An Historical View of the Philippine Islands, Vol 2 (of 2) / Exhibiting their discovery, population, language, government, manners, customs, productions and commerce.

by Joaquín Martínez de Zúñiga

OF THE PHILIPPINES.

The Philippines extend from the 3d or 4th, to the 19th or 20th degree of north latitude. They comprehend a great number of islands, which, for the most part, are very little known. The principal, and those on which the Spaniards have establishments, are Luçon, Mindoro, Panay, and Mindanao. Next, in point of extent, are ranked Palawan, Buglas or Isle of Negroes, Zebu, Leyt or Leita, and Samar. To the east of Zebu is the little island of Mactan, where Magellan lost his life. Exclusive of these there is a multitude of small islands.

Luçon lies to the north of all the others: it is likewise the largest, being not less than 450 miles in length, and about 85 at its least breadth. The Spaniards have upon this island established Manila, the capital of their settlements in the Archipelago. Its advantageous position for the commerce of China, and that of other parts of India, ought to render this city the richest in the world; but what Spaniard would occupy his time in the pursuit of transitory riches, which must be acquired by the assiduities of commercial industry, and at the expense of his national prejudices?

Manila lies in 40° 30′ N. latitude. The climate is nearly the same as that of Pondicherry and Madras; the town is large and well built; the houses are handsome, and the streets in straight lines. There are several superb churches. It is fortified, and is situated upon the bank of a considerable river, which washes its walls, and communicates through the island of Luçon in every direction. The country which surrounds it is fertile, and adapted to every species of cultivation; but in the hands of the Spaniards it lies an useless waste. They have neither availed themselves of the position of the town, or of the fertility of the surrounding soil; they allow it to exhaust itself, and bear of its own accord crops which they will not be at the trouble of getting in. Even the law, which ought to lend its aid in support of the cultivator of the soil, is at Manila inimical to his views, and the exportation of that abundance which nature holds out to man is prohibited. The treasures of the earth exceed the wants of the limited number of inhabitants in this island, and they are allowed to perish on the soil which gives them birth. The consequence is, that should it happen in any year that a variable atmosphere, hurricanes, or a wet or dry season, should substitute scarcity for abundance, the most dreadful famine would be the lot of a country which ought never to feel the effects of it.

Such is the general ignorance, such their indolence, their blind and culpable confidence in Providence, that the extent of their cultivation, and the collection of their produce, is limited to their immediate wants. The most horrible misery is often the result of this perilous security, so much at variance with the benevolent views of nature. Common animal instinct teaches us to provide for the future, but the Spaniards cannot boast of even this foresight.

It is computed that there are about 12,000 Christians in Manila. The population of this city was formerly much more extensive while it was resorted to by the Chinese. Many of that nation were settled there, and others were engaged in commercial intercourse; but a bigoted Governor, under the influence of a wretched policy, absolutely drove them out of the island. Commerce and the arts immediately declined, and have never since recovered. Misery and depopulation have been the fatal consequences of this mal-administration.

Vessels do not anchor abreast of Manila; the mouth of the river is interrupted by a bar, which is very dangerous in stormy weather. Small vessels, however, may enter, and their cargoes are discharged at Privateer harbour. Such vessels as are obliged to winter at Manila retire to the port of Cavite, situated in the bottom of the bay to the S. E. and three leagues distant from Manila.

Cavite is provided with a fort, which is not in a state to resist the attack of an European enemy. It is constructed on a tongue of low land, which the sea threatens with submersion; its harbour is not sheltered from the north and N. N. W. winds; and it is infested with a species of worm which attacks vessels, and soon renders them unfit to keep the sea. Another great inconvenience is, that water is procured at a great distance; and for this purpose it is necessary to employ the flat-bottomed boats of the country, which are alone capable of penetrating sufficiently far up the river. Three parts of the town, little considerable in itself, are occupied, like all the Spanish possessions, by convents; the suburbs are called Fauxbourg Saint Roch. It consists of a collection of houses, built of bamboo, and covered with palm leaves; but there are in it, however, the ruins of a church which appears to have been sufficiently handsome. The Indians, who joined the English in 1762, destroyed it, and that which was formerly held in such respect is now become a shelter for cattle.

The Spaniards have many religious establishments in the island of Luçon. It might be averred, that it never was their intention to plant colonies, for they have only sent monks, and appear to have had no other end in view than the propagation of the Catholic faith. The people, therefore, who have submitted to the Spanish yoke, scarcely exhibit any traits of a polished nation. Languishing in inactivity, they are without energy, and appear equally indifferent to virtue as to vice. Indolence, a dereliction of life and timidity, constitute their character, and misery is their habitual state; but there are districts to which the Spaniards have been unable to penetrate. In vain have they tried to subdue those who have retired thither; in vain applied force, severity, and punishment, to subjugate and convert them. These people have escaped from the yoke by removing themselves to defiles where the Spaniards cannot attack them: they have carried with them into the retreat they have chosen the recollection of the injuries they have suffered, and of those with which they have been threatened; they nourish, in the extremity of their asylum, an implacable hatred against the strangers, whom they consider as the oppressors of their native land; they incessantly meditate on, and prepare the means of revenge. Supported by their courage, animated by their hatred, they dare approach even the gates of the capital: their progress is marked with pillage, murder, devastation, and rape; they even live at the expense of such of their countrymen as have submitted; they carry off, they tear from them the support of a miserable existence, which these latter have neither the strength nor the courage to defend.

There is, besides these, in the mountainous parts, a description of people absolutely in a savage state; they shun the face of man, they even shun each other; they are solitary wanderers; they stop when night overtakes them, and take their rest in the hollows of trees; they are strangers even to domestic life. The invincible propensities of nature are alone capable of bending their stubborn character, and impelling the men to satisfy themselves with such females as chance throws in their way, and towards whom desire is the only attraction. The inhabitants of the island of Luçon call themselves Tagals, as do likewise all the inhabitants of the Philippines—they appear to derive their origin from the Malays, and exhibit features of their character—their language, though different from that of the Malays, has its pronunciation and its sweetness. All these islands seem to be inhabited by the same people, among whom their customs alone have been subjected to change. In Manila, such has been the intercourse with the Chinese and other nations, that they have become a mixed race.