The Philippine Islands, 1493–1898

Explorations by early navigators, descriptions of the islands and their peoples, their history and records of the catholic missions, as related in contemporaneous books and manuscripts, showing the political, economic, commercial and religious conditions of those islands from their earliest relations with European nations to the close of the nineteenth century,

Volume XLIII, 1670–1700

Edited and annotated by Emma Helen Blair and James Alexander Robertson with historical introduction and additional notes by Edward Gaylord Bourne.

The Arthur H. Clark Company
Cleveland, Ohio
MXMVI

Contents of Volume XLIII

Illustrations

Preface

This volume carries forward the history of the Dominican order in the Philippines, and, like the other instalments of Dominican history, or, to speak more broadly, of the history of the orders, contains many interesting sidelights. The increasing power of the order is well seen in the new arrivals of missionaries from Spain, and their pushing out into the territory regarded by the Recollects as their own, to the detriment of the latter, which the Dominicans are able to do through the great influence of Felipe Pardo, the archbishop. The tone of the history is one of ecclesiastical jealousy and aggrandizement. In the appendix which treats in great part of the Moros and peoples of Mindanao, the chief things to note are the similarity of these latter-day Malay peoples in many of their customs and characteristics with the early Filipinos as described by the early writers. The persistence of the old superstitious beliefs in the province of Nueva Ecija, Luzón, is interesting, and probably typical of the islands as a whole, at least in districts somewhat out of the usual line of travel. As this appendix shows, there is yet much work for the ethnologist in all parts of the Philippines.

The first portion of this volume treats of the Dominican missions, in general between the years 1670–1700, the matter being translated and condensed from Salazar’s Historia. In 1671 and 1679 new contingents of religious arrive in the province from Spain, which prove of great profit to the overworked missionaries, for they have missions on the Asiatic mainland as well as in the Philippines which must be supplied. In the latter year the Zambal mission is transferred to the Dominicans, they supplanting the Recollect order, who have been in charge there for over sixty years. This is at the request of the natives themselves, but it is discovered shortly that that request is only a ruse on the part of the latter in order to escape any obligation to accept the faith, for they soon petition that they be given Jesuits in place of Dominicans. Before the transfer of the mission the Dominicans have already begun to work in the Zambal district, but desist because of the complaints of the Recollects that their territory is being invaded. When they resume their work there in 1679, they are aided considerably by the governor, Vargas y Hurtado, and his military representative in the Zambal district. These chapters show in extenso the methods used by the missionaries in advancing the faith. The soldiers are of considerable aid in escorting those who are to become reduced to a civilized life in the villages where the fathers can watch over their welfare carefully. The harshness of the soldiers is counteracted by the mildness and solicitude of the missionaries. The work of the latter also extends to the industrial training of the new converts. Natives of civilized villages are specially hired to instruct them in agriculture, but so lazy are many of the Zambals that after their lands have been cultivated, sowed, and tended, they refuse to harvest them themselves and many of them take to the mountains and apostatize from the faith. Some, however, gather the harvest as they have the profit in sight. In those new missions the children, from regarding the fathers with suspicion and abhorring their very sight, soon flock about them at their appearance and will scarcely be persuaded to part from them. The children, too, are the ones whom the fathers first win over to the faith and the instruction, and these in turn bring in their parents and the other older people by taunting them with their ignorance. The astute Fray Domingo Perez, who is in charge of the Zambal field, suppresses the practice of murders by means of a trick, for by feeling the pulses of all the men of a village he is able through the natural fear of the culprit to detect the murderer. Therefore the superstitious Zambals imagine that he can detect any wrongdoing by simply feeling the pulse, and look upon him with awe. But still notwithstanding the seeming success of the missions after three years the father learns through the children that the Indians have been secretly maintaining their old idol worship. Horrified, he straightway sets about destroying the worship and the idols, and after a vigorous campaign succeeds in wiping out idolatry. The balance of the missionary work of the Dominicans relates mainly to the northern province of Cagayan, where the Dominicans have many villages and peoples under their charge. Two fathers sent out from Manila in 1673 sound the Irraya district in order that they may discover whether those people are ready to embrace the faith. The field is however, not yet ripe, and hence nothing further is done there until the year 1677, when Fray Pedro Jimenez is assigned to that district. Being shortly recalled, he is sent back there the following year, and the work is taken up in earnest. Many Indians are reduced, both with and without the aid of the soldiers, for Fray Pedro is a fearless worker. In seven years he has founded three permanent villages; but at the end of that time he is removed from his mission because of certain slanderous reports against him, although he returns later after being fully vindicated. The Dominicans open up a road to the province of Cagayan at their own expense in order that they may have easier access thereto. At the intermediary chapter of 1680 various new missions are accepted formally by the order and religious assigned to them. The mission of Palavig is composed of Visayans who flee thither, and of Christian apostates and heathens. Though that mission had first been founded in 1653, it had been soon abandoned because of some sudden fear, and the people had taken to the mountains. Also after its reëstablishment, the mission is of but little permanence, for the people abandon it because of annoyances received from a commandant who comes there to watch for the Acapulco ship. Early in the eighteenth century a new mission is established in that district at Bavag, which is soon moved to Dao, and then to Vangag. The work of the missions is enforced in 1684 by a band of forty-nine missionaries. That same year also, Fray Pedro Jimenez is sent to Fotol on the borders of the country of the Apayaos (incorrectly called Mandayas), a people who are especially fierce and bloodthirsty. There he manages to patch up a quarrel among opposing factions by his diplomacy, and gains the hearts of the people. Accompanied by twenty-two heathens he goes to Aparri, where the alcalde-mayor bestows honors and titles upon them. Notwithstanding the rumors that the Apayaos are plotting to kill him, the father visits their mountain fastnesses, where his confidence meets its just reward. Some months later he returns thither and builds a church among them. In 1686 so greatly has the work prospered that Fray Pedro is given two associates, and in 1688 another. With the increased aid, he establishes a new village of over 500 converts, but he is soon compelled to abandon the mission because of sickness, whereupon the inhabitants of the village of Calatug, supposedly Christians, attack the mountaineers to whom they have always been hostile, and the village is consequently abandoned by the survivors, some of whom flee to the mountains and others are transferred to another mission site. The intermediary chapter of 1688 accepts certain houses in Pangasinan. In the mission of San Bartolome which is composed of Alaguetes and Igorots, many intermarriages take place and the people are knit closer together. That village exists more than twenty years, but is finally burned in 1709 or 1710 by hostile Igorots, and the father in charge and the faithful of his flock remove to San Luis Beltran which is located farther from the mountains and is safer. The latter mission is twice removed and at each time some of the Indians refuse to accompany it, because of their disinclination to abandon the locality where they have become fixed, or flee to the mountains. In 1732 another mission is established at that point. The mission of Tuga is opened by Fray Juan Iñiguez, who begins his work there in 1688 with great success. That mission also experiences various removals, and in 1715, the remaining Christians are removed to the mission of Tuao. The revolt in Cagayan in 1718 finishes the mission, for its inhabitants apostatize and take to the mountain. The work is taken up later there in 1722; and in 1731, although still called the mission of Tuga it is moved nearer Tuao. As a result of the chapter of 1680 work is taken up in the Batanes Islands. Fray Mateo Gonzalez, who has been assigned to the Cagayan missions, extends his work to the Babuyanes Islands to the north of Luzón. He establishes a village on the Cagayan coast with people from those islands, but an order from the government sends those people back to their islands and the mission village is destroyed. In 1686, the first efforts are made in the Batanes, but the attempt proves abortive through the death of two of the fathers assigned to that field. In 1718 another attempt there proves successful. In 1693 the mission of Santa Cruz is established near Malaueg by Fray José Galfarroso, who working zealously through those rough mountains, gains the most influential man of the region to the Christian faith, in consequence of which many conversions are made. New mission bands reach the province in the years 1694 and 1699, and an examination of the names shows that it is difficult to obtain priests for the work for many of those sent are only brothers and acolytes. The mission of Itugug or Paniqui is flourishing and in Zifun a fine field is opened under charge of Fray Jerónimo Ulloa.

The ethnological appendix opens with a short account by Tomás Ortiz, O.S.A., of various superstitions and heathen beliefs and practices that still exist among the natives, notwithstanding all the efforts of the religious to stamp them out. Many of them show a strange mingling of heathenism and Christianity. Their belief in nonos, primarily, ancestor worship, leads them to ascribe spirits or souls to everything, somewhat as did the primitive North American Indian, and they are very careful to propitiate the spirit or nono of river, field, and wood, etc. The ceremony of tibao, or awaiting the soul of the deceased, is still practiced by the natives, and they endeavor by various methods to outwit the fathers. Ashes are spread in the house where the death occurred and by the tracks made thereon, they ascertain whether the soul has returned or not. They have numerous beliefs regarding the tigbalāg, the patianac, the asuang, the last two of which are the enemies of childbirth and children. Various ridiculous conjurings are performed in order to scare off those terrible monsters of the imagination. The bongsol are certain enchantments caused in the body by a sorcerer called ganay, and in order to drive them away, one must have recourse to another sorcerer. In any sickness that is deemed natural when it first comes on, if the cure is not effected as quickly as desired, it is always referred to enchantment or bongsol, and is exorcised. Bilao is an elaborate ceremony, in which the rosary plays a conspicuous part, for the discovery of any thief. The anting-anting is carried by many of the natives. Both males and females are circumcised. There is a curious custom of spanning their weapons while reciting the Lord’s Prayer, and if the two operations end at the same time, then one may kill with impunity. Many heretical beliefs and many false preachers exist, the proximity of the Mahometans having its effect. Eclipses of the moon mean that that orb is being swallowed by some awful monster, and all the people endeavor to scare away that beast with the great din that they make. Inasmuch as all these beliefs are not universal, the missionary must exercise great prudence at all times.

Another Augustinian, Joaquin Martínez de Zúñiga, also devotes a chapter of his Historia to the Peoples of the Philippines. There are only two classes of peoples in the Philippines—the Negritos and the Filipinos—and even these in last analysis are, he says, homogeneous. Most of the chapter is taken up with the attempt to prove that the Philippine Islands were peopled from the East and that they are perhaps of the same origin as the Indians of South America, who would then be the parent stock. All the peoples of the South Seas are homogeneous, according to him, and he believes that he has proved his case by the faulty philological method. His views are interesting, as he is the only person who has put forward such claims. In reply to those who claim a Malay origin for the peoples of the Philippines, he states that the method of writing might very well have been learned from the Malays, but that the people must have come from the east and not the west, as the east winds prevail throughout the torrid zone. He gives a brief description of the people, and various of their customs.

The selection from Wilkes’s narrative of his celebrated expedition may be said more properly to be a general description of the island of Joló than a special study of its people. His narration contains so many interesting observations, however, both in regard to the people and their daily life and the other matters touched upon, that it is deemed not to be out of place here. Besides it is the first authentic account of that island by an American. The expedition leaves Manila, January 21, 1842, and coasting steadily to the south, with short stays at Mindoro and at a village in Panay, anchors January 31, at Caldera in Zamboanga province. At that time, in all Mindanao, there were, says Wilkes, only about 10,000 people under Spanish rule, and about one-half of those were in Zamboanga. Caldera is a convict settlement for native Filipinos, but Spanish criminals are sent to Spain. On the first of February, they leave Mindanao and in due time anchor at the village of Soung or Joló. An interview with the sultan is set by the governor, Dato Mulu, at which, when it is held, the sultan agrees to a treaty of trade with the Americans. Wilkes gives much interesting information regarding the customs and social and industrial life of the Sulus; describes their chief city which has its Chinese quarter; describes the government which is an oligarchy, the chief governing body being the Ruma Bechara or Trading Council which is presided over by the sultan to whom but scant respect is paid, for the individual datos retain as much power as possible. Trade is free, and both freemen and slaves engage in it at will, the slaves of the island often attaining to a high degree of importance. The naturalists are disappointed in their attempts to make researches on the island, as the sultan, although in order to evade the request, declares that it is unsafe, because of the hostile datos. Wilkes gives considerable sound advice in regard to the navigation of this district, trading at Joló, and various other matters, besides an interesting though brief history of Joló, before and after the advent of the Spaniards. Those interesting people the sea-gypsies are described. The expedition reaches the Straits of Singapore on February 18.

The remainder of the appendix, except the last document, constitutes letters written by the Jesuit missionaries from Mindanao and Basilan, and an ethnological survey of the Mindanao peoples by a Jesuit of Manila who had formerly spent a number of years in Mindanao. They are all comparatively modern, extending through the years 1885–1889. January 20, 1885, Father Quirico Moré writes to the father superior of the missions mainly concerning the Moros about the Gulf of Dávao, where the Spaniard José Oyangúren defeated them and brought them under the dominion of Spain. Various events are related in regard to efforts to reduce these Moros who are less in number than is generally supposed, for though the Moros generally acquiesce in the Spanish proposals to assume village life, their willingness is only feigned. Those about the gulf are the “remains of powerful and warlike Moros, who in the not distant past collected tribute from the Mandayas and other heathens.” There are two classes of Moros, the datos, or aristocracy, and the common people. With the first rank must be included the panditas or priests. Though the Moros endure, they do not accept, Spanish rule, and await the time when they can throw it off. Meanwhile they also suffer from the heathens about them, who are hostile to them. To obtain the best results the officers of dato and pandita should be suppressed, and other radical measures carried out.

Father Pedro Rosell writes from Caraga, April 17, 1885, in regard to a visit of inspection of the visitas of the southern part of the district made by himself and Father Pablo Pastells, in December 1884, to the Mandayas. He reports a most encouraging state of affairs there pertaining to the conversion and reduction of the Mandayas. Especially helpful has been the conversion of three bailanes or priestesses. With the occasion of that conversion, the writer describes the method of sacrifice among the Mandayas, and the effects produced on the bailanes who are believed to be the true mediators between men and gods. In describing the form of belief Father Rosell finds an analogy to the Trinity in the Mandaya divinities, and one to Satan in the two spirits of evil. Of great interest in this letter is the song sung by the bailanes while sacrificing.

A series of five letters from Father Mateo Gisbert, written from Dávao in 1886, contains much interesting material. In his letter of January 4, the Hispano-Germanic controversy over the Carolinas is mentioned, and the heathen and Christian fear in the Dávao district of a German invasion. There are many heathens in Dávao, some of whom are industrious and intelligent, but few of whom are baptized. In southwest Dávao there are about 12,000 Bagobos, and they still maintain their old heathen customs, among them that of human sacrifice. They have two feasts during the year, one before the sowing of the rice, and the other at the end of the harvest. The latter is called the feast of women, and there is nothing worse seen at it than feasting, drinking, and dancing. In the former feast, the human sacrifice figures. The Bagobos recognize two beginnings and each person has two souls. Various remarks are made in regard to their legends or beliefs. At death also, the human sacrifice is performed in order to remove the mourning. One such sacrifice is described. The second letter of February 8, recites certain superstitious customs of the Bagobos. In times of sickness they invoke their gods. They always give the first fruits of the harvest to the diuata. Birds may be both good and bad omens; sneezing is always a bad omen. There are few thefts among them, for they believe that by the use of certain magic powders, they will compel the thief to inform on himself. The Bilans are the most industrious of all heathen peoples about Dávao and they number about 20,000. Although they have some of the customs of the Bagobos, their language differs from that of the latter. In his letter of February 20, Father Gisbert describes the customs of the Tagacaolos who number 12,000 or 14,000. Their language is understood by the Visayans. There are many intertribal feuds among them and they are continually at war among themselves, those of one district capturing and selling to the Moros those of another. They are more docile than are their neighbors. The Manobos are lazy and warlike and constantly on the hunt for slaves. The Moros thereabout are a race of thieves and are exceedingly treacherous. The Atás or Negritos live in the interior, and but little is known of them. Their number may reach 25,000, and they possess their own language. The letter of July 26 is written in a slightly depressed tone. Father Gisbert gives a short Bagobo genealogy. They have indulged in human sacrifice for many years. Human sacrifices prove, though it seems a paradox, a lucrative and real business, and not only Bagobos, but Moros and others traffic in them. Various details of a human sacrifice are given. The fifth letter of December 24, relates the results of a visit to the island of Sámal. There the Moros of the Dávao district, afraid that the Christian conversion is about to prevail, machinate to keep control, and oppose missionary efforts. The action of the Spanish authorities in giving titles as captains and lieutenants to Christians makes such persons the real datos of the island and weakens the hereditary allegiance. The remnants of the Moros about Dávao ask for villages, but it is only pretense, in order that they may continue to live under their old customs, and so that the datos may not lose the few followers left to them. It is advised that the people be encouraged to desert their datos and panditas, and that all the Moros be assembled into one village. The many small villages of the Moros, each with its dato and pandita, are an obstacle to the reduction and conversion of the heathens.

The letter written by Father Pablo Cavalleria to Father Francisco Sanchez from Isabela de Basílan in the island of Basílan, December 31, 1886, gives a great deal of most important information regarding the Moros of that island. The native race is evidently fewer in number than the Moros (who number ten or twelve thousand), and is partially christianized. The Moros inhabit the coast and the interior, the former being known as Sámal Laút, who are fishermen, and the latter as Yacans, who are agriculturists. They are hostile to each other. With the Sámal Laút are mingled also Joloans and Malays. Personal descriptions of the Moros, their mental characteristics, their religion, marriage and mortuary customs, etc., are given. Their chief feast is the celebration of the birth of Mahomet, though that date is not fixed but depends rather on when there is sufficient food for a good feast. They are superstitious, and perform various superstitious rites. They have seven heavens and seven hells, each with its distinctive signification. Their method of fighting is described. Their hatred toward the Christians is well shown in a native song quoted by Father Cavalleria.

Father Pablo Pastells, in a letter to the father provincial, written from Manila, April 20, 1887, devotes considerable space to an ethnological survey of the peoples of Mindanao. The population of that island is divided into Malays and Indonesians (although the latter has no foundation), and Negritos; and there is still another division into Old Christians, New Christians, and heathens. The first named number 186,000, and their customs are influenced to a greater or less degree by those of the heathens according as they are more or less removed from them. Father Pastells describes their social life in many details, which shows that they have become “reduced” fairly well to a half civilized life. The New Christians date from 1876 (the date when the Jesuits reëntered Mindanao) and are scarcely to be differentiated in life and customs from the heathens from whom they have proceeded. The heathens (among whom are evidently numbered the Moros) aggregate 300,000, and among them are found Chinese and Japanese crossings, says Father Pastells. In greater or less detail, is set forth information concerning the Mamanuas, Manobos, Mandayas, Manguangas, Monteses, Guiangas, Bagobos, Calaganes, Tagacaolos, Tirurayes, Tagabili, Sámales, Subánon, Lutangos Moros, Calibuganes, and Moros. The worst of the last named, are the Moros of Jolo, and the Sámales Laút, while the most pacific are the Yacanes.

Father Joseph Maclotet writes to the rector of the Ateneo Municipal, from Talisayan, May 11, 1889, concerning the Buquidnons of Misamis province who are divided into three groups, numbering in all about 13,000. Socially and religiously they resemble other natives of that district. They are described and compared to the Visayans. They are intelligent and modest, and have some idea of God, heaven, and eternity. They are polytheists and have four gods. The spirit of evil is also propitiated by them. The sacrifices, consisting of products of the soil, wine, and fowls, are generally offered by the old men. Their marriage ceremonies and various other social features of their life are described. They are industrious and engage in various industries and occupations, the chief being agriculture. Their implements are described, among them being an ingenious cotton-gin. The Chinese with whom they trade take every advantage of them and cheat them on all sides. They have rude musical instruments. They punish crime according to certain traditional laws, the dato being judge. Many superstitions and omens, as in all other heathens of Mindanao, enter into their lives.

The final document of the Appendix is translated from the supplement for December 9, 1905, of El Renacimiento, of Manila, and treats of the still prevailing belief among the more ignorant people of Luzón in regard to witches. The mangkukulam, the male or female witch, cannot look another person straight in the face, and has immense power of doing evil to his neighbors. He causes various aches and pains. The symptoms exhibited by the person bewitched are given, as also the modus operandi of the witch. Regular physicians are powerless because they do not believe in enchantment. Instead, a special witch doctor is employed. His treatment consists in the use of anona bark which has power over the witchcraft, and in bad cases a good caning is often administered, or, the last resort, bathing in boiling water. This last proves effective, for the patient dies under it. The belief is that these severe measures do not harm the patient, but the witch. There is another witch doctor, whose procedure differs somewhat from that of the former and does not involve the discomfort of the patient to so great a degree. A small wax figure made in human shape is put into boiling water, whereupon the witch is bound to present himself and confess his fault. The writer relates a personal experience, in which, against his will, he was made to act the part of witch doctor. The people have another name for another sort of witch, who sends his sickness, which is incurable, through the air. Every Friday, all witches suffer terribly as a sort of recompense for the power which they possess, and next day attend the witches’ frolic.

The Editors

September, 1906.

Document of 1670–1700

Source: This is translated and synopsized from Salazar’s Historia de el Santissimo Rosario (Manila, 1742), from a copy owned by Edward E. Ayer.

Translation: This is made by James A. Robertson.

Dominican Missions, 1670–1700

[The following is translated and synopsized from Vicente Salazar’s Historia,[1] from a copy belonging to Edward E. Ayer, Chicago. The first five chapters contain nothing directly on the missions.]

Chapter VI

A new reënforcement of religious arrives at this province and the [post of the] commissary of the Holy Office is given back to it.

[In 1671, a band of thirty-three missionaries, who had been gathered by the definitor, Juan Polanco, arrives at Manila.[2] They are as follows:]

The father lector, Fray Alonso Sandin, son of San Estevan, of Salamanca, and head of the mission.

Father Fray Alonso de Cordova, son of Santo Domingo y San Pablo, of Ezija.

Father Fray Miguel Rodrigo, of the convent of San Estevan, of Salamanca.

Father Fray Andres Toro, of the convent of Santo Domingo, of El Campo de Zafra.

Father Fray Alonso Dominguez, of the convent of San Ildephonso, of Toro.

Father Fray Bartolome Marron, of the convent of San Pablo, of Valladolid.

Father Fray Domingo Mezquita, of the convent of Preachers, of Zaragoça.

Father Fray Diego Ortiz, of the convent of San Estevan, of Salamanca.

Father Fray Diego de Villar, of the same convent.

Father Fray Domingo de Escalera, of the convent of El Rosario, of Madrid.

Father Fray Francisco de la Maza, of the convent of Nuestra Señora, of Atocha.

Father Fray Francisco Luxan, of the convent of San Pablo, of Sevilla.

Father Fray Jacinto Samper, of the convent of Caspe, in Aragon.

Father Fray Geronimo de Ulloa, of the convent of Santiago de Galicia.

Father Fray Juan de Santa Cruz, of the convent of San Estevan, of Salamanca.

Father Fray Juan de Arjona, of the convent of San Vicente, of Plasencia.

Father Fray Joseph de la Trinidad, or Galfaroso, of the convent of Santiago, of Pamplona.

Father Fray Juan Catalan, of the same convent.

Father Fray Joseph Valdes, of the convent of San Pablo, of Valladolid.

Father Fray Melchor Lorenzana, of the convent of San Pablo, of Plasencia.

Father Fray Matheo Gonçalez, of the convent of Santa Cruz, of Segovia.

Father Fray Mathias Ramon, of the convent of Santo Thomas, of Avila.

Father Fray Pedro Gonzalez, of the convent of Nuestra Señora, of la Peña de Francia.

Father Fray de la Peña, of the same convent.

Father Fray Pedro Fenollar, of the convent of Santo Domingo, of Mallorca.

Father Fray Pedro de la Fuente, of the convent of Santo Domingo, of Victoria.

Brother Fray Juan Ybañez de Santo Domingo, of the same convent.

Brother Fray Diego de Almazan, of the convent of Preachers, of Zaragoça.

Brother Fray Dionisio Morales, of the convent of Santo Domingo, of Ciudad de el Caller.

The last three were choristers, and the following were lay-brethren:

Fray Matheo Gascon, of the convent of Preachers, of Zaragoça.

Fray Joseph Garcia, of the convent of Preachers, of Magallon.

Fray Raymundo Martorel, of the convent of Santo Domingo, of Graus.

The last named remained in Mexico in the hospice of the order there. With the other thirty-two who reached this land, our ministries and missions in charge of the province were reënforced, and other missions which were promoted because of that new reënforcement, and were shortly after founded as will be told later in the following chapters.

[The remainder of the chapter relates to the reëstablishment of the post of commissary of the Holy Office to the Dominicans, who had always held it previous to Fray Joseph de Paternina, O. S. A. Chapters vii–xxvii contain lives of various missionaries of the Philippines and the Asiatic mainland, notices of provincial elections, and accounts of the missions of the Asiatic mainland.]

Chapter XXVIII

Arrival of a new mission of religious at the province; the province assumes the administration of the Zambals.

[In 1679 a band of Dominicans arrive at the islands in charge of Fray Francisco Villalba.[3] Those religious are as follows:]

The father vicar, Fray Francisco Villalba, son of the convent of San Pablo, of Burgos.

The father presentee, Fray Manuel Trigueros, son of the convent of the Preachers, of Zaragoça.

The father presentee, Fray Francisco Matoces, son of the convent of Santa Catharina Virgen y Martir, of Barzelona.

Father Fray Magino Ventallol, doctor in the holy canons, son of the same convent.

Father Fray Raymundo Berart, doctor in both laws, and professor of the university of Lerida, son of the said convent of Barzelona.

Father Fray Raphael Morert, graduate from the same branches, and son of the said convent.

Father Fray Joseph Vila, son of the said convent.

The father lector, Fray Miguel Ossorio, of the convent of San Pablo, of Sevilla.

The father lector, Fray Francisco Ruiz, son of the convent of San Pablo, of Valladolid.

The father lector, Fray Francisco Vargas, son of the convent of San Estevan, of Salamanca.

The father lector, Fray Francisco Ximenez, son of the convent of Xerez.

Father Fray Juan Yñiguez, son of the convent of San Pablo, of Sevilla.

Father Fray Miguel de Castro, son of the same convent.

Father Fray Diego Burguillos, son of the same convent.

Father Fray Juan de Santo Thomas, son of the same convent, collegiate and now lector in the college of Santo Thomas, of the said city.

Father Fray Juan Rois, son of the convent of Lugo.

Father Fray Juan Fernandez, son of the convent of Valladolid.

Father Fray Juan de Todos Santos, son of the said convent.

Father Fray Juan Gonçalez, son of the royal convent of Nuestra Señora, of Atocha.

Father Fray Gregorio Xiraldez, son of the convent of Pontevedra.

Father Fray Francisco Nuñez Bravo, son of the convent of Santa Cruz, of Segovia.

Father Fray Fernando Ortubia, son of the convent of Santiago de Galicia.

Father Fray Domingo Muta, a Sicilian, son of the convent of Turin.

Father Fray Bernardo Lopez, son of the convent of San Pedro Martir, of Toledo.

Father Fray Antonio de Santa Maria, son of the convent of Valladolid.

Father Fray Alonso de Herrera, son of the convent of San Estevan, of Salamanca.

Father Fray Alonso Cobelo, son of the convent of Lugo.

Fray Francisco de Frias, deacon, son of the convent of Burgos.

Fray Iñigo de San Joseph, son of the convent of San Pablo of Palencia.

Fray Thomas de el Rosario, of the convent of La Puebla de los Angeles.

And three lay-brethren, as follows:

Brother Fray Juan Calvo, of the convent of Santa Cruz, of Segovia.

Brother Fray Juan Martinez, of the convent of Nuestra Señora of Nieva.

Brother Fray Francisco de la Cruz, of the convent of San Estevan, of Salamanca.

That same year, on the first of February, a student, a native of Galicia, and a relative of the archbishop of Mexico, one Antonio de Eguiar y Seijas, took the habit for this province in the hospice of San Jacinto in Mexico; and at the proper time in the following year he professed and immediately came to this his province.

That new reënforcement was very necessary because of the great amount of work to be done in this province. For, besides the Christian districts in its charge, and the Chinese missions, and those of Tunking, on the eleventh of May of the said year, the governor of these islands as vice-patron of these churches, in the name of the king our lord, had entrusted us with the administration of the province of Zambales, which had thitherto been in charge of the Augustinian Recollect fathers.[4] Its administration was now entrusted to our province for the following cause and reason. Those Indians were and are the rudest that are known in these environs of Manila. They are very cruel and bloodthirsty, and fond of murdering people without more cause than their liking for cutting off heads. They were always the bugaboo of the Spaniards, and the terror of the Indians of the other provinces. They could never be wholly conquered, especially those living in Buquil; for they were a people who lived in the mountains where the Spanish arms could not reach them. And less was it possible to conquer them by means of mildness, gentleness, kindness, and caresses, although the preachers of the holy gospel of the Recollects of our father St. Augustine tried to invite and lure them to the knowledge of the true God and to consider the welfare of their souls. Consequently, although those missionaries were among them for more than seventy years, they were unable to reduce them to the mild yoke of the law of Christ. And although they worked with zeal in that attempt, with great merit and profit to themselves, yet they always lived in great disconsolation, at beholding the hardness of those hearts. Not less affliction and trouble was caused to the Indians when they saw fathers and Spaniards in their lands, for since they were so stiff-necked, and accustomed to liberty, they did not look with favor on the payment of tribute or submission and obedience to the fathers. Consequently, they were dissatisfied with the fathers, and discussed various plans to oust them. They did not dare to murder them for fear of the Spaniards, who had a presidio or fort in Paynaven (the center of that province), and because since they were near Manila, any action that they attempted would be avenged by the Spaniards who would send troops of soldiers there by both land and sea. Hence the final plan discussed by the inhabitants of Buquil was to have recourse to the governor, asking him to remove those fathers, and in their place give them Dominican fathers. This was not because of any greater affection that they had for us than for them, but because they imagined that by successive changes, they could better conserve their liberty. This seems clearly to be their end, for before the end of seven years after our entrance into that province, they were dissatisfied with us, and begged fathers of the Society. They are a fickle people and fond of change. Their idea was that one sort of ministers succeeding thus to others, neither the one nor the other sort could get a foothold, or be able to put the preaching or the evangelical instruction on a sound basis among them.

Chart of the harbor bar of Manila, and vicinity of river Pasig, 1757

[Photographic facsimile from original MS. in Archivo general de Indias, Sevilla]

It happened, then, in the year 1676, that the alcalde-mayor of Pampanga, then Sargento-mayor Don Francisco de Texada, and Sargento-mayor Alonso Fernandez Pacheco, former chief commandant of the fort of Balas, began communication with the Zambal Indians of Buquil and having gained their good will with their zeal for the welfare of their souls, persuaded them to become baptized, for as abovesaid, most of the people of Buquil were heathens. They answered that they would become baptized if they were given Dominican ministers; for they wished to be administered by them alone. Having received that petition and proposal of the Indians, the said alcalde and commandant informed the governor of these islands, then the master-of-camp, Don Manuel de Leon. He desirous of the reduction of those infidels, petitioned the father provincial of this province, then father Fray Phelipe Pardo, to send some religious to Zambales as missionaries for those mountains, in order to ascertain whether the effect of reducing those barbarians to the faith of Christ could be obtained in that way—a matter that all desired greatly. By virtue of that, the father provincial sent father Fray Pedro de Alarcon[5] and father Fray Domingo de Escalera to the place called Buquil. To another place called Balacbac, which is located behind the mountains of Abucay, he sent the father vicar of the said village, namely, Father Domingo Perez. The latter immediately departed for Balacbac and having assembled some Indians there, baptized nine, and returned to Abucay, bringing five Zambals with him whom he afterward catechised and baptized. One of them was the nephew of the priest of the idols, and the father taught him to read and write, for he was more clever than the others. That Indian was very useful, and afterward was of much help to the said father in the reduction of the Zimarrones of the mountains, and in telling their customs and idolatries. The two fathers who were at Buquil, assembled some Indians into a place which they called Nuestra Señora de Atocha, where they baptized some and catechised others. But the governor having died at the beginning of the following year, the former ministers of that province began to complain to the father provincial that we were entering their administration. Notwithstanding that he had a sound reply that the vice-patron of those fields of Christendom had entrusted the matter to us, the father provincial in order to avoid anger between both orders, enjoined the fathers to return. That was the end of that first entrance which our religious made in Zambales. The provincial chapter was held after that, and in it the said father Fray Domingo Perez was elected vicar of Samal. The latter, by virtue of the order which was enacted in the said provincial chapter for all the father vicars of the houses near the mountains where there were any heathens to reduce, to endeavor to make entrances among them in order to allure them to the faith of Christ, did in that part what was ordered, by making some entrances among those mountains in order to reduce some Negritos, who are called Zambals.[6] Although the father worked with energy in that attempt, and went to great expense in kindnesses to them, he could obtain nothing from them because of their great barbarity and other reasons which it is not the present purpose to mention.

In the year 1678, Master-of-camp Don Juan de Vargas y Hurtado, knight of the Order of Santiago, came to govern these islands. With the coming of the new governor, the Zambals of Buquil renewed their former petition that Dominican fathers be given them. In order to make surer of their demands, they presented themselves to the archbishop, saying that they would quickly be reduced and would embrace the faith of Jesus Christ, if ministers of our order were given them. The archbishop, having seen that proposal, informed the governor of it, to whom as vice-patron belonged the right of assigning one or another sort of ministers to those Indians. The governor brought with him a royal decree from his Majesty ordering him to entrust to one of the orders the administration of the island of Mindoro, which was in charge of secular priests. Upon seeing the representation of the Zambals, he offered the administration of the said island of Mindoro to the Augustinian Recollect fathers, on condition that they leave the province of Zambales, in order that our religious might assume its administration in accordance with the petition of the Indians of that province. The father provincial of the Recollects accepted the exchange, although they assert that the cession was not legal, as it was not made by the provincial chapter of their province. That annulling clause was not put forward then, and the cession made by the father provincial of the administration of Zambales before the said governor having been seen, the Recollects were given that of the island of Mindoro. By virtue of that, the said governor in his Majesty’s name, conceded to the Order of St. Dominic the administration of the province of Zambales from the village of Marivelez to that of Bolinao. The father provincial of this province, namely, the father commissary Fray Balthasar de Santa Cruz, immediately sent some religious to administer the said Indians. In the intermediate congregation of the following year, the houses of the said province were accepted in due form, and ten religious were established in them for the cultivation of those fields of Christendom, and for the new reductions of the heathens....

[Chapter xxix deals with the customs of the Zambals, and is omitted here, as we shall give in a future volume the original MS., on which it is based.]

Chapter XXX

How our religious continued to soften those Zambal Indians and reduce them to civilization

[Notwithstanding that the Recollects had preached in the province of Zambales for seventy years and many of the Zambals were baptized, many of them were still wild, and refused the gospel message held out to them. This is because of their great love of liberty and hatred of restraint, and not because of lack of zeal on the part of the Recollects. Besides the Zambals lived scattered in many rancherías so that it was difficult for the fathers to visit them more than once or twice a year, and consequently, the little instruction that could be given them was insufficient to leaven them with the gospel spirit throughout the year. They had been unable to reduce them to fewer settlements because the various bands were often at war with one another and could not reconcile their difficulties. Then, too, the magistrates, sunk in their self interest, did not furnish the aid that should come from them. “This is the reason, and there is no other, why there is so much infidelity in these islands; for it is clearly seen by experience that when the secular government has been in earnest, and encouraged a mission, very abundant fruits have followed therefrom.” The narrative continues:]

And this is what our religious had in their favor when they entered that province of Zambales, for the governor of these islands, Don Juan de Vargas y Hurtado, was very desirous of that reduction, and made exact measures for it. In imitation of him the chief commandant of the fort of Paynaoven, namely, Adjutant Alonso Martin Franco, tried to coöperate in this design by his continual vigilance and efforts and at the evident risk of his life, and without heeding his own interest in the many offers of gold which the Indians made him so that he might desist from his purpose and not oblige them to leave their retreats. Our religious protected by that aid, proposed to the Indians of those rancherías as soon as they reached Playahonda, to collect into one settlement in the site that they thought best, in order that they might be more easily taught and administered by the religious. Since they had promised to reduce themselves if Dominican ministers were given them, and since the governor had given them those ministers, they ought also to fulfil their word. The Indians of Playahonda replied that they were not the ones who had gone to Manila with that request, but it was those of Buquil. Consequently, the latter ought to be confronted with that promise, and not they. Thereupon, the religious summoned those of Buquil and making them the proposal abovesaid, the Indians began to offer various excuses. By that our religious recognized that all their promises were feigned, and that they were very far from any intention to become reduced. Consequently, that reply having been heard by the religious, which was so contrary to what they had expected, and seeing that stronger measures were needed, the father vicar provincial returned to Manila to represent to the governor the rebellion of the Zambal Indians. The said father was welcomed by his Lordship, from whom he obtained what he wished, namely, the prohibition of trade between the Zambals and the Indians of Pampanga and other provinces, in order that, being deprived of that recourse, hunger and necessity might compel them to descend from the mountain and live in a settlement in order to exist.

But that provision proving insufficient to make the Zambals live in definite villages, the governor ordered the proclamation of an edict ordering all the Zambals to descend the mountains under penalty of being severely punished. The edict was proclaimed in Paynaoven and in other places of that province, whence the notice of it could be carried to those who were living in the mountains. More than five hundred Zambals of Buquil descended on the day and to the site assigned. There the commandant of the fort again imparted to them the edict and order of the governor. Their reply to the proposal was to submit the whole matter in common to an Indian called Quiravat, who had been the chief agent in begging our ministers for religious. He said “Let him who wishes to descend to settle, do it and welcome, but as for me, I am going to live with my people where I choose.” The commandant angered at his boldness, manacled and bound the said Quiravat, and the Indians his associates seeing that, began to discharge a cloud of arrows at the commandant and his soldiers, in number twenty-two men. Thereupon, the said commandant ordered Quiravat to be beheaded, and the other Indians retired with the death of twelve of their companions, but without their having done any harm to the Spaniards. That fray and encounter inspired the Indians with fear, and some, although they were few, descended. But in the following year of 1680, three hundred soldiers having entered by way of Pampanga, and the commandant of Paynaoven and his men having made a raid in that other part, the Zambals were inspired with so great fear, that many of them descended from the mountains. Consequently, it was possible to form or increase three villages: one near the fort called Alalan; another in Balacbac, called Nuevo Toledo; and the third south of the two, called Baubuen. The Indians who descended from the mountain were gathered into those three villages, whether from fear of the Spaniards, or through the persuasions of the fathers. The latter, by the aid of the soldiers, caused the Indians to show them more respect; and with the affability and benignity of their treatment, softened the hardness of their hearts. The same effort was made in other places of the said province, where there were already some villages, although they were very small and distant, and could not be administered by the religious without evident risk and danger. Consequently, they soon asked that they be placed in such condition and distance that there might be easy communication from one village to the other. All that was done at the cost of the order, which paid those who built the houses. Those houses were built by people of other villages and provinces, and they were given already built to the Zambals; for to compel them to make them was morally impossible.

This effort of causing the Indians to form their villages would have been of slight use, if at the same time they had not been obliged to work in making their fields in order that they might have the wherewithal to sustain life, so that they might not be under the necessity of abandoning their villages and returning to the mountains, where with the hunt and with various roots, the Indians are wont to sustain life at small cost, without the care and trouble of cultivation. And as they were unaccustomed to the cultivation of the soil, and did not know how to plow, or dig, and had no instruments for that, nor even seed for planting: they were provided with all this by our religious. More than fifty buffaloes or carabaos (which are their oxen), by which the plowing is done in this country, were taken there at the cost of the order. Also many plows were bought for them, and they were also given the seed so that they could allege no reasonable excuse. Inasmuch as they did not know how to plow or to plant, salaried Indians were taken from other provinces, so that they might cultivate the land, and so that the Zambals might learn of them. After the land that first year had been cultivated, and the rice had headed, it was given to them at the time of harvest, so that they might reap and gather it. But so great was the laziness of those Zambals that many of them refused to accept the land because it was not reaped. But others, having the profit so plainly in sight, set to work to reap it and gather it; and since by that means they made sure of their food, they were inclined to work and the cultivation of their fields. Our religious encouraged them in this by thus forcibly setting before their eyes the profit of the harvest, that they would have afterward. The religious accompanied them to the fields to work, heartily praised those who applied themselves, and perhaps, in order to inspire them by their example, put their hands to the plow. For the religious very well understood that if the Indians did not turn husbandmen, they would not be secure in the level land, and they would easily return to the mountains under the obligation of necessity. And thus that necessary diligence was compulsory in order to reduce them to a civilized life and to a good government.

All the time the fathers continued to soften their hardness by their kindness and mildness, which they showed them not only in the gentleness of their intercourse and conversation, but also much more in the generosity and liberality which they used toward them, providing them with all that was necessary, both for the building of their houses and for the cultivation of their fields. They gave the Indians a quantity of clothing to wear, besides the other acts of kindness and the presents which they made them. In that our province spent much money, a sum which, according to the accounts, exceeded ten thousand pesos. The thing that robbed still more their affection was on seeing that the fathers defended them when the soldiers wished to employ violence with them, for they took the part of the Indians, and softened the fury of the soldiers. By that means the Indians came to perceive two things: one that the fathers considered their good; and the other that they were higher than the soldiers, since the latter obeyed the religious and desisted from the attempted severity when the fathers ordered or petitioned them. Hence they came to infer that to stand well with the fathers and to obey them was of great profit to them, for so they were assured by the Spaniards, and among the religious they experienced no evil treatment, but everything was mild, gentle, and peaceful. Consequently, they moderated themselves and became so mild, within a year, that it caused great surprise to see those who had formerly been so wild and unmanageable become so conformable and domestic.

When our religious entered at the beginning, the children ran away from them when they saw them, and the women also hid; but the former later became so familiar with the religious that they would scarcely let them alone. When the religious entered any village, the children all descended from their houses and went behind him, and walked with him, and followed wherever he went. Scarcely would they let him walk, for some of the children seized him by the habit, and others placed their scapularies under his eyes [for him to bless?].

While the father was in the convent, it was not empty of Indians, who were going and coming, some to beg for relief in their necessities, while others begged consolation for their troubles, some medicine for their pains, and some relief in their afflictions. All found there whatever they needed, for charity serves for everything. And since the Indians beheld that of the fathers toward them, they loved them, esteemed them, and favored, and were so well inclined to their intercourse, that, on a certain occasion, when they thought that the fathers were going to leave them, and return to Manila, the sorrow manifested by all was great until the fathers undeceived them, and released them by various means of their vain fear. Those who had previously fled from the fathers, and those with whom the above-mentioned violence had to be used in order to gain admittance in the beginning, reached this condition of sociability and mildness in little more than one year....

Chapter XXXI

Fruit of the preaching of our religious in the changing of the customs of the religious

When once our religious had gained the goodwill of the Indians they immediately began to exercise the apostolic ministry of the preaching in order to eradicate their ancient vices and customs and reduce them to the perfection of a Christian life. There was much to do and accomplish in this province, for there were yet many heathens in it, and many apostates from the faith which they had received, and some, who made use of the name of Christian, living in their rancherías or visitas, far from the intercourse with, and teaching of, their ministers, were only Christians in name, but in their morals and even in their religion they were heathens, since they did not know the Christian doctrine or the mysteries of the Catholic faith, and neither prayed nor knew how to pray, nor heard mass, nor observed the feasts, nor took any account of Lent, fasting, or abstinence, and did not show any other token of a Christian. For since they lived in the mountains, in remote and distant places, where the ministers could not visit them unless by running great risks and dangers, as abovesaid, they were not sufficiently rooted in the faith which the preachers had taught them; and, living intermixed among the heathens, they easily took on their rites and customs. If, perchance, they wore the rosary at the neck it was when they were going to the villages of Christians, so that they might not be taken for heathens. But there in their rancherías among the mountains, very rarely did they wear it; for the devil had persuaded them that nothing good could happen to them if they had those beads with them. Consequently, when they went to hunt, or to commit a murder, they immediately took off the rosary, in order to obtain success in their undertaking. In short, to tell the whole thing, those Indians of Buquil were even idolaters, and although they had received baptism, they continued in their idolatries, and in their sacrifices to the demon. Only in the capitals where the fathers lived, were there a few perfect Christians; but in the rancherías and visitas, especially those of the district of Buquil, since they did not have the ministers over them, they lived in entire liberty with their ancient vices and superstitions. They killed one another without cause or reason, became intoxicated, worshiped idols, and lived together as they did before, without taking any account of their Christianity.

In order to free them from all such things our religious toiled and labored earnestly arguing, exhorting, and checking them in all patience and instruction, according to the advice of the apostle. And inasmuch as all the barbarity of their customs originated from their lack of faith, the fathers began to set before them and to explain to them the immortality of the soul, the reward or punishment of the other life, and all the other mysteries of the Catholic faith. Their instruction took so fast hold once more on the apostates and on the people of Buquil, that they looked at one another in stupefaction at what they heard the fathers say. The latter seeing the surprise that those things caused in the Indians, decided that it was necessary to start that undertaking from its very beginnings, and to teach them to pray and the instruction, which they had either never understood, or they had completely forgotten. They began that effort by the children, whom they instructed excellently in the prayers, and in the explanation of the doctrine. After them the older people went to the church, in order not to be put to the blush before the children. The latter, either by the advice of the fathers or because of their own natural loquaciousness, upbraided their elders later with the little knowledge which they had had of God before and because they had lived like heathens. By that means the elders were put to shame, and submitted to the teaching. Little by little they began to open their eyes, and to see the blindness in which they had lived. Confused and ashamed of their old way of living, they applied themselves indeed with all earnestness to learn what was necessary for salvation. The church was filled with people all day long who wished to learn the prayers and formulas, which the children prayed in a loud voice, so that the others learned them in that way. The religious preached to them quite frequently, explaining to them the mysteries of the faith, and threatening with the wrath and anger of God those who did not keep the holy commandments. They did that with so great spirit, and fervor, that it caused great terror to those who heard it, and thus daily they were becoming reduced to live according to the laws of Christians.

[The preaching of the religious is aided by divine miracles, and the religious also make use of stratagem to banish vice. An instance of the latter is as follows.]

Such was the one of which the father vicar provincial, Fray Domingo Perez, made use, to banish homicide. He frequently censured that vice in them, but for all that they were wont secretly to commit murders. The father would hear of the murder, although the aggressor was not known. Assembling all those of the village, he would declare that he would ascertain it by means of the pulse. Then he took the pulse of each one, and since confusion is natural in the criminal, especially in these Indians, who understand so little of dissimulation, when the father would take hold of the pulse of the aggressor, the latter trembled all over his body. Hence, by a happy conjecture, the father would deduce that he was the one, and then by censuring him or punishing him according to his deserts, the others were deterred from, and afraid of, committing that crime, which could never be hidden from the father, since he learned everything from the pulse. So certain were they of that, that if any of them had had anything stolen from him, he went to the father to complain, and requested him to feel the pulse of all, in order to ascertain the thief who had stolen it. And although the father usually excused himself from doing that, they could not rid themselves of the idea, which they had formed on the first occasion, that the fathers learned all things by means of the pulse. Therefore, they managed to check many of their ancient customs and superstitions.

But not so quickly did our religious learn what can not be mentioned without tears, namely, that although the Indians were apparently Christians, and were subject to the teaching of the fathers, and had abandoned some of their ancient customs, and embraced in part the observance of the divine law, yet they desired to serve God and the demon at the same time, and they desired to embrace the matters of the faith in such a manner that they should not become separated from the ancient worship which they attributed to the demon in their false gods. That matter was kept very secret among them, for since they feared lest it should reach the ears of the fathers, they had all sworn an oath to keep close concerning that fact. They kept that oath so well that it was never revealed through them. But God revealed it in a curious manner to the religious for the welfare of those miserable people. We have related in chapter xxviii that Father Fray Domingo Perez baptized a boy in Abucay, the nephew of a priest of the idols, who having been taught to read and write, and having been given devout books to read, became a very excellent Christian. He and other lads whom the father kept in the convent, asked the said religious many things concerning the faith, which he taught them and explained to them most gladly, so that daily they became more imbued in all its articles and mysteries. Three years after the entrance of our religious into that district, those lads asked the father if it was right to do such and such things, namely the idolatries which the Indians practiced, and the sacrifices which they made to the demon. The father asked them what it was that was done, and they like children went on to tell whatever they had seen their elders do, and whatever they were practicing secretly even to that time. The father’s grief at such news can well be imagined. But dissembling its effects for the time being, in order not to frighten them away from the hunt, he charged the lads to keep still about what they had told him. Summoning the schoolboys, whom he petted and treated with great kindness, he was informed by them with so great clearness on this head, that he learned who were the priests of those sacrifices, and the instruments that each one had for their diabolical functions. Also charging those children to keep still, he ordered them to tell no one what they had told him, so that their parents might not beat them. The father having learned everything very clearly, and having consulted with God concerning the matter in prayer, he resolved, when Lent came in the year 1683, to put an end to that idolatry, although he knew very well that it would be at the cost of great labor, and many troubles and dangers. For the principal priests of those sacrifices were the principal people of the village, and they were respected and venerated by all and could set afoot any treachery against him. And since they had all sworn not to reveal the matter, as he had not yet proved it, it was a point in which all were interested, and in which all would be against him.

However, having placed all his confidence in God, and with the information that he possessed of the whole matter, he began to summon one after another the chiefs, and chide each one in private for the execrable evil that he was practicing by offering sacrifice to the demon. Before that one could deny the truth to him, he said to him, “You have such and such instruments, and with them you sacrificed on such and such a day, in company with such and such a person.” To another he said: “You are a priest, and consequently, you have so many instruments kept in such a place for the sacrifices, by which you give to the demon the honor that belongs to God; and as proof of it you performed that sacrifice on such and such a day with such and such a person, and this other on such and such a day, with such and such a person.” In such wise did he examine them all and censured them for so great evil. They, seeing that he was giving them so sure proofs, considered the religious as a diviner and gave him the instruments of their idolatries. He commenced by the village of Bauguen, whose church was dedicated to Santa Rosa. By the aid and favor of the saint he collected a great number of those instruments, which some gave to him willingly and some reluctantly. He called the children, and ordered them to break up those instruments, and they obeyed immediately. “Now throw them into the privies,” said the father, “and let the children perform the necessities of nature on them.” They obeyed his order instantly, and made a mockery and jest of those instruments. The Zambals were astonished that the father and the children were not killed for the disrespect that they showed to their gods, for they believed that he who touched or profaned such instruments would die. The father preached to them, and taught them what they were to do in the future. Having finished that matter in Bauguen, he went to Balacbac to do the same; and although he had some difficulty, with the help of God, it was conquered. From Balacbac he went to the village of Alalan, and although he found the people there obstinate and pertinacious, by his kindness and arguments, he induced them to do the same that had been done in the preceding villages. Then he went to Buquil and did the same as in Playa-Honda, breaking and burning all the instruments of their idolatries. And although the father had many troubles on account of that, he stood it all with great patience, as he saw that he was performing the cause of God in this; for which, as we shall see later, they deprived him of life and made him a glorious martyr.

That so pernicious root having been torn out, the religious had no difficulty in sowing in the land of their hearts the good doctrine and teaching. The holy fear of God, the frequency of the holy sacraments, the devotion of the queen of the Angels, and the exercise of the holy rosary persuaded them. And since now the demon had left their souls, and he had been bereft of the right which he had to them, the instructions and inducements of the religious found no resistance in their hearts; and, consequently, they agreed thoroughly in all those things, and thereby they daily became more perfect, and became fervent Christians, anxious for their salvation, and given to the exercises of piety. Now one never heard, as formerly, of violent murders; and now there was no intoxication or other disorders; now the superiors were obeyed and respected by their inferiors; now one no longer heard among them a “I do not wish,” as they were wont to answer formerly; now all were safe, each in his own house, and no one thought of taking vengeance on another. They attended mass almost every day, and went to recite the rosary in the afternoon. They all wore the rosary hanging from their necks with great devotion, and recited it in their houses every night. They observed the fasts of the Church, and the days of abstinence with punctuality, for they feared greatly lest God punish them, as He did punish some for the example of others. In fine, such was the reform in their morals, and the change of life in those Indians, that the fathers themselves were surprised to see what had been wrought by the hand of God, which had changed them in the briefest of space from ravening wolves to gentle lambs, and from fierce and savage men into faithful and obedient sons of the Church. And although our religious worked mightily in this yet all the glory is due to God, who not only gave His spirit to the ministers, but also coöperated in their preaching with many manifest miracles which will be related in the following chapter.

[Chapter xxxii recounts the miraculous occurrences above mentioned, all of which resulted in greater faith and devotion to the new precepts taught by the missionaries, and instilled fear of God into the hearts of the Indians.]

Chapter XXXIII

Of another mission in the farthest villages of Yrraya in the province of Cagayan

Not only in that mission of Zambales did the province labor in that time, but also in another of not less fruit in the ends and confines of Cagayan. There were formerly four villages there, namely, Batavag, Pilitan, Bolo, and Abuatan. They comprised about two thousand houses. Those villages in the seventh year of their foundation, when although many of their inhabitants were heathens, notwithstanding that more of them were already Christians, were abandoned on the day of the Ascension of the Lord in the year 1615, by their dwellers, who retired into the interior, deceived by their aniteras or priestesses, who did not look with favor upon their Christianity, because of the profit that they lost thereby in their sacrifices and diabolical functions. And so much were those priestesses able to say to induce them to make that retirement, that at last they resolved to do it, apostatizing from the faith which they had received, as is mentioned in the first part of this history, book 2, chapter 3.[7] That apostasy caused great pain, especially to the fathers of Cagayan, who had charge of those four villages which they had founded amid severe labors, drawing their inhabitants from heathenism and luring them to the faith of Christ. When they saw now that all that they had obtained by their labor in many years was lost in one single day, they were caused great pain and disconsolation, and they saw that the fruit of their labors had been ill obtained. Therefore those fathers made a few efforts on various occasions to reduce those Indians to a settlement, but they obtained from them no further fruit than the obtaining of a few souls whom God had predestined for His glory. But since the zeal of the religious was directed to much more, namely, the reduction of all that people, they lost no opportunity for that enterprise, to solicit it with might and main.

In the year 1673, when the father commissary, Fray Phelipe Pardo, was elected provincial of this province, the definitory (as we remarked above) charged him straitly to strive for new missions and reductions of heathens to the faith of Christ. Consequently, the said father provincial going to visit the province of Cagayan, the religious of that province petitioned him to found that mission of Yrraya, and the prelate meeting their fervor, sent two religious to that district, namely, father Fray Pedro Sanchez and father Fray Geronimo de Ulloa,[8] who played the part of explorers, in order that by talking and by treating with the apostates, they might sound their minds and good will, and ascertain whether it was the season for that harvest so that they might put therein the sickle of the preaching. The two said religious went thither, and although the apostates received them well, they could not obtain what they were after by entreaty, namely, that they should reduce themselves to their former villages. For those people were prevented beforehand by the Indians of the village of Cabagan, who induced them, for their own private interests, not to return to their Christianity. In order, then, to get them to reëstablish the said villages, they were prevented from trading with the heathen, which was a source of great profit and gain to them, and at the same time those of Cabagan remained more in the interior of the province, without having so easy a place of retreat open in time of any insurrection. Just as in the wars with Portugal, some did not wish that country to be conquered, so that they might have an easy refuge in the time of any trouble, so also, those Indians of Cabagan, although Christians, induced the heathens not to become Christians, and pointed out to them the burden of the tribute, the polos, the personal services, and other penalties and troubles which the Christians feel when they are settled. What passes in this country is incredible, for on one and the same foundation, namely, greed, opposing results are built. Many Chinese heathens live here, and very rarely does one see one of them who dies without baptism, not only because of the inducements of our religious, who have charge of that mission, but also because when any of those heathens falls sick, all his relatives, even the pagans, unite in persuading him to become a Christian, not for any zeal which they have for the faith, for they remain in their paganism, but for fear lest, if they die heathens, their property might suffer some loss, as has been established in practice according to law or custom. On the contrary, it happens among the Indians, that the Christians of the villages near the heathens persuade them not to become Christians, in order that they might not lose thereby their commerce and trade, in which is placed their gain and interest. And it is not to be wondered at that the Indians do so, since they are new and recent Christians; for there are Europeans who oppose the missions greatly, for their own interest. Whatever the religious effect by their efforts is destroyed easily by an alcalde or a commandant for his own private conveniences. This has always been, and is, the cause, as abovesaid, of there being so much infidelity in these islands. In fine, the two religious whom the provincial sent, returned without it having been possible for them to obtain anything of substance, as the apostates were very obstinate because of the inducements of the people of Cabagan.

In the year 1677, a provincial chapter was held in this province. Among other ordinances established in it was the one mentioned above several times, namely, that the vicars of the villages near the heathens endeavor most earnestly to reduce them. The venerable father, Fray Pedro Ximenez,[9] an apostolic man, and one at home in missions, was elected vicar of Cabagan in that chapter. In addition to the said ordinance of the chapter, the recently-elected father provincial charged him with the reduction of those infidels and apostates. The father provincial going upon his visit, and consulting over the method of that reduction with the fathers of the province of Cagayan, sent the said father Fray Pedro Ximenez to the abovesaid site of Yrraya, assigning him as companion of that undertaking his own associate and secretary, then father Fray Andres Gonçalez, afterward bishop of Nueva Caceres. But the said father provincial having died in a few days, the said reduction ceased for the time being.

In the following year of seventy-eight, a chapter was again held in this province, and the said father Fray Pedro Ximenez was reëlected vicar of Cabagan. While that chapter was being held, the governor of these islands, at the petition of the archbishop and the bishop of Cagayan, as well as of the recently-elected father provincial, namely, father Fray Balthasar de Santa Cruz, called a council of war in regard to that reduction. In that council it was resolved that the said father Fray Pedro Ximenez, selecting five Spaniards, five Pampangos, and sixteen Indians should proceed to the reduction of those heathens, summoning them in the name of the king, our sovereign, by pardon for all their apostasies, murders, and other crimes that they had committed, and that the apostates who became reduced, would be excused from paying tribute for three years, and the heathens for ten years if they were converted. He was ordered to inform the superior government of the result of his journey so that the measures necessary and fitting for the said reduction, might be taken. With that order the said father, Fray Pedro Ximenez, went to Cagayan. The alcalde-mayor of that province furnished him with all that was needed for that undertaking, although the father refused to take any soldiers with him but only the sixteen Indians for his protection and so that they might act as rowers in the boat. The father ascended to those paramos and desert places, and by treating those heathens with kindness and gentleness he reduced many of those of a district called Ziffun to descend to settle in a place called Santa Rosa, where the village of Batavag had formerly stood. They did that immediately without any delay, and without the aid of troops or escorts. Besides them others offered themselves to the father, in number about three hundred, but since they lived farther inland, they needed escorts to accompany them and to take charge of their effects and household goods. The alcalde-mayor of that province, Admiral Don Pedro de la Peña, who was zealous for the honor of God and for the welfare of souls, was of great help with his measures. They were allowed to select a village where they wished to live. Some of them went to Cabagan, others to the said village of Santa Rosa, and others to another new village called Ytugug, which was under the advocacy of Nuestra Señora de Victoria. Besides them a hundred persons descended and founded the village of San Fernando, where the ancient village of Bolo was established. Thus of the four former villages, three have been reëstablished, namely, San Fernando, Santa Rosa, and Ytugug.

The devil was envious of that reduction, and accordingly attempted to destroy it and undo it, making use of the same instruments by which he had prevented it so many years before. He suggested then to an Indian of Cabagan to stir up the Indians who had descended, but the latter not daring to do it himself made use of a heathen called Baladdon. The latter treacherously killed twelve persons of those who had recently become settled, and through that deed the reduction was on the point of being undone and the Indians of returning to the mountains, seeing how little security there was in the villages. In order to quiet and calm them the alcalde-mayor took a hand. By means of a troop of soldiers whom he sent, he avenged those treacherous murders, by killing some of the accomplices and capturing others, in all seventy in number; and by looting their possessions and goods, which rightly went to the troops. By that vengeance which was taken on those traitors, the new villages were calmed and quieted, and the enemies were too fearful to attempt another such thing. Father Fray Pedro remained in the said new villages, instructing and teaching the apostates, and catechising heathens, in order that they might receive holy baptism.

All this news was reported in Manila, and was gladly received there by both the governor of these islands and the ministers of the royal Audiencia. Taking action for the permanence of that reduction, they ordered the alcalde of Cagayan to establish a presidio in the province of Paniqui, which was located inland, so that the said new villages might be assured, and the disturbances from the enemies cease. The said presidio was not established, for although the alcalde-mayor of the said province went by way of Cagayan, the one sent by the governor did not arrive by way of Ytuy. But the journey of the alcalde-mayor of Cagayan was not in vain, for father Fray Pedro had formerly treated with some heathens of a place called Ambayao to descend to the new villages, and now by the aid of the alcalde and his men father Fray Pedro went down to the said Indians, with their wives, families, and household goods, and reaching the village of Ytugug with them, they were allowed to choose a site in which to live. Some hundred of them remained there, while the others went down to Cabagan, Lalo, Yguig, Fotol, and to other villages.

When the matter was at the height of its success, the devil managed to put forth all his efforts in order to cause all the said reduction to cease. He so overturned affairs that the very ones charged with the movement, petitioned most earnestly that an end be put to it, relying on some opinions apparently correct, but of little profit to the mission. Hence father Fray Pedro was ordered to cease to bring heathens to settle if troops and escorts were needed for that purpose. The religious obeyed that new order and took care only to instruct those who had been reduced, and did not attempt to make further conquests with the aid of troops or escorts. But alone, without troops or noise, people kept descending those mountains, and many of them summoned him to go to get them. But since he was ordered not to take troops, with only the Indians of the new villages, some of whom were neophytes and others catechumens, he went through those deserts and collected many apostates and heathens. On one occasion, he led one hundred and fifteen persons, and one week afterward another thirty-five followed from a place called Yobat. They said to the father: “If you stay in Yobat two days more, a vast number of people will descend. Do you not hear them calling to you from afar and inviting you to go to them?” The said father did not understand it so, but thought on the contrary that they were enemies, and as he had so few people with him could not trust himself; besides those men whom he took had enough to do in carrying the children and old and sick people, and the possessions and household goods of those who descended.

Amid such glorious enterprises and tasks father Fray Pedro was employed for seven years, during which he reduced very many apostates, and baptized innumerable heathens, with whom he founded the three villages above mentioned, which are still in existence today after a period of more than sixty years. The other villages of the province were increased by those who descended from the mountains to live in them. But when the hopes of reducing all those pagans were greatest, the devil laid such snares and so many witnesses rose up against the father that it became necessary for this province to remove him from that ministry, and to transfer him to another one very distant from it. There without his rivals or least of all the devil designing it, God carried him to other reductions, of which an account will be given in due time. In the meanwhile that mission was taken charge of by other fathers who were also zealous workers, who made their raids into those mountains and the districts of the heathens from time to time, and led many of them by means of their inducements to descend to live in the settlement; in order that they might be better taught and instructed in what pertained to the welfare of their souls, until after the lapse of several years and [until] all had been disabused of their error, and of the false opinion that they were laboring under against the innocence of the said religious, the province again placed him as minister of those new villages, in order that he might continue the former reduction. By his efforts the mission was rejuvenated and finally the father ended his days there, as will be related farther on when treating of his death.

During these latter years in which this account is written, that mission has been reëstablished with seemingly more success than ever; for although the attempt has been made several times to reduce all that paganism, it has been impossible to obtain it until now as the said heathens live in remote places and are separated from communication with other provinces. Therefore, they seem almost unconvertible, as the missionaries could not live among them without notable discomfort, lack of health, and even not without danger to their lives. For on eight or more occasions that the religious have entered those mountains for the purpose of reducing the heathens who live in them, sometimes escorted by soldiers, and at other times without that aid, in all of them, they have experienced lack of health and death of the missionaries and even of the soldiers who accompanied them. Hence, the reduction of all that paganism was deemed impracticable. But now during these latter years, the earnest solicitude of the prelates has made that land communicable by opening through it a road from the province of Pangasinan to that of Cagayan. Although very heavy expenses have been incurred in this, this province considers those expenses as excellently employed, since from them has followed the conquering of the impenetrability of that land, the thing that rendered the said reduction most difficult. That difficulty having been thus removed, there has been no difficulty in the missionaries living and dwelling there permanently, as at present some religious are doing, occupied in the conversion of those heathens. Many of the latter are now baptized and are founding many new villages which make a good province distinct from those of Pangasinan and Cagayan; and it is hoped that there will be a very plentiful harvest, according to the good condition of the crops which are now apparently ripe and only need the workers from Europa to gather the fruit of our labors.

Chapter XXXIV

An intermediary congregation is celebrated in this province; notice of the mission of Vangag and of an Indian woman of especial merit.

[An intermediary chapter is held at Manila in May, 1680, at which notice is given of the entrance of the Dominicans into Zambales. The following houses of that province are accepted: Santiago of Bolinao; San Andres of Masinloc; Nuestra Señora de el Rosario, of Marivelez; Nuestra Señora de el Sagrario, of Nuevo Toledo; Nuestra Señora de la Soledad, of Paynaven; Nuestro Padre Santo Domingo, of Alalang; Santa Rosa, of Baubuen. Ten religious are assigned to them. The house of San Thelmo, of Apparri, located at the port of the province of Cagayan, is also accepted. “The vicar of the house of Binmaley was given a vote in the provincial chapters, and the vicar of the island of the Babuyanes was given a vote in the intermediary assemblies.”]

One of the missions which flourished with great fruit in this province during that time was the mission of Palavig, which is the mission now called Vangac. This is a mission on the coast of Cagayan near the mountains of Paranàn which end at the cape called Engaño [i.e., deceit]. The land of this island becomes more lofty as it approaches nearer the north. That mission is composed of Visayan Indians of the opposite coast of that province, who fleeing from the village of Paranàn and from other villages, inhabit those inaccessible mountains, where they are safe because of the inaccessibility of those ridges. Among them are some Christian apostates and many heathens who were born in the mountains. On the brow of those mountains that mission was founded in the year 1653 by the earnest and laborious efforts of the venerable father, Fray Juan Uguet, under the advocacy of St. Thomas of Aquinas. And when the mission was in a good condition, and there were many recently-baptized people in it, and others reconciled from their apostasy, they were frightened by the Indians of the village of Buguey, and they consequently returned immediately to the mountain, and the mission was abandoned and destroyed, and all the toil of the father came to nought through the persuasions of those bad citizens. It was God’s will to have them reunite at the same site of Palavig, through the inducements of some zealous missionaries, but they afterward left it again because of the annoyances which they suffered annually from a commandant who goes to that district to watch for the ship from Acapulco. Under that pretext he usually causes considerable vexation to the Indians of the village of Buguey, and much more to those of the mission as they are naturally a very pusillanimous race. Hence, that mission has suffered its ups and its downs, for however much the fathers labored in it, the inhabitants of Buguey by their persuasions, and that commandant by his bad treatment, destroyed their labors. It is now about twenty-five years since they returned to settle on a creek called Bavag under the advocacy of St. Michael, who among other saints fell to their lot. Thence they moved to Vangag, in order to draw those people from the mountain whence they had gone. For the same reason, they were moved on another occasion to a site called Dao, which is the site where they still live, although still under the title of Vang̃ag.

[Salazar relates the steadfastness of a native girl at the above mission, who was of considerable use to the missionaries. Two fathers while on an expedition concerned with the mission, are carried across a river by Negritos, of which race Salazar says:]

Those blacks of those mountains are very barbarous and ferocious, above all the other inhabitants of Cagayan.... Those black men of the mountain flee from the water even more than from fire; for every night in order to go to sleep, they make a fire in the open, and sleep on the cinders or hot ashes, but they will never bathe or wash, in order not to get wet, although they stand so greatly in need of it, and bathing is a common and daily thing among the other natives of this country.[10]

[The Negritos’ hatred of bathing makes our author imagine that those who carried the fathers across the river are spirits sent by God to aid His chosen ones in their trouble. The chapter ends with an account of a pious Indian woman who dies in Abucay. Following this chapter, the missions of the Asiatic mainland and the Pardo troubles and controversy are discussed in chapters xxxv–xlviii; and the lives and deaths of various Dominicans in chapters xlix–lxii, of which chapters l–lv treat of Fray Domingo Perez (see VOL. XXXIX, pp. 149–275).]

Chapter LXIII

A new band of religious arrives in the province, one of whom dies at sea

[More than two hundred religious went to the Philippines in 1684, as recruits for the orders of St. Francis, St. Augustine (both calced and discalced), and St. Dominic. Those for the last-named order number forty-nine, “which is the most abundant succor which has reached this province since its foundation.”[11] Those missionaries are as follows:]

The said father, Fray Jacinto Jorva, son of the convent of Santa Catharina Martyr, of Barcelona.

Father Fray Francisco Miranda, of the convent of San Pablo, of Valladolid, and collegiate of San Gregorio of the same city.

Father Fray Pedro Mexorada, of the convent of San Estevan, of Salamanca.

Father Fray Diego Piñero, of the province of Andalucia.

Father Fray Diego Velez, of the province of España.

Father Fray Juan Truxillo, of the convent of Santo Domingo, of Xerez.

Father Fray Miguel de la Villa, of the convent of San Pablo, of Sevilla.

Father Fray Sebastian de el Castillo, of the same convent.

Father Fray Francisco Marquez, of the convent of San Pablo, of Cordova.

Father Fray Thomas Croquer, of the convent of Santo Domingo, of Xerez.

Father Fray Thomas de Gurruchategui, of the convent of San Estevan, of Salamanca.

Father Fray Antonio Beriain, of the convent of Santo Domingo, of Victoria.

Father Fray Joseph Beltroli.

Father Fray Jacobo de el Munt.

Father Fray Juan de Soto, of the convent of San Pablo, of Palencia.

Father Fray Pedro Martin.

Father Fray Diego Casanueva.

Father Fray Gaspar Carrasco.

Father Fray Manuel Ramos, of the convent of San Estevan, of Salamanca.

Father Fray Miguel de San Raymundo.

Father Fray Raymundo de Santa Rosa.

Father Fray Sebastian Bordas, of the convent of Santo Domingo, of Mexico.

Father Fray Juan de Abenojar.

Father Fray Diego Vilches, of the convent of San Pablo, of Sevilla.

Father Fray Antonio de Santo Thomas, a Pole.

Father Fray Francisco de la Vega.

Father Fray Nicolas de el Olmo, of the convent of San Estevan, of Salamanca.

Father Fray Francisco Morales, of the same convent.

Father Fray Gabriel Serrano, of the same convent.

Father Fray Santiago de Monteagudo, of the convent of Santiago, of Galicia.

Father Fray Francisco Ruiz.

Father Fray Julian de la Cruz.

Father Fray Juan de la Barrera.

Father Fray Joseph Plana, of the convent of Xirona.

Father Fray Juan de la Nava, of the convent of San Pablo, of Cordova.

Father Fray Juan Romero, of the convent of San Gines, of Talavera.

Father Fray Francisco Gomez, of the convent of Santo Thomas, of Avila.

Father Fray Thomas Escat, of the convent of Santa Catharina Martyr, of Barcelona.

Father Fray Diego Arriola.

Father Fray Blas Iglesias, of the convent of San Vicente, of Plasencia.

Father Fray Miguel Matos, of the convent of Nuestra Señora de la Candelaria, of the Canary Islands.

Fray Fernando Ybañez, deacon.

Fray Thomas de Plasencia, acolyte.

And six lay-brethren, who are the following:

Fray Francisco Tostado, of the convent of San Pablo, of Sevilla.

Fray Manuel Santos, of the convent of Santa Cruz, of Segovia.

Fray Juan Ruiz, of the convent of Santa Cruz, of Villaescusa.

Fray Thomas Gomez.

Fray Manuel Gonçales.

And Fray Lucas de el Moro, of the convent of Nuestra Señora, of Atocha.

[To this band must be added the name of Fray Juan Marcort, son of the convent of Xirona, who died at sea after the vessel had left the port of Acapulco.]

[Chapter lxiv treats of an English pirate (Dampier) who cruises among the Babuyanes, and defiles a church of the Dominicans. Chapter lxv, the last of the first book, reviews the life of Fray Antonio Calderon, who dies while provincial of his order. Chapter i, of the second book, records the election as provincial of Fray Bartholome Marron.]

Chapter II

Of the reduction of the Mandayas Indians to our holy faith

[Father Pedro Ximenez, who had labored for six years in the mission of Irraya, being compelled to leave that place because of slanderous reports, is sent in 1684 to the village of Fotol, on the border of the Mandaya country in the central part of Luzón. The needs that he finds there will not allow him to take the rest that he has planned after his active and laborious campaign against infidelity in Irraya, and he takes up his work in the new mission with undiminished zeal. The people of Fotol he finds in the midst of famine, for the fierce Mandayas[12] of the uplands will not allow them to cultivate their fields. The father resolves upon the reduction of the Mandayas. He begins by writing letters to an influential apostate who is living in the mountain region, and those letters so stir up the conscience and memory of that man that he resumes the faith which he had abandoned, and is later of great service to the father, and lives in Christian humility until his death which occurs within a short time. Not without hindrances from the evil one, however, are the efforts of the gospel worker. That enemy of mankind causes an inhabitant of the village of Nabayugan to murder another heathen, whereupon all is confusion and the breathing forth of threats. The father learning that that murder may be atoned for by two ways, namely, by fighting or by a fine, promises to pay for it himself in the interests of peace. Through his native ambassadors he sends a present of shirts, salt, needles, combs, and tibors, to the aggrieved faction. Won by such generous kindness, the ambassadors are treated most cordially, and a favorable answer sent to the father, and they promise to descend the mountain to meet him near Capinatan. The energetic priest immediately sets out, but the devil ever watchful in the interests of his evil trade, manages to upset the boat in which the father is journeying on the river at the hour of midnight. However, nothing but a wetting and considerable discomfort is the result, and next day Fray Pedro meets the heathens. After a stay with them of two days, the father returns accompanied by two chiefs and four others of the heathens, a not slight undertaking on the part of those timid people, as they are in constant fear of treachery. They return to the mountains after short visits to the villages of Capinatan and Affulug, accompanied by some of the inhabitants of the former village. Among their people they relate the good treatment which they have received from the father, “as well as from the commandant of the fort, who really aided considerably in that reduction by his affability, kindness, and good treatment. If the other commandants of the forts near the heathens carried themselves in that manner, they could gather more fruit than the fathers for their conversion and reduction. But the pity is that most of them not only do not aid, but even offer opposition on this point, and think only of their profit and interests.” Once more the devil endeavors to destroy the peace which seems about to spread throughout the district. One of three heathens, who go down to the village of Malaueg, is killed by the inhabitants of that place, and the other two are seized and sent to the commandant of Nueva Segovia. To their surprise that commandant, instead of praising them for their vigilance, seizes the captors and frees the captives, the latter upon the supplication of the father, being sent to him and returned to their people. Other troubles are also satisfactorily settled through the agency of Fray Pedro. At his invitation twenty-two of the heathens accompany him to Apparri, where the alcalde-mayor confers on them titles and honors, thus increasing the favorable opinion of the Mandayas. The village of Calatug still proves an obstacle to the general peace, for they are hostile to the Mandayas, and have declared that if the latter become reduced they will attack and kill them. The Mandayas who wish to become civilized, after holding a council, resolve to ask aid of the alcalde-mayor against the village of Calatug, and that aid is promised them. Meanwhile it is reported that there is a plot to kill Fray Pedro, and that all the friendliness of the Mandayas is only treachery. Refusing to believe that, the father determines, against advice from all sides, and a vigorous protest from the commandant of the fort at Capinatan, to ascend the mountains in company with only one Mandaya and his daughter, and the necessary rowers, eight in number. His confidence is well answered by the joyful reception accorded him by the Mandayas, among whom he remains for about a fortnight. The following September, in conformity with his promise he again ascends the mountains, and at that time a church is built which is dedicated to Nuestra Señora de la Peña de Francia. In 1686 that church numbers more than one thousand three hundred converts and apostates who have come back to the faith. The number of converts in that mission is opportunely increased by an epidemic of smallpox, when the mercy of God is seen in many, both those who die and those who recover. In 1687 the growth of the work causes the chapter held that year to assign Fray Pedro two associates, and in 1688 he is made an independent missionary and given one other associate. That increase enables him to found another village in a district less mountainous and hence less difficult to administer, and soon there is a Christian population of over five hundred there. But the father falling ill, and finding it necessary to retire, the people of Calatug, still hostile to the Mandayas, assault the village, and all but one hundred and forty of them are either killed or flee to the mountains. Them the alcalde-mayor of the province removes to the village of Camalayugan, and that mission comes to an end.]

[Chapters iii–ix discuss the lives of various gospel workers, and Chinese affairs. Chapter x treats of certain miracles that occurred in the hospital of San Gabriel.]

Chapter XI

Of the intermediary congregation of the year eighty-eight, and the houses which were accepted by it.

[In 1688 the intermediary chapter held at Manila, accepted the ministries of San Policarpo of Tabuco and its adjacent ministries of Santo Thomas and El Rosario; and that of San Bartholome of Anno in Pangasinan. The first had been assigned to the Dominicans in 1685 by Felipe Pardo because of the lack of seculars to administer it and they keep it until the death of that archbishop, when it again passes into the control of the seculars. Much has been done there in the meanwhile by the religious entrusted with its administration, namely, Fray Juan Ybañez de Santo Domingo and two associates. The other house of San Bartolome was founded for the reduction of the Igorots and Alaguetes in its neighborhood. With the ones converted from those peoples and some oldtime Christians from Pangasinan, the village soon acquires considerable Christian population and a church and convent are built at the cost of the Dominican province. Since the location of the mission is poor, and communication with the nearest Dominican houses of Pangasinan difficult, an intermediary mission is founded midway between San Bartolome and the other missions, to which is given the name of San Luis Beltran. In the mission, many are baptized, “especially of the Alaguetes, who were more docile than the Igorots, although also many of the latter were converted.” That mission lasts more than twenty years. In 1709 or 1710 “because of disputes that arose between those of the village and the Igorots, who lived in the mountain, the latter descended the mountain at night and set fire to the village, without being perceived.” Consequently the village is deserted, and the father and the inhabitants remove to San Luis Beltran, which being farther from the mountains is safer. After six years there, a government decree removes them to Maoacatoacat. Later the mission is moved to Pao, and finally to Manaoag. But since the natives dislike to leave the sites where they are settled, and also enjoy a life of freedom where they are not molested by the tribute, many of the inhabitants refuse to move at the successive transfers. Falling into relaxation in consequence, many become infidels, and their number is increased by others who flee to them to escape the tribute and the restrictions of religion. In 1732, in response to a petition by the Dominican provincial, the government again establishes a mission village in San Luis Beltran. Starting thence, a new mission is opened on almost the same site of San Bartolome under the name of San Joseph at a site called Maliongliong for the conversion of the Igorots. As a result of the efforts put forth there, a new province called Paniqui is opened up which is in charge of four Dominican religious. Much fruit is gathered for the faith in that region.]

[Chapters xii–xxi treat of the lives of various missionaries, among them that of the famous Fray Felipe Pardo.]

Chapter XXII

Election as provincial of the father commissary, Fray Christoval Pedroche, and founding of the mission of Tuga.

[The above father is elected provincial in 1690, after his return from exile to Nueva España, on account of the Pardo troubles. During his term there is considerable activity among the Chinese missions, those of Batanes, and that of Tuga. This last mission is the outcome of the work of father Fray Juan Yñiguez,[13] who is entrusted in 1688 “with the conversion of the Indians of Mananig and the other neighboring nations who inhabited the rough mountains near the village of Tuao in the province of Cagayan, on the western side of the said village; and extend north and south for many leguas. At the same time the said father was charged to learn the language peculiar to that country of Ytabes,[14] and compile a grammar and lexicon in it.... In the short space of six months, he learned the language of the Ytabes, and reduced it to a very detailed grammar.... In the same time he founded a new village in the mission in the very lands of the heathens about six leguas south of the village of Tuao, on a plateau below the creek of Tuga, whence that mission took its name, which it keeps even in our times.” The church built there is dedicated to St. Joseph, and mass said on the second of February, 1689. Notwithstanding the many oppositions offered to the new mission, it grows and prospers. At the end of eight years, the mission is moved to a more pleasant site two leagues nearer Tuao, and although it receives the name of Tuga there, it is sometimes called San Joseph de Bambang, from a mountain called Bambang. In 1710, lack of friars causes the abandonment of Tuga as an active mission, and it becomes a visita of Tuao. That epoch marks its decline, and in 1715, after many have fled to the mountains where they have resumed their pagan life, the remaining Christians are transferred to Tuao. “After the year 1718 the whole province of Cagayan rose in revolt[15], and that disturbance began especially in that district of Ytabes where the said village of Tuao is located. Thereupon the new Christians of the mission who had assembled in that village, returned to their former sites and mountains, and apostatized from the faith which they had received.” At the close of that insurrection, the Dominicans attempt to regain the ground that they had lost. In 1722 a friar is assigned to that mission to regain the apostates and work for new conversions among the heathens. Both objects are largely fulfilled. In 1731, the missionary established there, Fernando de Lara, moves the site of the mission still nearer to Tuao because of the greater conveniences. The new site which is maintained is called Orac, although it is still called by the former name of Tuga.]

Chapter XXIII

Foundation of the mission of Batanes; death of Fray Matheo Gonçalez, and Fray Juan Rois in those islands.

[At the chapter meeting of 1680, Father Matheo Gonçalez[16] is chosen vicar of the Babuyanes Islands which lie north of the province of Cagayan. His work there is successful and he reduces many to the faith, those who are baptized moving to the chief village where the church and convent are located. Extending his labors to the farthest of the Babuyanes Islands, the father arrives there at the time when a volcano is filling its natives with terror. Taking advantage of the situation, he so adds to their terror by his preaching that both apostates (of whom many have gone to that island) and heathen resolve to leave the island and go to Cagayan with the father. Leaving en masse they are taken to Cagayan and form a new village on the seacoast between the two villages of Yguig and Nassiping. That village is however suppressed later by order of the government, and its inhabitants return to the Babuyanes. Another village called Amulung is stationed there in 1733 which is formed of Indians from other villages, and a church and convent established there. Casting their eyes to the three Batanes Islands north of the Babuyanes,[17] and thirty leagues from Cagayan, the Dominicans plan for their spiritual conquest; but not until the year 1686 can anything be done. In that year Fray Matheo Gonçalez is again appointed vicar of the Babuyanes, and given Fray Diego Piñero[18] as associate. They visit the Batanes with the object of exploring them and learning the language. The islands appear ripe for the harvest but more laborers are needed. Consequently, as it is the time for the intermediary chapter the vicar returns to Cagayan for help, leaving Fray Diego Piñero alone. One other worker, Fray Juan de Rois is assigned to the field. But scarcely have the three fathers begun their labors when sickness causes the death of the father vicar and his latest associate, whereupon Fray Diego Piñero, notwithstanding the murmurs of the natives, returns to Cagayan to seek more aid. But no more religious can be spared just then for there is a great lack of them for even the settled missions. Not for thirty years later (1718) is another attempt made in the Batanes, when Fray Juan Bel being appointed vicar of the Babuyanes, visits them. In 1720, as a consequence to his report, five religious are assigned for the mission. As the Batanes are not healthful for Europeans, the island of Calayan[19] midway between the Batanes and the Babuyanes is chosen as the place of residence for the new mission. In that island as many as possible of the new converts are removed, and the church and convent are established there. The king being petitioned bears part of the expenses of the transferring of the converts to Calayan. The venture is successful, and at the time of Salazar’s writing (1742), the mission still exists.]

[Chapters xxiv–xxxiii discuss the lives and work of various missionaries, and Chinese affairs.]

[Chapter xxxiv treats of the life of Mother Sebastiana de Santa Maria, a native woman, who became a member of the tertiary branch of the Dominican order.]

Chapter XXXV

Foundation of the mission of Santa Cruz in Cagayan; and the death of two most virtuous hermits in this province.

In the year 1693, the mission of Santa Cruz was established at a place called Gumpat, near a visita of Malaveg, called Santa Cruz, whence the mission took its name. It was founded by father Fray Joseph Galfaroso,[20] or de la Santissima Trinidad, son of the convent of Pamplona, a man most zealous for the welfare of souls. While vicar of Malaveg, he, not being satisfied with the administration of the said village, made various entrances through the neighboring mountains in search of the heathens who lived in them, in order to lure them to the bosom of our holy faith. Those mountains are rough and broken, and the heathen who inhabit them are very brave, and give the Christian villages much to do with their continual raids and assaults with which they keep them terrified. Among those heathens of the mountain, a chief named Don Joseph Bucayu, who was the terror of all those mountains and of the neighboring villages, was prominent for his valor and courage, and was feared by all. This man God wished to take as the instrument for the foundation of that mission, for with the authority and respect that all had for him, he could attract many to his side, and taking example from him whom they considered their leader, many should embrace our holy faith.

[Through the grace of God, the fierce heart of this chief is softened and he embraces the faith, and by the force of his example draws many after him. He becomes the chief pillar of the new mission that is formed at Santa Cruz. Great success attends that mission until the year of the insurrection in Cagayan (1718), when that place is also deserted and its inhabitants take to the mountains. The remainder of this chapter is concerned with the life and death of Domingo Pinto of the tertiary branch of the Dominicans, who had lived as a hermit for twenty-three years; and information concerning a man known as Diego Peccador (i.e., Sinner), a Spaniard presumably of good blood, who lived as a hermit close beside the church at San Juan del Monte, for five or six years, practicing the most austere penances and mortifications, after which he disappeared and nothing else was heard of him.]

Chapter XXXVI

Election of the father commissary, Fray Juan de Santo Domingo[21] as provincial. Mention of the deceased of the records of that time. The new mission of religious which arrived at the province that year.

[The above-named father is elected provincial in 1694. At that chapter meeting mention is made of two members of the order who have passed away—Fray Manuel Trigueros, who dies in China in 1693; and Sister Mariana Salzedo; of the tertiary branch of the order, a Spanish woman. In 1694 a band of thirty-eight religious arrives at the islands,[22] which has been collected in Spain by Fray Francisco Villalba, who has been exiled from the islands by order of the Audiencia in consequence of the Pardo troubles. Of the original number of forty religious in this band two remain in Mexico. The names of the thirty-eight men are as follows:]

The father lector, Fray Pedro Muñoz, son of the convent of Nuestra Señora, of Atocha.

The father lector, Fray Francisco Cantero, son of the convent of San Pablo, of Ezija.

Father Fray Vicente de el Riesgo, son of the convent of Leon.

The father lector, Fray Jayme Mimbela, son of the convent of Preachers of Zaragoça, and collegiate of the college of San Vicente, of the same city, who afterward became bishop of Santa Cruz, of the port of Perù, and later of Truxillo.

Father Fray Pedro de Santa Theresa, son of the very religious convent of Nuestra Señora, of Las Caldas.

Father Fray Fernando Diaz, son of the convent of San Pablo, of Palencia.

Father Fray Francisco Gonçalez de San Pedro, son of San Estevan, of Salamanca.

Father Fray Juan Cavallero, son of the convent of San Pablo, of Valladolid.

Father Fray Joseph Martin, of the convent of San Ginès, of Talavera.

Father Fray Alonso Robles, of the convent of Salamanca.

Father Fray Alonso Texedor, of the convent of Valladolid.

Father Fray Francisco Marzan, of the convent of Santo Thomas, of Avila.

Father Fray Marcos de Arroyuelo, of the convent of San Pablo, of Burgos.

Father Fray Juan Ruiz de Tovar, of the convent of Santo Domingo, of Oviedo.

Father Fray Francisco Gonçalez, of the convent of Salamanca.

Father Fray Juan Gonçalez, of the same convent.

Father Fray Fernando de la Motta, of the convent of Valladolid.

Father Fray Francisco de Escalante, of the convent of San Pedro Martir, of Toledo.

Father Fray Andres Lozano, of the convent of San Pablo, of Sevilla.

Father Fray Diego Ballesteros, son of the convent of Toledo.

Father Fray Manuel de Santa Cruz, of the convent of Avila.

Father Fray Geronimo Martin, of the convent of Valladolid.

Father Fray Lorenzo Fernandez, of the convent of San Pablo, of Sevilla.

Father Fray Joseph de el Rosario, of the convent of San Ildephonso of Zaragoça.

Father Fray Manuel Ruiz, of the convent of Salamanca.

Father Fray Pedro Vegas, of the convent of Santo Domingo, of Ocaña.

Father Fray Francisco Lopez, of the convent of Salamanca.

Father Fray Antonio Ruidiaz, of the convent of Valladolid.

All the above were already priests. Those who came as choristers are the following:

Fray Manuel de Escobedo, deacon, of the convent of Nuestra Señora, of Atocha.

Fray Juan de Astudillo, deacon, of the convent of Santo Thomas, of Madrid.

Fray Pedro Humanes, deacon, of the convent of San Pablo, of Sevilla.

Fray Diego Constantino, of the convent of Atocha.

Fray Martin de Oña y Ocadiz, of the convent of Burgos.

Fray Diego Liaño, of the same convent.

And Fray Francisco Novarin, an Asturian, son of Santo Domingo, of Mexico.

And two religious lay-brothers: the first, Fray Francisco de Toledo, son of the convent of Guadalaxara; and the second, Fray Vicente de el Castillo, son of the convent of Burgos. In addition there were two others, who as above said remained in Mexico with the father vicar, Fray Francisco Villalba, who could not return to the province because of his sentence of exile.

[With that band also comes one Fray Domingo Mezquita, who had first gone to the Philippines in 1671, but after some years residence there had returned secretly to Spain. Moved again by the will of God, he returns to the islands where he dies after some years. Those missionaries are detained in Mexico for two years waiting for a ship. Finally a ship is bought at Acapulco in which is sent the royal situado, the Dominican religious, a mission band of sixty Recollects, and a few soldiers. After a voyage fraught with danger, for the ship is old and rotten, the harbor of Cavite is finally reached June 28, and as soon as all the cargo and passengers are safely off, it founders. The much-needed missionaries are distributed among the Philippine and Chinese missions.]

[Chapters xxxvii and xxxviii treat of the Chinese missions and the lives and work of certain fathers. Chapter xxxix notes the celebration of the intermediary chapter of 1696, and treats of members of the Dominican order who die during this period: namely, father Fray Diego Vilches, a Montañes native, who takes the habit at the Sevilla convent; and Doña Antonio de Jesus y Esguerra, a Spanish woman, and a member of the tertiary branch of the order. Chapters xl–xliii relate the foundation and progress of the beaterio of Santa Catharina, of Manila. The disputes between Archbishop Camacho and the orders (see VOL. XLII, pp. 25–116) and the questions of the friars’ estates, are taken up in chapters xliv–xlvi. The following chapter records the results of the provincial chapter of April 10, 1698, and states the condition of both Philippine and Chinese missions. That chapter accepted the mission of San Luis Beltran (of which mention is made in an earlier chapter) in Pangasinan. The mission work of that district results in the intermarriage of Pangasinans and Alaguetes, and the idiom of Pangasinan becomes the common language. Chapter xlviii reviews the lives of prominent members of the order who die in this period: Fray Francisco Sanchez, Fray Francisco de Escalante, and Sister Jacinta de la Encarnacion, of the beaterio.]

Chapter XLIX

New reënforcement of religious, which arrived at this province, and the voyage of two of them to Kun-King.

[In 1699 a band of thirty-seven missionaries reaches the province. They have been collected by Fray Francisco Villalba (his third mission) who escorts them to Acapulco.[23] Those missionaries are as follows:]

The father lector, Fray Thomas Tocho, son of the royal convent of Santo Domingo, of Mallorca.

The father lector, Fray Francisco de Barrera, son of the convent of Santa Maria, of Nieva.

The father preacher, Fray Juan Martinez, son of the convent of San Pablo, of Burgos.

The father lector, Fray Juan de Toro, son of the royal convent of San Pablo, of Sevilla.

The father lector, Fray Antonio Diaz, son of the convent of San Pablo, of Valladolid.

Father Fray Antonio Gonçalez Laso, son of the convent of La Puebla de los Angeles.

Father Fray Phelipe Fernandez, son of the royal convent of Santa Maria, of Nieva.

Father Fray Diego Perez de Matta, son of the royal convent of Santo Domingo, of Mexico.