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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




[52] Father Alonso Ximenez or Jimenez took the Dominican habit in
the Salamanca convent. His best years were passed in the missions of
Guatemala. He was one of the first Dominicans to respond to the call
for missionaries for the Dominican province in the Philippines, leaving
for that purpose the Salamanca convent, whither he had retired. His
first mission was on the river of Bataan. A severe illness compelled
him to go to the Manila convent, where he was later elected prior,
and then provincial of the entire Dominican field of the islands,
being the second to hold that office. He later engaged in the two
disastrous expeditions as mentioned in our text, and died December 31,
1598. See Reseña biográfica.

[53] Lantchang or Lanxang is the name of an ancient city in the north
of Cambodia. (Pallegoix's Dictionary).--Stanley.

[54] Rizal says: "There exists at this point a certain confusion in the
order, easy, however, to note and correct. We believe that the author
must have said 'Vencidas algunas dificultades, para la falida, por
auer ydo a efte tiempo, de Camboja a Lanchan, en los Laos vn mádarin
llamado Ocuña de Chu, con diez paroes, etc.;'" whereas the book reads
the same as the above to "Camboja," and then proceeds "a los Laos,
vn mádarin llamado Ocuña de Chu, Alanchan con diez paroes." We have
accordingly translated in accordance with this correction. Stanley
translates the passage as follows: "Some difficulties as to setting
out from Alanchan having been overcome, by the arrival at this time in
Laos from Cambodia of a mandarin named Ocuñia de Chu, with ten prahus,
etc." In the above we follow the orthography of the original.

[55] The river Me-Kong.--Rizal.

[56] Laksamana, a general or admiral in Malay.--Stanley.

[57] Chow Phya is a title in Siam and Cambodia.--Rizal.

[58] That is, his son or other heir was to inherit the title.

[59] Rizal conjectures that this word is a transformation of the
Tagál word, lampitaw, a small boat still used in the Philippines.

[60] We follow Stanley's translation. He derives the word çacatal
[zacatal] from zacate, or sacate, signifying "reed," "hay," or other
similar growths, zacatal thus being a "place of reeds" or a "thicket."

[61] From kalasag, a shield.--Rizal.

[62] Argensola says that this native, named Ubal, had made a feast
two days before, at which he had promised to kill the Spanish
commander.--Rizal.

[63] Perhaps the arquebuses of the soldiers who had been killed in
the combat with Figueroa, for although culverins and other styles
of artillery were used in these islands, arquebuses were doubtless
unknown.--Rizal.

[64] These considerations might apply to the present [1890] campaigns
in Mindanao.--Rizal.

[65] Argensola says that Cachil is probably derived from the Arabic
Katil, which signifies "valiant soldier." "In the Malucas they honor
their nobles with this title as with Mosiur in Francia, which means
a trifle more than Don in España." See also VOL. X, p. 61, note 6.

[66] The Solomon Islands (Islas de Salomon) were first discovered in
1568 by Alvaro de Mendaña de Neyra while on an expedition to discover
the supposed southern continent between Asia and America. Various
reasons are alleged for the name of this group: one that Mendaña
called them thus because of their natural richness; another that
King Solomon obtained wood and other materials there for his temple;
and the third and most probable that they were called after one of
the men of the fleet. As narrated in our text, the expedition of 1595
failed to rediscover the islands. They remained completely lost, and
were even expunged from the maps until their rediscovery by Carteret
in 1767. The discoverers and explorers Bougainville, Surville,
Shortland, Manning, d'Entrecasteaux, Butler, and Williamson, made
discoveries and explorations in the same century. In 1845, they were
visited by d'Urville. H.B. Guppy made extensive geological studies
there in 1882. The French Marist fathers went there first in 1845,
but were forced, in 1848, to abandon that field until 1861. They were
the least known of all the Pacific and South Sea islands. They extend
a distance of over 600 miles, and lie approximately between 4º 30'-12º
south latitude and 154º 40'-162º 30' east longitude. They lie southeast
of New Britain and northwest of New Hebrides. The larger islands are:
Bougainville, Choiseul, Santa Isabel, Guadalconar, Malaita, and San
Cristobal, and are generally mountainous, and volcanic in origin,
containing indeed several active volcanoes. The smaller islands are
generally volcanic and show traces of coral limestone. The climate is
unhealthful, and one of the rainiest in the world. They are extremely
fertile and contain excellent water. The inhabitants are of the Malay
race and were formerly cannibals. They form parts of the British and
German possessions. See Lord Amherst: Discovery of the Solomon Islands
(London, Hakluyt Soc. ed., 1901); H. B. Guppy: The Solomon Islands
(London, 1887); Justo Zaragoza: Historia del descubrimiento australes
(Madrid, 1876).

[67] These places are all to be found on the old maps. Paita or Payta
is shown just above or below five degrees south latitude. Callao was
properly the port of Lima.

[68] Called by the natives Fatuhiwa, situated in 10º 40' south
latitude, and west longitude 138º 15', one of the Marquesas group
belonging to France.--Rizal.

[69] According to Captain Cook, cited by Wallace, these islanders
surpassed all other nations in the harmony of their proportions and
the regularity of their features. The stature of the men is from 175
to 183 cm.--Rizal.

[70] The three islands are identified as Motane (probably), Hiwaoa,
Tahuata or Tanata; the channel as the strait of Bordelais; and the
"good port" as Vaitahu (Madre de Dios) (?).--Rizal.

[71] The breadfruit, which grows on the tree artocarpus incisa. It
is called rima in Spanish, the name by which it was perhaps known
throughout Polynesia.--Rizal.

In the Bissayan Islands this tree was called coló. It reaches a height
of about sixty feet. Its bark exudes a gummy sap, that is used for
snaring birds. For want of areca, the bark is also used by the Indians
as a substitute. The wood is yellow, and is used for making canoes,
and in the construction of houses. See Delgado's Historia General,
and Blanco's Flora de Filipinas.

[72] Probably the Pukapuka group or Union Islands.--Rizal.

[73] Perhaps Sophia Island, which is about this distance from
Lima.--Rizal.

[74] Nitendi.--Rizal.

[75] The small islets may have been the Taumako Islands; the shoals,
Matema, and the "island of no great size," Vanikoro.--Rizal.

[76] Called kilitis in the Philippines, but we are not aware that
indigo is made of it.--Rizal.

Delgado (Historia, Manila, 1892) describes the wild amaranths which he
calls quiletes (an American word, according to Blanco) doubtless the
plant indicated in the text. The native generic name is haroma. There
are numerous varieties, all edible.

[77] This word is untranslated by Stanley. Rizal conjectures that
it may come from the Tagál word sagã or jequiriti. But it may be a
misprint for the Spanish sagu or sagui, "sago."

[78] Pingré's translation of the Descubrimiento de las Islas de Salomon
says, p. 41: "On the 17th October there was a total eclipse of the
moon: this luminary, on rising above the horizon, was already totally
eclipsed. Mendaña, by his will, which he signed with difficulty, named
as lady governor of the fleet his wife Doña Isabella de Barreto." And
in a note, he [i.e., Pingré] says that he calculated this eclipse by
the tables of Halley: the immersion must have happened at Paris at
19 hours 6 minutes, and the moon had already been risen since 5 or 6
minutes; so that the isle of Sta. Cruz would be at least 13h. 2m. west
of Paris, which would make it 184 degrees 30 minutes longitude, or
at most 190 degrees, allowing for the Spaniards not having perceived
the eclipse before sunset.--Stanley.

[79] Probably Ponape.--Rizal.

[80] The Descubrimiento de las Islas de Salomon says: "The frigate
was found cast away on the coast with all the crew dead. The galliot
touched at Mindanao, in 10 degrees, where the crew landed on the
islet of Camaniguin; and while wandering on the shore, and dying of
hunger, met with some Indians, who conducted them to a hospital of
the Jesuits. The corregidor of the place sent five men of this ship
prisoners to Manila, upon the complaint of their captain, whom they
had wished to hang. He wrote to Don Antonio de Morga the following
letter: 'A Spanish galliot has arrived here, commanded by a captain,
who is as strange a man as the things which he relates. He pretends
to have belonged to the expedition of General Don Alvaro de Mendaña,
who left Peru for the Solomon isles, and that the fleet consisted
of four ships. You will perhaps have the means of knowing what the
fact is.' The soldiers who were prisoners declared that the galliot
had separated from the general only because the captain had chosen
to follow another route."--Stanley.

[81] Dr. T. H. Pardo de Tavera in his Historia del descubrimiento de
las regiones australes (Madrid, 1876), identifies this bay with the
present Harbor of Laguán.--Rizal.

[82] Lord Stanley translates the above passage, which reads in the
original "que por quede della razon (si acaso Dios dispusiese de
mi persona, o aya otra qualquiera ocasion; que yo, o la que lleuo
faltemos), aya luz della," etc., as "that an account may remain
(if perchance God should dispose of my life, or anything else
should arise, or I or she that I take with me should be missing),
and that it may give light," etc. Rizal points out that the words
"o la que lleuo faltemos" do not refer to Doña Isabel de Barreto,
but to a similar relation of the voyage that Quiros carried with
him. We have accordingly adopted the latter's rendering, which is by
far more probable.

[83] On the island of Shikoku.--Rizal.

[84] From the Japanese funé, boat. This may be etymologically
equivalent to the English word funny, a kind of small boat.

[85] Lord Stanley connects this word, which he translates "monks,"
with the Nembuds Koo. These, according to Engelbert Kaëmpfer, historian
and physician at the Dutch embassy in Japan, and who lived from 1651 to
1716, are devout fraternities who chant the Namanda, the abbreviation
of "Nama Amida Budsu" ("Great Amida help us"). The Dai-Nembudzsui
are persons especially devoted to Amida's worship. Rizal however
refutes this, and derives Nambaji from the Japanese word Nambanjin,
signifying "dweller of the barbaric south," as the missionaries came
from the south.

[86] See note 85, ante, p. 119.

[87] The Spanish word is dojicos, which is etymologically the same
as the French dogiques. This latter term is defined in The Jesuit
Relations (Cleveland, 1896-1901), xxvii, p. 311, note 1, as a name
given, in foreign missions, to those natives who instruct their
countrymen. They officiated in the absence of the priests.

[88] Fushimi, Osaka, and Sakai.--Rizal.

[89] See VOL. X, p. 171, note 19.

[90] Santa Ines publishes a translation of the same sentence that
varies somewhat in phraseology from the above, but which has the
same sense. It is dated however: "the first year of Quercho, on
the twentieth day of the eleventh moon." J.J. Rein (Japan, London,
1884) publishes a version different from either, which is as follows:
"Taikô--sama. I have condemned these people to death, because they
have come from the Philippine Islands, have given themselves out
as ambassadors, which they are not, and because they have dwelt
in my country without my permission, and proclaimed the law of the
Christians against my command. My will is that they be crucified at
Nagasaki." For the persecutions in this and succeeding administrations,
see Rein, ut supra.

[91] Santa Ines gives the names and order of the crucifixion of
religious and converts, twenty-six in all. They were crucified in a row
stretching east and west as follows: ten Japanese converts, the six
Franciscans, three Jesuits, and seven Japanese converts, with about
four paces between each two. The Japanese served the Franciscans in
various religious and secular capacities. The six Franciscans were:
Francisco Blanco, of Monte Rey, Galicia; Francisco de San Miguel,
lay-brother, of Parrilla, in the Valladolid bishopric; Gonzalo
Garcia, lay-brother, of Bazain, East India, son of a Portuguese
father and a native woman; Felipe de Jesús, or de las Casas, of
Mexico; Martín de la Ascension, theological lecturer, of Beasaín,
in the province of Guipuzcoa; and Pedro Bautista, of San Esteban, in
the Avila bishopric. The Jesuits were, at least two of them, Japanese,
and were not above the rank of brother or teacher. Five Franciscans of
the eleven in Japan escaped crucifixion, namely, Agustín Rodríguez,
Bartolomé Ruiz, Marcelo de Rivadeneira, Jerónimo de Jesús, and Juan
Pobre. The first three were forced to leave Japan in a Portuguese
vessel sailing to India.

[92] The Lequios Islands are identified by Rizal as the Riukiu or
Lu-Tschu Islands. J. J. Rein (Japan, London, 1884) says that they form
the second division of the modern Japanese empire, and lie between
the thirtieth and twenty-fourth parallels, or between Japan proper
and Formosa. They are called also the Loochoo Islands.

[93] See Stanley, appendix v, pp. 398-402, and Rizal, note 4, p. 82,
for extracts and abstracts of a document written by Father Alexander
Valignano, visitor of the Society of Jesus in Japan, dated October 9,
1598. This document states that three Jesuits were crucified by mistake
with the others. The document is polemical in tone, and explains on
natural grounds what the Franciscans considered and published as
miraculous. The above letter to Morga is published by Santa Ines,
ii, p. 364.

[94] Santa Ines publishes a letter from this religious to another
religious of the same order. From this letter it appears that he
later went to Macan, whence he returned to Manila.

[95] Called Alderete in Argensola, doubtless an error of the
copyist.--Rizal.

[96] The same king wrote a letter of almost the same purport to Father
Alonso Ximenez, which is reproduced by Aduarte.--Rizal.

[97] Diego Aduarte, whose book Historia de la Provincia del Santo
Rosario (Manila, 1640), will appear later in this series.

[98] Morga's own account of this, ante, says distinctly that there
were two vessels and that Bias Ruiz had entered the river ahead of
Diego Belloso. Hernando de los Rios Coronel, however, explains this
in his Relacion of 1621, by stating that one of the two vessels had
been wrecked on the Cambodian coast.

[99] The original is en la puente, which translated is "on the
bridge." We have regarded it as a misprint for en el puerto, "in
the port."

[100] This kingdom has disappeared. The ancient Ciampa, Tsiampa,
or Zampa, was, according to certain Jesuit historians, the most
powerful kingdom of Indochina. Its dominions extended from the banks
of the Menam to the gulf of Ton-King. In some maps of the sixteenth
century we have seen it reduced to the region now called Mois, and in
others in the north of the present Cochinchina, while in later maps
it disappears entirely. Probably the present Sieng-pang is the only
city remaining of all its past antiquity.--Rizal.

[101] That is, his mother and grandmother.

[102] From which to conquer the country and the king gradually,
for the latter was too credulous and confiding.--Rizal.

[103] Rizal misprints Malaca.

[104] Stanley thinks that this should read "since the war was
not considered a just one;" but Rizal thinks this Blas Ruiz's own
declaration, in order that he might claim his share of the booty taken,
which he could not do if the war were unjust and the booty considered
as a robbery.

[105] Aduarte says: "The matter was opposed by many difficulties
and the great resistance of influential persons in the community,
but as it was to be done without expense to the royal treasury,
all were overcome."--Rizal.

La Concepción says, vol. iii, p. 234, that the royal officials did
not exercise the requisite care in the fitting of Luis Dasmariñas's
vessels, as the expedition was not to their taste.

[106] A Chinese vessel, lighter and swifter than the junk, using oars
and sails.

[107] Aduarte says that the fleet left the bay on September 17.--Rizal.

La Concepción gives the same date, and adds that Dasmariñas took in
his vessel, the flagship, Father Ximinez, while Aduarte sailed in
the almiranta. The complement of men, sailors and soldiers was only
one hundred and fifty. Aduarte left the expedition by command of the
Dominican superior after the almiranta had put in to refit at Nueva
Segovia, "as he [i.e., the superior] did not appear very favorable to
such extraordinary undertakings." He returned with aid to Dasmariñas,
sailing from Manila September 6, almost a year after the original
expedition had sailed.

[108] The island of Corregidor, also called Mirabilis.--Rizal.

[109] The almiranta was wrecked because of striking some shoals,
while pursuing a Chinese craft with piratical intent. The Spanish ship
opened in two places and the crew were thrown into the sea. Some were
rescued and arrested by the Chinese authorities.--Rizal.

La Concepción says that the majority of the Spaniards determined to
pursue and capture the Chinese vessel contrary to the advice of the
pilot and a few others, and were consequently led into the shoals.

[110] This man became a religious later. We present his famous relation
of 1621 in a later volume of this series. Hernando de los Rios was
accompanied by Aduarte on his mission.

[111] It has been impossible to verify this citation. Of the four
generally known histories of the Indias written at the time of Los
Rios Coronel's letter, that of Las Casas only contains chapters of the
magnitude cited, and those chapters do not treat of the demarcation
question. Gonzalez Fernandez de Oviedo y Valdés: Historia general
y natural de las Indias (Madrid, Imprenta de la Real Academia de
la Historia, 1851), edited by Amador de los Rios, discusses the
demarcation in book ii, ch. viii, pp. 32, 33, and book xxi, ch. ii,
pp. 117, 118; Bartolomé de las Casas: Historia de las Indias (Madrid,
1875), edited by Marquis de la Fuensanta del Valle (vols. 62-66 of
Documentos inéditos para la historia de España), in book i, ch. lxxix,
pp. 485, 486; Antonio de Herrera: Historia general de los Indios
occidentalis (Madrid, 1601), in vol. i, ch. iiii, pp. 50-53, and ch. x,
pp. 62-64; Joseph de Acosta: Historia de las Indias (first published in
Spanish in Sevilla in 1590) does not discuss the matter. Neither is the
reference to Giovanni Pietro Maffei's Historiarum Indicarum (Coloniae
Agrippinae, 1590), where the demarcation is slightly mentioned.

[112] Costa in the original, misprinted cosa in Rizal.

[113] From the context, one would suppose that Los Rios Coronel wrote
Jesuita instead of Theatino.

[114] Undoubtedly the famous Father Mateo Ricci, called Li-Ma-Teou and
Si-Thaí by the Chinese. He was born in Macerata in 1552, and died in
Pekin in 1610. He was one of the greatest Chinese scholars of Europe,
and wrote a number of works in Chinese, which were highly esteemed
and appreciated by the Chinese themselves. He extended Christianity
in the celestial empire more than anyone else, by his tolerance and
keen diplomacy, by composing with great skill what he could not combat
openly. This excited the wrath of the Dominicans, and gave rise to
many controversies....Father Ricci was the associate of the famous
Father Alessandro Valignani.--Rizal.

[115] The latitude of Toledo is 39º 52'; Nankin [Lanquien] 32º;
and Pekin [Paquien] 39º 58'.

[116] The pico is a measure of weight. Gregorio Sancianco y Goson
(El Progreso de Filipinas, Madrid, 1881) gives its table thus: 1
pico = 10 chinantes = 100 cates = 1 tael, 6 décimas = 137 libras, 5
décimas = 62 kilógramos, 262 gramos, 1 tael = 22 adarmes = 39 gramos,
60 céntimos. The pico is not a fixed weight. In Manila its equivalent
has been fixed at 137 libras, 6 décimas. In the ports of China and
Singapore the English have adopted the following equivalents: 1 pico
= 133 1/3 English pounds; 1 pico in Manila is equal to 140 English
pounds; and 1 English pico equals 131.4 Castilian pounds.

[117] Certain shells found in the Philippines, and used as money in
Siam, where they are called sigay.

[118] Father Juan Maldonado de San Pedro Mártir was born in Alcalá
de Guadaira in the province of Sevilla. After a course in the
humanities and philosophy, he went to Salamanca University to study
canonical law. He made his profession at the Dominican convent in
Valladolid, where he lived in great austerity. He was one of the
first to respond to the call of Father Juán Crisóstomo for workers
in the Philippines. He was associated with Father Benavides in the
Chinese mission, but was unable to learn the language because of
other duties. He was later sent to Pangasinan, where, in 1588, he
was appointed vicar of Gabón (now Calasiao). He was definitor in the
Manila chapter in 1592, by which he was appointed vicar of Abucay,
in the Bataan district. Shortly after he was again appointed to the
Chinese work, and learned the language thoroughly. In 1596, while on
the unfortunate voyage to Camboja, Father Alonso Jimenez appointed him
vicar-general, but he resigned from this, as well as from the office
of commissary-general of the Holy Office, which he was the first to
hold in the islands. In 1598 he was appointed lecturer on theology,
and in November of the same year went to Camboja. His death occurred
within sight of Cochinchina, December 22, 1598, and he was buried in
Pulocatouan. He was confessor to Luis Dasmariñas. (Reseña Biográfica,
Manila, 1891.)

[119] Rizal misprints guardia de sus personas que podian, as guardia
de sus personas que pedian.

[120] This happened afterward and was a constant menace to the
Spaniards, as many letters, reports, and books attest.

[121] This was the first piratical expedition made against the
Spaniards by the inhabitants of the southern islands.--Rizal.

Barrantes (Guerras Piraticas) wrongly dates the abandonment of La
Caldera and the incursion of the Moros 1590. Continuing he says:
"The following year they repeated the expedition so that the Indians
retired to the densest parts of the forests, where it cost considerable
trouble to induce them to become quiet. For a woman, who proclaimed
herself a sibyl or prophetess, preached to them that they should not
obey the Spaniards any longer, for the latter had allied themselves
with the Moros to exterminate all the Pintados."

[122] From the Malay tingi, a mountain.--Rizal.

[123] The island of Guimarás, southeast of Panay, and separated from
it by the strait of Iloilo.

[124] Neither Stanley nor Rizal throws any light on this word. The
Spanish dictionaries likewise fail to explain it, as does also
a limited examination of Malay and Tagál dictionaries. Three
conjectures are open: 1. A derivative of tifatas, a species of
mollusk--hence a conch; 2. A Malay or Tagál word for either a wind or
other instrument--the Malay words for "to blow," "to sound a musical
instrument," being tiyup and tiyupkân; 3. A misprint for the Spanish
pifas--a possible shorthand form of pifanos--signifying fifes.

[125] J. J. Rein (Japan, London, 1884) say that the son of Taicosama or
Hideyoshi was called Hideyosi, and was born in 1592. He was recognized
by Taicosama as his son, but Taicosama was generally believed not to
have been his father. The Yeyasudono of Morga was Tokugawa Iyeyasu,
lord of the Kuwantô, who was called Gieiaso by the Jesuits. He was
already united by marriage to Taicosama. The men appointed with
Iyeyasu to act as governors were Asano Nagamasa, Ishida, Mitsunari,
Masuda Nagamori, Nagatsuka Masaïye, and Masuda Geni. Iyeyasu, the
Daifusama of our text, tried to exterminate Christianity throughout the
empire. He established the feudal system that ruled Japan for three
centuries, dividing society into five classes, he himself being the
most powerful vassal of the mikado. He framed a set of laws, known
by his name, that were in force for three centuries. Their basis was
certain doctrines of Confucius that recognized the family as the basis
of the state. Iyeyasu was a true statesman, an attractive personage,
and a peace-loving man. He was revered after death under the name
of Gongensama. See also Trans. Asiatic Soc. (Yokohama), vol. iii,
part ii, p. 118, "The Legacy of Iyeyasu."

[126] A manuscript in the British Museum, Dutch Memorable Embassies,
says that he died September 16, 1598, at the age of sixty-four, after
reigning fifteen years. The regent is there called Ongoschio.--Stanley.

[127] Recueil des voyages (Amsterdam, 1725) ii, pp. 94-95 divides
Japanese society into five classes: those having power and authority
over others, called tones, though their power may be dissimilar;
priests or bonzes; petty nobility and bourgeoisie; mechanics and
sailors; and laborers.

[128] This battle was fought at Sekigahara, a little village on the
Nakasendo, in October, 1600. Some firearms and cannon were used but
the old-fashioned spears and swords predominated in this battle, which
was fought fiercely all day. (Murray: Story of Japan, New York, 1894).

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