uisitive eyes staring
at me through the interstices. The eyes belonged exclusively to the
gentler sex; and their owners examined me with the greatest curiosity,
making remarks upon my appearance to one another, and seeming by no
means inclined to be disturbed. Upon another occasion, when bathing in
the open air in the province of Laguna, I was surrounded by a number of
women, old, middle-aged, and young, who crowded round me while I was
dressing, carefully inspected me, and pointed out with their fingers
every little detail which seemed to them to call for special remark.

[Storm damage.] I had travelled the last part of the road to Bulusan
in wind and rain; and the storm lasted with little intermission during
the whole night. When I got up in the morning I found that part of the
roof of the tribunal had been carried away, that the slighter houses
in the hamlet were all blown down, and that almost every dwelling in
the place had lost its roof. This pleasant weather lasted during the
three days of my stay. The air was so thick that I found it impossible
to distinguish the volcano, though I was actually standing at its
foot; and, as the weather-wise of the neighborhood could hold out no
promise of a favorable change at that time of the year, I put off my
intended ascent till a better opportunity, and resolved to return. A
former alcalde, Peneranda, was reported to have succeeded in reaching
the top fifteen years before, after sixty men had spent a couple of
months in building a road to the summit; and the ascent was said to
have taken him two whole days. But an experienced native told me that
in the dry season he thought four men were quite sufficient to open a
narrow path to the plateau, just under the peak, in a couple of days;
but that ladders were required to get on to the actual summit.

[Arrival of assistance.] The day after my arrival the inspector of
highways and another man walked into the tribunal, both of them wet to
the skin and nearly blown to pieces. My friend the alcalde had sent
them to my assistance; and, as none of us could attempt the ascent,
they returned with me. As we were entering Bacon on our way back,
we heard the report of cannon and the sound of music. Our servants
cried out "Here comes the alcalde," and in a few moments he drove up
in an open carriage, accompanied by an irregular escort of horsemen,
Spaniards and natives, the latter prancing about in silk hats and
shirts fluttering in the wind