[97] The attitude of the great Augustinian Philippine writer, San Agustin, and in general the friars of the last century of the Spanish regime, toward the native is well shown in the following note by the Spanish editor, Father Coco: "The Indians have not changed in this regard. Since they have not lost their disposition they preserve with it their vices. If the father does not interest himself in the regulation of bridges, roads, the maintenance of the children at school, etc., nothing useful is done. In this interest and zeal, the father must not relax one instant, for the very moment in which the vigilance of the father rests, little by little all the good that he has done in the village disappears. The greater number of the Ilocan plains are crossed by irrigation canals, brought to completion by the initiative of the fathers, and preserved until now by the watchfulness of the same persons. All this, as is natural, brings endless troubles and not small sorrow to the parish priest." [98] Psalms xxxv, 7.--_Coco_. [99] The author might have added something more, namely, that from the little that is enjoyed from the Spanish race, it is becoming so degenerate in the course of time that it is losing completely even the characteristic traces of its origin. It is giving the "leap backward," as we say here in common parlance.--_Coco_. [100] The original is _bozales_, which is a term applied to negroes lately imported, or to inhabitants of the less polished provinces of Spain, newly arrived in Madrid. [101] Dative of _agibilis_, a late Latin word coined from _agere_; meaning "what can be done or accomplished." [102] _Visitas_ in the Philippines are the distant suburbs of a village. They generally have their chapel and patron saint, and the chapel is called _visita_. The term has been extended to the suburbs. Many of the _visitas_ are distant from the mother village four or six hours by horse, along impassable roads which cause great annoyances to the parish priests.--_Coco_. [103] Odes, book iv, 24, 11. 30, 31. William Coutts in his translation of Horace (New York and Bombay, 1898) renders this passage as follows: "We hate virtue when safe amongst us, but seek for it when removed from our eyes, envious alike." [104] Still today [1893], thanks to God, one may sleep in the convents with doors unlocked, without the slightest fear. However, now they are generally locked in the province of Manila.--_Coco_. [105] Paul's first Epistle to the Corinthians iv, 9.--_Coco_. [106] Job iii, 3.