CHAPTER VI


[To Bulacan by steamer.] My first excursion was to the province of
Bulacan, on the northern shore of the Bay of Manila. A couple of
hours brought the steamer to the bar of Binuanga (not Bincanga as
it is called in Coello's map), and a third to Bulacan, the capital
of the province, situated on the flat banks of an influent of the
Pampanga delta. I was the only European passenger, the others were
composed of Tagalogs, mestizos, and a few Chinese; the first more
particularly were represented by women, who are generally charged with
the management of all business affairs, for which they are much better
fitted than the men. As a consequence, there are usually more women
than men seen in the streets, and it appears to be an admitted fact
that the female births are more numerous than the male. According,
however, to the church-record which I looked through, the reverse was,
at any rate in the eastern provinces, formerly the case.

[Carromatas.] At the landing-place a number of carromatas were waiting
for us,--brightly painted, shallow, two-wheeled boxes, provided with
an awning, and harnessed to a couple of horses, in which strangers
with money to spend are quickly driven anywhere they may desire.

[Town of Bulacan.] The town of Bulacan contains from 11,000 to 12,000
inhabitants; but a month before my arrival, the whole of it, with the
exception of the church and a few stone houses, had been burnt to the
ground. All were therefore occupied in building themselves new houses,
which, oddly enough, but very practically, were commenced at the roof,
like houses in a drawing. Long rows of roofs composed of palm-leaves
and bamboos were laid in readiness on the ground, and in the meantime