Part 11 (1/2)
I had not yet seen any of these largest sized serpents alive, when, one afternoon, crossing the mountains with two ofofsoht that it was a buffalo that they had roused fros were dispersed along the brink of a deep ravine, in which was an enorht of five or six feet, directing it fro his assailants with his forked tongue; but the dogs, more active than he was, easily avoided his attacks My first impulse was to shoot him; but then it occurred to me to take him alive, and to send him to France assuredly he would have been the most n into execution we h to resist the efforts of the reat precaution we succeeded in passing one of our nooses round the boa's neck; then we tied hihtly to a tree, in such a ht--about six feet froround This done, we crossed to the other side of the ravine, and threw another noose over him, which we secured like the first When he felt hirappled several little trees which greithin his reach along the edge of the ravine Unluckily for hi trees by the roots, broke off the branches, and dislodged enorht in vain to obtain the hold or point of resistance he needed The nooses were strong, and withstood his almost furious efforts
To convey an anie were necessary Night approached; confident in our nooses, we left the place, proposing to return nextand complete the capture; but we reckoned without our host In the night the boa changed his tactics, got his body round so his bonds and getting clear off When I had assured myself that our prey had escaped us, and that all search for the reptile in the neighbourhood would be futile, reat, for I much doubted if a like opportunity would ever present itself It is only on rare occasions that accidents are caused by these enor their victi coe in a cavern His father, who alone knew the place of his concealment, visited him occasionally to supply him with food One day he found, in place of his son, an enor He killed it, and found his son in its stoht, crushed to death, and sed The curate of the village, who had gone in quest of the body to give it burial, and who saw the re of an almost incredible size Unfortunately this circumstance happened at a considerable distance from my habitation, and I was only made acquainted with the particulars when it was too late to verify the that a boa which can s a deer should as easily s a man Several other feats of a similar nature were related to me by the Indians They toldabout the woods, had been seized by boas, crushed against trees, and afterwards devoured; but I was always on ainst Indian tales, and I am only able to verify positively the instance, I have just cited, which was related to e, as well as bythat a similar accident should occur more than once
The boa is one of the serpents the least to be feared aly venomous description is one which the Indians call dajon-palay, (rice leaf) Burning with a red-hot ember is the only antidote to its bite; if that be not pros are followed by certain death The alin-, and, if anything, erous still than the ”rice leaf,” inasmuch as its bite is deeper, and more difficult to cauterise I was never bitten by any of these reptiles, despite the slight precaution I observed in wandering about the woods, by night as well as by day
Twice only I endangeredupon a dajon-palay; I arned by a , and saw the snake's little head stretching out to bite me on the ankle; fortunately my foot was on hiet at er, and cut off his head On another occasion, I noticed two eagles rising and falling like arrows ast the bushes, always at the same place Curious to see what kind of ani, I approached the place; but no sooner had I done so, than an enorles had inflicted on hiave a spring, and alhtbackwards, and avoided him; but I took care not to turn my back and run, for then I should have been lost The serpent returned to the charge, bounding towards , but in vain, to reach hier, when an Indian, who perceived me from a distance, ran up, armed with a stout switch, and rid me of him
CHAPTER XI
The Prosperity and Happiness of riculture in the Philippines--My Herds of Oxen, Buffaloes, and Horses--My Wife presents hter, who Dies--The Admiration of the Indian Women for my Wife--Birth of my Son--Continued Prosperity--Death of my brother Henry--My Friendshi+p with Malvilain--His Marriage with my eldest Sister--His Premature Death--I take my Wife to Manilla--Melancholy Adieus--We Return to Jala-Jala--Death of my Wife--My friend Vidie--I determine to Return to France
Never was life more actively spent, or more croith emotions, than the time I passed at Jala-Jala, but it suited my tastes and my character, and I enjoyed as perfect happiness as one can look for when far away frooodness; my Indians were happy, peace and plenty smiled upon their families; es with nureat difficulty and much toil that I accoe and all my philosophy necessary to face, without despair, reverses which it was impossible for me to avoid? How often did I behold hurricanes and inundations destroy the fine harvest that I had protected with so ainst the buffaloes, the wild boars, the ainst an insect more destructive still than all the other pests which I have just ypt, apparently transported into this province, and which alularly, every seven years, leave the isles of the south in clouds, and fall upon Luzon, bringing desolation, and often famine It is indeed necessary to have witnessed this desolation to be able to form any idea of it When the locusts arrive, a fire-coloured cloud is perceived in the horizon, formed of countless myriads of these destructive insects They fly rapidly, often covering, in a closely packed body, a space of two or three leagues in diameter, and occupy fro over head If they perceive a fine green field they pounce down upon it, and in a few round is stripped coht elsewhere, bearing on their wings destruction and fa it is in the forests, upon the trees, that they take shelter They hang in such dense hs that they break down even the stoutest liht, fro, there issues a continual croaking, and so loud a noise, that one scarcely believes it to be produced by so s they leave at day-break, and the trees upon which they have reposed are left stripped and broken, as though the lightning had swept the forest in every direction; they pursue their course elsewhere to coes At certain periods they re the extreimblet, they pierce the earth to the depth of an inch and upwards to deposit their eggs The operation of laying being coround pierced like a sieve, and disappear, for their existence has now reached its ters open, andlocusts swarm the earth On the spot where they are born, whatever will serve them for food is quickly consuth they abandon their birth-place, destroy all kinds of vegetation that comes in their way, and direct their course to the cultivated fields, which they desolate until the period when their wings appear They then take flight in order to devastate riculture in the Philippines presents many difficulties, but it also yields results thatthe years which are exempt from the calamities I have described the earth is covered with riches; every kind of colonial produce is raised in extraordinary abundance, frequently in the proportion of eighty to one, and on many plantations two crops of the same species are harvested in one year The rich and extensive pasturages offer great facilities for raising a large nu wages paid by the proprietor to a few shepherds
Upon my property I possessed three herds--one of three thousand head of oxen, another of eight hundred buffaloes, and the other of six hundred horses At that period of the year when the rice was harvested, the shepherds explored the mountains, and drove these ani This plain was covered by these three species of domesticated animals, and presented, especially to the proprietor, an ade cattle-folds, near the village, and on the following day a selection was hter, of the horses that were old enough for breaking-in, of the buffaloes that were strong enough to be e The herds were then re-driven to the plain, there to reht, after which time the animals were set at liberty until the sa year When at liberty the herd divided itself into bands, and thus roamed about the mountains and the valleys they had previously quitted, the only trouble caused to the shepherds being an occasional rarazed
Around me all was prosperity My Indians were also happy, and entertained towards ave me every assistance in ot all the toils and the contrarieties I had experienced About this timented the happiness I enjoyed with her, andseveral ed: she then found all the synancy We had been ns of maternity I was so persuaded that we should never have children that the derangeto my work she said to me: ”I don't feel well to-day, and I wish you to rereat surprise, she gave preirl, whose arrival no one expected The infant was born before the due time, and lived only one hour, just sufficient to receive baptism, which I ad that had expired in the house of Jala-Jala; but she was also the first that had there first drawn the breath of life The regret which we all experienced froht again become a mother, under more favourable circumstances Her health was speedily re-established, and she was again gay and beautiful as ever: indeed she appeared so handso distance for the sole purpose of looking at her They would re at her, and afterwards returned to their villages, where they gave birth to creatures little rese the model which they had taken such pains to observe, with a confidence approaching to sins of h the usual course, and her health was not much affected In due time she presented me with a little boy, weakly and delicate, but full of life Our joy was at the highest, for we possessed that which we had so long wished for, and that which alone was in hted with the birth, and for several days there was a round of rejoicings at Jala-Jala; and ed to receive visits, at first froe, and afterwards froht some little present for the newly born, and the cleverest man of them was commissioned to express a compliment in the name of all; which comprised their best wishes for the happiness of the mother and child, and full assurances of the satisfaction they felt in thinking that they would one day be ruled over by the son of the master from whom they had experienced so much kindness, and who had conferred upon theratitude was sincere
The news of the accoucheht a very numerous party of friends and relations to my house, where they waited for the baptis-roohly well, was present on the occasion: my son was named Henry, after his uncle At this time I was happy; Oh, so truly happy! for ratified There was but one not so--and that was to see again ed mother and my sisters; but I hoped that the time was not far distant when I should realise the project of revisitingspeculation was most prosperous: my receipts were every year on the increase; ar-canes, to the cultivation of which, and of rice, I had joined that of coffee My brother had taken upon hie plantation, which promised the most brilliant results; and appeared likely to secure the preive to the proprietor of a plantation of eighty thousand feet of coffee in product But, alas! the period of rief was I not dooain saw my native country
My brother--my poor Henry--committed some imprudences, and was suddenly attacked with an intermittent fever, which in a few days carried him off
My Anna and I shed abundance of tears, for we both loved Henry with the warether; he participated in all our labours, our troubles, and our pleasures He was the only relative I had in the Philippines He had left France, where he had filled an honourable position, with the sole object of coreat task which I had undertaken His amiable qualities and his excellent heart had endeared hiht that I had no longer a brother added poignancy to ascar; Robert, the next towhere we spent our childhood; and my poor Henry at Jala-Jala I erected a simple tomb for him near the door of the church, and for several
We had scarcely begun, not indeed to console ourselves, but rather to bear with resignation the loss we had experienced, when a new dispensation of fate came to strike me to the earth
On my arrival in the Philippines, and while I resided at Cavite, I formed a close connection with Malvilain, a native of St Malo, andseveral years which he spent at Cavite our friendshi+p was most intimate A day seldom passed that we did not see each other, and two days never, for ere much attached Our two shi+ps were at anchor in the port, not far one fro for a boat to take me on board Malvilain's shi+p, I saw his creork in regulating one of the masts, when a rope suddenly snapped, and the htful crash on the deck, in theFrom the deck of my own shi+p I beheld all that passed on that of s orked to the highest pitch of anguish and alarm; I could not control myself; I jumped into the water and swa hier froht him in my arms, and pressed him to my heart; and then hastened to afford relief to some of the creho had not been so fortunate to escape without injury as he had been
Another time I was the cause of serious alarm to Malvilain One day, a athered close over the point of Cavite, and a frightful--that is, a tropical--storm burst The claps of thunder followed each other fro, in long serpent-like lines of fire, darted from the clouds, and drove on to the point of Cavite, where it tore up the ground of the little plain situate at the extremity, and near which the shi+ps wereto see Malvilain, and was alfell into the sea so near to me that I lost my breath Instantly I felt an acute pain in the back, as if a burning torch had been laid between my shoulders The pain was so violent, that the moment I recovered myself I uttered a sharp scream Malvilain, ithin a few paces of me, felt very sensibly the electric shock which had struck erously hurt He rushed towards ive every assurance of razedany positive injury
I have related these two slight anecdotes to show the intimacy that subsisted between us, and how I afterwards suffered in my dearest affections
My existence has to this day, when I write these lines, been filled with such extraordinary facts, that I have been naturally led to believe that the destiny of s which reat influence over ht me to endure all the evils which have afflicted me Was it, then, my destiny which bound me to Malvilain, and bound him to me in the same manner? I have no doubt of it
Soe of the cholera broke out in the Philippines, Malvilain's shi+p set sail for France With hearts oppressed with grief we separated, after proain; but, alas! fate had ordained it otherwise Malvilain returned home, went to Nantes to take the command of a shi+p, and there became acquainted with my eldest sister, and married her This nehich reached reatest satisfaction, for if I had had to choose a husband for e was the only one to satisfy the wishes I had fore Malvilain continued to sail from the port of Nantes His noble disposition and his accurate knowledge of his duties caused hi ood as not to require hiers of the sea, and he was on his last voyage, when, at the Mauritius, he was attacked by an illness, which carried hi irls to lament him