Rizal's Diary: Hong-Kong to British North Borneo, 1889

13. Hong Kong to British North Borneo *

7 March 1892 –

By morning we were sailing in Philippine waters. At 6:30 we leave at our left and behind us Cagayan de Joló. At the left and also at the right can be seen a ribbon of foamy waves, probably over sandbanks. It is said that the sea does not communicate with us or that the god of the sea protects us.

8 March, Friday –

At 12:00 o’clock we sail through the strait of Mindoro (?). At the left we see numerous little rocky islands, poor and uninhabited. At the right a large a large island, idem, idem. The Island of Mindoro is mountainous, sandy; has few trees; its southwest coast is uninhabited.

We have not encountered yet a boat, a steamer or a banca. Towards a point on the west coast of the island there is a small island of this shape. [01]

We travel at the rate of 10 miles per hour.

The apparatus of the Memnon to record miles consists of one long un-twistable string at one of whose ends is fixed a pear with fringes in the form of a helix and at the other a wheel, which serves as a shuttle-cock, at whose end is a hook attached to a recording apparatus. On the face of the meter there are two eccentric circles as on a watch’s face. The circle for the hours is divided in 100 parts which indicate the miles. The small circle for seconds is divided into four parts and the turn of each needle indicates one mile.

With some sails we are traveling almost 11 miles per hour. One mile is 1760 yards.

NOTES ON THE REGION IN BRITISH NORTH BORNEO VISITED BY RIZAL

Padiak = 100 fathoms on one side, 100 fathoms on the other. 30 pesos for cleaning.

Bait River: On both banks pagatpat [02] and bakawan grow profusely. There is balod; [03] the water has a dirty color due to the rains and those trees. There are trees for dying cloth. Ipil [04] and camphor wood abound. They burn them. They plant batad. [05] abaca, sugarcane, cotton, coffee, cacao. In the forests there are limatic [06] and ulalo [07] and in the rivers fish abound so much that big ones can be seen in the middle of the creeks. There is one which is jumping on the surface of the water.

Manila River – The majority of the inhabitants come from Zamboanga; there are also some from Tayabas, Batangas, Ilocandia, and Bisayas. They tell wonderful stories of rare to fierce animals, karabaws, deer, etc. They have had some unpleasantness with the police, the Chinese, etc., who seem to fear them especially. In the afternoon the water of the river disappears with astounding swiftness, leaving the vessels there stranded on dry land.

Sawmill

______________

* Although Borneo is not mentioned, these are notes of his trip to Borneo on board the steamer Memnon which he took at Hong Kong where he was then temporarily residing. We have the draft of the letter to the editor of La Solidaridad from Sandakan, (Borneo) dated 6 April 1892. By 20 April 1892 he was back at Hong Kong as stated in his letter with that date to Blumentritt. Mariano Ponce has placed a note on these fragments stating simply that the Memnon was the name of the ship in which Rizal traveled.

[01] The sketch is found in the original MS.

NOTE: Many of the definitions which follow are given with the help of the Filipino scientist, Dr. Leopoldo B. Uichanco.

[02] Pagatpat, Tagalog name for Sonneratia pagatpat Blanco, a tree growing in mangrove swamps with broad and rather large leaves.

[03] Large gray and green wild pigeons.

[04] Ipil (Intsia). It produces lumber of the first group.

[05] Batad (Andropogon sorghum) Brot. Or Sorghum vulgare). A kind of coarse annual grass cultivated as a cereal.

[06] Or, limatik. This is a land leech which is a nuisance in wet forest areas at middle altitudes.

[07] White grubs which are the larvae of scarabaeoid beetles (unang, salagubang, etc.).