1The limits of our space prevent us from presenting part i of this interesting document in full; but such matter is selected as relates to Manila, Cavite, Cebú, and Zamboanga, as being the most important Spanish settlements in the islands. The list at the end shows the contents of Valdés Tamón’s report in full, and presents an enumeration of all the military posts, with the names bestowed on the forts therein. Part ii, on the ecclesiastical estate, is translated in full (save for preliminary and final remarks, and two letters of minor interest).↑2The city of Manila is located in 14° 35′ 31″ N. latitude, and 120° 58′ 08″ E. longitude (from Greenwich). The following longitudes (reckoned from Greenwich) will enable the reader to compute the differences in maps on which longitude is reckoned from other meridians:Madrid (Observatory), Spain, 3° 41′ 21″ W.; San Fernando (Observatory), Spain, 6° 12′ 24″ W.; Paris (Observatory), France, 2° 20′ 14″ E.; Ferro, the extreme southwest of the Canary Islands (the assumed dividing line between the east and west hemispheres), 17° 20′ W.; Washington, D. C. (Observatory), 77° 2′ 48″ W. (U. S. Philippine Gazetteer, p. 183.)↑3See accompanying plan of Manila, obtained from the Valdés Tamón MS. in Madrid. An interesting “historical sketch of the walls of Manila” is found in theAnnual Reportof the U. S. War Department, 1903, iii, pp. 434–446, which contains numerous illustrations of the walls and gates, some of which show defenses which have since been demolished. A note (by Capt. A. C. Macomb) states that the map of Manila referred to in Valdés Tamón’s report is supposed to be identical with that carried to England by General Draper after the capture of Manila in 1762, which is now in the British Museum in London. Concerning the plates of the map taken to England by Draper (the famous Murillo Velarde map, engraved in 1734), see ourVOL. XLIX, note 25.↑4Possibly guns for firing chain-shots (also called “angel-shots”).↑5Pandayes: a term adapted from the Tagal,pandaybeing the equivalent of the Spanishoficial.↑6Thus in MS., but evidently a clerical error, since the amount of pay is so inadequate for the number of men. The amounts of pay given in these lists, added together, make a total which is over 7,000 pesos short of the total in the next paragraph; it is probable, then, that the pay of these artisans should be at least 7,000 more than the amount stated in the text.↑7Perhaps meaning men who had the care of keeping the barracks in order and repair. The word is not found in the dictionaries.↑8A word evidently coined from the native wordgalagala(seeVOL. XII, p. 34, note), and probably referring to the occupation of gathering the resin which bears that name. It may be added to the note above cited that this resin (also known as “almáciga” and “dammar”) is obtained in the mountains of southern Luzón and Panay, the best coming from Camarines. (Official Handbook of Philippines, p. 296);galagala, then, may be a Bícol word.↑9Cebú is in 10° 18′ N. latitude, and 123° 53′ 05″ E. longitude (U. S. Gazetteer of Philippine Islands, p. 454).↑10In the Ventura del Arco MSS. (Ayer library), iv, pp. 335–408, is the transcript of an interesting document—“Information furnished by Don José Antonio Niño de Villavicencio in regard to the situation of the town of Zamboanga; its original subordination to the royal crown; its fortification, dismantling, and reestablishment; the condition in which it was in 1737; its expenses; and the amounts which it paid toward these.” After a sketch (illustrated by various official documents) of the early history of Zamboanga as a military post, he relates its dismantling, and its reestablishment by Bustamante; this latter is begun on April 5, 1719, under the command of General Gregorio Padilla y Escalante, and its fort is named “Nuestra Señora del Pilar de Zaragoza.” Villavicencio carefully describes the fort, and presents an itemized statement of the expenses of maintaining it—which amount to 20,000 pesos annually, besides a reserve fund of 5,000 pesos which may be drawn upon for extraordinary and urgent expenses. The salary of the governor and military commander is 396 pesos a year. Two Jesuit chaplains are kept there, who receive each 100 pesos annually. There are eighteen other officers (commissioned and non-commissioned), and two hundred privates; also five other officials, including a surgeon. Besides this force of Spaniards is a company of Pampango soldiers—a hundred men and five officers; and a considerable number of men are also employed as rowers, builders, coast-guards, and seamen. Rations amounting to 9,855 cavans of rice are allowed in the budget of expenses; and the sum of 5,000 pesos is allowed yearly for ammunition and military supplies for this post. The rice and other provisions are mainly furnished from the provinces of Iloilo and Panay, on account of their fertility and their nearness to Zamboanga. A considerable part of the expenses of that post is obtained from the contribution made by the inhabitants of the subjugated provinces, each tributario giving annually a ganta of clean rice; this amounts to 109,503 gantas of clean rice—equivalent, at the rate of twenty gantas cleaned to 48 gantas of palay, to 10,950 cavans of the latter—which is estimated to be worth, at the prices paid by the royal officials, 5,356 pesos. Enumeration is made of the numbers of tributes paid in various provinces, as follows: Tondo, 5,606½; Bulacan, 4,963½; Pampanga, 8,067; Pangasinan, 10,896½; Ilocos, 8,665¾; Cagayan, 5,218½; Laguna de Bay, 6,795; Tayabas, 1,612½; Camarines, 7,512; Albay, 3,481; Panay, 6,170½; Yloilo, 10,406½; Island of Negros, 503½; Leite, 8,154¼; Cebu, 4,411½. All these are tributaries of the crown; to these are added the contributions made by “the tributaries and the encomenderos of the encomiendas independent of the royal crown,” which amount to 18,144 gantas. A deduction must be made from these of 1,105¾ gantas, “from those who in the number of the said tributes do not make this contribution, on account of being servants of the churches, and for other reasons;” the result is the total above given. The tributaries of the following provinces are exempted from the contribution: Balayan, Mindoro, Caraga, Mariveles, Calamianes, and Cavite. A further source of revenue for the expenses of Zamboanga is found in the monopoly on the wine of the country; this had formerly belonged to the crown, but had been surrendered at the petition of the city of Manila. Later, the citizens being called upon to make donations for the support of Zamboanga, the city petitioned that this be accomplished by renewing the above crown monopoly of wine. “This new monopoly having begun to be in force from the year 1731, the sum at which this contribution [to Zamboanga] may be estimated must be figured according to the successful bids [remates] at which the privilege has been leased;” it was farmed out—that is, sold at auction to the highest bidder for a term of three to five years. The first of these was Don Esteban Garcia de los Rios, for 1731–33, for the sum of 10,000 pesos a year; the second, Captain Pedro de Ceballos, for 1734–36, 15,500 pesos a year; the third, Captain José Ruiz, for 1737–41, 25,000 pesos a year. The proceeds of this monopoly, then, averaged during eleven years 16,833 pesos a year. This document is dated at Manila, February 4, 1738.In regard to the contributions made by the Indians for the expenses (outside of ecclesiastical) of the Philippine colonies, Torrubia says (Dissertacion, pp. 98–103): “When the post of Samboangan was rebuilt in the year 1755, it was the opinion of the very reverend Father Juan de Bueras, provincial of the Society of Jesus, that the Indians of Pintados, as those most interested in the maintenance of the fort, should aid therein with a half-ganta of rice for each tribute. His opinion was accepted, but with the enlargement of the contribution to two gantas (which make one ganta of cleaned rice), and its extension to all the islands, which amount is paid up to this day. I have understood that this contribution amounts annually, on the average, to two thousand five hundred pesos. During the fifty and more years when Samboangan did not exist, it was paid just as when the fort was there, notwithstanding that the cabildo opposed it; and the Indians paid, without the motive for this imposition still remaining, at the least estimate, more than one hundred and fifty thousand pesos. The Indians are obliged to make other contributions. For the maintenance of the soldiers, they furnish rice to his Majesty at two reals a caban, and usually it is worth more; this is called thecompra, and forty or forty-five thousand cabans (or fanegas) of rice are levied from them incompra, allotting itpro rataaccording to what each Indian sows. For these cabans (or fanegas) no more than two reals are paid, although that amount is worth four reals, or more; and it is to be noted that in the suburbs of Manila the price ordinarily does not go below three reals. The same practice is current in the compras of wheat, although it is true that in this the Indians seldom lose much. Besides this, the Indians do the timber-cutting for the ships, and do not receive more than sixteen reals a month, which they do not have even for their tools (which they carry with them); they are soldiers, they row in the galleys, and they are mariners, artillerists, calkers, and carpenters. And we know very well that in these occupations they serve in the Ribera of Cavite without pay, and likewise in the armadas, three, four, or five years, only to obtain a situation in the ship which goes to Nueva España or Acapulco. Here [i.e., in Madrid], without considering these contributions, all the expenses [of the islands] are summed up for the account of his Majesty.” He goes on to say that from the sum of expenses must also be deducted the voluntary contributions of the citizens; also that these military expenses have been unfairly laid at the door of the Zamboanga fort. The soldiers there and in the forts at Cebú and Iloilo are paid from the situado contributed by the natives themselves; and the fleets which are sent against the Moros, and the coastguard galleys at Zamboanga, are not an expense caused by the fort there; “even if they were, it is a necessary one, under penalty of the Moros eating us alive.”Torrubia ends hisDissertacion, which is a plea for the maintenance of the fort at Zamboanga, with a scheme for the formation of a fund—to be formed by levying a small tax on each of the Christian Sangleys, and on every “tramp,” whether Indian or mestizo—which shall be regarded as anobra pia, and be placed in the management of the Misericordia; its proceeds are to be used for the support of the military posts and fleets which are maintained against the Moros, for the support of missionaries in the Moro provinces, and even for the extension of the gospel still further. This would relieve the natives from the oppressive “Zamboanga donation,” the citizens from the frequent contributions now expected from them by the government, and the royal treasury from the heavy burden of supporting the present list of armadas and forts; and the Moro pirates would be easily held in check, and the interests of both the Spaniards and the Indians protected.↑11Zamboanga is in 6° 53′ N. latitude, and 123° 5′ E. longitude (U. S. Philippine Gazetteer, p. 928).Zamboanga was selected as the site for the fort in Moroland, “because it was the indispensable landing-place for the hostile people; because it deprived the Mindanaos of that port, which was the most important one in their dominion, in which they built their ships, and where they took refuge from an enemy; because it was the most suitable place for our infantry; and because it was the frontier of all the islands of Moroland, where those enemies landed, recruited their forces, and repaired their vessels. It also was the point of vantage for intimidating those kings, and depriving Mindanao of half its power; and for facing (at three leguas distance) Basilan, the people of which are so valiant, and subject to Joló, so that that king also is thus disarmed of half his forces. To this was added the consideration that the post had Christian Indians as neighbors, who, free from the extortions of the Moros, would aid in the conquest [of those lands] and the extension of our power and of our faith, as has been actually done.” (Torrubia, pp. 45, 46.)↑12Fábrica(Latin, Italian, and Spanish; French,fabrique): a technical term in church administrative usage. The ordinary and common meaning is the material building or edifice, which (technically) includes repairs, improvements, changes, etc., as well as the necessary expense for caretakers of it, as watchmen, beadles, sweepers, etc.; these people are paid from the funds of thefábrica—which might be rendered as “building-fund,” except that in ecclesiastical usagefábricausually presupposes that the building it already reared, while the English phrase “building-fund” includes the idea of constructing it. (Yet in Latin, Italian, and Spanish the termfábricais also used to include money for the erection of the church edifice, in cases where it has not yet been built; where it has been completed and paid for,fábricais restricted to the meaning first given above, the “keep” of the building.)Thus usually the term has a material sense only; but sometimes (though not commonly)fábricais taken, as in the present text, in a spiritual sense, and implies the support or maintenance (honoraria) of the churchmen, the ministers attached to the building, as well as the maintenance of divine worship, as required by ritual.Fábricathen refers to affairs of the soul or spirit, the spiritual upbuilding or edifice of the faithful. By extension, the same term is sometimes used to mean the board of churchwardens who administer the property. In the Philippines the church property (save that belonging to the religious corporations) was in the hands of the bishop as sole trustee and administrator, a power which he might delegate to his provisor or vicar. The distribution of the fund mentioned in the text is unusual.—Rev. T. C. Middleton, O.S.A.↑13To this should be added 4 tomins, omitted in the table for lack of room; the same addition should therefore be made to the total of the cash column.↑14This name, also Pineda in the next item, and Manzano in the last one, is abbreviated in the original; and the forms given above are necessarily conjectural.↑15In the MS. “Tondo” was written here, but afterward crossed out.↑16To this sum should be added 4 granos, omitted from the amount of cash stated for Mindoro, for lack of room.↑17He was royal secretary in the Council of the Indias. In this letter (dated September 20, 1735) he states that the king desires information about the islands, and their fortresses and fortifications, because the recent fire in the palace at Madrid had destroyed many papers; he asks for plans of fortifications, and reports of troops, munitions, and artillery, and that they be sent as speedily as possible.↑18Evidently, from the context, referring to Cagayán de Misamis, in Mindanao.↑19At the time a royal secretary; his letter is dated at Madrid, August 30, 1739, and asks for the report on the ecclesiastical estate in the islands which is herewith presented.↑
1The limits of our space prevent us from presenting part i of this interesting document in full; but such matter is selected as relates to Manila, Cavite, Cebú, and Zamboanga, as being the most important Spanish settlements in the islands. The list at the end shows the contents of Valdés Tamón’s report in full, and presents an enumeration of all the military posts, with the names bestowed on the forts therein. Part ii, on the ecclesiastical estate, is translated in full (save for preliminary and final remarks, and two letters of minor interest).↑2The city of Manila is located in 14° 35′ 31″ N. latitude, and 120° 58′ 08″ E. longitude (from Greenwich). The following longitudes (reckoned from Greenwich) will enable the reader to compute the differences in maps on which longitude is reckoned from other meridians:Madrid (Observatory), Spain, 3° 41′ 21″ W.; San Fernando (Observatory), Spain, 6° 12′ 24″ W.; Paris (Observatory), France, 2° 20′ 14″ E.; Ferro, the extreme southwest of the Canary Islands (the assumed dividing line between the east and west hemispheres), 17° 20′ W.; Washington, D. C. (Observatory), 77° 2′ 48″ W. (U. S. Philippine Gazetteer, p. 183.)↑3See accompanying plan of Manila, obtained from the Valdés Tamón MS. in Madrid. An interesting “historical sketch of the walls of Manila” is found in theAnnual Reportof the U. S. War Department, 1903, iii, pp. 434–446, which contains numerous illustrations of the walls and gates, some of which show defenses which have since been demolished. A note (by Capt. A. C. Macomb) states that the map of Manila referred to in Valdés Tamón’s report is supposed to be identical with that carried to England by General Draper after the capture of Manila in 1762, which is now in the British Museum in London. Concerning the plates of the map taken to England by Draper (the famous Murillo Velarde map, engraved in 1734), see ourVOL. XLIX, note 25.↑4Possibly guns for firing chain-shots (also called “angel-shots”).↑5Pandayes: a term adapted from the Tagal,pandaybeing the equivalent of the Spanishoficial.↑6Thus in MS., but evidently a clerical error, since the amount of pay is so inadequate for the number of men. The amounts of pay given in these lists, added together, make a total which is over 7,000 pesos short of the total in the next paragraph; it is probable, then, that the pay of these artisans should be at least 7,000 more than the amount stated in the text.↑7Perhaps meaning men who had the care of keeping the barracks in order and repair. The word is not found in the dictionaries.↑8A word evidently coined from the native wordgalagala(seeVOL. XII, p. 34, note), and probably referring to the occupation of gathering the resin which bears that name. It may be added to the note above cited that this resin (also known as “almáciga” and “dammar”) is obtained in the mountains of southern Luzón and Panay, the best coming from Camarines. (Official Handbook of Philippines, p. 296);galagala, then, may be a Bícol word.↑9Cebú is in 10° 18′ N. latitude, and 123° 53′ 05″ E. longitude (U. S. Gazetteer of Philippine Islands, p. 454).↑10In the Ventura del Arco MSS. (Ayer library), iv, pp. 335–408, is the transcript of an interesting document—“Information furnished by Don José Antonio Niño de Villavicencio in regard to the situation of the town of Zamboanga; its original subordination to the royal crown; its fortification, dismantling, and reestablishment; the condition in which it was in 1737; its expenses; and the amounts which it paid toward these.” After a sketch (illustrated by various official documents) of the early history of Zamboanga as a military post, he relates its dismantling, and its reestablishment by Bustamante; this latter is begun on April 5, 1719, under the command of General Gregorio Padilla y Escalante, and its fort is named “Nuestra Señora del Pilar de Zaragoza.” Villavicencio carefully describes the fort, and presents an itemized statement of the expenses of maintaining it—which amount to 20,000 pesos annually, besides a reserve fund of 5,000 pesos which may be drawn upon for extraordinary and urgent expenses. The salary of the governor and military commander is 396 pesos a year. Two Jesuit chaplains are kept there, who receive each 100 pesos annually. There are eighteen other officers (commissioned and non-commissioned), and two hundred privates; also five other officials, including a surgeon. Besides this force of Spaniards is a company of Pampango soldiers—a hundred men and five officers; and a considerable number of men are also employed as rowers, builders, coast-guards, and seamen. Rations amounting to 9,855 cavans of rice are allowed in the budget of expenses; and the sum of 5,000 pesos is allowed yearly for ammunition and military supplies for this post. The rice and other provisions are mainly furnished from the provinces of Iloilo and Panay, on account of their fertility and their nearness to Zamboanga. A considerable part of the expenses of that post is obtained from the contribution made by the inhabitants of the subjugated provinces, each tributario giving annually a ganta of clean rice; this amounts to 109,503 gantas of clean rice—equivalent, at the rate of twenty gantas cleaned to 48 gantas of palay, to 10,950 cavans of the latter—which is estimated to be worth, at the prices paid by the royal officials, 5,356 pesos. Enumeration is made of the numbers of tributes paid in various provinces, as follows: Tondo, 5,606½; Bulacan, 4,963½; Pampanga, 8,067; Pangasinan, 10,896½; Ilocos, 8,665¾; Cagayan, 5,218½; Laguna de Bay, 6,795; Tayabas, 1,612½; Camarines, 7,512; Albay, 3,481; Panay, 6,170½; Yloilo, 10,406½; Island of Negros, 503½; Leite, 8,154¼; Cebu, 4,411½. All these are tributaries of the crown; to these are added the contributions made by “the tributaries and the encomenderos of the encomiendas independent of the royal crown,” which amount to 18,144 gantas. A deduction must be made from these of 1,105¾ gantas, “from those who in the number of the said tributes do not make this contribution, on account of being servants of the churches, and for other reasons;” the result is the total above given. The tributaries of the following provinces are exempted from the contribution: Balayan, Mindoro, Caraga, Mariveles, Calamianes, and Cavite. A further source of revenue for the expenses of Zamboanga is found in the monopoly on the wine of the country; this had formerly belonged to the crown, but had been surrendered at the petition of the city of Manila. Later, the citizens being called upon to make donations for the support of Zamboanga, the city petitioned that this be accomplished by renewing the above crown monopoly of wine. “This new monopoly having begun to be in force from the year 1731, the sum at which this contribution [to Zamboanga] may be estimated must be figured according to the successful bids [remates] at which the privilege has been leased;” it was farmed out—that is, sold at auction to the highest bidder for a term of three to five years. The first of these was Don Esteban Garcia de los Rios, for 1731–33, for the sum of 10,000 pesos a year; the second, Captain Pedro de Ceballos, for 1734–36, 15,500 pesos a year; the third, Captain José Ruiz, for 1737–41, 25,000 pesos a year. The proceeds of this monopoly, then, averaged during eleven years 16,833 pesos a year. This document is dated at Manila, February 4, 1738.In regard to the contributions made by the Indians for the expenses (outside of ecclesiastical) of the Philippine colonies, Torrubia says (Dissertacion, pp. 98–103): “When the post of Samboangan was rebuilt in the year 1755, it was the opinion of the very reverend Father Juan de Bueras, provincial of the Society of Jesus, that the Indians of Pintados, as those most interested in the maintenance of the fort, should aid therein with a half-ganta of rice for each tribute. His opinion was accepted, but with the enlargement of the contribution to two gantas (which make one ganta of cleaned rice), and its extension to all the islands, which amount is paid up to this day. I have understood that this contribution amounts annually, on the average, to two thousand five hundred pesos. During the fifty and more years when Samboangan did not exist, it was paid just as when the fort was there, notwithstanding that the cabildo opposed it; and the Indians paid, without the motive for this imposition still remaining, at the least estimate, more than one hundred and fifty thousand pesos. The Indians are obliged to make other contributions. For the maintenance of the soldiers, they furnish rice to his Majesty at two reals a caban, and usually it is worth more; this is called thecompra, and forty or forty-five thousand cabans (or fanegas) of rice are levied from them incompra, allotting itpro rataaccording to what each Indian sows. For these cabans (or fanegas) no more than two reals are paid, although that amount is worth four reals, or more; and it is to be noted that in the suburbs of Manila the price ordinarily does not go below three reals. The same practice is current in the compras of wheat, although it is true that in this the Indians seldom lose much. Besides this, the Indians do the timber-cutting for the ships, and do not receive more than sixteen reals a month, which they do not have even for their tools (which they carry with them); they are soldiers, they row in the galleys, and they are mariners, artillerists, calkers, and carpenters. And we know very well that in these occupations they serve in the Ribera of Cavite without pay, and likewise in the armadas, three, four, or five years, only to obtain a situation in the ship which goes to Nueva España or Acapulco. Here [i.e., in Madrid], without considering these contributions, all the expenses [of the islands] are summed up for the account of his Majesty.” He goes on to say that from the sum of expenses must also be deducted the voluntary contributions of the citizens; also that these military expenses have been unfairly laid at the door of the Zamboanga fort. The soldiers there and in the forts at Cebú and Iloilo are paid from the situado contributed by the natives themselves; and the fleets which are sent against the Moros, and the coastguard galleys at Zamboanga, are not an expense caused by the fort there; “even if they were, it is a necessary one, under penalty of the Moros eating us alive.”Torrubia ends hisDissertacion, which is a plea for the maintenance of the fort at Zamboanga, with a scheme for the formation of a fund—to be formed by levying a small tax on each of the Christian Sangleys, and on every “tramp,” whether Indian or mestizo—which shall be regarded as anobra pia, and be placed in the management of the Misericordia; its proceeds are to be used for the support of the military posts and fleets which are maintained against the Moros, for the support of missionaries in the Moro provinces, and even for the extension of the gospel still further. This would relieve the natives from the oppressive “Zamboanga donation,” the citizens from the frequent contributions now expected from them by the government, and the royal treasury from the heavy burden of supporting the present list of armadas and forts; and the Moro pirates would be easily held in check, and the interests of both the Spaniards and the Indians protected.↑11Zamboanga is in 6° 53′ N. latitude, and 123° 5′ E. longitude (U. S. Philippine Gazetteer, p. 928).Zamboanga was selected as the site for the fort in Moroland, “because it was the indispensable landing-place for the hostile people; because it deprived the Mindanaos of that port, which was the most important one in their dominion, in which they built their ships, and where they took refuge from an enemy; because it was the most suitable place for our infantry; and because it was the frontier of all the islands of Moroland, where those enemies landed, recruited their forces, and repaired their vessels. It also was the point of vantage for intimidating those kings, and depriving Mindanao of half its power; and for facing (at three leguas distance) Basilan, the people of which are so valiant, and subject to Joló, so that that king also is thus disarmed of half his forces. To this was added the consideration that the post had Christian Indians as neighbors, who, free from the extortions of the Moros, would aid in the conquest [of those lands] and the extension of our power and of our faith, as has been actually done.” (Torrubia, pp. 45, 46.)↑12Fábrica(Latin, Italian, and Spanish; French,fabrique): a technical term in church administrative usage. The ordinary and common meaning is the material building or edifice, which (technically) includes repairs, improvements, changes, etc., as well as the necessary expense for caretakers of it, as watchmen, beadles, sweepers, etc.; these people are paid from the funds of thefábrica—which might be rendered as “building-fund,” except that in ecclesiastical usagefábricausually presupposes that the building it already reared, while the English phrase “building-fund” includes the idea of constructing it. (Yet in Latin, Italian, and Spanish the termfábricais also used to include money for the erection of the church edifice, in cases where it has not yet been built; where it has been completed and paid for,fábricais restricted to the meaning first given above, the “keep” of the building.)Thus usually the term has a material sense only; but sometimes (though not commonly)fábricais taken, as in the present text, in a spiritual sense, and implies the support or maintenance (honoraria) of the churchmen, the ministers attached to the building, as well as the maintenance of divine worship, as required by ritual.Fábricathen refers to affairs of the soul or spirit, the spiritual upbuilding or edifice of the faithful. By extension, the same term is sometimes used to mean the board of churchwardens who administer the property. In the Philippines the church property (save that belonging to the religious corporations) was in the hands of the bishop as sole trustee and administrator, a power which he might delegate to his provisor or vicar. The distribution of the fund mentioned in the text is unusual.—Rev. T. C. Middleton, O.S.A.↑13To this should be added 4 tomins, omitted in the table for lack of room; the same addition should therefore be made to the total of the cash column.↑14This name, also Pineda in the next item, and Manzano in the last one, is abbreviated in the original; and the forms given above are necessarily conjectural.↑15In the MS. “Tondo” was written here, but afterward crossed out.↑16To this sum should be added 4 granos, omitted from the amount of cash stated for Mindoro, for lack of room.↑17He was royal secretary in the Council of the Indias. In this letter (dated September 20, 1735) he states that the king desires information about the islands, and their fortresses and fortifications, because the recent fire in the palace at Madrid had destroyed many papers; he asks for plans of fortifications, and reports of troops, munitions, and artillery, and that they be sent as speedily as possible.↑18Evidently, from the context, referring to Cagayán de Misamis, in Mindanao.↑19At the time a royal secretary; his letter is dated at Madrid, August 30, 1739, and asks for the report on the ecclesiastical estate in the islands which is herewith presented.↑
1The limits of our space prevent us from presenting part i of this interesting document in full; but such matter is selected as relates to Manila, Cavite, Cebú, and Zamboanga, as being the most important Spanish settlements in the islands. The list at the end shows the contents of Valdés Tamón’s report in full, and presents an enumeration of all the military posts, with the names bestowed on the forts therein. Part ii, on the ecclesiastical estate, is translated in full (save for preliminary and final remarks, and two letters of minor interest).↑2The city of Manila is located in 14° 35′ 31″ N. latitude, and 120° 58′ 08″ E. longitude (from Greenwich). The following longitudes (reckoned from Greenwich) will enable the reader to compute the differences in maps on which longitude is reckoned from other meridians:Madrid (Observatory), Spain, 3° 41′ 21″ W.; San Fernando (Observatory), Spain, 6° 12′ 24″ W.; Paris (Observatory), France, 2° 20′ 14″ E.; Ferro, the extreme southwest of the Canary Islands (the assumed dividing line between the east and west hemispheres), 17° 20′ W.; Washington, D. C. (Observatory), 77° 2′ 48″ W. (U. S. Philippine Gazetteer, p. 183.)↑3See accompanying plan of Manila, obtained from the Valdés Tamón MS. in Madrid. An interesting “historical sketch of the walls of Manila” is found in theAnnual Reportof the U. S. War Department, 1903, iii, pp. 434–446, which contains numerous illustrations of the walls and gates, some of which show defenses which have since been demolished. A note (by Capt. A. C. Macomb) states that the map of Manila referred to in Valdés Tamón’s report is supposed to be identical with that carried to England by General Draper after the capture of Manila in 1762, which is now in the British Museum in London. Concerning the plates of the map taken to England by Draper (the famous Murillo Velarde map, engraved in 1734), see ourVOL. XLIX, note 25.↑4Possibly guns for firing chain-shots (also called “angel-shots”).↑5Pandayes: a term adapted from the Tagal,pandaybeing the equivalent of the Spanishoficial.↑6Thus in MS., but evidently a clerical error, since the amount of pay is so inadequate for the number of men. The amounts of pay given in these lists, added together, make a total which is over 7,000 pesos short of the total in the next paragraph; it is probable, then, that the pay of these artisans should be at least 7,000 more than the amount stated in the text.↑7Perhaps meaning men who had the care of keeping the barracks in order and repair. The word is not found in the dictionaries.↑8A word evidently coined from the native wordgalagala(seeVOL. XII, p. 34, note), and probably referring to the occupation of gathering the resin which bears that name. It may be added to the note above cited that this resin (also known as “almáciga” and “dammar”) is obtained in the mountains of southern Luzón and Panay, the best coming from Camarines. (Official Handbook of Philippines, p. 296);galagala, then, may be a Bícol word.↑9Cebú is in 10° 18′ N. latitude, and 123° 53′ 05″ E. longitude (U. S. Gazetteer of Philippine Islands, p. 454).↑10In the Ventura del Arco MSS. (Ayer library), iv, pp. 335–408, is the transcript of an interesting document—“Information furnished by Don José Antonio Niño de Villavicencio in regard to the situation of the town of Zamboanga; its original subordination to the royal crown; its fortification, dismantling, and reestablishment; the condition in which it was in 1737; its expenses; and the amounts which it paid toward these.” After a sketch (illustrated by various official documents) of the early history of Zamboanga as a military post, he relates its dismantling, and its reestablishment by Bustamante; this latter is begun on April 5, 1719, under the command of General Gregorio Padilla y Escalante, and its fort is named “Nuestra Señora del Pilar de Zaragoza.” Villavicencio carefully describes the fort, and presents an itemized statement of the expenses of maintaining it—which amount to 20,000 pesos annually, besides a reserve fund of 5,000 pesos which may be drawn upon for extraordinary and urgent expenses. The salary of the governor and military commander is 396 pesos a year. Two Jesuit chaplains are kept there, who receive each 100 pesos annually. There are eighteen other officers (commissioned and non-commissioned), and two hundred privates; also five other officials, including a surgeon. Besides this force of Spaniards is a company of Pampango soldiers—a hundred men and five officers; and a considerable number of men are also employed as rowers, builders, coast-guards, and seamen. Rations amounting to 9,855 cavans of rice are allowed in the budget of expenses; and the sum of 5,000 pesos is allowed yearly for ammunition and military supplies for this post. The rice and other provisions are mainly furnished from the provinces of Iloilo and Panay, on account of their fertility and their nearness to Zamboanga. A considerable part of the expenses of that post is obtained from the contribution made by the inhabitants of the subjugated provinces, each tributario giving annually a ganta of clean rice; this amounts to 109,503 gantas of clean rice—equivalent, at the rate of twenty gantas cleaned to 48 gantas of palay, to 10,950 cavans of the latter—which is estimated to be worth, at the prices paid by the royal officials, 5,356 pesos. Enumeration is made of the numbers of tributes paid in various provinces, as follows: Tondo, 5,606½; Bulacan, 4,963½; Pampanga, 8,067; Pangasinan, 10,896½; Ilocos, 8,665¾; Cagayan, 5,218½; Laguna de Bay, 6,795; Tayabas, 1,612½; Camarines, 7,512; Albay, 3,481; Panay, 6,170½; Yloilo, 10,406½; Island of Negros, 503½; Leite, 8,154¼; Cebu, 4,411½. All these are tributaries of the crown; to these are added the contributions made by “the tributaries and the encomenderos of the encomiendas independent of the royal crown,” which amount to 18,144 gantas. A deduction must be made from these of 1,105¾ gantas, “from those who in the number of the said tributes do not make this contribution, on account of being servants of the churches, and for other reasons;” the result is the total above given. The tributaries of the following provinces are exempted from the contribution: Balayan, Mindoro, Caraga, Mariveles, Calamianes, and Cavite. A further source of revenue for the expenses of Zamboanga is found in the monopoly on the wine of the country; this had formerly belonged to the crown, but had been surrendered at the petition of the city of Manila. Later, the citizens being called upon to make donations for the support of Zamboanga, the city petitioned that this be accomplished by renewing the above crown monopoly of wine. “This new monopoly having begun to be in force from the year 1731, the sum at which this contribution [to Zamboanga] may be estimated must be figured according to the successful bids [remates] at which the privilege has been leased;” it was farmed out—that is, sold at auction to the highest bidder for a term of three to five years. The first of these was Don Esteban Garcia de los Rios, for 1731–33, for the sum of 10,000 pesos a year; the second, Captain Pedro de Ceballos, for 1734–36, 15,500 pesos a year; the third, Captain José Ruiz, for 1737–41, 25,000 pesos a year. The proceeds of this monopoly, then, averaged during eleven years 16,833 pesos a year. This document is dated at Manila, February 4, 1738.In regard to the contributions made by the Indians for the expenses (outside of ecclesiastical) of the Philippine colonies, Torrubia says (Dissertacion, pp. 98–103): “When the post of Samboangan was rebuilt in the year 1755, it was the opinion of the very reverend Father Juan de Bueras, provincial of the Society of Jesus, that the Indians of Pintados, as those most interested in the maintenance of the fort, should aid therein with a half-ganta of rice for each tribute. His opinion was accepted, but with the enlargement of the contribution to two gantas (which make one ganta of cleaned rice), and its extension to all the islands, which amount is paid up to this day. I have understood that this contribution amounts annually, on the average, to two thousand five hundred pesos. During the fifty and more years when Samboangan did not exist, it was paid just as when the fort was there, notwithstanding that the cabildo opposed it; and the Indians paid, without the motive for this imposition still remaining, at the least estimate, more than one hundred and fifty thousand pesos. The Indians are obliged to make other contributions. For the maintenance of the soldiers, they furnish rice to his Majesty at two reals a caban, and usually it is worth more; this is called thecompra, and forty or forty-five thousand cabans (or fanegas) of rice are levied from them incompra, allotting itpro rataaccording to what each Indian sows. For these cabans (or fanegas) no more than two reals are paid, although that amount is worth four reals, or more; and it is to be noted that in the suburbs of Manila the price ordinarily does not go below three reals. The same practice is current in the compras of wheat, although it is true that in this the Indians seldom lose much. Besides this, the Indians do the timber-cutting for the ships, and do not receive more than sixteen reals a month, which they do not have even for their tools (which they carry with them); they are soldiers, they row in the galleys, and they are mariners, artillerists, calkers, and carpenters. And we know very well that in these occupations they serve in the Ribera of Cavite without pay, and likewise in the armadas, three, four, or five years, only to obtain a situation in the ship which goes to Nueva España or Acapulco. Here [i.e., in Madrid], without considering these contributions, all the expenses [of the islands] are summed up for the account of his Majesty.” He goes on to say that from the sum of expenses must also be deducted the voluntary contributions of the citizens; also that these military expenses have been unfairly laid at the door of the Zamboanga fort. The soldiers there and in the forts at Cebú and Iloilo are paid from the situado contributed by the natives themselves; and the fleets which are sent against the Moros, and the coastguard galleys at Zamboanga, are not an expense caused by the fort there; “even if they were, it is a necessary one, under penalty of the Moros eating us alive.”Torrubia ends hisDissertacion, which is a plea for the maintenance of the fort at Zamboanga, with a scheme for the formation of a fund—to be formed by levying a small tax on each of the Christian Sangleys, and on every “tramp,” whether Indian or mestizo—which shall be regarded as anobra pia, and be placed in the management of the Misericordia; its proceeds are to be used for the support of the military posts and fleets which are maintained against the Moros, for the support of missionaries in the Moro provinces, and even for the extension of the gospel still further. This would relieve the natives from the oppressive “Zamboanga donation,” the citizens from the frequent contributions now expected from them by the government, and the royal treasury from the heavy burden of supporting the present list of armadas and forts; and the Moro pirates would be easily held in check, and the interests of both the Spaniards and the Indians protected.↑11Zamboanga is in 6° 53′ N. latitude, and 123° 5′ E. longitude (U. S. Philippine Gazetteer, p. 928).Zamboanga was selected as the site for the fort in Moroland, “because it was the indispensable landing-place for the hostile people; because it deprived the Mindanaos of that port, which was the most important one in their dominion, in which they built their ships, and where they took refuge from an enemy; because it was the most suitable place for our infantry; and because it was the frontier of all the islands of Moroland, where those enemies landed, recruited their forces, and repaired their vessels. It also was the point of vantage for intimidating those kings, and depriving Mindanao of half its power; and for facing (at three leguas distance) Basilan, the people of which are so valiant, and subject to Joló, so that that king also is thus disarmed of half his forces. To this was added the consideration that the post had Christian Indians as neighbors, who, free from the extortions of the Moros, would aid in the conquest [of those lands] and the extension of our power and of our faith, as has been actually done.” (Torrubia, pp. 45, 46.)↑12Fábrica(Latin, Italian, and Spanish; French,fabrique): a technical term in church administrative usage. The ordinary and common meaning is the material building or edifice, which (technically) includes repairs, improvements, changes, etc., as well as the necessary expense for caretakers of it, as watchmen, beadles, sweepers, etc.; these people are paid from the funds of thefábrica—which might be rendered as “building-fund,” except that in ecclesiastical usagefábricausually presupposes that the building it already reared, while the English phrase “building-fund” includes the idea of constructing it. (Yet in Latin, Italian, and Spanish the termfábricais also used to include money for the erection of the church edifice, in cases where it has not yet been built; where it has been completed and paid for,fábricais restricted to the meaning first given above, the “keep” of the building.)Thus usually the term has a material sense only; but sometimes (though not commonly)fábricais taken, as in the present text, in a spiritual sense, and implies the support or maintenance (honoraria) of the churchmen, the ministers attached to the building, as well as the maintenance of divine worship, as required by ritual.Fábricathen refers to affairs of the soul or spirit, the spiritual upbuilding or edifice of the faithful. By extension, the same term is sometimes used to mean the board of churchwardens who administer the property. In the Philippines the church property (save that belonging to the religious corporations) was in the hands of the bishop as sole trustee and administrator, a power which he might delegate to his provisor or vicar. The distribution of the fund mentioned in the text is unusual.—Rev. T. C. Middleton, O.S.A.↑13To this should be added 4 tomins, omitted in the table for lack of room; the same addition should therefore be made to the total of the cash column.↑14This name, also Pineda in the next item, and Manzano in the last one, is abbreviated in the original; and the forms given above are necessarily conjectural.↑15In the MS. “Tondo” was written here, but afterward crossed out.↑16To this sum should be added 4 granos, omitted from the amount of cash stated for Mindoro, for lack of room.↑17He was royal secretary in the Council of the Indias. In this letter (dated September 20, 1735) he states that the king desires information about the islands, and their fortresses and fortifications, because the recent fire in the palace at Madrid had destroyed many papers; he asks for plans of fortifications, and reports of troops, munitions, and artillery, and that they be sent as speedily as possible.↑18Evidently, from the context, referring to Cagayán de Misamis, in Mindanao.↑19At the time a royal secretary; his letter is dated at Madrid, August 30, 1739, and asks for the report on the ecclesiastical estate in the islands which is herewith presented.↑
1The limits of our space prevent us from presenting part i of this interesting document in full; but such matter is selected as relates to Manila, Cavite, Cebú, and Zamboanga, as being the most important Spanish settlements in the islands. The list at the end shows the contents of Valdés Tamón’s report in full, and presents an enumeration of all the military posts, with the names bestowed on the forts therein. Part ii, on the ecclesiastical estate, is translated in full (save for preliminary and final remarks, and two letters of minor interest).↑2The city of Manila is located in 14° 35′ 31″ N. latitude, and 120° 58′ 08″ E. longitude (from Greenwich). The following longitudes (reckoned from Greenwich) will enable the reader to compute the differences in maps on which longitude is reckoned from other meridians:Madrid (Observatory), Spain, 3° 41′ 21″ W.; San Fernando (Observatory), Spain, 6° 12′ 24″ W.; Paris (Observatory), France, 2° 20′ 14″ E.; Ferro, the extreme southwest of the Canary Islands (the assumed dividing line between the east and west hemispheres), 17° 20′ W.; Washington, D. C. (Observatory), 77° 2′ 48″ W. (U. S. Philippine Gazetteer, p. 183.)↑3See accompanying plan of Manila, obtained from the Valdés Tamón MS. in Madrid. An interesting “historical sketch of the walls of Manila” is found in theAnnual Reportof the U. S. War Department, 1903, iii, pp. 434–446, which contains numerous illustrations of the walls and gates, some of which show defenses which have since been demolished. A note (by Capt. A. C. Macomb) states that the map of Manila referred to in Valdés Tamón’s report is supposed to be identical with that carried to England by General Draper after the capture of Manila in 1762, which is now in the British Museum in London. Concerning the plates of the map taken to England by Draper (the famous Murillo Velarde map, engraved in 1734), see ourVOL. XLIX, note 25.↑4Possibly guns for firing chain-shots (also called “angel-shots”).↑5Pandayes: a term adapted from the Tagal,pandaybeing the equivalent of the Spanishoficial.↑6Thus in MS., but evidently a clerical error, since the amount of pay is so inadequate for the number of men. The amounts of pay given in these lists, added together, make a total which is over 7,000 pesos short of the total in the next paragraph; it is probable, then, that the pay of these artisans should be at least 7,000 more than the amount stated in the text.↑7Perhaps meaning men who had the care of keeping the barracks in order and repair. The word is not found in the dictionaries.↑8A word evidently coined from the native wordgalagala(seeVOL. XII, p. 34, note), and probably referring to the occupation of gathering the resin which bears that name. It may be added to the note above cited that this resin (also known as “almáciga” and “dammar”) is obtained in the mountains of southern Luzón and Panay, the best coming from Camarines. (Official Handbook of Philippines, p. 296);galagala, then, may be a Bícol word.↑9Cebú is in 10° 18′ N. latitude, and 123° 53′ 05″ E. longitude (U. S. Gazetteer of Philippine Islands, p. 454).↑10In the Ventura del Arco MSS. (Ayer library), iv, pp. 335–408, is the transcript of an interesting document—“Information furnished by Don José Antonio Niño de Villavicencio in regard to the situation of the town of Zamboanga; its original subordination to the royal crown; its fortification, dismantling, and reestablishment; the condition in which it was in 1737; its expenses; and the amounts which it paid toward these.” After a sketch (illustrated by various official documents) of the early history of Zamboanga as a military post, he relates its dismantling, and its reestablishment by Bustamante; this latter is begun on April 5, 1719, under the command of General Gregorio Padilla y Escalante, and its fort is named “Nuestra Señora del Pilar de Zaragoza.” Villavicencio carefully describes the fort, and presents an itemized statement of the expenses of maintaining it—which amount to 20,000 pesos annually, besides a reserve fund of 5,000 pesos which may be drawn upon for extraordinary and urgent expenses. The salary of the governor and military commander is 396 pesos a year. Two Jesuit chaplains are kept there, who receive each 100 pesos annually. There are eighteen other officers (commissioned and non-commissioned), and two hundred privates; also five other officials, including a surgeon. Besides this force of Spaniards is a company of Pampango soldiers—a hundred men and five officers; and a considerable number of men are also employed as rowers, builders, coast-guards, and seamen. Rations amounting to 9,855 cavans of rice are allowed in the budget of expenses; and the sum of 5,000 pesos is allowed yearly for ammunition and military supplies for this post. The rice and other provisions are mainly furnished from the provinces of Iloilo and Panay, on account of their fertility and their nearness to Zamboanga. A considerable part of the expenses of that post is obtained from the contribution made by the inhabitants of the subjugated provinces, each tributario giving annually a ganta of clean rice; this amounts to 109,503 gantas of clean rice—equivalent, at the rate of twenty gantas cleaned to 48 gantas of palay, to 10,950 cavans of the latter—which is estimated to be worth, at the prices paid by the royal officials, 5,356 pesos. Enumeration is made of the numbers of tributes paid in various provinces, as follows: Tondo, 5,606½; Bulacan, 4,963½; Pampanga, 8,067; Pangasinan, 10,896½; Ilocos, 8,665¾; Cagayan, 5,218½; Laguna de Bay, 6,795; Tayabas, 1,612½; Camarines, 7,512; Albay, 3,481; Panay, 6,170½; Yloilo, 10,406½; Island of Negros, 503½; Leite, 8,154¼; Cebu, 4,411½. All these are tributaries of the crown; to these are added the contributions made by “the tributaries and the encomenderos of the encomiendas independent of the royal crown,” which amount to 18,144 gantas. A deduction must be made from these of 1,105¾ gantas, “from those who in the number of the said tributes do not make this contribution, on account of being servants of the churches, and for other reasons;” the result is the total above given. The tributaries of the following provinces are exempted from the contribution: Balayan, Mindoro, Caraga, Mariveles, Calamianes, and Cavite. A further source of revenue for the expenses of Zamboanga is found in the monopoly on the wine of the country; this had formerly belonged to the crown, but had been surrendered at the petition of the city of Manila. Later, the citizens being called upon to make donations for the support of Zamboanga, the city petitioned that this be accomplished by renewing the above crown monopoly of wine. “This new monopoly having begun to be in force from the year 1731, the sum at which this contribution [to Zamboanga] may be estimated must be figured according to the successful bids [remates] at which the privilege has been leased;” it was farmed out—that is, sold at auction to the highest bidder for a term of three to five years. The first of these was Don Esteban Garcia de los Rios, for 1731–33, for the sum of 10,000 pesos a year; the second, Captain Pedro de Ceballos, for 1734–36, 15,500 pesos a year; the third, Captain José Ruiz, for 1737–41, 25,000 pesos a year. The proceeds of this monopoly, then, averaged during eleven years 16,833 pesos a year. This document is dated at Manila, February 4, 1738.In regard to the contributions made by the Indians for the expenses (outside of ecclesiastical) of the Philippine colonies, Torrubia says (Dissertacion, pp. 98–103): “When the post of Samboangan was rebuilt in the year 1755, it was the opinion of the very reverend Father Juan de Bueras, provincial of the Society of Jesus, that the Indians of Pintados, as those most interested in the maintenance of the fort, should aid therein with a half-ganta of rice for each tribute. His opinion was accepted, but with the enlargement of the contribution to two gantas (which make one ganta of cleaned rice), and its extension to all the islands, which amount is paid up to this day. I have understood that this contribution amounts annually, on the average, to two thousand five hundred pesos. During the fifty and more years when Samboangan did not exist, it was paid just as when the fort was there, notwithstanding that the cabildo opposed it; and the Indians paid, without the motive for this imposition still remaining, at the least estimate, more than one hundred and fifty thousand pesos. The Indians are obliged to make other contributions. For the maintenance of the soldiers, they furnish rice to his Majesty at two reals a caban, and usually it is worth more; this is called thecompra, and forty or forty-five thousand cabans (or fanegas) of rice are levied from them incompra, allotting itpro rataaccording to what each Indian sows. For these cabans (or fanegas) no more than two reals are paid, although that amount is worth four reals, or more; and it is to be noted that in the suburbs of Manila the price ordinarily does not go below three reals. The same practice is current in the compras of wheat, although it is true that in this the Indians seldom lose much. Besides this, the Indians do the timber-cutting for the ships, and do not receive more than sixteen reals a month, which they do not have even for their tools (which they carry with them); they are soldiers, they row in the galleys, and they are mariners, artillerists, calkers, and carpenters. And we know very well that in these occupations they serve in the Ribera of Cavite without pay, and likewise in the armadas, three, four, or five years, only to obtain a situation in the ship which goes to Nueva España or Acapulco. Here [i.e., in Madrid], without considering these contributions, all the expenses [of the islands] are summed up for the account of his Majesty.” He goes on to say that from the sum of expenses must also be deducted the voluntary contributions of the citizens; also that these military expenses have been unfairly laid at the door of the Zamboanga fort. The soldiers there and in the forts at Cebú and Iloilo are paid from the situado contributed by the natives themselves; and the fleets which are sent against the Moros, and the coastguard galleys at Zamboanga, are not an expense caused by the fort there; “even if they were, it is a necessary one, under penalty of the Moros eating us alive.”Torrubia ends hisDissertacion, which is a plea for the maintenance of the fort at Zamboanga, with a scheme for the formation of a fund—to be formed by levying a small tax on each of the Christian Sangleys, and on every “tramp,” whether Indian or mestizo—which shall be regarded as anobra pia, and be placed in the management of the Misericordia; its proceeds are to be used for the support of the military posts and fleets which are maintained against the Moros, for the support of missionaries in the Moro provinces, and even for the extension of the gospel still further. This would relieve the natives from the oppressive “Zamboanga donation,” the citizens from the frequent contributions now expected from them by the government, and the royal treasury from the heavy burden of supporting the present list of armadas and forts; and the Moro pirates would be easily held in check, and the interests of both the Spaniards and the Indians protected.↑11Zamboanga is in 6° 53′ N. latitude, and 123° 5′ E. longitude (U. S. Philippine Gazetteer, p. 928).Zamboanga was selected as the site for the fort in Moroland, “because it was the indispensable landing-place for the hostile people; because it deprived the Mindanaos of that port, which was the most important one in their dominion, in which they built their ships, and where they took refuge from an enemy; because it was the most suitable place for our infantry; and because it was the frontier of all the islands of Moroland, where those enemies landed, recruited their forces, and repaired their vessels. It also was the point of vantage for intimidating those kings, and depriving Mindanao of half its power; and for facing (at three leguas distance) Basilan, the people of which are so valiant, and subject to Joló, so that that king also is thus disarmed of half his forces. To this was added the consideration that the post had Christian Indians as neighbors, who, free from the extortions of the Moros, would aid in the conquest [of those lands] and the extension of our power and of our faith, as has been actually done.” (Torrubia, pp. 45, 46.)↑12Fábrica(Latin, Italian, and Spanish; French,fabrique): a technical term in church administrative usage. The ordinary and common meaning is the material building or edifice, which (technically) includes repairs, improvements, changes, etc., as well as the necessary expense for caretakers of it, as watchmen, beadles, sweepers, etc.; these people are paid from the funds of thefábrica—which might be rendered as “building-fund,” except that in ecclesiastical usagefábricausually presupposes that the building it already reared, while the English phrase “building-fund” includes the idea of constructing it. (Yet in Latin, Italian, and Spanish the termfábricais also used to include money for the erection of the church edifice, in cases where it has not yet been built; where it has been completed and paid for,fábricais restricted to the meaning first given above, the “keep” of the building.)Thus usually the term has a material sense only; but sometimes (though not commonly)fábricais taken, as in the present text, in a spiritual sense, and implies the support or maintenance (honoraria) of the churchmen, the ministers attached to the building, as well as the maintenance of divine worship, as required by ritual.Fábricathen refers to affairs of the soul or spirit, the spiritual upbuilding or edifice of the faithful. By extension, the same term is sometimes used to mean the board of churchwardens who administer the property. In the Philippines the church property (save that belonging to the religious corporations) was in the hands of the bishop as sole trustee and administrator, a power which he might delegate to his provisor or vicar. The distribution of the fund mentioned in the text is unusual.—Rev. T. C. Middleton, O.S.A.↑13To this should be added 4 tomins, omitted in the table for lack of room; the same addition should therefore be made to the total of the cash column.↑14This name, also Pineda in the next item, and Manzano in the last one, is abbreviated in the original; and the forms given above are necessarily conjectural.↑15In the MS. “Tondo” was written here, but afterward crossed out.↑16To this sum should be added 4 granos, omitted from the amount of cash stated for Mindoro, for lack of room.↑17He was royal secretary in the Council of the Indias. In this letter (dated September 20, 1735) he states that the king desires information about the islands, and their fortresses and fortifications, because the recent fire in the palace at Madrid had destroyed many papers; he asks for plans of fortifications, and reports of troops, munitions, and artillery, and that they be sent as speedily as possible.↑18Evidently, from the context, referring to Cagayán de Misamis, in Mindanao.↑19At the time a royal secretary; his letter is dated at Madrid, August 30, 1739, and asks for the report on the ecclesiastical estate in the islands which is herewith presented.↑
1The limits of our space prevent us from presenting part i of this interesting document in full; but such matter is selected as relates to Manila, Cavite, Cebú, and Zamboanga, as being the most important Spanish settlements in the islands. The list at the end shows the contents of Valdés Tamón’s report in full, and presents an enumeration of all the military posts, with the names bestowed on the forts therein. Part ii, on the ecclesiastical estate, is translated in full (save for preliminary and final remarks, and two letters of minor interest).↑
2The city of Manila is located in 14° 35′ 31″ N. latitude, and 120° 58′ 08″ E. longitude (from Greenwich). The following longitudes (reckoned from Greenwich) will enable the reader to compute the differences in maps on which longitude is reckoned from other meridians:
Madrid (Observatory), Spain, 3° 41′ 21″ W.; San Fernando (Observatory), Spain, 6° 12′ 24″ W.; Paris (Observatory), France, 2° 20′ 14″ E.; Ferro, the extreme southwest of the Canary Islands (the assumed dividing line between the east and west hemispheres), 17° 20′ W.; Washington, D. C. (Observatory), 77° 2′ 48″ W. (U. S. Philippine Gazetteer, p. 183.)↑
3See accompanying plan of Manila, obtained from the Valdés Tamón MS. in Madrid. An interesting “historical sketch of the walls of Manila” is found in theAnnual Reportof the U. S. War Department, 1903, iii, pp. 434–446, which contains numerous illustrations of the walls and gates, some of which show defenses which have since been demolished. A note (by Capt. A. C. Macomb) states that the map of Manila referred to in Valdés Tamón’s report is supposed to be identical with that carried to England by General Draper after the capture of Manila in 1762, which is now in the British Museum in London. Concerning the plates of the map taken to England by Draper (the famous Murillo Velarde map, engraved in 1734), see ourVOL. XLIX, note 25.↑
4Possibly guns for firing chain-shots (also called “angel-shots”).↑
5Pandayes: a term adapted from the Tagal,pandaybeing the equivalent of the Spanishoficial.↑
6Thus in MS., but evidently a clerical error, since the amount of pay is so inadequate for the number of men. The amounts of pay given in these lists, added together, make a total which is over 7,000 pesos short of the total in the next paragraph; it is probable, then, that the pay of these artisans should be at least 7,000 more than the amount stated in the text.↑
7Perhaps meaning men who had the care of keeping the barracks in order and repair. The word is not found in the dictionaries.↑
8A word evidently coined from the native wordgalagala(seeVOL. XII, p. 34, note), and probably referring to the occupation of gathering the resin which bears that name. It may be added to the note above cited that this resin (also known as “almáciga” and “dammar”) is obtained in the mountains of southern Luzón and Panay, the best coming from Camarines. (Official Handbook of Philippines, p. 296);galagala, then, may be a Bícol word.↑
9Cebú is in 10° 18′ N. latitude, and 123° 53′ 05″ E. longitude (U. S. Gazetteer of Philippine Islands, p. 454).↑
10In the Ventura del Arco MSS. (Ayer library), iv, pp. 335–408, is the transcript of an interesting document—“Information furnished by Don José Antonio Niño de Villavicencio in regard to the situation of the town of Zamboanga; its original subordination to the royal crown; its fortification, dismantling, and reestablishment; the condition in which it was in 1737; its expenses; and the amounts which it paid toward these.” After a sketch (illustrated by various official documents) of the early history of Zamboanga as a military post, he relates its dismantling, and its reestablishment by Bustamante; this latter is begun on April 5, 1719, under the command of General Gregorio Padilla y Escalante, and its fort is named “Nuestra Señora del Pilar de Zaragoza.” Villavicencio carefully describes the fort, and presents an itemized statement of the expenses of maintaining it—which amount to 20,000 pesos annually, besides a reserve fund of 5,000 pesos which may be drawn upon for extraordinary and urgent expenses. The salary of the governor and military commander is 396 pesos a year. Two Jesuit chaplains are kept there, who receive each 100 pesos annually. There are eighteen other officers (commissioned and non-commissioned), and two hundred privates; also five other officials, including a surgeon. Besides this force of Spaniards is a company of Pampango soldiers—a hundred men and five officers; and a considerable number of men are also employed as rowers, builders, coast-guards, and seamen. Rations amounting to 9,855 cavans of rice are allowed in the budget of expenses; and the sum of 5,000 pesos is allowed yearly for ammunition and military supplies for this post. The rice and other provisions are mainly furnished from the provinces of Iloilo and Panay, on account of their fertility and their nearness to Zamboanga. A considerable part of the expenses of that post is obtained from the contribution made by the inhabitants of the subjugated provinces, each tributario giving annually a ganta of clean rice; this amounts to 109,503 gantas of clean rice—equivalent, at the rate of twenty gantas cleaned to 48 gantas of palay, to 10,950 cavans of the latter—which is estimated to be worth, at the prices paid by the royal officials, 5,356 pesos. Enumeration is made of the numbers of tributes paid in various provinces, as follows: Tondo, 5,606½; Bulacan, 4,963½; Pampanga, 8,067; Pangasinan, 10,896½; Ilocos, 8,665¾; Cagayan, 5,218½; Laguna de Bay, 6,795; Tayabas, 1,612½; Camarines, 7,512; Albay, 3,481; Panay, 6,170½; Yloilo, 10,406½; Island of Negros, 503½; Leite, 8,154¼; Cebu, 4,411½. All these are tributaries of the crown; to these are added the contributions made by “the tributaries and the encomenderos of the encomiendas independent of the royal crown,” which amount to 18,144 gantas. A deduction must be made from these of 1,105¾ gantas, “from those who in the number of the said tributes do not make this contribution, on account of being servants of the churches, and for other reasons;” the result is the total above given. The tributaries of the following provinces are exempted from the contribution: Balayan, Mindoro, Caraga, Mariveles, Calamianes, and Cavite. A further source of revenue for the expenses of Zamboanga is found in the monopoly on the wine of the country; this had formerly belonged to the crown, but had been surrendered at the petition of the city of Manila. Later, the citizens being called upon to make donations for the support of Zamboanga, the city petitioned that this be accomplished by renewing the above crown monopoly of wine. “This new monopoly having begun to be in force from the year 1731, the sum at which this contribution [to Zamboanga] may be estimated must be figured according to the successful bids [remates] at which the privilege has been leased;” it was farmed out—that is, sold at auction to the highest bidder for a term of three to five years. The first of these was Don Esteban Garcia de los Rios, for 1731–33, for the sum of 10,000 pesos a year; the second, Captain Pedro de Ceballos, for 1734–36, 15,500 pesos a year; the third, Captain José Ruiz, for 1737–41, 25,000 pesos a year. The proceeds of this monopoly, then, averaged during eleven years 16,833 pesos a year. This document is dated at Manila, February 4, 1738.
In regard to the contributions made by the Indians for the expenses (outside of ecclesiastical) of the Philippine colonies, Torrubia says (Dissertacion, pp. 98–103): “When the post of Samboangan was rebuilt in the year 1755, it was the opinion of the very reverend Father Juan de Bueras, provincial of the Society of Jesus, that the Indians of Pintados, as those most interested in the maintenance of the fort, should aid therein with a half-ganta of rice for each tribute. His opinion was accepted, but with the enlargement of the contribution to two gantas (which make one ganta of cleaned rice), and its extension to all the islands, which amount is paid up to this day. I have understood that this contribution amounts annually, on the average, to two thousand five hundred pesos. During the fifty and more years when Samboangan did not exist, it was paid just as when the fort was there, notwithstanding that the cabildo opposed it; and the Indians paid, without the motive for this imposition still remaining, at the least estimate, more than one hundred and fifty thousand pesos. The Indians are obliged to make other contributions. For the maintenance of the soldiers, they furnish rice to his Majesty at two reals a caban, and usually it is worth more; this is called thecompra, and forty or forty-five thousand cabans (or fanegas) of rice are levied from them incompra, allotting itpro rataaccording to what each Indian sows. For these cabans (or fanegas) no more than two reals are paid, although that amount is worth four reals, or more; and it is to be noted that in the suburbs of Manila the price ordinarily does not go below three reals. The same practice is current in the compras of wheat, although it is true that in this the Indians seldom lose much. Besides this, the Indians do the timber-cutting for the ships, and do not receive more than sixteen reals a month, which they do not have even for their tools (which they carry with them); they are soldiers, they row in the galleys, and they are mariners, artillerists, calkers, and carpenters. And we know very well that in these occupations they serve in the Ribera of Cavite without pay, and likewise in the armadas, three, four, or five years, only to obtain a situation in the ship which goes to Nueva España or Acapulco. Here [i.e., in Madrid], without considering these contributions, all the expenses [of the islands] are summed up for the account of his Majesty.” He goes on to say that from the sum of expenses must also be deducted the voluntary contributions of the citizens; also that these military expenses have been unfairly laid at the door of the Zamboanga fort. The soldiers there and in the forts at Cebú and Iloilo are paid from the situado contributed by the natives themselves; and the fleets which are sent against the Moros, and the coastguard galleys at Zamboanga, are not an expense caused by the fort there; “even if they were, it is a necessary one, under penalty of the Moros eating us alive.”
Torrubia ends hisDissertacion, which is a plea for the maintenance of the fort at Zamboanga, with a scheme for the formation of a fund—to be formed by levying a small tax on each of the Christian Sangleys, and on every “tramp,” whether Indian or mestizo—which shall be regarded as anobra pia, and be placed in the management of the Misericordia; its proceeds are to be used for the support of the military posts and fleets which are maintained against the Moros, for the support of missionaries in the Moro provinces, and even for the extension of the gospel still further. This would relieve the natives from the oppressive “Zamboanga donation,” the citizens from the frequent contributions now expected from them by the government, and the royal treasury from the heavy burden of supporting the present list of armadas and forts; and the Moro pirates would be easily held in check, and the interests of both the Spaniards and the Indians protected.↑
11Zamboanga is in 6° 53′ N. latitude, and 123° 5′ E. longitude (U. S. Philippine Gazetteer, p. 928).
Zamboanga was selected as the site for the fort in Moroland, “because it was the indispensable landing-place for the hostile people; because it deprived the Mindanaos of that port, which was the most important one in their dominion, in which they built their ships, and where they took refuge from an enemy; because it was the most suitable place for our infantry; and because it was the frontier of all the islands of Moroland, where those enemies landed, recruited their forces, and repaired their vessels. It also was the point of vantage for intimidating those kings, and depriving Mindanao of half its power; and for facing (at three leguas distance) Basilan, the people of which are so valiant, and subject to Joló, so that that king also is thus disarmed of half his forces. To this was added the consideration that the post had Christian Indians as neighbors, who, free from the extortions of the Moros, would aid in the conquest [of those lands] and the extension of our power and of our faith, as has been actually done.” (Torrubia, pp. 45, 46.)↑
12Fábrica(Latin, Italian, and Spanish; French,fabrique): a technical term in church administrative usage. The ordinary and common meaning is the material building or edifice, which (technically) includes repairs, improvements, changes, etc., as well as the necessary expense for caretakers of it, as watchmen, beadles, sweepers, etc.; these people are paid from the funds of thefábrica—which might be rendered as “building-fund,” except that in ecclesiastical usagefábricausually presupposes that the building it already reared, while the English phrase “building-fund” includes the idea of constructing it. (Yet in Latin, Italian, and Spanish the termfábricais also used to include money for the erection of the church edifice, in cases where it has not yet been built; where it has been completed and paid for,fábricais restricted to the meaning first given above, the “keep” of the building.)
Thus usually the term has a material sense only; but sometimes (though not commonly)fábricais taken, as in the present text, in a spiritual sense, and implies the support or maintenance (honoraria) of the churchmen, the ministers attached to the building, as well as the maintenance of divine worship, as required by ritual.Fábricathen refers to affairs of the soul or spirit, the spiritual upbuilding or edifice of the faithful. By extension, the same term is sometimes used to mean the board of churchwardens who administer the property. In the Philippines the church property (save that belonging to the religious corporations) was in the hands of the bishop as sole trustee and administrator, a power which he might delegate to his provisor or vicar. The distribution of the fund mentioned in the text is unusual.—Rev. T. C. Middleton, O.S.A.↑
13To this should be added 4 tomins, omitted in the table for lack of room; the same addition should therefore be made to the total of the cash column.↑
14This name, also Pineda in the next item, and Manzano in the last one, is abbreviated in the original; and the forms given above are necessarily conjectural.↑
15In the MS. “Tondo” was written here, but afterward crossed out.↑
16To this sum should be added 4 granos, omitted from the amount of cash stated for Mindoro, for lack of room.↑
17He was royal secretary in the Council of the Indias. In this letter (dated September 20, 1735) he states that the king desires information about the islands, and their fortresses and fortifications, because the recent fire in the palace at Madrid had destroyed many papers; he asks for plans of fortifications, and reports of troops, munitions, and artillery, and that they be sent as speedily as possible.↑
18Evidently, from the context, referring to Cagayán de Misamis, in Mindanao.↑
19At the time a royal secretary; his letter is dated at Madrid, August 30, 1739, and asks for the report on the ecclesiastical estate in the islands which is herewith presented.↑