The buffalo is, perhaps, the most useful of Philippine quadrupeds. Immense herds of wild buffaloes are found in the interior, but the tamed animal is employed in the labours of the fields and the transport of commodities, whether on its back or in waggons. His enjoyment is to be merged in water or mud. Such is the attachment of the mother to her young that she has been known to spring into the river and furiously to pursue the crocodile that had robbed her of her calf. Wild boars and deer abound.

A good deal of attention has been paid to improvement of the race of native ponies, and their value has much increased with the increasing demand. Till of late years the price was from forty to fifty dollars, but the Captain-General told me that the four ponies which he was accustomed to use in his carriage cost 500 dollars.

Though the accounts of the silent, concealed and rapid ravages of the white ants would sometimes appear incredible, credulity respecting them will outstrip all bounds. We had a female servant at Hong Kong who told us she had lent her savings in hard dollars to one of her relations, and, on claiming repayment, was informed that the white ants had eaten the dollars, nor did the woman’s simplicity doubt the story. In the Philippines at sunset during the rains their presence becomes intolerable. One well-authenticated fact may serve as an illustration of the destructive powers of these insects, to whom beautiful gauze wings have been given, as to butterflies in the later stage of their existence, which wings drop off as they find a resting-place. In the town of Obando, province of Bulacan, on the 18th of March, 1838, the various objects destined for the services of the mass, such as robes, albs, amices, the garments of the priests, &c, were examined and placed in a trunk made of the wood called narra (Pterocarpus palidus). On the 19th they were used in the divine services, and in the evening were restored to the box. On the 20th some dirt was observed near it, and on opening, every fragment of the vestments and ornaments of every sort were found to have been reduced to dust, except the gold and silver lace, which were tarnished with a filthy deposit. On a thorough examination, not an ant was found in any other part of the church, nor any vestige of the presence of these voracious destroyers; but five days afterwards they were discovered to have penetrated through a beam six inches thick.

Few of the larger wild animals are found in the Philippines. The elephant must have been known in former times, as the names gadya (elephant) and nangagadya (elephant-hunting) are preserved in the Tagal language. Oxen, swine, buffaloes, deer, goats, sheep, a great variety of apes and monkeys, cats, flying squirrels, dogs, rats, mungoes and other quadrupeds, are found in various stages of domesticity and wildness.

The great insect pests of the Philippines are the white ants (termes) and the mosquitos. Fleas, bugs and flies are less numerous and tormenting than in many temperate regions.

Some of the bats measure from five to six feet from the tips of their wings.

There are incredible stories about a small black bird of the swallow race, which is said to make its nest in the tail of wild horses. De Mas quotes what he calls undoubtedly trustworthy authorities1 for his arguments. There is an immense variety of gallinaceous fowls, pigeons and birds, whose Indian names would to European ornithologists bring little information; among which the balicyao is celebrated for its song; the mananayom (solitary), which always dies when captured; the coling, easily taught to talk; numerous parrots; the calao, which has a large transparent bill and crows like a cock; the bocuit, or bird of seven colours, which has a singularly sweet note; the valoor, a pigeon whose plumage is varied like that of the partridge; another called the dundunay, which is reported to be one of the most beautiful of birds.

Snakes, lizards and other reptiles abound; spiders of enormous size, tarantulas, &c. The guiko is very disturbing, from its noise. I was struck with the tenacity with which this creature held, even in the agonies of death, to a piece of timber on which it was placed; the soles of its feet seemed to have all the power of the sucker with which boys amuse themselves, and the animal was detached with great difficulty.

The fire-flies illuminate the forests at night. There are some trees to which they attach themselves in preference to others. Few objects are more beautiful than a bush or tree lighted by these bright and glancing stars. The brilliant creatures seem to have a wonderful sympathy with one another, sometimes by the production of a sudden blaze of beautiful fire, of a light and delicate green, and sometimes by its as sudden extinction.

Of aquatic creatures the tortoise is of considerable commercial importance. The natives, who watch the time of their coming on shore, conceal themselves, and, when a certain number are marching inland, run between the tortoises and the waves, turn them one after another on their backs, and return at their leisure to remove them. The large bivalve called by the natives taclovo, and which is used much in the churches as the receptacle for holy water, and is seen frequently at the entrance of houses, is captured by dropping a cord upon the body of the animal when the shell is opened, the animal immediately closes upon the cord, and is dragged to the surface with the greatest ease. I am not aware of the existence of any conchological work on the Philippines, though there is a great variety of land and water shells.