The Philippine Islands, 1493-1898 — Volume 19 of 55 / 1620-1621 / 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 close of the nineteenth century.

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[19] In Spain the name cinamomo is popularly given to the Melia acedarak; but now in Manila that name is applied to a species of Lausonia, L. inermis. This latter grows in Arabia and Egypt, and is cultivated in Europe; it is there called alchena or alhena, and its root is employed as a cosmetic by the Turks, and a paste of its leaves, known as henna, is used by them to dye the teeth or hair. See Blanco’s Flora (ed. 1845), pp. 206, 241.

[20] Probably referring to the springs at Jigabo, province of Albay, the waters of which carry in solution a gelatinous silica, which is quickly incrusted on any object placed therein. See Report of U.S. Philippine Commission, 1900, iii, p. 222.

[21] The “geometrical pace” is, in English measure, roughly estimated at five feet; in Spanish measure, according to Los Rios’s reckoning—the tercia (or “third”), being one-third of a vara, is equivalent to 11.128 English inches—the geometrical pace would be 55.64 English inches. The length of the wall, accordingly, would be a little less than two English miles.

[22] Of this name Crawfurd says (Dict. Indian Islands, p. 283): “The collective name, which the Portuguese write Maluca, and is correctly Maluka, is equally unknown, although said to be that of a place and people of the island of Gilolo. No such name is, at present, known to exist in that island ... All that De Barros tells us of the name is, that it is a collective one for all the islands.” He cites (pp. 101, 102) various names for the clove that are current in the Indian islands, and some found in early writers but among them is none resembling Maluca.

[23] See the detailed description of the clove tree, its product, the mode of gathering cloves, their properties, and the extent of the trade in this spice in Recueil des voiages Comp. des Indes Orientales, i, pp. 503–507. The price at which the Dutch bought cloves from the natives (in 1599) is there stated at fifty-four reals of eight. The extent of the crop is thus stated: “According to what the inhabitants of Ternate say, the Molucca Islands produce annually the following quantity of cloves: the islands of Ternate and Tidore, each 1,000 bares; Bassian Island, 2,000 bares; and Motier Island, 600 or 700 bares.” Crawfurd says (Dict. Indian Islands, p. 503): “In England, before the discovery of the passage by the Cape of Good Hope, a pound of cloves cost 30s., or 168l. per cwt.”

[24] Spanish, entretenidos; persons who were performing certain duties, in hope of obtaining permanent positions, or waiting for vacancies to occur in certain posts.

Bibliographical Data

The documents of the present volume are from various sources (all manuscript except No. 9). The following are from the Archivo general de Indias, Sevilla: