e
there. On my asking why no oil-factory had been erected, I received
for answer that the nuts were cheaper singly than in quantities. In
the first place, the native sells only when he wants money; but he
knows that the manufacturer cannot well afford to have his business
suspended; so, careless of the result, he makes a temporary profit,
and never thinks of ensuring for himself a permanent source of income.

[Sugar venders.] In the province of Laguna, where the natives prepare
coarse brown sugar from sugar-cane, the women carry it for leagues to
the market, or expose it for sale on the country roads, in small loaves
(panoche), generally along with buyo. Every passenger chats with the
seller, weighs the loaf in the hand, eats a bit, and probably passes
on without buying any. In the evening the woman returns to her home
with her wares, and the next day repeats the same process.

[Disproportionate prices.] I have lost my special notes, but I
remember that in two cases at least the price of the sugar in these
loaves was cheaper than by the picul. Moreover, the Government of the
day anticipated the people in setting the example, by selling cigars
cheaper singly than in quantities.

[Uncertain trading.] In Europe a speculator generally can calculate
beforehand, with the greatest certainty, the cost of production of any
article; but in the Philippines it is not always so easy. Independently
of the uncertainty of labor, the regularity of the supply of raw
material is disturbed, not only by laziness and caprice, but also
by jealousy and distrust. The natives, as a rule, do not willingly
see Europeans settle amongst them and engage successfully in local
operations which they themselves do not understand how to execute; and
in like manner the creoles are reserved with foreigners, who generally
are superior to them in capital, skill, and activity. Besides jealousy,
suspicion also plays a great part, and this influences the native
as well against the mestizo as against the Castilian. Enough takes
place to the present day to justify this feeling; but formerly, when
the most thrifty subjects could buy governorships, and shamelessly
fleece their provinces, such outrageous abuses are said to have been
permitted until, in process of time, suspicion has become a kind of
instinct amongst the Filipinos.

CHAPTER XXI

[Leyte.] The island of Leyte, between 9 deg. 49' and 11 deg. 34' N., and
124 deg. 7' and 125 deg. 9' E. Gr., is ab