3. By reason of the said royal despatch, his Excellency formed the idea of completely removing the Recollects from Zambales and giving them in exchange the island of Mindoro. He set about that with great zest. The Recollect provincial resisted, alleging that it was contrary to their constitutions to abandon thus the province of Zambales. That would mean treating it as their own possession. It would be better to recognize it as a territory distributed by the universal patron; and, admitting that it was impossible to surrender it without his royal consent, individual laws communicate no right, especially when such mission fields are ad interim. He also pleaded that the Indians of Mindoro, both infidels and Christians, had as soon as they heard that regular ministers were to be given them, urgently requested Jesuits. On the contrary, the Zambals, when they were notified that it was the intention to withdraw the Recollects from their midst in order to introduce Dominicans, almost declared their opinion in a terrible tumult. The Recollects preferred, therefore, that such a change should not take place. But the archbishop was firm in his resolution, and trampled all obstacles under foot. He united with the governor, and both of them together forced the Recollect provincial, Fray Joseph de San Nicolas, by threats, to agree to the change. The governor pacified the Indians of Mindoro by means of his corregidor, so that they should receive the Recollect fathers; and the Zambals by means of the alcalde-mayor of Pangasinan, so that they should allow the Dominicans to enter. Thereupon, the three seculars who had been in charge of Mindoro were accommodated by suitable chaplaincies, and an act was passed by the royal Audiencia, charging the Recollect fathers with the administration of that island, with absolute clauses based on the royal decree, without any provision or obligation to leave the missions of Zambales for it. That decree was accepted when it was announced, and was extended to the judicial cession of those missions, when signed by the provincial of the Recollects, although protest was made against it in the name of their province, by two influential religious. On that account a second act was enacted in which those missions were adjudged to the fathers of St. Dominic, for the archbishop was very much in earnest in those arrangements.
4. Those decrees having been announced and accepted, the Dominicans assumed possession of the cordillera of Zambales. That province had on its coast eleven villages with actual missions, which were increased in the neighboring mountains. The Recollects handed over that administration without making any public disturbance, although all the religious who had labored there protested vehemently, all of which appeared in the judicial reports. The Augustinian Recollects went to Mindoro with the fitting despatches for that corregidor ordering him to deliver the administration [of that island] to them. Father Fray Diego de la Madre de Dios, then definitor, was given charge of the district of Baco, after it had been resigned by Bachelor Don Joseph de Rojas, who held it; father Fray Diego de la Resurreccion of the curacy of Calavite, in place of Licentiate Don Juan Pedraza, its parish priest; while the curacy of Naohan was taken possession of by the father definitor, Fray Eugenio de los Santos, who was exchanged for Bachelor Don Martin Diaz. The whole transfer was completed before the end of the year 79. Three other religious remained with the above three religious as associates and coadjutors, and those six ministers began to scatter throughout the island. That island is in the center of this vast archipelago, and was formerly called Mainit; but the Spaniards gave it the name of Mindoro from a village called Minolo, located between Puerto de Galeras and the bay of Ylog. It is triangular in shape, its angles being three promontories: that of Calavite, facing west; that of Dumah or Pola, facing north; and that of Burruncan, facing south. In size it is the seventh of the more important islands, and is about one hundred leguas in circumference. Its temperature is naturally hot, but is tempered by the great dampness arising from frequent rains. The height of its mountains aids also in that. On account of such circumstances it is a very fertile land, and, although not very healthful for strangers, good and favorable to its inhabitants. The latter made themselves feared by their neighbors, especially on the sea, where they attacked the most powerful, carrying blood and fire everywhere. Notwithstanding, they were of great simplicity, for when they saw the Europeans wearing clothes and shoes—which they did not use—they imagined that that adornment was natural to them. They are but little given to the cultivation of the soil, and are content with wild fruits; sago, which they get from the palm and which is a good food for them; the flesh of wild animals; and fish, which the rivers and seacoast offer them in great plenty. They have little rice, on account of their sloth in sowing and tending it, for they make up that lack sufficiently in roots and fruits. If they are weak, although corpulent, it is because of their transcendent vice in being hostile to work.
5. Captain Juan de Salcedo made a beginning in the conquest of the district of Mamburào, in the year one thousand five hundred and seventy. That conquest was completed from the point of Burruncan to that of Calavite by the adelantado Miguel de Legaspi, in the beginning of the following year. Gradually the remainder was subdued by the missionaries, by whose treatment the rudeness of the manners of those people was softened. Consequently, the encomienda of that large island was very desirable. The Observant Augustinian fathers were employed in its spiritual cultivation and founded the village of Baco. The discalced fathers of St. Francis also labored there for some time, it being ceded to them by the Observant Augustinians. They worked along the Calavite side to Pola, which they abandoned either because those natives were not at all disposed [to accept the faith], or because those fathers had slight esteem for that island when compared with what was offered them in Ylocos and Camarines. The Jesuits also labored there, but always by the method of temporary missions, from time to time, and had no stability. It only appears that they were more continual in Naohan (which they founded), as long as it was preserved by Father San Victores. When the latter went to the Marianas, the Jesuits resigned that portion into the hands of the archbishop. It is probable that the latter was Señor Poblete.[56] He immediately formed two curacies for the secular clergy to look after those souls. Although there were but few souls, the extent of their territory was so vast that it was necessary to establish a third parish. Those seculars maintained what was conquered, but that district did not yield a sufficient recompense for the three ministers, and they were paid from the royal treasury and from other pious funds. It was also even difficult to find seculars who cared to take charge of such districts, which were truly little to be desired. But obedience caused that there never was a lack of seculars there, who maintained themselves until the year 76, when the Recollects went there to take their places. As the latter immediately placed six ministers there, they furthered the conquest and reduction greatly in all parts. Hence, while they only received about four thousand Christians, those were multiplied in a few years and the number rose to eight thousand, and in 1716 they reached the number of twelve thousand. There are still a great number of people in the mountains, which are inhabited by wild men. Some of those men are quite light-complexioned, and are believed to have originated from the Chinese and Japanese established there for the convenience afforded by the island, or who have put in there because of shipwreck, or been driven thither by the winds. Others are Cimarron Negritos, who are the first inhabitants, and, as it were, more native. Trustworthy persons say that those people have a hard little tail in the proper place for it, which prevents them from sitting down flat. If it is true (and I do not doubt it, notwithstanding that it is disputed), it is not so strange that I have no examples of it. Those prominences of the sacral bone are considered as rare; but a beginning having been made in one, it could have become natural in its propagation.
6. Thus did those Recollect religious find that island, and, believing it to be important for the reductions, they continued to establish their regular administrations. The first was in Baco. There, inasmuch as it was the capital, lived the corregidor, but the capital was later moved to Calapan. In that district they formed the villages of Calapan, Baco, Suban, Ylog, Minolo, and Camoròn, with a number of annexed villages or visitas. The second was in Naohan, which was extended into six annexed villages, namely, Pola, Pinamalayan, Balete, Sumagui, Maliguo, and Bongabon. The third was in Calavite, which formed the visitas of Dongon, Santa Cruz, Manburaò, Tubili, and Santo Thomas. The fourth was in Mangarin, which was extended into its dependencies, Guasic, Manaol, Bulalacao, and Ililin. They also began an active mission in order to reduce the heathen Mangyans, which had no other work than to employ itself in those glorious reductions and conversions of grace. For one single man it was an immense work, but the superior government gave no more stipends. That mission was established on the bay of Ylog, and ministers and infidels were pledged not to allow [there] any of the former Christians, who might pervert the conversions. By that arrangement it grew to a very large village, and there were practiced some of the old customs that belonged to the primitive church. All that fine flower-garden has been trampled down and even ruined by the Moros, as will be related in due season.
7. The Dominican fathers also applied themselves to the work in the province of Zambales. That province had already eleven villages formed, although they were small, because that province has but few people. It appeared to the new fathers that that number of villages made their administration difficult; consequently, they tried to reduce their number by uniting some of them. That incorporation was difficult; hence they increased the troops and arms of the presidio of Paynaven, the center of that province. Through the protection afforded by those troops, they broke up the whole province. The village of Bolinaò, which had a fair population, was located on an island, which is separated from the land by only a channel, which forms its famous and secure port.[57] It was fertile and pleasant. They moved it to the mainland, to a sandy shore, useless for anything, even for the ordinary fields. Its lack of water they supplied with wells which they opened. There they obtained some water, but it was thick, and in the time of the dry season it entirely disappeared. The Indians who were harmed by this measure were so angry at that moving, that many families retired to Ylocos. In truth, that site is despicable. An eminence which looks upon and almost dominates the port would have been much more suitable, and they would have obtained better air there; while their boats, which cannot navigate by the channel to the village during the blowing of the north wind, so that the cargo has to be carried for a long distance on the shoulders, would have obtained shelter. There are many other inconveniences but one cannot think of a single advantage. They moved the village of Agno[58] from the coast into the interior, to a site which is a swampy mudhole when there is the least rain. The village of Sigayan was moved to another site, where the only advantage was a near-by river of fresh water which was unnavigable. They left Masinloc[59] on its pleasant site, while the village of Paynaven was moved inland to a site called Iba,[60] from which the new village took its name, moving that village in order to get it away from the commandant of the fort, whose proximity was annoying to them. They did not regard it as a recompensable hardship for the minister of that village to go on feast-days in order to say mass in the presidio, and to repeat it afterwards in his own church. In order to increase that place and give it the name of capital, they brought families from Bolinaò, who formed a large barangay. It has already been seen that they made use of the fort in this, and that those who were moved were not very well pleased. The Dominicans also founded, or better, made from other villages, the village of Cabangaan[61] in an obscure site, which was rough and surrounded by dense mountains, and suitable only for a hermit and solitary life, but so far as others were concerned, a place of profound melancholy. They also formed the village of Subic[62] from other villages, which had only the advantages of its port to recommend it, while in other respects it was most unpleasant. They also filled the vacant places left by the many families who retired to the mountains as a result of the violence exercised, with others whom they brought from Pangasinan, a province abounding with people, who because they are so numerous, and there is no room for all, leave their homes more easily. In fact, they did that, too, in order to be surer of the Zambals, in whose severe and warlike minds they did not have the greatest confidence. Thus did they soften those people, or let us say frankly, checked their vehemence. The reduction of the people of the mountain, however much it is talked about, is not known, as neither is the place where they could form villages or a village from them. Let us leave then exaggerations, which, when they offend by comparison, cannot fail to be odious. We shall treat of the restoration [of that province] below, in its proper place.[63]
[The following extract is from the same volume, and includes pp. 135–144.]
Chapter V
The Augustinian Recollect fathers assume the spiritual government of the islands of Masbáte, Ticao, and Burias. A geographical description of those islands is presented.
1. Under the metaphor of husbandmen, the prophet Amos describes those who are employed in the cultivation of souls. The chroniclers of the Augustinian Recollect fathers describe those fathers for us as zealous and laborious in their never-ceasing application in planting and cultivating the word of God in humble hearts. The Recollects assumed charge, in addition to the fields already mentioned of the island of Masbate with the neighboring islands of Ticao and Burias. Those islands belong to the bishopric of Nueva Caceres in ecclesiastical matters, and to the alcaldeship of Albay in political affairs. Masbate is sixty leguas from Manila, in a latitude lying between twelve and thirteen degrees. It is about fifty leguas in circumference, nineteen leguas long and five or six broad. It was formerly famous for its rich gold mines, which, when they tried later to work them, it was found did not produce expenses. The island also has fine copper mines, samples from which in very recent times were excellent. Information was given of them by Don Francisco Salgado; and when everything necessary and expert Chinese for working them had been prepared, he abandoned them, for he saw that they had much less metal than he had thought. The island of Ticao is about twenty-three leguas in circumference, nine long, and more than four wide. That of Burias extends its circumference to twenty-six leguas, twelve in length, and four in width. These calculations must be understood only approximately, for they had not been exactly determined. All three possess excellent timber, from which pitch is distilled in plenty, and makes excellent pitch for vessels. One of those trees produces the fragrant camanguian;[64] another very abundantly a kind of almond, larger than that of Europa, for which it is mistaken in taste. They have many civet-cats; civet is a drug which was obtained there long before this time, and had a good sale in Acapulco, although that product is not in so great demand now.
2. Don Luis Henrriquez de Guzman, a knight of Sevilla, reduced those islands to the crown of España in the year one thousand five hundred and sixty-nine. Their conquest was finished and they were left thoroughly subdued by Captain Andres de Ybarra. Protected by arms, father Fray Alonso Ximenez, an Observant Augustinian, introduced the evangelical law. In that he did excellent work and obtained much fruit in Masbate. Other religious, imbued with the same spirit and of the same institute, followed, and spread the work into Ticao and Burias. By that means a suitable mission field was established, and the Augustinians conserved the administration thereof until the year six hundred and nine. At that time they resigned that district into the hands of the bishop of Camarines, who employed seculars instead of those regulars. There were various seculars in charge of the administration there, until the year one thousand six hundred and eighty-eight. The district handed over by the Augustinian fathers had two hundred and fifty regular families; but that number was diminished by the terrible invasions of the Moros, so that the corresponding stipend was not sufficient for the maintenance of one cura, and no one could be found who was willing to take care of that district. On that account his Excellency, Master Don Fray Andres Gonzalez of the Order of Preachers, their bishop, represented to his Majesty that it was absolutely necessary to apportion the curacies in another manner for the just spiritual administration of his bishopric, by placing some of them in the charge of regulars; and he petitioned that his Majesty approve his new plan, by ordering his governor of those islands to proceed in it as vice-patron. The king consented to what the prelate asked, and despatched his royal decree, under date of Madrid, August thirteen, eighty-five. With that order his Excellency presented to the governor the new distribution of districts, with the changes necessary and fitting. In that distribution he applied all the ministry of Masbate to the province of San Nicolas of the Augustinian Recollects, and also on the mainland of Luzon the villages of Ingoso, Catanavan, and Vigò with its neighboring rancherías, of which was formed the curacy of Piris. The governor, Don Gabriel Curuzalaegui, by an act of November twenty-six, of eighty-six, approved the plan conceived by his Excellency the bishop, and informed the said Recollect fathers of the part of the distribution that pertained to them. They accepted the assigned administration. In the territory on the mainland disputes were imminent with the Franciscan fathers in regard to the ownership of those territories. Accordingly the Recollects only accepted the district of Masbate, and resigned the right that they could have had to the village on the continent of Luzon to the Franciscan fathers, who could administer them with greater ease. By that means all rivalry was checked.