An Historical View of the Philippine Islands Volume II Part 8

The Black Gamuty, used for the same purpose.

The Banote, or Coyar, applicable in the same way, and of which is likewise made oak.u.m for caulking.

The Tobacco is excellent.

The Corn in the provinces of Ylocos and Bay excellent.

Rice excellent, and in great abundance.

There is likewise a trade carried on with the Chinese in the flesh of deer, oxen, buffaloes, and horses, dried in the sun (called jerk in South America), as likewise in the tallow of all these animals.

OF THE MOLUCCAS.

The Moluccas form a considerable archipelago, which extends in longitude from Java to New Guinea. On the coasts of Papua, and adjoining islands, are formed colonies of the inhabitants of New Guinea, and which are dependencies on the Moluccas. The Dutch have factories in all the islands of this archipelago, but at Amboyna and Banda they have forts, and considerable establishments [1]. In order to preserve the spice trade exclusively, they even went so far as to set fire to the adjacent islands which produced these shrubs; but such precautions are useless, for the whole of the Moluccas, with the coasts of Papua, and even all New Guinea, produce, and will continue to produce, them, while they exist. When the French were in the habit of procuring these productions, they did not go either to Banda or Amboyna in search of them, but to Guebi and Moar. Their vessels resorted to the port of Guebi, unquestionably the finest harbour in the Moluccas, and to which the Dutch were strangers, as the French found it uninhabited. They there established themselves during the time that the King of Maba and Patanie, and the Sultan of Tidor, went in search of the precious trees which furnished the spices: they took them to the Isle of France, where they succeeded remarkably well (as we have seen in the Chapter on the Isle of France), as well as at Cayenne, to which they were transported soon afterwards.

The inhabitants of the Moluccas are in general of a swarthy complexion, approaching to black, with a yellow stain: they partake much of the Malay character, and seem to derive their origin from that nation; they have their language, their manners, and, like them, with little personal strength, are nevertheless cruel and ferocious: perhaps the harshness of their manners may be traced to the wandering and solitary life they lead in the woods, to avoid becoming the slaves of the Dutch.

The islands they inhabit are fertile, but they do not practise any cultivation, and live on sago, which grows wild in great quant.i.ties in this archipelago.

The religion of the inhabitants of the Moluccas is a corruption of Mahometanism.

The only persons who go clothed are the women and the priests; the men only cover the head with a hat, painted in different colours, made of the leaves of the latanier; the rest of the body is naked, with the exception of a bit of narrow cloth, for the sake of decency.

The dress of the women consists of a long robe, without any folds, fastened in front: they wear hats of an enormous size, not less than seven or eight feet in circ.u.mference; these hats are flat on the upper surface, and loaded with ornaments of sh.e.l.l work and mother of pearl. On the under side, a circle of three inches in depth forms the crown, and retains it on the head. The women never go out; they are always confined to the house.

The priests, like the women, are clothed in a long robe, but they are recognized by their caps, which are pointed.

Both s.e.xes wear on their arms rings of sh.e.l.l work, of a kind of porcelain, which they cut in this shape by rubbing on a stone.

Their arms are the bow and arrow, quiver and s.h.i.+eld; the bow is constructed of a very light, fibrous, and elastic wood, ornamented with rings made of the rotin, which likewise, when prepared for the purpose, answers for the string. The arrows are made of a light elastic reed, and the point of wood jagged and very hard; sometimes this point is formed of the longest dorsal fin bone of a large fish, and which is p.r.i.c.kly or barbed. The quiver is made of the bark of a tree, the s.h.i.+eld of a black wood, very hard: they are covered with sketches in relief, executed with small sh.e.l.l work of a very beautiful white. These s.h.i.+elds are long, and narrower in the middle than at both ends.

Their boats are of an ingenious and singular construction; they are not less than seventy to eighty feet in length; the two ends are extremely elevated, and rise even to twenty feet above the water; the rudder is nothing but a long oar, supported on a scaffold; the hull of the boat consists of planks, which are neither jointed or nailed, but simply put together, and retained by rope, made of the rotin. To the sides are fixed two horizonal wings, which serve to support it in stormy weather. Ten men, seated sideways on these wings, by means of paddles, give incredible velocity to it; the dexterity of the rowers consists in striking the water all at the same moment, and with perfect regularity. It is, doubtless, for this reason that during the time they row they excite each other by songs, or relieve their labour by the noise of a kind of tam tam, to the sound of which their movements keep time. The sails are made of several mats, of an oblong form, and are placed crossways on the masts.

The Papuans who inhabit New Guinea, and the islands on its coasts, are the immediate neighbours of the inhabitants of the Moluccas, yet have neither their manners, or possess one trait of the character of the latter: they approach nearer, and bear a closer a.n.a.logy to the natives of Guinea, on the coast of Africa, and which has been the cause of the country they inhabit acquiring the name of New Guinea. They are little known, and their coasts seldom visited. They are of a robust make, and great stature, and though of a s.h.i.+ning black, their skin is nevertheless rough and hard; their eyes are large, the nose flattened, and the mouth excessively wide; the lips, particularly the upper, very thick; the hair crisped, and of a brilliant black. The character of these savages corresponds with their exterior; they are fond of war, and to bravery they join cruelty to their enemies.

In the interior of the large island of Papua, or New Guinea, there exists a race of men called Haraforas, who live in trees, to which they mount by means of a notched piece of wood, which they draw after them, by way of guarding against surprize.

The princ.i.p.al commerce of the Papuans is with the Chinese, of whom they purchase their different instruments and utensils. They give in exchange ambergris, sea snails, tortoisesh.e.l.l, small pearls, birds of Paradise, lories, and other birds, which they stuff with great dexterity. The women appear to be industrious; they fabricate mats and earthen pots, and handle the hatchet well.

The sh.o.r.es of Papua are bold, and covered with cocoa trees; the mountains of the interior adorned with wood; the nutmeg and clove tree flourish there, and nature has made it one of the finest countries on the surface of the globe. (Sonnini.)

The Moluccas, like the Philippines, contain many volcanos, which are, probably, only different mouths of the same furnace. That of Siao is one of the most considerable; in its most active eruptions it covers all the neighbouring islands with cinders.

NOTES TO VOLUME II.

Note I.--Page 14.

It is here stated, that in 1709 the Chinese were expelled the Philippines, and the reason a.s.signed for that expulsion is their application to commerce in lieu of agriculture, with a view to which latter their residence was originally countenanced. Whatever employment, in any community, offers the most productive results with the least labour will naturally be resorted to by those whose residence, like that of the Chinese, is merely temporary. They are acknowledged to be a submissive and industrious people, and we must conclude that the profits of agriculture were so much less secure or less productive than those of commerce, that the latter was preferred; and their habits of industry being far superior to those of the indolent Spaniard, and the more indolent native, we cannot wonder at their retreat, with their acquisitions, from a country the government of which, so far from encouraging them with a permanency of establishment, drew from them, in the person of the Governor, a large revenue, as a tax on their temporary residence. Sonnerat says, that the expulsion of the Chinese was the cause of the decline of arts and commerce, and that they have never since recovered. "Misery and depopulation have been the fatal consequences of this mal-administration." It is evident, however, that since that period, either the fallacy of the policy which dictated the measure has been discovered, and the prohibition been removed, or, which is more likely, the interest of the respective Governors has produced a relaxation in favour of these industrious foreigners; for Mr. Guise, who resided there several years, a.s.sures the translator, that when he quitted Manila, about fifteen years ago, there were on the island from fifteen to twenty thousand Chinese permitted to remain as residents, and engaged in agriculture and commerce.

A Chinese Captain seems to be appointed by the Governor, who is responsible for their conduct, and through whom applications for residence are negociated with the government. The intercourse with the Chinese port of Amoy, and with the north-eastern ports of China, employs seven or eight junks, which bring with them annually from three hundred to five hundred new adventurers, who work their pa.s.sage over, bringing each his packet of goods, with which, it may be presumed, he forms his capital for trade during his residence there, and for which residence, it may be equally presumed, he contributes annually to the Governor: these junks likewise furnish to those who have acquired a competency the means of revisiting their native country with their riches. It must be concluded, therefore, that the Chinese, by their residence in Luzon, contribute by their industry to the comforts of life, and hold out an example which neither the Spaniard or native seem disposed to follow; at the same time that the former characterizes the indulgence shown to them as highly impolitic, and a wanton waste of the riches and wealth of the colony.

Note II.--Page 60.

No stronger proof can be adduced of the unsettled state of the maritime insurance law in the Spanish colonies than the instance in the text. Can we entertain the favourable supposition that in the mother-country this subject is equally well understood as by every other European nation, and that a concurrence of circ.u.mstances have conspired to introduce and perpetuate a vicious practice in this colony? We fear in the sequel the reader will not be justified in this conclusion.

Note III.--Page 65.

This is another instance of the disposition of the Spaniards to extend what they ridiculously enough term their conquests, rather than to consolidate their power, and establish their influence in the Philippines. The attempt seems to have met with the fate it merited; but although it proved abortive, we cannot help holding up to due praise the perseverance with which, in perfect contempt of all personal danger, the Catholic missionaries pursue their object of proselytism.

Note IV.--Page 72.

The value of this trade is here pretty clearly detailed and comprehensively stated; we are left to conclude that the profits are from one hundred to two hundred per cent. The translator is informed by Mr. Guise that this trade was thus carried on:

The s.h.i.+p, having a Captain appointed by the Governor of Manila, was furnished by the King, by whom likewise all the expenses of the voyage were defrayed, and for whose reimburs.e.m.e.nt a duty of thirty-three per cent. was levied at Acapulco on the value of the cargo there. The persons who had the privilege of loading the s.h.i.+p were the Captain, to a certain extent; the pious establishments; the widows of officers, counsellors, &c. members of government, and merchants: the portions of each from a quarter of a ton upwards, the Captain having from forty to fifty tons. Exclusive of the right which the pious establishments thus enjoyed of occupying tonnage, they lent their money to the adventurers on a respondentia interest, as will be mentioned in a future note.

This trade may most probably, at this period, be conducted upon a different principle, and partake of that relaxation which it has been found necessary to countenance through the whole of the Spanish settlements, in consequence of recent political events.

Note V.--Page 78.

It is not possible to produce a stronger proof of the inefficiency of the Spanish colonial system, than the treatment of this disinterested and honest servant of the crown exhibits.

Note VI.--Page 83.

The determination of this question by the Royal Audience in favour of the pious establishments, was unquestionably conformable to the admitted principle of respondentia; and the reversal of it by the council of the Indies is a sufficient proof of the unsettled state of mercantile law in Spain, on a point which seems elsewhere generally and definitively adjusted.

The liability of the respondentia lenders seems to be so ill defined, that even in case of nearly total loss, their full demand is awarded them, the loss thus falling on the borrower, instead (on the received respondentia principle) of the lenders being ent.i.tled only to the proportion of what is saved; for the premium of twenty-five per cent. which they receive, may be presumed adequate to the interest and insurance on such a voyage.

It ought not, under these circ.u.mstances, to create wonder that the merchant adventurers borrowing from these establishments should, with a view to their own protection, take due care that a partial shall, by one means or other, be converted into a total loss.

There is one peculiarity in the principle of these loans which forms a feature in the transaction distinct from common respondentia, inasmuch as that the latter is limited to that bottom on which the adventure began, while in the former the lender follows the goods until they are sold and returned, though by some other bottom; but his liability and forbearance of his princ.i.p.al and premium is limited to three years. In respect to this limitation, it is even conformable to our terms of respondentia, which allow a monthly per centage in proportion to the first period of twenty months on which the premium is calculated, but which per centage can only be demanded to the extent in all of thirty-six months, including the original twenty, provided the voyage should be prolonged so much; the common interest of five per cent. only upon the aggregate amount afterwards attaching, and all marine risk ceasing.

THE END.