The Filipinas are a part of the many islands which recent cosmographers consider adjacent to Asia—as the Canarias and the Terceras [i.e., Azores] are to Africa; and Inglaterra [England], Escócia [Scotland], Hibernia, Irlanda, Olanda [Holland], Gelanda [Iceland], and the Oreadas [Orkney] Islands, to Europe. Some of the islands of this great archipelago cross the equinoctial line, or the torrid zone, and following the coast-line of Great China and India, terminate on the north side with the islands of Japon, which extend beyond the fortieth degree; in the south the archipelago has as yet no known termination. The Filipinas are between the Malucas and the islands of Japon; and it is a thing to be wondered at that the exertions and diligence of the Portuguese, who discovered, explored, and settled Maluco, China, and Japon, the outermost and peripheral islands, should not have discovered the middle part, or center, namely, the Filipinas. It is true, they were informed concerning the island of Burney, which is the most southern of the archipelago; they did not, however, stop there, being bound for the islands of Maluco, in eager quest of spices and drugs, which are to be found there in such abundance. It was this very desire to secure drugs that caused the Spaniards, or Castilians, to discover and settle the Filipinas, as is well known. For when Hernando Magallanes was in quest of the aforesaid drugs for the crown of Castilla, in the days of the emperor Charles Fifth, he came upon the island of Sebu, where, at the expense of his life, [33] he proved that the entire voyage from Nueva España could be made, avoiding the tedious route through the Strait and the necessity of sailing thither from Spain. [34] Villalobos did the same soon after, but our Lord destroyed his fleet, leaving the captain and his crew shipwrecked on the island of Maluco, where necessity compelled them to fraternize and remain with the Portuguese. [35] Father Cosme de Torres, our illustrious apostle of Japon, took part in this expedition, and was found in Maluco by the Blessed Father Francisco, who received him as his companion, and as a member of our Society. [36] The Castilians persisted in making a third attempt to send a fleet from Nueva España for the same purpose. With the warning and experience of the two former expeditions, they well knew the locality of Sebu, and cast their anchors there. God, who destined them not for Maluco but for the Filipinas, caused them to abandon the thought of Maluco and to settle the latter islands, thus bringing them to the bosom of the Church and to the crown of Castilla; they gave these the name of Filipinas, out of respect to, and to perpetuate the memory of, King Filipo Second. [37] It was during his reign that this third expedition took place, as well as the discovery and conversion of the islands—which was accomplished by only five hundred Spaniards with six Augustinian religious, holy men and learned. Among them was the reverend Father Martin de Herrada, [38] a great cosmographer and mathematician, but still more distinguished as a holy and truly apostolic man. He was the first who made converts to Christianity in the Filipinas, preaching to them of Jesus Christ in their own tongue—of which he made the first vocabulary, which I have seen and have also studied.
The discovery of an image of the child Jesus, which gave its name to the city of Sebu; the holy patrons of the same and of Manila. Chapter II.
The city of the natives in the port of Sebu was at that time so large and populous that it extended a space of more than a legua along the beach, on the spot where now stands the city and fortress of the Spaniards. As the Indians had already in the past experienced the valor of the latter, and were fearful at thought of their treachery in killing Magallanes years before, they greatly feared our men on this occasion. Upon sighting our vessels, they began to offer all possible resistance with their bows and arrows, lances and shields—such being their arms—to prevent our men from landing. When our people saw the islanders disposed to hostility, they discharged some cannon into the air, frightening them to such an extent that they abandoned their houses and fled inland. Thereupon our men leaped ashore unimpeded and began to seek food in the houses (as is the custom among those who have just disembarked after a long voyage). At this juncture it happened that a Biscayan who was rummaging among the movables and ornaments of one of the houses, found in a basket, among other things, a carved image of the holy child Jesus, presumably left as a trophy of the devotion of some good soldier of the first expedition of Magallanes. [39] The Indians, partly on account of the novelty of the image, which they understood to be the God of the Christians, and partly on account of the respect and reverence with which our Lord himself inspired them, held the object in great veneration, as was afterwards learned, and had recourse to it in all their necessities—making sacrifices to it after their custom, and anointing it with their oils, as they were accustomed to anoint their idols. And our Lord exercising, moreover, His wonted mercy toward those who honored Him without knowing Him, did not act otherwise toward those who, in their ignorance of Him, were at the same time offending Him; He succored them most liberally in their needs, as a token and pledge of the greater favors which He had marked out for them when they should come to a knowledge of Him, and preserved for these times which they are now enjoying. For which reason they had recourse frequently to this image in their necessities, calling it "the Divata of the Castilians;" for among them "Divata" is God, whom the inhabitants of Manila call Bathala or Anito, [40] as we shall see later. The good Biscayan upon seeing the holy Child, was filled with a strange joy and happiness, and desiring to share it with the rest of the expedition, began to cry aloud in his own absurd language, "Bear witness to God, thou hast found His Son." The religious at once took possession of the image, regarding it as a good omen; and out of respect and devotion to it named the city that they founded Santissimo Nombre de Jesus, and placed the image in a church of their order erected in the city. There it remains in highest veneration, and has wrought many miracles, particularly in childbirths, whence it is both facetiously and piously called El Partero ["man-midwife">[. Each year it is borne in solemn procession from the church of St. Augustine to the spot in which it was found, where a chapel has since been erected. The procession takes place upon the same day when the discovery was made—namely, on the twenty-ninth of April, the feast of the glorious martyr St. Vital, who is patron of the city, and as such that day is kept as a solemn feast in his honor. One of the regidors, appointed each year for this purpose, brings out the banner of the city; he is on that day clad in livery, and invites the public to the festivals. [41] There are bull-fights and other public festivities and rejoicings, with many novel fireworks, such as wheels and sky-rockets, which the Sangleys make the night before; on this occasion they construct things well worth seeing, and which appear well-nigh supernatural. The city of Manila holds similar festivities on the feast-day of the glorious apostle St. Andrew, who was chosen as its patron because, on his feast-day, the city was delivered from the blockade of the pirate Limahon. At that time the city had no fortress or walls, or any stone buildings; and in all the islands there were no more than five hundred Spaniards, as I learned from one of them. These few men alone compelled the enemy, who numbered more than a thousand fighting men, to withdraw from the city; and they even pursued and harried the pirates in such wise, by blocking the mouth of the river Pangasinan (where they had retired with their ships), that to escape the fury of our men they were obliged to construct some light craft within their fort. They are said to have calked these, for want of pitch, with their own blood; and to have carried them on their shoulders for several leguas over land, until they succeeded in launching them into the sea, and fled under full sail. They left their ships in the river and dismantled the forts and camps, where our men found some spoils, of which I saw a part. But satisfaction over the booty was outweighed by chagrin at losing the enemy whom they had practically in their hands. The enemy, however, had received such a lesson that they never returned.
Some years afterwards they planned to elect another patron against hurricanes, which are called in those parts vagios, and by the Portuguese tufones. [42] They are furious winds which, springing up ordinarily in the north, veer toward the west and south, and move around the compass in the space of twenty hours or more.
One of these days of tempest is a very Judgment day; especially if it overtake one in the night-time, and in a wooden house. It rends some houses, and turns others over on one side; still others (and most frequently) it destroys and hurls to the ground. With the assistance of the bishop of Yucatan, [43] who was at that time dean of the church, the cathedral of Manila had been temporarily erected, with pillars of the very strongest trees, so large that two men could not reach around them; and all the timber above and below was on the same scale; yet in half an hour one of these typhoons destroyed the newly-built cathedral, and left only the tabernacle of the most Holy Sacrament between four pillars. In this accident some people were killed: for, fleeing from their houses, which were falling to pieces over their heads, they betook themselves for greater safety to the church. The vessels in the bay were hurled ashore the distance of a stone's throw, and those who were caught in the tempest were carried away like straw. To remedy so great an evil, lots were cast with great solemnity at a concourse of all classes; from these came forth the [name of the] most glorious virgin St. Potenciana—not without much mystery; for, on the day when the event took place (the 19th of May), one of the earliest settlers, hearing her name called, arose and said: "Hers is the day when we first entered Manila, by which it is meant that our Lord chose to inform us of the obligation that we owe to this glorious Saint." What followed confirmed his statement; for from that time forward there has been a notable improvement in this respect, the storms and the fury of the winds recognizing the favor and protection of this blessed virgin.
How the Spaniards spread over all the Filipinas to Manila. Chapter III.
The people of Sebu did not remain a long time in retirement. Assured of the good friendship of the Spaniards for them, and that through it they should have many commodities which they needed, together with defense and help against their enemies, and peace in the islands (of which they were so desirous, being weary of the continual and grievous wars and evils with which they had harassed one another), they all repaired to the Spaniards to be baptized, and to offer them their services. They entered, moreover, into such fraternal and confidential relations with the Spaniards that they soon came to long for the honor which might be theirs from association with them, and from serving them with their industry and lands—not only providing them with what was needful for their sustenance, but acting as guides in the exploration and conquest of the other islands as far as Manila, which is the principal and foremost island among them all.
For this reason the Sebuans are privileged and exempt from taxation, as a reward for their friendly services and loyalty. In the beginning the pacification of the Islands was strongly resisted, and some deaths among our men ensued; yet, in spite of this, those few reduced and subjugated everything and began to establish our holy faith, gently bringing the villages, with their chiefs, into obedience to the Church and to the crown of Castilla. The method which they pursued was consistent with the practice of those nations in forming a friendship—a method not altogether their own, as it was a custom among the most ancient heathen peoples, mention of which we find in serious authors. Those who made peace in the name of the rest, and established the pacts of perpetual friendship, pricked and wounded their own arms; the Indian sucking the blood of the Spaniard, and the Spaniard that of the Indian. In this wise they became as if of the same blood, and were closer than brothers. These are called sandugo, which means "consanguineous," or "of the same blood."
Of the entry of the fathers of the Society into the Filipinas. Chapter
IV.
These islands offer good inducements to the Spaniards, as well as for ecclesiastics and religious, to make settlements: to the former, because the islands are numerous and thickly inhabited by a people who, though not rich, were accustomed to wear cotton and silk garments, and gold pieces (not merely of thin plate) and brooches to fasten them; and rich necklaces, pendants, ear-rings, finger-rings, ankle-rings, on the neck, ears, hands, and feet—the men, as well as the women. They even used to, and do yet, insert gold between their teeth as an ornament. Although among the other ornaments which they used were to be found articles of considerable interest and curiosity which could be described, there is one practice which seems more worthy of attention than the others—namely, that of wearing rings upon the instep of the foot. This seems to be precisely the same custom that the ancients wrote about when they mentioned nations who used gold for fetters and chains, especially among the nobles. Their ornamenting the teeth is also worth notice, although it is a barbarous practice to deprive them of their natural whiteness, which God conferred upon the teeth for the beauty of man. On the other hand, they showed themselves to be both skilful and prudent in trying to maintain them as necessary instruments for the preservation of health and life. They are thus very diligent in rinsing out their mouths and cleansing their teeth after eating, and upon arising in the morning. For the same purpose they treat and adorn their teeth in the following way: From early childhood they file and sharpen them, [44] either leaving them uniform or fashioning them all to a point, like a saw—although this latter is not practiced by the more elegant. They all cover their teeth with a varnish, either lustrous black or bright red—with the result that the teeth remain as black as jet, or red as vermilion or ruby. From the edge to the middle of the tooth they neatly bore a hole, which they afterward fill with gold, so that this drop or point of gold remains as a shining spot in the middle of the black tooth. This seems to them most beautiful, and to us does not appear ugly.