The Philippine Islands, 1493-1898 Part 1

The Philippine Islands, 1493-1898.

by Various.

PREFACE

This volume carries forward the history of the Dominican order in the Philippines, and, like the other instalments of Dominican history, or, to speak more broadly, of the history of the orders, contains many interesting sidelights. The increasing power of the order is well seen in the new arrivals of missionaries from Spain, and their pus.h.i.+ng out into the territory regarded by the Recollects as their own, to the detriment of the latter, which the Dominicans are able to do through the great influence of Felipe Pardo, the archbishop. The tone of the history is one of ecclesiastical jealousy and aggrandizement. In the appendix which treats in great part of the Moros and peoples of Mindanao, the chief things to note are the similarity of these latter-day Malay peoples in many of their customs and characteristics with the early Filipinos as described by the early writers. The persistence of the old superst.i.tious beliefs in the province of Nueva Ecija, Luzn, is interesting, and probably typical of the islands as a whole, at least in districts somewhat out of the usual line of travel. As this appendix shows, there is yet much work for the ethnologist in all parts of the Philippines.

The first portion of this volume treats of the Dominican missions, in general between the years 1670-1700, the matter being translated and condensed from Salazar's Historia. In 1671 and 1679 new contingents of religious arrive in the province from Spain, which prove of great profit to the overworked missionaries, for they have missions on the Asiatic mainland as well as in the Philippines which must be supplied. In the latter year the Zambal mission is transferred to the Dominicans, they supplanting the Recollect order, who have been in charge there for over sixty years. This is at the request of the natives themselves, but it is discovered shortly that that request is only a ruse on the part of the latter in order to escape any obligation to accept the faith, for they soon pet.i.tion that they be given Jesuits in place of Dominicans. Before the transfer of the mission the Dominicans have already begun to work in the Zambal district, but desist because of the complaints of the Recollects that their territory is being invaded. When they resume their work there in 1679, they are aided considerably by the governor, Vargas y Hurtado, and his military representative in the Zambal district. These chapters show in extenso the methods used by the missionaries in advancing the faith. The soldiers are of considerable aid in escorting those who are to become reduced to a civilized life in the villages where the fathers can watch over their welfare carefully. The harshness of the soldiers is counteracted by the mildness and solicitude of the missionaries. The work of the latter also extends to the industrial training of the new converts. Natives of civilized villages are specially hired to instruct them in agriculture, but so lazy are many of the Zambals that after their lands have been cultivated, sowed, and tended, they refuse to harvest them themselves and many of them take to the mountains and apostatize from the faith. Some, however, gather the harvest as they have the profit in sight. In those new missions the children, from regarding the fathers with suspicion and abhorring their very sight, soon flock about them at their appearance and will scarcely be persuaded to part from them. The children, too, are the ones whom the fathers first win over to the faith and the instruction, and these in turn bring in their parents and the other older people by taunting them with their ignorance. The astute Fray Domingo Perez, who is in charge of the Zambal field, suppresses the practice of murders by means of a trick, for by feeling the pulses of all the men of a village he is able through the natural fear of the culprit to detect the murderer. Therefore the superst.i.tious Zambals imagine that he can detect any wrongdoing by simply feeling the pulse, and look upon him with awe. But still notwithstanding the seeming success of the missions after three years the father learns through the children that the Indians have been secretly maintaining their old idol wors.h.i.+p. Horrified, he straightway sets about destroying the wors.h.i.+p and the idols, and after a vigorous campaign succeeds in wiping out idolatry. The balance of the missionary work of the Dominicans relates mainly to the northern province of Cagayan, where the Dominicans have many villages and peoples under their charge. Two fathers sent out from Manila in 1673 sound the Irraya district in order that they may discover whether those people are ready to embrace the faith. The field is however, not yet ripe, and hence nothing further is done there until the year 1677, when Fray Pedro Jimenez is a.s.signed to that district. Being shortly recalled, he is sent back there the following year, and the work is taken up in earnest. Many Indians are reduced, both with and without the aid of the soldiers, for Fray Pedro is a fearless worker. In seven years he has founded three permanent villages; but at the end of that time he is removed from his mission because of certain slanderous reports against him, although he returns later after being fully vindicated. The Dominicans open up a road to the province of Cagayan at their own expense in order that they may have easier access thereto. At the intermediary chapter of 1680 various new missions are accepted formally by the order and religious a.s.signed to them. The mission of Palavig is composed of Visayans who flee thither, and of Christian apostates and heathens. Though that mission had first been founded in 1653, it had been soon abandoned because of some sudden fear, and the people had taken to the mountains. Also after its restablishment, the mission is of but little permanence, for the people abandon it because of annoyances received from a commandant who comes there to watch for the Acapulco s.h.i.+p. Early in the eighteenth century a new mission is established in that district at Bavag, which is soon moved to Dao, and then to Vangag. The work of the missions is enforced in 1684 by a band of forty-nine missionaries. That same year also, Fray Pedro Jimenez is sent to Fotol on the borders of the country of the Apayaos (incorrectly called Mandayas), a people who are especially fierce and bloodthirsty. There he manages to patch up a quarrel among opposing factions by his diplomacy, and gains the hearts of the people. Accompanied by twenty-two heathens he goes to Aparri, where the alcalde-mayor bestows honors and t.i.tles upon them. Notwithstanding the rumors that the Apayaos are plotting to kill him, the father visits their mountain fastnesses, where his confidence meets its just reward. Some months later he returns thither and builds a church among them. In 1686 so greatly has the work prospered that Fray Pedro is given two a.s.sociates, and in 1688 another. With the increased aid, he establishes a new village of over 500 converts, but he is soon compelled to abandon the mission because of sickness, whereupon the inhabitants of the village of Calatug, supposedly Christians, attack the mountaineers to whom they have always been hostile, and the village is consequently abandoned by the survivors, some of whom flee to the mountains and others are transferred to another mission site. The intermediary chapter of 1688 accepts certain houses in Pangasinan. In the mission of San Bartolome which is composed of Alaguetes and Igorots, many intermarriages take place and the people are knit closer together. That village exists more than twenty years, but is finally burned in 1709 or 1710 by hostile Igorots, and the father in charge and the faithful of his flock remove to San Luis Beltran which is located farther from the mountains and is safer. The latter mission is twice removed and at each time some of the Indians refuse to accompany it, because of their disinclination to abandon the locality where they have become fixed, or flee to the mountains. In 1732 another mission is established at that point. The mission of Tuga is opened by Fray Juan Iiguez, who begins his work there in 1688 with great success. That mission also experiences various removals, and in 1715, the remaining Christians are removed to the mission of Tuao. The revolt in Cagayan in 1718 finishes the mission, for its inhabitants apostatize and take to the mountain. The work is taken up later there in 1722; and in 1731, although still called the mission of Tuga it is moved nearer Tuao. As a result of the chapter of 1680 work is taken up in the Batanes Islands. Fray Mateo Gonzalez, who has been a.s.signed to the Cagayan missions, extends his work to the Babuyanes Islands to the north of Luzn. He establishes a village on the Cagayan coast with people from those islands, but an order from the government sends those people back to their islands and the mission village is destroyed. In 1686, the first efforts are made in the Batanes, but the attempt proves abortive through the death of two of the fathers a.s.signed to that field. In 1718 another attempt there proves successful. In 1693 the mission of Santa Cruz is established near Malaueg by Fray Jos Galfarroso, who working zealously through those rough mountains, gains the most influential man of the region to the Christian faith, in consequence of which many conversions are made. New mission bands reach the province in the years 1694 and 1699, and an examination of the names shows that it is difficult to obtain priests for the work for many of those sent are only brothers and acolytes. The mission of Itugug or Paniqui is flouris.h.i.+ng and in Zifun a fine field is opened under charge of Fray Jernimo Ulloa.

The ethnological appendix opens with a short account by Toms Ortiz, O.S.A., of various superst.i.tions and heathen beliefs and practices that still exist among the natives, notwithstanding all the efforts of the religious to stamp them out. Many of them show a strange mingling of heathenism and Christianity. Their belief in nonos, primarily, ancestor wors.h.i.+p, leads them to ascribe spirits or souls to everything, somewhat as did the primitive North American Indian, and they are very careful to propitiate the spirit or nono of river, field, and wood, etc. The ceremony of tibao, or awaiting the soul of the deceased, is still practiced by the natives, and they endeavor by various methods to outwit the fathers. Ashes are spread in the house where the death occurred and by the tracks made thereon, they ascertain whether the soul has returned or not. They have numerous beliefs regarding the tigbalag, the patianac, the asuang, the last two of which are the enemies of childbirth and children. Various ridiculous conjurings are performed in order to scare off those terrible monsters of the imagination. The bongsol are certain enchantments caused in the body by a sorcerer called ganay, and in order to drive them away, one must have recourse to another sorcerer. In any sickness that is deemed natural when it first comes on, if the cure is not effected as quickly as desired, it is always referred to enchantment or bongsol, and is exorcised. Bilao is an elaborate ceremony, in which the rosary plays a conspicuous part, for the discovery of any thief. The anting-anting is carried by many of the natives. Both males and females are circ.u.mcised. There is a curious custom of spanning their weapons while reciting the Lord's Prayer, and if the two operations end at the same time, then one may kill with impunity. Many heretical beliefs and many false preachers exist, the proximity of the Mahometans having its effect. Eclipses of the moon mean that that orb is being swallowed by some awful monster, and all the people endeavor to scare away that beast with the great din that they make. Inasmuch as all these beliefs are not universal, the missionary must exercise great prudence at all times.

Another Augustinian, Joaquin Martnez de Ziga, also devotes a chapter of his Historia to the Peoples of the Philippines. There are only two cla.s.ses of peoples in the Philippines--the Negritos and the Filipinos--and even these in last a.n.a.lysis are, he says, h.o.m.ogeneous. Most of the chapter is taken up with the attempt to prove that the Philippine Islands were peopled from the East and that they are perhaps of the same origin as the Indians of South America, who would then be the parent stock. All the peoples of the South Seas are h.o.m.ogeneous, according to him, and he believes that he has proved his case by the faulty philological method. His views are interesting, as he is the only person who has put forward such claims. In reply to those who claim a Malay origin for the peoples of the Philippines, he states that the method of writing might very well have been learned from the Malays, but that the people must have come from the east and not the west, as the east winds prevail throughout the torrid zone. He gives a brief description of the people, and various of their customs.

The selection from Wilkes's narrative of his celebrated expedition may be said more properly to be a general description of the island of Jol than a special study of its people. His narration contains so many interesting observations, however, both in regard to the people and their daily life and the other matters touched upon, that it is deemed not to be out of place here. Besides it is the first authentic account of that island by an American. The expedition leaves Manila, January 21, 1842, and coasting steadily to the south, with short stays at Mindoro and at a village in Panay, anchors January 31, at Caldera in Zamboanga province. At that time, in all Mindanao, there were, says Wilkes, only about 10,000 people under Spanish rule, and about one-half of those were in Zamboanga. Caldera is a convict settlement for native Filipinos, but Spanish criminals are sent to Spain. On the first of February, they leave Mindanao and in due time anchor at the village of Soung or Jol. An interview with the sultan is set by the governor, Dato Mulu, at which, when it is held, the sultan agrees to a treaty of trade with the Americans. Wilkes gives much interesting information regarding the customs and social and industrial life of the Sulus; describes their chief city which has its Chinese quarter; describes the government which is an oligarchy, the chief governing body being the Ruma Bechara or Trading Council which is presided over by the sultan to whom but scant respect is paid, for the individual datos retain as much power as possible. Trade is free, and both freemen and slaves engage in it at will, the slaves of the island often attaining to a high degree of importance. The naturalists are disappointed in their attempts to make researches on the island, as the sultan, although in order to evade the request, declares that it is unsafe, because of the hostile datos. Wilkes gives considerable sound advice in regard to the navigation of this district, trading at Jol, and various other matters, besides an interesting though brief history of Jol, before and after the advent of the Spaniards. Those interesting people the sea-gypsies are described. The expedition reaches the Straits of Singapore on February 18.

The remainder of the appendix, except the last doc.u.ment, const.i.tutes letters written by the Jesuit missionaries from Mindanao and Basilan, and an ethnological survey of the Mindanao peoples by a Jesuit of Manila who had formerly spent a number of years in Mindanao. They are all comparatively modern, extending through the years 1885-1889. January 20, 1885, Father Quirico Mor writes to the father superior of the missions mainly concerning the Moros about the Gulf of Dvao, where the Spaniard Jos Oyangren defeated them and brought them under the dominion of Spain. Various events are related in regard to efforts to reduce these Moros who are less in number than is generally supposed, for though the Moros generally acquiesce in the Spanish proposals to a.s.sume village life, their willingness is only feigned. Those about the gulf are the "remains of powerful and warlike Moros, who in the not distant past collected tribute from the Mandayas and other heathens." There are two cla.s.ses of Moros, the datos, or aristocracy, and the common people. With the first rank must be included the panditas or priests. Though the Moros endure, they do not accept, Spanish rule, and await the time when they can throw it off. Meanwhile they also suffer from the heathens about them, who are hostile to them. To obtain the best results the officers of dato and pandita should be suppressed, and other radical measures carried out.

Father Pedro Rosell writes from Caraga, April 17, 1885, in regard to a visit of inspection of the visitas of the southern part of the district made by himself and Father Pablo Pastells, in December 1884, to the Mandayas. He reports a most encouraging state of affairs there pertaining to the conversion and reduction of the Mandayas. Especially helpful has been the conversion of three bailanes or priestesses. With the occasion of that conversion, the writer describes the method of sacrifice among the Mandayas, and the effects produced on the bailanes who are believed to be the true mediators between men and G.o.ds. In describing the form of belief Father Rosell finds an a.n.a.logy to the Trinity in the Mandaya divinities, and one to Satan in the two spirits of evil. Of great interest in this letter is the song sung by the bailanes while sacrificing.

A series of five letters from Father Mateo Gisbert, written from Dvao in 1886, contains much interesting material. In his letter of January 4, the Hispano-Germanic controversy over the Carolinas is mentioned, and the heathen and Christian fear in the Dvao district of a German invasion. There are many heathens in Dvao, some of whom are industrious and intelligent, but few of whom are baptized. In southwest Dvao there are about 12,000 Bagobos, and they still maintain their old heathen customs, among them that of human sacrifice. They have two feasts during the year, one before the sowing of the rice, and the other at the end of the harvest. The latter is called the feast of women, and there is nothing worse seen at it than feasting, drinking, and dancing. In the former feast, the human sacrifice figures. The Bagobos recognize two beginnings and each person has two souls. Various remarks are made in regard to their legends or beliefs. At death also, the human sacrifice is performed in order to remove the mourning. One such sacrifice is described. The second letter of February 8, recites certain superst.i.tious customs of the Bagobos. In times of sickness they invoke their G.o.ds. They always give the first fruits of the harvest to the diuata. Birds may be both good and bad omens; sneezing is always a bad omen. There are few thefts among them, for they believe that by the use of certain magic powders, they will compel the thief to inform on himself. The Bilans are the most industrious of all heathen peoples about Dvao and they number about 20,000. Although they have some of the customs of the Bagobos, their language differs from that of the latter. In his letter of February 20, Father Gisbert describes the customs of the Tagacaolos who number 12,000 or 14,000. Their language is understood by the Visayans. There are many intertribal feuds among them and they are continually at war among themselves, those of one district capturing and selling to the Moros those of another. They are more docile than are their neighbors. The Man.o.bos are lazy and warlike and constantly on the hunt for slaves. The Moros thereabout are a race of thieves and are exceedingly treacherous. The Ats or Negritos live in the interior, and but little is known of them. Their number may reach 25,000, and they possess their own language. The letter of July 26 is written in a slightly depressed tone. Father Gisbert gives a short Bagobo genealogy. They have indulged in human sacrifice for many years. Human sacrifices prove, though it seems a paradox, a lucrative and real business, and not only Bagobos, but Moros and others traffic in them. Various details of a human sacrifice are given. The fifth letter of December 24, relates the results of a visit to the island of Smal. There the Moros of the Dvao district, afraid that the Christian conversion is about to prevail, machinate to keep control, and oppose missionary efforts. The action of the Spanish authorities in giving t.i.tles as captains and lieutenants to Christians makes such persons the real datos of the island and weakens the hereditary allegiance. The remnants of the Moros about Dvao ask for villages, but it is only pretense, in order that they may continue to live under their old customs, and so that the datos may not lose the few followers left to them. It is advised that the people be encouraged to desert their datos and panditas, and that all the Moros be a.s.sembled into one village. The many small villages of the Moros, each with its dato and pandita, are an obstacle to the reduction and conversion of the heathens.

The letter written by Father Pablo Cavalleria to Father Francisco Sanchez from Isabela de Baslan in the island of Baslan, December 31, 1886, gives a great deal of most important information regarding the Moros of that island. The native race is evidently fewer in number than the Moros (who number ten or twelve thousand), and is partially christianized. The Moros inhabit the coast and the interior, the former being known as Smal Lat, who are fishermen, and the latter as Yacans, who are agriculturists. They are hostile to each other. With the Smal Lat are mingled also Joloans and Malays. Personal descriptions of the Moros, their mental characteristics, their religion, marriage and mortuary customs, etc., are given. Their chief feast is the celebration of the birth of Mahomet, though that date is not fixed but depends rather on when there is sufficient food for a good feast. They are superst.i.tious, and perform various superst.i.tious rites. They have seven heavens and seven h.e.l.ls, each with its distinctive signification. Their method of fighting is described. Their hatred toward the Christians is well shown in a native song quoted by Father Cavalleria.

Father Pablo Pastells, in a letter to the father provincial, written from Manila, April 20, 1887, devotes considerable s.p.a.ce to an ethnological survey of the peoples of Mindanao. The population of that island is divided into Malays and Indonesians (although the latter has no foundation), and Negritos; and there is still another division into Old Christians, New Christians, and heathens. The first named number 186,000, and their customs are influenced to a greater or less degree by those of the heathens according as they are more or less removed from them. Father Pastells describes their social life in many details, which shows that they have become "reduced"

fairly well to a half civilized life. The New Christians date from 1876 (the date when the Jesuits rentered Mindanao) and are scarcely to be differentiated in life and customs from the heathens from whom they have proceeded. The heathens (among whom are evidently numbered the Moros) aggregate 300,000, and among them are found Chinese and j.a.panese crossings, says Father Pastells. In greater or less detail, is set forth information concerning the Mamanuas, Man.o.bos, Mandayas, Manguangas, Monteses, Guiangas, Bagobos, Calaganes, Tagacaolos, Tirurayes, Tagabili, Smales, Subnon, Lutangos Moros, Calibuganes, and Moros. The worst of the last named, are the Moros of Jolo, and the Smales Lat, while the most pacific are the Yacanes.

Father Joseph Maclotet writes to the rector of the Ateneo Munic.i.p.al, from Talisayan, May 11, 1889, concerning the Buquidnons of Misamis province who are divided into three groups, numbering in all about 13,000. Socially and religiously they resemble other natives of that district. They are described and compared to the Visayans. They are intelligent and modest, and have some idea of G.o.d, heaven, and eternity. They are polytheists and have four G.o.ds. The spirit of evil is also propitiated by them. The sacrifices, consisting of products of the soil, wine, and fowls, are generally offered by the old men. Their marriage ceremonies and various other social features of their life are described. They are industrious and engage in various industries and occupations, the chief being agriculture. Their implements are described, among them being an ingenious cotton-gin. The Chinese with whom they trade take every advantage of them and cheat them on all sides. They have rude musical instruments. They punish crime according to certain traditional laws, the dato being judge. Many superst.i.tions and omens, as in all other heathens of Mindanao, enter into their lives.

The final doc.u.ment of the Appendix is translated from the supplement for December 9, 1905, of El Renacimiento, of Manila, and treats of the still prevailing belief among the more ignorant people of Luzn in regard to witches. The mangkukulam, the male or female witch, cannot look another person straight in the face, and has immense power of doing evil to his neighbors. He causes various aches and pains. The symptoms exhibited by the person bewitched are given, as also the modus operandi of the witch. Regular physicians are powerless because they do not believe in enchantment. Instead, a special witch doctor is employed. His treatment consists in the use of anona bark which has power over the witchcraft, and in bad cases a good caning is often administered, or, the last resort, bathing in boiling water. This last proves effective, for the patient dies under it. The belief is that these severe measures do not harm the patient, but the witch. There is another witch doctor, whose procedure differs somewhat from that of the former and does not involve the discomfort of the patient to so great a degree. A small wax figure made in human shape is put into boiling water, whereupon the witch is bound to present himself and confess his fault. The writer relates a personal experience, in which, against his will, he was made to act the part of witch doctor. The people have another name for another sort of witch, who sends his sickness, which is incurable, through the air. Every Friday, all witches suffer terribly as a sort of recompense for the power which they possess, and next day attend the witches' frolic.

The Editors

September, 1906.

DOc.u.mENT OF 1670-1700

Dominican missions. Vicente de Salazar, O.P. [From his Historia de el Santissimo Rosario.]

Source: This is translated and synopsized from Salazar's Historia de el Santissimo Rosario (Manila, 1742), from a copy owned by Edward E. Ayer.

Translation: This is made by James A. Robertson.

DOMINICAN MISSIONS, 1670-1700

[The following is translated and synopsized from Vicente Salazar's Historia, [1] from a copy belonging to Edward E. Ayer, Chicago. The first five chapters contain nothing directly on the missions.]

CHAPTER VI

A new renforcement of religious arrives at this province and the [post of the] commissary of the Holy Office is given back to it.

[In 1671, a band of thirty-three missionaries, who had been gathered by the definitor, Juan Polanco, arrives at Manila. [2] They are as follows:]

The father lector, Fray Alonso Sandin, son of San Estevan, of Salamanca, and head of the mission.

Father Fray Alonso de Cordova, son of Santo Domingo y San Pablo, of Ezija.

Father Fray Miguel Rodrigo, of the convent of San Estevan, of Salamanca.

Father Fray Andres Toro, of the convent of Santo Domingo, of El Campo de Zafra.

Father Fray Alonso Dominguez, of the convent of San Ildephonso, of Toro.

Father Fray Bartolome Marron, of the convent of San Pablo, of Valladolid.

Father Fray Domingo Mezquita, of the convent of Preachers, of Zaragoa.

Father Fray Diego Ortiz, of the convent of San Estevan, of Salamanca.

Father Fray Diego de Villar, of the same convent.

Father Fray Domingo de Escalera, of the convent of El Rosario, of Madrid.

Father Fray Francisco de la Maza, of the convent of Nuestra Seora, of Atocha.

Father Fray Francisco Luxan, of the convent of San Pablo, of Sevilla.

Father Fray Jacinto Samper, of the convent of Caspe, in Aragon.

Father Fray Geronimo de Ulloa, of the convent of Santiago de Galicia.