with the King of Mazzava, the Moor, the governor, and the chief of
police,[312] and eight of the principal men, came to the ship to make
peace with us. The captain-general was sitting in a chair of red
velvet, and near him were the principal men of the ships sitting in
leather chairs, and the others on the ground on mats. Then the captain
bade the interpreter ask the above-mentioned persons if it was their
custom to speak in secret or in public, and whether the prince who was
come with them had power to conclude peace. They answered yes, that
they would speak in public, and that they had the power to conclude
peace. The captain spoke at length on the subject of peace, and prayed
God to confirm it in heaven. These people replied that they had never
heard such words as these which the captain had spoken to them, and
they took great pleasure in hearing them. The captain, seeing then
that those people listened willingly to what was said to them, and
that they gave good answers, began to say a great many more good
things to induce them to become Christians. After many other subjects,
the captain asked them who would succeed the king in their country
after his death. They answered that the king had no son, but several
daughters, and that this prince was his nephew, and had for a wife
the king’s eldest daughter, and for the sake of that they called him
prince. They also said that when the father and mother were old they
took no further account of them, but their children commanded them.
Upon which the captain told them how God had made heaven and earth and
all other things in the world, and that He had commanded that everyone
should render honour and obedience to his father and mother, and that
whoever did otherwise was condemned to eternal fire. He then pointed
out to them many other things concerning our faith. The people heard
these things willingly, and besought the captain to leave them two men
to teach and show them the Christian faith, and they would entertain
them well with great honour. To this the captain answered that for the
moment he could not leave them any of his people, but that if they
wished to be Christians that his priest would baptise them, and that
another time he would bring priests and preachers to teach them the
faith. They then answered that they wished first to speak to their
king, and then would become Christians. Each of us wept for the joy
which we felt at the goodwill of these people, and the captain told
them not to become Christians from fear of us, or to please us, but
that if they wished to become Christian they must do it willingly, and
for the love of God, for even though they should not become Christian,
no displeasure would be done them, but those who became Christian
would be more loved and better treated than the others. Then they all
cried out with one voice, that they did not wish to become Christians
from fear, nor from complaisance, but of their free will. The captain
then said that if they became Christians he would leave them the arms
which the Christians use, and that his king had commanded him so to
do. At last they said they did not know what more to answer to so many
good and beautiful words which he spoke to them, but that they placed
themselves in his hands, and that he should do with them as with his
own servants. Then the captain, with tears in his eyes, embraced them,
and, taking the hand of the prince and that of the king, said to him
that by the faith he had in God, and to his master the emperor, and by
the habit of St. James which he wore, he promised them to cause them to
have perpetual peace with the King of Spain, at which the prince and
the others promised him the same. After peace had been concluded, the
captain had refreshments served to them. The prince and the King of
Mazzava, who was with him, presented to the captain on behalf of his
king large baskets full of rice, pigs, goats, and fowls, and desired
the captain to be told he should pardon them that their present was
not as fine as was fitting for him. The captain gave to the prince
some very fine cloth and a red cap, and a quantity of glass and a cup
of gilt glass. Glasses are much prized in this country. To the other
people belonging to the Prince he gave various things. Then he sent by
me and another person to the King of Zzubu a robe of yellow and violet
silk in the fashion of a Turkish jubbeh, a red cap, very fine, and
certain pieces of glass, and had all of them put in a silver dish, and
two gilt glasses.
When we came to the town we found the King of Zzubu at his palace,
sitting on the ground on a mat made of palm, with many people about
him. He was quite naked, except that he had a cloth round his middle,
and a loose wrapper round his head, worked with silk by the needle. He
had a very heavy chain round his neck, and two gold rings hung in his
ears with precious stones. He was a small and fat man, and his face
was painted with fire in different ways. He was eating on the ground
on another palm mat, and was then eating tortoise eggs in two china
dishes, and he had four vessels full of palm wine, which he drank with
a cane pipe.[313] We made our obeisance, and presented to him what the
captain had sent him, and told him through the interpreter that it was
not as a return for his present which he had sent to the captain, but
for the affection which he bore him. That done, his people told him
all the good words and explanations of peace and religion which he had
spoken to them. The king wished to detain us to supper, but we made
our excuses and took leave of him. The prince, nephew of the king,
conducted us to his house, and showed us four girls who played on four
instruments, which were strange and very soft, and their manner of
playing is rather musical. Afterwards he made us dance with them. These
girls were naked except from the waist to the knees, where they wore
a wrap made of the palm tree cloth, which covered their middles, and
some were quite naked. There we made a repast, and then returned to the
ships.
Wednesday morning, because the night before one of our men had died,
the interpreter and I, by order of the captain, went to ask the king
for a place where we might bury the deceased. We found the king
accompanied by a good many people, and, after paying him due honour,
we told him of the death of our man, and that the captain prayed him
that he might be put into the ground. He replied that if he and his
people were ready to obey our master, still more reason was there
for his land and country being subject to him. After that we said we
wished to consecrate the grave in our fashion and place a cross on
it. The sovereign said that he was content, and that he would worship
that cross as we did. The deceased was buried in the middle of the
open space of the town, as decently as possible, and performing the
above-mentioned ceremonies to set them a good example, and in the
evening we buried another. This done, we brought a good quantity of
merchandise into the town of this king, and placed it in a house, and
he took it under his charge and promised that no one would do harm or
injury to the king. Four of our men were chosen to despatch and sell
this merchandise. These people live with justice, and good weight and
measure, loving peace, and are people who love ease and pleasure.[314]
They have wooden scales, after the fashion of those of north of the
Loire,[315] for weighing their merchandise. Their houses are made of
wood and beams and canes, founded on piles, and are very high, and
must be entered by means of ladders; their rooms are like ours, and
underneath they keep their cattle, such as pigs, goats, and fowls.
The young people sound bag-pipes,[316] made like ours, and call them
Subin.[317]
In this island of the king’s there is a kind of animal carrying a shell
called carniolle, fine to look at, which cause the whale to die. For
the whale swallows them alive; then, when they are inside its body,
they come out of their shell and go and eat the whale’s heart: and the
people of this country find this animal alive inside the whale. These
animals, the carniolles, have the teeth and skin black, and their shell
is white. Their flesh is good to eat, and they call them Laghan.[318]
The following Friday we showed them a shop full of our merchandise,
which was of various strange sorts, at which they were surprised.
For metal, iron, and other big goods they gave us gold, and for the
other small and sundry goods they gave us rice, pigs, goats, and other
provisions. They gave us ten weights of gold for fourteen pounds of
iron: each weight is a ducat and a half. The captain-general would
not allow a large quantity of gold to be taken, so that the sailors
should not sell what belonged to them too cheap from thirst for gold,
and lest by that means he might be constrained to do likewise with his
merchandise, for he wished to sell it better.
Saturday following a scaffolding was made in the open space, fitted
with tapestry and palm branches, because the king had promised our
captain to become Christian on Sunday. He told him not to be afraid
when our artillery fired on that day, for it was the custom to load it
on those feasts without firing stones or other balls.
Sunday morning, the fourteenth day of April, we went on shore, forty
men, of whom two were armed, who marched before us, following the
standard of our king emperor. When we landed the ships discharged
all their artillery, and from fear of it the people ran away in all
directions. The captain and the king embraced one another, and then
joyously we went near the scaffolding, where the captain and the king
sat on two chairs, one covered with red, the other with violet velvet.
The principal men sat on cushions, and the others on mats, after the
fashion of the country. Then the captain began to speak to the king
through the interpreter to incite him to the faith of Jesus Christ,
and told him that if he wished to be a good Christian, as he had said
the day before, that he must burn all the idols of his country, and,
instead of them, place a cross, and that everyone should worship it
every day on their knees, and their hands joined to heaven: and he
showed him how he ought every day to make the sign of the cross. To
that the king and all his people answered that they would obey the
commands of the captain and do all that he told them. The captain took
the king by the hand, and they walked about on the scaffolding, and
when he was baptised he said that he would name him[319] Don Charles,
as the emperor his sovereign was named; and he named the prince Don
Fernand, after the brother of the emperor, and the King of Mazzava
Jehan: to the Moor he gave the name of Christopher, and to the others
each a name of his fancy. Thus, before mass, there were fifty men
baptised. After mass had been heard the captain invited the king
and his other principal men to dine with him, but he would not. He
accompanied the captain, however, to the beach, and on his arrival
there the ships fired all their artillery. Then, embracing one another,
they took leave.
After dinner our chaplain and some of us went on shore to baptise
the queen. She came with forty ladies, and we conducted them on to
the scaffolding; then made her sit down on a cushion, and her women
around her, until the priest was ready. During that time they showed
her an image of our Lady, of wood, holding her little child, which
was very well made, and a cross. When she saw it, she had a greater
desire to be a Christian, and, asking for baptism, she was baptised and
named Jehanne, like the mother of the emperor. The wife of the prince,
daughter of this queen, had the name of Catherine, the Queen of Mazzava
Isabella, and the others each their name. That day we baptised eight
hundred persons of men, women, and children. The Queen was young and
handsome, covered with a black and white sheet; she had the mouth and
nails very red, and wore on her head a large hat made of leaves of
palm, with a crown over it made of the same leaves, like that of the
Pope. After that she begged us to give her the little wooden boy to put
in the place of the idols.[320] This we did, and she went away. In the
evening the king and queen, with several of their people, came to the
sea beach, where the captain had some of the large artillery fired, in
which they took great pleasure.[321] The captain and the king called
one another brother.
At last, in eight days, all the inhabitants of this island were
baptised, and some belonging to the neighbouring islands. In one of
these we burned a village because the inhabitants would not obey either
the king or us. There we planted a cross because the people were
Gentiles: if they had been Moors, we should have erected a column, as a
sign of their hardness of heart, because the Moors are more difficult
to convert than the Gentiles. The captain-general went ashore every
day to hear mass, to which there came many of the new Christians, to
whom he explained various points of our religion. One day the queen
came with all her state. She was preceded by three damsels, who carried
in their hands three of her hats: she was dressed in black and white,
with a large silk veil with gold stripes, which covered her head and
shoulders. Very many women followed her, with their heads covered with
a small veil, and a hat above that: the rest of their bodies and feet
were naked, except a small wrapper of palm cloth which covered their
natural parts. Their hair fell flowing over their shoulders. The queen,
after making a bow to the altar, sat upon a cushion of embroidered
silk, and the captain sprinkled over her and over some of her ladies
rose water and musk, a perfume which pleases the ladies of this country
very much. The captain on that occasion approved of the gift which I
had made to the queen of the image of the Infant Jesus, and recommended
her to put it in the place of her idols, because it was a remembrancer
of the Son of God. She promised to do all this, and to keep it with
much care.
In order that the king might be more respected and obeyed, the
captain-general got him to come one day at the hour of mass with his
silk robe, and summoned his two brothers, one named Bondara, who was
the father of the prince, and the other named Cadaro, and some of his
chief men, whose names were Simiut, Sibuaia, Sisacai,[322] Magalibe,
and others whom it is unnecessary to name separately; and he made
them all swear to be obedient to their king, whose hand they all of
them kissed. He then asked the king to swear that he would always be
obedient and faithful to the King of Spain, and he took the oath. Then
the captain drew a sword before the image of the Virgin Mary, and said
to the king that when such an oath had been taken by anyone, he should
rather die than be wanting to his oath. After that he himself promised
to be always faithful to him, swearing by the image of our Lady, by the
life of the emperor his sovereign, and by the habit which he wore. He
then made a present to the king of a velvet chair, and told him that
wherever he went he should always have it carried before him by some of
his attendants, and showed him the way in which it should be carried.
The king told the captain that he would do all this on account of the
affection which he bore him, of which he wished to give him a token,
preparing for that purpose some jewels to present to him; these were
two rather large gold rings for the ears, two others for the arms,
and two for the ancles, all of them adorned with precious stones. The
finest ornaments of the kings of these countries consist in these
rings, for otherwise they go naked and barefooted, with only a piece of
cloth from the waist to the knees.
The captain-general, who had informed the king and all those who
had been baptised of the obligation they were under of burning their
idols, which they had promised to do, seeing that they retained them
and made them offerings of meat, reproved them severely for it. They
thought to excuse themselves sufficiently by saying that they did not
do that now on their own account, but for a sick person, for the idols
to restore him his health. This sick man was a brother of the prince,
and was reputed to be the most valiant and wise man in the island, and
his illness was so severe that for four days he had not spoken. Having
heard this, the captain, seized with zeal for religion, said that if
they had a true faith in Jesus Christ, they should burn all the idols,
and the sick man should be baptised, and he would be immediately cured,
of which he was so certain that he consented to lose his head if the
miracle did not take place. The king promised that all this should be
done, because he truly believed in Jesus Christ. Then we arranged, with
all the pomp that was possible, a procession from the place to the
house of the sick man. We went there, and indeed found him unable to
speak or to move. We baptised him, with two of his wives and ten girls.
The captain then asked him how he felt, and he at once spoke, and said
that by the grace of Our Lord he was well enough. This great miracle
was done under our eyes. The captain, on hearing him speak, gave great
thanks to God. He gave him a refreshing drink to take, and afterwards
sent to his house a mattress, two sheets, a covering of yellow wool,
and a cushion, and he continued to send him, until he was quite well,
refreshing drinks of almonds, rosewater, rosoglio, and some sweet
preserves.
On the fifth day the convalescent rose from his bed, and as soon as
he could walk, he had burned, in the presence of the king and of all
the people, an idol which some old women had concealed in his house.
He also caused to be destroyed several temples constructed on the sea
shore, in which people were accustomed to eat the meat offered to
the idols. The inhabitants applauded this, and, shouting “Castile,
Castile,” helped to throw them down, and declared that if God gave them
life they would burn all the idols they could find, even if they were
in the king’s own house.
These idols are made of wood, they are concave or hollowed out behind,
they have the arms and legs spread out, and the feet turned upwards;
they have a large face, with four very large teeth like those of a wild
boar, and they are all painted.
Since I have spoken of the idols, it may please your illustrious
Highness to have an account of the ceremony with which, in this island,
they bless the pig. They begin by sounding some great drums (tamburi),
they then bring three large dishes, two are filled with cakes of rice
and cooked millet rolled up in leaves, and roast fish, in the third
are Cambay clothes, and two strips of palm cloth. A cloth of Cambay
is spread out on the ground: then two old women come, each of whom
has in her hand a reed trumpet. They step upon the cloth and make
an obeisance to the Sun: they then clothe themselves with the above
mentioned cloths. The first of these puts on her head a handkerchief
which she ties on her forehead so as to make two horns, and taking
another handkerchief in her hand, dances and sounds her trumpet, and
invokes the Sun. The second old woman takes one of the strips of palm
cloth, and dances, and also sounds her trumpet; thus they dance and
sound their trumpets for a short space of time, saying several things
to the sun. The first old woman then drops the handkerchief she has
in her hand, and takes the other strip of cloth, and both together
sounding their trumpets, dance for a long time round the pig which is
bound on the ground. The first one always speaks in a low tone to the
sun, and the second answers her. The second old woman then presents
a cup of wine to the first, who, whilst they both continue their
address to the sun, brings the cup four or five times near her mouth as
though going to drink, and meanwhile sprinkles the wine on the heart
of the pig. She then gives up the cup, and receives a lance which she
brandishes, whilst still dancing and reciting, and four or five times
directs the lance at the pig’s heart, at last with a sudden and well
aimed blow she pierces it through and through. She withdraws the lance
from the wound, which is then closed and dressed with herbs. During the
ceremony a torch is always burning, and the old woman who pierced the
pig takes and puts it out with her mouth, the other old woman dips the
end of her trumpet in the pig’s blood, and with it marks with blood the
forehead of her husband, and of her companion, and then of the rest
of the people. But they did not come and do this to us. That done the
old women took off their robes, and ate what was in the two dishes,
inviting only women to join them. After that they get the hair off the
pig with fire. Only old women are able to consecrate the boar in this
manner, and this animal is never eaten unless it is killed in this
manner.
(_Here follows an account of a custom, for a description of
which see De Morga’s Philippine Islands, p. 304._)
When our people went on shore by day or by night, they always met with
some one who invited them to eat and drink. They only half cook their
victuals, and salt them very much, which makes them drink a great deal;
and they drink much with reeds, sucking the wine from the vessels.
Their repasts always last from five to six hours.
When one of their chiefs dies they always use the following funeral
ceremonies, of which I was witness. The most respected women of the
country came to the house of the deceased, in the midst of which lay
the corpse in a chest; round which were stretched cords after the
manner of an enclosure, and many branches of trees were tied to these
cords: a strip of cotton was fastened to each of these branches like a
pennant. Under these the women I have mentioned sat down covered with
white cotton cloth. Each of them had a damsel who fanned her with a
palm fan. The other women sat sadly round the room. Meanwhile a woman
cut off by degrees the hair of the dead man with a knife: another who
had been his principal wife, lay extended on him, with her mouth hands
and feet on the mouth hands and feet of the dead man. When the first
woman cut off the hair, she wept, and when she stopped cutting, she
sung. Round the room there were many vases of porcelain, with embers
in them, on which, from time to time, they threw myrrh, storax, and
benzoin, which gave out a good and strong smell in the room. These
ceremonies last for five or six days, during which the corpse is kept
in the house, and I believe that they anoint it with oil of camphor
to preserve it. They afterwards put it in a chest, closed with wooden
bolts, and place it in an enclosed place covered with logs of wood.
The islanders told us that every evening towards midnight, there used
to come to the city, a black bird of the size of a crow, which perching
on the houses whistled, and caused all the dogs to howl, and these
double cries lasted four or five hours. They would never tell us the
cause of that phenomenon, of which we also were witnesses.
Friday, the 26th of April, Zula, who was one of the principal men or
chiefs of the island of Matan, sent to the captain a son of his with
two goats to make a present of them, and to say that if he did not do
all that he had promised, the cause of that was another chief named
Silapulapu, who would not in any way obey the King of Spain, and had
prevented him from doing so: but that if the captain would send him the
following night one boat full of men to give him assistance, he would
fight and subdue his rival. On the receipt of this message, the captain
decided to go himself with three boats. We entreated him much not to
go to this enterprise in person, but he as a good shepherd would not
abandon his flock.
We set out from Zubu at midnight, we were sixty men armed with
corslets and helmets; there were with us the Christian king, the
prince, and some of the chief men, and many others divided among twenty
or thirty balangai. We arrived at Matan three hours before daylight.
The captain before attacking wished to attempt gentle means, and sent
on shore the Moorish merchant to tell those islanders who were of
the party of Cilapulapu, that if they would recognise the Christian
king as their sovereign, and obey the King of Spain, and pay us the
tribute which had been asked, the captain would become their friend,
otherwise we should prove how our lances wounded. The islanders were
not terrified, they replied that if we had lances, so also had they,
although only of reeds, and wood hardened with fire. They asked however
that we should not attack them by night, but wait for daylight, because
they were expecting reinforcements, and would be in greater number.
This they said with cunning, to excite us to attack them by night,
supposing that we were ready; but they wished this because they had
dug ditches between their houses and the beach, and they hoped that we
should fall into them.
We however waited for daylight; we then leaped into the water up to
our thighs, for on account of the shallow water and the rocks the
boats could not come close to the beach, and we had to cross two good
crossbow shots through the water before reaching it. We were forty-nine
in number, the other eleven remained in charge of the boats. When we
reached land we found the islanders fifteen hundred in number, drawn
up in three squadrons; they came down upon us with terrible shouts,
two squadrons attacking us on the flanks, and the third in front.
The captain then divided his men in two bands. Our musketeers and
crossbow-men fired for half an hour from a distance, but did nothing,
since the bullets and arrows, though they passed through their shields
made of thin wood, and perhaps wounded their arms, yet did not stop
them. The captain shouted not to fire, but he was not listened to. The
islanders seeing that the shots of our guns did them little or no harm
would not retire, but shouted more loudly, and springing from one side
to the other to avoid our shots, they at the same time drew nearer to
us, throwing arrows, javelins, spears hardened in fire, stones, and
even mud, so that we could hardly defend ourselves. Some of them cast
lances pointed with iron at the captain-general.