. Wanderings among South sea savages and in Borneo and the Philippines. of the time, but as the fighting progressedhe got very excited, and had to go down into thering. I had often witnessed it before in tropicalAmerica, but here the left feet of the cocks werearmed with large steel spurs shaped like miniaturecutlasses, which before the fight began wereencased in small leather sheaths. The onlookersworked themselves up into a state of great excite-ment, and there was a great deal of chafl^, mixedwith angry words, and plenty of silver pesos were exchanged over the results. But it was cruelwork,
. Wanderings among South sea savages and in Borneo and the Philippines. of the time, but as the fighting progressedhe got very excited, and had to go down into thering. I had often witnessed it before in tropicalAmerica, but here the left feet of the cocks werearmed with large steel spurs shaped like miniaturecutlasses, which before the fight began wereencased in small leather sheaths. The onlookersworked themselves up into a state of great excite-ment, and there was a great deal of chafl^, mixedwith angry words, and plenty of silver pesos were exchanged over the results. But it was cruelwork, and the crouching spectators were oftenscattered right and left by the furious birds, whilston one occasion a too venturesome onlookerreceived a rather severe gash on his arm. The church clock here was a thing to wonder had no dial, and struck only about five timesa day. When it struck ten there was an intervalof over twenty seconds between each stroke untilthe last two strokes, these coming quickly together,as if it was tired of such slow work ! As there was. Z Z. Z > SCENE AT A FUNERAL 71 no face to the clock, I was puzzled to know whetherto set my watch at the first or last stroke, or tosplit the difference. There were a great many funerals during mystay here in December, there being a regularepidemic of cholera and malaria. This was theunhealthy season, and I was told that there wereas many deaths in Florida Blanca during themonths of December and January as during all therest of the year put together. One day I watched from my window a funeralprocession on its way from the church to thecemetery. The Padre was not there, and this nodoubt accounted for the acrobatic display givenby the three men in cassocks and surplices, wholed the way, bearing a cross and two started by playfully kicking each other,and this soon developed into angry words, so thatI expected a free fight. One of them tucked hisunbuttoned cassock round his neck, and eggedthe other two
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Keywords: ., bookcentury1900, bookdecade1910, booksubjectethnology, bookyear19
