its expenses. I had a
dollar to pay when I recovered mine, although it was nearly starved
to death, on the pretence that it had swallowed rice to that value
since it had been caught.

[Petty robberies.] Small robberies occur very frequently, but they
are committed--as an acquaintance, a man who had spent some time
in the country, informed me one evening when I was telling him my
troubles--only upon the property of new arrivals; old residents, he
said, enjoyed a prescriptive freedom from such little inconveniences. I
fancy some waggish native must have overheard our conversation, for
early the next morning my friend, the old resident, sent to borrow
chocolate, biscuits, and eggs of me, as his larder and his hen-house
had been rifled during the night.

[Daraga market.] Monday and Friday evenings were the Daraga market
nights, and in fine weather always afforded a pretty sight. The
women, neatly and cleanly clad, sat in long rows and offered their
provisions for sale by the light of hundreds of torches; and, when
the business was over, the slopes of the mountains were studded all
over with flickering little points of brightness proceeding from the
torches carried by the homeward-bound market women. Besides eatables,
many had silks and stuffs woven from the fibers of the pine-apple
and the banana for sale. These goods they carried on their heads;
and I noticed that all the younger women were accompanied by their
sweethearts, who relieved them of their burdens.

CHAPTER XI

[Change of season.] During the whole time I was confined to the
house at Daraga, the weather was remarkably fine; but unfortunately
the bright days had come to an end by the time I was ready to make a
start, for the north-east monsoon, the sure forerunner of rain in this
part of the Archipelago, sets in in October. In spite, however, of the
weather, I determined to make another attempt to ascend the mountain
at Bulusan. I found I could go by boat to Bacon in the Bay of Albay,
a distance of seven leagues, whence I could ride to Gubat, on the east
coast, three leagues further, and then in a southerly direction along
the shore to Bulusan. An experienced old native, who provided a boat
and crew, had appointed ten o'clock at night as the best time for
my departure. Just as we were about to start, however, we were told
that four piratical craft had been seen in the bay. In a twinkling,
the crew disappeared, and I was left alone in the darkness; and it