperial race." Finally, there is the Americanized Manila of to-day, the town of electricity, motor cars, macadamized roads and sewers and steel bridges, well on its way to become one of the beautiful cities of the world.

[Costumes]

The costumes of the women are admittedly unique and attractive. Old Spain gave the peasant's neckerchief that has evolved into the pañuelo; the court train of her damas gave the saya; her priests gave the tapis; the ground plan is Malayan, the sleeves swelled to suit the climate. This, which has changed but little in over three centuries, is the predominating model; but America, Paris, half Asia, and the South Pacific contribute also to the revue des modes: georgette crèpe and coconut fiber rain cape and skirt, white duck and rengue, all in the same rain shower on the same block.

[The Shops]

Modern shops with plate-glass fronts, office buildings with their elevators, elbow in between the open-fronted Chino shops of the Rosario. And the carabao snails by, and the "little gray hawk" that "hangs aloft in the air," happens to be an aëroplane.

[The Pasig]

Down by the entrance to the Pasig River modern steamers are warped to the river wall, and farther up dumpy river launches shuffle about their work of conveying to the big household of Manila chickens, pigs, fruits, and vegetables; a string of bamboo-roofed cascoes lie in wait by the market; sturdy bargemen with thirty-foot bamboo poles shove the unwieldy lorchas about, and the tiny bancas now toddle bravely along, now reel and wobble from the cuffs of their elders. The river is navigable for miles, and a trip upstream reveals successive combinations of meadows, high banks fringed with feathery bamboo, and here and there a village with its nipa houses and its gray stone church embowered in groves of coconuts and mangoes.

OTHER PLACES OF INTEREST

[Churches]

You will find them at every turn. To see her churches alone, in detail--St. Augustine's, built in 1599, with its ceiling of solid stone nearly four feet thick, and the illustrious dead beneath its hardwood floor; St. Sebastian's of solid steel made in Belgium and brought out in sections and assembled; St. Ignatius' and others with exquisitely carved woodwork, the work of Filipinos; their altars, statues and paintings--to appreciate their architecture and the engineering skill that erected them would require not days or weeks, but months.

[The Cathedral]

Special mention should be made of the Cathedral, the historic edifice which has witnessed so many rare and brilliant ceremonies. It is a most ornate and yet harmonious structure. The massive dome can be seen from far out at sea. The nave of the cathedral is of most majestic proportions and its pillars and clusters, with their gilded capitals, are handsome. The cupola rises to an immense height and has an inside balcony. Its four corners are frescoed, and the subjects are the "Four Evangelists." A beautiful sky, with angel heads, upon which stands the statue of the Immaculate Concepcion, is just above the high altar and around it, in sort of a frieze, are the heads of the apostles, while in the transepts, are the heads of the prophets, kings, and patriarchs. The architecture of the cathedral is of Roman Byzantine Style.

[The Ayuntamiento]

On the right hand side of the cathedral, the traveler sees the Ayuntamiento, a two-story building, the original seat of the Spanish government, now the headquarters of the House of Representatives and of the six departments of the Philippine government. The cornerstone of this building was laid in 1735. On the main landing of its imposing staircase is a statue, a replica of that in the "Biblioteca Nacional" at Madrid, of Juan Sebastian Elcano, the navigator who, after the death of Magellan, brought to a safe conclusion the first voyage around the world. The doors in either side of the statue lead to the Marble Hall, named from its marble floor, where the house of representatives sits and where official receptions and state entertainments are often held.

[University of Santo Tomas]

In the rear of the Ayuntamiento, and occupying the other half of the same block, stands the building of the University of Santo Tomas, founded in 1619, the oldest educational institution of collegiate rank under American sovereignty. It is under the direction of the Dominican Order and has departments for the education of students in all the principal professions. It keeps a valuable and extensive collection of zoölogical, ethnological, and other scientific specimens which is open to male visitors only (the university being by origin a monastic institution) on Sunday mornings from 9 to 11. In the little plaza on which the building fronts is a statue of Miguel Benavides, the second Archbishop of Manila, and founder of the University.

[The Dominican Church]

At the end of this plaza stands the great Gothic Dominican Church, one of the very few examples of that style in the city. It has very fine doors and a beautifully decorated altar and pulpit. Connected with it, as with all the old churches of the friar orders, is an enormous convent, very plain outside, but containing much of interest within--ancient libraries and some very quaint courtyards, cloisters, refection halls, and a series of religious pictures.

Just back of this church is the gap in the wall, thru which the car line from the commercial center of the city enters. Hard by is the Intendencia Building, in which is located the Insular Treasury and the offices and session hall of the Philippine Senate. Behind this, on the river front, is a modest monument to Magellan, the one memorial of the great discoverer in the capital of the land he brought in contact with Latin civilization.

[Avenues]

The Walled City, except for a short space where the battlements of Fort Santiago are washed by the river, is completely surrounded by fine avenues, all bordered on the inside by the stretch of green which has replaced the former moat. The Magallanes Drive runs for a short distance between the walls and the Pasig river to the northeast. To the west is the Bonifacio Drive, with an avenue of palms. This is now bounded on its farther side by the new Port District, but in old days was the seaside promenade of Manila. The circuit of the wall is completed by the Bagumbayan Drive (now Burgos Drive), which sweeps in a beautiful acacia-bordered quadrant around the east, southeast, and south.