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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




[406] Scorzonera is a genus of composite plants, of numerous
species; the leaves or roots of many are used as vegetables or
salads. S. tuberosa and other Eastern species have edible roots.

[407] Delgado (ut supra) says that this fruit (Diospyros kaki,
Linn.) was brought by the Chinese traders, and called Xi-cu in their
language, whence is derived the word chiquey. It is a beautiful scarlet
fruit, although there is another species of a yellow color. Both are
sweet and pleasant to the taste. Some of the yellow variety were
grown in the Visayas, but Delgado says the tree is not indigenous
to the islands. The fruit is shaped like an acorn but is about as
large as a lemon. The peel is soft and the interior like honey, and
it contains several seeds. The tree is wide-spreading but not very
tall. The leaves are small and almost round. D. kaki is the Chinese
or Japanese persimmon; D. virginiana is the American persimmon. From
other species is obtained the valuable wood called ebony.

[408] This must be the cloth and not the porcelain of Kaga, which
even today is so highly esteemed.--Rizal.

[409] With very slight differences, this custom and ceremony is
continued to the present [1890].--Rizal.

[410] "A three per cent duty was imposed in the Filipinas on
merchandise, for the payment of the troops. We order that part of the
law to be observed, but that pertaining to the other things paid from
those duties to be repealed." Añover, August 9, 1589. (Ley xxii.)

"We ordain that the Chinese, Japanese, Siamese, Borneans, and all other
foreigners, who go to the ports of the Filipinas Islands, pay no duty
on food, supplies, and materials that they take to those islands,
and that this law be kept in the form in w, hich it may have been
introduced, and not otherwise." Añover, August 9, 1589. (Ley xxiv.)

"On the Chinese merchandise and that from other countries, shipped to
Nueva España by way of Filipinas, an impost ad valorem tax of ten per
cent shall be collected, based on their value in the ports and regions
where the goods shall be discharged. This tax shall be imposed mildly
according to the rule, and shall be a tax additional to that usually
paid on departure both from the said Filipinas Islands and from the
provinces of Nueva España, to any other places where they may and
shall be taken." El Pardo, November 1, 1591. (Ley xxi.)

"We order that the duty of three per cent collected in the Filipinas
Islands on the merchandise taken thither by the Chinese be increased by
another three per cent." El Pardo, November 20, 1606. (Ley xxiii.) The
above laws are from Recopilación de leyes, lib. viii, tit. xv.

[411] The agave (Agave americana; the maguey of Mexico) is found in
the Philippines, and is called pita, but Delgado and Blanco think
that it was not indigenous there. Its fibers were used in former
times for making the native textile called nipis, manufactured in the
Visayas. As used in the text, pita means, apparently, some braid or
other ornament of agave fibers.

[412] The ducado of Castilla was worth slightly more than two
pesos.--Rizal.

[413] These imposts and fetters, which the products of the country
did not escape, are still [1890] in force, so that foreign markets
must be sought, since the markets of the mother-country offer no
greater advantages. According to a document of 1640, this commerce
netted the government 350,000 pesos annually.--Rizal.

[414] The salary is now [1890] 40,000 pesos.--Rizal.

[415] Recopilación de leyes (lib. iv, tit. i, ley v) outlines the
governor's and Audiencia's power in regard to conquests by private
individuals, as follows: "We grant permission to the governor and
president of the Filipinas Islands and its Audiencia to make contracts
for new explorations and conquests [pacificaciones] with persons,
who are willing to covenant to do it at their own expense and not at
that of our royal treasury; and to give them the titles of captains
and masters-of-camp, but not those of adelantados [i.e., governors]
and marshals. Those contracts and agreements such men may execute, with
the concurrence of the Audiencia, until we approve them, provided that
they observe the laws enacted for war, conquest, and exploration, so
straitly, that for any negligence, the terms of their contract will be
observed, and those who exceed the contract shall incur the penalties
imposed; also provided the parties shall receive our confirmation
within a brief period assigned by the governor." Felipe II, Guadalupe,
April 1, 1580; Toledo, May 25, 1596, a clause of instructions.

[416] There are eight auditors now [1890], and their salary
has increased to 4,700 pesos, while that of the fiscal is 5,500
pesos.--Rizal.

[417] Recopilación de leyes, lib. v, tit. xv, ley xxviii, contains
the following on suits arising from residencias, dated Lerma, June
23, 1608: "Suits brought during the residencia against governors,
captains-general, presidents, auditors, and fiscals of our Audiencia
of Manila, and against any other officials, both civil and criminal,
shall pass in appeal and be concluded in that Audiencia, if they do
not exceed one thousand pesos of the current money."

[418] The tributes of the Indians in the Filipinas amount to more
than 4,000,000 pesos now [1890]; and from the Chinese are derived
225,000 pesos.--Rizal.

[419] Now since there is no exploitation of gold mines, and since
the Indians have no jewels that would justify this tenth or fifth,
the Spaniards substitute for this the imposts upon property, which
amount to 105,400 pesos, and that upon industry, which amounts to
1,433,200 pesos. In 1640, the revenue from the above source [fifths or
tenths] had decreased so greatly, that only 750 pesos were collected
annually.--Rizal.

[420] Import duties now [1890] amount to 1,700,000 pesos.--Rizal.

[421] Export duties now [1890] amount to 285,000 pesos.--Rizal.

[422] According to Hernando de los Rios, the Filipinas Islands could
have been self-sustaining from the beginning from their own products,
had it not been for the expeditions and adventurous conquests in the
Moluccas, Camboja, etc. ... In the governorship of Don Juan de Silva,
the treasury owed, for the war in the Moluccas, more than 2,000,000
pesos to the Indians, besides what it must have owed to the inhabitants
of Manila.--Rizal.

[423] This excellent custom has entirely perished.--Rizal.

"The president of our royal Audiencia of Filipinas and one auditor
of that body, shall, at the beginning of each year, examine the
accounts of our royal officials, and shall finish their examination
within the two months of January and February. On finishing their
examination they shall send a copy of them to our council for the
reason contained in the following law. Should the examination not be
finished in the said time, our officials shall receive no salary. The
auditor who shall assist in examining the accounts shall receive as
a compensation the twenty-five thousand maravedis that are ordained;
but he shall receive that amount only in that year that he shall send
the said accounts concluded to our council." Ordinance 97, Toledo,
May 15, 1596. (Ley ix.)

"For the accounts of our royal treasury, which must be furnished in
the usual form by our officials of the Filipinas Islands annually,
during the administration of their duties, the officials shall
deliver for inventory all the books and orders pertaining to those
accounts, and all that shall be requested from them and that shall
be necessary. They shall continue the course of their administration
[of their duties] with new and similar books. These accounts shall be
concluded before the governor of those islands, and the auditor whom
the Audiencia and the fiscal of that body may appoint. In case of the
finding of any doubts and remarks it is our will that the auditor and
governor resolve and determine them, so that they may be concluded and
finished. And inasmuch as the factor and overseer must give account of
certain things in kind and products of great weight and tediousness,
we order that that account be examined every three years, and that
the concluding and settling of the doubts and remarks shall be made
in the form declared. And we order that when the said accounts of
the said islands are completed and the net balances struck, they
shall be sent to our Council of the Indias, so that the accountants
of its accounts may revise and make additions to them according to
the manner of the accountancy." Valladolid, January 25, 1605. (Ley x.)

The above two laws are taken from Recopilación de leyes, lib. viii,
tit. xxix.

[424] The Chinese engaged in agriculture and fishing now [1890]
are very few.--Rizal.

[425] The Rizal edition misprints fuerça è premio as fuerza á premio.

[426] The custom of shaving the head, now prevalent among the Chinese,
was imposed upon them by their Tartar conquerors.

[427] A kind of stocking called tabi.--Rizal.

[428] The following law was issued at Segovia July 4, 1609, and
appears in Recopilación de leyes, lib. iii, tit. iv, ley xviii:
"The governor and captain-general of the Filipinas Islands shall
ever strive to maintain friendly relations, peace, and quiet, with
the emperor of Japon. He shall avail himself, for that purpose, of
the most prudent and advisable means, as long as conditions permit;
and he shall not risk the reputation of our arms and state in those
seas and among oriental nations."

[429] This port (established before 1540) was in Colima, Mexico,
near the present Manzanillo. It was plundered and burned by the
English adventurer Thomas Candish, on August 24-25, 1587.

[430] Thus named because seamen and voyagers noticed especially
the lateen sails of the light vessels used by the natives of the
Marianas.--Rizal.

[431] A marine fish (Sparus auratus), thus named because it has spots
of golden-yellow color.

[432] A chart of the Indian Ocean, by L. S. de la Rochette
(pub. London, 1803, by W. Faden, geographer to the king) shows three
volcanoes in about 25º north latitude, and but a few degrees north
of the Ladrones. One of them is called "La Desconocida, or Third
Volcano," and the following is added: "The Manilla ships always try
to make this Volcano."

[433] A group of islands called Shidsi To, lying in 34º 20'.--Rizal.

[434] "Thirty-eight degrees" is probably an error for "twenty-eight
degrees," and these islands [the first ones mentioned in the above
sentence] would be the Mounin-Sima Islands, lying between 26º 35'
and 27º 45'; and Lot's Wife in 29º 51', and Crespo, in 32º 46', which
[latter] are supposed by the Univers Pittoresque to be the Roca de Oro
[rock of gold] and the Roca de Plata of the ancient maps.--Stanley.

For these latter islands, see VOL. XIV, p. 272, note 45.

[435] A fungous substance that grows in the sea, and contains signs
of life.

[436] Probably the dogfish, a species of shark.

[437] Most of these places can be identified on the old maps of
the seventeenth and eighteenth centuries, and most of the names
are retained today. The island of Cedros is shown on a map of 1556
(Ramusio: Vniversale della parte del mondo nvovamente ritrovata). The
island of Cenizas is shown, on the old maps, in about 32º, and Cedros
in about 29º. The Marias or Tres Marias Islands are Maria Madre,
Maria Magdalena, and Maria Cleofas. Cape Corrientes is south of
La Valle de Banderas and Chametla. Socatul is called Socatula and
Zocatula. An English map of 1626, engraved by Abraham Goos, shows
the town of Ciguatlan, north of Aquapulco, which may be the same as
Morga's Ciguatanejo. Los Motines cannot be identified.

[438] Acosta in his History of the Indies (Hakluyt Soc. edition,
London, 1880) says of the courses between the Philippines and New
Spain: "The like discourse is of the Navigation made into the South
sea, going from New Spaine or Peru to the Philippines or China, and
returning from the Philippines or China to New Spaine, the which is
easie, for that they saile alwaies from East to West neere the line,
where they finde the Easterly windes to blow in their poope. In the
yeere 1584, there went a shippe from Callao in Lima to the Philippines,
which sailed 2000 and 700 leagues without sight of land, and the
first it discovered was the Iland of Lusson, where they tooke port,
having performed their voiage in two moneths, without want of winde or
any torment, and their course was almost continually vnder the line;
. . . The returne is like vnto the voiage from the Indies vnto Spaine,
for those which returne from the Philippines or China to Mexico,
to the end they may recover the Westerne windes, they mount a great
height, vntill they come right against the Ilands of Iappon, and,
discovering the Caliphornes, they returne by the coast of New Spaine
to the port of Acapulco."

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