Chapter 14

1The full title of this book is as follows: Remarks on the Phillippine Islands, and on their capital Manila. 1819 to 1822. By an Englishman. “When a traveller returneth home, let him not leave the countries where he hath travelled altogether behind him.”Lord Bacon—Essays. Calcutta: Printed at the Baptist mission Press, Circular Road; and sold by Messrs. W. Thacker and Co. St. Andrew’s Library. 1828.Opposite the title-page is a folding map, entitled “Map of the province of Tondo.” It is Spanish, dated 1819; and shows as well portions of the adjacent provinces. The book is dedicated “To Holt Mackenzie, Esq. This Work is respectfully inscribed, by his obedient humble servant, The Author.Calcutta, March, 1828.”Notes signed “Eds.” are supplied by the Editors; the rest are those of the author himself. The original text is reproduced as exactly as possible.↑2Besides the references already given, see J. Roth’s sketch of the geology of the Philippines, in appendix to Jagor’sReisen, pp. 333–354.—Eds.↑3The Bureau of Government Laboratories at Manila published, during 1902–05, a valuable series of bulletins on various topics in botany, ornithology, biology, diseases of man and beast, etc., and another series was published by the Mining Bureau; the former bureau is now replaced by the Bureau of Science.—Eds.↑4In the environs of Manila, a monument is erected to the memory of …,5a Spanish naturalist of unwearied industry, and it is said, great talents, sent out by government to examinethe Phillippine Islands. After seven years’ incessant labour, he died of a fever, and at his death his manuscripts, which are all written in cyphers, were taken possession of by the government; they are said yet to remain buried in the archives of ‘la Secretaria,’ having never been sent to Europe!↑5Apparently referring to Antonio Pineda (VOL. L, p. 61); but he died only three years after leaving Spain. In the expedition to which he was attached, he was director of the department of natural sciences; he was accompanied by Louis Née, a Frenchman naturalized in Spain. They visited Uruguay, Patagonia, Chile, Peru, and Nueva España; and in Chile were joined by the Hungarian naturalist, Tadeo Haenke (who, reaching Cádiz after their vessel sailed, was obliged to sail to South America to meet them). From Acapulco they went to Marianas and Filipinas; and journeyed (1791) through Luzón from Sorsogón to Manila. Pineda labored diligently in Luzón, and made large collections; but died at Badoc, in Ilocos, in 1792; his brother Arcadio Pineda, who was first lieutenant of the ship, was charged to put in order the materials collected by Antonio, but many of these were lost on the return journey. Returning to South America, at Callao Haenke and Née parted company; the former again traveled in America, but in the vicissitudes of these journeys much of the material collected by him was lost or spoiled. The residue was classified and described, after his death, by the leading botanists of Europe, and this matter was published in a work entitledReliquiæ Haenkeane, seu descriptiones et icones plantarum quæ in America meridionali et boreali in insulis Philippinis et Marianis collegit Thaddeus Haenke, Philosophiæ Doctor, Phytographus Regis Hispaniæ(Pragæ, 1825–35). Née went from Concepción, Chile, overland to Montevideo, and thence to Spain; and in September, 1794, he reached Cádiz, with a herbarium of 10,000 plants, of which 4,000 were new ones. These were preserved in the Botanical Gardens at Madrid, with more than 300 drawings. See Ramón Jordana y Morera’sBosquejo geográfico é historico-natural del archipiélago filipino(Madrid, 1885), pp. 356–358, 361; and José Gogorza y González’sDatos para la fauna filipina(Madrid, 1888), p. 2.—Eds.↑6The loftiest peak in Mindoro is Mount Halcón, said to be 8,800 feet in height. The most prominent volcano in the archipelago is Mayón, 7,916 feet high, in Albay, Luzon; in Negros is another volcano, called Canlaón, 8,192 feet high. In Panay the highest peak is Madiaás, 7,264 feet; and in Mindanao is the loftiest peak in the entire archipelago, the almost extinct volcano of Apo, which rises to 10,312 feet. See the chapter on “Mountains and rivers,” inCensus of Philippines, i, pp. 00–73.—Eds.↑7Le Gentil says (Voyage, ii, p. 29): “This animal [the hog] is so common there that they even use its fat for sauces, ragouts, and fried articles; for butter is not known in Manila, and there is very little use of milk there. The Manilans doubtless find less difficulty (for in that climate people are very fond of repose) in using pork fat in their food than in rearing and keeping cattle and making butter. This sort of food, joined to the heat and the great humidity of that country, occasions serious dysentery in many persons.” He adds (p. 123): “The venereal disease (or ‘French disease,’ as they call it, I know not why), is very common there [in Manila]; but they do not die from it; the great heat and copious perspiration enable people to live at Manila with this malady, they marry without being frightened at it, and the evil passes by inheritance to their children; it is a sort of heritage with which but few European families are not stained.”—Eds.↑8Le Gentil thus speaks of the placer-mining practiced by the Indians in Luzon (Voyage, ii, p. 32): “It is true that this sort of life shortens the days of these wretched people; as they are perpetually in the water, they swell, and soon die. Besides that, the friars say that it is their experience that the Indians who lead that sort of life have no inclination to follow the Christian life, and that they give much trouble to the ministers of God who instruct them. Despite that, it is to the friars and to the alcaldes that these Indians sell their gold.”—Eds.↑9In his “Non-Christian Tribes of Northern Luzon,” Worcester calls attention to the various indefinite modes of using the word “tribe,” among ethnological writers, and proposes (p. 803) the following definition as a means of securing clearness and accuracy therein: “A division of a race composed of an aggregate of individuals of a kind and of a common origin, agreeing among themselves in, and distinguished from their congeners by, physical characteristics, dress, and ornaments; the nature of the communities which they form; peculiarities of house architecture; methods of hunting, fishing, and carrying on agriculture; character and importance of manufactures; practices relative to war and the taking of heads of enemies; arms used in warfare; music and dancing, and marriage and burial customs; but not constituting a political unit subject to the control of any single individual nor necessarily speaking the same dialect.” He adds: “Where different dialects prevail among the members of a single tribe it should be subdivided into dialect groups.” He also says (p. 798): “It was the usage of the Spaniards to designate as a tribe each group of people which had a dialect, more or less peculiar, of its own. Furthermore, the custom which is widespread among the hill people of northern Luzon of shouting out the name of a settlement when they desire to call for one or more persons belonging to it, seems in many instances to have led the Spaniards to adopt settlement names as tribal ones, even when there were no differences of dialect between the peoples thus designated.”—Eds.↑10The fullest and most authoritative account of the Negritos is, of course, the monograph by W. A. Reed,The Negritos of Zambales, published by the Philippine Ethnological Survey. See also Worcester’s account of them in his “Non-Christian Tribes of Northern Luzon,” inPhilippine Journal of Science, October, 1906, pp. 805et seq.—Eds.↑11See Le Gentil,Voyage aux Indes.↑12Is not this, or something resembling it, a custom of the natives of Australasia?↑13See Herrera and Ant. de Solis, Hist. of Mexico.↑14The negro of the east appears to have amalgamated with some other family. On the south coasts of Australasia, they resemble in many points the people just described. This continues to be the case as far as Cape Capricorn. To the northward of this, as far as Murray’s Islands in Torres Straits, they are a stout, tall, athletic race of men,15and as hairy on the face and body as Europeans, with long hair, andwithoutthe negro cast of countenance. This race may be traced by intervals to Ternate, Gilolo, &c., where they are called Harraforas;16but none are found in the Phillippines (unless the Ylocos have some relationship to them). Is not the native of New Ireland and Queen Charlotte’s Islands too of this race?17The difference between them is most striking. The one are dwarfish negroes, the others almost black Europeans. Both are essentially different from the Malay family, and not only so, but from each other (thenativeof Amboyna, I think, forms the link between them) and this difference is apparently anatomical, in the shape of the skull, facial angles, &c.We are as yet in the infancy of our knowledge of the origin of these various families of the human race: like that of languages, it will in all probability remain one more of conjecture than of fact; but it is still a subject of deep interest. I have heard from respectable authority, that the language of Cagayan, the most northern province but one of the island of Luzon, the men of which are tail, stout, olive-coloured, almost beardless, and proverbial for their mildness, peaceable behaviour, and fidelity, so much resembles that of the Sandwich islanders, that some of these at Manila found no difficulty in making the Cagayan servants understand them! The province of Ylocos is the next to this to the north, and forms the north coast of the island. The Ylocos are black, short-bearded men, and noted for their insubordination and dissipated character.↑15The writer of this memoir has, on the coast of New Holland, between Cape Capricorn and Endeavour Straits, had occasion to know this fact. A party of these savages attacked the captain and supercargo of a vessel in which he was an officer, and they were repulsed only by firearms. The account of them given by the supercargo, and indeed by all the party attacked, uniformly agreed in describing them as the finest made and strongest looking men possible. Their bodies were also very hairy.↑16The term “Haraforas” is applied to the Subanos of Mindanao by Captain Forrest; from hisVoyage, pp. 266, 268, 271, 273, 278–282, we obtain the following interesting and first-hand information about that people:“The vassals of the Sultan, and of others, who possess great estates, are called Kanakan. Those vassals are sometimes Mahometans, though mostly Haraforas [“who are also called Subanos, or Oran Manubo,” p. 186]. The latter only may be sold with the lands, but cannot be sold off the lands. The Haraforas are more opprest than the former. The Mahometan vassals are bound to accompany their lords, on any sudden expedition; but the Haraforas being in a great measure excused from such attendance, pay yearly certain taxes, which are not expected from the Mahometan vassals. They pay a boiss, or land tax. A Harafora family pays ten battels of paly (rough rice) forty lb. each; three of rice, about sixty lb.; one fowl, one bunch of plantains, thirty roots, called clody, or St. Helena yam, and fifty heads of Indian corn. I give this as one instance of the utmost that is ever paid. Then they must sell fifty battels of paly, equal to two thousand pound weight, for one kangan. So at Dory, or New Guinea, one prong, value half a dollar, or one kangan, given to a Harafora, lays a perpetual tax on him. Those vassals at Magindano have what land they please; and the Mahometans on the sea coast, whether free or kanakan, live mostly by trading with the Haraforas, while their own gardens produce them betel nuts, coco nuts, and greens. They seldom grow any rice, and they discourage as far as they can, the Haraforas from going to Mindano, to sell the produce of their plantations. On the banks of the Pelangy and Tamantakka, the Mahometans grow much rice. The boiss is not always collected in fruits of the earth only. A tax-gatherer, who arrived at Coto Intang, when I was there, gave me the following list of what he had brought from some of Rajah Moodo’s crown lands, being levied on perhaps five hundred families. 2870 battels of paly, of forty lb. each; 490 Spanish dollars; 160 kangans; 6 tayls of gold, equal to 30 l [sterling]; 160 Malons: a cloth made of the plantain tree, three yards long, and one broad. This last mentioned cloth is the usual wear of the country women, made in the form of a Bengal lungy, or Buggess [i.e., Bugis] cloth, being a wide sack without a bottom; and is often used as a currency in the market. The currency in most parts of the country, is the Chinese kangan, coarse cloth, thinly woven, nineteen inches broad, and six yards long; the value at Sooloo is ten dollars for a bundle of twenty-five sealed up; and at Magindano much the same; but at Magindano dollars are scarce. These bundles are called gandangs, rolled up in a cylindrical form. They have also, as a currency, kousongs, a kind of nankeen, dyed black; and kompow, a strong white Chinese linen, made of flax; of which more particularly hereafter. The kangans generally come from Sooloo; so they are got at second hand: for the Spaniards have long hindered Chinese junks, bound from Amoy to Magindano, to pass Samboangan. This is the cause of so little trade at Magindano, no vessels sailing from Indostan thither; and the little trade is confined to a few country Chinese, called Oran Sangly, and a few Soolooans who come hither to buy rice and paly, bringing with them Chinese articles: for the crop of rice at Sooloo can never be depended on. In the bazar, or market, the immediate currency is paly. Ten gantangs of about four pounds each, make a battel; and three battels (a cylindrical measure, thirteen inches and five-tenths high; the same in diameter) about one hundred and twenty pounds of paly, are commonly sold for a kangan. Talking of the value of things here, and at Sooloo, they say, such a house or prow, &c., is worth so many slaves; the old valuation being one slave for thirty kangans. They also specify in their bargains, whether is meant matto (eye) kangan, real kangan, or nominal kangan. The dealing in the nominal, or imaginary kangan, is an ideal barter. When one deals for the real kangans, they must be examined; and the gandangs, or bundles of twenty-five pieces, are not to be trusted, as the dealers will often forge a seal, having first packed up damaged kangans. In this the Chinese here, and at Sooloo, are very expert. The China cash at Magindano, named pousin, have holes as in China. I found them scarce; their price is from one hundred and sixty to one hundred and eighty for a kangan. At Sooloo is coined a cash of base copper, called petis, of which two hundred, down to one hundred and seventy, go for a kangan.”“On Sooloo are no Haraforas. The Haraforas on Magindano make a strong cloth, not of cotton, but of a kind of flax, very like what the Batta people wear on the coast of Sumatra.” “One day near Tubuan, a Harafora brought down some paddy from the country: I wanted to purchase it; but the head man of the village, a Magindanoer, would not permit him to sell it me. I did not dispute the point; but found afterwards, the poor Harafora had sold about three hundred pounds of paly for a prong, or chopping knife.” “They all seem to be slaves to the Magindano people: for these take what they please, fowls or anything in the house they like best; and if the owners seem angry, threaten to tie them up, and flog them.” “The inhabitants of this country [of the Illanos] have generally their name from the lake [i.e., Lake Lanao] on which they reside. The inlanders dwell chiefly towards the East, where are said to be thirty thousand men, intermixed in many places with the Haraforas, who seem to be the primitives of the island. On the north coast of Magindano, the Spaniards have had great success, in converting to Christianity those Haraforas. Their agreeing in one essential point, the eating of hog’s flesh, may, in a great measure, have paved the way.”“The Magindano people sell to the Haraforas iron chopping knives, called prongs, cloth, salt, &c., for their rice and other fruits of the earth. For the Haraforas dread going to sea, else they could carry the produce of their lands to a better market. They are much imposed on, and kept under by their Mahometan lords; and are all tributary to the Sultan, or to some Rajah Rajah (noblemen) under him. Their system proves thus the feudal.” “The Haraforas are thinly scattered; and, being all tributary, many together seldom stay long at one place. This cannot be for want of water, pasture, or fertile ground; as with the Tartars on the continent of Asia. On this island, almost every spot is covered either with timber, brushwood, reeds, or grass; and streams are found every where in abundance. Nor can it be to avoid wild beasts; there are none on the island: a good cause why deer, wild horses and other wild cattle are found in so many parts of it. I suspect that the Haraforas are often so opprest that some have wisely got inland, beyond the tax-gatherer’s ken.”Evidently Forrest and the writer of theRemarkshad in mind two different peoples, to whom they applied the term Haraforas. Crawfurd explains this name (Dictionary Ind. Islands, p. 10) as a corruption ofAlforas; it is “not a native word at all, nor is it the generic name of any people whatsoever. It is a word of the Portuguese language, apparently derived from the Arabic articleal, and the prepositionfora, ‘without.’ The Indian Portuguese applied it to all people beyond their own authority, or who were not subdued by them, and consequently to the wild races of the interior. It would seem to be equivalent to the ‘Indios bravos’ of the Spaniards, as applied to the wild and unconquered tribes of America and the Philippines.”—Eds.↑17And that groupe to which Quiros, Mendana, or Torres gave the name of “Yslas de Gente Hermosa”? [Still thus named on modern charts; seeVoyages of Quiros(Hakluyt Society’s publications, London, 1904), pp. xxiv, 217, 424, 431.—Eds.↑18Our author here confuses the Spanish name “Pintados” (literally, “painted,” referring to their tattooed bodies) with the native name, “Bisayas,” both being indifferently applied to the islands south of Luzon.—Eds.↑19See Sir William Draper’s dispatches at the siege of Manila.↑20Was it not by this system (the mita) that the mines and plantations of Mexico were wrought? and Mexico,—that Mexico which the Spaniards of Cortes in the 15th century called New Spain,—became nearly a desert?↑21A higher and purer praise is due to this gentleman than havingwrittenthe work alluded to: it is that heacted on its spirit, and first taught the “red man” to know himself as man, and (a far more arduous undertaking), he taught the white man that his prosperity was essentially connected with that of the native. The country in which the foundations of our power were laid on such a basis, should not have been given away like a ministerial snuff-box.22↑22Java was conquered by England in 1811, but was restored to Holland five years later. During that time the island was governed by Sir Thomas Stamford Raffles (1781–1826), who published aHistory of Java(London, 1817); he was afterward governor of the English settlements in Sumatra (1818–24), in both these posts ruling with great ability and vigor and an enlightened and liberal mind. Gilbert Elliot, Baron Minto, a noted English statesman, was governor-general of India during 1807–13, and went with Raffles to Java to organize its government.—Eds.↑23SeeDescripcion Geografica y Topografica de la Ysla de Luzon, Por Don Yldefonso de Arragon, Parte IV. Prov. de la Pampanga, p. 3, 5, &c. The author is a colonel of engineers. [In 1818–20, he was chief of the topographical bureau at Manila.—Eds.]↑24Ibid.↑25“Estos (Pueblos) aunque immediatos a las orillas de la mar, estén libres de las invasiones de los Moros; la espesura de las Manglares occulta y hace dificil la entrada, &c.”“These (towns), though close to the sea shore, are free from the invasions of the Moors (pirates); the thickness of the mangroves conceal and render the entrances difficult.” The writer is speaking of towns, of which none are more than 20 miles from Manila!—Descripcion Geog. y Topograf.↑26The writer was once obliged to arm all his servants against 16 soldiers with their muskets from a neighboring military post. The two parties remained some minutes with their armslevelledat each other, when a parley was begun, which ended the affair without bloodshed. The origin of the quarrel was a dispute at cockfighting between his servants and the soldiers.↑27Such are, for example, NuestraSeñorade Antipolo, about 20 miles east of Manila, and the SantoNiño(Holy Child) of Zebû: to both of these it is reckoned almost indispensable to make a pilgrimage: the natives of Luzon to the first, which is about 25 miles from Manila; and those of all the Bisayas or Southern Islands to the other. From Antipolo28alone have been sent in a single year 180,000 dollars as the produce of the masses! And the writer has conversed with pilgrims from the province of Ylocos! In all cases of peril and difficulty, a vow is made to one of these saints, which is seldom left unfulfilled. The crew of a small vessel of men offered 54 dollars for masses at the convent of St. Augustin (I think), on the day of the feast del SantoNiño.↑28For detailed account of the shrine at Antipolo, its worship, miracles, etc., see Murillo Velarde’sHist. de Philipinas, fol. 210v–229v; and in the engraved frontispiece to that work may be seen a representation of the statue of the Virgin of Antipolo (see ourVOL. XLIV, opposite titlepage).—Eds.↑29This word is defined by theStandard Dictionary(New York, 1895) as a Scottish slang word meaning “unlawful sexual intercourse.” It is apparently allied to the obsolete Northumbrian word “houghen-moughen,” meaning “greedy, ravenous”—see Wright’sEnglish Dialect Dictionary, iii (London, 1902), p. 247.—Eds.↑30Nothing has stamped the character of the Manila Indian with greater atrocity in the eyes of Englishmen, than their frequent appeals to assassination (the knife) in cases of supposed or actual wrongs. How long is it since dirks were laid aside, because useless, in Scotland? When men cannot appealimmediatelyto a magistrate, they appeal to themselves. Duels too are another kind of appeals of the same sort.↑31“At Manila, therefore, a doctor [of law] is a species of phenomenon, and many years pass without one of them being seen; in two universities there is no doctor, while in 1767 there was but one competitor for the doctoral of the cathedral. Yet it must be noted that this competitor was a Mexican, and was not born in Manila. Of what use, therefore, are two universities in this city? Would not a single one be more than enough? One who knows Latin is greatly esteemed in Manila, because that language is not common there, in spite of the two universities which I have just mentioned; what is learned in those institutions is very poor, and is only imperfectly understood. When I arrived there, a great many persons asked me if I knew Latin, and when I answered that I knew a little of it they apparently had after that more respect for me. All the ancient prejudices of the schools seem to have abandoned us of Europe only to take refuge at Manila, where certainly they have long remained, for the ancient doctrine is there in too good hands to give place to sound ideas of physics. Don Feliciano Marqués often honestly confessed to me that in Spain they were a hundred years behind France, in the sciences; and that at Manila they were a hundred years behind Spain. One can judge, by that, of the present state of physics at Manila, in the midst of two universities. In that city electricity is known only by name, and the Holy Office of the Inquisition has prohibited experiments in that line. I knew there a Frenchman, a surgeon by profession, a man of parts and of inquiring mind, who was threatened with the Inquisition for having tried to make such experiments; but I think that what really drew upon him this ill-fortune was the experiment of the “little friar.” [This simple experiment in physics was made with a little figure resembling a friar; it had never before been seen in Manila, and everybody ran to look at it and laugh.] “This experiment of the surgeon, who made his little friar dance, and sometimes sink to the bottom of the vial by way of correcting him, drew upon him the displeasure of the entire body of religious with whom Manila swarms; there was talk of the Holy Office, and it was said that the surgeon’s experiment was a case for the Inquisition. The surgeon, therefore—whose only intention in the experiment was to vex the friars who had prevented him from making his experiments in electricity—was compelled to cease his pleasantry, and Manila had to express its detestation of the pleasure that it had taken in seeing the experiment.” [The author was visited by many people at his observatory, who desired to see the sun and the planets through his telescope;] “the women were even more curious than the men about the rare things which I showed them, and which I took pleasure in explaining to them; but not a single religious came to visit my observatory.” (Le Gentil,Voyage, ii, pp. 96, 97.)—Eds.↑32SeeEl Yndio Agraciado(The aggrieved Indian), a pamphlet published at Manila in 1821, but suppressed by order of government.33↑33Pardo de Tavera says of this pamphlet, in hisBiblioteca Filipina, p. 146: “It attacks one Don M. G., a Philippine Spaniard, who was allowed to propose a plan of studies which was not much to the liking of the Filipino Indians. As appears by the title of this pamphlet, there existed in Manila at that time a publication (probably weekly) calledEl noticioso Filipino. [See also Tavera’s account of this sheet, at foot of the same page, which he regards as the first periodical which appeared in Manila]. Doubtless the former was the doing of some friar, who took the name of ‘Indian’ in order to express himself more freely.”—Eds.↑34This distinction should never be lost sight of. The Indian of Manila, from whom strangers generally form their estimate of this people, is so mixed, that a genuine Indian (Malay) family is scarcely to be met with; they are a mixture of Indian, Chinese, Japanese, Mexican (from the troops), seamen of different nations, and Spaniards besides, “Toutes les Capitales se ressemblent, et çe n’est pas d’eux qu’il faut juger les mœurs d’un peuple quelconque.”35—Rousseau.Let it never be forgotten, too, that while the Indians ofManila, on the 9th of October, 1820, were assassinating every foreigner within their reach, the Indians of the country weresavingthose in their power at the hazard of their lives!↑35That is, “All capital cities are alike, and it is not by them that the morals of any people should be judged.”—Eds.↑36The following statements regarding the native character are made by Ramon Reyes Lala (The Philippine Islands, New York, 1899, pp. 80–87), himself a Filipino: “The first thing that in the native character impresses the traveler is his impassive demeanor and imperturbable bearing. He is a born stoic, a fatalist by nature. This accounts for his coolness in moments of danger, and his intrepid bearing against overwhelming odds. This feature of the Malay character has often been displayed in the conflicts of the race with the Europeans in the East Indies. Under competent leadership the native, though strongly averse to discipline, can be made a splendid soldier. As sailors, too, I do not believe they can be equaled.” “As a result of the stoicism of the native character, he never bewails a misfortune, and has no fear of death.” “Europeans often seem to notice in them what they deem a lack of sympathy for the misfortunes of others; but it is not this so much as resignation to the inevitable.” “The educated native, however, impregnated with the bitter philosophy of the civilized world, is by no means so imperturbable. While more keenly alive to the sufferings of others, he is also more sensitive to his own sorrows.” “Incomprehensible inconsistencies obtain in nearly every native. Students of character may, therefore, study the Filipinos for years, and yet, at last, have no definite impression of their mental or moral status. Of course, those living in the cities are less baffling to the physiognomist and the ethnologist; for endemic peculiarities have been so rubbed off or modified that the racial traits are not obvious. But observe the natives, in their primitive abodes, where civilizing forces have not penetrated! You will then be amazed at the extraordinary mingling and clashing of antithetical characteristics in one and the same person; uncertain as to whether the good or the bad may be manifested. Like the wind, the mood comes and goes, and no one can tell why. I myself, with all the inherited feelings, tastes, and tendencies of my countrymen—modified and transmuted [by his education and long residence in Europe and America], happily—have stood aghast or amused at some hitherto unknown characteristic manifesting itself in an intimate acquaintance; and after I had been for years, too, wholly ignorant of his being so possessed or obsessed. And after that, the same mental or moral squint would be displayed at irregular intervals.” “His indolence is the result of generations of tropical ancestors. Besides, deprived by the Spaniards from all active participation in affairs of the Government, and robbed of the fruits of industry, all incentive to advancement and progress was taken away. He therefore yields with composure to the crushing conditions of his environment, preferring the lazy joys of indolence rather than labor for the benefit of his oppressors. Naturally. Recent events, however, show that, given the stimulant of hope, even the ‘indolent natives’ of the Philippines can achieve and nobly dare. Some Spaniards also have asserted that the Filipinos are naturally disloyal and treacherous, and that their word is not to be depended on. Now, the whole world knows that they have every reason to be disloyal to the Spaniard, who has for centuries so cruelly oppressed them. The devotion to the cause of freedom, however, which has recently made Rizal and hundreds of others martyrs to Spanish cruelty, shows that they also have the stuff that heroes are made of, and that they ran be loyal to an animating principle.” “Though calm, the native is not secretive, but often loquacious. He is naturally curious and inquisitive, but always polite, and respectful withal—especially to his superiors. He is passionate, and, in common with all half-civilized races, is cruel to his foes. The quality of mercy, like the sentiment—as distinguished from the passion—of love, is perhaps more the product of the philosophy of civilization than a natural attribute of the human heart.” “All travelers unite in attributing to the natives extreme family affection. They are very fond of their children; who, as a rule, are respectful and well-behaved. The noisy little hoodlums of European and American cities are utterly unknown. The old are tenderly cared for, and venerated; while in almost every well-to-do household are one or two poor relatives who, while mere hangers-on, are nevertheless made welcome to the table of their host. Indeed, the hospitality of the Filipinos is proverbial. A guest is always welcome, and welcome to the best. As a rule, the people are superstitious and very credulous; but how could they be otherwise? For three hundred years they have been denied even the liberty of investigation; when no light, save the dim glimmer of priestcraft pierced the utter darkness of their lot. Those that have been educated, however, have proved apt converts—only too apt, say the priests and the Spaniards—to the conclusions of science and of modern research. The native is rarely humorous, and seldom witty. He is not easily moved to anger, and when angry does not often show it. When he does, like the Malay of Java, he is prone to lose all control of himself, and, with destructive energy, slays all in his path. This is infrequent, however, but is a contingency that may occur at any time. If a native has been unjustly punished, he will never forget it, and will treasure the memory of his wrong until a good opportunity for revenge presents itself. Like all courageous people, he despises cowardice and pusillanimity. He has, therefore, but little regard for the meek and humble Chinaman, who will pocket an insult rather than avenge himself. He greatly esteems the European, who is possessed of the qualities which he admires, and will follow him into the very jaws of death. He is easily awed by a demonstration of superior force, and is ruled best by mild but firm coercion, based upon justice. He is not often ambitious, save socially, and to make some display, being fond of ceremony and of the pomp and glitter of a procession. He is sober, patient, and always clean. This can be said of few peoples. He easily adjusts himself to new conditions, and will soon make the best of their surroundings. As servants they are honest, obedient, and will do as they are told. It must be said that they enjoy litigation more than is good for them or for the best interests of the colony. There must be some psychological reason for this. It doubtless gives some play to the subtlety of the Oriental mind. It is said that he lacks the sense of initiative, and to some extent this may be true. The recent conduct of Aguinaldo—a full-blooded native—proves, notwithstanding, that he is not wholly deficient in aggressiveness nor in organizing power.”Lala adds (pp. 157, 158): “I have talked with many rude, untutored natives that, frankly, astonished me with the unwitting revelation of latent poetry, love of imagery, and spiritual longings in their nature.”—Eds.↑37Such is, although in somewhat varying degree, the condition of half-caste classes everywhere. A vivid picture of their condition in India, which may illustrate that of the mestizos in Filipinas, is found in a book entitledThat Eurasian(Chicago, 1905), by “Aleph Bey,” the pseudonym of an American writer who had spent many years in India; he depicts, in terms both vigorous and pathetic, the origin, difficulties, and degraded condition of the Eurasians (or half-castes) there, and the oppression and cruel treatment which they encounter from the dominant white class.—Eds.↑38“To be born in Spain was enough to secure one marked tokens of respect; but this advantage was not transmitted. The children who first saw the light in that other world no longer bear the name ofchapetons, which honored their fathers; they become simplycreóles.” (Raynal,Etablissemens et commerce des Européens, ii, p. 290.)—Eds.↑39I am perhaps not quite correct here. [Mas states (Informe, ii, “Administration of Justice,” p. 1), that the limit for civil suits was 100 pesos fuertes.—Eds.]↑40It will be understood that these sureties have their share in the advantages, that is plunder, which the Alcalde derives from the government. This often amounts to 20, 30, or even 50,000 dollars in three or four years—though at the time of their leaving Manila, they are in debt to a large amount. It is but just to observe, that there aresomefew honorable exceptions.↑41This is a typographical error; the reference to Comyn work is on p. 13 ofRemarks.—Eds.↑42Even from Spanish writers: see Zuniga’s History, Morillo [i.e., Murillo Velarde], and others. Le Gentil (who names his informants, men of the first respectability), La Peyrouse, &c. Many public papers of the government bear witness to these abuses.“El Alcalde de aquiSeñor!(said an old Indian to the writer at Zebú),le quitará los dientes de la boca a S. Md.” “The Alcaldé here, Sir!—He’ll take the teeth out of your worship’s mouth.” This was not too strong an expression.↑43They are well aware of the extent of their influence, and even at times speak of it. “Si aqui manda su tropa el Rey, se vayan los Indios al monte, pero si yo cerro las puertas de la Iglesia los tengo todos a mis pies en veinte quatro horas.” “If the king sends troops here, the Indians will retire to the mountains and forests. But if I shut the church doors, I shall have them all at my feet in twenty-four hours,” was the remark of an intelligent “frayle” to the writer.↑44Le Gentil says (Voyage, ii, p. 2): “Every order of religious has, then, taken possession of these provinces, which they have, so to say, shared among themselves. In some sort, they command therein, and they are more kings than the king himself. They have been so shrewd as to learn the dialects of the various peoples among whom they reside, and not to teach the Castilian language to them; thus the religious are absolute masters over the minds of the Indians in these islands.”—Eds.↑45Those who can see only inquisitors in Catholic bishops will be a little incredulous of one of them checking an attempt to convert a Protestant! This happened to the writer, who found himself one evening seated between an Indian clerigo and the bishop of Zebû, an aged and most worthy prelate. The Indian father, to show his zeal for the faith, attacked me on the subject of religion with the usual arguments of ignorant friars, till I was on the point of quitting the room to avoid answering. “My son,” said the old prelate to the Indian—“we are here to convert the Indians, not to annoy the strangers who may visit us. I will send this gentleman some books, and I doubt not they will duly prepare his mind to see the errors of the Protestant church, and then we may hope for success with him!”↑46“Yo hé llorado de ansias de ver à un Europeo!” “How often has the desire ofseeingan European made me weep!” was the pathetic remark of a most worthy minister to the writer of these remarks.—This man had been 27 years on one small island!↑47“Insanity is the fashionable disease [at Manila], and a great many persons are attacked by it; but it prevails more generally among the women and the religious—the latter most of all, and they are very subject to it. The life which they lead contributes greatly to this: to be always shut up, in a climate so hot, eating scanty and poor food, and much given to study; perhaps also there is some grief at finding themselves banished and shut in so far away [from Spain]. All these causes make the brain grow hot, and madness follows. Nearly all the religious who go to the Philippines arrive there while young …. As for the women, their natural infirmity may, at a certain age, conduce to insanity, with which a great many are stricken.” (Le Gentil,Voyage, ii, pp. 130, 131.)—Eds.↑48They have already conducted them to scenes of the last indecency and even bloodshed. See Martini’s Hist.The Inquisition has been but little felt in the Philippines of late years. A tribunal existed, but it was merely nominal, and held only “in terrorem.” It was not wanted as a political engine; and as a religious one, there was little use for it amongst a people who will believe any thing and every thing. The Grand Inquisitor, during the last 25 years, is a man universally beloved!—the Padre Coro.↑49This is, according to Montero y Vidal (Archipiélago filipino, p. 72), the name applied by Linnæus to theCaryota onustaof Blanco, generally calledcabonegroby the Spaniards (seeVOL. XVIII, p. 177); but the list of fiber plants inOfficial Handbook of Philippinesapplies to that tree (p. 332) the nameCaryota urensL. The natives also make various sorts of wine and brandy from the sap of the cocoanut palm (Cocos nucifera); see Delgado’sHistoria general, pp. 645–648, 664.—Eds.↑50There is an instance (I think in the province of Pampanga) of a negro tribe, who annually pay their tribute—but upon the express condition that no missionaries are to be sent!↑51“Bulas.” Surely this most absurd of all impositions on the credulity of a people, should be abolished, or at least imposed in a less objectionable manner. The “Bula de Cruzada” (originally a contribution to the wars against the Infidels), for which is granted permission to eat meat and eggs in Lent, or benefits to the souls in purgatory (“Bula de Difuntos”), from the Pope is an article of revenue to the king of Spain. His Most Catholic Majesty farms it to one of his subjects, who rather than lose a rial of his bargain, will sell them to Chinese, Turks, or Hindoos, if they are fools enough to buy them, as the Chinese have been known to do for the souls oftheirancestors!—Quere: What has become of theoriginalintention of these precious documents? of which a modern Spanish author has remarked, “Que es el papel mas caro y mas malo que se vende.” It is the worst and dearest paper that is sold, (Gallardo Dicc. Critico Burlesco). It is, however, an indispensable condition to the performance of many of the offices of religion to have the last published bull. See Manila Almanack.↑52In 1810, the total of receipts was 1,466,610 dollars.↑53Such assertions demand some evidence in support of them. A very recent case has occurred, wherein the colonel of a militia regiment (of Chinese descent), having some dispute with a French gentleman, and high words taking place, called up the guard stationed at his door, it is supposed to flog him! The French gentleman having procured some weapon, kept the whole guard at bay, together with theirgallantcolonel. Muskets were levelled at him, and he probably would have been assassinated, but for the interference of some of the family, and his own firmness! Complaint was made of this, but no notice was taken of it, nor was thegallantcolonel’s conduct thought at all incorrect. On the contrary it was very generally applauded!↑54Large boats undecked, pulling from 20 to 30 oars; they carry a four or six pounder and five or six swivels; they are fine boats and sail fast. The gun-boats carry a long 24 or 32 pounder, and six or eight swivels; and including marines, carry from 80 to 100 men.↑55For recent information on this subject, see chapter on agriculture (revised by Frank Lamson-Scribner, chief of Bureau of Agriculture), inOfficial Handbook of Philippines, pp. 99–126; andCensus of Philippines, iv, pp. 11–394, with full description of chief products of the islands, methods of cultivation, lists of fruits, vegetables, and fiber plants, and detailed statistics of production, lands, etc., as well as of domestic animals of all kinds.—Eds.↑56The fish principally caught is one called Dalag (Blennius?)57This fish, common I believe to many parts of India, presents some phenomena well worth the attention of naturalists. In these extensive plains, only a few pools remain in the dry season; and after the rains, such multitudes of them are found, that they are caught with baskets only. They weigh from one to two pounds, and are from one to two feet in length; they are found in the rice fields, when these have been overflowed a few weeks, and strange to relate, in the graves and vaults of churches when in damp situations, but with little or no water near them; this fact is related on respectable authority. The fish, though not delicate, is good, and forms a valuable article of food for the poor.↑57Montero y Vidal mentions this fish (Archipiélago filipino, p. 107), as belonging to the genusOphicephalus; it is “abundant in the rivers, lakes, and pools.” See alsoOfficial Handbook of Philippines, pp. 151, 152.—Eds.↑58They, very unaccountably, neglected any steps to procure the martin from Bengal or Cochin China.59This might, however, have arisen from an idea that, as in the Isle of France, the martins might have become as great a nuisance as the locusts; but surely the introduction of some species of hawk would have obviated this.↑59Montero y Vidal says (Archipiélago filipino, p. 113) that the family ofOrthoptera, “leaf-eaters in their adult stage, are the most fearful scourge for agriculture,” perhaps the worst of these plagues being the locust (Oedipoda manilensis; Spanish,langosta); “the Indians use great nets to catch them, because not only the government pays a bounty for a certain quantity of these destructive insects which the natives may present, but they preserve the insects and use them for food.” He also states (p. 96) that a species of grackle (Gracula) was imported from China (in theHist. de Filipinas, ii, p. 294, he mentions in the same connection martins [pájaros martines]) to exterminate this pest; but does not mention the time or the result of this experiment.—Eds.↑60SeeVOL. XLVIII, p. 96, note 37.—Eds.↑61This is the Viverra Musanga.62See Horsfield’s Zoology of Java.↑62Montero y Vidal states (Archipiélago filipino, pp. 86, 87) that two species of carnivores,Paradoxurus philippinensisandP. musanga, are dreaded by the coffee-planters; these creatures “spend the day in holes dug in the ground, and go out at night to hunt their game.” He mentions, besides these, two species of civets, both of the genusViverra. Delgado says (p. 875) that he has never seen themiró(Paradoxurus) except in the island of Leyte.—Eds.↑63Eight rials are a Spanish dollar.↑64The following are the common land measures in use at Manila:La Brasa de tierra is 8 feet 1.6–10 English, (from a new government measure); 10,000 of these, or a square of 100 each way, is a Quinion.

1The full title of this book is as follows: Remarks on the Phillippine Islands, and on their capital Manila. 1819 to 1822. By an Englishman. “When a traveller returneth home, let him not leave the countries where he hath travelled altogether behind him.”Lord Bacon—Essays. Calcutta: Printed at the Baptist mission Press, Circular Road; and sold by Messrs. W. Thacker and Co. St. Andrew’s Library. 1828.Opposite the title-page is a folding map, entitled “Map of the province of Tondo.” It is Spanish, dated 1819; and shows as well portions of the adjacent provinces. The book is dedicated “To Holt Mackenzie, Esq. This Work is respectfully inscribed, by his obedient humble servant, The Author.Calcutta, March, 1828.”Notes signed “Eds.” are supplied by the Editors; the rest are those of the author himself. The original text is reproduced as exactly as possible.↑2Besides the references already given, see J. Roth’s sketch of the geology of the Philippines, in appendix to Jagor’sReisen, pp. 333–354.—Eds.↑3The Bureau of Government Laboratories at Manila published, during 1902–05, a valuable series of bulletins on various topics in botany, ornithology, biology, diseases of man and beast, etc., and another series was published by the Mining Bureau; the former bureau is now replaced by the Bureau of Science.—Eds.↑4In the environs of Manila, a monument is erected to the memory of …,5a Spanish naturalist of unwearied industry, and it is said, great talents, sent out by government to examinethe Phillippine Islands. After seven years’ incessant labour, he died of a fever, and at his death his manuscripts, which are all written in cyphers, were taken possession of by the government; they are said yet to remain buried in the archives of ‘la Secretaria,’ having never been sent to Europe!↑5Apparently referring to Antonio Pineda (VOL. L, p. 61); but he died only three years after leaving Spain. In the expedition to which he was attached, he was director of the department of natural sciences; he was accompanied by Louis Née, a Frenchman naturalized in Spain. They visited Uruguay, Patagonia, Chile, Peru, and Nueva España; and in Chile were joined by the Hungarian naturalist, Tadeo Haenke (who, reaching Cádiz after their vessel sailed, was obliged to sail to South America to meet them). From Acapulco they went to Marianas and Filipinas; and journeyed (1791) through Luzón from Sorsogón to Manila. Pineda labored diligently in Luzón, and made large collections; but died at Badoc, in Ilocos, in 1792; his brother Arcadio Pineda, who was first lieutenant of the ship, was charged to put in order the materials collected by Antonio, but many of these were lost on the return journey. Returning to South America, at Callao Haenke and Née parted company; the former again traveled in America, but in the vicissitudes of these journeys much of the material collected by him was lost or spoiled. The residue was classified and described, after his death, by the leading botanists of Europe, and this matter was published in a work entitledReliquiæ Haenkeane, seu descriptiones et icones plantarum quæ in America meridionali et boreali in insulis Philippinis et Marianis collegit Thaddeus Haenke, Philosophiæ Doctor, Phytographus Regis Hispaniæ(Pragæ, 1825–35). Née went from Concepción, Chile, overland to Montevideo, and thence to Spain; and in September, 1794, he reached Cádiz, with a herbarium of 10,000 plants, of which 4,000 were new ones. These were preserved in the Botanical Gardens at Madrid, with more than 300 drawings. See Ramón Jordana y Morera’sBosquejo geográfico é historico-natural del archipiélago filipino(Madrid, 1885), pp. 356–358, 361; and José Gogorza y González’sDatos para la fauna filipina(Madrid, 1888), p. 2.—Eds.↑6The loftiest peak in Mindoro is Mount Halcón, said to be 8,800 feet in height. The most prominent volcano in the archipelago is Mayón, 7,916 feet high, in Albay, Luzon; in Negros is another volcano, called Canlaón, 8,192 feet high. In Panay the highest peak is Madiaás, 7,264 feet; and in Mindanao is the loftiest peak in the entire archipelago, the almost extinct volcano of Apo, which rises to 10,312 feet. See the chapter on “Mountains and rivers,” inCensus of Philippines, i, pp. 00–73.—Eds.↑7Le Gentil says (Voyage, ii, p. 29): “This animal [the hog] is so common there that they even use its fat for sauces, ragouts, and fried articles; for butter is not known in Manila, and there is very little use of milk there. The Manilans doubtless find less difficulty (for in that climate people are very fond of repose) in using pork fat in their food than in rearing and keeping cattle and making butter. This sort of food, joined to the heat and the great humidity of that country, occasions serious dysentery in many persons.” He adds (p. 123): “The venereal disease (or ‘French disease,’ as they call it, I know not why), is very common there [in Manila]; but they do not die from it; the great heat and copious perspiration enable people to live at Manila with this malady, they marry without being frightened at it, and the evil passes by inheritance to their children; it is a sort of heritage with which but few European families are not stained.”—Eds.↑8Le Gentil thus speaks of the placer-mining practiced by the Indians in Luzon (Voyage, ii, p. 32): “It is true that this sort of life shortens the days of these wretched people; as they are perpetually in the water, they swell, and soon die. Besides that, the friars say that it is their experience that the Indians who lead that sort of life have no inclination to follow the Christian life, and that they give much trouble to the ministers of God who instruct them. Despite that, it is to the friars and to the alcaldes that these Indians sell their gold.”—Eds.↑9In his “Non-Christian Tribes of Northern Luzon,” Worcester calls attention to the various indefinite modes of using the word “tribe,” among ethnological writers, and proposes (p. 803) the following definition as a means of securing clearness and accuracy therein: “A division of a race composed of an aggregate of individuals of a kind and of a common origin, agreeing among themselves in, and distinguished from their congeners by, physical characteristics, dress, and ornaments; the nature of the communities which they form; peculiarities of house architecture; methods of hunting, fishing, and carrying on agriculture; character and importance of manufactures; practices relative to war and the taking of heads of enemies; arms used in warfare; music and dancing, and marriage and burial customs; but not constituting a political unit subject to the control of any single individual nor necessarily speaking the same dialect.” He adds: “Where different dialects prevail among the members of a single tribe it should be subdivided into dialect groups.” He also says (p. 798): “It was the usage of the Spaniards to designate as a tribe each group of people which had a dialect, more or less peculiar, of its own. Furthermore, the custom which is widespread among the hill people of northern Luzon of shouting out the name of a settlement when they desire to call for one or more persons belonging to it, seems in many instances to have led the Spaniards to adopt settlement names as tribal ones, even when there were no differences of dialect between the peoples thus designated.”—Eds.↑10The fullest and most authoritative account of the Negritos is, of course, the monograph by W. A. Reed,The Negritos of Zambales, published by the Philippine Ethnological Survey. See also Worcester’s account of them in his “Non-Christian Tribes of Northern Luzon,” inPhilippine Journal of Science, October, 1906, pp. 805et seq.—Eds.↑11See Le Gentil,Voyage aux Indes.↑12Is not this, or something resembling it, a custom of the natives of Australasia?↑13See Herrera and Ant. de Solis, Hist. of Mexico.↑14The negro of the east appears to have amalgamated with some other family. On the south coasts of Australasia, they resemble in many points the people just described. This continues to be the case as far as Cape Capricorn. To the northward of this, as far as Murray’s Islands in Torres Straits, they are a stout, tall, athletic race of men,15and as hairy on the face and body as Europeans, with long hair, andwithoutthe negro cast of countenance. This race may be traced by intervals to Ternate, Gilolo, &c., where they are called Harraforas;16but none are found in the Phillippines (unless the Ylocos have some relationship to them). Is not the native of New Ireland and Queen Charlotte’s Islands too of this race?17The difference between them is most striking. The one are dwarfish negroes, the others almost black Europeans. Both are essentially different from the Malay family, and not only so, but from each other (thenativeof Amboyna, I think, forms the link between them) and this difference is apparently anatomical, in the shape of the skull, facial angles, &c.We are as yet in the infancy of our knowledge of the origin of these various families of the human race: like that of languages, it will in all probability remain one more of conjecture than of fact; but it is still a subject of deep interest. I have heard from respectable authority, that the language of Cagayan, the most northern province but one of the island of Luzon, the men of which are tail, stout, olive-coloured, almost beardless, and proverbial for their mildness, peaceable behaviour, and fidelity, so much resembles that of the Sandwich islanders, that some of these at Manila found no difficulty in making the Cagayan servants understand them! The province of Ylocos is the next to this to the north, and forms the north coast of the island. The Ylocos are black, short-bearded men, and noted for their insubordination and dissipated character.↑15The writer of this memoir has, on the coast of New Holland, between Cape Capricorn and Endeavour Straits, had occasion to know this fact. A party of these savages attacked the captain and supercargo of a vessel in which he was an officer, and they were repulsed only by firearms. The account of them given by the supercargo, and indeed by all the party attacked, uniformly agreed in describing them as the finest made and strongest looking men possible. Their bodies were also very hairy.↑16The term “Haraforas” is applied to the Subanos of Mindanao by Captain Forrest; from hisVoyage, pp. 266, 268, 271, 273, 278–282, we obtain the following interesting and first-hand information about that people:“The vassals of the Sultan, and of others, who possess great estates, are called Kanakan. Those vassals are sometimes Mahometans, though mostly Haraforas [“who are also called Subanos, or Oran Manubo,” p. 186]. The latter only may be sold with the lands, but cannot be sold off the lands. The Haraforas are more opprest than the former. The Mahometan vassals are bound to accompany their lords, on any sudden expedition; but the Haraforas being in a great measure excused from such attendance, pay yearly certain taxes, which are not expected from the Mahometan vassals. They pay a boiss, or land tax. A Harafora family pays ten battels of paly (rough rice) forty lb. each; three of rice, about sixty lb.; one fowl, one bunch of plantains, thirty roots, called clody, or St. Helena yam, and fifty heads of Indian corn. I give this as one instance of the utmost that is ever paid. Then they must sell fifty battels of paly, equal to two thousand pound weight, for one kangan. So at Dory, or New Guinea, one prong, value half a dollar, or one kangan, given to a Harafora, lays a perpetual tax on him. Those vassals at Magindano have what land they please; and the Mahometans on the sea coast, whether free or kanakan, live mostly by trading with the Haraforas, while their own gardens produce them betel nuts, coco nuts, and greens. They seldom grow any rice, and they discourage as far as they can, the Haraforas from going to Mindano, to sell the produce of their plantations. On the banks of the Pelangy and Tamantakka, the Mahometans grow much rice. The boiss is not always collected in fruits of the earth only. A tax-gatherer, who arrived at Coto Intang, when I was there, gave me the following list of what he had brought from some of Rajah Moodo’s crown lands, being levied on perhaps five hundred families. 2870 battels of paly, of forty lb. each; 490 Spanish dollars; 160 kangans; 6 tayls of gold, equal to 30 l [sterling]; 160 Malons: a cloth made of the plantain tree, three yards long, and one broad. This last mentioned cloth is the usual wear of the country women, made in the form of a Bengal lungy, or Buggess [i.e., Bugis] cloth, being a wide sack without a bottom; and is often used as a currency in the market. The currency in most parts of the country, is the Chinese kangan, coarse cloth, thinly woven, nineteen inches broad, and six yards long; the value at Sooloo is ten dollars for a bundle of twenty-five sealed up; and at Magindano much the same; but at Magindano dollars are scarce. These bundles are called gandangs, rolled up in a cylindrical form. They have also, as a currency, kousongs, a kind of nankeen, dyed black; and kompow, a strong white Chinese linen, made of flax; of which more particularly hereafter. The kangans generally come from Sooloo; so they are got at second hand: for the Spaniards have long hindered Chinese junks, bound from Amoy to Magindano, to pass Samboangan. This is the cause of so little trade at Magindano, no vessels sailing from Indostan thither; and the little trade is confined to a few country Chinese, called Oran Sangly, and a few Soolooans who come hither to buy rice and paly, bringing with them Chinese articles: for the crop of rice at Sooloo can never be depended on. In the bazar, or market, the immediate currency is paly. Ten gantangs of about four pounds each, make a battel; and three battels (a cylindrical measure, thirteen inches and five-tenths high; the same in diameter) about one hundred and twenty pounds of paly, are commonly sold for a kangan. Talking of the value of things here, and at Sooloo, they say, such a house or prow, &c., is worth so many slaves; the old valuation being one slave for thirty kangans. They also specify in their bargains, whether is meant matto (eye) kangan, real kangan, or nominal kangan. The dealing in the nominal, or imaginary kangan, is an ideal barter. When one deals for the real kangans, they must be examined; and the gandangs, or bundles of twenty-five pieces, are not to be trusted, as the dealers will often forge a seal, having first packed up damaged kangans. In this the Chinese here, and at Sooloo, are very expert. The China cash at Magindano, named pousin, have holes as in China. I found them scarce; their price is from one hundred and sixty to one hundred and eighty for a kangan. At Sooloo is coined a cash of base copper, called petis, of which two hundred, down to one hundred and seventy, go for a kangan.”“On Sooloo are no Haraforas. The Haraforas on Magindano make a strong cloth, not of cotton, but of a kind of flax, very like what the Batta people wear on the coast of Sumatra.” “One day near Tubuan, a Harafora brought down some paddy from the country: I wanted to purchase it; but the head man of the village, a Magindanoer, would not permit him to sell it me. I did not dispute the point; but found afterwards, the poor Harafora had sold about three hundred pounds of paly for a prong, or chopping knife.” “They all seem to be slaves to the Magindano people: for these take what they please, fowls or anything in the house they like best; and if the owners seem angry, threaten to tie them up, and flog them.” “The inhabitants of this country [of the Illanos] have generally their name from the lake [i.e., Lake Lanao] on which they reside. The inlanders dwell chiefly towards the East, where are said to be thirty thousand men, intermixed in many places with the Haraforas, who seem to be the primitives of the island. On the north coast of Magindano, the Spaniards have had great success, in converting to Christianity those Haraforas. Their agreeing in one essential point, the eating of hog’s flesh, may, in a great measure, have paved the way.”“The Magindano people sell to the Haraforas iron chopping knives, called prongs, cloth, salt, &c., for their rice and other fruits of the earth. For the Haraforas dread going to sea, else they could carry the produce of their lands to a better market. They are much imposed on, and kept under by their Mahometan lords; and are all tributary to the Sultan, or to some Rajah Rajah (noblemen) under him. Their system proves thus the feudal.” “The Haraforas are thinly scattered; and, being all tributary, many together seldom stay long at one place. This cannot be for want of water, pasture, or fertile ground; as with the Tartars on the continent of Asia. On this island, almost every spot is covered either with timber, brushwood, reeds, or grass; and streams are found every where in abundance. Nor can it be to avoid wild beasts; there are none on the island: a good cause why deer, wild horses and other wild cattle are found in so many parts of it. I suspect that the Haraforas are often so opprest that some have wisely got inland, beyond the tax-gatherer’s ken.”Evidently Forrest and the writer of theRemarkshad in mind two different peoples, to whom they applied the term Haraforas. Crawfurd explains this name (Dictionary Ind. Islands, p. 10) as a corruption ofAlforas; it is “not a native word at all, nor is it the generic name of any people whatsoever. It is a word of the Portuguese language, apparently derived from the Arabic articleal, and the prepositionfora, ‘without.’ The Indian Portuguese applied it to all people beyond their own authority, or who were not subdued by them, and consequently to the wild races of the interior. It would seem to be equivalent to the ‘Indios bravos’ of the Spaniards, as applied to the wild and unconquered tribes of America and the Philippines.”—Eds.↑17And that groupe to which Quiros, Mendana, or Torres gave the name of “Yslas de Gente Hermosa”? [Still thus named on modern charts; seeVoyages of Quiros(Hakluyt Society’s publications, London, 1904), pp. xxiv, 217, 424, 431.—Eds.↑18Our author here confuses the Spanish name “Pintados” (literally, “painted,” referring to their tattooed bodies) with the native name, “Bisayas,” both being indifferently applied to the islands south of Luzon.—Eds.↑19See Sir William Draper’s dispatches at the siege of Manila.↑20Was it not by this system (the mita) that the mines and plantations of Mexico were wrought? and Mexico,—that Mexico which the Spaniards of Cortes in the 15th century called New Spain,—became nearly a desert?↑21A higher and purer praise is due to this gentleman than havingwrittenthe work alluded to: it is that heacted on its spirit, and first taught the “red man” to know himself as man, and (a far more arduous undertaking), he taught the white man that his prosperity was essentially connected with that of the native. The country in which the foundations of our power were laid on such a basis, should not have been given away like a ministerial snuff-box.22↑22Java was conquered by England in 1811, but was restored to Holland five years later. During that time the island was governed by Sir Thomas Stamford Raffles (1781–1826), who published aHistory of Java(London, 1817); he was afterward governor of the English settlements in Sumatra (1818–24), in both these posts ruling with great ability and vigor and an enlightened and liberal mind. Gilbert Elliot, Baron Minto, a noted English statesman, was governor-general of India during 1807–13, and went with Raffles to Java to organize its government.—Eds.↑23SeeDescripcion Geografica y Topografica de la Ysla de Luzon, Por Don Yldefonso de Arragon, Parte IV. Prov. de la Pampanga, p. 3, 5, &c. The author is a colonel of engineers. [In 1818–20, he was chief of the topographical bureau at Manila.—Eds.]↑24Ibid.↑25“Estos (Pueblos) aunque immediatos a las orillas de la mar, estén libres de las invasiones de los Moros; la espesura de las Manglares occulta y hace dificil la entrada, &c.”“These (towns), though close to the sea shore, are free from the invasions of the Moors (pirates); the thickness of the mangroves conceal and render the entrances difficult.” The writer is speaking of towns, of which none are more than 20 miles from Manila!—Descripcion Geog. y Topograf.↑26The writer was once obliged to arm all his servants against 16 soldiers with their muskets from a neighboring military post. The two parties remained some minutes with their armslevelledat each other, when a parley was begun, which ended the affair without bloodshed. The origin of the quarrel was a dispute at cockfighting between his servants and the soldiers.↑27Such are, for example, NuestraSeñorade Antipolo, about 20 miles east of Manila, and the SantoNiño(Holy Child) of Zebû: to both of these it is reckoned almost indispensable to make a pilgrimage: the natives of Luzon to the first, which is about 25 miles from Manila; and those of all the Bisayas or Southern Islands to the other. From Antipolo28alone have been sent in a single year 180,000 dollars as the produce of the masses! And the writer has conversed with pilgrims from the province of Ylocos! In all cases of peril and difficulty, a vow is made to one of these saints, which is seldom left unfulfilled. The crew of a small vessel of men offered 54 dollars for masses at the convent of St. Augustin (I think), on the day of the feast del SantoNiño.↑28For detailed account of the shrine at Antipolo, its worship, miracles, etc., see Murillo Velarde’sHist. de Philipinas, fol. 210v–229v; and in the engraved frontispiece to that work may be seen a representation of the statue of the Virgin of Antipolo (see ourVOL. XLIV, opposite titlepage).—Eds.↑29This word is defined by theStandard Dictionary(New York, 1895) as a Scottish slang word meaning “unlawful sexual intercourse.” It is apparently allied to the obsolete Northumbrian word “houghen-moughen,” meaning “greedy, ravenous”—see Wright’sEnglish Dialect Dictionary, iii (London, 1902), p. 247.—Eds.↑30Nothing has stamped the character of the Manila Indian with greater atrocity in the eyes of Englishmen, than their frequent appeals to assassination (the knife) in cases of supposed or actual wrongs. How long is it since dirks were laid aside, because useless, in Scotland? When men cannot appealimmediatelyto a magistrate, they appeal to themselves. Duels too are another kind of appeals of the same sort.↑31“At Manila, therefore, a doctor [of law] is a species of phenomenon, and many years pass without one of them being seen; in two universities there is no doctor, while in 1767 there was but one competitor for the doctoral of the cathedral. Yet it must be noted that this competitor was a Mexican, and was not born in Manila. Of what use, therefore, are two universities in this city? Would not a single one be more than enough? One who knows Latin is greatly esteemed in Manila, because that language is not common there, in spite of the two universities which I have just mentioned; what is learned in those institutions is very poor, and is only imperfectly understood. When I arrived there, a great many persons asked me if I knew Latin, and when I answered that I knew a little of it they apparently had after that more respect for me. All the ancient prejudices of the schools seem to have abandoned us of Europe only to take refuge at Manila, where certainly they have long remained, for the ancient doctrine is there in too good hands to give place to sound ideas of physics. Don Feliciano Marqués often honestly confessed to me that in Spain they were a hundred years behind France, in the sciences; and that at Manila they were a hundred years behind Spain. One can judge, by that, of the present state of physics at Manila, in the midst of two universities. In that city electricity is known only by name, and the Holy Office of the Inquisition has prohibited experiments in that line. I knew there a Frenchman, a surgeon by profession, a man of parts and of inquiring mind, who was threatened with the Inquisition for having tried to make such experiments; but I think that what really drew upon him this ill-fortune was the experiment of the “little friar.” [This simple experiment in physics was made with a little figure resembling a friar; it had never before been seen in Manila, and everybody ran to look at it and laugh.] “This experiment of the surgeon, who made his little friar dance, and sometimes sink to the bottom of the vial by way of correcting him, drew upon him the displeasure of the entire body of religious with whom Manila swarms; there was talk of the Holy Office, and it was said that the surgeon’s experiment was a case for the Inquisition. The surgeon, therefore—whose only intention in the experiment was to vex the friars who had prevented him from making his experiments in electricity—was compelled to cease his pleasantry, and Manila had to express its detestation of the pleasure that it had taken in seeing the experiment.” [The author was visited by many people at his observatory, who desired to see the sun and the planets through his telescope;] “the women were even more curious than the men about the rare things which I showed them, and which I took pleasure in explaining to them; but not a single religious came to visit my observatory.” (Le Gentil,Voyage, ii, pp. 96, 97.)—Eds.↑32SeeEl Yndio Agraciado(The aggrieved Indian), a pamphlet published at Manila in 1821, but suppressed by order of government.33↑33Pardo de Tavera says of this pamphlet, in hisBiblioteca Filipina, p. 146: “It attacks one Don M. G., a Philippine Spaniard, who was allowed to propose a plan of studies which was not much to the liking of the Filipino Indians. As appears by the title of this pamphlet, there existed in Manila at that time a publication (probably weekly) calledEl noticioso Filipino. [See also Tavera’s account of this sheet, at foot of the same page, which he regards as the first periodical which appeared in Manila]. Doubtless the former was the doing of some friar, who took the name of ‘Indian’ in order to express himself more freely.”—Eds.↑34This distinction should never be lost sight of. The Indian of Manila, from whom strangers generally form their estimate of this people, is so mixed, that a genuine Indian (Malay) family is scarcely to be met with; they are a mixture of Indian, Chinese, Japanese, Mexican (from the troops), seamen of different nations, and Spaniards besides, “Toutes les Capitales se ressemblent, et çe n’est pas d’eux qu’il faut juger les mœurs d’un peuple quelconque.”35—Rousseau.Let it never be forgotten, too, that while the Indians ofManila, on the 9th of October, 1820, were assassinating every foreigner within their reach, the Indians of the country weresavingthose in their power at the hazard of their lives!↑35That is, “All capital cities are alike, and it is not by them that the morals of any people should be judged.”—Eds.↑36The following statements regarding the native character are made by Ramon Reyes Lala (The Philippine Islands, New York, 1899, pp. 80–87), himself a Filipino: “The first thing that in the native character impresses the traveler is his impassive demeanor and imperturbable bearing. He is a born stoic, a fatalist by nature. This accounts for his coolness in moments of danger, and his intrepid bearing against overwhelming odds. This feature of the Malay character has often been displayed in the conflicts of the race with the Europeans in the East Indies. Under competent leadership the native, though strongly averse to discipline, can be made a splendid soldier. As sailors, too, I do not believe they can be equaled.” “As a result of the stoicism of the native character, he never bewails a misfortune, and has no fear of death.” “Europeans often seem to notice in them what they deem a lack of sympathy for the misfortunes of others; but it is not this so much as resignation to the inevitable.” “The educated native, however, impregnated with the bitter philosophy of the civilized world, is by no means so imperturbable. While more keenly alive to the sufferings of others, he is also more sensitive to his own sorrows.” “Incomprehensible inconsistencies obtain in nearly every native. Students of character may, therefore, study the Filipinos for years, and yet, at last, have no definite impression of their mental or moral status. Of course, those living in the cities are less baffling to the physiognomist and the ethnologist; for endemic peculiarities have been so rubbed off or modified that the racial traits are not obvious. But observe the natives, in their primitive abodes, where civilizing forces have not penetrated! You will then be amazed at the extraordinary mingling and clashing of antithetical characteristics in one and the same person; uncertain as to whether the good or the bad may be manifested. Like the wind, the mood comes and goes, and no one can tell why. I myself, with all the inherited feelings, tastes, and tendencies of my countrymen—modified and transmuted [by his education and long residence in Europe and America], happily—have stood aghast or amused at some hitherto unknown characteristic manifesting itself in an intimate acquaintance; and after I had been for years, too, wholly ignorant of his being so possessed or obsessed. And after that, the same mental or moral squint would be displayed at irregular intervals.” “His indolence is the result of generations of tropical ancestors. Besides, deprived by the Spaniards from all active participation in affairs of the Government, and robbed of the fruits of industry, all incentive to advancement and progress was taken away. He therefore yields with composure to the crushing conditions of his environment, preferring the lazy joys of indolence rather than labor for the benefit of his oppressors. Naturally. Recent events, however, show that, given the stimulant of hope, even the ‘indolent natives’ of the Philippines can achieve and nobly dare. Some Spaniards also have asserted that the Filipinos are naturally disloyal and treacherous, and that their word is not to be depended on. Now, the whole world knows that they have every reason to be disloyal to the Spaniard, who has for centuries so cruelly oppressed them. The devotion to the cause of freedom, however, which has recently made Rizal and hundreds of others martyrs to Spanish cruelty, shows that they also have the stuff that heroes are made of, and that they ran be loyal to an animating principle.” “Though calm, the native is not secretive, but often loquacious. He is naturally curious and inquisitive, but always polite, and respectful withal—especially to his superiors. He is passionate, and, in common with all half-civilized races, is cruel to his foes. The quality of mercy, like the sentiment—as distinguished from the passion—of love, is perhaps more the product of the philosophy of civilization than a natural attribute of the human heart.” “All travelers unite in attributing to the natives extreme family affection. They are very fond of their children; who, as a rule, are respectful and well-behaved. The noisy little hoodlums of European and American cities are utterly unknown. The old are tenderly cared for, and venerated; while in almost every well-to-do household are one or two poor relatives who, while mere hangers-on, are nevertheless made welcome to the table of their host. Indeed, the hospitality of the Filipinos is proverbial. A guest is always welcome, and welcome to the best. As a rule, the people are superstitious and very credulous; but how could they be otherwise? For three hundred years they have been denied even the liberty of investigation; when no light, save the dim glimmer of priestcraft pierced the utter darkness of their lot. Those that have been educated, however, have proved apt converts—only too apt, say the priests and the Spaniards—to the conclusions of science and of modern research. The native is rarely humorous, and seldom witty. He is not easily moved to anger, and when angry does not often show it. When he does, like the Malay of Java, he is prone to lose all control of himself, and, with destructive energy, slays all in his path. This is infrequent, however, but is a contingency that may occur at any time. If a native has been unjustly punished, he will never forget it, and will treasure the memory of his wrong until a good opportunity for revenge presents itself. Like all courageous people, he despises cowardice and pusillanimity. He has, therefore, but little regard for the meek and humble Chinaman, who will pocket an insult rather than avenge himself. He greatly esteems the European, who is possessed of the qualities which he admires, and will follow him into the very jaws of death. He is easily awed by a demonstration of superior force, and is ruled best by mild but firm coercion, based upon justice. He is not often ambitious, save socially, and to make some display, being fond of ceremony and of the pomp and glitter of a procession. He is sober, patient, and always clean. This can be said of few peoples. He easily adjusts himself to new conditions, and will soon make the best of their surroundings. As servants they are honest, obedient, and will do as they are told. It must be said that they enjoy litigation more than is good for them or for the best interests of the colony. There must be some psychological reason for this. It doubtless gives some play to the subtlety of the Oriental mind. It is said that he lacks the sense of initiative, and to some extent this may be true. The recent conduct of Aguinaldo—a full-blooded native—proves, notwithstanding, that he is not wholly deficient in aggressiveness nor in organizing power.”Lala adds (pp. 157, 158): “I have talked with many rude, untutored natives that, frankly, astonished me with the unwitting revelation of latent poetry, love of imagery, and spiritual longings in their nature.”—Eds.↑37Such is, although in somewhat varying degree, the condition of half-caste classes everywhere. A vivid picture of their condition in India, which may illustrate that of the mestizos in Filipinas, is found in a book entitledThat Eurasian(Chicago, 1905), by “Aleph Bey,” the pseudonym of an American writer who had spent many years in India; he depicts, in terms both vigorous and pathetic, the origin, difficulties, and degraded condition of the Eurasians (or half-castes) there, and the oppression and cruel treatment which they encounter from the dominant white class.—Eds.↑38“To be born in Spain was enough to secure one marked tokens of respect; but this advantage was not transmitted. The children who first saw the light in that other world no longer bear the name ofchapetons, which honored their fathers; they become simplycreóles.” (Raynal,Etablissemens et commerce des Européens, ii, p. 290.)—Eds.↑39I am perhaps not quite correct here. [Mas states (Informe, ii, “Administration of Justice,” p. 1), that the limit for civil suits was 100 pesos fuertes.—Eds.]↑40It will be understood that these sureties have their share in the advantages, that is plunder, which the Alcalde derives from the government. This often amounts to 20, 30, or even 50,000 dollars in three or four years—though at the time of their leaving Manila, they are in debt to a large amount. It is but just to observe, that there aresomefew honorable exceptions.↑41This is a typographical error; the reference to Comyn work is on p. 13 ofRemarks.—Eds.↑42Even from Spanish writers: see Zuniga’s History, Morillo [i.e., Murillo Velarde], and others. Le Gentil (who names his informants, men of the first respectability), La Peyrouse, &c. Many public papers of the government bear witness to these abuses.“El Alcalde de aquiSeñor!(said an old Indian to the writer at Zebú),le quitará los dientes de la boca a S. Md.” “The Alcaldé here, Sir!—He’ll take the teeth out of your worship’s mouth.” This was not too strong an expression.↑43They are well aware of the extent of their influence, and even at times speak of it. “Si aqui manda su tropa el Rey, se vayan los Indios al monte, pero si yo cerro las puertas de la Iglesia los tengo todos a mis pies en veinte quatro horas.” “If the king sends troops here, the Indians will retire to the mountains and forests. But if I shut the church doors, I shall have them all at my feet in twenty-four hours,” was the remark of an intelligent “frayle” to the writer.↑44Le Gentil says (Voyage, ii, p. 2): “Every order of religious has, then, taken possession of these provinces, which they have, so to say, shared among themselves. In some sort, they command therein, and they are more kings than the king himself. They have been so shrewd as to learn the dialects of the various peoples among whom they reside, and not to teach the Castilian language to them; thus the religious are absolute masters over the minds of the Indians in these islands.”—Eds.↑45Those who can see only inquisitors in Catholic bishops will be a little incredulous of one of them checking an attempt to convert a Protestant! This happened to the writer, who found himself one evening seated between an Indian clerigo and the bishop of Zebû, an aged and most worthy prelate. The Indian father, to show his zeal for the faith, attacked me on the subject of religion with the usual arguments of ignorant friars, till I was on the point of quitting the room to avoid answering. “My son,” said the old prelate to the Indian—“we are here to convert the Indians, not to annoy the strangers who may visit us. I will send this gentleman some books, and I doubt not they will duly prepare his mind to see the errors of the Protestant church, and then we may hope for success with him!”↑46“Yo hé llorado de ansias de ver à un Europeo!” “How often has the desire ofseeingan European made me weep!” was the pathetic remark of a most worthy minister to the writer of these remarks.—This man had been 27 years on one small island!↑47“Insanity is the fashionable disease [at Manila], and a great many persons are attacked by it; but it prevails more generally among the women and the religious—the latter most of all, and they are very subject to it. The life which they lead contributes greatly to this: to be always shut up, in a climate so hot, eating scanty and poor food, and much given to study; perhaps also there is some grief at finding themselves banished and shut in so far away [from Spain]. All these causes make the brain grow hot, and madness follows. Nearly all the religious who go to the Philippines arrive there while young …. As for the women, their natural infirmity may, at a certain age, conduce to insanity, with which a great many are stricken.” (Le Gentil,Voyage, ii, pp. 130, 131.)—Eds.↑48They have already conducted them to scenes of the last indecency and even bloodshed. See Martini’s Hist.The Inquisition has been but little felt in the Philippines of late years. A tribunal existed, but it was merely nominal, and held only “in terrorem.” It was not wanted as a political engine; and as a religious one, there was little use for it amongst a people who will believe any thing and every thing. The Grand Inquisitor, during the last 25 years, is a man universally beloved!—the Padre Coro.↑49This is, according to Montero y Vidal (Archipiélago filipino, p. 72), the name applied by Linnæus to theCaryota onustaof Blanco, generally calledcabonegroby the Spaniards (seeVOL. XVIII, p. 177); but the list of fiber plants inOfficial Handbook of Philippinesapplies to that tree (p. 332) the nameCaryota urensL. The natives also make various sorts of wine and brandy from the sap of the cocoanut palm (Cocos nucifera); see Delgado’sHistoria general, pp. 645–648, 664.—Eds.↑50There is an instance (I think in the province of Pampanga) of a negro tribe, who annually pay their tribute—but upon the express condition that no missionaries are to be sent!↑51“Bulas.” Surely this most absurd of all impositions on the credulity of a people, should be abolished, or at least imposed in a less objectionable manner. The “Bula de Cruzada” (originally a contribution to the wars against the Infidels), for which is granted permission to eat meat and eggs in Lent, or benefits to the souls in purgatory (“Bula de Difuntos”), from the Pope is an article of revenue to the king of Spain. His Most Catholic Majesty farms it to one of his subjects, who rather than lose a rial of his bargain, will sell them to Chinese, Turks, or Hindoos, if they are fools enough to buy them, as the Chinese have been known to do for the souls oftheirancestors!—Quere: What has become of theoriginalintention of these precious documents? of which a modern Spanish author has remarked, “Que es el papel mas caro y mas malo que se vende.” It is the worst and dearest paper that is sold, (Gallardo Dicc. Critico Burlesco). It is, however, an indispensable condition to the performance of many of the offices of religion to have the last published bull. See Manila Almanack.↑52In 1810, the total of receipts was 1,466,610 dollars.↑53Such assertions demand some evidence in support of them. A very recent case has occurred, wherein the colonel of a militia regiment (of Chinese descent), having some dispute with a French gentleman, and high words taking place, called up the guard stationed at his door, it is supposed to flog him! The French gentleman having procured some weapon, kept the whole guard at bay, together with theirgallantcolonel. Muskets were levelled at him, and he probably would have been assassinated, but for the interference of some of the family, and his own firmness! Complaint was made of this, but no notice was taken of it, nor was thegallantcolonel’s conduct thought at all incorrect. On the contrary it was very generally applauded!↑54Large boats undecked, pulling from 20 to 30 oars; they carry a four or six pounder and five or six swivels; they are fine boats and sail fast. The gun-boats carry a long 24 or 32 pounder, and six or eight swivels; and including marines, carry from 80 to 100 men.↑55For recent information on this subject, see chapter on agriculture (revised by Frank Lamson-Scribner, chief of Bureau of Agriculture), inOfficial Handbook of Philippines, pp. 99–126; andCensus of Philippines, iv, pp. 11–394, with full description of chief products of the islands, methods of cultivation, lists of fruits, vegetables, and fiber plants, and detailed statistics of production, lands, etc., as well as of domestic animals of all kinds.—Eds.↑56The fish principally caught is one called Dalag (Blennius?)57This fish, common I believe to many parts of India, presents some phenomena well worth the attention of naturalists. In these extensive plains, only a few pools remain in the dry season; and after the rains, such multitudes of them are found, that they are caught with baskets only. They weigh from one to two pounds, and are from one to two feet in length; they are found in the rice fields, when these have been overflowed a few weeks, and strange to relate, in the graves and vaults of churches when in damp situations, but with little or no water near them; this fact is related on respectable authority. The fish, though not delicate, is good, and forms a valuable article of food for the poor.↑57Montero y Vidal mentions this fish (Archipiélago filipino, p. 107), as belonging to the genusOphicephalus; it is “abundant in the rivers, lakes, and pools.” See alsoOfficial Handbook of Philippines, pp. 151, 152.—Eds.↑58They, very unaccountably, neglected any steps to procure the martin from Bengal or Cochin China.59This might, however, have arisen from an idea that, as in the Isle of France, the martins might have become as great a nuisance as the locusts; but surely the introduction of some species of hawk would have obviated this.↑59Montero y Vidal says (Archipiélago filipino, p. 113) that the family ofOrthoptera, “leaf-eaters in their adult stage, are the most fearful scourge for agriculture,” perhaps the worst of these plagues being the locust (Oedipoda manilensis; Spanish,langosta); “the Indians use great nets to catch them, because not only the government pays a bounty for a certain quantity of these destructive insects which the natives may present, but they preserve the insects and use them for food.” He also states (p. 96) that a species of grackle (Gracula) was imported from China (in theHist. de Filipinas, ii, p. 294, he mentions in the same connection martins [pájaros martines]) to exterminate this pest; but does not mention the time or the result of this experiment.—Eds.↑60SeeVOL. XLVIII, p. 96, note 37.—Eds.↑61This is the Viverra Musanga.62See Horsfield’s Zoology of Java.↑62Montero y Vidal states (Archipiélago filipino, pp. 86, 87) that two species of carnivores,Paradoxurus philippinensisandP. musanga, are dreaded by the coffee-planters; these creatures “spend the day in holes dug in the ground, and go out at night to hunt their game.” He mentions, besides these, two species of civets, both of the genusViverra. Delgado says (p. 875) that he has never seen themiró(Paradoxurus) except in the island of Leyte.—Eds.↑63Eight rials are a Spanish dollar.↑64The following are the common land measures in use at Manila:La Brasa de tierra is 8 feet 1.6–10 English, (from a new government measure); 10,000 of these, or a square of 100 each way, is a Quinion.

1The full title of this book is as follows: Remarks on the Phillippine Islands, and on their capital Manila. 1819 to 1822. By an Englishman. “When a traveller returneth home, let him not leave the countries where he hath travelled altogether behind him.”Lord Bacon—Essays. Calcutta: Printed at the Baptist mission Press, Circular Road; and sold by Messrs. W. Thacker and Co. St. Andrew’s Library. 1828.Opposite the title-page is a folding map, entitled “Map of the province of Tondo.” It is Spanish, dated 1819; and shows as well portions of the adjacent provinces. The book is dedicated “To Holt Mackenzie, Esq. This Work is respectfully inscribed, by his obedient humble servant, The Author.Calcutta, March, 1828.”Notes signed “Eds.” are supplied by the Editors; the rest are those of the author himself. The original text is reproduced as exactly as possible.↑2Besides the references already given, see J. Roth’s sketch of the geology of the Philippines, in appendix to Jagor’sReisen, pp. 333–354.—Eds.↑3The Bureau of Government Laboratories at Manila published, during 1902–05, a valuable series of bulletins on various topics in botany, ornithology, biology, diseases of man and beast, etc., and another series was published by the Mining Bureau; the former bureau is now replaced by the Bureau of Science.—Eds.↑4In the environs of Manila, a monument is erected to the memory of …,5a Spanish naturalist of unwearied industry, and it is said, great talents, sent out by government to examinethe Phillippine Islands. After seven years’ incessant labour, he died of a fever, and at his death his manuscripts, which are all written in cyphers, were taken possession of by the government; they are said yet to remain buried in the archives of ‘la Secretaria,’ having never been sent to Europe!↑5Apparently referring to Antonio Pineda (VOL. L, p. 61); but he died only three years after leaving Spain. In the expedition to which he was attached, he was director of the department of natural sciences; he was accompanied by Louis Née, a Frenchman naturalized in Spain. They visited Uruguay, Patagonia, Chile, Peru, and Nueva España; and in Chile were joined by the Hungarian naturalist, Tadeo Haenke (who, reaching Cádiz after their vessel sailed, was obliged to sail to South America to meet them). From Acapulco they went to Marianas and Filipinas; and journeyed (1791) through Luzón from Sorsogón to Manila. Pineda labored diligently in Luzón, and made large collections; but died at Badoc, in Ilocos, in 1792; his brother Arcadio Pineda, who was first lieutenant of the ship, was charged to put in order the materials collected by Antonio, but many of these were lost on the return journey. Returning to South America, at Callao Haenke and Née parted company; the former again traveled in America, but in the vicissitudes of these journeys much of the material collected by him was lost or spoiled. The residue was classified and described, after his death, by the leading botanists of Europe, and this matter was published in a work entitledReliquiæ Haenkeane, seu descriptiones et icones plantarum quæ in America meridionali et boreali in insulis Philippinis et Marianis collegit Thaddeus Haenke, Philosophiæ Doctor, Phytographus Regis Hispaniæ(Pragæ, 1825–35). Née went from Concepción, Chile, overland to Montevideo, and thence to Spain; and in September, 1794, he reached Cádiz, with a herbarium of 10,000 plants, of which 4,000 were new ones. These were preserved in the Botanical Gardens at Madrid, with more than 300 drawings. See Ramón Jordana y Morera’sBosquejo geográfico é historico-natural del archipiélago filipino(Madrid, 1885), pp. 356–358, 361; and José Gogorza y González’sDatos para la fauna filipina(Madrid, 1888), p. 2.—Eds.↑6The loftiest peak in Mindoro is Mount Halcón, said to be 8,800 feet in height. The most prominent volcano in the archipelago is Mayón, 7,916 feet high, in Albay, Luzon; in Negros is another volcano, called Canlaón, 8,192 feet high. In Panay the highest peak is Madiaás, 7,264 feet; and in Mindanao is the loftiest peak in the entire archipelago, the almost extinct volcano of Apo, which rises to 10,312 feet. See the chapter on “Mountains and rivers,” inCensus of Philippines, i, pp. 00–73.—Eds.↑7Le Gentil says (Voyage, ii, p. 29): “This animal [the hog] is so common there that they even use its fat for sauces, ragouts, and fried articles; for butter is not known in Manila, and there is very little use of milk there. The Manilans doubtless find less difficulty (for in that climate people are very fond of repose) in using pork fat in their food than in rearing and keeping cattle and making butter. This sort of food, joined to the heat and the great humidity of that country, occasions serious dysentery in many persons.” He adds (p. 123): “The venereal disease (or ‘French disease,’ as they call it, I know not why), is very common there [in Manila]; but they do not die from it; the great heat and copious perspiration enable people to live at Manila with this malady, they marry without being frightened at it, and the evil passes by inheritance to their children; it is a sort of heritage with which but few European families are not stained.”—Eds.↑8Le Gentil thus speaks of the placer-mining practiced by the Indians in Luzon (Voyage, ii, p. 32): “It is true that this sort of life shortens the days of these wretched people; as they are perpetually in the water, they swell, and soon die. Besides that, the friars say that it is their experience that the Indians who lead that sort of life have no inclination to follow the Christian life, and that they give much trouble to the ministers of God who instruct them. Despite that, it is to the friars and to the alcaldes that these Indians sell their gold.”—Eds.↑9In his “Non-Christian Tribes of Northern Luzon,” Worcester calls attention to the various indefinite modes of using the word “tribe,” among ethnological writers, and proposes (p. 803) the following definition as a means of securing clearness and accuracy therein: “A division of a race composed of an aggregate of individuals of a kind and of a common origin, agreeing among themselves in, and distinguished from their congeners by, physical characteristics, dress, and ornaments; the nature of the communities which they form; peculiarities of house architecture; methods of hunting, fishing, and carrying on agriculture; character and importance of manufactures; practices relative to war and the taking of heads of enemies; arms used in warfare; music and dancing, and marriage and burial customs; but not constituting a political unit subject to the control of any single individual nor necessarily speaking the same dialect.” He adds: “Where different dialects prevail among the members of a single tribe it should be subdivided into dialect groups.” He also says (p. 798): “It was the usage of the Spaniards to designate as a tribe each group of people which had a dialect, more or less peculiar, of its own. Furthermore, the custom which is widespread among the hill people of northern Luzon of shouting out the name of a settlement when they desire to call for one or more persons belonging to it, seems in many instances to have led the Spaniards to adopt settlement names as tribal ones, even when there were no differences of dialect between the peoples thus designated.”—Eds.↑10The fullest and most authoritative account of the Negritos is, of course, the monograph by W. A. Reed,The Negritos of Zambales, published by the Philippine Ethnological Survey. See also Worcester’s account of them in his “Non-Christian Tribes of Northern Luzon,” inPhilippine Journal of Science, October, 1906, pp. 805et seq.—Eds.↑11See Le Gentil,Voyage aux Indes.↑12Is not this, or something resembling it, a custom of the natives of Australasia?↑13See Herrera and Ant. de Solis, Hist. of Mexico.↑14The negro of the east appears to have amalgamated with some other family. On the south coasts of Australasia, they resemble in many points the people just described. This continues to be the case as far as Cape Capricorn. To the northward of this, as far as Murray’s Islands in Torres Straits, they are a stout, tall, athletic race of men,15and as hairy on the face and body as Europeans, with long hair, andwithoutthe negro cast of countenance. This race may be traced by intervals to Ternate, Gilolo, &c., where they are called Harraforas;16but none are found in the Phillippines (unless the Ylocos have some relationship to them). Is not the native of New Ireland and Queen Charlotte’s Islands too of this race?17The difference between them is most striking. The one are dwarfish negroes, the others almost black Europeans. Both are essentially different from the Malay family, and not only so, but from each other (thenativeof Amboyna, I think, forms the link between them) and this difference is apparently anatomical, in the shape of the skull, facial angles, &c.We are as yet in the infancy of our knowledge of the origin of these various families of the human race: like that of languages, it will in all probability remain one more of conjecture than of fact; but it is still a subject of deep interest. I have heard from respectable authority, that the language of Cagayan, the most northern province but one of the island of Luzon, the men of which are tail, stout, olive-coloured, almost beardless, and proverbial for their mildness, peaceable behaviour, and fidelity, so much resembles that of the Sandwich islanders, that some of these at Manila found no difficulty in making the Cagayan servants understand them! The province of Ylocos is the next to this to the north, and forms the north coast of the island. The Ylocos are black, short-bearded men, and noted for their insubordination and dissipated character.↑15The writer of this memoir has, on the coast of New Holland, between Cape Capricorn and Endeavour Straits, had occasion to know this fact. A party of these savages attacked the captain and supercargo of a vessel in which he was an officer, and they were repulsed only by firearms. The account of them given by the supercargo, and indeed by all the party attacked, uniformly agreed in describing them as the finest made and strongest looking men possible. Their bodies were also very hairy.↑16The term “Haraforas” is applied to the Subanos of Mindanao by Captain Forrest; from hisVoyage, pp. 266, 268, 271, 273, 278–282, we obtain the following interesting and first-hand information about that people:“The vassals of the Sultan, and of others, who possess great estates, are called Kanakan. Those vassals are sometimes Mahometans, though mostly Haraforas [“who are also called Subanos, or Oran Manubo,” p. 186]. The latter only may be sold with the lands, but cannot be sold off the lands. The Haraforas are more opprest than the former. The Mahometan vassals are bound to accompany their lords, on any sudden expedition; but the Haraforas being in a great measure excused from such attendance, pay yearly certain taxes, which are not expected from the Mahometan vassals. They pay a boiss, or land tax. A Harafora family pays ten battels of paly (rough rice) forty lb. each; three of rice, about sixty lb.; one fowl, one bunch of plantains, thirty roots, called clody, or St. Helena yam, and fifty heads of Indian corn. I give this as one instance of the utmost that is ever paid. Then they must sell fifty battels of paly, equal to two thousand pound weight, for one kangan. So at Dory, or New Guinea, one prong, value half a dollar, or one kangan, given to a Harafora, lays a perpetual tax on him. Those vassals at Magindano have what land they please; and the Mahometans on the sea coast, whether free or kanakan, live mostly by trading with the Haraforas, while their own gardens produce them betel nuts, coco nuts, and greens. They seldom grow any rice, and they discourage as far as they can, the Haraforas from going to Mindano, to sell the produce of their plantations. On the banks of the Pelangy and Tamantakka, the Mahometans grow much rice. The boiss is not always collected in fruits of the earth only. A tax-gatherer, who arrived at Coto Intang, when I was there, gave me the following list of what he had brought from some of Rajah Moodo’s crown lands, being levied on perhaps five hundred families. 2870 battels of paly, of forty lb. each; 490 Spanish dollars; 160 kangans; 6 tayls of gold, equal to 30 l [sterling]; 160 Malons: a cloth made of the plantain tree, three yards long, and one broad. This last mentioned cloth is the usual wear of the country women, made in the form of a Bengal lungy, or Buggess [i.e., Bugis] cloth, being a wide sack without a bottom; and is often used as a currency in the market. The currency in most parts of the country, is the Chinese kangan, coarse cloth, thinly woven, nineteen inches broad, and six yards long; the value at Sooloo is ten dollars for a bundle of twenty-five sealed up; and at Magindano much the same; but at Magindano dollars are scarce. These bundles are called gandangs, rolled up in a cylindrical form. They have also, as a currency, kousongs, a kind of nankeen, dyed black; and kompow, a strong white Chinese linen, made of flax; of which more particularly hereafter. The kangans generally come from Sooloo; so they are got at second hand: for the Spaniards have long hindered Chinese junks, bound from Amoy to Magindano, to pass Samboangan. This is the cause of so little trade at Magindano, no vessels sailing from Indostan thither; and the little trade is confined to a few country Chinese, called Oran Sangly, and a few Soolooans who come hither to buy rice and paly, bringing with them Chinese articles: for the crop of rice at Sooloo can never be depended on. In the bazar, or market, the immediate currency is paly. Ten gantangs of about four pounds each, make a battel; and three battels (a cylindrical measure, thirteen inches and five-tenths high; the same in diameter) about one hundred and twenty pounds of paly, are commonly sold for a kangan. Talking of the value of things here, and at Sooloo, they say, such a house or prow, &c., is worth so many slaves; the old valuation being one slave for thirty kangans. They also specify in their bargains, whether is meant matto (eye) kangan, real kangan, or nominal kangan. The dealing in the nominal, or imaginary kangan, is an ideal barter. When one deals for the real kangans, they must be examined; and the gandangs, or bundles of twenty-five pieces, are not to be trusted, as the dealers will often forge a seal, having first packed up damaged kangans. In this the Chinese here, and at Sooloo, are very expert. The China cash at Magindano, named pousin, have holes as in China. I found them scarce; their price is from one hundred and sixty to one hundred and eighty for a kangan. At Sooloo is coined a cash of base copper, called petis, of which two hundred, down to one hundred and seventy, go for a kangan.”“On Sooloo are no Haraforas. The Haraforas on Magindano make a strong cloth, not of cotton, but of a kind of flax, very like what the Batta people wear on the coast of Sumatra.” “One day near Tubuan, a Harafora brought down some paddy from the country: I wanted to purchase it; but the head man of the village, a Magindanoer, would not permit him to sell it me. I did not dispute the point; but found afterwards, the poor Harafora had sold about three hundred pounds of paly for a prong, or chopping knife.” “They all seem to be slaves to the Magindano people: for these take what they please, fowls or anything in the house they like best; and if the owners seem angry, threaten to tie them up, and flog them.” “The inhabitants of this country [of the Illanos] have generally their name from the lake [i.e., Lake Lanao] on which they reside. The inlanders dwell chiefly towards the East, where are said to be thirty thousand men, intermixed in many places with the Haraforas, who seem to be the primitives of the island. On the north coast of Magindano, the Spaniards have had great success, in converting to Christianity those Haraforas. Their agreeing in one essential point, the eating of hog’s flesh, may, in a great measure, have paved the way.”“The Magindano people sell to the Haraforas iron chopping knives, called prongs, cloth, salt, &c., for their rice and other fruits of the earth. For the Haraforas dread going to sea, else they could carry the produce of their lands to a better market. They are much imposed on, and kept under by their Mahometan lords; and are all tributary to the Sultan, or to some Rajah Rajah (noblemen) under him. Their system proves thus the feudal.” “The Haraforas are thinly scattered; and, being all tributary, many together seldom stay long at one place. This cannot be for want of water, pasture, or fertile ground; as with the Tartars on the continent of Asia. On this island, almost every spot is covered either with timber, brushwood, reeds, or grass; and streams are found every where in abundance. Nor can it be to avoid wild beasts; there are none on the island: a good cause why deer, wild horses and other wild cattle are found in so many parts of it. I suspect that the Haraforas are often so opprest that some have wisely got inland, beyond the tax-gatherer’s ken.”Evidently Forrest and the writer of theRemarkshad in mind two different peoples, to whom they applied the term Haraforas. Crawfurd explains this name (Dictionary Ind. Islands, p. 10) as a corruption ofAlforas; it is “not a native word at all, nor is it the generic name of any people whatsoever. It is a word of the Portuguese language, apparently derived from the Arabic articleal, and the prepositionfora, ‘without.’ The Indian Portuguese applied it to all people beyond their own authority, or who were not subdued by them, and consequently to the wild races of the interior. It would seem to be equivalent to the ‘Indios bravos’ of the Spaniards, as applied to the wild and unconquered tribes of America and the Philippines.”—Eds.↑17And that groupe to which Quiros, Mendana, or Torres gave the name of “Yslas de Gente Hermosa”? [Still thus named on modern charts; seeVoyages of Quiros(Hakluyt Society’s publications, London, 1904), pp. xxiv, 217, 424, 431.—Eds.↑18Our author here confuses the Spanish name “Pintados” (literally, “painted,” referring to their tattooed bodies) with the native name, “Bisayas,” both being indifferently applied to the islands south of Luzon.—Eds.↑19See Sir William Draper’s dispatches at the siege of Manila.↑20Was it not by this system (the mita) that the mines and plantations of Mexico were wrought? and Mexico,—that Mexico which the Spaniards of Cortes in the 15th century called New Spain,—became nearly a desert?↑21A higher and purer praise is due to this gentleman than havingwrittenthe work alluded to: it is that heacted on its spirit, and first taught the “red man” to know himself as man, and (a far more arduous undertaking), he taught the white man that his prosperity was essentially connected with that of the native. The country in which the foundations of our power were laid on such a basis, should not have been given away like a ministerial snuff-box.22↑22Java was conquered by England in 1811, but was restored to Holland five years later. During that time the island was governed by Sir Thomas Stamford Raffles (1781–1826), who published aHistory of Java(London, 1817); he was afterward governor of the English settlements in Sumatra (1818–24), in both these posts ruling with great ability and vigor and an enlightened and liberal mind. Gilbert Elliot, Baron Minto, a noted English statesman, was governor-general of India during 1807–13, and went with Raffles to Java to organize its government.—Eds.↑23SeeDescripcion Geografica y Topografica de la Ysla de Luzon, Por Don Yldefonso de Arragon, Parte IV. Prov. de la Pampanga, p. 3, 5, &c. The author is a colonel of engineers. [In 1818–20, he was chief of the topographical bureau at Manila.—Eds.]↑24Ibid.↑25“Estos (Pueblos) aunque immediatos a las orillas de la mar, estén libres de las invasiones de los Moros; la espesura de las Manglares occulta y hace dificil la entrada, &c.”“These (towns), though close to the sea shore, are free from the invasions of the Moors (pirates); the thickness of the mangroves conceal and render the entrances difficult.” The writer is speaking of towns, of which none are more than 20 miles from Manila!—Descripcion Geog. y Topograf.↑26The writer was once obliged to arm all his servants against 16 soldiers with their muskets from a neighboring military post. The two parties remained some minutes with their armslevelledat each other, when a parley was begun, which ended the affair without bloodshed. The origin of the quarrel was a dispute at cockfighting between his servants and the soldiers.↑27Such are, for example, NuestraSeñorade Antipolo, about 20 miles east of Manila, and the SantoNiño(Holy Child) of Zebû: to both of these it is reckoned almost indispensable to make a pilgrimage: the natives of Luzon to the first, which is about 25 miles from Manila; and those of all the Bisayas or Southern Islands to the other. From Antipolo28alone have been sent in a single year 180,000 dollars as the produce of the masses! And the writer has conversed with pilgrims from the province of Ylocos! In all cases of peril and difficulty, a vow is made to one of these saints, which is seldom left unfulfilled. The crew of a small vessel of men offered 54 dollars for masses at the convent of St. Augustin (I think), on the day of the feast del SantoNiño.↑28For detailed account of the shrine at Antipolo, its worship, miracles, etc., see Murillo Velarde’sHist. de Philipinas, fol. 210v–229v; and in the engraved frontispiece to that work may be seen a representation of the statue of the Virgin of Antipolo (see ourVOL. XLIV, opposite titlepage).—Eds.↑29This word is defined by theStandard Dictionary(New York, 1895) as a Scottish slang word meaning “unlawful sexual intercourse.” It is apparently allied to the obsolete Northumbrian word “houghen-moughen,” meaning “greedy, ravenous”—see Wright’sEnglish Dialect Dictionary, iii (London, 1902), p. 247.—Eds.↑30Nothing has stamped the character of the Manila Indian with greater atrocity in the eyes of Englishmen, than their frequent appeals to assassination (the knife) in cases of supposed or actual wrongs. How long is it since dirks were laid aside, because useless, in Scotland? When men cannot appealimmediatelyto a magistrate, they appeal to themselves. Duels too are another kind of appeals of the same sort.↑31“At Manila, therefore, a doctor [of law] is a species of phenomenon, and many years pass without one of them being seen; in two universities there is no doctor, while in 1767 there was but one competitor for the doctoral of the cathedral. Yet it must be noted that this competitor was a Mexican, and was not born in Manila. Of what use, therefore, are two universities in this city? Would not a single one be more than enough? One who knows Latin is greatly esteemed in Manila, because that language is not common there, in spite of the two universities which I have just mentioned; what is learned in those institutions is very poor, and is only imperfectly understood. When I arrived there, a great many persons asked me if I knew Latin, and when I answered that I knew a little of it they apparently had after that more respect for me. All the ancient prejudices of the schools seem to have abandoned us of Europe only to take refuge at Manila, where certainly they have long remained, for the ancient doctrine is there in too good hands to give place to sound ideas of physics. Don Feliciano Marqués often honestly confessed to me that in Spain they were a hundred years behind France, in the sciences; and that at Manila they were a hundred years behind Spain. One can judge, by that, of the present state of physics at Manila, in the midst of two universities. In that city electricity is known only by name, and the Holy Office of the Inquisition has prohibited experiments in that line. I knew there a Frenchman, a surgeon by profession, a man of parts and of inquiring mind, who was threatened with the Inquisition for having tried to make such experiments; but I think that what really drew upon him this ill-fortune was the experiment of the “little friar.” [This simple experiment in physics was made with a little figure resembling a friar; it had never before been seen in Manila, and everybody ran to look at it and laugh.] “This experiment of the surgeon, who made his little friar dance, and sometimes sink to the bottom of the vial by way of correcting him, drew upon him the displeasure of the entire body of religious with whom Manila swarms; there was talk of the Holy Office, and it was said that the surgeon’s experiment was a case for the Inquisition. The surgeon, therefore—whose only intention in the experiment was to vex the friars who had prevented him from making his experiments in electricity—was compelled to cease his pleasantry, and Manila had to express its detestation of the pleasure that it had taken in seeing the experiment.” [The author was visited by many people at his observatory, who desired to see the sun and the planets through his telescope;] “the women were even more curious than the men about the rare things which I showed them, and which I took pleasure in explaining to them; but not a single religious came to visit my observatory.” (Le Gentil,Voyage, ii, pp. 96, 97.)—Eds.↑32SeeEl Yndio Agraciado(The aggrieved Indian), a pamphlet published at Manila in 1821, but suppressed by order of government.33↑33Pardo de Tavera says of this pamphlet, in hisBiblioteca Filipina, p. 146: “It attacks one Don M. G., a Philippine Spaniard, who was allowed to propose a plan of studies which was not much to the liking of the Filipino Indians. As appears by the title of this pamphlet, there existed in Manila at that time a publication (probably weekly) calledEl noticioso Filipino. [See also Tavera’s account of this sheet, at foot of the same page, which he regards as the first periodical which appeared in Manila]. Doubtless the former was the doing of some friar, who took the name of ‘Indian’ in order to express himself more freely.”—Eds.↑34This distinction should never be lost sight of. The Indian of Manila, from whom strangers generally form their estimate of this people, is so mixed, that a genuine Indian (Malay) family is scarcely to be met with; they are a mixture of Indian, Chinese, Japanese, Mexican (from the troops), seamen of different nations, and Spaniards besides, “Toutes les Capitales se ressemblent, et çe n’est pas d’eux qu’il faut juger les mœurs d’un peuple quelconque.”35—Rousseau.Let it never be forgotten, too, that while the Indians ofManila, on the 9th of October, 1820, were assassinating every foreigner within their reach, the Indians of the country weresavingthose in their power at the hazard of their lives!↑35That is, “All capital cities are alike, and it is not by them that the morals of any people should be judged.”—Eds.↑36The following statements regarding the native character are made by Ramon Reyes Lala (The Philippine Islands, New York, 1899, pp. 80–87), himself a Filipino: “The first thing that in the native character impresses the traveler is his impassive demeanor and imperturbable bearing. He is a born stoic, a fatalist by nature. This accounts for his coolness in moments of danger, and his intrepid bearing against overwhelming odds. This feature of the Malay character has often been displayed in the conflicts of the race with the Europeans in the East Indies. Under competent leadership the native, though strongly averse to discipline, can be made a splendid soldier. As sailors, too, I do not believe they can be equaled.” “As a result of the stoicism of the native character, he never bewails a misfortune, and has no fear of death.” “Europeans often seem to notice in them what they deem a lack of sympathy for the misfortunes of others; but it is not this so much as resignation to the inevitable.” “The educated native, however, impregnated with the bitter philosophy of the civilized world, is by no means so imperturbable. While more keenly alive to the sufferings of others, he is also more sensitive to his own sorrows.” “Incomprehensible inconsistencies obtain in nearly every native. Students of character may, therefore, study the Filipinos for years, and yet, at last, have no definite impression of their mental or moral status. Of course, those living in the cities are less baffling to the physiognomist and the ethnologist; for endemic peculiarities have been so rubbed off or modified that the racial traits are not obvious. But observe the natives, in their primitive abodes, where civilizing forces have not penetrated! You will then be amazed at the extraordinary mingling and clashing of antithetical characteristics in one and the same person; uncertain as to whether the good or the bad may be manifested. Like the wind, the mood comes and goes, and no one can tell why. I myself, with all the inherited feelings, tastes, and tendencies of my countrymen—modified and transmuted [by his education and long residence in Europe and America], happily—have stood aghast or amused at some hitherto unknown characteristic manifesting itself in an intimate acquaintance; and after I had been for years, too, wholly ignorant of his being so possessed or obsessed. And after that, the same mental or moral squint would be displayed at irregular intervals.” “His indolence is the result of generations of tropical ancestors. Besides, deprived by the Spaniards from all active participation in affairs of the Government, and robbed of the fruits of industry, all incentive to advancement and progress was taken away. He therefore yields with composure to the crushing conditions of his environment, preferring the lazy joys of indolence rather than labor for the benefit of his oppressors. Naturally. Recent events, however, show that, given the stimulant of hope, even the ‘indolent natives’ of the Philippines can achieve and nobly dare. Some Spaniards also have asserted that the Filipinos are naturally disloyal and treacherous, and that their word is not to be depended on. Now, the whole world knows that they have every reason to be disloyal to the Spaniard, who has for centuries so cruelly oppressed them. The devotion to the cause of freedom, however, which has recently made Rizal and hundreds of others martyrs to Spanish cruelty, shows that they also have the stuff that heroes are made of, and that they ran be loyal to an animating principle.” “Though calm, the native is not secretive, but often loquacious. He is naturally curious and inquisitive, but always polite, and respectful withal—especially to his superiors. He is passionate, and, in common with all half-civilized races, is cruel to his foes. The quality of mercy, like the sentiment—as distinguished from the passion—of love, is perhaps more the product of the philosophy of civilization than a natural attribute of the human heart.” “All travelers unite in attributing to the natives extreme family affection. They are very fond of their children; who, as a rule, are respectful and well-behaved. The noisy little hoodlums of European and American cities are utterly unknown. The old are tenderly cared for, and venerated; while in almost every well-to-do household are one or two poor relatives who, while mere hangers-on, are nevertheless made welcome to the table of their host. Indeed, the hospitality of the Filipinos is proverbial. A guest is always welcome, and welcome to the best. As a rule, the people are superstitious and very credulous; but how could they be otherwise? For three hundred years they have been denied even the liberty of investigation; when no light, save the dim glimmer of priestcraft pierced the utter darkness of their lot. Those that have been educated, however, have proved apt converts—only too apt, say the priests and the Spaniards—to the conclusions of science and of modern research. The native is rarely humorous, and seldom witty. He is not easily moved to anger, and when angry does not often show it. When he does, like the Malay of Java, he is prone to lose all control of himself, and, with destructive energy, slays all in his path. This is infrequent, however, but is a contingency that may occur at any time. If a native has been unjustly punished, he will never forget it, and will treasure the memory of his wrong until a good opportunity for revenge presents itself. Like all courageous people, he despises cowardice and pusillanimity. He has, therefore, but little regard for the meek and humble Chinaman, who will pocket an insult rather than avenge himself. He greatly esteems the European, who is possessed of the qualities which he admires, and will follow him into the very jaws of death. He is easily awed by a demonstration of superior force, and is ruled best by mild but firm coercion, based upon justice. He is not often ambitious, save socially, and to make some display, being fond of ceremony and of the pomp and glitter of a procession. He is sober, patient, and always clean. This can be said of few peoples. He easily adjusts himself to new conditions, and will soon make the best of their surroundings. As servants they are honest, obedient, and will do as they are told. It must be said that they enjoy litigation more than is good for them or for the best interests of the colony. There must be some psychological reason for this. It doubtless gives some play to the subtlety of the Oriental mind. It is said that he lacks the sense of initiative, and to some extent this may be true. The recent conduct of Aguinaldo—a full-blooded native—proves, notwithstanding, that he is not wholly deficient in aggressiveness nor in organizing power.”Lala adds (pp. 157, 158): “I have talked with many rude, untutored natives that, frankly, astonished me with the unwitting revelation of latent poetry, love of imagery, and spiritual longings in their nature.”—Eds.↑37Such is, although in somewhat varying degree, the condition of half-caste classes everywhere. A vivid picture of their condition in India, which may illustrate that of the mestizos in Filipinas, is found in a book entitledThat Eurasian(Chicago, 1905), by “Aleph Bey,” the pseudonym of an American writer who had spent many years in India; he depicts, in terms both vigorous and pathetic, the origin, difficulties, and degraded condition of the Eurasians (or half-castes) there, and the oppression and cruel treatment which they encounter from the dominant white class.—Eds.↑38“To be born in Spain was enough to secure one marked tokens of respect; but this advantage was not transmitted. The children who first saw the light in that other world no longer bear the name ofchapetons, which honored their fathers; they become simplycreóles.” (Raynal,Etablissemens et commerce des Européens, ii, p. 290.)—Eds.↑39I am perhaps not quite correct here. [Mas states (Informe, ii, “Administration of Justice,” p. 1), that the limit for civil suits was 100 pesos fuertes.—Eds.]↑40It will be understood that these sureties have their share in the advantages, that is plunder, which the Alcalde derives from the government. This often amounts to 20, 30, or even 50,000 dollars in three or four years—though at the time of their leaving Manila, they are in debt to a large amount. It is but just to observe, that there aresomefew honorable exceptions.↑41This is a typographical error; the reference to Comyn work is on p. 13 ofRemarks.—Eds.↑42Even from Spanish writers: see Zuniga’s History, Morillo [i.e., Murillo Velarde], and others. Le Gentil (who names his informants, men of the first respectability), La Peyrouse, &c. Many public papers of the government bear witness to these abuses.“El Alcalde de aquiSeñor!(said an old Indian to the writer at Zebú),le quitará los dientes de la boca a S. Md.” “The Alcaldé here, Sir!—He’ll take the teeth out of your worship’s mouth.” This was not too strong an expression.↑43They are well aware of the extent of their influence, and even at times speak of it. “Si aqui manda su tropa el Rey, se vayan los Indios al monte, pero si yo cerro las puertas de la Iglesia los tengo todos a mis pies en veinte quatro horas.” “If the king sends troops here, the Indians will retire to the mountains and forests. But if I shut the church doors, I shall have them all at my feet in twenty-four hours,” was the remark of an intelligent “frayle” to the writer.↑44Le Gentil says (Voyage, ii, p. 2): “Every order of religious has, then, taken possession of these provinces, which they have, so to say, shared among themselves. In some sort, they command therein, and they are more kings than the king himself. They have been so shrewd as to learn the dialects of the various peoples among whom they reside, and not to teach the Castilian language to them; thus the religious are absolute masters over the minds of the Indians in these islands.”—Eds.↑45Those who can see only inquisitors in Catholic bishops will be a little incredulous of one of them checking an attempt to convert a Protestant! This happened to the writer, who found himself one evening seated between an Indian clerigo and the bishop of Zebû, an aged and most worthy prelate. The Indian father, to show his zeal for the faith, attacked me on the subject of religion with the usual arguments of ignorant friars, till I was on the point of quitting the room to avoid answering. “My son,” said the old prelate to the Indian—“we are here to convert the Indians, not to annoy the strangers who may visit us. I will send this gentleman some books, and I doubt not they will duly prepare his mind to see the errors of the Protestant church, and then we may hope for success with him!”↑46“Yo hé llorado de ansias de ver à un Europeo!” “How often has the desire ofseeingan European made me weep!” was the pathetic remark of a most worthy minister to the writer of these remarks.—This man had been 27 years on one small island!↑47“Insanity is the fashionable disease [at Manila], and a great many persons are attacked by it; but it prevails more generally among the women and the religious—the latter most of all, and they are very subject to it. The life which they lead contributes greatly to this: to be always shut up, in a climate so hot, eating scanty and poor food, and much given to study; perhaps also there is some grief at finding themselves banished and shut in so far away [from Spain]. All these causes make the brain grow hot, and madness follows. Nearly all the religious who go to the Philippines arrive there while young …. As for the women, their natural infirmity may, at a certain age, conduce to insanity, with which a great many are stricken.” (Le Gentil,Voyage, ii, pp. 130, 131.)—Eds.↑48They have already conducted them to scenes of the last indecency and even bloodshed. See Martini’s Hist.The Inquisition has been but little felt in the Philippines of late years. A tribunal existed, but it was merely nominal, and held only “in terrorem.” It was not wanted as a political engine; and as a religious one, there was little use for it amongst a people who will believe any thing and every thing. The Grand Inquisitor, during the last 25 years, is a man universally beloved!—the Padre Coro.↑49This is, according to Montero y Vidal (Archipiélago filipino, p. 72), the name applied by Linnæus to theCaryota onustaof Blanco, generally calledcabonegroby the Spaniards (seeVOL. XVIII, p. 177); but the list of fiber plants inOfficial Handbook of Philippinesapplies to that tree (p. 332) the nameCaryota urensL. The natives also make various sorts of wine and brandy from the sap of the cocoanut palm (Cocos nucifera); see Delgado’sHistoria general, pp. 645–648, 664.—Eds.↑50There is an instance (I think in the province of Pampanga) of a negro tribe, who annually pay their tribute—but upon the express condition that no missionaries are to be sent!↑51“Bulas.” Surely this most absurd of all impositions on the credulity of a people, should be abolished, or at least imposed in a less objectionable manner. The “Bula de Cruzada” (originally a contribution to the wars against the Infidels), for which is granted permission to eat meat and eggs in Lent, or benefits to the souls in purgatory (“Bula de Difuntos”), from the Pope is an article of revenue to the king of Spain. His Most Catholic Majesty farms it to one of his subjects, who rather than lose a rial of his bargain, will sell them to Chinese, Turks, or Hindoos, if they are fools enough to buy them, as the Chinese have been known to do for the souls oftheirancestors!—Quere: What has become of theoriginalintention of these precious documents? of which a modern Spanish author has remarked, “Que es el papel mas caro y mas malo que se vende.” It is the worst and dearest paper that is sold, (Gallardo Dicc. Critico Burlesco). It is, however, an indispensable condition to the performance of many of the offices of religion to have the last published bull. See Manila Almanack.↑52In 1810, the total of receipts was 1,466,610 dollars.↑53Such assertions demand some evidence in support of them. A very recent case has occurred, wherein the colonel of a militia regiment (of Chinese descent), having some dispute with a French gentleman, and high words taking place, called up the guard stationed at his door, it is supposed to flog him! The French gentleman having procured some weapon, kept the whole guard at bay, together with theirgallantcolonel. Muskets were levelled at him, and he probably would have been assassinated, but for the interference of some of the family, and his own firmness! Complaint was made of this, but no notice was taken of it, nor was thegallantcolonel’s conduct thought at all incorrect. On the contrary it was very generally applauded!↑54Large boats undecked, pulling from 20 to 30 oars; they carry a four or six pounder and five or six swivels; they are fine boats and sail fast. The gun-boats carry a long 24 or 32 pounder, and six or eight swivels; and including marines, carry from 80 to 100 men.↑55For recent information on this subject, see chapter on agriculture (revised by Frank Lamson-Scribner, chief of Bureau of Agriculture), inOfficial Handbook of Philippines, pp. 99–126; andCensus of Philippines, iv, pp. 11–394, with full description of chief products of the islands, methods of cultivation, lists of fruits, vegetables, and fiber plants, and detailed statistics of production, lands, etc., as well as of domestic animals of all kinds.—Eds.↑56The fish principally caught is one called Dalag (Blennius?)57This fish, common I believe to many parts of India, presents some phenomena well worth the attention of naturalists. In these extensive plains, only a few pools remain in the dry season; and after the rains, such multitudes of them are found, that they are caught with baskets only. They weigh from one to two pounds, and are from one to two feet in length; they are found in the rice fields, when these have been overflowed a few weeks, and strange to relate, in the graves and vaults of churches when in damp situations, but with little or no water near them; this fact is related on respectable authority. The fish, though not delicate, is good, and forms a valuable article of food for the poor.↑57Montero y Vidal mentions this fish (Archipiélago filipino, p. 107), as belonging to the genusOphicephalus; it is “abundant in the rivers, lakes, and pools.” See alsoOfficial Handbook of Philippines, pp. 151, 152.—Eds.↑58They, very unaccountably, neglected any steps to procure the martin from Bengal or Cochin China.59This might, however, have arisen from an idea that, as in the Isle of France, the martins might have become as great a nuisance as the locusts; but surely the introduction of some species of hawk would have obviated this.↑59Montero y Vidal says (Archipiélago filipino, p. 113) that the family ofOrthoptera, “leaf-eaters in their adult stage, are the most fearful scourge for agriculture,” perhaps the worst of these plagues being the locust (Oedipoda manilensis; Spanish,langosta); “the Indians use great nets to catch them, because not only the government pays a bounty for a certain quantity of these destructive insects which the natives may present, but they preserve the insects and use them for food.” He also states (p. 96) that a species of grackle (Gracula) was imported from China (in theHist. de Filipinas, ii, p. 294, he mentions in the same connection martins [pájaros martines]) to exterminate this pest; but does not mention the time or the result of this experiment.—Eds.↑60SeeVOL. XLVIII, p. 96, note 37.—Eds.↑61This is the Viverra Musanga.62See Horsfield’s Zoology of Java.↑62Montero y Vidal states (Archipiélago filipino, pp. 86, 87) that two species of carnivores,Paradoxurus philippinensisandP. musanga, are dreaded by the coffee-planters; these creatures “spend the day in holes dug in the ground, and go out at night to hunt their game.” He mentions, besides these, two species of civets, both of the genusViverra. Delgado says (p. 875) that he has never seen themiró(Paradoxurus) except in the island of Leyte.—Eds.↑63Eight rials are a Spanish dollar.↑64The following are the common land measures in use at Manila:La Brasa de tierra is 8 feet 1.6–10 English, (from a new government measure); 10,000 of these, or a square of 100 each way, is a Quinion.

1The full title of this book is as follows: Remarks on the Phillippine Islands, and on their capital Manila. 1819 to 1822. By an Englishman. “When a traveller returneth home, let him not leave the countries where he hath travelled altogether behind him.”Lord Bacon—Essays. Calcutta: Printed at the Baptist mission Press, Circular Road; and sold by Messrs. W. Thacker and Co. St. Andrew’s Library. 1828.Opposite the title-page is a folding map, entitled “Map of the province of Tondo.” It is Spanish, dated 1819; and shows as well portions of the adjacent provinces. The book is dedicated “To Holt Mackenzie, Esq. This Work is respectfully inscribed, by his obedient humble servant, The Author.Calcutta, March, 1828.”Notes signed “Eds.” are supplied by the Editors; the rest are those of the author himself. The original text is reproduced as exactly as possible.↑2Besides the references already given, see J. Roth’s sketch of the geology of the Philippines, in appendix to Jagor’sReisen, pp. 333–354.—Eds.↑3The Bureau of Government Laboratories at Manila published, during 1902–05, a valuable series of bulletins on various topics in botany, ornithology, biology, diseases of man and beast, etc., and another series was published by the Mining Bureau; the former bureau is now replaced by the Bureau of Science.—Eds.↑4In the environs of Manila, a monument is erected to the memory of …,5a Spanish naturalist of unwearied industry, and it is said, great talents, sent out by government to examinethe Phillippine Islands. After seven years’ incessant labour, he died of a fever, and at his death his manuscripts, which are all written in cyphers, were taken possession of by the government; they are said yet to remain buried in the archives of ‘la Secretaria,’ having never been sent to Europe!↑5Apparently referring to Antonio Pineda (VOL. L, p. 61); but he died only three years after leaving Spain. In the expedition to which he was attached, he was director of the department of natural sciences; he was accompanied by Louis Née, a Frenchman naturalized in Spain. They visited Uruguay, Patagonia, Chile, Peru, and Nueva España; and in Chile were joined by the Hungarian naturalist, Tadeo Haenke (who, reaching Cádiz after their vessel sailed, was obliged to sail to South America to meet them). From Acapulco they went to Marianas and Filipinas; and journeyed (1791) through Luzón from Sorsogón to Manila. Pineda labored diligently in Luzón, and made large collections; but died at Badoc, in Ilocos, in 1792; his brother Arcadio Pineda, who was first lieutenant of the ship, was charged to put in order the materials collected by Antonio, but many of these were lost on the return journey. Returning to South America, at Callao Haenke and Née parted company; the former again traveled in America, but in the vicissitudes of these journeys much of the material collected by him was lost or spoiled. The residue was classified and described, after his death, by the leading botanists of Europe, and this matter was published in a work entitledReliquiæ Haenkeane, seu descriptiones et icones plantarum quæ in America meridionali et boreali in insulis Philippinis et Marianis collegit Thaddeus Haenke, Philosophiæ Doctor, Phytographus Regis Hispaniæ(Pragæ, 1825–35). Née went from Concepción, Chile, overland to Montevideo, and thence to Spain; and in September, 1794, he reached Cádiz, with a herbarium of 10,000 plants, of which 4,000 were new ones. These were preserved in the Botanical Gardens at Madrid, with more than 300 drawings. See Ramón Jordana y Morera’sBosquejo geográfico é historico-natural del archipiélago filipino(Madrid, 1885), pp. 356–358, 361; and José Gogorza y González’sDatos para la fauna filipina(Madrid, 1888), p. 2.—Eds.↑6The loftiest peak in Mindoro is Mount Halcón, said to be 8,800 feet in height. The most prominent volcano in the archipelago is Mayón, 7,916 feet high, in Albay, Luzon; in Negros is another volcano, called Canlaón, 8,192 feet high. In Panay the highest peak is Madiaás, 7,264 feet; and in Mindanao is the loftiest peak in the entire archipelago, the almost extinct volcano of Apo, which rises to 10,312 feet. See the chapter on “Mountains and rivers,” inCensus of Philippines, i, pp. 00–73.—Eds.↑7Le Gentil says (Voyage, ii, p. 29): “This animal [the hog] is so common there that they even use its fat for sauces, ragouts, and fried articles; for butter is not known in Manila, and there is very little use of milk there. The Manilans doubtless find less difficulty (for in that climate people are very fond of repose) in using pork fat in their food than in rearing and keeping cattle and making butter. This sort of food, joined to the heat and the great humidity of that country, occasions serious dysentery in many persons.” He adds (p. 123): “The venereal disease (or ‘French disease,’ as they call it, I know not why), is very common there [in Manila]; but they do not die from it; the great heat and copious perspiration enable people to live at Manila with this malady, they marry without being frightened at it, and the evil passes by inheritance to their children; it is a sort of heritage with which but few European families are not stained.”—Eds.↑8Le Gentil thus speaks of the placer-mining practiced by the Indians in Luzon (Voyage, ii, p. 32): “It is true that this sort of life shortens the days of these wretched people; as they are perpetually in the water, they swell, and soon die. Besides that, the friars say that it is their experience that the Indians who lead that sort of life have no inclination to follow the Christian life, and that they give much trouble to the ministers of God who instruct them. Despite that, it is to the friars and to the alcaldes that these Indians sell their gold.”—Eds.↑9In his “Non-Christian Tribes of Northern Luzon,” Worcester calls attention to the various indefinite modes of using the word “tribe,” among ethnological writers, and proposes (p. 803) the following definition as a means of securing clearness and accuracy therein: “A division of a race composed of an aggregate of individuals of a kind and of a common origin, agreeing among themselves in, and distinguished from their congeners by, physical characteristics, dress, and ornaments; the nature of the communities which they form; peculiarities of house architecture; methods of hunting, fishing, and carrying on agriculture; character and importance of manufactures; practices relative to war and the taking of heads of enemies; arms used in warfare; music and dancing, and marriage and burial customs; but not constituting a political unit subject to the control of any single individual nor necessarily speaking the same dialect.” He adds: “Where different dialects prevail among the members of a single tribe it should be subdivided into dialect groups.” He also says (p. 798): “It was the usage of the Spaniards to designate as a tribe each group of people which had a dialect, more or less peculiar, of its own. Furthermore, the custom which is widespread among the hill people of northern Luzon of shouting out the name of a settlement when they desire to call for one or more persons belonging to it, seems in many instances to have led the Spaniards to adopt settlement names as tribal ones, even when there were no differences of dialect between the peoples thus designated.”—Eds.↑10The fullest and most authoritative account of the Negritos is, of course, the monograph by W. A. Reed,The Negritos of Zambales, published by the Philippine Ethnological Survey. See also Worcester’s account of them in his “Non-Christian Tribes of Northern Luzon,” inPhilippine Journal of Science, October, 1906, pp. 805et seq.—Eds.↑11See Le Gentil,Voyage aux Indes.↑12Is not this, or something resembling it, a custom of the natives of Australasia?↑13See Herrera and Ant. de Solis, Hist. of Mexico.↑14The negro of the east appears to have amalgamated with some other family. On the south coasts of Australasia, they resemble in many points the people just described. This continues to be the case as far as Cape Capricorn. To the northward of this, as far as Murray’s Islands in Torres Straits, they are a stout, tall, athletic race of men,15and as hairy on the face and body as Europeans, with long hair, andwithoutthe negro cast of countenance. This race may be traced by intervals to Ternate, Gilolo, &c., where they are called Harraforas;16but none are found in the Phillippines (unless the Ylocos have some relationship to them). Is not the native of New Ireland and Queen Charlotte’s Islands too of this race?17The difference between them is most striking. The one are dwarfish negroes, the others almost black Europeans. Both are essentially different from the Malay family, and not only so, but from each other (thenativeof Amboyna, I think, forms the link between them) and this difference is apparently anatomical, in the shape of the skull, facial angles, &c.We are as yet in the infancy of our knowledge of the origin of these various families of the human race: like that of languages, it will in all probability remain one more of conjecture than of fact; but it is still a subject of deep interest. I have heard from respectable authority, that the language of Cagayan, the most northern province but one of the island of Luzon, the men of which are tail, stout, olive-coloured, almost beardless, and proverbial for their mildness, peaceable behaviour, and fidelity, so much resembles that of the Sandwich islanders, that some of these at Manila found no difficulty in making the Cagayan servants understand them! The province of Ylocos is the next to this to the north, and forms the north coast of the island. The Ylocos are black, short-bearded men, and noted for their insubordination and dissipated character.↑15The writer of this memoir has, on the coast of New Holland, between Cape Capricorn and Endeavour Straits, had occasion to know this fact. A party of these savages attacked the captain and supercargo of a vessel in which he was an officer, and they were repulsed only by firearms. The account of them given by the supercargo, and indeed by all the party attacked, uniformly agreed in describing them as the finest made and strongest looking men possible. Their bodies were also very hairy.↑16The term “Haraforas” is applied to the Subanos of Mindanao by Captain Forrest; from hisVoyage, pp. 266, 268, 271, 273, 278–282, we obtain the following interesting and first-hand information about that people:“The vassals of the Sultan, and of others, who possess great estates, are called Kanakan. Those vassals are sometimes Mahometans, though mostly Haraforas [“who are also called Subanos, or Oran Manubo,” p. 186]. The latter only may be sold with the lands, but cannot be sold off the lands. The Haraforas are more opprest than the former. The Mahometan vassals are bound to accompany their lords, on any sudden expedition; but the Haraforas being in a great measure excused from such attendance, pay yearly certain taxes, which are not expected from the Mahometan vassals. They pay a boiss, or land tax. A Harafora family pays ten battels of paly (rough rice) forty lb. each; three of rice, about sixty lb.; one fowl, one bunch of plantains, thirty roots, called clody, or St. Helena yam, and fifty heads of Indian corn. I give this as one instance of the utmost that is ever paid. Then they must sell fifty battels of paly, equal to two thousand pound weight, for one kangan. So at Dory, or New Guinea, one prong, value half a dollar, or one kangan, given to a Harafora, lays a perpetual tax on him. Those vassals at Magindano have what land they please; and the Mahometans on the sea coast, whether free or kanakan, live mostly by trading with the Haraforas, while their own gardens produce them betel nuts, coco nuts, and greens. They seldom grow any rice, and they discourage as far as they can, the Haraforas from going to Mindano, to sell the produce of their plantations. On the banks of the Pelangy and Tamantakka, the Mahometans grow much rice. The boiss is not always collected in fruits of the earth only. A tax-gatherer, who arrived at Coto Intang, when I was there, gave me the following list of what he had brought from some of Rajah Moodo’s crown lands, being levied on perhaps five hundred families. 2870 battels of paly, of forty lb. each; 490 Spanish dollars; 160 kangans; 6 tayls of gold, equal to 30 l [sterling]; 160 Malons: a cloth made of the plantain tree, three yards long, and one broad. This last mentioned cloth is the usual wear of the country women, made in the form of a Bengal lungy, or Buggess [i.e., Bugis] cloth, being a wide sack without a bottom; and is often used as a currency in the market. The currency in most parts of the country, is the Chinese kangan, coarse cloth, thinly woven, nineteen inches broad, and six yards long; the value at Sooloo is ten dollars for a bundle of twenty-five sealed up; and at Magindano much the same; but at Magindano dollars are scarce. These bundles are called gandangs, rolled up in a cylindrical form. They have also, as a currency, kousongs, a kind of nankeen, dyed black; and kompow, a strong white Chinese linen, made of flax; of which more particularly hereafter. The kangans generally come from Sooloo; so they are got at second hand: for the Spaniards have long hindered Chinese junks, bound from Amoy to Magindano, to pass Samboangan. This is the cause of so little trade at Magindano, no vessels sailing from Indostan thither; and the little trade is confined to a few country Chinese, called Oran Sangly, and a few Soolooans who come hither to buy rice and paly, bringing with them Chinese articles: for the crop of rice at Sooloo can never be depended on. In the bazar, or market, the immediate currency is paly. Ten gantangs of about four pounds each, make a battel; and three battels (a cylindrical measure, thirteen inches and five-tenths high; the same in diameter) about one hundred and twenty pounds of paly, are commonly sold for a kangan. Talking of the value of things here, and at Sooloo, they say, such a house or prow, &c., is worth so many slaves; the old valuation being one slave for thirty kangans. They also specify in their bargains, whether is meant matto (eye) kangan, real kangan, or nominal kangan. The dealing in the nominal, or imaginary kangan, is an ideal barter. When one deals for the real kangans, they must be examined; and the gandangs, or bundles of twenty-five pieces, are not to be trusted, as the dealers will often forge a seal, having first packed up damaged kangans. In this the Chinese here, and at Sooloo, are very expert. The China cash at Magindano, named pousin, have holes as in China. I found them scarce; their price is from one hundred and sixty to one hundred and eighty for a kangan. At Sooloo is coined a cash of base copper, called petis, of which two hundred, down to one hundred and seventy, go for a kangan.”“On Sooloo are no Haraforas. The Haraforas on Magindano make a strong cloth, not of cotton, but of a kind of flax, very like what the Batta people wear on the coast of Sumatra.” “One day near Tubuan, a Harafora brought down some paddy from the country: I wanted to purchase it; but the head man of the village, a Magindanoer, would not permit him to sell it me. I did not dispute the point; but found afterwards, the poor Harafora had sold about three hundred pounds of paly for a prong, or chopping knife.” “They all seem to be slaves to the Magindano people: for these take what they please, fowls or anything in the house they like best; and if the owners seem angry, threaten to tie them up, and flog them.” “The inhabitants of this country [of the Illanos] have generally their name from the lake [i.e., Lake Lanao] on which they reside. The inlanders dwell chiefly towards the East, where are said to be thirty thousand men, intermixed in many places with the Haraforas, who seem to be the primitives of the island. On the north coast of Magindano, the Spaniards have had great success, in converting to Christianity those Haraforas. Their agreeing in one essential point, the eating of hog’s flesh, may, in a great measure, have paved the way.”“The Magindano people sell to the Haraforas iron chopping knives, called prongs, cloth, salt, &c., for their rice and other fruits of the earth. For the Haraforas dread going to sea, else they could carry the produce of their lands to a better market. They are much imposed on, and kept under by their Mahometan lords; and are all tributary to the Sultan, or to some Rajah Rajah (noblemen) under him. Their system proves thus the feudal.” “The Haraforas are thinly scattered; and, being all tributary, many together seldom stay long at one place. This cannot be for want of water, pasture, or fertile ground; as with the Tartars on the continent of Asia. On this island, almost every spot is covered either with timber, brushwood, reeds, or grass; and streams are found every where in abundance. Nor can it be to avoid wild beasts; there are none on the island: a good cause why deer, wild horses and other wild cattle are found in so many parts of it. I suspect that the Haraforas are often so opprest that some have wisely got inland, beyond the tax-gatherer’s ken.”Evidently Forrest and the writer of theRemarkshad in mind two different peoples, to whom they applied the term Haraforas. Crawfurd explains this name (Dictionary Ind. Islands, p. 10) as a corruption ofAlforas; it is “not a native word at all, nor is it the generic name of any people whatsoever. It is a word of the Portuguese language, apparently derived from the Arabic articleal, and the prepositionfora, ‘without.’ The Indian Portuguese applied it to all people beyond their own authority, or who were not subdued by them, and consequently to the wild races of the interior. It would seem to be equivalent to the ‘Indios bravos’ of the Spaniards, as applied to the wild and unconquered tribes of America and the Philippines.”—Eds.↑17And that groupe to which Quiros, Mendana, or Torres gave the name of “Yslas de Gente Hermosa”? [Still thus named on modern charts; seeVoyages of Quiros(Hakluyt Society’s publications, London, 1904), pp. xxiv, 217, 424, 431.—Eds.↑18Our author here confuses the Spanish name “Pintados” (literally, “painted,” referring to their tattooed bodies) with the native name, “Bisayas,” both being indifferently applied to the islands south of Luzon.—Eds.↑19See Sir William Draper’s dispatches at the siege of Manila.↑20Was it not by this system (the mita) that the mines and plantations of Mexico were wrought? and Mexico,—that Mexico which the Spaniards of Cortes in the 15th century called New Spain,—became nearly a desert?↑21A higher and purer praise is due to this gentleman than havingwrittenthe work alluded to: it is that heacted on its spirit, and first taught the “red man” to know himself as man, and (a far more arduous undertaking), he taught the white man that his prosperity was essentially connected with that of the native. The country in which the foundations of our power were laid on such a basis, should not have been given away like a ministerial snuff-box.22↑22Java was conquered by England in 1811, but was restored to Holland five years later. During that time the island was governed by Sir Thomas Stamford Raffles (1781–1826), who published aHistory of Java(London, 1817); he was afterward governor of the English settlements in Sumatra (1818–24), in both these posts ruling with great ability and vigor and an enlightened and liberal mind. Gilbert Elliot, Baron Minto, a noted English statesman, was governor-general of India during 1807–13, and went with Raffles to Java to organize its government.—Eds.↑23SeeDescripcion Geografica y Topografica de la Ysla de Luzon, Por Don Yldefonso de Arragon, Parte IV. Prov. de la Pampanga, p. 3, 5, &c. The author is a colonel of engineers. [In 1818–20, he was chief of the topographical bureau at Manila.—Eds.]↑24Ibid.↑25“Estos (Pueblos) aunque immediatos a las orillas de la mar, estén libres de las invasiones de los Moros; la espesura de las Manglares occulta y hace dificil la entrada, &c.”“These (towns), though close to the sea shore, are free from the invasions of the Moors (pirates); the thickness of the mangroves conceal and render the entrances difficult.” The writer is speaking of towns, of which none are more than 20 miles from Manila!—Descripcion Geog. y Topograf.↑26The writer was once obliged to arm all his servants against 16 soldiers with their muskets from a neighboring military post. The two parties remained some minutes with their armslevelledat each other, when a parley was begun, which ended the affair without bloodshed. The origin of the quarrel was a dispute at cockfighting between his servants and the soldiers.↑27Such are, for example, NuestraSeñorade Antipolo, about 20 miles east of Manila, and the SantoNiño(Holy Child) of Zebû: to both of these it is reckoned almost indispensable to make a pilgrimage: the natives of Luzon to the first, which is about 25 miles from Manila; and those of all the Bisayas or Southern Islands to the other. From Antipolo28alone have been sent in a single year 180,000 dollars as the produce of the masses! And the writer has conversed with pilgrims from the province of Ylocos! In all cases of peril and difficulty, a vow is made to one of these saints, which is seldom left unfulfilled. The crew of a small vessel of men offered 54 dollars for masses at the convent of St. Augustin (I think), on the day of the feast del SantoNiño.↑28For detailed account of the shrine at Antipolo, its worship, miracles, etc., see Murillo Velarde’sHist. de Philipinas, fol. 210v–229v; and in the engraved frontispiece to that work may be seen a representation of the statue of the Virgin of Antipolo (see ourVOL. XLIV, opposite titlepage).—Eds.↑29This word is defined by theStandard Dictionary(New York, 1895) as a Scottish slang word meaning “unlawful sexual intercourse.” It is apparently allied to the obsolete Northumbrian word “houghen-moughen,” meaning “greedy, ravenous”—see Wright’sEnglish Dialect Dictionary, iii (London, 1902), p. 247.—Eds.↑30Nothing has stamped the character of the Manila Indian with greater atrocity in the eyes of Englishmen, than their frequent appeals to assassination (the knife) in cases of supposed or actual wrongs. How long is it since dirks were laid aside, because useless, in Scotland? When men cannot appealimmediatelyto a magistrate, they appeal to themselves. Duels too are another kind of appeals of the same sort.↑31“At Manila, therefore, a doctor [of law] is a species of phenomenon, and many years pass without one of them being seen; in two universities there is no doctor, while in 1767 there was but one competitor for the doctoral of the cathedral. Yet it must be noted that this competitor was a Mexican, and was not born in Manila. Of what use, therefore, are two universities in this city? Would not a single one be more than enough? One who knows Latin is greatly esteemed in Manila, because that language is not common there, in spite of the two universities which I have just mentioned; what is learned in those institutions is very poor, and is only imperfectly understood. When I arrived there, a great many persons asked me if I knew Latin, and when I answered that I knew a little of it they apparently had after that more respect for me. All the ancient prejudices of the schools seem to have abandoned us of Europe only to take refuge at Manila, where certainly they have long remained, for the ancient doctrine is there in too good hands to give place to sound ideas of physics. Don Feliciano Marqués often honestly confessed to me that in Spain they were a hundred years behind France, in the sciences; and that at Manila they were a hundred years behind Spain. One can judge, by that, of the present state of physics at Manila, in the midst of two universities. In that city electricity is known only by name, and the Holy Office of the Inquisition has prohibited experiments in that line. I knew there a Frenchman, a surgeon by profession, a man of parts and of inquiring mind, who was threatened with the Inquisition for having tried to make such experiments; but I think that what really drew upon him this ill-fortune was the experiment of the “little friar.” [This simple experiment in physics was made with a little figure resembling a friar; it had never before been seen in Manila, and everybody ran to look at it and laugh.] “This experiment of the surgeon, who made his little friar dance, and sometimes sink to the bottom of the vial by way of correcting him, drew upon him the displeasure of the entire body of religious with whom Manila swarms; there was talk of the Holy Office, and it was said that the surgeon’s experiment was a case for the Inquisition. The surgeon, therefore—whose only intention in the experiment was to vex the friars who had prevented him from making his experiments in electricity—was compelled to cease his pleasantry, and Manila had to express its detestation of the pleasure that it had taken in seeing the experiment.” [The author was visited by many people at his observatory, who desired to see the sun and the planets through his telescope;] “the women were even more curious than the men about the rare things which I showed them, and which I took pleasure in explaining to them; but not a single religious came to visit my observatory.” (Le Gentil,Voyage, ii, pp. 96, 97.)—Eds.↑32SeeEl Yndio Agraciado(The aggrieved Indian), a pamphlet published at Manila in 1821, but suppressed by order of government.33↑33Pardo de Tavera says of this pamphlet, in hisBiblioteca Filipina, p. 146: “It attacks one Don M. G., a Philippine Spaniard, who was allowed to propose a plan of studies which was not much to the liking of the Filipino Indians. As appears by the title of this pamphlet, there existed in Manila at that time a publication (probably weekly) calledEl noticioso Filipino. [See also Tavera’s account of this sheet, at foot of the same page, which he regards as the first periodical which appeared in Manila]. Doubtless the former was the doing of some friar, who took the name of ‘Indian’ in order to express himself more freely.”—Eds.↑34This distinction should never be lost sight of. The Indian of Manila, from whom strangers generally form their estimate of this people, is so mixed, that a genuine Indian (Malay) family is scarcely to be met with; they are a mixture of Indian, Chinese, Japanese, Mexican (from the troops), seamen of different nations, and Spaniards besides, “Toutes les Capitales se ressemblent, et çe n’est pas d’eux qu’il faut juger les mœurs d’un peuple quelconque.”35—Rousseau.Let it never be forgotten, too, that while the Indians ofManila, on the 9th of October, 1820, were assassinating every foreigner within their reach, the Indians of the country weresavingthose in their power at the hazard of their lives!↑35That is, “All capital cities are alike, and it is not by them that the morals of any people should be judged.”—Eds.↑36The following statements regarding the native character are made by Ramon Reyes Lala (The Philippine Islands, New York, 1899, pp. 80–87), himself a Filipino: “The first thing that in the native character impresses the traveler is his impassive demeanor and imperturbable bearing. He is a born stoic, a fatalist by nature. This accounts for his coolness in moments of danger, and his intrepid bearing against overwhelming odds. This feature of the Malay character has often been displayed in the conflicts of the race with the Europeans in the East Indies. Under competent leadership the native, though strongly averse to discipline, can be made a splendid soldier. As sailors, too, I do not believe they can be equaled.” “As a result of the stoicism of the native character, he never bewails a misfortune, and has no fear of death.” “Europeans often seem to notice in them what they deem a lack of sympathy for the misfortunes of others; but it is not this so much as resignation to the inevitable.” “The educated native, however, impregnated with the bitter philosophy of the civilized world, is by no means so imperturbable. While more keenly alive to the sufferings of others, he is also more sensitive to his own sorrows.” “Incomprehensible inconsistencies obtain in nearly every native. Students of character may, therefore, study the Filipinos for years, and yet, at last, have no definite impression of their mental or moral status. Of course, those living in the cities are less baffling to the physiognomist and the ethnologist; for endemic peculiarities have been so rubbed off or modified that the racial traits are not obvious. But observe the natives, in their primitive abodes, where civilizing forces have not penetrated! You will then be amazed at the extraordinary mingling and clashing of antithetical characteristics in one and the same person; uncertain as to whether the good or the bad may be manifested. Like the wind, the mood comes and goes, and no one can tell why. I myself, with all the inherited feelings, tastes, and tendencies of my countrymen—modified and transmuted [by his education and long residence in Europe and America], happily—have stood aghast or amused at some hitherto unknown characteristic manifesting itself in an intimate acquaintance; and after I had been for years, too, wholly ignorant of his being so possessed or obsessed. And after that, the same mental or moral squint would be displayed at irregular intervals.” “His indolence is the result of generations of tropical ancestors. Besides, deprived by the Spaniards from all active participation in affairs of the Government, and robbed of the fruits of industry, all incentive to advancement and progress was taken away. He therefore yields with composure to the crushing conditions of his environment, preferring the lazy joys of indolence rather than labor for the benefit of his oppressors. Naturally. Recent events, however, show that, given the stimulant of hope, even the ‘indolent natives’ of the Philippines can achieve and nobly dare. Some Spaniards also have asserted that the Filipinos are naturally disloyal and treacherous, and that their word is not to be depended on. Now, the whole world knows that they have every reason to be disloyal to the Spaniard, who has for centuries so cruelly oppressed them. The devotion to the cause of freedom, however, which has recently made Rizal and hundreds of others martyrs to Spanish cruelty, shows that they also have the stuff that heroes are made of, and that they ran be loyal to an animating principle.” “Though calm, the native is not secretive, but often loquacious. He is naturally curious and inquisitive, but always polite, and respectful withal—especially to his superiors. He is passionate, and, in common with all half-civilized races, is cruel to his foes. The quality of mercy, like the sentiment—as distinguished from the passion—of love, is perhaps more the product of the philosophy of civilization than a natural attribute of the human heart.” “All travelers unite in attributing to the natives extreme family affection. They are very fond of their children; who, as a rule, are respectful and well-behaved. The noisy little hoodlums of European and American cities are utterly unknown. The old are tenderly cared for, and venerated; while in almost every well-to-do household are one or two poor relatives who, while mere hangers-on, are nevertheless made welcome to the table of their host. Indeed, the hospitality of the Filipinos is proverbial. A guest is always welcome, and welcome to the best. As a rule, the people are superstitious and very credulous; but how could they be otherwise? For three hundred years they have been denied even the liberty of investigation; when no light, save the dim glimmer of priestcraft pierced the utter darkness of their lot. Those that have been educated, however, have proved apt converts—only too apt, say the priests and the Spaniards—to the conclusions of science and of modern research. The native is rarely humorous, and seldom witty. He is not easily moved to anger, and when angry does not often show it. When he does, like the Malay of Java, he is prone to lose all control of himself, and, with destructive energy, slays all in his path. This is infrequent, however, but is a contingency that may occur at any time. If a native has been unjustly punished, he will never forget it, and will treasure the memory of his wrong until a good opportunity for revenge presents itself. Like all courageous people, he despises cowardice and pusillanimity. He has, therefore, but little regard for the meek and humble Chinaman, who will pocket an insult rather than avenge himself. He greatly esteems the European, who is possessed of the qualities which he admires, and will follow him into the very jaws of death. He is easily awed by a demonstration of superior force, and is ruled best by mild but firm coercion, based upon justice. He is not often ambitious, save socially, and to make some display, being fond of ceremony and of the pomp and glitter of a procession. He is sober, patient, and always clean. This can be said of few peoples. He easily adjusts himself to new conditions, and will soon make the best of their surroundings. As servants they are honest, obedient, and will do as they are told. It must be said that they enjoy litigation more than is good for them or for the best interests of the colony. There must be some psychological reason for this. It doubtless gives some play to the subtlety of the Oriental mind. It is said that he lacks the sense of initiative, and to some extent this may be true. The recent conduct of Aguinaldo—a full-blooded native—proves, notwithstanding, that he is not wholly deficient in aggressiveness nor in organizing power.”Lala adds (pp. 157, 158): “I have talked with many rude, untutored natives that, frankly, astonished me with the unwitting revelation of latent poetry, love of imagery, and spiritual longings in their nature.”—Eds.↑37Such is, although in somewhat varying degree, the condition of half-caste classes everywhere. A vivid picture of their condition in India, which may illustrate that of the mestizos in Filipinas, is found in a book entitledThat Eurasian(Chicago, 1905), by “Aleph Bey,” the pseudonym of an American writer who had spent many years in India; he depicts, in terms both vigorous and pathetic, the origin, difficulties, and degraded condition of the Eurasians (or half-castes) there, and the oppression and cruel treatment which they encounter from the dominant white class.—Eds.↑38“To be born in Spain was enough to secure one marked tokens of respect; but this advantage was not transmitted. The children who first saw the light in that other world no longer bear the name ofchapetons, which honored their fathers; they become simplycreóles.” (Raynal,Etablissemens et commerce des Européens, ii, p. 290.)—Eds.↑39I am perhaps not quite correct here. [Mas states (Informe, ii, “Administration of Justice,” p. 1), that the limit for civil suits was 100 pesos fuertes.—Eds.]↑40It will be understood that these sureties have their share in the advantages, that is plunder, which the Alcalde derives from the government. This often amounts to 20, 30, or even 50,000 dollars in three or four years—though at the time of their leaving Manila, they are in debt to a large amount. It is but just to observe, that there aresomefew honorable exceptions.↑41This is a typographical error; the reference to Comyn work is on p. 13 ofRemarks.—Eds.↑42Even from Spanish writers: see Zuniga’s History, Morillo [i.e., Murillo Velarde], and others. Le Gentil (who names his informants, men of the first respectability), La Peyrouse, &c. Many public papers of the government bear witness to these abuses.“El Alcalde de aquiSeñor!(said an old Indian to the writer at Zebú),le quitará los dientes de la boca a S. Md.” “The Alcaldé here, Sir!—He’ll take the teeth out of your worship’s mouth.” This was not too strong an expression.↑43They are well aware of the extent of their influence, and even at times speak of it. “Si aqui manda su tropa el Rey, se vayan los Indios al monte, pero si yo cerro las puertas de la Iglesia los tengo todos a mis pies en veinte quatro horas.” “If the king sends troops here, the Indians will retire to the mountains and forests. But if I shut the church doors, I shall have them all at my feet in twenty-four hours,” was the remark of an intelligent “frayle” to the writer.↑44Le Gentil says (Voyage, ii, p. 2): “Every order of religious has, then, taken possession of these provinces, which they have, so to say, shared among themselves. In some sort, they command therein, and they are more kings than the king himself. They have been so shrewd as to learn the dialects of the various peoples among whom they reside, and not to teach the Castilian language to them; thus the religious are absolute masters over the minds of the Indians in these islands.”—Eds.↑45Those who can see only inquisitors in Catholic bishops will be a little incredulous of one of them checking an attempt to convert a Protestant! This happened to the writer, who found himself one evening seated between an Indian clerigo and the bishop of Zebû, an aged and most worthy prelate. The Indian father, to show his zeal for the faith, attacked me on the subject of religion with the usual arguments of ignorant friars, till I was on the point of quitting the room to avoid answering. “My son,” said the old prelate to the Indian—“we are here to convert the Indians, not to annoy the strangers who may visit us. I will send this gentleman some books, and I doubt not they will duly prepare his mind to see the errors of the Protestant church, and then we may hope for success with him!”↑46“Yo hé llorado de ansias de ver à un Europeo!” “How often has the desire ofseeingan European made me weep!” was the pathetic remark of a most worthy minister to the writer of these remarks.—This man had been 27 years on one small island!↑47“Insanity is the fashionable disease [at Manila], and a great many persons are attacked by it; but it prevails more generally among the women and the religious—the latter most of all, and they are very subject to it. The life which they lead contributes greatly to this: to be always shut up, in a climate so hot, eating scanty and poor food, and much given to study; perhaps also there is some grief at finding themselves banished and shut in so far away [from Spain]. All these causes make the brain grow hot, and madness follows. Nearly all the religious who go to the Philippines arrive there while young …. As for the women, their natural infirmity may, at a certain age, conduce to insanity, with which a great many are stricken.” (Le Gentil,Voyage, ii, pp. 130, 131.)—Eds.↑48They have already conducted them to scenes of the last indecency and even bloodshed. See Martini’s Hist.The Inquisition has been but little felt in the Philippines of late years. A tribunal existed, but it was merely nominal, and held only “in terrorem.” It was not wanted as a political engine; and as a religious one, there was little use for it amongst a people who will believe any thing and every thing. The Grand Inquisitor, during the last 25 years, is a man universally beloved!—the Padre Coro.↑49This is, according to Montero y Vidal (Archipiélago filipino, p. 72), the name applied by Linnæus to theCaryota onustaof Blanco, generally calledcabonegroby the Spaniards (seeVOL. XVIII, p. 177); but the list of fiber plants inOfficial Handbook of Philippinesapplies to that tree (p. 332) the nameCaryota urensL. The natives also make various sorts of wine and brandy from the sap of the cocoanut palm (Cocos nucifera); see Delgado’sHistoria general, pp. 645–648, 664.—Eds.↑50There is an instance (I think in the province of Pampanga) of a negro tribe, who annually pay their tribute—but upon the express condition that no missionaries are to be sent!↑51“Bulas.” Surely this most absurd of all impositions on the credulity of a people, should be abolished, or at least imposed in a less objectionable manner. The “Bula de Cruzada” (originally a contribution to the wars against the Infidels), for which is granted permission to eat meat and eggs in Lent, or benefits to the souls in purgatory (“Bula de Difuntos”), from the Pope is an article of revenue to the king of Spain. His Most Catholic Majesty farms it to one of his subjects, who rather than lose a rial of his bargain, will sell them to Chinese, Turks, or Hindoos, if they are fools enough to buy them, as the Chinese have been known to do for the souls oftheirancestors!—Quere: What has become of theoriginalintention of these precious documents? of which a modern Spanish author has remarked, “Que es el papel mas caro y mas malo que se vende.” It is the worst and dearest paper that is sold, (Gallardo Dicc. Critico Burlesco). It is, however, an indispensable condition to the performance of many of the offices of religion to have the last published bull. See Manila Almanack.↑52In 1810, the total of receipts was 1,466,610 dollars.↑53Such assertions demand some evidence in support of them. A very recent case has occurred, wherein the colonel of a militia regiment (of Chinese descent), having some dispute with a French gentleman, and high words taking place, called up the guard stationed at his door, it is supposed to flog him! The French gentleman having procured some weapon, kept the whole guard at bay, together with theirgallantcolonel. Muskets were levelled at him, and he probably would have been assassinated, but for the interference of some of the family, and his own firmness! Complaint was made of this, but no notice was taken of it, nor was thegallantcolonel’s conduct thought at all incorrect. On the contrary it was very generally applauded!↑54Large boats undecked, pulling from 20 to 30 oars; they carry a four or six pounder and five or six swivels; they are fine boats and sail fast. The gun-boats carry a long 24 or 32 pounder, and six or eight swivels; and including marines, carry from 80 to 100 men.↑55For recent information on this subject, see chapter on agriculture (revised by Frank Lamson-Scribner, chief of Bureau of Agriculture), inOfficial Handbook of Philippines, pp. 99–126; andCensus of Philippines, iv, pp. 11–394, with full description of chief products of the islands, methods of cultivation, lists of fruits, vegetables, and fiber plants, and detailed statistics of production, lands, etc., as well as of domestic animals of all kinds.—Eds.↑56The fish principally caught is one called Dalag (Blennius?)57This fish, common I believe to many parts of India, presents some phenomena well worth the attention of naturalists. In these extensive plains, only a few pools remain in the dry season; and after the rains, such multitudes of them are found, that they are caught with baskets only. They weigh from one to two pounds, and are from one to two feet in length; they are found in the rice fields, when these have been overflowed a few weeks, and strange to relate, in the graves and vaults of churches when in damp situations, but with little or no water near them; this fact is related on respectable authority. The fish, though not delicate, is good, and forms a valuable article of food for the poor.↑57Montero y Vidal mentions this fish (Archipiélago filipino, p. 107), as belonging to the genusOphicephalus; it is “abundant in the rivers, lakes, and pools.” See alsoOfficial Handbook of Philippines, pp. 151, 152.—Eds.↑58They, very unaccountably, neglected any steps to procure the martin from Bengal or Cochin China.59This might, however, have arisen from an idea that, as in the Isle of France, the martins might have become as great a nuisance as the locusts; but surely the introduction of some species of hawk would have obviated this.↑59Montero y Vidal says (Archipiélago filipino, p. 113) that the family ofOrthoptera, “leaf-eaters in their adult stage, are the most fearful scourge for agriculture,” perhaps the worst of these plagues being the locust (Oedipoda manilensis; Spanish,langosta); “the Indians use great nets to catch them, because not only the government pays a bounty for a certain quantity of these destructive insects which the natives may present, but they preserve the insects and use them for food.” He also states (p. 96) that a species of grackle (Gracula) was imported from China (in theHist. de Filipinas, ii, p. 294, he mentions in the same connection martins [pájaros martines]) to exterminate this pest; but does not mention the time or the result of this experiment.—Eds.↑60SeeVOL. XLVIII, p. 96, note 37.—Eds.↑61This is the Viverra Musanga.62See Horsfield’s Zoology of Java.↑62Montero y Vidal states (Archipiélago filipino, pp. 86, 87) that two species of carnivores,Paradoxurus philippinensisandP. musanga, are dreaded by the coffee-planters; these creatures “spend the day in holes dug in the ground, and go out at night to hunt their game.” He mentions, besides these, two species of civets, both of the genusViverra. Delgado says (p. 875) that he has never seen themiró(Paradoxurus) except in the island of Leyte.—Eds.↑63Eight rials are a Spanish dollar.↑64The following are the common land measures in use at Manila:La Brasa de tierra is 8 feet 1.6–10 English, (from a new government measure); 10,000 of these, or a square of 100 each way, is a Quinion.

1The full title of this book is as follows: Remarks on the Phillippine Islands, and on their capital Manila. 1819 to 1822. By an Englishman. “When a traveller returneth home, let him not leave the countries where he hath travelled altogether behind him.”Lord Bacon—Essays. Calcutta: Printed at the Baptist mission Press, Circular Road; and sold by Messrs. W. Thacker and Co. St. Andrew’s Library. 1828.Opposite the title-page is a folding map, entitled “Map of the province of Tondo.” It is Spanish, dated 1819; and shows as well portions of the adjacent provinces. The book is dedicated “To Holt Mackenzie, Esq. This Work is respectfully inscribed, by his obedient humble servant, The Author.Calcutta, March, 1828.”Notes signed “Eds.” are supplied by the Editors; the rest are those of the author himself. The original text is reproduced as exactly as possible.↑2Besides the references already given, see J. Roth’s sketch of the geology of the Philippines, in appendix to Jagor’sReisen, pp. 333–354.—Eds.↑3The Bureau of Government Laboratories at Manila published, during 1902–05, a valuable series of bulletins on various topics in botany, ornithology, biology, diseases of man and beast, etc., and another series was published by the Mining Bureau; the former bureau is now replaced by the Bureau of Science.—Eds.↑4In the environs of Manila, a monument is erected to the memory of …,5a Spanish naturalist of unwearied industry, and it is said, great talents, sent out by government to examinethe Phillippine Islands. After seven years’ incessant labour, he died of a fever, and at his death his manuscripts, which are all written in cyphers, were taken possession of by the government; they are said yet to remain buried in the archives of ‘la Secretaria,’ having never been sent to Europe!↑5Apparently referring to Antonio Pineda (VOL. L, p. 61); but he died only three years after leaving Spain. In the expedition to which he was attached, he was director of the department of natural sciences; he was accompanied by Louis Née, a Frenchman naturalized in Spain. They visited Uruguay, Patagonia, Chile, Peru, and Nueva España; and in Chile were joined by the Hungarian naturalist, Tadeo Haenke (who, reaching Cádiz after their vessel sailed, was obliged to sail to South America to meet them). From Acapulco they went to Marianas and Filipinas; and journeyed (1791) through Luzón from Sorsogón to Manila. Pineda labored diligently in Luzón, and made large collections; but died at Badoc, in Ilocos, in 1792; his brother Arcadio Pineda, who was first lieutenant of the ship, was charged to put in order the materials collected by Antonio, but many of these were lost on the return journey. Returning to South America, at Callao Haenke and Née parted company; the former again traveled in America, but in the vicissitudes of these journeys much of the material collected by him was lost or spoiled. The residue was classified and described, after his death, by the leading botanists of Europe, and this matter was published in a work entitledReliquiæ Haenkeane, seu descriptiones et icones plantarum quæ in America meridionali et boreali in insulis Philippinis et Marianis collegit Thaddeus Haenke, Philosophiæ Doctor, Phytographus Regis Hispaniæ(Pragæ, 1825–35). Née went from Concepción, Chile, overland to Montevideo, and thence to Spain; and in September, 1794, he reached Cádiz, with a herbarium of 10,000 plants, of which 4,000 were new ones. These were preserved in the Botanical Gardens at Madrid, with more than 300 drawings. See Ramón Jordana y Morera’sBosquejo geográfico é historico-natural del archipiélago filipino(Madrid, 1885), pp. 356–358, 361; and José Gogorza y González’sDatos para la fauna filipina(Madrid, 1888), p. 2.—Eds.↑6The loftiest peak in Mindoro is Mount Halcón, said to be 8,800 feet in height. The most prominent volcano in the archipelago is Mayón, 7,916 feet high, in Albay, Luzon; in Negros is another volcano, called Canlaón, 8,192 feet high. In Panay the highest peak is Madiaás, 7,264 feet; and in Mindanao is the loftiest peak in the entire archipelago, the almost extinct volcano of Apo, which rises to 10,312 feet. See the chapter on “Mountains and rivers,” inCensus of Philippines, i, pp. 00–73.—Eds.↑7Le Gentil says (Voyage, ii, p. 29): “This animal [the hog] is so common there that they even use its fat for sauces, ragouts, and fried articles; for butter is not known in Manila, and there is very little use of milk there. The Manilans doubtless find less difficulty (for in that climate people are very fond of repose) in using pork fat in their food than in rearing and keeping cattle and making butter. This sort of food, joined to the heat and the great humidity of that country, occasions serious dysentery in many persons.” He adds (p. 123): “The venereal disease (or ‘French disease,’ as they call it, I know not why), is very common there [in Manila]; but they do not die from it; the great heat and copious perspiration enable people to live at Manila with this malady, they marry without being frightened at it, and the evil passes by inheritance to their children; it is a sort of heritage with which but few European families are not stained.”—Eds.↑8Le Gentil thus speaks of the placer-mining practiced by the Indians in Luzon (Voyage, ii, p. 32): “It is true that this sort of life shortens the days of these wretched people; as they are perpetually in the water, they swell, and soon die. Besides that, the friars say that it is their experience that the Indians who lead that sort of life have no inclination to follow the Christian life, and that they give much trouble to the ministers of God who instruct them. Despite that, it is to the friars and to the alcaldes that these Indians sell their gold.”—Eds.↑9In his “Non-Christian Tribes of Northern Luzon,” Worcester calls attention to the various indefinite modes of using the word “tribe,” among ethnological writers, and proposes (p. 803) the following definition as a means of securing clearness and accuracy therein: “A division of a race composed of an aggregate of individuals of a kind and of a common origin, agreeing among themselves in, and distinguished from their congeners by, physical characteristics, dress, and ornaments; the nature of the communities which they form; peculiarities of house architecture; methods of hunting, fishing, and carrying on agriculture; character and importance of manufactures; practices relative to war and the taking of heads of enemies; arms used in warfare; music and dancing, and marriage and burial customs; but not constituting a political unit subject to the control of any single individual nor necessarily speaking the same dialect.” He adds: “Where different dialects prevail among the members of a single tribe it should be subdivided into dialect groups.” He also says (p. 798): “It was the usage of the Spaniards to designate as a tribe each group of people which had a dialect, more or less peculiar, of its own. Furthermore, the custom which is widespread among the hill people of northern Luzon of shouting out the name of a settlement when they desire to call for one or more persons belonging to it, seems in many instances to have led the Spaniards to adopt settlement names as tribal ones, even when there were no differences of dialect between the peoples thus designated.”—Eds.↑10The fullest and most authoritative account of the Negritos is, of course, the monograph by W. A. Reed,The Negritos of Zambales, published by the Philippine Ethnological Survey. See also Worcester’s account of them in his “Non-Christian Tribes of Northern Luzon,” inPhilippine Journal of Science, October, 1906, pp. 805et seq.—Eds.↑11See Le Gentil,Voyage aux Indes.↑12Is not this, or something resembling it, a custom of the natives of Australasia?↑13See Herrera and Ant. de Solis, Hist. of Mexico.↑14The negro of the east appears to have amalgamated with some other family. On the south coasts of Australasia, they resemble in many points the people just described. This continues to be the case as far as Cape Capricorn. To the northward of this, as far as Murray’s Islands in Torres Straits, they are a stout, tall, athletic race of men,15and as hairy on the face and body as Europeans, with long hair, andwithoutthe negro cast of countenance. This race may be traced by intervals to Ternate, Gilolo, &c., where they are called Harraforas;16but none are found in the Phillippines (unless the Ylocos have some relationship to them). Is not the native of New Ireland and Queen Charlotte’s Islands too of this race?17The difference between them is most striking. The one are dwarfish negroes, the others almost black Europeans. Both are essentially different from the Malay family, and not only so, but from each other (thenativeof Amboyna, I think, forms the link between them) and this difference is apparently anatomical, in the shape of the skull, facial angles, &c.We are as yet in the infancy of our knowledge of the origin of these various families of the human race: like that of languages, it will in all probability remain one more of conjecture than of fact; but it is still a subject of deep interest. I have heard from respectable authority, that the language of Cagayan, the most northern province but one of the island of Luzon, the men of which are tail, stout, olive-coloured, almost beardless, and proverbial for their mildness, peaceable behaviour, and fidelity, so much resembles that of the Sandwich islanders, that some of these at Manila found no difficulty in making the Cagayan servants understand them! The province of Ylocos is the next to this to the north, and forms the north coast of the island. The Ylocos are black, short-bearded men, and noted for their insubordination and dissipated character.↑15The writer of this memoir has, on the coast of New Holland, between Cape Capricorn and Endeavour Straits, had occasion to know this fact. A party of these savages attacked the captain and supercargo of a vessel in which he was an officer, and they were repulsed only by firearms. The account of them given by the supercargo, and indeed by all the party attacked, uniformly agreed in describing them as the finest made and strongest looking men possible. Their bodies were also very hairy.↑16The term “Haraforas” is applied to the Subanos of Mindanao by Captain Forrest; from hisVoyage, pp. 266, 268, 271, 273, 278–282, we obtain the following interesting and first-hand information about that people:“The vassals of the Sultan, and of others, who possess great estates, are called Kanakan. Those vassals are sometimes Mahometans, though mostly Haraforas [“who are also called Subanos, or Oran Manubo,” p. 186]. The latter only may be sold with the lands, but cannot be sold off the lands. The Haraforas are more opprest than the former. The Mahometan vassals are bound to accompany their lords, on any sudden expedition; but the Haraforas being in a great measure excused from such attendance, pay yearly certain taxes, which are not expected from the Mahometan vassals. They pay a boiss, or land tax. A Harafora family pays ten battels of paly (rough rice) forty lb. each; three of rice, about sixty lb.; one fowl, one bunch of plantains, thirty roots, called clody, or St. Helena yam, and fifty heads of Indian corn. I give this as one instance of the utmost that is ever paid. Then they must sell fifty battels of paly, equal to two thousand pound weight, for one kangan. So at Dory, or New Guinea, one prong, value half a dollar, or one kangan, given to a Harafora, lays a perpetual tax on him. Those vassals at Magindano have what land they please; and the Mahometans on the sea coast, whether free or kanakan, live mostly by trading with the Haraforas, while their own gardens produce them betel nuts, coco nuts, and greens. They seldom grow any rice, and they discourage as far as they can, the Haraforas from going to Mindano, to sell the produce of their plantations. On the banks of the Pelangy and Tamantakka, the Mahometans grow much rice. The boiss is not always collected in fruits of the earth only. A tax-gatherer, who arrived at Coto Intang, when I was there, gave me the following list of what he had brought from some of Rajah Moodo’s crown lands, being levied on perhaps five hundred families. 2870 battels of paly, of forty lb. each; 490 Spanish dollars; 160 kangans; 6 tayls of gold, equal to 30 l [sterling]; 160 Malons: a cloth made of the plantain tree, three yards long, and one broad. This last mentioned cloth is the usual wear of the country women, made in the form of a Bengal lungy, or Buggess [i.e., Bugis] cloth, being a wide sack without a bottom; and is often used as a currency in the market. The currency in most parts of the country, is the Chinese kangan, coarse cloth, thinly woven, nineteen inches broad, and six yards long; the value at Sooloo is ten dollars for a bundle of twenty-five sealed up; and at Magindano much the same; but at Magindano dollars are scarce. These bundles are called gandangs, rolled up in a cylindrical form. They have also, as a currency, kousongs, a kind of nankeen, dyed black; and kompow, a strong white Chinese linen, made of flax; of which more particularly hereafter. The kangans generally come from Sooloo; so they are got at second hand: for the Spaniards have long hindered Chinese junks, bound from Amoy to Magindano, to pass Samboangan. This is the cause of so little trade at Magindano, no vessels sailing from Indostan thither; and the little trade is confined to a few country Chinese, called Oran Sangly, and a few Soolooans who come hither to buy rice and paly, bringing with them Chinese articles: for the crop of rice at Sooloo can never be depended on. In the bazar, or market, the immediate currency is paly. Ten gantangs of about four pounds each, make a battel; and three battels (a cylindrical measure, thirteen inches and five-tenths high; the same in diameter) about one hundred and twenty pounds of paly, are commonly sold for a kangan. Talking of the value of things here, and at Sooloo, they say, such a house or prow, &c., is worth so many slaves; the old valuation being one slave for thirty kangans. They also specify in their bargains, whether is meant matto (eye) kangan, real kangan, or nominal kangan. The dealing in the nominal, or imaginary kangan, is an ideal barter. When one deals for the real kangans, they must be examined; and the gandangs, or bundles of twenty-five pieces, are not to be trusted, as the dealers will often forge a seal, having first packed up damaged kangans. In this the Chinese here, and at Sooloo, are very expert. The China cash at Magindano, named pousin, have holes as in China. I found them scarce; their price is from one hundred and sixty to one hundred and eighty for a kangan. At Sooloo is coined a cash of base copper, called petis, of which two hundred, down to one hundred and seventy, go for a kangan.”“On Sooloo are no Haraforas. The Haraforas on Magindano make a strong cloth, not of cotton, but of a kind of flax, very like what the Batta people wear on the coast of Sumatra.” “One day near Tubuan, a Harafora brought down some paddy from the country: I wanted to purchase it; but the head man of the village, a Magindanoer, would not permit him to sell it me. I did not dispute the point; but found afterwards, the poor Harafora had sold about three hundred pounds of paly for a prong, or chopping knife.” “They all seem to be slaves to the Magindano people: for these take what they please, fowls or anything in the house they like best; and if the owners seem angry, threaten to tie them up, and flog them.” “The inhabitants of this country [of the Illanos] have generally their name from the lake [i.e., Lake Lanao] on which they reside. The inlanders dwell chiefly towards the East, where are said to be thirty thousand men, intermixed in many places with the Haraforas, who seem to be the primitives of the island. On the north coast of Magindano, the Spaniards have had great success, in converting to Christianity those Haraforas. Their agreeing in one essential point, the eating of hog’s flesh, may, in a great measure, have paved the way.”“The Magindano people sell to the Haraforas iron chopping knives, called prongs, cloth, salt, &c., for their rice and other fruits of the earth. For the Haraforas dread going to sea, else they could carry the produce of their lands to a better market. They are much imposed on, and kept under by their Mahometan lords; and are all tributary to the Sultan, or to some Rajah Rajah (noblemen) under him. Their system proves thus the feudal.” “The Haraforas are thinly scattered; and, being all tributary, many together seldom stay long at one place. This cannot be for want of water, pasture, or fertile ground; as with the Tartars on the continent of Asia. On this island, almost every spot is covered either with timber, brushwood, reeds, or grass; and streams are found every where in abundance. Nor can it be to avoid wild beasts; there are none on the island: a good cause why deer, wild horses and other wild cattle are found in so many parts of it. I suspect that the Haraforas are often so opprest that some have wisely got inland, beyond the tax-gatherer’s ken.”Evidently Forrest and the writer of theRemarkshad in mind two different peoples, to whom they applied the term Haraforas. Crawfurd explains this name (Dictionary Ind. Islands, p. 10) as a corruption ofAlforas; it is “not a native word at all, nor is it the generic name of any people whatsoever. It is a word of the Portuguese language, apparently derived from the Arabic articleal, and the prepositionfora, ‘without.’ The Indian Portuguese applied it to all people beyond their own authority, or who were not subdued by them, and consequently to the wild races of the interior. It would seem to be equivalent to the ‘Indios bravos’ of the Spaniards, as applied to the wild and unconquered tribes of America and the Philippines.”—Eds.↑17And that groupe to which Quiros, Mendana, or Torres gave the name of “Yslas de Gente Hermosa”? [Still thus named on modern charts; seeVoyages of Quiros(Hakluyt Society’s publications, London, 1904), pp. xxiv, 217, 424, 431.—Eds.↑18Our author here confuses the Spanish name “Pintados” (literally, “painted,” referring to their tattooed bodies) with the native name, “Bisayas,” both being indifferently applied to the islands south of Luzon.—Eds.↑19See Sir William Draper’s dispatches at the siege of Manila.↑20Was it not by this system (the mita) that the mines and plantations of Mexico were wrought? and Mexico,—that Mexico which the Spaniards of Cortes in the 15th century called New Spain,—became nearly a desert?↑21A higher and purer praise is due to this gentleman than havingwrittenthe work alluded to: it is that heacted on its spirit, and first taught the “red man” to know himself as man, and (a far more arduous undertaking), he taught the white man that his prosperity was essentially connected with that of the native. The country in which the foundations of our power were laid on such a basis, should not have been given away like a ministerial snuff-box.22↑22Java was conquered by England in 1811, but was restored to Holland five years later. During that time the island was governed by Sir Thomas Stamford Raffles (1781–1826), who published aHistory of Java(London, 1817); he was afterward governor of the English settlements in Sumatra (1818–24), in both these posts ruling with great ability and vigor and an enlightened and liberal mind. Gilbert Elliot, Baron Minto, a noted English statesman, was governor-general of India during 1807–13, and went with Raffles to Java to organize its government.—Eds.↑23SeeDescripcion Geografica y Topografica de la Ysla de Luzon, Por Don Yldefonso de Arragon, Parte IV. Prov. de la Pampanga, p. 3, 5, &c. The author is a colonel of engineers. [In 1818–20, he was chief of the topographical bureau at Manila.—Eds.]↑24Ibid.↑25“Estos (Pueblos) aunque immediatos a las orillas de la mar, estén libres de las invasiones de los Moros; la espesura de las Manglares occulta y hace dificil la entrada, &c.”“These (towns), though close to the sea shore, are free from the invasions of the Moors (pirates); the thickness of the mangroves conceal and render the entrances difficult.” The writer is speaking of towns, of which none are more than 20 miles from Manila!—Descripcion Geog. y Topograf.↑26The writer was once obliged to arm all his servants against 16 soldiers with their muskets from a neighboring military post. The two parties remained some minutes with their armslevelledat each other, when a parley was begun, which ended the affair without bloodshed. The origin of the quarrel was a dispute at cockfighting between his servants and the soldiers.↑27Such are, for example, NuestraSeñorade Antipolo, about 20 miles east of Manila, and the SantoNiño(Holy Child) of Zebû: to both of these it is reckoned almost indispensable to make a pilgrimage: the natives of Luzon to the first, which is about 25 miles from Manila; and those of all the Bisayas or Southern Islands to the other. From Antipolo28alone have been sent in a single year 180,000 dollars as the produce of the masses! And the writer has conversed with pilgrims from the province of Ylocos! In all cases of peril and difficulty, a vow is made to one of these saints, which is seldom left unfulfilled. The crew of a small vessel of men offered 54 dollars for masses at the convent of St. Augustin (I think), on the day of the feast del SantoNiño.↑28For detailed account of the shrine at Antipolo, its worship, miracles, etc., see Murillo Velarde’sHist. de Philipinas, fol. 210v–229v; and in the engraved frontispiece to that work may be seen a representation of the statue of the Virgin of Antipolo (see ourVOL. XLIV, opposite titlepage).—Eds.↑29This word is defined by theStandard Dictionary(New York, 1895) as a Scottish slang word meaning “unlawful sexual intercourse.” It is apparently allied to the obsolete Northumbrian word “houghen-moughen,” meaning “greedy, ravenous”—see Wright’sEnglish Dialect Dictionary, iii (London, 1902), p. 247.—Eds.↑30Nothing has stamped the character of the Manila Indian with greater atrocity in the eyes of Englishmen, than their frequent appeals to assassination (the knife) in cases of supposed or actual wrongs. How long is it since dirks were laid aside, because useless, in Scotland? When men cannot appealimmediatelyto a magistrate, they appeal to themselves. Duels too are another kind of appeals of the same sort.↑31“At Manila, therefore, a doctor [of law] is a species of phenomenon, and many years pass without one of them being seen; in two universities there is no doctor, while in 1767 there was but one competitor for the doctoral of the cathedral. Yet it must be noted that this competitor was a Mexican, and was not born in Manila. Of what use, therefore, are two universities in this city? Would not a single one be more than enough? One who knows Latin is greatly esteemed in Manila, because that language is not common there, in spite of the two universities which I have just mentioned; what is learned in those institutions is very poor, and is only imperfectly understood. When I arrived there, a great many persons asked me if I knew Latin, and when I answered that I knew a little of it they apparently had after that more respect for me. All the ancient prejudices of the schools seem to have abandoned us of Europe only to take refuge at Manila, where certainly they have long remained, for the ancient doctrine is there in too good hands to give place to sound ideas of physics. Don Feliciano Marqués often honestly confessed to me that in Spain they were a hundred years behind France, in the sciences; and that at Manila they were a hundred years behind Spain. One can judge, by that, of the present state of physics at Manila, in the midst of two universities. In that city electricity is known only by name, and the Holy Office of the Inquisition has prohibited experiments in that line. I knew there a Frenchman, a surgeon by profession, a man of parts and of inquiring mind, who was threatened with the Inquisition for having tried to make such experiments; but I think that what really drew upon him this ill-fortune was the experiment of the “little friar.” [This simple experiment in physics was made with a little figure resembling a friar; it had never before been seen in Manila, and everybody ran to look at it and laugh.] “This experiment of the surgeon, who made his little friar dance, and sometimes sink to the bottom of the vial by way of correcting him, drew upon him the displeasure of the entire body of religious with whom Manila swarms; there was talk of the Holy Office, and it was said that the surgeon’s experiment was a case for the Inquisition. The surgeon, therefore—whose only intention in the experiment was to vex the friars who had prevented him from making his experiments in electricity—was compelled to cease his pleasantry, and Manila had to express its detestation of the pleasure that it had taken in seeing the experiment.” [The author was visited by many people at his observatory, who desired to see the sun and the planets through his telescope;] “the women were even more curious than the men about the rare things which I showed them, and which I took pleasure in explaining to them; but not a single religious came to visit my observatory.” (Le Gentil,Voyage, ii, pp. 96, 97.)—Eds.↑32SeeEl Yndio Agraciado(The aggrieved Indian), a pamphlet published at Manila in 1821, but suppressed by order of government.33↑33Pardo de Tavera says of this pamphlet, in hisBiblioteca Filipina, p. 146: “It attacks one Don M. G., a Philippine Spaniard, who was allowed to propose a plan of studies which was not much to the liking of the Filipino Indians. As appears by the title of this pamphlet, there existed in Manila at that time a publication (probably weekly) calledEl noticioso Filipino. [See also Tavera’s account of this sheet, at foot of the same page, which he regards as the first periodical which appeared in Manila]. Doubtless the former was the doing of some friar, who took the name of ‘Indian’ in order to express himself more freely.”—Eds.↑34This distinction should never be lost sight of. The Indian of Manila, from whom strangers generally form their estimate of this people, is so mixed, that a genuine Indian (Malay) family is scarcely to be met with; they are a mixture of Indian, Chinese, Japanese, Mexican (from the troops), seamen of different nations, and Spaniards besides, “Toutes les Capitales se ressemblent, et çe n’est pas d’eux qu’il faut juger les mœurs d’un peuple quelconque.”35—Rousseau.Let it never be forgotten, too, that while the Indians ofManila, on the 9th of October, 1820, were assassinating every foreigner within their reach, the Indians of the country weresavingthose in their power at the hazard of their lives!↑35That is, “All capital cities are alike, and it is not by them that the morals of any people should be judged.”—Eds.↑36The following statements regarding the native character are made by Ramon Reyes Lala (The Philippine Islands, New York, 1899, pp. 80–87), himself a Filipino: “The first thing that in the native character impresses the traveler is his impassive demeanor and imperturbable bearing. He is a born stoic, a fatalist by nature. This accounts for his coolness in moments of danger, and his intrepid bearing against overwhelming odds. This feature of the Malay character has often been displayed in the conflicts of the race with the Europeans in the East Indies. Under competent leadership the native, though strongly averse to discipline, can be made a splendid soldier. As sailors, too, I do not believe they can be equaled.” “As a result of the stoicism of the native character, he never bewails a misfortune, and has no fear of death.” “Europeans often seem to notice in them what they deem a lack of sympathy for the misfortunes of others; but it is not this so much as resignation to the inevitable.” “The educated native, however, impregnated with the bitter philosophy of the civilized world, is by no means so imperturbable. While more keenly alive to the sufferings of others, he is also more sensitive to his own sorrows.” “Incomprehensible inconsistencies obtain in nearly every native. Students of character may, therefore, study the Filipinos for years, and yet, at last, have no definite impression of their mental or moral status. Of course, those living in the cities are less baffling to the physiognomist and the ethnologist; for endemic peculiarities have been so rubbed off or modified that the racial traits are not obvious. But observe the natives, in their primitive abodes, where civilizing forces have not penetrated! You will then be amazed at the extraordinary mingling and clashing of antithetical characteristics in one and the same person; uncertain as to whether the good or the bad may be manifested. Like the wind, the mood comes and goes, and no one can tell why. I myself, with all the inherited feelings, tastes, and tendencies of my countrymen—modified and transmuted [by his education and long residence in Europe and America], happily—have stood aghast or amused at some hitherto unknown characteristic manifesting itself in an intimate acquaintance; and after I had been for years, too, wholly ignorant of his being so possessed or obsessed. And after that, the same mental or moral squint would be displayed at irregular intervals.” “His indolence is the result of generations of tropical ancestors. Besides, deprived by the Spaniards from all active participation in affairs of the Government, and robbed of the fruits of industry, all incentive to advancement and progress was taken away. He therefore yields with composure to the crushing conditions of his environment, preferring the lazy joys of indolence rather than labor for the benefit of his oppressors. Naturally. Recent events, however, show that, given the stimulant of hope, even the ‘indolent natives’ of the Philippines can achieve and nobly dare. Some Spaniards also have asserted that the Filipinos are naturally disloyal and treacherous, and that their word is not to be depended on. Now, the whole world knows that they have every reason to be disloyal to the Spaniard, who has for centuries so cruelly oppressed them. The devotion to the cause of freedom, however, which has recently made Rizal and hundreds of others martyrs to Spanish cruelty, shows that they also have the stuff that heroes are made of, and that they ran be loyal to an animating principle.” “Though calm, the native is not secretive, but often loquacious. He is naturally curious and inquisitive, but always polite, and respectful withal—especially to his superiors. He is passionate, and, in common with all half-civilized races, is cruel to his foes. The quality of mercy, like the sentiment—as distinguished from the passion—of love, is perhaps more the product of the philosophy of civilization than a natural attribute of the human heart.” “All travelers unite in attributing to the natives extreme family affection. They are very fond of their children; who, as a rule, are respectful and well-behaved. The noisy little hoodlums of European and American cities are utterly unknown. The old are tenderly cared for, and venerated; while in almost every well-to-do household are one or two poor relatives who, while mere hangers-on, are nevertheless made welcome to the table of their host. Indeed, the hospitality of the Filipinos is proverbial. A guest is always welcome, and welcome to the best. As a rule, the people are superstitious and very credulous; but how could they be otherwise? For three hundred years they have been denied even the liberty of investigation; when no light, save the dim glimmer of priestcraft pierced the utter darkness of their lot. Those that have been educated, however, have proved apt converts—only too apt, say the priests and the Spaniards—to the conclusions of science and of modern research. The native is rarely humorous, and seldom witty. He is not easily moved to anger, and when angry does not often show it. When he does, like the Malay of Java, he is prone to lose all control of himself, and, with destructive energy, slays all in his path. This is infrequent, however, but is a contingency that may occur at any time. If a native has been unjustly punished, he will never forget it, and will treasure the memory of his wrong until a good opportunity for revenge presents itself. Like all courageous people, he despises cowardice and pusillanimity. He has, therefore, but little regard for the meek and humble Chinaman, who will pocket an insult rather than avenge himself. He greatly esteems the European, who is possessed of the qualities which he admires, and will follow him into the very jaws of death. He is easily awed by a demonstration of superior force, and is ruled best by mild but firm coercion, based upon justice. He is not often ambitious, save socially, and to make some display, being fond of ceremony and of the pomp and glitter of a procession. He is sober, patient, and always clean. This can be said of few peoples. He easily adjusts himself to new conditions, and will soon make the best of their surroundings. As servants they are honest, obedient, and will do as they are told. It must be said that they enjoy litigation more than is good for them or for the best interests of the colony. There must be some psychological reason for this. It doubtless gives some play to the subtlety of the Oriental mind. It is said that he lacks the sense of initiative, and to some extent this may be true. The recent conduct of Aguinaldo—a full-blooded native—proves, notwithstanding, that he is not wholly deficient in aggressiveness nor in organizing power.”Lala adds (pp. 157, 158): “I have talked with many rude, untutored natives that, frankly, astonished me with the unwitting revelation of latent poetry, love of imagery, and spiritual longings in their nature.”—Eds.↑37Such is, although in somewhat varying degree, the condition of half-caste classes everywhere. A vivid picture of their condition in India, which may illustrate that of the mestizos in Filipinas, is found in a book entitledThat Eurasian(Chicago, 1905), by “Aleph Bey,” the pseudonym of an American writer who had spent many years in India; he depicts, in terms both vigorous and pathetic, the origin, difficulties, and degraded condition of the Eurasians (or half-castes) there, and the oppression and cruel treatment which they encounter from the dominant white class.—Eds.↑38“To be born in Spain was enough to secure one marked tokens of respect; but this advantage was not transmitted. The children who first saw the light in that other world no longer bear the name ofchapetons, which honored their fathers; they become simplycreóles.” (Raynal,Etablissemens et commerce des Européens, ii, p. 290.)—Eds.↑39I am perhaps not quite correct here. [Mas states (Informe, ii, “Administration of Justice,” p. 1), that the limit for civil suits was 100 pesos fuertes.—Eds.]↑40It will be understood that these sureties have their share in the advantages, that is plunder, which the Alcalde derives from the government. This often amounts to 20, 30, or even 50,000 dollars in three or four years—though at the time of their leaving Manila, they are in debt to a large amount. It is but just to observe, that there aresomefew honorable exceptions.↑41This is a typographical error; the reference to Comyn work is on p. 13 ofRemarks.—Eds.↑42Even from Spanish writers: see Zuniga’s History, Morillo [i.e., Murillo Velarde], and others. Le Gentil (who names his informants, men of the first respectability), La Peyrouse, &c. Many public papers of the government bear witness to these abuses.“El Alcalde de aquiSeñor!(said an old Indian to the writer at Zebú),le quitará los dientes de la boca a S. Md.” “The Alcaldé here, Sir!—He’ll take the teeth out of your worship’s mouth.” This was not too strong an expression.↑43They are well aware of the extent of their influence, and even at times speak of it. “Si aqui manda su tropa el Rey, se vayan los Indios al monte, pero si yo cerro las puertas de la Iglesia los tengo todos a mis pies en veinte quatro horas.” “If the king sends troops here, the Indians will retire to the mountains and forests. But if I shut the church doors, I shall have them all at my feet in twenty-four hours,” was the remark of an intelligent “frayle” to the writer.↑44Le Gentil says (Voyage, ii, p. 2): “Every order of religious has, then, taken possession of these provinces, which they have, so to say, shared among themselves. In some sort, they command therein, and they are more kings than the king himself. They have been so shrewd as to learn the dialects of the various peoples among whom they reside, and not to teach the Castilian language to them; thus the religious are absolute masters over the minds of the Indians in these islands.”—Eds.↑45Those who can see only inquisitors in Catholic bishops will be a little incredulous of one of them checking an attempt to convert a Protestant! This happened to the writer, who found himself one evening seated between an Indian clerigo and the bishop of Zebû, an aged and most worthy prelate. The Indian father, to show his zeal for the faith, attacked me on the subject of religion with the usual arguments of ignorant friars, till I was on the point of quitting the room to avoid answering. “My son,” said the old prelate to the Indian—“we are here to convert the Indians, not to annoy the strangers who may visit us. I will send this gentleman some books, and I doubt not they will duly prepare his mind to see the errors of the Protestant church, and then we may hope for success with him!”↑46“Yo hé llorado de ansias de ver à un Europeo!” “How often has the desire ofseeingan European made me weep!” was the pathetic remark of a most worthy minister to the writer of these remarks.—This man had been 27 years on one small island!↑47“Insanity is the fashionable disease [at Manila], and a great many persons are attacked by it; but it prevails more generally among the women and the religious—the latter most of all, and they are very subject to it. The life which they lead contributes greatly to this: to be always shut up, in a climate so hot, eating scanty and poor food, and much given to study; perhaps also there is some grief at finding themselves banished and shut in so far away [from Spain]. All these causes make the brain grow hot, and madness follows. Nearly all the religious who go to the Philippines arrive there while young …. As for the women, their natural infirmity may, at a certain age, conduce to insanity, with which a great many are stricken.” (Le Gentil,Voyage, ii, pp. 130, 131.)—Eds.↑48They have already conducted them to scenes of the last indecency and even bloodshed. See Martini’s Hist.The Inquisition has been but little felt in the Philippines of late years. A tribunal existed, but it was merely nominal, and held only “in terrorem.” It was not wanted as a political engine; and as a religious one, there was little use for it amongst a people who will believe any thing and every thing. The Grand Inquisitor, during the last 25 years, is a man universally beloved!—the Padre Coro.↑49This is, according to Montero y Vidal (Archipiélago filipino, p. 72), the name applied by Linnæus to theCaryota onustaof Blanco, generally calledcabonegroby the Spaniards (seeVOL. XVIII, p. 177); but the list of fiber plants inOfficial Handbook of Philippinesapplies to that tree (p. 332) the nameCaryota urensL. The natives also make various sorts of wine and brandy from the sap of the cocoanut palm (Cocos nucifera); see Delgado’sHistoria general, pp. 645–648, 664.—Eds.↑50There is an instance (I think in the province of Pampanga) of a negro tribe, who annually pay their tribute—but upon the express condition that no missionaries are to be sent!↑51“Bulas.” Surely this most absurd of all impositions on the credulity of a people, should be abolished, or at least imposed in a less objectionable manner. The “Bula de Cruzada” (originally a contribution to the wars against the Infidels), for which is granted permission to eat meat and eggs in Lent, or benefits to the souls in purgatory (“Bula de Difuntos”), from the Pope is an article of revenue to the king of Spain. His Most Catholic Majesty farms it to one of his subjects, who rather than lose a rial of his bargain, will sell them to Chinese, Turks, or Hindoos, if they are fools enough to buy them, as the Chinese have been known to do for the souls oftheirancestors!—Quere: What has become of theoriginalintention of these precious documents? of which a modern Spanish author has remarked, “Que es el papel mas caro y mas malo que se vende.” It is the worst and dearest paper that is sold, (Gallardo Dicc. Critico Burlesco). It is, however, an indispensable condition to the performance of many of the offices of religion to have the last published bull. See Manila Almanack.↑52In 1810, the total of receipts was 1,466,610 dollars.↑53Such assertions demand some evidence in support of them. A very recent case has occurred, wherein the colonel of a militia regiment (of Chinese descent), having some dispute with a French gentleman, and high words taking place, called up the guard stationed at his door, it is supposed to flog him! The French gentleman having procured some weapon, kept the whole guard at bay, together with theirgallantcolonel. Muskets were levelled at him, and he probably would have been assassinated, but for the interference of some of the family, and his own firmness! Complaint was made of this, but no notice was taken of it, nor was thegallantcolonel’s conduct thought at all incorrect. On the contrary it was very generally applauded!↑54Large boats undecked, pulling from 20 to 30 oars; they carry a four or six pounder and five or six swivels; they are fine boats and sail fast. The gun-boats carry a long 24 or 32 pounder, and six or eight swivels; and including marines, carry from 80 to 100 men.↑55For recent information on this subject, see chapter on agriculture (revised by Frank Lamson-Scribner, chief of Bureau of Agriculture), inOfficial Handbook of Philippines, pp. 99–126; andCensus of Philippines, iv, pp. 11–394, with full description of chief products of the islands, methods of cultivation, lists of fruits, vegetables, and fiber plants, and detailed statistics of production, lands, etc., as well as of domestic animals of all kinds.—Eds.↑56The fish principally caught is one called Dalag (Blennius?)57This fish, common I believe to many parts of India, presents some phenomena well worth the attention of naturalists. In these extensive plains, only a few pools remain in the dry season; and after the rains, such multitudes of them are found, that they are caught with baskets only. They weigh from one to two pounds, and are from one to two feet in length; they are found in the rice fields, when these have been overflowed a few weeks, and strange to relate, in the graves and vaults of churches when in damp situations, but with little or no water near them; this fact is related on respectable authority. The fish, though not delicate, is good, and forms a valuable article of food for the poor.↑57Montero y Vidal mentions this fish (Archipiélago filipino, p. 107), as belonging to the genusOphicephalus; it is “abundant in the rivers, lakes, and pools.” See alsoOfficial Handbook of Philippines, pp. 151, 152.—Eds.↑58They, very unaccountably, neglected any steps to procure the martin from Bengal or Cochin China.59This might, however, have arisen from an idea that, as in the Isle of France, the martins might have become as great a nuisance as the locusts; but surely the introduction of some species of hawk would have obviated this.↑59Montero y Vidal says (Archipiélago filipino, p. 113) that the family ofOrthoptera, “leaf-eaters in their adult stage, are the most fearful scourge for agriculture,” perhaps the worst of these plagues being the locust (Oedipoda manilensis; Spanish,langosta); “the Indians use great nets to catch them, because not only the government pays a bounty for a certain quantity of these destructive insects which the natives may present, but they preserve the insects and use them for food.” He also states (p. 96) that a species of grackle (Gracula) was imported from China (in theHist. de Filipinas, ii, p. 294, he mentions in the same connection martins [pájaros martines]) to exterminate this pest; but does not mention the time or the result of this experiment.—Eds.↑60SeeVOL. XLVIII, p. 96, note 37.—Eds.↑61This is the Viverra Musanga.62See Horsfield’s Zoology of Java.↑62Montero y Vidal states (Archipiélago filipino, pp. 86, 87) that two species of carnivores,Paradoxurus philippinensisandP. musanga, are dreaded by the coffee-planters; these creatures “spend the day in holes dug in the ground, and go out at night to hunt their game.” He mentions, besides these, two species of civets, both of the genusViverra. Delgado says (p. 875) that he has never seen themiró(Paradoxurus) except in the island of Leyte.—Eds.↑63Eight rials are a Spanish dollar.↑64The following are the common land measures in use at Manila:La Brasa de tierra is 8 feet 1.6–10 English, (from a new government measure); 10,000 of these, or a square of 100 each way, is a Quinion.

1The full title of this book is as follows: Remarks on the Phillippine Islands, and on their capital Manila. 1819 to 1822. By an Englishman. “When a traveller returneth home, let him not leave the countries where he hath travelled altogether behind him.”Lord Bacon—Essays. Calcutta: Printed at the Baptist mission Press, Circular Road; and sold by Messrs. W. Thacker and Co. St. Andrew’s Library. 1828.

Opposite the title-page is a folding map, entitled “Map of the province of Tondo.” It is Spanish, dated 1819; and shows as well portions of the adjacent provinces. The book is dedicated “To Holt Mackenzie, Esq. This Work is respectfully inscribed, by his obedient humble servant, The Author.Calcutta, March, 1828.”

Notes signed “Eds.” are supplied by the Editors; the rest are those of the author himself. The original text is reproduced as exactly as possible.↑

2Besides the references already given, see J. Roth’s sketch of the geology of the Philippines, in appendix to Jagor’sReisen, pp. 333–354.—Eds.↑

3The Bureau of Government Laboratories at Manila published, during 1902–05, a valuable series of bulletins on various topics in botany, ornithology, biology, diseases of man and beast, etc., and another series was published by the Mining Bureau; the former bureau is now replaced by the Bureau of Science.—Eds.↑

4In the environs of Manila, a monument is erected to the memory of …,5a Spanish naturalist of unwearied industry, and it is said, great talents, sent out by government to examinethe Phillippine Islands. After seven years’ incessant labour, he died of a fever, and at his death his manuscripts, which are all written in cyphers, were taken possession of by the government; they are said yet to remain buried in the archives of ‘la Secretaria,’ having never been sent to Europe!↑

5Apparently referring to Antonio Pineda (VOL. L, p. 61); but he died only three years after leaving Spain. In the expedition to which he was attached, he was director of the department of natural sciences; he was accompanied by Louis Née, a Frenchman naturalized in Spain. They visited Uruguay, Patagonia, Chile, Peru, and Nueva España; and in Chile were joined by the Hungarian naturalist, Tadeo Haenke (who, reaching Cádiz after their vessel sailed, was obliged to sail to South America to meet them). From Acapulco they went to Marianas and Filipinas; and journeyed (1791) through Luzón from Sorsogón to Manila. Pineda labored diligently in Luzón, and made large collections; but died at Badoc, in Ilocos, in 1792; his brother Arcadio Pineda, who was first lieutenant of the ship, was charged to put in order the materials collected by Antonio, but many of these were lost on the return journey. Returning to South America, at Callao Haenke and Née parted company; the former again traveled in America, but in the vicissitudes of these journeys much of the material collected by him was lost or spoiled. The residue was classified and described, after his death, by the leading botanists of Europe, and this matter was published in a work entitledReliquiæ Haenkeane, seu descriptiones et icones plantarum quæ in America meridionali et boreali in insulis Philippinis et Marianis collegit Thaddeus Haenke, Philosophiæ Doctor, Phytographus Regis Hispaniæ(Pragæ, 1825–35). Née went from Concepción, Chile, overland to Montevideo, and thence to Spain; and in September, 1794, he reached Cádiz, with a herbarium of 10,000 plants, of which 4,000 were new ones. These were preserved in the Botanical Gardens at Madrid, with more than 300 drawings. See Ramón Jordana y Morera’sBosquejo geográfico é historico-natural del archipiélago filipino(Madrid, 1885), pp. 356–358, 361; and José Gogorza y González’sDatos para la fauna filipina(Madrid, 1888), p. 2.—Eds.↑

6The loftiest peak in Mindoro is Mount Halcón, said to be 8,800 feet in height. The most prominent volcano in the archipelago is Mayón, 7,916 feet high, in Albay, Luzon; in Negros is another volcano, called Canlaón, 8,192 feet high. In Panay the highest peak is Madiaás, 7,264 feet; and in Mindanao is the loftiest peak in the entire archipelago, the almost extinct volcano of Apo, which rises to 10,312 feet. See the chapter on “Mountains and rivers,” inCensus of Philippines, i, pp. 00–73.—Eds.↑

7Le Gentil says (Voyage, ii, p. 29): “This animal [the hog] is so common there that they even use its fat for sauces, ragouts, and fried articles; for butter is not known in Manila, and there is very little use of milk there. The Manilans doubtless find less difficulty (for in that climate people are very fond of repose) in using pork fat in their food than in rearing and keeping cattle and making butter. This sort of food, joined to the heat and the great humidity of that country, occasions serious dysentery in many persons.” He adds (p. 123): “The venereal disease (or ‘French disease,’ as they call it, I know not why), is very common there [in Manila]; but they do not die from it; the great heat and copious perspiration enable people to live at Manila with this malady, they marry without being frightened at it, and the evil passes by inheritance to their children; it is a sort of heritage with which but few European families are not stained.”—Eds.↑

8Le Gentil thus speaks of the placer-mining practiced by the Indians in Luzon (Voyage, ii, p. 32): “It is true that this sort of life shortens the days of these wretched people; as they are perpetually in the water, they swell, and soon die. Besides that, the friars say that it is their experience that the Indians who lead that sort of life have no inclination to follow the Christian life, and that they give much trouble to the ministers of God who instruct them. Despite that, it is to the friars and to the alcaldes that these Indians sell their gold.”—Eds.↑

9In his “Non-Christian Tribes of Northern Luzon,” Worcester calls attention to the various indefinite modes of using the word “tribe,” among ethnological writers, and proposes (p. 803) the following definition as a means of securing clearness and accuracy therein: “A division of a race composed of an aggregate of individuals of a kind and of a common origin, agreeing among themselves in, and distinguished from their congeners by, physical characteristics, dress, and ornaments; the nature of the communities which they form; peculiarities of house architecture; methods of hunting, fishing, and carrying on agriculture; character and importance of manufactures; practices relative to war and the taking of heads of enemies; arms used in warfare; music and dancing, and marriage and burial customs; but not constituting a political unit subject to the control of any single individual nor necessarily speaking the same dialect.” He adds: “Where different dialects prevail among the members of a single tribe it should be subdivided into dialect groups.” He also says (p. 798): “It was the usage of the Spaniards to designate as a tribe each group of people which had a dialect, more or less peculiar, of its own. Furthermore, the custom which is widespread among the hill people of northern Luzon of shouting out the name of a settlement when they desire to call for one or more persons belonging to it, seems in many instances to have led the Spaniards to adopt settlement names as tribal ones, even when there were no differences of dialect between the peoples thus designated.”—Eds.↑

10The fullest and most authoritative account of the Negritos is, of course, the monograph by W. A. Reed,The Negritos of Zambales, published by the Philippine Ethnological Survey. See also Worcester’s account of them in his “Non-Christian Tribes of Northern Luzon,” inPhilippine Journal of Science, October, 1906, pp. 805et seq.—Eds.↑

11See Le Gentil,Voyage aux Indes.↑

12Is not this, or something resembling it, a custom of the natives of Australasia?↑

13See Herrera and Ant. de Solis, Hist. of Mexico.↑

14The negro of the east appears to have amalgamated with some other family. On the south coasts of Australasia, they resemble in many points the people just described. This continues to be the case as far as Cape Capricorn. To the northward of this, as far as Murray’s Islands in Torres Straits, they are a stout, tall, athletic race of men,15and as hairy on the face and body as Europeans, with long hair, andwithoutthe negro cast of countenance. This race may be traced by intervals to Ternate, Gilolo, &c., where they are called Harraforas;16but none are found in the Phillippines (unless the Ylocos have some relationship to them). Is not the native of New Ireland and Queen Charlotte’s Islands too of this race?17The difference between them is most striking. The one are dwarfish negroes, the others almost black Europeans. Both are essentially different from the Malay family, and not only so, but from each other (thenativeof Amboyna, I think, forms the link between them) and this difference is apparently anatomical, in the shape of the skull, facial angles, &c.

We are as yet in the infancy of our knowledge of the origin of these various families of the human race: like that of languages, it will in all probability remain one more of conjecture than of fact; but it is still a subject of deep interest. I have heard from respectable authority, that the language of Cagayan, the most northern province but one of the island of Luzon, the men of which are tail, stout, olive-coloured, almost beardless, and proverbial for their mildness, peaceable behaviour, and fidelity, so much resembles that of the Sandwich islanders, that some of these at Manila found no difficulty in making the Cagayan servants understand them! The province of Ylocos is the next to this to the north, and forms the north coast of the island. The Ylocos are black, short-bearded men, and noted for their insubordination and dissipated character.↑

15The writer of this memoir has, on the coast of New Holland, between Cape Capricorn and Endeavour Straits, had occasion to know this fact. A party of these savages attacked the captain and supercargo of a vessel in which he was an officer, and they were repulsed only by firearms. The account of them given by the supercargo, and indeed by all the party attacked, uniformly agreed in describing them as the finest made and strongest looking men possible. Their bodies were also very hairy.↑

16The term “Haraforas” is applied to the Subanos of Mindanao by Captain Forrest; from hisVoyage, pp. 266, 268, 271, 273, 278–282, we obtain the following interesting and first-hand information about that people:

“The vassals of the Sultan, and of others, who possess great estates, are called Kanakan. Those vassals are sometimes Mahometans, though mostly Haraforas [“who are also called Subanos, or Oran Manubo,” p. 186]. The latter only may be sold with the lands, but cannot be sold off the lands. The Haraforas are more opprest than the former. The Mahometan vassals are bound to accompany their lords, on any sudden expedition; but the Haraforas being in a great measure excused from such attendance, pay yearly certain taxes, which are not expected from the Mahometan vassals. They pay a boiss, or land tax. A Harafora family pays ten battels of paly (rough rice) forty lb. each; three of rice, about sixty lb.; one fowl, one bunch of plantains, thirty roots, called clody, or St. Helena yam, and fifty heads of Indian corn. I give this as one instance of the utmost that is ever paid. Then they must sell fifty battels of paly, equal to two thousand pound weight, for one kangan. So at Dory, or New Guinea, one prong, value half a dollar, or one kangan, given to a Harafora, lays a perpetual tax on him. Those vassals at Magindano have what land they please; and the Mahometans on the sea coast, whether free or kanakan, live mostly by trading with the Haraforas, while their own gardens produce them betel nuts, coco nuts, and greens. They seldom grow any rice, and they discourage as far as they can, the Haraforas from going to Mindano, to sell the produce of their plantations. On the banks of the Pelangy and Tamantakka, the Mahometans grow much rice. The boiss is not always collected in fruits of the earth only. A tax-gatherer, who arrived at Coto Intang, when I was there, gave me the following list of what he had brought from some of Rajah Moodo’s crown lands, being levied on perhaps five hundred families. 2870 battels of paly, of forty lb. each; 490 Spanish dollars; 160 kangans; 6 tayls of gold, equal to 30 l [sterling]; 160 Malons: a cloth made of the plantain tree, three yards long, and one broad. This last mentioned cloth is the usual wear of the country women, made in the form of a Bengal lungy, or Buggess [i.e., Bugis] cloth, being a wide sack without a bottom; and is often used as a currency in the market. The currency in most parts of the country, is the Chinese kangan, coarse cloth, thinly woven, nineteen inches broad, and six yards long; the value at Sooloo is ten dollars for a bundle of twenty-five sealed up; and at Magindano much the same; but at Magindano dollars are scarce. These bundles are called gandangs, rolled up in a cylindrical form. They have also, as a currency, kousongs, a kind of nankeen, dyed black; and kompow, a strong white Chinese linen, made of flax; of which more particularly hereafter. The kangans generally come from Sooloo; so they are got at second hand: for the Spaniards have long hindered Chinese junks, bound from Amoy to Magindano, to pass Samboangan. This is the cause of so little trade at Magindano, no vessels sailing from Indostan thither; and the little trade is confined to a few country Chinese, called Oran Sangly, and a few Soolooans who come hither to buy rice and paly, bringing with them Chinese articles: for the crop of rice at Sooloo can never be depended on. In the bazar, or market, the immediate currency is paly. Ten gantangs of about four pounds each, make a battel; and three battels (a cylindrical measure, thirteen inches and five-tenths high; the same in diameter) about one hundred and twenty pounds of paly, are commonly sold for a kangan. Talking of the value of things here, and at Sooloo, they say, such a house or prow, &c., is worth so many slaves; the old valuation being one slave for thirty kangans. They also specify in their bargains, whether is meant matto (eye) kangan, real kangan, or nominal kangan. The dealing in the nominal, or imaginary kangan, is an ideal barter. When one deals for the real kangans, they must be examined; and the gandangs, or bundles of twenty-five pieces, are not to be trusted, as the dealers will often forge a seal, having first packed up damaged kangans. In this the Chinese here, and at Sooloo, are very expert. The China cash at Magindano, named pousin, have holes as in China. I found them scarce; their price is from one hundred and sixty to one hundred and eighty for a kangan. At Sooloo is coined a cash of base copper, called petis, of which two hundred, down to one hundred and seventy, go for a kangan.”

“On Sooloo are no Haraforas. The Haraforas on Magindano make a strong cloth, not of cotton, but of a kind of flax, very like what the Batta people wear on the coast of Sumatra.” “One day near Tubuan, a Harafora brought down some paddy from the country: I wanted to purchase it; but the head man of the village, a Magindanoer, would not permit him to sell it me. I did not dispute the point; but found afterwards, the poor Harafora had sold about three hundred pounds of paly for a prong, or chopping knife.” “They all seem to be slaves to the Magindano people: for these take what they please, fowls or anything in the house they like best; and if the owners seem angry, threaten to tie them up, and flog them.” “The inhabitants of this country [of the Illanos] have generally their name from the lake [i.e., Lake Lanao] on which they reside. The inlanders dwell chiefly towards the East, where are said to be thirty thousand men, intermixed in many places with the Haraforas, who seem to be the primitives of the island. On the north coast of Magindano, the Spaniards have had great success, in converting to Christianity those Haraforas. Their agreeing in one essential point, the eating of hog’s flesh, may, in a great measure, have paved the way.”

“The Magindano people sell to the Haraforas iron chopping knives, called prongs, cloth, salt, &c., for their rice and other fruits of the earth. For the Haraforas dread going to sea, else they could carry the produce of their lands to a better market. They are much imposed on, and kept under by their Mahometan lords; and are all tributary to the Sultan, or to some Rajah Rajah (noblemen) under him. Their system proves thus the feudal.” “The Haraforas are thinly scattered; and, being all tributary, many together seldom stay long at one place. This cannot be for want of water, pasture, or fertile ground; as with the Tartars on the continent of Asia. On this island, almost every spot is covered either with timber, brushwood, reeds, or grass; and streams are found every where in abundance. Nor can it be to avoid wild beasts; there are none on the island: a good cause why deer, wild horses and other wild cattle are found in so many parts of it. I suspect that the Haraforas are often so opprest that some have wisely got inland, beyond the tax-gatherer’s ken.”

Evidently Forrest and the writer of theRemarkshad in mind two different peoples, to whom they applied the term Haraforas. Crawfurd explains this name (Dictionary Ind. Islands, p. 10) as a corruption ofAlforas; it is “not a native word at all, nor is it the generic name of any people whatsoever. It is a word of the Portuguese language, apparently derived from the Arabic articleal, and the prepositionfora, ‘without.’ The Indian Portuguese applied it to all people beyond their own authority, or who were not subdued by them, and consequently to the wild races of the interior. It would seem to be equivalent to the ‘Indios bravos’ of the Spaniards, as applied to the wild and unconquered tribes of America and the Philippines.”—Eds.↑

17And that groupe to which Quiros, Mendana, or Torres gave the name of “Yslas de Gente Hermosa”? [Still thus named on modern charts; seeVoyages of Quiros(Hakluyt Society’s publications, London, 1904), pp. xxiv, 217, 424, 431.—Eds.↑

18Our author here confuses the Spanish name “Pintados” (literally, “painted,” referring to their tattooed bodies) with the native name, “Bisayas,” both being indifferently applied to the islands south of Luzon.—Eds.↑

19See Sir William Draper’s dispatches at the siege of Manila.↑

20Was it not by this system (the mita) that the mines and plantations of Mexico were wrought? and Mexico,—that Mexico which the Spaniards of Cortes in the 15th century called New Spain,—became nearly a desert?↑

21A higher and purer praise is due to this gentleman than havingwrittenthe work alluded to: it is that heacted on its spirit, and first taught the “red man” to know himself as man, and (a far more arduous undertaking), he taught the white man that his prosperity was essentially connected with that of the native. The country in which the foundations of our power were laid on such a basis, should not have been given away like a ministerial snuff-box.22↑

22Java was conquered by England in 1811, but was restored to Holland five years later. During that time the island was governed by Sir Thomas Stamford Raffles (1781–1826), who published aHistory of Java(London, 1817); he was afterward governor of the English settlements in Sumatra (1818–24), in both these posts ruling with great ability and vigor and an enlightened and liberal mind. Gilbert Elliot, Baron Minto, a noted English statesman, was governor-general of India during 1807–13, and went with Raffles to Java to organize its government.—Eds.↑

23SeeDescripcion Geografica y Topografica de la Ysla de Luzon, Por Don Yldefonso de Arragon, Parte IV. Prov. de la Pampanga, p. 3, 5, &c. The author is a colonel of engineers. [In 1818–20, he was chief of the topographical bureau at Manila.—Eds.]↑

24Ibid.↑

25“Estos (Pueblos) aunque immediatos a las orillas de la mar, estén libres de las invasiones de los Moros; la espesura de las Manglares occulta y hace dificil la entrada, &c.”

“These (towns), though close to the sea shore, are free from the invasions of the Moors (pirates); the thickness of the mangroves conceal and render the entrances difficult.” The writer is speaking of towns, of which none are more than 20 miles from Manila!—Descripcion Geog. y Topograf.↑

26The writer was once obliged to arm all his servants against 16 soldiers with their muskets from a neighboring military post. The two parties remained some minutes with their armslevelledat each other, when a parley was begun, which ended the affair without bloodshed. The origin of the quarrel was a dispute at cockfighting between his servants and the soldiers.↑

27Such are, for example, NuestraSeñorade Antipolo, about 20 miles east of Manila, and the SantoNiño(Holy Child) of Zebû: to both of these it is reckoned almost indispensable to make a pilgrimage: the natives of Luzon to the first, which is about 25 miles from Manila; and those of all the Bisayas or Southern Islands to the other. From Antipolo28alone have been sent in a single year 180,000 dollars as the produce of the masses! And the writer has conversed with pilgrims from the province of Ylocos! In all cases of peril and difficulty, a vow is made to one of these saints, which is seldom left unfulfilled. The crew of a small vessel of men offered 54 dollars for masses at the convent of St. Augustin (I think), on the day of the feast del SantoNiño.↑

28For detailed account of the shrine at Antipolo, its worship, miracles, etc., see Murillo Velarde’sHist. de Philipinas, fol. 210v–229v; and in the engraved frontispiece to that work may be seen a representation of the statue of the Virgin of Antipolo (see ourVOL. XLIV, opposite titlepage).—Eds.↑

29This word is defined by theStandard Dictionary(New York, 1895) as a Scottish slang word meaning “unlawful sexual intercourse.” It is apparently allied to the obsolete Northumbrian word “houghen-moughen,” meaning “greedy, ravenous”—see Wright’sEnglish Dialect Dictionary, iii (London, 1902), p. 247.—Eds.↑

30Nothing has stamped the character of the Manila Indian with greater atrocity in the eyes of Englishmen, than their frequent appeals to assassination (the knife) in cases of supposed or actual wrongs. How long is it since dirks were laid aside, because useless, in Scotland? When men cannot appealimmediatelyto a magistrate, they appeal to themselves. Duels too are another kind of appeals of the same sort.↑

31“At Manila, therefore, a doctor [of law] is a species of phenomenon, and many years pass without one of them being seen; in two universities there is no doctor, while in 1767 there was but one competitor for the doctoral of the cathedral. Yet it must be noted that this competitor was a Mexican, and was not born in Manila. Of what use, therefore, are two universities in this city? Would not a single one be more than enough? One who knows Latin is greatly esteemed in Manila, because that language is not common there, in spite of the two universities which I have just mentioned; what is learned in those institutions is very poor, and is only imperfectly understood. When I arrived there, a great many persons asked me if I knew Latin, and when I answered that I knew a little of it they apparently had after that more respect for me. All the ancient prejudices of the schools seem to have abandoned us of Europe only to take refuge at Manila, where certainly they have long remained, for the ancient doctrine is there in too good hands to give place to sound ideas of physics. Don Feliciano Marqués often honestly confessed to me that in Spain they were a hundred years behind France, in the sciences; and that at Manila they were a hundred years behind Spain. One can judge, by that, of the present state of physics at Manila, in the midst of two universities. In that city electricity is known only by name, and the Holy Office of the Inquisition has prohibited experiments in that line. I knew there a Frenchman, a surgeon by profession, a man of parts and of inquiring mind, who was threatened with the Inquisition for having tried to make such experiments; but I think that what really drew upon him this ill-fortune was the experiment of the “little friar.” [This simple experiment in physics was made with a little figure resembling a friar; it had never before been seen in Manila, and everybody ran to look at it and laugh.] “This experiment of the surgeon, who made his little friar dance, and sometimes sink to the bottom of the vial by way of correcting him, drew upon him the displeasure of the entire body of religious with whom Manila swarms; there was talk of the Holy Office, and it was said that the surgeon’s experiment was a case for the Inquisition. The surgeon, therefore—whose only intention in the experiment was to vex the friars who had prevented him from making his experiments in electricity—was compelled to cease his pleasantry, and Manila had to express its detestation of the pleasure that it had taken in seeing the experiment.” [The author was visited by many people at his observatory, who desired to see the sun and the planets through his telescope;] “the women were even more curious than the men about the rare things which I showed them, and which I took pleasure in explaining to them; but not a single religious came to visit my observatory.” (Le Gentil,Voyage, ii, pp. 96, 97.)—Eds.↑

32SeeEl Yndio Agraciado(The aggrieved Indian), a pamphlet published at Manila in 1821, but suppressed by order of government.33↑

33Pardo de Tavera says of this pamphlet, in hisBiblioteca Filipina, p. 146: “It attacks one Don M. G., a Philippine Spaniard, who was allowed to propose a plan of studies which was not much to the liking of the Filipino Indians. As appears by the title of this pamphlet, there existed in Manila at that time a publication (probably weekly) calledEl noticioso Filipino. [See also Tavera’s account of this sheet, at foot of the same page, which he regards as the first periodical which appeared in Manila]. Doubtless the former was the doing of some friar, who took the name of ‘Indian’ in order to express himself more freely.”—Eds.↑

34This distinction should never be lost sight of. The Indian of Manila, from whom strangers generally form their estimate of this people, is so mixed, that a genuine Indian (Malay) family is scarcely to be met with; they are a mixture of Indian, Chinese, Japanese, Mexican (from the troops), seamen of different nations, and Spaniards besides, “Toutes les Capitales se ressemblent, et çe n’est pas d’eux qu’il faut juger les mœurs d’un peuple quelconque.”35—Rousseau.Let it never be forgotten, too, that while the Indians ofManila, on the 9th of October, 1820, were assassinating every foreigner within their reach, the Indians of the country weresavingthose in their power at the hazard of their lives!↑

35That is, “All capital cities are alike, and it is not by them that the morals of any people should be judged.”—Eds.↑

36The following statements regarding the native character are made by Ramon Reyes Lala (The Philippine Islands, New York, 1899, pp. 80–87), himself a Filipino: “The first thing that in the native character impresses the traveler is his impassive demeanor and imperturbable bearing. He is a born stoic, a fatalist by nature. This accounts for his coolness in moments of danger, and his intrepid bearing against overwhelming odds. This feature of the Malay character has often been displayed in the conflicts of the race with the Europeans in the East Indies. Under competent leadership the native, though strongly averse to discipline, can be made a splendid soldier. As sailors, too, I do not believe they can be equaled.” “As a result of the stoicism of the native character, he never bewails a misfortune, and has no fear of death.” “Europeans often seem to notice in them what they deem a lack of sympathy for the misfortunes of others; but it is not this so much as resignation to the inevitable.” “The educated native, however, impregnated with the bitter philosophy of the civilized world, is by no means so imperturbable. While more keenly alive to the sufferings of others, he is also more sensitive to his own sorrows.” “Incomprehensible inconsistencies obtain in nearly every native. Students of character may, therefore, study the Filipinos for years, and yet, at last, have no definite impression of their mental or moral status. Of course, those living in the cities are less baffling to the physiognomist and the ethnologist; for endemic peculiarities have been so rubbed off or modified that the racial traits are not obvious. But observe the natives, in their primitive abodes, where civilizing forces have not penetrated! You will then be amazed at the extraordinary mingling and clashing of antithetical characteristics in one and the same person; uncertain as to whether the good or the bad may be manifested. Like the wind, the mood comes and goes, and no one can tell why. I myself, with all the inherited feelings, tastes, and tendencies of my countrymen—modified and transmuted [by his education and long residence in Europe and America], happily—have stood aghast or amused at some hitherto unknown characteristic manifesting itself in an intimate acquaintance; and after I had been for years, too, wholly ignorant of his being so possessed or obsessed. And after that, the same mental or moral squint would be displayed at irregular intervals.” “His indolence is the result of generations of tropical ancestors. Besides, deprived by the Spaniards from all active participation in affairs of the Government, and robbed of the fruits of industry, all incentive to advancement and progress was taken away. He therefore yields with composure to the crushing conditions of his environment, preferring the lazy joys of indolence rather than labor for the benefit of his oppressors. Naturally. Recent events, however, show that, given the stimulant of hope, even the ‘indolent natives’ of the Philippines can achieve and nobly dare. Some Spaniards also have asserted that the Filipinos are naturally disloyal and treacherous, and that their word is not to be depended on. Now, the whole world knows that they have every reason to be disloyal to the Spaniard, who has for centuries so cruelly oppressed them. The devotion to the cause of freedom, however, which has recently made Rizal and hundreds of others martyrs to Spanish cruelty, shows that they also have the stuff that heroes are made of, and that they ran be loyal to an animating principle.” “Though calm, the native is not secretive, but often loquacious. He is naturally curious and inquisitive, but always polite, and respectful withal—especially to his superiors. He is passionate, and, in common with all half-civilized races, is cruel to his foes. The quality of mercy, like the sentiment—as distinguished from the passion—of love, is perhaps more the product of the philosophy of civilization than a natural attribute of the human heart.” “All travelers unite in attributing to the natives extreme family affection. They are very fond of their children; who, as a rule, are respectful and well-behaved. The noisy little hoodlums of European and American cities are utterly unknown. The old are tenderly cared for, and venerated; while in almost every well-to-do household are one or two poor relatives who, while mere hangers-on, are nevertheless made welcome to the table of their host. Indeed, the hospitality of the Filipinos is proverbial. A guest is always welcome, and welcome to the best. As a rule, the people are superstitious and very credulous; but how could they be otherwise? For three hundred years they have been denied even the liberty of investigation; when no light, save the dim glimmer of priestcraft pierced the utter darkness of their lot. Those that have been educated, however, have proved apt converts—only too apt, say the priests and the Spaniards—to the conclusions of science and of modern research. The native is rarely humorous, and seldom witty. He is not easily moved to anger, and when angry does not often show it. When he does, like the Malay of Java, he is prone to lose all control of himself, and, with destructive energy, slays all in his path. This is infrequent, however, but is a contingency that may occur at any time. If a native has been unjustly punished, he will never forget it, and will treasure the memory of his wrong until a good opportunity for revenge presents itself. Like all courageous people, he despises cowardice and pusillanimity. He has, therefore, but little regard for the meek and humble Chinaman, who will pocket an insult rather than avenge himself. He greatly esteems the European, who is possessed of the qualities which he admires, and will follow him into the very jaws of death. He is easily awed by a demonstration of superior force, and is ruled best by mild but firm coercion, based upon justice. He is not often ambitious, save socially, and to make some display, being fond of ceremony and of the pomp and glitter of a procession. He is sober, patient, and always clean. This can be said of few peoples. He easily adjusts himself to new conditions, and will soon make the best of their surroundings. As servants they are honest, obedient, and will do as they are told. It must be said that they enjoy litigation more than is good for them or for the best interests of the colony. There must be some psychological reason for this. It doubtless gives some play to the subtlety of the Oriental mind. It is said that he lacks the sense of initiative, and to some extent this may be true. The recent conduct of Aguinaldo—a full-blooded native—proves, notwithstanding, that he is not wholly deficient in aggressiveness nor in organizing power.”

Lala adds (pp. 157, 158): “I have talked with many rude, untutored natives that, frankly, astonished me with the unwitting revelation of latent poetry, love of imagery, and spiritual longings in their nature.”—Eds.↑

37Such is, although in somewhat varying degree, the condition of half-caste classes everywhere. A vivid picture of their condition in India, which may illustrate that of the mestizos in Filipinas, is found in a book entitledThat Eurasian(Chicago, 1905), by “Aleph Bey,” the pseudonym of an American writer who had spent many years in India; he depicts, in terms both vigorous and pathetic, the origin, difficulties, and degraded condition of the Eurasians (or half-castes) there, and the oppression and cruel treatment which they encounter from the dominant white class.—Eds.↑

38“To be born in Spain was enough to secure one marked tokens of respect; but this advantage was not transmitted. The children who first saw the light in that other world no longer bear the name ofchapetons, which honored their fathers; they become simplycreóles.” (Raynal,Etablissemens et commerce des Européens, ii, p. 290.)—Eds.↑

39I am perhaps not quite correct here. [Mas states (Informe, ii, “Administration of Justice,” p. 1), that the limit for civil suits was 100 pesos fuertes.—Eds.]↑

40It will be understood that these sureties have their share in the advantages, that is plunder, which the Alcalde derives from the government. This often amounts to 20, 30, or even 50,000 dollars in three or four years—though at the time of their leaving Manila, they are in debt to a large amount. It is but just to observe, that there aresomefew honorable exceptions.↑

41This is a typographical error; the reference to Comyn work is on p. 13 ofRemarks.—Eds.↑

42Even from Spanish writers: see Zuniga’s History, Morillo [i.e., Murillo Velarde], and others. Le Gentil (who names his informants, men of the first respectability), La Peyrouse, &c. Many public papers of the government bear witness to these abuses.

“El Alcalde de aquiSeñor!(said an old Indian to the writer at Zebú),le quitará los dientes de la boca a S. Md.” “The Alcaldé here, Sir!—He’ll take the teeth out of your worship’s mouth.” This was not too strong an expression.↑

43They are well aware of the extent of their influence, and even at times speak of it. “Si aqui manda su tropa el Rey, se vayan los Indios al monte, pero si yo cerro las puertas de la Iglesia los tengo todos a mis pies en veinte quatro horas.” “If the king sends troops here, the Indians will retire to the mountains and forests. But if I shut the church doors, I shall have them all at my feet in twenty-four hours,” was the remark of an intelligent “frayle” to the writer.↑

44Le Gentil says (Voyage, ii, p. 2): “Every order of religious has, then, taken possession of these provinces, which they have, so to say, shared among themselves. In some sort, they command therein, and they are more kings than the king himself. They have been so shrewd as to learn the dialects of the various peoples among whom they reside, and not to teach the Castilian language to them; thus the religious are absolute masters over the minds of the Indians in these islands.”—Eds.↑

45Those who can see only inquisitors in Catholic bishops will be a little incredulous of one of them checking an attempt to convert a Protestant! This happened to the writer, who found himself one evening seated between an Indian clerigo and the bishop of Zebû, an aged and most worthy prelate. The Indian father, to show his zeal for the faith, attacked me on the subject of religion with the usual arguments of ignorant friars, till I was on the point of quitting the room to avoid answering. “My son,” said the old prelate to the Indian—“we are here to convert the Indians, not to annoy the strangers who may visit us. I will send this gentleman some books, and I doubt not they will duly prepare his mind to see the errors of the Protestant church, and then we may hope for success with him!”↑

46“Yo hé llorado de ansias de ver à un Europeo!” “How often has the desire ofseeingan European made me weep!” was the pathetic remark of a most worthy minister to the writer of these remarks.—This man had been 27 years on one small island!↑

47“Insanity is the fashionable disease [at Manila], and a great many persons are attacked by it; but it prevails more generally among the women and the religious—the latter most of all, and they are very subject to it. The life which they lead contributes greatly to this: to be always shut up, in a climate so hot, eating scanty and poor food, and much given to study; perhaps also there is some grief at finding themselves banished and shut in so far away [from Spain]. All these causes make the brain grow hot, and madness follows. Nearly all the religious who go to the Philippines arrive there while young …. As for the women, their natural infirmity may, at a certain age, conduce to insanity, with which a great many are stricken.” (Le Gentil,Voyage, ii, pp. 130, 131.)—Eds.↑

48They have already conducted them to scenes of the last indecency and even bloodshed. See Martini’s Hist.

The Inquisition has been but little felt in the Philippines of late years. A tribunal existed, but it was merely nominal, and held only “in terrorem.” It was not wanted as a political engine; and as a religious one, there was little use for it amongst a people who will believe any thing and every thing. The Grand Inquisitor, during the last 25 years, is a man universally beloved!—the Padre Coro.↑

49This is, according to Montero y Vidal (Archipiélago filipino, p. 72), the name applied by Linnæus to theCaryota onustaof Blanco, generally calledcabonegroby the Spaniards (seeVOL. XVIII, p. 177); but the list of fiber plants inOfficial Handbook of Philippinesapplies to that tree (p. 332) the nameCaryota urensL. The natives also make various sorts of wine and brandy from the sap of the cocoanut palm (Cocos nucifera); see Delgado’sHistoria general, pp. 645–648, 664.—Eds.↑

50There is an instance (I think in the province of Pampanga) of a negro tribe, who annually pay their tribute—but upon the express condition that no missionaries are to be sent!↑

51“Bulas.” Surely this most absurd of all impositions on the credulity of a people, should be abolished, or at least imposed in a less objectionable manner. The “Bula de Cruzada” (originally a contribution to the wars against the Infidels), for which is granted permission to eat meat and eggs in Lent, or benefits to the souls in purgatory (“Bula de Difuntos”), from the Pope is an article of revenue to the king of Spain. His Most Catholic Majesty farms it to one of his subjects, who rather than lose a rial of his bargain, will sell them to Chinese, Turks, or Hindoos, if they are fools enough to buy them, as the Chinese have been known to do for the souls oftheirancestors!—Quere: What has become of theoriginalintention of these precious documents? of which a modern Spanish author has remarked, “Que es el papel mas caro y mas malo que se vende.” It is the worst and dearest paper that is sold, (Gallardo Dicc. Critico Burlesco). It is, however, an indispensable condition to the performance of many of the offices of religion to have the last published bull. See Manila Almanack.↑

52In 1810, the total of receipts was 1,466,610 dollars.↑

53Such assertions demand some evidence in support of them. A very recent case has occurred, wherein the colonel of a militia regiment (of Chinese descent), having some dispute with a French gentleman, and high words taking place, called up the guard stationed at his door, it is supposed to flog him! The French gentleman having procured some weapon, kept the whole guard at bay, together with theirgallantcolonel. Muskets were levelled at him, and he probably would have been assassinated, but for the interference of some of the family, and his own firmness! Complaint was made of this, but no notice was taken of it, nor was thegallantcolonel’s conduct thought at all incorrect. On the contrary it was very generally applauded!↑

54Large boats undecked, pulling from 20 to 30 oars; they carry a four or six pounder and five or six swivels; they are fine boats and sail fast. The gun-boats carry a long 24 or 32 pounder, and six or eight swivels; and including marines, carry from 80 to 100 men.↑

55For recent information on this subject, see chapter on agriculture (revised by Frank Lamson-Scribner, chief of Bureau of Agriculture), inOfficial Handbook of Philippines, pp. 99–126; andCensus of Philippines, iv, pp. 11–394, with full description of chief products of the islands, methods of cultivation, lists of fruits, vegetables, and fiber plants, and detailed statistics of production, lands, etc., as well as of domestic animals of all kinds.—Eds.↑

56The fish principally caught is one called Dalag (Blennius?)57This fish, common I believe to many parts of India, presents some phenomena well worth the attention of naturalists. In these extensive plains, only a few pools remain in the dry season; and after the rains, such multitudes of them are found, that they are caught with baskets only. They weigh from one to two pounds, and are from one to two feet in length; they are found in the rice fields, when these have been overflowed a few weeks, and strange to relate, in the graves and vaults of churches when in damp situations, but with little or no water near them; this fact is related on respectable authority. The fish, though not delicate, is good, and forms a valuable article of food for the poor.↑

57Montero y Vidal mentions this fish (Archipiélago filipino, p. 107), as belonging to the genusOphicephalus; it is “abundant in the rivers, lakes, and pools.” See alsoOfficial Handbook of Philippines, pp. 151, 152.—Eds.↑

58They, very unaccountably, neglected any steps to procure the martin from Bengal or Cochin China.59This might, however, have arisen from an idea that, as in the Isle of France, the martins might have become as great a nuisance as the locusts; but surely the introduction of some species of hawk would have obviated this.↑

59Montero y Vidal says (Archipiélago filipino, p. 113) that the family ofOrthoptera, “leaf-eaters in their adult stage, are the most fearful scourge for agriculture,” perhaps the worst of these plagues being the locust (Oedipoda manilensis; Spanish,langosta); “the Indians use great nets to catch them, because not only the government pays a bounty for a certain quantity of these destructive insects which the natives may present, but they preserve the insects and use them for food.” He also states (p. 96) that a species of grackle (Gracula) was imported from China (in theHist. de Filipinas, ii, p. 294, he mentions in the same connection martins [pájaros martines]) to exterminate this pest; but does not mention the time or the result of this experiment.—Eds.↑

60SeeVOL. XLVIII, p. 96, note 37.—Eds.↑

61This is the Viverra Musanga.62See Horsfield’s Zoology of Java.↑

62Montero y Vidal states (Archipiélago filipino, pp. 86, 87) that two species of carnivores,Paradoxurus philippinensisandP. musanga, are dreaded by the coffee-planters; these creatures “spend the day in holes dug in the ground, and go out at night to hunt their game.” He mentions, besides these, two species of civets, both of the genusViverra. Delgado says (p. 875) that he has never seen themiró(Paradoxurus) except in the island of Leyte.—Eds.↑

63Eight rials are a Spanish dollar.↑

64The following are the common land measures in use at Manila:

La Brasa de tierra is 8 feet 1.6–10 English, (from a new government measure); 10,000 of these, or a square of 100 each way, is a Quinion.

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