[25] The Bashee or Bachi Islands form the northern cluster of the northern group of islands, called Batanes, which lie north of Luzón. They are the most northern of all the American possessions in the Orient, and are separated from Formosa by the strait of Bachi. The islands composing the cluster are Mabudis, Misanga, Siayan, Tanan, and Y’Ami (all inhabited), the last being the most northern. The Batanes are composed in all of ten named islands and forty unnamed islets and rocks, the southern cluster including Bachi Rocks; Batán, the central and most important island of the group; Déquez; Diamis Rocks; Diego; Ibayat (or Isbayat), the largest of these islands; Ibugos; North; and Sabtán. The name of Bachi is sometimes extended to the entire group, and it is probable that Dampier’s five islands, or at least some of them, were among the southern cluster; for Déquez Island is also called Goat; Ibayat, Orange; and Ibugos, Bachi. The group is separated on the south from the Babuyanes by the Balingtán Channel. The larger islands bear indications of a late volcanic origin; the smaller islands are generally low, and rest upon foundations of coral. In this group are a number of good harbors; but communication between the islands is difficult because of the strong currents in the channels and the scarcity of anchorages. The exports of the islands consist of lard, cocoanut oil, hogs, horses, goats, and some valuable woods. The soil is fertile, especially of Batán, and many vegetables are produced. Some of the products of the United States can be successfully raised. The chief industry is the raising of cattle, hogs, goats, and horses, the last being of superior quality and in demand. A catechism of the dialect spoken in the Batanes was published by a friar in 1834, an examination of which has led Dr. Pardo de Tavera to the conclusion that the aboriginal tongue differed considerably from the other Filipino dialects, as it contains the sound “tsch” and a nasal sound like the French “en.” It is probable, however, that the present population of the Batanes, as well as of the Babuyanes, is composed very largely of Ibánag from the Cagayán Valley (Luzón), introduced there as colonists by the Dominican friars. This population is Christian. The earlier population must have borne considerable resemblance to the natives of Formosa. See Gazetteer of Philippine Islands, and Census of the Philippines, i, pp. 264, 448.
[26] Pillau or pilau, a Turkish dish consisting of boiled rice and mutton fat.
[27] An anchor carried at the bow of a ship.
[28] The Babuyanes Islands. Salazar relates (Hist. Sant. Rosario, pp. 361–369) in detail a raid made by an English pirate (August, 1685) on the islands of Babuyanes, Bari, and Camiguin, then in charge of Dominican missionaries. They plundered the village of Babuyanes and its church; and this raid caused the deaths of two of the missionaries there.
Petition for Dominican Missionaries
Fray Francisco de Villalva of the Order of Preachers, and procurator-general (in virtue of powers which he presents) of the province of Santo Rosario, which the said order has in the Filipinas Islands, declares: That, as is well known, the religious of his order in the said islands have converted to the Catholic faith, and now have in their charge, the provinces of Cagayan, Pangasinan, Mandayas, part of Tagalos, Zambales, and the island of Babuyanes—in which territory there is diversity of languages, and a great number of convents provided with ministers for the instruction of the Indian natives; from this labor always has been and still is gathered the spiritual harvest which is well known. Moreover, those fathers have made extensive conquests in various parts of those kingdoms, founding many churches—as they actually are maintaining public worship at this very time in the vast empire of Great China. There they are suffering immense hardships and persecutions, shedding their blood in the violent acts committed by tyranny, in order to plant there the Christian faith and religion; for this cause, and in its defense, seventy-eight religious have given their lives as martyrs in that province, leaving the church made illustrious by this triumph. And besides this, they have in the city of Manila their principal convent, which continually maintains the practices of hearing confessions, preaching, and giving consolation in the sicknesses and trials of the citizens, with great comfort to all. They have also the college of Santo Tomàs, in which are taught grammar, the arts, and scholastic and moral theology, to the benefit of all that community and the entire archipelago. They support students holding fellowships, usually twenty-four to thirty, without receiving any stipend: and have thus sent out, as they are still doing, graduates of much learning, for the dignities and curacies of those islands. They have also another college, that of San Juan de Letran, with more than a hundred orphan boys, the sons of poor soldiers who have died in the service of your Majesty—giving them all that is necessary for their support, and instructing them in reading, writing, religious conduct, and virtue; while those boys who are not inclined to study are aided in obtaining positions as soldiers, artillerists, mariners, and in other occupations in which they are employed to the service of your Majesty. Another enterprise is also at the expense and charge of the said religious order and province—the Parian, which is the silk-market of the Chinese; it is close to the walls of Manila, and from five to six thousand Chinamen usually reside in it. For the Christians preaching in their own language is furnished every feast-day in their own church, and there is continual preaching to the heathen through the streets; with this labor they have made a great many conversions, and gained an enormous number of souls. For this same nation those fathers maintain a hospital, in which, with the good example of those religious, and their instruction and continual assistance in the sicknesses of the Chinese, they have gained so great a harvest that from its foundation (which was in the former year of 1588) to the present year of 1677,[1] seldom has a patient died without receiving the water of holy baptism. This religious order also have at San Juan del Monte a sanctuary which is the object of devotion of all that colony; and at the port of Cavite, three leguas distant from Manila—where the galleons and other vessels of smaller size are built—they have the convent of San Thelmo, the religious of which assist the soldiers, mariners, and sailors with their preaching and instruction, so that all of them may live Christian and orderly lives.
This religious province administers the functions entrusted to it without any worldly advantage, receiving neither imposts nor fees for burials, marriages, feast-days, or sermons—its religious being supported only by the stipend which your Majesty assigns to the ministers in the mission villages; and from this amount they spend much and distribute [alms] among the poor and needy Indians of their districts. Nor is there in any convent of the said province any fixed income; nor has the province ever accepted deposits or valuable articles, or permitted its individual religious to keep these things in their cells, or anything except a breviary and the holy Bible, for the preaching of the holy gospel. Their clothing is of coarse, rough frieze without, and their inner garments of what your Majesty (whom may God guard) grants them as alms. All this is evident by the publicity of the facts, and by official information which on various occasions has been sent to the glorious Catholic sovereigns, your Majesty’s predecessors, and to their royal and supreme Council of the Indias by the governor and royal Audiencia of the islands, and the cabildos, ecclesiastical and secular, of the said city of Manila.
In consideration of these things, and of the fact that so numerous Christian communities are persevering in the Catholic faith, and that these are spreading with the new conversions, his Majesty who is now in glory, moved by the fervent zeal which he always had for the good of souls, continued to send to the said islands religious of the Order of St. Dominic, in order that by their apostolic lives and doctrine they might teach and preach the holy gospel. And finally, in the past year of 1668 her Highness the queen-regent, the mother of your Majesty, was pleased to grant permission that some of those religious should go thither at the cost of the royal treasury; in accordance with this thirty-three religious went to those islands, thirty priests and three lay brethren.[2] But, although that permission and the number of missionaries were enough for one shipment, they do not suffice for the succor of so many souls as that province has in its charge, and for the new conversions which continually present themselves. Moreover, with the long voyage, the unaccustomed climates, the continual toil, and the austerity which is observed by this province—which follows the primitive rule of its order—the number of its members must necessarily diminish. This has actually been the case, since from the time when permission was given for the last shipload of religious, which was nine years ago, a greater number have died than those who went to the islands in that band, as was evident from the last reports which the said province sent [to España], and which the petitioner will exhibit, if necessary. And today, counting in the sick, crippled, and old men, there are not ninety priests in the said province; and even though there were many more, since more are actually necessary it is highly expedient that other and fresh religious should go thither, that they may be rendering themselves capable in the languages and ministries, so that ready and intelligent laborers may never be lacking for the instruction and teaching of the natives, and for the new conversions, which our sovereigns the Catholic kings of España have so earnestly striven to maintain and increase, sending religious every four or six years, and sometimes every two years; without the ministries being less than they are now, nor do fewer die now than then.
In order to provide those who should go, and to find the number for whom your Majesty shall be pleased to grant permission, to obtain information about them, to examine into their virtue and learning, and to secure a judicious choice, the petitioner needs about a year, in which time he can go personally to the convents of the three provinces of España; for the importance of so delicate a matter will not permit that it be entrusted to letters alone. Accordingly, he should have at least the time until St. John’s day next, or when the first fleet shall be equipped; otherwise he cannot sail from España and make a voyage to Filipinas with religious. To reach those islands, two years are usually required, and at the very least more than one year; and by that time eleven or twelve years will have passed since the last permission [of that sort]. In that protracted course of time, there must necessarily have occurred many deaths among the laborers who work in that vineyard—of whose labor and conversion of souls God has made watch-towers for our sovereigns the Catholic kings of España, and for their royal and supreme Council of the Indias, upon whom is laid this heavy weight of obligation—in fulfilling which they have always made every exertion, giving permissions, orders, means, and aid to the ministers who have gone thither to cultivate that field.