They Would Do Almost Anything For Me,
And Their Chief And I Soon Became Great Friends.
He was a most amusing
old fellow, and nearly always seemed to be laughing.
Yet they were
also the dirtiest people I had ever seen, and never washed themselves:
consequently they were thick with dirt, which even their dark skins
could not hide. They grew a little rice and tobacco, and the old chief
always kept me well supplied with rice, which seemed of very fair
quality. He also kept a few chickens and would often send me a present
of some eggs, which were very acceptable. In return I would give him
an old shirt or two, which he was very proud of. By the time I left,
these shirts were almost the colour of his skin, and he evidently did
not wish to follow my advice as to washing them. His house was a very
large one for a Negrito's, and far better built than any others that
I saw. When the maize which grew round my hut was ripe, the Filipino
owner got several men and women up from Florida Blanca to help him
to harvest it, and many of them slept underneath my hut. At nights I
would generally have quite a crowd round me watching me skin my birds,
and although I did not understand a word of their Pampanga dialect,
their exclamations of surprise and delight when a bird was finished
were quite complimentary. Poor Vic had to endure a running fire of
questions as to what I was going to do with my birds and butterflies,
but to judge by the way he lectured on me, he no doubt enjoyed it,
and possibly told them some wonderful yarns about "My English," as
he called me.
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