How our religious continued to soften those Zambal Indians and
reduce them to civilization
[Notwithstanding that the Recollects had preached in the province
of Zambales for seventy years and many of the Zambals were baptized,
many of them were still wild, and refused the gospel message held out
to them. This is because of their great love of liberty and hatred
of restraint, and not because of lack of zeal on the part of the
Recollects. Besides the Zambals lived scattered in many rancherias
so that it was difficult for the fathers to visit them more than
once or twice a year, and consequently, the little instruction that
could be given them was insufficient to leaven them with the gospel
spirit throughout the year. They had been unable to reduce them to
fewer settlements because the various bands were often at war with
one another and could not reconcile their difficulties. Then, too,
the magistrates, sunk in their self interest, did not furnish the
aid that should come from them. "This is the reason, and there is
no other, why there is so much infidelity in these islands; for it
is clearly seen by experience that when the secular government has
been in earnest, and encouraged a mission, very abundant fruits have
followed therefrom." The narrative continues:]
And this is what our religious had in their favor when they entered
that province of Zambales, for the governor of these islands, Don
Juan de Vargas y Hurtado, was very desirous of that reduction, and
made exact measures for it. In imitation of him the chief commandant
of the fort of Paynaoven, namely, Adjutant Alonso Martin Franco,
tried to cooperate in this design by his continual vigilance and
efforts and at the evident risk of his life, and without heeding his
own interest in the many offers of gold which the Indians made him so
that he might desist from his purpose and not oblige them to leave
their retreats. Our religious protected by that aid, proposed to
the Indians of those rancherias as soon as they reached Playahonda,
to collect into one settlement in the site that they thought best,
in order that they might be more easily taught and administered by the
religious. Since they had promised to reduce themselves if Dominican
ministers were given them, and since the governor had given them
those ministers, they ought also to fulfil their word. The Indians of
Playahonda replied that they were not the ones who had gone to Manila
with that request, but it was those of Buquil. Consequently, the latter
ought to be confronted with that promise, and not they. Thereupon,
the religious summoned those of Buquil and making them the proposal
abovesaid, the Indians began to offer various excuses. By that our
religious recognized that all their promises were feigned, and that
they were very far from any intention to become reduced. Consequently,
that reply having been heard by the religious, which was so contrary
to what they had expected, and seeing that stronger measures were
needed, the father vicar provincial returned to Manila to represent
to the governor the rebellion of the Zambal Indians. The said father
was welcomed by his Lordship, from whom he obtained what he wished,
namely, the prohibition of trade between the Zambals and the Indians
of Pampanga and other provinces, in order that, being deprived of that
recourse, hunger and necessity might compel them to descend from the
mountain and live in a settlement in order to exist.
But that provision proving insufficient to make the Zambals live in
definite villages, the governor ordered the proclamation of an edict
ordering all the Zambals to descend the mountains under penalty of
being severely punished. The edict was proclaimed in Paynaoven and
in other places of that province, whence the notice of it could
be carried to those who were living in the mountains. More than
five hundred Zambals of Buquil descended on the day and to the site
assigned. There the commandant of the fort again imparted to them the
edict and order of the governor. Their reply to the proposal was to
submit the whole matter in common to an Indian called Quiravat, who
had been the chief agent in begging our ministers for religious. He
said "Let him who wishes to descend to settle, do it and welcome,
but as for me, I am going to live with my people where I choose." The
commandant angered at his boldness, manacled and bound the said
Quiravat, and the Indians his associates seeing that, began to
discharge a cloud of arrows at the commandant and his soldiers, in
number twenty-two men. Thereupon, the said commandant ordered Quiravat
to be beheaded, and the other Indians retired with the death of twelve
of their companions, but without their having done any harm to the
Spaniards. That fray and encounter inspired the Indians with fear,
and some, although they were few, descended. But in the following year
of 1680, three hundred soldiers having entered by way of Pampanga,
and the commandant of Paynaoven and his men having made a raid in that
other part, the Zambals were inspired with so great fear, that many
of them descended from the mountains. Consequently, it was possible
to form or increase three villages: one near the fort called Alalan;
another in Balacbac, called Nuevo Toledo; and the third south of the
two, called Baubuen. The Indians who descended from the mountain
were gathered into those three villages, whether from fear of the
Spaniards, or through the persuasions of the fathers. The latter, by
the aid of the soldiers, caused the Indians to show them more respect;
and with the affability and benignity of their treatment, softened the
hardness of their hearts. The same effort was made in other places of
the said province, where there were already some villages, although
they were very small and distant, and could not be administered by
the religious without evident risk and danger. Consequently, they
soon asked that they be placed in such condition and distance that
there might be easy communication from one village to the other. All
that was done at the cost of the order, which paid those who built
the houses. Those houses were built by people of other villages and
provinces, and they were given already built to the Zambals; for to
compel them to make them was morally impossible.
This effort of causing the Indians to form their villages would
have been of slight use, if at the same time they had not been
obliged to work in making their fields in order that they might
have the wherewithal to sustain life, so that they might not be
under the necessity of abandoning their villages and returning to the
mountains, where with the hunt and with various roots, the Indians are
wont to sustain life at small cost, without the care and trouble of
cultivation. And as they were unaccustomed to the cultivation of the
soil, and did not know how to plow, or dig, and had no instruments
for that, nor even seed for planting: they were provided with all
this by our religious. More than fifty buffaloes or carabaos (which
are their oxen), by which the plowing is done in this country, were
taken there at the cost of the order. Also many plows were bought
for them, and they were also given the seed so that they could
allege no reasonable excuse. Inasmuch as they did not know how to
plow or to plant, salaried Indians were taken from other provinces,
so that they might cultivate the land, and so that the Zambals might
learn of them. After the land that first year had been cultivated,
and the rice had headed, it was given to them at the time of harvest,
so that they might reap and gather it. But so great was the laziness
of those Zambals that many of them refused to accept the land because
it was not reaped. But others, having the profit so plainly in sight,
set to work to reap it and gather it; and since by that means they made
sure of their food, they were inclined to work and the cultivation of
their fields. Our religious encouraged them in this by thus forcibly
setting before their eyes the profit of the harvest, that they would
have afterward. The religious accompanied them to the fields to work,
heartily praised those who applied themselves, and perhaps, in order
to inspire them by their example, put their hands to the plow. For
the religious very well understood that if the Indians did not turn
husbandmen, they would not be secure in the level land, and they would
easily return to the mountains under the obligation of necessity. And
thus that necessary diligence was compulsory in order to reduce them
to a civilized life and to a good government.
All the time the fathers continued to soften their hardness by
their kindness and mildness, which they showed them not only in
the gentleness of their intercourse and conversation, but also much
more in the generosity and liberality which they used toward them,
providing them with all that was necessary, both for the building of
their houses and for the cultivation of their fields. They gave the
Indians a quantity of clothing to wear, besides the other acts of
kindness and the presents which they made them. In that our province
spent much money, a sum which, according to the accounts, exceeded
ten thousand pesos. The thing that robbed still more their affection
was on seeing that the fathers defended them when the soldiers wished
to employ violence with them, for they took the part of the Indians,
and softened the fury of the soldiers. By that means the Indians came
to perceive two things: one that the fathers considered their good;
and the other that they were higher than the soldiers, since the
latter obeyed the religious and desisted from the attempted severity
when the fathers ordered or petitioned them. Hence they came to infer
that to stand well with the fathers and to obey them was of great
profit to them, for so they were assured by the Spaniards, and among
the religious they experienced no evil treatment, but everything was
mild, gentle, and peaceful. Consequently, they moderated themselves
and became so mild, within a year, that it caused great surprise to
see those who had formerly been so wild and unmanageable become so
conformable and domestic.
When our religious entered at the beginning, the children ran away
from them when they saw them, and the women also hid; but the former
later became so familiar with the religious that they would scarcely
let them alone. When the religious entered any village, the children
all descended from their houses and went behind him, and walked with
him, and followed wherever he went. Scarcely would they let him walk,
for some of the children seized him by the habit, and others placed
their scapularies under his eyes [for him to bless?].
While the father was in the convent, it was not empty of Indians, who
were going and coming, some to beg for relief in their necessities,
while others begged consolation for their troubles, some medicine
for their pains, and some relief in their afflictions. All found
there whatever they needed, for charity serves for everything. And
since the Indians beheld that of the fathers toward them, they
loved them, esteemed them, and favored, and were so well inclined to
their intercourse, that, on a certain occasion, when they thought
that the fathers were going to leave them, and return to Manila,
the sorrow manifested by all was great until the fathers undeceived
them, and released them by various means of their vain fear. Those
who had previously fled from the fathers, and those with whom the
above-mentioned violence had to be used in order to gain admittance
in the beginning, reached this condition of sociability and mildness
in little more than one year....