Antonio de Morga

“ May God in His mercy give us patience and consolation because these infidels [i.e., the Chinese] are the people who have corrupted the natural light more than any other people in the world. Hence angels and not men are required to deal with them. Since there are historians who record events in these regions, I shall not go into details respecting them. I only say, in order that you may understand in what a country we are, that it is the true kingdom of the devil, where he seems to rule with full power. ”

“ There are six hundred houses, mostly built of stone, within the walls, and even more in the suburbs; "and all are the habitations and homes of Spaniards." All the people, both men and women, are clad and gorgeously adorned in silks; and nowhere is there greater abundance of food, and of other necessaries of human life, than in Manila. Morga enumerates the dignitaries, ecclesiastical and civil, who reside in the city; and mentions it as the center and metropolis of the archipelago. He then briefly describes the other Spanish settlements in the Philippines ”

“ We are greatly esteemed by the king and his men, and by those native here; and greatly feared by foreigners. Accordingly we receive great respect in all parts of the kingdom. They have bestowed upon Captain Diego Belloso and myself the title of grandee, the highest in their kingdom, so that we may be more respected and feared, and better obeyed. Two of the best provinces in the kingdom are entered in our names, and will be made over to us as soon as the turmoils of war are settled and assemblies have been held to take the oaths to the king, which has not yet been done. ”

“ He who wishes to depict China without having seen the land, must draw a country full of rivers and towns, and without a palmo of ground left lying idle. I wish I had more time in which to describe some of the things of China which I have observed and inquired about with special care, and of which, if God please, I shall be the messenger. The affairs of Camboja are in a good condition, and we shall arrive there at a seasonable time, if it be our Lord's will that we leave this place with good auspices. The king sent a ship to Manila at the end of August to ask for assistance. ”

“ There are certain poisonous herbs, with which, when the natives gather them, they carry, all ready, other herbs which act as antidotes. In the island of Bohol is one herb of such nature that the natives approach it from windward when they cut it from the shrub on which it grows; for the very air alone that blows over the herb is deadly. Nature did not leave this danger without a remedy, for other herbs and roots are found in the same islands, of so great efficacy and virtue that they destroy and correct the poison and mischief of the others, and are used when needed. ”

“ The Dutch come here in passing, and only while on their journey. As soon as their vessels are laden, they return. After that we are abandoned to the Spaniards and Portuguese, against whom we are powerless to defend ourselves. They come to pounce upon us, because we have traded with the Dutch, their enemies. On the other hand, if we attach ourselves to the Spanish, they, at least, protect us in our needs. On the contrary, although the Dutch should come with forces sufficient to protect us, we fear nothing from them; they do not treat us as enemies. ”

“ Those islands are inhabited by people, natives of the same islands, called Viçayas; or by another name, Pintados—for the more prominent of the men, from their youth, tattoo their whole bodies, by pricking them wherever they are marked and then throwing certain black powders over the bleeding surface, the figures becoming indelible. But, as the chief seat of the government, and the principal Spanish settlement, was moved to the island of Luzon—the largest island, and that one nearest and opposite to Great China and Japon—I shall treat of it first ”

“ 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. ”

“ Suspicious of the men in the camp who had constantly shown a desire to return to Manila, and little relish for the hardships of war, and fearing lest they would return at the arrival of the first order, executing that order and abandoning the enterprise which had reached such a satisfactory stage; and thinking that it would be unwise to abandon the river: the governor made haste to send a second despatch immediately by various roads, ordering them to pay no attention to his first orders, but to remain in Mindanao, and that he would soon send them what was necessary for further operations. ”

“ There are also many gold mines and placers in the other islands, especially among the Pintados, on the Botuan River in Mindanao, and in Sebu, where a mine of good gold is worked, called Taribon. If the industry and efforts of the Spaniards were to be converted into the working of the gold, as much would be obtained from any one of these islands as from those provinces which produce the most in the world. But since they attend to other means of gain rather than to this, as will be told in due time, they do not pay the proper attention to this matter. ”

“ I have written to the governor and to the Audiencia in Manila, concerning the succor for which I beg, for I have asked it so often, on account of the great necessity of it; for through its means the injury may be checked; otherwise it may later cost much to the king our sovereign. I beg your Grace to favor me in this, or at least in what may be necessary for the future, for thus it will render a great service to God and to the king, my sovereign. May God preserve your Grace with life for many years. From this island of Tidore, today, March eight, one thousand six hundred and one. ”

“ I, Don Pedro de Acuña, governor, captain-general, and president of the Filipinas Islands, and general of this army and fleet, declare that, over my signature, I hereby give security of life to the king of Terrenate, in order that he may come to talk with me—both to him and those whom he may bring with him—reserving to myself the disposal of all the others as I may see fit. ”

“ Few people come from the other nations—Sian, Camboja, Borneo, Patan, and other islands—outside our government; and they immediately return in their vessels. Consequently, there is nothing special to be said of them, except that care is exercised in receiving and despatching them well, and seeing that they return quickly to their own countries.
Since I have told, in the short time at my disposal, the characteristics of the Filipinas Islands, and their customs and practices, it will not be inappropriate to discuss the navigation to them since it is made thither from Nueva España ”

“ The commerce of the Indias consists chiefly: 1. In pepper, which is loaded at Bantam, Jahor, Patane, Queda, and Achin; 2. in cloves, which are loaded at Amboina and the Moluccas; 3. in nutmeg and mace, or the rind of the nutmeg, which are loaded at Banda; 4. in the commerce of Cambaie; 5. in the commerce of the Coromandel coast; 6. in the commerce of both the Chinese and Japanese coasts.
If the commerce of each of these is not managed by one nation, whether the Portuguese or others, it will happen that one will destroy the other. ”

“ Even when people go to banquets or dinners where there is any suspicion, they are wont to take with them these insects, in order to preserve and assure themselves from any danger of poison and venom.
All these islands are, in many districts, rich in placers and mines of gold, a metal which the natives dig and work. However, since the advent of the Spaniards in the land, the natives proceed more slowly in this, and content themselves with what they already possess in jewels and gold ingots, handed down from antiquity and inherited from their ancestors. ”

“ On shore there remained alive only one Franciscan religious, five Manila Indians, and a Castilian named Joan Dias, whom the king, who grieved exceedingly for the deaths of the Spaniards, had hid carefully in the open country. Although the king advised the friar not to appear in public until the Malays were appeased, that religious, imagining that he could escape their fury, emerged with two Indians in order to escape from the kingdom. ”

“ If perchance there should be so few men in the Filipinas at present that no great number of them can be sent, at least send as many as possible with the fathers, so as not to lose this jurisdiction and our share in anything; for Diego Belloso sent to Malaca for religious, men, and documents, so that by that means he may become chief justice of this land, and make over this jurisdiction to Malaca. Since this kingdom has been restored by that kingdom [i.e., the Philippines] , your Grace should not allow others to reap the fruits of our labors. ”

“ 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 assemblages, 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. ”

“ The coming of vessels to Maluco at this time from Holanda and Zelanda was not less prejudicial to all our interests; for the Dutch, having so great interests in the islands, and having established their interests there so firmly, were coming in squadrons by the India route, to recover what they had lost in Amboino, Terrenate, and other islands. With their countenance, the Moros were revolting against the Spaniards, who had their hands full with them, and more so with the Dutch, for the latter were numerous, and more dangerous enemies than the natives. ”