Chapter XLV (3)

"The father provincial of the Augustinian religious, said in his printed report, in the compilation made concerning the causes of the insurrection in Ilocos in 1807:

"'The Indians of Ilocos have become highwaymen, like those of the other provinces. They steal cows, horses, and carabaos from their own countrymen; and those who are occupied in this trade are ready for all sorts of evil. It is not surprising that many of these should have come with the deserters who first rebelled in the mountains of Piddig, and that others should unite with them when the fire was fanned. But one can not call this a cause for insurrection, nor do I believe that for such thefts the means should be to take the stealers of carabaos to Manila so that they might be punished; but it is enough for the alcaldes-mayor to watch over their province and punish these thefts. By so doing they would succeed in lessening thefts, for the extermination of them is as impossible as is making an end of the classes of the thieves according to the proverb of the Indians, "When the rats die, then the thieves will come to an end."'

"It is true that perhaps one ought not to ascribe all this demoralization to a perverse disposition. One must not have lived among the Filipinos, or have been very blind in regard to them, to say that they are all thieves. There are very many who, although they could steal with impunity, do not do so.... The frequency of theft may proceed from other causes. Perhaps the system of mercy and impunity that has dictated and is dictating the sentences of the Audiencia of Manila has contributed thereto...."

[161] M. and D. omit "of which I heard," and the latter reads "and I shall only tell of two of which I was a witness."

Spaniards also, says Delgado (pp. 310, 311), recount things that are not credible, and "it is not to be wondered at that some rude and ignorant people should believe such nonsense; and if they believe some things that are told them by some scholars, it is because of the authority of those people among them.... This happens commonly in other places, besides among the Indians."

[162] See an account of this matter and the trouble caused by it, in Vol. XXXIX.

[163] i.e., "Silver and gold have I none"--a reference to Acts III, 6.

[164] M. and D. read "miners."

[165] "When the ship 'Santa Ana' arrived at Manila in the year 1832 with 250 Spanish soldiers, it was rumored among the women of the tobacco factory that those soldiers were coming to take away their children in order to irrigate the mines in España with their blood. All were aroused and fled to their homes, took their children, and began to take refuge in the houses of the Spanish women, and they could not be persuaded that it was all nonsense. The house of Doña Dolores Goyena was filled with them. Also many men armed with spears came out on the streets; but the disorder gradually subsided." (Mas, p. 82.)

[166] M. and D. add "for all the ministers cannot free them from this deceit."

[167] This is not so in general, says Delgado (p. 311), but is true only of some individuals among the various nations.

[168] M. reads "respect the Spaniard more."

[169] The truth is that any Spaniard, with rare exceptions, has more penetration, more vivacity, more nobility, more talent, and more courage than a Filipino. This superiority can do no less than have its effect.... For the rest, few in Manila have an exact idea of the Filipino character. Their arrogance may be seen in the importance which the gobernadorcillos give to themselves. They go daily to the city hall, but they make two regidors go to their houses to get them. There the regidors wait until the gobernadorcillo is ready to come out, and the latter then goes in solemn state to the city hall, preceded by the regidors and the alguacils, with staffs in hand. When these officers reach the door of the city hall, they stop in order to allow the gobernadorcillo to pass between them; and he enters without noticing the salutes given him by the guards, who take off their hats to him. He immediately takes a seat which is on an elevated platform, and there he thinks himself to be on a throne; and even the Spaniards who enter casually, especially in the villages on the highroad, appear of but little importance to him. This is the place where the auditors of the Audiencia of Manila, and all others who have any share in the government of Filipinas, ought to come incognito, and as if in passing, in order to know the Filipinos--instead of forming an opinion of their character from the servants of their house, or from those who go to the capital with clasped hands and a downcast look in their eyes to ask some favor of them. The strange thing is, that the Indians do not learn from the alcaldes-mayor, who administer justice with the greatest equality, and who do not sit in an elevated place, or even sit down, and go into the street without any following. This aristocratic spirit may be observed in the church. All the principales, who consist of the gobernadorcillos, cabezas de barangay, and all others who have the title 'Don' and wear a jacket, seat themselves in the central aisle or nave; and the following order of etiquette is in general scrupulously observed: the gobernadorcillo; the ex-gobernadorcillos, who are called past captains, in order of their seniority; the actual first lieutenant, who must be a cabeza de barangay; the two lieutenants; and nine present officials; the ex-cabezas, in order of seniority. If any ex-captain from another village is present, he takes a seat among those of his class, and is given the first place, out of courtesy. When the lieutenants and officials leave their posts, they are not called principales, as are the others, but titulados." (Mas, pp. 83, 84.)

[170] D. reads "petty sextons."

[171] Delgado says (p. 311): "It is a fact that nature always inclines rather to evil than to good. But in order to correct their vices there are fervent and zealous ministers in all parts, who preach to and teach them."

Mas says (pp. 85-89): "In fact some Indians practice ceremonies in their marriages which date from before the conquest.

"On the birth of an infant, the newborn child is sometimes taken to another house in order to free it from the Patianac; and, when the child is taken out for baptism, aromatic substances and incense are burned for the same reason.

"When a person dies, they celebrate a novena in his house at night, where the relatives (and sometimes those who are not relatives) assemble. After praying, it is not seldom that they sit down to gamble. On the last day there is a great banquet, and sometimes a dance. These mortuary feasts are practiced even yet, in all their purity, in the mountains, as we have already seen.

"If possible, both men and women bathe daily in the river. The women enter the water wrapped in their tapices, taking care that the bosom is covered. When they are in the water they take that garment off to wash themselves. The men enter the water with wide pantaloons and the body bare. They enter the river at any hour and before everybody; but one must confess that they do it with great decency and modesty.... When I was in Santa Cruz de la Laguna, the cura published an edict ordering men and women not to bathe in the same place. That gave rise to many jokes and jests, and it is to be supposed that they continued their old-time customs. They consider us as not overcleanly, because they see us make less use than they of the bath.... It is also the custom for the families of the country and many Europeans to bathe together. During the outdoor sports of Manila, at the summer houses of Mariquina, or other neighboring towns, the chief diversion is the bath. The women generally enter the water wearing a kind of blouse, and the men with wide pantaloons and the body uncovered. Newcomers from Europa do not consider this amusement at all decent.

"They kiss by bringing the nostril near and drawing in the breath. This is the plain kiss in the mountains, but some Filipinos of the plains, especially of Manila, have also become accustomed to kiss with the lips; but they always put the nose to the face at the same time, and if they have a sincere affection, they always smell as if they were giving a deep sigh with their mouth closed.... When they look at a person from a distance, and desire to express their desire to kiss him, they constrict the nose in the manner of one smelling. A very extreme kind of kiss is given by rubbing the nose on the spot that they wish to feel, and drawing in the breath as long as possible.

"I am greatly surprised that no one of the writers on the Filipinos has spoken of this remarkable fact, which springs from their exquisite sense of smell. It is so great that a servant can tell his master's shirt, after it is cleaned and ironed, even though it lies with ten or twelve other shirts resembling it and belonging to other persons, by simply smelling them. They also assert that if a man be near a woman for whom he experiences a feeling of love, she knows it by the odor of his perspiration, and vice versa. As a pledge of affection, they ask for a shirt that has been worn--which they return after it has lost its odor, and replace by another, just as we beg for a lock of hair.

"They had the custom of circumcision, a custom which they did not acquire from the Arabs, since it is still practiced on the peaks of the independent mountains. They practice it still, and that against the will of the curas. Ancient customs have very great force. It is to be noted that the manner of operation is not the same as that practiced by the Jews, for the cut is made from the upper to the lower part.

"They had the custom that the suitor for a maiden's hand went to serve in the house of his future father-in-law for three or four years, and did whatever he was asked--in general, the most onerous duties. Then the parents of the bride had to give him a house, clothes, etc., and the marriage was celebrated. In many provinces, as for instance, in Bulacan, there is now no trace of this custom, because of the abuses which were committed. This custom, which we meet in the first pages of the Old Testament, could not have been acquired from the Mussulmans, who by their Koran hold laws diametrically opposed. This custom is still followed in Laguna, although the young man does not live in the house of his loved one, for the cura does not permit it. The friars have done their utmost to destroy this custom.

"They scarify new-born infants in order to draw blood from them; and then apply lighted matches to various parts of the body, which cause them burns, and serve the place of caustics.

"Women in childbirth they suspend by the hair in order to stop the flow; and, after parturition, they compress the abdomen, and press down with great force on both thighs at once, in order to make the organs return to their former position; and they perform other things of like nature, which we consider as injurious and nonsensical. But they hold one of their old women higher than the best Paris physician.

"They consider the balete tree as sacred. At marriage, they carry it dishes of food as an offering; and it is very difficult, or impossible, to make them cut one of them. It has happened that they have begged incense from the cura on various pretexts in order to go immediately and burn it under a balete tree.

"They are very fond of telling tales of love adventures, of witches, and enchantment, and everything else that is rare and marvelous, even though it be nonsense and against common sense.

"They believe that all diseases are cured by drawing out the air that has been introduced into the body; and, consequently, their favorite remedy is to supply a kind of cupping-glass of Chinese origin, which they drag over two palmos on any part of the body, and which leaves a great red streak.

"They respect their fathers and mothers greatly, and even the younger brothers the older. I have seen a married woman, on entering her house, kiss the hand of a sister older than herself.

"In order that a young man may marry, he must give the bride the money or other things up to her value; and that price is often kept by the parents. The parents would rather have their daughter remain single, even though she be with child, than to give her without a dowry. It is not seldom that one can hear a mother say that she will not give her daughter for less than one hundred pesos, or fifty, etc.

"In order to strike fire they take a bit of bamboo, and slit it down the middle lengthwise. In the hollow or inner part, they dig out one portion near the center, which leaves the bamboo much thinner. Then on the outside they open a chink, lengthwise. Then they take the knife, and scraping the upper part of the other half-bamboo, they make some very fine shavings. These they roll about between the two palms of the hands until they form a small ball, and that they place in the hollow of the half-bamboo. The latter they place on the ground, with the shavings below. Then with the other half bamboo, they rub (while singing) across the one which has the shavings below it, upon the same point where the shavings are placed, and in a few seconds they begin to smoke. Thereupon they rub faster and blow, and a blaze starts. All this is the work of one minute.

"On going out between people, or when passing in front of anyone, they bend the body and clasp the hands, which they then move forward as if they wished to open a path or cut the air. This is a sign of respect, or their method of asking leave to pass.

"The women ride horseback, not astride, but with a side-saddle, as do Europeans."

[172] M. reads "most of them."

[173] This is common throughout the world, says Delgado (p. 311). "That they do not know their age happens commonly among rude and wild people, wherever they may be; but their age is known very well by their datos and chiefs, in order to assign them their place in the tribute readily. In what pertains to their ancient beliefs, there is no doubt that these are preserved in some parts, and there is no lack of babailanes, who are their priestesses or diuateras; but one must consider that all these peoples of the Indias are new Christians, and the seed that the enemy had sown, and which had thrust so deep roots into them, has not yet been completely destroyed."

[174] M. and D. omit "than the word of the whole world."

Mas says (pp. 90-96): "The superstitions of these people can be divided into three classes. The first consists in believing that certain monsters or ghosts exist, to which they give names and assign special duties, and even certain exterior forms, which are described by those who affirm that they have seen them. Such are the Tigbalan, Osuang, Patianac, Sava, Naanayo, Tavac, Nono, Mancuculan, Aiasip, the rock Mutya, etc.

"The Antinganting is any object which promises wealth or happiness, as we would speak of the girdle of Venus, or the ring of Giges.

"Many Spaniards, especially the curas, imagine that these beliefs are not very deeply rooted, or that they have declined, and that most of the Filipinos are free from them. This is because in the presence of such the Filipinos do not dare tell the truth, not even in the confessional, because of their fear of the reprimand that surely awaits them. I have talked to many about these things, some of whom at the beginning began to laugh, and to joke about the poor fools who put faith in such nonsense. But when they saw that I was treating the matter seriously, and with the spirit of inquiry as a real thing, they changed their tone, and made no difficulty in assuring me of the existence of the fabulous beings described above....

"The second class consists in various practices, like that of burning incense under the balete tree; putting ashes at the door of the house where a person has died, in order that they might recognize the tracks of the soul of the dead one; leaving a plate for the dead man at the table, etc.

"When Don G. Piñeiro went to Culamba in 1841, for the purpose of climbing a lofty mountain, he encountered innumerable difficulties in getting people to accompany him, in spite of the orders of the superior government; and he had to desist and climb from the village of Los Baños accompanied by the cura, who had the road opened for him. The reason for that, as the said religious assured me, was the fear of the Filipinos for the anito, although the excuses that they offered were quite different.

"In the said village of Los Baños, they believe that there is an antinganting in one of the hot water springs, which has water at 67° Reaumur. This consists in the Divine Child, who appears and hops about in the water on Good Friday; and he who catches Him obtains the antinganting. This last year, 1841, a man tried to get too near, and fell in. His entire body was scalded, and he was bled; but not one drop of blood could be drawn from his body, and he died on the following day.

"The third, and to me the most remarkable, class is found not in certain personages or superstitious and determined proceedings, but in sudden and capricious scenes, and in improbable and inexplainable apparitions.

"There is scarce a Filipino, even the most enlightened, who does not tell marvelous things that have happened to him--wondrous visions, mute and speechless; ghosts, goblins, strange figures; dead people; dogs, and fabulous and never imagined animals; castles, and balls of fire, that have appeared to him; frightful noises of all sorts that have scared him; and, finally, the most improbable stories and bits of nonsense that could be invented by the most raving maniac.

"On hearing them recount so many of these extravagances, and seeing that they distinguish them from dreams, I have been unable to believe that they were deceits; and observing their faces very carefully during the narration, I have been convinced that they were intimately persuaded that they had seen the things that they described. Whence can this mental weakness come? It is not from ignorance, for I have noticed the same thing as in the others, in several clerics who have studied in the university for ten or twelve years. One day I was in a convent where the boards of the floor began to creak because of dryness, and the coadjutor became so frightened that he went away to sleep in another house; and the Christian reflections, jests, and anger of the Spanish cura could not restrain him.... The Filipino cura, Don J. Severiano Mallares, committed and caused to be committed fifty-seven assassinations, because he believed that he could by this means save his mother, who, he had persuaded himself, had been bewitched; and was hanged in the year 1840. The attorney on that cause talked in pathetic terms of the indescribable and barbarous prodigality of blood shed by that monster. Reflecting upon this phenomenon, I am inclined to think that it is based on their natural timorousness...."

[175] In D., "indolent."

[176] From the word "islands" to this point, is omitted in D.

[177] "That they are tyrants, one over the other," says Delgado (p. 311), "I do not deny. They inherited this peculiarity from their ancestors, and it has as yet been impossible to uproot it entirely, as many others which they learned from their ancestors. However, these vices are not so common as they were formerly. And not only would the Indians of these islands have been consumed if the Spaniards had not come hither, but they would have been conquered and enslaved by the neighboring nations, such as the Borneans, Chinese, and Japanese, as we see in the books of history.

" ... The principales were the aim of the popular wrath in the Ilocan insurrection in 1807. 'Kill all the lords and ladies' was the cry, while the people hastened toward the capital to petition for the abolition of the monopolies and the fifths. The same thing happened in the year 1814." (Mas, p. 97.)

[178] M. omits "and bring it back as cold as ice."

[179] This is a general statement that is not true, says Delgado (pp. 311, 312), for the example given is merely from boys; and, besides, it never freezes in Filipinas.

[180] This citation is missing in M. It is from Horace's Satires, book i, ll, 106, 107. E. C. Wickham (Horace for English Readers; Oxford, 1903, p. 163), translates the passage as follows: "There is measure in everything. There are fixed limits beyond which and short of which right cannot find resting-place."

[181] "That they need beatings and the rattan," says Delgado (p. 312), "as examples prove, is a fact, and they confess it; but they resemble all other nations in this particular.... But it must be employed with prudence and moderation, as the discipline is employed by our fathers in our own lands, regarding them as sons and small children, and not as slaves or as our enemies. For God has brought us to their lands, in order to watch over them, and maintains us here for love of them. We must note that the Indians are not so bad as they seem to us.... It must also be observed that there are many Spaniards, and even ministers, who are melancholy and crabbed, and so ill-conditioned and moody, that everything wounds them, and they are contented with nothing. All the actions of the Indians displease them, and they even believe that the Indians do them purposely to make them impatient and to jest with them. From such ill-conditioned people the Indians suffer much, and tolerate and endure much, because of their respect for them. Consequently what the reverend father says below, namely 'that it costs them more to be Christians than one would believe' is a fact and true."

"The Spaniards cry out and are in despair at seeing the continual and great acts of rudeness of the Filipinos, some of which are done maliciously, with the sole object of making us angry, when they contract hate for us. At times after they have wearied and disgusted the Spaniards grievously, and have caused the latter to give them a buffet, this is a cause for great sport among them, and they celebrate it in the kitchen amid great guffaws, as I have heard many times. Especially is it so if those who are made angry are women. But the Spaniards persist in not being convinced of this fact, nor will they ever learn how to treat this people. The old men of the country say that the Spaniard is fire and the Filipino snow, and that the snow consumes the fire." (Mas, pp. 97, 98.)

[182] M. and D. add "His master chid him, but the lad replied that the hen had but one leg."

[183] This quotation is lacking in M. and D.

[184] M. and D. read "in love and esteem."

[185] "I shall not at present enter upon a discussion of whether one ought or ought not beat the Filipino. I shall only remark, as a matter pertaining to this section, that the first thing that one sees in any of their houses is the rattan hanging in a corner. When a father places his son in any Spanish house, this is his charge: 'Sir, beat him often.' To educate the young people, or to establish order in any place without the use of the rattan, is a thing that they do not understand." (Mas, p. 99.)

It is said that even at the present day a Filipino father will not hesitate to chastise his son corporally, even after the latter has attained his majority.

[186] This last phrase and the Latin quotation are lacking in M. Englished that quotation is, "The evil hate sin for fear of punishment."

[187] This phrase is omitted in D.

[188] In D. this is "even if it be a leaf."

[189] Delgado says (p. 312): "But if his Paternity knows of this lack, how surprising that this and other things happen in regard to them, such as that all keep their faces turned toward him who confesses. If his Paternity would then preach them a sermon and correct them, I assure him that they would correct themselves, and these backward-looking dancers who are so immodest in the church, when they ought to be modestly thinking of their sins and repenting of them, would correct themselves, and would not cause wonder and laughter."

[190] M. omits the remainder of this sentence. For "Januses," D. reads "worms."

[191] Because some of the Indians are given to blasphemy, says Delgado (p. 313), it does not follow that all of them are blasphemous.

[192] "I shall here attempt a delicate and interesting investigation, namely, the religiousness of the Filipinos. There are opposite opinions on this matter, and serious errors are liable to arise.... "The women always wear scapulars about the neck, and usually some sort of a small cross; and a reliquary, containing the bones of a saint and a bit of the wood of the cross. But this has become a part of the dress, like earrings or necklaces, and both the devout women and those who are not devout wear them.

"The walls of the houses are often covered with the engravings of saints, and on the tables are many glass globes and urns containing saints, virgins, and little figures of the Divine Child, which generally have the face as well as the hands of ivory, and silver clothes richly embroidered. In well-to-do houses there are so many that they resemble a storehouse of saints rather than a habitation. In many houses this is a matter of vanity and ostentation; and they regard valuable saints as they do bureaus and mirrors elsewhere.

"In the church great sedateness and devotion or silence reigns. In the villages the church is divided into three parts. In one end the women are seated, in the other the men, while the gobernadorcillos and principales occupy the center. However, this is not observed very strictly in some villages. In some churches there are men in the front half and women in the back half. When a small village is founded, in order to get the concession for a settlement and for a cura they offer to give the latter, in addition to paying the sanctórum tribute [a tribute paid to the Church by all Philippine natives of sixteen years and over], a monthly quantity of rice, eggs, fowls, etc., but they are afterward very remiss in living up to their offer. Many friars have had to have recourse to the alcaldes and to the officials of the district; and I have even heard of one of them who had to take a musket and kill the fowls in the yards, and carry them to the convent.

"They are very fond of singing the passion or history of the death of Jesus Christ, which is written in Tagálog verse. During the evenings of Lent, the young men and women assemble in the houses for this purpose. But although this was a religious gathering at the time when it was originated, at the present time it has been converted into a carnival amusement, or to speak more plainly, into a pretext for the most scandalous vices; and the result of these canticles is that many of the girls of the village become enceinte. So true is what I have just said that the curas have prohibited everywhere the singing of the passion at night; and some of the curas go out with a whip in order to disperse them--or rather, send the fiscal of the church to ascertain who is singing, and send for such person immediately to beat him.

"They say that all the saints are Spanish, since the patrons of their churches are always of this class. They would have no veneration for a saint with a flat nose and the physiognomy of a Filipino.

"When any sick person refuses to confess, his relatives request him to do so. In this case they do not tell him that he will be condemned, etc., but, 'Consider what a shame it will be; just think what people will say; consider that you will be buried outside of holy ground.' The idea of being buried on the beach is what gives them most fear. This can only be explained by saying that they have seen the cemetery and the beach and not hell, nor the other world, which, as one would believe, costs them much to conceive--although in reality they do believe in it, in the same way as many Europeans believe in it, but without understanding it, and only because the sages give assurance of it....

"In spite of this indifference regarding the future life, they generally order masses said for the souls of their ancestors, and not because of compromise or vanity, but true faith and devotion, although this does not argue much in favor of their religiousness. For the Igorots, who are the type of the Filipinos, although they do not believe in the immortality of the soul, have many superstitions in regard to the shades of the dead....

"In some places the curas have to lock the doors of the church after mass, so that the people will not depart without hearing the sermon, and this in places quite religious, as is Pangasinan. Many of those who are carried to Mindanao or to Jolo as captives become renegades with the greatest ease; and then they will not return, even though they may.

"Some make the sign of the cross as they go down the stairways. All stop on the street at the sound of the prayer-bell; and the same thing happens in the houses, where they often pray on their knees with true devotion. They all remove their hats when passing in front of the church, and many stop to pray. Nevertheless, all the curas assert that they make a false confession, for they only confess the three following sins: absence from mass, eating of meat during Lent, and vain blaspheming; although it is apparent to the curas that they have committed other greater sins. It is a great trouble to get them to take part in the procession, and those who can do so escape through the cross streets. In Manila it is necessary for the regimental heads to appoint soldiers to go to take part in this act, and to pay them one-half real; and, were it not for this expedient, it would sometimes be impossible to do it. The curas have considerable trouble in the villages in getting them to confess. They are given forty days of grace, and many come after being threatened with twenty-five lashes; while many of the degree of captain, and many who are not, get along in spite of all without confession. In the village of Lilio, on the brow of Mount Banahao, where there are 1,300 tributes, there were more than 600 persons who did not confess in the year 1840; and this has not been one of the most remiss villages in the fulfilment of its religious duties."

[Father Juan Ferrando, who examined Mas's MS., says that 'the Filipinos confess according to the instruction that is given them. In Manila, as I know by experience, they confess as well as the most fervent Spaniard, and I have heard many fathers say the same of many Indians of the provinces.']

"Very many of them also never go to mass in any village where the cura is not especially zealous. In the city of Vigan, where there are about 30,000 persons, not more than 500 or 800 went to church during my stay there on any feast-day, except one of especial devotion to celebrate a virgin patroness of the city. There has been and is much talk of the influence of the curas in the villages. No doubt there is something in it, but their respect and deference toward the parish priest is influenced not a little, in my opinion by their idea (and one not ill founded) of the power of the priest, of the employment that he can give; and of their hope that he will protect them in any oppression that they receive from the civil government or from the soldiers. In reality, the friar usually addresses his parishioners in the language of peace, which is the method which fits well into the phlegmatic Filipino. He constitutes himself their defender, even without their having any regard for him--now from the injuries that the avarice of their governors causes them, now from the tendency of these to acquire preponderance and to command, which is the first instinct of man. Consequently, the friars, by resisting and restraining in all parts, and at so great a distance from Madrid, the tyranny or greed of the Spaniards, have been very useful to the villages, and have been acquiring their love. And since the islands are not kept subject by force, but by the will of the mass of the inhabitants, and the means of persuasion are principally in the hands of the religious, the government is necessarily obliged to show the latter considerable deference. From this fact originates their influence in temporal affairs, and the fear mixed with the respect with which they inspire the people. Three facts naturally result from all this. The cura, speaking in general, is the one who governs the village. Consequently, when a new village is formed its inhabitants do not care to be annexed or dependent on another village in regard to spiritual things; but desire and petition for a parish priest of their own, in order that they might have in him a powerful defender in their differences and suits with other settlements, or with the alcalde of the province. Lastly, the ascendency that the minister is seen to enjoy is perhaps as much civil as religious, if it is not more so. And in fact ... although they have often succeeded in pacifying seditions by their mere presence alone, and the insurgents, for instance, in Ilocos in the year 1807, surrendered to the friar the cannon that they had captured from a band of 36 soldiers and two patrols of the guard, who were routed, yet at other times not only have individuals but whole masses refused to listen to the admonitions of the religious, have completely lost respect for them, have insulted them, threatened them, wounded them, and even assassinated them, and have not lacked the complement of all this, profaning the churches. I shall not mention the thefts in the churches, such as one which happened in the capital of Pangasinan when I was there in that province; for these might be considered as single individual deeds, isolated and insignificant. I deduce then, as the resultant conclusion of all these observations, that there are many Filipinos, especially among the feminine sex, who have the true fear of God, but many others who feel a great natural indifference in this matter. They exhibit scarce a disposition toward religion, a fact that I believe must proceed from their little consideration of the wonders of religion ... which is a mark of their small amount of intelligence, for they show great indifference for the punishments of the other world, and even the ecclesiastical punishments of this. Nothing shows this so clearly as the insincere confessions which they make in order to finish with it. It is to be noted that almost the same thing happens at the hour of death, and that this is seen in the small and remote villages where Spaniards have never been. Neither can it be the result of errors of faith or philosophic reading, since the people know no other books than those of the doctrine or the passion.

"Combining the above data and observations with what I have heard recounted, and what we see in manuscripts and printed books about the method by which the old-time religious have maintained devotion in these islands--which has been by calling the list in order to ascertain those who did not observe their obligation to attend mass and confession, and by punishing in the church courtyard those who are remiss--I am inclined to believe that the law of Jesus Christ is learned here superficially; and that if the system adopted some years ago be continued, of obliging the curas to reduce themselves only to the means of preaching, prohibiting them rigorously from compulsive and positive means, before a century passes there will be but few pure-blooded natives in this archipelago who are true and devout Christians...." (Mas, pp. 100-106.)

[193] M. and D. omit all of this last sentence and quotation.

[194] A vice common to all the world, says Delgado (p. 313).

[195] "Although they have but little honor, they have in effect only too much vanity. When one goes to their houses, they make a great effort to show off their wealth, even if they have to beg a loan in order to meet the expense. They do not care to bury their relatives for the love of God, although they try if possible to avoid the payment of the funeral expenses. A cura told me that after a man had paid him the burial expenses a baguio or hurricane began; whereupon the man came to get his money, saying that he wished the burial of a pauper, because in the end, no one would have to see it." (Mas, p. 107.)

[196] Delgado (p. 313) utters a warning against judging on this particular, and says "that virtues are not so distant from them, as his Paternity writes."

[197] M. omits this sentence to this point.

[198] What fault do the Indians have in trying to get and defend their own? There may be excess in this matter, says Delgado (p. 313), but the Indians do not go to law only to cause trouble.

[199] M. and D. omit this sentence.

[200] In regard to this Delgado says (pp. 313, 314) that "there is no dish more relished in this land than defamation and complaint.... This is a country where idleness sits enthroned; for when the ship is despatched to Nueva España there is nothing to do for a whole year, but to complain and discuss the lives of others." Delgado does not believe that lust is the only feature in the intercourse between men and women. Neither does he believe that women are treated, as they deserve, with kicks and blows; nor that such treatment is in accordance with conjugal love, or with the text of women being subject to men. San Agustin's advice to Europeans is not good.

[201] The Ayer MS. and M. read "Machiabelo;" D. reads "Macabeo," i.e., "Maccabæan."

[202] From this point M. and D. read: "They call this mabibig, and this is a thing that will rouse up the entire village against one, the stones, and the land itself. Hence, the concubinages among them, and other evils, have no human remedy, nor can have; for no one wishes to be mabibig, for that is the most abominable fault and the only sin among them."

[203] The Indians do not tell tales of one another for a more potent reason than that of being declared mabibig, is Delgado's commentary (pp. 314, 315)--namely, the fear, of private revenge. "But the prudent Indians always advise the father minister, if there is any scandal in the village; now in confession, so that it might be remedied without anyone knowing the person who has told it; now by a fictitious and anonymous letter, as has happened to me several times. One must exercise prudence in this matter, for all that is written or spoken is not generally true."

[204] M. and D. read with some slight verbal differences, which translate the same: "For one might happen to have a servant or two who waste and destroy the property of their master, and no other servant, however kindly he has been treated by his master, will tell him what is happening."

[205] "This league of the caste of color for mutual protection and defense from the domineering caste is very natural. The Filipinos are not so constant in maintaining it, however, that it is not broken by two methods: by offering money to the accuser, or by bestowing so many lashes on each one who is implicated in the crime." (Mas, p. 109.)

[206] Delgado (p. 315) finds this very natural, and dismisses it by the reflection that liberty is dear.

[207] In M. and D. this reads: "Therefore when they say that there is no more sugar or no more oil, it is when there is not [sugar] enough to make a cup of chocolate, or oil enough to whet a knife."

[208] M. and D. read: "They will place the best cup and plate, [D. mentions only the plate] which are much different than the others, for the master, and will only look after him, and pay no attention to the guests."

[209] M. and D. omit this sentence.

[210] Spanish, sacabuches consistol y deresistol, a transcriber's error for con sistol y diastol (this phrase omitted in D.); a play on words, as the sackbut forms the various tones by lengthening and shortening the instrument. The phrase systole and diastole is now applied to the alternate contraction and expansion of the heart; San Agustin apparently uses it through fondness for a learned phrase.

[211] The citation from Quevedo is lacking in M. San Agustin has slightly misquoted; though it translates the same as the correct version. The lines are as follows:

Galalon, que en casa come poco,
y á costa agena el corpanchon ahita.

The citation is from Quevedo's Poema heroica de las necedades y locuras de Orlando el enamorado.

[212] That is, "Much good may it do you," an expression used at eating or drinking. San Agustin evidently refers in the following clause to the scanty fare supplied to those who row in the boats as compulsory service.

[213] This is not a general rule among the Tagálogs, and much less among the Visayans. Neither are all the Indians forgers. (Delgado, pp. 315, 316.)

[214] M. omits "alcalde" and reads "prudent and experienced man." D. reads "a prudent and experienced alcalde."

[215] i.e., "I heard your evidence, and feared."

[216] M. reads "some Indians;" D., "some erudite Indians."

[217] Rabula, "an ignorant, vociferous lawyer;" cf. English "pettifogger."

[218] This sentence is omitted by M. D. reads "all the alcaldes."

[219] The Italian phrase fabro de calumina is used.

[220] King Josiah or Josias was slain at Mageddo. See IV Kings (II Kings of the King James version), xxiii, 29, 30; and II Paralipomenon (II Chronicles of the King James version), xxxv, 22-25.

[221] M. reads: "the Indians making use of a whole year in order to increase their calumny." D. reads: "Just see what subtlety and moderate arithmetic they use in order to make their accusation; the Indians lumping together a whole year in order to give pasture to one single horse;" and then adds: "And there are so many cases of this that if I mentioned them all I would never end."

[222] We have thus freely translated the original sin afianzar calumnia, which is a regular law term.

[223] "But a short time ago, when Señor Seoane was regent of the Audiencia, as the result of an urgent complaint against a Spanish cura, a verbal process was ordered to be made, and from it not the slightest charge resulted against the priest. Another judge was entrusted with the forming of another verbal process, with the same result. The supreme tribunal, being persuaded that the matter was not all calumny, sent an expressly commissioned judge from Manila, who found no more crime than did the others.

"I personally saw a representation signed by the gobernadorcillo and all the principales of a village, in which they affirmed that their cura had forced the wife of the first lieutenant; had punished the lieutenant for opposing her being kept to sleep in the convent; went out on the street drunk; went into the town hall to beat individuals of the municipality; and had not celebrated mass on Sunday for the same reason of being drunk. When a verbal process was made of it, all retracted. I became acquainted personally with this friar, who is a fine fellow...." (Mas, pp. 113, 114.)

[224] From this point, M. and D. read: "but it is to images of some new miracle. They have the habit of devotion, but they seek the newest and forget the old."

[225] As to the Indians being fond of making pilgrimages to new and distant shrines where some notable miracle has occurred, Spaniards often have the same love. See Delgado, p. 316.

[226] San Agustin is speaking of the Indians of Manila and its environs, says Delgado (p. 316): "For this is rarely seen in the other islands. Hence in the twenty-four years that I have lived in the Visayas, only in the city of Cebu have I ever seen any other than some religious drama [auto sacramental], or the pieces of the school children."

[227] In M. escuitiles; and in D. miscuitiles.

[228] The verse number is given correctly in M. San Agustin quotes incorrectly, the proper version being:

Segnius irritant animos demissa per aurem,
Quam quæ sunt oculis subiecta fidelibus....

The translation given by Wickham (ut supra, p. 349), is as follows: "What finds entrance through the ear stirs the mind less actively than what is submitted to the eyes, which we cannot doubt."

"They are very fond of seeing theatrical pieces. They make some translations from our dramas, and they make a piece out of anything although it is destitute of the rules of art. They are especially fond of very long comedies, that last a month or more, with many hours of representation daily. These are drawn from histories or from stories, and they stage them. In Tondo there was played, for instance, Matilde, ó las Cruzadas [i.e., "Matilda, or the Crusades"]. The Celestina was probably the origin of this taste. Filipino poets have written several dramas of this kind, as well as some epic, religious, and love poems. But in the epoch previous to the arrival of the Spaniards, it appears that there existed only a few love songs, of whose merits I cannot judge, as I know the language so slightly.

"They have verses of as many as twelve syllables, which are the ones generally used in their poems. They are divided into quatrains, whose four verses rhyme among themselves. The Filipino rhyme, however, consists in the last letter being a vowel or a consonant.... They read all their verses in a singing tone, and the quatrains of the twelve-syllable verse are read with the motif of the comintan, which is their national song. The custom of singing when reading poetry is a practice of China, and of all the Asiatic peoples whom I have visited. The kind of versification which I have just cited is evidently anterior to our conquest, as is also the above-mentioned air, which is adjusted to it. This air is melancholy and does not resemble at all any Chinese or Indian music that I have heard. There are several comintans, just as there are different boleros, Polish dances, or Tyrolian dances. Some of them have a great resemblance to the music of Arabia. On the slopes of Camachin [which is a mountain in southern Mindanao], I heard a song which is exactly and purely of that sort...." (Mas, pp. 115, 116.)

The Celestina mentioned by Mas is a noted dramatic story--probably written about 1480, and by Rodrigo Cota, of Toledo, and others--which has exercised a very strong influence on the Spanish national drama. It has great literary merit, admirable style, and well-drawn pictures of human nature; and it attained so extensive and continual popularity that even the Inquisition did not place Celestina in the Index until 1793, notwithstanding its grossness of thought and language. (Ticknor, History of Spanish Literature, i, pp. 262-272.)

[229] M. and D. read "Christ our Lord."

[230] "In the Visayas," says Delgado (p. 317) "very rarely do the Indians imitate the Spaniards in their dress; for almost all of them go barefoot, according to their custom, and wear long black garments that cover the entire body (which we call cassocks or lambong), very wide breeches, and the shirt outside. For they can never accustom themselves, as do the Spaniards, to gathering it inside, as is the custom of the country. I have seen the same among the Tagálogs, with the exception of some servants of the Spaniards, and some officials and clerks, among them. But these men do not make the rule for the other nations of this archipelago, who are numerous and different. I can truly tell what I see among the Spaniards of Visayas, who dress in the same manner as the Indians; and very rarely do they put on shoes and stockings or slippers, except on an important feast-day when they go to the church, for they cannot endure it any other way. It is a fact that the Indians do preserve somewhat their ancient customs in districts where there is less civilization and instruction; but where they are well taught and directed, they have almost forgotten these."

"A cura told me that he had surprised a man and three old women crouched down beside the corpse of the former's dead wife. The four people were all covered over with sheets, and were in the attitude of listening with the closest of attention to see whether the deceased would say anything to them. They practice many simplicities like this in all their solemn ceremonies, of which we have spoken. So general is this that in the ordinances of good government in force, there is an article that orders the persecution of idolatry and aniterias." (Mas, pp. 116, 117.)

[231] "If father Fray Gaspar had been in Madrid, he would not have been so greatly surprised that those soliciting anything should send their wives to obtain favors. Moreover, the Filipinos, not only fearing, but with full consciousness, generally send and even take their wives to the Spaniards to obtain some employment, or merely for money. The most direct means for a general to obtain the friendship of a married woman is to win over the husband, just as in order to get a single woman one must gain over the mother. I have known very intimately a steward who was very much in love with his wife, and was jealous even of her shadow. Nevertheless, at the least insinuation of his master he took her to the latter's apartment, and it appears that he desired her to go there very often. Upon thinking over this matter, I am convinced that a partial cause of it is the little importance that they attach to the act of love, and especially in the fact to which they are persuaded that no one of their women will ever love us; and they are only handed over for the profit, and are lent us as a personal service, just like any other; and when the woman goes away from us, she takes her heart with her, which is all for the Filipinos." (Mas, p. 117.)

[232] M. and D. add "most."

[233] This phrase is omitted in D.

[234] It is not to be wondered at that they are literal and material in their conversation, for they know only their villages. See Delgado, p. 317.

"I have observed none of this, especially in the women to whom I have talked. Almost all of them are always attentive, courteous, and kind." (Mas, p. 118.)

[235] M. and D. omit this sentence.

[236] M. adds: "and run away, for he is the bugaboo, with which the children are frightened."

[237] Dogs do not bark at the Spaniards only, in any country, but at those who are strange to them. Neither do the Indians detest the fathers from birth. The fact that the Indians yield to anyone who assumes a boasting attitude, especially if he be drunk, and have a knife, is not so much cowardice as prudence. "I believe that the reverend father was very melancholy, and tired of the ministry, when he began to write his letter." (Delgado, pp. 317, 318.)