nes quickly adopted the rites, forms,
and ceremonies of the strange religion, and, at the same time, copied
the personal externalities of their new masters, learning to despise
their own manners and customs as heathenish and barbarian. Nowadays,
forsooth, they sing Andalusian songs, and dance Spanish dances; but
in what sort of way? They imitate everything that passes before their
eyes without using their intelligence to appreciate it. It is this
which makes both themselves and their artistic productions wearisome,
devoid of character, and, I may add, unnatural, in spite of the skill
and patience they devote to them. These two peculiarities, moreover,
are invariably to be found amongst nations whose civilization is but
little developed; the patience so much admired is often nothing but
waste of time and breath, quite out of proportion to the end in view,
and the skill is the mere consequence of the backward state of the
division of labor.

[Educated Filipino unnatural.] If I entered the house of a well-to-do
Filipino, who spoke Spanish, I was received with the same phrases his
model, a Spaniard, would employ; but I always had the feeling that it
was out of place. In countries where the native population remains
true to its ancient customs this is not the case; and whenever I
have not been received with proper respect, I have remarked that the
apparent fact proceeded from a difference in social forms, not more
to be wondered at than a difference in weights and measures. In Java,
and particularly in Borneo and the Moluccas, the utensils in daily use
are ornamented with so refined a feeling for form and color, that they
are praised by our artists as patterns of ornamentation and afford
a proof that the labor is one of love, and that it is presided over
by an acute intelligence. [Native art-sense spoiled.] Such a sense
of beauty is seldom to be met with in the Philippines. Everything
there is imitation or careless makeshift. Even the pina embroideries,
which are fabricated with such wonderful patience and skill, and
are so celebrated for the fineness of the work, are, as a rule,
spiritless imitations of Spanish patterns. One is involuntarily
led to these conclusions by a comparison of the art products of the
Spanish-American communities with those of more barbarous races. The
Berlin Ethnographical Museum contains many proofs of the facts I have
just mentioned.

[Indolence from absence of incentive.] The oars used in the