penetration, more vivacity, more nobility, more talent, and more
courage than a Filipino. This superiority can do no less than have
its effect.... For the rest, few in Manila have an exact idea of the
Filipino character. Their arrogance may be seen in the importance
which the gobernadorcillos give to themselves. They go daily to
the city hall, but they make two regidors go to their houses to get
them. There the regidors wait until the gobernadorcillo is ready to
come out, and the latter then goes in solemn state to the city hall,
preceded by the regidors and the alguacils, with staffs in hand. When
these officers reach the door of the city hall, they stop in order to
allow the gobernadorcillo to pass between them; and he enters without
noticing the salutes given him by the guards, who take off their hats
to him. He immediately takes a seat which is on an elevated platform,
and there he thinks himself to be on a throne; and even the Spaniards
who enter casually, especially in the villages on the highroad,
appear of but little importance to him. This is the place where
the auditors of the Audiencia of Manila, and all others who have
any share in the government of Filipinas, ought to come incognito,
and as if in passing, in order to know the Filipinos--instead of
forming an opinion of their character from the servants of their
house, or from those who go to the capital with clasped hands and a
downcast look in their eyes to ask some favor of them. The strange
thing is, that the Indians do not learn from the alcaldes-mayor,
who administer justice with the greatest equality, and who do not
sit in an elevated place, or even sit down, and go into the street
without any following. This aristocratic spirit may be observed in
the church. All the principales, who consist of the gobernadorcillos,
cabezas de barangay, and all others who have the title 'Don' and
wear a jacket, seat themselves in the central aisle or nave; and the
following order of etiquette is in general scrupulously observed: the
gobernadorcillo; the ex-gobernadorcillos, who are called past captains,
in order of their seniority; the actual first lieutenant, who must be
a cabeza de barangay; the two lieutenants; and nine present officials;
the ex-cabezas, in order of seniority. If any ex-captain from another
village is present, he takes a seat among those of his class, and
is given the first place, out of courtesy. When the lieutenants and
officials leave their posts, they are not called principales, as are
the others, but titulados." (Mas, pp. 83, 84.)
[170] D. reads "petty sextons."
[171] Delgado says (p. 311): "It is a fact that nature always inclines
rather to evil than to good. But in order to correct their vices
there are fervent and zealous ministers in all parts, who preach to
and teach them."
Mas says (pp. 85-89): "In fact some Indians practice ceremonies in
their marriages which date from before the conquest.
"On the birth of an infant, the newborn child is sometimes taken to
another house in order to free it from the Patianac; and, when the
child is taken out for baptism, aromatic substances and incense are
burned for the same reason.
"When a person dies, they celebrate a novena in his house at night,
where the relatives (and sometimes those who are not relatives)
assemble. After praying, it is not seldom that they sit down to
gamble. On the last day there is a great banquet, and sometimes a
dance. These mortuary feasts are practiced even yet, in all their
purity, in the mountains, as we have already seen.
"If possible, both men and women bathe daily in the river. The women
enter the water wrapped in their tapices, taking care that the bosom is
covered. When they are in the water they take that garment off to wash
themselves. The men enter the water with wide pantaloons and the body
bare. They enter the river at any hour and before everybody; but one
must confess that they do it with great decency and modesty.... When I
was in Santa Cruz de la Laguna, the cura published an edict ordering
men and women not to bathe in the same place. That gave rise to
many jokes and jests, and it is to be supposed that they continued
their old-time customs. They consider us as not overcleanly, because
they see us make less use than they of the bath.... It is also the
custom for the families of the country and many Europeans to bathe
together. During the outdoor sports of Manila, at the summer houses
of Mariquina, or other neighboring towns, the chief diversion is the
bath. The women generally enter the water wearing a kind of blouse,
and the men with wide pantaloons and the body uncovered. Newcomers
from Europa do not consider this amusement at all decent.
"They kiss by bringing the nostril near and drawing in the breath. This
is the plain kiss in the mountains, but some Filipinos of the plains,
especially of Manila, have also become accustomed to kiss with the
lips; but they always put the nose to the face at the same time,
and if they have a sincere affection, they always smell as if they
were giving a deep sigh with their mouth closed.... When they look
at a person from a distance, and desire to express their desire to
kiss him, they constrict the nose in the manner of one smelling. A
very extreme kind of kiss is given by rubbing the nose on the spot
that they wish to feel, and drawing in the breath as long as possible.
"I am greatly surprised that no one of the writers on the Filipinos
has spoken of this remarkable fact, which springs from their exquisite
sense of smell. It is so great that a servant can tell his master's
shirt, after it is cleaned and ironed, even though it lies with ten
or twelve other shirts resembling it and belonging to other persons,
by simply smelling them. They also assert that if a man be near a woman
for whom he experiences a feeling of love, she knows it by the odor of
his perspiration, and vice versa. As a pledge of affection, they ask
for a shirt that has been worn--which they return after it has lost
its odor, and replace by another, just as we beg for a lock of hair.
"They had the custom of circumcision, a custom which they did not
acquire from the Arabs, since it is still practiced on the peaks of
the independent mountains. They practice it still, and that against the
will of the curas. Ancient customs have very great force. It is to be
noted that the manner of operation is not the same as that practiced
by the Jews, for the cut is made from the upper to the lower part.
"They had the custom that the suitor for a maiden's hand went to serve
in the house of his future father-in-law for three or four years, and
did whatever he was asked--in general, the most onerous duties. Then
the parents of the bride had to give him a house, clothes, etc., and
the marriage was celebrated. In many provinces, as for instance, in
Bulacan, there is now no trace of this custom, because of the abuses
which were committed. This custom, which we meet in the first pages of
the Old Testament, could not have been acquired from the Mussulmans,
who by their Koran hold laws diametrically opposed. This custom is
still followed in Laguna, although the young man does not live in the
house of his loved one, for the cura does not permit it. The friars
have done their utmost to destroy this custom.
"They scarify new-born infants in order to draw blood from them;
and then apply lighted matches to various parts of the body, which
cause them burns, and serve the place of caustics.
"Women in childbirth they suspend by the hair in order to stop the
flow; and, after parturition, they compress the abdomen, and press
down with great force on both thighs at once, in order to make the
organs return to their former position; and they perform other things
of like nature, which we consider as injurious and nonsensical. But
they hold one of their old women higher than the best Paris physician.
"They consider the balete tree as sacred. At marriage, they carry it
dishes of food as an offering; and it is very difficult, or impossible,
to make them cut one of them. It has happened that they have begged
incense from the cura on various pretexts in order to go immediately
and burn it under a balete tree.
"They are very fond of telling tales of love adventures, of witches,
and enchantment, and everything else that is rare and marvelous,
even though it be nonsense and against common sense.
"They believe that all diseases are cured by drawing out the air that
has been introduced into the body; and, consequently, their favorite
remedy is to supply a kind of cupping-glass of Chinese origin, which
they drag over two palmos on any part of the body, and which leaves
a great red streak.
"They respect their fathers and mothers greatly, and even the younger
brothers the older. I have seen a married woman, on entering her house,
kiss the hand of a sister older than herself.
"In order that a young man may marry, he must give the bride the money
or other things up to her value; and that price is often kept by the
parents. The parents would rather have their daughter remain single,
even though she be with child, than to give her without a dowry. It
is not seldom that one can hear a mother say that she will not give
her daughter for less than one hundred pesos, or fifty, etc.
"In order to strike fire they take a bit of bamboo, and slit it down
the middle lengthwise. In the hollow or inner part, they dig out one
portion near the center, which leaves the bamboo much thinner. Then on
the outside they open a chink, lengthwise. Then they take the knife,
and scraping the upper part of the other half-bamboo, they make some
very fine shavings. These they roll about between the two palms
of the hands until they form a small ball, and that they place in
the hollow of the half-bamboo. The latter they place on the ground,
with the shavings below. Then with the other half bamboo, they rub
(while singing) across the one which has the shavings below it, upon
the same point where the shavings are placed, and in a few seconds
they begin to smoke. Thereupon they rub faster and blow, and a blaze
starts. All this is the work of one minute.
"On going out between people, or when passing in front of anyone,
they bend the body and clasp the hands, which they then move forward
as if they wished to open a path or cut the air. This is a sign of
respect, or their method of asking leave to pass.
"The women ride horseback, not astride, but with a side-saddle,
as do Europeans."
[172] M. reads "most of them."
[173] This is common throughout the world, says Delgado (p. 311). "That
they do not know their age happens commonly among rude and wild
people, wherever they may be; but their age is known very well by
their datos and chiefs, in order to assign them their place in the
tribute readily. In what pertains to their ancient beliefs, there is
no doubt that these are preserved in some parts, and there is no lack
of babailanes, who are their priestesses or diuateras; but one must
consider that all these peoples of the Indias are new Christians,
and the seed that the enemy had sown, and which had thrust so deep
roots into them, has not yet been completely destroyed."
[174] M. and D. omit "than the word of the whole world."
Mas says (pp. 90-96): "The superstitions of these people can be
divided into three classes. The first consists in believing that
certain monsters or ghosts exist, to which they give names and assign
special duties, and even certain exterior forms, which are described
by those who affirm that they have seen them. Such are the Tigbalan,
Osuang, Patianac, Sava, Naanayo, Tavac, Nono, Mancuculan, Aiasip,
the rock Mutya, etc.
"The Antinganting is any object which promises wealth or happiness,
as we would speak of the girdle of Venus, or the ring of Giges.
"Many Spaniards, especially the curas, imagine that these beliefs are
not very deeply rooted, or that they have declined, and that most of
the Filipinos are free from them. This is because in the presence
of such the Filipinos do not dare tell the truth, not even in the
confessional, because of their fear of the reprimand that surely awaits
them. I have talked to many about these things, some of whom at the
beginning began to laugh, and to joke about the poor fools who put
faith in such nonsense. But when they saw that I was treating the
matter seriously, and with the spirit of inquiry as a real thing,
they changed their tone, and made no difficulty in assuring me of
the existence of the fabulous beings described above....
"The second class consists in various practices, like that of burning
incense under the balete tree; putting ashes at the door of the house
where a person has died, in order that they might recognize the tracks
of the soul of the dead one; leaving a plate for the dead man at the
table, etc.
"When Don G. Piñeiro went to Culamba in 1841, for the purpose of
climbing a lofty mountain, he encountered innumerable difficulties
in getting people to accompany him, in spite of the orders of the
superior government; and he had to desist and climb from the village
of Los Baños accompanied by the cura, who had the road opened for
him. The reason for that, as the said religious assured me, was the
fear of the Filipinos for the anito, although the excuses that they
offered were quite different.
"In the said village of Los Baños, they believe that there is an
antinganting in one of the hot water springs, which has water at 67°
Reaumur. This consists in the Divine Child, who appears and hops
about in the water on Good Friday; and he who catches Him obtains
the antinganting. This last year, 1841, a man tried to get too near,
and fell in. His entire body was scalded, and he was bled; but not
one drop of blood could be drawn from his body, and he died on the
following day.
"The third, and to me the most remarkable, class is found not in
certain personages or superstitious and determined proceedings, but
in sudden and capricious scenes, and in improbable and inexplainable
apparitions.
"There is scarce a Filipino, even the most enlightened, who does not
tell marvelous things that have happened to him--wondrous visions,
mute and speechless; ghosts, goblins, strange figures; dead people;
dogs, and fabulous and never imagined animals; castles, and balls of
fire, that have appeared to him; frightful noises of all sorts that
have scared him; and, finally, the most improbable stories and bits
of nonsense that could be invented by the most raving maniac.
"On hearing them recount so many of these extravagances, and seeing
that they distinguish them from dreams, I have been unable to believe
that they were deceits; and observing their faces very carefully
during the narration, I have been convinced that they were intimately
persuaded that they had seen the things that they described. Whence
can this mental weakness come? It is not from ignorance, for I have
noticed the same thing as in the others, in several clerics who have
studied in the university for ten or twelve years. One day I was in
a convent where the boards of the floor began to creak because of
dryness, and the coadjutor became so frightened that he went away
to sleep in another house; and the Christian reflections, jests,
and anger of the Spanish cura could not restrain him.... The Filipino
cura, Don J. Severiano Mallares, committed and caused to be committed
fifty-seven assassinations, because he believed that he could by
this means save his mother, who, he had persuaded himself, had been
bewitched; and was hanged in the year 1840. The attorney on that cause
talked in pathetic terms of the indescribable and barbarous prodigality
of blood shed by that monster. Reflecting upon this phenomenon, I am
inclined to think that it is based on their natural timorousness...."
[175] In D., "indolent."
[176] From the word "islands" to this point, is omitted in D.
[177] "That they are tyrants, one over the other," says Delgado
(p. 311), "I do not deny. They inherited this peculiarity from their
ancestors, and it has as yet been impossible to uproot it entirely,
as many others which they learned from their ancestors. However, these
vices are not so common as they were formerly. And not only would the
Indians of these islands have been consumed if the Spaniards had not
come hither, but they would have been conquered and enslaved by the
neighboring nations, such as the Borneans, Chinese, and Japanese,
as we see in the books of history.
" ... The principales were the aim of the popular wrath in the Ilocan
insurrection in 1807. 'Kill all the lords and ladies' was the cry,
while the people hastened toward the capital to petition for the
abolition of the monopolies and the fifths. The same thing happened
in the year 1814." (Mas, p. 97.)
[178] M. omits "and bring it back as cold as ice."
[179] This is a general statement that is not true, says Delgado
(pp. 311, 312), for the example given is merely from boys; and,
besides, it never freezes in Filipinas.
[180] This citation is missing in M. It is from Horace's Satires,
book i, ll, 106, 107. E. C. Wickham (Horace for English Readers;
Oxford, 1903, p. 163), translates the passage as follows: "There is
measure in everything. There are fixed limits beyond which and short
of which right cannot find resting-place."
[181] "That they need beatings and the rattan," says Delgado (p. 312),
"as examples prove, is a fact, and they confess it; but they resemble
all other nations in this particular.... But it must be employed
with prudence and moderation, as the discipline is employed by our
fathers in our own lands, regarding them as sons and small children,
and not as slaves or as our enemies. For God has brought us to their
lands, in order to watch over them, and maintains us here for love
of them. We must note that the Indians are not so bad as they seem
to us.... It must also be observed that there are many Spaniards, and
even ministers, who are melancholy and crabbed, and so ill-conditioned
and moody, that everything wounds them, and they are contented with
nothing. All the actions of the Indians displease them, and they even
believe that the Indians do them purposely to make them impatient
and to jest with them. From such ill-conditioned people the Indians
suffer much, and tolerate and endure much, because of their respect
for them. Consequently what the reverend father says below, namely
'that it costs them more to be Christians than one would believe'
is a fact and true."
"The Spaniards cry out and are in despair at seeing the continual
and great acts of rudeness of the Filipinos, some of which are
done maliciously, with the sole object of making us angry, when
they contract hate for us. At times after they have wearied and
disgusted the Spaniards grievously, and have caused the latter to
give them a buffet, this is a cause for great sport among them,
and they celebrate it in the kitchen amid great guffaws, as I have
heard many times. Especially is it so if those who are made angry
are women. But the Spaniards persist in not being convinced of this
fact, nor will they ever learn how to treat this people. The old men
of the country say that the Spaniard is fire and the Filipino snow,
and that the snow consumes the fire." (Mas, pp. 97, 98.)
[182] M. and D. add "His master chid him, but the lad replied that
the hen had but one leg."
[183] This quotation is lacking in M. and D.
[184] M. and D. read "in love and esteem."
[185] "I shall not at present enter upon a discussion of whether
one ought or ought not beat the Filipino. I shall only remark, as
a matter pertaining to this section, that the first thing that one
sees in any of their houses is the rattan hanging in a corner. When
a father places his son in any Spanish house, this is his charge:
'Sir, beat him often.' To educate the young people, or to establish
order in any place without the use of the rattan, is a thing that
they do not understand." (Mas, p. 99.)
It is said that even at the present day a Filipino father will not
hesitate to chastise his son corporally, even after the latter has
attained his majority.
[186] This last phrase and the Latin quotation are lacking in
M. Englished that quotation is, "The evil hate sin for fear of
punishment."
[187] This phrase is omitted in D.
[188] In D. this is "even if it be a leaf."
[189] Delgado says (p. 312): "But if his Paternity knows of this
lack, how surprising that this and other things happen in regard
to them, such as that all keep their faces turned toward him who
confesses. If his Paternity would then preach them a sermon and
correct them, I assure him that they would correct themselves, and
these backward-looking dancers who are so immodest in the church, when
they ought to be modestly thinking of their sins and repenting of them,
would correct themselves, and would not cause wonder and laughter."
[190] M. omits the remainder of this sentence. For "Januses," D. reads
"worms."
[191] Because some of the Indians are given to blasphemy, says Delgado
(p. 313), it does not follow that all of them are blasphemous.
[192] "I shall here attempt a delicate and interesting investigation,
namely, the religiousness of the Filipinos. There are opposite
opinions on this matter, and serious errors are liable to arise....
"The women always wear scapulars about the neck, and usually some
sort of a small cross; and a reliquary, containing the bones of a
saint and a bit of the wood of the cross. But this has become a part
of the dress, like earrings or necklaces, and both the devout women
and those who are not devout wear them.
"The walls of the houses are often covered with the engravings of
saints, and on the tables are many glass globes and urns containing
saints, virgins, and little figures of the Divine Child, which
generally have the face as well as the hands of ivory, and silver
clothes richly embroidered. In well-to-do houses there are so many
that they resemble a storehouse of saints rather than a habitation. In
many houses this is a matter of vanity and ostentation; and they
regard valuable saints as they do bureaus and mirrors elsewhere.
"In the church great sedateness and devotion or silence reigns. In
the villages the church is divided into three parts. In one end the
women are seated, in the other the men, while the gobernadorcillos
and principales occupy the center. However, this is not observed very
strictly in some villages. In some churches there are men in the front
half and women in the back half. When a small village is founded,
in order to get the concession for a settlement and for a cura they
offer to give the latter, in addition to paying the sanctórum tribute
[a tribute paid to the Church by all Philippine natives of sixteen
years and over], a monthly quantity of rice, eggs, fowls, etc.,
but they are afterward very remiss in living up to their offer. Many
friars have had to have recourse to the alcaldes and to the officials
of the district; and I have even heard of one of them who had to take a
musket and kill the fowls in the yards, and carry them to the convent.
"They are very fond of singing the passion or history of the death of
Jesus Christ, which is written in Tagálog verse. During the evenings
of Lent, the young men and women assemble in the houses for this
purpose. But although this was a religious gathering at the time when
it was originated, at the present time it has been converted into a
carnival amusement, or to speak more plainly, into a pretext for the
most scandalous vices; and the result of these canticles is that many
of the girls of the village become enceinte. So true is what I have
just said that the curas have prohibited everywhere the singing of the
passion at night; and some of the curas go out with a whip in order to
disperse them--or rather, send the fiscal of the church to ascertain
who is singing, and send for such person immediately to beat him.
"They say that all the saints are Spanish, since the patrons of their
churches are always of this class. They would have no veneration for
a saint with a flat nose and the physiognomy of a Filipino.
"When any sick person refuses to confess, his relatives request
him to do so. In this case they do not tell him that he will be
condemned, etc., but, 'Consider what a shame it will be; just think
what people will say; consider that you will be buried outside of
holy ground.' The idea of being buried on the beach is what gives
them most fear. This can only be explained by saying that they have
seen the cemetery and the beach and not hell, nor the other world,
which, as one would believe, costs them much to conceive--although
in reality they do believe in it, in the same way as many Europeans
believe in it, but without understanding it, and only because the
sages give assurance of it....
"In spite of this indifference regarding the future life, they
generally order masses said for the souls of their ancestors, and
not because of compromise or vanity, but true faith and devotion,
although this does not argue much in favor of their religiousness. For
the Igorots, who are the type of the Filipinos, although they do not
believe in the immortality of the soul, have many superstitions in
regard to the shades of the dead....
"In some places the curas have to lock the doors of the church after
mass, so that the people will not depart without hearing the sermon,
and this in places quite religious, as is Pangasinan. Many of those who
are carried to Mindanao or to Jolo as captives become renegades with
the greatest ease; and then they will not return, even though they may.
"Some make the sign of the cross as they go down the stairways. All
stop on the street at the sound of the prayer-bell; and the same
thing happens in the houses, where they often pray on their knees
with true devotion. They all remove their hats when passing in front
of the church, and many stop to pray. Nevertheless, all the curas
assert that they make a false confession, for they only confess the
three following sins: absence from mass, eating of meat during Lent,
and vain blaspheming; although it is apparent to the curas that they
have committed other greater sins. It is a great trouble to get them
to take part in the procession, and those who can do so escape through
the cross streets. In Manila it is necessary for the regimental heads
to appoint soldiers to go to take part in this act, and to pay them
one-half real; and, were it not for this expedient, it would sometimes
be impossible to do it. The curas have considerable trouble in the
villages in getting them to confess. They are given forty days of
grace, and many come after being threatened with twenty-five lashes;
while many of the degree of captain, and many who are not, get
along in spite of all without confession. In the village of Lilio,
on the brow of Mount Banahao, where there are 1,300 tributes, there
were more than 600 persons who did not confess in the year 1840; and
this has not been one of the most remiss villages in the fulfilment
of its religious duties."
[Father Juan Ferrando, who examined Mas's MS., says that 'the Filipinos
confess according to the instruction that is given them. In Manila,
as I know by experience, they confess as well as the most fervent
Spaniard, and I have heard many fathers say the same of many Indians
of the provinces.']
"Very many of them also never go to mass in any village where the
cura is not especially zealous. In the city of Vigan, where there are
about 30,000 persons, not more than 500 or 800 went to church during
my stay there on any feast-day, except one of especial devotion to
celebrate a virgin patroness of the city. There has been and is much
talk of the influence of the curas in the villages. No doubt there is
something in it, but their respect and deference toward the parish
priest is influenced not a little, in my opinion by their idea (and
one not ill founded) of the power of the priest, of the employment
that he can give; and of their hope that he will protect them in any
oppression that they receive from the civil government or from the
soldiers. In reality, the friar usually addresses his parishioners
in the language of peace, which is the method which fits well into
the phlegmatic Filipino. He constitutes himself their defender, even
without their having any regard for him--now from the injuries that
the avarice of their governors causes them, now from the tendency
of these to acquire preponderance and to command, which is the
first instinct of man. Consequently, the friars, by resisting and
restraining in all parts, and at so great a distance from Madrid,
the tyranny or greed of the Spaniards, have been very useful to the
villages, and have been acquiring their love. And since the islands
are not kept subject by force, but by the will of the mass of the
inhabitants, and the means of persuasion are principally in the
hands of the religious, the government is necessarily obliged to
show the latter considerable deference. From this fact originates
their influence in temporal affairs, and the fear mixed with the
respect with which they inspire the people. Three facts naturally
result from all this. The cura, speaking in general, is the one who
governs the village. Consequently, when a new village is formed its
inhabitants do not care to be annexed or dependent on another village
in regard to spiritual things; but desire and petition for a parish
priest of their own, in order that they might have in him a powerful
defender in their differences and suits with other settlements, or
with the alcalde of the province. Lastly, the ascendency that the
minister is seen to enjoy is perhaps as much civil as religious,
if it is not more so. And in fact ... although they have often
succeeded in pacifying seditions by their mere presence alone,
and the insurgents, for instance, in Ilocos in the year 1807,
surrendered to the friar the cannon that they had captured from a
band of 36 soldiers and two patrols of the guard, who were routed,
yet at other times not only have individuals but whole masses refused
to listen to the admonitions of the religious, have completely lost
respect for them, have insulted them, threatened them, wounded them,
and even assassinated them, and have not lacked the complement of all
this, profaning the churches. I shall not mention the thefts in the
churches, such as one which happened in the capital of Pangasinan when
I was there in that province; for these might be considered as single
individual deeds, isolated and insignificant. I deduce then, as the
resultant conclusion of all these observations, that there are many
Filipinos, especially among the feminine sex, who have the true fear
of God, but many others who feel a great natural indifference in this
matter. They exhibit scarce a disposition toward religion, a fact that
I believe must proceed from their little consideration of the wonders
of religion ... which is a mark of their small amount of intelligence,
for they show great indifference for the punishments of the other
world, and even the ecclesiastical punishments of this. Nothing
shows this so clearly as the insincere confessions which they make
in order to finish with it. It is to be noted that almost the same
thing happens at the hour of death, and that this is seen in the small
and remote villages where Spaniards have never been. Neither can it
be the result of errors of faith or philosophic reading, since the
people know no other books than those of the doctrine or the passion.
"Combining the above data and observations with what I have heard
recounted, and what we see in manuscripts and printed books about
the method by which the old-time religious have maintained devotion
in these islands--which has been by calling the list in order to
ascertain those who did not observe their obligation to attend mass
and confession, and by punishing in the church courtyard those who
are remiss--I am inclined to believe that the law of Jesus Christ is
learned here superficially; and that if the system adopted some years
ago be continued, of obliging the curas to reduce themselves only to
the means of preaching, prohibiting them rigorously from compulsive
and positive means, before a century passes there will be but few
pure-blooded natives in this archipelago who are true and devout
Christians...." (Mas, pp. 100-106.)
[193] M. and D. omit all of this last sentence and quotation.
[194] A vice common to all the world, says Delgado (p. 313).
[195] "Although they have but little honor, they have in effect only
too much vanity. When one goes to their houses, they make a great
effort to show off their wealth, even if they have to beg a loan in
order to meet the expense. They do not care to bury their relatives
for the love of God, although they try if possible to avoid the payment
of the funeral expenses. A cura told me that after a man had paid him
the burial expenses a baguio or hurricane began; whereupon the man
came to get his money, saying that he wished the burial of a pauper,
because in the end, no one would have to see it." (Mas, p. 107.)
[196] Delgado (p. 313) utters a warning against judging on this
particular, and says "that virtues are not so distant from them,
as his Paternity writes."
[197] M. omits this sentence to this point.
[198] What fault do the Indians have in trying to get and defend
their own? There may be excess in this matter, says Delgado (p. 313),
but the Indians do not go to law only to cause trouble.
[199] M. and D. omit this sentence.
[200] In regard to this Delgado says (pp. 313, 314) that "there is no
dish more relished in this land than defamation and complaint.... This
is a country where idleness sits enthroned; for when the ship is
despatched to Nueva España there is nothing to do for a whole year,
but to complain and discuss the lives of others." Delgado does not
believe that lust is the only feature in the intercourse between
men and women. Neither does he believe that women are treated,
as they deserve, with kicks and blows; nor that such treatment is
in accordance with conjugal love, or with the text of women being
subject to men. San Agustin's advice to Europeans is not good.
[201] The Ayer MS. and M. read "Machiabelo;" D. reads "Macabeo," i.e.,
"Maccabæan."
[202] From this point M. and D. read: "They call this mabibig, and
this is a thing that will rouse up the entire village against one,
the stones, and the land itself. Hence, the concubinages among them,
and other evils, have no human remedy, nor can have; for no one
wishes to be mabibig, for that is the most abominable fault and the
only sin among them."
[203] The Indians do not tell tales of one another for a more potent
reason than that of being declared mabibig, is Delgado's commentary
(pp. 314, 315)--namely, the fear, of private revenge. "But the prudent
Indians always advise the father minister, if there is any scandal in
the village; now in confession, so that it might be remedied without
anyone knowing the person who has told it; now by a fictitious and
anonymous letter, as has happened to me several times. One must
exercise prudence in this matter, for all that is written or spoken
is not generally true."
[204] M. and D. read with some slight verbal differences, which
translate the same: "For one might happen to have a servant or two who
waste and destroy the property of their master, and no other servant,
however kindly he has been treated by his master, will tell him what
is happening."
[205] "This league of the caste of color for mutual protection and
defense from the domineering caste is very natural. The Filipinos
are not so constant in maintaining it, however, that it is not broken
by two methods: by offering money to the accuser, or by bestowing so
many lashes on each one who is implicated in the crime." (Mas, p. 109.)
[206] Delgado (p. 315) finds this very natural, and dismisses it by
the reflection that liberty is dear.
[207] In M. and D. this reads: "Therefore when they say that there
is no more sugar or no more oil, it is when there is not [sugar]
enough to make a cup of chocolate, or oil enough to whet a knife."
[208] M. and D. read: "They will place the best cup and plate,
[D. mentions only the plate] which are much different than the others,
for the master, and will only look after him, and pay no attention
to the guests."
[209] M. and D. omit this sentence.
[210] Spanish, sacabuches consistol y deresistol, a transcriber's
error for con sistol y diastol (this phrase omitted in D.); a play
on words, as the sackbut forms the various tones by lengthening and
shortening the instrument. The phrase systole and diastole is now
applied to the alternate contraction and expansion of the heart;
San Agustin apparently uses it through fondness for a learned phrase.
[211] The citation from Quevedo is lacking in M. San Agustin has
slightly misquoted; though it translates the same as the correct
version. The lines are as follows:
Galalon, que en casa come poco,
y á costa agena el corpanchon ahita.
The citation is from Quevedo's Poema heroica de las necedades y
locuras de Orlando el enamorado.
[212] That is, "Much good may it do you," an expression used at
eating or drinking. San Agustin evidently refers in the following
clause to the scanty fare supplied to those who row in the boats as
compulsory service.
[213] This is not a general rule among the Tagálogs, and much less
among the Visayans. Neither are all the Indians forgers. (Delgado,
pp. 315, 316.)
[214] M. omits "alcalde" and reads "prudent and experienced
man." D. reads "a prudent and experienced alcalde."
[215] i.e., "I heard your evidence, and feared."
[216] M. reads "some Indians;" D., "some erudite Indians."
[217] Rabula, "an ignorant, vociferous lawyer;" cf. English
"pettifogger."
[218] This sentence is omitted by M. D. reads "all the alcaldes."
[219] The Italian phrase fabro de calumina is used.
[220] King Josiah or Josias was slain at Mageddo. See IV Kings (II
Kings of the King James version), xxiii, 29, 30; and II Paralipomenon
(II Chronicles of the King James version), xxxv, 22-25.
[221] M. reads: "the Indians making use of a whole year in order
to increase their calumny." D. reads: "Just see what subtlety and
moderate arithmetic they use in order to make their accusation;
the Indians lumping together a whole year in order to give pasture
to one single horse;" and then adds: "And there are so many cases of
this that if I mentioned them all I would never end."
[222] We have thus freely translated the original sin afianzar
calumnia, which is a regular law term.
[223] "But a short time ago, when Señor Seoane was regent of the
Audiencia, as the result of an urgent complaint against a Spanish
cura, a verbal process was ordered to be made, and from it not the
slightest charge resulted against the priest. Another judge was
entrusted with the forming of another verbal process, with the same
result. The supreme tribunal, being persuaded that the matter was
not all calumny, sent an expressly commissioned judge from Manila,
who found no more crime than did the others.
"I personally saw a representation signed by the gobernadorcillo and
all the principales of a village, in which they affirmed that their
cura had forced the wife of the first lieutenant; had punished the
lieutenant for opposing her being kept to sleep in the convent; went
out on the street drunk; went into the town hall to beat individuals
of the municipality; and had not celebrated mass on Sunday for the
same reason of being drunk. When a verbal process was made of it,
all retracted. I became acquainted personally with this friar, who
is a fine fellow...." (Mas, pp. 113, 114.)
[224] From this point, M. and D. read: "but it is to images of some
new miracle. They have the habit of devotion, but they seek the newest
and forget the old."
[225] As to the Indians being fond of making pilgrimages to new and
distant shrines where some notable miracle has occurred, Spaniards
often have the same love. See Delgado, p. 316.
[226] San Agustin is speaking of the Indians of Manila and its
environs, says Delgado (p. 316): "For this is rarely seen in the
other islands. Hence in the twenty-four years that I have lived in
the Visayas, only in the city of Cebu have I ever seen any other
than some religious drama [auto sacramental], or the pieces of the
school children."
[227] In M. escuitiles; and in D. miscuitiles.
[228] The verse number is given correctly in M. San Agustin quotes
incorrectly, the proper version being:
Segnius irritant animos demissa per aurem,
Quam quæ sunt oculis subiecta fidelibus....
The translation given by Wickham (ut supra, p. 349), is as follows:
"What finds entrance through the ear stirs the mind less actively
than what is submitted to the eyes, which we cannot doubt."
"They are very fond of seeing theatrical pieces. They make some
translations from our dramas, and they make a piece out of anything
although it is destitute of the rules of art. They are especially fond
of very long comedies, that last a month or more, with many hours of
representation daily. These are drawn from histories or from stories,
and they stage them. In Tondo there was played, for instance, Matilde,
ó las Cruzadas [i.e., "Matilda, or the Crusades"]. The Celestina
was probably the origin of this taste. Filipino poets have written
several dramas of this kind, as well as some epic, religious, and
love poems. But in the epoch previous to the arrival of the Spaniards,
it appears that there existed only a few love songs, of whose merits
I cannot judge, as I know the language so slightly.
"They have verses of as many as twelve syllables, which are the ones
generally used in their poems. They are divided into quatrains, whose
four verses rhyme among themselves. The Filipino rhyme, however,
consists in the last letter being a vowel or a consonant.... They
read all their verses in a singing tone, and the quatrains of the
twelve-syllable verse are read with the motif of the comintan,
which is their national song. The custom of singing when reading
poetry is a practice of China, and of all the Asiatic peoples whom I
have visited. The kind of versification which I have just cited is
evidently anterior to our conquest, as is also the above-mentioned
air, which is adjusted to it. This air is melancholy and does not
resemble at all any Chinese or Indian music that I have heard. There
are several comintans, just as there are different boleros, Polish
dances, or Tyrolian dances. Some of them have a great resemblance to
the music of Arabia. On the slopes of Camachin [which is a mountain
in southern Mindanao], I heard a song which is exactly and purely of
that sort...." (Mas, pp. 115, 116.)
The Celestina mentioned by Mas is a noted dramatic story--probably
written about 1480, and by Rodrigo Cota, of Toledo, and others--which
has exercised a very strong influence on the Spanish national drama. It
has great literary merit, admirable style, and well-drawn pictures of
human nature; and it attained so extensive and continual popularity
that even the Inquisition did not place Celestina in the Index until
1793, notwithstanding its grossness of thought and language. (Ticknor,
History of Spanish Literature, i, pp. 262-272.)
[229] M. and D. read "Christ our Lord."
[230] "In the Visayas," says Delgado (p. 317) "very rarely do the
Indians imitate the Spaniards in their dress; for almost all of them
go barefoot, according to their custom, and wear long black garments
that cover the entire body (which we call cassocks or lambong), very
wide breeches, and the shirt outside. For they can never accustom
themselves, as do the Spaniards, to gathering it inside, as is the
custom of the country. I have seen the same among the Tagálogs, with
the exception of some servants of the Spaniards, and some officials
and clerks, among them. But these men do not make the rule for the
other nations of this archipelago, who are numerous and different. I
can truly tell what I see among the Spaniards of Visayas, who dress in
the same manner as the Indians; and very rarely do they put on shoes
and stockings or slippers, except on an important feast-day when they
go to the church, for they cannot endure it any other way. It is a
fact that the Indians do preserve somewhat their ancient customs in
districts where there is less civilization and instruction; but where
they are well taught and directed, they have almost forgotten these."
"A cura told me that he had surprised a man and three old women
crouched down beside the corpse of the former's dead wife. The four
people were all covered over with sheets, and were in the attitude of
listening with the closest of attention to see whether the deceased
would say anything to them. They practice many simplicities like this
in all their solemn ceremonies, of which we have spoken. So general is
this that in the ordinances of good government in force, there is an
article that orders the persecution of idolatry and aniterias." (Mas,
pp. 116, 117.)
[231] "If father Fray Gaspar had been in Madrid, he would not have been
so greatly surprised that those soliciting anything should send their
wives to obtain favors. Moreover, the Filipinos, not only fearing,
but with full consciousness, generally send and even take their wives
to the Spaniards to obtain some employment, or merely for money. The
most direct means for a general to obtain the friendship of a married
woman is to win over the husband, just as in order to get a single
woman one must gain over the mother. I have known very intimately
a steward who was very much in love with his wife, and was jealous
even of her shadow. Nevertheless, at the least insinuation of his
master he took her to the latter's apartment, and it appears that he
desired her to go there very often. Upon thinking over this matter,
I am convinced that a partial cause of it is the little importance
that they attach to the act of love, and especially in the fact to
which they are persuaded that no one of their women will ever love
us; and they are only handed over for the profit, and are lent us
as a personal service, just like any other; and when the woman goes
away from us, she takes her heart with her, which is all for the
Filipinos." (Mas, p. 117.)
[232] M. and D. add "most."
[233] This phrase is omitted in D.
[234] It is not to be wondered at that they are literal and material
in their conversation, for they know only their villages. See Delgado,
p. 317.
"I have observed none of this, especially in the women to whom I
have talked. Almost all of them are always attentive, courteous,
and kind." (Mas, p. 118.)
[235] M. and D. omit this sentence.
[236] M. adds: "and run away, for he is the bugaboo, with which the
children are frightened."
[237] Dogs do not bark at the Spaniards only, in any country, but
at those who are strange to them. Neither do the Indians detest the
fathers from birth. The fact that the Indians yield to anyone who
assumes a boasting attitude, especially if he be drunk, and have a
knife, is not so much cowardice as prudence. "I believe that the
reverend father was very melancholy, and tired of the ministry,
when he began to write his letter." (Delgado, pp. 317, 318.)
"If our father had traveled, he would have known that dogs bark at
anyone whose clothes are unfamiliar to them. In regard to their horror
of white faces, he at least exaggerates. It is not at all strange
that a child should cry at an object being presented to him that he
has never had in his ken before. I have seen many children burst into
sobs at the sight of my eye-glasses. It is a fact that some of them
have just as little as possible to do with us, either for contempt,
embarrassment, or antipathy; but there are a very great number who
profess affection for us. When the government secretary, Cambronero,
died in the year 1840, all his servants shed tears abundantly. A
serving-maid of the Señora de Recaño was left desolate, when the latter
embarked for España a short time ago. An old woman on the occasion of
[the engagement of] Movales in the year 1823, gave Col. Santa Romana
proofs of great affection and fidelity. During the same engagement,
while Don Domingo Benito was haranguing his artillery sergeants
and telling them 'I shall die the first,' one of them answered,
'No, Sir, I shall die before you.' When the Jesuits were exiled,
the villages that they administered grieved exceedingly. In the
archives of St. Augustine, I have seen the relation of one of the
friars who went there for their relief, and he paints in lively colors
the memory preserved of the Jesuits: 'Here they cannot look upon a
white habit; notwithstanding the kind words that we speak to them,
and the presents that we make them, we cannot attract to ourselves
the good-will of these people; hence, when we call a child, he runs
away instead of coming to us.' I have seen some servants ready and
anxious to go with their master to any part of the world; and, if
the Spaniards would take than, many would go to España. When some
insurgents in the island of Leite put Alcalde Lara in the stocks,
his servant feigned to be in accord with them. He made them drunk,
and then took his master from the stocks. He fitted up a barangay
quickly, in which they attempted to escape, but the night was stormy,
and all were drowned. And finally, I myself have received several
disinterested proofs of their good-will." (Mas, pp. 118, 119.)
[238] "It is difficult to ascertain whether the Filipino is a brave
man or a coward. On one side, we see any braggart terrify a multitude;
and on the other, some face dangers and death with unmoved spirit. When
one of them decides to kill another, he does it without thinking at
all of the consequences. A man of Vigan killed a girl who did not love
him, six other persons, and a buffalo; and then stabbed at a tree,
and killed himself. Another servant of the tobacco superintendent
killed a girl for the same reason, before a crowd of people, and
then himself. A soldier killed a girl for the same reason while I
was passing in front of Santo Thomás. A coachman, in November, 1841,
tried to kill another man, because of a love affair; and, failing
in the attempt, killed himself. Filipino sailors have committed many
cruelties, and have a reputation throughout the entire Indian Sea as
turbulent fellows and assassins. The [insurance] companies of Bengal
do not insure at full risk a vessel in which one-half the crew is
composed of islanders. When I was in the island of Pinang, at the
strait of Malacca, I tried to get passage to Singapor, in order to
go to Filipinas, in the brigantine "Juana" and to take in my company
as a servant one of the seventeen sailors of Manila, who had been
discharged from a Portuguese vessel because of a row that they had had
with the captain. The commander of the "Juana" was a Chinese, and the
crew Malayan; counting sailors and Chinese passengers there were about
40 persons aboard. Under no consideration would the captain admit me
together with the servant, telling me: 'No, no, even if you give me a
hundred pesos, I will take no man from Manila.' In fact, after much
begging, I had to resign myself and leave him ashore, and take ship
without knowing who would guide and serve me; for I understood neither
Chinese nor Malayan. At the same time, I have heard that the Filipinos
are cowards in a storm. The infantry captain Molla told me that the
captain of a pontín which encountered a heavy tempest began to weep,
and the sailors hid in order not to work; and he had to drive them
out of the corners with a stick, for which they began to mutiny and
to try to pitch him overboard. Ashore they have given some proofs of
boldness by attacking Spaniards to their faces.... Sergeant Mateo was
boldly confronted in the insurrection of 1823. The soldiers have the
excellent quality of being obedient, and if they have Spanish officers
and sergeants, will not turn their backs on the fire; but alone they
have never given proof of gallantry. In the war with the English, they
always fled ... and the few Europeans whom Anda had were his hope, and
the soul of all his operations. I have asked many officers who have
fought with Filipinos, either against the savages in the mountains,
or against ladrones; and they all have told me that when it comes to
fighting, they preferred to have twenty-five Europeans to one hundred
Filipinos. Many allege, in proof of their bravery, the indifference
with which they die; but this is rather a sign of stupidity than of
good courage. From all of the above data, we might deduce that the
individual whom we are analyzing is more often found to be cowardly
than impassive and fearless; but that he is apt to become desperate,
as is very frequently observed. They express that by the idea that
he is hot-headed, and at such times they commit the most atrocious
crimes and suicide. He is cruel, and sheds blood with but little
symptoms of horror, and awaits death calmly. This is because he does
not feel so strongly as we do the instinct of life. He has no great
spirit for hazardous enterprises, as for instance that of boarding a
warship, breaking a square, gaining a bridge, or assaulting a breach,
unless he be inflamed by the most violent passions, that render him
frantic." (Mas, pp. 119-121.)
[239] In M., "to a great degree;" and in D., "in a certain manner."
[240] D. reads "on this occasion."
[241] Delgado says (p. 318) that the sin of intoxication is
overstated. Among the Visayans, intoxicating beverages are indulged
in in differing degrees, while many are abstemious. "I would like
to hear what the Tagálog Indians who live among Spaniards in Manila
would say to this stain, that is imputed to them alone."
"Perhaps this may have been so in the time of Father Gaspar, as the
Filipinos preserved more of their ancient customs than now, for we
see that intoxication is very common in the independent tribes living
in the mountains, but today it is not observed that the [civilized
Filipinos] drink more than the individuals of other nations who are
considered sober." (Mas, pp. 121, 122.)
[242] Delgado denies that the Indians are robbers (p. 318).
[243] Delgado says (p. 318): "This passage is absolutely malicious, so
far as the Visayans are concerned; for no Visayan woman of good blood
will marry with other than her equal, however poor she be. And although
all are of one color, they make great distinctions among themselves."
"The same thing is recounted by Father Mozo to be the case among the
mountain savages." (Mas, p. 122.)
[244] i.e., "At least as to manner."
[245] D. omits this last clause.
[246] An adaptation of an old proverb, probably meaning here, "Although
sins are committed here, they are not so frequent as in other places."
[247] San Agustin speaks without sufficient authority, says Delgado
(pp. 318, 319), for he only remained a short time in Panay, and
learned nothing of the other parts of the Visayans. "I know very well
that what he imputes to the Visayan women is not absolutely true. For
generally they detest not only Cafres and negroes, but also inequality
in birth. They are not so easy as his Paternity declares in admitting
any temptation, and there are many of them who are very modest and
reserved." Bad women exist everywhere, even among the whites.
"There is no doubt that modesty is a peculiar feature in these
women. From the prudent and even humble manner in which the single
youths approach their sweethearts, one can see that these young
ladies hold their lovers within strict bounds and cause themselves
to be treated by them with the greatest respect. I have not seen
looseness and impudence, even among prostitutes. Many of the girls
feign resistance, and desire to be conquered by a brave arm. This is
the way, they say, among the beautiful sex in Filipinas. In Manila no
woman makes the least sign or even calls out to a man on the street,
or from the windows, as happens in Europa; and this does not result
from fear of the police, for there is complete freedom in this point,
as in many others. But in the midst of this delicacy of intercourse
there are very few Filipino girls who do not relent to their gallants
and to their presents. It appears that there are very few young
women who marry as virgins and very many have had children before
marriage. No great importance is attached to these slips, however
much the curas endeavor to make them do so. Some curas have assured
me that not only do the girls not consider it dishonorable, but think,
on the contrary, that they can prove by this means that they have had
lovers. If this is so, then we shall have another proof that these
Filipinos preserve not a little of their character and primitive
customs; since, according to the account of Father Juan Francisco de
San Antonio, it was a shame for any woman, whether married or single,
before the arrival of the Spaniards, not to have a lover, although
it was at the same time a settled thing that no one would give her
affection freely.
"That they are more affectionate than men is also a fact, but this
is common to the sex in all countries....
"That they rarely love any Spaniards is also true. The beard, and
especially the mustache, causes them a disagreeable impression,
and he who believes the contrary is much mistaken. Besides, our
education, our tastes, and our rank place a very high wall between
the two persons. The basis of love is confidence; and a rude Filipino
girl acquires with great difficulty confidence toward an European
who is accustomed to operas and society. They may place themselves
in the arms of Europeans through interest or persuasion; but after
the moment of illusion is over, they do not know what to say and one
gets tired of the other. The Filipino girl does not grow weary of
her Filipino, for the attainments, inclinations, and acquaintances of
both are the same. Notwithstanding the Filipinos live, as I am told,
convinced that not one of their beauties has the slightest affection
for us, and that they bestow their smiles upon us only for reasons
of convenience, yet I imagine that sometimes the joke is turned upon
themselves--especially if the Spaniard is very young, has but little
beard, and is of a low class, or can lower himself to the level of
the poor Filipino girl." (Mas, pp. 123-125.)
[248] M. reads "fishing."
[249] D. reads "gloomily."
[250] M. reads "For to define them categorically, with an essential
and real definition." D. reads "For to define them categorically,
with an essential and real substantial definition, awaits another."
[251] M. omits the remainder of this paragraph; and the last sentence
in D. reads: "But it they had undertaken the task of defining the
Indians, they would not have been so successful."
[252] This was the French poet and theologian John Barclay, who
was born at Pont-à-Mousson, in 1582, and died at Rome, August 12,
1621. He refused to enter the Society of Jesus, and followed his
father to England where he published a poem at the coronation of
James I, which found considerable favor. While in London he was
accused of heresy, and was summoned to Rome by Paul V. In London
he published a continuation of his Euphormion, the first part of
which had appeared in 1610. This consists of a Latin satire in two
books. His Argenis was published in Paris in 1621, and there was a
Leyden edition in 1630. It is a story, written in prose and poetry,
of the vices of the court. It was very popular and was translated
into many languages. See Hoefer's Nouvelle biographie générale.
[253] Probably Joannes Rodenborgh, who wrote the fifth part of Logicæ
compendiosæ (Utrecht, 1676).
[254] See ante, p. 192, note 109.
[255] See ante, p. 191, note 105.
[256] i.e., "Passion does not come from custom." This is lacking in M.
[257] i.e., "And infamous need." This is from the Aeneid, book, vi,
line 276.
[258] St. Antony of Thebes was the founder of monachism. He is said
to have been born at Koma, Egypt, near Heraklea, A. D. 251, and to
have died A. D. 356. In early life he retired to the wilderness, and
lived in seclusion until 305, when he founded the monastery of Fayum,
near Memphis and Arsinoë. He is the patron of hospitallers, and his day
is celebrated on January 17. His life was written by St. Athanasius,
a condensed translation of which is given by S. Baring-Gould in his
Lives of the Saints (London, 1897, 1898), i, pp. 249-272. See also
Addis and Arnold's Catholic Dictionary, p. 596; and New International
Encyclopædia.
[259] Formerly called Thebaica regio, one of the three great divisions
of ancient Egypt, and equivalent to Upper Egypt. This district was
famous for its deserts, which became the habitation of many of the
early Christians, among them both Sts. Antony and Arsenius. See
Larousse's Grand Dictionnaire.
[260] St. Arsenius was a Roman of a noble and wealthy family, who
became the tutor of the two sons of Theodosius at Constantinople. He
fled to Egypt after the death of Theodosius, in shame at the poor
results of his teaching. There he lived in the desert, where he was
called "the father of the emperors." He died about 440, after a long
life of seclusion. He figures in Kingsley's story of Hypatia. His day
is celebrated on July 19, and he is especially revered in France and
Belgium. See Baring-Gould (ut supra), viii, pp. 446-448.
[261] D. reads wrongly "Theodorico."
[262] D. reads "gético."
[263] In the first line of the above citation, which is from the
Epistolarum ex Ponto, book i, epistle 3 (to Rufinus) read "littore"
in place of "frigore." The translation of the two lines is as follows:
"What is better than Rome? What is worse than the Scythian shore? Yet
the barbarian flees thither from that city."
[264] i.e., "Though composed of many, it draws to itself the nature
of the more worthy simple form."
[265] "Among the Filipino Indians there are many who are very good,
and are very capable of being directed and taught in good and holy
customs; and because there are many bad ones, who govern themselves
not by reason, but by the pressure of public opinion, it cannot be
said rightly and conscientiously that all are bad." (Delgado, p. 320.)
"This paragraph appears admirable to me, and a more exact idea of the
Filipino cannot be given in so few words--at least such as he is at
present, either because of circumstances, or because of his physical
constitution, or of the two things together." (Mas, p. 127.)
[266] M. and D. add "it is in favor of their comfort, and they commit
other greater acts of insolence, for."
[267] i.e., "They enter into the joy of their lord;" a reference to
Matthew XXV, 21, 23.
[268] i.e., "Not as to the cause, but as the effect." D. reverses
the position of the negative.
[269] Heliogabalus the Roman emperor, who ascended the throne in
218 A. D., at the age of fourteen, and was assassinated after three
years. He is known chiefly for his acts of madness and bestiality,
and his cruelty.
[270] San Agustin has quoted these lines incorrectly. They are found in
ll. 527-531 of Marcus Annæus Lucanus's Pharsalia, and are as follows:
... O vitæ tuta facultas Pauperis angustique lares!
O munera nondum Intellecta deum! Quibus hoc
Contingere templis Aut potuit muris nullo
Trepidare tumultu Cæsarea pulsante manu?...
The translation of this passage is as follows: "O secure opportunity
of life, and lares of the needy poor man! O gifts not yet recognized
as a god! What temples could enjoy this blessing, or what walls be
in confusion in any tumult, if the hand of Cæsar move?"
[271] "All religious agree that they die with the utmost indifference,
and that when they come to the bedside of the dying one, in order to
comfort him, they remain cold upon seeing how little those people
are changed by the words that their approaching peril inspires in
them. Confessions at such a time are generally somewhat more sincere,
but always very short and stupid. The relatives are not at all careful
about talking of his death in the presence of the sick person--as,
for example, one of them remarking to the cura in a very natural
and quiet voice in his uncle's presence (who still fully retained
his feeling and hearing): 'See, Father, it would be wise for you
to consecrate the winding-sheet, for I think that he is about to
die soon.' The same indifference is to be observed in a criminal
condemned to any punishment. He is seated on his heels on a bamboo
bench, smoking. Every few moments the religious enters to give him a
Christian word, to which the criminal generally answers: 'Yes, Father,
I know quite well that I have to die; what am I to do about it? I am an
evil man; God so decrees; such was my fate;' and other things of this
sort. He eats regularly, and sleeps as on any other day.... [This]
is only one additional proof, and in my opinion, a not slight one,
that the Filipino race is inferior, at least in spiritual matters,
to our race." (Mas, pp. 128, 129.)
[272] The location of the above quotation is not given in the Ayer MS.,
but is given in both M. and D.
[273] D. reads "chatcere."
[274] Possibly a reference to Proverbs ii instead of xx (where there
is nothing that corresponds to this passage). The translation of the
above is: "I walk in the ways of justice, in the midst of the paths
of judgment, so that I may call myself diligent."
[275] This is not quoted correctly, but should be: Venite ad me omnes,
qui laboratis et onerati estis, et ego reficiam vos. The editor of
D. has emended this passage.
[276] This is the wrong reference. In the King James version, it is
lxxii, 13, and in the Douay version, lxxi, 13.
[277] i.e., "For to him that is little, mercy is granted." This is
not in M.
[278] The remainder of this paragraph, and all the next, are lacking
in M.
[279] i.e., "No sacrifice is more acceptable to God than the zeal
for souls."
[280] i.e., "Ye therefore, my friends who are in the world, proceed
with security, and cry out and announce my will. I will dwell in your
heart and in your mouth: I will be your leader on the way, and you
consolation at death. I will not leave you. Proceed with eagerness,
for glory increases from the labor." D. reads "audacter," "boldly,"
instead of "alacriter." M. gives but a portion of the citation.
[281] This quotation is not exact, the correct version being as
follows: Patientia enim vobis necessaria est: ut voluntatem Dei
facientis, reportetis promissionem. It is not in M.
[282] In D. "placing."
[283] M. is the only one of the three versions of this letter that
locates this citation correctly. We adopt the reading of the Latin
Vulgate, as San Agustin has not quoted exactly.
[284] M. and D. omit these last four words.
[285] M. and D. read "variety of combinations of."
[286] Of the remainder of the letter, Delgado says (p. 323): "In
regard to all the rest that the reverend writer adds, concerning
the manner in which those who live with the Indians ought to comport
themselves, I have nothing more to say or to add. For it is all well
written and noted, and those who come new to these islands will do
very well to read it and to do as the reverend father prescribes,
teaching the Indians to read and write and other knowledge, for they
have great capacity for all and at the same time, civilization, which
is very necessary to them; and where they fail and sin, punish them
as children, and not as slaves. By so doing they will obtain from
them whatever they wish."
Mas says (pp. 130, 131) of the advice given by San Agustin "I would
be very glad, and it would be very advantageous for them, if all the
Spaniards would adopt this system which is both wise and unique. But
quite to the contrary, many persons think that the Filipinos ought to
understand them at the slightest insinuation and very readily. For
any fault they become impatient and call the Filipinos brutes, and
carabaos, and express themselves in the presence of the Filipinos
in the most violent manner, and in the most insulting terms about
the race in general, even to the point of wishing to destroy them
and other barbarous and sanguinary ideas of which their heart is not
capable. And they do not take note that such outbreaks of wrath only
serve the purpose of confusing the Filipinos, rendering them more
stupid, and rousing up hatred against them and all the Spaniards."
[287] In M. "mildly."
[288] M. gives the reference wrongly as the nineteenth verse.
[289] i.e., "Care must, in fact, be taken that the teacher and the
father and the mother give discipline to their subjects."
[290] Not in M.
[291] In D. "and the merit lies in the patience."
[292] i.e., "Help the poor because of the commandment; and send him
not away empty-handed because of his poverty, etc." M. and D. add
the thirteenth verse, as follows: Perde pecuniam propter fratrem et
amicum tuum, et non abscondas illam sub lapide in perditionem. The
English of this is: "Lose thy money for thy brother and thy friend:
and hide it not under a stone to be lost." To the above paragraph
M. and D. add the following: "For the merit becomes greater in
proportion to their ingratitude if we fulfil our obligation and
if they act according to their disposition. For, as says the royal
prophet David (Psalm xxxvi, 21), Mutuabitur peccator, et non solvet:
justus autem miseretur et tribuet."
[293] This paragraph is divided into two paragraphs in M. and D. and
is very much abridged. It is as follows: "It is necessary that those
Indians who are taken as servants, be shown no love if they are
children, but always uprightness, for one must consider it as most
certain that in proportion as they are better clothed and caressed,
the worse they will become when they grow up. This is the teaching of
the Holy Spirit: [the verse from Proverbs as above follows]. They must
be treated with great uprightness and prudence, for otherwise they
will gradually lose their respect to the character that God presents
to them in the Spaniard. [The fable of King Log follows as above.]"
[294] i.e., "He who blows his nose too violently generally draws
forth blood."
[295] M. and D. make two paragraphs of the above, and read as follows:
"One must not press them to give more of themselves than they can, as
we do with the lemon, for that which will be expressed will be bitter,
and, as says the proverb [in D.--"and as says a law commentary"]
Qui nimis emungit solet extorquere cruorem. We must remember in
all this the teaching of the holy Council of Trent, session 13
[in D.--"3"] de reformat, chapter I, whose words, although they are
very well worth reading, I omit on account of their length. It is not
proper to go up into their houses, except when necessity requires it,
keeping therein the evangelical precept (Luke x, 7 [wrongly cited as
xx]): Nolite transire de domo in domum. For one will lose much in
estimation, while their vices [in D.--"coldness"] do not make this
a desirable diversion."
[296] M. and D. add: "anything is entrusted to them." The remainder
of San Agustin's letter is omitted in D.
[297] M. and D. add here: "for thus does the Holy Spirit advise us."
"One day a friend of mine ordered a servant in my presence to go to a
certain house to ask in his name for the last gazettes from Europa. I
advised my friend to give the servant a note, since the latter would
doubtless give expression to some bit of nonsense. He took no notice
of me, and sent the servant. In fact, the man understood "aceite"
[i.e., "olive oil"], for "gaceta" [i.e., "gazette"], and returned
with a bottle of olive oil. His master was very much put out, while
I burst into a roar of laughter. A peculiar thing is often observed
in servants, namely, when one of them is ordered, 'Go to the house
of Don Antonio,' before the message is finished the servant begins
to go; and one has to call him back and say to him, 'But, man alive,
where are you going?' and, if he is allowed to go, he reaches his
destination and says that he has been sent there, and then returns
whence he came, or utters some foolish remark." (Mas, p. 133.)
[298] In the Vulgate, the last word of the Latin in this citation
is eum.
[299] i.e., "at least in passing." This is not in M.
[300] M. reads "denude themselves of their customs."
[301] M. reads: "For the Indian who is ordained does not give himself
a trade because of the more perfect estate."
[302] M. has instead of "from the oar," "from handling a bolo."
[303] Spanish, la cuña del mismo palo; another application of an old
Spanish proverb.
[304] M. adds "and those farthest from Manila, where also the remedy
is very far away."
[305] Spanish, sobre quítame allá esas pajas--literally, "regarding
'carry away these straws from me,'" defined by the Academy's dictionary
as, "about a thing of little importance or value."
[306] Picota: "a column [the insignia of jurisdiction] or gibbet of
stone, which is usually placed at the entrances of towns or villages;
on which are ignominiously exposed the heads of persons executed or
of criminals" (Bárcia, Dicc. etimológico).
[307] M. adds "to the father cura." The reason for this letter may be
found possibly in this paragraph, in the hostility of the religious
orders to admitting the Filipinos to the priesthood.
[308] M. reads "How well it could be subdued and composed."
[309] M. adds "in his happiness."
[310] M. reads: "And while they were all gallantly seated in the hall,
and she was, very finely adorned with jewels, in the room, surrounded
by many ladies."
[311] M. reads: "The bride spied the mouse from a long distance, and,
not being able to restrain herself out of respect for that function,
she arose and began to run the length of the hall. She overthrew the
people, and they were unable to restrain the fair bride, and cause
her to desist from her undertaking. The angry groom said to them."
[312] The rest of this sentence reads in M., "even though they should
become bishops."
[313] Matthew xxv, 21.
[314] i.e., "The priesthood is the apex of all good things which
exist among men."
St. Ignatius the Martyr was born about the middle of the first century
of the Christian era, and is said to have been baptized by the apostle
John. He was bishop of Antioch for forty years. Arrested by the Roman
authorities because of his preaching, he was sent to Rome, where he was
killed by wild beasts in the arena, probably about 107 A. D. He met the
famous Polycarp while on his way to Rome. Many epistles exist which are
said to have been written by him, although some of them are probably
spurious. His day is celebrated on February 1. See S. Baring-Gould
(ut supra), ii, pp. 1-5, and New International Encyclopædia.
[315] i.e., "Concerning the dignity of the priesthood." M. adds:
"Nihil est in hoc secula excelentius sacerdotibus [i.e., 'There is
nothing more excellent in this world than the priesthood']; and above,
horur igitur, et sublimitas sacerdotalis nullis poterit compurationibus
adequari si regum fulgori compares, et principum Diademati longe erit
inferius, quam si plumbi metallum aduri fugorem compares. [i.e.,
"Therefore the priestly reverence and height can be equaled by no
comparisons. If it be compared to the splendor of kings and the
diadem of princes, the comparison is far more inferior than if the
metal lead were compared to gleaming gold."] And of this Father Don
Antonio Molina speaks at length in his admirable book."
[316] St. Ambrose was one of the four doctors of the western church. He
was born at Trèves about 340 A. D., and received a good education in
Rome, and entered into the Roman civil service. Elected to the office
of bishop of Milan, in what was regarded as a miraculous manner,
he soon became one of the great strongholds of the young religion of
Christianity. To him was due the honor of receiving the great Augustine
into the Church. His death occurred in 397 A. D. His day is celebrated
on December 7; and in Milan he is regarded as a patron saint. The
Ambrosian Library of that city is named for him. See S. Baring-Gould
(ut supra), xv, pp. 74-104; and New International Encyclopædia.
[317] Antonio de Molina was a Spanish theologian, who was born at
Villa-Nueva-de-los-Infantes (Castilla). Entering the Augustinian order,
he taught theology, until he later retired to the house at Miradores,
where he died September 12, 1612. He wrote a book called Instruccion
de Sacerdotes, which was published in various places in Spain, and
later translated into various languages, among them the Latin. See
Hoefer's Nouvelle biographie générale, xxxv, col. 892.
[318] Paulo Segneri, S.J. was one of the most illustrious men that
the Jesuit order has produced. He was a native of Nettuno, Italy,
being born March 22, 1624, and entered the Society December 2,
1637. He early became deaf through his excessive study. After
teaching the humanities and rhetoric, he became a preacher and
missionary, traversing Italy on his missionary journeys during the
years 1665-1692. In 1692 he was called to Rome by Innocent XII, to
take the place of his preacher-in-ordinary. His death occurred at
Rome, December 9, 1694. His influence on Italy is ranked by some only
second to that of Savonarola. His style in writing is regarded as of
chief rank in purity and accuracy for his century. His writings were
numerous, and have been translated into many languages, some of them
into Greek and Arabian. The book mentioned in the text is Il parroco
instruito: opera in cui si dimostra a qualsisia curato novello il
debito che lo strigne, e la via da tenerse nell' adempirlo (Firenze,
1692). See Sommervogel's Bibliothèque; and Hoefer (ut supra), xliii,
cols. 685, 686.
[319] The dignity of patriarch in the Catholic church (leaving
aside the papal rank) is the highest grade in the hierarchy
of jurisdiction. Antioch early occupied a high place among the
patriarchates, although with the lapse of time it lost its high
position; and finally, after the schism between the eastern and
western churches, the appointee to that dignity did not actually assume
the office. See Addis and Arnold's Catholic Dictionary, pp. 35, 36,
and 640. The patriarch mentioned in the text was the famous Cardinal
Charles Thomas Millard de Tournon. See Vol. XXVIII, p. 118, and note
56; Concepción, ix, pp. 1-123; and Crétineau-Joly, v, pp. 38-54.
[320] These last two sentences are missing in M.
[321] At this point the letter proper in M. ends with the words:
"May God preserve you for many years," and no signature follows. This
is followed by the questions for men and women of Murillo Velarde.
[322] In the text, legitimos; probably a transcriber's error for
ilegitimos ("of illegitimate birth").
Other papal letters give leave to dispense with the above classes, who
could not, otherwise, be promoted to holy orders. Both classes could,
also, be raised to church dignities, but only to minor dignities,
and not to high ones as bishoprics, etc. The distinction between
espurios and [i]legitimos seems merely to have been a legal one,
as both terms mean the same in effect.--Rev. T. C. Middleton, O.S.A.
[323] i.e., "It was lately related to us."
[324] In the copy of this letter conserved in the collection of
Fray Eduardo Navarro of the Colegio de Filipinas, Valladolid, Spain
(of which we have the transcription of a few pages at the end),
this word reads divina.
[325] Antonio (not Pedro) Urceo, who was also called Codrus, was an
erudite Italian, who was born August 14, 1446 at Rubiera, and died
at Bologna in 1500. He was a good educator of youth, but of choleric
temper. While acting as tutor in one of the noble Italian families,
a fire destroyed most of his papers, which so worked upon him that he
retired into almost complete seclusion for six months. In 1482 he went
to Bologna, where he taught grammar and eloquence. Although during
his life he gave doubts of his orthodoxy, his death was all that
could have been wished. His works were published in four editions,
the first being at Bologna in 1502, under the title In hoc Codri
Volumine hæc continentur Orationes, seu sermones ut ipse appelabat
Epistolae. Silvae. Satyrae. Eglogae. Epigrammata. The translation of
the above citation is as follows:
"Although thou be freeborn and sprung from noble parents;
Still even yet thou mayst be a base beast.
Add that thou art an honor to thy country, and claim the
noblest kin;
Still even yet thou mayst be a base beast.
Thou mayst have wealth, thou mayst have abundance of
elegant furniture;
Still even yet thou mayst be a base beast.
In short, whatever thou shalt be, unless thou have prudence,
I declare that thou wilt ever be a base beast."
Of the native priests of the Philippines, Delgado says (pp. 293-296):
"I know some seculars in the islands, who although Indians, can
serve as an example and confusion to the European priests. I shall
only bring forward two examples: one, the bachelor Don Eugenio de
Santa Cruz, judge-provisor of this bishopric of Santísimo Nombre
de Jesús, and calificador of the Holy Office, a full blooded Indian
and a native of Pampanga. And inasmuch as the author of this letter
confesses that the Pampangos are a different people, I shall name
another, namely, the bachelor Don Bartolomé Saguinsin, a Tagálog,
a cura of the district of Quiape (outside the walls of Manila), an
Indian, and a native of the village of Antipolo. I knew his parents,
and had friendly relations with them while I was minister in that
village. Both men were esteemed for their abilities and venerated for
their virtues, in Tagalos and Visayas." In addition, "those reared
in any of the four colleges in Manila, for the clerical estate are
all the sons of chiefs, people of distinction among the Indians
themselves, and not of the timaua, or of the class of olipon, as the
Visayan says, or maharlica or alipin, as the Tagálog calls the slaves
and freedmen. The reverend fathers of St. Dominic or of the Society
rear these boys and instruct them in virtue and learning; and if they
have any of the vices of Indians, these are corrected and suppressed
by the teaching and conversation of the fathers. Furthermore,
when the most illustrious bishops promote any of these men to holy
orders, they do not proceed blindly, ordering any one whomever to be
advanced--but only with great consideration and prudence, and after
informing themselves of his birth and his morals, and examining and
testing him first before the ministry of souls is entrusted to him;
and to say the contrary is to censure the most illustrious prelates,
to whom we owe so much veneration and reverence. Furthermore, there
are among these Indians, many (and perhaps most of them) who are
as noble, in their line of descent as Indians, as is any Spaniard;
and some of them much more than many Spaniards who esteem themselves
as nobles in this land. For, although their fate keeps them, in the
present order of things, in an almost abject condition, many of them
are seigniors of vassals. Their seigniory has not been suppressed by
the king, nor can it be suppressed. Such we call cabezas de barangay
in Tagálog, and Ginhaopan in Visayan. They and their children and
relatives lose nothing of their nobility because they serve the king
in cutting timber, in the fleets, or in other personal services which
are necessary in this land. As they lose nothing, it is also much
honor for them that the king be served by them. Accordingly, there are
sargentos-mayor, masters-of-camp, captains, governors of the villages,
and lieutenants, and all are Indians of distinction. These would not
go to row in a banca, and their hands would certainly be freed from
handling a bolo or an ax in the cutting of timber, and their mothers,
wives, and daughters would not have become spinners, if it were not
for España. And although all the Indians seem of one color to the
father, this color is well distinguished among them; and they are
very respectful to their chiefs and much more so to their priests,
even though these be Indians like themselves." Delgado continues
by saying that, although some of the native priests have turned out
badly, that is not sufficient to condemn them all. It is arbitrary
to declare that the Indian enters the priesthood solely for his own
comfort, and because of the respect shown him, and not because of the
spiritual blessings. Many Spaniards also enter the ecclesiastical
estate merely for a living. There are examples of Negro, Japanese,
and Chinese priests. "Consequently, it is not to be wondered at that
the most illustrious prelates and bishops should ordain Indians here
and in Nueva España, and in other parts of the Indias."
[326] The date of the Navarro copy is wrongly given as 1725.
[327] Pedro Murillo Velarde was born August 6, 1696, at Villa Laujar,
Granada, and entered the Jesuit novitiate at the age of 22. Having
entered the Philippine missions, he was long a professor in the
university of Manila; and later was rector at Antipolo, visitor to
the Mindanao missions, and procurator at Rome and Madrid. He died
at the hospital of Puerto Santa Maria, November 30, 1753. Murillo
Velarde is one of the more noted among Jesuit writers. His principal
works are the following: Cursus juris canonici, hispani et indici
(Madrid, 1743); Historia de la provincia de Philipinas de la Compañia
de Jesus (Manila, 1749); and Geographica historica (Madrid, 1752),
in ten volumes. In the Historia (which work we have used freely in
the present series, as material for annotation) was published his
noted map of the Philippine Islands, the first detailed map of the
archipelago; it was made by order of the governor of the island,
Valdes Tamón, in 1734.
[328] A kind of sausage composed of lean pork, almonds, pineapple
kernels, and honey.
[329] This sentence is missing in Father Navarro's copy.
[330] Literally "lose a foothold."
[331] Delgado here refers to the "Opinion" by Murillo Velarde which
is prefixed to vol. i of San Antonio's Chronicas; this is dated at
San Miguel, May 19, 1738, and contains a detailed description of the
products of the islands--vegetable, animal, and mineral--from which
we extract his description of the peoples therein, as follows:
"The natives of these islands are generally called Indians,
because these islands are included in the demarcation of the Western
Indias--although properly they are in the Eastern hemisphere, because,
as they are distant from España more than a hundred and eighty
degrees of longitude, which makes the half-circuit [of the globe],
it necessarily follows that they must be on the side of the East. All
the Indians resemble one another, especially in the yellowish-brown
color and the flattened nose; and there is little difference between
the individuals. In the island of Negros, between Cavitan and Sipalay,
I encountered heathen blacks with crinkled hair, as if they were from
Guinea. The people who are here called creoles are of a swarthy brown
color, with withered skin, and are quite civilized and capable. As for
the origin of the Indians, I am inclined to think that they originate
from Malayos, on account of the similarity of their language; for
by examining on various occasions a Malay (a native of Maláca) who
could speak several languages fluently, and a Ternatan, and Lutaos
and Subanos, I have ascertained the following: In the Malay, "sky"
is called languit, and the same in Tagálog, in Lutáo, and Subáno;
"man" [varon] is lalaqui in Malay, as in the Tagálog and Bisayan;
"tongue" is dila in Malay, as in Tagálog; "white" is puti in Malay,
as in Tagálog, Subáno, and Lutáo. In other words the difference is but
slight; thus, in Malay "land" is nigri, in Tagálog lupa, in Lutáo tana,
in Boholan yuta; and "man" [hombre] is in Malay oran, in Tagálog tavo,
in Lutáo aa, in Subáno gatao. The Indians are exceedingly clever in
every kind of handiwork, not for inventing, but for imitating what they
see. They write beautifully; many of them are tailors and barbers, for
they learn both these trades with little effort; and there are among
them excellent embroiderers, painters, and silversmiths; and engravers
whose work has no equal in all the Indias--and I was even going
to place it far ahead of all the rest, if shame had not restrained
me--as is very obvious in the many and excellent engravings which
they are all the time producing. They are good carvers, gilders, and
carpenters. They build vessels for these islands--galleys, galliots,
pataches, and ships for the Acapulco trade-route. They are good seamen,
artillerists, and divers--for there is hardly an Indian who does not
know how to swim very well. They are the pilots of these seas. They
excel in making bejuquillos, which are golden chains of delicate
and exquisite workmanship. From palm-leaves, rattan, and nito they
make hats, and petates or rugs, and mats, that are very handsome,
and wrought with various kinds of flowers and other figures. They
are noted as mechanics and puppet-players, and make complicated
mechanisms which, by means of figures, go through various motions with
propriety and accuracy. Some are watchmakers. They make gunpowder,
and cast mortars, cannon, and bells. I have seen them make guns,
as handsomely constructed as those made in Europe, although I do not
think that they would be as substantial and reliable as those. There
are in Manila three printing-houses, and all keep Indian workmen;
and the errors that they make are not numerous. They have remarkable
skill in music; and there is no village, however small, that has
not a very respectable musician to officiate in the church. Among
them are excellent voices--trebles, contraltos, tenors, and basses;
almost all can play on the harp, and there are many violinists, and
players on the oboe and flute. It is especially noticeable that not
only those whose trade it is to make these instruments do so, but
various Indians, through love [for such work], make guitars, harps,
flutes, and violins, with their bolos or machetes; and they learn to
play these instruments by only seeing them played, and without any
special instruction. Almost the same thing occurs in other matters; and
on this account it is said that the Indians have their understanding in
their eyes, since they so closely imitate what they see. Such are the
Indians, when observed on the outside surface of their aspect; but when
one penetrates into the interior of their dispositions, peculiarities,
and customs, they are a labyrinth, in which the most sagacious man
loses his way. They appear ingenious and simple in countenance and
words, but they are masters eminent in deceit and feigning; under an
apparent simplicity they conceal an artful and crafty dissimulation. I
believe that the Indian never fails to deceive, unless when his own
interests are hindered. In their lawsuits and business dealings they
are like flies, which never quit what they are seeking, no matter how
much they are brushed away; and thus they surpass and conquer us. The
Chinese say that the Spaniard is fire, and the Indian is water, and
that water quenches fire. They neither resent an injury nor thank one
for a kindness. If you give them anything, they immediately ask for
another. There is no fixed rule for construing them; for each one is
needed a new syntax, because they are anomalous. With them the argument
is not concluded by induction, since no Indian resembles another,
nor even is one like himself; for in the short round of one day he
changes his colors oftener than a chameleon, takes more shapes than a
Proteus, and has more movements than a Euripus. He who deals with them
most knows them least. They are, in fine, a union of contrarieties,
which the greatest logician could not reconcile; they are an obscure
and confused Chaos, in which species cannot be perceived or formal
qualities distinguished; and if I had to define them I would say:
"Obstabatque alijs aliud, quia corpore in vno
Frigida pugnabant calidis, humentia siccis,
Mollia cum duris, sine pondere habentia pondus."
[332] Alluding to the irregular tides in the straits of Euripus,
between Euboea and Greece; during a large part of the month these tides
occur as often as eleven to fourteen times during the twenty-four
hours. Their irregularity occasioned among the Greeks a proverb,
which Delgado here uses.
[333] A name given by the inhabitants of Cuba to the natives of Mexico,
and in Vera Cruz to those of the interior. The name is also applied
to shrewd and brusque persons. (New Velázquez Dictionary.)
[334] These two rules are respectively: "Evil once, evil is always
presupposed;" and "Evil [may spring] from any failing."
[335] These chains were also of Chinese manufacture; apparently the
Filipinos took up this industry through their tendency to imitate.
[336] The Lygodium scandens, also called Gnito and nitongputi,
a climbing fern found throughout the Philippines. Blanco gives the
name of the genus as Ugena. The glossy, wiry stems are used in the
making of fine hats, mats, cigarette and cigar cases, etc. See Census
of Philippines, iv, p. 166.
[337] The balate is an echinoderm found abundantly in the Visayas, of
which Delgado describes three varieties (p. 935): namely the Holothuria
scabra (Jager), which is white; the Holothuria atra (Jager), which
is black; and the bacongan or Synapta similis (Semper), which is of
larger size. The second variety is most esteemed. It was sold dry
in the Visayas or taken to Manila and sold, where they were worth
thirty-five or forty or even more silver pesos per pico. The Chinese
especially esteemed them (and do so yet) and large sums were paid
for them in that country. The Filipinos occasionally ate them fresh,
but only in the absence of fish.
[338] Juan Francisco de San Antonio was born in Madrid in 1682, and
made his profession in the Franciscan order at the age of twenty. In
1724 he brought a mission band to the islands, and spent there the rest
of his life. His lifelong employ was in preaching, and as instructor in
theology--save fifteen years spent in Indian villages near Manila. He
died in that city May 29, 1744, the same year in which the last volume
of his Cronicas was published. See Huerta's Estado, p. 537.
[339] These are the Tagablis or Tagabili, also called Tagabelíes,
Tagabaloy, Taga-bulú, Tagbalooys, etc. Murillo Velarde, in his map,
places them west of Caraga and Bislig in Mindanao, but this district
has been found to contain only Manobos and Mandayas. They are probably
the heathen Malay people living between the bay of Sarangani and Lake
Buluan, whence their name, meaning perhaps "people of Buluan." See
Blumentritt's Native Tribes of Philippines (Mason's translation),
and Census of Philippines, i, p. 476.
[340] The cloth made from abacá alone is called sinamay; that
made of abacá and pineapple fiber, jusi; and that from a specially
selected grade of abacá, much finer and more difficult to extract
than commercial hemp or that used in making other cloths, lupis. See
Census of Philippines, iv, p. 19.
[341] Zúñiga (Estadismo) mentions the Chinese mestizo population of
Tambóbong or Malabón (now in Rizal province) as about 7,500. Some of
them had acquired by trade property to the value of 40,000 pesos. The
tribute collected from all the Chinese mestizos of Luzon numbered
10,500, over 8,000 of which came from the provinces immediately north
of Manila--Tondó, Bulacán, and Pampanga. The Chinese mestizo element
is very evident today in the provinces of Bulacán and Pampanga,
and probably forms the principal element among the native owners of
haciendas. See Census of Philippines, i, pp. 435, 436, 438.
[342] Spanish, con que se da Borney la mano; literally "shakes hands."
[343] An evident lapsus calami for Legazpi, such as has occurred in
other writers.
[344] A Moorish garment resembling a herdsman's jacket, with which
the body is covered and girt. It is still used on some festive
occasions. (Dicc. Academia, 1726.)
[345] See ante, p. 123, note 48.
[346] Spanish, amusco, pero encendido; the last word, encendido, is
literally "kindled," or "glowing"--that is, as here used, evidently
referring to a reddish tint given by the blood showing through
the skin.
[347] The name of this book is probably the Origen de los Indios de
el nuevo mondo, e Indias occidentales (Valencia, 1607; 8vo). Garcia
was also the author of a book entitled Historia ecclesiastica y seglar
de la Yndia oriental y occidental, y predicacion del sancto evangelio
en ella por los apostolos (Baeça, 1626; 8vo).
[348] See this report in Vol. VII, pp. 173-196. See also Vol. XVI,
pp. 321-329. But San Antonio quite overlooks the earlier relation by
Miguel de Loarca (Vol. V, pp. 34-187).
[349] Antonio de Padua or de la Llave went to the Philippines
with Gomez Perez Dasmariñas in 1590. He took the habit March 17,
1591, and professed in the province of San Gregorio March 19, 1592,
changing his former name of Gonzalo to Antonio. After studying in
the Manila Franciscan convent, he became missionary in the village
of San Miguel de Guilinguiling, in 1602, and afterwards in the
villages of Paete, Santa Cruz, Siniloan, Lilio, and Pila. He acted as
definitor ad interim, from October 7, 1634 to January 13, 1635, and
after becoming missionary of Pila was appointed commissary-visitor,
holding that office from June 12 to December 16, 1637. He served as
definitor again in 1639, and finally died in the Franciscan convent
of Mahayhay in 1645. He was the first chronicler of the province of
San Gregorio, and wrote the annals of his order from its founding in
the Philippines in 1577 to the year 1644, in two volumes; and a life
of Gerónima de la Asuncion, foundress of the royal convent of Poor
Clares in Manila. See Huerta's Estado, pp. 452, 453.
[350] Possibly a misprint for magaanito, as it is called elsewhere.
[351] See ante, p. 191, note 101.
[352] Noceda and Sanlucar's Vocabulario de la lengua Tagala (Manila,
1860) defines tictic as the "song of a nocturnal bird called apira,
whence the name was transferred to the bird itself. It is also known
by the names of Lapira and Pirapira."
[353] That is, evidently without having enjoyed any of the fruits of
the theft.
[354] The Spanish edition of Juan de Solorzano Pereyra's Disputationem
de Indiarum jure (Matriti, 1629-39; 2 vols., fol.), and of which
later editions were published. The title of the first edition of the
Spanish work is Politica Indiana sacada en lengua castellana de los
dos tomos del derecho i govierno municipal de las Indias Occidentales
que mas copiosamente escribio en la Latina. ... Por el mesmo autor
... Anadidas muchas cosas que no estan en los tomos Latinos (Madrid,
1648, fol.).
[355] i.e., Sunday, Domingo being the Spanish word; evidence that
this method of styling the week was evolved after the conquest.
[356] See Vol. III, p. 161, note 42.
[357] The distance from the extremity of the thumb to the extremity
of the index finger, when outstretched; hence a span.
[358] For the above weights and measures, see Vols. III, p. 71, note
20; p. 184, note 50; p. 253, note 87; and XV, p. 179, note 116. See
also Census of Philippines, i, p. 327; and iv, pp. 447-457 (a long list
of weights and measures, with many tables, used in the Philippines).