The Visayas build a number of canoes, paraos, barotos, and vintas, and are very confident on the water, putting to sea in their ill-found and badly-equipped craft with great assurance, and do not come to grief as often as might be expected. Their houses are similarly constructed to those of the other inhabitants of the littoral.
Ancient writers accused the Visaya women of great sensuality and unbounded immorality, and gave details of some very curious customs, which are unsuitable for general publication. However, the customs I refer to have been long obsolete among the Visayas, although still existing amongst some of the wilder tribes in Borneo. The Visaya women are very prolific, many having borne a dozen children, but infant mortality is high, and they rear but few of them. The men are less sober than the Tagals—they manufacture and consume large quantities of strong drink. They are not fond of the Tagals, and a Visaya regiment would not hesitate to fire upon them if ordered. In fact the two tribes look upon each other as foreigners. When discovered by the Spaniards, they were to a great extent civilised and organised in a feudal system. Tomas de Comyn formed a very favourable opinion of them—he writes, both men and women are well-mannered and of a good disposition, of better condition and nobler behaviour than those of the Island of Luzon and others adjacent.
They had learnt much from Arab and Bornean adventurers, especially from the former, whose superior physique, learning, and sanctity, as coming from the country of the Prophet, made them acceptable suitors for the hands of the daughters of the Rajas or petty kings. They had brought with them the doctrines of Islam, which had begun to make some converts before the Spanish discovery. The old Visaya religion was not unlike that of the Tagals, they called their idols Dinatas instead of Anitos—their marriage customs were not very different from those of the Tagals.
The ancestors of the Visayas were converted to Christianity at, or soon after, the Spanish conquest. They have thus been Christians for over three centuries, and in constant war with the Mahometan pirates of Mindanao and Sulu, and with the Sea Dayaks of Borneo. However, in some localities they still show a strong hankering after witchcraft, and practise secret heathen rites, notwithstanding the vigilance of the parish priests.
A friar of the order of Recollets who had held a benefice in Bohol, assured me that they have a secret heathen organisation, although every member is a professing Christian, taking the Sacrament on the great feasts of the Church. They hold a secret triennial meeting of their adherents, who come over from other islands to be present. The meeting is held in some lonely valley, or on some desert island, where their vessels can lie concealed, always far from any church or priest. All the Recollet could tell me about the ceremonies was that the sacrifice of pigs formed an important part of it
The Visayas are no less credulous than the Tagals, for in Samar, during my recollection, there have been several disturbances caused by fanatics who went about in rags, and by prayers, incoherent speeches, and self-mortification acquired a great reputation for sanctity. The poor ignorant people, deluded by these impostors, who gave themselves out to be gods, and as such, impervious to bullets, and immortal, abandoned their homes and followed these false gods wherever they went, listening to their wild promises, and expecting great miracles. They soon came into collision with the Guardia Civil; and on one occasion, armed only with clubs and knives, they made a determined charge on a small party of this corps under the command of a native officer. The Guardia Civil formed across the road and poured several steady volleys into the advancing crowd, breaking them up and dispersing them with heavy loss and killing the false god. The native officer received the laurel-wreathed cross of San Fernando as a reward for his services.
The Visayas are taxed with great indolence, yet they are almost the only working people in districts which export a great quantity of produce. Leyte and Samar produce a good many bales of excellent hemp, and it should be remembered that every bale represents at least twelve days’ hard work of one man in cleaning the fibre only, without counting the cultivation, conveyance to the port, pressing, baling, and shipping.
In Negros and Panay the sugar estates are much larger than in Luzon, and mostly belong to Spaniards or mestizos. They are not worked by aparceria as in Luzon, but the labourers are paid by the day. Great troubles often occur as bands of labourers present themselves on the plantations and offer to work, but demand an advance of pay. Sometimes, after receiving it, they work a few days and then depart without notice, leaving the planter in great difficulty and without redress. Strict laws against vagrants are urgently required in Visayas. On the other hand the planter is more free to introduce improvements and alterations than when working by aparceria when he has to consult the inquilino or cultivator about any change. The cane-mills are much larger than in Luzon, and are mostly worked by steam engines.
The sugar is handled differently from the custom of Pampanga. Pilones are not used, and no manipulation in farderias is required to prepare it for export. The cane-juice is carefully clarified and skimmed, then boiled in open pans to a much higher point than when making pilon-sugar, and to get it to this point without burning or over-heating much care and experience is required.
From the teache it is ladled into large wooden trays, always in thin layers, and is there beaten up with heavy spatulas until it becomes, on cooling, a pale yellow amorphous mass. It is packed in mat-bags, and is then ready for shipment. It travels well and loses but little during a Voyage to San Francisco or New York. None of it goes to England, which is now entirely supplied by the vile beet sugar “made in Germany,” except for a few hundred tons of Demerara crystals imported for use by connoisseurs to sweeten their coffee.