Saigon to Manila

On Board the Haiphong

1887

5. Saigon to Manila

On Board the Haiphong

2 August 1887

       There are only two first-class passengers: Frentz and I.  Today we should depart for Manila.  The two women are also going.  I have a first-class ticket.

       The afternoons and the mornings are pleasant on the Saigon River.  The mosquitoes are beginning to bite me.

       At 11:00 o’clock sharp we left Saigon.  One Chinese goes with us.  There are beautiful mountains on the way out.  The Spanish consul in Saigon charged each one of us two pesos for the visa.

4 August – Tuesday

       The captain says that we shall be in Mania tomorrow afternoon if the weather continues to be as goo as it is.  We had a full moon last night.  I slept on the deck the whole night.  In the moonlight the sea presents a magnificent spectacle: solitary, deserted, and immense.  The heavens shine majestically from above; fleeting diaphanous clouds move slowly across the space.  Far from the moon the stars shine faintly like shy little lights, not daring to go near.  From time to time a thick cloud hides the moon and the whole sea is in darkness, except the tiny space where the moon abundantly sheds its light producing a fantastic and grandiose effect.

5 August – Friday

       This afternoon we should see land.  The sea was calm when we work up this morning.  The sun was beginning to appear; the moon was facing in the west among pinkish clouds.  The dawn scatters a brilliant light on the sea with pearly tints and some ruby-colored stripes.

       “If I sere dear God, then, I’d go home right away.”  Tuckney. [01]

       The weather could not be more favorable. The sea is quiet as a pool of oil in spite of the cool breeze that blows.

       At 1:10 the sailors already sight land; but I cannot see anything yet.  At 1:20 I can discern at my left the vague shadow of a mountain.

       The sunset is behind Mariveles; it is the silhouette of the mountain with a background of gold, garnet, pink, and pearl.

       At 9:00 in the evening we arrive and cast anchor.  Some employees have come to visit the ship.  One of them is Luis Giraudier who inspected our passports.

       We have been waiting for more than an hour and a half for a carabineer to accompany us to land.  The luggage has to wait for the arrival of a carabineer, indeed, the corporal of the carabineers – Adolfo Soma.

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       [01] Anthony Tuckney, British author and authority on the Bible.