The culture of the cacao (Theobroma cacao), from the seeds of which chocolate is prepared, was introduced from Nueva España into the Philippines under the rule of Governor Diego de Salcedo. Murillo Velarde accredits this to the Jesuit Juan Davila (Hist. de Philipinas, fol. 395 v.): “He cared for both the temporal and spiritual good of the Indians, endeavoring that they should possess some means of gain which would cause them to remain permanently in the villages, in order to remove the difficulties which ensued from their wandering hither and yon—for, going about in this manner, they were not instructed in the Christian doctrine or in Christian morals—besides other damages which they cause. For this purpose he interceded with the governor, Don Diego de Salcedo, to cause to be brought from Nueva España some shoots of cacao, in order to plant them in Bisayas. The governor accordingly obtained them, while the father was at Carigara, where a plantation was begun with good results; and from that place it has spread to other villages and islands of Pintados—with great benefit to those Indians, and to the general advantage of all the islands; for this beverage is more necessary here than in other regions. It is especially so for the ministers [of religion], who go about in continual voyages and navigations, very often without having the comfort of having any other provision or nourishment.” Father Davila was born in Sevilla in 1615, entered the Jesuit order at the age of fifteen; and was ordained in 1639. For a time he was minister in the college for Irishmen in Sevilla. He came to the islands in 1643, and labored in the Bisayan missions for many years; he died in Ylog, Negros, June 20, 1706. For seven years before his death he suffered from a malignant cancer in the face. Concepción says (Hist. de Philipinas, ix, p. 150): “Chocolate is a great aid to feeble stomachs; and cacao is now produced in such abundance that it serves as the common beverage of every class of people, although it is true that some islands produce it of better quality and richness than do others.”
The introduction of the cacao which was made in 1670 (see VOL. XX, p. 198) is reconciled with that by Davila thus, by Blanco (Flora, ed. 1845, p. 420): “It is very probable that with the remittance of cacao plants which came from America at his order, some others were brought over by private persons; and thus, at the same time when the cacao was spreading through Carigara (where Father Davila was laboring) and through other regions, it would also be cultivated by Tagals. In the year 1674, when Father Ignacio de Mercado was parish priest of Lipa, he says that he distributed seeds of this tree to many persons.” The allusion here to Tagals refers to San Agustin’s statement that the plant of cacao brought over by Pedro Brabo in 1670 was stolen from him by an Indian of Lipa, named Juan del Aguila, who hid and cultivated it; and thence it spread throughout the islands. [↑]
[24] There is some uncertainty in the Spanish text, which reads, Cirujano dozientos; y quarenta el Sacristan Mayor. Apparently there is some typographical error in the punctuation; but there is no means of verifying the fact involved. [↑]
[25] The money in the communal fund of the Chinese in the Parián was called Lapuat, and in 1718 amounted to more than 20,000 pesos (Concepción, Hist. de Philipinas, ix, p. 234). [↑]
LETTER TO THE PRESIDENT OF THE INDIA COUNCIL
I wrote last year to your most illustrious Lordship, by way of Nueva España and Portugal, mentioning the pleasure which I felt at the news that your most illustrious Lordship held the presidency of the Council of the Indias; for besides the affection which I profess to your most illustrious Lordship, ever since I experienced your kindness in Balladolid, I have looked for the like success in the management of the important affairs which are entrusted to the Council, and I hope that these unfortunate and remote regions may have a share in the good results which their government needs.
In regard to the troubles which have afflicted this commonwealth: The Dutch, keen to avail themselves of opportunities to extend their commerce, sent hither a warship in the year forty-four, under pretext of an embassy; it was in charge of Monsieur Duvins, the second factor in their trade with Japon. He carried letters from the governor and council of Batavia for the governor and Audiencia here, in which it was stated that he came to look for a bark named “Cathalina Magdalena”—for which a Swiss heretic had given pledges to the Company at Batavia with his own person; it had sailed from here with the name “Sancta Ana,” and a commission from the governor here; but it was sold to the Company, who changed its name, and in the charge of the same Swiss it came back here to trade, with consignments belonging to the Dutch. And since, in order to send the squadron to China,[1] the departure of the vessels which were in this bay was prohibited, the said bark was compelled to winter here; and, under pretext of looking after these [commercial] interests, the Dutch sent their envoy with credentials. He carried himself, while here, with the air of an ambassador, and claimed that we should treat him as such, that we should give him audience in a session of the royal court, and that the auditors should visit him; but in polite terms he was given to understand that without express order from his Majesty he could not be treated as he desired; and it was resolved that answer should be made to the letters with entire courtesy—stating that no such bark as the “Cathalina Magdalena” had landed at these islands; but that, if through stress of any storm it should enter our ports, it should receive succor, and our friendly relations would be maintained in all things. His principal topic, however, was that free trade should be permitted to him here, and that the Dutch should bring us all the merchandise necessary for us. But, as he found no opening for a proposition of that sort—on account of the prohibition [of commerce] in the laws [of the kingdoms] and in the treaties of peace, and because of the damage which would ensue to the islands from admitting within them the different religion which neighbors so cunning and so powerful [as the Dutch] would undertake to impart to them—he returned home much disgusted, publishing to the Dutch that Manila could be captured with five hundred soldiers, and even urging this enterprise as an easy one on Barnet, the commander of the English squadron which was then at Batavia.
The Dutch, not discomfited by this repulse, or by the loss of 50,000 pardaos[2] (which are 37,500 pesos)—which as they write from Batavia, the above-mentioned ambassador expended—made an agreement with an English corsair who was at Batavia, with a ship of fifty-two guns and another of thirty, to the effect that under his own flag he should escort four Dutch ships, which they despatched to Acapulco last year with merchandise. And in order to hinder the galleon from leaving this port they deceived a Frenchman,[3] who was very well known here, hinting to him that the squadron of Barenet [sic] and the corsair were going to attack Manila; and they hastened his embarkation, at the cost of 4,000 pesos, in order that he might notify us here. Then they gave orders to the corsair, with two other ships of their own, to let themselves be seen at the entrance of Mariveles, in order to throw Manila into alarm and hinder the sailing of the galleon. By [causing] this fright they succeeded in their purpose to prevent the sailing of the ship, which was lightened of its cargo as soon as the information which the Frenchman gave reached us; and the 4,000 pesos were paid [to him] for the cost of this warning. The said four ships sailed to leeward, and sighted the coast of Ylocos, whence we had news of this. But they could not attain their principal object; for when the six ships had come together in China, and were laden with [goods worth] 900,000 pardaos (each containing six silver reals), they expected the vessel which, after having given that warning here, was to cross over to China[4] and carry to the Dutch a pilot for the navigation to Nueva España; but it could not reach China, and was obliged to go to Batavia. The four Dutch ships and the two [English] corsairs, resolved to carry out their project, sailed from Canton on the fourteenth of September, bound for the coast of Nueva España and Perú to carry on illicit trade,[5] and the English to make reprisals. But God, who chose to punish so mischievous a design, permitted that a hurricane should attack them, when they were four days out from Canton; and as a result the two corsairs were driven back to China—the larger vessel dismasted and battered, and the smaller one badly damaged. The four Dutch ships, badly leaking, spent twelve days in searching for an anchorage on the coast of Ylocos, in order to make repairs; but not finding one, they went back to Batavia, with their goods damaged. According to what is written to us in a despatch that is just received from Batavia—from a person who was sent there from here to make observations on the condition of the English piratical squadron—the Dutch lost on their merchandise half of its value; and the corsair sold for 17,000 pardaos his ship of fifty-two guns, with all its military supplies, since it was no longer fit for navigation, while he went with the other and smaller ship—it is said without [stopping for] food—to another port to repair it. [It is also reported] that the squadron of Barenet had departed for Bombain, toward the Persian Gulf, to cruise against the French, from whom he seized at the Straits [of Malacca] nearly a million pesos. The person who was sent from here to Batavia (who is a Malabar) with a balandra was detained there under the pretext that the governor had gone away, and orders were given that he should not be permitted to depart until the governor’s return. But he informed us of everything, by a vessel which he despatched with six men and a French pilot; and he reported that three Dutch fragatas were being equipped and laden with merchandise in order to carry on illicit trade at the entrance of [the Gulf of] Californias, carrying [respectively] forty, thirty, and twenty-five cannon. In his opinion, this was the cause of his detention, in order that, by news [from him] not reaching Manila, the galleon should not sail for Nueva España, and their intention not be known here.
On account of all these advices, and those which we had previously received by way of China making the same statement about the English, it was resolved here that, since the chief [cause for] fear, which was the said squadron—which occasioned the letter with order from the Marqués de la Enseñada,[6] to give warning that a ship should not sail from here with cargo—had ceased, and since the commonwealth was in the most deplorable extremity, with a shipment of goods which had been driven back to port, and laden and unladen the second time, and in evident risk of being lost, a final effort was made by dividing the cargo between two ships equipped for war. One of these carried seventy cannon and the other fifty-two (seventy and forty [respectively] being mounted), and a corresponding number of men, resolved to defend their property and with sufficient force to make resistance to the entire squadron of Barenet, whose ships carried fifty-two, forty-five, forty, and thirty cannon. For the cost of this enterprise the body of merchants offered to aid with 50,000 pesos in Acapulco; and this effort seemed necessary, for, as the viceroy of Mexico had orders not to allow any money to come here, he understood them so strictly that last year he sent a bark[7] without one real. Nevertheless, he was not ignorant that the situado had not been sent here for three years: that with this, and the failure of the [Acapulco] trade, the treasury of the islands ran short 60,000 pesos each year in customs and anchorage duties; that the citizens would necessarily be reduced to poverty, and that these domains were utterly helpless; and that by despatching the aid in November it would arrive here in entire safety from the English—who only through general lack of military foresight were able to secure the prize which they made; for these islands have various ports where our ships can land (thus mocking the enemy), as occurred in the late war; but when they come by the ordinary route and the artillery is in the hold, no other result [than their capture] can be expected.