THE PHILIPPINE ISLANDS 
69 
les Indiens des Philippines poussent jusqu’au paroxysme,” 
as M. Montano justly remarks. Every village that can 
afford to pay the tax has its pit for the galleras , 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 galleras 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. Eor 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 progress 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 
render the passage of these rivers a matter of considerable 
danger. There are no inns of any kind, but hospitality 
is freely dispensed by the priest, or in his absence the 
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. 
