characters, almost like the Greek or Arabic. These characters are
fifteen in all. Three are vowels, which are used as are our five. The
consonants number twelve, and each and all of them combine with
certain dots or commas, and so signify whatever one wishes to write,
as fluently and easily as is done with our Spanish alphabet. The method
of writing was on bamboo, but is now on paper, commencing the lines
at the right and running to the left, in the Arabic fashion. Almost
all the natives, both men and women, write in this language. There
are very few who do not write it excellently and correctly.
This language of the province of Manila [i.e., the Tagál] extends
throughout the province of Camarines, and other islands not contiguous
to Luzon. There is but little difference in that spoken in the various
districts, except that it is spoken more elegantly in some provinces
than in others. [307]
The edifices and houses of the natives of all these Filipinas
Islands are built in a uniform manner, as are their settlements;
for they always build them on the shores of the sea, between rivers
and creeks. The natives generally gather in districts or settlements
where they sow their rice, and possess their palm trees, nipa and
banana groves, and other trees, and implements for their fishing
and sailing. A small number inhabit the interior, and are called
tinguianes; they also seek sites on rivers and creeks, on which they
settle for the same reasons.
The houses and dwellings of all these natives are universally set
upon stakes and arigues [i.e., columns] high above the ground. Their
rooms are small and the roofs low. They are built and tiled with wood
and bamboos, [308] and covered and roofed with nipa-palm leaves. Each
house is separate, and is not built adjoining another. In the lower
part are enclosures made by stakes and bamboos, where their fowls
and cattle are reared, and the rice pounded and cleaned. One ascends
into the houses by means of ladders that can be drawn up, which are
made from two bamboos. Above are their open batalanes [galleries]
used for household duties; the parents and [grown] children live
together. There is little adornment and finery in the houses, which
are called bahandin. [309]
Besides these houses, which are those of the common people and those
of less importance, there are the chiefs' houses. They are built
upon trees and thick arigues, with many rooms and comforts. They are
well constructed of timber and planks, and are strong and large. They
are furnished and supplied with all that is necessary, and are much
finer and more substantial than the others. They are roofed, however,
as are the others, with the palm-leaves called nipa. These keep out
the water and the sun more than do shingles or tiles, although the
danger from fires is greater.
The natives do not inhabit the lower part of their houses, because
they raise their fowls and cattle there, and because of the damp
and heat of the earth, and the many rats, which are enormous and
destructive both in the houses and sowed fields; and because, as
their houses are generally built on the sea shore, or on the banks of
rivers and creeks, the waters bathe the lower parts, and the latter
are consequently left open.
There were no kings or lords throughout these islands who ruled over
them as in the manner of our kingdoms and provinces; but in every
island, and in each province of it, many chiefs were recognized by
the natives themselves. Some were more powerful than others, and
each one had his followers and subjects, by districts and families;
and these obeyed and respected the chief. Some chiefs had friendship
and communication with others, and at times wars and quarrels. [310]
These principalities and lordships were inherited in the male
line and by succession of father and son and their descendants. If
these were lacking, then their brothers and collateral relatives
succeeded. Their duty was to rule and govern their subjects and
followers, and to assist them in their interests and necessities. What
the chiefs received from their followers was to be held by them in
great veneration and respect; and they were served in their wars and
voyages, and in their tilling, sowing, fishing, and the building of
their houses. To these duties the natives attended very promptly,
whenever summoned by their chief. They also paid the chiefs tribute
(which they called buiz), in varying quantities, in the crops that
they gathered. The descendants of such chiefs, and their relatives,
even though they did not inherit the lordship, were held in the
same respect and consideration. Such were all regarded as nobles,
and as persons exempt from the services rendered by the others,
or the plebeians, who were called timaguas. [311] The same right of
nobility and chieftainship was preserved for the women, just as for
the men. When any of these chiefs was more courageous than others
in war and upon other occasions, such a one enjoyed more followers
and men; and the others were under his leadership, even if they
were chiefs. These latter retained to themselves the lordship and
particular government of their own following, which is called barangai
among them. They had datos and other special leaders [mandadores]
who attended to the interests of the barangay.
The superiority of these chiefs over those of their barangai was so
great that they held the latter as subjects; they treated these well
or ill, and disposed of their persons, their children, and their
possessions, at will, without any resistance, or rendering account
to anyone. For very slight annoyances and for slight occasions, they
were wont to kill and wound them, and to enslave them. It has happened
that the chiefs have made perpetual slaves of persons who have gone
by them, while bathing in the river, or who have raised their eyes
to look at them less respectfully and for other similar causes. [312]
When some natives had suits or disputes with others over matters of
property and interest, or over personal injuries and wrongs received,
they appointed old men of the same district, to try them, the parties
being present. If they had to present proofs, they brought their
witnesses there, and the case was immediately judged according to
what was found, according to the usages of their ancestors on like
occasions; and that sentence was observed and executed without any
further objection or delay. [313]
The natives' laws throughout the islands were made in the same manner,
and they followed the traditions and customs of their ancestors,
without anything being written. Some provinces had different customs
than others in some respects. However, they agreed in most, and in
all the islands generally the same usages were followed. [314]
There are three conditions of persons among the natives of these
islands, and into which their government is divided: the chiefs,
of whom we have already treated; the timaguas, who are equivalent to
plebeians; and slaves, those of both chiefs and timaguas.
The slaves were of several classes. Some were for all kinds of work
and slavery, like those which we ourselves hold. Such are called
saguiguilires; [315] they served inside the house, as did likewise the
children born of them. There are others who live in their own houses
with their families, outside the house of their lord; and come, at the
season, to aid him in his sowings and harvests, among his rowers when
he embarks, in the construction of his house when it is being built,
and to serve in his house when there are guests of distinction. These
are bound to come to their lord's house whenever he summons them, and
to serve in these offices without any pay or stipend. These slaves are
called namamahays, [316] and their children and descendants are slaves
of the same class. From these slaves--saguiguilirs and namamahays--are
issue, some of whom are whole slaves, some of whom are half slaves,
and still others one-fourth slaves. It happens thus: if either the
father or the mother was free, and they had an only child, he was
half free and half slave. If they had more than one child, they were
divided as follows: the first follows the condition of the father,
free or slave; the second that of the mother. If there were an odd
number of children, the last was half free and half slave. Those who
descended from these, if children of a free mother or father, were
only one-fourth slaves, because of being children of a free father or
mother and of a half-slave. These half slaves or one-fourth slaves,
whether saguiguilirs or namamahays, served their masters during every
other moon; and in this respect so is such condition slavery.
In the same way, it may happen in divisions between heirs that a slave
will fall to several, and serves each one for the time that is due
him. When the slave is not wholly slave, but half or fourth, he has
the right, because of that part that is free, to compel his master to
emancipate him for a just price. This price is appraised and regulated
for persons according to the quality of their slavery, whether it be
saguiguilir or namamahay, half slave or quarter slave. But, if he is
wholly slave, the master cannot be compelled to ransom or emancipate
him for any price.
The usual price of a sanguiguilir slave among the natives is, at most,
generally ten taes of good gold, or eighty pesos; if he is namamahay,
half of that sum. The others are in the same proportion, taking into
consideration the person and his age.
No fixed beginning can be assigned as the origin of these kinds of
slavery among these natives, because all the slaves are natives of
the islands, and not strangers. It is thought that they were made in
their wars and quarrels. The most certain knowledge is that the most
powerful made the others slaves, and seized them for slight cause or
occasion, and many times for loans and usurious contracts which were
current among them. The interest, capital, and debt, increased so much
with delay that the borrowers became slaves. Consequently all these
slaveries have violent and unjust beginnings; and most of the suits
among the natives are over these, and they occupy the judges in the
exterior court with them, and their confessors in that of conscience.
[317]
These slaves comprise the greatest wealth and capital of the natives
of these islands, for they are very useful to them and necessary
for the cultivation of their property. They are sold, traded, and
exchanged among them, just as any other mercantile article, from one
village to another, from one province to another, and likewise from
one island to another. Therefore, and to avoid so many suits as would
occur if these slaveries were examined, and their origin and source
ascertained, they are preserved and held as they were formerly.
The marriages of these natives, commonly and generally were, and
are: Chiefs with women chiefs; timaguas with those of that rank; and
slaves with those of their own class. But sometimes these classes
intermarry with one another. They considered one woman, whom they
married, as the legitimate wife and the mistress of the house;
and she was styled ynasaba. [318] Those whom they kept besides her
they considered as friends. The children of the first were regarded
as legitimate and whole heirs of their parents; the children of the
others were not so regarded, and were left something by assignment,
but they did not inherit.
The dowry was furnished by the man, being given by his parents. The
wife furnished nothing for the marriage, until she had inherited
it from her parents. The solemnity of the marriage consisted in
nothing more than the agreement between the parents and relatives of
the contracting parties, the payment of the dowry agreed upon to the
father of the bride, [319] and the assembling at the wife's parents'
house of all the relatives to eat and drink until they would fall
down. At night the man took the woman to his house and into his
power, and there she remained. These marriages were annulled and
dissolved for slight cause, with the examination and judgment of the
relatives of both parties, and of the old men, who acted as mediators
in the affairs. At such a time the man took the dowry (which they call
vigadicaya), [320] unless it happened that they separated through the
husband's fault; for then it was not returned to him, and the wife's
parents kept it. The property that they had acquired together was
divided into halves, and each one disposed of his own. If one made
any profits in which the other did not have a share or participate,
he acquired it for himself alone.
The Indians were adopted one by another, in presence of the
relatives. The adopted person gave and delivered all his actual
possessions to the one who adopted him. Thereupon he remained
in his house and care, and had a right to inherit with the other
children. [321]
Adulteries were not punishable corporally. If the adulterer paid the
aggrieved party the amount adjudged by the old men and agreed upon
by them, then the injury was pardoned, and the husband was appeased
and retained his honor. He would still live with his wife and there
would be no further talk about the matter.
In inheritances all the legitimate children inherited equally from
their parents whatever property they had acquired. If there were any
movable or landed property which they had received from their parents,
such went to the nearest relatives and the collateral side of that
stock, if there were no legitimate children by an ynasaba. This was
the case either with or without a will. In the act of drawing a will,
there was no further ceremony than to have written it or to have
stated it orally before acquaintances.
If any chief was lord of a barangai, then in that case, the eldest son
of an ynasaba succeeded him. If he died, the second son succeeded. If
there were no sons, then the daughters succeeded in the same order. If
there were no legitimate successors, the succession went to the
nearest relative belonging to the lineage and relationship of the
chief who had been the last possessor of it.
If any native who had slave women made concubines of any of them,
and such slave woman had children, those children were free, as was
the slave. But if she had no children, she remained a slave. [322]
These children by a slave woman, and those borne by a married woman,
were regarded as illegitimate, and did not succeed to the inheritance
with the other children, neither were the parents obliged to leave
them anything. Even if they were the sons of chiefs, they did not
succeed to the nobility or chieftainship of the parents, nor to their
privileges, but they remained and were reckoned as plebeians and in
the number and rank of the other timaguas.
The contracts and negotiations of these natives were generally illegal,
each one paying attention to how he might better his own business
and interest.
Loans with interest were very common and much practiced, and the
interest incurred was excessive. The debt doubled and increased all
the time while payment was delayed, until it stripped the debtor of
all his possessions, and he and his children, when all their property
was gone, became slaves. [323]
Their customary method of trading was by bartering one thing for
another, such as food, cloth, cattle, fowls, lands, houses, fields,
slaves, fishing-grounds, and palm-trees (both nipa and wild). Sometimes
a price intervened, which was paid in gold, as agreed upon, or in metal
bells brought from China. These bells they regard as precious jewels;
they resemble large pans and are very sonorous. [324] They play upon
these at their feasts, and carry them to the war in their boats instead
of drums and other instruments. There are often delays and terms for
certain payments, and bondsmen who intervene and bind themselves,
but always with very usurious and excessive profits and interests.
Crimes were punished by request of the aggrieved parties. Especially
were thefts punished with greater severity, the robbers being enslaved
or sometimes put to death. [325] The same was true of insulting words,
especially when spoken to chiefs. They had among themselves many
expressions and words which they regarded as the highest insult,
when said to men and women. These were pardoned less willingly and
with greater difficulty than was personal violence, such as wounding
and assaulting. [326]
Concubinage, rape, and incest, were not regarded at all, unless
committed by a timagua on the person of a woman chief. It was
a quite ordinary practice for a married man to have lived a long
time in concubinage with the sister of his wife. Even before having
communication with his wife he could have had access for a long
time to his mother-in-law, especially if the bride were very young,
and until she were of sufficient age. This was done in sight of all
the relatives.
Single men are called bagontaos, [327] and girls of marriageable age,
dalagas. Both classes are people of little restraint, and from early
childhood they have communication with one another, and mingle with
facility and little secrecy, and without this being regarded among
the natives as a cause for anger. Neither do the parents, brothers,
or relatives, show any anger, especially if there is any material
interest in it, and but little is sufficient with each and all.
As long as these natives lived in their paganism, it was not known
that they had fallen into the abominable sin against nature. But after
the Spaniards had entered their country, through communication with
them--and still more, through that with the Sangleys, who have come
from China, and are much given to that vice--it has been communicated
to them somewhat, both to men and to women. In this matter it has
been necessary to take action.
The natives of the islands of Pintados, especially the women, are very
vicious and sensual. Their perverseness has discovered lascivious
methods of communication between men and women; and there is one to
which they are accustomed from their youth. The men skilfully make
a hole in their virile member near its head, and insert therein a
serpent's head, either of metal or ivory, and fasten it with a peg of
the same material passed through the hole, so that it cannot become
unfastened. With this device, they have communication with their wives,
and are unable to withdraw until a long time after copulation. They are
very fond of this and receive much pleasure from it, so that, although
they shed a quantity of blood, and receive other harm, it is current
among them. These devices are called sagras, and there are very few
of them, because since they have become Christians, strenuous efforts
are being made to do away with these, and not consent to their use;
and consequently the practice has been checked in great part. [328]
Herbalists and witches are common among these natives, but are not
punished or prohibited among them, so long as they do not cause any
special harm. But seldom could that be ascertained or known.
There were also men whose business was to ravish and take away
virginity from young girls. These girls were taken to such men, and
the latter were paid for ravishing them, for the natives considered it
a hindrance and impediment if the girls were virgins when they married.
In matters of religion, the natives proceeded more barbarously and
with greater blindness than in all the rest. For besides being pagans,
without any knowledge of the true God, they neither strove to discover
Him by way of reason, nor had any fixed belief. The devil usually
deceived them with a thousand errors and blindnesses. He appeared to
them in various horrible and frightful forms, and as fierce animals,
so that they feared him and trembled before him. They generally
worshiped him, and made images of him in the said forms. These they
kept in caves and private houses, where they offered them perfumes
and odors, and food and fruit, calling them anitos. [329]
Others worshiped the sun and the moon, and made feasts and
drunken revels at the conjunction of those bodies. Some worshiped a
yellow-colored bird that dwells in their woods, called batala. They
generally worship and adore the crocodiles when they see them, by
kneeling down and clasping their hands, because of the harm that
they receive from those reptiles; they believe that by so doing
the crocodiles will become appeased and leave them. Their oaths,
execrations, and promises are all as above mentioned, namely, "May
buhayan eat thee, if thou dost not speak truth, or fulfil what thou
hast promised," and similar things.
There were no temples throughout those islands, nor houses generally
used for the worship of idols; but each person possessed and
made in his house his own anitos, [330] without any fixed rite or
ceremony. They had no priests or religious to attend to religious
affairs, except certain old men and women called catalonas. These
were experienced witches and sorcerers, who kept the other people
deceived. The latter communicated to these sorcerers their desires
and needs, and the catalonas told them innumerable extravagancies and
lies. The catalonas uttered prayers and performed other ceremonies to
the idols for the sick; and they believed in omens and superstitions,
with which the devil inspired them, whereby they declared whether the
patient would recover or die. Such were their cures and methods, and
they used various kinds of divinations for all things. All this was
with so little aid, apparatus, or foundation--which God permitted, so
that the preaching of the holy gospel should find those of that region
better prepared for it, and so that those natives would confess the
truth more easily, and it would be less difficult to withdraw them
from their darkness, and the errors in which the devil kept them for
so many years. They never sacrificed human beings as is done in other
kingdoms. They believed that there was a future life where those
who had been brave and performed valiant feats would be rewarded;
while those who had done evil would be punished. But they did not
know how or where this would be. [331]
They buried their dead in their own houses, and kept their bodies
and bones for a long time in chests. They venerated the skulls of the
dead as if they were living and present. Their funeral rites did not
consist of pomp or assemblages, beyond those of their own house--where,
after bewailing the dead, all was changed into feasting and drunken
revelry among all the relatives and friends. [332]
A few years before the Spaniards subdued the island of Luzon,
certain natives of the island of Borneo began to go thither to trade,
especially to the settlement of Manila and Tondo; and the inhabitants
of the one island intermarried with those of the other. These Borneans
are Mahometans, and were already introducing their religion among
the natives of Luzon, and were giving them instructions, ceremonies,
and the form of observing their religion, by means of certain gazizes
[333] whom they brought with them. Already a considerable number,
and those the chiefest men, were commencing, although by piecemeal,
to become Moros, and were being circumcised [334] and taking the names
of Moros. Had the Spaniards' coming been delayed longer, that religion
would have spread throughout the island, and even through the others,
and it would have been difficult to extirpate it. The mercy of God
checked it in time; for, because of being in so early stages, it was
uprooted from the islands, and they were freed from it, that is, in all
that the Spaniards have pacified, and that are under the government of
the Filipinas. That religion has spread and extended very widely in
the other islands outside of this government, so that now almost all
of their natives are Mahometan Moros, and are ruled and instructed by
their gaçizes and other morabitos; [335] these often come to preach
to and teach them by way of the strait of Ma[la]ca and the Red Sea,
through which they navigate to reach these islands.