incurred, the royal treasury of Nueva España sends annually to that of
the Filipinas, in addition to the above revenues, some assistance in
money--a greater or less sum, as necessity requires. For his Majesty
has thus provided for it from the proceeds of the ten per cent duties
on the Chinese merchandise that are collected at the port of Acapulco
in Nueva España. This assistance is given into the keeping of the
royal officials in Manila, and they take charge of it, with the rest
of the revenues that they manage and collect.
From all this gross sum of his Majesty's revenue, the salaries of
the governor and royal Audiencia are paid, as well as the stipends
of prelates and ecclesiastical prebendaries, the salaries of the
magistrates, and of the royal officials and their assistants; the
pay of all the military officers and regular soldiers; his Majesty's
share of the stipends for instruction, and the building of churches
and their ornaments; the concessions and gratifications that he has
allowed to certain monasteries, and private persons; the building
of large vessels for the navigation to Nueva España, and of galleys
and other vessels for the defense of the islands; expenses for
gunpowder and ammunition; the casting of artillery, and its care;
the expense arising for expeditions and individual undertakings
in the islands, and in their defense; that of navigations to, and
negotiations with, the kingdoms in their vicinity, which are quite
common and necessary. Consequently, since his Majesty's revenues in
these islands are so limited, and his expenses so great, the royal
treasury falls short, and suffers poverty and need. [422]
The proceeds from the ten per cent duties and the freight charges of
the ships, which are collected at Acapulco in Nueva España, on the
merchandise sent there from the Filipinas, although considerable, are
also not always sufficient for the expenses incurred in Nueva España
with the ships, soldiers, ammunition, and other supplies sent annually
to the Filipinas. These expenses are generally greatly in excess
of those duties, and the amount is made up from the royal treasury
of Mexico. Consequently, the king our sovereign derives as yet no
profit from any revenues of the Filipinas, but rather an expenditure,
by no means small, from his revenues in Nueva España. He sustains the
Filipinas only for the christianization and conversion of the natives,
and for the hopes of greater fruits in other kingdoms and provinces of
Asia, which are expected through this gateway, at God's good pleasure.
Every year the Audiencia audits the accounts of the royal officials of
his Majesty's revenues, strikes the balances, and sends the accounts
to the tribunal of accounts in Mexico. [423]
In the city of Manila, and in all those Spanish settlements of the
islands, reside Sangleys, who have come from Great China, besides
the merchants. They have appointed settlements and are engaged in
various trades, and go to the islands for their livelihood. Some
possess their pariáns and shops. Some engage in fishing and farming
among the natives, throughout the country; and go from one island to
another to trade, in large or small champans. [424]
The annual vessels from Great China bring these Sangleys in great
numbers, especially to the city of Manila, for the sake of the profits
that are gained from their fares. As there is a superabundance of
population in China, and the wages and profits there are little,
they regard as of importance whatever they get in the Filipinas.
Very great annoyances result from this; for, not only can there be
little security to the country with so many infidels, but the Sangleys
are a wicked and vicious race. Through intercourse and communication
with them, the natives improve little in Christianity and morals. And
since they come in such numbers and are so great eaters, they raise
the price of provisions, and consume them.
It is true that the city could not be maintained or preserved without
these Sangleys; for they are the mechanics in all trades, and are
excellent workmen and work for suitable prices. But a less number of
them would suffice for this, and would avoid the inconvenience of so
many people as are usually in Manila when the ships arrive--to say
nothing of the many Chinese who go about among the islands, under
pretext of trading with the natives, and there commit innumerable
crimes and offenses. At the least, they explore all the country, the
rivers, creeks, and ports, and know them better than the Spaniards
do; and they will be of great harm and injury in case of any revolt
or hostile invasion of the islands.
In order to remedy all the above, it was ordered that the vessels
should not bring so many people of this kind, under penalties that
are executed; that, when the vessels return to China, they take
these Sangleys back with them; that only a convenient number of
merchants remain in Manila, in the Parián, and the mechanics of
all necessary trades; and that these must have written license,
under severe penalties. In the execution of this, an auditor of the
Audiencia is engaged by special commission every year, together with
some assistants. On petition of the city cabildo, he usually allows
as many Sangleys to remain as are necessary for the service of all
trades and occupations. The rest are embarked and compelled to return
in the vessels going to China, and a great deal of force and violence
[425] is necessary to accomplish it.
Those merchants and artisans who remained in Manila before the revolt
of the year six hundred and three had settled the Parián and its
shops. The Parián is a large enclosed alcaicería of many streets,
at some distance from the city walls. It is near the river, and its
location is called San Graviel. There they have their own governor,
who has his tribunal and prison, and his assistants; these administer
justice to them, and watch them day and night, so that they may live
in security, and not commit disorders.
Those who cannot find room in this Parián live opposite, on the other
side of the river, where Tondo is, in two settlements called Baybay
and Minondoc. They are in charge of the alcalde-mayor of Tondo, and
under the ministry of the religious of St. Dominic, who labor for their
conversion, and for that purpose have learned the Chinese language.
The Dominicans have two monasteries with the requisite assistants,
and a good hospital for the treatment of Sangleys. In a district
kept separate from the infidels, they have a settlement of baptized
Sangleys, with their wives, households, and families, numbering five
hundred inhabitants; and the religious are continually baptizing
others and settling them in that village. But few of them turn out
well, for they are a vile and restless race, with many vices and bad
customs. Their having become Christians is not through the desire
or wish for salvation, but for the temporal conveniences that they
have there, and because some are unable to return to China because
of debts incurred and crimes committed there.
Each and all, both Christians and infidels, go unarmed and in their
national garb. This consists of long garments with wide sleeves, made
of blue cangan (but white for mourning, while the chief men wear them
of black and colored silks); wide drawers of the same material; half
hose of felt; very broad shoes, according to their fashion, made of
blue silk embroidered with braid--with several soles, well-sewed--and
of other stuffs. Their hair is long and very black, and they take
good care of it. They do it up on the head in a high knot, [426]
under a very close-fitting hood or coif of horsehair, which reaches
to the middle of the forehead. They wear above all a high round cap
made of the same horsehair, in different fashions, by which their
different occupations, and each man's rank, are distinguished. The
Christians differ only in that they cut their hair short, and wear
hats, as do the Spaniards.
They are a light-complexioned people and tall of body. They have
scant beards, are very stout-limbed, and of great strength. They
are excellent workmen, and skilful in all arts and trades. They are
phlegmatic, of little courage, treacherous and cruel when opportunity
offers, and very covetous. They are heavy eaters of all kinds of meat,
fish, and fruits; but they drink sparingly, and then of hot beverages.
They have a governor of their own race, a Christian, who has his
officials and assistants. He hears their cases in affairs of justice,
in their domestic and business affairs. Appeals from him go to the
alcalde-mayor of Tondo or of the Parián, and from all these to the
Audiencia, which also gives especial attention to this nation and
whatever pertains to it.
No Sangley can live or own a house outside these settlements of
the Parián, and of Baybay and Minondoc. Native settlements are not
allowed in Sangley settlements, or even near them. No Sangley can go
among the islands, or as much as two leguas from the city, without
special permission. Much less can he remain in the city at night,
after the gates are shut, under penalty of death.
There are generally some Japanese, both Christian and infidel, in
Manila. These are left by the vessels from Japon, although they are
not so numerous as the Chinese. They have their special settlement and
location outside the city, between the Sangley Parián and the suburb of
Laguio, near the monastery of La Candelaria. There they are directed
by discalced religious of St. Francis, by means of interpreters
whom the fathers keep for that purpose. They are a spirited race,
of good disposition, and brave. They wear their own costume, namely,
kimonos of colored silks and cotton, reaching half way down the leg,
and open in front; wide, short drawers; close-fitting half-boots of
leather, [427] and shoes like sandals, with the soles of well-woven
straw. They go bare-headed, and shave the top of the head as far
back as the crown. Their back hair is long, and fastened upon the
skull in a graceful knot. They carry their catans, large and small,
in the belt. They have scant beards, and are a race of noble bearing
and behavior. They employ many ceremonies and courtesies, and attach
much importance to honor and social standing. They are resolute in
any necessity or danger.
Those who become Christians prove very good, and are very devout
and observant in their religion; for only the desire for salvation
incites them to adopt our religion, so that there are many Christians
in Japon. Accordingly they return freely, and without opposition,
to their own country. At most there are about five hundred Japanese
of this nation in Manila, for they do not go to other parts of the
islands, and such is their disposition that they return to Japon, and
do not tarry in the islands; consequently very few of them usually
remain in the islands. They are treated very cordially, as they are
a race that demand good treatment, and it is advisable to do so for
the friendly relations between the islands and Japon. [428]
Few people come from the other nations--Sian, Camboja, Borneo, Patan,
and other islands--outside our government; and they immediately return
in their vessels. Consequently, there is nothing special to be said
of them, except that care is exercised in receiving and despatching
them well, and seeing that they return quickly to their own countries.
Since I have told, in the short time at my disposal, the
characteristics of the Filipinas Islands, and their customs and
practices, it will not be inappropriate to discuss the navigation to
them since it is made thither from Nueva España; the return voyage,
which is not short, or without great dangers and hardships; and that
made in the eastern direction.
When the islands were conquered in the year of one thousand five
hundred and seventy-four [sic; sc. 1564], the Spanish fleet sailed
under command of the adelantado Miguel Lopez de Legaspi, from Puerto
de la Navidad [429] situated in the South Sea, on the coast of Nueva
España, in the province and district of Xalisco and Galicia, where
resides the royal Audiencia of Guadalajara. A few later voyages
were made also from the same port, until the point for the sending
of these vessels was removed, for better and greater convenience,
to the port of Acapulco, located farther south on the same coast,
in sixteen and one-half degrees of latitude; it is eighty leguas from
Mexico, and in its district. It is an excellent port, sheltered from
all weather; and has a good entrance and good anchorages. Its vicinity
is advantageous, being better provisioned and more populous than that
of La Navidad. There a large Spanish colony has been established,
with its alcalde-mayor, and royal officials who have charge of his
Majesty's treasury; and these attend to the despatch of the vessels.
The vessels that sail to the Filipinas, as they are despatched annually
on his Majesty's account, must necessarily leave in the certain season
of the brisas, which begin in the month of November and last until the
end of March. This navigation should not be made at any other season,
for from June the vendavals blow, and they are contrary to the voyage.
As a rule, these ships sail and are despatched at the end of February,
or at the latest by the twentieth of March. They sail west toward the
islands of Las Velas, [430] otherwise called the Ladrones. The island
of Guan, one of them, lies in thirteen degrees of latitude. Inasmuch
as the vessels on leaving Acapulco are wont sometimes to encounter
calms, they sail south from sixteen and one-half degrees, in which
the port is situated, until they strike the brisas, which is generally
at ten or eleven degrees. By this route they sail continually before
the wind, and without changing the sails, with fresh and fair brisas,
and in other moderate weather, for one thousand eight hundred leguas,
without sighting any mainland or island. Then leaving to the south
the Barbudos and other islands, and advancing gradually to a latitude
of thirteen degrees, they sail until they sight the island of Guan;
and above it, in fourteen degrees, that of La Çarpana [Seypan]. This
voyage to those Ladrones Islands lasts generally seventy days.
The natives of those islands, who go naked, and are a very robust
and barbarous race, go out to sea to meet the ships as soon as they
discover them, at a distance of four to six leguas, with many vessels;
these are one-masted, and are very slender and light. These vessels
have a counterpoise of bamboo to leeward, and their sails are made
of palm-leaves and are lateen-sails. Two or three men go in each one
with oars and paddles. They carry loads of flying-fish, dorados,
[431] cocoa-nuts, bananas, sweet potatoes, bamboos full of water,
and certain mats; and when they reach the ships, they trade these for
iron from the hoops of casks, and bundles of nails, which they use
in their industries, and in the building of their ships. Since some
Spaniards and religious have lived among them, because of Spanish
ships being wrecked or obliged to take refuge there, they come more
freely to our ships and enter them.
Our ships sail between the two islands of Guan and Çarpana toward the
Filipinas and the cape of Espiritu Santo, a distance of three hundred
leguas farther on, in the latitude of about thirteen degrees. This
distance is made in ten or twelve days with the brisas; but it may
happen, if the ships sail somewhat late, that they encounter vendavals,
which endanger their navigation, and they enter the islands after
great trouble and stormy weather.
From the cape of Espiritu Santo, the ships enter the strait of Capul
at the islands of Mazbate and Burias; thence they sail to Marinduque
and the coast of Calilaya, the strait of Mindoro, the shoals of
Tuley, and the mouth of Manila Bay. Thence, they go to the port of
Cabit. This is a voyage of one hundred leguas from the entrance to
the islands and is made in one week. This is the end of the voyage,
which is good and generally without storms, if made in the proper time.
These vessels now make the return voyage from the Filipinas to Nueva
España with great difficulty and danger, for the course is a long one
and there are many storms and various temperatures. The ships depart,
on this account, very well supplied with provisions, and suitably
equipped. Each one sails alone, hoisting as much sail as possible,
and one does not wait for the other, nor do they sight one another
during the voyage.
They leave the bay and port of Cabit at the first setting-in of
the vendavals, between the same islands and by the same straits,
by the twentieth of June and later. As they set out amid showers,
and are among islands, they sail with difficulty until they leave
the channel at Capul. Once in the open sea, they catch the vendaval,
and voyage east, making more progress when they reach the latitude
of fourteen or fifteen degrees.
Then the brisa starts. This wind is the ordinary one in the South Sea,
especially in low latitudes. Since it is a head wind, the course is
changed, and the bow is pointed betwen the north and east, as much
as the wind will allow. With this they reach a higher latitude, and
the ship is kept in this course until the vendaval returns. Then,
by means of it, the ship again takes an eastern course in that
latitude where it happens to be, and keeps that direction as long
as that wind lasts. When the vendaval dies, the ship takes the best
course that the winds allow, by the winds then blowing between north
and east. If the wind is so contrary that it is north or northwest,
so that the ship cannot take that course, the other course is taken
so that they may continue to maintain their voyage without losing
time. At four hundred leguas from the islands they sight certain
volcanoes and ridges of the islands of Ladrones, which run north as
far as twenty-four degrees. [432] Among these they generally encounter
severe storms and whirl-winds. At thirty-four degrees is the cape of
Sestos, [433] at the northern head of Japon, six hundred leguas from
the Filipinas. They sail among other islands, which are rarely seen,
in thirty-eight degrees, encountering the same dangers and storms,
and in a cold climate, in the neighborhood of the islands Rica de
Oro ["rich in gold"] and Rica de Plata ["rich in silver"], which are
but seldom seen. [434] After passing them the sea and open expanse
of water is immense, and the ship can run free in any weather. This
gulf is traversed for many leguas with such winds as are encountered,
until a latitude of forty-two degrees is reached, toward the coast of
Nueva España. They seek the winds that generally prevail at so high a
latitude, which are usually northwest. After a long voyage the coast
of Nueva España is sighted, and from Cape Mendoçino (which lies in
forty-two and one-half degrees) the coast extends nine hundred leguas
to the port of Acapulco, which lies in sixteen and one-half degrees.
When the ships near the coast, which they generally sight betwen forty
and thirty-six degrees, the cold is very severe, and the people suffer
and die. Three hundred leguas before reaching land, signs of it are
seen, by certain aguas malas, [435] as large as the hand, round and
violet colored, with a crest in the middle like a lateen sail, which
are called caravelas ["caravels"]. This sign lasts until the ship is
one hundred leguas from land; and then are discovered certain fish,
with half the body in the form of a dog; [436] these frolic with
one another near the ship. After these perrillos ["little dogs"] are
seen the porras ["knobsticks"], which are certain very long, hollow
shoots of a yellow herb with a ball at the top, and which float on the
water. At thirty leguas from the coast are seen many great bunches of
grass which are carried down to the sea by the great rivers of the
country. These grasses are called balsas ["rafts or floats"]. Also
many perrillos are seen, and, in turn, all the various signs. Then
the coast is discovered, and it is very high and clear land. Without
losing sight of land, the ship coasts along it with the northwest,
north-northwest, and north winds, which generally prevail on that
coast, blowing by day toward the land, and by night toward the sea
again. With the decrease of the latitude and the entrance into a
warm climate the island of Cenizas [ashes] is seen, and afterward
that of Cedros [cedars]. Thence one sails until the cape of San Lucas
is sighted, which is the entrance of [the gulf of] California. From
that one traverses the eighty leguas intervening to the islands of
Las Marias and the cape of Corrientes ["currents"], which is on the
other side of California in Val de Vanderas ["valley of banners"],
and the provinces of Chametla. Thence one passes the coast of Colima,
Sacatul, Los Motines ["the mutinies"], and Ciguatanejo, and enters the
port of Acapulco--without having made a way-station or touched land
from the channel of Capul in the Filipinas throughout the voyage. The
voyage usually lasts five months or thereabout, but often six and
even more. [437]
By way of India, one may sail from the Filipinas to España, by making
the voyage to Malaca, and thence to Cochin and Goa, a distance of
one thousand two hundred leguas. This voyage must be made with the
brisas. From Goa one sails by way of India to the cape of Buena
Esperança [Good Hope], and to the Terceras [i.e., Azores] Islands,
and thence to Portugal and the port of Lisboa. This is a very long
and dangerous voyage, as is experienced by the Portuguese who make
it every year. From India they usually send letters and despatches to
España by way of the Bermejo ["Red"] Sea, by means of Indians. These
send them through Arabia to Alexandria, and thence by sea to Venecia
[Venice] and thence to España.
A galleon bound for Portugal sails and is despatched from the fort of
Malaca, in certain years, by the open sea, without touching at India
or on its coasts. It reaches Lisboa much more quickly than do the Goa
vessels. It generally sails on the fifth of January, and does not leave
later than that; nor does it usually anticipate that date. However,
not any of these voyages are practiced by the Castilians--who are
prohibited from making them--except the one made by way of Nueva
España, both going and coming, as above described. And although the
effort has been made, no better or shorter course has been found by
way of the South Sea. [438]
Laus Deo
NOTES
[1] Cea is a small town situated in the old kingdom of Léon, on a
river of the same name. It was a seat of a chateau and a duchy. The
name of the first duke of Lerma was Francisco Gomez de Sandoval y
Rojas. Hume's Spain (Cambridge, 1898), mentions one of his sons as
duke of Cea, who is probably the Cristoval Gomez de Sandoval y Rojas
of Morga's dedication.
[2] The facts of Doctor Antonio de Morga's life are meager. He must
have been born in Sevilla, as his birth register is said to exist in
the cathedral of that city. He sailed from Acapulco for the Philippines
in 1595 in charge of the vessels sent with reënforcements that year. He
remained there eight years, during which time he was continually in
office. In 1598, upon the reëstablishment of the Manila Audiencia he
was appointed senior auditor. In 1600 he took charge of the operations
against the Dutch and commanded in the naval battle with them. He left
the islands July 10, 1603, in charge of the ships sailing that year
to Mexico. After that period he served in the Mexico Audiencia; and
as late as 1616 was president of the Quito Audiencia, as appears from
a manuscript in the British Museum. His book circulated, at least,
in part, in manuscript before being published. Torrubía mentions a
manuscript called Descubrimiento, conquista, pacificación y población
de ias Islas Philipinas, which was dated 1607, and dedicated to
"his Catholic Majesty, King Don Phelipe III, our sovereign." Morga
combined the three functions of historian, politician, and soldier,
and his character is many sided and complex. He is spoken of in high
terms as an historian, and Rizal, as well as Blumentritt, exalts him
above all other historians of the Philippines.