Rearing of Ducks for Trade at Patero. 329 



mesticatcd, find frequent opportunities of satisfying tlicir 

 hunger otherwise. 



At the village of Patero (from Pato, duck), which is situ- 

 ated five miles from the capital on the left bank, the inhabit- 

 ants are mainly employed in breeding ducks. In front of 

 each hut, and near the river, there is a large area fenced in, 

 where these birds can bask in the sun or bathe at pleasure. 

 The floor of the little poultry house is carefully cleaned 

 every morning with river water, and the ground dug up and 

 plentifully filled daily with shell-fish for the use of the ducks, 

 which the natives bring in tlieii' small canoes fi^om the sea, 

 where they thrive by millions in the mud. The sj^ectacle of 

 the gently-sloping assembling-places of these cackling deni- 

 zens of the watery element, and the clamours with which 

 we were saluted, strongly recalled to us the penguins of the 

 Island of St. Paul. In Patero millions of ducks are annually 

 reared as articles of trade, as the Tagalese look upon the half- 

 hatched eggs and the new-born chickens as special dainties. 



The natives whom we met on the way all wore large round 

 hats, made of plaited straw or bamboo, white hose, and above 

 these the invariable shiii;, a custom so singular, that it is but 

 very gradually the eye of the foreigner becomes reconciled 

 to it. The fm-ther we got from the capital the more the 

 use of Spanish seemed to diminish, till at the Lagune the 

 natives only speak Tagal and Bisay. 



Our original intention had been to row up in hancas as 

 far as the entrance to the Lagune, where it had been ar- 



