CHAPTER IX

The Philippine Islands, 1493-1898

Explorations by early navigators, descriptions of the islands and

their peoples, their history and records of the catholic missions,

as related in contemporaneous books and manuscripts, showing the

political, economic, commercial and religious conditions of those

islands from their earliest relations with European nations to the

close of the nineteenth century,

Volume XL, 1690-1691

Edited and annotated by Emma Helen Blair and James Alexander Robertson

with historical introduction and additional notes by Edward Gaylord

Bourne.

CONTENTS OF VOLUME XL

Preface 9

Document of 1691

Events at Manila, 1690-91. [Unsigned; Manila, June,

1691.] 21

Bibliographical Data 33

Appendix: Ethnological description of the Filipinos Native

races and their customs. Francisco Colin, S.J.; Madrid,

1663. [From his Labor evangélica.] 37

The natives of the southern islands. Francisco Combés,

S.J.; Madrid, 1667. [From his Historia de Mindanao,

Ioló, etc.] 99

Letter on the Filipinos. Gaspar de San Agustín, O.S.A.;

1720 183

The native peoples and their customs. Juan Francisco de

San Antonio, O.S.F.; Manila, 1738. [From his Crónicas.] 296

ILLUSTRATIONS

Photographic facsimile of frontispiece to Colin's Labor

evangélica (Madrid, 1663); from the copy in possession of

Edward E. Ayer, of Chicago 39

Title-page of Historia de las islas de Mindanao, etc., by

Francisco Combés, S.J., (Madrid, M. DC. LXVII):

photographic facsimile from copy in library of Harvard

University 101

Title-page of Conquistas de las islas Philipinas,

by Gaspar de San Augustin; photographic facsimile

from copy in Biblioteca-Museo de Ultramar, Madrid 185

Autograph signature of Gaspar de San Augustin; photographic

facsimile from original manuscript in collection of Eduardo

Navarro, O.S.A., of the Colegio de Filipinas, Valladolid

facing p. 278

PREFACE

In the present volume but one document appears in the chronological

order of events in the islands; it is short, and is mainly concerned

with the ecclesiastical disputes which had been only partly quieted

with the death of Archbishop Pardo. The rest of the volume is occupied

by an ethnological appendix, which presents the observations of early

missionary writers--Jesuit, Augustinian, and Franciscan--on the native

peoples and their customs and beliefs. Due allowance being made for

their ecclesiastical standpoint, these writers may be considered

excellent authority on this subject--especially Combés, who was one

of the Jesuit pioneers in Mindanao.

The document first mentioned above is a letter from a Manila Jesuit,

relating events in that city during the year 1690-91. As in the

lifetime of Pardo, there are dissensions between the ecclesiastical

and the secular powers, the former represented by Bishop Barrientos,

acting ruler of the archdiocese; the latter by the Audiencia until

July, 1690, and after that by the new governor, Zabálburu. The bishop

attempts to remove by force some of his prebends from the Augustinian

convent, but is foiled by the vigilance of the friars. Being opposed

in this scheme by the auditors, Barrientos excommunicates them,

a proceeding which they ignore. At the coming of the new governor,

his favor is adroitly obtained by a military officer named Tomás

de Endaya; and the auditors are for a time treated insolently by

both. Zabálburu soon shows, however, that no one can govern him;

and he displays much egotism, contemns the religious, and oppresses

the Indians with exactions for public works.

The Jesuit Colin, one of the pioneers in the Philippine missions,

furnishes in his Labor evangélica (Madrid, 1663) a valuable account

of the native races and their customs. He makes some attempt to

trace the origin of the Malayan tribes, which he places, for most,

in the islands of Sumatra and Macasar (or Celebes), and for some in

the Moluccas. The Negritos came, he thinks, from Farther India, and

possibly from New Guinea also. A chapter is devoted to the alphabet,

mode of writing, and languages in use among the Filipínos. Colin

praises their quickness and cleverness; some of them act as clerks

in the public offices at Manila, and of these some are capable of

taking charge of such offices; and they are competent printers. Colin

discourses at length upon the native languages--admiring the richness

and elegance of the Tagálog--and upon their mode of bestowing personal

names. He then proceeds to describe their physical appearance, dress,

ornaments, treatment of hair and teeth, and tattooing; their food,

customs in eating, and modes of making wine; their songs and dances;

their habits of bathing. Their deities, religious observances,

and superstitions are recounted--including the worship of spirits,

ancestors, idols, and phenomena of nature--and their ideas of the

creation, and of the origin of man. Their mortuary customs include

the employment of hired mourners, the embalming of the corpse, the

killing of slaves to accompany the soul of the deceased, and a taboo

imposing silence. Colin gives an account of their limited form of

government (its unit the barangay); their laws, criminal and civil,

with their penalties (among which appears the ordeal); the different

ranks of society, and the occupations of the people; their weapons and

armor; their marriages and divorces, and punishments for adultery. He

also recounts their customs in adoption of children, inheritance of

property, and slavery. Similar information is furnished by another

Jesuit writer of note, Francisco Combés, on the native peoples of

Mindanao and other southern islands, in which he spent twelve years as

a missionary. He enumerates the several tribes and their distinctive

characteristics; of these the Lutaos (or Orang-Laút, "men of the sea"),

the chief seafaring and trading tribe, have acquired an ascendancy

over the others which is comparable to that of the Iroquois among

the North American Indians. Combés describes their mode of warfare,

and ascribes to their aid the supremacy of Corralat over the other

Moro chieftains, since their wars are of little importance except

when waged by the sea-routes. These Lutaos of the coast hold in a

sort of vassalage the Subanos, or river-dwellers, who are slothful,

ignorant savages, treacherous and cowardly. Combés next praises "the

noble and brave nation of the Dapitans," a small tribe who migrated

from Bohol to Mindanao; he relates their history as a people, and why

they changed their abode, and how they have always been the loyal

friends and followers of the Spaniards. The virtue and ability of

their women receives much praise. Combés discusses the origin of the

Mindanao peoples, and sketches the general characteristics of each,

and their mutual relations. According to our author, the Joloans and

Basilans came from Butuan, in northeastern Mindanao; and the history

of this migration is related in some detail, as well as the way in

which the Joloans became so addicted to piracy.

Combés proceeds to recount the beliefs and superstitions current in

the southern islands. Paganism prevails in them; but the southern

coast of Mindanao, and Basilan and Joló, are Mahometan. Curious

legends are related of the founder of the latter religion there, who

is reverenced almost as a divinity; but those people know little

of Mahomet's religion save its externals, and are practically

"barbarous atheists." The people are largely governed by omens;

they sometimes offer sacrifices to their old-time idols, but these

have little real hold on them. Sorcery has great vogue among them,

and Corralat and other powerful chiefs excel in it; this is one

source of their ascendancy. Combés describes their mode of life:

their food (which is little besides boiled rice), their clothing,

their houses and furniture; and their usages and laws regarding

conduct, crimes, and penalties. He regrets the prevalence of slavery,

which profanes all social relations, and even destroys all kindness

and charity. There is no class of freemen; all are either chiefs or

slaves. All offenses are atoned for by the payment of money, save

certain unnatural crimes, which they punish with death. Among the

Moros is practiced the ordeal by fire, and the burial of the living

for certain crimes; but some escape from these in safety, through

their power as sorcerers. The authority and government of the chiefs is

described; they are tyrannical and rapacious, and treat as slaves even

chiefs who are subject to them. Combés makes special mention of some

customs peculiar to the Subanos, or river-people. They are exceedingly

rude and barbarous, without any government; and a perpetual petty

warfare is waged among them. Their women, however, are more chaste

than those of other tribes, and Lutao girls of rank are reared, for

their own safety, among the Subanos. Among these people is a class

of men who dress and act like women, and practice strict celibacy;

one of them is baptized by Combés. A chapter is devoted to their

burials and marriages. In the burial of the dead they spend lavishly,

clothing the corpse in rich and costly garments; but they have ceased,

under Christian influence, to bury the dead man's treasures with

him. Marriages are celebrated with the utmost display, hospitality,

and feasting; and with entire propriety and decorum. Another chapter

describes the boats and weapons used by the natives.

Next we present the famous letter on this subject by Gaspar de San

Agustín (June 8, 1720); our text is collated with other versions, and

freely annotated from these, and from comments made by Delgado and Mas

on San Agustín's statements. San Agustín, who had spent forty years

among the Filipinos, begins by expatiating on the great difficulty

of comprehending the native character, which is inscrutable--"not

in the individuals, but in the race." They are fickle and false,

also of a cold temperament, and malicious, dull, and lazy--due to

"the influence of the moon." They are ungrateful, lazy, rude and

impertinent, arrogant, and generally disagreeable. San Agustín

relates many of their peculiar traits, and incidents showing these,

to much disparagement of the natives. He berates their ignorance

and superstition, their faults of character, their conduct toward

the Spaniards, their lack of religious devotion, etc.--exempting,

however, from these censures in the main the Pampangos, who are more

noble, brave, and honorable, and are "the Castilians of these same

Indians;" and the women, who are devout, modest, and moral (although

he ascribes this to the subjection in which they are held by the men,

and the necessity for the women to support not only their children but

their husbands). After all these complaints, San Agustín returns to

his former position, that it is impossible to understand the nature

of the Filipinos; and all that he has related is but approximate and

tentative. For this reason, it is necessary (especially for religious)

to know how to conduct oneself with them. He therefore makes various

suggestions for enabling their spiritual fathers to guide them

discreetly and successfully. No less interesting than his account

of the people are the comments made thereon by the Jesuit Delgado

(himself long a missionary in the islands), and the Spanish official

Mas, who spent some time there and visited many of the islands. The

former refutes many of San Agustín's statements, sometimes very

sharply; the latter often supports them, but sometimes he finds

them in contradiction to what he himself has observed. Fray Gaspar's

letter impresses the reader, at first, as being the complaint of an

irritable and querulous old man (he wrote it at the age of seventy);

but another cause for his mental attitude may be found toward the end

of his letter, where he argues against the proposed ordination of

Filipino natives as priests--a plan which aroused great opposition

from the religious orders. The MS. which we use contains a sort of

appendix to San Agustín's letter in the shape of citations from the

noted Jesuit writer Murillo Velarde. These are evidently adduced in

support of San Agustin's position, and disparage the character of the

Indians in vigorous terms. Finally, we present a chapter from Delgado's

Historia de Filipinas making further comment on San Agustín's letter,

and defending the natives from the latter's aspersions; he refutes many

of these, and censures Fray Gaspar severely. He also regards Murillo

Velarde's description of the native character as hasty, superficial,

and exaggerated. Besides, Delgado reminds his readers of the great

services rendered to the Spaniards by the Indians--who alone carry

on the agriculture, stock-raising, trade, and navigation on which

the support of the Spaniards (who, "when they arrive at Manila, are

all gentlemen") absolutely depends--and declares that the Spaniards

themselves are arrogant and tyrannical toward the Indians.

Additional information regarding the native peoples is afforded by

the Franciscan writer Juan Francisco de San Antonio, in his Crónicas

(Manila, 1738-44). He begins with a dissertation on the origin of the

Filipino Indians, in examining which he finds many difficulties. He

notes several of the mixtures of different races which have produced

distinct types; among these he is inclined to class the half-civilized

mountain-dwellers in the larger islands--who, as he thinks, spring

from either civilized Indians who have retreated to the hill-country,

or from the intercourse of native Filipinos with Japanese, Chinese,

and other foreigners. The Chinese and Japanese who live in and

near Manila, and some Malabar mestizos, are desirable elements of

the population. The Negritos are the aboriginal inhabitants; in

former times they harassed the Indian natives with frequent raids,

and killed all who ventured into the mountain region. In the time of

San Antonio, the Indians secretly pay them tribute, in order to avoid

their raids. He describes their physical aspect, costume, and mode of

life; he conjectures that they came to the Philippines originally from

New Guinea. The civilized peoples may all be reduced to the Tagálogs,

Pampangos, Visayans, and Mindanaos; all are of Malay stock. Of these,

the first probably came from Malacca, as traders, remaining in Luzón

as conquerors; the Pampangos, from Sumatra. The Visayans may have

come from the Solomon Islands, but this is not certain. In Mindanao,

as in Luzón, the black aborigines were driven into the interior

by the Malay traders who came there. These latter show much tribal

variation, but all must have come from the near-by islands of Borneo,

Macasar, or the Moluccas. San Antonio characterizes these Mindanao

peoples separately. The coast tribes are partly Mahometan, partly

christianized; the missions among them are those of the Recollects

and Jesuits. The mountain tribes are apparently the aboriginal

natives--also Malayan, according to some, but it may be from Celebes

or other islands. All these our author presents as conjectures only;

"God is the only one who knows the truth." He proceeds to describe the

characteristics and disposition of the Filipino natives, which is full

of contradictions. They are hospitable, but neglect their parents;

and are deceitful and ungrateful. They are exceedingly clever and

imitative, and even show much ability in many occupations and mental

exercises; but they are apt to be superficial, incorrect, indifferent

to results, slothful and lacking in concentration of mind. "Their

understandings are fastened with pins, and attached always to material

things." Our writer then describes the languages, mode of writing,

manners and names, that are current among these peoples; also their

physical features, clothing, and adornments. Curiously enough,

San Antonio states that the Visayans have--(in his day) given up

the practice of tattooing their bodies. He proceeds to recount the

religious beliefs and superstitions of the Filipinos, much as Colin

and other early writers have done, but with somewhat more detail in

certain matters, especially in regard to the omens and superstitions

of the people. Their government and social conditions (especially the

former practice of enslavement) are described in detail; also their

customs in regard to marriages and dowries, transaction of business,

weights and measures, inheritances, etc.

The Editors

June, 1906.

DOCUMENT OF 1691

Events at Manila. [Unsigned; June, 1691.]

Source: This document is obtained from the Ventura del Arco MSS. (Ayer

library), iv, pp. 53-67.

Translation: This is made by Emma Helen Blair.

EVENTS AT MANILA, 1690-91

Relation of what occurred in Manila from June 24, 1690 to

the present month of June in this year, 1691.

The tragedy which for years has been enacted in this city of Manila has

had some variation this year, from the time when the galleon "Santo

Cristo de Burgos" set sail for Nueva España up to the present month

of July, in which the galleon called "Nuestra Señora del Rosario,

San Francisco Javier y Santa Rosa" has been fitted up for the said

navigation. By it is [sent] this written relation, which will contain

the most notable events which have occurred in Manila, omitting many

others, on account of not having secured information of them because

they occurred outside of Manila.

I have already written, last year, of the condition in which the

affairs of the bishop of Troya remained; to wit, that the necessary

decrees were issued by the royal Audiencia that the bishop should

restore the [ecclesiastical] government to the cabildo, to whom it

belonged, as appears from the acts which the cabildo had presented

in the Audiencia--not only by way of appeal from fuerza, but also on

behalf of the right of the royal patronage, which resided in that body,

since the said Audiencia was exercising the civil government in these

islands. These efforts were hindered by the efforts of the auditor

Don Alonso, former commander of the troops, and Don Tomas de Endaya,

master-of-camp of the army in Manila for which I refer to the account

which was given to his Majesty.

This, then, by way of preliminary. When the galleon "Santo Cristo

de Burgos" set sail for Nueva España, there was little respite from

negotiations of this sort, as we had hoped would be the case until the

arrival of the new governor, [1] who thought that he would certainly

arrive that year. Thus ran the talk of all. But, as the said bishop

is so peculiar in his decisions, he made an astonishing resolution;

this was, to go in person to the convent of San Agustin, a little

after two o'clock in the afternoon, having crossed a great part of

the city on foot, accompanied by two clerics (it is evident that they

must have been among the most unassuming ones), laden with pistols

and other weapons, in order to take away from the said convent the

dean, the cantor, and other prebends from the place where they had

taken refuge--their safety being, for fear of the bishop, protected

by royal decrees.

This performance gave much material for gossip, in which the blame was

laid upon the commander of the troops and his favorite Don Tomas, and

even on the Augustinian friars themselves, for having all left the city

that day in order that thus the bishop could carry out his purpose,

without its being easy to secure recourse from the violence which he

intended; for the commander of troops had gone to take supper at a

country house, the provincial of St. Augustine had betaken himself

to a resort on the river, and the prior had left the convent just at

two o'clock.

This scheme, if it were one, was not carried out; for the choristers

and the vicar of the convent, being informed how the bishop intended

to remove thence the persons who were protected by his Majesty and

entrusted to their care, made it a point of honor that such an accident

should [not] happen, since neither the provincial nor the prior was in

the convent; accordingly, by the time the bishop arrived they closed

the gates of the convent, not permitting him to enter. Thereupon

various colloquies took place between the two parties, making the case

more plausible by the detention of the bishop and his satellites at

the gate opening into the street. Meanwhile the friars had time to

notify the prior and inform the gentlemen of the royal Audiencia.

With the arrival of the prior, entrance into the convent was made easy

for his illustrious Lordship, to whom the friars set forth that they

could not gratify his wishes without first making the auditors aware

of his claims. The bishop agreed to this, but on condition that they

notify only Don Alonzo, of whom his illustrious Lordship must have been

sure. In short, the fact is that the case first reached the auditors'

ears; and they, assembled in session, issued the decrees which, as

I mentioned above, they left to the efforts of Señor Fuertes--who

in all haste went to the palace, and finding the auditors in the

council-chamber, displayed much anger that they should have made such

a decision without his presence and counsel.

Since there is no remedy, when a thing has been done, except patience,

as the common saying goes, it was now arranged that Señor Fuertes

and Señor Ozaeta should go to San Agustín to pacify the bishop, in

which task they spent the greater part of the afternoon. The unjust

things said by the bishop to Señor Ozaeta, and the uncivil language

which he tolerated from the bishop, are not fit to relate. At five

o'clock in the afternoon, the bishop went away from San Agustin quite

rebuffed but very respectfully treated by the two auditors and their

numerous companions. In front of his illustrious Lordship walked

his provisor and faithful Achates, Master Don Geronimo Caraballo,

bitterly lamenting the miserable condition in which Manila was,

since they were hindering their prelate in a resolution so just,

since it was to punish those wicked clerics who had taken refuge in

San Agustin. It is well to note the pious exclamation of this prebend,

for it will be quite important to the case afterward.

This chimerical attempt turned out badly for his illustrious Lordship

in the end; and he undertook to be revenged when one was least looking

for it. For the news having arrived, on July 30, that one of the

two galleons which were expected on the return voyage from Nueva

España had reached the Embocadero, and that in it was coming the

governor, there was discussion whether his illustrious Lordship was

proceeding in the execution of his designs. But it was not thus; for

his illustrious Lordship, a few days after this information arrived,

posted the auditors as excommunicated, saying that they had incurred

this by the bull De cena, forasmuch as they had tried cases which by

right belonged to the ecclesiastical jurisdiction, as the law states

that these are not separated from that jurisdiction. Notwithstanding

the publication of their names, the auditors ignored the censure, as

launched a non judice [i.e. "by one who is not a judge"]; but it was

not on this account that not only they but the entire city yielded to

the pressure of great anxiety. For they feared lest the new governor,

whose coming was daily expected, would be tinctured with the same

opinions as those held by Don Gabriel, the deceased governor--which

were based on the same sort of case as was then occurring. For, they

said, since a new governor (who is the only arbiter for all classes

in Manila) was at the gates of the city [he might] without searching

his own mind, have taken a resolution so unusual that even Don Felipe

Pardo had not ventured to execute it against the corporate body of

an Audiencia. It is not possible that there should be any secret

information. People confirmed it when they learned how Don Tomas de

Endaya had sent a despatch to the ship by a person who stood high in

his regard, in a very swift champan, so that he could in the name

of Don Tomas give his letters and welcome to the governor who was

expected, with a valuable present. It was well known that the said

champan had been wrecked; but it was also learned that the person who

bore that commission had landed, before the wreck of the champan, in

one of the provinces there; but it was not known whether the present

[that he carried] was landed, and for this reason it was uncertain

whether the determinations of the bishop were the results of the

assiduity of Don Tomas de Endaya, who was a supporter of the bishop.

The talk went further; for inasmuch as the first news which reached

these islands that the ship had arrived at the Embocadero was sent

to Don Tomas de Endaya by his brother Don Bernardo--whom, they said,

he had made alcalde of Catbalongan, which is the first passage and

entrance into these islands--[they said that this was done], first,

that he might place in safety the thousands of pesos which he expected

would be brought to him by the patache which he had sent to Nueva

España, laden with goods belonging to himself and Don Gabriel de

Curuzealegui, which was coming on its return voyage; and second,

that he might gain the good-will of the new governor with gifts

and favors. The latter opinion prevailed, and on this ground people

considered the action of the bishop of Troya as not so bold. These

alone were the topics discussed, proceeding from the beginnings

which they fancied to be facts. But after they experienced some of

the actions of the new governor, they regarded as certain that which

before they had only considered probable. For, the royal Audiencia

having decided that Auditor Don Juan de Sierra should go in their

name to welcome the governor, the said auditor went up the river

to fulfil his commission, and, having met the piragua in which the

governor was coming with his family, the auditor went close to it,

to present his message; but neither did the governor open the curtain

of the pavilion or stern-cabin of the vessel, nor permit the auditor

to speak to him, but obliged him to sheer off from the side of the

piragua. At this rebuff, the said auditor was obliged to join the

other vessels which accompanied the governor, following the piragua,

which was very swift--for from the ranch of Don Tomas de Endaya

(where the governor had been entertained as a guest) to Manila is

a journey of at least one day, but the piragua made it in much less

time. Thus the foresight of Don Tomas gained not only the privilege

of entertaining the governor, but the opportunity of becoming his

favorite, for which purpose he acted thus.

The governor arrived at Manila about four o'clock in the afternoon;

the wind was blowing violently, and the rain fell in torrents,

heavier than have been seen for many years in these islands. All

these discomforts were overcome by the bold and impetuous disposition

of our new governor; but I am not surprised at such haste, since

he came for more than to obtain a bishopric. He was lodged in the

buildings which the city had made ready for him, where he was awaited

by Don Tomas de Endaya, with other citizens of his following, and

they retired to his room, which had been prepared for him. He shut

himself up there with Don Tomas, and gave orders to the guard that

no one should be allowed to enter. At the same time the auditor Don

Juan de Sierra arrived to acquit himself of his embassy; he had been

thoroughly wet on the river, but the captain of the guard detained

him, telling him of the order that he had, not to allow any one to

enter. The auditor replied that these orders ought not to apply to an

auditor who came in the name of the royal Audiencia. The captain of

the guard then carried word to the governor, telling him how Auditor

Don Juan de Sierra was there, who had come on behalf of the royal

Audiencia to welcome his Lordship. The governor answered that he

had come there fatigued, and that he was not ready for visits; and

then he continued to walk up and down, hand in hand with Don Tomas,

and shut in his room, until the night had well begun. Then the said

[Don Tomas] took his leave, returning to his house within Manila,

with much contentment, and explained to several confidants how he had

firmly established himself, and that they had formed a close alliance;

but that it would be more veiled than that which had existed between

the said Don Tomas and Don Gabriel--the new governor promising to

favor his affairs in every way. Such was the judgment formed at the

time, and that opinion is further strengthened every day.

On the following day, early in the forenoon, Don Alonso--who is

the person charged with the direction of military affairs--went to

visit the new governor, by whom he was very kindly and graciously

received. They spent several hours in conversation, alone or in

company with the said Don Tomas; and Don Alonso informed him of all

the troubles that he and his associates had experienced in regard

to matters connected with the bishop of Troya; for this was the

principal design which both sides had--the friendly reception of the

new governor. The Audiencia did not go to visit the governor until they

ascertained whether he would receive them, fearing, on account of the

reasons which have been mentioned, that the excommunication which the

bishop had made known to them had been imposed through the influence

of the governor. But this turned out better than they expected,

for he received them with much friendliness; he took a seat below,

with them all, trying to treat all with kindness, and gratifying not

only Don Tomas and his faction but the Audiencia. Various events and

circumstances occurred at the time when he was making arrangements

for his entry into the city, which tended to persuade all that no

one would govern him, and that his proceedings would be those of an

upright judge.

He made, then, his entry, and soon displayed the energy of his nature,

and a hasty and vehement disposition. One day, when the soldiers in the

guard-room of his palace were talking loudly at a gaming-table, he came

down in person, and with his blows broke a cane on the men; with this,

he gained among the soldiers the surname of "the good sergeant." He

issued numberless proclamations, which no one now observes, because

the man's disposition has been recognized. He was very solicitous about

the night patrols, not only within but without Manila--obliging those

within the walls to go about at night with torches; and ordaining to

the people outside that after eight o'clock no one should go out of

his house, under penalty of two years in the galleys and two hundred

lashes. A Dominican religious who did not know of these new orders,

going to hear a confession in his ministry outside the walls of

Manila, encountered the patrol within his own village--at which he

was surprised, as it was not customary for the patrols to enter the

villages outside the walls, on account of the knavish acts which the

soldiers are wont to commit under pretext of making the rounds. For

this reason the said religious ordered them to depart from the said his

ministry, and to patrol in their accustomed beat; but, although they

did not obey him, they informed the governor next day of the opposition

which the religious had made to the patrol. At this the new governor,

being angry without good reason, gave orders that if any minister tried

to forbid the patrol, they should notify him three times, and, if he

persisted in his opposition, they should seize him by the collar and

carry him a prisoner to a fort, until they could report to him on the

next day. It is to be noted that these patrols, commanders as well as

soldiers, are usually native mulattoes, and mestizos from Nueva España.

At the fiesta of the naval battle, at which the governor was present,

he showed extreme resentment, and uttered sharp complaints because

he who recited the epistle turned his back on the governor's

wife--doubtless thinking that he who recited the gospel had his

face turned toward her not because the rubrics require that it be

read while facing the people, but in order to show her the attention

that was due her; and therefore he criticised him who had recited the

epistle. Not less absurd was his assuming that he ought to be named

in the prayers at mass, after the king, as is done with the viceroy;

and as this was not done at a fiesta at which he was present, he was

so vexed that there also he chose to display his resentment. It was

with some difficulty that the auditors pacified him at the time, and

afterward made him understand how unreasonable he was in the matter.

He prides himself on being very learned, and that he needs no advice

from any one, holding it as an established maxim that the religious lie

to him in whatever they say or propose in favor of the Indians. From

this results the extreme contempt in which the religious now find

themselves [held by him], and the grievous oppression which the poor

Indians experience; for, from the very month in which this governor

entered Manila, the Indians have not ceased their labors [on public

works] to this day, without any attention being paid to the times when

they ought to attend to their farming, or to the inclemency of the

rainy seasons--not even in a sort of pestilence which has prevailed

in this [province] of Tagalos among the Indians. Sick as they were,

[the officials] obliged them with blows to go to their toil in

timber-working, where not a few fell dead from the labor and their

illness; and all this, only to build one ship (a very small one), on

account of the unnecessary destruction of the galleon "Santo Niño,"

which Don Juan de Bargas had constructed in his term as governor.

BIBLIOGRAPHICAL DATA

The documents contained in this volume are obtained from the following

sources:

1. Events at Manila, 1690-91.--From the Ventura del Arco MSS. (Ayer

library), iv, pp. 53-67.

2. Native races and customs.--From Colin's Labor evangélica, book

i, chap. iv, xiii-xvi; from a copy of original edition (1663) in

possession of Edward E. Ayer, Chicago.

3. Natives of the southern islands.--From Combes's Historia de

Mindanao, Ioló, etc. (Retana and Pastells's reprint), chap. ix-xviii.

4. San Agustín's Letter.--From an early MS. copy in possession of

Edward E. Ayer.

5. Native peoples and their customs.--From San Antonio's Crónicas,

i, pp. 129-172; from a copy in possession of Edward E. Ayer.

APPENDIX: ETHNOLOGICAL DESCRIPTION OF THE FILIPINOS

Native races and their customs. Francisco Colin, S.J.;

Madrid, 1663.

The natives of the southern islands. Francisco Combés,

S.J.; 1667.

Letter on the Filipinos. Gaspar de San Agustín, O.S.A.; 1720.

The native peoples and their customs. Juan Francisco de San

Antonio, O.S.F.; 1738.

Sources: The material for this appendix is obtained from the

following works: Colin's Labor evangélica (Madrid, 1663), book

i, chap. iv, xiii-xvi; from a copy in the possession of Edward

E. Ayer, Chicago. Combés's Hist. de Mindanao, Ioló, etc. (Madrid,

1667)--reprinted by Retana and Pastells (Madrid, 1897), chap. ix-xviii;

from a copy of the latter in the possession of the Editors. San

Agustín's letter, from an early MS. copy in the possession of Edward

E. Ayer. San Antonio's Crónicas (Manila, 1738), i, pp. 129-172;

from a copy in the possession of Edward E. Ayer.

Translations: The above matter is compiled and translated by James

Alexander Robertson.

NATIVE RACES AND THEIR CUSTOMS

[This so-called ethnological appendix does not presume to present in

exact scientific detail the various races and tribes inhabiting the

Philippines; but to give in their own words what the earliest writers

especially have themselves observed and experienced concerning some

of those races and tribes, in so far as such observations have not

hitherto appeared in this series. The accounts contain much of value

as showing how the Filipino was gradually transformed in many ways by

his contact with his conqueror. For early ethnological information of

the Philippines, see Vols. V, VII, XII, XIII, and XVI of this series.]

[Colin in his Labor evangélica (Madrid, 1663) devotes pp. 15-19

and 53-75 (comprising chapters iv, and xiii-xvi of book i) to the

Filipinos. Those chapters here follow.]

CHAPTER IV

Of the origin of the nations and peoples who inhabit these

islands

25. Although these are islands it will not be necessary to fatigue the

mind by discussing (as do San Agustin and other authors in respect to

other islands and to America) whence and how people and animals came

to them. For if some of these islands have been, at any time since

the flood, part of a continent, from that time men and animals could

remain in them; while if they have always been islands, the nearness of

some of them to others, and of some of them to the mainland of Asia,

whence began the propagation of the human race and the settlements

of the descendants of Noah, is sufficient reason why some of them

could come to settle these regions. And that this was really so,

and that the principal settler of these archipelagoes was Tharsis,

son of Javan, together with his brothers, as were Ophir and Hevilath

of India, we see in the tenth chapter of Genesis, which treats of

the dispersion of peoples and the settlement of countries, as we

establish in another place.

26. Now then, coming to our theme, when the conquistadors and settlers

arrived at these islands and subdued that of Manila, they found

three varieties or kinds of people in them. Those who held command

of it [i.e., the island of Manila], and inhabited the seashore and

river-banks and all the best parts round about, were Moro Malays

of Borney (according to their own report). That is an island also,

and is larger than any of these Filipinas and nearer the mainland of

Malaca, where there is a district called Malayo. [2] This place is

the origin of all the Malays who are scattered throughout the most

and best of all these archipelagoes. From that nation of the Malays

springs that of the Tagálogs, who are the natives of Manila and its

neighborhood. That is proved by the Tagálog language, which resembles

the Malay closely; by the color and lines of the whole body; by the

clothing and habit that they wore at the arrival of the Spaniards

here; and lastly by the customs and ceremonies, all of which were

derived from the Malays and other nations of India. The occasion of

their coming to these parts might have been either that they were

driven by chance through these seas (as we have seen in our days,

borne to these islands people from other unknown islands, who spoke a

language that no one understood, and who had been driven by the sea);

or they could have come hither purposely in the search for new lands on

which to settle, because their own were too crowded, or some disaster

had overtaken them which caused them to leave their home forever. But

it is very likely that greed and commercial interests attracted them,

as occurred in the parts of India with regard to the Moros, Persians,

and Arabs. The Portuguese say in their histories that when they reached

those kingdoms they found the Moros uppermost and masters of all,

by reason of the commerce which they introduced among the heathen

kings and rulers, the natives of the country, whose goodwill the

Moros contrived to secure with rich and valuable presents. Little

by little they continued to remain in the land and pay the royal

duties, until they became so powerful that they revolted against

the real rulers and deprived them of the best of their lands. Barros

[3] says that the first Portuguese found that that had happened in

those districts of India some hundred and fifty years before their

arrival. In the same way one may imagine the passage of the Malays

to Borney to have occurred, and of the Borneans to Manila; and that

along with the arms and temporal commerce would come some caciques,

[4] or priests of the cursed Mahometan religion, who introduced that

religion into the villages and maritime nations of these parts. As

for me I can readily believe that that great island of Borney in past

centuries was continued on the northeast by Paragua, and on the south

[5] by the lands near Mindanao, as is indicated by the shoals and

islets of Paragua on the one side, and those called Santa Juana and

other islets and shoals which extend toward Jolo and Taguima, opposite

the point of La Caldera on the Mindanao shore. If this assumption be

true, as is affirmed by aged Indians of those parts, the opportunity

for the Borneans to scatter through the Filipinas is very evident.

27. It is probable that the inhabitants would come to Borney

immediately from Samatra, which is a very large land quite near the

mainland of Malaca and Malayo. In the midst of that great island

of Samatra there is a large and extensive lake [6] whose marge is

settled by many different nations, whence, according to tradition,

the people went to settle various islands. A Pampango of sense (one

of these nations) finding himself adrift and astray there through

various accidents (and from whom I learned it), testified that those

people [of Sumatra] spoke excellent Pampango, and wore the oldtime

dress of the Pampangos. When he questioned one of their old men,

the latter answered: "You [Pampangos] are descendants of the lost

people who left here in past times to settle in other lands, and were

never heard of again." It can also be believed that the Tagálogs,

Pampangos, and other civilized nations, analogous in language, color,

clothing, and customs, came from parts of Borney and Samatra, some

from certain provinces or neighborhoods and some from others. That

is the reason for the difference of the languages, according to the

custom of these uncivilized lands, for every province or neighborhood

has a different language.

28. The nations of the Bisayas and Pintados, who inhabit the

provinces of Camarines in this island of Luzon, and those of Leyte,

Samar, Panay, and other neighborhoods, came, I have heard, from the

districts of Macasar, where it is said that Indians live who make

designs on and tattoo the body, in the manner of our Pintados. Pedro

Fernandez de Quiros, in the relation which he wrote of the discovery

of the Salomon Islands in 1595, says that an island called Madalena

was found in ten degrees north latitude, at a distance from Pirù of

one thousand eight hundred leguas (which is nearly the same latitude

and distance as the Filipinas) where Indians of good proportion,

but taller than the Spaniards, and all naked and bearing designs on

their bodies, legs, arms, and hands (and some on their faces), in

the manner of our Visayans, were found. Consequently, it is apparent

that there are other nations of Pintados to be discovered. We have

as yet not enough data, nor even a well founded conjecture, to say

whether ours originated from the latter, or on the contrary both

from some mainland. We know well that people who tattoo the body

have been seen in Brasil and Florida. Then, too, this custom was

formerly seen in some nations of Scythians in Asia and of Britons

in Europa. But we cannot yet determine the legitimate origin of our

Visayan Pintados. If some of the natives of Mindanao, Jolo, Bool,

and part of Cebu, who are lighter-complexioned, braver, and of better

proportions than the pure Visayans, are not Borneans, they might be

Ternatans--as may be inferred from the neighborhood of the lands and

the communication of one with another; and because in what concerns

the worship and religion of the cursed Prophet, even today they are

governed by Terrenate; and when they find themselves beset by the

troops from Filipinas, they make an alliance and help one another.

29. All those whom the first Spaniards found in these islands with the

command and lordship over the land are reduced to the first class,

the civilized peoples. Another kind, totally opposed to the above,

are the Negrillos, who live in the mountains and thick forests which

abound in these islands. The latter are a barbarous race who live on

the fruits and roots of the forests. They go naked, covering only

the privies with some articles called bahaques, made from the bark

of trees. They wear no other ornaments than armlets and anklets and

bracelets, curiously wrought after their manner from small rattans

of various colors, and garlands of branches and flowers on their

heads and the fleshy parts of the arm; and at the most some cock

or sparrow-hawk feather for a plume. They have no laws or letters,

or other government or community than that of kinsfolk, all those

of one line of family obeying their leader. In regard to religion

and divine worship they have but little or none. The Spaniards call

them Negrillos because many of them are as much negroes, as are the

Ethiopians themselves, both in their black color and in their kinky

hair. There are still a number of those people in the interior in

the mountains. In one of the large islands there are so many of them,

that it is for that reason called the island of Negros. Those blacks

were apparently the first inhabitants of these islands, and they have

been deprived of them by the civilized nations who came later by way of

Samatra, the Javas, Borney, Macaçar, and other islands lying toward the

west. If one should ask whence could come the Negros to these islands

so distant from Africa and Ethiopias, where negroes live, I answer

that it was from nearer India, or citra Gangem, which was formerly

settled by Ethiopic negroes and was called Etiopia. [7] From there,

it is more probable, went out the settlers of African Etiopia, as we

prove in another place. Moreover, even today does India have nations

of the negro race. Also they could easily pass from the districts of

the mainland of India to the nearest islands, and could come from

one to the other even as far as these Filipinas. In Nueva Guinea,

which is quite near Terrenate, the natives are negroes like those of

Guinea, and on that account the first explorers gave them that name;

and they could also pass from those to these districts.

30. There is another kind of people, neither so civilized as the

first, nor so barbarous as the second. They generally live about

the sources of the rivers, and on that account are called in some

districts, Ilayas. They are the Tingues, and are called Manguianes,

[8] Zambals, or other names, for each island has a different name

for them. They generally trade with the Tagálogs, Visayans, and

other civilized nations who are commonly settled near the sea and

river mouths. Although those Ilayas or Tingues are not Christians,

they pay some sort of recognition or tribute, and have their system

of policy or government. It is thought that they are a mixture of the

other barbarous and civilized nations, and for that reason they are

midway between the other two classes of peoples in color, clothing,

and customs.

We do not pretend to deny by the above that some people could have

come from other parts and kingdoms of India extra Gangem (such as

Sian, Camboja, Cochinchina), and from China itself, and even Japon, to

conquer and settle in parts of these islands--especially the Chinese,

from whose histories, and their remains found in various parts,

it is learned that in former times they were masters of all these

archipelagoes. [9] If they were the first settlers of the Javas (as

is told by Juan de Barros) they could still more easily have settled

in some parts of these islands which are nearer to them.

Persons who know the provinces of Ilocos and Cagayan, in the north

of this island of Luzon, assert that they have discovered there the

graves of people larger than the Indians, and the arms and jewels of

Chinese or Japanese, who, it is presumed, conquered and settled in

those parts, led on by the desire for gold. [10]

CHAPTER XIII

Of the nature, languages, and letters of the Filipinos

In accordance with the origin which we ascribed to the civilized

nations of these islands in chapter four, so also are their capacity,

languages, and letters. They are descendants of the Malays of the

mainland of Malaca, whom they also resemble in their capacity,

languages, and letters.

92. From the shape, number, and use of the characters and letters of

this nation it is quite evident that they are all taken from the Moro

Malays and originated from the Arabs. The vowel letters are only three

in number, but they serve for five in their use; for the second and

third are indifferently e, i, y, o, and u, according as is required

by the meaning or sense of the word which is spoken or written.

The consonants are thirteen in number, and serve (except at the

beginning of the phrase or initial letter) as consonant and vowel; for

the letter alone, without a dot above or below, is pronounced with "A."

If a dot be placed above, the consonant is pronounced with "e" or "i."

If the dot be placed below, it is pronounced with "o" or "u." Thus the

"B" with the dot above is pronounced "bi" or "be," and with the dot

below, "bo" or "bu."

For example, in order to say "cama" [i.e., bed] the two letters "C"

and "M" are sufficient without a dot.

If a dot be placed above the "C", it will be "quema" [i.e., "fire"].

If dots be placed below each, it will be "como" [i.e., "as"].

The final consonants are supplied in all expressions. Thus in order

to say "cantar" [i.e., "to sing"], one writes "cata," only a "C"

and a "T." To say "barba" [i.e., "beard"], two "B's" are sufficient.

With all the supplements, he who reads in that language will, if he be

skilful, have no trouble in pronouncing the words or phrases correctly

by substituting the letters that must be substituted according to the

sense. But since that always occasions difficulty, those who know our

characters are studying how to write their own language in these. All

of them have now adopted our way of writing, with the lines from

left to right; for formerly they only wrote vertically down and up,

placing the first line to the left and running the others continuously

to the right, just opposite to the Chinese and Japanese, who although

they write in vertical up and down lines, continue the page from the

right to the left. All that points to a great antiquity; for running

the line from the right to the left is in accordance with the present

and general style of the Hebrews; and the style of running the lines

vertically from the top to the bottom, is that of the oldest nation

of the Chinese--which doubtless greatly resembles the method of the

Hebrews, whose characters have much resemblance to theirs. Those of

the Moro Arabs resemble those of the Syrians. Diodorus Siculus, [11]

who wrote in the time of the emperor Cæsar Augustus, in making mention

of an island which lay in our middle region, or torrid zone (whither

Iamblicus [12] the Greek went in the course of his adventures), says

that they do not write horizontally as we do, but from top to bottom

in a straight line; and that they use characters which, although

few in number, make up in their use for many, for each one has four

different transformations. Consequently, one may see that that method

of writing, and the characters of those nations, are very old. [13]

93. Before they knew anything about paper (and even yet they do in

places where they cannot get it), those people wrote on bamboos or

on palm-leaves, using as a pen the point of a knife or other bit of

iron, with which they engraved the letters on the smooth side of

the bamboo. If they write on palm-leaves they fold and then seal

the letter when written, in our manner. They all cling fondly to

their own method of writing and reading. There is scarcely a man,

and still less a woman, who does not know and practice that method,

even those who are already Christians in matters of devotion. For

from the sermons which they hear, and the histories and lives of

the saints, and the prayers and poems on divine matters, composed

by themselves (they have also some perfect poets in their manner,

who translate elegantly into their language any Spanish comedy), they

use small books and prayerbooks in their language, and manuscripts

which are in great number; as is affirmed in his manuscript history

by Father Pedro Chirino, [14] to whom the provisor and vicar-general

of this archbishopric entrusted the visit and examination of those

books in the year one thousand six hundred and nine, for the purpose

of preventing errors. That was a holy proceeding, and one that was

very proper among so new Christians.

The Filipinos easily accustom themselves to the Spanish letters and

method of writing. They are greatly benefited thereby, for many of

them write now just like us, because of their cleverness and quickness

in imitating any letter or design, and in the doing of anything with

the hands. There are some of them who commonly serve as clerks in

the public accountancies and secretaryships of the kingdom. We have

known some so capable that they have deserved to become officials in

those posts, and perhaps to supply those offices ad interim. They

also are a great help to students in making clean copies of their

rough drafts, not only in Romance but also in Latin, for there are

already some of them who have learned that language. Finally, they

are the printers in the two printing-houses in this city of Manila;

and they are entirely competent in that work, in which their skill

and ability are very evident.

94. Coming now to the other point, that of their languages, there are

many of these. For in this island of Manila alone there are six of

them, which correspond to the number of the provinces or civilized

nations; the Tagálog, Pampanga, Camarines (or Visayan), Cagayan,

and those of the Ilocans and Pangasinans. These are the civilized

nations. We do not yet know the number of the nations of the Negrillos,

Zambals, and other mountain nations. Although the civilized languages

are, strictly speaking, dissimilar, they resemble one another, so that

in a short time those people can understand one another, and those of

the one nation can converse with those of another--in the same way

as the Tuscan, Lombard, and Sicilian in Italia; and the Castilian,

Portuguese, and language of Valencia in España. The reason why these

languages resemble one another so closely is the same as in Italia

and España. For as the latter languages originated from the Roman,

just so do these originate from the Malay. For proof of that it is

necessary to do nothing else than to compare the words and idioms,

or the modes of speech, of each one of these languages with the

Malay, as will be seen in the following table, in which is made

the comparison of the three most important languages, the Tagálog,

Visayan, and Pampanga. Since for the sake of brevity the comparison

is made in a few words, whoever is interested can with but slight

labor extend the comparison through many words.

Spanish Malay Tagálog Pampanga Visayan

cielo [i. e., sky] langriet lañgit banoa laguit

sol [i. e., sun] mata ari arao aldao arlao

luna [i. e., moon] bulam Bouan bulan bulan

Of these languages the two most general are the Tagálog, which is

used through the greater part of the coast and interior of the island

of Manila, and the islands of Lubang and Mindoro; and the Visayan,

which is spoken throughout all the islands of the Pintados. Of the

two without doubt the most courteous, grave, artistic, and elegant

is the Tagálog, for it shares in four qualities of the four greatest

languages in the world, namely, Hebrew, Greek, Latin, and Spanish:

With the Hebrew, besides the resemblance already noted in the manner

of its vowels and consonants, it has the roots of the vocables and

their hidden and obscure meaning [sus preñezes, y misterios] and some

gutturals; with the Greek, the articles in the declension of nouns, and

in the conjugations the abundance of voices and moods; with the Latin,

the abundance and elegance; with the Spanish, the fine structure,

polish, and courtesy. As a proof of this, Father Pedro Chirino has

inserted in his printed relation of these islands an example in the

prayer of the Ave Maria, [15] as a short and clear instance, with his

explanation, with notes in the following manner. It should be noted

that the father, belonging to a past age, wrote it in the old style,

which has changed here somewhat since then, although not substantially.

THE AVE MARIA IN THE TAGÁLOG LANGUAGE

Abe Guingoong Maria matoua ca na

Ave Señora Maria alegra tu ya

Hail Lady Mary be joyful thou now

Napopono ca nang gracia

Llena tu de gracia

Full thou of grace

Ang Pañginoong Dios na saiyo

El Señor Dios està contigo

The Lord God is with thee

Bucor cang pinagpala sa babaying lahat

Singular tu bendita entre mugeres todas

especially, thou blessed among women all

Pinagpala naman ang yyong Anac si Jesus

Bendito tambien el tu Hijo Jesus

blessed also he thy Son Jesus

Santa Mariang Yna nang Dios

Santa Maria Madre de Dios

Holy Mary, Mother of God,

Ypanalangin mo caming macasalanan ngayon

Seamos intercedidos de ti nosotros pecadores agora

May we be for by thee we sinners now

interceded

At cum mamatay cami, Amen Jesus.

Y cuando muramos nosotros. [Amen Jesus].

And when shall die we. Amen Jesus. [16]

The first word, "Aba" is a mysterious one in the Tagálog, and has the

force of a salutation, as has "Ave" in Latin; and the same is true of

"Bucor" which means "diversity," "distinction," and "singularity." The

article is [seen in] "si Jesus." Its abundance lies in the fact that

it has many synonyms and turns of thought. Consequently, the above

prayer, over and above being elegant, could also be expressed in

several other ways just as elegant, and the same sense and meaning

would be kept. Its polish and courtesy consists in not saying "Ave

Maria" as does the Latin--for that would be a lack of courtesy and

a barbarism in the Tagálog--but by the interposition of that polite

word "Guinoo." The Visayan [version] does not contain that word,

as being a less polished language. However, I am not trying to cast

a slur on the latter for that reason, for each language has a beauty

and elegance for its natives which does not strike the foreigner.

95. Among the uncivilized nations, although the people are fewer, the

languages are more; for almost every river has its own language. In

Mindoro (and the same will be true of other districts more remote) we

saw the barbarous Manguianes assembling from places but little distant

from each other, who did not understand one another. They were so

barbarous that they had never seen a Spanish face. The things sent them

to attract them were hawk's-bells, nails, needles, and other similar

things. They thought that the sounds of the harp and guitar were

human voices. When a mirror was held up before them, they exhibited

singular effects, in one of fear and in another of joy. The lack of

civilization and communication is the reason for the multiplicity of

languages. For just as in the primitive multiplication of languages

which took place in the tower of Babel, the doctors observe that the

languages equaled the number of the families of the descendants of

Noah, so among the barbarous nations each one lives to itself alone

without any recognition of or subjection to public laws. They are

always having petty wars and dissensions among themselves; and, since

they lack communication, they forget the common language, and each

one has so corrupted its own language that it cannot understand the

others. We observed in some districts that one language was spoken at

the mouth of a river and another one at its source. That is a great

hindrance to the conversion and instruction of those peoples.

96. The polish and courtesy, especially of the Tagálogs and those

near them, in speech and writing are the same as those of very

civilized nations. They never say "tu" [i.e., "thou"] or speak in the

second person, singular or plural, but always in the third person:

[thus], "The chief would like this or that." Especially a woman when

addressing a man, even though they be equal and of the middle class,

never say less than "Sir" or "Master," and that after every word:

"When I was coming, sir, up the river, I saw, sir, etc." In writing

they make constant use of very fine and delicate expressions of regard,

and beauties and courtesy. Their manner of salutation when they met one

another was the removal of the potong, which is a cloth like a crown,

worn as we wear the hat. When an inferior addressed one of higher rank,

the courtesy used by him was to incline his body low, and then lift

one or both hands to the face, touch the cheeks with it, and at the

same time raise one of the feet in the air by doubling the knee, and

then seating oneself. The method of doing it was to fix the sole of

the feet firmly, and double both knees, without touching the ground,

keeping the body upright and the face raised. They bent in this manner

with the head uncovered and the potong thrown over the left shoulder

like a towel; they had to wait until they were questioned, for it

would be bad breeding to say anything until a question was asked.

97. The method of giving names was the following. As soon as a

child was born, it was the mother's business to name it. Generally

the occasion or motive of the name was taken from some one of the

circumstances which occurred at the time. For example, Maliuag, which

means "difficult," because of the difficulty of the birth; Malacas,

which signifies "strong," for it is thought that the infant will be

strong. This is like the custom of the Hebrews, as appears from Holy

Writ. At other times the name was given without any hidden meaning,

from the first thing that struck the fancy, as Daan, which signifies

"road," and Damo, signifying "grass." They were called by those names,

without the use of any surname, until they were married. Then the first

son or daughter gave the surname to the parents, as Amani Maliuag,

Ynani Malacas, "the father of Maliuag," "the mother of Malacas." The

names of women are differentiated from those of men by adding the

syllable "in," as Ilog, "river;" Si Ilog, the name of a male; Si

Iloguin, the name of a female. They used very tender diminutives

for the children, in our manner. Among themselves they had certain

domestic and delicate appellations of various sorts for the different

degrees of relationship--as that of a child for his father and mother,

and vice versa. In the same way [they have appellations] for their

ancestors, descendants, and collaterals. This shows the abundance,

elegance, and courtesy of this language. It is a general thing in all

these nations not to have special family names which are perpetuated

to their successors, but each individual has the simple name that

is given him at birth. At present this name serves as surname,

and the peculiar name is the Christian name of Juan or Pedro which

is imposed at baptism. However, there are now mothers so Christian

and civilized that they will not assign any secular name to their

children until the Christian name has been given in baptism, [17]

and then the surname is added, although it has already been chosen

after consultation with the parents and relatives. In place of our

"Don" (which indeed has been assigned to them with as much abuse as

among ourselves), in some districts they formerly placed before their

names, Lacan or Gat: as the Moluccans use Cachil, the Africans Muley,

the Turks Sultan, etc. The "Don" of the women is not Lacan or Gat, but

Dayang, Dayang Mati, Dayang Sanguy, i.e., "Doña Mati," "Doña Sanguy."

There is general distaste among our Tagálogs to mention one another

among themselves by their own names alone, without adding something

which smells of courtesy. When they are asked by the Spaniards "Who is

So-and-so?" and they cannot avoid naming him by his own name, they do

it with a certain shamefacedness and embarrassment. Inasmuch as the

method of naming one is "the father of So-and-so," as soon as he has

children, for him who had no children (among persons of influence)

his relatives and acquaintances assembled at a banquet, and gave him

a new name there, which they designated as Pamagat. That was usually

a name of excellence by some circumlocution or metaphor, based on

their own old name. Thus if one was called by his own name, Bacal,

which signifies "iron," the new name given him would be Dimatanassan,

signifying "not to spoil with time." If it were Bayani, which signifies

"valiant" and "spirited," he was called Dimalapitan "he to whom no

one is bold." It is also the custom among these nations to call one

another among themselves, by way of friendship, by certain correlative

names based on some special circumstance. Thus if one had given a

branch of sweet basil to another, the two among themselves called

each other Casolasi, the name of the thing given; or Caytlog, he who

ate of an egg with another. This is in the manner of the names of

fellow-students or chums as used by us. These are all arguments in

favor of the civilization of these Indians.

CHAPTER XIV

Of the appearance, features, clothing, and other ancient

customs of the natives of these islands

98. The ordinary stature of these Indians is medium, but they are

well built and good-looking, both men and women. Their complexion is

yellowish brown, like a boiled quince, and the beard is slight. The

Tagálogs wear the hair hanging to the shoulders; the Cagayans longer

and hanging over the shoulders; the Ilocans shorter, and the Visayans

still shorter, for they cut it round in the manner of the oldtime

cues of España. The nation called Zambals wear it shaved from the

front half of the head, while on the skull they have a great shock of

loose hair. The complexion of the women in all the islands differs

little from that of the men, except among the Visayans where some

of the women are light-complexioned. All of the women wear the hair

tied up in a knot on top of the head with a tasteful ribbon. Both

men and women, universally, consider it essential that the hair

should be very black and well cared for. For that purpose they use

lotions made of certain tree-barks and oils, prepared with musk and

other perfumes. Their greatest anxiety and care was the mouth, and

from infancy they polished and filed the teeth so that they might

be even and pretty. They covered them with a coating of black ink or

varnish which aided in preserving them. Among the influential people,

especially the women, it was the custom to set some of the teeth most

skilfully with gold which could not fall out, and gave a beautiful

appearance. The men did not glory in their mustaches or beards,

but quite the contrary; and consequently they pulled them out on

purpose. And just as it is an amusement or custom of some of us to

gnaw our finger-nails, they get amusement in pulling out the hairs of

the beard with certain little bits of cleft bamboo [cañuelas hendidas]

or with little shells in the form of pincers. All the women, and in

some places the men, adorn the ears with large rings or circlets of

gold, for that purpose piercing them at an early age. Among the women

the more the ears were stretched and opened, so much greater was the

beauty. Some had two holes in each ear for two kinds of earrings,

some being larger than others.

99. The men adorned the head with only cendal [18] or long and narrow

thin cloth, with which they bound the forehead and temples, and which

they call potong. It was put on in different modes, now in the Moorish

manner like a turban without a bonnet, and now twisted and wrapped

about the head like the crown of a hat. Those who were esteemed as

valiant let the elaborately worked ends of the cloth fall down upon

their shoulders, and these were so long that they reached the legs. By

the color of the cloth they displayed their rank, and it was the badge

of their deeds and exploits; and it was not allowed to anyone to use

the red potong until he had at least killed one person. In order to

wear it embroidered with certain borders, which were like a crown,

they must have killed seven. The personal clothing of those men was a

small garment or short loose jacket [chamarreta] of fine linen which

barely reached the waist. It had no collar and was fitted formerly

with short sleeves. Among the chiefs those jackets were of a scarlet

color, and were made of fine Indian muslin. For breeches they wore a

richly colored cloth, which was generally edged with gold, about the

waist and brought up between the legs, so that the legs were decently

covered to the middle of the thigh; from there down feet and legs

were bare. The chief adornments consisted of ornaments and jewels

of gold and precious stones. They had various kinds of necklaces,

and chains; bracelets or wristlets, also of gold and ivory, on the

arms as high as the elbow; while some had strings of cornelians,

agates, and other stones which are highly esteemed among them. On the

legs, instead of garters, they wear some strings of the same stones,

and certain cords of many strands, dyed black. The fingers of the

hand are covered with many rings of gold and precious stones. The

final complement of the gala attire was like our sash, a fine bit of

colored cloth crossed over the shoulder, the ends joined under the

arm, which they affected greatly. Instead of that the Visayans wore a

robe [marlota] or jacket [baquero] made without a collar and reaching

quite down to the feet, and embroidered in colors. The entire dress,

in fine, was in the Moorish style, and was truly rich and gay; and

even today they affect it.

The dress of the women, besides the small shirt with sleeves already

mentioned, which was shorter for them, for their gala dress had

little modesty, was a skirt as wide at top as at bottom, which they

gathered into folds at the waist, allowing the folds all to drop to

one side. This was long enough to cover them even to their feet, and

was generally white. When they went outside the house they wore for a

cloak certain colored short cloaks, those of the principal women being

of crimson silk or other cloths, embroidered with gold and adorned with

rich fringe. But their principal gala attire consisted in jewels and

ornaments of gold and stones which they wore in their ears, and on the

neck, the fingers of the hand and the wrists of the arms. But now they

have begun to wear the Spanish clothes and ornaments, namely, chains,

necklaces, skirts, shoes, and mantillas, or black veils. The men wear

hats, short jackets [ropillas], breeches, and shoes. Consequently, the

present dress of the Indians in these regions is now almost Spanish.

110 [i.e., 100]. Besides the exterior clothing and dress, some of

these nations wore another inside dress, which could not be removed

after it was once put on. These are the tattooings of the body so

greatly practiced among the Visayans, whom we call Pintados for that

reason. For it was a custom among them, and was a mark of nobility and

bravery, to tattoo the whole body from top to toe when they were of an

age and strength sufficient to endure the tortures of the tattooing,

which was done (after being carefully designed by the artists, and

in accordance with the proportion of the parts of the body and the

sex) with instruments like brushes or small twigs, with very fine

points of bamboo. The body was pricked and marked with them until

blood was drawn. Upon that a black powder or soot made from pitch,

which never faded, was put on. The whole body was not tattooed at

one time, but it was done gradually. In olden times no tattooing was

begun until some brave deed had been performed; and after that, for

each one of the parts of the body which was tattooed some new deed

had to be performed. The men tattooed even their chins and about the

eyes so that they appeared to be masked. Children were not tattooed,

and the women only on one hand and part of the other. The Ilocans in

this island of Manila also tattooed themselves but not to the same

extent as the Visayans. The dress of both men and women among the

Ilocans is almost alike in that province. Thus far the dress. We

shall now say somewhat of the food and their customs in eating.

101. Their usual sustenance is as stated above, rice, well hulled and

cleaned, and boiled only with water, which is called morisqueta by the

Spaniards, as if to call it "food of the Moors." The meat is that of a

small fish which is lacking in no part. That is also boiled in water,

and with the broth from it, they give a flavor to the morisqueta. For

lack of rice and fish they use the herbs and many kinds of native

potatoes, and fruits, by which they are sustained well enough. At their

banquets they add venison, pork, or beef, which they like best when

it has begun to spoil, and to smell bad. Their manner of eating is,

to be seated on the ground. Their tables are small and low, round or

square, and they have no tablecloths or napkins; but the plates with

the food are placed on the same tables. They eat in companies of four

which is as many as can get around a small table. On the occasion

of a wedding or a funeral, or similar feasts, the whole house will

be filled with tables and guests. The food is placed all together on

various plates. The people do not shun all reaching out to the same

plate, or drinking from the same cup. They relish salt, and salty

and acid foods. They have no better dainty for the sick than vinegar

and green or pickled fruits. They eat sparingly but drink often; and

when they are invited to a banquet, they are asked not to eat but to

drink. They waste much time in both eating and drinking. When they

have enough and are drunk, the tables are taken away and the house is

cleared. If the banquet is the occasion of a feast, they sing, play,

and dance. They spend a day and a night in this, amid great racket

and cries, until they fall with weariness and sleep. But rarely do

they become furious or even foolish; on the contrary, after they have

taken wine they preserve due respect and discreet behavior. They only

wax more cheerful, and converse better and say some witty things;

and it is well known that no one of them when he leaves a banquet,

although it be at any hour of the night, fails to go straight to his

own house. And if he has occasion to buy or sell, and to examine and

weigh gold or silver he does it with so great steadiness that the

hand does not tremble, nor does he make any error in the weight.

102. The wine commonly used among them is either that made from

palms, as it is throughout India, or from sugar-cane, which they call

quilang. The latter is made by extracting the sap from the canes,

and then bringing it to a boil over the fire, so that it becomes like

red wine, although it does not taste so good. The palm wine is made by

extracting the sap or liquor from which the fruit was to be formed. For

as soon as the palm begins to send out the shoot from the end of the

twig, and before the flower is unfolded, that flower-stock is cut,

and a bit of bamboo is fastened to it and is tied to the stalk or

shoot. Since the sap naturally flows to that part, as in the pruned

vine, all the sap that was to be converted into fruit, flows into

that bamboo, and passes through it to vessels, where, somewhat sour

and steeped with the bark of certain trees which give it color, heat,

and bite, they use it as a common drink and call it tuba. But the

real and proper palm-wine is made from the same liquor before it turns

sour, by distilling it in an alembic in ovens that they have prepared

for it. They give it a greater or less strength, as they please;

and they get a brandy as clear as water, although it is not so hot

[as our brandy]. [19] It is of a dry quality, and, when used with

moderation, it is considered even outside Filipinas as healthful and

medicinal for the stomach and a preventive of watery humors and colds.

The Visayans also make a wine, called pañgasi, from rice. The method

of making it is to place in the bottom of a jar of ordinary size

(which is generally of two or three arrobas, with them) a quantity

of yeast made from rice flour and a certain plant. Atop of that they

put clean rice until the jar is half full. Then water is added to it,

and, after it has stood for a few days, it is fermented by the force

of the yeast, and is converted into the strongest kind of wine, which

is not liquid, but thick like gachas. [20] In order to drink it they

pour water into the jar. It is a cause for surprise that even though

water be poured in again and again, the liquor is pure and liquid

wine, until the strength vanishes and is lost, and then they leave

it for the children. The method of drinking it is with a tube, which

they insert clear to the bottom where the yeast is. They use three

or four of those tubes, according to the number of the persons who

can find room around the vessel. They suck up as much as they wish,

and then give place to others.

103. The banquets are interspersed with singing, in which one or two

sing and the others respond. The songs [21] are usually their old

songs and fables, as is usual with other nations. The dances of men

and women are generally performed to the sound of bells which are made

in their style like basins, large or small, of metal, and the sounds

are brought out quickly and uninterruptedly. For the dance is warlike

and passionate, but it has steps and measured changes, and interposed

are some elevations that really enrapture and surprise. They generally

hold in the hands a towel, or a spear and shield, and with one and the

other they make their gestures in time, which are full of meaning. At

other times with the hands empty they make movements which correspond

to the movements of the feet, now slow, now rapid. Now they attack

and retire; now they incite; now they pacify; now they come close;

now they go away: all the grace and elegance, so much, in fact, that

at times they have not been judged unworthy to accompany and solemnize

our Christian feasts. [22] However, the children and youths now dance,

play, and sing in our manner and so well that we cannot do it better.

They had a kind of guitar which was called coryapi, which had two or

more copper strings. Although its music is not very artistic or fine,

it does not fail to be agreeable, especially to them. They play it

with a quill, with great liveliness and skill. It is a fact that,

by playing it alone, they carry on a conversation and make understood

whatever they wish to say.

104. All of these islanders are extremely fond of the water for bathing

purposes, and as a consequence they try to settle on the shores of

rivers or creeks, for the more they are in the water the better they

like it. They bathe at all times, for pleasure and cleanliness. When

an infant is born, it is put into the river and bathed in cold water;

and the mother, after having given birth, does not keep away from the

water. The manner of bathing is, to stand with the body contracted

and almost seated, with the water up to the throat. The most usual and

general hour is at sunset, when the people leave work or return from

the field, and bathe for rest and coolness. Men and women all swim

like fish, and as if born and reared in the water. Each house has a

vessel of water at the door. Whenever any one goes up to the house,

whether an inmate of it or not, he takes water from that vessel to

wash his feet, especially when it is muddy. That is done very easily;

one foot is dried with the other, and the water falls down below,

for the floor there is like a close grating.

CHAPTER XV

Of the false heathen religion, idolatries, superstitions,

and other things, of the Filipinos

105. It is not found that these nations had anything written about

their religion or about their government, or of their old-time

history. All that we have been able to learn has been handed down from

father to son in tradition, and is preserved in their customs; and in

some songs that they retain in their memory and repeat when they go on

the sea, sung to the time of their rowing, and in their merrymakings,

feasts, and funerals, and even in their work, when many of them work

together. In those songs are recounted the fabulous genealogies and

vain deeds of their gods. Among their gods is one who is the chief and

superior to all the others, whom the Tagálogs call Bathala Meycapal,

[23] which signifies "God" the "Creator" or "Maker." The Visayans

call him Laon, which denotes "antiquity."

They adored (as did the Egyptians) animals and birds; and the sun and

moon, as did the Assyrians. They also attributed to the rainbow its

kind of divinity. The Tagálogs worshiped a blue bird as large as a

turtle-dove, which they called tigmamanuquin, to which they attributed

the name of Bathala, which, as above stated, was among them a name for

divinity. They worshiped the crow, as the ancients did the god Pan

or the goddess Ceres, and called it Meylupa, signifying "master of

the earth." They held the crocodile in the greatest veneration, and

when they saw it in the water cried out, in all subjection, "Nono,"

signifying "Grandfather." They asked it pleasantly and tenderly not

to harm them, and for that purpose offered it a portion of what they

carried in their boat, by throwing it into the water. There was no

old tree to which they did not attribute divine honors, and it was a

sacrilege to think of cutting it under any consideration. Even the

very rocks, crags, reefs, and points along the seashore and rivers

were adored, and an offering made to them on passing, by stopping

there and placing the offering upon the rock or reef. The river of

Manila had a rock that served as an idol of that wretched people for

many years, and its scandal lasted and it gave rise to many evils,

until the fathers of St. Augustine, who were near there, broke it,

through their holy zeal, into small bits and set up a cross in its

place. Today there is an image of St. Nicholas of Tolentino in that

place, in a small shrine or chapel. When sailing to the island of

Panay, one saw on the point called Nasso, near Potol, a rock upon

which were dishes and other pieces of crockery-ware, which were

offered to it by those who went on the sea. In the island of Mindanao,

between La Caldera and the river, there is a great point of land, on

a rough and very high coast. The sea is forever dashing against these

headlands, and it is difficult and dangerous to double them. When

the people passed by that one, as it was so high, they offered it

arrows, which they shot at the cliff itself with so great force that

they stuck there, offering them as if in sacrifice so that it would

allow them to pass. There were so many of those arrows that, although

the Spaniards set fire to them and burned a countless number of them

in hatred of so cursed a superstition, many remained there, and the

number increased in less than one year to more than four thousand.

106. They also adored private idols, which each one inherited from

his ancestors. The Visayans called them divata, and the Tagálogs

anito. Of those idols some had jurisdiction over the mountains and open

country, and permission was asked from them to go thither. Others had

jurisdiction over the sowed fields, and the fields were commended to

them so that they might prove fruitful; and besides the sacrifices

they placed articles of food in the fields for the anitos to eat,

in order to place them under greater obligations. There was an anito

of the sea, to whom they commended their fisheries and navigations;

an anito of the house, whose favor they implored whenever an infant

was born, and when it was suckled and the breast offered to it. They

placed their ancestors, the invocation of whom was the first thing in

all their work and dangers, among these anitos. In memory of their

ancestors they kept certain very small and very badly made idols of

stone, wood, gold, or ivory, called licha or laravan. Among their gods

they reckoned also all those who perished by the sword, or who were

devoured by crocodiles, as well as those killed by lightning. They

thought that the souls of such immediately ascended to the blest

abode by means of the rainbow, called by them balañgao. Generally,

whoever could succeed in it attributed divinity to his aged father

at his death. The aged themselves died in that presumptuous delusion,

and during their sickness and at their death guided all their actions

with what they imagined a divine gravity and manner. Consequently, they

chose as the place for their grave some assigned spot, [24] like one

old man who lived on the seacoast between Dulac and Abuyog, which is in

the island of Leyte. He ordered himself placed there in his coffin (as

was done) in a house standing alone and distant from the settlement,

in order that he might be recognized as a god of navigators, who were

to commend themselves to him. Another had himself buried in certain

lands in the mountains of Antipolo, and through reverence to him

no one dared to cultivate those lands (for they feared that he who

should do so would die), until an evangelical minister removed that

fear from them, and now they cultivate them without harm or fear.

107. They mentioned the creation of the world, the beginning of the

human race, the flood, glory, punishment, and other invisible things,

such as evil spirits and devils. They recognized the latter to be

man's enemy, and hence feared them. By the beginning which they

assigned to the world and the human race, will be seen the vanity

of their belief, and that it is all lies and fables. They say that

the world began with only the sky and water, between which was a

kite. Tired of flying and not having any place where it could alight,

the kite stirred up the water against the sky. The sky, in order to

restrain the water and prevent it from mounting to it, burdened it with

islands; and also ordered the kite to light and build its nest on them,

and leave them in peace. They said that men had come from the stem

of a large bamboo (such as one sees in this Orient), which had only

two nodules. That bamboo, floating on the water, was carried by the

waves to the feet of the kite, which was on the seacoast. The kite,

in anger at what had struck its feet, opened the bamboo by picking it

with its beak. When it was opened, out of one nodule came man and from

the other woman. After various difficulties because of the obstacle

of consanguinity in the first degree, one of the gods namely, the

earthquake, after consulting with the fish and birds, absolved them,

and they married and had many children. From those children came the

various kinds and classes of people. For it happened that the parents,

angered at having so many children idle and useless in the house,

took counsel together; afterward the father one day gave way to his

anger, and was desirous of punishing them with a stick which he had

in his hand (a thing which they can never do). The children fled,

so that some of them took refuge in the chambers and innermost parts

of the house, from whom they say came the chiefs; others escaped

outside, and from them came the freemen, whom they call timauas;

others fled to the kitchen and lower parts, and they are the slaves;

others fled to various distant places, and they are the other nations.

108. It is not known whether there was any temple [25] in all these

islands, or any place assigned in common for worship; or that the

people ever assembled for public functions. In private they were

wont to have in their own houses (and not outside them in any cave

or like place) some kind of altars, on which they placed their idols,

and before them a small brasier with burning aromatics. But although

they had no temples, they did not lack priests or priestesses

for the sacrifices, which each one offered for his own purpose or

necessity. The Tagálogs called those cursed ministers catalonan,

and the Visayans babaylan. Some were priests by inheritance and

relationship; others by the dexterity with which they caused themselves

to be instructed and substituted in the office of famous priests by

gaining their good-will. Others were deceived by the devil with his

wonted wiles, and made a pact with him to assist them, and to hold

converse with him through their idols or anitos; and he appeared to

them in various forms. The method of making the sacrifices hinged

on the different purposes for which they were intended. If it were

for a feast of ostentation and vanity that was being made to some

chief, they called it "the feast of the great god." The method of

celebrating it was near the house of the chief, in a leafy bower

which they erected especially for that purpose, hung round about

with hangings in their fashion, namely, the Moorish, which were made

from odds and ends of pieces, of various colors. The guests assembled

there, and the sacrifice having been prepared (on those occasions of

a feast usually some good fat pig), the catalona ordered the girl of

the best appearance and who was best adorned, to give the spear-thrust

to the animal, amid the ceremony of certain dances of theirs. When the

animal was dead it was cut into bits and divided among all the people,

as is the blessed bread. Although other animals were killed and eaten,

and other viands and refreshments peculiar to those people were used,

that animal was the one esteemed and was reverently consumed. The

chief part of the feast was the drinking, accompanied, as ever,

with much music and dancing.

109. If the sacrifice was because of the danger of death in the

house of sickness, the minister ordered that a new, large, and

capacious house be built at the expense of the sick person, in which

to celebrate the feast. That work was performed in a trice, as the

materials were at hand and all the neighbors took part in it. When

it was finished, the sick person was taken to the new lodging. Then

preparing the intended sacrifice--a slave (which was their custom at

times), a turtle, a large shellfish, or a hog--without an altar or

anything resembling one, they placed it near the sick person, who

was stretched out on the floor of the house on a palm mat (which

they use as a mattress). They also set many small tables there,

laden with various viands. The catalona stepped out, and, dancing

to the sound of gongs, wounded the animal, and anointed with the

blood the sick person, as well as some of the bystanders. The animal

was then drawn slightly to one side and skinned and cleaned. After

that it was taken back to its first location, and the catalona there

before them all, spoke some words between her teeth while she opened

it, and took out and examined the entrails, in the manner of the

ancient soothsayers. Besides that the devil became incarnate in her,

or the catalona feigned to be him by grimaces, and shaking of the

feet and hands, and foamings at the mouth, acting as if out of her

senses. After she had returned to her senses, she prophesied to the

sick person what would happen to him. If the prophecy was one of life,

the people ate and drank, chanted the histories of the ancestors of

the sick person and of the anito to which the sacrifice was being

made, and danced until they fell through sheer exhaustion. If the

prophecy was one of death, the prophetess bolstered up her bad news

with praises of the sick person, for whose virtues and prowess she

said the anitos had chosen him to become one of them. From that

time she commended herself to him and all his family, begging him

to remember her in the other life. She added other flatteries and

lies, with which she made the poor sick person swallow his death;

and obliged his relatives and friends to treat him from that time as

an anito, and make feasts to him. The end was eating and drinking,

for that marked the termination of their sacrifices. Each person who

attended the sacrifice was obliged to offer something--gold, cotton,

birds, or other things--according to his capacity and wish. The

offering was given to the priest or priestess who had performed the

sacrifice. Consequently, the latter were generally quite rich and

well dressed, and had plenty of ornaments made of various kinds of

jewels. On that account, however, they were not honored or esteemed;

for they were considered as an idle lot, who lived by the sweat of

others. After their duty was once performed no further attention was

paid to them, unless they united with their office nobility or power.

110. To give a list of the omens and auguries would consume much time

and be useless. If the owl lit on the roof at night it was a sign of

death. Consequently, when a house was built some sort of scarecrow

was set up to keep that bird away, so that the house might not be

lost; for a house would under no circumstances be lived in if that

happened. The same was true if any serpent was seen in it after it had

been newly built. If they came across a serpent in any road they would

not proceed farther, even if their business was very pressing. The

same was true if they heard any one sneeze, a rat squeal, a dog howl,

or a lizard [26] sing. Fishermen would not make use of the first cast

of the net or a new fish-corral, for they thought that they would get

no more fish if they did the opposite. Neither must one talk in the

fisherman's house of his new nets, or in that of the hunter of dogs

recently purchased, until they had made a capture or had some good

luck; for if they did not observe that, the virtue was taken from the

nets and the cunning from the dogs. A pregnant woman could not cut

off her hair, under penalty of bearing an infant without hair. Those

who journeyed ashore could not mention anything of the sea; and those

who voyaged on the sea could not take any land animal with them, or

even name it. When a voyage was begun they rocked the boat to and fro,

and let it vibrate, and if the vibrations of the right side were more

pronounced the voyage would be good, but if bad they were less. They

cast lots with some strands of cord, with the tusks of swine, the teeth

of crocodiles, and other filthy things, at the ends; and their good or

evil fortune would depend on whether or not those ends became tangled.

111. The oaths of these nations were all execrations in the form of

awful curses. Matay, "may I die!" Cagtin nang Buaya, "may I be eaten

by the crocodile!" Maguin Amo, "may I turn into a monkey!" The one

generally used is Matay. When the chiefs of Manila and Tondo swore

allegiance to our Catholic sovereigns, in the year one thousand five

hundred and seventy-one, they confirmed the peace agreements and the

subjection with an oath, asking "the sun to pierce them through the

middle, the crocodiles to eat them, and the women not to show them

any favor or wish them well, if they broke their word." Sometimes

they performed the pasambahan for greater solemnity and confirmation

of the oath. That consisted in bringing forward the figure of some

monstrous beast asking that they might be broken into pieces by it if

they failed in their promise. Others, having placed a lighted candle

in front of them, said that as that candle melted and was consumed,

so might he who failed in his promise be consumed and destroyed. Such

as these were their oaths.

112. It remains for us to speak of their mortuary customs. As soon as

the sick person dies, they begin to bewail him with sobs and cries--not

only the relatives and friends, but also those who have that as a trade

and hire themselves out for that purpose. They put into their song

innumerable bits of nonsense in praise of the deceased. To the sound of

that sad music, they washed the body. They perfumed it with storax, or

benzoin, and other perfumes, obtained from tree-resins which are found

throughout these forests. Having done that they shrouded the corpse,

wrapping it in a greater or less number of cloths, according to the

rank of the deceased. The most powerful were anointed and embalmed

according to the manner of the Hebrews, with aromatic liquors which

preserve the body from corruption, especially that made from the aloes

wood, or as it is called, eagle-wood. That wood is much esteemed

and greatly used throughout this India extra Gangem. The sap from

the plant called buyo (which is the famous betel of all India) was

also used for that purpose. A quantity of that sap was placed in the

mouth so that it would reach the interior. The grave of poor people

was a hole in the ground under their own houses. After the rich and

powerful were bewailed for three days, they were placed in a box or

coffin of incorruptible wood, the body adorned with rich jewels, and

with sheets of gold over the mouth and eyes. The box of the coffin was

all of one piece, and was generally dug out of the trunk of a large

tree, and the lid was so adjusted that no air could enter. By such

means some bodies have been found uncorrupted after the lapse of many

years. Those coffins were placed in one of three places, according to

the inclination and command of the deceased. That place was either

in the upper part of the house with the jewels, which are generally

kept there; or in the lower part of it, raised up from the ground;

or in the ground itself, in an open hole which is surrounded with a

small railing, without covering the coffin over with earth. Near it

they generally placed another box filled with the best clothing of the

deceased, and at suitable times various kinds of food were placed on

dishes for them. Beside the men were placed the weapons, and beside

the women their looms or other instruments of labor. If they were

much beloved by those who bewailed them, they were not permitted

to go alone. A good meal was given to some slave, male or female,

and one of those most liked by the deceased; and then he was killed,

in order that he might accompany the deceased. Shortly before the

entrance of the faith into the island of Bool, one of the chiefs of

that island had himself buried in a kind of boat, which the natives

call barangay, surrounded by seventy slaves with arms, ammunition,

and food--just as he was wont to go out upon his raids and robberies

when in life; and as if he were to be as great a pirate in the other

life as in this. Others buried their dead in the open country, and

made fires for many days under the house, and set guards so that the

deceased should not return to carry away those who had remained.

113. After the funeral the lamentations ceased, although the eating

and drunkenness did not. On the contrary, the latter continued for a

greater or less time, according to the rank of the deceased. The widow

or widower and the orphans, and other relatives, who were most affected

by grief, fasted as a sign of mourning, and abstained from flesh, fish,

and other food, eating during those days naught but vegetables, and

those only sparingly. That manner of fasting or penitence for the dead

is called sipà by the Tagálogs. Mourning among the Tagálogs is black,

and among the Visayans white, and in addition the Visayans shave the

head and eyebrows. At the death of a chief silence must reign in the

village until the interdict was raised; and that lasted a greater or

less number of days, according to his rank. During that time no sound

or noise was to be heard anywhere, under penalty of infamy. In regard

to this even the villages along the river-bank placed a certain signal

aloft, so that no one might sail by that side, or enter or leave the

village, under penalty of death. They deprived anyone who broke that

silence of his life, with the greatest cruelty and violence. Those

who were killed in war were celebrated in their lamentations and in

their funeral rites, and much time was spent in offering sacrifices

to or for them, accompanied with many banquets and drunken revels. If

the death had happened through violence--in war or peace, by treason,

or any other manner--the mourning was not laid aside nor the interdict

raised until the children, brothers, or relatives, killed an equal

number not only of their enemies and the murderers, but also of

any strange persons who were not their friends. Like highwaymen and

robbers they prowled on land and sea, and went on the hunt for men,

killing as many as they could until their fury was appeased. That

barbarous kind of vengeance is called balàta and in token of it the

neck was girt with a strap which was worn until the number of persons

prescribed had been killed. Then a great feast and banquet was made,

the interdict was raised, and at its proper time the mourning was

removed. In all the above are clearly seen the traces of heathendom

and of those ancient rites and customs so celebrated and noised

about by good authors, by which many other nations, more civilized,

were considered as famous and worthy of history.

CHAPTER XVI

Of the government and political customs of these peoples

114. There were no kings or rulers worthy of mention, throughout this

archipelago; but there were many chiefs who dominated others less

powerful. As there were many without much power, there was no security

from the continual wars that were waged between them. Manila had two

chiefs, uncle and nephew, who had equal power and authority. They

were at war with another chief, who was chief alone; and he was so

near that they were separated from one another by nothing more than

a not very wide river. The same conditions ruled in all the rest of

the island, and of even the whole archipelago, until the entrance

of the faith, when they were given peace--which they now esteem

much more than all that they then obtained from those petty wars

and their depredations. They were divided into barangays, as Roma

into districts, and our cities into parishes or collations. They are

called barangays, which is the name of a boat, preserving the name from

the boat in which they came to settle these islands. Since they came

subject to one leader in their barangay, who acted as their captain

or pilot--who was accompanied by his children, relatives, friends,

and comrades--after landing, they kept in company under that leader,

who is the dato. Seizing the lands, they began to cultivate them

and to make use of them. They seized as much of the sea and near-by

rivers as they could preserve and defend from any other barangay, or

from many barangays, according as they had settled near or far from

others. Although on all occasions some barangays aided and protected

others, yet the slave or even the timaua or freemen could not pass from

one barangay to another, especially a married man or a married woman,

without paying a certain quantity of gold, and giving a public feast

to his whole barangay; where this was not done, it was an occasion

for war between the two barangays. If a man of one barangay happened

to marry a woman of another, the children had to be divided between

the barangays, in the same manner as the slaves.

115. Their laws and policy, which were not very barbarous for

barbarians, consisted wholly of traditions and customs, observed

with so great exactness that it was not considered possible to break

them in any circumstance. One was the respect of parents and elders,

carried to so great a degree that not even the name of one's father

could pass the lips, in the same way as the Hebrews [regarded] the

name of God. The individuals, even the children, must follow the

general [custom]. There were other laws also. For the determination

of their suits, both civil and criminal, there was no other judge

than the said chief, with the assistance of some old men of the

same barangay. With them the suit was determined in the following

form. They had the opponents summoned, and endeavored to have them

come to an agreement. But if they would not agree, then an oath was

administered to each one, to the effect that he would abide by what

was determined and done. Then they called for witnesses, and examined

summarily. If the proof was equal [on both sides], the difference was

split; but, if it were unequal, the sentence was given in favor of the

one who conquered. If the one who was defeated resisted, the judge

made himself a party to the cause, and all of them at once attacked

with the armed hand the one defeated, and execution to the required

amount was levied upon him. The judge received the larger share of

this amount, and some was paid to the witnesses of the one who won

the suit, while the poor litigant received the least.

In criminal causes there were wide distinctions made because of the

rank of the murderer and the slain; and if the latter were a chief

all his kinsmen went to hunt for the murderer and his relatives,

and both sides engaged in war, until mediators undertook to declare

the quantity of gold due for that murder, in accordance with the

appraisals which the old men said ought to be paid according to

their custom. One half of that amount belonged to the chiefs, and the

other half was divided among the wife, children, and relatives of the

deceased. The penalty of death was never imposed by process of law,

except when the murderer and his victim were common men and had no gold

to satisfy the murder. In such a case, if the man's dato or maginoo

(for these are one and the same) did not kill him, the other chiefs

did, spearing him after lashing him to a stake.

117. In a matter of theft, if the crime were proved, but not the

criminal, and more than one person was suspected, a canonical

clearance from guilt had to be made in the following form. First

they obliged each person to put in a heap a bundle of cloth, leaves,

or anything else that they wished, in which they might discover

the article stolen. If the article stolen was found in the heap,

at the end of this effort, then the suit ceased; if not, one of

three methods was tried. First, they were placed in the part of

the river where it is deepest, each one with his wooden spear in

his hand. Then at the same time they were all to be plunged under

the water, for all are equal in this, and he who came out first was

regarded as the criminal. Consequently, many let themselves drown

for fear of punishment. The second was to place a stone in a vessel

of boiling water, and to order them to take it out. He who refused to

put his hand into the water paid the penalty for the theft. Thirdly,

each one was given a wax candle of the same wick, and of equal size

and weight. The candles were lighted at the same time, and he whose

candle first went out was the culprit.

118. There are three kinds and classes of people: the chiefs, whom

the Visayans call dato and the Tagálogs maginoo; the timauas, who

are the ordinary common people, called maharlicà among the Tagálogs;

and the slaves, called oripuen by the Visayans and alipin by the

Tagálogs. The last are divided into several kinds, as we shall relate

soon. The chiefs attain that position generally through their blood;

or, if not that, because of their energy and strength. For even though

one may be of low extraction, if he is seen to be careful, and if he

gains some wealth by his industry and schemes--whether by farming and

stock-raising, or by trading; or by any of the trades among them, such

as smith, jeweler, or carpenter; or by robbery and tyranny, which was

the most usual method--in that way he gains authority and reputation,

and increases it the more he practices tyranny and violence. With

these beginnings, he takes the name of dato; and others, whether his

relatives or not, come to him, and add credit and esteem to him, and

make him a leader. Thus there is no superior who gives him authority

or title, beyond his own efforts and power. Consequently, might was

proclaimed as right, and he who robbed most and tyrannized most was

the most powerful. If his children continued those tyrannies, they

conserved that grandeur. If on the contrary, they were men of little

ability, who allowed themselves to be subjugated, or were reduced

either by misfortunes and disastrous happenings, or by sicknesses

and losses, they lost their grandeur with their possessions, as is

customary throughout the world; and the fact that they had honored

parents or relatives was of no avail to them, or is of no avail to them

now. In this way it has happened that the father might be a chief, and

the son or brother a slave--and worse, even a slave to his own brother.

119. Their manner of life and ordinary conduct from the days of old

is trade, in all sorts of things by wholesale, and more by retail

in the products of the earth, in accordance with what is produced

in each district. The maritime peoples are great fishers with net,

line, and corral. The people who live inland are excellent farmers and

hunters. They are always cultivating rice, besides other vegetables

and garden products, quite different from those of Europa. The women

also are shrewd in trading, especially of their weaving, needlework,

and embroideries, which they make very neatly; and there is scarcely

one who cannot read and write. Sometimes the husband and wife go

together on their trading, and, whether for this or for any other

thing, she must always go ahead; for it is not their custom to go

together. Even if it be a band wholly made up of men or of women,

or of men and women mixed, and even if the road be very wide, they

go in single file one after the other.

120. The maritime peoples were accustomed to make many raids,

and those of the interior to set ambushes for such depredations,

wasting life in this. Their weapons consisted of bow and arrow;

a spear with a short handle, and a head shaped in innumerable ways,

most often with harpoon points; other spears without any head, with

the point made on the shaft itself (which is now of bamboo and now

of wood), a vara long, hardened in fire. They had swords; large,

sharp daggers, made very beautifully; and slender, long blowpipes

[ceruatanas], through which they shot most dangerous poisoned arrows,

in the manner of the inhabitants of Samatra. Such are their offensive

weapons. Their defensive weapons are wooden shields and rattan or

corded breastplates, and other armor helmets of the same material.

121. What justice, what fidelity, what honesty should there be amid

so great cruelty and tyranny? Virginity and purity were ignominious,

which is the general vice of idolaters. Whether married or single,

the woman who had no lover could not be safe; and by regarding that

as an honor, they considered it a dishonor to give their persons

free. When men children were born in certain provinces, the mothers

themselves performed on them a certain form of circumcision, quite

different from that of the Jews and Moros, and only in order to render

them more skilful in their lewdness. Yet with all this, they abhorred,

and chastised, and rigorously punished incest.

122. In the celebration of their marriages, espousals, and divorces,

and in the giving and receiving of dowries, they also proceeded

according to reason. In the first place, they agreed as to the dowry,

which is promised and given even now by the man, in the sum named by

the parents. When it is determined the betrothal takes place, generally

with a conventional penalty which is rigorously executed. However,

neither men nor women take it for an insult or grieve greatly if

the betrothal be refused, because then they benefit by the fine. The

truth is, that if those who are bound by the fine were the parents,

after their deaths the children are free to break the contract without

incurring the penalty, by only the restitution of the amount received

as dowry.

Matrimony at present includes, besides the above, the delivery of

the person and the dowry. The latter is not received by the woman but

by her parents or relatives, as it were selling their girls, in the

manner of the Mesopotamians and other nations. The parents convert

the dowry into their own estate, and it is distributed with the other

property, at their deaths, among all the children equally. But if

the son-in-law has been very obedient to his parents-in-law; then

the latter generally return the dowry to their children. The other

relatives are only depositaries of what they must again deliver to the

children. Besides the dowry, the chiefs formerly gave some presents

to the parents and relatives, and even to the slaves, to a greater

or less amount according to the rank of the bridegroom.

The pagan ceremony and form of marriage had to be authorized by

a sacrifice; for after the marriage had been agreed upon and the

dowry paid over, the catalona came, and a hog was brought to her. The

ceremonies were performed as in other sacrifices. The lovers having

seated themselves in their bridal chamber, each in the lap of an old

woman who acted as godmother, the latter gave them to eat from one

plate and to drink from one cup. The bridegroom said that he took

the woman to wife, and, accepting her, the catalona or babaylana

immediately gave them a thousand benedictions, saying to them: "May

you be well mated. May you beget many children and grandchildren,

all rich and brave," and other things of this sort. Thereupon the hog

was slain, and the lovers were married; and when the others became

tired of dancing and singing, all became intoxicated and went to

sleep. If the recently-married couple did not suit each other, another

sacrifice was ordered, in which the bridegroom himself danced and slew

the victim--the while talking to his anito, and offering himself to

it for the sake of peace and harmony with his wife. That having been

done, he calmed himself, confident that then and thenceforth the two

would live in harmony, and enjoy their married life in peace.

These nations consider it important to take a wife only from their

own family, and the nearer the better. Only they except the first

grade [of kinship], for they always considered that as a dissolving

impediment. But what marriages were those in which the contract was

not indissoluble, and could be dissolved by the woman, if she were to

blame, merely returning the dowry! If the husband were to blame, it

was not returned; and the marriage could be repudiated by themselves,

without any solemnity of law. That was done daily for very slight

causes, and new marriages were formed with others. Polygamy was not

the fashion among the Tagálogs. However, if the wife bore no children,

the husband could with his wife's permission have them by his slave

women, in accordance with the example of the ancient patriarchs. Among

the principal Visayans, the ministers of the gospel found established

the custom of having two or more legitimate wives, and large dowries,

which was a great obstacle to Christianity.

123. Thus far in regard to marriage. As to the children and their

succession and inheritance, if they were legitimate they inherited

equally in the property of their parents. For lack of legitimate

children the nearest relatives inherited. If there were illegitimate

children, who had for example been had by a free woman, they had their

share in the inheritance, but not equally with the legitimate children,

for the latter received two-thirds, and the illegitimate one-third. But

if there were no legitimate children then the illegitimate received

all the inheritance. The children of a slave woman who belonged to

the man were given some part of the household effects, according to

the will of the legitimate children. In addition the mother became

free for the very reason that her master had had a child by her.

There were also adopted children, and the practice was that the one

adopted bought his adoption. For the natural parent gave a certain sum

to the adopted parent in order to have his son or daughter adopted,

and thereupon the latter was adopted without any other subtlety

of law or of paternal power. It was done only to the end that the

adopted child, if he should outlive the one adopting him, should

inherit double the sum that had been given for his adoption. Thus,

if ten were given, he must inherit twenty. But if the adopted parent

outlived the adopted child, the adoption expired as well as the right

of inheritance, which was not given to the heirs of the adopted one,

either in whole or in part. But if, on the contrary, the parent died

while his own child was living, he left him by way of addition to the

sum for adoption doubled, some jewel or slave woman, as a reward for

his good services. But, on the other hand, if the child was ungrateful

and acted badly, the adoptive parent gave him up, by restoring the

sum that had been given for his adoption.

Adultery was not punished corporally, but by a pecuniary

fine. Therefore the adulterer, by paying to the aggrieved party

the sum of gold agreed upon between them, or given by the sentence

and judgment of the old men, was pardoned for the injury that he

had committed; and the aggrieved party was satisfied, and his honor

was not besmirched. Also he continued to live with his wife without

anything more being said on the subject. But those children had by

a married woman did not succeed to the nobility of the parents or

to their privileges; but were always reckoned plebeians, whom those

people call timauas. Likewise those children had by a slave woman,

although they were free, as was the mother, were always regarded as

of low birth. These who succeeded to the nobility were the legitimate

children. In the barangay, when the father was lord of it his eldest

son inherited that office; but, if he died, then he who came next in

order. If there were no male children, then the daughters succeeded

in the same order; and for want of either males or females, the

succession went to the nearest relative of the last possessor. Thus

no will was necessary for all those successions; for wills were never

in vogue among these nations in the form and solemnity of such. As

for legacies it was sufficient to leave them openly, in writing or

entrusted by word of mouth, in the presence of known persons.

125. A great part of the wealth of these Indians consisted in

slaves. For, after gold, no property was held in greater esteem,

because of the many comforts that were enjoyed for their mode of

living through a multitude of slaves. Thus our Spaniards when they

entered the islands found so many slaves that there were chiefs

who had one, two, and three hundred slaves, and those generally of

their own color and nation, and not of other foreign nations. The

most general origin of those slaveries were interest and usury. That

was so much practiced among them, that no father would aid his son,

no son his father, no brother his brother, and much less any relative

his relative, even though he were suffering extreme necessity, without

an agreement to restore double. If payment was not made when promised,

the debtor remained a slave until he paid. That happened often, for

the interest or increase continued to accumulate just so long as the

payment was deferred. Consequently, the interest exceeded the wealth

of the debtor, and therefore the debt was loaded upon his shoulders,

and the poor creature became a slave; and from that time his children

and descendants were slaves. Other slaveries were due to tyranny

and cruelty. For slaves were made either in vengeance on enemies, in

the engagements and petty wars that they waged against one another,

in which the prisoners made remained slaves, even though they were of

the same village and race; or as a punishment which the more powerful

inflicted on the weaker ones, even for a matter of little importance,

of which they made a matter of insult. For instance if the lesser did

not observe the interdict on talking and noise, usual in the time of

the burial of the chiefs; if he passed near where the chief's wife was

bathing; or if any dust or any other dirt fell from the house of the

timaua upon the chief or his wife when passing through the street:

then in these and numberless other similar cases the powerful ones

deprived the poor wretches of liberty, and tyrannically made them

slaves--and not only them but their children, and perhaps the wife and

near relatives. The worst thing is that all those who had been made

slaves by war, or for punishment of debts, were rigorously regarded

as such, as slaves for any kind of service or slavery, and served

inside the house. The same was true of their children, in the manner

of our slaveries, and they could be sold at will. However, the masters

were not accustomed to sell those born under their roof, for they

regarded them in the light of relatives. Those slaves were allowed

to keep for themselves a portion of any profit which they made. The

Tagálogs called such true slaves sanguiguilir, and the Visayans halon.

Other slaves were called namamahay, for they did not serve their

master in all capacities, nor inside his house; but in their own

houses, and outside that of their masters. They were bound, however,

to obey their master's summons either to serve in his house when he

had honored guests, or for the erection of his house and its repair,

and in the seasons of sowing and harvest. They [had also to respond]

to act as his rowers when he went out in his boat, and on other like

occasions, in which they were obliged to serve their master without

any pay.

126. Among both kinds of slaves, sanguiguilir and namamahay, it happens

that there are some who are whole slaves, some who are half slaves,

and some one-fourth part slave. For if the father or the mother were

free, and had an only son he was half free and half slave. If they had

more than one child, these were so divided that the first followed

the condition of the father, whether free or slave, and the second

that of the mother. So did it happen with successive pairs. But if

there were an odd number of children, the last was half free and half

slave. Those who descended from them, if they were children of a free

father or mother, were slaves only in the fourth part, as they were the

children of a free father or mother, and of one half slave. Sometimes,

because it happened that two people had agreed to marry and the man

had no wealth for the dowry--or rather, nothing with which to buy his

wife--he became her slave. In such case the children were divided in

the said manner, and the first, third, and fifth, and the remaining

ones in the same way were slaves, inasmuch as they belonged to the

father, who was also a slave of the mother--and not only slaves to her,

but also to her brothers and sisters and relatives, in case of her

death and the division of her property. On the contrary the second,

fourth, and others in the same way, were according to their custom

free, inasmuch as they belonged to their mother who was free; and

they were masters and rulers over their own father and brothers and

sisters. The same thing happened in the case of interest, a thing

of so great importance among them that, as already remarked, the

father would not pardon the debt and interest even to the son, nor

the son the father, even in case of necessity, until the one had made

a slave of the other for it. Consequently, if one brother ransomed

another brother, or a son his father, the latter remained a slave,

as did his descendants, until the value of the ransom was paid with

interest. Consequently, the captive was gainer only by the change of

master. Such as the above are the monstrous things that are seen where

the law of God and Christian charity are lacking. In the division made

between heirs, when a slave belonged to many, the time of his service

was divided and each of the masters had the share that belonged to him

and was his in such slave; and the division was made by months, or as

was convenient among the masters. When a slave is not a whole slave

but only a half or fourth part, he has the right to compel his master

to give him his freedom for the just price at which he is appraised,

according to the rank of the slavery, sanguiguilir or namamahay. But

if he be a whole slave, the master cannot be compelled to ransom him

at any price, even though he should have become a slave for debt,

if already the day set for the payment of the debt has passed.

127. There was another kind of service which was not of a truth

servitude, although it appeared to be such. It was generally seen among

certain persons called cabalangay. Whenever such persons wanted any

small trifle, they begged the head chief of their barangay for it,

and he gave it to them. In return, whenever he summoned them they

were obliged to go to him to work in his fields or to row in his

boats. Whenever a feast or banquet was given, then they all came

together and helped furnish the tuba, wine, or quilan, such being

their method of service.

128. The ancient custom in manumission was for the whole sanguiguilir

slave to pay ten taes of gold, and the namamahay the half; and,

in addition to that, he had to give the half of whatever things

he owned. For instance, if he owned two large jars he had to give

one. In order to make that conveyance, the slave must make a banquet,

at which were present masters, relatives, and friends. At the height of

the banquet the delivery of the gold and household articles was made,

those present being witnesses that the master had received them. The

latter was thereupon satisfied, and the slave was set free.

Even today the Tagálogs are wont, at death, to grant freedom to the

children of their slaves who are born in their house, no matter how

young they be. However, they do not free the parents of those children

no matter how old they be, and even if they have been served throughout

life by them. That seems absolutely illogical.

129. To what has been said of dowries and marriages, it must be added

that in some districts, besides the bigaycaya and those presents made

to the relatives, there was panhimuyat. This was a kind of present

that was given to the mother of the bride, merely in return for the

bad and watchful nights that she had passed in rearing her. That

panhimuyat signifies "watchfulness and care." If the dowry was equal

to five taes of gold, the panhimuyat was equal to one tinga, which was

equivalent to one tae, or five pesos. That was a custom which well

shows the harshness and greed of these nations, since the mothers

wished to be paid even for the rearing of their daughters.

Also, whenever a chief married any daughter of his and asked a large

dowry of his son-in-law, as, for instance, eighteen or twenty taes of

gold, the father was obliged to give his daughter certain gifts called

pasonor, such as a gold chain, or a couple of slaves, or something

proportional to the dowry. It was very shameful to ask a large dowry

without giving a pasonor. This is still done, resembling the gifts

which among us the father presents to his daughter præter dotem,

[27] which the civil law calls bona paraphernalia. [28]

THE NATIVES OF THE SOUTHERN ISLANDS

[Francisco Combés, S.J., [29] in his Historia de las islas de Mindanao,

Iolo, y sus adjacentes (Madrid, 1667), devotes a number of pages to

the peoples of Mindanao and other islands. This matter we translate

from the reprint issued (Madrid, 1887) by Pablo Pastells, S.J.,

and W. E. Retana, book i, chapters ix-xviii.]

CHAPTER IX

Of the nations of these islands and those adjacent to them

Four nations have renown in this island, the Caragas, [30] Mindanaos,

[31] Lutaos, [32] and Subanos. [33] That of most renown is the nation

of Caraga, which, although it is the smallest numerically, has been

the greatest in deeds. In times past that nation was the scourge of

the islands, as is today proclaimed by the depredations that still

are fresh in memory in the islands of Pintados--especially so in that

of Leyte, where there is scarce a village which has not bewailed its

ruin. A good part of this ruin extended to Ours, the pirates having

pillaged our town of Palo and destroyed all the villages of the coast,

taking prisoner the father ransomer, [34] who exercised that office

for all the jurisdiction, and obliging those who lived in the villages

to retire into the mountains. Those nations maintained themselves by

their own valor, without protection of the pagan kings; they were

bold against all, and no one dared to do anything to them. They

are a brave nation on sea and land, and on land they are the first

nation of the islands; and by their aid great exploits have been

accomplished, as was seen in the conquest of the lake of Malanao,

and in all others that have occurred since they were subdued by the

gospel and the Catholic arms.

The second nation in estimation is the Mindanao, which includes the

kingdoms of Buhayen; for in olden times they were all one nation,

and today, although various petty rulers govern them, they are one in

customs and language. They are a nation of some valor, and with their

policy of being subject to kings they have acquired esteem among the

other nations, whom they have united under one political government

for achievements that are too great for their own courage. They are

treacherous and of little faith, as they are now swayed by the impious

worship of Mahomet.

The third nation is the Lutaya. It is a nation common to these islands

of Mindanao, Jolo, and Basilan. In all these islands it preserves

the name of Lutao, for since that is their vocation it well explains

their nature. For Lutao means, in those languages, "he who swims and

goes floating over the water." Such is the nature of these people that

they know no other house than the ship. In the villages which they have

formed they well show the inclination with which they were born; for

they are so fond of living on the sea that their houses are built in

it, in places which the low tide leaves exposed. In that way they can

set upright the trunks of the trees with which they must form their

houses, driving them down according to the load which they have to

sustain. When it is high tide the houses are very far from the shore,

and the water in between is so deep that brigs and craft of heavier

tonnage can sail there. These people hate the land so thoroughly

that they do not trouble themselves at all about its cultivation,

nor get any benefit from it. All their labor lies in fishing, and

they get from that the means of barter for whatever they need, even

for the wood that they burn and the logs from which they build their

houses and craft. Since they are so slightly attached to the land,

they easily move to other parts, and know no fixed abode except the

sea; for although they recognize villages, in which they assemble,

they seldom live in these, for they are scattered through the bays

and beaches suitable for their fishing. They live under the kings of

Mindanao and Jolo, and the chiefs of the same, and those of the island

of Basilan; today with some, tomorrow with others, according to the

district in which they are. Those of this island are scattered along

all the coast which extends from Samboangan to the river of Mindanao,

and have no fixed dwelling in any other part--except some of them who

have settled in the city of Cebú and a few others in the village of

Dapitan. They are equally esteemed in all parts as being the sinews

for the wars of these regions (their campaign field being the sea),

and also for their skill in constructing vessels fit for the wars of

these regions, and their skill in managing them.

By their constant communication with,all the nations (as they go

to all parts for their advantage), and because of their method of

living--which is so in the manner of traders, enjoying the fruits of

the land--and by the alertness of their intelligence, they are the

most capable, the most clear-sighted, and the most crafty people of

these islands. Therefore, they maintain the supremacy in everything,

and, although they are the smallest in number, and everywhere the

most foreign [of all these peoples], they are today the kings, and

hold the rulers as their slaves; for now by loans, now by violence,

and now by private vengeance, they have established the entire slavery

of these islands.

As their work causes but little exertion, naturally they grow up lazy,

and only shake off their laziness for the gains and advantages of an

industry like trading and sea piracy. And since the gains derived from

that source are sure, both because the cunning employed by them is

that of finished robbers, and because their wings are those of royal

falcons, they are most eager for that exercise, as they are assured

by these advantages from all danger; for, whether it be because of

the swiftness of their ships or because of their skill in rowing

them, no ship of ours has ever been able to overtake them. Assured

on that point, they have pillaged whatever their greed has dictated

to them. Their method of attack is for all of them to land at once

with a terrifying and barbaric cry, the awfulness of which strikes

terror to the people as they are caught defenseless and separated

and thus incapable of resistance.

They are more circumspect on the sea, when danger does not oblige

them to make resistance. For since these natives do not fight for

reputation, but only for gain, they seek to assure that, and not to

buy it too dear with their blood. Therefore, when they meet a ship

which they think cannot make any resistance they go to it in certainty

of making it a prize, and that they will catch it a half-legua from

shore. However small it be, they do not care to seize it if there

is any danger. They continue to row about it, until they cause it to

waste its powder in spectacular warfare, and then, when they see it

weakening, they attack it with great valor throwing by hand so many

missile weapons that no man can [safely] show his face; and when they

get within range there is rarely a man who is not wounded, for they

hurl these missiles in showers. No matter how well equipped a boat

may be, if once it gets within their range it has to surrender;

for then their men, both sailors and soldiers hurl their arrows

with both hands, so that they confuse those who uncover themselves

for the fight. But by startling them from a distance, that danger

is not imminent, and less resistance suffices. In order that this

may be better understood, I shall relate some attested incidents of

such encounters. One happened to an inhabitant of Dapitan, with whom

I sailed for many days. He, when going toward his village in a small

boat, met the fleet of the Joloans. A ship with one piece immediately

left the fleet to pursue him. The Indian carried a musket, and after

he had discharged it the enemy, recognizing it, moderated their zeal,

and coming within range discharged their own piece. Then they backed

water in order to load again and repeated the attack, always keeping a

close watch on the musket. In this way they made three attacks, until

at the third their piece became enraged, and breaking its carriage,

fell into the sea. Thereupon the enemy dared attempt nothing more,

and retired. The same fortune happened to Father Antonio Abarca, [35]

of our Society, of whom we shall make honorable mention later. He,

having left me in Dapitan in order to go over to Bohol, on that same

day while sailing toward that island, and while still one legua away

from it, found three hostile joangas of Joloans at another island,

small and uninhabited, called Illaticasa, which attacked him at the

same time. There was but one firearm in the ship, and the father

was the only one who knew how to manage it. He seeing himself so far

from land, and pursued by an enemy so keen and so swift on the sea,

availed himself of his courage, which was great, and of his skill,

which was remarkable; and, adroitly fighting, he kept firing at the

enemy, until he gained shore, being almost all the time in range of

them, and so near that they talked to one another. By that means he

saved himself and his people--a thing that would have been impossible

in any other manner; but his defense was so fiery that in less than

half an hour he fired the gun more than thirty times.

These people are the instruments of all the exploits by sea, for of

all the other nations no one will embark unless he is forced; and

on account of the little effectiveness that is found by experience

in all the others, our enemies, who are watchful for their own

safety and for fortunate results, are not hindered by those other

peoples. Consequently, he who has most men from this nation is

considered the most powerful and is the most feared, as they have

power to infest the seas and coasts, making captives and pillaging,

and making themselves masters of the crossings and passages necessary

for communication with the other islands.

For that same reason the Mindanao has become so feared in these

latter years that although he of Buhayen is the true and legitimate

king, he is coming to be less esteemed; for since the Mindanao king

has many Lutaos, he has also power to make war. And although the

king of Buhayen has twenty-fold more vassals, he can make no one

uneasy because he has no subjects of this nation; consequently,

he has no weight in these islands. For the wars of these nations,

now because of their little permanence, now because of the natural

ruggedness of their settled parts, are but seldom offensive by land;

for the enemy are immediately perceived, and the less powerful avail

themselves of the shelter of the mountains. Since the people are of

little endurance and less subordination they cannot sustain long

campaigns. Therefore, at most the valiant ones set an ambush, and

according to the way it falls out the campaign is finished without

the spoils being surrendered; for their articles of value, as there

is so little good faith among them, are always kept buried, or are

so light that they are carried along with them. On that account he

alone is judged powerful who has people to make war by sea. In ancient

times this power caused all this island to pay tribute to the king of

Mindanao in order to be free from his attacks. In the time of Buisan,

the father of Corralat, they had hopes of rendering all the islands

of Pintados tributary; and, though the island of Burney is so out of

the way, more than twenty thousand vassals pay tribute to him in the

villages called Suaco. For the same reason, although the Joloan nation

is so small, it has become the most distinguished in these islands;

for on sea it equals the strength of the Mindanaos, as they have as

many or more vassals of the Lutao nation.

The fourth nation is the Subano. They are the settlers along the

rivers. To them is due the name suba, which is the equivalent of

"river" in the general language of these nations. It is the nation of

least esteem, both because of their natural barbarousness, for they

live in the plains with as little association with one another as

have brutes (one house being located a legua's distance from another,

according to where each one wishes to build his hut); and because of

their poverty, which is dire. For since they have no other intelligence

than [what is required for] their work, their slothfulness reduces

their efforts to what necessity [only] requires, so that what is

abundant for a laborious life is always lacking with them. They are

deficient in civilized ways, along with human intercourse, as they

are born so hostile and so averse to communication [with others] that

they grow old in their rude settlements without curiosity drawing

them from their place of residence, or without their seeing the sea,

although some of them live where they hear news of the horror of its

tumults and movements. If either necessity or gain has made them give

a glance at their rivers, they are satisfied with that, and do not

seek a better fortune with its dangers. This inertia forbids them,

incapable of giving force to their ambition, from following its

impulses with [favoring] winds.

They are as cowardly as treacherous, the one being the consequence of

the other. He who better plans a bit of treachery and comes out most

safely is considered the most valiant. As they all know one another,

they look out for one another, and build their houses so high up

that a pike cannot reach and wound them. Their usual practice is

to seek a very high tree, where they can build their nests safely;

and, their houses being so unostentatious in size and furnishing,

a tree holds them easily. The ladder by which they ascend is a log,

some grooves that they cut in it serving as steps. On the coming of

night they draw this ladder up and thus sleep secure. They teach us

the little with which life is satisfied, and the fatigues which our

ambition and pride give us; for in order to satisfy our ambition

and pride we take upon us so many cares, which, so far as life is

concerned, are superfluous, and are not the least of the accidents

which our life suffers. This nation is almost wholly in vassalage to

the Lutaos, and every village recognizes some chief [36] of the latter

nation to whom they pay tribute; and that chief bears himself as a

king among them, and makes and unmakes at his will. In the beginning,

this authority entered under color of protection and support against

the king of Mindanao, and remained in enthroned tyranny, so that today

most of this nation are slaves of the Lutaos--their want of intellect

subjecting them to a thousand cheats, and their want of protection

to a thousand outrages. For since the Lutaos are so alert a nation,

and so sharp in their affairs, they have gradually bought the Subanos

by trading with them, becoming masters of their entire freedom.