Gadanes; 1621[An account of this uprising is given by Aduarte in book ii, chap. xvii, of hisHistoria; see ourVOL. XXXII, pp. 113–120.]In Bohol and Leyte; 1622[See account of the Bohol revolt inVOL. XXIV, pp. 116–119; it also spread to Leyte. We present here some further account, obtained from Murillo Velarde’sHist. de Philipinas, fol. 17, 18; Diaz’sConquistas, pp. 132–136. Concepción (inHist. de Philipinas, v, pp. 20–25) adds nothing new.]The majority of the ministers in the island of Bohol1had gone to Zebu, to celebrate the feasts of the beatification of St. Xavier; in their absence Lucifer attempted to possess himself again of those souls. The divata, or demon, appeared to some Indians in the woods—its face covered, like that of one taking the discipline—and commanded them to quit thegospel ministers and the Spanish vassalage, and take refuge in the hills; and to build him a chapel, where he would aid them and give them whatever they needed to pass their lives in happiness and abundance, without the encumbrance of paying tribute to the Spaniards or dues to the churches. Two or three Indians, who on account of their evil deeds were wandering as fugitives, became priests of this divata, in order to persuade the people to apostasy and rebellion; and, to take away the fear which they naturally feel toward the Spaniards, these priests told them that, if they would attack the Spaniards, the divata would cause the mountains to rise against their foe; that the muskets of the latter would not go off, or else the bullets would rebound on those who fired them; that if any Indian should die, the demon would resuscitate him; that the leaves of the trees would be converted intosaranga(which is a large fish); that when they cut bejucos, these would distil wine instead of water; that from the banana-leaves they would make fine linen; and, in short, that all would be pleasure, enjoyment, and delight. With these magnificent promises, so attractive to men—and especially to the Indians, who are so inclined to idleness and sloth—four villages revolted; only Loboc (which is the chief village) and Baclayon remained firm in the faith, and in loyalty to the king.Information of this reached Zebu, and immediately Don Juan de Alcarazo, alcalde-mayor of Zebu, went to quiet the island;2he invited them to makepeace, for which the rebels did not care. Their boldness increasing, they burned the four villages and their churches; they flung on the ground the rosaries and crosses, and pierced an image of the blessed Virgin eighteen times with javelins—although afterward in Zebu some tried to make amends to her with the most affectionate demonstrations of reverence, and she was placed in our church. Thereupon the chief ordered troops from Zebu, fifty Spaniards and a thousand friendly Indians,3accompanied by a father; and on New Year’s day, 1622, he began the march to the mountains, where the insurgents were. For five days they traveled through rugged hills and deep ravines, crossing marshes where the mud came to their knees, or even to their waists, and shedding their blood on the thorns and briars. On the fifth day, the insurgents killed a friendly Indian; this they celebrated with loud shouts, and it greatly increased their arrogance. On the following day, more than 1,500 rebel Indians attacked our vanguard, which consisted of sixteen Spaniards and three hundred Indians; but when our muskets were fired so many fell dead that the rebels began to retreat to a bamboo thicket. When we followed them, a heavy rain fell, which encouraged the rebels, for they said that our muskets were then useless. But Heaven favored our cause with a marvel, since, although the pans of the musket-locks were full of water, the soldiers declared that the powder never failed to catch fire, nor did the matches go out. Atthis the rebels fled into the mountains; and our men arrived at a village of more than a thousand houses, in the midst of which was the temple of their divata. Our troops found there much food, various jewels of silver and gold, and many bells of the sort those people use—all which was given to our Indians. The rebels were in a fortification of stone, in which they had placed many stones and clods of earth to throw at our men; but the latter, covering themselves with their shields, seized the redoubt, with the death of many of the enemy,4and in a fortnight returned to Loboc. Captain Alcarazo, who was foremost in all these engagements, commanded that some of the rebels be hanged, and published a pardon to the rest; and he returned to Zebu,5where the victory was celebrated. This success had very important results, for it checked the revolt of other islands and other villages—who were expecting the favorable result which the demon had promised them, so that they could shake off the mild yoke of Christ, and with it their vassalage to the Spaniards. Many of them, now undeceived, accepted the pardon; but others, who were stubborn, fortified themselves at the summit of a rugged and lofty hill, difficult of access, and closed the road [to it] with brambles and thorns.6They also filled the paths with very sharp stakes driven into the soil, and placed among the branches of the trees many crossbows,7in order that these, being discharged as our men passed them, might wound the soldiers; and above they provided many stones to throw at the Spaniards, hurling them from the top of the hill. Six months later the same Don Juan Alcarazo returned, to dislodge those rebels with forty Spaniards and many Indians. After suffering great hardships in making the paths accessible, nearly all his men were hurt, by the time they reached the fort, by the many stones which the enemy hurled down from the summit; but our soldiers courageously climbed the ascent, firing their muskets, and killed many of the rebels, putting the rest to flight. Thus was dispersed that sedition, which was one of the most dangerous that had occurred in the islands—not only because the Boholans were the most warlike and valiant of the Indians, but on account of the conspiracy spreading to many other tribes. Noble examples of fidelity in this great disturbance are not lacking. [Murillo Velarde here mentions two instances of this.]The natives of Carigara in the island of Leyte became impatient, and revolted without waiting forthe result in Bohol, incited thereto by Bancao, the ruling chief of Limasava—who in the year 15658received with friendly welcome Miguel Lopez de Legazpi and the Spaniards who came to his island, supplying them with what they needed, for which Phelipe II sent him a royal decree, thanking him for the kind hospitality which he showed to those first Spaniards. He was baptised and, although a young man, showed that he was loyal to the Christians; but, conquered by the enemy [of souls], he changed sides in his old age.9This man lived in the island of Leyte, and with a son of his and another man, Pagali (whom he chose as priest of his idolatry), erected a sacred place to the divata, or devil; and they induced six villages in the island to rebel. In order to remove from them their fear of the Spaniards, these men told their followers that they could change the Spaniards into stones as soon as they saw them, by repeating the wordbato, which signifies “stone;” and that a woman or a child could change them into clay by flinging earth upon them. Father Melchor de Vera went to Zebu to give warning of this sedition and obtain aid to check it. Captain Alcarazo equipped an armada of forty vessels, in which were embarked some Spaniards and many friendly Indians, also the father rector of Zebu and Father Vera; these united with the forces (both Spanish and Indian) that the alcalde of Leyte had. They offered peace to the rebels, but the latter spurned it with contempt. Our men, divided intothree bodies, attacked them; and, when that which Don Juan de Alcarazo commanded came in sight of the rebels, they fled to the hills. Our soldiers followed them, and on the way put to the sword or shot those whom they encountered; and, although the compassion of the Spaniards spared the children and women,10these could not escape the fury of the Indians. Many of the rebels died, the enchantment not availing them by which they had thought to turn the Spaniards into stone or clay; the rest saved themselves by flight. The Spaniards came to a large building which the rebels had erected for their divata; they encamped in it ten days, and then burned it. Some one pierced with a lance Bancao, the chief instigator of the rebellion, not knowing who he was, whom two of his slaves were carrying on their shoulders and immediately his head was placed on a stake as a public warning. He and his children came to a wretched end, as a punishment for their infidelity and apostasy; for his second son was beheaded as a traitor, and a daughter of his was taken captive. To inspire greater terror, the captain gave orders to shoot three or four rebels, and to burn11one of their priests—in order that, by the light of that fire, the blindness in which the divata had kept them deluded might be removed. The Spaniardsalso cut off the head of an Indian who had robbed Father Vinancio [i.e., Vilancio] and broken to pieces an image of the Virgin, and kicked a crucifix; and his head was set up in the same place where he had committed those horrible sacrileges. There were many who, in the midst of so furious a tempest, remained constant in their religious belief. [Several instances of this are related by the author.]Mandayas; 1625[For particulars of this insurrection, see Aduarte’sHistoria, book ii, chaps, xxviii, xxx, in ourVOL. XXXII, pp. 147–152, 162. Cf. Ferrando’s account,Hist. de los PP. Dominicos, ii, pp. 114–117; and ourVOL. XXII, pp. 69, 95.]In Caraga and in Cagayan; 1629[SeeVOL. XXIV, pp. 165, 175, 177, 216, 217, 229; and fuller account of that in Caraga, in Concepción’sHist. de Philipinas, v, pp. 163–179 (in ourVOL. XXXV, pp. 89–91).]In Nueva Segovia; 1639[See Santa Cruz’s account (Hist. Sant. Rosario) in ourVOL. XXXV, pp. 47–51.]Map of the Philippine Islands, drawn by Captain John Kempthorne, ca. 1688; (evidently from earlier map of 1676); photographic facsimileMap of the Philippine Islands, drawn by Captain John Kempthorne,ca.1688; (evidently from earlier map of 1676); photographic facsimile[From original manuscript map in the British Museum]In Pampanga, 1645; and in Bulacán, 1643[The following is taken from Diaz’sConquistas, pp. 483, 484:]This fearful earthquake12was general in all these Filipinas, although it was more severe in some regions than in others—for in the province of Cagayán, in [the land of] one people called Maynanes, a great mountain was cleft open; and the havoc made by itextended as far as Maluco. In the heights of Gapang,13in the province of Pampanga, it was very severe, and lasted several days. Even greater damage might have been done by an uprising that was plotted by an Indian of evil disposition in the villages of Gapang, Santor, Caranglán, and Patabangán, exhorting the natives there to rebel and restore themselves to their former liberty, by slaying the Spaniards and the religious. He assured them that in Manila there were no Spaniards left, because the earth had swallowed them, with the entire city, on the night of the earthquake that occurred on St. Andrew’s day; and that the demon, with whom he had compact and intercourse, had promised him that he would aid the natives so that they might maintain themselves without paying tribute, and might enjoy much prosperity, and provided that they would slay the fathers and burn the churches. The delusion of the Indians of Gapang went so far that they seized arms, and summoned to their aid many heathen Zambals, and burned the churches of Santor and Pantabangán. When this was known in Manila, the encomendero of those villages, Admiral Rodrigo de Mesa, offered his services to pacify them, and went to Gapang with Alférez Callejas, their collectors of tribute, and some friendly Indians; but the insurgents, who now were numerous, badly wounded the encomendero, who fled on horseback, and a year later died from that wound at Manila. They slew Alférez Callejas and many of the loyal Indians who went in his company, and fortified themselves in themountains. The prior and minister, Fray Juan Cabello, escaped by the aid of some other Indians who were not of the hostile party, came to Manila, and gave information of the progress of the rebellion. Opinions differed as to the methods which should be employed in pacifying the insurgents; and our father provincial, Fray Alonso Carbajal, decided to send the father lecturer Fray Juan de Abarca,14a religious for whom the natives of that district had much affection and respect, since he had been their minister for many years. With this commission this religious set out for Pampanga, taking with him a companion, Master-of-camp Don Agustin Songsong, a valiant Pampango, with as many soldiers of that people as seemed necessary. They arrived at Gapang, and by means of father Fray Juan de Abarca’s preaching and his earnest efforts—which would take too long to relate, as would the many perils of death to which he exposed himself—that sedition was finally quelled, and the insurgents returned to their former quiet. But the Indian sorcerer, the cause of this disturbance, did not make his appearance, notwithstanding all the efforts that were made to find him.Another rebellion, which threatened a great outbreak, was checked (in the year 1643) by father Fray Cristobal Enriquez. In the district of Malolos in the province of Bulacán, an Indian named Don Pedro Ladía, a native of Borney, went about promoting sedition; he proclaimed that to him belonged the right of being king over the provinces of Tagalos,alleging that he was a descendant of Raja Matanda,15the petty king whom the Spaniards found at Manila in the year 1571. With these and other impostures, aided by wine—the chief counselor in matters of policy and war, among those natives—and with the consultations with the demon which always figure on these occasions, he kept many villages of that district disquieted. But the sagacious procedure of father Fray Cristobal Enriquez intercepted all these misfortunes which were threatening us, by furnishing a plan for the arrest of Don Pedro Ladía—who already was styling himself “king of the Tagálogs;” he was sent to Manila, where, he paid with his life for his vain presumption. And thus this revolt, lacking even that weak foundation, was entirely quieted.In the Pintados; 1649–50[The best authorities on this insurrection are the Jesuit historians, since it arose in regions under their spiritual charge. We select the earliest account, that of Combés, written while the incidents of that time were fresh in men’s minds; it is found in hisHist. de Mindanao, col. 489–498. Murillo Velarde also relates these events, inHist. de Philipinas, fol. 171b–175. Cf. the Augustinian Diaz, inConquistas, pp. 517–523; and the Recollect Concepción,Hist. de Philipinas, vi, pp. 247–280.]The queen of Joló, Tuambaloca, wrote at the same time, asking permission to come to end her days in the island of Basilan, and all was so secure from war that she remained as arbiter of peace for all the islands of Samboangan; and, as such, even the governorof Manila availed himself of her power16in order to pacify the disturbances in the islands....This occasion made sufficiently evident the greatness of the benefit that the islands owe to the Society for the [treaties of] peace made with these kings—thus finding the royal arms at liberty for more pressing exigencies, and being set free, as regards those kings, from the most painful anxiety lest their forces would be allied with our dangers. With this, attention could be given to the punishment of Burney, a pirate as cruel as impious; and to finding external relief in the domestic losses and evils which had rendered our safety so uncertain. [Our forces were thus ready] in an almost general revolt of all the islands, in the provinces that were most subjugated and had never tested the keenness of our arms; for they had yielded to the echoes of our trumpets, receiving our troops in peace. But in these recent years had been operating in these new worlds the influences of that malign planet which was ruining Europe (and especially our España), with revolts of entire kingdoms, and has caused rivers of blood to run in the populous kingdom of China; and it reached these islands, to wreak on them its fierceness. And God—permitting evil, for the credit of virtue and the reward of the good—gave warlike courage to the most pusillanimous tribes, and armed the nakedness of these Indians to resist the unconquerable steel of our Spaniards.The first region to declare against us was the province of Ibabao, which is in the island of Samar;it is the coast which faces the north, beaten by the sea of Nueva España. There the Society has a new residence, which is occupied by six fathers. All the villages connected with it revolted, following the audacious stand of the chief among them, which is Palapag. This was occasioned by the oppressions arising from our public works—which is a motive that should appeal to them, since they were the ones interested in the defense [of the coasts against their enemies]. But the Indians, as barbarians, do not heed future perils, but rather present fatigues; and to these their slothful nature opposes itself. The losses of galleons made it necessary to maintain in that province a shipyard. This drafted all the carpenters from Manila, and, in order to supply those that were needed on that shore, it was necessary to demand from each province a certain number—a quota of hardly one to each village, and this so equitably that to worldly prudence these allotments seemed advantageous, for which many would eagerly ask. But as the Indians have grown up in their wretchedness and in the life of brutes in their remote mountains, it seems to them that they are maintaining their liberty. They resented greatly this political compulsion to citizenship and the formation of a village, [so that they would live] as men. Those in the provinces that were most civilized and were nearest to Manila had obeyed the decree without opposition, but these [remote] provinces immediately made such demonstrations of displeasure that all of us perceived the difficulty [of enforcing the demand], and several undertook to represent it [to the authorities]. Don Diego de Faxardo was the governor, a man so harsh in his methods, and having so little pious regard forthe [religious] ministers, that their intercessions only made him more cruel, on account of the dogmatic opinion which he followed, that the ministers are the ones who oppose the royal service. Accordingly they all gave up any active opposition, but moderated in a thousand ways the execution [of the decree] (which they saw could not be avoided), sometimes with gifts, sometimes with considerations of utility. The men of Ibabao, trusting in the ruggedness of their coast or the inaccessibility of their mountains, or in the succor which had been positively promised to them by the Dutch—who every year make port on their coasts, awaiting with their armed fleets the relief [sent us] from Nueva España—immediately declared themselves [against us]. At the outset, in their stubbornness and disobedience, until their affairs were settled and their retreat prevented, they talked of fleeing to the mountains. This was their first opinion; but a malicious Indian interfered in the discussion, and told them that they could not accomplish anything by that course, because the village would not be destroyed, nor would the promoters [of the rebellion] have the following that they desired, unless they ordered that all should rebel, and slay the father, and burn the church; for their guilt in such action would intimidate all of them. As their councils were held in the excitement of wine, all readily approved this extravagant proposal. Immediately the demon offered them, for its execution, the evilly-inclined mind of a vile Indian named Sumoroy, who, although he had been much favored by the fathers as being a skilful pilot on the sea, and on this account had always enjoyed immunity from tribute and personal services, and wasactually the castellan of the fortified residence that they had there, yet desired—because they had removed an obstacle17which for many years had kept him at variance with and separated from his lawful wife—to find an opportunity for vengeance. This man offered to kill the father; and, confirming his resolve with many draughts to his success, and loud shouts, they dreamed that they were already masters of the entire world, and had slain all the Spaniards. He had already prejudiced their minds against his enemy, telling each Indian in the village separately that he had been assigned by the father to go to the Manila shore; consequently, no one now repaired to mass or took notice of public affairs. The father rector—who was Father Miguel Ponce Barberan, a native of the kingdom of Aragon—saw plainly the hostile disposition of the people, butnevercould have imagined so insane a resolve; and if any one could most confidently throw aside anxiety it was this father, for he had been, without contradiction, the most beloved and cherished by the natives, of all the fathers who had itinerated there—and, as well, the one who had spent most years in ministering to those people. A Tuesday, then, the first day of June in the year 1649, the traitor selected for his sacrilegious parricide; and, as a thief in the house, who knew its avenues of entrance and egress very well, he took his stand within, awaiting the father at the top of the stairway, when he should ascend it after supper. While the father halted on the stairs to say a prayer for the souls in purgatory—for which, it happened, the bells were ringing—Sumoroy hurled a javelin at him fromabove, which pierced his breast and immediately brought him to the ground; nor did he breathe again, spending his last energy in pronouncing the sweet names of Jesus and Mary.For two days the fathers remained at home in suspense, without understanding the cause of this evil deed, or knowing who was its author; and the rebels themselves delayed to commit sacrileges by breaking with shame and declaring themselves [rebels]. Finally, on the day of Corpus Christi, about noon, the murderer came in sight, leading the multitude, and openly declared that it was he who had slain the father, loudly defying the whole world. They gave the fathers and the brother whom they found in the house the opportunity to leave it, provided that they removed nothing from it; and immediately, as barbarians and enemies of God—forgetting the faith and Christian belief of so many years, in which they had grown up—they sacked and burned the church and house, profaning the ornaments, and cutting from them drawers and turbans according to their old-time usage. If there were any of the faithful [among the crowd], they let themselves be persuaded by the argument of the barbarians for their timidity, that if they remained among the insurgents the anger of the Spaniards would be moderated, and accordingly they followed the perverse ones. The report of this sacrilegious act fanned the flame of infernal zeal itself, and found the minds of the people so ready that, almost as if there had been a general decision and they only awaited the signal for putting it into execution, in almost all the villages on that coast they burned their churches, the ministers fled, and the rebels retreated to themountains, where they fancied they could maintain their former brutal mode of life.In the rest of the provinces—either because they perhaps regarded it as somewhat discreditable that the men of Ibabao should display their valor in order to oppose the Spaniards, and they themselves not do so; or because all of them were (as some desire to be) in communication with the Dutch—they proceeded to follow the example and imitate the boldness of the men of Palapag. Our arms would be found greatly embarrassed if those of the Dutch were to add confidence to the insolence of the Indians; and, at the very least, there would not remain a province which would not be up in arms, and no minister or Spaniard of those who were scattered among them would escape. But God our Lord, who chastised as a father, and chose to correct with clemency the wickedness with which the Spaniards abuse the subject condition of these natives—and as a warning to the latter, to confirm them in the truth of our holy faith and disabuse them of their errors—so adjusted the times that although the Dutch fleets had not failed to come to the islands for ten years past, about that very month [i.e., June], in this year the peace kept them away, and the publication of it arrived here in good time, so that our forces were left free for the punishment [of the rebels].Immediately the province of Camarines, on the mainland of Manila, declared itself against us, and the father guardian [of the Franciscans] was banished from Solsogon; and their lead was followed by their island of Masbate, where an alférez was put to death. This presumptuous act disturbed the peace of Cebú Island; and its natives also, without fearingthe strong fort and the city to near them, also defied us, another officer being slain there. In the province of Caraga, the men of Linao revolted, displaying their evil intentions by the murder of the father prior (a discalced Augustinian), and of the Spaniards in a small garrison which was kept there, some dozen in number; but few escaped, and those were badly wounded. In the province of Iligan, which borders on Caraga, the Manobos, a barbarian tribe, seized the peaceable village of Cagayan. The entire coast [i.e., of northern Mindanao], and the adjacent island of Camigin, followed their example; in Camigin they bound the father prior (also a discalced Augustinian), the impious Indians going so far as to place their brutal feet on the neck of the holy religious. In the jurisdiction of Samboangan, the Subanos went astray—their principal village, named Siocon, releasing itself from obedience with the sacrilegious parricide of Father Juan del Campo, and the atrocious murder of his companions, as we shall afterward relate. The Boholans, on account of their valor, retained their esteem for the faith. Thus, for the punishment of so many atrocious deeds and for quelling the insolence of the barbarians, there remained to us no other arms than those of Samboangan, and no other auxiliaries than those people who had been our friends for so few years.Those of Ibabao aroused the utmost anxiety, their insolence continually calling us to arms; for, not content with atrocities in their own country, they went to disquiet another region. They even disturbed those who dwelt on the opposite coast of Samar, threatening them with ruin if they did not follow the lead of the others. Their attempts began tobe dangerous, since they stirred up the village of Paranas, which is only two leguas from the seat of our jurisdiction there—Catbalogan, where the alcalde-mayor resides; and in fact many fled to the mountains, without regard to the war which menaced them, when the Spaniards were placed under arms, two leguas from their abode. In the other villages [the natives] were in arms, and regarded us all with apprehension. At the outset, the alcalde-mayor was ready with such force as he could assemble—adventurers in the province, mestizos, and Indians; but, as the former were all collectors [of tribute] and the latter all relatives [of the insurgents], some were not accustomed to arms and the hardships of campaigning, and the others could not use weapons against those of their own blood. Accordingly this, instead of checking their fury, only rendered their boldness more insolent, and gave unwonted force to their arms; and men who before did not find enough woods in which to hide themselves from a Camucon ship, now went so far as to make daybreak assaults on our troops, and slew our men before our eyes. And as a final token of their contempt, when the captain demanded from them the head of Sumoroy, by way of atonement for what he had done, they sent down the river to him the head of a swine—although in the end, worn out, they considered it good luck that they could again secure peace.[The authorities] in Manila, seeing that the revolt was continually gathering strength, and that the insolence of the insurgents was passing all bounds, recognized how important it was to repress it, undertaking its chastisement in earnest. For this purpose they despatched General Andres Lopez deAzaldigui (who was chief of the royal galleys of these islands), with the title of lieutenant of the captain-general; and with this authority he levied many Spaniards, being empowered to obtain them from all the fortified posts. He made all the necessary arrangements for the enterprise, but he soon recognized the danger that he incurred among the natives—who all, regarding those of Palapag as restorers of their liberty, were rejoicing over their successes—and that in our reverses we had cause to fear them as enemies, since they were on the watch to know what fortune those of Palapag had in order to follow it if they were sure of the result. A large fleet of native boats was needed for the transportation of provisions and military supplies; but, the greater the number of these that were thus assembled, the more was the danger increased. On this account the general wrote to Manila, demanding galleys; and there, in order to avoid the expense of galleys and the perils of seas so rough, they despatched orders that the armada should come from Zamboangan—for the loyalty of those people against the Bisayans, as against their old-time enemies, could not be doubted. And with the support of these [auxiliaries] effective aid might be rendered by those of the inland provinces, which had been ruled without risk by the Spaniards because they did not go there entirely in the hands of the natives.The armada was despatched as promptly as possible by the commandant [of Zamboanga]. Sargento-mayor Pedro Duran, with two captains in active service—as chief, Captain Juan Muñoz, who was commander of the armada; and as second in command Captain Juan de Ulloa—with the most choiceand distinguished soldiers of the Lutaos. As leader of these, since he was the military chief of that people, was sent General Don Francisco Ugbo (whom I have previously mentioned), with the master-of-camp, sargento-mayor, and captains of the tribe, and as many as four hundred of its men. Father Francisco Martinez had then arrived at Samboangan, to act as rector of the new [Jesuit] college there—of which the official recognition from our father general came in this same year—a religious who deserved well of those Christian churches, for he had sustained them in their earliest infancy, having labored in the arduous beginnings of [the missions in] Joló and Samboangan. By this [departure of the Lutaos] Father Alexandro Lopez found his occupation gone, and was therefore able to embark with the armada, which needed his presence and aid, as it was going for so important an enterprise—on the fortunate result of which, as many thought, depended the fidelity of all the provinces of Pintados. All fortified themselves with the holy sacraments, as solicitously as Christians of very long standing could do; and, as if they were such, on all occasions which arose in the voyage and in the battle itself they made evident, by their reverence for their holy name [of Christians] and appreciation of the danger, how they felt these obligations in their hearts. The sargento-mayor of the tribe (who belonged to its highest nobility) encountered a temptation to his own perdition; but he put it behind him by saying that he was going to war, and could not at that time discuss a matter which would work injury to his soul.Great was the rejoicing which this armada caused in all the towns where it landed, notably in the cityof Cebú, where the Lutaos were known (and most of them, especially those who commanded the joangas, had the reputation of being pirates), at seeing them, now Christians, repair to the churches with so much devotion and attend divine worship with such reverence—those very people who had ravaged the islands with fire, and damaged nearly all the churches of Bisayas with their outrages and robberies; those who yesterday were enemies, but today bearing arms in our aid; and those who yesterday were cruel enemies to God, now the avengers of insults to Him. Tears sprang to [the eyes of] all, and they did not cease to give a thousand thanks to the fathers for their labors, so effectual—not only in the conversion of that Moro people, but for the benefit of these Christian communities, removing their terror and turning their dread and mistrust of the Moro arms into joy and expectation of success.Arriving at Palapag by the month of May [i.e., in 1650], they found that the leader of the campaign was Captain Don Xinés de Roxas; and that it had been much retarded on account of the reputation which the men of Palapag had steadily gained by their daring acts. They had fortified themselves on a height which was regarded as impregnable by nature, as only one path was known by which it could be ascended, and that very narrow and difficult. On this path the enemy had built fortifications, and from loopholes therein they did much damage to our men, without risk [to themselves]; they lost no opportunity to fall suddenly on our troops, and any man who strayed from the rest paid the penalty with his life, so sharply did they note any negligence on our part; and, as masters of the land, they boldly engaged us,secure from being pursued. The captain wearied himself much with various fortifications, and kept the men exhausted; and he engaged in the same fatiguing labor those of the armada, until the sargento-mayor of that tribe, Don Alonso Maconbon, was bold enough to ask him, face to face, why he was wearing out the men in work which was not important.He told the captain that they had not come to haul logs, but to fight in battle, and that he must contrive to employ them in fighting; for, if he did not, they would go back to their homes. At seeing the daring of this man, and the angry words that the soldiers of Samboangan—who, as veterans, were eager to have an opportunity for distinguishing themselves—flung at him, although he resented their lack of respect he was rejoiced to see their courage; and he was encouraged to make the assault, which, with the coxcombs and foppish adventurers from Manila, seemed a dangerous enterprise. And, as those of the armada, it seems, were boasting most of their valor, he assigned them to the brunt of the battle, in order thus to employ their courage in carrying out their own advice.He made ready, then, the infantry of the armada, with the Lutaos, for a day that he set for the assault, which they were obliged to make over a precipitous ascent, exceedingly dangerous—so that they could make their way up it only by giving their weapons and their hands to each other.18At nightfall theyreached the slope, and in the darkness of the night proceeded to ascend it. The enemy had their sentinels, but our Lord easily diverted their attention by sending a heavy shower of rain—which our men regarded as a misfortune, which made the enterprise more difficult and the ascent all the more dangerous. But it was altogether fortunate for the expedition; for the pass was so difficult that the sentinel alone could defend it against a thousand assailants, and the most feeble old man was sufficient for guarding it, especially if the danger [from an attack] were known to the insurgents, who had given all their attention to the troop of the commander Don Xinés. The time while the rain fell was enough to enable all the soldiers to reach the top without danger; and so careful were the men that not one of them had his match extinguished. They halted there, waiting for the daylight; and when the rain gave opportunity to the sentinel he came back, waving a torch in order to light his path. Our men could have slain him; but they let him go, so as not to raise an alarm. Either because he heard their voices, or saw some lighted match, he waited a little while, and then returned to inform the rest of it; and the troops, seeing that they were discovered, marched toward the fortifications. So quickly they reached them that the enemy at once took to flight; our men pursued them with their arms, but the enemy quickly escaped, by dangerous precipices and paths which they know well. But the Spaniards did not choose to divert much of their attention [to the fugitives], rather taking care to occupy promptly their Rochelle;19accordingly, theyerected their fortifications, and occupied them with their artillery, supplies, and weapons. From that place they sent for the commander, Captain Don Xinés de Roxas, who went up to take possession of the gains made by the arduous efforts and daring bravery of the men of Samboangan. In this enterprise Captain Francisco de Leyba, then commander of the Samboangan armada, and Captain Silvestre de Rodas, an old soldier of Terrenate, especially distinguished themselves.The Lutaos dispersed through the place, and, breaking into a house, found the mother of the traitor and parricide Sumoroy; and they dragged her out and tore her to pieces. Sumoroy had been sent down [from their stronghold] the day before, secretly, in a hammock, and all the children and women the rebels had already placed in safety; for, from the day when they saw the Samboangan armada, they felt that their cause was lost, and, lacking confidence in the outcome, they forestalled the danger. Thus was ended this longed-for enterprise, and the war in Ibabao; for the natives, now disarmed and divided, would have no courage left, save for flight, and the hardships of a life so full of fear [as that of fugitives] would oblige them to surrender, one by one—as was actually the case. Accordingly, the armada [and its men] took their departure, leaving the islands thankful for what they had accomplished and edified by their good example. For in the heat of conflict and in dangerous encounters (which is the time when the natural disposition and the inner soul are displayed), those soldiers did not fail to invoke the sweet names of Jesus and Mary, without ceasing or neglecting this in the utmost confusionand ardor of battle, giving pious examples to the Christian soldiery—to the admiration of the natives, [although they were] accustomed to these [pious] observances; since the clamorous efforts [of the soldiers], and solicitude for their danger, disturb the piety of even the oldest veterans.[We append to this the following account from Diaz’sConquistas(pp. 517–523), as being more detailed and furnishing a somewhat different light on various incidents of the insurrection. In order to place it in the present document, as belonging to this special subject, it has been removed from its place in Diaz’s history of his order and its missions (seeVOL. XXXVII, pp. 149–284).]There was an Indian named Sumoroy in the village of Palapag, who was regarded as one of the best, although he was one of the very worst, and was as evil as his father—who, accredited with the same hypocrisy, was a babaylán and priest of the devil, and made the other Indians apostatize. He was greatly addicted to drunkenness, and he had so promoted it [in others] that all the village was contaminated with this vice, as well as that of lust—vices so closely allied to idolatry, of which truth there are many examples in Holy Writ. The inhabitants of Palapag were corrupted by those evil habits at the time when Governor Don Diego Fajardo—with the intention of relieving the near-by provinces of Tagalos and Pampanga from the burden of working, at the harbor of Cavite, in the building of galleons and vessels necessary for the conservation and defense of these islands—had ordered the alcaldes of Leite and other provinces to send men thence toCavite for that employment. That was a difficult undertaking, because of the distance of more than one hundred leguas, and the troubles and wrongs to the said Indians that would result from their leaving their homes for so long a time. The father ministers went to the alcaldes, and the latter to Manila, to represent those troubles and wrongs; but the only thing that they obtained was a more stringent order to execute the mandate without more reply. Consequently they could do nothing else than obey the orders of the superior government, although they feared what very soon occurred. But what good end could so mistaken and pernicious a decision have?As soon as the inhabitants of Palapag saw that the alcaldes-mayor were beginning to collect men to send them to the harbor of Cavite, they began to go oftener to the meetings in the house of Sumoroy and his father, and to begin (when heated with wine, the ordinary counselor of the Indians) to organize their insurrection. They quickly appointed leaders, of whom the chief was Don Juan Ponce, a very influential man and a bad Christian, but married to a wife from a chief’s family in the village of Catubig; she was very different from him in her morals, for she was very virtuous. The second leader was one Don Pedro Caamug, and the third the above-named Sumoroy. Then they discussed the murder of the father minister, Miguel Ponce of the Society of Jesus, an Aragonese,20at the suggestion of that malignantsorcerer and priest of the devil, the father of Sumoroy, who charged that undertaking upon his son. On Tuesday evening, the first of June, 1649, he went to the house of the father, who had just eaten his dinner, and was ascending a narrow ladder to his house. Sumoroy awaited him at that place, and hurling his lance, pierced his breast from side to side, and left him dead, without more time than to say “Jesus, Mary.” They spared the life of Father Julio Aleni,21a Roman, saying that he was not their minister, but was dedicated to China, whence is inferred their motive in killing the [former] father. Next day they despoiled the house and church of its furniture and holy ornaments; profaned the altars and sacred images; scattered the holy oils; and used the silver chrismatories for the ajonjolí oil with which they anoint their hair.It was the will of divine Providence to show forth the devout fidelity of the women amid the infidelityand apostasy of the men; for, the day before that spoliation, Doña Angelina Dinagungan, wife of Don Juan Ponce, accompanied by another good Christian woman, Doña María Malón, went to the church and saved some holy images and ornaments, besides a chest belonging to the father, with the little that it contained, which they afterward surrendered to him. Among the images that that devout woman saved from the sacrilegious hands of the rebels was an image of our Lady of the Conception, which was kept with great propriety in the house of Doña María Malón, and which was often seen to sweat abundantly and to shed tears, a miracle which spread throughout the village. When the perfidious Sumoroy heard of it, he said: “The Virgin Mary is weeping. Let us see if she will weep if we burn the house;” and he went thither, with other men like himself, and set fire to it. But Divine Clemency did not permit the fire to catch in that house, although it was of bamboo and nipa like the others. The husband of Doña María Malón, called Don Gabriel Hongpón, was a head man [cabeza de barangay]; and only he and all his people remained faithful to God and to their king. God gave him courage to resist so many, who always respected him as he was so influential a man in that village of Palapag.The insurgents incited the inhabitants of Catubig, who also revolted. They killed a Spaniard, and burned the church and house of the father minister, after having sacked it. The contagion having spread to other villages, the people did the same at Pambohan, or Bayugo, Catarman, and Bonan; and thence passed to infect the provinces of Ibalón22andCamarines, where they killed a Franciscan religious, the guardian of Sorsogón. They killed Alférez Torres in Masbate. In Caraga, the inhabitants of the village of Tinao revolted and killed their minister, a discalced Augustinian, and a few Spanish soldiers of a small presidio established there, the rest escaping the fury of the insurgents. In Iligán, the village of Cagayán, a mission of our discalced religious, revolted. In the adjacent island of Camiguín, a mission of the same religious, they bound their minister and set their feet on his neck. The Subanos mutinied in the jurisdiction of Zamboanga, in the village called Siocon, where they killed Father Juan del Campo23of the Society of Jesus. The villages of the islands of Cebú and Bohol, who are warlike people, were wavering in their loyalty. But Divine Clemency did not permit them to declare themselves. Thus with the patience and tolerance of the father ministers, who suffered many hardships and found themselves in great danger, those fires—which could have consumed the loyalty of the provinces of these islands—were soon extinguished. The first village to rebel in the island of Leite was Bacor, where the church and house of the father minister were burned, and the people joined the inhabitants of Palapag, leaving the village deserted. The insurgents pretended that two Dutch ships werenear, which were coming to aid them as equals in their rebellion against the Church and the vassalage due to their lawful king; and that pretense greatly aided them in their evil design.As soon as the alcalde-mayor of Leite heard of the insurrection, he collected all the boats and men possible, but these were very fragile means to oppose to so vast a multitude of insurgent and desperate men. Consequently, although they went to Palapag with the said alcalde-mayor, one Captain Don Juan Gómez de tres Palacios y Estrado, they served no other purpose than to make the rebellion worse, and to encourage the enemy. The latter intrenched themselves on an impregnable hill called “the table of Palapag;” and what is the greatest cause for surprise is that a Spaniard called Pedro Zapata, who had married an Indian woman in Palapag (who must have perverted him), went with them. But the insurgents gave him his pay by killing him, in order to take away the woman, a worthy reward for his incredible treason. They made trenches and strong stockades, with many sharp stakes and snares, and many stone boulders suspended, which, by being thrown upon the strongest army, would cause cruel injury. To work greater harm, they gave command of their men to Don Pedro Caamug, who descended the hill with two hundred insurgents and returned to the village of Palapag, where he killed the father minister, Vicente Damián,24and two boys who wereserving him, who in their fear were clinging to the father. They again burned the church, a chamber of nipa and bamboo which Don Gabriel and his faithful followers had erected for the celebration of mass, furnishing this additional bond to their apostasy and rebellion. They returned to their impregnable hill after this, which was in their eyes a great victory, and began to fortify themselves much more strongly than they were, as they feared the war that was expected from Manila.Governor Don Diego Fajardo, seeing that the undertaking of the reduction of the inhabitants of Palapag was an affair requiring much care and consideration, because of the evil effects that would result from any unfavorable event, after holding a council of war determined to entrust this undertaking to the commander of the galleys, Andrés López de Asaldigui (already named on many occasions), as he had all the good qualities which can form a good soldier; for he was very brave and prudent, fortunate in the enterprises that had been entrusted to him, and a prime favorite with the soldiers because of his great liberality. That commander left Manila with the best men whom he could enlist, both Spaniards and Pampangos, and went to Catbalogan, the capital of that province, where he mustered thirteen oared vessels and two champans. His first order was to send some vessels to Panay and Iloilo for food. Well informed of the condition of the rebels of Palapag, he found that he needed more war-supplies for that conquest; for the insurgents had extended their revoltto many villages of the island, and the other neighboring islands were apparently prepared to follow their bold acts, if they were at all fortunate. Therefore Andrés López de Asaldegui sent to ask the governor for the galleys in his charge; but the latter did not send them, in order to avoid the expense that would be caused the royal treasury, which was very needy. But he sent order instead that the fleet of Zamboanga should be at his disposal.[At this juncture, Asaldigui is summoned by the governor to investigate the loss of the galleon “Encarnación,” and “entrusting the Palapag enterprise to Captain Ginés de Rojas—a brave soldier, but one who had little reputation and affection among the soldiers, who regretted that order exceedingly, and would have returned home had they been able. To such an extent does the reputation of the leader further any enterprise.”]Don Ginés de Rojas assembled the thirteen oared vessels and the two champans, in the latter of which he stowed the food. Likewise the fleet of Zamboanga came up with four caracoas and some Spaniards, and four hundred Lutaos; these are Indians of that region who have been recently converted to our holy faith from the errors of the cursed sect of Mahomet, by the efforts and toil of the religious of the Society. Their commandant was their master-of-camp Don Francisco Ugbo, a Lutao, and a brave man; and their sargento-mayor Don Alonso Macobo, of the same nation. The chief commander of that fleet was Captain Juan Muñoz, the admiral was Juan de Ulloa, and the captain was Suárez, who were veteran soldiers. In addition to that succor there came from Cebú Captain Don Francisco de Sandoval and JuanFernández de León, who brought many men from Sialo, Caraga, and other provinces. When all those forces were assembled in Catbalogan, Don Ginés de Rojas divided them into three divisions, two under command of Sandoval and León, and the third in his own charge. He ordered Captain Sandoval to go to his encomienda at Catubig, and thence, with all the men whom he could assemble, to go to reduce the village of Palapag. Captain León was ordered to go with his men through Tubig, Sulat, Borongán, and other villages—first, however, to go to Guigán, to get as many men there as possible. Don Ginés de Rojas chose the villages of Catarmán and Bobor, where his encomienda lay.All things were ready to undertake the conquest of the impregnable hill. Nothing worthy of note happened to Captain Don Francisco de Sandoval, but the Indians of Bacor prepared an ambush against Juan Fernández de León in a very dangerous pass. Juan de León de Paranas had gone out, embarking in the river of Nasán, which is very rapid because of its great current—and among other dangerous places is one more dangerous than all, namely, a fall and cataract which is two spear-lengths in height. Consequently, in order to proceed, one must unlade the boats; and, after raising them with great toil by means of certain very thick and strong rattans, must, after suspending or letting the boat down thus, again lade it. There did the enemy set their ambush for Juan de León, but it was disclosed by a friendly Indian. Our men firing their muskets and arquebuses at that side, the Indians fled with great loss; and our men proceeded to the bar of the river, where they fortified themselves in a stout stockade.Sandoval did the same in Catubig, as did Don Silvestre de Rodas, whom Don Ginés sent as a reënforcement to Sandoval.Those leaders, having arranged matters in this manner, continued to invite and pacify the many Indians who presented themselves. But those who were entrenched on the hill, confident in their fortress and defense, persisted obstinately in their revolt, and tried to get the other villages not to declare in our favor. Don Ginés fortified his post, and ordered each captain to do the same with his, for he had resolved to blockade and capture the natives on the hill by hunger. The natives learned from their spies that Don Ginés had but few men in his quarters, as the rest had gone to get provisions; and, having determined to use so favorable an opportunity, many of them went at night, by the river, near the land. When they thought that our men were very careless and sound asleep, they pulled some stakes out of the fortification of Don Ginés, and entered in a disorderly mob. But the sentinels hearing the noise, sounded the alarm. Don Ginés, awaking, seized his sword and buckler; and, accompanied by those who could follow him so hastily, confronted the enemy, and drove them to flight with great loss—as was judged from the abundance of blood that was seen in the camp in the morning. But it was not without any harm to our men, some of whom were wounded, although no one died. One ball struck Sumoroy on the shoulder, but only one dead man was left in the camp; for our opponents dragged the others away and threw them into the water. Don Ginés did not care to pursue them, fearing some ambush, which would have been easy in that darkness.The soldiers grumbled much at the great caution and prudence of Don Ginés de Rojas, who thought only of strengthening his fortifications, to the great labor of those who now desired to busy themselves with the enemy, and not the trees of the forest. That rose to such a pitch that the sargento-mayor of the Lutaos, Don Francisco Macombo, went to Don Ginés impatiently, and told him that neither he nor his men had come from Zamboanga to cut timber but to fight with the enemies of Palapag. Don Ginés was not displeased to see the willingness of his soldiers to fight, and therefore, in order to employ it, he had the men called to arms, and arranged the attack. He formed two divisions [for attack] from the whole army, and left the third to guard the camp. The assault was made in two parts—one by the open road, although it was better defended by the opponents; and the other by a precipitous path which was passable for the birds alone—for it was a huge steep rock, and so narrow at the place where the camp of the insurgents was established that only a single man could enter an opening made by nature—a place called for that reason by the natives, in their own language, “the eye of a needle.” The men climbed up by that path, using feet and hands without carrying their arms; for these were carried by him who followed, and afterward given to him who was ahead; and so they did one with another. In addition to that, the insurgents had posted a sentinel there to advise them of any new move, for which a few coming to his aid would be sufficient to prevent many from effecting an entrance.Don Ginés entrusted that difficult undertaking to Captain Silvestre de Rodas, a native of Rota, and asoldier of great renown in his time, of whom are recounted incredible exploits performed by him in Ternate. He gave him command of the Lutao soldiers, with their commander Don Francisco Macombo; for himself Don Ginés took the battalion of the soldiers who attacked the hill in front. The vanguard and rearguard were placed in command of Captains Sandoval and Juan Fernández de León. The assault being planned in that form, Don Ginés engaged the enemy with his men, with great valor, to the sound of drums and trumpets, and went up the hill with great difficulty and danger. For the insurgents, cutting the rattans by which the stones and very large trunks of trees were fastened and kept back, would have been able by rolling them down to do great damage to our men, had not divine Providence directed these missiles to places where they could do no damage. Our men went up most of the hill with this obstinacy, and the enemy went out to meet them with so great valor that it seemed rather desperation; and the damage inflicted upon them by our arquebuses did not cool their obstinacy, for they tried to throw themselves on our spears and swords in their anxiety to die while killing [others]. The great advantage of the fortress of the hill increased their courage, as it could have caused great loss to our men to fight in the open and unsheltered. The fight lasted many hours, the enemy often being relieved, for they had many brave and well-armed men on the hill. Don Ginés de Rojas, seeing that the fury of the enemy was invincible (for they were fighting more like lions than like men), and that his men could not proceed with the undertaking, because they had no further strength and were tired,and had many wounded, yielded for the time being, and sounded the retreat, leaving more vigorous experience for another day. The enemy also retired, satisfied at the resistance that they had shown, although much to their cost.Very different was the success of the brave Silvestre de Rodas, with his Lutaos in charge of Don Francisco Ugbo and Don Alonso Macombo, who on the second of July, 1650, made the assault in the most difficult point—which was the eye of the needle in the rock, as we have stated above, through which Silvestre de Rodas was the first to go. He chose the silence of the night, a time when they were least likely to be discovered. Climbing up one by one and without arms, with the labor that was necessary, at the middle of the ascent an obstacle occurred that could have blocked so great an enterprise. That was a very heavy rain, which lasted a great part of the night, and which the men endured without the slightest shelter, but with great vigilance and care that fire for their matches should not be lacking—availing themselves for that purpose of the shields of the Lutaos, which are calledcarazas, and are made of long narrow pieces of wood, with which they cover all the body at the side. The rain ceased and, although they were soaking, they all resumed the ascent of the hill; they reached the entrance of the rock at an opportune time, when the sentinel, quite unsuspicious of such an assault, was absent, as he had gone to get some fire (without the company of which those Indians cannot live), or indeed have a smoke, for they think that that furnishes them with fine company. On that account, Silvestre de Rodas and some of the foremost, who were the most vigorouswere enabled to enter. The sentinel returned with a brand in his hand, and when he was near perceived the bad effect of his carelessness, and believed that our camp was already upon him. He looked in astonishment, and then, hurriedly taking flight, began to cry out and announce that our men had already entered the hill by means of the rock. Not less was the confusion of all, who were quite free from the dread of so unexpected an assault. Confused and lacking in counsel, a panic terror seized them and forced them into disorganized flight, so that Silvestre de Rodas and the Lutaos were allowed to become masters of the field. Unfurling their victorious banners, they took possession of the lodgings, trenches, and food of the enemy. Don Ginés de Rojas ascended the hill with his whole army, and destroyed the insurgent quarters by setting fire to them. Having published a general pardon, those who had been insurgents before, presented themselves in peace.The chief leader Sumoroy and his sorcerer father refused to put in an appearance, or to talk of peace. But the very ones whom he had caused to rebel killed him, and carried his head to Don Ginés de Rojas, although they had been so loyal to him before that when the alcalde-mayor of Leite went at the beginning to reduce them to peace, and asked them as the first condition to deliver to him the head of Sumoroy, they, making light of the request, sent him the head of a swine. But afterward, as a token of their true obedience, they delivered the head, without any one asking for it. Don Juan Ponce remained in hiding in the island of Cebú for a long time, but after having obtained pardon he returned to Palapag;there he committed crimes that were so atrocious that the alcalde-mayor seized him and sent him to Manila, where he paid for those crimes on the scaffold. He who had the best end was Don Pedro Caamug; for he was the first to present himself, and showed great loyalty in the reduction of the others. He continued all his life to be very quiet, and was governor of his village, where he was highly esteemed; and it was proved that he was not the one who had killed Father Vicente with his hands, although he was captain of that band. Moreover, it was found to be advisable to overlook much on that occasion, as the quiet of all the Pintados Islands, who were awaiting the end of the rebels of Palapag, depended on it.[The following additional information is obtained from Concepción’sHist. de Philipinas, vi, pp. 247–280:][p. 254:] From here [i.e., Cebú] leaped more than sparks to the province of Caraga, where there had been some causes for resentment between the alcalde-mayor and the father minister of Tandag. The father had rebuked the alcalde for oppressions inflicted on the Indians, and, perceiving that his exhortations were unheeded, he carried his complaints to the supreme tribunal, where hearing was given to them. The alcalde-mayor was angry at being prodded from Manila, and found means to take his revenge. Governor Faxardo, vigilant in defending the provinces from the Dutch, gave orders to reconnoiter the harbors and fortify the military posts; and, that he might take seasonable precautions, he solicited accurate information [from the officials].The alcalde-mayor, in the anger that he felt, availed himself of this opportunity. He informed the governor that the fort of Tandag was in condition to make a vigorous defense, to which the only hindrance was the church and convent—a very strong edifice, which dominates the castle—and that he considered it very necessary to demolish it. In virtue of this report, it was decided in the military and fiscal councils that those buildings should be demolished, as well as all others that might be on that coast which were of like materials, in order that the Dutch might not find in them means of offense or defense. This order arrived at Tandag, where now there was another governor. Captain Don Juan Garcia did not make it known, and held a council in the fort regarding its execution, and therein was decided the suspension of the order—for, in case that the enemy came, the buildings could be easily torn down and burned, since the walls were weak and the roofs of nipa or straw—until the supreme government should make some other arrangement. Representations were made to that government of the great sorrow that the natives felt at the destruction [of those buildings], from which it was feared that if another church were not built, at a greater distance, the natives would take flight to the mountains. Notwithstanding this second information, the former order for demolition was confirmed. [See account of this measure, and of the revolt of the Indians, and of its being quelled by Spanish troops, inVOL. XXXVI, in Santa Theresa’s narrative. Concepción continues, p. 262:] This father minister25sent a despatch to Manila, communicating this melancholy information;on receiving it, Señor Faxardo immediately sent to Tandag Captain Gregorio Dicastillo with a detachment of Spanish infantry, so that, in conjunction with Bernabe de la Plaza, alcalde-mayor of that province, they might try all measures, even though they might be severe, for reducing the insurgents. They went to Butuan, where they established a military base or headquarters. In order to justify the severity of war, a general amnesty was published. Many Indians came to present themselves, of whom several were hanged; a few of those who came down from the mountains gained their liberty, the rest remaining as slaves. It was a wicked act of those who executed [the governor’s orders] that they shamefully broke the promise made in the name of the king, and in so august a name committed perfidy. Manila and its suburbs were full of slaves. The royal Audiencia made formal inquiry into these illegal acts, and took the residencia of the principal persons concerned in them. One was put to the torture, and confessed; he was sentenced to decapitation. The property of another was confiscated, after two years of imprisonment; and another found himself reduced to extreme poverty. He who was commissioned by the supreme government for the trial of these suits, Licentiate Don Manuel Suarez de Olivera, the military auditor-general, declared in favor of the Indian slaves, setting all of them free. In order that this decree might be effective, those included under its provisions were registered by father Fray Augustin—then secretary of his province, and known by the name of “Padre Capitan” [i.e.,“Father Captain”]—who included in the list many Indians whose names were not contained in the official documents. He presented it to the governor, and asked for a mandatory decree for their liberty, which was promptly issued; and then he went with the notary through all the houses in which the Indians were distributed, enforcing the execution of the decree. This proceeding cost him many fatigues and annoyances; for since those who had paid out their money for the Indians were left without slaves, there was hardly a house where he came where he would not hear opprobrious language. It also caused him great expenses; but his efficient management of the business came out successfully. He collected all the slaves, and furnished them with transportation to carry them back to their homes and their native land. This benefaction rendered it easy for the Indian chiefs of Linao, who had left their village and were fugitives, to return to their due obedience and vassalage....
Gadanes; 1621[An account of this uprising is given by Aduarte in book ii, chap. xvii, of hisHistoria; see ourVOL. XXXII, pp. 113–120.]In Bohol and Leyte; 1622[See account of the Bohol revolt inVOL. XXIV, pp. 116–119; it also spread to Leyte. We present here some further account, obtained from Murillo Velarde’sHist. de Philipinas, fol. 17, 18; Diaz’sConquistas, pp. 132–136. Concepción (inHist. de Philipinas, v, pp. 20–25) adds nothing new.]The majority of the ministers in the island of Bohol1had gone to Zebu, to celebrate the feasts of the beatification of St. Xavier; in their absence Lucifer attempted to possess himself again of those souls. The divata, or demon, appeared to some Indians in the woods—its face covered, like that of one taking the discipline—and commanded them to quit thegospel ministers and the Spanish vassalage, and take refuge in the hills; and to build him a chapel, where he would aid them and give them whatever they needed to pass their lives in happiness and abundance, without the encumbrance of paying tribute to the Spaniards or dues to the churches. Two or three Indians, who on account of their evil deeds were wandering as fugitives, became priests of this divata, in order to persuade the people to apostasy and rebellion; and, to take away the fear which they naturally feel toward the Spaniards, these priests told them that, if they would attack the Spaniards, the divata would cause the mountains to rise against their foe; that the muskets of the latter would not go off, or else the bullets would rebound on those who fired them; that if any Indian should die, the demon would resuscitate him; that the leaves of the trees would be converted intosaranga(which is a large fish); that when they cut bejucos, these would distil wine instead of water; that from the banana-leaves they would make fine linen; and, in short, that all would be pleasure, enjoyment, and delight. With these magnificent promises, so attractive to men—and especially to the Indians, who are so inclined to idleness and sloth—four villages revolted; only Loboc (which is the chief village) and Baclayon remained firm in the faith, and in loyalty to the king.Information of this reached Zebu, and immediately Don Juan de Alcarazo, alcalde-mayor of Zebu, went to quiet the island;2he invited them to makepeace, for which the rebels did not care. Their boldness increasing, they burned the four villages and their churches; they flung on the ground the rosaries and crosses, and pierced an image of the blessed Virgin eighteen times with javelins—although afterward in Zebu some tried to make amends to her with the most affectionate demonstrations of reverence, and she was placed in our church. Thereupon the chief ordered troops from Zebu, fifty Spaniards and a thousand friendly Indians,3accompanied by a father; and on New Year’s day, 1622, he began the march to the mountains, where the insurgents were. For five days they traveled through rugged hills and deep ravines, crossing marshes where the mud came to their knees, or even to their waists, and shedding their blood on the thorns and briars. On the fifth day, the insurgents killed a friendly Indian; this they celebrated with loud shouts, and it greatly increased their arrogance. On the following day, more than 1,500 rebel Indians attacked our vanguard, which consisted of sixteen Spaniards and three hundred Indians; but when our muskets were fired so many fell dead that the rebels began to retreat to a bamboo thicket. When we followed them, a heavy rain fell, which encouraged the rebels, for they said that our muskets were then useless. But Heaven favored our cause with a marvel, since, although the pans of the musket-locks were full of water, the soldiers declared that the powder never failed to catch fire, nor did the matches go out. Atthis the rebels fled into the mountains; and our men arrived at a village of more than a thousand houses, in the midst of which was the temple of their divata. Our troops found there much food, various jewels of silver and gold, and many bells of the sort those people use—all which was given to our Indians. The rebels were in a fortification of stone, in which they had placed many stones and clods of earth to throw at our men; but the latter, covering themselves with their shields, seized the redoubt, with the death of many of the enemy,4and in a fortnight returned to Loboc. Captain Alcarazo, who was foremost in all these engagements, commanded that some of the rebels be hanged, and published a pardon to the rest; and he returned to Zebu,5where the victory was celebrated. This success had very important results, for it checked the revolt of other islands and other villages—who were expecting the favorable result which the demon had promised them, so that they could shake off the mild yoke of Christ, and with it their vassalage to the Spaniards. Many of them, now undeceived, accepted the pardon; but others, who were stubborn, fortified themselves at the summit of a rugged and lofty hill, difficult of access, and closed the road [to it] with brambles and thorns.6They also filled the paths with very sharp stakes driven into the soil, and placed among the branches of the trees many crossbows,7in order that these, being discharged as our men passed them, might wound the soldiers; and above they provided many stones to throw at the Spaniards, hurling them from the top of the hill. Six months later the same Don Juan Alcarazo returned, to dislodge those rebels with forty Spaniards and many Indians. After suffering great hardships in making the paths accessible, nearly all his men were hurt, by the time they reached the fort, by the many stones which the enemy hurled down from the summit; but our soldiers courageously climbed the ascent, firing their muskets, and killed many of the rebels, putting the rest to flight. Thus was dispersed that sedition, which was one of the most dangerous that had occurred in the islands—not only because the Boholans were the most warlike and valiant of the Indians, but on account of the conspiracy spreading to many other tribes. Noble examples of fidelity in this great disturbance are not lacking. [Murillo Velarde here mentions two instances of this.]The natives of Carigara in the island of Leyte became impatient, and revolted without waiting forthe result in Bohol, incited thereto by Bancao, the ruling chief of Limasava—who in the year 15658received with friendly welcome Miguel Lopez de Legazpi and the Spaniards who came to his island, supplying them with what they needed, for which Phelipe II sent him a royal decree, thanking him for the kind hospitality which he showed to those first Spaniards. He was baptised and, although a young man, showed that he was loyal to the Christians; but, conquered by the enemy [of souls], he changed sides in his old age.9This man lived in the island of Leyte, and with a son of his and another man, Pagali (whom he chose as priest of his idolatry), erected a sacred place to the divata, or devil; and they induced six villages in the island to rebel. In order to remove from them their fear of the Spaniards, these men told their followers that they could change the Spaniards into stones as soon as they saw them, by repeating the wordbato, which signifies “stone;” and that a woman or a child could change them into clay by flinging earth upon them. Father Melchor de Vera went to Zebu to give warning of this sedition and obtain aid to check it. Captain Alcarazo equipped an armada of forty vessels, in which were embarked some Spaniards and many friendly Indians, also the father rector of Zebu and Father Vera; these united with the forces (both Spanish and Indian) that the alcalde of Leyte had. They offered peace to the rebels, but the latter spurned it with contempt. Our men, divided intothree bodies, attacked them; and, when that which Don Juan de Alcarazo commanded came in sight of the rebels, they fled to the hills. Our soldiers followed them, and on the way put to the sword or shot those whom they encountered; and, although the compassion of the Spaniards spared the children and women,10these could not escape the fury of the Indians. Many of the rebels died, the enchantment not availing them by which they had thought to turn the Spaniards into stone or clay; the rest saved themselves by flight. The Spaniards came to a large building which the rebels had erected for their divata; they encamped in it ten days, and then burned it. Some one pierced with a lance Bancao, the chief instigator of the rebellion, not knowing who he was, whom two of his slaves were carrying on their shoulders and immediately his head was placed on a stake as a public warning. He and his children came to a wretched end, as a punishment for their infidelity and apostasy; for his second son was beheaded as a traitor, and a daughter of his was taken captive. To inspire greater terror, the captain gave orders to shoot three or four rebels, and to burn11one of their priests—in order that, by the light of that fire, the blindness in which the divata had kept them deluded might be removed. The Spaniardsalso cut off the head of an Indian who had robbed Father Vinancio [i.e., Vilancio] and broken to pieces an image of the Virgin, and kicked a crucifix; and his head was set up in the same place where he had committed those horrible sacrileges. There were many who, in the midst of so furious a tempest, remained constant in their religious belief. [Several instances of this are related by the author.]Mandayas; 1625[For particulars of this insurrection, see Aduarte’sHistoria, book ii, chaps, xxviii, xxx, in ourVOL. XXXII, pp. 147–152, 162. Cf. Ferrando’s account,Hist. de los PP. Dominicos, ii, pp. 114–117; and ourVOL. XXII, pp. 69, 95.]In Caraga and in Cagayan; 1629[SeeVOL. XXIV, pp. 165, 175, 177, 216, 217, 229; and fuller account of that in Caraga, in Concepción’sHist. de Philipinas, v, pp. 163–179 (in ourVOL. XXXV, pp. 89–91).]In Nueva Segovia; 1639[See Santa Cruz’s account (Hist. Sant. Rosario) in ourVOL. XXXV, pp. 47–51.]Map of the Philippine Islands, drawn by Captain John Kempthorne, ca. 1688; (evidently from earlier map of 1676); photographic facsimileMap of the Philippine Islands, drawn by Captain John Kempthorne,ca.1688; (evidently from earlier map of 1676); photographic facsimile[From original manuscript map in the British Museum]In Pampanga, 1645; and in Bulacán, 1643[The following is taken from Diaz’sConquistas, pp. 483, 484:]This fearful earthquake12was general in all these Filipinas, although it was more severe in some regions than in others—for in the province of Cagayán, in [the land of] one people called Maynanes, a great mountain was cleft open; and the havoc made by itextended as far as Maluco. In the heights of Gapang,13in the province of Pampanga, it was very severe, and lasted several days. Even greater damage might have been done by an uprising that was plotted by an Indian of evil disposition in the villages of Gapang, Santor, Caranglán, and Patabangán, exhorting the natives there to rebel and restore themselves to their former liberty, by slaying the Spaniards and the religious. He assured them that in Manila there were no Spaniards left, because the earth had swallowed them, with the entire city, on the night of the earthquake that occurred on St. Andrew’s day; and that the demon, with whom he had compact and intercourse, had promised him that he would aid the natives so that they might maintain themselves without paying tribute, and might enjoy much prosperity, and provided that they would slay the fathers and burn the churches. The delusion of the Indians of Gapang went so far that they seized arms, and summoned to their aid many heathen Zambals, and burned the churches of Santor and Pantabangán. When this was known in Manila, the encomendero of those villages, Admiral Rodrigo de Mesa, offered his services to pacify them, and went to Gapang with Alférez Callejas, their collectors of tribute, and some friendly Indians; but the insurgents, who now were numerous, badly wounded the encomendero, who fled on horseback, and a year later died from that wound at Manila. They slew Alférez Callejas and many of the loyal Indians who went in his company, and fortified themselves in themountains. The prior and minister, Fray Juan Cabello, escaped by the aid of some other Indians who were not of the hostile party, came to Manila, and gave information of the progress of the rebellion. Opinions differed as to the methods which should be employed in pacifying the insurgents; and our father provincial, Fray Alonso Carbajal, decided to send the father lecturer Fray Juan de Abarca,14a religious for whom the natives of that district had much affection and respect, since he had been their minister for many years. With this commission this religious set out for Pampanga, taking with him a companion, Master-of-camp Don Agustin Songsong, a valiant Pampango, with as many soldiers of that people as seemed necessary. They arrived at Gapang, and by means of father Fray Juan de Abarca’s preaching and his earnest efforts—which would take too long to relate, as would the many perils of death to which he exposed himself—that sedition was finally quelled, and the insurgents returned to their former quiet. But the Indian sorcerer, the cause of this disturbance, did not make his appearance, notwithstanding all the efforts that were made to find him.Another rebellion, which threatened a great outbreak, was checked (in the year 1643) by father Fray Cristobal Enriquez. In the district of Malolos in the province of Bulacán, an Indian named Don Pedro Ladía, a native of Borney, went about promoting sedition; he proclaimed that to him belonged the right of being king over the provinces of Tagalos,alleging that he was a descendant of Raja Matanda,15the petty king whom the Spaniards found at Manila in the year 1571. With these and other impostures, aided by wine—the chief counselor in matters of policy and war, among those natives—and with the consultations with the demon which always figure on these occasions, he kept many villages of that district disquieted. But the sagacious procedure of father Fray Cristobal Enriquez intercepted all these misfortunes which were threatening us, by furnishing a plan for the arrest of Don Pedro Ladía—who already was styling himself “king of the Tagálogs;” he was sent to Manila, where, he paid with his life for his vain presumption. And thus this revolt, lacking even that weak foundation, was entirely quieted.In the Pintados; 1649–50[The best authorities on this insurrection are the Jesuit historians, since it arose in regions under their spiritual charge. We select the earliest account, that of Combés, written while the incidents of that time were fresh in men’s minds; it is found in hisHist. de Mindanao, col. 489–498. Murillo Velarde also relates these events, inHist. de Philipinas, fol. 171b–175. Cf. the Augustinian Diaz, inConquistas, pp. 517–523; and the Recollect Concepción,Hist. de Philipinas, vi, pp. 247–280.]The queen of Joló, Tuambaloca, wrote at the same time, asking permission to come to end her days in the island of Basilan, and all was so secure from war that she remained as arbiter of peace for all the islands of Samboangan; and, as such, even the governorof Manila availed himself of her power16in order to pacify the disturbances in the islands....This occasion made sufficiently evident the greatness of the benefit that the islands owe to the Society for the [treaties of] peace made with these kings—thus finding the royal arms at liberty for more pressing exigencies, and being set free, as regards those kings, from the most painful anxiety lest their forces would be allied with our dangers. With this, attention could be given to the punishment of Burney, a pirate as cruel as impious; and to finding external relief in the domestic losses and evils which had rendered our safety so uncertain. [Our forces were thus ready] in an almost general revolt of all the islands, in the provinces that were most subjugated and had never tested the keenness of our arms; for they had yielded to the echoes of our trumpets, receiving our troops in peace. But in these recent years had been operating in these new worlds the influences of that malign planet which was ruining Europe (and especially our España), with revolts of entire kingdoms, and has caused rivers of blood to run in the populous kingdom of China; and it reached these islands, to wreak on them its fierceness. And God—permitting evil, for the credit of virtue and the reward of the good—gave warlike courage to the most pusillanimous tribes, and armed the nakedness of these Indians to resist the unconquerable steel of our Spaniards.The first region to declare against us was the province of Ibabao, which is in the island of Samar;it is the coast which faces the north, beaten by the sea of Nueva España. There the Society has a new residence, which is occupied by six fathers. All the villages connected with it revolted, following the audacious stand of the chief among them, which is Palapag. This was occasioned by the oppressions arising from our public works—which is a motive that should appeal to them, since they were the ones interested in the defense [of the coasts against their enemies]. But the Indians, as barbarians, do not heed future perils, but rather present fatigues; and to these their slothful nature opposes itself. The losses of galleons made it necessary to maintain in that province a shipyard. This drafted all the carpenters from Manila, and, in order to supply those that were needed on that shore, it was necessary to demand from each province a certain number—a quota of hardly one to each village, and this so equitably that to worldly prudence these allotments seemed advantageous, for which many would eagerly ask. But as the Indians have grown up in their wretchedness and in the life of brutes in their remote mountains, it seems to them that they are maintaining their liberty. They resented greatly this political compulsion to citizenship and the formation of a village, [so that they would live] as men. Those in the provinces that were most civilized and were nearest to Manila had obeyed the decree without opposition, but these [remote] provinces immediately made such demonstrations of displeasure that all of us perceived the difficulty [of enforcing the demand], and several undertook to represent it [to the authorities]. Don Diego de Faxardo was the governor, a man so harsh in his methods, and having so little pious regard forthe [religious] ministers, that their intercessions only made him more cruel, on account of the dogmatic opinion which he followed, that the ministers are the ones who oppose the royal service. Accordingly they all gave up any active opposition, but moderated in a thousand ways the execution [of the decree] (which they saw could not be avoided), sometimes with gifts, sometimes with considerations of utility. The men of Ibabao, trusting in the ruggedness of their coast or the inaccessibility of their mountains, or in the succor which had been positively promised to them by the Dutch—who every year make port on their coasts, awaiting with their armed fleets the relief [sent us] from Nueva España—immediately declared themselves [against us]. At the outset, in their stubbornness and disobedience, until their affairs were settled and their retreat prevented, they talked of fleeing to the mountains. This was their first opinion; but a malicious Indian interfered in the discussion, and told them that they could not accomplish anything by that course, because the village would not be destroyed, nor would the promoters [of the rebellion] have the following that they desired, unless they ordered that all should rebel, and slay the father, and burn the church; for their guilt in such action would intimidate all of them. As their councils were held in the excitement of wine, all readily approved this extravagant proposal. Immediately the demon offered them, for its execution, the evilly-inclined mind of a vile Indian named Sumoroy, who, although he had been much favored by the fathers as being a skilful pilot on the sea, and on this account had always enjoyed immunity from tribute and personal services, and wasactually the castellan of the fortified residence that they had there, yet desired—because they had removed an obstacle17which for many years had kept him at variance with and separated from his lawful wife—to find an opportunity for vengeance. This man offered to kill the father; and, confirming his resolve with many draughts to his success, and loud shouts, they dreamed that they were already masters of the entire world, and had slain all the Spaniards. He had already prejudiced their minds against his enemy, telling each Indian in the village separately that he had been assigned by the father to go to the Manila shore; consequently, no one now repaired to mass or took notice of public affairs. The father rector—who was Father Miguel Ponce Barberan, a native of the kingdom of Aragon—saw plainly the hostile disposition of the people, butnevercould have imagined so insane a resolve; and if any one could most confidently throw aside anxiety it was this father, for he had been, without contradiction, the most beloved and cherished by the natives, of all the fathers who had itinerated there—and, as well, the one who had spent most years in ministering to those people. A Tuesday, then, the first day of June in the year 1649, the traitor selected for his sacrilegious parricide; and, as a thief in the house, who knew its avenues of entrance and egress very well, he took his stand within, awaiting the father at the top of the stairway, when he should ascend it after supper. While the father halted on the stairs to say a prayer for the souls in purgatory—for which, it happened, the bells were ringing—Sumoroy hurled a javelin at him fromabove, which pierced his breast and immediately brought him to the ground; nor did he breathe again, spending his last energy in pronouncing the sweet names of Jesus and Mary.For two days the fathers remained at home in suspense, without understanding the cause of this evil deed, or knowing who was its author; and the rebels themselves delayed to commit sacrileges by breaking with shame and declaring themselves [rebels]. Finally, on the day of Corpus Christi, about noon, the murderer came in sight, leading the multitude, and openly declared that it was he who had slain the father, loudly defying the whole world. They gave the fathers and the brother whom they found in the house the opportunity to leave it, provided that they removed nothing from it; and immediately, as barbarians and enemies of God—forgetting the faith and Christian belief of so many years, in which they had grown up—they sacked and burned the church and house, profaning the ornaments, and cutting from them drawers and turbans according to their old-time usage. If there were any of the faithful [among the crowd], they let themselves be persuaded by the argument of the barbarians for their timidity, that if they remained among the insurgents the anger of the Spaniards would be moderated, and accordingly they followed the perverse ones. The report of this sacrilegious act fanned the flame of infernal zeal itself, and found the minds of the people so ready that, almost as if there had been a general decision and they only awaited the signal for putting it into execution, in almost all the villages on that coast they burned their churches, the ministers fled, and the rebels retreated to themountains, where they fancied they could maintain their former brutal mode of life.In the rest of the provinces—either because they perhaps regarded it as somewhat discreditable that the men of Ibabao should display their valor in order to oppose the Spaniards, and they themselves not do so; or because all of them were (as some desire to be) in communication with the Dutch—they proceeded to follow the example and imitate the boldness of the men of Palapag. Our arms would be found greatly embarrassed if those of the Dutch were to add confidence to the insolence of the Indians; and, at the very least, there would not remain a province which would not be up in arms, and no minister or Spaniard of those who were scattered among them would escape. But God our Lord, who chastised as a father, and chose to correct with clemency the wickedness with which the Spaniards abuse the subject condition of these natives—and as a warning to the latter, to confirm them in the truth of our holy faith and disabuse them of their errors—so adjusted the times that although the Dutch fleets had not failed to come to the islands for ten years past, about that very month [i.e., June], in this year the peace kept them away, and the publication of it arrived here in good time, so that our forces were left free for the punishment [of the rebels].Immediately the province of Camarines, on the mainland of Manila, declared itself against us, and the father guardian [of the Franciscans] was banished from Solsogon; and their lead was followed by their island of Masbate, where an alférez was put to death. This presumptuous act disturbed the peace of Cebú Island; and its natives also, without fearingthe strong fort and the city to near them, also defied us, another officer being slain there. In the province of Caraga, the men of Linao revolted, displaying their evil intentions by the murder of the father prior (a discalced Augustinian), and of the Spaniards in a small garrison which was kept there, some dozen in number; but few escaped, and those were badly wounded. In the province of Iligan, which borders on Caraga, the Manobos, a barbarian tribe, seized the peaceable village of Cagayan. The entire coast [i.e., of northern Mindanao], and the adjacent island of Camigin, followed their example; in Camigin they bound the father prior (also a discalced Augustinian), the impious Indians going so far as to place their brutal feet on the neck of the holy religious. In the jurisdiction of Samboangan, the Subanos went astray—their principal village, named Siocon, releasing itself from obedience with the sacrilegious parricide of Father Juan del Campo, and the atrocious murder of his companions, as we shall afterward relate. The Boholans, on account of their valor, retained their esteem for the faith. Thus, for the punishment of so many atrocious deeds and for quelling the insolence of the barbarians, there remained to us no other arms than those of Samboangan, and no other auxiliaries than those people who had been our friends for so few years.Those of Ibabao aroused the utmost anxiety, their insolence continually calling us to arms; for, not content with atrocities in their own country, they went to disquiet another region. They even disturbed those who dwelt on the opposite coast of Samar, threatening them with ruin if they did not follow the lead of the others. Their attempts began tobe dangerous, since they stirred up the village of Paranas, which is only two leguas from the seat of our jurisdiction there—Catbalogan, where the alcalde-mayor resides; and in fact many fled to the mountains, without regard to the war which menaced them, when the Spaniards were placed under arms, two leguas from their abode. In the other villages [the natives] were in arms, and regarded us all with apprehension. At the outset, the alcalde-mayor was ready with such force as he could assemble—adventurers in the province, mestizos, and Indians; but, as the former were all collectors [of tribute] and the latter all relatives [of the insurgents], some were not accustomed to arms and the hardships of campaigning, and the others could not use weapons against those of their own blood. Accordingly this, instead of checking their fury, only rendered their boldness more insolent, and gave unwonted force to their arms; and men who before did not find enough woods in which to hide themselves from a Camucon ship, now went so far as to make daybreak assaults on our troops, and slew our men before our eyes. And as a final token of their contempt, when the captain demanded from them the head of Sumoroy, by way of atonement for what he had done, they sent down the river to him the head of a swine—although in the end, worn out, they considered it good luck that they could again secure peace.[The authorities] in Manila, seeing that the revolt was continually gathering strength, and that the insolence of the insurgents was passing all bounds, recognized how important it was to repress it, undertaking its chastisement in earnest. For this purpose they despatched General Andres Lopez deAzaldigui (who was chief of the royal galleys of these islands), with the title of lieutenant of the captain-general; and with this authority he levied many Spaniards, being empowered to obtain them from all the fortified posts. He made all the necessary arrangements for the enterprise, but he soon recognized the danger that he incurred among the natives—who all, regarding those of Palapag as restorers of their liberty, were rejoicing over their successes—and that in our reverses we had cause to fear them as enemies, since they were on the watch to know what fortune those of Palapag had in order to follow it if they were sure of the result. A large fleet of native boats was needed for the transportation of provisions and military supplies; but, the greater the number of these that were thus assembled, the more was the danger increased. On this account the general wrote to Manila, demanding galleys; and there, in order to avoid the expense of galleys and the perils of seas so rough, they despatched orders that the armada should come from Zamboangan—for the loyalty of those people against the Bisayans, as against their old-time enemies, could not be doubted. And with the support of these [auxiliaries] effective aid might be rendered by those of the inland provinces, which had been ruled without risk by the Spaniards because they did not go there entirely in the hands of the natives.The armada was despatched as promptly as possible by the commandant [of Zamboanga]. Sargento-mayor Pedro Duran, with two captains in active service—as chief, Captain Juan Muñoz, who was commander of the armada; and as second in command Captain Juan de Ulloa—with the most choiceand distinguished soldiers of the Lutaos. As leader of these, since he was the military chief of that people, was sent General Don Francisco Ugbo (whom I have previously mentioned), with the master-of-camp, sargento-mayor, and captains of the tribe, and as many as four hundred of its men. Father Francisco Martinez had then arrived at Samboangan, to act as rector of the new [Jesuit] college there—of which the official recognition from our father general came in this same year—a religious who deserved well of those Christian churches, for he had sustained them in their earliest infancy, having labored in the arduous beginnings of [the missions in] Joló and Samboangan. By this [departure of the Lutaos] Father Alexandro Lopez found his occupation gone, and was therefore able to embark with the armada, which needed his presence and aid, as it was going for so important an enterprise—on the fortunate result of which, as many thought, depended the fidelity of all the provinces of Pintados. All fortified themselves with the holy sacraments, as solicitously as Christians of very long standing could do; and, as if they were such, on all occasions which arose in the voyage and in the battle itself they made evident, by their reverence for their holy name [of Christians] and appreciation of the danger, how they felt these obligations in their hearts. The sargento-mayor of the tribe (who belonged to its highest nobility) encountered a temptation to his own perdition; but he put it behind him by saying that he was going to war, and could not at that time discuss a matter which would work injury to his soul.Great was the rejoicing which this armada caused in all the towns where it landed, notably in the cityof Cebú, where the Lutaos were known (and most of them, especially those who commanded the joangas, had the reputation of being pirates), at seeing them, now Christians, repair to the churches with so much devotion and attend divine worship with such reverence—those very people who had ravaged the islands with fire, and damaged nearly all the churches of Bisayas with their outrages and robberies; those who yesterday were enemies, but today bearing arms in our aid; and those who yesterday were cruel enemies to God, now the avengers of insults to Him. Tears sprang to [the eyes of] all, and they did not cease to give a thousand thanks to the fathers for their labors, so effectual—not only in the conversion of that Moro people, but for the benefit of these Christian communities, removing their terror and turning their dread and mistrust of the Moro arms into joy and expectation of success.Arriving at Palapag by the month of May [i.e., in 1650], they found that the leader of the campaign was Captain Don Xinés de Roxas; and that it had been much retarded on account of the reputation which the men of Palapag had steadily gained by their daring acts. They had fortified themselves on a height which was regarded as impregnable by nature, as only one path was known by which it could be ascended, and that very narrow and difficult. On this path the enemy had built fortifications, and from loopholes therein they did much damage to our men, without risk [to themselves]; they lost no opportunity to fall suddenly on our troops, and any man who strayed from the rest paid the penalty with his life, so sharply did they note any negligence on our part; and, as masters of the land, they boldly engaged us,secure from being pursued. The captain wearied himself much with various fortifications, and kept the men exhausted; and he engaged in the same fatiguing labor those of the armada, until the sargento-mayor of that tribe, Don Alonso Maconbon, was bold enough to ask him, face to face, why he was wearing out the men in work which was not important.He told the captain that they had not come to haul logs, but to fight in battle, and that he must contrive to employ them in fighting; for, if he did not, they would go back to their homes. At seeing the daring of this man, and the angry words that the soldiers of Samboangan—who, as veterans, were eager to have an opportunity for distinguishing themselves—flung at him, although he resented their lack of respect he was rejoiced to see their courage; and he was encouraged to make the assault, which, with the coxcombs and foppish adventurers from Manila, seemed a dangerous enterprise. And, as those of the armada, it seems, were boasting most of their valor, he assigned them to the brunt of the battle, in order thus to employ their courage in carrying out their own advice.He made ready, then, the infantry of the armada, with the Lutaos, for a day that he set for the assault, which they were obliged to make over a precipitous ascent, exceedingly dangerous—so that they could make their way up it only by giving their weapons and their hands to each other.18At nightfall theyreached the slope, and in the darkness of the night proceeded to ascend it. The enemy had their sentinels, but our Lord easily diverted their attention by sending a heavy shower of rain—which our men regarded as a misfortune, which made the enterprise more difficult and the ascent all the more dangerous. But it was altogether fortunate for the expedition; for the pass was so difficult that the sentinel alone could defend it against a thousand assailants, and the most feeble old man was sufficient for guarding it, especially if the danger [from an attack] were known to the insurgents, who had given all their attention to the troop of the commander Don Xinés. The time while the rain fell was enough to enable all the soldiers to reach the top without danger; and so careful were the men that not one of them had his match extinguished. They halted there, waiting for the daylight; and when the rain gave opportunity to the sentinel he came back, waving a torch in order to light his path. Our men could have slain him; but they let him go, so as not to raise an alarm. Either because he heard their voices, or saw some lighted match, he waited a little while, and then returned to inform the rest of it; and the troops, seeing that they were discovered, marched toward the fortifications. So quickly they reached them that the enemy at once took to flight; our men pursued them with their arms, but the enemy quickly escaped, by dangerous precipices and paths which they know well. But the Spaniards did not choose to divert much of their attention [to the fugitives], rather taking care to occupy promptly their Rochelle;19accordingly, theyerected their fortifications, and occupied them with their artillery, supplies, and weapons. From that place they sent for the commander, Captain Don Xinés de Roxas, who went up to take possession of the gains made by the arduous efforts and daring bravery of the men of Samboangan. In this enterprise Captain Francisco de Leyba, then commander of the Samboangan armada, and Captain Silvestre de Rodas, an old soldier of Terrenate, especially distinguished themselves.The Lutaos dispersed through the place, and, breaking into a house, found the mother of the traitor and parricide Sumoroy; and they dragged her out and tore her to pieces. Sumoroy had been sent down [from their stronghold] the day before, secretly, in a hammock, and all the children and women the rebels had already placed in safety; for, from the day when they saw the Samboangan armada, they felt that their cause was lost, and, lacking confidence in the outcome, they forestalled the danger. Thus was ended this longed-for enterprise, and the war in Ibabao; for the natives, now disarmed and divided, would have no courage left, save for flight, and the hardships of a life so full of fear [as that of fugitives] would oblige them to surrender, one by one—as was actually the case. Accordingly, the armada [and its men] took their departure, leaving the islands thankful for what they had accomplished and edified by their good example. For in the heat of conflict and in dangerous encounters (which is the time when the natural disposition and the inner soul are displayed), those soldiers did not fail to invoke the sweet names of Jesus and Mary, without ceasing or neglecting this in the utmost confusionand ardor of battle, giving pious examples to the Christian soldiery—to the admiration of the natives, [although they were] accustomed to these [pious] observances; since the clamorous efforts [of the soldiers], and solicitude for their danger, disturb the piety of even the oldest veterans.[We append to this the following account from Diaz’sConquistas(pp. 517–523), as being more detailed and furnishing a somewhat different light on various incidents of the insurrection. In order to place it in the present document, as belonging to this special subject, it has been removed from its place in Diaz’s history of his order and its missions (seeVOL. XXXVII, pp. 149–284).]There was an Indian named Sumoroy in the village of Palapag, who was regarded as one of the best, although he was one of the very worst, and was as evil as his father—who, accredited with the same hypocrisy, was a babaylán and priest of the devil, and made the other Indians apostatize. He was greatly addicted to drunkenness, and he had so promoted it [in others] that all the village was contaminated with this vice, as well as that of lust—vices so closely allied to idolatry, of which truth there are many examples in Holy Writ. The inhabitants of Palapag were corrupted by those evil habits at the time when Governor Don Diego Fajardo—with the intention of relieving the near-by provinces of Tagalos and Pampanga from the burden of working, at the harbor of Cavite, in the building of galleons and vessels necessary for the conservation and defense of these islands—had ordered the alcaldes of Leite and other provinces to send men thence toCavite for that employment. That was a difficult undertaking, because of the distance of more than one hundred leguas, and the troubles and wrongs to the said Indians that would result from their leaving their homes for so long a time. The father ministers went to the alcaldes, and the latter to Manila, to represent those troubles and wrongs; but the only thing that they obtained was a more stringent order to execute the mandate without more reply. Consequently they could do nothing else than obey the orders of the superior government, although they feared what very soon occurred. But what good end could so mistaken and pernicious a decision have?As soon as the inhabitants of Palapag saw that the alcaldes-mayor were beginning to collect men to send them to the harbor of Cavite, they began to go oftener to the meetings in the house of Sumoroy and his father, and to begin (when heated with wine, the ordinary counselor of the Indians) to organize their insurrection. They quickly appointed leaders, of whom the chief was Don Juan Ponce, a very influential man and a bad Christian, but married to a wife from a chief’s family in the village of Catubig; she was very different from him in her morals, for she was very virtuous. The second leader was one Don Pedro Caamug, and the third the above-named Sumoroy. Then they discussed the murder of the father minister, Miguel Ponce of the Society of Jesus, an Aragonese,20at the suggestion of that malignantsorcerer and priest of the devil, the father of Sumoroy, who charged that undertaking upon his son. On Tuesday evening, the first of June, 1649, he went to the house of the father, who had just eaten his dinner, and was ascending a narrow ladder to his house. Sumoroy awaited him at that place, and hurling his lance, pierced his breast from side to side, and left him dead, without more time than to say “Jesus, Mary.” They spared the life of Father Julio Aleni,21a Roman, saying that he was not their minister, but was dedicated to China, whence is inferred their motive in killing the [former] father. Next day they despoiled the house and church of its furniture and holy ornaments; profaned the altars and sacred images; scattered the holy oils; and used the silver chrismatories for the ajonjolí oil with which they anoint their hair.It was the will of divine Providence to show forth the devout fidelity of the women amid the infidelityand apostasy of the men; for, the day before that spoliation, Doña Angelina Dinagungan, wife of Don Juan Ponce, accompanied by another good Christian woman, Doña María Malón, went to the church and saved some holy images and ornaments, besides a chest belonging to the father, with the little that it contained, which they afterward surrendered to him. Among the images that that devout woman saved from the sacrilegious hands of the rebels was an image of our Lady of the Conception, which was kept with great propriety in the house of Doña María Malón, and which was often seen to sweat abundantly and to shed tears, a miracle which spread throughout the village. When the perfidious Sumoroy heard of it, he said: “The Virgin Mary is weeping. Let us see if she will weep if we burn the house;” and he went thither, with other men like himself, and set fire to it. But Divine Clemency did not permit the fire to catch in that house, although it was of bamboo and nipa like the others. The husband of Doña María Malón, called Don Gabriel Hongpón, was a head man [cabeza de barangay]; and only he and all his people remained faithful to God and to their king. God gave him courage to resist so many, who always respected him as he was so influential a man in that village of Palapag.The insurgents incited the inhabitants of Catubig, who also revolted. They killed a Spaniard, and burned the church and house of the father minister, after having sacked it. The contagion having spread to other villages, the people did the same at Pambohan, or Bayugo, Catarman, and Bonan; and thence passed to infect the provinces of Ibalón22andCamarines, where they killed a Franciscan religious, the guardian of Sorsogón. They killed Alférez Torres in Masbate. In Caraga, the inhabitants of the village of Tinao revolted and killed their minister, a discalced Augustinian, and a few Spanish soldiers of a small presidio established there, the rest escaping the fury of the insurgents. In Iligán, the village of Cagayán, a mission of our discalced religious, revolted. In the adjacent island of Camiguín, a mission of the same religious, they bound their minister and set their feet on his neck. The Subanos mutinied in the jurisdiction of Zamboanga, in the village called Siocon, where they killed Father Juan del Campo23of the Society of Jesus. The villages of the islands of Cebú and Bohol, who are warlike people, were wavering in their loyalty. But Divine Clemency did not permit them to declare themselves. Thus with the patience and tolerance of the father ministers, who suffered many hardships and found themselves in great danger, those fires—which could have consumed the loyalty of the provinces of these islands—were soon extinguished. The first village to rebel in the island of Leite was Bacor, where the church and house of the father minister were burned, and the people joined the inhabitants of Palapag, leaving the village deserted. The insurgents pretended that two Dutch ships werenear, which were coming to aid them as equals in their rebellion against the Church and the vassalage due to their lawful king; and that pretense greatly aided them in their evil design.As soon as the alcalde-mayor of Leite heard of the insurrection, he collected all the boats and men possible, but these were very fragile means to oppose to so vast a multitude of insurgent and desperate men. Consequently, although they went to Palapag with the said alcalde-mayor, one Captain Don Juan Gómez de tres Palacios y Estrado, they served no other purpose than to make the rebellion worse, and to encourage the enemy. The latter intrenched themselves on an impregnable hill called “the table of Palapag;” and what is the greatest cause for surprise is that a Spaniard called Pedro Zapata, who had married an Indian woman in Palapag (who must have perverted him), went with them. But the insurgents gave him his pay by killing him, in order to take away the woman, a worthy reward for his incredible treason. They made trenches and strong stockades, with many sharp stakes and snares, and many stone boulders suspended, which, by being thrown upon the strongest army, would cause cruel injury. To work greater harm, they gave command of their men to Don Pedro Caamug, who descended the hill with two hundred insurgents and returned to the village of Palapag, where he killed the father minister, Vicente Damián,24and two boys who wereserving him, who in their fear were clinging to the father. They again burned the church, a chamber of nipa and bamboo which Don Gabriel and his faithful followers had erected for the celebration of mass, furnishing this additional bond to their apostasy and rebellion. They returned to their impregnable hill after this, which was in their eyes a great victory, and began to fortify themselves much more strongly than they were, as they feared the war that was expected from Manila.Governor Don Diego Fajardo, seeing that the undertaking of the reduction of the inhabitants of Palapag was an affair requiring much care and consideration, because of the evil effects that would result from any unfavorable event, after holding a council of war determined to entrust this undertaking to the commander of the galleys, Andrés López de Asaldigui (already named on many occasions), as he had all the good qualities which can form a good soldier; for he was very brave and prudent, fortunate in the enterprises that had been entrusted to him, and a prime favorite with the soldiers because of his great liberality. That commander left Manila with the best men whom he could enlist, both Spaniards and Pampangos, and went to Catbalogan, the capital of that province, where he mustered thirteen oared vessels and two champans. His first order was to send some vessels to Panay and Iloilo for food. Well informed of the condition of the rebels of Palapag, he found that he needed more war-supplies for that conquest; for the insurgents had extended their revoltto many villages of the island, and the other neighboring islands were apparently prepared to follow their bold acts, if they were at all fortunate. Therefore Andrés López de Asaldegui sent to ask the governor for the galleys in his charge; but the latter did not send them, in order to avoid the expense that would be caused the royal treasury, which was very needy. But he sent order instead that the fleet of Zamboanga should be at his disposal.[At this juncture, Asaldigui is summoned by the governor to investigate the loss of the galleon “Encarnación,” and “entrusting the Palapag enterprise to Captain Ginés de Rojas—a brave soldier, but one who had little reputation and affection among the soldiers, who regretted that order exceedingly, and would have returned home had they been able. To such an extent does the reputation of the leader further any enterprise.”]Don Ginés de Rojas assembled the thirteen oared vessels and the two champans, in the latter of which he stowed the food. Likewise the fleet of Zamboanga came up with four caracoas and some Spaniards, and four hundred Lutaos; these are Indians of that region who have been recently converted to our holy faith from the errors of the cursed sect of Mahomet, by the efforts and toil of the religious of the Society. Their commandant was their master-of-camp Don Francisco Ugbo, a Lutao, and a brave man; and their sargento-mayor Don Alonso Macobo, of the same nation. The chief commander of that fleet was Captain Juan Muñoz, the admiral was Juan de Ulloa, and the captain was Suárez, who were veteran soldiers. In addition to that succor there came from Cebú Captain Don Francisco de Sandoval and JuanFernández de León, who brought many men from Sialo, Caraga, and other provinces. When all those forces were assembled in Catbalogan, Don Ginés de Rojas divided them into three divisions, two under command of Sandoval and León, and the third in his own charge. He ordered Captain Sandoval to go to his encomienda at Catubig, and thence, with all the men whom he could assemble, to go to reduce the village of Palapag. Captain León was ordered to go with his men through Tubig, Sulat, Borongán, and other villages—first, however, to go to Guigán, to get as many men there as possible. Don Ginés de Rojas chose the villages of Catarmán and Bobor, where his encomienda lay.All things were ready to undertake the conquest of the impregnable hill. Nothing worthy of note happened to Captain Don Francisco de Sandoval, but the Indians of Bacor prepared an ambush against Juan Fernández de León in a very dangerous pass. Juan de León de Paranas had gone out, embarking in the river of Nasán, which is very rapid because of its great current—and among other dangerous places is one more dangerous than all, namely, a fall and cataract which is two spear-lengths in height. Consequently, in order to proceed, one must unlade the boats; and, after raising them with great toil by means of certain very thick and strong rattans, must, after suspending or letting the boat down thus, again lade it. There did the enemy set their ambush for Juan de León, but it was disclosed by a friendly Indian. Our men firing their muskets and arquebuses at that side, the Indians fled with great loss; and our men proceeded to the bar of the river, where they fortified themselves in a stout stockade.Sandoval did the same in Catubig, as did Don Silvestre de Rodas, whom Don Ginés sent as a reënforcement to Sandoval.Those leaders, having arranged matters in this manner, continued to invite and pacify the many Indians who presented themselves. But those who were entrenched on the hill, confident in their fortress and defense, persisted obstinately in their revolt, and tried to get the other villages not to declare in our favor. Don Ginés fortified his post, and ordered each captain to do the same with his, for he had resolved to blockade and capture the natives on the hill by hunger. The natives learned from their spies that Don Ginés had but few men in his quarters, as the rest had gone to get provisions; and, having determined to use so favorable an opportunity, many of them went at night, by the river, near the land. When they thought that our men were very careless and sound asleep, they pulled some stakes out of the fortification of Don Ginés, and entered in a disorderly mob. But the sentinels hearing the noise, sounded the alarm. Don Ginés, awaking, seized his sword and buckler; and, accompanied by those who could follow him so hastily, confronted the enemy, and drove them to flight with great loss—as was judged from the abundance of blood that was seen in the camp in the morning. But it was not without any harm to our men, some of whom were wounded, although no one died. One ball struck Sumoroy on the shoulder, but only one dead man was left in the camp; for our opponents dragged the others away and threw them into the water. Don Ginés did not care to pursue them, fearing some ambush, which would have been easy in that darkness.The soldiers grumbled much at the great caution and prudence of Don Ginés de Rojas, who thought only of strengthening his fortifications, to the great labor of those who now desired to busy themselves with the enemy, and not the trees of the forest. That rose to such a pitch that the sargento-mayor of the Lutaos, Don Francisco Macombo, went to Don Ginés impatiently, and told him that neither he nor his men had come from Zamboanga to cut timber but to fight with the enemies of Palapag. Don Ginés was not displeased to see the willingness of his soldiers to fight, and therefore, in order to employ it, he had the men called to arms, and arranged the attack. He formed two divisions [for attack] from the whole army, and left the third to guard the camp. The assault was made in two parts—one by the open road, although it was better defended by the opponents; and the other by a precipitous path which was passable for the birds alone—for it was a huge steep rock, and so narrow at the place where the camp of the insurgents was established that only a single man could enter an opening made by nature—a place called for that reason by the natives, in their own language, “the eye of a needle.” The men climbed up by that path, using feet and hands without carrying their arms; for these were carried by him who followed, and afterward given to him who was ahead; and so they did one with another. In addition to that, the insurgents had posted a sentinel there to advise them of any new move, for which a few coming to his aid would be sufficient to prevent many from effecting an entrance.Don Ginés entrusted that difficult undertaking to Captain Silvestre de Rodas, a native of Rota, and asoldier of great renown in his time, of whom are recounted incredible exploits performed by him in Ternate. He gave him command of the Lutao soldiers, with their commander Don Francisco Macombo; for himself Don Ginés took the battalion of the soldiers who attacked the hill in front. The vanguard and rearguard were placed in command of Captains Sandoval and Juan Fernández de León. The assault being planned in that form, Don Ginés engaged the enemy with his men, with great valor, to the sound of drums and trumpets, and went up the hill with great difficulty and danger. For the insurgents, cutting the rattans by which the stones and very large trunks of trees were fastened and kept back, would have been able by rolling them down to do great damage to our men, had not divine Providence directed these missiles to places where they could do no damage. Our men went up most of the hill with this obstinacy, and the enemy went out to meet them with so great valor that it seemed rather desperation; and the damage inflicted upon them by our arquebuses did not cool their obstinacy, for they tried to throw themselves on our spears and swords in their anxiety to die while killing [others]. The great advantage of the fortress of the hill increased their courage, as it could have caused great loss to our men to fight in the open and unsheltered. The fight lasted many hours, the enemy often being relieved, for they had many brave and well-armed men on the hill. Don Ginés de Rojas, seeing that the fury of the enemy was invincible (for they were fighting more like lions than like men), and that his men could not proceed with the undertaking, because they had no further strength and were tired,and had many wounded, yielded for the time being, and sounded the retreat, leaving more vigorous experience for another day. The enemy also retired, satisfied at the resistance that they had shown, although much to their cost.Very different was the success of the brave Silvestre de Rodas, with his Lutaos in charge of Don Francisco Ugbo and Don Alonso Macombo, who on the second of July, 1650, made the assault in the most difficult point—which was the eye of the needle in the rock, as we have stated above, through which Silvestre de Rodas was the first to go. He chose the silence of the night, a time when they were least likely to be discovered. Climbing up one by one and without arms, with the labor that was necessary, at the middle of the ascent an obstacle occurred that could have blocked so great an enterprise. That was a very heavy rain, which lasted a great part of the night, and which the men endured without the slightest shelter, but with great vigilance and care that fire for their matches should not be lacking—availing themselves for that purpose of the shields of the Lutaos, which are calledcarazas, and are made of long narrow pieces of wood, with which they cover all the body at the side. The rain ceased and, although they were soaking, they all resumed the ascent of the hill; they reached the entrance of the rock at an opportune time, when the sentinel, quite unsuspicious of such an assault, was absent, as he had gone to get some fire (without the company of which those Indians cannot live), or indeed have a smoke, for they think that that furnishes them with fine company. On that account, Silvestre de Rodas and some of the foremost, who were the most vigorouswere enabled to enter. The sentinel returned with a brand in his hand, and when he was near perceived the bad effect of his carelessness, and believed that our camp was already upon him. He looked in astonishment, and then, hurriedly taking flight, began to cry out and announce that our men had already entered the hill by means of the rock. Not less was the confusion of all, who were quite free from the dread of so unexpected an assault. Confused and lacking in counsel, a panic terror seized them and forced them into disorganized flight, so that Silvestre de Rodas and the Lutaos were allowed to become masters of the field. Unfurling their victorious banners, they took possession of the lodgings, trenches, and food of the enemy. Don Ginés de Rojas ascended the hill with his whole army, and destroyed the insurgent quarters by setting fire to them. Having published a general pardon, those who had been insurgents before, presented themselves in peace.The chief leader Sumoroy and his sorcerer father refused to put in an appearance, or to talk of peace. But the very ones whom he had caused to rebel killed him, and carried his head to Don Ginés de Rojas, although they had been so loyal to him before that when the alcalde-mayor of Leite went at the beginning to reduce them to peace, and asked them as the first condition to deliver to him the head of Sumoroy, they, making light of the request, sent him the head of a swine. But afterward, as a token of their true obedience, they delivered the head, without any one asking for it. Don Juan Ponce remained in hiding in the island of Cebú for a long time, but after having obtained pardon he returned to Palapag;there he committed crimes that were so atrocious that the alcalde-mayor seized him and sent him to Manila, where he paid for those crimes on the scaffold. He who had the best end was Don Pedro Caamug; for he was the first to present himself, and showed great loyalty in the reduction of the others. He continued all his life to be very quiet, and was governor of his village, where he was highly esteemed; and it was proved that he was not the one who had killed Father Vicente with his hands, although he was captain of that band. Moreover, it was found to be advisable to overlook much on that occasion, as the quiet of all the Pintados Islands, who were awaiting the end of the rebels of Palapag, depended on it.[The following additional information is obtained from Concepción’sHist. de Philipinas, vi, pp. 247–280:][p. 254:] From here [i.e., Cebú] leaped more than sparks to the province of Caraga, where there had been some causes for resentment between the alcalde-mayor and the father minister of Tandag. The father had rebuked the alcalde for oppressions inflicted on the Indians, and, perceiving that his exhortations were unheeded, he carried his complaints to the supreme tribunal, where hearing was given to them. The alcalde-mayor was angry at being prodded from Manila, and found means to take his revenge. Governor Faxardo, vigilant in defending the provinces from the Dutch, gave orders to reconnoiter the harbors and fortify the military posts; and, that he might take seasonable precautions, he solicited accurate information [from the officials].The alcalde-mayor, in the anger that he felt, availed himself of this opportunity. He informed the governor that the fort of Tandag was in condition to make a vigorous defense, to which the only hindrance was the church and convent—a very strong edifice, which dominates the castle—and that he considered it very necessary to demolish it. In virtue of this report, it was decided in the military and fiscal councils that those buildings should be demolished, as well as all others that might be on that coast which were of like materials, in order that the Dutch might not find in them means of offense or defense. This order arrived at Tandag, where now there was another governor. Captain Don Juan Garcia did not make it known, and held a council in the fort regarding its execution, and therein was decided the suspension of the order—for, in case that the enemy came, the buildings could be easily torn down and burned, since the walls were weak and the roofs of nipa or straw—until the supreme government should make some other arrangement. Representations were made to that government of the great sorrow that the natives felt at the destruction [of those buildings], from which it was feared that if another church were not built, at a greater distance, the natives would take flight to the mountains. Notwithstanding this second information, the former order for demolition was confirmed. [See account of this measure, and of the revolt of the Indians, and of its being quelled by Spanish troops, inVOL. XXXVI, in Santa Theresa’s narrative. Concepción continues, p. 262:] This father minister25sent a despatch to Manila, communicating this melancholy information;on receiving it, Señor Faxardo immediately sent to Tandag Captain Gregorio Dicastillo with a detachment of Spanish infantry, so that, in conjunction with Bernabe de la Plaza, alcalde-mayor of that province, they might try all measures, even though they might be severe, for reducing the insurgents. They went to Butuan, where they established a military base or headquarters. In order to justify the severity of war, a general amnesty was published. Many Indians came to present themselves, of whom several were hanged; a few of those who came down from the mountains gained their liberty, the rest remaining as slaves. It was a wicked act of those who executed [the governor’s orders] that they shamefully broke the promise made in the name of the king, and in so august a name committed perfidy. Manila and its suburbs were full of slaves. The royal Audiencia made formal inquiry into these illegal acts, and took the residencia of the principal persons concerned in them. One was put to the torture, and confessed; he was sentenced to decapitation. The property of another was confiscated, after two years of imprisonment; and another found himself reduced to extreme poverty. He who was commissioned by the supreme government for the trial of these suits, Licentiate Don Manuel Suarez de Olivera, the military auditor-general, declared in favor of the Indian slaves, setting all of them free. In order that this decree might be effective, those included under its provisions were registered by father Fray Augustin—then secretary of his province, and known by the name of “Padre Capitan” [i.e.,“Father Captain”]—who included in the list many Indians whose names were not contained in the official documents. He presented it to the governor, and asked for a mandatory decree for their liberty, which was promptly issued; and then he went with the notary through all the houses in which the Indians were distributed, enforcing the execution of the decree. This proceeding cost him many fatigues and annoyances; for since those who had paid out their money for the Indians were left without slaves, there was hardly a house where he came where he would not hear opprobrious language. It also caused him great expenses; but his efficient management of the business came out successfully. He collected all the slaves, and furnished them with transportation to carry them back to their homes and their native land. This benefaction rendered it easy for the Indian chiefs of Linao, who had left their village and were fugitives, to return to their due obedience and vassalage....
Gadanes; 1621[An account of this uprising is given by Aduarte in book ii, chap. xvii, of hisHistoria; see ourVOL. XXXII, pp. 113–120.]In Bohol and Leyte; 1622[See account of the Bohol revolt inVOL. XXIV, pp. 116–119; it also spread to Leyte. We present here some further account, obtained from Murillo Velarde’sHist. de Philipinas, fol. 17, 18; Diaz’sConquistas, pp. 132–136. Concepción (inHist. de Philipinas, v, pp. 20–25) adds nothing new.]The majority of the ministers in the island of Bohol1had gone to Zebu, to celebrate the feasts of the beatification of St. Xavier; in their absence Lucifer attempted to possess himself again of those souls. The divata, or demon, appeared to some Indians in the woods—its face covered, like that of one taking the discipline—and commanded them to quit thegospel ministers and the Spanish vassalage, and take refuge in the hills; and to build him a chapel, where he would aid them and give them whatever they needed to pass their lives in happiness and abundance, without the encumbrance of paying tribute to the Spaniards or dues to the churches. Two or three Indians, who on account of their evil deeds were wandering as fugitives, became priests of this divata, in order to persuade the people to apostasy and rebellion; and, to take away the fear which they naturally feel toward the Spaniards, these priests told them that, if they would attack the Spaniards, the divata would cause the mountains to rise against their foe; that the muskets of the latter would not go off, or else the bullets would rebound on those who fired them; that if any Indian should die, the demon would resuscitate him; that the leaves of the trees would be converted intosaranga(which is a large fish); that when they cut bejucos, these would distil wine instead of water; that from the banana-leaves they would make fine linen; and, in short, that all would be pleasure, enjoyment, and delight. With these magnificent promises, so attractive to men—and especially to the Indians, who are so inclined to idleness and sloth—four villages revolted; only Loboc (which is the chief village) and Baclayon remained firm in the faith, and in loyalty to the king.Information of this reached Zebu, and immediately Don Juan de Alcarazo, alcalde-mayor of Zebu, went to quiet the island;2he invited them to makepeace, for which the rebels did not care. Their boldness increasing, they burned the four villages and their churches; they flung on the ground the rosaries and crosses, and pierced an image of the blessed Virgin eighteen times with javelins—although afterward in Zebu some tried to make amends to her with the most affectionate demonstrations of reverence, and she was placed in our church. Thereupon the chief ordered troops from Zebu, fifty Spaniards and a thousand friendly Indians,3accompanied by a father; and on New Year’s day, 1622, he began the march to the mountains, where the insurgents were. For five days they traveled through rugged hills and deep ravines, crossing marshes where the mud came to their knees, or even to their waists, and shedding their blood on the thorns and briars. On the fifth day, the insurgents killed a friendly Indian; this they celebrated with loud shouts, and it greatly increased their arrogance. On the following day, more than 1,500 rebel Indians attacked our vanguard, which consisted of sixteen Spaniards and three hundred Indians; but when our muskets were fired so many fell dead that the rebels began to retreat to a bamboo thicket. When we followed them, a heavy rain fell, which encouraged the rebels, for they said that our muskets were then useless. But Heaven favored our cause with a marvel, since, although the pans of the musket-locks were full of water, the soldiers declared that the powder never failed to catch fire, nor did the matches go out. Atthis the rebels fled into the mountains; and our men arrived at a village of more than a thousand houses, in the midst of which was the temple of their divata. Our troops found there much food, various jewels of silver and gold, and many bells of the sort those people use—all which was given to our Indians. The rebels were in a fortification of stone, in which they had placed many stones and clods of earth to throw at our men; but the latter, covering themselves with their shields, seized the redoubt, with the death of many of the enemy,4and in a fortnight returned to Loboc. Captain Alcarazo, who was foremost in all these engagements, commanded that some of the rebels be hanged, and published a pardon to the rest; and he returned to Zebu,5where the victory was celebrated. This success had very important results, for it checked the revolt of other islands and other villages—who were expecting the favorable result which the demon had promised them, so that they could shake off the mild yoke of Christ, and with it their vassalage to the Spaniards. Many of them, now undeceived, accepted the pardon; but others, who were stubborn, fortified themselves at the summit of a rugged and lofty hill, difficult of access, and closed the road [to it] with brambles and thorns.6They also filled the paths with very sharp stakes driven into the soil, and placed among the branches of the trees many crossbows,7in order that these, being discharged as our men passed them, might wound the soldiers; and above they provided many stones to throw at the Spaniards, hurling them from the top of the hill. Six months later the same Don Juan Alcarazo returned, to dislodge those rebels with forty Spaniards and many Indians. After suffering great hardships in making the paths accessible, nearly all his men were hurt, by the time they reached the fort, by the many stones which the enemy hurled down from the summit; but our soldiers courageously climbed the ascent, firing their muskets, and killed many of the rebels, putting the rest to flight. Thus was dispersed that sedition, which was one of the most dangerous that had occurred in the islands—not only because the Boholans were the most warlike and valiant of the Indians, but on account of the conspiracy spreading to many other tribes. Noble examples of fidelity in this great disturbance are not lacking. [Murillo Velarde here mentions two instances of this.]The natives of Carigara in the island of Leyte became impatient, and revolted without waiting forthe result in Bohol, incited thereto by Bancao, the ruling chief of Limasava—who in the year 15658received with friendly welcome Miguel Lopez de Legazpi and the Spaniards who came to his island, supplying them with what they needed, for which Phelipe II sent him a royal decree, thanking him for the kind hospitality which he showed to those first Spaniards. He was baptised and, although a young man, showed that he was loyal to the Christians; but, conquered by the enemy [of souls], he changed sides in his old age.9This man lived in the island of Leyte, and with a son of his and another man, Pagali (whom he chose as priest of his idolatry), erected a sacred place to the divata, or devil; and they induced six villages in the island to rebel. In order to remove from them their fear of the Spaniards, these men told their followers that they could change the Spaniards into stones as soon as they saw them, by repeating the wordbato, which signifies “stone;” and that a woman or a child could change them into clay by flinging earth upon them. Father Melchor de Vera went to Zebu to give warning of this sedition and obtain aid to check it. Captain Alcarazo equipped an armada of forty vessels, in which were embarked some Spaniards and many friendly Indians, also the father rector of Zebu and Father Vera; these united with the forces (both Spanish and Indian) that the alcalde of Leyte had. They offered peace to the rebels, but the latter spurned it with contempt. Our men, divided intothree bodies, attacked them; and, when that which Don Juan de Alcarazo commanded came in sight of the rebels, they fled to the hills. Our soldiers followed them, and on the way put to the sword or shot those whom they encountered; and, although the compassion of the Spaniards spared the children and women,10these could not escape the fury of the Indians. Many of the rebels died, the enchantment not availing them by which they had thought to turn the Spaniards into stone or clay; the rest saved themselves by flight. The Spaniards came to a large building which the rebels had erected for their divata; they encamped in it ten days, and then burned it. Some one pierced with a lance Bancao, the chief instigator of the rebellion, not knowing who he was, whom two of his slaves were carrying on their shoulders and immediately his head was placed on a stake as a public warning. He and his children came to a wretched end, as a punishment for their infidelity and apostasy; for his second son was beheaded as a traitor, and a daughter of his was taken captive. To inspire greater terror, the captain gave orders to shoot three or four rebels, and to burn11one of their priests—in order that, by the light of that fire, the blindness in which the divata had kept them deluded might be removed. The Spaniardsalso cut off the head of an Indian who had robbed Father Vinancio [i.e., Vilancio] and broken to pieces an image of the Virgin, and kicked a crucifix; and his head was set up in the same place where he had committed those horrible sacrileges. There were many who, in the midst of so furious a tempest, remained constant in their religious belief. [Several instances of this are related by the author.]Mandayas; 1625[For particulars of this insurrection, see Aduarte’sHistoria, book ii, chaps, xxviii, xxx, in ourVOL. XXXII, pp. 147–152, 162. Cf. Ferrando’s account,Hist. de los PP. Dominicos, ii, pp. 114–117; and ourVOL. XXII, pp. 69, 95.]In Caraga and in Cagayan; 1629[SeeVOL. XXIV, pp. 165, 175, 177, 216, 217, 229; and fuller account of that in Caraga, in Concepción’sHist. de Philipinas, v, pp. 163–179 (in ourVOL. XXXV, pp. 89–91).]In Nueva Segovia; 1639[See Santa Cruz’s account (Hist. Sant. Rosario) in ourVOL. XXXV, pp. 47–51.]Map of the Philippine Islands, drawn by Captain John Kempthorne, ca. 1688; (evidently from earlier map of 1676); photographic facsimileMap of the Philippine Islands, drawn by Captain John Kempthorne,ca.1688; (evidently from earlier map of 1676); photographic facsimile[From original manuscript map in the British Museum]In Pampanga, 1645; and in Bulacán, 1643[The following is taken from Diaz’sConquistas, pp. 483, 484:]This fearful earthquake12was general in all these Filipinas, although it was more severe in some regions than in others—for in the province of Cagayán, in [the land of] one people called Maynanes, a great mountain was cleft open; and the havoc made by itextended as far as Maluco. In the heights of Gapang,13in the province of Pampanga, it was very severe, and lasted several days. Even greater damage might have been done by an uprising that was plotted by an Indian of evil disposition in the villages of Gapang, Santor, Caranglán, and Patabangán, exhorting the natives there to rebel and restore themselves to their former liberty, by slaying the Spaniards and the religious. He assured them that in Manila there were no Spaniards left, because the earth had swallowed them, with the entire city, on the night of the earthquake that occurred on St. Andrew’s day; and that the demon, with whom he had compact and intercourse, had promised him that he would aid the natives so that they might maintain themselves without paying tribute, and might enjoy much prosperity, and provided that they would slay the fathers and burn the churches. The delusion of the Indians of Gapang went so far that they seized arms, and summoned to their aid many heathen Zambals, and burned the churches of Santor and Pantabangán. When this was known in Manila, the encomendero of those villages, Admiral Rodrigo de Mesa, offered his services to pacify them, and went to Gapang with Alférez Callejas, their collectors of tribute, and some friendly Indians; but the insurgents, who now were numerous, badly wounded the encomendero, who fled on horseback, and a year later died from that wound at Manila. They slew Alférez Callejas and many of the loyal Indians who went in his company, and fortified themselves in themountains. The prior and minister, Fray Juan Cabello, escaped by the aid of some other Indians who were not of the hostile party, came to Manila, and gave information of the progress of the rebellion. Opinions differed as to the methods which should be employed in pacifying the insurgents; and our father provincial, Fray Alonso Carbajal, decided to send the father lecturer Fray Juan de Abarca,14a religious for whom the natives of that district had much affection and respect, since he had been their minister for many years. With this commission this religious set out for Pampanga, taking with him a companion, Master-of-camp Don Agustin Songsong, a valiant Pampango, with as many soldiers of that people as seemed necessary. They arrived at Gapang, and by means of father Fray Juan de Abarca’s preaching and his earnest efforts—which would take too long to relate, as would the many perils of death to which he exposed himself—that sedition was finally quelled, and the insurgents returned to their former quiet. But the Indian sorcerer, the cause of this disturbance, did not make his appearance, notwithstanding all the efforts that were made to find him.Another rebellion, which threatened a great outbreak, was checked (in the year 1643) by father Fray Cristobal Enriquez. In the district of Malolos in the province of Bulacán, an Indian named Don Pedro Ladía, a native of Borney, went about promoting sedition; he proclaimed that to him belonged the right of being king over the provinces of Tagalos,alleging that he was a descendant of Raja Matanda,15the petty king whom the Spaniards found at Manila in the year 1571. With these and other impostures, aided by wine—the chief counselor in matters of policy and war, among those natives—and with the consultations with the demon which always figure on these occasions, he kept many villages of that district disquieted. But the sagacious procedure of father Fray Cristobal Enriquez intercepted all these misfortunes which were threatening us, by furnishing a plan for the arrest of Don Pedro Ladía—who already was styling himself “king of the Tagálogs;” he was sent to Manila, where, he paid with his life for his vain presumption. And thus this revolt, lacking even that weak foundation, was entirely quieted.In the Pintados; 1649–50[The best authorities on this insurrection are the Jesuit historians, since it arose in regions under their spiritual charge. We select the earliest account, that of Combés, written while the incidents of that time were fresh in men’s minds; it is found in hisHist. de Mindanao, col. 489–498. Murillo Velarde also relates these events, inHist. de Philipinas, fol. 171b–175. Cf. the Augustinian Diaz, inConquistas, pp. 517–523; and the Recollect Concepción,Hist. de Philipinas, vi, pp. 247–280.]The queen of Joló, Tuambaloca, wrote at the same time, asking permission to come to end her days in the island of Basilan, and all was so secure from war that she remained as arbiter of peace for all the islands of Samboangan; and, as such, even the governorof Manila availed himself of her power16in order to pacify the disturbances in the islands....This occasion made sufficiently evident the greatness of the benefit that the islands owe to the Society for the [treaties of] peace made with these kings—thus finding the royal arms at liberty for more pressing exigencies, and being set free, as regards those kings, from the most painful anxiety lest their forces would be allied with our dangers. With this, attention could be given to the punishment of Burney, a pirate as cruel as impious; and to finding external relief in the domestic losses and evils which had rendered our safety so uncertain. [Our forces were thus ready] in an almost general revolt of all the islands, in the provinces that were most subjugated and had never tested the keenness of our arms; for they had yielded to the echoes of our trumpets, receiving our troops in peace. But in these recent years had been operating in these new worlds the influences of that malign planet which was ruining Europe (and especially our España), with revolts of entire kingdoms, and has caused rivers of blood to run in the populous kingdom of China; and it reached these islands, to wreak on them its fierceness. And God—permitting evil, for the credit of virtue and the reward of the good—gave warlike courage to the most pusillanimous tribes, and armed the nakedness of these Indians to resist the unconquerable steel of our Spaniards.The first region to declare against us was the province of Ibabao, which is in the island of Samar;it is the coast which faces the north, beaten by the sea of Nueva España. There the Society has a new residence, which is occupied by six fathers. All the villages connected with it revolted, following the audacious stand of the chief among them, which is Palapag. This was occasioned by the oppressions arising from our public works—which is a motive that should appeal to them, since they were the ones interested in the defense [of the coasts against their enemies]. But the Indians, as barbarians, do not heed future perils, but rather present fatigues; and to these their slothful nature opposes itself. The losses of galleons made it necessary to maintain in that province a shipyard. This drafted all the carpenters from Manila, and, in order to supply those that were needed on that shore, it was necessary to demand from each province a certain number—a quota of hardly one to each village, and this so equitably that to worldly prudence these allotments seemed advantageous, for which many would eagerly ask. But as the Indians have grown up in their wretchedness and in the life of brutes in their remote mountains, it seems to them that they are maintaining their liberty. They resented greatly this political compulsion to citizenship and the formation of a village, [so that they would live] as men. Those in the provinces that were most civilized and were nearest to Manila had obeyed the decree without opposition, but these [remote] provinces immediately made such demonstrations of displeasure that all of us perceived the difficulty [of enforcing the demand], and several undertook to represent it [to the authorities]. Don Diego de Faxardo was the governor, a man so harsh in his methods, and having so little pious regard forthe [religious] ministers, that their intercessions only made him more cruel, on account of the dogmatic opinion which he followed, that the ministers are the ones who oppose the royal service. Accordingly they all gave up any active opposition, but moderated in a thousand ways the execution [of the decree] (which they saw could not be avoided), sometimes with gifts, sometimes with considerations of utility. The men of Ibabao, trusting in the ruggedness of their coast or the inaccessibility of their mountains, or in the succor which had been positively promised to them by the Dutch—who every year make port on their coasts, awaiting with their armed fleets the relief [sent us] from Nueva España—immediately declared themselves [against us]. At the outset, in their stubbornness and disobedience, until their affairs were settled and their retreat prevented, they talked of fleeing to the mountains. This was their first opinion; but a malicious Indian interfered in the discussion, and told them that they could not accomplish anything by that course, because the village would not be destroyed, nor would the promoters [of the rebellion] have the following that they desired, unless they ordered that all should rebel, and slay the father, and burn the church; for their guilt in such action would intimidate all of them. As their councils were held in the excitement of wine, all readily approved this extravagant proposal. Immediately the demon offered them, for its execution, the evilly-inclined mind of a vile Indian named Sumoroy, who, although he had been much favored by the fathers as being a skilful pilot on the sea, and on this account had always enjoyed immunity from tribute and personal services, and wasactually the castellan of the fortified residence that they had there, yet desired—because they had removed an obstacle17which for many years had kept him at variance with and separated from his lawful wife—to find an opportunity for vengeance. This man offered to kill the father; and, confirming his resolve with many draughts to his success, and loud shouts, they dreamed that they were already masters of the entire world, and had slain all the Spaniards. He had already prejudiced their minds against his enemy, telling each Indian in the village separately that he had been assigned by the father to go to the Manila shore; consequently, no one now repaired to mass or took notice of public affairs. The father rector—who was Father Miguel Ponce Barberan, a native of the kingdom of Aragon—saw plainly the hostile disposition of the people, butnevercould have imagined so insane a resolve; and if any one could most confidently throw aside anxiety it was this father, for he had been, without contradiction, the most beloved and cherished by the natives, of all the fathers who had itinerated there—and, as well, the one who had spent most years in ministering to those people. A Tuesday, then, the first day of June in the year 1649, the traitor selected for his sacrilegious parricide; and, as a thief in the house, who knew its avenues of entrance and egress very well, he took his stand within, awaiting the father at the top of the stairway, when he should ascend it after supper. While the father halted on the stairs to say a prayer for the souls in purgatory—for which, it happened, the bells were ringing—Sumoroy hurled a javelin at him fromabove, which pierced his breast and immediately brought him to the ground; nor did he breathe again, spending his last energy in pronouncing the sweet names of Jesus and Mary.For two days the fathers remained at home in suspense, without understanding the cause of this evil deed, or knowing who was its author; and the rebels themselves delayed to commit sacrileges by breaking with shame and declaring themselves [rebels]. Finally, on the day of Corpus Christi, about noon, the murderer came in sight, leading the multitude, and openly declared that it was he who had slain the father, loudly defying the whole world. They gave the fathers and the brother whom they found in the house the opportunity to leave it, provided that they removed nothing from it; and immediately, as barbarians and enemies of God—forgetting the faith and Christian belief of so many years, in which they had grown up—they sacked and burned the church and house, profaning the ornaments, and cutting from them drawers and turbans according to their old-time usage. If there were any of the faithful [among the crowd], they let themselves be persuaded by the argument of the barbarians for their timidity, that if they remained among the insurgents the anger of the Spaniards would be moderated, and accordingly they followed the perverse ones. The report of this sacrilegious act fanned the flame of infernal zeal itself, and found the minds of the people so ready that, almost as if there had been a general decision and they only awaited the signal for putting it into execution, in almost all the villages on that coast they burned their churches, the ministers fled, and the rebels retreated to themountains, where they fancied they could maintain their former brutal mode of life.In the rest of the provinces—either because they perhaps regarded it as somewhat discreditable that the men of Ibabao should display their valor in order to oppose the Spaniards, and they themselves not do so; or because all of them were (as some desire to be) in communication with the Dutch—they proceeded to follow the example and imitate the boldness of the men of Palapag. Our arms would be found greatly embarrassed if those of the Dutch were to add confidence to the insolence of the Indians; and, at the very least, there would not remain a province which would not be up in arms, and no minister or Spaniard of those who were scattered among them would escape. But God our Lord, who chastised as a father, and chose to correct with clemency the wickedness with which the Spaniards abuse the subject condition of these natives—and as a warning to the latter, to confirm them in the truth of our holy faith and disabuse them of their errors—so adjusted the times that although the Dutch fleets had not failed to come to the islands for ten years past, about that very month [i.e., June], in this year the peace kept them away, and the publication of it arrived here in good time, so that our forces were left free for the punishment [of the rebels].Immediately the province of Camarines, on the mainland of Manila, declared itself against us, and the father guardian [of the Franciscans] was banished from Solsogon; and their lead was followed by their island of Masbate, where an alférez was put to death. This presumptuous act disturbed the peace of Cebú Island; and its natives also, without fearingthe strong fort and the city to near them, also defied us, another officer being slain there. In the province of Caraga, the men of Linao revolted, displaying their evil intentions by the murder of the father prior (a discalced Augustinian), and of the Spaniards in a small garrison which was kept there, some dozen in number; but few escaped, and those were badly wounded. In the province of Iligan, which borders on Caraga, the Manobos, a barbarian tribe, seized the peaceable village of Cagayan. The entire coast [i.e., of northern Mindanao], and the adjacent island of Camigin, followed their example; in Camigin they bound the father prior (also a discalced Augustinian), the impious Indians going so far as to place their brutal feet on the neck of the holy religious. In the jurisdiction of Samboangan, the Subanos went astray—their principal village, named Siocon, releasing itself from obedience with the sacrilegious parricide of Father Juan del Campo, and the atrocious murder of his companions, as we shall afterward relate. The Boholans, on account of their valor, retained their esteem for the faith. Thus, for the punishment of so many atrocious deeds and for quelling the insolence of the barbarians, there remained to us no other arms than those of Samboangan, and no other auxiliaries than those people who had been our friends for so few years.Those of Ibabao aroused the utmost anxiety, their insolence continually calling us to arms; for, not content with atrocities in their own country, they went to disquiet another region. They even disturbed those who dwelt on the opposite coast of Samar, threatening them with ruin if they did not follow the lead of the others. Their attempts began tobe dangerous, since they stirred up the village of Paranas, which is only two leguas from the seat of our jurisdiction there—Catbalogan, where the alcalde-mayor resides; and in fact many fled to the mountains, without regard to the war which menaced them, when the Spaniards were placed under arms, two leguas from their abode. In the other villages [the natives] were in arms, and regarded us all with apprehension. At the outset, the alcalde-mayor was ready with such force as he could assemble—adventurers in the province, mestizos, and Indians; but, as the former were all collectors [of tribute] and the latter all relatives [of the insurgents], some were not accustomed to arms and the hardships of campaigning, and the others could not use weapons against those of their own blood. Accordingly this, instead of checking their fury, only rendered their boldness more insolent, and gave unwonted force to their arms; and men who before did not find enough woods in which to hide themselves from a Camucon ship, now went so far as to make daybreak assaults on our troops, and slew our men before our eyes. And as a final token of their contempt, when the captain demanded from them the head of Sumoroy, by way of atonement for what he had done, they sent down the river to him the head of a swine—although in the end, worn out, they considered it good luck that they could again secure peace.[The authorities] in Manila, seeing that the revolt was continually gathering strength, and that the insolence of the insurgents was passing all bounds, recognized how important it was to repress it, undertaking its chastisement in earnest. For this purpose they despatched General Andres Lopez deAzaldigui (who was chief of the royal galleys of these islands), with the title of lieutenant of the captain-general; and with this authority he levied many Spaniards, being empowered to obtain them from all the fortified posts. He made all the necessary arrangements for the enterprise, but he soon recognized the danger that he incurred among the natives—who all, regarding those of Palapag as restorers of their liberty, were rejoicing over their successes—and that in our reverses we had cause to fear them as enemies, since they were on the watch to know what fortune those of Palapag had in order to follow it if they were sure of the result. A large fleet of native boats was needed for the transportation of provisions and military supplies; but, the greater the number of these that were thus assembled, the more was the danger increased. On this account the general wrote to Manila, demanding galleys; and there, in order to avoid the expense of galleys and the perils of seas so rough, they despatched orders that the armada should come from Zamboangan—for the loyalty of those people against the Bisayans, as against their old-time enemies, could not be doubted. And with the support of these [auxiliaries] effective aid might be rendered by those of the inland provinces, which had been ruled without risk by the Spaniards because they did not go there entirely in the hands of the natives.The armada was despatched as promptly as possible by the commandant [of Zamboanga]. Sargento-mayor Pedro Duran, with two captains in active service—as chief, Captain Juan Muñoz, who was commander of the armada; and as second in command Captain Juan de Ulloa—with the most choiceand distinguished soldiers of the Lutaos. As leader of these, since he was the military chief of that people, was sent General Don Francisco Ugbo (whom I have previously mentioned), with the master-of-camp, sargento-mayor, and captains of the tribe, and as many as four hundred of its men. Father Francisco Martinez had then arrived at Samboangan, to act as rector of the new [Jesuit] college there—of which the official recognition from our father general came in this same year—a religious who deserved well of those Christian churches, for he had sustained them in their earliest infancy, having labored in the arduous beginnings of [the missions in] Joló and Samboangan. By this [departure of the Lutaos] Father Alexandro Lopez found his occupation gone, and was therefore able to embark with the armada, which needed his presence and aid, as it was going for so important an enterprise—on the fortunate result of which, as many thought, depended the fidelity of all the provinces of Pintados. All fortified themselves with the holy sacraments, as solicitously as Christians of very long standing could do; and, as if they were such, on all occasions which arose in the voyage and in the battle itself they made evident, by their reverence for their holy name [of Christians] and appreciation of the danger, how they felt these obligations in their hearts. The sargento-mayor of the tribe (who belonged to its highest nobility) encountered a temptation to his own perdition; but he put it behind him by saying that he was going to war, and could not at that time discuss a matter which would work injury to his soul.Great was the rejoicing which this armada caused in all the towns where it landed, notably in the cityof Cebú, where the Lutaos were known (and most of them, especially those who commanded the joangas, had the reputation of being pirates), at seeing them, now Christians, repair to the churches with so much devotion and attend divine worship with such reverence—those very people who had ravaged the islands with fire, and damaged nearly all the churches of Bisayas with their outrages and robberies; those who yesterday were enemies, but today bearing arms in our aid; and those who yesterday were cruel enemies to God, now the avengers of insults to Him. Tears sprang to [the eyes of] all, and they did not cease to give a thousand thanks to the fathers for their labors, so effectual—not only in the conversion of that Moro people, but for the benefit of these Christian communities, removing their terror and turning their dread and mistrust of the Moro arms into joy and expectation of success.Arriving at Palapag by the month of May [i.e., in 1650], they found that the leader of the campaign was Captain Don Xinés de Roxas; and that it had been much retarded on account of the reputation which the men of Palapag had steadily gained by their daring acts. They had fortified themselves on a height which was regarded as impregnable by nature, as only one path was known by which it could be ascended, and that very narrow and difficult. On this path the enemy had built fortifications, and from loopholes therein they did much damage to our men, without risk [to themselves]; they lost no opportunity to fall suddenly on our troops, and any man who strayed from the rest paid the penalty with his life, so sharply did they note any negligence on our part; and, as masters of the land, they boldly engaged us,secure from being pursued. The captain wearied himself much with various fortifications, and kept the men exhausted; and he engaged in the same fatiguing labor those of the armada, until the sargento-mayor of that tribe, Don Alonso Maconbon, was bold enough to ask him, face to face, why he was wearing out the men in work which was not important.He told the captain that they had not come to haul logs, but to fight in battle, and that he must contrive to employ them in fighting; for, if he did not, they would go back to their homes. At seeing the daring of this man, and the angry words that the soldiers of Samboangan—who, as veterans, were eager to have an opportunity for distinguishing themselves—flung at him, although he resented their lack of respect he was rejoiced to see their courage; and he was encouraged to make the assault, which, with the coxcombs and foppish adventurers from Manila, seemed a dangerous enterprise. And, as those of the armada, it seems, were boasting most of their valor, he assigned them to the brunt of the battle, in order thus to employ their courage in carrying out their own advice.He made ready, then, the infantry of the armada, with the Lutaos, for a day that he set for the assault, which they were obliged to make over a precipitous ascent, exceedingly dangerous—so that they could make their way up it only by giving their weapons and their hands to each other.18At nightfall theyreached the slope, and in the darkness of the night proceeded to ascend it. The enemy had their sentinels, but our Lord easily diverted their attention by sending a heavy shower of rain—which our men regarded as a misfortune, which made the enterprise more difficult and the ascent all the more dangerous. But it was altogether fortunate for the expedition; for the pass was so difficult that the sentinel alone could defend it against a thousand assailants, and the most feeble old man was sufficient for guarding it, especially if the danger [from an attack] were known to the insurgents, who had given all their attention to the troop of the commander Don Xinés. The time while the rain fell was enough to enable all the soldiers to reach the top without danger; and so careful were the men that not one of them had his match extinguished. They halted there, waiting for the daylight; and when the rain gave opportunity to the sentinel he came back, waving a torch in order to light his path. Our men could have slain him; but they let him go, so as not to raise an alarm. Either because he heard their voices, or saw some lighted match, he waited a little while, and then returned to inform the rest of it; and the troops, seeing that they were discovered, marched toward the fortifications. So quickly they reached them that the enemy at once took to flight; our men pursued them with their arms, but the enemy quickly escaped, by dangerous precipices and paths which they know well. But the Spaniards did not choose to divert much of their attention [to the fugitives], rather taking care to occupy promptly their Rochelle;19accordingly, theyerected their fortifications, and occupied them with their artillery, supplies, and weapons. From that place they sent for the commander, Captain Don Xinés de Roxas, who went up to take possession of the gains made by the arduous efforts and daring bravery of the men of Samboangan. In this enterprise Captain Francisco de Leyba, then commander of the Samboangan armada, and Captain Silvestre de Rodas, an old soldier of Terrenate, especially distinguished themselves.The Lutaos dispersed through the place, and, breaking into a house, found the mother of the traitor and parricide Sumoroy; and they dragged her out and tore her to pieces. Sumoroy had been sent down [from their stronghold] the day before, secretly, in a hammock, and all the children and women the rebels had already placed in safety; for, from the day when they saw the Samboangan armada, they felt that their cause was lost, and, lacking confidence in the outcome, they forestalled the danger. Thus was ended this longed-for enterprise, and the war in Ibabao; for the natives, now disarmed and divided, would have no courage left, save for flight, and the hardships of a life so full of fear [as that of fugitives] would oblige them to surrender, one by one—as was actually the case. Accordingly, the armada [and its men] took their departure, leaving the islands thankful for what they had accomplished and edified by their good example. For in the heat of conflict and in dangerous encounters (which is the time when the natural disposition and the inner soul are displayed), those soldiers did not fail to invoke the sweet names of Jesus and Mary, without ceasing or neglecting this in the utmost confusionand ardor of battle, giving pious examples to the Christian soldiery—to the admiration of the natives, [although they were] accustomed to these [pious] observances; since the clamorous efforts [of the soldiers], and solicitude for their danger, disturb the piety of even the oldest veterans.[We append to this the following account from Diaz’sConquistas(pp. 517–523), as being more detailed and furnishing a somewhat different light on various incidents of the insurrection. In order to place it in the present document, as belonging to this special subject, it has been removed from its place in Diaz’s history of his order and its missions (seeVOL. XXXVII, pp. 149–284).]There was an Indian named Sumoroy in the village of Palapag, who was regarded as one of the best, although he was one of the very worst, and was as evil as his father—who, accredited with the same hypocrisy, was a babaylán and priest of the devil, and made the other Indians apostatize. He was greatly addicted to drunkenness, and he had so promoted it [in others] that all the village was contaminated with this vice, as well as that of lust—vices so closely allied to idolatry, of which truth there are many examples in Holy Writ. The inhabitants of Palapag were corrupted by those evil habits at the time when Governor Don Diego Fajardo—with the intention of relieving the near-by provinces of Tagalos and Pampanga from the burden of working, at the harbor of Cavite, in the building of galleons and vessels necessary for the conservation and defense of these islands—had ordered the alcaldes of Leite and other provinces to send men thence toCavite for that employment. That was a difficult undertaking, because of the distance of more than one hundred leguas, and the troubles and wrongs to the said Indians that would result from their leaving their homes for so long a time. The father ministers went to the alcaldes, and the latter to Manila, to represent those troubles and wrongs; but the only thing that they obtained was a more stringent order to execute the mandate without more reply. Consequently they could do nothing else than obey the orders of the superior government, although they feared what very soon occurred. But what good end could so mistaken and pernicious a decision have?As soon as the inhabitants of Palapag saw that the alcaldes-mayor were beginning to collect men to send them to the harbor of Cavite, they began to go oftener to the meetings in the house of Sumoroy and his father, and to begin (when heated with wine, the ordinary counselor of the Indians) to organize their insurrection. They quickly appointed leaders, of whom the chief was Don Juan Ponce, a very influential man and a bad Christian, but married to a wife from a chief’s family in the village of Catubig; she was very different from him in her morals, for she was very virtuous. The second leader was one Don Pedro Caamug, and the third the above-named Sumoroy. Then they discussed the murder of the father minister, Miguel Ponce of the Society of Jesus, an Aragonese,20at the suggestion of that malignantsorcerer and priest of the devil, the father of Sumoroy, who charged that undertaking upon his son. On Tuesday evening, the first of June, 1649, he went to the house of the father, who had just eaten his dinner, and was ascending a narrow ladder to his house. Sumoroy awaited him at that place, and hurling his lance, pierced his breast from side to side, and left him dead, without more time than to say “Jesus, Mary.” They spared the life of Father Julio Aleni,21a Roman, saying that he was not their minister, but was dedicated to China, whence is inferred their motive in killing the [former] father. Next day they despoiled the house and church of its furniture and holy ornaments; profaned the altars and sacred images; scattered the holy oils; and used the silver chrismatories for the ajonjolí oil with which they anoint their hair.It was the will of divine Providence to show forth the devout fidelity of the women amid the infidelityand apostasy of the men; for, the day before that spoliation, Doña Angelina Dinagungan, wife of Don Juan Ponce, accompanied by another good Christian woman, Doña María Malón, went to the church and saved some holy images and ornaments, besides a chest belonging to the father, with the little that it contained, which they afterward surrendered to him. Among the images that that devout woman saved from the sacrilegious hands of the rebels was an image of our Lady of the Conception, which was kept with great propriety in the house of Doña María Malón, and which was often seen to sweat abundantly and to shed tears, a miracle which spread throughout the village. When the perfidious Sumoroy heard of it, he said: “The Virgin Mary is weeping. Let us see if she will weep if we burn the house;” and he went thither, with other men like himself, and set fire to it. But Divine Clemency did not permit the fire to catch in that house, although it was of bamboo and nipa like the others. The husband of Doña María Malón, called Don Gabriel Hongpón, was a head man [cabeza de barangay]; and only he and all his people remained faithful to God and to their king. God gave him courage to resist so many, who always respected him as he was so influential a man in that village of Palapag.The insurgents incited the inhabitants of Catubig, who also revolted. They killed a Spaniard, and burned the church and house of the father minister, after having sacked it. The contagion having spread to other villages, the people did the same at Pambohan, or Bayugo, Catarman, and Bonan; and thence passed to infect the provinces of Ibalón22andCamarines, where they killed a Franciscan religious, the guardian of Sorsogón. They killed Alférez Torres in Masbate. In Caraga, the inhabitants of the village of Tinao revolted and killed their minister, a discalced Augustinian, and a few Spanish soldiers of a small presidio established there, the rest escaping the fury of the insurgents. In Iligán, the village of Cagayán, a mission of our discalced religious, revolted. In the adjacent island of Camiguín, a mission of the same religious, they bound their minister and set their feet on his neck. The Subanos mutinied in the jurisdiction of Zamboanga, in the village called Siocon, where they killed Father Juan del Campo23of the Society of Jesus. The villages of the islands of Cebú and Bohol, who are warlike people, were wavering in their loyalty. But Divine Clemency did not permit them to declare themselves. Thus with the patience and tolerance of the father ministers, who suffered many hardships and found themselves in great danger, those fires—which could have consumed the loyalty of the provinces of these islands—were soon extinguished. The first village to rebel in the island of Leite was Bacor, where the church and house of the father minister were burned, and the people joined the inhabitants of Palapag, leaving the village deserted. The insurgents pretended that two Dutch ships werenear, which were coming to aid them as equals in their rebellion against the Church and the vassalage due to their lawful king; and that pretense greatly aided them in their evil design.As soon as the alcalde-mayor of Leite heard of the insurrection, he collected all the boats and men possible, but these were very fragile means to oppose to so vast a multitude of insurgent and desperate men. Consequently, although they went to Palapag with the said alcalde-mayor, one Captain Don Juan Gómez de tres Palacios y Estrado, they served no other purpose than to make the rebellion worse, and to encourage the enemy. The latter intrenched themselves on an impregnable hill called “the table of Palapag;” and what is the greatest cause for surprise is that a Spaniard called Pedro Zapata, who had married an Indian woman in Palapag (who must have perverted him), went with them. But the insurgents gave him his pay by killing him, in order to take away the woman, a worthy reward for his incredible treason. They made trenches and strong stockades, with many sharp stakes and snares, and many stone boulders suspended, which, by being thrown upon the strongest army, would cause cruel injury. To work greater harm, they gave command of their men to Don Pedro Caamug, who descended the hill with two hundred insurgents and returned to the village of Palapag, where he killed the father minister, Vicente Damián,24and two boys who wereserving him, who in their fear were clinging to the father. They again burned the church, a chamber of nipa and bamboo which Don Gabriel and his faithful followers had erected for the celebration of mass, furnishing this additional bond to their apostasy and rebellion. They returned to their impregnable hill after this, which was in their eyes a great victory, and began to fortify themselves much more strongly than they were, as they feared the war that was expected from Manila.Governor Don Diego Fajardo, seeing that the undertaking of the reduction of the inhabitants of Palapag was an affair requiring much care and consideration, because of the evil effects that would result from any unfavorable event, after holding a council of war determined to entrust this undertaking to the commander of the galleys, Andrés López de Asaldigui (already named on many occasions), as he had all the good qualities which can form a good soldier; for he was very brave and prudent, fortunate in the enterprises that had been entrusted to him, and a prime favorite with the soldiers because of his great liberality. That commander left Manila with the best men whom he could enlist, both Spaniards and Pampangos, and went to Catbalogan, the capital of that province, where he mustered thirteen oared vessels and two champans. His first order was to send some vessels to Panay and Iloilo for food. Well informed of the condition of the rebels of Palapag, he found that he needed more war-supplies for that conquest; for the insurgents had extended their revoltto many villages of the island, and the other neighboring islands were apparently prepared to follow their bold acts, if they were at all fortunate. Therefore Andrés López de Asaldegui sent to ask the governor for the galleys in his charge; but the latter did not send them, in order to avoid the expense that would be caused the royal treasury, which was very needy. But he sent order instead that the fleet of Zamboanga should be at his disposal.[At this juncture, Asaldigui is summoned by the governor to investigate the loss of the galleon “Encarnación,” and “entrusting the Palapag enterprise to Captain Ginés de Rojas—a brave soldier, but one who had little reputation and affection among the soldiers, who regretted that order exceedingly, and would have returned home had they been able. To such an extent does the reputation of the leader further any enterprise.”]Don Ginés de Rojas assembled the thirteen oared vessels and the two champans, in the latter of which he stowed the food. Likewise the fleet of Zamboanga came up with four caracoas and some Spaniards, and four hundred Lutaos; these are Indians of that region who have been recently converted to our holy faith from the errors of the cursed sect of Mahomet, by the efforts and toil of the religious of the Society. Their commandant was their master-of-camp Don Francisco Ugbo, a Lutao, and a brave man; and their sargento-mayor Don Alonso Macobo, of the same nation. The chief commander of that fleet was Captain Juan Muñoz, the admiral was Juan de Ulloa, and the captain was Suárez, who were veteran soldiers. In addition to that succor there came from Cebú Captain Don Francisco de Sandoval and JuanFernández de León, who brought many men from Sialo, Caraga, and other provinces. When all those forces were assembled in Catbalogan, Don Ginés de Rojas divided them into three divisions, two under command of Sandoval and León, and the third in his own charge. He ordered Captain Sandoval to go to his encomienda at Catubig, and thence, with all the men whom he could assemble, to go to reduce the village of Palapag. Captain León was ordered to go with his men through Tubig, Sulat, Borongán, and other villages—first, however, to go to Guigán, to get as many men there as possible. Don Ginés de Rojas chose the villages of Catarmán and Bobor, where his encomienda lay.All things were ready to undertake the conquest of the impregnable hill. Nothing worthy of note happened to Captain Don Francisco de Sandoval, but the Indians of Bacor prepared an ambush against Juan Fernández de León in a very dangerous pass. Juan de León de Paranas had gone out, embarking in the river of Nasán, which is very rapid because of its great current—and among other dangerous places is one more dangerous than all, namely, a fall and cataract which is two spear-lengths in height. Consequently, in order to proceed, one must unlade the boats; and, after raising them with great toil by means of certain very thick and strong rattans, must, after suspending or letting the boat down thus, again lade it. There did the enemy set their ambush for Juan de León, but it was disclosed by a friendly Indian. Our men firing their muskets and arquebuses at that side, the Indians fled with great loss; and our men proceeded to the bar of the river, where they fortified themselves in a stout stockade.Sandoval did the same in Catubig, as did Don Silvestre de Rodas, whom Don Ginés sent as a reënforcement to Sandoval.Those leaders, having arranged matters in this manner, continued to invite and pacify the many Indians who presented themselves. But those who were entrenched on the hill, confident in their fortress and defense, persisted obstinately in their revolt, and tried to get the other villages not to declare in our favor. Don Ginés fortified his post, and ordered each captain to do the same with his, for he had resolved to blockade and capture the natives on the hill by hunger. The natives learned from their spies that Don Ginés had but few men in his quarters, as the rest had gone to get provisions; and, having determined to use so favorable an opportunity, many of them went at night, by the river, near the land. When they thought that our men were very careless and sound asleep, they pulled some stakes out of the fortification of Don Ginés, and entered in a disorderly mob. But the sentinels hearing the noise, sounded the alarm. Don Ginés, awaking, seized his sword and buckler; and, accompanied by those who could follow him so hastily, confronted the enemy, and drove them to flight with great loss—as was judged from the abundance of blood that was seen in the camp in the morning. But it was not without any harm to our men, some of whom were wounded, although no one died. One ball struck Sumoroy on the shoulder, but only one dead man was left in the camp; for our opponents dragged the others away and threw them into the water. Don Ginés did not care to pursue them, fearing some ambush, which would have been easy in that darkness.The soldiers grumbled much at the great caution and prudence of Don Ginés de Rojas, who thought only of strengthening his fortifications, to the great labor of those who now desired to busy themselves with the enemy, and not the trees of the forest. That rose to such a pitch that the sargento-mayor of the Lutaos, Don Francisco Macombo, went to Don Ginés impatiently, and told him that neither he nor his men had come from Zamboanga to cut timber but to fight with the enemies of Palapag. Don Ginés was not displeased to see the willingness of his soldiers to fight, and therefore, in order to employ it, he had the men called to arms, and arranged the attack. He formed two divisions [for attack] from the whole army, and left the third to guard the camp. The assault was made in two parts—one by the open road, although it was better defended by the opponents; and the other by a precipitous path which was passable for the birds alone—for it was a huge steep rock, and so narrow at the place where the camp of the insurgents was established that only a single man could enter an opening made by nature—a place called for that reason by the natives, in their own language, “the eye of a needle.” The men climbed up by that path, using feet and hands without carrying their arms; for these were carried by him who followed, and afterward given to him who was ahead; and so they did one with another. In addition to that, the insurgents had posted a sentinel there to advise them of any new move, for which a few coming to his aid would be sufficient to prevent many from effecting an entrance.Don Ginés entrusted that difficult undertaking to Captain Silvestre de Rodas, a native of Rota, and asoldier of great renown in his time, of whom are recounted incredible exploits performed by him in Ternate. He gave him command of the Lutao soldiers, with their commander Don Francisco Macombo; for himself Don Ginés took the battalion of the soldiers who attacked the hill in front. The vanguard and rearguard were placed in command of Captains Sandoval and Juan Fernández de León. The assault being planned in that form, Don Ginés engaged the enemy with his men, with great valor, to the sound of drums and trumpets, and went up the hill with great difficulty and danger. For the insurgents, cutting the rattans by which the stones and very large trunks of trees were fastened and kept back, would have been able by rolling them down to do great damage to our men, had not divine Providence directed these missiles to places where they could do no damage. Our men went up most of the hill with this obstinacy, and the enemy went out to meet them with so great valor that it seemed rather desperation; and the damage inflicted upon them by our arquebuses did not cool their obstinacy, for they tried to throw themselves on our spears and swords in their anxiety to die while killing [others]. The great advantage of the fortress of the hill increased their courage, as it could have caused great loss to our men to fight in the open and unsheltered. The fight lasted many hours, the enemy often being relieved, for they had many brave and well-armed men on the hill. Don Ginés de Rojas, seeing that the fury of the enemy was invincible (for they were fighting more like lions than like men), and that his men could not proceed with the undertaking, because they had no further strength and were tired,and had many wounded, yielded for the time being, and sounded the retreat, leaving more vigorous experience for another day. The enemy also retired, satisfied at the resistance that they had shown, although much to their cost.Very different was the success of the brave Silvestre de Rodas, with his Lutaos in charge of Don Francisco Ugbo and Don Alonso Macombo, who on the second of July, 1650, made the assault in the most difficult point—which was the eye of the needle in the rock, as we have stated above, through which Silvestre de Rodas was the first to go. He chose the silence of the night, a time when they were least likely to be discovered. Climbing up one by one and without arms, with the labor that was necessary, at the middle of the ascent an obstacle occurred that could have blocked so great an enterprise. That was a very heavy rain, which lasted a great part of the night, and which the men endured without the slightest shelter, but with great vigilance and care that fire for their matches should not be lacking—availing themselves for that purpose of the shields of the Lutaos, which are calledcarazas, and are made of long narrow pieces of wood, with which they cover all the body at the side. The rain ceased and, although they were soaking, they all resumed the ascent of the hill; they reached the entrance of the rock at an opportune time, when the sentinel, quite unsuspicious of such an assault, was absent, as he had gone to get some fire (without the company of which those Indians cannot live), or indeed have a smoke, for they think that that furnishes them with fine company. On that account, Silvestre de Rodas and some of the foremost, who were the most vigorouswere enabled to enter. The sentinel returned with a brand in his hand, and when he was near perceived the bad effect of his carelessness, and believed that our camp was already upon him. He looked in astonishment, and then, hurriedly taking flight, began to cry out and announce that our men had already entered the hill by means of the rock. Not less was the confusion of all, who were quite free from the dread of so unexpected an assault. Confused and lacking in counsel, a panic terror seized them and forced them into disorganized flight, so that Silvestre de Rodas and the Lutaos were allowed to become masters of the field. Unfurling their victorious banners, they took possession of the lodgings, trenches, and food of the enemy. Don Ginés de Rojas ascended the hill with his whole army, and destroyed the insurgent quarters by setting fire to them. Having published a general pardon, those who had been insurgents before, presented themselves in peace.The chief leader Sumoroy and his sorcerer father refused to put in an appearance, or to talk of peace. But the very ones whom he had caused to rebel killed him, and carried his head to Don Ginés de Rojas, although they had been so loyal to him before that when the alcalde-mayor of Leite went at the beginning to reduce them to peace, and asked them as the first condition to deliver to him the head of Sumoroy, they, making light of the request, sent him the head of a swine. But afterward, as a token of their true obedience, they delivered the head, without any one asking for it. Don Juan Ponce remained in hiding in the island of Cebú for a long time, but after having obtained pardon he returned to Palapag;there he committed crimes that were so atrocious that the alcalde-mayor seized him and sent him to Manila, where he paid for those crimes on the scaffold. He who had the best end was Don Pedro Caamug; for he was the first to present himself, and showed great loyalty in the reduction of the others. He continued all his life to be very quiet, and was governor of his village, where he was highly esteemed; and it was proved that he was not the one who had killed Father Vicente with his hands, although he was captain of that band. Moreover, it was found to be advisable to overlook much on that occasion, as the quiet of all the Pintados Islands, who were awaiting the end of the rebels of Palapag, depended on it.[The following additional information is obtained from Concepción’sHist. de Philipinas, vi, pp. 247–280:][p. 254:] From here [i.e., Cebú] leaped more than sparks to the province of Caraga, where there had been some causes for resentment between the alcalde-mayor and the father minister of Tandag. The father had rebuked the alcalde for oppressions inflicted on the Indians, and, perceiving that his exhortations were unheeded, he carried his complaints to the supreme tribunal, where hearing was given to them. The alcalde-mayor was angry at being prodded from Manila, and found means to take his revenge. Governor Faxardo, vigilant in defending the provinces from the Dutch, gave orders to reconnoiter the harbors and fortify the military posts; and, that he might take seasonable precautions, he solicited accurate information [from the officials].The alcalde-mayor, in the anger that he felt, availed himself of this opportunity. He informed the governor that the fort of Tandag was in condition to make a vigorous defense, to which the only hindrance was the church and convent—a very strong edifice, which dominates the castle—and that he considered it very necessary to demolish it. In virtue of this report, it was decided in the military and fiscal councils that those buildings should be demolished, as well as all others that might be on that coast which were of like materials, in order that the Dutch might not find in them means of offense or defense. This order arrived at Tandag, where now there was another governor. Captain Don Juan Garcia did not make it known, and held a council in the fort regarding its execution, and therein was decided the suspension of the order—for, in case that the enemy came, the buildings could be easily torn down and burned, since the walls were weak and the roofs of nipa or straw—until the supreme government should make some other arrangement. Representations were made to that government of the great sorrow that the natives felt at the destruction [of those buildings], from which it was feared that if another church were not built, at a greater distance, the natives would take flight to the mountains. Notwithstanding this second information, the former order for demolition was confirmed. [See account of this measure, and of the revolt of the Indians, and of its being quelled by Spanish troops, inVOL. XXXVI, in Santa Theresa’s narrative. Concepción continues, p. 262:] This father minister25sent a despatch to Manila, communicating this melancholy information;on receiving it, Señor Faxardo immediately sent to Tandag Captain Gregorio Dicastillo with a detachment of Spanish infantry, so that, in conjunction with Bernabe de la Plaza, alcalde-mayor of that province, they might try all measures, even though they might be severe, for reducing the insurgents. They went to Butuan, where they established a military base or headquarters. In order to justify the severity of war, a general amnesty was published. Many Indians came to present themselves, of whom several were hanged; a few of those who came down from the mountains gained their liberty, the rest remaining as slaves. It was a wicked act of those who executed [the governor’s orders] that they shamefully broke the promise made in the name of the king, and in so august a name committed perfidy. Manila and its suburbs were full of slaves. The royal Audiencia made formal inquiry into these illegal acts, and took the residencia of the principal persons concerned in them. One was put to the torture, and confessed; he was sentenced to decapitation. The property of another was confiscated, after two years of imprisonment; and another found himself reduced to extreme poverty. He who was commissioned by the supreme government for the trial of these suits, Licentiate Don Manuel Suarez de Olivera, the military auditor-general, declared in favor of the Indian slaves, setting all of them free. In order that this decree might be effective, those included under its provisions were registered by father Fray Augustin—then secretary of his province, and known by the name of “Padre Capitan” [i.e.,“Father Captain”]—who included in the list many Indians whose names were not contained in the official documents. He presented it to the governor, and asked for a mandatory decree for their liberty, which was promptly issued; and then he went with the notary through all the houses in which the Indians were distributed, enforcing the execution of the decree. This proceeding cost him many fatigues and annoyances; for since those who had paid out their money for the Indians were left without slaves, there was hardly a house where he came where he would not hear opprobrious language. It also caused him great expenses; but his efficient management of the business came out successfully. He collected all the slaves, and furnished them with transportation to carry them back to their homes and their native land. This benefaction rendered it easy for the Indian chiefs of Linao, who had left their village and were fugitives, to return to their due obedience and vassalage....
Gadanes; 1621[An account of this uprising is given by Aduarte in book ii, chap. xvii, of hisHistoria; see ourVOL. XXXII, pp. 113–120.]In Bohol and Leyte; 1622[See account of the Bohol revolt inVOL. XXIV, pp. 116–119; it also spread to Leyte. We present here some further account, obtained from Murillo Velarde’sHist. de Philipinas, fol. 17, 18; Diaz’sConquistas, pp. 132–136. Concepción (inHist. de Philipinas, v, pp. 20–25) adds nothing new.]The majority of the ministers in the island of Bohol1had gone to Zebu, to celebrate the feasts of the beatification of St. Xavier; in their absence Lucifer attempted to possess himself again of those souls. The divata, or demon, appeared to some Indians in the woods—its face covered, like that of one taking the discipline—and commanded them to quit thegospel ministers and the Spanish vassalage, and take refuge in the hills; and to build him a chapel, where he would aid them and give them whatever they needed to pass their lives in happiness and abundance, without the encumbrance of paying tribute to the Spaniards or dues to the churches. Two or three Indians, who on account of their evil deeds were wandering as fugitives, became priests of this divata, in order to persuade the people to apostasy and rebellion; and, to take away the fear which they naturally feel toward the Spaniards, these priests told them that, if they would attack the Spaniards, the divata would cause the mountains to rise against their foe; that the muskets of the latter would not go off, or else the bullets would rebound on those who fired them; that if any Indian should die, the demon would resuscitate him; that the leaves of the trees would be converted intosaranga(which is a large fish); that when they cut bejucos, these would distil wine instead of water; that from the banana-leaves they would make fine linen; and, in short, that all would be pleasure, enjoyment, and delight. With these magnificent promises, so attractive to men—and especially to the Indians, who are so inclined to idleness and sloth—four villages revolted; only Loboc (which is the chief village) and Baclayon remained firm in the faith, and in loyalty to the king.Information of this reached Zebu, and immediately Don Juan de Alcarazo, alcalde-mayor of Zebu, went to quiet the island;2he invited them to makepeace, for which the rebels did not care. Their boldness increasing, they burned the four villages and their churches; they flung on the ground the rosaries and crosses, and pierced an image of the blessed Virgin eighteen times with javelins—although afterward in Zebu some tried to make amends to her with the most affectionate demonstrations of reverence, and she was placed in our church. Thereupon the chief ordered troops from Zebu, fifty Spaniards and a thousand friendly Indians,3accompanied by a father; and on New Year’s day, 1622, he began the march to the mountains, where the insurgents were. For five days they traveled through rugged hills and deep ravines, crossing marshes where the mud came to their knees, or even to their waists, and shedding their blood on the thorns and briars. On the fifth day, the insurgents killed a friendly Indian; this they celebrated with loud shouts, and it greatly increased their arrogance. On the following day, more than 1,500 rebel Indians attacked our vanguard, which consisted of sixteen Spaniards and three hundred Indians; but when our muskets were fired so many fell dead that the rebels began to retreat to a bamboo thicket. When we followed them, a heavy rain fell, which encouraged the rebels, for they said that our muskets were then useless. But Heaven favored our cause with a marvel, since, although the pans of the musket-locks were full of water, the soldiers declared that the powder never failed to catch fire, nor did the matches go out. Atthis the rebels fled into the mountains; and our men arrived at a village of more than a thousand houses, in the midst of which was the temple of their divata. Our troops found there much food, various jewels of silver and gold, and many bells of the sort those people use—all which was given to our Indians. The rebels were in a fortification of stone, in which they had placed many stones and clods of earth to throw at our men; but the latter, covering themselves with their shields, seized the redoubt, with the death of many of the enemy,4and in a fortnight returned to Loboc. Captain Alcarazo, who was foremost in all these engagements, commanded that some of the rebels be hanged, and published a pardon to the rest; and he returned to Zebu,5where the victory was celebrated. This success had very important results, for it checked the revolt of other islands and other villages—who were expecting the favorable result which the demon had promised them, so that they could shake off the mild yoke of Christ, and with it their vassalage to the Spaniards. Many of them, now undeceived, accepted the pardon; but others, who were stubborn, fortified themselves at the summit of a rugged and lofty hill, difficult of access, and closed the road [to it] with brambles and thorns.6They also filled the paths with very sharp stakes driven into the soil, and placed among the branches of the trees many crossbows,7in order that these, being discharged as our men passed them, might wound the soldiers; and above they provided many stones to throw at the Spaniards, hurling them from the top of the hill. Six months later the same Don Juan Alcarazo returned, to dislodge those rebels with forty Spaniards and many Indians. After suffering great hardships in making the paths accessible, nearly all his men were hurt, by the time they reached the fort, by the many stones which the enemy hurled down from the summit; but our soldiers courageously climbed the ascent, firing their muskets, and killed many of the rebels, putting the rest to flight. Thus was dispersed that sedition, which was one of the most dangerous that had occurred in the islands—not only because the Boholans were the most warlike and valiant of the Indians, but on account of the conspiracy spreading to many other tribes. Noble examples of fidelity in this great disturbance are not lacking. [Murillo Velarde here mentions two instances of this.]The natives of Carigara in the island of Leyte became impatient, and revolted without waiting forthe result in Bohol, incited thereto by Bancao, the ruling chief of Limasava—who in the year 15658received with friendly welcome Miguel Lopez de Legazpi and the Spaniards who came to his island, supplying them with what they needed, for which Phelipe II sent him a royal decree, thanking him for the kind hospitality which he showed to those first Spaniards. He was baptised and, although a young man, showed that he was loyal to the Christians; but, conquered by the enemy [of souls], he changed sides in his old age.9This man lived in the island of Leyte, and with a son of his and another man, Pagali (whom he chose as priest of his idolatry), erected a sacred place to the divata, or devil; and they induced six villages in the island to rebel. In order to remove from them their fear of the Spaniards, these men told their followers that they could change the Spaniards into stones as soon as they saw them, by repeating the wordbato, which signifies “stone;” and that a woman or a child could change them into clay by flinging earth upon them. Father Melchor de Vera went to Zebu to give warning of this sedition and obtain aid to check it. Captain Alcarazo equipped an armada of forty vessels, in which were embarked some Spaniards and many friendly Indians, also the father rector of Zebu and Father Vera; these united with the forces (both Spanish and Indian) that the alcalde of Leyte had. They offered peace to the rebels, but the latter spurned it with contempt. Our men, divided intothree bodies, attacked them; and, when that which Don Juan de Alcarazo commanded came in sight of the rebels, they fled to the hills. Our soldiers followed them, and on the way put to the sword or shot those whom they encountered; and, although the compassion of the Spaniards spared the children and women,10these could not escape the fury of the Indians. Many of the rebels died, the enchantment not availing them by which they had thought to turn the Spaniards into stone or clay; the rest saved themselves by flight. The Spaniards came to a large building which the rebels had erected for their divata; they encamped in it ten days, and then burned it. Some one pierced with a lance Bancao, the chief instigator of the rebellion, not knowing who he was, whom two of his slaves were carrying on their shoulders and immediately his head was placed on a stake as a public warning. He and his children came to a wretched end, as a punishment for their infidelity and apostasy; for his second son was beheaded as a traitor, and a daughter of his was taken captive. To inspire greater terror, the captain gave orders to shoot three or four rebels, and to burn11one of their priests—in order that, by the light of that fire, the blindness in which the divata had kept them deluded might be removed. The Spaniardsalso cut off the head of an Indian who had robbed Father Vinancio [i.e., Vilancio] and broken to pieces an image of the Virgin, and kicked a crucifix; and his head was set up in the same place where he had committed those horrible sacrileges. There were many who, in the midst of so furious a tempest, remained constant in their religious belief. [Several instances of this are related by the author.]Mandayas; 1625[For particulars of this insurrection, see Aduarte’sHistoria, book ii, chaps, xxviii, xxx, in ourVOL. XXXII, pp. 147–152, 162. Cf. Ferrando’s account,Hist. de los PP. Dominicos, ii, pp. 114–117; and ourVOL. XXII, pp. 69, 95.]In Caraga and in Cagayan; 1629[SeeVOL. XXIV, pp. 165, 175, 177, 216, 217, 229; and fuller account of that in Caraga, in Concepción’sHist. de Philipinas, v, pp. 163–179 (in ourVOL. XXXV, pp. 89–91).]In Nueva Segovia; 1639[See Santa Cruz’s account (Hist. Sant. Rosario) in ourVOL. XXXV, pp. 47–51.]Map of the Philippine Islands, drawn by Captain John Kempthorne, ca. 1688; (evidently from earlier map of 1676); photographic facsimileMap of the Philippine Islands, drawn by Captain John Kempthorne,ca.1688; (evidently from earlier map of 1676); photographic facsimile[From original manuscript map in the British Museum]In Pampanga, 1645; and in Bulacán, 1643[The following is taken from Diaz’sConquistas, pp. 483, 484:]This fearful earthquake12was general in all these Filipinas, although it was more severe in some regions than in others—for in the province of Cagayán, in [the land of] one people called Maynanes, a great mountain was cleft open; and the havoc made by itextended as far as Maluco. In the heights of Gapang,13in the province of Pampanga, it was very severe, and lasted several days. Even greater damage might have been done by an uprising that was plotted by an Indian of evil disposition in the villages of Gapang, Santor, Caranglán, and Patabangán, exhorting the natives there to rebel and restore themselves to their former liberty, by slaying the Spaniards and the religious. He assured them that in Manila there were no Spaniards left, because the earth had swallowed them, with the entire city, on the night of the earthquake that occurred on St. Andrew’s day; and that the demon, with whom he had compact and intercourse, had promised him that he would aid the natives so that they might maintain themselves without paying tribute, and might enjoy much prosperity, and provided that they would slay the fathers and burn the churches. The delusion of the Indians of Gapang went so far that they seized arms, and summoned to their aid many heathen Zambals, and burned the churches of Santor and Pantabangán. When this was known in Manila, the encomendero of those villages, Admiral Rodrigo de Mesa, offered his services to pacify them, and went to Gapang with Alférez Callejas, their collectors of tribute, and some friendly Indians; but the insurgents, who now were numerous, badly wounded the encomendero, who fled on horseback, and a year later died from that wound at Manila. They slew Alférez Callejas and many of the loyal Indians who went in his company, and fortified themselves in themountains. The prior and minister, Fray Juan Cabello, escaped by the aid of some other Indians who were not of the hostile party, came to Manila, and gave information of the progress of the rebellion. Opinions differed as to the methods which should be employed in pacifying the insurgents; and our father provincial, Fray Alonso Carbajal, decided to send the father lecturer Fray Juan de Abarca,14a religious for whom the natives of that district had much affection and respect, since he had been their minister for many years. With this commission this religious set out for Pampanga, taking with him a companion, Master-of-camp Don Agustin Songsong, a valiant Pampango, with as many soldiers of that people as seemed necessary. They arrived at Gapang, and by means of father Fray Juan de Abarca’s preaching and his earnest efforts—which would take too long to relate, as would the many perils of death to which he exposed himself—that sedition was finally quelled, and the insurgents returned to their former quiet. But the Indian sorcerer, the cause of this disturbance, did not make his appearance, notwithstanding all the efforts that were made to find him.Another rebellion, which threatened a great outbreak, was checked (in the year 1643) by father Fray Cristobal Enriquez. In the district of Malolos in the province of Bulacán, an Indian named Don Pedro Ladía, a native of Borney, went about promoting sedition; he proclaimed that to him belonged the right of being king over the provinces of Tagalos,alleging that he was a descendant of Raja Matanda,15the petty king whom the Spaniards found at Manila in the year 1571. With these and other impostures, aided by wine—the chief counselor in matters of policy and war, among those natives—and with the consultations with the demon which always figure on these occasions, he kept many villages of that district disquieted. But the sagacious procedure of father Fray Cristobal Enriquez intercepted all these misfortunes which were threatening us, by furnishing a plan for the arrest of Don Pedro Ladía—who already was styling himself “king of the Tagálogs;” he was sent to Manila, where, he paid with his life for his vain presumption. And thus this revolt, lacking even that weak foundation, was entirely quieted.In the Pintados; 1649–50[The best authorities on this insurrection are the Jesuit historians, since it arose in regions under their spiritual charge. We select the earliest account, that of Combés, written while the incidents of that time were fresh in men’s minds; it is found in hisHist. de Mindanao, col. 489–498. Murillo Velarde also relates these events, inHist. de Philipinas, fol. 171b–175. Cf. the Augustinian Diaz, inConquistas, pp. 517–523; and the Recollect Concepción,Hist. de Philipinas, vi, pp. 247–280.]The queen of Joló, Tuambaloca, wrote at the same time, asking permission to come to end her days in the island of Basilan, and all was so secure from war that she remained as arbiter of peace for all the islands of Samboangan; and, as such, even the governorof Manila availed himself of her power16in order to pacify the disturbances in the islands....This occasion made sufficiently evident the greatness of the benefit that the islands owe to the Society for the [treaties of] peace made with these kings—thus finding the royal arms at liberty for more pressing exigencies, and being set free, as regards those kings, from the most painful anxiety lest their forces would be allied with our dangers. With this, attention could be given to the punishment of Burney, a pirate as cruel as impious; and to finding external relief in the domestic losses and evils which had rendered our safety so uncertain. [Our forces were thus ready] in an almost general revolt of all the islands, in the provinces that were most subjugated and had never tested the keenness of our arms; for they had yielded to the echoes of our trumpets, receiving our troops in peace. But in these recent years had been operating in these new worlds the influences of that malign planet which was ruining Europe (and especially our España), with revolts of entire kingdoms, and has caused rivers of blood to run in the populous kingdom of China; and it reached these islands, to wreak on them its fierceness. And God—permitting evil, for the credit of virtue and the reward of the good—gave warlike courage to the most pusillanimous tribes, and armed the nakedness of these Indians to resist the unconquerable steel of our Spaniards.The first region to declare against us was the province of Ibabao, which is in the island of Samar;it is the coast which faces the north, beaten by the sea of Nueva España. There the Society has a new residence, which is occupied by six fathers. All the villages connected with it revolted, following the audacious stand of the chief among them, which is Palapag. This was occasioned by the oppressions arising from our public works—which is a motive that should appeal to them, since they were the ones interested in the defense [of the coasts against their enemies]. But the Indians, as barbarians, do not heed future perils, but rather present fatigues; and to these their slothful nature opposes itself. The losses of galleons made it necessary to maintain in that province a shipyard. This drafted all the carpenters from Manila, and, in order to supply those that were needed on that shore, it was necessary to demand from each province a certain number—a quota of hardly one to each village, and this so equitably that to worldly prudence these allotments seemed advantageous, for which many would eagerly ask. But as the Indians have grown up in their wretchedness and in the life of brutes in their remote mountains, it seems to them that they are maintaining their liberty. They resented greatly this political compulsion to citizenship and the formation of a village, [so that they would live] as men. Those in the provinces that were most civilized and were nearest to Manila had obeyed the decree without opposition, but these [remote] provinces immediately made such demonstrations of displeasure that all of us perceived the difficulty [of enforcing the demand], and several undertook to represent it [to the authorities]. Don Diego de Faxardo was the governor, a man so harsh in his methods, and having so little pious regard forthe [religious] ministers, that their intercessions only made him more cruel, on account of the dogmatic opinion which he followed, that the ministers are the ones who oppose the royal service. Accordingly they all gave up any active opposition, but moderated in a thousand ways the execution [of the decree] (which they saw could not be avoided), sometimes with gifts, sometimes with considerations of utility. The men of Ibabao, trusting in the ruggedness of their coast or the inaccessibility of their mountains, or in the succor which had been positively promised to them by the Dutch—who every year make port on their coasts, awaiting with their armed fleets the relief [sent us] from Nueva España—immediately declared themselves [against us]. At the outset, in their stubbornness and disobedience, until their affairs were settled and their retreat prevented, they talked of fleeing to the mountains. This was their first opinion; but a malicious Indian interfered in the discussion, and told them that they could not accomplish anything by that course, because the village would not be destroyed, nor would the promoters [of the rebellion] have the following that they desired, unless they ordered that all should rebel, and slay the father, and burn the church; for their guilt in such action would intimidate all of them. As their councils were held in the excitement of wine, all readily approved this extravagant proposal. Immediately the demon offered them, for its execution, the evilly-inclined mind of a vile Indian named Sumoroy, who, although he had been much favored by the fathers as being a skilful pilot on the sea, and on this account had always enjoyed immunity from tribute and personal services, and wasactually the castellan of the fortified residence that they had there, yet desired—because they had removed an obstacle17which for many years had kept him at variance with and separated from his lawful wife—to find an opportunity for vengeance. This man offered to kill the father; and, confirming his resolve with many draughts to his success, and loud shouts, they dreamed that they were already masters of the entire world, and had slain all the Spaniards. He had already prejudiced their minds against his enemy, telling each Indian in the village separately that he had been assigned by the father to go to the Manila shore; consequently, no one now repaired to mass or took notice of public affairs. The father rector—who was Father Miguel Ponce Barberan, a native of the kingdom of Aragon—saw plainly the hostile disposition of the people, butnevercould have imagined so insane a resolve; and if any one could most confidently throw aside anxiety it was this father, for he had been, without contradiction, the most beloved and cherished by the natives, of all the fathers who had itinerated there—and, as well, the one who had spent most years in ministering to those people. A Tuesday, then, the first day of June in the year 1649, the traitor selected for his sacrilegious parricide; and, as a thief in the house, who knew its avenues of entrance and egress very well, he took his stand within, awaiting the father at the top of the stairway, when he should ascend it after supper. While the father halted on the stairs to say a prayer for the souls in purgatory—for which, it happened, the bells were ringing—Sumoroy hurled a javelin at him fromabove, which pierced his breast and immediately brought him to the ground; nor did he breathe again, spending his last energy in pronouncing the sweet names of Jesus and Mary.For two days the fathers remained at home in suspense, without understanding the cause of this evil deed, or knowing who was its author; and the rebels themselves delayed to commit sacrileges by breaking with shame and declaring themselves [rebels]. Finally, on the day of Corpus Christi, about noon, the murderer came in sight, leading the multitude, and openly declared that it was he who had slain the father, loudly defying the whole world. They gave the fathers and the brother whom they found in the house the opportunity to leave it, provided that they removed nothing from it; and immediately, as barbarians and enemies of God—forgetting the faith and Christian belief of so many years, in which they had grown up—they sacked and burned the church and house, profaning the ornaments, and cutting from them drawers and turbans according to their old-time usage. If there were any of the faithful [among the crowd], they let themselves be persuaded by the argument of the barbarians for their timidity, that if they remained among the insurgents the anger of the Spaniards would be moderated, and accordingly they followed the perverse ones. The report of this sacrilegious act fanned the flame of infernal zeal itself, and found the minds of the people so ready that, almost as if there had been a general decision and they only awaited the signal for putting it into execution, in almost all the villages on that coast they burned their churches, the ministers fled, and the rebels retreated to themountains, where they fancied they could maintain their former brutal mode of life.In the rest of the provinces—either because they perhaps regarded it as somewhat discreditable that the men of Ibabao should display their valor in order to oppose the Spaniards, and they themselves not do so; or because all of them were (as some desire to be) in communication with the Dutch—they proceeded to follow the example and imitate the boldness of the men of Palapag. Our arms would be found greatly embarrassed if those of the Dutch were to add confidence to the insolence of the Indians; and, at the very least, there would not remain a province which would not be up in arms, and no minister or Spaniard of those who were scattered among them would escape. But God our Lord, who chastised as a father, and chose to correct with clemency the wickedness with which the Spaniards abuse the subject condition of these natives—and as a warning to the latter, to confirm them in the truth of our holy faith and disabuse them of their errors—so adjusted the times that although the Dutch fleets had not failed to come to the islands for ten years past, about that very month [i.e., June], in this year the peace kept them away, and the publication of it arrived here in good time, so that our forces were left free for the punishment [of the rebels].Immediately the province of Camarines, on the mainland of Manila, declared itself against us, and the father guardian [of the Franciscans] was banished from Solsogon; and their lead was followed by their island of Masbate, where an alférez was put to death. This presumptuous act disturbed the peace of Cebú Island; and its natives also, without fearingthe strong fort and the city to near them, also defied us, another officer being slain there. In the province of Caraga, the men of Linao revolted, displaying their evil intentions by the murder of the father prior (a discalced Augustinian), and of the Spaniards in a small garrison which was kept there, some dozen in number; but few escaped, and those were badly wounded. In the province of Iligan, which borders on Caraga, the Manobos, a barbarian tribe, seized the peaceable village of Cagayan. The entire coast [i.e., of northern Mindanao], and the adjacent island of Camigin, followed their example; in Camigin they bound the father prior (also a discalced Augustinian), the impious Indians going so far as to place their brutal feet on the neck of the holy religious. In the jurisdiction of Samboangan, the Subanos went astray—their principal village, named Siocon, releasing itself from obedience with the sacrilegious parricide of Father Juan del Campo, and the atrocious murder of his companions, as we shall afterward relate. The Boholans, on account of their valor, retained their esteem for the faith. Thus, for the punishment of so many atrocious deeds and for quelling the insolence of the barbarians, there remained to us no other arms than those of Samboangan, and no other auxiliaries than those people who had been our friends for so few years.Those of Ibabao aroused the utmost anxiety, their insolence continually calling us to arms; for, not content with atrocities in their own country, they went to disquiet another region. They even disturbed those who dwelt on the opposite coast of Samar, threatening them with ruin if they did not follow the lead of the others. Their attempts began tobe dangerous, since they stirred up the village of Paranas, which is only two leguas from the seat of our jurisdiction there—Catbalogan, where the alcalde-mayor resides; and in fact many fled to the mountains, without regard to the war which menaced them, when the Spaniards were placed under arms, two leguas from their abode. In the other villages [the natives] were in arms, and regarded us all with apprehension. At the outset, the alcalde-mayor was ready with such force as he could assemble—adventurers in the province, mestizos, and Indians; but, as the former were all collectors [of tribute] and the latter all relatives [of the insurgents], some were not accustomed to arms and the hardships of campaigning, and the others could not use weapons against those of their own blood. Accordingly this, instead of checking their fury, only rendered their boldness more insolent, and gave unwonted force to their arms; and men who before did not find enough woods in which to hide themselves from a Camucon ship, now went so far as to make daybreak assaults on our troops, and slew our men before our eyes. And as a final token of their contempt, when the captain demanded from them the head of Sumoroy, by way of atonement for what he had done, they sent down the river to him the head of a swine—although in the end, worn out, they considered it good luck that they could again secure peace.[The authorities] in Manila, seeing that the revolt was continually gathering strength, and that the insolence of the insurgents was passing all bounds, recognized how important it was to repress it, undertaking its chastisement in earnest. For this purpose they despatched General Andres Lopez deAzaldigui (who was chief of the royal galleys of these islands), with the title of lieutenant of the captain-general; and with this authority he levied many Spaniards, being empowered to obtain them from all the fortified posts. He made all the necessary arrangements for the enterprise, but he soon recognized the danger that he incurred among the natives—who all, regarding those of Palapag as restorers of their liberty, were rejoicing over their successes—and that in our reverses we had cause to fear them as enemies, since they were on the watch to know what fortune those of Palapag had in order to follow it if they were sure of the result. A large fleet of native boats was needed for the transportation of provisions and military supplies; but, the greater the number of these that were thus assembled, the more was the danger increased. On this account the general wrote to Manila, demanding galleys; and there, in order to avoid the expense of galleys and the perils of seas so rough, they despatched orders that the armada should come from Zamboangan—for the loyalty of those people against the Bisayans, as against their old-time enemies, could not be doubted. And with the support of these [auxiliaries] effective aid might be rendered by those of the inland provinces, which had been ruled without risk by the Spaniards because they did not go there entirely in the hands of the natives.The armada was despatched as promptly as possible by the commandant [of Zamboanga]. Sargento-mayor Pedro Duran, with two captains in active service—as chief, Captain Juan Muñoz, who was commander of the armada; and as second in command Captain Juan de Ulloa—with the most choiceand distinguished soldiers of the Lutaos. As leader of these, since he was the military chief of that people, was sent General Don Francisco Ugbo (whom I have previously mentioned), with the master-of-camp, sargento-mayor, and captains of the tribe, and as many as four hundred of its men. Father Francisco Martinez had then arrived at Samboangan, to act as rector of the new [Jesuit] college there—of which the official recognition from our father general came in this same year—a religious who deserved well of those Christian churches, for he had sustained them in their earliest infancy, having labored in the arduous beginnings of [the missions in] Joló and Samboangan. By this [departure of the Lutaos] Father Alexandro Lopez found his occupation gone, and was therefore able to embark with the armada, which needed his presence and aid, as it was going for so important an enterprise—on the fortunate result of which, as many thought, depended the fidelity of all the provinces of Pintados. All fortified themselves with the holy sacraments, as solicitously as Christians of very long standing could do; and, as if they were such, on all occasions which arose in the voyage and in the battle itself they made evident, by their reverence for their holy name [of Christians] and appreciation of the danger, how they felt these obligations in their hearts. The sargento-mayor of the tribe (who belonged to its highest nobility) encountered a temptation to his own perdition; but he put it behind him by saying that he was going to war, and could not at that time discuss a matter which would work injury to his soul.Great was the rejoicing which this armada caused in all the towns where it landed, notably in the cityof Cebú, where the Lutaos were known (and most of them, especially those who commanded the joangas, had the reputation of being pirates), at seeing them, now Christians, repair to the churches with so much devotion and attend divine worship with such reverence—those very people who had ravaged the islands with fire, and damaged nearly all the churches of Bisayas with their outrages and robberies; those who yesterday were enemies, but today bearing arms in our aid; and those who yesterday were cruel enemies to God, now the avengers of insults to Him. Tears sprang to [the eyes of] all, and they did not cease to give a thousand thanks to the fathers for their labors, so effectual—not only in the conversion of that Moro people, but for the benefit of these Christian communities, removing their terror and turning their dread and mistrust of the Moro arms into joy and expectation of success.Arriving at Palapag by the month of May [i.e., in 1650], they found that the leader of the campaign was Captain Don Xinés de Roxas; and that it had been much retarded on account of the reputation which the men of Palapag had steadily gained by their daring acts. They had fortified themselves on a height which was regarded as impregnable by nature, as only one path was known by which it could be ascended, and that very narrow and difficult. On this path the enemy had built fortifications, and from loopholes therein they did much damage to our men, without risk [to themselves]; they lost no opportunity to fall suddenly on our troops, and any man who strayed from the rest paid the penalty with his life, so sharply did they note any negligence on our part; and, as masters of the land, they boldly engaged us,secure from being pursued. The captain wearied himself much with various fortifications, and kept the men exhausted; and he engaged in the same fatiguing labor those of the armada, until the sargento-mayor of that tribe, Don Alonso Maconbon, was bold enough to ask him, face to face, why he was wearing out the men in work which was not important.He told the captain that they had not come to haul logs, but to fight in battle, and that he must contrive to employ them in fighting; for, if he did not, they would go back to their homes. At seeing the daring of this man, and the angry words that the soldiers of Samboangan—who, as veterans, were eager to have an opportunity for distinguishing themselves—flung at him, although he resented their lack of respect he was rejoiced to see their courage; and he was encouraged to make the assault, which, with the coxcombs and foppish adventurers from Manila, seemed a dangerous enterprise. And, as those of the armada, it seems, were boasting most of their valor, he assigned them to the brunt of the battle, in order thus to employ their courage in carrying out their own advice.He made ready, then, the infantry of the armada, with the Lutaos, for a day that he set for the assault, which they were obliged to make over a precipitous ascent, exceedingly dangerous—so that they could make their way up it only by giving their weapons and their hands to each other.18At nightfall theyreached the slope, and in the darkness of the night proceeded to ascend it. The enemy had their sentinels, but our Lord easily diverted their attention by sending a heavy shower of rain—which our men regarded as a misfortune, which made the enterprise more difficult and the ascent all the more dangerous. But it was altogether fortunate for the expedition; for the pass was so difficult that the sentinel alone could defend it against a thousand assailants, and the most feeble old man was sufficient for guarding it, especially if the danger [from an attack] were known to the insurgents, who had given all their attention to the troop of the commander Don Xinés. The time while the rain fell was enough to enable all the soldiers to reach the top without danger; and so careful were the men that not one of them had his match extinguished. They halted there, waiting for the daylight; and when the rain gave opportunity to the sentinel he came back, waving a torch in order to light his path. Our men could have slain him; but they let him go, so as not to raise an alarm. Either because he heard their voices, or saw some lighted match, he waited a little while, and then returned to inform the rest of it; and the troops, seeing that they were discovered, marched toward the fortifications. So quickly they reached them that the enemy at once took to flight; our men pursued them with their arms, but the enemy quickly escaped, by dangerous precipices and paths which they know well. But the Spaniards did not choose to divert much of their attention [to the fugitives], rather taking care to occupy promptly their Rochelle;19accordingly, theyerected their fortifications, and occupied them with their artillery, supplies, and weapons. From that place they sent for the commander, Captain Don Xinés de Roxas, who went up to take possession of the gains made by the arduous efforts and daring bravery of the men of Samboangan. In this enterprise Captain Francisco de Leyba, then commander of the Samboangan armada, and Captain Silvestre de Rodas, an old soldier of Terrenate, especially distinguished themselves.The Lutaos dispersed through the place, and, breaking into a house, found the mother of the traitor and parricide Sumoroy; and they dragged her out and tore her to pieces. Sumoroy had been sent down [from their stronghold] the day before, secretly, in a hammock, and all the children and women the rebels had already placed in safety; for, from the day when they saw the Samboangan armada, they felt that their cause was lost, and, lacking confidence in the outcome, they forestalled the danger. Thus was ended this longed-for enterprise, and the war in Ibabao; for the natives, now disarmed and divided, would have no courage left, save for flight, and the hardships of a life so full of fear [as that of fugitives] would oblige them to surrender, one by one—as was actually the case. Accordingly, the armada [and its men] took their departure, leaving the islands thankful for what they had accomplished and edified by their good example. For in the heat of conflict and in dangerous encounters (which is the time when the natural disposition and the inner soul are displayed), those soldiers did not fail to invoke the sweet names of Jesus and Mary, without ceasing or neglecting this in the utmost confusionand ardor of battle, giving pious examples to the Christian soldiery—to the admiration of the natives, [although they were] accustomed to these [pious] observances; since the clamorous efforts [of the soldiers], and solicitude for their danger, disturb the piety of even the oldest veterans.[We append to this the following account from Diaz’sConquistas(pp. 517–523), as being more detailed and furnishing a somewhat different light on various incidents of the insurrection. In order to place it in the present document, as belonging to this special subject, it has been removed from its place in Diaz’s history of his order and its missions (seeVOL. XXXVII, pp. 149–284).]There was an Indian named Sumoroy in the village of Palapag, who was regarded as one of the best, although he was one of the very worst, and was as evil as his father—who, accredited with the same hypocrisy, was a babaylán and priest of the devil, and made the other Indians apostatize. He was greatly addicted to drunkenness, and he had so promoted it [in others] that all the village was contaminated with this vice, as well as that of lust—vices so closely allied to idolatry, of which truth there are many examples in Holy Writ. The inhabitants of Palapag were corrupted by those evil habits at the time when Governor Don Diego Fajardo—with the intention of relieving the near-by provinces of Tagalos and Pampanga from the burden of working, at the harbor of Cavite, in the building of galleons and vessels necessary for the conservation and defense of these islands—had ordered the alcaldes of Leite and other provinces to send men thence toCavite for that employment. That was a difficult undertaking, because of the distance of more than one hundred leguas, and the troubles and wrongs to the said Indians that would result from their leaving their homes for so long a time. The father ministers went to the alcaldes, and the latter to Manila, to represent those troubles and wrongs; but the only thing that they obtained was a more stringent order to execute the mandate without more reply. Consequently they could do nothing else than obey the orders of the superior government, although they feared what very soon occurred. But what good end could so mistaken and pernicious a decision have?As soon as the inhabitants of Palapag saw that the alcaldes-mayor were beginning to collect men to send them to the harbor of Cavite, they began to go oftener to the meetings in the house of Sumoroy and his father, and to begin (when heated with wine, the ordinary counselor of the Indians) to organize their insurrection. They quickly appointed leaders, of whom the chief was Don Juan Ponce, a very influential man and a bad Christian, but married to a wife from a chief’s family in the village of Catubig; she was very different from him in her morals, for she was very virtuous. The second leader was one Don Pedro Caamug, and the third the above-named Sumoroy. Then they discussed the murder of the father minister, Miguel Ponce of the Society of Jesus, an Aragonese,20at the suggestion of that malignantsorcerer and priest of the devil, the father of Sumoroy, who charged that undertaking upon his son. On Tuesday evening, the first of June, 1649, he went to the house of the father, who had just eaten his dinner, and was ascending a narrow ladder to his house. Sumoroy awaited him at that place, and hurling his lance, pierced his breast from side to side, and left him dead, without more time than to say “Jesus, Mary.” They spared the life of Father Julio Aleni,21a Roman, saying that he was not their minister, but was dedicated to China, whence is inferred their motive in killing the [former] father. Next day they despoiled the house and church of its furniture and holy ornaments; profaned the altars and sacred images; scattered the holy oils; and used the silver chrismatories for the ajonjolí oil with which they anoint their hair.It was the will of divine Providence to show forth the devout fidelity of the women amid the infidelityand apostasy of the men; for, the day before that spoliation, Doña Angelina Dinagungan, wife of Don Juan Ponce, accompanied by another good Christian woman, Doña María Malón, went to the church and saved some holy images and ornaments, besides a chest belonging to the father, with the little that it contained, which they afterward surrendered to him. Among the images that that devout woman saved from the sacrilegious hands of the rebels was an image of our Lady of the Conception, which was kept with great propriety in the house of Doña María Malón, and which was often seen to sweat abundantly and to shed tears, a miracle which spread throughout the village. When the perfidious Sumoroy heard of it, he said: “The Virgin Mary is weeping. Let us see if she will weep if we burn the house;” and he went thither, with other men like himself, and set fire to it. But Divine Clemency did not permit the fire to catch in that house, although it was of bamboo and nipa like the others. The husband of Doña María Malón, called Don Gabriel Hongpón, was a head man [cabeza de barangay]; and only he and all his people remained faithful to God and to their king. God gave him courage to resist so many, who always respected him as he was so influential a man in that village of Palapag.The insurgents incited the inhabitants of Catubig, who also revolted. They killed a Spaniard, and burned the church and house of the father minister, after having sacked it. The contagion having spread to other villages, the people did the same at Pambohan, or Bayugo, Catarman, and Bonan; and thence passed to infect the provinces of Ibalón22andCamarines, where they killed a Franciscan religious, the guardian of Sorsogón. They killed Alférez Torres in Masbate. In Caraga, the inhabitants of the village of Tinao revolted and killed their minister, a discalced Augustinian, and a few Spanish soldiers of a small presidio established there, the rest escaping the fury of the insurgents. In Iligán, the village of Cagayán, a mission of our discalced religious, revolted. In the adjacent island of Camiguín, a mission of the same religious, they bound their minister and set their feet on his neck. The Subanos mutinied in the jurisdiction of Zamboanga, in the village called Siocon, where they killed Father Juan del Campo23of the Society of Jesus. The villages of the islands of Cebú and Bohol, who are warlike people, were wavering in their loyalty. But Divine Clemency did not permit them to declare themselves. Thus with the patience and tolerance of the father ministers, who suffered many hardships and found themselves in great danger, those fires—which could have consumed the loyalty of the provinces of these islands—were soon extinguished. The first village to rebel in the island of Leite was Bacor, where the church and house of the father minister were burned, and the people joined the inhabitants of Palapag, leaving the village deserted. The insurgents pretended that two Dutch ships werenear, which were coming to aid them as equals in their rebellion against the Church and the vassalage due to their lawful king; and that pretense greatly aided them in their evil design.As soon as the alcalde-mayor of Leite heard of the insurrection, he collected all the boats and men possible, but these were very fragile means to oppose to so vast a multitude of insurgent and desperate men. Consequently, although they went to Palapag with the said alcalde-mayor, one Captain Don Juan Gómez de tres Palacios y Estrado, they served no other purpose than to make the rebellion worse, and to encourage the enemy. The latter intrenched themselves on an impregnable hill called “the table of Palapag;” and what is the greatest cause for surprise is that a Spaniard called Pedro Zapata, who had married an Indian woman in Palapag (who must have perverted him), went with them. But the insurgents gave him his pay by killing him, in order to take away the woman, a worthy reward for his incredible treason. They made trenches and strong stockades, with many sharp stakes and snares, and many stone boulders suspended, which, by being thrown upon the strongest army, would cause cruel injury. To work greater harm, they gave command of their men to Don Pedro Caamug, who descended the hill with two hundred insurgents and returned to the village of Palapag, where he killed the father minister, Vicente Damián,24and two boys who wereserving him, who in their fear were clinging to the father. They again burned the church, a chamber of nipa and bamboo which Don Gabriel and his faithful followers had erected for the celebration of mass, furnishing this additional bond to their apostasy and rebellion. They returned to their impregnable hill after this, which was in their eyes a great victory, and began to fortify themselves much more strongly than they were, as they feared the war that was expected from Manila.Governor Don Diego Fajardo, seeing that the undertaking of the reduction of the inhabitants of Palapag was an affair requiring much care and consideration, because of the evil effects that would result from any unfavorable event, after holding a council of war determined to entrust this undertaking to the commander of the galleys, Andrés López de Asaldigui (already named on many occasions), as he had all the good qualities which can form a good soldier; for he was very brave and prudent, fortunate in the enterprises that had been entrusted to him, and a prime favorite with the soldiers because of his great liberality. That commander left Manila with the best men whom he could enlist, both Spaniards and Pampangos, and went to Catbalogan, the capital of that province, where he mustered thirteen oared vessels and two champans. His first order was to send some vessels to Panay and Iloilo for food. Well informed of the condition of the rebels of Palapag, he found that he needed more war-supplies for that conquest; for the insurgents had extended their revoltto many villages of the island, and the other neighboring islands were apparently prepared to follow their bold acts, if they were at all fortunate. Therefore Andrés López de Asaldegui sent to ask the governor for the galleys in his charge; but the latter did not send them, in order to avoid the expense that would be caused the royal treasury, which was very needy. But he sent order instead that the fleet of Zamboanga should be at his disposal.[At this juncture, Asaldigui is summoned by the governor to investigate the loss of the galleon “Encarnación,” and “entrusting the Palapag enterprise to Captain Ginés de Rojas—a brave soldier, but one who had little reputation and affection among the soldiers, who regretted that order exceedingly, and would have returned home had they been able. To such an extent does the reputation of the leader further any enterprise.”]Don Ginés de Rojas assembled the thirteen oared vessels and the two champans, in the latter of which he stowed the food. Likewise the fleet of Zamboanga came up with four caracoas and some Spaniards, and four hundred Lutaos; these are Indians of that region who have been recently converted to our holy faith from the errors of the cursed sect of Mahomet, by the efforts and toil of the religious of the Society. Their commandant was their master-of-camp Don Francisco Ugbo, a Lutao, and a brave man; and their sargento-mayor Don Alonso Macobo, of the same nation. The chief commander of that fleet was Captain Juan Muñoz, the admiral was Juan de Ulloa, and the captain was Suárez, who were veteran soldiers. In addition to that succor there came from Cebú Captain Don Francisco de Sandoval and JuanFernández de León, who brought many men from Sialo, Caraga, and other provinces. When all those forces were assembled in Catbalogan, Don Ginés de Rojas divided them into three divisions, two under command of Sandoval and León, and the third in his own charge. He ordered Captain Sandoval to go to his encomienda at Catubig, and thence, with all the men whom he could assemble, to go to reduce the village of Palapag. Captain León was ordered to go with his men through Tubig, Sulat, Borongán, and other villages—first, however, to go to Guigán, to get as many men there as possible. Don Ginés de Rojas chose the villages of Catarmán and Bobor, where his encomienda lay.All things were ready to undertake the conquest of the impregnable hill. Nothing worthy of note happened to Captain Don Francisco de Sandoval, but the Indians of Bacor prepared an ambush against Juan Fernández de León in a very dangerous pass. Juan de León de Paranas had gone out, embarking in the river of Nasán, which is very rapid because of its great current—and among other dangerous places is one more dangerous than all, namely, a fall and cataract which is two spear-lengths in height. Consequently, in order to proceed, one must unlade the boats; and, after raising them with great toil by means of certain very thick and strong rattans, must, after suspending or letting the boat down thus, again lade it. There did the enemy set their ambush for Juan de León, but it was disclosed by a friendly Indian. Our men firing their muskets and arquebuses at that side, the Indians fled with great loss; and our men proceeded to the bar of the river, where they fortified themselves in a stout stockade.Sandoval did the same in Catubig, as did Don Silvestre de Rodas, whom Don Ginés sent as a reënforcement to Sandoval.Those leaders, having arranged matters in this manner, continued to invite and pacify the many Indians who presented themselves. But those who were entrenched on the hill, confident in their fortress and defense, persisted obstinately in their revolt, and tried to get the other villages not to declare in our favor. Don Ginés fortified his post, and ordered each captain to do the same with his, for he had resolved to blockade and capture the natives on the hill by hunger. The natives learned from their spies that Don Ginés had but few men in his quarters, as the rest had gone to get provisions; and, having determined to use so favorable an opportunity, many of them went at night, by the river, near the land. When they thought that our men were very careless and sound asleep, they pulled some stakes out of the fortification of Don Ginés, and entered in a disorderly mob. But the sentinels hearing the noise, sounded the alarm. Don Ginés, awaking, seized his sword and buckler; and, accompanied by those who could follow him so hastily, confronted the enemy, and drove them to flight with great loss—as was judged from the abundance of blood that was seen in the camp in the morning. But it was not without any harm to our men, some of whom were wounded, although no one died. One ball struck Sumoroy on the shoulder, but only one dead man was left in the camp; for our opponents dragged the others away and threw them into the water. Don Ginés did not care to pursue them, fearing some ambush, which would have been easy in that darkness.The soldiers grumbled much at the great caution and prudence of Don Ginés de Rojas, who thought only of strengthening his fortifications, to the great labor of those who now desired to busy themselves with the enemy, and not the trees of the forest. That rose to such a pitch that the sargento-mayor of the Lutaos, Don Francisco Macombo, went to Don Ginés impatiently, and told him that neither he nor his men had come from Zamboanga to cut timber but to fight with the enemies of Palapag. Don Ginés was not displeased to see the willingness of his soldiers to fight, and therefore, in order to employ it, he had the men called to arms, and arranged the attack. He formed two divisions [for attack] from the whole army, and left the third to guard the camp. The assault was made in two parts—one by the open road, although it was better defended by the opponents; and the other by a precipitous path which was passable for the birds alone—for it was a huge steep rock, and so narrow at the place where the camp of the insurgents was established that only a single man could enter an opening made by nature—a place called for that reason by the natives, in their own language, “the eye of a needle.” The men climbed up by that path, using feet and hands without carrying their arms; for these were carried by him who followed, and afterward given to him who was ahead; and so they did one with another. In addition to that, the insurgents had posted a sentinel there to advise them of any new move, for which a few coming to his aid would be sufficient to prevent many from effecting an entrance.Don Ginés entrusted that difficult undertaking to Captain Silvestre de Rodas, a native of Rota, and asoldier of great renown in his time, of whom are recounted incredible exploits performed by him in Ternate. He gave him command of the Lutao soldiers, with their commander Don Francisco Macombo; for himself Don Ginés took the battalion of the soldiers who attacked the hill in front. The vanguard and rearguard were placed in command of Captains Sandoval and Juan Fernández de León. The assault being planned in that form, Don Ginés engaged the enemy with his men, with great valor, to the sound of drums and trumpets, and went up the hill with great difficulty and danger. For the insurgents, cutting the rattans by which the stones and very large trunks of trees were fastened and kept back, would have been able by rolling them down to do great damage to our men, had not divine Providence directed these missiles to places where they could do no damage. Our men went up most of the hill with this obstinacy, and the enemy went out to meet them with so great valor that it seemed rather desperation; and the damage inflicted upon them by our arquebuses did not cool their obstinacy, for they tried to throw themselves on our spears and swords in their anxiety to die while killing [others]. The great advantage of the fortress of the hill increased their courage, as it could have caused great loss to our men to fight in the open and unsheltered. The fight lasted many hours, the enemy often being relieved, for they had many brave and well-armed men on the hill. Don Ginés de Rojas, seeing that the fury of the enemy was invincible (for they were fighting more like lions than like men), and that his men could not proceed with the undertaking, because they had no further strength and were tired,and had many wounded, yielded for the time being, and sounded the retreat, leaving more vigorous experience for another day. The enemy also retired, satisfied at the resistance that they had shown, although much to their cost.Very different was the success of the brave Silvestre de Rodas, with his Lutaos in charge of Don Francisco Ugbo and Don Alonso Macombo, who on the second of July, 1650, made the assault in the most difficult point—which was the eye of the needle in the rock, as we have stated above, through which Silvestre de Rodas was the first to go. He chose the silence of the night, a time when they were least likely to be discovered. Climbing up one by one and without arms, with the labor that was necessary, at the middle of the ascent an obstacle occurred that could have blocked so great an enterprise. That was a very heavy rain, which lasted a great part of the night, and which the men endured without the slightest shelter, but with great vigilance and care that fire for their matches should not be lacking—availing themselves for that purpose of the shields of the Lutaos, which are calledcarazas, and are made of long narrow pieces of wood, with which they cover all the body at the side. The rain ceased and, although they were soaking, they all resumed the ascent of the hill; they reached the entrance of the rock at an opportune time, when the sentinel, quite unsuspicious of such an assault, was absent, as he had gone to get some fire (without the company of which those Indians cannot live), or indeed have a smoke, for they think that that furnishes them with fine company. On that account, Silvestre de Rodas and some of the foremost, who were the most vigorouswere enabled to enter. The sentinel returned with a brand in his hand, and when he was near perceived the bad effect of his carelessness, and believed that our camp was already upon him. He looked in astonishment, and then, hurriedly taking flight, began to cry out and announce that our men had already entered the hill by means of the rock. Not less was the confusion of all, who were quite free from the dread of so unexpected an assault. Confused and lacking in counsel, a panic terror seized them and forced them into disorganized flight, so that Silvestre de Rodas and the Lutaos were allowed to become masters of the field. Unfurling their victorious banners, they took possession of the lodgings, trenches, and food of the enemy. Don Ginés de Rojas ascended the hill with his whole army, and destroyed the insurgent quarters by setting fire to them. Having published a general pardon, those who had been insurgents before, presented themselves in peace.The chief leader Sumoroy and his sorcerer father refused to put in an appearance, or to talk of peace. But the very ones whom he had caused to rebel killed him, and carried his head to Don Ginés de Rojas, although they had been so loyal to him before that when the alcalde-mayor of Leite went at the beginning to reduce them to peace, and asked them as the first condition to deliver to him the head of Sumoroy, they, making light of the request, sent him the head of a swine. But afterward, as a token of their true obedience, they delivered the head, without any one asking for it. Don Juan Ponce remained in hiding in the island of Cebú for a long time, but after having obtained pardon he returned to Palapag;there he committed crimes that were so atrocious that the alcalde-mayor seized him and sent him to Manila, where he paid for those crimes on the scaffold. He who had the best end was Don Pedro Caamug; for he was the first to present himself, and showed great loyalty in the reduction of the others. He continued all his life to be very quiet, and was governor of his village, where he was highly esteemed; and it was proved that he was not the one who had killed Father Vicente with his hands, although he was captain of that band. Moreover, it was found to be advisable to overlook much on that occasion, as the quiet of all the Pintados Islands, who were awaiting the end of the rebels of Palapag, depended on it.[The following additional information is obtained from Concepción’sHist. de Philipinas, vi, pp. 247–280:][p. 254:] From here [i.e., Cebú] leaped more than sparks to the province of Caraga, where there had been some causes for resentment between the alcalde-mayor and the father minister of Tandag. The father had rebuked the alcalde for oppressions inflicted on the Indians, and, perceiving that his exhortations were unheeded, he carried his complaints to the supreme tribunal, where hearing was given to them. The alcalde-mayor was angry at being prodded from Manila, and found means to take his revenge. Governor Faxardo, vigilant in defending the provinces from the Dutch, gave orders to reconnoiter the harbors and fortify the military posts; and, that he might take seasonable precautions, he solicited accurate information [from the officials].The alcalde-mayor, in the anger that he felt, availed himself of this opportunity. He informed the governor that the fort of Tandag was in condition to make a vigorous defense, to which the only hindrance was the church and convent—a very strong edifice, which dominates the castle—and that he considered it very necessary to demolish it. In virtue of this report, it was decided in the military and fiscal councils that those buildings should be demolished, as well as all others that might be on that coast which were of like materials, in order that the Dutch might not find in them means of offense or defense. This order arrived at Tandag, where now there was another governor. Captain Don Juan Garcia did not make it known, and held a council in the fort regarding its execution, and therein was decided the suspension of the order—for, in case that the enemy came, the buildings could be easily torn down and burned, since the walls were weak and the roofs of nipa or straw—until the supreme government should make some other arrangement. Representations were made to that government of the great sorrow that the natives felt at the destruction [of those buildings], from which it was feared that if another church were not built, at a greater distance, the natives would take flight to the mountains. Notwithstanding this second information, the former order for demolition was confirmed. [See account of this measure, and of the revolt of the Indians, and of its being quelled by Spanish troops, inVOL. XXXVI, in Santa Theresa’s narrative. Concepción continues, p. 262:] This father minister25sent a despatch to Manila, communicating this melancholy information;on receiving it, Señor Faxardo immediately sent to Tandag Captain Gregorio Dicastillo with a detachment of Spanish infantry, so that, in conjunction with Bernabe de la Plaza, alcalde-mayor of that province, they might try all measures, even though they might be severe, for reducing the insurgents. They went to Butuan, where they established a military base or headquarters. In order to justify the severity of war, a general amnesty was published. Many Indians came to present themselves, of whom several were hanged; a few of those who came down from the mountains gained their liberty, the rest remaining as slaves. It was a wicked act of those who executed [the governor’s orders] that they shamefully broke the promise made in the name of the king, and in so august a name committed perfidy. Manila and its suburbs were full of slaves. The royal Audiencia made formal inquiry into these illegal acts, and took the residencia of the principal persons concerned in them. One was put to the torture, and confessed; he was sentenced to decapitation. The property of another was confiscated, after two years of imprisonment; and another found himself reduced to extreme poverty. He who was commissioned by the supreme government for the trial of these suits, Licentiate Don Manuel Suarez de Olivera, the military auditor-general, declared in favor of the Indian slaves, setting all of them free. In order that this decree might be effective, those included under its provisions were registered by father Fray Augustin—then secretary of his province, and known by the name of “Padre Capitan” [i.e.,“Father Captain”]—who included in the list many Indians whose names were not contained in the official documents. He presented it to the governor, and asked for a mandatory decree for their liberty, which was promptly issued; and then he went with the notary through all the houses in which the Indians were distributed, enforcing the execution of the decree. This proceeding cost him many fatigues and annoyances; for since those who had paid out their money for the Indians were left without slaves, there was hardly a house where he came where he would not hear opprobrious language. It also caused him great expenses; but his efficient management of the business came out successfully. He collected all the slaves, and furnished them with transportation to carry them back to their homes and their native land. This benefaction rendered it easy for the Indian chiefs of Linao, who had left their village and were fugitives, to return to their due obedience and vassalage....
Gadanes; 1621
[An account of this uprising is given by Aduarte in book ii, chap. xvii, of hisHistoria; see ourVOL. XXXII, pp. 113–120.]
In Bohol and Leyte; 1622
[See account of the Bohol revolt inVOL. XXIV, pp. 116–119; it also spread to Leyte. We present here some further account, obtained from Murillo Velarde’sHist. de Philipinas, fol. 17, 18; Diaz’sConquistas, pp. 132–136. Concepción (inHist. de Philipinas, v, pp. 20–25) adds nothing new.]
The majority of the ministers in the island of Bohol1had gone to Zebu, to celebrate the feasts of the beatification of St. Xavier; in their absence Lucifer attempted to possess himself again of those souls. The divata, or demon, appeared to some Indians in the woods—its face covered, like that of one taking the discipline—and commanded them to quit thegospel ministers and the Spanish vassalage, and take refuge in the hills; and to build him a chapel, where he would aid them and give them whatever they needed to pass their lives in happiness and abundance, without the encumbrance of paying tribute to the Spaniards or dues to the churches. Two or three Indians, who on account of their evil deeds were wandering as fugitives, became priests of this divata, in order to persuade the people to apostasy and rebellion; and, to take away the fear which they naturally feel toward the Spaniards, these priests told them that, if they would attack the Spaniards, the divata would cause the mountains to rise against their foe; that the muskets of the latter would not go off, or else the bullets would rebound on those who fired them; that if any Indian should die, the demon would resuscitate him; that the leaves of the trees would be converted intosaranga(which is a large fish); that when they cut bejucos, these would distil wine instead of water; that from the banana-leaves they would make fine linen; and, in short, that all would be pleasure, enjoyment, and delight. With these magnificent promises, so attractive to men—and especially to the Indians, who are so inclined to idleness and sloth—four villages revolted; only Loboc (which is the chief village) and Baclayon remained firm in the faith, and in loyalty to the king.
Information of this reached Zebu, and immediately Don Juan de Alcarazo, alcalde-mayor of Zebu, went to quiet the island;2he invited them to makepeace, for which the rebels did not care. Their boldness increasing, they burned the four villages and their churches; they flung on the ground the rosaries and crosses, and pierced an image of the blessed Virgin eighteen times with javelins—although afterward in Zebu some tried to make amends to her with the most affectionate demonstrations of reverence, and she was placed in our church. Thereupon the chief ordered troops from Zebu, fifty Spaniards and a thousand friendly Indians,3accompanied by a father; and on New Year’s day, 1622, he began the march to the mountains, where the insurgents were. For five days they traveled through rugged hills and deep ravines, crossing marshes where the mud came to their knees, or even to their waists, and shedding their blood on the thorns and briars. On the fifth day, the insurgents killed a friendly Indian; this they celebrated with loud shouts, and it greatly increased their arrogance. On the following day, more than 1,500 rebel Indians attacked our vanguard, which consisted of sixteen Spaniards and three hundred Indians; but when our muskets were fired so many fell dead that the rebels began to retreat to a bamboo thicket. When we followed them, a heavy rain fell, which encouraged the rebels, for they said that our muskets were then useless. But Heaven favored our cause with a marvel, since, although the pans of the musket-locks were full of water, the soldiers declared that the powder never failed to catch fire, nor did the matches go out. Atthis the rebels fled into the mountains; and our men arrived at a village of more than a thousand houses, in the midst of which was the temple of their divata. Our troops found there much food, various jewels of silver and gold, and many bells of the sort those people use—all which was given to our Indians. The rebels were in a fortification of stone, in which they had placed many stones and clods of earth to throw at our men; but the latter, covering themselves with their shields, seized the redoubt, with the death of many of the enemy,4and in a fortnight returned to Loboc. Captain Alcarazo, who was foremost in all these engagements, commanded that some of the rebels be hanged, and published a pardon to the rest; and he returned to Zebu,5where the victory was celebrated. This success had very important results, for it checked the revolt of other islands and other villages—who were expecting the favorable result which the demon had promised them, so that they could shake off the mild yoke of Christ, and with it their vassalage to the Spaniards. Many of them, now undeceived, accepted the pardon; but others, who were stubborn, fortified themselves at the summit of a rugged and lofty hill, difficult of access, and closed the road [to it] with brambles and thorns.6They also filled the paths with very sharp stakes driven into the soil, and placed among the branches of the trees many crossbows,7in order that these, being discharged as our men passed them, might wound the soldiers; and above they provided many stones to throw at the Spaniards, hurling them from the top of the hill. Six months later the same Don Juan Alcarazo returned, to dislodge those rebels with forty Spaniards and many Indians. After suffering great hardships in making the paths accessible, nearly all his men were hurt, by the time they reached the fort, by the many stones which the enemy hurled down from the summit; but our soldiers courageously climbed the ascent, firing their muskets, and killed many of the rebels, putting the rest to flight. Thus was dispersed that sedition, which was one of the most dangerous that had occurred in the islands—not only because the Boholans were the most warlike and valiant of the Indians, but on account of the conspiracy spreading to many other tribes. Noble examples of fidelity in this great disturbance are not lacking. [Murillo Velarde here mentions two instances of this.]
The natives of Carigara in the island of Leyte became impatient, and revolted without waiting forthe result in Bohol, incited thereto by Bancao, the ruling chief of Limasava—who in the year 15658received with friendly welcome Miguel Lopez de Legazpi and the Spaniards who came to his island, supplying them with what they needed, for which Phelipe II sent him a royal decree, thanking him for the kind hospitality which he showed to those first Spaniards. He was baptised and, although a young man, showed that he was loyal to the Christians; but, conquered by the enemy [of souls], he changed sides in his old age.9This man lived in the island of Leyte, and with a son of his and another man, Pagali (whom he chose as priest of his idolatry), erected a sacred place to the divata, or devil; and they induced six villages in the island to rebel. In order to remove from them their fear of the Spaniards, these men told their followers that they could change the Spaniards into stones as soon as they saw them, by repeating the wordbato, which signifies “stone;” and that a woman or a child could change them into clay by flinging earth upon them. Father Melchor de Vera went to Zebu to give warning of this sedition and obtain aid to check it. Captain Alcarazo equipped an armada of forty vessels, in which were embarked some Spaniards and many friendly Indians, also the father rector of Zebu and Father Vera; these united with the forces (both Spanish and Indian) that the alcalde of Leyte had. They offered peace to the rebels, but the latter spurned it with contempt. Our men, divided intothree bodies, attacked them; and, when that which Don Juan de Alcarazo commanded came in sight of the rebels, they fled to the hills. Our soldiers followed them, and on the way put to the sword or shot those whom they encountered; and, although the compassion of the Spaniards spared the children and women,10these could not escape the fury of the Indians. Many of the rebels died, the enchantment not availing them by which they had thought to turn the Spaniards into stone or clay; the rest saved themselves by flight. The Spaniards came to a large building which the rebels had erected for their divata; they encamped in it ten days, and then burned it. Some one pierced with a lance Bancao, the chief instigator of the rebellion, not knowing who he was, whom two of his slaves were carrying on their shoulders and immediately his head was placed on a stake as a public warning. He and his children came to a wretched end, as a punishment for their infidelity and apostasy; for his second son was beheaded as a traitor, and a daughter of his was taken captive. To inspire greater terror, the captain gave orders to shoot three or four rebels, and to burn11one of their priests—in order that, by the light of that fire, the blindness in which the divata had kept them deluded might be removed. The Spaniardsalso cut off the head of an Indian who had robbed Father Vinancio [i.e., Vilancio] and broken to pieces an image of the Virgin, and kicked a crucifix; and his head was set up in the same place where he had committed those horrible sacrileges. There were many who, in the midst of so furious a tempest, remained constant in their religious belief. [Several instances of this are related by the author.]
Mandayas; 1625
[For particulars of this insurrection, see Aduarte’sHistoria, book ii, chaps, xxviii, xxx, in ourVOL. XXXII, pp. 147–152, 162. Cf. Ferrando’s account,Hist. de los PP. Dominicos, ii, pp. 114–117; and ourVOL. XXII, pp. 69, 95.]
In Caraga and in Cagayan; 1629
[SeeVOL. XXIV, pp. 165, 175, 177, 216, 217, 229; and fuller account of that in Caraga, in Concepción’sHist. de Philipinas, v, pp. 163–179 (in ourVOL. XXXV, pp. 89–91).]
In Nueva Segovia; 1639
[See Santa Cruz’s account (Hist. Sant. Rosario) in ourVOL. XXXV, pp. 47–51.]
Map of the Philippine Islands, drawn by Captain John Kempthorne, ca. 1688; (evidently from earlier map of 1676); photographic facsimileMap of the Philippine Islands, drawn by Captain John Kempthorne,ca.1688; (evidently from earlier map of 1676); photographic facsimile[From original manuscript map in the British Museum]
Map of the Philippine Islands, drawn by Captain John Kempthorne,ca.1688; (evidently from earlier map of 1676); photographic facsimile
[From original manuscript map in the British Museum]
In Pampanga, 1645; and in Bulacán, 1643
[The following is taken from Diaz’sConquistas, pp. 483, 484:]
This fearful earthquake12was general in all these Filipinas, although it was more severe in some regions than in others—for in the province of Cagayán, in [the land of] one people called Maynanes, a great mountain was cleft open; and the havoc made by itextended as far as Maluco. In the heights of Gapang,13in the province of Pampanga, it was very severe, and lasted several days. Even greater damage might have been done by an uprising that was plotted by an Indian of evil disposition in the villages of Gapang, Santor, Caranglán, and Patabangán, exhorting the natives there to rebel and restore themselves to their former liberty, by slaying the Spaniards and the religious. He assured them that in Manila there were no Spaniards left, because the earth had swallowed them, with the entire city, on the night of the earthquake that occurred on St. Andrew’s day; and that the demon, with whom he had compact and intercourse, had promised him that he would aid the natives so that they might maintain themselves without paying tribute, and might enjoy much prosperity, and provided that they would slay the fathers and burn the churches. The delusion of the Indians of Gapang went so far that they seized arms, and summoned to their aid many heathen Zambals, and burned the churches of Santor and Pantabangán. When this was known in Manila, the encomendero of those villages, Admiral Rodrigo de Mesa, offered his services to pacify them, and went to Gapang with Alférez Callejas, their collectors of tribute, and some friendly Indians; but the insurgents, who now were numerous, badly wounded the encomendero, who fled on horseback, and a year later died from that wound at Manila. They slew Alférez Callejas and many of the loyal Indians who went in his company, and fortified themselves in themountains. The prior and minister, Fray Juan Cabello, escaped by the aid of some other Indians who were not of the hostile party, came to Manila, and gave information of the progress of the rebellion. Opinions differed as to the methods which should be employed in pacifying the insurgents; and our father provincial, Fray Alonso Carbajal, decided to send the father lecturer Fray Juan de Abarca,14a religious for whom the natives of that district had much affection and respect, since he had been their minister for many years. With this commission this religious set out for Pampanga, taking with him a companion, Master-of-camp Don Agustin Songsong, a valiant Pampango, with as many soldiers of that people as seemed necessary. They arrived at Gapang, and by means of father Fray Juan de Abarca’s preaching and his earnest efforts—which would take too long to relate, as would the many perils of death to which he exposed himself—that sedition was finally quelled, and the insurgents returned to their former quiet. But the Indian sorcerer, the cause of this disturbance, did not make his appearance, notwithstanding all the efforts that were made to find him.
Another rebellion, which threatened a great outbreak, was checked (in the year 1643) by father Fray Cristobal Enriquez. In the district of Malolos in the province of Bulacán, an Indian named Don Pedro Ladía, a native of Borney, went about promoting sedition; he proclaimed that to him belonged the right of being king over the provinces of Tagalos,alleging that he was a descendant of Raja Matanda,15the petty king whom the Spaniards found at Manila in the year 1571. With these and other impostures, aided by wine—the chief counselor in matters of policy and war, among those natives—and with the consultations with the demon which always figure on these occasions, he kept many villages of that district disquieted. But the sagacious procedure of father Fray Cristobal Enriquez intercepted all these misfortunes which were threatening us, by furnishing a plan for the arrest of Don Pedro Ladía—who already was styling himself “king of the Tagálogs;” he was sent to Manila, where, he paid with his life for his vain presumption. And thus this revolt, lacking even that weak foundation, was entirely quieted.
In the Pintados; 1649–50
[The best authorities on this insurrection are the Jesuit historians, since it arose in regions under their spiritual charge. We select the earliest account, that of Combés, written while the incidents of that time were fresh in men’s minds; it is found in hisHist. de Mindanao, col. 489–498. Murillo Velarde also relates these events, inHist. de Philipinas, fol. 171b–175. Cf. the Augustinian Diaz, inConquistas, pp. 517–523; and the Recollect Concepción,Hist. de Philipinas, vi, pp. 247–280.]
The queen of Joló, Tuambaloca, wrote at the same time, asking permission to come to end her days in the island of Basilan, and all was so secure from war that she remained as arbiter of peace for all the islands of Samboangan; and, as such, even the governorof Manila availed himself of her power16in order to pacify the disturbances in the islands....
This occasion made sufficiently evident the greatness of the benefit that the islands owe to the Society for the [treaties of] peace made with these kings—thus finding the royal arms at liberty for more pressing exigencies, and being set free, as regards those kings, from the most painful anxiety lest their forces would be allied with our dangers. With this, attention could be given to the punishment of Burney, a pirate as cruel as impious; and to finding external relief in the domestic losses and evils which had rendered our safety so uncertain. [Our forces were thus ready] in an almost general revolt of all the islands, in the provinces that were most subjugated and had never tested the keenness of our arms; for they had yielded to the echoes of our trumpets, receiving our troops in peace. But in these recent years had been operating in these new worlds the influences of that malign planet which was ruining Europe (and especially our España), with revolts of entire kingdoms, and has caused rivers of blood to run in the populous kingdom of China; and it reached these islands, to wreak on them its fierceness. And God—permitting evil, for the credit of virtue and the reward of the good—gave warlike courage to the most pusillanimous tribes, and armed the nakedness of these Indians to resist the unconquerable steel of our Spaniards.
The first region to declare against us was the province of Ibabao, which is in the island of Samar;it is the coast which faces the north, beaten by the sea of Nueva España. There the Society has a new residence, which is occupied by six fathers. All the villages connected with it revolted, following the audacious stand of the chief among them, which is Palapag. This was occasioned by the oppressions arising from our public works—which is a motive that should appeal to them, since they were the ones interested in the defense [of the coasts against their enemies]. But the Indians, as barbarians, do not heed future perils, but rather present fatigues; and to these their slothful nature opposes itself. The losses of galleons made it necessary to maintain in that province a shipyard. This drafted all the carpenters from Manila, and, in order to supply those that were needed on that shore, it was necessary to demand from each province a certain number—a quota of hardly one to each village, and this so equitably that to worldly prudence these allotments seemed advantageous, for which many would eagerly ask. But as the Indians have grown up in their wretchedness and in the life of brutes in their remote mountains, it seems to them that they are maintaining their liberty. They resented greatly this political compulsion to citizenship and the formation of a village, [so that they would live] as men. Those in the provinces that were most civilized and were nearest to Manila had obeyed the decree without opposition, but these [remote] provinces immediately made such demonstrations of displeasure that all of us perceived the difficulty [of enforcing the demand], and several undertook to represent it [to the authorities]. Don Diego de Faxardo was the governor, a man so harsh in his methods, and having so little pious regard forthe [religious] ministers, that their intercessions only made him more cruel, on account of the dogmatic opinion which he followed, that the ministers are the ones who oppose the royal service. Accordingly they all gave up any active opposition, but moderated in a thousand ways the execution [of the decree] (which they saw could not be avoided), sometimes with gifts, sometimes with considerations of utility. The men of Ibabao, trusting in the ruggedness of their coast or the inaccessibility of their mountains, or in the succor which had been positively promised to them by the Dutch—who every year make port on their coasts, awaiting with their armed fleets the relief [sent us] from Nueva España—immediately declared themselves [against us]. At the outset, in their stubbornness and disobedience, until their affairs were settled and their retreat prevented, they talked of fleeing to the mountains. This was their first opinion; but a malicious Indian interfered in the discussion, and told them that they could not accomplish anything by that course, because the village would not be destroyed, nor would the promoters [of the rebellion] have the following that they desired, unless they ordered that all should rebel, and slay the father, and burn the church; for their guilt in such action would intimidate all of them. As their councils were held in the excitement of wine, all readily approved this extravagant proposal. Immediately the demon offered them, for its execution, the evilly-inclined mind of a vile Indian named Sumoroy, who, although he had been much favored by the fathers as being a skilful pilot on the sea, and on this account had always enjoyed immunity from tribute and personal services, and wasactually the castellan of the fortified residence that they had there, yet desired—because they had removed an obstacle17which for many years had kept him at variance with and separated from his lawful wife—to find an opportunity for vengeance. This man offered to kill the father; and, confirming his resolve with many draughts to his success, and loud shouts, they dreamed that they were already masters of the entire world, and had slain all the Spaniards. He had already prejudiced their minds against his enemy, telling each Indian in the village separately that he had been assigned by the father to go to the Manila shore; consequently, no one now repaired to mass or took notice of public affairs. The father rector—who was Father Miguel Ponce Barberan, a native of the kingdom of Aragon—saw plainly the hostile disposition of the people, butnevercould have imagined so insane a resolve; and if any one could most confidently throw aside anxiety it was this father, for he had been, without contradiction, the most beloved and cherished by the natives, of all the fathers who had itinerated there—and, as well, the one who had spent most years in ministering to those people. A Tuesday, then, the first day of June in the year 1649, the traitor selected for his sacrilegious parricide; and, as a thief in the house, who knew its avenues of entrance and egress very well, he took his stand within, awaiting the father at the top of the stairway, when he should ascend it after supper. While the father halted on the stairs to say a prayer for the souls in purgatory—for which, it happened, the bells were ringing—Sumoroy hurled a javelin at him fromabove, which pierced his breast and immediately brought him to the ground; nor did he breathe again, spending his last energy in pronouncing the sweet names of Jesus and Mary.
For two days the fathers remained at home in suspense, without understanding the cause of this evil deed, or knowing who was its author; and the rebels themselves delayed to commit sacrileges by breaking with shame and declaring themselves [rebels]. Finally, on the day of Corpus Christi, about noon, the murderer came in sight, leading the multitude, and openly declared that it was he who had slain the father, loudly defying the whole world. They gave the fathers and the brother whom they found in the house the opportunity to leave it, provided that they removed nothing from it; and immediately, as barbarians and enemies of God—forgetting the faith and Christian belief of so many years, in which they had grown up—they sacked and burned the church and house, profaning the ornaments, and cutting from them drawers and turbans according to their old-time usage. If there were any of the faithful [among the crowd], they let themselves be persuaded by the argument of the barbarians for their timidity, that if they remained among the insurgents the anger of the Spaniards would be moderated, and accordingly they followed the perverse ones. The report of this sacrilegious act fanned the flame of infernal zeal itself, and found the minds of the people so ready that, almost as if there had been a general decision and they only awaited the signal for putting it into execution, in almost all the villages on that coast they burned their churches, the ministers fled, and the rebels retreated to themountains, where they fancied they could maintain their former brutal mode of life.
In the rest of the provinces—either because they perhaps regarded it as somewhat discreditable that the men of Ibabao should display their valor in order to oppose the Spaniards, and they themselves not do so; or because all of them were (as some desire to be) in communication with the Dutch—they proceeded to follow the example and imitate the boldness of the men of Palapag. Our arms would be found greatly embarrassed if those of the Dutch were to add confidence to the insolence of the Indians; and, at the very least, there would not remain a province which would not be up in arms, and no minister or Spaniard of those who were scattered among them would escape. But God our Lord, who chastised as a father, and chose to correct with clemency the wickedness with which the Spaniards abuse the subject condition of these natives—and as a warning to the latter, to confirm them in the truth of our holy faith and disabuse them of their errors—so adjusted the times that although the Dutch fleets had not failed to come to the islands for ten years past, about that very month [i.e., June], in this year the peace kept them away, and the publication of it arrived here in good time, so that our forces were left free for the punishment [of the rebels].
Immediately the province of Camarines, on the mainland of Manila, declared itself against us, and the father guardian [of the Franciscans] was banished from Solsogon; and their lead was followed by their island of Masbate, where an alférez was put to death. This presumptuous act disturbed the peace of Cebú Island; and its natives also, without fearingthe strong fort and the city to near them, also defied us, another officer being slain there. In the province of Caraga, the men of Linao revolted, displaying their evil intentions by the murder of the father prior (a discalced Augustinian), and of the Spaniards in a small garrison which was kept there, some dozen in number; but few escaped, and those were badly wounded. In the province of Iligan, which borders on Caraga, the Manobos, a barbarian tribe, seized the peaceable village of Cagayan. The entire coast [i.e., of northern Mindanao], and the adjacent island of Camigin, followed their example; in Camigin they bound the father prior (also a discalced Augustinian), the impious Indians going so far as to place their brutal feet on the neck of the holy religious. In the jurisdiction of Samboangan, the Subanos went astray—their principal village, named Siocon, releasing itself from obedience with the sacrilegious parricide of Father Juan del Campo, and the atrocious murder of his companions, as we shall afterward relate. The Boholans, on account of their valor, retained their esteem for the faith. Thus, for the punishment of so many atrocious deeds and for quelling the insolence of the barbarians, there remained to us no other arms than those of Samboangan, and no other auxiliaries than those people who had been our friends for so few years.
Those of Ibabao aroused the utmost anxiety, their insolence continually calling us to arms; for, not content with atrocities in their own country, they went to disquiet another region. They even disturbed those who dwelt on the opposite coast of Samar, threatening them with ruin if they did not follow the lead of the others. Their attempts began tobe dangerous, since they stirred up the village of Paranas, which is only two leguas from the seat of our jurisdiction there—Catbalogan, where the alcalde-mayor resides; and in fact many fled to the mountains, without regard to the war which menaced them, when the Spaniards were placed under arms, two leguas from their abode. In the other villages [the natives] were in arms, and regarded us all with apprehension. At the outset, the alcalde-mayor was ready with such force as he could assemble—adventurers in the province, mestizos, and Indians; but, as the former were all collectors [of tribute] and the latter all relatives [of the insurgents], some were not accustomed to arms and the hardships of campaigning, and the others could not use weapons against those of their own blood. Accordingly this, instead of checking their fury, only rendered their boldness more insolent, and gave unwonted force to their arms; and men who before did not find enough woods in which to hide themselves from a Camucon ship, now went so far as to make daybreak assaults on our troops, and slew our men before our eyes. And as a final token of their contempt, when the captain demanded from them the head of Sumoroy, by way of atonement for what he had done, they sent down the river to him the head of a swine—although in the end, worn out, they considered it good luck that they could again secure peace.
[The authorities] in Manila, seeing that the revolt was continually gathering strength, and that the insolence of the insurgents was passing all bounds, recognized how important it was to repress it, undertaking its chastisement in earnest. For this purpose they despatched General Andres Lopez deAzaldigui (who was chief of the royal galleys of these islands), with the title of lieutenant of the captain-general; and with this authority he levied many Spaniards, being empowered to obtain them from all the fortified posts. He made all the necessary arrangements for the enterprise, but he soon recognized the danger that he incurred among the natives—who all, regarding those of Palapag as restorers of their liberty, were rejoicing over their successes—and that in our reverses we had cause to fear them as enemies, since they were on the watch to know what fortune those of Palapag had in order to follow it if they were sure of the result. A large fleet of native boats was needed for the transportation of provisions and military supplies; but, the greater the number of these that were thus assembled, the more was the danger increased. On this account the general wrote to Manila, demanding galleys; and there, in order to avoid the expense of galleys and the perils of seas so rough, they despatched orders that the armada should come from Zamboangan—for the loyalty of those people against the Bisayans, as against their old-time enemies, could not be doubted. And with the support of these [auxiliaries] effective aid might be rendered by those of the inland provinces, which had been ruled without risk by the Spaniards because they did not go there entirely in the hands of the natives.
The armada was despatched as promptly as possible by the commandant [of Zamboanga]. Sargento-mayor Pedro Duran, with two captains in active service—as chief, Captain Juan Muñoz, who was commander of the armada; and as second in command Captain Juan de Ulloa—with the most choiceand distinguished soldiers of the Lutaos. As leader of these, since he was the military chief of that people, was sent General Don Francisco Ugbo (whom I have previously mentioned), with the master-of-camp, sargento-mayor, and captains of the tribe, and as many as four hundred of its men. Father Francisco Martinez had then arrived at Samboangan, to act as rector of the new [Jesuit] college there—of which the official recognition from our father general came in this same year—a religious who deserved well of those Christian churches, for he had sustained them in their earliest infancy, having labored in the arduous beginnings of [the missions in] Joló and Samboangan. By this [departure of the Lutaos] Father Alexandro Lopez found his occupation gone, and was therefore able to embark with the armada, which needed his presence and aid, as it was going for so important an enterprise—on the fortunate result of which, as many thought, depended the fidelity of all the provinces of Pintados. All fortified themselves with the holy sacraments, as solicitously as Christians of very long standing could do; and, as if they were such, on all occasions which arose in the voyage and in the battle itself they made evident, by their reverence for their holy name [of Christians] and appreciation of the danger, how they felt these obligations in their hearts. The sargento-mayor of the tribe (who belonged to its highest nobility) encountered a temptation to his own perdition; but he put it behind him by saying that he was going to war, and could not at that time discuss a matter which would work injury to his soul.
Great was the rejoicing which this armada caused in all the towns where it landed, notably in the cityof Cebú, where the Lutaos were known (and most of them, especially those who commanded the joangas, had the reputation of being pirates), at seeing them, now Christians, repair to the churches with so much devotion and attend divine worship with such reverence—those very people who had ravaged the islands with fire, and damaged nearly all the churches of Bisayas with their outrages and robberies; those who yesterday were enemies, but today bearing arms in our aid; and those who yesterday were cruel enemies to God, now the avengers of insults to Him. Tears sprang to [the eyes of] all, and they did not cease to give a thousand thanks to the fathers for their labors, so effectual—not only in the conversion of that Moro people, but for the benefit of these Christian communities, removing their terror and turning their dread and mistrust of the Moro arms into joy and expectation of success.
Arriving at Palapag by the month of May [i.e., in 1650], they found that the leader of the campaign was Captain Don Xinés de Roxas; and that it had been much retarded on account of the reputation which the men of Palapag had steadily gained by their daring acts. They had fortified themselves on a height which was regarded as impregnable by nature, as only one path was known by which it could be ascended, and that very narrow and difficult. On this path the enemy had built fortifications, and from loopholes therein they did much damage to our men, without risk [to themselves]; they lost no opportunity to fall suddenly on our troops, and any man who strayed from the rest paid the penalty with his life, so sharply did they note any negligence on our part; and, as masters of the land, they boldly engaged us,secure from being pursued. The captain wearied himself much with various fortifications, and kept the men exhausted; and he engaged in the same fatiguing labor those of the armada, until the sargento-mayor of that tribe, Don Alonso Maconbon, was bold enough to ask him, face to face, why he was wearing out the men in work which was not important.
He told the captain that they had not come to haul logs, but to fight in battle, and that he must contrive to employ them in fighting; for, if he did not, they would go back to their homes. At seeing the daring of this man, and the angry words that the soldiers of Samboangan—who, as veterans, were eager to have an opportunity for distinguishing themselves—flung at him, although he resented their lack of respect he was rejoiced to see their courage; and he was encouraged to make the assault, which, with the coxcombs and foppish adventurers from Manila, seemed a dangerous enterprise. And, as those of the armada, it seems, were boasting most of their valor, he assigned them to the brunt of the battle, in order thus to employ their courage in carrying out their own advice.
He made ready, then, the infantry of the armada, with the Lutaos, for a day that he set for the assault, which they were obliged to make over a precipitous ascent, exceedingly dangerous—so that they could make their way up it only by giving their weapons and their hands to each other.18At nightfall theyreached the slope, and in the darkness of the night proceeded to ascend it. The enemy had their sentinels, but our Lord easily diverted their attention by sending a heavy shower of rain—which our men regarded as a misfortune, which made the enterprise more difficult and the ascent all the more dangerous. But it was altogether fortunate for the expedition; for the pass was so difficult that the sentinel alone could defend it against a thousand assailants, and the most feeble old man was sufficient for guarding it, especially if the danger [from an attack] were known to the insurgents, who had given all their attention to the troop of the commander Don Xinés. The time while the rain fell was enough to enable all the soldiers to reach the top without danger; and so careful were the men that not one of them had his match extinguished. They halted there, waiting for the daylight; and when the rain gave opportunity to the sentinel he came back, waving a torch in order to light his path. Our men could have slain him; but they let him go, so as not to raise an alarm. Either because he heard their voices, or saw some lighted match, he waited a little while, and then returned to inform the rest of it; and the troops, seeing that they were discovered, marched toward the fortifications. So quickly they reached them that the enemy at once took to flight; our men pursued them with their arms, but the enemy quickly escaped, by dangerous precipices and paths which they know well. But the Spaniards did not choose to divert much of their attention [to the fugitives], rather taking care to occupy promptly their Rochelle;19accordingly, theyerected their fortifications, and occupied them with their artillery, supplies, and weapons. From that place they sent for the commander, Captain Don Xinés de Roxas, who went up to take possession of the gains made by the arduous efforts and daring bravery of the men of Samboangan. In this enterprise Captain Francisco de Leyba, then commander of the Samboangan armada, and Captain Silvestre de Rodas, an old soldier of Terrenate, especially distinguished themselves.
The Lutaos dispersed through the place, and, breaking into a house, found the mother of the traitor and parricide Sumoroy; and they dragged her out and tore her to pieces. Sumoroy had been sent down [from their stronghold] the day before, secretly, in a hammock, and all the children and women the rebels had already placed in safety; for, from the day when they saw the Samboangan armada, they felt that their cause was lost, and, lacking confidence in the outcome, they forestalled the danger. Thus was ended this longed-for enterprise, and the war in Ibabao; for the natives, now disarmed and divided, would have no courage left, save for flight, and the hardships of a life so full of fear [as that of fugitives] would oblige them to surrender, one by one—as was actually the case. Accordingly, the armada [and its men] took their departure, leaving the islands thankful for what they had accomplished and edified by their good example. For in the heat of conflict and in dangerous encounters (which is the time when the natural disposition and the inner soul are displayed), those soldiers did not fail to invoke the sweet names of Jesus and Mary, without ceasing or neglecting this in the utmost confusionand ardor of battle, giving pious examples to the Christian soldiery—to the admiration of the natives, [although they were] accustomed to these [pious] observances; since the clamorous efforts [of the soldiers], and solicitude for their danger, disturb the piety of even the oldest veterans.
[We append to this the following account from Diaz’sConquistas(pp. 517–523), as being more detailed and furnishing a somewhat different light on various incidents of the insurrection. In order to place it in the present document, as belonging to this special subject, it has been removed from its place in Diaz’s history of his order and its missions (seeVOL. XXXVII, pp. 149–284).]
There was an Indian named Sumoroy in the village of Palapag, who was regarded as one of the best, although he was one of the very worst, and was as evil as his father—who, accredited with the same hypocrisy, was a babaylán and priest of the devil, and made the other Indians apostatize. He was greatly addicted to drunkenness, and he had so promoted it [in others] that all the village was contaminated with this vice, as well as that of lust—vices so closely allied to idolatry, of which truth there are many examples in Holy Writ. The inhabitants of Palapag were corrupted by those evil habits at the time when Governor Don Diego Fajardo—with the intention of relieving the near-by provinces of Tagalos and Pampanga from the burden of working, at the harbor of Cavite, in the building of galleons and vessels necessary for the conservation and defense of these islands—had ordered the alcaldes of Leite and other provinces to send men thence toCavite for that employment. That was a difficult undertaking, because of the distance of more than one hundred leguas, and the troubles and wrongs to the said Indians that would result from their leaving their homes for so long a time. The father ministers went to the alcaldes, and the latter to Manila, to represent those troubles and wrongs; but the only thing that they obtained was a more stringent order to execute the mandate without more reply. Consequently they could do nothing else than obey the orders of the superior government, although they feared what very soon occurred. But what good end could so mistaken and pernicious a decision have?
As soon as the inhabitants of Palapag saw that the alcaldes-mayor were beginning to collect men to send them to the harbor of Cavite, they began to go oftener to the meetings in the house of Sumoroy and his father, and to begin (when heated with wine, the ordinary counselor of the Indians) to organize their insurrection. They quickly appointed leaders, of whom the chief was Don Juan Ponce, a very influential man and a bad Christian, but married to a wife from a chief’s family in the village of Catubig; she was very different from him in her morals, for she was very virtuous. The second leader was one Don Pedro Caamug, and the third the above-named Sumoroy. Then they discussed the murder of the father minister, Miguel Ponce of the Society of Jesus, an Aragonese,20at the suggestion of that malignantsorcerer and priest of the devil, the father of Sumoroy, who charged that undertaking upon his son. On Tuesday evening, the first of June, 1649, he went to the house of the father, who had just eaten his dinner, and was ascending a narrow ladder to his house. Sumoroy awaited him at that place, and hurling his lance, pierced his breast from side to side, and left him dead, without more time than to say “Jesus, Mary.” They spared the life of Father Julio Aleni,21a Roman, saying that he was not their minister, but was dedicated to China, whence is inferred their motive in killing the [former] father. Next day they despoiled the house and church of its furniture and holy ornaments; profaned the altars and sacred images; scattered the holy oils; and used the silver chrismatories for the ajonjolí oil with which they anoint their hair.
It was the will of divine Providence to show forth the devout fidelity of the women amid the infidelityand apostasy of the men; for, the day before that spoliation, Doña Angelina Dinagungan, wife of Don Juan Ponce, accompanied by another good Christian woman, Doña María Malón, went to the church and saved some holy images and ornaments, besides a chest belonging to the father, with the little that it contained, which they afterward surrendered to him. Among the images that that devout woman saved from the sacrilegious hands of the rebels was an image of our Lady of the Conception, which was kept with great propriety in the house of Doña María Malón, and which was often seen to sweat abundantly and to shed tears, a miracle which spread throughout the village. When the perfidious Sumoroy heard of it, he said: “The Virgin Mary is weeping. Let us see if she will weep if we burn the house;” and he went thither, with other men like himself, and set fire to it. But Divine Clemency did not permit the fire to catch in that house, although it was of bamboo and nipa like the others. The husband of Doña María Malón, called Don Gabriel Hongpón, was a head man [cabeza de barangay]; and only he and all his people remained faithful to God and to their king. God gave him courage to resist so many, who always respected him as he was so influential a man in that village of Palapag.
The insurgents incited the inhabitants of Catubig, who also revolted. They killed a Spaniard, and burned the church and house of the father minister, after having sacked it. The contagion having spread to other villages, the people did the same at Pambohan, or Bayugo, Catarman, and Bonan; and thence passed to infect the provinces of Ibalón22andCamarines, where they killed a Franciscan religious, the guardian of Sorsogón. They killed Alférez Torres in Masbate. In Caraga, the inhabitants of the village of Tinao revolted and killed their minister, a discalced Augustinian, and a few Spanish soldiers of a small presidio established there, the rest escaping the fury of the insurgents. In Iligán, the village of Cagayán, a mission of our discalced religious, revolted. In the adjacent island of Camiguín, a mission of the same religious, they bound their minister and set their feet on his neck. The Subanos mutinied in the jurisdiction of Zamboanga, in the village called Siocon, where they killed Father Juan del Campo23of the Society of Jesus. The villages of the islands of Cebú and Bohol, who are warlike people, were wavering in their loyalty. But Divine Clemency did not permit them to declare themselves. Thus with the patience and tolerance of the father ministers, who suffered many hardships and found themselves in great danger, those fires—which could have consumed the loyalty of the provinces of these islands—were soon extinguished. The first village to rebel in the island of Leite was Bacor, where the church and house of the father minister were burned, and the people joined the inhabitants of Palapag, leaving the village deserted. The insurgents pretended that two Dutch ships werenear, which were coming to aid them as equals in their rebellion against the Church and the vassalage due to their lawful king; and that pretense greatly aided them in their evil design.
As soon as the alcalde-mayor of Leite heard of the insurrection, he collected all the boats and men possible, but these were very fragile means to oppose to so vast a multitude of insurgent and desperate men. Consequently, although they went to Palapag with the said alcalde-mayor, one Captain Don Juan Gómez de tres Palacios y Estrado, they served no other purpose than to make the rebellion worse, and to encourage the enemy. The latter intrenched themselves on an impregnable hill called “the table of Palapag;” and what is the greatest cause for surprise is that a Spaniard called Pedro Zapata, who had married an Indian woman in Palapag (who must have perverted him), went with them. But the insurgents gave him his pay by killing him, in order to take away the woman, a worthy reward for his incredible treason. They made trenches and strong stockades, with many sharp stakes and snares, and many stone boulders suspended, which, by being thrown upon the strongest army, would cause cruel injury. To work greater harm, they gave command of their men to Don Pedro Caamug, who descended the hill with two hundred insurgents and returned to the village of Palapag, where he killed the father minister, Vicente Damián,24and two boys who wereserving him, who in their fear were clinging to the father. They again burned the church, a chamber of nipa and bamboo which Don Gabriel and his faithful followers had erected for the celebration of mass, furnishing this additional bond to their apostasy and rebellion. They returned to their impregnable hill after this, which was in their eyes a great victory, and began to fortify themselves much more strongly than they were, as they feared the war that was expected from Manila.
Governor Don Diego Fajardo, seeing that the undertaking of the reduction of the inhabitants of Palapag was an affair requiring much care and consideration, because of the evil effects that would result from any unfavorable event, after holding a council of war determined to entrust this undertaking to the commander of the galleys, Andrés López de Asaldigui (already named on many occasions), as he had all the good qualities which can form a good soldier; for he was very brave and prudent, fortunate in the enterprises that had been entrusted to him, and a prime favorite with the soldiers because of his great liberality. That commander left Manila with the best men whom he could enlist, both Spaniards and Pampangos, and went to Catbalogan, the capital of that province, where he mustered thirteen oared vessels and two champans. His first order was to send some vessels to Panay and Iloilo for food. Well informed of the condition of the rebels of Palapag, he found that he needed more war-supplies for that conquest; for the insurgents had extended their revoltto many villages of the island, and the other neighboring islands were apparently prepared to follow their bold acts, if they were at all fortunate. Therefore Andrés López de Asaldegui sent to ask the governor for the galleys in his charge; but the latter did not send them, in order to avoid the expense that would be caused the royal treasury, which was very needy. But he sent order instead that the fleet of Zamboanga should be at his disposal.
[At this juncture, Asaldigui is summoned by the governor to investigate the loss of the galleon “Encarnación,” and “entrusting the Palapag enterprise to Captain Ginés de Rojas—a brave soldier, but one who had little reputation and affection among the soldiers, who regretted that order exceedingly, and would have returned home had they been able. To such an extent does the reputation of the leader further any enterprise.”]
Don Ginés de Rojas assembled the thirteen oared vessels and the two champans, in the latter of which he stowed the food. Likewise the fleet of Zamboanga came up with four caracoas and some Spaniards, and four hundred Lutaos; these are Indians of that region who have been recently converted to our holy faith from the errors of the cursed sect of Mahomet, by the efforts and toil of the religious of the Society. Their commandant was their master-of-camp Don Francisco Ugbo, a Lutao, and a brave man; and their sargento-mayor Don Alonso Macobo, of the same nation. The chief commander of that fleet was Captain Juan Muñoz, the admiral was Juan de Ulloa, and the captain was Suárez, who were veteran soldiers. In addition to that succor there came from Cebú Captain Don Francisco de Sandoval and JuanFernández de León, who brought many men from Sialo, Caraga, and other provinces. When all those forces were assembled in Catbalogan, Don Ginés de Rojas divided them into three divisions, two under command of Sandoval and León, and the third in his own charge. He ordered Captain Sandoval to go to his encomienda at Catubig, and thence, with all the men whom he could assemble, to go to reduce the village of Palapag. Captain León was ordered to go with his men through Tubig, Sulat, Borongán, and other villages—first, however, to go to Guigán, to get as many men there as possible. Don Ginés de Rojas chose the villages of Catarmán and Bobor, where his encomienda lay.
All things were ready to undertake the conquest of the impregnable hill. Nothing worthy of note happened to Captain Don Francisco de Sandoval, but the Indians of Bacor prepared an ambush against Juan Fernández de León in a very dangerous pass. Juan de León de Paranas had gone out, embarking in the river of Nasán, which is very rapid because of its great current—and among other dangerous places is one more dangerous than all, namely, a fall and cataract which is two spear-lengths in height. Consequently, in order to proceed, one must unlade the boats; and, after raising them with great toil by means of certain very thick and strong rattans, must, after suspending or letting the boat down thus, again lade it. There did the enemy set their ambush for Juan de León, but it was disclosed by a friendly Indian. Our men firing their muskets and arquebuses at that side, the Indians fled with great loss; and our men proceeded to the bar of the river, where they fortified themselves in a stout stockade.Sandoval did the same in Catubig, as did Don Silvestre de Rodas, whom Don Ginés sent as a reënforcement to Sandoval.
Those leaders, having arranged matters in this manner, continued to invite and pacify the many Indians who presented themselves. But those who were entrenched on the hill, confident in their fortress and defense, persisted obstinately in their revolt, and tried to get the other villages not to declare in our favor. Don Ginés fortified his post, and ordered each captain to do the same with his, for he had resolved to blockade and capture the natives on the hill by hunger. The natives learned from their spies that Don Ginés had but few men in his quarters, as the rest had gone to get provisions; and, having determined to use so favorable an opportunity, many of them went at night, by the river, near the land. When they thought that our men were very careless and sound asleep, they pulled some stakes out of the fortification of Don Ginés, and entered in a disorderly mob. But the sentinels hearing the noise, sounded the alarm. Don Ginés, awaking, seized his sword and buckler; and, accompanied by those who could follow him so hastily, confronted the enemy, and drove them to flight with great loss—as was judged from the abundance of blood that was seen in the camp in the morning. But it was not without any harm to our men, some of whom were wounded, although no one died. One ball struck Sumoroy on the shoulder, but only one dead man was left in the camp; for our opponents dragged the others away and threw them into the water. Don Ginés did not care to pursue them, fearing some ambush, which would have been easy in that darkness.
The soldiers grumbled much at the great caution and prudence of Don Ginés de Rojas, who thought only of strengthening his fortifications, to the great labor of those who now desired to busy themselves with the enemy, and not the trees of the forest. That rose to such a pitch that the sargento-mayor of the Lutaos, Don Francisco Macombo, went to Don Ginés impatiently, and told him that neither he nor his men had come from Zamboanga to cut timber but to fight with the enemies of Palapag. Don Ginés was not displeased to see the willingness of his soldiers to fight, and therefore, in order to employ it, he had the men called to arms, and arranged the attack. He formed two divisions [for attack] from the whole army, and left the third to guard the camp. The assault was made in two parts—one by the open road, although it was better defended by the opponents; and the other by a precipitous path which was passable for the birds alone—for it was a huge steep rock, and so narrow at the place where the camp of the insurgents was established that only a single man could enter an opening made by nature—a place called for that reason by the natives, in their own language, “the eye of a needle.” The men climbed up by that path, using feet and hands without carrying their arms; for these were carried by him who followed, and afterward given to him who was ahead; and so they did one with another. In addition to that, the insurgents had posted a sentinel there to advise them of any new move, for which a few coming to his aid would be sufficient to prevent many from effecting an entrance.
Don Ginés entrusted that difficult undertaking to Captain Silvestre de Rodas, a native of Rota, and asoldier of great renown in his time, of whom are recounted incredible exploits performed by him in Ternate. He gave him command of the Lutao soldiers, with their commander Don Francisco Macombo; for himself Don Ginés took the battalion of the soldiers who attacked the hill in front. The vanguard and rearguard were placed in command of Captains Sandoval and Juan Fernández de León. The assault being planned in that form, Don Ginés engaged the enemy with his men, with great valor, to the sound of drums and trumpets, and went up the hill with great difficulty and danger. For the insurgents, cutting the rattans by which the stones and very large trunks of trees were fastened and kept back, would have been able by rolling them down to do great damage to our men, had not divine Providence directed these missiles to places where they could do no damage. Our men went up most of the hill with this obstinacy, and the enemy went out to meet them with so great valor that it seemed rather desperation; and the damage inflicted upon them by our arquebuses did not cool their obstinacy, for they tried to throw themselves on our spears and swords in their anxiety to die while killing [others]. The great advantage of the fortress of the hill increased their courage, as it could have caused great loss to our men to fight in the open and unsheltered. The fight lasted many hours, the enemy often being relieved, for they had many brave and well-armed men on the hill. Don Ginés de Rojas, seeing that the fury of the enemy was invincible (for they were fighting more like lions than like men), and that his men could not proceed with the undertaking, because they had no further strength and were tired,and had many wounded, yielded for the time being, and sounded the retreat, leaving more vigorous experience for another day. The enemy also retired, satisfied at the resistance that they had shown, although much to their cost.
Very different was the success of the brave Silvestre de Rodas, with his Lutaos in charge of Don Francisco Ugbo and Don Alonso Macombo, who on the second of July, 1650, made the assault in the most difficult point—which was the eye of the needle in the rock, as we have stated above, through which Silvestre de Rodas was the first to go. He chose the silence of the night, a time when they were least likely to be discovered. Climbing up one by one and without arms, with the labor that was necessary, at the middle of the ascent an obstacle occurred that could have blocked so great an enterprise. That was a very heavy rain, which lasted a great part of the night, and which the men endured without the slightest shelter, but with great vigilance and care that fire for their matches should not be lacking—availing themselves for that purpose of the shields of the Lutaos, which are calledcarazas, and are made of long narrow pieces of wood, with which they cover all the body at the side. The rain ceased and, although they were soaking, they all resumed the ascent of the hill; they reached the entrance of the rock at an opportune time, when the sentinel, quite unsuspicious of such an assault, was absent, as he had gone to get some fire (without the company of which those Indians cannot live), or indeed have a smoke, for they think that that furnishes them with fine company. On that account, Silvestre de Rodas and some of the foremost, who were the most vigorouswere enabled to enter. The sentinel returned with a brand in his hand, and when he was near perceived the bad effect of his carelessness, and believed that our camp was already upon him. He looked in astonishment, and then, hurriedly taking flight, began to cry out and announce that our men had already entered the hill by means of the rock. Not less was the confusion of all, who were quite free from the dread of so unexpected an assault. Confused and lacking in counsel, a panic terror seized them and forced them into disorganized flight, so that Silvestre de Rodas and the Lutaos were allowed to become masters of the field. Unfurling their victorious banners, they took possession of the lodgings, trenches, and food of the enemy. Don Ginés de Rojas ascended the hill with his whole army, and destroyed the insurgent quarters by setting fire to them. Having published a general pardon, those who had been insurgents before, presented themselves in peace.
The chief leader Sumoroy and his sorcerer father refused to put in an appearance, or to talk of peace. But the very ones whom he had caused to rebel killed him, and carried his head to Don Ginés de Rojas, although they had been so loyal to him before that when the alcalde-mayor of Leite went at the beginning to reduce them to peace, and asked them as the first condition to deliver to him the head of Sumoroy, they, making light of the request, sent him the head of a swine. But afterward, as a token of their true obedience, they delivered the head, without any one asking for it. Don Juan Ponce remained in hiding in the island of Cebú for a long time, but after having obtained pardon he returned to Palapag;there he committed crimes that were so atrocious that the alcalde-mayor seized him and sent him to Manila, where he paid for those crimes on the scaffold. He who had the best end was Don Pedro Caamug; for he was the first to present himself, and showed great loyalty in the reduction of the others. He continued all his life to be very quiet, and was governor of his village, where he was highly esteemed; and it was proved that he was not the one who had killed Father Vicente with his hands, although he was captain of that band. Moreover, it was found to be advisable to overlook much on that occasion, as the quiet of all the Pintados Islands, who were awaiting the end of the rebels of Palapag, depended on it.
[The following additional information is obtained from Concepción’sHist. de Philipinas, vi, pp. 247–280:]
[p. 254:] From here [i.e., Cebú] leaped more than sparks to the province of Caraga, where there had been some causes for resentment between the alcalde-mayor and the father minister of Tandag. The father had rebuked the alcalde for oppressions inflicted on the Indians, and, perceiving that his exhortations were unheeded, he carried his complaints to the supreme tribunal, where hearing was given to them. The alcalde-mayor was angry at being prodded from Manila, and found means to take his revenge. Governor Faxardo, vigilant in defending the provinces from the Dutch, gave orders to reconnoiter the harbors and fortify the military posts; and, that he might take seasonable precautions, he solicited accurate information [from the officials].The alcalde-mayor, in the anger that he felt, availed himself of this opportunity. He informed the governor that the fort of Tandag was in condition to make a vigorous defense, to which the only hindrance was the church and convent—a very strong edifice, which dominates the castle—and that he considered it very necessary to demolish it. In virtue of this report, it was decided in the military and fiscal councils that those buildings should be demolished, as well as all others that might be on that coast which were of like materials, in order that the Dutch might not find in them means of offense or defense. This order arrived at Tandag, where now there was another governor. Captain Don Juan Garcia did not make it known, and held a council in the fort regarding its execution, and therein was decided the suspension of the order—for, in case that the enemy came, the buildings could be easily torn down and burned, since the walls were weak and the roofs of nipa or straw—until the supreme government should make some other arrangement. Representations were made to that government of the great sorrow that the natives felt at the destruction [of those buildings], from which it was feared that if another church were not built, at a greater distance, the natives would take flight to the mountains. Notwithstanding this second information, the former order for demolition was confirmed. [See account of this measure, and of the revolt of the Indians, and of its being quelled by Spanish troops, inVOL. XXXVI, in Santa Theresa’s narrative. Concepción continues, p. 262:] This father minister25sent a despatch to Manila, communicating this melancholy information;on receiving it, Señor Faxardo immediately sent to Tandag Captain Gregorio Dicastillo with a detachment of Spanish infantry, so that, in conjunction with Bernabe de la Plaza, alcalde-mayor of that province, they might try all measures, even though they might be severe, for reducing the insurgents. They went to Butuan, where they established a military base or headquarters. In order to justify the severity of war, a general amnesty was published. Many Indians came to present themselves, of whom several were hanged; a few of those who came down from the mountains gained their liberty, the rest remaining as slaves. It was a wicked act of those who executed [the governor’s orders] that they shamefully broke the promise made in the name of the king, and in so august a name committed perfidy. Manila and its suburbs were full of slaves. The royal Audiencia made formal inquiry into these illegal acts, and took the residencia of the principal persons concerned in them. One was put to the torture, and confessed; he was sentenced to decapitation. The property of another was confiscated, after two years of imprisonment; and another found himself reduced to extreme poverty. He who was commissioned by the supreme government for the trial of these suits, Licentiate Don Manuel Suarez de Olivera, the military auditor-general, declared in favor of the Indian slaves, setting all of them free. In order that this decree might be effective, those included under its provisions were registered by father Fray Augustin—then secretary of his province, and known by the name of “Padre Capitan” [i.e.,“Father Captain”]—who included in the list many Indians whose names were not contained in the official documents. He presented it to the governor, and asked for a mandatory decree for their liberty, which was promptly issued; and then he went with the notary through all the houses in which the Indians were distributed, enforcing the execution of the decree. This proceeding cost him many fatigues and annoyances; for since those who had paid out their money for the Indians were left without slaves, there was hardly a house where he came where he would not hear opprobrious language. It also caused him great expenses; but his efficient management of the business came out successfully. He collected all the slaves, and furnished them with transportation to carry them back to their homes and their native land. This benefaction rendered it easy for the Indian chiefs of Linao, who had left their village and were fugitives, to return to their due obedience and vassalage....