Illustrations

1. Photographic facsimile of frontispiece to Colin’s Labor

evangélica (Madrid, 1663); from the copy in possession of
Edward E. Ayer, of Chicago39
2. Title-page of Historia de las islas de Mindanao, etc., by
Francisco Combés, S.J., (Madrid, M. DC. LXVII):
photographic facsimile from copy in library of Harvard
University101
3. Title-page of Conquistas de las islas Philipinas, by Gaspar
de San Augustin; photographic facsimile from copy
in Biblioteca-Museo de Ultramar, Madrid185
4. Autograph signature of Gaspar de San Augustin;
photographic facsimile from original manuscript in
collection of Eduardo Navarro, O.S.A., of the Colegio de
Filipinas, Valladolidfacing p. 278

[9]
[Contents]

Preface

In the present volume but one document appears in the

chronological order of events in the islands; it is short, and is
mainly concerned with the ecclesiastical disputes which had
been only partly quieted with the death of Archbishop Pardo. The
rest of the volume is occupied by an ethnological appendix,
which presents the observations of early missionary writers—
Jesuit, Augustinian, and Franciscan—on the native peoples and
their customs and beliefs. Due allowance being made for their
ecclesiastical standpoint, these writers may be considered
excellent authority on this subject—especially Combés, who was
one of the Jesuit pioneers in Mindanao.

The document first mentioned above is a letter from a Manila

Jesuit, relating events in that city during the year 1690–91. As in
the lifetime of Pardo, there are dissensions between the
ecclesiastical and the secular powers, the former represented by
Bishop Barrientos, acting ruler of the archdiocese; the latter by
the Audiencia until July, 1690, and after that by the new
governor, Zabálburu. The bishop attempts to remove by force
some of his prebends from the Augustinian convent, but is foiled
by the vigilance of the friars. Being opposed in this scheme by
the auditors, Barrientos excommunicates [10]them, a proceeding
which they ignore. At the coming of the new governor, his favor
is adroitly obtained by a military officer named Tomás de
Endaya; and the auditors are for a time treated insolently by
both. Zabálburu soon shows, however, that no one can govern
him; and he displays much egotism, contemns the religious, and
oppresses the Indians with exactions for public works.

The Jesuit Colin, one of the pioneers in the Philippine missions,

furnishes in his Labor evangélica (Madrid, 1663) a valuable
account of the native races and their customs. He makes some
attempt to trace the origin of the Malayan tribes, which he places,
for most, in the islands of Sumatra and Macasar (or Celebes), and
for some in the Moluccas. The Negritos came, he thinks, from
Farther India, and possibly from New Guinea also. A chapter is
devoted to the alphabet, mode of writing, and languages in use
among the Filipínos. Colin praises their quickness and
cleverness; some of them act as clerks in the public offices at
Manila, and of these some are capable of taking charge of such
offices; and they are competent printers. Colin discourses at
length upon the native languages—admiring the richness and
elegance of the Tagálog—and upon their mode of bestowing
personal names. He then proceeds to describe their physical
appearance, dress, ornaments, treatment of hair and teeth, and
tattooing; their food, customs in eating, and modes of making
wine; their songs and dances; their habits of bathing. Their
deities, religious observances, and superstitions are recounted—
including the worship of spirits, ancestors, idols, and
phenomena of nature—and their ideas of the creation, and [11]of
the origin of man. Their mortuary customs include the
employment of hired mourners, the embalming of the corpse, the
killing of slaves to accompany the soul of the deceased, and a
taboo imposing silence. Colin gives an account of their limited
form of government (its unit the barangay); their laws, criminal
and civil, with their penalties (among which appears the ordeal);
the different ranks of society, and the occupations of the people;
their weapons and armor; their marriages and divorces, and
punishments for adultery. He also recounts their customs in
adoption of children, inheritance of property, and slavery. Similar
information is furnished by another Jesuit writer of note,
Francisco Combés, on the native peoples of Mindanao and other
southern islands, in which he spent twelve years as a
missionary. He enumerates the several tribes and their
distinctive characteristics; of these the Lutaos (or Orang-Laút,
“men of the sea”), the chief seafaring and trading tribe, have
acquired an ascendancy over the others which is comparable to
that of the Iroquois among the North American Indians. Combés
describes their mode of warfare, and ascribes to their aid the
supremacy of Corralat over the other Moro chieftains, since their
wars are of little importance except when waged by the sea-
routes. These Lutaos of the coast hold in a sort of vassalage the
Subanos, or river-dwellers, who are slothful, ignorant savages,
treacherous and cowardly. Combés next praises “the noble and
brave nation of the Dapitans,” a small tribe who migrated from
Bohol to Mindanao; he relates their history as a people, and why
they changed their abode, and how they have always been the
loyal friends and followers [12]of the Spaniards. The virtue and
ability of their women receives much praise. Combés discusses
the origin of the Mindanao peoples, and sketches the general
characteristics of each, and their mutual relations. According to
our author, the Joloans and Basilans came from Butuan, in
northeastern Mindanao; and the history of this migration is
related in some detail, as well as the way in which the Joloans
became so addicted to piracy.

Combés proceeds to recount the beliefs and superstitions

current in the southern islands. Paganism prevails in them; but
the southern coast of Mindanao, and Basilan and Joló, are
Mahometan. Curious legends are related of the founder of the
latter religion there, who is reverenced almost as a divinity; but
those people know little of Mahomet’s religion save its externals,
and are practically “barbarous atheists.” The people are largely
governed by omens; they sometimes offer sacrifices to their old-
time idols, but these have little real hold on them. Sorcery has
great vogue among them, and Corralat and other powerful chiefs
excel in it; this is one source of their ascendancy. Combés
describes their mode of life: their food (which is little besides
boiled rice), their clothing, their houses and furniture; and their
usages and laws regarding conduct, crimes, and penalties. He
regrets the prevalence of slavery, which profanes all social
relations, and even destroys all kindness and charity. There is no
class of freemen; all are either chiefs or slaves. All offenses are
atoned for by the payment of money, save certain unnatural
crimes, which they punish with death. Among the Moros is
practiced the ordeal by fire, and the burial of the living for certain
crimes; [13]but some escape from these in safety, through their
power as sorcerers. The authority and government of the chiefs
is described; they are tyrannical and rapacious, and treat as
slaves even chiefs who are subject to them. Combés makes
special mention of some customs peculiar to the Subanos, or
river-people. They are exceedingly rude and barbarous, without
any government; and a perpetual petty warfare is waged among
them. Their women, however, are more chaste than those of
other tribes, and Lutao girls of rank are reared, for their own
safety, among the Subanos. Among these people is a class of
men who dress and act like women, and practice strict celibacy;
one of them is baptized by Combés. A chapter is devoted to their
burials and marriages. In the burial of the dead they spend
lavishly, clothing the corpse in rich and costly garments; but
they have ceased, under Christian influence, to bury the dead
man’s treasures with him. Marriages are celebrated with the
utmost display, hospitality, and feasting; and with entire
propriety and decorum. Another chapter describes the boats and
weapons used by the natives.

Next we present the famous letter on this subject by Gaspar de

San Agustín (June 8, 1720); our text is collated with other
versions, and freely annotated from these, and from comments
made by Delgado and Mas on San Agustín’s statements. San
Agustín, who had spent forty years among the Filipinos, begins
by expatiating on the great difficulty of comprehending the native
character, which is inscrutable—“not in the individuals, but in the
race.” They are fickle and false, also of a cold temperament, and
malicious, dull, and lazy—due to “the influence of the [14]moon.”
They are ungrateful, lazy, rude and impertinent, arrogant, and
generally disagreeable. San Agustín relates many of their
peculiar traits, and incidents showing these, to much
disparagement of the natives. He berates their ignorance and
superstition, their faults of character, their conduct toward the
Spaniards, their lack of religious devotion, etc.—exempting,
however, from these censures in the main the Pampangos, who
are more noble, brave, and honorable, and are “the Castilians of
these same Indians;” and the women, who are devout, modest,
and moral (although he ascribes this to the subjection in which
they are held by the men, and the necessity for the women to
support not only their children but their husbands). After all
these complaints, San Agustín returns to his former position,
that it is impossible to understand the nature of the Filipinos; and
all that he has related is but approximate and tentative. For this
reason, it is necessary (especially for religious) to know how to
conduct oneself with them. He therefore makes various
suggestions for enabling their spiritual fathers to guide them
discreetly and successfully. No less interesting than his account
of the people are the comments made thereon by the Jesuit
Delgado (himself long a missionary in the islands), and the
Spanish official Mas, who spent some time there and visited
many of the islands. The former refutes many of San Agustín’s
statements, sometimes very sharply; the latter often supports
them, but sometimes he finds them in contradiction to what he
himself has observed. Fray Gaspar’s letter impresses the reader,
at first, as being the complaint of an irritable and querulous old
man (he wrote it at the age of seventy); but another [15]cause for
his mental attitude may be found toward the end of his letter,
where he argues against the proposed ordination of Filipino
natives as priests—a plan which aroused great opposition from
the religious orders. The MS. which we use contains a sort of
appendix to San Agustín’s letter in the shape of citations from
the noted Jesuit writer Murillo Velarde. These are evidently
adduced in support of San Agustin’s position, and disparage the
character of the Indians in vigorous terms. Finally, we present a
chapter from Delgado’s Historia de Filipinas making further
comment on San Agustín’s letter, and defending the natives from
the latter’s aspersions; he refutes many of these, and censures
Fray Gaspar severely. He also regards Murillo Velarde’s
description of the native character as hasty, superficial, and
exaggerated. Besides, Delgado reminds his readers of the great
services rendered to the Spaniards by the Indians—who alone
carry on the agriculture, stock-raising, trade, and navigation on
which the support of the Spaniards (who, “when they arrive at
Manila, are all gentlemen”) absolutely depends—and declares
that the Spaniards themselves are arrogant and tyrannical toward
the Indians.

Additional information regarding the native peoples is afforded

by the Franciscan writer Juan Francisco de San Antonio, in
his Crónicas(Manila, 1738–44). He begins with a dissertation on
the origin of the Filipino Indians, in examining which he finds
many difficulties. He notes several of the mixtures of different
races which have produced distinct types; among these he is
inclined to class the half-civilized mountain-dwellers in the larger
islands—who, as he thinks, spring from either civilized
Indians [16]who have retreated to the hill-country, or from the
intercourse of native Filipinos with Japanese, Chinese, and other
foreigners. The Chinese and Japanese who live in and near
Manila, and some Malabar mestizos, are desirable elements of
the population. The Negritos are the aboriginal inhabitants; in
former times they harassed the Indian natives with frequent
raids, and killed all who ventured into the mountain region. In the
time of San Antonio, the Indians secretly pay them tribute, in
order to avoid their raids. He describes their physical aspect,
costume, and mode of life; he conjectures that they came to the
Philippines originally from New Guinea. The civilized peoples
may all be reduced to the Tagálogs, Pampangos, Visayans, and
Mindanaos; all are of Malay stock. Of these, the first probably
came from Malacca, as traders, remaining in Luzón as
conquerors; the Pampangos, from Sumatra. The Visayans may
have come from the Solomon Islands, but this is not certain. In
Mindanao, as in Luzón, the black aborigines were driven into the
interior by the Malay traders who came there. These latter show
much tribal variation, but all must have come from the near-by
islands of Borneo, Macasar, or the Moluccas. San Antonio
characterizes these Mindanao peoples separately. The coast
tribes are partly Mahometan, partly christianized; the missions
among them are those of the Recollects and Jesuits. The
mountain tribes are apparently the aboriginal natives—also
Malayan, according to some, but it may be from Celebes or other
islands. All these our author presents as conjectures only; “God
is the only one who knows the truth.” He proceeds to describe
the characteristics and disposition of the [17]Filipino natives,
which is full of contradictions. They are hospitable, but neglect
their parents; and are deceitful and ungrateful. They are
exceedingly clever and imitative, and even show much ability in
many occupations and mental exercises; but they are apt to be
superficial, incorrect, indifferent to results, slothful and lacking in
concentration of mind. “Their understandings are fastened with
pins, and attached always to material things.” Our writer then
describes the languages, mode of writing, manners and names,
that are current among these peoples; also their physical
features, clothing, and adornments. Curiously enough, San
Antonio states that the Visayans have—(in his day) given up the
practice of tattooing their bodies. He proceeds to recount the
religious beliefs and superstitions of the Filipinos, much as Colin
and other early writers have done, but with somewhat more detail
in certain matters, especially in regard to the omens and
superstitions of the people. Their government and social
conditions (especially the former practice of enslavement) are
described in detail; also their customs in regard to marriages and
dowries, transaction of business, weights and measures,
inheritances, etc.

THE EDITORS
June, 1906.