“ Those evil spirits did not obtain nor will they ever obtain their most evil intents to destroy the earth and mankind, for they are under the power and protection of the powerful and invisible god Badla. Consequently, and in view of so great love and mercy on the part of the latter and because of so much goodness on the part of his father Mansilátan, the bailanas who are the priestesses of the same, can never do less than be joyful, and in the transports of their joy invite one another to dance and circle about their revered images as an act of reverence to so great benefactors. ”

“ There with cup of wine in hand, they mutually pledge one another, and yielding the word to the old man or chief of the feast, they drink toasts with him in honor of the great Daragó, whom they promise to follow and honor forever, offering to him, as did their ancestors, the blood of many human victims, so that he may be their friend and aid them in their wars. ”

“ There are, however, many difficulties to overcome before operations against the pirates can be effective. The greatest of these is the desire of the English to secure the goodwill of the chiefs of the tribes by whom they are surrounded. They thus wink at their piracies on the vessels of other nations, or take no steps to alleviate the evils of slavery. Indeed the language that one hears from many intelligent men who have long resided in that part of the world is, that in no country where civilization exists does slavery exhibit so debasing a form as in her Indian possessions. ”

“ They are of good stature and graceful build, and even handsome. Their character is affable and frank, and some of them seem to me so clever and polished that they are not one whit behind the most civilized Visayans, and to judge by the frankness with which they speak to the father missionary, and by the naturalness with which they handle their affairs with the old Christians, no one would say that they were heathens. ”

“ And so powerful is self-interest or the love of life that although they believe that it is evil to observe those superstitions and not give entire assent to those deceits, they carry them out, for they say that perhaps it will be so. That is a proof that they have very little root in the faith.
All their religion was rather a servile fear than true worship. They had no external adoration or any formula of prayers to God or idols; they believed in neither reward nor recompense for the good, nor punishment for the wicked. ”

“ The feast which they hold before the sowing is a criminal and repugnant trago-comedy. The tragical part is the first thing that is done. When they have assembled in the middle of the woods, after taking all the precautions necessary, so that the matter may not reach the ears of the authority of the district or of the father missionary, they tightly bind the slave whom they are going to sacrifice. ”

“ When the unfortunate hog which is to serve for the sacrifice is placed above the said altar, the chief bailana approaches with balarao or dagger in hand, which she brandishes and drives into the poor animal, which will surely be grunting in spite of the gods and of the religious solemnity, as it is fearful of what is going to happen to it; and leaves the victim sweltering in its blood. Then immediately all the bailanas drink of the blood in order to attract the prophetic spirit to themselves and to give their auguries or the supposed inspirations of their gods. ”

“ The Moros hereabout are a race of thieves, the most shameful that are known. They do not work and live ordinarily on the slave trade which they are always able to procure. I know some Moros in this mission who pass themselves off as friends, but are very evil. There is a pandita named Gúbat, who asserts that he likes me and respects me more than he does his own father, and comes into my presence as if he were the most friendly and obedient person in all the reductions of the coast, telling me always that he is going to collect what they owe him. ”

“ Many Chinese heathens live here, and very rarely does one see one of them who dies without baptism, not only because of the inducements of our religious, who have charge of that mission, but also because when any of those heathens falls sick, all his relatives, even the pagans, unite in persuading him to become a Christian, not for any zeal which they have for the faith, for they remain in their paganism, but for fear lest, if they die heathens, their property might suffer some loss, as has been established in practice according to law or custom. ”

“ And inasmuch as all the barbarity of their customs originated from their lack of faith, the fathers began to set before them and to explain to them the immortality of the soul, the reward or punishment of the other life, and all the other mysteries of the Catholic faith. Their instruction took so fast hold once more on the apostates and on the people of Buquil, that they looked at one another in stupefaction at what they heard the fathers say. ”

“ Leaving to one side even the inhumanity revealed by so barbarous a custom, only by not attacking so directly their own interests by depriving themselves of arms for their work, etc., it appears that they would have to refrain from sacrificing their slaves; but necessarily they are very much given to human sacrifices, not only in order to preserve a custom of their ancestors, but also in order not to lose a kind of trade that is sufficiently lucrative, and of which I made mention in one of my former letters. ”

“ The dress of the common people is very much like that of the Chinese, with loose and full sleeves, without buttons. The materials of which it is made are grass-cloth, silks, satins, or white cotton, from China. I should judge, from the appearance of their persons, that they ought to be termed, so far as ablutions go, a cleanly people. There is no outward respect or obeisance shown by the slave to his master, nor is the presence of the Datu, or even of the Sultan himself, held in any awe. All appear upon an equality, and there does not seem to be any controlling power ”

“ It is impossible that people should go from Philipinas to people those lands, for the east wind dominates constantly throughout the torrid zone, and that wind blowing head on would not permit the ship to sail to those islands. Rather on the contrary we must believe that the inhabitants of all the islands of the South Sea came from the Orient with wind astern as we have seen happen to the Indians of Palaos,15 who have come to our Philipinas several times driven by the wind, and the east winds have not allowed them to return to their land. ”

“ Their religion is a shapeless aggregation of superstitious ideas. It is not accurate to say that the Tirurayes have so low an idea of their self respect that they believe themselves to be honored in prostituting their wives and daughters with the Spaniards. Given the supposition of some isolated deed which might seem to prove the abovesaid, a general rule could not be deduced therefrom against the integrity of the customs of the Tirurayes in this matter, against which the nature itself, not only of man but also of the brute animals themselves, cries out with a loud voice. ”

“ But not so quickly did our religious learn what can not be mentioned without tears, namely, that although the Indians were apparently Christians, and were subject to the teaching of the fathers, and had abandoned some of their ancient customs, and embraced in part the observance of the divine law, yet they desired to serve God and the demon at the same time, and they desired to embrace the matters of the faith in such a manner that they should not become separated from the ancient worship which they attributed to the demon in their false gods. ”

“ There are many heathens in Dávao, some of whom are industrious and intelligent, but few of whom are baptized. In southwest Dávao there are about 12,000 Bagobos, and they still maintain their old heathen customs, among them that of human sacrifice. They have two feasts during the year, one before the sowing of the rice, and the other at the end of the harvest. The latter is called the feast of women, and there is nothing worse seen at it than feasting, drinking, and dancing. In the former feast, the human sacrifice figures. The Bagobos recognize two beginnings and each person has two souls. ”

“ Reverend Father, the consolation which I have had, on seeing the zeal and activity with which these fathers procure the spiritual and material welfare of so many poor creatures, is unspeakable. In honor of truth I must tell your Reverence that their hopes and labors [309] have not been in vain, for in less than four years, more than 6,600 heathens who dwelt in the region of the shadow of death, have been illumined by the torch of the faith, have denied their false beliefs and ridiculous superstitions, and have been regenerated in the waters of baptism. ”

“ This latter, being the prince of darkness, rules them thoroughly, no longer by insinuating himself and presenting himself under the forms of apparent goodness, in order to take possession of their hearts and souls without intimidating them, acting as a seductive deceiver, but in the midst of the shadows of this heathenism, he does not fear to appear so frightfully horrible and cruel as he is in reality. ”

“ For although they knew of the immortality of the soul and believed that they could do wrong, that belief was so filled with errors that they thought that the souls had need of sustenance, and all other things that we mortals need. ”

“ Beyond all doubt those Negritos are the first settlers of these islands, and retired to the mountains when the Indians came hither. The latter inhabit the coasts, and formerly the Negritos waged continual war with them, and would not permit them to cut wood in the mountains unless they paid tribute to them. Today they have but little power, and yet they are feared; for whenever any Negrito is killed, or when any one dies suddenly, another Negrito generally offers himself among his companions and takes an oath not to return to his own people until he kills three or four Indians. ”

“ The tone of the history is one of ecclesiastical jealousy and aggrandizement. In the appendix which treats in great part of the Moros and peoples of Mindanao, the chief things to note are the similarity of these latter-day Malay peoples in many of their customs and characteristics with the early Filipinos as described by the early writers. The persistence of the old superstitious beliefs in the province of Nueva Ecija, Luzón, is interesting, and probably typical of the islands as a whole, at least in districts somewhat out of the usual line of travel. ”

“ Had we not received help, of a truth, our sick and stricken would have died of hunger and poor food. But now with this palay, we shall have enough to put new life into us, and we shall keep some of it for a small field, which will give us hopes of enduring the famine better later on. ”

“ When they marry, if the lovers think that it will be of any use, they make a human sacrifice so that they may have a good marriage, so that the weather may be good, so that they may have no storm, sickness, etc.: all, things which they attribute to the devil. In the same way also when they learn that there is any contagious disease, or fear death, several of them assemble and make a human sacrifice, asking the devil to let them live, since they generously offer him that victim. ”

“ When any governor of this district urges them with instance to make a village, they make, as it were, an excuse for a settlement, carrying out the plan which the governor himself, or some Spaniard in the name of the governor, or some other intelligent person, gives them. They will construct, if it is desired, their so-called houses at the distances which are marked out for them, but they will never reconcile themselves with any kind of cultivation, or with cleanliness, or the repair of what gets out of order. ”

“ These words which they address to Búsao, when they wound and slash the victim, show clearly that they believe in and expect to have the demon as their friend by killing people for him. For they hope to assure their life in proportion to the number of their neighbors they deliver to death, which they believe is always inflicted by Búsao or the demon who is devoured continually by hunger for human victims. ”

“ For on eight or more occasions that the religious have entered those mountains for the purpose of reducing the heathens who live in them, sometimes escorted by soldiers, and at other times without that aid, in all of them, they have experienced lack of health and death of the missionaries and even of the soldiers who accompanied them. Hence, the reduction of all that paganism was deemed impracticable. But now during these latter years, the earnest solicitude of the prelates has made that land communicable by opening through it a road from the province of Pangasinan to that of Cagayan. ”

“ On account of this war against baptism by Baguísan, which is both obligatory and of long standing in Sámal, it is advisable to pay heed to that field of Christendom, so that it may increase, although that increase be but gradual, and so that the entire island may finally be converted. The appointment, by the governor, of the Christians of San José as captain, lieutenant, etc., has produced an excellent result. It might be said that those Christians are the real datos of the island, and the only ones who obey the orders that they receive, who cultivate cacao, and form a true village. ”

“ When they visit a sick person, they have the custom of placing copper rings on their wrists or on their legs, in order that the soul which they call limócod may not leave. When anyone dies, they never bury him without placing for him his share of rice to be eaten on the journey. When they harvest their rice or maize, they give the first fruits to the diuata, and do not eat them, or sell a grain without first having [238] made their hatchets, bolos, and other tools which they use in clearing their fields eat first. The song of the limócon is for them the message from God. ”