PHIL ISLANDS DURING SPAIN

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 
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  

      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.     

       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 

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 
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 

     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 

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 
[Filipino natives, which is full of contradictions. They are hospitable, but neglect their parents; and are teful. 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.  






         y