Adventures in the Philippine Islands Part 15

[10] Banditti.

[11] "The nakedness of the poor might be clothed out of the tr.i.m.m.i.n.gs of the vain."--Dr. Goldsmith's "Vicar of Wakefield."--Tr.

[12] The Igorrots, however, according to the reports of the Indians, are not anthropophagi; perhaps the one in question had received these ragouts from some other savages--the Guinans, for instance.

[13] It would be difficult to establish from what nations the divers species of men who inhabit the interior of Luzon originally came. The Tinguians, from their fine shape, their colour, their eyes, their almost aquiline nose, the value they set upon china vases, their music, and finally from their habits, would appear to be the descendants of the j.a.panese. It is most likely that at a very distant period some junks from the j.a.pan coasts, hurried along by strong northern winds, may have been wrecked upon the Luzon sh.o.r.es, and that their crews, seeing no possibility of returning to their native country, as well as to avoid the Malayan population that was in possession of the beaches,--it is possible, I say, that the shipwrecked persons withdrew into the interior of the mountains, the difficulty of access to which protected them from all invasion.

The j.a.panese sailors, who are merely coasters, sail about with their wives, as I had an opportunity of witnessing on board many junks, whither I went through mere curiosity. Those same junks, beaten by the tempest, had steered for shelter to the eastern coast of Luzon, where they anch.o.r.ed for four months, waiting for the return of the monsoon; and had they not met with a protecting government, their crews would have been compelled to fly into the mountains, as I suppose the Tinguians had been obliged to do. The latter having some women with them, must have procured others from among the neighbouring population, and as they inhabit the finest and healthiest country in the world, their number must have considerably increased. They are now spread over sixteen villages: Palan, Jalamey, Mabuantoc, Dalayap, Lanquiden, Baac, Padanquitan y Pangal, Campasan y Danglas, Lagayan, Ganagan, Malaylay, Bucay, Gaddani, Laganguilan y Madalag, Manab, Palog y Amay.

The Igorrots, whom I had less opportunities of studying, seem to be the descendants of the remains of the grand naval army of the Chinese Lima-On, who, after attacking Manilla, on the 30th November, 1574, had taken refuge in the province of Pangasinan, in the gulf of Lingayan, where he was a second time defeated, and his fleet completely destroyed. A part of the crew escaped into the mountains of Pangasinan, where the Spaniards could not pursue them.

The Igorrot has long hair, eyes a la Chinoise, a flat nose, thick lips, high cheek bones, broad shoulders, strong and nervous limbs, and bronze colour; he greatly resembles the Chinese of the southern provinces of the Celestial Empire.

I could obtain no information as to extraction concerning the Guinans, another people of savages, ferocious and cruel, who live in the neighbourhood of the Tinguians.

I keep back for a future period a description of the Ajetas, or Negritos, the aborigines of Luzon.

[14] According to Indian tradition, and to Spanish tradition likewise, the Infant Jesus of Zebou existed before the discovery of the Philippines. After the conquest the Infant was found upon the sea-sh.o.r.e; the Spanish conquerors deposited it in the cathedral, where it performed great miracles.

[15] The Malays.

[16] See Appendix, I.

[17] I experienced two such gales during my residence at Jala-Jala--the one I am now speaking of, and another to which I shall afterwards allude.

[18] Tapuzi is situated in the mountains of Limutan. Limutan is a Tagalese word, signifying "altogether forgotten."

[19] In the eyes of the natives of Tagal all Europeans are Spaniards.

[20] While this work was in the press, Mr. Hamilton Lindsay, who has already published an account of his "Voyage to the Northern Ports of China," kindly furnished the Publishers with confirmatory proofs of M. de la Gironiere's narrative, see Appendix, No. II.

[21] See Appendix III. and IV.

[22] Of the house of Russell and Sturges, a good and true friend, the recollection of whom, often present to my mind, will never be effaced.

[23] Bernard the Hermit is a crab, which lodges in the abandoned sh.e.l.l of the molluscae, and comes at night in search of food, which it finds on the sea beach.

[24] The skeleton is now in the Musee Anatomique of Paris.

[25] Grat.i.tude here requires that I should name some of those to whom I am specially indebted for marks of affection and kindness. It would be indeed ungrateful on my part to forget them, and I beg them to accept this proof of my recollections.

The Governors of the Philippines to whom I owe these remembrances are:--Generals Martines, Ricafort, Torres Enrile, Camba, and Salazar; in the various administrations of the colony, the Judges (Oidorrs) Don Inigo Asaola, Otin-i Doazo, Don Matias Mier, Don Jacobo Varela, administrator-general of the liquors; Don Jose de la Fuente, commissary of the engineers, who rendered me innumerable kindnesses; Colonel Don Thomas de Murieta, corregidor of Tondoc; the colonel of engineers, Don Mariano Goicochea; the Colonel-Commandant Lante Romana; the Governor of the province, Don Jose Atienza; the brothers Ramos, sons of the judge; all the family Calderon; that of Seneris; Don Balthazar Mier, Don Jose Ascaraga; and lastly my friend, Don Domingo Roxas, whose son, Don Mariano Roxas, after having received a solid and brilliant education at Manilla, came to travel in Europe. He has acquired the most extensive information in the sciences and arts, and when he shall have returned to the Philippine Islands, he will most worthily replace his dignified father, whom a premature death has s.n.a.t.c.hed away from the industry, the agriculture, and the advancement of his country. If grat.i.tude has induced me to mention here the Spaniards from whom I experienced many acts of kindness, the same feeling compels me to allude to an English gentleman to whom I was indebted for one of those important services which are never to be forgotten. I allude to Mr. Thomas Dent, with whom I have frequently conversed upon our hunting parties at Jala-Jala, in which he was occasionally one of the princ.i.p.al actors.

[26] "From Heaven's height look down and see The sorrows of thy family; Preserve for me thy only boy, And in thy daughter give me joy."