“In the state in which the salanganes are sold, they bear a close resemblance to the half of a preserved citron, both in size and shape. They are put into small boats, which the people of the country are sufficiently dextrous in piloting through the rocks where the nests are found. The King of Cochin-China retains in his own hands, exclusively, the portion of this trade which belongs to him, as the most precious production of his dominions, and of which the sale is most to be relied on.”
Note VII.—Page 18.
This shell, which even here, as every where else, bears the name of cowrie, forms likewise the currency of Africa, as it formerly did that of India; and this may probably furnish an argument in favour of the Malay origin.
Note VIII.—Page 21. Note IX.—Same page.
Two causes are here assigned for the wretched state of these dependencies, apparently different, but in fact flowing from the same source. We are told that the surrounding nations are more industrious, and can work at a cheaper rate, and that the insects and rats destroy the produce of the soil. Were the encouragement of agriculture and manufactures an object of importance in the colonial system of the Philippines, the extension and protection of the former would soon circumscribe the dominion of the rats, its most destructive enemy; and if the productions of the soil were, as they ought to be, in as great plenty, and at as low a rate as on the neighbouring islands, manufactures, particularly with the aid of machinery, would be afforded at a profit adequate to the exertions of industry. But the truth is, that the Spanish government is rather desirous of considering the Philippines as the grand depot of the commerce of South America with India and China, and it may be presumed that, on this account, not only is its industry repressed, but the very heavy expense of the settlement submitted to and annually sent from New Spain. The revenue stated to be collected in the islands amounts to about one million of dollars, and this, together with about the same sum remitted by the Acapulco ships, enable the government to defray the annual charges of the colonial establishment.
Note X.—Page 24.
The Spanish author, on the subject of the origin of these Negroes, forms a conclusion directly at variance with what he afterwards says with regard to the origin of the Indians. He admits that the similarity of the former to those of Angola, with the exception of only a shade in colour, carries sufficient conviction as to their parent stock, and of course allows the islands to have been originally colonized from Africa, and by a people infinitely less advanced in cultivation than the Indians, setting aside at once his own very well founded subsequent conclusion, that the colonization of all the islands of the South Sea, with the Marianas, Philippines, &c. must have originated in South America, and proceeded gradually before the wind. The constant course of easterly winds in the Pacific, joined to the instances he adduces of similitude of language, unquestionably aid his hypothesis, which, though probably more curious than practically useful, is yet deserving of attention. There is not, indeed, a more embarrassing subject than that frequently proves to be, which treats of the origin and ancient connexion of distant nations, and after all, as in this case, we are too often left on the field of conjecture.
Note XI.—Page 25.
The reason here given for the wretched condition of these people seems more candidly than might be expected from a Spaniard, to take the load of responsibility from them and cast it on the government; and the perusal of the succeeding pages will but too well confirm the propriety of the censure.
Note XII.—Page 36.