The Philippine Islands, 1493-1898, Volume 52, 1841-1898 / 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

VOLUME XLIV

P. 72, note: The Report of the Philippine Commission for 1906 indicates (pp. 340, 341, 381) gratifying success in the operation of the Moro Exchange in the district of Zamboanga, which “has led to similar exchanges being established on a small scale in the districts of Cotabato and Lanao, and large ones are projected in Sulu and the district of Davao.” It has “greatly stimulated fisheries among the Moros,” and “islands which were formerly inhabited by lawless people who were practically pirates are now the scenes of peaceful activity on the part of Moro fishermen.” An agreement has been made with the merchants of the district to transact all their buying from the natives through the exchanges, on a cash basis instead of barter, etc. The amount of sales in the Moro exchanges for the year 1905–06 was 298,481 pesos (Philippine currency).

P. 152, line 5: The envoy sent on this occasion, General Benito Carrasco Pan y Agua (who was chief notary of the cabildo of Manila), wrote a relation of his embassy and the voyage to Siam, which was published at Manila in 1719. (Vindel, Catálogo, iii, no. 2622.)

P. 222, note: Patiño, who had been prominent in governmental affairs for nearly twenty years, died in 1736; he was a statesman and financier, and advocated peace with all the other powers, especially England.

P. 255, lines 3–5 from end: Up to the beginning of the sixteenth century, Toledo was the chief city in Spain in manufacturing silk; it has been estimated that this industry gave employment there to at least 100,000 people. Gaspar Naranjo, “who traveled through España late in the seventeenth century, asserts that, according to his knowledge, in 1480 Toledo consumed 450,000 libras of silk, which could furnish the supply for 15,000 looms. Although this number was greatly lessened when the Escorial was completed, yet from the looms of Toledo proceeded the richest silks for church adornments, ribbons, and hangings. In the year 1651 Toledo still counted 5,000 looms in operation, although not all within the city; a little afterward, there were not more than two thousand; in 1714 they were reduced to seventy, and finally to none at all. When the remnants of this manufacture left Toledo, that of Valencia gained strength, but never to the extent which might have been if legislation had permitted it. The Moors had left that of Granada in the best condition; years after the conquest it maintained 5,000 spinning-wheels, and the kingdom yielded a million libras of good silk; but just at this point began the exactions of the revenue officials, and likewise, in consequence, the decadence of this industry. It was declared subject to the payment of alçabala, which was a tax of fourteen per cent when once the tenth was applied as an ecclesiastical income; eight maravedís besides were charged to it for the impost called tortil [i.e., spiral?], and nine maravedís more for a municipal tax. When with the increase from successive impositions the management of this revenue became too complicated, all these duties were combined in one; and then it was seen that every libra of silk paid, as its share of the taxes, the enormous amount of very nearly fifteen and one-half reals. With the increase in taxes, the production steadily diminished; by 1643, that of Granada had decreased from a million to one-fourth of that amount, and not long afterward to 80,000, and even less. The silk industry, thus burdened, had to compete with that of Genoa, whence large shipments of silk goods were freely imported into Spanish ports, and sold at lower prices than the goods made in España; and a mortal blow was dealt to it when the exportation of Spanish silks was prohibited, and sumptuary laws reserved the use of silk fabrics to a few classes. It is astonishing that this industry has been able to survive up to the present epoch, although it is in a languishing condition.” (Arias y Miranda, Examen crítico-histórico, pp. 154, 155.)

P. 267, note 78, line 7 from end: For “p. 278” read “p. 279.”

P. 286, note 87: The document here mentioned was afterward shifted to another place; the reference should be to VOL. XLVII, p. 119, paragraph 1 of note.