The reeds [i.e., bamboos] of those islands have the following peculiarity, namely, that they are as much as three palmos in circumference and eight brazas in length. They are used as the materials out of which to build a whole house. The pillars, the lintels, the stairs, the floors, and the walls are made from them. They are used as rafters for the roof, and split into several parts, as tiles for covering the roof. They have no other saucepans in which to cook their food than those reeds, and no other wood to burn; for the trees serve them as material with which to build their little boats—or rather, rafts—with which they carry for traffic their rice, cocoanuts, and abacá, the hemp of that country.
Those islands have a great abundance of various kinds of oranges, peculiar to those countries for their good taste. I have seen them so large that they were four palmos in circumference. Some were red as scarlet inside, and very sweet. There are some which contain another little orange in the place of the seeds; and these are called on that account “oranges which have children.”[18]
I will place in the list of vegetables a sort of leaf which serves them for nourishment, or rather for refreshment. It is used very commonly among the Indians, both Christians and Mahometans, and even among the Spaniards. A mixture is made of it which is called mamuen, into which three things enter: one is this leaf, which is called buio, which is smooth, and resembles in color and size a large ivy leaf, but it is not so thick. It smells very good, and is aromatic. It is planted under some dry tree, on which it climbs. The other fruit that enters into that mixture is called bonga, and it is as large as an olive. Lastly, they mix in a small quantity of quicklime. A little cornucopia is made of the leaf, the bonga and lime are placed inside, and it is all chewed together. That mixture colors the saliva as red as blood, and the lips the most beautiful vermilion ever seen. It preserves the teeth, strengthens the stomach, and produces a very good breath. Eighty of those leaves can be bought at Manila for one real. Nevertheless, so great a quantity is consumed that it has been ascertained that it was sold in one year to the amount of ninety thousand reals, of seven and one-half sols apiece.
There are many snakes in those islands, which are very dangerous; some of them, when they have young, attack people.[19] The bite of those called omodro is very dangerous, and those who are bitten by it do not live one-half day. It is from that effect that it derives its name, for odro signifies one-half day. There is another very large snake called saua. I have killed one of that species which was two and one-half brazas long. The skin of another, which measured thirty-two [Spanish] feet in length, was brought to our residence at Manila. The sauas hang to the branches of trees along the roads, whence they dart down upon people, or deer, or on any other prey. They wind themselves three or four times around the body, and after having broken the creature’s bones devour it. But God has provided a number of herbs in those islands which are used as antidotes to all kinds of poisons. Roots and herbs are found in the mountains, which are so many specific remedies against snake-bites; the chief ones are manongal, manambo, logab, boroctongon, maglingab, ordag, balucas, bonas, bahay, igluhat, dalogdogan, mantala.
There are also animals in those islands of which I ought to give a description. The civet-cat is found in the mountains. Its skin resembles that of a tiger, and it is no less savage than the tiger, although much smaller. It is captured and bound, and, after its civet is obtained, which is contained in a little pouch under its tail, it is set at liberty to be caught once more. The crocodiles, of which their rivers are full, are so huge that when their jaws are open, a man of the largest size could stand upright between the two jaws. The crocodile is quite covered with scales; has scarcely any tongue; and its teeth are set closely together, and are very sharp, and arranged in several rows. The teeth of the middle lower row fit into holes or breaks in the others which correspond to them in the upper jaw; and consequently, when it seizes its prey, there is no force that can make it let go. It lays a great number of eggs. In the water it is furious, and attacks boats. It is not so greatly feared when ashore—where it goes sometimes to seize some prey, or to sun itself.
The woman-fish[20] is so called because its face and breast are quite like those of women, whom it also resembles in its manner of copulation with the male. That fish is as large as a calf, and its flesh, of which I have eaten, tastes like beef. It is caught with lines as thick around as the finger, and when the line becomes fast within [its mouth] it is killed by javelin-thrusts. Its bones and teeth have great virtue against all sorts of dysentery, especially against bloody discharges. Some have tried to assert that those fish were the sirens of the sea, so celebrated among the poets; but they have nothing of the beauty of face and of the voice that is attributed to sirens.
I will end [this account], finally by a description of the tabon, an ashen-colored bird as large as a hen, which lays eggs three times as large as those of hens, but which lays them in a peculiar manner. It chooses desert islands and those full of sand, where it first makes a hole one or one and one-half brazas deep; and after having laid its eggs, it covers them over with sand. The chicks break the shell, and gradually turn up the sand that covers them with their feet. If any of those chicks is so unfortunate as to break the egg at the lower end, it does not succeed so well, and dies for lack of strength to overturn the sand. Sometimes one hundred and fifty of the eggs are found in the same hole. I have eaten those eggs often when I have had occasion to stop at those islands during my voyages.
There is cinnamon in the island of Mindanao; and pepper at Patani, and at Champan, a country lying on the mainland of China.
The political government of those islands is the same as that of other provinces subject to the crown of Castilla. The governor resides at Manila, and is president of the Audiencia; while, as captain-general, he has charge of all the posts of peace and war, as well as of the encomiendas of one or two thousand Indians [each], who pay their encomendero the tribute that the other Indians pay to the king. But the encomendero who has been appointed by the captain-general is obliged to get the confirmation of his grant from Madrid within three years.
The governor establishes the corregidors and alcaldes-mayor, or governors of the provinces into which these islands are divided. He appoints the captains and the admirals of the fleets which sail to Acapulco and Terrenate annually. He takes cognizance of civil affairs, on which the royal Audiencia pronounces the decisions or decrees. That Audiencia is composed of a president (who is always the governor), four oidores or auditors, and one procurator-fiscal. There are four cities in the Filipinas—Manila, Zebu, [Nueva] Caçares, and Nueba Segovia; and one town, called Arevalo. There is a garrison at Manila and at Cabite, which is the port where the warships enter, six miles from Manila. There are also garrisons at Zebu, Otong, Carouga, Lanbuangang [sc. Zamboanga], Jolo, Nueva Segobia, the island of Hermosa, and the Malucas. All those ports are fortified, and have their redoubts mounted with artillery. Whatever is necessary for those garrisons is sent from Manila. It would be a very difficult task to mention the names of all the different peoples among the Indians, and in those islands, who are subject to the king of España. There are fully three hundred thousand families, who might count one million souls.