_La Lengua de todos, los Pintados y Bicayas, es vna mesma, por do se entienden, hablando y escriuiendo, en letras y caratores que tienen particulares, que semejan a los Arabigos, y su comun escribir entre los naturales, es en hojas de arboles, y en canas, sobre la corteza; que en todas las islas ay muchas, de disforme grueso los canutos, y el pie es vn arbol muy grueso y macico_. [135] This difference is no greater than that between the Spanish, Portuguese, and Italian.--_Rizal_. [136] See Chirino (_Relacion de las islas Filipinas_) _Vol_. XII, chapters xv-xvii. His remarks, those of Morga, and those of other historians argue a considerable amount of culture among the Filipino peoples prior to the Spanish conquest. A variety of opinions have been expressed as to the direction of the writing. Chirino, San Antonio, Zuniga, and Le Gentil, say that it was vertical, beginning at the top. Colin, Ezguerra, and Marche assert that it was vertical but in the opposite direction. Colin says that the horizontal form was adopted after the arrival of the Spaniards. Mas declares that it was horizontal and from left to right, basing his arguments upon certain documents in the Augustinian archives in Manila. The eminent Filipino scholar, Dr. T. H. Pardo de Tavera has treated the subject in a work entitled "_Contribucion para el estudio de los antiguos alfabetos filipinos_" (Losana, 1884). See Rizal's notes on p. 291 of his edition of Morga. [137] This portion of this sentence is omitted in Stanley. [138] Bahay is "house" in Tagal; _pamamahay_ is that which is in the interior and the house. _Bahandin_ may be a misprint for _bahayin_, an obsolete derivative.--_Rizal_. [139] Cf. this and following sections with Loarca's relation, _Vol_. V, of this series; and with Plasencia's account, _Vol_. VII, pp. 173-196. [140] Timawa.--_Rizal_. [141] The condition of these slaves was not always a melancholy one. Argensola says that they ate at the same table with their masters, and married into their families. The histories fail to record the assassination for motives of vengeance of any master or chief by the natives, as they do of encomenderos. After the conquest the evil deepened. The Spaniards made slaves without these pretexts, and without those enslaved being Indians of their jurisdiction--going moreover, to take them away from their own villages and islands. Fernando de los Rios Coronel, in his memorial to the king (Madrid, 1621) pp. 24-25, speaks in scathing terms of the cruelties inflicted on the natives in the construction of ships during the governorship of Juan de Silva. A letter from Felipe II to Bishop Domingo de Salazar shows the awful tyranny exercised by the encomenderos upon the natives, whose condition was worse than that of slaves.--_Rizal_. [142] For remarks on the customs formerly observed by the natives of Pampanga in their suits, see appendix to this volume.