134 Menage Expedition to the Philippines 



but hope to be able to obtain a good set on our trip to north 

 Luzon. 



Our steamer reached the mouth of the Capiz river at eleven 

 o'clock Monday night. We were landed on the shore with all 

 our baggage about twelve. By two however we had everything 

 safely under cover in a nipa house, and soon after had our 

 hammocks strung. Next morning we sent our baggage by 

 boat up to Capiz, while we went overland, a distance of about 

 three miles. We went directly to the tribunal or town house 

 and finding a large room suitable to our purposes, moved in. 

 After making our calls on the various officials, we began to look 

 around for forest. The surrounding country was low and 

 swampy, and planted almost exclusively with the nipa palm. 

 The long leaves of this palm furnish an excellent thatching ma- 

 terial, very generally used, while the blossom stalk furnishes 

 a favorite beverage called palm wine or tuba de nipa. This 

 wine is very similar to the tuba de coco, or wine obtained from 

 the cocoanut palm. The tuba de nipa however, besides being 

 used as a beverage, is very largely used in the manufacture 

 of a stronger distilled wine or even of alcohol, and many stills 

 for its preparation may be found around Capiz. 



We had been previously assured that we should find good 

 forest around Capiz, but in this we were disappointed. Wednes- 

 day, acting upon the advice of the priest of the town, one of 

 us went on horseback to Panay, a small village eight or ten 

 miles away, expecting to find good forest there. In this we 

 were again disappointed, the region around Panay being very 

 similar to that around Capiz. No time was lost however as the 

 small boys of Capiz proved to be very enterprising, and in return 

 for a few coppers supplied us with wild cats, birds, iguanas, 

 monitors, snakes, lizards, etc. For over a week we worked 

 from early morning till late at night, and only got our work 

 finished when we refused to buy any more specimens. Living 

 Viverra tangalunga and Paradoxurus philippinensis were brought 

 in and as we had an abundant supply of fresh meat we kept 

 them alive for some time, and made interesting observations 

 on their habits. We were glad to obtain iguanas in the way 

 we did. They are so tenacious of life as to be able to run 

 for a considerable length of time after having the heart cut out, 

 and it is therefore exceedingly difficult to obtain them with a 



