The Billings gazette. [volume] (Billings, Mont.) 1896-1919, 1900-02-02


and bored through the thin cork that
was underneath, and had extracted the
sugared part Of the jam IL gone away
with it. The time spent on the islands
showed us very few venomous reptiles,
and no animals of any large size that
were wild. Whether or no these had
been hunted out by the natives, or
whether they had not been raised upon
the island. il a question that / never
heard discussed. There must, however,
lie some rattlesnakes, sor I remember
purchasing one or two canoes that were
covered with rattlesnake skins.
"The amusenlents Of tho natives are
few. The American boy would simply
die il he had such a small amount of
fun as the native Filipino boy obtains.
He early. however, becomes an adept
at the various games in which he Ell.
cages. Two Of these have to do with
pennies. do not know how to des.
oribe the Que better than to say that "A
penny-that in a large Mexican penny
has been blunted around the edge,
aud this is thrown up against the wall
Oh its narrow edge and made to rebound
a certain distance. The one who is en-.
abled to bring his penny the nearest to
a certain line marked out by the players
is the one wins, and u would be sur.
prised at the amount Of dexteri'y that
is used in Tipping these pennies against
the wall. Another game has to do
with the pitching of pennies. Several
coins are laid in a pile, probably six or
seven feet distant from the line OF
pitching, and then there are two twirls
given each player, the first Of which
indicates the nearness to the pile; the
second, the ability to hit the pile, and
the number Of pennies that are Knocked
from 1t are the ones that belong to the
successful player. have watched the
game often. and have rarely seen one
Of these boys III a game miss. The lit.
tie girls immitate the boys, but usually
take pieces of thing, it being consid.
cred Immoral for girls to gamble.
You see no doll babies, no tops, no
marbles, no balls; anything that would
appeal to the average American boy
seems to be eliminated from the life Of
the Filipino.
"The boys that are larger take great
delight in oookfghting. and 1t Is a very
common sight to see a man walking
along the street with a nice looking
bird under his arm. l have also seen
them tied to the window lodges Of the
living apartments Of the better class Of
FilIpincs, where they are kept until
some feast day or Sunday, when they
are brought out to win all the money
that may be in it for them. am told
that in 1870 the Spanish government saw
a good thing in taxing these fights.
and SO they made quite a stringent law
that would govern in the pit, and max
ing the feast days and Sundays the
only days upon which legitimate cock
fighting could be engaged IN. This
worked no great amount Of hardship on
the Filipinos when one remembers that
there were l5a feast days in their cal.
endar and ffty.two Sundays. A maxi.
mum bet under the law was $50, and
a contest could continue until the death
Of Que or both of the cocks or until u
showed the white feather. Only Il
spur was allowed. and the preliminar.
les were q caution. Probably 1t will
take four or five hours to gather In all
the bets, get through with all the
'ohewing'-discussing the merits Of the
birds-when they were put into the
center of a ring Of seven or eight hun.
dred, when one lunge on the part Of
a bird might mean the death Of the
other. OF course this was dead game
sport for the soldier, aud seeing there
was SO much Of interest for the native
in it, it soon began to be be a common
custom for every sporting soldier to
have a bird. But they o o found that
the birds that were sold to them were
birds without a pedigree, and there.
fore unable to bring into them the prop.
or amount Of revenue.
1.-THE natural kindness Of disposition
of the soldier prompted him to teach
the Filipinos a few If the popular
games played in the United States.
He eased his conscience by saying that
that was what he was there for, aud
when the native had become sufficient.
" instructed in the game, he eased the
pocket Of the soldier, saying that that
was what he was there for. 1t didn't
matter whether it was craps. with
loaded dice, or cards with marked cor.
ners-about the fourth game invariably
meant the money going over on the
other side and being oafried away by
either the Chinaman OF the Filipino.
It may be remarked here that there was
but u game in gambling that the Fill.
pinos werc acquainted with. aud like.
wise one that the Chinamei, were ao-
quainted with. The government soon
become acquainted with both, and tho
tendency to gamble was suppressed BY
the military authorities. ] may say III
passing, too, that tho gambling was
considered immoral by the natives un'
less they had paid their license.