Part 36 (2/2)
Copper is extracted in small quant.i.ties by both the wild tribes of the North and the Mahometans of the South, who manufacture utensils of this metal for their own use. In the North, half-worked copper is obtained from the Igorrotes, but the attempt of a company--the _Compania Cantabro-Filipina_, established in the middle of last century--to exploit the copper deposits in Mancayan, in the district of Lepanto, has hardly been more successful than all other mining speculations undertaken on a large scale in this Colony.
Marble exists in large beds in the Province of Bataan, which is the west-coast boundary of Manila Bay, and also in the Island of Romblon, but, under the circ.u.mstances explained, no one cared to risk capital in opening quarries. In 1888 surface (boulder) marble was being cut near Montalban (Rizal) under contract with the Dominican friars to supply them with it for their church in Manila. It was of a motley whitish colour, polished well, and a sample of it sent by me to a marble-importer in London was reported on favourably.
Granite is not found in these Islands, and there is a general want of hard stone for building purposes. Some is procurable at Angono, up the Lake of Bay, and it is from here that the stone was brought by the Spaniards for the Manila Port Works. Granite is brought over from Hong-Kong when needed for works of any importance, such as the new Government House in Manila City, in course of construction when the Spaniards evacuated the Islands. For ordinary building operations there is a material--a kind of marl-stone called _Adobe_--so soft when quarried that it can be cut out in small blocks with a hand-saw, but it hardens considerably on exposure to the air.
Gypsum deposits occur in a small island opposite to the town of Culasi (Antique) on the west coast of Panay, called Marilisan. The superinc.u.mbent marl has been removed in several places where regular workings were carried on for years by natives, and s.h.i.+ploads of it were sent to Manila until the Spanish Government prohibited its free extraction and export.
Sulphur exists in many islands, sometimes pure, in unlimited quant.i.ties, and often mixed with copper, iron, and a.r.s.enic. The crater peak of the Taal Volcano in the Bombon Lake burst in 1749 (_vide_ p. 18), and from that date, until the eruption of 1754, sulphur was extracted by the natives. These deposits were again worked in 1780, and during a few years following. Bowring states [158] that a well-known naturalist once offered a good sum of money for the monopoly of working the sulphur mines in the Taal district.
Mineral oil was discovered some 12 years ago in the mountains of Cebu Island, a few miles from the west-coast town of Toledo. A drill-boring was made, and I was shown a sample of the crude _Oil_. An Irishman was then conducting the experimental works. Subsequently a British engineer visited the place, and reported favourably on the prospects. In 1896 I was again at the borings. Some small machinery had been erected for working the drills. A Dutch mining engineer was in charge of the work, which was being financed by a small British syndicate; but so far a continuous flow had not been obtained, and it was still doubtful whether a well had been struck or not. The Dutchman was succeeded by an American, who, when the Spanish-American War was on the point of breaking out, had to quit the place, and the enterprise has since remained in suspense.
There is a tendency, in most new and unexplored countries, to see visionary wealth in unpenetrated regions--to cast the eye of imagination into the forest depths and the bowels of the earth, and become fascinated with the belief that Nature has laid vast treasures therein; and the veil of mystery const.i.tutes a tradition until it is rent by scientific investigation.
CHAPTER XX
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 gra.s.s (_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 quant.i.ties 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-cla.s.s 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 pa.s.s 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 grat.i.tude 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. x.x.xi. 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.
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