History of the Philippine Islands Part 12

The language of all the Pintados and Bicayas is one and the same, by which they understand one another when talking, or when writing with the letters and characters of their own which they possess. These resemble those of the Arabs. The common manner of writing among the natives is on leaves of trees, and on bamboo bark. Throughout the islands the bamboo is abundant; it has huge and misshapen joints, and lower part is a very thick and solid tree. [305]

The language of Luzon and those islands in its vicinity differs widely from that of the Bicayas. [306] The language of the island of Luzon is not uniform, for the Cagayans have one language and the Ylocos another. The Zambales have their own particular language, while the Pampangos also have one different from the others. The inhabitants of the province of Manila, the Tagals, have their own language, which is very rich and copious. By means of it one can express elegantly whatever he wishes, and in many modes and manners. It is not difficult, either to learn or to p.r.o.nounce.

The natives throughout the islands can write excellently with certain characters, almost like the Greek or Arabic. These characters are fifteen in all. Three are vowels, which are used as are our five. The consonants number twelve, and each and all of them combine with certain dots or commas, and so signify whatever one wishes to write, as fluently and easily as is done with our Spanish alphabet. The method of writing was on bamboo, but is now on paper, commencing the lines at the right and running to the left, in the Arabic fashion. Almost all the natives, both men and women, write in this language. There are very few who do not write it excellently and correctly.

This language of the province of Manila [i.e., the Tagal] extends throughout the province of Camarines, and other islands not contiguous to Luzon. There is but little difference in that spoken in the various districts, except that it is spoken more elegantly in some provinces than in others. [307]

The edifices and houses of the natives of all these Filipinas Islands are built in a uniform manner, as are their settlements; for they always build them on the sh.o.r.es of the sea, between rivers and creeks. The natives generally gather in districts or settlements where they sow their rice, and possess their palm trees, nipa and banana groves, and other trees, and implements for their fishing and sailing. A small number inhabit the interior, and are called tinguianes; they also seek sites on rivers and creeks, on which they settle for the same reasons.

The houses and dwellings of all these natives are universally set upon stakes and arigues [i.e., columns] high above the ground. Their rooms are small and the roofs low. They are built and tiled with wood and bamboos, [308] and covered and roofed with nipa-palm leaves. Each house is separate, and is not built adjoining another. In the lower part are enclosures made by stakes and bamboos, where their fowls and cattle are reared, and the rice pounded and cleaned. One ascends into the houses by means of ladders that can be drawn up, which are made from two bamboos. Above are their open batalanes [galleries]

used for household duties; the parents and [grown] children live together. There is little adornment and finery in the houses, which are called bahandin. [309]

Besides these houses, which are those of the common people and those of less importance, there are the chiefs' houses. They are built upon trees and thick arigues, with many rooms and comforts. They are well constructed of timber and planks, and are strong and large. They are furnished and supplied with all that is necessary, and are much finer and more substantial than the others. They are roofed, however, as are the others, with the palm-leaves called nipa. These keep out the water and the sun more than do shingles or tiles, although the danger from fires is greater.

The natives do not inhabit the lower part of their houses, because they raise their fowls and cattle there, and because of the damp and heat of the earth, and the many rats, which are enormous and destructive both in the houses and sowed fields; and because, as their houses are generally built on the sea sh.o.r.e, or on the banks of rivers and creeks, the waters bathe the lower parts, and the latter are consequently left open.

There were no kings or lords throughout these islands who ruled over them as in the manner of our kingdoms and provinces; but in every island, and in each province of it, many chiefs were recognized by the natives themselves. Some were more powerful than others, and each one had his followers and subjects, by districts and families; and these obeyed and respected the chief. Some chiefs had friendship and communication with others, and at times wars and quarrels. [310]

These princ.i.p.alities and lordships were inherited in the male line and by succession of father and son and their descendants. If these were lacking, then their brothers and collateral relatives succeeded. Their duty was to rule and govern their subjects and followers, and to a.s.sist them in their interests and necessities. What the chiefs received from their followers was to be held by them in great veneration and respect; and they were served in their wars and voyages, and in their tilling, sowing, fishing, and the building of their houses. To these duties the natives attended very promptly, whenever summoned by their chief. They also paid the chiefs tribute (which they called buiz), in varying quant.i.ties, in the crops that they gathered. The descendants of such chiefs, and their relatives, even though they did not inherit the lordship, were held in the same respect and consideration. Such were all regarded as n.o.bles, and as persons exempt from the services rendered by the others, or the plebeians, who were called timaguas. [311] The same right of n.o.bility and chieftainship was preserved for the women, just as for the men. When any of these chiefs was more courageous than others in war and upon other occasions, such a one enjoyed more followers and men; and the others were under his leadership, even if they were chiefs. These latter retained to themselves the lordship and particular government of their own following, which is called barangai among them. They had datos and other special leaders [mandadores]

who attended to the interests of the barangay.

The superiority of these chiefs over those of their barangai was so great that they held the latter as subjects; they treated these well or ill, and disposed of their persons, their children, and their possessions, at will, without any resistance, or rendering account to anyone. For very slight annoyances and for slight occasions, they were wont to kill and wound them, and to enslave them. It has happened that the chiefs have made perpetual slaves of persons who have gone by them, while bathing in the river, or who have raised their eyes to look at them less respectfully and for other similar causes. [312]

When some natives had suits or disputes with others over matters of property and interest, or over personal injuries and wrongs received, they appointed old men of the same district, to try them, the parties being present. If they had to present proofs, they brought their witnesses there, and the case was immediately judged according to what was found, according to the usages of their ancestors on like occasions; and that sentence was observed and executed without any further objection or delay. [313]

The natives' laws throughout the islands were made in the same manner, and they followed the traditions and customs of their ancestors, without anything being written. Some provinces had different customs than others in some respects. However, they agreed in most, and in all the islands generally the same usages were followed. [314]

There are three conditions of persons among the natives of these islands, and into which their government is divided: the chiefs, of whom we have already treated; the timaguas, who are equivalent to plebeians; and slaves, those of both chiefs and timaguas.

The slaves were of several cla.s.ses. Some were for all kinds of work and slavery, like those which we ourselves hold. Such are called saguiguilires; [315] they served inside the house, as did likewise the children born of them. There are others who live in their own houses with their families, outside the house of their lord; and come, at the season, to aid him in his sowings and harvests, among his rowers when he embarks, in the construction of his house when it is being built, and to serve in his house when there are guests of distinction. These are bound to come to their lord's house whenever he summons them, and to serve in these offices without any pay or stipend. These slaves are called namamahays, [316] and their children and descendants are slaves of the same cla.s.s. From these slaves--saguiguilirs and namamahays--are issue, some of whom are whole slaves, some of whom are half slaves, and still others one-fourth slaves. It happens thus: if either the father or the mother was free, and they had an only child, he was half free and half slave. If they had more than one child, they were divided as follows: the first follows the condition of the father, free or slave; the second that of the mother. If there were an odd number of children, the last was half free and half slave. Those who descended from these, if children of a free mother or father, were only one-fourth slaves, because of being children of a free father or mother and of a half-slave. These half slaves or one-fourth slaves, whether saguiguilirs or namamahays, served their masters during every other moon; and in this respect so is such condition slavery.

In the same way, it may happen in divisions between heirs that a slave will fall to several, and serves each one for the time that is due him. When the slave is not wholly slave, but half or fourth, he has the right, because of that part that is free, to compel his master to emanc.i.p.ate him for a just price. This price is appraised and regulated for persons according to the quality of their slavery, whether it be saguiguilir or namamahay, half slave or quarter slave. But, if he is wholly slave, the master cannot be compelled to ransom or emanc.i.p.ate him for any price.

The usual price of a sanguiguilir slave among the natives is, at most, generally ten taes of good gold, or eighty pesos; if he is namamahay, half of that sum. The others are in the same proportion, taking into consideration the person and his age.

No fixed beginning can be a.s.signed as the origin of these kinds of slavery among these natives, because all the slaves are natives of the islands, and not strangers. It is thought that they were made in their wars and quarrels. The most certain knowledge is that the most powerful made the others slaves, and seized them for slight cause or occasion, and many times for loans and usurious contracts which were current among them. The interest, capital, and debt, increased so much with delay that the borrowers became slaves. Consequently all these slaveries have violent and unjust beginnings; and most of the suits among the natives are over these, and they occupy the judges in the exterior court with them, and their confessors in that of conscience.

[317]

These slaves comprise the greatest wealth and capital of the natives of these islands, for they are very useful to them and necessary for the cultivation of their property. They are sold, traded, and exchanged among them, just as any other mercantile article, from one village to another, from one province to another, and likewise from one island to another. Therefore, and to avoid so many suits as would occur if these slaveries were examined, and their origin and source ascertained, they are preserved and held as they were formerly.

The marriages of these natives, commonly and generally were, and are: Chiefs with women chiefs; timaguas with those of that rank; and slaves with those of their own cla.s.s. But sometimes these cla.s.ses intermarry with one another. They considered one woman, whom they married, as the legitimate wife and the mistress of the house; and she was styled ynasaba. [318] Those whom they kept besides her they considered as friends. The children of the first were regarded as legitimate and whole heirs of their parents; the children of the others were not so regarded, and were left something by a.s.signment, but they did not inherit.

The dowry was furnished by the man, being given by his parents. The wife furnished nothing for the marriage, until she had inherited it from her parents. The solemnity of the marriage consisted in nothing more than the agreement between the parents and relatives of the contracting parties, the payment of the dowry agreed upon to the father of the bride, [319] and the a.s.sembling at the wife's parents'

house of all the relatives to eat and drink until they would fall down. At night the man took the woman to his house and into his power, and there she remained. These marriages were annulled and dissolved for slight cause, with the examination and judgment of the relatives of both parties, and of the old men, who acted as mediators in the affairs. At such a time the man took the dowry (which they call vigadicaya), [320] unless it happened that they separated through the husband's fault; for then it was not returned to him, and the wife's parents kept it. The property that they had acquired together was divided into halves, and each one disposed of his own. If one made any profits in which the other did not have a share or partic.i.p.ate, he acquired it for himself alone.

The Indians were adopted one by another, in presence of the relatives. The adopted person gave and delivered all his actual possessions to the one who adopted him. Thereupon he remained in his house and care, and had a right to inherit with the other children. [321]

Adulteries were not punishable corporally. If the adulterer paid the aggrieved party the amount adjudged by the old men and agreed upon by them, then the injury was pardoned, and the husband was appeased and retained his honor. He would still live with his wife and there would be no further talk about the matter.

In inheritances all the legitimate children inherited equally from their parents whatever property they had acquired. If there were any movable or landed property which they had received from their parents, such went to the nearest relatives and the collateral side of that stock, if there were no legitimate children by an ynasaba. This was the case either with or without a will. In the act of drawing a will, there was no further ceremony than to have written it or to have stated it orally before acquaintances.

If any chief was lord of a barangai, then in that case, the eldest son of an ynasaba succeeded him. If he died, the second son succeeded. If there were no sons, then the daughters succeeded in the same order. If there were no legitimate successors, the succession went to the nearest relative belonging to the lineage and relationship of the chief who had been the last possessor of it.

If any native who had slave women made concubines of any of them, and such slave woman had children, those children were free, as was the slave. But if she had no children, she remained a slave. [322]

These children by a slave woman, and those borne by a married woman, were regarded as illegitimate, and did not succeed to the inheritance with the other children, neither were the parents obliged to leave them anything. Even if they were the sons of chiefs, they did not succeed to the n.o.bility or chieftainship of the parents, nor to their privileges, but they remained and were reckoned as plebeians and in the number and rank of the other timaguas.

The contracts and negotiations of these natives were generally illegal, each one paying attention to how he might better his own business and interest.

Loans with interest were very common and much practiced, and the interest incurred was excessive. The debt doubled and increased all the time while payment was delayed, until it stripped the debtor of all his possessions, and he and his children, when all their property was gone, became slaves. [323]

Their customary method of trading was by bartering one thing for another, such as food, cloth, cattle, fowls, lands, houses, fields, slaves, fishing-grounds, and palm-trees (both nipa and wild). Sometimes a price intervened, which was paid in gold, as agreed upon, or in metal bells brought from China. These bells they regard as precious jewels; they resemble large pans and are very sonorous. [324] They play upon these at their feasts, and carry them to the war in their boats instead of drums and other instruments. There are often delays and terms for certain payments, and bondsmen who intervene and bind themselves, but always with very usurious and excessive profits and interests.

Crimes were punished by request of the aggrieved parties. Especially were thefts punished with greater severity, the robbers being enslaved or sometimes put to death. [325] The same was true of insulting words, especially when spoken to chiefs. They had among themselves many expressions and words which they regarded as the highest insult, when said to men and women. These were pardoned less willingly and with greater difficulty than was personal violence, such as wounding and a.s.saulting. [326]

Concubinage, rape, and incest, were not regarded at all, unless committed by a timagua on the person of a woman chief. It was a quite ordinary practice for a married man to have lived a long time in concubinage with the sister of his wife. Even before having communication with his wife he could have had access for a long time to his mother-in-law, especially if the bride were very young, and until she were of sufficient age. This was done in sight of all the relatives.

Single men are called bagontaos, [327] and girls of marriageable age, dalagas. Both cla.s.ses are people of little restraint, and from early childhood they have communication with one another, and mingle with facility and little secrecy, and without this being regarded among the natives as a cause for anger. Neither do the parents, brothers, or relatives, show any anger, especially if there is any material interest in it, and but little is sufficient with each and all.

As long as these natives lived in their paganism, it was not known that they had fallen into the abominable sin against nature. But after the Spaniards had entered their country, through communication with them--and still more, through that with the Sangleys, who have come from China, and are much given to that vice--it has been communicated to them somewhat, both to men and to women. In this matter it has been necessary to take action.

The natives of the islands of Pintados, especially the women, are very vicious and sensual. Their perverseness has discovered lascivious methods of communication between men and women; and there is one to which they are accustomed from their youth. The men skilfully make a hole in their virile member near its head, and insert therein a serpent's head, either of metal or ivory, and fasten it with a peg of the same material pa.s.sed through the hole, so that it cannot become unfastened. With this device, they have communication with their wives, and are unable to withdraw until a long time after copulation. They are very fond of this and receive much pleasure from it, so that, although they shed a quant.i.ty of blood, and receive other harm, it is current among them. These devices are called sagras, and there are very few of them, because since they have become Christians, strenuous efforts are being made to do away with these, and not consent to their use; and consequently the practice has been checked in great part. [328]

Herbalists and witches are common among these natives, but are not punished or prohibited among them, so long as they do not cause any special harm. But seldom could that be ascertained or known.

There were also men whose business was to ravish and take away virginity from young girls. These girls were taken to such men, and the latter were paid for ravishing them, for the natives considered it a hindrance and impediment if the girls were virgins when they married.

In matters of religion, the natives proceeded more barbarously and with greater blindness than in all the rest. For besides being pagans, without any knowledge of the true G.o.d, they neither strove to discover Him by way of reason, nor had any fixed belief. The devil usually deceived them with a thousand errors and blindnesses. He appeared to them in various horrible and frightful forms, and as fierce animals, so that they feared him and trembled before him. They generally worshiped him, and made images of him in the said forms. These they kept in caves and private houses, where they offered them perfumes and odors, and food and fruit, calling them anitos. [329]

Others worshiped the sun and the moon, and made feasts and drunken revels at the conjunction of those bodies. Some worshiped a yellow-colored bird that dwells in their woods, called batala. They generally worship and adore the crocodiles when they see them, by kneeling down and clasping their hands, because of the harm that they receive from those reptiles; they believe that by so doing the crocodiles will become appeased and leave them. Their oaths, execrations, and promises are all as above mentioned, namely, "May buhayan eat thee, if thou dost not speak truth, or fulfil what thou hast promised," and similar things.

There were no temples throughout those islands, nor houses generally used for the worship of idols; but each person possessed and made in his house his own anitos, [330] without any fixed rite or ceremony. They had no priests or religious to attend to religious affairs, except certain old men and women called catalonas. These were experienced witches and sorcerers, who kept the other people deceived. The latter communicated to these sorcerers their desires and needs, and the catalonas told them innumerable extravagancies and lies. The catalonas uttered prayers and performed other ceremonies to the idols for the sick; and they believed in omens and superst.i.tions, with which the devil inspired them, whereby they declared whether the patient would recover or die. Such were their cures and methods, and they used various kinds of divinations for all things. All this was with so little aid, apparatus, or foundation--which G.o.d permitted, so that the preaching of the holy gospel should find those of that region better prepared for it, and so that those natives would confess the truth more easily, and it would be less difficult to withdraw them from their darkness, and the errors in which the devil kept them for so many years. They never sacrificed human beings as is done in other kingdoms. They believed that there was a future life where those who had been brave and performed valiant feats would be rewarded; while those who had done evil would be punished. But they did not know how or where this would be. [331]

They buried their dead in their own houses, and kept their bodies and bones for a long time in chests. They venerated the skulls of the dead as if they were living and present. Their funeral rites did not consist of pomp or a.s.semblages, beyond those of their own house--where, after bewailing the dead, all was changed into feasting and drunken revelry among all the relatives and friends. [332]

A few years before the Spaniards subdued the island of Luzon, certain natives of the island of Borneo began to go thither to trade, especially to the settlement of Manila and Tondo; and the inhabitants of the one island intermarried with those of the other. These Borneans are Mahometans, and were already introducing their religion among the natives of Luzon, and were giving them instructions, ceremonies, and the form of observing their religion, by means of certain gazizes [333] whom they brought with them. Already a considerable number, and those the chiefest men, were commencing, although by piecemeal, to become Moros, and were being circ.u.mcised [334] and taking the names of Moros. Had the Spaniards' coming been delayed longer, that religion would have spread throughout the island, and even through the others, and it would have been difficult to extirpate it. The mercy of G.o.d checked it in time; for, because of being in so early stages, it was uprooted from the islands, and they were freed from it, that is, in all that the Spaniards have pacified, and that are under the government of the Filipinas. That religion has spread and extended very widely in the other islands outside of this government, so that now almost all of their natives are Mahometan Moros, and are ruled and instructed by their gacizes and other morabitos; [335] these often come to preach to and teach them by way of the strait of Ma[la]ca and the Red Sea, through which they navigate to reach these islands.

The arrival of the Spaniards in these Filipinas Islands, since the year one thousand five hundred and sixty-four, the pacification and conversion that has been made therein, their mode of governing, and the provisions of his Majesty during these years for their welfare, have caused innovations in many things, such as are usual to kingdoms and provinces that change their religion and sovereign. The foremost has been that, besides the name of Filipinas which all the islands took and received from the beginning of their conquest, they belong to a new kingdom and seigniory to which his Majesty, Filipo Second, our sovereign, gave the name of Nuevo Reyno de Castilla ["New Kingdom of Castilla"]. By his royal concession, he made the city of Manila capital of it, and gave to it as a special favor, among other things, a crowned coat-of-arms which was chosen and a.s.signed by his royal person. This is an escutcheon divided across. In the upper part is a castle on a red field, and in the lower a lion of gold, crowned and rampant, holding a naked sword in its right paw. One-half of the body is in the form of a dolphin upon the waters of the sea, to signify that the Spaniards crossed the sea with their arms to conquer this kingdom for the crown of Castilla. [336]

The city of Manila was founded by the adelantado Miguel Lopez de Legazpi, first governor of the Filipinas, in the island of Luzon. It occupies the same site where Rajamora had his settlement and fort--as has been related more at length--at the mouth of the river which empties into the bay, on a point between the river and the sea. The whole site was occupied by this new settlement, and Legazpi apportioned it to the Spaniards in equal building-lots. It was laid out with well-arranged streets and squares, straight and level. A sufficiently large main square [Plaza mayor] was left, fronting which were erected the cathedral church and munic.i.p.al buildings. He left another square, that of arms [Plaza de armas], fronting which was built the fort, as well as the royal buildings. He gave sites for the monasteries, [337]

hospital, and chapels which were to be built, as being a city which was to grow and increase continually--as already it has done; for, in the course of the time that has pa.s.sed, that city has flourished as much as the best of all the cities in those regions.

The city is completely surrounded with a stone wall, which is more than two and one-half varas wide, and in places more than three. It has small towers and traverses at intervals. [338] It has a fortress of hewn stone at the point that guards the bar and the river, with a ravelin close to the water, upon which are mounted some large pieces of artillery. This artillery commands the sea and river, while other pieces are mounted farther up to defend the bar, besides some other moderate-sized field-pieces and swivel-guns. These fortifications have their vaults for storing supplies and munitions, and a magazine for the powder, which is well guarded and situated in the inner part; and a copious well of fresh water. There are also quarters for the soldiers and artillerymen, and the house of the commandant [alcayde]. The city has been lately fortified on the land side at the Plaza de armas, where it is entered by a strong wall and two salient towers, defended with artillery, which command the wall and gate. This fortress is called Santiago, and has a company of thirty soldiers with their officers, and eight artillerymen who guard the gate and entrance by watches--all in charge of a commandant who lives inside, and has the guard and custody of the fort.

There is another fortress, also of stone, in the same wall, within culverin range, located at the end [339] of the curtain, which extends along the sh.o.r.e of the bay. It is called Nuestra Senora de Guia, and is a very large round tower. It has its own court, well, and quarters inside, as well as the magazine, and other rooms for work. It has a traverse extending to the beach, on which are mounted a dozen large and moderate-sized pieces, which command the bay and sweep the wall, which extends along the sh.o.r.e to the gate and to the fort of Santiago. On the other side the fortress has a large salient tower, mounted with four large pieces, which command the sh.o.r.e ahead in the direction of the chapel of Nuestra Senora de Guia. The gate and entrance is within the city and is guarded by a company of twenty soldiers and their officers, six artillerymen, and one commandant and his lieutenant, who live inside.

On the land side, where the wall extends, there is a rampart called Sant Andres, which mounts six pieces of artillery that command in all directions, and some swivel-guns. Farther on is another traverse called San Gabriel, opposite the parian of the Sangleys, with a like amount of artillery. Both have some soldiers and an ordinary guard.

The wall has a sufficient height, and is furnished with battlements and turrets, built in the modern style, for its defense. It has a circuit of about one legua, which can be made entirely on top. It has many broad steps of the same hewn stone, at intervals inside. There are three princ.i.p.al city gates on the land side, and many other posterns opening at convenient places on the river and beach, for the service of the city. Each and all of them are locked before nightfall by the ordinary patrols. These carry the keys to the guard-room of the royal buildings. In the morning when day comes, the patrols return with the keys and open the city. [340]