Chapter VII: Part 7

[51] "They are the best and most skilful artificers in jewels and gold that we have seen in this land. Almost all the people of Los Camarines pursue this handicraft." Letter from Guido de Lavezaris to Felipe II, Manila, July 17, 1574.--Bl. and Rb., Vol. 3, p. 273.)

"During these five days, the Moros had, little by little, given two hundred taels of impure gold, for they possess great skill in mixing it with other metals. They give it an outside appearance so natural and perfect, and so fine a ring, that unless it is melted they can deceive all men, even the best of silversmiths." (Relation of the Voyage to Luzon, 1570.--Bl. and Rb., Vol. 3, p. 81.)

"There are some chiefs in this island who have on their persons ten or twelve thousand ducats' worth of gold in jewels--to say nothing of the lands, slaves, and mines that they own. There are so many of these chiefs that they are innumerable. Likewise the individual subjects of these chiefs have a great quantity of the said jewels of gold, which they wear on their persons--bracelets, chains, and earrings of solid gold, daggers of gold, and other very rich trinkets. These are generally seen among them, and not only the chiefs and freemen have plenty of these jewels, but even slaves possess and wear golden trinkets upon their persons, openly and freely." (Reply to Fray Rada's 'Opinion,' Guido de Lavezaris and others; Manila, June, 1574.--Bl. and Rb., Vol. 3, p. 267.)

[52] "About their necks they wear gold necklaces, wrought like spun wax, and with links in our fashion, some larger than others. On their arms they wear armlets of wrought gold, which they call calombigas, and which are very large and made in different patterns. Some wear strings of precious stones--cornelians and agates; and other blue and white stones, which they esteem highly. They wear, around the legs some strings of these stones, and certain cords, covered with black pitch in many foldings, as garters." (Antonio de Morga, Sucesos.--Bl. and Rb., Vol. 16, pp. 76-77.)

[53] "The people are the most valiant yet found in these regions; they possess much good armour--as iron corselets, greaves, wristlets, gauntlets, and helmets--and some arquebuses and culverins." (Letter from Guido de Lavezaris to Felipe II, Manila, July 17, 1574.--Bl. and Rb., Vol. 3, p. 273.)

"At the waist they carry a dagger four fingers in breadth, the blade pointed, and a third of a vara in length; the hilt is of gold or ivory. The pommel is open and has two cross bars or projections, without any other guard. They are called bararaos. They have two cutting edges, and are kept in wooden scabbards, or those of buffalo-horn, admirably wrought."

(This weapon has been lost, and even its name is gone. A proof of the decline into which the present Filipinos have fallen is the comparison of the weapons that they manufacture now, with those described to us by the historians. The hilts of the talibones now are not of gold or ivory, nor are their scabbards of horn, nor are they admirably wrought.--Rizal.)

(Morga's Sucesos, Bl. and Rb., Vol. 16, p. 81 and note 65.)

"Since they have seen the Spaniards use their weapons, many of the natives handle the arquebuses and muskets quite skilfully. Before the arrival of the Spaniards they had bronze culverins and other pieces of cast iron, with which they defended their forts and settlements, although their powder is not so well refined as that of the Spaniards." (Ibid., p. 82.)

"This intercourse and traffic had acquainted the Filipinos with many of the accessories of civilized life long before the arrival of the Spaniards. Their chiefs and datos dressed in silks, and maintained some splendor of surroundings; nearly the whole population of the tribes of the coast wrote and communicated by means of a syllabary; vessels from Luzon traded as far south as Mindanao and Borneo, although the products of Asia proper came through the fleets of foreigners; and perhaps what indicates more clearly than anything else the advance the Filipinos were making through their communication with outside people is their use of firearms. Of this point there is no question. Everywhere in the vicinity of Manila, on Lubang, in Pampanga, at Cainta and Laguna de Bay, the Spaniards encountered forts mounting small cannon, or lantakas. The Filipinos seem to have understood, moreover, the arts of casting cannon and of making powder. The first gun-factory established by the Spaniards was in charge of a Filipino from Pampanga." (Dr. D. P. Barrows, A History of the Philippines, pp. 101-102.)

[54] (Relación de las Islas Filipinas, Miguel de Loarca; Arévalo, June, 1582.--Bl. and Rb., Vol. 5, p. 169.)

[55] Antonio de Morga, Sucesos, Chap. 8.--Bl. and Rb., Vol. 16, p. 80.

[56] "The coconuts furnish a nutritious food when rice is scarce. From the nut-shells they make dishes, and (from the fibrous husk) match-cords for their arquebuses; and with the leaves they make baskets." (Relación, Miguel de Loarca; Arévalo, June, 1852.--Bl. and Rb., Vol. 5, p. 169.)

See also First Voyage Around the World, Antonio Pigafetta.--Bl. and Rb., Vol. 33, p. 105, for description of how the palm sap was obtained, oil made, and of other uses of the coconut.

[57] Relación, Miguel de Loarca; June, 1582.--Bl. and Rb., Vol. 5, pp. 34-188.

Conquest of the Island of Luzon. Manila, April 20, 1572.--Bl. and Rb., Vol. 3, p. 171.

[58] Relation and Description of the Philippine Islands, Francisco de Sande; Manila, June 8, 1577.--Bl. and Rb., Vol. 4, p. 98.

"Cotton is raised abundantly throughout the islands. It is spun and sold in the skein to the Chinese and other nations, who come to get it. Cloth of different patterns is also woven from it, and the natives also trade that. Other cloths, called medriñiques, are woven from the banana leaf." (Sucesos de las Islas Filipinas, Antonio de Morga; Bl. and Rb., Vol. 16, p. 106.)

Cotton was woven into sail. "The canvas (lienzo) from which the sails are made in the said islands is excellent, and much better than what is shipped from España, because it is made from cotton. There are certain cloths (lienzos) which are called mantsa from the province of Ilocos, for the natives of that province manufacture nothing else, and pay your Majesty their tribute in them. They last much longer than those of España." (Philippine Ships and Shipbuilding, Sebastian de Pineda, 1619.--Bl. and Rb., Vol. 18, p. 178.)

[59] Relation of the Western Islands called Filipinas, Diego de Artieda, 1573.--Bl. and Rb., Vol. 3, p. 203.

Fray Rada's Opinion, Guido de Lavezaris and others, Manila, June, 1574.--Bl. and Rb., Vol. 3, p....

"The island of Zubu produces a small quantity of rice, borona, and millet and little or no cotton; for the cloth which the natives use for their garments is made from a kind of banana. From this they make a sort of cloth resembling colored calico, which the natives call medriñaque (Relación, Miguel de Loarca, June, 1582.--Bl. and Rb., Vol. 5, pp. 43-45.)

[60] T. H. Pardo de Tavera, Census, 1903, Vol. I, p. 329.

[61] Ibid. "The women have needlework as their employment and occupation, and they are very clever at it, and at all kinds of sewing. They weave cloth and spin cotton, and serve in houses of their husbands and fathers. (Antonio de Morga, Sucesos.--Bl. and Rb., Vol. 16, p. 79.)

[62] "Their houses are constructed of wood, and are built of planks and bamboo, raised high from the ground on large logs, and one must enter them by means of ladders. They have rooms like ours; and under the house they keep their swine, goats, and fowls." (Antonio Pigafetta, First Voyage Around the World.--Bl. and Rb., Vol. 33, p. 153.)

"The houses and dwellings of all these natives are universally set upon stakes and arigues (i. e., columns) high above the ground. Their rooms are small and the roofs low. They are built and tiled with wood and bamboos, and covered and roofed with nipa-palm leaves. Each house is separate, and is not built adjoining another. In the lower part are enclosures made by stakes and bamboos, where fowls and cattle are reared, and the rice pounded and cleaned. One ascends into the houses by means of ladders that can be drawn up, which are made from two bamboos. Above are their open batalanes (galleries) used for household duties; the parents and (grown) children live together. There is little adornment and finery in the houses, which are called bahandin.

"Besides these houses, which are those of the common people, and those of less importance, there are the chiefs' houses. They are built upon trees and thick arigues, with many rooms and comforts. They are well constructed of timber and planks, and are strong and large. They are furnished and supplied with all that is necessary, and are much finer and more substantial than the others. They are roofed, however, as are the others, with the palm-leaves called nipa." (Antonio de Morga, Sucesos.--Bl. and Rb., Vol. 16, pp. 117-118.)

[63] "The edifices and houses of the natives of all these Filipinas Islands are built in a uniform manner, as are their settlements; for they always build them on the shores of the sea, between rivers and creeks. The natives generally gather in districts or settlements where they sow their rice, and possess their palm trees, nipa and banana groves, and other trees, and implements for their fishing and sailing." Ibid., p. 117.)

[64] Especially in La Indolencia de los Filipinos, in "La Solidaridad," 1890, which develops the idea advanced by Sangcianco y Gozon.

[65] "* * * As already seen, we must reject so often reiterated of late years that the early missionaries found nomadic or half-fixed clans and taught them the ways of village life. Village life there was already, to some extent, and it was upon this that the friars built. Doubtless they modified it greatly until in time it approached in most ways as closely to European village life as might be expected in tropical islands whose agricultural resources are not as yet well developed. From the first there would be a tendency to greater concentration about the churches, beginning with the rude structures of cane and thatch, which are replaced before 1700 in all the older settlements by edifices of stone, frequently massive and imposing, especially, so as they tower over the acres of bamboo huts about them, from the inmates of which have come the forced labor which built them. From the first, too, it was to the interest of the Spanish conquerors, lay and priestly, to improve the methods of communication between the communities which formed their centers of conversion or of exploration and collection of tribute. Yet to represent either the friars or the soldiers as great pathfinders and reconstructors of wilderness is the work of ignorance. When Legaspi's grandson, Juan de Salcedo, made his memorable marches through northern Luzon, bringing vast acres under the dominion of Spain with a mere handful of soldiers, he found the modern Bigan a settlement of several thousand people; his successors in the conquest of the Upper Kagayan Valley, one of the most backward portions of the archipelago to-day, reported a population of forty thousand in the region lying around the modern Tuguegarao, and so it was quite commonly everywhere on the seacoasts and on the largest rivers. Some very crude deductions have been made as to the conquest period by writers of recent years who assume that the natives were at the beginning mere bands of wandering savages, and that all the improvements visible in their external existence to-day were brought about in these early years." (James A. LeRoy, The Americans in the Philippines, Vol. I, pp. 8-10.)

"The friar missionaries did not bring about the first settlement and conquests under Legaspi; they did not blaze the way in wildernesses and plant the flag of Spain in outlying posts long in advance of the soldiers, the latter profiting by their moral-suasion conquests to annex great territories for their own plunder; they did not find bloodthirsty savages, wholly sunk in degradation, and in the twinkling of an eye convert them to Christianity, sobriety, and decency, * * *; they did not teach wandering bands of huntsmen or fishermen how to live peacefully in orderly settlements, how to cultivate the soil, erect buildings (except the stone churches), and did not bind these villages together by the sort of roads and bridges which we have today, though they had considerable share in this work, especially in later time; they did not find a squalid population of 400,000 to 750,000 in the archipelago, and wholly by the revolution wrought by them in ways of life make it possible for that population to increase by ten or twenty times in three centuries." (Ibid., pp. 10-11.)

[66] Relación de las Islas Filipinas, Pedro Chirino, S. J., Roma 1604.--Bl. and Rb., Vol. 12, p. 188.

[67] Morga's Sucesos.--Bl. and Rb., Vol. 16, p. 105.

[68] Census of the Philippine Islands, 1903, Vol. I, p. 329.

[69] In La Indolencia de los Filipinos, Rizal continues thus:

"And if this, which is deduction, does not convince any minds imbued with unfair prejudices, perhaps of some avail may be the testimony of the oft-quoted Dr. Morga, who was Lieutenant-Governor of Manila for seven years and after rendering great service in the Archipelago was appointed criminal judge of the Audiencia of Mexico and Counsellor of the Inquisition. His testimony, we say, is highly credible, not only because all his contemporaries have spoken of him in terms that border on veneration but also because his work, from which we take these citations, is written with great circumspection and care, as well with reference to the authorities in the Philippines as to the errors they committed. 'The natives,' says Morga, in chapter VII, speaking of the occupations of the Chinese, 'are very far from exercising those trades and have even forgotten much about farming, raising poultry, stock and cotton, and weaving cloth AS THEY USED TO DO IN THEIR PAGANISM AND FOR A LONG TIME AFTER THE COUNTRY WAS CONQUERED.'"

"The whole of Chapter VIII of his work deals with this moribund activity, this much-forgotten industry, and yet in spite of that, how long is his eighth chapter!

"And not only Morga, not only Chirino, Colin, Argensola, Gaspar de San Agustin and others agree in this matter, but modern travelers, after two hundred and fifty years, examining the decadence and misery, assert the same thing. Dr. Hans Meyer, when he saw the unsubdued tribes cultivating beautiful fields and working energetically, asked if they would not become indolent when they in turn should accept Christianity and a paternal government.

"Accordingly, the Filipinos, in spite of the climate, in spite of their few needs (they were less then than now), were not the indolent creatures of our time, and, as we shall see later on, their ethics and their mode of life were not what is now complacently attributed to them."

Rizal has the following, to say about the abundance of wealth in this country:

"Wealth abounded in the islands. Pigafetta tells us of the abundance of foodstuffs in Paragua and of its inhabitants, who nearly all tilled their own fields. At this island the survivors of Magellan's expedition were well received and provisioned. A little later, these same survivors captured a vessel, plundered and sacked it, and took prisoner in it the chief of the Island of Paragua (!) with his son and brother.

"In this same vessel they captured bronze lombards, and this is the first mention of artillery of the Filipinos, for these lombards were useful to the chief of Paragua against the savages of the interior.

"They let him ransom himself within seven days, demanding 400 measures (cavanes?) of rice, 20 pigs, 20 goats, and 450 chickens. This is the first act of piracy recorded in Philippine history. The chief of Paragua paid everything, and moreover voluntarily added coconuts, bananas, and sugar-cane jars filled with palm-wine. When Caesar was taken prisoner by the corsairs and required to pay twenty-five talents ransom, he replied: 'I'll give you fifty, but later I'll have you all crucified!' The chief of Paragua was more generous: he forgot. His conduct, while it may reveal weakness, also demonstrates that the islands were abundantly provisioned. This chief was named Tuan Mahamud; his brother, Guantil, and his son, Tuan Mahamed. (Martin Mendez, Purser of the Ship "Victoria": Archivos de Indias, Ibid.)

[70] I have already said that all of it is thickly populated, and that it has a great abundance of rice, fowls, and swine, as well as great numbers of buffaloes, deer, wild boars, and goats; it also produces great quantities of cotton and colored cloths, wax, and honey; and date palms abound. In conclusion, it is very well supplied with all the things above mentioned, and many others which I shall not enumerate. It is the largest island which has thus far been discovered in these regions. As I say, it is well populated and very rich in gold mines. There is much trade with China. That part of it which has thus far been conquered and pacified, the governor has begun to allot to the conquerors." Conquest of the Island of Luzon, Manila, April 20, 1572. (Bl. and Rb., Vol. 3, pp. 171-172.)

"This province (Pampanga) possesses many rivers and creeks that irrigate it. They all flow and empty into the bay. This province contains many settlements of natives and considerable quantities of rice, fruits, fish, meat, and other foods." (Antonio de Morga's Sucesos, 1609.--Bl. and Rb., Vol. 16, p. 108.)

(Rizal's Note:--"This province had decreased so greatly in population and agriculture, a half century later, that Gaspar de San Agustin said: 'Now it no longer has the population of the past, because of the insurrection of that province, when Don Sabiniano Manrique de Lara was governor of these islands, and because of the incessant cutting of the timber for the building of his Majesty's ships, which prevents them from cultivating their extremely fertile plain.' Later, when speaking of Guagua or Wawa, he says: 'This town was formerly very wealthy because of its many chiefs, and because of the abundant harvests gathered in its spacious plains, which are now submerged by the water of the sea.'" (Ibid.)

"In reply to the fourth question he stated that, before the coming of the Spaniards, all the natives lived in their villages, applying themselves to the sowing of their crops and the care of their vineyards, and to the pressing of wine; others planting cotton, or raising poultry and swine, so that all were at work; moreover, the chiefs were obeyed and respected, and the entire country well provided for. But all this has disappeared since the coming of the Spaniards." (Testimony of Nicolas Ramos, chief of Cubao village and governor of same, under oath, in compliance with order of G. P. Dasmariñas "forbidding" the Indians to wear Chinese stuff; April 9, 1591.--Bl. and Rb., Vol. 8, p. 87.)

[71] "* * * Many islands and villages are devastated and almost wiped out, partly by the Spaniards or because of them, and partly by famines of which, or at the beginning of them, the Spaniards were the reason; for either by fear or to get rid of the Spaniards the natives NEGLECTED THEIR SOWING, and when they wished to sow then anguish came to them, and consequently many people have died of hunger." (Augustinian Memoranda, 1373.--Bl. and Rb., Vol. 34, p. 279.)

"After the end of the war the need of the city began, for, because of not having Sangleys who worked at the trades, and brought in all the provisions, there was no food, nor any shoes to wear, not even at excessive prices. The native Indians are very far from exercising those trades, and have even forgotten much of farming, and the raising of fowls, cattle, and cotton, and the weaving of cloth, which they used to do in the days of their paganism and for a long time after the conquest of the country. In addition to this, people thought that Chinese vessels would not come to the islands with food and merchandise, on account of the late revolution. * * *" (Antonio de Morga's Sucesos, 1601.--Bl. and Rb., Vol. 16, pp. 42-43).

[72] In La Indolencia, Rizal further says:

"It was necessary to subject the people either by cajolery or force; there were fights, there was slaughter; those who had submitted peacefully seemed to repent of it; insurrections were suspected, and some occurred; naturally there were executions, and many capable laborers perished. Add to this condition of disorder the invasion of Limahong, add the continual wars into which the inhabitants of the Philippines were plunged to maintain the honor of Spain, to extend the sway of her flag in Borneo, in the Moluccas and in Indo-China; to repel the Dutch foe: costly wars, fruitless expeditions, in which each time thousands and thousands of native archers and rowers were recorded to have embarked, but whether they returned to their homes was never stated. Like the tribute that once upon a time Greece sent to the Minotaur of Crete, the Philippine youth embarked for the expedition, saying good-by to their country forever: on their horizon were the stormy sea, the interminable wars, the rash expeditions. Wherefore, Gaspar de San Agustin says: 'Although anciently there were in this town of Dumangas many people, in the course of time they have very greatly diminished because the natives are the best sailors and most skillful rowers on the whole coast, and so the governors in the port of Iloilo take most of the people from this town for the ships that they send abroad. * * * When the Spaniards reached this island (Panay) it is said that there were on it more than fifty thousand families; but these diminished greatly; * * * and at present they may amount to some fourteen thousand tributaries.' From fifty thousand families to fourteen thousand tributaries in little over half a century!

We would never get through, had we to quote all the evidence of the authors regarding the frightful diminution of the inhabitants of the Philippines in the first years after the discovery. In the time of their first bishop, that is, ten years after Legaspi, Philip II said that they had been reduced to less than two-thirds."

[73] La Indolencia de los Filipinos:

"In order to make headway against so many calamities, to secure their sovereignty and take the offensive in these disastrous contests, to isolate the warlike Sulus from their neighbors in the south, to care for the needs of the empire of the Indies (for one of the reasons why the Philippines were kept, as contemporary documents prove, was their strategical position between New Spain and the Indies), to wrest from the Dutch their growing colonies of the Moluccas and get rid of some troublesome neighbors, to maintain, in short, the trade of China with New Spain, it was necessary to construct new and large ships which, as we have seen, costly as they were to the country for their equipment and the rowers they required, were not less so because of the manner in which they were constructed. Fernando de los Rios Coronel, who fought in these wars and later turned priest, speaking of these King's ships, said: 'As they were so large the timber needed was scarcely to be found in the forests (of the Philippines!), and thus it was necessary to seek it with great difficulty in the most remote of them, where, once found, in order to haul and convey it to the shipyard the towns of the surrounding country had to be depopulated of natives, who get it out with immense labor, damage, and cost to them. The natives furnished the masts for a galleon, according to the assertion of the Franciscans, and I heard the governor of the province where they were cut, which is Laguna de Bay, say that to haul them seven leagues over very broken mountains 6,000 natives were engaged three months, without furnishing them food, which the wretched native had to seek for himself.'

"And Gaspar de San Agustin says: 'In these times (1690), Bacolor has not the people that it had in the past, because of the uprising in that province when Don Sabiniano Manrique de Lara was Governor of these islands and because of the continual labor of cutting limber for his Majesty's shipyards, WHICH HINDERS THEM FROM CULTIVATING THE VERY FERTILE PLAIN THEY HAVE'."

[74] "The Indians, upon seeing that wealth excited the rapacity of the encomenderos and soldiers, abandoned the working of the mines, and the religious historians assert that they counseled them to a similar action in order to free them from annoyances. Nevertheless, according to Colin (who was 'informed by well-disposed natives'), more than 100,000 pesos of gold annually, conservatively stated, was taken from the mines during his time, after eighty years of abandonment. According to a 'manuscript of a grave person who had lived long in these islands,' the first tribute of the two provinces of Ilocos and Pangasinan alone amounted to 109,500 pesos. A single encomendero, in 1587, sent 3,000 taheles of gold in the 'Santa Ana,' which was captured by Cavendish." (Rizal's Notes to Antonio de Morga's Sucesos, 1609, Bl. and Rb., Vol. 16, p. 101.)

"If this is not sufficient to explain the depopulation of the islands and the abandonment of industry, agriculture and commerce, then add 'the natives who were executed, those who left their wives and children and fled in disgust to the mountains, those who were sold into slavery to pay the taxes levied upon them,' as Fernando de los Rios Coronel says; add to all this what Philip II said in reprimanding Bishop Salazar about 'natives sold by some encomenderos to others, those flogged to death, the women who are crushed to death by their heavy burdens, those who sleep in the fields and there bear and nurse their children and die bitten by poisonous vermin, the many who are executed and left to die of hunger and those who eat poisonous herbs * * * and the mothers who kill their children in bearing them,' and you will understand how in less than thirty years the population of the Philippines was reduced one-third. We are not saying this: it was said by Gaspar de San Agustin, the preeminently anti-Filipino Augustinian, and he confirms it throughout the rest of his work by speaking every moment of the state of neglect in which lay the farms and fields once so flourishing and so well cultivated, the towns thinned that had formerly been inhabited by many leading families!

"How is it strange, then, that discouragement may have been infused into the spirit of the inhabitants of the Philippines, when in the midst of so many calamities they did not know whether they would see sprout the seed they were planting, whether their field was going to be their grave or their crop would go to feed their executioner? What is there strange in it, when we see the pious but impotent friars of that time trying to free their poor parishioners from the tyranny of the encomenderos by advising them to stop work in the mines, to abandon their commerce, to break up their looms, pointing out to them heaven for their whole hope, preparing them for death as their only consolation?"--(La Indolencia.--Rizal.)

[75] "* * * Doubtless if we could see the whole character of the Spanish rule in those decades, we should see that the actual condition of the Filipino had improved and his grade of culture had risen. No one can estimate the actual good that comes to a people in being brought under the power of a government able to maintain peace and dispense justice. Taxation is sometimes grievous, corruption without excuse; but almost anything is better than anarchy.

"Before the coming of the Spaniards, it seems unquestionable that the Filipinos suffered greatly under two terrible grievances that afflict barbarous society--in the first place, warfare, with its murder, pillage, and destruction, not merely between tribe and tribe, but between town and town, such as even now prevail in the wild mountains of northern Luzon, among the primitive Malayan tribes; and in the second place, the weak and poor man was at the mercy of the strong and the rich.

"The establishment of Spanish sovereignty had certainly mitigated, if it did not wholly remedy, these conditions. 'All of these provinces,' Morga could write, 'are pacified and are governed from Manila, having alcaldes mayores, corregidors, and lieutenants, and dispense justice. The chieftains (principales), who formerly held the other natives in subjection, no longer have power over them in the manner which they tyrannically employed, which is not the least benefit these natives have received in escaping from such slavery.'" (Dr. D. P. Barrows, History of the Philippines, p. 166.)

[76] Chao Ju-kua's Description of the Philippines.--Bl. and Rb., Vol. 34, pp. 183-191.

Rizal, La Indolencia. (All quotations from this work are taken from the Derbyshire translation.):

"Indolence in the Philippines is a chronic malady, but not a hereditary one. The Filipinos have not always been what they are, witnesses whereto are all the historians of the first years after the discovery of the Islands.

"Before the arrival of the Europeans, the Malayan Filipinos carried on an active trade, not only among themselves but also with all the neighboring countries. A Chinese manuscript of the 13th century, translated by Dr. Hirth (Globus, Sept. 1889), which we will take up at another time, speaks of China's relations with the islands, relations purely commercial, in which mention is made of the activity and honesty of the traders of Luzon, who took the Chinese products and distributed them throughout all the islands, traveling for nine months, and then returned to pay religiously even for the merchandise that the Chinamen did not remember to have given them. The products which they in exchange exported from the islands were crude wax, cotton, pearls, tortoise-shell, betelnuts dry-goods, etc."

[77] The method of trading is thus described by Chao Ju-kua:

"When (Chinese) merchantmen arrive at that port they cast anchor at a place (called) the place of Mandarins. That place serves them as a market, or site where the products of their countries are exchanged. When a vessel has entered into the port (its captain) offers presents consisting of white parasols and umbrellas which serve them for daily use. The traders are obliged to observe these civilities in order to be able to count on the favor of those gentlemen.

"In order to trade, the savage traders are assembled (the Chinese call all foreigners savages except the Japanese, Koreans, and people of Anam.--Blumentritt) and have the goods carried in baskets, and although the bearers are often unknown, none of the goods are ever lost or stolen. The savage traders transport these goods to other islands, and thus eight or nine months pass until they have obtained other goods of value equivalent to those that have been received (from the Chinese). This forces the traders of the vessels to delay their departure, and hence it happens that the vessels that maintain trade with Ma-yi are the ones that take the longest to return to their country." * * *

"When foreign traders come to one of their villages, they must not touch the ground, but must remain aboard their vessel, which is anchored in the middle of the current, and announce their presence by beat of drum. Thereupon the savage traders approach in their light craft, in which they carry cotton, yellow wax, strange cloth, coconuts, onions, and fine mats, and all those things they offer for sale in exchange (for the articles of the Chinese). In case of misunderstanding in the price of the goods, it is necessary to summon the chief of the traders of that place, so that he may present himself in person, and arrange the tariff to the satisfaction of all." * * *

[78] The first thing noticed by Pigafetta, who came with Magellan in 1521, on arriving at the first island of the Philippines, Samar, was the courtesy and kindness of the inhabitants and their commerce. "To honor our captain," he says, "they conducted him to their boats where they had their merchandise, which consisted of cloves, cinnamon, pepper, nutmegs, mace, gold and other things; and they made us understand by gestures that such articles were to be found in the islands to which we were going."

Further on he speaks of the vessels and utensils of solid gold that he found in Butuan, where the people worked mines. He describes the silk dresses, the daggers with long gold hilts and scabbards of carved wood, the gold sets of teeth, etc. Among cereals and fruits he mentions rice, millet, oranges, lemons, panicum, etc.

That the islands maintained relations with neighboring countries and even with distant ones is proven by the ships from Siam, laden with gold and slaves, that Magellan found in Cebu. These ships paid certain duties to the King of the island. In the same year, 1521, the survivors of Magellan's expedition met the son of the Rajah of Luzon, who, as captain-general of the Sultan of Borneo and admiral of his fleet, had conquered for him the great city of Lave (Sarawak?). Might this captain, who was greatly feared by all his foes, have been the Rajah Matanda whom the Spaniards afterwards encountered in Tondo in 1570?

In 1539 the warriors of Luzon took part in the formidable contests of Sumatra, and under the orders of Angi Siry Timor, Rajah of Batta, conquered and overthrew the terrible Alzadin, Sultan of Atchin, renowned in the historical annals of the Far East. (Marsden, Hist. of Sumatra, Chap. XX.)

At that time, that sea where float the islands like a set of emeralds on a paten of bright glass, that sea was everywhere traversed by junks, paraus, barangays, vintas, vessels swift as shuttles, so large that they could maintain a hundred rowers on a side (Morga); that sea bore everywhere commerce, industry, agriculture, by the force of the oars moved to the sound of warlike songs of the genealogies and achievements of the Philippine divinities. (Colin, Labor Evangelica, Chap. XV.)

Legaspi's expedition met in Butuan various traders of Luzon with their boats laden with iron, wax cloths, porcelain, etc. (Gaspar de San Agustin), plenty of provisions, activity, trade, movement in all the southern islands.

They arrived at the Island of Cebu, "abounding in provisions, with mines and washings of gold, and peopled with natives," as Morga says; "very populous, and at a port frequented by many ships that came from the islands and kingdoms near India," as Colin says; and even though they were peacefully received discord soon arose. The city was taken by force and burned. The fire destroyed the food supplies and naturally famine broke out in that town of a hundred thousand people, as the historians say, and among the members of the expedition, but the neighboring islands quickly relieved the need, thanks to the abundance they enjoyed. (La Indolencia, Rizal.)

Dr. J. A. Robertson in a note to the English translation of this work says:

"There is no doubt of the frequency of interisland trade among the peoples of the Philippines at an early period. Trade was stimulated by the very fact that the Malay peoples, except those who have been driven into the mountainous interiors, are by their very nature a seafaring people. The fact of an interisland traffic is indicative of a culture above that possessed by a people in the barbarian stage of culture. Of course, there was considerable Chinese trade as well throughout the islands."

[79] "Their customary method of trading was by bartering one thing for another, such as food, cloth, cattle, fowls, lands, houses, fields, slaves, fishing-grounds, and palm-trees (both nipa and wild). Sometimes a price intervened, which was paid in gold, as agreed upon, or in metal bells brought from China. These bells they regard as precious jewels; they resemble large pans and are very sonorous. They play upon these at their feasts, and carry them to the war in their boats instead of drums and other instruments. There are often delays and terms for certain payments, and bondsmen who intervene and bind themselves, but always with usurious and excessive profits and interests." (Antonio de Morga, Sucesos; Bl. and Rb., Vol. 16, p. 128.)

[80] "The natives are free to move from one island to another, and from one province to another, and pay their tribute for that year in which they move and change their residence in the place to which they move; and to move from a Christian village that has instruction to another village possessing it. But on the other hand, they may not move from a place having instruction to one without it, nor in the same village from one barangay to another, nor from one faction to another. In this respect, the necessary precautions are made by the government, and the necessary provisions by the Audiencia, so that this system may be kept, and so that all annoyances resulting from this moving of the settled natives of one place to another may be avoided.

"Neither are the natives allowed to go out of their villages for trade, except by permission of the governor, or of his alcaldes-mayores and justices, or even of the religious, who most often have been embarrassed by this, because of the instruction. This is done so that the natives may not wander about aimlessly when there is no need of it, away from their homes and settlements." (Morga's Sucesos.--Bl. and Rb., Vol. 16, pp. 162-163.)

[81] "17. (Commerce is to be free to all Indians of whatever jurisdiction they be, throughout the Philippines; and no license is required, nor can any fee be charged. This will ensure a good supply of provisions and other necessities, and promote the cultivation of the land. Good treatment must be shown to them, and their passage from one place to another facilitated, under penalty of a fine of 100 pesos, and a charge in the residencia of the one who transcends this order.)" (Ordinances of Good Government by Corcuera, 1642, and Cruzat y Gongora, 1696.--Bl. and Rb., Vol. 50, p. 203).

[82] "70. (Interprovincial trade of the various products shall not be prohibited, as such prohibition is in violation of law vii, título xviii, book iv and law xxv, título i, book vi, in accordance with which laws trade is to be encouraged. The Indians may cut timber in accordance with law xiv, título xvii, book iv. The desire to gain, however, shall not be allowed to cause the Indians to send out of any province the products necessary for its conservation. This may be prohibited with the consent of the father minister, from whom the alcalde-mayor shall ask a certification for his own protection. Without the certification, he shall not make such prohibition, under penalty of the penalties of the preceding ordinance. The natives shall pay no fees for the privilege of interprovincial trade; and, if any alcalde-mayor violates this, he shall incur a fine of 100 pesos, besides the responsibility of making good all the loss occasioned by his action. This shall be a charge in the residencia.) (Raon's Ordinance, February 26, 1768.--Bl. and Rb., Vol. 50, pp. 250-251.)

This is one of the reasons adduced by Rizal to explain the decay of agriculture in this country:

"Of no little importance were the hindrances and obstacles that from the beginning were thrown in the farmers's way by the rulers, who were influenced by childish fear and saw everywhere signs of conspiracies and uprisings. The natives were not allowed to go to their labors, that is, their farms, without permission of the governor, or of his agents and officers and even of the priests as Morga says. Those who know the administrative slackness and confusion in a country where the officials work scarcely two hours a day; those who know the cost of going to and returning from the capital to obtain a permit; those who are aware of the petty retaliations of the little tyrants will well understand how with this crude arrangement it is possible to have the most absurd agriculture. True it is that for some time this absurdity, which would be ludicrous had it not been so serious, has disappeared; but even if the words have gone out of use other facts and other provisions have replaced them. The Moro pirate has disappeared but there remains the outlaw who infests the fields and waylays the farmer to hold him for ransom. Now then, the government, which has a constant fear of the people, denies to the farmers even the use of a shotgun, or if it does allow it does so very grudgingly and withdraws it at pleasure; whence it results with the laborer, who, thanks to his means of defense, plants his crops and invests his meager fortune in the furrows that he has so laboriously opened, that when his crop matures, it occurs to the government, which is impotent to suppress brigandage, to deprive him of his weapon; and then, without defense and without security he is reduced to inaction and abandons his field, his work, and takes to gambling as the best means of securing a livelihood. The green cloth is under the protection of the government, it is safer! A mournful counselor is fear, for it not only causes weakness but also in casting aside the weapons strengthens the very persecutor!"--(La Indolencia.)

[83] There were other earlier decrees to the same effect as the following:

"6. (Alcaldes-mayor and corregidors are not to accept any presents, even of food, during the term of their office, as their hands will be bound thereby. They must pay a just price for what they purchase. During the term of their office they are not to purchase a ranch or any lands in the territory of their jurisdiction; neither are their secretaries or alguacils-mayor to buy them: for many evils follow therefrom. They are to build no sailing craft under any consideration, 'under penalty of loss thereof and two hundred pesos, applied half to fines for the treasury and fortifications, because of the great harm caused to the natives by such constructions. For when you need any vessel, you can charter one.' Likewise they are forbidden to engage in any trade with the natives and citizens of their jurisdiction, either directly or through agents.") (Ordinances of Good Government, by Corcuera, 1642.--Bl. and Rb., Vol. 50, p. 195.)

[84] "106. The chief aim of the alcaldes-mayor, corregidors, and assistants, is trade. They buy up by wholesale the products of the land, especially rice and other food supplies, exactly as is said above concerning the religious of certain curacies, and their interpreters and helpers.

"111. It is not advantageous for these alcaldes-mayor and corregidors, or their assistants or friends, to receive the royal collections, for they perpetrate the numberless frauds and cheats, both against the royal treasury and against the Indians; and there is no remedy for this, as they themselves administer justice. They hold the collections in their possession for a long time, trading with them, and the royal treasury is the loser." (Report of Conditions in the Philippines, by Antonio de Morga; Bl. and Rb., Vol. 10, pp. 94-95.)

Referring to the religious men, Morga says in the same report:

"2. They trade and make a profit in their districts, from rice, wax, wine, gold, boats, fowls, cloth, and deerskins, to the great detriment of the Indians, as well as that of the entire country.

"3. They deal openly in merchandise of the above-mentioned articles, as well as in those of China, in the trade with Nueva España."

"Before the governor Don Gonzalo Ronquillo came, there were not more than three or four alcaldes-mayor in all these islands; but now there are sixteen and most of them are men who came with him. As they came poor, and as the salaries are small, they have taken the Indians--as all affirm, and it is common talk--at the time for harvesting rice; and they buy up all other provisions, and many profit by selling them again. In this way everything has become dear, because, as they have forbidden the Indians to trade and traffic, they sell at whatever price they wish. Formerly the Indians brought their products to the gates, and sold it at very low prices; for they are satisfied with very little gain, which is not true of the Spaniards." (Affairs in the Philippine Islands, Fray Domingo de Salazar. (Manila, 1593).--Bl. and Rb., Vol. 5, p. 217.)

[85] Rizal, La Indolencia.--"We will not cite our own experiences, for aside from the fact that we do not know which to select, critical persons may reproach us with partiality; neither will we cite those of other Filipinos who write in the newspapers; but we shall confine ourselves to translating the words of a modern French traveler who was in the Philippines for a long time:

"'The good curate,' he says with reference to the rosy picture a friar had given him of the Philippines, 'had not told me about the governor, the foremost official of the district, who was too much taken up with the ideal of getting rich to have time to tyrannize over his docile subjects; the governor, charged with ruling the country and collecting the various taxes in the government's name, devoted himself almost wholly to trade; in his hands the high and noble functions he performs are nothing more than instruments of gain. He monopolizes all the business and instead of developing on his part the love of work, instead of stimulating the too natural indolence of the natives, he with abuse of his powers thinks only of destroying all competition that may trouble him or attempt to participate in his profits. It matters little to him that the country is impoverished, without cultivation, without commerce, without industry, just so the governor is quickly enriched!"

[86] Resultados del Desarrollo Económico de Filipinas; in "Revista Económica," November, 1912:

"In imposing a tax payable in articles of food or dress, the foundations of the Philippine industry were unwittingly laid. It is natural for a person manufacturing a piece of cloth for the purpose of paying tribute with it to have an interest in making another like piece to sell or to exchange for some other needed object. At the same time, as the encomendero and alcaldes mayores engaged in trade sold the articles received as tribute, a market for industrial products was in this wise created which provoked a demand for such merchandise."

[87] Azcarraga, La Libertad de Comercio de Filipinas, p. 40.

"To this abundance and fertility was added the proximity of China, India, Japan, Malacca, and Maluco. From China they not only began to ship their riches in silks and glazed earthenware, as soon as they learned of our wealth of four and eight real pieces: * * *." (Relación de las Islas Filipinas, Pedro Chirino, S. J.; Roma, 1604.--Bl. and Rb., Vol. 12, p. 191.)

[88] Morga's Sucesos.--Bl. and Rb., Vol. 16, p. 176.

[89] "These vessels come laden with merchandise, and bring wealthy merchants who own ships, and servants and factors of other merchants who remain in China. They leave China with the permission and leave of the Chinese viceroys and mandarins. The merchandise that they generally bring and sell to the Spaniards consists of raw silk in bundles, of the fineness of two strands ("dos cabezas"), and other silk of poorer quality; fine untwisted silk, white and of all colors, wound in small skeins; quantities of velvets, some plain, and some embroidered in all sorts of figures, colors, and fashions--others with body of gold, and embroidered with gold; woven stuffs and brocades, of gold and silver upon silk of various colors and patterns; quantities of gold and silver thread in skeins over thread and silk--but the glitter of all the gold and silver is false, and only on paper; damasks, satins, taffetans, gorvaranes, picotes (coarse stuff made of goat's hair, or a glossy silk stuff; probably the latter is intended in the text. Gorvaran or gorgoran is a sort of silk grogram), and other cloths of all colors, some finer and better than others; a quantity of linen made from grass, called 'lencensuelo' (handkerchief). (This fabric is now called Piña); and white cotton cloth of different kinds and qualities, for all uses. They also bring musk, benzoin, and ivory; many bed ornaments, hangings, coverlets, and tapestries of embroidered velvet; damask and gorvaran of different shades; tablecloths, cushions, and carpets; horse-trappings of the same stuff, and embroidered with glass beads and seed-pearls; also some pearls and rubies, sapphires and crystal-stones; metal basins, copper kettles, and other copper and cast-iron pots; quantities of all sorts of nails, sheet-iron, tin and lead; saltpetre and gunpowder. They supply the Spaniards with wheat flour; preserves made of orange, peach, 'scorzonera,' pear, nutmeg, and ginger, and other fruits of China; salt pork and other salt meats; live fowls of good breed, and very fine capons; quantities of green fruit, oranges of all kinds; excellent chestnuts, walnuts, pears, and 'chicueyes' (both green and dried, a delicious fruit); quantities of fine thread of all kinds, needles, and knick-knacks; little boxes and writing-cases; beds, tables, chairs, and gilded benches, painted in many figures and patterns. They bring domestic buffaloes; geese that resemble swans; horses, some mules and asses; even caged birds, some of which talk, while others sing, and they make them play innumerable tricks. The Chinese furnish numberless other gewgaws and ornaments of little value and worth, which are esteemed among the Spaniards; besides a quantity of fine crockery of all kinds; canganes, (this must be the cloth and not the porcelain of Kaga, which even today is so highly esteemed.--Rizal), sines, and black and blue robes; 'tacley,' which are beads of all kinds; strings of cornelians, and other beads and precious stones of all colors; pepper and other spices; and rarities--which, did I refer to them all, I would never finish, nor have sufficient paper for it." (Ibid., pp. 178-180.)

[90] "They also bring some fine woven silk goods of mixed colors; beautiful and finely-decorated screens done in oil and gilt; all kinds of cutlery; many suits of armor, spears, catans, and other weapons, all finely wrought; writing cases, boxes and small cases of wood, japanned and curiously marked; other pretty gewgaws; excellent fresh pears; barrels and casks of good salt tunny; cages of sweet-voiced larks, called "fimbaros;" and other trifles." (Ibid., p. 183.)

[91] "* * * They take merchandise consisting of spices--cloves, cinnamon, and pepper; slaves, both black and Cafres; cotton cloth of all sorts, fine muslins (caniquies), linens, gauzes, rambuties, and other delicate and precious cloths; amber, and ivory; cloths edged with pita, for use as bed covers; hangings, and rich counterpanes from Vengala (Bengal), Cochin, and other countries; many gilt articles and curiosities; jewels of diamonds, rubies, sapphires, topazes, balas-rubies, and other precious stones, both set and loose; many trinkets and ornaments from India; wine, raisins, and almonds; delicious preserves, and other fruits brought from Portugal and prepared in Goa; carpets and tapestries from Persia and Turquia, made of fine silks and wools; beds, writing-cases, parlor-chairs, and other finely-guilded furniture, made in Macao; needle-work in colors and in white, of chain-lace and royal point lace, and other fancy-work of great beauty and perfection. Purchases of all the above are made in Manila, and paid in reals and gold. The vessels return in January with the brisas, which is their favorite monsoon. They carry to Maluco provisions of rice and wine, crockery-ware, and other wares needed there; while to Malacca they take only the gold or money, besides a few special trinkets and curiosities from España, and emeralds. The royal duties are not collected from these vessels." (Morga's Sucesos, 1609.--Bl. and Rb., Vol. 16, pp. 184-185.)

[92] Ibid., pp. 185-186.

[93] Ibid., p. 186.

[94] "All of these things (referring to the trade of the Philippines) make life in that region pleasant and an object of desire to men; and indeed it seems a copy of that Tyre so extolled by Ezequiel." (Relación de las Islas Filipinas, Pedro Chirino.--Bl. and Rb., Vol. 13, p. 192.)

"The capital of our colony was, therefore, a few years after the conquest, an emporium of wealth which, by its commercial activity, gained in those seas the title of Pearl of the Orient." (La Libertad de Comercio, Azcarraga, p. 41.)

"The commerce of these islands began with their second discovery and the first settlement, which was in the year 1565. However, it was at the first scanty and of little weight, until during the government of Guido de Labazarris, in the year 1576, the trade of China was introduced, and with it considerable profits, which extended it freely to Nueva España, Guatimala, Tierrafirme, and Perú, by a royal decree of April 14, 1579." (Informatory Memorial addressed to the king, Juan Grau y Monfalcon; Madrid, 1637.--Bl. and Rb., Vol. 27, pp. 157-158.)

[95] "For thirty years after the conquest the commerce of the islands was unrestricted and their prosperity advanced with great rapidity." (Historical Introduction, E. G. Bourne.--Bl. and Rb., Vol. 1, p. 61.)