Kitabı oku: «The Philippine Islands, 1493-1898, Volume 30 of 55», sayfa 16

Chapter XXXV
The second expedition of religious from Castilla to the Philippinas, and the deaths of some on the voyage

[Father Fray Alonso Delgado had been sent to Roma by father Fray Antonio de Arcediano, but had failed in his endeavors there on account of the opposition made by a religious of another order. He had then returned to Spain, and appeared to be giving himself up wholly to the care of his own soul; but in his inmost heart he had never forgotten the conversion of the Philippinas and of China. The Lord also had not forgotten it, so that, though the mission of father Fray Alonso seemed to be dead, it was really alive. Animated by the presence of Don Fray Domingo de Salaçar, bishop of the Philippinas, and of father Fray Miguel de Venavides, who had come to Madrid, he immediately set about taking religious to this province by way of Nueva España. They both urged him on and praised him, knowing the need of religious in this region. The most reverend general of the order, Fray Hipolito Maria Vecaria, gave father Fray Alonso letters-patent permitting him to take religious of virtue and learning from the provinces of España to the Philippinas, and appointing father Fray Alonso his vicar-general for this purpose. The need of immediate assistance caused him to hasten his preparation, and with as many religious as he could get together in a short time, fifteen in all, he set sail in July, 1694 [sic; sc. 1594], on the feast of our Lady of the Rosary. They reached the port of Nueva España in safety, but as soon as they set foot on land they were afflicted by disease; and so many died that it seemed as if death had spread a drag-net for them. In Puebla de los Angeles, there were four religious lying sick, and placed one next to the other, in as many cells in the infirmary. Death began with the one that was in the first cell and carried him off, and next to him put an end to the life of the one in the second cell, and when he was buried, attacked the third. While the religious were performing the last rites of the church for the third, the noise which they made reached the fourth cell, which was the next one, where father Fray Diego Aduarte was lying. He had been the first one to be taken ill, and that he might not be annoyed they carried him to another cell. It seemed that death in his progress, failing to find anyone in the fourth cell, desisted from searching further, so that Father Diego was left to do a marvelous work, as will be recorded in time at the end of this his history. One of those who died in the convent was Fray Pedro Batrez, son of the convent of Sancto Domingo at Piedrahita, and an adopted son of that of Sant Esteban at Salamanca, where he was chief sacristan when he set out for these regions.

Two brothers also died on the same day and at the same hour. The elder was a priest named Fray Antonino de Sancta Maria, who had come to this province from the college of Sancto Thomas at Sevilla, of which he had been made a member on account of his profound knowledge of theology. The younger was a deacon and lived in the convent of Xerez de la Frontera, where, on account of his skill in singing, he had been made cantor. They distinguished themselves much on the voyage by prayer, silence, and abstinence. On Fridays and Saturdays they ate a little fish, which was provided for all. On the other days – since, on account of the length of the voyage, it was not possible to have fish every day – they satisfied themselves with biscuit, some raisins, and a little broth, without touching anything made of flesh. They would not let anything else be prepared for them, that they might not fare unlike the rest and that they might not cause any trouble to others. The younger died in the convent at Puebla de los Angeles; the elder expired at the same hour in the convent at Mexico. After his death it was found that he wore a rough shirt of metal; and that, because he never left it off even in sickness it was as if it had grown to his flesh. These two brethren had died most joyful deaths. No less so was the death of a lay religious called Fray Gonçalo de San Pedro, a son of the convent of San Pablo at Sevilla. His life had been a very holy one; and, at his general confession made before his death, the purity of his life was so clearly shown that the father who received the confession declared that Fray Gonçalo had never lost his baptismal innocence by committing mortal sin.

Death also carried away the superior who led these religious from Spain, father Fray Alonso Delgado. After he had lost so many of the subordinates whom he led, there was but little reason for his wishing to remain behind them. By his death the whole company was practically broken up, many of them having died and others being scattered among the convents of Nueva España. The rift was mended by the selection as superior of father Fray Miguel de San Jacintho, who displayed such diligence that, with the aid of the Lord, he succeeded in filling up the number of fifteen religious who had set out from España. They then set out from Mexico; and so great was their desire of serving the Lord after the manner followed by the religious of the province to which they were going (which, as has been said, is stricter than in the other provinces of the order), that when they reached the port of Acapulco they took the character of Philippine friars – gave up mattresses, and began to sleep on boards; rose at midnight to say matins, going from the convent where they were guests, to the church to say them; kept the hour of prayer immediately after; and performed the discipline observed in the islands. They embarked March 23, 1595. On board ship they followed the customs of the order as closely as possible under the circumstances. They reached the port of Manila June 12. By their coming the province felt enabled to undertake the conversion of the province of Nueva Segovia. This province alone is larger, and has more villages and a larger population than the order had previously taken under its charge in Manila and Pangasinan. Six of the religious, as has been said, were sent to Nueva Segovia, and with the others the missions to Bataan and Pangasinan were reënforced, where death had made inroads upon the number of missionaries. When these six reached Nueva Segovia, father Fray Diego de Soria and his associate were greatly delighted, having desired to enter upon the conversion of this province, but having been unable to do so because of their ignorance of the language and the fact that there were but two of them. They had hesitated the more because of the order which they had received to return to Manila if no religious came out from España, feeling that it would be unwise to begin a conversion which could not be followed up by regular instruction.]

Chapter XXXVI
The condition in which the religious found the Indians in the province

This land was not only ruined by the continual wars which the villages all waged with one another, but still more by the settled peace which they all had made with the devil. They obeyed to the full his diabolical will, though it was such that there never was a tyrant who treated those whom he had conquered, and who were subject to him, as the devil treated these wretched Indians. He had led their minds into such a state of confusion that they could not refuse anything which he commanded them – though his demands were so great and so grievous that they could not put their hands on anything from which he did not take tribute, and with which he had not commanded that they should do him honor by means of some superstition, threatening them with death if they failed therein. They were accustomed to call whomsoever they adored anito; and they said that they had a good anito, to whom they attributed all the good fortune that happened to them, and a had anito, who caused all their hardships, poverty, temporal evils, maladies, and deaths. They served the latter that he might not do them harm, and the former that he might do them good. They employed more priestesses, or aniteras, than priests, though they had some of the latter – a wretched class of people, and with reason despised on account of their foul manner of life. The devil entered these aniteras or sorceresses, and through them, and by their agency, he gave his answers. By these priestesses the Indians performed their superstitious rites and sacrifices, when they wished to placate their anitos or obtain anything from them. If anyone fell sick, the aniteras immediately came, and with oils and a thousand performances they persuaded him that, if he would believe in what they did, they would cure him. Then in his sight they performed and displayed a thousand fantastic things; and the devil so earnestly strove to give them credit that at times he made the people believe that the soul had left the body, and that the anitera had restored it by the power of her prayers and her medicines. Whenever the sick man recovered, they attributed the recovery to their own efforts; while, if he died, they were plentifully supplied with excuses and reasons to avoid the blame and to throw the responsibility upon someone else. This is an old trick of the devil, with which he betrayed the heathens of antiquity, and likewise betrays this deluded and foolish people. Before sowing their fields they used to celebrate three solemn feast-days, during which all the men gave themselves up to dancing, eating, and drinking until they were unable to stand; and after this came that which commonly follows – namely, giving loose rein to the flesh. The women did not drink, for this was very contrary to their customs as they are very laborious; but they made up for it as well as they could, and in the dances and all the rest they did as well as the men. If the Indians left their houses, and happened to meet anyone who sneezed, they went back home again even though they had gone a day’s journey, as if the sneeze had been something in the road. Sometimes they went on, and returned without delay from their destination. If the same thing happened when they began to work, they immediately desisted from their labor. If on any similar occasion they heard the singing of a certain bird which they regarded as a bad omen, they did not go on at all with what they had undertaken, even though they had traveled for many days, and even in the case of an entire army in war. They acted in the same manner if the bird came or flew toward their left hand, or if it turned its bill in such or such a direction. It was the same way with other signs which they regarded as evil omens. On the contrary, they were very much encouraged and very joyful when the augury was a good one; and although a thousand times the event was opposite to what the augury, as it seemed, had threatened or promised, they never lacked an excuse for remaining in their error, and for continuing forever in this harmful ignorance. When they began a voyage by sea or by the rivers, they threw into the water a certain quantity of their food out of reverence for the devil, in order to placate him so that he might give them success. If they built a house, they had to perform their rites before entering it; and if the bird of augury entered it they either tore it down, or performed a thousand sacrifices and superstitious rites in order to fit it for habitation. When they bought anything, they did the same before they would put it in the house; and whenever they went out on any little business, those who went and those who stayed at home did nothing but perform superstitious acts that they might have good luck in it. It was the same with everything they did or thought of doing, in life and in death, in sickness and in health; and for this purpose they had their houses full of devices and apparatus. As the devil never turns back from the evil thought and purpose of being as God, which he had in the beginning, he taught them a thousand superstitious rites to adore and revere him, very like those which the church uses in honor of our true God. Hence they had regular feast-days, and days assigned for their worship, and three-day feasts, like our great ecclesiastical feasts.⁵³ They carried on their wrists blessed beads, which the sorceresses gave them with threats of death if they took them off. They had their sort of holy water; and in one village named Masi, which was much given to all sorts of superstition, they had a certain water with which they washed the arms, the legs and the foreheads of all the children, especially the children of the chiefs. As a result of this, they promised them a long and fortunate life. They had receptacles like charity-boxes, in which they put what they offered the anito. These boxes were set out in dark places, hidden in ravines, or in thickets, or in cane-brakes. Even when they were in plain and open places, and even (as sometimes happened) when things of great value were placed in them, no one dared to take anything out of them, even gold, or stones regarded by them as precious. They also had some places of devotion where the sick went to pray for health, and ate food. When they went home again they were obliged to cast into these places the jars and other utensils with which they prepared their food, as being consecrated to their anito by being used at this meal, which was a kind of sacrifice. There were different places for different infirmities, while for the chiefs only there were separate places. They had so much reverence for these things that even when they had become Christians they did not dare to go and destroy the things in these places which had been dedicated to the devil. The religious themselves had to go there, and with their own hands break and demolish all these things, and burn them before the eyes of the Indians, and cast the ashes into the river. They kept back nothing, not even precious things which might have been applied to holy works; for in this way only was it possible to undeceive the Indians, and to avoid the impression of avarice. There were dedicated to the devil certain trees, flowers, and mountains, which no one dared to touch except in the service and honor of their owner, the devil. In a word, they had not the right to put their hands on anything without turning to him and consulting him as their God. He often spoke to them in their own language, in such a way that they heard and knew that he was present, although they did not see him. Even at this day they tell what he said to them. One of these aniteras, who afterward became a very good Christian, told how the devil played a thousand tricks upon her. At one time she begged him earnestly to give her gold, a thing which at other times she had often asked of him. He promised it to her; and when she awoke in the night she found her wrists covered with gold bracelets, and many strings of stones highly valued among the Indians. She fell asleep again; and when she awoke the second time she did not find even one ornament, for everything had disappeared like fairy wealth. The sorrow in which the trick had left her was greater than the satisfaction which she felt when she believed that she was rich. In this manner he treated them like children, promising them riches by these deceits, and assuring them of other things of the same sort. He told them besides that he knew their ancestors must come back to life again; for they believed that their deceased fathers and ancestors must return to life in this world. In this way he deceived them; and even when the religious came the natives represented to them that they would incur ignominy if their ancestors, when they came back to this world, should find them professing a different religion and law from that which they themselves had followed. They sometimes asked the devil that he would permit them to see him; but he answered that his body was so subtile that they could not see it. At one time, when some Indians begged him very earnestly that he would come down on top of the house where they dwelt and talk with them, he immediately came among them; for they had there a stone, highly esteemed among them, which they called maxin. He remained for some time moving about on the ground, and from that stone spoke with a very small and fine voice. Finally stone and devil disappeared, leaving them greatly pleased, and more deceived than before. When Don Luis Perez das Mariñas was at Tuy, in Nueva Segovia, before the religious were there, he spent one night near the sea on the shore, by the mouth of a river which passes the village of Pata, at the foot of a little hill which was dedicated to the devil, and where they offered sacrifices and celebrated festivals in his honor. On this account no one dared to cut a stick or anything else on it, except for the service of the devil; because the sea would instantly grow wrathful, the winds would arise, and their houses would be thrown down. When the soldiers reached there, the alcalde-mayor of that province (who was Captain Mercado) directed the Indians to cut some stakes, reeds, and branches to build huts for the soldiers. The Indians refused, and offered to bring it all from other places, even though that would require more labor of them. But the Spaniards would not wait so long, and compelled them by force to cut what they needed from this little hill. That very night a frightful wind arose, stirred up the sea, drove the waves up on the shore, and carried them to the camp – which, as it seemed, was very safe from such an accident. The soldiers and Don Luis himself were obliged to flee from the danger, losing many things (some of them of great value), which were carried away by the sea, or by the devil in return for what they had cut from that hill of his. Even after the religious had come there, when they needed some wild palms which were on that little hill, there was not an Indian that dared cut these, because they were still heathen. The religious sent two Christian boys whom they had brought from Pangasinan, and some others who were being instructed in preparation for baptism. In course of time they cut everything off the hill, without the devil’s daring to do as he had been accustomed. The Indians were all struck with wonder, not only those in this village, but those in all the others. But what was the marvel? For when the religious came to establish themselves in this village the devil complained to its natives, saying that he was going away and that they should never see him again – because, as he said, from that day forth there was someone else who would deal with them. However, he did not tell them who it was. “One thing only,” he said, “I tell you; take care not to believe what you hear from these men in long clothes who have come here, for I am certain that the dead will rise again.” He said this to them with regard to their ancestors, as he wished them to believe that the dead would be much grieved if they were to come back to life and find their descendants far from that which they had followed during their own lives. The devil had inculcated in them a belief that, when a man died, his soul was obliged to pass a river or lake where there was a boat rowed by an old boatman; and to pay his passage they fastened some money on the arm of the dead man. They believed that no woman could pass whose hands were not tattooed with black in accordance with their custom. They were in the habit also of burying with the dead food for the journey, oil with which he might anoint himself, a robe for his clothing, and some gold for the contingencies which might arise. If the dead man was a chief, they used to bury with him one or two slaves to serve him there in some very flowery and pleasant fields, where the devil had taught them that they were to live a delightful life, eating, drinking, and enjoying themselves until they should return a second time to this world. There are still living many Indians who tell about all these things, and there are even heathen who believe them, because they have had no religious to whom they might go for teaching. They also tell of some very mischievous tricks which the devil has played upon them. It happened sometimes that when a man was alone in the field he came upon some creatures resembling little women. They would deceive him, and either by alluring words or by force would place him within a thicket, and there toss him in the air as if he had been a ball; they then left him there, half-dead. If he ventured to go away from there and make his way to the village he remained for many days beside himself, as it were, and half stupid; if he did not, he died there miserably. At one time an Indian chief went to sea, with many people in his vessel. They were drowned, and perished in the sea without leaving anyone to carry the news. As they did not return, their relatives consulted the devil to know where they were; and he answered them that they were suffering no pain because they had reached port in a very rich and fertile country known as Mexico, where they were very happy. The others believed him, although they did not know that there was any such land until afterward, when they heard the religious speak of Mexico. They then asked many questions as to their judgment with reference to this chief and those who accompanied him. The fathers undeceived them, and corrected the falsehood which the devil had told them – as if their tiny boats could have passed over so great and so terrible an ocean, or carried sufficient provisions for such a length of time as is necessary to go from there to Mexico! In addition, the devil showed in his dealings with them how tyrannical and cruel he is, and how addicted to the destruction of men, by causing them to kill some in his service. This was not only made evident by their law requiring the burial of the living with the dead, as has been narrated, but also by other laws. For instance, when the son, the wife, or the brother of any chief died, he mourned; and during this mourning he fasted, not even eating rice, which is the ordinary bread of that country, or drinking wine – a deprivation which, for a race so fond of wine as this is, must have been a great hardship. During all this time he did not touch flesh or fish, but ate only roots and products of the soil, and drank water. This mourning lasted sometimes for years, sometimes less, in proportion to the love and esteem which was felt for the deceased. When it seemed to the people of the village that the time of mourning had lasted long enough, and that it would be well for their chieftain and head to treat himself more kindly – perhaps because during this time they drank less themselves, to show their sympathy with their lord – they discussed it among themselves and afterward with him. If he agreed with them, they all contributed to buy a slave, whom they handed over to him; and before them all the chief cut off the slave’s head. With this the mourning came to an end, and he immediately began to drink with them like a man dying from abstinence. There was an Indian who, when the religious came to this country, confessed that he had killed twelve slaves in this manner on various occasions when he had been in mourning. This, however, was not the most honorable manner of bringing the mourning to an end; for those who could slay any one belonging to their enemies did so, even though it was a woman, a child, or an old person whom they killed. This was the best way of concluding the mourning, and was accordingly followed most by those who were in mourning. They also had another cruel custom like this, which they followed in their wars, which one village waged with another on the slightest occasion. If at any time they came to an agreement instead of a quarrel, it had to be done not without shedding human blood; and the side which in their opinion was in the wrong, or was the weaker party, bought a slave and delivered him to the other side. Then all these others killed him, not one failing to give him a wound even if he was already dead. They cut him in pieces; and with this they rested satisfied, as if this vengeance had been taken against all their opponents. Since their wars and outbreaks were so frequent, deaths which occurred in this manner must have been very many, although the number of those whom they slew in the wars was much greater. In general they took their enemies by surprise, and killed them all, not excepting women and children and old men. Such was their cruelty and their madness in this region that to slay any one of these was a great honor among them; and it sufficed to give the slayer the name of a valiant man, and to grant him the privilege of using certain marks of honor reserved for the valiant. These no one could assume who had not slain a human being, no matter whom. They had received the command to do thus from the devil, under penalty of death to whoever should assume these marks of honor without having slain another. In this way he incited them to that which he most desired, which is to shed human blood, to slay the body, and to carry off the soul to hell. In fine, their vices were such as may be inferred from what has been said. They were a people abandoned by the hand of God and governed by the devil in accordance with his laws – without judgment, or reason, or sense, because their minds had been wholly taken away by him who had governed them. In particular they were extremely vengeful, proud, envious, extraordinarily avaricious, and given to shameless and unbridled lewdness. Above all, they were drunkards from the greatest to the least, and each of their drunken feasts surpassed all the others. From this vice all the other vices followed in a troop, as if they were leagued with it; and this drunkenness was continuous, and excessive. They were a heathen race, with no supernatural light, though it was at hand; and their natural light was so darkened and falsified by the devil that they regarded that person as happiest who could indulge the most in these vices. All of them took pleasure therein, and were grieved when, as happened at times, they could not commit them; they envied him who had gone furthest in them, for they regarded him as the most powerful – as indeed it was generally true that the man who had the greatest power was the most vicious. As for their marriages, they came to an end as soon as the husband was vexed with his wife, or the wife with her husband. This was all that was needed on either side, to cause them to separate and to make a new marriage, unless they had children; for they loved their children so much that this tie was sufficient to keep them from separating, and to make them bear with each other. The reason that influenced them was their desire not to be parted from their children, or to grieve them. As wives, the men were allowed to have those to whom they could give a dowry, for it is the husband that gives the dowry. But if the first wife belonged to a chief’s family she would not consent to have her husband marry anyone of a rank below her own; and if the first wife was not of this rank the husband could not find any woman of high birth who would afterward marry him – except in some very unusual case, as when he was very powerful or very valiant. To their equals in rank the husbands gave large dowries, which were practically in the power of the fathers and kinsfolk of the woman. On the other hand, if they married women below them in rank, they did not endow them. Further, if, as has been said, equals separated from each other as a result of any quarrel or dislike, and afterward the man wished the woman to return to his house, they asked a new dowry from him, just as if it were a new marriage. Hence, if once they separated they were seldom reunited. So common was a separation that there was almost no man or woman who had not been divorced from a legitimate wife or husband. This was a thing which caused much trouble when they were to be baptized, since they were living in improper relations of marriage, because of having dismissed, men their first wives and women their first husbands, and having married others while the first were still alive.