POPULATION.
In the last generation a wonderful sensation was produced by the
propagation of the great Malthusian discovery--the irresistible,
indisputable, inexorable truth--that the productive powers of the soil
were less and less able to compete with the consuming demands of the
human race; that while population was increasing with the rapidity of
a swift geometrical progression, the means of providing food lagged
with the feebleness of a slow arithmetical advance more and more
behind; that the seats at nature's table--rich and abundant though
it was--were being abundantly filled, and that there was no room
for superfluous and uninvited guests; in a word, to use the adopted
formula, that population was pressing more and more upon subsistence,
and that the results must be increasing want, augmenting misery,
and a train of calamities boundless as the catalogue of the infinite
forms of mortal wretchedness.
How often, when threading through the thousand islands of the
Philippine Archipelago, did the shadow of Malthus and the visions of
his philosophy present themselves to my thoughts. Of those unnumbered,
sea-surrounded regions, how many there are that have never been trodden
by European foot, how few that have been thoroughly explored, and fewer
still that are now inhabited by any civilized or foreign race! And
yet they are covered with beautiful and spontaneous vegetable riches
above, and bear countless treasures of mineral wealth below; their
powers of production are boundless; they have the varieties of climate
which mountains, valleys and plains afford--rains to water--suns to
ripen--rivers to conduct--harbours for shipment--every recommendation
to attract adventure and to reward industry; a population of only
five or six millions, when ten times that number might be supplied
to satiety, and enabled to provide for millions upon millions more
out of the superfluities of their means.
To what a narrow field of observation must the mind have been confined
that felt alarm at a discovery, in itself of so little importance,
when brought into the vast sphere of the world's geography! Though
the human race has been increasing at a rapid and almost immeasurable
rate, it will be probably found that famines, and plagues, and wars,
and those calamitous visitations which were deemed the redressers
of the balance--the restorers of the due proportions between man's
wants and man's supplies--were far more disastrous in ancient than
in modern times, if the smaller number of then existing human beings
be taken into consideration.
The nobler and higher axiom is that "progress" is the law of
Providence, which never fails, while the race of man proceeds in
ever-augmenting numbers, to provide ample means for their maintenance
and happiness. Neither land nor sea is exhausted nor in process
of exhaustion. What myriads of acres, whether in cold, temperate,
or tropical climes, remain to be appropriated! what still greater
amount to be improved by cultivation! And while in the more densely
peopled parts of the world outlets may be required for those who are
ill at ease and born to no inheritance but labour, how wonderfully
are locomotive facilities increased, so that the embarrassment to
ambulatory man is less to discover a fit place for his domicile, than
to select one amid the many which offer themselves to his choice! If
the poverty-struck Irish could emigrate in such multitudes to American
or Australian regions, far greater are the facilities possessed by
those better conditioned labouring masses of Europe who are still
heavily pressed by the competition of neighbours more fortunate
than themselves.
It is a matter of surprise that the Spanish colonies should not have
attracted a greater number of Spaniards to settle in them; but the
national spirit of the Iberian peninsula has ceased to be ambulatory
or adventurous. Spain itself is thinly peopled, and offers great
resources to its satisfied peasantry. "God," they say, "has given
everything to Spain which He had to give. Our land is an Eden--why
should we desert it?" Yet Spain, backward, inert and unenergetic,
as she has proved herself to be in the rivalry of active nations,
has taken her part in the proud history of human advancement. The more
enterprising invaders of Gothic or Anglo-Saxon blood have frequently
extirpated the indigenous races of the remote countries in which they
have settled. One wave of emigration has followed another; commerce
and cultivation have created a demand for, and provided a supply of,
the intrusive visitors. But Spain has never furnished such numbers
as to dislodge the aboriginal tribes. Her colonists have been always
accompanied by large bodies of ecclesiastics, bent upon bringing "the
heathen" into the Christian fold. These missionaries have no doubt
often stood between the cupidity of the conqueror and the weakness of
the conquered. They have preserved, by protecting the Indian clans,
and it may be doubted whether ultimately the permanent interests
of man will not have been served by influences, whose beneficial
consequences may remain when the most prominent evils connected with
those influences may be greatly modified or wholly pass away.
My observations and my reflections, then, lead to this
conclusion--that, whatever exceptional cases there may be, the great
tide of advancement rolls forward in ever-growing strength;--that
the course of the Divine government is
From seeming evil still educing good,
And BETTER thence again, and BETTER still,
In infinite progression;--
that the human family, taken as a whole, is constantly improving;--that
every generation is wiser and better than that which preceded it;--that
the savage and least improvable races will continue to be supplanted or
absorbed by those of a higher intelligence;--that the semi-civilized
will only be perpetuated by contact with a greater civilization,
which will raise them in the scale of humanity. A middle race,
such as China contributes in the shape of emigrating millions,
is wonderfully advancing the work of civilization. The process
is everywhere visible in the remoter Eastern world. The mestizo
descendants of Chinese fathers and Indian mothers form incomparably
the most promising portion of the Philippine population. In Siam,
Burmah, Cochin China, profitable employments are mainly absorbed by
Chinese settlers. In Netherlands India they are almost invariably
prosperous. To them Sumatra, Borneo, and the other islands, must look,
and not to the indigenous peoples, for any considerable development
of their resources. In our Straits Archipelago they have superseded
the Klings in all the most beneficial fields of labour, as the Klings
had previously superseded the less industrious Malays. The progress
of the higher capabilities, and the depression of the lower, may be
traced in the extinction of so many rude languages and the spread of
those which represent civilization in its most advanced stages. It may
be foretold, I think, without presumption, that in some future time
the number of tongues spoken on the face of the globe will be reduced
to a very small amount. In the course of a century many a local idiom
utterly perishes, and is invariably replaced by one of more extensive
range and greater utility. When it is remembered that the written
language of China is understood by one-third of the human race;
that probably more than one-tenth of mankind have an acquaintance
with spoken English--the language which has far more widely planted
roots, and more extensive ramifications, than any other; when the
daily decay of the provincial dialects of France, Germany, Spain, and
Italy is watched, good ground will be discovered for the anticipation
that many of the existing instruments for oral communication will be
extinguished, the number of dead languages will be much augmented,
and of living proportionally decreased.
I know not on what authority M. Mallat estimated, in 1846, the
population of the Philippines at 7,000,000,--an augmentation, he says,
of more than 50 per cent from 1816, when he states the population to
have been 4,600,000. He says that it quadrupled itself from 1774 to
1816. He attributes the enormous increase from the later period to
the introduction of vaccination and the general tranquillity of the
country; but the correctness of the data may well be doubted.
The Christian population of the Philippines is stated by Father Juan
Fernandez to be--
------------------------------------+---------+-----------
---- |Pueblos. | Souls.
------------------------------------+---------+-----------
Under the Archbishopric of Manila | 185 | 135,000
,, Bishopric of New Segovia | 132 | 745,000
,, Bishopric of New Caceres | 104 | 480,000
,, Bishopric of Zebu | 306 | 1,200,000
+---------+-----------
In all | 727 | 3,560,000
------------------------------------+---------+-----------
The population of the Philippines is generally supposed to be about
four millions; but, as the Indians who dwell in the interior of several
of the islands--those especially who occupy the unexplored forest and
mountainous districts--cannot be included in any official census, any
calculations can only be deemed approximative. The returns furnished
by the government to the Guia de Foresteros for the year 1858 give
the following results:--
Provinces. Natives Mestizos Total Births. Deaths. Marriages.
paying and Chinese Population.
tribute. Tributaries.
Manila 86,250 25,418 276,059 11,346 9,251 1,956
Bulacan 91,551 12,119 214,261 8,789 5,172 1,542
Pampanga 79,912 9,631 170,849 9,101 4,407 2,237
Nueva Ecija 40,949 ... 74,698 5,963 2,547 1,176
Bataan 17,473 3,176 42,332 1,941 1,171 347
Cavite 41,471 6,943 56,832 8,867 2,619 868
Batangas 115,359 3,063 247,676 11,133 6,270 1,956
Moron 20,288 1,964 43,010 1,900 1,508 553
La Laguna 65,177 1,866 132,264 5,935 4,295 1,553
Zambales 28,023 149 31,116 2,320 1,191 635
Mindoro 7,335 ... 15,135 734 645 191
Pangasinan 97,786 1,551 272,427 9,172 6,368 2,756
La Union 39,044 117 45,657 3,894 1,526 1,165
Ilocos Sur 77,974 2,293 179,407 7,305 3,647 1,801
Ilocos Norte 70,305 16 140,226 6,189 3,695 1,536
Cagayan 27,784 71 54,457 2,443 1,489 638
Abra 8,009 200 36,737 782 354 407
Nueva Biscaya 6,116 ... 19,754 452 387 131
La Isabela 14,112 ... 26,372 1,040 757 265
Camarines 78,012 125 209,696 6,273 3,456 1,770
Albay 103,928 990 204,840 7,458 6,722 1,099
Tayabas 44,940 154 102,210 3,049 2,124 949
Burias 470 ... 525 17 12 1
Masbate of Ticao 5,421 27 10,992 249 103 55
Zebu 81,457 4,267 267,540 12,653 3,740 2,374
Negros 24,522 394 113,379 4,499 2,688 804
Calamianes 4,003 ... 17,964 730 279 172
Bohol 64,760 692 175,686 5,924 2,476 1,452
Samar 61,586 437 117,866 6,161 3,437 1,863
Leite 66,371 790 134,493 5,582 2,168 1,387
Antique 25,567 42 77,639 4,810 1,708 664
Iloilo 174,884 1,442 527,970 17,675 9,231 3,697
Capiz 66,614 8 143,713 9,810 4,199 1,187
Surigao 13,801 148 18,848 944 525 181
Misamis 23,729 266 46,517 2,155 845 396
Zamboanga 3,871 16 10,191 429 956 55
Basilan 167 4 447 43 71
Bislig 4,686 21 12,718 394 143 112
Davao 304 ... 800 21 9 18
Romblon 3,517 ... 17,068 892 375 149
--------- ------ --------- ------- ------- ------
Totals 1,787,528 78,400 4,290,371 184,074 102,466 40,093
Proportion of natives to mixed races 96.00 per cent.
Proportion of natives (paying tribute) to
population 29.00 per cent.
Proportion of mixed races to population 1.75 per cent.
Proportion of births to population 4.00 per cent.
Proportion of deaths to population 2.33 per cent.
Proportion of marriages to population .90 per cent.
Proportion of births to deaths 64.00 to 36.00 per cent.
Proportion of births to marriages 2.70 per cent.
Imperfect returns are given from Corregidor and Pulo Caballo, 370
inhabitants in all: From Benguet, 6,803, of whom 4,639 are pagans,
and 15 Christian tributaries: From Cayan, 17,035, the whole population,
of which 10,861 tributaries.
The number of European Spaniards settled in the Philippines bears a
very small proportion to that of the mixed races. There are 670 males
and 119 females in the capital (Manila and Binondo). Of these there
are 114 friars, all living in Manila, eight ecclesiastics, forty-six
merchants, fourteen medical practitioners, and the majority of the
others military and civil functionaries. But in none of the islands
does the proportion of Spaniards approach that which is found in
the capital. Probably the whole number of European Spaniards in the
islands does not amount to two thousand.
There are ninety-six foreigners established in Binondo--eighty-five
males and eleven females (none in Manila proper). Of these fifty
are merchants or merchants' assistants. There are twenty-two British
subjects, fifteen French, fifteen South Americans, eleven citizens
of the United States, nine Germans, and nine Swiss.
Independently of European Spaniards, there are many families
which call themselves hijos del pays (children of the country),
descendants of Spanish settlers, who avoid mingling with native
Indian blood. They have the reputation of being more susceptible than
are even the old Castilians in matters of etiquette, and among them
are many who have received a European education. They are generally
candidates for public employment, but are said to be less steady,
and more addicted to play and to pleasure, than their progenitors;
but they are eminently hospitable. They dress in European style when
they appear in public, but at home both men and women use the loose
and more convenient Indian costume. They complain, on their part,
that barriers are raised between them and their countrymen from the
Peninsula; in a word, that the spirit of caste exercises its separating
and alienating influences in the Philippines, as elsewhere.
The mestizos, or mixed races, form a numerous and influential portion
of the Filipinos; the number settled in the islands of women of
European birth is small, and generally speaking they are the wives
of the higher Spanish functionaries and of superior officers in the
army and navy, whose term of service is generally limited. Though
the daughters of families of pure Spanish blood generally marry in
the colony and keep up a good deal of exclusiveness and caste, it
is seldom that the highest society is without a large proportion of
mestiza ladies, children of Spanish fathers and native mothers. The
great majority of the merchants and landed proprietors belong to this
class, and most of the subordinate offices of government are filled
by them. There are very many descendants of Chinese by native women;
but the paternal type seems so to absorb the maternal, that the
children for whole generations bear the strongly marked character
which distinguishes the genuine native of the flowery land, even
through a succession of Indian mothers. I shall have occasion to
speak of a visit I made to a district (Molo, near Iloilo), which
in former times had been the seat of a large Chinese colony, where
the Chinese race had disappeared centuries ago, but the Chinese
physiognomy, and the Chinese character, had left their unmistakable
traces in the whole population. I found nowhere among the natives a
people so industrious, so persevering, so economical, and, generally,
so prosperous. Almost every house had a loom, and it is the place
where the best of the piña fabrics are woven. We were invited to a
ball at which the principal native ladies were present, and I had to
answer a discurso delivered in excellent Castilian by the leading
personage. I was informed that the young women were remarkable for
their chastity, and that an erring sister obtained no forgiveness
among them. Their parents object to their learning Spanish lest it
should be an instrument of seduction. Of the mestizos of Chinese
or Mongolian descent, De Mas says:--"They are called Sangley, which
means Chinese merchant or traveller. They inherit the industrious and
speculative spirit of their forefathers. Most of them have acquired
riches and lands, and the largest part of the retail trade is in their
hands. They form the middle class of the Filipinos. Their prosperity
and better education produce the natural results, and their moral and
intellectual character is far superior to that of the Indians. They are
luxuriously dressed, are more elegant and handsome than the Indians;
some of their women are decidedly beautiful. But they preserve most of
the habits of the Indians, whom they exceed in attention to religious
duties because they are superior in intelligence. This race is likely
to increase in numbers and in influence, and, in consequence of the
large importation of Chinamen, to augment in the localities of their
settlements at a greater rate than the Indian population." [12]
There can be no doubt that the predominance of the characteristics of
the father over those of the mother has improved, through successive
generations, the general character of the race of mestizo Chinese. They
are more active and enterprising, more prudent and persevering, more
devoted to trade and commerce, than the Indios. They all preserve the
black hair, which is characteristic of China, "the black-haired" being
one of the national names by which the people of the "middle kingdom"
are fond of designating themselves. The slanting position of the eyes,
forming an angle over the nose, the beardless chin, the long and
delicate fingers (in conformity with Chinese usage they frequently
allow the middle nail of the left hand to grow to a great length),
their fondness for dress and ornament, distinguish them. They exercise
great influence over the Indians, who believe them to be masters
of the art of money-getting. The children of a Spanish mestizo by
a Chinese mestiza, are called Torna atras, "going back;" those of a
Chinese mestizo by an Indian woman are considered as Chinese and not
Indian half-castes. The mingling of Chinese blood is observable in
all the town populations. The number of mestizos of European descent
is trifling compared with those of Chinese origin. Their houses are
invariably better furnished than those of the natives. Many of them
adopt the European costume, but where they retain the native dress it
is finer in quality, gayer in colours, and richer in ornament. Like
the natives, they wear their shirts over the trousers, but the shirt
is of piña or sinamay fastened with buttons of valuable stones;
and a gold chain is seldom wanting, suspended round the neck. The
men commonly wear European hats, shoes and stockings, and the sexes
exhibit no small amount of dandyism and coquetry.
The great mass of the indigenous population of the Philippine Islands
may be divided into two principal races--the Tagálos occupying
the north, and the Bisáyos the south. Of these, all who inhabit
the towns and villages profess Christianity, and are much under
the influence of the regular clergy, who administer the religious
ordinances in the various provinces, which are, for the most part,
submitted to the ecclesiastical jurisdiction of different orders of
brotherhood. There are a few instances of the Indians being invested
with the full rights of priesthood, though they generally reach
no higher post than that of assistants to the friars. At the great
ceremony which I attended of the Purisima Conception at Manila, an
Indian was chosen to deliver the sermon of the day; it was, as usual,
redolent with laudations of the Virgin, and about equal to the average
style of flowery Spanish preaching. But as we recede from the towns,
religious ordinances are neglected, and in the centre and mountainous
parts of the islands Christianity ceases to be the profession of the
inhabitants; the friars deplore their ignorant and abandoned state,
and occupy themselves in the endeavour to bring them into their
fold, and to enforce the payment of that tributo from which they,
as well as the government, derive their revenues. If this be paid,
if the services of the Church be duly performed, confession made,
fit co-operation given to the religious processions and festivals
(which are the native holidays), matters go on well between the clergy
and the people. I found many of the friars objects of affection and
reverence, and deservedly so, as guardians and restorers of the family
peace, encouragers of the children in their studies, and otherwise
associating their efforts with the well-being of the community;
but removed, as the ecclesiastics frequently are, from the control
of public opinion, there is often scandal, and good ground for it.
Father Zuñiga opines that the Philippines were originally colonized by
the inhabitants of America; but he fails altogether in the proofs he
seeks in the analogy of languages. The number of Malayan words in Tagal
and Bisayan is greater than any to be traced to American dialects;
and here I may remark, by the way, that there is no topic on which so
much absurdity has been committed to the press as on the derivation
and affinity of languages--a subject in which Spanish authority is
seldom of much value. El Señor Erro, for example, in his book on the
antiquity of the Bascuence, gives a description and picture of a jar
found in a well in Guipuscoa, which had on it the words "Gott erbarme
dein armes Würmchen!" This he reports to be a Biscayan inscription
in honour of the priestesses of the sun anterior to the introduction
of Christianity, and he doubts not that the vase (a piece of coarse
modern German pottery) was used in the sacred services of the temple!
De Mas supposes that the Indians employed alphabetical writing anterior
to the arrival of the Spanish, and gives five alphabets as used in
different provinces, but having some resemblance to one another. I
doubt alike the antiquity and authenticity of the records; but give
a specimen which he says is a contract upon Chinese paper for a sale
of land in Bulacan, dated 1652.
My own inquiries led to no discoveries of old records, or written
traditions, or inscriptions of remote times, associated with Indian
history. There is sufficient evidence that some rude authority
existed--that there were masters and slaves--that the land was
partially cultivated and the sea explored by labourers and fishermen,
leading necessarily to a recognition of some rights of property--that
there were wars between hostile tribes, which had their leaders and
their laws. The early records of the missionaries give the names
of some of the chiefs, and detail the character of the authority
exercised by the ruling few over the subject many. They say that
gold would procure the emancipation of a slave and his reception
among the Mahaldicas, or privileged class. Prisoners of war, debtors,
and criminals, were held in bonds. The daughter of a Mahaldica could
be obtained in marriage, where the lover was unable to pay her money
value, by vassalage to her father for a certain number of years. If
a man of one tribe married the woman of another, the children were
equally, or as nearly as possible, divided among the two tribes to
which the parents belonged. Property was partitioned among the sons
at the father's death, the elder enjoying no rights over the younger.
Local superstitions prevailed as to rocks, trees, and rivers. They
worshipped the sun and moon; a blue bird called tigmamanoquin; a stag
named meylupa, "lord of the soil;" and the crocodile, to which they
gave the title of nono, or "grandfather." A demon named Osuang was
supposed to torment children, to cause pains in childbirth, to live
on human flesh, and to have his presence announced by the tictic,
a bird of evil augury. Naked men brandished swords from the roof and
other parts of the choza to frighten the fiend away, or the pregnant
woman was removed from the neighbourhood of the tictic. The Manacolam
was a monster enveloped in flames, which could only be extinguished by
the ordure of a human being, whose death would immediately follow. The
Silagan seized and tore out the liver of persons clad in white. The
Magtatangal deposited his head and entrails in the evening in some
secret place, wandered about doing mischief in the night, and resumed
his "deposit" at break of day. So strange and wild are the fancies of
credulity! Sacrifices were offered in deprecation of menaced evils,
or in compliment to visitors, by female priestesses called Catalona,
who distributed pieces of the sacrificed animal. There were many
witches and sorcerers, exercising various functions, one of whom,
the Manyisalat, was the love inspirer and the confidant of youths
and maidens.
On entering a forest the Indian supplicated the demons not to molest
him. The crackling of wood, the sight of a snake in a cottage newly
built, were deemed presages of evil. In the house of a fisherman it
was deemed improper to speak of a forest, in that of a huntsman of
the sea. A pregnant woman was not allowed to cut her hair, lest her
child should he horn hairless.
The price paid for a woman given in marriage was regulated by the
position of the parties. The mother had a claim, as well as the nurse
who had had charge of the childhood of the bride. Whatever expense
the daughter had caused to the father he was entitled to recover from
the bridegroom. Among opulent families there was a traditional price,
such as the father or grandfather had paid for their wives. If the
bride had no living parents, her price was paid to herself. Three days
before the marriage the roof of the parental dwelling was extended,
and an apartment, called a palapala, added for the wedding festival;
the guests brought their presents to the bride, and, whatever the
value, it was expected that when, on future occasions, the relations
of hosts and guests were changed, an offering of not less value should
be given. Among the ceremonies it was required that the lovers should
eat from the same plate and drink from the same cup. Mutual pledges
and promises of affection were given, and the catalona pronounced
a benediction. Sad scenes of drunkenness and scandal are said to
have followed the ceremony in the after festivities, which lasted
three days. In the northern islands only one wife was allowed, but
any number of handmaids and slaves; in the south, where, no doubt,
Islamism was not without its influence, any number of legitimate
wives was permitted: circumcision was also practised.
Hired mourners, as well as the members of the family, were
gathered round the corpse, and sang hymns proclaiming the virtues
of the dead. The body was washed, perfumed, dressed and sometimes
embalmed. The poor were speedily buried in the silong over which their
huts were constructed. The rich were kept for several days, laid out
in a coffin made of a solid trunk, the mouth covered with gold-leaf,
and the place of sepulture any favourite spot which the deceased
might have selected; if on the bank of a river, the passage of boats
was interdicted for some time, lest the dead should interfere with
the concerns of the living, and a guard had charge of the tomb, near
which the garments, usual food and arms of the departed were placed
in a separate box--in the case of a woman, her loom and instruments
of labour. Where a chief of distinction was interred, a building was
erected, in which two goats, two deer, and two pigs were imprisoned
and a fettered slave belonging to the deceased, who was ordered to
accompany his master to the other world, and died a miserable death
of starvation. It was supposed on the third day after the interment
that the dead man visited his family: a vase of water was placed
at the door, that he might wash and free himself from the dirt of
the grave; a wax light was left burning through the day; mats were
spread and covered with ashes, that the footmarks of the dead might
be traced; and the door was opened at the accustomed time of meals,
and a splendid repast laid out for the expected visitor. No doubt
it was disposed of by the attendants in the same way as other costly
sacrifices. The Indians of the north put on black, those of the south
white, mourning robes.
In the administration of justice the elders were consulted, but there
was no code of laws, and the missionaries affirm that the arbitrators
of quarrels were generally but too well paid for their awards. Murder
committed by a slave was punished with death--committed by a person
of rank, was indemnified by payments to the injured family. When a
robbery took place, all the suspected persons were ordered to bring
a load of grass; these loads were mixed in a heap, and if the stolen
article was found it was restored to the owner, and no inquiry made
as to the bringer of the bundle in which it was concealed. If this
method failed, they flung all the suspected into a river, and held
him to be guilty who came first to the surface, on the theory that
remorse would not allow him to keep his breath. Many are said to have
been drowned in order to escape the ignominy of rising out of the
water. They sometimes placed candles of equal length in the hands
of all the accused, and he was held to be guilty whose candle first
went out. Another mode was to gather the accused round a light, and he
towards whom the flames turned was condemned as the criminal. Adultery
was condoned for by fine to the wronged persons.
Gold was used by weight as the medium of exchange, but there was no
coined or stamped currency. The largest weight was called a gael, but
it represented a dollar and a quarter in silver, nearly corresponding
to the Chinese ounce or tael; a gael consisted of two tinga, a tinga
of two sapaha; [13] a sapaha was divided into sangraga, a very small
bean, which was the minimum weight. Accounts were kept by heaps of
stones of different sizes. Their measures were the dipa (brace = 6
feet), the dancal (palm), tumuro (span), sangdamac (breadth of the
hand), sangdati (breadth of the finger). Thus, as among many rude
nations (the vestiges are still to be traced in the phraseology of
civilization) every man carried with him his standard of mensuration.
Time was reckoned by suns and moons, in the Philippines as in
China. In Chinese the same words designate day and sun, moon and month,
harvest and year. The morning was called "cock-crowing," the evening
"sun-leaving."
No Indian passed another without a salutation and a bending of the
left knee. An inferior entering the house of a superior crouched
down until ordered to rise. Earrings were worn by women and sometimes
by men; the chiefs had coloured turbans, scarlet if they had killed
an enemy, striped if they had killed seven or more. Peace was made
by the mingling blood with wine, and each drank of the blood of the
other. This was the most solemn of their oaths.
Chastity seems to have been unknown, though a price was always exacted
for a woman's favours.
Many Mahomedan superstitions and usages had found their way to the
interior, and among them the rite of circumcision.
All the Indians are born with a circular dark spot on the buttock,
of the size of a shilling; as their skins darken the mark extends,
becomes lighter in colour, and in age is scarcely distinguishable.
There is a tradition that the Indians were formerly in the habit
of punishing an unpopular person by a penalty which they called
Cobacolo, and which was inflicted on any who had misled them by false
counsels. The whole population assembled, went to the house of the
offender, every one bearing a cudgel; some surrounded the house to
prevent escape, and others entered and, by blows, drove the victim to
the balcony, from whence he was compelled to leap, and he was then
chased out of the neighbourhood, after which the house was razed to
the ground, and all that it contained destroyed. The tradition is
preserved in many popular proverbs and phrases, in which the Cobacolo
is used as a menace to evil-doers.
Among the most celebrated books on the Philippines are the "Cronicas
Franciscanas," by Fr. Gaspar de S. Agustin, an Augustine monk of
Madrid, who lived forty years among the Indians, and from whose
descriptions I have made a few selections; but there are remarkable
contrarieties of opinion among different writers. Their fields
of observation are different, and natural temperament has much to
do with the judgment formed. Our friar does not give the natives a
favourable character. According to him they are generally "inconstant,
distrustful, malicious, sleepy, idle, timid, and fond of travelling
by rivers, lakes, and seas."
"They are great consumers of fish, which are found in immense
abundance. After rains the fields and marshes and ponds are filled
with them. Fish two palms long are often pulled up from among the
paddy. As the waters dry up, the fish retreat to any muddy recess, and
the Indians catch them with their hands, or kill them with sticks." I
have seen many Indians fishing in the paddy grounds, and what becomes
of the fish in the times of drought, when no "muddy recesses" are
to be found, it is hard to say, but where there is water fish may
invariably be sought for with success.
"They eat three meals a day, consisting principally of rice, the sweet
potato, and a small quantity of fish or meat; the daily cost of the
whole being half a rial" (= 3d. sterling). "As labourers they get
half a rial in addition to their food. They willingly borrow money,
which they do not repay, and he who will not encourage ingratitude must
show them no favour; to exact a promise is to ensure a falsehood. They
are the ingrates described in the 36th Psalm. They never shut the
door they have opened; they return nothing to its place; they never
do the work they have been paid for beforehand, yet they do not fail
to ask for an advance: the carpenter must have money to buy wood;
the washerman to get soap; and they even practise their devices upon
the parish priest! They have the art of blundering about everything;
they fold all garments the wrong way; turn a shirt inside out, always
present the back where the front should be." The father is somewhat
severe, and of my own experience I can say there was at least about as
much chance in such matters of the Indians doing right as wrong. Alava
said of the Indians that their brains were in their hands.
The padre continues:--"They are envious, ill-bred, and
impertinent. They will even ask a padre, 'Whence do you come? where
are you going?' If you are reading a letter, they will look over your
shoulders, though not able to read themselves; and if two people are
talking in secret, the Indians will come near, though not understanding
a word." Grave charges these. "They enter houses, and even convents,
without leave, and seem to make themselves at home in a manner to
excite wonderment and anger; even when the padre is asleep, they make
a great noise in trampling the floor, though in their own houses they
walk with as much care as if treading among eggs. They use no chairs
at home, but absolutely wear out those of the convents by sitting
and lounging on them, particularly in the balconies, where they can
get a look at the women."
These extracts are as characteristic of the monk as of the
Indian. "They care nothing for dog, cat, horse nor cow; the game-cock
is their great concern; him they visit at dawn; him they caress through
the day; they will contemplate him with eyes fixed for half an hour
at a time: the passion never decays; many of them think of nothing
else. The government patronizes cock-fights. Last year they produced
40,000 dollars" (in 1859, 86,000 dollars); "sad resource this for so
many tears, crimes, and punishments! What quarrels, what lawsuits, what
appeals! And in their gambling they pass the night till sunrise. The
chief of the Barangay (clan) loses the tribute-money he has collected;
his doom is the prison, or a flight to the mountains. They hate to
live in houses or convents where they would be placed beyond even the
odour of women. They take care of their own plates, and exhibit in
their dwellings some possessed before the arrival of the Spaniards,
but in convents and houses they break plates enough to ruin their
masters. This is because of their stupidity, or that they are
thinking of their beloved, or of anything but what ought to occupy
their thoughts; and if they let fall a dish, it is passed over by
the Spaniards, or they are only called 'brute! animal! savage!' In
their own house, however, the breaking a piece of earthenware would be
followed with a good number of cane blows, and this is of more efficacy
than all Cicero's Philippics (sic in orig.) They cannot be trusted
with a sword, mirror, glass, gun, watch, nor any delicate thing;
they are sure to spoil it. You may confide to them a bamboo, a stick,
a piece of timber, a palm-branch, and to a few of them a ploughshare.
"They are bold and insolent in making unreasonable requests, careless
of the when or the how. They remind me in their petitions of what
happened to Sancho Panza in the island of Barataria, when troubled
with that impertinent and intrusive rustic Michael Turra. For their
four eggs they want a hundred dollars. I never see an Indian coming
towards me with a gift--something worthless, of course, and of no
use to himself--flowers or fruits, but I exclaim, in the words of
Laocoon to the Trojans" (grandiloquent friar!) "'Timeo Danaos dona
ferentes.' The Bishop of Troya, Don Francisco Gines Barrientes, a most
circumspect prelate, told me that an Indian brought him a handkerchief
of Guava fruit and asked him for the loan of fifty dollars. And when
the Lord Marquis de Villasierra, Don Fernando de Valenzuela, was in
the castle of Cavite, an Indian gave him a cock, for which the Marquis
ordered him to be paid six times its value, and the Indian said he
expected eighty cavans of rice, and this, too, was in the time of
scarcity, when every cavan was worth two dollars. It matters little,
however, for they are just as well pleased when they fail as when
they succeed, for they do not value anything given them by a Spaniard,
not even by a priest! In selling they will ask thirty and accept six;
they take the chance of cheating, and, knowing the great goodness
(la suma bondad) of the Spanish character, they do not apprehend any
expression of anger in consequence of an absurd pretension."
The friar thus describes a negotiation between an Indian peasant
and a merchant:--"The peasant has two or three hundredweight of
indigo for sale; he does not come alone, but with his relations,
friends, and sometimes the women, for the indigo belongs to several
who form the suite of the seller. Every offer has to be communicated
to the party, who are crouched in a circle round the negotiator;
the offer being discussed, they agree to the reduction of a dollar
in the price--the buyer requires three; this matter being settled,
another discussion begins; some of the indigo is damp and dirty,
and an allowance must be made, and thus the negotiation goes on
harassing and never-ending, so that very few Spaniards will tolerate
such impertinence and importunity, and the conference ends by a
dry inquiry, 'Will you? yes! or no!' If no, the Indians are angrily
ordered into the street, but the more patient mestizos and Chinese
make the Indians their guests, feed them and lodge them, and get these
commodities on their own terms, in Chinese style, for the Indian is
very stupid in trading matters." And then the father gives abundant
evidence of their simplicity. "In fine, the Indian prefers the rial
of a Chinese to the dollar of a Spaniard." Who can wonder, then,
at the prosperous condition of the Chinese in the Philippines? "The
Indians show great indifference to danger: they will not move out
of the way of a restive horse, nor, if in a small boat, give place
to a large one. In the river, if they see crocodiles approaching,
they take no notice and adopt no precautions. The Koran says that
every one has his fate written in the marks on his forehead; so
think the Indians, not that they have read the Koran, but because
of their own folly, which exposes them to daily misfortunes." "They
are very credulous among themselves, yet believe nothing but what is
unfavourable about the Spaniards. It is evident that the act of faith
is supernatural when they acknowledge the divine mysteries taught
by the Spaniards. In other matters they believe in nothing which is
adverse to their interests. They do not object to rob Spaniards, not
even the ministers of religion. Of this we have irresistible evidence,
so that there can be no doubt, and we can only regret that no remedy
can be found."
The Augustine provincial friar of Ilocos, reporting on the insurrection
of 1807 in that province, says:--"Here, as elsewhere, there are
abundance of robbers and pilferers; it is of no use to bring them to
Manila, they should be punished in the locality; but they can be no
more extirpated than can the rats and mice. Indeed there is an Indian
proverb which says:--'Robbers and rats will disappear together.'" I
cannot endorse the friar's indiscriminating censures, for I have heard
extraordinary evidences of extraordinary integrity. The Alcalde of
Cagayan told me that, though he had frequently left uncounted dollars
in the care of the Indians, he had never discovered a single fraud.
One would suppose that the rich and potent friars were tolerably
well protected against the Indians, yet one of them writes:--"The
Indians do not now employ lances and arrows against our ministry, but
papers, pens, tales, jokes and calumnies. So much have they been taught
politics in Manila that now in all the pueblos are obscure scribblers,
pettifoggers, pretenders, who are clever enough in writing memorials on
stamped paper, to be presented to the Royal Audiencia. So if the parish
priest reprove or punish them for their evil and scandalous lives, they
meet together, drink wine, and fill a folio paper with their crosses,
and march off to Manila, to the tribunal which they deem the most
impressionable, from whence great vexations are caused to the poor
parish priest. And much courage is required to bear this species of
martyrdom, which is sufficiently common in the Indies."--(Abbé Amodea.)
I do not know how lately there have been perquisitions against
witches, but in the middle of the last century I find the record of
a most diligent pursuit and rigorous punishment against the witches
of Pampanga. The proceedings were superintended by a friar named
Theodore of the Mother of God, who made a special report to the Mexican
Inquisition. He says:--"There are witches in every pueblo, and in some
they form a third part of the population. These slaves of the devil
are divided into sundry classes: lamias, who suck the blood of infants;
striges, who are wanderers on the face of the earth; sagas, who dwell
in houses, and convey to the devil all the information he requires;
larvas, who devote themselves to carnal delights; temures, who prepare
love filtres; but all unite to do mischief to the human race."
Of the credulity of the Indians there is no end of examples. In 1832,
when the Santa Ana arrived with 250 soldiers, a report spread like
wild-fire that the King of Spain had ordered all the children of the
Indians to be collected, that their blood might be spilt upon the
Spanish mines to make them more productive. The women fled to their
homes, seized their children, and sought an asylum in the houses
of the Spanish ladies in Manila. The men armed themselves with
spears, and rushed tumultuously through the streets. The agitation
was appeased with some difficulty. What any man reputed as a sage
among the Indians avers, acquires immediate authority, and is not
to be controlled by the influence of the priests; the words "Vica
ng maruning," meaning "The wise say so," is the ready answer to all
impugners. "God preserve us," says the friar, "from Indian sages! for
the Indians are proud, and will not obey the priest, nor the friar,
nor the chaplain, unless obliged by fear, and they are not always
afraid, though they feel thoroughly convinced of the superiority of
the Spaniard, and are governed in spite of themselves. They imitate the
Spaniard in all that is evil--his love of dress, his swearing habits,
addiction to gaming, and all the vicious practices of the zaramullos
(fops or busy-bodies); but Spanish courtesy and urbanity and good
education they neither study nor copy; but revels and drunken bouts,
and riotous weddings and burial excesses and tyrannical acts of all
sorts they have inherited from their ancestors, and still preserve,
so that they have Spanish vices added to their own."
They show much deference to everything that is aristocratic
among themselves. The jacket-wearing principalia are treated with
great deference, and their rank religiously respected. First, the
gobernadorcillo; then the ex-gobernadorcillos, who are called passed
captains, in order of seniority; then the acting lieutenant, who must
be the head of a barangay; then the heads of barangays according to
age; then passed lieutenants, and so on; and their rank is recognized
by the adjacent communities.
Bathing is universal, men and women in the same place. The men wear
pantaloons, the women cover themselves with a garment which they throw
off when they enter the water. No scandal is caused by the habit,
and several attempts of the Spanish authorities to interfere with
the ancient usage have failed.
The Indians embrace by touching noses; but lip-kissing often
accompanies the act. When the nostril is contracted (as in the act
of smelling), and the Indian looks towards a person at a distance,
it is deemed an invitation to a closer embrace. Strange stories are
told of the exquisite sense of smell possessed by the Indians; that by
it they can distinguish the dresses of their masters and mistresses,
and lovers ascertain the state of each other's affections. Inner
garments are interchanged which are supposed to be impregnated with
the passions of the owners. In disregard of the monks, the Indians
secretly circumcise their children. The banian-tree (Balete, Ficus
Indica) is held sacred. They burn incense under it, which they obtain
from the friars under various pretences. How strangely are the rites
of idolatry mingled with Christian observances! This is not the case
alone in the Philippines. One of Dr. Gutzlaff's renowned converts
in Hong Kong used to say that to please the missionary he had added
another god--the Christian's God--to those he worshipped before;
and I have known of secret visits to heathen temples on the part of
Chinese professing Christians, when they were about to enter upon
any important undertaking. "There is no driving out of them," says
the padre, "the cursed belief that the spirits of their ancestors are
in the woods and among the roots of bamboos, and that they can bring
good or evil upon them. They will offer sacrifices to them; and all
our books and all our preachings have failed to remove the impressions
left by any old man whom they choose to call 'a sage.'" "The curates,"
says De Mas, "profess to believe that these superstitions are passing
away; no doubt the Indian conceals them as much as he can from his
father confessor, but I have on many occasions convinced myself of
their existence and influence." Who, indeed, knowing anything of
the credulity of the less instructed classes, and not these alone,
among ourselves, can wonder at the state of "the religious mind" of
the Philippine Indian? And so little are the priests themselves wholly
free from infirmity, that a Philippine curate, Mallares, committed and
caused to be committed no less than fifty-seven assassinations in the
town of Magalan, believing that he should thus save his mother from
being bewitched. Mallares was executed in 1840; and in his report
the fiscal expresses his horror of "the incredible and barbarous
prodigality of bloodshed by this monster."
"The Indian knows no medium," again to quote from the father. "Ask for
tepid water, he will bring it boiling; say it is too hot, and you will
get it quite cold. He lives in a circle of extremes. He rejoices if you
lose patience and give him a beating, for he goes and boasts of having
put his master into a passion. To irritate the Indian, you must take no
notice of his short-comings. The sagacious men among them say that the
Indian and the cane (for his correction) always grow together. They
have another proverb: 'The Spaniard is fire, and the Indian snow,
and the snow puts out the fire.'" One of the padres reports that his
servant-boy said to him: "You are a new comer, and are too indulgent:
if I do amiss you ought to chastise me. Don't you know the proverb,
'The Indian and the cane grow together?'" "They blaspheme and abuse
God when their prayers are not granted, and use language which would
indeed be horrible were it not known how thoughtless they are, and how
impossible it is for them to conform themselves to the Divine will."
They are fond of religious dramas, especially of one in Tagál
representing the passion and death of Christ; but these religious
representations and gatherings give rise to scandal and abuse, and
the birth of many illegitimate children. The priests have generally
prohibited these exhibitions at night, and sometimes disperse them,
whip in hand; at other times the singers are denounced, and get
flogged for their pains--or pleasures.
It is amusing to read the contradictory opinions of the friars
respecting their flocks. One says:--"Their confessions are false;
they never own to any but three sins: first, that they have neglected
church-going; second, that they eat meat during Lent; and third, that
they have sworn profanely." Another reports--"No Spaniard can be more
devout and fervid than the Indians of Manila in their confessions. They
obey the instructions they receive, and I have the same good account
from many padres of many Indians in the provinces." No doubt the
ecclesiastical statistics would be curious, if obtainable. In Lilio,
the curate reports that of 1,300 persons paying tribute in 1840,
600 never confessed, and "this pueblo is not of the most remiss." In
Vigan, of 30,000 inhabitants, the attendance at church did not exceed
from 500 to 800 (De Mas), except on the yearly festival of the Virgin,
patroness of the pueblo. Father Agustin's indignation is vehemently
expressed as regards confession:--"The infernal Macchiavel Satan has
taught them a policy as good for their bodies as bad for their souls,
which is that they own their errors and crimes to one another, and
conceal them, however excessive, from the spiritual father, from the
Spanish alcalde, notwithstanding their personal quarrels, and, as they
call them, murder-enmities; so that there is among them no greater
offence than to tell the padre or the alcalde what has happened in
the pueblo, which they say is mabibig, the most abominable of sins;
indeed, the only offence which they hold to be sin."
The friars speak in general more favourably of the women than of the
men. They are more devout, more submissive, more willing to listen
to their ghostly fathers, one of whom says:--"Did all mankind hang
upon a single peg, and that peg were wanted by an Indian for his
hat, he would sacrifice all mankind. They have no fear of death, but
this is an infinite mercy of the Divine Being, who knows how fragile
they are; they talk about death, even in the presence of the dying,
without any concern. If condemned to the scaffold, they exhibit equal
indifference, and smoke their cigar with wonted tranquillity. Their
answer to the attendant priest is invariably, 'I know I am going
to die. I cannot help it. I have been wicked--it was the will of
God,--it was my fate,' But the approach of death neither interferes
with their sleep nor their meals." "The tree must bear its fruit,"
he continues. "God in his wisdom has made many races of men, as He
has made many varieties of flowers, and at last I reconciled myself to
seeing the Indians do everything differently from what we should do,
and keeping this in view, I could mould them like wax to my purpose."
As a general result I have not found among these Indian races any one
distinguished for intellectual superiority. A few were not backward in
their knowledge of the mechanical arts; one or two examples there were
of genius as sculptors; a universal love and devotion to the musical
art, and some appreciation even of the merits of European composers;
but, it must be added, little or nothing is done to develop such
capacities as the Indians possess; the field of public instruction is
narrowed alike by religious and official influences, and the social
tone of the opulent classes, to which alone the Indian can look up,
is greatly below that of the Spanish peninsula. Literature is little
cultivated: the public newspapers are more occupied with the lives of
saints, and preparation for, or accounts of, religious fiestas, than
with the most stirring events of the political world. The Spaniards
have never been celebrated for very busy inquiries, or very active
virtues; but it is to be hoped that the mañana, to which everything
is referred, will at last become an hoy dia.
It has been said of the Indian that he is more of a quadruped than a
biped. His hands are large, and the toes of his feet pliant, being
exercised in climbing trees, and divers other active functions. He
is almost amphibious, passing much of his time in the water. He
is insensible alike to the burning sun and the drenching rain. The
impressions made upon him are transitory, and he retains a feeble
memory of passing or past events. Ask him his age, he will not
be able to answer: who were his ancestors? he neither knows nor
cares. He receives no favours and cannot, therefore, be ungrateful;
has little ambition, and therefore little disquiet; few wants, and
hence is neither jealous nor envious; does not concern himself with the
affairs of his neighbour, nor indeed does he pay much regard to his
own. His master vice is idleness, which is his felicity. The labour
that necessity demands he gives grudgingly. His health is generally
good, and when deranged he satisfies himself with the use of herbs,
of whose astringent or laxative powers he has had experience. He uses
no soap to wash, no razor to shave; the river is his bathing-place,
and he pulls out the hairs in his face with the assistance of a sharp
shell; he wants no clock to tell him of the flight of time--no table,
nor chairs, nor plates, nor cutlery, to assist him at his meals;
a hacha, or large knife, and bag are generally hung at his waist;
he thinks no music equal to the crowing of his cock, and holds a shoe
to be as superfluous as a glove or a neck-collar.
I certainly have not discovered among the Indians that enduring
"à tout jamais" horror of foreigners upon which M. Mallat dwells,
and which he represents as specially and properly directed against
Englishmen. On the contrary, I found many Englishmen settled in
the Philippines objects of great confidence and affection; and I
have heard mestizos and Indians say that they put greater trust
in English commercial probity than in that of any other nation. I
have witnessed the cordiality with which the old Spanish proverb,
"Paz con Ynglaterra y con todo el mundo guerra," has been quoted in
large assemblies of the Filipinos. And assuredly there is no nation
which has contributed more than England to the prosperity of the
Spanish archipelago. Evidence enough will be found in the course of
this narrative of the kindness shown to Englishmen.
It has been said that the Spaniards have very discreetly and
successfully used the "divide et impera" among the Indian races as
a means of preserving their own authority. There is little sympathy,
it is true, between the remoter races; but that their separation and
aberration form a part of the Spanish policy may be disproved by the
fact that in Binondo nearly one-third of the resident inhabitants
are Indians from distant provinces.
The numerical power of the Spaniards is small, that of the armed
natives great, were there among them a disposition to rebel against
their rulers: I believe there is little of such disposition. Lately
the Tagál soldiers have been called into active service in a foreign
country (Cochin China), and involved in a quarrel where the Spanish
interest is not very discernible. No complaints have been made of
their conduct, though they have been exposed to much privation.
There is a pretty custom among the peasantry of the interior. Little
bamboo frames are seen either supported by a post, or projecting from
a window of the choza, on which is to be found, covered with plantain
leaves, a supply of food, or fruits, provided from the Indian's garden,
which invariably surrounds his dwelling. Any passing traveller supplies
himself, paying nothing if he be poor, but otherwise leaving such
compensation as he may deem proper. No sort of reproach attaches
to the person who, without the means of payment, partakes of the
proffered bounty. These hospitable receptacles are most common in
the least peopled localities, and reminded me of the water and the
lamp which I have found in the tombs of sainted Mussulmans, who had
themselves discharged, or required their followers thus to discharge,
the claims of humanity, and in the arid desert provided these grateful,
silent, and touching welcomes to the thirsty and weary traveller.
The tact or talent of imitation is strong among the Indians,
and facilitated the efforts of the friars, but very various and
contradictory reports are found of their aptitudes. Those of Pampanga,
Cagayan, Pangasinan, Ilocos, and Zebu are reported to be valiant,
generous, laborious, and frequently exhibiting artistical taste. I
found the love and the practice of music universal, and saw some
remarkable specimens of sculptural ability, but of painting nothing
Indian was ever presented to my attention, and the examples of
persevering dedication to any sort of labour were few indeed. As
servants, the Tagáls are in all respects inferior to the Chinese;
as soldiers, the officers generally reported of them favourably. The
Indians settled in Manila are said to be the worst of their races:
no doubt great cities are the recipients of the dregs of a people,
but they attract at the same time the highest order of merit. The
courtesies which we received as their guests seemed boundless; no
effort too great to do us honour: something, indeed much, could not
but be attributed to the guidance of the priests and the presence
of the authorities, but there were a thousand marks of spontaneous
kindness, such as no external influence could have commanded.