Zambales

“ But this year we have the profitable and difficult expedition which our ever tireless and laborious province made into the Zambàles Mountains, for the sake of obtaining not little growth for the Christian faith.
397. The mountains called Zambàles extend a distance of fifty leguas from Mount Batàn to the plains of Pangasinàn in the island of Luzòn. They are peopled by an innumerable race, who defend themselves from the Spanish arms almost within sight of Manila, because of the roughness of the ground, and maintain along with their heathenism, their barbarous customs. ”

“ The Dominicans bend their energies to the work in their newly-acquired missions of Zambales. With malicious satisfaction, Concepción reports that their efforts have resulted mainly in failure. Believing that the eleven villages which they have received from the Recollects are too many for the best administration of the district, they endeavor to consolidate and move some of them. [24] Bolinao, which under the Recollect regime was located on a small island off the coast of Zambales, is moved across the channel to the barren coast where “many inconveniences but no advantages” are possessed. ”

“ This paper concerns itself chiefly with the Zambales Negritos whose distribution in Zambales and the contiguous Provinces of Bataan, Pampanga, and Tarlac is treated in detail in the following chapter. But Negritos of more or less pure blood, known variously as Aeta, Agta, Baluga, Dumagat, etc., are found in at least eleven other provinces of Luzon. Beginning with the southern end of the island there are a very few Negritos in the Province of Sorsogon. They are found generally living among the Bicol population and do not run wild in the woods ”

“ They probably formed a portion of a very early migratory movement from the south who were pushed back into the hills. They must not be confused with the Negritos, who are not Malayan. The Malayan origin of the Zambals can be easily seen from Perez’s description. ↑
2 Fray Vicente Salazar in his Historia, chapter xxx, pp. 134–138
(“Description of the province of Zambales, and the genius, customs, and ceremonies of its Indians”) makes use of this document by Perez, which he greatly condenses. Indeed, it forms his sole authority on the Zambals. ”

“ When the Recollect fathers had to leave the ministries of Zambales which they had conquered and established at the cost of their blood and by heroic labors, an order came at that same time from the court of España, decreeing that the island of Mindoro [315] be entrusted to a religious family chosen from those existing in this country. The governor of Filipinas, by the advice of the archbishop, thought to compensate the Recollects for the loss of their primitive religious conquests in the province of Zambales, by conferring on them the parishes of Mindoro. ”

“ The Zambales coast is a stormy one, and vessels frequently come to grief on its reefs. At only one point, Subig Bay, can larger vessels find anchorage safe from the typhoons which sweep the coast. The soil of the well-watered plain is fertile and seems adapted to the cultivation of nearly all the products of the Archipelago. The forests are especially valuable, and besides fine timbers for constructional purposes they supply large quantities of pitch, resin, bejuco, and beeswax. There are no industries worth mentioning, there being only primitive agriculture and stock raising. ”

“ The Negritos of Zambales are not so expert in the use of bows and arrows as their daily use of these weapons would seem to indicate. They seldom miss the larger animals at close range, but are not so lucky in shooting at small objects. I have noticed that they shoot more accurately upward into the trees than horizontally. ”

“ With those monsters were the discalced Augustinian religious dealing on the Zambales coast; having as the object of their living faith the salvation of souls, they could employ themselves admirably in such spiritual propagations, planting and watering with immense labor, God granting them the desired increase in that so blessed intercourse. Establishing themselves in Masinloc, they did not restrain themselves in the undertaking until they reached the end of the coast, on whose famous point is the village of Bolinao. ”

“ Notwithstanding the statements of Montano that the Negritos have no slaves and know nothing of slavery, the reverse is true, in Zambales at least; so say the Negritos and also the Filipinos who have spent several years among them. The word “a-li′-pun” is used among them to express such social condition. As has been stated, a man caught stealing may become a slave, as also may a person captured from another rancheria, a child left without support, a person under death sentence, or a debtor. It was also stated that if a man committed a crime and escaped a relative could be seized as a slave. ”

“ The fathers consider this war as justifiable; the enemy should be destroyed, and all who are taken captive should be enslaved for a specified time. The Jesuits consider that the first step is to ascertain who are guilty of inciting the outrages which the Zambales have committed against both the Spaniards and their Indian allies—whether all of that people, or only a few; whether their chiefs, or certain lawless individuals. When this shall be known, then the guilty, and they only should be punished. If the tribe as a whole, or their chiefs, are responsible, war against them is justifiable ”

“ That, it is justifiable—by methods which will not cause greater annoyance to the regions adjoining the Negrillos and Zambales—to make war upon the Negrillos and Zambales, even with fire and sword, whenever the above reasons are evident. We prove this by the above statements, for ferocity is a quality among them now almost a natural instinct; and they place all their honor in killing, without caring for any other object. ”

“ As a bride may be worth as much as 500 pesos and a slave never more than 40 pesos, it would seem necessary to secure several individuals as payment. This was told me more than once and in different villages, but I was unable to find any examples, and am forced to conclude that if it ever was the practice, it is no longer so, at least among the “conquistas.” As to the true savages, still lurking in the inmost recesses of the Zambales mountains, I am unable to say. The question of slavery among Negritos is reserved to another chapter. ”

“ It would be well for your Majesty to command that all of them within three leguas of towns and cultivated areas should be abandoned, in order that this molestation may cease.
The province of Panpanga is twelve leguas hence. It is the most fertile in all the islands, and the inhabitants have done more in your service than have any others. It lies low and is bounded by some mountains which slope down to it. The natives of the mountains are called Zambales. They are a race that live like beasts, without settled habitations; and they are so murderous that their delight is cutting off heads. ”

“ This village belongs to the bishopric of Cagayán, and is a district of about one thousand Indians, although it is unhealthful. Two religious live there usually. It is fifty-four leguas from Manila. One can go to the province of Ilocos either by sea or by land, although the highway is very dangerous. One always goes with an escort of armed Indians, for many Zambales wander through those mountains, whence they descend to hunt heads. When there is no resistance offered by arquebuses, of which they are in deadly fear, they obtain heads very easily. ”

“ They use this weapon in a dance called “baluk,” brandishing it, snapping their fingers, and whirling about with knees close to the ground. This is farther north than Negritos are found in Zambales but is in territory contiguous to that of the Tarlac Negritos. The entire region contains about 6,000 souls. The groups are so scattered, however, that the territory may be said to be practically unoccupied. [33]
1 The province has recently been divided by act of the Philippine Commission, the northern part above Santa Cruz being joined to Pangasinan. ”

“ On the western outskirts of this province among its mountains, and within the archbishopric of Manila are some Negrillos; they are heathen, and natives of the country (which is yet to be conquered) that is called Zambales. They are very barbarous, resembling the Chichimecos of Nueva España who eat human flesh.
6. Next at 16° latitude and on the western coast [of Luzon] , follows Pamgasinam; it belongs to the bishopric of Cagayan, and is rich in gold and other products of the soil. The natives have a language of their own. ”

“ All places are inhabited by the spirits. All adverse circumstances, sickness, failure of crops, unsuccessful hunts, are attributed to them. So long as things go well the spirits are not so much considered. There seems to be no particular worship or offerings to gain the good will of the spirits, other than the feeding already noted, except in one particular. On the Tarlac trail between O’Donnell (Tarlac Province) and Botolan (Zambales Province) there is a huge black bowlder which the Negritos believe to be the home of one powerful spirit. ”

“ In my visits to the provinces of these Islands, having noticed, with the sympathy that they must inspire in all sensitive souls, the kind of life and the privations that many of the infidel tribes, and especially the Negritos who inhabit the mountains, are forced to endure; and persuaded that it is a duty of all civilized Governments and of humanity itself to better the condition of men, who, hidden thus from society, will in time become extinct, victims of their customs, of the unhealthfulness of the rugged places where they live, and of our negligence in helping them ”

“ A hard two-day trip brought us to Santa Fé, a barrio of San Marcelino. After a week with the Negritos at this place a trip was made toward the Pampanga boundary to Cabayan and Aglao, the former locality inhabited by several small groups of Negritos, the latter an isolated Ilokano barrio in and near which the Negritos live. A visit to the rancherias near Subig and Olongapo concluded the investigation. In all, more than a thousand Negritos were seen.
With only a short time at a place it is evident that an exhaustive study of the people of any particular locality could not be made. ”

“ Señor Benito Guido says that when a young man he was told by Negritos that this charm would float upstream. And when he offered to give a carabao for it if that were so, its power was not shown. In spite of this, however, the Negritos are firm believers in it, and, for that matter, so also are the Christianized Zambal and Tagalog. It is likewise thought to be of value in attracting women. If it is rubbed on a woman or is smoked and the smoke blows on her the conquest is complete. [68]
1 Montano, Mission aux Philippines, p. ”

“ If a community became sufficiently large and bade fair to be permanent it was made a barrio of the nearest pueblo and given a teniente and concejales like other barrios. This was the case with Aglao and Santa Fé, in the jurisdiction of San Marcelino, but Ilokano immigrants settled in these places and the Negritos gradually withdrew to the hills and settled in other places, until now there are very few Negritos actually living in these towns. One old man in Aglao, who once went to Spain as a servant to an officer, speaks very good Spanish. ”

“ CHAPTER VII Missions to the Zambals
Along the provinces of Pangasinan and Pampanga, fronting their western side, there dwells another tribe, which they call Zambal, no less fierce than those already mentioned, and exceeding them in boldness. They are continually assaulting travelers, and they take their greatest pleasure in killing. So continual are their descents from the mountains to infest the said roads that it is only with great peril that one can cross from one province to the other without an escort; and even then many mishaps occur frequently ”

“ On the way they see many corpses of Indians slain by the foe; the village of Bantay is burned, only the church and convent, and a tiled house, are left standing. Arrived at Santa Catalina, the Zambals who escort the priests proceed to plunder and burn that village; and the fathers are unable to procure any food until the next day, save a little rice, and are compelled to flee for their lives from the flames—finally spending the second day with no shelter save a tree, and no food save what is given them by the Zambals from whom they beg it as alms. ”

“ Method used in getting these Indians to persevere in said prayers
The Zambals are the most cowardly people in these islands, although they have hitherto been considered by the neighboring provinces as a people of great courage and warlike. Their cowardice could be proved by many examples, but that does not concern the present matter. Their whole strength consists in fleeing, and their courage in hiding. From that cowardice it proceeds that all the murders that they commit are by treachery. ”

“ A number of the Zambals, including their leaders, hear mass with much reverence, and even confess to the priests, saying that many of their men have come on this raid through fear, rather than their own inclination. Most of the troop, however, proceed to loot the village; the people take refuge in the bishop’s house and the church, thus saving their lives, although they endure great suffering and privation by being shut up indoors for two days, with little food or drink. Finally the fathers persuade the Zambals to let the people return to their houses. ”

“ In order to perpetuate by might his new but tyrannical dignity, he summoned to his aid the Zambal tribe—a people who know no more civilized mode of life than the savage abode of the mountains and rocks; and without recognizing any one as king save him who, most barbarous of all, distinguishes himself as most courageous. ”