The Philippine Islands, 1493 1898: Volume XVIII, 1617 1620 by Various

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First, that the ships be despatched by the middle of June, and that
this be an inviolable law; that a fine of six thousand pesos be
imposed on the governor, to which your Highness shall immediately
condemn him if he do not despatch them then. The reason why this
is so necessary is because the vendavals generally set in at some
time in the month of June; and if they catch the ship in the port,
it cannot sail until that first monsoon passes. That usually lasts
fifteen or twenty days, or one month. If they are caught outside
during this weather, they can sail until they reach the district
and altitude where they find the usual winds, with which they can
make their said voyage easily. Consequently, they will pass Japon,
which is the point where all the difficulties of the said voyage lie,
with good weather. If the said monsoon ceases, and the ships are caught
inside the bay, as a general thing another wind, the brisa, begins to
blow, so that they are detained. Consequently, when they make the said
voyage, and reach the neighborhood of Japon, it is already September
or October. Accordingly it is necessary to run great risks, and they
must suffer many storms, with which the ships lose their rigging,
are wrecked, or have to put into port in distress. If they proceed
on their course, inasmuch as they encounter the rigor of winter, and
because of their high altitude and their departure from a warm land,
many men die; their gums decay and their teeth fall out. [98] If so
great severity is not exercised, this matter will not be remedied.

_Item_: The ships sail very unevenly, and heavily laden, so that
one-half the ship's stores are left above decks; and as the sailors are
unable to attend to necessary duties or to move about in the ships,
in the first storm the stores are all carried into the sea; and the
men left without necessary food, especially live fowls, which means
their very life. On account of their heavy cargoes they are unable
to set all sail or to resist squalls, so that they founder, put into
port in distress, are wrecked, or are long delayed on the voyage.

Again they often sail poorly repaired, because of the fault of the
shore-master [_patron de ribera_] who has charge of them. It is
necessary to remove him from that post; but, although the city has
tried to do so, it has been unable to secure redress. Thus, it is said,
the ship "San Antonio," which was wrecked in the year six hundred and
four, carried rotten timbers throughout; and in it were drowned over
three hundred persons. That said year of six hundred and four, General
Don Diego de Mendoca made port in distress, and gave the information
of which I present a copy here; he said that he was carrying rotten
masts. Inasmuch as this matter is very long, it will not be discussed
here; for, as I am a priest, it is not advisable for me to do so. In
order that the neglect that there has been in this matter may be seen,
never have the governors or royal officials investigated who has been
the cause, or why the ships have put back in distress or have been
wrecked; for that would mean to make a report against themselves. More
than four of them would have been punished rigorously had they made
reports, and had your Highness known the culprits.

_Item_: Inasmuch as the said ships sail so unevenly laden, the seamen
do not have protection from water and cold. Consequently, they
fall sick, and it has even occurred that they die and are frozen,
which is great inhumanity. It is very pitiful to see what occurs in
that navigation.

_Item_: The fireplaces in which the food is cooked are left above
deck, open to water and air, where the first storm carries them
off. It becomes necessary after that to make a fire in earthen jars
in various parts of the ship, at a very great risk of all perishing
and the ship burning--besides the fact that if it rains they cannot
cook their food. For all this it is necessary for your Highness
to order that the ships of the said line that shall be built shall
carry the fireplaces under the forecastle, and as is the custom in
this line of the Yndias; and that the storerooms of the officers of
the ship do not occupy that space. The officers sell the storerooms
to the passengers for considerable money, and stow goods in them,
which is not among the least of all the troubles.

_Item_: That the freight and cargo that the said ships must contain
be stowed in the first hold, and that between decks shall be only the
ship's stores, the chests of the sailors, the messrooms, rigging,
sails, and all necessary supplies. They should carry even rigging
for the port of Acapulco, since there is rigging at Manila which is
very cheap; and then your Highness will not have to spend vast sums
in taking it from San Juan de Lua to Acapulco overland, which is one
hundred and fifty leguas.

_Item_: That all the passengers who shall come from Filipinas to
Nueva Espana in the said ships should pay a fare of two hundred pesos
if they have a berth or messroom under deck, and those who do not so
have berth or messroom, one hundred pesos, as an aid in the expenses
of the ships. This should be understood not on the outward trip
[to the islands] but on the return trip. [99]

_Item_: That the sailors be not allowed to take aboard more than one
chest of goods, of the size assigned by the governor; for there is the
utmost confusion in this regard, and the sailors are allowed to carry
two or three very large chests, larger than common. They overload and
embarrass the ship; and, under pretext that they are carrying their
clothes, they take those chests full of merchandise.

_Item_: That all the passengers shall carry swords and bucklers
and arquebuses; and that the royal officials shall place on ship
arquebuses, muskets, and lances for the sailors. Those weapons are
cheap in Manila; and with them, and the artillery carried by the
ships, the latter will be well defended. They need no soldiers for
the return trip [to Nueva Espana], for rather the ships then carry
too many people.

_Item_: No passengers or sailors shall carry with them slave women,
a practice which gives rise to very great offenses against God. Such
shall be regarded as confiscated in the port of Acapulco. This is very
advisable, for many persons carry these women as concubines--not only
the owners of them, but others in the ships. It is not right that there
be any occasion for angering God when there is so great risk in the
voyage, as I dare to affirm; and it is certain that, in the last ten
years, while this has been so prevalent, many disasters have happened.

_Item_: That there has been great disorder in regard to lading the
ships because it has been entrusted at times to very greedy persons,
who, having but slight fear of God, sell the toneladas to, and lade
for, whomsoever they wish. Thence it generally results that the goods
of the poorest and most needy are left ashore, after the poor have
invested their capital; and, after they have paid the duties to your
Highness, they are left ruined. Consequently, the ships sail laden
more with the curses of the poor than with merchandise. That is the
greatest pity, and this evil is worthy of reform. Never has that been
punished. The reform that can be established is, that the overseers
who shall be appointed to assist in the said lading, be appointed by
open cabildo; and should such persons refuse the post, they shall be
compelled to accept it. If they are chosen in this manner, a mistake
cannot be made in the election, since all are known. The governor
shall confirm the choice, and he will thus be exempted from trouble
and will be freed by this from the complaints that he generally incurs,
because the blame is always laid on him. Certainly it belongs to him,
since, he does not appoint those that he should, but whomever he
wishes to advantage, who are at times his own servants.

_Item_: That the said ships are very ill provided with the ship-stores
necessary for the sailors; and on that account the poor sailors spend
their wages in buying provisions for the voyage. That is a great
abuse, and for that reason the ships are also overladen. Likewise
they should carry some fowls for those who fall sick, especially the
Indian common seamen, who are treated like dogs. The Spanish sailors
are more accustomed to provide such things for themselves. Inasmuch
as that voyage is so long, and no fresh provisions can be obtained on
the way, very many fall sick. For a remedy to that, God has placed,
midway in the sea and on the voyage, an island that serves as an inn
in the middle of their way, just as the Portuguese in their voyage
have one at the island of Santa Elena, where they get fresh food. That
island, which I call Rica de Plata, is large, and over one hundred
leguas in circumference. Although some ships sight it in passing,
inasmuch as its ports are unknown, no one dares to get fresh food
there. It is thought to be inhabited, for some signs of habitation
have been seen. It is very necessary that a small vessel sail from
Manila to explore it, and that it look there for a good port, so that
the ships can get water and wood, and reprovision. The exploration
of it may be of the highest importance. It is necessary also because
near that region the ships generally lose their rigging in storms, and
they can be refitted and repaired there, and can continue their voyage
without having to put back to Manila. I advised your Highness of that
some years ago, as it is so important for that voyage I believe that a
decree was sent to the governor in a former year [100] to explore it;
but that must be ordered again. A man of experience should be sent, so
that he may display the prudence and make the exploration requisite,
in accordance with the art and science of hydrography; and likewise
so that he may live in Manila and examine the pilots of that line,
and make faithful and accurate sea-charts. For that purpose I shall
give him considerable enlightenment by giving him the documents on
the demarcations, and the information that I possess, on which I
have labored much in order to serve your Highness. Nowhere does your
Highness need a cosmographer so much as in that land, for many things
that arise and may arise.

_Item_: A plan occurs to me whereby the ships that have to sail in that
line may cost your Highness less than half, and a vessel last twice
as long, compared with those that are built in Filipinas. Likewise
the Indian natives would be saved many hardships and annoyances in
the cutting of timber, which they have to do for the building of the
ships. This consists in the governor going from Manila to Vengala
and Cuchin in India to buy the ships; for they sell them there made
from an incorruptible wood together with a quantity of extra rigging
made of _cayro_, [101] which is better than that of hemp. With the
rigging alone that can be imported from there, the cost of the ship
can be saved. Thence Lascar sailors can be brought, who are cheaper
and are very good seamen. All the Portuguese of those parts use
them in navigating, and they are very needful in the Filipinas. They
will come very willingly and will save your Highness a considerable
sum. For that it is necessary to send orders to your viceroy of Goa,
and to the chief commandant of Malaca, to protect the Lascars who
shall go thither, and not to harm them.

_Item_: Your Highness granted a concession to the city of Manila of
a decree ordering your governor Don Pedro de Acuna to assign to the
cabildo of the said city seats in the cathedral, as was befitting
the chief municipal body of that kingdom. As yet these have not been
assigned, because the wives of the auditors sit inside the principal
chapel, where the said cabildo generally sat--that is, opposite the
seats of the auditors and governor.

I petition your Highness to have the said seats assigned, and to order
the wives of the said auditors to sit elsewhere, since in none of the
Yndias do the latter sit in the principal chapel, thus depriving the
said cabildo of their seats.

_Item_: The royal magazines have very few muskets and arquebuses for
the defense of that kingdom. I petition your Highness to be pleased
to have a quantity of arms sent, and also to order that they be
distributed among the citizens; and that the latter pay those who
give them those muskets and arquebuses the price that your Highness
shall have paid for them there, and the costs [of transportation].

_Item_: The province of Nueva Segovia, the most northern province of
the island of Manila, which is very near China, is a very good and
fertile land. It is becoming entirely pacified and quieted. There
the Order of St. Dominic is in charge, and they are gathering much
fruit. It is the best land in the islands and the most fertile. There,
inasmuch as the climate is temperate, the products of this country
can be produced, such as wheat, fruits, and other food. It lies in an
excellent region, and has there a Spanish city, called Nueva Segovia,
which gives name to the said province. It has but few inhabitants now,
because the encomenderos of that district go to Manila and desert
it. Will your Highness be pleased to order the said encomenderos to
live in the said city, and your governor to make efforts to settle
it, especially with people who will cultivate and sow the land, so
that that district may retain its excellence. For that purpose it is
very needful that the said governor appoint an alcalde-mayor for that
district, who shall be a lieutenant-governor, and who shall keep his
office for three-years; for [the usual] appointments as alcalde are
for but one year, and one can learn to know the country but little in
so short a time. It is necessary that the judge that shall go there
(and so that an influential and satisfactory man might be able to
go there) be given a good salary; and that that province and that of
Ylocos, which lies next to Nueva Segovia, be subject to him. That is
very necessary for the welfare of those two provinces, which are very
far from Manila.

_Item_: Will your Highness be pleased to give me a good master
shipbuilder, or authority to look for one, and another intelligent
person as shore-master, to assist in the despatch and repairs of
ships. He should be a Spaniard and not a foreigner, like the one
there now; for in former times, when Doctor Antonio de Morga, your
auditor, sailed out against a Dutchman who went to those islands,
while two ships were being prepared to attack the Dutch, two holes
were bored in one of them one night, and it began to sink, and the
sails were taken out and hid in the woods. It was not discovered
who did it, nor was any investigation even made. But one may readily
presume that some enemy to us did it; and indeed we can not settle
our suspicions on anyone. In order to investigate these and many other
actions worthy of punishment or correction which have occurred there
in these matters, and in others--for instance, that in other parts of
those islands they gave that same Dutchman food, and there was some
person who communicated with him; while it is even said that they
showed him how to get out of a harbor that he had entered, and from
which we considered it impossible for him to sail--and finally there
are many things to correct and reform, and burdens to be removed
from the Indian natives: for all these it is necessary for your
Highness to appoint a person there to make official visits through
the country. It is as necessary as the inspection itself that such
shore-master be a disinterested person and a resident of that country;
for if he is after money, he will do no good. Hence, if your Highness
be pleased to appoint such an one, there are ecclesiastical persons in
the Filipinas, as for instance the bishops, especially he of Cibu, Fray
Pedro de Agurto, who is a saintly man; an ecclesiastic, the archdeacon
of Manila, called Licentiate Don Francisco Gomez de Arellano, a most
zealous servant of God, and a father of that community--one who seeks
no money, but rather gives all his income in alms; also a Dominican
friar, the commissary of the Holy Office, who is an excellent man;
and another friar of the Order of St. Francis, called Fray Juan
Baptista. These men, besides having experience in the country,
and knowing what demands reform, are men disinterested and wholly
competent and capable. Entire faith can be given to any one of them,
with assurance. If the visitor be not one of the inhabitants there,
it is inadvisable to send him, nor is it my intent to ask for him.

_Item_: For some years past, some Indians living near by,
and our enemies, of the islands of Mindanao, Jolo, Burney, and
other neighboring islands, have become emboldened and have gone
beyond bounds. They are Mahometans, and have ruined those Filipinas
Islands--pillaging and capturing the natives, burning the churches and
images, and cutting the images with knives and destroying them, to the
great injury of our holy Catholic faith. This has reached so shameless
and bold a pass that no one--not only natives but Spaniards--dares to
go among the said islands. Those enemies have rendered the said natives
very liable to revolt, by coming daily to plunder them, and to carry
off their possessions, and their wives and children captive; and in
fact they have revolted several times, and taken to the mountains,
saying that since the Spaniards do not provide for their defense,
they will not pay tribute. Some, who are more loyal, say that,
if they are allowed to carry arms as before, they will defend their
country. After examining the cause of these troubles with great care,
the following considerations have presented themselves.

First, that, according to the command of one of your Highness's royal
decrees, such men [_i.e.,_ the Moros] cannot be slaves. As they are
a race from whom the soldiers can get no other booty, because the
Moros do not possess it, they fight unwillingly. If the soldiers
could make captives of them, they would become very eager, and that
would be a great incentive for the soldiers to destroy them. There is
less incentive for them to capture those people than to kill them,
as they do now. Again it would be very useful to the said islands,
for the natives would also be encouraged to go to war because of their
eagerness to possess slaves to cultivate their fields. Therefore, will
your Highness be pleased to order that those people be made slaves,
since their enslavement is so justifiable and of so great service
to God; or that this matter be committed to the royal Audiencia and
archbishop and bishops to determine, inasmuch as they have the matter
in hand.

_Item_: There are two other nations in the island of Manila
called Zambales and Negrillos. They are a people who live in the
mountains. They go naked, and are highwaymen; and their only ambition
is to cut off heads, in order to swallow the brains. He is most valiant
and influential who has cut off most heads. No woman will marry any one
who has not cut off some heads. They are so inhuman and churlish a race
that they do not care whether those whom they kill are women, children,
or men. They obstruct the most needed road in the island, and occupy
the best land. They are near the province of La Pampanga, which is
inhabited by an agricultural people, who support Manila. They prevent
the latter from cultivating their fields, for seldom can the Indians,
whether men or women, go out to cultivate their fields, without their
heads being cut off. Although the governors have often sent soldiers
to punish them, scarcely have the latter ever killed one of them. For
they run like deer, and have no village or fixed abode. They do not
sow grain, but live on wild fruits and game. The most efficacious
remedy will be for your Highness to order that they be made slaves
of the natives of the province of La Pampanga; for with this, through
their greed to capture these enemies so as to cultivate their fields,
the Pampangos will subdue the country in a very short time, at their
own cost. I petition your Highness to commit this matter, as above
stated, to the Audiencia, archbishop, and bishops. This is a matter
of great importance. Slavery, as practiced among the natives, is such
that they are almost not slaves at all; and the system is of great
benefit to the country. If this matter be not remedied by the above
method, the many depredations that are committed will have no check.

Also, the reason why the enemies have become emboldened beyond
their wont is for the lack in those regions of ships fit for that
warfare. For that, it must be known that those people use certain light
craft called caracoas. Those craft are short and undecked. They have
one palmo, more or less, of freeboard; and they carry eighty or one
hundred Indians who act as rowers, who use certain oars one vara in
length. Each of these vessels carries ten or twelve fighting Indians,
no more. They cannot take the open sea, except when it is very calm
weather, nor do they carry provisions for even one fortnight. When
we Spaniards used those craft, and others called vireys, which
resemble them, they greatly feared us; for, since those craft were
as light as their own, we made great havoc among those people. And
finally--although at great cost to the natives who were drafted as
rowers--those ships made the country safe; for they fought after
the manner of those people. Those vessels are not used so much
now, for in truth they cause great injuries to the natives. I do
not know whether I can say that they even care any longer for the
damage inflicted by the enemies, one reason being that they are
badly paid and badly treated, while their wives and children are
left to starve to death, and their crops go to ruin. The governors
of the Filipinas, in their effort to avoid that trouble [_i.e._,
of hostile raids] have built galleys there since the time of Doctor
Francisco de Sande until now. As I have seen personally, and as all
the inhabitants of that country know, the galleys of the Filipinas are
their destruction. The reason is that the rowers are a weak people,
and their food is not very nourishing. Accordingly, it has happened,
even lately--during Don Pedro de Acuna's term, when the galleys were
best supplied--that the crew have continued to row a galley for six
hours, and that two convicts fell dead, while the others stretched
themselves on the deck exhausted; and even if the overseers killed
them, they could not make them move. For that reason, and because the
seas have strong currents between those islands, and continual winds,
the galleys are of little use.

Another reason is that, since the galleys draw much more water than
the enemy's vessels, when the former try to make land they can cause
no injury. Another reason is that the galleys are generally anchored
in the river of Manila, and, when any necessity arises, before they
can leave the port they have to get provisions for the crew. Often
it is necessary to seek contributions of food from house to house,
because there is none in the royal magazines. If the wind is only
slightly contrary, which is generally the case, the ships cannot move,
and when they finally begin to look for the enemy, the latter are
at home, and laughing at us. Another reason is that the galleys are
an intolerable burden, which it is impossible to sustain. They have
so consumed the supplies, and so endangered the royal treasury, that
other very necessary things cannot be attended to. Further, they cause
the ships of the line, to be short of necessities and poorly equipped,
because in attending to the construction of the galleys, they neglect
the ships. And since there are many ship-worms there in the river,
which eat the ships, it is necessary to rebuild them every year, and
to be continually repairing them. Further, they are dens of thieves,
who are always assaulting and plundering the Indians. In short, they
are the destruction of that community; and hitherto have accomplished
nothing, either good or bad, that is of any importance. Further,
your Highness is under great expense with them in paying their many
salaries. Consequently, as there is little cloth in the Filipinas
with which to clothe so many, everything is, of necessity, going to
ruin, where the expenses are not measured by the revenues. All the
above evils can be corrected by ordering ships made according to the
plan and model that I left with the governor at my departure; for,
considering the said wrongs, and wishing to remedy them, I made a
ship at my own cost, which has the following peculiarities, of which
I give a description.

They are vessels that carry no more than seven oars to a bench,
although larger or smaller ones can be made. Each one will cost
your Highness two hundred and fifty ducados to build; and will
with two-thirds as many or even fewer rowers, carry twice as
many soldiers as do the caracoas. The men are protected from sun
and shower in excellent quarters which neither the caracoas nor the
galleys have. They carry food for six months, a thing which those
other vessels cannot do. They are very swift sailers, so that there
is no ship that can pass them when there is not a contrary wind
that prohibits sailing. They respond so readily to the oar, that
while testing that ship before the governor and all Manila, against
the swiftest galley of all, I left the galley more than half-way
behind. They carry sufficient artillery to destroy the vessels of
all the enemies that we have there, except those of pirates when such
should go there. For the latter it is necessary to have large ships;
and it would be advisable to keep there a couple of fragatas like
those built in Habana by Pedro Melendes.

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