A Visit to the Philippine Islands

We made an excursion to the pretty village of Lumbang, having, as customary, been escorted to the banks of the river, which forms the limit of the pueblo, by the mounted principalia of Pagsanjan. The current was strong, but a barge awaited us and conveyed us to the front of the convent on the other side, where the principal ecclesiastic, a friar, conducted us to the reception rooms. We walked through the pueblo, whose inhabitants amount to 5,000 Indians, occupying one long broad street, where many coloured handkerchiefs and garments were hung out as flags from the windows, which were crowded with spectators. We returned to the Cabacera, where we slept. Early in the morning we took our departure from Pagsanjan.

We next advanced into the more elevated regions, growing more wild and wonderful in their beauties. As we proceeded the roads became worse and worse, and our horses had some difficulty in dragging the carriages through the deep mud. We had often to ask for assistance from the Indians to extricate us from the ruts, and they came to our aid with patient and persevering cheerfulness. When the main road was absolutely impassable, we deviated into the forest, and the Indians, with large knives – their constant companions – chopped down the impeding bushes and branches, and made for us a practicable way. After some hours’ journey we arrived at Majayjay, and between files of Indians, with their flags and music, were escorted to the convent, whence the good Franciscan friar Maximo Rico came to meet us, and led us up the wide staircase to the vast apartments above. The pueblo has about 8,500 inhabitants; the climate is humid, and its effects are seen in the magnificent vegetation which surrounds the place. The church and convent are by far the most remarkable of its edifices. Here we are surrounded by mountain scenery, and the forest trees present beautiful and various pictures. In addition to leaves, flowers and fruits of novel shapes and colours, the grotesque forms which the trunks and branches of tropical trees assume, as if encouraged to indulge in a thousand odd caprices, are among the characteristics of these regions. The native population availed themselves of the rude and rugged character of the region to offer a long resistance to the Spaniards on their first invasion, and its traditional means of defence were reported to be so great that the treasures of Manila were ordered to be transported thither on the landing of the English in 1762. Fortunately, say the Spanish historians, the arrangement was not carried out, as the English had taken their measures for the seizure of the spoils, and it was found the locality could not have been defended against them.

We were now about to ascend the mountains, and were obliged to abandon our carriages. Palanquins, in which we had to stretch ourselves at full length, borne each by eight bearers, and relays of an equal number, were provided for our accommodation. The Alcalde of the adjacent province of Tayabas had come down to Majayjay to invite us into his district, where, he said, the people were on the tiptoe of expectation, had made arrangements for our reception, and would be sadly disappointed if we failed to visit Lucban. We could not resist the kind urgency of his representations, and deposited ourselves in the palanquins, which had been got ready for us, and were indeed well rewarded. The paths through the mountains are such as have been made by the torrents, and are frequently almost impassable from the masses of rock brought down by the rushing waters. Sometimes we had to turn back from the selected road, and choose another less impracticable. In some places the mud was so deep that our bearers were immersed far above their knees, and nothing but long practice and the assistance of their companions could have enabled them to extricate themselves or us from so disagreeable a condition. But cheerfulness and buoyancy of spirits, exclamations of encouragement, loud laughter, and a general and brotherly co-operation surmounted every difficulty. Around us all was solitude, all silence, but the hum of the bees and the shrieks of the birds; deep ravines below, covered with forest trees, which no axe of the woodman would ever disturb; heights above still more difficult to explore, crowned with arboreous glories; brooks and rivulets noisily descending to larger streams, and then making their quiet way to the ocean receptacle. At last we reached a plain on the top of a mountain, where two grandly adorned litters, with a great number of bearers, were waiting, and we were welcomed by a gathering of graceful young women, all on ponies, which they managed with admirable agility. They were clad in the gayest dresses. The Alcalde called them his Amazonas; and a pretty spokeswoman informed us, in very pure Castilian, that they were come to escort us to Lucban, which was about a league distant. The welcome was as novel as it was unexpected. I observed the Tagálas mounted indifferently on the off or near side of their horses. Excellent equestrians were they; and they galloped and caracolled to the right and the left, and flirted with their embellished whips. A band of music headed us; and the Indian houses which we passed bore the accustomed demonstrations of welcome. The roads had even a greater number of decorations – arches of ornamented bamboos on both sides of the way, and firing of guns announcing our approach. The Amazonas wore bonnets adorned with ribands and flowers, – all had kerchiefs of embroidered piña on their shoulders, and variously coloured skirts and gowns of native manufacture added to the picturesque effect. So they gambolled along – before, behind, or at our sides where the roads permitted it – and seemed quite at ease in all their movements. The convent was, as usual, our destination; the presiding friar – quite a man of the world – cordial, amusing, even witty in his colloquies. He had most hospitably provided for our advent. All the principal people were invited to dinner. Many a joke went round, to which the friar contributed more than his share. Talking of the fair (if Indian girls can be so called), Captain Vansittart said he had thirty unmarried officers on board the Magicienne.

“A bargain,” exclaimed the friar; “send them hither, – I will find pretty wives for all of them.”

“But you must convert them first.”

“Ay! that is my part of the bargain.”

“And you will get the marriage fees.”

“Do you think I forgot that?”

After dinner, or supper, as it was called, the Amazonas who had escorted us in the morning, accompanied by many more, were introduced; the tables were cleared away; and when I left the hall for my bedroom, the dancing was going on in full energy.

Newspapers and books were lying about the rooms of the convent. The friar had more curiosity than most of his order: conversation with him was not without interest and instruction.

We returned by a different road to Majayjay, for the purpose of visiting a splendid waterfall, where the descent of the river is reported to be 300 feet. We approached on a ledge of rock as near as we could to the cataract, the roar of which was awful; but the quantity of mist and steam, which soon soaked our garments, obscured the vision and made it impossible for us to form any estimate of the depth of the fall. It is surrounded by characteristic scenery – mountains and woods – which we had no time to explore, and of which the natives could give us only an imperfect account: they knew there were deer, wild boars, buffaloes, and other game, but none had penetrated the wilder regions. A traveller now and then had scrambled over the rocks from the foot to the top of the waterfall

We returned to Majayjay again to be welcomed and entertained by our hosts at the convent with the wonted hospitality; and taking leave of our Alcalde, we proceeded to Santa Cruz, where, embarking in our felucca, we coasted along the lake and landed at Calamba, a pueblo of about 4,000 inhabitants; carriages were waiting to convey us to Biñan, stopping a short time at Santa Rosa, where the Dominican friars, who are the proprietors of large estates in the neighbourhood, invited us as usual to their convent. We tarried there but a short time. The roads are generally good on the borders of the Laguna, and we reached Biñan before sunset, the Indians having in the main street formed themselves in procession as we passed along. Flags, branches of flowering forest trees, and other devices, were displayed. First we passed between files of youths, then of maidens; and through a triumphal arch we reached the handsome dwelling of a rich mestizo, whom we found decorated with a Spanish order, which had been granted to his father before him. He spoke English, having been educated at Calcutta, and his house – a very large one – gave abundant evidence that he had not studied in vain the arts of domestic civilization. The furniture, the beds, the tables, the cookery, were all in good taste, and the obvious sincerity of the kind reception added to its agreeableness. Great crowds were gathered together in the square which fronts the house of Don José Alberto. Indians brought their game-cocks to be admired, but we did not encourage the display of their warlike virtues. There was much firing of guns, and a pyrotechnic display when the sun had gone down, and a large fire balloon, bearing the inscription, “The people of Biñan to their illustrious visitors,” was successfully inflated, and soaring aloft, was lost sight of in the distance, but was expected to tell the tale of our arrival to the Magicienne in Manila Bay. Biñan is a place of some importance. In it many rich mestizos and Indians dwell. It has more than 10,000 inhabitants. Large estates there are possessed by the Dominican friars, and the principal of them was among our earliest visitors. There, as elsewhere, the principalia, having conducted us to our head-quarters, came in a body to present their respects, the gobernadorcillo, who usually speaks Spanish, being the organ of the rest. Inquiries about the locality, thanks for the honours done us, were the commonplaces of our intercourse, but the natives were always pleased when “the strangers from afar” seemed to take an interest in their concerns. Nowhere did we see any marks of poverty; nowhere was there any crowding, or rudeness, or annoyance, in any shape. Actors and spectators seemed equally pleased; in fact, our presence only gave them another holiday, making but a small addition to their regular and appointed festivals. Biñan is divided by a river, and is about a mile from the Laguna. Its streets are of considerable width, and the neighbouring roads excellent. Generally the houses have gardens attached to them; some on a large scale. They are abundant in fruits of great variety. Rice is largely cultivated, as the river with its confluents affords ample means of irrigation. The lands are usually rented from the Dominicans, and the large extent of some of the properties assists economical cultivation. Until the lands are brought into productiveness, little rent is demanded, and when they become productive the friars have the reputation of being liberal landlords and allowing their tenants to reap large profits. It is said they are satisfied with one-tenth of the gross produce. A tenant is seldom disturbed in possession if his rent be regularly paid. Much land is held by associations or companies known by the title of Casamahanes. There is an active trade between Biñan and Manila.

Greatly gratified with all we had seen, we again embarked and crossed the Laguna to Pasig. Descending by that charming river, we reached Manila in the afternoon.

CHAPTER III

HISTORY

A few sketches of the personal history of some of the captains-general of Manila will be an apt illustration of the general character of the government, which, with some remarkable exceptions, appears to have been of a mild and paternal character; while the Indians exhibit, when not severely dealt with, much meekness and docility, and a generally willing obedience. The subjugation of the wild tribes of the interior has not made the progress which might have been fairly looked for; but the military and naval forces at the disposal of the captain-general have always been small when the extent of his authority is considered. In fact, many conquests have had to be abandoned from inadequacy of strength to maintain them. The ecclesiastical influences, which have been established among the idolatrous tribes, are weak when they come in contact with any of the forms of Mahomedanism, as in the island of Mindanao, where the fanaticism of Mussulman faith is quite as strong as that among the Catholics themselves. Misunderstandings between the Church and State could hardly be avoided where each has asserted a predominant power, and such misunderstandings have often led to the effusion of blood and the dislocation of government. Mutual jealousies exist to the present hour, and as the friars, in what they deem the interests of the people, are sometimes hostile to the views of the civil authority, that authority has frequently a right to complain of being thwarted, or feebly aided, by the local clergy.

While shortly recording the names of the captains-general to whom the government of the Philippines has been confided, I will select a few episodes from the history of the islands, which will show the character of the administration, and assist the better understanding of the position of the people.

Miguel Lope de Legaspi, a Biscayan, upon whom the title of Conqueror of the Philippines has been conferred, was the first governor, and was nominated in 1565. He took possession of Manila in 1571, and died, it is said, of disgust and disappointment the following year. The city was invaded by Chinese pirates during the government of his successor Guido de Lavezares, who repulsed them, and received high honours from his sovereign, Philip II. Francisco de Saude founded in Camarines the city of Nueva Caceres, to which he gave the name of the place of his birth. He was a man of great ambition, who deposed one and enthroned another sultan of Borneo, and modestly asked from the king of Spain authority to conquer China, but was recommended to be less ambitious, and to keep peace with surrounding nations. Rinquillo de Peñarosa rescued Cagayan from a Japanese pirate, and founded New Segovia and Arévalo in Panay; his nephew succeeded him, and in doing honour to his memory set the Church of St. Augustin on fire; it spread to the city, of which a large part was destroyed. In 1589, during the rule of Santiago de Vera, the only two ships which carried on the trade with New Spain were destroyed by a hurricane in the port of Cavite. The next governor, Gomez Perez Dasmariñas, sent to Japan the missionaries who were afterwards put to death; he headed an expedition to Moluco, but on leaving the port of Mariveles his galley was separated from the rest of the fleet; the Chinese crew rose, murdered him, and fled in his vessel to Cochin China. His son Luis followed him as governor. A Franciscan friar, who had accompanied the unfortunate expedition of his father, informed him that he would find, as he did, his patent of appointment in a box which the Chinese had landed in the province of Ilocos, and his title was in consequence recognised. Francisco Tello de Guzman, who entered upon the government in 1596, was unfortunate in his attempts to subdue the natives of Mindanao, as was one of his captains, who had been sent to drive away the Dutch from Mariveles.

In the year 1603 three mandarins arrived in Manila from China. They said that a Chinaman, whom they brought as a prisoner, had assured the Emperor that the island of Cavite was of gold, that the Chinaman had staked his life upon his veracity, and that they had come to learn the truth of his story. They soon after left, having been conducted by the governor to examine Cavite for themselves. A report speedily spread that an invasion of the Philippines by a Chinese army of 100,000 was in contemplation, and a Chinese called Eng Kang, who was supposed to be a great friend of the Europeans, was charged with a portion of the defences. A number of Japanese, the avowed enemies of the Chinese, were admitted to the confidence of the governor, and communicated to the Chinese the information that the government suspected a plot. A plot there was, and it was said the Chinese determined on a rising, and a general massacre of the Spaniards on the vespers of St. Francis’ day. A Philippine woman, who was living with a Chinaman, denounced the project to the curate of Quiapo, who advised the governor. A number of the conspirators were assembled at a half-league’s distance from Manila, and Eng Kang was sent with some Spaniards to put down the movement. The attempt failed, and Eng Kang was afterwards discovered to have been one of the principal promoters of the insurrection. In the evening the Chinese attacked Quiapo and Tondo, murdering many of the natives. They were met by a body of 130 Spaniards, nearly all of whom perished, and their heads were sent to Parian, which the insurgents captured, and besieged the city of Manila from Dilao. The danger led to great exertions on the part of the Spaniards, the ecclesiastics taking a very active part. The Chinese endeavoured to scale the walls, but were repulsed. The monks declared that St. Francis had appeared in person to encourage them. The Chinese withdrew to their positions, but the Spaniards sallied out from the citadel, burnt and destroyed Parian, and pursued the flying Chinese to Cabuyao. New reinforcements arrived, and the flight of the Chinese continued as far as the province of Batangas, where they were again attacked and dispersed. It is said that of 24,000 revolted Chinese only one hundred escaped, who were reserved for the galleys. About 2,00 °Chinese were left, who had not involved themselves in the movement. Eng Kang was decapitated, and his head exposed in an iron cage. It was three years after this insurrection that the Court of Madrid had the first knowledge of its existence.

Pedro de Acuña, after the suppression of this revolt, conquered Ternate, and carried away the king, but died suddenly, in 1606, after governing four years. Cristobal Tellez, during his short rule, destroyed a settlement of the Japanese in Dilao. Juan de Silva brought with him, in 1609, reinforcements of European troops, and in the seventh year of his government, made great preparations for attacking the Dutch, but died after a short illness. In 1618, Alonzo Fajardo came to the Philippines, with conciliatory orders as regarded the natives, and was popular among them. He punished a revolt in Buhol, sent an unsuccessful mission to Japan, and in a fit of jealousy killed his wife. Suspecting her infidelity, he surprised her at night in a house, where she had been accustomed to give rendezvous to her paramour, and found her in a dress which left no doubt of her crime. The governor called in a priest, commanded him to administer the sacrament, and, spite of the prayers of the ecclesiastic, he put her to death by a stab from his own dagger. This was in 1622. Melancholy took possession of him, and he died in 1624. Two interim governors followed. Juan Niño de Tabera arrived in 1626. He brought with him 600 troops, drove the Dutch from their holds, and sent Olaso, a soldier, celebrated for his deeds in Flanders, against the Jolo Indians; but Olaso failed utterly, and returned to Manila upon his discomfiture.

A strange event took place in 1630. The holy sacrament had been stolen in a glass vase, from the cathedral. A general supplication (rogativa) was ordered; the archbishop issued from his palace barefooted, his head covered with ashes, and a rope round his neck, wandering about to discover where the vase was concealed. All attempts having failed, so heavy were the penitences, and so intolerable the grief of the holy man, that he sank under the calamity, and a fierce contest between the ecclesiastical and civil functionaries was the consequence of his death.

In 1635 there was a large arrival of rich converted Japanese, who fled from the fierce persecutions to which the Christians had been subjected in Japan; but a great many Catholic missionaries hastened to that country, in order to be honoured with the crown of martyrdom. Another remarkable ecclesiastical quarrel took place at this time. A commissary, lately arrived from Europe, ordered that all the friars with beards should be charged with the missions to China and Japan; and all the shorn friars should remain in the Philippines. The archbishop opposed this, as the Pope’s bulls had no regulations about beards. Fierce debates were also excited by the exercise of the right of asylum to criminals, having committed offences, either against the military or the civil authority. The archbishop excommunicated – the commandant of artillery rebelled. The archbishop fined him – the vicar apostolic confirmed the sentence. The Audiencia annulled the proceedings – the Bishop of Camarines was called on as the arbiter, and absolved the commandant. Appeals followed, and one of the parties was accused of slandering the Most Holy Father. The Jesuits took part against the archbishop, who called all the monks together, and they fined the Jesuits 4,000 dollars. The governor defended the Jesuits, and required the revocation of the sentence in six hours. The quarrel did not end here: but there was a final compromise, each party making some concessions to the other.

The disasters which followed the insurrection of Eng Kang did not prevent the influx of Chinese into the islands, and especially into the province of Laguna, where another outbreak, in which it is said 30,00 °Chinese took part, occurred in 1639. They divided themselves into guerrillas, who devastated the country; but were subdued in the following year, seven thousand having surrendered at discretion. Spanish historians say that the hatred of the Indians to the Chinese awaked them from their habitual apathy, and that in the destruction of the intruders they exhibited infinite zeal and activity.

In the struggles between the natives and the Spaniards, even the missionaries were not always safe, and the Spaniards were often betrayed by those in whom they placed the greatest confidence. The heavy exactions and gabelles inflicted on the Indians under Fajardo led to a rising in Palopag, when the Jesuit curate was killed and the convent and church sacked. The movement spread through several of the islands, and many of the prisoners were delivered in Caraga to the keeping of an Indian, called Dabao, who so well fulfilled his mission, that when the governor came to the fortress, to claim the captives, Dabao seized and beheaded his Excellency, and, with the aid of the prisoners, destroyed most of the Spaniards in the neighbourhood, including the priests; so that only six, among whom was an Augustine barefooted friar, escaped, and fled to the capital. Reinforcements having arrived from Manila, the Indians surrendered, being promised a general pardon. “The promise,” says the Spanish historian, “was not kept; but the leaders of the insurrection were hanged, and multitudes of the Indians sent to prison.” The governor-general “did not approve of this violation of a promise made in the king’s name,” but ordered the punishment of the Spanish chiefs, and the release of such natives as remained in prison.

In 1645, for two months there was a succession of fearful earthquakes. In Cagayan a mountain was overturned, and a whole town engulfed at its foot. Torrents of water and mud burst forth in many places. All the public buildings in the capital were destroyed, except the convent and the church of the Augustines, and that of the Jesuits. Six hundred persons were buried in Manila under the ruins of their houses, and 3,000 altogether are said to have lost their lives.

De Lara was distinguished for his religious sentiments. On his arrival in 1653 he refused to land till the archbishop had preceded him and consecrated the ground on which he was to tread. He celebrated a jubilee under the authority of the Pope, by which the country was to be purified from “the crimes, censures, and excommunications” with which, for so many years, it had been afflicted. The archbishop, from an elevated platform in Manila, blessed the islands and their inhabitants in the presence of an immense concourse of people. Reconciliations, confessions, restitutions followed these “days of sanctity;” but the benedictions seem to have produced little benefit, as they were followed by earthquakes, tempests, insurrections, unpunished piracies, and, in the words of a Spanish writer, “a web of anxieties and calamities.” Missionaries were sent to convert the Mahomedans, but they were put to death, and many professed converts turned traitors. Kung Sing, the piratical chief, who had conquered Formosa, and who had 1,000 junks and 100,000 men under his orders, had sent an envoy to Manila demanding the subjection of the islands to his authority or threatening immediate invasion. The threat created a general alarm: the Chinese were all ordered to quit the country; they revolted, and almost all were murdered. “It is wonderful,” says De Mas, “that any Chinamen should have come to the Philippines after the repeated slaughters” of their countrymen at different periods, though it is certain they have often brought down the thunderbolt on their own heads. De Lara, having been accused of corruption, was fined 60,000 dollars, pardoned, and returned to Spain, where he became an ecclesiastic, and died in Malaga, his native city.