Part 1

Produced by Jeroen Hellingman and the Online Distributed Proofreading Team for Project Gutenberg at https://www.pgdp.net/

Bulletin of The Free Library of Philadelphia

Number 4

SOME NOTES ON THE BIBLIOGRAPHY OF THE PHILIPPINES

By

Rev. THOMAS COOKE MIDDLETON, D.D., O.S.A.

December, 1900

Copyright, 1900, by The Free Library of Philadelphia.

Press of Edward Stern & Co., Inc. Philadelphia

PREFACE.

So many inquiries have been made in the Free Library of Philadelphia for information concerning the history and literature of the Philippines, that an earnest effort was made some time ago to gather together books bearing on these subjects. The fact that a short catalogue of Philippine literature, prepared by the bibliographer, W. E. Retana, comprises as many as three thousand separate works, is a matter known to comparatively few persons, and it was therefore with considerable interest that the Philobiblon Club of Philadelphia obtained the promise of the Rev. Thomas Cooke Middleton that he would read a paper upon the bibliography of the Philippines before the Club. This Bulletin is a copy of that paper, as read in substance, and it would have been published several months since but for the unfortunate loss of the manuscript in the office of the newspaper to which the author had confided it. In answer to the urgent requests of the members of the Philobiblon Club, Father Middleton very kindly re-wrote it and consented that it should be printed by the Free Library of Philadelphia for the use of the students and patrons of the Library. An evil fate, however, seemed to pursue the manuscript, and within four days after it had been completed for the second time it perished in the great fire which destroyed the printing house of J. B. Lippincott Co. Once more the author took courage, and again wrote out the paper, and these facts are recorded both as a matter of interest, and to explain why this Bulletin has been so long delayed.

A collection of books on the subject of the Philippines is being gradually accumulated, and it seems desirable both to furnish the readers in the Library with information upon the subject, and also to take an opportunity to counteract the popular misapprehension as to what has been done by the residents of the Philippines in the way of literature.

Since the collection of works on this subject was commenced the Free Library has prepared and mimeographed from time to time for the use of its readers "Finding Lists" of the books on the shelves relating to the Philippine Islands. The latest of these lists, prepared May 4, 1900, shows that fifty-four volumes have been collected and also gives references to nearly six hundred magazine articles in the Library.

Possibly one of the most interesting books received in the Library is the Flora de Filipinas, consisting of four folio volumes of text (printed in Spanish and Latin on the same page) and two of colored lithographed plates. It was published at Manila 1877-1883 for the friars of St. Augustine under the direction of H. Ex. the late Sebastiano Vidal y Soler, assisted scientifically by the able botanists, the Rev. Fathers Fr. Andres Naves and Fr. Celestino Fernandez Villar, both of the Augustinian order of friars. It was composed from manuscripts of the late Father Blanco of the same order. The plates were drawn and colored from nature by native artists, and sent to Barcelona where they were lithographed, and after six hundred copies were printed off, the stones were destroyed. As will be noticed, in many cases the specimens are given both in fruit and flower, necessitating in most instances a gathering of the specimens at distinct seasons of the year.

The book was published as a serial work, two or three parts with four plates each (with corresponding descriptions) appearing monthly. There were several stoppages during the printing of the work, caused by a large fire at one time and an earthquake at another, from both of which the printing establishment at which the book was being published suffered. In this manner the time occupied in the publication was prolonged.

The original editor was Sr. Domingo Vidal, who unfortunately, after only two or three parts of the work had been given out, was obliged to leave the Islands on account of poor health. Several months later he died and his brother, who had assumed the editorship, upon his departure from Manila, continued the work until it was finished.

The Trustees of the Free Library of Philadelphia desire to express their thanks to the Rev. Dr. Middleton for the contribution to bibliography which follows. A short index has been added, which it is believed will fit the paper for general use. Many thanks are due to Mr. John Ashhurst for his assistance in this tedious part of the Bulletin.

John Thomson.

INTRODUCTORY.

The following pages, embodying a survey (on a broad scale) of the chief characteristics of Philippine intellectual energy, in its various lines of art, science, letters, seem an objective worthy of the American scholar, who, to his own large group of aboriginal tongues at home, has now to add to his field of study a similarly far-reaching family of the many-toned dialects of Malaysia,--twenty-seven idioms at least in number,--according to Retana's tabulation, whereof I give a list drawn from his latest bibliography of the Philippines, [1] where, enumerating the various works published in the several dialects in use in that archipelago, he has summarized them in the following table:

Bisaya, or Visaya, generic name for Titles. 1. Cebuano, Isle of Cebu | 2. Panayano, Hiligayno and Harayo, Isle of Panay | 352 3. Leyte, or Leite, and Samar Isles | 4. Tagalo, Isle of Luzon 230 5. Ilocano, ibid. 143 6. Bicol, or Vicol, ibid. 61 7. Pangasinan, ibid. 24 8. Pampango, ibid. 22 9. Ibanag, ibid. 15 10. Moro-Maguindanao 8 11. Cuyono 7 12. Tiruray 6 13. Bagobo 3 14. Aeta, or Negrito, Isle of Negros 2 15. Gaddan, Isle of Luzon 2 16. Isinay, ibid. 2 17. Joloano 2 18. Manobo, Isle of Mindanao 2 19. Tagbanua, Isle of Paragua 2 20. Tino, or Zambale, Isle of Luzon 2 21. Batanes, or Vatanes, Isle (of same name) 1 22. Bilaan 1 23. Bisaya-montes, Isle of Mindanao 1 24. Calamiano 1 25. Egongot, or Ilongote, Isle of Luzon 1 26. Samal 1 27. Tagacaolo 1

This bibliography, which we rightly may term wealthy in its two thousand six hundred and ninety-seven titles [2] of numbered pieces of literature, besides being based largely on the author's own choice collection of Philippina, cites also fourteen other bibliographies of that archipelago. [3]

In his own list of Philippine languages, or branch-tongues, of this quarter of Malaysia, in all (as he gives them) thirty-seven in number, some are mentioned, that, except in a broad sense, will not easily be recognized as members of the distinctively Philippine family; such as Sanscrit, Chinese, Japanese, Javanese, Nahuatl of Central America, along with Kanaka or Ponape, [4] Chamorro and Malgacho, or Malagasy, as we more familiarly style it, three dialects spoken in lands outside of the Philippine zone,--of Yap, or Guap, in the eastern Carolines, the Marianas, or Ladrones, and Madagascar respectively.

Wherefore, subtracting these nine foreign localized idiom-groups along with Malay (presumably ancestral tongue of the Philippines, as of other western Polynesian languages), though herein many scholars hold that Aeta, or Papuan, is mother, I have reduced the idioms peculiar (in large measure) to that archipelago itself to the number (given ahead)--twenty-seven.

On this question of race and idiom unity Zuniga, whom I cite frequently in this sketch, says that the vocabularies of New Zealand, New Holland, New Guinea, and part of New Hebrides (gathered by Captain Cook) were all easily understood by him through his familiarity with Philippine dialects; that, moreover, from his knowledge of the racial and linguistic characteristics of nearly all South Sea islanders, especially of the peoples from Madagascar to Easter Island, including (he distinctly declares) the natives of the Friendly, or Society Isles, of the Sandwich and Marquesas groups, he was of opinion that aboriginal stock of all, in tongue and blood, including even the natives of Central America, was Aeta, or Papuan, otherwise styled (in the Philippines) Negrito. [5] As far back as the early part of the seventeenth century this same question of race and language identity of the Philippine people was treated by the Jesuit Chirino, of whom we shall say more further on; then later by another Jesuit scholar, at one time provincial superior of his society in the Philippines, Francisco Colin, in his Lavor evangelica, (Madrid, 1663); and by Lorenzo Hervas y Panduro, a linguist of deserved eminence in the world of letters, formerly Jesuit. See his Catalogo (in six quarto vols., Madrid, 1800-1805), and you will learn very much about many strange things, among others, that the theory maintained by the English Wallace, the German Blumentritt, and later ethnologists, as to the identity of these Polynesians--Papuans and Malays--perhaps the only one now held by scholars--is venerably old, by two centuries and more. But really, in view of the apparently irreconcilable opinions of linguists on this topic, further discussion of it seems unprofitable.

As concerns the Philippines themselves, neither have their isles all been numbered, nor their sub-races and branch-idioms classified, except in what we may style a generic scheme.

Back now to our bibliographer. No study in mere humanities, it seems, could be more fascinating to your all-round scholar, and more fruitful especially to anthropologist, than with the guidance of Retana and other like gifted students of Philippina, to enlarge somewhat on this bibliographical theme, since in letters chiefly do men of upright mind find equipment for meditation of spirit, main source of all healthful, sober, intellectual recreation and work.

Our list of Philippina, as you will notice, although given merely in outline, embraces in its sweep across the literary horizon of that quarter of Malaysia many works of recognized merit in the several lines of intellectual energy--of history, archaeology, ethnology, philology and natural philosophy; books, all of them, which, if perchance not masterpieces according to the higher standard of Caucasian scholarship, will yet be acknowledged of much interest, nay, of great value in the inspiration and development of scientific thought.

In this bibliographical skeleton, then, I shall point out those sources of information anent the Philippine Islands, wherein the scholar can best find a general description or history of them, the most trustworthy works on their very varied and multiform language, as well as other topics cognate with these. Hence these sub-sections into which my paper is split: (1) Works of General Information; (2) Authorities on Philippine Dialects; (3) Some Literary Curios among Philippina; (4) Philippine Presses; (5) Introduction of Printing into the Philippines.

First, I name the chief works of reference, [6] of the highest, most authoritative character, bearing on the distinctive peculiarities of the Philippines,--works that will be recognized as serviceable to the general reader and scholar, to him that seeks to learn of the history of that archipelago, of its antiquities, and characteristics of the many tribes that people it,--of their customs, religious beliefs, superstitions and rites; of the fauna, flora, geology of those islands; in brief, of whatever refers to this part of Malaysia. For no matter how much the Malay,--Javan, Bornese, Sumatran, as well as Philippinian--has been civilized--Christianized, so far (as must be conceded) he has not become Caucasian in mind, nor will, nor spirit. He remains as he was, (nor any wonder), wholly Asiatic. Albeit, for three centuries and upwards, taught, ruled, elevated (at times, too, disedified) by white men, the Malay, or brown man, is not, perhaps never will be, employed by Europeans, save in very limited sphere, in wholly subordinate trusts, whether in commerce, trade, or whatsoever other field of human activity.

I.

WORKS OF GENERAL INFORMATION.

But let us on to our list of works of general reading. Sifting the treasure-stores of authorities named in Retana and others, I find the following books of most value and service, whereof, though some few among them, and for that matter the highest in their respective classes, are no longer in print, yet these very masterpieces, if not obtainable by purchase, like many another priceless blessing, still are worth knowing by title to book-lover and scholar, who, if perchance he cannot have these repertories of human lore on his shelves, will know at least by what title to seek them on others.

Of the Philippines and their neighboring archipelagos these works rank of the highest worth:

The history of Mindanao, Jolo, and their adjacent islands (Madrid, 1667), written by the Jesuit, Francisco Combes--the most ancient detailed account of that region of Polynesia, known as the Archipelago del Sur, and invaluable beyond other guides to the ethnologist especially.

Then an account of the establishment of Christianity in the Marianas Islands (Madrid, 1670?) similarly the oldest and at the same time most reliable history of these Ladrones, or robber, islands, so styled by early Spanish voyagers because of the thievish proclivities of the natives, every one of them in theory and practice an annexationist and protectionist to the back-bone, till the Jesuit missionary and scholar, Diego Luis de Sanvitores, author of this history, rechristened them Marianas, in honor (according to some chroniclers) of Dona Mariana of Austria, Queen of Spain, in loving and tenderest-hearted homage (according to others) of the Blessed Virgin, whose rosary that savant was wont to recite every day. [7]

Then the story of the various religious missions in the Philippines entrusted to members of his Society by another Jesuit, Pedro Murillo Velarde (Manila, 1749), a rare and valuable work, whereof an accompanying chart, drawn in 1734, should, strictly speaking, be styled the earliest detailed topographical map of the Philippines. From the pen of the same scholar issued, too, an historical geography of that archipelago (Madrid, 1752), of much worth, the same as his chart, for its scientific details--albeit little known, it seems, to Philippinologists.

Then we have the rare and deeply interesting history (Madrid, 1756) of some tribes in Luzon, hardest to convert--the Igorrotes, Tinguianes, Apayaos and Adanes, four races of Indians in the hill-country of Ilocos and Pangasinan, in spiritual charge of the Augustinians, a member of which brotherhood, Manuel Carillo, is the author.

Another book, that because of its manifold literary merit, of historical accuracy and statistical detail, is styled by Retana "an historical work par excellence," is the general history of the Philippines (Sampaloc, 1788-1792), by the Recoleto missionary, Juan de la Concepcion, copious source of varied and valuable information, wherein--albeit somewhat prolix in style, at times, too, rather digressive--the author may fairly be said to be without rival.

Then comes the descriptive and historical account of the Marianas Islands (Madrid, 1875), by Felipe La Corte y Ruano Calderon, the best work on that little-known archipelago, and a rich source of general information anent these Malaysian islands.

On the botany of the Philippines, a monumental work of the highest character is the Philippine Flora (classified according to the sexual system of Linnaeus), by the Augustinian, Manuel Blanco, printed at Manila, first in 1837, again in 1845, and finally republished a third time in 1877-1883, in superb style, in four folio volumes of text in Spanish and Latin, embellished with two volumes of colored lithographed plates descriptive of the plants, flowers and fruits of those islands. One of the co-laborers on the third edition of this Flora was Ignacio Mercado, a Philippine botanist himself, and professed member of the Augustinian brotherhood.

The same Father Blanco also translated into Tagal the French physician Tissot's work on medicine, enriched with his own life-long observations on Philippine plant-lore.

Along with Blanco's Flora should be named the catalogue of fauna of the Philippines (Manila, 1895-1896), by the Dominican zoologist, Casto de Elera, an expert in that line of biological science,--a work in folio (in three volumes) of two thousand three hundred pages and upwards, termed by Retana not only a monumental work--easily to be believed--but one unique of its character.

The geology of the islands (Madrid, 1840?), treated by Isidro Sainz de Baranda, government inspector of mines, besides being well worth reading, is the earliest study on this topic made on strictly scientific lines.

Two works, sole representatives of their kind, are named by Retana as of singular value to the physician not only, but to ethnologist and scholar especially,--one the Embriologia Sagrada (Manila, 1856), by the Recoleto missionary Gregorio Sanz, written in aid of his fellow caretakers of souls, whose services in behalf of suffering humanity in out-of-the-way districts were often called upon by the natives, whose practice of the curing art, based on their own traditional formulas, especially in cases of child-bearing, was, despite the efforts of the missionary to uproot their unnatural and utterly heathen disregard for human life, attended too often with destruction of progeny and mother.

The other repository of singular and very curious information is a treatise in Visaya-Cebuano and Spanish by another Recoleto evangelist, Manuel Vilches (Manila, 1877), written similarly in benefit of Indian sick, the Manual, that is, of the Visaya Physician, or native doctor--mediquillo, as in the Philippines these votaries of Hippocrates are styled, a work praised by Retana as replete with Indian plant-lore.

The richest and most valuable collection of statistics relating to the Philippines, so at least acknowledged by experts, more reliable too than the Spanish government's own work, is the Estado general of all the pueblos--Christianized settlements--in the islands, drawn up by the Dominican archbishop of Manila, Pedro Payo (Manila, 1886), whereof the data were gathered by his vicars-forane and parochial-cures throughout the archipelago. While the most artistic map of Luzon, so styled by Retana, is the chart of that island (Madrid, 1883), published in four sheets by Enrique D'Almonte y Muriel.

With mention of two other authors I close this section of Philippina,--one the history of the islands, or rather a detailed account of his travels therein, by the Augustinian scholar and voyager Joaquin Martinez de Zuniga (Sampaloc, 1803), a work known by its Spanish title as Estadismo de las Filipinas o mis viajes, which, translated into English by John Maver, was published in London in 1814; and lately edited by Retana himself at Madrid in 1893.

As will be easily apparent to even the most cursory reader, Zuniga's travels, critical throughout in spirit, display on well nigh every page the results of keen observation of affairs during his wanderings, combined moreover with sober reflections on the character and condition of the various races of people of the chief Philippine islands.

In acknowledgment of its scientific worth, Retana has enriched Zuniga's history (in the edition just noted) with twelve scholarly appendices replete with copious erudition, among other topics on the ethnography and geography of the islands; on animals, plants, and minerals. In these appendices, too, will be found copious bibliographies on special topics, as trade, commerce, the nao de Acapulco, taxation, finance, and the like.

And,--I feel that attention shall be called thereto, first because the subject itself is deeply interesting to lovers especially of folk-lore, then again, because commonly much misunderstood,--in one of his appendices to Zuniga (ii *66-*83), Retana has reproduced some twenty-five pages of a Pangasinan Charm Book, covered with strange words--jumbles, most of them, of mutilated Church Latin, with crosses and queer-looking symbols. This charm-book in MS. (as are all its fellows), whereof copies without count are circulated among the lowest, most superstitious classes of islanders--Indians and meztizos, that is, Spaniard, or Chinese, mixed with native,--is wont to be worn around the neck, in the disguise of a Catholic scapular, as safeguard to the wearer against perils of any kind, chiefly the knife, or bullet, of his enemy. Again,--I am quoting Retana, who gives his own personal experiences in Luzon,--so jealously and closely (he says) do these Indian charm-bearers guard their secret heathenish practice from their missionaries, who, for ages, albeit not always with good result, have been striving to detach their wards from such superstitious usages, that the same scholar and curio-hunter, despite his keenest research in Luzon, has never been able to catch even a glimpse but of three of these pagan scapularies, the ones shown to him by a Dominican missionary, Father Casimiro Lafuente, for many years cure at the pueblo of Santa Barbara, in Pangasinan, now (1893) a member of the house of his brotherhood at Avila, in Spain. Moreover, it appears, from the same Retana, that Father Lafuente, so many years resident in the islands, had never succeeded in unearthing other scapularies than these self-same three.

Many other forms of heathenism, some of them not even yet wholly banned from the Philippines, the reader will find described in another of Retana's works--de Aniterias (Madrid, 1894).

Zuniga also tells all worth knowing of the abominable rites practised among Luzonians,--of their Nonos, Duendes, the Pag-Papasipin, Tigbalag, Patianac, Bongsol, and Bilao. Much of what he says regarding the attachment of these peoples to unclean and impious ceremonies he has gathered from that rarest of books--one copy only believed to be extant, at the colonial museum of the Augustinians at Valladolid (in Spain), the Practica (Manila, 1731), of Father Tomas Ortiz, one-time missionary of that brotherhood in China, then for thirty years resident in Luzon, where he died in 1742.