suggested that they be clothed in a
simple breech-clout and set to work not by day but at night. He
marveled, he stormed, that his projects should encounter objectors,
but consoled himself with the reflection that the man who is worth
enemies has them, and revenged himself by attacking and tearing to
pieces any project, good or bad, presented by others.

As he prided himself on being a liberal, upon being asked what he
thought of the Indians he would answer, like one conferring a great
favor, that they were fitted for manual labor and the _imitative
arts_ (meaning thereby music, painting, and sculpture), adding his
old postscript that to know them one must have resided many, many
years in the country. Yet when he heard of any one of them excelling
in something that was not manual labor or an _imitative art_--in
chemistry, medicine, or philosophy, for example--he would exclaim:
"Ah, he promises fairly, fairly well, he's not a fool!" and feel sure
that a great deal of Spanish blood must flow in the veins of such an
_Indian_. If unable to discover any in spite of his good intentions,
he then sought a Japanese origin, for it was at that time the fashion
began of attributing to the Japanese or the Arabs whatever good the
Filipinos might have in them. For him the native songs were Arabic
music, as was also the alphabet of the ancient Filipinos--he was
certain of this, although he did not know Arabic nor had he ever seen
that alphabet.

"Arabic, the purest Arabic," he said to Ben-Zayb in a tone that
admitted no reply. "At best, Chinese!"

Then he would add, with a significant wink: "Nothing can be, nothing
ought to be, original with the Indians, you understand! I like them
greatly, but they mustn't be allowed to pride themselves upon anything,
for then they would take heart and turn into a lot of wretches."

At other times he would say: "I love the Indians fondly, I've
constituted myself their father and defender, but it's necessary to
keep everything in its proper place. Some were born to command and
others to serve--plainly, that is a truism which can't be uttered very
loudly, but it can be put into practise without many words. For look,
the trick depends upon trifles. When you wish to reduce a people
to subjection, assure it that it is in subjection. The first day it
will laugh, the second protest, the third doubt, and the fourth be
convinced. To keep the Filipino docile, he must have repeated to him
day after day wha