This law was quite at variance with the general law that prohibited slavery of Indians, which was extended expressly to the Moluccas by a special law promulgated by Felipe III, Madrid, October 10, 1618, (lib. vi, tit. ii, ley viii). [14] In the year 1621 (Prov. de San Nicolas de Tolentino, p. 311). [15] Varalao is but a phonetic variant of bararao or balarao. Luis de Jesús here supplies the "missing link" to Rizal's statement regarding this weapon (VOL. XVI, p. 81, note), and identifies the balarao as the well-known kris of the Malays. [16] In regard to this ceremony--the blood-covenant, or "blood-friendship"--see H. C. Trumbull's Blood Covenant (3rd ed., Philadelphia, 1898); he describes it as performed in many countries and in all ages, in various forms; its purposes, methods, and symbolism; and its meaning in the Bible. In brief, it appears to be a primitive form of expressing personal union and friendship in the closest bonds, which may not be broken without dishonor. [17] The character of these curses is indicated by the statement of the Dominican Juan Ferrando (Hist. de los PP. Dominicos, i, p. 41): "In the elections of [local] magistrates which the alcalde of Ilocos Sur held in 1844, I had the good-fortune to be present at some of them; and I noticed that the gobernadorcillos of those infidels, on receiving the rod of office from the hands of that chief, offered, in place of the oath which the Christians swear to administer justice, the following imprecation: 'May a baneful wind strike me, the sun's rays slay me, and the crocodile catch me sleeping, if I do not fulfil my duty.' All their oaths are in the form of imprecations, and they usually observe these obligations faithfully." [18] Cf. note in VOL. XXI, p. 165; these confriars are mentioned in the Catholic Dictionary as the third order rather than the fourth. [19] Thus in the Spanish text; apparently an ancient use of the word relator for refrendario, meaning an official appointed to countersign edicts and other public acts. As here used of a priest, it probably refers to his having such an appointment in the diocesan court. [20] This account of Lake Lanao and its region is evidently compiled from Combés's description (Hist. Mindanao, book iii, chap. i). [21] Combés adds, "and bohaui by the natives" (ut supra, col. 146). [22] Thus in text; an obvious error of transposition, the correct form of the name being Agustin de San Pedro. [23] On the day here mentioned, there were two fiery volcanic eruptions, one in Joló, the other in Pañgil, an island not far from Joló. At the same time, an eruption occurred in northern Luzón, but of water instead of fire; and this was accompanied with other destructive phenomena. [24] For accounts of this seizure of Malacca by the Dutch, see Diaz's Conquistas, pp. 455, 456; Concepción's Hist. de Philipinas, vi, pp. 85, 86; and Ferrando's Hist. de los PP. Dominicos, ii, pp. 514-516.