These people were and still are very sagacious, and keen in traffic and bargaining, and in buying and selling; and they applied themselves to all gainful pursuits—and not least to agriculture and to the breeding of animals, regularly carried on for the profits thus made. They have not only great harvests of rice (which is their ordinary bread), but also crops of cotton, with which they clothe themselves, and from which they manufacture quantities of cloths, which were, and are yet, much esteemed in Nueva España. For this reason, the Spaniards regarded them as a people from whom large profits might be gained, and they were not mistaken, for, from the gains on cotton fabrics alone (which there they call lompotes), one encomendero left an estate of more than one hundred and fifty thousand pesos in a few years. The soil is not only good and favorable with a sunny climate, but fertile and rich. Besides possessing many gold mines and placers—of which they make but small account, because of the China silks which bring them more profit—they raise fowls in great abundance. Besides the domestic fowls, which are most numerous and very cheap, the fields are full of wild ones. There is an infinite number of domestic swine, not to mention numberless mountain-bred hogs, which are very fat, and as good for lard as the domestic breed. There are also many goats which breed rapidly, bearing two kids at a time and twice yearly; there are entire islands abounding with them. As to the buffaloes, there called carabaos, there are beside the tame and domestic breed, many mountain buffaloes, which are used [as food] the same as those in Europe—although somewhat less ugly in appearance, and with singularly large horns, three times the size of those of our breed. They have remarkable skill in striking with these horns; lowering the beard to the breast, with the point of the horn they lift up the most minute object. In spite of these formidable qualities both Indians and Spaniards hunt and slay them. Their flesh, whether fresh or dried, is as good as the most excellent beef. Deer are so abundant that the Japanese import cargoes of their hides from these islands. The sea abounds in all kinds of delicate fish; trees, fruits, vegetables, and garden-stuff are abundant—especially bananas, of which there are as many different kinds as in Europe there are varieties of apples and other fruits. There are six or eight species of orange, the most famous of which is an orange as big as a large-sized melon or gourd. Some of these are white inside, like limes; others are as red as our oranges are yellow; and all kinds are as well-flavored as bunches of delicate grapes. In general, the fruits of those regions, although different from ours in species and form, have much the same flavor as the European fruits. The palms, of which there are many and varied species, are the vineyards and olive-orchards of that country. For beside the many other uses and advantages of this tree, it yields wine, vinegar, and oil in sufficient quantities not only to supply that region abundantly, but likewise to ship and send away to other neighboring regions—especially furnishing wine to Japon, Maluco, and Nueva España. The rigging of vessels is also manufactured from this tree. In fact, there is such an abundance of the materials necessary for the construction of ships that a vessel which is built in Nueva España or Peru in several years' time for fifty or sixty thousand pesos, is constructed in the Filipinas in less than one year, and at a cost of less than eight thousand pesos. The cane is in itself another miracle, especially the kind called cauayan, the size and thickness of which are incredible. I shall not say what I have seen of that species during fourteen years; but one of our Society lately told me in Lisboa, while discussing this subject, that in the river of London he had seen a vessel which had one of these canes for a pump. In addition to Pliny, [45] the most ancient writer who makes much mention of these canes, there are many moderns who testify to their size—especially one who, from information received by those of his nation who have coursed these seas (to our detriment and their own danger), has written an account of these canes and of other plants and fruits of that New World. Although this cane is so large, it is so easily worked that it is employed in whatever is needed for any of the uses of life; from vessels and houses (which can be made from it in all their parts), its use extends to the pot and wood for cooking. It seems to me that its uses could go no farther; and in these it corresponds, too, with what Pliny [46] writes of the reed and the papyrus—particularly as within the hollow of the cane, there are membranes somewhat similar to beaten and glazed paper, on which I have at times written. In some of the canes there is also found a juice or liquor which is drunk as a luxury. There is nothing especially remarkable in the fact that so much abundance should be deposited in the hollow of these canes; for, just as in other regions trees need water, in the Filipinas some are found which furnish it—acting as a perpetual fountain for a whole community, even though it may be on the apparently dry uplands. In all that locality there are no other springs than these trees. The method which they employ for obtaining the liquid from the tree is to make some cuts or incisions in the trunk and the thicker branches; and out of these is distilled and flows a clear, sweet water, in ample quantities. But, to return to the subject of the canes, it should be known that in our church of Manila were erected two ladders, each of which had only two canes somewhat more than eight brazas in length: the steps consisted of strips and slips cut from the said cane. They were used in decorating the church and each one would sustain at its top two or three men; they were erected without any prop being needed to sustain them. Each cane was at the lowest part about three palmos in circumference, which crosswise or in diameter would be about one palmo. [47] These ladders are well adapted to such needs, for being, as they are, strong and yet hollow, they are not very heavy, or hard to move. From these canes they make in China the whips which with three or four blows kill a man.
To this abundance and fertility was added the proximity of China, India, Japon, Malaca, and Maluco. From China they not only began to ship their riches in silks and glazed earthenware, as soon as they learned of our wealth of four and eight real pieces; but they also stocked the islands with cattle (which have since multiplied there exceedingly) and with horses and mares, and great stock-farms have been established. The Chinese have also supplied provisions, metals, fruits, preserves and various luxuries, and even ink and paper; and (what is of much more value) there have come tradesmen of every calling—all clever, skilful, and cheap, from physicians and barbers to carriers and porters. The Chinese are the tailors, the shoemakers, the blacksmiths, the silversmiths, sculptors, locksmiths, painters, masons and weavers; in short, they represent all the trades of the community. Their labor is so cheap that a pair of shoes costs no more than two reals, and so many are made that they have been shipped even to Nueva España. From India, Malaca, and Maluco come to Manila male and female slaves, white and black, children and adults; the men are industrious and obliging, and many are good musicians; the women excellent seamstresses, cooks, and preparers of conserves, and are neat and clean in service. The islands also import drugs, spices, and precious stones; marble, pearls, seed-pearls, carpets, and other riches. From Japon are imported much wheat, and flour, also silver, metals, saltpeter, weapons, and many curiosities. All of these things make life in that region pleasant and an object of desire to men; and indeed it seems a copy of that Tyre so extolled by Ezekiel.
In the second place, as concerns the religious, there was from the very beginning the very tractable disposition displayed by so many natives of the islands in embracing the faith. But as the many and excellent ministers whom the holy Order of St. Augustin promptly sent thither were not sufficient for the task of converting the natives, nor were those who were sent by the Order of the seraphic father St. Francis, [48] which in the year 1580 already had in the islands some establishments, and had made many conversions—the fathers of the Society of Jesus were also needed. They were introduced, in that year, by the first bishop of these islands, Don Fray Domingo de Salazar, [49] a priest of the Order of St. Dominic—who afterward died in the city of Toledo, as archbishop of Manila. This great prelate had left his province of Mexico to consult with the Catholic king, Don Felipe Second, concerning matters of grave importance; and, being by his Majesty appointed bishop of the Filipinas, he soon sought from the king permission to take with him to the islands members of the Society—as appears from the same royal provision made for them in Nueva España. Accordingly he took with him from that country the first members of the Society to enter those islands—namely, Father Antonio Sedeño and Father Alonso Sanchez. These, our fathers, entered the city of Manila without cloaks, as I have heard Father Antonio Sedeño himself relate, in commending their poverty; for those which they brought with them from Mexico had worn out and rotted in the voyage. They went to rest at [the convent of] San Francisco, where those blessed fathers received them with much charity until they found an abode—which they chose in a suburb of Manila, called Laguio, very wretched and closely packed, and so poorly furnished that the very chest in which they kept their books was the table upon which they ate. Their only food for many days was rice boiled in water without salt, oil, meat, fish, or even an egg, or any other thing; sometimes as a dainty, they secured some salted sardines.
But the good bishop who had brought them did not leave them long in such straits; for not only did he offer us his library, and show us other acts of kindness and charity as a true father, but he tried to improve the site of our habitation, as soon as he saw that those first fathers had no wish to change it for another. Thus, with two ground-plots given them by Andres Cauchela, accountant for the Catholic king in those regions (who owned some lands in Laguio); with property of the Catholic king, obtained at the instance of the aforesaid bishop and at the order of the governor, Don Gonzalo Ronquillo [50]; and with the addition of private offerings of charity—a fine wooden house was constructed (which I myself saw), wherein was fitted up their church, in which our fathers exercised their ministry, with a large attendance, and to the great advantage of the Spaniards.
Three years later their number was increased. The Catholic king sent his royal Audiencia to the islands in the year 1583; and as its president, the governor of the islands and the representative of his Majesty, Doctor Santiago de Vera, who was a member of his council, and judge in the royal Chancillería of Mexico. [51] He, at the time of his departure from Mexico, requested of the Father Doctor Juan de la Plaça, who was then provincial in Nueva España, permission to take with him to the islands some of the fathers. Not only did he himself urge this, but also other personages, even the king's ministers, who all insisted that he should in no case go without them. Under this influence the father provincial was constrained to draw from the few members then in his province four individuals: these were Father Ramon de Prado, a Catalan; Father Francisco Almerique, an Italian; Padre Hernan Suarez, a Castilian; and, as coadjutor, the brother Gaspar Gomez—all of whom, as we shall later see, were of great benefit to those regions. So great was the satisfaction of this most Christian man, upon receiving the message of our provincial (who had given him two of Ours, and those other four on his own responsibility), that he immediately fell on his knees before them, and gave thanks to our Lord that he had obtained the ministers whom His Divine Majesty employs for the conversion of peoples, as he has so said. They reached the Filipinas in May or June of the year 1584, and afforded great companionship, comfort, and aid to those who were in the islands. Father Hernan Suarez was especially useful, for God had endowed him with special grace in winning hearts and bringing them to His service—and this, in familiar conversation and ordinary discourse, as well as in the pulpit and the confessional. In this way the whole community was dependent on him; he settled all matters that might give rise to discord, and no one took any step without his opinion and counsel. He ministered to his flock jointly and severally in public and in private, with much charity on his part and satisfaction on theirs. But this very thing was the cause, in a short time, of his death. Exhausted by so much toil, but especially by the fierce heat of the sun—to which he was exposed at every hour, in journeying on foot from Laguio to Manila and back again—and wearied and often perspiring from the sermons which he so frequently preached, he died a holy death within two or three years, to the universal sorrow of his entire congregation which celebrated his obsequies as those of a true father.
For this reason and at the order of Father Antonio de Mendoca, provincial of Nueva España, who did not wish that our members should dwell so far from Manila, they were obliged to change their abode and come within the city. Many devout persons and friends of our Society helped them greatly to this end with offerings, some giving them pieces of land, on which was a wooden house of moderate size; others offerings of money, with which they bought more land. Here we dwelt until Captain Juan Pacheco Maldonado, a regidor of Manila, and Doña Faustina de Palacios y Villa Gomez, his wife, our excellent benefactress, erected for us a beautiful stone edifice. This work was begun, with great piety and devotion, on the same day when this Christian captain received the news that the English had robbed a vessel in which he had a great quantity of goods. The mariscal Gabriel de Ribera, another notable benefactor of ours, erected temporarily a very neat wooden church, which was used until the stone church, which we now have, was finished. The greater part of this was done at the expense of this captain, Juan Pacheco. The rest was accomplished with the aid of large gifts contributed by the devout people. In short, this post at Manila began to assume permanent form; our very reverend Father-general Claudio Aquaviva, accepted it as a college, and appointed, as its first rector, in the year one thousand five hundred and eighty-nine, Father Antonio Sedeño.
Of the employments of the fathers of the Society in the
Filipinas. Chapter V.
In the residence at Manila (which was the only one that our Society then had in the Filipinas), of the five priests who had gone thither only three remained. For, as we have said, Father Hernan Suarez urged himself on to work until he died of sheer exhaustion—but certainly with most abundant harvest, and having brought great consolation to that commonwealth, where his loss was deeply felt, and his memory was held for many years in great tenderness and affection by all. Father Alonso Sanchez, although inclined by nature to retirement and solitude, could not hide his light, since he was a man of great courage and ability. His retirement was perpetually beset by bishop, governor, royal ministers, prelates of the church, and regidors of the commonwealth. Both within and without Manila, he was forever busied in important affairs—whether concerning the welfare of souls, the peace of men's consciences, the tranquillity and prosperity of the commonwealth, or the service of his Majesty the Catholic king, our sovereign. On this account not only did they send him on several journeys to China and Malaca, but finally despatched him to Europe upon like undertakings, where he was well known at the court of España and afterwards at that of Roma. The three who were left behind did not remain idle. Father Antonio Sedeño, in addition to his ordinary occupation of preaching—in which he was so effective that he could move stones by his eloquence—in his capacity as superior attended to the temporal affairs of the residence and to the construction of buildings. He was all the more busy in this latter occupation, from the scarcity, at that time, of architects and builders in Manila; for there were none at all. First he taught this art to the Indians, and then to the Chinese; and he inspired the bishop to build the first stone house ever erected in Manila. Encouraged by this example, they continued to build others, until finally the city reached its present greatness. At this time it is one of the most beautiful and delightful cities in the Indias. Formerly the houses, though large and roomy, were all constructed of wood or cane. In short the good father was the architect of the city, and the people caused him no little labor in inspecting, planning, and arranging its edifices; he aided them out of pure charity and zeal for the advancement of the holy Church, which he hoped would be very great in those regions. The first fort constructed in Manila for the defense of the city was erected under his direction, and with his plans, supervision, and aid, which cost him no little effort. This is the fortress that they call Guia, because it is situated at the principal gate of the city which leads out to the chapel of Nuestra Señora de Guia that stands in front of our house. I once accompanied him when he went to furnish the plans for a stairway in one of the principal houses; and he showed so much patience and indulgence toward the errors which the Indians had committed in his absence that he did not lose his temper in either word or look, but merely had what was wrong taken apart and done over again.
Father Raimundo de Prado also preached with much enthusiasm and devotion; but his principal employment was in the confessional, where he exercised his calling to such advantage that there was scarcely a man or woman who confessed to another priest. He also, at the instance of the bishop, read in our house for the benefit of the clergy, the Materia de sacramentis, which lasted, several months; but after that was finished he read no longer, as he could not attend to so many things.
Father Francisco Almerique began the study of the Chinese language, in his zeal to aid in the conversion of the many Chinese who came to Manila and whom we in the Filipinas call Sangleys. He effected several conversions, in particular, that of a young man of much talent who had studied their learning, and made more than ordinary progress, and was about to be graduated in his own country. This young man, abandoning his studies and ambitions for our holy faith, was solemnly baptized in our church at Manila by the hand of the bishop, and took the name of Paul, in devotion to that most glorious apostle, the teacher of the Gentiles. I met him afterward and came to know him well, and saw in him a Christian of the primitive church. Since it enters most opportunely into this matter, let me relate how, having once seen an honorable Spaniard commit some act by no means Christianlike, he said to me: "Father, are not these Christians? and, if so, how can they do this?" I was obliged to satisfy him by making a distinction between the living and the dead faith, and the appreciation and estimation of the things of God in contrast to the inclination and affection for earthly things, which is so common among our Christians of long standing—to the great scandal of the new converts, as this incident shows.