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History of the Philippine Islands Vols 1 and 2

A >> Antonio de Morga >> History of the Philippine Islands Vols 1 and 2




The natives of those islands, who go naked, and are a very robust
and barbarous race, go out to sea to meet the ships as soon as they
discover them, at a distance of four to six leguas, with many vessels;
these are one-masted, and are very slender and light. These vessels
have a counterpoise of bamboo to leeward, and their sails are made
of palm-leaves and are lateen-sails. Two or three men go in each one
with oars and paddles. They carry loads of flying-fish, dorados,
[431] cocoa-nuts, bananas, sweet potatoes, bamboos full of water,
and certain mats; and when they reach the ships, they trade these for
iron from the hoops of casks, and bundles of nails, which they use
in their industries, and in the building of their ships. Since some
Spaniards and religious have lived among them, because of Spanish
ships being wrecked or obliged to take refuge there, they come more
freely to our ships and enter them.

Our ships sail between the two islands of Guan and Çarpana toward the
Filipinas and the cape of Espiritu Santo, a distance of three hundred
leguas farther on, in the latitude of about thirteen degrees. This
distance is made in ten or twelve days with the brisas; but it may
happen, if the ships sail somewhat late, that they encounter vendavals,
which endanger their navigation, and they enter the islands after
great trouble and stormy weather.

From the cape of Espiritu Santo, the ships enter the strait of Capul
at the islands of Mazbate and Burias; thence they sail to Marinduque
and the coast of Calilaya, the strait of Mindoro, the shoals of
Tuley, and the mouth of Manila Bay. Thence, they go to the port of
Cabit. This is a voyage of one hundred leguas from the entrance to
the islands and is made in one week. This is the end of the voyage,
which is good and generally without storms, if made in the proper time.

These vessels now make the return voyage from the Filipinas to Nueva
España with great difficulty and danger, for the course is a long one
and there are many storms and various temperatures. The ships depart,
on this account, very well supplied with provisions, and suitably
equipped. Each one sails alone, hoisting as much sail as possible,
and one does not wait for the other, nor do they sight one another
during the voyage.

They leave the bay and port of Cabit at the first setting-in of
the vendavals, between the same islands and by the same straits,
by the twentieth of June and later. As they set out amid showers,
and are among islands, they sail with difficulty until they leave
the channel at Capul. Once in the open sea, they catch the vendaval,
and voyage east, making more progress when they reach the latitude
of fourteen or fifteen degrees.

Then the brisa starts. This wind is the ordinary one in the South Sea,
especially in low latitudes. Since it is a head wind, the course is
changed, and the bow is pointed betwen the north and east, as much
as the wind will allow. With this they reach a higher latitude, and
the ship is kept in this course until the vendaval returns. Then,
by means of it, the ship again takes an eastern course in that
latitude where it happens to be, and keeps that direction as long
as that wind lasts. When the vendaval dies, the ship takes the best
course that the winds allow, by the winds then blowing between north
and east. If the wind is so contrary that it is north or northwest,
so that the ship cannot take that course, the other course is taken
so that they may continue to maintain their voyage without losing
time. At four hundred leguas from the islands they sight certain
volcanoes and ridges of the islands of Ladrones, which run north as
far as twenty-four degrees. [432] Among these they generally encounter
severe storms and whirl-winds. At thirty-four degrees is the cape of
Sestos, [433] at the northern head of Japon, six hundred leguas from
the Filipinas. They sail among other islands, which are rarely seen,
in thirty-eight degrees, encountering the same dangers and storms,
and in a cold climate, in the neighborhood of the islands Rica de
Oro ["rich in gold"] and Rica de Plata ["rich in silver"], which are
but seldom seen. [434] After passing them the sea and open expanse
of water is immense, and the ship can run free in any weather. This
gulf is traversed for many leguas with such winds as are encountered,
until a latitude of forty-two degrees is reached, toward the coast of
Nueva España. They seek the winds that generally prevail at so high a
latitude, which are usually northwest. After a long voyage the coast
of Nueva España is sighted, and from Cape Mendoçino (which lies in
forty-two and one-half degrees) the coast extends nine hundred leguas
to the port of Acapulco, which lies in sixteen and one-half degrees.

When the ships near the coast, which they generally sight betwen forty
and thirty-six degrees, the cold is very severe, and the people suffer
and die. Three hundred leguas before reaching land, signs of it are
seen, by certain aguas malas, [435] as large as the hand, round and
violet colored, with a crest in the middle like a lateen sail, which
are called caravelas ["caravels"]. This sign lasts until the ship is
one hundred leguas from land; and then are discovered certain fish,
with half the body in the form of a dog; [436] these frolic with
one another near the ship. After these perrillos ["little dogs"] are
seen the porras ["knobsticks"], which are certain very long, hollow
shoots of a yellow herb with a ball at the top, and which float on the
water. At thirty leguas from the coast are seen many great bunches of
grass which are carried down to the sea by the great rivers of the
country. These grasses are called balsas ["rafts or floats"]. Also
many perrillos are seen, and, in turn, all the various signs. Then
the coast is discovered, and it is very high and clear land. Without
losing sight of land, the ship coasts along it with the northwest,
north-northwest, and north winds, which generally prevail on that
coast, blowing by day toward the land, and by night toward the sea
again. With the decrease of the latitude and the entrance into a
warm climate the island of Cenizas [ashes] is seen, and afterward
that of Cedros [cedars]. Thence one sails until the cape of San Lucas
is sighted, which is the entrance of [the gulf of] California. From
that one traverses the eighty leguas intervening to the islands of
Las Marias and the cape of Corrientes ["currents"], which is on the
other side of California in Val de Vanderas ["valley of banners"],
and the provinces of Chametla. Thence one passes the coast of Colima,
Sacatul, Los Motines ["the mutinies"], and Ciguatanejo, and enters the
port of Acapulco--without having made a way-station or touched land
from the channel of Capul in the Filipinas throughout the voyage. The
voyage usually lasts five months or thereabout, but often six and
even more. [437]

By way of India, one may sail from the Filipinas to España, by making
the voyage to Malaca, and thence to Cochin and Goa, a distance of
one thousand two hundred leguas. This voyage must be made with the
brisas. From Goa one sails by way of India to the cape of Buena
Esperança [Good Hope], and to the Terceras [i.e., Azores] Islands,
and thence to Portugal and the port of Lisboa. This is a very long
and dangerous voyage, as is experienced by the Portuguese who make
it every year. From India they usually send letters and despatches to
España by way of the Bermejo ["Red"] Sea, by means of Indians. These
send them through Arabia to Alexandria, and thence by sea to Venecia
[Venice] and thence to España.

A galleon bound for Portugal sails and is despatched from the fort of
Malaca, in certain years, by the open sea, without touching at India
or on its coasts. It reaches Lisboa much more quickly than do the Goa
vessels. It generally sails on the fifth of January, and does not leave
later than that; nor does it usually anticipate that date. However,
not any of these voyages are practiced by the Castilians--who are
prohibited from making them--except the one made by way of Nueva
España, both going and coming, as above described. And although the
effort has been made, no better or shorter course has been found by
way of the South Sea. [438]

Laus Deo




NOTES

[1] Cea is a small town situated in the old kingdom of Léon, on a
river of the same name. It was a seat of a chateau and a duchy. The
name of the first duke of Lerma was Francisco Gomez de Sandoval y
Rojas. Hume's Spain (Cambridge, 1898), mentions one of his sons as
duke of Cea, who is probably the Cristoval Gomez de Sandoval y Rojas
of Morga's dedication.

[2] The facts of Doctor Antonio de Morga's life are meager. He must
have been born in Sevilla, as his birth register is said to exist in
the cathedral of that city. He sailed from Acapulco for the Philippines
in 1595 in charge of the vessels sent with reënforcements that year. He
remained there eight years, during which time he was continually in
office. In 1598, upon the reëstablishment of the Manila Audiencia he
was appointed senior auditor. In 1600 he took charge of the operations
against the Dutch and commanded in the naval battle with them. He left
the islands July 10, 1603, in charge of the ships sailing that year
to Mexico. After that period he served in the Mexico Audiencia; and
as late as 1616 was president of the Quito Audiencia, as appears from
a manuscript in the British Museum. His book circulated, at least,
in part, in manuscript before being published. Torrubía mentions a
manuscript called Descubrimiento, conquista, pacificación y población
de ias Islas Philipinas, which was dated 1607, and dedicated to
"his Catholic Majesty, King Don Phelipe III, our sovereign." Morga
combined the three functions of historian, politician, and soldier,
and his character is many sided and complex. He is spoken of in high
terms as an historian, and Rizal, as well as Blumentritt, exalts him
above all other historians of the Philippines.

[3] Throughout this work, all notes taken entire or condensed from
José Rizal's edition of Sucesos de las Islas Filipinas por el Doctor
Antonio de Morga (Paris, 1890), will be signed Rizal, unless Rizal
is given as authority for the note or a portion of it in the body of
the note. Similarly those notes taken or condensed from Lord Henry
E. J. Stanley's translation of Morga, The Philippine Islands.... by
Antonio de Morga (Hakluyt Soc. ed., London, 1868), will be signed
Stanley, unless Stanley is elsewhere given as authority as above.

Dr. José Rizal, the Filipino patriot, was born in 1861 at Calamba in
Luzón, of pure Tagál stock, although some say that it was mixed with
Chinese blood. Through the advice of Father Leontio, a Tagál priest,
he was sent to Manila to the Jesuit institution Ateneo Municipal--where
he was the pupil of Rev. Pablo Pastells, now of Barcelona. His family
name was Mercado, but at the advice of his brother, who had become
involved in the liberal movement, he took that of Rizal. After taking
his degree at Manila, he studied in Spain, France, and Germany. He
founded the Liga Filipina, whose principal tenet was "Expulsion of
the friars and the confiscation of their property," and which was
the basis of the revolutionary society of the Sons of the Nation. On
Rizal's return to Manila, after several years of travel, in 1892,
he was arrested and exiled to Dapitan. In 1895, he was allowed to
volunteer for hospital service in Cuba, but was arrested in Barcelona,
because of the breaking out of the Filipino insurrection, and sent
back to Manila, where he was shot on December 30, 1896, by native
soldiers. Besides being a skilled physician, Dr. Rizal was a poet,
novelist, and sculptor, and had exhibited in the salon. His first novel
Noli me tangere appeared in Berlin in 1887, and was, as Dr. T. H. Pardo
de Tavera remarks, the first book to treat of Filipino manners and
customs in a true and friendly spirit. It was put under the ban by
the Church. Its sequel El Filibusterismo appeared in 1891.

Sir Henry Edward John Stanley, third Baron of Alderley, and second
Baron Eddisbury of Sinnington, a member of the peerage of the United
Kingdom, and a baronet, died on December 10, 1903, at the age of
seventy-six. He was married in 1862 to Fabia, daughter of Señor Don
Santiago Federico San Roman of Sevilla, but had no issue. He spent
many years in the East, having been first attaché at Constantinople
and Secretary of Legation at Athens. He embraced the Mahometan
religion and was buried by its rites privately by Ridjag Effendi,
Imaum of the Turkish embassy.

[4] Charles chose as his motto Plus ultra, being led thereto by the
recent world discoveries and the extension of Spanish dominions. This
motto is seen on his coins, medals, and other works.

[5] Perhaps Morga alludes to Argensola, who published his Historia
de la conquista de las Molucas this same year of 1609.--Rizal.

[6] This was the second establishment of the Audiencia, in 1598.

[7] The term "proprietary governor" refers to the regularly appointed
(hence governor in his own right) royal representative who governed the
islands; all others were governors ad interim, and were appointed in
different manners at different periods. The choice of governors showed
a gradual political evolution. In the earliest period, the successor
in case of death or removal was fixed by the king or the Audiencia of
Mexico (e.g., in the case of Legazpi). Some governors (e.g., Gomez
Perez Dasmariñas) were allowed to name their own successor. After
the establishment of the Audiencia, the choice fell upon the senior
auditor. The latest development was the appointment of a segundo
cabo, or second head (about the equivalent of lieutenant-governor),
who took the office ad interim in case of the governor's death or
removal, or a vacancy arising from any other cause.

[8] Morga may refer to accounts of the battle with Oliver van
Noordt, or the manuscripts of Juan de Plasencia, Martin de Rada,
and others.--Rizal.

[9] Magalhães and Serrano died on the same day. Argensola commenting on
this fact says: "At this time his friend Serrano was going to India;
and although in different parts, the two navigators died on the same
day, almost under like circumstances."

[10] This is too strong a statement, and Morga's knowledge is inexact,
as Magalhães had sailed the eastern seas while in the service of the
Portuguese monarch.

[11] Argensola (Conquistas de las Islas Malucas, Madrid, 1609)
mentions the expedition sent out by the bishop of Plasencia, Don
Gutierre de Vargas.

[12] An error for 1542.

[13] Urdaneta received Felipe II's order to accompany the expedition
while in Mexico.--Rizal.

See VOL. II of this series for Urdaneta's connection with this
expedition.

[14] See abstract of these instructions, VOL. II, pp. 89-100.

[15] Called Villa de San Miguel at first, according to San
Agustín.--Rizal.

[16] Ruy Lopez de Villalobos, not Legazpi, first gave the name
Filipinas to the archipelago.

[17] Rizal identifies Rajamora with Soliman, and says that he was
called Rajamora or Rahang murã in opposition to Rajamatanda or Rahang
matanda, signifying, as Isabelo de los Reyes y Florentino partially
points out in an article entitled "Los Regulos de Manila," pp. 87-111
of Artículos varios (Manila, 1887), the young raja and the old raja. In
the above article, the latter seeks to identify Rajamora or Soliman
with the Raxobago of San Agustín, and declares that Rajamatanda and
Lacandola are identical. The confusion existing in later writers
regarding these names is lacking in Morga, and Rizal's conjecture
appears correct.

[18] Arigues comes from the Tagál word haligi, which are stout wooden
posts, used to support the frames of buildings. The word is in quite
common use in the Philippines among the Spanish speaking people. It
is sometimes used to denote simply a column.--Rizal (in part).

[19] This was the date of Legazpi's arrival at Manila and not of the
assault, which occurred in 1570.--Rizal.

Goiti took possession of Manila for the king, June 6, 1570. See
various documents in VOL. III of this series.

[20] The inhabitants of Sebu aided the Spaniards on this expedition,
and consequently were exempted from tribute for a considerable
period.--Rizal.

[21] Rizal conjectures that this is a typographical error and should
read de Bisayas ò de los Pintados, i.e., Bisayas or Los Pintados.

[22] The Tagáls called it Maynila.--Rizal.

For the meaning of this name, see VOL. III, p. 148, note 41.

[23] Rather it was his grandson Salcedo. This hero, called the Hernán
Córtes of the Filipinas, was truly the intelligent arm of Legazpi. By
his prudence, his fine qualities, his talent, and personal worth,
the sympathies of the Filipinos were captured, and they submitted
to their enemies. He inclined them to peace and friendship with the
Spaniards. He likewise saved Manila from Limahon. He died at the age
of twenty-seven, and is the only one to our knowledge who named the
Indians as his heirs to a large portion of his possessions, namely
his encomienda of Bigan. (San Agustín).--Rizal.

See also VOL. III, p. 73, note 21.

[24] "He assigned the tribute that the natives were to pay to their
encomenderos," says San Agustín. "This was one piece of cotton cloth,
in the provinces where cloth was woven, of the value of four reals;
two fanégas of rice; and one fowl. This was to be given once each
year. Those who did not possess cloth were to give its value in kind
of another product of their own harvest in that town; and where there
was no rice harvested, they were to give two reals, and one-half real
for the fowl, estimated in money."--Rizal.

[25] Legazpi dies August 20, 1572.

[26] "One thousand five hundred friendly Indians from the islands
of Zebu, Bohol, Leyte, and Panay, besides the many other Indians
of service, for use as pioneers and boat-crews, accompanied the
Spaniards..." Lacandola and his sons and relatives, besides two hundred
Bissayans and many other Indians who were enrolled in Pangasinan,
aided them. (San Agustín).--Rizal.

[27] According to San Agustín, more than one thousand five hundred
Indian bowmen from the provinces of Pangasinan, Cagayan, and Pintados
accompanied this expedition. Its apparent motive was to place on the
throne Sirela, or Malaela, as Colin calls him, who had been dethroned
by his brother.--Rizal.

See the relation of this expedition in VOL. IV, pp. 148-303.

[28] This expedition did not succeed because of the development
of the disease beriberi among the Spanish forces, from which more
than four-fifths of the soldiers died. More than one thousand five
hundred of the most warlike natives, mostly from Cagayan and Pampanga,
accompanied the expedition.--Rizal.

[29] By making use of the strife among the natives themselves, because
of the rivalry of two brothers, as is recounted by San Agustín.--Rizal.

[30] His name was Zaizufa.--Rizal.

La Concepción, vol. ii, p. 33, gives the founding of the city of Nueva
Segovia as the resultant effect of this Japanese pirate. He says:
"He [i.e., Joan Pablos de Carrion] found a brave and intrepid Japanese
pirate in possession of the port, who was intending to conquer it and
subdue the country. He attacked the pirate boldly, conquered him,
and frustrated his lofty designs. For greater security he founded
the city of Nueva Segovia, and fortified it with a presidio."

[31] Captain Ribera was the first envoy from the Philippines to confer
with the king on the needs of the country.--Rizal.

See VOL. V of this series, pp. 207-209, for his complaints against
the governor.

[32] The fire caught from the candles placed about the catafalque of
Governor Gonzalo Ronquillo.--Rizal.

[33] This Pedro Sarmiento was probably the one who accompanied Fathers
Rada and Marin, and Miguel Loarca to China in 1575; see this series,
VOL. IV, p. 46, and VOL. VI, p. 116. The celebrated mathematician and
navigator, Pedro Sarmiento de Gamboa doubtless belonged to a different
branch of the same family. The latter was born in Alcahl de Henares,
in 1532, and died toward the end of the century. Entering the Spanish
army he went to America, perhaps in 1555. As early as 1557 he sailed
in the south seas, and being led to the belief of undiscovered islands
there, several times proposed expeditions for their discovery to the
viceroy of Peru. He was captain of Mendaña's ship in the expedition
that discovered the Solomon Islands. Shortly after, at the instance of
the viceroy, Francisco de Toledo, he visited Cuzco, and wrote a full
description of that country. He was the first to study the ancient
history and institutions of the Incas in detail. When Drake made his
memorable expedition into the South Sea, Sarmiento was sent in his
pursuit, and he wrote a detailed account of the Strait of Magellan and
his voyage through it. He later founded a Spanish colony in the strait,
but it was a failure, and was known afterward as Famine Port. He was
a prisoner, both in England and France, being ransomed by Felipe II
from the latter country. In navigation he was ahead of his times,
as his writings attest. He was persecuted for many years by the Holy
Inquisition on various charges. See Lord Amherst's Discovery of the
Solomon Islands (Hakluyt Soc. ed., London, 1901), vol. i, pp. 83-94;
and Clements R. Markham's Narratives of the voyages of Pedro Sarmiento
de Gamboa (Hakluyt Soc. ed., 1895). Argensola gives (Conquistas de
las islas Malucas), some account of Sarmiento's expedition to the
strait in pursuit of Drake. He seems (pp. 167-168) when speaking of
the incident in our text to confuse these two men. An excellent atlas
containing fourteen illuminated and colored maps is also attributed to
Sarmiento the navigator, number five being a map of India, including
the Moluccas and the Philippines.

[34] See letter by Juan de Moron, VOL. VI, of this series, pp. 275-278.

[35] It was divulged by a Filipino woman, the wife of a soldier
(Sinibaldo de Mas).--Rizal.

[36] Thomas Cavendish or Candish. He is named by various authors as
Escandesch, Cande, Eschadesch, Embleg, and Vimble.--Rizal. See also
appendix A.

[37] This memorable expedition of Sir Francis Drake left Plymouth
November 15, 1577, but an accident caused their return to the same
port, whence they again sailed on the thirteenth of December. After
various fortunes the Strait of Magellan was reached on August 17,
1578. They coasted along the western part of South America, where a
valuable prize was taken. At the island of Canno "wee espyed a shippe,
and set sayle after her, and tooke her, and found in her two Pilots
and a Spanish Gouernour, going for the Ilands of the Philippinás:
Wee searched the shippe, and tooke some of her Merchandizes, and
so let her goe." Thence they voyaged to the Moluccas, which were
reached November 14. Next day they anchored at Yerrenate, where they
were welcomed. The voyage was continued through the islands, around
the Cape of Good Hope, and thence to England, where they arrived
November 3, 1580. See Purchas: His Pilgrims (London, 1625), i, book
ii, ch. iii, pp. 46-57. For accounts of the life and voyages of Drake,
see also, Purchas: ut supra, v, book vii, ch. v, pp. 1391-1398; Bry:
Collectiones peregrinationum (Francofurti, 1625), ser. i, vol. iii,
pars viii, pp. 3-34; Francis Fletcher; The World encompassed by Sir
Francis Drake (London, 1635); Knox: New Collection of voyages and
travels (London, 1767), iii, pp. 1-27; John Barrow: Life, voyages,
and exploits of Admiral Sir Francis Drake (John Murray, Albemarle St.,
1843); Thomas Maynarde: Sir Francis Drake, his voyage 1595 (Hakluyt
Soc. ed., London, 1849); W. S. W. Vaux: The world encompassed by Sir
Francis Drake (Hakluyt Soc. ed., London, 1854).

[38] See VOL. VI of this series for various documents concerning
Father Alonso Sanchez's mission to Spain and Rome.

[39] San Agustín says that these walls were twelve thousand eight
hundred and forty-three geometrical feet in extent, and that they
were built without expense to the royal treasury.--Rizal.

[40] See references to this expedition, VOL. VIII, pp. 242, 250, 251;
and VOL. XIV.

[41] This emperor, also called Hideyosi, had been a stable boy,
called Hasiba.--Rizal.

See VOL. X, p. 25, note I, and p. 171, note 19; also Trans. Asiatic
Soc. (Yokohama), vols. vi, viii, ix, and xi.

[42] See VOL. VIII of this series, pp. 260-267.

[43] San Agustín [as does Argensola] says there were two hundred and
fifty Chinese.--Rizal.

[44] Marikaban.--Rizal.

[45] The original is ballesteras, defined in the old dictionaries as
that part of the galley where the soldiers fought.

[46] A sort of knife or saber used in the Orient.

[47] This lack and defect are felt even now [1890] after three
centuries.--Rizal.

[48] Cho-da-mukha, in Siamese the place of meeting of the chief
mandarins, i.e., the capital.--Stanley.

[49] Phra-Unkar. Phra or Pra is the title given to the kings of Siam
and Camboja.--Rizal.

[50] Si-yuthia, or the seat of the kings.--Stanley.

[51] Id est, the supercargo, in Chinese.--Stanley.

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