The Philippine Islands, 1493-1898 - Volume 40 of 55, 1690-1691

The Philippine Islands, 1493-1898 - Volume 40 of 55, 1690-1691 - Explorations by Early Navigators, Descriptions of the Islands and Their Peoples, Their History and Records of the Catholic Missions, as Related in Contemporaneous Books and Manuscripts, Showing the Political, Economic, Commercial and Religious Conditions of Those Islands from Their Earliest Relations with European Nations to the Close of the Nineteenth Century

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 writersJesuit, Augustinian, and Franciscanon 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 subjectespecially Combs, 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 169091. 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, Zablburu. 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 Toms de Endaya; and the auditors are for a time treated insolently by both. Zablburu 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 evanglica (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 Filipnos. 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 languagesadmiring the richness and elegance of the Taglogand 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 recountedincluding the worship of spirits, ancestors, idols, and phenomena of natureand 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 Combs, 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-Lat, 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. Combs 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. Combs 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. Combs 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. ......Buy Now (To Read More)

Product details

Ebook Number: 30253
Author: Bourne, Edward Gaylord
Release Date: Oct 14, 2009
Format: eBook
Language: English

Contributors

Editor: Blair, Emma Helen, 1851-1911 , Robertson, James Alexander, 1873-1939