The Philippine Islands, 1493-1898, Volume 38, 1674-1683 / Explorations by early navigators, descriptions of the islands and their peoples, their history and records of the Catholic missions, as related in contemporaneous books and manuscripts, showing the political, economic, commercial and religious conditions of those islands from their earliest relations with European nations to the close of the nineteenth century

by Unknown

CHAPTER VI

Of my second mission to Mindoro

1. I entered the college of Santo Thomàs for the third time, and that time it was to teach the morning classes in theology. The last of April of the following year, the archbishop assigned Don Christoval Sarmiento, cura of Nuestra Señora de Guia, as visitor of Mindoro. He asked me to go in his company, and he did not have to beg me urgently, for the air at the college was very bad for me. The father provincial gave his consent, and, having taken one of my pupils as associate, we all went up-stream together, and then crossed over to the sea; and, on the day of the Cross in May, I preached in Bacò. The devotion of the Indians to the cross is very remarkable; they venerate and celebrate it to the greatest degree imaginable. There is no Indian village which is not full of crosses, and the Indians set up and fix them with great neatness. As we entered the first visita on our way up-stream, we were overtaken by a furious storm, and passed a miserable night indeed in the boat, which was very small. For the second time we crossed over the mountain of the leeches, with great suffering. I had left the second visita until my return. A chief asked me to confess him, but I told him to wait a few days until my return, when I would have plenty of time. He insisted and begged me to hear him confess. I did so, and when I returned he was already dead. I considered that it was the result of his predestination. I remember that he confessed very well and with great tenderness of heart.

2. I reached the village with the beautiful location of which I have already written. But since the Camucones had in the preceding year captured the chief of it on his leaving Nanhoan, I found it changed now and all the people sad and disconsolate. I talked with his wife, who was in mourning, and confessed her. Before I had confessed her, it is true that she had never uncovered her face. Such sedateness and modesty as this is observed by many Indian women, even by villagers. I consoled her as well as I could. In another village before we reached that of Santiago, many Indians were assembled; we remained there for a considerable time. I noted there that the dogs barked excessively during the night, and, as it was a dangerous place on account of the Camucones, that caused some anxiety. I asked the Indians the reason for so much barking. They answered: “Father, there are many crocodiles in this river. When the dogs wish to cross over to the other side they gather in one spot and bark for a long time until they believe that the crocodiles have collected there (for it is a fact that is well known that crocodiles look for dogs as cats do for rats); and then, some of the dogs running above and some below, they cross over safe and secure from the crocodiles. That happens nightly, and consequently, there is no [cause for] anxiety when they are heard to bark.” I wondered, and I remembered that I had read that the dogs of the Nile region do the same thing.

3. On one of those days a spy of the enemy came to us, who beguiled us with a thousand idle stories. When we began to discover somewhat of his purpose, it was impossible to find him. An Indian soon came from the other visitas with the news that ten hostile caracoas were sailing for that place. The Indians took to the mountains immediately, and we were left alone with our servants. On receiving that bad news, we determined to return, grieving deeply at seeing the impediments that were unexpectedly arising to prevent our mission to the most needy villages. While returning, I heard of many skirmishes that the Indians had had with the Camucones, but the former always came off the worse. Before reaching Manila, we heard that the ship “San Diego” which arrived from Mexico with Don Pedro de Villarroel as commander, had been wrecked at Balaian. I heard the commander Don Pedro de Mendiola say that that ship had cost his Majesty more than two hundred thousand pesos. That was the famous “San Diego” which was used as a fort when the Dutch attacked Manila. All the Dutch ships discharged their artillery at it, and it received them all on one side, for it was beached. More than one thousand balls were found, and of the two thousand that were fired at it, not one passed through it. The timber of that country is uncommonly good, as is also the strength with which the ships are built. The ship which went to Acapulco that year suffered violent storms, and one huge sea carried off fourteen sailors, according to a letter that I saw. Those of the ship afterward affirmed the same thing, and they also said that when the wave that carried the men off subsided it had thrown them again into the waist of the ship, which was a piece of marvelous good fortune. He who has traveled even a little by water will have no difficulty in seeing how this could be. Years before, the sailors in Cavite say, another sea, which had broken upon a ship when making the same voyage, had dragged off thirty-six men; a great wave that. Some few were saved, but the others were buried in the waters. When Don Pedro de Villarroel returned, he who is now the archbishop of Manila, Don Fray Juan Lopez, wrote me that a heavy sea had completely torn away the stern gallery. I had seen the ship before, and it was so staunch that it seems incredible that a wave should do such damage. At that time one would believe that some spirit stood in Mariveles with a cutlass in his hand, forbidding the entrance of any ship into the bay. Thus did I preach in the port of Cavite. The ship which Don Diego Faxardo had built in Camboxa came near there, and was wrecked on the Japanese shoals, where some persons of quality were drowned. After it left Mexico under command of Lorenco de Ugalde, while it was in a river, so furious a storm struck it that whatever of the ship was above water was cut away and driven ashore; and some men were flung against the masts to which they remained clinging, where they were afterwards found, to the surprise [of their rescuers]. Considerable money was lost and considerable was stolen. It was told in Manila, as a positive fact, that the commander had obtained from cards alone twelve thousand pesos between Acapulco and that place. Who would believe such a thing here? In Pangasinan there were thunder, lightning, and earthquakes; and rocks fell, and stones so large that they weighed five arrobas. Bishop Cardenas wrote about that to the governor and Audiencia, and added that he himself had seen some of the above-mentioned stones. It was inferred that the stones had come from some volcano, but no one ever heard where they had come from.

3 [sic]. The loss of so many ships caused us great sadness of heart. The greatest hardship fell to the Indians, for they cannot live without ships. When one is lost it is necessary to build another, and that means the cutting of wood. Six or eight thousand Indians are assembled for that task, and go to the mountains. On them falls the vast labor of cutting and dragging the timber in. To that must be added the blows that are rained down upon them, and the poor pay, and bad nourishment that they receive. At times, religious are sent to protect and defend them from the infernal fury of some Spaniards. Moreover, in the timber collected for one ship there is [actually enough] for two ships. Many gain advantage at the cost of the Indians’ sweat, and later others make a profit in Cavite, as I have seen.

Map of Manila and its suburbs

[From MS. (dated 1671) in Archivo general de Indias, Sevilla]

4. Before leaving Manila, it will be apropos to say something of that island. I shall say nothing particular of the islands of Oton, Iloilo, Zibu, Marinduque, Romblon, Caraga,[14] Calamianes, and others (all of which belong to our king, are inhabited by Indians, and are administered by religious or curas), for I was not in them. I know that they abound in rice, the larger cattle, wax, cotton, and the common fruits. But, as remarked, I do not know the details from experience. Only I am certain that the nests built by the swallows from the sea foam, on the crags near the shores, are valued highly, and are very delicious. When cooked with meat, they are a marvel and contain much nourishment. They are given as presents in Manila. Those which are carried to China are worth many ducados, as I wrote. They are abundant in Calamianes, but I imagine that the same must be true of other islands also; for the Portuguese trade in this commodity in Sian and Camboxa for China. When dry they resemble a little ash-colored earth, but they change appearance after being washed and cooked. There is no doubt that gold is found in all the islands named, in some more than in others. The island of Manila is the largest and most celebrated. It extends from nine or ten degrees south latitude to more than nineteen in the north. From east to west it is very unequal. Manila, which is the capital of all the islands, is near a large river and very near the sea. There reside the governor, four auditors, one fiscal, the archbishop, three royal officials, the alguaçil-mayor of the court, and the municipal corporation with its two alcaldes-in-ordinary, regidors, and alguaçil mayor. The old cathedral was overthrown by the great earthquake of St. Andrew’s [day] of 46. Another was built later, but it was not finished in my time. There is a very spacious and beautiful royal chapel and the convents of St. Dominic, St. Francis, St. Augustine, the Society [of Jesus], St. Nicolas [i.e., the Recollect convent], Santa Clara, and St. John of God; besides two colleges—ours of Santo Thomas, which is a university incorporated, and affiliated with that of Mexico; and that of San Joseph, of the Society of Jesus. There is a fine royal hospital; a church of Santa Potenciana with a house for the shelter of respectable women; and a fine church of the Misericordia with a seminary where many Spanish orphan girls are reared and given dowers for marriage. The best people of Manila look after that seminary. The [post of] head brother of the Misericordia is one of the highest offices in that community. When I had to preach in that church one year, I read the rules professed by that confraternity, and they instructed me in some things. One thing was, that during one of the former years they had distributed in alms alone to the respectable poor thirty-six thousand reals of eight. The city has very fine houses and palaces inside; while outside of it are orchards, gardens, and many baths, which are most necessary for relief from the excessive heat there. The walls, ramparts, cavaliers, covert-ways, and diamond-points which surround the city are as much as can be desired. The site is impregnable in itself, and, even if it were not, the fortifications are sufficient to protect the city. The artillery is heavy and excellent. It is one of the best strongholds that his Majesty owns. Outside its walls it has a Babylon of villages and people on all sides. The river girdles the wall on the north side, and has a fine bridge, which is well garrisoned. As these things are already known, I shall not spend time with them.

5. In their books the Chinese have mentioned the island of Manila, which they call Liu Sung.[15] They say that it is a land where gold abounds, and in that they say truly and rightly. The provinces of Pangasinan and Ilocos are more remarkable in this regard than any other. Rice is abundant and good. There is the rice of forty days, so that it is sown, grows, and is dried, harvested, and eaten in forty days—a very remarkable thing. There is rice of two months, of three, and of five. There are also fine lands for wheat, if there were any system and method in sowing it. If any Indians sow it, it is levied upon in the king’s name; and consequently, the Indians do not devote themselves to that work. In my time, wheat was worth ninety pesos per fanega. If they would sow it in that country, it would be very cheap. The larger cattle are too cheap, so greatly have they multiplied. A large and strong bull is worth four pesos, according to the established price. Goats are not wanting, and there are innumerable deer and very many buffaloes. The males of the buffaloes have been crossed with cows, and the result has been a third and very strange-appearing species. There are ducks, chickens, sugar, wax, and wood that is called here Brazil-wood; there is so much of this that it costs only the cutting. Excellent rattan is found in the greatest abundance, and more than enough cotton to clothe the people of the country. Wines and brandy, made from nipa and other materials, are not wanting, nor people to drink them. There are many delicious fruits. The guayava,[16] which has spread so fast that it is destroying the pasturage, is the finest [kind of fruit]—raw, cooked, prepared in preserves, and in jelly; it is good in all forms. The reason why it has multiplied to such an extent is that crows and birds eat of it and afterward drop the stones to the ground, and wherever the latter fall they take root. The Portuguese told me that the sandalwood of the island of Timor had increased in that way, without any other labor, as I have already written. That tree also bears a small fruit which the birds eat, and whose stones they reject which immediately take root without any other cultivation being necessary. There are macupas, bilimbins, pahos, santols, and papaws,[17] any of which can compete with the best fruit here. There is also the nangca,[18] which is the best fruit in the world. Some of them weigh over forty libras. They are delicious, and the nuts or seeds which each mouthful encloses in itself are very savory, raw or roasted. This fruit grows on the trunk of the tree, and on the large branches, but not on the small ones, as it would be impossible for their weight to be borne there. That tree has no flower. Father Kirquero[19] greatly admired that fruit, and the fruit of the pineapple (or ananasses, as the Portuguese call them). He says that they have those fruits in China, but he was deceived in that regard; they grow in that part of the world, but not in China. The Portuguese praise the ananasses of Malaca highly. They are good, and without doubt there is but little difference between them and those of Manila; even those which I ate in Nueva España seemed just like them. The small sapota and black sapotas, which are numerous and good, grow there.[20] There are found, above all, ates,[21] which for odor and taste I consider superior to all the fruits that God has created. There are bananas, seven or eight varieties, some better than others; and the same [may be said] of oranges. The lemons of Manila are small. Flowers of innumerable varieties are found, and odoriferous herbs in the same way. Sweet basil and sage grow in the plain, so tall and wide-spreading that it is a wonder to see them. There are many palms—cocoa, areca, and other species. The cocoas are the most useful. Before the cocoanut sprouts from the flower-stalk, a precious liquor is extracted which is called tuba by the Indians, and in Eastern India sura. It is distilled at night, and is a delicious and most healthful beverage by morning. If it be boiled it lasts all day. A fine syrup and excellent honey are made from it, and I have made them. The distillations of the day are made into wine, and also into the finest of vinegar. A fine tow is made from the outside shell of the cocoanut, which is used for the calking of ships and other craft. Excellent ropes and fuses are made of it for all sorts of firearms, which are used by the musketeers and arquebusiers. From the inside shell are made elegant drinking-cups for water and chocolate. The water contained inside the cocoanut is drunk, and, if the cocoanut is tender, it is a very sweet and healthful beverage. The cocoanut is roasted for the sick, and after it settles the said water is drunk and produces excellent results. From the white flesh into which the water is gradually converted, a milk is extracted, with which they cook many of their eatables, among these their rice. An excellent conserve called buchayo by the Indians is made from it. Good oil is also extracted from this nut; and from the residue of that process the natives and creoles make a very savory dish with rice. There remain then the trunk and branches [of the tree], which have many other uses. The bamboos are also very useful. Some of them are as thick as the thigh. Chairs, tables, houses, very large churches, fences about the stockyards, scaffolds for buildings, and innumerable other things are made from them. There is an abundance of fish, fine shellfish, including oysters, iguanas,[22] (which, although they have an infernal shape, are the finest kind of food), and the finest shads and pampanos. In the island of Manila and other islands dependent on it only a little coolness is needed, although there are parts somewhat temperate. For the rest, nothing else is needed than to take care of them. Other persons will secure rich harvests, but his Majesty gets nothing, although private persons gain from all of them. That country has temperatures for all products that are desired—for wheat, cloves, cinnamon, and pepper, and for mulberry trees from which the silkworms are fed. There is considerable excellent tobacco. Ebony in as great quantities as are desired, and sandalwood (although it is not fine) are also found in the mountains. Precious stones called bezoars are found in deer; I saw a very fine one, valued, it was said, at many ducados. A deer had been struck with a harpoon, which remained in the deer’s body while the animal still lived. After some time the deer was killed, and the harpoon was found in its proper shape all covered with bezoar. One point was broken off, and in that way the head was laid bare, to the wonder of all who saw it. As arrowheads are poisoned, it was said that that stone, as it had prevented the poison of the said harpoon, must be a marvelous antidote against all poisons. I forgot to consider the fertility of the land of Manila. It suffices to say that six short leguas from that city there are certain lands, called Tunacan,[23] which yield one hundred and thirty fanegas of rice to one fanega sown in them.[24] That appears to me to be as much as can be desired.

6. Other minor matters pertaining to Manila were overlooked by me, which it is not proper to bury in silence. One is of a seminary for boys, called San Juan de Letran. It was founded by a religious, a lay-brother of my order, one Fray Diego de Santa Maria.[25] In my time it had more than two hundred boys, and was of great benefit to those islands. The way in which the boys were managed was inimitable in any other seminary. They were taught reading, writing, grammar, and music there. Those who studied the arts and theology went to our college. They were given two suits of clothes per year, and received religious instruction. In the morning, before breakfast, they recited aloud in chorus one-third of the rosary, at noon another third, and at evening the remaining third, and the salve chanted with the litany of our Lady; and at midnight of important feasts, the matins. While they were eating at dinner and supper one of them read at the table. They confessed and took communion every month, and were punished or rewarded. Some of those boys became soldiers, some secular priests, and some took the habit in the convents of St. Francis, St. Augustine, and St. Dominic, so that the seminary was a general camp of soldiers, both temporal and spiritual. An encomienda was obtained from his Majesty to aid in their support. Alms were obtained from burials[26] and also from the Indians. It is certainly a heroic work. I am told that they have been taken inside the city now, and the most influential religious of the province live there, and, during these later years, those who have been provincials of the order.

7. All of us in this country see another very peculiar thing—namely, that although the city is small, and the Spaniards few in number, yet thousands of Chinese, mestizos, and natives are maintained for their service, so that there are about two hundred Chinese carpenters in the Parián, beside those of the other trades, and all of them are always employed in Manila by the Spaniards. There are about two hundred Chinese and mestizo barbers, all of whom live on the Spaniards; and others in the same proportion. Outside the walls there is a famous hospital for the natives, which is well taken care of by the Franciscan fathers who have charge of it. Opposite the fortress of San Gabriel lies our charge, namely, the care of the Chinese. There one finds a Chinese physician, Chinese medicines, a religious who understands the Chinese language, a nurse, and servants who have charge of everything. Rarely does one die without baptism, and many of them show abundant signs of salvation. All the neighborhood of Manila, except the part that borders on the sea, is filled with villages and churches—that of the Parián being ours, where there is always a religious who knows the Chinese language. Dilao is a village of Japanese, and has a Franciscan religious. The parish church of Santiago is for Spaniards who live outside the walls; also that of Nuestra Señora de Guia, which has a very miraculous image. Our image of the Rosary is most miraculous, and it is the consolation of all the city and of the islands. It is said that they have made imperial crowns for the Son and the Mother, even more precious than those which I said were possessed by our Lady of the Rosary and her Blessed Son in Mexico. The Recollect fathers of our father St. Augustine have [an image], an Ecce Homo, which excites devotion most powerfully, and has been taken to the hearts of all people. It was placed in position amid great rejoicing and imposing ceremonies, shortly after the arrival of Don Sabiniano Manrique de Lara—who took part therein very fervently, and who went to hear mass in that sanctuary every Friday throughout the year.

8. Some influential persons of the city died during those years. Among them were Don Francisco Diaz de Mendoça, noble, virtuous, and beloved by all; the commander Don Pedro de Mendiola, a fine soldier and very gentlemanly, who was governor of Terrenate and castellan of Cavite, and held other important posts; Sargento-mayor Navarro, or, as he was otherwise called, “the just judge” (his father-in-law, Diego Enriquez de Losada, a man of well-known virtue, was drowned in the Camboxa ship). Of the secular priests died the two best bonnets[27] that those islands have had, namely, Don Juan de Ledo and Don Alonso Zapata, both dignidades of the cathedral and doctors of our university, and notable in teaching and in the pulpit. I believe that no one of the dignidades of my time is still living.

9. The members of the Audiencia of that time were Don Sebastian Cavallero de Medina, a creole of Mexico; Don Albaro Fernandez de Ocampo, a native of Madrid; Don Francisco Samaniego y Ivesta, a Montañes; and Don Salvador de Espinosa, a creole of Vera-Cruz; and the fiscal, Don N. de Bolivar. All showed me many favors. I have dedicated conclusions[28] to the second and third, and others afterward also to Don Sabiniano who was present in the royal Audiencia. [Then there were] the master-of-camp, Don Pedro de Almonte, and the sargento-mayor, Don Martin de Ocadiz, who had gone as commandant of the relief sent that year to Terrenate. The commissary of the Holy Office was father Fray Francisco de Paula, who had been provincial, and filled that office for the second time afterward, a man of great influence in all things. At that time, then, I resolved to leave the islands.

10. A very holy and Catholic action that occurred in Manila during the preceding years had slipped my memory; it is very proper that it be known by all, and venerated and applauded by the sons of the Church. When the Catholics were exiled from Japon, they went, as is known, to Manila. The welcome, good treatment, kindnesses, and presents that were showered upon those confessors of Jesus Christ cannot be imagined; the people tried to outdo one another in showing their piety. Not a few sick and leprous persons arrived, and yet was charity so great that they were taken into the houses to be treated; and those who obtained some of them even considered themselves fortunate. They were regarded as saints, and were esteemed a great reliquary of inestimable value. Governor, auditors, citizens, religious, and soldiers engaged in a scuffle,[29] in common phrase, in order to secure a Japanese whether well or sick. No doubt that caused great edification among the heathen people from China, who were watching everything. Although the Chinese see and notice our faults, on that occasion they experienced the marvelous effects of our holy law. To have there such and so many witnesses must have made them see that our conduct and mode of living was such that they would recognize it here and glorify our God and Lord.... I heard later that some of the people in Europa did not act so kindly to the exiles from Irlanda....