THE riiiLipriNE islands 69 



les Indiens des Philippines pousseiit jiisqu'au paroxysiue," 

 as M. Montano justly remarks. Every village that can 

 afford to pay the tax has its pit for the gallcras, each 

 peasant rears his fighting-cock, which he carries with him 

 almost wherever he goes, whether to market, fishing in his 

 canoe, or working in his field. It is the possession by 

 which he sets most store, and it is commonly said in the 

 islands that in the event of fire the native flies to rescue 

 his bird rather than his wife or child. The spurs used 

 are made of razors ground to excessive thinness, and the 

 issue of the combat is thus greatly an affair of chance. 

 Despite this fact, the Tagal does not hesitate to stake all 

 his available cash upon his bird, and it has been well 

 remarked that the (jallcras work more ruin than the 

 earthquakes and typhoons put together. 



Travel in the Philippines is not only expensive, from 

 the high price of labour, but also an affair of no little 

 difficulty owing to the condition of the country. Por six 

 months in the year, and in some places for considerably 

 more, much of the low country is under water, and so 

 great is the deposit of mud left behind that it is impos- 

 sible to ]3i"ogress either on foot or on horseback, and the 

 buffalo is the beast of burden for the traveller and his 

 baggage. The torrential rains tear up the roads and 

 render them next to impassable, and swollen streams and 

 rivers bar the track with annoying frequency. Since 

 bridges are almost unknown except in the civilised dis- 

 tricts, recourse must be had to cane rafts, which often 

 lender the passage of these rivers a matter of consideralile 

 danger. There are no inns of any kind, but hospitality 

 is freely dispensed by the priest, or in his absence tlie 

 traveller rests at the house of the gobernadorcillo, or 

 establishes himself in the little court-house which serves 

 equally the purposes of a town-hall and a dak-bungalow. 



