The Philippine Islands, 1493-1803 — Volume 05 of 55: 1582-1583; Explorations by Early Navigators, Descriptions of the Islands and Their Peoples, Their History and Records of the Catholic Missions, as Related in Contemporaneous Books and Manuscripts, Showing the Political, Economic, Commercial and Religious Conditions of Those Islands from Their Earliest Relations with European Nations to the Beginning of the Nineteenth Century
History
The Philippine Islands, 1493-1803 — Volume 05 of 55: 1582-1583; Explorations by Early Navigators, Descriptions of the Islands and Their Peoples, Their History and Records of the Catholic Missions, as Related in Contemporaneous Books and Manuscripts, Showing the Political, Economic, Commercial and Religious Conditions of Those Islands from Their Earliest Relations with European Nations to the Beginning of the Nineteenth Century
Demarcation line of Alexander VI; Missions -- Philippines; Philippines -- Discovery and exploration; Philippines -- History -- Sources
The city is situated midway on the shore of a large bay, about twenty
leagues in circumference. The region all about this bay is fertile,
and well-provisioned. The inhabitants are Moros, instructed in that
faith by those of Burney. The river has a fresh-water lake, about
five leagues above this city; it is more than twenty leagues in
circumference. The district abounds in rice and cotton. The people
possess much gold in the way of trinkets, but there are no mines in
this region. This same race of Moros have made settlements as far as
the villages of the Batangas; their number will be told later. They
have also peopled the island of Mindoro and that of Luban, but they
are to be found in no other region of these islands. The inhabitants
of the province of Camarines at the eastern end of this island,
through whose strait arrive the ships from Nueva Espana, resemble
the Pintados; and even those at the other and southeastern [_sc._
northern] end of this island, toward the Japanese, also closely
resemble the Pintados--although they do not tattoo _[pintan]_
themselves as the latter do, and bore their ears differently; for in
these two provinces there is but little tattooing. The Pintados tattoo
the whole body very gorgeously; but the Moros do not tattoo themselves
at all, nor do they bore their ears. Unlike the men of Visaya, the
Moros wear their hair short, although their women bore their ears,
but in a very ugly manner. The Moros inhabit only this district of
the bay of Manilla. with a fifteen-league coast, the most fertile
land of this island. The following encomiendas are to be found in
the neighborhood of this city:
The encomienda of Vatan, eight hundred men.
The encomienda of Vitis, with about seven thousand men.
The encomienda of Macabebe, with two thousand six hundred men.
The encomienda of Calonpite, with about three thousand men.
The encomienda of Candava, with two thousand men.
Near this encomienda is a village which, on account of its antiquity,
is called Little Castilla. It belongs to his Majesty, and has a
population of seventy.
The encomienda of Pale, with three hundred men.
The encomienda of Binto, with four hundred men.
The encomienda of Malolos, eight hundred men.
The encomienda of Guiguinto, four hundred men.
The encomienda of Catangalan, with eight hundred men.
The encomienda of Caluya belongs to his Majesty, and has six hundred
men.
Formerly all the above-mentioned encomiendas had one alcalde-mayor,
but since Don Gonzalo came he has appointed the following officials:
_Corregidor of Batan_. In Batan, a corregidor, with a salary of one
hundred and fifty pesos.
_Alcalde-mayor of Lubao_. In Lubao, another, with a salary of three
hundred pesos.
_Alcalde-mayor of Calompite_. In Calompite and Macaveve, another,
with a salary of three hundred pesos.
_Alcalde-mayor of Candava_. In Candava and two other encomiendas,
another, with a salary of two hundred pesos.
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
Reviews
Reviews
No reviews yet
Be the first to share your thoughts on this work.
Elsewhere in the archive
Join the Discussion
Join the discussion
Sign in to leave a comment or review.
Sign InorCreate an account