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The Philippine Islands, 1493 1898: Volume XVI, 1609 by H.E. Blair

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[86] There are now domestic rabbits, and plenty of peacocks.--_Rizal_.

[87] Doubtless the python, which is often domesticated in the
Philippines. See _Vol_. XII, p. 259, note 73.

[88] La Gironiere (_Twenty Years in the Philippines_--trans. from
French, London, 1853) describes an interesting fight with a huge
crocodile near his settlement of Jala-Jala. The natives begged for
the flesh in order to dry it and use it as a specific against asthma,
as they believed that any asthmatic person who lived on the flesh for
a certain time would be infallibly cured. Another native wished the
fat as an antidote for rheumatic pain. The head of this huge reptile
was presented to an American, who in turn presented it to the Boston
Museum. Unfortunately La Gironiere's picturesque descriptions must
often be taken with a grain of salt. For some information regarding
the reptiles of the islands see _Report_ of U.S. Philippine Commission,
1900, iii, pp. 317-319.

[89] Unless we are mistaken, there is a fish in the Filipinas called
_Pampano_.--_Rizal_.

[90] For catalogue and scientific description of the mollusks of
the Philippines, see the work of Joaquin Gonzalez Hidalgo--now
(1904) in course of publication by the Real Academia de Ciencias of
Madrid--_Estudios preliminares sobre la fauna malacologica de las
Islas Filipinas._

[91] The Rio Grande.--_Rizal_.

[92] No fish is known answering to this description.--_Stanley_.

[93] The island of Talim.--_Rizal_.

[94] Retana thinks (Zuniga, ii, p. 545*) that this device was
introduced among the Filipinos by the Borneans.

[95] A species of fishing-net. Stanley's conjecture is wrong.

[96] _Esparavel_ is a round fishing-net, which is jerked along by
the fisher through rivers and shallow places. _Barredera_ is a net
of which the meshes are closer and tighter than those of common nets,
so that the smallest fish may not escape it.

[97] Cf. methods of fishing of North American Indians, _Jesuit
Relations_, vi, pp. 309-311, liv, pp. 131, 306-307.

[98] A species of fish in the Mediterranean, about three pulgadas
[inches] long. Its color is silver, lightly specked with black.

[99] The fish now called _lawlaw_ is the dry, salted sardine. The
author evidently alludes to the _tawilis_ of Batangas, or to the
_dilis_, which is still smaller, and is used as a staple by the
natives.--_Rizal_.

For information regarding the fishes of the Philippines, see Delgado
(_ut supra_), book v, part iv, pp. 909-943; _Gazetteer of the
Philippine Islands_ (_ut supra_), pp. 171-172; and (with description
of methods of fishing) _Report_ of U. S. Philippine Commission, 1900,
iii, pp. 319-324.

[100] Paho. A species of very small mango from one and one-half
to five centimeters in its longer diameter. It has a soft pit, and
exhales a strong pitchy odor.--_Rizal_.

[101] A Spanish word signifying a cryptogamous plant; perhaps referring
to some species of mushroom.

[102] In Tagal this is kasubha. It comes from the Sanskrit _kasumbha_,
or Malay _kasumba_ (Pardo de Tavera's _El Sanscrito en la lengua
tagalog_).--_Rizal_.

This plant is the safflower or bastard saffron (_Certhamus
tinctorius_); its flowers are used in making a red dye.

[103] Not a tree, but a climber. The plants are cultivated by
training them about some canes planted in the middle of certain
little channels which serve to convey irrigation to the plant twice
each day. A plantation of betel--or ikmo, as the Tagals call it--much
resembles a German hop-garden.--_Rizal_.

[104] This fruit is not that of the betel or _buyo_, but of the _bonga_
(Tagal _bunga_), or areca palm.--_Rizal_.

[105] Not quicklime, but well slaked lime.--_Rizal_.

Rizal misprints _un poco de cal viva_ for _vn poluc de cal viua_.

[106] The original word is _marcada_. Rizal is probably correct in
regarding it as a misprint for _mascada_, chewed.

[107] It is not clear who call these caskets by that name. I imagine
it to be the Spanish name, properly spelt _buxeta_. The king of
Calicut's betel box is called _buxen_ in the Barcelona MS. of the
Malabar coasts.--_Stanley_.

[108] See _Vol_. IV, p. 222, note 31; also Delgado (_ut supra_),
pp. 667-669. Delgado says that _bonga_ signifies fruit.

[109] Tagal, _tuko_.--_Rizal_.

[110] This word in the original is _visitandolas_; Rizal makes
it _irritandolas_ (shaking or irritating them), but there are not
sufficient grounds for the change.

[111] The Indians, upon seeing that wealth excited the rapacity of
the encomenderos and soldiers, abandoned the working of the mines,
and the religious historians assert that they counseled them to a
similar action in order to free them from annoyances. Nevertheless,
according to Colin (who was "informed by well-disposed natives")
more than 100,000 pesos of gold annually, conservatively stated,
was taken from the mines during his time, after eighty years of
abandonment. According to "a manuscript of a grave person who had
lived long in these islands" the first tribute of the two provinces
of Ilocos and Pangasinan alone amounted to 109,500 pesos. A single
encomendero, in 1587, sent 3,000 taheles of gold in the "Santa Ana,"
which was captured by Cavendish.--_Rizal_.

[112] This was prohibited later.--_Rizal_.

[113] See _Vol_. XIV, pp. 301-304.

According to Hernando de los Rios the province of Pangasinan was said
to contain a quantity of gold, and that Guido de Labazaris sent some
soldiers to search for it; but they returned in a sickly state and
suppressed all knowledge of the mines in order not to be sent back
there. The Dominican monks also suppressed all knowledge of the mines
on account of the tyranny of which gold had been the cause in the
West Indies.--_Stanley_.

[114] Pearl-fishing is still carried on along the coasts of Mindanao
and Palawan, and in the Sulu archipelago. In the latter region pearls
are very abundant and often valuable; the fisheries there are under
the control of the sultan of Sulu, who rents them, appropriating for
himself the largest pearls.

[115] Probably the cowry (_Cypraea moneta_). Crawfurd states
(_Dict. Ind. Islands_, p. 117) that in the Asiatic archipelago this
shell is found only on the shores of the Sulu group, and that it
"seems never to have been used for money among the Indian Islanders
as it has immemorially been by the Hindus."

[116] Jagor, _Travels in the Philippines_ (Eng. trans., London, 1875),
devotes a portion of his chapter xv to these jars. He mentions the
great prices paid by the Japanese for these vessels. On p. 164, occurs
a translation of the above paragraph, but it has been mistranslated
in two places. Stanley cites the similar jars found among the Dyaks
of Borneo--the best called _gusih_--which were valued at from $1,500
to $3,000, while the second grade were sold for $400. That they are
very ancient is proved by one found among other remains of probably the
copper age. From the fact that they have been found in Cambodia, Siam,
Cochinchina, and the Philippines, Rizal conjectures that the peoples
of these countries may have had a common center of civilization at
one time.

[117] "Not many years ago," says Colin (1663), "a large piece [of
ambergris] was found in the island of Jolo, that weighed more than
eight arrobas, of the best kind, namely, the gray."--_Rizal_.

[118] This industry must now be forgotten, for it is never heard
of.--_Rizal_.

[119] Perhaps Morga alludes to the _sinamay_, which was woven from
abaka, or filament of the plant _Musa textilis_. The abaka is taken
from the trunk and not the leaf.--_Rizal_.

[120] This name seems to be Malay, _Babu-utan_, wild swine.--_Stanley_.

[121] The men of these islands were excellent carpenters and
ship-builders. "They make many very light vessels, which they take
through the vicinity for sale in a very curious manner. They build
a large vessel, undecked, without iron nail or any fastening. Then,
according to the measure of its hull, they make another vessel that
fits into it. Within that they put a second and a third. Thus a
large biroco contains ten or twelve vessels, called biroco, virey,
barangay, and binitan." These natives were "tattooed, and were
excellent rowers and sailors; and although they are upset often,
they never drown." The women are very masculine. "They do not
drink from the rivers, although the water is very clear, because it
gives them nausea.... The women's costumes are chaste and pretty,
for they wear petticoats in the Bisayan manner, of fine medrinaque,
and _lamboncillos_, which resemble close-fitting sayuelos [_i.e._,
woolen shifts worn by certain classes of religious]. They wear long
robes of the same fine medrinaque. They gather the hair, which is
neatly combed, into a knot, on top of the head, and place a rose in
it. On their forehead they wear a band of very fine wrought gold,
two fingers wide. It is very neatly worked and on the side encircling
the head it is covered with colored taffeta. In each ear they wear
three gold earrings, one in the place where Spanish women wear them,
and two higher up. On their feet they wear certain coverings of thin
brass, which sound when they walk." (The citations herein are from
Colin.) These islands have also retrograded.--_Rizal_.

[122] Cavite derives its name from the Tagal word _cavit_, a creek,
or bend, or hook, for such is its form.--_Stanley_.

[123] This province had decreased so greatly in population and
agriculture, a half century later, that Gaspar de San Agustin said:
"Now it no longer has the population of the past, because of the
insurrection of that province, when Don Sabiniano Manrique de Lara
was governor of these islands, and because of the incessant cutting
of the timber for the building of his Majesty's ships, which prevents
them from cultivating their extremely fertile plain." Later, when
speaking of Guagua or Wawa, he says: "This town was formerly very
wealthy because of its many chiefs, and because of the abundant
harvests gathered in its spacious plains, which are now submerged by
the water of the sea."--_Rizal_.

[124] Now the port of Sorsogon.--_Rizal_.

[125] Now the port of Mariveles (?).--_Rizal_.

[126] Subik (?).--_Rizal_.

[127] Mindoro is at present [1890] so depopulated that the minister of
the Colonies, in order to remedy this result of Spanish colonization,
wishes to send there the worst desperadoes of the peninsula, to see
if great criminals will make good colonists and farmers. All things
considered, given the condition of those who go, it is indubitable
that the race that succeeds must know how to defend itself and live,
so that the island may not be depopulated again.--_Rizal_.

[128] Samar. This proves contrary to the opinion of Colin, who places
Tendaya in Leite.--_Rizal_.

[129] Southeastern part of Samar.--_Rizal_.

[130] Colin says, however, that they did tattoo the chins and
about the eyes [_barbas y cejas_]. The same author states also that
the tattooing was done little by little and not all at once. "The
children were not tattooed, but the women tattooed one hand and
part of the other. In this island of Manila the Ilocos also tattooed
themselves, although not so much as did the Visayans." The Negritos,
Igorrotes, and other independent tribes of the Filipinas still tattoo
themselves. The Christians have forgotten the practice. The Filipinas
used only the black color, thus differing from the Japanese, who
employ different colors, as red and blue, and carry the art to a
rare perfection. In other islands of the Pacific, the women tattoo
themselves almost as much as the men. Dr. Wilhelm Joest's _Taetowiren
Narbenzeichnen und Koerperbemahlen_ (Berlin, 1887) treats the matter
very succinctly.--_Rizal_.

[131] This is a confused statement, after what just precedes it and
according to the evidence of Father Chirino (see _Vol_. XII, chapter
vii). Morga must mean that they wore no cloak or covering when they
went outside the house, as did the Tagals (both men and women), who
used a kind of cape.--_Rizal_. [This is the sense in which Stanley
understood and translated this passage.]

[132] _Gubat_, grove, field, in Tagal. _Mangubat_ [so printed in
the text of Rizal's edition] signifies in Tagal "to go hunting,
or to the wood," or even "to fight."--_Rizal_.

[133] "At the arrival of the Spaniards at this island (Panay)" says
San Agustin, "it was said to have more than 50,000 families. But
they decreased greatly ... and at present it has about 14,000
tributarios--6,000 apportioned to the crown, and 8,000 to individual
encomenderos." They had many gold-mines, and obtained gold by
washing the sand in the Panay River; "but instigated by the outrages
received from the alcaldes-mayor," says the same historian, "they
have ceased to dig it, preferring to live in poverty than to endure
such troubles."--_Rizal_.

[134] This entire paragraph is omitted in the Rizal edition. In the
original it is as follows:

_La Lengua de todos, los Pintados y Bicayas, es vna mesma, por do se
entienden, hablando y escriuiendo, en letras y caratores que tienen
particulares, que semejan a los Arabigos, y su comun escribir entre
los naturales, es en hojas de arboles, y en canas, sobre la corteza;
que en todas las islas ay muchas, de disforme grueso los canutos,
y el pie es vn arbol muy grueso y macico_.

[135] This difference is no greater than that between the Spanish,
Portuguese, and Italian.--_Rizal_.

[136] See Chirino (_Relacion de las islas Filipinas_) _Vol_. XII,
chapters xv-xvii. His remarks, those of Morga, and those of other
historians argue a considerable amount of culture among the Filipino
peoples prior to the Spanish conquest. A variety of opinions have been
expressed as to the direction of the writing. Chirino, San Antonio,
Zuniga, and Le Gentil, say that it was vertical, beginning at the
top. Colin, Ezguerra, and Marche assert that it was vertical but in
the opposite direction. Colin says that the horizontal form was adopted
after the arrival of the Spaniards. Mas declares that it was horizontal
and from left to right, basing his arguments upon certain documents
in the Augustinian archives in Manila. The eminent Filipino scholar,
Dr. T. H. Pardo de Tavera has treated the subject in a work entitled
"_Contribucion para el estudio de los antiguos alfabetos filipinos_"
(Losana, 1884). See Rizal's notes on p. 291 of his edition of Morga.

[137] This portion of this sentence is omitted in Stanley.

[138] Bahay is "house" in Tagal; _pamamahay_ is that which is in the
interior and the house. _Bahandin_ may be a misprint for _bahayin_,
an obsolete derivative.--_Rizal_.

[139] Cf. this and following sections with Loarca's relation, _Vol_. V,
of this series; and with Plasencia's account, _Vol_. VII, pp. 173-196.

[140] Timawa.--_Rizal_.

[141] The condition of these slaves was not always a melancholy
one. Argensola says that they ate at the same table with their masters,
and married into their families. The histories fail to record the
assassination for motives of vengeance of any master or chief by
the natives, as they do of encomenderos. After the conquest the evil
deepened. The Spaniards made slaves without these pretexts, and without
those enslaved being Indians of their jurisdiction--going moreover,
to take them away from their own villages and islands. Fernando de los
Rios Coronel, in his memorial to the king (Madrid, 1621) pp. 24-25,
speaks in scathing terms of the cruelties inflicted on the natives
in the construction of ships during the governorship of Juan de
Silva. A letter from Felipe II to Bishop Domingo de Salazar shows
the awful tyranny exercised by the encomenderos upon the natives,
whose condition was worse than that of slaves.--_Rizal_.

[142] For remarks on the customs formerly observed by the natives of
Pampanga in their suits, see appendix to this volume.

[143] This fundamental agreement of laws, and this general uniformity,
prove that the mutual relations of the islands were widespread, and the
bonds of friendship more frequent than were wars and quarrels. There
may have existed a confederation, since we know from the first
Spaniards that the chief of Manila was commander-in-chief of the
sultan of Borneo. In addition, documents of the twelfth century that
exist testify the same thing.--_Rizal_.

[144] This word must be _sagigilid_ in its Tagal form. The root _gilid_
signifies in Tagal, "margin," "strand," or "shore." The reduplication
of the first syllable, if tonic, signifies active future action. If
not tonic and the suffix _an_ be added, it denotes the place where
the action of the verb is frequently executed. The preposition _sa_
indicates place, time, reference. The atonic reduplication may also
signify plurality, in which case the singular noun would be _sagilid_,
_i.e._, "at the margin," or "the last"--that is, the slave. Timawa
signifies now in Tagal, "in peace, in quietness, tranquil, free,"
etc. _Maginoo_, from the root _ginoo_, "dignity," is now the title of
the chiefs; and the chief's reunion is styled _kaginoohan_. Colin says,
nevertheless, that the Chiefs used the title _gat_ or _lakan_, and the
women _dayang_. The title of _mama_ applied now to men, corresponds
to "uncle," "Senor," "Monsieur," "Mr.," etc.; and the title _al_
of women to the feminine titles corresponding to these.--_Rizal_.

[145] _Namamahay_ (from _bahay_, "house"), "he who lives in his own
house." This class of slaves, if they may be so called, exists even
yet. They are called _kasama_ (because of being now the laborers of a
capitalist or farmer), _bataan_ ("servant," or "domestic"), _kampon,
tao_, etc.

[146] This class of slavery still exists [1890] in many districts,
especially in the province of Batangas; but it must be admitted that
their condition is quite different from that of the slave in Greece or
Rome, or that of the negro, and even of those made slaves formerly by
the Spaniards. Thanks to their social condition and to their number in
that time, the Spanish domination met very little resistance, while
the Filipino chiefs easily lost their independence and liberty. The
people, accustomed to the yoke, did not defend the chiefs from
the invader, nor attempt to struggle for liberties that they never
enjoyed. For the people, it was only a change of masters. The nobles,
accustomed to tyrannize by force, had to accept the foreign tyranny,
when it showed itself stronger than their own. Not encountering love
or elevated feelings in the enslaved mass, they found themselves
without force or power.--_Rizal_.

[147] _Inasawa_, or more correctly _asawa_ (consort).--_Rizal_.

[148] This dowry, if one may call it so, represented to the parents
an indemnity for the care and vigilance that they had exercised in
their daughter's education. The Filipina woman, never being a burden
to any one (either to her parents or to her husband), but quite the
contrary, represents a value, whose loss to the possessor must be
substituted.... The Tagal wife is free, and treated with consideration;
she trades and contracts, almost always with the approbation of her
husband, who consults her in all his acts. She takes care of the money,
and educates the children, half of whom belong to her...--_Rizal_.

[149] _Bigay-kaya_, "to give what one can," "a voluntary offering,
a present of good will" ... This _bigay-kaya_ devolved entire
to the married couple, according to Colin, if the son-in-law was
obedient to his parents-in-law; if not, it was divided among all the
heirs. "Besides the dowry, the chiefs used to give certain gifts to
the parents and relatives, and even to the slaves, which were great
or less according to the rank of the one married." (Colin).--_Rizal_.

[150] This good custom still exists, ... although it is gradually
passing away.--_Rizal_.

[151] Such is the law throughout most parts of Asia; in Siam the
woman becomes free without having children. It is only in America that
fathers could and did sell their own children into slavery.--_Stanley_.

[152] This condition of affairs and the collection of usury is true
still [1890]. Morga's words prove true not only of the Indian, but also
of the mestizos, the Spaniards, and even of various religious. So far
has it gone that the government itself not only permits it, but also
exacts the capital and even the person to pay the debts of others, as
happens with the _cabeza de barangay_ [head of a barangay].--_Rizal_.

[153] The _tam-tam_ and the _pum-piang_ are still used.--_Rizal_.

[154] The early Filipinos had a great horror of theft, and even the
most anti-Filipino historian could not accuse them of being a thievish
race. Today, however, they have lost their horror of that crime. One
of the old Filipino methods of investigating theft was as follows:
"If the crime was proved, but not the criminal, if more than one was
suspected ... each suspect was first obliged to place a bundle of
cloth, leaves, or whatever he wished on a pile, in which the thing
stolen might be hidden. Upon the completion of this investigation
if the stolen property was found in the pile, the suit ceased." The
Filipinos also practiced customs very similar to the "judgments of
God" of the middle ages, such as putting suspected persons, by pairs,
under the water and adjudging guilty him who first emerged.--_Rizal_.

[155] The Filipino today prefers a beating to scoldings or
insults.--_Rizal_.

[156] From _bago_, new, and _tao_, man: he who has become a
man.--_Rizal_.

[157] In speaking of a similar custom in Australia, Eyre (_Central
Australia_, i, p. 213), says: "This extraordinary and inexplicable
custom must have a great tendency to prevent the rapid increase of the
population."--_Stanley_. [Stanley does not translate this paragraph
of the text.]

[158] It appears that the natives called _anito_ a tutelary genius,
either of the family, or extraneous to it. Now, with their new
religious ideas, the Tagals apply the term _anito_ to any superstition,
false worship, idol, etc.--_Rizal_.

[159] Others besides Morga mention oratories in caves, where the idols
were kept, and where aromatics were burned in small brasiers. Chirino
found small temples in Taitay adjoining the principal houses. [See
_Vol_. XII. of this series, chapter xxi.] It appears that temples were
never dedicated to _bathala maykapal_, nor was sacrifice ever offered
him. The temples dedicated to the _anito_ were called ulango.--_Rizal_.

[160] San Agustin says that hell was called _solad_, and paradise,
_kalualhatian_ (a name still in existence), and in poetical language,
_ulugan_. The blest abodes of the inhabitants of Panay were in the
mountain of Madias.--_Rizal_.

[161] Cf. the "wake" of the Celtic and Gaelic peasants. Cf. also the
North-American Indian burial ceremonies, and reverence paid to the
dead, in _Jesuit Relations_, i, p. 215; ii, pp. 21, 149; viii, p. 21;
x, pp. 169, 247, 283-285, 293; xiii, 259; xxi, 199; xxiii, 31; lxv,
141; etc.

In the Filipino burials, there were mourners who composed panegyrics
in honor of the dead, like those made today. "To the sound of this
sad music the corpse was washed, and perfumed with storax, gum-resin,
or other perfumes made from tree gums, which are found in all these
woods. Then the corpse was shrouded, being wrapped in more or less
cloth according to the rank of the deceased. The bodies of the more
wealthy were anointed and embalmed in the manner of the Hebrews,
with aromatic liquors, which preserved them from decay.... The
burial-place of the poor was in pits dug in the ground under their
own houses. After the bodies of the rich and powerful were kept and
bewailed for three days, they were placed in a chest or coffin of
incorruptible wood, adorned with rich jewels, and with small sheets
of gold in the mouth and over the eyes. The coffin was all in one
piece, and the lid was so adjusted that no air could enter. Because
of these precautions the bodies have been found after many years,
still uncorrupted. These coffins were deposited in one of three
places, according to the inclination and arrangement of the deceased,
either on top of the house among the treasures ... or underneath it,
but raised from the ground; or in the ground itself, in an open hole
surrounded with a small railing ... nearby they were wont to place
another box filled with the best clothes of the deceased; and at
meal-time they set various articles of food there in dishes. Beside
the men were laid their weapons, and beside the women their looms or
other implements of work" (Colin).--_Rizal_.

[162] _Kasis._ This is another instance of the misapplication of this
Arabic term, which means exclusively a Christian priest.--_Stanley_.

[163] This custom has not fallen into disuse among the Filipinos,
even among the Catholics.--_Rizal_.

Lieutenant Charles Norton Barney, of the medical department of the
U. S. Army, has an article in _Journal_ of the Association of Military
Surgeons for September, 1903, on "Circumcision and Flagellation
among the Filipinos." In regard to circumcision he states that it
"is a very ancient custom among the Philippine _indios_, and so
generalized that at least seventy or eighty per cent of males in the
Tagal country have undergone the operation." Those uncircumcised at
the age of puberty are taunted by their fellows, and such are called
"_suput_," a word formerly meaning "constricted" or "tight," but now
being extended to mean "one who cannot easily gain entrance in sexual
intercourse." The "operation has no religious significance," nor is
it done for cleanliness, "but from custom and disinclination to be
ridiculed," probably [as Morga proves] having been learned from the
Moros. The friars were unable to check the custom. Among the Tagals
the operation is called "_tuli_," and the method of circumcising
is described at length. The author derives his information from a
mestizo and a full-blooded native. The custom is mentioned by Foreman.

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