A woodland clearing made by burning off the trees and underbrush, for planting upland rice or camotes.
The small, portable, open, clay fireplace commonly used in cooking.
The Philippine hornbill. As in all Malay countries, this bird is the object of curious superstitions. Its raucous cry, which may be faintly characterized as hideous, is said to mark the hours and, in the nighttime, to presage death or other disaster.
A short section of bamboo in which the buyo is mixed; a primitive betel-box.
A tree of the ebony family, from which fine cabinet-wood is obtained. Its fruit is the mabolo, or date-plum.
Tenants on the land of another, to whom they render payment in produce or by certain specified services.
A tall, rank grass used for thatch.
A Moro dagger or short sword with a serpentine blade.
A native song.
A large tree of the Mimosa family.
Miser, “skinflint.”
The langsa, a delicious cream-colored fruit about the size of a plum. In the Philippines, its special habitat is the country around the Lake of Bay.
A Chinese game of chance (?).
The jambolana, a small, blue fruit with a large stone.
The palace of the Captain-General in Manila: from the vernacular name of the place where it stands, “fishermen’s resort.”
An evil spirit causing sickness and other misfortunes, and a person possessed of such a demon.
Rice boiled without salt until dry, the staple food of the Filipinos.
Mohammedan Malay of southern Mindanao and Sulu.
Some object with talismanic properties, “rabbit’s foot.”
A Tagalog exclamation of surprise, wonder, etc.
Swamp-palm, with the imbricated leaves of which the roots and sides of the common Filipino houses are constructed.
A climbing fern whose glossy, wiry leaves are used for making fine hats, cigar-cases, etc.
A devotion consisting of prayers recited on nine consecutive days, asking for some special favor; also, a booklet of these prayers.
An exclamation to attract attention, used toward inferiors and in familiar intercourse: probably a contraction of the Spanish imperative, oye, “listen!”
An edible fern.
A thick, stout variety of rattan, used for walking-sticks.
A low tree or shrub with small, starlike flowers.
A starched neckerchief folded stiffly over the shoulders, fastened in front and falling in a point behind: the most distinctive portion of the customary dress of the Filipino women.
The tropical papaw, fruit of the “melon-tree.”
Freemason, the bête noire of the Philippine friar.
A silver coin, in value one-fifth of a peso or thirty-two cuartos.
A silver coin, either the Spanish peso or the Mexican dollar, about the size of an American dollar and of approximately half its value.
Fine cloth made from pineapple-leaf fibers.
The author has given a simple and sympathetic touch to his story throughout by using the familiar names commonly employed among the Filipinos in their home-life. Some of these are nicknames or pet names, such as Andong, Andoy, Choy, Neneng (“Baby”), Puté, Tinchang, and Yeyeng. Others are abbreviations or corruptions of the Christian names, often with the particle ng or ay added, which is a common practice: Andeng, Andrea; Doray, Teodora; Iday, Brigida (Bridget); Sinang, Lucinda (Lucy); Sipa, Josefa; Sisa, Narcisa; Teo, Teodoro (Theodore); Tiago, Santiago (James); Tasio, Anastasio; Tika, Escolastica; Tinay, Quintina; Tinong, Saturnino.
Head of a religious order in the Philippines.
Paramour, mistress: from the Spanish, “beloved.”
One-eighth of a peso, twenty cuartos.
The principal room in the more pretentious Philippine houses.
An infusion of ginger.
Wide hat of palm or bamboo and rattan, distinctively Filipino.
The Arabian jasmine: a small, white, very fragrant flower, extensively cultivated, and worn in chaplets and rosaries by the women and girls—the typical Philippine flower.
The Philippine sandal-tree.
Plaited bamboo wattle.
A transparent cloth woven from abaka fibers.
Water with vegetables or some acid fruit, in which fish are boiled; “fish soup.”
A common exclamation: contraction of the Spanish, Jesús, María, y José, the Holy Family.
The cry of carriage drivers to warn pedestrians.
A short sword, the “war bolo.”
Jerked meat.
A piece of dark cloth or lace, often richly worked or embroidered, worn at the waist somewhat in the fashion of an apron: a distinctive portion of the native women’s attire, especially among the Tagalogs.
A low weed whose leaves and fruit pedicles are covered with short, sharp spines.
Senior lieutenant, the senior member of the town council and substitute for the gobernadorcillo.
A variety of canna bearing bright red flowers.
Members of a lay society affiliated with a regular monastic order, especially the Venerable Tertiary Order of the Franciscans.
The “water-cure,” and hence, any kind of torture. The primary meaning is “to draw water from a well,” from timba,
