It is impossible to number all the islands—counting larger and smaller—of this vast archipelago. Those comprised in the name and government of Filipinas, number about forty large islands, besides other smaller ones, all consecutive. The chiefest and best known are Luzon, Mindoro, Tendaya, [42] Capul, Burias, Mazbate, Marinduque, Leite, Camar, Ybabao, Sebu, Panay, Bohol, Catenduanes, Calamianes, Mindanao, and others of less renown.

The first island conquered and colonized by the Spaniards was Sebu. [43] From there the conquest was started and continued in all the neighboring islands. Those islands are inhabited by people, natives of the same islands, called Vicayas; or by another name, Pintados—for the more prominent of the men, from their youth, tattoo their whole bodies, by pricking them wherever they are marked and then throwing certain black powders over the bleeding surface, the figures becoming indelible. But, as the chief seat of the government, and the principal Spanish settlement, was moved to the island of Luzon—the largest island, and that one nearest and opposite to Great China and Japon—I shall treat of it first; for much that will be said of it is similar in the others, to each of whose particulars and distinctive details I shall pass in due time.

This island of Luzon extends lengthwise, from the point and head where one enters the Filipinas Islands (by the channel of Capul, which lies in thirteen and one-half degrees north latitude) to the other point in the province of Cagayan, called Cape Bojeador (and located opposite China, in twenty degrees), more than two hundred leguas. In some parts its width is more constricted than in others, especially in the middle of the island, where it is so narrow that it is less than thirty leguas from sea to sea, or from one coast to the other. The whole island is more than four hundred leguas in circumference.

The climates of this island are not harmonious; on the contrary, they present a great diversity in its different districts and provinces. The head and beginning of the island, in the region of the channel, is more temperate in the interior, although the coasts are hot. The site of the city of Manila is hot, for it is on the coast and is low; but in its vicinity, quite near the city, there are districts and settlements much cooler, where the heat is not oppressive. The same is true of the other head of the island, opposite China, named Cagayan. The seasons of the year—winter and summer—are contrary to those in Europe; for the rains generally last in all these islands from the month of June until the month of September, and are accompanied by heavy showers, whirlwinds, and storms on sea and land. The summer lasts from October to the end of May, with clear skies and fair winds at sea. However, the winter and rainy season begins earlier in some provinces than in others. [44] In Cagayan winter and summer almost coincide with those of Espana, and come at the same seasons.

The people inhabiting the province of Camarines and almost as far as the provinces of Manila, in this great island of Luzon, both along the coast and in the interior, are natives of this island. They are of medium height, with a complexion like stewed quinces; and both men and women are well-featured. They have very black hair, and thin beards; and are very clever at anything that they undertake, keen and passionate, and of great resolution. All live from their labor and gains in the field, their fishing, and trade, going from island to island by sea, and from province to province by land.

The natives of the other provinces of this island as far as Cagayan are of the same nature and disposition, except that it has been learned by tradition that those of Manila and its vicinity were not natives of this island, but came thither in the past and colonized it; and that they are Malay natives, and come from other islands and remote provinces. [45]

In various parts of this island of Luzon are found a number of natives black in color. Both men and women have woolly hair, and their stature is not very great, although they are strong and robust. These people are barbarians, and have but little capacity. They possess no fixed houses or settlements, but wander in bands and hordes through the mountains and rough country, changing from one site to another according to the season. They support themselves in certain clearings, and by planting rice, which they do temporarily, and by means of the game that they bring down with their bows, in the use of which they are very skilful and certain. [46] They live also on honey from the mountains, and roots produced by the ground. They are a barbarous people, in whom one cannot place confidence. They are much given to killing and to attacking the settlements of the other natives, in which they commit many depredations; and there is nothing that can be done to stop them, or to subdue or pacify them, although this is always attempted by fair or foul means, as opportunity and necessity demand.

The province of Cagayan is inhabited by natives of the same complexion as the others of the island, although they are better built, and more valiant and warlike than the others. They wear their hair long and hanging down the back. They have been in revolt and rebellion twice since the first time when they were pacified; and there has been plenty to do, on different occasions, in subduing them and repacifying them.

The apparel and clothing of these natives of Luzon before the entrance of the Spaniards into the country were generally, for the men, certain short collarless garments of cangan, sewed together in the front, and with short sleeves, and reaching slightly below the waist; some were blue and others black, while the chiefs had some red ones, called chinanas. [47] They also wore a strip of colored cloth wrapped about the waist, and passed between the legs, so that it covered the privy parts, reaching half-way down the thigh; these are called bahaques. [48] They go with legs bare, feet unshod, and the head uncovered, wrapping a narrow cloth, called potong [49] just below it, with which they bind the forehead and temples. About their necks they wear gold necklaces, wrought like spun wax, [50] 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. [51] They wear around the legs some strings of these stones, and certain cords, covered with black pitch in many foldings, as garters. [52]

In a province called Zambales, they wear the head shaved from the middle forward. On the skull they have a huge lock of loose hair. [53] The women throughout this island wear small jackets [sayuelos] with sleeves of the same kinds of cloth and of all colors, called varos. [54] They wear no shifts, but certain white cotton garments which are wrapped about the waist and fall to the feet, while other dyed cloths are wrapped about the body, like kirtles, and are very graceful. The principal women have crimson ones, and some of silk, while others are woven with gold, and adorned with fringe and other ornaments. They wear many gold necklaces about the neck, calumbigas on the wrists, large earrings of wrought gold in the ears, and rings of gold and precious stones. Their black hair is done up in a very graceful knot on the head. Since the Spaniards came to the country many Indians do not wear bahaques, but wide drawers of the same cloths and materials, and hats on their heads. The chiefs wear braids of wrought gold containing many designs, while many of them wear shoes. The chief women also wear beautiful shoes, many of them having shoes of velvet adorned with gold, and white garments like petticoats.

Men and women, and especially the chief people, are very clean and neat in their persons and clothing, and of pleasing address and grace. They dress their hair carefully, and regard it as being more ornamental when it is very black. They wash it with water in which has been boiled the bark of a tree called gogo. [55] They anoint it with aljonjoli oil, prepared with musk, and other perfumes. All are very careful of their teeth, which from a very early age they file and render even, with stones and iron. [56] They dye them a black color, which is lasting, and which preserves their teeth until they are very old, although it is ugly to look at. [57]

They quite generally bathe the entire body in the rivers and creeks, both young and old, without reflecting that it could at any time be injurious to them; [58] for in their baths do they find their best medicines. When an infant is born, they immediately bathe it, and the mother likewise. 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 the houses of their husbands and fathers. They pound the rice for eating, [59] and prepare the other food. They raise fowls and swine, and keep the houses, while the men are engaged in the labors of the field, and in their fishing, navigation, and trading. They are not very chaste, either single or married women; while their husbands, fathers, or brothers are not very jealous or anxious about it. Both men and women are so selfish and greedy that, if they are paid, they are easily won over. When the husband finds his wife in adultery, he is smoothed and pacified without any trouble—although, since they have known Spaniards, some of those who assume to be more enlightened among them have sometimes killed the adulterers. Both men and women, especially the chiefs, walk slowly and sedately when upon their visits, and when going through the streets and to the temples; and are accompanied by many slaves, both male and female, with parasols of silk which they carry to protect them from the sun and rain. The women walk ahead and their female servants and slaves follow them; behind these walk their husbands, fathers, or brothers, with their man-servants and slaves. [60]

Their ordinary food is rice pounded in wooden mortars, and cooked—this is called morisqueta, [61] and is the ordinary bread of the whole country—boiled fish (which is very abundant), the flesh of swine, deer, and wild buffaloes (which they call carabaos). Meat and fish they relish better when it has begun to spoil and when it stinks. [62] They also eat boiled camotes (which are sweet potatoes), beans, quilites [63] and other vegetables; all kinds of bananas, guavas, pineapples, custard apples, many varieties of oranges, and other varieties of fruits and herbs, with which the country teems. Their drink is a wine made from the tops of cocoa and nipa palm, of which there is a great abundance. They are grown and tended like vineyards, although without so much toil and labor. Drawing off the tuba, [64] they distil it, using for alembics their own little furnaces and utensils, to a greater or less strength, and it becomes brandy. This is drunk throughout the islands. It is a wine of the clarity of water, but strong and dry. If it be used with moderation, it acts as a medicine for the stomach, and is a protection against humors and all sorts of rheums. Mixed with Spanish wine, it makes a mild liquor, and one very palatable and healthful.

In the assemblies, marriages, and feasts of the natives of these islands, the chief thing consists in drinking this wine, day and night, without ceasing, when the turn of each comes, some singing and others drinking. As a consequence, they generally become intoxicated without this vice being regarded as a dishonor or disgrace. [65]

The weapons of this people are, in some provinces, bow and arrows. But those generally used throughout the islands are moderate-sized spears with well-made points; and certain shields of light wood, with their armholes fastened on the inside. These cover them from top to toe, and are called carasas [kalasag]. 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. [66] With these they strike with the point, but more generally with the edge. When they go in pursuit of their opponent, they show great dexterity in seizing his hair with one hand, while with the other they cut off his head with one stroke of the bararao, and carry it away. They afterward keep the heads suspended in their houses, where they may be seen; and of these they make a display, in order to be considered as valiant, and avengers of their enemies and of the injuries committed by them. [67]

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.

Their ships and boats are of many kinds; for on the rivers and creeks inland they use certain very large canoes, each made from one log, and others fitted with benches and made from planks, and built up on keels. They have vireys and barangays, which are certain quick and light vessels that lie low in the water, put together with little wooden nails. These are as slender at the stern as at the bow, and they can hold a number of rowers on both sides, who propel their vessels with bucceyes or paddles, and with gaones [68] on the outside of the vessel; and they time their rowing to the accompaniment of some who sing in their language refrains by which they understand whether to hasten or retard their rowing. [69] Above the rowers is a platform or gangway, built of bamboo, upon which the fighting-men stand, in order not to interfere with the rowing of the oarsmen. In accordance with the capacity of the vessels is the number of men on these gangways. From that place they manage the sail, which is square and made of linen, and hoisted on a support or yard made of two thick bamboos, which serves as a mast. When the vessel is large, it also has a foresail of the same form. Both yards, with their tackle, can be lowered upon the gangway when the weather is rough. The helmsmen are stationed in the stern to steer. It carries another bamboo framework on the gangway itself; and upon this, when the sun shines hot, or it rains, they stretch an awning made from some mats, woven from palm-leaves. These are very bulky and close, and are called cayanes [70] Thus all the ship and its crew are covered and protected. There are also other bamboo frameworks for each side of the vessel, which are so long as the vessel, and securely fastened on. They skim the water, without hindering the rowing, and serve as a counterpoise, so that the ship cannot overturn nor upset, however heavy the sea, or strong the wind against the sail. It may happen that the entire hull of these vessels, which have no decks, may fill with water and remain between wind and water, even until it is destroyed and broken up, without sinking, because of these counterpoises. These vessels have been used commonly throughout the islands since olden times. They have other larger vessels called caracoas, lapis, and tapaques, which are used to carry their merchandise, and which are very suitable, as they are roomy and draw but little water. They generally drag them ashore every night, at the mouths of rivers and creeks, among which they always navigate without going into the open sea or leaving the shore. All the natives can row and manage these boats. Some are so long that they can carry one hundred rowers on a side and thirty soldiers above to fight. The boats commonly used are barangays and vireys, which carry a less crew and fighting force. Now they put many of them together with iron nails instead of the wooden pegs and the joints in the planks, while the helms and bows have beaks like Castilian boats. [71]

The land is well shaded in all parts by trees of different kinds, and fruit-trees which beautify it throughout the year, both along the shore and inland among the plains and mountains. It is very full of large and small rivers, of good fresh water, which flow into the sea. All of them are navigable, and abound in all kinds of fish, which are very pleasant to the taste. For the above reason there is a large supply of lumber, which is cut and sawed, dragged to the rivers, and brought down, by the natives. This lumber is very useful for houses and buildings, and for the construction of small and large vessels. Many very straight thick trees, light and pliable, are found, which are used as masts for ships and galleons. Consequently, vessels of any size may be fitted with masts from these trees, made of one piece of timber, without its being necessary to splice them or make them of different pieces. For the hulls of the ships, the keels, futtock-timbers, top-timbers, and any other kinds of supports and braces, compass-timbers, transoms, knees small and large, and rudders, all sorts of good timber are easily found; as well as good planking for the sides, decks, and upper-works, from very suitable woods. [72]

There are many native fruit-trees, such as the sanctors, mabolos, tamarinds, nancas, custard-apples, papaws, guavas, and everywhere many oranges, of all kinds—large and small, sweet and sour; citrons, lemons, and ten or twelve varieties of very healthful and palatable bananas. [73] There are many cocoa-palms bearing fruit of pleasant taste—from which is made wine and common oil, which is a very healing remedy for wounds; and other wild palms of the forests—that do not yield cocoa-nuts, but serve as wood, and from whose bark is made bonote, a tow for rigging and cables, and also for calking ships. Efforts have been made to plant olives and quinces, and other fruit-trees of Espana, but as yet they have had no success, except with pomegranates and grapevines, which bear fruit the second year. These bear abundance of exceedingly good grapes three times a year; and some fig-trees have succeeded. Vegetables of every kind grow well and very abundantly, but do not seed, and it is always necessary to bring the seeds from Castilla, China, or Japon.

In the Cagayan provinces are found chestnut-trees, which produce fruit. In other districts are found pines and other trees which yield certain very large pine-nuts, with a hard shell and a pleasant taste, which are called piles. [74] There is abundance of cedar which is called calanta, a beautiful red wood called asana, [75] ebony of various qualities, and many other precious woods for all uses. The meat generally eaten is that of swine, of which there is a great abundance, and it is very palatable and wholesome.

Beef is eaten, cattle being raised abundantly in stock-farms in many different parts of the islands. The cattle are bred from those of China and Nueva Espana. [76] The Chinese cattle are small, and excellent breeders. Their horns are very small and twisted, and some cattle can move them. They have a large hump upon the shoulders, and are very manageable beasts. There are plenty of fowls like those of Castilla, and others very large, which are bred from fowls brought from China. They are very palatable, and make fine capons. Some of these fowls are black in feather, skin, flesh, and bones, and are pleasant to the taste. [77] Many geese are raised, as well as swans, ducks, and tame pigeons brought from China. There is abundance of flesh of wild game, such as venison, and wild boars, and in some parts porcupines. There are many buffaloes, which are called carabaos, which are raised in the fields and are very spirited; others are brought tame from China; these are very numerous, and very handsome. These last are used only for milking, and their milk is thicker and more palatable than that of cows.

Goats and kids are raised, although their flesh is not savory, because of the humidity of the country. These animals sicken and die for that reason, and because they eat certain poisonous herbs. Ewes and rams, although often brought from Nueva Espana, never multiply. Consequently there are none of these animals, for the climate and pasturage has not as yet seemed suitable for them. [78] There were no horses, mares, or asses in the islands, until the Spaniards had them brought from China and brought them from Nueva Espana. Asses and mules are very rare, but there are many horses and mares. Some farms are being stocked with them, and those born there (mixed breeds for the most part) turn out well, and have good colors, are good tempered and willing to work, and are of medium size. Those brought from China are small, very strong, good goers, treacherous, quarrelsome, and bad-tempered. Some horses of good colors are brought from Japon. They have well-shaped bodies, thick hair, large fetlocks, large legs and front hoofs, which makes them look like draft-horses. Their heads are rather large, and their mouths hard. They run but slowly, but walk well, and are spirited, and of much mettle. The daily feed of the horses consists throughout the year of green provender, [79] besides rice in the husk, which keeps them very fat. [80]

There are many fowls and field birds, and wild birds of wonderful colors and very beautiful. There are no singing birds suitable for keeping in cages, although some calendar larks [Calandrias] called fimbaros, [81] smaller than those of Espana, are brought from Japon, whose song is most sweet. There are many turtle-doves, ring-doves; other doves with an extremely green plumage, and red feet and beaks; and others that are white with a red spot on the breast, like a pelican. Instead of quail, there are certain birds resembling them, but smaller, which are called povos [82] and other smaller birds called mayuelas. [83] There are many wild chickens and cocks, which are very small, and taste like partridge. There are royal, white, and grey herons, flycatchers, and other shore birds, ducks, lavancos, [84] crested cranes, sea-crows, eagles, eagle-owls, and other birds of prey, although none are used for hawking. There are jays and thrushes as in Espana, and white storks and cranes. [85] They do not rear peacocks, rabbits, or hares, although they have tried to do so. It is believed that the wild animals in the forests and fields eat and destroy them, namely, the cats, foxes, badgers, and large and small rats, which are very numerous, and other land animals. [86]

Throughout these islands are found a great number of monkeys, of various sizes, with which at times the trees are covered. There are green and white parrots, but they are stupid in talking; and very small parroquets, of beautiful green and red colors, which talk as little. The forests and settlements have many serpents, of various colors, which are generally larger than those of Castilla. Some have been seen in the forests of unusual size, and wonderful to behold. [87] The most harmful are certain slender snakes, of less than one vara in length, which dart down upon passersby from the trees (where they generally hang), and sting them; their venom is so powerful that within twenty-four hours the person dies raving.

There are many very large scorpions in the rivers and creeks, and a great number of crocodiles, which are very bloodthirsty and cruel. They quite commonly pull from their bancas the natives who go in those boats, and cause many injuries among the horned cattle and the horses of the stock-farms, when they go to drink. And although the people fish for them often and kill them, they are never diminished in number. For that reason, the natives set closely-grated divisions and enclosures in the rivers and creeks of their settlements, where they bathe. There they enter the water to bathe, secure from those monsters, which they fear so greatly that they venerate and adore them, as if they were beings superior to themselves. All their oaths and execrations, and those which are of any weight with them (even among the Christians) are, thus expressed: "So may the crocodile kill him!" They call the crocodile buhaya in their language. It has happened when some one has sworn falsely, or when he has broken his word, that then some accident has occurred to him with the crocodile, which God, whom he offends, has so permitted for the sake of the authority and purity of the truth, and the promise of it. [88]

The fisheries of sea and rivers are most abundant, and include all kinds of fish; both of fresh and salt water. These are generally used as food throughout the entire country. There are many good sardines, sea-eels, sea-breams (which they call bacocos), daces, skates, bicudas, tanguingues, soles, plantanos, [89] taraquitos, needle-fish, gilt-heads, and eels; large oysters, mussels, [90] porcebes, crawfish, shrimp, sea-spiders, center-fish, and all kinds of cockles, shad, white fish, and in the Tajo River of Cagayan, [91] during their season, a great number of bobos, which come down to spawn at the bar. In the lake of Bonbon, a quantity of tunny-fish, not so large as those of Espana, but of the same shape, flesh, and taste, are caught. Many sea-fish are found in the sea, such as whales, sharks, caellas, marajos, bufeos, and other unknown species of extraordinary forms and size. In the year of five hundred and ninety-six, during a furious storm in the islands, a fish was flung into shallow water on one of the Luzon coasts near the province of Camarines. It was so huge and misshapen, that although it lay in more than three and one-half bracas of water, it could not again get afloat, and died there. The natives said that they had never seen anything like it, nor another shaped like it. Its head was of wonderful size and fierce aspect. On its frontal it bore two horns, which pointed toward its back. One of them was taken to Manila. It was covered with its skin or hide, but had no hair or scales. It was white, and twenty feet long. Where it joined the head it was as thick as the thigh, and gradually tapered proportionally to the tip. It was somewhat curved and not very round; and to all appearances, quite solid. It caused great wonder in all beholders. [92]

There is a fresh-water lake in the island of Luzon, five leguas from Manila, which contains a quantity of fish. Many rivers flow into this lake, and it empties into the sea through the river flowing from it to Manila. It is called La Laguna de Bay ["Bay Lake"]. It is thirty leguas in circumference, and has an uninhabited island in its middle, where game abounds. [93] Its shores are lined with many native villages. The natives navigate the lake, and commonly cross it in their skiffs. At times it is quite stormy and dangerous to navigate, when the north winds blow, for these winds make it very boisterous, although it is very deep.

Twenty leguas from Manila, in the province of Bonbon, is another lake of the same name [Bonbon], not so extensive as the former, but with a great abundance of fish. The natives' method of catching them is by making corrals [94] of bejucos, which are certain slender canes or rushes, solid and very pliant and strong; these are employed for making cables for the natives' boats, as well as other kinds of ropes. They catch the fish inside these corrals, having made the enclosures fast by means of stakes. They also catch the fish in wicker baskets made from the bejucos, but most generally with atarrayas, [95] esparaveles, other small barrederas, [96] and with hand lines and hooks. [97] The most usual food of the natives is a fish as small as pejerreyes. [98] They dry and cure these fish in the sun and air, and cook them in many styles. They like them better than large fish. It is called laulau among them. [99]

Instead of olives and other pickled fruit, they have a green fruit, like walnuts, which they call paos. [100] Some are small, and others larger in size, and when prepared they have a pleasant taste. They also prepare charas [101] in pickle brine, and all sorts of vegetables and greens, which are very appetizing. There is much ginger, and it is eaten green, pickled, and preserved. There are also quantities of cachumba [102] instead of saffron and other condiments. The ordinary dainty throughout these islands, and in many kingdoms of the mainland of those regions, is buyo [betel]. This is made from a tree, [103] whose leaf is shaped like that of the mulberry. The fruit resembles an oak acorn, and is white inside. [104] This fruit, which is called bonga, is cut lengthwise in strips, and each strip is put into an envelope or covering made from the leaf. With the bonga is thrown in a powder of quick lime. [105] This compound is placed in the mouth and chewed. It is so strong a mixture, and burns so much, that it induces sleep and intoxication. It burns the mouths of those not used to it, and causes them to smart. The saliva and all the mouth are made as red as blood. It does not taste bad. After having been chewed [106] for a considerable time it is spit out, when it no longer has any juice, which is called capa [sapa]. They consider very beneficial that quantity of the juice which has gone into the stomach, for strengthening it, and for various diseases. It strengthens and preserves the teeth and gums from all inflammations, decay, and aches. They tell other wonderful effects of it. What has been seen is that the natives and Spaniards—laymen and religious, men and women—use it so commonly and generally that mornings and afternoons, at parties and visits, and even alone in their houses, all their refreshments and luxuries consist of buyos served on heavily-gilded and handsomely adorned plates and trays like chocolate in Nueva Espana. In these poison has been often administered from which the persons eating them have died, and that quite commonly.

The natives (especially the chiefs) take whenever they leave their houses, for show and entertainment, their boxes of buyos—which they call buccetas [107]—ready to use, and the leaf, bonga, and quick lime, separately. With these handsome boxes, which are made of metal and of other materials, they carry the scissors and other tools for making the buyo with cleanliness and neatness. Wherever they may stop, they make and use their buyo. In the parians, or bazars, buyos are sold ready made, and the outfit for making them. [108]

The natives of these islands quite commonly use as venoms and poisons the herbs of that class found throughout the islands. They are so efficacious and deadly that they produce wonderful effects. There is a lizard, commonly found in the houses, somewhat dark-green in color, one palmo long, and as thick as three fingers, which is called chacon. [109] They put this in a joint of bamboo, and cover it up. The slaver of this animal during its imprisonment is gathered. It is an exceedingly strong poison, when introduced as above stated, in the food or drink, in however minute quantities. There are various herbs known and gathered by the natives for the same use. Some of them are used dry, and others green; some are to be mixed in food, and others inhaled. Some kill by simply touching them with the hands or feet, or by sleeping upon them. The natives are so skilful in making compounds from these substances, that they mix and apply them in such a manner that they take effect at once, or at a set time—long or short, as they wish, even after a year. Many persons usually die wretchedly by these means—especially Spaniards, who lack foresight, and who are tactless and hated because of the ill-treatment that they inflict upon the natives with whom they deal, either in the collection of their tributes, or in other matters in which they employ them, without there being any remedy for it. There are certain poisonous herbs, with which, when the natives gather them, they carry, all ready, other herbs which act as antidotes. In the island of Bohol is one herb of such nature that the natives approach it from windward when they cut it from the shrub on which it grows; for the very air alone that blows over the herb is deadly. Nature did not leave this danger without a remedy, for other herbs and roots are found in the same islands, of so great efficacy and virtue that they destroy and correct the poison and mischief of the others, and are used when needed. Accordingly, when one knows what poison has been given him, it is not difficult, if recourse be had in time, to cure it, by giving the herb that is antidotal to such poison. At times it has happened that pressure has been put upon the person suspected of having committed the evil to make him bring the antidote, by which it has been remedied. There are also other general antidotes, both for preservation against poison and for mitigating the effects of poison that has been administered. But the most certain and efficacious antidotes are certain small flies or insects, of a violet color, found on certain bushes in the islands of Pintados. These are shut up in a clean bamboo joint, and covered over. There they breed and multiply. Ground rice is put in with them, and they exist thereon. Every week they are visited [110] and the old rice removed and new rice put in, and they are kept alive by this means. If six of these insects are taken in a spoonful of wine or water—for they emit no bad odor, and taste like cress—they produce a wonderful effect. Even when people go to banquets or dinners where there is any suspicion, they are wont to take with them these insects, in order to preserve and assure themselves from any danger of poison and venom.

All these islands are, in many districts, rich in placers and mines of gold, a metal which the natives dig and work. However, since the advent of the Spaniards in the land, the natives proceed more slowly in this, and content themselves with what they already possess in jewels and gold ingots, handed down from antiquity and inherited from their ancestors. [111] This is considerable, for he must be poor and wretched who has no gold chains, calombigas [bracelets], and earrings.

Some placers and mines were worked at Paracali in the province of Camarines, where there is good gold mixed with copper. This commodity is also traded in the Ylocos, for at the rear of this province, which borders the seacoast, are certain lofty and rugged mountains which extend as far as Cagayan. On the slopes of these mountains, in the interior, live many natives, as yet unsubdued, and among whom no incursion has been made, who are called Ygolotes. These natives possess rich mines, many of gold and silver mixed. They are wont to dig from them only the amount necessary for their wants. They descend to certain places to trade this gold (without completing its refining or preparation), with the Ylocos; there they exchange it for rice, swine, carabaos, cloth, and other things that they need. [112] The Ylocos complete its refining and preparation, and by their medium it is distributed throughout the country. Although an effort has been made with these Ygolotes to discover their mines, and how they work them, and their method of working the metal, nothing definite has been learned, for the Ygolotes fear that the Spaniards will go to seek them for their gold, and say that they keep the gold better in the earth than in their houses. [113]

There are also many gold mines and placers in the other islands, especially among the Pintados, on the Botuan River in Mindanao, and in Sebu, where a mine of good gold is worked, called Taribon. If the industry and efforts of the Spaniards were to be converted into the working of the gold, as much would be obtained from any one of these islands as from those provinces which produce the most in the world. But since they attend to other means of gain rather than to this, as will be told in due time, they do not pay the proper attention to this matter.

In some of these islands pearl oysters are found, especially in the Calamianes, where some have been obtained that are large and exceedingly clear and lustrous. [114] Neither is this means of profit utilized. In all parts, seed pearls are found in the ordinary oysters, and there are oysters as large as a buckler. From the [shells of the] latter the natives manufacture beautiful articles. There are also very large sea turtles in all the islands. Their shells are utilized by the natives, and sold as an article of commerce to the Chinese and Portuguese, and other nations who go after them and esteem them highly, because of the beautiful things made from them.

On the coasts of any of these islands are found many small white snail shells, called siguei. The natives gather them and sell them by measure to the Siamese, Cambodians, Pantanes, and other peoples of the mainland. It serves there as money, and those nations trade with it, as they do with cacao-beans in Nueva Espana. [115]

Carabao horns are used as merchandise in trading with China; and deerskins and dye-wood with Japon. The natives make use of everything in trading with those nations and derive much profit therefrom.

In this island of Luzon, especially in the provinces of Manila, Panpanga, Pangasinan, and Ylocos, certain earthenware jars [tibores] are found among the natives. They are very old, of a brownish color, and not handsome. Some are of medium size, and others are smaller, and they have certain marks and stamps. The natives are unable to give any explanation of where or when they got them, for now they are not brought to the islands or made there. The Japanese seek them and esteem them, for they have found that the root of a plant called cha [tea]—which is drunk hot, as a great refreshment and medicine, among the kings and lords of Japon—is preserved and keeps only in these tibors. These are so highly valued throughout Japon, that they are regarded as the most precious jewels of their closets and household furniture. A tibor is worth a great sum, and the Japanese adorn them outside with fine gold beautifully chased, and keep them in brocade cases. Some tibors are valued and sold for two thousand taes of eleven reals to the tae, or for less, according to the quality of the tibor. It makes no difference if they are cracked or chipped, for that does not hinder them from holding the tea. The natives of these islands sell them to the Japanese for the best price possible, and seek them carefully for this profit. However, few are found now, because of the assiduity with which the natives have applied themselves to that search. [116]

At times the natives have found large pieces of ambergris on the coasts. When they discovered that the Spaniards value it, they gathered it, and have made profit from it. The past year of six hundred and two, some natives found in the island of Sebu a good-sized piece of ambergris, and when their encomendero heard of it, he took it, and traded with them secretly for it, on the account of their tribute. It is said that it weighed a good number of libras. Afterward he brought it out and sold it by the ounce at a higher rate. [117]

In the province and river of Butuan—which is pacified and assigned to Spaniards, and is located in the island of Mindanao—the natives practice another industry, which is very useful. As they possess many civet cats, although smaller than those of Guinea, they make use of the civet and trade it. This they do easily, for, when the moon is in the crescent, they hunt the cats with nets, and capture many of them. Then when they have obtained the civet, they loose the cats. They also capture and cage some of them, which are sold in the islands at very low prices. [118]

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 medrinaques, are woven from the banana leaf. [119]

The islands of Babuytanes [120] consist of many small islands lying off the upper coast of the province of Cagayan. They are inhabited by natives, whose chief industry consists in going to Cagayan, in their tapaques, with swine, fowls, and other food, and ebony spears, for exchange. The islands are not assigned as encomiendas, nor is any tribute collected from them. There are no Spaniards among them, as those natives are of less understanding and less civilized [than the others]. Accordingly no Christians have been made among them, and they have no justices.

Other islands, called the Catenduanes, lie off the other head of the island of Luzon, opposite the province of Camarines, in fourteen degrees of north latitude, near the strait of Espiritu Santo. They are islands densely populated with natives of good disposition, who are all assigned to Spaniards. They possess instruction and churches, and have an alcalde-mayor who administers justice to them. Most of them cultivate the soil, but some are engaged in gold-washing, and in trading between various islands, and with the mainland of Luzon, very near those islands. [121]

The island of Luzon has a bay thirty leguas in circumference on its southern coast, situated about one hundred leguas from the cape of Espiritu Santo, which is the entrance to the Capul channel. Its entrance is narrow, and midway contains an island called Miraveles [i.e., Corregidor] lying obliquely across it, which makes the entrance narrow. This island is about two leguas long and one-half legua wide. It is high land and well shaded by its many trees. It contains a native settlement of fifty persons, and there the watchman of the bay has his fixed abode and residence. There are channels at both ends of the island, where one may enter the bay. The one at the south is one-half legua wide, and has a rock in its middle called El Fraile ["the friar"]. The one on the north is much narrower, but any ships of any draft whatever can enter and go out by both channels. The entire bay is of good depth, and clean, and has good anchorages in all parts. It is eight leguas from these entrances to the colony of Manila and the bar of the river. A large harbor is formed two leguas south of Manila, with a point of land that shelters it. That point has a native settlement called Cabit, [122] and it gives name to the harbor, which is used as a port for the vessels. It is very capacious and well sheltered from the vendavals—whether the southeast, and southwest, the west, and west-southwest, or the north-northeast and north winds. It has a good anchorage, with a clean and good bottom. There is a good entrance quite near the land, more than one and one-half leguas wide, for the ingress and egress of vessels. All the shores of this bay are well provided with abundant fisheries, of all kinds. They are densely inhabited by natives. Above Manila there is a province of more than twenty leguas in extent called La Pampanga. This province 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. [123]

The bar of the river of Manila, which is in the same bay, near the colony of Manila on one side and Tondo on the other, is not very deep because of certain sand shoals on it, which change their position at the time of the freshets and obstruct it. Consequently, although the water is deep enough for any vessel past the bar, still, unless they are fragatas, vireys, or other small vessels, they cannot pass the bar to enter the river. In respect to galleys, galliots, and the vessels from China, which draw but little water, they must enter empty, and at high tide, and by towing. Such vessels anchor in the bay outside the bar, and, for greater security enter the port of Cabit.

There is another good port called Ybalon, [124] twenty leguas from the channel of the same island of Luzon, which is sheltered from the vendavals, and has a good entrance and anchorage. There the vessels that enter to escape the vendaval find shelter, and wait until the brisa returns, by which to go to Manila, eighty leguas away.

On the coasts of Pangasinan, Ylocos, and Cagayan, there are some ports and bars, where ships can enter and remain, such as the harbor of Marihuma, [125] the port El Frayle ["the friar"], [126] that of Bolinao, the bar of Pangasinan, that of Bigan, the bar of Camalayuga, at the mouth of the Tajo River (which goes up two leguas to the chief settlement of Cagayan)—besides other rivers, bars, harbors, and shelters of less account for smaller vessels throughout the coasts of this island.

Quite near this large island of Luzon, many other islands, large and small, are located; they are inhabited by the same natives as Luzon, who have gold placers, sowed fields, and their trading. Such are Marinduque, Tablas Island, Mazbate, Burias, Banton, Bantonillo, and others of less importance. The nearest of them to Manila is the island of Mindoro. It is more than eighty leguas long and about two hundred in circumference. It has many settlements of the same natives, and the side lying next the provinces of Balayan and Calilaya is so near and close to the island of Luzon, that it forms a strait which contains powerful currents and races, through which the ships going to and from Manila enter and leave. The winds and currents there are very strong. It is about one-half a legua wide. In that part is the chief town of this island of Mindoro. It has a port that is called El Varadero ["the place for laying up ships"] for large vessels. There are also other anchorages and bars throughout this island for smaller vessels; and many settlements and natives on all the coasts of this island. All of the settlements abound in rice, food, and gold-placers, and all kinds of game and timber. [127]

The cape of Espiritu Santo, which is sighted by ships entering the Filipinas Islands on the way from Nueva Espana, is in an island called Tendaya, [128] in about thirteen degrees. Twenty leguas south after turning this cape of Espiritu Santo lie the island of Viri, and many others which are sighted. Through them an entrance opens to the island of Sebu by a strait called San Juanillo, which is formed by these islands. It is not very good or safe for the larger ships. But toward the north after leaving this course, one reaches the island of Capul, which forms a strait and channel of many currents and rough waves, through which the ships enter. Before reaching the strait there is a rock, or barren islet, called San Bernardino; this strait is formed by the coast of the island of Luzon and that of the island of Capul. Its channel is about one legua long and less wide.

On leaving this strait, after having entered by it, three small islets form a triangle. They are called the islands of Naranjos ["Oranges"], and are lofty and inaccessible with steep rocks. Upon them ships are wont to be driven by the powerful currents, even though they try to escape them. These are not inhabited, but the others [Capul, Viri, etc.] are large islands containing many settlements of natives and all kinds of provisions and food.

South of this district lie the islands of Bicayas, or, as they are also called, Pintados. They are many in number, thickly populated with natives. Those of most renown are Leite, Ybabao, [129] Camar [Samar], Bohol, island of Negros, Sebu, Panay, Cuyo, and the Calamianes. All the natives of these islands, both men and women, are well-featured, of a good disposition, and of better nature, and more noble in their actions than the inhabitants of the islands of Luzon and its vicinity.

They differ from them in their hair, which the men wear cut in a cue, like the ancient style in Espana. Their bodies are tattooed with many designs, but the face is not touched. [130] They wear large earrings of gold and ivory in their ears, and bracelets of the same; certain scarfs wrapped round the head, very showy, which resemble turbans, and knotted very gracefully and edged with gold. They wear also a loose collarless jacket with tight sleeves, whose skirts reach half way down the leg. These garments are fastened in front and are made of medrinaque and colored silks. They wear no shirts or drawers, but bahaques [i.e., breech-clouts] of many wrappings, which cover their privy parts, when they remove their skirts and jackets. The women are good-looking and graceful. They are very neat, and walk slowly. Their hair is black, long, and drawn into a knot on the head. Their robes are wrapped about the waist and fall downward. These are made of all colors, and they wear collarless jackets of the same material. Both men and women go naked and without any coverings, [131] and barefoot, and with many gold chains, earrings, and wrought bracelets.

Their weapons consist of large knives curved like cutlasses, spears, and caracas [i.e., shields]. They employ the same kinds of boats as the inhabitants of Luzon. They have the same occupations, products, and means of gain as the inhabitants of all the other islands. These Visayans are a race less inclined to agriculture, and are skilful in navigation, and eager for war and raids for pillage and booty, which they call mangubas. [132] This means "to go out for plunder."

Near the principal settlement of the island of Sebu, there is a fine port for all manner of vessels. It has a good entrance and furnishes shelter at all times. It has a good bottom and is an excellent anchorage. There are also other ports and bars of less importance and consideration, as in all these islands, for smaller vessels.

This island of Sebu is an island of more than one hundred leguas in circumference. It has abundance of provisions, and gold mines and placers, and is inhabited by natives.

Beyond it lie other islands, very pleasant and well populated, especially the island of Panay. Panay is a large island, more than one hundred leguas in circumference, containing many native settlements. [133] It produces considerable quantities of rice, palm-wine, and all manner of provisions. It has flourishing and wealthy settlements, on what is called the river of Panay. The chief one is Oton, which has a bar and port for galleys and ships, shipyards for building large ships, and a great amount of timber for their construction. There are many natives, who are masters of all kinds of shipbuilding. Near this island lies an islet eight leguas in circumference, which is densely populated by natives who are all carpenters. They are excellent workmen, and practice no other trade or occupation; and, without a single tree of any size on this whole islet, they practice this art with great ability. From there all the islands are furnished with workmen for carpentry. The island is called that of the Cagayanes.

After the island of Sebu follow immediately the island of Mindanao, an island of more than three hundred leguas in circumference, and Jolo, which is small. Lower down is the island of Borneo, a very large island, more than five hundred leguas in circumference. All of these islands are densely populated, although that of Borneo is not subdued. Neither is that of Mindanao in entirety, but only the river of Botuan, Dapitan, and the province and coast of Caragan.

Below this island [Mindanao], before reaching that of Borneo, lie the islands of the Calamianes. They are very numerous, and consist of islands of various sizes, which are densely inhabited with natives; they have some supply of provisions and engage in certain kinds of husbandry. However the most usual occupation is that of their navigations from island to island in pursuit of their trading and exchange, and their fisheries; while those who live nearest the island of Borneo are wont to go on piratical raids and pillage the natives in other islands.

The flow- and ebb-tides, and the high and low tides among these islands are so diverse in them that they have no fixed rule, either because of the powerful currents among these islands, or by some other natural secret of the flux and reflux which the moon causes. No definite knowledge has been arrived at in this regard, for although the tides are highest during the opposition of the moon, and are higher in the month of March than throughout the rest of the year, there is so great variation in the daily tides that it causes surprise. Some days there are two equal tides between day and night, while other days there is but one. At other times the flow during the day is low, and that of the night greater. They usually have no fixed hour, for it may happen to be high-tide one day at noon, while next day high-tide may be anticipated or postponed many hours. Or the tide of one day may be low, and when a smaller one is expected for next day, it may be much greater.

The language of all the Pintados and Bicayas is one and the same, by which they understand one another when talking, or when writing with the letters and characters of their own which they possess. These resemble those of the Arabs. The common manner of writing among the natives is on leaves of trees, and on bamboo bark. Throughout the islands the bamboo is abundant; it has huge and misshapen joints, and lower part is a very thick and solid tree. [134]

The language of Luzon and those islands in its vicinity differs widely from that of the Bicayas. [135] The language of the island of Luzon is not uniform, for the Cagayans have one language and the Ylocos another. The Zambales have their own particular language, while the Pampangos also have one different from the others. The inhabitants of the province of Manila, the Tagals, have their own language, which is very rich and copious. By means of it one can express elegantly whatever he wishes, and in many modes and manners. It is not difficult, either to learn or to pronounce.

The natives throughout the islands can write excellently with certain characters, almost like the Greek or Arabic. These characters are fifteen in all. Three are vowels, which are used as are our five. The consonants number twelve, and each and all of them combine with certain dots or commas, and so signify whatever one wishes to write, as fluently and easily as is done with our Spanish alphabet. The method of writing was on bamboo, but is now on paper, commencing the lines at the right and running to the left, in the Arabic fashion. Almost all the natives, both men and women, write in this language. There are very few who do not write it excellently and correctly.

This language of the province of Manila [i.e., the Tagal] extends throughout the province of Camarines, and other islands not contiguous to Luzon. There is but little difference in that spoken in the various districts, except that it is spoken more elegantly in some provinces than in others. [136]

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. A small number inhabit the interior, and are called tinguianes; they also seek sites on rivers and creeks, on which they settle for the same reasons.

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, [137] 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 their 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. [138]

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. These keep out the water and the sun more than do shingles or tiles, although the danger from fires is greater.

The natives do not inhabit the lower part of their houses, because they raise their fowls and cattle there, and because of the damp and heat of the earth, and the many rats, which are enormous and destructive both in the houses and sowed fields; and because, as their houses are generally built on the sea shore, or on the banks of rivers and creeks, the waters bathe the lower parts, and the latter are consequently left open.

There were no kings or lords throughout these islands who ruled over them as in the manner of our kingdoms and provinces; but in every island, and in each province of it, many chiefs were recognized by the natives themselves. Some were more powerful than others, and each one had his followers and subjects, by districts and families; and these obeyed and respected the chief. Some chiefs had friendship and communication with others, and at times wars and quarrels. [139]

These principalities and lordships were inherited in the male line and by succession of father and son and their descendants. If these were lacking, then their brothers and collateral relatives succeeded. Their duty was to rule and govern their subjects and followers, and to assist them in their interests and necessities. What the chiefs received from their followers was to be held by them in great veneration and respect; and they were served in their wars and voyages, and in their tilling, sowing, fishing, and the building of their houses. To these duties the natives attended very promptly, whenever summoned by their chief. They also paid the chiefs tribute (which they called buiz), in varying quantities, in the crops that they gathered. The descendants of such chiefs, and their relatives, even though they did not inherit the lordship, were held in the same respect and consideration. Such were all regarded as nobles, and as persons exempt from the services rendered by the others, or the plebeians, who were called timaguas. [140] The same right of nobility and chieftainship was preserved for the women, just as for the men. When any of these chiefs was more courageous than others in war and upon other occasions, such a one enjoyed more followers and men; and the others were under his leadership, even if they were chiefs. These latter retained to themselves the lordship and particular government of their own following, which is called barangai among them. They had datos and other special leaders [mandadores] who attended to the interests of the barangay.

The superiority of these chiefs over those of their barangai was so great that they held the latter as subjects; they treated these well or ill, and disposed of their persons, their children, and their possessions, at will, without any resistance, or rendering account to anyone. For very slight annoyances and for slight occasions, they were wont to kill and wound them, and to enslave them. It has happened that the chiefs have made perpetual slaves of persons who have gone by them, while bathing in the river, or who have raised their eyes to look at them less respectfully and for other similar causes. [141]

When some natives had suits or disputes with others over matters of property and interest, or over personal injuries and wrongs received, they appointed old men of the same district, to try them, the parties being present. If they had to present proofs, they brought their witnesses there, and the case was immediately judged according to what was found, according to the usages of their ancestors on like occasions; and that sentence was observed and executed without any further objection or delay. [142]

The natives' laws throughout the islands were made in the same manner, and they followed the traditions and customs of their ancestors, without anything being written. Some provinces had different customs than others in some respects. However, they agreed in most, and in all the islands generally the same usages were followed. [143]

There are three conditions of persons among the natives of these islands, and into which their government is divided: the chiefs, of whom we have already treated; the timaguas, who are equivalent to plebeians; and slaves, those of both chiefs and timaguas.

The slaves were of several classes. Some were for all kinds of work and slavery, like those which we ourselves hold. Such are called saguiguilires; [144] they served inside the house, as did likewise the children born of them. There are others who live in their own houses with their families, outside the house of their lord; and come, at the season, to aid him in his sowings and harvests, among his rowers when he embarks, in the construction of his house when it is being built, and to serve in his house when there are guests of distinction. These are bound to come to their lord's house whenever he summons them, and to serve in these offices without any pay or stipend. These slaves are called namamahays, [145] and their children and descendants are slaves of the same class. From these slaves—saguiguilirs and namamahays—are issue, some of whom are whole slaves, some of whom are half slaves, and still others one-fourth slaves. It happens thus: if either the father or the mother was free, and they had an only child, he was half free and half slave. If they had more than one child, they were divided as follows: the first follows the condition of the father, free or slave; the second that of the mother. If there were an odd number of children, the last was half free and half slave. Those who descended from these, if children of a free mother or father, were only one-fourth slaves, because of being children of a free father or mother and of a half-slave. These half slaves or one-fourth slaves, whether saguiguilirs or namamahays, served their masters during every other moon; and in this respect so is such condition slavery.

In the same way, it may happen in divisions between heirs that a slave will fall to several, and serves each one for the time that is due him. When the slave is not wholly slave, but half or fourth, he has the right, because of that part that is free, to compel his master to emancipate him for a just price. This price is appraised and regulated for persons according to the quality of their slavery, whether it be saguiguilir or namamahay, half slave or quarter slave. But, if he is wholly slave, the master cannot be compelled to ransom or emancipate him for any price.

The usual price of a sanguiguilir slave among the natives is, at most, generally ten taes of good gold, or eighty pesos; if he is namamahay, half of that sum. The others are in the same proportion, taking into consideration the person and his age.

No fixed beginning can be assigned as the origin of these kinds of slavery among these natives, because all the slaves are natives of the islands, and not strangers. It is thought that they were made in their wars and quarrels. The most certain knowledge is that the most powerful made the others slaves, and seized them for slight cause or occasion, and many times for loans and usurious contracts which were current among them. The interest, capital, and debt, increased so much with delay that the borrowers became slaves. Consequently all these slaveries have violent and unjust beginnings; and most of the suits among the natives are over these, and they occupy the judges in the exterior court with them, and their confessors in that of conscience. [146]

These slaves comprise the greatest wealth and capital of the natives of these islands, for they are very useful to them and necessary for the cultivation of their property. They are sold, traded, and exchanged among them, just as any other mercantile article, from one village to another, from one province to another, and likewise from one island to another. Therefore, and to avoid so many suits as would occur if these slaveries were examined, and their origin and source ascertained, they are preserved and held as they were formerly.

The marriages of these natives, commonly and generally were, and are: Chiefs with women chiefs; timaguas with those of that rank; and slaves with those of their own class. But sometimes these classes intermarry with one another. They considered one woman, whom they married, as the legitimate wife and the mistress of the house; and she was styled ynasaba. [147] Those whom they kept besides her they considered as friends. The children of the first were regarded as legitimate and whole heirs of their parents; the children of the others were not so regarded, and were left something by assignment, but they did not inherit.

The dowry was furnished by the man, being given by his parents. The wife furnished nothing for the marriage, until she had inherited it from her parents. The solemnity of the marriage consisted in nothing more than the agreement between the parents and relatives of the contracting parties, the payment of the dowry agreed upon to the father of the bride, [148] and the assembling at the wife's parents' house of all the relatives to eat and drink until they would fall down. At night the man took the woman to his house and into his power, and there she remained. These marriages were annulled and dissolved for slight cause, with the examination and judgment of the relatives of both parties, and of the old men, who acted as mediators in the affairs. At such a time the man took the dowry (which they call vigadicaya), [149] unless it happened that they separated through the husband's fault; for then it was not returned to him, and the wife's parents kept it. The property that they had acquired together was divided into halves, and each one disposed of his own. If one made any profits in which the other did not have a share or participate, he acquired it for himself alone.

The Indians were adopted one by another, in presence of the relatives. The adopted person gave and delivered all his actual possessions to the one who adopted him. Thereupon he remained in his house and care, and had a right to inherit with the other children. [150]

Adulteries were not punishable corporally. If the adulterer paid the aggrieved party the amount adjudged by the old men and agreed upon by them, then the injury was pardoned, and the husband was appeased and retained his honor. He would still live with his wife and there would be no further talk about the matter.

In inheritances all the legitimate children inherited equally from their parents whatever property they had acquired. If there were any movable or landed property which they had received from their parents, such went to the nearest relatives and the collateral side of that stock, if there were no legitimate children by an ynasaba. This was the case either with or without a will. In the act of drawing a will, there was no further ceremony than to have written it or to have stated it orally before acquaintances.

If any chief was lord of a barangai, then in that case, the eldest son of an ynasaba succeeded him. If he died, the second son succeeded. If there were no sons, then the daughters succeeded in the same order. If there were no legitimate successors, the succession went to the nearest relative belonging to the lineage and relationship of the chief who had been the last possessor of it.

If any native who had slave women made concubines of any of them, and such slave woman had children, those children were free, as was the slave. But if she had no children, she remained a slave. [151]

These children by a slave woman, and those borne by a married woman, were regarded as illegitimate, and did not succeed to the inheritance with the other children, neither were the parents obliged to leave them anything. Even if they were the sons of chiefs, they did not succeed to the nobility or chieftainship of the parents, nor to their privileges, but they remained and were reckoned as plebeians and in the number and rank of the other timaguas.

The contracts and negotiations of these natives were generally illegal, each one paying attention to how he might better his own business and interest.

Loans with interest were very common and much practiced, and the interest incurred was excessive. The debt doubled and increased all the time while payment was delayed, until it stripped the debtor of all his possessions, and he and his children, when all their property was gone, became slaves. [152]

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. [153] 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 very usurious and excessive profits and interests.

Crimes were punished by request of the aggrieved parties. Especially were thefts punished with greater severity, the robbers being enslaved or sometimes put to death. [154] The same was true of insulting words, especially when spoken to chiefs. They had among themselves many expressions and words which they regarded as the highest insult, when said to men and women. These were pardoned less willingly and with greater difficulty than was personal violence, such as wounding and assaulting. [155]

Concubinage, rape, and incest, were not regarded at all, unless committed by a timagua on the person of a woman chief. It was a quite ordinary practice for a married man to have lived a long time in concubinage with the sister of his wife. Even before having communication with his wife he could have had access for a long time to his mother-in-law, especially if the bride were very young, and until she were of sufficient age. This was done in sight of all the relatives.

Single men are called bagontaos, [156] and girls of marriageable age, dalagas. Both classes are people of little restraint, and from early childhood they have communication with one another, and mingle with facility and little secrecy, and without this being regarded among the natives as a cause for anger. Neither do the parents, brothers, or relatives, show any anger, especially if there is any material interest in it, and but little is sufficient with each and all.

As long as these natives lived in their paganism, it was not known that they had fallen into the abominable sin against nature. But after the Spaniards had entered their country, through communication with them—and still more, through that with the Sangleys, who have come from China, and are much given to that vice—it has been communicated to them somewhat, both to men and to women. In this matter it has been necessary to take action.

The natives of the islands of Pintados, especially the women, are very vicious and sensual. Their perverseness has discovered lascivious methods of communication between men and women; and there is one to which they are accustomed from their youth. The men skilfully make a hole in their virile member near its head, and insert therein a serpent's head, either of metal or ivory, and fasten it with a peg of the same material passed through the hole, so that it cannot become unfastened. With this device, they have communication with their wives, and are unable to withdraw until a long time after copulation. They are very fond of this and receive much pleasure from it, so that, although they shed a quantity of blood, and receive other harm, it is current among them. These devices are called sagras, and there are very few of them, because since they have become Christians, strenuous efforts are being made to do away with these, and not consent to their use; and consequently the practice has been checked in great part. [157]

Herbalists and witches are common among these natives, but are not punished or prohibited among them, so long as they do not cause any special harm. But seldom could that be ascertained or known.

There were also men whose business was to ravish and take away virginity from young girls. These girls were taken to such men, and the latter were paid for ravishing them, for the natives considered it a hindrance and impediment if the girls were virgins when they married.

In matters of religion, the natives proceeded more barbarously and with greater blindness than in all the rest. For besides being pagans, without any knowledge of the true God, they neither strove to discover Him by way of reason, nor had any fixed belief. The devil usually deceived them with a thousand errors and blindnesses. He appeared to them in various horrible and frightful forms, and as fierce animals, so that they feared him and trembled before him. They generally worshiped him, and made images of him in the said forms. These they kept in caves and private houses, where they offered them perfumes and odors, and food and fruit, calling them anitos. [158]

Others worshiped the sun and the moon, and made feasts and drunken revels at the conjunction of those bodies. Some worshiped a yellow-colored bird that dwells in their woods, called batala. They generally worship and adore the crocodiles when they see them, by kneeling down and clasping their hands, because of the harm that they receive from those reptiles; they believe that by so doing the crocodiles will become appeased and leave them. Their oaths, execrations, and promises are all as above mentioned, namely, "May buhayan eat thee, if thou dost not speak truth, or fulfil what thou hast promised," and similar things.

There were no temples throughout those islands, nor houses generally used for the worship of idols; but each person possessed and made in his house his own anitos, [159] without any fixed rite or ceremony. They had no priests or religious to attend to religious affairs, except certain old men and women called catalonas. These were experienced witches and sorcerers, who kept the other people deceived. The latter communicated to these sorcerers their desires and needs, and the catalonas told them innumerable extravagancies and lies. The catalonas uttered prayers and performed other ceremonies to the idols for the sick; and they believed in omens and superstitions, with which the devil inspired them, whereby they declared whether the patient would recover or die. Such were their cures and methods, and they used various kinds of divinations for all things. All this was with so little aid, apparatus, or foundation—which God permitted, so that the preaching of the holy gospel should find those of that region better prepared for it, and so that those natives would confess the truth more easily, and it would be less difficult to withdraw them from their darkness, and the errors in which the devil kept them for so many years. They never sacrificed human beings as is done in other kingdoms. They believed that there was a future life where those who had been brave and performed valiant feats would be rewarded; while those who had done evil would be punished. But they did not know how or where this would be. [160]

They buried their dead in their own houses, and kept their bodies and bones for a long time in chests. They venerated the skulls of the dead as if they were living and present. Their funeral rites did not consist of pomp or assemblages, beyond those of their own house—where, after bewailing the dead, all was changed into feasting and drunken revelry among all the relatives and friends. [161]

A few years before the Spaniards subdued the island of Luzon, certain natives of the island of Borneo began to go thither to trade, especially to the settlement of Manila and Tondo; and the inhabitants of the one island intermarried with those of the other. These Borneans are Mahometans, and were already introducing their religion among the natives of Luzon, and were giving them instructions, ceremonies, and the form of observing their religion, by means of certain gazizes [162] whom they brought with them. Already a considerable number, and those the chiefest men, were commencing, although by piecemeal, to become Moros, and were being circumcised [163] and taking the names of Moros. Had the Spaniards' coming been delayed longer, that religion would have spread throughout the island, and even through the others, and it would have been difficult to extirpate it. The mercy of God checked it in time; for, because of being in so early stages, it was uprooted from the islands, and they were freed from it, that is, in all that the Spaniards have pacified, and that are under the government of the Filipinas. That religion has spread and extended very widely in the other islands outside of this government, so that now almost all of their natives are Mahometan Moros, and are ruled and instructed by their gacizes and other morabitos; [164] these often come to preach to and teach them by way of the strait of Ma[la]ca and the Red Sea, through which they navigate to reach these islands.

The arrival of the Spaniards in these Filipinas Islands, since the year one thousand five hundred and sixty-four, the pacification and conversion that has been made therein, their mode of governing, and the provisions of his Majesty during these years for their welfare, have caused innovations in many things, such as are usual to kingdoms and provinces that change their religion and sovereign. The foremost has been that, besides the name of Filipinas which all the islands took and received from the beginning of their conquest, they belong to a new kingdom and seigniory to which his Majesty, Filipo Second, our sovereign, gave the name of Nuevo Reyno de Castilla ["New Kingdom of Castilla"]. By his royal concession, he made the city of Manila capital of it, and gave to it as a special favor, among other things, a crowned coat-of-arms which was chosen and assigned by his royal person. This is an escutcheon divided across. In the upper part is a castle on a red field, and in the lower a lion of gold, crowned and rampant, holding a naked sword in its right paw. One-half of the body is in the form of a dolphin upon the waters of the sea, to signify that the Spaniards crossed the sea with their arms to conquer this kingdom for the crown of Castilla. [165]

The city of Manila was founded by the adelantado Miguel Lopez de Legazpi, first governor of the Filipinas, in the island of Luzon. It occupies the same site where Rajamora had his settlement and fort—as has been related more at length—at the mouth of the river which empties into the bay, on a point between the river and the sea. The whole site was occupied by this new settlement, and Legazpi apportioned it to the Spaniards in equal building-lots. It was laid out with well-arranged streets and squares, straight and level. A sufficiently large main square [Plaza mayor] was left, fronting which were erected the cathedral church and municipal buildings. He left another square, that of arms [Plaza de armas], fronting which was built the fort, as well as the royal buildings. He gave sites for the monasteries, [166] hospital, and chapels which were to be built, as being a city which was to grow and increase continually—as already it has done; for, in the course of the time that has passed, that city has flourished as much as the best of all the cities in those regions.

The city is completely surrounded with a stone wall, which is more than two and one-half varas wide, and in places more than three. It has small towers and traverses at intervals. [167] It has a fortress of hewn stone at the point that guards the bar and the river, with a ravelin close to the water, upon which are mounted some large pieces of artillery. This artillery commands the sea and river, while other pieces are mounted farther up to defend the bar, besides some other moderate-sized field-pieces and swivel-guns. These fortifications have their vaults for storing supplies and munitions, and a magazine for the powder, which is well guarded and situated in the inner part; and a copious well of fresh water. There are also quarters for the soldiers and artillerymen, and the house of the commandant [alcayde]. The city has been lately fortified on the land side at the Plaza de armas, where it is entered by a strong wall and two salient towers, defended with artillery, which command the wall and gate. This fortress is called Santiago, and has a company of thirty soldiers with their officers, and eight artillerymen who guard the gate and entrance by watches—all in charge of a commandant who lives inside, and has the guard and custody of the fort.

There is another fortress, also of stone, in the same wall, within culverin range, located at the end [168] of the curtain, which extends along the shore of the bay. It is called Nuestra Senora de Guia, and is a very large round tower. It has its own court, well, and quarters inside, as well as the magazine, and other rooms for work. It has a traverse extending to the beach, on which are mounted a dozen large and moderate-sized pieces, which command the bay and sweep the wall, which extends along the shore to the gate and to the fort of Santiago. On the other side the fortress has a large salient tower, mounted with four large pieces, which command the shore ahead in the direction of the chapel of Nuestra Senora de Guia. The gate and entrance is within the city and is guarded by a company of twenty soldiers and their officers, six artillerymen, and one commandant and his lieutenant, who live inside.

On the land side, where the wall extends, there is a rampart called Sant Andres, which mounts six pieces of artillery that command in all directions, and some swivel-guns. Farther on is another traverse called San Gabriel, opposite the parian of the Sangleys, with a like amount of artillery. Both have some soldiers and an ordinary guard.

The wall has a sufficient height, and is furnished with battlements and turrets, built in the modern style, for its defense. It has a circuit of about one legua, which can be made entirely on top. It has many broad steps of the same hewn stone, at intervals inside. There are three principal city gates on the land side, and many other posterns opening at convenient places on the river and beach, for the service of the city. Each and all of them are locked before nightfall by the ordinary patrols. These carry the keys to the guard-room of the royal buildings. In the morning when day comes, the patrols return with the keys and open the city. [169]

The royal arsenals front on the Plaza de armas. In them are kept and guarded all the supplies of ammunition, food, rigging, iron, copper, lead, artillery, arquebuses, and other things belonging to the royal estate. They have their own officers and workmen, and are placed in charge of the royal officials.

Near these arsenals is located the powder-house, with its master, workmen, and convicts, where powder is generally ground in thirty mortars, and that which is spoiled is refined. [170]

The building for the founding of artillery is located on a suitable site in another part of the city. It has its molds, ovens, and tools, founders, and workmen who work it. [171]

The royal buildings are very beautiful and sightly, and contain many rooms. They have many windows opening toward the sea and the Plaza de armas. They are all built of stone and have two courts, with upper and lower galleries raised on stout pillars. The governor and president lives inside with his family. There is a hall for the royal Audiencia, which is very large and stately; also a separate chapel, a room for the royal seal, [172] and offices for the scriveners of the Audiencia, and the government. There are also other apartments for the royal treasury and the administration of the royal officials, while a large porch opens on the street with two principal doors, where the guardroom is located. There is one company of regular arquebusiers, who come in daily with their banners to stand guard. Opposite, on the other side of the street, is another edifice for the royal treasury and those in charge of it. [173]

The houses of the cabildo, located on the square, are built of stone. They are very sightly and have handsome halls. On the ground floor is the prison, and the court of the alcaldes-in-ordinary. [174]

On the same square is situated the cathedral church. It is built of hewn stone, and has three naves, and its main chapel, and choir, with high and low seats. The choir is shut in by railings, and has its organ, missal-stands, and other necessary things. The cathedral has also its sacristan [175] and his apartments and offices.

Within the city is the monastery of St. Augustine. It is very large and has many dormitories, a refectory and kitchens. They are now completing a church, which is one of the most sumptuous in those districts. This convent has generally fifty religious. [176]

The monastery of St. Dominic is inside the walls. It contains about forty religious. It was built of stone, and was very well constructed. It has a church, house, and all offices. It has lately been rebuilt, and much better; for it was completely destroyed in the burning of the city in the year six hundred and three.

The monastery of St. Francis is farther on. It is well constructed of stone, and its church is being rebuilt. It contains about forty discalced religious.

The residence [colegio] of the Society of Jesus is established near the fortress of Nuestra Senora de Guia. It contains twenty religious of their order, and is an excellent stone house and church. There they study Latin, the arts, and cases of conscience. Connected with them is a seminary and convictorio [177] for Spanish scholars, with their rector. These students wear gowns of tawny-colored frieze with red facings. [178]

In another part of the city stands a handsome house, walled in, with its stone church, called San Andres and Santa Potenciana. It is a royal foundation, and a rectoress lives there. It has a revolving entrance and a parlor, and the rectoress has other confidential assistants; and there shelter is given to needy women and girls of the city, in the form of religious retirement. Some of the girls leave the house to be married, while others remain there permanently. It has its own house for work, and its choir. His Majesty assists them with a portion of their maintenance; the rest is provided by their own industry and property. They have their own steward and their priest, who administers the sacraments to them. [179]

In another part is the royal hospital for Spaniards, with its physician, apothecary, surgeons, managers, and servants. It and its church are built of stone; and it has its sick rooms and the bed service. In it all the Spaniards are treated. It is usually quite full; it is under the royal patronage. His Majesty provides the most necessary things for it. Three discalced religious of St. Francis act there as superintendents, and they prove very advantageous for the corporal and spiritual relief of the sick. It was burned in the conflagration of the former year six hundred and three, and is now being rebuilt.

There is another charitable hospital in charge of the Confraternity of that name. It was founded in the city of Manila by the Confraternity of La Misericordia of Lisboa, and by the other confraternities of India. [180] It has apostolic bulls for works of charity, such as burying the dead, supporting the modest poor, marrying orphans, and relieving many necessities. There the slaves of the city are treated, and lodgings are likewise provided for poor women.

Next to the monastery of St. Francis is located the hospital for natives, [181] which is under royal patronage. It was founded with alms, by a holy lay-brother of St. Francis, one Fray Joan Clemente. A great many natives, suffering from all diseases, are treated there with great care and attention. It has a good edifice and workrooms built of stone. The discalced religious of St. Francis manage it; and three priests and four lay-brothers, of exemplary life, live there. These are the physicians, surgeons, and apothecaries of the hospital, and are so skilful and useful, that they cause many marvelous cures, both in medicine and in surgery.

The streets of the city are compactly built up with houses, mostly of stone, although some are of wood. Many are roofed with clay tiling, and others with nipa. They are excellent edifices, lofty and spacious, and have large rooms and many windows, and balconies, with iron gratings, that embellish them. More are daily being built and finished. There are about six hundred houses within the walls, and a greater number, built of wood, in the suburbs; and all are the habitations and homes of Spaniards.

The streets, squares, and churches are generally filled with people of all classes, especially Spaniards—all, both men and women, clad and gorgeously adorned in silks. They wear many ornaments and all kinds of fine clothes, because of the ease with which these are obtained. Consequently this is one of the settlements most highly praised, by the foreigners who resort to it, of all in the world, both for the above reason, and for the great provision and abundance of food and other necessaries for human life found there, and sold at moderate prices.

Manila has two drives for recreation. One is by land, along the point called Nuestra Senora de Guia. It extends for about a legua along the shore, and is very clean and level. Thence it passes through a native street and settlement, called Bagunbayan, to a chapel, much frequented by the devout, called Nuestra Senora de Guia, and continues for a goodly distance further to a monastery and mission-house of the Augustinians, called Mahalat. [182]

The other drive extends through one of the city gates to a native settlement, called Laguio, by which one may go to a chapel of San Anton, and to a monastery and mission-house of discalced Franciscans, a place of great devotion, near the city, called La Candelaria. [183]

This city is the capital of the kingdom and the head of the government of all the islands. It is the metropolis of the other cities and settlements of the islands. In it reside the Audiencia and Chancilleria of his Majesty, and the governor and captain-general of the islands. [184]

Manila has a city cabildo with two alcaldes-in-ordinary, twelve perpetual regidors, an alguacil-mayor [i.e., chief constable], a royal standard-bearer, the scrivener of the cabildo, and other officials.

The archbishop of the Filipinas Islands resides in this city. He has his metropolitan church, and all the cathedral dignitaries—canons, racioneros, medias racioneros, [185] chaplains, and sacristans—and a music-choir, who chant to the accompaniment of the organ and of flutes [ministriles]. The cathedral is quite ornate and well decorated, and the Divine offices are celebrated there with the utmost gravity and ceremony. As suffragans the cathedral has three bishops—namely, in the island of Sebu, and in Cagayan and Camarines. [186]

There is a royal treasury with three royal officials—factor, accountant, and treasurer—by whom the royal revenue of all the islands is managed. [187]

The vessels sailing annually to Nueva Espana with the merchandise and investments of all the islands are despatched from the city of Manila; and they return thither from Nueva Espana with the proceeds of this merchandise, and the usual reenforcements.

In the city is established the camp of the regular soldiers whom his Majesty has had stationed in the islands.

Several galleys are also stationed at Manila with their general and captains, as well as other war-vessels, of deep draft, and smaller ones built like those used by the natives, to attend to the needs of all the islands.