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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




[204] Other disturbances occurred also, because of Don Pedro's enemies
having spread the news that the expedition had been destroyed, and
most of those making it killed. "This report, having come to the ears
of the Indians, was so harmful that they began to mutiny, especially
in the provinces of Camarines and Pintados. The friars who instructed
them could already do, nothing with them, for they asked why, since
the inhabitants of the Malucos were victorious, should they be subject
to the Spaniards, who did not defend them from the Moros. They said
that the Moros would plunder them daily with the help of Ternate,
and that it would be worse henceforth" (Argensola).--Rizal.

La Concepción states (Hist. de Philipinas, iv, p. 103) that these
Japanese were settled in Dilao; and that the immediate cause of their
mutiny was the killing of a Japanese by a Spaniard, in a quarrel.

[205] The authors of this poisoning were then known in Manila,
and according to Argensola were those envious of the governor. "But
although they were known as such, so that the suspicion of the crowd
makes them the authors of the poisoning we shall repress their names
... for all are now dead" (Argensola).--Rizal.

Cf. La Concepción (Hist. de Philipinas, iv, pp. 105, 106); he ascribes
the report of Acuña's poisoning to the physicians, who sought thus
to shield their own ignorance of his disease.

[206] These were the results of having taken the king and his chiefs,
who had entrusted themselves to Don Pedro de Acuña, prisoners to
Manila, the king of Tidore, the ally of España, had already found
means to break the alliance. The governors appointed by the captive
king refused to have anything to do with the Spaniards. Fear was
rampant in all parts, and the spirit of vengeance was aroused. "When
his vassals saw the ill-treatment that the Spaniards inflicted on
their king, they hated us so much that they acquired an equal liking
for our enemies. (Her. de los Rios)." Don Pedro lacked the chief
characteristic of Legazpi.--Rizal.

[207] This relation forms an appendix to Theodore de Bry's Ninth
part of America (Frankfort, 1601), and was printed by Matthew Becker
(Frankfort, 1602). The copper plates are different from those of the
Dutch edition of the relation.--Stanley.

The plates representing Oliver van Noordt's fleet, presented
in the preceding volume, are taken from tome xvi of Theodore de
Bry's Peregrinationes (first ed.), by courtesy of the Boston Public
Library. The title-page of the relation reads in part: "Description
dv penible voyage faict entovr de l'univers ou globe terrestre, par
Sr. Olivier dv Nort d'Avtrecht, ... Le tout translaté du Flamand en
Franchois, . . . Imprimé a Amsterdame. Ches Cornille Claessz fur l'Eau
au Livre a Escrire, l'An 1602." This relation was reprinted in 1610,
and numerous editions have appeared since.

[208] One of the Canary Islands.

[209] This anchor was given him by a Japanese captain, in Manila Bay,
on December 3, 1600.--Stanley.

[210] What we now call Java used to be called Java major, and the
island of Bali was Java minor.--Stanley.

[Note: Inasmuch as Morga enters somewhat largely into the ancient
customs of the Tagáls and other Filipino peoples in the present
chapter, and as some of Rizal's notes indicative of the ancient culture
of those peoples are incorporated in notes that follow, we deem it
advisable to invite attention to Lord Stanley's remarks in the preface
to his translation of Morga (p. vii), and Pardo de Tavera's comment
in his Biblioteca Filipina (Washington, 1903), p. 276. Stanley says:
"The inhabitants of the Philippines previous to the Spanish settlement
were not like the inhabitants of the great Indian Peninsula, people
with a civilization as that of their conquerors. Excepting that they
possessed the art of writing, and an alphabet of their own, they do
not appear to have differed in any way from the Dayaks of Borneo as
described by Mr. Boyle in his recent book of adventures amongst that
people. Indeed there is almost a coincidence of verbal expressions in
the descriptions he and De Morga give of the social customs, habits,
and superstitions of the two peoples they are describing; though many
of these coincidences are such as are incidental to life in similar
circumstances, there are enough to lead one to suppose a community of
origin of the inhabitants of Borneo and Luzon." Pardo de Tavera says
after quoting the first part of the above: "Lord Stanley's opinion is
dispassionate and not at all at variance with historical truth." The
same author says also that Blumentritt's prologue and Rizal's notes
in the latter's edition of Morga have so aroused the indignation of
the Spaniards that several have even attacked Morga.]

[211] More exactly from 25º 40' north latitude to 12º south latitude,
if we are to include Formosa in the group, which is inhabited likewise
by the same race.--Rizal.

[212] We confess our ignorance with respect to the origin of this
belief of Morga, which, as one can observe, was not his belief in
the beginning of the first chapter. Already from the time of Diodorus
Siculus (first century B. C.), Europe received information of these
islands by one Iamboule, a Greek, who went to them (to Sumatra at
least), and who wrote afterward the relation of his voyage. He gave
therein detailed information of the number of the islands, of their
inhabitants, of their writing, navigation, etc. Ptolemy mentions
three islands in his geography, which are called Sindæ in the Latin
text. They are inhabited by the Aginnatai. Mercator interprets those
islands as Celebes, Gilolo, and Amboina. Ptolemy also mentions the
island Agathou Daimonos (Borneo), five Baroussai (Mindanao, Leite,
Sebu, etc.), three Sabadeibai (the Java group--Iabadiou) and ten
Masniolai where a large loadstone was found. Colin surmises that
these are the Manilas.--Rizal.

Colin (Labor Evangelica, Madrid, 1663) discusses the discovery and
naming of the Philippines. He quotes Ptolemy's passage that speaks
of islands called the Maniolas, whence many suppose came the name
Manilas, sometimes given to the islands. But as pointed out in a
letter dated March 14, 1904, by James A. LeRoy, Spanish writers have
wasted more time on the question than it merits. Mr. LeRoy probably
conjectures rightly that many old Chinese and Japanese documents will
be found to contain matter relating to the Philippines prior to the
Spanish conquest.

[213] It is very difficult now to determine exactly which is this
island of Tendaya, called Isla Filipina for some years. According to
Father Urdaneta's relations, this island was far to the east of the
group, past the meridian of Maluco. Mercator locates it in Panay,
and Colin in Leyte, between Abuyog and Cabalían--contrary to the
opinion of others, who locate it in Ibabao, or south of Samar. But
according to other documents of that period, there is no island by
that name, but a chief called Tendaya, lord of a village situated in
that district; and, as the Spaniards did not understand the Indians
well at that time, many contradictions thus arose in the relations of
that period. We see that, in Legazpi's expedition, while the Spaniards
talked of islands, the Indians talked of a man, etc. After looking
for Tandaya for ten days they had to continue without finding it
"and we passed on without seeing Tandaya or Abuyo." It appears,
nevertheless, that the Spaniards continued to give this name to the
southwestern part of Samar, calling the southeastern part Ibabao or
Zibabao and the northern part of the same island Samar.--Rizal.

[214] Sugbú, in the dialect of the country.--Rizal.

[215] Morga considers the rainy season as winter, and the rest of
the year as summer. However this is not very exact, for at Manila,
in December, January, and February, the thermometer is lower than
in the months of August and September. Consequently, in its seasons
it is like those of España and those of all the rest of the northern
hemisphere.--Rizal.

[216] The ancient traditions made Sumatra the original home of the
Filipino Indians. These traditions, as well as the mythology and
genealogies mentioned by the ancient historians, were entirely lost,
thanks to the zeal of the religious in rooting out every national pagan
or idolatrous record. With respect to the ethnology of the Filipinas,
see Professor Blumentritt's very interesting work, Versuch einer
Etnographie der Philippinen (Gotha, Justus Perthes, 1882).--Rizal.

[217] This passage contradicts the opinion referred to in Boyle's
Adventures among the Dyaks of Borneo, respecting the ignorance of the
Dyaks in the use of the bow, which seems to imply that other South
Sea islanders are supposed to share this ignorance. These aboriginal
savages of Manila resemble the Pakatans of Borneo in their mode of
life.--Stanley.

[218] We do not know the origin of this word, which does not seem to
be derived from China. If we may make a conjecture, we will say that
perhaps a poor phonetic transcription has made chinina from the word
tininã (from tinã) which in Tagál signifies teñido ["dyed stuff"],
the name of this article of clothing, generally of but one color
throughout. The chiefs wore these garments of a red color, which made,
according to Colin, "of fine gauze from India."--Rizal.

[219] Bahag "a richly dyed cloth, generally edged with gold" among
the chiefs.--Rizal.

[220] "They wrapped it in different ways, now in the Moro style, like
a turban without the top part, now twisted and turned in the manner
of the crown of a hat. Those who esteemed themselves valiant let the
ends of the cloth, elaborately embroidered, fall down the back to the
buttocks. In the color of the cloth, they showed their chieftaincy, and
the device of their undertakings and prowess. No one was allowed to use
the red potong until he had killed at least one man. And in order to
wear them edged with certain edgings, which were regarded as a crown,
they must have killed seven men" (Colin). Even now any Indian is seen
to wear the balindang in the manner of the putong. Putong signifies
in Tagál, "to crown" or "to wrap anything around the head."--Rizal.

[221] This is the reading of the original (cera hilada). It seems more
probable that this should read "spun silk," and that Morga's amanuensis
misunderstood seda ("silk") as cera ("wax"), or else it is a misprint.

[222] "They also have strings of bits of ivory" (Colin).--Rizal.

[223] "The last complement of the gala dress was, in the manner of our
sashes, a richly dyed shawl crossed at the shoulder and fastened under
the arm" (even today the men wear the lambong or mourning garment
in this manner) "which was very usual with them. The Bisayans, in
place of this, wore robes or loose garments, well made and collarless,
reaching to the instep, and embroidered in colors. All their costume,
in fact, was in the Moorish manner, and was truly elegant and rich;
and even today they consider it so" (Colin).--Rizal.

[224] This manner of headdress, and the long robe of the Visayans,
have an analogy with the Japanese coiffure and kimono.--Rizal.

[225] Barõ.--Rizal.

[226] A tree (Entada purseta) which grows in most of the provinces
of the Philippines. It contains a sort of filament, from which is
extracted a soapy foam, which is much used for washing clothes. This
foam is also used to precipitate the gold in the sand of rivers. Rizal
says the most common use is that described above.

[227] This custon still exists.--Rizal.

[228] This custom exists also among the married women of Japan,
as a sign of their chastity. It is now falling into disuse.--Rizal.

[229] The Filipinos were careful not to bathe at the hour of
the siesta, after eating, during the first two days of a cold,
when they have the herpes, and some women during the period of
menstruation.--Rizal.

[230] This work, although not laborious, is generally performed
now by the men, while the women do only the actual cleaning of the
rice.--Rizal.

[231] This custom is still to be seen in some parts.--Rizal.

[232] A name given it by the Spaniards. Its Tagál name is
kanin.--Rizal.

[233] The fish mentioned by Morga is not tainted, but is the
bagoong.--Rizal.

[234] A term applied to certain plants (Atmaranthus, Celosia, etc.) of
which the leaves are boiled and eaten.

[235] From the Tagál tubã, meaning sap or juice.--Rizal.

[236] The Filipinos have reformed in this respect, due perhaps to the
wine-monopoly. Colin says that those intoxicated by this wine were
seldom disagreeable or dangerous, but rather more witty and sprightly;
nor did they show any ill effects from drinking it.--Rizal.

[237] This weapon has been lost, and even its name is gone. A proof
of the decline into which the present Filipinos have fallen is the
comparison of the weapons that they manufacture now, with those
described to us by the historians. The hilts of the talibones now
are not of gold or ivory, nor are their scabbards of horn, nor are
they admirably wrought.--Rizal.

Balarao, dagger, is a Vissayan word.--Stanley.

[238] The only other people who now practice head-hunting are the
Mentenegrins.--Stanley.

[239] A Tagál word meaning oar.--Stanley.

[240] A common device among barbarous or semi-civilized peoples,
and even among boatmen in general. These songs often contain many
interesting and important bits of history, as well as of legendary
lore.

[241] Karang, signifying awnings.--Rizal and Stanley.

[242] The Filipinos, like the inhabitants of the Marianas--who are no
less skilful and dexterous in navigation--far from progressing, have
retrograded; since, although boats are now built in the islands,
we might assert that they are all after European models. The
boats that held one hundred rowers to a side and thirty soldiers
have disappeared. The country that once, with primitive methods,
built ships of about 2,000 toneladas, today [1890] has to go to
foreign ports, as Hong-Kong, to give the gold wrenched from the poor,
in exchange for unserviceable cruisers. The rivers are blocked up,
and navigation in the interior of the islands is perishing, thanks to
the obstacles created by a timid and mistrusting system of government;
and there scarcely remains in the memory anything but the name of all
that naval architecture. It has vanished, without modern improvements
having come to replace it in such proportion as, during the past
centuries, has occurred in adjacent countries....--Rizal.

[243] It seems that some species of trees disappeared or became
very scarce because of the excessive ship-building that took place
later. One of them is the betis.--Rizal.

Blanco states (Flora, ed. 1845, p. 281) that the betis (Azaola betis)
was common in Pampanga and other regions.

Delgado describes the various species of trees in the Philippines
in the first six treatises of the first part of the fourth book of
Historia general de Filipinas (Manila, 1892). He mentions by name more
than seventy trees grown on the level plains and near the shores;
more than forty fruit-trees; more than twenty-five species grown in
the mountains; sixteen that actually grow in the water; and many kinds
of palms. See also Gazetteer of the Philippine Islands (Washington,
1902), pp. 85-95, and Buzeta and Bravo's Diccionario (Madrid, 1850),
i, pp. 29-36.

[244] Sanctor is called santol (Sandoricum indicum--Cavanilles), in
Delgado (ut supra, note 71). The tree resembles a walnut-tree. Its
leaves are rounded and as large as the palm of the hand, and are
dark green in color. Excellent preserves are made from the fruit,
which was also eaten raw by the Indians. The leaves of the tree have
medicinal properties and were used as poultices. Mabolo (Diospyros
discolor--Willd.) signifies in Tagál a thing or fruit enclosed in
a soft covering. The tree is not very high. The leaves are large,
and incline to a red color when old. The fruit is red and as large
as a medium-sized quince, and has several large stones. The inside of
the fruit is white, and is sweet and firm, and fragrant, but not very
digestible. The wood resembles ebony, is very lustrous, and is esteemed
for its solidity and hardness. The nanca [nangka, nangca; translated
by Stanley, jack-fruit] (Artocarpus integrifolia--Willd.), was taken
to the Philippines from India, where it was called yaca. The tree
is large and wide-spreading, and has long narrow leaves. It bears
fruit not only on the branches, but on the trunk and roots. The
fruit is gathered when ripe, at which time it exhales an aromatic
odor. On opening it a yellowish or whitish meat is found, which
is not edible. But in this are found certain yellow stones, with a
little kernel inside resembling a large bean; this is sweet, like
the date, but has a much stronger odor. It is indigestible, and when
eaten should be well masticated. The shells are used in cooking and
resemble chestnuts. The wood is yellow, solid, and especially useful
in making certain musical instruments. Buzeta and Bravo (Diccionario,
i, p. 35) say that there are more than fifty-seven species of bananas
in the Philippines.

[245] Pilê (Canarium commune--Linn.). Delgado (ut supra) says that this
was one of the most notable and useful fruits of the islands. It was
generally confined to mountainous regions and grew wild. The natives
used the fruit and extracted a white pitch from the tree. The fruit
has a strong, hard shell. The fruit itself resembles an almond, both
in shape and taste, although it is larger. The tree is very high,
straight, and wide-spreading. Its leaves are larger than those of
the almond-tree.

[246] Delgado (ut supra) describes the tree (Cedrela
toona--Roxb.) called calanta in Tagál, and lanipga in Visayan. The tree
is fragrant and has wood of a reddish color. It was used for making
the hulls of vessels, because of its strength and lightness. The same
author describes also the asana (Pterocarpus indicus--Willd.) or as it
is called in the Visayas, naga or narra--as an aromatic tree, of which
there are two varieties, male and female. The wood of the male tree is
pinkish, while that of the female tree is inclined to white. They both
grow to a great size and are used for work requiring large timber. The
wood has good durable qualities and is very impervious to water, for
which reason it was largely used as supports for the houses. Water
in which pieces of the wood were placed, or the water that stood in
vessels made of this wood, had a medicinal value in dropsy and other
diseases. In the provinces of Albay and Camarines the natives made
curiously-shaped drinking vessels from this wood.

[247] So many cattle were raised that Father Gaspar de San Agustin,
when speaking of Dumangas, says: "In this convent we have a large ranch
for the larger cattle, of so many cows that they have at times numbered
more than thirty, thousand ... and likewise this ranch contains many
fine horses."--Rizal.

[248] To the flesh of this fowl, called in Tagál ulikbâ, are attributed
medicinal virtues.--Rizal.

[249] These animals now [1890] exist in the islands, but are held in
small esteem.--Rizal.

[250] See chapter on the mammals of the islands, in Report of
U. S. Philippine Commission, 1900, iii, pp. 307-312. At its end is the
statement that but one species of monkey is known, and one other is
reported, to exist in the Philippines; and that "the various other
species of monkey which have been assigned to the Philippines by
different authors are myths pure and simple."

[251] Camalote, for gamalote, a plant like maize, with a leaf a yard
long and an inch wide. This plant grows to a height of two yards
and a half, and when green serves for food for horses (Caballero's
Dictionary, Madrid, 1856).--Stanley.

At that time the name for zacate (hay).--Rizal.

[252] In Japanese fimbari, larks (Medhurst's Japanese
Vocabulary).--Stanley.

[253] Pogos, from the Tagál pugô.--Rizal.

Delgado (ut supra) describes the pogos as certain small gray birds,
very similar to the sparrows in Spain. They are very greedy, and if
undisturbed would totally destroy the rice-fields. Their scientific
name is Excalfactoria chinensis (Linn.).

[254] Stanley conjectures that this word is a misprint for maynelas,
a diminutive of maina, a talking bird. Delgado (ut supra) describes
a bird called maya (Munia jagori--Cab.; Ploceus baya--Blyth.; and
Ploceus hypoxantha--Tand.), which resembles the pogo, being smaller
and of a cinnamon color, which pipes and has an agreeable song.

[255] Stanley translates this as "wild ducks." Delgado (ut supra)
describes a bird called lapay (Dendrocygna vagans--Eyton.), as similar
to the duck in body, but with larger feet, which always lives in the
water, and whose flesh is edible.

[256] For descriptions of the birds in the Philippines, see Delgado
(ut supra) book v, part i, 1st treatise, pp. 813-853; Report of
U.S. Philippine Commission, 1900, iii, pp. 312-316; and Gazetteer of
the Philippine Islands (Washington, 1902), pp. 170, 171. There are
more than five hundred and ninety species of birds in the islands, of
which three hundred and twenty-five are peculiar to the archipelago,
and largely land birds. There are thirty-five varieties of doves and
pigeons, all edible.

[257] There are now domestic rabbits, and plenty of peacocks.--Rizal.

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

[259] La Gironiére (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 Gironiére'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.

[260] Unless we are mistaken, there is a fish in the Filipinas called
Pámpano.--Rizal.

[261] For catalogue and scientific description of the mollusks
of the Philippines, see the work of Joaquín González Hidalgo--now
(1904) in course of publication by the Real Academia de Ciencias
of Madrid--Estudios preliminares sobre la fauna malacológica de las
Islas Filipinas.

[262] The Río Grande.--Rizal.

[263] No fish is known answering to this description.--Stanley.

[264] The island of Talim.--Rizal.

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

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

[267] 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.

[268] Cf. methods of fishing of North American Indians, Jesuit
Relations, vi, pp. 309-311, liv, pp. 131, 306-307.

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

[270] 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.

[271] Pahõ. 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.

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

[273] In Tagál this is kasubhã. 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.

[274] 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 ikmó, as the Tagáls call it--much
resembles a German hop-garden.--Rizal.

[275] This fruit is not that of the betel or buyo, but of the bonga
(Tagál buñga), or areca palm.--Rizal.

[276] Not quicklime, but well slaked lime.--Rizal.

Rizal misprints un poco de cal viva for vn poluc de cal viua.

[277] The original word is marcada. Rizal is probably correct in
regarding it as a misprint for mascada, chewed.

[278] 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.

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