The Pacific commercial advertiser. [volume] (Honolulu, Hawaiian Islands) 1885-1921, 1900-05-30


Hymn-"On lions Glorious Summit
Stood Stood ;: a Numerous Host Redeemed by
Prayer and benediction by Rev. Mr..
Erdman.
sssseesssssses
lent exercise tired nature rebels and YOU
escort your delaga to a seat and fall into
one beside her. eutterly exhausted. Your
partners round face lengthens out a
loot. Senior Gasataya rushes over to YOU
with profuse apologies for having found
you an uncongenial partner And he
does his best to drag you out of your
seat and over to another delaga. Mean
while the waltz continues for full half
hour more AS matter of fact a waltz
never ends here until the musicians re-
bel. This is the way they do it, After
patiently footing and stunning one
tune for an hour and half they all of
a sudden begin to play so rapidly that a
jumping jack could not keep time with
them. That is a notification that the mu-
Slcians are not wound up for eight days
even if the dancers are So every one
stops dancing and the men clap their
hands, as signal that the music may
cease
During the interval between dances the
delagas occupy seats along two sides of
the room. They smoke black cigars, hair
a foot long, and fan themselves. They
90 not converse. Meanwhile the men CON
gregate around the kitchen or dining
room door and puff cigarettes and drink
TUBA or beno. Tuba is the Filipino beer
and taken fresh and in moderation is a
most palatable drink. 1t is fermented
cocoanut Julce. Beno is the native whiS-
KY 1t is the most fiery and potent intox-
lcant that fool man ever poured into a
tortured stomach. 1t is distilled from
sugar cane after the sugar has been ex-
tracted. and is nothing more or less than
wood alcohol. How the natives manage
10 drink 1T and not so mad l do not know
They do The soldiers who tackle it are
a nuisance for short time only. Then
they are dead.
AT about o'clock in the evening dane
ing ceases for time and the table is
spread for supper. Your host has sent
out IN all directions and borrowed all the
available crockery in the pueblo and ex-
cept in the detail of knives and forks the
table makes very fair showing. AT Sc
nor Gasataya's / had a knife and a fork
but the president of the pueblo, who sat
beside me, intimated that the fact that |
used them made him doubt my republi-
canism. He used his fingers, with which
he tore off hunks of fat pork and dipped
them into a saucer of mustard sauce. He
ate his rice by the fstful, examining it
into his mouth with both hands. He poses
among the full-blooded natives as a reac-
tlcnst against everything Spanish and
looks upon knives, forks and spoons as
a spanish innovation. However, l motto
e9 a lew days later at a Mestizo ball,
where semi-Spanish customs prevailed
that the president used the knife and
fork that thanked his plate Just the same
as his neighbors / guess he's a rather
on Z w pOlltiCidll, anu tries TO carry wa
ter on both shoulders
AT Senior Gasatayas ball / stuck it out
from O'Clock in the afternoon until mid
nght, and then insisted on returning to
my quarters. Every inducement was
neio out TO me to stay. l was assured
that the dancing would stop in another
hour, to be resumed at IL o'clock the fol-
lowing morning. The President and Sc
nor Gasataya' each insisted that l should
occupy bed in his home But 1 heroi-
cally resisted all persuasions and went
to quarters. The following morning. in
company with half a dozen other SOL
diers, l went to the Binalbagan river to
battle. Twenty yards down the river a
party of thirty or more natives men
women and children, were splashine
around in the water, dressed in their
clothes Among them were some
of the delagas with whom l had danced
the night before. 1t takes all sorts of
customs to make world and some other
time I'll tell about a mestizo ball. But
III close this letter with a word about
money making.
A pico of rice contains 100 pounds Here
in Isabella a pico brings $780, Mexican
At lloilo a pico sells for 81 Mexican The
distance is about 100 miles and the cost
OF transportation only Is cents a pico
Ana the natives here feed rice to the
pigs! L know men in the States who buy
wheat and ship it 200 miles to Chicago
ON one-cent margin. / wonder how
lheyd like to buy and ship 100 miles on a
margin or sl.25, American money.