History of the Philippine Islands Part 19

[135] The present port of Mariveles, as is seen from Colin's map.--Rizal.

[136] Juan Francisco Valdes was preacher in the convent of Santo Nino de Cebu in 1599, and was a missionary in Caruyan from 1600 until 1606. He died in 1617. Juan Gutierrez was a.s.sistant in the council [discreto] of the general chapter of his order of 1591. He returned to Manila after three years and was definitor and minister of Tondo in 1596, and of Paranaque 1602-1603. After that he returned to Rome a second time as definitor-general, whence he went to Mexico, where he exercised the duties of procurator in 1608. See Perez's Catalogo.

[137] Perhaps "in the direction of the island Del Fraile" is meant here, since no port of that name is known.--Rizal.

The expression occurs, however, in at least one other contemporaneous doc.u.ment.

[138] Now Punta de Fuego [i.e., Fire Promontory].--Rizal.

[139] The Dutch account of this combat says that their flagship carried fifty-three men before the fight, of whom only five were killed and twenty-six wounded.--Rizal.

[140] This is perhaps the brother of Fernando de los Rios Coronel, mentioned in his letter to Morga, ante, p. 180.

[141] This is the present Nasugbu, which is located in the present province of Batangas, a short distance below Punta de Fuego or Fire Promontory, on the west coast of Luzon.

[142] The governor appears to have ordered this execution of his own authority, without trial or the intervention of the Audiencia. Since the independence of Holland was not recognized by Spain until 1609, it is likely that these men were executed as rebels. If the ground was that they were pirates, the Dutchmen's own account of their burning villages, etc., where there were no Spaniards, is more damaging to themselves than the statements of Morga, and enough to make them out to have been hostes humani generis.--Stanley.

[143] Van Noordt was not wrecked, as will be seen later in this work. He returned to Holland after many misfortunes and adventures.--Rizal.

The Sunda is the strait between the islands of Sumatra and Java.

[144] Hernando de los Rios Coronel in his Memorial y Relacion attributes both the loss of these two vessels and also that of the "San Felipe" to Don Francisco Tello's indolence. "For this same reason other vessels were lost afterward--one called 'Santa Margarita,' which was wrecked in the Ladrones, another, called 'San Geronimo,' wrecked in the Catanduanes, near the channel of those islands, and a third which sailed from Cibu, called 'Jesus Maria.'" But the last-named, which sailed during Pedro de Acuna's administration, was not wrecked, as claimed by the above author.--Rizal.

[145] Port of Baras (?).--Rizal.

[146] Kachil Kota. Kachil is the t.i.tle of the n.o.bles. Kota or Kuta signifies fortress.--Rizal.

[147] Leonardo y Argensola (Conquesta de las Molucas, Madrid, 1609, pp. 262, 263), reproduces this letter translated into Spanish.

[148] These considerations were very narrow, and contrary to the international obligations of mutual a.s.sistance incurred by the Spanish by their trading with j.a.pan; such treatment of j.a.pan furnished that country with an additional motive for secluding itself and declining relations, the benefits of which were so one-sided: however, the Spaniards themselves may have felt this only nine years later, for, according to the Dutch Memorable Emba.s.sies, part i, p. 163, a large Spanish ship, commanded by Don Rodrigo de Riduera, came from Mexico to Wormgouw, near Yeddo, in August of 1611; these Spaniards were requesting permission from the j.a.panese emperor to sound the j.a.panese ports, because the Manila ships were frequently lost on the voyage to New Spain, for want of knowledge of those ports. "Moreover, these same Spaniards requested permission to build ships in j.a.pan, because, both in New Spain and in the Philippines, there was a scarcity of timber fit for ships, and also of good workmen." In the Philippines there was no scarcity of timber, so that the statement to that effect was either an error of the Dutch author, or a pretext on the part of the Spaniards.--Stanley.

[149] The Dominican Francisco Morales was born at Madrid, October 14, 1567. He professed at the Valladolid convent, where he became lecturer on philosophy. In the same convent he fulfilled various duties until 1602, in which year it was determined to send him to j.a.pan as vicar-general. With other missionaries he was driven from the kingdom of Satzuma in 1609. Father Morales worked, however, in the capital until the persecution of 1614, when he remained hidden in the country. He was arrested March 15, 1619. A week after he was conducted, with other priests, to the island of Juquinoxima, distant three leagues from Nagasaki. In August they were removed to the prison of Ormura. On September 21, 1622, they were taken again to Nagasaki, where they were executed next day. He was beautified by order of the pope. He wrote La relacion del glorioso martirio de los BB. Alonso Navarrete y Hernando Ayala de San Jose, a quarto of thirty pages. (Resena Biografica, Manila, 1891.)

[150] The Augustinian Diego de Guevara was born in the town of Baeza, in the province of Jaen, of a n.o.ble family. He took the habit in Salamanca. He arrived at Manila in 1593 with twenty-four other religious of his order. In May, 1595, he was chosen sub-prior and procurator of Manila, and in June definitor and discreto [i.e., a.s.sistant in the council] to the general chapter. He was wrecked at j.a.pan while on his way to attend the chapter at Rome, however, and returned to Manila with Father Juan Tamayo, his companion. After the Chinese insurrection in Manila in 1603, he was sent to Spain, which he reached by way of Rome. He remained for three years in San Felipe el Real, but was again sent (1610) to the islands, as visitor of the Augustinian province. From 1616-1621 he was bishop of Nueva Caceres, dying in the latter year. He was the author of various Actas, which have been used extensively by the province. (Catalogo de los Agustinos, Manila, 1901.)

[151] Santa Ines mentions this religious as one of those sent back to Manila by way of a Portuguese vessel about to sail to Portuguese India, at the time of the persecution.

[152] Probably the Sibukaw.--Rizal. This tree--also spelled sibucao--grows to a height of twelve or fifteen feet. Its flowers grow in cl.u.s.ters, their calyx having five sepals. The pod is woody and ensiform and contains three or four seeds, separated by spongy part.i.tion-walls. The wood is so hard that nails are made of it, while it is used as a medicine. It is a great article of commerce as a dye, because of the beautiful red color that it yields.

[153] The Philippines then exported silk to j.a.pan, whence today comes the best silk.--Rizal.

[154] These must be the precious ancient china jars that are even yet found in the Philippines. They are dark gray in color, and are esteemed most highly by the Chinese and j.a.panese.--Rizal.

[155] From this point the Rizal edition lacks to the word and in the second sentence following. The original reads: "que hizieron su camino por tierra. Entre tanto, se padecian en la nao muchas molestias, de los Iapones que auia en el puerto."

[156] The word in the original is cabria, which signifies literally the sheers or machine for raising a temporary mast. It is evidently used here for the mast itself.

[157] Perhaps to perform the hara-kiri, which was an ancient custom among the j.a.panese, and consisted in the criminal's making an incision in his abdomen, and then afterward sinking the knife in his bosom, or above the clavicle, in order to run it through the heart. Then the victim's head was cut off with a stroke of the sword.--Rizal.

[158] Andrea Furtado de Mendoza began his military career at the age of sixteen, when he accompanied King Sebastian on his ill-fated expedition to Morocco. A year or two later he went to India and became famous by his relief of Barcelor. He had charge of many arduous posts and achieved many military and naval successes. He opposed the Dutch attempts of Matelief at Malacca. In 1609, he was elected as thirty-seventh Portuguese governor of India, and filled the office with great credit to himself and country. (Voyage of Pyrard de Laval, Hakluyt Society ed., London, 1888, part i, vol. ii, p. 267, note 3.)

[159] The accounts of voyages made for the Dutch East India Company (Recueil des voyages, Amsterdam, 1725) mention a town Jaffanapatan in Ceylon, evidently the Jabanapatan of our text.

[160] Hernando de los Rios attributed to these wars of the Moluccas the reason why the Philippines were at first more costly than profitable to the king, in spite of the immense sacrifices of the inhabitants in the almost gratuitous construction of galleons, in their equipment, etc.; and in spite of the tribute, duty, and other imposts and taxes. These Molucca expeditions, so costly to the Philippines, depopulated the islands and depleted the treasury, without profiting the country at all, for they lost forever and shortly what had been won there so arduously. It is also true that the preservation of the Philippines for Spain must be attributed to the Moluccas, and one of the powerful arguments presented to Felipe II as to the advisability of sustaining those islands was for the possession of the rich spice islands.--Rizal.

[161] Argensola says that the following things were also sent for this expedition: "300 blankets from Ilocos, 700 varas of wool from Castilla, 100 sail-needles, and 30 jars of oil; while the whole cost of the fleet amounted to 22,260 pesos per month." The expedition, which was profitless, lasted six months.--Rizal.

[162] See VOLS. XII and XII for doc.u.ments concerning the coming of these mandarins, and the subsequent Chinese insurrection.

[163] Ignacio or Inigo de Santa Maria, of the Dominican convent of Salamanca, on arriving at the Philippines, was sent to Cagayan. He was later elected prior of the Manila convent, and then definitor. In 1603 he went to Camboja as superior of that mission. Returning thence for more workers that same year, he died at sea. (Resena Biografica, Manila, 1891.)

[164] Diego de Soria was born in Yebenes, in the province and diocese of Toledo, and took the Dominican habit in Ocana. Showing signs of a great preacher he was sent to the College of Santo Tomas in Alcala de Henares. Thence he went to Manila in 1587 and was one of the founders of the Dominican convent in Manila, of which he was vicar-president until June 10, 1588, when he was chosen its prior in the first provincial chapter of the Philippine province. In 1591 he was sent to Pangasinan, where he remained until 1595, whence he was sent to Cagayan at the instance of Luis Perez Dasmarinas. In 1596, after many successes in Cagayan, he was recalled to Manila as prior of the convent for the second time. Shortly after he was sent to Spain and Rome as procurator. He refused the nomination to the bishopric of Nueva Caceres, but was compelled to accept that of Nueva Segovia, and reached the islands somewhat later. In 1608 he was in Vigan, his residence. He died in 1613 and was buried in the parish church of Vigan. In 1627 his remains were removed to the Dominican convent at Lallo-c, in accordance with his wishes. (Resena Biografica, Manila, 1891.)

[165] Buzeta and Bravo say that Baltasar Covarrubias was appointed to the bishopric in 1604, at which time he entered upon his duties; but that he died in 1607 without having been consecrated.

[166] Copied and condensed from Purchas: His Pilgrimes (London, 1625), book ii, chap. iiii, pp. 55-71, "the third circ.u.mnavigation of the globe." For other accounts of Candish, see Purchas: ut supra, iv, book vi, chap. vi, pp. 1192-1201, and chap. vii, pp. 1210-1242; Bry: Collectiones peregrinationum (Francofurti, 1625), ser. i, vol. iii, pars viii, pp. 35-59; Pieter van der Aa: Zee en landreysen (Leyden, 1706) xx deel, pp. 1-64; and Hakluyt's Voyages (Goldsmid ed., Edinburgh, 1890), xvi, pp. 1-84.

[167] The area of England and Wales is 58,186 sq. mi., that of Scotland, with its 787 islands, 30,417 (mainland 26,000) sq. mi., and that of Luzon, about 41,000 sq. mi.

[168] See also VOL. XI of this series.

[169] Oliver van Noordt was the first Dutch circ.u.mnavigator. For an account of the fight with the Spanish from the side of the Dutch, see Stanley's translation of Morga, pp. 173-187.

[170] "L'Amsterdam ... avoit ete amene a Manille avec 51 morts a son bord ... que le yacht le Faucon en avoit 34 ... que le Faucon avoit ete aussi emmene avec 22 morts."

[171] Spanish accounts, some of which will be published later in this series, relate Spielberg's bombardment of Iloilo, and his defeat, after disembarking by Diego Quinones in 1616; while he was later completely defeated by Juan Ronquillo at Playa Honda, in 1617.

[172] Following in a translation of the t.i.tle-page of the other edition of Morga's work, which shows that a second edition of the Sucesos was published in the same year as was the first. A reduced facsimile of this t.i.tle-page--from the facsimile reproduction in the Zaragoza edition (Madrid, 1887)--forms the frontispiece to the present volume. It reads thus: "Events in the Philipinas Islands: addressed to Don Christoval Gomez de Sandoval y Rojas, duke de Cea, by Doctor Antonio de Morga, alcalde of criminal causes in the royal Audiencia of Nueva Espana, and consultor for the Holy Office of the Inquisition. At Mexico in the Indias, in the year 1609." In the lower left-hand corner of the engraved t.i.tle appears the engraver's name: "Samuel Estrada.n.u.s, of Antwerp, made this."

[173] The month is omitted in the text.--Stanley.

[174] Fray Diego Bermeo, a native of Toledo, became a Franciscan friar; and in 1580 went to Mexico, and three years later to the Philippines. After spending many years as a missionary in Luzon and Mindoro, he was elected provincial of his order in the islands (in 1599, and again in 1608). Going to j.a.pan as commissary provincial--in 1603, according to Morga, but 1604 as given by Huerta (Estado, p. 446)--he was obliged by severe illness to return to Manila; he died there on December 12, 1609.

[175] Luis Sotelo, belonging to an ill.u.s.trious family of Sevilla, made his profession as a Franciscan in 1594. Joining the Philippine mission, he reached the islands in 1600; and he spent the next two years in ministering to the j.a.panese near Manila, and in the study of their language. In 1600 he went to j.a.pan, where he zealously engaged in missionary labors. Ten years later, he was sentenced to death for preaching the Christian religion; but was freed from this danger by Mazamune, king of Boxu, who sent the Franciscan as his amba.s.sador to Rome and Madrid. Returning from this mission, Sotelo arrived in the Philippines in 1618, and four years later resumed his missionary labors in j.a.pan. In 1622 he was again imprisoned for preaching, and was confined at Omura for two years, during which time he wrote several works, in both the Spanish and j.a.panese languages. Sotelo was finally burned at the stake in Omura, August 25, 1624. See Huerta's Estado, pp. 392-394.

[176] The present towns of San Nicolas, San Fernando, etc., lying between Binondo and the sea.--Rizal.

[177] This remark of Morga can be applied to many other insurrections that occurred later--not only of Chinese, but also of natives--and probably even to many others which, in the course of time, will be contrived.--Rizal.

[178] These devices, of which certain persons always avail themselves to cause a country to rebel, are the most efficacious to bring such movements to a head. "If thou wishest thy neighbor's dog to become mad, publish that it is mad," says an old refrain.--Rizal.

[179] This is the famous Eng-Kang of the histories of Filipinas.--Rizal.

[180] The Rizal edition of Morga omits the last part of this sentence, the original of which is "entre vnos esteros y cienagas, lugar escondido."

[181] "The Chinese killed father Fray Bernardo de Santo Catalina, agent of the holy office, of the order of St. Dominic ... They attacked Quiapo, and after killing about twenty people, set fire to it. Among these they burned alive a woman of rank, and a boy."--Rizal. This citation is made from Leonardo de Argensola's Conquistas de las Molucas (Madrid, 1609), a synopsis of which will follow Morga's work.

[182] We are unaware of the exact location of this settlement of Laguio. It is probably the present village of Kiapo, which agrees with the text and is mentioned by Argensola. Nevertheless, from the description of this settlement given by Morga (post, chapter viii) and Chirino, it can be inferred that Laguio was located on the present site of the suburb of La Concepcion. In fact, there is even a street called Laguio between Malate and La Ermita.--Rizal.