These islands extend north and south with the land of Labrador, which lies near Terra-nova [Newfoundland], and are not a great distance from Japon. [35] It is quite safe to say that they have intercourse with the Tartars, and that they buy iron to sell it to the latter. The Spaniards who passed these islands called them the islands of Ladrones ["Thieves">[; for in sober truth all these people are thieves, and very bold ones, very deft in stealing; and in this science they might instruct the Gitanos [gypsies], who wander through Europe. In verification of this, I will recount an occurrence witnessed by many Spaniards, one which caused much wonder. While a sailor was stationed, by the order of the captain, on the port side of the ship, with orders to allow none to come aboard, and while he, sword in hand, was absent-mindedly looking at some of the canoes of the islanders—a sort of little boat all made of one piece, in which they sail—one of the natives plunged under the water and swam to where he was, quite unconscious of anything of the sort, and without his seeing it, snatched the sword from his hand and swam back with it. At the cry of the sailor, proclaiming the trick practiced on him by the islander, several soldiers with their arquebuses were stationed to shoot the native when he should emerge from the water. The islander on seeing this emerged from the water, holding up his hands, and making signs that he had nothing in them. For this reason those who were on the point of shooting him refrained. After a few moments of rest, the native dived once more, and swam under water, until out of range of the arquebuses—where, assured of safety, he took the sword from between his legs where he had hidden it, and commenced to make passes with it, jeering the while at our men whom he had deceived so easily. This theft, as well as many very adroit ones that they committed, has given these people the name of Ladrones, and is the reason for calling all the islands inhabited by them by the same name. This appellation is easily pardoned as long as they find opportunity to exercise their evil inclinations.
Departure from the Ladrones Islands and arrival at those of Luzon, or, as they are called also, Filipinas; and the relation of some peculiarities of those islands. Chapter XII.
Island of Luzon, and city of Manila. Navigating almost two hundred leagues west of the Ladrones Islands, to the channel called Espiritu Santo, one enters the archipelago, which consists of innumerable islands, [36] almost all inhabited by natives, and many of them conquered by the Spaniards, through either war or friendship. After sailing for eighty leagues, one reaches the city of Manila, located on the island of Luzon. Here the governor of all the said islands, and his Majesty's officials, reside generally; and here is the bishop and the cathedral church. This city lies in fourteen and one-fourth degrees. About it lie many islands, which no one has yet succeeded in numbering. They all extend northwest and southwest [sic] and north and south, so that in one direction they reach to the strait of Sincapura [Singapore], twenty-five leagues' distance from Malaca, and at the other almost to the Malucos and other islands, where a fabulous amount of cloves, pepper, and ginger is gathered, for there are whole mountains of these spices. The first to discover these islands were Spaniards, who went thither with the famous Magallanes, but did not conquer them, for they were more experienced in navigation than in conquest. Therefore after passing the strait (which to this day bears his [Magallanes's] surname), they arrived at the island of Zubu, where they baptized a number of the natives. Afterward at a banquet, those same islanders killed Magallanes and forty of his companions. On account of this Sebastian de Guetaria [Elcano], a native of Vizcaya, in order to escape with his life, embarked in one of the vessels remaining from the voyage—afterward known as the "Vitoria"—and with it and a very few of the crew who aided him, arrived, with God's help, at Sevilla. Thus they circumnavigated the world, from east to west, an event which caused universal wonder, and especially to the Emperor Carlos the Fifth, our sovereign. After the latter had bestowed great favors upon Sebastian de Guetaria, he ordered a new fleet to be prepared, to seek those islands anew, and to explore that new world. As soon as this fleet was in readiness to sail, which was very soon, a certain Villalobos was appointed as general of the entire fleet, and was ordered to sail by way of Nueva España. This Villalobos reached the Malucos Islands, those of Terrenate, and others near by, which had been sold by the above-named emperor to the crown of Portugal.
In these islands they had many wars, because of the Portuguese; and seeing their feeble means of resistance, and how ill-prepared they were to prosecute the conquest, they gave it up. Most of them accompanied the above-mentioned Portuguese to Portuguese India, whence they were sent, half prisoners, to the king of Portugal himself, as men who had committed crimes, and had entered his islands without his permission. He not only did them no harm, but gave them excellent treatment, sending them to their native country, Castilla, besides providing them fully with the things necessary for their journey. Some years after that, King Don Felipe, our sovereign, with the desire to prosecute this discovery, attempted so earnestly by the emperor his father, sent an order to Don Luys de Velasco, his viceroy in Nueva España, to prepare a fleet and crew for the rediscovery of the above-named islands. He was ordered to despatch in this fleet, as governor of everything discovered, Miguel Lopez de Legaspi. All was carried out in obedience to his Majesty's orders, and the discovery was made in the manner recounted at length in the first relation of the entrance of the Augustinian fathers into China.
These islands were formerly subject to the king of China, until he relinquished them all voluntarily, for the reasons expressed above in the first part of this history. The Spaniards, therefore, at their arrival found them without ruler or seignior to whom they might render obedience. In each one of the islands, he who had most power and followers acted as ruler. And because there were many equally powerful, there was occasion for continual civil wars, without any heed to nature, or to kindred, or to any other obligation, just as if they were unreasoning animals—destroying, killing, and capturing one another. This aided and favored our Spaniards to conquer the land so easily for his Majesty.
The reason for calling the islands Western Filipinas. The name Filipinas Islands was given them in honor of his name. The natives were wont to make captives and slaves with great readiness in illegal warfare, and for very slight causes. This God remedied with the coming of our Spaniards. It was usual for a man, with forty or fifty associates, or servants, to attack a village of poor people suddenly, when totally unprepared for such an assault, and, capturing them all, to make them slaves, without other cause or right; these they would keep as slaves for life, or sell them in other islands. And should one loan one or two baskets of rice to another, of the value of one real, stipulating that it should be returned within ten days, should the debtor fail to pay it on the day set, on the next day he had to pay double, and the debt continued to double from day to day, until it grew so large that the debtor was forced to become a slave in order to pay it. The Catholic Majesty, the king our sovereign, has ordered all those enslaved by this and similar means to be freed; but this just order has not been obeyed entirely, for those who should execute it have some interest therein.
All these islands were pagan and idolatrous. They now contain many thousands of baptized persons, upon whom our Lord has had great mercy, sending them the remedy for their souls in so good season; for, had the Spaniards delayed a few years more, all the natives would now be Moors, for already some of that sect in the island of Burneo had gone to these islands to preach their faith, and already many were not far from the worship of the false prophet Mahoma. But his perfidious memory was extirpated easily by the holy gospel of Christ. In all these islands they worshiped the sun, moon, and other secondary causes, certain images of men and women called in their tongue Maganitos, feasts to whom—very sumptuous and abounding in great ceremonies and superstitions—were called Magaduras. Among all of these idols they held one, by name Batala, in most veneration. This reverence they held as a tradition; but they knew not why he was greater than the others, or why he merited more esteem. In certain adjacent islands, called the Illocos, they worshiped the devil, offering him many sacrifices in payment and gratitude for the quantities of gold that he gave them. Now, by the goodness of God, and by the great industry of the Augustinian fathers—the first to go to those districts, and who have toiled and lived in a praiseworthy manner—and by the Franciscan fathers, who went thither ten years after, all these islands, or the majority of them, have received baptism, and are enrolled under the banner of Jesus Christ. Those yet outside the faith are so rather for lack of religious instruction and preachers, than by any repugnance of their own. Last year the Jesuit fathers went thither, and they helped in the work with their wonted labor and zeal. Now many more religious are going, very learned and apostolic men, of the Dominican order, who will work in that vineyard of the Lord with as great earnestness as they display wherever they go.
Account of certain remarkable things seen in these Filipinas
Islands. Chapter XIII.
The inhabitants of these islands were accustomed to celebrate their feasts above mentioned, and to sacrifice to their idols, at the order of certain witches, called in their own speech Holgoi. These witches were held in as great esteem among them as are priests among Christians. They talked quite commonly with the devil, and many times publicly; and they worked many devilish witcheries, by word and deed. The devil himself, beyond any doubt, took possession of them, and then they answered to all questions, although often they lied, or told things capable of many interpretations and different meanings. Likewise they were wont to cast lots, as has been related in the first part of this history. They were so superstitious that if they commenced any voyage, and at its beginning happened to see a crocodile, lizard, or any other reptile, which they recognized as an ill omen, they discontinued their journey, whatever its importance, and returned home, saying that the sky was not propitious to that journey. The evangelical law, as above stated, has driven away all these falsities, to which the devil had persuaded them. Now there are many monasteries of religious established in their midst, of the orders of St. Augustine, St. Francis, and the Society of Jesus. Current report declares that the number of souls converted and baptized in these islands exceeds four hundred thousand—which, although a great number, is but little in comparison with those still remaining. The rest fail to become Christians, as I have declared, through lack of religious workers; for although his Majesty continues to send them, taking no account of the great expense incurred therein, the islands are so many (and more are being discovered daily) and so distant that it has been impossible to send the necessary aid to all of them. The natives who are baptized receive the faith with avidity and are excellent Christians; and they will be even better, if aided with good examples, as is incumbent upon those who have been Christians for so long. But the actions of some of them make them so hated by the natives that the latter do not wish even to see their pictures.
A remarkable thing. For proof of this assertion, and in order to induce those in authority to remedy this condition of affairs, I will relate here a strange but well authenticated occurrence in these islands, and a thing thoroughly well known in them all. In this particular island one of the chief inhabitants died a few days after his baptism. At his death he was very contrite for the sins that he had committed against God before and after his baptism. Afterward he appeared, by divine permission, to many persons of that island, whom he persuaded by forcible reasoning to receive baptism immediately, declaring to them, as one who had experienced it, the reward of celestial bliss, which, without any doubt, would be granted through baptism, and by living thereafter in conformity to the commandments of Christ. For this purpose he declared and asserted to them that, as soon as he had died, angels had carried him to glory, where only delight and happiness reigned, which arose solely from the sight of God. No one entered, or could enter that place, unless he were baptized according to the preaching of the Castilians. Of these latter, and of others like them, there was an infinite number there. Therefore, if they wished to share in the enjoyment of those blessings and delights, they must be baptized first, and afterward observe the commandments preached by the fathers among the Castilians. Thereupon he vanished instantly, and they began to discuss what they had heard. On account of it, some were baptized immediately, but others delayed, saying that because there were Castilian soldiers in glory, they did not care to go there, for they did not wish their company. All this injury can arise from one impious man, who presents one bad example. Such a man, wheresoever he might be, and especially in those islands, should be reprimanded and punished severely by good people.