The Philippine Islands, 1493-1898: Volume 48, 1751-1765 / 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

Map of the Philippine Islands; photographic facsimile from original map in Murillo Velarde’s Historia de la provincia de Philipinas (Manila, 1749)

[From copy in possession of Edward E. Ayer, Chicago]

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 XLVIII, 1751–1765

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
MCMVII

CONTENTS OF VOLUME XLVIII

• [Usurpation of Indian lands by friars]. Fernando VI; San Lorenzo, November 7, 1751 27
• [Moro raids repulsed by Visayans]. [Unsigned]; Manila, [1755] 37
• [Augustinian parishes and missions, 1760]. Pedro Velasco, O.S.A.; Tondo, April 16, 1760 52
• [Later Augustinian and Dominican missions]. Antonio Mozo, O.S.A.; Madrid, 1763. Bernardo Ustáriz, O.P.; Manila, 1745 59
• [Events in Filipinas, 1739–1762]. [Compiled from Martinez de Zúñiga and other writers.] 137

ILLUSTRATIONS

PREFACE

The contents of the present volume (dated 1751–65) include accounts of the missionary efforts of the Augustinian and Dominican orders, and events in Filipinas from 1739 to the beginning of the English invasion; and the survey of the condition and needs of the islands which is presented in the memorial by the royal fiscal Viana. A valuable feature in the missionary reports is the ethnological information furnished therein regarding the savage tribes of Central Luzón; and the self-sacrifice and devotion of the missionaries themselves appear in striking contrast with the unscrupulous greed displayed, as one of the short documents shows, in the management of the friar estates near Manila. The times are troublous for the colony: several insurrections occur among the natives, the Acapulco galleon of 1743 is captured by the English, the Moro pirates ravage the archipelago with enormous destruction of life and property, and the Spaniards are defeated by them. Governor Arandia attempts to establish reforms, and thus incurs much odium; he is engaged in numerous controversies, and finally dies. Viana’s memorial presents a vivid picture of the distressed condition of the Philippine colony after the English invasion, its urgent need of relief, and the ways in which this may be accomplished.

A letter by Fernando VI to the Manila Audiencia (November 7, 1751) expresses his approval of the proceedings of Auditor Enriquez in pacifying the insurgent Indians of certain villages near Manila and in Bulacan—a revolt caused by the usurpation of Indian lands by the managers of the friar estates, and the fraudulent proceedings of government officials who aided such usurpation. Enriquez had pacified the natives, deprived the friars of such lands as they held illegally, and distributed these among those natives who were aggrieved; he also investigated the titles by which the orders held their estates, and regulated the proper boundaries of their lands. The king also commands the Manila government to exercise vigilant care for the welfare of the Indians, and to notify them that in their difficulties they must have recourse to the royal fiscal for redress or aid.

In a rare pamphlet published at Manila in 1755, apparently written by one of the Jesuit missionaries in Leyte, are enumerated various instances when the raids of Moro pirates against the Visayan villages in 1754 are repulsed by the natives, under the direction of their spiritual guides; and one of these, the defense of Palompong, is related at length. An official report (in MS.) made by the Augustinian provincial (1760) shows the parishes and missions then in charge of his order in the Philippines, with the population (classified as to sex, age, etc.) of each one.

In the eighteenth century several important missions were conducted by the Augustinians and Dominicans among the savage and untamed head-hunting tribes of Central Luzón. Those of the former order are recorded by Fray Antonio Mozo in his Noticia histórico natural (Madrid, 1763); he presents much valuable information regarding those people, whose first contact with European civilization was mainly found in their intercourse with those missionaries. This begins, for the Italons (now called Ibilao) and Abacas in 1702, when the Augustinians attempt to christianize them—with fair success, considering the wildness and ferocity of those people. They also carry the gospel among the Isinay, a work which the Dominicans had been compelled to abandon as hopeless; and within a quarter of a century the entire tribe have been baptized and civilized by Fray Alejandro Cacho. In 1740 these Isinay missions are ceded to the Dominican order. Among all these wild peoples, the missionaries have introduced not only the gospel, but instruction in farming and irrigation, and supplies of cattle and plows; and, wherever possible, they have formed “reductions” or settlements of their converts, usually in localities best adapted to the cultivation of the soil.

The Augustinians carry on their missions among the Ilocans, the Tinguians, the Igorots, the Zambals, and the Negritos—this last having stations throughout the islands; also in Cebú and Panay, and in China. Mozo narrates the progress of these missions, but devotes much of his space to accounts of the wild tribes and their peculiar customs and beliefs; this is especially fortunate for our purpose in regard to the Negritos, about whom less has been known than about the other Philippine peoples, Mozo’s residence of three years among them rendering his observations extremely valuable. He also gave particular attention to the practices and medicines used by the natives in sickness, and to the plants which are useful therein. Among these missions the most arduous, according to our writer, was that to the “apostates” and infidels who had taken refuge in a certain mountainous and densely-wooded district; these renegades and heathen dwelt together, each making the other worse. Among these people were preserved many of the ancient pagan customs which the missionaries had in most places been able to extirpate; and these are described by Mozo. Even in this hard field, “multitudes of infidels were baptized and hundreds of apostates reclaimed.” The Augustinians also conduct missions in the interior of Cebú and Panay, where not only are the mountains rugged and the forests dense, but there are wizards among the natives who “by conversing with the demon do things which cause terror;” some account of their practices is given, as also of the converts gained by missionaries among those people. He then describes some of the medicines that are used by the natives. Among these are the gall and fat of the python; a stone which, when applied to a woman’s thigh, would facilitate childbirth; and a plant which intoxicates and infuriates those who go into battle. Another plant temporarily paralyzes the muscular system. Mozo concludes with an account of the Augustinian missions in China, which does not concern our work.

Some account of the Dominican missions in Central Luzón is given by Bernardo Ustáriz (Manila, 1745) and Manuel del Río (Mexico? ca. 1740). In Paniqui the missionaries have formed within six years seven native churches, with nearly a thousand converts; they are erecting substantial wooden buildings for religious purposes, and have opened new roads and repaired old ones in order to facilitate intercourse between the provinces. A neighboring tribe of head-hunters have harassed the Christian districts, but a government expedition is sent against them and checks their insolence; this success greatly increases that of the missions, to which hundreds of natives flock for instruction and baptism. Río gives a more detailed account of the Paniqui mission, and of its early beginnings. Some of the first missionaries were poisoned by heathen savages. The most interesting feature of the Dominicans’ labor in this region is their opening a high-road from Asingan, Pangasinan, to Buhay in Ituy.

A brief résumé of events during the period 1739–62 is compiled from the histories of the time; we have used for most of it Zúñiga’s narrative, copiously annotated from Concepción’s and others. The royal fiscal Arroyo is imprisoned by Governor Torre, in accordance with an order issued by his predecessor; finally, the king orders restitution of the fiscal’s office, salary, and confiscated goods, but this finds the unfortunate prisoner dead (1743). In the same year the English commander Anson captures the Acapulco galleon “Covadonga,” which causes heavy loss to Manila. Two years later, Governor Torre dies, after a troublous administration in which he incurs general odium. A revolt of the natives in Balayan and Taal is promptly quelled. Torre is succeeded by the bishop of Nueva Caceres, Juan de Arrechedera, a Dominican; his administration is vigorous, and he does much for the defense of Manila against possible enemies. In 1747 the new archbishop of Manila arrives in the islands, but Arrechedera retains the office of governor. An insurrection of the natives in Bohol is easily quelled. The king of Spain writes conciliatory letters to the sultans of Mindanao and Joló, who profess friendship, but prove to be scheming and unreliable; they permit Jesuit missionaries to enter their countries, but these are soon obliged to take refuge in Zamboanga. A rebellion in Joló obliges its ruler to flee to Manila. In 1750 a new governor arrives there, Francisco de Ovando; he finds much to do in making the little navy of the islands effective and in equipping a squadron against the Moros. He sends Alimudin back to his kingdom; but at Zamboanga the sultan’s actions are so indicative of treachery that he and all his household are arrested and sent to Manila. War is then declared against the Joloans, and another expedition is sent to attack them, but the Spaniards are obliged to fall back on Zamboanga. This is followed by piratical ravages throughout Filipinas, causing enormous losses of property, and of persons taken captive by the Moros. Ovando sends the captive Alimudin with a fleet to restore him to the throne of Joló; but at Zamboanga he is suspected of disloyalty and treachery, and is sent back to Manila as a prisoner. The Spaniards attack the town of Joló, but are repulsed; this encourages the pirates to renew their raids, and the Visayan Islands (and even Luzón) are cruelly harried. Ovando is succeeded (1754) by Arandia as governor; he institutes reforms in all directions, thus drawing upon himself much animosity, in both secular and ecclesiastical quarters; and he makes treaties with the Joloans. The Dominican missions are reestablished in the Batanes Islands; and that order takes charge of the Isinay missions in Luzón, which are conferred on it by the Augustinians. Zúñiga records his opinions regarding the character of the Filipino natives and the proper methods of conducting missions among them. In 1757 certain ecclesiastical controversies in Tungquin are ended by decrees issued at Rome. Arandia expels the heathen Chinese from the islands, and builds for their trade the market of San Fernando. He becomes involved in numerous controversies with the religious orders, and draws upon himself much popular hatred—largely due to the acts of his favorite Orendain. He makes the utmost exertions for the service of his king and the islands, and finally, worn out by these fatigues, dies (May 31, 1759), an event probably hastened by poison. The government is assumed by Bishop Espeleta, who even usurps it from Archbishop Rojo for a time; but the latter becomes governor (1761) by royal decree. He releases Orendain, who had been imprisoned for his official acts, and provides comfortable quarters for the captive sultan of Joló. In the following year occurs the siege and capture of Manila, which will be related in VOL. XLIX.

Nearly half of this volume is occupied by the valuable memorial written in 1765 by Francisco Leandro de Viana, then royal fiscal at Manila, “Demonstration of the deplorably wretched state of the Philipinas Islands.” We are told that the Council of Indias refused to print this document, a fact which indicates both the apathy and the corruption existing in the Spanish court. Viana was a man of keen and logical mind, clear and far vision, and great enthusiasm and energy; and he evidently felt a deep sense of official responsibility and ardent zeal as a Spanish patriot. In this memorial he describes the weakness, danger, and almost destitution of the Philippine colony, and shows the necessity of either abandoning it entirely or providing for it suitable means of support; demonstrates that the latter course should be adopted, and that it can be pursued if the natural resources of the islands are developed. Viana sets forth the advantageous location of the islands from both the commercial and strategic points of view, and asserts that the English covet the islands as a vantage-point for themselves, especially as a basis for their explorations on the western coast of North America—of which, and of certain Spanish explorations made in 1640, he gives some account—and for attacks on the Spanish possessions in America. If Spain keeps the Philippines, they must be put into a condition of defense, for which Viana makes various suggestions, some as less costly alternatives for others. The military forces of the islands should be enlarged, and the pay of both officers and men increased, so that they may have the means to support themselves decently. After this is accomplished, “the reduction of all the Indian villages ought to be resolutely undertaken, as a matter that is absolutely essential.” This would result in a great increase of the tribute-money, and in many benefits to both the government and the Indian natives. Viana proposes an increase in the rate of the tribute exacted from the natives, and various economies in the administration of the islands; and urges that the Moros be thoroughly punished. He devotes a long chapter to “arguments which justify the increase of tributes.” The expenses of administration in the islands have steadily increased since their conquest, as also have the needs of the Spanish crown; yet the Indians have not been further taxed to meet these demands, as have the people of Spain; they should now pay their share of the burden, and, moreover, they are taxed very moderately. They are idle, improvident, and extravagant; they might be rich, if they would labor even moderately; and an increase in their tributes would require but little additional work from them, which would also help to correct their slothfulness. This vice, however, is also the bane of their Spanish masters, whom Viana bitterly rebukes; but he urges that the Indians be compelled to do a certain amount of work, especially in agricultural production. The various rebellions of the natives of Filipinas constitute another valid reason for increasing their tributes. Viana declares that, in proposing this measure, he must at the same time protest against the misuse or theft of its proceeds; and he rebukes, in scathing terms, the recklessness, extravagance, and dishonesty of the Spanish officials, and the unpunished corruption and misgovernment that prevail in Spain’s colonial administration. The increase of tributes can be secured only by maintaining in the islands a military force sufficient to punish and prevent the Moro raids, and to keep the Indians in wholesome awe; and the alcaldes-mayor of the provinces should be more carefully chosen and better paid. All military supplies should be kept at Cavite instead of (as now) Manila. As an alternative for increasing the tributes, Viana suggests the establishment of church tithes, by which the royal treasury would be relieved of the heavy burden of supporting the ecclesiastical estate; or the imposition on the Indians and mestizos of a tax for the support of the military posts in the provinces.

Part ii of Viana’s memorial is devoted to “navigation and commerce; the method for establishing them in these islands, and their great benefits.” He begins by showing the necessity of navigation and commerce for the maintenance of every nation, which he illustrates from the history of the several European nations, deploring the neglect of these industries by the Spaniards. The latter, notwithstanding the contrary claim made by the Dutch, are free to navigate by way of Cape of Good Hope; and all powers have an equal right to sail the high seas. Viana enumerates the advantages of the Cape Good Hope route for commerce—convenience, promptness, saving of expense, a wider market for the commodities of both Spain and the Philippines, better administration of the colony and stricter enforcement of the laws. Moreover, the commerce of other European nations, especially that with Mexico, could be greatly diminished, in favor of Spanish trade; and the proceeds of the latter would remain among the Spaniards, instead of being carried away to foreign lands and benefiting the enemies of Spain. Viana here, as in many other passages, laments the fatal indolence, negligence, and pride of his fellow-countrymen, which have prevented them from securing, as they might have done, the power and wealth which other nations have attained. He enumerates the valuable products of the islands, which ought to be developed and made available; chief among these are cinnamon and iron. Viana sets forth his project for retrieving the condition of the islands by establishing a Spanish trading company. He relates the great success, power, and wealth gained by the trading companies of the other nations; and urges that Spain follow their example, and thus obtain a share of those benefits and gains. Not least of these will be the awakening of the Spaniards, especially the upper classes, to a more active and useful mode of life, banishing the ignorance, idleness, and vice which are so prevalent among them. For this purpose, appeal is made to the king to encourage and favor the formation of a trading company. Viana advocates the establishment of shipyards in the islands, and enumerates the resources of Filipinas for supporting this industry. By establishing a Spanish company, many benefits could be enjoyed by the provinces of Filipinas, especially in developing their resources and furnishing employment to the natives; and many valuable products of the islands are enumerated which ought to be included in their commerce. An important advantage for Viana’s proposed company is the friendly attitude of the peoples throughout India toward the Spaniards. He finds Manila’s Asiatic commerce now reduced to that with the Chinese ports; but it should be reestablished with India, Siam, and other countries. Moreover, the proposed company can give new life to the Acapulco trade, and compel the Mexican traders to give fairer treatment and more advantageous sales to those of Manila. Viana remonstrates against the restrictions imposed on the commerce of the Spanish colonies, which really serve only to increase the gains of foreigners. These restrictions are caused largely by influences emanating from Cadiz and Acapulco; the arguments alleged in favor of them are vigorously refuted by Viana. In his opinion, it is the foreign merchants at Cadiz who are at the bottom of the opposition to Manila’s commerce; and they are obtaining control of Spain’s wealth, and causing much more injury to her industries than can the little competition of Manila. Far greater is the damage caused by the fraudulent dealings of foreign merchants who sell in Spain goods from China as if they were made in European countries; and by the commercial restrictions which prevent Spaniards from competing with those foreigners. These injuries could largely be prevented by the proposed Spanish trading company, which would also assure to Spain various positive advantages; and Viana suggests for that company free trade with Nueva España. No slight benefit resulting therefrom would be the great diminution of the illicit trade which the foreign nations are conducting in the Spanish-American dominions. Viana mentions the difficulties which that company will encounter, and proposes some measures to remedy these. One hindrance may be the jealousy of other nations; but they will not unite against Spain, and, in case of war, Holland and France would be inclined to side with her against the English. The greatest difficulty, however, will be the opposition of the Philippine officials of the crown to the company, which may be a check to its activities; Viana cleverly proposes to forestall this by entrusting to the company the government and management of the islands, the crown making over to it the tributes and customs duties. In the final chapter, he proposes to conduct the commerce of Manila with Nueva España via the Panama route, in case that by Cape Good Hope prove impracticable, and sets forth its advantages; he suggests that for this purpose that route be improved, and perhaps a canal be made between the two oceans; and closes with an appeal to the Spanish government for aid to this project.

The Editors

January, 1907.

DOCUMENTS OF 1751–1762

• [Usurpation of Indian lands by friars]. Fernando VI; November 7, 1751.
• [Moro raids repulsed by Visayans]. [Unsigned; 1755]
• [Augustinian parishes and missions, 1760]. Pedro Velasco, O.S.A.; April 16, 1760.
• [Later Augustinian and Dominican missions]. Antonio Mozo, O.S.A.; 1763. Bernardo Ustáriz, O.P.; 1745.
• [Events in Filipinas], 1739–1762. [Compiled from Martinez de Zúñiga and other writers.]

Sources: The first of these documents is obtained from La Democracia (Manila), November 25, 1901; the second, from a rare pamphlet published at Manila (1755), in the possession of Edward E. Ayer, Chicago; the third, from an original MS. in possession of Mr. Ayer; the fourth, from Mozo’s Noticia histórico natural (Madrid, 1763), and a rare pamphlet by the Dominican Ustáriz, both from copies in the Library of Congress; the fifth, compiled from Zúñiga’s Historia (Sampaloc, 1803), pp. 546–601, and Concepción’s Hist. de Philipinas, xi, pp. 89–237, fully annotated from other writers.

Translations: That of the third document is made by James Alexander Robertson; all the rest, by Emma Helen Blair.

USURPATION OF INDIAN LANDS BY FRIARS

To the president and auditors of my royal Audiencia of the Filipinas Islands, resident in the city of Manila:[1] Don Pedro Enriquez, an auditor of that same Audiencia, made a report, with sworn statements of his proceedings; of what he had done under the commission which was conferred on him by the government there for the pacification of the villages of Taguig, Hagonoy, Parañaque, Bacoor, Cavite el Viejo, and other places attached to them which lie near that capital, all which had revolted. [He reported that] they were pacified by merely the proclamation of a general pardon (except to the chief instigators of the revolt) which he published, and by the promise that their complaints should be heard and justice done to them; but the village of San Mateo also revolted, and he proceeded to its punishment and left it in ruins, because the people had not surrendered their arms; it was, however, already [re]peopled, with inhabitants who were more numerous and of more peaceable disposition. A similar insurrection or revolt occurred in most of the villages of the province of Bulacan, and these, like the former, by an agreement which they had formed by a public writing with the village of Silang protested, as they afterward made evident in their petitions, against the injuries which the Indians received from the managers of the estates which are owned by the religious of St. Dominic and those of St. Augustine, both calced and discalced—usurping the lands of the Indians, without leaving them the freedom of the rivers for their fishing, or allowing them to cut wood for their necessary use, or even to collect the wild fruits; nor did they allow the natives to pasture on the hills near their villages the carabaos which they used for agriculture.[2] Accordingly [the said auditor] determined to free them from these oppressions,[3] and decided that they should not pay various unjust taxes which the managers exacted from them. Having proved to be capable in the other task assigned him, he received a commission as subdelegate judge of the adjustment of land-titles, in consequence of which he demanded from the aforesaid religious orders the titles of ownership for the lands which they possessed; and, notwithstanding the resistance that they made to him, repeatedly refusing [to obey], he distributed to the villages the lands which the orders had usurped, and all which they held without legitimate cause[4] he declared to be crown lands [realengas]—as occurred with the convent of San Pablo, belonging to the calced religious of St. Augustine, assigning to it [i.e., the crown] a farm for horned cattle and two caballerías of land which were supposed to belong to it, according to the testimony of the village of San Mateo. He also took other measures which seemed to him proper for the investigation of the fraudulent proceedings in the measurement of the lands in the estate of Biñan, which is owned by the religious of St. Dominic—fraud which was committed in the year 1743 by the court clerk of that Audiencia [of Manila] with notable fraud and trickery, in which participated the two surveyors (appointed through ignorance or evil intent), to the grave injury of the village of Silang. This had caused the disturbances, revolts, and losses which had been experienced in the above-mentioned villages. The aforesaid proceedings [by the auditor] were considered and examined with the closest attention in my Council of the Indias, with the decrees that were also sent by the Audiencia there in the course of the proceedings in a second appeal interposed by the village of Silang—decrees obtained in that suit by the natives of that village against the college of Santo Tomas de Aquino, in regard to lands usurped [from them] and annexed to the estate of Biñan, which the religious own. On the subject of the disturbance among the aforesaid Indians, Governor Don Gaspar de la Torre, his successor the bishop of Nueva Segovia, and the provincials of the aforesaid religious orders set forth the allegations made in the name of the orders by father Fray Miguel Vivas as their procurator-general at this court, and by Father Pedro Altamirano, who acts in that capacity for the Society of Jesus for its provinces of the Indias (on the point that the province of San Ignacio in those islands had no share in the commotions in those villages, as was shown by various testimonies), and the explanations made by my fiscal, who was cognizant of the whole matter. It has therefore appeared expedient to me to advise you of the receipt of your letters of July 30, 1745, and July 17, 1746, and of the acts which accompany them; and to notify you that by a despatch of this date I approve, and regard as just and proper, all that was performed by the aforesaid Don Pedro Calderon Enriquez in virtue of the commission and appointment which was conferred upon him by Governor Don Gaspar de la Torre by the advice of the Audiencia there, in order that he might proceed to the pacification of the insurgent villages in the jurisdictions of Silang, Imus and San Nicolas, Cavite el Viejo, and the other districts which united on account of the controversy over the ownership of the lands which the religious—Dominicans, and both calced and discalced Augustinians—are endeavoring to keep. I also give him thanks for the judicious conduct and measures which he employed for the aforesaid pacification; and I likewise approve what he accomplished as subdelegate judge of the settlement of land-titles, in regard to the survey and boundaries of the estates which, in accordance with their legitimate titles, belong to each of those orders, in view of the more accurate and reliable information [obtained] from the interpretations of the four surveyors whom he appointed—the latter bearing in mind, to this end, the measures put into execution by the auditor Ozaeta in the year 1699, in accordance with the chart printed by the pilot Bueno, in his book entitled Navegación especulativa y practica[5] [i.e., “Navigation, theoretical and practical”] (which chart serves in those islands as the standard for the surveys)—assigning to the aforesaid religious that which belongs to them by their [legal] titles, which is the same that was ordained in the executory decree despatched by the Audiencia there. I also approve what he did in adjudging to my royal crown the lands which the aforesaid religious orders had usurped, and in allotting lands to the Indians for the sum of two thousand pesos, at times and terms stipulated with them.

From the aforesaid investigations charges resulted against Don Juan Monroy, court clerk of that Audiencia, who was engaged in the survey and adjustment of boundaries made in those same lands of Biñan in the year 1743—in which, by the declaration of the two surveyors who took part in it, is evident their ignorance of such work, and of the rules and measures [to be used]. Although [sc., after?] the lands had been measured and a chart of the estates had been drawn, the computations were made by the said Monroy, and the surveyors signed it, supposing that it was correct; but it was acknowledged that in that same year, later, another survey and adjustment of boundaries was made by the aforesaid court clerk and one of the said surveyors on some lands over which there were lawsuits—some, in particular, with the religious of St. Augustine—in which survey there was assigned to each cattle-farm 3,024,574 square brazas of land, this being different from the previous survey, which was computed at 8,695,652 brazas. In this was proved the fraud with which the said Monroy acted, in giving to the said religious more than half of the land which belonged to Silang. Accordingly, it has appeared to me proper to condemn him to two years’ suspension from his office, and to lay upon him a fine of two thousand pesos, applied to the fund of fines paid into the royal treasury; and for this exaction there is issued, on this same date, the proper despatch to the Marqués de Regalía, a minister of the said my Council and tribunal of the Indias, and exclusive judge of rents, settlement of land-titles, and collection of fines and condemnations. By another despatch of the same date, the government of those islands is commanded to exercise hereafter the utmost vigilance in order that the Indians of the said villages may not be molested by the religious, and that the latter shall be kept in check in the unjust acts which they may in future attempt against not only those Indians but other natives of those islands. In this, the government must always bear in mind the reiterated commands given in the laws [of the empire], and the frequent royal decrees that have been issued, to the end that the Indians shall be well treated and shall not suffer oppression or extortion; and shall direct that my fiscal there shall appear as their representative and in their defense on every occasion which shall present itself in this regard. Considering how important it is that the Indians shall know of the recourse which they can have when they are oppressed or ill-treated, and in their controversies, it would be very expedient that the government give them information of this, so that they may not be ignorant thereof, and that they may use these [peaceable] means without going to the extreme, as they did on this occasion, by employing armed force. For this time, my royal charity and clemency overlooks their proceedings, considering their heedless disposition; but when they shall have been advised of what they ought to do in such cases, and in others of a different nature, if they fail to use those means they shall be chastised with the utmost severity. I have resolved to notify you of this, in order that you may be acquainted with this my royal decision, and in order that, so far as you are concerned, you may make known my decree; and I command the most prompt and effective measures, to the end that it may be fully and duly carried into effect; for such is my will. Dated at San Lorenzo, on November 7, 1751.

I the King

By command of the king our sovereign:

Doctor Josef Ignacio de Goyenechea

[Farther down on this decree were three rubricas of the lords of the royal and supreme Council of the Indias.]

In the regular official session of the Audiencia of Manila, in September, 1753. The honorable president and auditors of the Audiencia, being in session in the royal halls of the said court, having officially considered a royal decree dated at San Lorenzo on November 7, 1751, by which his Majesty (whom may God preserve) was pleased to approve what was done by the auditor Don Pedro Calderon Enriquez in the pacification of the villages which had revolted, and to command him to execute what is expressed therein, with the other provisions of the said royal despatch and the claims of the fiscal, the said president and auditors declare: That they must command and did command that the orders given by his Majesty in his royal despatch be observed, fulfilled, and executed; and, in order that it may have due effect, the contents of the said royal decree shall be communicated to the reverend provincials of the holy orders of St. Dominic, St. Augustine, the Recollects, the Society of Jesus, and to the prior of the convent of St. John of God, in these islands. Attested copies of it shall be made, and sent to the alcaldes-mayor of the provinces of these islands, in order that, translating the decree into the language of the country, they may print it[6] and make known its contents to the natives of the said provinces, so that the Indians may be informed of what is provided and ordered by his Majesty in the said royal decree—the alcaldes sending to the [proper] official of the court a sworn statement that they have thus executed the decree; and likewise notifying the clerk of court, in order that, in virtue thereof, he may fulfil what is herein ordered and forbear in the exercise of his office, and may appoint a notary approved to his satisfaction so that he may be responsible for the deposit of those papers and the record of these proceedings. Such were the orders and commands of the said honorable members, and they signed their names.[7]

Obando
Licentiate Arzadun
Calderon Enriquez

Before me:

Manuel de Antiquia, notary and secretary.

[This is a copy.]

[1] This document was printed in the Manila newspaper La Democracia (the organ of the Federal party), on November 25, 1901; it was furnished to that paper by Hugo Salazar, a young Filipino—a native of Luzón, educated as a pharmacist, prominent in the Federal party during 1901–04, and in 1903–04 governor of Surigao province, Mindanao—under the pen-name of “Ambut.” It was printed with accompanying comments written by him, which here appear as foot-notes, signed “Ambut.” We are indebted to the courtesy of James A. LeRoy (now [1906] U. S. consul at Durango, Mexico) for a copy of the above issue of La Democracia, and for the above information. [↑]

[2] Cf. pp. 141–143, post, note 63. [↑]

[3] In view of these abuses which occurred in the middle of the eighteenth century, which have been repeated in our own time (up to the year ’97) with an outcome favorable to the friars because the latter found support in the venality or the pliancy of the authorities, will it be possible still to deny the justice and good reason with which the Filipinos reject the friars, demanding the suppression of the religious corporations, which always and everywhere have had pernicious consequences? Libertas, in its No. 686, shows bad faith and shamelessness in addressing to a co-religionist of ours these questions in its editorial columns: “Can Don Leocadio inform us whether these popular tumults which keep him so preoccupied were known in Filipinas before the year ’96? Is it not public and notorious that certain conspicuous attorneys, resident in Manila, are the ones who are deceiving the people, promising them impossible things, and obtaining from them beforehand enormous sums of money?” Don Leocadio does not answer, in order not to waste his time; but he recommends the reading of this royal decree, in which all the friar-lovers will find a complete answer if they will reason with their brains. As the organ of the friars, it is natural that Libertas should speak thus, displaying the blessing of his Holiness Leo XIII as a banner for concealing error and falsehood; it is likewise natural that those who reason with the stomach should form a chorus for that sort of scribbling; but it is truly regrettable that our women and other persons should aid, through their lack of instruction, through the influence of the confessional, and through religious fanaticism, in falsifying historical truth.—“Ambut.” [↑]

[4] It results, then, that the friars usurped not only the lands of individuals, but those of the State; this is called “filling both sides of the mouth with food” [comer á dos carrillos]—which they were doing, receiving salaries from the State and collecting dues from their parishioners.—“Ambut.” [↑]

[5] This work was composed by Joseph González Cabrera Bueno, a native of Teneriffe, and at the time of its publication (Manila, 1734) the chief pilot for the Manila-Acapulco line of galleons. He was a sailor of great ability and long experience, which, with this book, gave him a very high rank among the mariners of his day. He dedicated the book to Governor Valdés y Tamón; its censura (or examination by the censor) was made by Murillo Velarde; and its illustrations were engraved by the native Filipino artist Nicolás de la Cruz Bagay. (Vindel, Catálogo biblioteca filipina, no. 819.) [↑]

[6] This direction to the alcaldes-mayor naturally suggests the query, “How many of the provinces were supplied with printing-offices in 1753?” and reminds one of Dickens’s “Circumlocution Office,” and its efforts “how not to do it.” [↑]

[7] The pernicious character of the religious corporations, as an evil to society, is sufficiently proved; for even Catholic France is expelling them from her bosom. It only remains, then, to decide whether the prohibition of their existence is opposed to the principle of the separation of Church and State. To conform to the principle that the welfare of the people is a supreme law, and in virtue of that to deny legal existence to such associations as are hostile to the said principle, is not to fail in [loyalty to] the separation of the Church and the State, inasmuch as the prohibition has nothing to do with religious dogmas or ecclesiastical discipline; and, in order to be just and thoroughly impartial, it does not oppose itself to any specified community or sect, for it entirely sets aside the religious character of the corporations, considering them simply as groups of human beings in their relation to the general good. The State, in this case, legislates without passing beyond the bounds of its proper and exclusive jurisdiction, and does not invade the attributes of the ecclesiastical power.

Some will say that by prohibiting the existence of religious corporations liberties are restricted. To this I answer, that that liberty which causes harm to society ought not to be understood as liberty; and, [using the term] in this sense, the United States would not be disloyal to their Constitution in adopting restrictive measures in regard to the “trust,” Chinese immigration, and the association of persons dangerous to peace, order, and the sanctity of the home.

As for the estates of the friars, Señor Sumulong was quite right, to judge from the facts in this royal decree, in asking for an ample and complete investigation of the legality of the titles to property which the friars could bring forward. It is to be observed that there was no opportunity here for [ascertaining] the real right of prescription, for it was impossible to protest against usurpations if one did not wish to be deported or shot as an anti-Spaniard or a filibuster.—“Ambut.”

An interesting commentary on the above opinions is found in the recent action (December, 1906) of the French government in regard to the Roman Catholic church in France, the separation of Church and State there, and foreign interference with the proceedings of that government.—Eds. [↑]

MORO RAIDS REPULSED BY VISAYANS

Relation of the valorous defense of the Bisayan natives of the village of Palompong, in the island of Leyte, of the province of Catbalogan, in the Philipinas Islands, which they made against the Mahometan forces of Ylanos and Malanaos, in the month of June, 1754.

On the ninth day of the above month, about five o’clock in the afternoon, twenty-five Moro joangas came into this port of Palompong, with another small vessel, and entered the harbor with so little fear of being attacked by any armada that during the entire siege they left their vessels [sacayanes], high and dry, as if they were in their own land and enjoying an Octavian peace. At their arrival their vessels displayed a great number of banners, streamers and pennons, all of red silk; but they did not land until the following day, at seven o’clock in the morning. So many of them landed that they numbered more than a thousand, and so boldly that they immediately surrounded and encompassed the church; and at the first attack they succeeded in burning the sacristy (over which was the dwelling of the father minister), notwithstanding it was defended with two bulwarks, and fortified by two rows of palma brava and two other rows of wooden palisades with a rampart. In this conflagration were destroyed all the furniture of the church and the house there, as also the goods of the people who had gone into the church; and the fire was so fierce that it gave no opportunity to save two lantacas, two versos, and the supplies that were stored there—gunpowder and balls, and rice for the food of the people. These took refuge in the church in great confusion and fear, at seeing themselves surrounded by so many enemies, and trying to prevent the fire—which, notwithstanding that the church was unroofed, had already caught on the ridgepole and other timbers—from going further.

At the time when they burned the sacristy, the Moros made five trenches very near the church, and immediately began to fire their artillery; this consisted in lantacas of various sizes, and other pieces up to the caliber of three-libra balls, as far as we could judge by the balls which were picked up. Besides this, there were among them many musketeers that were very skilful, and the rest occupied themselves in hurling sumbilins and stones; and others threw a sort of wooden bar, sharp at one end, and with fire on the other; this caused much annoyance to the people, who, on account of the danger of fire, were manifestly without any protection by day or by night.

Map of Leyte, from original MS. of P. Pagteel, in collection of Charts by Alexander Dalrymple ([London], 1788)

[From copy in Library of Congress]

On this first day there were three killed and five wounded on our side, and all by balls, for there was no special harm done by the rest of their missiles. Since the Moros were so numerous that they could renew their forces, they fought so continuously that they gave us no opportunity to rest night or day, so that some of our dead could not be buried until after several days. At last the women, besides providing some little food for the men, were continually occupied in drawing water to extinguish the fire, and even putting it out themselves, and in making wadding, cartouches, etc.

On the second day, which was Tuesday, we had two killed and five wounded; for the balls rained on us, so that in some planks which were placed on the parapet I counted as many as ten holes in each one. Besides the continual fire from their trenches, the Moros made two covers resembling tortoises, with two rows of planks, and under these they steadily approached the two gates which communicate with the sacristy. From the mouths of these they continually hurled fire, pieces of wood, etc., in order to burn the repairs which were made by those within, so that they could burn down the doors, in order to fire afterward a cannon from under the said tortoises, and carry away with it the entire church; but those inside frustrated the intention of the enemy by continually throwing water and dirt [on the fire].

The Moros also made a bulwark, or cavalier, which overtopped the walls of the church, and through Wednesday night and Thursday morning they were pushing this close up to the church; but those inside, who by this time had recovered from their fear and consternation, in the midst of their total lack [of defenses], contrived to make a shelter of planks on top of the church, from which to fire a lantaca. When this was seen by the Moros, they desisted from pushing their machine close to the church, but they began another piece of work which was worse; for, as the side of the church was undefended after the burning of the two bulwarks, and no one could put his head out of the window on account of the furious rain of balls and bullets, the Moros stationed themselves at the foot of the wall and began to place against it a great quantity of wood, and whatever [fuel] the houses of the Indians supplied them, and set fire to this at a time when a very brisk wind was blowing; this carried the flames even within the church, and, notwithstanding they incessantly threw water on the fire, many timbers were burned, and the stone sills of the church were reduced to lime and ashes.

About this time they tried to scale the church on both sides, and a Moro ascended up to a window; but he was thrown down by a blow in the face which was given him, and his companions who were beneath were put to flight by throwing at them pieces of stone. At this the Moros were somewhat checked; and, seeing that on the side where they had made their greatest efforts to possess themselves of the church, repairs in proportion had been made within, they erected on the other side of the church two more bulwarks or cavaliers, which were higher than the first one. As fast as this was done, those within topped their walls with a parapet of molave planks; when they saw this the courage of the Moros fell somewhat, and the Christians were so much encouraged that on the following day (the fifteenth of the month and the fifth of the blockade) they made a sally, scorning the firearms of the enemies, especially the guns, of which those within were entirely destitute.

In this sally the captain of the village killed a Moro with a lance-thrust, and the rest took to flight. A drum and three shields were captured from them, but the Christians did not dare to go very far for fear of some ambush. On retreating, and trying to enter by a very narrow gate, the Moros charged upon them with a shower of sumbilins, and a shot from a lantaca at a distance of four brazas, when the unconquerable St. Xavier so well defended his children that not even one of them was wounded. On another day those within again made a sally, and the Moros did not dare to face them; consequently the Christians were able to destroy their machines. They again made a sally on Monday, but not only did the Moros refuse to fight, but even in haste dragged out their boats, which were still on dry land; and vigorously rowing, with some of their boats flying a black flag, they quietly left the harbor, directing their course toward Carigara.

As for the Moros, it is known with certainty that those slain in this siege are forty-six who were shot, and three killed with sumbilins; and one from a lance-thrust. The number wounded is not known, nor is that of those who were killed at night, but certainly it would be a great number, because their fiercest attacks were always made at night; and as there were so many of them, and on our side a continual fire of lantacas with almost marvelous success in their shots, we do not doubt that a much greater number would be killed by night than by day. It is certain that after the Moros had gone all these shores were full of corpses; and it is known by captives who made their escape that the Moros, after they had gone away, proceeded to throw many of the wounded into the waters of the bay. It is also known through the captives that the Moros, astonished at such destruction, asked not only each other but the captives how it could be that in Hilongos, which is a large village, they had lost so few men, and in Palompong, so small a village, they had lost so many. Besides those who were killed and wounded by the gunshots, it is known that many were wounded by certain poisoned darts which they call borot,[1] and doubtless many were rendered useless by their wounds.

Throughout this siege has been manifestly visible the power and protection of St. Francis Xavier, the patron of the village; it is not the least argument for this with me that this people in the absence of the father minister—who everywhere is usually the soul of the community, and whose presence is more necessary here on account of the disunited condition of the natives, who, as forming a new village, are of various factions, with continual jealousies—nevertheless could be encouraged to enter the church, when it is a fact that, left to themselves, they have a sort of aversion and horror of being shut in. Another evidence is, that in the burning of the sacristy God in His lofty judgments permitted that the fire, although so fierce, was not communicated to the church; nor did it cause in those people the horror which usually impels them irresistibly to flee even from less dangerous fires. The third, that inside the church water was obtained with such facility that throughout the blockade it was not lacking, although they were continually drawing it in order to put out the fire; while in the deepest old wells, on an occasion when they were making repairs, I have noticed that the water failed many times. And for stronger evidence that it did not fail in the time of the siege (although it was a time of drought), after the siege, although it rained heavily, I did not see any water in the five wells which they made inside the church. Fourth, that although in the fire there were hardly saved, in the judgment of all, some twenty cavans of rice, that scanty provision was sufficient for one hundred and thirty-five men, and some two hundred women and children, during the nine days of the siege. Fifth, that although in the said fire hardly four gantas, or zelemins, of gunpowder were saved, and the fire of the lantacas was continual by day and night, that supply was enough for the same number of days; for several persons have assured me that on three successive days there was not in their opinion more powder than enough for one day, and on the next day the amount that had been used was not missed. The sixth, that the Bisayans, who when left to themselves are so given to sleep, did not sleep an instant throughout the time of the siege. Seventh, that although they saw the wounded and dead beside them it made no greater impression on them than if it were a representation in a comedy. Eighth, when many of those who talked most valiantly had decided, in view of the lack of provisions and gunpowder, to leave the place and flee to the woods, on three successive nights, when they tried after prayers to open a door, they could never succeed in opening it before daylight. In this determination to go away many of the women were ready to die rather than surrender themselves to such a rabble, and on this account they had been armed in order that, by defending themselves, they might more easily meet death; and there was a man who had determined to kill his wife and children rather than see them in the power of enemies so cruel to soul and body. Notwithstanding all this, they never failed in the strong hope that their illustrious patron, St. Francis Xavier, would not abandon them. He was continually invoked, and his image was carried in procession by those who were not occupied with the defense; and this confidence increased on Friday (a day which so belonged to that saint), because on that day the face of St. Xavier’s image was seen to be very smiling and joyous, a certain omen of victory. Greater than ever was their confidence in the saint’s protection on Sunday, when, although their provisions were so short and the enemy was seen in every direction, all believed that on the next day before noon they would find themselves free from the siege, for the very reason that it seemed impossible for them to maintain their position any longer. They asked this from their glorious patron with a promise of a novenary; and the saint made full response to their confidence, delivering his children from the siege on Monday morning.

With the departure of the Moros, the people were left in great anxiety whether they would come back, as they were wont to do; for there was absolutely nothing to eat, and no place in which to find food, because the Moros had gone about ravaging and destroying all the grain-fields that they found. The people therefore are entirely destitute, suffering terribly from hunger, and without having any means with which to find food. For neither cotton, nor abaca, nor woven cloth were left for the women; and the men, besides seeing their grain-fields and boats destroyed, had no implements with which to cultivate the earth, or to fish in the sea.

Of those who fled to the hills there were seventeen captured and nine slain, and there was one Moro killed. The Moros were on the march and went as far as the vicinity of Ogmuc, following the Christians who were retreating. Finally, it is known by the captives who escaped that the chief dato went away from here wounded in the face with a ball, and their chief pandita was dying from a wound in his bowels.

Particular relation should be made of this valorous defense for being distinguished and aided, as is evident from its occurrences, by the powerful arm of the Highest; and therefore the glorious defenses of other villages which, with warning to the Moros, are celebrating the triumph of their bravery, I will reduce to a brief summary, which will thus make the memory of these eternal, without wearying the public with a diffuse account of their circumstances.

In the month of February of this year, the Moros, elated at the destruction of some little villages on that coast of the island [of Leyte] opposite Carigara, attacked the important village of Hilongos. There were some two thousand of them, and they besieged the place for eleven days; but the natives of the village, encouraged by the presence and advice of their father minister, who was with them, made various sallies to hinder the formation of the enemy’s trenches; and they repulsed his assaults with the death of many Mahometans, without losing even one of our men in so frequent encounters.

In the month of May of the same year, four joangas made port at the island of Marinduque, with more than two thousand Moros, and for a week they besieged the little fort of the village of Gazang, which was defended by its natives from repeated assaults, under the judicious management of their courageous father minister; and the Mahometans, not carrying out their depraved intentions, smothered their fury, ravaging and sacking whatever they found outside the precincts of the said fort. During the continual fighting of those days, the Moros had more than ninety killed, and many more were wounded; while on our side there was no more than one killed, and another one wounded.

The Moros who went away unsuccessful from Marinduque sent eight joangas to the island of Luban, where they landed thinking that they would find very little resistance; but the father cura and the alcalde-mayor, with a few people who hastily gathered about them, defended themselves from behind a palisade which they had formed, with so notable intrepidity that with only the firearms of the alcalde-mayor they killed seven Moros; and, sallying from the trenches, they fell upon the enemies until they compelled them to a shameful flight.

A squadron of more than twenty joangas of the Mahometans almost at the same time attacked the village of Antiqui in the island of Panay; but they experienced a vigorous resistance from its inhabitants, which originated from the fiery spirit and persuasions of their father prior. The same thing happened to another squadron of the same or greater number in the island of Cuyo, the natives of which, with their father prior, not only defended themselves in their fort, but in a glorious sortie on the Moros—who were terrified, as was proved by the weapons and armor which the Indians secured as spoil.

Twice was the village of Ylog, the chief town on the island of Negros, attacked by thirty joangas of Moros, but on both occasions their designs were frustrated, with notable loss to their hosts; this was attained through the noble intrepidity of the natives, urged on by the fiery courage and direction of their father minister; and the Moros, seeing themselves attacked by the besieged, left several of their companions lying on the ground in the haste and confusion with which they embarked in their joangas, the moorings of which they cut in order to hasten their flight.

On the twenty-fifth of July, the day of the illustrious patron of the Spains, St. James the apostle, fifty boat-loads of Moros arrived at the important village of Catbalogan, and, divided into two bands, attacked the village on both sides. One of these parties gained possession of a high hill from which their lantacas dominated the fort, in which was enclosed the house and church of the [Jesuit] college; the other party attacked on the side of the village, and for a week the rest of the Moros hurled on it continual attacks; but all these were repelled with singular courage. The Moros therefore, many of them having perished with their dato, the chief in command of the squadron, withdrew the rest of their forces, making the boast that they would return with a stronger force to avenge their injuries.

The Moros then proceeded to the village of Calviga, which is situated on the same coast up the river, about half a legua from the shore, where some three hundred of them landed. These, on leaving their vessels, marched toward the village, regarding themselves as certain of taking it; but the natives, by the instruction of their father minister, waited for the enemy until they came within range of a cannon-shot. Thus they secured the effective fire of their lantacas, with which they killed fifteen Moros; and this alone was enough to make the enemy turn in precipitate flight. From here they went to the village of Boad, which was on an island near by called Palasan; and although they besieged it for three days, with redoubled efforts in their assaults, when they saw the vigorous resistance that was made by the natives and their father minister they retreated, balked in their intentions.

About the month of September, in the province of Albay the Moros found their arrogance defeated by the union which was formed among the natives in three villages, under the conduct of an ardent Franciscan; and by main force the natives compelled the enemy to go away from the province, rebuffed. Last of all, the two villages Ynitao and Lubungan, on the northern coast of the island Mindanao, especially experienced the fierce attacks of the Mahometans on four occasions, when they sustained continuous assaults, repulsing them with vigorous sallies, and inflicting heavy punishment, with evident losses, on the Moros.[2]

By this brief narration it is clearly proved that, although these favorable results have not preserved the villages from the ravaging of their fields and other injuries, at least their inhabitants were delivered from slavery;[3] while, on the contrary, those who through cowardice did not make valorous resistance to the Mahometan enemy have not only lost their goods, but they groan in captivity, unless they have been delivered by the victorious arms of his Majesty. And thus the natives of this archipelago, arousing their own courage by the fortunate successes of their countrymen, can take example therefrom in order to avoid misfortunes in the future.[4]

[1] Bolot (borot): an arrow with a hook or barb (Noceda and Sanlucar’s Vocab. Tagal). [↑]

[2] The year 1754 was especially disastrous to the Philippines on account of the Moro raids; thousands of people were slain, and other thousands carried away captive; even the coasts of Luzón were ravaged, and the population of the Visayas suffered a notable diminution. See account of these losses in Concepción’s Hist. de Philipinas, xiii, pp. 190–250; and Montero y Vidal’s Hist. de pirateria, i, pp. 309–317. In July of that year, Ovando was succeeded in the government of the islands by Arandía, who at once instituted reforms in the military service, and did what he could to defend the islands from their enemies; he died on May 31, 1759, worn out with the cares and fatigues of government. [↑]

[3] Forrest says (Voyage to New Guinea, p. 302) in describing the pirate raids by the Moros: “The Spaniards not allowing the Bisayans fire-arms, the latter prove less able to defend themselves.” Also (p. 303): “On Celebes, they take, if in Dutch territory, even those of their own religion: a decent musselman, with his wife and four children were brought to Mindanao, by this very prow.” “The Sooloos have in their families many Bisayan, some Spanish slaves, whom they purchase from the Illanon and Magindano cruisers. Sometimes they purchase whole cargoes, which they carry to Passir, on Borneo; where, if the females are handsome, they are bought up for the Batavia market. The masters sometimes use their slaves cruelly, assuming the power of life and death over them. Many are put to death for trifling offences, and their bodies left above ground.” (Ut supra, p. 330.) [↑]

[4] The archbishop of Manila, Don Miguel Garcia Serrano, wrote to his Majesty that in the period of thirty years during which there was no fortified post in Mindanao, twenty thousand Christians had been made captive by the Moros. (Torrubia, Dissertacion, p. 49.)

This relation was evidently written by some one of the Jesuit missionaries in Leyte, and perhaps even an eyewitness to the events related. The villages which he names as having repulsed the enemy seem to have been largely those in charge of the Jesuits. Some mention of the raids made in 1752–53 against the Recollect missions may be found on pp. 163, 164, post, note 88. [↑]

AUGUSTINIAN PARISHES AND MISSIONS, 1760

Report of the villages, tributes, those exempted by age and sickness, unmarried men and girls, schools for boys and girls, infants, missions, catechumens, and those newly baptized, of the provinces and ministries of the Order of our father St. Augustine, in these Philipinas Islands, this present year of 1760.

General summary of all the classes contained in this table

Missions of various nations belonging to the province of Pampanga

Missions of Igorrots and Tingyans belonging to the province of Ylocos

[Missions in] China

Total summary of the classes included in this table reduced to persons

[Notice is given that in the total of tributes it must be understood that each single whole tribute means two persons; and thus it will be noted in the figures. The total is as set forth below.]

I, Master Fray Pedro Velasco, provincial of this province of Santísimo Nombre de Jesus of Philipinas of the Order of the Hermits of our father St. Augustine, certify that the lists of villages and souls contained in this table and which are administered by the religious of this said province, are set forth truly; and in order that this may be suitably evident, I have affixed my signature in this convent of Tondo, on April sixteenth, one thousand seven hundred and sixty.

Fray Pedro Velasco, provincial of St. Augustine.

[1] Escolapios: regular clergy of the Order of Escuelas Pías (or “religious schools”), founded early in the seventeenth century by St. Joseph of Calasanz (1556–1648), an Aragonese priest. (See VOL. XLVI, pp. 114, 115, note 49.) Besides the usual three vows, they took another one, to consecrate themselves to the instruction of children. They soon attained great reputation, and their order extended to many countries. So highly were their educational services appreciated in Spain that when the religious orders there were secularized (1835) that of Escuelas Pías was exempted therefrom by special grant, which was extended also to the Philippines. “Nevertheless, it is argued that they do not accept any salutary innovation or judicious reform, even when it is guaranteed by the experience of accredited instructors; and it is said that they walk on leaden feet, as if tied down to a stale routine.” (Dominguez.)

Echegaray also gives to the word Escolapios the meaning of “students attending the Escuelas Pías,” in which sense the word is evidently used here—except that the schools are simply the parish schools conducted by the friars among the Filipino natives. [↑]

[2] totals given in these tables are in some cases incorrect, but have been left as in original. [↑]

LATER AUGUSTINIAN AND DOMINICAN MISSIONS

AUGUSTINIAN MISSIONS

[The following account of Augustinian missions in the first half of the eighteenth century is translated from Antonio Mozo’s Noticia histórico natural (Madrid, 1763).[1] It is presented partly in full, and partly in synopsis, preferring for the former such parts as are of ethnological interest.]

CHAPTER I

In which account is given of the progress of the mission to the Italons, from the year 1700 to the present time.

After we had been able to reduce to our holy faith two tribes who dwelt at the summits of the most rugged mountains in the province of Pampanga, the Caraclans and Buquids, and from them had been formed three villages—Santor and Bongabon, quite populous; and Pantabangan, of smaller numbers, and lying more within the mountains[2]—this gate being now opened so that we could proceed further, it only needed that we should have the courage to do so. For at the first step were encountered two contiguous tribes: the Italons, a people fierce, brave, and bold; and the Abacas, who are somewhat less so. The religious therefore feared that those people, to judge from their ferocious natures, would without doubt tear them to pieces at the very outset, without even listening to them; and for this very reason they greatly dreaded to set foot within the territory of those tribes. While we were in these straits, our provincial then being our father reader Fray Francisco Zamora, about the year 1702 he selected for this purpose father Fray Antolin de Arzaga,[3] whose virtue and ardor he knew well from experience, and entrusted to him this enterprise, as dangerous as difficult. [This gospel pioneer went out, equipped with what was necessary for administering the sacraments and with some trinkets to give the natives, “and with no other arms than his confidence in God.”]

[On August 16, 1702, a letter from Father Arzaga to his superior gave account of his progress thus far; it was written from Pantabangan, which is “distant from Santor eight leguas by a very difficult road.” From the latter village he sent a message, by the hands of four chiefs, to the chief of Lublub, who came out to meet him with forty infidels; but the father finally persuaded them to let him enter their village, where he exhorted and instructed them, receiving an attentive hearing. “This village [i.e., Lublub] has about one hundred and fifty persons; it is distant from this one [of Pantabangan] four leguas to the east, by an uneven road. This Italon tribe consists of fifty-six villages (so far as I have yet ascertained), which lie on the shores of two deep rivers, toward the north. They have a general language which is entirely separate from those of Tagalos and Pampanga; they have well-kept villages, with high houses. They take great care of their fields, and keep their grain in tambobos, or granaries, thus anticipating times of sterility and sickness. The fishing, as also the hunting, is abundant and good; the climate is temperate; and there are many open plains, beautiful to see. The people are kindly, but very warlike and of courageous dispositions; they are quite ingenious, and are hospitable. They understand that there is a God, and that He is in heaven, caring for all whom He creates—to whom they offer sacrifices, only when they make agreements of peace—and that there is no other God than He. They say that He rewards the good and punishes the bad, but they do not know in what manner; and they admit that they have immortal souls. They make a contract of marriage with one wife only, which lasts until death; they do not allow concubinage; and they do not marry their relatives. They observe the truth well; and, what is more, they desire to be Christians.”[4] Certain “bad Christians” have told these Italons that the Spaniards are trying to load them with tributes and take away their liberty; therefore they are waiting to make their decision, and fifteen of them, accompanied by an Augustinian religious, are carrying Arzaga’s letter to Manila. He continues:]

“The Abaca tribe consists of ten villages, divided into two jurisdictions, one of which belongs to this village and contains six villages toward the north, extending, as they have told me, to the boundaries of the Igorrots. Twenty-two persons in the first village, called Diama, came to visit me as soon as I arrived here; having explained to them some mysteries of our holy faith, they returned to their own village. I visited them there, and they received me thus: They had placed a tall cross at the entrance of their jurisdiction, and from that place to the village they had cleared the roads, which are very bad, adorning them with arches up to the front of the house in which they lodged me; and there they had built another cross, even taller. This village is distant a legua and a half [from Pantabangan], and from it the gate is open for the entire Italon and Abaca tribes; it has wars with the Italons in regard to certain murders. I conferred with them about their making peace [with those villages], and their learning the truth which our holy faith teaches. They listened attentively to what I said to them; and, in conclusion, we made an agreement that they will at once become Christians and make peace. They ask that I catechize them, build a church, and baptize them. They are almost of the same type as the Italons; but some of them have several wives, and this is not so liberal a people as the former one. This village [of Diama] contains over a hundred persons; they speak a different language, for which reason it is necessary that there be a minister who can learn it, and devote himself to their instruction, for I am studying the Italon tongue. What I state to your Reverence is, that a minister is needed whom we can consult about some cases which are presenting themselves here; for it is very discouraging to act in the midst of scruples, in matters of conscience. What your Reverence shall ordain will be in every way most just.

“The second jurisdiction of this people pertains to Caranglan, to which I went with the determination to visit the four remaining villages; for father Fray Francisco de la Maza wrote to me from Itui that two of those villages desired to be converted, and were asking for a minister of our order, on account of being in our jurisdiction. I asked about this in Caranglan, and they said that it was true as regards one of them, which is an important village and is already Christian; and in the other village there are many persons who are Christians, although for lack of a minister they are going without administration. These two villages are a half-day’s journey from Caranglan, by a bad road, and one is contiguous to Itui, on the western side. There are many rivers to be crossed; and, as these were filled by a storm which caught me at Caranglan, I could not cross them, although I waited a week. One Abaca has continued forty years in apostasy; he asks that I will reconcile him with the church, and baptize his wife and three children, and I am instructing them in order to do this. I am sending away the Italons [with this letter], and tomorrow the Indian who went to Manila will come, to go with me to the Abaca villages; we will do what is possible there, until the coming of another minister. When he shall come, I will go on to the Italons who are further up [the river]; they tell me that it will require two months, only to go to the villages. I have information that they desire to see a father, and to be Christians; this was furnished to me by Nicolàs de los Santos, who has been among these people; and he has done and is doing much good to their souls. He is my constant companion in my journeys, and serves me in everything; I earnestly commend him to your Reverence.”

[The Italons who carried this letter to Manila were received with great kindness by Governor Zabalburu; and on their return they were accompanied by the minister for whom Arzaga had asked, for which post was selected his uncle, Fray Balthasar de Santa Maria Isisigana,[5] who went as superior of that mission. The two entered upon its labors with indefatigable zeal and energy, and on December 28, 1702, Isisigana sent in an encouraging report of what they had accomplished. Arzaga had already built a church at a place four leguas from Pantabangan, which he dedicated to St. Thomas de Villanueva; and Isisigana writes that they have just erected another at San Agustin, and built a house for the minister, while at Santo Christo de Burgos, about six leguas distant from this, the timber is already being cut for another church and convent. Most of the people, whether adults or children, desire to embrace the Catholic faith; and the missionaries go about, surrounded by the children, who sing and dance with joy. In building the church of San Agustin, the fathers were aided by thirty infidels from another village, one and one-half leguas distant, who came of their own accord, simply because they had heard that a church was being erected there. Fray Arzaga went to the upper Italons, by wretched roads; he went on foot from Pantabangan to Tablayàn, the first Italon village, about eighteen leguas. Many natives visited him there; he desired to go farther, but was attacked with an illness which almost proved mortal, and was obliged to return to Pantabangan. The chief of Tablayan, with his family, accompanied him thither; and they were ready to build him a church and house at once, if he could have remained with them. The missionaries asked for cattle from Manila, and the provincial sent them two hundred and twenty. As they grew skilled in the native dialects, they were able to extend their labors further, and they baptized many people from the tribes in that region, Abaca, Italon, and Irapi; and by 1704 they had formed several villages and erected five churches. The fruits of their zeal, and those gathered by other Augustinian missionaries in the islands, are shown by a certificate given to the governor in that year by the provincial of the order, which reads as follows:]

“I, Fray Juan Bautista de Olarte, pensioned lecturer in sacred theology, provincial of the province of Santissimo Nombre de Jesus of the hermits of our father St. Augustine, do certify that, from the eighth day of October, 1702, until the twentieth of May in this present year, the two missionary religious of the said my order who were employed in the conversion of the natives in the Italon and Abaca tribes, who dwell in the mountains of Pantabangàn and Caranglàn,[6] have founded five villages, to wit: Santo Tomàs de Villanueva, which is composed of eighty families; Santo Christo de Burgos, one hundred families; San Agustin, one hundred and sixty; San Pablo, one hundred and forty; San Joseph, seventy families. They all have accepted the faith of our Lord Jesus Christ, and the holy sacrament of baptism has been administered to four hundred and seventy-nine persons, all adults, who are instructed and taught in the Christian doctrine and the mysteries of our holy faith; and those who at present are being catechized and instructed for baptism number more than eight hundred persons.

“I also certify that in the said mountains of Pantabangàn and Caranglàn dwell the tribes called Igorrots, Irapis, and Sinay, and others, which contain a great number of natives who live in their pagan state; and that the Italon tribe alone contains fifty-six villages, all infidels, who have offered to become Christians when they shall have ministers who can teach them and preach the religion of our Lord Jesus Christ; and that the said missionaries of my order are employed in this ministry.

“I also certify that the minister of my order who serves in the villages of Tarlac, Magalan, and Bucsi, Zambal villages in the province of Pampanga, has catechized and baptized, from the year 1702 up to May 20 of this present year, fifty-eight adults, all of whom have come down from the mountains of the said villages.

“I also certify that the minister who serves in the village of Pórac in the said province of Pampanga has catechized, instructed, and baptized, in the missions which he has carried on in the mountains of the said village during the said two years, twenty-six natives among the blacks who dwell in that neighborhood.

“I also certify that the religious of the said my order who serve in the villages of Agoò, Bavang, and Bacnotan in the province of Pangasinan have converted to our holy faith, and instructed and baptized, in the period of two years twenty-six natives from the tribe called Igorrots, who dwell in the said mountains.

“I also certify that the ministers who serve in the province of Ilocos have in the period of two years converted to our holy faith and baptized one hundred and fifty-six natives from the infidel Tinguians who are in and belong to the said province, and live in its mountains and hills.

“I also certify that the minister for the village of Antique in the province of Octong has in his charge and care the islets which are called Cagayàn, and has labored for seven years to convert the natives inhabiting them to our holy faith. Having gone thither to visit the Christians, in the past year of 1703, he gave instruction in the Christian doctrine and the mysteries of our holy faith to forty-four adults, and baptized them, with others, who were the children of Christian parents; and he heard the confessions of all the old Christians, for he remained in that mission four months. In the said province of Ogtòn, the religious who are ministers at Guimbal, Tigbavan, and Xaro have converted to our holy faith and baptized thirty-six adults, on various occasions when they have gone into the mountains in their respective jurisdictions. That there has not been a greater increase [in the number of conversions] not only in this province, but in those of Pampanga, Pangasinan, and Ilocos, is [due to] the lack of religious ministers; for those in my province are not enough for even the maintenance of the villages and Christians who are in their charge. And in order that these things may be evident in the proper place, I give the present at the demand and order of the captain-general of these islands, and president of the royal Audiencia, Don Domingo Zabalburu; it is dated at this royal convent of San Pablo at Manila, on the twenty-sixth day of May, in the year one thousand seven hundred and four.

Fray Juan Bautista Olarte, provincial.”

[So great was the zeal of Arzaga and Isisigana that they devoted themselves to seeking out the heathen among those wild mountains, enduring privations, exposure, and sufferings, until the health of both was broken down. Arzaga was again attacked by a sickness which prostrated him, and died in 1707; his uncle held out three years longer, and was then called in from the field, in order to recruit his strength, but he was never able to return to his labors, and died in 1716, in the convent of Vava.[7] In their place was sent to this mission field Fray Alexandro Cacho,[8] in zeal and courage a worthy successor to them. He succeeded in converting a chief named Dinalavang, dreaded as well as renowned for his fierce and warlike disposition and for his skill in all military exercises; also a sister of this man, as valiant and dextrous as he, baptized as Doña Maria. Mozo gives an interesting account of the fierce and cruel practices of these savage tribes (whom he compares to the Huns), “which more than once I have rebuked, when I have been among those people.” “If they succeed in killing a person they try to drink his blood; and, cutting off pieces of his lungs, together with the testicles[9] and other parts, they also draw out the entrails, and then divide these among themselves and eat them raw—not only to make themselves terrible, but also because they say it is a powerful medicine for exciting courage, fierceness, and fortitude in their battles. They also cut off the head, and carry it away in order to celebrate their festivals, with great gluttony and carousing, [filling the skull] with a sort of wine which they make from sugarcane and call ilang. Afterward, they take the grinders and teeth and set these in the hilts of their cutlasses; and, as a consequence, there is hardly any one in this tribe or in the Ibilaos whose cutlass is not adorned with many teeth of those whom he has killed, or who has not in his hut a collection of the skulls from human heads—this very thing inspiring them with greater courage when they fight, in the same way as it happened, as Virgil sings, to Æneas when he saw on his antagonist Turnus the scarf of his beloved Pallas. So these people, when they see the teeth of their own tribesmen on the sword-hilts of their opponents, fling themselves upon the latter like mad dogs; and from this may be readily inferred what degree of ferocity and barbarism theirs must be, and what sort of hardships and labors it will cost to free them from the power of the demon …. They greatly dislike arrogance in their neighbors; and they likewise abhor every sorcerer and wizard, a motive which makes them treat without mercy any one of these whom they seize, cutting him to pieces with their knives; and even at their feasts, and in the superstitious rites which they practice, they utter a thousand execrations against such persons, hurling at them a thousand curses, and swearing that they will not spare any one of them who may fall into their hands, [an oath] which they fulfil exactly.” Mozo describes the secret raids made by these people against their enemies, marching at night and attacking a defenseless village at daybreak; and he accuses them of aiding their ordinary weapons with a diabolical practice—“they throw into a hole in some creek a root and herbs which they carry, provided [for this purpose], and, by their using various magic spells which the demon has taught to them, so violent a wind is raised, and a tempest of rain, that with the noise thus caused they are not observed, and likewise are better protected from the villages against which they march.” He adds, “I do not relate fables;” and states that he has several times endeavored to restrain them from this devilish proceeding. Sometimes, he says, the proceedings are reversed, and the aggressors are, in their turn, surprised by those whom they have attacked, who then take revenge upon them. Mozo relates how, on one occasion, a hostile band of heathen attacked some Christians, and captured a loaded musket, its match still lighted; they examined it carefully, and, while handling it, incautiously let the match fall on the priming. The gun was discharged, killing some and crippling others of the group crowded around it; the survivors fled in terror, but afterward returned to the spot, and with a cord dragged the gun to their village and buried it in the ground. Learning that its owner lived in Bongabon, they immediately rated the people of that village as sorcerers, who had placed a powerful magic in the gun; and for more than fifty years they taught their children, as soon as the latter could speak, to avoid the dwellers in Bongabon as dangerous sorcerers.]

CHAPTER II

The glorious triumphs among the Isinay and adjoining tribes are related

In the wild and impenetrable mountain ranges which extend to the northeast and north, and separate the provinces of Pampanga and Nueva Segovia, there are various tribes who have almost the same customs as those of the Abaca and Ibilaos; one of these is the one called Isinay.[10] To them, and to the adjacent tribes, the fervent zeal of the fathers belonging to the illustrious Order of St. Dominic[11] had been directed, years before; but they found so much stubbornness, violence, and cruelty that—after immense labors, and having been in danger of losing their lives—they were not able to secure the conversion of one of those people to our holy faith. For this reason the fathers were obliged to withdraw from them, seeing that they were wasting time without having any result, or even the hope of it. [The Augustinian Cacho took up this task, and went on foot among those wild mountains and wilder savages; at first they repulsed him, and even tried to kill him, but finally his perseverance and patience softened their hard hearts, and they were willing to listen to him.] From the year 1715 until 1723, he was able to found four new villages of the Isinay people, not to mention many others besides, from other tribes, whom he baptized, and who united themselves with the other villages previously mentioned. Finally, continuing unweariedly in his holy task, and enduring the hardships which may be guessed, by the year 1738 he had come to the end of baptizing and converting the entire Isinay tribe, with a large part of other tribes, whom he settled in different villages. All these, thoroughly subdued and tamed, baptized, and established in a well civilized mode of life, the [Augustinian] province surrendered to the holy Order of St. Dominic, with churches, dwellings for the religious, the sacred vessels, and the other ornaments of the sacristy, because that of our father St. Augustine found that it had many missions for which to care, and not religious enough for all. This surrender was made in the year 1740[12] preceding the permission of the governor and examination by the judge whom he appointed for that task. The latter recorded a judicial inventory of everything that was surrendered, and even copied from the baptismal registers the numbers of the persons baptized, that these matters might be evident for all time; and at the same time he made a judicial investigation, showing who those were who began to evangelize the said tribes—from which it appeared that when our religious began their labors there, there was not any Christian in those places. This surrender being accomplished, then, our religious withdrew to their other missions, in which there are fifteen villages which have been formed since the year 1702, at which time that mission was commenced for the aforesaid places. In these glorious triumphs, those who attained greatest eminence and were most fortunate in winning souls, next to the three religious [already named], sons of this province of Castilla, were: our father Fray Vicente Ibarra,[13] who afterward was provincial; the father definitor Fray Juan Velloxin, a most guileless man, full of virtue, and unwearied in labors; the father Fray Diego Nogueròl, who is still living, and has been definitor—all these three from this province of Castilla—and the father commissary Fray Joseph Gonzalez, a son of the province of Philipinas; also others, whom, in order not to be tedious, I omit.

[News of this change reached Spain in 1742, and the general public impression was that the aforesaid conversions had been accomplished by the Dominican fathers. At the representations of the Augustinian procurator at Madrid, the king issued a decree (dated December 19, 1742), approving and confirming the transfer made to the Dominicans, setting forth the facts in the case and giving the credit for these labors to the Augustinians. In the rehearsal of their achievements various interesting facts are stated. The people of Ituy were formerly called Isinay, a name given to them by the Italons. The first three Augustinian missionaries baptized, from the year 1715 to 1723, six hundred and ninety-five persons of all ages among these Ituis, not counting many others who were being prepared for baptism. Of these converts they formed four villages with their churches: Bujay (the chief village), Pigpig, Marian, and Canan. In this and the Italon mission they baptized in that period three thousand, four hundred and thirteen persons. In 1723 the order applied to the governor for further aid; he sent Auditor Pabón to inspect the missions, whose report led to the appointment of three more missionaries there, their stipends paid from the royal treasury. The eighteen Isinay villages had been reduced to nine[14] by the missionaries; all of these contained church buildings, and most of them convents; and the people were considerably civilized. The missionaries had provided them with beasts of burden, and with “all the rest that was necessary for the cultivation of their grain-fields.” Through the efforts of these missionaries, in conjunction with the Dominicans, a road was constructed from Pampanga to Cagayan;[15] and another, from Pangasinan to Paniqui, was opened by the Dominicans, in which they were aided greatly by the Augustinians. The eighteen Italon villages, with two others, were reduced to fifteen: within the mountains, Puncàn, Caranglan, San Miguèl, Santa Rita, Bolo, Pantabangan, San Juan, and Santo Thomàs; in the valleys, Tayog, Umingan, Lupào, San Joseph, Palosapes (or Urorin), San Agustin, and Santa Monica. Perhaps the greatest among the Augustinian missionaries was Alexandro Cacho, who died in 1745. After him came Fray Agustin Barriocanal,[16] a man of great zeal, who formed a village called Ambayavan; in the flower of his youth he was drowned while trying to ford a swollen stream (June 5, 1747). Another noted missionary was Pedro Freyre; he converted eighty families in the Jumangi tribe, and gathered them into a village, with their own church; and he converted great numbers from the Italon, Abaca, Ibilao, Irapi, and Ilongot tribes, and even some of the blacks (Negritos). Mozo cites their labors in order to show that the missionary spirit was then even more active and aspiring than in the early days of the conquest; and confirms it by describing the mode of life of these mountain tribes, and the consequent difficulties in missionary labor among them, saying:]

The tribes converted by the early missionaries were more civilized, dwelt on the plains, and had a more orderly mode of life, sowing grain and gathering enough for their support; but these of whom we speak, besides being rough in their behavior, hardly know any tillage of the soil, living generally by hunting. Their mode of cultivating what little they plant is as follows: They first clear some little piece of ground from the brush and weeds on it, with their knives (which resemble those which the butchers use); then with the point of the knife they make holes in the ground, in rows, and throw into each a few grains of seed; they know no other plow, or any other thing which might serve as one, for which reason the harvest that they gather is always very small. They do the same for any planting of sugarcane which they make—from which, when the cane is mature, they press out the juice and make wine for drinking at their feasts; after cutting out of the soil the grass to the roots, they make little holes in it, and then thrust into these the shoots from the mature canes which they had cut. For this reason, and because it is necessary to provide means by which those who are converted may obtain a suitable support, so that for lack of this they may not go wandering about, as soon as we begin to confer baptism we endeavor to find animals and other necessaries for the cultivation of the land—the religious being often the first one who begins to plow and sow, directing them in this way, so that they may learn how to do it. The same thing occurs with reaping. They do not use sickles, but go on picking the grain spike by spike; and, as there is so little of it, they soon end their task. But, now that they are taught to plow, it is also necessary to teach them to cut and winnow the grain; and this is done, the religious being the ones who commence it, in order that the people may imitate them—in which the work alone is for them, as they give up all the fruit of it for the benefit of the said barbarians. [The missionaries also had to contend with the attachment of the savages to their mountains, for they abhorred the life on the plains. One reason was, their dread of the smallpox, which never entered the mountains, because these savage dwellers there instituted a strict quarantine—closing up the roads and paths with logs and brushwood, and sending out the declaration that they would immediately kill any one who dared to enter their territory. Another reason was, that the hotter climate of the plains did not agree with them. Accordingly, in order not to exasperate them, no further effort was made to change their dwellings, and the religious continued to labor among them in the midst of a thousand trials and hardships.]

CHAPTER III

Missions of the provinces of Ilocos and Pangasinan in general

[Mozo states that the two provinces of Pampanga and Pangasinan were so populous that, “of those whom our forefathers converted in these two provinces alone are counted more than one hundred and fifty thousand souls—who, settled in villages, and maintained in a very civilized and Christian society, hold their own on the frontier of the infidels; for their territory allows them no alternative, shut in on one side by the sea, and on the other by very rugged mountains.”]

Four very noted tribes, three of them very extensive and populous, the fourth of more restricted territory and containing fewer souls—in which last the enemy [of souls], strongly fortified, has resisted for long ages—have been the aim to which the zeal and fervor of the evangelical ministers have been directed. The said tribes dwell among mountain ranges that are very extensive, lofty, and rugged—which, stretching from the province of Pampanga and bordering that of Pangasinan, run throughout Ilocos, through a space, with bends and turns, of about a hundred leguas.[17] The first of these tribes is called Igolot, and, corrupting the letters, they are wont to call it Igorrot; their territory occupies about thirty leguas, from the confines of Pampanga to those of the province of Ilocos. Contiguous to this tribe is another which is called Tinggian, not less numerous; and it extends for a distance of about forty leguas along the same mountains, even trenching upon the province of Ilocos. Then comes another, called Apayao,[18] extending about thirty leguas, which consists of many thousands of souls; and at one side dwell another tribe, called Adang, which has fewer people, but, for the very reason that they find themselves less powerful, they have their dwellings in places almost inaccessible—maintaining (as do the three others) their own different dialect. Of the said four tribes, the first and third are to a great degree cruel and barbarous; but the second and third, although sufficiently obstinate, are more tractable. It is said that the Igolot tribe are a caste of those Chinese who had come over with the pirate Limahon to conquer those islands; and, being conquered, he escaped with those whom he could gather, those who could taking refuge in these mountains, in which they have multiplied exceedingly. Besides the reasons which favor this opinion, it is apparently confirmed by their appearance; for, although they go about naked, and are subjected to every inclemency of the weather, they nevertheless greatly resemble the Chinese in the light color and gracefulness of their bodies, especially in the eyes, in which there is a close likeness between them. Their fierceness and cruelty is unequaled; their only desire is to take captives, in order to have slaves for their service, and, when they have enough of these, to kill whomever they encounter. For this reason, without a strong escort one cannot pass, except with great danger, through the upper part of those mountains; and even the villages are so infested with them that as a precaution they always keep some men armed to resist these marauders—at night stationing a sentinel with his drum, who is changed during the daytime—throughout that mountain range. And because in every place our natives (especially if they are away from the village) are so harassed by the Igolots, therefore when they go to sow their grain or gather their crops they erect high sentry-posts, from which they can see if the enemy are coming; and those who work keep the sickle in one hand and a weapon in the other—as we are told of the Israelites when in the time of Esdras they were building the walls of Jerusalem …. And even when they do this, they are not safe from the fury of these savages. Such was the ferocity of this tribe, in which they continued until the past year of 1755, and in such manner did they try the patience of all those villages.

The tribe adjoining this one, called Tingguian, are more gentle and more industrious, and maintain a much more civilized condition, because they have much intercourse with the Christians in whose vicinity they live; and for the same reason they are more open to the teachings of the religious. And although so far as concerns the acceptance of baptism they have continued very obstinate, for many years refusing to allow a religious to live among them, yet always it has been a very satisfactory harvest [of souls] which annually has been gathered and united with the Christians, as may be seen by the certificate of the reverend father provincial which is presented above; speaking of the Tingguians, he states that in only two years one hundred and fifty-six infidels had been converted to our holy faith by the religious of the villages near by—which has always been the fact, sometimes more and sometimes fewer. With such a drop of comfort as this, the ministers were consoled—who, not finding any hindrance in going from time to time to visit those savages, went in and out, carried away by their holy zeal. And although, when the fathers talked to them about our holy law, they would reply that the time for it had not yet come for them, nor was it possible to overcome their caprices by any arguments, nevertheless there was always one person here, or another there, who was made ready to receive the heavenly influences.

The third tribe, which is the one called Apayao, not only does not remain behind the Igolot in cruelty, bloodthirstiness, and barbarism, but in a great degree surpasses it. For not only are its men continually going about, placing a thousand ambushes in the roads, in order to exercise their rage on the wretches who have the misfortune to fall into their hands, without sparing any person, no matter of what rank or condition he may be; but they have, besides, a specially barbaric custom and cruel superstition at the funerals and obsequies of their chiefs and other persons whom they respect, in every way very similar to that which for many centuries the Greeks practiced at the death of their heroes, and other persons of rank, before and after the so celebrated destruction of Troya. [Here Mozo makes a long digression regarding the customs of the ancient Greeks and Romans in killing slaves or other people at the death of a prominent person.] These [Apayao] barbarians, then, are wont to celebrate the funerals and obsequies of their dead, although not promiscuously of all, but only those of their chiefs and other persons to whom they pay respect; and because they believe that the shades [manes] of the deceased take delight in human blood, they endeavor to give them this pleasure by killing people—a greater or less number, according to the station of the dead man. To do so, they avail themselves only of those whom they capture for this purpose, and these they go out to seek with great diligence, as soon as the dying man has ceased to breathe. In order that they may not lack these captives, they assemble a considerable number of men, and, some taking one road and some another, they go down from the mountains well armed, and, hiding in the brushwood near the roads, they wait very silently for some passers-by; and, as soon as they discover such persons, they attack them with great fury, and kill them with their javelins on the very spot. This done, the assailants cut off their heads, and laden with these (leaving the bodies there) they carry them to their own dead, and place the heads about him. After this they celebrate their sort of banquet, at which they eat and drink like beasts; and when this is finished they complete the burial. Placing in the tomb some portion of food and drink, they bury the corpse with those heads, being greatly pleased and satisfied at having pleased the shades of their dead, and believing that through this whatever they may undertake will have a prosperous issue.

[Mozo recalls the scanty results of missionary work among these savage tribes in the early days. “In the year 1660, when Don Diego de Salcedo was governor of these islands, two religious escorted by some soldiers entered the territory of the Igorrots, and in a place called Cayam[19] they established a small military post with a church, which they dedicated to the archangel St. Michael; and from this place they began with apostolic zeal to preach to those tribes the holy name of God, but the harvest of souls which they could obtain was exceedingly small ….” A little while after the said religious had made this entrance, the soldiers became sick through the insalubrity of the region, and the barbarians threatened to cut them into pieces if they did not immediately go away from that place. Accordingly, not having sufficient force to resist, the fathers were obliged to yield to this opposition, and retired with much sadness, taking with them such persons as they had baptized. From that time until recent years, none of the various attempts to found a mission there had been successful, although occasional converts were made among those tribes. Among the Apayaos and Tingguians also this experience was repeated; only within recent years had they allowed the religious to labor among them, a few, however, being converted by missionaries in villages near them.]

CHAPTER IV

The missions of Ilocos, in especial

[The missionaries who most zealously and successfully labored in this field were: Fray Joseph Herice, Fray Jacinto Rivera, Fray Nicolàs Fabro, and Fray Manuel Madariaga.[20] The first-named established this mission in 1720; he formed a village of his converts, the first thus established among the Adang tribe, another having been made among the Apayaos, which was called Vera [i.e., Vira?]. The infidels named Father Herice “the hunter of souls.” He labored among them twenty-two years, dying in 1742; and three years later Father Rivera followed him, after gaining considerable extension for this mission.]

CHAPTER V

The mission to the Tingguians

[Father Fabro labored in this mission also, and formed a village of converts which he called San Juan; by the year 1750, it contained more than a thousand souls. This missionary labored indefatigably, and much exposure and hardship finally crippled him; Fray Madariaga came to his aid, and, although his health was not good, he accomplished wonders. In 1736 he formed a village at Dingras, naming it Santiago; his death occurred in 1744. In 1753 two other Tingguian villages were newly formed—one three leguas from Santiago, further within the mountains; and another, four leguas from this. In that same year, Father Juan Solorzano was sent to this mission; he was most zealous and useful, and forgetful of self, so much so that within the first year he contracted a fever, as the result of exposure, which ended his life in four days.]

CHAPTER VI

The mission to the Igolot tribe in especial

[Mozo refers to what he has already mentioned, that these barbarians would not allow the missionaries to settle in their country, but that some of them became converted through the labors of outside missionaries. They were not disturbed by this, however, but rather were pleased, because their relatives or friends who had removed to Christian villages were thus able to supply them with articles of comfort or luxury which they themselves had not—“blankets, which they wrap around them when there is some cold weather, in the time of north winds; wine; hogs and cattle, of whose flesh they are very fond, and use it continually in their feasts and banquets.” Through this commerce, also, the missionaries find opportunity to reach some of the heathen, and thus secure occasional conversions. Mozo describes a barbarous custom of theirs: “It is a usage among these people not to give burial to any of their dead, especially if he was a chief, until whatever he may have left has been consumed in gluttony and carousing among his relatives and others belonging to him; with some chiefs this is commonly no small amount, because in the rivers there some gold is found, and all the people endeavor to obtain it for their chiefs. For, expending for cattle, hogs, rice, and wine whatever the dead man possessed of this sort, they make enormous bonfires about the corpse, which they lay in the ground; and having killed the animals, they thrust them just as they are—with hair, hides, and entrails—into the said bonfires, and thus prepare barbecues[21] which are savory to their taste. Afterward, beginning to dance around the corpse, they keep this up night and day, one set giving place to another.[22] They eat and drink frequently; and if any one is inclined to sleep he squats on his haunches, with his head resting on his knees, and needs no other bed. Thus they remain, ten, fifteen, or twenty days with the corpse, without interring it; and, even when it emits a stench and swarms with maggots, it does not drive them away. They reserve some gold and some food, which afterward they inter with the deceased, so that he may have it, as they say, for his journey.” In 1747 the Augustinian Fray Francisco Cordova (who had been the associate of Cacho) was sent to Agoo, on the frontier of the Igolots, and soon secured their good-will, although they long refused to allow him to live among them. Finally, after seven years of this apparently unfruitful labor, a miraculous change occurred. During the visitation of the provincial—then Fray Manuel Carrillo, accompanied by Mozo as his secretary—while he was conferring with Cordova at Aringay, five chiefs came down from the mountains, and asked Carrillo to send missionaries among them. He sent a deputation of them to Manila to ask this favor from the governor; who received them most graciously, and granted whatever they asked; they were instructed in the faith and baptized while in Manila, and returned to their tribe, who eagerly sought baptism also. Cordova[23] was made superior of the new mission, with Fray Francisco Romero and Fray Pedro Vivar as his assistants; they built two churches, and baptized many hundreds of the people. In other Igolot villages, missions were also conducted by Fray Carlos de Horta, Fray Joseph Torres, and Fray Juan Sanchez.]

CHAPTER VII

Missions to the Zambals

Along the provinces of Pangasinan and Pampanga, fronting their western side, there dwells another tribe, which they call Zambal, no less fierce than those already mentioned, and exceeding them in boldness. They are continually assaulting travelers, and they take their greatest pleasure in killing. So continual are their descents from the mountains to infest the said roads that it is only with great peril that one can cross from one province to the other without an escort; and even then many mishaps occur frequently; for these bandits lie hidden in the thickets and ravines at the sides of the road, and, when one of them gives a yell, all discharge their arrows, in the management of which they are very skilful; and, felling to the ground those whom they can reach, they cut off the heads of these, and carry them away in order to celebrate their feasts. They are also wont to approach the villages by night, and in hiding to wait for any person who strays from the rest and leaves the village early; then they do the same with him, be his rank what it may; afterward they take the skull of the slain man’s head and use it for a drinking-vessel, in the same manner as did the Scythians, as Ravisius Textor and Plinius relate.

This tribe obtain their living generally from the hunting of deer, wild swine and buffaloes, and from the honey produced by the innumerable bees which are in those extensive forests and shut-in mountains. They are accustomed also to plant certain potatoes, which here we call Malagan potatoes, and there are named camote, the seed of which, with the name, was carried [thither] from Nueva España; but they care little for the said planting, because without any work of their own the Author of Nature provides them with a kind of wild palm, so useful and profitable that this tree alone admirably displays the wisdom of its Creator—for what it spontaneously yields is a thing to cause astonishment, and would even be incredible to one who did not see it. [Mozo here cites several authors regarding the uses of the palm in other countries, but says, “all this is nothing compared to the palms which we are going to describe; accordingly, for the praise of the Creator, I am going to give a full account of the said tree,” which he accordingly does. The palm referred to is the buri,[24] or sago-palm; its farinaceous product is called yoro in Pampangan, and in Tagálog sagu. He describes the native method of fire-making among these people, as follows: “They take two splinters of a kind of bamboo, very thick and tall, which grows in abundance throughout the forests there, and along the creeks; and, scraping the outer surface of one of these a little with a knife, they make tinder of the shavings. Then they make a notch in the splinter with which they must rub the other one; and, placing on its outside that which serves for tinder, they make the other splinter firm, placing it on edge against some tree, first paring its upper edge thin, like a knife-blade. This done, with the other and notched splinter (and the tinder filling the notch) they begin, holding it flat, to rub the lower one very hard. In less than two minutes it begins to smoke, and is fully kindled; they breathe upon it to raise a flame, and, feeding this with dry leaves, grass, and little sticks, in a very short time they make a fierce blaze.”[25] Mozo also describes some vegetable medicines used by the natives. Among these wild people were sent missionaries, Fray Gonzalo de Salazar and others; these form villages with their converts—“Magalang, Tarlac, Bucsic, and Panlinlan, in which there are more than seven hundred families, as appears from the original register, made in the past year of 1759, of which I have a legal copy.” In 1728, Fray Juan Velloxin formed the village of Tunàs; and in 1755 Fray Sebastian Morono established those of Pandolan, Garlit, San Miguèl, and another one. Besides these, many converts removed their residence to other Christian villages. Mozo notices, as a curious phenomenon, that among these Zambals are certain persons who are immune to the bites of poisonous animals and insects—as he thinks, because of some quality of their “humors,” or of their physical conditions; he cites therefor Pliny and other writers, and various instances of which he has known personally. He also describes the cure of these poisonous bites by sucking out the poison, which act (as also the person who does it) is called, in Pampangan, tavac; but the ability to accomplish this he ascribes to some peculiarity of temperament or physique on the part of the healer.]

CHAPTER VIII

Missions to the Balugas,[26] or Aetas

Besides the aforesaid missions, the province maintains another, scattered through all the islands, to a class of people who, it is believed (and with no small reason), were in olden times the masters of the entire land. One of the grounds for this belief is, that in all the islands (which are very many) these people maintain an identical language, and different from those of all the other peoples among whom they live; while the other natives of each island have a language different [from those spoken in other islands], and even in some places (as is evident throughout all this treatise) are encountered at every turn different dialects in the same island. Another argument is drawn from the similarity which there is between the peoples of those islands and the Malayos, and even in their respective languages—these Malayos are natives of Maluco, and are quite energetic and warlike—excepting the people of whom we now speak. From this it has been inferred that these blacks ruled that country; and that the said Malayos, coming to it and subduing its former masters, compelled them to retire to the bush and the mountain heights, abandoning the rest of the country to the conquerors.

These people of whom we speak are very dark in color, not black like those of Angola; neither have they thick lips, or curly and short hair, like them. But their color is a brownish or pallid [descolorido] black, their hair like that of a mulatto; their lips are not thick; many of them are very corpulent, and all have large abdomens, and generally both men and women appear feeble. All go naked, with no other covering than a long strip like a narrow sash, with which, tied round the waist and drawn between the legs, the men cover their private parts; while the women wear a sort of apron, which covers them behind and before as far as the knees. Both sexes make these coverings from the bark of a tree which they call balete; stripping off its bark, which is very smooth and flexible, they place it in water, afterward beating it in order to loosen the outer layer; then washing and drying it, it remains of the color and softness of a chamois-skin, although it is thin. They keep this on until it wears out, and when they can no longer use it they repair to the shop in the grove, to look for another in their storehouse.

The nature and peculiarities of these Balugas are described by the reverend father, former provincial of the Philipinas, our father Fray Vicente Ibarra, in the report of the missions which he made to the governor of those islands, Don Fernando Valdés Tamon, in the year 1738. He says, then, speaking of these people: “The third mission which is in these mountains is very arduous, not so much on account of the toilsome roads as because the people have less intellect than [any other that] is known in these islands; for this reason it has not been possible to introduce them into any civilization, although those who are baptized are numerous. Their maintenance in the faith is so difficult that it cannot easily be explained after the no small expenses that are incurred; for all the time while the ministers are devoting themselves to their instruction it is necessary to support the fathers, furnishing to them rice, meat, wine, and tobacco, along with some trinkets for the women and children. For those people have neither house nor fields, nor any furniture save the bow and arrow and some heavy knives [machetes], with which they are continually seeking their food, without reserving anything for another day.”

[Mozo adds other information, acquired during his residence of three years among the Negritos; but precedes it by various citations from learned authors. Returning to his subject, he says:]

They have their own territory, within which they go about in bands and from which they never go out; but they do not have any fixed dwelling-place in it, for they remain a short time in one place hunting, and afterward they remove therefrom four or five leguas away. In whatever place they arrive, they make their hut in an instant with four rough sticks, and with a sort of grass, very long and flexible, with which the country abounds, which they call ilib,[27] or with the leaves of palms—with which and with the stakes they form their huts (which resemble those of the vineyard-keepers), in which with a piece of wood and some dry grass,[28] which they are sure to find about the entrance, they forthwith have bed and pillows, and all that they need for sleep. They live entirely in common, and therefore when they capture any deer or wild swine (by hunting which they live) they immediately share it equally—except the head and neck, which parts they set aside for the dogs that they have, who start the said game.

Each band, usually containing twenty-five to thirty persons, goes by itself, with one man to whom the rest pay respect, generally the one who is most daring and valiant. In the summer they go down to live on the banks of the streams, seeking the fresh air; but in times of rain, or when the north winds blow hard, they huddle together in the thickets, so dense that the wind hardly enters them. If one of them dies, as soon as he expires they bury him in a very shallow grave; and then they take to flight, in order that death may not seize another person and carry him away, as they say. When the time for [gathering] honeycombs arrives—and the stores of honey which the bees[29] gather in those dense forests are without limit—they are busy in searching for these; and if they come across a honey-tree the person who finds it immediately makes a mark on the trunk of the tree, and possesses it as securely as if he had it in his own house. For, even if another person goes there and finds it, when he sees the mark he says: “This tree already has an owner,” and therefore he goes on. Afterward, they go at a convenient time, and, waiting until there is no wind, so that the smoke may not be prevented from rising perpendicularly, they make a fire [under the tree]; and, the bees being scared away, men climb the tree, carrying a sort of sling, strongly made from a palm-leaf, very broad, [from the tree] which they call anao.[30] They take out the comb entire, with wax and all, placing it in this receptacle; and then tie it together and carry it down. They eat the honey, and sell the wax in order to buy tobacco for smoking, without which they cannot pass the time. So long as such people have their tobacco, their bows and arrows, their half-cutlass, and their outfit for striking fire, they do not desire anything else—money, or clothing, or lands—neither do they envy any person for anything. They shoot arrows with the greatest dexterity, and will pierce a deer with one from side to side in his most rapid flight. When they have food they eat it in a barbarous manner; but if on account of bad weather they have not been able to obtain any game, they boil water and drink it, and compress their bellies with cords. They are also accustomed to dig in the ground and search for a root called sucbao,[31] with which, when it is roasted, they can subsist, although in summer they never lack fruits in the woods. They are always happy, and keep themselves plump and contented; and among them are persons who are quite old.

I frankly confess that, in the midst of the sorrow that was occasioned in me by the extreme barbarism and mental stupidity of this people when I knew by experience their mode of life, at the same time not only were presented before me those golden ages, so celebrated, of which Ovid treats at length in his Metamorphoses, Cicero in his Aratus, Lactantius Firmianus in his Institutiones, and Seneca in his Epistolæ, but I also saw how true is that Epicurean maxim, which, distinguishing human necessities, says, Naturales necessitates satiari pene nihilo. To which Pythocles adds, Si vis hominem divitem facere, non pecuniæ adjice, sed cupiditatibus detrahe.[32] It is worth while to see the said people going about naked, without house or shelter, without land, and even without desire for it, yet living contented, happy, plump, and satisfied; without having any anxieties beyond that of searching for enough to get through the day with—which, as it is but little, they soon provide from what is yielded by nature in those mountains …. Again I say that their mode of life arouses my admiration, and that if they were enlightened by our holy faith, and were enduring for God’s sake the sufferings that they experience, I believe that not even the most austere monk of the Thebaid could equal them. It is, however, true that they avail themselves of the “bill of divorce,” although before marriage a false step is hardly heard of among them; and that in some districts they are cruel and murderous.

[Mozo here makes observations on various medicinal plants, which he found by actual experience or observation to be highly efficacious. Among these are two roots which these natives used in cases of parturition—one to facilitate the birth, the other to cleanse and strengthen the mother’s system; the woman was able to go out from her hut, carrying her infant, within one day, or even a few hours. Seeing the great virtue of this treatment, Mozo obtained a quantity of these remedies and prescribed them successfully in many similar cases, after he left the Negritos. They poisoned their arrows with a decoction of the bark of the camandag,[33] and of some other plants, in order to kill large game—so powerful a poison that even a buffalo would die within two minutes if one of these arrows hit even its hoof.]

It is a fact, however, that they do not use the said poisoned arrows against any save animals, considering it an inexpiable crime to shoot rational beings with them; but for hunting those animals—“the great game,” as they call them—they use these arrows continually, and with them kill innumerable beasts. When one of these falls to the ground, they immediately cut off its head; and, having thoroughly washed the flesh, they eat it without any misgivings. I baptized the man who chiefly made this poison, who was already past the age of ninety years, who never was willing to leave me until he died; and on various occasions he explained to me the method of making the said poison, naming to me the separate ingredients, although I never was acquainted with them. These same people have other plants, the use of which I tried, in my religious instructions, to banish among them—not only because some persons make use of them for evil purposes, but also because they lead one to suspect some diabolical aid, for those people accomplish with them things which are truly amazing. But since information of this may be of great assistance in explaining some things which, written by the ancients, give the moderns material for many and various curious inquiries, I will briefly describe what those barbarians are accustomed to do with the said plants. They use, then, I was told, certain herbs that are amatory, or adapted for philters, if thus they should be called (which I do not dispute), in order to captivate the love of those whom they desire to win. For instance, do they desire to marry some woman who does not love them? Then, obtaining their herbs (which they know very well), they carry these with them, endeavoring at the same time to carry them in the mouth when they talk with the woman; and the attraction is usually such that in a short time they succeed in gaining the affection of women who before were very averse to loving them. They do the same when they enter the presence of some person whom they have offended and whom they fear. They take the said herbs in their mouths, and, armed with this antidote, they are not afraid to be seen by him and to talk with him; and such are the results that they experience that, even when that person is greatly offended, he feels for that time so changed that, far from showing his anger, he receives them with great kindness, and with indications of special affection. They are also wont to use the aforesaid herbs in order to succeed in committing their lewd acts with women; and the women do the same in order to make themselves beloved by the men, very often, but not always, succeeding in this. [Mozo relates an instance of this: a convert of his own, a most virtuous, modest, and exemplary widow, at first refused to marry another man, an infidel; but with the odor of these plants he overcame her opposition and carried her away with him. “Never since then have I been able to see them again, although I tried to do so that I might convert that barbarian, and marry them afterward.” He also relates how sometimes the natives would try this spell on him, if they feared that he was offended with them; after careful examination, he was satisfied that it caused not the slightest change in his feelings. He argues that any effect produced by the use of these herbs must, after all, be a natural one, and not caused by diabolical influences—a conclusion which he enforces by quoting various learned doctors. He and other missionaries made vigorous efforts to prevent the natives from such use of these herbs, on account of their bad results—as also in another custom, thus described:]

In order to enable them to kill some deer quickly, they take some herbs which they call in their own language panarongusa, which signifies the same as to say in Spanish, aliciente para venados [i.e., “a lure for deer”]. They distinguish the said herb into male and female, and therefore they make two small bundles of them, the male plants in one and the female in another. This done, they stick an arrow into the ground, and, placing at the top of it the herbs tied together, they begin to call the deer, imitating its voice, which they do to perfection. If in that vicinity there is any deer that hears the said sound, it infallibly sets out at once, and, beginning to scent, steadily approaches the fixed arrow, without taking fright at the men who are stationed near it. They allow the deer to approach, and, when it is in the place which suits them, they shoot an arrow at whichever part of its body they wish, and bring it down without difficulty. When I heard these things, I endeavored with those very persons, after they were baptized, to make a more than minute investigation, to ascertain whether the devil was giving them any instruction in it, whether they used any superstitious words, or performed [like] acts, so that I could form some opinion regarding these; but the unanimous reply of all was, that there was nothing of this sort, but that their ancestors had known that the said herbs possessed this virtue, and that they simply made use of them. There was, consequently, nothing more for me to do, except to declare that these were among the frauds of which the enemy [of souls] avails himself, in order by these baits to ruin their souls, and so much the more as he more secretly endeavored to introduce such things [as these among them]; and that on this account they ought to abstain from this mode of hunting, using only the common one, and trusting in the Lord who gives food to all living creatures, without despising the raven’s nestlings who cry unto Him, that He would furnish what they might need for their support. I think that I succeeded, and that other religious will succeed in gradually banishing much of this abuse.

[In Ilocos Fray Alexandra Cacho formed a village of converts, under the name of San Juan de Sahagun; and Fray Velloxin greatly enlarged the village of Santa Monica, “although in past years there came a pest of smallpox, which in a short time swept away a great number of the inhabitants.” Fray Francisco Alvarez, a son of the province of Philipinas, in 1740 formed two other small villages in the mountains of Santor; this was removed to another site by Mozo himself in 1747, and in the period of three years he secured more than a hundred and fifty conversions, and even the attendance of their children at school. The harvest among those people, Mozo says, is great, and many more might be saved if there were more missionaries; those who are among them are overworked, and in a few years are worn out or killed by their labors.]

CHAPTER IX

Missions to the apostates and infidels intermixed

Another mission, in my judgment more arduous than any of those I have mentioned, according to what I myself have experienced—and this is the general opinion of all those who are engaged in its cultivation—is the mission which the province maintains in a place which is called the Marangley. This is composed of some very extensive and close forests, with various mountains, so covered with thickets and lofty trees that the sunlight can hardly enter there—although at intervals the natives have their clearings, of land which is so fertile that it seems incredible; and for this very reason, thinking that it would be considered fabulous, I omit an account of the abundance with which the land responds to whatever handful of seed they are accustomed to cast into it.

In the said forests and hills dwell many people of various tribes, mingled together, Christians and infidels. Some are there, attracted by the hills from which they went out [in former times]; others, in flight from the officers of justice, who are seeking them. Many also go there in order to live in idleness, and to free themselves from the payment of tribute and the fulfilment of other obligations; and many, because it is the region in which they were born, and where they have lived as infidels. There they dwell intermingled, infidels and Christians being married together, and mingling a thousand superstitions with the law of Jesus Christ. From this results a hydra more fierce and more difficult to conquer than the celebrated one with which Hercules fought; for the apostates, as being entirely corrupt, are most difficult to reclaim, and they with their corruption, persuasions, and evil customs, to a great degree pervert the simple nature of the infidels, just as St. Paul tells us. Their sustenance is like that which I related of the Zambals, that is, [obtained] from the chase and from the innumerable wild palms which I have already mentioned; but they also sow their scanty bit of rice, the land responding to them with an incredible harvest, although they cultivate it wretchedly and take very little care of their fields. As many of them are Christians and had learned the mysteries of our holy faith, while the infidels among whom they live have a thousand superstitions, omens, and foolish observances, they make a medley of Jesus Christ and Baal, which is not even that of those Samaritans of whom it is related that they desired at the same time to serve the God of Israel and not to cast out their [false] gods. And because among these peoples are generally encountered not only the superstitions which those infidel communities maintain, but also the frivolous beliefs in which the peoples of Philipinas were living before they could receive our holy faith, I have thought it well to reserve this information for this place—observing, moreover, that among the Christian communities hardly a trace of these things is now encountered. This is the result of the labors, past and present, of the religious in extirpating them, and even in so short a time they have been able to banish them; while in our Europa, and even in our España, after so many centuries remnants of the ancient paganism are still frequently encountered …. Those of whom we are speaking believe that every forest, every mountain, every river, and every grove has a powerful spirit who rules in those places; they call him Nono, which signifies “grandfather”—by which name I understand they call him, partly because they think that the said spirit is that of some one of the powerful ones who once lived there, and also partly on account of the extreme veneration which those people have for their old men. It is also very credible that this foolish belief among them comes from their neighbors the Chinese, who likewise attribute to every river, forest, field, and grove these Penates and fauns, giving them a name which signifies the ruler and master of those places. They believe, then, that this spirit which they say rules there has his dwelling in some one of those trees which are most distinguished for size and for abundance of leaves, as likewise in some great heaps of earth, shaped like a sugar-loaf, which are made by a kind of ants, very destructive, which they call anay,[34] of which many are found in the open country there. Accordingly, not only do they regard it as a religious duty not to pick fruit or take anything from the said hills without first asking permission from the nono, with words of great reverence, but likewise, whenever they pass before the said tree or hillock, they pay their respects, saying in their language, Tabipo, which means, “By your permission,” and then they go on their way. They are so fearful that, if they fail in doing this, they imagine that the said spirit will send upon them some sickness which will deprive them of life; this notion they confirm with some irrelevant casualties—some persons having failed to perform this ceremony, and afterward by accident having fallen ill—from which they conclude that this was a punishment from the nono; and therefore they try afterward to appease his anger by various gifts, which they offer to him after their fashion. Moreover, in the said trees there is often heard some loud noise, which, although it is frequently made by some great serpent which has its abode in some hole that may be in the tree, they attribute to its nono—although it is true that the demon, in order to blind them more and thus to inspire them with greater terror, is wont to appear to them often in the said trees. The sacrifices which they are wont to offer to him in case of sickness, as likewise several times in the year, are reduced to burning certain herbs in front of the said tree, and placing there some little portion of food, drink, leaf tobacco, and an herb which they are accustomed to chew when combined with the small fruit of a palm, which they call luyos in the Pampanga tongue, and bonga in the Tagal (and that fruit and the herb all together they call in the former language mama, and in the latter buyo), all which things, after having thus offered them, they themselves eat, having made their prayers, such as they are. [Mozo here stops to recall how like superstitions and heathen sacrifices lingered for a long time in Africa and even in Europe, and the efforts made by the Christian fathers to extirpate them. He says that in Filipinas the heathen do not “adore the trees as gods; but the aforesaid tree they regard as the dwelling in which the spirit who rules that grove or forest has his abode, and therefore they offer before it what we have described, and perform the said acts of prayer and veneration; but these are not directed to the tree, but to the spirit or nono who resides in it.”]

Besides this, they have another and exceedingly foolish superstition and belief, which is also found among the Chinese (and the Romans had it, as we read in our father St. Augustine and others); this is the belief that there is an evil spirit who is hostile to the birth of children, and who, they say, in the form of a bird approaches the house where the woman lies in childbirth, and kills the child by tearing out its bowels. This spirit they call in their language usuang (and it is the same that the Romans call Silvanus), which, they say, shines by night. In order to free themselves from this spirit, they do a ridiculous thing. As soon as the woman begins her travail, the husband, attended by other persons, strips off his clothes, and, taking his naked cutlass, climbs to the ridge-pole of the house, his companions remaining below with their lances; and he does not cease making cuts at the air until the infant is born. They believe that the said usuang is frightened away by this, and dares not return. At other times they do the same thing, [except that] they are stationed below the house. They also fear greatly two other genii or spirits, of whom they tell a thousand stories. One they call tigbalang, which they say has the body of a giant and the legs of a horse; and the other, which they say resembles a pigmy they call patianac.[35] It is certain that the demon thus appears to them, to terrify them with threats if they fail to serve him.

They also use auguries, which they obtain from a bird that they call batala, in the manner of which Virgilius sings, and which his commentator Servius explains; upon this Gellius, Pompeius, Cicero, Tiraquellus, and other humanists expatiate at length. And it is not surprising that they should be prepossessed by this error; for, if we believe Luis Vives, it passed from Assia to Grecia, and thence to Italia and Roma. Their belief is of that sort in this particular, that, if they set out on any expedition against another people, and on encountering them this bird should appear, singing in what they think is a melancholy tone, they immediately turn back and abandon their purpose, fearing to be entirely destroyed. On the other hand, if the bird sings to them agreeably, they at once regard their success as certain.

When they make peace with their opponents, they use a thousand execrations and imprecations with which they sign their treaties; and in order to divine whether there is any insecurity in the decision they catch a hog, and having stretched it on the ground, with its feet fastened thereto, they thrust into the midst of its body a knife, very broad and sharply pointed, and, quickly drawing this out, they carefully look for the blood on both sides. If on the side which faces either of the two parties there is no blood, or if it is there but not running, they conclude that the people on that side are deceiving them; but if the blood runs on both sides they shake hands, together they feast on the hog, and they swallow powerful draughts [of palm-wine?]—forming the same opinion from the blood as did the ancients from the entrails of the animals which they sacrificed, Cicero’s statement being verified that there is hardly a nation which does not find auguries in these things.

In the eclipses they display great sadness, believing that some dragon will carry away the sun or the moon, and therefore they call upon it in terms which express that idea. Accordingly, in order to succor those heavenly bodies they raise loud yells, and shooting arrows upward, they make a thousand demonstrations of grief, as did the Romans, according to Tacitus and Livius …. To this the Chinese add still more; for, besides the said shouting, they bring out some copper instruments, a sort of timbrel, having a very loud and disagreeable sound; and striking these all at the same time, they make a frightful and horrible sound. This, they say, is to aid the sun not to be carried away by the dragon, which they think is frightened by this noise, and thus lets the sun go free.

These and other superstitions and idle beliefs are generally held by the infidels of these islands, and among the peoples of whom we are speaking not only are these ideas found complete, but also, since among those people dwell apostates, who have some knowledge of the mysteries of our holy faith and of Christian observances, they introduce among the multitude of such notions others from Christianity—with the mixture which they make of these, bending one knee to Christ and the other to the demon, and believing all these things equally. But it is not surprising that they do this, when even over here after six hundred years there still were left relics of the ancient heathenism, like to these, as appears from the Councils, and from the saints above cited, who rebuke in terminis these very things—to which may be added the Council of Agde,[36] and other writings of the saints. [Mozo here relates some incidents to show how the devil holds these poor people in bondage, and terrifies them with threats and horrible sights.]

[In these missions, from the year 1718, multitudes of infidels were baptized and hundreds of apostates reclaimed. Prominent among the laborers therein were Fray Juan Velloxin, Fray Antonio Leon and a brother of his (who died worn out by the fatigues of his work), Fray Manuel Calvo, and Fray Francisco Alvarez.[37] During that time four villages of converts were formed—Ururin, Lupao, Umingan, and Tayog, in which the natives lived in very Christian fashion, their numbers increasing with new conversions. Mozo relates several instances of the opposition made by the devil to this work.]

CHAPTERS X, XI

Missions to Visayas

Having now made known the triumphs secured in this present century in the great island of Luzon, it is right that we say something of the missions which the province maintains in the various islands which are called Visayas; and, in order that the reader may better understand the pious labors which are being endured in the conversion of the infidels therein to our holy faith, it will be very proper to say something about the customs of the said peoples, and of the places where they dwell, even though it be without enlarging much thereon. Commencing with the latter point, I relate how in two islands, called Zebu and Panay, there are some exceedingly dense woodlands, and mountain districts more rugged than can be described; for they are so impenetrable, and so thick with undergrowth, that it is impossible to make a step forward without the utmost toil, and even danger, especially for those who are ignorant of the path, such as it is—which the natives know, and by which they go down, when it suits them, to look for some things which they need. In the said mountains dwell a people who are called Mundos;[38] they have the same characteristics of fierceness and barbarism as those of whom we have spoken in preceding missions, but they have besides this a peculiarity which renders them intractable, for they have among them some fearful wizards, who by conversing with the demon do things which cause terror, and who are able to render credible much of what is regarded as fabulous. [Here our author cites various writers to show how prevalent was witchcraft in the ancient times.]

In this manner, then, instructed and misled by the demon, those barbarians do fearful things, especially to revenge themselves, to the continual terror of those about them. The natives say that these wizards, changed into crocodiles, follow them when in their canoes, and do not stop until they seize some person whom they hate; also that they change themselves into other animals, in order to commit other wicked acts—as likewise that, availing themselves of various enchantments, they commit horrible murders, with a thousand other diabolical acts which are attributed to them. For this reason, if any one having this reputation enters any village to settle there, or, when already resident there, some rumor arises that he may be such a person, they immediately summon him peremptorily to depart from the village within three days; and if he does not obey they burn his house, and even himself and his family, nor is it once only that they have killed such persons with their lances. I do not doubt that the vulgar herd invent much, but as little is it doubtful that there are many wizards, who do a thousand evil things.

Among them a malady is apt to prevail which they call bungsol (which signifies “a sudden swoon”), which is apt to attack them as a result of swellings, as hard as a stone, which originate in their stomachs; this trouble is often caused by chills, which they experience from going barefoot in the water and in wet places, and is wont to cause them such pains that on occasion they will suddenly appear as if dead. At other times, this sickness is also caused by some magic of a sorcerer, which they call gavay, by which word they are accustomed to denote the witchcraft and the act of practicing it—in which they do not often make a mistake; for through their mouths, as well as through other conduits of the body, these sorcerers on occasion eject rice in the hull, and other things, which could not be done if they were not aided by something of the said magic. In order to cure the person bewitched in this manner, they endeavor to summon some other person who has the reputation of a sorcerer; and this person, performing various exercises of his powers, calls to the one who caused that sickness. If the sufferer does not improve, the sorcerer at once pretends that the first one must be very far away, and for this reason cannot hear him, but will return the next day; and by this means he keeps the people deceived, and eats and drinks at the cost of the poor sick man. It also sometimes happens that they are quickly cured, and therefore when they see these things they feel such fear that, when the sorcerer goes so far as to ask for anything, they immediately give it to him, fearing lest he may bewitch them—in the same way as occurs over here [in España] in some little villages, when those persons go through them whom they call loberos,[39] and others of that stripe.

If on a journey they lose their way in some desert plain, they attribute this to the patianac of whom we spoke before; and in order that they may be able to find the road they strip off their clothing, and with this they say that they succeed in doing so because this proceeding frightens the patianac, and he takes flight and does not mislead them. In order to discover and know who it is that has taken from them any missing article, they employ a diabolical device, which they practice with a sort of sieve, which they call bilao—an act in which one plainly recognizes that it proceeds from the demon; for by simply shaking the said sieve while they name various persons the [name of the] thief comes into their minds. They also summon their manes, or [spirits of the] dead, when they are assembled in the house where some person has died; and in order to see whether or not those spirits come they lay down a sort of fine mat, and, scattering over it ashes in order that the marks of feet may be printed thereon, often there may be seen the traces of footsteps, and with this they remain well content. It is true, however, that even over here [in Europa] such things were wont to be seen in olden times, as we read in various writings which describe the sacrifices which were offered to such departed spirits; and our father St. Augustine points out this, citing Marcus Varro, while it is individually explained by Tiraquellus and others ….

As for the missions which the [Augustinian] province has in the Visayas Islands, the toil with which they have been and are being cultivated is inexpressible, and very little, if anything, has been published or known about them—partly because, as this work is carried on more remote from sight, it has been less likely to attract applause; and likewise because the religious, content that God, for love of whom they are employed therein, should be cognizant of their labors, care little for the rest, thus avoiding the subtle vainglory which, under pretext of the glory of God and the honor of the religious order, often deceitfully seeks praise for oneself ….

Let the first mission, then, to become known to the public be that of Bugasson, in the mountains of the province of Panay, in order that it may be known how great has been the labor in the conversion of those infidels. In the year 1704, father Fray Thomás Sanchez, a son of this province of Castilla, when he had finished baptizing the Indians who lived on the plains in that region, was assigned by his obedience to the said mountains, with two other fathers, as his associates. They obeyed the orders of their superior, and, after having conquered various difficulties, with a thousand risks of their lives, and having endured a thousand hardships of hunger, want, the fatigues of the wretched roads, and other inclemencies of the weather, amid the terrors of death they were able to secure the baptism of a number of barbarians, enough to establish a foothold in that region and erect a church. They continued in their task, reaping considerable fruit, although in a short time, worn out by fatigues, the said father and one of his companions died. Others were sent in their places by the province, who were able to imitate the zeal of the first missionaries so closely that in the year 1733 they were able to form a village of the recent converts alone, on a most favorable site, of more than two thousand five hundred souls; and, our Lord continuing His favors, so great a number have been added to the flock of Christ, by means of the continual preaching and industry of the missionary religious, that in the original chart of the said village which was sent to his Majesty in the past year of 1760, it is shown to have, counting women, men, and children, six thousand and eighty-nine souls, who are now baptized and reclaimed to civilization.

At the western side of the province of Panay, about twenty-five or thirty leguas out at sea, there are some little islets called the Cagayans; they are so low that they can hardly be seen, except when one is very near, and therefore when the Indians sailed thither they followed a star, by which they had marked the location of these islets. In them were many infidels, and even therein took refuge all the outlaws, and men who committed murders. There is no water in the said islands, but they contain so great an abundance of the palms called “cocoa” that, with the water of the said fruit, they do not feel the need of any other. [To go among these people was exceedingly dangerous, on account of their fierce natures; but it was accomplished (in 1703) by Fray Hypolito Casiano, who succeeded in winning their friendship and converting them to the Christian faith, so that in two years (as stated by the provincial Olarte, ante) he had “baptized all the infidels there, and induced all the criminals who had resorted thither to repent of their deeds and reform their lives.” He continued these labors and these triumphs until his death, in 1726.]

The third mission of the Visayas Islands is that of which the reverend father provincial Fray Vicente Ibarra gave a particular and exact account to the governor of the islands in the year 1738, when he had finished his visitation of the missions, having received an urgent request that he should make report of their condition and progress (for with all this strictness are affairs examined in Philipinas, since such is the command of his Majesty, whom may God preserve); and because the said father provincial, as being an eyewitness and well acquainted with the religious who began that mission, can speak with more accuracy, I will set down his very words, as follows: “The third mission which my province maintains is in the mountains of Bosoc in the province of Ogtong, on the further coast of the province of Panay. This mission was established in the year 1728, an entrance being made in the rugged region of those mountains by father Fray Felix de Zuñiga[40]—a religious of the most religious habits and the gentlest demeanor; and so zealous for souls that, without heeding the inclemencies of those wild mountains, he went about on foot, unshod, in sun and in rain, crossing almost by a miracle swollen and rapid rivers, and, despising danger, made his way into the most secluded places, in which there are many apostates and Carib[41] blacks, of which sort are all those who are in the mountains of these islands. Such power had his zeal and constancy that he gained no small number of souls, since from those who were converted he was able to form three small villages; but, while he was praying one day in the little house which he had made for his dwelling, some apostates killed him with their lances. At present the said mission is cared for, on account of the great deficiency of men that we experience, by two religious who are in the village of Bugasson.”

[All these missions were still conducted, when Mozo wrote, and were saving many souls; but their work was greatly limited and hindered by the scarcity of workers. These missionaries displayed the same spirit of devotion, zeal for souls, and self-sacrifice as did the earlier ones, but “with this difference [in results], that our predecessors dealt with peoples who were gentler and more civilized, while those of the present time are handling people who are more fierce and barbarous; and for this reason their triumphs must be the more glorious, and their virtue and constancy most firmly grounded. Many other souls are caught for Heaven in these islands by those religious who serve in villages near the districts where there are infidels, of which there are many in the said islands. They penetrate further into the country when they are permitted to do so, and they lose no opportunity when those [infidels] go down to their villages to procure articles that they need, which occurs often; those [thus converted] amount to several hundred persons annually.”]

[Mozo here describes certain remedies for sickness which are used by the natives. Among these are the gall and fat of the python (called saua and biting, in various dialects) and another similar species of serpent, which reach an enormous size in the forests of the interior. The gall is used both internally and externally by the natives, to cure chills and pains in the stomach—to which they are especially liable from going barefooted, and more or less naked, through mud and rain at all times; also for malignant fevers and any inflammation which causes them. Mozo relates how he had cured himself of a high fever, when the physicians had “sentenced him to death,” by the use of this remedy, and had on other occasions been relieved or cured by it; “consequently, I guard what I have of it like a precious jewel.” The fat of these serpents is equally efficient for swellings or pains in the muscles and sinews, especially those caused by chills and exposure to weather; also it relieves the pains of gout.]

[Those Indians used a small stone, resembling a nut, in order to facilitate childbirth; they said that it was found, although only in small quantities, in a mine somewhere; this stone, applied to the left thigh, would quickly relieve the most difficult case of parturition,[42] and afterward, applied again, would bring away the placenta; but in both cases it must be removed as soon as the desired effect was accomplished, or else it would “cause even the bowels to be drawn out.” They also made use of a certain root, called in the Pampanga tongue sugapa,[43] to inflame their courage in battle; “he who eats it is made beside himself, and rendered so furious that while its effect lasts he cares not for dangers, nor even hesitates to rush into the midst of pikes and swords. On many occasions, therefore, when they go out to fight with any who are hostile to them they are wont to carry this root with them, and, by eating it at the time of the attack, they enter the battle like furious wild beasts, without turning back even when their force is cut to pieces; on the other hand, even when one of them is pierced from side to side with a lance, he will raise himself by that very lance in order to strike at him who had pierced him. Sometimes, also, when they wish to revenge themselves on some more powerful man, it occurs to them to eat the said root; and, with the fury which it arouses in them, they fling themselves upon him like rabid wolves, being carried away by that rage in the presence of the person whom they meet, whoever he may be. Therefore, on account of the pernicious effects which the said root causes, the Dutch have given peremptory orders in Batavia that any person who sees another, whoever he may be, in the said fury shall without fail shoot him or [otherwise] put him to death, in order that an end may be put to the fatal accidents which are daily seen in that city, on account of the natives there being very prone to this barbarous proceeding. The Malanao and Joloan Moros are accustomed to use this plant much. They are also acquainted with other herbs the use of which is no less pernicious, although in another way than is the root above referred to. I have forgotten their names, but in those regions there are many who know them, and are even acquainted with those plants (would that it were not so!). It is true, indeed, that among those who are now living in a civilized manner and are grounded in the faith, hardly any abuse is found in this respect; and even, except very seldom, any one who is acquainted with those plants; but among some infidel tribes there is often much of this, as I could confirm by cases which occurred to me while I was among those people.” [Mozo here mentions certain herbs (unnamed) which produce a complete physical torpor in the person to whom they are administered, so that he can use neither voice nor limbs;[44] the natives are apt to avail themselves of this for purposes of robbery, but “they do not use it in order to abuse women, which is an especial providence of our Lord.” He relates an “amusing trick” played by the natives on another religious: this father had baptized some infants, on condition that they be surrendered to his care to be brought up as Christians; after a time, the parents came one night, and burned the above-mentioned herb under the house, thus producing its effect upon the inmates; “and in the sight of all, without any one having the power to move, they seized the infants and went away with them,” nor was the father ever able to find either the children or their parents.]

[The rest of Mozo’s work (pp. 152–234) is occupied with the relation of the Augustinian missions in China; at the end is a list of the baptisms solemnized by one missionary during the year 1760–61, giving the name, age, and residence of each; most of these persons are children, and one had been a priest of an idol.]

DOMINICAN MISSIONS IN PANIQUI AND ITUY

[In a rare pamphlet printed at Manila and dated 1745—of which the Library of Congress possesses a copy—Bernardo Ustáriz,[45] then provincial of the Dominican order in Filipinas, wrote a sketch of the above missions, from which we make the following summary:]

[The missions of the order had reaped a rich harvest in central Luzón, but the fathers were not satisfied because the gospel had secured no stable footing “in Paniqui,[46] which was hiding among the provinces of Cagayan, Pangasinan, and Pampanga.” They succeeded in making an entrance therein in 1739, at the cost of the lives of four of their missionaries; but six years later they were maintaining four laborers in that region and making encouraging progress. In this enterprise they were liberally aided by Governor Gaspar de la Torre. In those remote and wild regions the missionaries suffered greatly from lack of suitable shelter and food, the inclemencies of the weather, and the hardships of traveling. As an illustration: “On one occasion, a missionary having set out from the village of Appiàt for the place called Cauayan, night came upon him when he reached a village named Làcab; he expected that he could find a lodging there, and thus pass the night less uncomfortably, under some roof. He uttered loud cries, calling to its inhabitants, but his only reply was a confused yelling from the women, who in anger cried out that the religious should not enter the village. At the time they were offering a public supplication, in order to obtain from their idols rain for making their fields fruitful; and, as they formed the opinion that the devil would not speak to them through fear of the religious, they would not consent that the father should lodge in any of their houses. Accordingly, he found himself obliged to sleep on the ground that night, exposed to any disagreeable change of weather that might arise.” For some time the missionaries were derided, repelled, and threatened, and the natives endeavored to prevent them from entering the houses; but they persevered undauntedly, and the devil was often thwarted by their courageous resistance. Many persons desired baptism, but some were lured away by the devil, speaking through the priestesses (or aniteras), and others were intimidated by the opposition of their friends and relatives, who would even threaten a convert with death. Some fancied that to become a Christian would render one “a perpetual slave to the Spaniards.” In 1743, a chief at Appiat came with his family to the missionaries to be baptized. In the aforesaid space of six years, they had “succeeded in erecting six churches, in the villages of Cauayàn, Appiàt, Bagabag, Lappàu, Darùyag, and Carìg. To these should be added that of Bayombong; for, although some Christians were there when it was received from the reverend Augustinian fathers, there were still many infidels, of whom some lived with the said Christians, and others had fled to a forest called Vàcal—from which they have gradually come out by dint of the visits which the missionaries have frequently made them, and with the baptisms among them an increase has been made in the number of the Christians who were in Bayombong when the Order of St. Dominic began its ministrations there. Thus, in the said seven churches there is the number of nine hundred and seventy souls, baptized in the said time—besides ten apostates, who after many years have returned to the Christian faith. The number of Christians would be greater, if the missionaries did not use especial care in administering baptism, and if they were willing to comply with the desires of many persons.” Many of the requests for baptism were caused by the desire to escape from tyrannical lords, or from creditors, or from the penalty due to their crimes; and not a few imagined that they could thus gain some more influential position among their people. In those seven churches there were eight hundred and fifty-eight catechumens; and these would have been more numerous if there were missionaries. At the time of Ustáriz’s writing, there has been a gratifying change in the feelings of those people, even among the infidels; they are more docile, and more friendly to the missionaries, and they even live more peaceably among themselves, committing fewer murders. Governor Torre granted to these fathers “extraordinary Indian guards, who even yet have not been able to complete the works in all the villages. In Cauayàn and Lappàu, they have built substantial houses and churches of planks; in Bagabag and Daruyag they have constructed houses of the same sort, and although [in those places] there are pavilions suitable for saying mass, they will proceed to build there substantial churches when they finish the wooden house and church in Appiàt (or Gàpat); they will also build a house in Carig, where a large church of planks has already been completed. In the village of Bayombong it has likewise been necessary to build a new house and church of planks, because the buildings which were there for both these were little more than hovels.” These same Indian guards had been obliged to spend much time in opening and repairing roads, which had delayed their work on the church buildings; but those new roads had enabled the missionaries to secure an easy communication with the surrounding provinces, and to discover the lurking-places of the heathen natives. The work and maintenance of these Indian laborers are paid for by the government; but the fathers had to spend no small sum in other ways, to secure the spiritual conquest of the heathen about them. “It is necessary to influence them not only by fear but by love,” and thus the missionary must give them gratuities and presents; he must also support some of them, even for several months, who came from a great distance to receive instruction and, being in a strange land, had no means of support. The fathers had furnished plows to all who asked for them, that the natives might better cultivate their lands.]

[In the villages of Bujay and Dupag, and still more in the district of Ytuy, they met many obstacles and afflictions, as those natives were not so docile as those of Paniqui. “Nevertheless, much fruit has been gathered, in baptizing many infidels of the neighboring tribes, Ygolot, Ylong̃ot, and others; and in reclaiming some apostates who were hiding in the mountains.” The missionaries were troubled not only with the obstinacy of those in Ytuy (or Ysinay), and the persistent efforts of the devil to render their labors vain, but with the hostilities committed on their converts by a tribe close by Ytuy, called Panoypuyes, who made head-hunting raids on their Christian neighbors. The Ysinays were a timid people, and these fierce marauders kept them in abject submission to their tyranny—killing them when found alone or unprotected on the road, killing or snaring their cattle, demanding from them contributions of produce, and even human beings whom the tyrants slew and then “offered in sacrifice to their false gods.” The missionaries feared that they must abandon this mission; but, hearing that Auditor Arzadun was then making his official visitation in the province of Pangasinan, they appealed to him for aid. He sent a body of armed men from that province against the Panoypuyes, but they could not administer sufficient punishment; he then ordered troops from Cagayan, two hundred and eighty-two in number. To these were added fifty of the Indian guards from the mission of Santa Cruz of Paniqui, and some of the native converts there; and this expedition was able to check the insolence of those dreaded marauders. Ustáriz presents an extract from the report of this enterprise which was furnished to him by Fray Antonio del Campo, the vicar-provincial of the said missions. The expedition captured and burned the villages of Ajanàs (the principal village of the Panoypuyes), Masi, Taveng, Bang̃ao, and others; and slew Sapàc—the chief who ruled that tribe, and had been most tyrannical toward “the poor Ysinay Christians”—with many of his followers. In Ajanàs was a large building, on higher ground than the rest, and surrounded by a wall of stones, which was their sole fortress; “it was destined only for the residence of the unmarried men, who, according to the custom of that tribe, are not allowed to cover the more shameful part of their bodies, nor sleep where the married people live; the said pavilion also served as a watch-tower the duty of sentinel service belonging to the unmarried men.” Since this castigation, the missions and Christian Indians had enjoyed peace; and the natives, relieved from their terror of the enemy, had flocked to the missionaries for baptism. In Bujày there were baptized about two hundred persons of the Ygolots alone, and at this writing there were “more than seven hundred souls newly added to this mission; for, the report of the valor of the Cagayan Christians in this undertaking having spread abroad, it has penetrated into even the most remote part of the mountains, attracting even the most secluded of the Ylong̃ots, a tribe who rival the Panoypuyes in valor and fierceness. The mission of Paniqui likewise felt these benign effects; for at the report of such an achievement more than six hundred persons came to enroll themselves for the [instruction in] catechism, from the Yogad and Gaddàng tribes—besides forty souls from the village of Ybana in the Ygolot tribe, who united themselves to the village of Bayombong. Nor was this blessing monopolized by these two missions, but, crossing the mountains, it went on to Pung̃can—to which place many families, influenced by the rumor of this influx of people [to the missions], have come down from the Gumang̃i tribe, in whose instruction the reverend Augustinian fathers are occupied.”]

[A pamphlet (Mexico? ca. 1740) by Fray Manuel del Rio, then provincial of the Dominicans in Filipinas, relates the “events in the mission of Santa Cruz in Ituy, in the province of Paniqui: in the year 1739;” it is reprinted by Retana in his Archivo, ii, pp. 175–205. The following information is gleaned therefrom, space not permitting us to present more than the leading facts contained therein.][47]

[The Dominican province of Filipinas had within the islands the following active missions: San Miguel de Oriong, in the mountains of Batan; Pantol and Asingan, in those of Pangasinan; in the islands[48] which extend toward Hermosa Island, those of the Batanes and Calayàn; and in the mountains and hills of Cagayan, the missions of Santa Rosa of Cifun, Tumavini, Orag, Mavanan, Santa Cruz, Vangan, and Capitanan. The missionaries in the provinces of Pangasinan and Cagayan had long desired to extend their work into the inland region lying between those provinces; and this was begun in the year 1632, in the district of Ituy, or Isinay. This mission was founded by Fray Thomàs Gutierrez, who afterward died therein. The district of Paniqui was afterward chosen for missionary labors, but up to 1736 with only indifferent and occasional success; it “was founded in Zifun by Fray Pedro Ximenez, and afterward was transferred to the location which it now has, with the title of Santa Rosa.” In 1735, the Augustinian fathers (who at the time of Río’s writing were administering the Ituy mission) observed some indications that those hearts were becoming softened; of this they informed the Dominicans, who in the following year made the eighth attempt to establish a mission in that heathen district. On May 25, 1736, Fray Diego de la Torre went from his village of Ilagan (in Cagayan) to make a reconnaissance among the heathen people of Cagayan; at first they rebuffed him, but by dint of kind treatment and presents he won the confidence of some among them. These told him that the only obstacle in the way of his efforts was, the impassableness of the high-road from Cagayan to Pangasinan; if this were made passable, they would have no longer a barrier between themselves and Spanish influence. Fray Torre’s report of his dealings with these heathen induced the Dominican provincial, Fray Geronymo Sanz Ortiz, to ask Valdés Tamón for government aid to their new enterprise; the governor granted the establishment of a mission in Paniqui, composed of four religious and the guard necessary for their protection, at the expense of the king; and the following religious were sent thither: Fray Manuel Molinér, Fray Joseph Thomás Marin, Fray Romualdo Molina, and Fray Pedro de Sierra. They began their labors in July, 1737, and encountered determined opposition from the natives, who, advised by the demon, would not admit them into the villages. The chiefs demanded, as the price of even allowing the missionaries to remain near the villages, gifts of beads, cattle and horses, and gold; and, finally, two men to slay as offerings to their demons. Fray Molinér died suddenly, it was suspected from poison given to him by some heathen; and in his stead Fray Torre was sent. About this time (1738) the fathers received protection and hospitality from an Indian woman of rank in that tribe; and this aid, with the presents given by the fathers and their persistent charity and gentleness, softened the hearts of the unbelievers until they consented to make a treaty of peace, some of the chiefs even going to Nueva Segovia to ratify it. Nevertheless, the fathers still experienced much opposition, especially from the people of Bayongbong, the most southern and the chief village of that heathen district; and often their lives were in danger, especially when their Indian guards became frightened and began to retreat to their homes. Indeed, Fathers Torre and Molina died suddenly, probably from poison, like Molinér. The Dominican provincial again appealed to the government for aid, asking that more guards be assigned to the missionaries, and that one or two military posts be established in that province—partly for the protection of the missionaries, partly to ensure the safety of the road which was to be built from Pangasinan to Cagayan;[49] this was granted by the governor, and the necessary provisions made therefor. By the time when news of this came to Cagayan, Marin had so far advanced matters that “almost nothing remained to overcome;” he had secured the support of a powerful chief named Danao, and toleration from another named Ansimo; and Marin went to Pangasinan, taking with him Pyrán, Danao’s grandson—who was so caressed and honored by the Spaniards that he returned home a firm friend to the missionaries, and did much to open his countrymen’s hearts toward them. The Dominican father provincial determined to open a direct road from Paniqui to Pangasinan, at the expense of the province—a most arduous and difficult undertaking, on account of the rugged surface of the country and the hostility of the Igorrots, “a bloodthirsty and very treacherous people.” Father Manuel del Río was sent out to make the necessary explorations for this road, in which he suffered great hardship. The Igorrots were greatly opposed to the intended road-making; but they were finally induced, by the father’s arguments, but still more by his liberal distribution of presents, to give their consent. The treaty made with them was thus solemnized: “In the presence of all, a hog was killed, and, as soon as the knife was thrust into it, profound silence reigned—all watching the dying struggles of the animal, and the flowing of its blood, which seemed like a fountain gushing upward. After a long time, a Christian Indian who was experienced in their ceremonies came forward, and, collecting in his hand some of the animal’s blood, went, with loud cries and a swaggering step, and smeared with the blood the feet of the Igorrot chiefs; at this they were well pleased, and began to talk vigorously in their own language, and with bold gestures, as a sign that they would fulfil their agreement. This done, they were given something to drink, and the cattle, carajays,[50] salt, and other things at which the bargain had been settled were placed before them; and they returned to their villages contented, having remained from that time friends with the Christians. This road is two days’ journey in length, from the most eastern village of Pangasinan, called Asingan, to the village of Buxay among the Isinay people, which is a mission of the Augustinian fathers. For the greater comfort of travelers, road-houses were built at regular distances, in the places called Colong, Malalapang, and Malionlion; and in the last-named, which is the last town on the border of Pangasinan, a religious was stationed—on account of some Igorrot Christians being there, with some others who, it was hoped, would become Christians—with the title of missionary to the infidels there; he was separate from the other four who were in the province of Paniqui, who were destined to the reduction and conversion of the infidels in that province. This was a great achievement to open this road for communication between the provinces; for this has been an undertaking often attempted but never carried out, and often the royal exchequer has incurred great costs in it, and always without any benefit—especially twenty years ago, when the unfortunate mariscal Don Fernando Bustillo, governor and captain-general of these islands, attempted to open this road. Many thousands of pesos were spent, many unlucky events occurred, and no result was attained; and now, without any expense to the royal exchequer, at the cost of the religious order, it was readily cut through and opened. It is hoped that this road will be of great utility, not only for the said communication and trade between the provinces, but also for the easier conversion of the infidels—who, through trade and communication with the Christians, will learn their civilization and excellent customs, and will after a time abandon the barbarous condition in which they lived before.” In April of 1739, Father Río was accompanied to Manila by Danao and the other chiefs already mentioned; they were feasted and laden with presents, and the governor “granted freely whatever they asked.” In this road-building and other matters pertaining to this mission, the Dominican province spent “almost three thousand eight-real pieces; although it is the poorest province in the Indias, it can liberally spend its treasure, as now it has done, in the service of God and for the good of souls, for which chiefly it was founded.”][51]

[1] The title-page of this work reads thus in English: “A plain historical account of the glorious triumphs and fortunate progress gained during the present century by the religious of the order of our father St. Augustine, in the missions which are in their charge in the Philipinas Islands, and in the great empire of China. Information is given regarding each of those peoples, their usages, customs, superstitions, mode of life, and medicines which they use in their diseases, with other curious information. Composed by the reverend father Fray Antonio Mozo, of the same order, formerly secretary and definitor of the province of Philipinas, and now commissary and general definitor for the same, who dedicates it to this province of Castilla of the same order. With the necessary licenses. At Madrid, by Andrès Ortega, Las Infantas Street. The year 1763.”

This book contains much information regarding the customs and superstitions of the natives, especially of the Negritos, which is valuable not only as being furnished by an educated man who lived among them, but on account of his kindly nature, comparative freedom from bigotry and prejudice, and his inclination to take an impartial and philosophical view of his subject. For this reason, a very full synopsis has been made of his work, and his observations on the natives have been mostly translated in full. He left the islands in 1759, as he states on p. 76 of his book. [↑]

[2] This mission field was located in the eastern part of what is now the province of Nueva Ecija (formed at the beginning of the nineteenth century), on the Rio Grande of Pampanga and its tributary the Santor, nearly half-way from the source of the former to its mouth; the peoples here mentioned evidently dwelt at first on the heights of the Caraballo de Baler—part of the Caraballo Sur range, from which flow northward the waters of the Magat and the Rio Grande of Cagayan; and southward the Rio Grande and the Rio Chico (respectively “great river” and “little river” of Pampanga). The name “Buquid” apparently simply designates them as dwellers in the mountain forests. The Italons—a name of the same signification, applied by the Gaddans to the Ilongots dwelling in the Caraballo mountains of Nueva Ecija and Príncipe (who are called Ibilao by their Isinay neighbors north of that range)—and Abacas lived on the headwaters of the Rio Grande and Rio Chico. Barrows says (Census of Philippines, i, p. 437): “The Ibilao who inhabit the mountains of Nueva Ecija are among the most persistent head hunters of northern Luzón. Their raids upon the Christian settlements of Nueva Ecija are incessant, and they have repeatedly taken lives in the vicinity of Carranglán and Pantabangán within the last two or three years.” (See also ut supra, pp. 470, 471.) [↑]

[3] In another place this name appears as Alzaga; but Pérez (Catálogo, p. 179) spells it Arziaga. This missionary was a native of Valladolid, and came to the islands in 1699; he died in 1707. [↑]

[4] For a modern description of the Ilongots (or Italons), see that given in Census of the Philippines, i, pp. 545–547; the writer (L. E. Bennett, governor of Nueva Vizcaya) says: “The chiefs of all these settlements stated to me positively that adultery was unknown among these people, and that their family relations were very closely drawn. They further stated that they never knew of a case of a young woman giving birth before she had been married.” “Fighting is never carried on in the open, but they depend entirely upon assassination and ambush. They set pointed bamboos and spring guns for each other in places known to be traveled, and use spears and bows and arrows with poisoned tips when they fight.” [↑]

[5] This name is spelled Isasigana by Pérez. He was born in Durango, Vizcaya, in 1665, and came to the islands in 1699. Three years later he was sent to Carranglán, where he remained until he was worn out with missionary labors. Recalled to Manila for his health’s sake, he afterward held various offices in his order (1706–10), and was minister at Guagua and Apalit (1712, 1713). He died at Guagua (Vava, in Mozo), in 1717. [↑]

[6] “The missions of Pantabangan were administered by the Augustinians until they surrendered them to the Franciscans in order that the latter might unite these to their missions of Baler, which lies on the further coast that is called by that name. They maintain in these missions two or three religious, who minister to Pantabangan, where there are 60 houses; Puncán, which has 56 houses; and Carranglán, 82. Very little progress is made in these missions, on account of the misgovernment among the Indians and the lack of policy on the part of the Spaniards.” (Zúñiga’s Estadismo, Retana’s ed., i, p. 473.)

Vindel describes in his Catálogo, t. ii, no. 328, a rare pamphlet (apparently not mentioned elsewhere): Relación del descubrimiento y entrada de los religiosos de N. S. P. S. Francisco … en los pueblos ó rancherías de los montes altos de Baler; it is undated, but was probably published at Manila, about 1755. In it, “Fathers Manuel de San Agustín and Manuel de Jesús María Fermoselle report to their provincial, Fray Alejandro Ferrer [who held that office during 1753–56], the condition in which they found those villages.” San Agustín labored in Baler and neighboring villages during 1747–60. The mission of Baler was founded in 1609 by Franciscan missionaries, but half a century later was ceded, through scarcity of laborers, to the Recollects; the latter order abandoned that district in 1703, for the same reason, and the Franciscans resumed the charge of it. Baler was formerly situated on the right bank of the San José River, near the sea; but on December 27, 1735, it was utterly destroyed by a tidal wave, and the surviving inhabitants removed the village farther inland, to higher ground. (Huerta, Estado, pp. 280, 477.) [↑]

[7] Pérez states that he died at Guagua, a town in southern Pampanga; for this name Vava is apparently a phonetic Spanish corruption. [↑]

[8] Alejandro Cacho was a native of León, and came from a noble family; he arrived at Manila in the mission of 1690. He was a missionary to various tribes in upper Pampanga (now Nueva Écija), among whom he labored indefatigably for more than forty years. “He formed villages, opened roads, established schools, built churches, and felled groves; and what was but a little while before a gloomy and impenetrable forest afterward burst upon the sight of the astonished traveler as a broad plain, which the directing hand of the indefatigable Augustinian converted into a fertile field and beautiful province, the pride and hope of the new converts. And he accomplished even more; assigned to the missions of Carranglán and Pantabangan (1707) he eagerly devoted himself to the study of the flora in those unknown regions, examining the medicinal virtues of each plant; and as a fruit of his laborious task, besides practicing successfully the art of the physician among his beloved parishioners he left us the works which we mention below.” “He is one of the figures which most clearly illustrate what the religious in Filipinas was, in the double conception of priest and maintainer of the Spanish sovereignty in this archipelago.” (Pérez.) He died in Carranglán in 1748. The works alluded to are: “A treatise on the medicinal herbs of the mountains of Buhay;” “Origin and customs of those barbarous peoples;” “History of the Augustinian missions among the Italon Ilongots, the Isinais, the Irulis, and the Igolots,” during 1704–33; and three maps drawn by Cacho, giving valuable information regarding the habitat of those peoples in central Luzón. Besides these, he wrote catechisms in the languages of those tribes, directions for their government, etc. [↑]

[9] Spanish, al testud; this word does not appear in the lexicons, and it is impossible to determine its meaning accurately from the text. Testud may be possibly a misprint for testuz, meaning “the hind part of the head;” but it is more probably the mistake of an amanuensis for testiculos, these glands being regarded as the source of virile power. [↑]

[10] “Isinay is the language spoken by the Igorot of the hills in western Nueva Vizcaya, and by a part of the population of the towns of Aritao, Dupax, and Bambang, who are of Igorot origin, but whose ancestors were converted in the latter half of the eighteenth century.” “The name Igorot (in Spanish form, Igorrote) means in several Malayan languages, ‘people of the mountains.’… I have adopted it as a general designation for the whole body of primitive Malayan tribes of northern Luzón who are of the same physical type, speak closely allied languages, and present the same grade of culture.” (Barrows, in Census of Philippines, i, pp. 471, 472.) See also VOL. XX of this series, pp. 269–279. [↑]

[11] See account of Dominican missions, following this of Mozo’s. Interesting accounts of the Dominican missions in Luzón and its dependent islands, in recent times, may be found in the Correo Sino-Annamita (a missionary publication issued from the college of Santo Tomás, Manila, during the period 1866–97), vols. i, iv, xiii-xv, xx, xxi, xxiii–xxx. [↑]

[12] A royal decree (given in full by Mozo, pp. 48–51) states that the Augustinians informed the Dominicans, by a letter of September 8, 1739, of their decision to surrender the Ituy missions, contingent on the permission of the governor; and the actual formal surrender took place on April 8, 1740. This transfer was liberal and disinterested, the Augustinians asking no compensation for their property, which was of considerable value. The number of baptized persons included in these missions was 2,755; and the Augustinians had taught them to irrigate their lands, and had furnished them with animals and plows. [↑]

[13] Fray Vicente Ibarra was born in Durango in 1694, and made his religious profession at the age of sixteen; he came to the islands in 1712. He was minister at Santor and other places (1720–28), and afterward held several offices in his order. In 1737 he was prior provincial, and made a visitation of all the Augustinian religious ministers there. The latter part of his life was spent mainly at Manila, where he died on December 24, 1760. He left various writings in the Pampanga dialect. (Pérez’s Catálogo.)

Juan Belloxin was born in the province of Logroño in 1695, and made his profession at Salamanca when seventeen years old. He came to the islands in 1718, and spent ten years as missionary to the heathen Isinays, on whose dialect he left some MS. volumes. He was minister in various villages in other districts, and died at Manila in 1742.

Diego Noguerol was a native of the province of Coruña (1699), and professed at Compostela in 1716. Two years later he arrived at Manila, and went to the upper Pampanga mission; he was the first minister at Buhay (1728), where he remained seven years. He labored in other ministries and held offices in the order, dying at Manila in 1785. [↑]

[14] These were Bujay (the mission center), Dupag, Meuba, Mayon, Diangan, Limanab, Batù, Paitan, and Bayongbong (this last located in Paniqui). [↑]

[15] See description of trails in Igorot country, in Census of Philippines, i, p. 542. [↑]

[16] Agustín Barrio Canal was born in the province of Burgos, and made profession in the Augustinian convent of Salamanca in 1733, at the age of nineteen. He came to the islands in 1737, and became a missionary in western and central Luzón, where he died as related in Mozo’s text.

Pedro Freyre was born in the province of Lugo, and entered the Augustinian order at Burgos. He came to the Philippines in 1737, and labored among the tribes of central Luzón until 1753; he then became a minister in Pampanga, where he spent nearly twenty years. In 1771 he was removed by force from his post there, for refusing to accept the diocesan visit; the rest of his life was spent at Manila, where he died in 1790. (Pérez’s Catálogo.) [↑]

[17] Reference is here made to the great western mountain range of Luzón, the Caraballos Occidentales; it is nearly 200 miles long, and, including its subordinate ranges, one-third as broad. It is really a system of mountains, its central range forming the divide between the waters flowing to Cagayán River on the east and those flowing to the China Sea on the west. Its southern portion is called Cordillera Sur, which, bending eastward, under the name of Caraballos Sur joins the Sierra Madre or eastern coast range. This last range stretches along the eastern side of Luzón, from the northeastern point of the island to Laguna de Bay, a distance of 350 miles, and divides the waters of the Cagayán valley (which is about 50 miles wide, and 160 in length) from those of the Pacific slope. See Census of Philippines, i, pp. 60, 61. [↑]

[18] Barrows classes the Apayaos as an Igorot division, located in the district of Ayangan; (cf. VOL. XLIII, p. 72, note 11). The Tinguians also are Igorot, and are the pagan people of Abra; “they have developed toward civilized life, being about on the same plane of culture as the Ilocano.” “This word is derived from tingues, meaning ‘mountain,’ a Malayan word, archaic, and almost unused now in Tagálog, and the suffix an.” Adang evidently means the Gaddans, or Gaddang, another Igorot branch in western Isabela; some of them, christianized in early days, occupy the northern towns of Nueva Vizcaya. (Census of Philippines, i, pp. 469, 471, 477.) [↑]

[19] Cayán was formerly the capital of Lepanto; and is three miles from the present capital, Cervantes. [↑]

[20] José Herice was born in 1691, in a town in Navarra, and made his religious profession at Pamplona at the age of twenty. He came to the islands in 1718, and was sent to the Ilocos missions. He was the pioneer evangelist among the Adang (or Gaddans), and consumed so much of his strength in that field that he was transferred to easier charges in Ilocos, from 1725 on. He died at Batác in 1742. (Pérez’s Catálogo.) Rivera came to the islands in 1713, and was sent to the Tinguians, but for like cause was also transferred to the plains villages in 1719. Madariaga came over with Herice, whose associate he was among the Gaddans and Apayaos, until 1729, when he too went down to the plains; he died in 1744. [↑]

[21] Spanish, barbacoas: a word adopted from the Indians of Guiana, their name for the frames on which they roasted or smoke-dried any kind of meat or fish; it is also applied (in English, corrupted to “barbecue”) to a hog or other large animal roasted whole, and to the open-air entertainment at which such roasts (now usually made in a pit dug in the earth) form part of the food. [↑]

[22] See account of Igorot canaos (or feasts), and their dances at these, in Census of Philippines, i, pp. 535–537. [↑]

[23] Francisco Javier Córdoba was born in Mexico in 1712, and entered the Augustinian order at the age of seventeen. He came to the islands in 1732, and spent the rest of his life in the missions of Pampanga and Ilocos; his death occurred there, about 1764.

Romero was a native of Cadiz, born in 1729, and entered the order in Mechoacán, Nueva España, in 1750. Two years later he came to the islands, and joined the Igorot mission, afterward being cura in Indian villages; finally he returned to America (soon after 1774).

Pedro Vivar was born at Logroño in 1737, and made his profession at Valladolid, at the age of fourteen; he came to Manila with the mission of 1752, and two years later was sent to the Igorot mission. After three years labor there, he took charge of the ministries in various native villages of Ilocos, where he died in 1771. In the revolt which occurred in that province during the British occupation, he and other missionaries were imprisoned by the insurgents, and narrowly escaped being slain by them. Vivar left several MSS., among them a history of the above rebellion, which was recently published (Manila, 1893), in vol. iv of Biblioteca historica Filipina. (Pérez’s Catálogo.) [↑]

[24] The Tagálog name of the sago-palm (in Pampanga called ebos, according to Mozo), or Corypha umbraculifera. C. minor is commonly called palma brava (Tagálog, anáhao or anáo); see VOL. XLVII, p. 181, note 27. [↑]

[25] This is the fire-saw, a variant on the fire-drill so generally used by the North American Indians and other savage peoples. See description and illustration of the fire-saw used in Borneo, (similar to that of the Zambals), in Ling Roth’s Natives of Sarawak, i, pp. 377, 378. [↑]

[26] “ ‘Baluga,’ in the Pampango language, means half-breed or mixed blood. It has quite a wide use to indicate Negrito-Malayan roving savages.” (Barrows, in Census of Philippines, i, p. 469.) [↑]

[27] Ilib: a Pampango name of the cogon grass (Imperata arundinacea); see VOL. XXIX, p. 233, note 74. [↑]

[28] Spanish, lumbre, meaning “fire,” thence “light;” and by extension “tinder,” used to produce fire. Evidently the allusion in the text is to material used for tinder—in such a region and for use as a bed, obviously meaning dry grass. [↑]

[29] See Delgado’s description of the bees in Filipinas (Historia, pp. 848, 849). He states that there are several different kinds of bees, which produce great quantities of wax and honey—especially in the Visayas, where two crops are gathered in the year. [↑]

[30] See note on sago-palm, p. 91, ante. [↑]

[31] Evidently the same as súcao, an Ilocan name for a kind of pond-lily, Nelumbium speciosum; its tubers (and Blanco says, its flowers) are edible—as is the case with those of other species of the same genus, in America and other regions, which are used for food to some extent by the savages. [↑]

[32] That is, “Natural necessities are satisfied with almost nothing.” The other saying is: “If you wish to make a man rich do not add to his wealth, but take away his desires.” [↑]

[33] The Visayan name for the shrub (Croton tiglium) which yields the croton oil of commerce; it belongs to the order Euphorbiaceæ. [↑]

[34] “Termes monocerus (Koen), the common name for which is anay. The anay, or white ant, is a very remarkable insect, with a large head, on the upper part of which it has three small eyes; and it is armed with two hard teeth, shaped like a forceps, with which this creature destroys in a very short time the woodwork of a house, the best depository of papers, the largest library, or the finest wardrobe of clothing. The only wood that it does not attack is the molave, on account of its bitter taste and excessive hardness. The anay lives in families; it is found in all wet localities, and erects dwellings of clay which are two or three meters in height, and so solid that the passage of buffaloes over them is not sufficient to destroy them. The interior of these ant-hills contains a multitude of little cells, divided by thin partitions; and in these they deposit thousands of eggs (some 80,000 to each female) that are infinitely small. One [in each hill?] of these terrible insects is distinguished by its enormous proportions, and this one the Indian calls ‘queen of the ants.’ In the rainy season, wings grow on them, and they fly in fabulous numbers at sunset. The damage which these insects cause is incalculable.” (Montero y Vidal, Archipiélago Filipino, p. 114.)

The same writer mentions, in the preface to the same work, as an instance of the prevalent ignorance in Spain of the nature and needs of that country’s colonies in the East, that some member of the royal Council undertook to despatch a decree that the army in Filipinas should go in pursuit of the anay, believing it to be some terrible criminal.

Salazar makes an interesting reference (Hist. Sant. Rosario, p. 567) to some unnamed species of ant: “In that country [of the Mandayas] are certain ants which are called ‘Dutchmen,’ whose sting is so sharp that it becomes unendurable;” and he relates that this creature was used by a Dominican missionary as a new penance. [↑]

[35] Cf. account of these superstitions as still believed in Batangas, in Census of Philippines, i, pp. 520, 521. [↑]

[36] Agde (Latin, “Agatha”) a city in southeastern France, was anciently the seat of a bishopric suffragan to Narbonne; it was suppressed in 1790. The council here referred to was held in the year 506, “in the time and with the authorization of Alaric, king of the Visigoths in Spain, although he was an Arian.” (Chevin’s Dictionnaire de noms de lieux, p. 5.) [↑]

[37] Antonio Léon was born in 1702, in the province of Alicante, and made profession in the Augustinian convent at Salamanca at the age of sixteen. He came in the mission of 1724, and spent the rest of his life mainly in the missions of Pampanga, in which he died (1766). His younger brother Pablo came (being then a novice) to the islands at the same time; he was missionary in Puncán (1731) and Santor (1732) and died in 1733.

Manuel Calvo was born in Almagro in 1704, and when sixteen years old entered the Augustinian order at Toledo. He came to Manila with the foregoing brothers, and labored in Pampanga missions; he died at Ayárat in 1758.

Francisco Alvárez was a native of Oviedo province in Spain, and made profession at Madrid in 1727, at the age of twenty-two; he came to the islands in the mission of 1732. He also labored in the Pampanga missions, and died at Manila in 1769. (Pérez’s Catálogo.) [↑]

[38] “In the mountains [of Iloilo] there are many Indians whom they call Mundos; they should be called vagamundos [English, “vagabonds”], but the Indians bite off half from Castilian words when they are somewhat long. These Mundos are descendants of the Christians who, not being able to remain in the villages on account of their delinquencies, have fled to the mountains. They are not unwilling to become Christians, provided the fathers will go to their hamlets to live; but as this is impossible, on account of those places being inaccessible to civilized people, they continue in their infidelity. Some come down to the villages, and in their places others escape [to them] who commit new crimes; and [thus] this caste of people is continually maintained, notwithstanding the efforts that have been made to reduce them. The Indians trade with them, and give them rice and cloth in exchange for the wax and pitch which they bring down from the hills; and, in order not to lose this advantage, the Indians have been opposed to the reduction of the Mundos to a civilized and Christian mode of life.” (Zuñiga, Estadismo, ii, pp. 93–94.) [↑]

[39] Loberos (from lobo, “wolf”): Dominguez calls it a synonym of espantanublados (“scare clouds”), an epithet of “the vagabond who, wearing long garments, goes through the hamlets begging from door to door; and the country folk believe that he has power over the clouds” (Diccionario of the Academy). [↑]

[40] Félix de Rioja y Zúñiga was born at Cadiz in 1691, of a noble family, and made his profession there at the age of seventeen, renouncing an inherited title. He came to the islands in 1712, and seven years later was sent to the Bataan mission. He was sent to Guimbal (1722) and Bugason in 1728; in the latter place he was murdered in June, 1734. [↑]

[41] Carib: the name of the Indian race who inhabited the Antilles and adjacent coasts when the New World was discovered; also applied in general to fierce (and especially to cannibal) savages. [↑]

[42] Cf. Matilda C. Stevenson’s account of a ceremony employed at childbirth by the Sia Indians of New Mexico, in which an ear of corn (which among them is the emblem of life) is passed up and down the body of the mother, accompanied with prayers to one of their divinities, to secure a safe and easy delivery. (Report of U. S. Bureau of Ethnology, 1889–90, pp. 134–141.) [↑]

[43] This plant is evidently Datura alba (or perhaps in some places D. fastuosa, which has the same properties), commonly called “jimson weed” in the United States; it is called catchúbong or tachibong by the Visayans, and in Tagálog talamponay. (See Official Handbook of the Philippines, part i, pp. 377, 401; also Merrill’s Dictionary of Plant Names, p. 142.) [↑]

[44] It is possible that this plant is Euphorbia pilufera, a soporific; it is used, as are many other plants found in the islands, for poisoning fish. [↑]

[45] Fray Bernardo Ustáriz was born in the archbishopric of Zaragoza, and entered the Dominican order at Calatayud; he came to the Philippines with the mission of 1730. In the following year he was minister at Binondo, and in 1739 at Abucay; with these exceptions he was engaged in high offices of his order—being the head, at various times, of the college of Letran and of the university of Santo Tomás; and twice (1743 and 1755) the provincial of the order. He was afterward appointed bishop of Nueva Segovia, taking possession of that see in 1761. In the following year the capture of Manila by the English occasioned a revolt in Ilocos; the efforts of Ustáriz to oppose the insurgents were unsuccessful, and drew upon him their resentment. They kept him a prisoner for six months, and were on the point of killing him; but his life was saved by the opportune arrival of a Spanish force. He then accompanied the troops through their campaign for the pacification of Pangasinan, and the hardships which he underwent therein and in his previous captivity shortened his life; he died at the hospital of San Gabriel, near Manila, August 2, 1764. (Ferrando’s Hist. PP. dominicos, v, pp. 6–9.) [↑]

[46] Father Manuel del Río thus describes the district of Paniqui and its people (Retana’s Archivo, ii, pp. 185–187): “This province of Paniqui extends from north to south; and its length, from the last Christian village of Cagayan, which is Itugug, to the last infidel village (but close to the mission of Isinay), called Bayongbong, is probably two and one-half or three days’ journey. Its breadth thus far has not been ascertained; but I think that it includes more than fifteen leguas of plains, or level ground, from the mountains of the Igorrots to those of the Ilongots. These are two ranges of lofty peaks, which intersect this province in the middle, and likewise others in the center of this island; and in these mountains dwell these two and other barbarous tribes, whom hitherto it has been impossible to conquer, on account of the inaccessible character of the mountains. The land of this province of Paniqui is quite level, and good for cultivation. The villages are numerous, although not very large; for on the shores of the Maga River alone, which flows through the length of that province from south to north, are counted eighteen villages, including both large and small ones. The people of that tribe are distinct from those adjacent to them, and have a different language from the others. The men are accustomed from childhood to file their upper teeth into points, which often causes them to decay; and the teeth, after being dyed a sort of dark blue, are adorned (when the person is a chief) with small golden pegs. For persons of rank, it is considered very unsightly to have white teeth. They also pierce their ears, as women do; and some cleave them through. These people are barbarians in their customs, without any kind of civilization or government; and they pay respect only to some chiefs, who have acquired a reputation as such by their valorous deeds. They are not idolaters, nor are they given to religion or to worship; they have only some superstitions regarding the songs of birds, and similar things, founded on oracles which are given to them by the demon, through the agency of their aniteras, or priestesses. These women, through a compact which they have with the demon, after taking a certain potion are possessed by that same demon; and through their mouths this enemy is able to declare his will to those wretched people. At other times, the demon speaks to them in his own person, in an aerial body; but never, or very seldom, does he allow himself to be seen by those who hear him. Through the counsel of this chief enemy of the human race, those heathen are wont to buy Indians from other provinces, in order to offer them in sacrifice, by killing them, to the demon. Of this class must have been a little boy four years old, apparently an Igorrot, who was seen by the said father commissary, Fray Diego de la Torre. Those infidels were buying the child, to kill him; and the father, not having with him any forces for preventing this, could only obtain from them that they should bring the child to him for baptism before the sacrifice. God chose that the bargain should not be settled, and that the father should buy the child for some trinkets and beads, which those people value; and accordingly he brought the lad to Cagayan, snatching him from the teeth and claws of the infernal wolf. The said father encountered among those infidels, another boy, about seven years old, who was white and ruddy, like a European—a very singular thing among people so swarthy as they. His mother had had other children, but dark, like herself; and she says that when she was pregnant with this boy she dreamed that they commanded her to give him the name of Adàn [i.e., Adam], and therefore did so, calling the boy Adàn. They regarded him as a little idol; and therefore, although the father urged them several times to give him the child, he was unable to obtain it.” [↑]

[47] See earlier accounts of these Dominican missions in Central Luzón, in VOL. XXXVII, pp. 98–101; and in VOL. XLIII, Salazar’s history, book i, chap. xxxiii, and book ii, chaps. ii, xi, xxii, xxxv, xlix. Cf. Ferrando’s Hist. PP. dominicos, passim, for detailed accounts from the beginnings of those missions down to 1830. [↑]

[48] In Retana’s printed text this word appears, by some error, as montes, when the context plainly indicates islas. [↑]

[49] See account of this project, the explorations made for it, and its successful accomplishment, in Ferrando’s Hist. PP. dominicos, iv, pp. 367–382. [↑]

[50] Carajay is, according to Vidal y Soler (Viajes de Jagor, p. 138), an earthenware jar, used for cooking by the Bicol natives in Camarines. [↑]

[51] According to an official report sent to the king in July, 1752, the Dominican province of Santisimo Rosario had then only 83 religious, who were in charge of 219,459 souls. Besides the missions of China and Tun-kin, the province conducted in the Filipinas Islands seven missions in Cagayan, two in Pangasinan, six in Ituy, one in Cauayan, and eight in Paniqui; and one in the mountains of Oriong, in Bataan. “In all these missions, or villages of new converts, there were reckoned 8,917 Christians, with many catechumens who were being prepared to receive the holy sacrament of baptism. This number is not included in the general administration of the province previously mentioned. Some of these villages or missions were committed to religious appointed as vicars in other and older villages, to which the former were added, and considered as visitas or annexes—especially in Cagayan, where there has not been any religious with only the title of missionary. The number of souls who are today in charge of the province in the islands of Luzon and Batanes, according to the general report of 1870, is 560,911.” (Ferrando, Hist. PP. dominicos, iv, pp. 560, 561.) [↑]

EVENTS IN FILIPINAS, 1739–1762

[A brief summary of events during the above period is here presented; it is taken, like similar abstracts in previous volumes, mainly from the histories of Zúñiga, Concepción, and Montero y Vidal.]

[The government of the islands by Valdés y Tamón ended in the summer of 1739, when he was succeeded by Gaspar de la Torre. Just before this time, the former ordered the royal fiscal, Christoval Perez de Arroyo,[1] to be sent to prison for refusing to give up certain documents in his possession; the fiscal then took refuge in the Recollect convent, and his property was seized. After Torre’s coming, the archbishop (Fray Juan Angel Rodriguez), at the instance of the Recollects, made arrangements with him for Arroyo’s restitution to office; but the governor, instead, imprisoned the fiscal. The suit against him could not be decided at Manila, and was therefore referred to the court at Madrid, Arroyo meanwhile remaining a prisoner, and harshly treated. The archbishop was so grieved at this, and at his having been the cause (although innocent) of Arroyo’s imprisonment, by inducing him to leave his asylum in the convent, that he became seriously ill; and the heroic remedies prescribed by the physicians so reduced his strength that he soon died. Among the accusations made against Arroyo was that he had married (in 1738) Doña Maria Luisa Josepha de Morales y Santistevan without the knowledge and consent of her guardian; but this was apparently settled by the proof afterward adduced that the marriage took place on August 12, 1742, and was performed by the guardian himself, Juan de la Fuente y Yepes, dean of the cathedral. In the following December Arroyo died; his widow was summoned to take his place in the legal proceedings then pending against him, but asked the authorities to release her from this requirement; nevertheless, her property was seized, and the case was referred to Madrid for settlement. The court censured both Valdés y Tamón and Torre for their proceedings in the matter, and ordered that Arroyo be restored to his office, with pay for the time which he had spent in prison; but this decision reached Manila (April, 1743) only after his death. (Concepción, Hist. de Philipinas, xi, pp. 89–121.)]

[In January of 1743 the bishop-elect of Nueva Caceres, the master Don Isidoro de Arevalo, asked from the Manila government permission to go to Macao to receive his consecration, there being no bishop in the islands to confer it. But the governor had received letters from China which told of the expedition of the English commander Anson (see VOL. XLVII, p. 231, note 48), his depredations on the South American coast, and his presence in the harbor of Canton for the purpose of repairing his vessel; and he therefore asked the bishop to defer his voyage for a time, in order to avert the danger of his capture by the English “pirate.” In the following May, news came to Manila that Anson had sailed from Canton, and gone toward the Embocadero to lie in wait for the Acapulco galleon “Cobadonga;” the ship “Pilar,” which Anson had been previously foiled in capturing, was despatched (June 3) to aid the galleon, but its commander seems to have been timorous, and took refuge in the port of Ticao at the news of a strange warship being seen (June 22) in those waters. Finally, his ship began to leak, and he returned to Manila without accomplishing anything. On June 30 the “Cobadonga” was captured by Anson, after a brave resistance by the Spaniards. The residencia of the officers of the “Pilar” was delayed for two years, and, although the charges of delay and negligence brought against them were serious, they were finally exonerated from blame; those of the expedition which endeavored, but unsuccessfully, to find and punish Anson after his capture of the “Cobadonga” were also justified. As for the commander (Don Geronimo Montero) and officers of the latter vessel, severe charges were brought against them by the royal fiscal for surrendering the ship; they were arrested, and a special investigation of the matter was made by the royal Audiencia. The fiscal demanded that they be punished; but after examination of the testimony, the governor decided that they were not to blame for the surrender; but they were condemned to pay the costs of their trial. In this voyage the “Cobadonga” had not brought from Mexico the returns on the investments made for that year by the Misericordia[2] and other administrators of obras pías; these returns, amounting to 1,200,000 pesos, were left behind at Acapulco, either through fear of the English cruisers or for more profitable investment in Mexico. Hence arose a controversy as to the restitution of these funds, and the Misericordia brought suit for their recovery from the agents who had withheld them; but it was decided by the Council of Indias that the latter were not bound and could not be compelled to repay the money. “In the outer court of justice this went very well, but in the inner court it was quite otherwise; for we have knowledge of actual restitutions of the property thus withheld being made to the obras pías, by those persons who had more healthy consciences.” (Concepción, Hist. de Philipinas, xi, pp. 121–237.)]

[The remainder of this summary is taken from Zúñiga’s Historia de Philipinas, pp. 546–601.]

Señor Don Gaspar de la Torre made a bad beginning of his government; the violent proceedings which he instituted against the fiscal Arroyo began to make him odious to the community, the misfortunes which occurred during his term of office exasperated the minds of the citizens, and all his conduct was directed more toward pacifying this hatred than to gaining the esteem of the subjects whom he ruled. Seeing that he was disliked in the city, he began to be affected with melancholy, from which resulted a dysentery, a disease from which one seldom recovers in Philipinas. His illness was aggravated by the news which reached him that the village of Balayan in the province of Batangas had revolted;[3] and finally a supposed revolt of the Sangleys ended his life. There was a rumor that the Chinese were going to come into the city, and, notwithstanding his illness, he tried to go out against them; his friends would not permit this, and soon ascertained that it was all a fabrication;[4] but he became so feverish from the shock that he died a few days afterward, September 21, 1745 …. In his place began to rule, conformably to the directions given by his Majesty, Señor Arrechedera of the Order of St. Dominic, the bishop-elect of Ylocos. He made investigations in regard to the uprising of the Chinese, and found that they had no such intention, nor had they given any cause for suspecting them of rebellion; it was therefore believed that this report had been circulated in order to vex the governor. No long time was spent in quelling the uprising in Balayan; for the sargento-mayor went out with a hundred men of the regular troops and many Indians, encountered the insurgents, and, although he could not conquer them, because the Indians who accompanied him all fled immediately, checked the onset of the enemy, without his having suffered any mishap, save that he received a musket-shot from one of his own men, a raw recruit. He asked for aid from Manila, and they sent him two hundred men, with whom he conquered the enemies and punished them as they deserved—shooting some, and banishing others, according to the influence that they had exercised in the sedition, which vanished like smoke. He left behind a small detachment in that province, in order to inspire some respect [for the Spanish power] in the seditious who might remain in hiding; and the rest of the troops were sent to Cavite, because, besides the information which he received that the English were at Batavia with a squadron, the alcalde of Ilocos gave warning that two ships had been seen from that coast, with two smaller vessels, which were believed to be enemies. The most illustrious governor put the town in a condition for defense, erected various works, purchased arms through the agency of foreigners, and cast some cannons. All these preparations were not necessary, for the English did not come, although they resented our having taken from them a brigantine and a balandra …. In Philipinas, Manila found some consolation in the arrival of two ships,[5] which had returned from Acapulco and brought some funds to relieve the necessities of the commonwealth. In one of them came Don Fray Pedro de la Santisima Trinidad,[6] who, while a member of the Council of Indias, had taken the Franciscan habit in the Recollect convent of Pomasque; and his Majesty presented him for the archbishopric of Manila, asking the pope to compel him to accept that dignity. Fray Pedro, not being able to oppose the mandate of his Holiness, was consecrated in España; he came to Philipinas, and took possession of his office [mitra] on August 27, 1747. It appeared that he ought to have begun at the same time to rule as governor [of the islands]; for the king’s decree appointed for the vacancies [in that office] the archbishop of Manila, and in default of him the nearest bishop—through which arrangement the office had been assumed by Señor Arrechedera, who ought to have surrendered the authority to the archbishop as soon as the latter took possession of his see. His most illustrious Lordship did not choose to stir up this question, and contented himself with reporting the matter to the court; answer was made to him that orders had already been previously despatched that he should take charge of the government ad interim, but this royal order did not arrive [at Manila] until after the arrival of the proprietary governor. [His most illustrious Lordship] also brought a decree in which his Majesty committed to him the expulsion of the Chinese—which had not yet been effected, on account of the personal interests of the governors, although it had been repeatedly commanded; but he thought it well not to make the decree known until a better opportunity, because he found Señor Arrechedera greatly devoted to the Chinese.”[7] This was the only defect that was observed in this most illustrious prelate and governor; in other matters his most illustrious Lordship carried himself with much honor in his government. He quelled the revolt in the island of Bohol, sending Commander Lechuga with a suitable force; this officer punished some of the rebels, and reduced all the fishermen’s villages of that island to obedience to the king of España; but in the hill-country the insurgents remain until this day.[8]

The Jesuits had been urging our Catholic monarch Phelipe V, and constrained him to the inglorious act of writing to the kings of Joló and Mindanao; the governor sent ambassadors to deliver his letters and make an alliance with the Moros.[9] Those petty kings were greatly delighted at the honor thus done them by a king so great as that of España, and, in order to gratify him by complying with his requests to them, consented to receive missionaries into their countries. A Jesuit father went to Mindanao, but, seeing that the chiefs were restless and the king had little power to restrain them, he feared that they would take his life, and abandoned his mission; and he fled for refuge to the fort of Zamboanga. In Joló two Jesuits began to sow the seed of the gospel,[10] but gathered little fruit because the panditas of the Moro religion raised a fierce opposition to them, and the leading men of the kingdom were not willing that the missionaries should preach a different faith from that which they had inherited from their ancestors. In these circumstances the king of Joló, Mahomad Alimudin, desired to go to visit the governor of Manila; but the Jesuit fathers were displeased at this resolution, because they feared that the king’s brother Bantilan, an enemy to the Christians, would be left in command. From this resulted jealousies and disturbances in the court, and the minds of men became so inflamed that some one gave the sultan, or king, a lance-thrust.[11] Affairs were thrown into so bad condition that the fathers of the Society, not considering themselves safe in Joló, precipitately retreated to Zamboanga. The sultan Alimudin likewise fled from his kingdom in order to go to Manila, to seek aid from the governor in order to punish the rebels who had given him the lance-thrust and conspired against his person.[12] He reached Zamboanga,[13] and there the Spaniards furnished him with means to proceed to Manila; he entered that city with a retinue of seventy persons, with whom he was lodged in a house in the suburb of Binondo, which was kept at his disposal at the cost of the royal treasury. Afterward he made his public entry [into Manila], and was received with great ostentation; the leading persons in Manila visited him, and presented to him gold chains, robes, diamond rings, sashes, and gold-headed canes—so that he was astonished at so much magnificence, and at the generosity of the Spaniards, for whatever he needed for the support of his household was supplied to him from the royal treasury.[14]

The governor desired that the sultan should become a Christian, and spoke to him about it; and the latter did not delay to pretend to embrace our religion. He was entrusted to two Jesuit fathers for instruction in the faith, and very soon he was instructed in the Christian doctrine, and gave signs of being truly converted, by the urgent requests which he made to the archbishop to baptize him. Nevertheless, his conversion was somewhat uncertain. Some said that he became a Christian only that the Spaniards might place him on the throne from which he saw himself ousted, and that we ought not to trust in his conversion; others were of opinion that in his conforming to the usage of the church we ought to believe that his intention was sincere, and that he should be baptized, so long as he did not in his outward actions give cause for thinking otherwise. In view of this diversity of opinions, his illustrious Lordship thought it expedient to delay the baptism, and to wait until the sultan should give stronger proofs of his resolution. This delay vexed the bishop-governor, who desired to see him a Christian as soon as possible; and, as he could not change the archbishop’s mind, he sent Alimudin to the village of Panique,[15] which is the nearest one [to Manila] in his bishopric of Ylocos, in order that he might be baptized there; and he sent a Spaniard to appear in his name as sponsor. Besides the guard of his own people, the sultan was accompanied by another guard of Spaniards; and in all places through which he passed a ceremonious reception was given to him. In Panique he was baptized by a Dominican religious, on April 29, 1750, with great solemnity and the assistance of other religious of the same order. On his return to Manila, the governor received him with a general salvo from the plaza, and ordered that festivities should be celebrated with comedies, dances, fireworks, and bull-fights, in sign of rejoicing.

In Joló the brother of the sultan, named Bantilan, had continued in the government of the kingdom; it was he who had ordered that his brother be assaulted, and had stirred up the rebellion among the chiefs which compelled his brother to take refuge among the Spaniards. Bantilan was the greatest enemy that the Spaniards and Christians had, and gave orders that many boats should go out to infest our seas. The Joloans—who were rebels against their own king, and pirates by office—equipped many pancos, joined with them other Moros, whom they call Tirones, and began plundering raids through all the islands. The most illustrious governor gave his commands against them, and commanded some small fleets to set sail; this did not fail to cause in the Moros some respect [for our power], and to restrain them; but no injury was inflicted on them, nor were their insolent acts punished, because there were in Manila few troops. For this reason it was impossible to restore the throne to the king of Joló, who was now, since becoming a Christian, named Don Fernando de Alimudin; the proprietary governor, who arrived in the same year when he was baptized, met him in Manila with the greatest ostentation.

CHAPTER XXXI

Don Francisco Joseph de Obando, a native of Caceres in Extramadura, went with a squadron to the Southern Sea, and was in Lima at the time when that great earthquake occurred in which Callao was submerged.[16] There the favor of the king was extended to him, in appointing him governor of Manila; he went to Mexico, and in that kingdom married Doña Barbara Ribadeneyra; and, accompanied by his wife, he embarked for Philipinas to render service in the government, of which he took possession in July, 1750. As soon as he arrived, the archbishop presented to him the royal decree in which his Majesty charged him with the expulsion of the Sangleys. The governor held a council for the discussion of this subject, and in it was stirred up a controversy over a seat, which frustrated the excellent intention of his Majesty to expel the Chinese, who are so injurious to these his dominions. The archbishop attempted to seat himself on a chair at the left of the governor, at the head of the table [en la testera]; the latter would not allow this, nor that the guards should form in ranks when the archbishop entered the palace or passed through the gates of the city; and these points of etiquette were sufficient to prevent the execution of the order to expel the Sangleys from Philipinas. Information of this controversy was sent to the court, and on both points came decisions in favor of the archbishop. The royal Audiencia had a dispute with the governor on another point, because he had by his own authority appointed Don Domingo Nebra temporary warden of Cavite, when he should have conferred this post after consulting the royal Audiencia, as his Majesty had commanded. The governor did not gainsay this royal order, but he said that there was no person competent for the building of the vessels which it was necessary to construct for the commerce of Acapulco and the defense of the islands against the Moros, except Nebra; that the latter was seventy years old, and could not be compelled to take charge of the construction of boats unless he wished; and that in no case would he accept the post under consultation of the royal Audiencia, because in that case he would be subject to residencia. The governor concluded that, in an extraordinary case like this, he ought not to adhere to the usual rules, but decide what was most expedient for the royal service.[17] The royal Audiencia made their remonstrances and protests, but, seeing that the governor was the stronger, they yielded, and appealed to his Majesty. In spite of the knowledge which the governor so highly extolled in Nebra, the fragata “Pilar,” which he careened and which was despatched to Acapulco, perished at sea, without any news about her having come here.

Another and very noisy controversy occurred in Manila about this time. A lady who had made profession in the beaterio of Santa Cathalina, where she was called Mother Cecilia, became enamored of Don Francisco Figueroa;[18] and presented herself before [the ordinary, during] the vacant see (Señor Arrechedera being then the governor), alleging that her profession was null. The provisor, who did not desire controversies with the Dominican fathers (to which order the governor belonged), pacified her, [arguing] that she should be silent for the time, and wait for a better opportunity to press her claim. As soon as Señor Obando arrived, seeing that the difficulties had ceased which until then had made her keep silent, she presented herself before the archbishop, asking, as she had done before with the provisor, that he would annul her profession. His illustrious Lordship commanded that the beata should be placed [for the time] in Santa Potenciana, but this was vigorously opposed by the Dominican fathers. They had recourse to the superior government, but, not finding support in that tribunal, they gave way and surrendered the lady to the provisor, to whom was entrusted this sequestration. The lawsuit followed, and the archbishop decided that, in view of the fact that his Majesty had forbidden that the beaterio of Santa Cathalina should be erected into a convent, Mother Cecilia, who had made profession in it, could not be truly a religious, and therefore her profession was null.[19] The Dominican fathers lodged an appeal before the [papal] delegate, who was the bishop of Zebú;[20] and the appeal was admitted to allow another trial in the former court, but not to suspend its decrees [en lo devolutivo, y no en lo suspensivo]. In order to follow up their appeal with vigor they sent a religious who might carry on active judicial proceedings against the beata, because they thought that to do otherwise was a disgrace to the beaterio; but that bishop declined to hear so vexatious a lawsuit, under pretext of his poor health. There was no other bishop in Philipinas to whom they could have recourse, for which reason they carried the suit to the archbishop of Mexico; and he summoned Mother Cecilia before his tribunal, demanding that she be sent to Mexico in order that he might hear and decide the case there. As the appeal had not been admitted for the suspension [of the first sentence], the beata contracted matrimony, and with her husband embarked for Mexico, where the marriage was considered valid and her profession as null.[21] The documents in the case [el espediente] having been carried to the Council of Indias, orders were given that the beaterio of Santa Cathalina should be extinguished with the death of the beatas who [then] were its inmates—which has not been done, because the Dominican fathers have obtained the revocation of this order.[22]

The governor, being informed of the ravages which the Moros were committing in the provinces of Bisayas, determined to attack them with a powerful squadron, which could at the same time reëstablish Don Fernando Alimudin (whom, now become a Christian, Señor Obando had found in Manila) on the throne of Joló, of which he had unjustly been despoiled. There was a diversity of opinions on this latter point, because many persons believed that no confidence could be placed in his fidelity, and suspected that on the first occasion that might arise he would practice some treachery, as his fathers had done. But the decision was made in favor of the exiled king, and he was carried to Joló in the almiranta of the armada, which sailed from Cavite under command of the master-of-camp of the royal regiment, who bore commissions for both these offices. The armada reached Zamboanga, but the almiranta did not make its appearance; and, in order not to lose the monsoon, and not to give the Moros time to fortify themselves, the fleet, without waiting for the almiranta, sailed from that port on June 13, 1751, and on the twenty-sixth anchored in the cove of Joló, at a mile distant from the forts of the enemy. They began to fire the cannons at these, and those who were in command were so intimidated that they began negotiations for peace; and they signed a letter in which they bound themselves to obey their king and receive him as faithful vassals, and to surrender to the Spaniards all the captive Christians who might be in the island. With this compact the master-of-camp returned, much elated, to Zamboanga in nine days; and carried with him two champans of Chinese[23] whom he found trading there, seizing them under the pretext that they had sold a cannon to our enemies the Joloans, with whom treaties of peace had just been made.

The almiranta had been delayed because it had met some damage, and had remained at Calapan repairing its rudder, for which reason it did not arrive at Zamboanga until July 25; but the king of Joló, impatient at waiting so long, had embarked with two caracoas and arrived there twelve days before. In spite of his activity, the governor of Zamboanga was very doubtful of his fidelity; and, having found two letters which Alimudin wrote to the king of Mindanao—one in the vulgar tongue, [written] by order of the governor of Manila, and the other in the Arabic language, which he had learned in Batavia, where he had spent some time—the commandant became curious to know what he was saying in this language, [now] obsolete in our islands. He sought for someone to translate the letter, and found that Alimudin said that what he wrote in the other was in obedience to the governor of Manila and to his commands; and he could not avoid obeying him, or excuse himself, because he was in a foreign dominion. To this suspicion was added the fact that a brother of his named Asin, and the chiefs of Joló who had made the compact with the master-of-camp to receive their king and surrender the captive Christians, came to Zamboanga to visit him; and they not only brought no captive, but it was said that, under pretext of this visit, they were bringing in arms, in order to gain possession of the fort. The governor, influenced by these reports, arrested the sultan with all his following,[24] and searched the house in which they lived, but he found only a few arms, which gave no indication of an uprising; but other faults were discovered, which gave plausible ground for their arrest. Various despatches and presents which he had sent to the Moros were considered as suspicious; and the commander and two passengers of the almiranta declared that he was on very bad terms with the people in Manila, from whom he had received many kindnesses, to whom on all occasions he showed himself ungrateful; that he said the new governor had kept him like a prisoner; that he gave no sign of being a Christian, since he went every night to sleep with his concubines, did not hear mass, and had taken away the crosses from the rosaries belonging to the people of his household; and, finally, that he had apostatized from the faith by offering a Mahometan sacrifice at Calapan, where he killed a goat, divided it into twelve parts, with many superstitious ceremonies, and gave them to his followers to eat, in order to celebrate Easter.

The governor of Zamboanga made report to Manila regarding these charges and his arrest of the sultan and his household; and answer was made to him that he should send Alimudin and all his people to Manila as prisoners, and that war should be declared on the Joloans[25]—giving authority to every one who wished to equip his vessel as a privateer, and allowing him to keep for himself whatever he should seize as plunder; and any persons who should thus be seized should remain captives,[26] since the Moros of Joló had been declared not only enemies to the Spaniards, but pirates, who ought to suffer captivity, just as they imposed this lot on the Christians whom they seized. The extermination of the Moros was undertaken with so much ardor that pardon [indulto] for their crimes was granted to those who should present themselves to serve against the enemy. The armada which the master-of-camp had at Zamboanga was reënforced,[27] and a second expedition was made to Joló, more unfortunate than the first—for the Spaniards attempted to land in that island, and the Moros received them with such valor that they compelled our people to retreat, with heavy loss and great disgrace to the Spanish arms, to the fort of Zamboanga.

The haughty Bantilan, who ruled the kingdom of Joló in the absence of his brother, undertook to induce, by the victory which he had gained over the Spaniards, the men of Mindanao to break the peace which they were observing with us, and to harry us as much as they could; and he urged all the pirates who were in those islands to take up arms against the Spaniards, whom he represented as conquered, and in fear of their arms. Then the seas of Bisayas were seen covered with little fleets of Moros, who carried desolation everywhere. Nothing was heard of save plundering, the burning of villages, the seizing of vessels, captivities, and [other] acts of violence, which the Moros committed in our territories[28]—so that Señor Obando wished to go forth in person to restrain them, and to repair the many injuries which they were inflicting on us. His Majesty had commanded that a fortified post should be established in the island of Paragua, in order to shut off the pirates from entrance [into Bisayan waters] on that side, just as it was closed on the other side by the post of Zamboanga. In order to proceed in all respects with moderation, the governor sent an ambassador to the king of Borney, in order that the latter should cede to us the territory that he possessed in that island; and when it was ceded he made ready a squadron to build the fortified post, and from that place to follow up the Moros who were plundering our islands. He intended to go out in person at the head of this armada, and consulted the royal Audiencia on this point; but the auditors were of opinion that it was not expedient to hazard his person, and that he could entrust this expedition to another person, who by carrying an engineer to draw plans for the fort which it was necessary to build on the island of Paragua could accomplish all that was expected from the expedition. In accordance with this advice, the governor appointed, as its commander, Don Antonio Fabea, [sc. Faveau] who sailed from Cavite with eleven vessels; he took with him Don Manuel Aguirre, who went with an appointment as commandant of the military post which was to be established, and bore orders to go to Igolote, in the same island [of Paragua], to dislodge the Moros, who usually took refuge in that place. Here his men fell sick, to such an extent that, without doing more than to take possession of that district, they went back to Manila, leaving behind two hundred and seventy dead, and carrying home many sick men in the squadron.[29]

The king of Joló had already reached Manila, and was imprisoned in the fort of Santiago,[30] to the great satisfaction of those who had been opposed to his baptism and had always doubted his fidelity; but he obtained from the governor permission that his daughter the princess Faatima, who was imprisoned with him, might go to Joló with letters from him for his brother and other chiefs, in order [to urge them] to make a stable peace with the Spaniards; and for this permission he bound himself to surrender fifty Christian captives.[31] The princess accomplished the return of the captives, and obtained from her uncle Bantilan the despatch of an ambassador to Manila, to attend to her father’s affairs. The envoy carried authority to conduct, jointly with Bantilan’s brother the king, negotiations for peace with the governor, and to solemnize the treaties which they should regard as expedient, [the chiefs] binding themselves to obey whatever the two should sign. It was stipulated with the king and the ambassador that the Moros of Joló should surrender all the Christian captives who were in their island, and send back all the arms which they had taken from the Spaniards, and the ornaments which they had plundered from the churches; and, in order to make these treaties effective, permission was granted to one of the chiefs who were prisoners with the king to go to Joló in company with the ambassador whom Bantilan had sent.

The governor had very little confidence in the promises of the Moros or in their treaties, because they had always broken them with the same facility with which they had made them; and he prepared a strong squadron [to go] against them, in order to compel them by force to observe the treaties which he did not expect they would keep of their own accord. Nor did his suspicions prove to be groundless, for in that year (which was 1754) occurred the worst inroad which those islanders had made into Philipinas. In all districts they made raids with blood and fire, killing religious, Indians, and Spaniards, burning and plundering villages; and taking captive thousands of Christians, not only in the islands near Joló, but throughout our territories, even in the provinces nearest to the capital Manila.[32] The fleet which the governor had made ready went out against them, but, before they could do anything, his successor came, at the end of his four years’ term of office; for this reason, he left the islands in the most deplorable condition that had ever been known, the cause of these evils being either his own misconduct or the unfitness of those to whom he gave appointments, or perhaps his misfortune. What is certain is, that he experienced a very grievous residencia, and many charges against him resulted; and in the following year he embarked in the galleon “Santisima Trinidad” for Acapulco, and died on the way, without reaching España.

CHAPTER XXXII

Don Pedro Manuel de Arandia,[33] a native of Ceuta and of Vizcayan ancestry, took possession of his government in July, 1754. As soon as he arrived in Manila, he undertook to organize the troops, and to place the military force on a regular footing and in conformity with the ordinances which are observed in España. From the royal troops that were in the islands he formed the “king’s regiment” of two battalions; he reorganized the body of artillerists, placing it in the condition in which we now see it; and he assigned to both the soldiers and the officers pay with which they could decently support themselves and meet their obligations, without being harassed to seek in some other way what was necessary for life. He was very diligent to put in order the arsenal at Cavite, and whatever depended upon the royal officials—in which he did not fail to suffer annoyances, and to incur the dislike of many persons who did not enjoy so much reform and so great zeal.[34] At the beginning of his government, in the month of December, occurred the terrible eruption of the volcano of Taal, which lies in the middle of Lake Bombon, in the province of Batangas. So heavy was the shower of ashes that it destroyed four villages which were on the shore of the lake, and it was necessary to remove them a legua inland. There were many and severe earthquake shocks, and a noise as of squadrons engaged in battle; and the atmosphere was darkened with the quantities of sand and ashes which issued from the volcano—so that in Manila, which is distant twenty leguas, but little could be seen at noonday; and in Cavite, which is somewhat nearer, that time of day seemed like a dark night.[35] I have ascended with Señor Alava[36] to the summit of this volcano, and only a lake was seen, about half a legua in diameter; it was very deep, and its waters were dark green.

The armada which Señor Obando had sent against the Moros met so poor success that the governor was obliged to take away its command from Don Miguel Valdés, who had been sent as its chief officer; and it was conferred on Father Ducos, a Jesuit, from whom he expected better results. In fact, that father was fitted for the post, and acted with such valor and discretion that he took from the enemies more than a hundred and fifty vessels, destroyed three of their villages, killed their inhabitants, and made captive innumerable people; and he checked the onset of those barbarians, who were devastating everything.[37] These happy tidings arrived at Manila in January, 1755; Señor Arandia gave orders that the Te Deum should be sung by way of thanksgiving, and confirmed Father Ducos in his command of the naval squadron; he had great esteem for the father because the latter was the son of a colonel who was the governor’s intimate friend, and because he seemed to have inherited his father’s valor.

Señor Arandia treated the king of Joló with much kindness, and allowed him his liberty, although the king voluntarily continued to live in the fort of Santiago; the governor gave him a monthly allowance of fifty pesos and six cavans of rice for his support, and prevailed upon the archbishop to grant him permission to hear mass and receive the sacraments, of which he had been deprived. The king desired to marry as his second wife a woman who had been his concubine but was now a Christian;[38] the archbishop would not permit this, and Señor Arandia not only smoothed away all the difficulties, but gave the king the use of his palace in order that in it he might celebrate the marriage with more pomp and solemnity. He did not gain these dispensations without some dispute with his most illustrious Lordship, to which was added another, which, although of less importance, was sufficient to alienate feeling and cause resentment in Philipinas. The governor complained of the archbishop because the bells were not rung for the former when he entered or left any church, as ought to be done on account of his being vice-patron, especially when he went [thither] as president of the [ecclesiastical] tribunals. His most illustrious Lordship declared that he had no order from the king for doing so; but these formalities, together with the attacks of illness which the most illustrious Señor Trinidad suffered, caused his death; this occurred on May 29, 1755. Señor Arandia continued to favor the king of Joló, for he thought that by this means he could end the war with the Moros. He sent to Joló all the princes and princesses, the datos, and all the women, who were detained in Manila, leaving the king alone—who acknowledged his vassalage [hizo pleito homenaje] and took the oath of fidelity, until a decision [of his case] should arrive from the court of España, which had been informed of his detention. The princes and princesses arrived at Joló on October 5 of this year; they were graciously received by Bantilan, who, grateful for the generosity of the governor, promised to observe faithfully the treaty of peace which his ambassador and his brother had signed at Manila. It was necessary, in order to extricate ourselves entirely from the war, to make an agreement with the men of Mindanao; the governor undertook this, and sent ambassadors to them; but the petty rulers who are in that island are so numerous and so treacherous that it is impossible to establish a permanent peace with them. Even assuming that all the petty kings of the Moros may desire to observe the peace with the Spaniards, they will never succeed in it, because they possess so little authority over their vassals that they have never been able to restrain them,[39] and they never will prevent them from going out to plunder and to seize captives throughout our islands, for they have given themselves up to this kind of life; and only the spiritual conquest of their provinces is adequate to deliver us from these troublesome enemies.

During this government was undertaken the reëstablishment of the missions in the islands of Batanes, which lie to the north of Cagayan. From early times the Dominican fathers maintained in the islands of Babuyanes religious ministers, who gave instruction to their inhabitants; but in the year 1690 they removed these people to Cagayan. The king having decreed that they should go back to their own land, the religious who directed them established a mission in the islands of the Batanes,[40] distant some thirty leguas from Cagayan; and after his death his companion withdrew, leaving the mission abandoned until the year 1718. It was then reëstablished by another Dominican religious, who fixed his headquarters in the island of Calayan, in which place he attempted to make the Indians in the other islands settle, in order that, brought together there, they might be instructed in the Christian religion. Great as was the desire of the Batanes to enter the bosom of the church, only a hundred and fifty persons took the resolution to change their place of abode; and half of these died in a short time. That island offered few means of comfort, for which reason the father missionary became sick; and, although he had a successor, the mission was entirely abandoned.[41]

In the year 1754, two religious were sent, of whom one died and the other retired to Cagayan, seriously ill; but he returned in the following year with another companion. In order to ameliorate the destitution which they had suffered in the preceding year, they determined to take with them a carpenter, a lay brother of their order, in order that he might, as soon as they reached the place, put together a house, which was to go in the vessel, in pieces. Their zeal did not permit them to wait until the work was finished; and, fearing that the monsoon would pass away, they embarked without their little house. Hardly had they reached Calayan when the two fell sick; other fathers went to succor them, and all became sick; accordingly, they returned [to the mainland] one after another, and it was necessary to abandon the mission after the Dominican fathers had incurred large expenses for it. Afterward, this conquest was again undertaken, by Señor Basco in 1783; and this effort has been successful in maintaining there the Dominican fathers, converting those islanders to the faith. A commandant was stationed there with his garrison, which caused much expense, because it was necessary to send them all their supplies from Philipinas; for in all those islands the only produce is camotes and such other eatable things as grow in the country itself. There is no doubt that other articles would be produced, but so numerous are the rats, which consume everything, and so frequent the baguios or hurricanes, that one may rest assured that these plagues would devastate the fields before the crops could mature. Every year a bark was sent to carry succor to the islands, but, as the baguios are so frequent in those seas, many of these vessels were wrecked; it has therefore been recognized that the maintenance of that post is impossible, and the result is, that only the Dominican fathers remain there with a small guard, who must be succored from Cagayan. For this enterprise Señor Basco was granted the title of Conde de la Conquista; but I assert that if half of what he spent in Batanes had been expended in placing missionaries in Ylocos, Pangasinan, and Cagayan, he would have gained more vassals for the king of España, and with less risk.