The Philippine Islands, 1493-1898 — Volume 21 of 55: 1624; 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 close of the nineteenth century.
History
The Philippine Islands, 1493-1898 — Volume 21 of 55: 1624; 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 close of the nineteenth century.
Demarcation line of Alexander VI; Missions -- Philippines; Philippines -- Discovery and exploration; Philippines -- History -- Sources
[53] See Delgado's account of the various kinds of bees in the
Philippines (_Historia_, pp. 848-850).
[54] The pangolin or _Manis_, commonly known as ant-eater. The
preceding sentence probably refers to the flying lemur (note 44,
_ante_.)
[55] Cf. account of the weapons used by the Mindanaos, given by Retana
and Pastells in their edition of Combés's _Historia de Mindanao_,
cols. 782 and 783. Also cf. weapons of North American Indians, as
described in _Jesuit Relations_--see Index, vol. lxxii, pp. 337, 338.
[56] Referring to Sìargao Island, off northeast coast of Mindanao;
about twenty-one miles long and fourteen wide.
[57] _Cimarrón_ is an American word meaning "wild" or "unruly," and
is also applied to a runaway slave. O.T. Mason, in his translation
of Blumentritt's _Native Tribes of the Philippines_ (Washington,
1901), says (p. 536) that "this characterization is given to heathen
tribes of most varied affiliation, living without attachment and
in poverty, chiefly posterity of the Remontados." Buzeta and Bravo
(_Diccionario_) say that these people are "collections or tribes of
infidels known by this name in the island of Luzón and others of the
archipelago. There is at present a tribe living in the dense forests
of the mountain Isaroc in the province of Camarines Sur. There are
also some collections of these and some hostiles in the mountains
of the island and province of Samar. They are descendants of the
Negrito race, who seem to become differentiated from their own species
because of their extraordinarily wild and mountainous life." Hence
the name seems to have been given these people in Mindanao simply to
distinguish them as especially barbarous and difficult to establish
relations among. They were probably one of the numerous tribes of
Negritos such as inhabit Mindanao today.
[58] In a brief description of the Philippine Islands which occurs in
a geographical work by the Chinese writer Chao-Yu-Kua (who flourished
in the thirteenth century)--which account will appear later in this
series--is an interesting mention of "nests" built in trees by the
Aetas or Negritos, who live therein in single families. Professor
Friedrich Ratzel (_History of Mankind_, Butler's translation, London
and New York, 1896) says (i, p. 111) that the Battaks in Sumatra,
and many Melanesians lived in trees; and on p. 422, he says: "Among
the Battaks safe dwelling-places are also found at the point where a
tree-stem forks or throws off branches; the central shoot is lopped
off, and the surrounding branches remain." Continuing he speaks of the
huts built by the Ilongotes of Luzón on tree stems, which are made
from leaves of the nipa-palm and bamboo. "The Orang-Sakei and the
Lubus of Sumatra also live to some extent in trees" (p. 423). There
are also tree-dwellers in Africa and India.
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