182i.e., “Though composed of many, it draws to itself the nature of the more worthy simple form.”183“Among the Filipino Indians there are many who are very good, and are very capable of being directed and taught in good and holy customs; and because there are many bad ones, who govern themselves not by reason, but by the pressure of public opinion, it cannot be said rightly and conscientiously that all are bad.” (Delgado, p. 320.)“This paragraph appears admirable to me, and a more exact idea of the Filipino cannot be given in so few words—at least such as he is at present, either because of circumstances, or because of his physical constitution, or of the two things together.” (Mas, p. 127.)184M. and D. add “it is in favor of their comfort, and they commit other greater acts of insolence, for.”185i.e., “They enter into the joy of their lord;” a reference to MatthewXXV, 21, 23.186i.e., “Not as to the cause, but as the effect.” D. reverses the position of the negative.187Heliogabalus the Roman emperor, who ascended the throne in 218 A. D., at the age of fourteen, and was assassinated after three years. He is known chiefly for his acts of madness and bestiality, and his cruelty.188San Agustin has quoted these lines incorrectly. They are found in ll. 527–531 of Marcus Annæus Lucanus’sPharsalia, and are as follows:... O vitæ tuta facultas Pauperis angustique lares!O munera nondum Intellecta deum! Quibus hocContingere templis Aut potuit muris nulloTrepidare tumultu Cæsarea pulsante manu?...The translation of this passage is as follows: “O secure opportunity of life, and lares of the needy poor man! O gifts not yet recognized as a god! What temples could enjoy this blessing, or what walls be in confusion in any tumult, if the hand of Cæsar move?”189“All religious agree that they die with the utmost indifference, and that when they come to the bedside of the dying one, in order to comfort him, they remain cold upon seeing how little those people are changed by the words that their approaching peril inspires in them. Confessions at such a time are generally somewhat more sincere, but always very short and stupid. The relatives are not at all careful about talking of his deathin the presence of the sick person—as, for example, one of them remarking to the cura in a very natural and quiet voice in his uncle’s presence (who still fully retained his feeling and hearing): ‘See, Father, it would be wise for you to consecrate the winding-sheet, for I think that he is about to die soon.’ The same indifference is to be observed in a criminal condemned to any punishment. He is seated on his heels on a bamboo bench, smoking. Every few moments the religious enters to give him a Christian word, to which the criminal generally answers: ‘Yes, Father, I know quite well that I have to die; what am I to do about it? I am an evil man; God so decrees; such was my fate;’ and other things of this sort. He eats regularly, and sleeps as on any other day.... [This] is only one additional proof, and in my opinion, a not slight one, that the Filipino race is inferior, at least in spiritual matters, to our race.” (Mas, pp. 128, 129.)190The location of the above quotation is not given in the Ayer MS., but is given in both M. and D.191D. reads “chatcere.”192Possibly a reference to Proverbs ii instead of xx (where there is nothing that corresponds to this passage). The translation of the above is: “I walk in the ways of justice, in the midst of the paths of judgment, so that I may call myself diligent.”193This is not quoted correctly, but should be:Venite ad me omnes, qui laboratis et onerati estis, et ego reficiam vos.The editor of D. has emended this passage.194This is the wrong reference. In the King James version, it is lxxii, 13, and in the Douay version, lxxi, 13.195i.e., “For to him that is little, mercy is granted.” This is not in M.196The remainder of this paragraph, and all the next, are lacking in M.197i.e., “No sacrifice is more acceptable to God than the zeal for souls.”198i.e., “Ye therefore, my friends who are in the world, proceed with security, and cry out and announce my will. I will dwell in your heart and in your mouth: I will be your leader on the way, and you consolation at death. I will not leave you. Proceed with eagerness, for glory increases from the labor.” D. reads “audacter,” “boldly,” instead of “alacriter.” M. gives but a portion of the citation.199This quotation is not exact, the correct version being as follows:Patientia enim vobis necessaria est: ut voluntatem Dei facientis, reportetis promissionem.It is not in M.200In D. “placing.”201M. is the only one of the three versions of this letter that locates this citation correctly. We adopt the reading of the Latin Vulgate, as San Agustin has not quoted exactly.202M. and D. omit these last four words.203M. and D. read “variety of combinations of.”204Of the remainder of the letter, Delgado says (p. 323): “In regard to all the rest that the reverend writer adds, concerning the manner in which those who live with the Indians ought to comport themselves, I have nothing more to say or to add. For it is all well written and noted, and those who come new to these islands will do very well to read it and to do as the reverend father prescribes, teaching the Indians to read and write and other knowledge, for they have great capacity for all and at the same time, civilization, which is very necessary to them; and where they fail and sin, punish them as children, and not as slaves. By so doing they will obtain from them whatever they wish.”Mas says (pp. 130, 131) of the advice given by San Agustin “I would be very glad, and it would be very advantageous for them, if all the Spaniards would adopt this system which is both wise and unique. But quite to the contrary, many persons think that the Filipinos ought to understand them at the slightest insinuation and very readily. For any fault they become impatient and call the Filipinos brutes, and carabaos, and express themselves in the presence of the Filipinos in the most violent manner, and in the most insulting terms about the race in general, even to the point of wishing to destroy them and other barbarous and sanguinary ideas of which their heart is not capable. And they do not take note that such outbreaks of wrath only serve the purpose of confusing the Filipinos, rendering them more stupid, and rousing up hatred against them and all the Spaniards.”205In M. “mildly.”206M. gives the reference wrongly as the nineteenth verse.207i.e., “Care must, in fact, be taken that the teacher and the father and the mother give discipline to their subjects.”208Not in M.209In D. “and the merit lies in the patience.”210i.e., “Help the poor because of the commandment; and send him not away empty-handed because of his poverty, etc.” M. and D. add the thirteenth verse, as follows:Perde pecuniam propter fratrem et amicum tuum, et non abscondas illam sub lapide in perditionem.The English of this is: “Lose thy money for thy brother and thy friend: and hide it not under a stone to be lost.” To the above paragraph M. and D. add the following: “For the merit becomes greater in proportion to their ingratitude if we fulfil our obligation and if they act according to their disposition. For, as says the royal prophet David (Psalm xxxvi, 21),Mutuabitur peccator, et non solvet: justus autem miseretur et tribuet.”211This paragraph is divided into two paragraphs in M. and D. and is very much abridged. It is as follows: “It is necessary that those Indians who are taken as servants, be shown no love if they are children, but always uprightness, for one must consider it as most certain that in proportion as they are better clothed and caressed, the worse they will become when they grow up. This is the teaching of the Holy Spirit: [the verse from Proverbs as above follows]. They must be treated with great uprightness and prudence, for otherwise they will gradually lose their respect to the character that God presents to them in the Spaniard. [The fable of King Log follows as above.]”212i.e., “He who blows his nose too violently generally draws forth blood.”213M. and D. make two paragraphs of the above, and read as follows: “One must not press them to give more of themselves than they can, as we do with the lemon, for that which will be expressed will be bitter, and, as says the proverb [in D.—“and as says a law commentary”]Qui nimis emungit solet extorquere cruorem. We must remember in all this the teaching of the holy Council of Trent, session 13 [in D.—“3”]de reformat, chapter I, whose words, although they are very well worth reading, I omit on account of their length. It is not proper to go up into their houses, except when necessity requires it, keeping therein the evangelical precept (Luke x, 7 [wrongly cited as xx]):Nolite transire de domo in domum. For one will lose much in estimation, while their vices [in D.—“coldness”] do not make this a desirable diversion.”214M. and D. add: “anything is entrusted to them.” The remainder of San Agustin’s letter is omitted in D.215M. and D. add here: “for thus does the Holy Spirit advise us.”“One day a friend of mine ordered a servant in my presence to go to a certain house to ask in his name for the last gazettes from Europa. I advised my friend to give the servant a note, since the latter would doubtless give expression to some bit of nonsense. He took no notice of me, and sent the servant. In fact, the man understood “aceite” [i.e., “olive oil”], for “gaceta” [i.e., “gazette”], and returned with a bottle of olive oil. His master was very much put out, while I burst into a roar of laughter. A peculiar thing is often observed in servants, namely, when one of them is ordered, ‘Go to the house of Don Antonio,’ before the message is finished the servant begins to go; and one has to call him back and say to him, ‘But, man alive, where are you going?’ and, if he is allowed to go, he reaches his destination and says that he has been sent there, and then returns whence he came, or utters some foolish remark.” (Mas, p. 133.)216In the Vulgate, the last word of the Latin in this citation iseum.217i.e., “at least in passing.” This is not in M.218M. reads “denude themselves of their customs.”219M. reads: “For the Indian who is ordained does not give himself a trade because of the more perfect estate.”220M. has instead of “from the oar,” “from handling a bolo.”221Spanish,la cuña del mismo palo; another application of an old Spanish proverb.222M. adds “and those farthest from Manila, where also the remedy is very far away.”223Spanish,sobre quítame allá esas pajas—literally, “regarding ‘carry away these straws from me,’” defined by the Academy’s dictionary as, “about a thing of little importance or value.”224Picota: “a column [the insignia of jurisdiction] or gibbet of stone, which is usually placed at the entrances of towns or villages; on which are ignominiously exposed the heads of persons executed or of criminals” (Bárcia,Dicc. etimológico).225M. adds “to the father cura.” The reason for this letter may be found possibly in this paragraph, in the hostility of the religious orders to admitting the Filipinos to the priesthood.226M. reads “How well it could be subdued and composed.”227M. adds “in his happiness.”228M. reads: “And while they were all gallantly seated in the hall, and she was, very finely adorned with jewels, in the room, surrounded by many ladies.”229M. reads: “The bride spied the mouse from a long distance, and, not being able to restrain herself out of respect for that function, she arose and began to run the length of the hall. She overthrew the people, and they were unable to restrain the fair bride, and cause her to desist from her undertaking. The angry groom said to them.”230The rest of this sentence reads in M., “even though they should become bishops.”231Matthew xxv, 21.232i.e., “The priesthood is the apex of all good things which exist among men.”St. Ignatius the Martyr was born about the middle of the first century of the Christian era, and is said to have been baptized by the apostle John. He was bishop of Antioch for forty years. Arrested by the Roman authorities because of his preaching, he was sent to Rome, where he was killed by wild beasts in the arena, probably about 107 A. D. He met the famous Polycarp while on his way to Rome. Many epistles exist which are said to have been written by him, although some of them are probably spurious. His day is celebrated on February 1. See S. Baring-Gould (ut supra), ii, pp. 1–5, andNew International Encyclopædia.233i.e., “Concerning the dignity of the priesthood.” M. adds: ”Nihil est in hoc secula excelentius sacerdotibus[i.e., ‘There is nothing more excellent in this world than the priesthood’]; and above,horur igitur, et sublimitas sacerdotalis nullis poterit compurationibus adequari si regum fulgori compares, et principum Diademati longe erit inferius, quam si plumbi metallum aduri fugorem compares. [i.e., “Therefore the priestly reverence and height can be equaled by no comparisons. If it be compared to the splendor of kings and the diadem of princes, the comparison is far more inferior than if the metal lead were compared to gleaming gold.”] And of this Father Don Antonio Molina speaks at length in his admirable book.”234St. Ambrose was one of the four doctors of the western church. He was born at Trèves about 340 A. D., and received a good education in Rome, and entered into the Roman civil service. Elected to the office of bishop of Milan, in what was regarded as a miraculous manner, he soon became one of the great strongholds of the young religion of Christianity. To him was due the honor of receiving the great Augustine into the Church. His death occurred in 397 A. D. His day is celebrated on December 7; and in Milan he is regarded as a patron saint. The Ambrosian Library of that city is named for him. See S. Baring-Gould (ut supra), xv, pp. 74–104; andNew International Encyclopædia.235Antonio de Molina was a Spanish theologian, who was born at Villa-Nueva-de-los-Infantes (Castilla). Entering the Augustinian order, he taught theology, until he later retired to the house at Miradores, where he died September 12, 1612. He wrote a book calledInstruccion de Sacerdotes, which was published in various places in Spain, and later translated into various languages, among them the Latin. See Hoefer’sNouvelle biographie générale, xxxv, col. 892.236Paulo Segneri, S.J. was one of the most illustrious men that the Jesuit order has produced. He was a native of Nettuno, Italy, being born March 22, 1624, and entered the Society December 2, 1637. He early became deaf through his excessive study. After teaching the humanities and rhetoric, he became a preacher and missionary, traversing Italy on his missionary journeys during the years 1665–1692. In 1692 he was called to Rome by Innocent XII, to take the place of his preacher-in-ordinary. His death occurred at Rome, December 9, 1694. His influence on Italy is ranked by some only second to that of Savonarola. His style in writing is regarded as of chief rank in purity and accuracy for hiscentury. His writings were numerous, and have been translated into many languages, some of them into Greek and Arabian. The book mentioned in the text isIl parroco instruito: opera in cui si dimostra a qualsisia curato novello il debito che lo strigne, e la via da tenerse nell’ adempirlo(Firenze, 1692). See Sommervogel’sBibliothèque; and Hoefer (ut supra), xliii, cols. 685, 686.237The dignity of patriarch in the Catholic church (leaving aside the papal rank) is the highest grade in the hierarchy of jurisdiction. Antioch early occupied a high place among the patriarchates, although with the lapse of time it lost its high position; and finally, after the schism between the eastern and western churches, the appointee to that dignity did not actually assume the office. See Addis and Arnold’sCatholic Dictionary, pp. 35, 36, and 640. The patriarch mentioned in the text was the famous Cardinal Charles Thomas Millard de Tournon. SeeVol. XXVIII, p. 118, and note 56; Concepción, ix, pp. 1–123; and Crétineau-Joly, v, pp. 38–54.238These last two sentences are missing in M.239At this point the letter proper in M. ends with the words: “May God preserve you for many years,” and no signature follows. This is followed by the questions for men and women of Murillo Velarde.240In the text,legitimos; probably a transcriber’s error forilegitimos(“of illegitimate birth”).Other papal letters give leave to dispense with the above classes, who could not, otherwise, be promoted to holy orders. Both classes could, also, be raised to church dignities, but only to minor dignities, and not to high ones as bishoprics, etc. The distinction betweenespuriosand[i]legitimosseems merely to have been a legal one, as both terms mean the same in effect.—Rev. T. C. Middleton, O.S.A.241i.e., “It was lately related to us.”242In the copy of this letter conserved in the collection of Fray Eduardo Navarro of the Colegio de Filipinas, Valladolid, Spain (of which we have the transcription of a few pages at the end), this word readsdivina.243Antonio (not Pedro) Urceo, who was also called Codrus,was an erudite Italian, who was born August 14, 1446 at Rubiera, and died at Bologna in 1500. He was a good educator of youth, but of choleric temper. While acting as tutor in one of the noble Italian families, a fire destroyed most of his papers, which so worked upon him that he retired into almost complete seclusion for six months. In 1482 he went to Bologna, where he taught grammar and eloquence. Although during his life he gave doubts of his orthodoxy, his death was all that could have been wished. His works were published in four editions, the first being at Bologna in 1502, under the titleIn hoc Codri Volumine hæc continentur Orationes, seu sermones ut ipse appelabat Epistolae. Silvae. Satyrae. Eglogae. Epigrammata. The translation of the above citation is as follows:“Although thou be freeborn and sprung from noble parents;Still even yet thou mayst be a base beast.Add that thou art an honor to thy country, and claim the noblest kin;Still even yet thou mayst be a base beast.Thou mayst have wealth, thou mayst have abundance of elegant furniture;Still even yet thou mayst be a base beast.In short, whatever thou shalt be, unless thou have prudence,I declare that thou wilt ever be a base beast.”Of the native priests of the Philippines, Delgado says (pp. 293–296): “I know some seculars in the islands, who although Indians, can serve as an example and confusion to the European priests. I shall only bring forward two examples: one, the bachelor Don Eugenio de Santa Cruz, judge-provisor of this bishopric ofSantísimo Nombre de Jesús, and calificador of the Holy Office, a full blooded Indian and a native of Pampanga. And inasmuch as the author of this letter confesses that the Pampangos are a different people, I shall name another, namely, the bachelor Don Bartolomé Saguinsin, a Tagálog, a cura of the district of Quiape (outside the walls of Manila), an Indian, and a native of the village of Antipolo. I knew his parents, and had friendly relations with them while I was minister in that village. Both men were esteemed for their abilities and venerated for their virtues, in Tagalos and Visayas.” In addition, “those reared in any of the four colleges in Manila, for the clerical estate are all the sons of chiefs, people of distinction among the Indians themselves, and not of thetimaua, or of the class ofolipon, as the Visayan says, ormaharlicaoralipin, as the Tagálog calls the slaves and freedmen. The reverend fathers of St. Dominic or of the Society rear these boys and instruct them in virtue and learning; and if they have anyof the vices of Indians, these are corrected and suppressed by the teaching and conversation of the fathers. Furthermore, when the most illustrious bishops promote any of these men to holy orders, they do not proceed blindly, ordering any one whomever to be advanced—but only with great consideration and prudence, and after informing themselves of his birth and his morals, and examining and testing him first before the ministry of souls is entrusted to him; and to say the contrary is to censure the most illustrious prelates, to whom we owe so much veneration and reverence. Furthermore, there are among these Indians, many (and perhaps most of them) who are as noble, in their line of descent as Indians, as is any Spaniard; and some of them much more than many Spaniards who esteem themselves as nobles in this land. For, although their fate keeps them, in the present order of things, in an almost abject condition, many of them are seigniors of vassals. Their seigniory has not been suppressed by the king, nor can it be suppressed. Such we callcabezas de barangayin Tagálog, andGinhaopanin Visayan. They and their children and relatives lose nothing of their nobility because they serve the king in cutting timber, in the fleets, or in other personal services which are necessary in this land. As they lose nothing, it is also much honor for them that the king be served by them. Accordingly, there are sargentos-mayor, masters-of-camp, captains, governors of the villages, and lieutenants, and all are Indians of distinction. These would not go to row in a banca, and their hands would certainly be freed from handling a bolo or an ax in the cutting of timber, and their mothers, wives, and daughters would not have become spinners, if it were not for España. And although all the Indians seem of one color to the father, this color is well distinguished among them; and they are very respectful to their chiefs and much more so to their priests, even though these be Indians like themselves.” Delgado continues by saying that, although some of the native priests have turned out badly, that is not sufficient to condemn them all. It is arbitrary to declare that the Indian enters the priesthood solely for his own comfort, and because of the respect shown him, and not because of the spiritual blessings. Many Spaniards also enter the ecclesiastical estate merely for a living. There are examples of Negro, Japanese, and Chinese priests. “Consequently, it is not to be wondered at that the most illustrious prelates and bishops should ordain Indians here and in Nueva España, and in other parts of the Indias.”244The date of the Navarro copy is wrongly given as 1725.245Pedro Murillo Velarde was born August 6, 1696, at Villa Laujar, Granada, and entered the Jesuit novitiate at the age of 22. Having entered the Philippine missions, he was long a professor in the university of Manila; and later was rector at Antipolo, visitor to the Mindanao missions, and procurator at Rome and Madrid. He died at the hospital of Puerto Santa Maria,November 30, 1753. Murillo Velarde is one of the more noted among Jesuit writers. His principal works are the following:Cursus juris canonici, hispani et indici(Madrid, 1743);Historia de la provincia de Philipinas de la Compañia de Jesus(Manila, 1749); andGeographica historica(Madrid, 1752), in ten volumes. In theHistoria(which work we have used freely in the present series, as material for annotation) was published his noted map of the Philippine Islands, the first detailed map of the archipelago; it was made by order of the governor of the island, Valdes Tamón, in 1734.246A kind of sausage composed of lean pork, almonds, pineapple kernels, and honey.247This sentence is missing in Father Navarro’s copy.248Literally “lose a foothold.”249Delgado here refers to the “Opinion” by Murillo Velarde which is prefixed to vol. i of San Antonio’sChronicas; this is dated at San Miguel, May 19, 1738, and contains a detailed description of the products of the islands—vegetable, animal, and mineral—from which we extract his description of the peoples therein, as follows:“The natives of these islands are generally called Indians, because these islands are included in the demarcation of the Western Indias—although properly they are in the Eastern hemisphere, because, as they are distant from España more than a hundred and eighty degrees of longitude, which makes the half-circuit [of the globe], it necessarily follows that they must be on the side of the East. All the Indians resemble one another, especially in the yellowish-brown color and the flattened nose; andthere is little difference between the individuals. In the island of Negros, between Cavitan and Sipalay, I encountered heathen blacks with crinkled hair, as if they were from Guinea. The people who are here called creoles are of a swarthy brown color, with withered skin, and are quite civilized and capable. As for the origin of the Indians, I am inclined to think that they originate from Malayos, on account of the similarity of their language; for by examining on various occasions a Malay (a native of Maláca) who could speak several languages fluently, and a Ternatan, and Lutaos and Subanos, I have ascertained the following: In the Malay, “sky” is calledlanguit, and the same in Tagálog, in Lutáo, and Subáno; “man” [varon] islalaquiin Malay, as in the Tagálog and Bisayan; “tongue” isdilain Malay, as in Tagálog; “white” isputiin Malay, as in Tagálog, Subáno, and Lutáo. In other words the difference is but slight; thus, in Malay “land” isnigri, in Tagáloglupa, in Lutáotana, in Boholanyuta; and “man” [hombre] is in Malayoran, in Tagálogtavo, in Lutáoaa, in Subánogatao. The Indians are exceedingly clever in every kind of handiwork, not for inventing, but for imitating what they see. They write beautifully; many of them are tailors and barbers, for they learn both these trades with little effort; and there are among them excellent embroiderers, painters, and silversmiths; and engravers whose work has no equal in all the Indias—and I was even going to place it far ahead of all the rest, if shame had not restrained me—as is very obvious in the many and excellent engravings which they are all the time producing. They are good carvers, gilders, and carpenters. They build vessels for these islands—galleys, galliots, pataches, and ships for the Acapulco trade-route. They are good seamen, artillerists, and divers—for there is hardly an Indian who does not know how to swim very well. They are the pilots of these seas. They excel in makingbejuquillos, which are golden chains of delicate and exquisite workmanship. From palm-leaves, rattan, andnitothey make hats, andpetatesor rugs, and mats, that are very handsome, and wrought with various kinds of flowers and other figures. They are noted as mechanics and puppet-players, and make complicated mechanisms which, by means of figures, go through various motions with propriety and accuracy. Some are watchmakers. They make gunpowder, and cast mortars, cannon, and bells. I have seen them make guns, as handsomely constructed as those made in Europe, although I do not think that they would be as substantial and reliable as those. There are in Manila three printing-houses, and all keep Indian workmen; and the errors that they make are notnumerous. They have remarkable skill in music; and there is no village, however small, that has not a very respectable musician to officiate in the church. Among them are excellent voices—trebles, contraltos, tenors, and basses; almost all can play on the harp, and there are many violinists, and players on the oboe and flute. It is especially noticeable that not only those whose trade it is to make these instruments do so, but various Indians, through love [for such work], make guitars, harps, flutes, and violins, with their bolos or machetes; and they learn to play these instruments by only seeing them played, and without any special instruction. Almost the same thing occurs in other matters; and on this account it is said that the Indians have their understanding in their eyes, since they so closely imitate what they see. Such are the Indians, when observed on the outside surface of their aspect; but when one penetrates into the interior of their dispositions, peculiarities, and customs, they are a labyrinth, in which the most sagacious man loses his way. They appear ingenious and simple in countenance and words, but they are masters eminent in deceit and feigning; under an apparent simplicity they conceal an artful and crafty dissimulation. I believe that the Indian never fails to deceive, unless when his own interests are hindered. In their lawsuits and business dealings they are like flies, which never quit what they are seeking, no matter how much they are brushed away; and thus they surpass and conquer us. The Chinese say that the Spaniard is fire, and the Indian is water, and that water quenches fire. They neither resent an injury nor thank one for a kindness. If you give them anything, they immediately ask for another. There is no fixed rule for construing them; for each one is needed a new syntax, because they are anomalous. With them the argument is not concluded by induction, since no Indian resembles another, nor even is one like himself; for in the short round of one day he changes his colors oftener than a chameleon, takes more shapes than a Proteus, and has more movements than a Euripus. He who deals with them most knows them least. They are, in fine, a union of contrarieties, which the greatest logician could not reconcile; they are an obscure and confused Chaos, in which species cannot be perceived or formal qualities distinguished; and if I had to define them I would say:“Obstabatque alijs aliud, quia corpore in vnoFrigida pugnabant calidis, humentia siccis,Mollia cum duris, sine pondere habentia pondus.”250Alluding to the irregular tides in the straits of Euripus, between Eubœa and Greece; during a large part of the month these tides occur as often as eleven to fourteen times during the twenty-four hours. Their irregularity occasioned among the Greeks a proverb, which Delgado here uses.251A name given by the inhabitants of Cuba to the natives of Mexico, and in Vera Cruz to those of the interior. The name is also applied to shrewd and brusque persons. (New Velázquez Dictionary.)252These two rules are respectively: “Evil once, evil is always presupposed;” and “Evil [may spring] from any failing.”253These chains were also of Chinese manufacture; apparently the Filipinos took up this industry through their tendency to imitate.254TheLygodium scandens, also calledGnitoandnitongputi, a climbing fern found throughout the Philippines. Blanco gives the name of the genus asUgena. The glossy, wiry stems are used in the making of fine hats, mats, cigarette and cigar cases, etc. SeeCensus of Philippines, iv, p. 166.255The balate is an echinoderm found abundantly in the Visayas, of which Delgado describes three varieties (p. 935): namely theHolothuria scabra(Jager), which is white; theHolothuria atra(Jager), which is black; and thebaconganorSynapta similis(Semper), which is of larger size. The second variety is most esteemed. It was sold dry in the Visayas or taken to Manila and sold, where they were worth thirty-five or forty or even more silver pesos per pico. The Chinese especially esteemed them (and do so yet) and large sums were paid for them in that country. The Filipinos occasionally ate them fresh, but only in the absence of fish.
182i.e., “Though composed of many, it draws to itself the nature of the more worthy simple form.”183“Among the Filipino Indians there are many who are very good, and are very capable of being directed and taught in good and holy customs; and because there are many bad ones, who govern themselves not by reason, but by the pressure of public opinion, it cannot be said rightly and conscientiously that all are bad.” (Delgado, p. 320.)“This paragraph appears admirable to me, and a more exact idea of the Filipino cannot be given in so few words—at least such as he is at present, either because of circumstances, or because of his physical constitution, or of the two things together.” (Mas, p. 127.)184M. and D. add “it is in favor of their comfort, and they commit other greater acts of insolence, for.”185i.e., “They enter into the joy of their lord;” a reference to MatthewXXV, 21, 23.186i.e., “Not as to the cause, but as the effect.” D. reverses the position of the negative.187Heliogabalus the Roman emperor, who ascended the throne in 218 A. D., at the age of fourteen, and was assassinated after three years. He is known chiefly for his acts of madness and bestiality, and his cruelty.188San Agustin has quoted these lines incorrectly. They are found in ll. 527–531 of Marcus Annæus Lucanus’sPharsalia, and are as follows:... O vitæ tuta facultas Pauperis angustique lares!O munera nondum Intellecta deum! Quibus hocContingere templis Aut potuit muris nulloTrepidare tumultu Cæsarea pulsante manu?...The translation of this passage is as follows: “O secure opportunity of life, and lares of the needy poor man! O gifts not yet recognized as a god! What temples could enjoy this blessing, or what walls be in confusion in any tumult, if the hand of Cæsar move?”189“All religious agree that they die with the utmost indifference, and that when they come to the bedside of the dying one, in order to comfort him, they remain cold upon seeing how little those people are changed by the words that their approaching peril inspires in them. Confessions at such a time are generally somewhat more sincere, but always very short and stupid. The relatives are not at all careful about talking of his deathin the presence of the sick person—as, for example, one of them remarking to the cura in a very natural and quiet voice in his uncle’s presence (who still fully retained his feeling and hearing): ‘See, Father, it would be wise for you to consecrate the winding-sheet, for I think that he is about to die soon.’ The same indifference is to be observed in a criminal condemned to any punishment. He is seated on his heels on a bamboo bench, smoking. Every few moments the religious enters to give him a Christian word, to which the criminal generally answers: ‘Yes, Father, I know quite well that I have to die; what am I to do about it? I am an evil man; God so decrees; such was my fate;’ and other things of this sort. He eats regularly, and sleeps as on any other day.... [This] is only one additional proof, and in my opinion, a not slight one, that the Filipino race is inferior, at least in spiritual matters, to our race.” (Mas, pp. 128, 129.)190The location of the above quotation is not given in the Ayer MS., but is given in both M. and D.191D. reads “chatcere.”192Possibly a reference to Proverbs ii instead of xx (where there is nothing that corresponds to this passage). The translation of the above is: “I walk in the ways of justice, in the midst of the paths of judgment, so that I may call myself diligent.”193This is not quoted correctly, but should be:Venite ad me omnes, qui laboratis et onerati estis, et ego reficiam vos.The editor of D. has emended this passage.194This is the wrong reference. In the King James version, it is lxxii, 13, and in the Douay version, lxxi, 13.195i.e., “For to him that is little, mercy is granted.” This is not in M.196The remainder of this paragraph, and all the next, are lacking in M.197i.e., “No sacrifice is more acceptable to God than the zeal for souls.”198i.e., “Ye therefore, my friends who are in the world, proceed with security, and cry out and announce my will. I will dwell in your heart and in your mouth: I will be your leader on the way, and you consolation at death. I will not leave you. Proceed with eagerness, for glory increases from the labor.” D. reads “audacter,” “boldly,” instead of “alacriter.” M. gives but a portion of the citation.199This quotation is not exact, the correct version being as follows:Patientia enim vobis necessaria est: ut voluntatem Dei facientis, reportetis promissionem.It is not in M.200In D. “placing.”201M. is the only one of the three versions of this letter that locates this citation correctly. We adopt the reading of the Latin Vulgate, as San Agustin has not quoted exactly.202M. and D. omit these last four words.203M. and D. read “variety of combinations of.”204Of the remainder of the letter, Delgado says (p. 323): “In regard to all the rest that the reverend writer adds, concerning the manner in which those who live with the Indians ought to comport themselves, I have nothing more to say or to add. For it is all well written and noted, and those who come new to these islands will do very well to read it and to do as the reverend father prescribes, teaching the Indians to read and write and other knowledge, for they have great capacity for all and at the same time, civilization, which is very necessary to them; and where they fail and sin, punish them as children, and not as slaves. By so doing they will obtain from them whatever they wish.”Mas says (pp. 130, 131) of the advice given by San Agustin “I would be very glad, and it would be very advantageous for them, if all the Spaniards would adopt this system which is both wise and unique. But quite to the contrary, many persons think that the Filipinos ought to understand them at the slightest insinuation and very readily. For any fault they become impatient and call the Filipinos brutes, and carabaos, and express themselves in the presence of the Filipinos in the most violent manner, and in the most insulting terms about the race in general, even to the point of wishing to destroy them and other barbarous and sanguinary ideas of which their heart is not capable. And they do not take note that such outbreaks of wrath only serve the purpose of confusing the Filipinos, rendering them more stupid, and rousing up hatred against them and all the Spaniards.”205In M. “mildly.”206M. gives the reference wrongly as the nineteenth verse.207i.e., “Care must, in fact, be taken that the teacher and the father and the mother give discipline to their subjects.”208Not in M.209In D. “and the merit lies in the patience.”210i.e., “Help the poor because of the commandment; and send him not away empty-handed because of his poverty, etc.” M. and D. add the thirteenth verse, as follows:Perde pecuniam propter fratrem et amicum tuum, et non abscondas illam sub lapide in perditionem.The English of this is: “Lose thy money for thy brother and thy friend: and hide it not under a stone to be lost.” To the above paragraph M. and D. add the following: “For the merit becomes greater in proportion to their ingratitude if we fulfil our obligation and if they act according to their disposition. For, as says the royal prophet David (Psalm xxxvi, 21),Mutuabitur peccator, et non solvet: justus autem miseretur et tribuet.”211This paragraph is divided into two paragraphs in M. and D. and is very much abridged. It is as follows: “It is necessary that those Indians who are taken as servants, be shown no love if they are children, but always uprightness, for one must consider it as most certain that in proportion as they are better clothed and caressed, the worse they will become when they grow up. This is the teaching of the Holy Spirit: [the verse from Proverbs as above follows]. They must be treated with great uprightness and prudence, for otherwise they will gradually lose their respect to the character that God presents to them in the Spaniard. [The fable of King Log follows as above.]”212i.e., “He who blows his nose too violently generally draws forth blood.”213M. and D. make two paragraphs of the above, and read as follows: “One must not press them to give more of themselves than they can, as we do with the lemon, for that which will be expressed will be bitter, and, as says the proverb [in D.—“and as says a law commentary”]Qui nimis emungit solet extorquere cruorem. We must remember in all this the teaching of the holy Council of Trent, session 13 [in D.—“3”]de reformat, chapter I, whose words, although they are very well worth reading, I omit on account of their length. It is not proper to go up into their houses, except when necessity requires it, keeping therein the evangelical precept (Luke x, 7 [wrongly cited as xx]):Nolite transire de domo in domum. For one will lose much in estimation, while their vices [in D.—“coldness”] do not make this a desirable diversion.”214M. and D. add: “anything is entrusted to them.” The remainder of San Agustin’s letter is omitted in D.215M. and D. add here: “for thus does the Holy Spirit advise us.”“One day a friend of mine ordered a servant in my presence to go to a certain house to ask in his name for the last gazettes from Europa. I advised my friend to give the servant a note, since the latter would doubtless give expression to some bit of nonsense. He took no notice of me, and sent the servant. In fact, the man understood “aceite” [i.e., “olive oil”], for “gaceta” [i.e., “gazette”], and returned with a bottle of olive oil. His master was very much put out, while I burst into a roar of laughter. A peculiar thing is often observed in servants, namely, when one of them is ordered, ‘Go to the house of Don Antonio,’ before the message is finished the servant begins to go; and one has to call him back and say to him, ‘But, man alive, where are you going?’ and, if he is allowed to go, he reaches his destination and says that he has been sent there, and then returns whence he came, or utters some foolish remark.” (Mas, p. 133.)216In the Vulgate, the last word of the Latin in this citation iseum.217i.e., “at least in passing.” This is not in M.218M. reads “denude themselves of their customs.”219M. reads: “For the Indian who is ordained does not give himself a trade because of the more perfect estate.”220M. has instead of “from the oar,” “from handling a bolo.”221Spanish,la cuña del mismo palo; another application of an old Spanish proverb.222M. adds “and those farthest from Manila, where also the remedy is very far away.”223Spanish,sobre quítame allá esas pajas—literally, “regarding ‘carry away these straws from me,’” defined by the Academy’s dictionary as, “about a thing of little importance or value.”224Picota: “a column [the insignia of jurisdiction] or gibbet of stone, which is usually placed at the entrances of towns or villages; on which are ignominiously exposed the heads of persons executed or of criminals” (Bárcia,Dicc. etimológico).225M. adds “to the father cura.” The reason for this letter may be found possibly in this paragraph, in the hostility of the religious orders to admitting the Filipinos to the priesthood.226M. reads “How well it could be subdued and composed.”227M. adds “in his happiness.”228M. reads: “And while they were all gallantly seated in the hall, and she was, very finely adorned with jewels, in the room, surrounded by many ladies.”229M. reads: “The bride spied the mouse from a long distance, and, not being able to restrain herself out of respect for that function, she arose and began to run the length of the hall. She overthrew the people, and they were unable to restrain the fair bride, and cause her to desist from her undertaking. The angry groom said to them.”230The rest of this sentence reads in M., “even though they should become bishops.”231Matthew xxv, 21.232i.e., “The priesthood is the apex of all good things which exist among men.”St. Ignatius the Martyr was born about the middle of the first century of the Christian era, and is said to have been baptized by the apostle John. He was bishop of Antioch for forty years. Arrested by the Roman authorities because of his preaching, he was sent to Rome, where he was killed by wild beasts in the arena, probably about 107 A. D. He met the famous Polycarp while on his way to Rome. Many epistles exist which are said to have been written by him, although some of them are probably spurious. His day is celebrated on February 1. See S. Baring-Gould (ut supra), ii, pp. 1–5, andNew International Encyclopædia.233i.e., “Concerning the dignity of the priesthood.” M. adds: ”Nihil est in hoc secula excelentius sacerdotibus[i.e., ‘There is nothing more excellent in this world than the priesthood’]; and above,horur igitur, et sublimitas sacerdotalis nullis poterit compurationibus adequari si regum fulgori compares, et principum Diademati longe erit inferius, quam si plumbi metallum aduri fugorem compares. [i.e., “Therefore the priestly reverence and height can be equaled by no comparisons. If it be compared to the splendor of kings and the diadem of princes, the comparison is far more inferior than if the metal lead were compared to gleaming gold.”] And of this Father Don Antonio Molina speaks at length in his admirable book.”234St. Ambrose was one of the four doctors of the western church. He was born at Trèves about 340 A. D., and received a good education in Rome, and entered into the Roman civil service. Elected to the office of bishop of Milan, in what was regarded as a miraculous manner, he soon became one of the great strongholds of the young religion of Christianity. To him was due the honor of receiving the great Augustine into the Church. His death occurred in 397 A. D. His day is celebrated on December 7; and in Milan he is regarded as a patron saint. The Ambrosian Library of that city is named for him. See S. Baring-Gould (ut supra), xv, pp. 74–104; andNew International Encyclopædia.235Antonio de Molina was a Spanish theologian, who was born at Villa-Nueva-de-los-Infantes (Castilla). Entering the Augustinian order, he taught theology, until he later retired to the house at Miradores, where he died September 12, 1612. He wrote a book calledInstruccion de Sacerdotes, which was published in various places in Spain, and later translated into various languages, among them the Latin. See Hoefer’sNouvelle biographie générale, xxxv, col. 892.236Paulo Segneri, S.J. was one of the most illustrious men that the Jesuit order has produced. He was a native of Nettuno, Italy, being born March 22, 1624, and entered the Society December 2, 1637. He early became deaf through his excessive study. After teaching the humanities and rhetoric, he became a preacher and missionary, traversing Italy on his missionary journeys during the years 1665–1692. In 1692 he was called to Rome by Innocent XII, to take the place of his preacher-in-ordinary. His death occurred at Rome, December 9, 1694. His influence on Italy is ranked by some only second to that of Savonarola. His style in writing is regarded as of chief rank in purity and accuracy for hiscentury. His writings were numerous, and have been translated into many languages, some of them into Greek and Arabian. The book mentioned in the text isIl parroco instruito: opera in cui si dimostra a qualsisia curato novello il debito che lo strigne, e la via da tenerse nell’ adempirlo(Firenze, 1692). See Sommervogel’sBibliothèque; and Hoefer (ut supra), xliii, cols. 685, 686.237The dignity of patriarch in the Catholic church (leaving aside the papal rank) is the highest grade in the hierarchy of jurisdiction. Antioch early occupied a high place among the patriarchates, although with the lapse of time it lost its high position; and finally, after the schism between the eastern and western churches, the appointee to that dignity did not actually assume the office. See Addis and Arnold’sCatholic Dictionary, pp. 35, 36, and 640. The patriarch mentioned in the text was the famous Cardinal Charles Thomas Millard de Tournon. SeeVol. XXVIII, p. 118, and note 56; Concepción, ix, pp. 1–123; and Crétineau-Joly, v, pp. 38–54.238These last two sentences are missing in M.239At this point the letter proper in M. ends with the words: “May God preserve you for many years,” and no signature follows. This is followed by the questions for men and women of Murillo Velarde.240In the text,legitimos; probably a transcriber’s error forilegitimos(“of illegitimate birth”).Other papal letters give leave to dispense with the above classes, who could not, otherwise, be promoted to holy orders. Both classes could, also, be raised to church dignities, but only to minor dignities, and not to high ones as bishoprics, etc. The distinction betweenespuriosand[i]legitimosseems merely to have been a legal one, as both terms mean the same in effect.—Rev. T. C. Middleton, O.S.A.241i.e., “It was lately related to us.”242In the copy of this letter conserved in the collection of Fray Eduardo Navarro of the Colegio de Filipinas, Valladolid, Spain (of which we have the transcription of a few pages at the end), this word readsdivina.243Antonio (not Pedro) Urceo, who was also called Codrus,was an erudite Italian, who was born August 14, 1446 at Rubiera, and died at Bologna in 1500. He was a good educator of youth, but of choleric temper. While acting as tutor in one of the noble Italian families, a fire destroyed most of his papers, which so worked upon him that he retired into almost complete seclusion for six months. In 1482 he went to Bologna, where he taught grammar and eloquence. Although during his life he gave doubts of his orthodoxy, his death was all that could have been wished. His works were published in four editions, the first being at Bologna in 1502, under the titleIn hoc Codri Volumine hæc continentur Orationes, seu sermones ut ipse appelabat Epistolae. Silvae. Satyrae. Eglogae. Epigrammata. The translation of the above citation is as follows:“Although thou be freeborn and sprung from noble parents;Still even yet thou mayst be a base beast.Add that thou art an honor to thy country, and claim the noblest kin;Still even yet thou mayst be a base beast.Thou mayst have wealth, thou mayst have abundance of elegant furniture;Still even yet thou mayst be a base beast.In short, whatever thou shalt be, unless thou have prudence,I declare that thou wilt ever be a base beast.”Of the native priests of the Philippines, Delgado says (pp. 293–296): “I know some seculars in the islands, who although Indians, can serve as an example and confusion to the European priests. I shall only bring forward two examples: one, the bachelor Don Eugenio de Santa Cruz, judge-provisor of this bishopric ofSantísimo Nombre de Jesús, and calificador of the Holy Office, a full blooded Indian and a native of Pampanga. And inasmuch as the author of this letter confesses that the Pampangos are a different people, I shall name another, namely, the bachelor Don Bartolomé Saguinsin, a Tagálog, a cura of the district of Quiape (outside the walls of Manila), an Indian, and a native of the village of Antipolo. I knew his parents, and had friendly relations with them while I was minister in that village. Both men were esteemed for their abilities and venerated for their virtues, in Tagalos and Visayas.” In addition, “those reared in any of the four colleges in Manila, for the clerical estate are all the sons of chiefs, people of distinction among the Indians themselves, and not of thetimaua, or of the class ofolipon, as the Visayan says, ormaharlicaoralipin, as the Tagálog calls the slaves and freedmen. The reverend fathers of St. Dominic or of the Society rear these boys and instruct them in virtue and learning; and if they have anyof the vices of Indians, these are corrected and suppressed by the teaching and conversation of the fathers. Furthermore, when the most illustrious bishops promote any of these men to holy orders, they do not proceed blindly, ordering any one whomever to be advanced—but only with great consideration and prudence, and after informing themselves of his birth and his morals, and examining and testing him first before the ministry of souls is entrusted to him; and to say the contrary is to censure the most illustrious prelates, to whom we owe so much veneration and reverence. Furthermore, there are among these Indians, many (and perhaps most of them) who are as noble, in their line of descent as Indians, as is any Spaniard; and some of them much more than many Spaniards who esteem themselves as nobles in this land. For, although their fate keeps them, in the present order of things, in an almost abject condition, many of them are seigniors of vassals. Their seigniory has not been suppressed by the king, nor can it be suppressed. Such we callcabezas de barangayin Tagálog, andGinhaopanin Visayan. They and their children and relatives lose nothing of their nobility because they serve the king in cutting timber, in the fleets, or in other personal services which are necessary in this land. As they lose nothing, it is also much honor for them that the king be served by them. Accordingly, there are sargentos-mayor, masters-of-camp, captains, governors of the villages, and lieutenants, and all are Indians of distinction. These would not go to row in a banca, and their hands would certainly be freed from handling a bolo or an ax in the cutting of timber, and their mothers, wives, and daughters would not have become spinners, if it were not for España. And although all the Indians seem of one color to the father, this color is well distinguished among them; and they are very respectful to their chiefs and much more so to their priests, even though these be Indians like themselves.” Delgado continues by saying that, although some of the native priests have turned out badly, that is not sufficient to condemn them all. It is arbitrary to declare that the Indian enters the priesthood solely for his own comfort, and because of the respect shown him, and not because of the spiritual blessings. Many Spaniards also enter the ecclesiastical estate merely for a living. There are examples of Negro, Japanese, and Chinese priests. “Consequently, it is not to be wondered at that the most illustrious prelates and bishops should ordain Indians here and in Nueva España, and in other parts of the Indias.”244The date of the Navarro copy is wrongly given as 1725.245Pedro Murillo Velarde was born August 6, 1696, at Villa Laujar, Granada, and entered the Jesuit novitiate at the age of 22. Having entered the Philippine missions, he was long a professor in the university of Manila; and later was rector at Antipolo, visitor to the Mindanao missions, and procurator at Rome and Madrid. He died at the hospital of Puerto Santa Maria,November 30, 1753. Murillo Velarde is one of the more noted among Jesuit writers. His principal works are the following:Cursus juris canonici, hispani et indici(Madrid, 1743);Historia de la provincia de Philipinas de la Compañia de Jesus(Manila, 1749); andGeographica historica(Madrid, 1752), in ten volumes. In theHistoria(which work we have used freely in the present series, as material for annotation) was published his noted map of the Philippine Islands, the first detailed map of the archipelago; it was made by order of the governor of the island, Valdes Tamón, in 1734.246A kind of sausage composed of lean pork, almonds, pineapple kernels, and honey.247This sentence is missing in Father Navarro’s copy.248Literally “lose a foothold.”249Delgado here refers to the “Opinion” by Murillo Velarde which is prefixed to vol. i of San Antonio’sChronicas; this is dated at San Miguel, May 19, 1738, and contains a detailed description of the products of the islands—vegetable, animal, and mineral—from which we extract his description of the peoples therein, as follows:“The natives of these islands are generally called Indians, because these islands are included in the demarcation of the Western Indias—although properly they are in the Eastern hemisphere, because, as they are distant from España more than a hundred and eighty degrees of longitude, which makes the half-circuit [of the globe], it necessarily follows that they must be on the side of the East. All the Indians resemble one another, especially in the yellowish-brown color and the flattened nose; andthere is little difference between the individuals. In the island of Negros, between Cavitan and Sipalay, I encountered heathen blacks with crinkled hair, as if they were from Guinea. The people who are here called creoles are of a swarthy brown color, with withered skin, and are quite civilized and capable. As for the origin of the Indians, I am inclined to think that they originate from Malayos, on account of the similarity of their language; for by examining on various occasions a Malay (a native of Maláca) who could speak several languages fluently, and a Ternatan, and Lutaos and Subanos, I have ascertained the following: In the Malay, “sky” is calledlanguit, and the same in Tagálog, in Lutáo, and Subáno; “man” [varon] islalaquiin Malay, as in the Tagálog and Bisayan; “tongue” isdilain Malay, as in Tagálog; “white” isputiin Malay, as in Tagálog, Subáno, and Lutáo. In other words the difference is but slight; thus, in Malay “land” isnigri, in Tagáloglupa, in Lutáotana, in Boholanyuta; and “man” [hombre] is in Malayoran, in Tagálogtavo, in Lutáoaa, in Subánogatao. The Indians are exceedingly clever in every kind of handiwork, not for inventing, but for imitating what they see. They write beautifully; many of them are tailors and barbers, for they learn both these trades with little effort; and there are among them excellent embroiderers, painters, and silversmiths; and engravers whose work has no equal in all the Indias—and I was even going to place it far ahead of all the rest, if shame had not restrained me—as is very obvious in the many and excellent engravings which they are all the time producing. They are good carvers, gilders, and carpenters. They build vessels for these islands—galleys, galliots, pataches, and ships for the Acapulco trade-route. They are good seamen, artillerists, and divers—for there is hardly an Indian who does not know how to swim very well. They are the pilots of these seas. They excel in makingbejuquillos, which are golden chains of delicate and exquisite workmanship. From palm-leaves, rattan, andnitothey make hats, andpetatesor rugs, and mats, that are very handsome, and wrought with various kinds of flowers and other figures. They are noted as mechanics and puppet-players, and make complicated mechanisms which, by means of figures, go through various motions with propriety and accuracy. Some are watchmakers. They make gunpowder, and cast mortars, cannon, and bells. I have seen them make guns, as handsomely constructed as those made in Europe, although I do not think that they would be as substantial and reliable as those. There are in Manila three printing-houses, and all keep Indian workmen; and the errors that they make are notnumerous. They have remarkable skill in music; and there is no village, however small, that has not a very respectable musician to officiate in the church. Among them are excellent voices—trebles, contraltos, tenors, and basses; almost all can play on the harp, and there are many violinists, and players on the oboe and flute. It is especially noticeable that not only those whose trade it is to make these instruments do so, but various Indians, through love [for such work], make guitars, harps, flutes, and violins, with their bolos or machetes; and they learn to play these instruments by only seeing them played, and without any special instruction. Almost the same thing occurs in other matters; and on this account it is said that the Indians have their understanding in their eyes, since they so closely imitate what they see. Such are the Indians, when observed on the outside surface of their aspect; but when one penetrates into the interior of their dispositions, peculiarities, and customs, they are a labyrinth, in which the most sagacious man loses his way. They appear ingenious and simple in countenance and words, but they are masters eminent in deceit and feigning; under an apparent simplicity they conceal an artful and crafty dissimulation. I believe that the Indian never fails to deceive, unless when his own interests are hindered. In their lawsuits and business dealings they are like flies, which never quit what they are seeking, no matter how much they are brushed away; and thus they surpass and conquer us. The Chinese say that the Spaniard is fire, and the Indian is water, and that water quenches fire. They neither resent an injury nor thank one for a kindness. If you give them anything, they immediately ask for another. There is no fixed rule for construing them; for each one is needed a new syntax, because they are anomalous. With them the argument is not concluded by induction, since no Indian resembles another, nor even is one like himself; for in the short round of one day he changes his colors oftener than a chameleon, takes more shapes than a Proteus, and has more movements than a Euripus. He who deals with them most knows them least. They are, in fine, a union of contrarieties, which the greatest logician could not reconcile; they are an obscure and confused Chaos, in which species cannot be perceived or formal qualities distinguished; and if I had to define them I would say:“Obstabatque alijs aliud, quia corpore in vnoFrigida pugnabant calidis, humentia siccis,Mollia cum duris, sine pondere habentia pondus.”250Alluding to the irregular tides in the straits of Euripus, between Eubœa and Greece; during a large part of the month these tides occur as often as eleven to fourteen times during the twenty-four hours. Their irregularity occasioned among the Greeks a proverb, which Delgado here uses.251A name given by the inhabitants of Cuba to the natives of Mexico, and in Vera Cruz to those of the interior. The name is also applied to shrewd and brusque persons. (New Velázquez Dictionary.)252These two rules are respectively: “Evil once, evil is always presupposed;” and “Evil [may spring] from any failing.”253These chains were also of Chinese manufacture; apparently the Filipinos took up this industry through their tendency to imitate.254TheLygodium scandens, also calledGnitoandnitongputi, a climbing fern found throughout the Philippines. Blanco gives the name of the genus asUgena. The glossy, wiry stems are used in the making of fine hats, mats, cigarette and cigar cases, etc. SeeCensus of Philippines, iv, p. 166.255The balate is an echinoderm found abundantly in the Visayas, of which Delgado describes three varieties (p. 935): namely theHolothuria scabra(Jager), which is white; theHolothuria atra(Jager), which is black; and thebaconganorSynapta similis(Semper), which is of larger size. The second variety is most esteemed. It was sold dry in the Visayas or taken to Manila and sold, where they were worth thirty-five or forty or even more silver pesos per pico. The Chinese especially esteemed them (and do so yet) and large sums were paid for them in that country. The Filipinos occasionally ate them fresh, but only in the absence of fish.
182i.e., “Though composed of many, it draws to itself the nature of the more worthy simple form.”183“Among the Filipino Indians there are many who are very good, and are very capable of being directed and taught in good and holy customs; and because there are many bad ones, who govern themselves not by reason, but by the pressure of public opinion, it cannot be said rightly and conscientiously that all are bad.” (Delgado, p. 320.)“This paragraph appears admirable to me, and a more exact idea of the Filipino cannot be given in so few words—at least such as he is at present, either because of circumstances, or because of his physical constitution, or of the two things together.” (Mas, p. 127.)184M. and D. add “it is in favor of their comfort, and they commit other greater acts of insolence, for.”185i.e., “They enter into the joy of their lord;” a reference to MatthewXXV, 21, 23.186i.e., “Not as to the cause, but as the effect.” D. reverses the position of the negative.187Heliogabalus the Roman emperor, who ascended the throne in 218 A. D., at the age of fourteen, and was assassinated after three years. He is known chiefly for his acts of madness and bestiality, and his cruelty.188San Agustin has quoted these lines incorrectly. They are found in ll. 527–531 of Marcus Annæus Lucanus’sPharsalia, and are as follows:... O vitæ tuta facultas Pauperis angustique lares!O munera nondum Intellecta deum! Quibus hocContingere templis Aut potuit muris nulloTrepidare tumultu Cæsarea pulsante manu?...The translation of this passage is as follows: “O secure opportunity of life, and lares of the needy poor man! O gifts not yet recognized as a god! What temples could enjoy this blessing, or what walls be in confusion in any tumult, if the hand of Cæsar move?”189“All religious agree that they die with the utmost indifference, and that when they come to the bedside of the dying one, in order to comfort him, they remain cold upon seeing how little those people are changed by the words that their approaching peril inspires in them. Confessions at such a time are generally somewhat more sincere, but always very short and stupid. The relatives are not at all careful about talking of his deathin the presence of the sick person—as, for example, one of them remarking to the cura in a very natural and quiet voice in his uncle’s presence (who still fully retained his feeling and hearing): ‘See, Father, it would be wise for you to consecrate the winding-sheet, for I think that he is about to die soon.’ The same indifference is to be observed in a criminal condemned to any punishment. He is seated on his heels on a bamboo bench, smoking. Every few moments the religious enters to give him a Christian word, to which the criminal generally answers: ‘Yes, Father, I know quite well that I have to die; what am I to do about it? I am an evil man; God so decrees; such was my fate;’ and other things of this sort. He eats regularly, and sleeps as on any other day.... [This] is only one additional proof, and in my opinion, a not slight one, that the Filipino race is inferior, at least in spiritual matters, to our race.” (Mas, pp. 128, 129.)190The location of the above quotation is not given in the Ayer MS., but is given in both M. and D.191D. reads “chatcere.”192Possibly a reference to Proverbs ii instead of xx (where there is nothing that corresponds to this passage). The translation of the above is: “I walk in the ways of justice, in the midst of the paths of judgment, so that I may call myself diligent.”193This is not quoted correctly, but should be:Venite ad me omnes, qui laboratis et onerati estis, et ego reficiam vos.The editor of D. has emended this passage.194This is the wrong reference. In the King James version, it is lxxii, 13, and in the Douay version, lxxi, 13.195i.e., “For to him that is little, mercy is granted.” This is not in M.196The remainder of this paragraph, and all the next, are lacking in M.197i.e., “No sacrifice is more acceptable to God than the zeal for souls.”198i.e., “Ye therefore, my friends who are in the world, proceed with security, and cry out and announce my will. I will dwell in your heart and in your mouth: I will be your leader on the way, and you consolation at death. I will not leave you. Proceed with eagerness, for glory increases from the labor.” D. reads “audacter,” “boldly,” instead of “alacriter.” M. gives but a portion of the citation.199This quotation is not exact, the correct version being as follows:Patientia enim vobis necessaria est: ut voluntatem Dei facientis, reportetis promissionem.It is not in M.200In D. “placing.”201M. is the only one of the three versions of this letter that locates this citation correctly. We adopt the reading of the Latin Vulgate, as San Agustin has not quoted exactly.202M. and D. omit these last four words.203M. and D. read “variety of combinations of.”204Of the remainder of the letter, Delgado says (p. 323): “In regard to all the rest that the reverend writer adds, concerning the manner in which those who live with the Indians ought to comport themselves, I have nothing more to say or to add. For it is all well written and noted, and those who come new to these islands will do very well to read it and to do as the reverend father prescribes, teaching the Indians to read and write and other knowledge, for they have great capacity for all and at the same time, civilization, which is very necessary to them; and where they fail and sin, punish them as children, and not as slaves. By so doing they will obtain from them whatever they wish.”Mas says (pp. 130, 131) of the advice given by San Agustin “I would be very glad, and it would be very advantageous for them, if all the Spaniards would adopt this system which is both wise and unique. But quite to the contrary, many persons think that the Filipinos ought to understand them at the slightest insinuation and very readily. For any fault they become impatient and call the Filipinos brutes, and carabaos, and express themselves in the presence of the Filipinos in the most violent manner, and in the most insulting terms about the race in general, even to the point of wishing to destroy them and other barbarous and sanguinary ideas of which their heart is not capable. And they do not take note that such outbreaks of wrath only serve the purpose of confusing the Filipinos, rendering them more stupid, and rousing up hatred against them and all the Spaniards.”205In M. “mildly.”206M. gives the reference wrongly as the nineteenth verse.207i.e., “Care must, in fact, be taken that the teacher and the father and the mother give discipline to their subjects.”208Not in M.209In D. “and the merit lies in the patience.”210i.e., “Help the poor because of the commandment; and send him not away empty-handed because of his poverty, etc.” M. and D. add the thirteenth verse, as follows:Perde pecuniam propter fratrem et amicum tuum, et non abscondas illam sub lapide in perditionem.The English of this is: “Lose thy money for thy brother and thy friend: and hide it not under a stone to be lost.” To the above paragraph M. and D. add the following: “For the merit becomes greater in proportion to their ingratitude if we fulfil our obligation and if they act according to their disposition. For, as says the royal prophet David (Psalm xxxvi, 21),Mutuabitur peccator, et non solvet: justus autem miseretur et tribuet.”211This paragraph is divided into two paragraphs in M. and D. and is very much abridged. It is as follows: “It is necessary that those Indians who are taken as servants, be shown no love if they are children, but always uprightness, for one must consider it as most certain that in proportion as they are better clothed and caressed, the worse they will become when they grow up. This is the teaching of the Holy Spirit: [the verse from Proverbs as above follows]. They must be treated with great uprightness and prudence, for otherwise they will gradually lose their respect to the character that God presents to them in the Spaniard. [The fable of King Log follows as above.]”212i.e., “He who blows his nose too violently generally draws forth blood.”213M. and D. make two paragraphs of the above, and read as follows: “One must not press them to give more of themselves than they can, as we do with the lemon, for that which will be expressed will be bitter, and, as says the proverb [in D.—“and as says a law commentary”]Qui nimis emungit solet extorquere cruorem. We must remember in all this the teaching of the holy Council of Trent, session 13 [in D.—“3”]de reformat, chapter I, whose words, although they are very well worth reading, I omit on account of their length. It is not proper to go up into their houses, except when necessity requires it, keeping therein the evangelical precept (Luke x, 7 [wrongly cited as xx]):Nolite transire de domo in domum. For one will lose much in estimation, while their vices [in D.—“coldness”] do not make this a desirable diversion.”214M. and D. add: “anything is entrusted to them.” The remainder of San Agustin’s letter is omitted in D.215M. and D. add here: “for thus does the Holy Spirit advise us.”“One day a friend of mine ordered a servant in my presence to go to a certain house to ask in his name for the last gazettes from Europa. I advised my friend to give the servant a note, since the latter would doubtless give expression to some bit of nonsense. He took no notice of me, and sent the servant. In fact, the man understood “aceite” [i.e., “olive oil”], for “gaceta” [i.e., “gazette”], and returned with a bottle of olive oil. His master was very much put out, while I burst into a roar of laughter. A peculiar thing is often observed in servants, namely, when one of them is ordered, ‘Go to the house of Don Antonio,’ before the message is finished the servant begins to go; and one has to call him back and say to him, ‘But, man alive, where are you going?’ and, if he is allowed to go, he reaches his destination and says that he has been sent there, and then returns whence he came, or utters some foolish remark.” (Mas, p. 133.)216In the Vulgate, the last word of the Latin in this citation iseum.217i.e., “at least in passing.” This is not in M.218M. reads “denude themselves of their customs.”219M. reads: “For the Indian who is ordained does not give himself a trade because of the more perfect estate.”220M. has instead of “from the oar,” “from handling a bolo.”221Spanish,la cuña del mismo palo; another application of an old Spanish proverb.222M. adds “and those farthest from Manila, where also the remedy is very far away.”223Spanish,sobre quítame allá esas pajas—literally, “regarding ‘carry away these straws from me,’” defined by the Academy’s dictionary as, “about a thing of little importance or value.”224Picota: “a column [the insignia of jurisdiction] or gibbet of stone, which is usually placed at the entrances of towns or villages; on which are ignominiously exposed the heads of persons executed or of criminals” (Bárcia,Dicc. etimológico).225M. adds “to the father cura.” The reason for this letter may be found possibly in this paragraph, in the hostility of the religious orders to admitting the Filipinos to the priesthood.226M. reads “How well it could be subdued and composed.”227M. adds “in his happiness.”228M. reads: “And while they were all gallantly seated in the hall, and she was, very finely adorned with jewels, in the room, surrounded by many ladies.”229M. reads: “The bride spied the mouse from a long distance, and, not being able to restrain herself out of respect for that function, she arose and began to run the length of the hall. She overthrew the people, and they were unable to restrain the fair bride, and cause her to desist from her undertaking. The angry groom said to them.”230The rest of this sentence reads in M., “even though they should become bishops.”231Matthew xxv, 21.232i.e., “The priesthood is the apex of all good things which exist among men.”St. Ignatius the Martyr was born about the middle of the first century of the Christian era, and is said to have been baptized by the apostle John. He was bishop of Antioch for forty years. Arrested by the Roman authorities because of his preaching, he was sent to Rome, where he was killed by wild beasts in the arena, probably about 107 A. D. He met the famous Polycarp while on his way to Rome. Many epistles exist which are said to have been written by him, although some of them are probably spurious. His day is celebrated on February 1. See S. Baring-Gould (ut supra), ii, pp. 1–5, andNew International Encyclopædia.233i.e., “Concerning the dignity of the priesthood.” M. adds: ”Nihil est in hoc secula excelentius sacerdotibus[i.e., ‘There is nothing more excellent in this world than the priesthood’]; and above,horur igitur, et sublimitas sacerdotalis nullis poterit compurationibus adequari si regum fulgori compares, et principum Diademati longe erit inferius, quam si plumbi metallum aduri fugorem compares. [i.e., “Therefore the priestly reverence and height can be equaled by no comparisons. If it be compared to the splendor of kings and the diadem of princes, the comparison is far more inferior than if the metal lead were compared to gleaming gold.”] And of this Father Don Antonio Molina speaks at length in his admirable book.”234St. Ambrose was one of the four doctors of the western church. He was born at Trèves about 340 A. D., and received a good education in Rome, and entered into the Roman civil service. Elected to the office of bishop of Milan, in what was regarded as a miraculous manner, he soon became one of the great strongholds of the young religion of Christianity. To him was due the honor of receiving the great Augustine into the Church. His death occurred in 397 A. D. His day is celebrated on December 7; and in Milan he is regarded as a patron saint. The Ambrosian Library of that city is named for him. See S. Baring-Gould (ut supra), xv, pp. 74–104; andNew International Encyclopædia.235Antonio de Molina was a Spanish theologian, who was born at Villa-Nueva-de-los-Infantes (Castilla). Entering the Augustinian order, he taught theology, until he later retired to the house at Miradores, where he died September 12, 1612. He wrote a book calledInstruccion de Sacerdotes, which was published in various places in Spain, and later translated into various languages, among them the Latin. See Hoefer’sNouvelle biographie générale, xxxv, col. 892.236Paulo Segneri, S.J. was one of the most illustrious men that the Jesuit order has produced. He was a native of Nettuno, Italy, being born March 22, 1624, and entered the Society December 2, 1637. He early became deaf through his excessive study. After teaching the humanities and rhetoric, he became a preacher and missionary, traversing Italy on his missionary journeys during the years 1665–1692. In 1692 he was called to Rome by Innocent XII, to take the place of his preacher-in-ordinary. His death occurred at Rome, December 9, 1694. His influence on Italy is ranked by some only second to that of Savonarola. His style in writing is regarded as of chief rank in purity and accuracy for hiscentury. His writings were numerous, and have been translated into many languages, some of them into Greek and Arabian. The book mentioned in the text isIl parroco instruito: opera in cui si dimostra a qualsisia curato novello il debito che lo strigne, e la via da tenerse nell’ adempirlo(Firenze, 1692). See Sommervogel’sBibliothèque; and Hoefer (ut supra), xliii, cols. 685, 686.237The dignity of patriarch in the Catholic church (leaving aside the papal rank) is the highest grade in the hierarchy of jurisdiction. Antioch early occupied a high place among the patriarchates, although with the lapse of time it lost its high position; and finally, after the schism between the eastern and western churches, the appointee to that dignity did not actually assume the office. See Addis and Arnold’sCatholic Dictionary, pp. 35, 36, and 640. The patriarch mentioned in the text was the famous Cardinal Charles Thomas Millard de Tournon. SeeVol. XXVIII, p. 118, and note 56; Concepción, ix, pp. 1–123; and Crétineau-Joly, v, pp. 38–54.238These last two sentences are missing in M.239At this point the letter proper in M. ends with the words: “May God preserve you for many years,” and no signature follows. This is followed by the questions for men and women of Murillo Velarde.240In the text,legitimos; probably a transcriber’s error forilegitimos(“of illegitimate birth”).Other papal letters give leave to dispense with the above classes, who could not, otherwise, be promoted to holy orders. Both classes could, also, be raised to church dignities, but only to minor dignities, and not to high ones as bishoprics, etc. The distinction betweenespuriosand[i]legitimosseems merely to have been a legal one, as both terms mean the same in effect.—Rev. T. C. Middleton, O.S.A.241i.e., “It was lately related to us.”242In the copy of this letter conserved in the collection of Fray Eduardo Navarro of the Colegio de Filipinas, Valladolid, Spain (of which we have the transcription of a few pages at the end), this word readsdivina.243Antonio (not Pedro) Urceo, who was also called Codrus,was an erudite Italian, who was born August 14, 1446 at Rubiera, and died at Bologna in 1500. He was a good educator of youth, but of choleric temper. While acting as tutor in one of the noble Italian families, a fire destroyed most of his papers, which so worked upon him that he retired into almost complete seclusion for six months. In 1482 he went to Bologna, where he taught grammar and eloquence. Although during his life he gave doubts of his orthodoxy, his death was all that could have been wished. His works were published in four editions, the first being at Bologna in 1502, under the titleIn hoc Codri Volumine hæc continentur Orationes, seu sermones ut ipse appelabat Epistolae. Silvae. Satyrae. Eglogae. Epigrammata. The translation of the above citation is as follows:“Although thou be freeborn and sprung from noble parents;Still even yet thou mayst be a base beast.Add that thou art an honor to thy country, and claim the noblest kin;Still even yet thou mayst be a base beast.Thou mayst have wealth, thou mayst have abundance of elegant furniture;Still even yet thou mayst be a base beast.In short, whatever thou shalt be, unless thou have prudence,I declare that thou wilt ever be a base beast.”Of the native priests of the Philippines, Delgado says (pp. 293–296): “I know some seculars in the islands, who although Indians, can serve as an example and confusion to the European priests. I shall only bring forward two examples: one, the bachelor Don Eugenio de Santa Cruz, judge-provisor of this bishopric ofSantísimo Nombre de Jesús, and calificador of the Holy Office, a full blooded Indian and a native of Pampanga. And inasmuch as the author of this letter confesses that the Pampangos are a different people, I shall name another, namely, the bachelor Don Bartolomé Saguinsin, a Tagálog, a cura of the district of Quiape (outside the walls of Manila), an Indian, and a native of the village of Antipolo. I knew his parents, and had friendly relations with them while I was minister in that village. Both men were esteemed for their abilities and venerated for their virtues, in Tagalos and Visayas.” In addition, “those reared in any of the four colleges in Manila, for the clerical estate are all the sons of chiefs, people of distinction among the Indians themselves, and not of thetimaua, or of the class ofolipon, as the Visayan says, ormaharlicaoralipin, as the Tagálog calls the slaves and freedmen. The reverend fathers of St. Dominic or of the Society rear these boys and instruct them in virtue and learning; and if they have anyof the vices of Indians, these are corrected and suppressed by the teaching and conversation of the fathers. Furthermore, when the most illustrious bishops promote any of these men to holy orders, they do not proceed blindly, ordering any one whomever to be advanced—but only with great consideration and prudence, and after informing themselves of his birth and his morals, and examining and testing him first before the ministry of souls is entrusted to him; and to say the contrary is to censure the most illustrious prelates, to whom we owe so much veneration and reverence. Furthermore, there are among these Indians, many (and perhaps most of them) who are as noble, in their line of descent as Indians, as is any Spaniard; and some of them much more than many Spaniards who esteem themselves as nobles in this land. For, although their fate keeps them, in the present order of things, in an almost abject condition, many of them are seigniors of vassals. Their seigniory has not been suppressed by the king, nor can it be suppressed. Such we callcabezas de barangayin Tagálog, andGinhaopanin Visayan. They and their children and relatives lose nothing of their nobility because they serve the king in cutting timber, in the fleets, or in other personal services which are necessary in this land. As they lose nothing, it is also much honor for them that the king be served by them. Accordingly, there are sargentos-mayor, masters-of-camp, captains, governors of the villages, and lieutenants, and all are Indians of distinction. These would not go to row in a banca, and their hands would certainly be freed from handling a bolo or an ax in the cutting of timber, and their mothers, wives, and daughters would not have become spinners, if it were not for España. And although all the Indians seem of one color to the father, this color is well distinguished among them; and they are very respectful to their chiefs and much more so to their priests, even though these be Indians like themselves.” Delgado continues by saying that, although some of the native priests have turned out badly, that is not sufficient to condemn them all. It is arbitrary to declare that the Indian enters the priesthood solely for his own comfort, and because of the respect shown him, and not because of the spiritual blessings. Many Spaniards also enter the ecclesiastical estate merely for a living. There are examples of Negro, Japanese, and Chinese priests. “Consequently, it is not to be wondered at that the most illustrious prelates and bishops should ordain Indians here and in Nueva España, and in other parts of the Indias.”244The date of the Navarro copy is wrongly given as 1725.245Pedro Murillo Velarde was born August 6, 1696, at Villa Laujar, Granada, and entered the Jesuit novitiate at the age of 22. Having entered the Philippine missions, he was long a professor in the university of Manila; and later was rector at Antipolo, visitor to the Mindanao missions, and procurator at Rome and Madrid. He died at the hospital of Puerto Santa Maria,November 30, 1753. Murillo Velarde is one of the more noted among Jesuit writers. His principal works are the following:Cursus juris canonici, hispani et indici(Madrid, 1743);Historia de la provincia de Philipinas de la Compañia de Jesus(Manila, 1749); andGeographica historica(Madrid, 1752), in ten volumes. In theHistoria(which work we have used freely in the present series, as material for annotation) was published his noted map of the Philippine Islands, the first detailed map of the archipelago; it was made by order of the governor of the island, Valdes Tamón, in 1734.246A kind of sausage composed of lean pork, almonds, pineapple kernels, and honey.247This sentence is missing in Father Navarro’s copy.248Literally “lose a foothold.”249Delgado here refers to the “Opinion” by Murillo Velarde which is prefixed to vol. i of San Antonio’sChronicas; this is dated at San Miguel, May 19, 1738, and contains a detailed description of the products of the islands—vegetable, animal, and mineral—from which we extract his description of the peoples therein, as follows:“The natives of these islands are generally called Indians, because these islands are included in the demarcation of the Western Indias—although properly they are in the Eastern hemisphere, because, as they are distant from España more than a hundred and eighty degrees of longitude, which makes the half-circuit [of the globe], it necessarily follows that they must be on the side of the East. All the Indians resemble one another, especially in the yellowish-brown color and the flattened nose; andthere is little difference between the individuals. In the island of Negros, between Cavitan and Sipalay, I encountered heathen blacks with crinkled hair, as if they were from Guinea. The people who are here called creoles are of a swarthy brown color, with withered skin, and are quite civilized and capable. As for the origin of the Indians, I am inclined to think that they originate from Malayos, on account of the similarity of their language; for by examining on various occasions a Malay (a native of Maláca) who could speak several languages fluently, and a Ternatan, and Lutaos and Subanos, I have ascertained the following: In the Malay, “sky” is calledlanguit, and the same in Tagálog, in Lutáo, and Subáno; “man” [varon] islalaquiin Malay, as in the Tagálog and Bisayan; “tongue” isdilain Malay, as in Tagálog; “white” isputiin Malay, as in Tagálog, Subáno, and Lutáo. In other words the difference is but slight; thus, in Malay “land” isnigri, in Tagáloglupa, in Lutáotana, in Boholanyuta; and “man” [hombre] is in Malayoran, in Tagálogtavo, in Lutáoaa, in Subánogatao. The Indians are exceedingly clever in every kind of handiwork, not for inventing, but for imitating what they see. They write beautifully; many of them are tailors and barbers, for they learn both these trades with little effort; and there are among them excellent embroiderers, painters, and silversmiths; and engravers whose work has no equal in all the Indias—and I was even going to place it far ahead of all the rest, if shame had not restrained me—as is very obvious in the many and excellent engravings which they are all the time producing. They are good carvers, gilders, and carpenters. They build vessels for these islands—galleys, galliots, pataches, and ships for the Acapulco trade-route. They are good seamen, artillerists, and divers—for there is hardly an Indian who does not know how to swim very well. They are the pilots of these seas. They excel in makingbejuquillos, which are golden chains of delicate and exquisite workmanship. From palm-leaves, rattan, andnitothey make hats, andpetatesor rugs, and mats, that are very handsome, and wrought with various kinds of flowers and other figures. They are noted as mechanics and puppet-players, and make complicated mechanisms which, by means of figures, go through various motions with propriety and accuracy. Some are watchmakers. They make gunpowder, and cast mortars, cannon, and bells. I have seen them make guns, as handsomely constructed as those made in Europe, although I do not think that they would be as substantial and reliable as those. There are in Manila three printing-houses, and all keep Indian workmen; and the errors that they make are notnumerous. They have remarkable skill in music; and there is no village, however small, that has not a very respectable musician to officiate in the church. Among them are excellent voices—trebles, contraltos, tenors, and basses; almost all can play on the harp, and there are many violinists, and players on the oboe and flute. It is especially noticeable that not only those whose trade it is to make these instruments do so, but various Indians, through love [for such work], make guitars, harps, flutes, and violins, with their bolos or machetes; and they learn to play these instruments by only seeing them played, and without any special instruction. Almost the same thing occurs in other matters; and on this account it is said that the Indians have their understanding in their eyes, since they so closely imitate what they see. Such are the Indians, when observed on the outside surface of their aspect; but when one penetrates into the interior of their dispositions, peculiarities, and customs, they are a labyrinth, in which the most sagacious man loses his way. They appear ingenious and simple in countenance and words, but they are masters eminent in deceit and feigning; under an apparent simplicity they conceal an artful and crafty dissimulation. I believe that the Indian never fails to deceive, unless when his own interests are hindered. In their lawsuits and business dealings they are like flies, which never quit what they are seeking, no matter how much they are brushed away; and thus they surpass and conquer us. The Chinese say that the Spaniard is fire, and the Indian is water, and that water quenches fire. They neither resent an injury nor thank one for a kindness. If you give them anything, they immediately ask for another. There is no fixed rule for construing them; for each one is needed a new syntax, because they are anomalous. With them the argument is not concluded by induction, since no Indian resembles another, nor even is one like himself; for in the short round of one day he changes his colors oftener than a chameleon, takes more shapes than a Proteus, and has more movements than a Euripus. He who deals with them most knows them least. They are, in fine, a union of contrarieties, which the greatest logician could not reconcile; they are an obscure and confused Chaos, in which species cannot be perceived or formal qualities distinguished; and if I had to define them I would say:“Obstabatque alijs aliud, quia corpore in vnoFrigida pugnabant calidis, humentia siccis,Mollia cum duris, sine pondere habentia pondus.”250Alluding to the irregular tides in the straits of Euripus, between Eubœa and Greece; during a large part of the month these tides occur as often as eleven to fourteen times during the twenty-four hours. Their irregularity occasioned among the Greeks a proverb, which Delgado here uses.251A name given by the inhabitants of Cuba to the natives of Mexico, and in Vera Cruz to those of the interior. The name is also applied to shrewd and brusque persons. (New Velázquez Dictionary.)252These two rules are respectively: “Evil once, evil is always presupposed;” and “Evil [may spring] from any failing.”253These chains were also of Chinese manufacture; apparently the Filipinos took up this industry through their tendency to imitate.254TheLygodium scandens, also calledGnitoandnitongputi, a climbing fern found throughout the Philippines. Blanco gives the name of the genus asUgena. The glossy, wiry stems are used in the making of fine hats, mats, cigarette and cigar cases, etc. SeeCensus of Philippines, iv, p. 166.255The balate is an echinoderm found abundantly in the Visayas, of which Delgado describes three varieties (p. 935): namely theHolothuria scabra(Jager), which is white; theHolothuria atra(Jager), which is black; and thebaconganorSynapta similis(Semper), which is of larger size. The second variety is most esteemed. It was sold dry in the Visayas or taken to Manila and sold, where they were worth thirty-five or forty or even more silver pesos per pico. The Chinese especially esteemed them (and do so yet) and large sums were paid for them in that country. The Filipinos occasionally ate them fresh, but only in the absence of fish.
182i.e., “Though composed of many, it draws to itself the nature of the more worthy simple form.”
183“Among the Filipino Indians there are many who are very good, and are very capable of being directed and taught in good and holy customs; and because there are many bad ones, who govern themselves not by reason, but by the pressure of public opinion, it cannot be said rightly and conscientiously that all are bad.” (Delgado, p. 320.)
“This paragraph appears admirable to me, and a more exact idea of the Filipino cannot be given in so few words—at least such as he is at present, either because of circumstances, or because of his physical constitution, or of the two things together.” (Mas, p. 127.)
184M. and D. add “it is in favor of their comfort, and they commit other greater acts of insolence, for.”
185i.e., “They enter into the joy of their lord;” a reference to MatthewXXV, 21, 23.
186i.e., “Not as to the cause, but as the effect.” D. reverses the position of the negative.
187Heliogabalus the Roman emperor, who ascended the throne in 218 A. D., at the age of fourteen, and was assassinated after three years. He is known chiefly for his acts of madness and bestiality, and his cruelty.
188San Agustin has quoted these lines incorrectly. They are found in ll. 527–531 of Marcus Annæus Lucanus’sPharsalia, and are as follows:
... O vitæ tuta facultas Pauperis angustique lares!O munera nondum Intellecta deum! Quibus hocContingere templis Aut potuit muris nulloTrepidare tumultu Cæsarea pulsante manu?...
... O vitæ tuta facultas Pauperis angustique lares!O munera nondum Intellecta deum! Quibus hocContingere templis Aut potuit muris nulloTrepidare tumultu Cæsarea pulsante manu?...
... O vitæ tuta facultas Pauperis angustique lares!O munera nondum Intellecta deum! Quibus hocContingere templis Aut potuit muris nulloTrepidare tumultu Cæsarea pulsante manu?...
... O vitæ tuta facultas Pauperis angustique lares!O munera nondum Intellecta deum! Quibus hocContingere templis Aut potuit muris nulloTrepidare tumultu Cæsarea pulsante manu?...
... O vitæ tuta facultas Pauperis angustique lares!
O munera nondum Intellecta deum! Quibus hoc
Contingere templis Aut potuit muris nullo
Trepidare tumultu Cæsarea pulsante manu?...
The translation of this passage is as follows: “O secure opportunity of life, and lares of the needy poor man! O gifts not yet recognized as a god! What temples could enjoy this blessing, or what walls be in confusion in any tumult, if the hand of Cæsar move?”
189“All religious agree that they die with the utmost indifference, and that when they come to the bedside of the dying one, in order to comfort him, they remain cold upon seeing how little those people are changed by the words that their approaching peril inspires in them. Confessions at such a time are generally somewhat more sincere, but always very short and stupid. The relatives are not at all careful about talking of his deathin the presence of the sick person—as, for example, one of them remarking to the cura in a very natural and quiet voice in his uncle’s presence (who still fully retained his feeling and hearing): ‘See, Father, it would be wise for you to consecrate the winding-sheet, for I think that he is about to die soon.’ The same indifference is to be observed in a criminal condemned to any punishment. He is seated on his heels on a bamboo bench, smoking. Every few moments the religious enters to give him a Christian word, to which the criminal generally answers: ‘Yes, Father, I know quite well that I have to die; what am I to do about it? I am an evil man; God so decrees; such was my fate;’ and other things of this sort. He eats regularly, and sleeps as on any other day.... [This] is only one additional proof, and in my opinion, a not slight one, that the Filipino race is inferior, at least in spiritual matters, to our race.” (Mas, pp. 128, 129.)
190The location of the above quotation is not given in the Ayer MS., but is given in both M. and D.
191D. reads “chatcere.”
192Possibly a reference to Proverbs ii instead of xx (where there is nothing that corresponds to this passage). The translation of the above is: “I walk in the ways of justice, in the midst of the paths of judgment, so that I may call myself diligent.”
193This is not quoted correctly, but should be:Venite ad me omnes, qui laboratis et onerati estis, et ego reficiam vos.The editor of D. has emended this passage.
194This is the wrong reference. In the King James version, it is lxxii, 13, and in the Douay version, lxxi, 13.
195i.e., “For to him that is little, mercy is granted.” This is not in M.
196The remainder of this paragraph, and all the next, are lacking in M.
197i.e., “No sacrifice is more acceptable to God than the zeal for souls.”
198i.e., “Ye therefore, my friends who are in the world, proceed with security, and cry out and announce my will. I will dwell in your heart and in your mouth: I will be your leader on the way, and you consolation at death. I will not leave you. Proceed with eagerness, for glory increases from the labor.” D. reads “audacter,” “boldly,” instead of “alacriter.” M. gives but a portion of the citation.
199This quotation is not exact, the correct version being as follows:Patientia enim vobis necessaria est: ut voluntatem Dei facientis, reportetis promissionem.It is not in M.
200In D. “placing.”
201M. is the only one of the three versions of this letter that locates this citation correctly. We adopt the reading of the Latin Vulgate, as San Agustin has not quoted exactly.
202M. and D. omit these last four words.
203M. and D. read “variety of combinations of.”
204Of the remainder of the letter, Delgado says (p. 323): “In regard to all the rest that the reverend writer adds, concerning the manner in which those who live with the Indians ought to comport themselves, I have nothing more to say or to add. For it is all well written and noted, and those who come new to these islands will do very well to read it and to do as the reverend father prescribes, teaching the Indians to read and write and other knowledge, for they have great capacity for all and at the same time, civilization, which is very necessary to them; and where they fail and sin, punish them as children, and not as slaves. By so doing they will obtain from them whatever they wish.”
Mas says (pp. 130, 131) of the advice given by San Agustin “I would be very glad, and it would be very advantageous for them, if all the Spaniards would adopt this system which is both wise and unique. But quite to the contrary, many persons think that the Filipinos ought to understand them at the slightest insinuation and very readily. For any fault they become impatient and call the Filipinos brutes, and carabaos, and express themselves in the presence of the Filipinos in the most violent manner, and in the most insulting terms about the race in general, even to the point of wishing to destroy them and other barbarous and sanguinary ideas of which their heart is not capable. And they do not take note that such outbreaks of wrath only serve the purpose of confusing the Filipinos, rendering them more stupid, and rousing up hatred against them and all the Spaniards.”
205In M. “mildly.”
206M. gives the reference wrongly as the nineteenth verse.
207i.e., “Care must, in fact, be taken that the teacher and the father and the mother give discipline to their subjects.”
208Not in M.
209In D. “and the merit lies in the patience.”
210i.e., “Help the poor because of the commandment; and send him not away empty-handed because of his poverty, etc.” M. and D. add the thirteenth verse, as follows:Perde pecuniam propter fratrem et amicum tuum, et non abscondas illam sub lapide in perditionem.The English of this is: “Lose thy money for thy brother and thy friend: and hide it not under a stone to be lost.” To the above paragraph M. and D. add the following: “For the merit becomes greater in proportion to their ingratitude if we fulfil our obligation and if they act according to their disposition. For, as says the royal prophet David (Psalm xxxvi, 21),Mutuabitur peccator, et non solvet: justus autem miseretur et tribuet.”
211This paragraph is divided into two paragraphs in M. and D. and is very much abridged. It is as follows: “It is necessary that those Indians who are taken as servants, be shown no love if they are children, but always uprightness, for one must consider it as most certain that in proportion as they are better clothed and caressed, the worse they will become when they grow up. This is the teaching of the Holy Spirit: [the verse from Proverbs as above follows]. They must be treated with great uprightness and prudence, for otherwise they will gradually lose their respect to the character that God presents to them in the Spaniard. [The fable of King Log follows as above.]”
212i.e., “He who blows his nose too violently generally draws forth blood.”
213M. and D. make two paragraphs of the above, and read as follows: “One must not press them to give more of themselves than they can, as we do with the lemon, for that which will be expressed will be bitter, and, as says the proverb [in D.—“and as says a law commentary”]Qui nimis emungit solet extorquere cruorem. We must remember in all this the teaching of the holy Council of Trent, session 13 [in D.—“3”]de reformat, chapter I, whose words, although they are very well worth reading, I omit on account of their length. It is not proper to go up into their houses, except when necessity requires it, keeping therein the evangelical precept (Luke x, 7 [wrongly cited as xx]):Nolite transire de domo in domum. For one will lose much in estimation, while their vices [in D.—“coldness”] do not make this a desirable diversion.”
214M. and D. add: “anything is entrusted to them.” The remainder of San Agustin’s letter is omitted in D.
215M. and D. add here: “for thus does the Holy Spirit advise us.”
“One day a friend of mine ordered a servant in my presence to go to a certain house to ask in his name for the last gazettes from Europa. I advised my friend to give the servant a note, since the latter would doubtless give expression to some bit of nonsense. He took no notice of me, and sent the servant. In fact, the man understood “aceite” [i.e., “olive oil”], for “gaceta” [i.e., “gazette”], and returned with a bottle of olive oil. His master was very much put out, while I burst into a roar of laughter. A peculiar thing is often observed in servants, namely, when one of them is ordered, ‘Go to the house of Don Antonio,’ before the message is finished the servant begins to go; and one has to call him back and say to him, ‘But, man alive, where are you going?’ and, if he is allowed to go, he reaches his destination and says that he has been sent there, and then returns whence he came, or utters some foolish remark.” (Mas, p. 133.)
216In the Vulgate, the last word of the Latin in this citation iseum.
217i.e., “at least in passing.” This is not in M.
218M. reads “denude themselves of their customs.”
219M. reads: “For the Indian who is ordained does not give himself a trade because of the more perfect estate.”
220M. has instead of “from the oar,” “from handling a bolo.”
221Spanish,la cuña del mismo palo; another application of an old Spanish proverb.
222M. adds “and those farthest from Manila, where also the remedy is very far away.”
223Spanish,sobre quítame allá esas pajas—literally, “regarding ‘carry away these straws from me,’” defined by the Academy’s dictionary as, “about a thing of little importance or value.”
224Picota: “a column [the insignia of jurisdiction] or gibbet of stone, which is usually placed at the entrances of towns or villages; on which are ignominiously exposed the heads of persons executed or of criminals” (Bárcia,Dicc. etimológico).
225M. adds “to the father cura.” The reason for this letter may be found possibly in this paragraph, in the hostility of the religious orders to admitting the Filipinos to the priesthood.
226M. reads “How well it could be subdued and composed.”
227M. adds “in his happiness.”
228M. reads: “And while they were all gallantly seated in the hall, and she was, very finely adorned with jewels, in the room, surrounded by many ladies.”
229M. reads: “The bride spied the mouse from a long distance, and, not being able to restrain herself out of respect for that function, she arose and began to run the length of the hall. She overthrew the people, and they were unable to restrain the fair bride, and cause her to desist from her undertaking. The angry groom said to them.”
230The rest of this sentence reads in M., “even though they should become bishops.”
231Matthew xxv, 21.
232i.e., “The priesthood is the apex of all good things which exist among men.”
St. Ignatius the Martyr was born about the middle of the first century of the Christian era, and is said to have been baptized by the apostle John. He was bishop of Antioch for forty years. Arrested by the Roman authorities because of his preaching, he was sent to Rome, where he was killed by wild beasts in the arena, probably about 107 A. D. He met the famous Polycarp while on his way to Rome. Many epistles exist which are said to have been written by him, although some of them are probably spurious. His day is celebrated on February 1. See S. Baring-Gould (ut supra), ii, pp. 1–5, andNew International Encyclopædia.
233i.e., “Concerning the dignity of the priesthood.” M. adds: ”Nihil est in hoc secula excelentius sacerdotibus[i.e., ‘There is nothing more excellent in this world than the priesthood’]; and above,horur igitur, et sublimitas sacerdotalis nullis poterit compurationibus adequari si regum fulgori compares, et principum Diademati longe erit inferius, quam si plumbi metallum aduri fugorem compares. [i.e., “Therefore the priestly reverence and height can be equaled by no comparisons. If it be compared to the splendor of kings and the diadem of princes, the comparison is far more inferior than if the metal lead were compared to gleaming gold.”] And of this Father Don Antonio Molina speaks at length in his admirable book.”
234St. Ambrose was one of the four doctors of the western church. He was born at Trèves about 340 A. D., and received a good education in Rome, and entered into the Roman civil service. Elected to the office of bishop of Milan, in what was regarded as a miraculous manner, he soon became one of the great strongholds of the young religion of Christianity. To him was due the honor of receiving the great Augustine into the Church. His death occurred in 397 A. D. His day is celebrated on December 7; and in Milan he is regarded as a patron saint. The Ambrosian Library of that city is named for him. See S. Baring-Gould (ut supra), xv, pp. 74–104; andNew International Encyclopædia.
235Antonio de Molina was a Spanish theologian, who was born at Villa-Nueva-de-los-Infantes (Castilla). Entering the Augustinian order, he taught theology, until he later retired to the house at Miradores, where he died September 12, 1612. He wrote a book calledInstruccion de Sacerdotes, which was published in various places in Spain, and later translated into various languages, among them the Latin. See Hoefer’sNouvelle biographie générale, xxxv, col. 892.
236Paulo Segneri, S.J. was one of the most illustrious men that the Jesuit order has produced. He was a native of Nettuno, Italy, being born March 22, 1624, and entered the Society December 2, 1637. He early became deaf through his excessive study. After teaching the humanities and rhetoric, he became a preacher and missionary, traversing Italy on his missionary journeys during the years 1665–1692. In 1692 he was called to Rome by Innocent XII, to take the place of his preacher-in-ordinary. His death occurred at Rome, December 9, 1694. His influence on Italy is ranked by some only second to that of Savonarola. His style in writing is regarded as of chief rank in purity and accuracy for hiscentury. His writings were numerous, and have been translated into many languages, some of them into Greek and Arabian. The book mentioned in the text isIl parroco instruito: opera in cui si dimostra a qualsisia curato novello il debito che lo strigne, e la via da tenerse nell’ adempirlo(Firenze, 1692). See Sommervogel’sBibliothèque; and Hoefer (ut supra), xliii, cols. 685, 686.
237The dignity of patriarch in the Catholic church (leaving aside the papal rank) is the highest grade in the hierarchy of jurisdiction. Antioch early occupied a high place among the patriarchates, although with the lapse of time it lost its high position; and finally, after the schism between the eastern and western churches, the appointee to that dignity did not actually assume the office. See Addis and Arnold’sCatholic Dictionary, pp. 35, 36, and 640. The patriarch mentioned in the text was the famous Cardinal Charles Thomas Millard de Tournon. SeeVol. XXVIII, p. 118, and note 56; Concepción, ix, pp. 1–123; and Crétineau-Joly, v, pp. 38–54.
238These last two sentences are missing in M.
239At this point the letter proper in M. ends with the words: “May God preserve you for many years,” and no signature follows. This is followed by the questions for men and women of Murillo Velarde.
240In the text,legitimos; probably a transcriber’s error forilegitimos(“of illegitimate birth”).
Other papal letters give leave to dispense with the above classes, who could not, otherwise, be promoted to holy orders. Both classes could, also, be raised to church dignities, but only to minor dignities, and not to high ones as bishoprics, etc. The distinction betweenespuriosand[i]legitimosseems merely to have been a legal one, as both terms mean the same in effect.—Rev. T. C. Middleton, O.S.A.
241i.e., “It was lately related to us.”
242In the copy of this letter conserved in the collection of Fray Eduardo Navarro of the Colegio de Filipinas, Valladolid, Spain (of which we have the transcription of a few pages at the end), this word readsdivina.
243Antonio (not Pedro) Urceo, who was also called Codrus,was an erudite Italian, who was born August 14, 1446 at Rubiera, and died at Bologna in 1500. He was a good educator of youth, but of choleric temper. While acting as tutor in one of the noble Italian families, a fire destroyed most of his papers, which so worked upon him that he retired into almost complete seclusion for six months. In 1482 he went to Bologna, where he taught grammar and eloquence. Although during his life he gave doubts of his orthodoxy, his death was all that could have been wished. His works were published in four editions, the first being at Bologna in 1502, under the titleIn hoc Codri Volumine hæc continentur Orationes, seu sermones ut ipse appelabat Epistolae. Silvae. Satyrae. Eglogae. Epigrammata. The translation of the above citation is as follows:
“Although thou be freeborn and sprung from noble parents;Still even yet thou mayst be a base beast.Add that thou art an honor to thy country, and claim the noblest kin;Still even yet thou mayst be a base beast.Thou mayst have wealth, thou mayst have abundance of elegant furniture;Still even yet thou mayst be a base beast.In short, whatever thou shalt be, unless thou have prudence,I declare that thou wilt ever be a base beast.”
“Although thou be freeborn and sprung from noble parents;Still even yet thou mayst be a base beast.Add that thou art an honor to thy country, and claim the noblest kin;Still even yet thou mayst be a base beast.Thou mayst have wealth, thou mayst have abundance of elegant furniture;Still even yet thou mayst be a base beast.In short, whatever thou shalt be, unless thou have prudence,I declare that thou wilt ever be a base beast.”
“Although thou be freeborn and sprung from noble parents;Still even yet thou mayst be a base beast.Add that thou art an honor to thy country, and claim the noblest kin;Still even yet thou mayst be a base beast.Thou mayst have wealth, thou mayst have abundance of elegant furniture;Still even yet thou mayst be a base beast.In short, whatever thou shalt be, unless thou have prudence,I declare that thou wilt ever be a base beast.”
“Although thou be freeborn and sprung from noble parents;Still even yet thou mayst be a base beast.Add that thou art an honor to thy country, and claim the noblest kin;Still even yet thou mayst be a base beast.Thou mayst have wealth, thou mayst have abundance of elegant furniture;Still even yet thou mayst be a base beast.In short, whatever thou shalt be, unless thou have prudence,I declare that thou wilt ever be a base beast.”
“Although thou be freeborn and sprung from noble parents;
Still even yet thou mayst be a base beast.
Add that thou art an honor to thy country, and claim the noblest kin;
Still even yet thou mayst be a base beast.
Thou mayst have wealth, thou mayst have abundance of elegant furniture;
Still even yet thou mayst be a base beast.
In short, whatever thou shalt be, unless thou have prudence,
I declare that thou wilt ever be a base beast.”
Of the native priests of the Philippines, Delgado says (pp. 293–296): “I know some seculars in the islands, who although Indians, can serve as an example and confusion to the European priests. I shall only bring forward two examples: one, the bachelor Don Eugenio de Santa Cruz, judge-provisor of this bishopric ofSantísimo Nombre de Jesús, and calificador of the Holy Office, a full blooded Indian and a native of Pampanga. And inasmuch as the author of this letter confesses that the Pampangos are a different people, I shall name another, namely, the bachelor Don Bartolomé Saguinsin, a Tagálog, a cura of the district of Quiape (outside the walls of Manila), an Indian, and a native of the village of Antipolo. I knew his parents, and had friendly relations with them while I was minister in that village. Both men were esteemed for their abilities and venerated for their virtues, in Tagalos and Visayas.” In addition, “those reared in any of the four colleges in Manila, for the clerical estate are all the sons of chiefs, people of distinction among the Indians themselves, and not of thetimaua, or of the class ofolipon, as the Visayan says, ormaharlicaoralipin, as the Tagálog calls the slaves and freedmen. The reverend fathers of St. Dominic or of the Society rear these boys and instruct them in virtue and learning; and if they have anyof the vices of Indians, these are corrected and suppressed by the teaching and conversation of the fathers. Furthermore, when the most illustrious bishops promote any of these men to holy orders, they do not proceed blindly, ordering any one whomever to be advanced—but only with great consideration and prudence, and after informing themselves of his birth and his morals, and examining and testing him first before the ministry of souls is entrusted to him; and to say the contrary is to censure the most illustrious prelates, to whom we owe so much veneration and reverence. Furthermore, there are among these Indians, many (and perhaps most of them) who are as noble, in their line of descent as Indians, as is any Spaniard; and some of them much more than many Spaniards who esteem themselves as nobles in this land. For, although their fate keeps them, in the present order of things, in an almost abject condition, many of them are seigniors of vassals. Their seigniory has not been suppressed by the king, nor can it be suppressed. Such we callcabezas de barangayin Tagálog, andGinhaopanin Visayan. They and their children and relatives lose nothing of their nobility because they serve the king in cutting timber, in the fleets, or in other personal services which are necessary in this land. As they lose nothing, it is also much honor for them that the king be served by them. Accordingly, there are sargentos-mayor, masters-of-camp, captains, governors of the villages, and lieutenants, and all are Indians of distinction. These would not go to row in a banca, and their hands would certainly be freed from handling a bolo or an ax in the cutting of timber, and their mothers, wives, and daughters would not have become spinners, if it were not for España. And although all the Indians seem of one color to the father, this color is well distinguished among them; and they are very respectful to their chiefs and much more so to their priests, even though these be Indians like themselves.” Delgado continues by saying that, although some of the native priests have turned out badly, that is not sufficient to condemn them all. It is arbitrary to declare that the Indian enters the priesthood solely for his own comfort, and because of the respect shown him, and not because of the spiritual blessings. Many Spaniards also enter the ecclesiastical estate merely for a living. There are examples of Negro, Japanese, and Chinese priests. “Consequently, it is not to be wondered at that the most illustrious prelates and bishops should ordain Indians here and in Nueva España, and in other parts of the Indias.”
244The date of the Navarro copy is wrongly given as 1725.
245Pedro Murillo Velarde was born August 6, 1696, at Villa Laujar, Granada, and entered the Jesuit novitiate at the age of 22. Having entered the Philippine missions, he was long a professor in the university of Manila; and later was rector at Antipolo, visitor to the Mindanao missions, and procurator at Rome and Madrid. He died at the hospital of Puerto Santa Maria,November 30, 1753. Murillo Velarde is one of the more noted among Jesuit writers. His principal works are the following:Cursus juris canonici, hispani et indici(Madrid, 1743);Historia de la provincia de Philipinas de la Compañia de Jesus(Manila, 1749); andGeographica historica(Madrid, 1752), in ten volumes. In theHistoria(which work we have used freely in the present series, as material for annotation) was published his noted map of the Philippine Islands, the first detailed map of the archipelago; it was made by order of the governor of the island, Valdes Tamón, in 1734.
246A kind of sausage composed of lean pork, almonds, pineapple kernels, and honey.
247This sentence is missing in Father Navarro’s copy.
248Literally “lose a foothold.”
249Delgado here refers to the “Opinion” by Murillo Velarde which is prefixed to vol. i of San Antonio’sChronicas; this is dated at San Miguel, May 19, 1738, and contains a detailed description of the products of the islands—vegetable, animal, and mineral—from which we extract his description of the peoples therein, as follows:
“The natives of these islands are generally called Indians, because these islands are included in the demarcation of the Western Indias—although properly they are in the Eastern hemisphere, because, as they are distant from España more than a hundred and eighty degrees of longitude, which makes the half-circuit [of the globe], it necessarily follows that they must be on the side of the East. All the Indians resemble one another, especially in the yellowish-brown color and the flattened nose; andthere is little difference between the individuals. In the island of Negros, between Cavitan and Sipalay, I encountered heathen blacks with crinkled hair, as if they were from Guinea. The people who are here called creoles are of a swarthy brown color, with withered skin, and are quite civilized and capable. As for the origin of the Indians, I am inclined to think that they originate from Malayos, on account of the similarity of their language; for by examining on various occasions a Malay (a native of Maláca) who could speak several languages fluently, and a Ternatan, and Lutaos and Subanos, I have ascertained the following: In the Malay, “sky” is calledlanguit, and the same in Tagálog, in Lutáo, and Subáno; “man” [varon] islalaquiin Malay, as in the Tagálog and Bisayan; “tongue” isdilain Malay, as in Tagálog; “white” isputiin Malay, as in Tagálog, Subáno, and Lutáo. In other words the difference is but slight; thus, in Malay “land” isnigri, in Tagáloglupa, in Lutáotana, in Boholanyuta; and “man” [hombre] is in Malayoran, in Tagálogtavo, in Lutáoaa, in Subánogatao. The Indians are exceedingly clever in every kind of handiwork, not for inventing, but for imitating what they see. They write beautifully; many of them are tailors and barbers, for they learn both these trades with little effort; and there are among them excellent embroiderers, painters, and silversmiths; and engravers whose work has no equal in all the Indias—and I was even going to place it far ahead of all the rest, if shame had not restrained me—as is very obvious in the many and excellent engravings which they are all the time producing. They are good carvers, gilders, and carpenters. They build vessels for these islands—galleys, galliots, pataches, and ships for the Acapulco trade-route. They are good seamen, artillerists, and divers—for there is hardly an Indian who does not know how to swim very well. They are the pilots of these seas. They excel in makingbejuquillos, which are golden chains of delicate and exquisite workmanship. From palm-leaves, rattan, andnitothey make hats, andpetatesor rugs, and mats, that are very handsome, and wrought with various kinds of flowers and other figures. They are noted as mechanics and puppet-players, and make complicated mechanisms which, by means of figures, go through various motions with propriety and accuracy. Some are watchmakers. They make gunpowder, and cast mortars, cannon, and bells. I have seen them make guns, as handsomely constructed as those made in Europe, although I do not think that they would be as substantial and reliable as those. There are in Manila three printing-houses, and all keep Indian workmen; and the errors that they make are notnumerous. They have remarkable skill in music; and there is no village, however small, that has not a very respectable musician to officiate in the church. Among them are excellent voices—trebles, contraltos, tenors, and basses; almost all can play on the harp, and there are many violinists, and players on the oboe and flute. It is especially noticeable that not only those whose trade it is to make these instruments do so, but various Indians, through love [for such work], make guitars, harps, flutes, and violins, with their bolos or machetes; and they learn to play these instruments by only seeing them played, and without any special instruction. Almost the same thing occurs in other matters; and on this account it is said that the Indians have their understanding in their eyes, since they so closely imitate what they see. Such are the Indians, when observed on the outside surface of their aspect; but when one penetrates into the interior of their dispositions, peculiarities, and customs, they are a labyrinth, in which the most sagacious man loses his way. They appear ingenious and simple in countenance and words, but they are masters eminent in deceit and feigning; under an apparent simplicity they conceal an artful and crafty dissimulation. I believe that the Indian never fails to deceive, unless when his own interests are hindered. In their lawsuits and business dealings they are like flies, which never quit what they are seeking, no matter how much they are brushed away; and thus they surpass and conquer us. The Chinese say that the Spaniard is fire, and the Indian is water, and that water quenches fire. They neither resent an injury nor thank one for a kindness. If you give them anything, they immediately ask for another. There is no fixed rule for construing them; for each one is needed a new syntax, because they are anomalous. With them the argument is not concluded by induction, since no Indian resembles another, nor even is one like himself; for in the short round of one day he changes his colors oftener than a chameleon, takes more shapes than a Proteus, and has more movements than a Euripus. He who deals with them most knows them least. They are, in fine, a union of contrarieties, which the greatest logician could not reconcile; they are an obscure and confused Chaos, in which species cannot be perceived or formal qualities distinguished; and if I had to define them I would say:
“Obstabatque alijs aliud, quia corpore in vnoFrigida pugnabant calidis, humentia siccis,Mollia cum duris, sine pondere habentia pondus.”
“Obstabatque alijs aliud, quia corpore in vnoFrigida pugnabant calidis, humentia siccis,Mollia cum duris, sine pondere habentia pondus.”
“Obstabatque alijs aliud, quia corpore in vnoFrigida pugnabant calidis, humentia siccis,Mollia cum duris, sine pondere habentia pondus.”
“Obstabatque alijs aliud, quia corpore in vnoFrigida pugnabant calidis, humentia siccis,Mollia cum duris, sine pondere habentia pondus.”
“Obstabatque alijs aliud, quia corpore in vno
Frigida pugnabant calidis, humentia siccis,
Mollia cum duris, sine pondere habentia pondus.”
250Alluding to the irregular tides in the straits of Euripus, between Eubœa and Greece; during a large part of the month these tides occur as often as eleven to fourteen times during the twenty-four hours. Their irregularity occasioned among the Greeks a proverb, which Delgado here uses.
251A name given by the inhabitants of Cuba to the natives of Mexico, and in Vera Cruz to those of the interior. The name is also applied to shrewd and brusque persons. (New Velázquez Dictionary.)
252These two rules are respectively: “Evil once, evil is always presupposed;” and “Evil [may spring] from any failing.”
253These chains were also of Chinese manufacture; apparently the Filipinos took up this industry through their tendency to imitate.
254TheLygodium scandens, also calledGnitoandnitongputi, a climbing fern found throughout the Philippines. Blanco gives the name of the genus asUgena. The glossy, wiry stems are used in the making of fine hats, mats, cigarette and cigar cases, etc. SeeCensus of Philippines, iv, p. 166.
255The balate is an echinoderm found abundantly in the Visayas, of which Delgado describes three varieties (p. 935): namely theHolothuria scabra(Jager), which is white; theHolothuria atra(Jager), which is black; and thebaconganorSynapta similis(Semper), which is of larger size. The second variety is most esteemed. It was sold dry in the Visayas or taken to Manila and sold, where they were worth thirty-five or forty or even more silver pesos per pico. The Chinese especially esteemed them (and do so yet) and large sums were paid for them in that country. The Filipinos occasionally ate them fresh, but only in the absence of fish.