The Reign of Greed Part 49

[53] There is something almost uncanny about the general accuracy of the prophecy in these lines, the economic part of which is now so well on the way to realization, although the writer of them would doubtless have been a very much surprised individual had he also foreseen how it would come about. But one of his own expressions was "fire and steel to the cancer," and it surely got them.

On the very day that this pa.s.sage was translated and this note written, the first commercial liner was tied up at the new docks, which have destroyed the Malecon but raised Manila to the front rank of Oriental seaports, and the final revision is made at Baguio, Mountain Province, amid the "cooler temperatures on the slopes of the mountains." As for the political portion, it is difficult even now to contemplate calmly the blundering fatuity of that bigoted medieval brand of "patriotism"

which led the decrepit Philippine government to play the Ancient Mariner and shoot the Albatross that brought this message.--Tr.

[54] These establishments are still a notable feature of native life in Manila. Whether the author adopted a t.i.tle already common or popularized one of his own invention, the fact is that they are now invariably known by the name used here. The use of _macanista_ was due to the presence in Manila of a large number of Chinese from Macao.--Tr.

[55] Originally, Plaza San Gabriel, from the Dominican mission for the Chinese established there; later, as it became a commercial center, Plaza Vivac; and now known as Plaza Cervantes, being the financial center of Manila.--Tr.

[56] "The manager of this restaurant warns the public to leave absolutely nothing on any table or chair."--Tr.

[57] "We do not believe in the verisimilitude of this dialogue, fabricated by the author in order to refute the arguments of the friars, whose pride was so great that it would not permit any Isagani to tell them these truths face to face. The _invention_ of Padre Fernandez as a Dominican professor is a stroke of generosity on Rizal's part, in conceding that there could have existed _any_ friar capable of talking frankly with an _Indian_."--_W. E. Retana, in note to this chapter in the edition published by him at Barcelona in 1908_. Retana ought to know of what he is writing, for he was in the employ of the friars for several years and later in Spain wrote extensively for the journal supported by them to defend their position in the Philippines. He has also been charged with having strongly urged Rizal's execution in 1896. Since 1898, however, he has doubled about, or, perhaps more aptly, performed a journalistic somersault--having written a diffuse biography and other works dealing with Rizal. He is strong in una.s.sorted facts, but his comments, when not inane and wearisome, approach a maudlin wail over "spilt milk," so the above is given at its face value only.--Tr.

[58] Quite suggestive of, and perhaps inspired by, the author's own experience.--Tr.

[59] The Walled City, the original Manila, is still known to the Spaniards and older natives exclusively as such, the other districts being referred to by their distinctive names.--Tr.

[60] Nearly all the dialogue in this chapter is in the mongrel Spanish-Tagalog "market language," which cannot be reproduced in English.--Tr.

[61] Doubtless a reference to the author's first work, _Noli Me Tangere_, which was tabooed by the authorities.--Tr.

[62] Such inanities as these are still a feature of Manila journalism.--Tr.

[63] "Whether there would be a _talisain_ c.o.c.k, armed with a sharp gaff, whether the blessed Peter's fighting-c.o.c.k would be a _bulik_--"

_Talisain_ and _bulik_ are distinguis.h.i.+ng terms in the vernacular for fighting-c.o.c.ks, _tari_ and _sasabungin_ the Tagalog terms for "gaff"

and "game-c.o.c.k," respectively.

The Tagalog terminology of the c.o.c.kpit and monkish Latin certainly make a fearful and wonderful mixture--nor did the author have to resort to his imagination to get samples of it.--Tr.

[64] This is Quiroga's p.r.o.nunciation of _Christo_.--Tr.

[65] The native priests Burgos, Gomez, and Zamora, charged with complicity in the uprising of 1872, and executed.--Tr.

[66] This versicle, found in the booklets of prayer, is common on the scapularies, which, during the late insurrection, were easily converted into the _anting-anting_, or amulets, worn by the fanatics.--Tr.

[67] This practise--secretly compelling suspects to sign a request to be transferred to some other island--was by no means a figment of the author's imagination, but was extensively practised to antic.i.p.ate any legal difficulties that might arise.--Tr.

[68] "Hawk-Eye."--Tr.

[69] Ultima Razon de Reyes: the last argument of kings--force. (Expression attributed to Calderon de la Barca, the great Spanish dramatist.)--Tr.

[70] Curiously enough, and by what must have been more than a mere coincidence, this route through Santa Mesa from San Juan del Monte was the one taken by an armed party in their attempt to enter the city at the outbreak of the Katipunan rebellion on the morning of August 30, 1896. (Foreman's _The Philippine Islands_, Chap. XXVI.)

It was also on the bridge connecting these two places that the first shot in the insurrection against American sovereignty was fired on the night of February 4, 1899.--Tr.

[71] Spanish etiquette requires a host to welcome his guest with the conventional phrase: "The house belongs to you."--Tr.

[72] The handwriting on the wall at Belshazzar's feast, foretelling the destruction of Babylon. Daniel, v, 25-28.--Tr.

[73] A town in Ciudad Real province, Spain.--Tr.

[74] The italicized words are in English in the original.--Tr.

[75] A Spanish hero, whose chief exploit was the capture of Gibraltar from the Moors in 1308.--Tr.

[76] Emilio Castelar (1832-1899), generally regarded as the greatest of Spanish orators.--Tr.

[77] In the original the message reads: "Espanol escondido casa Padre Florentino cojera remitira vivo muerto." Don Tiburcio understands _cojera_ as referring to himself; there is a play upon the Spanish words _cojera_, lameness, and _cogera_, a form of the verb _coger_, to seize or capture--_j_ and _g_ in these two words having the same sound, that of the English _h_.--Tr.