[7] Chichimecos (meaning "braves") was a term applied to all the wild tribes of Mexico; it was also used specially to designate the hunting and pastoral tribes in the northern provinces of the present country of Mexico—who, according to Humboldt (New Spain, Black's trans., London, 1811, i, p. 133), came to that country about 1170. See also G.P. Winship's Coronado Expedition (Washington, 1896), p. 524.
[8] A Malayan tribe, living in the provinces of Abra and Ilocos, in Luzón. See Sawyer's account of them, in his Inhabitants of Philippines (N.Y., 1900), pp. 275-280.
[9] The residencia is a Spanish institution, dating as far back as the fourteenth century, although its beginnings may be traced to the Visigothic codes. It required a judge or a governor, at the end of a term of office, to reside for a certain time (usually thirty or fifty days) at the chief place where he had exercised his functions. During that time, complaints of his conduct might be made by any person aggrieved, before an official appointed for that purpose. The residencia was a prominent feature of Spanish colonial administration. See Helps's Spanish Conquest in America, iii, ch. iii, for an account of this institution.
[10] "In fortification, a work of extraordinary height, overlooking the surrounding parts as a horseman overlooks foot-soldiers." (Webster's Dictionary.)
[11] This decree may be found in Recopilación de leyes Indias, lib. iv, tit. iii, ley xix. It seems to have been a general regulation, applied to any colonial possession as need might arise.
[12] Crawfurd says, in his Dictionary of the Indian Islands (London, 1856), p. 144: "In the language of the Bugis, whose country produces gold, we find a native word, ulawang, and this is again the case in the languages of the Tagalas of the Philippines, where we have the indigenous name balituk; while in the language of the volcanic Bisaya Islands we find the word bulawang, most probably a corruption of the Bugis word."
[13] There is some mistake in this calculation; for the Chinese tael is equivalent to 1.1334 ounces, and the Spanish onza to 1.0161 ounces, in English or U.S. avoirdupois. The mace is one-tenth of the tael. 8 onzas = 1 marco; 2 marcos = 1 libra = 1.016097 U.S. pounds. The equivalent of one libra, then, would be nearly 12 taels and 2 mace. By texuela is apparently meant the sheet gold previously mentioned.
[14] In New Spain, the hot and fertile regions along the coast, having an elevation of seldom more than 1,000 feet, are called Tierras calientes ("regions of heat"). On the declivity of the Cordilleras, at an elevation of 4,000 to 5,000 feet, there reigns perpetually a soft spring temperature, which never varies more than 10° Fahr. The natives give to this region the name of Tierras templadas ("temperate country"), in which the mean heat of the whole year is about 70° Fahr. The plains elevated more than 7,000 feet above the sea level are called Tierras frías ("cold regions"), where the mean temperature is under 62° Fahr. See Humboldt's New Spain (Black's trans.), i, pp. 64-67.
The name Tierra Firme was applied not only to the northern part of the South American continent, but to a definite region which extended from the middle of the Gulf of Darien to Cape Gracias á Dios. It was at first called Darien, and Castilla del Oro.
[15] Span., de no aver pies ni cabeza, "as he had neither feet nor head."