The Philippine Islands, 1493-1803 — Volume 05 of 55 / 1582-1583 / 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 Beginning of the Nineteenth Century

by Unknown

Relation of the Filipinas Islands by Miguel de Loarca

A treatise on the Philipinas islands, in which an account is given of all the islands and peoples reduced to the obedience of his royal Majesty, King Don Phelippe, our sovereign, and of the settlements that the Spaniards have made there; together with an account of the form of government among both the Spaniards and the natives, and of some customs of the Indians and Moros of these islands.

Although the chief settlement of the Spaniards in these islands is the city of Manila, and the island of Luçon, wherein it is situated, is the finest and richest of all the islands discovered (on which account we should discuss and begin to write about it first), yet, since the island of Çubu was the first to be settled, and served as the starting-point for the conquest of all the others; and, too, because your Lordship has allowed me so short a time in which to write this relation; and because I know them better, I shall commence with the island of Cubu and those adjacent to it, the Pintados. Thus I may afterward speak more at length on matters pertaining to this island of Luçon and its neighboring islands—where, because the natives are Moros, they differ somewhat from the former in customs, mode of life, and language.

It cannot be denied that the men who have come to this country have lacked the desire for investigation, since neither ecclesiastics nor laymen have undertaken to relate what occurred in this land at the time of its conquest; and, although it is said that father Fray Alonso de Buyça has written a large volume in Mexico on this subject, I doubt the assertion, because I have seen his letters which came last year, in this ship “Sanct Martin.” In these letters he asked for exact information about events in this region of sixteen years ago, because he mistrusted the accounts which have been sent to him from here; he also requested any one of the settlers of this land, who should write, to give a faithful account of all things for times to come. At present, it will be difficult to arrange such information, and much time will be needed therefor. In view of this and the short time before me, I shall not treat of that particular subject; but I shall fulfil what his Majesty has ordered from your Lordship by his royal decree; and I shall also add a description of some customs of the natives, in order that, since they are his Majesty’s vassals, he may know of the barbarous life from which he has delivered these natives, and of the civilized manner in which they now live under his gracious sway.

Chapter First

Of the island of Çubu, and of the other islands under its jurisdiction.

Island of Çubu. The island of Çubu, the first to be settled by Miguel Lopez de Legazpi, has a circuit of nearly a hundred leagues and a length of about fifty leagues, for it is very narrow. At the two extremities it is, at the widest place, about twenty leagues wide. One extremity, the one lying toward the north, is called Burula. The other extremity, which we call Las Cabeças and the natives Sanbuan, lies at the south; for, as is inferred, this island runs nearly north and south. One cannot sail very close to the island; because all along the coast where the town of Çubu is situated are to be found bays that curve in different directions. On the other and western side of the island the land lies almost northeast and southwest. The entire island contains about three thousand five hundred Indians, living in different, and for the most part small, villages. Here I shall mention only the principal ones, for the others are small, numbering only from eight to ten houses.

Jaro. Jaro is under the charge of an encomendero who also holds an encomienda elsewhere; the village is inhabited by five hundred Indians.

Daraguete. Daraguete is also an encomienda, with two hundred Indians.