Insurrection on Bohol.--Since the insurrection on Bohol in 1744, when
the natives had killed the Jesuit missionaries, a large part of the
island had been practically independent under the leader Dagóhoy. After
the expulsion of the Jesuits, Recollects were placed in special
charge of those towns along the seacoast, which had remained loyal to
Spain. An effort was made to secure the submission of the rebels by
the proclamation of a pardon, but the power of the revolt grew rather
than declined, until in 1827 it was determined to reduce the rebellion
by force. An expedition of thirty-two hundred men was formed in Cebu,
and in April, 1828, the campaign took place, which resulted in the
defeat of the rebels and their settlement in the Christian towns.
The New Provinces of Benguet and Abra.--It is proper to notice
also the slow advances of Spanish authority, which began to be made
about this time among the heathen tribes of northern Luzon. These
fierce and powerful tribes occupy the entire range of the Cordillera
Central. Missionary effort in the latter half of the eighteenth
century had succeeded in partly Christianizing the tribes along the
river Magat in Neuva Vizcaya, but the fierce, head-hunting hillmen
remained unsubdued and unchristianized.
Between 1823 and 1829 the mission of Pidigan, under an Augustinian
friar, Christianized some thousands of the Tinguianes of the river
Abra. In 1829 an expedition of about sixty soldiers, under Don
Guillermo Galvey, penetrated into the cool, elevated plateau of
Benguet. The diary of the leader recounts the difficult march up the
river Cagaling from Aringay and their delight upon emerging from the
jungle and cogon upon the grassy, pine-timbered slopes of the plateau.
They saw little cultivated valleys and small clusters of houses and
splendid herds of cattle, carabaos, and horses, which to this day have
continued to enrich the people of these mountains. At times they were
surrounded by the yelling bands of Igorrotes, and several times they
had to repulse attacks, but they nevertheless succeeded in reaching the
beautiful circular depression now known as the valley of La Trinidad.
The Spaniards saw with enthusiasm the carefully separated and walled
fields, growing camotes, taro, and sugarcane. The village of about
five hundred houses was partly burned by the Spaniards, as the
Igorrotes continued hostile. The expedition returned to the coast,
having suffered only a few wounds. The commandancia of Benguet was
not created until 1846, in which year also Abra was organized as
a province.
CHAPTER XII.
PROGRESS AND REVOLUTION. 1837-1897.
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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