The Hawaiian star. [volume] (Honolulu [Oahu]) 1893-1912, 1899-03-22

In obtaining a knowledge of the Islas
Filipinas, that which first appeals to
the visitor of the popularity of smells
and the diversity of sounds. 1t is not
the sights, but the odors and the din.
You meet both as you land at Manila
or Cavite, and they come upon you with
a distjnctness that is positively start
ling. The first remark the visitor
makes is, "Whew How it smells!"
The second is like unto it, Gracious!
What a noise!' The American or the
European hardly knows enough of the
life of the islands to enter at all fully
into the many causes which produce
these strange results; but some of them
lie quite near the surface. The sounds
are not musical. The smells are not
those of spicy islands and delicacy of
aroma.
In the first place there is the odor of
smoke. Something is burning. Per-
haps you think of forest fires, of burn
ing prairies. 1t isn't that, but it is fuel
indeed. That odor is smoke, sure
enough. Not of wood or charcoal, but
the scrapings of stables, the sweep
ings of the street moulded into fiat
cakes and dried in the sun on the out
er walls of the houses. An Irish turf
fire is Araby- blessed i'm comparison.
At sunset invariably a heavy cloud of
smoke rises near the houses, whether
in the villages or in the country, and
this faint is upon the atmosphere till
it is renewed the following evening.
But smell again. More smoke. To
bacco smoke. Not grateful nor fra
grant. You hear about the Filipino
tobacco and about the grandeur of the
Spanish tobacco monopoly but you
must see it smoked by the natives to
appreciate it. 1t is coarse and rank,
and with sundry other herbs the leaves
are STEPPED in black molasses to pre-
pare them for the pipe. Go about in
the villages and you find men smoking.
There is a circle of them-seven or a
multiple of seven, for luck" Seven,
IA or more, rarely 81, Talgals, Chinese
and Negritos, sitting in the smoke. The
| pipe (there is but one for the circle) has
| bowl that holds nearly or quite a
| pint, and is furnished with a reed
stem. They speak of it as their be
loved" and squatting around it they
pass the filthy yellow stem from mouth
| to mouth with clockwork precision
round and round the circle. The bowl
I rests upon the ground between Them
and there is no quarreling nor greedi-
ness as the pipe is enjoyed. On 1t goes
| for hours, the men talking and grunt-
ing and laughing. AS they smoke, the
smoke arises dense and black, envelop-
ing the group. The odor is indescrib-
able, and once in the atmosphere mixes
| with that of the burnt manure, and you
breathe it's redolence every step you
| take.
The odor of the smoke naturally at
| taches to the persons of the smokers;
| and that is not the worst thing about
| it, A Filipino is an i'll smelling crea-
ture Take a sniff, and with the tobac
co odor you get that of ghee and mus
tard in combination. Now there is
nothing more assertive to the nose
than the nastiness of ghee and mus
tard oil. The former is apt to be ran
cid, and the oil is the most pungent
stuff imaginable. The uses of the oil
are various with it, burning in an OPP
en- cup, the native lights his dwelling,
with 1t he salutes the shrines of his
worthy ancestors. Then he uses it
freely--very freely-for personal pol
ishing. No matter what tribe is re-
| ferred to-they all do it-they lave
their faces with mustard oil at least
once a day. AS a brown skin natur-
ally contains more oil than white
! one, the suns action upon it after it
has been Amounted with the mustard
oil is far from pleasant. And the av-
erage native is not much addicted to
| the use of soap and water. 1t is told
| that the Spanish women have some
| times insisted" on the bath, and that
when the servants appeared from the
| archaeological operation they were smil-
ing and happy with the soap smeared
over their faces.-Springfield Republi-
| can.