Chapter 24

_Of the second election of our father Fray Diego Alvarez_

Father Fray Diego de Alvarez left so good an estimation of himself during the three years of his service as provincial, and governed with so great prudence, that so great a desire for his rule was aroused that, upon the arrival of the time assigned by our rules, the fathers did not wish to make any new trials of conditions which, although in appearance good, afterwards are found deceitful. They had had experience of the prudence of father Fray Diego Alvarez, and accordingly reelected him so that they might enjoy him for the second time; for in truth he had been a father to them. Hence he was elected unanimously, May 6, 1593. His election was very favorably received in the islands, for he was always much loved by his own and by others; and he always showed great judgment, preserving the province during his two trienniums in that flower and rigor of devotion which it had at first, and also glorifying the province with the new inauguration of houses and convents.

He established a religious in Pototan, a village then ruined; [144] and that village, as it was so small, was united, above Suagui, with another called Baong. [145] Accordingly, a church was built there. This convent of Baong had more than one thousand Indians, and was a well-known place for recreation; but now, although it endures, it has but six hundred Indians. As it is remote from trade, and situated inland, residence there is regarded as exile. It is one day's journey from Dumangás, and its river empties into that of Alaguer.

This chapter also established religious in Sibucao, a matter of one legua from the Suagui River, up the river Alaguer. The road also turned from Dumangás by ascending the river, although by land the journey is shorter. This convent was very well located here, for, in short, it is within sight of so gloomy [146] a river, and very convenient for the religious. Afterward the fathers thought that they were acting wisely in moving the convent one-half day's journey inland to a village called Laglag, very inconvenient for the religious. But indeed it is apparent how the fathers of former days sought rather the comfort of the natives than their own convenience; accordingly, wherever they found the most people, there they went. This convent has more than one thousand Indians, and two religious live there ordinarily. It is one of the good convents of the province of Bisayas, and has a wooden church. [147]

The bishop of Sugbú, Don Fray Pedro de Agurto, bestowed the district of Salog upon the province, as I have said before. It is very near the port and fort of Ilong-ilong. It is an excellent port, and has now been improved through becoming the property of his Majesty. This convent has more than one thousand Indians in charge, and generally has two religious. Its chief center is on the coast, or rather, near the coast, on a fine river, and its visitas are inland.

Religious were established also in the village of Octóng, one of the chief villages of the Bisayas. That convent has a vote, and is in charge of more than one thousand two hundred Indians. [148] It is one-eighth legua from the village of Arévalo. This village was well inhabited, and the people spread along that coast. The Dutch burned it once, as well as the convents of Salog and Tigbauan; but it was rebuilt, better than ever. In regard to the people along the coast, they have diminished greatly, for the ravages [of pirates] on that coast are frightful. I cannot understand how the Indians can endure so much, for they have too much toil--now with the little fleet that defends their coast, now with the ships sent to Ternate, whose boats are laded and provisioned in that port. Two religious live in that convent, which is adorned with considerable silver and many ornaments. The people are intelligent, as they are reared with Castilians. The convent is situated in the Sugbú bishopric.

Religious were established in Potol, [149] the first point on Panay Island coming from Manila. That convent enjoys an exceedingly large stipend, for its jurisdiction extends very far. It has as visitas the five islands mentioned previously, and all those coasts. Thus it had more than two thousand Indians. Later fleeing from their enemies, more came to the island, four leguas up the river of Ibahay. The river is so long that it has an ascent of as many more leguas. This was my first priorate in 1611, when it was yet good. That year came three severe hurricanes--called _báguios_--which ruined the country, and laid low the church and house, which was very large and fine. I rebuilt it. Afterward our Father Barona [150] exchanged it for that of Tigbauan. The bishop of Sugbú made two benefices of that district, and two beneficiaries reside there at present. But the natives always remember the first religious that they had, for what is known first is liked more--but not because they have ceased to be tended with good devotion.

During this three years, priorates were established in many convents in llocos, as in that of Tagudin. That convent suffers greatly from the Igorrotes, and on that account is almost depopulated. [151] A priorate was established in Candón, an important priorate of that province and the best, although without a vote. It ministers to more than one thousand five hundred Indians. [152] Another was established in Nalbacán, a priorate with a vote, although it has been greatly exhausted by the burning of the church and convent. Batac also is an excellent priorate, and now is one of those that have a vote and are more esteemed. Resident religious were established in Dinglao, [153] which is an excellent vicariate. Religious were placed in Bauang. All these convents belong to the bishopric of Nueva Segovia or Cagayán, as above stated.

In the island of Manila, that is, in the archbishopric of Manila, religious were established, in Caruyan and Quingua. Now these last two are vicariates, and do not have one thousand Indians.

The religious living in them can scarcely support himself. [154]

(_To be concluded._)

Bibliographical Data

The following documents are obtained from MSS. in the Archivo general de Indias, Sevilla:

1. _Letter from Manila Dominicans._--"Simancas--Eclesiastico; Audiencia de Filipinas; cartas y expedientes de personas eclesiasticas de Filipinas; años de 1609 á 1644; est. 68, caj. 1, leg. 43."

2. _Letters from Juan Niño de Tavora,_ 1629.--"Simancas--Secular; cartas y espedientes del gobernador de Filipinas vistos en el Consejo; Audiencia de Filipinas; años de 1629 á 1639; est. 67, caj. 6, leg. 8."

3. _Letters from Juan Niño de Tavora,_ 1630.--The same as No. 2.

The following document is obtained from Pastells's edition of Colin's _Labor evangélica_:

4. _Decree regarding missions._--In vol. iii, p. 686.

The following document is taken from the Ventura del Arco MSS. (Ayer library):

5. _Relation of 1629-30._--In vol. i, pp. 617-625.

6. Medina's _Historia de la orden de S. Agustin_ is partly translated in full, partly synopsized, from a copy of the printed work in the possession of the Editors.

NOTES

[1] See _Vol_. xxii, p. 128.

[2] See, _post_, the statements of the fiscal at Madrid regarding the various points of this letter. His examination was made and his opinions noted before the decrees of the Council were given.

[3] Referring to the Dutch East India Company, formed by the consolidation (1602) of the various trading companies in the Orient, by the States-General of Holland. This was for many years one of the richest and most successful of the world's great commercial associations; but in the eighteenth century its condition became one of decline. When Holland and Belgium were conquered by France, in 1795, the Dutch East India Company was practically abolished. Thereafter, until 1808, the Dutch Indias were administered by a committee of the States-General, and in the latter year their government was formally vested in the Dutch nation, which has from that time retained it.

[4] Spanish _vandala_: a Filipino word, signifying a forcible assessment on the natives for government supplies--_i.e.,_ a repartimiento; see explanation in Retana's _Zúñiga_, ii, p. 532*. For later and different use of the word, see Zúñiga's text (_ut supra_), i, p. 325.

[5] Alluding to the floods which, as often in former years, had recently inundated a part of the valley in which lies the City of Mexico. In 1627 heavy rains caused the bursting of the dams that confined the Quauhtitlan River, and parts of the city were overflowed. The same experience was repeated in 1629, but to such an extent that the entire city was under water, in most places more than five feet deep. It was more than four years before the city was freed from this calamity, and not until 1634 was this accomplished for the valley, by a series of earthquake shocks. See Bancroft's account of these floods, and the drainage works undertaken to prevent them, in his _Hist. Mexico_, iii, pp. 7-11, 85-91.

[6] The petition here addresses the governor instead of the king.

[7] See _Vol_. VIII, pp. 127, 133, where the encomiendas of Butuan and Oton are mentioned as held by Doña Lucía de Loarca. This would indicate that Silva's wife was a granddaughter of Miguel de Loarca, and that her father was a son of the latter.

[8] The above matter in quotation marks, as appears from a footnote in the Ventura del Arco MS., is taken from a letter written by Father Manuel Azevedo, rector of Manila, May 3,1630. Evidently "Manila" is an error for "Malaca," and the letter was probably written to Manila, and the above section embodied in the relation written from that place.

[9] See account of the establishment of this mission, in _Vol_. XVIII, p. 213.

[10] The festival here mentioned would seem, from its length, to mean the two feasts observed by the Chinese in the first month of the year--New Year's and the "feast of lanterns." See accounts of these and other feasts in Williams's _Middle Kingdom_, ii, pp. 76-84; and Winterbotham's _Chinese Empire_, ii, pp. 49, 50, 138-142.

[11] Fray Juan de Medina was born at Sevilla, and entered the Augustinian convent of that city. On reaching the Philippines he was assigned to the Bisayan group, and was known to those natives by the name of "the apostle of Panay." A zealous worker, he was wont on feast days to preach to his flock in three languages--Bisayan, Chinese, and Spanish. He was minister at Laglag in 1613, at Mambúsao in 1615, at Dumangas in 1618, at Panay in 1619, and at Passi in 1623; prior of the convent at Cebú in 1626; and definitor in 1629. After twenty years of missionary labors, being soul-tormented, he asked and secured reluctant permission to return to Spain; but the exigencies of the weather prevented the ship from making its voyage. Three years later he obtained permission to make the same voyage, but died at sea (1635). Diaz, in his _Conquistas_, says that Medina composed many things in aid of his missionary work; but only the present history and four volumes of manuscript sermons in the Panayana language are known with certainty. See Pérez's _Catálogo_, pp. 83-85; and Pardo de Tavera's _Biblioteca Filipina_, p. 255.

[12] The island of Panay, in which is a village of the same name. The Augustinian missionaries began their labors in this island in 1572, at Otón (or Ogtóng). Their first establishment in the archipelago was at Cebú (1565). Dumangas mission was begun in 1578; Aclán, in 1581; Passi, in 1593; Ibahay, in 1611. All these are in Panay. See list of convents and villages founded by the Augustinians in the Philippines, from 1565 to 1880, at the end of Medina's _Historia_, pp. 481-488.

[13] The monument of Legazpi and Urdaneta presented in this volume was the work of the sculptor, Agustín Querol, and of the architect, Luis María Cabello. On the front and rear of the pedestal are the arms of Manila and Spain. On one side are allegorical representations of the sea and, valor for Legazpi, and on the other the emblems of science for Urdaneta. The pedestal ends above in a border upon which are the names of Magallanes, Elcano, Jofré de Loaisa, and Villalobos. This monument is due to Señor Gutiérrez de la Vega, who initiated a public subscription during the last years of the Spanish regime for a monument to the two discoverers. As it arrived at Manila where Spanish authority in the islands was tottering or ended, it was placed in position by the Americans. See "España y América," (Augustinian review), for April, 1903, pp. 479-485.

[14] See _Vol_. XV, p. 102, note 66.

[15] Western group of the Carolinas. They were called Los Reyes, because they were discovered on the sixth of January, when the festival of the holy kings is celebrated.--_Miguel Coco, O.S.A._

Fray Miguel Coco--born at Zamora in 1860, and a resident in the Philippines during 1881-95--was editor of Medina's _Historia_, on which he made copious annotations. Many of these we reproduce or synopsize, in English translation, all of which are signed by his name.

[16] The Corales (or Coral), San Estéban, or Jardines Islands are now the northern Carolinas.--_Coco_.

[17] Now the Palaos.--_Coco_.

[18] For the name of this latter island, see _Vol_. II, p. 68. The Spanish editor of Medina, in referring to San Agustin's _Conquistas_ (p. 26), where the name of this island is discussed, says wrongly that the name was given by the Legazpi expedition. It is one of the western Carolinas.

[19] In hydrography the name _placeres_ is given to the layer of sand in stagnant water or alluvion which usually has particles of gold. The Placeres are in die western part of the Carolinas. See San Agustin's _Conquistas_, p. 67, and Montero y Vidal's _El archipiélago filipino_ (Madrid, 1886), pp. 443-499.--_Coco_.

[20] The largest of the Marianas or Ladrone Islands is Guam, which was ceded to the United States by Spain in 1898. The remaining twelve smaller islands of the group were transferred to Germany by Spain.

[21] Retana (_Estadismo,_ ii, p. 512*) says that the _baroto_ is now a boat dug out of a single log, sometimes of more than eighty feet in length. They are used principally for the lading and discharging of vessels, and are native craft of Cebú and neighboring islands. See _U.S. Gazetteer of Philippine Islands_ (Washington, 1902).

[22] See _Vol_. I, pp. 105-111, for the English translation of this bull. The translation of the portion quoted occupies parts of pp. 108, 109.

[23] This image is not now carried to the Cathedral on St. Vidal's day. It is carried in procession, however, on the second Sunday succeeding Epiphany when the Church celebrates the feast of the sweet name of Jesus. Until the end of Spain's domination of the islands the banner of Castile was also carried in this procession.--_Coco_.

[24] Literally "barren loves," the _Chrysopopogon acicutatus_ (Trin.). It is described by Delgado (_Historia,_ p. 744) as a brake that is found quite commonly in the fields, and has small ears that bear a kind of very small millet, like that called _vallico_ in Spain, which grows among the wheat. It has a rough mildew that sticks to the clothes and penetrates them, which the Spaniards call _amores secos_. It is especially abundant where there are cattle; and when these are grazing, the plants penetrate their eyes, even blinding them because they grow so thickly, and they must be withdrawn with the fingers.

[25] Charts of the villages of Opong and Córdoba in the island of Mactan, made about 1893, showed that the island possessed 15,060 inhabitants.--_Coco_.

Bulletin No. 1, of _Census of the Philippine Islands_: 1903, "Population of the Philippines" (issued by the Bureau of the Census, of the Department of Commerce and Labor, Washington, 1904), gives the present population of Mactán, which is in the province of Cebú, as 17,540, all civilized.

The Philippine Islands are divided into provinces or _comandancias,_ the latter meaning military district, and in which civil government has not yet been established. The province or comandancia is divided into municipalities and _barrios_. That barrio or ward in which the municipal government is located is called the _población_ or _centro_. The census of the various municipalities has been returned for each barrio. See Bulletin No. 1, _ut supra_.

[26] Cebú and San Nicolás are now two independent towns. The census of the latter, about 1893, showed 20,498 inhabitants.--_Coco_.

The population of the island of Cebú, according to the census of 1903 (see Bulletin No. I, _ut supra_), was 592,247; of the city of Cebú, 31,079; or, if the closer-built part of this municipality, which may properly be regarded as the city of Cebú, be considered, its population is 18,330.

The steady increase in the total population of the Philippines, as shown by various reports and sources, more or less authoritative and trustworthy, is seen in the following figures. At the time of the discovery by Magallanes in 1521, the total population is supposed to have numbered about 500,000. In 382 years, according to the census report of 1903, the population (now 7,635,426, slightly more than the 1900 census of New York State) has multiplied fifteen times. The increase during the past century was 1.5 per cent. Of the present population, 6,987,686 are civilized or partly so, and 647,740 are wild and uncivilized, although they have some knowledge of domestic arts. Of this latter number about 23,000 are Negritos, who are supposed to be the aborigines of the archipelago. Sources (ecclesiastical and governmental) give the census for various years as follows; they cannot all be taken as definite, although some are approximately so:

1735 837,182 1799 1,522,224 1805 1,741,234 1812 1,933,331 1815 2,502,994 1817 2,062,805 1818 2,026,230 1827 2,593,287 1833 3,153,290 1840 3,096,031 1845 3,434,007 1850 3,800,163 1862 4,734,533 1870 4,698,477 1876 5,567,685 1879 5,817,268 1887 5,984,727 1891 6,101,682 1896 6,261,339

That guesswork has figured to some extent in these figures is evident; but as a whole they represent tolerably well the growth of the islands. The figures for 1903 are to be relied on. See Bulletin No. 1, _ut supra_, and _U.S. Gazetteer of the Philippine Islands_, pp. 25-31.

[27] The episcopal residence is now in Vigan, Ilocos Sur, where it was removed in 1755 from Lal-lo, Cagayán.--_Coco_.

[28] The island now known as Samar was formerly called Samar in the south, and Ibabao in the north.--_Coco_.

[29] The island of Panay has at present one hundred villages, scattered through the three provinces of Iloilo, Capiz, and Antique, and the two districts of Concepción and Aclán--with a population in 1893 of about 790,772 people, of whom the Augustinians had in charge 561,158.--_Coco_.

The "Bulletin" above cited gives Panay (which comprises parts of Antique, Capiz, and Iloilo provinces) 743,646 people, of whom 14,933 are wild.

[30] This is a fact if the figures of the _U.S. Gazetteer of the Philippine Islands_ are correct. Those figures show that the mainland of Luzon contains 43,075 square miles and that of Mindanao 45,559. While these numbers may not yet be taken as authoritative they may be regarded as approximate until actual and scientific surveys are made. Algué's _Atlas_ follows the generally accepted though perhaps erroneous idea that Luzon is the larger of the two, its figures being 47,238 and 36,237 square miles, respectively.

[31] This cross is still preserved. It was enclosed in an octagonal temple by the Augustinians in the time of the Augustinian bishop of Cebú, Fray Santos Marañón, in order to preserve it from the weather, and from the natives, who, regarding it as miraculous, were accustomed to take splinters from it as relics. The foundation of the enclosure is of stone, and it has a grated window which permits passers-by to see the cross. The latter is wooden, not stone, as Montero y Vidal states in his _Historia general_, i, p. 17. This is the identical cross erected by Magallanes in 1521.--_Coco_.

[32] This statement is an error. Drake's first trip to Spain was made to the Biscayan coast in 1564, and was only for the voyage. See Julian Corbett's _Sir Francis Drake_. (London, 1890).

[33] Fray Bernabé Villalobos was born in León, and professed in the Augustinian convent of San Felipe el Real. He went to the Philippines in 1590, where he had charge of missions in Halaud (1591), Panay (1593), and Otón (1596). He was twice prior of Manila (1602 and 1613), twice of Cebú (1606 and 1618), and definitor (1616), and later labored in the Tagál missions. His death occurred at Manila in 1646. See Perez's _Catálogo_, p. 41.

[34] Compare the materialism of the North American Indians, in Cleveland reissue of _Jesuit Relations_, viii, p. 119; xx, p. 71; 1, p. 289.

[35] Fray Juan de Alva was born of an illustrious family in Segovia, and professed in the Augustinian convent at Toledo in 1514. In 1535 he went to Mexico, where he labored for thirty-three years. At the age of seventy-two he went to the Philippines, landing at Cebú in 1569. He labored successfully in Panay, and founded the church of Dumangas. In 1572 he was elected first prior of the convent of Manila and definitor, after which (1575) he began the foundation of Pásig. He became rector provincial of the Philippines in 1576, and died at Manila, September 17, 1577. See Perez's _Catálogo_, p. 8.

[36] Fray Alonso Jiménez was a native of Málaga, and took his vows in the Augustinian convent at Mexico in 1558. He accompanied Juan de Alva to the Philippines, where he voted in the first provincial chapter. He was the first missionary to the islands of Masbate, Leyte, Samar, and Burias. Thence he went to Ibalon in the province of Camarines, where he resided several years, and made many excursions into Albay and Sorsogón. He was prior of Cebú in 1575. Endowed with great facility in learning languages, he became known as the first linguist of the islands. His death occurred in August, 1577, at the Cebú convent. He composed a catechism in the Bicol language. See Pérez's _Catálogo_, p. 9.

[37] Fray Diego Ordóñez Vivar was a native of Guadalajara in Nueva Galicia, and professed in the convent of Mexico in 1557. Arriving at the Philippines in 1570 he became the first missionary to Bulacán in 1572, provincial secretary in 1580 and 1584, minister at Hagonoy in 1582 and 1587, procurator-general in 1583, and minister at Tendo in 1594 and 1599. He died in Pampanga in 1603. Agustín Maria, O.S.A., in his _Osario Venerable_ (still unpublished) says that Ordónez was in Japan and was an eye-witness of the martyrdom of the Franciscans in 1596. See Perez's _Catálogo_, pp. 9, 10.

[38] Fray Diego de Espinar was born in Toledo and entered a convent in Castilla. Almost immediately upon his arrival at Cebú (1570) he was assigned to the region about Laguna de Bay. He was the first missionary at Bonbón (1575), Mindoro (1578), Parañaque (1580), and Candaba (1581). He took part in the first diocesan council celebrated by Bishop Salazar; and in 1587 went to Macao, where he lived until 1596. While returning to Manila in the latter year he was wrecked and drowned between Mindanao and Borneo (1597). He had been definitor in 1581. See Perez's _Catálogo_, p. 10.

[39] "For he finds shackles who finds kindnesses."

[40] St. Gregory, _Homil. II in Evangelia_.--_Coco_. Englished, this reads: "Therefore, he desires to plunder him who carries a public treasure along the street."

[41] This islet is today called Corregidor. The name Mariveles is applied to the mountain ridge in the southern part of Bataan Province, whose brow forms, with Corregidor, one of the entrances to Manila Bay. It is a great pity that Corregidor is not well fortified, in case of war with a foreigner, as it is a very strategic point, and the key to the port and city of Manila.--_Coco_.

[42] Buzeta and Bravo, _Diccionario Geográfico_, say that Manila Bay is thirty-three leguas in circumference, and has a maximum depth of thirty-five brazas.

Manila Bay is one of the finest bays in the world and by far the best in the Far East. It will accommodate all the fleets of the world. Its greatest dimensions are from Tubutubu Island in the estuary of Orani, bay of Pampanga, in the northwest angle of the shore of the greater bay, to Las Piñas, thirty-five miles, near the boundary between Cavite and Rizal; and from the delta of the river Grande Pampanga, on the shores of Bulacán in the northeast, to Corregidor Island, southwest, thirty-one miles. It is one hundred and twenty miles in circumference. Five of the important rivers of the archipelago empty into it. See _U.S. Gazetteer of the Philippine Islands_, p. 186.

[43] Tondo now contains 39,043 civilized inhabitants. It is the most northerly and populous district along the bay shore above the Pásig. Its inhabitants are largely engaged in the tobacco and cigar industries, and in fishing, weaving, and gardening for the Manila market. See Bulletin No. 1 of the Census Bureau, and _U.S. Gazetteer of the Philippine Islands_, p. 188.

[44] Psalms cxxi, 7.--_Coco_.

[45] Matthew xvii, 20.--_Coco_.

[46] See _Vol_. VI, p. 115, note 27.

[47] See _Vol_. VI, p. 88, note 22.

[48] See _Vol_. IX, p. 95, note 18.

[49] Fray Agustín de Alburquerque was a native of Castilla, and professed at the convent of Salamanca. Batangas became the theater of his missionary labors in the islands. He was definitor in 1572, prior of Tondo in 1575, and prior provincial in 1578, renouncing to the Franciscans during his term the _omnimoda_ ecclesiastical jurisdiction. He tried to sell himself as a slave, in order that he might introduce Christianity into China. He is the author of the first or second Tagál grammar, the Franciscans claiming that the first was written by Fray Juan de Plasencia. He died in 1580. See Pérez's _Catálogo_, pp. 13, 14.

[50] Fray Francisco Merino took his vows in the Augustinian province of Castilla. After his arrival in the islands he labored in the province of Iloílo until his death. Although he was proposed as one of the associates of Father Rada on the latter's memorable journey to China in 1576, Jerónimo Marín went in his stead; while he himself accompanied Juan de Salcedo and Pedro Chaves on the Camarines expedition. He died in 1581. See Pérez's _Catálogo_, p. 14.

[51] Fray Juan de Orta, born in Moguer, in the province of Huelva, professed in the convent of Mexico in 1558. He was a novice under Urdaneta. Shortly after his arrival at the islands, he learned the Bicol language, in which he evangelized with great success. A number of villages founded by him were later handed over to the care of the Franciscans. In 1575 he returned to Manila to help the prior there, where he worked zealously, having in charge also until his death (in Manila on Palm Sunday, 1577) the village of Parañaque. See Pérez's _Catálogo_, p. 12.

[52] Isaiah v, 20.--_Coco_.

[53] This edifice is still in existence. It is the only one with a stone vault which has been constructed in the archipelago. It resisted with but little damage the series of most severe earthquakes which devastated Manila so frequently. The earthquake of 1880 split one of its towers, which the fathers of the convent afterward ordered to be pulled down. The church is the most capacious and beautiful in Manila, in spite of these circumstances. Its architect was the Augustinian lay-brother Fray Antonio Herrara, nephew or son of the famous architect who built the Escorial.--_Coco_.

[54] _In reg_., chapter viii. This is in English: "And therefore, the more fully that you shall watch over a common possession than your own, so much the more fully shall you learn how to progress."

[55] St. Poss, in his life of St. Augustine [_Vita S. Augustini_],