[4] These signatures indicate that the opinion rendered by the Jesuits dates back of 1717, since in that year Clain died; it is probably earlier than 1708, since in that year Arias and Bobadilla went to the Palaos Islands (Murillo Velarde, Hist. de Philipinas, fol. 377 verso). [↑]
[5] Palma brava: the common name of Livistonia rotundifolia, of the order Palmæ; see Merrill’s Dictionary of the Plant Names of the Philippines (Manila, 1903). [↑]
[6] Of interest in this connection is Herrmann Sokeland’s “Ancient Desemers or Steelyards,” in Annual Report of Smithsonian Institution, 1900, pp. 551–364. It is well illustrated with engravings of various primitive weighing instruments which are preserved in the museums of Berlin, Germany, some of which came from Thibet and India. [↑]
[7] Apparently meaning here, not the Castilian language in general, but as spoken in the islands. [↑]
[8] The marco is a weight equivalent to the half of a libra, and is used for weighing gold and silver. The marco of gold is divided into fifty castellanos, and that of silver into eight onzas. (Barcia.) [↑]
[9] Albarejo (or alberjon): a provincial term (used in La Mancha), applied, like the Catalan candeal, to a variety of white wheat. (Barcia.) [↑]
[10] Spanish tumbaga (from Malay tambâga, copper): an alloy of copper and zinc, or a species of brass, with an excess of zinc; also known as “Dutch gold” and “pinchbeck.” [↑]
[11] In the Spanish text, extension; but this is apparently a misprint for some other word, for which, in accordance with the obvious meaning, we substitute “suppression.” At the beginning of Maldonado’s work is printed a list of errata therein, thirty-two in number; this is followed by the naïve remark, “There are some others, which the discreet reader can correct.” [↑]
[12] Spanish, Pico de oro; the same as the Greek Chrysostom. [↑]
[13] The word caballería has many meanings, but probably only two are here involved; these are found in the supplement to Domínguez’s Diccionario nacional (ed. of 1878). One is, “In the Indias it is understood as the distribution of lands or seigniorial domains granted to the settlers or conquistadors in a country.” It is possible that the text refers to some of those military allotments, which might have descended unbroken to Maldonado’s time; but it is much more probable that he uses the word in the sense of a measure for land. Caballería, in Andalusia, means also the area of sixty fanegas (or 3.8758 hectares) of land. [↑]