Material Progress of the Filipinos.--The material surroundings of the Filipino before the arrival of the Spaniards were in nearly every way quite as they are to-day. The "center of population" of each town to-day, with its great church, tribunal, stores and houses of stone and wood, is certainly in marked contrast; but the appearance of a barrio a little distance from the center is to-day probably much as it was then. Then, as now, the bulk of the people lived in humble houses of bamboo and nipa raised on piles above the dampness of the soil; then, as now, the food was largely rice and the excellent fish which abound in river and sea. There were on the water the same familiar bancas and fish corrals, and on land the rice fields and cocoanut groves. The Filipinos had then most of the present domesticated animals,--dogs, cats, goats, chickens, and pigs,--and perhaps in Luzon the domesticated buffalo, although this animal was widely introduced into the Philippines from China after the Spanish conquest. Horses came with the Spaniards and their numbers were increased by the bringing in of Chinese mares, whose importation is frequently mentioned. The Spaniards introduced also the cultivation of tobacco, coffee, and cacao, and perhaps also the native corn of America, the maize, although Pigafetta says they found it already growing in the Bisayas. The Filipino has been affected by these centuries of Spanish sovereignty far less on his material side than he has on his spiritual, and it is mainly in the deepening and elevating of his emotional and mental life and not in the bettering of his material condition that advance has been made. CHAPTER VI. THE SPANISH SOLDIER AND THE SPANISH MISSIONARY. History of the Philippines as a Part of the History of the Spanish Colonies.--We have already seen how the Philippines were discovered by Magellan in his search for the Spice Islands. Brilliant and romantic as is the story of that voyage, it brought no immediate reward to Spain. Portugal remained in her enjoyment of the Eastern trade and nearly half a century elapsed before Spain obtained a settlement in these islands. But if for a time he neglected the Far East, the Spaniard from the Peninsula threw himself with almost incredible energy and devotion into the material and spiritual conquest of America. All the greatest achievements of the Spanish soldier and the Spanish missionary had been secured within fifty years from the day when Columbus sighted the West Indies.