The Philippine Islands, 1493-1898, Volume 30 of 55, 1640: 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 centuryAduarte, Diego
History
The Philippine Islands, 1493-1898, Volume 30 of 55, 1640: 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
Aduarte, Diego
Demarcation line of Alexander VI; Missions -- Philippines; Philippines -- Discovery and exploration; Philippines -- History -- Sources
[7] Raynal thus describes Acapulco, in his History of Settlements
and Trade in Indies (Justamond's translation, London, 1783), iii,
pp. 378, 379: "The port of Acapulco where the vessel arrives, hath
two inlets, separated from each other by a small island: the entrance
into them in the day is by means of a sea-breeze, and the sailing
out in the night-time is effected by a land-breeze. It is defended
only by a bad fort, fifty soldiers, forty-two pieces of cannon,
and thirty-two of the corps of artillery. It is equally extensive,
safe, and commodious. The bason which forms this beautiful harbor is
surrounded by lofty mountains, which are so dry, that they are even
destitute of water. Four hundred families of Chinese, Mulattoes,
and Negroes, which compose three companies of militia, are the only
persons accustomed to breathe the air of this place, which is burning,
heavy, and unwholesome. The number of inhabitants in this feeble
and miserable colony is considerably increased upon the arrival of
the galleons, by the merchants from all the provinces of Mexico, who
come to exchange their silver and their cochineal, for the spices,
muslins, china, printed linens, silks, perfumes, and gold works of
Asia. At this market, the fraud impudently begun in the Old World,
is as impudently completed in the New. The statutes have limited
the sale to 2,700,000 livres, and it exceeds 10,800,000 livres. All
the money produced by these exchanges should give ten per cent. to
the government: but they are deprived of three-fourths of the revenue
which they ought to collect from their customs, by false entries." This
passage is appropriated bodily--with a few changes, and an important
omission--in Malo de Luque's Establecimientos ultramarinos (Madrid,
1790), v, p. 220; and no credit is given by him to Raynal.
On the map of Acapulco in Bellin's Atlas maritime (Paris, 1764), t. ii,
p. 86, appears the following naïve item in the legend at the side:
"Two trees, to which the galleon from Manila attaches a cable;"
these trees are located directly in front of the tiny "city," and
between two redoubts.
[8] Talinga is defined by Noceda and Sanlucar (Vocab. lengua Tagala,
third ed., Manila, 1860) as manta de Ilocos ("Ilocos blanket"). It
is apparently the same as terlinga, used by Mallat and Malo de Luque;
and tarlinga, later in this document.
[9] Encarnación (Dicc. Bisaya-Español, Manila, 1885) says, after
defining the word as here: "The word lompot eminently signifies
'piece;' and the pieces in which the native women weave all their
fabrics are regularly eight varas long and one wide."
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