_Which treats of marriage customs in these islands_
_Marriage of the chiefs._ Great mistakes have been made regarding
the marriages formed among the natives of this country since they
have become Christians, because the marriage customs once observed
among the natives have not been clearly understood. Therefore some
religious join them in marriage, while others release them, and
others reëstablish the marriage, thus creating great confusion. For
this reason, I have diligently endeavored to bring to light the way in
which they observed the marriage ceremonies, which are as follows. When
any man wishes to marry, he, since the man always asks the woman,
calls in certain timaguas who are respected in the village. (This
is what the chiefs do. For there appear to be three ranks of men
in these islands--namely, chiefs, timaguas, who are freemen, and
slaves--each class having different marriage customs.) The chiefs,
then, I say, send as go-betweens some of their timaguas, to negotiate
the marriage. One of these men takes the young man's lance from his
father, and when he reaches the house of the girl's father he thrusts
the spear into the staircase of the house; and while he holds the
lance thus, they invoke their gods and ancestors, requesting them
to be propitious to this marriage. If the marriage takes place,
the lance belongs to the go-between, or it is redeemed.
After the marriage is agreed upon--that is to say, after fixing the
amount of the dowry which the husband pays to the wife (which among
the chiefs of these islands is generally the sum of one hundred
taes, in gold, slaves, and jewels, and is equivalent to one hundred
pesos)--they go to bring the bride from the house of her parents. One
of the Indians takes her on his shoulders; and on arriving at the
foot of the stairway to the bridegroom's house, she affects coyness,
and says that she will not enter. When many entreaties have proved
useless, the father-in-law comes out and promises to give her a slave
if she will go up. She mounts the staircase, for the slave; but when
she reaches the top of the stairway and looks into her father-in-law's
house and sees the people assembled within, she again pretends to be
bashful, and the father-in-law must give her another slave. After
she has entered, the same thing takes place; and he must give her
a jewel to make her sit down, another to make her begin to eat, and
another before she will drink. While the betrothed pair are drinking
together an old man rises, and in a loud voice calls all to silence,
as he wishes to speak. He says: "So-and-so marries so-and-so, but on
the condition that if the man should through dissolute conduct fail
to support his wife, she will leave him, and shall not be obliged to
return anything of the dowry that he has given her; and she shall
have freedom and permission to marry another man. And therefore,
should the woman betray her husband, he can take away the dowry that he
gave her, leave her, and marry another woman. Be all of you witnesses
for me to this compact." When the old man has ended his speech, they
take a dish filled with clean, uncooked rice, and an old woman comes
and joins the hands of the pair, and lays them upon the rice. Then,
holding their hands thus joined, she throws the rice over all those
who are present at the banquet. Then the old woman gives a loud shout,
and all answer her with a similar shout; and the marriage contract or
ceremony is completed. Up to this time, her parents do not allow the
young couple to eat or sleep together; but by performing this ceremony
they deliver her up as his wife. But if, after the marriage contract
has been negotiated by a third party, the man who seeks marriage should
repent of the bargain and seek to marry another woman, he loses the
earnest-money that he has given, even if he has had no intercourse with
the former; because when they commence negotiations for the marriage
they begin to give the dowry. If a man say in conversation, or at a
drunken feast, "I wish to marry so-and-so, daughter of so-and-so,"
and afterward break his promise and refuse to marry her, he is fined
for it; and they take away a great part of his property.
In regard to the dowry, neither the husband nor the wife can
enjoy it until they have children; for until then it belongs to the
father-in-law. If the bridegroom is not of age to marry, or the bride
is too young, both still work in the house of the father-in-law until
they are of age to live together.
_Marriage among the timaguas_. The timaguas do not follow these usages,
because they have no property of their own. They do not observe the
ceremony of joining hands over the dish of rice, through respect for
the chiefs; for that ceremony is for chiefs only. Their marriage is
accomplished when the pair unite in drinking pitarrilla from the
same cup. Then they give a shout, and all the guests depart; and
they are considered as married, for they are not allowed to drink
together until late at night. The same ceremony is observed by rich
and respectable slaves.
_Marriage among the slaves_. But the poor slaves, who serve in
the houses, marry each other without drinking and without any
go-between. They observe no ceremony, but simply say to each other,
"Let us marry." If a chief have a slave, one of his ayoiys, who serves
in the house, and wishes to marry him to a female slave of the same
class belonging to another chief, he sends an Indian woman as agent
to the master of the female slave, saying that her master wishes to
marry one of his male slaves to the other's female slave. After the
marriage has been arranged, he gives his slave an earthen jar, or three
or four dishes, and there is no other ceremony. Half of the children
born to this couple will belong to the master of the female slave,
and the other half will belong to the master of the male slave. When
the time comes when their children are able to work for their masters,
the parents are made tumaranpoques, as we have said; because when a
male slave of one chief marries the female slave of another chief, they
immediately receive a house for their own use, and go out to work for
their masters. If a freeman marries a female slave, or _vice versa_,
half of the children are slaves. Thus, if there are two children,
one is free and the other a slave, as the parents may choose.
In one thing these natives seem to go beyond all reason and justice. It
is usage among them that, if an Indian of one village owes twenty pesos
(to suppose a case) to an Indian in another village, and when asked
for the money refuses to repay it, when any Indian of that village
where the said twenty pesos is due is caught, they seize him--even
if he is in no way related to or acquainted with the debtor--and
compel him to pay the twenty pesos. It is their custom that he who
first owed the twenty pesos must return to him who paid that sum forty
pesos instead, on account of the violence used against him. They say
that they act thus in order not to use the mailed hand for collecting
from the other in that village, since that would result in war.
_Friendship_. Reconciliation between those who have quarreled,
whether these are individuals or the people of different villages,
is brought about by drawing blood from the arms of both parties,
and each tasting the blood of the other, placed in a shell, sometimes
mixed with a little wine; and such friendship is not to be broken.
_Witches and sorcerers; physicians_. In this land are sorcerers and
witches--although there are also good physicians, who cure diseases
with medicinal herbs; especially they have a remedy for every kind
of poison, for there are most wonderful antidotal herbs. The natives
of this island are very superstitious; consequently, no native will
embark for any voyage in a vessel on which there may be a goat or a
monkey, for they say that they will surely be wrecked. They have a
thousand other omens of this sort. For a few years past they have
had among them one form of witchcraft which was invented by the
natives of Ybalon after the Spaniards had come here. This is the
invocation of certain demons, whom they call Naguined, Arapayan, and
Macbarubac. To these they offer sacrifices, consisting of cocoanut-oil
and a crocodile's tooth; and while they make these offerings, they
invoke the demons. This oil they sell to one another; and even when
they sell it they offer sacrifices and invoke the demon, beseeching
him that the power which he possesses may be transferred to the buyer
of the oil. They claim that the simple declaration that one will die
within a certain time is sufficient to make him die immediately at
that time, unless they save him with another oil, which counteracts the
former. This witchery has done a great deal of harm among the Pintados,
because the demon plays tricks on them. The religious have tried to
remedy this evil, by taking away from them the oil and chastising them.
_Sneezing_. If any one who is going to war or is about to begin any
important undertaking, sneeze on leaving the house, he considers it
a bad omen, and turns back.
_Feasts_. These natives have no feasts that they observe, throughout
the year-save that when the married men go to war, during their
absence the women do not work.
_At the rice-harvest._ Besides these times they set apart seven days
when they begin to till their fields, in which time they neither grind
any rice for their food, nor do they allow any stranger, during all
that time, to enter their villages; for they say that that is the
time when they pray to their gods to grant them an abundant harvest.
_Years and months_. They divide the year into twelve months, although
only seven [_sc_. eight] of these have names; they are lunar months,
because they are reckoned by moons. The first month is that in which
the Pleiades appear, which they call Ulalen. The second is called
Dagancahuy, the time when the trees are felled in order to sow the
land. Another month they call Daganenan bulan; it comes when the
wood of those trees is collected from the fields. Another is called
Elquilin, and is the time when they burn over the fields. Another
month they call Ynabuyan, which comes when the bonanças blow. Another
they call Cavay; it is when they weed their fields. Another they call
[Cabuy: _crossed out in MS._] Yrarapun; it is the time when they
begin to harvest the rice. Another they call Manalulsul, in which
the harvesting is completed. As for the remaining months, they pay
little attention to them, because in those months there is no work
in the fields.
_Winds_. It is their opinion that the winds come from the sea, which
they base on the fact that the sea swells before the winds begin
to blow.
_Turtles_. In this land are very many turtles, of great size; they
are larger than a shield. Here is a marvellous thing when the male
and the female have intercourse, they remain thus joined together for
twenty or twenty-five days. They become so stupefied during this act
that the Indians dive into the sea, and tie the feet of the turtles
without their perceiving it, and draw these creatures ashore. I have
even done this myself.
_Serpents_. There are in this land enormous serpents, as large as
palm-trees; they are, however, sluggish.
_Crocodiles_. There are enormous numbers of crocodiles, which are
water-lizards. They live in all the rivers and in the sea, and do
much harm.
_Civet-cats._ In many of these islands are civet-cats.
_Tabon birds_. In this land there is a kind of bird, smaller than
a Castilian fowl; its eggs is larger than that of a goose, and is
almost all yolk. This bird lays its eggs in the sand, a braza deep,
at the edge of the water. There the young ones are hatched, and come
up through the sand, opening a way through it with their little feet;
and as soon as they gain the surface they fly away. [16]
_Palms_. In all these islands are great numbers of cocoa-palms. In
some of the nuts are found stones as large as filberts, which the
natives prize, although thus far it is not known what efficacy
they have. They draw a great quantity of wine from the palm-trees;
one Indian can in one forenoon obtain two arrobas of sap from
the palm trees that he cultivates. It is sweet and good, and is
used in making great quantities of brandy, excellent vinegar, and
delicious honey. The cocoanuts furnish a nutritious food when rice is
scarce. From the nut-shells they make dishes, and [from the fibrous
husk?] match-cords for their arquebuses; and with the leaves they
make baskets. Consequently this tree is very useful.
In these islands are very many swine, and goats of excellent
quality. There are also a great many wild buffaloes, which, if caught
when young, can be easily tamed. There are ducks, and some geese which
have been brought from China. There are also a great many fowls of
excellent quality, which are similar to those of Castilla. There
are some fowls which have no tails, for which reason the natives
superstitiously refuse to eat them; but these are better than the
other sorts.
As for fruits like those in Castilla, they were formerly not to
be found in this land, because of its proximity to China, where
there are so many fruits peculiar to that country. There are here
some tolerably good fruits, such as excellent bananas [17]; nancas,
a very fragrant fruit, and larger than the largest Spanish melon;
macupas, which resemble apples; and santors, which taste like the
quince. There are also many good oranges and lemons.
In the province of Ylocos is found a large tree whose blossoms resemble
the white lily, and taste like fish. The Indians gather the blossoms in
the morning, cook them, and eat them in place of fish. And, wonderful
to relate, on the next morning the tree is again full of blossoms;
and this occurs day after day.
In the mountain region, where there is scarcity of water, are found
certain bejucos, six or eight brazas high, and larger around than the
thumb. When this stem is cut, there gushes forth a great quantity
of water, of excellent taste; and this liquid supplies the lack of
water. Each bejuco will yield two or three cuartillos of water. [18]